THE POOP SCOOP: Conclusions, Cuddly Killers & Corruption

🪐DUNE PART TWO Arrives on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray & DVD May 14, and on Digital April 16 from Warner Bros.

Dune: Part Two explores the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a path of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee. Dune: Part Two is directed by three-time Academy Award nominee Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival,” “Blade Runner 2049”) from a screenplay he and Jon Spaihts wrote, based on the seminal bestselling novel of the same name written by Frank Herbert. The expanded all-star international ensemble cast features returning and new stars, including Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet), Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar nominee Josh Brolin, Oscar nominee Austin Butler, Oscar nominee Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Oscar winner Christopher Walken, Léa Seydoux, Souheila Yacoub (“The Braves,” “Climax”), with Stellan Skarsgård, with Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling, and Oscar winner Javier Bardem. On April 16, Dune: Part Two will be available for early Premium Digital Ownership at home for 29.99 and for 48-hour rental via PVOD for $24.99 SRP on participating digital platforms where you purchase or rent movies, including Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Fandango at Home, and more. On May 14, Dune: Part Two will be available to own on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD from online and physical retailers. Dune: Part Two will also continue to be available to own in high definition and standard definition from participating digital retailers.

🧸IMAGINARY will be available on Electronic Sell-Through May 7 and Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital May 14 from Lionsgate.

When Jessica moves back into her childhood home with her family, her youngest stepdaughter, Alice, finds a stuffed bear named Chauncey. As Alice's behavior becomes more and more concerning, Jessica intervenes only to realize that Chauncey is much more than the stuffed toy bear she believed him to be. Keep your new best friend forever when IMAGINARY arrives on Electronic Sell-Through May 7 and Blu-ray (+ DVD and Digital), and DVD from Lionsgate. IMAGINARY stars Chauncey the Bear, Blumhouse’s latest horror icon, now ready to play in your imagination at home! But remember, Chauncey is not imaginary, and not your friend. Alongside Chauncey are his human castmates DeWanda Wise (Jurassic World Dominion), Tom Payne (“The Walking Dead”), Taegen Burns (“The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers”), Pyper Braun (Desperation Road), Betty Buckley (Carrie), Matthew Sato (“High School Musical: The Musical: The Series”), and Veronica Falcón (“Ozark”).

😺CHINATOWN (plus THE TWO JAKES!) Celebrates 50th Anniversary With New Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD Release on June 18 from Paramount.

The haunting noir classic CHINATOWN celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and Paramount is marking the occasion with a Limited-Edition 4K Ultra HD release on June 18, 2024. Produced by the legendary Robert Evans, CHINATOWN was originally released on June 26, 1974 and received widespread critical acclaim along with 11 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. Robert Towne’s brilliant Academy Award-winning screenplay weaves a tragic and shocking tale of corruption, greed, and the human propensity for evil.  Powerhouse performances by Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway and John Huston, a riveting story inspired by real events, vivid imagery, and a stirring score combine to make an unforgettable film that is essential for every cinephile’s collection. The Limited-Edition Paramount Presents release includes the restored film on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc for the first time ever. In addition, this release includes extensive new and legacy bonus content, access to a Digital copy of the film, and a bonus Blu-ray with the 1990 sequel The Two Jakes, directed by and starring Jack Nicholson and written by Robert Towne.

😺NIGHT FALLS ON MANHATTAN on Blu-ray May 7 from Arrow Video.

On May 7th, Arrow Video will release the crime thriller Night Falls On Manhattan from director Sidney Lumet, who brings his gritty realism to this adaptation of former NYPD officer Robert Daley’s novel. Assistant DA Sean Casey (Andy Garcia) is assigned to prosecute a drug dealer whose case has deep ties to his family. As the young attorney uncovers the truth about the arrest, his career, family, and life are threatened. The Limited Edition Blu-ray features an all-star cast that includes Academy Award® nominees Richard Dreyfuss, Ian Holm, and Lena Olin, as well as James Gandolfini, Vincent Pastore, Frank Vincent, Bobby Cannavale, and Ron Liebman.The special features include two audio commentaries; a documentary about the director; on-set interviews with cast and crew; behind the scenes footage; trailers and TV spots.

THE CONTENDER: The White House Has A Bowling Alley?

THE CONTENDER (Blu-ray)

2000 / 125 min

FROM ALLIED VAUGHN

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Mr. Bonnie😺

Allow me to recap my favorite scene from The Contender…

President Jackson Evans (Jeff Bridges) must select a new vice president because the previous one just died. He passes on the most popular choice, Jack Hathaway (William Petersen), who just made heroic headlines by attempting to rescue a woman trapped in a submerged car. He prefers Laine Billings (Joan Allen), a woman senator.

