DVD Spin Doctor

New DVDs: 'Adventureland,' 'Duplicity'

A trio of good smart movies hit the DVD shelves in recent weeks, competing for best in show in these dog days: "Adventureland," "Duplicity" and "Tyson."

"Adventureland" comes from the same guy who busted out with "Superbad," but don't hold it against this dandy coming-of-age movie, set in a low-rent amusement park. 

The movie drew great reviews but failed to find much of an audience, ticketing only $15 million at the domestic boxoffice (compared with $121 million for "Superbad"). Here's hoping the midway movie finds its audience on home video.

The movie pinballs from comedy to drama to romance, propped up by familiar story elements -- basically, a lost young man finds himself with the help of friends wise and foolish, and falls in love along the way. 

The star is Jesse Eisenberg ("The Squid and the Whale") and the leading young lady is current hot property Kristen Stewart ("Twilight"). The film comes packed with good performances.

Director-writer Greg Mottola based the story on his "ridiculous job" working in a Long Island park during the "fateful summer" of 1984. While the movie embraces the decade, especially in its hair and music, Mottola says he guarded against "Adventureland" "becoming a long cheap joke on the '80s."

The music certainly makes a case for the era. 

Mottola says in the DVD extra features that his script specified songs for each scene -- mostly atmospheric rock songs that haven't been overplayed. And so we have the Replacements, Big Star, Husker Du and the Cure -- with Lou Reed imported from the '60s and '70s to provide a few songs and a plot element. It's as if Madonna never existed. Yo La Tengo does the "Adventureland" score. 

The movie sounds solid, especially on the Blu-ray. The video looks good enough, although the production's low budget becomes apparent at times.

Extras on the Miramax DVD and Blu-ray of "Adventureland" include a few (weak) deleted scenes, a hilarious piece on the nads-busting kid, a fashion skit with park vixen Lisa P, and some more dumb ads and videos from the pretend park. (Hint: Watchers of the credits are rewarded.) 

Mottola does the commentary track with star Eisenberg, although it's mostly the director's talk.

"The last thing I'd ever recommend is looking back on your youth and trying to figure it out and make a movie about it," he says, mostly joking.

"Duplicity" writer-director Tony Gilroy has a few good war stories on his commentary track, such as what it's like to shoot superstar actress Julia Roberts on the streets of midtown Manhattan (immediate chaos).

Gilroy's movie repaired Roberts with Clive Owen ("Closer"), in a tale of corporate spies turning on their handlers. "Duplicity" certainly looks all high-tech modern, but its roots are in the caper films of the 1960s, such as "Charade." Some critics found the darkly funny film too smart for its own good, but I had a great time.

Universal Studios' Blu-ray of "Duplicity" is super sharp and dimensional, a showcase presentation. In a show of class, the disc opens immediately with the menu for the film (unlike "Adventureland," which has Disney's usual parade of promos and trailers).

Gilroy's commentary (done with editor and co-producer John Gilroy) serves as the only extra feature.

The brothers talk at length about the film's opening flashback scene, set in Dubai, which resulted from studio execs' notes. Placing the "throwaway scene" at the film's beginning changed the film dramatically, they say, making the story less confusing. Regardless, viewers need to remain engaged to hang with the fast-moving, time-shifting plot.

Director Gilroy talks about his great relief upon discovering that Roberts wasn't too cool for school -- the actress was "so cool, so sweet" and so helpful in finishing the movie.

"Tyson" director James Toback has mostly good things to say about the subject of his in-your-face film about the combustible former heavyweight champ. 

Viewers, though, are left to make up their own minds about the uber-boxer and his elaborate spin on his past. In a way, "Tyson" is as much a self-portrait as a documentary. 

Mike Tyson had just emerged from rehab when filming began. The retired boxer agreed to let Toback make the final call on all content in the movie, which consists almost entirely of the boxer sifting though his past. (The movie was shot before his young daughter died.)

Tyson's voice has an odd, slightly hypnotic quality -- more mature and resonant now -- that stands up to the movie's running time. He sits for the camera (the tattooed face you get used to, honest), sometimes wandering around a swimming pool and an L.A. beach.

No one else appears in the live action scenes. When the film cuts away from Tyson, it's for fight footage, archival news clips and images. All of Tyson's highlights and lowlights are there -- this is no fan movie.

Toback says Tyson often sat in silence while the camera ran. At times, he's on the verge of tears. Otherwise, he's in control, offering explanations, rationalizations and a few general apologies. Toback has humanized Tyson, no small feat.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's Blu-ray of "Tyson" comes with a handful of decent extras, centered on Toback, not Tyson. The director also does a commentary track.

Other recent DVDs and Blu-rays of note include Whit Stillman's "The Last Days of Disco" (Criterion), "thirtysomething" (Shout! Factory) and "Surveillance" (Magnolia Home Entertainment).

New DVDs: 'The Wrestler,' 'Frost/Nixon'

"The Wrestler," that battered but proud underdog of a film, triumphed as one of the top two or three American films of 2008 -- no matter what the film Academy had to say.

The Mickey Rourke comeback vehicle could beat to a pulp the Oscars' best picture candidates -- except, of course, for the undisputed champ, "Slumdog Millionaire."

The wrestling movie had to settle for best picture at the Indie Spirit Awards the day before the Oscars.

Neither the snub in the best picture noms nor Rourke's unexpected loss to Sean Penn for best actor was a surprise to "The Wrestler's" director, who'd already seen "every door in town shut in (my) face":

"You can't ever give a shit about what people are going to think about (your movie)," Darren Aronofsky says. "You gotta tell the stories you want to tell."

Fox Home Entertainment has released "The Wrestler" on Blu-ray and on DVD, in single-disc editions. The relatively low-budget movie was shot in the "middle of New Jersey in the dead of winter," so don't expect killer video, even in HD. There is persistent grain and much of the film was shot under less than ideal lighting conditions. Still, the Blu-ray faithfully delivers what was presented on theatrical screens.

The 5.1 audio is on the conservative side, mostly front centered with its peaks generated by the heavy metal anthems and Slash's guitar work on the soundtrack. The roar of the crowd could have used more roar from the back speakers.

