MCN DVD Reviews: February 11, 2009

The Wrap Up ...

Frozen River

	..The MCN Reviews Vault
	..The MCN Critics Roundup

Apart from appearances in several of Henry Jaglom's ensemble pieces, Melissa Leo came to our attention as detective Kay Howard in the brilliant police series, Homicide: Life on the Streets. After appearing mostly in TV guest slots, as cops or victims, Leo made an impressive big-screen return with memorable performances in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Stephanie Daley, 21 Grams and Jaglom's Hollywood Dreams. The New York City native has been nominated by the Motion Picture Academy as Best Leading Actress for her work in director Courtney Hunt's grimly naturalistic, Frozen River. In it, she plays Ray, the poverty-level wife of a degenerate gambler who split for casinos unknown a week before Christmas, taking with him the family's small nest-egg. After scouring the local Indian bingo parlors, Ray spots a young Mohawk woman heading back to the rez in her husband's presumably stolen car. After a brief chase, the pistol-packing mother of two and the petty criminal, Lila (Misty Upham), form an unlikely alliance, smuggling illegal immigrants from Canada across a frozen St. Lawrence River. Both women distrust each other, but the urgent needs of their respective families demand they go into business together. As long as Ray is behind the wheel, Lila feels confident that the white state troopers will leave them to their affairs, which, for a while, they do. Not only is the freshman writer-director, Hunt, able to sustain the drama in the two mothers' bone-chilling scheme, but she also forces her audience to stare directly into the abyss of poverty in America today. It's an amazing movie, graced with splendid performances all around. - Gary Dretzka

Nights in Rodanthe

Stop me, if you've heard this one already. Two attractive and tentatively single middle-age adults -- both recovering from emotional traumas -- find themselves stranded in a secluded inn under roiling skies. Assuming that an assault by blood-sucking zombies isn't imminent, Nights in Rodanthe could only exist in one other genre: the achingly romantic, inevitably bittersweet mid-budget Hollywood tear-jerker. This one reunites the physically compatible stars of Unfaithful and Cotton Club -- Richard Gere and Diana Lane - and sequesters them in an impossibly gorgeous B&B, during hurricane season. Nothing else need be revealed for bulk-buyers of Kleenex to see the possibilities inherent in this set-up. Broadway stalwart George C. Wolfe's adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' novel pushes all the right and obvious emotion buttons, while taking full advantage of the lovely location and easy-on-the-eyes stars. Men should only be forced to watch Nights in Rodanthe as punishment for forgetting a birthday or anniversary. Only the Blu-ray edition arrives with extras: making-of featurettes The Nature of Love, In Rodanthe with Emmylou Harris and Keeping in Touch with Nicholas Sparks; deleted/alternate scenes; a music video from Gavin Rossdale; a digital copy; and BD-Live capability. - Gary Dretzka

Miracle at St. Anna

Spike Lee's story about the largely unheralded contributions of African-American soldiers during World War II would be fascinating, even if he hadn't decided to throw in a kitchen sink's worth of subplots, subtexts, extraneous characters and bizarre stereotypes. As it is, though, Miracle at St Anna nearly collapses under the weight of two significant storylines. In addition to introducing us to the heroism of the Buffalo Soldiers of the 92nd Infantry Division, Lee also describes the events that led to the massacre of an estimated 560 Tuscan villagers by retreating German SS troops. The movie, adapted from James MacBride's The Miracle of Sant'Anna, also attempts to set the record straight on the Buffalo Soldiers, whose role and sacrifices have been dismissed by some military historians. In doing so, however, Miracle at St. Anna has been criticized for exploiting an atrocity of great magnitude in the service of a political statement. That point is made time and again in encounters with segregationists back home and racist officers in the field. Indeed, no sooner do the Buffalo Soldiers disembark in northern Italy than they are ordered to embark on a mission that almost ensures their slaughter. A handful of men survive the attack, however, and find refuge in the tiny village the Nazis soon will destroy. Here, sharp-eyed viewers will find a clue in the murder of white Post Office customer, inexplicably shot by a black sales clerk armed with a luger, which occurs at the beginning of Miracle at St. Anna. Flashing backward and forward in time is a device that explains the discovery of a sculpted head in a closet in the shooter's home, but mostly adds bulk to a story that needed to be streamlined. Typically, though, Lee doesn't trust audiences to come to the intended conclusions on their own. Instead of the exciting, briskly told war movie it could have been, Miracle almost demands of its viewers that they carry a scorecard and timeline. It would have been better to let the events speak for themselves and reserve the political spin, however valuable, for the fascinating roundtable discussions in the bonus features. Miracle was shot on location in Tuscany, sometimes in the same places as described in the movie. It's interesting to note that knowledge of the massacre itself was withheld from the Italian public until 1994, when files on it were accidentally uncovered. Although some German officers were indicted, legal wrangling in both countries has kept them free. - Gary Dretzka

