DVD Reviews
Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning Lions Gate/Fox
Starring Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins
Written by Stephen Massicotte and Christina Ray
Directed by Grant Harvey
Rating: R
Reviewed by Lisa Hood-Anklewicz
The third instalment of the Ginger Snaps serial is presented in the form of a prequel. Like the two films preceding Gingers Snaps Back: The Beginning, the characters of Brigitte (Emily Perkins) and Ginger Fitzgerald (Katharine Isabelle) remain the central focus of the film, even though we are now watching a story set in late nineteenth century Canada. Within the first few moments of the film, it is clearly established that the Fitzgerald sisters carry the same devotion to each other as in the original Ginger Snaps, including their pact to stay together forever.
It does not take long for the film’s plot to begin to unwind and reveal the plan it has in store for Brigitte and Ginger. In the first fifteen minutes of the film, the plot has already told the viewer about a Native legend of a curse that will plague the land, a curse which will either die away or grow stronger by the coming of the Red and the Black. In the same time frame, the girls come face to face with a Native seer, a woman who gives them a warning, which contains the knowledge to avoid the curse.
From there, the film plays out along the same basic plot line as the original Ginger Snaps, only in a nineteenth century trading fort in Northern Ontario as opposed to modern suburbia. Perkins and Isabelle give wonderful performances, though the viewer may be jarred from time to time by the fact that they seem to slip in and out of period performance, an error that could probably be blamed on overall scripting. The supporting cast performances are fairly bland, with the exception of Nathaniel Arcand, whose character is known only as The Hunter. Arcand is a Native Hunter who helps to protect and provide for the people living in the trading fort. His character is tightly knit with that of Perkins and Isabelle’s, and he carries an air of mystique for quite a length of time in the film.
The DVD release has a number of special features, including the usual deleted scenes and director’s commentary. What makes the extras interesting are the behind the scenes features, including make up, costume design, special effects, stunts, and even a special look at the film’s pivotal death scene.
For the average viewer, the film becomes fairly predicable early on, especially if you are familiar with the original Ginger Snaps. After a while the film seems to become a drag and attention may begin to wander easily. However, for fans of the Ginger Snaps films, Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning will not compare to the first two movies, but is an enjoyable addition to the serial and the tale of Brigitte and Ginger nonetheless.
Good Bye Lenin! Columbia Tristar Home Video
Starring Daniel Brühl and Kathrin Sass
Directed by Wolfgang Becker
Rating: R
Reviewed by Brighid Mooney
What's better - knowing the brutal truth or living in a fantasy world where life is only what you wish it could be? Is ignorance really bliss or is being sheltered from the truth a great disservice to those forced into the dark? And what hurts more: realizing that the life you've been leading is an illusion or realizing that it only was so because you were being lied to? On the surface Wolfgang Becker's Good Bye Lenin! is a straightforward story about a young man in East Germany who hides the truth about Germany's reunification from his ill mother in order to protect her. But along with this story, the film also presents several underlying questions about truth and deception, as well as the inherent differences between communism and capitalism.
A German film with English subtitles set in East German Berlin in 1989, Good Bye Lenin! is dramatic but with a wry, subtle sense of humor. I'm always somewhat suspicious of movies that try, with a complete lack of sincerity, to make me laugh just after making me cry, but Good Bye Lenin! comes off neither contrived nor overbearing in its treatment of plot details that have the potential to be made-for-TV movie fodder. Instead, the story seems natural and is sympathetically told by Alex Kerner, the young man at the heart of the film. Ten years before the actual story begins, Alex's father defected to West Germany. His loss sent Alex's mother into a state of shock, and when she finally comes to six months later, left alone with two young children, she throws herself into activism and the idealistic promotion of the socialist fatherland. She faithfully shows her support by writing countless complaint letters about intensely important matters like the "garishly colored maternity wear" forced upon East German mothers-to-be. When she sees her son being beaten by police during a protest, she suffers a heart attack and slips into a coma.
Over the following eight months she sleeps, completely oblivious to the massive changes her country is experiencing. While she remains unconscious, the Berlin Wall comes down and we see the formerly communist East Germany embracing the capitalism of the west, and the East German way of life quickly absorbed by Western ideals. When she wakes, she is essentially in a different country, and everything that she once believed in has vanished, only she has no idea that this has happened. The doctors warn Alex and his sister that any shock could be fatal, and for the rest of the film they do everything they can to keep her from finding out the truth, recreating an entire room in their apartment by filling it with now obsolete socialist artifacts, and even going so far as to film fake news programs for her to watch. Even though Alex acts with only his mother's best interest at heart, by the end of the film it's hard to say just whether or not he has done the right thing. It is a question that is mostly left unanswered, and the viewer's reaction to these bigger questions will probably depend on their own social upbringing as much as anything they get from the film itself.
Good Bye Lenin! beautifully recreates this pivotal time in Germany's history, and the wonder and uncertainty that comes with living through such drastic changes in such a short period of time. Historical footage is used to great effect and is blended seamlessly with the rest of the film. The DVD also includes a bonus feature on the film's special effects with commentary from both the cast and director. A completely moving and satisfying film, Good Bye Lenin! is as relevant now as it would have been 15 years ago. And perhaps even more so.
