New to View: Dec. 15
By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, Dec. 15, unless otherwise noted:
Tenet (4K UHD + Blu-ray + digital)
Details: 2020, Warner Home Entertainment
Rated: PG-13, intense violence and action sequences, suggestive references, language
The lowdown: John David Washington stars as the Protagonist in filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s thriller about a secret agent who goes on a time-bending mission to prevent World War III.
His only clue — the word Tenet.
Writer-director Nolan’s latest excursion into jaw-dropping filmmaking offers some worthy moments, but it also leaves you scratching your head about what is really going on.
The movie is an entertaining funhouse ride as long as you don’t try to delve too deeply into what it’s all about.
Critics seemed to enjoy the movie, giving it a 71 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
The 4K transfer is a plus and complements the viewing experience.
Technical aspects: 4K: 2160p UHD, 2.2:1 & 1.78:1 (IMAX sequences) & 16:9 (enhanced) widescreen picture; English and French 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and English descriptive audio, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition 2.2:1 & 1.78:1 (IMAX sequences) & 16:9 (enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and English descriptive audio, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: A comprehensive featurette on the making of the movie with cast members and filmmakers.
Beasts Clawing at Straws (Blu-ray)
Details: 2020, Artsploitation Films
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A group of hard-luck lowlifes begin a search for a Louis Vuitton bag filled with money in this dark noirish Korean crime thriller.
The lives of a group of gangsters, a greasy cop, a greedy gym attendant, a prostitute, her wife-beating husband, her brutal boss and her clueless boyfriend all plot and connive to get their hands on the bag.
The movie is a tantalizing mixture of the Coen brothers, Tarantino and a dash of Hitchcock, with its own twists and turns contrived by writer-director Kim Yong Hoon.
The situations may not be totally original, but it is amusing and rewarding.
The film received a 100 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; Korean 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
The Wolf of Snow Hollow (Blu-ray + digital)
Details: 2020, Warner Home Video
Rated: R, bloody images, graphic violence, language, drug use
The lowdown: A full moon means death to some in a small mountain town.
Every cycle, another body is found and a local officer, struggling as a single dad with a teenage daughter and caring for an ailing father, must remind himself that werewolves a merely a myth — or are there?
Writer-director Jim Cummings’ horror outing is more about paranoia and personal demons than things that go bump in the night.
The film is an atmospheric thriller with some quirky, awkward and funny moments. It holds together very well, as a vast majority of critics can attest, since they gave the movie an 88 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and English descriptive audio; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus options include a look at the impetus for the movie, a featurette on working with Cummings, a featurette on the movie’s story and its genre and a look at the design of the werewolf.
2020 World Series Champions: Los Angeles Dodgers (Blu-ray + DVD)
Release date: Dec. 8
Details: 2020, Shout! Factory
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: The Los Angeles Dodgers ended their 32-year drought without a World Series victory by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in an exciting six-game series.
The two-disc set includes 90 minutes of highlights from all six games, narrated by the legendary Vin Scully.
Dodger fans will enjoy recapturing the significant moments that saw their team win their first Major League championship since 1988.
Technical aspects: Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles; DVD: 1.78:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Supplemental options include season highlights, clinching moments and a “How They Got There” featurette.
Audrey (Blu-ray)
Details: 2020, Salon Pictures-ShineHouse Group
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: Fans of Audrey Hepburn will embrace this documentary about the iconic star.
The movie examines her life, her career, her activism and her philanthropy.
Hepburn grew up in Holland under Nazi occupation. She was abandoned by her father and malnourished. She faced a life-long struggle dealing with the traumas of her childhood and her thwarted dreams of becoming a ballet dancer.
Her movie career flourished. At 24, she won a best actress Academy Award for “Roman Holiday.” Her other films included such hits as “Sabrina,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “The Nun’s Story,” “Charade” and “My Fair Lady.”
Her personal life was a bit tumultuous, including a marriage to actor Mel Ferrer, whom she later divorced.
She found solace as a global ambassador for UNICEF, to which she dedicated many hours later in her life.
