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Sherlock: Season 2 (Blu-ray)

"A matter has come to light of an extremely delicate and potentially criminal nature, and in this hour of need, dear brother, your
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name has arisen."
"Why? You have a police force of sorts...even a marginally secret service. Why come to me?"
"People do come to you for help, don't they, Mr. Holmes?"
"Not to date anyone with a Navy."

The second season of Sherlock delivers more of the same, and honestly, that's the highest possible compliment I can think to give.

Of course, anyone reading this review doesn't need a hard sell. "A Scandal in Belgravia", the first of these three feature-length updates of classic Sherlock Holmes stories, picks up immediately where the previous season finalé's cliffhanger left off. Those who missed out on the brilliance of that initial season -- Sherlock's incendiary wit, its dazzling visual flair, that extraordinary chemistry between Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Watson (Martin Freeman), and, of course, several first-rate mysteries -- would do well to start there instead. As for those who've already been initiated, rest easy that this sophomore season of Sherlock builds off the strengths of its fantastic, if slightly uneven, first year. As strong as that first series was, season two somehow manages to be better still.

"A Scandal in Belgravia" introduces Irene Adler (played here by Lara Pulver) to this incarnation of Sherlock. Here, she's a scheming dominatrix who's amassed a sprawling collection of compromising photos with her wealthy and powerful clients. Among them is a member of the Royal Family, and Buckingham Palace enlists Holmes' assistance in staving off yet another scandal. With his trademark supreme confidence, Sherlock announces that he'll have the photos back in a matter of hours, but he all too quickly finds that in Irene...[read the entire Blu-ray review of Sherlock: Season 2]

La haine (Blu-ray)

They are outsiders among outsiders.

Three young friends -- Vinz (Vincent Cassel), Saïd (Saïd Taghmaoui), and Hubert (Hubert Koundé) -- are trapped like rats in a sprawling housing project on the outskirts of Paris. Of Jewish, Arabic, and African descent, respectively, the three of them are marginalized even among a group few can be bothered to notice in the first place. They have neither jobs nor the prospect of work. They have nothing to do all day but watch as their anger festers...their frustration resounding back at them

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off of the endlessly gray concrete walls. Theirs is a life of petty crime and mistrust because...well, that's all there is. These three friends are hardly alone in that, and some particularly devastating riots break out as long-simmering resentments finally boil over. The toll that uprising takes is great, leaving one of their closest friends on the brink of death. In the wake of those attacks, Vinz stumbles upon a pistol that a cop inadvertently left behind. La haine documents the journey they're set on by the discovery of that .44 Magnum. Their fears are steeled. Their frustrations are heightened. Their marginalization by society at large becomes that much more crushing. It's the swift, brutal tale of three outcasts who've whiled away their aimless lives plummeting downward and are now heartbeats away from colliding with the pavement.

La haine immediately took the world by storm upon its release in 1995, and its reputation was only cemented when a series of violent riots erupted throughout France a decade later that virtually mimicked the events of the film. The prescience of this sociopolitical story is hardly coincidental. La haine boasts the craftsmanship of a masterful filmmaker as well as a documentarian's compulsion to uncover the...[read the entire Blu-ray review of La haine]

A Bullet for the General (Blu-ray)

Under the searing heat of the desert sun, a train screeches to a halt, coming to a stop just a couple dozen feet from the beaten, bloodied Mexican commander that's been chained to the tracks. The soldiers on the train who leap off to free him are picked off by some unseen gunman far off in the distance, who cackles and pounds on a small drum between shots. It comes down to the life of the man in front of them

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trapped in those massive chains or the many lives of the passengers on the train. It's an obvious decision but a difficult one to make just the same. With the blood of that hostage painting the tracks behind them, the train is eventually on its way again, and the marauders following feverishly on horseback could never hope to catch up.

A lavishly well-dressed, ghostly pale American takes a pistol from the corpse of a gunned-down soldier and works his way to the front of the train. After shooting the engineer dead and slamming on the brakes, this nameless man (Lou Castel) slips on a pair of handcuffs and waits for the bandits to arrive. As the thieves raid the train in search of weapons and slaughter every last soldier aboard, their leader, El Chucho (Gian Maria Volonté), speaks with great fascination with this American. He doesn't really buy that story about being held captive and trading an entire train in exchange for his freedom, but...whatever. El Chucho has what he wants -- a train filled with guns he can resell to the Mexican rebels -- and he's more than happy to oblige his new American friend. As El Chucho and his men ride off onto the horizon, victorious, this gringo announces that he's coming with them. A close bond is immediately struck between El Chucho and El Niño. They're not just...well, thick as thieves, but they become more like...[read the entire Blu-ray review of A Bullet for the General]

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Stuff I've Watched Recently

5/18: The Avengers (Theatrical)
5/15: Sherlock: Season Two (Blu-ray; Commentary)
5/15: Chronicle (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo +Digital Copy) (Blu-ray)
5/13: Sherlock: Season Two (Blu-ray)
5/12: Ten Years of La Haine (Blu-ray)
5/12: La Haine (The Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray; Commentary)
5/12: La Haine (The Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray)
5/11: Demons (Blu-ray)
5/6: Gian Maria Volonté: Un Attore Contro (DVD)
5/6: A Bullet for the General (Blu-ray)
4/29: Topaz (DVD)
4/29: The Organizer (Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray)
4/29: Underworld: Awakening (Blu-ray)
4/28: Underworld: Awakening (Blu-ray; Commentary)
4/28: Underworld: Awakening (Blu-ray)