DVD Picks and Passes 03.27.2011
Black Swan (2010) PASS
Tangled (2010) PICK
The Tourist (2010) PASS
Yogi Bear (2010) PASS
Because of Winn-Dixie (2005) PICK
The Ten Commandments (1956) PICK
Our Hospitality (1923) PICK
New this week on home video, Disney’s Tangled is an entertaining take on the Rapunzel story, with an ingenuous and likable heroine, a persuasively warped Mother Goethel, a dashing rogue in place of a prince, a very funny and very conscientious horse named Maximus, some gorgeous artwork and images, and 70 feet of amazingly animated hair.
If that’s not enough, there’s also some great action, including a terrific swashbuckling set piece in a valley with a mine shaft and a magical romantic sequence with flying lanterns. I can’t say everything here; see the full review at NCRegister.com.
As usual, the Blu-ray/DVD combo is the edition to get, available with or without the 3-D edition. Bonus features include a making-of featurette (how did they animate all that hair?), deleted scenes and alternate openings.
Among new home-video releases you can skip: Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan may have won Natalie Portman a Best Actress Oscar for her tripolar mood swings between wilted flower, china doll and vixen, but it’s a thoroughly unpleasant bit of exploitative trash, some striking images and well-directed sequences notwithstanding.
Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie never sell The Tourist, a movie that’s meant to be a light-hearted romantic thriller like Charade, but fails because Depp plays a wet blanket too effectively, without winking, and Angelina dials the allure up to 10 and becomes so unattainable she’s uninteresting. (The director’s previous film, The Lives of Others, is a must-see.)
Finally, a gentle thumbs down for Yogi Bear. You could do worse, but you could also do better by your kids.
In older releases, the new special edition of C. B. DeMille’s classic The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston is available in a six-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo and separate two-disc Blu-ray and DVD editions. The lavish Blu-ray/DVD combo includes a remarkable 75-minute making-of documentary as well as DeMille’s silent 1923 Ten Commandments, worth seeing for its lavish sets and Jell-O parting of the Red Sea.
Buster Keaton’s , new on Blu-ray from Kino, is one of the slapstick giant’s best, a comic gem set against a backdrop of a Hatfield-McCoy-style family feud.
Among other worthwhile Blu-ray releases is Walden Media’s Because of Winn-Dixie, a sweet film starring AnnaSophia Robb and Jeff Bridges. (Charlotte’s Web, also new on Blu-ray, is less worthwhile, but not bad.)
Among many older Blu-ray releases to skip: Anastasia; Elizabeth: The Golden Age and The Secret of NIMH.
Content advisory: Tangled: Animated slapstick and swashbuckling violence; complex family issues; a fleeting climactic act against the life of a villainous character. Because of Winn-Dixie: Accessible treatment of themes relating to a broken marriage and alcohol abuse. The Ten Commandments: Stylized violence, oppression of slaves and torture; melodramatic romantic complications; mild sensuality. Our Hospitality: Family feud plot; brief comic depiction of domestic violence. All generally fine family viewing (some scenes in The Ten Commandments might be a little intense for youngsters).
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- March 27-April 9, 2011

