FILM FRENZY

Karen Meagher in Threads (Photos: Severin)

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.)

ANYONE BUT YOU (2023). Anyone But You isn’t a romcom as much as it’s an oglefest. The inane plotline seems less important to the film’s creators than Sydney Sweeney’s bulging, bikinied breasts, Glen Powell’s rippling six-pack, and Powell’s muscled bare buttocks — all of which appear so frequently that they should definitely be insured in the same manner as David Beckham’s legs, Gordon Ramsay’s tongue, and Nick Cannon’s testicles. This is one of those assembly-line offerings in which the only way the main characters could possibly be more braindead is if they were buried six feet under. Bea (Sweeney) and Ben (Powell) have a meet-cute in a Boston coffee shop and decide to spend the night together. The next morning, a pair of simple misunderstandings — the type that could be cleared up instantly if these supposed lovebirds actually bothered to, you know, talk to each other — leaves them despising each other, and they hope to never see each other again. But wouldn’t ya know it, Bea’s sister (Hadley Robinson) is marrying the sister (Alexandra Shipp) of Ben’s best friend (GaTa), and the wedding is in Sydney, Australia. So off everyone goes, and for reasons too dopey to bother to explain here, Bea and Ben decide to pretend they’re a happy couple. Many mishaps ensue, including Bea falling into Sydney Harbour while trying to reenact a scene from Titanic and Ben worried that gigantic spiders might have crawled up his anus. As a fan of Bryan Brown in his ’80s heyday (F/X, Breaker Morant, etc.), I was very pleased when he turned up here as one of the fathers of the brides, and he shares a couple of amusing scenes with GaTa. But it’s obvious a romcom’s in trouble when many viewers won’t care a whit whether or not its central lovers end up together.

Extras in the 4K edition include audio commentary by Powell, Sweeney, and director Will Gluck; deleted scenes; and outtakes.

Movie: ★½

LAST SUMMER (1969). An excellent adaptation of the novel by Evan Hunter (better known under the nom-de-plume Ed McBain, employed for his 87th Precinct series), Last Summer is a coming-of-age movie where the nostalgia passes through a vat of acid. It’s not bittersweet as much as simply bitter, viewing adolescence as more than just a period of harmless pranks and modest flirting. On a Fire Island beach, teenagers Peter (Richard Thomas) and Dan (Bruce Davison) encounter the lovely Sandy (Barbara Hershey) as she tends to a wounded seagull — the three become fast friends and are inseparable for the rest of the summer, with both boys attracted to Sandy but with her basically in command of every situation. Into their circle wanders the drab Rhoda (Cathy Burns), an awkward but outspoken girl; initially shunning her, they eventually allow her to become part of their clique, a decision that leads to a shocking denouement. The husband-and-wife team of Frank Perry (director) and Eleanor Perry (scripter) were coming off the previous year’s sensational Burt Lancaster vehicle The Swimmer and about to embark on the following year’s searing seriocomedy Diary of a Mad Housewife — that’s an impressive three-pack, with casual cruelty interestingly part of the fabric of each. Sustained careers in film would be in the cards for Hershey and Davison, while Thomas became a TV fixture thanks to his starring role on The Waltons. Yet it’s Burns who picked up a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for this picture — Rhoda’s monologue about her mother’s death is a real tour de force.

Blu-ray extras include a 2026 post-screening Q&A with Hershey and Davison; a separate 2026 post-screening Q&A with Thomas; and a deleted scene featuring Thomas and Ralph Waite (who plays his father here and would go on to play his father on The Waltons).

Movie: ★★★½

THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1958). The first entry in stop-motion animation genius Ray Harryhausen’s remarkable string of period fantasy epics, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad offers splendid entertainment for anyone partial to hands-on effects created via blood, sweat, and foam latex. Kerwin Mathews is the high-spirited hero, set to marry Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant) but instead forced to cater to the demands of the evil magician Sokurah (Torin Thatcher). Sokurah hopes to gain possession of a magic lamp housing a genie (Richard Eyer), and it’s up to Sinbad to lead the quest that along the way will pit him against a cyclops, a two-headed bird, a dragon, and a sword-swinging skeleton. Each creature encounter is as exciting as the next, and Thatcher makes for a memorable heavy. There’s also a tremendous score by Psycho / Citizen Kane composer Bernard Herrmann, who would later create the music for three more Harryhausen extravaganzas, including Mysterious Island (see From Screen To Stream below).

