There is nothing like a good gangster movie and this week’s recommendation offers you five of them. Five gangster movies are coming out on a Blu-ray box-set thanks to Warner Bros. and it offers various commentaries and featurettes.
First Release
- Side Effects (DVD and Blu-ray)
- The Last Stand (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Parker (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Beautiful Creatures (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Stand Up Guys (DVD and Blu-ray)
Re-Release
- Ultimate Gangster Collection - Classics (Blu-ray)
- Ultimate Gangster Collection – Contemporary (Blu-ray)
- Medium Cool (1969) (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) (Blu-ray)
- My Neighbor Totoro (1988) (Blu-ray)
- National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) (Blu-ray)
- Paper Moon (1973) (DVD)
- Gallipoli (1981) (DVD)
- Captain America (1990) (Blu-ray)
Ultimate Gangster Collection – Contemporary (Blu-ray) *Recommendation of the Week*
Mean Streets (1973)
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Written by Martin Scorsese, Mardik Martin (screenplay), Martin Scorsese (story)
Starring: Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel
The Untouchables (1987)
Directed by Brain De Palma
Written by David Mamet (screenplay), Oscar Fraley, Eliot Ness (autobiography)
Starring: Kevin Costner, Charles Martin Smith, Andy García, Robert De Niro, Sean Connery
Goodfellas (1990)
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Written by Martin Scorsese, Nicholas Pileggi (screenplay), Nicholas Pileggi (book ‘Wiseguy’)
Starring: Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino
Heat (1995)
Written and directed by Michael Mann
Starring: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer
The Departed (2006)
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Written by William Monahan (screenplay), Alan Mak, Felix Chong (original movie ‘Infernal Affairs’)
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Vera Farmiga, Martin Sheen
Warner Bros. is celebrating its 90th Anniversary and five top gangster movies are being re-released into a box-set. All five movies (three of them directed by Martin Scorsese) are renounced as classics, all of them being nominated by the American Film Institute and have earned six Oscars wins and nine Oscar nominations collectively. Now they are available for you to own, providing plenty of drama, story, memorable characters and great action and set pieces.
Mean Streets (1973)
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 98% (excellent)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 8.3/10
The Untouchables (1987)
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 81% (very good)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 8.3/10
Goodfellas (1990)
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 97% (excellent)
Metacritic Rating: 89/100 (excellent)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 9.3/10
Heat (1995)
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 86% (excellent)
Metacritic Rating: 76/100 (very good)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 8.5/10
The Departed (2006)
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (excellent)
Metacritic Rating: 86/100 (excellent)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 9.0/10
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Mean Streets - Commentary by Director Martin Scorsese, Mardik Martin and Amy Robinson ; Vintage Featurette Back on the Block; ; The Untouchables - The Script, The Cast; Production Stories; Reinventing the Genre; The Classic Original Featurette: The Men; Theatrical Trailer; ; Goodfellas - Two Commentaries; Cast and Crew; Cop and Crook; Three Documentaries with the Cast and Crew; Getting Made Made Men: The Goodfellas Legacy; The Workaday Gangster; Paper Is Cheaper Than Film: Storyboard-to-Screen Comparisons; Theatrical Trailer; ; Heat - Content Changes Supervised by Director Michael Mann; Commentary by Writer/Producer/Director Michael Mann; Eleven Additional Scenes; Five Revealing Making-of Documentaries: True Crime; Crime Stories; Into the Fire; Pacino and De Niro: The Conversation; Return to the Scene of the Crime; Theatrical Trailers; ; The Departed; Nine Additional Scenes with Introductions by Director Martin Scorsese; Stranger Than Fiction: The True Story of Whitey Bulger Southie and The Departed Crossing Criminal Cultures; Theatrical Trailer
Amazon Price: $46.95 (Blu-ray)
Soderbergh, Schwarzenegger, Statham and Pacino are just of the some of the major cinematic figures who are having movies released onto DVD and Blu-ray this week. Whilst another Gangster Movie Box-set is being re-release as well as two Hayao Miyazaki anime classics.
