Category Archives: DVDs

DVDs, TV

“American Masters: Wyeth” chronicles the soul and talent of Andrew Wyeth

September is a few weeks ago, so what way to “fall” back than with a hot new PBS DVD?
Directed by Glenn Holsten, American Masters: Wyeth tells the story of one of America’s most popular, but least understood, artists–Andrew Wyeth. Son of the famous illustrator N.C. Wyeth, Andrew had his first exhibition at age 20, and his painting Christina’s World was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in 1948. While Wyeth’s exhibitions routinely broke attendance records, art world critics continually assaulted his work.
Detailing the stunning drawings and powerful portraits he created in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and on the coast of Cushing, Maine, Wyeth explores his inspirations, including neighbor Christina Olsen and his hidden muse, the German model Helga Testorf, who he painted secretly for 15 years.

Through unprecedented access to Wyeth’s family members, including sons Jamie and Nicholas Wyeth, and never-before-seen archival materials from the family’s personal collection and hundreds of Wyeth’s studies, drawings and paintings, this documentary presents the most complete portrait of the artist yet —bearing witness to a legacy just at the moment it is evolving.
The documentary will be released on Digital HD on September 8 and on DVD on September 11, 2018.n modern art.

DVDs, Movies, Music

“Saving Faith” is warm and inspirational, and boy! What great gospel music!

Mark your calendar now. It’s important to save the date of September 18, not because it’s a day after my birthday (cards and gifts still accepted), but that’s the day the inspirational and heartwarming gospel drama, Saving Faith, arrives on DVD, Digital, and On Demand.

When the historic Ritz Theater is on the brink of foreclosure, the theater’s owner Faith Scott (played by Jenn Gotzon) and her Uncle Donny (Donny Richmond) decide to host a Christmas themed show, in June, to help save the building.  Even against all odds, Faith and Donny turn to their faith and friends to help pull off the impossible.
And when a local developer decides to sabotage the concert, it’ll take a miracle to make the show go on. Approved by the Dove Foundation for all ages, Saving Faith is a, “film that is balanced for family filmgoers” (The Dove Foundation).

Let us not forget the great music by Donny Richmond and Sunday Drive and appearances by Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Phil Vassar and members of the

DVDs, TV

“Spiral: Season 6” spirals into more great TV, imported from France. Oui!

We apologize to our fans, especially those fans of Spiral,  the hard-hitting Parisian cop thriller (originally released in France as Engrenages) that has became a critically acclaimed blockbuster success across Europe and Australia and won the International Emmy Award for Best Drama.

We have been spiraling out of control, catching up with all the past MHz episodes we missed.  In Spiral: Season 6, BAFTA nominee Caroline Proust returns as Captain Laure Berthaud, as she and her team begin a complex new investigation after a human torso is discovered in the 20th arrondissement in Paris.

Backed up by her team of detectives including Thierry Godard as Lt. Gilou and Fred Bianconi as Tintin, the investigation is overseen by Judge Roban, played by veteran French actor Philippe Duclos. Audrey Fleurot also returns as lawyer Joséphine Karlsson, who continues to juggle her professional ambitions with her personal demons.

DVDs, TV

Prepare for a journey like no other: “Earth’s Natural Wonders: Season 2: Life at the Extremes”

Somehow, human beings have found a way to exist alongside Mother Nature’s most breath-taking creations. What makes these Natural Wonders so extreme? What are the challenges to human survival within them? And what helps and what hinders us in that struggle?

Answer (and stunning photography) are found with PBS Distribution’s Earth’s Natural Wonders: Season 2: Life at the Extremes. This program, presented in partnership with the BBC, takes viewers to parts of the natural world that nature has carved out on such a scale that they beggar belief.

Vast mountain ranges, impenetrable rainforests and dazzling tropical islands—places where nature is visible at its most primal, most powerful, and most extraordinarily beautiful. For human beings, survival within these wonders can pose extraordinary challenges. Yet in even the most extreme and remote parts of our planet people do survive.

DVDs, Movies

“Razzia” is a gorgeous, haunting film from a most talented female director out of North Africa

Look up the word “razzia”, and you discover is means “a hostile raid for purposes of conquest, plunder, and capture of slaves, especially one carried out by Moors in North Africa.”
Welcome to Razzia, a film by the most talented Nabil Ayouch. It stars performers you may not have heard of (yet)–Maryam Touzani, Arieh Worthalter, Amine Ennaji, Abdelilah Rachid, Dounia Binebine–but their talent  dominates the screen.

