video vault
THE DAMNED UNITED (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): Actor Michael Sheen’s third teaming with screenwriter Peter Morgan (after The Queen and Frost/Nixon) continues their winning streak, with Sheen taking center stage this time around. Like their previous collaborations, the story of The Damned United (based on the book by David Peace) is rooted in actual events — the infamous 44- day tenure in 1974 of football (soccer) manager Brian Clough (Sheen) at the helm of the reigning champions Leeds United, succeeding the much-beloved Don Revie (Colm Meaney). The brash and boastful Clough succeeds primarily in antagonizing his players, the team’s owners and the fans but, having parted ways with long-time assistant manager Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall), he can’t seem to find a way to win. This may be the only sports movie in history in which one almost roots for the hero to lose. Meaney, Spall and Jim Broadbent (as the chairman of Clough’s previous team) are excellent, but this is Sheen’s showcase and he’s in top form, again playing a real-life character. Sharply directed by Tom Hooper, this film never found its audience stateside, but it’s just waiting to be discovered. Rated R.
ALSO ON DVD
BAD GIRLS OF FILM NOIR (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): Ladies both luscious and lethal highlight this selection of crime thrillers from the vaults of Columbia Pictures: “Volume 1” includes Two of a Kind (1951) starring Lizabeth Scott, Edmond O’Brien, Terry Moore and Alexander Knox; Scott teams up with Charlton Heston in 1953’s Bad for Each Other; Evelyn Keyes and Dorothy Malone star in The Killer That Stalked New York (also ‘53); and Vittorio Gassman and Gloria Grahame headline The Glass Wall (also ‘53). Volume 2 includes Night Editor (1946) starring William Gargan and Janis Carter; One Girl’s Confession (1953) stars Cleo Moore and writer/producer/director Hugo Haas; Moore also appears in Women’s Prison (1955) with Ida Lupino, Jan Sterling and Lupino’s then-husband, Howard Duff; and Moore turns up once more in Over-Exposed (1956), opposite Richard Crenna and Constance Towers. Each four-film volume retails for $24.96.
“BARNABY JONES”: THE FIRST SEASON (CBS DVD/Paramount Home Entertainment): A boxed set ($42.99 retail) of all 13 episodes from the inaugural 1973 season of the longrunning, prime-time CBS-TV crime drama starring Buddy Ebsen as a retired private eye who returns to work after his son is killed, aided by his widowed daughter-in-law (Lee Meriwether). Spun off from “Cannon,” with William Conrad reprising his role as fellow private eye (and pal) Frank Cannon. First-season guest stars include Bradford Dillman, William Shatner, Lloyd Bochner, Darleen Carr, Janice Rule, Eric Braeden, Cathy Lee Crosby and Gary Lockwood.
CAMILLE (National Entertainment Media): Not to be confused with the Alexandre Dumas classic, this clumsy black comedy stars James Franco and Sienna Miller as a honeymooning couple whose trip to Niagara Falls hits a snag when she is killed en route. This starts badly, gets worse and only manages a few inspired moments toward the end. It’s not enough. Also on hand: Scott Glenn, Ed Lauter, Patricia Yeatman, Mimi Kuzyk, James B. Douglas and the late David Carradine. The debut feature of producer/director Gregory Mackenzie. Rated PG-13.
CLINT EASTWOOD: 35 FILMS 35 YEARS AT WARNER BROS. (Warner Home Video): The title tells all in this mammoth, 35-film collection ($179.98 retail) that spotlights the remarkable career of box-office superstar and acclaimed filmmaker Clint Eastwood, from Where Eagles Dare (1968) to Gran Torino (2008). Such Oscar-winning favorites as Unforgiven (1992), Mystic River (2003) and Million Dollar Baby (2004) are included, as are all of the “Dirty Harry” films. The 35th film is film critic Richard Schickel’s new documentary The Eastwood Factor. HEAT WAVE (Warner Home Video): Jordan Kerner, dean of the UNCSA School of Filmmaking, produced this engrossing dramatization of the 1965 Watts Riots, with Blair Underwood as real-life LA Times messenger (later reporter) Bob Richardson, whose coverage of the story earned the newspaper a Pulitzer Prize. Originally broadcast on TNT in 1990 and directed by Kevin Hooks (whose father Robert appears in a supporting role). A good cast includes David Strathairn, Cicely Tyson, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Sally Kirkland, Adam Arkin, Margaret Avery and James Earl Jones, who picked up an Emmy Award as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Mini-series or Special.
