When I ponder the choice of Kenneth Branagh to direct the big screen debut of Marvel Comics' "Thor," the Norse god as comic book superhero, I can't decide if it is inspired or obvious. After all, why wouldn't (and why shouldn't) the gods of Valhalla speak and behave as the monarchs of Shakespeare's plays? And who better to bring out the Shakespearean dimension of the mythical figures and epic tales (filtered through the four-color sensibilities of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and many others since) than Branagh?

See an MSN exclusive clip with Kenneth Branagh and Chris Hemsworth from the Blu-ray supplements below.

 

The story of the big-screen "Thor" is the story of power, hubris and lessons learned when the might Prince Thor (Chris Hemsworth), son of Odin (Anthony Hopkins), is stripped of his immortality and his magical hammer, Mjolnir, and banished to the mortal plane of Midgard (that Earth to you and me) when he starts a war with the Frost Giants. Which is in many ways a boilerplate retelling of a familiar story, with gods and robots and magic and science, not to mention a hunky goldilocks of a god and a spunky, cute as a button female physics visionary (Natalie Portman) playing at modern romance, to liven things up. A little, anyway, but not much.

Kenneth Branagh talks movies with MSN at "Watching with Kenneth Branagh" here.

 

Which is not to say that "Thor" is awful, simply uninspired, full of sound and fury and not much else. Hopkins can do regal grace and tortured tough-love imperiousness in his sleep and, practically buried in his flamboyant outfit, does so at times here. Hemsworth is an impressive specimen but not much of a presence and The Warriors Three (Ray Stevenson, Josh Dallas and Tadanobu Asano, struggling through his English dialogue) plus one (Jaimie Alexander as warrior woman Sif) are fun-loving comrades with generic charm. But it does offer a dimension of tragedy in the primal scream of little brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), god of mischief always in the shadow of golden boy and heir apparent Thor, confronting an identity crisis with a fierce plot and a heartbreaking endgame that, unfortunately, gets lost in the Earthbound politics (hey, it's S.H.I.E.L.D. on the spot once again) and weird god-versus-robot spectacle. And, of course, Kat Dennings as the saving grace of the mortal cast, her eyes lingering over Hemsworth's physique with a playful sexuality absent from Portman's performance.

 

 

New Releases:

Kenneth Branagh brings "Thor" (Paramount, the Norse god-as-comic-book hero, to the big screen with Shakespearean dimension and god-versus-robot fantasy action. In other words, full of sound and fury and not much else. Chris Hemsworth does cut an impressive figure as the Aryan princeling god, though. Videodrone's review is here, and we talk with Kenneth Branagh about gods, superheroes and movies here.

 

Kelly Reichert's "Meek's Cutoff" (Oscilloscope), a frontier drama about a wagon train lost in the high plains of Oregon, may be the quietest western you've ever seen. Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood and Will Patton star in this superb, beautifully observed film. Videodrone hits the trail with the film here.

 

Joseph Gordon Levitt is a headbanging blast of anarchy with a healing presence in "Hesher" (Lionsgate) and Helen Mirren is Prospera in Julie Taymor's take on Shakespeare's "The Tempest" (Touchstone), which co-stars Russell Brand, Alfred Molina, Chris Cooper, Alan Cumming and Felicity Jones.

 

"Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop" (Paramount) chronicles the comic's "Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on TV" tour after his departure from "The Tonight Show." The French-language Canadian drama "Incendies" (Sony), about siblings who travel to the Middle East to meet family they never knew existed, was an Oscar nominee for "Best Foreign Language Film." Other imports this week include the French/Austrian/Germ​an coproduction "Lourdes" (Palisades Tartan) and "Le Quattro Volte" (Kino Lorber) from Italy.

Browse the complete New Release Rack here

 

TV on DVD:

After seven years of self-destructive behavior and incendiary lives, the characters of "Rescue Me: The Sixth Season and The Final Season" (Sony) are given as satisfying a send off as they could expect. It ends not with fire but with family. And a few ghosts. Videodrone's review is here.

