"The Prestige" is that rare specimen of modern blockbuster filmmaking - the type of film that demands you revisit it again and again to fully unwind its tightly guarded secrets. Much like "The Sixth Sense" did several years earlier, Christopher Nolan's film keeps its secrets hidden in plain sight, and yet it's only on a second (or third) viewing that most people will be able to detect them. The less said about the plot, the better. Just know that the story has considerable thematic depth (passion, power, obsession, duality, identity, and revenge are all seamlessly woven into the fabric of the film) and is elevated by the performances of both Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman. The greatest achievement of "The Prestige" is that it ultimately functions as Nolan's own magic trick, perpetuated in front of an audience that views it and is left with the most wonderful question in all of film at the end: "How did he do that?"
Nothing new can be written about "Evil Dead II," though that's no fault of the film itself. Rather, it's the fault of the film's legacy: it's gained such a following over the past three decades that so many people have had some sort of say or another about it. So maybe it's better to focus on what the film stands for - that is, it's the elusive sequel that doesn't merely repeat the formula of the original but actually reinvents the formula entirely. Where the first Evil Dead was an impressive foray into the horror genre, making the most of a super-duper limited budget and resources, Evil Dead II is an exercise in excess: more blood, more gore, more screams, more characters, more more more! It throws in everything but the kitchen sink (actually, I think that gets thrown in too, at one point) and winds up with some iconic moments and one hell of a performance by Bruce Campbell - one that's still beloved all these years later, and with good reason. Evil Dead II stands on its own (thanks in some part to the opening five-minute recap of the first film) and also functions as the strongest entry in one of the most endearing (and enduring) horror franchises of all time.
The Blu-ray is excellent, with a great picture and wonderful supplements, including a riotous commentary track and new (at the time of release) feature-length documentary about the making of the film. Then there are some lovely vintage featurettes thrown in for good measure. A must-have in any horror fan's collection.
It's a neat trick, to make a feel-good movie that doesn't cater to the lowest common denominator through overt sentimentality and schmaltz. Leave it to Martin Scorsese, known primarily for his hyper-violent blasts of cinematic brutality, to put smiles on our faces by dazzling us with a masterful exploration of why we love the movies. On its surface, "Hugo" is about an orphaned boy who lives at a train station. In most other "family films," hijinks - usually in the form of slapstick humor and crude jokes - would ensue. Scorcese's film, though, takes a left-hand turn, developing instead into a love letter to early cinema and one of its real-life innovators.
The surface story's still there to be told, of course: the boy yearns for a family, and may yet find one following his dalliance with a female peer. And slapstick does indeed ensue. But here's where the cast works its own sort of magic. Sacha Baron Cohen is the closest thing "Hugo" has to a villain, and is put through the ringer in said slapstick style, but he plays the character subtly enough to be ultimately endearing (and, of course, redeemed by the film's conclusion). The younger actors, Asa Butterfield and Chloe Moretz, are wonderful and really carry the picture from start to finish. But who can compete with Ben Kingsley when he's as "on" as he is here? Just a great, winning performance that will leave you wanting to jump up and cheer by its culmination.
Top to bottom, "Hugo" is a joy to watch, and it looks fantastic on Blu-ray.
The Alien legacy is more vivid than ever before in this six-disc Blu-Ray collection featuring Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, and Alien: Resurrection as you've never seen them before. In addition to offering the theatrical versions of each film, the "Director's Cut" of Alien, and the "Special Edition" versions of each of the other films are also included.
I'm up to 100 Blu-ray sets; "Alien Anthology" remains my favorite. That should tell you something right there, but I'll elaborate anyway. Nothing new can be said about the films themselves...the first two are genre masterpieces, and the latter two are imperfect but interesting genre exercises. Horror, science fiction, action, dystopia, industrialism, human sexuality, gender, sociology - these are among the genres, themes, and concepts that the various Alien films play with to one degree or another. So, the films themselves are well worth checking out at least twice apiece (once standing on their own, a second [or third, in Alien's case] time supplemented by the fabulous audio commentaries).
And then there are the extras. Docs and pods and storyboards, oh my. You could lose yourself for a week if you wade into the bonus material in the Alien Anthology. Each film garners a feature-length-plus documentary that covers everything from the first seed of an idea to the reaction following release from critics and audiences. Go check out a professional review of the set somewhere to get the gory details, but for now, suffice to say that there isn't a single aspect of the four Alien films left uncovered by the Alien Anthology. Truly a comprehensive set, this puppy should be in every film fan's collection.
Oh, and a note on the packaging: it's a digipack with sleeves, which is moderately annoying, but given the endurance level of the coating on a Blu-ray disc, it's fine as long as you're being careful sliding the discs in and out. Bonus points for a supremely sturdy and attractive package.
Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon managed to create a paradox via "The Cabin in the Woods": somehow, they both reinvented the modern horror movie and annihilated just about the entire genre in one (densely packed and highly entertaining) fell swoop. And we're all the better for it. This is one of the best balancing acts I've ever seen in a deconstructionist film of any kind, as the film incorporates the slasher movie, supernatural happenings, Lovecraftian horror, zombie attacks, and...mundane office-drone boredom (?) in an immensely satisfying experience that creates something unique even as it comments on what it's all about. As for the elements I listed - clearly, one of those things doesn't belong, but you'll have to look elsewhere if you're curious about how it all runs together, 'cause I'm sure as hell not gonna tell you (my advice: just watch the movie, and don't view a single preview beforehand if you haven't yet been spoiled).
Stripped to the bone. That's what "Drive" is, essentially. It's an action film that takes all the ancillary things normally associated with the genre and tosses them out the window, leaving only the core elements behind. If you're looking for "The Fast and the Furious, featuring Ryan Gosling," you'll be very disappointed. In fact, "Drive" is just about the polar opposite of that concept: where you might expect a convoluted story, characters with transparent motives, and slick action, you get a simple plot, an enigmatic hero, and shockingly brutal violence.
How simple is the plot, and enigmatic the hero? Let's put it this way: Gosling's character doesn't even have a name. But that's the point: the Driver doesn't need a name. All he needs is a mission. To say more would spoil the surprises that the admittedly minimalistic plot has in store. Suffice to say the performances are great (Gosling is terrific, but the real treat here is Albert Brooks' vicious turn), the action sequences are pulse-pounding, and director Nicolas Winding Refn guides the film along beautifully. "Drive" was my pick for the best film of 2011, and it's well worth checking out.
Big questions. Ambiguous answers. Therein lies the beauty of "Contact," a film boiling over with ideas that remain as thought-provoking when the film ends as they were when it began. Science, faith, exploration, existence itself...director Robert Zemeckis sure does heap a whole lot onto the audience's plate in this one, and that's a welcome change of pace from what "science fiction" has become some 15 years since this film's release (bloated, ideologically empty vessels full of sound and fury but not much else). Equally refreshing is the fact that "Contact" effectively presents a number of different perspectives on subjects that tend to be controversial without ever feeling preachy or didactic.
Jodie Foster carries the film, injecting a lot of warmth and charisma into a character who, in lesser hands, could have been massively unlikable and grating. She gets a lot of help from a stellar supporting cast, too (even then-President Bill Clinton has a cleverly embedded "cameo"). There are only a couple of set pieces in the film, but when they hit, they hit big. The opening shot, in particular, is a thing of beauty - even if we've been spoiled to the point that we feel like we've seen something like it dozens of times already by the year 2013.
The pace sure is deliberate, and I won't argue with anyone who says "Contact" could be a half-hour shorter and better for it, but it remains a wonderful cinematic achievement worthy of your time if you haven't yet checked it out (and yes, well worth the upgrade to Blu as well).
Here's a film that should be much bigger and bolder than it turned out to be. Released by the now-defunct New Line in the wake of said studio's mammoth success story that was "The Lord of the Rings," Chris Weitz's "The Golden Compass" was obviously engineered to be the heir apparent to Peter Jackson's landmark fantasy franchise (the original teaser trailer began with a golden ring, tossed up into the air, transforming into the golden compass). But despite the best intentions of all involved, "The Golden Compass" fails to capture the qualities of its wonderful source material. What could have been a daring, thought-provoking, and thematically interesting cinematic experience instead devolves into a nice-looking but ultimately flat screen journey.
The frustrating part is that there's a good movie in here somewhere. Weitz obviously has the chops to elicit strong performances all around, the script is tight, the cinematography is gorgeous, and the effects are generally impressive - if not wholly convincing. The film also gets bonus points for the pitch-perfect casting of Sam Elliott. But "The Golden Compass" ultimately feels like a product of compromise. The tone of the film is all over the place, several characters lack depth, the dialogue is spotty and often a bit too on the nose, and then there's the ending - it's a tragedy that, despite having been filmed, the conclusion was both left off the film entirely and out of the special features section of the Blu as well. The novel's ending, if included, would have provided the kind of strong, emotional punch that the rest of the film too often lacked. C'est la vie.
As far as the Blu-ray set itself: impressive package. Iorek's roar will threaten to shatter your windows and the picture is as clear as when I saw it on the big screen some 5 or 6 years ago. The supplementary package is equally great, with in-depth featurettes on everything from Pullman's conception of the story to the casting of Lyra to the special effects wizardry required to create an admirably convincing fantasy world.
A little less compromise and a little more fine-tuning, and "The Golden Compass" may well have been the satisfying blockbuster New Line hoped it would be. Instead, it now sits as one of many post-LOTR misfires with few distinguishing characteristics of its own and a whole lot of potential unrealized.