ICE CASTLES (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): Donald Wrye, who directed the 1979 tearjerker, returns to direct this contemporary (and rather unnecessary) remake, starring real-life figure skater Taylor Firth in her screen debut as a young skater who triumphs over adversity after being blinded in an accident. Rated PG.
JFK: 3 SHOTS THAT CHANGED AMERICA (A&E Home Entertainment): The title tells all in this History Channel documentary ($19.95 retail) that chronicles the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963. In the same vein, A&E Home Entertainment has also released writer/producer/director Anthony Giacchino’s documentary “The Kennedy Assassination: 24 Hours After” (also $19.95 retail), based on the book by Steven M. Gillion.
LEGENDS OF LAUGHTER: ABBOTT & COSTELLO (Infinity Entertainment Group): A six-DVD boxed set ($29.98 retail) highlighting the career of legendary comedy duo of Bud Abbott (1895-1974) and Lou Costello (1906- ’59), this includes 17 episodes from their ’40s radio show, 14 episodes from their syndicated ’50s TV series, the feature films Africa Screams (1949) and Jack and the Beanstalk (1952), movie trailers, bloopers and more.
THE MOMENT AFTER (Affirm Films/ Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): Dreadful faith-based potboiler with Kevin Downes and David AR White (both also producers) as FBI agents investigating the disappearance of millions of people following the prophesied Rapture. Poorly written and acted, this was originally made in 1999 and there’s even a sequel out there.
“OMNIBUS:” LEONARD BERNSTEIN (E1 Entertainment): Rarely seen in the last five decades, this four-DVD collection ($49.98 retail) boasts the entire original broadcasts of four episodes from the long-running “Omnibus” series, each one showcasing the talents of legendary conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, including performances of “Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony” and “The Music of JS Bach.” Bernstein won consecutive Emmy Awards (1957 and ’58) for Best Musical Contribution for Television for his appearances on “Omnibus.”
“PAWN STARS”: SEASON ONE (A&E Home Entertainment): A boxed set ($19.95) containing all 14 episodes from the 2009 season of the popular History Channel reality-TV series about the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, the only family-run pawn shop in Las Vegas, and its proprietors: Richard, son Rick and grandson Corey Harrison. RIFFTRAX (Legend Films): The “Mystery Science Theatre 3000” gang (Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett) reunites for this series of likeminded special-edition DVDs (each retailing for $9.95) in which they’re up to their old tricks, goofing on movies old and new, long and short -- and almost always bad. This new collection includes “Rifftrax Shorts Volume 1” and “Volume 2,” the “Shorts-tacular Shorts-travaganza,” “Wide World of Shorts,” and such feature films as Night of the Living Dead (which actually isn’t bad), Planet of the Dinosaurs, House on Haunted Hill, Voodoo Man, Missile to the Moon, Reefer Madness, Carnival of Souls, Little Shop of Horrors, Swing Parade, and the granddaddy of all duds: Plan 9 from Outer Space (both a studio version and a live version performed in Nashville).
“ROME”: THE COMPLETE SERIES (HBO Home Entertainment): The rise and (more to the point) fall of the Roman Empire, as dramatized in this critically acclaimed, grand-scale HBO toga party that ran from 2005-’07 and won seven Emmy Awards during its run. The cast includes Kevin McKidd, Ray Stevenson, Polly Walker, Kerry Condon, James Purefoy, Lindsay Duncan, Ian McNiece and Ciaran Hinds as Julius Caesar (and we all know what happened to him, don’t we?). The 11-DVD boxed set retails for $99.98, the Blu-ray 10-disc set for $139.99.
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (Affirm Films/Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): David de Vos wrote, produced, co-edited, directed, stars and does his own flying in this faith-based tearjerker in which a man is reunited with the biological father (Victor Lundin) he’s never met — and who’s dying. Sincere performances, but the sentiment is applied with a leaden touch and grows heavier (and more contrived) as the film progresses.
“THREE SHEETS”: SEASON 4 (Infinity Entertainment Group): Comedian Zane Lamprey continues his jolly, booze-soaked jaunt around the world in all 18 episodes from the 2009 season of the popular (and ongoing) series originally broadcast on the In Demand Networks’ MOJO HD Channel and now aired on the Fine Living Network. This special-edition DVD retails for $24.98.
“WANDA SYKES: I’MA BE ME” (HBO Home Entertainment): She’s out of the closet, she’s got her own show on Fox, and she’s the headliner of this stand-up comedy special ($19.97 retail) filmed at the Warner Theater in her hometown of Washington DC. Mark Burger can be heard Friday mornings on the “Two Guys Named Chris” radio show on Rock-92. Copyright 2010, Mark Burger !
