How to Spend $20 This Week
By Zach Kolkin
July 20, 2004
Editor's note: Les Winan is on vacation, so we will have guest writers the next couple of weeks.
Taking a look ahead at the week's DVD releases is always dicey for your wallet. Nearly every week, there's a disc that would fit nicely into any size collection. When it comes time to decide what to buy, there are really two determining factors: how much you love the content and the quality of the extra features on the disc.
As a result, decisions will be totally subjective (While I try to limit my DVD purchases with a “Stick to the Special Editions” mantra, those $10 DVD racks by the cash registers at Best Buy always seem to be calling my name). The massive unreleased studio (film and television) back-catalogue means that every week there's likely something for every film fan. So before you think to yourself, "I can’t begin to fathom the rationale of any movie producer who is still willing to give Steven Seagal a paycheck, but I’ll watch Out of Reach more than once!" stop; ask yourself, "Why!?" and then check to see if Out of Reach (or your disc of choice) is one of the weekly BOP DVD recommendations.
For proof that, for movies, unlike dogs, pedigree means nothing: The Human Stain (2003)
Nine months later, I’m still trying to figure out how this movie sucked so much. The novel that the film is based on was written by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and the book itself won the prestigious PEN/Faulkner Award. The director won two Oscars for his work on Kramer vs. Kramer. The actors who fill the film’s four major roles have been nominated for a combined 11 Academy Awards. Hell, the screenplay was even written by the guy who did all the even-numbered Star Trek films (which any Trekkie will tell you are superior to their odd-numbered companions). All this lineage (especially the Star Trek stuff) clearly spells potential Oscar-winner. Alas, it was simply not meant to be. Nicole Kidman got far more attention for her work in Cold Mountain, and Anthony Hopkins continued his disturbing trend of turning in disappointing performances in films not involving cannibals. Given the picture’s more-than-lackluster reception among moviegoers, Miramax chose to cut their losses and release this as an entirely featureless DVD (although I’m still holding out hope for that ultimate Bonus Feature known as “Interactive Menus and Scene Selection”).
For a look at Rio even more real than City of God: Bus 174 (2003)
In the summer of 2000, a public bus full of passengers was taken hostage by a young man, armed with a gun, who threatened to kill everyone on board. The crisis was almost immediately picked up on by the Brazillian TV networks, who broadcast the incident up until its tragic conclusion. The documentary was heaped with praise upon release last year; its 100% Rotten Tomatoes score obviously puts it in the company of an extremely select few. Despite the explosion of documentaries into the collective consciousness of average moviegoers nationwide last year, this picture still managed to fly under the radar of many. With the surprising success of City of God, however, Bus 174 will certainly get another chance to shine on DVD. In addition to a widescreen presentation of the film, the disc features audio commentaries, deleted scenes, and a making-of featurette entitled (surprise, surprise) “The Making of Bus 174”. At the very least, this documentary is certainly worth renting from the local video store – you really can’t argue with a perfect RT score.
For 14-year-old girls…and sketchy old men: Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004)
Back in the good old days of February, before Lindsay Lohan’s chest was the biggest (no pun intended) bit of sleazy celebrity gossip since Paris Hilton’s sex tape, Lohan appeared in this bust of a movie about a teen girl named Lola whose family moves from Manhattan to suburban New Jersey. Upon arriving at her new high school, she immediately comes into conflict with Carla, the most popular (not to mention nastiest) girl there, and the two compete over everything from the lead role in the school play to tickets to a super-cool British band’s final show, conveniently being held in nearby NYC. If you haven’t figured out how this one ends yet, you most likely have never seen a movie before in your life. In addition to full and widescreen versions of the movie, the DVD features a conspicuously Lohan-less commentary by the director, writer, and producers, deleted scenes, and, ohmygod, like, a music video by Lindsay that is, like, soooo cool!
For those who remember when it wasn’t cool to watch cable TV series: La Femme Nikita: The Complete Second Season (6-DVD Set) (1998)
It really is funny what a few years can do to change one’s perspective. Back in the '90s, when the options on cable were this, Silk Stockings, and Columbo, if you had told someone that you preferred the “edginess” of cable shows to their network counterparts, they would have assumed you were talking about late-night Cinemax. In any case, for those who don’t remember, La Femme Nikita was a series based on a French movie of the same name, detailing the adventures of Nikita, a female spy who could not only kick your ass, but also do it in heels (a poor man’s “Alias”, if you will). The show lasted for four-and-a-half seasons, and to get an idea of how well-regarded this show is, one need only examine its history in reruns: after first airing at 1 AM on Saturdays on the Oxygen Channel, it was recently yanked from that primo position and is currently off the air. Thankfully, though, this DVD set can now fill that unjust void, with all 22 episodes from the second season, plus a number of bonus features.
UPDATE: While this disc was, up until this past week, scheduled to be released on July 20th, it was reported several days ago that the set has been postponed indefinitely due to “unforeseen circumstances”. Sorry to all twelve of you LFN fans whose hopes I dashed.
