Family Home Theater

THE MARTIAN (Blu-ray)

March 26, 2016

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, PG-13 rated Leave a comment

Grade: A-
Entire family: No
2015, 144 min., Color
20^th Century Fox
Rated PG-13 for some strong language, injury imagery, and brief nudity
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Featured audio: DTS-HDMA 7.1
Bonus features: B
Includes: Blu-ray, Digital HD
Trailer
Amazon link

Once is an incidence, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern.

It’s official, then. Hollywood has re-discovered NASA.

First came Gravity (2013), then Interstellar (2014), and now The Martian (2016), which is just as compelling a film as the first two—so good, in fact, that you wonder if it and the others will help to promote an American space program that has lapsed into relative obscurity. Gone are the glamour days, but a still-active NASA has been quietly concentrating its efforts on the International Space Station, as well a program to launch exploratory surveys of Mars and other planets.

It’s hard to say whether this renewed interest will have any effect, but like the first two space films in Hollywood’s rediscovery mission, The Martian makes space travel look both harrowing and heroic. And it keeps you on the edge of your seat.

The Martian isn’t the first foray into space for Matt Damon, who plays an astronaut stranded on Mars in this film and also starred in Interstellar—nor for director Ridley Scott, who previously thrust beyond Earth’s gravity to make Alien and Prometheus. You sense a confidence at work in this production.

Don’t be misled by the Golden Globe nomination it received in the Best Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy. The Martian is neither. There are probably a half-dozen funny moments, but The Martian is mostly a one-man survival drama in the manner of Castaway or The Revenant that’s broadened by intercut sequences involving a Mars mission in space and mission control back on Earth.

Except for the language it’s mostly a family movie, but there are a few adult moments—as when botanist Mark Watney, (Damon), left for dead after the crew saw him felled by a massive object during a nasty storm, pulls a projectile out of his stomach and staples himself while in great pain. Or when we briefly see his buttocks as he strides through the station on Mars, or when he talks about using his own “shit” to farm inside the station to provide enough food to survive until rescue comes.

Jessica Chastain plays the mission commander for Ares III (Ares was the Greek name for Mars, god of war), and other crew members who had to abort their mission and left Watney behind were the pilot (Michael Peña), systems operator (Kate Mara), flight surgeon (Sebastian Stan), and navigator (Aksel Hennie). Sean Bean plays the mission commander on the ground, with the believably bureaucratic Jeff Daniels taking on the role of NASA chief administrator Teddy Sanders. Kristen Wiig is also on the ground, and maybe that’s why people automatically thought this must be a comedy. But she doesn’t even get any of the funny lines.

The famed Wadi Rum desert in Jordan, with its red-orange sand and stark, towering rock formations, is a believable stand-in for Mars, and cinematographer Dariusz Wolski (Pirates of the Caribbean) does a fantastic job of shooting visuals to match the mood, the atmosphere, and the action.

Mostly, though, The Martian is compelling because of the story, and it stands as yet another tribute to American ingenuity and world cooperation—since China also gets involved in the rescue mission. It’s also just plain fascinating to see how a person would survive alone on another planet, and it proves the adage that necessity really is the mother of invention. Like Tom Hanks before him and Leonardo DiCaprio, Damon doesn’t shrink from the burden of being alone onscreen for so much of the film—he owns it, which is why he earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination to add to the film’s seven. I’m still not sure why The Martian won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture-Comedy or Musical, though music is a running gag. And unless your sense of humor is as dry as the soil on Mars, it’s tough to fathom why Damon’s performance was entered in the Best Actor—Comedy or Musical category. But he won, and despite the spuriousness of the category, he deserved at least one honor. The Martian is his best performance since Good Will Hunting. Recommended for families with teens.

Language: A surprising number of f-bombs, mostly bleeped or mouthed, plus a few other curse words
Sex: Mild innuendo and one brief long shot of a man’s buttocks
Violence: The storm sequence and its aftermath is the only violence
Adult situations: Other than the above and general peril, not much
Takeaway: If I had to watch only one of the three recent space movies over and over again, it would be The Martian, because of the wonderful details

THE HUNGER GAMES COMPLETE 4-FILM COLLECTION (Blu-ray)

March 25, 2016

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, PG-13 rated, Sci-Fi/Fantasy 1 Comment

Grade: B+
Entire family: No
2012-15, 548 min., Color
Lionsgate
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some disturbing images, some language, some suggestive elements, and thematic material
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Featured audio: Dolby TrueHD Atmos / Dolby TrueHD 7.1
Bonus features: B+
Includes: 6 Blu-ray discs, Digital HD
Amazon link
Trailer

If you don’t already have the 15^th highest grossing film franchise of all time, read on.

The Hunger Games movies are based on the young adult novels by Suzanne Collins, whose inspiration for her teen heroine Katniss Everdeen was probably Thomas Hardy’s Bathsheba Everdene, the strong main character of Far from the Madding Crowd—a young woman who also finds herself torn between different admirers.

In the movie version, Jennifer Lawrence stars as Katniss, an accomplished archer from the coal-mining District 12 in the futuristic dystopia of Panem, which is run by an autocratic president-slash-dictator named Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland)—a name derived from Shakespeare’s tragedy of Coriolanus, about a Roman general who rises to political leadership after successfully quelling uprisings against Imperial Rome. Teens won’t know or get any of this, but it does make the series a little more literate than most.

