For the week of December 10th, Universal Studios Home Entertainment is bringing Fast & Furious 6 to Blu-ray. The film marks the latest step in the evolution of the Fast and Furious franchise; the comparatively low-key action melodramatics of director Rob Cohen's original film have evolved into a grand scale, gleefully destructive blockbuster franchise. Credit director Justin Lin with the change: the guiding hand of the series since 2006's Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Lin used Fast Five to shift the dynamic away from the shadowy world of underground street racing to a globetrotting, action-heist hybrid that was equal parts Jason Bourne and Ocean's Eleven. Fast & Furious 6 continues that trend, only now Lin adds a whole lot of James Bond into the mix - after stealing over $100 million, the franchise's criminal protagonists (including Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Chris Bridges, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang, and Gal Gadot) find themselves allied with their former adversary Hobbs (the great Dwayne Johnson) in order to take down a brutal mercenary (Luke Evans) who plans to destabilize the world's power sources. There are twists and turns galore - Fast & Furious 6's biggest narrative selling point is the return of Michelle Rodriguez's Letty, thought dead after an assassination attempt in Fast & Furious - but as always, the vehicular mayhem reigns supreme.
If Fast & Furious 6 doesn't quite reach the giddy heights of Fast Five, it's only because for its first hour, Lin can't top the invention of the previous film's favela pursuit, convoy attack, and climactic chase through downtown Rio. A racing sequence in London suffers from murky lighting and too many closeups, and the frenetically edited fight scene that intercuts different brawls with Haywire's Gina Carano and The Raid's Joe Taslim only serves as a reminder of how much more dynamic Carano and Taslim were in Haywire and The Raid. However, Lin kicks things into overdrive during the back end, starting with a showdown down a crowded highway between Evans' tank and Diesel, Walker, & Gibson's (much) smaller cars and then capping things off with a thrilling - if ludicrous - Big Bad fight along a seemingly never-ending runway. Both those setpieces would be enough to make audiences ravenous for a sequel, but Lin ups the ante with a post-credits beat that makes the wait for Fast and Furious 7 all the more intolerable. However, reality has complicated Fast & Furious more than any plot twist could; Lin has announced that he will not be directing the next movie (The Conjuring's James Wan has replaced him), and in an even more devastating turn, Fast & Furious lead Paul Walker's sudden death has left the franchise without one of its founding fathers. As undercover agent-turned-master criminal Brian O'Connor, Walker has starred in all but one of the series' entries, and his amiable, focused intensity has helped to ground some of the more preposterous excesses. What his death means for Fast and Furious 7 is still unknown, though the greater impact falls on those family and friends that Walker left behind.
Kenneth Brown's Blu-ray review commented on how Walker's death has affected the film, that "Fast & Furious 6, the latest installment in the wildly popular Fast and the Furious franchise, arrives on Blu-ray on a far more somber and sobering note than its predecessors. Series star Paul Walker was killed this past weekend in a single-car accident that also claimed the life of the vehicle's driver, Always Evolving owner Roger Rodas. The actor was celebrating his 40th birthday at an event for his charity, Reach Out Worldwide, which has been working to raise funds for those impacted by Typhoon Haiyan. By all accounts, Walker was as kind and generous a man as he was passionate a car enthusiast, and while he and Rodas thankfully weren't participating in street racing of any kind, the bitter, bitter irony is that Walker died in life much like he will forever live on screen. Suddenly the Big Dumb Fun of his fifth Fast & Furious film isn't all that fun to watch. It's by no means a bad movie, mind you. If not for the tragedy, Furious 6 would easily stand as one of the more entertaining, over-the-top entries in the genre-shifting series, which has cleverly evolved from niche racing trilogy to full-blown action franchise. But audiences will have a decidedly different experience at home than they did when watching the film in theaters earlier this year."
