BODY DOUBLE and SCARFACE - Brian De Palma's recent "The Black Dahlia" proved a non-entity in theatres, but you have to remember that back in 1983, a similar fate befell what may be his most beloved film, "Scarface." Al Pacino's outrageous, commanding performance as Cuban cocaine kingpin Tony Montana didn't bolster his flagging career in the way "Sea of Love" did in 1989, and De Palma crawled back to his Hitchcock infatuation for his next movie, the erotic thriller "Body Double." I need not say anything about the Oliver-Stone scripted remake of Howard Hawks' gangland classic from the 1930s other than it's the epic story of one man's insatiable desire for money, power and a mountain of llelo. The "Platinum Edition" package makes two changes to the previous "Anniversary Edition" DVD from last year: it provides a newly, re-mastered soundtrack with deeper bass and more forceful sound effects and also drops the "Origins of a Hip-Hop Classic" puff piece for a "Origins of a Video Game" puff piece. "Body Double," on the other hand, is a lurid, manipulative tale of a voyeuristic actor (Craig Wasson), implicated in a murder plot that can only be cleared with the help of a porn star named Holly Body, played by Melanie Griffith in an early role that outweighs Michelle Pfeiffer's turn in "Scarface." It's seriously trashy and just as chintzy as the transcendent "Scarface" (look for a cameo by the band that said "Relax," Frankie Goes to Hollywood), but is perhaps the director's most brash, provoking film to date. The new special edition of "Body Double" contains an hour-long making of documentary featuring new interviews with De Palma, Griffith and fellow actors Gregg Henry, Deborah Shelton & Dennis Franz.
EDMOND - David Mamet wrote "Edmond" way back in 1982, before there was "The Untouchables," "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "Spartan." And in playing a married, middle-age milquetoast on a personal journey laced with murder and misogyny, you'd believe William H. Macy was born to play the titular character. Time was not, unfortunately, on the side of "Edmond," and only now, after over two decades, does Mamet's infamous play come to cinematic fruition. Edmond leaves his wife one evening out of boredom and decides to hit the streets of a Los Angeles by way of 1970s-era New York City, where there's a brothel, strip club or peep show around every corner. Edmond's simmering racial and sexual hang-ups come to full boil in the course of the night, and he ends up imprisoned for the murder of a naive, neurotic waitress (Julia Stiles). Though the outstanding Macy headlines a strong supporting cast (which also includes Joe Montegna, Bokeem Woodbine and Mena Suvari), and Mamet's dialogue is more raw and unfiltered than most adaptations, it doesn't really linger in the mind as well as it should, despite the efforts of Stuart Gordon, best known for 1985's "Re-Animator," but once staged the Chicago premiere of a Mamet play in the mid-1970s. As far as compelling character studies go, "Edmond" comes off less like "Taxi Driver" and more like "Falling Down." Extras include a full-length commentary with Gordon and the producers, a more scene-specific (and by that, I mean highly scattered) commentary track by Mamet, both of which mildly enhanced my appreciation for the movie.
THE LITTLE MERMAID - Along with the subversive "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" from the previous year, 1989's "The Little Mermaid" brought clout back to Disney's animation studio by means of quality animation and a charming story. And who hasn't caught themselves humming "Under the Sea" once in their lifetime? If the answer is no, rent this movie and find out what you're missing. The fairy tale elements of vintage Disney are trotted out in this story of youthful mermaid Ariel and her deal with sea witch Ursula made in the hopes of winning the love of a prince. If the love story ends up feeling a bit too slight, something which would be improved with the succeeding "Beauty and the Beast," the side characters such as Flounder and Sebastian the singing crab deliver much more fun than the stock characters in any handful of Disney animated fables from the previous two years. It's a shame most traditionally animated family films now aren't as charming as this. The Platinum Edition two-disc set restores the superb cell-based animation to full whimsy and offers plenty of substantial special features detailing the making of the movie that rescued a drowning giant.
THE MALTESE FALCON - The greatest noir movie in history, adapted from the writings of Dashiell Hammett, incorporating a style pioneered in German Expressionist cinema and featuring Humphrey Bogart in arguably his greatest performance (that's right, better than "Casablanca") as Sam Spade, a hard-boiled gumshoe who takes the case of a beautiful young dame (Mary Astor) only to be buried knee deep in subterfuge over a jewel-encrusted falcon statue. The dialogue is pulp fiction of the highest order, the kind of rhythmic, sharp cool that is always imitated but never perfected. John Huston made an outstanding directorial debut, working wonders with not only the great Bogart, whose tough guy detective would be emulated by many, but also character actors Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. "The African Queen" would be unleashed later and win Bogart an Oscar, but if you must begin with Bogart's best, then here's looking at "The Maltese Falcon," kid. It crackles and pops like a thousand miles of burning gunpowder. Warner Bros. has issued a three-disc special edition of the highest order, which begins with a first-rate audio commentary from Bogey biographer Eric Lax, vintage newsreel footage from the movie's premiere, the Oscar-nominated Technicolor musical short "The Gay Parisian," original trailers, and a pair of Looney Tunes cartoon tributes. The second disc contains an earlier remake from 1931, ten years before Huston's version, as well as the Bette Davis-starring "Satan Met a Lady," both of which serve more as curiosities than essential viewing. Finally, the third disc contains a half-hour documentary, a classic blooper reel, an AMC-aired Bogart retrospective centered around the trailers for his movies, and a trio of radio adaptations, one of which stars a young Edward G. Robinson. Get wise, get "The Maltese Falcon" on DVD or bust.
