The Wrap Up ...

Push

The best way to explain what happens in Push is to compare it to X-Men, by way of The Matrix and Harry Potter. It involves a group of young people who were born with interesting telekinetic powers being hunted down by a super-villain (Djimon Hounsou) determined to harness their amazing talents. They once were part of a government agency, the Division, which felt it could capitalize on their strengths, as well. Their talents include an ability to see into the future (Dakota Fanning) and being able to move and manipulate objects with their minds (Chris Evans). Beyond that, I have almost no idea what went on in Push.

Set in China, the movie looks pretty cool, and some of the special effects are quite well done. A couple of them are worth the price of admission, alone. (For instance, there’s a gun fight in which the weapons levitate, move and shoot on the orders of good and evil “pushers.”) As if to justify the two-hour length of the movie, the extras include a featurette on ways various government agencies have attempted to exploit the powers of psychics, while also dismissing ESP as a bunch of hooey.- Gary Dretzka

Knowing

How does poor Nicolas Cage wind up in so many movies involving telekinetic hoo-ha, improbable conspiracies and bizarre coincidence? He’s become to the paranormal what James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson were to gangsters. Even in the least paranoid of his movies, Cage convinces audiences that someone or something really is trying to get him … and, by extension, us.

In Knowing, he stars as John Koestler, a prematurely jaded astrophysicist who once found order and meaning in the stars, but now only sees twinkly points of light against a black backdrop. It isn’t until Koestler’s son brings home a sheet of paper filled with seemingly random numbers that the scientist’s juices start flowing, again. Apparently, the numbers had been compiled by a strange little girl, a half century earlier, and left in a time capsule at the local school.

Koestler’s sharp eye for numerical groupings allows him to see patterns in numbers very few people would notice. They accurately predicted the date, time and impact of 50 years’ worth of natural and manmade catastrophes. Upon further reflection, Koestler realizes that the numbers predicted the geographical coordinates, as well.

So far, so good. It’s when the script requires of Koestler that he scramble to the sites of three remaining disasters – and singlehandedly attempt to save hundreds of lives –that “Knowing” turns into a jailbreak at the funny farm. Coincidence also dictates that Koestler’s son has a supernatural gift and that he befriends the granddaughter of the strange little girl, now dead. It also provides an entry point for pretty co-star Rose Byrne, who, as the daughter of the strange little girl, is required to join Koestler in his mission to prevent the apocalypse. Cage’s many fans likely will find something in Knowing that redeems it from other run-of-the-mill psycho-thrillers. Others will be required to savor the odd memorable moment. (There is a terrifically staged airplane crash, which occurs within feet of Koestler’s stalled car, and a horrendous subway wreck.) The making-of bonus material is decent, as is a discussion of apocalyptical iconography in religion and the arts. - Gary Dretzka

Night Train

This curious thriller recalls various Agatha Christie mysteries, except in how all the nefarious deeds occur in the opposite order of such things. Instead of being a whodunit, Night Train primarily asks what’s-in-it? Danny Glover is the conductor on a sparsely populated train car, rushing through a snow storm on what appears to be a holiday weekend. At one stop, a man carrying an ornately carved wooden box hops on board, promptly ingests copious quantities of booze and pills, and dies. In the same car are a pre-med student (Leelee Sobieski) and a troubled salesman (Steve Zahn), both of whom are far more interested in the contents of the box than the well-being of the hunched-over passenger. Once they determine that the contents – visible through holes cut into the box – are extremely valuable, they need to enlist the soon-to-retire conductor as a co-conspirator. After all, he’s the person who holds the key to the disposal of the corpse and elimination of the man’s name from the passenger tally. No sense to ruin the surprises that follow. Suffice it to say that nothing goes as planned and the mystery is compounded by elements of horror. Night Train won’t make anyone forget Murder on the Orient Express, but, as straight-to-DVD ventures go, it’s not bad. The extras add an informative making-of featurette, interviews and a photo gallery. - Gary Dretzka