From Walt Disney Home Entertainment comes the classic fantasy-musical Mary Poppins, which finds the Mouse House bringing author P.L. Travers' iconic nanny to the big screen. Time and tide have not been wholly kind to the film; one of the most popular films of its time, Mary Poppins now seems antiquated in certain key ways. Much of the nuance of the Mary Poppins novels is gone - as wonderful as Julie Andrews is in the title role, her and Disney's take on the character is much more sympathetic than Travers' flintier creation - the then-stunning production values look entirely set-bound and artificial, and the gender politics (particularly the difference between David Tomlinson and Glynis Johns' Mr. and Mrs. Banks) can come off as a shade too offensive. That said, it's a testament to the film's overall delightfulness that it (more often than not) overcomes its limitations. Robert and Richard Sherman's many songs remain witty, sprightly treats, and the picture's landmark blend of animation and live-action still impresses: while films like Avatar and Who Framed Roger Rabbit have gotten more sophisticated about combining these two realms, Andrews and Dick Van Dyke (who walks away with the movie, terrible Cockney accent and all) do such a good job of selling the reality behind their animated counterparts. A bigger bonus: the stunning, razor-sharp quality of the Blu-ray print. This edition might share a not-entirely-coincidental proximity to Disney's own Mary Poppins making-of-docudrama Saving Mr. Banks, but since the original film itself looks so good in HD, we should be thankful for whatever corporate machinations helped spawn this 50th Anniversary disc.
In his Blu-ray review, Kenneth Brown called the film "a rare beacon of family cinema that outshines the book series that inspired it and continues to delight children of all ages, even some fifty years after its original release. The warmth, the heart, the joy, the magic... it exemplifies everything Disney hoped to achieve with its adaptation and more. In 1964, the film was hailed by audiences and critics, becoming an overnight success that earned a staggering thirteen Academy Award nominations, among them Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography and, most ironically, Best Writing in the Adapted Screenplay category. It also handed Julie Andrews her first and only Best Actress Oscar, while taking home statues for Best Editing, Best Original Score, Best Song ('Chim Chim Cher-ee'), and Best Visual Effects. The lesson? Hollywood, often vilified as the greedy, artist-draining beast of creative burden it can be, sometimes knows best. It only requires the vision, hard work, and persistence of a shrewd, never-say-die dreamer. Of course, a spoonful of sugar helps too."
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's new release of Futurama: Volume 8 is a bittersweet one: it marks the end of this beloved animated series. In some ways, the fact that Futurama made it this far is a small blessing; low ratings and a beyond-erratic programming schedule on the Fox Network led to the show's premature non-renewal in 2003, but thanks to a string of successful DTV features (including Into The Wild Green Yonder and Bender's Game), Comedy Central picked up the series in 2008, extending its life until this past fall. Though entertaining and often funny, the Comedy Central slate wasn't quite as solid as the Fox years - new Futurama took a little too much advantage of Comedy Central's relaxed standings towards risqué and gross-out humor (the bumbling Dr. Zoidberg got grosser throughout this extended run) - which makes this last set all the more melancholic. With few exceptions, these are the strongest of all the Comedy Central episodes, with certain ones ("The Inhuman Torch," "Calculon 2.0," and the series finale, "Meanwhile") ranking with the best of Futurama. That's a pretty high bar - taken as a whole, Futurama might be the smartest, most consistent program from Simpsons creator Matt Groening.
Jeffrey Kauffman commented that "Futurama: Volume 8 pretends to wrap up some pressing plot elements while leaving the door rather widely open for any future(ama) reboot. Even if this series has 'only' nine lives, it probably hasn't used up more than four or five at this point, so considering Matt Groening's pull with various media outlets, it seems likely that Fry, Leela, Professor Farnsworth, 'and the rest' may be back for more adventures at some unspecified date to come. This final baker's dozen of episodes has its fair share of laughs, with Bender's shenanigans providing the focus for quite a few of the storylines. The supposed consummation of Leela and Fry's long simmering relationship is dealt with in typically funny fashion, but the one thing that may slightly bother some longtime fans is the relative paucity of time spent on some of the supporting characters."
Magnolia Home Entertainment is bringing The Hunt to Blu-ray, the latest movie from filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg. Vinterberg is best known for his technically daring The Celebration - the 1998 arthouse hit that helped inaugurate both the Dogme 95 movement as well as the shift from traditional film cinematography to digital camerawork - but The Hunt might be his best work. It's a wrenching, upsetting tale that, like The Celebration, examines the unforgiving power of a lie. In this case, Vinterberg's hero is Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen), a devoted single father and caring teacher who becomes the focus of a brutal witchhunt after a young girl falsely accuses him of sexual misconduct. Vinterberg doesn't spare us the physical and emotional after-effects of Lucas' suffering, and the great Mikkelsen turns Lucas into a tragic hero; for those who are only familiar with Mikkelsen from his villainous roles in Casino Royale or NBC's Hannibal, his work here will come as a revelation. It's heartbreaking to watch this good, decent man lower himself in order to face the accusations foisted upon him. At times, The Hunt takes on the tone of something like Shirley Jackson's iconic short story "The Lottery" - a big part of what Lucas is trying to overcome isn't just the lie but also the cloistered, prejudiced attitudes of his small-town home. No matter what he does, no matter how passionately he (or others) argue in his defense, the community around him still lusts for justice, no matter what horrible form it might take.
Michael Reuben's Blu-ray review noted that "The Hunt leaves the viewer disturbed, because it's such an effective reminder of how quickly one can be ejected from society by unforeseen developments beyond our control. No one person is responsible for what happens to Lucas, not even young Klara, who simply succumbs to a child's flash of emotion, which she repeatedly tries to retract. Thereafter, everyone in town, with the exception of Lucas' son and his friend Bruun, plays their part in generating a new and fictitious narrative that transforms Lucas from the good man they knew to a sexual predator they want to cast out. What's remarkable about the process is the speed with which it rushes forward, without anyone being willing - or having the credibility - to stand up and say, 'Wait a minute! Let's be sure we're right!' Such thoughtful reflection is an essential human quality, but when creatures react from fear, animal nature takes over."
Anchor Bay and Starz Home Entertainment are offering up the martial-arts actioner Man of Tai Chi. The directorial debut of Keanu Reeves, Man of Tai Chi stars stuntman Tiger Chen as the title character, a humble martial artist whose immersion into the world of underground fighting places him at odds with the loathsome Donaka Mark (Reeves). The big surprise is how simple Man of Tai Chi actually is. Despite the presence of Reeves and his attendant Matrix associations - Reeves first met Chen on the Matrix series, and he also enlists the help of legendary action director/choreographer Yuen Woo-ping, who's responsible for designing the fight sequences in Kill Bill, Fist of Legend, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and, yes, The Matrix - this is less a twisty action-meets-philiosophy treatise and more a conventional morality play. Chen's character is trying to hone his skills for greater spiritual enlightenment, but Reeves' Donaka is - for all intents and purposes - the devil, intent on using Chen's success and raw power as a fighter to corrupt him. We've seen this story before, but Reeves keeps it fresh, thanks to Woo-ping's stellar fight scenes and a nice, slightly corny sense of humor; in particular, Reeves gives his stock baddie part a winking self-awareness that undercuts the mustache-twirling villainy.
Martin Liebman noted that "Keanu Reeves' directorial debut yields a stylish and cool movie, but stylish and cool done right, not stylish and cool for the sake of stylish and cool. The film enjoys a plus atmosphere, solid character development, strong photography, fine acting, terrific music, awesome fight scenes, and a simple - and in many ways cliché - but nevertheless emotionally powerful and satisfying script. Reeves ensures that all of these pluses outweigh the negatives of a story that's pieced together with decidedly unoriginal elements, including the student-master martial arts relationship, the police investigation into the illegal underground fighting, and the 'Pay-Per-View for elites' angles. It all works because behind those pieces is a solid emotional core and a story that's constructed simply but carefully, reinforced by photography and music and made by the complex and slowly corrupted inner soul and soulful martial arts moves of its protagonist. The film never stutters or wastes time on superfluous secondary stories; it's all built to satisfy the core, a core that grows throughout and shifts in a positive direction in the final act. It's a fun movie that's absorbing and both visually and emotionally satisfying throughout."
