MCN DVD Reviews: January 24, 2008

*The Wrap Up ...*

3:10 to Yuma	Fifty years may have passed between the release of Delmer Daves' and James Mangold's adaptations of the Elmore Leonard short story, 3:10 to Yuma, but neither version of the explosive western has suffered with the passage of time. While it's likely that many fans of the lean black-and-white original (also new to DVD) bristled at the liberal use of bloody squibs and loud pyrotechnics in Mangold's story, it would be difficult for anyone to deny the verisimilitude of the western milieu. It's literally possible to taste the dust kicked up by the outlaws, lawmen and cowboys as they make their way through the Sonoran Desert to the prison train in Contention, Az. In the 2007 edition of 3:10 to Yuma, Christian Bale and Russell Crowe more than adequately fill the boots originally worn by Van Heflin and Glenn Ford. Bale plays the down-on-his-luck Arizona rancher who guarantees the delivery of a dangerous gunman to the depot, where he'll be turned over to marshals on a train to the federal prison in Yuma. Crowe's charismatic outlaw is a mostly unrepentant killer, as is his nemesis, a Pinkerton agent played by Peter Fonda, and an even more bloodthirsty sidekick, portrayed with great menace by Ben Foster. Bale supplies the moral compass in 3:10, but his character has been seriously damaged by his experiences in the Civil War and with corrupt locals. The spectacular vistas and rugged landscapes were captured in New Mexico, and are worth the price of a rental on their own. The deleted scenes and making-of material also add to DVD experience. -- Gary Dretzka

Good Luck Chuck	After Charlie Chuck Logan turned away the affections of a Goth classmate, during a game of spin-the-bottle, the wee wiccan laid a curse on him that prevented him from falling in love with another woman. It wasn't until Chuck grew into adulthood, and became a highly prized bachelor dentist, that he would understand just how powerful the incantation actually was. After being credited in a wedding toast for allowing the bride - a former girlfriend -- to recognize her truly perfect mate, word spread throughout the Internet community that a night of passion with Chuck would ensure a desperately single gal of marriage to a less-conflicted man. Suddenly, the dentist's reception room overflows with women who, otherwise, wouldn't have made time for him. It's a nice problem to have for a guy with an appetite for meaningless sex. Unfortunately, just as he's about to set a record for one-night stands, Chuck (Dane Cook) falls for a chronically klutzy zoologist, Cam (Jessica Alba). Just as they're about to do the deed, Charlie remembers the curse. Fearing that he'll lose Cam to another suitor, Chuck abruptly puts the brakes on his libido … at least, until he can find the gal who inflicted the curse on him. Now, that's not the worst premise for a slacker comedy I've ever heard. As executed, however, the scenario merely provides the filmmakers with an opportunity to put dozens of sets of boobs on display, and surround them with smarmy potty-mouth humor. Cook and Alba make a reasonably attractive couple, and she demonstrates an ability to perform pratfalls and other physical gags. They're simply overwhelmed by the mean-spiritedness of the script, clumsy direction and dorky asides by Chuck's pal, a horny cosmetic surgeon. Nevertheless, post-pubescent boys likely will treat Good Luck Chuck as if were their generation's Last Tango in Paris. -- Gary Dretzka

The Game Plan	Disney knows the market for heart-warming family comedies much better than I ever will, so little good could come from peering too closely under the covers of The Game Plan. Few clichés are avoided in this tale of a soon-to-retire football superstar who must learn how to co-exist with the precocious daughter who one day show's up at the door of his bachelor pad. Nothing new and unusual there, but the kid (Madison Pettis) is beyond cute, the QB's pet bulldog is a shameless scene-stealer and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is one former athlete who needn't worry about working outside the action genre. Moreover, director Andy Fickman never lets the schmaltz attendant to such melodramas interfere with the concurrent story of an aging star and a young ballerina chasing their individual dreams. Indeed, the production values are lofty enough to make a father-daughter dance recital one of the high points of the movie. The extras include a segment from ESPN SportsCenter (another Disney-owned property) on the Rock's transition to football; a blooper reel, narrated by Marv Albert; deleted scenes and the featurette, Peyton's Makeover Madness. The movie also gets a boost from an energetic and ethnically diverse cast, which besides the Rock and Pettis, also features a sizzling-hot Roselyn Sanchez, Morris Chestnut, Brian White and token WASP, Kyra Sedgwick. -- Gary Dretzka

