At the end of this month, Clint Eastwood turns 80. When he directed and starred in the acclaimed
Gran Torino, many thought it was the way that the veteran actor and filmmaker had chosen to take a bow and retire from the scene. But far from slowing down, he jumped right into directing
Invictus, based on the true story of how Nelson Mandela joined forces with the captain of South Africa's rugby team to help unite their country after the abolition of apartheid.
In his
review of Invictus, reviewer Kenneth Brown gives high marks to video, audio and supplements, especially its picture-in-picture track, thanks to "its tone, breadth, and exploration of both the history behind the film and the film itself." Regarding the movie itself, the reviewer states: "With a clearly defined goal and a cinematic endgame if there ever was one, screenwriter Anthony Peckham and Eastwood produce something as fascinating as it is moving, as cerebral as it is emotional."
In the area of catalog releases, the standout is
Walkabout, from the Criterion Collection, especially considering that the existing DVD edition wasn't even anamorphically enhanced, so the Blu-ray is a quantum leap in quality. In his
review, Svet Atanasov concludes: "Approved by director Nicholas Roeg, the new high-definition transfer that has been used for this Blu-ray release of his Walkabout should make a lot of people very happy. I have never seen this wonderful film look so good. This is definitely one of my favorite releases of 2010."