The Virginian-Pilot
If the first two Final Destination flicks tickled your gory-death fancy, then “Final Destination 3” (audio: ****, video: ****, extras: ****) delivers again.
James Wong, director of the original, is back to lead this low-budget, high-profit horror/suspense film. The third installment holds the same basic plot (if you can call it that): One poor teenager has a vision that she and all her friends will die, so she intervenes.
The remainder of the movie features death chasing down the group, in order, and finish its work with gruesome efficiency.
But this two-disc “Thrill Ride” edition provides a chance for the viewer to choose. It’s a very cool extra that, at certain points in the film, features a coin flip to decide a character’s fate. Whether the watcher picks heads or tails dictates the rest of the movie.
Other excellent extras include a commentary with Wong, a documentary “Dead Teenager Movie” about teen horror flicks, an impressive 83-minute making-of segment, and an animated look at fate called “It’s All Around You.”
While not for the faint at heart, this is a fun film for blood-and-guts buffs. (Enhanced wide-screen, 2006, R for strong horror, violence/gore, language and some nudity)
– Kyle Tucker
The winning team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s unusual and little known World War II propaganda film, “A Canterbury Tale” (audio: ****, video: ***, extras: ****), has been restored to perfection by Criterion. Shot in Powell’s home region of Kent, it’s the story of three unlikely pilgrims who meet by chance on a train to Canterbury: A sad young woman who joined the “land army” to work on a farm for the war effort; an American GI and a British soldier on their way to join their respective units. The three collaborate to investigate a peculiar crime before continuing on to Canterbury in hopes of receiving a “blessing.”
The 2-disc set is a great package and includes a recent interview with Sheila Sim, who reminisces about her starring role. Documentaries show the American (an amateur actor and real GI), who says the film “is about the human spirit,” returning to Canterbury for the first time since 1943; a Powell/Pressburger fan club makes their annual visit to Kent to see sites of Powell’s childhood and from the film; a 2001 video-installation and a 1942 wartime short are paired. Commentary by film historian Ian Christie provides enlightening insights, including that Powell/Pressburger believed by making films that were “indirect and eccentric,” they would succeed. (Full-screen, 1944, unrated)
– Peggy Earle
Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek star in “Ask the Dust” (audio: ****, video: ****, extras: ***), written and directed by Robert Towne (“Chinatown,” “Shampoo”). Based on John Fante’s 1939 novel set in depression-era Los Angeles, it’s the story of Arturo Bandini, a struggling young writer who barely ekes out living writing stories for H.L. Mencken’s literary magazine. An undercurrent of prejudice, against “foreign-sounding” names and Mexican immigrants, is a constant in the city, as Arturo begins a stormy relationship with Camilla, an illiterate Mexican waitress. Farrell and Hayek do their best with the rather mannered dialogue and melodramatic storyline, but the sets, costumes and cinematography approach authenticity. It’s also fun to watch Donald Sutherland and Eileen Atkins steal their scenes in cameo roles.
In a making-of documentary, Farrell calls the film a “history of L.A.” whose theme is to “follow your dream.” Towne says that in the 1930s, L.A. was still in its “adolescence,” a parallel to the behavior of the two lead characters in the film. In a commentary by Towne and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, they explain their choice of Cape Town, South Africa, as a stand-in for L.A. Sets, based on archival footage, were constructed inside two football stadiums. (Enhanced wide- screen, 2006, R for nudity and language)
– Peggy Earle
A gentle coming-of-age story set in Australia, “Somersault” (audio: ***, video: ***1/2, extras: **1/2) showcases a striking young actress named Abbie Cornish. She plays Heidi, a 16-year-old who runs away from home after an incident with her mother’s live-in boyfriend. She ends up in a ski resort with no money and no friends. After some reckless mistakes, she tries to make a relationship work with a decent, but troubled, young man. This first-time feature, written and directed by Cate Shortland, was inspired by her experiences working in a school for emotionally disturbed children.
In a making-of documentary, a producer says the film is about a girl “testing the boundaries of adolescence.” Shortland explains that her style is influenced by still photographers, like Nan Goldin, and that she used the color red to create a rhythm in an otherwise cool color scheme. In a too-technical interview with the cinematographer, he explains his use of hand-held cameras, to be more “reactive” to the actors and give them freedom to move at will. Shortland comments on several deleted scenes, including one that shows Heidi’s creativity and love of found objects. Many are what she calls “set-up scenes,” which she later decided weren’t needed because the audience could figure things out for themselves. (Enhanced wide-screen, 2004, unrated but contains nudity, sex, violence and language)
– Peggy Earle
Fans of “JAG” will probably remember changes in the show early, in terms of a rotating cast of characters, a network switch and a different approach. But did you know that David James Elliott (Harmon Rabb), though fitting the mold of a pilot, had to audition four times? And can you explain why the closing episode of the inaugural season isn’t shown in syndication?
On “JAG: The First Season” (audio: ***1/2, video: ***, extras: ***), creator Donald P. Bellisario answers those questions and more on a commentary for the two-hour pilot.
