DVD Spin Doctor

DVD review: 'The Fall of the Roman Empire'

After 1961's "El Cid," noted crank Charlton Heston wanted nothing more to do with Sophia Loren. So when producer Samuel Bronston came calling again for "The Fall of the Roman Empire," the actor rejected him, despite the box office riches that flowed from "El Cid."

For "The Fall of the Roman Empire," Bronston and Co. turned to Irish actor Stephen Boyd, who'd supported Heston in "Ben-Hur," earning an Oscar nomination. Boyd had just missed out playing Marc Antony in 1963's "Cleopatra." "He'll look great on a horse," they figured.

But Boyd was no Heston, unfortunately, and "The Fall of the Roman Empire" proved to be no "El Cid."

"Roman Empire" bombed, despite its wondrous re-creation of ancient Rome. The three-hour flop with the biggest budget in film history brought an end to Bronston's moviemaking adventures in Spain.

The Weinstein Company, which did a fine job with the "El Cid" DVD set earlier this year, returns with another outstanding Bronston video using basically the same format. While "The Fall of the Roman Empire" disappoints on many levels, this DVD presentation does not. Fans of the "El Cid" set will want this one as well.

"The Fall of the Roman Empire" movie has its moments, no doubt, starting with the magnificent scenes shot in its to-scale version of the Forum, built on the plains outside Madrid.

Stars Boyd and Loren suffer from zero chemistry, but the second tier of international film stars come through. Bronston thought big in casting, too: Many of the supporting actors could have opened a movie in those days. Stealing the show were old pro Alec Guinness and newcomer Christopher Plummer.

Guinness played the ruler Marcus Aurelius, a visionary emperor dedicated to furthering Pax Romana (Roman peace). It's a goody-goody role that Guinness complained about, but he sells it like free togas and carries the talky first act.

Plummer, then a TV actor, played the emperor's nasty but charming son Commodus, who ascends to the throne upon the old man's murder. Plummer plays the youthful despot like a cross between the seductive snake in "The Jungle Book" and Mr. Rogers. Eerie and entertaining every second Plummer's on stage.

Marcus Aurelius and Commodus were real Romans, of course, as was Aurelius' daughter, played by Loren. Our hero Livius (Boyd) was a creation of the script. The true and bogus are all sorted out for us in the extras, by the same gang of biographers, witnesses and historians who worked the "El Cid" DVD extras.

The historians have two extra features in which to point out the film's inaccuracies and fabrications, taking the attitude that, hey, it's a movie not a classroom lesson. Those lessons can be found on disc 3, which features educational shorts made on the "Roman Empire" sets by the Encyclopedia Britanica company.

Bronston and the reference giant saw it as win-win -- instant academic credibility for the epic in exchange for the opportunity to make educational films in the Roman Forum replica. These awkward but pleasing shorts will bring back some memories for kids of the era. (This being the '60s, it appeared that everyone in Rome was kind of chubby, even the poor.)

The "Roman Empire" making-of feature benefits from crisp color footage of the production. The docu centers on the re-creation of the Forum, stressing the film's incredible attention to detail in costuming and production design. Buildings were finished inside and out, front and back, even if they weren't utilized. Some of this over-the-top dedication came from shady execs making busy work in order to fuel the production's gravy train.

"In this era of computer-generated images ... I think it is impossible to fully appreciate the colossal, almost unfathomable size of ambition of 'The Fall of the Roman Empire' set," one Bronston biographer says.

The docu continues into the fall of the Bronston empire, recycling footage from the "El Cid" extras.

"Roman Empire's" 2.35:1 widescreen images look good overall, but there are problems with contrasts going both ways. In some scenes, facial detail looks wiped out by the hard contrast, with the actors' eyes and teeth creepy chalk white. In other scenes, the backgrounds appear soft and mushy.

The 5.1 audio mix sounds superior, with aggressive front-centered separation that sometimes recalls the ping-pong days of 1960s stereo experimentation.

The bracing horn-heavy score comes from Dimitri Tiomkin, who merits a DVD docu similar to the for Miklos Rozsa on "El Cid." People who know their film music consider this one of Tiomkin's best works, but I found it repetitive and occasionally headache-inducing.

