What a great start to the year. We’ve got hot stars, big hit TV shows, an indie horror flick that you really must see, an Oscar winner, and two from a legend. Pick your favorites to start 2014. Here’s how I’d rank ‘em…
We Are What We Are
Photo credit: eOne
“We Are What We Are”
Jim Mickle’s Sundance hit is a dark, twisted gem, a film that plays more like a Gothic thriller than a modern horror flick. It’s a wonderful reimagining of the Mexican 2010 film that recasts the Parker clan as a family on the edge of collapse after the matriarch dies in a storm. Struggling to keep their family together, they face the inevitable decay of their disgusting traditions. Mickle takes a giant leap forward with this genre hit, finding a visual sense that has propelled him to the front of the list of young horror directors. His newest, “Cold in July,” premieres in competition at The Sundance Film Festival next week. See this one first.
From my Sundance coverage: “Mickle shows an amazing eye for composition, shooting large chunks of “We Are” with no dialogue, allowing visual storytelling to, pardon the pun, set the table for what’s to come. And when “We Are What We Are” does get to the inevitable chaos, Mickle pulls no punches, staging a climax that Sundance will never forget.”
Synopsis:
The Parkers, a seemingly wholesome and benevolent family, keep to themselves, and for good reason. As they struggle to keep their ancestral customs intact, local authorities begin to uncover clues that bring them closer to the secret that they have held closely for so many years.
Special Features:
o An Acquired Taste: The Making Of We Are What We Are
o Interviews With Director Jim Mickle, Bill Sage and Julia Garner
o Audio Commentary With Cast & Crew
Where to Watch: Blu-ray, DVD, Vudu, Amazon Instant Streaming, iTunes
The Killing Fields
Photo credit: Warner Brothers
“The Killing Fields”
The latest in the line of WB films released in hardcover book editions is Roland Joffe’s multiple Oscar winner, one of the most harrowing war films ever made. Too little is known or reported about the Cambodian uprising in the ’70s and this film pulls no punches in its representation if truly unimaginable horror. The film hasn’t held up quite as well as some of its ’80s peers but it’s still a strong drama that surely has fans that will appreciate the loving treatment given to it by Warner Bros., including a multi-page booklet housed in a well-designed hardcover case.
Synopsis:
Nominated for 7 Academy Awards (including Best Picture) and the winner of 3, The Killing Fields is an epic true story of friendship and survival marking its long-awaited hi-def debut on a visually stunning, emotionally powerful Blu-ray. Sam Waterstone plays a correspondent who coverage of Cambodia’s 1975 Khmer Rouge uprising entraps him and other journalists. Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner Dr. Haing S. Ngor - like the hero he plays, a survivor of the “killing fields” - is the reporter’s aide and friend who saves the journalists from execution, but who is later sentenced to labor camps, enduring starvation, torture and the constant threat of death. This Deluxe 30th Anniversary Edition includes a premium 36 page book filled with rare photos, trivia, production history and more.
Special Features:
o Commentary by Director Roland Joffe
o Theatrical Trailer
Where to Watch: Blu-ray
Hail Mary
Photo credit: Cohen Media Group
Cohen Media Group made waves in 2013 with a fascinating series of arthouse hits and foreign films that were given HD upgrades in ways typically reserved for The Criterion Collection. They have started 2014 without missing a beat, pulling two controversial Jean-Luc Godard films from the archives and upgrading them with not just Blu-ray transfers but great, rare special features.
“For Ever Mozart”
Synopsis:
Jean-Luc Goddard’s densely packed rumination on the need to create order and beauty in the world ruled by chaos is divided into four distinct but tangentially related stories, including the attempts by a young group of idealists to stage a play in war-torn Sarajevo and an elderly director’s efforts to complete his film.
Special Features:
o Feature Length Audio Commentary By Senior Programmer For TIFF, Cinematheque and Film Critic James Quandt
o Booklet Essay By Critic/Author Fergus Daly and Hal Hartley Interview With Jean-Luc Goddard
o 2013 Re-Release Trailer
Where to Watch: Blu-ray
“Hail Mary”
Synopsis:
One of the most controversial films of all time by one of the world’s most provocative directors. Hail Mary is Jean-Luc Godard’s retelling of the story of the virgin birth, transposed to modern day and filled with the mundane aspects of any teenage girl’s life. Punctuated by beautiful cinematography and a lush score, it is a surprisingly heartfelt and reverential film by a master filmmaker.
The short The Book Of Mary was originally released with the feature as a companion piece. Directed by long0time Godard collaborator Anne-Marie Mieville, it tells the story of the break-up of a marriage as seen through the eyes of the couple’s young daughter.
Special Features:
o Short Film The Book Of Mary
o Notes On Hail Mary, Jean-Luc Godard’s Video Notebook
o Feature Length Audio Commentary By Director Hal Hartley And Museum Of The Moving Image Chief Curator David Schwartz
o Booklet Essays By Film Critic David Sterritt and Boston University Lecturer Charles Warren
o Trailers
Where to Watch: Blu-ray
I’m So Excited
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Classics
“I’m So Excited”
I’ll be brief since I love Pedro Almodovar and am a little biased — “Minor Pedro” is still worth your time. Should you see “Talk to Her,” “All About my Mother,” “Volver,” and others first? Hell yes. But then get around to this fascinating misfire.
