Great Flicks For Gifting Dad, Grads & Friends Part 2: Valkyrie & Revolutionary Road

Posted By Stevie Wilson on May 27, 2009 | 1 comment

This is part 2 of a round-up of DVDs that might make great gifts. What’s interesting is that most of these are holiday releases that made it to Oscar or Golden Globe awards– and thus are pretty much on the dramatic end.
ValkyrieSet in Nazi Germany, Valkyrie chronicles the daring and ingenious “July 20 plot” to eliminate one of the most evil tyrants the world has ever known. Tom Cruise stars as the loyal German nationalist Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, the mastermind behind the plot to kill Hitler and overthrow his fascist regime.

Convinced the Nazi leader must die at all costs, Stauffenberg joins with a group of similarly disillusioned officers and civilians whose like minds come together for a common purpose in the face of incredible odds.

Directed by Bryan Singer (X-Men, The Usual Suspects), Valkyrie boasts “…a top-notch international cast…” (Entertainment Weekly) including Academy Award-nominees Kenneth Branagh** (Hamlet, Henry V), Tom Wilkinson*** (Michael Clayton, In The Bedroom) and Terence Stamp (Get Smart; The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert), as well as Bill Nighy (The Constant Gardener, Love Actually) and Eddie Izzard (Ocean’s Thirteen, “The Riches”).
With over three hours of special features, the Valkyrie Blu-ray Disc includes commentary by director Bryan Singer and Tom Cruise, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and more.
The Valkyrie Blu-ray Disc will be available for $39.99 U.S. / $49.99 Canada; the Two-Disc Special Edition DVD with Digital Copy is priced at $34.98 U.S. / $45.98 Canada; and the single-disc DVD will be available for $29.98 U.S. / $43.48 Canada.
Review: This movie is not really worth watching. While you could buy this– and you might if you are really into war movies– you can rent it and watch the HISTORY Channel about the same event and get 1) more concise, accurate information about Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and 2) it will be more exciting!! HONEST! The trailers I saw in the theater featured Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg’s wife and children and you didn’t even see them on dvd. What’s up with that? Did it get an edit before hitting theaters?
This movie made me snooze. I am not a huge war movie fan.. but this was sort of like Pearl Harbor but much worse.

Revolutionary Road
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Reuniting Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet for the first time on screen since Titanic, the incisive portrait of a 1950s American marriage unfolds as an enthralling drama that is moving, thought-provoking and revealing. It also won Kate Winslet her first Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress.
The REVOLUTIONARY ROAD DVD and Blu-ray presentations include commentary by director Sam Mendes and screenwriter Justin Haythe, Lives of Quiet Desperation: The Making of REVOLUTIONARY ROAD and deleted scenes.
The REVOLUTIONARY ROAD DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs with Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround, French 5.1 Surround and Spanish 5.1 Surround and English, French and Spanish subtitles.
The Blu-ray disc is presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles.
The discs include the following special features in high definition
–Commentary by director Sam Mendes and screenwriter Justin Haythe
–Lives of Quiet Desperation: The Making of Revolutionary Road (HD)
–Deleted Scenes with optional commentary by director Sam Mendes and screenwriter Justin Haythe (HD)
–Richard Yates: The Wages of Truth (HD)–Blu-ray only
REVIEW: This is a great movie: very deep and more like being a voyeur inside a marriage that’s slowly devolving and disintegrating before your eyes. More about how two people who love each other and want to break out of their hum-drum life to follow their dreams: the question is will it split up their marriage?
Definitely worth seeing but it’s highly poignant. If you are having relationship problems, this isn’t the movie to see.
Stevie Wilson