Mockingjay Part 2 (included here) is the climax of a series that began with Katniss taking her younger sister’s place in nationally televised “tributes,” in which two teens from each district fight to the death in a broad, natural arena in a futuristic and more violent version of Survivor. She distinguishes herself and, with fellow District 12 acquaintance-turned-friend-turned-love-interest Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), finds a way to beat the “only one winner” rule.” On their victory tour Katniss senses revolution brewing, and Mockingjay Part 1 finds her being recruited by the underground movement to be their PR heroine. Though Part 2 begins with her accompanied by a film crew advancing to the district closet to Capitol to make another rouse-the-rebellion film, Katniss has other ideas. Liam Hemsworth stars as Gale, who complicates Katniss’s emotional terrain, and a star-riddled cast includes Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Julianne Moore.

Hollywood expanded Collins’ trilogy into four installments, and fans that faithfully purchased the previous three films in HD can pick up The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 on Blu-ray, while The Hunger Games Complete 4-Film Collection seems geared for people who were waiting for the series to conclude before adding the films to their collections. The wrinkle is that the 4-Film set contains a bonus disc that includes exclusive features that haven’t appeared in earlier releases. Is it be enough to entice real fans to double-buy?

Maybe. But The Hunger Games Complete 4-Film Collection is a great set except for one thing: to package the six discs so that they overlap, Lionsgate had to go with DVD packaging. That’s right. If you’ve adjusted your shelves to fit Blu-rays only, this one won’t make it . . . as is. But if you buy inexpensive replacement double-disc Blu-ray cases at Amazon and photocopy, then cut out, your covers from the previous three releases, it works pretty well: The Hunger Games consists of two discs, like the first release, and they fit in one case; Catching Fire was a single disc, but if you switch to a double disc case you can put that film plus the bonus disc for this collection in that case; and that leaves The Mockingjay Parts 1 & 2 for the third case. Then you can take your first three Blu-rays to the local second-hand video store to get a few bucks for them.

Wait, you’re thinking. That’s a lot of work. Are the bonus features worth it? Well, that can be confusing, because the bonus disc also contains previously released material. But new to this release are “Stories from the Tributes,” an 18-minute feature on the actors and clips from the film; “Casting the Tributes,” an 11-minute behind-the-scenes look; “Tribute Video Diaries,” which is 17 minutes of just what it sounds like; a photo slideshow that runs about 3 minutes; a 15-minute feature on the stunts; an 18-minute feature on the costume design; a 7-minute short on the weaponry; a 10-minute feature on the visual effects; a 7-minute look at the food created for the film; a 5-minute clip of the premiere; a 14-minute look at the returning cast members for the second film; an 18-minute look at new cast members; two 3-minute shorts on the production design of the second film and the Quarter Quell cast; a five-minute look at the weapons of Catching Fire; a 5-minute location tour of Hawaii; a Coldplay music video; another 5-minute foodie feature; a 2-minute look (fast) of The Hob; a miniscule scene that was deleted early in production; a “Battling the Clock Arena” feature that runs 5 minutes; a catch-you-up 9-minute summary of Mockingjay; a 13-minute look at the Mockingjay art design and set decoration; a 12-minute feature on “The Propos Team”; a 12-minute look at the broader war that emerges in the series; and a “Picturing Panem” photo gallery that runs around 8 minutes.

Uber fans will probably want to upgrade, because the additional bonus features are indeed substantial and worthwhile, but if your family is only into the films, there’s no need to buy this collection if you already own the first three films on Blu-ray—the only way to watch this series, by the way. The Hunger Games 4-Film Collection is solid sci-fi entertainment that does what all good fiction attempts: it appeals to more than its intended audience, and offers a compelling plot and cast of characters, some great action and CGI special effects, along with some pretty good messages for teens and anyone else who will listen.

Language: No swearing in the first installment, but a few bleeped-out f-bombs and lesser curse words pop up in the second film
Sex: In the second film the side of a bare breast is glimpsed as people watch a woman undress
Violence: People are killed, but in the first film the crucial moment is either so brief or the camera quickly cuts elsewhere to avoid reveling in violence; the violence is more on-screen and increases in intensity as the series goes on
Adult situations: In Catching Fire one character is often drunk, but there are also plenty of emotional scenes all through the series; in Mockingjay reference is made to a character being forced into sex slavery and that character is traumatized by it
Takeaway: Sorry Divergent and Maze Runner fans, The Hunger Games is the superior young adult novel-on-film, and a rousing finale puts the exclamation point on that

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE ROAD CHIP (DVD)

March 23, 2016

James Plath, Family Home Theater Entire Family, Family, PG rated Leave a comment

Grade: C+/B-
Entire family: Yes
2015, 92 min., Color
20^th Century Fox
Rated PG for some mild rude humor and language
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Featured audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Bonus features: C-
Includes: DVD, Digital HD
Trailer
Amazon link

If you’re thinking of picking up Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, you probably already know what’s in store: a cutesy, formulaic blend of live-action and CGI animation that showcases the antics of squeaky-voiced Alvin, Theodore, and Simon.

