MCN DVD Reviews: September 14, 2008

*The Wrap Up ...*

The Fall	Tarsem's dizzying fairy tale within a fable, The Fall, is as good an advertisement for the Blu-ray format as any non-animated movie I've seen in the last year. Although much of the story takes place within the shady confines of a small hospital in the early years of the silent-movie era, the rest of the movie is resplendent with locations even the most seasoned of travelers only dream of seeing during their lifetimes. The Fall, which was adapted from the 1981 Bulgarian film, Yo Ho Ho, was shot on 26 locations in 18 countries. They included ancient castles, forts and cities, vast deserts and secluded islands. The story involves an actor (Lee Pace), who's been hospitalized after a stunt goes awry, and an inquisitive little girl (Catinca Untaru) with broken arm, who becomes enchanted with his incredible story about vulnerable superheroes, evil despots, brave monkeys, living trees and dangerously beautiful princesses. The actor uses the story as a way to pass the time until he can accumulate enough morphine pills to commit suicide (with his new friend's inadvertent help). The fantastical interpretation of the tale come directly from the imagination of the girl, alone, much in the same way as Dorothy used real people and events to inform her journey through Oz. Untaru, an amateur thespian with a limited grasp on English, couldn't be more charming. She demands much from the paralyzed actor and is rewarded with an adventure that is as swashbuckling as it is beautiful. Not everyone will buy into Tarsem's elaborate vision, but those who do will be similarly blessed. It's the kind of picture that demands spending as much time as necessary on the making-of featurettes to fully appreciate the filmmaker's task and achievement. The Fall also works swell as a travelogue. -- Gary Dretzka

The Big Lebowski: 10th Anniversary Limited Edition Transformers: Two-Disc Special Edition Brotherhood of the Wolf: Director's Cut Games Girls Play/Linda Lovelace for President	In their heart of hearts, most male survivors of the '60s would like to quit their jobs and live the life of Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski. What could be more liberating than waking up at any time of the day, wearing a robe until it's time to put on their least dirty aloha shirt and bowling until the cows come home. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the release of The Big Lebowski, Universal not only has sent out a special two-disc edition of the Coen Brothers comedy, but also a Limited Edition that arrives in a faux bowling ball. The extras provide an expert guide to the intricacies of life as the Dude. It's taken 11 months for the super-duper version of Transformers to arrive, and, I suppose, that wait will be deemed worth it for fans who simply can't get enough of Michael Bay's sci-fi epic. In addition to the usual mix of commentary, making-of and background material, there's a visit to Hasbro for a history lesson on the Transformers toy line and cartoon series; a look at the military aspects of the movie; lots more stuff about the toys and possible fan reaction; a dissection of special-effects and CGI applications; and exclusive interactive features that take advantage of Blu-ray technology. If nothing else, the material will keep the fanboy blogs buzzing for a while. It would be difficult to imagine a more over-the-top horror/fantasy epic than the 2001 French export, The Brotherhood of the Wolf. Although it was based on an actual series of grotesque attacks by a wolf-like creature in the 18th Century, the film took liberties that extended to the addition of an Iroquois Indian who's a combination of Bruce Lee and Caine, on Kung Fu. Most of the other key characters actually existed around the time of the French Revolution, when turmoil and terror stalked the countryside like a pack of blood-thirsty canines. This edition adds about 10 more minutes to what already was a 141-minute slog. Any opportunity to see more of the wondrously beautiful Monica Belluci, however, is to be treasured. Anyone looking for examples of vintage camp, circa 1974, need look no further than the newly released DVD editions of The Games Girls Play (a.k.a., Sex Play and The Bunny Caper) and Linda Lovelace for President. Both featured lots of nudity and the kind of humor that would be considered unsophisticated, even by the standards of Laugh-In and Hee Haw. And, yet, three decades later, they are far from unwatchable. The Games Girls Play is to the era's espionage flicks precisely what Austin Powers was to James Bond, except that the female leads found countless ways to steal secrets and embarrass diplomats while unabashedly nude. Linda Lovelace for President, in which the Deep Throat star is drafted by the Upright Party as its candidate for the nation's top job, arrived three years after the porn actress became an international sensation. Sadly, Linda wasn't able to keep her demons in the shadows for very long. In these movies, though, sex was still fun and safe, even without condoms. At about the same time, Emmanuelle was about to turn soft core on its head, with its big-budget production values, exotic locations and model-perfect stars. When VHS and Beta became popular household appliances, the easy availability of hard-core porn nearly made soft-core extinct. (Cinemax and other premium cable networks would breathe new life into the genre.) Christina Hart, the perky star of Games Girls Play, would go on to have a very decent career as a legitimate actor in TV and movies. -- Gary Dretzka

