? Taken 2 (Grade: B-): It may be old brothel advice, but some things really do work better in the hands of a professional, and Taken 2 proves it a few times over thanks to the presence of Luc Besson and Liam Neeson. Two consummate pros in their own right, this unlikely tag team probably had low expectations for the first film about an overprotective dad seeking to protect his college-age daughter from kidnappers. You could feel an edge of ?let?s just go for it and see what happens? all the way through the generic thriller, which probably explains why it was so much fun. The second film has a bigger budget and bigger expectations, but it?s still goofy, thrilling fun. Neeson commands the frame as mild-mannered Bryan Mills, an earnest secret-agent type who now makes a living doing private security. Despite his massive form, Neeson conveys vulnerability and that?s the key to any successful story, especially one in which the hero has to go against an army of bad guys to free his entire family. Katherine Monk
? To Rome With Love (Grade: C): When Woody Allen hits your eye like a big pizza pie, it?s amore ? and probably a little cheesy. After 40 years, he?s figured out the recipe for the romantic comedy romp, and the older he gets, the more he relies on familiar tastes. This explains why To Rome With Love feels like a push of the ?repeat? button after the success of Midnight in Paris. A sprawling, multi-pronged view of romance as experienced by several characters, To Rome With Love doesn?t possess the same thematic clarity as its predecessor. Scenes that needed to be light as a tiramisu feel leaden, and characters designed to be empathetic are just irritating. Everyone feels like a doll in Allen?s clammy hands as he plays out the strains of his neurosis in emotional miniature. There?s a constant sense of clenching and contrivance that drains the comic juice because it all feels laboured. Only one plot line manages to rise above the sticky fluff, and not surprisingly, it?s an extension of Allen?s alter ego, played by the ever-bankable Alec Baldwin. No special features. KM
? 5 Broken Cameras (4 stars):?One of five documentaries nominated this year for an Academy Award, this one is a collaborative effort: Using a series of cheap digital cameras, a Palestinian farmer named Emad Burnat spent five years filming the effects of the Israeli occupation in Bil'in, the West Bank village where he lives, then gave the footage to Tel Aviv fimmaker Guy Davidi to edit. A rough but engrossing insider's view of life under siege, the 90-minute film won the people's choice award at last year's RIDM doc fest in Montreal. The Kino Lorber DVD has non-optional English subtitles for the Hebrew and Arabic dialogue, and includes interviews with Burnat and Davidi and a short film Davidi made in 2010 called Keywords, about making a stage play out of the Palestinian reality. Jeff Heinrich
? The Jazz Singer (Blu-ray) ( 4 stars): Old movies look so much better - so much more like film - in high-definition. So thanks, Warner Brothers, for this lovely package. Released in 1927, The Jazz Singer wasn't the first talkie (and in fact, it's mostly silent), and it's by no means the most creative (hello, Ren? Clair), but it is probably the one that had the most commercial impact. "You ain't heard nothin' yet!" cries Al Jolson, transformed from New York Jewish cantor's son Jakie Rabinowitz into Broadway singing sensation Jack Robin (in minstrel blackface). "Mammy!" he's good. Updating its 2007 DVD boxset for the Blu-ray age, Warner has put the main feature in high def (lots of pleasing grain), kept the two DVDs of extras, and consolidated the paper extras into an 88-page book that adds an informative history of the film and its era. JH
? Grand Hotel (Blu-ray) (4 stars):?The 1% of the Great Depression have never looked better, especially the divine Greta Garbo. In this 1932 classic she plays a reclusive Russian ballerina who just wants to be alone in her room at Berlin's Grand Hotel, "a place where nothing ever happens." John Barrymore is the poor aristocrat who's after her jewels, his elder brother Lionel Barrymore is a sickly accountant, Joan Crawford is an ambitious stenographer, and Wallace Beery is her boss. Based on the novel by Vicki Baum, the movie won the Oscar for best picture and it gets respect in this new Blu-ray from Warner. The transfer is a big improvement from the studio's 2004 DVD - much deeper blacks, more detailed greys, and a more stable image - and there's a commentary track added to the already generous vintage extras. JH
? Mrs. Miniver (Blu-ray) (4 stars): This war-on-the-homefront drama swept the 1942 Academy Awards: best picture, best director (William Wyler), best supporting actress (Teresa Wright) and above all, best actress (Greer Garson). The British star plays Mrs. Kay Miniver, a suburban London housewife whose architect husband (Walter Pidgeon) ships out to Dunkirk, leaving her to mind the hearth against all perils - including a German Luftwaffe pilot who crashes nearby. The DVD that Warner issued in 2004 was excellent, and there's little improvement in this new Blu-ray to merit an upgrade. The image is almost identical image and so are the extras: two 20-minute propaganda shorts, footage of Garson at the Oscars, and a trailer; a 33-still photo gallery is dropped in favour of Blitz Wolf, a hilarious cartoon (11 mins.) spoofing Adolf Hitler. JH