How Much Do You Love Me?	If Italian bombshell Monica Bellucci isn't the most beautiful woman in the movies, she's close enough to qualify for a recount. The voluptuous model-turned-actress may be best known here for her incendiary turn in Malèna, but she has also distinguished herself in such dramas as Irréversible, The Hour of the Wolf, The Passion of the Christ and, as Persephone, in the Matrix movies. In How Much Do You Love Me?, Bellucci plays an impossibly gorgeous hooker. This time, however, her dreamy presence in the window of a Pigalle brothel attracts the attention of a mousy guy who just won the lottery. Without so much as a wham-bam-thank-you-mam test drive, the balding bureaucrat asks if she would be willing to accept a large monthly stipend in return for assuming the role of trophy wife. Unlike Julia Roberts' comparatively virtuous street-walker in Pretty Woman, Bellucci's Daniela enjoys the work and doesn't seem to mind getting roughed up occasionally by her ruthless pimp, Charly (Gérard Depardieu). The central dilemma in Bertrand Bleir's romantic dramedy involves Daniela's continued willingness to trade the dubious excitement of life on the stroll for the comparatively dull realities of day-to-day life at home … at least until Francois's money runs out. Also hanging on Daniela's decisions are Francois' fellow clerks - none of whom had ever seen him smile - and a next-door neighbor who's alternately disgusted and turned on by the sounds of pure animal lust emerging from their bedroom. How Much Do You Love Me? reminds me of the sexy imported comedies that followed in the steamy wake of Emmanuelle, and starred such astonishingly beautiful women as Sonia Braga, Florinda Bolkan, Clio Goldsmith, Mariangela Melato and Laura Antonelli. Although none was explicit enough even to be considered soft-core porn, they approached sexuality in a relaxed and open-minded way Americans weren't accustomed … and still aren't. Because Daniela is so comfortable with her sexuality, Blier was able to focus viewers' attention on the irony of her dilemma and the thin line that separates comedy and heartbreak. -- Gary Dretzka

Zodiac Two Disc Director's Cut	David Fincher's penetrating documentation of the years-long investigation into the Bay Area's Zodiac killings found its way onto the top-10 lists of more than 40 critics. Had the initial DVD edition of Zodiac contained the same features as are available on the new Director's Cut version, it might have been similarly lauded by those of us who scribble about DVDs. Before late than never. The two-disc set adds commentary by Fincher, Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., James Vanderbilt, Brad Fischer and author James Ellroy; making-of documentaries; and featurettes about the original police investigation and prime suspect Arthur Leigh Allen. Too often, in the competitive world of DVD distribution, the first release of a major title is intended to satisfy the particular needs of video stores and folks who no longer frequent multiplexes. Invariably, the preferred versions arrive a few months later, and at prices not much higher than the original package. In this case, at least, patience was rewarded. -- Gary Dretzka

