New to View: ‘Babadook’ may keep you awake nights
By Bob Bloom
The following Blu-rays and DVDs are being released on Tuesday, April 14:
The Babadook: Special Edition (Blu-ray)
Details: 2014, IFC Midnight-Scream-Shout! Factory
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A widowed, single mother is haunted by the violent death of her husband. Things get worse when a mysterious book, “Mister Babadook,” turns up at her doorstep and she is forced to confront her son’s deep-seated fear of monsters.
She soon realizes a sinister presence is all around her and she must battle it to save herself and her son.
This is a scary ride that will make you hesitate about shutting off the lights at night.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus offerings include castand crew interviews, deleted scenes, a making of featurette and a short film from the movie’s writer-director.
Big Eyes (Blu-ray + Ultraviolet)
Details: 2014, Anchor Bay Entertainment
Rated: PG-13, adult themes, language
The lowdown: Tim Burton directed this feature, based on a true story, about one of the biggest frauds of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Christoph Waltz stars as Walter Keane who has gained success and revolutionized the commercialization of popular art with the paintings of waifs with big eyes.
The truth that was soon discovered was that the art was actually painted by Keane’s wife, Margaret (Amy Adams). The film follows the couple’s volatile relationship as Walter continually grabs the credit and fame for his wife’s efforts.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: A making of featurette and a question-and-answer session provide the major bonus offerings.
The Missing (Blu-ray)
Details: 2014, Anchor Bay Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This Starz limited series covers the worst fears imaginable for any parent — the disappearance of a child.
A young boy disappears while on holiday in France, setting off a nearly decades-long search by the boy’s father as well as a noted detective.
The father’s obsessive search damages his relationship with his wife and puts his life in jeopardy as he struggles to find his son and those responsible for taking him.
This is a gripping drama that may cause you to hold your kids a little tighter and closer.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the production, a look at the narrative’s two time frames and a transformations featurette.
Whitney (DVD + Ultraviolet)
Details: 2014, Lionsgate
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Angela Bassett directed this Lifetime biopic about Whitney Houston, which covers her triumphs, her troubles and her ultimate death.
The Houston family opposed the movie and did not cooperate with the filmmakers. Yaya DaCosta gives a good performance as Houston, with the vocals supplied by Deborah Cox.
The film does not overly sensationalize Houston’s life and is a mostly respectful presentation.
Technical aspects: 1.78:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby Digital; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: No extras.
Sullivan’s Travels: Special Edition (Blu-ray)
Details: 1941, The Criterion Collection
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake star in Preston Sturges’ classic Hollywood satire about a movie director who hits the road disguised as a hobo in order to get the feel of the country as he prepares his next film, which is a social realism tragedy.
Along the way, he gets more than he bargains for, including a stint in prison.
Sturges’ comedy is a timeless feature that is as fresh today as when it was first released.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; LPCM monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a PBS “American Masters” episode about Sturges, a commentary track, a video essay by film critic David Cairns, a 2001 interview with Sturges’ widow, a 1951 interview with Sturges by gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, archival recordings of Sturges as well as an essay about the writer-director and the film.
Hoop Dreams: Special Edition (Blu-ray)
Release date: March 31
Details: 1994, The Criterion Collection
Rated: PG-13, language
The lowdown: This acclaimed documentary follows two inner-city Chicago kids over a five-year period as they face the challenges of reaching their dreams of playing professional basketball.
The movie follows the boys, their families and the intense pressure that being a star athlete can encompass.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.33:1 full-screen picture; English 4.0 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a pair of commentary tracks, a new documentary that catches up with the film’s subjects and their families, additional scenes, excerpts from “Siskel & Ebert” tracking the acclaim for the movie, a 1994 music video and a booklet with essays about the movie.
Happy Valley
Release date: April 7
Details: 2014, Music Box Films
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A documentary that looks at the aftermath of the scandal at Penn State, in which former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was charged with multiple counts of child sex abuse.
The movie was filmed over the year following Sandusky’s arrest and touches upon many complicated issues about the university, the NCAA and the townspeople of State College, Pa.
Technical aspects: 16×9 widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby Digital; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: The main bonus feature is an interview with director Amir Bar-Lev.
