Category Archives: DVD Review

“Phoenix”: An act of invention rising from the ashes

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In the three featurettes that accompany the new Criterion Collection edition of Christian Petzold’s “Vertigo” is mentioned exactly once. Director of photography Hans Fromm brings up the Alfred Hitchcock classic in comparing the lurid reds he wanted for one nightclub scene to the bright color palette of “Vertigo.”

That seems odd, given that most movie fans would make the obvious connection between “Vertigo” and “Phoenix.” Both films are about women who remake themselves for men, recreating the haunting spectre of a flame thought lost forever. Maybe the connection is so obvious that it’s not worth mentioning. Or maybe “Phoenix” goes so deeply into its own distinct themes — of betrayal and identity, of the futility of trying to change back into the person you were — that the cinematic homage becomes the least interesting part of the film to those who made it.

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“That’s Not Us”: Three couples, six problems, one vacation house

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Why do people in movies even go on vacation anyway? Aside from the occasional Stella getting her groove back, cinematic vacations never seem to go very well. At best, you’re plagued with one comic mishap after another like in “National Lampoon’s Vacation”; at worst, the mishaps are more sinister, “Turistas”-style.

Or you can find a getaway is a great time to deal with a crisis point in your relationship, which happens to all three couples in “That’s Not Us,” a straightforward and empathetic comedy-drama now out on DVD from Strand Releasing and available on Netflix. Director William Sullivan is clearly inspired by the French New Wave in his naturalistic tale of longterm twentysomething lovers who decamp for Fire Island for the weekend, but forget to leave their baggage on the dock.

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“Victoria”: A German heist thriller that doesn’t take any short cuts

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At first glance, the Blu-ray edition of the German heist thriller “Victoria,” now out from Kino Lorber, seems distressingly bare-bones. No audio commentary. No behind-the-scenes featurette. There isn’t even a “Scene Selection” option.

Wait. I get it. That’s because there’s only one scene. One 138-minute scene.

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Of teenage cavemen and deathstalkers: “Mystery Science Theater 3000 Vol. XXXV” on DVD

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Roger Corman’s “Teenage Caveman” is one of the best movies ever made about teenage cavemen, and it is definitely the best movie ever made called “Teenage Caveman.” (In one of the strangest remakes ever, Larry Clark of “Kids” was commissioned to make a version for Cinemax in 2002. Surprisingly for a Larry Clark film, it featured a lot of teenagers getting high and having sex.)

The original “Teenage Caveman” is one of those movies where the title was more memorable than the film, which is why it made perfect fodder for “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” Shout! Factory included it on the 35th (!) installment of its four-movie DVD sets, out this month.

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Blu-ray review: “Forbidden Room” opens Guy Maddin’s cabinet of wonders

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“Squid Theft!” “Bones! Bones! Bones!” “Forced to wear a leotard!”

If you want to make a film critic smile, drop one of the intertitles to Guy Maddin’s phantasmagoric last film “The Forbidden Room” in the middle of a conversation. Maddin’s film, now out on DVD and Blu-ray from Kino Lorber is a cinephiliac’s dream and nightmare, as Maddin and co-director Evan Johnson took a treasure trove of plots from lost and never-made films and created giddy, eerie Russian nesting dolls of stories out of them.

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“I Knew Her Well”: Get to know this lost Italian masterpiece

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First, let’s get this out of the way: “I Knew Her Well” is a masterpiece of ’60s Italian cinema. Never released in the United States when it came out in 1967 and only now available via a new Criterion Collection edition, Antonio Pietrangeli’s film deserves to stand alongside such classics as Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita” and Dino Risi’s “Il Sorpasso.” All three films chronicle the good times of handsome young people enjoying a prospering, changing Italy — until the party ends, and they realize how hollow the good times have been.

“I Knew Her Well” screens at 7 p.m. Saturday at the UW-Cinematheque series at 4070 Vilas Hall, 821 University Ave. as part of a series of newly restored Italian films. It’s free, and one you won’t want to miss, if only to see the gorgeous black-and-white cinematography up on the big screen.

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“The New Girlfriend”: A sex farce, backwards and in high heels

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It’s been said that Ginger Rogers was a better dancer than Fred Astaire, because she had to do everything Astaire did, only backwards, and in high heels. That old quote comes to mind when watching Francois Ozon’s frothy sex farce “The New Girlfriend,” now out on DVD from Cohen Media. It may not have the weightiness of Ozon films like “Swimming Pool” or “Under the Sand,” and may be a little behind the times in its trans politics. But what it does, it does with a cheeky grace — and backwards, and in high heels.

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“Inside Llewyn Davis: The Criterion Collection” is a double-dip worth diving into

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If the original DVD release of Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Inside Llewyn Davis” is like the bare-bones “Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits” on CD, the new Criterion edition is like a copy of the “Biograph” boxed set. On vinyl.

The 2014 DVD release of “Davis” was just fine, but if, like me, you think the Coen Brothers’ wry and gently sad tale of an acerbic folk singer trying to make his way in 1961 Greenwich Village is one of their best films (my original review is here), the Criterion Collection edition is a cornucopia of wonders.

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“Blind”: Seeing is not believing in tricky Norwegian drama

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Eskil Vogt’s “Blind” is about a writer who goes blind while in her mid-30s. But don’t think for a moment this is your standard drama about a character dealing with her disability, her human spirit triumphant. Instead, it’s a playful and knotty puzzle of a film about what can happen inside an imaginative mind, one that’s suddenly had one of its key links to the outside world cut off. The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and is now out on DVD from Zeitgeist Films.

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“Applesauce”: Not something you want to serve over the holidays

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“Applesauce” contains some potentially interesting things in a movie — New York, infidelity and severed body parts. And yet writer-director Onur Tukel throws elements of comedy, drama and horror haphazardly into an unsweetened mash of genres that’s very unsatisfying. The movie is now out on DVD from Dark Sky Films.

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