DVD Review: Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins - Success Versus the Importance of Family Life Played for Laughs

Released last month on DVD, Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, starring Martin Lawrence, is a surprisingly enjoyable and laugh-filled comedy that should find some fans in the post-release market. I sound surprised because I'm not generally a fan of Lawrence's over-the-top humor. Watching his sitcom was like running nails down a chalkboard for me, perhaps because a little of him goes a long way. Here he shares the screen with an astounding cast of actors and comedians, mitigating the amount of screen time he gets, to the benefit of the movie. Credit director Malcolm D. Lee (The Best Man) for approaching the material with a lighter touch than usual, never allowing the gags to shine at the expense of the central story.

Dr. R.J. Stevens is living the life he's always dreamed of. He has a successful morning talk show, and is about to get married to the sexy, competitive Bianca Kittles (Joy Bryant), winner of the most recent Survivor. Never mind that his young son Jamaal (Damani Roberts) has never met his extended family, living in rural Georgia. Stevens decides to visit them, timing it to coincide with his parents' fiftieth wedding anniversary, and a family reunion. The hilarity starts once we realize that R.J., a proponent of the "Team of Me" philosophy he created, turned his back on his life as Roscoe Jenkins, Jr., to escape being picked on by his large, raucous family.

An accomplished cast fills out those roles. James Earl Jones (Clear and Present Danger) and Margaret Avery (The Color Purple) play Papa and Mamma Jenkins. R.J.'s siblings are played by Mo'Nique (The Parkers), Mike Epps (Next Friday), and Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile). Cedric the Entertainer (Barbershop) plays his lifelong rival, cousin Clyde. And Nicole Ari Parker (Soul Food) plays former prom queen, Lucinda, the object of Clyde and R.J.'s rivalry. Epps, a great mimic, ad-libs a lot, imitating cartoon character Boo-Boo the Bear to compare R.J.'s multi-colored pants to a picnic cloth. Mo'Nique, demonstrating her disdain for his fame-seeking girlfriend, always comes up with a different name to call her; Binaka, Blanca... anything but Bianca. Jones, Avery, and Parker anchor the story emotionally, never letting the hijinks take over the movie.

I should stop here to single out Duncan's performance. As Sheriff Otis Jenkins, he manages to balance the humor with a more down-to-earth sensibility. Whether quickly reacting to Mo'Nique's hijacking of the podium at the anniversary party with a round of applause to drown her out, or blocking Cedric from interrupting a family moment between R.J. and his parents, Duncan is adept at shifting between comedy and sentimentality with equal aplomb.

Director Lee continues to make small films that capture the African-American experience without feeling the need to tread into politically sensitive areas, or give in to comedic stereotypes. As in his last film, Roll Bounce, he instead focuses on a small microcosm of middle-class black life. In that one, it was seventies-era roller disco culture, and in this one, it is the dichotomy of the African-American professional with the rural upbringing. Lawrence is never quite believable as even a pop psychologist. But if you ignore the particular profession, and just see him as someone who "made it," then it is easy to enjoy the film. At the heart of Lee's film is the conflict that R.J. feels in trying to fit in to society, providing the life he never had to his child, without denying his roots.

Whether played for laughs or not, that is something anyone can relate to.

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DVD Review: The Bank Job - Intricate Heist Thriller is Worth a Look

My DVD pick this week is this spring's sleeper hit, The Bank Job, directed by Roger Donaldson (Thirteen Days). This little gem surprised me. I admire its streamlined "all business" procedural attitude, and the fact that not a minute is wasted on extraneous character touches. Note the use of the word "extraneous," for it doesn't mean that character personalities are ignored. Just the opposite, as each character's personality facets appears as an organic result of the ever-moving plotline. And each actor ably highlights their respective moment without forgetting to support the overall story or stumbling to outshine their costars.

The film takes place in the seventies, and Britain's Princess Margret is photographed having a three way tryst while on vacation. A black militant (Peter De Jersey) in possession of these photographs hides them to protect himself from reprisals from the authorities over his activities. Beautiful Martine (Saffron Burrows) is used by MI5 to get to the photographs, hidden in a safety deposit box in a bank on Baker Street in London. Martine convinces her childhood pals, a rough lot led by Terry (Jason Statham), to rob the bank, ostensibly for the money since she doesn't make them aware of the real object of the heist. As Terry and his crew discover, there is much more going on under the surface, and Martine may have just endangered not only their lives, but their families' as well.

