Events Calendar
In This Section
Rich Heldenfels: 'Past Life' is unbelievable
'Christmas Story' actor finds challenges behind camera
'Law and Order' actress a 'CSI: Miami' veteran
'Up in the Air' gets best picture nod
Akron native soaring with 'Up in the Air'
Film with Akron link has leading role among Oscar nominees
Most Read Stories
Another winter punch heading toward Ohio
Complaints against officer keep coming
Woman rescued after falling through rotting floor in house
Police say couple had 50 stolen hubcaps
Strip club hosts 'Lap dances for Haiti'
Teen driver crashes into Bath Twp. home
Police: Ohio girl dies after fall into snow bank
Police: Man tries to buy crack with credit card
Blogs:
First Bell - On Education:
State auditor cites Highland Athletic Booster Club
Pets:
Pet telethon re-airs
The Heldenfiles:
NBC Releases Olympics Announcer List
Akron Zips:
Zips favored on road against MAC West leader
Tribe Matters:
Blogmail response on Hafner
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth's contract terminated
Balanced Ledger:
QB in Browns future: another mock draft
Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – February 9
Cleveland Cavaliers:
New York Media Begins to Acknowledge Reality?
Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeyes grab 18 players on signing day
Varsity Letters:
Five local gridders to play in Big33
All Da King's Men:
Palin At The Tea Party Convention
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Republican Pre-Conditions
Akron Law Café:
Law, Love and Chocolate
Car Chase:
Collector Car Hobby Loses One of the Best—Jim Roll
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Decisions Decisions: Credit Cards or Your Mortgage?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Loucile is looking for a Lake Erie getaway in June for three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.
Sound Check:
Talk of the Town – Top entertainment picks for the weekend
HRLite House:
OFCCP Report
Akron Gamer:
Makers of 'Castle Crashers' unveil 'BattleBlock Theater'
See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering
Daniel Day-Lewis stars in epic of early days of oil boom in Calif. 'Dewey Cox' also out
Published on Sunday, Apr 06, 2008
There Will Be Blood makes its DVD debut on Tuesday and it is must-see viewing for any film buff.
Not only does Daniel Day-Lewis richly deserve that best-actor Oscar for playing the oil man at the middle of the film. The movie has moments of sheer cinematic dazzle, including an ending as troubling — and far more bizarre — than the much discussed conclusion of No Country for Old Men.
Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson (the California-born son of local TV legend Ernie ''Ghoulardi'' Anderson) is a magnificent director of individual scenes. His major flaw, in this and in other films, is that he sometimes loves those scenes, or moments within scenes, too much so that they go on longer than a reasonable viewer's patience might accept. (The movie runs more than 21/2 hours.) But There Will Be Blood as a whole is a marvelous achievement.
And the much parodied ''milkshake'' line makes complete sense in the context of the movie.
Paramount is releasing the movie on a single DVD ($29.99) and a two-disc version ($39.99) with a curious collection of extras. They include The Story of Petroleum, a 1920s silent film about the oil business, which provided one of the visual templates for There Will Be Blood. A piece with music by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood (who also did the score for the movie) combines clips from The Story of Petroleum and period photographs with clips from the movie, showing how close to history Anderson's images are. There is also a pair of deleted scenes.
Also on DVD this week is Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, the very funny (if not hugely successful) faux music biography starring John C. Reilly.
It made great sport of films like Walk the Line, with a cast that also included Tim Meadows, Jenna Fischer, Chris Parnell, Kristen Wiig and — as the Beatles — Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Justin Long and Jason Schwartzman.
Columbia is releasing the theatrical version with some extras on a single disc ($28.95); a two-disc set with the theater piece, a longer ''director's cut'' and lots of extras ($29.96), and a Blu-ray version of the two-disc set ($43.95).
The two-disc version is your best bet since it includes still more comic insanity; don't miss the Christmas video.
Movies about war and terrorism in the Middle East have not done well at the box office, with Stop-Loss the latest to suffer. But Lions for Lambs (Fox, $29.98 in full-frame or widescreen format) seemed to have a chance because of its high-powered cast: Robert Redford (who also directed), Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep.
Unfortunately, the movie itself is a talky piece consisting of three parallel, and eventually overlapping, stories about war, the people who theorize and the people who have to fight. (One commercial for the DVD, which emphasizes the action sequences, is blatantly misleading.) Cruise is especially good, but the movie is not.
DVD extras include a commentary by Redford and a making-of piece.
On the TV side, fans of the long-running series Matlock can now get the first season on DVD (CBS, 23 episodes plus the pilot movie, $30). Andy Griffith was an amiable centerpiece to the show, but the stories creaked. And no extras, unless you count the inclusion of the pilot.
Fans will also note two different actresses playing Matlock's daughter: Linda Purl in the series proper and Lori Lethin in the pilot film. And Dick Van Dyke is a villain in the first hour-long episode.
The most obvious antecedent to Matlock is Perry Mason. While CBS DVD has (finally) gradually been putting out complete seasons, on Tuesday it offers a sampler, Perry Mason: 50th Anniversary Edition (12 episodes plus a reunion movie, four discs, $39.99).
I know, the series started in 1957, so the 50th anniversary was actually last year. In any case, the set draws on episodes from 1960 to 1966 with guest actors like Robert Redford, James Coburn, Burt Reynolds and Dick Clark. The fourth disc is all extras, with introductions by Barbara Hale (who played Della Street).
The extras include the Perry Mason Returns movie, the cast playing charades on the Stump the Stars show (although the piece is edited so we see only the Mason cast, not the team they competed against), clips of star Raymond Burr being interviewed by Charlie Rose on the old Nightwatch series and audition film.
The auditions are interesting because they include Burr trying out for the role of the prosecutor, and William Hopper — who ended up playing Paul Drake — auditioning as Mason.
And there's the full-length, agonizing, anti-smoking film made by William Talman, who ended up playing prosecutor Hamilton Burger. Talman made the film when he was dying of cancer. His pain is evident, far more affecting than Mason's lighter entertainment.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal and in a blog at http://www.ohio.com. Contact him at 330-996-3582 or rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
There Will Be Blood makes its DVD debut on Tuesday and it is must-see viewing for any film buff.
Get the full article here.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