In this searing and mesmerizing drama, five Moroccans from different social and religious strata are pushed to the fringe by their extremist government. Spanning  three decades and several storylines, director Ayouch weaves an intricate tale of lost loves, forbidden desires, and fragile dreams in modern day Morocco.

An additional sidenote: The Moroccan Entry for the 2018 Academy Awards, Razzia was the Opening Night Film at the 2018 New York Jewish Film Festival.

DVDs, TV

A pair of new MHz releases are so good, the air will only get hotter

We ask the dear gods and goddesses at MHz to forgive us. We ask because we are so engrossed in two of newest releases that we haven’t found time to brag about them. Until now.

Detective Montalbano: Episodes 31 & 32
Murder, betrayal, office politics, temptation . . . it’s all in a day’s work for Detective Salvo Montalbano. With his always loyal and sometimes effective police squad he solves crimes in Vigata, crossing paths with housewives and priests, liars, saints and Mafia dons. He also wages a personal war with his own demons, which fight against his professional ideals and personal commitment to beautiful long-distance girlfriend, Livia.
Yet there’s always time to indulge a long-standing flirtation with his ultimate temptress, Italian cuisine. The series is filmed in the ancient, sun-washed Sicilian city of Ragusa, and is based on the international best-selling mystery novels by Andrea Camilleri.

Episode31:  Merry-Go-Round
Bizarre kidnappings of young women in Vigàta are happening for incomprehensible reasons. Montalbano also investigates an arson and the disappearance of a young business owner known for being a playboy and big spender. He realizes the key to solving the cases lies in the identity of the young man’s girlfriend, a mysterious woman whose identity the man kept secret from friends and associates.

EPISODE 32: Amore
Montalbano is out of his depth when it comes to matters of the heart, so the disappearance of beautiful Michela Prestia leaves him totally stumped. She’d escaped a tragic past of abuse and prostitution and rebuilt her life with a man she loved.  It seems unthinkable she would walk away. An elderly theatrical couple helps Montalbano understand a little more about the complexities of love.

Then there’s . . .

Antarctica, a three-part documentary featuring stunning visuals captured by photographers Laurent Ballest and Vincent Munier as they explore the frozen continent, comes from Luc Jacquet, the director of March of the Penguins. Traveling aboard a French polar icebreaker in 2016, they documented the marvels of the continent, both on the ice and under it. This series showcases their work and serves as a chronicle of the effect climate change is having on the unique and diverse wildlife in this harsh environment.

The story is told in three overlapping installments: Antarctica’s Secrets and Antarctica: Living on the Edge highlight the flora and fauna of the rapidly changing continent, and the feature-length In the Footsteps of the Emperor focuses on the life cycle of the emperor penguin. The photography is unforgettable particularly the underwater sequences and the penguins are arguably even more compelling than they were in the Oscar-winning documentary March of the Penguins.

Get ready for the expedition of a lifetime.

DVDs, TV

“Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lives” hits a home run!

PBS Distribution has hit yet another home run.

American Masters—Ted Williams: The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lives in now on DVD and Digital HD. The new program, co-produced by Albert M. Tapper Productions, in association with Major League Baseball, David Ortiz’ Big Papi Productions and Nick Davis Productions, explores not only the Baseball Hall of Famer’s remarkable on-field accomplishments but also his complicated relationships with family, teammates, press, fans and himself.

During his remarkable career with the Boston Red Sox, Williams earned many nicknames—The Kid, The Splendid Splinter and Teddy Ballgame, but the only nickname that he wanted was “the greatest hitter who ever lived.” In that pursuit, he combined his preternatural gifts with a fierce work ethic to become widely regarded as one of the greatest ever to play the game of baseball and in the process elevated the science of hitting in ways still emulated today.

Through never-before-seen archival footage and in-depth interviews with those who knew and studied Williams, including his daughter Claudia Williams, author/journalist Ben Bradlee, Jr., veteran baseball writer Roger Angela, and award-winning broadcasters Bob Costas and the late Dick Enberg, the program demonstrates the power of the heroic myth-making culture in which Williams flourished. Lesser-known topics explored int eh film include Williams’ Mexican-American background, his experiences serving during World War II and the Korean War, and his deep rage over his mother’s virtual abandonment of him and his younger brother.

