The Wrap Up ...
300
Two Disc
Special Edition
After 300 debuted last March to unexpectedly impressive box-office numbers, it re-kindled the eternal debate over whether critics should reflect popular tastes or maintain their own standards. Naturally, newspaper editors fretted over the apparent disconnect between pundits and their diminishing circulation base. In all likelihood, the people who ignored the opening-weekend reviews of 300 also had better things to do than add fuel to controversy by reading about it. Hey, it's a movie … a movie that looks very much like the graphic novel from which it was adapted and, therefore, different than other movies. The story of the Battle of Thermopylae is timeless, and would be exciting and inspirational, even if it were performed by the Muppets. You either buy the highly stylized CGI conceits, or you don't … next movie.
Just as they did for the 2005 adaptation of Frank Miller's Sin City, the actors performed in front of green and blue screens, and were added to digitally created backgrounds or digitally enhanced scenes of real skies and landscapes. Facts are fudged, and the filmmakers took liberties with Frank Miller's novel, but 300 not only is more entertaining than Troy and Alexander, but it also is nearly an hour shorter. A second disc adds interviews with Miller, the filmmakers and historians, as well as making-of featurettes and a couple of deleted scenes. For a more historically accurate take on the same epochal battle, there's The History Channel Presents 'Last Stand of the 300: The Legendary Battle at Thermopylae.' It expands on the circumstances that led up to and followed the Spartans' stand against the Persian army, and adds even more analysis by scholars. The re-enactments aren't quite as much fun, however. -- Gary Dretzka
MCN Review: It's a distinctly otherworldly tapestry, a bloody, violent storybook-look imagining of the 480 B.C. battle at Thermopylae, as well as blunt assertions on the nature of masculinity, war-making and murder. This is grandiloquent, bravura, exquisitely inventive movie-making, but since its subject is vainglorious battle to the death of civilization, one of several tempests in a crackpot about 300, highlighted by a thumbsucker in the Sunday New York Times, is the venture that the movie is intended as commentary on the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
Zodiac
With the Zodiac and Zebra killers, the Black Panthers, Hell's Angels, SLA and Dirty Harry wannabes, the San Francisco Bay Area was a dangerous place to be an innocent bystander in the late-'60s and early-'70s. All sorts of people got in the way of bullets and blades, simply by being in the wrong place at the right time. The Zodiac murders were especially perplexing in that the killer appeared to be toying with the police, and was clever enough not to be captured. In their thoroughly engrossing procedural, director David Fincher and cinematographer Harris Savides effectively reconstructed the distinctly NorCal look, as well as the climate of fear that covered the region like a dense fog. In addition to the police, the hunt for Zodiac was mounted by a pair of dogged journalists employed by the San Francisco Chronicle. Robert Downey Jr. is perfectly cast as an increasingly dissipated crime reporter, while Jake Gyllenhaal plays a rookie editorial cartoonist with a gift for solving puzzles. Both are tolerated, at least, by police investigators in several distinctly different municipalities. It's Mark Ruffalo's homicide investigator who takes the murders most personally and remains haunted for the duration of the case. -- Gary Dretzka
Hot Fuzz
What Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg did for zombie movies in Shaun of the Dead, they repeated for the police genre in Hot Fuzz. Watch it alongside Jim Abrahams and the Zucker Brothers' The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, and you won't be able to look at a cop or bobby without trying to stifle a chuckle. Here, a rough-and-tumble London police officer is transferred to one of the quietest and most quaint villages in England. It seems that Nick Angel has been doing too good a job, and is being punished for making his fellow officers look bad. Up until Angel's arrival in Sanford, the most serious crimes involve angry swans and loitering teens. Ace sleuth that he is, Angel stumbles upon a satanic cult and encourages the locals to join in the investigation. They make Barney Fife look like Kojak, but a bobby who studies Jerry Bruckheimer movies tries to help, anyway. What unfolds like a wacky episode of PBS' MYSTERY! becomes a shoot-'em-up hybrid of Die Hard, Bad Boys and Point Break. There may not be as many laughs in Hot Fuzz as there were in Shaun of the Dead, but the police work itself is credible … which is more than can be said for most other parodies. Cameos by Timothy Dalton, Peter Jackson, Cate Blanchett, Steve Coogan and Bill Nighy also add to the fun. -- Gary Dretzka
Perfume:
The Story of
A Murderer
After being translated from its original German, Patrick Suskind's 1985 historical horror novel, Perfume: Story of a Murderer, became an international sensation. As with most other such sensations, producers and directors clamored for the author's go-ahead to adapt the book into film. Among the A-list directors who expressed interest were Ridley Scott, Tim Burton, Martin Scorsese, Milos Forman and Stanley Kubrick, who reportedly deemed it to be unfilmable. Perfume also inspired Kurt Cobain to write "Scentless Apprentice", for Nirvana. Ultimately, fellow German Tom Tykwer (Run, Lola, Run) was given the assignment, and he came as close as anyone probably could to breathing life into the monstrous 18th Century serial killer, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille: one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages. Nearly killed by his fish-mongering mother at birth, Grenouille (Ben Whishaw, in a breakthrough performance) is able to compensate for a lack of personal odor with a sense of smell that allows him to detect subtleties, even in a crowded market, and apprentice under master perfumer Giuseppe Baldini (a wonderfully eccentric Dustin Hoffman). Further down the road, Grenouille's quest becomes that of finding the perfect scent to bring his own soul to life. This requires he extract the scents of more than a dozen young women, by killing them and reducing their body fats to essential oils. The spree ends with the death of a wealthy businessman's beautiful daughter. No need to spoil the ending, but the parade of naked women -- mostly in the moments before or after their deaths -- continues, even after his ascent to the gallows. Perfume is an unremittingly dark and gruesome exercise in human psychosis, but there's also great beauty to be found in the rural French, German, Spanish and Dutch locations, and in the faces of the ill-fated girls and young women. -- Gary Dretzka