SOUTH PARK: THE HITS, VOLUME ONE - I'm not a big fan of cash cow DVDs for any series from "Friends" to "The Simpsons," but with this particular package, I will make an exception. Trey Parker and Matt Stone's mocking, often repulsive but always hilarious cartoon series is one which deserves to have its own "best-of" compilation, as the season sets prove to be rather spotty and more for acquired tastes. So the duo simply slapped ten of their personal favorites on this two-DVD package and recorded new "mini-commentaries" for all of them, tagging on the predating short "The Spirit of Christmas" (Jesus vs. Santa!) and a quartet of bonus episodes for good measure. Damned if all fourteen selected episodes don't represent the show at its most spot-on in terms of celebrity satire (the infamous "Trapped in the Closet"), social commentary ("Red Hot Catholic Love") and crude humor (every episode in this set). Cartman is at his most duplicitous and hilarious here, with "Casa Bonita," "Scott Tenorman Must Die" and "Fat Butt and Pancake Head," where he lampoons a certain singer/actor/diva with mercilessly stereotypical gusto. There's also "It Hits the Fan," a self-referential dig at taboo-pushing cable TV, "Towelie," "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers," and "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset," which comes with a commentary track wherein Parker flat-out calls Paris Hilton "a dumb bitch." I loved every inch of this.
THANK YOU FOR SMOKING - Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is the tobacco industry's guardian angel, a man who blows smoke and mirrors to a damning public. Telling the media that cigarettes are an extension of freedom, he has a gift of gab mere mortals can only dream of attaining. However, he also has moral responsibilities towards his precocious son (Cameron Bright, also in "X-Men: The Last Stand") and manages to get himself in deep trouble with both a crusading senator from Vermont (William H. Macy, once again awesome) and an attractive, conniving journalist (Katie Holmes). Adapted from the best-selling novel by Christopher Buckley by first-time filmmaker Jason Reitman (the son of "Ghostbusters" director Ivan Reitman), "Thank You for Smoking" wants to be both wicked satire and sentimental story at the same time, walking the same fine line as recent slapstick comedies like "Wedding Crashers" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." Eckhart puts on a devilish smile that is hard not to adore and gets the lion's share of the best dialogue, with Rob Lowe and Adam Brody getting some meager, if juicy table scraps. The cast is essentially a pedigree group of character actors (Maria Bello, David Koechner, J.K. Simmons, Sam Elliott), but some of them register with little success, particularly Holmes and Robert Duvall, who chews up the scenery like the rest of the cast, but then gets shuffled off just in time for the big reconciliation between father and son. I recommend this movie for its excellent cast and Reitman's assured comedic timing, but the satire here is the equivalent of a pack of ultra lights. Reitman contributes a solo commentary track as well as one with Eckhart and Koechner, but the most flavorful extra is a segment taken from "The Charlie Rose Show" with Reitman and Eckhart joined by writer Buckley, who helps discuss the translation of his novel into movie.
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND - The second-highest-grossing film of the summer of 2006 is also one of the year's most disappointing blockbusters. When Bryan Singer pulled out of the project to helm the far superior "Superman Returns," Brett Ratner was hired to crank out this third and final (not counting any spin-offs) installment in the Marvel-produced franchise that peaked with the second film. Given the results, you feel as if Ratner was stuck in "Rush Hour" all over again. The returning X-Men, which includes Wolverine (Hugh Jackman, the film's primary saving grace), Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Storm (Halle Berry, unwisely given more of nothing to do), are once again pitted against Magneto (Sir Ian McKellen), who has found the ultimate weapon to aid his megalomaniacal war against everyone else in the form of a re-animated Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), now known as the Phoenix. The movie is directed and scripted with an apparent slackness that robs certain key dramatic scenes of all genuine emotion, focusing mainly on the action sequences, which aren't all that thrilling in themselves. The most cardinal error is how Ratner and the writers try to juggle multiple story threads involving new characters and old, which flattens the appeal of characters like Rogue (Anna Paquin), Angel (Ben Foster) and Kitty Pryde, played by Ellen Page, the breakout star of "Hard Candy." That particular movie is cheaper to buy and more worth the investment than both the standard-issue "X3" DVD (with crew-centered audio commentaries and deleted scenes) or the deluxe collector's edition (which comes with a comic book to lure geeks better off acquiring the real deal by itself).
Also on DVD:
THE GLASS HOUSE 2
LEWIS BLACK: RED, WHITE AND SCREWED
LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS (Unrated Edition)
MEDIUM: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON
POINT BREAK ("Pure Adrenaline Edition")
THE WOODS
Reach the reporter at: john.l.bishop@asu.edu.