The DVD commentary comes from Bronston's son, Bill, a friend of this DVD blog, and the Samuel Bronston biographer Mel Martin. Bronston explains that the missing footage found a few months back came too late for this edition. (DVD Spin Doctor broke that story, BTW.)

The "Limited Collector's Edition" includes a reproduction of the booklet sold to theatrical audiences as well as some postcards. The educational shorts are exclusive to this edition, on a third disc. The standard edition of "Fall of the Roman Empire" has the two discs that matter and saves you $10.

Still to come from the Weinsteins' Bronston series: "55 Days at Peking" and "Circus World."

'How the West Was Won' DVD in big upgrade

"How the West Was Won" looks to finally strike gold in September with a major DVD and Blu-ray release.

Warner Home Video plans two-disc "ultimate," "special" and high-definition editions of the restored epic, which has suffered so far in the DVD format. (Update 6/28: The release has been delayed several weeks, from the original Aug. 26 to Sept. 9.)

Being a child of the '60s, I remember turning out for a screening of "West Was Won" at the trusty Wometco in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. They rolled out two additional (side) screens for the Cinerama presentation, which had everyone buzzing before the film even began, but it all seemed kind of disjointed once the movie started.

Warner has an explanation: "After its initial theatrical engagements in theaters equipped with three synchronized projectors for Cinerama presentation, the film was subsequently presented on traditional theater screens with the three separate Cinerama panels being optically joined to form a standard 35mm 2.35:1 widescreen image, leaving most subsequent viewers puzzled by the annoying 'join lines.' "

The join lines are gone, of course, with the new DVD and Blu-Ray images at 2.89 widescreen.

"How the West Was Won," clocking in at 165 minutes, tells the tale of two families who head west for fortune and adventure in 1839. The saga continues over 50 years. The film won a couple of Oscars but didn't take the best picture nod. The film has its fans but I'm not one of them. It's just OK.

The movie was made about the time that Hollywood figured that if one or two stars could sell a movies, how about a dozen or more. And so we have a cast that includes John Wayne, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Debbie Reynolds, Richard Widmark, Gregory Peck, Lee J. Cobb, Carroll Baker, Robert Preston, Karl Malden, Carolyn Jones, Eli Wallach. ... Some of them just passing through, like the Duke -- and a few, like Reynolds, going the distance.

There were multiple directors as well: Henry Hathaway, John Ford and George Marshall. Hathaway did the heavy lifting.

There are three DVD versions already out there, all of them essentially the same and to be avoided for quality reasons. The latest (2007) is tagged as part of Warner's "John Wayne Collection," oddly.

Warner's brand-new Blu-ray version of the film also contains a "SmileBox" presentation "with a unique curvature that virtually recreates the true Cinerama experience in a home theater." (Good luck with that.) The ultimate set adds printed materials such as a press book and postcards.

Warner lists "How the West Was Won" extras as:

• "Film historian commentary"
• The feature-length documentary "Cinerama Adventure."
• An archival making-of featurette
• The original trailer

A quartet of Errol Flynn westerns also are getting the Warner box set treatment, with vintage newsreels, cartoons and a couple of commentaries:

• "Montana" (1950)
• Rocky Mountain (1950)
• "San Antonio" (1945)
• "Virginia City" (1940)

Warner also said it was debuting six other westerns on DVD, two of them apparently home video premieres*:

• "Escape from Fort Bravo" (1954) with William Holden
• "Many Rivers to Cross" (1955) with Robert Taylor*
• "Cimarron" (1960 remake) with Glenn Ford
• "The Law and Jake Wade" (1958) directed by John Sturges
• "Saddle the Wind" (1958) with Robert Taylor written by Rod Serling*
• "The Stalking Moon" (1968) with Gregory Peck and Eva Marie Saint.

New DVDs: 'Charlie Wilson's War,' 'Savages'

It's Philip Seymour Hoffman week in the DVD world, as two highly watchable movies featuring the disheveled actor make their debuts.

The loopy war-and-politics movie "Charlie Wilson's War" is out from Universal Studios Home Entertainment, while the slow-speed emotional roller coaster "The Savages" checks in from Fox Home Entertainment. Critics praised both films, especially "The Savages," directed by Tamara Jenkins.

