With the big studios steering clear of this dead zone week for DVD releases there is a wave of smaller releases including Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, one of the best films of 2009, a classic yakuza film from 1982, and a horde of TV on DVD releases led by The Simpsons: The Complete 20th Season and Route 66: The Complete Season 3.

 

Theatrical Films

 

No one has figured out how to make a popular movie out of the unpopular Iraq War, but in The Hurt Locker (Summit, $26.99, BD $34.99) Kathryn Bigelow has created one of the most acclaimed movies of 2009 with a 97% positive rating among the 175 reviews collected on the Rotten Tomatoes Website.  Based on the reporting of Mark Boal, who was embedded with an elite EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) team, and who wrote the film’s screenplay, The Hurt Locker eschews political commentary, embracing instead the white-knuckle suspense that arises naturally from the dangerous task of defusing the IED (Improvised Explosive Devices) that have become the modern terrorists’ weapon of choice, and examining the tensions among members of the team created by the adrenaline-junkie effect disarming such weapons can have on those like Staff Sergeant William James, the leader of the EOD team.  Leading a fine cast, Jeremy Renner plays James in an Oscar-worthy performance, and the film’s relentlessly realistic mise-en-scene (it was shot in Jordan just miles from the Iraq border) makes The Hurt Locker easily the most powerful film to come out the recent conflict.

 

In spite of the fact that The Hurt Locker will make most conscientious critics’ top ten lists for 2009, the film only earned a paltry $12 million at the domestic box office.  Award season should be good to the film, which has been nominated for three major Golden Globes (Best Dramatic Picture, Best Director, & Best Screenplay).  Perhaps, aided by some well-deserved awards, The Hurt Locker will get the attention it deserves on DVD.

 

Cherien Dabis’ first directorial effort, Amreeka (Virgil Films, $24.99), is the heartfelt story of a single mother who leaves the West Bank and immigrates with her teenage son to live with her sister’s family in a suburb of Chicago.  The only job she can get is working in a fast food restaurant and her son faces anti-Arab discrimination in the wake of 9/11, but they persevere.

 

Another well-reviewed, independently-produced film, Robert D. Siegel’s Big Fan (Vivendi, $26.99) will also have to do its damage on DVD, since it earned only $231,520 in theaters.  This character study of a football fanatic played by Patton Oswalt who lives with his mother on Staten Island and worships the New York Giants, is a timely parable as the Super Bowl approaches.  A former editor of the satirical paper The Onion, who also wrote the screenplay for Mickey Rourke’s comeback film, The Wrestler, Siegel is clearly on to something in Big Fan, especially when it comes to the pernicious effects of “sports” radio. 

 

A film that earned even less at the box office ($200,399) and fared much worse with critics (only 32% positive on Rotten Tomatoes) was Guillermo Arriaga’s The Burning Plain (Magnolia Entertainment, $26.99, BD $29.99).  The Burning Plain, which stars Kim Basinger, Charlize Theron, and Joaquim de Almeida, was Arriaga’s first directorial effort, though he had achieved considerable success as the screenwriter of such films as Amores perros (2000), 21 Grams (2003), and Babel (2006).  Like those films The Burning Plain is a complex story composed of various narrative strands that are woven together in a non-linear fashion.

 

The parade of poorly performing indie films continues with Downloading Nancy (Strand Releasing, $27.99) from first-time Swedish director Johan Renck.  The fearless Maria Bello stars with Jason Patric in a study of sadomasochistic depression so bleak that a substantial portion of the audience walked out of the screening at that temple of serious cinema, the Sundance Film Festival. Small wonder Downloading Nancy has earned a grand total of $20,250 so far.

 

Stuart Wade’s Tru Loved (E1 Entertainment, Rated “R” $24.98) is probably more famous for Roger Ebert’s review than for anything else.  Put off by what he considered the amateurishness of the filmmaking, Ebert based his review on the first eight minutes of the film that he saw and mentioned at the end of the review that he had seen only eight minutes of the movie.  Under pressure for his unorthodox review, Ebert later watched the entire film and posted a new critique, which didn’t necessarily change his opinion of the film, though he did express sympathy for the trials and tribulations of making an independent movie about a teenage girl whose lesbian parents move from liberal San Francisco to a conservative SoCal suburb where her life is complicated by closeted friends and sexual politics.

 

The top theatrically-released genre film out this week on DVD is Rob Zombie’s Halloween II (Theatrical Version $28.96, Unrated DVD $28.96, BD $38.96), which the director described as “more realistic and more violent” than his initial Halloween remake, which debuted in 2007.  Halloween II earned over $33 million at the domestic box office, but garnered only an 18% positive rating from the critics polled on Rotten Tomatoes.  Want to find out whatever happened to Doctor Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman), check it out.

 

Also out this week is Post Grad (Fox, $29.99, BD $39.99), a comedy directed by Vicky Jenson that stars Alexis Bledel (The Gilmore Girls) as a college grad who has to move back in with her parents.  Kelly Fremon’s script is more than a little out of date—the heroine’s dream job is in “publishing.”

 

Documentaries

 

There are a number of new documentaries out this week including Passing Strange (MPI, $24.99), director Spike Lee’s documentary shot at the three final performances of the Broadway musical.  Passing Strange, which was developed at the Sundance Institute, is one of the most innovative musical theater productions in years and Lee essentially provides a documentary recording of the groundbreaking show.  Written by Stew (Mark Stewart) and Heidi Rodewald, the show follows Stew search for both his musical and personal identity.

