MCN DVD Reviews: July 21, 2009

The Wrap Up ...

Watchmen: Director's Cut
Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods: Final Cut

Zack Snyder’s adaptation of the graphic novel, Watchmen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, divided fans of the much-worshipped original. It even caused Moore to take his name off the credits … although he might have done it, anyway, just to be ornery. The big news here arrives in the form of a picture-in-picture commentary track, with background material, in the 186-minute director’s-cut version. Other features include nearly 40 minutes of webisodes; a music video of "Desolation Row,” by My Chemical Romance; making-of featurettes; and a digital copy. Another special edition comes in an Owl Ship package.

Twelve years after it launched one of the most successful sci-fi franchises in television history, the pilot Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods has been re-mastered, re-edited and re-considered for DVD by series co-creator Brad Wright. The Final Cut edition includes previously un-aired scenes; new and enhanced visual effects; a re-voiced performance by Christopher Judge; an original score by Joel Goldsmith; commentary by Wright and Richard Dean Anderson; and a featurette on the show’s roots. Also new to DVD is Stargate Atlantis: Season 5. – Gary Dretzka

Echelon Conspiracy

Far more compelling as a travelogue than a cyber-thriller, Echelon Conspiracy appears to have expended more money on securing locations than filling the gaping holes in its screenplay. It opens in Bangkok, where computer wizard Max (Shane West) receives a cell-phone message advising him to avoid the flight he has booked for home. Max received the phone as a gift from an unknown and unseen sender, who also coaches him to huge scores in a casino managed by Edward Burns (the most transparent ex-spook in the history of the CIA). While Max wonders, “Why me?,” agents of several governments chase him from Thailand, to Moscow and Prague, and the American Midwest (or a reasonable Bulgarian facsimile), where a NSA surveillance computer apparently has begun communicating directly with Max’s phone. The closer Max gets to an answer, the faster the movie’s clock ticks toward something resembling disaster. Director Greg Marcks maintains a lively pace throughout the paranoid thriller, even as he jettisons the ballast of logical exposition along the way. Joining in the mayhem are Ving Rhames, Martin Sheen and the veteran TV hottie, Tamara Feldman.- Gary Dretzka

The New Twenty

Despite the bare-chested stud muffin on the cover, The New Twenty isn’t a movie targeted specifically to gay viewers. How many straight viewers will assume otherwise, and bypass the movie at the local video store, is a question that remains to be answered. The smart urban dramedy maintains an easy balance between the sexual proclivities of gay and straight New York yuppies, all of whom are approaching the grand old age of 30 … which, we’re told, is the new 20. Several critics have compared Chris Mason Johnson and Ishmael Chawla’s story to St. Elmo’s Fire, in that it explores a culture more obsessed with the trappings of youth and financial success than the pursuit of one-night stands (although there is some of that, as well). This group of yuppies reflects a more evolved social sensibility than the one that kept the Brat Packers searching for love in all the wrong places.

Here, the characters are secure enough in their sexuality to keep their preferences and couplings from infringing on longtime friendships. They party together and hope to make money together. If 30 is the new 20, cutting deals is the new sex. To the filmmaker’s credit, too, viewers aren’t coached into cheering for one character over another, and none is incapable of cruel behavior. This decidedly low-budget indie may not carry the sheen of a St. Elmo’s Fire, About Last Night or Friends, but it comes a lot closer to reflecting contemporary life than those films ever did. - Gary Dretzka

The Ring Finger

Diane Bertrand based her trippy sophomore featureThe Ring Finger -- perhaps, the most offbeat workplace romance drama since Secretary-- on a novel of sexual obsession by Yoko Ogawa. In it, model-turned-actor Olga Kurylenko plays a 21-year-old factory worker who nearly loses her ring finger in a bottling-factory mishap. Seeking less-hazardous work on a cruise ship leaving from Hamburg, Iris settles for a job as a receptionist at a strangely quiet clinic in the port city. At first glance, the clinic seems too placid to be of any service to mankind. Upon closer inspection, though, Iris learns that it does great business as a repository for mementos patients have paid good money to have processed and preserved forever in specimen form.

