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Crazy Horse
Available on VOD beginning Dec. 11
For his new documentary, cinéma vérité pioneer Frederick Wiseman turns his cameras on a Paris cabaret that has been staging sexy burlesque routines since the 1950s, with a special emphasis on grandiose spectacle ever since choreographer Philippe Decouflé took over. Wiseman's film is all about the dancing and the preparation, as Decouflé's cast members contort themselves, while working with effects that conceal as much as they reveal. The routines are beautiful, and Wiseman's fly-on-the-wall approach is effective at recording aspects of a business that other filmmakers might miss: from the stress of designing a new show to the debate over whether a light is properly illuminating a dancer's buttocks. Anyone could make a film about naked dancers; only Wiseman would take equal interest in the person who sells the tickets.
Girls: The Complete First Season
HBO, $39.98; Blu-ray, $49.99
If Lena Dunham hadn't given her HBO comedy series such a loaded title, perhaps the conversation surrounding it this year wouldn't have been so focused on whether it's really representational of the life of young women in New York City. Because just as a TV show and not as a "generational statement," "Girls" is a treasure, dealing honestly, humorously and self-critically with the unique narcissism of twentysomethings. As a writer, director, producer and star — playing an aspiring writer struggling to pay her rent and keep her various relationships afloat — Dunham is refreshingly fearless and legitimately funny. The first-season DVD and Blu-ray come packed with extras, including commentary tracks, interviews, deleted scenes and a booklet full of Dunham's tweets about the show.
The Story of Film: An Odyssey
Music Box, $69.95
There have been many good documentaries about the history of cinema, but few as challenging and revelatory as Mark Cousins' film. Based on Cousins' own book, the film covers more than 100 years of filmmaking in 900 minutes, from the early experiments in motion pictures in New Jersey and Lyon to the effect of new technologies on the movies of today. Cousins' big contribution to the canon of movies-about-movies is that he doesn't examine advances in cinematic technique exclusively through how they affected Americans; as an Irishman, Cousins is more interested in how the art form developed worldwide, sometimes in parallel and sometimes in completely divergent ways. The result is a 15-hour film studies course with a strong point of view, containing insights that even hard-core cinephiles might find enlightening.
Ted
Universal, $29.98; Blu-ray, $34.98
Available on VOD beginning Dec. 11
"Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane's live-action comedy doesn't have the same frenzied gag-a-second approach of his TV series, but it's every bit as irreverent, and like the show it veers between the hilariously inspired and the thuddingly crude. Mark Wahlberg stars as a childish middle-ager who's having a hard time moving forward with his life because he's still best friends with the talking teddy bear he had as a kid — a bear who's now a foul-mouthed stoner. "Ted" is too slow-paced, and it's fairly weak as a belated coming-of-age story. But pretty much every time the MacFarlane-voiced Ted opens his mouth, the movie becomes one of the funniest in years. The DVD and Blu-ray add a MacFarlane/Wahlberg commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes and deleted scenes.
And …
The Bourne Legacy
Universal, $29.98; Blu-ray, $34.98
Available on VOD beginning Dec. 11
Ice Age: Continental Drift
20th Century Fox, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.99/$49.99
