Get the latest on Wrath of the Lich King on WoW Insider!

Indies on DVD: 'The Counterfeiters,' 'My Brother is an Only Child,' 'The Executioner's Song'

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Stefan Ruzowitzky's The Counterfeiters tells the true story of a Nazi plot to flood the US and UK with forged currency, using concentration camp prisoners to do the dirty deeds. Christopher Campbell thought it was "not quite a great film," while Kim Voynar wrote: "At its core, this is a film about courage and morality." Critical consensus overall was 94% positive, according to Rotten Tomatoes. The DVD includes an audio commentary by the director, deleted scenes, a "making of," interviews, and more. The film is also available on Blu-ray.

Set some two decades after the events in The Counterfeiters, the much lighter, sentimental My Brother is an Only Child "follows two brothers through years of Italian history," wrote James Rocchi. Though comparisons to the more ambitious and effective period family drama The Best of Youth might be inevitable, James said My Brother is still "a handsomely made, brightly charming pleasure in its own right." The DVD appears to be a bare-bones edition without any extras.

First broadcast on network television in November 1982, The Executioner's Song left a very strong impression on me. Career criminal Gary Gilmore (Tommy Lee Jones in a powerful performance) tries to go straight, taking up with young Nicole Baker (Rosanna Arquette in a startling, sexy, star-making role) before returning to crime and eventually killing two people in brutal fashion. Sentenced to die, Gilmore insisted on paying the ultimate penalty as speedily as possible.

Various versions have been floating around over the year, including a version for release in Europe that supposedly included nudity and raw obscenities. The DVD from Paramount/CBS claims to be the "Director's Cut" but contains missing / added / restructured footage, according to Paul Mavis at DVD Talk. He said that this version does not appear to be the fabled "European version" and was not terribly impressed, calling it "an interesting failure," so buyer beware.

NEWS
Awards (880)
Box Office (642)
Casting (4058)
Celebrities and Controversy (2010)
Columns (282)
Contests (239)
Deals (3330)
Distribution (1109)
DIY/Filmmaking (1922)
Executive shifts (101)
Exhibition (723)
Fandom (5210)
Home Entertainment (1351)
Images (844)
Lists (397)
Moviefone Feedback (6)
Movie Marketing (2559)
New Releases (2012)
Newsstand (4705)
NSFW (94)
Obits (314)
Oscar Watch (529)
Politics (875)
Polls (52)
Posters (223)
RumorMonger (2419)
Scripts (1716)
Site Announcements (287)
Stars in Rewind (87)
Tech Stuff (422)
Trailers and Clips (875)
BOLDFACE NAMES
James Bond (233)
George Clooney (158)
Daniel Craig (93)
Tom Cruise (244)
Johnny Depp (158)
Peter Jackson (137)
Angelina Jolie (171)
Nicole Kidman (59)
George Lucas (200)
Michael Moore (72)
Brad Pitt (169)
Harry Potter (187)
Steven Spielberg (311)
Quentin Tarantino (159)
FEATURES
12 Days of Cinematicalmas (59)
400 Screens, 400 Blows (125)
After Image (40)
Best/Worst (36)
Bondcast (8)
Box Office Predictions (97)
Celebrities Gone Wild! (24)
Cinematical Indie (4164)
Cinematical Indie Chat (4)
Cinematical Seven (288)
Cinematical's SmartGossip! (49)
Coming Distractions (13)
Critical Thought (349)
DVD Reviews (227)
Eat My Shorts! (16)
Fan Made (0)
Fan Rant (87)
Festival Reports (972)
Film Blog Group Hug (57)
Film Clips (35)
Friday Night Double Feature (40)
From Page to Screen (15)
From the Editor's Desk (69)
Geek Report (82)
Guilty Pleasures (28)
Hold the 'Fone (430)
Indie Seen (7)
Indie Spotlight (15)
Insert Caption (138)
Interviews (367)
Killer B's on DVD (80)
Monday Morning Poll (57)
Movie Games (2)
New in Theaters (324)
New on DVD (311)
Podcasts (123)
Retro Cinema (80)
Review Roundup (45)
The Scary Bits (9)
Scene Stealers (13)
Seven Days of 007 (25)
Summer Movies (45)
The Geek Beat (49)
The (Mostly) Indie Film Calendar (39)
The Rocchi Review: Online Film Community Podcast (39)
The Write Stuff (26)
Theatrical Reviews (1754)
Trailer Trash (475)
Unscripted (40)
Vintage Image of the Day (140)
GENRES
Action (5442)
Animation (1077)
Classics (1057)
Comedy (4975)
Comic/Superhero/Geek (2769)
Documentary (1412)
Drama (6105)
Family Films (1241)
Foreign Language (1595)
Games and Game Movies (318)
Gay & Lesbian (244)
Horror (2400)
Independent (3282)
Music & Musicals (953)
Noir (213)
Mystery & Suspense (911)
Religious (108)
Remakes and Sequels (3977)
Romance (1296)
Sci-Fi & Fantasy (3366)
Shorts (281)
Sports (294)
Thrillers (1973)
War (316)
Western (91)
FESTIVALS
Oxford Film Festival (2)
AFI Dallas (45)
Austin (24)
Berlin (90)
Cannes (333)
Chicago (18)
CineVegas (14)
ComicCon (138)
Fantastic Fest (83)
Gen Art (8)
Los Angeles Film Festival (9)
New York (56)
Other Festivals (302)
Philadelphia Film Festival (13)
San Francisco International Film Festival (28)
Seattle (66)
ShoWest (3)
Slamdance (21)
Sundance (608)
SXSW (279)
Telluride (81)
Toronto International Film Festival (437)
Tribeca (259)
Venice Film Festival (14)
WonderCon (1)
Friday Night Double Feature (1)
DISTRIBUTORS
Roadside Attractions (8)
20th Century Fox (658)
Artisan (2)
Disney (595)
Dreamworks (307)
Fine Line (4)
Focus Features (153)
Fox Atomic (17)
Fox Searchlight (183)
HBO Films (34)
IFC (132)
Lionsgate Films (430)
Magnolia (117)
Miramax (82)
MGM (203)
New Line (397)
Newmarket (17)
New Yorker (6)
Picturehouse (15)
Paramount (645)
Paramount Vantage (50)
Paramount Vantage (14)
Paramount Classics (49)
Samuel Goldwyn Films (13)
Sony (564)
Sony Classics (160)
ThinkFilm (117)
United Artists (40)
Universal (725)
Warner Brothers (1063)
Warner Independent Pictures (98)
The Weinstein Co. (483)
Wellspring (6)

RESOURCES

RSS NEWSFEEDS

  • RSS News Feed
Powered by Blogsmith

Sponsored Links

Most Commented On (60 days)

Recent Comments

Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in: