DVD Reviews
The Bourne Supremacy Universal
Starring Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Brian Cox, and Joan Allen
Directed by Paul Greengrass
Rated: PG-13
Reviewed by Phillip Zannini
They should have left Jason Bourne alone...but we're glad they didn't because we would have missed one heck of a sequel if they had.
Welcome to The Bourne Supremacy, a.k.a. The Bourne Strikes Back. In this movie, the sequel to The Bourne Identity and a step beyond the first book by Robert Ludlum, Jason Bourne is hiding for his life and still trying to find out who he is while happily co-habiting with his lovely girlfriend Marie. Then, Jason’s search for self is rudely interrupted. With no choice in the matter, Jason is suddenly, shockingly pulled back into the world he is trying to leave. And when he is, Bourne strikes back.
With a new director and a new lead opposite Matt Damon, the Bourne Supremacy doesn't waste a moment bringing you into edge of the seat excitement. As a first time director for a US film, Paul Greengrass brings a great sensibility to the project, creating an even more updated and edgy film that makes you feel you’re in Jason Bourne’s world. And while there is a bit of an overuse of what I can call the "bounce cam" (as opposed to the steady cam) Greengrass’ style continues to keep you in the action. In fact, even if you don't like the movie, you'll love the extras that show the creation of the awesome effects.
Playing opposite Matt Damon as Jason Bourne are some of the same characters from the first movie. Bourne's girlfriend Marie (Franka Potente) is back, as is the older government agent Ward Abbott (Brian Cox) that shuts down Treadstone. Julia Stiles also reprises her role, but is sadly under-utilized, though in the brief screen time she has she effectively shows us why she is one of the best young actresses today.
The Bourne Supremacy introduces a new character played by Joan Allen. Allen’s character, Pamela Landy, is a CIA agent in charge of getting some information. When her two operatives are killed in Germany during a transfer, Landy starts digging along a trail that leads her straight to Project Treadstone and Jason Bourne. And that trail drags us half way around the world.
This movie is exotic from start to finish. The locales are stunning, including scenes shot in Russia, Germany and India, and the cinematography is beautiful. But as nice as the scenery is – it is just the backdrop. What makes this movie work is the interaction between the three lead characters: Bourne, Landy and Abbott.
While Abbott’s character was fairly marginal in the first movie, in Supremacy the character is placed center stage with Landy to create a dynamic tension in the workings of the CIA while Landy attempts to track Bourne down. Abbott knows that Bourne is a weapon that should be left alone, but Landy’s character is doggedly determined, no nonsense, and highly motivated. Joan Allen does a great job of playing her hard and tough without making her a bitch.
But the CIA isn’t Bourne’s only problem. Can you say ‘the Russians are coming’? And they come hard. As much as Bourne is trying to avoid the CIA, he is also trying to avoid and alternately kill the shady Russian agents that are tracking him down as well.
At the core of the suspense however, is Jason Bourne. Matt Damon does an excellent job at portraying a more in depth Bourne, bringing out his angst, confusion and consternation. Actually, it’s almost too good at times. I’ll say this, his buddy Ben Affleck only wishes that he could portray the range of emotions in an entire film that Damon shows in a moment in his role as Bourne.
As in the first movie, this action/suspense/thriller ventures to keep you on the edge of your seat with great chase scenes, car crashes, explosions (one that is really cool!) and confrontations. It does admirably well, but unfortunately like most sequels, it tries to do things “grander” in scale. Grander doesn’t always mean better however. And, while the car scenes are truly cool due to some new technology, they don’t ever quite capture the thrill of the first movie as Bourne dashes through the streets of Paris in the Mini.
So, should you rent it? Yes! Absolutely. Should you own it? It’s in my library – and I’d recommend that just for the extras alone!
Make sure you have plenty of popcorn popped, chocolate nearby and lots of soda – you won’t even want to pause it.
The only question left is…will they finally leave Jason Bourne alone? We sure hope not.
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Fat Albert & The Cosby Kids: Ultimate Collection Ventura Distribution
Reviewed by Adam D. Miller
Hey, hey, hey, this DVD's okay!
Like most children who grew up in the 1980s and early 1990s, I was generously provided with the various television products of Bill Cosby. Most notably, I was (and still am) a huge fan of The Cosby Show, one of the most successful sitcoms of all time. But while The Cosby Show was geared towards family, there were two Cosby produced shows that were just for us kids. There was Picture Pages, a short educational program often broadcasted between other shows; and then there was Fat Albert.
