The Wrap Up ...
Blood Diamond National Geographic: Diamonds of War: Africa's Blood Diamonds	Watching Blood Diamond almost four months removed from the all the critical hoo-haw that surrounded its release, is to see a movie that could have been made any time in the last 70 years. The political context is unique to the current century, perhaps, and the language and violence wouldn't slip past the Hayes Code folks, but Leonardo DiCaprio's diamond smuggler could just as easily been played by Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper or Robert Mitchum. Ernest Hemingway might have been commissioned to write the screenplay. Or, failing that, an ambitious head of production might have tried to persuade John Huston to both write and direct the film, but only if it were shot on location in a friendly African nation. At its core, Edward Zwick's unabashedly humanitarian Blood Diamond is the kind of epic adventure -- equal parts beautiful scenery, loud explosions, split-second escapes and half-baked dialogue -- that has kept Hollywood in limousines for more than 100 years. Jennifer Connelly pretty much disappears halfway through the movie, but not before her brave and sexy war correspondent helps clear a path for DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou to elude vicious warlords and corrupt mercenaries. Even if we have to take DiCaprio's Rhodesian accent for granted, there's no question that both men deserved the Oscar nominations they were accorded. As for the precious pink diamond that is the catalyst for all the bloodshed and moralizing, ultimately it serves the same purpose as the jewel-encrusted bird in The Maltese Falcon. (The discovery of oil, as one villager suggests, would have caused even more turmoil than that brought about by the exchange of diamonds for weapons.) The second disc in the special edition includes an informative Blood on the Stone documentary, as well as features on DiCaprio's preparation, women war correspondents and a dissection of a crucial battle scene. A more straight-forward examination of the same controversial subject is provided by Diamonds of War: Africa's Blood Diamonds, which also describes how Sierra Leone has been devastated by an insurrection fueled by the sale of conflict diamonds to amoral European and American dealers. In the 50-minute documentary, National Geographic correspondents escort viewers from the muddy pits of Sierra Leone, to the gem cutters in Antwerp, and on to New York, where they are purchased by newlyweds, socialites and hip-hop artists. -- Gary Dretzka
Eragon	Even though Stefen Fangmeier's visual effects wizardry has been honored with multiple Oscar nominations, it's difficult to understand why he was entrusted with a $100 million-plus sword-and-sorcery fantasy -- with human actors, as well as CGI dragons -- for his directorial debut. That it also was released by Fox in time for Christmas suggests the studio anticipated Eragon would capture enough of the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter audience to make the budget incidental to its success, and, perhaps, become a franchise movie. It made back about $75 million of the studio's initial investment at the domestic box-office, and, while that isn't chickenfeed, neither is it something to proclaim from the rooftops of Hollywood. The best-selling novel from which Eragon was adapted was written by Christopher Paolini, a 15-year-old who was killing time between home-schooling and college. It would be the first in his Inheritance trilogy … again, not to be confused with the LOTR trilogy. Here, Eragon is an 17-year-old farm boy who finds a luminous blue egg from which the dragon Saphira emerges. Airborne dragons once protected the country from evil-doing Shades, but were believed to be victim of a long-ago dragon-cide. The arrival of Saphira, and the teenagedragon rider, gives the citizens hope for peace. Fangmeier's visual-effects expertise is on full display, but the story plods along as if it were written … well … by a 15-year-old boy with a vivid imagination. That said, there's no reason to think kids won't find something here to enjoy, especially in the bountiful bonus package, which expands on the legend and adds some interesting making-of material. -- Gary Dretzka
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan	The comedic and commercial success enjoyed by Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat was remarkable enough, but, when compared to the mess that was Ali G Indahouse (2002), it was downright amazing. Even when viewed alongside HBO's brilliant Da Ali G Show, it was difficult to imagine how Borat's shtick would translate into an 86-minute feature film (with another 20 minutes of deleted material). And, yet, despite a R-rating, Borat grossed $128 million in the U.S., alone; was included on dozens of critics' top-10 lists; was nominated for an Oscar in the adapted-screenplay category; and reportedly led to the break-up of Pam Anderson and Kid Rock. It also sparked something of a political dilemma, when the government of Kazakhstan failed to find the humor in a British comedian pretending to be an overtly anti-Semitic reporter from a formerly Soviet backwater. You can't buy that kind of marketing. The DVD adds a Kazakhstan Bay Watch spoof, several deleted scenes of varying hilarity, an actual news report on Borat's rodeo debacle and extended coverage of the publicity tour. -- Gary Dretzka Movie City Indie: No, it's funnier, much funnier than you've heard, no matter what you've heard. Borat is a marvel of economy, even in its most excessive moments, with sledgehammer social commentary performed and edited with the most restless of touches.