I Am Steve McQueen (Blu-ray)
Details: 2014, Shout! Factory
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A documentary that looks at the life and career of the iconic movie star known as the “King of Cool.”
The feature chronicles McQueen’s life from small-town rebel to the highest paid actor of his generation. Along the way, he lived life as an anti-hero, following no one’s rules but his own.
Included in the feature are interviews with family members, including second wife Ali McGraw, son Chad McQueen, and Pierce Brosnan, Gary Oldman, Zoe Bell and Robert Vaughn. Robert Downey Jr. provides the narration.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio stereo.
Don’t miss: Extras look at McQueen’s garage and a trip to the Yucatan the actor loved to visit.
Odd Man Out: Special Edition (Blu-ray)
Details: 1947, The Criterion Collection
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: James Mason stars in this British thriller as an Irish revolutionary ex-con who leads a bank robbery that goes tragically wrong.
Taking place over one night, Mason’s character is wounded and hunted by the police as he tries to find refuge.
Carol Reed directed this tense drama that features some striking and beautiful black-and-white cinematography.
An American remake was produced in the late 1960s starring Sidney Poitier as a black militant, but it lacked the power and urgency of the original.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English LPCM monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Among the bonus offerings are an interview with British film scholar John Hill, author of “Cinema and Northern Ireland: Film, Culture and Politics”; a short documentary about the movie, an interview with music scholar Jeff Smith about composer William Alwyn’s score; a 1972 documentary about Mason revisiting his hometown; a 1952 radio adaptation of the film; and an essay about the movie.
Eddie and the Cruisers/Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! (Blu-ray)
Details: 1983, 1988, Shout! Factory
Rated: PG, PG-13
The lowdown: A pair of rock-powered dramas are teamed together in this two-disc double feature.
“Eddie and the Cruisers” (PG, 1983) tells the story of a legendary rock star whose car went off a bridge in New Jersey and whose body was never found.
Twenty years later, interest in the band and its music is hotter than ever and a TV reporter sets out to find the truth behind Eddie’s supposed death and the disappearance of the tapes from the group’s last recording session.
“Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives” (PG-13, 1988) finds Eddie alive and well in Canada working in construction.
But his desire to make music draws him back. He forms a new band while, at the same time, record executives release an “Eddie and the Cruisers” lost tapes album and begin a worldwide search for the elusive rocker.
Eddie finally decides to face his past, but on his own terms. Michael Paré stars as Eddie in both features.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: No bonus features.
Manny
Details: 2014, Anchor Bay Entertainment
Rated: PG-13, sports violence, bloody images
The lowdown: A documentary that looks at the life and career of boxer Manny Pacquiao, who was much more than a fighter.
The movie, narrated by Liam Neeson, features interviews with Jimmy Kimmel, Mark Wahlberg, Jeremy Piven and Oscar De La Hoya. It traces the life of Pacquiao from a starving Filipino teenager, who fought to feed his family, to a congressman working to improve the lives of his people.
Technical aspects: 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby Digital; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a music video, a look at Manny’s birthday party, a behind-the-scenes at the Top Rank Gym and Manny vs. Mosley.
Kidnapping Mr. Heineken (Blu-ray)
Details: 2014, Alchemy
Rated: R, language
The lowdown: A feature based on the 1983 kidnapping of the heir to the Heineken beer empire by three childhood friends.
The movie follows the friends when they receive their ransom and their lives become even more complicated.
Anthony Hopkins plays the beer baron. The cast also includes Sam Worthington and Jim Sturgess.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 16×9 widescreen picture; English Dolby TrueHD; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: No bonus features.
Cries and Whispers: Special Edition (Blu-ray)
Release date: March 31
Details: 1972, The Criterion Collection
Rated: R, sexual situations, language
The lowdown: Ingmar Bergman’s masterpiece focuses on two sisters, Karin (Ingrid Thulin) and Maria (Liv Ullmann), who are watching over a third sister, Agnes (Harriett Andersson), who is dying of cancer.
The film is a powerful and existential study of behavior in the face of death. At times, it is difficult to watch because Bergman has made it so intimate, personal and painful.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.66:1 widescreen picture; Swedish LPCM monaural and English Dolby Digital monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A 2001 introduction to the film by Bergman, a new interview with Andersson, a video essay, behind-the-scenes footage, a 2000 interview with Bergman and a booklet with an essay about the film comprise the major bonus offerings.