Side Effects (DVD and Blu-ray)
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Written by Scott Z. Burns
Starring: Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Channing Tatum
Steven Soderbergh is set to retire from filmmaking and his psychological thriller was Rooney Mara’s follow up movie to her starring role in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Mara stars as Emily, a young woman suffering from depression and anxiety and after visiting a psychiatrist Dr. Jonathan Banks (Jude Law) she is put on an experimental drug. But soon events start to spiral out of control.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 85% (excellent)
Metacritic Rating: 75/100 (very good)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 8.3/10 (read our review)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Behind the scenes of Side Effects; Ablixa commercial; Intenin commercial
Amazon Price: $16.99 (DVD), $22.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content 4 stars, Video 4 stars, Audio 4 stars, Extras 0.5 stars, Replay 3 stars (out of 5). Highly Recommended.
The Last Stand (DVD and Blu-ray)
Directed by Kim Ji-woon
Written by Andrew Knauer
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Forest Whitaker, Johnny Knoxville, Rodrigo Santoro, Luis Guzmán, Jamie Alexander
Back in the 80s and 90s Arnold Schwarzenegger was the biggest movie star in the world before entering politics. After his small roles in The Expendables movies his truth comeback was in the action flick The Last Stand, helmed by Korean director Kim Ji-woon (The Good, the Bad, the Weird, I Saw the Devil).
Ray Owens (Schwarzenegger) is the sheriff of a small border town in Arizona when he received word from the FBI that an escape drugs lord is heading for Mexico. It is up to Ray and his inexperienced force to stop the well armed gang.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 59% (average)
Metacritic Rating: 54/100 (average)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 5.5/10 (read our review)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Closed-Caption; Not in my town: Making the Last Stand; Cornfield chaos: scene breakdown; The Dinkum Firearm And Historic Weaponry Museum Tour; Actor-Cam anarchy with Johnny Knoxville and Jaimie Alexander; Deleted and extended scenes
Amazon Price: $13.99 (DVD), $14.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content 3.5 stars, Video 4.5 stars, Audio 5 stars, Extras 2.5 stars, Replay 3.5 stars (out of 5). Highly Recommended.
Parker (DVD and Blu-ray)
Directed by Taylor Hackford
Written by John J. McLaughlin (screenplay), Donald E. Westlake (novel ‘Flashfire’)
Starring: Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez, Michael Chiklis
Donald E. Westlake wrote 28 Parker novels and six of them were adapted, but with the character name was changed. The seventh adaptation, Parker, is the first movie to use the Parker name, with Jason Statham as the title character. Parker is a thief who lives by a certain code and when he is betrayed by his old crew he sets out to get his revenge by stealing their next heist.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 40% (poor)
Metacritic Rating: 43/100 (poor)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 6.5/10 (read our review)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Commentary with Director Taylor Hackford; Bringing the Hunter to Life: The Making of Parker; Who Is Parker?
Additional Blu-ray Special Features: The Origin of Parker; Broken Necks and Bloody Knuckles
Amazon Price: $14.99 (DVD), $19.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content 2.5 stars, Video 4.5 stars, Audio 4.5 stars, Extras 2.5 stars, Replay 2.5 stars (out of 5). Rent It.
