FILM FRENZY

Julia Roberts, Kaitlyn Dever, Maxime Bouttier, and George Clooney in Ticket to Paradise (Photo: Universal)

By Matt Brunson

(View From The Couch is a weekly column that reviews what’s new on Blu-ray, 4K and DVD. Ratings are on a four-star scale.)

DARKMAN (1990). The story goes that Sam Raimi wanted to make a movie built around an established superhero, with Batman and The Shadow his top picks. When no rights became available — and with his entrustment of the Spider-Man franchise still over a decade away — he decided to create his own version of a caped crusader. Darkman stars Liam Neeson as Peyton Westlake, a brilliant scientist whose work on synthetic skin is interrupted when a gang of hoodlums led by the menacing Durant (Larry Drake) blows up his lab. Although he survives the blast, he’s left horribly scarred (not unlike a certain opera phantom), meaning he has to don various masks as he sets about exacting his revenge. Raimi’s first studio picture is first and foremost a director’s showcase, with the helmer demonstrating his immense technical prowess in inventive and exciting ways. He only tempers his excesses long enough to allow Neeson to shine with a performance that nicely mixes sincerity, anguish, and rage. Frances McDormand is also on hand, doing what she can with a drab role as Peyton’s attorney girlfriend, while Colin Friels plays the primary villain, a yuppie scumbag who’s about as threatening as a chia pet. And because this is a Sam Raimi production, expect to see Bruce Campbell pop up at some point, as well as Ted Raimi (whose nasty character suffers a particularly memorable death). The film’s visual style carries it most of the way, but it can’t always compensate for a slender and occasionally silly script.

Extras in the 4K + Blu-ray edition include audio commentary by cinematographer Bill Pope; audio commentary by Werewolves Within director and Darkman fan Josh Ruben; an archival making-of piece; and interviews with Neeson, McDormand, and Drake.

Movie: ★★½

HARRIET (2019). Although it’s not quite the powerhouse picture many had expected (in other words, it’s no 12 Years a Slave), this dramatization of the life and achievements of Harriet Tubman is nevertheless an absorbing film bolstered by Cynthia Erivo’s excellent performance in the title role. Directed by Kasi Lemmons and written by Lemmons and Gregory Allen Howard, the film begins when Harriet is still a slave working on a Maryland plantation and known by the name Araminta “Minty” Ross. Threatened to be sold to another farm, Minty decides to flee to the North; although the chances of her surviving such a journey are thin, she miraculously makes it on her own to Philadelphia, where she’s assisted by abolitionist William Still (Leslie Odom Jr.) and boarding-room owner Marie Buchanon (Janelle Monáe). Taking the name Harriet Tubman, she eventually decides to become part of the Underground Railroad that aided her, repeatedly risking her life to return time and again to the South and ultimately ferrying approximately 70 slaves to freedom. More sincere in its religious convictions than many of those so-called “faith films,” Harriet uses this spiritual component to elevate what occasionally comes across as a standard (if important) biopic of one of American history’s most amazing icons. Harriet earned two Academy Award nominations, both for Erivo: Best Actress and Best Original Song (the powerful “Stand Up,” co-written with Joshuah Brian Campbell).

Extras in the 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital Code edition consist of audio commentary by Lemmons; a pair of making-of pieces; and deleted scenes.

Movie: ★★★

THE LAST CASTLE (2001). This disappointing drama from critic-turned-director Rod Lurie finds Robert Redford (in one of his dullest performances) headlining as Eugene Irwin, a three-star general serving 10 years in a military prison for disobeying a command that led to the death of eight soldiers. James Gandolfini co-stars as Colonel Winter, the prison commander who’s so sadistic that I kept waiting for an inmate to label him “the Winter of our discontent.” Irwin initially plans to keep to himself, but once he sees the brutal conditions surrounding him, he decides to lead the other prisoners in an uprising. No “big house” stereotype is left unturned: In addition to Redford’s noble prisoner and Gandolfini’s tyrannical warden, there’s the shady inmate (Mark Ruffalo) who must decide before the climax where his loyalties rest, the young lapdog prisoner (Clifton Collins Jr.) who practically has “Story’s Sacrificial Lamb” stitched across his outfit, and the rest of the compound’s rapists, murderers, and thieves, most of whom are presented as the kind of jovial, disciplined guys you’d be happy to invite over for Thanksgiving. Gray areas of messy morality inherent in the story keep getting in the way of the picture’s desire to be an all-American, flag-waving crowd-pleaser, as evidenced not only by the aforementioned inmates (all good kids, every last one of them!) but by the clumsily-swept-under-the-carpet evidence that Irwin is in many ways no more a good guy than Winter. Parting question: How in the name of Steve McQueen do the prisoners keep a 20-foot catapult hidden from the guards for however long it took to build it?

Extras in the 4K + Blu-ray edition include audio commentary by Lurie; a making-of piece; and deleted scenes.

