Susan’s DVD UPDATE for week of Friday, June 4:
Benicio del Toro is savage and snarling, yet ultimately silly, in his update of “The Wolfman” with Anthony Hopkins as his estranged father and Emily Blunt as his missing brother’s fiancée. The dvd includes both the unrated and rated versions and the Blu-ray has two alternate endings, along with a detailed look at Rick Baker’s make-up tricks.
As an idea for Father’s Day, “The Eastwood Factor Extended Version” is an up-close and personal look at a legendary Hollywood icon; narrated by Morgan Freeman, the impressive documentary is by Time magazine critic/historian Richard Schickel. And customers who have already purchased “Clint Eastwood: 35 Films, 35 Years at Warner Bros.” can trade up at no cost by visiting http://www.wbshop.com/Eastwood.
The earth is home to more than 30 million different animals and plants, so from the makers of “Planet Earth” comes the four-disc “Life” series, narrated by Oprah Winfrey and filled with breathtaking imagery that was featured on the Discovery Channel.
For the ultimate in fighting action, “Undisputed III: Redemption” follows eight maximum security prisoners who are brought together by a powerful underground gambling syndicate and challenged to compete to survive – with freedom as the prize.
Dror Zahavi’s Israeli-German thriller “For My Father” is an intimate character study of a young Palestinian torn between protecting his family’s honor and experiencing his first taste of forbidden love in Tel Aviv; it’s in Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles.
For kids, “Thomas & Friends: The Greatest Stories” is an all-new two-disc set with a customized “Create Your Own Thomas Story” DVD-Rom and an adventure game. And “Firefly Fun and Buggy Buddies” is a Sesame Workshop compilation of educational stories about bugs with special appearances by Jenny McCarthy and Molly Shannon.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Johnny Depp dazzles in Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” a fanciful adaptation, or re-imagination, that introduces Alice as a 19 year-old (Mia Wasikowska) who doesn’t want to marry a priggish aristocrat, so she tumbles down a rabbit hole into her own hallucinatory world. Perturbing and scary, it’s not for young children.