"The Wrestler" DVD and Blu-ray benefit from an unusually good making-of documentary, shot mostly on location by Niko Tavernise, who did the production stills and the docu on Aronofsky's "The Fountain." It runs about 45 minutes.

"Within the Ring" skips the omniscient narrator in favor of letting the director and producer do most of the talking. The docu has a rough cut, no-PR-bullshit tone, with lots of hand-held footage. The extras make no mention of the film's success or the awards season. Mickey Rourke does not participate, predictably and unfortunately, but there's good candid stuff with the star in and out of the wrestling ring. 

The filmmakers' first and only choice for playing Randy "The Ram" was Rourke, despite pressure to use Nicholas Cage. They lost financing as a result. 

"It was tough to get the film made with Mickey Rourke, and now he's the best thing about the movie," Aronofsky says in the extras. 

"Mickey's tough. He's no walk in the park. To make him do his best work you have to really push him ... inspire him, challenge him." The director compares the fallen star to a B-student who learned to coast on pure talent, rarely reaching the A-level.

"Darren knows how to push my buttons," Rourke said in his excellent hourlong Charlie Rose interview (which would have been great on this DVD). "He hates when I say this, but he's tough. ... I owed him to give him all of myself."

Rourke never fails to put his own spin on a scene, Aronofsky says. "With Mickey you never know what he's going to do (when the camera rolls)."

Producer Scott Franklyn said that's exactly why they hired Rourke, to be Rourke. "As difficult as it was at times, I think he always believed in Darren. That's what kept him around and kept him passionate and hungry about the material." Apparently he believed in the director enough to work for no pay. 

Bruce Springsteen donated the stark theme song, after Rourke's hesitant request. The DVD includes the music video, as well as a payback video ad for the Boss' new album. Axl Rose, too, let the production use "Sweet Child 'O Mine" for free.

The Blu-ray (not the DVD) includes a roundtable discussion with old-school wrestling stars such as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. Of Rourke, they say, "he became one of the boys" -- noting the actor's history as a boxer.

Lex Luger talks about the similarities between "The Ram" character and his own troubled career and personal life, apparently inspiration for the storyline about the Rourke wrestler and his daughter. Piper marvels how the actor subtly picked up on the gentleness that many of the pro wrestlers exhibit outside of the ring. 

The talk soon strays away from the movie and turns to the wrestling life and its "stigma." Valentine attacks the idea of wrestling being "fake." Even though the outcome of a match is never in doubt, he says, "We really suffer out there. We really take a beating."

* * * * *

I'm not a big fan of Ron Howard's work, often emotionally sloppy and just good enough -- maybe he's another of those B-students -- but he delivers a sure-handed, non-manipulative work in "Frost/Nixon."

The movie features an excellent performance by Frank Langella as another fallen hero, Richard Nixon.

Langella was nominated in the Oscars best actor category, while the movie was among the best picture candidates. He reprised his role as the disgraced president from the West End "Frost/Nixon" play, source material for the movie.

Universal has released the movie on a single-disc DVD and Blu-ray. The "Frost/Nixon" Blu-ray looks and sounds first-rate, up to big-budget standards. The picture unspools at 2.39:1. Center speaker voices are crisp and clear, as they must be for this production.

The decent making-of docu is spread over 45 minutes and three parts, with the actors, filmmakers and David Frost giving their take on the project and the 1977 interviews. 

Howard does a feature-length commentary with too many one-minute gaps. He likens the film's interview sequences with the boxing scenes he helmed for "Cinderella Man."

There are some highlight clips from the broadcast, nothing of substance. Too bad the DVD doesn't include a PBS-style documentary on the president's sessions with Frost. Does anyone care what Kevin Bacon thinks of Nixon's plight, even if the actor makes perfect sense?

Howard says in the extras that the movie is a "reflection" of what happened on TV those nights in 1977. Playwright Peter Morgan's work of distilling the transcripts into theatrical lines that were dramatically strong yet accurate in essence convinced him to do the project, he said.

Frost (played by Michael Sheen) recalls Nixon's odd question, "Did you do any fornicating this weekend," which came right before the cameras rolled. It remains "a great mystery" to the British TV personality.

Howard's memories of the debate have Americans riveted to their TVs each of the three nights, although a lot of us remember the interview series as pretty much a snooze. Even Langella says, "I was rather bored with him" until the former president admitted what he did was wrong.

DVDs: 'Ordinary Madness,' 'Grande Bouffe'

Back in the late 1970s I flirted with the thesis that all a young man needed to know about life could be gleaned from the Chuck B. Trinity.

That would be Chuck Berry, Charles Bronson and Charles Bukowski. Then Bronson started making crappy "Death Wish" sequels and the whole Chuck thing sort of vaporized. But not my love of Berry and his "School Day," the greatest rock 'n' roll song ever put to plastic.

And certainly not my love of Bukowski, the L.A. skid row poet, short-story author and novelist who came up from the underground to become regarded as one of the post-War era's most important writers.

Charles Bukowski and his boozy, profanity-laced prose would horrify most good Americans, who'd never read the stuff anyway. His writing was barroom conversational, short and punchy, in your face, and usually a lot of fun -- although he could break your heart just like that. A poor man's Hemingway, perhaps. They have about the same number of posthumous books, anyway.  

When I started in with Bukowski about 30 years ago, he wasn't much of name anywhere but in the underground. You had to buy these cool indie Black Sparrow books that felt like contraband -- like smuggled-in editions of "The Tropic of Cancer." The ink came off on your hands and the words would rattle around in your brain.

He wrote while listening to classical music. He died in 1994.

The U.S. never really appreciated this Chuck B., but the Europeans loved him and his musings on the hairy underbelly of American life. So it's no surprise that the three major films based on Bukowski's works were made by overseas directors.

Fame finally came at Bukowski all in a rush and he ate it up: There were the documentaries, such as "Born Into This" (2003), "Bukowski at Belleview" (1995), Taylor Hackford's "Bukowski" (1973) and Barbet Schroeder's "The Charles Bukowski Tapes" (1985).

