An especially impressive week of releases including Sam Raimi's visit to Oz, two of the best tv shows of the past year; House of Cards and The Newsroom, an anniversary edition of the greatest kung fu movie of all time, three fantastic Disney features (with not so fantastic sequels) and more.
As always, fire up that queue and prep that shopping cart and check out this weeks' latest releases!
Oz the Great and Powerful
Disney's fantastical adventure Oz The Great And Powerful follows Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus musician with dubious ethics. When Diggs is hurled away to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he's hit the jackpot - until he meets three witches (Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams), who aren't convinced he's the great wizard everyone's expecting. Reluctantly drawn into epic problems facing Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it's too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity - and even some wizardry - Oscar transforms himself into the great Wizard and a better man as well. Extras include Disney Second Screen, Bloopers, and Featurettes.
Last Word: Director Sam Raimi knocks the ball out of the park with this charming and truly wonderful film. Adapting L Frank Baum's work and acknowledging Victor Fleming's 1939 classic film, Oz the Great and Powerful is a perfect match between filmmaker and material and is a true love letter to the magic of movies. Highly recommended.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
After getting a taste for blood as children, Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) have turned pro, coping with the trauma of their childhood captivity by slaying witches for hire. But when the seemingly unstoppable bounty hunters meet their match in an enemy so evil, it'll take all their training, weapons and courage to survive as unbeknownst to them, Hansel and Gretel have become the hunted. Includes featurettes.
Last Word: Some terrific production designs and action sequences can be found amid the clunky performances and lackluster story. Worth a rental, but ultimately disappointing.
House of Cards: The Complete First Season
Ruthless and cunning, Congressman Francis Underwood (Kevin Spacey) and his wife Claire (Robin Wright) stop at nothing to conquer everything. This wicked political drama penetrates the shadowy world of greed, sex and corruption in modern D.C. Kate Mara and Corey Stoll co-star in the first original series from David Fincher and Beau Willimon.
Last Word: Binge watching at it's best. The backdrop of the nation's capital truly intensifies the manipulative, addictive and ultimately absorbing narrative that runs through these thirteen episodes. House of Cards is simply about power and revenge laid out slowly and methodically in the political arena. Cancel your plans before you start it as once it gets going, it's hard to turn away. Highly recommended.
Enter the Dragon (40th Anniversary Edition)
Over three decades following his untimely death, Bruce Lee remains the movies' supreme martial arts star. His masterful final film, Enter The Dragon, stands the test of time as the most beloved martial arts epic in film history. This box office hit takes Lee to the island fortress of criminal warlord Han, whose martial arts academy covers up opium smuggling and prostitution activities. To avenge the death of his sister, Lee infiltrates the stronghold and enters Han's brutal tournament-a breathtaking visual feast of competitions fusing skills in karate, judo, tae kwon do, tai chi chuan and hapkido, staged by Lee himself. Packed with extras include never before released production art, embroidered Dragon patch, Motion Lenticular, commentary, featurettes, interviews and more.
Last Word: Without a doubt Bruce Lee's best film and perhaps the single greatest example of kung fu cinema, Enter the Dragon has never looked or sounded better. This cult classic is responsible influencing millions of genre fans and changed both American cinema and pop culture forever. Beyond it's cultural significance Enter the Dragon is ridiculously entertaining and Bruce Lee is both charming and mesmerizing. Warner has pulled out the stops with the edition and is a must have for each and every cinegeek out there. Highest recommendation.
The Newsroom: The Complete First Season
From the fertile mind of Aaron Sorkin and executive produced by Sorkin, Scott Rudin and Alan Poul this behind-the-scenes drama takes a look at a cable-news program at the fictional ACN Network, focusing on the on-and-off-camera lives of its acerbic anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels), new executive producer MacKenzie McHale (Emily Mortimer), their newsroom staff (John Gallagher, Jr., Alison Pill, Thomas Sadoski, Olivia Munn, Dev Patel, and others), their news-division boss (Sam Waterston), and corporate owner (Jane Fonda). Overcoming a tumultuous first day - climaxing in a newsflash that a BP oil rig has just exploded in the Gulf of Mexico - the team sets out on a patriotic if quixotic mission to "do the news well" in the face of corporate and commercial obstacles, and their own personal entanglements. Extras include a conversation with cast and crew, behind the scenes, a look at each episode with Aaron Sorkin, commentaries, and deleted scenes.
Last Word: Some of television's best writing and a truly magnificent ensemble are make The Newsroom one of the most addictive series in recent memory. There's a little bit of heavy handedness and self importance, but that goes with more with the vision of creator Sorkin than with the series itself. The season is set in the recent past so the characters deal with recent real live news events and both the approach and the results are truly fascinating. The characters talk and talk and talk, and frankly, I can't get enough. Highly recommended.
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