New to View: May 3
By Bob Bloom
The following titles are being released on Tuesday, May 3, unless otherwise noted:
Turning Red (Blu-ray + DVD + digital)
Details: 2022, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Rated: PG, language, thematic material, suggestive content
The lowdown: The trials and tribulations of puberty and adolescence — and the strain on parents who must deal with them — are the foundation of this delightful Pixar animated feature.
Mei Lee is a confident, dorky 13-year-old torn between being her mother’s dutiful daughter and the challenges of being a teenager. It doesn’t help that her overbearing mother, Ming, is always hovering nearby.
Compounding Mei Lee’s life is the changes that occur when she gets too excited — she “poofs” into a giant red panda.
While tweens and teens will most likely enjoy the movie, it seems at times it is aimed at their parents — to reassure them and remind them that they were once adolescents themselves.
The movie charmed an impressive majority of critics, who awarded it a 94 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Technical aspects: Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, 5.1 DTS-HDHR, 2.0 descriptive audio and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH and Spanish subtitles; DVD: 1.85:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby digital, 2.0 descriptive audio and Spanish 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus materials include a look at the shower-scene innovation that helped create one of the movie’s funniest scenes; a look at the creation of the 4*TOWN group, their songs and choreography; a look at creating the characters’ colorful and expressive looks and movements; a commentary track; and deleted scenes.
Blacklight (Blu-ray + DVD + digital)
Details: 2022, Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Rated: PG-13, strong violence, action, language
The lowdown: At 69, Liam Neeson is still going strong righting wrongs, uncovering conspiracy and putting down bad guys.
He’s the 21st century’s Charles Bronson. In “Blacklight,” Neeson portrays Travis Block, a freelance government fixer who lives in the shadows, whose assignments have included extracting other agents from deep-cover operations.
When Block discovers that a covert program called Operation Unity is killing ordinary people for reasons known only to Block’s boss, FBI chief Gabriel Robinson (Aidan Quinn), he seeks help from a journalist, Mira Jones (Emmy Raver-Lampman), to expose the operation.
But Block’s past catches up with him when his daughter and granddaughter are threatened. So, he sets out to rescue the people he loves, no matter how many bodies he needs to eliminate to do so.
The movie seems like a series of cliches from previous Neeson movies in which he uncovers conspiracies or devious plots, killing dozens until he wins the day.
Fans of Neeson who never tire of his skills will most likely enjoy his latest outing.
Technical aspects: Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 2.39:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH and Spanish subtitles; DVD: 2.39:1 anamorphic widescreen picture; English 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby digital; English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette and a look at the filming of the movie.
Singin’ in the Rain: 70th Anniversary Edition (4K UHD + Blu-ray + digital)
Release date: April 26
Details: 1952, Warner Home Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: The film, a lovingly comedic look at the period in which movies transformed from silent to sound features, is considered by many — including myself — as the greatest musical ever produced.
No matter how many times you view it, it remains lively, infectious and entertaining.
Gene Kelly stars — and co-directed with Stanley Donen — as silent-screen star Don Lockwood who, along with his leading lady, Lina Lamont (a hilarious Jean Hagen), must deal with the challenges of turning their disastrous first sound effort into a hit musical.
Debbie Reynolds as Lockwood’s love interest and Donald O’Connor is light on his feet as Lockwood’s best friend.
“Singin’ in the Rain” is a timeless production that never lets you down.
The 4K UHD is impressive. The two-disc set’s main drawback is that is lacks some of the extras that were included in the extravagant 60th anniversary ultimate collector’s edition.
But if the movie is your main focus, you cannot go wrong with this new edition.
Technical aspects: 4K UHD: 2160p 4K ultra high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and French and Spanish Dolby digital monaural; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles; Blu-ray: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and French and Spanish Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus features include an archival commentary track with Reynolds, O’Connor, costars Cyd Charisse and Kathleen Freeman, Donen, screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green as well as filmmaker Buz Luhrmann and film historian-author Rudy Behlmer; a “ ‘Singin’ in the Rain’: Raining on a New Generation” featurette and a jump-to-song feature.