Resident Evil: Extinction Boogeyman 2 Saw IV: Unrated White Noise 2	Apart from the generous package of bonus features, the only good reason to pick up the third film based on the Resident Evil video game is the estimable presence of Milla Jovovich. This time, zombies inhabit a post-apocalyptical Las Vegas, and it's Milla's job to kick their undead asses. (Twenty years ago, it would have been impossible to parse the zombies from the paying customers.) Also included are 11 deleted scenes; commentary with writer-producer Paul W.S. Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt; the featurette, Beyond Raccoon City: Unearthing Resident Evil: Extinction; a sneak peek of Resident Evil: Degeneration; and the Devil May Cry 4 Video Game. Likewise, fans of Tobin Bell are the only people who will rush to the local video store to pick up a copy of the straight-to-DVD Boogeyman 2. He plays a shrink who treats people sent to an asylum to overcome their various phobias. Relieving teens of their fear of imaginary boogeymen may sound like a good idea … but it isn't. Bell is back in Saw IV as the venerable serial killer Jigsaw/John, a character who's as beloved in his genre as Lassie was in her's. Here, death itself isn't even able to prevent Jigsaw from playing his wicked games. That the fourth Saw was able to make decent money in its theatrical release demonstrates just how durable the formula behind the franchise has become. Clearly, fans enjoy solving Jigsaw's puzzles as much they do mucking around in his victims' blood and offal. In the 2005 original version of the para-normal thriller, White Noise, Michael Keaton played an architect who discovers Electronic Voice Phenomenon. The process allows dead people to communicate with loved ones on Earth via white noise and static created by electronic devices. Audiences enjoyed the film quite a bit more than critics did … thus, the sequel. Here, a mostly unknown cast populates a thriller about a guy who discovers he can identify people approaching their dates with destiny and risk disaster by steering them clear of danger. -- Gary Dretzka

Molière	Fans of such regal period fare as Shakespeare in Love, Marie Antoinette, Casanova and The Libertine ought to check out this underappreciated comedy about an undocumented period in the life of the French actor/playwright known as Molière. In it, the young thespian is rescued from debtor's prison by a nobleman who prefers to bask in the reflected glory of true artists, rather than settle on one discipline of his own to master. Disguised as a priest, Moliere is privy to the secrets and hidden desires of lords and ladies who inhabit his patron's chalet. Eventually, their misadventures and blind ambition would inspire the great social satires, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme and Tartuffe, but, here, they play out unscripted. Romain Duris does well as Molière, although his unfortunate facial hair does tend to distract from the narrative. Far more pleasing to the eye are Ludivine Sagnier and Laura Morante, whose characters look as if they stepped out of the pages of Vogue, circa 1644, but whose sensibilities are quite contemporary. Fabrice Luchini is simply wonderful as the farcically foppish and entirely delusional nobleman, Jourdain. Despite the powerful undercurrent of repressed sexuality, Molière is tame enough to be shown aspiring high school actors who dread the prospect of performing in classic European plays. The bonus material is quite interesting and adds mightily to the overall experience. -- Gary Dretzka

The Golden Door	There could be no more timely a movie than Emanuele Crialese's harrowing depiction of the journey taken more than a century ago by the millions of immigrants who journeyed from impoverished old-world villages to the gateway to freedom at Ellis Island. At the center of The Golden Door is a hard-scrabble Sicilian family attracted to America by postcards of photo-enhanced produce and money-bearing trees. Leaving the rocky hills of their tiny village on foot was hard enough a task, but, compared with the cross-Atlantic voyage, it was a stroll in the park. Even more harrowing was the challenge of meeting the standards imposed by the government doctors and psychiatrists who held the fate of the immigrants in their hands. Thus, the mystery in The Golden Door doesn't lie in guessing who will live and die on the high seas, but who might be rejected and forced to return to Sicily on the same vessel. Among those with no guarantee of entrance is an enigmatic English-speaking woman (Charlotte Gainsbourg) who insinuates herself into the lives of the Sicilian family, apparently to secure the husband she will need to gain passage to the mainland. The Golden Door is powerful not only for Crialese's portrayal of the immigration process, but also because so many of those people resemble our own relatives. The scene in which young and fragile mail-order brides are first introduced to their potential husbands - and their futures pass before their eyes -- is especially moving. -- Gary Dretzka



