The Duchess on blu-ray

Swaddled in whalebone and wigs, Keira Knightley steps into the restricted world of the Duchess of Devonshire, a royal lady popular with her subjects but stuck in an unhappy marriage. If this situation recalls Princess Diana (a descendent of the Duchess’s family), so much the better for the purposes of director Saul Dibb and company; this film is eager to draw parallels with the unfortunate Lady Di, even if she is never directly mentioned. Knightley’s unsuspecting girl is married off to the Duke (Ralph Fiennes), a distracted jerk who craves male sons, and obviously has never thought of women as anything other than a means to achieve an heir. When the Duchess launches her procreative career with a couple of daughters, well, the Duke begins to get nervous–and partners outside the marriage become increasingly appealing.

The Duchess serves up lavish portions of Brit-movie staples: costumes (which, in Knightley’s case, are nothing short of spectacular), landscapes,! and gorgeous music (by Rachel Portman). If it falls short in some vague way, perhaps it’s because the film is a mostly one-note affair, meaning exactly what it seems to mean at every moment. Charlotte Rampling appears too briefly as Knightley’s mother, and Dominic Cooper and Hayley Atwell (from Brideshead Revisited), rising stars both, contribute attractive lures for the principals. They prove the old movie adage: there’s a lot to be said for eye candy.

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Resident Evil: Degeneration on blu-ray

A zombie attack brings chaos to Harvardville Airport. Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield who fought the sinister Umbrella Corporation during the Raccoon City tragedy 7 years ago, are back. In high-octane Resident Evil style, they’re ready to battle a rogue warrior who is seeking revenge after his family was killed in Raccoon City. The deadly G-Virus is unleashed and a new mutated monster goes on the rampage. Will Claire and Leon be able to terminate the virus before history repeats itself?

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Eagle Eye on blu-ray

The “cell phone thriller” is becoming a genre unto itself, and Eagle Eye should be considered a key example of the form. Frankly preposterous but compulsively watchable, this movie puts Shia LaBeouf in a mess of trouble instigated by a mysterious telephone voice. If he doesn’t follow orders, dire things will happen–although when he does follow orders, the consequences are pretty dire, anyway. Also being blackmailed is a single mom (Michelle Monaghan) receiving similar phone calls. Why are they being jerked around by the purring female voice, and why is the road leading to Washington, D.C.? Actually, you won’t have time to contemplate these questions, because director D.J. Caruso (who guided LaBeouf in Disturbia) keeps the action going at the customary breakneck pace. This is a wise move, because the real questions you’d likely be asking have to do with the plausibility of events on a minute-by-minute basis (most notably: how could Mysterious Phone Voice possibly know that the two pigeons would survive the hoops she makes them fly through, each one more death-defying than the last?).

The actors tumble through this mayhem like scattering bowling pins, including Billy Bob Thornton and Rosario Dawson as government agents. Nobody has time to make much of an impression, and LaBeouf has much less room for puppydog charm than he did in Disturbia. Even that would be all right within the movie’s berserk parameters, but the really irritating thing is the way the tacked-on final scenes reverse what would have been a heroic climax. No guts, no glory.

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The last week of this year has 20 new blu-ray releases, mostly double features.

Eagle Eye
Resident Evil: Degeneration
The Duchess
Ghost Town
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
En Vivo
Patriot Games & Sum of All Fears
Death Sentence
Italian Job & Shooter
Bobby Z
Sold Out at Madison Square Garden
Coming to America & Trading Places
Next & Face Off
Spiderwick Chronicles & Nacho Libre
Cloverfield & Sleepy Hollow
Payback & We Were Soldiers
Ruins & Tomb Raider
Drillbit Taylor & Norbit
Sin City
Fanboys

Old School (Unrated Edition) on blu-ray

When three thirtysomething friends with woman troubles (Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, and Vince Vaughn) decide to form a fraternity, it’s supposedly to save Wilson from losing his house, which the nearby college is trying to claim for academic purposes. But really, Ferrell and Vaughn are desperate to return to the reckless, feckless days of beer bongs and hot chicks, and they drag Wilson along with them as they throw themselves into gathering frat pledges of all ages. Old School could have been just another string of bad jokes hanging on a flimsy plot, but the script and the cast have a jovial energy and just enough grounding in reality–at least, up until the obligatory beat-the-system ending, but by that point you’ll forgive the excesses of this silly, cheerful, and frequently funny movie. Featuring Jeremy Piven and Juliette Lewis, with cameos by Snoop Dogg , Andy Dick, and others.

