New to View: Aug. 27
By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, Aug. 27, unless
otherwise noted:
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (Blu-ray + DVD + digital)
Details: 2019, Warner Home Video
Rated: PG-13, monster action, violence and destruction, language
The lowdown: This latest iteration of Godzilla pushes an environmental message in between sequences of various gigantic beasties battling each other, destroying cities and people, and, once in a while, munching on an unfortunate supporting player or extra.
The movie’s major drawback is that it takes itself too seriously. Director Michael Dougherty, who wrote the script with Zach Shields, strives for the gravitas of the original “Gojira,” which had an antinuclear message as its subtext.
But this movie’s dialogue is so hokey, hoary and exposition-laden that it distracts and detracts from its intent.
This movie is basically a “kaiju” rumble with Rodan, Mothra and Monster Zero, aka Ghidorah, either aiding or battling Godzilla.
The movie is mainly CGI eye candy. Most of the humans in the cast are required to gape in either wide-eyed wonderment or terror — depending on the situation — as these monsters stomp, swim or fly around, causing havoc wherever they touch down.
The special effects are the highlights of the movie but are weakened by being set mostly in rainy, stormy or dark backgrounds.
This set offers a fine digital transfer that — even with the film’s flaws — makes it an enjoyable home entertainment experience.
Technical aspects: Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.40:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English Dolby Atmos TrueHD and 5.1 Dolby digital descriptive audio and French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles; DVD: 2.40:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital and English 5.1 descriptive audio; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus offerings include featurettes on creating the various monsters and monster mythology, behind-the-scenes looks at the various Monarch locations and the battle of the monsters, a featurette on the new “Monsterverse,” a Godzilla 2.0 featurette, deleted scenes and a commentary track.
All Is True (Blu-ray)
Release date: Aug. 13
Details: 2019, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: PG-13, thematic elements, suggestive material, language
The lowdown: It is apropos that actor-director Kenneth Branagh, who has been associated with the works of William Shakespeare on film for more than three decades, should portray the Bard of Avon in “All Is True,” a movie that looks at the life of the poet-playwright after the final curtain has rung down on his career.
In 1613, during a performance of “Henry VIII,” a mishap involving a cannon sets Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre on fire, destroying it.
The event spurs Shakespeare to return to his home in Stratford-on-Avon and the family he virtually had abandoned for years, while he was writing, producing and staging his plays in London.
If Shakespeare believed he would be welcomed with open arms, he was sorely mistaken. Instead, he is greeted with coldness, bitterness and resentment.
His wife, Anne (Judi Dench), consigns him to the guest bedroom, while his younger daughter, Judith (Kathryn Wilder), continually hurls verbal daggers at him because of his neglect.
The strength of “All Is True” lies in Branagh’s depiction of Shakespeare as a flawed man. Though proud of his accomplishments and fame, he is self-conscious about what others think of him, and he continues to fester long-held grudges against those who slurred him and his works.
He also downplays to himself the pain he has caused his family by his long absences, believing the lives he was able to give them through his success compensates for his abandonment.
Branagh, hidden behind a wig and false nose, creates a well-rounded character who, despite all his triumphs, remains unsure of his place in the world.
“All Is True” depicts an individual in the twilight of his life who was genius with words and characters, but a flop as a husband and father.
Smartly, the movies does offer some redemption. After all, it is Shakespeare, and it’s only right that a film about his later life express the sentiment that all’s well that ends well.
Critics thought so as well, giving the movie a 71 percent fresh rating at Rottentomatoes.com.
The Blu-ray’s audio and digital transfers on this historical drama are sharp and clean. Nothing interferes with the crisp dialogue.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 5.1 Dolby digital audio description track; English SDH and English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include eight behind-the-scenes featurettes that look at cast members and the story, a featurette on the making of the movie and a question-and-answer session with Branagh.
POMS (Blu-ray + DVD + digital)
Release date: Aug. 6
Details: 2019, Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Rated: PG-13, language, sexual references
The lowdown: This movie’s heart and intentions are in the right place; it’s the execution — the reliance on clichés and predictable situations — found in dozens of other movies about senior citizens — that emits a scent of ageism.
Martha, the movie’s central character, played by Diane Keaton, moves from a northern city to a retirement community is Georgia. The filmmakers make sure you know it’s the South because all the tropes of the region are tossed at Martha within the first 10 minutes of her arrival by a welcoming trio of very chatty women — one of whom you know from the outset will soon be at odds with our new arrival.
Martha simply wants to be left alone, but her pushy next-door neighbor, Sheryl (a delightfully animated Jacki Weaver) will have none of it and forces herself into Martha’s life.
