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Noteworthy DVDs released 12/02/08
Pick of the week:
“Casablanca” (Warner Bros.): “Ultimate Collector’s Editions” and the like can be silly, knick-knack-plagued affairs, but it’s hard not to be forgiving of this one — which, in addition to unnecessary cute stuff like a luggage tag and passport wallet sporting the film’s logo, includes reproduced lobby cards and inter-studio memos and, most important, lets the classic romance’s die-hard admirers have it on their choice of standard or Blu-ray disc.
Other top picks:
“The Day the Earth Stood Still” (1951) (Fox) & “Assault on Precinct 13” (1976) (Image): Two unlikely subjects for high-definition — a B&W icon of science fiction and a Hawksian standoff from one-man pulp factory John Carpenter — get the Blu-ray treatment, and fans will rejoice. With Gort arriving on Blu-ray, who needs interstellar visitations from Keanu Reeves?
“Frost/Nixon: The Watergate Interviews” (Liberation) & “Nixon” (Warner): Just in time for all the “Frost/Nixon” moviegoers who want to see the source material comes a DVD of the original broadcast interview. If that’s not enough for you, Oliver Stone’s recently reissued biopic offers the disgraced president a slice of humanity.
“Saturday Night Live” Season 4 (Universal): The first three boxes of classic SNL have been a treasure trove of long-ago-memorized skits and hilarious surprises; there’s more to come before the series’s first slump.
“The Shawshank Redemption”(Warner Bros.): Users of IMDB have voted it the best film of all time. That’s absurd, but there’s no denying this Stephen King adaptation is popular enough to justify a fancy reissue.
New on Blu-Ray:
“Austin Powers Collection” (New Line); “Home Alone,” “Jingle All the Way,” “The X-Files: Fight The Future” (Fox); “La Femme Nikita,” “The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc,” “Stranger Than Fiction” (Sony); “The Contract,” “Day of the Dead” (2007) (First Look)
Fresh from the multiplex:
“The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” (Walt Disney); “Fly Me to the Moon” (Summit); “The Longshots” (Weinstein Co.); “Wanted” (Universal); “Step Brothers” (Sony); “The X-Files: I Want To Believe” (Fox)
Recent music-related titles:
“Stax: Respect Yourself/Stax-Volt Revue” (Concord); “Cash for Kenya,” a 1991 Johnny Cash benefit concert (Mercury); “Sex Pistols: There’ll Always be an England” (Rhino); “Parliament/Funkadelic: Live 1976” (Shout Factory); “Planet B-Boy” (Arts Alliance); “Words for the Dying,” about John Cale sessions produced by Brian Eno (Provocateur); “Inside Bob Dylan’s Jesus Years” (MVD); “Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell” (Plexifilm); “Population: 1,” starring The Screamers’ Tomata Du Plenty; “Focus: The Filmstrips of Brian Dewan” (Bright Red Rocket); “Ken Russell at the BBC,” a collection of eccentric portraits of Debussy, Elgar, Isadora Duncan and others.
Documentaries:
“A Galaxy Far, Far, Away” (Cinevolve); “The World Within: C.G. Jung In His Own Words” (Kino); “I, Claudius: The Epic That Never Was” (Image)
Best of TV:
“Hey There, It’s Yogi Bear!,” The Man Called Flintstone,” “Metalocalypse” Season 2 (Warner Bros.); “Law & Order” Season 6 (Universal)
From the Arthouse:
“My Father My Lord” (Kino)
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