 

"Blue Bloods: The First Season" (Paramount) is an old-school family cop drama with Tom Selleck as clan patriarch, NYC Police Commissioner and father of two policeman and one Assistant D.A., and it arrives in advance of its second season debut. And Gleeks will sing for joy for "Glee: The Complete Second Season" (Fox) (or, if you picked up the earlier half-season release, "Glee: Season 2, Volume 2").

 

Starz continues to pursue its signature style of historical spectacle and contrived cable nudity with the prequel "Spartacus: Gods of the Arena" (Anchor Bay) and the short-lived "Camelot: The Complete First Season" (Anchor Bay), the story of King Arthur… with a little sex in it. Reviewed on Videodrone here.

 

And more, including "Grey's Anatomy: The Complete Seventh Season" (Disney) and "Private Practice: The Complete Fourth Season" (Disney), the cult series "Supernatural: The Complete Season Sixth Season" (Warner), sitcoms "The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Fourth Season" (Warner) and "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia: The Complete Sixth Season" (Fox) and the British import "Masterpiece Mystery!: Inspector Lewis 4" (PBS).

 

Flip through the TV on DVD Channel Guide here
 

Cool, Classic and Cult:

The 1952 "My Cousin Rachel" (Twilight Time), from the Daphne du Maurier novel, stars Olivia De Havilland and features Richard Burton in his debut American role. "Eating" (Breaking Glass) is back on DVD for the 20th Anniversary of Henry Jaglom's "very serious comedy about women & food."

 

On the cult front is "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Manos: The Hands Of Fate Special Edition" (Shout! Factory), a deluxe edition celebrating what is arguably the worst film ever made, and "Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers" (Shout! Factory) a motion-comic adaptation of the 2004 comic book mini-series, timed for home video release with the feature film.

All of the Cool, Classic and Cult here

 

Blu-ray Debuts:

Has a Blu-ray release ever arrived with as much anticipation and apprehension as "Star Wars: The Complete Saga" (Fox)? Arriving in a nine-disc box (there are also separate editions with each of the two trilogies), it's packed with commentaries, documentaries, interviews and plenty of behind-the-scenes peaks and techno-geek Lucas promises state of the art remastering for high definition. But once again, he's tinkering with the original films, adding yet more special effects (to make the 1977 effects look more modern?), rejiggering scenes and even adding scenes (see Corwin Neuse on The Hitlist). Expect the fan blogosphere, already buzzing with indignation, to explode when it finally arrives on Friday, September 16.

 

No such controversy surrounds "Citizen Kane: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition" (Warner), a beautifully mastered edition of what has been called The Greatest Film Ever Made. Well, except for the Amazon exclusive edition which features the DVD debut of "The Magnificent Ambersons" as a supplement. Videodrone's review is here.

 

Criterion upgrades "3 Women" (Criterion) and "My Life as a Dog" (Criterion), previously on DVD, to Blu-ray. On the cult front is Wes Craven's original "The Hills Have Eyes" (Image), the Italian sci-fi satire "The 10th Victim" (Blue Underground) and the grindhouse revenge flick "The Exterminator" (Synapse).

Peruse all the new Blu-rays here

 

Build Your Library Essential of the Week:

"Citizen Kane: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition" (Warner) is the definition of the great American movie. Above all, Welles was a showman and "Citizen Kane" is a three ring circus of cinematic ingenuity, a startlingly entertaining blend of pulp melodrama, historical biography, detective story, political drama, storytelling confabulation, and plain old theatrical flourish. And this Blu-ray, as good a digital edition as we're likely to see (the negative was lost in a fire so a fine-grain print was used for this edition), also features the documentary "The Battle Over Citizen Kane" and "RKO 281," a fictionalized dramatization of the making of the film.

