Aaliyah: The Princess Of R&B (2014/Lifetime/Lionsgate DVD)/The Better Angels (2014/Amplify/Anchor Bay DVD)/Far From The Madding Crowd (1967/MGM/Warner Archive Blu-ray)/Low Down (2014/Oscilloscope DVD)

Picture: C+/C+/B/C+ Sound: C+/C+/B-/C+ Extras: C/C/C/B- Main Programs: C-/C/C+/C+

PLEASE NOTE: The Far From The Madding Crowd Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.

Here is a set of character-driven dramas (mostly based on true stories) ranging from a dud to a few that have their moments...

Bradley Walsh's Aaliyah: The Princess Of R&B (2014) very badly tells the tale of how the talented singer on the rise (Alexandra Shipp) was taken form us too soon and was more important and influential in her short time as a star than we think. Yes, she would have been as big as Beyonce (who was also influenced by her) today, but a small plane back from an island music video shoot ended things tragically... and oddly a few weeks before the events of 9/11/01, which pushed her loss and legacy out of the headlines.

That is among the many things never noted in this trite, tired, lame 88 minutes with name-dropping, jaw-droppingly bad moment after moment (including a brief Gladys Knight moment so badly written and cast that it epitomizes how bad this all is) shows once again that no TV network can ruin and desecrate a real life story quite the way Lifetime does. WOW, is this awful, phony and soulless including full-length music performances that play more like filler. Aaliyah and the rest of us deserve much better than this desperate muck.

Extras include Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and iTunes capable devices, while the DVD adds an hour-long Behind The Headlines special from the network in 2014 that is more watchable than this telefilm.

A.J. Edwards' The Better Angels (2014) is produced by Terrence Malick and looks more like a bad imitation of his later works (he has been in decline in his last few films, sadly) than something new and fresh, trying to tell us the story of Abraham Lincoln's (Braydon Denney) childhood and how it may have affected him. Instead, we get 95 minutes of cliches, people in normal motion who seem in slow motion because they are next to trees & plants, would-be philosophical voiceovers that play more like an allergy medicine ad than a writerly film and predictable portrayal of his father (Jason Clarke) as an abuser.

Yes, we get a few good scenes, but they sandwich so many lame, forgettable moments that I never bought this as a whole and rarely thought any of the scenes rang true. Wes Bentley and Diane Kruger also show up, which helps, but even if this is based on the account of someone who knew Lincoln, the presentation is very flat.

A monochromatic illustrated booklet with a Director's Statement, Historical Timeline and comments from other behind the scenes talent is the only extra.

John Schlesinger's epic feature film adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Far From The Madding Crowd (1967) reunites the director with his Darling star Julie Christie and MGM was likely hoping this might be able to capitalize on her hit blockbuster success with them on Dr. Zhivago (1965), but the resulting film (adapted by Frederic Raphael) is just too long, drawn-out and slow to be effective despite some great casting, locales, moments and consistency that goes with more than a little predictability. Taking over a big farm, Bathsheba (Christie) becomes the object of the affections of the man who takes care of the farm (Alan Bates), the lonely owner of the farm next door (Peter Finch) and a soldier (Terence Stamp) who she becomes infatuated with.

No doubt this looks and feels authentic enough, not scarred to show how ugly and graphic things can get in this rough world, but the problem is one of not enough ironic distance from the material, so despite the immense talent involved, does not become the epic with an impactful conclusion it should have been. Still, it is worth a look but at 3 hours, be ready for a long sit.

Extras include the Original Theatrical Trailer and a vintage Making Of featurette.

Jeff Priess' Low Down (2014) tells the true story of a young lady (Elle Fanning) whose father (John Hawkes) is a great jazz musician, but his character flaws, bad friends and drug addiction has stopped him from achieving greatness. Set in the early 1970s, we see her struggles with both parents (Lean Headey solid here as her troubled mom), the help of her grandmother (a scene-stealing Glenn Close in great form), a boyfriend (Caleb Laundry Jones) who is her first connection to a better future and a convincing meshing of all the characters.

Thus, this is the best of the 'based on a true story' on the list, worth a look and is every bit as good as Whiplash, even if this had its predictability issues. I liked its ambitions too.

Extras include a feature length audio commentary track by Priess, Composer Ohad Talmon & film critic Ed Halter, a Behind The Scenes featurette, Original Theatrical Trailer, excerpt from the book and Interview/Q&A with Amy-Jo Albany and Flea.

The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Far can show the age of the materials used, but this is far superior a transfer to all previous releases of the film despite some soft shots and color variances at times. Processed in MetroColor and shot in real anamorphic 35mm Panavision, it is a good-looking film still to this day and on this Blu-ray, you can really appreciate some of the amazing work by Director of Photography Nicolas Roeg, B.S.C., before he became a major director and innovative filmmaker in his own right. Some impressive shots result.

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Aaliyah is competent, if not spectacular and consistent if nothing else, but the anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on Angels (in black and white Kodak film) and Down (also shot in the real anamorphic 35mm film format using Hawk Scope lenses) look a little better, have a more consistent style and should look much better on Blu-ray or a real film print.

As for sound, Far is presented here in a DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix that is based on its original 6-track magnetic sound for 70mm blow-up presentation. Though it seems some traveling dialogue and sound effects are not here like they should be as we get a little more action towards the front speakers and center channel, this is decent for its age and older mix configurations of the time. All three DVDs offer lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes that may have more surround activity at times, but tend to be weaker since they are lossy and are either uninspired mixes (Aaliyah) or quiet films (Angels). Down would most benefit from a lossless upgrade.

To order the Far From The Madding Crowd Warner Archive Blu-ray, go to this link for it and many more great web-exclusive releases at:

http://www.warnerarchive.com/

- Nicholas Sheffo