Chocolate

The Thai cinema industry has produced some of the craziest movies I've seen lately. Chocolate is about the autistic daughter of a pretty Bangkok shylock and an exiled member of the Japanese Yakuza. As a young girl, Zen learns how to kick box and catch or dodge fast-flying objects, thrown by her cohorts and enemies, alike. She does this by watching martial-arts shows on TV - including one by the director -- and observing the fighters at the boxing school next door. Later, when her mother, Zin, contacts a deadly illness, Zen confronts the deadbeats who owe her money so as to afford quality health care. Nothing comes easy, though, and Zen is pitted against an increasingly vile collection of debtors and thugs, including the crime boss who long ago sent her dad packing. The fight scenes, which range from brutal to completely nutso, are well choreographed and deliver a solid punch. . - Gary Dretzka

Way of War

Cuba Gooding Jr. is on the list of fine actors whose Best Supporting Oscar (Jerry Maguire) wasn't enough to guarantee future roles of the quality necessary to secure consideration for another statuette. His presence definitely helped Snow Dogs become a surprise hit for Disney, but the straights-posing-as-gay comedy, Boat Trip, died an embarrassing death soon thereafter. He played drug kingpin Nicky Barnes to Denzel Washington's Frank Barnes, in American Gangster, but then returned to the world of direct-to-DVD. The drab and moody Way of War is a movie about an American paramilitary operative, David Wolfe, who stumbles upon a nearly incomprehensible international conspiracy, while also tracking down a terrorist known as the Ace of Diamonds. Pissed off that he's being used by Cabinet members in the service of such an un-American endeavor, he goes underground in search of truth and justice. Gooding's performance stands head and shoulders above those required of everyone else in Way of War, which is only to say that he looks the part of a rogue commando. Nonetheless, the star's older fans should enjoy it. - Gary Dretzka

Iowa

Like Requiem for a Dream, Spun, The Sultan Sea and several recent documentaries on the highs and lows of life in the drug culture, Matt Farnsworth's Iowa works best as a cautionary tale. Here, the toxin of choice is crystal meth, which has the distinction of being the Official Illegal Substance of the Jerry Springer Show and double-wide dealers across the Midwest. Hard drugs wouldn't enjoy such a wide customer base if they didn't promise something in the way of a good time, and Iowa makes it clear what draws salt-of-the-Earth folks to cheap and readily crank. Describing what happens after the poison turns on its host, however, is a more difficult task. Anyone who's seen Reefer Madness understands that creative cinematography doth not a cautionary tale make. When it comes to depicting a meth jones, it's all in the editing … the more frenetic, the better. Finding actors willing to take the cosmetic journey from fit and healthy to something resembling a prisoner in a concentration camp is a lot tougher. Farnsworth was inspired to write, direct and star in Iowa after visiting his home town and witnessing the devastation first hand. In the documentaries Poor Man's Dope and Dying for Meth, viewers are encouraged to discover what real addicts look like and to what lengths they'll go to stay high. These are the people one only sees in documentaries … living proof of the wasted days and wasted nights. Iowa is a recognizable depiction of the folks Farnsworth and his partner, Diane Foster, met in their research. They play Esper and Donna, who, when we meet them, are like any other good kids who are surrounded by bad influences and smothered in boredom. After the death of his father, Esper hopes to finance their escape in the easiest way possible: stoking up the old man's makeshift chemistry set and jumping headfirst into the batch business. It isn't long before the kids sample the product, though, and become their own best customers. Once hooked, they provide easy pickings for the town's sociopathic parole officer, who, not coincidentally, is dating Esper's monster of a mother. The downward spiral continues unabated from there. Staying with Iowa until the bitter end won't be easy for the faint of heart. - Gary Dretzka

The Exterminating Angel/Simon of the Desert:
Criterion Collection
Clint Eastwood: American Icon Collection

The latest additions to Criterion Collection library are new hi-def digital transfers of Luis Bunuel's Simon of the Desert (1965) and The Exterminating Angel (1962), and the delightful David Lean comedy Hobson's Choice (1954). The Bunuel sets include new profiles and interviews, as well as fresh essays and cleaned-up subtitles. Angel is a wicked send-up of bourgeois complacency and conformity, while the surrealist satire, Simon, describes the lengths to which one man went to honor God. It's less than an hour long, but the surprises are unforgettable. This set also adds A Mexican Buñuel, a 50-minute documentary by Emilio Maillé. Hobson's Choice demonstrates David Lean's ability to entertain on a much smaller stage than the ones used in his epic works. It often feels like a comic version of King Lear, in that Charles Laughton plays the father of three daughters and the one he sparks with the most is the one who saves his neck.