 

The complete calendar of releases this week is after the jump:

 

Kenneth Branagh may not be the first name that comes to mind to direct a superhero film, but when that hero is Thor, the Norse god of thunder, who better than a director steeped in the Shakespeare and the classics? Which is not to pigeon-hole Branagh, whose heart belongs to Shakespeare but whose career spans stage, cinema and TV and all manner of projects, including a portrayal of Sir Laurence Olivier in the upcoming feature "My Week With Marilyn" and another BBC series as the gloomy Swedish detective "Wallander." To mark the release of "Thor" on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D this week (reviewed on Videodrone here), we talked with the Branagh about gods, superheroes and what he's been watching at home.

What have you been watching?

 

Kenneth Branagh: Well, I can tell you I've been watching "Thor" for the past few days because I was checking on how the DVD worked out. Ah, what a question, because my mind's gone blank now. Just the other day I watched for the second time "Taken," which was on BBC. My wife is a fan of that movie and I'm a great fan of Liam Neeson so I enjoyed that very much.

 

I'm quite a fan of that movie and the Luc Besson-produced European action films in general. They remind me of what American action films used to be like in the seventies and eighties, when they were on a budget.

 

Branagh: You're absolutely right. And I think they have a distinct style and flair to them. That film has a great economy and knew exactly what it was and the action elements of it were most impressive.

 

I enjoy seeing older actors play action figures defined by experience. What would you think of becoming one of Besson's action heroes?

 

Branagh: I've just been making my TV show "Wallander" and we just shot an episode of it, a ninety-minute film based on a book called "The Dogs of Riga," in Latvia. By the time we were a week into it and I was running around for the fourth or fifth day with a gun in the market in Riga, someone said, "Hey, this is like 'The Bourne Ultimatum.' I like this. I want to see this film.' So maybe that's my audition for Besson.

 

 

Anyone with a nominal understanding of film history knows that, while the ubiquity of sequels are a startling trend, they are not a modern phenomenon. Hollywood has indulged in sequels and series films since the Nickelodeon, finding success in everything from Gene Autry and Roy Rogers westerns to "Andy Hardy" and "The Thin Man" to a dozen Sherlock Holmes films with Basil Rathbone. The difference is that, back in the day, producers usually spent less on sequels and series films than on adult fare, not more. Here are a few of the franchises of the era recently released to DVD-R via the manufacture on demand lines at Warner and MGM.

 

"I'm no angel so they call me Saint." "The George Sanders Saint Movies Collection" (Warner Archive) collects all five "Saint" features starring George Sanders as Simon Templar (Louis Hayward played him in the first film, "The Saint in New York"), Leslie Charter's modern Robin Hood with the reputation of a rogue, the manners of a society gentleman and the cool of a con artist. Sanders rarely got the opportunity to play the hero -- he's better known for the silky corruption and sinister calculation of Addison Dewitt in "All About Eve" -- and he enjoys himself greatly as the international rascal and charming man about town, navigating a thin line between cop and crook as a freelance detective with a streak of chivalry and a penchant for making a little money on the side.

 

"The Saint Strikes Back" (1939), running a brisk 64 minutes, has the running time of a B-movie but the budget and supporting cast (Wendy Barrie, Barry Fitzgerald, Neil Hamilton) of an A film, and director John Farrow (in his feature debut) gives it a snappy pace and style. Jonathan Hale reprises his role as Simon's foil and respectful nemesis, Inspector Henry Fernack of the NYPD (he first played the part opposite Hawyard), forever getting the slip and worse from Simon but usually rewarded in the end with a headline-grabbing arrest. Sanders, meanwhile, gets to have all the fun as the rogue of a modern knight who particularly enjoys the joust of a mystery when the client is an attractive woman. And, of course, his signature whistle (the defining motif of the subsequent radio show) is prominently featured.

