DVD Talk reviews for Wednesday, January 16th, 2019
01-17-19, 03:00 AM
Mr. Capra Goes to War: Frank Capra's World War II Documentaries (Blu-ray)
<small>by DVD Savant</small><hr />Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
In terms of importance to American film history, Mr. Capra Goes to War: Frank Capra's World War II Documentaries is the most important compilation disc of the year. Olive has formatted five major wartime documentary/propaganda/orientation films into a package that explains the famous film director Frank Capra's considerable contribution to the war effort. Arguably the most successful director of the 1930s, Capra was also a fervid patriot, a ready volunteer to make films for the government, the Army, etc.. George Marshall and even President Roosevelt recognized that Capra was Hollywood's number one 'communicator' to the public at large.
Capra served as a chief administrator for an entire category of informational films, while concentrating on a series called Why We Fight intended to teach soldiers the natur...Read the entire review »
Time Freak Writer/Director Interview
<small>by Neil Lumbard</small><hr />
Andrew Bowler, Academy Award nominated filmmaker and writer-director of Time Freak, sat down with DVD Talk writer and film critic Neil Lumbard to discuss his latest feature film effort: the zany, romantic, and comedic science fiction extravaganza called Time Freak (starring X-Men: Dark Phoenix actress Sophie Turner and Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children star Asa Butterfield). With a discussion ranging from the origins of the story to discussing the essential question of "what's the best time travel film of all time?" this DVD Talk interview is an insight into filmmaker Bowler's vision and drive as a creative individual.
<p ...Read the entire review »
Operation Finale (Blu-ray)
<small>by Neil Lumbard</small><hr /><html><head> <meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type"> <title>Operation Finale Blu-ray Review</title></head><body>
OperationFinale is a gripping drama-thriller executive produced by RonSchmidt (Foxcatcher, Letters to Juliet)and MattCharman (Oasis). The film is based on an incredibletruestory. Directed by Chris Weitz (About a Boy), OperationFinale is an edge-of-your-seat historical thriller w...Read the entire review »
Adventure Time: The Final Seasons
<small>by Nick Hartel</small><hr />It would be impossible to make an argument against the case of "Adventure Time" being a cultural phenomenon. Launched in 2010 from Cartoon Network, the series was the brainchild of Pendleton Ward who served as storyline writer for eight of the series' 10 seasons amongst other credits. Over nearly a decade since the Finn the Human (voiced by Jeremy Shada) and Jake the Dog (voiced by voice acting legend John DiMaggio) treated viewers to a whimsical, irreverent and wholly original adventure in the debut episode "Slumber Party Panic", the series has gone on to spawn countless off-shoots. Numerous video games that captured the spirit of the show even when some were plagued by rote gameplay, multiple comic lines, and entire games spawned from the series' unique parody of pop culture have captured the imagination (as well as wallets) of fans, both fanatical and causal alike. However, as the old adage g...Read the entire review »
<small>by Neil Lumbard</small><hr />
M. Night Shyamalan returns to write and direct the conclusion to the Unbreakable trilogy he started to make 19 years ago. The original Unbrea...Read the entire review »
<small>by Olie Coen</small><hr />
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Bruce Willis, James McAvoy, Samuel L. Jackson
Year: 2018I was surprised when, at the end of Split (which you need to see before watching Glass, so please don't read on if you haven't; I won't spoil Glass but Split is fair game), it was revealed that the story was connected to Unbreakable and that Shyamalan was creating a world, a universe, not just giving us another taste of his predictable unpredictability. I didn't see that coming, and although I always try not to guess his twists, because where's the fun in that, this reveal caught me more off guard than any before, since I simply wasn't looking in that direction at all. Split was a return for th...Read the entire review »