Come Early Morning	Joey Lauren Adams moved behind the camera to write and direct this character study of a not-so-young-anywhere Southern woman, Lucy (Ashley Judd), who uses one-night stands and booze to numb the pain of an unhappy childhood and unrelentingly nutty relatives. The title, Come Early Morning, refers to Lucy's habit of leaving the beds of her temporary lovers at the crack of dawn, and without the decency of a good-bye kiss or good-morning shag. Even when the small-town construction contractor meets a guy who considers her to be something other than a cheap date, Lucy seems to go out of her way to make him as miserable as she feels inside. Although her malady pretty much can be blamed on an estranged father, who drank and screwed around too much, but played guitar like an angel. Lucy's road to recovery leads through a holy-rock-'n'-roller church, but Adams makes her rehabilitation feel organic within the context of the rural Southern milieu. Neither does Adams treat her characters -- male and female -- as slackers or peckerwoods. While they tend to drink too much, it's mostly because there's almost nothing else for them to do after work … or, in some cases, after noon. Although, at 38, Judd remains quite a dish, she's entirely believable as a woman who may not think primping is all that important, anymore. Certainly, dressing-down hasn't hindered her search for boy-toys. Ambitious viewers might want to rent Judd's breakthrough film, Ruby in Paradise (1993) in which she played a woman who could have been Lucy, at age 20. It will be interesting to see what Adams can do with something more complex and ambitious than a portrait of woman on the edge of a meltdown. For now, however, Come Early Morning, will do nicely. -- Gary Dretzka
The Nativity Story	Filmed in Italy and Morocco, Catherine Hardwicke and Mike Rich's The Nativity Story stands apart from most other re-enactments of bible stories, in that the depiction of the Holy Land looks far more authentic than a location shoot in Palm Desert or Bakersfield, and the costumes, dwellings, faces and dialects of the characters feel wholly realistic. Also noteworthy is the attention paid to narrative flow. Typically, the story of the Nativity is recounted with all the verisimilitude of a Sunday School tableaux. Here, the cast displays the kind of emotions one might expect when a pregnant woman claims her child will be the son of God and was conceived in her womb absent the formality of lost virginity. The screenplay doesn't attempt to provoke controversy or re-write the Gospels, and it arrived unadorned by special effects or other jazzy conceits. True, it isn't the kind of movie anyone familiar with the hyper-active Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown would expect from Hardwicke. Still, it doesn't appear as if she was merely fishing for a paycheck here, either. Her interpretation of the adolescent mother-to-be, Mary (Keisha Castle-Hughes), is sensitive, without being reverential, and attuned to what it might be like for such a delicate being to carry such a heavy burden. Unfortunately, the disc is devoid of bonus features. -- Gary Dretzka
W.C. Fields Comedy Collection, Vol. 2 The second edition to Universal's W.C. Fields Comedy Collection adds The Man on the Flying Trapeze, Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, Poppy, The Old Fashioned Way and You're Telling Me! Fields played conmen, slackers, drunkards and pompous thespians as well as anyone in the history of American cinema, and, in these vintage films, there are plenty of them to be found. Like his cartoon descendent, Mr. McGoo, Fields' characters stumble their way through situations that would try the sanity of almost anyone else. In The Man in the Flying Trapeze, for example, Ambrose Wolfinger decides to use his first afternoon off in 25 years to attend a wrestling match. The excuse he offers his boss is that he's required to attend the funeral of his mother-in-law -- normally, a day for rejoicing in any Fields movie -- but on way to the arena he has confrontations with a cop, chauffeur and an errant tire. Then, a wrestler is thrown out of a ring, knocking him cold. The boss assumes Ambrose's continued absence means he is dead -- due to poisoned liquor -- and this leads to even more misery, thanks to his wife and her family. In the end, of course, he triumphs. Besides the movies, the set includes a documentary, trailers and the 1965 television retrospective, Wayne and Schuster Take an Affectionate Look at W.C. Fields. -- Gary Dretzka