Constantine: The House of Mystery (DC Showcase Animated Shorts) (Blu-ray + digital)
Details: 2022, Warner Home Entertainment
Rated: R, bloody violence
The lowdown: This Constantine short headlines a package of four DC animated shorts.
In “The House of Mystery,” John Constantine finds himself in the House of Mystery. He was imprisoned there after rewriting time and preventing the Apokolips War.
Constantine does not understand his confinement. As he explores the various labyrinths of the House, he finds Zatanna and many friends, but each meeting ends in Constantine’s death.
Wanting to break the endless cycle of his own demise, Constantine begins to unravel the path that led to his confinement.
The question is, can he outwit his captor and escape or is he doomed to serve an eternal sentence?
The other three shorts are “Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth!,” which features the last civilized teenage boy on a post-apocalyptic Earth ruled by talking animals in an adventure dealing with a gorilla cult; “The Losers,” centering on a rag-tag team of World War II outcasts, who find themselves marooned on a South Pacific island overrun with dinosaurs; and “Blue Beetle,” in which the Silver Age hero is back, teaming up with Captain Atom, The Question and Nightshade to battle Doctor Spectro.”
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.78:1 widescreen picture; English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and French 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.
Don’t miss: The main extra is a “DC Showcase: One Story at a Time” featurette.
The Good Fight: Season Five (DVD)
Details: 2021, CBS DVD-Paramount Home Entertainment
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A three-disc set offers all 10 fifth-season episodes of this series that airs on Paramount+, starring Christine Baranski.
The season finds Baranski’s Diane questioning whether it is appropriate for her to help run an African-American law firm with Liz (Audra McDonald), when the firm loses two top lawyers.
In another plot arc, Marissa (Sarah Steele) and the firm become entangled with Hal Wackner (Mandy Patinkin), who decides to open his own courtroom in the back of a Chicago copy shop.
The series offers drama, surprises and a few light moments.
Guest stars include Wanda Sykes and Wayne Brady.
Technical aspects: 16:9 widescreen picture; English 5.1 Dolby digital; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: A gag reel and deleted scenes comprise the bonus offerings.
“Francis the Talking Mule 7-Film Collection” (Blu-ray)
Details: 1950-56, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: When — and if — you think of talking animals, you may consider Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Daffy Duck, Sylvester the cat or Tweety bird.
Francis the talking mule was a whole different animal. (Sorry, I couldn’t help it!)
Between 1950 and 1956, the talking mule, voiced by the distinctive vocals of Chill Wills, was featured in seven movies from Universal-International. The movies, for reasons unexplained, were popular with audiences.
The first six, starring Donald O’Connor as Peter Stirling, involves Stirling getting into various misadventures in and out of various military services, extracting himself with the help of Francis.
The movies are “Francis” (1950), in which Army officer Stirling tries to explain that a talking mule rescued him from behind enemy lines. The movie co-starred Patricia Medina, ZaSu Pitts and a young Tony Curtis.
That was followed by “Francis Goes to the Races” (1951); “Francis Goes to West Point” (1952), which finds Stirling back in uniform as a West Point cadet; “Francis Covers the Big Town” (1953), in which Stirling as a New York newspaperman tangles with gangsters; “Francis Joins the WACS” (1954), which send Stirling into the Women’s Army Corps; and “Francis in the Navy” (1955), O’Connor’s last foray with his four-legged friend.
The last movie, “Francs in the Haunted House” (1956) stars Mickey Rooney as David Prescott, with Paul Frees now the voice of Francis.
Among other who costarred in the series are David Janssen, Paul Cavanagh, Julie Adams, Mamie Van Doren, Jim Backus and, in his first credited role, Clint Eastwood.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 (“Francis,” “Francis Goes to the Races,” “Francis Goes to West Point,” “Francis Covers the Big Town”), 2.00:1 widescreen picture (“Francis Joins the WACS,” “Francis in the Navy”), 1.85:1 widescreen picture (“Francis in the Haunted House”); English DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: Bonus components include commentary on six of the movies; only “Francis in the Haunted House” does not feature a commentary.