Le Jupon Rouge

I suppose that this intense multi-generational lesbian drama would have worked just as well had it involved gay men, bi-sexuals, straight men and women, or adherents of any off-brand sexual persuasion. Lesbians certainly don’t have a monopoly on acts of emotional blackmail and insane jealousy. Le Jupon Rouge is sufficiently erotic to be of interest not only to the women who made The L Word a big hit, but also men who were attracted to the show by the hot babes making out whenever the mood fit. Moreover, though, the film’s multidimensional characters all were accorded lives and passions beyond the boudoir. Bacha (Alida Valli) is a human-rights activist and concentration-camp survivor in love with a younger fashion designer, Manuela, who dotes on her. When fresh and pretty Claude enters the picture, the competition for Claude’s attention drives a wedge between the older women. The French export also requires of viewers that they understand the vicious cycle that’s created when youth and beauty continually trump wisdom and experience - Gary Dretzka

Garrison Keillor: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes

Sometimes, in Peter Rosen’s entertaining bio-doc of Lake Woebegon’s favorite son, radio humorist Garrison Keillor appears to be far too full of himself to be from Minnesota, a Heartland state that, until very recently, preferred not to call attention to itself. That was before its citizens began electing wrestlers and comedians to the state’s highest office, however. Keiller’s gift is being able to poke gentle fun at the citizens of the Land of 10,000 Rubes, er, Lakes, without sounding condescending or demeaning their rites and quaint customs. It involves walking a tight rope few others could master.

Typically, entertainers can’t wait to leave the people and places that inspired their best material. Keillor did leave, but he came back wiser and no worse for the wear. If he appears to be looking down on his fans from a higher place in The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes, it’s only because he’s so much taller than they are. It also explains why Keillor seems to prefer being a very large fish in a relatively small pond, instead of a standup comedian with a hit sitcom. He loves introducing the citizens of Lake Woebegon to an international radio audience, via A Prairie Home Companion and meeting their brethren at state fairs and rhubarb-pie bake-offs. His fans seem to love him back, if only for not going high-hat on them and appreciating that lives lived small can be just as fulfilling as those lived large.

Rosen is content to let his documentary bounce all over the place, in no discernible pattern. One minute Keillor is rehearsing with his ensemble on a stage in St. Paul, while, the next, he’s in New York discussing his memories of working there (or his dad’s opinions on the city). Another minute, he’s entertaining an audience of rain-soaked fans at the fair, the next he’s sipping tea with aspiring artists at a Southern arts college. I did get a bit tired of Keillor’s many references to the old-fashioned Christian values of Minnesotans. He may have been born into a fundamentalist family, in a largely Protestant state, but clichés can be deceiving. There are as many backsliders in Minnesota as in the South, where moral hypocrisy fueled an entire industry based on Nashville’s Music Row. Sometimes, it’s difficult to tell if he’s being genuine or still chafing from the cultural boundaries imposed on him as a boy. No matter, though, Keillor’s a national treasure and this documentary sheds much light on why he matters. The bonus material adds extended interview material and backstage activity.- Gary Dretzka

Punk in England/London
Reggae in Babylon
Queens of Country
Josh Groban: An Evening in New York City

German documentary maker Wolfgang Buld began his career as a pop historian in the late 1970s with a trio of films on the increasingly influential British rock and reggae scenes. Even if the period has been fully explored in the interim, these DVD releases remain fun to watch today. That’s because they captured a moment in time before the best of the bands found other ways to channel their raw creative energy and punk nihilism (a.k.a., being co-opted). The interviews aren’t bad, but the real joy comes in watching such artists as the Jam, Ian Dury, X-Ray Spex, The Adverts, Madness, The Clash, The Specials and Boomtown Rats in their earliest incarnation.

Reggae in a Babylon documents how the rising Jamaican phenomenon was shaped to fit the tastes of rastas in exile and British audiences. Bob Marley and other reggae pioneers had already made their presence felt in England, but the musicians shown here were dealing with the same commercial realities that faced punk groups. Both genres were impacted, as well, by Maggie Thatcher’s reactionary politics. As such, there was much cross-pollination of musical ideas. The evidence is all there to be seen on re-mastered discs.

Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton comprise the royal trio of the three-disc DVD collection, Queens of Country. The volume Dolly & Friends recalls Parton’s 1976-77 TV series, Dolly, and material performed solo and alongside such kindred spirits as Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Kenny Rogers and pop poet Rod McKuen. Lynn’s segment includes appearances on The Wilburn Brothers Show, for which she filled the "girl singer” role. Sweet Dreams Still is an anthology of Cline’s filmed musical performances, including a televised appearance recorded days before her untimely death, in 1963.