The premise of Fat Albert was simple: Fat Albert & The Cosby Kids were a bunch of inner-city kids living in Philadelphia who enjoyed what most kids enjoy: sports, music, and fun. Aside from the title character, the show also featured Fat Albert's friends: Weird Harold, Bill, Dumb Donald, Mushmouth, Rudy, and Russell. While each episode was simple and silly, the gang would always learn something by the end.
One of the most endearing qualities of the Fat Albert series was that every episode featured a live-action introduction by Bill Cosby himself, explaining what the episode was about. Episodes would often feature live-action clips of Cosby interspersed with the animated sequences that make up most of the show. Sometimes Cosby would be on the phone from his workshop with various characters from the cartoon to offer his advice.
Also appealing were the musical numbers. Each episode had a song specifically written for that episode, and even the background music was funky and unlike anything heard in cartoons since.
Fat Albert ran for over a decade. Since going off the air in the late 1980s, it has rarely been broadcast in syndication, making this DVD collection a dream come true for its fans. Beyond original fans of the show, the box set should prove a worthwhile addition for any fan of Bill Cosby or 1980s cartoons, however, as it collects some of the best episodes of the series, such as “Tom Boy” (1972), “Smoke Gets In Your Hair” (1976), and “Rebop for Bebop” (1984).
This generation of children desperately needs a Bill Cosby, but thanks to constant televised repeats of The Cosby Show and this new Fat Albert DVD release, one can only hope that some children (and parents) are taking notice.
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Starring Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, and Peter Sarsgaard
Written & Directed by Zach Braff
Reviewed by Betsy Conklin
Originally reviewed by Betsy Conklin in Being There’s September 2004 issue.
New editorial additions provided by Adam D. Miller
From the moment I first saw the preview for Garden State, it shot to the top of my list of upcoming must-see movies. While all that the preview portrayed was the otherwise simple story of a guy beginning to discover himself with the help of a new-found friend, Sam (Natalie Portman), it did so with a subtle humor that I couldn’t wait to get more of during the film itself. I wasn’t let down.
Zach Braff (who also wrote and directed Garden State) plays Andrew Largeman, a barely successful actor in California who has been taking prescribed lithium most of his life to suppress his supposedly aggressive behavior. The movie opens with a dream sequence, where Andrew is calmly sitting on a crashing airplane while everyone else is in hysterics, and then cuts to a shot of him laying in a bed in his sterile bedroom. Both scenes are suggestive of his lithium-induced detachment from real life and emotion. A phone call he receives from his father (played by Ian Holm) during the bedroom scene sets the premise for the movie when Andrew learns that his mother has died.
His Mother’s death and his return to New Jersey prompt Andrew to temporarily put his medications on hold while he attempts to bring his emotions back into check. Once he returns to his hometown, we follow Andrew through a number of entertaining mini-subplots where Braff’s subtle humor really shines through. From shots of Andrew standing in front of wallpaper wearing a shirt made from the same leafy material to a scene in a doctor’s office where there are so many awards on the wall that there is an overflow of one to the ceiling, Braff uses humorous little nuances to keep the storyline fresh and unique. These little breaths of humor also help lighten the somewhat serious mood of the plot, which, in the end, we realize is Andrew’s quest to explore the “infinite abyss” of death and life.
Braff shows us these brief glimpses of death throughout the film – Andrew’s mother’s funeral, Sam’s hamster’s funeral, footage of a train wreck playing on a background TV, a high school classmate thinking Andrew had committed suicide – and we see Andrew generally experience them seemingly without emotion. The life part of discovering the “infinite abyss” is represented in Sam who is as quirky and vibrant as Andrew is emotionally stifled.
Although a chance meeting brought them together, Andrew’s friendship and eventually romance with Sam is his saving grace. Her character is everything emotionally charged that Andrew has been missing his whole life. Throughout the film, we see his encounters with Sam and friends from Junior High help him to begin his exploration of what it means to feel grief, companionship, and, eventually, love. And, most importantly, the film ends not with Andrew coming to an impossibly quick understanding of himself and his emotions but with the realization that this is the beginning.
With memorable performances by Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, and Peter Sarsgaard and one of the best soundtracks I’ve ever heard, including Coldplay, The Shins, Nick Drake, Simon & Garfunkel, Frou Frou and more, the film is a fantastic package of dramatic talent, music, and an entertaining story infused with a subtle humor that every screenwriter, director, and actor could only hope to bring to the screen.
Editor’s additions:
Those who enjoyed Garden State during its theatrical run and those now seeing it for the first time will both be pleased by the film’s DVD release. The special features are plentiful, and include an audio commentary by writer/director/star Zach Braff, along with Natalie Portman and other members of the crew. There are also a large number of outtakes, bloopers, and deleted scenes. Finally, a “Making-Of” featurette offers further insight about the making of Zach Braff’s feature debut.