 

Summit Entertainment which is releasing The Hurt Locker (see above) is also coming out with the Iraq War documentary, Brothers At War.  Inspired by the service of his brothers in the Iraq War, filmmaker Jake Rademacher travels to the war zone and goes along with his brother Isaac on missions near the Syrian border and in the Sunni triangle.  The film, which won an award at the G.I. Film Festival, was produced by the gung-ho Gary Sinise, so don’t expect any criticism of the mission or antiwar elements.

 

From the other end of the political spectrum there is By the People: The Election of Barack Obama (Sony, $24.96), a behind-the-scenes look at the recent campaign by two young filmmakers, Amy Rice and Alicia Sams, who follow the tortuous path to the presidency through the hard-fought primary campaign against Senator Hillary Clinton and the general election battle against John McCain.  While the filmmakers do capture a lot of fascinating candid moments, there is a dearth of the down-and-dirty campaign strategy sessions of the sort that made the 1992 inside the Clinton campaign film, The War Room, so fascinating.

 

Foreign Films

 

The most interesting foreign film debuting this week is Hideo Gosha’s 1982 yakuza film Onimasa: A Japanese Godfather (Animeigo, $24.98).  Onimasa was Japan’s official entry in the 1985 Oscar race and it is easy to see why it wasn’t selected.  It twists the conventions of the 1960s yakuza films with their often chivalrous protagonists in its portrait of a prideful oyabun (gangster boss), who believes the samurai-like code of the yakuza, but whose heroism and pursuit of “justice” arising out of a dog-fighting dispute are essentially meaningless.

 

TV on DVD

 

This is a very big week for TV on DVD releases with popular long-running series such as The Simpsons and ER leading the way.  The Simpsons: The Complete 20th Season (Fox, $49.98, BD $59.98) includes all 21 episodes as well as a featurette about Morgan Spurlock’s 20th Anniversary Special that aired last weekend.  ER: The Complete 12th Season (Warner Home Video, $49.98) contains all 22 episodes of the popular medical series that aired in 2005 and 2006. 

 

Anyone who lived through the 1960s will remember Route 66, the only American TV series that was ever completely filmed on the road.  The saga of two young guys with a corvette featured Martin Milner as the straight, honest middle class Tod, and George Maharis as the more rough and tumble working class Buzz, whose alienation echoed that of the Beat Generation.  Roxbury Entertainment is releasing Route 66: The Complete Season 3 ($49.98), an 8-disc set that is a must-see for anyone who wants to experience what America looked like and sounded like in the early 1960s.  Unfortunately George Maharis fell ill during the third season and had to be replaced, but there are plenty of consolations including the episode “Lizard’s Leg and Owlet’s Wing” that features Peter Lorre, Lon Chaney, Jr., and Boris Karloff who dons his Frankenstein monster makeup for the first time in 25 years.

 

A couple of BBC series are out this week including the period adventure Robin Hood: Season 3 (BBC, Warner, $59.98) and the quirky motoring series Top Gear, Top Gear: The Complete Season 11 (BBC, WHV, $29.98) and Top Gear: The Complete Season 12 (BBC, WHV, $29.98).

 

Disney’s situation comedy 10 Things I Hate About You, which was based on the 1999 film and debuted in 2009 on ABC Family, debuts on DVD with all ten episodes from Season One (Buena Vista, $29.98).  Also coming from Buena Vista is the first season of Make It Or Break It ($29.99) a drama about aspiring Olympic gymnasts that also appears on ABC Family.

 

Animated releases due out this week include the Shout Factory’s nostalgia-laden Transformers 25th Anniversary Edition Season 2 Volume 2 ($29.99, 480 min.) which includes the second half of the second season of the classic 1980s Transforming robots series, The Bugs Bunny Looney Tunes Comedy Hour: Bugs Bunny’s Cupid Capers (WHV, $14.98), and the Canadian computer-animated series 6Teen: Season 2, Volume 2 (Phase 4, $22.99).

 

Other releases during this very busy week include Becker: The Third Season (Paramount, $36.98) featuring Ted Danson as the misanthropic medico,  Volume 5 (Episodes 81-100) of  Tyler Perry’s hilarious TV series, House of Payne (Lionsgate $29.98), and Season 1 of The New Adventures of Black Beauty (Image, $24.98).  For those who like reality shows there is Discovery Channel’s The Detonators, a behind-the-scenes look at the world of professional demolition experts, and the execrable John & Kate Plus Ei8ht: Season 5: Big Changes (Gaiam, $19.98).

 

Anime

 

This is actually one of the lightest weeks for anime releases in a long time.  The major new release is Hidamari Sketch Season 1 Collection (Sentai Filmworks, $39.98), which collects the first season of the anime series produced by Shaft that is based on a 4-panel seinen manga comedy series by Ume Aoki about a group of young girls who want to become major manga artists and all live in the same building while they are attending the Yamabuki Art High School.  The 12-episode Hidamari Sketch anime series appeared on Japanese TV in 2007 and this DVD set includes all 12 episodes and 2 OVAs as well.

 

Also due out this week is the regular DVD edition of Mamoru Oshii’s re-mastered Ghost in the Shell feature, Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (Manga Entertainment, $24.98, the Blu-ray version, which was released in November is $29.98), and the fifth volume of Viz Media’s Naruto Shippuden (100 min., $24.92).