Matteo Garrone’s Pinocchio was nominated for 15 David Di Donatello awards and won 5 in Italy’s version of the Oscars. It has since been nominated for various other awards including at Oscars for achievement in Costume Design and Hair and Makeup.

While the original Italian version has been available for a while, we are only now seeing the release of the English-dubbed version that was released in select U.S. theatres last Christmas.

After several family-friendly adaptations of Carlo Collodi’s 1880 story had been produced, Garrone (Gommorah) wanted to go back to the grim atmosphere and satirical tone of the original, complete with depictions of cruelty and extreme poverty. He succeeds admirably.

Roberto Benigni, who played the title role of the puppet who wants to be a real boy in the disastrous 2002 version of Pinocchio at the age of 50, here, 67 at the time of filming, plays the more age-appropriate puppet-maker Geppetto to great effect. He is warm, paternal, and, ultimately, heartbreaking in his search for his missing “son.” Equally astonishing is the performance of young Federico Iepali in the title role. In makeup that took two hours to apply each day of filming, he looks like an actual wooden puppet come to life as do the actors playing puppets on a string that come to life before and after the carnival show.

Reportedly parents who attended test screenings with their children were mortified that the film would give their kids nightmares, but the kids themselves loved the film.

This wonderful version of the beloved classic is available on both Blu-ray and standard DVD.

H.G. Wells’ 1897 novel The Invisible Man has also been given a recent re-telling, albeit unlike Garrone’s version of Pinocchio, Leigh Whannell’s version of The Invisible Man does not go back to the source material. In the hands of the Saw writer it strays so far from the original material that it is an adaptation in name only.

James Whale’s 1933 classic version of The Invisible Man and its numerous sequels were told from the perspective of the title character. In this version, the protagonist is the fleeing wife of an abusive husband who has devised a way to make himself invisible. Is he chasing her or is it all in her imagination? It’s a horror movie, so of course he, or someone wanting her to think it’s him, is chasing her, and that’s all I’m going to give away. You’ll have to see it if you want to know more.

Elisabeth Moss, who has won numerous awards for her TV work in such series and miniseries as Mad Men, Top of the Lake, and The Handmaid’s Tale, finally has an award-worthy role in a big-screen production. In almost every scene, she is riveting from her first appearance to her last.

Although the main title sequence was filmed in Palos Verdes, California, most of the film was made in Australia even to the point of importing palm trees from the U.S. to retain the illusion that it was made in California.

Leave logic behind and you’ll enjoy it.

The Invisible Man is available on both Blu-ray and standard DVD.

A film that I swear you have to be brain-dead to enjoy is Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984, which is only slightly less annoying than 2017’s Wonder Woman.

My problem with the 2017 reboot of the character was that it droned on and on with the origin story set in the Amazon more compelling than the climactic one which featured a ridiculous overuse of GGI (computer generated imagery). For no reason other than to remind audiences of the best part of the earlier film, or perhaps to allow for star billing for Robin Wright The Princess Bride) and Connie Nielsen (Gladiator), the opening sequence, which has nothing to do with anything that follows, takes us back to when wonder woman was a struggling wonder girl.

The main story takes place in 1984 when it could have fulfilled the prophecies of George Orwell’s 1984 if it weren’t for Wonder Woman who still looks likes she did in her 1940s incarnation in the previous film with no explanation given. It centers around a museum piece with magical powers discovered by mousey Kristen Wiig (The Skeleton Twins) and appropriated by over-the-top TV star Pedro Pascal (Bloodsucking Bastards). Of course, the wish-granting museum piece comes with disastrous side effects, including forcing the wishers into rescinding their wishes for the good of the world. That includes Wonder Woman having to send her newly resurrected airman boyfriend (Chris Pine) back to the netherworld. Pine (Hell or Home Water), who can be a good actor with the right material, is just as wooden here as Gal Gadot reprising the character she first played in 2016’s Justice League.

A bit of trivia: Jenkins’ father was first cousin to Richard Burton, who starred in the 1984 version of 1984. Her version falls far below that one.

Wonder Woman 1984 is available on both Blu-ray and standard DVD.

Arguably the best film yet about the nearly twenty-year-long U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, Rod Lurie’s The Outpost takes place in 2005 when U.S. military leaders had no idea what they were doing. The outpost of the title is set in the mountains below an overlook from which the Taliban can pick off and kill individual solders and eventually everyone there. Soldiers die. New ones take their place, and they die. Some survive to tell the story.

Lurie’s best film since 2008’s Nothing but the Truth features splendid performances by the entire cast which includes the sons of Clint Eastwood (Scott Eastwood), Mel Gibson (Milo Gibson), and Mick Jagger (James Jagger), and the grandsons of Richard Attenborough (Will Attenborough), and Alan Alda (Scott Alda Coffey). Star billing went to Scott Eastwood, Caleb Landry Jones, and Orlando Bloom. Jones, who had memorable supporting roles in Get Out and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, is the standout.

This week’s U.S. Blu-ray releases include History Is Made at Night and The Producers.