Forrest Gump: 15th Anniversary Edition

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Cast: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright Penn, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, Sally Field

(Paramount; US DVD: 3 Nov 2009)

 Amazon

Forrest Gump is perhaps the most maligned Best Picture Oscar winner of all time. Not even a new 15th Anniversary Box Set, fashioned like a collection of yummy confections (just like ‘Momma’ spoke about) will ease the controversy. Indeed, since it became a monster hit both in theaters and in the minds of award season voters, Forrest Gump fails about every test of cinematic classicism. It feels dated and of its era, the optimism of a pre-Dot.Com bubble burst awash in every eager, overly earnest narrative beat. It has the feel and focus of a determined epic, something that everyone involved believes is important without any of the onscreen scope or power to prove otherwise. Even worse, it’s become part of the standard bearers of satire, lampoons and spoofs of Tom Hanks’ take on the title character driving any available artistic measure deep into the ground. Oh, and did we mention it beat Pulp Fiction for the 1995 Academy Award?

Perhaps time will never be completely kind to this film, but the overall outrage over its existence is way overblown. In truth, Forrest Gump is a fine motion picture - nay, even at times, a great one. Sure, the whole feather motif is heavy handed and syrupy and the title moron as innocent everyman can get so saccharine and cloying as to almost cause diabetes. But Zemeckis is not some hack, manipulating his audience with false sentiment and unearned emotions. Everything about Forrest Gump feels natural and organic to the story being told. Indeed, it’s the tall tale itself, and not the way that Zemeckis presents it, that should cause the most consternation. Over the course of five seminal decades in the post-war “adulthood” of the United States, this movie takes the side of the jingoists and the patriots - and never once parts company.

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—Bill Gibron

Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection Remastered

(BBC; US DVD: 20 Oct 2009; UK DVD: 19 Oct 2009)

 Amazon

After re-watching the entirety of the ‘70s BBC comedy Fawlty Towers on the new Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection Remastered DVD box set, it becomes clear that iconic characters like George Castanza, Leslie Knope and David Brent (or Michael Scott) would never have existed if it were not for another abrasive, hopelessly un-self-aware oddball: Basil Fawlty. Basil, as played by Monty Python’s Flying Circus alumni John Cleese, is one of the most awkward characters in the history of television. And one of the funniest.

Having all the episodes collected together may remind the buyer that it was probably a good idea to end the show when it did, (a marathon-viewing-session pretty quickly reveals that the show’s formula only allows it to go in so many directions before it starts repeating itself) but the ability to watch classic episodes like “The Germans” or “Basil the Rat” whenever one feels like it is a prize well-worth the cost of purchase. The DVD collection also comes with a long list of bonus features, ranging from interviews with the surviving cast and crew to a documentary about the Gleneagles Hotel and it’s manager, Donald Sinclair, who inspired the character of Basil. Even better, every single episode comes with newly recorded commentary tracks from both the directors and Cleese himself.

Cleese’s narration is especially interesting, as he is not afraid to point out the aspects he is particularly proud of, while relentlessly nit-picking the parts he wishes he could change. He also waxes rhapsodic about the cast and crew, praising Booth for what he feels are her unrecognized contributions to the show as a writer and vocally admiring the physical attributes of the many female guest stars. Overall, he’s pretty pleased with what he and Fawlty Towers accomplished, as well he should be.

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—Alistair Dickinson

This is my pick for the finest DVD collection of the year. American Experience’s biographies of U.S. presidents are engrossing, definitive, illuminating and often surprising. You’ll learn more history in the shortest period of time by watching these shows than virtually anything else you can do. It’s the perfect gift for both the history buff and the political junkie, as well as for those who want to better understand the American present and how it has developed. That didn’t mean to sound stuffy either. These documentaries are seriously addicting, filled with stories that grab you more than the latest prime time soap, while being healthy brain food at the same time.

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—Sarah Zupko

“How do you like your murder? Well done, served with proper silverware and linen? Or rather on the rare side, and you’ll use the tail of your shirt to wipe your mouth? Depends upon your mood, does it?  Well then, for the evening you’re inclined toward a sip of the sherry, partake of any of the 19 discs of polite, proper mysteries adapted from the novels of Caroline Graham, enjoy sips of “evil lurking beyond the well-trimmed hedges of Midsomer”, but be careful, lest you get rattled and spill. We’re not that polite, here.  Rather perverse at times, in fact.

Fans of Law & Order will sink their teeth into the equally gritty Trial & Retribution: Set 1 (perhaps best washed down with a throat-searing scotch). They’ll already know Prime Suspect (same creator, similar gritty approach), and crave the depravity, moral ambiguity, and simply very bad, anti-social behavior on display from crime to conviction, here. It’s all rather lip-smacking, delicious stuff.”

Trial and Retribution Set 1

Midsomer Murders - The Early Cases Collection

—Karen Zarker

What more can be said about a stellar product that sells itself? A little bit more enthusiasm won’t hurt. High-quality sound and video? Check. Excellent concert footage? Check. In this third in the series set: Sonny Rollins, Cannonball Adderlley, Bill Evans, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Lionel Hampton and Oscar Peterson. Bonus disc: performances by Nina Simone, Sonny Rollins and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. If the jazz fan in your household does not already have Series 1 and 2 of this fine collection, then really make her happy and buy her all three sets. They will stay with her as long as she draws breath.

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—Karen Zarker

In a league of his own, the most popular of the blood hounds is inarguably the petit Belgian brainbox Hercule Poirot, master sleuth of Agatha Christie’s sophisticated and ingeniously plotted whodunit novels; and the only fictional character ever to have been granted an obituary on the front cover of The New York Times. He is generally pitted against a superior class of criminal which at least has the decency to provide a bit of a challenge.  So, to, will this box set provide a bit of a challenge—and a measure of satisfaction—for the one in your life who is obsessed with fictional renditions of murder most foul.

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—Emma Simmonds