The Criterion Collection has re-released many movies of the years and their big re-release and Entertainment Fuse’s Recommendation of the Week is the French Movie Band of Outsiders. The Criterion Collection’s re-release contends the usual array of special features of interviews and commentaries as well as a digital transfer and improved subtitles.
First Release
- Jack Reacher (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Mama (DVD and Blu-ray)
- Superman Unbound (DVD and Blu-ray)
Re-Release
- Band of Outsiders (1964) (DVD and Blu-ray)
- The Great Escape (1963) (Blu-ray)
- Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) (Blu-ray)
- Shadow of a Doubt (1943) (Blu-ray)
- Saboteur (1942) (Blu-ray)
- In the Name of the Father (1993) (Blu-ray)
- An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) (Blu-ray)
Band of Outsiders (1964) (DVD and Blu-ray) *Recommendation of the Week*
Written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard
Starring: Anna Karina, Sami Frey, Claude Brasseur, Danièle Girard, Louisa Colpeyn
From the Criterion Collection this week is the French New Wave movie Band of Outsiders. Written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard, Band of Outsiders is a crime movie about two crooks with a fondness for Hollywood B-Movies, Franz (Sami Frey) and Arthur (Claude Brasseur) who convince a naïve language student, Odile (Anna Karina) to plan a robbery.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 95% (excellent)
Metacritic Rating: 88/100 (excellent)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 10/10
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: New high-definition digital transfer, supervised by cinematographer Raoul Coutard; Visual glossary, including film clips and stills, detailing cultural references and wordplay employed by Godard throughout Band of Outsiders; Exclusive video interviews with Raoul Coutard and actress Anna Karina; Interview excerpts with Godard from 1964 and rare behind-the-scenes footage of the director and his crew shooting Band of Outsiders; Two theatrical trailers, including Godard's original; New and improved English subtitle translation
Amazon Price: $19.92 (DVD), $27.99 (Blu-ray)
Three major movies of interest are being released this week, the Tom Cruise action-thriller Jack Reacher, Jessica Chastain horror flick Mama and the latest DC Comics animated movie Superman Unbound. A number of movies are being re-released onto basic Blu-rays, including the classic war movie The Great Escape and two Alfred Hitchcock thrillers.
Jack Reacher (DVD and Blu-ray)
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie
Written by Christopher McQuarrie (screenplay), Lee Child (novel ‘One Shot’)
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, Jai Courtney, Werner Herzog, David Oyelowo, Robert Duvall
Based on Lee Child’s ninth Jack Reacher novel, One Shot, Jack Reacher serves as both the first adaptation of the popular series and The Usual Suspects’ writer Christopher McQuarrie’s second directional effort.
In Pittsburgh a sniper seemingly shoots six people outside the home of Pittsburgh Pirates. The police find a suspect, James Barr, a former US Army sniper and a former US Military Police officer, Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) wants to ensure Barr gets buried. But when Reacher teams up with Barr’s attorney, Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike, Wrath of the Titans) to investigate the crime Reacher discovers there was no way Barr could have done it and he has to find the real killer.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 61% (good)
Metacritic Rating: 50/100 (average)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 6.3/10 (read our review)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Closed-Caption
Additional Blu-ray Special Features: When the man comes around; You do not mess with Jack Reacher: combat & weapons; The Reacher phemonenon; Commentary by Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie
Amazon Price: $15.99 (DVD), $19.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content 4.5 stars, Video 5 stars, Audio 5 stars, Extras 3.5 stars, Replay 4 stars (out of 5). Highly Recommended.
Mama (DVD and Blu-ray)
Directed by Andy Muschietti
Written by Neil Cross, Andy Muschietti, Bárbara Muschietti (screenplay), Any Muschietti (short film ‘Mamá’)
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Megan Charpenter, Isabelle Nélisse, Danel Kash
Jessica Chastain has quickly emerged as one of the best actress of her generation, starring in Tree of Life, Take Shelter, Coriolanus and Zero Dark Thirty just to name a few. She chose to star in the horror movie Mama so she can deliberately play against type.
Victoria and Lilly (Megan Charpentier and Isabelle Nélisse) are two young girls who somehow have survived in the woods for five years on their own. When they are found there are taken to their next of kin, their uncle Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Game of Thrones) and his girlfriend Annabel (Chastain). But is there another presence with the traumatized girls?
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 65% (good)
Metacritic Rating: 57/100 (average)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 6.0/10 (read our review)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Deleted Scenes; Original Short with Introduction by Guillermo del Toro; The Birth of Mama; Feature Commentary with Director/Co-Writer Andy Muschietti and Producer/Co-Writer Barbara Muschietti
Additional Blu-ray Special Features: Matriarchal Secrets: The Visual Effects of Mama - An in-depth exploration of the digital and practical effects employed to shape the film's phantom presence
Amazon Price: $16.99 (DVD), $21.96 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content 3.5 stars, Video 4.5 stars, Audio 4.5 stars, Extras 3 stars, Replay 3.5 stars (out of 5). Recommended.