What Happens In Vegas	As if to prove that critics can't kill bad movies, Fox's extremely clichéd and uninspired screwball comedy, What Happens in Vegas, somehow managed to score $80 million at the domestic box office, even in the face of some of the worst reviews in memory. That figure may or may not have been enough to offset the costs of making and marketing the paint-by-numbers rom-com, but there's little doubt it will do well enough in the DVD marketplace to please investors. Meanwhile, of course, countless better films wither on the vine. Credit for the marginal success goes solely to the star power of Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz, who, when combined with the inestimable allure of Las Vegas, probably could sell a movie about making ice cubes to Eskimos. As the story goes, an amiable slacker named Jack meets a recently dumped trader named Joy, while recovering from their recent setbacks in Las Vegas. After a night of debauchery, during which they get married, Jack and Joy agree that it probably wasn't a good idea, after all. (Maybe, Britney Spears should have argued for a story-by credit.) Before the couple heads back to New York, where they intend to petition for divorce, Jack borrows a quarter from Joy to play a slot machine. Naturally, the machine immediately pays off to the tune of $3 million, precipitating the kind of dilemma everyone should enjoy in their lifetime. (Reality check: being a multi-coin, progressive jackpot machine, an investment of more than a single quarter would have been necessary to qualify for the full payout.) Due to the coincidence of their marriage, Joy is entitled to half of the jackpot, a legal point Jack and his inept lawyer friend choose to argue in court. Instead of dismissing their argument, as would any other magistrate, the judge demands of Jack and Joy that they live together as husband and wife, and attempt to heal the rift. Not satisfied, Jack's lawyer suggests to his client that he find a way to prove Joy's unworthiness as a bride, and the battle is joined. They spend most of the next six months - an hour in movie time - acting as if they were auditioning for a coed version of the Three Stooges. The Vegas-heavy bonuses include a gag reel, deleted scenes, a making-of featurette and drinking game. And, speaking of the Three Stooges, Sony has just released the third installment in its crowd-pleasing Three Stooges Collection, which covers the period from 1940-42. The Stooges were among the first American entertainers to parody Adolph Hitler and, later, the Japanese war effort. (You Nazty Spy preceded the release of Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator by nine months.) Before Pearl Harbor, Hollywood was reluctant to offend American isolationists, and the Hays Office had strict rules about negative depictions of foreigners, including fascists. Hays was approached by the German consulate in Los Angeles, which threatened disruptions in theaters where it was being shown. Shorts weren't regulated in the same way as features, though, so Moe Howard became the first American actor to lampoon Hitler in film. The sequel, I'll Never Heil Again, was released in July 1941, five months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Among the other popular titles in the collection is A-Plumbing We Will Go. -- Gary Dretzka

Redbelt	David Mamet would appear to be among the least likely of Hollywood talents to write and direct a movie about Mixed Martial Arts, a brutal quasi-sport that combines boxing, kick-boxing, jiu jitsu and bar brawling. Mamet's always been fascinated by conmen, crooks, card sharks, great intellectual discipline and the games men play to impress each other, but such a trendy activity would seem to be too big a target for his well-sharpened pencil. Indeed, it's possible that extreme fighting wouldn't exist at all as a sport, let alone be sanctioned by state regulatory agencies, if it weren't for the exposure provided by Fight Club and the insatiable appetite of cable television. Perhaps, though, it was the forced marriage between television hucksters and modern-day gladiators that attracted him to the subject. If admirers of Mamet's distinct style and creative quirks can accept that the men and women who practice MMA are as worthy of being taken seriously as any athlete, Redbelt can be enjoyed as a small piece of a much larger whole. Here, a struggling Brazilian jiu jitsu instructor (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is pitted against a wealthy promoter of televised fights, some of which actually are on the level. Magician and historian Ricky Jay, a staple of Mamet's movies, plays a corrupt MMA manager who steals a gimmick designed to make the matches more exciting for television viewers. The idea was passed along to him by Tim Allen, as a dissipated Hollywood star, who, along with a lawyer played by Emily Mortimer, puts one camp in touch with the other. After talks break off over issues pertaining to the integrity of the sport, a bloody showdown between impeccably trained fighters becomes inevitable. Redbelt takes a moralistic stance that borders on the cliché, but is saved by better-than-average action and realistic depictions of training methods. If Redbelt didn't burn a hole in the box office, it's probably because fans of the sport weren't anxious to see another Rocky ripoff - which it isn't - and didn't trust anyone outside the game to understand it. Mamet enthusiasts' loyalty probably didn't extend to an off-brand sport that seemed merely to combine sumo wrestling with the WWE. The extras package is quite generous, mixing featurettes that will appeal as much to fans of Mamet as those who follow the Ultimate Fighting Challenge. -- Gary Dretzka

