At long last, Warner Home Video will bring out a Bluray of William Wyler‘s The Best Years Of Our Lives (’46) on 11.5.13. Gregg Toland‘s cinematography isn’t show-offy, but it really brings the key scenes home. Like the Homer-and-Wilma wedding scene at the finale, which of course is really about Fred (Dana Andrews) and Peggy (Teresa Wright). Wyler and Toland hold on that final master shot (i.e., the second to last shot in the entire film) for nearly 50 seconds without a cut — an eternity by today’s standards.

Name one film directed by a celebrated director of photography (in this instance Wally Pfister) that became a critical and commercial knockout…just one. Name one successful film in which the lead protagonist (played here by Johnny Depp) is killed early on or otherwise doomed a la D.O.A. — people want their heroes to live and fight and see it through. Name one box-office handicapper who doesn’t think Depp’s box-office power-punch rep (a) was over-rated all along due to the uniquely weird Pirates franchise and/or (b) is definitely over in the wake of the El Flopperoony of The Lone Ranger.

Ryan Coogler‘s rightly acclaimed Fruitvale Station faces the verdict of Joe and Jane Popcorn today, and don’t kid yourself — it’s the commercial response that will either propel this fact-based drama into serious Best Picture consideration or slowly shut it down, depending on what happens. The critics have already toasted Coogler, 26, who has done himself proud and is on the road to a long career. Cheers also to Michael B. Jordan for his vibrant and emotionally varied portrayal of the late Oscar Grant, who was aggressively if accidentally shot by a BART cop after a melee on New Year’s Eve. Congrats also to producers Forest Whitaker and Octavia Spencer. Here again is that footage I took of Fruitvale‘s standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival:

If Nelson Mandela was in good health with prospects for several more years on the planet, it’s fair to say that Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (Weinstein Co., 11.29) might ( I say “might”) be looking at an iffy or marginal response. As things stand, the film will probably…well, let’s hope for the best for Mr. Mandela. Nobody lays things bare in this fashion except me. Backdraft: I saw Mandela live at the L.A. Coliseum in mid-June 1990. Me, my ex-wife Maggie and our two kids, Jett (two years old) and Dylan (7 months).