Digital Release Date: July 4, 2016, Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: July 5, 2016 Price: DVD $36.60, Blu-ray $65.99 Studio: Sony
Power plays, sex and greed motivate some of Washington’s most powerful decision-makers in the political drama TV series House of Cards: Season 4, starring Kevin Spacey (Horrible Bosses) and Robin Wright (The Private Lives of Pippa Lee).
Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright get political in House of Cards
Big changes are afoot in Season 4. They’ve always been a great team, Frank (Kevin Spacey) and Claire (Robin Wright) become even greater adversaries as their marriage stumbles and their ambitions are at odds.
An adaptation of the 1990 BBC television miniseries of the same name, House of Cards is a NetFlix Original Series that premiered exclusively on Netflix’s web streaming service several months back.
All 13 episodes of the show will be available on four-disc Blu-ray and four-disc DVD sets.
Digital Release Date: June 29, 2015, Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: July 7, 2015 Price: DVD $55.99, Blu-ray $65.99 Studio: Sony
Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright get political in House of Cards
Power plays, sex and greed motivate some of Washington’s most powerful decision-makers in the political drama TV series House of Cards: Season 3, starring Kevin Spacey (Horrible Bosses) and Robin Wright (The Private Lives of Pippa Lee).
In Season 3, President Frank Underwood (Spacey) fights to secure his legacy and his wife Claire (Wright) wants more than being the First Lady. The biggest threat they face is contending with each other.
An adaptation of the 1990 BBC television miniseries of the same name, House of Cards is an NetFlix Original Series that premiered exclusively on Netflix’s web streaming service several months back.
All 13 episodes of the show will be available on a four-disc Blu-ray and four-disc DVD set featuring the kind of razzle-dazzle packaging that’s usually associated with co-producer David Fincher’s projects.
The Blu-ray and DVD editions contain the following bonus features:
“Backstage Politics: On the Set of House of Cards” – An extensive behind-the-scenes look into the creation of House of Cards, Season 3.
· “A Death in New Mexico” – A featurette that chronicles the surprising Chapter 39 (Blu-ray only)
House of Cards tells the story of Frank Underwood (Spacey), a ruthless and cunning Democratic Congressman from South Carolina who, after getting passed over for promotion to Secretary of State, decides to exact his revenge on those who betrayed him. Wright portrays his wife, Claire, who’s equally determined to get her husband ahead in the political game.
An adaptation of the 1990 BBC television miniseries of the same name, House of Cards is a NetFlix Original Series that premiered exclusively on Netflix’s web streaming service in February, 2013 to generally positive reviews.
All 13 episodes of the show will be available on a four-disc Blu-ray and four-disc DVD set featuring the kind of razzle-dazzle packaging that’s usually associated with David Fincher’s projects.
No bonus features have been announced for the discs.
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: July 24, 2012 Price: DVD $39.98, Blu-ray $39.97 Studio: Lionsgate
Kelsey Grammer is Chicago mayor Tom Kane in Boss.
Kelsey Grammer (Middle Men) is Tom Kane, the ruthless mayor of Chicago, in the 2011 Starz cable channel political drama television series Boss: Season One.
When we’re first introduced to Mayor Tom Kane, he rules his domain with an iron fist. Deception, scandal and betrayal go hand in hand with Kane’s form of politics. As long as he gets the job done, the people of Chicago look the other way. Despite being the most effective mayor in recent history, Kane is hiding a dark secret: a degenerative brain disorder that’s messing with his mind so that he is can’t trust his memory, his closest allies or even himself.
Created by Farhad Safinia (writer of 2006’s Apocalypto), Boss: Season One also stars Connie Nielsen (TV’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Hannah Ware (Shame), Jeff Hephner (TV’s The O.C.) and Kathleen Robertson (TV’s Beverly Hills 90210).
Boss: Season One premiered on Starz in October, 2011 to very positive reviews from critics and viewers, which helped yield a Golden Globe Award for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series” for Kelsey Grammer. The show itself was also nominated for a “Golden Globe for Best Drama – Television Series.”
The hotly anticipated second season of the TV show premieres in August, 2012, several weeks after the DVD and Blu-ray for Season One hit the streets.
The DVD and Blu-ray contain the following bonus features:
Audio commentaries with “Boss” executive producer Farhad Safinia, director of photography Kasper Tuxen and executive producer Richard Levine.
