'Forever Strong' and 'Bug's Life' new to DVD

Published: Friday, May 29, 2009 8:11 p.m. MDT
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The bonus features include an interesting "first draft" featurette of the original story treatment, narrated by Dave Foley.

Extras: widescreen, audio commentary, featurettes, short cartoons ("Geri's Game," "The Grasshopper and the Ants"), bloopers, trailers; digital copy of film

"Man Hunt" (Fox, 1941, b/w, $14.98). This intense, well-paced thriller from director Fritz Lang — released before the United States entered World War II — gets a real boost from star Walter Pidgeon, youthful and charming as an English big-game hunter in Germany who attempts to assassinate Hitler in the film's opening moments.

He fails, of course and is captured before escaping back to London, where he spends the rest of the film being chased by Nazis. Also impressive are Joan Bennett, a very young Roddy McDowall and John Carradine.

Extras: full frame, audio commentary, featurettes, photo/artwork galleries; trailer

Story continues below

"Falling Down" (Warner/Blu-ray, 1992; R for violence, language; $34.99). In this popular early-'90s melodrama, Michael Douglas is supposed to be Mr. Middle-America, an everyman who goes berserk because of all the frustrations piled on by everyone who has wronged him, as well as by city life in general.

But because we learn early on that he has apparently needed an anger-management course for some time, he seems more like just a scary nutjob. It's easier to identify with the retiring cop (vividly played by Robert Duvall) who is tracking Douglas on a hot summer day in Los Angeles.

But however it plays for you, "Falling Down" remains a chilling commentary on a society that often seems to be upside-down and in need of repair. Barbara Hershey is effective as Douglas' estranged wife.

Extras: widescreen, audio commentary (by Douglas and director Joel Schumacher), featurette, trailer; 34-page booklet attached to the cover (the entire Blu-ray package is designed as a sort of small book) (also on DVD, $19.98)

"Revolution Revisited" (Warner, 1985, PG-13, $19.98). After watching this disc's bonus feature — a discussion with star Al Pacino and director Hugh Hudson more than two decades after they made this epic depiction of the Revolutionary War — it's easy to see why they would want to salvage it. They remain passionately convinced that the film — barely released after being vilified by critics — was treated unfairly and that it may be rediscovered on DVD.

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Chris Hick we all really miss your reviews.

A Reader | May 30, 2009 at 6:52 p.m.

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Crane Movie Company

Sean Faris and Nathan West in "Forever Strong," a feel-good sports movie that was filmed in Salt Lake City.

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