Blu-ray Buzz – One of the Premiere 2009 Films Arrives

One of the premiere films of 2009 arrives on DVD and Blu-ray this week. It's also a big week for films I'm curious about and want to hear from those that have seen what they think. It's a jammed-packed edition of Blu-ray Buzz this week.

Pick of the Week
The White Ribbon
Michael Haneke's German thriller was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography. I put it at #4 on my top 25 films of 2009 list. The unconventional black & white film is a mystery up until the very end. It's a truly challenging film in its sometimes harsh subject matter, as well as its open-ended conclusion. Set in Northern Germany right before the start of World War I, the story takes place in a farming village where a series of violent events have the townsfolk in a panic. The young schoolteacher tries to get to the bottom of the events and finds a sadistic power structure not interested in the truth, but only in petty revenge and holding onto control. The themes delve into the dark side of the human condition — the side that would allow the atrocities of WWII to occur. Truly original and 100% uncompromised in its vision. A must see for any series film fan.

Buy "The White Ribbon" on DVD Here!

Buy "The White Ribbon" on Blu-ray Here!

Buzzed About
The Crazies
For me George A. Romeo's original version of this story was a flawed film with an interesting central idea. I always thought that made it ripe for a remake. The general reviews for Breck Eisner's redux came to the conclusion that it was a rare remake with intelligence. It's a simple Stephen King-like premise — a small town is infected with a disease that makes the citizens go crazy and kill and the military comes in and takes over with deadly force.

Buy "The Crazies" on DVD Here!

Buy "The Crazies" on Blu-ray Here!

Creation
Controversy surrounded this Charles Darwin bio-pic when it was looking for distribution. American releasers thought it might be too touchy of a topic for American audiences. Evolution is over a 100 years old and excepted as scientific fact. The crazy religious fringe in the United States has put the fear in too many people. All the faux controversy amounted to burying this film. Newmarket (the same people who released THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST) gave it a small release and it made only $341,323. Now DVD allows a wider audience to see it. I'm very excited to see what amounts to a love story between a man of science and a devote Christian, starring Paul Bettany and his real life wife Jennifer Connelly. I've heard good things from movie fans that saw it and critics alike. Will be at the top of my queue this week.

Buy "Creation" on DVD Here!

Everlasting Moments
Roger Ebert named this one of the best films of 2009. Additionally, it received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Set in the 1900s in Sweden, the film follows the life altering events that occur when a working class woman wins a camera in a lottery. The prize gives her an entry into a world she never knew and the ability to provide for her six children, something her alcoholic husband could never do. Criterion is releasing it on DVD and Blu-ray, so that just adds one more stamp of quality to it as well. This will be #2 on my queue this week.

Buy "Everlasting Moments" on DVD Here!

Buy "Everlasting Moments" on Blu-ray Here!

Hot Tub Time Machine
I like John Cusack so any film with him in draws my attention. I won't go as far as Ebert in saying that he's never in a bad film — 2012 and CON AIR, Mr. Ebert — but I digress. His co-stars include DAILY SHOW's Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson (PINEAPPLE EXPRESS) and Clark Duke (TV's GREEK). So the absurd premise has the four friends getting teleported back to the 1980s via a hot tub time machine. The reviews were generally positive for this raunchy send-up of the Me decade. And you also get Chevy Chase and Crispin Glover popping up in there — must haves for an '80s satire, in my book.

Buy "Hot Tub Time Machine" on DVD Here!

Buy "Hot Tub Time Machine" on Blu-ray Here!

The Leopard
This 1963 Italian classic was one I lost when my original TiVo died and I haven't gotten around to renting it yet. Now I have less of an excuse for not having seen it now that Criterion is bringing this epic drama to Blu-ray. Starring Burt Lancaster, the film chronicles the cultural shift in Sicily during the second half of the 19th century from a royal ruling class to a ruling class of wealth. Lancaster plays Prince Don Fabrizio Salina who does nothing as his personal fortune dwindles in the new era. But his nephew Tancredi, Prince of Falconeri (Alain Delon), sees the writing on the wall and sets to marry Angelica (Claudia Cardinale), the daughter of Don Calogero Sedara (Paolo Stoppa), a nouveau riche new world leader. If Lancaster seems strange to be in an Italian film, the story of his involvement is just that. The producers insisted director Luchino Visconti (ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS) cast a star in the lead to justify the budget. When Visconti's picks fell through, the producers hired Lancaster without consulting Visconti. The actor spoke little Italian and his lines were later dubbed in by another actor. At first the move caused tension on the set, but by the time the film was over Lancaster and Visconti became friends.

Buy "The Leopard" on Blu-ray Here!

Night Train to Munich
Director Carol Reed is best known for his WWII thriller THE THIRD MAN, considered by many critics as one of the best films ever made. Now Criterion brings light to another one of his WWII set thrillers starring Margaret Lockwood and Rex Harrison. The story finds Lockwood as the daughter of a Czech inventor. When the Nazis invade Prague, she is put into a concentration camp where she is forced to work as a nurse. One day she sees a prisoner named Karl Marsen (Paul Henreid) brutally beaten and the two align to escape and find her father who is now living in England. Harrison plays a secret agent who doubles as an effeminate singer and song dealer. The plot is said to have lots of twists and turns. If it's half as good as THE THIRD MAN than is should be great.