“The Mayor and His Maker” with Kelsey Grammer and Farhad Safinia featurette
STUDIO: Sony | DIRECTOR: George Clooney | CAST: George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood BLU-RAY & DVD RELEASE DATE: 1/17/2012 | PRICE: DVD $30.99, Blu-ray $35.99 BONUSES: commentary, featurettes SPECS: R | 101 min. | Political thriller | 2.40:1 aspect ratio | 5.1 DTS-HD audio | English, Spanish subtitles
RATINGS (out of 5 dishes): Movie | Audio | Video | Overall
Nominated for four Golden Globe awards, The Ides of March features a good cast exploring the dirty side of politics.
Clooney ably plays Governor Mike Morris, a Presidential candidate who has the potential to really make a difference if he makes it to the White House. Set in the time leading up to the pivotal Ohio primary, the movie follows Morris’ campaign workers, mostly Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling), who believes the work he’s doing will help change the world.
After meeting with the campaign manager (Paul Giamatti) of the opposing candidate, Meyers tumbles into problem after problem until the levels of deviousness on the both sides are revealed. There are no nice guys in this story, from Meyers who feels it’s fine for him to have an affair with an intern but not his candidate, to Meyers’ boss (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who will happily ruin a man’s career if it makes a move look better in the press, and even to the political reporter (Marisa Tomei) who doesn’t mind a little blackmail if it’ll get her a scoop.
All the movie’s actors do a fine job, and Clooney’s direction is precise and keeps the tension high.
The original play on which the movie is based, Farragut North, doesn’t feature the candidate and instead focuses specifically on the background antics — many illegal — of the people running the campaign. For the film, Clooney and producer Grant Heslov wanted to “up the stakes,” as they say in the Blu-ray featurette “Developing the Campaign: The Origin of The Ides of March.” So they brought in the candidate and made him the immoral center of the story.
That move gives the film a very different feel. Sure, it’s still the dirty side of politics, but a Presidential candidate who’s not a saint? That’s nothing new. And with the focus on his actions, the scandalous dealings of the campaign managers is pushed to the back-burner.
While “Developing the Campaign” is an interesting looking at the background of the film and how it evolved from the play, another featurette on the Blu-ray, “George Clooney: Believe” is great for Clooney fans, just skip over all the “he’s such a genius” parts by actors at the beginning. About halfway through the six-minute piece, we see footage of Clooney joking around behind the camera as he directs the film, which is fun, but the rest plays like a Vote For Clooney campaign ad.
Perhaps the most interesting featurette if you’re interested in the behind-the-scenes workings of politics is “What Does a Political Consultant Do?,” which features political consultant Stuart Stevens talking about how closely the film mirrors real life campaigns.
The movie’s casting in discussed in the brief piece “On the Campaign: The Cast of The Ides of March,” and the only other special feature on the Blu-ray is a commentary with Clooney and Heslov. They are comfortable and Clooney is funny in the track, offering behind-the-scenes stories and pointing out the shots featuring various members of Clooney’s family. It’s an interesting listen.
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: March 20, 2012 Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.95 Studio: Criterion
James Carville campaigns in The War Room.
Directed by renowned cinema verité filmmakers D. A. Pennebaker (Monterey Pop) and Chris Hegedus (Kings of Pastry), the 1993 documentary film The War Room focuses on Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign.
The 1992 presidential election was a triumph not only for Clinton but also for the new breed of strategists who guided him to the White House and changed the face of politics in the process. In their behind-closed-doors account of the campaign, Pennebaker and Hegedus follow the brainstorming and bull sessions of Clinton’s crack team of consultants — especially the folksy James Carville and the preppy George Stephanopoulos, who became media stars in their own right as they injected a fresh spirit and spontaneity into the process of campaigning.
Criterion’s DVD and Blu-ray editions of the acclaimed movie are highlighted by a restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by the directors, with a 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition.
The DVD and Blu-ray contain the following special features:
Return of the War Room, a 2008 documentary in which advisers James Carville, George Stephanopoulos and Paul Begala and others reflect on the effect the Clinton war room had on the way campaigns are run
Making “The War Room,” a conversation between the filmmakers about the difficulties of shooting in the campaign’s fast-paced environment
panel discussion hosted by the William J. Clinton Foundation and featuring Carville, Clinton adviser Vernon Jordan, journalist Ron Brownstein and surprise guest Bill Clinton
interview with strategist Stanley Greenberg on the increasing importance of polling
Based on the play Farragut North, the political thriller stars Clooney as Governor Mike Morris, a wild card presidential candidate whose groundbreaking ideas could change the political landscape. When a brutal Ohio primary threatens to test Morris’ integrity, a down-and-dirty battle begins with idealistic campaign worker Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling, Drive) in the middle. Meyers gets caught in a scandal, and the only way to survive is to play both sides.
