DVD releases include James Brown documentary, 'Smart People' and 'Ali'

“SMART PEOPLE”

Blu-ray and enhanced widescreen, 2008, R for language, brief teen drug and alcohol use, and for some sexuality

Best extra: A free ticket to see the Julianne Moore/Mark Ruffalo thriller “Blindness,” which opens in theaters next month.

IN THE WORDS of screenwriter Mark Jude Poirier, “Smart People” is about “highly educated people trying to make their way through the world but they’re just emotional idiots.” That pretty much sums it up. A great cast, including Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Ellen Page, can’t quite save this mildly amusing retread of “Wonder Boys,” which casts a frumpy Quaid in the Michael Douglas role.

The Blu-ray look very good, with strong colors and deep blacks for the production filmed in Pittsburgh, but the film is completely dialogue driven so the HD soundtrack will do zilch with your sound systems.

The disc features one of the most boring commentaries I’ve encountered. The director and writer fail to engage the listener or provide any behind-the-scenes stories worthy of mention. The 15-minute featurette, presented in standard-def, is a little better. Deleted scenes and a gag reel round things off.

— Josh Boone

 

 

 

“I GOT THAT FEELIN’: JAMES BROWN IN THE ‘60S”

Full-screen, 1968, unrated

Best extra: Interview footage with James Brown’s band, Al Sharpton, Dr. Cornel West and a 40-year James Brown friend placing the Boston show in context

MOST OF THE PERFORMANCES on this three disc set are from the same year, 1968, and feature the same songs, including “Try Me,” “I Got the Feelin,” “Cold Sweat,” and “Please Please Please.” On “Live at the Apollo,” these performances are in color, with bonus footage of the superstar on the T.A.M.I. show and in Paris. “Live at the Boston Garden” is the most electric of the shows.

The black and white footage of Brown in Boston is weak; the fuzziness and light balance make it seem Jurassic.

Nonetheless, the James Brown is legendary here; you see the fantastic showman, the mesmerizing dancer. Sweaty and screeching, he is exuding raw, hot energy and sex, so working the crowd into a frenzy that a number of young men hop on stage to touch him and bask in his calls for black pride. That’s perhaps because of the context of this performance, explained on the jewel of this set: “The Night James Brown Saved Boston” is a documentary about the April night in 1968 when Brown famously helped keep the city calm 24 hours after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. This film is nearly worth the price of the set alone, as it re-lives that night through Brown’s music, American culture and the politics of the day, all distilled by one of the best musicians of all time.

— Malcolm Venable

 

 

 

“THE DOORS”

Blu-ray widescreen, 1991, R for heavy drug content, and for strong sexuality and language

Best extra: “The Road to Excess,” an excellent documentary that was originally produced for the laser disc edition over a dozen years ago

DIRECTOR OLIVER STONE, the great chronicler of the 1960s and 70s (“Platoon,” “Born on the Fourth of July,” “JFK”) takes on the story of the band he listened to while in Vietnam. Stone even wrote a script called “Break” for the Lizard King to star in, a script found in Morrison’s home in Paris after he died. Less a straightforward biopic than a visceral tone poem driven by the band’s music, “The Doors” is a compelling look at one of the era’s most fascinating figures.

The Blu-ray presentation of "The Doors" is the best the film has looked since its days in the multiplex. Previous DVD editions never did justice to Stone’s vision, plagued with nagging video noise and lack of detail. This hi-def disc is vivid and razor sharp, while the DTS-HD 7.1 track is muscular and showcases the music.

Though there are no new extras here (carried over from previous DVDs), the supplements are quite strong. Stone’s commentary and “The Road to Excess” doc cover a number of interesting tidbits, including how Kilmer landed the role after recording himself singing Doors songs. Neither Stone nor members of the band could differentiate between the actor and Morrison. An additional 60-minute doc, "Jim Morrison: A Poet in Paris," takes a peek into Morrison's last days in Paris.

Highly recommended.

— Josh Boone

 

 

 

“CJ7”

Blu-ray and enhanced widescreen, 2008, PG for language, thematic material, some rude humor and brief smoking

Best extra: Making-of documentary with interviews with the cast and crew

WITH THE WORLD glued to the Beijing Summer Olympics, Sony Pictures joins the Chinese bandwagon, releasing writer/director/actor Stephen Chow’s latest effort “CJ7.” Clearly a departure from his slapstick kinetics in “Kung Fu Hustle” and “Shaolin Soccer,” this sci-fi adventure is for the whole family. It’s the second biggest movie in China this year.

“I desired to make a heartwarming family oriented film, with an alien like “ET,” Chow says during the standard-def documentary.

The tale follows a struggling single father Ti (Chow), a laborer working for the worst boss in town. Barely able to make ends meet, Ti and his son Dicky, played by Jiao Xu, a charming 10-year-old girl, live in an abandoned building. Most of Ti’s paycheck goes to his son’s private school, where the child is targeted by the resident bully.

Searching for a pair of shoes for Dicky at the city dump, Ti finds a green ball that happens to be an extraterrestrial, which transforms into a cute furry dog (CJ7) with special powers. Unsuspecting, he gives the creature to Dicky and, in the manner of kooky but fun little aliens everywhere, it transforms lives for the best.

The FX guys modeled CJ7 after Chow’s favorite dog, a Pekingese with a big head and big eyes. “Pekes” are also called the Lion Dog of China, or Fu Dogs, guardian spirits who bring luck and happiness. Don’t be surprised when your kids want a CJ7 for themselves.