The rotating cast came because NBC didn’t like Andrea Parker (Lt. Pike) in the lead female role because she wasn’t “real” enough. Belliario got back at the network by using her as a recurring character. Enter Tracey Needham (Lt. Austin).
The switch to CBS brought another change that was one reason why the season finale isn’t shown. Catherine Bell (who later played Maj./Lt. Col. MacKenzie) guest starred in it but her character was killed. A second possibility: Rabb was arrested and charged with murder, a cliffhanger that was never resolved when the second season got picked up in January by CBS.
For the production fans, Bellisario answers almost every imaginable question about how the series was filmed. In short, one of the better commentaries for a TV show on DVD. (Full-screen, 1995-96, not rated but suitable for teens and up)
– L.A. Luebbert
“The Benchwarmers” (audio: ***, video: ****, extras: **1/2) has only one thing going for it. It’s the sharpest looking high-def Blu-ray (BD) disc in the formats first 30 days. With only 85-minutes of gross-out comedy, there’s plenty of room for the supercharged video, two commentaries and three short documentaries on the 25 GB disc.
Former “SNL” cronies Rob Schneider and David Spade team-up with Jon Heder “Napoleon Dynamite” fame in this mean spirited flick of nerds vs. bullies. There’s tons of nose-picking and flatulence jokes for the middle-schooler, but overall this baseball production from executive producer Adam Sandler is not family-friendly.
The commentary with director Dennis Dugan’s (“Big Daddy”) is just as juvenile, as he recalls teen actor Danny McCarthy could fart on cue and his three stars were improvising most of their lame one liners. Spade and Heder have their own commentary, but their content to mimicking their own dialog.
“Benchwarmers” is clearly a rental on BD or DVD. (HD wide-screen, 2006, PG-13 crude and suggestive humor, and for language)
– Bill Kelley III
Paramount has just released its first batch of HD-DVDs. “Sleepy Hollow,” “Sahara,” and “Lara Croft, Tomb Raider” (all: audio: ****, video: ****, extras: ****) feature great pictures and hours of features, all on one disc. “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” (audio: ****, video: ***, extras: ****) is a great presentation for its fans, but vintage-style fuzzy focus doesn’t lend itself to HD. Collectively, however, the extra effort Paramount put into making this new format the best it can be is apparent - and worth the wait.
The best surprise of the lot is Tim Burton’s “Sleepy Hollow” starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci. You have never seen this film look so good. Images are sharp without losing any of Burton’s trademark gloom. It’s like seeing the film for the first time - ever.
Extras include commentary by Burton and a goofy “Making Of” that features cast interviews and effects info announced by an old-style film announcer. Christopher Walken, compelled to play “eccentrics” such as the Headless Horseman, admits to a fear of horses. “I’ve made westerns,” he says, “But I really don’t like to get on horses. I said to them, 'I not only can’t ride a horse but I’m also sort of scared of them.’” The horses knew it, too. Find out how Walken and Burton’s crew made the role work.
“Sahara” sparkles - literally. Based on the book by Clive Cussler, it’s an action-filled romp with a cast of likeable characters played by Matthew McConaughey, Steve Zahn, William H. Macy and Penelope Cruz. The plot has to do with a lost Confederate ironclad, lost gold, plague and antique hunting oceanographers. There’s more humor than drama here, along with a score that features '70s rock, which makes it fun to watch and hear. There’s no stinting on extras either what with two commentaries, deleted scenes, storyboards, a making of, and featurettes. (Although the “Camel Chase” feature might put you off riding camels.)
We get to see Angelina Jolie in “Tomb Raider” and in a bit part in “Sky Captain.” If you tire of seeing the old “Tomb Raider” on cable, you’ll love the fresh look Angelina and crew get in HD. A full package of extras, including a U2 music video “Tomb Raider” mix, make this a must-have.
While Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow were interesting in “Sky Captain,” there’s no doubt Jolie captured every scene where she appeared as the eye-patched Capt. Franky Cook. This package contains the same excellent extras found in the Collector’s Edition DVD, including the original six minute short. Filmmakers would have liked this digitally filmed masterpiece to be more of a money maker, but filmgoers might just relax and enjoy it for the sci-fi pastiche that it is. (All: HD wide-screen. “Sleepy Hollow”: R for graphic horror violence and gore, and for a scene of sexuality, 1999. “Sahara”: PG-13 for action violence, 2005. “Lara Croft, Tomb Raider”: PG-13 for action violence and some sensuality, 2001. “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”: PG for sequences of stylized sci-fi violence and brief mild language, 2004 )
– Kay Reynolds
Steven Spielberg’s transition from movies with top-notch special effects to animation started with “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” but his television efforts took off with “Tiny Toons,” which mimicked classic Warner Bros. animation.
That said, “Animaniacs: Volume 1” (audio: ***1/2, video: ***, extras: *) was his first knowingly retro effort. The history of the creatures is outlined in the early intros. The creatures were supposedly designed by animators in the heyday of animation and were collectively called the Warner Brothers (Yakko and Wakko) and their sister, Dot. But they caused so much trouble when they were on the loose that they were pent up in the WB water tower for decades.
