Meryl Streep stars in two films

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Meryl Streep stars in two films

Entertainment

Saturday, 22 May 2010 00:00

Peter Covino
Entertainment Editor
Plus Doctor Zhivago makes a house call with a 45th anniversary edition
I am always a sucker for movies that capture the spirit of an old Rock Hudson and Doris Day film, and It’s Complicated does that quite nicely.
Hudson and Day never got riskier than PG, and there are a few things here that maybe make this Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin outing PG-13, but its actual R rating is questionable.
Streep plays Jane, a mom of three with a very successful Santa Barbara bakery. She is long divorced from husband Jake (Baldwin) but it has always been a reasonable dissolution. Jake remarried long ago to the young woman he was having an affair with, but sparks fly between the once-married couple and soon Jane is the other woman in the relationship.
Things get even more complicated when Martin, who is in charge of the new addition to her home, also becomes romantically involved with Jane.
Writer/director Nancy Meyers keeps things reasonably believable (of course we could only wish we had such a great home and business and kids as Jane) and it is nice to see middle-aged romance portrayed so well on the screen.
Martin is, for the most part, the nerdy “straight” guy who falls head over heels for Streep, while Baldwin is blindly sexually-charged, providing more of the laughs.
It’s Complicated is available in both DVD and Blu-ray formats from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Bonus features include The Making of It’s Complicated and a feature commentary with Meyers, and others from the creative crew.
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There’s more Meryl Streep with the 25th Anniversary Edition of Out of Africa on the new Universal dual-format (Blu-ray/DVD) “Flipper” disc.
If you have been waiting for this now classic film on DVD, the wait is over. This new edition offers you both the choice of Blu-ray and standard DVD, thanks to the dual-format disc. Just turn the Blu-ray disc over and you have a regular DVD for playing in the car or on a portable player.
Out of Africa won seven Academy Awards (including Best Picture) and Robert Redford and Meryl Streep light up the screen as much as the African scenery, but the scenery gets the nod in the Blu-ray version.
Out of Africa is a great period piece (based on the autobiographical book by Karen Blixen, played by Streep in the film.) The film covers about 15 years in the life of Blixen and her relationship with the local big game hunter, played by Redford. Blixen was married to another man during the time period, but that marriage was mostly symbolic paving the way for her more important relationship.
Bonus features include A Song of Africa, an original documentary on the making of the film and feature commentary with director Sidney Pollack.
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One of the classic love stories of the 1960s was David Lean’s film version of Boris Pasternak’s acclaimed novel, Doctor Zhivago.
Doctor Zhivago has been on DVD before, but this is the 45th anniversary edition and the first time on Blu-ray as well.
Starting with the film itself — it looks great on Blu-ray. Not every film needs a Blu-ray version, but Doctor Zhivago, with its grandiose epic scenes (it won an Academy Award for cinematography) is certainly a film made for Blu-ray.
The Russian Revolution, Julie Christie, Omar Shariff, snow in the Russian wilderness and Geraldine Chaplin are just five reasons Dr. Zhivago looks so good on Blu-ray.
The tale, if you someone how missed over it the past 45 years, concerns a young Russian doctor (Shariff), his loving wife (Chaplin) and mistress Lara (Christie). She is the one the familiar theme song is named after. And all of it is set against a backdrop of first World War I and then the Russian Revolution and its aftermath.
This 45th anniversary set (from Warner Home Video) is really the perfect gift for mom for Mother's Day. It includes a color book with 44 pages of essays, cast photos and film facts. There is even a CD with eight selections from the Academy Award winning soundtrack.
There are lots of special features here — one whole disc devoted to bonus material. There is Doctor Zhivago — A Celebration Part 1 and 2; commentary by Omar Shariff, Rod Steiger and Sandra Lean, wife of David Lean; 11 vintage featurettes; and an introduction by Omar Shariff.
The special anniversary edition is also available on standard DVD, but minus some of the bonus features including the music soundtrack.
Doctor Zhivago is also available on video on demand from cable and satellite providers as well as iTunes, Zune, Xbox and Amazon.
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If you are just looking for laugh, many unintentional, by all means get some of the new Irwin Allen titles available at the Warner Archive.
This is that new online service from Warner Bros. that lets you pick and choose among thousands of titles exclusively on-line.
Allen, “the Master of Disaster” was behind the scenes as well as in front of the camera in some pretty good films — The Poseidon Adventure and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea to name a few.
Some of the “new” titles you may not have heard of at www.warnerachive.com include Flood, Fire! and Hanging by a Thread.
These were made-for-television films from the 1970s, and though they can't match the top-notch casts of Irvin's big screen endeavors, they try to make up for using the TV talent of the day. This means you usually see Patty Duke or Bert Convy.
The premise — well the premise is always the same. In Fire!, a convict on work detail starts a brush fire to aid his escape plans and the fire gets out of control, burning homes in a small rural town and killing some of the residents.
In Hanging by a Thread, Bert Convy owns a scene cable car ride and invites his friends for dinner at the top of the mountain where the ride ends. But the lighting strikes the cable and they are stranded in the car. The cable car hangs precariously, and some of the car's occupants do not live to see the end of the movie.
Other Allen titles name available include Cave-in! and The Night the Bridge Fell Down.
Also new from Warner Archives is The Torchy Blane Collection.
I thought I knew movies, but I had never even heard of this “B” movie series from Warner Bros. in the 1930s.
Torchy (Glenda Farrell) was a smart, energetic newswoman who was always one step ahead of the cops (including her boyfriend the police detective) in solving a crime. Farrell stars in seven in the movies Lola Lane and Jane Wyman are featured as Torchy in the last two.
Because this is a series, it is somewhat reminiscent of the modern television cop drama and would certainly fill the same roll for the movie-goer who would have to wait several months between adventurers.
This is the entire Torchy collection, nine movies on five discs for $39.95.
The Warner Archive collection are no frills and made to order. Most single title films are $19.95 or you can select the digital download for your PC instead for just $14.95. Titles are available at www.warnerachive.com.