Hoffman, an Oscar winner for "Capote," plays his typical whip-smart but slovenly characters in both films. He was nominated for a supporting Oscar for "Charlie." In Hoffman's breakout year of 2007, he also starred in "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," for Sidney Lumet. ("Devil" came out last week.)

Hoffman is "so brilliant at playing complicated people," says "Charlie" director Mike Nichols. Amy Adams, Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts all line up to echo his praises.

In "Charlie Wilson's War" the actor plays a what-the-fuck CIA agent who teams up with a playboy Texas congressman (Tom Hanks) to jump-start the mujahideen war effort against the Soviets. The strings are pulled by Lone Star state socialite Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts) who uses her riches and sex appeal in order to further her right-wing agenda -- in this case running the Ruskies out of Afghanistan.

Sounds like a Hollywood fabrication, but most of the story is true. The single-disc DVD's extras show how the real-life Charlie Wilson and Joanne Herring participated in the production, and we hear from them in the extras. Wilson is really tall and Herring still looks kinda hot at 70-something.

Of all of the boozing, womanizing and slip-sliding portrayed in the movie, the real Wilson says, "I plead guilty. ... I've cleaned up my act but I don't regret anything. It was a great 10 years (that ended with the Soviets retreating in 1989). Herring says she and Wilson shared a "teenage crush" but "the only thing we had in common was war."

"Charlie" plays as a smart popcorn movie, perfect for the Christmas season in which it was released. Still, the film won't be confused with any of the great cold war movies. "Charlie" moves along quickly, almost cartoon-like at times.

Nothing subtle here -- except, perhaps, the film's underplayed indictment of U.S. policymakers who dumped Afghanistan after the battle was won. We leave Hanks/Wilson cloaked in the American flag, all of the usual unearned emotions churned up by the moist-eyed cheering. A text quote from Wilson about the abandonment ends the film, a tag that probably has a story behind it.

Hanks, who had never heard of Wilson, was excited about telling this oddball story: "We have something that has never been discussed before," he recalls thinking as the project began. Unless you count "60 Minutes" and the source book by a veteran CBS News reporter.

Aaron Sorkin (of "West Wing" fame) says this was "the only writing assignment I've ever gone after." The film is crisply written. But the lines in "Charlie" sometimes feel a bit too perfect, too witty, too smart throughout -- just like "West Wing."

The "Charlie" extras are basic but OK -- there's a making-of with all of the talent and creatives, as well as a hurried profile, "Who is Charlie Wilson?" The extras repeat some content. Unfortunately, there's no commentary from Nichols.

* * *

In "The Savages," Hoffman shares the stage with another greatly respected but somewhat under-the-radar actor, Laura Linney. They're brother and sister, reunited in a rush as they discover their father needs immediate placement in a nursing home, where he's sure to die.

Director Tamara Jenkins based the film on her own family experiences -- "personal reporting," she calls it.

"There's not been a movie about (caring for a dying relative) without schmaltz and sentimentality," she says. Hoffman adds: "The feelings are crazy."

Of Hoffman, the writer-director says: "He's just an astounding artist.

"He has this kind of peripheral vision about the big picture (of a film's dynamics). It's like a third eye." Jenkins suspects this ability comes in part from Hoffman's side gig as a theatrical director.

Hoffman portrays Jon Savage, a middle-aged professor lost in the process of writing a book about fellow downbeat guy Bertolt Brecht. The prof doesn't suffer fools gladly, sometimes among them his sister (Linney).

It's an actor's movie, in the best sense. As you'd expect, the dream combo of Hoffman and Linney delivers the goods. Nothing stuffy or overwrought, just portrayals of real people trying to cope and look out for each other.

The Fox DVD's extras include expanded versions of two fun but curious musical numbers that don't have much to do with the movie. Jenkins and her cast do the usual round robin of praisery.

Also circling the DVD blog's players this week are Criterion's "Death of a Cyclist," from Spain; the Korean suspense/horror/murder mystery "Black House"; and the Spanish horror movie "The Orphanage."