Narrated by Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning actor Jon Hamm,  the documentary also looks at the legendary player’s impact on the game of baseball and his relevance in the almost 60 years since his retirement, highlighted by Williams’ iconic achievement—he is the last player to hit over .400, finishing the 1941 season batting .406. Former players—including Baseball Hall of Famers Willie McCovey and Wade Boggs, three-time All-Star Jim Kaat and current Cincinnati Reds first baseman and former National League MVP Joey Votto—share how Williams’ philosophy, commitment to greatness and approach to hitting influenced them in the film.

DVDs, TV

“Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In: The Complete Fifth Series” still works, all these years later

We still laugh, in and out.

Political correctness met its match with Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, NBC’s groundbreaking variety series that became a cultural touchstone and part of the fabric of ’60s-’70s America.Every Monday night at 8 p.m. from 1968-1973, straight man Dan Rowan and wisecracking co-host Dick Martin led a supremely talented comic ensemble through a gut-busting assault of one-liners, skits, bits and non sequiturs that left viewers in hysterics and disbelief.

Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In: The Complete Fifth Series (Time Life) from features all 24 episodes.  And what fun! After years of shameless name dropping, Dick finally gets his wish when bombshell Raquel Welch kicks off the new season with her first and only appearance on the show. Former Hogan’s Heroes POWs Richard Dawson and Larry Hovis escaped CBS to join the cast. And, along with alumni Judy Carne, Arte Johnson, Henry Gibson, Jo Anne Worley and Teresa Graves, they help to celebrate Laugh-In‘s landmark 100th episode (it aired on September 1, 1971).

Other guest stars:  Steve Allen, Johnny Carson, Johnny Cash, Carol Channing, Charo, Petula Clark, Bing Crosby, Tony Curtis, Henry Gibson, Gene Hackman, Rita Hayworth, Hugh Hefner, Bob Hope, Arte Johnson, Paul Lynde, Liza Minnelli, Agnes Moorehead, Joe Namath, Carroll O’Connor, Vincent Price, Carl Reiner, Debbie Reynolds, Sugar Ray Robinson, Bill Russell, Vin Scully, Doc Severinsen, Jacqueline Susann, Tiny Tim, John Wayne and Henny Youngman.

DVDs, Movies, TV

The life and treks of Sir Edmund Hillary are chronicled in “Hillary”

Hillary is not about dear Ms. Clinton.

It is from New Zealand, a six-part mini-series based on the life of mountaineer and philanthropist Sir Edmund Hillary. Capturing Hillary’s life of incredible bravery and heartbreaking tragedy, the program lovingly and vividly brings back to life the man New Zealander’s affectionately called “Sir Ed.”

The saga is available on DVD from PBS Distribution.

Based on thousands of hours of exclusive interviews, Hillary tells the story of the first man to conquer Mt. Everest. The program recounts his beekeeping days in South Auckland, to his ascent of the world’s highest mountain with climbing partner Tenzing Norgay, to the plane crash that killed his wife and daughter.

When he summited Everest in May 1953 and, as he told it, “knocked the bastard off,” Hillary put his small home country on the map. He was so beloved in New Zealand that his likeness is featured on the five-dollar note, and he was given a state funeral after his 2008 death.

Andrew Munro stars as Hillary, while Dean O’Gorman plays George Lowe, his longtime friend and climbing partner, and Amy Usherwood plays his wife, Lady Louise Hillary.

Magnificent!

DVDs, Movies

It’s murder to make a movie in the Hollywood. Witness “The Big Take”

It’s murder to make a movie in the Hollywood.
Witness The Big Take, available on DVD and Digital, thank to Archstone Distribution via Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
Save the date: September 4.

Oscar nominee Robert Forste, James McCaffrey, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Zoë Bell, Bill Sag and Dan Hedaya star in this comedic and suspenseful caper about a blackmailed movie star and an aspiring screenwriter looking for his big break whose lives become intertwined following a deadly case of mistaken identity. The film marks Justin Daly’s writing and directorial debut, previously working behind-the-scenes on such movies as the action classic Taken and the hit indie comedy Big Night.

The Big Take  is the perfect entertainment for thriller fans looking for big laughs and even bigger thrills this September.