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Star Wars: The Last Jedi disappointed hardcore Star Wars fans, but I liked it. It’s true that some of the plot elements make no sense, but the storyline is simple enough for even the most casual viewer to follow. The characters, both heroes and villains, are well drawn and played. All the actors are used effectively, including franchise veterans Mark Hamill and the late Carrie Fisher who are even more central to the plot than they were to 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Much of the plot, however, is carried by the younger generation of actors introduced to us in the last film.

Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, and Oscar Isaac are the principal good guys; Adam Driver, Andy Serkis, and Domhnall Gleeson are the principal bad guys; and Anthony Daniels and Frank Oz are on board once again as C-3PO and the voice of Yoda, respectively. John Williams’ score may be derivative of his previous scores for the franchise, but it is distinctive enough to earn him his 51st Oscar nomination, one of just four Oscar nominations the film received.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is available in various Blu-ray and standard DVD packaging.

Among the new to Blu-ray upgrades are Women in Love and The Age of Innocence from Criterion; The Lion in Winter and Joan of Arc from Kino Lorber; and The Black Scorpion from Warner Archive.

Ken Russell’s 1969 film of D.H. Lawrence’s Women in Love, a 1970 release in the U.S., established the careers of both the director and his star, Glenda Jackson, who won an Oscar for her much buzzed about portrayal of one of two sisters exploring their sexuality in Britain’s industrial midlands of the 1920s. Jackson’s performance, however, was the second most buzzed about aspect of the film behind the still-talked-about nude wrestling match between Alan Bates and Oliver Reed. Jennie Linden, as Jackson’s sister, was the fourth member of the film’s star quartet.

The Criterion release has a dazzling new 4K restoration of the film and includes two commentaries, one from the 2003 DVD release by Russell and a new one by screenwriter Larry Kramer. There are numerous other extras including archival interviews with the director and his stars as well as newly recorded interviews with cinematographer Billy Williams and editor Michael Bradsell. A 1972 short based on Lawrence’s Second Best produced by and starring Bates is also included.

The film’s Blu-ray release coincides with the resurgence of Jackson’s acting career. The soon to be 82-year-old legend is currently starring in the Broadway revival of Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women as an autocratic woman in her 90s with a mild case of Alzheimer’s disease. It might be a good time to revisit the productions that made her one of the iconic stars of the 1970s before she drifted into politics. Criterion also has an excellent Blu-ray of John Schlesinger’s 1971 film Sunday Bloody Sunday in which she and Peter Finch vie for the affections of bisexual artist Murray Head. The masterful 1970 miniseries, Elizabeth R in which she gave for many the definitive portrayal of England’s Elizabeth I is also available on DVD from BBC America.

Although it is much admired by some, Martin Scorsese’s 1993 film of Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence was a disappointment to others. The major complaint about the film, which is about societal norms and the constraints they put on members of high society in the 19th Century, is that it relies too much on voiceover. Even though the voiceover is by the always welcome Joanne Woodward, it doesn’t lessen the fact that its critics felt that the film should have shown more and talked about it less.

Despite the film’s somewhat mixed reviews, it managed to receive five Oscar nominations, albeit not for Best Picture or director Martin Scorsese. Daniel Day-Lewis and Michelle Pfeiffer were fine in the leads, but only Winona Ryder as Day-Lewis’ fiancรฉ and later wife, was among the Oscar nominees. Day-Lewis was, however, nominated for an even better performance that year in Jim Sheridan’s In the Name of the Father.

The film’s Blu-ray release features a sterling 4K restoration and new interviews with Scorsese and Oscar nominees, screenwriter Jay Cocks, production designer Dante Ferretti, and costume designer Gabriella Pescucci. Also included is a 1993 documentary on the making of the film.

The 4K restoration given Anthony Harvey’s 1968 film The Lion in Winter makes the long wait for the film to be given a Blu-ray release worth it.

The lion of the title is Britain’s Henry II, played by Peter O’Toole who first played him in 1964’s Becket, making him one of a handful of actors nominated twice for an Oscar for playing the same character. The film was nominated for seven Oscars including Best Picture and Directing and won three including Best Actress (Katharine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine) and Best Screenplay. Hepburn’s win was her third of four, behind Morning Glory and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and ahead of On Golden Pond. She tied with Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl in the first and thus far only tie in the category.

The film provided Anthony Hopkins, Timothy Dalton, John Castle, and Nigel Terry with the first major roles of their careersl Dalton as the King of France. Hopkins, Castle, and Terry as Henry and Eleanor’s three surviving sons, Richard, Geoffrey, and John, all vying to be Henry’s successor. Extras include Harvey’s previously recorded commentary.

With its brand new 2K restoration, Victor Fleming’s 1948 film of Joan of Arc has never looked better. The nearly 3-hour film, which was a disappointment at the box-office, had been cut by a third of its length shortly after its premiere. Most audiences have only seen the truncated version of Fleming’s attempt at out-doing David O. Selznick, the producer of Gone with the Wind, the film for which Fleming won his Oscar. The effort is generally blamed on his premature death from a heart attack at the age of 59 in January 1949.

Despite its failure at the box office, the film received seven Oscar nominations including one for Ingrid Bergman in the title role. It won two for color cinematography and color costume design, as well as an honorary Oscar for producer Walter Wanger.

The Passion of Joan of Arc, the Blu-ray restoration of which beat the Wanger-Fleming production into release by a week, remains the superior production, but for those wanting to see a dramatization of the events that lead to her trial, this Joan of Arc fills that desire.

1957’s The Black Scorpion has an exciting buildup to the main action, but once the scorpions take over, there isn’t much to hold your attention unless you’re enthralled by the early stop-motion cinematography that makes up the brunt of the film’s special effects. The sounds the scorpions make is the same sound the ants in 1954’s superior Them! made.

This week’s new releases include Insidious: The Last Key and Father Figures.

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