Pick of the week: The Savages
Dog of the week: Cloverfield

New and notable:

Black House (Genius Products)
Charlie Wilson's War (Universal)
Death of a Cyclist (The Criterion Collection)
Flashpoint (Dragon Dynasty)
Friday Night Lights: The Second Season (Universal)
Hannah Takes the Stairs (Genius Products)
Merrill's Marauders (Warner)
The Orphanage (New Line)
Romulus, My Father (Magnolia Home Entertainment)
The Savages (Fox)
Shirley Temple Collection, Vol. 6 (Fox)

Complete list of this week's releases on my pal Harley's site, onvideo.org

Top DVDs: 'Juno' waddles into first place

"Juno" delivered as expected on the DVD sales and rentals charts, popping out at No. 1.

The Fox Home Entertainment DVD vanquished Sony's "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem," which was still in the hunt at No. 2 on both charts for the week ending April 20. "Alvin and the Chipmunks," which squeaked out a win last week, fell to No. 3 in sales and 4 in rentals.

Both "Juno" and "AvP" also were released in Blu-ray versions with "digital copies" for transferring the movies to PCs and iPods.

Sales (week ending May 27)
1. Juno
2. AvP: Requiem
3. Alvin and the Chipmunks
4. In the Name of the King
5. I Am Legend

Rentals (week ending May 27)
1. Juno
2. AvP: Requiem
3. There Will Be Blood
4. Alvin and the Chipmunks
5. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Universal unwrapping 'Mummy' on Blu-ray

Universal enters the Blu-ray age in late July with the three contemporary "Mummy" movies. The studio was the strongest backer of the vanquished high-definition format HD DVD.

In late August, Universal plans a global release of "Heroes: Season Two." The first season of "Heroes" was one of the most successful HD DVD box sets.

The studio plans to release about 40 Blu-ray titles later in the year. They include the new "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" with Brendan Fraser (pictured) as well as "The Incredible Hulk," "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" and "Mamma Mia!"

All of the new Blu-rays will go out day-and-date with the DVD versions, Universal said, taking a logical step the other studios need to follow.

Catalog releases in Blu-ray include "American Gangster," "Miami Vice," "Knocked Up," and "End of Days," all to be ported over from HD DVD.

Update: Fox, meanwhile, plans a Blu-ray salute to high-disposable-income dads with the releases of "The Longest Day," "Patton" and "The Sand Pebbles," all outstanding films. Extras for the new high definition discs are being ported over from Fox's spit-shined DVDs of 2006 and 2007.

Also hitting the Blu-ray beach on June 3 are the lesser "The Battle of Britain" and "A Bridge Too Far."

For anyone looking for some combat experience, I continue to recommend Sam Fuller's "The Big Red One," which was "reconstructed" a few years back. Warner holds the rights.

New on DVD: Criterion's 'Blast of Silence'

"Blast of Silence" was a latecomer to film noir, straggling into the naked city in 1961 -- 20 tough years after "The Maltese Falcon."

The Criterion Collection's revival of the hardboiled indie film -- a tense, bleak, stylish 77 minutes -- confirms star-director Allen Baron as a talented drive-by contributor to the genre. Anyone with a claim to film noir fanhood (or holding a French passport) needs to get his paws on this DVD.

Our antihero is "baby boy" Frank Bono, a hit man on assignment in Manhattan at the height of Christmas holidays. He's packing seasonal greetings for a midlevel mobster who ran afoul of the wrong guys. We follow the killer as he tries to get through the lonely holiday and take out his mark.

The magic of the big city at Christmas "was a fantastic contrast against a professional killer, out to do what he was out to do," the director notes.

Baron, who went on to a long career as a TV director, comes along for the ride with Criterion's single-disc DVD. He's a cool guy, pleased to be reliving his brief blast of glory.

Baron revisits his movie's New York locations in the hourlong film "Requiem for a Killer: The Making of 'Blast of Silence,' " whose footage mostly dates back to the movie's overdue rediscovery two decades ago. He's also featured in a contemporary slide show.

The city is a major character in the indie black-and-white feature -- a cliche, yeah, but it feels fresh here. "I knew the city wouldn't let me down," says Baron, who shot the film in many of the places he knew as a boy and youthful artist. As often as not, the cheap-o production "stole the scene" -- filmed without permits.

The tough as girders narration comes from character actor Lionel Stander, whose Bronx-accented rap addresses the hit man in second person: "They all hate the gun they hire," the voiceover says as the assassin goes about his prep work. "When they look at you ... they see Death over the counter."