The Blu-ray disc features a solid super widescreen hi-def image, with good contrast and vivid color, filmed in and around Ningbo, China. The soundtrack is available in Mandarin with subtitles or English, both in Dolby TrueHD for a powerful track.

The Blu-ray and DVD include a subtitled commentary with Chow and the crew, which was enjoyable and informative. The gang kept teasing each other throughout. Additional features include an interactive space age kid’s game and a couple of short documentaries, highlighting how to stand your ground against a bully and how to make your own giant lollipop.

— Bill Kelley III

 

 

 

“JOE LOUIS: AMERICA’S HERO … BETRAYED”

Full-screen, 2008, unrated

 “MUHAMMAD ALI: MADE IN MIAMI”

Enhanced widescreen, 2008, not rated

Best extra: A conversation with the producers, talking about how the bright-eyed, naïve Cassius Clay transformed into the professional, dynamic Muhammad Ali.

IN THE WORLD OF PRIZEFIGHTING, several figures have attained a level of notoriety that transcends decades. Two of these figures, Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali stand among the tallest.

Joe Louis Barrow was the grandson of slaves who took violin lessons for a short while as a child after he and his family moved north from Alabama. Joe’s mother, we learn in “America’s Hero,” would give him a quarter a week to pay for lessons. But after a neighbor chided Joe, he used the money to rent a locker at a local gym, where he would learn to box.
Joe Louis turned pro in 1934, and won his first 12 fights, 10 by knockout. By 1935, when Louis was only 21, he earned $400,000 in purses when the average wage was $1,400 a year.

Then came Max Schmeling. But, as the DVD reveals, the second bout with the Hitler-backed German turned into something else. After it was over, Joe Louis was a bona fide American hero, but that would erode over the years.

The HBO presentation features several individuals who provide firsthand stories about Louis and what he meant to them, as well as to his race and country, including his son, Joe Louis Barrow Jr.; comedian Dick Gregory; Bill Cosby; poet and author Maya Angelou; former President Jimmy Carter; Rep. Charles Rangel, D-NY; Lester Rodney, sports editor, the Daily Worker; Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records; Jerry Lewis, comedian; Gay Talese, author; and Rabbi Joshua Haberman.

Each person talks about Louis — also known as The Brown Bomber, Sepia Slugger, Dark Destroyer, Tan Tornado, Black Menace, Chocolate Soldier, Black Lightning, Mulatto Mauler, Dark Angel, Sepia Slasher (yes, these were some of the nicknames) — and how he affected them.

His son talks about not really knowing his father, having been born close to the breakup of Louis’ marriage to reporter Marva Trotter. Barrow becomes misty when he speaks of how the IRS seized a trust fund Louis had set up for him and his sister.

Gregory, Cosby, Angelou and Gordy all speak of the pride they felt during and after a Louis fight.

Angelou talks about how the people listening to Louis’ fights at her family’s store would often say, “Did you see that?” even though they were listening to the contests.

The DVD, though it has no “extra features,” is packed full of newsreel footage, still photographs, film of the icon in his later years and the all-entertaining interviews.

“MUHAMMAD ALI: MADE IN MIAMI” takes us to the time in the 1960s, when a young man named Cassius Clay from Louisville, Ky., won the heart of America with his magnetism in and out of the ring.

What most people don’t realize, even though Muhammad Ali’s story is well known, is that it was in Miami that Ali became the person the world knows. It was in Miami where the young Cassius Clay got the idea to become a loudmouth, where he got the idea to make his fights more than a contest of two pugilists intent on knocking the other into submission.

The DVD brings home the fact that Ali got to Miami and began to evolve in Overtown, known as “Harlem South,” where the Fifth Street Gym became Ali’s testing ground. Ali spent six years in Miami, among the happiest periods in his life.

Through footage and interviews, the film chronicles Ali’s rise to his defeat of Sonny Liston to become the heavyweight champion.

It also includes Ali’s friendship with Malcolm X; his romp with the Beatles (initially they didn’t really want to be photographed with him, because they thought he was a loudmouth and was going to lose the title fight with Liston); and his refusal to fight in the Vietnam War. “He didn’t want to be a black man sent by white men to kill brown men,” according to the program.

The coolest thing about this DVD, which includes a conversation with the producers, is that it shows how the bright-eyed, naïve Cassius Clay transformed into the professional, dynamic Muhammad Ali.

— Cliff Redding

 

 

 

“BELLY”

Blu-ray widescreen, 1998, R for strong violence, language, sexuality and drug use

Best extra: Not a lot to recommend here. The commentary is just OK.

ACCLAIMED RAP VIDEO director Hype Williams made his feature debut in 1998 with “Belly,” a ridiculously stylized and clichéd drug film, and hasn’t made another since. DMX and Nas star as glorified money-hungry dealers acting out every rap music video stereotype in the book.

“Belly” comes to Blu-ray with a decent hi-def transfer that does the best it can with Williams’ crazed visual style. The DTS-HD Master Audio lossless track handles the bass-heavy music and gunfire well.

Extras are the same as the old standard edition. Williams sits down for a commentary where he discusses his very obvious influences (Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma) but would have been better served with his DP or stars present. A selection of spoken-word poets explore the film’s themes on stage and a deleted scene round things out.

— Josh Boone