DVD REVIEWS
AMY
(out of 4) Pop diva Amy Winehouse’s short and tragic life are examined in this outstanding documentary by Britain’s Asif Kapadia.
Winehouse succumbed to alcohol poisoning in her London home in July 2011, at the age of 27. She joined a parade of pop stars, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain among them, who expired at that fateful age.
Her tragic end is well known, as is the fact she won six Grammys as one of the most powerful voices of the new millennium.
The rest of her story isn’t as much, especially on this side of the Atlantic.
It’s all here, often painful to watch, in Kapadia’s expansive documentary. He employs the same dogged research (more than 100 interviews) and off-camera insights he brought to his 2010 doc Senna, which explored the life and death of Brazil’s Ayrton Senna, a legendary Formula 1 racer.
Amy brings together much previously unseen footage of Winehouse and her own words — in voice and via onscreen handwritten lyrics — to show just how much songs like “Rehab” and “You Know I’m No Good” mirrored her life and emotions.
The film finds the passion behind the tears.
Extras include deleted scenes, live performances and making-of featurettes. TERMINATOR GENISYS
(out of 4) Arnold Schwarzenegger is back, and he’s the only one really having a good time in Terminator Genisys. Hegrins like a Cheshire cyborg even when nothing’s funny, least of all the impending destruction of humanity.
Director Alan Taylor ( Thor: The Dark World) and screenwriters Laeta Kalorgridis ( Avatar) and Patrick Lussier ( Drive Angry) salute the first three Terminator films, delivering the CGI-enhanced sight of Ah-nold’s T-800 cyborg in three different eras, right back to 1984. (The Schwarzenegger-free fourth film, Terminator Salvation, is as forgotten as its title punctuation.)
There are new faces and character arcs for major supporting characters: Anti-machine matriarch Sarah Connor ( Games of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke), her resistance-leading son, John (Jason Clarke), and his loyal lieutenant, Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney), all played with dour authority by capable actors.
The plot threat about people sealing their Skynet fate by voluntarily downloading Genisys, the “ultimate killer app,” actually makes sense.
And Sarah Connor’s “Come with me if you want to live!” not only makes a great gender-flipped salute to T2, it’s also the year’s best double entendre.
Extras include making-of featurettes. Reviews by Peter Howell