So it makes no sense to review this film against classic road movies like National Lampoon’s Vacation, Thelma & Louise, and Little Miss Sunshine. It’s not in that league, nor does it try to be. It only tries to appeal to the same audience that was entertained by the original 2007 film about struggling songwriter David Seville (Jason Lee) and the singing chipmunks that brought him fame. And I will say this: The Road Chip strikes me as the best of the sequels thus far.

The opening high-energy production number mostly gives animators a chance to show what they can have these furry 3D animated guys do with a bunch of dancers and partiers, but once the main plot is established—David has met someone he plans to marry, and she has a teenage son they met earlier, someone who bullies them—the could-be stepbrothers hop in a car together to try to sabotage the proposal. Why? Because the Chipmunks think that Dave will drop them like three fuzzy hot potatoes after he’s married, or worse, that they’ll be sentenced to a lifetime with a new stepbrother who torments them.

The minute they get inside that car together, you know the road trip will bring them together, and that eventually their dad and mom (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) will take another step on the road to their own happily ever after. It’s in the stars (or script). And in the Chipmunk movies there’s another formula: a single determined antagonist—like David Cross, in the first film—that pursues the Chipmunks. In The Road Chip it’s Tony Hale (Arrested Development, Veep) who has the honor of taking pratfalls for the cause. Hale plays an Air Marshal who goes full-bore Capt. Ahab in his pursuit, to sometimes genuinely comic effect. Meanwhile, as Alvin (voiced by Justin Long), Simon (Matthew Gray Gubler), and Theodore (Jesse McCartney) try to work together with their new nemesis and potential stepbrother Miles (Josh Green), viewers from blended families or children of single parents fearing change can find some hope for their own futures.

In The Road Trip the Chipettes (voiced by Christina Applegate, Kaley Cuoco, and Anna Faris) appear as more successful performers than their male counterparts, but they’re really just window dressing. It’s all about potential stepbrothers this outing, and the mishaps that threaten to keep them from completing their mission.

The integration of animated characters into live action films has really come a long way since Pete’s Dragon, and The Road Trip is fun to watch just because of all the detail. For such an eye-feast, Blu-ray is the best. But make no mistake: the filmmakers are not pitching this at entire families, though it’s certainly suitable for all to watch. It’s aimed mostly at smaller children, who will give it two thumbs up. Older family members will say that in fairness it’s more like a C+ or B-, depending on your mood. And they’ll probably be more entertained than they’re willing to admit.

THE VIKINGS (Blu-ray)

March 2, 2016

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, PG rated Leave a comment

Grade: B
Entire family: No
1958, 116 min., Color
Kino Lorber
Unrated (would be PG)
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Featured audio: DTS HDMA 5.1
Bonus features: C+
Amazon link
Trailer

Two years after Charlton Heston parted the Red Sea as Moses, Ernest Borgnine (TV’s McHale’s Navy) and Kirk Douglas (Michael’s dad, call him Spartacus) starred as Norse raiders in a memorable adventure-drama about 9^th-century Viking chieftain Ragnar’s raids on England. History Channel’s 2013 series Vikings covered similar ground in a far grittier production, but for 1958 The Vikings was pretty darned edgy, and it still incorporates scenes that will cause young people today to pronounce it “sick,” if they’re anything like my teenage son.

Things stand out: like a scene in which Vikings rowing into their home fjord play a game in which the warriors step from oar to oar and try not to fall into the water; or when a Viking is captured and brought to England, where he jumps voluntarily into a pit of wolves, sword in hand, to face his end; or when an attack on an English castle shows Vikings throwing axes at the raised drawbridge door, one after the other, and then one of them runs to use those axes as steps to get to the top and lower the door for everyone to enter; or when a Viking wife accused of adultery is put in stocks and her braids are nailed to the wood, so that when her husband throws axes at her if he cuts her braids she was faithful, and if he misses . . . uh, probably not.

As for the action, there’s no CGI slow-mo or quick editing cuts to suggest chaos. It’s all right there in front of you, the shields clashing in what seems like as much pushing and shoving as actual blades and axes swinging. But it feels realistic, as do the ships, the buildings, and smaller details, enhanced by the decision to film on location at a real Norwegian fjord, as well as at castles and exteriors in Bavaria, France, and Croatia. In Technicolor, and now on glistening Blu-ray, the production has a rich look to it—a gleaming historical adventure that, typical of 1950’s Hollywood sword-and-sandals movies, is slightly romanticized.

In this version of history, Ragnar (Borgnine) and his son Einar (Douglas) have been raiding the coasts of England, and on his most recent raid Ragnar kills the king of that particular realm and it is implied that he rapes the queen. To save her son (and we’ve seen this device from Hollywood before), the baby is sent away wearing a pendant made from a broken piece of the sword of the new King Aella (smarmily and simperingly played by Frank Thring, who would go on to play Pontius Pilate in Ben-Hur). Twenty years later the son, Eric (Tony Curtis), turns up as a slave in the Viking settlement and clashes with Einar, his real half-brother, in several key scenes. But their animosity is truly brought to a head when an English traitor who has been providing information to the Vikings (James Donald) suggests they kidnap Aella’s bethroved, the Princess Morgana (Janet Leigh). Both men fall for her and fight over her, with one main swordfight on the narrow heights of a castle as convincing, still, as anything you’ll see in Hollywood. Curtis and Douglas made enough of an impression together that they were paired again two years later in the more famous epic Spartacus.

