DVD & BLU-RAY PICKS
Raging Bull (20th Century Fox Home Ent.): Martin Scorsese’s classic 1980 biopic of Jake La Motta is a brilliant study of a flawed man in a ruthless profession.
In the lead role Robert De Niro gives one of the greatest screen performances in cinema history and Scorsese pulls out all the stops with stunning contributions by cinematographer Michael Chapman and editor Thelma Schoonmaker.
A word of warning though, as this is essentially the same Blu-ray that came out in February 2009, featuring the same HD transfer and lossless audio track, but with four new featurettes on the bonus materials.
If you don’t own the film, it is an essential purchase – but if you do, I’m not sure if the added extras are enough to justify buying it again. [Read the full review here]
All About Eve (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment): The classic 1950 film about Broadway betrayal, is the story of an aspiring actress named Eve (Anne Baxter) who gradually usurps her idol Margo Channing (Bette Davies) and disrupts the lives of Margo’s director boyfriend (Gary Merrill), her playwright (Hugh Marlowe) and his wife (Celeste Holm).
Only the cynical drama critic (George Sanders) sees through Eve, admiring her audacity and pattern of deceit. Thelma Ritter and Marilyn Monroe co-star in this brilliantly scripted classic, which won six Academy Awards and received the most nominations (fourteen) in film history.
The film still holds up remarkably well, with the script featuring some sparkling one liners, and the HD transfer is excellent.
Extras are as follows:
- Audio Commentary by Celeste Holm, Ken Geist – Author/Film Biographer; Christopher Mankiewicz (Director’s Son)
- Audio Commentary by Sam Staggs – Author/Film Historian
- Isolated Audio Track – Musical Score in DTS
- “MovieTone News: 1951 Academy Awards Honor Best Film (2:30 480i)
- Achievements, 1951 Hollywood Attends Gala Premiere of “All About Eve (1:57 480i),” Holiday Magazine Awards (2:50 480i), Look Magazine Awards” (1:55 480i)
- “AMC Backstory: ALL ABOUT EVE” (24:20 480i)
- Vintage Bette Davis promotion (1:20 480i)
- Vintage Anne Baxter promotion (1:27 480i)
- Theatrical trailer (3:08 480i)
- Documentaries –
- “Joseph L. Mankiewicz: A Personal Journey” (25:59 480i)
- “The Real Eve” (18:11 480i)
- “Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz” (26:01 480i)
- “The Secret of Sarah Siddons” (7:05 480i)
- 26 -page Digibook with essays and photos
ALSO OUT
Airwolf: The Movie (Fabulous Films) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Alpha and Omega (Lionsgate UK) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Burke and Hare (EV) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Cyrus (20th Century Fox Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Despicable Me (Universal Pictures) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Dinosaurs – Giants of Patagonia (BPDP) [Blu-ray / with 3D Version]
Game of Death (Optimum Home Entertainment) [Blu-ray / Normal]
High Hopes (Fabulous Films) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Human Planet (2 Entertain) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Operation Endgame (Anchor Bay Entertainment UK) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Primeval: The Complete Series 4 (2 Entertain) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Rain Man (20th Century Fox Home Ent.) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Sympathy for the Devil (Fabulous Films) [Blu-ray / Normal]
The Buddy Holly Story (Fabulous Films) [Blu-ray / Normal]
Vamp (Arrow Video) [Blu-ray / Normal]
When Saturday Comes (Fabulous Films) [Blu-ray / Normal]