Baby Mama The Promotion Outside Sales	Sometime, in the next two months, at least, either Tina Fey or Sarah Palin is going to have to change her choice of eyewear. Watching Baby Mama for the first time, on DVD, the similarity between the 30 Rock star and the Republican vice-presidential candidate could hardly have been more distracting. It's as if Palin consciously mimicked Fey's deceptively sexy, hyper-professional persona as one that would help convince Alaskan voters that she meant business. Once one gets past the doppelganger factor, though, the female-buddy comedy exists primarily as a reasonably entertaining diversion, far better than most SNL spinoffs, but, otherwise, far less than memorable. Fey plays Kate Holbrook, a 37-year-old career woman whose biological alarm clock has started ringing out of control. Unable to conceive and fresh out of options, Holbrook decides to hire a surrogate to carry her fertilized egg for nine months. A consultant played by Sigourney Weaver hooks her up with a trailer-park princess, Angie (Amy Poehler), whose boyfriend needs the bread to avoid getting a job. While Kate and Angie have almost nothing in common philosophically or socially, it's clear from minute one that they'll eventually find a way to overcome their differences in the interest of blessed motherhood. Greg Kinnear and Steve Martin are given a few decent moments along the way, but it's the discordant behavior of the moms-to-be that will attract audiences. A R-rating might have allowed Fey and Poehler to kick out the jams a bit more and rescue Baby Mama from the timid conventions of sitcom plotting. The extras include an alternate ending, deleted scenes, a making-of featurette and Volkswagen-sponsored salute to Saturday Night Live. Oy. Work is hell. Like high school, however, it also can provide fertile ground for absurdist humor. In The Promotion, Seann William Scott and John C. Reilly deliver convincing portrayals of a pair of mid-level managers vying for the same position in a Chicago supermarket chain. For both men, a promotion would set them up for an opportunity to avoid the shackles of a barely sustainable lifestyle, and, perhaps, allow them to keep their marriages intact. Reilly's character is a Canadian whose bizarre personality quirks are at odds with his outwardly gentle demeanor. Meanwhile, Scott's manager has so much riding on the promotion that his competitor's behavior drives him nearly to the point of self-destruction. The Promotion is enjoyable, but the supermarket environment is underutilized as a battleground for dubious glory. Fans of The Office, Office Space, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and SNL will find familiar faces here, as well as the same sort of Dilbert-come-to-life humor. Outside Sales is a cubicle comedy that features the usual assortment of sitcom sales types - the depressive, the go-getter, the hot chick (3), the jerk, the asshole boss - but finds a compelling way to fit the familiar pieces into an fresh and entertaining whole. Lucas Fleischer plays a salesman for a payroll-software firm who's been knocked off of his game by the discovery of his wife's affair with his dimwit boss. When his mopey behavior begins driving off clients, he's ordered to begin training his pretty blond replacement. To save his job, he convinces his boss to allow him the opportunity to compete directly with the interloper, using the same client list. The guerrilla warfare that ensues may be familiar, but the actors perform as if Outside Sales might be seen by every casting director in town … as it should be. -- Gary Dretzka