The
Number 23:
Unrated Infinifilm EditionI'd like to be able to explain the plot of The Number 23 to you, dear readers, but I can't. It stars Jim Carrey as schizo animal-control officer who goes off his rocker after reading a book that lays the source of all human misery -- or, something -- to combinations of the number, 23. Carrey plays Walter Sparrow as if he were related to Fire Marshal Bill on In Living Color. Sparrow comes to believe that the book was written specifically for and about him, and, of course, he gets sucked into its bizarre mysteries and noir-ish characters (Carrey and Virginia Madsen exist in both realms). Joel Schumacher may not make the best choices when it comes to projects, but he's no hack. The Number 23 looks far better than it plays, and its gloss ineffectively masks the emptiness of the plot. -- Gary Dretzka
Starter
For TenSubstitute University Challenge, College Bowl or even Wise Guys … and Gals for Starter for 10, but retain the coming-of-age, underdog and romantic subplots, and this slight-but-smart British comedy might have stood a fighting chance for success in the United States. Even knowing that the phrase is to the real-life quiz-show University Challenge what Daily Double is to Jeopardy! probably wouldn't make Starter for 10 sound less like a foreign movie to Brit-phobic ears, especially those of the target demographic. DVD viewers tend to be older and more adventurous than the folks who haunt multiplexes on weekends, so, with luck, Starter for 10 could make back its investment. At its core, director Tom Vaughan and writer David Nicholls tell the familiar story of a smart working-class kid's struggle not only to fit in among his new blue-blooded classmates, but also to fulfill a dream handed down by his late father to win a seat on his school's University Challenge team. James McAvoy, who also starred in The Last King of Scotland, turns in another excellent performance as the young man who almost bites off more than he can chew. The soundtrack, comprised of hits from the early '80s, is worth the price of the DVD. -- Gary Dretzka
Factory Girl:
UncutNot having seen the theatrical version of Factory Girl, I have no precise idea which 15 minutes of new material were added to the new DVD and what they add to the narrative. Judging from the anemic box-office, almost no one else saw George Hickenlooper's original version of the Edie Sedgwick biopic, either. Just as well, because the awards-qualifying edition lost three whole scenes due to a money squabble. They appear to have been newly shot and added both to the uncut DVD and version shown at Cannes. If the media's current mad obsession with celebrity can be traced to two persons and a place, they would be Warhol, his superstar muse, Sedgwick, and the Factory. Until the ascension of the famously famous Paris Hilton, perhaps, no one manipulated the media as well as Warhol, and no one basked in the limelight as faux-glamorously as the blue-blooded socialite/model/actress/junkie. In 1969, along with Gerard Malanga (played by Jack Huston, in Factory Girl), Warhol created Interview magazine, for which celebrities chatted up other celebrities, while bold graphics overwhelmed the often inane Q&As. By this time, however, Sedgwick had long ceased to be a functioning member of the Factory, and was back in California battling drug addiction and mental illness. Sienna Miller does an excellent imitation of Sedgwick at her most vibrant and charismatic. Her descent into the abyss is documented with passion, but it's difficult to empathize with someone who pissed away her fame on clothes, drugs and fancy meals.
Yes, her father was a self-centered creep, her a mother a status hound, and the inevitability of tragedy came with the Sedgwick name. Still, the ease with which she allowed herself to be exploited can hardly he reason enough to care deeply for her plight. Once Sedgwick turned to someone more her age for love, father-figure Warhol (there's a laugh!) pushed his increasingly fragile superstar out of his nest. Among her boyfriends was a harmonica-wearing Bob Dylan (here, Billy Quinn), who was every bit as famous as Edie, but not stupid enough to commit to a long-term relationship with anyone so vulnerable … or, someone with whom he'd have to share a spotlight. Miller does what she can to remind us that Sedgwick was a real person, with human frailties, but, sadly, one on-screen junkie's demise resembles most of the others we've already seen. To his credit, though, Hickenlooper created a reasonable facsimile of the counter-cultural laboratory that was the Factory, along with the tragically hip leaches who offered little in exchange for their presence there. More than anything else, Factory Girl adeptly captures the rhythms pulsating through New York's artistic underground at the dawn of the age of 15-minute celebrity-hood. Hickenlooper stops short of comparing his poor little rich girl with any of today's fame whores, but it isn't a great leap to suggest Edie died so Paris, Britney, Lindsay, Nicole and Posh could boogie 'til they puke. Warhol would have had a field day with this lot. The bonus features include revealing interviews, making-of material, commentary and studies of Miller and Pearce. -- Gary Dretzka
TV To DVD
The Rookies: The Complete First Season
Gunsmoke: The First Season
The Crow: Stairway To Heaven: The Complete Series
The Secrets of Isis: The Complete Series
College Hill: Virgin Islands
The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman
Benson: The Complete First Season
Hedda Gabler
The Mormons
Weeds: Season Two
Star Trek Fan Collective: Captain's LogAmong the many, many TV-to-DVD packages released in the last couple of weeks are such nostalgia-inducing favorites as The Incredible Hulk: The Complete Second Season, Beauty and the Beast: The Second Season and the first stanza of Aaron Spelling's The Rookies. The series followed in the wake of The Mod Squad, but, this time, put the hottie recruits in uniforms. They included a former project resident (Georg Stanford Brown), a Vietnam vet (Sam Melville) and a good-natured, but otherwise non-descript white guy (Michael Ontkean). The Vietnam vet was married to a socially conscious nurse, played by pre-Charlie's Angels Kate Jackson. As silly as it seems, in hindsight, these were the types of series that forever changed the networks' obsession with straight-arrow cops, black-and-white crooks and by-the-book procedurals. Later, of course, network crime-fighting would be dominated by undisciplined street warriors (Hill Street Blues), shape-changing freaks (The Incredible Hulk), studly fantasy creatures (Beauty and the Beast) and busty babes (Police Woman, Charlie's Angels). I wonder how many hard-core criminals of both genders secretly wanted to be cuffed by Angie Dickinson and Farrah Fawcett.