One night, over drinks, Sheryl notices an old cheerleader outfit in one of Martha’s unpacked boxes. Martha tells her new friend the story behind the outfit — and, boom! They decide to form a cheerleading club.
Of course, the snobbish woman who is head of the community won’t allow it, believing it is unbecoming for women of their ages to prance around in such uniforms.
You can write most of the rest of the movie yourself.
“Poms” is a film that will appeal more to baby boomers than younger viewers.
Technical aspects: Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and English 2.0 Dolby digital DVS; English SDH and Spanish subtitles; DVD: 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital and 2.0 Dolby digital DVS; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
NCIS: Los Angeles: Season 10
Details: 2018-19, CBS DVD-Paramount Home Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A six-disc set featuring all 24 10th-season episodes of this popular “NCIS” franchise spinoff.
The season’s biggest mystery is the absence of Academy Award-winner Linda Hunt’s Hetty Lange.
Other season highlights include the long-awaited marriage of agents Kensi Blye (Daniela Rauh) and LAPD liaison detective Marty Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen) and the challenges facing the growing relationship between tech aces Eric (Barrett Foa) and Nell (Renée Felice Smith).
On duty, the team deals with various terrorist threats at home and abroad, as well as protecting a Saudi prince and working with the FBI to take down a terrorist cell within Los Angeles.
It’s all in a day’s work for agents G Kallen (Chris O’Donnell), Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) and the rest of the unit.
Technical aspects: 16:9 full-screen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include a behind-the-scenes celebration of Kensi and Deeks’ wedding, an overview of the season, a look at the various authority figures filling in for Hunt’s Hetty and Assistant Director Shay Mosley (Nia Long), a featurette with cast members reflecting on their characters and deleted and extended scenes.
Get Out Your Handkerchiefs: 40h Anniversary Restoration (Blu-ray)
Details: 1978, Cohen Film Collection
Rated: R, sexual situations, language
The lowdown: Gerard Depardieu leads the cast in director Bertrand Blier’s sweet and sardonic exploration of love, which won an Academy Award for best foreign language film.
Depardieu’s Raoul is a doting husband whose wife, Solange (Carole Laure), is constantly bored and depressed. Raoul will do anything to cheer her up, even if it means Solange takes a lover.
He chooses Stéphane (Patrick Dewaere) for the task, but even that does not awaken Solange from her doldrums.
The trio take a job running a kids’ summer camp, where Solange meets Christian (Riton Liebman), a precocious and bullied 13-year-old.
The boy is the one who finally fulfills Solange’s erotic desires.
The movie may seem shocking, but it is pretty tame by today’s movie standards.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.66:1 picture; French LPCM monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: The major extra is a new introduction to the movie.
The Vanishing Shadow (Blu-ray)
Details: 1934, VCI Entertainment-MVD Visual Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: What’s most exciting about the release of the 12-chapter Universal serial is what it portends for the future for serial lovers.
This is the first of what VCI plans to be the release of several Universal serials on Blu-ray in the coming months.
“The Vanishing Shadow” is an odd mix of science fiction, corruption and financial shenanigans involving stocks and bonds.
The chapterplay features the crackling electrical devices created by Kenneth Strickfaden that turned up in many Universal movies of the 1930s, starting with “Frankenstein” and including “Bride of Frankenstein,” MGM’s “The Mask of Fu Manchu” and Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein.”
The serial’s main plot follows inventor Stanley Stanfield (Onslow Stevens), who partners with electrical scientist Carl Van Dorn (James Durkin), to create many gadgets to aid Stanfield in his crusade against the crooked Wade Barnett (Walter Miller), who Stanfield holds responsible for his father’s death.
One of the Stanfield and Van Dorn’s collaborations is an invisibility cloak that allows Stanfield to spy on his adversaries. Van Dorn also has created a destroying ray and a clunky robot that, as you would guess, at one point runs amok.
The serial’s picture and audio tracks are not pristine, but they are a rung above most of the “gray market” releases of other early serials.
“The Vanishing Shadow” will be a pleasing addition to any serial fan’s collection.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English LPCM monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: The original theatrical trailer and liner notes are the major extras.
Aniara (Blu-ray)
Release date: Aug. 20
Details: 2018, Magnolia Home Entertainment
Rated: R, sexual content, nudity, drug use, disturbing images
The lowdown: A Swedish science fiction feature that cloaks a social commentary about us and how we treat each other and our planet.
In this futuristic drama, Earth is no longer inhabitable and mankind begins an exodus to resettle on Mars.
One of those departing ships, the Aniara, runs into a field of space debris shortly after takeoff, is badly damaged and thrown off course.
