Blu-ray/DVD Picks & Passes 10.21.12

     

A Cat in Paris (2010) PICK

God Is the Bigger Elvis (2012) PICK

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) PICK

The Princess Bride (1987) PICK

hat a crop! Two delightful, very different 2012 Oscar nominees — a foreign animated adventure and a documentary about a nun who chose the convent over Tinseltown — are among the latest home-video releases, along with anniversary Blu-ray editions of two beloved 1980s family fantasies and a quirky tale of young love.

Can it really be 30 years since we first heard E.T. promise Elliott "I’ll be right here" in Steven Spielberg’s bittersweet sci-fi classic E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, or 25 years since Westley first told Buttercup, "As you wish" in Rob Reiner’s satiric swashbuckler-romance The Princess Bride? Apparently so, since the anniversary Blu-rays for both films are now available.

The 30th anniversary edition marks E.T.’s Blu-ray debut, a gorgeous hi-def transfer that goes back to the original film, eschewing the digital tinkering of the 20th anniversary special edition (which swapped out the federal agents’ guns for walkie-talkies, replaced some puppet effects with CGI, etc.).

There are two new bonus features: "The E.T. Journals," a collection of footage from the set of the film, including cast and crew interviews, and a short interview with Steven Spielberg, both well worth watching. There’s also a raft of earlier extras, including making-of featurettes, interviews and deleted scenes from the 20th anniversary edition.

The Princess Bride is not new to Blu-ray, and the transfer is the same as the last edition, but there are a couple of new bonus features, notably a 15-minute "25th Anniversary Chat" with stars Cary Elwes and Robin Wright, as well as Reiner. Recycled extras include audio commentaries, a making-of featurette, a pair of extras on the story’s fairy-tale roots and more.

God Is the Bigger Elvis is an uplifting Oscar-nominated documentary short about Mother Dolores Hart, a Hollywood-actress-turned-Benedictine-nun, whose brief career in the 1950s and 1960s included roles opposite Elvis Presley. Gratifyingly, the film makes clear that embracing religious life was not a way of rejecting the world in general or Hollywood in particular, but of an all-encompassing "Yes" to God. 

Finally, don’t miss A Cat in Paris, a charming Oscar-nominated animated caper film from France, a hand-drawn tale about a young girl whose widowed mother is a police officer and whose pet cat moonlights as the sidekick of a charming catburglar. The Blu-ray/DVD combo edition includes the original French language track with subtitles, as well as the English dub released in U.S. theaters.

 

Content Advisory: A Cat in Paris: Animated menace and action, including kidnapping. Older kids and up. God Is the Bigger Elvis: Nothing offensive. Kids and up. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: Some mildly menacing scenes, including chase scenes; some crude language, including one infamous obscenity; inadvertent intoxication; problematic family situations, including back-story divorce. Older kids and up. The Princess Bride: Swashbuckling violence; a stylized torture scene; fleeting reference to suicide; a single instance of profanity. Older kids and up.

Palestinian Christians celebrate Easter Sunday Mass at Holy Family Church in Gaza City on March 31, amid the ongoing battles Israel and the Hamas militant group.

People Explain ‘Why I Go to Mass’

‘Why go to Mass on Sundays? It is not enough to answer that it is a precept of the Church. … We Christians need to participate in Sunday Mass because only with the grace of Jesus, with his living presence in us and among us, can we put into practice his commandment, and thus be his credible witnesses.’ —Pope Francis