Though it is supposedly based on true events, there is little information available to confirm these claims. But that does not hinder one's enjoyment of the film. Its period setting evokes the classic British gangster films of the seventies, such as Get Garter, with their slick style and cold brutality.

Statham (The Transporter) is used to great effect here, bringing humor and a lion's ferocity to the role of down-on-his-luck family-man Terry. While there is an obvious attraction between childhood friend Martine and himself, the movie never wastes any time pursuing this incidental plot point up to its predictable dead end. It wisely focuses on the intricate plotline that eventually involves the seedy Soho porn industry, an S & M madam, and even the House of Lords.

Burrows (Deep Blue Sea) again proves herself to be more than just a pretty face. The former model is easily able to create the aura of casual glamor that the grownup Martine projects, while also evoking the more down-to-earth childhood pal that the heist crew grew up with. Equally comfortable carrying on her affair with a mysterious MI5 spy, but naive enough to fall prey to his manipulations in pursuit of the scandalous pictures, Burrows demonstrates she's got acting chops to spare.

Available today on single and 2-disc standard DVD, or 2-disc Blu-Ray, the single disc standard is a movie only disc, while both 2-disc versions contain extended scenes, the "Inside The Bank Job" and "The Baker Street Bank Raid" featurettes, the theatrical trailer, and a Digital Copy version of the film.

For those who miss the cool efficiency of the heist film, or the expert drama of seventies-era film, The Bank Job is the perfect DVD to see this week.

This entry first appeared on Blogcritics on 7/15/2008.

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DVD Review: Superhero Movie - Comic Book Movie Genre Spoofed by Airplane! Producer Zucker

The proliferation of superhero movies in the last decade is evident. Just take a look at the summer movie calendar. You've got Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Wanted, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, The Dark Knight, and one from the new emerging subgenre of postmodern takes on comic book heroes, Hancock. And I can't shake the nagging doubt that I forgot one. So it should seem as no surprise that David Zucker, producer of such classic spoofs as Airplane!, The Naked Gun, and the Scary Movie series, would finally get around to spoofing this type of film. In fact, how could he let the opportunity slide, given that the superhero genre walks with a virtual bullseye on its back, begging to be spoofed. His latest comedy, Superhero Movie, debuts tomorrow on DVD.

It follows the travails of Rick Riker (Drake Bell), a high school nerd with a crush on his hot neighbor, Jill Johnson (Sara Paxton). While on a field trip, Rick gets bitten by a genetically altered dragonfly, giving him superhuman abilities and the proportional strength of... a dragonfly. As Dragonfly, he must contend with Lou Landers, the evil Hourglass (Christopher McDonald), and prevent him from a mass murder which immortalize him both figuratively and literally.

In this type of movie, when the lovely Jill says she wants to be a dancer... well, Rick spies her in her bedroom doing her morning spin around the stripper pole, er, bed post. In this type of movie, Rick's Aunt Lucille (Happy Days' venerable Marion Ross), spoofing Spider-Man's Aunt May, doles out motherly advice such as, "Shave your pubes. Nobody wants to go down on a tumbleweed." Leslie Nielsen plays Uncle Albert, and is up to his usual deadpan shenanigans. Like in Happy Gilmore, McDonald is always fun to watch as an exasperated heavy. And Kevin Hart, who plays Rick's pal Trey, steals every scene he's in, like the one where he is explaining to Rick all the different clicks on the schoolbus, "There are the jocks, the emos, the Frodos [camera pans over to some Hobbits], the Scarface Society [camera cuts to bunch of kids dressed like Tony Montana]..." There are plenty of the now traditional cameos by the likes of Pamela Anderson, Keith David, Robert Hays, Tracy Morgan, Brent Spiner, and Jeffrey Tambor.

But aside from some chuckles here and there, the movie never rises past its obvious sources of inspiration. With scenes lifted from X-Men, Batman Begins, Fantastic Four, and other films of this ilk, the movie actually doesn't stray that far from being a traditional superhero movie itself. Now, I don't know if that's a comment on this movie, or the ones it makes fun of. But what I do know is that I expect to laugh more when it comes to Zucker's films.

I hear that like its progenitors, this movie is going back to the well for a sequel. Here's hoping that one is funnier.

Stills provided courtesy of Genius Products and The Weinstein Company.