Then She Found Me	My relationship to movies is limited to watching them at home or in a cushy theater, and writing the occasional review, profile or trend piece for fun and too little profit. I can't possibly imagine what might have convinced Helen Hunt that she was exactly the right person to direct, produce, co-write and star in a project as fragile as the romantic dramedy, Then She Found Me. In this regard, however, the Oscar- and Emmy-winner is hardly unique. Hunt is, after all, the daughter of a respected Hollywood multi-hyphenate, Gordon Hunt, who, when she was 8, also became her acting coach. It was only matter of time before she would attempt to hit for the cycle, herself. Judging from the evidence submitted in Then She Found Me, it seems unlikely she'll ever be confused with such one-man-bands as Orson Welles, Warren Beatty, Barbra Streisand or Jerry Lewis. Hunt plays a teacher who is forced to come to grips simultaneously with the failure of her marriage, her fear of not being able to bear a child, the death of her adoptive mother, appearance of her birth mother (Bette Midler) and the advances of a handsome single father of one of her pupils (Colin Firth). Any one of these occurrences would be enough to prompt a lesser woman than Hunt's April Epner to wave a white flag of surrender. Imagine for yourself learning at age 39 that your real mother is a famous talk-show host, with a personality as outsized as the Divine Miss M, and she wants you to think your real father was Steve McQueen. That the load is far too heavy for her to bear is apparent in the many extreme close-ups director Hunt allows actor Hunt during the course of the film's 100-minute length. Neither is April's cause helped by writer-director-producer Hunt's decision to make her character look as plain as possible, forgoing the makeup touches and soft lenses that keep actors from looking their true age. And, in this regard, the camera is merciless. April's determination to have a child of her own, and not adopt, parallels her birth mother's desire to re-connect to the child she abandoned four decades earlier. What doesn't jibe, however, is April's lack of appreciation as to how well she turned out as an adult, and how much worse things might have been if her birth mother had not realized her maternal limitations. A little more detachment between actor, character and director would have smoothed the rough patches for viewers looking for someone to like. -- Gary Dretzka



Married Life Married Life will appeal most to those who enjoyed Far From Heaven, Todd Haynes' period-perfect homage to the mid-century melodramas of Douglas Sirk, and AMC's wonderful JFK-era dramatic series, Mad Men. As played by Chris Cooper, Harry Allen is a buttoned-down businessman and attentive husband to an attractive suburban housewife, Pat (Patricia Clarkson). One day, over martinis and cigarettes, Harry confides to his playboy pal Richard (Pierce Brosnan) that he is engaged in a serious affair with a pretty war widow, Kay (Rachel McAdams), for whom he intends to leave his wife. Director/co-writer Ira Sachs leads us to believe that Kay is a platinum-blond hussy, whose intentions are anything but honorable. No matter, Harry is smitten. Fearing that Pat is unlikely to grant him a divorce, and might self-destruct without him, Harry hopes to short-circuit her impending misery by poisoning her bedtime sleep remedy. This proves not to be as easy as Harry imagines, and, while he frets, Richard moves in on Kay. At first, it appears as if Richard is merely trying to protect Pat, by diverting Kay's attention from a less amiable suitor. Pat is no shrinking violet herself, though. More than that, potential viewers need not know. Sachs and co-writer Oren Moverman adapted Married Life from John Bingham's 1953 novel, Five Roundabouts to Heaven. Movies such as Far From Heaven and Married Life - as well as the more overtly sexual, The Notorious Bettie Page - testify to the truths revealed by Alfred Kinsey in his notorious publication. They also reveal how out of touch the Hays Office was with the American public. The DVD adds several alternate endings. -- Gary Dretzka

Bangkok Dangerous Even the presence of that most frenetic of actors, Nicolas Cage, couldn't prevent the English-language remake of Bangkok Dangerous from becoming one of the most anemic box-office leaders in recent history. At $7.8 million, the non-stop actioner could claim bragging rights for the first weekend in September, but why bother? Imagine how well it might have done if Lionsgate had the courage to show the film to critics or open it against anything more formidable than summer leftovers. The dreary tally shouldn't prevent anyone who loves extreme-Asian shoot-'em-ups from checking out the Thai original, also directed by Oxide Pang Chun and Danny Pang. As is the case with most such transplants, something definitely was lost in translation. Here, a fearless deaf-mute assassin and the stripper girlfriend of his partner form an alliance against an elusive mob boss. Along the way, the hitman falls for an innocent salesgirl and she helps inspire his long climb to redemption and self-actualization. Meanwhile, everyone involved is required to dodge great fusillades of bullets. Bangkok Dangerous makes little literal sense, but that's not really the point, is it? -- Gary Dretzka

