Paramount Pictures has released two terrific films directed by Steven Spielberg from 2002 and Arrow Video gifts us a John Boorman classic from 1981 and a cult head scratcher from 1979.
Excalibur — 4K-UHD/Blu-ray — Arrow Video
There have been tons of incarnations of the King Arthur saga on stage, screen and television. Camelot is arguably the most famous, brought to life in all three mediums.
And while I am a big fan of the rather bloated but stunning Joshua Logan adaptation of the Lerner & Loewe musical, my favorite visual telling of the tale is John Boorman’s gloriously wicked 1981 epic work, Excalibur, which makes its way to 4K-UHD via a brand new 4K restoration from the original 35mm negative, thanks to Arrow Films, and presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, for the first time on home video. And it’s a wonder to behold!
This is Boorman’s masterwork (along with Deliverance), based on Le Morte d’Arthur by Thomas Mallory, screenplay by Rospo Pallenberg and Boorman.
The sometimes convoluted, but always riveting, plot involves the great wizard Merlin (Nicole Williamson in one of his best screen roles) who obtains the sword Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake for the gruff Uther Pendragon (Gabriel Byrne, in his first major film), crowning him King of the Britons. Uther’s lust overtakes him and he insists that Merlin cast a spell that will let him shag the wife of a Duke, without her realizing it is him. Merlin agrees as long as Uther promises to give him his first born. Once the child arrives, Merlin grabs him and when Uther attempts to reclaim his boy, he is attacked and, before dying, drives Excalibur into a stone.
The rest of the plot we all know from Camelot and other tales. Arthur (The Lion in Winter’s Nigel Terry), now grown, pulls the sword from the stone and is proclaimed King. He assembles his famous round table of knights, marries Guenevere (Cherie Lunghi), who, in turn, betrays him by bedding his most trusted knight Lancelot (the stunning Nicholas Clay).
Meanwhile his half-sister and now sorceress, Morgana (sexy young Helen Mirren), is on hand to cause all kinds of mayhem. In order to save his kingdom from the dark forces, Arthur sends his knights on a dangerous quest for the Holy Grail.
Among the future stars in the cast, look for Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson, and Ciarán Hinds.
There is lots of armor combat (a bit too much), magical sequences and some steamy sex between Lancelot and Guenevere. Boorman takes a lot of liberties with his adaptation, and most of it pays off.
This Arrow Video Limited Edition is truly magnificent, highlighting Alex Thompson’s gorgeous, Oscar-nominated cinematography. The disc comes with the original mono track and a 5.1 surround remix, both are fab.
The Extras are also fantastic, with three commentary tracks and a slew of special features, archival and new, including Neil Jordan’s 48-minute never-before-released doc, The Making of Excalibur: Myth into Movie—an excellent account of the difficulties in creating this monumental cinematic achievement. There’s a new chat with Boorman’s son Charley, who played young Mordred and would go on to star in the underrated The Emerald Forest.
Another disc includes the TV version of Excalibur as well as a retrospective doc that features many in the cast and crew looking back on the shoot.
This is special edition all cinephiles should have in their collection.
https://www.arrowvideo.com/p/excalibur-limited-edition-blu-ray/17631545/
Minority Report — – 4K-UHD Limited SteelBook Edition – Paramount Pictures Corporation
After winning his second Best Director Oscar for Saving Private Ryan but, ridiculously, losing the Best Picture award to Shakespeare in Love (thanks to Weinstein’s bullying machine), Steven Spielberg took three years to make another film, A.I. Artificial Intelligence. After that, it was non-stop for him.
In 2002, he had two films released, the first, Minority Report, teamed him up with box office sensation Tom Cruise, in a sci-fi thriller, written by Scott Frank and Jon Cohen, loosely based on a Phillip K. Dick novella.
Spielberg amps up the action and thrillingly has us revel in the futuristic sci-fi milieu. At its core, Minority Report boasts an excellent and underrated turn by Cruise as John Anderton, a man who works for a specialized police department that attempts to capture criminals before they actually commit crimes. And how do they have this foreknowledge? Well, there are these three psychic beings called “precogs” who they have trapped in a pool of goo. Samantha Morton, then recently Oscar-nominated for Woody Allen’s Sweet and Lowdown, plays the keenest precog.
I won’t go into more plot detail, except to say that our hero quickly becomes a hunted antihero and must work against time to save his own ass. The film also features wonderful work by a very young Colin Farrell and the always fab Max Von Sydow.
The 4K disc, with just the film, boasts an immersive audiovisual cacophony (in the best sense). I can only speculate this is the best the film has ever looked. I did see it in its initial release and remember being blown away by it. The Blu-ray disc’s plethora of features are mostly brought over from the DVD edition, with many mini-docs on the making of the film and chats with the creatives, including Spielberg.