 

"The Saint Strikes Back" has an expectedly complicated premise and twisty plot, at least for a film running barely over hour, and the well-plotted script is layered in misdirection and suspicion, all of which elevates beyond the usual studio programmer. Unlike a lot of the series detective films, it was adapted from an original Charter story, as were most of the films in the Sanders run of the series, including "The Saint in London" (1939), with Sally Gray, and "The Saint's Double Trouble" (1940), where Sanders takes on his identical double, a gangster trying to frame him for murder. Co-starring Bela Lugosi as a criminal henchman, it's perhaps the most colorful story in the B&W run of the series, with Sanders sending an Egyptian mummy to his old archeology professor, sparring with the man's suspicious daughter (Helene Whitney) and slipping between identities from scene to scene. "The Saint Takes Over" (1940) and "The Saint in Palm Springs" (1941) fills out the collection of five films on two discs.

"The George Sanders Saint Movies Collection" is available directly from the Warner Archive

"Four Daughters: Movie Series Collection" (Warner Archive) – It's unlikely that "Four Daughters" (1938), adapted from the Fanny Hurst story, was begun with series potential in mind. It was directed by Michael Curtiz, who had pretty much become the top house director for Warner Bros. by 1938, and featured a solid (if not quite) all-star cast: Priscilla Lane, Rosemary Lane, Lola Lane (that's right: three sisters) and Gale Page as the daughters and Claude Rains as their widowed father. It's classic Warner family filmmaking, with a quartet of pretty girls looking for romance while their father tries to keep them focused on their music training, with plenty of cute flirtations and romantic interludes. It's also the feature debut of John Garfield, who owns every scene he's in as the street-smart, angry young man of a musician softened by the affections of one of the sisters.

 

The film spawned three sequels. "Daughters Courageous" (1939) is an unofficial sequel at best, with practically the entire cast reshuffled in similar roles with all new names (in this one, Rains is the father of John Garfield, not the four girls), but they returned to old family tree (without Garfield) for "Four Wives" (1939) and "Four Mothers" (1941). The first two of these were directed by Michael Curtiz, which suggests that Warner thought pretty highly of the films. William Keighley (who co-directed "The Adventures of Robin Hood" with Curtiz) took the reigns of the final film.

 

"Four Daughters: Movie Series Collection" is available directly from the Warner Archive

Boris Karloff played Mr. Wong, aka Hugh Wiley's James Lee Wong, in five features for Monogram between 1938 and 1940. It was the poverty row studio's answer to the Charlie Chan series at 20th Century Fox and a continuation of the shabby studio tradition of casting Caucasian actors as Asian character. Which is nothing against Karloff, who plays the role with delicate dignity behind the make-up and Asian clichés, just a reminder of the realities of Hollywood's racial politics. Three of the films have recently been released through the MGM Limited Edition Collection: the first film in the series, "Mr. Wong, Detective" (1938), where Karloff created the screen incarnation of the character, the second film "The Mystery of Mr. Wong" (1939), and his final appearance as Mr. Wong in "Doomed to Die" (1940). Grant Withers co-stars in all three as Captain Street and William Nigh directs all three.

 

The films have been available in various public domain editions, most of them in horrible condition. The MGM Limited Edition Collection editions are far superior, decently mastered from good prints with decent image and sound, but the films themselves are static, slow, awkward, with only Karloff to recommend them. These are for die-hard Karloff fans and B-movie mystery buffs only.  

 

Available by order only from the MGM Limited Collection, from Amazon, Screen Archives Entertainment, Classic Movies Now and other web retailers.

 

MOD stands for "Manufacture on Demand" and represents a recent development in the DVD market, where slipping sales have slowed the release of classic, special interest and catalogue releases. These are DVD-R releases, no-frills discs from studio masters, ordered online and "burned" individually with every order. You can read a general introduction to the format and the model on my profile of the Warner Archive Collection on Parallax View here.