When Laine and her husband arrive in Washington for a meeting, the President happens to be rolling a few frames in the White House bowling alley. 

First of all, I didn’t know the White House even had a bowling alley. Second…is this scene intended as an homage to Bridges and his greatest role, The Dude in The Big Lebowski? Probably not, but I like to think so. It’s also kinda fun to imagine this is ultimately what became of The Dude once those pesky George H.W. Bush years were over.

The president abides.

Anyway, Bridges is the best part of the movie, which is about the opposition Laine faces from congress during the approval hearings led by conniving Republican chairman Sheldon Runyon (Gary Oldman). With help from ambitious young senator Reginald Webster (Christian Slater), Runyon digs up dirt on Laine from her wild college days and leaks it to the media during the hearings. Riding his moral high horse, which includes condemning her stance on abortion rights, Runyon’s true agenda is clearing the way for Hathaway to be selected.

Overall, The Contender tells an interesting story and features a lot of excellent performances. Both Bridges & Allen were nominated for Oscars, but Sam Elliott as Chief-of-Staff Kermit Newman is just as noteworthy. And what more can be said about Oldman? He’s deliciously hateful here as a (very) thinly veiled example of the agenda-driven Republicans we regularly see on TV, tearing apart rivals over personal indiscretions that have nothing to do with one’s actual job performance.

In fact, we’ve seen a lot of this stuff play itself out in the real world. It’s no accident this film was released amidst a similar White House scandal and the trivial hearings related to it. Not a hell of a lot has changed in Washington or the media since then. Some could argue it's even worse.  Thus, The Contender may not seem quite as provocative as it did 24 years ago, playing more like a summative analysis than cautionary commentary. Still, it’s an entertaining film with one shocking revelation: There’s a bowling alley in the White House. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

TRAILER

DRIVING MADELEINE: Bring Some Tissue

DRIVING MADELEINE (Blu-ray)

2022 / 90 min

FROM COHEN MEDIA GROUP 

Review by Stinky the Destroyer😹

In some ways, the Belgian film, Driving Madeleine, is what I first expected. In others, I was thrown for a loop by a few of the narrative turns. Either way, one of this disc’s bonus features should be a box of tissues. By the end of this thing, I was in tears (which doesn’t happen often). Hell, I was damn close to ugly crying.

The basic plot is fairly straightforward. Middle-aged, financially struggling cab driver Charles (Dany Boon) is hired to take a passenger to the other side of Paris…a lengthy distance, but a potentially lucrative fare. The customer is Madeleine (Line Renaud), a 92 year old woman being forced to move into a nursing home. In no real hurry, she requests a few stops at places she recalls from her past - including the old neighborhood - while opening up about the pivotal moments in her life. To his surprise, she’s also genuinely interested in his life.

Initially, Charles doesn’t care about her stories and is reluctant to open up to her. But as the journey continues, Madeleine is increasingly candid about her tumultuous past. Depicted through artfully conceived flashbacks, the love of her life was an American GI she met near the end of World War II, with whom she had a son. However, once he shipped back home, she never saw him again. She later ended up in an extremely abusive marriage with violent drunk Ray. Since abuse wasn’t grounds for divorce back then, her gruesome solution to the problem, while justifiable (and potentially audience pleasing), alters the trajectory of her life and relationship with her son.

Looks like Charles will be putting in some overtime cleaning ice cream off his upholstery.

During the cab ride, Charles and Madeleine form a friendship that’s frequently charming, funny and ultimately heartwarming. Through much of Driving Madeleine, I could kinda tell where the narrative was heading. But by the third act, I was so invested in these two characters that part of me was really happy it did play out as predicted, because the emotional payoff is huge. However, this isn’t just a French Driving Miss Daisy. There are jarring tonal shifts between their conversations in the car and the increasingly harrowing flashbacks, the latter of which contributing greatly to our admiration of Madeleine, as well as a few personal epiphanies experienced by Charles.

By the time the end credits rolled, I was emotionally exhausted. But it was the good kind of exhaustion. Driving Madeleine takes the viewer on an entertaining - often revealing - personal journey of two wonderfully realized characters. With a perceptive screenplay, fluid direction by Christian Carion and affecting performances (including Alice Isaaz as young Madeleine), this is the best disc I’ve reviewed so far this year.

EXTRA KIBBLES

INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR CHRISTIAN CARION - An enjoyable Zoom-type interview. Surprisingly, Carion reveals one of his inspirations while making this film was Steven Spieberg’s Duel.