Although the homecoming scenes are shot in such a way as to make you smile and one glaring violation of the 180-degree rule does the same when a Viking shoots an arrow toward the castle and we see a medium shot of an Englishman getting shot through the throat from the opposite side, The Vikings still plays well and ought to be appreciated by families who enjoy historical adventures and epics. I’d say that this one is for families with children 10 and older. Unrated, it’s mostly PG, but, like any historical film from this period, be warned that it’s not a beacon of feminism.

If you’re upgrading from DVD, the same featurette with director Richard Fleischer is included here.

Language: n/a
Sex: An implied rape, though the camera fades to black after the woman screams when he first grabs her by the shoulders, and plenty of kissing from Viking women who serve the men
Violence: Most of the deaths are offscreen or understated by today’s standards, but there are some slashes and hacks to the body and that arrow through the neck
Adult situations: Lots of beer-drinking and drunkenness
Takeaway: Memorable scenes and attention to detail will make a movie work even 50+ years later

IN THE HEART OF THE SEA (Blu-ray combo)

February 28, 2016

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, PG-13 rated Leave a comment

Grade: B/B-
Entire family: No
2015, 122 min., Color
Warner Bros.
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and peril, brief startling violence, and thematic material
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Featured audio: Dolby Atmos
Bonus features: C
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD
Amazon link
Trailer

In the Heart of the Sea is a terrific special effects movie and a great atmospheric, period adventure. But it does drag near the end of the second act, and there isn’t as much drama among the men as there could have been. They get along remarkably well for a disparate group of individuals who have to brave the dangers of the sea together on a voyage that lasts roughly a year and a half.

Before oil, it was whale oil that fueled lamps everywhere, and the demand for it was great. If you read Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick and didn’t skip over the cetology chapters, you know that whaling ships were floating factories that not only pursued whales, but also processed them right there on the spot.

It’s one thing to read about it, but director Ron Howard creates a film that graphically shows the process, from the harpooning of a female while her calf swims next to her to the eventual killing and processing—which at one point requires the smallest sailor onboard to crawl inside the fetid whale to make sure every bit of it is harvested before the sharks come to take the rest. It’s fascinatingly realistic, but if you’re an animal lover it can be painful to watch.

In the Heart of the Sea is rated PG-13, and it’s the kind of film that could traumatize youngsters if they see it before they’re able to handle it—and not just because of the whale harvest, or the violence that ensues when a rogue white whale seems to understand what the whalers are doing and tries to destroy them. This film is based on the book In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick, and it doesn’t just tell the story of an 1820 incident that became the basis for Melville’s famous novel. It’s what happens after the whale cripples the Essex that will leave a permanent impression on young viewers. You can probably guess the spoiler I won’t share, but when the frame for the story involves Herman Melville visiting the remaining survivor of the Essex and trying to get him to tell his story of survival, if it’s something so unspeakable that the man kept it secret for all his adult life, well, that’s the kind of thing that will leave an impression on children. So the PG-13 rating is mostly because of “thematic material.”

Moby-Dick was all about Capt. Ahab’s obsession with capturing a white whale, and there’s none of that here, and nothing that comes even close to the tension that came between Ahab and his whalers. There are no tattooed harpooners here and nobody builds a coffin—though there is a character named Coffin. While there isn’t a specific point of view, we mostly see things as they affect veteran first mate Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth), who is justifiably angered when the fleet owners renege on their promise to make him captain and instead assign him to be first mate again to a rookie whose family is prominent in the whaling business.

Curiously, there’s not nearly the conflict between Capt. George Pollard (Benjamin Walker) and Chase as you might expect. Even the men get along fairly well, partly because Charles Leavitt’s screenplay focuses on the man-versus-nature main plot and all but ignores side plots involving conflicting personalities. But when the film drags at one point you find yourself wishing he had developed minor conflicts. As is, In the Heart of the Sea is a straightforward sea adventure, and the device of leaving the action to return to Melville and survivor Thomas Nickerson (Tom Holland) isn’t as successful as the filmmakers think it is. Some of the dialogue in those scenes gets a bit syrupy, hokey, cheesy—pick an adjective—and you get the feeling much more could have been done to explore the attitudes of the young and old Nickersons. Those are my complaints, but give Howard credit for creating some of the most realistic whaling scenes ever to be shown on the big screen. The characters may seem shallow as pawns in an existential chess match, but the action is something else.

Language: Not much, really, besides a few damns and hells
Sex: n/a (unless you count a scrimshaw drawing of a topless woman)
Violence: Harpooning and whale violence against the ships
Adult situations: Atrocities committed while surviving adrift. (SPOILER: we’re talking Donner Party)
Takeaways: Moby-Dick may be the more compelling story, but this tale of the incident that inspired it is still pretty darned good as a period adventure.

