Mrs.
Harris Goes To Paris
(2022/Universal Blu-ray)/Young
Sheldon: The Complete Fifth Season
(2021 - 2022/Warner DVD Set)
Picture:
B/B- Sound: B/B- Extras: C Main Programs: C+
Next
up, some comedy....
Anthony
Fabian's Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris (2022) is a new version of
the Paul Gallico novel with Leslie Manville as the title character, a
maid who is unappreciated and who wants more out of life. She misses
her husband and still has dreams. One of them is to get a Christian
Dior dress, despite how expensive they are. So to get this, what
will she have to do?....
The
film is part of a cycle of comedies with some drama and melodrama we
have been seeing for a few decades, the small films that have limited
budgets and seem to be big critical successes. This had some of
that, though this kind of film is not being made (and/or shipped to
the U.S. as much and maybe it is because there have been so many.
Still this has some good moments, even when it is a little
manipulate.
Versus
the book or other versions (I barely remember the Angela
Lansbury/Diana Rigg TV version) before, I can say this has a few
things in common with Stanley Donen's Funny Face (1957,
reviewed elsewhere on this site,) the Audrey Hepburn/Fred Astaire
musical that is one of the most underrated of all time. This film
takes place in 1957, focuses on fashion, makes fun of existential
philosophy in clever ways and lands up taking the lead(s) to Paris.
This is something I am certain the makers were aware of here, but
that's not a bad thing.
Manville
(Vera Drake, High Hopes, The Phantom Thread) is
able to carry the film well and the locales and sets used to recreate
the past are very convincing. The rest of the cast is really good
too including Isabelle Huppert, Lambert Wilson, Ellen Thomas and
Jason Issacs among the effective actors. It may not be perfect and
we've seen some of this before, even if you did not see any earlier
versions, but it is worth a look for most of the things that do work
here and the director makes some interesting choices.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer looks good and
this is a naturalistic, colorful shoot that uses the scope frame
well, plus it is also well edited and lit. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is also top rate with its
music never drowning out, literally or figuratively, the
dialogue-based comedy and drama. The combination is solid.
Extras
include Digital Code, while the disc adds Deleted/Extended Scenes and
a Gag Reel.
The
Big Bang Theory
spin-off sitcom, Young
Sheldon
(2017 - ), returns with Young
Sheldon: The Complete Fifth Season
(2021 - 2022,)
now available in a two-disc DVD set from Warner Bros. A different
take on the sort of formula used for The
Wonder Years,
the series looks at the character of Sheldon (played in adult form
famously by Jim Parsons on The
Big Bang Theory
who narrates here) as a young genius boy with a football coach dad,
his brother who is on the football team, and a twin sister - all of
which are the complete opposite of him. Growing up through various
trials and tribulations and blossoming into the geeky prodigy we all
are familiar with.
Season
5 has 22 episodes that span 2 discs and include the following
episodes: One Bad Night and Chaos of Selfish Desires, Snoopin'
Around and the Wonder Twins of Atheism, Potential Energy and Hooch on
a Park Bench, Pish Posh and a Secret Black Room, Stuffed Animals and
a Sweet Southern Syzygy, Money Laundering and a Cascade of Hormones,
An Introduction to Engineering and a Glob of Hair Gel, The Grand
Chancellor and a Den of Sin, The Yips and an Oddly Hypnotic Bohemian,
An Expensive Glitch and a Goof-off Room, A Lock-In, A Weather Girl,
and A Disgusting Habit on Disc One.
Disc
Two episodes include A Pink Cadillac and a Glorious Tribal Dance,
A Lot of Band-Aids and The Cooper Surrender, A Free Scratcher and
Feminine Wiles, A Lobster, A Armadillo and a Way Bigger Number, A
Suitcase Full of Cash and a Yellow Clown Car, A Solo Peanut, a Social
Butterfly, and the Truth, Babies, Lies, and a Resplendent Cannoli, A
God-Fearin' Baptist and a Hot Trophy Husband, Uncle Sheldon and a
Hormonal Firecracker, White Trash, Holy Rollers, and Punching People,
and A Clogged Pore, A Little Spanish, and The Future.
The
series is once again presented in standard definition on DVD with an
anamorphically enhanced
1.78:1 widescreen aspect ratio and a lossy 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
mix, both of which are of the norm for the format. The show is
presented commercial and watermark free, which is an advantage over
seeing it on network TV or most streaming outlets.
Special
Feature: Time Flies When You're Having Fun: Young Sheldon at 100
Featurette.
Young
Sheldon isn't too bad, but it's not as entertaining as The Big
Bang Theory was. Still a pretty clever idea that obviously has
carried five going on six seasons. Watchable, but not really
memorable.
-
Nicholas Sheffo (Harris) and James Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
