May 16, 2007

DVDs, 5/16.

Deliver Us From Evil "[N]o new-ish documentary will set fire to your house quite like Amy Berg's Deliver Us from Evil," declares Michael Atkinson at IFC News. "Only one contemporary non-fiction topic will boil the blood faster than pedophilia (as it did in Capturing the Friedmans), and that is, in a far-too-fervently Christian nation, pedophilia as it has been perpetrated and enabled by the Catholic Church."

With Arthur and the Invisibles now out on DVD, we're running John Esther's interview with Luc Besson at the main site; it may, too, whet your appetite for Angel-A, which sees its stateside release next week.

"There is one excellent reason to pick up Universal's Classic Western Round-Up: Volume 1, and that is Jacques Tourneur's 1946 Canyon Passage, a western that resembles no other and remains one of the great unsung achievements of American filmmaking," writes Dave Kehr in the New York Times.

"The Swindle was Chabrol's follow-up to La Cérémonie and couldn't be more different from that intense and caustic portrayal of class resentment, guilt and mutual misunderstanding," writes Ian Johnston at Not Coming to a Theater Near You. "It's pitched as a light comic thriller, although it does veer off into a darker tone in its second half - but even that is balanced by the dry, sometimes black humor that Chabrol brings to the proceedings."

Pan's Labyrinth "As spectacular a cinematic experience as Pan's Labyrinth is, its special edition DVD package, out today, is an extras-packed thing of wonder in its own medium." Premiere's Glenn Kenny talks with Guillermo del Toro.

Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus "is flawed, some would say deeply so, and an unapologetic spin on La Belle et la bête," writes Flickhead. "Yet, like a handful of other poorly received Nicole Kidman pictures - Birth, Birthday Girl and The Human Stain spring to mind - it can be oddly compelling depending upon how much tosh you're willing to let slide."

Roundups: The AV Club, DVD Talk, Marcy Dermansky and Jürgen Fauth, Movie City News and, of course, the Guru.



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Posted by dwhudson at May 16, 2007 11:28 AM

Comments

"Deliver Us From Evil" may prove shocking to some, but I found its revelations to be rather mundane and, from a filmmaking perspective, less skillful than most run-of-the mill television documentaries. For compelling viewing that draws the audience in like the best mystery novels, "Capturing the Friedmans" is far better. While Berg's film focuses on the lapses of the Church and law-enforcement officials, Andrew Jarecki's documentary, with its unprecedented access to the family's most intimate documents and candid interviews with family members, relatives, and law enforcement officials, has greater immediacy and broader implications for society as a whole.

Posted by: Jon Pais at May 16, 2007 11:49 PM

I saw Angel A at Karlovy Vary last year. As much as I was looking forward to it, because I usually even enjoy Luc Besson's bad movies (Wasabi for example, I remember as being absolutely horrendous, not to mention racist, though quite watchable), Angel A was not worth watching. He cut down the violence to a minimum, and replaced it with bad psychology and cutesy theology. Everyone talked too much, and did little else.

Posted by: Bradley Gardner at May 17, 2007 8:54 AM

Thanks for the rundown, Bradley. I'll be sure to miss this one.

Posted by: jon pais at May 17, 2007 9:49 AM