New on DVD: April 10

PICK OF THE WEEK

The Iron Lady

Meryl Streep won Oscar gold again in this biopic of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The film flashes back and forth between her career where she rose into prominence in a largely male-dominated political arena and her later years where she began to suffer from the early effects of Alzheimer’s. The differences between these two eras of her life really show why Streep deserved her win. EXTRAS include brief featurettes on costumes and supporting characters Denis Thatcher (Jim Broadbent) and young Margaret Thatcher (Alexandra Roach). (Anchor Bay)

DVDs

The Darkest Hour

Former art director Chris Gorak follows up his critically acclaimed 2006 debut film Right at Your Door, with this sci-fi thriller about a group of young people (including Emile Hirsch and Olivia Thirlby) who lead the fight against an alien attack in Moscow. (eOne)

Sleeping Beauty

Emily Browning (Sucker Punch) stars as Lucy in this startling unusual sexually-charged drama about a girl who goes to work for a madam (Rachel Blake), only to eventually become a unique draw for the clients in this unusual and erotic drama from first-time writer/director Julia Leigh (who also penned the novel from which the recent Willem Dafoe film The Hunter as based). (eOne)

One Life

This is a compilation of scenes taken from the BBC series Life, which follows the lives of several species of animals all narrated by Daniel Craig. (Alliance)

Son of No One

After becoming a cop and returning to his old neighbourhood Jonathan (Channing Tatum) is haunted by an incident in his youth that has come to light. His relationship with an older detective (Al Pacino) who helped bury the incident all those years before is tested as loyalties are put up against justice. (Alliance)

Goodnight For Justice: The Measure of a Man

Luke Perry returns as Judge John Goodnight in his second Made For TV film in this ongoing Western franchise for the former 90210 actor. This time out, he finds himself torn when he witnesses a bank robbery by a murderous gang of thieves and manages to capture one of them (Cameron Bright), only to find out that he is the son of an old flame (Stefanie Von Pfetten) that he has been seeing again.

The Witches of Oz

In this sequel to The Wizard of Oz, Paulie Rojas stars as Dorothy, who now a grown woman and best-selling novelists, discovers that her fanciful creations of a magical place called Oz are not from her imagination, but repressed memories that seem to be coming alive again. Christopher Lloyd co-stars at the Wizard with Lord of the Rings’ Sean Astin and Billy Boyd heading up the supporting cast. (Image)

The Terror Experiment

When an explosion inside an office building releases a toxic gas that turns some of the people into flesh-eating mutants, the survivors must try to get out without becoming infected in this low-budget horror film starring Judd Nelson and C. Thomas Howell. (Anchor Bay)

Stella and Sam Follow Me

This Canadian animated series (aimed at pre-schoolers) follows the adventures of 9-year-old Stella as she teaches her little brother Sam about the fun you can have when you use your imagination. This DVD contains 6 episodes along with 2 bonus episodes. (eOne)

Dino Dan: Ready? Set? Dino!

This live-action series stars Jason Spevack as Dan, a pre-teen amateur paleontologist who sees real dinosaurs (played by CGI dinosaurs) all over his neighbourhood and learns about them along with the audience watching at home. This DVD has 5 episodes from the Gemini-nominated series. (eOne)

Microcosmos

This 1996 French documentary is one of the most unforgettable films about the lives of insects that you will ever see. Using cutting-edge photographic equipment, filmmakers Claude Nuridsany and Marie Perrennou brought us closer to the world of bugs than ever before and clips from it have been used in commercials and music videos ever since. (Alliance)

A Streetcar Named Desire: 60^th Anniversary Edition (Blu Ray) (WHV)

This 1951 film adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ play made a young Marlon Brando a star as he played rough husband Stanley, whose life with wife Stella (Kim Hunter) is upset when her disturbed and demanding sister Blanche (Vivien Leigh) comes to stay with them in their cramped French Quarter apartment. Newly re-mastered for this blu-ray edition, this film also comes with a great collection of EXTRAS including commentary from co-star Karl Malden and film historians Laurent Bouzereau and Jeff Young; the feature-length Elia Kazan: A Director’s Journey; Brando’s original screen tests; outtakes; and over 90 minutes of other features on Brando, the history of the original play; the music and much more. (Warner)