CREED (Blu-ray combo)

February 27, 2016

James Plath, Family Home Theater Drama, PG-13 rated Leave a comment

Grade: B+
Entire family: No
2015, 133 min., Color
Warner Bros./MGM
Rated PG-13 for violence, language, and some sensuality
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Featured audio: DTS-HDMA 7.1
Bonus features: C+
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD
Amazon link
Trailer

You’ve heard the jokes about Rocky XX and so on. After the popular film franchise, which began with Rocky in 1976, came out with Rocky II (1979), III (1982), IV (1985), and V (1990) in what seemed like rapid succession, entertainment writers started tossing off one-liners about the series continuing down the road with Sylvester Stallone eventually mixing it up with residents at a rest home from his wheelchair.

Well, who’s laughing now? Not only did Stallone prove he still had it with Rocky Balboa (2006), but with Creed he shows that he can effortlessly shift from the Rocky role into the role of boxing trainer—a part that Burgess Meredith made famous, and for which Meredith earned an Oscar nomination.

Stallone earned an Oscar nomination for his initial role as Rocky, and he earned his second acting Oscar nomination for playing Rocky Balboa the trainer in this 2015 sport drama. What that means, all you jokers, is that Rocky CAN go on for many more years, though now the title shifts to Creed. And Creed II, III, or whatever. It’s no longer dependent upon Stallone’s ability to give or take a punch.

Stallone is as engaging as Meredith’s crusty seen-it-all trainer, and his performance anchors the film, both as a presence and as a plot point that’s central to the screenplay. The son of Apollo Creed fighting for the championship with boxing legend Rocky Balboa, “The Italian Stallion,” in his corner? It’s a dream-come-true for boxing promoters, and just as dreamy for filmmakers wanting to inject this storied but stalled franchise with a new shot of adrenalin.

As Adonis Johnson, the illegitimate son of Rocky’s deceased foe-and-friend who has a rap sheet as long as his juvenile hall stays, Michael B. Jordan comes to the film buff and ready to go the full 12 rounds. As Creed’s widow, Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show, Do No Harm) isn’t nearly the tough-love foster parent young Donnie needs, but that only goes to show that he’s more boxer-at-heart than he is criminal-at-heart. As he trains we see him go down the same streets and marketplaces as Rocky once did, and also climbing those famous Philadelphia Museum of Art steps that are commemorated by a statue of Rocky that’s also shown in the film. Though it’s not intrusively nostalgic or formulaic, fans will still notice quite a few similarities between Rocky and Creed. Both are headstrong and self-taught lumps of coal that need a little compressed discipline and training to be come diamonds, both get a shot at the championship well before they’re ready, both find a skull-cap wearing trainer, and both find a woman that motivates them. It’s Rocky all over again, but shifting characters makes it feel like a double-layered film rather than a formulaic exercise.

The first four Rocky films and Rocky Balboa were rated PG, but Creed follows in the footsteps of Rocky V, with a PG-13 rating for violence, language, and some sensuality. But Creed is more violent and intense than any of the previous Rocky films, and there’s an implied sex scene and more language (including the F-word). So it’s every bit a PG-13 film. It’s also an entertaining film because the characters are likable, they grow and have good chemistry together (including Jordan and Tessa Thompson, who plays love-interest Bianca, a singer going permanently deaf), and the plot framework itself is a proven winner. Creed is Rocky for a new generation, with realistically choreographed boxing sequences, plenty of attitude, and just as much punch. And a sparkling transfer to Blu-ray and DTS-HDMA 7.1 really brings it all to vivid life.

Language: Typical range of PG-13 swear words, with at least one f-bomb tossed
Sex: Nothing graphic or too revealing, but there is naked skin and implied coupling, plus plenty of kissing
Violence: More violence both inside and outside the ring than in previous Rocky movies; people get beat, people get hurt
Adult situations: There’s not so much in the way of drinking as there was in previous Rocky movies
Takeaways: If you’re going to continue a series of films and not be worrying about your star’s physical capabilities, this reboot is certainly a good way to solve the problem, and Stallone is just as engaging as a trainer in a supporting role as he was the boxer and star

THE GOOD DINOSAUR (Blu-ray combo)

February 26, 2016

James Plath, Family Home Theater Animation, Entire Family, Family, PG rated The Good Dinosaur Leave a comment

Grade: B-
Entire family: Yes
2015, 94 min., Color
Disney-Pixar
Rated PG for peril, action, and thematic elements
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Featured audio: DTS-HDMA 7.1
Bonus features: B+
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD
Amazon link
Trailer

The Good Dinosaur is a good movie, but a weird one. How weird, you wonder?

Picture a dinosaur version of a western involving cattlemen and sodbusters, with vegetarian apatosauruses as the farmers, carnivore T-rexes wrangling prehistoric longhorns, and pterosaurs the rustlers.

Picture a dinosaur version of Jack London’s Call of the Wild, flipped upside-down so that the dog who eventually answers to the “call of the wild” is a prehistoric human that hasn’t learned to walk upright yet and acts a bit like Donnie from The Wild Thornberrys, while his “master” is an apatosaurus.

Picture a dinosaur version of The Lion King, with young apatosaurus Arlo getting a life lesson in one scene that shows him and his father looking skyward, while later we watch as the father pushes the son to safety when a calamity sweeps through the valley and (not really a spoiler if you’ve seen The Lion King) kills the father, who comes back in a vision when his young son needs him most.