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DVD Review: Batman: Gotham Knight - Finest Take Yet on the Dark Knight

Why someone hadn't thought of this yet is a surprise to me. Available on July 8, Warner Premiere's newest direct-to-DVD release, Batman: Gotham Knight, is an anime-influenced feature that ostensibly bridges the gap between Batman Begins and the yet to be released The Dark Knight. It is reminiscent in tone and design to Warner's earlier tie-in to the Matrix trilogy, The Animatrix. But just as that film proved to be superior than the two Matrix sequels, Gotham Knight is much more than a promotional tie-in.

Written by some of the Batman's most well known storytellers, and directed by some of Japan's most renowned animators, the six segments that comprise the film can be enjoyed separately or taken together. Together, as veteran Batman comic book writer Denny O'Neil points out in the commentary, the stories form a mosaic of different perspectives on Gotham's guardian that inform each other, and are greater than the sum of its parts.

"Have I Got a Story For You" - dir. Shoujirou Nishimi (Akira), writ. Josh Olson (A History of Violence) - In this first segment, three skaters each tell their versions of personal encounters they had with Batman during his fight with the criminal Man in Black. A fourth friend who has never seen Batman (Kevin Conroy, reprising his voice acting from the animated series) is then put in the position of being an active participant in the continuing battle. Reminiscent of other stories, in both comics and cartoons (including animated episode, "Legends of the Dark Knight"), in which outside characters introduce different iterations of the Caped Crusader, it is clear why this one opens the film. It sets the tone for the rest of the film, informing the viewer that each segment will have a different take on Batman. Among the versions seen here, look for the one that resembles a certain Marvel hero tearing up the summer box office.

"Crossfire" - dir. Futoshi Hiashide (Air), writ. Greg Rucka (Gotham Central) - Here we get Batman as seen through the eyes of Gotham Major Case Detective Crispus Allen (Gary Dourdan). Unconvinced of the heroism by what he sees as just a simple vigilante, his partner Anna Ramirez (Ana Ortiz) tries to convince him to the contrary as they deliver the Man in Black to Arkham Asylum. Rucka, who wrote Gotham Central for DC Comics, uses his affinity for Gotham's detectives to show us a more objective view of the crimefighter. His comic characters play a central role here, although Renee Montoya was changed to Anna Ramirez in this film. Apparently, Ramirez ties to a plot point in The Dark Knight that mandated the change. Look for an appearance by another longtime character who'll cameo in the new film, gangster Sal Maroni, and mentions of how the Narrows became Arkham Island after the climactic asylum breakout of the last film.

"Field Test" - dir. Hiroshi Morioka (Tsubasa Chronicle), writ. Jordan Goldberg (associate producer of The Dark Knight) - This one continues the feud between Maroni and rival gangster, The Russian. Bruce Wayne's tech expert, Lucius Fox, provides him with a special suit designed to ward off any dangerous projectiles. When it unwittingly causes another person harm, Batman reconsiders using the technology. Notable primarily for being the closest interpretation to anime in the whole film.

"In Darkness Dwells" - dir. Yasuhiro Aoki (The Animatrix), writ. David Goyer (The Dark Knight) - Goyer follows up on a loose end from his Batman Begins story. After his escape, Jonathan Crane, that film's evil Scarecrow, has taken up residence in the city's sewers, where he controls the monstrous Killer Croc. Batman must save a prominent kidnap victim from certain death, after getting a dose of Scarecrow's fear toxin courtesy of Killer Croc's bite. This segment is most reminiscent of the Darknight Detective's comic stories.

"Working Through Pain" - dir. Toshiyuki Kubooka (Lunar), writ. Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets) - Perhaps the best story of the bunch, Batman, still suffering from his wounds, calls Alfred (David McCallum) to help him out of the sewers. While managing his pain, he remembers training he received in that skill from Cassandra (Parminder Nagra), an outcast in India. The flashbacks to India give the movie scope. Cassandra serves as a great counterpoint to the young brooding Batman-in-training, and a welcome female presence. Look for a sad, and loaded, metaphorical image at the end of this segment that will surely be remembered by Batman fans for years to come.

"Deadshot" - dir. Jong-Sik Nam (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe), writ. Alan Burnett (Batman: The Animated Series) - Straight up action at top speed as we wrap up the movie with marksman/assassin Dead Shot lining up his sights on Lieutenant Gordon. The plot is pretty straightforward, save for a reversal midway through the action on a hurtling elevated train. This one probably has the best animation of the entire movie. Dead Shot's costume redesign is flamboyant, but inspired.