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Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle New Line Home Video
Starring John Cho and Kal Penn
Directed by Danny Leiner
Rated: R
Reviewed by Malcolm MacLachlan
One of the most-commonly repeated statements about this well-reviewed film was that is it made you forget that it was about race. Don’t believe it. Harold & Kumar is about race from beginning to end, alternately preachy and bathed in stereotypes. And that’s ok, because it’s also funny from beginning to end.
The film begins with Harold (John Cho), an overworked young Korean-American investment banker, reluctantly agreeing to take on extra tasks from lazy white colleagues. Would-be medical student Kumar (Cal Penn) is Harold’s Indian-American roommate. Kumar plays joker to Harold’s straight man. Starving and coming down from a buzz one Friday night, the pair leave the apartment in search of more pot and some White Castle burgers. This leads them to a number of amusing encounters, most of them involving creepy white people.
But rather than engaging in some complex debate — say, whether immigrants or uneducated whites pose a bigger threat to society — Harold & Kumar goes straight for toilet humor, usually literally, such as in a scene involving pretty girls with British accents and diarrhea. The making of this sequence is one of the highlights of the DVDs bonus features section.
Don’t be put off if you didn’t like director Danny Leiner's previous film, Dude, Where’s My Car? Harold & Kumar is vastly superior on all levels, most notably for having a script that is both funnier and has more to say, and for having far better actors in the staring roles. That is, if you consider Ashton Kutcher an actor.
The success of this film is also a testament to how non-threatening popular culture considers marijuana these days. You’ll never see a lighthearted heroin comedy. Even the funny drunk has largely disappeared from films, replaced by the maudlin “alkie” of “Leaving Las Vegas.” But Leiner can make a multicultural stoner comedy and put the name of a large corporation in the title.
Rather than being violent or in danger of imminent overdose, stoned people are just temporarily horny, paranoid, stupid, lazy and, above all, hungry. In other words, just like Shaggy and Scooby if they were horny. Despite their high IQs, Harold and Kumar act like idiots when they get high, dumbly ogling girls, laughing at stupid television shows, and even getting the bright idea of riding an escaped cheetah.
But Harold & Kumar recognizes that you do come down. It’s one thing for Cheech and Chong to portray marginal outsiders in their 1970s stoner films. By contrast, these guys are going to become trusted professionals. This disconnect even plays right into one of the best jokes of the film. At one point, they come into possession of a bag of pot the size of someone’s head. Kumar immediately falls into a fantasy sequence, embracing the pot in a field, and then riding with it on a merry-go-round. Eventually we see the pair in a failing marriage, with Kumar alternately screaming at the pot (at this point pictured in a frumpy house dress) and then begging forgiveness. The contrast also provides a metaphorical image of a young adult torn between a productive future and an enjoyable present. And we’ve all been there.
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The Inbreds - Home Movies Zunior.com
Reviewed by Lisa Hood-Anklewicz
Aptly titled, Home Movies almost appears to be a collection of clips and sound bites that a fan of The Inbreds might have gathered on their VCR in college. The quality of the film leaves something to be desired at times, but the impression is that the material came from the band’s own private stash of recorded moments and clips off of television. As though it were a final piece of closure for the small independent rock duo, The Inbreds have gathered not only their collection of music videos, but also a number of clips from live shows, interviews and moments in the recording studio. The collection becomes a self-composed account of The Inbreds’ career, and a last glimpse for fans into the antics of the much-loved duo. Between 1992 and 1998, Mike O’Neill and Dave Ullrich made their mark on the Canadian independent music scene, with a collection of catchy and witty tunes produced from the unusual combination of bass guitar and drums.
For existing fans of the Inbreds, the true delight of the disc will be the small collection of short clips fom recording sessions at Toronto’s Gas Station while they were making Winning Hearts. This portion of the disc captures the spirit of Canadian independent musicians.
In addition to the home movies, another thrill for fans will be the ‘Live Shows’ portion of the disc. There are five clips of the Inbreds on stage, performing one or two songs, not only in Canada but at a show in Belgium as well. Again, the quality of the recordings is not of high calibre, but they may be the last glimpse we have into the unique presence that the Inbreds presented in a live forum.