? Driving Miss Daisy (Blu-ray) (4 stars): Alfred Uhry wrote the play, Bruce Beresford directed the movie, and Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy made it come alive for the masses. Tandy plays an elderly Jewish matron in the American South and Morgan is Hoke, her illiterate chauffeur; racism and prejudice haunt them through the late 1940s to the mid-1970s. The movie was judged best picture at the 1989 Oscars, and Tandy made history as the oldest (at 81) best actress. Now it all comes to Blu-ray, in the digibook format. Warner's hardbound edition has 32 pages of colour photos and background on the film and its principals. Extras include an audio commentary; three vintage featurettes totalling about 30 minutes; and a new one, also about half-and-hour, with some of the real people behind Hoke and Miss Daisy's true-to-life story. JH
? Putin's Kiss (3.5 stars):?How clever of those wily Russians: Create a youth organization that bills itself as "democratic" and "anti-fascist," and then let it rip into all the opponents of the country's most powerful man, President Vladimir Putin. Moscow teenager Masha Drokova was one of the tens of thousands who got sucked into Nashi, as the organization is called, and one of the few to become disillusioned by the violence of its fanatics, switching sides after thugs beat her journalist friend Oleg Kashin nearly to death. Drokova's cautionary tale - an indictment of the "new Russia" led by an old KGB officer - is told in this 85-minute documentary by Danish filmmaker Lise Birk Pedersen. The picture won the world-film award at Sundance last year. The Kino Lorber DVD has non-removeable English subtitles, a trailer and a stills gallery. JH
? Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet (3.5 stars):?Jason Becker could have been one of the greats of speed-metal rock guitar. But at the age of 19 and just before going on tour with David Lee Roth, the California prodigy was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. He didn't die from it but it did rob him of his speech and cripple his body, if not his mind. Two decades later, thanks to an alphabet system developed by his father, Becker "talks" by moving his eyes, and still composes and releases records. His inspirational story is told in this 90-minute documentary by first-time director Jesse Vile. The Kino Lorber DVD delivers the audio big and loud in surround sound and has some special features: 85 minutes of extended interviews, 35 minutes of performance archives, and a 7-minute Q&A with a doctor explaining what ALS is. JH
? The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) (4 stars): The original is usually better than the re-make, even when you're Alfred Hitchcock. The British "master of suspense" twice took a stab at this story of an innocent family caught up in a foreign assassination plot. The first was shot in black-and-white in England in 1934 and starred Leslie Banks, with Peter Lorre as the villain; the second was done in colour in America and Morocco in 1956, starring James Stewart and Doris Day. Guess which still holds up, and which is cringingly dated? Now on Blu-ray or DVD from Criterion, the older movie looks great despite its age. There's a wealth of extras, including a commentary track and three long interviews: one with Hitchcock in 1962 (done by Fran?ois Truffaut; audio only), another with Hitch in 1972, and a new one with director Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth). And there's an 18-page booklet. JH
? The Possession (Grade: C): Imagine The Exorcist with yarmulkes and ringlets, and you get a very good idea of what awaits the viewer in this Vancouver-shot chiller. It opens with a shot designed within an inch of over-kitsch, and we see an older woman sitting in her panelled living room, walking past a plaque of souvenir spoons and a retro brass wall clock. She hears noises ? you know, the standard ?haunting? effects that sound like air leaking from a tire fused with someone whispering in Russian. The woman decides to smash the box, but the moment she approaches, her eyeball sinks into the back of her head and she crumples at the spine. The box is clearly possessed by an evil spirit, and we soon learn what kind: A Dybbuk ? a Jewish demon. Inevitably such dangerous objects end up in the hands of children, which means we?re watching a young girl play with teeth and other ritualistic objects for much of the running time. For all the great art direction and production design feeding the creep factor, the cloud of clich? drifts in halfway through the film and gives everything an almost comic edge as the characters zombie dance through the denouement. Kyra Sedgwick, Jay Brazeau and Jeffrey Dean Morgan star. KM
? Won?t Back Down (Grade: C): Jamie Fitzpatrick (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is your standard single-mom stereotype: She works as a receptionist at a car dealer by day and slings beer at the local sports bar by night. Jamie is a tough chick, but her daughter Malia (Emily Alyn Lind) has special needs. Sadly, Jamie doesn?t make enough money to give her all the extra help she needs. She is at the mercy of the public system, which leads her to think her kid is doomed to a life without opportunity ? unless she can change the system. Well, hang on to your loom, because this is a Norma Rae-styled chick flick where one feisty mom and a caring teacher (Nona, played by Viola Davis) try to change public education for good. Given the minefield of union issues, the movie does a pretty good job dancing lightly through the fire, but that also means it doesn?t take a stand and feels wobbly for the duration. Special features include trailer, Tribute to Teachers, The Importance of Education, audio commentary and more. KM