Superman Unbound (DVD and Blu-ray)
Directed by James Tucker
Written by Bob Goodman (screenplay), Geoff Johns (graphic novel ‘Superman: Brainiac’)
Starring: Matt Bomer, John Noble, Stana Katic, Molly Quinn
Based on Geoff Johns’ “Superman: Brainiac” story arc, Superman Unbound is the latest animated DC Comics adaptation by Warner Premier as Superman (Matt Bomer, White Collar) and his cousin Supergirl (Molly Quinn, Castle) have to team up to stop an extreme powerful threat to Earth, Brainiac (John Noble, Fringe).
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Preview of DC Universe's next animated movie Justice League: the Flashpoint Paradox
Additional Blu-ray Special Features: Brainiac: technology and terror; From the DC comics vault: 4 bonus cartoons; A digital comic excerpt from the graphic novel "Superman: Brainiac"; ; Exclusively on Blu-ray:; Kandor: history of the bottle city; Superman: Unbound audio commentary
Amazon Price: $9.99 (DVD), $13.99 (Blu-ray)
Score (DVDTalk.com): Content 4.5 stars, Video 4 stars, Audio 3 stars, Extras 3.5 stars, Replay 4 stars (out of 5). Highly Recommended.
The Great Escape (1963) (Blu-ray)
Directed by John Sturges
Written by James Clavell, W.R. Burnett, Walter Newman (uncredited) (screenplay), Paul Brickhill (book)
Starring: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Donald, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn
The Great Escape is a classic war movie/escape movie featuring an ensemble cast which contended some of best talents around at the time. Based on a true story The Great Escape focuses on an ‘escape proof’ German Prisoner-of-War camp designed to keep the most prolific escaped Allied prisoners of war in World War Two. A game of wits starts to emerge as the Allies make their escape plans and plans to hide in German controlled Europe as the German guards do everything they can to stop their plans.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 92% (excellent)
Entertainment Fuse Score: 10/10
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Audio commentary by director John Sturges, cast & crew; 8 featurettes including The Untold Story, The Real Virgil Hilts & more!
Amazon Price: $9.99 (Blu-ray)
Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) (Blu-ray)
Directed by Norman Jewison
Written by Norman Jewison, Melvyn Bragg (screenplay), Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice (album)
Starring: Red Neeley, Carl Anderson Yvonne Elliman
Based on Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s rock opera album, Jesus Christ Superstar was turned into a Broadway show. Norman Jewison (Fiddler on the Room) took on the film adaptation, telling the story of Jesus’ last six days of his life through the power of song.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 57% (average)
DISC DETAILS
DVD Special Features: Feature Commentary with Director Norman Jewison and Actor Ted Neeley; Interview with Master Lyricist Tim Rice; Photo Gallery
Amazon Price: $13.99 (Blu-ray)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943) (Blu-ray)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, Alma Reville (screenplay), Gordon McDonell (story)
Starring: Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotton, Macdonald Carey, Patricia Collinge, Henry Travers
Shadow of a Doubt is one of two Alfred Hitchcock movies being re-released and was one Hitchcock’s personal favorites of his own movies. Shadow of a Doubt is a thriller about a serial killer stalking a small California town where a teenage girl, Charlotte “Charlie” Newton (Teresa Wright) is visited by her uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotton) and he is not as he appears.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 100% (excellent)
DISC DETAILS
Amazon Price: $16.99 (Blu-ray)
Saboteur (1942) (Blu-ray)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by Peter Viertel, Joan Harrison, Dorothy Parker
Starring: Robert Cummings, Priscilla Lane, Otto Kruger, Norman Lloyd
The other Hitchcock movie is Saboteur. Robert Cummings plays Barry Kane, a factory worker who has to go on the run and prove his innocence when he is accused as saboteur.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes: 80% (very good)
DISC DETAILS
Amazon Price: $16.99 (Blu-ray)
In the Name of the Father (1993) (Blu-ray)
Directed by Jim Sheridan
Written by Jim Sheridan, Terry George (screenplay), Gerry Conlon (book ‘Proved Innocent’)
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Emma Thompson, Pete Postlehwaite
In the Name of the Father is an autobiography movie about Gerry Conlon, one of the Guildford Four and a victim of one biggest injustices in British criminal history. Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Gerry Conlon, a Belfast thief who is accused of bombing a pub in Guildford with three other men and coerced into giving a confession. Gerry’s father, Giuseppe (Pete Postletwaite, Brassed Off, The Usual Suspects) is also implicated and with a British lawyer, Gareth Peirce (Emma Thompson) set out to prove the men’s innocence.
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 95% (excellent)
Metacritic Rating: 84/100 (very good)
DISC DETAILS
Amazon Price: $13.99 (Blu-ray)
An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) (Blu-ray)
Directed by Taylor Hackford
Written by Douglas Day Stewart
Starring: Richard Gere, Debra Winger, Louis Gossett Jr.
An Officer and A Gentleman was the movie that cemented Richard Gere’s reputation as a heart thorn and earned Louis Gossett Jr a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Gere stars as Zack Mayo, a young naval cadet who embarks a 13 week course so he can train as a pilot. But Zack is targeted for harsh treatment by Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley (Gossett). Zack is determined not to give in as he falls for a woman, Paula (Debra Winger).
Critics Rating (Rotten Tomatoes): 94% (excellent)
Metacritic Rating: 75/100 (very good)
DISC DETAILS
Amazon Price: $13.86 (Blu-ray)
