Susan Granger’s dvd update for week of Friday, Sept. 19th
One of the most intriguing documentaries of recent years, “The Rape of Europa,” based on Lynn H. Nicholas’s book and narrated by Joan Allen, relates the systematic theft, deliberate destruction and miraculous survival of Europe’s art treasures during the Third Reich and World War II, beginning and ending with the tale of artist Gustav Klimt’s famed Gold Portrait, stolen from Viennese Jews in 1938 and now the most expensive painting ever sold.
John Leguizamo and Cynthia Nixon star in “The Babysitters,” as a typical small town honor student (Katherine Waterston) embarks on a dangerous affair that unravels into a world of sex, money and greed. Getting into college becomes the least of her problems.
For those who are into high-octane cars, trippy Japanese anime and awesome visuals, “Speed Racer” has it all. Speed (Emile Hirsch) and his family (John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Paulie Litt) are obsessed with the World Racing League, an acrobatic, full-contact sport, described as ‘Car-Fu,’ automotive martial arts.
If you enjoy MGM musicals, you’ll relish two, new meticulously restored and remastered classics: “Gigi 50th Anniversary Two-Disc Special Edition,” starring Leslie Caron, Louis Jourdan and Maurice Chevalier, and “An American in Paris Two-Disc Special Edition,” starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron and Cyd Charisse. The many bonus features include shorts, cartoons, interviews and documentaries.
Barely worth mentioning, “The Love Guru” is Mike Myers’ atrocious and inanely tedious spoof of self-help spiritualism.
PICK OF THE WEEKS: Stephen Walker’s life-affirming “Young at Heart” chronicles the adventures and achievements of a chorus of ebullient New England senior citizens who cover songs by everyone from The Clash to Coldplay. And the frothy “Made of Honor,” starring cleverly roguish Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan, is an exuberant, audience-pleasing romantic fairytale of laughter and love.