Those of a more geeky persuasion probably would enjoy having their rights read to them by that historical super-heroine with solid desert cred, Isis. She manifested herself each Saturday morning on TV in the form of a magic amulet found by an archaeologist. In The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, a musician returns from the afterlife in the form of an undead mime with psychic powers and a spirit guide in the form of a crow. No kidding. Somewhere, Jack Webb was rolling in his grave.
Anyone holding out for a cowboy hero, however, could do worse than Matt Dillon, whose first season on CBS finally has been encapsulated in something other than best-of editions. The first season was remarkable for its gritty portrayal of a western cowtown that had the potential for collapsing into anarchy, unless good men stood up for law and order. The program and its star, James Arness, were introduced to TV audiences by no less a western icon than John Wayne.
College Hill: Virgin Islands is an extension of BET's reality series, College Hill, which was the cable network's answer to MTV's The Real World. The fourth season follows eight students at the University of Virgin Islands, in St. Thomas. They include native islanders and transfer students from California. Like most such reality shows, it is a composite of actual events and those of the clandestinely scripted variety.
IFC's reality-tinged The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman was a companion series to the premium-cable network's The Festival. Both series examined the Hollywood experience through fully jaundiced eyes, as would befit a comedy on the indie service. Laurie Kightlinger plays Jackie Woodman, who, in league with another industry drone, attempts to become successful in a business they clearly loathe. If they succeed, of course, they'll become the butt of jokes by mockumentary makers, too. Clearly, they'll take that chance.
Benson was a less-ribald spin-off of the snarky ABC sitcom, Soap, in which Robert Guillaume played a sarcastic butler to a house full of certified looneys. Here, the celebrated stage actor is assigned to get the household of a widowed governor in order. He also helps raise the state's First Daughter and offers political advice to her dad.
Diana Rigg played the title character in the 1981 television adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's classic play, Hedda Gabler. No sooner had Gabler returned from a long honeymoon than she realized how boring life could be with her well-appointed, if boring husband. She sees opportunity in a social network that includes a former boyfriend, classmate and local judge. Naturally, these clandestine friendships don't evolve in the expected way, and penance must be paid. As with most British period pieces from Koch, Hedda Gabler is fun to watch as much for the settings and clothes, as the acting. The fourth Acorn collections of Foyle's War and Rising Damp are also worth considering. The mysteries solved by Hastings chief investigator Christopher Foyle take place during World War II, and involve the first wave of Yank troops, possible sabotage, biological weapons and family intrigue. Rising Damp was a popular Brit sitcom, in which a totally unscrupulous landlord engages in skirmishes with his tenants, who aren't cowed by his bullying.
Between the success of HBO's polygamy series, Big Love, and the presidential campaign of Mitt Romney, the elders of the Mormon Church probably are trying to find a remote control powerful enough to turn off the spotlight on their religion. This, even though Mormonism has long been legitimized outside Utah by its roster of powerful politicians, successful business executives and fine singers. Still, the closer the scrutiny on the teachings of the church's founders, the closer it resembles Scientology. The incisive PBS documentary The Mormons provides answers to most of the questions that will be asked of Romney if he wins the GOP nomination. It's also represents a fascinating chapter in the American history book.
Mary-Louise Parker is a true force of nature in Showtime's splendid dramedy, Weeds, which is about to enter its third season of original episodes. Parker's Nancy Botwin is a widowed suburban mom who maintains her family's middle-class lifestyle by selling a little marijuana to her friends and neighbors … OK, lots of it. The second-season episodes demonstrate what can happen, even to soccer moms, when the competition begins to take notice of up-and-coming dealers.