The words come from Waldo Salt, like Stander a Blacklist target. Neither was credited by name.

When the killer tracks his prey, "You feel the hate shaping up at the back of your neck where the hair is short. That's a good sign," Stander says, in the role of the Greek chorus. Great stuff. Baron talks about the sexual rush the killer gets from silently observing his target and his lounge-lady girlfriend.

Here and there, the movie feels like an older sibling to "Who's That Knocking at My Door?" -- say, when the hit man mingles with an old pal and his attractive but unavailable sister, in an attempt to fend off the holiday blues. Fat chance.

(DVD Savant's review suggests: " 'Blast of Silence' would make an especially thoughtful double bill with 'Taxi Driver.' ")

Baron intended for Peter Falk to play his killer, but the actor bolted for Fox's "Murder, Incorporated." "I was the best actor available and the only one I could afford," Baron recalls. Then ... "The truth is, I did want to play the role."

Criterion's scrubbed-fresh rendering of "Blast of Silence" is a tad flat for my taste, but otherwise looks like a million bucks. Perhaps that's because "Blast" doesn't go in for the dramatic lighting and hard contrasts of most artsy noirs. The images (1.33:1) came from a composite 35mm master positive. No visible damage pollutes images of the cold gray city sky. The mono audio offers up the dialog straight and clear, mostly.

The DVD also comes with a four-page graphic-novel adaptation by Sean Phillips ("Criminal," "Sleeper"). The booklet's essay comes from critic Terrence Rafferty. There's a trailer from Universal, which gave the film a second-string release in first-run.

Also circling the DVD blog's players this week: "Alien Nation: Ultimate Movie Collection," spun off from the old Fox series that humanized sci-fi TV in the 1980s; the previously reviewed "Juno"; the dolled-up "Lars and the Real Girl"; and ThinkFilm's hopeful African docu "War/Dance."

Pick of the week: Juno
Dog of the week: A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila

New and notable:
Alien Nation: Ultimate Movie Collection (Fox)
Alien vs. Predator -- Requiem (Fox)
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (ThinkFilm)
Blast of Silence (Criterion)
Diana: Queen of Hearts (Genius Products)
The Final Season (Fox)
I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With (Genius)
Lars and the Real Girl (MGM)
A Passage to India (Sony)
War/Dance (ThinkFilm)

Complete list of this week's releases on my pal Harley's site, onvideo.org

Top DVDs: 'Alvin, Chipmunks' squeak out win

"Alvin and the Chipmunks" from Fox won the week's battle of the beasts, edging Sony's "The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep" for the top spot in DVD sales. All in all, it was a dog week for DVD chart watchers.

"Alvin" couldn't burrow past Universal's "There Will Be Blood" in DVD rentals, settling for second place. "Blood" pooled at No. 3 in sales.

Sony's "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" was No. 5 without a bullet in sales and failed to place in rentals. Another newcomer, the politically correct "Lions for Lambs," spied a third-place showing in rentals but finished out of the top 5 in sales.

Warner Home Video's "I Am Legend" stood alone atop the Blu-ray chart.

Sales (week ending April 13)
1. Alvin and the Chipmunks
2. The Water Horse
3. There Will Be Blood
4. Sweeney Todd
5. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Rentals (week ending April 13)
1. There Will Be Blood
2. Alvin and the Chipmunks
3. Lions for Lambs
4. The Water Horse
5. Sweeney Todd

‘Juno’ DVD: Awww ... It's a digital copy

The Hollywood studios are slow but not dumb. They finally figured out that tech-savvy users are going to get copies of hit movies onto their PCs and portables whether the copyright cops like it or not. Until the new year, that often meant grabbing an illicit copy via BitTorrents or hacking the copy protection on the DVD.

This week's big DVD release, "Juno," is the highest-profile title to come packaged with a digital copy. (The first, apparently, was "Blue Harvest" -- the "Family Guy" spoof of "Star Wars" that also came from Fox.)

On Amazon, "Juno" buyers will pay about a $7 premium for the copy, which can be used on Macs, PCs and portable devices, notably the iPods and iPhones. The digital dupe also comes with the "Juno" Blu-ray.