TV ON DVD

Logan’s Run: The Complete Series

In 1976, Michael York and Jenny Agutter starred in Logan’s Run, a sci-fi film based on the novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, in which the remaining inhabitants of a post-apocalyptic earth live in a domed city where over-population is controlled by having them sacrifice themselves at something called Carousel when their “Life Clock” – a small jewel implanted in their palms – show that they have turned 30. Those that refuse to go quietly and try to get away are chased by Sandmen, whose job it is to kill them. When Logan (York) discovers a secret about Sanctuary, where the Runners who escape are safe, his Life Clock begins to glow red and he and another Runner named Jessica (Agutter) escape outside the dome with a Sandman called Francis in hot pursuit.

The following year, CBS released a TV series spin-off – the pilot of which is a slightly altered remake of the film – starring Gregory Harrison as Logan, Heather Menzies as Jessica and Randy Powell as the Sandman Francis. The series has Logan and Jessica travelling the land in a hovercraft-style vehicle and assisted by a human-looking robot called Rem (Donald Moffat) as they search for Sanctuary with Francis and a posse of Sandman after them. Each episode had them mixed up with some other civilization (both good and evil) made up of people, robots or even aliens with competent scripts (many of which written by former writers of the original Star Trek series). While only 11 of the original 14 episodes made ever aired during the series’ single season, all of them (including the feature-length pilot) are now available in a new 3-DVD set where they have been re-mastered and now look better than ever.  This is available for purchase through Amazon.ca or any outlets that sell DVDs.

ALF: The Complete Series
In 1986, NBC premièred a new sitcom about an alien life form (hence the name ALF) called Gordon Shumway (a puppet operated and voiced by series creator Paul Fusco), whose spaceship crash lands on earth. He is rescued by the Tanner family (Max Wright, Anne Schedeen, Andrea Elson and Benji Gregory) who nickname him ALF and hide him out in their home to keep him safe from a U.S. military task force. This wacky series ran for four seasons and later spawned two animated Saturday morning TV series’ before heading off into the pop culture wasteland in 1990. This 16-DVD set contains all 102 episodes (although they are not the ones that originally aired, but the ones slightly edited for syndication purposes) plus multiple BONUS FEATURES including outtakes, the original pilot episodes; the first episodes of both of the animated series and more.

 

Laverne & Shirley: Season 5

This spin-off from the hit series Happy Days starring two best friends (Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams) who work in a local brewery, went on to run for 8 seasons In the fifth season (which originally aired over 1979 and 1980) is their last in their hometown of Milwaukee and has more than its fair share of wacky episodes including the two-part murder mystery Murder on the Moosejaw Express; both parts of Shotgun Wedding, which began on that year’s premiere episode of Happy Days and featured guest appearances by Henry Winkler and Ron Howard; the two-part We’re in the Army Now (which spawned its own Saturday morning cartoon series). This season also had a ton of great guest stars including Ted Danson; Ed Begley Jr., Vicki Lawrence and Scatman Crothers all on this 4-DVD set. (Paramount)

One Tree Hill: The Complete 9th Season

This dramatic series about the people who live and love in Tree Hill, and which ran for 9 seasons on The CW finally comes to a close in a season which tries to tie up many of its storylines. For instance, in the two-hour finale of this drama it’s the tenth anniversary of Karen’s nightclub Tric which brings back old faces and new prospects for the citizens of Tree Hill. This episode was written and directed by series creator Mark Schwann, as a Schwann-song to the series which has run for nine seasons. As well as all 13 episodes, this box set comes with tons of BONUS FEATURES documenting the ending of the series. (Warner)

Todd & the Book of Pure Evil: Season 2

As this Canadian black comedy enters its second season, Todd (Alex House) and his friends are still struggling to destroy the Book of Pure Evil, which when opened will bring evil upon anyone who opens it like creating a man-eating birthday cake or turning everyone in Crowley High into a prehistoric caveman. All 13 episodes are available on 2 DVDs. (eOne)