Paramount continues to mine the mother lode of Star Trek, in yet another addition to its Fan Collective series. Here, however, the set adds fresh material to the 10 episodes selected by fans of all the various Trek incarnations. Each of the captains selected favorite episodes, as well, also agreeing to supply introductions and anecdotes. William Shatner is joined by Joan Collins in his 12-minute discourse on The City on the Edge of Forever. -- Gary Dretzka
Renaissance
The Contract
Todd McFarlane's Spawn: The Animated Collection
It doesn't seem possible that John Cusack and Morgan Freeman would appear together in an action picture, under the direction of Oscar-nominee Bruce Beresford, and it wouldn't be accorded a cursory theatrical release in the U.S. Even though much of this rustic chase-thriller feels overly familiar, The Contract, hardly qualifies as some misbegotten turkey of an idea. True, Cusack isn't asked to stretch too far in the role of a recently widowed high school teacher, who, along with his malcontent son, suddenly finds himself in possession of a pistol and a desperate assassin (Freeman), but he doesn't embarrass himself. The killer has escaped from the custody of U.S. marshals -- far too easily for my tastes -- and is attempting to re-connect with his gang when he meets Cusak's ex-cop. Ray Keene. Most of the action plays out in a scenic gorge that cuts through a dense forest. Freeman is always fun to watch, and his character here is as appealing as he dangerous. At various points in the chase, the teenager must determine for himself who's the most reasonable and responsible father figure. Fans of the actors and genre won't be disappointed by The Contract, even if the studio was. If nothing else, it's several time better than the typical straight-to-DVD movie.
Renaissance is a futuristic thriller, cleverly constructed from CGI and motion-capture technology and employing the voices of Daniel "007" Craig, Jonathan Pryce, Catherine McCormack and Ian Holm. The French export immediately recalls Blade Runner and Sin City, but it's also informed by the recent work of Richard Linklater and novels of Philip K. Dick. The setting is a decidedly noir-ish 2054 Paris, where a dominating corporation is holding out the promise of ageless beauty in its products. When a talented young scientist is kidnapped, a long and wild chase ensues. Directed by Christian Volckman, Renaissance is highly imaginative, but ultimately exhausting in its predominantly two-tone color scheme. Still, fans of sci-fi and contemporary animation ought to find something to like here.
HBO turned Todd McFarlane's wildly inventive comic book, Spawn, into a ground-breaking animated series. This 10th Anniversary Signature Edition contains all 18 episodes of the series, which ran from 1997 to 1999, as well as making-of featurettes, storyboards, interviews with McFarlane and character profiles. It involves a former government-trained assassin, who, upon his arrival in hell, is recruited as a soldier in Satan's army. The hellspawn isn't all bad, though. Back on terra firma, he protects innocents and destroys those who did him wrong in life. -- Gary Dretzka
James Ellroy: American Dog
A Poet on the Lower East Side: A Docu-Diary
The File of Anna Akhmatova
The Aquarium
Great African Films, Vol. 1: Haramuya; Faraw: Mother of the Dunes
This month's delivery of new DVDs from Facets Video was top-heavy with titles of a literary bent. The best is James Ellroy: American Dog, in which the so-called demon dog of American crime fiction recounts his twin obsessions with the Black Dahlia murder and the similarly brutal death of his mother, in 1958. The trauma from that incident caused Ellroy to seek meaning in life from sources not altogether reputable. When his talent for writing surfaced, the author felt blessed to have grown up in Los Angeles at time when it was a magnet for every restless crook and con artist west of Manhattan. American Dog is a must for lovers of mysteries and true-life crimes. The extras include footage from a staged reading; dinner-table conversations with friends; and a photo gallery.
Documentaries on Hungarian writer Istvan Eorsi and Russian poet Anna Akhmatova describe the challenges of being an artist trapped in a cage of political repression. Eorsi, who translated the work of American beat poets, was known for his sarcastic, often abrasive style and passionately held political views. Akhmatova wrote in the shadow of Josef Stalin, whose idea of great art was a bust of himself untarnished by subjectivity. The film tells her story through rare film footage, interviews (Boris Pasternak, Vladimir Mayakovsky), diary entries and photographs. Director Semyon Aranovich reminds us that Akhmatova's Requiem was embraced by dissidents and other victims of the dictatorship. Footage of her 1966 funeral was confiscated and held up the completion of Aranovich's film for more than 20 years.
Aquarium is a based-on-fact spy thriller from Poland that describes a covert Soviet espionage network reputed to be more dangerous and secretive than the KGB. Janusz Gajos and Witold Pyrkosz are extremely effective as agents who never really know the motivations of their bosses, where they'll go next and how their actions will effect mankind. The scenes depicting the training and testing of potential agents are worthy of a Kafka novel.
Facets' valuable new series of African films debuts with Haramuya, Drissa Toure's portrait of the capital of his native Burkina Faso, which is blessed with great wealth and modern facilities, but cursed by the kind of dug-in poverty manifest in shanty-town suburbs. Abdoulaye Ascofare s Faraw: Mother of the Dunes describes one mother's struggle to support her three daughters, after her husband is arrested for something he didn't do. Her triumph begins after she's been given a donkey and a water bag. -- Gary DretzkaPopeye the Sailor: 1933-1938, Vol. 1
The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection
This is an exceptionally good week for fans of classic cartoons … the kind that once preceded movies, instead of commercials. There are few more beloved characters than Popeye the Sailor and Woody Woodpecker, and these collections show them at the peak of their prime. The four-disc Popeye set presents the first 60 cartoons from Fleischer Studios in chronological order, fully restored from the original black-and-white negatives and uncut. Also included are the first two Technicolor two-reel specials: Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor and Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves; an informative booklet; commentaries; retrospective studies of Popeye and Max Fleischer; making-of featurette; and bonus shorts.