Check out a review of the "Juno" digital copy release on Download Movies 101, the DVD blog's sister site.

'Juno' DVD review: Extras special

"Juno" the DVD feels comfy and low-key, a lot like "Juno" the movie.

You won't miss the usual three-part making-of documentary, refreshingly absent on this DVD and replaced by better stuff.

Screen tests rarely are worth more than a curiosity pass-by, but the "Juno" DVD delivers something special. The lengthy test scenes are shot like a play, the background mostly black. Most of the main actors are present.

Star Ellen Page (Juno) and onscreen boyfriend Michael Cera are noticeably younger and less polished as they run through their lines. The scenes and their additional dialog feel as if they came from an off-Broadway play you'd want to see, another testament to screenwriter Diablo Cody's Oscar-winning work. Page seems a lot more vulnerable than in the movie, looking rather exhausted as the tryout wears on.

The commentary with Cody and sophomore director Jason Reitman should get a listen from anyone who cares about the best picture-nominated movie (this year's "Little Miss Sunshine" in the big Academy trophy trot). Cody, usually identified as an ex-stripper, sounds a lot like her lead character: alternately cynical and charming, part kid and part baby adult. Not surprisingly, she says "My So-Called Life" was a big influence.

Cody's chemistry with Reitman keeps the commentary rolling effortlessly throughout. They have great friendly chemistry, teasing and playing around while delivering story after story about the production. Cody and Reitman are talking to each other while keeping the listener included in the fun, a good trick.

Reitman ("Thank You for Smoking") gets into some detailed production notes -- which prompts Cody to kid him about veering off into film school.

Reitman and Cody point out a lot of set detail, such as the bit of whimsy in which each major character has a specific chair. Reitman says he was always bugged how movies got teenagers' rooms wrong, so the two point out all the efforts that went into getting them right here.

A staffer drove from Vancouver to the States to get the lip gloss that Cody preferred so Page could use it. (Similar dedication went into underwear, but you'll have to hear that from them.)

Reitman wasn't so set on 100% accuracy when it came to one aspect of teen life. Visiting various schools during location scouting, he noted: "The kids all had cell phones. It was heartbreaking." And so there are no cell phones in "Juno." When our heroine needs to make a call, she uses a phone booth.

New DVDs: 'Baron Munchausen,' 'Dewey Cox'

Baron Munchausen will never get far on "hot air and fantasy," the villain hisses as our adventurer ascends in a balloon. Fooey. Never bet against the Baron.

Those of us enchanted with Terry Gilliam's wonderful yet storm-struck film can celebrate Sony's rousing rerelease of the title on Blu-ray and standard DVD. Both are "20th Anniversary Editions" with nearly identical new extra features.

The "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" Blu-ray is something special, unspooling mostly superb visuals. Some scenes have a distracting amount of grain, a sharp contast to the nearly flawless imagery seen on most of the high-def disc. (This grain has been present throughout the film's home video history, notably on Sony's 1999 release.)

The high definition betrays a few of the "Munchausen" sets and visual effects, though, as modern viewers see a bit more than the filmmakers intended. Whatever. The old parlor tricks are part of the charm. And it's a good thing to view Dante Ferretti's production work in such detail. Gilliam is all about strange whimsy and startling visuals.

The Blu-ray also features handsome animated menus, while the DVD version's interfaces are flat. The pop-up trivia track, more active than most, also is exclusive to the BR. (The pop-ups repeat a lot of info from the other extras.)

What's quite clear from these extras is that ex-Monty Python member Gilliam remains plenty pissed over the treatment of this film after 20 years.

Almost all of the making-of docu is dedicated to Gilliam and the other production veterans fussing and fighting over how the project became such a nightmare.

If the names Dawn Steel and David Puttman don't mean anything to you, this could be too much Hollywood inside ball. The grousing continues in the feature-length commentary, from Gilliam and his co-writer Charles McKeown ("Brazil").

You wonder if the director even appreciates how marvelously the fantasy has held up over the years. To me, this is by far the best of the fantasies in the loose trilogy that Gilliam and McKeown built during the 1980s.