Extras in the 4K + Blu-ray edition include audio commentary by Harryhausen, Oscar-winning FX artists Phil Tippett (Return of the Jedi, Jurassic Park) and Randall William Cook (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy), author Steven C. Smith (A Heart at Fire’s Center: The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann), and Arnold Kunert (the man credited with successfully getting Harryhausen his Honorary Oscar); the 1998 TV special The Harryhausen Chronicles; a piece on Dynamation, the special effects process created by Harryhausen; interviews with many of the modern-day effects wizards directly inspired by Harryhausen; and, most amusingly, a vintage promotional song released alongside the film, “Sinbad May Have Been Bad, But He’s Been Good to Me.”

Movie: ★★★½

SOYLENT GREEN (1973). This adaptation of Harry Harrison’s sci-fi novel Make Room! Make Room! is set in 2022, at which point the planet is grotesquely overpopulated and luxuries (hot water, electricity, and real foods such as meat, veggies, and fruit) are enjoyed only by the wealthiest. A suitably gruff Charlton Heston plays Thorn, a detective assigned to investigate the murder of a corporate VIP (Joseph Cotten). Aided by Sol Roth (Edward G. Robinson), his friend, roommate, and case researcher, Thorn follows a trail of corruption that exposes the secret behind Soylent Green, a food product reportedly made out of soy beans and lentil. The grittiness of early-70s cinema works well for this fatalistic tale, easily negating the dated aspects of the production (love that old-school video game in Cotten’s apartment!) and creating a futureworld that’s both plausible and frightening. Forty-two years after Little Caesar made him a star, Robinson proves to be typically magnificent in his final performance — his poignant turn provides the picture with its heart, and the 79-year-old actor, gravely ill during filming, passed away a few days after the movie was wrapped. (The greatest actor never nominated for an Academy Award, he learned on his deathbed that he was receiving a career Oscar but didn’t live to attend the ceremony.) Incidentally, the film’s one classic line appeared on the American Film Institute’s 2005 list of the 100 best movie quotes; I’d reveal it here, but since it’s a spoiler, it would ruin the twist ending for anyone who’s not already aware of it … all six of you.

Blu-ray extras include archival audio commentary by director Richard Fleischer and co-star Leigh Taylor-Young; the vintage featurettes A Look at the World of Soylent Green and MGM’s Tribute to Edward G. Robinson’s 101st Film; and archival interviews with Heston and Fleischer.

Movie: ★★★

THE WAR GAME (1965) / THREADS (1984). When The Day After, the controversial film about a nuclear attack on the United States, premiered on ABC on November 10, 1983, it became the most-watched made-for-TV movie of all time (a record it still holds today). It’s an excellent picture (read the review here), but the truth is that, two decades prior, the British had already been there, done that, and, one year after the ABC film’s debut, oops, they did it again.

AMPAS rules stipulate that nominees for the Best Documentary Feature Academy Award must run over 40 minutes and that nominees for the Best Documentary Short Subject clock in at 40 minutes or less. At 47 minutes, writer-director-producer Peter Watkins’ The War Game is one of the shortest of all Best Documentary Feature winners, with only a couple of WWII propaganda films from 1941 (the first year the award was given) and 1963’s Robert Frost: A Lover’s Quarrel With the World taking up fewer minutes. Of course, this attests to the potency of the piece, which was created for BBC broadcast and then pulled before the airing because it was deemed too horrific to be shown on television (it wasn’t until 1985, a full 20 years later, that it was televised in the UK). The film posits that the Cold War has finally resulted in the U.S. and the USSR trading blows and bombs, with everyone paying the price. Focusing on the UK, it demonstrates how woefully unprepared everyone — from the government officials to the civilians — would be were a real nuclear attack to transpire.

If The War Game is the grim appetizer, then the 117-minute Threads is the ghastly entrée. Armed with a longer running time, director Mick Jackson and writer Barry Hines are able to add specific characters to their anti-nuclear scenario, focusing on pregnant Sheffield resident Ruth Beckett (Karen Meagher), her boyfriend Jimmy Kent (Reece Dinsdale), and the other members of their respective families. As life goes on, news reports in the background concentrate on the developing tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union as both are duking it out for prime real estate in (uh-oh) Iran. With war now a given, panic grips the land, resulting in increasing violence. Then the mushroom clouds start appearing in the distance, and millions of people across the country are killed. The rest of the picture centers on those who have survived the bombing, with most of them eventually succumbing to the nuclear fallout and the remainder forced to live in a land where lawlessness now rules. The War Game and The Day After are powerful enough, but Threads is the truly devastating watch — the sequence showing the destruction of Sheffield and the gruesome deaths of much of its citizenry is unforgettable, made all the more affecting since it’s filmed in absolute silence.