The film may seem a bit fawning, but it does cover the essentials of this star who touched the hearts of many.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 (16×9 enhanced) widescreen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio LPCM.
The Curse of Frankenstein: Two-Disc Special Edition (Blu-ray)
Details: 1957, Warner Archive Collection
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This is the movie that laid the foundation for the Hammer House of Horrors.
The studio’s first foray into Gothic horror was this very loose adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel.
Hammer executives decided to take a different track from Universal, which had its creature meeting up with various offspring of its creator.
Instead, Hammer decided the focus of the series would be Peter Cushing’s Dr. Frankenstein and his various attempts — all of which failed — to create life.
Christopher Lee played the unfortunate creature in this production. Like Cushing, Lee would go on to make many more memorable features at Hammer, playing Dracula and the Mummy, among his various characterizations.
This initial feature finds young Frankenstein and his tutor, Paul Krempe, experimenting with creating life. When Frankenstein wants to conduct human experiments, Krempe refuses to help.
The movie’s storyline varies wildly from the novel, but most of the earlier adaptations chose their own path, as well.
The film is told in flashback with Frankenstein in prison awaiting execution for murder. He survives, of course, giving Hammer free rein to create several sequels.
The release is a made-on-demand Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection and can be ordered at www.wb.com/warnerarchive or other Internet sellers.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 open-matte format and 1.85:1 and 1.66:1 widescreen versions; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a commentary track by film historians Steve Haberman and Constantine Nasr and four featurettes — “The Resurrection Men: Hammer, Frankenstein and the Rebirth of the Horror Film,” “Hideous Progeny: The Curse of Frankenstein and the English Gothic Tradition,” “Torrents of Light: The Art of Jack Asher” and “Diabolus in Musica: James Bernard and the Sound of Hammer Horror.”
Diary of a Mad Housewife (Blu-ray)
Details: 1970, Kino Lorber
Rated: R, language, sexual situations
The lowdown: Carrie Snodgress earned a best actress Academy Award nomination for her performance as Tina, a bored and dissatisfied housewife-mother who, verbally abused by her social-climbing lawyer husband, portrayed by Richard Benjamin, takes up with a narcissistic writer, played by Frank Langella, who also disappoints her.
The movie, directed by Frank Perry with a screenplay by his wife, Eleanor, based on the book by Sue Kaufman, came on the cusp of the feminist movement.
This social satire-black comedy feature may seem somewhat tame by today’s standards, but it was forward thinking for its time as it was told totally from Tina’s perspective.
This release is the 95-minute version Perry prepared for television, not the original 104-minute version.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary track is the main bonus component.
Ladybug Ladybug (Blu-ray)
Details: 1963, Kino Lorber
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: The husband-and-wife team of Frank and Eleanor Perry are behind this psychological drama depicting the impact of the Cold War and the threat of nuclear annihilation on a group of elementary schoolchildren and their teachers.
During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, the staff and students at the school are thrown into a panic when the civil defense alarm sirens begin to sound, warning of an imminent nuclear attack.
The students are divided into groups with a teacher leading each one. Mrs. Andrews (Nancy Marchand), the sixth-grade teacher, leads her group to the home of a student whose family has a bomb shelter.
When the children gain access to the shelter, one girl is excluded because she is told there is not enough room. That child hides in an abandoned old refrigerator.
When a boy from the shelter goes to look for her, he hears a loud whining noise above and sees the shadow of a plane overhead. He begins to panic and repeatedly yells “Stop,” as the picture fades.
This black-and-white feature marked the film debut of Marchand, William Daniels, who plays the school principal, and Estelle Parsons.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary track is the sole extra.
Puzzle of a Downfall Child (Blu-ray)
Details: 1970, Kino Lorber
Rated: R, sexual situations, language
The lowdown: Faye Dunaway stars as former fashion model Lou Andreas Sand, who looks back on her life and the choices — many ill-advised — that she made.
The film was directed by former fashion photographer Jerry Schatzberg. It is a rather pretentious and slow outing with a very thin plot to hang its story.
