FILM FRENZY

Promotional artwork for Orca (Photo: Kino & Paramount)

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.)

GABRIEL OVER THE WHITE HOUSE (1933). In this fantasy-tinged political picture, Walter Huston stars as Judson Hammond, a corrupt politician who becomes U.S. President. Following a near-fatal automobile accident, Judson receives some divine intervention, thus allowing him to transform into a conscientious man who bypasses Congress and ignores all manner of checks and balances as he seeks to eliminate all the gangsters, feed the country’s poor, and establish world peace. It’s easy to understand this problematic picture’s appeal at the time, when FDR’s progressive policies were about to save the country and lift it out of the Great Depression. In 2025, however, when a dictator is busy implementing policies that are already (as opposed to Hammond’s) destroying the nation, its fascistic viewpoint seems even less appealing.

Blu-ray extras consist of the 1933 cartoons Bosko in Person, Buddy’s Beer Garden, and The Dish Ran Away With the Spoon.

Movie: ★★½

GALAXY OF TERROR (1981). Although this Roger Corman production was conceived as an Alien steal, Galaxy of Terror (aka Mindwarp: An Infinity of Terror) gets some credit for branching off in its own direction, relating how a spaceship’s crew members end up on a planet that pits them against their own fears (the “worm rape” sequence earned this film a small measure of notoriety in its day). Some ripe performances and a thinly developed script kill this, but then again, where else can you find a cast eclectic enough to include Joanie Loves Chachi’s Erin Moran, Twin Peaks’ Grace Zabriskie, My Favorite Martian’s Ray Walston, future softcore filmmaker Zalman King (Red Shoe Diaries), House of 1000 Corpses’ Sid Haig, and a pre-Freddy Krueger Robert Englund? And the fellow primarily responsible for the impressive set design? Merely a rising talent named James Cameron.

4K extras include cast and crew audio commentary; a making-of featurette; and theatrical trailers.

Movie: ★★

HOUSEBOAT (1958). After his estranged wife dies in a car crash, U.S. government attorney Tom Winters (Cary Grant) is forced to return from Europe to take care of three young children who don’t care much for him. Enter Cinzia (Sophia Loren), who’s tired of being under the thumb of her conductor father (Eduardo Ciannelli). Posing as a peasant, she gets hired by Tom to serve as maid on the houseboat he just purchased. The kids love Cinzia, and Tom and Cinzia must determine if they love each other as well. It goes without saying that Grant and Loren make a handsome couple, but the script doesn’t always proceed smoothly — the character of Tom’s sister-in-law, nicely played by Martha Hyer, makes an unbelievable shift from sweetheart to ogre halfway through — and the ending is too truncated. This nabbed a couple of Oscar nominations for Best Original Story & Screenplay and Best Original Song (“Love Song From Houseboat (Almost in Your Arms),” sung by Sam Cooke).

Blu-ray extras consist of film historian audio commentary; two theatrical trailer; and trailers for other titles on the Kino label.

Movie: ★★½

JUROR #2 (2024). One of the few worthwhile pictures helmed by Clint Eastwood over the last 15 or so years, Juror #2 is a messy morality tale that admirably doesn’t take the easy way out. Nicholas Hoult stars as Justin Kemp, a journalist, husband (Zoey Deutch plays his wife), and soon-to-be father who’s picked to serve on the jury of a murder trial. Upon hearing the particulars of the case — a blue-collar grunt (Gabriel Basso) is accused of killing his girlfriend (Francesca Eastwood) in a fit of rage — Justin realizes that he was present at the scene of the alleged crime and that the suspect might actually be innocent. While the prosecutor (Toni Collette) drives the trial while simultaneously running for district attorney, a fellow juror and retired detective (J.K. Simmons) decides to do some sleuthing on his own. Anyone worried that the film will end in predictable, gotcha! fashion can relax, since scripter Jonathan Abrams has elected to craft a pensive piece in which the pillars of law, justice, and personal responsibility all take hits.

There are no Blu-ray extras.

Movie: ★★★

ORCA (1977). Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, along came this Jaws rip-off, no worse and perhaps a mite better than most of the myriad imitators. Rather than a killer shark, this one offers a killer whale, with perhaps the biggest difference between the films (aside from quality, of course) being that the shark earned no sympathy while the whale earns plenty. Richard Harris, whose poor performance here suggests this was filmed during one of his soused states, headlines as Nolan, a fisherman who tries to capture a male whale but ends up accidentally killing its mate and its unborn baby. The orca proceeds to destroy a seaside village and kill Nolan’s crew members in its quest for vengeance, leading to a showdown between Nolan and the massive mammal. The maritime photography is impressive, but the additional Moby-Dick angle never catches fire, and the characters are hopelessly cardboard.

4K + Blu-ray extras include two separate film historian audio commentaries and the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★

PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE (2002). After the grandiosity of both Boogie Nights and Magnolia, writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson worked on a decidedly smaller scale with this quirky romantic comedy that operates by the rules of its own self-contained universe. Adam Sandler delivers an interestingly off-center performance as a business owner (stock-in-trade: toilet plungers) whose delicate emotional state and social stagnation are put to the test once he begins dating his sister’s co-worker (Emily Watson) while simultaneously getting harassed by members of a phone-sex service. Although the film fails to utilize its exemplary supporting players (Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Luis Guzman) to their fullest potential, it still scores points for showing how the redemptive power of love could transform even a seeming lost cause like Sandler’s repressed character.

4K extras include deleted scenes; Anderson’s 2002 short Blossoms & Blood; and a press conference from the 2002 Cannes Film Festival (where Anderson won the Best Director prize).