Dementia (Blu-ray)
Release date: April 26
Details: 1953, Cohen Film Collection-Kino Lorber
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: A young woman is haunted by the horrors of her youth. The experiences transformed her into — OMG! — a stiletto-wielding, man-hating beatnik!
The movie, aided by a sci-fi-like score by George Antheil, follows “Gamin” (Adrienne Bennett) on her surreal sleepwalk through a B-movie hell featuring prostitutes, pimps and would-be molesters.
The film is set in a nightmarish, nighttime landscape that mixes dream imagery with film-noir stylings.
Two years after the movie’s original release, a narration track of sinister psychobabble (spoken in a diabolical voice by Ed McMahon, yes, THAT, Ed McMahon) was added. And the film’s title was changed to the more sensational and inaccurate “Daughter of Horror.”
The Blu-ray provides the original cut of “Dementia” and the complete “Daughter of Horror.”
Experience one, or both.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.37:1 full-screen picture; English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio monaural; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: The complete feature recut and re-release of “Daughter of Horror” is the main extra.
Breakout (Blu-ray)
Release date: April 26
Details: 1975, Kino Lorber Studio Classics
Rated: PG
The lowdown: Charles Bronson stars as pilot Nick Colton who is hired by Ann Wagner (Jill Ireland), the wife of Jay Wagner (Robert Duvall), who, if convicted of murder, faces 28 years in a Mexican prison.
Wagner was framed by his scheming grandfather, played by John Huston.
Colton and his partners, Hawk (Randy Quaid) and Myrna (Sheree North), to help Wagner escape.
The film’s finale features a desperate helicopter raid that will either free Wagner or cost everyone their lives.
The movie will appeal mostly to Bronson fans, who enjoy his jaw-breaking antics.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 2.35:1 widescreen picture; English DTS-HD Master Audio; English SDH subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary track is the main extra.
Sacco & Vanzetti (Blu-ray)
Details: 1971, Kino Lorber
Rated: Not rated
The lowdown: This Italian feature tells the story of the two Italian immigrants, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, known for their anarchist beliefs, who are accused of robbery and murder in 1920 Boston.
They are tried not so much on evidence, but on their political beliefs. Defense attorney Fred Moore is convinced of their innocence.
But as anti-radical and anti-immigrant sentiments run high in the city, getting the men a fair trial is difficult.
The movie, told in a docudrama style, tells of one of the most polarizing trials in U.S. history. The movie features a memorable score by Ennio Morricone, with contributions by folk legend Joan Baez.
Sacco and Vanzetti were convicted and executed in what today has become known as a flagrant miscarriage of justice.
The film features Riccardo Cucciolla as Sacco, Gian Marie Volonte as Vanzetti, Milo O’Shea as Moore as well as Cyril Cusack, Geoffrey Keen, William Prince and Claude Mann.
Technical aspects: 1080p high definition, 1.85:1 widescreen picture; Italian and English DTS-HD Master Audio; English subtitles.
Don’t miss: A commentary track by filmmaker Alex Cox is the major extra.
Other titles being released on Tuesday, unless otherwise indicated:
Bloody Oranges (DVD) (Dark Star Pictures)
The Boys in the Red Hats (DVD & digital) (DeskPop Entertainment-Shark Dog Films)
Dinosaur World (Blu-ray & DVD & digital) (Shout! Studios-Shout! Factory)
How They Got Over (DVD & streaming) (First Run Features)
Lovecut (DVD) (Omnibus Entertainment)
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, STREAMING or VOD
Belle (Shout! Factory-GKids)
Breath (Uncork’d Entertainment)
The Girl from Plainville: Episode 8 (Hulu)
In a New York Minute (Gravitas Ventures)
Inbetween Girl (Utopia)
The Rose Maker (Music Box Films)
MAY 6
Escape the Field (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Jane by Charlotte (Utopia)
Randy Rhoads: Reflections of a Guitar Icon (VMI)
Tehran: Season 2: Episodes 1 & 2 (Apple TV+)
The Wilds: Season 2 (Amazon Prime)
MAY 9
Candy (Hulu)
I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, 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.