The film received mostly positive reviews and a Best Editing Academy Award nomination.
Catch Me If You Can – 4K-UHD Limited SteelBook Edition – Paramount Pictures Corporation
Released in December of 2002, Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can remains one of his most amiable, enjoyable yet insightful comedies, with a star-studded cast and a wonderful central performance by Leonardo DiCaprio, still fairly fresh off his Titanic success. The actor’s other release in 2002 would be his first teaming with director Martin Scorsese, Gangs of New York. Neither film garnered him Oscar attention.
Catch Me is the true-ish story of Frank W. Abagnale, Jr. who managed to elude law enforcement and successfully pass himself off as an airline pilot, an attorney and a doctor between the ages of 16 and 21. Many questions regarding the veracity of Frank’s story came to light after the film was released with Abagnale, himself, insisting that 90% of the film is accurate, but does it really matter when assessing the quality of the film?
DiCaprio’s Frank is a fascinating creature, who’s first motivated by a need to fix his parent’s financial woes and try and bring them back together. Soon, he’s lured into the allure of living the good life and impressing girls, specifically one sweet young woman, Brenda (Amy Adams, lovely in her first major screen performance). Frank is a charismatic charmer, and he learned from the best, his dad (a fantastic Christopher Walken). But Frank must always stay one step ahead of FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), who makes it his mission to catch the cad.
Jeff Nathanson wrote the dense script (that has some holes), and Spielberg directs with a joyous champagne-and-caviar style. But through all the dazzle and shock of Frank’s journey, we also become aware of just how lost and lonely the protagonist is. He’s really just a needy little boy desperate to belong, and to prove himself to the world.
And looking at it in 2026, it’s a treat that the movie remains tonally on antihero Frank’s side as he cheats the system that’s been designed to cheat the working class. In the hands of another director, this could have easily been a dark tale of a dastardly criminal who must pay of his crimes.
This Limited Edition contains two discs, the 4K-UHD with stunning visuals and a terrific audio, and a second Blu-ray disc with carry-over special features including mini-docs that explore all aspects of the making of the film as well as a look at the real Abagnale.
Catch Me If You Can was nominated for two Oscars, Best Supporting Actor (Walken) and Original Score (John Wiliams). Walken won the SAG Award but lost the Oscar to Chris Cooper for Adaptation. DiCaprio was Golden Globe nominated and should have been Oscar-nominated. But AMPAS has always been stingy when it comes to recognizing this amazing chameleon-like thesp’s best performances. He went on to be overlooked for The Departed, Revolutionary Road, Inception, Django Unchained and Killers of the Flower Moon!
The Visitor — 4K-UHD/Blu-ray — Arrow Video
What drug cocktail was Giulio Paradisi on when he was helming the arresting, sci-fi, paranormal trainwreck, The Visitor? Ditto screenwriters Luciano Comici and Robert Mundi? I mean, I love my people, but WTF? And how much money did producer Ovidio G. Assonitis pay John Huston, Glenn Ford, Mel Ferrer, Sam Peckinpah and an uncredited Franco Nero—who I believe was playing Jesus? Oh, and two-time Oscar winner Shelley Winters shows up a half-hour into the film to spice things up in the way only she can.
I would not even begin to know how to describe the plot. Suffice to say there’s a bombastic score, a truly annoying eight-year-old girl with psychokinetic powers, some really bad acting (mostly from Joanne Nail), murderous birds, a wandering Huston, and a very young Lance Henriksen, who, often, looks quite confused. Imagine how the viewers feel. All of it edited in some celluloid blender. Oh, and did I mention the very strange ice-skating scene where the annoying young girl attacks a bunch of teen boys. You have to see it to believe it.
This mega mess seems to want to be The Exorcist, The Omen, The Bad Seed and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. But it achieves something closer to Exorcist II: The Heretic.
The Visitor had a very spotty initial release but gained popularity when it was released on DVD in 2010 and then remastered in 2014.
For the many cult followers of this film, Arrow Video has gifted them with an outstanding 4K-UHD/Blu ray presentation —a new 4K restoration of the 109-min European version of the film from the original 35mm camera negative — with Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible); original lossless mono audio and an optional remixed 5.1 DTS-HD MA surround audio. There’s a brand-new audio commentary and visual essays as well as archival chats with Henriksen and other creatives.
I can’t not (double negative intended) recommend this film, simply because you just have to see it to grasp the insanity.
Incidentally the director made two obscure films before this travesty, and two Italian comedies afterwards. That’s it. Imagine.
https://www.arrowvideo.com/p/the-visitor-limited-edition-4k-uhd/17631543/