For filling the void until Dodgeball comes out on DVD: Starsky & Hutch (Widescreen) (2004)
I have to admit that I thought this movie pretty damn funny. Maybe it wasn’t quite as good as Old School, but as one of Ben Stiller’s few remaining devoted fans, particularly in his partnerships with Owen Wilson, I certainly found the film entertaining. Then there’s Vince Vaughn, who, to paraphrase one of my BOP colleagues, would be funny reading the phone book. If that wasn’t enough, there’s even an MTV Movie Award-winning moment between Carmen Electra and Amy Smart. Clearly, Starsky & Hutch has a lot going for it. The DVD provides a reasonable amount of extras, starting with a commentary from director Todd Phillips, he of Old School and Road Trip fame. There’s also “Fashion Fa Shizzle Wit Huggy Bizzle”, which I trust needs no further explanation, some deleted scenes, some outtakes, and, last but certainly not least, an Easter Egg involving Vince Vaughn and Brady Brunch trivia. Come on, what’s not to love?!
For blurring the line between news and entertainment: K Street: The Complete Series (2-DVD Set) (2003)
Named after the street in Washington, D.C. where the city’s top lobbying and consulting firms are all located, K Street was an engrossing show in numerous respects. For starters, there was the concept: Producers George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh were determined to create the timeliest television series in history. They did this by writing, shooting, and editing each episode literally days before it was set to air, taking full advantage of digital video cameras and editing software. Consequently, each show literally seemed like it could have been a behind-the-scenes documentary, rather than a work of fiction. Further blurring the line behind fact and fiction was the cast, which featured both real-life D.C. insiders like James Carville and Mary Matalin playing themselves and respected actors like John Slattery and Mary McCormack playing fictitious characters – not to mention a score of politicians making cameos.
The initial sign that this show was not going to be like any other occurred in the first episode, which featured Carville advising Howard Dean on his upcoming Democratic presidential candidate debate. Dean asks Carville if he can get away with using scripted jokes during the debate. Carville responds in the affirmative, and proceeds to feed Dean a joke about Trent Lott: in response to a question regarding whether or not the fact that Vermont’s population is almost exclusively Caucasian will affect his ability to relate to African-American voters, Carville suggests that Dean reply that “if the percentage of his constituency that was composed of a minority determined a politician's ability to relate to that minority, then Trent Lott would be Martin Luther King, Jr.” Soon after, we see Carville and Matalin watching the debate, where Dean does indeed use the Lott joke, much to Matalin’s dismay. This certainly makes for a cute moment in the show, but here’s the kicker: the footage being shown is from the actual debate, which occurred after the filming of “K Street”. So who came up with the joke? Did Dean really get it from Carville? Or did he give it to Carville to use in the script, already planning on using it? It’s impossible to know. In any event, the shock of seeing such a moment being planned on a fictional television show, just days after watching the seemingly unscripted moment actually occur on live TV, was intense.
Granted, the show isn’t for everyone; the bigger a political junkie you are, the bigger a kick you’ll get out of it. The series’ style is very much in the vein of the “fly on the wall” Washington party scenes in Soderbergh’s earlier work, Traffic. The show certainly doesn’t make any attempt to appeal to the masses, either; if you thought the dialogue on Sorkin-era West Wing could be cryptic, you ain’t seen nothing yet. However, if an insider look at Washington politics sounds right up your alley, you absolutely need to check the show out. The one downside to the set is its lack of special features; although the absence of any type of making-of documentary is understandable given the rush in producing each episode, some commentaries from either Carville and Matalin or Soderbergh and Clooney would undoubtedly have been fascinating. Nevertheless, the uniqueness of the series, plus its sub-$20 price, makes this my personal choice for DVD Pick of the Week.
July 20, 2004
Air America (Special Edition) (1990)
All in the Family: The Complete Third Season (3-DVD Set) (1973)
Barbershop Blues (2003)
Beyond Hypothermia (1996)
The Big Bounce (Full Frame) (2004)
The Big Bounce (Widescreen) (2004)
Boomtown: Season One (5-DVD Set) (2002)
Broken Wings (2002)
Bus 174 (2003)
Castle Keep (1969)
Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004)
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004)
Early Summer (Criterion Edition) (1951)
The Goodbye Girl (2004)
Hands of a Murderer (1995)
The Human Stain (2003)
K Street: The Complete Series (2-DVD Set) (2003)
La Femme Nikita: The Complete Second Season (6-DVD Set) (1998)
The Lion in Winter (2003)
Millennium: The Complete First Season (6-DVD Set) (1996)
Miss Lettie and Me (2002)
Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids (2003)
Out of Reach (2004)
People I Know (2003)
Port of Shadows (Criterion Edition) (1938)
Pulse (2003)
Revengers Tragedy (2002)
Sealab 2021: Season One (2-DVD Set) (2000)
Seaside (2003)
Soap: The Complete Second Season (3-DVD Set) (1978)
Starsky and Hutch (Full Frame) (2004)
Starsky and Hutch (Widescreen) (2004)
Starsky & Hutch: The Complete Second Season (5-DVD Set) (1976)
Stellaluna (2004)
An Unfinished Piece for a Player Piano (1977)
The Vector File (2002)
Word of Honor (2003)
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