Groban’s new DVD is the special edition of Soundstage that plays endlessly during PBS’ pledge months. It was taped at Lincoln Center’s Rose Hall and includes a limited edition lithograph of the singer. There also are guest appearances by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock and trumpeter Chris Botti. It can be found most easily at www.joshgroban.com/pbs. - Gary Dretzka

Callan: Set 1
Moon Machines
The Universe: The Complete Season Two (Blu-ray)

One way to tell if government agency is up to no good is if it’s too secret to be accorded a name, even a dull and misleading one. In Callan, Edward Woodward (The Equalizer) is a killer with a conscience … a 007 without numbers. The show was set during the Cold War, when capitalists and communists were known to thin the herd of spies and double agents with a well-place bullet. The assassins knew, as well, that any signs of growing old and ineffective could them their job, their life or both, in a blink of the eye. The set comes with Callan trivia and a biography of Edward Woodward.

Moon Machines celebrates the 40th anniversary of the first lunar landing by expounding on the engineering feats, brainstorms and technology that made it possible for the astronauts to get to the moon, ostensibly so they could pretend to play golf on it. I mean, that’s the reason we went there … isn’t it? (Somewhere, a fresh-faced junior astronaut is dreaming of playing golf on Mars, too.) The series opens in the wake of the Soviet Union’s then-shocking launch of Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite. It sent American engineers scurrying not only to catch up with the Russkies, but also to raise the ante on them.

It honors the contributions of computer geeks who were working on machines as big as trucks. The series goes on to detail how the lunar module was developed, absent any concrete idea of what the surface could endure. Same thing happened with the Lunar Rover. The space suits worn by the astronauts also had to be invented on the fly. Moon Machines demonstrates how some of the Apollo program’s greatest successes were achieved before the astronauts took that one big leap for mankind.

Meanwhile, the second season of History Channel’s wonderful series, The Universe arrives on Blu-ray, making a good thing even better. Also new on the TV-to-DVD front are: Petticoat Junction: The Official Second Season, Matlock: The Third Season, Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Movie Collection: Set 4, The Girls Next Door: Season 5, Reno 911!: The Complete Sixth Season and Reba: The Complete Sixth Season. – Gary Dretzka

The Good, the Bad and the Deadly: Knowing the Poisonous Mushrooms

DVD reviewers often are surprised by the material sent to them for consideration. Fortunately, even the most lowly of straight-to-video fare tends to feature a recognizable star – or a character in period costume on the cover – to provide a hint as to what to expect. It’s also possible to be taken aback by a title or theme. Such was the case with Taylor Lockwood’s informative ultra-nichey documentary, The Good, the Bad, and the Deadly: Knowing the Poisonous Mushrooms.

If, like me, you’re the sort of person who conjures skull-and-crossbones visions whenever called upon to select fresh mushrooms for a dinner entrée, this will help dial down the dread. For those adventurous sorts who have taken to seeking out mushrooms in their native habitats, Lockwood’s research could save their lives. (You kids looking to get high on ‘shrooms, probably ought to rely on a reputable dealer of hallucinogens, rather than doing field tests of your own.) Lockwood has an agreeable personality and clearly knows whereof he speaks. - Gary Dretzka

Lost: The First Two Seasons

If there’s ever been a more perplexing television series than Lost, the first two seasons of which have finally arrived on Blu-ray, I’d be hard-pressed to remember its title. (David Lynch’s shorter-lived Twin Peaks was less perplexing than it was intentionally surreal.) Entering the series late, I asked my son to explain what was going on and how the characters related to each other. He’d try, but would soon admit, “You had to be there from the beginning. “

So, for those who would like to start at the beginning, Disney has sent out the first two seasons on hi-def, which should improve the experience even for those are Lost veterans. (Succeeding seasons have already made their way to DVD.) The many extras include featurettes on the show’s genesis, the set design, cast auditions, the Oahu location, the creation of the pilot, the art of Matthew Fox, appearances at ComicCon, flashbacks and deleted scenes, bloopers, spoofs, commentaries and Easter eggs. – Gary Dretzka

Callan: Set 1 Moon Machines The Universe: The Complete Season Two (Blu-ray)

Callan: Set 1
Moon Machines
The Universe: The Complete Season Two (Blu-ray)