 

"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" debuts on home video on Friday, September 30 on DVD and a Blu-ray+DVD Combo Pack, but it won't be the definitive home video release. In fact, based on the press release, it won't have anything more than the movie (and in the case of the Combo Pack, the movie times three: Blu-ray, DVD and digital copy).

Says Michael Bay (as quoted in the press release): "As you know, we put a lot of effort into the 3D experience for the theatrical release and I want to make sure we get it right for home viewing—and that process takes time.  So stay tuned for an even more incredible release that will include the film on Blu-ray 3D and loads of bonus features."

In other words, they're saving the bells and whistles and extra dimension for the holiday season. Because nothing says "Merry Christmas" like giant robots decimating Chicago.

What remains an open question is if this release will boost the 3D home theater market -- which requires a 3D compatible monitor and Blu-ray player and a special set of technologically advanced glasses (a lot more elaborate -- and expensive -- than the polarized glasses for theatrical 3D) -- the way it boosted theatrical 3D. I'm sure the upcoming "The Lion King 3D Blu-ray" would appreciate any help in that department.

Anyone out there investing in home theater 3D? If so, how do you like it?

 

For the complete home video calendar, click here

 

Hot Tips and Top Picks: DVDs for September 6

 

New Releases:

The X-Men Begin: "X-Men: First Class"

The New Release Rack: "Hanna" and "Everything Must Go," plus Tyler Perry, Asian action and choice documentaries for the week

 

TV on DVD:

"Fringe: The Complete Third Season" – Through the Looking Glass

"The Office" – The Michael Scott Farewell Season (with an MSN Exclusive clip), plus "Parks and Recreation" and "Community"

"The Good Wife" – Act Two

Classic TV: "Police Story" - Joseph Wambaugh's Life on the Streets

TV on DVD Channel Guide: A Burst of TV Sets Before the New Season Begins, Including "Two and a Half Men," "Criminal Minds," "Diana Rigg at the BBC" and more

 

The Cool and the Collectible:

Classics: "The Complete Jean Vigo" - The Poet Laureate of French Cinema

Cool, Classic and Collectible: "Genvieve" and "Orpheus," plus more from The Rank Organization

 

Blu-ray Debuts:

"Scarface": Say Goodnight to the Bad Guy

Blu-ray Round-up: De Palma's "Dressed to Kill" and Peckinpah's "Straw Dogs," plus "If…," "United 93" and more

MOD Movies:

"Captain America" 1990

Coming up next week:

"Thor" (Paramount)

"Meek's Cutoff" (Oscilloscope)

"Hesher" (Lionsgate)

"The Tempest" (Touchstone)

"Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop" (Paramount)

"Incendies" (Sony)

"Lourdes" (Palisades Tartan)

"Brand New Day" (Fox)

"Mystery Science Theater 3000: Manos: The Hands Of Fate Special Edition" (Shout! Factory)

"Wishful Drinking" (HBO)

"Blue Bloods: The First Season" (Paramount)

"Camelot: The Complete First Season" (Anchor Bay)

"Spartacus: Gods of the Arena" (Anchor Bay)

"Glee: The Complete Second Season" (Fox)

"Rescue Me: The Sixth Season and The Final Season" (Sony)

"Grey's Anatomy: The Complete Seventh Season" (Disney)

"Private Practice: The Complete Fourth Season" (Disney)

"Supernatural: The Complete Season Sixth Season" (Warner)

"The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Fourth Season" (Warner)

"It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia: The Complete Sixth Season" (Fox)

"Outsourced: The Complete Series" (Universal)

"Masterpiece Mystery!: Inspector Lewis 4" (PBS)

"Citizen Kane: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition" (Blu-ray) (Warner)

"3 Women" (Blu-ray) (Criterion)
"My Life as a Dog" (Blu-ray) (Criterion)
"O Brother, Where Art Thou" (Blu-ray) (Disney)

"Trainspotting" (Blu-ray) (Lionsgate)

 

For more upcoming releases, click here

 

"Captain America" (MGM Limited Edition Collection)

The new "Captain America," with Chris Evans as the gee-whiz superhero in the red, white and blue tights, is not the first screen version of Marvel's first Avenger. That was way back in 1944 and the character has been periodically revived ever since, though always in budget-minded productions.