The film stars John Neville as the legendary bullshitter Baron Munchausen. Neville and his supporting players -- such as Robin Williams, Sarah Polley, Peter Jeffries and Eric Idle -- all are delightfully in tune with the outrageous tales and Gilliams' fever-dream visions.

The other films, "Brazil" and "Time Bandits," always felt technically and visually successful at the expense of any heart.

"Munchausen" "was quite sentimental for Terry," says ex-Python mate Eric Idle, who plays a speedster servant. "Often his films lack emotions. He doesn't trust himself with emotions."

Idle, who says the shooting was the worst experience of his professional life, goes on to bag on Gilliam for his offputting way of creating movies.

"Terry's approach to filmmaking is always a battle. The metaphor of a battle isn't really a useful one (in that business)." Idle does proclaim Gilliam "an artistic genius."

Gilliam says the film's reputation as an out of control production "is an extraordinary lie," despite it being $2 million over budget before a frame was shot. The director says the blame falls on the film's producer, Thomas Schühly, who defends his honor in the extras: "I had to play the German, the Nazi, that was my part," he sighs. (Schühly went on to produce another legendarily messy film, "Alexander.")

Yeech. Learn all about about this headache-inducing story on the disc, if you happen to care. I'd rather spend more time with this delightful film.

More extras: A handful of deleted scenes that don't add up to anything, as well as a storyboard animation of scenes that were never shot, hosted by Gilliam and McKeown.

Munchausen was a real guy, the king of the liars. I'm reading the famous book about his exploits, which is great fun.

Sony Home Entertainment also unleashes the good-time bogus bio "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," starring John C. Reilly. Great fun, and an overdue send-up of all those music-business bios we've sat through in the past decade.

The movie comes in several versions, notably the double-disc unrated "Walk Hard" Blu-ray. There's also the standard double-disc DVD version and a bare-bones theatrical edition.

I wish "Walk Hard" hadn't been quite so broad a comedy, but that's just quibbling. Reilly, ever the second banana, carries the movie with ease. He's part Elvis, Johnny Cash and Tony Orlando. Cool.

The movie looks and sounds great on Blu-ray and SD. The all-original music, some of it pretty good, streams out with grace and power.

If that "Walk Hard" song seems a good bit better than the rest, that's because it comes from Marshall Crenshaw, one of the great pop singer-songwriters. The song and the rest of the movie's music is covered in a fairly straight-forward, informative extra that'll be of interest to pretty much everybody.

The other extras continue the Cox joke: "The Real Dewey Cox" has actors and musicians talking about how they met the man and how he influenced them. "The Last Word," from Comedy Central, is a fully produced talk show that reviews Cox's life as he's about to croak. Anyone who's lived in the South will get a kick out of the "Cox Sausage Commercial" and its outtakes.

Extended and deleted scenes are every bit as good as what's in the movie, especially the goofy Beatles sequence. The gang commentary comes from Reilly, director Jake Kasdan, and producers Judd Apatow and Lew Morton.

Also circling the DVD blog's players this week are Warner Home Video's "Classic Musicals From the Dream Factory, Vol. 3"; "Fortysomething," the 2003 British TV series that featured Hugh Laurie; and Paramount's choice "Perry Mason 50th Anniversary" set.

Pick of the week: Baron Munchausen
Dog of the week: No woofer, sorry

New and notable:
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (Sony)
The Bette Davis Collection (Fox)
Classic Musicals From the Dream Factory, Vol. 3 (Warner)
The 11th Hour (Warner)
Fog City Mavericks: The Filmmakers of San Francisco (Anchor Bay)
Fortysomething (Acorn Media)
Lions for Lambs (UA/MGM)
Matlock (Paramount)
P2 (Summit Entertainment)
Perry Mason 50th Anniversary (Paramount)
Resurrecting the Champ (Fox)
Sense and Sensibility (Warner)
There Will Be Blood (Paramount)
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (Sony)
War/Dance (ThinkFilm)
The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (Sony)

From April 1
The Bette Davis Collection, Vol. 3 (Warner)
Sweeney Todd (Paramount)
Three films by the Taviani brothers (Fox Lorber)
The Tomorrow Show With Tom Snyder: John, Paul, Tom, Ringo (Shout! Factory)

Complete list of today's releases on my pal Harley's site, onvideo.org