Oswald's Ghost With all due regard for the immensity of the events of 9/11/2001, the assassination of John F. Kennedy remains the signature moment in the lives of tens of millions of Americans. The whys and wherefores of that ghastly crime remain so mysterious that it's no stretch to believe the ghost of Lee Harvey Oswald still haunts this country. Robert Stone's documentary collects much established evidence and many well-known conspiracy theories in pursuit of answers that may only come when secret files are opened to the public in another 20 years, or so. As such, Oswald's Ghost will be of most value to those whose only memory of the assassination derives from Oliver Stone's JFK and anniversary specials on the History Channel. Besides presenting some new archival material, Stone has solicited the recollections of such observers as Norman Mailer, former Sen. Gary Hart and Dan Rather. Nothing of much substance is brought to the surface, however. The DVD adds a visit to the Dealey Plaza, The Zapruder Film and Beyond and an interview with Robert Stone. -- Gary Dretzka

Mr. Woodcock If Disney were to attempt a re-make of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the natural choice for an actor to voice Grumpy would have to be Billy Bob Thornton. His turn as a sadistic basketball coach in Mr. Woodcock is funny in much the same way as his performances in School for Scoundrels, Bad News Bears, Bad Santa and Pushing Tin were funny. Thornton and Rip Torn do nasty-funny better than almost anyone … and casting directors know it. Fortunately, for all involved, Thornton has been allowed to alternate roles as the sullen, world-weary grouch and/or alcoholic with characters as rich as those in The Astronaut Farmer, Friday Night Lights, The Alamo and Monster's Ball. Here, he plays a menacing gym coach who soon will marry the mother (Susan Sarandon) of one of the boys he terrorized. The physically inept kid grew up to become a highly successful author of self-help books, and has been asked to return to his Nebraska hometown to receive the coveted corn-cob key to the city. He's horrified, of course, by his mother's decision, and hopes to derail their plans. The playing field has been leveled somewhat in the years between visits home, but Mr. Woodcock still proves to be a worthy adversary. -- Gary Dretzka

Eagle Vs Shark The same moviegoers who made Napoleon Dynamite and Showtime's The Flight of the Conchords surprise hits weren't given much of an opportunity to do the same for the similarly nerd-centric Eagle Vs Shark. Even the presence of Conchords star Jemaine Clement wasn't sufficient reason for Miramax to open the deadpan romantic comedy on more than 20 American screens simultaneously. Writer-director Taika Waititi's offbeat story describes the inability of a perfectly matched pair of socially inept nobodies to make a love connection. We're led to believe that they'll discover their love for each other at a costume party, where shark-suited Lily lets eagle-garbed Jarrod beat her in his favorite video game. Foremost in Jarrod's mind, however, is avenging a beating he took from a now-wheelchair-bound bully in his home town. Eagle Vs Shark was developed at the Sundance Director's and Screenwriter's Lab, shortly after Napoleon Dynamite debuted at the festival. Young filmmakers sometimes are led to believe that lightning can strike twice in the same place, but experience suggests otherwise. Eagle Vs Shark can be enjoyed for what it is: an unpretentious first feature by a writer-director whose aboriginal roots and hip instincts soon could result in something very special. -- Gary Dretzka

Klimt Just as Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus played fast and loose with the life of the great American photographer, Raoul Ruiz' Klimt describes an artist who would barely be recognizable to his immediate relatives, if it weren't for the splendid paintings in the background. The director characterized the period biopic as a fantasy based on the life of Austrian symbolist painter Gustav Klimt, thus freeing himself from the shackles of a reality. This would have been OK, if he also had invented scenarios that gibed with what we already knew of the artist's work, vision and demons. Instead, by too often donning his shrink's hat, Ruiz squandered the good will of those who already admired the artist's work and knew his backstory. Ruiz employs a two-way mirror to bridge the gap between Klimt on his death bed and the artist at the height of his fame and sexual prowess. Klimt was at the center of the Vienna Succession of 1897, and its embracing of modern influences and techniques. The establishment was shocked by its radicalism and sensuality, of course, but Klimt would go on to become one of the 20th Century's most successful painters. Ruiz' greatest triumph comes in his re-creation of the environment from which so much beauty and vision flowed. The period feel is impeccable, and the Bohemian trappings of Klimt's world are a show onto themselves. John Malkovich is suitably intense and driven as the artist, especially as he portrays Klimt's sexual liaisons. Saffron Burrows is also fine as his muse, dancer Lea de Castro. The so-called American version of Klimt is nearly a half-hour shorter than the film shown in Europe and at festivals, thus explaining some of its incomprehensibility. -- Gary Dretzka

