A Perfect Day Blu-ray Review

• Actors: Benicio Del Toro, Tim Robbins
• Director: Fernando León de Aranoa
• Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated:
  R
• Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO
• Release Date: July 19, 2016
• Run Time: 106 minutes

        The ironically titled A Perfect Day is single-minded in its approach to show a 24-hour period in the life and efforts of a group of combat zone aid workers, for better or worse. The simple premise allows ample opportunity to show the realistic frustrations of battling bureaucracy and bullish locals in the attempt to accomplish simple humanitarian goals. This is done with an almost whimsical tone that allows wit to carry the narrative without losing sight of the gravity of war. Even though there is drama and suspense, the dry humor consistently sets the tone for a film about inaction.

Miles Ahead Blu-ray Review

• Actors: Michael Stuhlbarg, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Lakeith Stanfield, Don Cheadle, Ewan McGregor
• Director: Don Cheadle
• Producers: Don Cheadle, Vince Wilburn, Pamela Hirsch, Lenore Zerman, Darryl Porter
• Format: Subtitled
• Language: English
• Subtitles: French, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Thai, Spanish, English
• Dubbed: French, Portuguese, Thai, Spanish
• Audio Description: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated:
  R
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• Release Date: July 19, 2016
• Digital Copy Expiration Date: December 31, 2019
• Run Time: 100 minutes

        Co-written, produced, directed and starring Don Cheadle, Miles Ahead is clearly a vanity project for an actor often delegated to play supporting characters to show his ability as a leading actor and as a director. Biopics have an awful reputation of providing this opportunity for actors trying to stretch themselves, but this is not reason alone to unfairly judge Miles Ahead. If it is predictable in its conception, at the very least the film takes an unconventional approach to the material. Even with some expected flashback sequences of the usual pitfalls of fame, the portion of the film taking place during Davis’ later years is refreshingly unique despite staying tied to typical themes of addiction and suffering.

Van Gogh Blu-ray Review

• Actors: Jacques Dutronc, Bernard Le Coq
• Director: Maurice Pialat
• Disc Format: NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: French
• Subtitles: English
• Region: All Regions
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated:
  R
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• Release Date: July 12, 2016
• Run Time: 159 minutes

        Even by the 1990s the biopic was already something of a predictable sub-genre, just as it has now become traditional fodder for award season. Even in 1991, Maurice Pialat’s Van Gogh was rather innovative in the approach toward a typical narrative of the struggling artist. Nearly every biopic of an artist or a musician that I have seen in the last decade has included some of the same elements of Van Gogh (addiction, suffering, depression), but Pialat doesn’t dwell on the melodrama as others did before him and have since. While Vincent Van Gogh may have even been more tortured than the rest, Pialat doesn’t sensationalize this for dramatic purposes. Instead, he shows us a fairly uneventful recreation of Van Gogh’s final days.

The Dresser DVD Review

• Actors: Anthony Hopkins, Ian McKellen, Emily Watson, Vanessa Kirby
• Director: Richard Eyre
• Format: Anamorphic, Color, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1
• Number of discs: 1
• Studio: ANCHOR BAY
• DVD Release Date: July 12, 2016
• Run Time: 109 minutes

        Cinema has a long tradition of borrowing from the theater, but the two mediums don’t always line up perfectly. Film is a far more visual medium, and the dialogue-heavy stories from the stage can often be noticeably stagnant onscreen. This easily could have been the case with The Dresser, Richard Eyre’s TV movie adaptation of Ronald Harwood’s stage play, had the casting been any different. Ian McKellen and Anthony Hopkins often approach the material with the rawness only seen in live performances, but also give the subtle nuances often lost without a camera or front row theater tickets.

Belladonna of Sadness Blu-ray Review

• Actors: Aiko Nagayama, Tatsuya Nakadai, Chinatsu Nakayama
• Director: Eiichi Yamamoto
• Disc Format: DTS Surround Sound, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: Japanese
• Subtitles: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Studio: Cinelicious Pics
• Release Date: July 12, 2016
• Run Time: 87 minutes

        There is little reference for a film like Belladonna of Sadness in modern cinema, a psychedelic adult animated feature from 1973 which is equal parts exploitation and art film. One could easily find the influence of director Eiichi Yamamoto’s film in modern manga and anime, and somehow Belladonna of Sadness still remains unique in its style and tone. The film exists in the world of exploitation, but titillation rarely seems to be the purpose of the shocking imagery. Mixing psychology with the supernatural in order to tell an erotic tale of revenge, this is a cult film unlike any other, now or then.