The Woody Woodpecker set adds 75 original theatrical cartoons, digitally re-mastered and uncut. Woody is joined by Chilly Willy, Andy Panda, Wally Walrus and Buzz Buzzard. Also included are such Walter Lantz side-projects as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Cartune Classic and Swing Symphony cartoons. -- Gary DretzkaTCM Spotlight: Esther Williams, Vol. 1
Classic Musicals from the Dream Factory, Vol. 2
James Stewart: Screen Legend Collection
The Doris Day and Rock Hudson Comedy Collection
The Joan Collins Superstar Collection
It's been a while since Hollywood has attempted to build a franchise around a champion athlete. The Rock probably was the last jock to sell tickets in great numbers, but his staying power has yet to be proven. Esther Williams was a prominent swimmer and diver when she was discovered by a MGM talent scout strolling through a Los Angeles department store. Her rise to fame in elaborately staged aqua musicals put America's Mermaid in the same company as swimmers Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe, and skater Sonja Henie. Williams' talents, however, weren't limited to looking great in a swimsuit. The new TCM Spotlight box includes Bathing Beauty, her first starring role; Easy to Wed, the Libeled Lady re-make; the swimsuit-and-sarong musical-comedies, On an Island With You, Neptune's Daughter and Dangerous When Wet (she co-starred alongside future husband Fernando Lamas and cartoon critters Tom & Jerry). Much of the fun here comes from watching Williams cavort with such marquee players as Red Skelton, Van Johnson, Keenan Wynn, Lucille Ball, Ricardo Montalban, Cyd Charisse and Jimmy Durante. At the ripe old age of 85, Williams remains very much with us. Her 1999 autobiography raised eyebrows when it revealed that her one-time lover, actor Jeff Chandler, was a cross-dresser, and, on the advice of Cary Grant, she participated in a supervised LSD experiment. Let's see Kristi Yamaguchi top that!
Most of the titles included in the second edition of Classic Musicals from the Dream Factory are new to DVD and, therefore, of special interest to collectors. Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, June Allyson, Jane Powell, Kathryn Grayson, Lena Horne and Mario Lanza are just a few of the singers and dancers represented in MGM's The Pirate, Words and Music, The Belle of New York, Royal Wedding, That Midnight Kiss, The Toast of New Orleans and That's Dancing (a sequel to That's Entertainment). Lanza is of special interest here, playing a singing truck driver in That Midnight Kiss and a singing Cajun fisherman in The Toast of New Orleans. His immense talent was custom-made for opera, but, after getting sidetracked by the sirens of Hollywood, he would realize only a fraction of his potential greatness. A new documentary profile, Mario Lanza: Singing to the Gods, is one of many bonus featurettes, shorts, cartoons and vintage trailers included in the boxed set.
Spanning 30 years of Jimmy Stewart's long career, the latest addition to Universal's Screen Legend Collection combines new DVD editions of Thunder Bay, You Gotta Stay Happy and Next Time, We Love with the already released Shenandoah and The Glenn Miller Story. Among other things, the diversity of roles represented here demonstrates Stewart's great versatility as a leading man, and his ability to play everything from a country gentleman in the Civil War to an oil-patch roughneck and band leader.
While sets of early Doris Day movies have begun showing up with great regularity, it's the mid-career titles included in The Doris Day and Rock Hudson Comedy Collection are what fans crave most. Sure, they're as corny and old-fashioned as a church social in Nebraska, but, as the White House passed from Ike to JFK, Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back and Send Me No Flowers were considered to be pretty hot stuff … by those unfamiliar with Brigitte Bardot and Playboy magazine, anyway. Even knowing that Hudson probably wasn't all that attracted to his leading lady -- sexually -- it's impossible not to be swayed by the chemistry between these two pros. Even absent the naughty bits, the romantic comedies still stand on their own merits as cleverly written romantic comedies. It's also fun to watch the fashion parade and interaction between the stars and supporting cast members, including Tony Randall, Paul Lynde, Clint Walker, Edie Adams, Thelma Ritter, Nick Adams and others more famous for their faces than their names. These movies have previously been released, but, at nearly $20 full retail, the set's price is right.
The Joan Collins Superstar Collection coincided with the Brit bombshell joining the cast of BBC America's wonderfully catty prime-time soap, Footballer's Wives. Even at 74, Collins can get away with playing a femme fatale and cougar on the prowl for young soccer stars (her character's nearest competitor for boy toys is almost 20 years younger). Collins was barely out of her teens when she appeared in The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!, The Sea Wife, Seven Thieves and Stopover Tokyo, and she couldn't have been foxier. The boxed set is loaded with extras, as befit a queen of the silver screen. Fans of Alexis Carrington should keep an eye out for Dynasty: The Second Season, which arrives on August 14 with all 1,058 minutes of the prime-time soap intact. -- Gary DretzkaYo-Yo Girl Cop
Dynamite Warrior
Kung Fu Hustle: Axe Kickin' Edition
The Shaw Brothers Classic Collection
Shogun Assassin 2: Lightning Swords of Death
It's difficult to imagine where exactly the ideas for contemporary Japanese action pictures -- post-Kurosawa, anyway -- originate. I'm guessing, focus groups comprised of video-game-savvy 5th-graders. Who else could come up with, "Recruited by a clandestine police organization, 'K' must stop a plot by student radicals to create anarchy in Japan. Armed with a hi-tech steel yo-yo, and a new name, she must infiltrate an elite high school to find the terrorists?" Actually, the title Yo-Yo Girl Cop is a poorly anglicized device to lure kids, for whom yo-yos still represent something of a novelty. The Japanese title, Sukeban deka: Kodonemu = Asamiya Saki, translates to Female Delinquent Detective: Codename = Saki Asamiya. Sukeban has its roots in a popular schoolgirl-action manga, which already has spun off three TV series, two movies and an anime. (Overflowing with uniformed girls, the sub-genre undoubtedly appeals to fetishists, as well.) Given all that, Yo-Yo Girl Cop isn't nearly as much fun as it ought to be … unless, of course, you actually are a 5th Grade boy and K (pop star Aya Matsuura) is the coolest girl you've ever seen. The film is largely in English, but whatever dubbing was required is painless to hear.