Hollywood managed to go a few rounds with the champ, chiefly Schroeder's deadbeat drama  "Barfly" (1987) with Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway. Most recently, "Factotum," with Matt Dillon playing Bukowski's alter ego, Henry Chinaski.

In 1980, the Italian director Marco Ferreri turned Ben Gazzara into the Bukowski surrogate in "Tales of Ordinary Madness." The English-language movie was just released to DVD by Koch Lorber, which last summer included it in a comprehensive Ferreri box set.

The poet Bukowski was a legendarily ugly man, scarred for life from acne. Gazzara, hidden behind a beard, seems far too pretty to have played him, but pulls it off. Except for when he sits down at the typewriter. At least Gazzara sells Bukowski's fascination with women and their fascination with him. (Rourke would now be the perfect Bukowski, should he ever return to the role.)

Ferreri, like Bukowski, had a love-hate obsession with women. "I'm 50% misogynist and 50% feminist," the oddball director says. (He's seen in an excerpt from a documentary that serves as the DVD extra.) 

"Ordinary Madness" comes from Bukowski's first book of stories, "Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions and General Tales of Ordinary Madness." 

It begins with Charles Serking (Bukowski/Gazzara) irritating his college audience at a reading. "Style is the answer to everything," he tells them, drinking from something cheap in a paper bag. (Bukowski loved to heckle his audiences.) Backstage, a baby-doll female fan screws him, then steals the great man's airline ticket after he passes out.

"Ordinary Madness" has a trio of women at its center, notably a gorgeous hooker driven to deface herself. "The whore of an angel who flew too close to the ground and crashed."

After clanging around in his crappy east Hollywood apartment, the writer decides he's had enough of himself and everybody else. He heads downtown to L.A.'s skid row, where he hangs with "the defeated, the demented and the damned." Serking explains: "They are the real people of this world and I was proud to be in their company."

The movie ends far from the grime, on a deserted stretch of beach, with cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli capturing the beauty that the drunken writer beholds, on his knees and looking up.

"Ordinary Madness" should please fans. It also works as a low-friction introduction to Bukowski's world. "Barfly" would be another way to go, if you can get your hands on a copy. (Warner owes us a fresh edition.) Video and audio on "Madness" are OK.

* * * * *

Marco Ferreri explored an even more acute form of madness seven years before with "La Grande Bouffe," the story of four middle-aged pals who decide to eat themselves to death.

The film that scandalized Cannes has been rereleased by Koch Lorber.

The black comedy uses the actors' real first names for the characters: Marcello (Mastroianni), Philippe (Noriet), Michel (Piccolo) and Ugo (Tognazzi). Adding some sex to the mix is a local schoolteacher, busty Andrea (Ferreol).

The men, longtime friends, are collectively bored and dissatisfied with their successful lives (a judge, a pilot, etc.) Picking their poison, they retreat to a country home and prepare mass quantities of gourmet food. A trio of prostitutes show up for a day, but Andrea ends up servicing all four men after the hookers exit.

"Bouffe" (also known as "Blow Out"), plays like an R-rated "Salo," Pasolini's perverse piece of moviemaking that no doubt was influenced by filmmaker Ferreri. Instead of sadists, we have goofy suicidal existentialists.

Video and audio are OK, considering the age and era. The DVD includes some comments from the late director, taken from a recent Italian documentary.

"Bouffe's" underlying commentary about the self-obsessed and the capitalist consumer society remains fresh, long after the pate has turned.

New DVDs: Dennis Potter, 'Blindness'

"The world, look at what we've done to it," Dennis Potter wrote. "If the world was an old dog you'd want to put it out of its misery."

The line, spoken by an angry young man in one of Potter's "plays for television," provides a decent enough introduction to the late British writer's worldview. 

Potter dwelled in the dark places, exploring the ways in which we put up with existence.

Koch Vision brings to America a set of three mid-period Potter telefilms. They're minor works that benefit from some recycling of previous material, but anyone with an interest in the writer would do well to pick up "Dennis Potter: 3 to Remember."

Potter, best known for the BBC's "The Singing Detective" and "Pennies From Heaven," died of cancer in 1994, after suffering from a severe form of psoriasis he wrote about in "Detective." 

Disc 1 includes a brilliant hourlong TV interview in which the writer discusses his imminent death, in something of a valedictory talk. A flask of morphine at the ready, Potter says he's "serene" but fearful of dying "four pages too early." The dying man's advice: Be in the now.

He wrote this trio of 1980 telefilms for London Weekend Television (LWT). They were produced shortly after the success of "Pennies" and aired on consecutive Sundays. They sound and feel like plays, but were shot on location. The cameras do get out now and then.

The telefilms all have the death of a father as plot devices but don't appear to be a trilogy.

The best work here is "Blade on the Feather," a spy story/mystery with terrific performances by Tom Conti, Donald Pleasence and Denholm Elliot. 

Pleasence had been doing mostly U.S. television and horror films in the wake of "Halloween," so no doubt he was pleased with this substantial role in "Blade" as an aging British professor and author possessed of a dark past. 

Conti plays a witty young man who pops up at the professor's remote shoreline mansion, unknown and uninvited. His reasons for visiting remain murky throughout. Whatever he wants, it includes the prof's beautiful daughter, all too happy to bed the visitor as relief from the family's isolated boredom on the Isle of Wight. 

Elliot, that wonderful character actor, plays an edgy butler with a long and unusually familiar history with the professor.

The three men's relationships become increasingly complex and volatile as the tale unfolds, although there always seems time for Potter's bright banter and afternoon tea. All is revealed in a rush of events that somehow mixes fellowship and violence.

"Rain on the Roof" wastes little time on pleasantries. Foreshadows are everywhere as Potter unveils his warring thirtysomething couple, played by Malcolm Stoddard and Cheryl Campbell (pictured, top). 

The husband casually carries on with a pal's wife while the missus is on the hunt for her own playmate. She finds an unlikely target in a local young man suffering from a mental disorder. He's unable to read or write, but yearns to study the Bible to make peace with his father's death.

The lady of the house decides to tutor the fellow, who soon proves to be a bumbling-mumbling time bomb -- an angry young man who can barely spit it out. There's a bit of Hitchcock in the mix as we await the inevitable explosions.

"Blade on the Feather" offers a good bit of black comedy and Thatcher-era social commentary, while "Rain on the Roof" pours on the misery, a Potter specialty. They're talkie and slow-moving, but the patient viewer will be rewarded.

The three-disc set also includes "Cream in My Coffee," a bookended look at a married couple young and old. It incorporates the 1930s dance music that Potter loved. (The DVD set was released in region 2 in 2005 as "Dennis Potter at London Weekend Television.")

The telefilms all look washed-out, soft, just passable. Like a VHS tape that was kept too long. The 2.0 audio is OK but I had trouble understanding some of the key dialogue as it went down.

Paramount rereleased the U.S. version of "The Singing Detective" last fall. It stars Robert Downey Jr. Potter gets screenplay credit. Reviews were mixed to poor. I'd like to recommend "Pennies From Heaven" with Steve Martin, but the only DVD out there is the scrawny version Warner released in 2004.

 

* * * * *

Potter's interest in decay and afflictions might have made him a fan of the grim survival tale "Blindness," from director Fernando Meirelles ("City of God"). 

The story, from the much-praised novel by Portugal's Jose Saramago, begins in an unidentified modern city in which most of the citizens come down with a sudden and total "white blindness."

The cops seem unaffected; they herd the terrified blind into prison-like dormitories but won't go near them in fear of becoming infected. The newly blind try to police themselves, but order breaks down and soon enough we're in "Road Warrior" territory. 

Meirelles' movie took an ass-beating from critics, so I was pleasantly surprised by the DVD, mostly. The movie feels like one of those Danny Boyle zombie pics, a claustrophobic "Children of Men." Better to work through this one in the living room than in a dark theater, perhaps.

Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo do fine work as a middle-aged couple, both doctors, who take charge of their end of the blind detention camp. Moore, somehow, has escaped the blindness but pretends she's afflicted in order to stay with her mate.

Much of the movie's appeal comes from the series of what-would-you-do? questions it raises. If you'd rather not picture yourself in a sightless apocalyptic future, best to stay away. 

Miramax's DVD includes two routine making-of featurettes. Audio and video are up to major studio standards. The title has not been released on Blu-ray.

Also circling the DVD blog's players this weekend are "Clint Eastwood: American Icon Collection" with "Play Misty for Me" and "The Beguiled"; the Joni Mitchell ballet project "The Fiddle and the Drum"; and the indie critical favorite "Frozen River."

New and noted DVDs:

Blindness (Miramax)

Chocolate (Magnolia Home Entertainment)

Clint Eastwood: American Icon Collection (Universal)

Dennis Potter: 3 to Remember (Koch Vision)

The Exterminating Angel (Bunuel, The Criterion Collection) 

Simon of the Desert  (Bunuel, Criterion) 

Foot Fist Way (Paramount)

Frozen River (Sony)

Gospel Hill (Fox)

Joni Mitchell's the Fiddle and the Drum (Koch Vision)

Kennedy: The Complete Series (Martin Sheen, MPI Home Video)

The Lodger (Sony)

Melrose Place: Season 5, Vol. 1 (Paramount)

Miracle at St. Anna (Disney)

My Name Is Bruce (Image Entertainment)

The Romance of Astrea and Celadon  (Koch Lorber).

Sam Elliott Western Collection (Warner)

She Stoops to Conquer (Acorn Media)

Tales From the Darkside (Paramount)

What Makes Sammy Run? (Koch Vision)

W. (Lionsgate)

New DVDs: 'Vicki Cristina Barcelona'

In a perfect world, Woody Allen would have made a lot of sexy-cynical movies like "Vicki Cristina Barcelona" in the past two decades -- the period that followed his great creative run from "Annie Hall" to "Crimes and Misdemeanors."

That didn't happen, so his fans have had plenty of time to argue over the merits of fare such as "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion," "Bullets Over Broadway" and "Match Point." I always find something to like about Allen's later-period films, but rarely something to love.

This time, I fell hard for "Vicki Cristina," the improbable tale of four still-youthful romantics sharing a summer of love and sex in Spain. 

The movie has all the hallmarks of classic Allen: beautiful and talented actors, a city worth lusting over, deadpan narration written by the director, and of course the understated punch line that stays with you for as long as you let it.

On Blu-ray and DVD, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" holds up to repeated viewings thanks to its easy charm and sexy stars. Not to mention Barcelona and its artsy Gaudi goofiness. 

Allen hits the Catalan tourist highlights, but the sense of place feels more organic than on his other recent European films.

Too bad "Vicki Cristina" didn't get the just-happy-to-be-nominated slot in the Oscars' best picture race, but the movie did win best musical or comedy film at the Golden Globes.

(Question: Which was it, a musical or comedy? Well, the Spanish soundtrack is superb and there's plenty of wry humor along with the dark matter, but ... whatever works.)

Allen continues his overseas adventures, daring to film Almodovar's star Penelope Cruz in the city of "All About My Mother." The hot-blooded, over-the-top part in "Vicki Cristina" brought her an Oscar for best supporting actress.

I thought Javier Bardem was even better as the Barcelona artist who beds the ying-yang American tourists played by Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson. Bardem and Hall also received Globes noms. (Perhaps a reward to Hall for getting through the line, "Let's not get into one of those turgid categorical imperative arguments.")

Too bad Johansson was totally overlooked in the awards season -- yes, Johansson. They should hand out ensemble awards at these trophy trots once in a while (see "Juno").

On Blu-ray, "Vicki Cristina Barcelona" looks exactly as it did in a good theater -- a golden cast and soft focus, with a surprisingly muted palette considering the bold colors for which the host city is known. A few scenes are oddly lacking in contrast, which I believe was the case in cinemas. 

The audio is in Dolby Stereo, so remember to turn off the 5.1 settings in order to savor the gorgeous mix of classical guitar pieces and contemporary Spanish music, picked with Allen's usual care.