Chicago 10 Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections Recount Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden? Watching Chicago 10 on the weekend between the national political conventions re-enforced my belief that, among other things, America has lost its collective sense of theater. It isn't that Chicago merely provided a better stage and cast of characters than Denver or St. Paul. If enough people actually cared as deeply about our ongoing wars, unemployment, racism and poverty, as did the crowd that showed up in Chicago 40 years ago, those quiet communities would have erupted, too. Chicago was a city that never backed away from a fight or let outsiders tell its leaders how to conduct business. Mayor Richard J. Daley was the closest thing to a dictator America had in 1968 and no out-of-town rabble was going to spoil his parade. Hizzoner knew the likelihood of his being voted out of office for allowing cops to kick the crap out of a bunch of kids was slim to none. If the Yippies hadn't stirred the media pot by nominating a pig as its presidential candidate and predicting other whimsical protests, Daley might not have assumed they actually represented anyone other than themselves. Thus challenged, Daley wasn't about to allow demonstrators to camp out in Lincoln Park or march to the convention center. If he had, the Yippies would have been little more than a sideshow attraction and the only rocks being thrown would have come from government provocateurs. Instead, Daley and his storm troopers spoiled everyone's party. Not satisfied that Chicago hadn't suffered sufficiently for the sins of its mayor, the federal government subsequently decided to cherry-picked eight so-called ringleaders and put them on trial for crossing state lines for the purpose of instigating a riot. It didn't matter that no violence would have occurred if the police hadn't followed the orders of their superiors or that the Movement didn't recognize leaders. The choice of those particular non-conspirators and judge ensured that a media and courtroom debacle would ensue (as well as a counterattack by helmeted radicals during the Days of Rage). Just how much of a debacle it would become is brilliantly illustrated in Chicago 10 - the defense attorneys are included in the count -- which employs archival news footage, lifelike animation and rock music to relive both the riot and trial. Any viewers old enough to remember when the evening news shows religiously tallied war casualties - including phony Pentagon estimates of enemy deaths - will have a strong visceral response to the Brett Morgen's collage-like presentation. Younger audiences will be repelled and fascinated in equal measure, finding those who would risk brain concussions for a principle, however noble, either to be saps or heroes. What the movie doesn't say is that most of the men in attendance in Grant and Lincoln parks in 1968 were eligible to be drafted, and, as such, were fighting for their lives. If the demonstrations outside the convention centers in Denver and St. Paul were, by comparison, tame, it's only because the Bush/Cheney cabal has cynically elected not to re-instate the draft. If it weren't for the ascendency of an African-American presidential candidate and the GOP's nomination of its first MILF candidate for vice president, the networks might not have shown up, at all. As if to explain the American electorate's disenchantment with the political process and general unwillingness to shout, I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore, comes the documentary Uncounted:The New Math of American Elections and docudrama, Recount. Both films offer considerable evidence that modern polling-place technology has helped Republicans steal elections and Electoral College delegates in several states, and there wasn't a thing anyone could do to prevent it or punish the vote thieves. If these films - and the briefly released Stealing America: Vote by Vote - are accurate, Republicans made election fraud in places like Mayor Daley's Chicago look quaint. Indeed, the company that created the software to count votes -and flip them, when necessary - has been linked to prominent Republicans. The testimony comes from computer programmers, county clerks, business owners and activists, only a few of whom would be considered partisan. More biased, but no less scary is HBO's Recount. A star-studded cast helps chronicle the events that led to the U.S. Supreme Court handing the presidency to George W. Bush, even before all the votes that were supposed to be recounted actually were tallied. These films are far scarier than any slasher film, because the villains are real and live amongst us, In his own serio-comic way, Morgan Spurlock attempts to accomplish what our military and intelligence community has failed to do since 9/11: find Osama Bin Laden. The pursuit took him to Morocco, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Afghanistan and Pakistan, where, one assumes, there might have been a few folks who hadn't seen Super Size Me and weren't conversant with ironic humor. Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden? scores a few points, but it might be better appreciated as a companion to Albert Brooks' Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World. -- Gary Dretzka

Love for Sale Brazil has one of the most diverse cinemas in the world. Even the near-misses, such as Love for Sale (a.k.a., Suely in the Sky, on the festival circuit), tend to offer legitimate reasons for taking a shot on a rental. More often than not, the primary attraction has something - or everything - to do with music, sexuality, exotic scenery or wild-west violence. Love for Sale is the story of Hermila, a strong-willed young woman who has returned to her home in central Brazil with a baby boy and the hope of making a living dubbing music. The father of the child, also from rural Igatu, promised Hermila (newcomer Hermila Guedes ) he would follow as soon as possible, but, so far, is a no-show. The longer she is forced to wait, the more restless she becomes. Even though her grandmother, a lesbian aunt and a genial prostitute are generous with their time and emotional support, a girl can only wait so long for sexual healing. Hermila re-connects with an old lover and quizzes the truck-stop hooker about the benefits of her job. She's bored and needs money to split to the Northeast, with or without her boyfriend. Adept at selling raffle and lottery tickets, Hermila decides she'll sell tickets for a chance to spend a night in paradise with her alter ego, Suely. It's not prostitution, exactly, but it's close enough to upset her grandmother and other locals. Not surprisingly, the exceedingly sexy Hermila has no problem convincing the men who hang out around the truck stop, bus depot and bars to take a chance. As the date for the drawing nears, however, she begins an inner-dialogue to decide who to disappoint least, her relatives or the male population of Igatu. In an American movie, the answer would be obvious. Being a product of Brazil, however, Love for Sale leaves room for personal choice. Karim Ainouz, who grew up in the same neighborhood as Hermila, made a name for himself as the writer-director of Madame Sada, and author of Walter Salles' Behind the Sun and Sergio Machado's Lower City. Because Love for Sale is more of a character study than those fine films, we're left wanting to know more about how Hermila's decisions will affect her son, family and lovers, and impact her own future. One thing for sure, Guedes is an actor - like Franke Pontente - whose talent won't be contained by foreign borders. -- Gary Dretzka