Even more crazy is Dynamite Warrior, a balls-to-the-wall actioner set in rural Thailand in the 1920s, a period roughly equivalent to that assayed in Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch. Here, the closing of the frontier is telegraphed by the arrival of tractors -- sold by a local potentate -- to replace the traditional beasts of burden. A range war ensues, but one that resembles something Mack Sennett might have choreographed in collaboration with Hong Kong's Shaw Brothers. In addition to the dynamite used to avenge the murder of the good guy's parents -- at the hands of a tattoo-covered cattle rustler -- the weaponry here includes a sort of bamboo rocket that can be ridden like a surfboard.
And, speaking of the Shaw Brothers, even casual fans of Hong Kong kung-fu thrillers should be excited to learn of the arrival of a half-dozen classic titles from the Shaw Brothers catalogue, under Weinstein Company's Dragon Dynasty logo. They include The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, King Boxer/Five Fingers of Death, My Young Auntie, Shanghai Express, Above the Law and The One-Armed Swordsman. As the titles suggest, they're a blast.
With Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle, Stephen Chow has emerged as one of the great directors in the genre, as well as one of its most prominent stars. Kung Fu Hustle was unusual in that it effectively did for martial-arts films what Blazing Saddles did for westerns. The special Axe Kickin' Edition adds new footage; outtakes; the making-of featurettes, Bringing Down the House, Dressed to Kill and Organized Chaos; a DVD-Rom game; and interviews with Chow.
Even after reading the background material on the samurai epic Shogun Assassin 2, it's unclear to me how this titular sequel was released six years before the arrival of Shogun Assassin. It required the cobbling together of several related titles, including Lone Wolf and Cub and Baby Cart to Hades, and other themes only a martial-arts purist could define. Suffice it say that Shogun Assassin delivers on its promise of delivering rivers of blood to viewers, and the wide-screen digital transfer enhances it even further. -- Gary DretzkaCashback
Sean Ellis' surprisingly charming -- and very sexy -- freshman feature began life as an 18-minute Oscar-nominated live-action short. After art student Ben Willis is dumped by his girlfriend, he tries to combat a debilitating case of insomnia by taking a job at an all-night supermarket. There, he is afforded is plenty of time to let his mind wander and conjure bizarre scenarios for his fellow workers and shoppers. One of his better tricks is stopping time and wandering through the supermarket, studying the people who have been frozen in mid-gesture but whose clothes can be made to disappear. While his motivations are strictly artistic, he's isn't in any hurry to break the trance by snapping his fingers. This entire scenario plays out in the original 18 minutes of the short. Here, Ellis extends the characters' lives beyond the short's clever ending by focusing on Ben's testy romance with a grim checker, Sharon, and the guerrilla war between their supervisor and other malcontent staff on the late shift. Young adults will especially enjoy the film's breezy pace and unforced sexuality. -- Gary DretzkaThe Host: Two-Disc Collector's Edition
The Bow
Tartan Asia Extreme
Equal parts creature-feature, cautionary tale and family melodrama, this off-the-wall Korean export won the hearts of critics when it arrived on American soil. That The Host didn't get the same ecstatic reaction from fans of sci-fi and horror flicks speaks volumes about the disconnect between paid pundits and the ticket-buying public. It begins in a Seoul laboratory, where an American civilian employee orders a Korean subordinate to dispose of tainted formaldehyde into the sewer system leading to the Han River. The Korean objects, but seemingly isn't free to ignore a direct order. This actually happened, in 2000, at an American military base, albeit without the dire ramifications of Bong Joon-ho's imagination. Through various unexplained mutations, a grotesque amphibious creature evolves from the ooze of the Han River, terrorizing unsuspecting locals. It resembles one of those hideous Chinese snakehead fish being found in ponds along the eastern seaboard, and, like the snakeheads, can live out of water. The monster not only eats humans, but it also kidnaps children. One of the young victims belongs to a family of misfits, who come together long enough to take on her captor. The Host is loads of fun to watch, all right, but a masterpiece it's not. It's the kind of old-fashioned low-budget horror flick that gets betters with each shot or puff … all in all, not a bad thing. The critics, I'm guessing, were watching a parallel Host, in which the evil American occupiers have inflicted yet another plague on peace-loving, clean-living Asian people … just like the nuclear holocaust that spawned similar mutated critters in Rodan, Mothra and other vintage Japanese films. But, then, those were entertaining, too. The two-disc set arrives with more bonus features than you would think possible for such a genre picture.