 

The most recent pre-2011 version, starring Matt Salinger (son of the late, legendary J.D. Salinger) as the gee-whiz symbol of American World War II pluck, was actually made for the big screen, but thanks to some bad luck with rights issues, the 1990 film was delayed a couple of years and then (apart from a nominal release in Europe) pretty much dumped to home video. Not that a timely release would have made much difference. Produced by Menaham Golan (the former Cannon mogul) and directed by Albert Pyun, the relentlessly prolific genre hound director whose facility for low-budget action has resulted in a few nuggets of B-movie gold sprinkled through a career of dross, "Captain America" 1990 a real stiff, a corny piece of nostalgic pulp with cheap action, cheesy dialogue and a charismatically challenged leading man.

 

What makes it interesting (which is not the same thing as good) is its points of reference with the new film: the World War II origins, the battle against Nazi menace The Red Skull (played by Scott Paulin) and Cap's fateful rocket ride to the frozen north, to be revived decades in the future, all right out of the comic books. The major difference is that in the 1990 incarnation, the balance of the film takes place in the present, with Paulin's Red Skull carved into an approximation of a human face (thanks to the wonders of plastic surgery) and Captain America back on his case, this time with the daughter of his forties sweetheart as his sidekick and guide through the modern world. It's a real waste of a fun cast -- Ronny Cox as the American President, Ned Beatty as the world's oldest cub reporter, Francesca Neri as the Skull's top henchwoman -- a selection of cut-rate Eastern European locations doubling for Italy and a modest budget. Pyun has done much more with much less (see "Cyborg," "Nemesis," "Mean Guns" and even "The Sword and the Sorcerer"), and had more fun doing it.

 

And to make matters worse, the MGM Limited Edition Collection release, which is branded as the "Re-Released 1992 Edition," is presented in a pre-widescreen full frame (1.33:1) version, as if scaled for TV. It only makes it look more like an old made-for-TV movie, PG-13 rating notwithstanding. No supplements.

 

Available by order only from the MGM Limited Collection, from Amazon, Screen Archives Entertainment, Classic Movies Now and other web retailers.

 

MOD stands for "Manufacture on Demand" and represents a recent development in the DVD market, where slipping sales have slowed the release of classic, special interest and catalogue releases. These are DVD-R releases, no-frills discs from studio masters, ordered online and "burned" individually with every order. You can read a general introduction to the format and the model on my profile of the Warner Archive Collection on Parallax View here.

 

Say hello to my little Blu-ray! "Scarface: Limited Edition" (Universal) delivers the Blu-ray debut of Brian De Palma's urban gangster classic, with Al Pacino as the Cuban thug who shoots his way to the top of the Miami drug trade. Videodrone's review is here.

 

You can make it a De Palma double feature as "Dressed to Kill" (MGM), his signature thriller and one of his best films ever, also debuts on Blu-ray this week. The film has been called De Palma's take on Hitchcock's "Psycho" and the parallels are undeniable: a sexually independent heroine (Angie Dickinson) who murdered in the opening act, the amateur detectives (Keith Gordon and Nancy Allen) who team up to find the mysterious killer, a plays of doubles and doppelgangers and characters in reflection, even a psychiatrist who "explains" it all in end.

 

But to leave it there is a disservice to what De Palma does with these shared fascinations. No one has been as fascinated with the idea of looking in cinema, the play of voyeurism and sexuality and power, and the layers of anxiety and excitement in watching and being watched, since Hitchcock. And few have married the mechanics of suspense with such cinematic grace as De Palma, whose silky images and deliriously choreographed moving camera takes are both beautiful and unnerving, and not just in matters of tension and surprise. The anxiety and anticipation that De Palma reveals in his obsessive observation is as thrilling as the shocks and surprises and dramatic turns in the plot.