For those who are new to the Inbreds, as well as the fans, highlights of the disc include the group’s nine music videos, including “Prince,” their first self-released single and independently produced video. But whether it be “Prince,” “Any Sense of Time,” or “Attitude,” the collection portrays the humour of Mike and Dave and the wit of their lyrical presentations. There is a level of goofiness that seems to spout from the videos that the Inbreds have given to the world, and the impression left on the viewer is that of a happy-go-lucky duo that keeps you smiling.
The interview portion of the disc is entirely from 1995 with the exception of one done in 1997, so it does concentrate on a pretty specific point in the Inbreds’ career. Many of them are humorous to watch, and for many fans, may be clips seen for the first time. One is even from the local public access channel in their hometown of Kingston, Ontario. However, it is disappointing that more material couldn’t be recovered for this section. For example, there were many great interviews done with Mike Campbell of the now defunct MuchEast program run on the MuchMusic station that would have been perfect.
Overall, it is nice to see something from the Inbreds once again, even if it is a retrospective and not new material. Home Movies is must have for any Inbreds fan, and for those that are curious, a great place to start.
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King Of The Hill: The Complete Third Season Fox Home Video
Reviewed by Russell Bartholomee
As much as I like King of the Hill, I have to admit to being confused about something. I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why anyone outside of Texas thinks it’s funny. Don’t get me wrong; I think it’s hilarious. But I’ve lived in Texas for fifteen years, and my family is from here. I live in one of the suburbs of Dallas that Arlen is based on. I know Hank Hill. But do viewers in Delaware and Missouri understand why calling Bobby’s school Tom Landry Middle School is such a perfect joke? Why do Minnesotans laugh when Hank waxes rhapsodic about his truck, his mower, and propane? I asked a friend of mine whose Canadian wife is a fan of the show, and he said that she thought the portrayal of stereotypical rednecks on the show was great satire. Satire? Trust me; that’s sheer reportage.
But whether audiences outside of Texas get all the subtle Lone Star State references or not, the show has consistently been one of the funniest shows on television. At its best, it has rivaled even The Simpsons, and The Complete Third Season is King of the Hill at its best. The writing is exceptional, benefiting from the comedic genius of Simpsons alumni John Vitti and Richard Appel, Kids in the Hall veteran Norm Hiscock, and Shrek screenwriter Joe Stillman, among others. The characters are fully developed by this season, and the writers do a great job exploring the dynamics of relationships with family and friends to find humor, without merely stitching one oddball pop culture reference to the next.
But it is the strength of the performances of the principal cast that really shine on this collection. Series creator Mike Judge is perfect as both Hank and Boomhauer. His timing is impeccable, especially in reaction to his son Bobby (voiced by Pamela Segall). When Bobby, wearing a lady’s gardening hat, remarks, “I’m getting some good sun,” Hank reacts with his trademark sound of disgust and fear: “Uahaah!” (It’s as funny as Homer’s “D’oh,” but a lot harder to spell.) Kathy Najimy is always exceptional as Hank’s wife, Peggy. The way she mangles the Spanish she thinks she speaks so well (“Me lamo is Peggy Hill”) is priceless. Johnny Hardwick’s Dale Gribble is a bundle of paranoid, suspicious energy. And Stephen Root is enormously effective as the Hills’ loser neighbor Bill Dauterive. None of these actors rely on mere caricature, choosing instead to give their characters real depth and heart. It’s not surprising that the show won its first Emmy in this season.
Every episode is a winner here, but there are a few highlights. “And They Call it Bobby Love” tells the story of Bobby’s first crush—and first heartbreak. (That was the Emmy-winning episode). “Nine Pretty Darn Angry Men” is a spot-on parody of “Twelve Angry Men,” with Hank trying to talk some sense into a focus group that actually wants to approve of a “yuppified” version of Hank’s beloved lawn mower. In “Sleight of Hank,” Bobby’s interest in magic produces hilarious (and unintentionally sacrilegious) results in a Sunday School presentation. (“Has this ever happened to you? Your disciples want some more wine, but all you have is water. That’s no problem for The Amazing Jesus!”) Episode after episode makes you laugh out loud, whether at Hank’s offensive father, Bill’s unrequited love for Peggy, or Dale’s growing delusions. The season’s 25 episodes are nearly perfect, I tell you what.
But all is not well with this DVD set. There are precisely zero bonus features of any kind. I don't mean that there aren't any good ones. I mean there are none, unless choosing to watch with subtitled Spanish is a bonus feature. All three discs are two-sided flippers, which is always a pain. This wouldn't matter so much if the previous two seasons hadn't been so loaded with commentaries and deleted scenes. Their absence is conspicuous here. No fair for Fox to give us the goods twice before and hold out on us this time. Still, the episodes themselves are tremendous, and while the lack of bonus features is annoying, this set is still a welcome addition to the collection of any fan of great animated comedy.
