Smartly scripted and superbly acted, Never Let Me Go is a tonic for the plethora of dumb crash-bang action movies littering theaters. Yet its relentlessly somber tone and uncompromising tragedy make it a hard film to recommend. If you can handle sad and depressing, you will be richly rewarded by one of the most intelli [...]
DVD Reviews
‘In Treatment: Season Two’ Is Television Worth Listening To
It might sound like damning a television show with faint praise to say that it is good enough to be on the radio. In the case of In Treatment, though, it should be taken as a well deserved compliment. This HBO series is modest in its visual ambition and is all about script and characterization. It’s a show that capture [...]
Disney’s Animated ‘Alice in Wonderland’ Is Vivid and Eccentric
I was surprised when I first heard that Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment was going to reissue the 1951 animated version of Alice in Wonderland this month in a remastered Blu-ray 60th Anniversary Edition. It is only a matter of months since it was reissued on DVD as a two-Disc ‘Un-Anniversary’ special. Given that [...]
‘Fantasia’ and ‘Fantasia 2000′ Are Classical Journeys Worth Taking
#GIFT It seems almost pointless reviewing Disney’s classic reissues on Blu-ray because the films themselves are familiar and the Hi-Def restoration work is guaranteed to impress. The personnel behind the HD remastering of releases of classic animated films from the Disney vault have established a standard of excellence [...]
Delving Into Disney and DC Comics
#GIFT Students of film and pop culture history have had a bumper selection of titles to choose from in the last few weeks. Four documentaries have been released that warrant the attention of anyone with an interest in two of the most enduring and successful enterprises in the entertainment industry: Walt Disney Studios [...]
Disney’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ Is A Frighteningly Faithful Adaptation
‘A Christmas Carol’ has long been one of my favorite stories of the festive season. Thankfully Hollywood has a history of producing decent adaptations so I was optimistic that Robert Zemeckis wouldn’t make a hash of it with his 2009 motion capture adaption. Besides, Zemeckis has a decent record of delivering solid fami [...]
‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ Season 2 Looks Cool, Sounds Familiar
I admit that I’m not a big Star Wars fan but I’d heard such good things about the Clone Wars TV series that I was keen to see what sounded like a cool animated take on the film franchise. Warner Home Video’s recent release of The Complete Season Two on Blu-ray (and DVD) provided a welcome opportunity. The Clone Wars [...]
‘Robin Hood: The Complete Series’ Is Classic British Tea-Time Silliness
You don’t need to be British to know what makes for silly Saturday evening TV on that nation’s major networks. If you are familiar with Doctor Who and Primeval, you’ll have a pretty good idea. Both of those shows are admirable for their high production values and a winning combination of imagination, energy, comedy and [...]
Disney’s ‘Oceans’ and ‘The Crimson Wing’ Are Naturally Spectacular
If you think that the BBC is unmatched in its output of natural history documentaries, think again. In the last couple of years a new heavy hitter has arrived on the scene and it has had plenty of practice at pleasing audiences: Walt Disney. On Earth Day last year the Disneynature branch of the company released its fir [...]
Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ BD is Bursting with Color and Charm
The Lion King might be seen as the coolest film to have come out of Disney Studios in its modern era, but Beauty and the Beast is, in my view, the best. With lovable characters, a fairytale story in the classic Disney tradition and an action-packed climax that is more stirring than anything Disney had produced before o [...]