On standard DVD, Gotham Knight includes a great commentary by Kevin Conroy and Dennis O'Neil with Gregory Noveck moderating. It also has a sneak peek at Warner Premiere's upcoming direct-to-DVD feature Wonder Woman starring Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion , and Rosario Dawson. On two-disc standard DVD and Blu-Ray, look for additional extras such as four episodes of the animated series that might inform your viewing of the film, and two documentaries, one on Batman's creator, Bob Kane, and one on his villains.

This entry first appeared on Blogcritics on 7/3/2008.

Still provided courtesy of Warner Home Entertainment.

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DVD Review: My Blueberry Nights - Singer Norah Jones Debuts in Wong Kar Wai 's first English Language Film

Wong Kar Wai's films live in the space between romantic daydreaming and obsessive longing. His films dwell in the ether that hangs over nostalgia for an ex-lover, where one idealizes all of that person's qualities and flaws fade away. Music that may have played in the background of a long ago encounter is never forgotten. It twists itself around melancholy images, tapping repetitively against memory until it is the memory that fades while the music and the feelings it evokes remain.

My Blueberry Nights, like most of his films, is a love triangle between a man, a woman, and their idealized romantic memories of an ex-lover. Wong's first English language film, it springs from the same domain as his other beloved films, Chungking Express (1994), and In the Mood for Love (2000), even though some of the charm may be lost in the translation.

Conceived as a vehicle for singer Norah Jones, after Wong had enjoyed a meeting with her, it is a reworking of one of his short films. Jones plays Lizzie, a woman who strikes up a friendship with Jeremy (Jude Law), owner of a cafe in New York, after she is dumped by a boyfriend. Every night she orders a blueberry pie from Jeremy, not because she likes blueberries, but because customers generally avoid the pie, and she pities the fact that it is thrown out every night. As their conversations deepen, Jeremy starts falling for her. But Lizzie goes on a cross-country trip, meeting other characters in various stages of loneliness, and writing letters to Jeremy along the way.

The colorful characters she meets are played by David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz, Frankie Faison, and Natalie Portman. In each she sees a reflection of what her loneliness could potentially lead her to be like. And each actor rises to the challenge of creating their roles with little to go on, as Wong frequently shoots with only an outline to guide him.

Some of the flaws? Well, Wong's propensity for shooting without a script works against him here, as English is not his first language. He relied on mystery novelist Lawrence Block to help with dialogue. But since much of his films are usually improvised on set, he is not up to the task of catching cliche dialogue, of which there is much of here. Wong also falls prey to the trap that many foreign-born directors do when filming in America for the first time. Fascinated by the diverse landscape, they usually have their characters visit iconic looking locales in their stories. This movie is all neon signs reflected on car windows, elevated trains, dingy diners, and other such cliches, as the story follows Lizzie from New York to Memphis to Vegas.

One of the charms of his Hong Kong films is how he occasionally references American pop culture in subtle, nuanced ways. In Chungking, his protagonist obsesses about the object of her ardor while addictively listening to The Mamas and the Papas' "California Dreamin'" repeatedly throughout the film. In Mood, it's Nat King Cole he fiddles with. Avoiding his overplayed American catalog, he instead places three of his Spanish language songs in the film, "Aquellos Ojos Verdes", "Te Quiero Dijiste", and "Quizás, Quizás, Quizás". Invoking that romantic singer, while choosing his less predictable Spanish songs, sets the proper ambiance while preserving the mystery for both his native and international English speaking fans. Here the references fall a little flat, as the iconography of America looks a little less bold outside the setting of Hong Kong.

But these flaws are easily overlooked and don't deter from one's enjoyment of the film. Contrary to rumors, Jones acquits herself decently in her first film performance, mostly because the role was created for her. She has little stretching to do, playing a wide-eyed innocent who nonetheless feels like someone who has lived, which is the persona one gathers from her recordings. Her sweet looks belie the smoky voice she performs with (one of her songs is used in the film), which is probably why Wong was fascinated by her in the first place. Her next role may prove to be more of a challenge.

The cinematography by Darius Khondji is lush and candy-colored. Every shot is impeccably staged and composed for maximum beauty. It befits the dreamy romanticism of Wong, and actually gives the beautiful In the Mood for Love a run for its money.

My Blueberry Nights is an interesting venture into American cinema by one of Hong Kong's premiere directors, with his sensibility staying intact throughout. Definitely recommended if you're a fan of any of the artists involved in its production.

