DVD Round Up

By: Kevin Filipski

Thursday February 15, 2007

February DVD releases
The Architect (Genius) - This low-key character study concerns an architect whose mid-life crisis involves his gay teenage son, nubile teenage daughter, unhappy wife and an activist who wants to tear down the tenement apartments he designed early in his career. Although there is much good observation, the main problem is that these people's stories lean too heavily toward obvious melodramatics. The cast, headed by Anthony LaPaglia (architect) and Viola Davis (activist), is mostly good-with the glaring exception of the always-weak Isabella Rossellini (wife)-but 80 minutes are not enough to explore every strand that co-writer-director Matt Tauber wants to. Extras: deleted scenes, interviews, Tauber's commentary.

Catch a Fire (Universal) - The complaint that films about apartheid never focus exclusively on the oppressed blacks ring hollow: after all, good drama is about conflict, and who's a better villain that one of Botha's minions doing the government's racist bidding? Even so, Catch a Fire never really, um, catches fire, although it's graced with two excellent lead actors-Derek Luke as Patrick Chamusso, who becomes a anti-apartheid freedom fighter/terrorist, and Tim Robbins as the police chief who becomes his biggest obstacle. Director Philip Noyce, who's never afraid of handling politically dicey material (The Quiet American, Rabbit-Proof Fence), has made a sturdy, respectable drama that unfortunately never soars above its genre. Extras: deleted scenes; an excellent commentary track (Noyce is always listenable, the other actors have much to say, and the real Patrick Chamusso discusses events with candor).

Employee of the Month (Lions Gate) - Dane Cook, Dax Shepard, Andy Dick and Jessica Simpson aren't the leading lights of American cinematic thespians, so it's unsurprising that Employee of the Month is a forgettable comedy. Still, it's not unwatchably bad, even if Simpson always seems to be looking at cue cards before she speaks (which isn't often, thankfully). Cook has a laidback comedic persona that works well considering the lame material, but Shepard and Dick are wasted. Extras: Cook and co-writer/director Greg Coolidge commentary, featurettes.

The Guardian (Buena Vista) - Kevin Costner and Ashton Kushner make a surprisingly good team in The Guardian, which has exciting action moments on the water, which benefits a movie about Coast Guard rescuers directed by The Fugitive's Andrew Davis. Unfortunately, by stretching it out to an unpalatable 135 minutes, Davis loses momentum and stumbles to a foolish and silly ending. The spectacular stunts are the rightful focus of the extras, including behind-the-scenes interviews with Davis, cast, crew and technical advisors, and an alternate ending that's a real hoot, since it's simultaneously worse than and not as far-fetched as the actual ending.

Hollywoodland (Universal) - This fictionalized dramatization of the life and death of George Reeves, who shot to quick fame (and an even quicker fade-out) as TV's "Superman" is a notable exploration of a Hollywood death shrouded in mystery. Too bad its framing device-Adrien Brody's private investigator looking into Reeves' killing-is superficially handled. The milieu of 1950's Hollywood is right, and the perfectly-pitched performances by Brody, Bob Hoskins, Diane Lane, and Ben Affleck as Reeves keep things interesting even when the material starts to falter. Extras: director Allen Coulter's commentary, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes featurettes.

Idiocracy (Fox) - Mike Judge's latest was deemed unreleasable by Fox, so it was dumped directly onto DVD. Although no lost classic, this satire about where we are headed as both a nation and species (into the toilet) has its moments of hilarity, mostly parodies of TV, movies and big corporations. Judging by Beavis and Butthead, King of the Hill, Office Space and now Idiocracy, Judge is content to make obvious jokes, but at least he tries, and Idiocracy-painfully uneven as it is-laudably attempts to laugh its way out of an increasingly tragic situation. Extras: deleted scenes (you didn't think Fox would allow Judge to speak about his film, did you?).

Infamous (WHV) - Douglas McGrath's Truman Capote biopic had the misfortune of being made at the same time as Capote, which won Phillip Seymour Hoffman a Best Actor Oscar last year. So Infamous was pushed back, then dumped into the marketplace, where it quickly disappeared. Too bad: Infamous is far more entertaining than Capote. McGrath's fleet writing easily shifts between the frivolous New York cocktail scene and the grim Kansas "In Cold Blood" murder site. Toby Jones is a dead ringer physically as Capote, but his portrayal always seems less like Hoffman's impersonation and more a true characterization. The strong supporting cast includes Sigourney Weaver, Peter Bogdanovich, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis and a delicious turn by Sandra Bullock as novelist Harper Lee. Lone extra: McGrath's commentary.

Mutual Appreciation (Home Vision) - Wherein the most obnoxious aspects of independent filmmaking come to the fore for a nearly unwatchable 105 minutes: grainy B&W photography, annoyingly inarticulate characters with the boring inability to do anything with their lives, and several scenes where the movie simply stops dead as unskilled actors improvise their dialogue in stultifying fashion. How this monstrosity from writer-director-editor-actor Andrew Bujalski got such rave reviews from reputable critics is beyond me - but I'm not surprised. Extras: a Bujalski short film, a "stunt" commentary by parents of the cast and crew.