Immediately after Clint Eastwood's hugely successful foray into the world of spaghetti-Westerns, he returned to America and became the world's No. 1 action star. As police inspector Harry Callahan, he also served as a larger-than-life target for liberal critics who feared Americans would find in Dirty Harry a rallying point for vigilantism. He wasn't and they didn't. Even as the debate was raging, though, Eastwood was keeping his options open, by exploring different genres and taking a stab at directing. Universal's American Icon Collection includes four representative titles of the period: Don's Siegel's fish-out-of-water Eastern, Coogan's Bluff and off-putting Civil War thriller, The Beguiled; and the Alpine revenge adventure, The Eiger Sanction, and Carmel-set psycho-drama, Play Misty for Me, both of which he directed, as well. They all hold up remarkably well and are quite fun to watch. The extras are of the making-of variety.

I doubt that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has ever considered himself to be in the same artistic league as Eastwood, but he's a charismatic action hero and his films have made money for their backers. The Rock Collection is comprised of Doom, Rundown and The Scorpion King. Also bundled together are the secret-college-sect movies, The Skulls Trilogy … I, II and III. - Gary Dretzka

Days and Clouds
The Romance of Astrea and Celadon

This month's addition to the Film Movement library couldn't possibly be timelier. Silvio Soldino's Days and Clouds describes in minute detail how it feels for an upper-middle-class business executive to lose the security blanket provided by a job that seemed would go on indefinitely. Michele (Antonio Abanese) is the husband and father who became the odd man out in a power struggle at the boat-building firm he helped create. His position afforded his ravishing wife Elsa (Margherita Buy) the opportunity to pursue her passion and complete her dissertation on Renaissance art. Despite having been out of work for two months, Michele refuses to rain on Elsa's parade. He not only withholds the bad news for her, but he also goes ahead with plans for an expensive surprise party and graduation gift. Having no luck finding a job, Michele makes an unsuccessful stab at manual labor, while Elsa is forced to work a pair of jobs to keep from starving. Her new hours preclude Elsa from an important fresco-restoration project she had championed in graduate school. Can the couple survive the subsequent downsizing of their lives and dreams? It's a question tens of millions of baby boomers will be forced to answer in the coming months and years.

In the films of the venerable French auteur Eric Rohmer, his very contemporary characters spend lots of time talking about love … or purposefully dancing around the subject. The Romance of Astrea and Celadon, his self-proclaimed final film, is based on a 17th Century novel by Honoré d'Urfé and set in an enchanted forest in 5th Century Gaul. Astrea and Celadon resembles a Shakespearean comedy in its confusion of identities, romantic pranks and petty jealousies. The few American critics who saw it weren't terribly impressed, but those at Les Cahiers du cinema anointed it one of the 10 best pictures of 2007. - Gary Dretzka

Dennis Potter: 3 to Remember
She Stoops to Conquer
What Makes Sammy Run?
'60 Minutes' Presents: Obama: All Access
Kennedy: The Complete Series
Daniel's Daughter
Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie

The late British writer Dennis Potter was responsible for several of the most stimulating teleplays in the history of the medium. The Singing Detective and Pennies From Heaven set the standard by which all miniseries would be judged, and the short-form Hollywood versions suffered by comparison. 3 to Remember is comprised of a trio of rarely seen productions, which are at once complex and highly entertaining. Blade on the Feather stars Donald Pleasence, as a reclusive author, and Tom Conti as a mysterious fan. Rain on the Roof is an intricate study of infidelity, while Cream in My Coffee traces a long relationship from its forbidden inception to a twilight reunion at the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne. The set includes Dennis Potter: The Last Interview, which aired in 1994.

Also from England comes the latest television adaptation of Oliver Goldsmith's classic comedy of errors, She Stoops to Conquer. Staged in a 17th Century manor house, the 236-year-old play remains witty and relevant in its depiction of the games played by lovers of distinctly different social classes. It stars Mark Dexter, Roy Marsden, Susannah Fielding, Polly Hemingway and Ian Redford, and includes a documentary on Goldsmith.

Once upon a time, American networks served up hearty adaptations of classic plays and books. That stopped around the time Married … With Children topped the ratings, however. In 1959, NBC's Sunday Showcase presented an adaptation of Budd Schulberg's biting novel of ambition, What Makes Sammy Run? Deemed by many producers to be too anti-Semitic for mainstream consumption - Sammy Glick remains a recognizable Hollywood stereotype, even today - the script plays down the book's emphasis on ethnicity, without losing much of its bite. The cast includes much younger versions of Larry Blyden, John Forsythe, Norman Fell, Dina Merrill, Barbara Rush and, yes, Monique van Vooren.

