Dead Poets Society

CHICAGO – I worry that future generations will only know Robin Williams for his late-career missteps like “Old Dogs,” one of the most truly reprehensible excuses for a film in the last ten years. Believe it or not kiddies, there once was a time when the man formerly known as Mork was one of our most interesting actors, a guy who spoke for creative freedom and starred in a string of critical hits, two of which were recently released on Blu-ray.

CHICAGO – “Nature is your jailer, and she is without mercy.” So says the guard at the Siberian prison that houses the leads in Peter Weir’s harrowing true story of escape, pain, and survival, “The Way Back.” It’s so desolate, freezing, and dangerous in the wilds of Siberia, that prisons barely need walls or guards. Where would people go? A group of seven men were willing to find out and their story has been documented in “The Way Back,” recently released on Blu-ray and DVD.