It would be a shame if the only thing Korean filmmakers appreciated abroad are those who toil on genre fare, however entertaining it may be. In the international community, Ki-Duk Kim is recognized as one of the premiere writer/directors in any category. Bad Guy was a study in sexual obsession and thug life, 3-Iron commented on materialism and the vacuity of ,modern life; while Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring was a lush mediation on time, love and enlightenment. The Bow also is about obsession, but, this time, of a more subtle nature. It is the story of an elderly seaman who kidnapped a 7-year-old girl, with the intention of marrying her when she turns 17. He provides for her, but, out of necessity, invites strangers to fish off his boat. He protects his investment from suitors with well-aimed arrows, also used to tell the future. A crisis arises when the now-beautiful young woman develops feelings for a college-age man, who uses modern music to open the door to her imagination. Kim doesn't put many words in the mouths of his characters, but his imagery and ideas speak volumes.
Tartan's genre label, Asia Extreme, showcases the psychological thrillers of modern horror-meisters throughout Asia and Pacific Rim nations. The latest installments in the catalog are the Thai chiller, Dorm, in which a tormented boarding-school resident befriends a student with some dark secrets; and Silk, in which Japanese ghost-busters go to extreme lengths to isolate and psycho-analyze a killer ghost. Cinderella describes one way facelifts can go bad; Shutter finds a clever way to make a hit-and-run driver pay for his sin; The Ghost requires an amnesic to investigate a series of murders that might reveal who she is; and Bloody Reunion is a slasher flick about a group of young people who reunite with their now wheel-chair bound teacher. -- -- Gary DretzkaBehind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
There have been no scarcity of movies spoofing slasher flicks in the past two decades. Indeed, there's been no scarcity to sequels of movies spoofing slasher flicks. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon differs from the self-consciously jokey Scary Movie series in its cool, straight-faced approach to the material. Unlike Scream, the characters in Behind the Mask aren't there to make fun of themselves in the hope audiences will laugh with them. Writer-director Scott Glosserman has imagined a world in which such genre giants as Freddy, Jason, and Michael Myers actually did walk the earth, and were well aware of each other's presence … just as would-be assassins Sirhan Sirhan, James Earl Ray, Lynette Squeaky Fromme, Arthur Bremer, Sara Jane Moore and John Hinckley Jr. were informed by the success of Lee Harvey Oswald … or, whoever it was that killed JFK. It is a mockumentary less influenced the work of Christopher Guest than Ricky Gervais' The Office. Leslie Vernon is an aspiring slasher who agrees to allow a camera crew to follow him around as he plans his first big score. Fortunately, for the perky reporter, Vernon is glib, knowledgeable and extremely generous with his opinions. Eventually, we learn that he's been merely toying with the crew, and, in fact, has been using them as a resource. Their interaction is entertaining enough to make Behind the Mask a slasher film for people who don't particularly enjoy watching teenagers butchered for the sin of enjoying sex. Adding to the fun are matter-of-fact cameos by such genre favorites as Robert Englund, Zelda Rubenstein (Poltergeist) and Scott Wilson, who also portrayed the ugly-American coroner in The Host. Slasher fans will find dozens of references to genre classics, and enjoy the extras package with deleted and extended scenes, behind-the-scenes featurettes, casting sessions and commentary.- Gary DretzkaLes Enfants Terribles: Criterion Collection
In addition to being the end product of a historic collaboration between two geniuses -- artist/writer Jean Cocteau and filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville -- Les Enfants Terribles is an exceedingly creepy tale of star-crossed siblings. Elisabeth and Paul live in the same room, share many secrets, play similarly obsessive games and are mostly homebound. Paul, being on the fragile side, allows his sister to protect him from outside forces and negative indulgences. When he is forced to leave school after being struck in the chest by a snowball, their world becomes even more insular. It takes the death of their invalid mother to convince Elisabeth to open her world to a small circle of friends and the eventuality of marriage. Things really get crazy when the siblings and their friends into move the large home of Elisabeth's husband (for one day). It's when Paul shows signs of love toward another woman, that Elisabeth concocts a scheme that will ensure misery on a Shakespearean scale for one or more of the extended family members. The bonus features describe the problematic working relationship between the two masters, both of whom had a personal investment in the project. Fifty-seven years after its release in France, Les Enfants Terribles remains fresh, fascinating and frightening … all the more so because the siblings' wavy blond suggests they may be the evil spawn of wrestler Gorgeous George or Liberace. - Gary DretzkaPoison Friends
Francophobes aren't likely to have their prejudices dashed by Emmanuel Bourdieu's chatty college-based drama, Poison Friends, as it opens very much like dozens of other French films in which the characters talk too much about themselves and behave as if they're the most important people in any room they enter. Patient viewers and Francophiles will give Bourdieu the time to demonstrate how the pretentiousness of the students, itself, is the target of his commentary. On the first day of a school year, several very ambitious and intelligent young men bond over common intellectual interests and career goals. Unlike most of the students in American movies, these guys understand that success can't be found at the bottom of a Doritos bag or at a kegger. The group's alpha male is an overbearing snob, who uses the words of obscure philosophers to bully his friends into seeing things his way. Insecure in their own ability to compete with their seemingly smarter buddy, the other students allow themselves to be intimidated by him. Time goes by, however, and each of the students finds a comfortable niche in school and in life. Meanwhile, the bully seemingly has moved on to a more competitive arena at UC-Berkeley. It's at this point in the story that Bourdieu lets his audience in on a little secret that eventually will rock everyone's world. Yes, Poison Friends will best be appreciated by smart people, who aren't afraid to feed their intellectual appetites. It's also true that, in the right hands, the core conceit applies equally to men and women of all nationalities. - Gary DretzkaBob Dylan: The Golden Years 1962-1978
Queen: DVD Collector's Box
Johnny Cash: Music in Review
Si SOS Brujo: A Tango Story
Jumpin' and Jivin', Vol. 1
This Is Tom Jones
Pop Legends Live! Concert Collection
City Life: Steve Reich/Ensemble Modern
Until recently, most film biographies of popular musicians and bands played out like elongated music videos, with no more insight added to the mix than what can be gleaned from the average Wikipedia entry. Apart from any laziness on the part of the reporters and producers, the shoddy nature of such films could be explained by an artist's reluctance to open up publicly and the high cost of licensing music. The titles being released on a regular basis by Music Video Distributors somehow manage to get around such obstacles by going the extra mile to find people who are familiar with the artist and the music, either as friends, family, fellow musicians and producers, and critics. Titles in the valuable Under Review series offer dissections of landmark albums, allowing talent other than the primary artist to comment on the music, creative milieu and collaborative effort. The Dylan set comments on the bard from Hibbing's early influences, growth as a musician and impact on the folk, rock and pop scenes during his most creative and secretive periods. A portrait of the hugely popular Brit band, Queen, is drawn from publicly available music videos and interviews with friends, journalists and club owners. The emphasis of the Johnny Cash set is on the analysis of live performances of early hits -- including duets with June Carter Cash, Carl Perkins and Dylan -- from fellow musicians and critics.