There are no extras on the Blu-ray or DVD, probably Allen's decision.

Also circling the DVD blog's players are John Frankenheimer's telefilm "George Wallace," starring Gary Sinise; Douglas Sirk's breakthrough "Magnificent Obsession" from Criterion; and season 2 of the 1960s alien adventure "The Invaders."

New and notable DVDs and Blu-rays:

The Bourne Trilogy (Blu-ray set, Universal)

Cheers: The Final Season (Paramount)

City of Ember (Fox)

El Norte (The Criterion Collection)

The Express (Universal)

George Wallace (Warner)

The Gospel According to Al Green (Acorn Media)

Holly (City Lights Home Entertainment)

The Invaders: The Second Season (Paramount)

Lakeview Terrace (Sony)

The Last Detective: Complete Collection (Acorn)

Magnificent Obsession (The Criterion Collection)

Mary Poppins: The 45th Anniversary Edition (Disney)

Max Payne (Fox)

My Three Sons, season 1, Vol. 2 (Paramount)

The Rocker (Fox)

The Rockford Files, season 6 (Universal)

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (Image Entertainment)

Taxi Blues (Koch Lorber)

Russell Peters: Red, White and Brown (Comedy Central/Paramount)

The Scream'in Sam Kinison Collection (Mill Creek Entertainment)

Sonny Rollins: Saxophone Colossus (Acorn)

The Stewardesses 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Shout! Factory)

This American Life, season 2 (Paramount)

Vicky Christina Barcelona (The Weinstein Co./Genius Products)

You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown (Warner)

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

New DVD releases: 'Funny Face,' 'I Do'

"Funny Face" absolutely lights up when the lady is on camera -- singing, dancing, stealing scenes from Fred Astaire. What a delight.

The lady, not of course, is Kay Thompson, a renaissance woman of showbiz who found her greatest fame doing "Think Pink" right here in "Funny Face." And, yeah, Audrey Hepburn is special in this 1957 musical as well.

Thompson plays a Diana Vreeland knockoff whose fashion magazine is in need of new faces. Astaire, the Richard Avedon stand-in, thinks he sees a new fashion star in Greenwich Village bookworm Hepburn. They all set off for Paris -- the city of lights, romance and chain-smoking beatniks in need of a good slap.

Paramount continues its Centennial Collection with a double-disc version of "Funny Face," the best in a string of DVD rereleases of this musical. Video and audio appear the same as on the 50th anniversary edition of 2007. 

The images (1.78:1) are terrific, bright and clear for the most part. Too bad this wasn't a Blu-ray. Check out the opening 20 minutes or so, which feel right out of a color-popping Frank Tashlin feature. Avedon, the great photographer, had a lot to do with that early energy.

The 5.1 audio is OK; try the mono if it bugs you. 

Hepburn does her own singing (makes you wonder about the "My Fair Lady" decision to dub her), and juices the film with a Martha Graham-inspired modern dance number that wears you out from just watching. She's at her loveliest here, whether photographed as the Village book geek or haute couture model. It's worth watching the film just to catch the sequence of Avedon-style fashion shoots.

For all the terrific elements in "Funny Face," though, it's an underachiever. Hepburn's romance with aging photographer Astaire is an eye-roller, the story feels like a sidebar and the recycled Gershwin songs don't seem to fit, 's marvelous as they are. The nadir is Astaire doing a bullfight dance, for some reason, in the Parisian street outside Hepburn's hotel.

The best new DVD extra feature is a half-hour profile of Thompson, not all that well known these days. The woman's career included stints as a singer, songwriter, arranger, dancer, classical pianist, cabaret star and film actress. Get a load of the frantic beatnik party dance number with Astaire, in which the master wisely just gets out of Thompson's way.

"She was an awesome creature," says Ruta Lee, who played her assistant in "Funny Face."

Aside from "Think Pink," Thompson is remembered for her high-energy club act with the Williams Brothers and for her "Eloise" books about a sassy young girl.

Thompson was plenty sassy herself. When she clashed with Edith Head over her "Funny Face" costumes, Thompson decided to wear an overcoat to hide the offending vines. (Hubert de Givenchy did Hepburn's clothing.)

Another new DVD extra is a decent piece on the short-lived VistaVision widescreen format, which stretched from "White Christmas" to "One-Eyed Jacks." Also on disc 2, a short with real-life fashion pros talking about their jobs and the movie, the same "Paramount in the '50s" featurette we've seen before, and brief looks at Avedon's role and the Paris locations.

Paramount, BTW, recently released the very fine romance DVD "Sabrina" as part of the Centennial series.

Even for locals, love comes at you at weird angles in Paris, according to the delightful import "I Do" (Prete-moi ta main), starring Alain Chabat and Charlotte Gainesbourg. 

French comic Chabat plays an Albert Brooks-type henpecked not by one strong woman but a half dozen of them. His mother and sisters are sick of looking after him now that he's middle-aged -- and clearly in no hurry to leave his mother's comfy home. They demand he find a wife.

Our hero goes through the motions, deliberately turning off dozens of blind dates. To put an end to the annoyance, he decides to hire a fake fiance who will leave him at the altar, according to plan. His romantic sorrows should be good for a few years of peace at the family home. 

A friend's tattooed sister (Gainesbourg) takes the bogus-sweetheart gig and wows the family. This being a French comedy, the scheme blows up in their faces and high-class hysteria rules for a good chunk of the film.

"I Do" is an odd duck -- a chick flick, really, with a guy-friendly guy at the center. Midperiod Woody Allen fans should approve. Lonely guys will find sweet sorrow mooning over the lovely Gainesbourg ("I'm Not There"), a singer-songwriter, actress and the daughter of the legendary Serge.

The chemistry between the stars could have used some work, but all in all "I Do" is a winning Valentine's Day DVD from Lionsgate's Studio Canal unit. 

Our Parisian trilogy concludes with the Criterion Collection's resurrection of Roberto Rossellini's "The Taking of Power by Louis XIV." A specialty item to be sure, this lengthy TV production tells of the Sun King's early days, in which he decides to break out of the royal cocoon and actually rule his country.