Picture realistic backgrounds with an animated green dinosaur that will have you flashbacking to Pete’s Dragon.

And picture a dinosaur version of “ohana,” the lesson we learned about family from Disney’s Lilo & Stitch, with more pathos, overall, than humor.

The Good Dinosaur is still entertaining, but it’s less than what you’d expect from Pixar and more than a little weird. Just as unusual for a Disney-Pixar film, especially one that was in production for six years, is that there are so many déja vu moments. Pixar built a name for themselves by coming up with completely unique stories, so this more standard and familiar entry is a bit of a surprise. But families with young children especially won’t care.

Using photorealistic scenery and cartoonish characters, Disney-Pixar offers a story with themes about making a mark in the world, living up to parental expectations, and dealing with stronger, more accomplished siblings—all of which ought to resonate with young viewers. Child/teen actors Jack McGraw and Raymond Ochoa give voice to Arlo, the runt of a litter who has a hard time keeping up with his rambunctious brother (Ryan Teeple/Marcus Scribner) and sister (Maleah Padilla).

Poppa (Jeffrey Wright) and Momma (Frances McDormand) put their marks on the side of a stone silo they built to hold winter corn, and soon so do Buck and Libby. Only poor runty Arlo isn’t able to accomplish a task in order to make his mark. Encouraged by his father, he takes on the challenge of catching and killing the “varmint” that keeps stealing and eating their corn. Of course he can’t do it, because he’s the “good dinosaur”—a kind of prehistoric version of the old children’s book hero Ferdinand the Bull, who wanted to smell flowers rather than fight in the bullring. When Arlo is separated from his family and runs into that “varmint,” whom he names Spot (voiced by Jack Bright), an unlikely friendship develops that will also, of course, enable Arlo to finally prove himself while facing all sorts of dangers.

More strange than it is totally original, The Good Dinosaur is the kind of movie that will really appeal to children. Parents? Not nearly as much—though it’s easy to get lost in the film’s captivating art decoration, set design, and animation, all of which look terrific in Blu-ray.

Language: n/a
Sex: n/a
Violence: A head is ripped off a large bug, there’s a traumatic Lion-King style death, and the main character is in near-constant peril.
Adult situations: Like the intoxication scene in Dumbo the main character and his friend eat some bad fruit and hallucinate.
Takeaway: We’re so used to everything to come out of Pixar Studios being so extraordinary that when a good story instead of a great one comes along it’s a shock to the system, and maybe that’s unfair.

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (Blu-ray combo)

February 25, 2016

James Plath, Family Home Theater Animation, Entire Family, Family, G rated Snow White Leave a comment

Grade: A-
Entire family: Yes
1937, 83 min., Color
Disney
Rated G
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Featured audio: DTS-HDMA 7.1
Bonus features: A-
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD
Amazon link
Trailer

Walt Disney didn’t invent Snow White, but then again, neither did the Brothers Grimm, who published their version in an 1812 book of folk tales they collected from across Germany. But Disney renamed the dwarves and gave them individual personalities. With their help, he proved to the world in 1937 that it really was possible to create a full-length animated feature that could engage movie audiences.

When Disney first announced the project and put out a call for artists and animators, the press called it “Disney’s Folly,” because no one in Hollywood thought it possible for an animated cartoon to hold the public’s interest for more than a few minutes. But Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs made movie history and started a cottage industry of Disney Princesses and full-length animated features that had strong enough storylines and evocative characters to entertain adults as well as children.

Perhaps most amazing, it still holds up today because of the formula that we’ve come to expect from Disney: characters with personality that we care about, gorgeous artwork, true-to-life animation, a strong storyline, memorable music, and an emotional ride that makes us laugh, cry, and fear for the characters’ lives. Compared to later Disney animated features Snow White has a much simpler trajectory: A wicked queen gets jealous of Snow White’s beauty, orders her huntsman to kill her, and she runs into the dark forest after he spares her. There she discovers a tiny house that’s a frightful mess and decides to clean it with the help of forest animals. She bonds with the house’s inhabitants—seven dwarves that work in a diamond mine—but the ever persistent Queen transforms herself into an old hag and stalks Snow White. Yet, for such a simple story, Snow White is packed full of emotions and colorful characters and all of those things that now seem standard-issue in a Disney movie. Ironically, if it wasn’t for the decidedly ‘30s look of Snow White and the Prince, you’d never know the film was that old. It’s aged very well.

The bottom line is that Snow White belongs in every family movie collection, and it looks positively wonderful on Blu-ray. The soft palette look of the film is preserved, but with slightly greater edge delineation, and that makes all the difference in the world. Meanwhile, the 7.1 DTS-HDMA really enhances songs like “Hi-Ho-Hi-Ho” and “Someday My Prince Will Come.” What it will come down to is whether you already own the three-disc Diamond Edition that was released in 2009. In that case, unless you really want the film in Digital HD to watch on other devices, you’re just fine with that edition.