Also from Anchor Bay: the sprawling dramedy Jayne Mansfield's Car. Filmmaker Billy Bob Thornton co-writes and directs this story about a dysfunctional, troubled family (including Thornton, Robert Duvall, Kevin Bacon, John Hurt, Robert Patrick, Ray Stevenson, Katherine LaNasa, Shawnee Smith, and Frances O'Connor) forced to confront one another's foibles and problems after their matriarch dies. For cineastes, this film merits attention because it marks the first collaboration between Thornton and his screenwriting partner Tom Epperson since their underrated 2000 thriller The Gift. In films like The Gift, A Family Thing, or their masterful neo-noir One False Move, Thornton and Epperson demonstrated their facility for blending traditional genre forms (melodrama, buddy comedy, supernatural mystery, crime drama) with nuanced character work and regional color, and Jayne Mansfield's Car, for all its issues, shares the same traits. Theoretically, it's a pulpy soap opera, but Thornton and Epperson care more about the internal struggles of the multi-generational cast, and that intimate focus helps distinguish the film. It's a sloppy, messy, at times overlong picture, but the actors delve into Thornton and Epperson's text with such vigor that they turn it into a small gem just the same.
Martin Liebman called the film "as beautifully made as it is emotionally satisfying and dramatically nuanced. Thornton's picture produces exquisite and authentic performances all around. Thornton himself is terrific, as he always is, solidifying a complex and thoughtful performance and fully developing his character in a powerful, impressively delivered monologue in a scene he shares with Camilla and slowly exposes his secret past. It's representative of everything the film does well in its dialogue-heavy structure, relying on dramatic development and the abilities of its actors to sell the film's most critical narrative moments and give meaning to the story beyond its superficialities. Robert Duvall finds a similar cadence, captured more in the entire flow of the movie than in a singular moment. He builds an effortless chemistry with fellow family patriarch John Hurt; the scenes they share are nothing short of electric even in their slowest moments. Robert Patrick, Kevin Bacon, and Ray Stevenson are also stellar, their characters perhaps not so thoroughly and deeply developed as Thornton's and Duvall's but performed to wonderful accuracy both individually and within the greater whole."
Finally, the Criterion Collection has updated the legendary documentary Grey Gardens for the HD format. One of the signature films from Albert and David Maysles (Salesman, Gimme Shelter), Grey Gardens looks at the relationship between "Big" Edie Bouvier Beale and her daughter "Little" Edie. Though borne into high society - as the "Bouvier" moniker suggests, the Beales were related to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - Big and Little Edie have fallen into decay during the period that Grey Gardens covers. While the Maysles brothers try to present the Beales objectively, the footage they've assembled has a piteous humor; the dynamic between Big and Little Edie plays out like a real-life version of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, with the mother-daughter duo evincing a strange mix of vanity, paranoia, defeat, jealousy, and love towards each other while living amongst the remains of their decrepit family mansion. That uncomfortable vein of comedy has spurred some to criticize the Maysles brothers for exploiting the Beales, and to be sure, there are times when the two women seem like ghoulish caricatures of ruined wealth (Little Edie's tendency to ham it up for the camera, for example, or the sing-song way that Big Edie segues back into her past glories). That said, there's also genuine pathos here - in both Grey Gardens and its companion feature, The Beales of Grey Gardens (which is also included on the Blu-ray), the Beales dominate the spotlight, and one suspect that attention is a rare privilege after years of marginalization. A scary, funny, beautiful piece of work.
Svet Atanasov believed that the "strength of this cult documentary film directed by Albert and David Maysles, and co-directed by Muffie Meyer and Ellen Hovde, is its ability to observe the absurd with respect. The alternative easily could have been an exploitative film in which the two women are simply treated as exotic objects and eventually encouraged to self-destruct in front of the camera (and this could have been quite easy to do). The endless arguing, however, quickly becomes depressing. The more time the viewer spends with the two women, the clearer it becomes that their lives are devoid of just about everything that would make them worth living. The big house is their fortress, a place where they can hide and be themselves, but also their prison. The women know it. And when they occasionally remind each other that they have lost their freedom, one can't help but feel sorry for them. Ultimately, Grey Gardens could be a fascinating experience for those who have a soft spot for extravagant characters. With the right mindset, some viewers will discover plenty of humor in it. But there will also be many viewers who will find the two women's ghostly existence almost unbearably depressing."