Irina Palm I Want Candy Son of Rambow Puppy Love and Mary The primary challenge facing any reviewer of DVDs is getting a handle on the dozens of unreleased and minimally distributed titles that arrive in the mail each month. Mainstream publications prefer their critics to stick to the movies that were reviewed to death prior to their theatrical runs, as well as compilation sets of television series already overexposed by the hype machine. For every movie that enjoys a theatrical run, twice as many fail to find a distributor. With marketing costs as expensive as they are, the risks of failure are simply too great. Producers of children's fare and genre-specific titles have pretty much figured out the ins-and-outs of the straight-to-DVD marketplace, but makers of romantic comedies and festival-caliber flicks face a greater task. Sam Garbarski's Irina Palm is exactly the kind of picture that might have found a decent adult audience if distributors and exhibitors weren't so afraid of offending someone. In it, Marianne Faithfull plays the loving grandmother of an English boy in desperate need of a medical procedure only available in Australia. Even if the experimental treatment won't cost them anything, the lad's parents aren't capable of coming up with the money needed for special-care transportation. While in London, Grandma Maggie stumbles upon a job as a hostess in a sex club - a combination strip joint and massage parlor - where, to her horror, she discovers she has an extraordinary talent for wanking off the punters through a glory hole. It's a nasty business, but, once the money starts rolling in, all she can see is the opportunity to provide needed funds to her grandson and his parents. Instead of accepting the money with a simple, Thank you, Maggie's son decides to track down the source of her good fortune. Using movie logic, alone, the son refuses to accept the money and, when word spreads among Maggie's circle of friends, she's ostracized. Given the Brits' ability to turn cheeky subjects into the sources for sweet adult comedies - Calendar Girls, Kinky Boots - it should surprise no one to learn that Irina Palm doesn't need to rely on gratuitous sexuality or raunchy dialogue to succeed as a winning entertainment. Known primarily as a whisky-voiced chanteuse, Faithful is wonderful as the frumpy suburban widow who discovers that conformity is merely a crutch used by simple-minded people to ease the passage from cradle to the grave. Also from England comes the slight, but enjoyable I Want Candy, in which a group of film students hope to use a homemade porno to impress their instructor, break into the movie business and pay off a debt to a local thug. Somehow, veteran TV director Stephen Surjik manages to find a way to keep the comedy fresh and light, without resorting to the gratuitous nudity and gross-out humor that has characterized American movies on the same subject. It should be noted that the much-objectified Carmen Electra is quite funny as Candy Fiveways, the World's No 1 Adult Star, who agrees to help the students in their quest. Also good are the parents who are conned into providing the set for the sex scenes. Garth Jennings' warm coming-of-age story, Son of Rambow, was given a bit of a theatrical release here, but, I'm guessing, the distributors are hoping that positive word-of-mouth will provide the impetus for a much more successful DVD afterlife. Jennings, whose off-the-wall adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy found some support among critics, but generally underperformed at the box office, borrowed from his own experiences for what might have been subtitled, A Portrait of the Filmmaker as a Young Lad. In it, a pair of misfits endeavor to re-create Rambo: First Blood in the English countryside, using improvised props and kid actors. Behind the scenes, individual dramas play out among cast members whose home lives are less than ideal. Jennings also is able to illustrate the magic within the colorful imaginations of the boys. Tweeners are the natural audience for Son of Rambow, but parents will want to come along for the ride. Ed Westwick, who plays the caddish Chuck Bass in Gossip Girl, does a nice turn as one the boys' older brother. Despite its benign title, Puppy is both an extremely bizarre and often very satisfying entry in the ever-expanding woman-in-jeopardy sweepstakes. Equal parts Black Snake Moan, Ruthless People, Misery, Hard Candy and The Ransom of Red Chief, Aussie newcomer Kieran Galvin's Puppy describes what can happen when a lovelorn psycho kidnaps the wrong girl at the wrong time. Having run out of friends and family members to con, Liz (Nadia Townsend) attempts to asphyxiate herself in her car. The Prince Charming who rescues Liz is a tow-truck driver who becomes convinced that she's actually the wife who abandoned him years earlier. He takes her to his remote cabin, where he chains her to her bed and has his attack dogs cover all escape routes. Anyone who thinks that what follows is a foregone conclusion will be in for a pleasant surprise. Without losing any of its ability to shock, Puppy also turns out to be quite funny. Genre enthusiasts will want to go out of their way to find it. Love and Mary is a romantic comedy as sweet and fragile as the desserts prepared by the protagonist, an aspiring baker who may very well be engaged to the wrong twin. Through a series of contrivances, the petite title character, Mary (Lauren German) enlists her finance's ne'er-do-well brother to accompany her to a family reunion as a stand-in. Writer-director Elizabeth Harrison cleverly avoids turning the would-be in-laws into caricatures of hicks and nutty relatives, and this keeps the confection from collapsing under its own weight. The story might not appeal to anyone who isn't a regular viewer of Lifetime, but Love and Mary outperforms expectations and will look good on the resumes of everyone involved. -- Gary Dretzka