Rossellini's Louis XIV was an amateur actor who had such stage fright that he spent most of the telefilm as a bit of a overstuffed zombie, often reading his lines off a prompter. The lack of eye contact with the other actors and the monotone line readings translate into a royal aloofness that feels simultaneously real and otherworldly.

Rossellini meant to educate more than entertain, having decided in his later years that this was the true calling of cinema. The supporting actors spend much of the telefilm explaining to each other the daily routines of the palace -- its ceremonies and protocols. 

This somewhat neo-realistic focus on Louis XIV's everyday life brings the telefilm to a crawl, but also elevates it beyond mere costume drama. Check out the long scene in which the plump young king alone consumes a meal with over a dozen courses, observed by a rapt audience of the royal court and hangers-on. Strange stuff.

Criterion issued "The Taking of Power by Louis XIV" as a regular single-disc Criterion title. A trio of the director's other educational telefilms have been released as "Rossellini's History Films," part of the Eclipse budget line. 

"The Age of Medici" (a similar film about politics and art in Florence) certainly its moments, but it's hard to recommend the box set to anyone but history buffs. The other titles are the creaky "Cartesius" and "Blaise Pascal."

Also circling the DVD blog's players this week are the surprisingly involving Patti Smith documentary "Dream of Life"; "Mr. Mike's Mondo Video," a blast from the SNL past via Shout! Factory; and the Kevin Costner election fantasy "Swing Vote" from Disney.

New and noted DVDs and Blu-rays:

Appaloosa (New Line)

Breakfast at Tiffany's (Paramount)

Funny Face (Paramount)

Brick Lane (Sony)

Brideshead Revisited (2008, Miramax)

Dallas: The Complete Tenth Season (Warner)

The Family That Preys (Lionsgate)

I Do (Prete-moi ta main) (Lionsgate)

Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America (Paramount)

Mr. Mike's Mondo Video (Shout! Factory)

My Bloody Valentine: Special Edition (Lionsgate)

Our Daily Bread (docu, Icarus Films Home Video)

Patti Smith: Dream of Life (Palm Pictures)

Ring of Death (Genius Products and RHI Entertainment)

Swing Vote (Disney)

Underworld/Underworld: Evolution Double Feature (Sony)

Walker, Texas Ranger: The Sixth Season (Paramount)

Without a Paddle: Nature's Calling (Paramount)

New DVD releases: 'Mamma Mia,' 'Baghead'

Guilt and New Year's go together like champagne and ice -- all those regrets and resolutions hanging in the air until the collective hangover fades.

A fine time for this four-pack of guilty pleasures to debut on DVD and Blu-ray. Movies that don't mind getting messy just to have a good time. Voulez-vous?

Mamma Mia! The Movie -- The queen of jukebox musicals arrived on DVD and Blu-ray in time for New Year's Eve fun. Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski and Julie Waters put on the super-trouper costumes and channel ABBA, that great hitmaking machine. 

A lot of critics hated this adaptation of the stage musical, especially the goofy, high-energy performance of Streep as the ex-hippie mom with three dads on her hands. I liked Streep and loved hearing the songs reworked by the ABBA guys with their original backup band.

The singing ranges from gorgeous (starlette Amanda Seyfried) to bloody awful (Waters), making the movie feel at times like a karaoke party for aging stars. Have the DVD pop up the lyrics and see if you can do better than Pierce Brosnan. Lots of potential for repeat plays with this DVD.

Extras on the double-disc set include a smart commentary by first-time film director Phyllida Lloyd; a featurette on the actors training to sing the Swedes' deceptively difficult songs; and a bonus deleted scene with Seyfried doing "The Name of the Game." Disc 2 holds a copy for iPods and such. (Universal)

Baghead -- More fun with the Duplass brothers, the indie film guys who built "The Puffy Chair." This time, a quartet of failed actors and actresses retreat to the woods outside L.A. in an effort to write a screenplay. Before long, some fool with a paper bag on his head starts peeking in the cabin's windows, freaking out the self-absorbed thespians. 

"We're the last guys who should be making a horror film," the brothers told a screening audience in L.A. -- truth in advertising, many would say. "Baghead" scares up enough irony and low-key fun to make it a forgiving rental. 

In the DVD extras, the brothers attempt to interview each other while wrangling their kids ("questions we've already answered"), but they get down to business in a commentary that should interest wannabe low-budget filmmakers.(Sony)

Burn After Reading -- Delightfully pointless, this tale of blackmail and misunderstanding in the nation's capital proves the Coen Brothers are pretty much incapable of making a bad movie these days. The scenery-chewers-in-chief are George Clooney, Francis McDormand, Brad Pitt and John Malkovich. You're less a viewer and more of a rubber-necker at this crash site. Must have been a blast to make after "No Country for Old Men." (Universal)

Ghost Town -- I could have done with less of clammy star Ricky Gervais and more of Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni. And " 'I see dead people' as a comedy" aims pretty low as high-concept. Still, the romantic comedy "Ghost Town" puts a respectable spin on Scrooge and has something resembling heart -- or, at least, it pleasantly elicits your unearned emotions. (Paramount)

New DVDs: 'Man on Wire' soars

"Man on Wire" makes no mention of 9/11 or the destruction of the World Trade Center.

The documentary chronicles the plot to have a Frenchman tightrope across the Twin Towers -- the 20th century's greatest work of performance art. In the summer of '74, these foreign conspirators brought thrills, not terror.

The indie film by James Marsh has been collecting some awards this season, and rightly so. "Man on Wire" serves up an inspired mix of interviews, real footage and evocative re-enactments. Marsh works Errol Morris' turf with a light and free hand. The movie is artistic, funny and wise.

(Update: "Man on Wire" won the Oscar for documentary feature.)

Never mind that the tightrope daredevil Philippe Petit shows up in the Magnolia DVDs' extras with a self-centered rap that breaks the film's spell. In fact, consider skipping that recent interview and just going with the movie's charming portrait of the wire walker.