Beautiful Creatures (DVD and Blu-ray)
Directed by Richard LaGravenese
Written by Richard LaGravenese (screenplay), Kami, Margaret Stohl (novel)
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis, Emma Thompson, Emmy Rossum
Since the success of The Twilight Saga movie studios are looking for the next franchise to take its mantle. First out of the blocks was Beautiful Creatures. Set in the heart of a Bible Belt, Ethan Wate (Aldren Ehrenreich, Stoker) falls for the girl of his dreams, Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert, Ginger & Rosa). But Lena is a witch with a very protective uncle (Jeremy Irons) and even worst when she turns 16 she set to join the dark side. Her mother (Emma Thompson) and cousin (Emmy Rossum, Shameless (USA)) will do everything to ensure she joins.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 45% (average)
Metacritic Rating: 52/100 (average)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 4.5/10 (read our review)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Deleted scenes; Icons by Margaret Stohl (book trailer)
Additional Blu-ray Special Features: Book to screen: learn how the filmmakers adapted this wildly popular book series into a film; The Casters: find out who is light and dark, who has control over the elements and who has the power of manipulation; Between two worlds: see why the sleepy southern town of Gatlin is the perfect backdrop for this supernatural love story; Forbidden romance: explore Lena and Ethan's romance and how outside forces threaten to separate them; Altenate worlds: director Richard LaGravenese and the VFX team show how the Casters live alongside humans but in their own world; Beautiful Creatures: designing the costumes: costume designer Jeffrey Kurland and the cast explain how wardrobe influenced the tone of the film;
Amazon Price: $14.96 (DVD), $22.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content 2.5 stars, Video 4 stars, Audio 4 stars, Extras 1 stars, Replay 2.5 stars (out of 5). Rent It.
Stand Up Guys (DVD and Blu-ray)
Directed by Fisher Stevens
Written by Noah Haider
Starring: Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, Alan Arkin
Stand Up Guys is a comedy-drama about three aging gangster played by three legendary actors. Val (Al Pacino) is a gangster who has been released from prison after serving a 28 year sentence. He reunites with his old friends for a celebration. But one of them, Doc (Christopher Walken) has been ordered to kill Val.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 37% (poor)
Metacritic Rating: 41/100 (poor)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 6.5/10 (read our review)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Director Commentary "The Lowdown on Making Stand Up Guys" featurette "The Stand Up Songs of Jon Bon Jovi" featurette "American Muscle: The Stand Up Stunt Driving Scenes" featurette Deleted scenes
Amazon Price: $12.99 (DVD), $14.99 (Blu-ray)
Ultimate Gangster Collection – Classics (Blu-ray)
Little Caesar (1930)
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Written by Francis Edward Faragoh, Robert N. Lee (screenplay), W.R. Burnett (novel)
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
The Public Enemy (1931)
Directed by William A. Wellman
Written by Harvey F. Thew (screenplay), John Bright, Kubec Glasmon (novel)
Starring: James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods, Joan Blondell
The Petrified Forest (1936)
Directed by Archie Mayo
Written by Charles Kenyon, Daves (screenplay), Robert E. Sherwood (play)
Starring: Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Genevieve Tobin, Dick Foran
White Heat (1949)
Directed by Raoul Walsh
Written by Ivan Goff, Ben Robert (screenplay)
Starring: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O’Brien
The other re-release from Warner Bros. this week is another box-set, this one being filled with classic gangster movies from 1930 to the 1949. We get movies from the early talkies to the height of film noir and all of them are highly regarded.