 

The Blu-ray features the unrated version of the film only and offers a short comparison of scenes from the unrated, R-rated and network TV cuts of the film among the supplements (all ported over from the previous DVD special edition). Laurent Bouzreau’s 42-minute "The Making of Dressed to Kill" cleverly uses DePalma’s own split screen style for effect, the nine-minute "Slashing Dressed to Kill" investigates the ratings battle over the film, and "Dressed to Kill: An Appreciation by Keith Gordon" is just that from co-star and now veteran director Gordon: “Brian has a chess player kind of mind.”

 

Sam Peckinpah's "Straw Dogs" (MGM), one of Sam Peckinpah's most uncompromising portraits of the human animal under pressure, arrives in advance of the new remake. It's hard to imagine that Rod Lurie, as hamfisted a director as he is glib, could make anything nearly as provocative or powerful as Peckinpah's film, which was even more controversial upon release than "The Wild Bunch" for its troubling ambivalence towards and fascination with violence as a primal force within the human animal. Dustin Hoffman, as the meek American mathematician who explodes in a mixture of territorialism, principle, and pent-up rage when a drunken gang storms his house, is hardly a simple hero defending his home from invaders. His perverse, bloodthirsty glee as he racks up a body count verges on savagery and Peckinpah’s double edged attitude manages to find the hero and horror tied up in one troubling package. No supplements.

 

Lindsay Anderson captured the fancy of a generation of British youth and the revolutionary spirit of the late sixties with "If…" (Criterion), his savage satire of the regimented British education system and its bullying social order. Malcolm McDowell is alternately cocky and brooding as the nonconformist student Mick, rebel in increasingly provocative acts, culminating in an armed revolt that plays like Jean Vigo's "Zero For Conduct" reinterpreted by Jean-Luc Godard. Anderson's mix of realistic detail and absurdist elements creates a surreal quality to the film, which is only heightened by the arbitrary jumps between B&W and color (reportedly due to a budget crisis but a surprisingly effective technique regardless). Criterion includes the supplements from its earlier DVD release: commentary by Malcolm McDowell with film critic and historian David Robinson, Anderson's Academy Award-winning 1954 documentary short "Thursday's Children" narrated by Richard Burton, the 2003 episode from BBC Scotland's TV series "Cast and Crew" about "If..." and a video interview with actor Graham Crowden (the History Master). The accompanying booklet features essays by critic David Ehrenstein and screenwriter David Sherwin, and an interview with director Lindsay Anderson conducted by… Lindsay Anderson.

 

"United 93" (Universal), the first theatrical feature to deal with the events of September 11, imagines the drama aboard United 93, the lone flight that never reached its objective. Paul Greengrass casts unknowns in the passenger roles (some of the real life tower crew even play themselves) and shoots the drama like a real-time documentary. The timing of the Blu-ray debut is all but obligatory with the anniversary coming upon us. With director commentary, featurettes and memorials.

 

The Coen Bros. made their feature debut with the 1984 "Blood Simple" (Fox), a modern film noir about an adulterous affair that leads to a complicated web of murder and betrayal in a small Texas town. If this trend setting neo-noir never transcends the genre it so beautifully defines, that’s fine. There’s a lot to be said for a smart, stylish, well turned genre picture. Features a self-mocking commentary track.

 

"40 Days and 40 Nights" (Lionsgate) stars Josh Hartnett as a young man who takes a vow of chastity after a series of unfulfilling sexual exploits, only to be tempted by a beautiful new girl in his life. Features commentary.

Also debuting to Blu-ray (and reviewed elsewhere on Videodrone) are the : "The Complete Jean Vigo"and "Orpheus" (from Criterion) and the British comedy "Genvieve."