Synopsis:
A very varied group of people are in a precarious situation aboard a plane flying to Mexico City. A technical failure (a kind of justifiable negligence, even though it sounds contradictory, but that’s what human actions are) has endangered the lives of the passengers on Peninsula Flight 2549. The pilots, hardened, experienced professionals are striving, along with their colleagues in the Control Center, to find a solution. The flight attendants and the chief steward are atypical, baroque characters who, in the face of danger, try to forget their own personal problems and devote themselves body and soul to the task of making the flight as enjoyable as possible for the passengers, while they wait for a solution. Life in the clouds is as complicated as it is at ground level, and for the same reasons, which could be summarized in two: sex and death. The travelers in Business Class consist of a pair of newlyweds, partygoers, worn out by their wedding celebration; a financier and embezzler; unscrupulous in business but also a father afflicted by his daughter’s estrangement; an inveterate Don Juan with an uneasy conscience who is trying to say goodbye to one of his women (girlfriends); a rural psychic; a queen of the gossip magazines and a Mexican with an important secret. Each of them has a project in Mexico City, either to work or to escape. They all have some kind of secret, not just the Mexican. Their defenselessness in the face of danger provokes a general catharsis among the passengers and the crew, and this ends up becoming the best way to escape from the idea of death. This catharsis, developed in the tone of a riotous, moral comedy, fills the time with sensational confessions that help them forget the anguish of the moment.
Special Features:
o Presenting I’m So Excited!
o Making I’m So Excited!
Where to Watch: Blu-ray, DVD, Vudu, Amazon Instant Streaming, iTunes
Don Jon
Photo credit: Fox
“Don Jon”
I’m way in the minority on this film, a work that I didn’t think worked as a comedy and missed developing its interesting concept but the cast is uniformly great and it’s the kind of work that could easily work better at home than it did with high expectations at Sundance. Fox sure hopes so, putting its gorgeous stars on the cover, including an Ultraviolet copy, and loading it up with special features. JGL is definitely a talented guy, one of the smartest of his generation, and I can’t wait to see what he does next.
From my Sundance coverage: “Everyone here is good but “Addiction” spins its wheels for an hour with sitcom set-ups (it even resembles one at times with a really lackluster sense of design) and failure to ground its characters. When Moore gets an enhanced role in the final act, one can more clearly see the movie JGL was trying to make all along and she’s nearly reason to see the comedy on her own but not quite. JGL has made so many great films in his short career. He’s allowed a misstep like this every once in awhile.”
Synopsis:
Jon Martello (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a handsome, good old-fashioned guy known as Don Jon for his ability to bed beautiful women at will. But ironically, even the finest fling doesn’t compare to the bliss Jon finds alone-watching porn on his computer. Barbara Sugarman (Scarlett Johansson) is a gorgeous, good old-fashioned girl raised on romantic movies, and she’s determined to find her Prince Charming. Wrestling with expectations of the opposite sex, Jon and Barbara struggle against false fantasies to find true intimacy in this unexpected comedy written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Special Features:
o Making Of Don Jon
o Don Jon’s Origin
o Joe’s Hats
o Objectified
o Themes And Variations
o HitRECord Shorts
Where to Watch: Blu-ray, DVD, Vudu, Amazon Instant Streaming, iTunes
The Following: The Complete First Season
Photo credit: Warner Bros.
“The Following: The Complete First Season”
I keep trying to get into this FOX hit, a show that just pales in comparison to last year’s other dark drama, NBC’s “Hannibal.” Kevin Bacon rules. He has for decades. But the writing here always lets him down. I hope it turns around in season two. Until then, catch up on the saga of Joe Carroll and Ryan Hardy with a LOADED season set that includes Blu-ray, DVD, and UltraViolet copies of the show along with HOURS of special features. I may not be into the show but those who are will love this release.
From Patrick McDonald’s TV review: “There is an edge-of-the-seat quality to this justifiably thriller situation, as many things can go bump in the night when an army of serial killers is cut loose. The background of these followers is odd, meant more to shock – a tattooed woman, a red-headed prison guard/cop, a gay couple – than to be realistic. There is much disbelief to suspend in this series if it is to work, but it does deliver on the shocking (and gory) nature of sociopaths who kill in cold blood because a mastermind has seemingly brainwashed them from far away.”
Synopsis:
When notorious serial killer Joe Carroll (James Purefoy) escapes from Death Row and embarks on a new killing spree, the FBI recruits former agent Ryan Hardy (Golden Globe winner Kevin Bacon), the scarred veteran who captured Carroll nine years earlier. Working closely with FBI Specialist Debra Parker and sharp upstart Mike Weston, Hardy quickly discovers that Carroll has masterminded a network of devoted followers who might appear at any place or time to carry out their leader’s diabolical mission. As Carroll’s web tightens around his ex-wife, his son and Hardy himself, Hardy struggles to protect the innocent, thwart his nemesis and bring down the twisted cult of serial killers. This terrifying series from Kevin Williamson (Scream, The Vampire Diaries) includes 15 spellbinding Season One episodes. Don’t watch them alone!
Special Features:
o From A Dark Place: Maximum Episode Mode
o Executive Producers’ Audio Commentary On The Pilot With Focus Points
o The Thrill Of Horror: The Creator Behind The Following - An In-Depth Look At Creator Kevin Williamson’s Journey To Bring The Following To Television
o The Cult Of Joe Carroll: Inside The Followers - Cast And Producers Examine The Psychological Underpinnings Of The Followers
o The Following Production Chronicles
o The Followers Den
o The Poe Mask
o The Following: Free Megan
o Season Finale Commentary
o Deleted Scenes
Where to Watch: Blu-ray, DVD, Vudu, Amazon Instant Streaming, iTunes
 | By BRIANTALLERICO |