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SHADOW MAGIC: More Heartfelt Than Historical

SHADOW MAGIC (Blu-ray)

2001 / 116 min

FROM SONY

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Pepper the Poopy😺

Released in 2001, Shadow Magic makes few claims of historical accuracy. However, some of the characters are based on real people who were key figures in the making of what’s widely considered China’s first film…way back in 1905. 

Taking place a few years before that, Liu Jinglun (Xia Yu) is a young photographer who’s fascinated by western technology, to the chagrin of his boss, Master Ren (Liu Perqi), and father (Jingming Wang), both of whom are Chinese traditionalists. When enterprising Englishman Raymond Wallace (Jared Harris) arrives with moving picture cameras and projectors, Liu is intrigued. Others, including snobbish opera star Tan Linmei (Li Yuheng), are dismissive of this ‘shadow magic,’ thinking it will ever catch on.

Tan is wrong, of course. When Liu and Wallace partner up and open a little movie house, the locals show up in droves, entranced by what they see. However, not only do a few incidents hamper their success, Liu is eventually ostracized by others for abandoning traditions and defying his father, the latter of which is exacerbated by his refusal to marry a rich widow (at Dad's behest) because he’s in love with Tan’s daughter (Xing Yufei).

"Our new movie needs dinosaurs...go wrangle a few."

Despite the historical context, much of the film covers familiar narrative ground. While well done and often interesting, the emotional heart of the story is the relationship between Liu and Wallace, which grows into a close friendship that contributes greatly to the affecting climax & denouement. Elsewhere, the sequences depicting filmmaking in its infancy - as well as its presentation - are fascinating.

Though leisurely paced and maybe a little overlong, Shadow Magic boasts a charming story with two likable main characters, both earnestly portrayed by Yu and Harris. And while film may not exactly be a history lesson, the attention to period detail related to movie making certainly feels authentic. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By director Ann Hu

TRAILER

Revisiting WITNESS

WITNESS (Blu-ray)

1985 / 113 min

FROM PARAMOUNT

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Stinky the Destroyer😺

Considering Witness was just recently restored and released by Arrow Video on Blu-ray & 4K, both loaded with supplemental material, it seems odd to be getting a Paramount reissue of a previous bare-bones edition. On the other hand, if all you care about is the movie without bells & whistles, this one's a little easier on the wallet.

For those too young to recall, Witness was a huge hit in the ‘80s and arguably the first movie where Harrison Ford was taken seriously as an actor. He even earned an Oscar nod for his performance as Philadelphia detective John Book, tasked with protecting an Amish boy who witnesses the murder of an undercover cop. Surrounded by corruption in his own department, Book, the boy and his mother, Rachel (Kelly McGillis), go into hiding in the family’s village, where he learns the Amish ways to fit in.

The best kittens are Free Kittens.

Ford’s still a lot more fun when punching Nazis or running from Tommy Lee Jones, but he’s certainly the best part of this film. Storywise, we’ve seen a lot of it before…the fish-out-of-water story, the cop who falls in love with his witness, etc. But Ford’s performance keeps it interesting, probably because we hadn’t seen him in a role like this before. At the very least, he’s more engaging than catatonic co-star McGillis.

Behind the camera, Peter Weir brings visual freshness to all the familiarity and keeps the story moving along efficiently. While not his best film, Witness was the one that elevated him from respected Australian director to Hollywood A-lister. Elsewhere, one of the fun things about revisiting old films is catching now-famous actors in small early roles. In this case, look for Danny Glover as a corrupt killer cop and Viggo Mortensen in his film debut as one of the Amish.

Overall, Witness has aged pretty well for a nearly 40-year-old movie, with only Maurice Jarre’s atypically terrible score serving as a reminder of the decade in which it was released. The film walks a familiar narrative path, but did give Harrison Ford the chance to try something different at the time, and he made to most of it.

THE COLOR PURPLE: Not Quite a Remake

THE COLOR PURPLE (Blu-ray)

2023 / 141 min

FROM WARNER BROS / #InPartnershipwithWB

Review by Pepper the Poopie😺

From a certain perspective, The Color Purple is a historical first. Until now, no other Steven Spielberg-directed movie has ever been remade. I suppose it was just a matter of time and I’m actually surprised it hasn’t already happened.

But one could easily argue that the film isn't really a remake. Sure, the characters and story are more-or-less the same, but this is primarily an adaptation of the 2005 stage musical that had a couple of lengthy Broadway runs over the years. Still, I suppose some comparisons are inevitable. 