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The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Special Edition) New Line Home Video
Starring Elijah Wood, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian McKellen, Live Tyler, and well, you get the point...
Directed by Peter Jackson
Rated: PG-13
Reviewed by Russell Bartholomee
When a film wins a record eleven Academy Awards, sweeps the Golden Globes, and is a critical and box office smash, can it get any better? Evidently so, because Peter Jackson’s Return of the King special edition is actually an improvement on the theatrical release—and the theatrical cut was already just about perfect.
That version was already quite long (well over three hours); this one adds 50 minutes. If the theatrical release was too much for you, you may want to sit this one out. But I for one can no longer imagine the film without the extra footage. Every new shot is essential. And several gaps in the plot of the theatrical version are filled in here. We finally get to see Gandalf’s stunning showdowns with Sauruman and the Witch King. The courtship of Faramir and Éowyn (completely missing in theaters) is sweetly restored. And, perhaps best of all, we are allowed to see the Mouth of Sauron, an absolutely terrifying creature with nasty, pointy teeth. That’s no ordinary CGI.
Now clocking in at over four hours, ROTK is a complete delight. It is visually stunning; Jackson has clearly established the Weta Workshop as the preeminent FX house. (Eat that, George Lucas). The actors are rock solid. The whole cast is superb, with not a weak performance in sight. But especially grand are Sean Astin as Samwise, Miranda Otto as Éowyn, and Ian McKellen as Gandalf. And what else is there to say about the masterful work of Andy Serkis? A special Oscar should have been created just for his groundbreaking creation of Gollum. The characters are portrayed with perfection; they seem to spring directly from the page into utterly believable life.
Every technical aspect of the film is flawless. The images are breathtaking (especially in the beacon scene. I so want to go to New Zealand now), and the sound is splendid (time to consider installing surround sound). The direction, set design, editing, cinematography—everything serves the story brilliantly. And that is Jackson’s great triumph in this film (in the whole trilogy, really): while everything is awe-inspiring, it is always tasteful and never gets in the way of the story. While some fans of the books will quibble here and there, his overall loyalty to the original words should please purists and Tolkien tourists alike.
The special features included on the set’s four discs are extravagant. In addition to four excellent commentary tracks from the cast, the director, and the crew, we are treated to dozens of extra features and documentaries which illuminate every technique of filmmaking employed to bring this beloved story to the screen. There featurettes are all of exceptional quality (at least the ones I’ve had time to watch. It will take a long time to watch them all).
In all three parts of the trilogy, Peter Jackson (who’s come a long way since Bad Taste) raised the bar for what can be expected from a fantasy film. With this final installment of the Special Extended Edition, he’s redefined what a DVD home theater experience can be as well. Long live the king.
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Starring Denzel Washington, Meryl STreep and Liev Schreiber
Directed by Jonathan Demme
Rated: R
Reviewed by Darryl R. Scott
“She stole it,” Otis Redding said when he heard Aretha Franklin sing “Respect” on the radio for the first time. “That girl done stole my song.”
And he was right. Usually, when a singer decides to cover a song made famous by somebody else, it fails. They make the mistake of either being too timid or excessively referential. It’s like Oliver Twist with a microphone in his hand saying, “Please, Sir—may I do your song?”
But Aretha wasn’t afraid. (“I’m the Queen of Soul, damn it!”) So, without hesitation or apologies, she took a better-than-average R&B song and transformed it into a timeless anthem of female empowerment. It was her song now. Yeah, Aretha “stole” his song, and all Otis could do was shake his head in sad admiration.
Now, creatively speaking, stealing isn’t a crime if you get away with it. But in Hollywood, some talented directors forget that the same rules apply when you’re doing a remake of a classic movie. If it’s unsuccessful (like Gus Van Sant’s disastrous Psycho, for instance), what you’ve got is a bad forgery.
Happily, Jonathan Demme’s adaptation of The Manchurian Candidate is a splendid exception to the rule. Armed with vision, a sharp intellect, chutzpah and a touch of Aretha in his soul, Demme creates a scary, tough-minded movie that pays respect to the original while having a strong identity of its own.
The Manchurian Candidate is the mean, crazy old grandfather of the Big Secret Conspiracy That Controls Everything genre. Whether it’s films like The Parallax View or episodes of 24, Alias, and The X-Files, you can see the fingerprints of John Frankenheimer’s brilliant movie. But in spite of walking down a very familiar and well-used road, Demme never stumbles into the potholes of being too derivative, too cynical or too dumb. He’s smart enough to keep what works in Frankenheimer’s masterpiece and has the confidence to throw away what doesn’t.