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Chris Rock: Never Scared Warner Home Video
Starring Chris Rock
Written & Directred by Kevin Smith
Reviewed by Brighid Mooney
Over the past decade, Chris Rock has proven himself to be one of the most progressive voices in contemporary comedy, consistently tackling issues often ignored by many topical standup comedians. While not quite as groundbreaking as Richard Pryor, Rock carries on Pryor's legacy through his humorous and merciless assaults on issues like racism and the class disparity between black America and white America, issues that linger within most of his jokes, no matter what the subject. While much of his act is devoted to traditional subjects of topical humor, such as celebrity news and romantic relationships, the heart of Rock's shows are always his comedic lectures on the most incendiary of societal issues, namely race and racism. Since his days on Saturday Night Live, Chris Rock has become one of the most successful stand-ups working today. His work has inspired copious critical praises and won him an array of awards, including three Emmys and two Grammys. The DVD release of Never Scared captures his fourth HBO comedy special, filmed in Washington, D.C., and as a bonus, includes his first comedy special, the CableAce Award-winning Big Ass Jokes.
Never Scared takes off with Rock riffing about his newest role in life: fatherhood. From there he quickly runs through the perils of strip club addiction, the difficulties involved in defending modern day rap on an intellectual level, and why the government hates rap music. Rock also takes time to address a myriad of celebrity scandals, including those of Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, Siegfried and Roy, Kobe Bryant, and how the world was duped into falling for "trickless magician" David Blaine, whose trick involved spending a long time in a box with no food. "That ain't no trick," says Rock, "that's called living in the projects."
But while celebrity news plays a definite role in Rock's act, he insists that it's all just orchestrated to get our collective mind off the war. "I think Bush sent that girl to Kobe's room," he says of the Kobe Bryant courtroom debacle. A sizable portion of Never Scared is given to Rock's acerbic take on current politics, as he attacks not just the more traditional social issues like abortion and drugs, but also the war in Iraq. "I was a little sad when they caught Saddam," he admits. "That's kind of like the coyote catching the roadrunner." Rock also rants about the new definition of patriotism and how the now accepted racism toward all foreigners, the French, Arabs and illegal aliens is only a step away from the all-but-socially embraced racism toward blacks and Jews of America's past. All of this culminates in a diatribe on the "hypocrisy of democracy" and Rock's ubiquitous use of the telling catchphrase "it's all right, if it's all white," to illuminate white profiteering on other people's pain.
Rock also spends the requisite amount of time on the surefire subject of romantic relationships, drawing from his personal experiences with dating and marriage. Far from a romantic optimist, he concludes that soulmates do not exist and that "if you haven't contemplated murder, you ain't been in love." Never Scared ends with a shower of balloons and confetti, and Rock once again affirming his place as one of comedy's most fearless purveyors of humor and truth.
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Star Wars Trilogy 20th Century Fox Home Video
Starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Alec Guinness, Billy Dee Williams, etc.
Written & Directed by George Lucas
Reviewed by Jamie Rutherford
What can you say about the Star Wars trilogy that hasn't already been said? It is the definitive space adventure, its characters are drawn strongly from the archetypes common in the folklore of every culture, the special effects were groundbreaking, and the DVD has been probably the most eagerly anticipated DVD since the format has arrived.
So what is it exactly that causes a compulsion in men (and it is mostly men) of a certain age-group to purchase this DVD box-set of the original trilogy of Star Wars: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi?
Watching these films for the first time on DVD is like seeing them for the first time. I own them all on video, so why don’t I don't remember feeling this way about watching them before? The answer is that the touch-ups on the sound quality and the picture quality are phenomenal. I was surprised that very little about these films looks dated, even some 27 years after the release of the original (Chapter 4, in Lucas' sci-fi hexology masterplan). Of course, the content of the films is great as well - it's a tried and tested formula of good vs. evil, and surely everyone knows the story anyway, so I won't spoil it for those new to Star Wars.
Of course, these aren't the originals. These versions were all slightly altered by George Lucas for the 1997 cinematic re-releases, and further alterations have been made for the purposes of the DVD release. In my opinion, any damage done by the alterations in 1997 has now been made acceptable by further adjustment, and although some hardcore Star Wars fans would disagree, they detract nothing from the films at all. If anything, they add to it.
It is the revisionism of Lucas that is subtly (and not-so subtly) hinted at throughout the bonus disc feature-length documentary Empire of Dreams. While thoroughly entertaining on its own (and worth the price of the DVD set alone, just to hear Darth Vader speaking his lines with the west-country burr of David Prowse) it sets the scene for Lucas to reiterate his unhappiness with the technical limitations when originally making the trilogy, and as such he presents a convincing case for his alterations. However, there is little mention of the prequel trilogy, and the subtle manipulations made (adding Hayden Christensen and Ian McDiarmid to Return of the Jedi and changing the voice of Boba Fett to the actor's voice who played his 'father' in Attack of the Clones) so the films would fit in line with them. These are forgivable though, and after all, it is Lucas' baby.
This DVD box-set is a labour of love, and as such it can be highly recommended. For those of you who have seen and enjoyed the films before, I’m sure it’s already adorning your Christmas lists if you haven’t bought it already. For those who haven’t, or who have children who haven’t seen the films, these DVDs are a must - not only for their highly enjoyable content, but also for the audio/visual treat that this set will provide.
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