Movie: ★★

THE SWISS CONSPIRACY (1976). The booklet included with this release contains an essay titled “A Gem You Probably Haven’t Seen.” In my case, I not only had seen this ‘70s thriller but I had caught it upon its original European release, when I was a mere lad of 10 and living in Portugal. Revisiting it now, it’s not surprising that massive waves of nostalgia — I had seen this in that period when I first began ingesting cinema with the fury of Tony Montana inhaling coke in Scarface — overpowered what was actually occurring in this OK drama. A Spring 1976 release, this American-West German co-production played Europe first, not reaching the US until Fall 1977, and to say that it’s obscure is an understatement. IMDb offers no trivia, and only a scant 461 users of that mammoth site have seen/rated it. Any info on its box office is nonexistent, and its stay stateside seems to have been extremely brief (I doubt theaters gave up Star Wars or Smokey and the Bandit to make room for this). Even the essay notes that there’s not much dirt on it. The final big-screen credit for Jack Arnold (best known for directing such ‘50s sci-fi classics as The Creature From the Black Lagoon, It Came From Outer Space, and The Incredible Shrinking Man), this densely plotted yarn casts David Janssen as an ex-pat and former DOJ employee hired by the president (Ray Milland) of a Swiss bank to determine who’s blackmailing some of its wealthiest clients. The Alps scenery, a diverse international cast (Senta Berger, John Saxon, Elke Sommer, and more), and a couple of red herrings add some value to an otherwise disposable murder-mystery.

Blu-ray extras consist of film historian audio commentary; two featurettes on Arnold; and a pair of trailers.

Movie: ★★½

TICKET TO PARADISE (2022). Cary Grant and Irene Dunne; Rock Hudson and Doris Day; Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan; Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore (or even Adam Sandler and Kevin James) — any of these screen couplings could easily be inserted into the plug-and-play template of this pleasant if not particularly distinguished romcom largely aimed at the type of older audience who most likely wouldn’t know an ant-man from a blue beetle. George Clooney and Julia Roberts are David and Georgia Cotton, who were married for five years approximately two decades earlier and have loathed each other ever since the divorce. The exes are forced to come together when their daughter Lily (Booksmart’s Kaitlyn Dever), vacationing in Bali before embarking on a career as a lawyer, decides instead to remain in the Indonesian province and marry Gede (Maxime Bouttier), a local seaweed fisherman. Fearing she’s making the same mistake they did, they rush to Bali with plans to sabotage the engagement. Admittedly, it was more fun watching Roberts try to destroy her best friend’s wedding back in the day (more laughs, more tension, plus an ab-fab Rupert Everett) than ruin her daughter’s wedding here, but stargazers will enjoy watching Clooney and Roberts spar, and there’s an amusing supporting turn by Carrie Fisher’s youngling Billie Lourd as Lily’s acerbic best friend. Others seeking something more fulfilling had best revisit the classic screwball comedy of their choice.

Extras in the 4K + Blu-ray + Digital edition include a piece on the fifth on-screen teaming of Clooney and Roberts; a peek at the location shooting in Australia (subbing for Bali); and a look at the film’s recreation of a traditional Balinese wedding.

Movie: ★★½

Short And Sweet:

THE GROOM WORE SPURS (1951). Two likable stars fail to enliven this utterly bland comedy in which sharp lawyer A.J. Furnival (Ginger Rogers) falls in love with affable movie cowboy Ben Castle (Jack Carson); they get married, but things go wrong from the start. It all ends with Ben being framed for murder and A.J. having to bail him out. Rogers was one of the Golden Age’s greatest actresses and Carson frequently offered superb support in movies like Arsenic and Old Lace and Mildred Pierce, but neither can do much with material this threadbare.

There are no Blu-ray extras.

Movie: ★★

THE MARVELS (2023). The cinematic superhero slide continues with The Marvels, a disappointing follow-up to the superior 2019 MCU outing Captain Marvel. Brie Larson returns as Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, with the superheroine joined by former bestie Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) and TV’s Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) to stop a Kree warrior (Zawe Ashton) from acquiring some thingamajig … [checks notes] a Quantum Band to be used in naughty ways. Director Nia DaCosta’s action set-pieces are more exhausting than exhilarating, and too many daft interludes remain watchable only through the A-plus efforts of the leading ladies.

DVD extras include deleted scenes and a gag reel.

Movie: ★★

FROM SCREEN TO STREAM

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (1935). The back story on this film version of the Shakespeare classic is a rich one, too lengthy to recount in this space. Chiefly, it involves the exploits of theatrical titan Max Reinhardt and his eventual odyssey to L.A., whereupon he created a revered stage production of Dream that eventually was turned into this opulent (if occasionally schizophrenic) screen version. Shakespeare’s romp involving young lovers and forest fairies finds an appropriate outlet in a filmic take that employs classical music, elaborate ballets, and a cast mixing classically trained thespians with Hollywood hambones. Best of all is James Cagney, who’s wonderful as spirited actor Nick Bottom; others filling out the large cast include 19-year-old Olivia de Havilland (in her film debut) as Hermia and 15-year-old Mickey Rooney as an annoying Puck. An Oscar nominee for Best Picture and Best Assistant Director (a long forgotten category), this won for Best Film Editing and Best Cinematography, the latter marking the only time in Academy history that a write-in candidate (cameraman Hal Mohr) took home a statue.

Movie: ★★★