Johnny Suede Cutting Class Now one of the biggest stars in the world, Brad Pitt's career emerged from humble beginnings. Apart from appearing in four episodes of Dallas, Pitt paid the rent by doing bit parts in genre pix and TV series. Before he would explode onto the public consciousness as Geena Davis' boytoy in Thelma and Louise, he played a stud-muffin jock in the otherwise unremarkable slasher flick, Cutting Class. In it, he's suspected of being a serial killer of teachers who dare interfere with his desire to have fun. The other possibility is a creepy teenager who's just been released from a local loony bin. As thrillers go, it's a yawn. Appearances by Roddy McDowall and Martin Mull, however, add greatly to the film's campy appeal. If Pitt's role in Cutting Class was of interest primarily to casting directors fishing for up-and-coming actors, his offbeat performance as the Ricky Nelson wanna-be in Johnny Suede was impossible to ignore. The credit belongs mostly to writer-director Tom DeCillo's decision to give the title character one of the most outrageous pompadours in film history and a heaven-sent pair of black-suede shoes. Johnny Suede remains an interesting diversion, and not just for witnessing the early conceits of Pitt and DeCillo. Also on view are a very young Catherine Keener, Tina Louise, Samuel L. Jackson and Aussie rocker Nick Cave, as a cat named Freak Storm. -- Gary Dretzka

He Was a Quiet Man Love Lies Bleeding Given the right part, Christian Slater still can be an effective leading man. Here, he plays Bob Maconel, a nebbish whose only value to his company is as a whipping boy for better dressed and more upwardly mobile executives. The constant harassment and bullying inspires the kind of dementia that turns postal offices into free-fire zones. Just as Bob's about to flip his lid, however, he's given an opportunity to save his fellow clerks from violent deaths. Almost overnight, the schlub becomes a hero, worthy of promotion and admiration. This newfound status doesn't relieve his schizophrenia, however. He still chats with his goldfish and a hummingbird, and imagines the destruction of his firm's high-rise headquarters. With its moralistic twists and turns, He Was a Quiet Man plays best as an extended Twilight Zone episode. And, that's a good thing. Slater gets ample support from Elisha Cuthbert and William H. Macy. Slater's in more familiar territory in Keith Sample's straight-to-DVD thriller, Love Lies Bleeding. Slater plays Pollen, a corrupt DEA agent out to recover a duffel bag full of money left behind after a drug deal went badly sour. In a storyline far too reminiscent of True Romance, the bag is in the possession of a newly married couple who need the cash to fulfill their dreams. Who doesn't? Pollen's pursuit turns ever more dangerous the closer he gets to paydirt. -- Gary Dretzka