Barry Primus costars as Lou’s friend, a former fashion photographer turned director, and Roy Scheider is Mark, her former lover. Others in the cast include Viveca Lindfors and Barry Morse.
The movie’s main appeal probably will be to fans of Dunaway.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary track, an interview with Schatzberg, an alternate studio-edit opening and a Trailer from Hell are the extras.
Bodies, Rest & Motion (Blu-ray)
Details: 1993, Kino Lorber
Rated: R, language, sexual situations, drug use
The lowdown: An OK movie about twentysomething friends who explore commitment, desire and the future.
The cast includes Phoebe Cates, Bridget Fonda, Tim Roth and Eric Stoltz, who also was one of the movie’s producers.
Roth plays Nick, a TV salesman who, fired from his job, tells his girlfriend, Beth (Fonda), that he wants them to move to Butte, Montana. Later, Nick leaves without her.
Beth meets Sid (Stoltz), a house painter, who comes to Beth’s home so he can paint it for its next tenants.
Sid, Beth and her best friend Carol (Cates), all get stoned and hang out.
The movie is a rather tepid romantic comedy that provides some spark but tries too hard to make some sort of generational statement.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus options include new introductions by director Michael Steinberg and screenwriter Roger Hedden; a commentary track with Steinberg, Stoltz and Hedden; “Nightwatch,” a short film directed by Steinberg; and behind-the-scenes footage and a featurette.
Mutiny (Blu-ray)
Details: 1952, VCI Entertainment-MVD Visual Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This potboiler marks the directorial return of director Edward Dmytryk after his run-in with the House Un-American Activities Committee and the Hollywood blacklist.
The movie, set during the time of the War of 1812, centers on an American naval captain, played by Mark Stevens, whose ship is carrying $10 million gold bullion loaned to the United States by France to aid its war effort. The captain must break through a British blockade to get the gold safely to the United States.
He is undermined by his first mate, a former captain played by Patric Knowles, who is influenced by a greedy seductress, portrayed by Angela Lansbury, to plot a mutiny and take the gold.
The movie, which features a score by Dimitri Tiomkin, is very melodramatic and features a so-so transfer.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English LPCM monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a Warner Pathe newsreel and a Popeye cartoon.
Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
Alone (Blu-ray & digital & VOD) (Magnolia Home Entertainment)
Army of One (DVD & digital & VOD) (Uncork’d Entertainment)
The Beach House (Blu-ray & DVD) (RLJE Films)
The Curse of Hobbes House (DVD & digital & VOD) (4Digital Media)
The Dark and the Wicked (Blu-ray & DVD) (RLJE Films)
Dragon Slayers (DVD & digital & VOD) (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Frau Stern (DVD) (Omnibus Entertainment)
The Mark of the Bell Witch (Blu-ray & DVD & digital) (Small Town Monsters)
My German Friend (DVD) (Corinth Films)
The Opening Act (Blu-ray & DVD) (RLJE Films)
Paintball Massacre (DVD & digital) (Uncork’d Entertainment)
Trompie (DVD) (IndiePix Films)
Upondo & Nkinsela (DVD) (IndiePix Films)
Where I Belong (DVD) (Corinth Films)
White Riot (DVD) (Film Movement)
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
Breaking Surface (Doppelganger Releasing)
The Last Sermon (Gravitas Ventures)
Lupin III: The First (GKids-Shout! Factory)
Reversion (Level 33 Entertainment)
The War With Grandpa (Universal Studios Home Entertainment)
The Commons: Episode 3 (Sundance Now, Dec. 17)
Riviera: Season 3, Episode 7 (Sundance Now, Dec. 17)
Total Control: Episode 1 (Sundance Now, Dec. 17)
Greenland (STX Films)
Max Cloud (Well Go USA Entertainment, Dec. 18)
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life (Sundance Now, Dec. 21)
My Enemy, My Brother (Sundance Now, Dec. 21)
The Man Who Shot New York (Sundance Now, Dec. 21)
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 at ReelBob or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.