The ship is drifting out of control. The crew and passengers, realizing their dire situation, begin to contemplate their inevitable fate.
Crew member Mimaroben, known as MR, operates a sentient computer that allows humans to experience idyllic memories of their lives on Earth.
The further into space the ship drifts, the hope and sanity of passengers begins to unravel. The pressure builds on MR to keep the insanity and deadly depression of people in check.
The movie did not find a middle ground with critics, a majority, 62 percent, gave it a fresh rating at Rottentomatoes.com, while others were unimpressed.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; Swedish and English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include three behind-the-scenes featurettes and a look at the conceptual designs for the film.
The Buster Keaton Collection: Volume 3 (Blu-ray)
Release date: Aug. 20
Details: 1925-26, Cohen Film Collection
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Another wonderful and laugh-filled two-disc set featuring a pair of silent classics starring Buster Keaton, produced during the most prolific and creative time of his career.
The movies spotlighted here are “Seven Chances” (1925) and “Battling Butler” (1926).
In “Seven Chances,” Keaton plays a struggling stockbroker who learns that if he marries by 7 p.m. that even, he will inherit $7 million,
When his sweetheart refuses, he proposes to mostly everyone he sees in skirts. He then decides to advertise for a bride and discovers 500 would-be hopefuls on his trail.
This leads to a hilarious chase and a classic sequence in which Keaton must outrun and dodge an avalanche of boulders.
“Battling Butler” is a story of mistaken identity in which Keaton portrays Alfred Butler — an effete millionaire who shares his name with the heavyweight champion of the world.
Circumstances brings the two Butlers together and immediately sets them at odds, leading to a heavyweight bout like no other at Madison Square Garden.
Both films feature new scores by Robert Israel, who performed similar duty on earlier Keaton releases.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.33:1 full-screen picture; Musical score 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio.
Don’t miss: “Buster Keaton: The Daredevil” is the major bonus component.
Doublecross
Details: 1956, Juno Films Selects
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: The DVD release of this British thriller marks its American debut on disc.
The movie’s protagonist is a Cornish fisherman-poacher who is approached by a woman and two men who want him to smuggle them across the English Channel.
The fisherman is unaware that the trio are criminals who have stolen secret documents and killed a man in the process.
During the trip, he overhears the three talking about the killing. He secretly turns the boat back towards Cornwall, but he fixes the compass so it looks as if the vessel is still on course for France.
Later, he learns that his life also is in danger and works to outwit his passengers so he can make it back alive.
The film is interesting, but not as suspenseful as it had the potential to be.
Technical aspects: 1.33:1 full-screen picture; English monaural; English SDH subtitles.
SpongeBob Squarepants: The Best 200 Episodes Ever!
Details: 1999-2017, Nickelodeon-Paramount Home Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This collection, featuring 20 fun years, will thrill young fans of the animated antics of SpongeBob Squarepants and his pals from Bikini Bottom.
If nothing else, the set can give you some alone time while your kids enjoy the silly underwater adventures with such episodes as “Pickles,” “Rock Bottom,” “Chocolate with Nuts” and “Ripped Pants.”
You also can partake of some Krusty Krab pizza delivery, watch the Salty Spitoon and ride the Fiery Fist O’ Pain at Glove World.
Just do the math: 4,533 minutes — that’s more than 75 hours — of silly SponegBob and friends to make you laugh — or groan.
Technical aspects: 1.33:1 full-screen picture; English Dolby digital stereo.
Don’t miss: The major extra is a poster created specifically for San Diego Comic-Con features all 760 characters and creatures that have appeared in the series.
Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
Back of the Net (Monarch Home Entertainment)
Child’s Play (Juno Films Select)
Conflict of Wings (Juno Films)
Into the Badlands: The Complete Third Season (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Killers Anonymous (Blu-ray + digital download) (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Ladyworld (Cleopatra Entertainment)
Miss Arizona (Cinedigm)
Pixelia (IndiePix Films)
Skateboard (Liberation Hall)
Canal Street (Cinedigm, Sept. 1)
FOR KIDS
Blaze and the Monster Machines: Ninja Blaze (Nickelodeon-Paramount Home Entertainment)
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
5B (Verizon Media)
Aladdin (live action) (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment)
Aladdin (animated version) (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment)
Itsy Bitsy (Shout! Studios, Aug. 30)
Keep Faith: Series 2 (Acorn TV, Aug. 30)
My Life is Murder, Episode 6 (Acorn TV, Sept. 2)
Neil Dudgeon’s Top Ten (Acorn TV, Sept. 2)
Wreckers (Acorn TV, Sept. 2)
Coming next week: Ma
I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook. My movie reviews also can be found at Rottentomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.