You Can’t Take It With You Blu-ray Review

Actors: Mischa Auer, Ann Miller, Spring Byington, Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore

Director: Frank Capra

Producer: Frank Capra

Format: Blu-ray, Subtitled

Language: English

Subtitles: French, Portuguese, Czech, German, Hindi, Finnish, Polish, Swedish, Arabic, Italian, Korean, Dutch, Hebrew, Norwegian, Hungarian, English, Spanish, Turkish, Greek, Danish, Japanese

Dubbed: French, German, Italian, Spanish

Region: All Regions

Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1

Number of discs: 1

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date: December 8, 2015

Digital Copy Expiration Date: December 31, 2018

Run Time: 126 minutes

 

        Frank Capra is often credited with making the first screwball comedy with It Happened One Night in 1934, and in 1938 he perfected it by adapting the popular stage play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart into an unforgettable American film classic. You Can’t Take It With You is significant for many reasons, including a breakout performance from James Stewart that would lead to collaborations with the director in some of his most beloved classics (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It’s a Wonderful Life). But beyond historical significance is a simple story of universal appeal, one which had the heartfelt sincerity and optimism that was instantly recognizable in a Capra film. The story may be Kaufman and Hart’s, down to the dialogue transferred over from the play, but Capra embraced it as his own and created a cinematic collaboration as timeless today as it was nearly 80-years ago.

 

Partisan Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Vincent Cassel, Nigel Barber, Jeremy Chabriel

Director: Ariel Kleiman

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, THX, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: Unrated

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: December 8, 2015

Run Time: 97 minutes

 

 

        Partisan sets up its plot with a certain level of ambiguity and mystery, which had me hooked from the beginning. I can always respect a film that doesn’t spoon-feed its audience members, but unfortunately much of the intrigue set up was lost within director Ariel Kleiman’s lack of interest. Instead, this remains a film about the characters, though Kleiman fails to see how establishing the world in which they live has an impact on the characters within it. Partisan contains impressive performances, though there is little to relate to when we are given so little understanding of where they come from.

Speedy Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Harold Lloyd, Babe Ruth

Director: Ted Wilde

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Full Screen, NTSC

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Criterion Collection (Direct)

 Release Date: December 8, 2015

Run Time: 85 minutes

 

 

         Borrowing the name given to his “Glasses Character” in one of his earlier classics, The Freshman, Harold Lloyd returned to this role for his final silent performance in Speedy (1928). As well as showcasing some of the best gags in his career, Speedy gave audiences a ticket to the fast-paced lifestyle of New York City. At the time it was a pleasantly comedic depiction of the chaotic hustle and bustle of ‘The Roaring 20s’ in Manhattan, though it now serves as a magnificent historical record for those too young to remember.

 

Wolf Totem Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Ba Sen, Zha Bu, Shaofeng Feng, Shawn Dou

Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud

Producers: Xavier Castano, William Kong

Format: Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: Mandarin Chinese

Subtitles: French, Spanish, English

Dubbed: French, Spanish

Subtitles for the Hearing Impaired: English

Region: Region A/1

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date: December 15, 2015

Run Time: 122 minutes

 

        I must admit, I entered into Wolf Totem with the wrong expectations, mistakenly thinking the narrative was similar to the nature films director Jean-Jacques Annaud has done in the past, such as The Bear or Two Brothers. Despite the wolves being the most sympathetic characters in Wolf Totem, they are not the protagonists, though the bigger difference lies in the treatment of the animals. The sheer relentlessness of the brutality against nature and the title animal makes Wolf Totem a near impossible endurance test for animal lovers. The film is presented in both 2D and 3D on the Blu-ray, though there are far too many scenes I would prefer to have not seen at all, much less in 3D.