? Samsara (Grade: B): To quote the somewhat forgotten ?80s haircut named Gowan, ?man is a strange animal.? Just how curiously warped we are remains a fact we cannot perceive because it?s the consensus reality we all accept, and it looks normal ? until it?s blown up several times its size and reflected back at us in a large-format film. Samsara seems to understand all the subconscious routes to the psyche as it peels away the cultural callous on our collective soul. There is no formal narrative, per se, just a succession of images edited to varieties of music. Every viewer will find something different in every juxtaposition and scenario, but there?s no doubt Samsara will elicit emotion one way or another because it?s playing to the part of our brain that doesn?t use language. It knows the eyes are the windows to the soul from start to finish, and it meets our gaze at every turn ? urging us to look closer at a world so familiar, yet so alien. As far as film trips go, this one is not escapist, but it is entertaining. Special features include interviews and more. KM
? Farewell, My Queen (Grade: B-): A steaming hot look at the secret lives behind the palace gates, Farewell, My Queen stars Diane Kruger as the Austrian archduchess who married the king of France, told people to eat brioche and lost her head to satisfy the blood-thirst of the mob. This is not the first look at Marie Antoinette, and it is certain not to be the last, because within this true story of political failures and rising hatred we can see ample reflections of our own times. Before the revolution, the bulk of the country?s wealth was held in the hands of very few titled aristocrats who felt entitled to sneer at the peasants and ridicule the everyday worker. This movie takes us from the aristocracy?s state of arrogance to absolute humiliation as we watch Marie Antoinette suffer through her fall, as well as a tumultuous lesbian romance with her friend, played by Virginie Ledoyen. KM
? China Heavyweight (Grade: B-): Montreal documentary director Yung Chang returns to his Chinese homeland for another look at the moulting dragon. This time around, he?s focused on the lives of a few boxers looking to make it into the big-time. These are just big kids from the sticks, but with the proper training, they have a real shot. The drama makes it own sauce in this kind of non-fiction film as we watch them prepare for matches that could change their lives forever. The kids are all compelling, but it?s the wisdom and vision of the coach that gives this reel its one-two combination. Special features include deleted scenes, trailer and more. KM
? Detropia (Grade: B): Documentary filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady have a pretty impressive credit list that includes Jesus Camp, Freakonomics, The Boys of Baraka and just prior to this, 12th & Delaware, a pretty shocking look at the wars surrounding abortion clinics in the U.S. In Detropia, all their experience pays off as they have the confidence to tell a non-fiction story of urban decline from an impressionist perspective. Without taking us through any formal history of Detroit, the team successfully casts the monolithic city as the central character of a tragedy, where hope and optimism ultimately give way to age and neglect. More than a movie about Detroit, this is a movie about the American dream, the automobile and apple pie itself. Special features include deleted scenes and more. KM
? I Am Bruce Lee (Grade: B): Focusing on the kung fu legend?s life philosophy and his larger world view, this film from Vancouver-based director Pete McCormack and the production team who brought us Facing Ali puts all the stunts and Hollywood ambition into perspective, ensuring we see the art in the martial arts by giving them a human context. Bruce Lee saw the fighting as an extension of his true self, which gave the physical feats a deeper sense of meaning. The film scratches at this abstract through interviews with Lee?s surviving family members, as well as other so-called warriors ? including the Grand Guignol of pugilism, Mickey Rourke. They also nab Kobe Bryant, Ed O?Neill and several UFC stars, such as Jon Jones, Cung Le and Haywire star Gina Carano to round out the mix of talking heads for a fun, quick-moving homage to the man who reinvented fight scenes forever. Special features include backyard training, Bruce Lee?s global impact, Bruce Lee in action, and a trailer. KM
ALSO OUT TUESDAY
? About Cherry
? Being Human Season Four
? The Best Years of Our Lives
? The Bishop?s Wife
? Casablanca Anniversary Edition
? Crossfire Hurricane
? Hannah and Her Sisters / Sisters
? How Green Was My Valley
? How to Fall in Love
? Joan Rivers: Don?t Start With Me
? King: A Filmed Record ... Montgomery to Memphis
? Last Tango in Paris
? Life?s Too Short
? Merlin Complete Fourth Season
? Perry Mason Season Eight
? Restorative Yoga Practice
? The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
? Singin? in the Rain Anniversary Edition
? Sleeper
? Stolen
? The Tin Drum
? Wake in Fright
? Waking the Dead Season Seven
elisabeth hasselbeck fran drescher scarlett o hara pat sajak vanna white michael robinson joe paterno memorial service
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