Recently released on Blu-ray and DVD: Studio 54, When Harry Met Sally: 30th Anniversary Edition and the first season of the TV show “Instinct”.
Studio 54
Crowds lined up each night outside Studio 54, but not everyone was admitted. Sure, Mick Jagger, Calvin Klein, Liza Minnelli and Andy Warhol were waved through. But for the rest? It wasn’t necessarily money that bought admission to Manhattan’s most glamorous disco. Co-owners Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager didn’t like polyester, Travolta wannabes or “bridge and tunnel” tourists. From 1977-1979, they were on top and no one could challenge them—except the IRS.
The documentary Studio 54 is a story of the era after the sexual revolution and before AIDS, when decadence didn’t refer to rich desserts, and a post-Watergate America just wanted to have fun. Fueled by a cocktail of cocaine and Quaaludes, Studio 54 was a theater where private pleasure was enacted in public. Aided by the malevolent attorney Roy Cohn, Rubell and Schrager thought they were indestructible. But, like a cocaine high, the party came crashing to earth.
When Harry Met Sally: 30th Anniversary Edition
When Harry Met Sally (1989) remains the ideal Woody Allen movie for people who don’t like Woody Allen movies. With a veneer of Manhattan sophistication, it brings classic jazz and invocations of classic Hollywood together with a bankable cast (Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan). Nora Ephron’s screenplay about sex, love and friendship is witty while lacking Allen’s edge. In the Blu-ray’s entertaining bonus documentary, director Rob Reiner reminisces with Crystal about their friendship dating from the 1970s.
“Instinct: Season One”
Alan Cumming is engaging as a psychology professor who can keep a lecture hall entertained and can match Sherlock Holmes’ powers of observation. He’s coaxed into joining an investigation into a serial killer who seems to be his fan. And, just because he’s openly gay, this doesn’t mean he’s not keeping secrets. Cumming shines through the breezy plotting and overshadows co-star Bojana Novakovic as an NYPD detective. Cumming plays his part with a grin.