Not all the bonus features from the 2009 Blu-ray were ported over, but that’s not surprising, since the earlier release featured a second Blu-ray disc of bonus features in addition to the DVD. What made it: two deleted scenes, a fascinating making-of feature, “Snow White Returns,” a Hyperion Studios tour, “Bringing Snow White to Life,” “In Walt’s Words,” “Decoding the Exposure Sheet,” and an audio commentary featuring historian John Canemaker, Roy Disney, and recordings of Walt Disney. What seems to be new are features on the iconography of Snow White, “@Disneyanimation: Designing Disney’s First Princess,” a fun facts featurette hosted by Disney Channel star Sofia Carson, and “Snow White in 70 Seconds.” Like the 2009 release, Snow White comes with DisneyView, drawn borders to fill out the black bars on the sides of a classic film that’s presented in 1.33:1 aspect ratio that actually measures closer to 1.37:1.

This new release shows how the digital landscape has changed. Gone is the BD-Live content and games for the kids to play, and added are the Digital HD copy and instructions on how to download a Disney Movies Anywhere app.

THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW – THE LOST EPISODES – TREASURES FROM THE VAULT (DVD)

February 14, 2016

James Plath, Family Home Theater Musical, TV Comedy Leave a comment

Grade: B
Entire family: Yes, but . . .
1967-71, 1039 min. (15 episodes), Color
Time Life/StarVista
Not rated (mostly G, some PG sketches)
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Featured audio: Dolby Digital 2.0
Bonus features: B+
Includes: 6 discs, color booklet
Amazon link

The Carol Burnett Show will appeal to two types of people: those who remember watching it when they were younger and respond to the pull of nostalgia, and those who are curious about a time in American television when variety shows, not reality shows, were popular. Burnett was arguably the best of all the variety show hosts, a multitalented woman who could sing, dance, act, impersonate famous stars, and make a comedy sketch work with ad libs better than anyone else. Because of her long-running TV show, which initially aired from 1967-1978, Burnett was toasted at a 2003 Kennedy Center Honors and also awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2013. During its time, the show earned 68 Primetime Emmy nominations and won Golden Globes as the Best TV Show–Comedy or Musical in 1971. Burnett herself won five Golden Globes for her work on the series, and her talented regulars pulled down a few as well: Harvey Korman in 1967, and Tim Conway in 1976.

As Tina Fey remarked at the presentation of the Mark Twain Prize, “I fell in love with sketch comedy watching your show, and you proved sketch comedy is a good place for women . . . . Only in sketch comedy does a woman get to play Cher, Scarlett O’Hara, the Queen of England, and Girl Scout, Mrs. Wiggins’—all in one night.” At that same event comedian Martin Short summarized the long reach of her Burnett’s influence: “Everyone copied from her. There wouldn’t be Saturday Night Live without Carol.” So keep that in mind as you watch this pioneering comedy-variety show, which featured guest stars in musical numbers as well as sketches, and in which Burnett did indeed play almost anyone. This collection shows how wide of a range she had, and she was particularly “on” in sketches that aped other actresses. Included here is a sketch in which she pokes fun of Joan Crawford in “Mildred Fierce” and really nails Katharine Hepburn in “Guess What’s Coming to Dinner?”

Like a previous “Lost Episodes” release, this collection features 15 uncut episodes on six single-sided DVDs, with episodes culled from the first four seasons.

From Season 1:
Show #11—Guest Stars Sonny & Cher, actress/singer/dancer Nanette Fabray
Show #15—Mickey Rooney, singer John Davidson
Show #20—Shirley Jones, actor/singer/dancer George Chakiris
Show #21—comedian Jonathan Winters, singer Dionne Warwick
Show #22—comic actress Martha Raye, pin-up girl/actress Betty Grable
Show #23—Nanette Fabray, actor Art Carney
Show #29—actor Peter Lawford, Grand Ole Opry star Minnie Pearl

From Season 2:
Show #113—opera stars Eileen Farrell, Marilyn Horne

From Season 3:
Show #302—actress/dancer Gwen Verdon, singer Pat Boone
Show #317—comedian Soupy Sales, singer Mel Tormé
Show #318—Get Smart! actress Barbara Feldon, comedian Joan Rivers
Show #326—Family Show

From Season 4:
Show #404—Nanette Fabray, actor Ken Berry
Show #413—actress Dyan Cannon, comic actor Paul Lynde
Show #426—Nanette Fabray, Paul Lynde

Fans of Saturday Night Live will marvel at how LONG these sketches go on, how character-driven they are, and ultimately how much the “players” trust the material and their performances. It will also seem amazing to people of the anti-social social media generation that at the beginning of each show Burnett strides out in a gown that was glamorous then (kitschy now) and answers questions from a live audience. When an adolescent boy asks if he can read a poem he wrote for her and she says, “Sure, stand up and read it,” could you see that happening today? He starts reading the poem and when he gets to the part where he says he’s in love with a girl old enough to be his mother, she says, “Sit down.” In a truly historical moment, then Gov. Ronald Reagan walks onstage to join Carol in that opening Q&A and answers questions from the audience—one of them from a woman who asks if he has any interest in moving to Washington, D.C. His response is what you’d expect from a man known as the Great Communicator: he says he can’t see why anyone would ever want to leave California. Earlier he had gotten a big laugh when he offered a comic counterpunch. A woman asked, “Does the mayor know you’re in town?” Everyone laughed and Reagan shot back with, “The important thing is, is Yorty in town?” Mayor Sam Yorty had a number of nicknames, among them Travelin’ Sam, Suitcase Sam, and Airplane Sam.

