Movie Reviews of Shine a Light, Pete Seeger, Jack Ryan and many more…
Shine a Light (Paramount, $34.99)
The first of half 2008 saw the release of two great concert films feature veteran rock-and-rollers. First out of the gate was U2 3D, which featured some of the best 3D photography ever committed to film in addition to Bono & Co. playing the hell out of standards like “Sunday Blood Sunday” and “One.” That flick (which still isn’t available on DVD for the obvious reason that 3D looks like crap on your television screen) was followed a few months later by Martin Scorsese’ Shine a Light, a condensed recap of a two-night gig the Rolling Stones played at New York’s legendary Beacon Theater. Given that both Scorsese and all of the Stones are in their 60s, one couldn’t help but wonder if they’d need some No-Doz to make it through the show. As it turns out, we shouldn’t have worried. Within five minutes of taking the stage, Mick, Keith, Charlie and Ronnie and their extensive backup band are grooving in a way that puts most modern-day rockers to shame. Scorsese more than keeps up with the band, shooting the concert with 16 different cameras and cutting between them without missing a beat. Special guest stars Christina Aguilera, Jack White and Buddy Guy turn in memorable performances as well, but the Stones are the undisputed stars of the show. Four decades into their career and they still play with an energy and passion that keeps them sounding eternally young.
Extras: Four bonus songs from the concert and an additional 16-minute featurette containing behind-the-scenes footage not seen in the documentary.
Pete Seeger: The Power of Song (The Weinstein Co., $24.95)
Although on the opposite end of the musical spectrum from the Stones, folk singer Pete Seeger is as important a 20th century icon as the boys from Britain. Born in 1919, Seeger first began plucking at the ukulele and banjo when he was a kid and became a voracious consumer of American folk music. By the early ’30s he was already a working musician and devoted political activist, a pasttime which would land him in trouble as Cold War paranoia infected the country in the 1950s. Blacklisted by every major media outlet during that dark time in our history, Seeger nevertheless found friendly audiences at colleges and in major cities like New York. He also inspired numerous musicians to pick up the guitar, including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Bruce Springsteen, all of whom are interviewed in this uplifting documentary about their mentor. Seeger himself is still alive and kicking of course and the now 89-year-old regales us with stories about his early years, while his family members contribute their memories. Although the documentary doesn’t delve as deeply into certain areas of his life as it perhaps should, The Power of Song is an excellent primer on Seeger’s historic career and wonderful music. Don’t be surprised to find yourself surfing over to iTunes after the movie’s over to download some of his best records.
Extras: Three deleted scenes and five short films shot by the Seeger family.
Jack Ryan on Blu-ray (Parmount, $29.99 each)
As rumors swirl about Sam Raimi possibly stepping in to revive the long-dormant Jack Ryan franchise, Paramount gives the four previous Ryan adventures—which were all based on best-selling novels by Tom Clancy—a Blu-ray makeover. Next to the James Bond and Batman movies, it’s hard to think of a franchise where the leading man changed so frequently. Alec Baldwin portrayed the first big-screen Ryan in 1990′s The Hunt for Red October, which became one of that year’s biggest hits. But rather than continue the role, the unpredictable Baldwin decided to walk the boards on Broadway instead and a considerably older Harrison Ford promptly stepped in for the next two films in the series, 1992′s Patriot Games and 1994′s Clear and Present Danger. Although both films performed well, eight years went by until the next entry in the series, The Sum of All Fears, by which point Ford was considered far too old to continue to be on the CIA’s payroll (of course, that didn’t stop him from picking up Indiana Jones’ fedora one more time). Instead, the filmmakers rewound the clock and cast Ben Affleck as a young and inexperienced Ryan with the intention of letting him grow into the part. For whatever reason though, that plan was abandoned after the movie hit theaters and future Ryan movies were put on hold…until now of course. The only question is, who will step into Ryan’s shoes next? Matt Damon already has the Bourne series, plus it might make holidays at Ben’s house kinda awkward. Daniel Craig and Christian Bale are already the stars of two other major franchises and Shia LaBeouf, as nice a guy as he seems, would be hard to buy as a government enforcer. So who exactly does that leave? Well, may we suggest Jon Hamm? He’s already a man of mystery every week on Mad Men and his square-jawed good looks make him a natural leading man. Get on it Raimi!
Extras: All four films come with Blu-ray enhanced featurettes and documentaries, while director John McTiernan contributes a yak track to Red October and writer/director Phil Alden Robinson pops up on Sum of All Fears.
Also on DVD
Soaring onto Blu-ray alongside the Jack Ryan movies is Top Gun: Blu-ray Edition (Paramount, $29.99), in which Tom Cruise tries and fails to out-act a fleet of Navy fighter planes. Elsewhere, The Hills: The Complete Third Season (MTV, $39.98) collects all 20+ episodes from the MTV reality phenomenon’s junior year. One of my favorite guilty pleasures of ’08 is Neil Marshall’s post-apocalyptic flick Doomsday (Universal, $29.98), which takes every low-budget futuristic action movie ever made and blends them into one kick-ass package. The flick is now available in an unrated edition that comes with a commentary track from Marshall and some fun featurettes. In sci-fi news, Stargate: Continuum (MGM, $26.98) is the latest direct-to-DVD feature based on Sci Fi Channel’s long-running TV series and the storyline apparently involves all of the kooky alternate timelines the crew has visited over the course of the series. Casper Van Dien returns to the franchise that (sort of) made him a star in Starship Troopers 3: Marauder (Fox, $27.96) another straight-to-DVD feature that chronicles the ongoing war between mankind and a race of gross alien bugs. If you’re more in the mood for old-school science fiction, pick up Star Trek: The Original Series—Season Two (Paramount, $84.98), in which the Enterprise crew met those troublesome Tribbles and encountered intergalactic rouges like Harry Mudd.
