Blu-ray Buzz – Blood Among Other Things

After a solo showing last week, this week has eight featured titles. Classics and some fun fill the Pick of the Week and Queue Qualified sections, while some critical acclaimed films from earlier this year are coming to DVD and Blu-ray for the first time in the Buzzed About section. Lots of interesting flicks to consider.

Pick of the Week
In Cold Blood
Richard Brooks' film adaptation of Truman Capote's legendary true crime novel is also one of the great true crime movies. Gritty realism makes this black & white production as modern feeling as any film today. Often filmed in the real locations where the real life events took place, the film follows the police's pursuit of Perry Smith and Dick Hickcock after their ruthlessly slaughter the Clutter family. Robert Blake as Perry and Scott Wilson as Hickcock are like lost children, never realizing what they've done until it's too late. With its even-handed approach, it's a complex study of crime that has been rarely matched.

Buy "In Cold Blood" ob Blu-ray Here!

Queue Qualified
Forbidden Planet
This sci-fi classic is now making its way to Blu-ray. An expedition travels to a distant planet to discover the fate of a mission sent to form a colony. When they arrive, Dr. Morbius and his daughter Altaira are the only survivors, living off the superior intelligence of the beings that use to inhabit the world. The film stars a serious Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon, and Anne Francis. The film's Robby the Robot is firmly a pop culture icon that folks who haven't seen the film recognize. Based loosely on Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST, the film is a clear inspiration for STAR TREK in both tone and purpose and, along with THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, harkened in an age of smart science fiction.

Buy "Forbidden Planet" on Blu-ray Here!

The Player
Robert Altman's savage Hollywood satire earned the famed director an Oscar nomination for Best Director, as well as Geraldine Peroni for Best Editing and Michael Tolkin for Best Adapted Screenplay. But many will remember the work of DP Jean Lepine with the intricate, flowing eight-minute opening shot. Tim Robbins plays a studio exec who is being blackmailed by a screenwriter whose script he rejected. That presents a large amount of suspects. The cast is amazing — Whoopi Goldberg, Jeremy Piven, Peter Gallagher, Vincent D'Onofrio, Dean Stockwell, Sydney Pollack, Gina Gershon, Richard E. Grant Fred Ward, and Lyle Lovett. And that's just the actors playing other characters. There isn't enough room to list all the celeb cameos. This dark comedy pokes fun at the cutthroat business, where morality and ethics are a liability.

Buy "The Player" on Blu-ray Here!

Poltergeist
One of the best haunted house films, a father and mother fight to rescue their young daughter from the spirits lurking in their house. Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams star as parents that feel like real parents. Heather O'Roukre became an icon as Carol Anne, the little girl who stares at the snow on a TV and utters, "They're here." While TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE's Tobe Hooper is credited as director, producer Steven Spielberg's signature touch washes over the entire film. This was the first modern horror film I ever watched as a kid and I watched it from the hall through my bedroom doorway. Despite receiving a PG-rating during its initial release, I say it's a strong PG-13 by today's standards. This film didn't need endless gore to scare the hell out of me when I was a kid and it still has the power to put a chill in the adult me too.

Buy "Poltergeist" on Blu-ray Here!

Stardust
This would be best described as a romantic fantasy. Tristan (Charlie Cox) wants to retrieve a fallen star to impress the snobby Victoria (Sienna Miller). But during his journey back home, he falls for the star named Yvaine (Claire Danes) instead. These three are joined by Michelle Pfeiffer, Peter O'Toole, Mark Strong and Robert DeNiro (in own of his uncharacteristic role choices of his career). Danes and Pfeiffer steal the film. Danes is effortlessly charming, while Pfeiffer gets to play beautiful and odd at the same time and relishes the chance. Filled with magic and humor, the romance is epic and poetically woven into the fantasy plot. The heart of a star is a powerful thing.

Buy "Stardust" on Blu-ray Here!

THX 1138
George Lucas's debut feature was this Orwellian sci-fi film, a polar opposite from the sci-fi film that would make him a legend. In the 25th century, humans' entire lives are watched and controlled by a computer. Robert Duvall plays a man who rebels against the system when a higher-ranked human, played by Donald Pleasence, tries to blackmail him into given over his partner (Maggie McOmie) to him. While the world is similar to 1984, the central love story is not as cold. With its idea of an entire culture forced to take mood-altering drugs, the film feels ahead of its time, while the rest of the sci-fi elements feel borrowed. However, the look and feel of the film is starkly evocative and creates a menace that moves the viewer.

Buy "THX 1138" on Blu-ray Here!

Buzzed About
Solitary Man
The word on this dramedy was glowing, but it got lost in the summer shuffle as an indie release. Michael Douglas plays a car mogul whose life is spiraling out of control because of his indecision in business and his private life. The impressive cast also includes Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito, Mary-Louise Parker, Jenna Fischer, Jesse Eisenberg, Imogen Poots and Ben Shenkman.

Buy "Solitary Man" on DVD Here!

Buy "Solitary Man" on Blu-ray Here!

That Evening Sun
This drama was getting some quiet buzz at Oscar season last year for Hal Holbrook, but it was too small to get him a nod. The film officially hit theaters this year and now it's coming to DVD and Blu-ray. I thought Holbrook stole the show in his Oscar nominated performance in INTO THE WILD, so I'm eager to see him in a starring role. He plays a farmer whose family sells his farm out from under him, so he becomes a squatter on what use to be his homestead. Cast also includes ALICE IN WONDERLAND's Mia Wasikowska and DESIGNING WOMEN's Dixie Carter.