Though some of its humor is datable (references to President Clinton and Boris Yeltsin) and Yakko’s noted geographical song is outdated, this collection includes the Peabody Award-winning first season and introduces viewers to such friends as Pinky and the Brain (lab mice who went on to their own show a couple years later), Slappy the Squirrel and others. More subtle humor is suitable to children and adults, such as where the Animaniacs guide Einstein in finding the theory of relativity (a reference to the WB’s old-time Acme company) and helpling Picasso launch a new art style.
The only extra has Maurice LaMarche (voice of the Brain) interviewing those who voiced the Animaniacs and Slappy where they’ll recount their work with the series. The interviews are mostly reminiscent with a few informational nuggets buried in there. (Full-screen, 1993-94, not rated but family suitable)
– L.A. Luebbert
Parents, do not buy this DVD for your young kids. Even if they love the episodes from the three DVD sets featuring the early 90s cult-hit duo, this is not the same!
“Ren and Stimpy: The Lost Episodes” (audio: ***, video: ***1/2, extras: ***) contains six of the 20-something episodes requested by viewers and pitched in the early 90s, only to be rejected because of their vile, crude nature. However, if you grew up watching Ren and Stimpy and have now blossomed into a mature, respectable young-adult (unlikely) you will love this DVD. The six episodes nestled into this collection very much like the original episodes that warped your mind 15-years ago, except about 50 times more gross, and laced with animated nudity and genuine, honest-to-goodness profanity. The very nature of these episodes alone will feed your ravenous id over and over again.
The producers of the DVD were also sweet enough to include extras just for you. Each episode begins with nice introduction from one of the animators or Mike K (the creator). There are also some storyboard and comparison related extras, but you aren’t going to watch them. For Ren and Stimpy fans, this is a real treat. (Full-screen, 2003, not rated)
– Brian V. Shapiro
Asian horror films have become a genre of their own and Tartan’s Asia Extreme DVD line brings new overseas imports to fans every month.
“Cello” (audio: ***, video: **1/2, extras: **) is the work of first time writer/director Woo-cheol Lee. He does a good job of making his debut feature different from the often redundant Asian horror niche. The film is about a brilliant cellist who survives a car accident that kills her best friend. The accident sends her life off course and she gives up her cello career and becomes a music professor. Soon a former student with a grudge is trying to run her over in her car, her family starts acting strange, and their weird housekeeper tries to kill herself by swallowing acid. Needless to say, something supernatural is involved. A classy production.
The DVD features a commentary by Lee and producer Sung Do Park. Unfortunately, unless you can speak Korean there’s no reason to listen to it. There’s no subtitles for the commentary. I’m not even sure what the point was including it on the disc. Also included is a brief Q&A with the cast and crew. (Enhanced wide-screen, 2005, not rated)
– Josh Boone
A quote from Patrick McGoohan explains why his paradigm-shifting series continues to baffle viewers nearly four decades after it first perplexed them:
“I suppose that ('The Prisoner’) is the sort of thing where a thousand people might have a different interpretation of it ... that was the intention.”
Thank goodness “The Prisoner: 40th Anniversary Collector’s Edition” (audio: ***, video: ***, extras: **) doesn’t clear up its mysteries. In fact, the producers stoke the fires by raising a debate on each of the 17 episodes those questions whether some aired originally in the proper order!
This much is certain:
1) Number Six (star/creator McGoohan) has been abducted from his London home and taken to The Village, where people with grave intentions are determined to find out why he resigned from a top-secret position.
2) A product of its times, the British series - collected on 10 discs - makes a solid argument that the States didn’t corner the market on paranoia.
Extras include a two-part interview with production manager Bernie Williams, who talks about trying to prepare a series without a script - “It was developing in Patrick’s mind” - and working with McGoohan, a loner who was not interested in idle chatter.
Rounding out the extras are a video companion, an interactive map of The Village, archival footage, stills, trailers, a trivia game and a guide to the series that may - or may not - be helpful. Love it. (Full-screen, 1968-69 in the United States, unrated)
– Craig Shapiro
When a movie never opens in theaters and its running time clocks in at a measly 83 minutes (77 if you cut skip the credits), you have to assume there’s something rotten in Denmark.
“Grilled” (audio: ***, video: ***, extras: *) stars TV’s Ray Ramono and Kevin James as meat salesmen, yep, that’s right, who get caught up in a dispute between a parade of whacky criminals played by Burt Reynolds, Michael Rapaport, and Juliette Lewis. This movie desperately wants to emulate Elmore Leonard movies like “Out of Sight” and “Get Shorty” but is so poorly written and its characters so thin that it comes off like... A straight to DVD movie that people should avoid. Included on the DVD are deleted scenes, which would have padded the running time if they weren’t pointless and two featurettes.
Skip it. (Enhanced wide-screen, 2006, R for language, some sexual references and a scene of violence)
– Josh Boone
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