For example, the simplistic psychobabble that mesmerized audiences in 1962 would come across like Brainwashing for Dummies today, so it was junked. Denzel Washington and Liev Schreiber are much better actors than Frank Sinatra and Lawrence Harvey were, so there’s a tragic poignancy to their characters that wasn’t there before. Meryl Streep has a cool, elegant malevolence as Mrs. Shaw, a charming psychopath who would lovingly tuck a napkin underneath your chin to catch the blood before neatly cutting your throat. No, Streep won’t scare the bejeezus out of you like Angela Lansbury did, but she’s damned close.
And with a new McDonalds opening up in downtown Beijing, the villains obviously aren’t those dirty commie rats from China this time. Instead, the bad guys are a mysterious global organization named the Manchurian Corporation. As Walt Kelly’s Pogo famously observed, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
Jonathan Demme hasn’t “stolen” The Manchurian Candidate from John Frankenheimer. However, this version carries a deeper emotional resonance for me because the characters living in this world feel more real. It’s also a contemporary horror story where the monsters are faceless men wearing Armani suits sitting in secret boardrooms who are quietly sending soldiers overseas to die in a bad war, emptying pension accounts and laying off thousands of employees with the click of a mouse.
Good job, Mr. Demme. Aretha would be proud of you.
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Open Water Lions Gate Home Entertainment
Starring Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis
Written & Directed by Chris Kentis
Rating: R
Reviewed by Aaron Licht
Two workaholics escape from their busy routine to a tropical paradise. Susan (Blanchard Ryan) and Daniel (Daniel Travis) are deeply in love and hope to finally spend some time together. During an open water scuba exhibition, there’s a small mistake and, unfortunately, the couple get what they wanted.
Leave it to the ingenuity of independent filmmakers to exploit the terror of the open water. The drama arises from nothing but two isolated divers and the natural terror around them (and under them). Open Water’s Hollywood distributors marketed the film as “Jaws meets Blair Witch.”
While it may be a natural (and highly profitable) comparison, visions of that robotic shark and the raw nerves of a shaky ‘witch hunt’ cam may ignore the ideal audience. Open Water is something altogether different.
Unlike the supernatural fears in The Blair Witch Project or shark with mythical proportions and intelligence in Jaws, Open Water’s danger is disturbingly real. The horror of Open Water is based upon a simple ‘what if?’ resulting from human error. There are many natural threats of the ocean, yes, including the sharks.
However these sharks don’t rely on special effects to scare us. No single shark is personified as a threat and none are gifted with unreal stalking abilities. Unlike a traditional horror film, the mere sight of a shark doesn’t imply an imminent messy death. Daniel refers to the realism of these sharks by repeatedly addressing television nature shows. This works to highlight the realistic fears of being at sea, but the viewer may miss the dramatic suspense of seeing that ominous single fin approach the hero.
The pervasive fear comes from being left behind, alone and utterly hopeless. The fear begins early, with simple methods: while the scuba instructor is explaining the rules of the boat, the low-budget sound is drowned out by the motor and when the couple first jump into the water to play with the fishies, the first timecard reads, ominously, 9:45.
It’s a classic existential struggle; will the couple work together to find help or will they panic and eat each other alive? It’s evidence of good filmmaking that the viewer’s interest can be sustained for so long with such a simple story. Aside from a suspenseful soundtrack, the viewer is placed into Susan and Daniel’s nightmare without many bells or whistles. Unfortunately it’s far too easy to believe that the film was based on a true story.
The DVD contains the welcome regulars: deleted scenes, two commentaries by cast and crew and a few featurettes. The featurettes investigate the challenges of an highly independent feature. Self financed and shot on evenings and weekends, director Chris Kentis and his producer/wife Laura Lau chose the story to exploit the possibilities of low budget DV filmmaking. The final budget of the film was an estimated $130,000 and brought in over $30 million from their domestic audience.
Despite its best intentions, the very nature of Open Water gives our protagonists very little to do. If you allow yourself to feel the fear of the characters, the film delivers an effective psychological thrill. However, if your attention shifts, it might induce moments of tedium - right along with Susan and Daniel. I get the feeling that the thrills of the DVD have little replay value (except if you watch it with friends who are scared of sharks. That’s pure fun.)
Oh, and I thought I’d mention, in any low budget feature, it helps if your beautiful actors are willing to play a nude scene. The moment is tasteful and the beautiful lighting on their skin makes them look. . . good enough to eat (was that in bad taste?)
