Oscar favorites, out or coming
Martin Scorsese's Hugo scooped up five well-earned Oscars on Sunday though none were among the top awards, which went to Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist in the best picture and best director categories.
Martin Scorsese's
Hugo
scooped up five well-earned Oscars on Sunday though none were among the top awards, which went to Michel Hazanavicius'
The Artist
in the best picture and best director categories.
A poetic, magical-mystical paen to all things cinema, Hugo features Asa Butterfield and Chloe Moretz as two wide-eyed preadolescents in 1930s Paris who reexperience the birth of cinema through the eyes of film pioneer Georges Méliès (Ben Kingsley).
Filled with loving tributes to dozens of films, Hugo, released on DVD this week by Paramount Studios, ranks with the lush, exotic masterpieces of Scorsese's heroes, Michael Powell, and Emeric Pressburger, including The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus. (www.paramount.com/dvd; $29.99 DVD; $44.99; Blu-ray/DVD combo; rated PG.)
More Oscar-winners on DVD
The Artist
, which swept top honors at the Oscars, won't be out on disk for several months, but quite a few Oscar winners already are available or soon will be.
The Help. Walt Disney Studios' gorgeous adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's best-selling novel stars Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, best-actress nominee Viola Davis and best-supporting-actress winner Octavia Spencer. (http://disneydvd.disney.go.com; $39.99 Blu-ray/DVD Combo; rated PG-13)
Beginners. Christopher Plummer, 82, won best supporting actor for director Mike Mills' gentle comedy from Universal Studios. Plummer stars as an elderly father who finally comes out of the closet to his son, played with charm by Ewan McGregor. (www.universalstudiosentertainment.com/; $29.98 DVD; $34.98 Blu-ray; rated R)
Rango. Johnny Depp and Timothy Olyphant lend their superb voices to the funky characters in helmer Gore Verbinski's flick. The Paramount Studios film won best animated feature. (www.paramount.com/dvd; $10.49 DVD; $29.99 Blu-ray/ DVD combo; rated PG)
The Iron Lady. Meryl Streep won her third Oscar playing former British Prime Minister Dame Margaret Thatcher in helmer Phyllida Lloyd's biopic costarring Jim Broadbent, Iain Glen, and Alexandra Roach. It's due from the Weinstein Co. on April 10. (http://weinsteinco.com/; $29.98 DVD; $39.99 Blu-ray/DVD combo; rated: PG-13)
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall received the best-editing prize for the English-language film adaptation of the first book in Stieg Larsson's famed Millennium trilogy. Due March 20 from Sony Pictures, the David Fincher-directed film features Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara as an unlikely couple investigating a series of grisly murders. (www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/; $30.99 DVD; $40.99 Blu-ray / DVD + UltraViolet Digital Copy; Rated R)
The Muppets. Jason Segel (as Gary) and Peter Linz (as Walter the Muppet) teamed up for a stirring rendition of "Man or Muppet" from Flight of the Conchords' Bret McKenzie, which won the best-song award. Walt Disney Studios will release the picture March 20. (http://disneydvd.disney.go.com/home.html; $29.99 DVD; $49.99 Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy + Soundtrack Download Card Combo; rated PG)
The Descendants. Cowriters Nat Faxon and Jim Rash and cowriter and director Alexander Payne won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay for their version of Kaui Hart Hemmings' tragicomic novel. The film stars George Clooney as a Hawaii real-estate attorney who must take care of his children when his wife goes into a coma. It's due March 13 from Fox Searchlight. (www.foxsearchlight.com/; $29.98 DVD; $39.99 Blu-ray/ DVD Combo; rated R)
Midnight in Paris. Writer-director Woody Allen, 76, won best original screenplay for Sony Pictures' evocative love poem to the City of Light costarring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Kurt Fuller, and Mimi Kennedy. (www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/; $30.99 DVD; $35.99 Blu-ray; rated PG-13)