I gotta say I found Fantasia Barrino much more appealing as Celie than Whoopi Goldberg was, and even then, both Danielle Brooks (as Celeie’s feisty friend, Sofia) and my secret crush Taraji P. Henson (as sultry singer Shug Avery) manage to steal a few scenes for themselves. Like in the original, this trio is the crux of the story, forming a bond over the years as Celie grows to become independent of her abusive husband, Mister (Colman Domingo).

With the color purple comes allergies.

While the performances are earnest and exuberant, the characters aren’t as complex as their 1985 counterparts (a few border on being caricatures). The same could be said about the story. The novel’s themes are still present, but a lot of the film takes a back seat to the musical sequences, some which are genuine showstoppers. Standout numbers include Sofia’s sassy “Hell, No!” and Shug’s playful “Push Da Button.” I also appreciated Celie and Shug’s charming, fantasy tinged “What About Love?”, which includes imaginative production design.

Considering the amount of down time between musical numbers and our anticipation of some good ol’ fashioned karma being dished out, The Color Purple is a little too long for its own good. But despite a bit of overall aloofness, the film is ultimately rewarding and a solid musical adaptation of a classic novel. And I guess if you had to rework a Spielberg movie, better this than Jaws.

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - Creating The Color Purple: A Bold New Take on a Beloved Classic; Hell, Yes! - The Iconic Characters of The Color Purple; A Story for Me: The Legacy of The Color Purple. Each of these run 6-7 minutes.

MUSICAL MOMENTS - This lets you skip straight to the musical numbers.

DIGITAL COPY

Revisiting CONTAGION In 4K (And Hindsight)

CONTAGION (4K UHD)

2011 / 106 min

FROM WARNER BROS. / #InPartnershipwithWB

Review by Mr. Bonnie😻

If life does indeed imitate art, at least we aren’t yet talking about Deep Impact.

I must have seen Contagion a half-dozen times, but it was only while doing this review that I noticed this cryptic message during the end credits: “It’s not IF, but WHEN,” along with a web link that apparently offered more info. That link doesn’t work anymore, but considering all that’s transpired since 2011, maybe it should.

Oh, Contagion…how prophetic you turned out to be.

Now that we’ve actually lived it, watching the film today is an interesting experience. It’s clear that screenwriter Scott Z. Burns didn’t cook this story from scratch. For a movie once simply intended as cautionary entertainment, its jargon, scientific accuracy and narrative eventually played itself out in the real world, albeit with less apocalyptic implications (being a disaster film at heart, Contagion naturally presents a worse-case scenario). This movie was serving-up terms like ‘novel’ and ‘social distancing’ before most of us even knew what they were.

Unlike The Andromeda Strain’s sci-fi trappings and Dustin Hoffman’s action heroics in Outbreak, what makes Contagion especially unnerving (now historically relevant) is its grounding in reality. With no main protagonist (like most of Steven Soderbergh’s best work), it chronicles the rapid spread of a lethal virus – labeled MEV-1 - from the perspectives of specialists, doctors from the CDC, victims and everyday folks subjected to quarantine. We see the breakdown of services we usually take for granted, mass graves, false information spread by conspiracy theorists and the overall fragility of our society.

When you show up late on Coupon Day.

But despite the terrifying scenario, ruthless proliferation of the virus and staggering body count, Contagion is ultimately an optimistic film. The authorities know what they’re doing, methodically attacking the pandemic with all the resources at their disposal without dealing with petty politics (too bad that didn’t happen in real life). And the one character who does exacerbate the problem, touting conspiracy theories and fake cures, ultimately faces consequences for his recklessness. That never really happened in real life, either.

While some of the dimmer bulbs and COVID deniers of the world will still view it as science-fiction, Contagion remains one of the greatest  - and scariest - disaster movies ever made. Due to the large ensemble cast, it’s a little light on character dynamics, but the pace, plausibility and urgent tone keep it compelling (punctuated by Cliff Martinez’ propulsive score). 

For its 4K UHD release, Contagion gets an excellent video upgrade, which nicely preserves Soderbergh’s intentionally muted color palette. The audio is identical to the Blu-ray, which is fine for such a dialogue-heavy movie. It still sounds good, especially during the outdoor and crowd sequences. Unfortunately, no new bonus features are included. Considering how prophetic the film turned out to be, one would think a retrospective “I told you so” documentary would be amusing.

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - The Reality of Contagion; The Contagion Detectives; Contagion: How a Virus Changes the World. Like the film, watching these in insight puts a different perspective on them.

DIGITAL COPY