The Seventh Seal
CRITERION COLLECTION
MOVIE A
SPECIAL FEATURES B+
DVD GEEK FACTOR 9
(OUT OF 10)
A lot of people who think they’ve seen this movie haven’t; instead,
they’ve seen parodies and homages. As far as home video goes, you
haven’t really seen this film until you’ve watched this gorgeous
Blu-Ray version.
Blu-Ray can make movies look brand-new, and Ingmar Bergman’s
meditation on death and faith looks like it was shot yesterday. Max von
Sydow stars as a knight returning from the Crusades. He’s hanging out
on a beach when a black-cloaked Death shows up and implies that it is
time to go. The knight has some unfinished business, so he challenges
Death to a chess match and goes on a trek through a plague-infested
land.
Even though the film has an inarguably dark subject, Bergman manages
to mix in humor. Death can be a little clumsy and pretentious, and
seeing this movie again after so many years, I can say that William
Sadler’s goofy portrayal of Death in Bill and Ted’s Bogus
Journey was more right-on than I originally thought.
This film was shot in 1957, it’s fair to say nothing looked like it
before, and nothing has since. Many directors (including Woody Allen)
have tried to borrow from Bergman’s style, but it always comes off as
cheap copycatting. The guy was in a category all by himself. It’s also
amazing that von Sydow already looked old in 1957, yet he kind of looks
the same today. He prematurely aged and then just stopped.
SPECIAL FEATURES: A commentary by a Bergman scholar, some
interviews with Bergman (including an introduction to the film) and a
video journey through the many films of Bergman’s career. There’s also
a short Woody Allen video (produced for TNT) during which he discusses
the director’s technique and its impact on his life.
Waltz With Bashir
SONY PICTURES CLASSICS
MOVIE A-
SPECIAL FEATURES B
DVD GEEK FACTOR 8.5
(OUT OF 10)
One of the more interesting animated films you are likely to see,
Bashir combines a surreal animation technique with some actual
recounts of the Sabra and Shatila massacre in 1982.
The tragedy saw an undetermined amount of Palestinian refugees shot
to death by Phalangist militia members while Israeli soldiers camped
nearby. Writer/director Ari Folman, who was one of the Israeli
soldiers, tries to remember the massacre through interviews with
friends and a visit to a psychologist. Actual interview audio is
visualized through arresting animation that is sometimes
nightmarish.
The film’s only real flaw is that it is too short and ends suddenly.
Folman’s own blurred memory is a statement on how some of the
horrifying events of the 1982 Lebanon war have faded from memory. This
film is a beautiful-looking yet appropriately unpleasant reminder.
SPECIAL FEATURES: A director commentary with Folman, and a
making-of documentary.
Reno 911!: The Complete Sixth Season (Uncensored)
PARAMOUNT
SHOW A-
SPECIAL FEATURES B
DVD GEEK FACTOR 7.5
(OUT OF 10)
While this show can be inconsistent, the sixth season saw the series
hit a comedic high note. Some regular characters got killed at a taco
stand at the end of season five (including Wendi McLendon-Covey’s
Clemmy), and while that’s somewhat sad, it paved the way for the show
to bring in some new blood.
Joe Lo Truglio (another former member of The State) and Ian Roberts
(of the Upright Citizens Brigade) join the cast, and this is a good
thing. The mega-talented Lo Truglio plays Deputy Rizzo, a dirty cop who
commandeers an open-topped Reno tour bus (I don’t think there is such a
thing) to chase down a criminal. Roberts plays the ill-tempered
Sergeant Declan, who eats a lot of fried foods and challenges the
authority of Lt. Jim Dangle (Thomas Lennon).
The two new additions are genius comic actors, and they bring some
nice new energy to the proceedings. Highlights include Reno’s finest
getting moved to a seafood restaurant while asbestos is removed from
their station. Asbestos constituted nearly 80 percent of the station,
and the cafeteria trays were made of asbestos. The masks that they were
given to protect them from asbestos were also made of asbestos.
Another great episode features the cops watching old video footage
of themselves, complete with really bad wigs. Apparently, Deputy Trudy
Wiegel (Kerri Kenney) was dead for 14 minutes and revived by Dangle,
resulting in her strange mental state. (Everyone agrees that they
shouldn’t have brought her back.) I also love the public-service
announcements informing us not to abuse seniors or steal their drugs,
because none of them will get you high.
Watching the show uncensored is a much better experience than
catching it bleeped on Comedy Central. These guys curse like sailors,
and it’s hilarious.
After the box-office flop of the 2007 movie, it looks like the crew
got back to basics with this season.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Extended outtakes and commentaries are all
quality stuff. It’s been a great couple of weeks for fans of The State,
with the release of this season and The State’s complete series on
DVD.
This article appears in Jul 16-22, 2009.