The Night Listener (Buena Vista) - This Armistead Maupin story-based on an event that actually happened to the writer-is barely enough for a feature-length film, so we get 81 minutes of creepily effective atmospherics posing as an actual movie. Robin Williams is a disk jockey fooled into believing that a dying young boy is contacting him; the convoluted plot actually has twists easily divined long before they happen. I'm no fan of Toni Collette or Sandra Oh, but neither does much dramatic damage. Extras: brief interviews with Maupin, screenwriter Terry Anderson and director Patrick Stettner, who also introduces one deleted scene of no special import.

The Quiet (Sony) - Persuasively acted by a top-notch cast, The Quiet is that rare Hollywood film dealing with sexual issues in a non-exploitative way, placing them in the context of its characters' myriad emotional problems (including the usually unmentionable incest). Unusually for a movie about high-school kids, The Quiet is serious and thoughtful, if at times a bit too cavalier about its various couplings. Still, with quietly forceful performances from young stars like Elisha Cuthbert and Camilla Belle and veterans like Martin Donovan and Edie Falco, Jamie Babbit's film is well worth seeing. Extras: several making-of featurettes.

Rocky Balboa (Sony) - Sly's sixth go-round shrewdly harkens back to the original, uncynical Rocky: the has-been boxer is again a washed-up nobody, and the movie's first half, which utilizes the grimy charms of Philadelphia to its advantage, is perfectly enjoyable. Then Stallone has to go and find the most implausible machinations to get his beloved character back into the ring, and the final 45 minutes are well-filmed but boring boxing footage. Oh well. At least as writer-director, Stallone has a sense of humor, also allowing his characters small moments of dignity, shocking considering that this is the same man who made Rocky II through V. Extras: Stallone audio commentary, deleted scenes, alternate ending, behind-the-scenes featurettes, gag reel.

Running with Scissors (Sony) - Another irritating would-be comic exploration of crazy but oh-so-lovable American families, Running with Scissors is based on Augusten Burroughs' memoir (which seems as phony and made-up as James Frey's "Million Little Pieces"). As written and directed by Ryan Murphy, Running with Scissors contains the most unlikely characters in many a moon, and Murphy has encouraged his actors to overdo it, which ruins what would otherwise be an engaging if not especially memorable comedy. Only Annette Bening and Evan Rachel Wood escape unscathed. Extras: featurettes on Burroughs, the actors and sets.

School for Scoundrels (Weinstein/Genius) - Billy Bob Thornton, on the evidence of The Bad News Bears, Bad Santa and this, lays claim to being the reigning king of intentionally stupid comedies. At least he has more natural comedic talent than pretenders like Ben Stiller, the Wilson brothers and Will Farrell. In School for Scoundrels, Thornton etches another sleazy comic portrait in his gallery of hilariously shady slimeballs as the teacher of a self-esteem class for losers. It's hit-and-miss, but the hits are gutbusters; able support comes from Jon Heder, Sarah Silverman and Jacinda Barrett. (But not Ben Stiller, who again is obnoxiously unfunny in a happily small role.) Extras: writer/director commentary, alternate ending, making-of featurette.

The Science of Sleep (WHV) - To some, Michel Gondry's flights of fancy make for mind-blowing cinema; to others, his movies merely blow. Even Gondry's two Charlie Kaufman-penned disasters, Human Nature and the eternally overrated Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, were models of decorum compared to this unapologetic lunacy; Gondry's script and direction throw in everything including the kitchen sink, and the messy result mutes any sympathy toward his ordinary protagonists, who after all have a love story to enact. There are certain cute visual effects, but Gael Garcia Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbourg (he's Stephane, she's Stephanie-the height of Gondry's wit) are essentially boring actors who can't carry such an ambitious project. Extras: Gondry and actors' commentary, behind-the-scene featurettes, interviews.

Sherrybaby (Thinkfilm) - Maggie Gyllenhall had quite a 2006: she was the emotional center of two New York-based Sept. 11 films, World Trade Center and The Great New Wonderful, and she gives a sterling portrayal of a young mother and former addict who tries rebuilding her life after being released from prison. Unfortunately for Maggie, Laurie Collyer's film is uncomfortably close to such prime-time soap operas as those Lifetime movies, and so shortchanges its star's riveting and thoroughly believable transformation into this woman no one believes in. No extras.

Stranger than Fiction (Sony) - As big-budget, star-laden movies go, Stranger than Fiction is not too imbecile; any movie referencing Pirandello and Greek tragedy automatically earns points for intelligence. But screenwriter Zach Helm finally does nothing substantial with this meaty material, and the result is faux-Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich-lite). Director Marc Forster can't transcend Helm's wafer-thin cleverness with any substantial visual imagination, and must rely on a capable cast (even Will Farrell!) to carry this cliched life-vs.-art, comedy-vs.-tragedy drama to its petered-out conclusion. Farrell was also in Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda, a superior exploration of a similar theme. Extras: deleted scenes, gag reel, featurettes.

Trust the Man (Fox) - Writer/director Bart Freundlich tries crafting a mature comic look at relationships set in Manhattan, but he's no Woody Allen. So Trust the Man remains a fuzzy romantic comedy that repeatedly fizzles, right until its "happy" copout ending. It's unfortunate, because Freundlich's dialogue has plenty of snap, he has chosen good locations, and his cast is up to the task. But Julianne Moore (his wife), Maggie Gyllenhall (again), David Duchovny and Billy Crudup can't overcome essentially second-rate material. Extras: Freundlich/Duchovny commentary, making-of featurette, deleted scenes.