The shelves of the lab are cluttered with beakers and bottles containing everything from curious-looking mushrooms to musical compositions. Iris is as bewildered by the enterprise as we are, until she begins to meet the people from near and far who come to the clinic for relief. Before long, too, she agrees to a demand by her boss that she wear a single pair of red shoes that carry a fetishistic attraction for him. Bertrand takes a neutral stance on the behavior of her protagonists, even as creepy secrets harbored within the clinic’s walls are revealed. If The Ring Finger isn’t entirely satisfying, the fault can’t be laid at the feet of Kurylenko, whose presence is nothing short of magnetic. - Gary Dretzka

Messengers 2: The Scarecrow

Do scarecrows still keep birds from attacking the crops of Midwestern farmers? Did they ever? In this prequel to The Messengers, a scarecrow not only helps save an underperforming North Dakota farm from hungry crows, but such inconveniences as a broken water pump, as well. The price paid for such relief comes in the form of serious threats to the family’s well-being. Since fans of the 2007 thriller already know what happened to the farm, all that was left for the creators of the sequel to do was create a coherent and/or exceedingly bloody explanation for the property’s abandonment. As straight-to-video horror goes, The Scarecrow isn’t bad. The DVD includes a bundle of trailers and commentary from director Martin Barnewitz and writer Todd Farmer.- Gary Dretzka

Dakota Skye

The critical and commercial success of Juno guaranteed that, henceforth, all movies about chronically hip teenage girls will be compared to Diablo Cody’s creation, and their stars will be required to measure up to Ellen Page. That’s not an easy task. In Dakota Skye, TV veteran Eileen April Boylan plays an alienated 17-year-old with an unusual quality. Dakota possesses the ability to discern the truth from lies told to her every day by her friends, teachers and family members. This superpower, as it’s described, has caused Dakota to become disillusioned about her future in a world filled by phonies.

Naturally, when she finally meets an honest guy, he comes with a catch. Jonah is the best buddy of her rock-musician boyfriend. Even so, Jonah opens Dakota’s eyes to a world free of perpetual disillusionment and apathy. Suddenly, she’s forced to choose between living life as a spectator or as a participant. Dakota Skye did well on festival circuit, but, apparently, the market for teenage superheroes was cornered by Heroes, X-Men and Harry Potter. It deserves a second life on DVD.- Gary Dretzka

Made in U.S.A.: Criterion Collection
2 or 3 Things I Know About Her: Criterion Collection

Jean-Luc Godard, whose work has become far more readily available on DVD, is one of the most revered filmmakers in the world, especially among critics and intellectuals who describe themselves as cineastes. Sounds more serious than “fan” or “buff,” I suppose. In Made in U.S.A. and Two or Three Things I Know About Her, it’s easy to see why Godard remains a living cinematic treasure. Even four decades after their original release, they continue to challenge audiences and scholars, while also revealing new quirks in the filmmaker’s personality.

The films also represent something of a parlor game, in that they were shot concurrently, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Ostensibly, Made in U.S.A. was adapted from the Donald Westlake (a.k.a., Richard Stark) novel, The Jugger. Any similarity between the two titles, however, appears to have been accidental. Even so, Made in U.S.A. contains so many direct references to American writers, filmmakers and actors – as well as important French artists and historic figures -- that a visual concordance has been included in the bonus package. Godard’s former wife, Anna Karina, stars as a colorfully dressed journalist investigating the murder of a recent lover, as if she were a hard-boiled private eye (or a member of Pamela Anderson’s teams of crime-fighting bimbos in the TV series, V.I.P.). In the course of her research, she comes to suspect various gangsters, fascists and veterans of France’s war in Algeria. Not all of Made in U.S.A. will make sense to American audiences, but its undeniable charm and zany humor help smooth over the rough spots. (There also are short appearances by Jean-Pierre Léaud and Marianne Faithfull, who adds an impromptu rendition of As Tears Go By.) The Criterion edition is enhanced by a restored high-definition digital transfer; interviews with Karina and co-star Lászlo Szábó; trailers; an essay by critic J. Hoberman; and a discussion with biographers Richard Brody and Colin MacCabe.

