Every Tuesday, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on-demand, vintage and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalog titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This weekly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching.
Two more early-quarantine, pulled-from-theaters titles get their proper disc and VOD releases, and both are worth a watch from those who were saving their pennies for a more reasonable price point. Also this week: a pair of fascinating catalog titles on Blu-ray from KL Studio Classics and a harrowing snapshot of our last paradigm-shifting national disaster returns to Netflix.
ON NETFLIX:
“United 93”: When Paul Greengrass chose to follow up “The Bourne Supremacy” with this documentary-style retelling of the events of 9/11, some viewers scratched their heads – or at least, those unaware that his breakthrough film was “Bloody Sunday,” another unnervingly intimate look at a national tragedy. Wielding a handheld camera and using a cast of mostly unknowns and non-actors (some playing themselves), Greengrass recreates the chaos, panic, and dread of that day with you-are-there immediacy. It’s a tough sit, but a powerful and rewarding one.
ON BLU-RAY / DVD / VOD:
“Emma.”: Do we NEED yet another film adaptation of “Emma,” asked the fuddy-duddies, and while it’s true that we just had one in ’96 (the year after “Clueless,” no less), we also didn’t need another “Little Women.” And this take, from director Autumn de Wilde and screenwriter Eleanor Catton, is an absolute delight, fast-paced and witty, backed by jaw-dropping cinematography and production and costume design; the rich pastels look good enough to eat. But it’s not just surfaces; in the leading role, Anya Taylor-Joy isn’t afraid to lean into the character’s brattiness (and even cruelty and pettiness), which cleanly underscores the notion that being a good person is about more than simply doing good deeds. And the chemistry between her Emma and Johnny Flynn’s Mr. Knightley is electrifying – reminiscent, in its own quiet way, of “The Age of Innocence,” another film that focused on the longing you can pack into a single, lingering touch. (Includes deleted scenes, gag reel, and a featurette.)
“The Way Back”: Gavin O’Connor and Ben Affleck’s last collaboration, “The Accountant,” was so comically, patently absurd that it’s downright shocking to discover that their newest is as grounded and affecting as this. It sets itself up as a formulaic sports movie – I’m not the first to note that it’s basically a “Hoosiers” remake, but with the Hackman and Hopper characters combined – but it’s much more of a character study of a man whose denial and pain have manifested in a losing battle with alcoholism. Affleck, of course, brings his own baggage to the role, which is part of why it proves so forceful; his performance feels like the culmination of his various paparazzi portraits of existential brokenness. It’s a knockout performance, and O’Connor’s direction is thankfully sensitive – up to and including the spot-on ending, which seems to tee up several clichés at once, and sidesteps them all. (Includes featurettes.)
ON BLU-RAY:
“Lonely Are the Brave”: “Oh, you men just make me sick!” announces Gena Rowlands. “You just act like children!” No, it’s not a lost Cassavetes movie, but this 1962 Western drama from director David Miller and screenwriter Dalton Trumbo isn’t too far removed from that territory, at least philosophically. Kirk Douglas is a rebellious cowboy who tries to help a buddy in prison and ends up in an extended mountaintop stand-off with the law (a sequence that clearly inspired “Hell or High Water”). Douglas has never been better, Rowlands is remarkable, and we’re even treated to a mustachioed Walter Matthau as the local lawman, sporting an appropriately oversized hat and spouting lines like “Throw me that canteen, I haven’t got enough spit left to wet a stick o’ gum.” (Includes audio commentary, featurettes, and trailer.)
“Alice in Wonderland”: In 1933, Paramount cooked up this big-screen adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic primarily as a showcase for their stable of stars, and it remains a profound oddity, not altogether successful by undeniably fascinating. As adaptation goes, it’s strictly Cliff’s Notes territory, running barely over an hour once they get past the lengthy opening roll call and set-up, and the majority of the performers have been forgotten by all but the most ardent film buffs – which barely matters anyway, since they’re so often rendered utterly unrecognizable by the grotesque make-up and elaborate costumes. But the visual effects are impressive and there are a handful of standout bits (most notably W.C. Fields’ turn as Humpty Dumpty), including an animated insert that makes you wonder why they bothered to make it a live-action film at all since so many of the performers are reduced to their voices anyway. Then again, can you even imagine an animated “Alice in Wonderland”? (Includes audio commentary and trailer.)
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