Movie: ★★★

THE SPANISH MAIN (1945). Paul Henreid isn’t exactly Errol Flynn, but the Casablanca co-star does well enough in this rousing swashbuckler. Henreid stars as Captain Laurent Van Horn, a Dutchman who escapes from the clutches of the villainous Spanish governor Don Juan Alvarado (Walter Slezak) and sets up shop in the Caribbean Sea. Now known as the pirate Barracuda, he makes life miserable for the cruel governor and even kidnaps Contessa Francesca (Maureen O’Hara), Alvarado’s bride-to-be in an arranged marriage. Understandably antagonistic at first, Francesca soon learns that it’s the Barracuda and not Alvarado who’s the good guy. The lush Technicolor lensing allowed George Barnes to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Color Cinematography.

Blu-ray extras consist of  the 1946 live-action short Movieland Magic; the 1948 Bugs Bunny-Yosemite Sam cartoon Buccaneer Bunny; the 1954 cartoon Captain Hareblower, also with Bugs and Sam; and the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★★

TEACHER’S PET (1958). A romantic comedy par excellence, Teacher’s Pet is a frequently hilarious film in which self-taught newspaperman Jim Gannon (Clark Gable), who believes college journalism classes are a waste of time, butts heads with Erica Stone (Doris Day), who happens to teach one. A “mistaken identity” angle, a staple of this sort of rom-com, is handled well, and scripters Fay and Michael Kanin provide some food for thought regarding the lead characters’ views on the Fourth Estate. Gable delivers a great performance here, as does scene-stealing Gig Young as Erica’s brainy colleague Dr. Hugo Pine. This earned a pair of Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Young) and Best Original Story & Screenplay (competing against Houseboat, above; both lost to The Defiant Ones). Oddly snubbed was the delightful title song (sung by Day), which was a hit single.

Blu-ray extras consist of film historian audio commentary; the theatrical trailer; and trailers for other Kino offerings.

Movie: ★★★½

FROM SCREEN TO STREAM

DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978). The second film in George Romero’s zombie saga (one more followed in the 1980s, while three more were made in the 2000s), this is considered in countless quarters to be the director’s masterpiece; certainly, it ranks way up there with the original Night of the Living Dead (reviewed here). Whereas its predecessor was in black-and-white, this one’s in color, thus allowing ace makeup artist Tom Savini the chance to offer gruesome gore galore. Yet even beyond the entrails, we can see Romero again serving up potent societal commentary. As mindless, shuffling zombies lumber down the corridors of an expansive mall (which is where our heroes have chosen to board up), it’s obvious that Romero is wittily railing against American conformity and consumerism. Bonus points for having the best tagline of any Romero flick: “When there’s no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth.” The original trilogy concluded with 1985’s underrated Day of the Dead (reviewed here).

Movie: ★★★½

A MAN CALLED HORSE (1970). One of three prominent 1970 releases to largely center on Native Americans (the others being the magnificent Little Big Man and the so-so Soldier Blue), A Man Called Horse was successful enough to spawn a pair of sequels in 1976’s The Return of a Man Called Horse and 1983’s Triumphs of a Man Called Horse. Today, though, it’s mainly remembered for only one sequence (more on that in a second); in all other respects, it’s like a test run for Dances with Wolves, with Richard Harris cast as an English lord who’s captured by Sioux warriors but eventually becomes an integral member of the tribe. Initially treated like an animal (hence the title), he soon proves his valor and, in order to marry the lovely sister (Corinna Tsopei) of the chief (Manu Tupou), must undergo the Sun Vow, a bloody ceremony that involves dangling from spikes thrust through the chest. This once-iconic sequence still retains some power, as does the climactic battle between warring tribes, but much of the film is undone by what ultimately remains just a surface look at a different culture.

Movie: ★★½

STAGECOACH (1939). There’s no mistaking the importance of director John Ford’s Stagecoach when it comes to its standing within the Western canon. Single-handedly, the picture raised the genre from being routinely dismissed as the home of lightweight matinee fodder to the realm of artistic works capable of complex characterizations and profound psychology. It’s also the film that turned John Wayne into a genuine movie star: Even his first appearance in the picture is made instantly iconic thanks to cinematographer Bert Glennon’s worshipful camera. Wayne plays the Ringo Kid, one of the reluctant passengers on a stagecoach that must wind its way through hostile territory. Among those also along for the ride are a tough ‘n’ tender prostitute (Claire Trevor, who actually receives top billing over Wayne), a notorious gambler (John Carradine), and a drunken doctor (Thomas Mitchell). Nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, this earned Oscars for Best Supporting Actor (Mitchell) and Best Music Score.

Movie: ★★★★

WALL STREET (1987).Although he had already won an Academy Award as co-producer of the 1975 Best Picture One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and had appeared in such hits as The China Syndrome and Romancing the Stone, Michael Douglas achieved true through-the-roof superstardom in 1987, thanks to back-to-back turns in the box office smash Fatal Attraction and Oliver Stone’s Wall Street, for which he won the Best Actor Academy Award. Stone’s first film since his across-the-board success Platoon may have performed softer with critics and audiences than anticipated, but if nothing else, it’s now considered a time capsule of Reagan-era avarice, with Douglas’ corporate raider Gordon Gekko uttering the instantly classic catchphrase, “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” And with American capitalism now uglier than ever, it remains relevant — even more so than its dud of a sequel, 2010’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, starring Douglas and Shia LaBeouf.

Movie: ★★★