As difficult as it might seem, there might be one or two people out there who aren't sick of reading and watching shows about the interminably long 2008 presidential campaign. For them, 60 Minutes and CBS News have tossed together a commemorative DVD package on the ascendency of Barack Obama.

Fifteen years before Josiah Jed Bartlet was elected President - on West Wing, at least -- Martin Sheen played an actual POTUS in the mini-series, Kennedy. The popular NBC presentation endeavored to explore JFK's time in office without minimizing the scandals that have since tarnished his public image. If nothing else, Kennedy reminds us of a period in American history when optimism reigned, however briefly, and the president was a direct reflection of the paradigm shift in American culture. Sound familiar?

In the made-for-cable movie Daniel's Daughter, Laura Leighton (Melrose Place) plays - what else? -- a successful New York magazine editor who is about to experience a midlife crisis. It involves the death of her estranged father and revelations that he might not have been so bad, after all. It arrives via the Hallmark Channel.

From 1993, Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie represents Lucie Arnaz' attempt to set the record straight on America's favorite couple, circa 1955. It followed by a year a CBS docu-drama that revealed a few too many warts and was denounced by the Arnaz siblings. The DVD set includes home movies in color and off-camera clips; Arnaz' interviews with her parents' friends, business associates and relatives; outtakes and bloopers; and trivia.

Entering the TV-to-DVD marketplace this week are newcomers Whale Wars, which describes the efforts of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to disrupt Japanese whalers and processors; in a similar vein, Escape to Chimp Eden: Season 1 focuses on South Africa's Chimp Eden Sanctuary, an off-shoot of the Jane Goodall Institute; monkeys of a different stripe are represented in Curious George: Robot Monkey and More Great Gadgets and Curious George: Monkey Collection, Vol. 1; Deon Taylor's Nite Tales is a feature-length horror anthology that debuted on BET last fall, and was hosted by Flavor Flav; and, from Logo, the feature-length Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom, in which some familiar characters attempt to tie the knot in a gay-friendly state.

Returning for another stanza are Dave's World: The Second Season, Night Court: The Complete Second Season, Becker: The Second Season, Jon and Kate Plus Ei8ht: Season 3, The Partridge Family: The Complete Fourth Season and Bewitched: The Complete Seventh Season. - Gary Dretzka

The Lodger
The Alphabet Killer
Dorothy Mills
Red Mist
Otto; or, Up With Dead People

If The Lodger sounds familiar, it's because it's a SoCal-based, talkie adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock's London-set silent adaptation of Marie Belloc Lowndes' 1913 novel, which, itself, was inspired by the Jack the Ripper killings. (The book has been adapted four other times, as well.) Here, in David Ondaatje's so-so remake, the mysterious upstairs lodger (a.k.a., the Avenger) is played by handsome Simon Baker, the dogged investigator is Alfred Molina and Hope Davis is thesuspicious landlady. Hard to imagine a more bountiful hunting ground for blond prostitutes than the Sunset Strip.

The undeniably hot Eliza Dushku is a capable actor and rising star in movies and on television. She also looks ridiculous in a police uniform. After being demoted from the ranks of detectives in The Alphabet Killer - and hospitalized for a nervous breakdown after seeing ghosts of murdered children - her character is required to report to work in an outfit that takes makes her seem about as authoritative as the average strip-o-gram cop. The cases covered in the movie are based on an actual series of murders of young girls in and around Rochester, New York. Cary Elwes and Timothy Hutton also play key roles in the reasonably dramatic thriller.

The creepy Irish import, Dorothy Mills, stars Dutch cutie Carice van Houten as a similarly disturbed psychologist. She is called in to examine Dorothy Mills, a teenager accused of strangling a baby. The girl, diagnosed with a multiple personality disorder, gives the shrink more than she bargained for by speaking in the voice of her recently deceased son.

Red Mist takes us to Forthaven General Hospital, where a prank pulled on a janitor by partying staffers backfires and puts him into a coma. The mistake is compounded by efforts used to bring the victim back to his normal, albeit creepy self. Revenge ensues.

Otto is set among a community of radical gay zombies in Berlin. That's right, radical gay zombies. The title character is described as a handsome, sensitive, neo-Goth zombie with an identity crisis, whose story fascinates an avant-garde filmmaker in town to research the undead subculture. Apparently, by comparison to Bruce LaBruce's previous films, Otto is tame.