“The Simon Wiesenthal Collection”
Release date: April 7
Details: 1982-2013, Cinedigm
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This 11-disc set features various documentaries that examine the Holocaust, its legacy and Jewish life.
The set includes two Academy Award-winning documentaries, “Genocide” and “Long Way Home.”
Among the talent lending their voices for the narration are Sir Ben Kingsley, Elizabeth Taylor, Orson Welles, Patrick Stewart, Christoph Waltz, Whoopi Goldberg, Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, Sandra Bullock, Martin Landau, Miriam Margolies, Nicole Kidman and Kevin Costner.
Technical aspects: Widescreen picture; English Dolby Digital surround; English closed-captioned.
Don’t miss: No extras.
Echoes (Blu-ray)
Details: 2014, Anchor Bay Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A horror feature about a young woman whose visions force her to retreat with her boyfriend to an isolated glass house in the desert.
Despite the new locale, her visions persist and she is menaced by a figure caked with dirt as if created by the desert itself.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.40:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: No extras.
Imitation of Life: 2-Movie Collection (Blu-ray)
Release date: April 7
Details: 1934, 1959, Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Two adaptations of Fannie Hurst’s 1933 novel about two widowed friends — one black, one white — and their troubled daughters are packaged together in this new Blu-ray release.
The 1934 version stars Claudette Colbert, Louise Beavers, Rochelle Hudson and Fredi Washington, while Lana Turner, Juanita Moore, Sandra Dee and Susan Kohner head the cast of the 1959 remake.
Both versions are dated by contemporary standards, but still retain a power in their mother-daughter conflicts.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.33:1 full-screen picture on 1934 version, 2.00:1 widescreen picture on 1959 version; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus offerings include a featurette on the legacy of the films as well as a look at the themes of race, family and identity; and commentary tracks on both movies.
Little House on the Prairie: Season Five: Deluxe Remastered Edition (Blu-ray + Ultraviolet)
Details: 1978-79, Lionsgate
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This five-disc set features all 24 fifth-season episodes of this popular family-oriented TV series starring Michael Landon, Melissa Gilbert, Karen Grassle and Melissa Sue Anderson.
In season five, the Ingalls family moves from Walnut Grove to be closer to Mary’s school for the blind, Mary conquers her fears and doubts about becoming a wife and mother and townspeople return to restore Walnut Grove.
The episodes have been digitally restored and remastered for improved viewing.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.33:1 full-screen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio and Spanish and French 2.0 Dolby Digital; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: The major bonus feature is part five of the “Little House” phenomenon.
Vengeance of an Assassin (Blu-ray)
Details: 2014, Well Go USA Entertainment
Rated: Not rated, violence
The lowdown: A young man becomes a killer in order to find the person who murdered his parents in this Thai martial arts thriller.
As he gets closer to the truth, he is double crossed, putting everyone he loves in danger. He now becomes the hunted as he strives to finish what he started.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 16:9 widescreen picture; Thai 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: No supplemental offerings.
Batman vs. Robin
Details: 2015, Warner Home Video
Rated: PG-13, intense action and violence, mature themes, disturbing images
The lowdown: The latest entry in the DC Universe release of animated features pits young Damian Wayne’s Robin against his father, the Batman.
Robin encounters a mysterious figure known as Talon when he investigates a crime scene.
Robin is introduced into a secret society known as the Court of Owls, which will eventually pit father against son.
Most of these features are suitable for teens and adults, but not for youngsters.
Technical aspects: 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby Digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a sneak peek at the next animated feature, “Justice League: Gods and Monsters.”
Class of 1984: Collector’s Edition (Blu-ray)
Details: 1982, Scream-Shout! Factory
Rated: R, violence, language
The lowdown: An idealistic music teacher tries to better the lives of his students at a crime-ridden high school, that is under the thumb of a shrewd and sadistic student named Peter Stegman (Timothy Van Patten).
The movie is one of several from this era, including “Lean on Me” and “The Principal” that focused on the nation’s deteriorating education system.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio.