The Ides of March was co-written by Grant Heslov, who also collaborated with Clooney on Good Night, Good Luck, and Beau Willimon, the writer of the play on which the film is based.
The movie grossed $39 million when it was in theaters, but the film scored with both critics and audiences.
Charlie McCollum, critic with the San Jose Mercury News, said The Ides of March “is intelligent filmmaking, and a provocative moral fable. It may not be perfect, but it stands as one of the better, most realistic movies about the way we elect our leaders.”
Sounds good to us.
Sony packed the Blu-ray with special features:
commentary with Clooney and Heslov
featurette “Developing the Campaign: The Origin of The Ides of March“
featurette “Believe: George Clooney”
featurette “On the Campaign: The Cast of The Ides of March“
and featurette “What Does a Political Consultant Do?”
The DVD includes just these extras:
commentary with Clooney and Heslov
featurette “Believe: George Clooney”
featurette “On the Campaign: The Cast of The Ides of March“
Judging by the trailer, the movie’s a must-watch. Here it is:
STUDIO: Asylum/Muse Distribution | DIRECTOR: Jon Cassar | CAST: Greg Kinnear, Katie Holmes, Barry Pepper, Tom Wilkinson, Diana Hardcastle RELEASE DATE: 5/15/11 | PRICE: DVD $29.99 BONUSES: featurette SPECS: NR | 375 min. | TV miniseries | 1.33:1 widescreen | Dolby Digital | English subtitles
RATINGS (out of 5): Movie | Audio | Video | Overall
Katie Holmes and Greg Kinnear are Jackie and JFK in The Kennedys.
After all the controversy surrounding the miniseries The Kennedys, including The History Channel backing out of broadcasting the program in January, the show was aired on premium cable TV’s ReelzChannel in April to an estimated audience of 5 million. Now it’s available on DVD ( exclusively at www.shoptheshows.com), and all viewers can see if they agree with the criticism’s of its production.
Many may be surprised to see that The Kennedys is a solid, smart and entertaining piece of television. The miniseries divides its time among the family’s most well-known members and covers some 60 years, beginning with Joseph Kennedy’s (Tom Wilkinson, The Ghost Writer) appointment as an ambassador to the U.K.; moving through Jack Kennedy’s (Greg Kinnear, Green Zone) rise in politics, marriage to Jacqueline Bouvier (Katie Holmes, The Romantics), short presidency and assassination; and ending with the killing of Bobby Kennedy (Barry Pepper, Casino Jack) in Chicago.
I’m not here to talk about the truths and lies and exaggerations that can be endlessy debated about The Kennedys’ content, but I can offer that, as a miniseries, the show moves along splendidly, carefully balancing between the principal characters and, even better, giving a good amount of attention to all matters pertaining to the titular family, be they personal, public and political. It actually reminded me of those sweeping miniseries from the late 1970s and 1980s — and I mean that in a good way.
As for the cast, Greg Kinnear and Tom Wilkinson are outstanding as JFK and Joe Kennedy. Kinnear, in particular, offers a fine, subtlely mannered take on Jack — more than just the accent and walk, but rather a gentle, emotional portrayal that hints at what might have lurked behind the confident eyes of a man who was thrust into public life by his father (if we’re to go along with what the series proposes). Barry Pepper is fine as Bobby, and Katie Holmes … well, she gets the job done and bears a strong enough physical resemblance to Jackie that it clicks.
The one bonus feature on the DVD, the 45-minute making of documentary The Kennedys: From Story to Film produced and directed by Betty Palik, fulfills its soup-to-nuts requirements, delving into the show’s inception, researching, scripting, production, costumes, makeup and so on.
In the doc, producer Joel Surnow, best known as the guy behind TV’s 24 and La Femme Nikita, offers a perfect comment on what inspired him to pursue The Kennedys:
“When you look at a checklist of all the things you look for when you start a drama, this is a 10 out of 10 checklist,” he says. “Ambition, jealousy, betrayal, tragedy — the list goes on, and you’ll find it in the Kennedy family.”
