Another week of diversity on Blu-ray, from thriller to cult camp comedy to a Monty Python stage spin-off to a collection of animated shorts:
1.) Shutter Island (Paramount, $30.95) is a very compelling psychological suspense drama from Martin Scorsese once again starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a U.S. Marshall of the 1950s tormented by memories of his part in the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp and the subsequent murder of his wife as he investigates a mysterious missing inmate from an island hospital for the criminally insane.
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— DiCaprio’s strong performance keeps you engaged in the complex and slowly-unfolding story.
— Strong supporting cast includes Sir Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, and Mark Ruffalo.
— Two interesting featurettes on evolution of movie from book to screen and a historical look at psychiatric therapies of the 1950s.
2.) “Caddyshack” (Warner, $24.98) continues to mystify me as to why it is considered such a comedy classic, but since it has that standing, this HiDef version gets a strong recommendation to those who love it.
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— Enjoyable new 90-minute Bio channel “Inside Story” retrospective despite no interviews with stars Chevy Chase or Bill Murray.
— Good 37-minute “19th Hole” retrospective from previous DVD.
3.) Not the Messiah (He’s a Very Naughty Boy) (Sony, $30.95) is Eric Idle’s latest staged spin-off of a Monty Python movie (following “Spamalot”), this time an amusing adaptation of Handel’s Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall that praises and describes the life story of the star character in “The Life of Brian,” which depicted a contemporary of Jesus Christ who was mistaken for the Messiah.
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— Hilarious on-stage cameo by Terry Gilliam.
— Michael Palin as narrator and a reprise of his “Lumberjack” song.
— Fascinating and funny interview of Idle explaining the origin of his classic whistling finale song in “Brian” called “The Bright Side.”
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4.) “From Paris with Love” (Lionsgate, $39.99) is a fun action romp with an over-the-top, trigger-happy, maverick special agent John Travolta that you just want to let roll over you without demanding much from it except a good time.
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— Interesting picture-in-picture commentary by director Pierre Morel who describes the challenges of filming in Paris, amongst other things.
— Simplistic but fun video pop-up trivia game played during movie
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5.) Animation Express (Image, $29.98) is a bit of a throwback to a time when animated shorts and experimental student animation were not readily available on the Internet and cable networks and were generally only available in collections shown in arthouse theaters and later on home video.
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— 26 animated shorts from National Film Board of Canada in multiple animation styles – CGI, stop-motion, hand-drawn.
— very innovative concepts and execution, none of which will appeal to everyone but sure to be several or many that appeal to you.
— clever presentation menu allows you to select by title or category such as comedy.
— By Scott Hettrick