The “her” in Two or Three Things I Know About Her refers as much to a rapidly changing Paris as to the protagonist, a middle-class housewife (Marina Vlady) who turns tricks to afford a lifestyle that might otherwise be above her means. Again, while the original inspiration apparently came from The Big Sleep, the film could hardly be considered an adaptation. More than anything else, Two or Three Things is Godard’s statement on the impact of American-style consumerism and how it encouraged Parisians in all income brackets to prostitute themselves to make certain dreams (however illusory) come true. The neighborhood depicted in Two or Three Things looked nothing like the Paris on display in movies and tourism brochures. It’s crowded with the same modern shops, hi-rises and billboards found in any mid-century metropolis experiencing unprecedented growth. Its lack of personality provided Godard with sufficient grist for the personal and political observations inserted into his documentary-like presentation. The extras include archival television interviews (one, on the set with Vlady, and the other in a studio, where Godard debated a government official on prostitution); a new interview with Antoine Bourseiller; a visual essay cataloguing the references in the film; and a new essay by Sasha Frere-Jones.- Gary Dretzka

Hotel: The First Season
The Lucy Show: The Official First Season
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero: Season 1.1
Grey Gardens: HBO
Frontline: The Madoff Affair
Vegas: The City the Mob Made
1,001 Classic Commercials Collection

ABC and Aaron Spelling’s 1984 series, Hotel, may have been inspired by Arthur Hailey's best-selling novel and the 1967 theatrical film of the same name, but they all owed a huge debt of gratitude to MGM’s star-studded classic, Grand Hotel. Oscar’s Best Picture of 1932, in turn, was adapted from the 1929 novel and play Menschen im Hotel, by Austrian writer Vicki Baum. Set in Berlin, between the world wars, Grand Hotel interlaced five otherwise independent stories about guests whose fates would be determined over a two-night stay at the Art Deco palace.

As such, it provided the template for such disparate concepts as Dinner at Eight, Ship of Fools, The Love Boat, Vegas, Hotel Babylon and several other productions credited to Hailey and Spelling. All belied Dr. Otternschlag’s observation, "Grand Hotel … always the same. People come, people go. Nothing ever happens."

The ABC series starred James Brolin, Connie Sellecca and Shari Belafonte as hotel brass, and, each season, several dozen guests checked in, representing Hollywood’s B- and C-lists, veteran actors and up-and-comers, alike. San Francisco’s St. Gregory Hotel was owned by Bette Davis, who appeared in only in the pilot episode. (In 2003, Spelling would re-set the series for UPN at another St. Gregory Hotel, this time in New Orleans.) And, yes, all sorts of noteworthy things happened under the St. Gregory’s roof, even as the vast majority of the hotel’s guests came and went, without noticing anything unusual. The first-season set includes all 22 of the show’s regular episodes, as well as the two-hour pilot.

As if to demonstrate that life didn’t begin and end with I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance would tempt fate with The Lucy Show. In it, the veteran show-women played a pair of friends rendered single by death and divorce, respectively (not Ricky and Fred). Lucy and Vivian moved into a house, along with their children, where they were forced to deal with all the usual challenges facing homeowners. The difference, of course, was that Lucy continually devised unconventional ways to solve those problems. The Lucy Show was filmed before a studio audience, adding a bit more spontaneity to the proceedings than was usual for sitcoms of the time. Future Laugh-In co-host Dick Martin appeared in seven first-season episodes, but the great Gale Gordon wouldn’t join the cast as Mr. Mooney until a year later. The package adds flubs and outtakes, interviews and promos, commercials, cast profiles and production notes.

First introduced into toy stores in 1963, following the wildly successful launch of Barbie, Hasbro’s G.I. Joe effectively made it OK for boys to play with dolls. (The more macho term, “action figure,” would come later.) Two decades later, the popularity of Star Wars figures would prompt Hasbro to update G.I. Joe and add new combatants to his platoon. A broad-based marketing campaign also included military accessories, a comic book, clothes, games and an animated TV mini-series. In G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, the characters were called upon to kill terrorists before killing terrorists was cool. This four-disc set includes the first part of the series’ inaugural season, three five-part mini-series, public-service announcements, a chat with writer Ron Friedman, vintage toy commercials, Joe’s introduction at the 1963 Toy Fair and a printable script for "Jungle Trap.”

If Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale and Edith Bouvier Beale (a.k.a. "Big Edie" and “Little Edie”) had been anyone else’s relatives than Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, they’d have been dismissed as rich nutballs and not inspire two documentaries, a Broadway musical, wardrobe accessories, a cabaret show and this HBO movie. Throw in the widowed First Lady, however, and the possibilities for exploitation seemingly became endless. The Beales of East Hampton had been raised as American royalty. They were Park Avenue debutantes and the objects of affection for some of the country’s richest men.