The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning Unstable Fables: Tortoise vs. Hare/The Blue Elephant Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre: The Complete Collection Ballet Shoes On the eve of Disney jumping into the Blu-ray market with both feet, the company continues to send out straight-to-DVD product in the standard format. That's certainly no crime, even if parents who have invested in Blu-ray will question the marketing strategy. Still, considering that consumers are unlikely to confuse this prequel with theatrical originals in the studio's vault, it's a legitimate question to ask. It seems that Ariel was born in an aquatic world devoid of music. By chance, King Triton's daughter discovers an underground/water music club, where she can work on her chops and plot the introduction of frothy show tunes to Atlantica. The bonus features include deleted scenes, sing-along songs, a mermaid game and quiz, an interview with director Peggy Holmes and a featurette on Broadway's The Little Mermaid Under the Sea. The Henson studios continue to be a reliable source for movies targeted at very young DVD audiences. In its new entry into the Unstable Fables series, the voice actors include Danny Glover, Jay Leno, Vivica A. Fox, Drake Bell and Keke Palmer. The story is set 15 years after the legendary race between the tortoise and the hare, and, this time, they've brought the kids. Martin Short, Carl Reiner and Miranda Cosgrove supply the voices for The Blue Elephant, Henson's animated comedy about Khan, a small elephant who requires a wee bit of help finding his way home, where his royal destiny lies. More than anyone else, actor Shelley Duvall realized the potential for the emerging cable and video platforms to facilitate entertainment, education and wonder among very young children. The series of 26 stories didn't shortchange the kids one dime, as they starred or were directed by such artists as Tim Burton, Francis Ford Coppola, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Mick Jagger, James Earl Jones, Howie Mandel, Christopher Reeve and Susan Sarandon. This set adds the Lost Episode: Faerie Tale Theatre's Greatest Moments, a presentation reel with Shelley Duvall, promotional footage, a 112-page storybook and game. The British television production, Ballet Shoes, stars Eileen Atkins, Emma Watson, Yasmin Paige, Lucy Boynton, Peter Bowles, Richard Griffiths, Gemma Jones and Harriet Walter. It describes what happens when the girls in the Fossil family are enrolled in the Academy of Dance and Stage Training, where they learn how to transform dreams into reality. - Gary Dretzka