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Paris, Texas Fox Home Entertainment
Starring Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Dean Stockwell, Hunter Carson
Directed by Wim Wenders
Rated: R
Reviewed by Nathan Williams
Paris, Texas is Wim Wenders’ completely earnest, sometimes embarrassing attempt at making an American film. Though he cannot resist dedicating the film to the great Weimer-era critic, Lotte Eisner, in every other respect he does his damnedest to make the great American road picture he had wanted to see out of the 70s generation (something Monte Hellman had the talent for, but never the opportunity). He enlists the uniquely American playwright, Sam Shepherd, to write some really American, world-weary dialogue; He sets much of the film in the inimitable (despite Leone’s attempts to do so in Spain) landscape of west Texas and the rest in the hellish megalopolises of Los Angeles and Houston; And, a few financier-demanded European cast-members notwithstanding, places the heart of the picture is in the hands of the singularly American talent, Harry Dean Stanton, along with child-actor Hunter Carson (son of L.M. Kit Carson and Karen Black).
Ry Cooder contributes a creaky guitar-and-sound-effects score that draws on the melody of Blind Willie Johnson’s “Dark Was the Night,” and manages to just avoid being too mystical for its own good. The setting, of course, allows Wenders to make the obligatory grand homage to John Ford (along with lesser ones to Walker Evans and Nicholas Ray). But there are less expected influences afoot. The initial interactions between the fish-out-of-water Stanton and the young boy, set in the hills above Burbank, suggest Spielberg’s recently released E.T. More overtly, the young boy is fixated with space travel and Lucas’ Star Wars, sleeping in themed bed sheets, playing with the action figures repeatedly, and quoting lines from the film on several occasions. Also, Wenders had recently finished a long and disastrous project for Coppola’s Zoetrope company, and Paris, Texas suggests the eye of a cinematographer who had recently viewed One From the Heart. The strong use of colored light, particularly the clashing of red and green (often one as an implied “natural” source and the other as “artificial”) is one of the most striking elements of Vittorio Storaro’s work on Coppola’s film, and it is hard to imagine Robby Müller was not influenced.
Regardless, the film is wonderful to look at, particularly the consistent use of a polarizing filter in the desert scenes that create one of the great skies in cinema. Indeed, the desert portions of the film are quite marvelous, and Harry Dean in his red cap upon this landscape is as perfect a pairing as you are likely to see at the movies. The film falters, however, when Wenders pushes his characters into melodrama. Dialogue has never been his strong suit, and asking actors to naturalistically deliver lines like, “You look like forty miles of rough road,” and “Everything has changed between us since he came here,” does the film no favors, especially when contrasted with the verisimilitude of improvised dialogue between Stanton and Carson. The final exchange of monologues may be great writing by Shepherd, but it is deadly dull cinema and almost brings the film down with it.
Wenders stumbles when trying to make the film a conventional American drama, with great scenes between great actors. He would have been better pursuing his improvisational, road-movie tendencies without a need for dramatic resolution, or passing the material off to someone like Hellman, who would understand how to deflate the melodrama. Overall, though, it is an assemblage of great talent and remarkable craftsmanship. Recommendable, but not successful.
The Disc:
Wenders enjoyed the good fortune of perhaps the best looking black and white on DVD ever with Wings of Desire, and his luck continues with Paris, Texas. The print is in terrific shape and the transfer is outstanding, especially for the shockingly low retail price. Some of the source sound was not recorded in ideal environments (in a noble, mostly successful effort to avoid dubbing), but the mix on the disc is excellent. The film has probably not looked and sounded better since it took the Palme d’Or at Cannes.
The Extras:
Wim Wenders gives an informative “how we did it” commentary that is long on humility and short on thematic discussion. There is also a generous twenty minutes of deleted scenes, several of great interest. One favorite moment: when the camera continues to run
between takes and Wenders instructs the performers to do the scene again, but “faster;” Harry Dean interrupts, believing the scene actually ought to be played more slowly. Wenders wins in the end, but one wonders if the scene, like the film, would have worked if the director had not been so forceful.
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Pet Shop Boys - Somewhere In Concert Eagle Rock Entertainment
Reviewed by Lisa Hood-Anklewicz
In June of 1997 something unusual was happening in the west end of London. The Pet Shop Boys, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, had decided to create a unique stage show that would be held over for nightly performances at the infamous Savoy Theatre. The Savoy is commonly known for its theatrical productions, being the theatre originally built to house the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. The Pet Shop Boys catchy techno-pop musical stylings were quite literally the furthest thing you could get from the Savoy's usual bookings. However, for two weeks in June of that that year, the Savoy became the hottest dance spot in London.