A series of economic calamities would render them penniless and unable to cope with the world outside their Grey Gardens estate. The Maysles Brothers’ strangely mesmerizing 1975 documentary, Grey Gardens, would re-introduce the Beales to America’s inquiring minds, while also showcasing their beyond-eccentric behavior and deplorable living conditions. Their time in the spotlight’s glare also convinced Jackie O to contribute the money needed to clean up the estate and prevent eviction. Somehow, a musical was constructed from the Beales’ bizarre legacy, as was the HBO film that starred Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange, both of whom are up for Emmy Awards next month.

Some people have argued that the 150-year sentence given Bernard Madoff for his financial misdeeds actually let him off easy. His worldwide Ponzi scheme stripped investors -- most of whom were, like him, Jewish -- of billions of dollars. As long as some people at the top made money, the suckers below them were encouraged to keep tossing good money after bad. As this shocking Frontline investigation explains, Madoff’s victims not only included greed mongers for whom too much wealth was never enough, but also foundations and charitable organizations. Meanwhile, Madoff lived the life of King Midas. The Madoff Affair also reveals how poorly Wall Street regulators performed in the face of evidence predicting a financial disaster.

Along with Adolph Hitler, Princess Diana and the Iron Chef, few subjects have been as fully explored on cable television as the history and pleasures of Las Vegas. Vegas: The City the Mob Made is an exhaustive, 585-minute chronicle of organized crime’s meteoric rise and inevitable fall in the Nevada desert. Big-city gangsters took advantage of a 1931 law legalizing Wild West-style gambling in what then was a dusty outpost for miners, railroad workers, cowboys and Mormons. Fifteen years later, Bugsy Siegel would steal someone else’s dream and create the working model for today’s Strip. After the “rackets guys” got greedy, Wall Street companies filled the void, turning the city into an internationally recognized brand. Americans can’t seem to get enough of this kind of stuff, but, at 10 volumes, this Mill Creek collection would test anyone’s appetite for crime.

I’ve never bought the argument that commercials can be as entertaining as the programs in which they appear. The 30-second spots that appear in such mega-events as the Super Bowl and Academy Awards, and can cost as much to make as most of the films shown at Sundance, can be fun to watch once … twice, maybe. Even the best of them, however, tend to grow stale in repeated viewings. A large part of the success of TiVo and other DVR appliances can be credited to viewers’ distaste for the 99 percent of all commercials that test one’s sanity. As representatives of the prevailing pop culture, however, ads can hardly be topped. Like top-40 hits on an oldies station, commercials also are vehicles for nostalgia. 1,001 Classic Commercials Collection provides more than 900 minutes worth of commercials whose jingles, iconography and dialogue will be instantly recognized by Baby Boomers.

Among the other new TV-to-DVD fare are, Showtime’s This American Life: Season Two, in which host Ira Glass introduces viewers to interesting people they otherwise would never have met; Jon & Kate Plus Ei8ht: Season 4, Vol. 2: The Big Movie, a story made irrelevant by the events of the last two months in the Gosselin clan; Journey to the Moon: The 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11 is for lunar-mission completists; Joe Schmo 2 expands on the Spike TV faux-reality series, in which the only person who doesn’t know the game is fixed is the contestant; and inspired by the hit ballroom series, So You Think You Can Dance: Get Fit: Tone and Groove/Cardio Funk. - Gary Dretzka

Rescue Adventures Collection: 5 Family Movies
Urban 4 Movie Pack

Apparently, the folks at Mill Creek Entertainment are in the midst of a clearance sale, sending out themed packages of little-remembered matinee and exploitation movies. Rescue Adventures Collection: 5 Family Movies is comprised of The Legend of Cougar Canyon, Night of the Wolf, Poco, Toby McTeague and George! They feature heroic dogs and other animals that saved humans from untimely deaths.

The Urban 4 Movie Packs are more like grab bags than themed sets, in that only a few of the films have recognizable stars and directors, while others may already have been forgotten by the people who made them. Most are unrated. The "Dayz of Blood Collection" offers Robert Townsend’s Black Listed, Chip Factor, with Professor Griff, Better Days; and Inhumanity.

The "Stone Cold Collection" includes 3 Gs and a Key, Season of Youth, Snuffed Out and Avia, Vampire Hunter. The Boneyard Collection adds Manje, Bleeding Rose, Asylum Night and The Sorority.

The “Thugs Collection” includes The Fast Life, East New York, Dre's Karma and Hip Hop 4 Life. The “Killaz Collection” has Thugz, Blood Billz, Straight Out of Compton and Keepin' It Real.

Anyone’s who’s ever wondered what happened to the blaxploitation genre need only seek out these collections. – Gary Dretzka