Heckler Any aspiring stand-up comedian who watches Heckler alongside The Aristocrats will learn that their chosen profession isn't what it seems to be on cable television. The Aristocrats demonstrated how cynicism can serve as a defense mechanism, backstage, or an assault weapon against audiences showing signs of revolt. Heckler isn't nearly as well conceived, but it does offer a look inside the minds of comics who are forced to think on their feet when confronted with a hostile and/or drunk member of the audience. It also questions the role of critics in the world of entertainment. The film was produced by Jamie Kennedy, a comedian, writer and actor, who, we're told, has suffered at the hands of critics only slightly less than Carrot Top (also interviewed here). When left to his own devices, Kennedy allows his bitterness to cloud the observations of some very smart comics, musicians and actors. He also fails to score direct hits on the critics - mostly of the Internet variety - who have been unmercifully critical of his work and agreed to defend themselves here. It's more than a bit off-putting, in that critics think far too highly of themselves and their opinions. Among those participating are Lewis Black, Craig Ferguson, Bill Maher, Paul Rodriguez, Roseanne Barr, Louie Anderson, Dave Attell, Carrie Fisher, Kathy Griffin, Arsenio Hall and George Wallace. Kennedy also was able to tap such disparate characters as Mike Ditka, Rob Zombie, Larry Flynt and Jewel. - Gary Dretzka

Alfresco Life: Season One Battle 360/UFO Hunters/Shockwave/Monsterquest The Presidents Collection It's fun to explore the professional roots of actors we've come to enjoy in roles far different than those for which they made their bones. Twenty years before Hugh Laurie became a star here in House, he was an up-and-coming comic actor in England. In the sketch-comedy series, Alfresco, Laurie was joined by such now-recognizable talents as Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie, Robbie Coltrane, Ben Elton and Stephen Fry. Much of the humor was topical, lampooning politicians and counterculture icons with equal fervor. The package includes the three-episode pilot, an examination of alternative comedy boom in 1980s Britain and cast biographies. NBC's freshman drama, Life, wasn't the easiest series with which to fall in love, especially if one hadn't seen the first couple of episodes. Just when it started to gel last season, the writers' strike put the series on hold and fans were left in the lurch. NBC is giving Life another shot at success, so this would be a good time for newcomers to catch up with the story. Damian Lewis plays police detective Charlie Crews, who's spent the last 12 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. As a cop, he was the last person most of his fellow cons would befriend. After being exonerated and receiving a $50 million settlement, Charlie also gets the cold shoulder from fellow cops who can't imagine why he would want to return to the force. With the original case newly reopened, Charlie decides to track down the real killer. Guess in which directions the clues point. The History Channel may have put more DVDs into the marketplace than any network that isn't owned by Disney. It has recently raised the ante on non-fiction titles by sending out editions of noteworthy series in steelbox editions. Battle 360 documents events in the life of the World War II aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, using CGI visualizations. UFO Hunters follows a group of researchers as they attempt to discover the truth behind sightings from Roswell to the present. Shockwave covers breaking news events and disasters through the lenses of cell-phone and surveillance cameras, as well as video from local news outlets. Monsterquest tackles reports of real-life and mythical creatures, including such legends as Bigfoot and Nessie. PBS Home Video has put its American Experience series of presidential biodocs into a single package, just in time for the run-up to the November elections. The presidents represented include Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, John Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. What history will have to say about the current resident of the White House is anyone's guess. Other new TV-to-DVD packages include: Wayside School: Season One, Little People, Big World: Season 2, Vol. 1, The Best of Comedy Central Presents II, The Untouchables: Season Two, Vol. 2, Everybody Hates Chris: The Third Season, Dog the Bounty Hunter: The Best of Season Four, Entourage: The Complete Fourth Season, NCIS: The Fifth Season, The Shield: The Complete Sixth Season and Cheers: The Tenth Season. - Gary Dretzka

The Life & Times of Mr. Perfect SummerSlam 2008 WWE: Night of Champions 2008 WWE: The Great American Bash 2008 The busy beavers at World Wrestling Entertainment Home Entertainment keep turning out DVDs that not only recapture the excitement of previous events, but also spotlight individual personalities, all of whom blur the borders between fact and fiction. The latest releases document the most recent SummerSlam and Curt Hennig, a second-generation star known better as Mr. Perfect (a name Chad Johnson probably considered before settling on Ocho Cinco). He joined what is now known as the WWE in 1988, after stints with AWA and WCW. The two-disc set includes a 90-minute documentary, 10 of his greatest matches, the West Texas Redneck's Rap is Crap music video and material shot at Mr. Perfect's induction last year into the WWE Hall of Fame. WWE Night of Champions recall title defenses for the WWE Championship, World Heavyweight Championship, ECW Championship, Intercontinental Championship, United States Championship, Women's Championship, World Tag Team Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship. The Great American Bash was significant in WWE lore because Shelton Benjamin became the first Superstar to challenge for the U.S. Title at the event and win it the same night. Other biodocs include studies of the Rock, Rick Nature Boy Flair and Team Extreme.- Gary Dretzka