Somewhere, gaining its title from the group’s cover of the West Side Story piece, has now been re-released on DVD with many added bonuses for those that may have the 1997 VHS release in their collections. Tennant and Lowe have tacked on a documentary covering much of the behind-the-scenes preparation of the show. The viewer is allowed to see just what it took to make the venture of the Savoy engagement a reality. The theatre itself only seats about 1100 people and the stage is not large, presenting some pretty major obstacles that the group and crew have to work with, and watching them do it makes the viewing of the concert footage that much more enjoyable. Within the documentary, the viewer also encounters some "outside" characters, those that are employees of the Savoy itself and not crew members of the production. It provides an interesting perspective of how the Savoy employees react and deal with a production so different for them.
The concert track list remains the same as the previous released VHS version, including some of the groups biggest hits, “Go West,” “Being Boring,” and “It's a Sin” to name a few. But as the format generally does, the DVD release gives the viewer a chance to relive the concert in 5.1 surround sound, something that is becoming more the norm in today’s concert DVDs.
At any given time during the performance there is never any more then four people on the stage; Chris on keyboards, Neil on vocal and guitar, their back up vocalist and a single dancer. The music of the Pet Shop Boys relies heavily on synthesizer and layered computer loops, so with the exception of Chris on keys and the occasional guitar from Neil, all the music is being controlled by a single crew member at a computer off stage. However, even with what seems like so few people on stage, there is much to be entertained with during the show. The stage set has been designed well to provide not only a great light show, but a few pieces of eye candy as well.
As they are often known to do, the Pet Shop Boys pull off a seamless performance that would make any fan that hadn't been there wish they were. But until the time machine is invented, Somewere - In Concert is the perfect substitute. It is a release that allows one to marvel at the lengths that Tennant and Lowe have gone and what they continue to pull of today.
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The Simpsons: The Complete Fifth Season Fox Home Entertainment
Reviewed by Adam D. Miller
It is doubtful that anyone, even Simpsons creator Matt Groening, could have predicted that The Simpsons would go on to last for sixteen years with no signs of ending anytime soon. That’s right, the show that seems to have always been around (at least to those of us younger than thirty) is currently in its 16th season, placing it among the Top Ten of longest running shows of all time. Will it surpass the twenty-year record of Gunsmoke? I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.
In any case, sixteen seasons is a lot. So while the concept of The Simpsons on DVD is an exciting one, it is also quite overwhelming. When the dust has finally settled, owning the entire series on DVD will probably occupy quite a lot of space on your shelf, spanning dozens upon dozens of discs. That is, if the DVD medium isn’t obsolete by then.
The good news is that with the release of The Simpsons: The Complete Fifth Season we are in the midst of The Simpsons at its most groundbreaking. As Groening writes in the liner notes for the DVD set, “This may be the finest one yet.”
Even some of the most passionate Simpsons fans agree that the first two seasons of the series are difficult to sit through. I am not going to argue that the fifth season is the first to be worthwhile; The Simpsons introduced pop culture sophistication by its third and fourth seasons. But the fifth season is really something. If the third and fourth seasons were when The Simpsons were beginning to find a voice beyond Bart’s antics and Homer’s stupidity, then season five is when the show hit sheer brilliance. This is undeniably The Simpsons at its best. Everything you’d want from the show is here: notable guest appearances (George Harrison, David Crosby, James Brown, Michelle Pfieffer, etc), classic film references (Cape Fear, Citizen Kane), and more activity from an ever-growing plethora of supporting characters beyond the Simpsons’ nuclear family.
Of course, unlike some TV series’ available on DVD, you don’t have to go very far to see these episodes in syndication. In fact, you’ve probably seen most of these recently if you like watching Simpsons reruns on television. But this gets better, trust me. Beyond the digital picture and 5.1 audio, the highlight of this (and every) Simpsons DVD set is that every episode features an audio commentary by series creator Matt Groening, as well as writers, cast members, and other crew. For the hardcore Simpsons fan, the set also includes TV commercials (including some of the famous Butterfinger candy bar ads), rough sketches, and even deleted scenes.
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If you want to purchase just one season of The Simpsons, this is the one to get. From the season premiere “Homer’s Barbershop Quartet” to the classic Mr. Burns-focused “Rosebud,” season five is about as clever as you can get for an animated comedy. And it perfectly illustrates what has always been great about The Simpsons; while the show is all the more entertaining for those who recognize and understand the pop culture references scattered throughout every episode, it is still an enjoyable viewing experience without any knowledge of music, film, and literature.
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