The Tudors: The Complete First Season Extras: The Complete Series The New Adventures of Old Christine: The Complete First Season Weird Science: The Complete Seasons 1 & 2 Rob & Big/Jackass 2.5 In The Tudors, lithe and handsome Jonathan Rhys Meyers favored the portraits we've seen of brawny Henry VIII about as much as Scarlett Johansson is likely to resemble Mary Queen of Scots in Phillip Noyce's upcoming biopic . Nothing unusual, there. The mini-series' writers also played fast and loose with facts surrounding the king's family and the chronology of his important decisions. Big frigging deal. No matter how many flaws were pointed out by historians, fans of the Showtime presentation were more interested in hunky Henry's bedroom prowess -- and his risky throwdown with the Pope -- to quibble over details. Despite his character's caddish ways, Rhys Meyers appealed mightily to women in the network's realm, while men presumably kept tuning in to admire the usual array of heaving bosoms on display on premium cable. Once hooked, even this abridged history of the British monarchy proved irresistible. In this way, The Tudors proved a perfect companion for HBO's similarly juicy mini-series, Rome. With the second season about to begin, now would be the perfect time for newcomers to catch up with the antics of Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. Ricky Gervais followed up his great success with The Office by creating a similarly inventive sitcom about the lives of struggling actors in England. He plays professional extra Andy Millman, who gets paid mostly to wear period costumes and provide background color in other people's projects. It may not be glamorous work, but it's still show biz. Between takes, Millman and his fellow extras eased their boredom by gossiping, conspiring to chat up such stars as Kate Winslet and David Bowie, and complaining about the inability of their agents to score real work. Gervais has proven himself to be fully conversant with the high and lows of drone culture - in Extras and The Office - and his depictions of life among the little guys are consistently spot-on. In season two, Millman finds success in one of those quirky sitcoms that only Brits of a certain age could possibly find funny. The set also includes The Extra Special Series Finale and making-of material. Last year, Julia Louis-Dreyfus accomplished something none of her fellow Seinfeld co-stars - including herself, in Watching Ellie - had managed to do. Her CBS sitcom, The New Adventures of Old Christine, not only made a dent in the Neilsen ratings, but it also was picked up for a second season. The premise wasn't exactly promising: Though divorced, Old Christine continued to compete for the attention of her ex-husband, who was dating a younger chickie, dubbed New Christine. Their son, Ritchie, was enrolled in a snooty private school, where Old Christine makes up for her lack of pedigree by hitting on every available man and antagonizing the other MILFs with her liberal opinions. Naturally, Christine also had a witty live-in brother who was always around when a situation required barbed commentary. The ex-husband thing didn't work for me, but what do I know? Special features include unaired scenes, a blooper reel and a behind-the-scenes featurettes. The syndicated sci-fi comedy, Weird Science, picked up where John Hughes' hit feature left off in 1985, right down to the cover art and test-tube seductress. The producers somehow managed to mine enough inspiration from the original movie to turn out 88 episodes of the high-school-set series. Vanessa Angel made a reasonable facsimile of Kelly LeBrock's enchantress, Lisa. Her presence, alone, was reason enough for most teen-age nerds to tune in to the show. MTV's Rob & Big bears more than a passing resemblance to the network's Jackass, a series that encouraged a generation of American boys to launch rockets from their butt and snort incendiary condiments. The stars of the reality buddy comedy, R&B, are professional street-skater Rob Dyrdek and his mammoth bodyguard, Christopher "Big" Boykin. They share a house in the Hollywood Hills and wile away their free time by endangering their lives and freaking out neighbors. For Jackass 2.5, the loonies traveled the world to expand their repertoire of gross-out gags. As the title suggests, there wasn't enough top-shelf material left over from Jackass Number Two to warrant a Jackass Number Three, so they released the leftovers on the Internet and followed up with this DVD. Anyone who loved the previous Jackass products is likely not to be disappointed by 2.5 … or, for that matter, Rob & Big. I especially enjoyed watching tiny toreador Jason "Wee Man" Acuna fighting an adolescent bull, in Spain, and Johnny Knoxville being kicked in the balls by Indian man with deformed feet, while standing in front of the Taj Mahal. Gunsmoke: The Second Season, Vol. 1 continues the dubious practice of releasing half-seasons of venerable series, when they could just as easily have been packaged a single package. It's great stuff, but let's hope all 20 years worth of shows won't be ladled out in dribs and drabs. Meanwhile, third-season packages of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Criss Angel: Mindfreak also are newly available.