The War Game and Threads have both been released in separate 4K UHD editions by Severin Films. Extras on The War Game include audio commentary by film critic Kim Newman and filmmaker Sean Hogan; a 1983 interview with Watkins; a video essay; an interview with author Julie McDowall (Attack Warning Red!: How Britain Prepared for Nuclear War); and two short films by Watkins, 1959’s The Diary of an Unknown Soldier and 1961’s The Forgotten Faces. The set also contains a reprint of Watkins’ 1967 book The War Game, collectible postcards, and a replica of the official evacuation card issued by the British government. Extras on Threads include audio commentary by director Mick Jackson, moderated by film writer Kier-La Janisse and Severin Films’ David Gregory; audio commentary by Meagher and television historian Simon Farquhar; the new feature-length documentary Survivors: The Spectre of Threads; and an interview with Meagher. The release also offers a collectible postcard and a replica of the government-issued public information pamphlet.

The War Game: ★★★½

Threads: ★★★★

FILM CLIPS

COME LIVE WITH ME (1941). This romantic comedy finds Austrian immigrant Johnny Jones (Hedy Lamarr) about to be shipped back to her Nazi-occupied homeland — she’s informed that the only way to avoid deportation is to marry an American. Her wealthy lover (Ian Hunter) already has a wife (Veree Teasdale), so she settles on impoverished writer Bill Smith (James Stewart) to become her husband in name only. Needing the dough, he reluctantly goes along with the ruse, only to genuinely fall in love with her. This is charming as far as it goes, but even at a brief 86 minutes, it still feels too long, thanks to a pair of scenes (Jimmy talking to the mirror and Jimmy mumbling in the bedroom) stretched beyond the breaking point.

Blu-ray extras include the 1941 cartoon Officer Pooch and the 1942 live-action short From the Four Corners, featuring Leslie Howard.

Movie: ★★½

RED SORGHUM (1988). As earthy as its setting and as robust as its characters, Red Sorghum takes place in late-1930s China and stars the great Gong Li (in her film debut) as a young woman who inherits a sorghum wine distillery. Along with her part-time lover (Jiang Wen) and the other laborers, she tries to keep the business afloat but has to contend along the way with bandits, kidnappers, and the Imperial Japanese Army. Building upon his success with this debut feature, director Zhang Yimou quickly established himself as a world-class filmmaker with such pictures as Ju Dou, To Live, and my pick for the best foreign-language release of its entire decade, 1991’s magnificent Raise the Red Lantern.

Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by Michael Berry, Director of UCLA’s Center for Chinese Studies; a video essay by Chinese history scholar Jonathan Clements; and the trailer.

Movie: ★★★

FROM SCREEN TO STREAM

ARTHUR (1981) / ARTHUR 2: ON THE ROCKS (1988). A commercial smash — only Raiders of the Lost Ark, On Golden Pond, and Superman II grossed more in ’81 — Arthur casts Dudley Moore in his career role as the irrepressible and irresponsible millionaire who’s rarely spotted without a drink in his hand and a quip on his lips. Attended by his erudite butler Hobson (John Gielgud), Arthur views life as an endless party until he’s presented with an ultimatum: Marry dull socialite Susan Johnson (Jill Eikenberry) or be cut off from the family fortune. This presents a problem, more so since our pickled protagonist has fallen for the working-class Linda (Liza Minnelli). Moore received a Best Actor Oscar nomination while writer-director Steve Gordon earned a bid for Best Original Screenplay (Gordon died of a heart attack at the age of 44, a year after the movie’s release), but the two most memorable elements of this likable picture are what actually won their respective categories: “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” for Best Original Song and Gielgud for Best Supporting Actor. A soggy remake starring Russell Brand appeared in 2011.