"Man on Wire" begins with flashbacks from Petit's life. We see him as a boy in a medical waiting room, looking at a drawing of the enormous pair of buildings planned for lower Manhattan. The acrobatic kid, who loves to walk on ropes, pencils in a line between the two giants, thus setting off on his great adventure. "I must acquire my dream," he declares.

The movie spends much of its time on how the support team is put together. It's reminiscent of the era's "The Anderson Tapes" or other elaborate heist films. The conspirators, who come from three continents, all get cool caper-friendly nicknames.

Using false IDs and workmen uniforms, they manage to get several tons of steel cable and other gear onto the top floors of the unfinished WTC. Security almost catches the tightrope team a couple of times, resulting in tense moments that the movie plays for maximum value.

By the time the daredevil's heroics begin, we've been up all night with the support team, watching them frantically get the steel cables in place before dawn (all via re-enactments). Petit wire-walks back and forth for almost an hour, dancing and sometimes lying down, accompanied on the soundtrack by the etherial sounds of Erik Satie. This too was a thing worthy of powerful Twin Towers memories.

Marsh, a few of you will recall, made a stylistically similar but disturbing film in "Wisconsin Death Trip," the adaptation of Michael Lesy's book about the wave of misery, madness and all-purpose weirdness that beset the immigrant town of Black River Falls in the 1890s. 

Marsh's re-enactments blend with the work of a gifted photographer who lived there and then as Ian Holm narrates, flatly. Images include creepy stuff like keepsake funeral shots of children, so beware of darkness.

Marsh doesn't make excuses for the film's "violent and disturbing and horrible" stories. "I have an interest in that," the British director says. "I think other people do, too."

Also circling the DVD blog's players this week is the exhaustive box set "Murnau, Borzage and Fox," one of the year's best home video releases. Review on its way.

New and notable DVDs and Blu-rays:

Blue Blood (aka If I Didn't Care) (Koch Vision)

The Dark Knight (Warner*)

Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (Fox*)

The Early Works of Cheryl Dunye (First Run Features)

Europa  (The Criterion Collection)

Gunsmoke: Season 3, Vol. 1  (Paramount)

The House Bunny (Sony)

Lost: The Complete Fourth Season -- The Expanded Experience  (Disney*)

Mamma Mia! The Movie (Universal*)

Mr. Bean: The Ultimate Collection (A&E Home Video)

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Universal)

Murnau, Borzage and Fox  (Fox)

Petticoat Junction (Paramount)

Rawhide: Season 3, Vol. 2 (Paramount)

Sangre de mi sangre (Blood of My Blood) (Genius Products)

Three Short Films by Werner Herzog (New Yorker Video)

Traitor (Overture Films/Anchor Bay)

Transformers Energon: The Ultimate Collection (Paramount)

Will Shakespeare  (A&E Home Video)

* = Available on Blu-ray. Covers Dec. 9-16.

New DVDs: 'Hancock,' 'Colbert's Christmas'

Hancock the hung-over superhero teamed up with "Iron Man" and "The Dark Knight" to make the summer of '08 a roaring successful for what was supposed to be a burned-out genre.

"Hancock" was the least of these superhero films, but by far the funniest. Will Smith's performance made the one-joke movie soar, at least until it took a curious 90-degree turn into the semi-dark places where superheroes like to lurk these days.

I'm thinking this isn't a film with a great deal of repeatability, but Sony's DVD and Blu-ray of "Hancock" should prove a treat for Smith's fans and for those who didn't catch the show last summer. 

On Blu-ray, this is one great-looking and -sounding video, backed by hours of extra features that roll out in crisp 1080p high def. (The on-set footage for the making-of docu was shot in HD.)

The Blu-ray's Dolby TrueHD track is loud, playful and full of explosions, perfect for alarming the neighbors.

"Hancock" is beautifully acted, with Smith, Justin Bateman and Charlize Theron in the key roles. It's the story of an L.A. homeless guy who happens to fly and fight crime in between hangovers and blackouts. A public relations man (Bateman) sees potential in cleaning up the reluctant hero's act, and welcomes him into his home. There, we meet the flack's beautiful stay-at-home wife (Theron), a woman with a few secrets of her own.

The best extra could be the visit to the PR guy's house, which looks all-Valley but is in fact built on the Sony backlot. Nothing unusual there, but in this case they constructed a whole freaking neighborhood on a cul de sac. The real Valley probably wouldn't stand for day and night explosions, the producers figured.

A time-lapse view of the house being built is followed by the "interior designer" showing off the artworks and nick-knacks in the house that plug into the wife's mysterious past. Bateman says he'd be pleased to live in the studio's "Hancock" house -- "Security would be great."

Another fun piece goofs on director Peter Berg, who appears to have well-earned the nickname DIrty Pete. "He's insane," actress Theron notes, and on-set footage backs her up. "This guy is Hancock," another co-worker says.

As expected, most of the bonus features deal with the special effects. The supervisor notes that effects usually are obsolete by the time a fantasy/sci-fi film is finished. "So you have to go in making assumptions about what you're going to be able to invent."

"Hancock" comes in various versions. The DVD special edition and Blu-ray include digital copies as well as both the unrated and rated versions.

* * * * *

Christmas TV specials suck, by tradition, unless the title name-checks Charlie Brown or Dr. Seuss. So why not a Christmas special that sucks, deliberately?

"A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All" unfurls in a snowed-in cabin where our host is menaced by a giant bear -- sort of a low-rent take on Chaplin's "The Gold Rush." 

Elvis Costello, Feist, Jon Stewart, Toby Keith, John Legend, Willie Nelson and a familiar-looking Santa drop by. Country star Keith does a creepy number about saving Christmas from the ACLU and Stewart makes a pitch for Hanukkah.

Steven Colbert ("The Colbert Report") sings and dances a bit, offering up his own sweet 'n' cynical holiday song. Yes, he can carry a tune. (And so can you.) The special originally ran on Comedy Central.

"A Colbert Christmas" wears out its welcome about the time the old boss stops by for the "Daily Show" reunion, but at least on the DVD there's a terrific extra that makes everything better. 