Little Caesar (1930)
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 89% (very good)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 8.0/10
The Public Enemy (1931)
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 100% (excellent)
The Petrified Forest (1936)
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 100% (excellent)
White Heat (1949)
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 100% (excellent)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Little Caesar - Commentary by Film Historian Richard B. Jewell; Leonard Matlin Hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1930 with Newsreel, Spencer Tracy Short The Hard Guy, Cartoon Lady Play Your Mandolin and Theatrical Trailers; Featurette Little Caesar: End of Rico, Beginning of the Antihero; 1954 Rerelease Foreward; ; The Public Enemy - Commentary by Film Historian Robert Sklar; Leonard Maltin Hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1931 with Newsreel, Comedy Short The Eyes Have It, Cartoon Smile, Darn Ya, Smile! and Theatrical Trailers; Featurette Beer and Blood: Enemies of the Public; 1954 Rerelease Foreward; ; The Petrified Forest; Commentary by Humphrey Bogart Biographer Eric Lax; Leonard Maltin Hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1936 with Newsreel, Musical Short Rhythmitis, Cartoon The Coo Coo Nut Grove and Theatrical Trailers; Featurette The Petrified Forest: Menace in the Desert; Audio-Only Bonus: 1/7/1940 Gulf Screen Theater Broadcast; ; White Heat ; Commentary by Film Historian Dr. Drew Casper; Leonard Maltin Hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1949 with Newsreel, Comedy Short So You Think You're Not Guilty, Cartoon Homeless Hare and Theatrical Trailers; Featurette White Heat: Top of the World
Amazon Price: $39.99 (Blu-ray)
Medium Cool (1969) (DVD and Blu-ray)
Written and directed by Haskell Wexler
Starring: Robert Forster, Verna Bloom, Peter Bonerz, Marianna Hill, Harold Blankenship
Medium Cool is the Criterion Collection re-release of the week. Made as a movie social upheaval and unrest it ended up being made at the same time of the demonstrations outside the Democratic National Convention in 1968.
John Cassellis (Robert Forster) is a TV journalist who reports on violence and racial tensions. But he is forced to quit his job when his network gives the FBI his tapes so they can arrest people.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 94% (excellent)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Haskell Wexler; Two audio commentaries; Look Out Haskell, It's Real!, a 55 minute documentary about the making of; New interview with Wexler; Excerpts from Sooner or Later, a documentary by Cronin about Harold Blankenship; Original theatrical trailer; PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic and programmer Thomas Beard
Amazon Price: $19.99 (DVD), $27.86 (Blu-ray)
Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) (Blu-ray)
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Written by Hayao Miyazaki (screenplay), Diana Wynne Jones (novel)
Starring: Christian Bale, Jean Simmons, Emily Mortimer
Howl’s Moving Castle is the one of two Hayao Miyazaki movies being re-released. Howl’s Moving Castle was his big follow-up to his hit Spirited Away. Based on a novel by Diana Wynne Jones Howl’s Moving Castle is set in a Victorian world where a shy teenage hatter, Sophie (Emily Mortimer, The Newsroom) is transformed into a 90-year-old woman after crossing the Witch of the Waste. Sophie has to quest to find a cure for her curse and her only hope is a young wizard called Howl (Christian Bale). But Howl is in the midst of fighting in a war.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 86% (excellent)
Metacritic Rating: 80/100 (very good)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 8.5/10
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Disc 1 - Blu-Ray Feature Film + Bonus; Original Japanese Storyboards; Original Japanese TV Spots and Trailers; Behind The Microphone; Interview with Pixar Animation Studios Director Pete Docter; Hello Mr. Lasseter: Hayao Miyazaki visits Pixar Animation Studios; ; Disc 2 - DVD Feature Film + Bonus; Original Japanese TV Spots and Trailers; Behind The Microphone; Interview With Pixar Animation Studios Director Pete Docter; Hello Mr. Lasseter: Hayao Miyazaki Visits Pixar Animation Studios
Amazon Price: $27.99 (Blu-ray)
My Neighbor Totoro (1988) (Blu-ray)
Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Starring: Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning, Tim Daly
My Neighbor Totoro is one of Hayao Miyazaki most famous and well known movies. Satsuki (Dakota Fanning) and Mei (Elle Fanning) are two sisters who move into a home with their father (Tim Daly) as their mother is hospital. One day Mei discovers the Totoro, a large rabbit like creature who becomes her protector as the girls have struggle with their family life.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 90% (excellent)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 7.5/10
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Original Japanese storyboards; Original Japanese trailer; Behind the microphone; Behind The Studio; Creating My Neighbor Tortoro; Creating the characters; The "Totoro" experience; Producer's perspective: Creating Ghibli; The locations of "Totoro"; Scoring Miyzaki
Amazon Price: $27.99 (Blu-ray)
National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) (Blu-ray)
Directed by Harold Ramis
Written by John Hughes
Starring: Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Anthony Michael Hall, Dana Barron, Randy Quiad, Imogene Coca
National Lampoon’s Vacation has a lot comic talent in front and behind the camera: it stars Chevy Chase, was directed by Harold Ramis and written by John Hughes.