Arthur grossed a hefty $95 million at the box office, so it’s not unreasonable that studio executives figured lightning could strike twice. But the release of Arthur 2: On the Rocks didn’t produce even a spark, earning a paltry $14 million and quickly losing screens to more robust summer ’88 outings like Die Hard and A Fish Called Wanda. In this desultory sequel, Arthur is bilked out of his inherited fortune, placing a strain on his marriage to Linda (Minnelli, even more annoying here than in the original) and forcing him to look for gainful employment. There are a few laughs in the early going, but the movie becomes more desperate as it proceeds — even Gielgud’s Hobson is dragged back from the grave for a cameo appearance (presented as the drunken Arthur’s equivalent of a pink elephant) — and the resolution is woeful.

Arthur: ★★★

Arthur 2: On the Rocks: ★½

HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS (1970) / NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS (1971). The television soap opera Dark Shadows debuted in the summer of 1967, but it wasn’t until its second year that it became a ratings smash. That was entirely due to the addition of Barnabas Collins (played by Jonathan Frid), a vampire who’s released from a chained coffin after 200 years and becomes a regular fixture among the mortals populating the Collinwood estate.

Just as the creators of the campy ’60s TV show Batman elected to release a major motion picture during the height of their program’s popularity, so too did Dark Shadows creator Dan Curtis elect to fashion a theatrical version while his series was still on the air. The resultant film, House of Dark Shadows, largely rehashes story elements already explored in the soap opera, as Barnabas is resurrected, turns groundskeeper Willie Loomis (John Karlen) into his Renfield, lusts after Maggie Evans (Kathryn Leigh Scott), remains wary of the astute Professor T. Eliot Stokes (Thayer David), and hopes that Dr. Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall) delivers on her promise of curing him of his vampirism. The project adds a bit more blood than would be seen on TV, but otherwise, most boob-tube trappings remain intact, including inconsistent acting and an often tedious screenplay.

Dark Shadows was cancelled in the spring of 1971, but that didn’t stop Curtis from going ahead and making a second feature film. Frid was no longer available, so Night of Dark Shadows revolves around another popular character, Quentin Collins (David Selby), and the dangers which transpire when he returns to Collinwood alongside his new bride Tracy (Kate Jackson, a year before she began back-to-back starring stints on the TV hits The Rookies and Charlie’s Angels). Instead of vampires, this one focuses on ghosts, and the result couldn’t be any more dull. This one’s the pits — as far as big-screen Dark Shadows adaptations go, at least the disappointing 2012 Tim Burton-Johnny Depp update (reviewed just this week here) had a pulse.

House of Dark Shadows: ★★

Night of Dark Shadows: ★

MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1961). Based on Jules Verne’s novel but with a healthy dollop of H.G. Wells’ The Food of the Gods thrown in to allow effects maestro Ray Harryhausen to work his mojo, this Civil War-era tale finds a diverse assemblage — three Union soldiers (Michael Craig, Michael Callan, and Dan Jackson), one Confederate grunt (Percy Herbert), a wise-cracking journalist (Gary Merrill, Bette Davis’ All About Eve co-star and, by 1961, her ex-husband), and two proper English ladies (Joan Greenwood and Beth Rogan) — all stranded on an island that turns out to be inhabited by giant bees, a humongous crab, and other oversized threats. This scenario allows Harryhausen to showcase some superb stop-motion animation effects and Bernard Herrmann to add yet another smashing score to his resume. As in the novel, the story’s second half features the addition of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea‘s Captain Nemo, and in the iconic role that’s been played by (among others) James Mason, Patrick Stewart, and Michael Caine, Herbert Lom delivers a thoughtful performance.

Movie: ★★★

REIGN OF FIRE (2002). It’s a futuristic flick, and it has dragons! Director Rob Bowman (The X-Files) and his scripters paint the world of 2020 as Hell on Earth, with hordes of dragons out to kill the few remaining pockets of humans that have managed to avoid the deadly beasts ever since they were awakened from their slumber approximately two decades earlier. One survivor (Christian Bale), a sullen Brit who witnessed the creatures’ resurrection as a 12-year-old lad, figures it’s best to lay low and count on all the dragons perishing through starvation, but his course of action gets waylaid by the maneuverings of a macho American (Matthew McConaughey) who figures he knows a way to violently put an end to the fire-breathing menace. Reign of Fire holds no real surprises in either its plotline or its characters — when a fellow survivor (Gerard Butler) states to Bale’s character, “Look, Quinn, I’m your best friend…,” we can all figure what’s going to happen to him — but as a rush of entertainment on the gritty side, it can’t be faulted, and it’s buoyed by some truly exciting action sequences as well as some of the best dragons ever created for the big screen.

Movie: ★★★