A drama centered on an orphaned Palestinian girl (Pinto) growing up in the wake of Arab-Israeli war who finds herself drawn into the conflict, the 2010 movie was written by Israeli journalist Rula Jebreal (Schnabel’s girlfriend) and based on her 2010 novel of the same name.
The Arab-Israeli subject is always a controversial one, and Miral didn’t arrive in the theaters in late March 2011 for its limited U.S. release without making some noise of its own. Initially rated R by the MPAA for “some violent content including a sexual assault,” it was later reclassified to PG-13 for “thematic material, and some violent content including a sexual assault” after an appeal of the R rating by the theatrical distributors The Weinstein Company.
More notable — and sad — is that on April 4, a week after the film’s U.S. premiere, actor and peace activist Juliano Merr-Khamis, who plays Seikh Saabah in the film, was shot to death in his car outside a theater he had established in a Palestinian refugee camp.
The Blu-ray and DVD carry the list prices of $39.98 and $29.98, respectively.
STUDIO: Summit | DIRECTOR: Doug Liman | CAST: Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Michael Kelly, Jessica Hecht, Brooke Smith, Noah Emmerich, Sam Shepherd RELEASE DATE: 3/29/2011 | PRICE:DVD $22.99, Blu-ray $30.49 BONUSES: commentary SPECS: PG-13 | 108 min. | Thriller | 2.39:1 widescreen | Dolby Digital 5.1; DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 | English and Spanish subtitles
RATINGS (out of 5): Movie | Audio | Video | Overall
Sean Penn and Naomi Watts get political in Fair Game.
Fair Game is based on the real-life experiences of CIA operative Valerie Plame-Wilson (Naomi Watts, Mother and Child), whose undercover status as an agent working on the detection of WMDs in pre-war Iraq was compromised by White House leaks, leaving her international contacts vulnerable and her life and career in shambles.
The film is based on two memoirs, the titular one written by Plame-Wilson and another penned by her husband Joe Wilson (Sean Penn, Carlito’s Way), a retired ambassador whose editorial in The New York Times challenging the basis for the Iraq War was the spark that ignited what was to become known as “Plame-Gate.”
Placing the politics and issues on the side, Fair Game itself is a fine contemporary, political thriller — actually, more of a mystery than it is a thriller, as the film is most effective when it examines how the government’s secret maneuverings and power plays are conducted beneath the public’s radar. The “thrills” are generated when the cat is let out of the bag, but until then, it’s all a shadowy sort of mystery.
Watts and Penn are excellent as the seemingly hard-working and dedicated political couple whose lives and futures are undermined after doing what they thought was their job. Director Doug Liman (Jumper) uses his trademark fast-cutting, jittery camera approach liberally, never letting the style overwhelm the content, which involves lots of globe-hopping, fact-assembling and political/procedural talk. It’s a smart move on the filmmaker’s part, as the stakes seem just a little more serious and realistic this time around, as opposed to Matt Damon kicking ass in Liman’s The Bourne Identity or Sarah Polley (Splice) selling Extasy at a rave in his Go.
The Fair Game Blu-ray’s sole bonus feature is a fine one: a commentary track by Plame-Wilson and Wilson. The pair make for a soft-spoken but informative presence, commenting on the film’s style and its concessions to narrative story-telling versus the hard facts (or so we’re led to believe) of Valerie’s story. So, there are times when the Wilsons are talking about sets, editing, casting, locations and other filmic topics, and other moments when the commentary leans toward political thought and event clarification. Added together, it makes for a very engaging and different kind of commentary. And it sure beats listening to a bunch of actors slapping each others’ backs for an hour-and-a-half.
For her part, Plame is a lucid, well-spoken commentator who approaches the gig with professional aplomb and measured tones. (“I love the sultry voice,” her husband says, at one point). Early on, she describes watching her life flashing by on the screen as a “surreal” experience, which is not surprising. She saves some meatier comments for the latter parts of the film. “I grew up in a Republican family when the Republican party had a whole different meaning that it does today,” Plame remarks halfway into the film. Respect her or not, the lady’s certainly got a point there.
DVD | Blu-ray
All 13 episodes of the show will be available on a four-disc Blu-ray and four-disc DVD set featuring the kind of razzle-dazzle packaging that’s usually associated with co-producer David Fincher’s projects.
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