Clark Griswold (Chase) is a man who wants to spend more time with his family so plans his vacation to be a road trip to Walley World Theme Park. But everything that can go wrong will go wrong on his family’s journey.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 94% (excellent)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 7.0/10
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Feaurette Inside Story: National Lampoon's Vacation; ; Introduction by Chevy Chase, Randy Quaid and Matty Simmons; ; Commentary by Harold Ramis, Chevy Chase, Randy Quaid, Anthony Michael Hall, Dana Barron and Matty Simmons; ; Theatrical Trailer
Amazon Price: $14.86 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content 4.5 stars, Video 4 stars, Audio 4 stars, Extras 4 stars, Replay 4.5 stars (out of 5). Highly Recommended.
Paper Moon (1973) (DVD)
Directed by Peter Bogdanovich
Written by Alvin Sargent (screenplay), Joe David Brown (novel ‘Addie Pray’)
Starring: Ryan O’Neal, Tatum O’Neal
In the middle of the Great Depression a con-artist, Moses Pray (Ryan O’Neal, Barry Lyndon) is suddenly force to care for a 9-year-old girl, Addie Loggins (Ryan O’Neal real life daughter Tatum O’Neal). Addie is a handful and a troubled child but the two become a pair in the art of grifting. Tatum O’Neal became the youngest Oscar winner in history, winning a Best Supporting Actress Award.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 91% (excellent)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: The Making Of Paper Moon; The Next Picture Show; Asking For The Moon; Getting The Moon
Amazon Price: $5.97 (DVD)
Gallipoli (1981) (Blu-ray)
Directed by Peter Weir
Written by David Williamson (screenplay), Peter Weir (story)
Starring: Mel Gibson, Mark Lee, Bill Kerr
The Gallipoli Campaign was one of the bloodiest theaters of battle in the First World War, a great example of catastrophic military planning and an important event to the Australian and New Zealander psyche. Gallipoli serves as one of Mel Gibson’s first dramatic roles as two friends, Archy (Mark Lee) and Frank (Gibson) join the Australian army and see the horrors of war.
Gallipoli has been accused for having an Anglophobic bias and took too many historical liberties which director Peter Weir (The Truman Show, Master and Commander) has admitted he regards.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 88% (excellent)
Metacritic Rating: 65/100 (good)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 7.0/10
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Closed Caption; ; Entrenched: The Making of Gallipoli - 6 Documentaries; Theatrical Trailer
Amazon Price: $5.97 (DVD)
Captain America (1990) (Blu-ray)
Directed by Albert Pyun
Written by Stephen Tolkin (screenplay), Stephen Tolkin, Lawrence Block (story), Joe Simon, Jack Kirby (characters)
Starring: Matt Salinger, Ronny Cox, Scott Paulin, Ned Beatty, Darren McGavin, Francesca Neri
With movies like The Avengers and the Iron Man series have dominated the box office and show Marvel as the king of the superhero movie genre. But that was not always the case and shown by Marvel’s 1990 release of Captain America. Matt Salinger (son of J.D. Salinger) stars as the famous super soldier who is revived in the 90s to stop Italian Fascist turned crime lord The Red Skull (Scott Paulin) from kidnaping the President of the United States. This B-Movie has earned a cult following for being so bad it’s good.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 11% (awful)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: looking back at Captain America with director Albert Pyun and star Matt Salinger
Amazon Price: $10.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content 0.5 stars, Video 3 stars, Audio 3 stars, Extras 2 stars, Replay 0.5 stars (out of 5). Skip It.