Don’t miss: Extras include new interviews with cast members and filmmakers, a commentary track and a look at the making of the movie.
I Ought to Be in Pictures
Release date: March 31
Details: 1982, Fox Home Entertainment
Rated: PG
The lowdown: Walter Matthau stars in this screen adaptation of a Neil Simon play.
The story centers on a teenager, Dinah Manoff, who wants to break into show business. She travels from Brooklyn to Hollywood to seek help from her estranged father, who is a screenwriter. This heavyweight production features a screenplay adaptation by Simon, a musical score by Marvin Hamlisch and direction by Herbert Ross.
The release is part of the Fox Cinema Archives series and can be found at www.foxconnect.com or other online retailers.
Technical aspects: 16:9 widescreen picture.
Don’t miss: No bonus features.
Mad As Hell
Release date: April 7
Details: 2014, Oscilloscope Laboratories
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A documentary that follows the career of Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks’ foremost host and founder, as he climbs from unknown public access TV host to fame on the Internet.
When he moves onto television and MSNBC, he becomes a pain in the neck to the status quo of traditional journalism because of his unswerving attitude about speaking the truth no matter whose toes he steps on.
Technical aspects: 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby Digital surround and stereo; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include five episodes from the series, untold and expanded stories about The Young Turks, early featurettes about The Young Turks and a look at Uygur’s homes and workplaces.
Carrie & The Rage: Carrie 2 (Blu-ray)
Details: 1999, 2002, Scream-Shout! Factory
Rated: Not rated, R
The lowdown: A double-feature Blu-ray featuring the 1999 sequel to the original “Carrie” as well as the 2002 remake of the Stephen King book.
In “The Rage: Carrie 2” (R), Rachel is a high school student who gets involved with a group of jocks and is targeted by them for squealing after a prank goes bad.
Their harassment unleashes her anger and horrifying powers.
“Carrie” (not rated) is a new adaptation of the King story about a teenager with telekinetic powers and how an act of cruel humiliation unleashes them in a deadly manner.
The film is closer to the King book than the original movie.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture (“The Rage: Carrie 2”) and 1.33:1 full-screen picture (“Carrie”); English DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include commentaries on both films as well as an alternate ending with before-and-after special effects on “The Rage” and additional scenes.
Move
Release date: March 31
Details: 1970, Fox Home Entertainment
Rated: R, language, sexual situations
The lowdown: Elliott Gould stars in this counterculture drama about a struggling writer who pens pornography and walks dogs in order to make ends meet.
He and his wife decide to move to a new apartment in order to spur his creative juices so he can write a fantasy novel.
But things turn strange when the author begins confusing real life and his fantasy world.
The release is part of the Fox Cinema Archives series and can be found at www.foxconnect.com or other online retailers. For some reason the release is a pan-and-scan version of a widescreen picture.
Technical aspects: 4×3 full-screen pan-and-scan.
Don’t miss: No extras.
Other Blu-rays and DVDs being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
The End of the Civil War (Lionsgate)
I Really Hate My Ex (DVD + Ultraviolet) (Lionsgate)
Metal Hurlant Chronicles: The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (Shout! Factory)
Mom’s Day Away (Cinedigm)
Walker, Texas Ranger: Flashback (CBS DVD-Paramount Home Entertainment)
Mentir Para Vivir (Cinedigm, April 7)
Planet Dinosaur 3D (Blu-ray 3D) (BBC Home Entertainment, April 7)
Pelican Dreams (Cinedigm-Docurama, April 7)
Tiny Giants 3D (Blu-ray 3D) (BBC Home Entertainment, April 7)
Wings 3D (Blu-ray 3D) (BBC Home Entertainment, April 7)
Key Exchange (Fox Home Entertainment-Fox Cinema Archives, March 31)
FOR KIDS
Bark Ranger (DVD + Ultraviolet) (Lionsgate)
Joe 90: The Complete Series (Timeless Media Group)
Power Rangers Super Megaforce: The Perfect Storm (Lionsgate)
Coming next week: Taken 3
Bob Bloom is a member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. He reviews movies, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob.com., The Film Yap and other print and online publications, He can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow Bloom on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook. Movie reviews by Bloom also can be found at Rottentomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.
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