Colbert offers his very own TV holiday fireplace, the kind on a loop. This one keeps the flames burning with a fresh supply of books, including "Fahrenheit 451." Horrify your friends and family -- the greatest gift of all.

New & Notable DVDs and Blu-rays:

Beverly Hills 90210: The Sixth Season (Paramount)

Bottle Rocket (The Criterion Collection)

Chungking Express (Criterion)

The Spy Who Came in From The Cold (Criterion)

A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All (Paramount)

Hancock (Sony)

Meet Dave (Fox)

Pink Panther Ultimate Collection (MGM)

Ron Howard Spotlight Collection (Universal)

Space Chimps (Fox)

24: Redemption (Fox)

New DVDs: 'The Films of Budd Boetticher'

Budd Boetticher, the filmmaker and bullfighter, worked best as a one-trick pony.

His great cycle of low-budget westerns starred the leathery, vaguely robotic cowboy star Randolph Scott, in adventures that didn't change all that much movie-to-movie.

The opening shots showed Scott making his way on horseback across hard country, in search of something, often revenge.

The ying-yang plots started simply, and proceed to layer on the complications in careful measures.

Typically, the life-and-death drama played out by a campfire, with the men drinking coffee and a woman rustling up some grub. Death threats came in the language of noir. Sexual terror loomed for the lady, perhaps. Hopalong Cassidy was nowhere in sight.

In westerns, "There's John Ford and there's Howard Hawks and there's Budd Boetticher," says director Taylor Hackford, who rolls out to honor the late filmmaker on Sony's essential new five-DVD set. Along for the ride are Boetticher fans Quentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood and Martin Scorsese.

"The Films of Budd Boetticher" focuses on the "Ranown" B-movies made in the  late 1950s. (Ranown took its name from star Randolph Scott and producer Harry Joe Brown.) The movies were produced with high-pressure shooting schedules of about two weeks.

Scorsese says, "You can look at them as one long extended movie (presenting) variations of themes and ideas. ... An epic story of this one character (Scott's)."

While most of the six Ranown films are excellent, Scorsese says, "Seen together, they take on another quality. They communicate with each other. ... It was a unique universe that was being created."

Boetticher brought his training as a gringo bullfighter into the films, with both the dramatic and violent standoffs playing out with careful movements and a certain protocol. 

"There are rules of conduct and honor," Scorsese says. "This is a big part (of the Ranown cycle)." The feature-length docu on disc 1 demonstrates there is much of Boetticher's matador aesthetic in Sergio Leone's legendary three-way shootout at the conclusion of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." Eastwood says he wishes he'd worked with Boetticher, who died in 2001.

Hackford credits Boetticher with forging the first "sympathetic bad guy" in westerns. Casting was a big part of the Ranown success story; the villains included then-relative unknowns Lee Marvin, Richard Boone, Lee Van Cleef, Pernell Roberts, Claude Akins and James Coburn.

Typically the bad guy aimed to kill Scott, yet admired him as a man and a gunfighter. The showdown had to wait: Indians, the badlands and other threats to survival united the two, at least for two reels.

Scorsese cites the "austerity, amazing frankness and the wonderful relationships between the men," such as the "strange camaraderie" between Scott and Boone in "The Tall T." 

The Boetticher box set includes four killer films -- "The Tall T" (1957, with Boone and Maureen O'Sullivan); "Decision at Sundown" (1957, with John Carroll), "Ride Lonesome" (1959, Roberts and Lee Van Cleef); and "Comanche Station" (1960, Akins, Nancy Gates). Then there's "Buchanan RIdes Alone" (1958), a lesser work that plays like "Gunsmoke" and works in plenty of laughs.

Writer Burt Kennedy gave life to three of the scripts here and contributed to a fourth. (He also wrote the Boetticher-Scott classic "Seven Men From Now.") Nobody in these movies speaks in paragraphs, but Kennedy's carefully wrought short sentences proved long enough.

Charles Lawton Jr. and Lucien Ballard alternate on the cinematography, starring the wilderness of Lone Pines, Calif.

"The Films of Budd Boetticher" includes the solid documentary "A Man Can Do That" (which also discusses his matador films such as "Bullfighter and the Lady"), as well as feature-length commentaries from film historians and Boetticher pal Hackford. Jeanine Basinger's talk on "The Tall T" is especially good, such as when she discusses Elmore Leonard's tale: "This story has a good bone structure."

Video quality is mostly good but the color appears unstable here and there, with browns and greens wrestling for control in some of the badlands shots. Audio is good and clear.

* * * * *

"What We Do Is Secret" dissects the short punk rock career of one Darby Crash, frontman for the DIY band the Germs.

The movie scopes out the rage and outrageousness of L.A.'s early punk scene, but does so as a surprisingly traditional and sappy backstage drama. The movie plays unevenly and doesn't approach the authority and impact of, say, the recent New Order biopic, "Control."

Still, the movie has its charms, in a grubby guilty-pleasure sort of way. Recommended for punk rock sentimentalists.

 The DVD's extras tell an interesting story about this ultra-low-budget project, shot start-and-stop as the money came and went. That director Roger Grossman was able to produce a coherent feature film under the circumstances is fairly remarkable. In the extras, Grossman recalls his illegal shoots, chronic bad luck and what it was like working with the surviving Germs. Shane West and Bijou Phillips star. 

Having spent many late nights afoot in L.A., I confess a soft spot for any film that goes on location at Oki Dog. 

New and notable DVDs:

The Films of Budd Boetticher (Sony)

Futurama: Bender's Game (Fox*)

The Gregory Peck Film Collection (Universal)

The Howdy Doody Show (Mill Creek Entertainment)

Kung Fu Panda (Paramount*)

Moscow Zero (Sony)

Return to Sleepaway Camp (Magnolia Home Entertainment)

Shrek the Halls (DreamWorks/Paramount)

Spin City (Shout! Factory)

Swing State (Morningstar)

Waterworld: Extended Edition (Universal)

What We Do Is Secret (Peace Arch Entertainment)

The Wild Wild West: The Complete Box Set (Paramount)

* = Blu-ray available