Re-Animator Masters of Horror: Pro-Life Besides an exclusive Re-Animator highlighter gizmo, the newest DVD edition of Stuart Gordon's cult favorite adds a 70-minute featurette, Re-Animator Resurrectus; commentary by producer Brian Yuzna, actors Bruce Abbott, Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton and Robert Sampson; an interview with the director, writer Dennis Paoli and composer Richard Band. There's also a discussion with Fangoria editor Tony Timpone, deleted and extended scenes, and all manner of marketing material. DVD-ROMs provide access to the screenplay and Herbert West, Reanimator, by H.P. Lovecraft. Cultists probably have quite a bit of this stuff already, but they wouldn't re-release this stuff if no one bought it. The latest addition to Showtime's highly entertaining cable-to-DVD franchise, Masters of Horror, represents John Carpenter's second contribution to the series. Pro-Life conjures a scenario in which the conservative father of a 15-year-old girl is asked to choose between becoming the grandfather of Satan's son or, God forbid, agreeing to his daughter terminating the pregnancy. Yes, it puts a spin on Rosemary's Baby, but it also adds some macabre humor in the form of the doting father, who supplied the demon seed in the first place, and the little devil his own bad self. -- Gary Dretzka
Addiction Run's House: The Complete Seasons 1 & 2 Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner The Wild Wild West: The Complete Second Season Sleeper Cell: American Terror: The Complete Second Season The HBO documentary mini-series Addiction took the subject of destructive, compulsive behavior out of the realm of Hollywood melodrama, by providing clinical and anecdotal evidence of its true nature. The popular theory that embarking on one small bad habit inevitably leads to a greater, possibly fatal addiction is explored, of course, but what's important here are the genetic and psychosocial factors that turn one person into a slave to drugs, drinks, gambling and credit cards and not another. Such topics as relapse and recovery are also given human faces. The DVD package adds three discs of additional content. The first two seasons of MTV's reality-based sitcom series, Run's House, followed the founder of Run-DMC attempted to balance the needs of family and God, with his hip-hop roots. The DVD package adds an hour's worth of material previously reserved for Run's House Family Confidential on the Internet. Unless you're 14, there seems to be almost no point in watching celebrity roasts on Comedy Central. Notoriously ribald and profane, the censoring of naughty words and imagery not only runs counter to the roast tradition, but it also makes for television that's borderline unwatchable. These sorts of verbal throw-downs began with at Friar's Club and were adapted for television by Greg Garrison and Lee Hale as a vehicle for the charismatic Dean Martin. Dino's roasts featured many of the greatest actors and comedians of the mid-20th Century, all of whom could work a crowd without punctuating their every gag with profanity. (Indeed, the DVD collection of those episodes is rated G). It isn't that I have anything against blue humor -- The Aristocrats didn't make me blush -- it's the damn bleeping and pixelation I find both annoying and contradictory. No such editing is evident in Comedy Channel's Roast of William Shatner on DVD. It's just as nasty as it wants to be, even adding 20 minutes of new material and other extras. A similarly outrageous skewering of Pamela Anderson was released by Comedy Central last year. (Gilbert Gottfried's legendary appearance at a roast of Hugh Hefner, weeks after 9/11, can be found on The Aristocrats.) It's worth noting, as well, that the second season of one the medium's greatest series, The Wild Wild West -- with Robert Conrad as a cowboy James Bond -- has arrived in DVD. Watching these episodes alongside a 007 flick from the '60s will teach you all you'll ever need to know about turning a great movie concept into terrific TV. Showtime's excellent sophomore season of Sleeper Cell: American Terror nearly slipped by me. Launched on a Sunday night, I expected new episodes to appear at weekly intervals. Instead, they were shown one night after another. The eight-episode series was repeated a couple of months later, but my Tivo already was traumatized by the experience. For those who may have experienced a similar disconnect -- or don't subscribe to Showtime -- here's an opportunity to renew the epic battle between good-Muslim Darwyn and evil-Muslim Farik. Because the creators allow us to see the terrorists as something other than monsters and stereotypes -- most of them aren't Arabs, for example -- Sleeper Cell became as addictive as any other top-shelf mini-series. The DVD package adds several making-of and background featurettes. -- Gary Dretzka