Fans of Buena Vista Social Club will find a kindred documentary spirit in Si Sos Brujo, which takes an enchanting look at big-band tango and its disappearing role in Argentine nightlife. Here, a group of serious young musicians attempts to locate surviving members of Buenos Aires' great mid-century orchestras, in time to preserve the classic charts of Pugliese, Triolo and Piazzolla and absorb the knowledge and musical chops of veteran players. Needless to say, the hunt is difficult, but well worth the effort. The tango soundtrack is a gas.
From Acorn Media comes Jumpin' and Jivin', a swinging collection of performance footage from such mid-century jazz giants as Cab Calloway, Artie Shaw, Louis Jordan, Fats Waller, the Count Basie Orchestra, Gene Krupa, the Treniers, Dizzy Gillespie, Lena Horne, Billy Eckstein and Duke Ellington. The material originally was made for Soundie machines, not unlike the DVD jukeboxes of today. Beyond any nostalgia value, the music and performances collected here are hugely entertaining and remain completely relevant artistically.
It's almost impossible to believe that Tom Jones remains nearly as charismatic and dynamic today as he was in 1969, when, at 28, he began hosting an ABC variety show. Equally surprising is the lineup of musicians and comedians he attracted to perform solo and in duets. Among the artists who appeared on Welsh troubadour's show were the Who, Leslie Uggams, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, Joe Cocker, Little Richard, Stevie Wonder, Peter Sellers, Richard Pryor, Pat Paulsen, the Committee and Ace Trucking Company. The three-disc DVD collection contains 270 minutes of diverse entertainment.
Baby boomers might enjoy revisiting a simpler time in pop music history, with such uncomplicated mid-'60s acts as the Association, Gary Lewis and the Playboys and Gary Puckett, in Pop Legends Live! Concert Collection. All of these artists sold stacks of singles, many of which still are staples of classic-rock stations. Their heyday was in the pre-psychedelic period on Top 40 radio, before albums made 45s virtually obsolete and guitar and drum solos were limited to about 10 seconds. The music holds up, even if the artists are getting noticeably longer in the tooth. In addition to the music, this set offers backstage interviews and other goodies.
And now for something completely different. Post-minimalist composer Steve Reich collaborated with German filmmaker Manfred Waffender on a documentary that traced the creation of City Life. In it, Reich used computerized instruments to combine an array of sounds from New York City street life, all in the service of a work for string quartet, wind, percussion and two pianos. The piece is performed here, as well, by Ensemble Modern in the Frankfurt Opera House.
Other new musical-oriented DVDs include performances of Nunsensations! The Nunsense Vegas Revue and The Kinsey Sicks: I Wanna Be a Republican, both of which will appeal more to gay audiences than anyone else. Nunsensations! follows a group of singing nuns to Las Vegas, after a parishioner pledges $10,000 to Mt. Saint Helen s School if the Little Sisters of Hoboken take their act to Sin City. To say they catch Vegas Fever is an understatement. The Kinsey Sicks pride themselves in being America's favorite dragapella beautyshop quartet, and, in I Wanna Be a Republican, the group headlines a mock GOP fundraiser. If only such things happened in real life. - Gary DretzkaDriving Lessons
Fans of Calendar Girls, Saving Grace, Enchanted April and such March-to-December relationship films as Harold & Maude will have a good time with Driving Lessons, as should the most dedicated adult followers of the Harry Potter saga. Rupert Grint, who plays Harry’s sidekick, Ron Weasely, here is assigned the task of being the 17-year-old sidekick of an over-the-hill actress who can’t let go of the past … or, what she remembers of it, anyway. Julie Walters’ eccentric portrayal of Evie Walton was informed by writer/director Jeremy Brock’s memories of working as Dame Peggy Ashcroft’s assistant while a teenager. If anywhere near accurate, everything that followed must have been a piece of cake. Still, Ben prefers finds doing chores for Evie preferable to helping out his pious mom (Laura Linney, in a bizarre turn) and dad at the local vicarage. The film’s highlight moments come during a road trip to Edinburgh, during which both Evie and Ben find much common ground. - Gary Dretzka
