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William Friedkin's sleek, bleak 1985 thriller about a Secret
Service agent (William L. Petersen) who goes rogue, and the ruthless
counterfeiter (a feral Willem Dafoe in his breakthrough performance) who killed
his partner, paints a very thin line between the good guys and the bad guys.
Stylishly shot in steely blues against hazy red and orange skies and set to a
surprisingly effective techno soundtrack by Wang Chung, it practically defines
the era stylistically yet stakes out its own cynical and brutal (both physically
and emotionally) sensibility. Friedkin creates a jittery atmosphere of
adrenaline and corruption, making a perfect bookend to his early-'70s classic
"The French Connection," complete with one of the most ingenious, nerve-racking
car chases of all time. John Pankow, Debra Feuer, Darlanne Fluegel, John
Turturro and Dean Stockwell co-star.
The searing colors and hyper-real
photography look superb on Blu-ray but the supplements, including the sharp and
articulate commentary by Friedkin, are on the accompanying DVD of this two-disc
set. It also includes the half-hour documentary "Counterfeit World: The Making
of To Live and Die in L.A.," a deleted scene and an alternate ending (both with
an introduction by Friedkin), all on the previously released DVD edition.
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| The Running Man |
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Adapted from the early Stephen King novel (writing as Richard
Bachman), this high-concept 1987 Ah-nold action film drops him into the ultimate
reality show, where condemned criminals are sent through an obstacle course
filled with armed, dangerous, and absurdly costumed gladiators. Mayhem and
one-liners ensue. Think "American Gladiator" meets "Survivor," with former game
show icon Richard Dawson as your huckster host. Features two commentary tracks
(one by director Paul Michael Glaser and producer Tim Zinneman, the other by
executive producer Rob Cohen) and two featurettes.
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| Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior |
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The original Thai action hit with stocky Thai stuntman turned
action hero Tony Jaa debuts on Blu-ray as the lavish sequel hits home video. It
plays like a down-and-dirty updating of the old Hong Kong kung-fu revenge
odysseys of the '70s with Jaa as the naïve country boy in Bangkok. The story is
just an excuse to showcase his talent, a combination of Jackie Chan's gymnastic
energy and Bruce Lee's bone-snapping, body-crunching intensity. In Thai with
English subtitles and an optional English dub soundtrack, with a featurette,
behind-the-scenes stunt footage and a live Tony Jaa performance.
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| The Music Man |
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You got trouble, right here in River City. Robert Preston is the
double-talking con man who sells a Midwest town an entire orchestra of marching
band instruments while wooing the local piano teacher and prim librarian
(Shirley Jones) in the lavish 1962 screen version of Meredith Willson's hit
musical comedy. It's a stagy but colorful production, energized largely by
Preston's huckster snap and sly charm. The Blu-ray includes the supplements from
the DVD: an introduction by Jones and the documentary "Right Here in River City:
The Making of The Music Man."
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| The Bourne Identity / The Bourne Supremacy / The Bourne Ultimatum - Blu-ray/DVD Combo Discs |
A lot of Blu-ray editions have been arriving with bonus DVD
copies as part of the set, mostly for family movies but even for select
blockbusters. Now Universal rereleases all three films starring Matt Damon as
the spy who came in from the cold in its new Blu-ray-plus-DVD solution: both
formats on a single two-sided (or flipper) disc. Doug Liman directs " The Bourne Identity," an adaptation of Robert
Ludlum's novel about an amnesiac human weapon trying to discover his true
identity while the CIA hunts him down, but the sequels directed by Paul
Greengrass are even better. Damon becomes the great anti-Bond of Hollywood
action cinema with " The Bourne Supremacy" and " The Bourne Ultimatum." Greengrass shoots in a
rough and ready style, choreographing complex action scenes on location and
throwing the audience into the middle of the chaos with a handheld camera that
whips and searches and follows the action as if the cameraman was catching it
all on the fly. Both versions feature the commentary tracks, deleted and
alternate scenes and treasure chest of featurettes from previous releases, and
the Blu-ray versions include the interactive "U-Control" and BD-Live
supplements. This makes a good option for consumers planning to make the
high-def jump but who have yet to do so: You can watch the DVD side until the
Blu-ray player arrives. |
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Sean Axmaker is a film critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a DVD
columnist for MSN Entertainment and a contributing writer for GreenCine.com,
Turner Classic Movies Online, Parallax View and Asian Cult Cinema, among other
publications. Find links to all of this and more on his shamelessly self-promoting blog.
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