Vivien Leigh

CHICAGO – Marlon Brando was at or near the peak of his screen charisma when Elia Kazan tapped him to star in his adaptation of Tennesse Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire,” recently released on Blu-ray in a digibook edition with a booklet about the making of the film but no new special features. The transfer is nice and the previously released special features are stellar, but this feels like something of a missed opportunity to do something a little more special for the HD debut of this influential film.

CHICAGO – Bringing the popular culture past back to life in a movie is always a tricky proposition. No matter what, there are always inevitable comparisons to the real thing.

CHICAGO – Marilyn Monroe will never go away. The iconic actress of a long-gone era is the subject of a new film, “My Week with Marilyn,” directed by Simon Curtis. Ms. Monroe is portrayed during a in collaboration with Sir Lawrence Olivier, and their characters are played with sublime grace by Michelle Williams and Kenneth Branagh.

CHICAGO – If local news reports are to be believed, nearly everyone reading this will go holiday shopping sometime during the upcoming weekend. To those of you that are considering a DVD giftset purchase like the recent release of “The Wizard of Oz,” “Christmas Vacation,” or even “Mamma Mia!,” you couldn’t do much better than the breathtaking five-disc release marking the 70th anniversary of “Gone With the Wind”.