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Into the Wild on blu-ray

A superb cast and an even-handed treatment of a true story buoy Into the Wild, Sean Penn’s screen adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s bestselling book. Emile Hirsch stars as Christopher McCandless, scion of a prosperous but troubled family who, after graduating from Atlanta’s Emory University in the early 1990s, decides to chuck it all and become a self-styled “aesthetic voyager” in search of “ultimate freedom.” He certainly doesn’t do it halfway: after donating his substantial savings account to charity and literally torching the rest of his cash, McCandless changes his name (to “Alexander Supertramp”), abandons his family (William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden as his bickering, clueless parents and Jena Malone as his baffled but loving sister, who relates much of the backstory in voice-over), and hits the road, bound for the Alaskan bush and determined not to be found. For the next two years he lives the life of a vagabond, working a few odd jobs, kayaking through the Grand Canyon into Mexico, landing on L.A.’s Skid Row, and turning his back on everyone who tried to befriends him (including Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker as two kindly, middle-aged hippies and Hal Holbrook in a deeply affecting performance as an old widower who tries to take “Alex” under his wing).

Penn, who directed and wrote the screenplay, alternates these interludes with scenes depicting McCandless’ Alaskan idyll–which soon turns out be not so idyllic after all. Settling into an abandoned school bus, he manages to sustain himself for a while, shooting small game (and one very large moose), reading, and recording his existential musings on paper. But when the harsh realities of life in the wilderness set in, our boy finds himself well out of his depth, not just ill-prepared for the rigors of day to day survival but realizing the importance of the very thing he wanted to escape–namely, human relationships. It’d be easy to either idealize McCandless as a genuinely free spirit, unencumbered by the societal strictures that tie the rest of us down, or else dismiss him as a hopelessly callow naïf, a fool whose disdain for practical realities ultimately doomed him. Into the Wild does neither, for the most part telling the tale with an admirable lack of cheap sentiment and leaving us to decide for ourselves.

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Planet Terror on blu-ray

Director Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) is back with a rip-roaring, zombie-infested rollercoaster of a movie that “sure as hell keeps you hanging on for the ride” (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone). Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Bruce Willis, and an all-star cast fight for their lives in the ultimate showdown between an army of flesh-eating mutants and a motley group of rag-tag survivors. Featuring one of the most memorable screen heroines ever and the now-legendary mock Machete trailer, “Planet Terror is as total blast - funny, gory and over the top” (Christy Lemire, Associated Press).

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Death Proof on blu-ray

Director Quentin Tarantino delivers an adrenaline shot to the heart with Death Proof, “a tribute to balls-out pedal-to-the-metal car chases” (Pete Hammond, Maxim). Featuring exhilarating high-speed action, jaw-dropping stunts, and some of the most quotable lines since Pulp Fiction, Death Proof “goes faster, and funnier, than you thought possible…and then it goes further” (Ty Burr, Boston Globe). Kurt Russell stars as a sociopathic stuntman whose taste for stalking sexy young ladies gets him into big trouble when he tangles with the wrong gang of badass babes. Their confrontation escalates to a hair-raising, 18-minute automotive duel with one of the girls strapped to the hood of a thundering Dodge Challenger that “earns a place of honor among the great movie car chases”

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Chungking Express on blu-ray

Chungking Express tells two stories loosely connected by a Hong Kong snack bar. In one story, a cop who’s been recently dumped by his girlfriend becomes obsessed with the expiration dates on cans of pineapple; he’s constantly distracted as he tries to track down a drug dealer in a blond wig (played by Brigitte Lin, best known from Swordsman II and The Bride with White Hair). Meanwhile, another cop who’s recently been dumped by his girlfriend (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, from John Woo’s Hard-Boiled and A Bullet in the Head) mopes around his apartment, talking to his sponge and other domestic objects. He catches the eye of a shop girl (Hong Kong pop star Faye Wang) who secretly breaks in and cleans his apartment.

If you’re beginning to suspect that neither of these stories has a conventional plot, you’re correct. What Chungking Express does have is loads of energy and a gorgeous visual style that never gets in the way of engaging with the charming characters. The movie was shot on the fly by hip director Wong Kar-Wai (Happy Together, Ashes of Time), using only available lighting and found locations. The movie’s loose, improvisational feel is closer to Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless than any recent film–and that’s high praise. Quirky, funny, and extremely engaging, Chungking Express manages to be experimental and completely accessible at the same time.

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2008 Philadelphia Phillies: The Official World Series Film on blu-ray

The Philadelphia Phillies are World Series champions! Major League Baseball Productions and Shout Factory! present the Official 2008 World Series Film on Blu-Ray. All the drama, game action, behind-the-scenes access and in-depth interviews a Phillies fan could want. The Official 2008 World Series Film on Blu-Ray will feature an adrenaline-filled feature-length film, highlights from the entire postseason and incisive bonus features.

Bonus Features:

* National League East clincher versus the Washington Nationals
* National League Division Series clincher versus the Milwaukee Brewers
* National League Championship Series clincher versus the Los Angeles Dodgers
* This Week In Baseball: Tour of Shane Victorino’s Home
* Best on the field wire bites of Shane Victorino during the World Series
* Final 3 outs of the World Series and on field celebration
* World Series Trophy Presentation

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