There are some terrific sketches here, as well as some that aren’t so successful. Ultimately, though, the sketches seem less dated than the clothes or the musical numbers, and they are the reason people remember Carol Burnett and buy DVDs like this. The fun is in watching how many different characters Burnett can convincingly pull off, and whether she can stay in character or crack up with her co-stars. Some of her characters are convincingly ugly, others glamorous, and she even dons a Bugs Bunny costume for a sketch paying tribute to Warner Bros. animation. You get the feeling that Burnett would do anything for a laugh, and she provides a lot of them in this collection.

THE WONDER YEARS: SEASON 4 (DVD)

February 14, 2016

James Plath, Family Home Theater PG rated, TV Comedy, TV Drama Leave a comment

Grade: A
Entire family: No. Age 10 and older.
1988-89, 520 min., Color
Time Life/StarVista Entertainment
Not rated (would be PG because of mild language, content)
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Featured audio: Dolby Digital 2.0
Bonus features: B-
Amazon link

As I wrote in my review of the complete series, this coming-of-age TV comedy-drama gets it right. Lots of things can shape a person, and just as WWII defined a generation, so did the ‘60s—which historians date from John F. Kennedy’s 1963 assassination to Richard M. Nixon’s 1972 resignation. The Wonder Years managed to capture the perfect storm of events that were always in a family’s consciousness—even as the father tried to put food on the table, siblings fought and sought to find their place in the world, and the mother tried to hold them all together. And Season 4 is the absolute best of the six seasons.

Like Leave It to Beaver, the series’ episodes were seen from the point of view of an adolescent, and you knew you were in for an interesting ride when this 1987 series shunned a laugh track and introduced the kind of voiceover narrator that we got in A Christmas Story—an adult version of the main character. And you knew that the series would meet the ‘60s head-on when the pilot called for the girl-next-door’s older brother to be killed in Vietnam, and for our hero to comfort her in a scene that would culminate in a first kiss for each of them—both as characters, and as actors.

Fred Savage was perfectly cast as Kevin, who at 13 became the youngest actor ever nominated for a Primetime Outstanding Lead Actor for a Comedy Series Emmy. His doe eyes reflected innocence, while his impish smile was a sign that he could say or do something impulsive or mischievous at any moment. The girl next door, Winnie Cooper, was also well cast with Danica McKellar perfect as someone who would be both a best friend and love interest over the course of the show’s six seasons. And for comic relief and guy-to-guy matters there was bespectacled Paul (Josh Saviano), a brainy pal who was also Kevin’s best friend. The tone was wink-wink as this group navigated the halls of junior high, then high school and all of the problems that seem so major to this age group: crushes, dates, tormentors, cliques, and run-ins with teachers and coaches.

On the home front, older brother Wayne (Jason Hervey) was obviously fond of his brother but lived to torment him, while much older sister Karen (Olivia d’Abo) was so caught up in the ‘60s that she was a flower child from the very first episode. The parents were extremely well cast, with Dan Lauria returning from work each day grumpy and feeling chewed up and spat out, and Alley Mills deferring to him while also trying to act as mediator when he got on the kids.

Then there’s the music. I don’t know how they got the permissions, but Season 4 includes songs by Joan Baez, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, Nat King Cole, Judy Collins, Lee Dorsey, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, The Monkees, Randy Newman, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Sam & Dave, Bob Seger, Edwin Star, The Ventures, The Who, and Hank Wilson.

Season 4 has the highest number of fan-rated classic episodes. This season the family goes to Jack’s company picnic—no one more reluctantly than Kevin, who’s afraid of seeing a girl who used to have a crush on him. This season his first girlfriend Winnie moves and changes schools, then finds a new boyfriend and breaks up with Kevin. No matter, because Kevin has also found someone else and is juggling two relationships. Never a show to shy away from reality, The Wonder Years: Season 4 also features an episode in which Kevin and his friends try to crash a 10^th-grade girls pajama party thinking beer will be their magic pass. This season Kevin runs for student council against his nemesis, Becky Slater, and also discovers his coach moonlighting as a mall Santa. Kevin and Wayne argue over who’s going to take over Karen’s room when she goes off to college, Kevin and his father have another disastrous time of it when they go off to buy a suit for Kevin, and the up-and-down Winnie and Kevin saga culminates in an “I love you” moment and sets up the group’s graduation from junior high.

Though The Wonder Years may shock young girls who probably don’t want to believe that this is the way young boys think about girls, it remains one of TV’s most honest family coming-of-age comedies. And Season 4 catches the show at its apex. All 23 episodes are included on four single-sided DVDs and housed in a standard-size keep case with plastic “pages” holding the discs.

Language: Lots of junior-high insults (butthead, scrote, dork) and hells and damns
Sex: Lots of kissing; masturbation is referenced, as are nudie magazines and talk of orgies
Adult situations: There’s both smoking and drinking in the series, and some pretty intense family fights
Takeaway: When a show is this honest, it’s no wonder that it still informs and entertains, as it gets to the heart of male adolescence, families, and interpersonal relationships