The trickle of late ’08 prestige films continues this week with two multi-Oscar-nominated releases: the gritty Mickey Rourke melodrama The Wrestler and the history-play Frost/Nixon. Both are alternately entertaining and clunky, though Frost/Nixon clunks far more often The Wrestler, which contains moments of deep emotion (largely due to Rourke) and moments of rare poetry (largely due to director Darren Aronofsky).
This week is also a good week for offbeat passion-projects, including the acclaimed late ‘70s sitcom Rhoda (review coming in two weeks) and the pilot movie for the Battlestar Galactica prequel series Caprica (review coming tomorrow). Perhaps the most significant of the offbeat passion-projects coming to DVD this week is Peter Bogdanovich’s 1976 folly Nickelodeon, a salute to the early days of moviemaking featuring a hero who’s very Bogdanovich-like in his demeanor and appetites. For the DVD release (packaged with Bogdanovich’s classic The Last Picture Show), Nickelodeon has been digitally “de-colorized” to achieve the black-and-white look the director originally intended.
Finally, this is an especially strong week for The Criterion Collection, which is releasing a new Blu-ray edition of Georges Clouzot’s 1953 political thriller Wages Of Fear and a three-disc collection of the surrealist nature films of Jean Painlevé. The Painlevé set, titled Science Is Fiction, includes some of the filmmaker’s more overtly experimental work alongside his commercial releases (which helped influence Walt Disney’s “True Life Adventure” series) and a set of films scored by indie-rockers Yo La Tengo.
Air: The Complete Series
Funimation, $49.98
The Arrival
Lionsgate Blu-ray, $29.99
The Burrowers
Lionsgate, $27.98
Caprica
Universal, $26.98
Dallas: The Complete Eleventh Season
Warner, $39.98
Dante 01
Weinstein/Dimension Extreme, $19.97
Dog Days Of Summer
Starz/Anchor Bay, $19.97
Freakazoid!: Season Two
Warner, $26.98
Frost/Nixon
Universal, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.98
Glass: A Portrait Of Philip In Twelve Parts
Koch Lorber, $29.98
Hawaii Five-O: The Sixth Season
Paramount, $49.99
Hellraiser
Starz/Anchor Bay Blu-ray, $29.97
iCarly: Season One, Vol. 2
Nickelodeon, $26.98
Inside The Third Reich: The Goebbels Experiment/Firestorm/The Reich Underground/Television Under The Swastika
First Run, $59.95
Into The Blue 2: The Reef
MGM, $26.98
A Jihad For Love
First Run, $24.95
Laid To Rest
Starz/Anchor Bay, $26.97
The Last Picture Show/Nickelodeon
Sony, $24.96
The Last Word
Image $27.98; Blu-ray, $35.98
Life Of Ryan: The Complete Series
MTV, $39.98
My Own Worst Enemy
Universal, $29.98
Notorious
20th Century Fox, $29.98/$34.98; Blu-ray, $39.99
Rhoda: Season One
Shout! Factory, $39.99
Ron White: Behavioral Problems
Comedy Central, $16.99
Sam’s Lake
Lionsgate, $26.98
Science Is Fiction: 23 Films By Jean Painlevé
Criterion, $39.95
Squidbillies: Vol. 2
Turner, $29.98
Tiny Toon Adventures: Season One, Vol. 2
Warner, $44.98
Top Gear 10: The Complete Season Ten
BBC Warner, $39.98
Voyage Of The Damned
Lionsgate, $14.98
The Wages Of Fear
Criterion Blu-ray, $39.95
Wolverine And The X-Men: Heroes Return Trilogy
Lionsgate, $14.98
The Wrestler
Fox Searchlight, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.99
X-Men Trilogy
20th Century Fox Blu-ray, $79.98)