Page 26 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • May 21, 2014 DVD releases (continued from Restaurant page) her status while Rose trains with her mentor and love inter- est, Dimitri (Danila Kozlovsky), to guarantee her place as Lissa’s guardian. Rose will go to any extreme to protect Lissa from those within the academy walls who intend to exploit her and from the Strigoi (immortal, evil vampires) who hunt her kind from outside its sanctuary. This is another picture based on young adult fiction that combines teenage angst, romance, and supernatural crea- tures. Since the “Twilight” series hit screens, the vampire of legend has been reduced from evil, nocturnal predator to pale-faced fashion-model types. “Vampire Academy” unimaginatively continues with that portrayal. The acting is mediocre at best and the entire film exudes a profound sense of déjà vu. Special features on the Blu-ray release include alternate opening, deleted scenes, and a conversa- tion with author Richelle Mead. “Grand Piano” (Magnolia), inspired by Alfred Hitch- cock’s “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” never achieves the caliber of the Hitchcock film, but it is a neat thriller in its own right. Tom Selznick (Elijah Wood) is the most tal- ented pianist of his generation but has stopped performing in public due to stage fright. Years after a catastrophic per- formance, he reappears in public for a long-awaited concert in Chicago. In a packed theater, in front of an eager, expect- ant audience, Tom finds a threat written on the score: “Play one wrong note and you die.” In the sights of an anonymous sniper (John Cusack), Tom must get through the perfor- mance and look for help without being detected. There are flaws in the script, but Wood does an effec- tive job of conveying Tom’s fear and confusion as he pro- ceeds with the concert under incredible stress. Though not exactly an average Joe, Tom is caught up in an extraordi- nary predicament and must rely on his wits to get through it. The mystery of why the sniper has fixated on Tom is revealed as the story unfolds and the suspense escalates. DVD extras include a making-of featurette, interviews, and a behind-the-scenes look at the film’s stunts and visual effects. “The First World War: The Complete Series” (E One) is a 10-part series based on the book by historian Hew Stra- chan. The in-depth documentary offers modern insights into one of the defining events of history as it explores sev- eral little-known campaigns and the major battles along the Western Front. Combining previously unseen film from newly accessible European archives with footage of the battlefields as they are today, the series presents a global perspective on the conflict. Rather than merely docu- ment the war in chronological fashion, the episodes relate events of the war to other significant issues, such as Jihad in the Middle East, the expansion of Japanese imperialism in China, German devastation of native African villages, Lawrence of Arabia and the Arabs, the rise of Lenin and the Bolsheviks, and the sowing of seeds for the Russian Revolution. The war, its causes, and results are examined in impressive detail, offering information we never read or heard about in history class. There are no bonuses on the four-disc DVD set.