This entry first appeared on Blogcritics on 7/1/2008.

Stills provided courtesy of Genius Products and The Weinstein Company.

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DVD Review: Shotgun Stories - Small Gem is one of 2007's Best Films

Available tomorrow on DVD, Shotgun Stories is one of the best films of 2007. Produced by indie stalwart David Gordon Green (George Washington), first-time director Jeff Nichols' film resembles some of the quiet, rural stories Green has such an affinity for. Green has cited Terrence Malick (Badlands) as a major influence in his work, and one can see (evident in this photo) the lineage extends on to Nichols' accomplished but little seen film.

The film follows two sets of half-brothers through an escalating feud. Sparked by the intrusion of the first set of brothers to their late dad's funeral, and some unflattering remarks made about the deceased in front of the second set of brothers, the resentment builds easily between them. The late born-again father abandoned his first set of kids, leaving them with a bitter mother who taught them to hate the new family.

Michael Shannon (Bug) plays Son Hayes, the laconic and protective eldest of the first set of brothers. Estranged from his wife, who left with their son, he still holds a grudge over the rudderless life he blames his father for. Shannon never telegraphs what his character will do, playing him as a hollow man who probably isn't even aware of what his next move will be. This aids tremendously in keeping the film's story unpredictable.

The screenplay is economical and filled with pregnant pauses that ratchet up the tension. We are never subjected to expository dialogue, but the blanks are always effectively filled in for us. We are able to get a sense of the type of man his father was by the throwaway names the formerly deadbeat father gave his first set of children, Son's younger siblings being named Boy and Kid. A growing sense of doom pervades every exchange in the film. When Boy and Kid walk towards a basketball court, and a car swerves into frame behind them, you fret that it may be their half-brothers looking for a fight. As Son stands with his family at the local car wash, and you see the half-brothers pull in provocatively, you dread that his young son came along for this errand.

The movie unfolds leisurely, but you never feel less than riveted by the story. As a character piece it is stunning, each player distinctly unique in his/her own way, but each a product of their rural surroundings. They have limited aspirations but unlimited imaginations. Boy (Douglas Ligon) lives in a van, to save money, and is constantly tinkering with an air conditioning unit he hopes to hook up to the van. He also coaches a local school's basketball team, and whiles away his free time with Kid on basketball trivia.

A great movie for a weekend afternoon, Shotgun Stories is a small gem that should not be missed.

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DVD Review: The Bucket List - Actors Elevate Story Past Its Cliche Roots

The Bucket List is a cliche-ridden movie that is elevated by the casting of Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Seeing these two veterans bring different colors to this retread of Grumpy Old Men is one of the few things to recommend about this film. It's unfortunate, too. The concept of trying to complete everything on your list of things to do before you kick the bucket is intriguing. But one keeps hoping for a twist to stave off the pervasive predictability of the plot.

When given a choice, the once promising comic director, Rob Reiner, never ventures into the more interesting of two dramatic choices presented to him. For instance, Nicholson's Donald Trump-like character might have seemed like an interesting counterpoint to the middle-class character Freeman portrays. But how much more interesting would the story have been if,in addition to the ticking clock of the two's terminal cancer diagnoses, the pair were also challenged by a lack of funds to achieve their dreams. Would the two be desperate enough to lie, cheat or steal to fulfill their life's goals? Reiner shies away from anything remotely holding dramatic interest. This is the type of film in which, when Freeman convinces Nicholson to mend fences with his estranged daughter, the dialogue fades away leaving trite sentimental music to play over the scene instead. Wouldn't it be more interesting to give a serious dramatic actor like Nicholson something substantial to sink his teeth into? Reiner has directed Nicholson to an Oscar Nomination before (for A Few Good Men). So instead of relying on Reiner, we must rely on his two wonderful actors to enhance the story.

Freeman has the more difficult job, standing in for the audience as he plays straight man to Nicholson's antics. But he has a great scene, where winding down from a round-the-world trip with Nicholson in a Hong Kong bar, he meets a beautiful woman who proposes a tryst after hearing his account of a visit to a Himalayan peak. Having never slept with anyone other than his wife, Freeman's eyes betray how tempting the offer truly is to the character. But he nobly and predictably turns it down. This despite the fact that he earlier admitted to Nicholson that his dull marriage is one of the motives he has for taking this trip with the billionaire. One wishes the film would have been brave enough to show Freeman take the woman up on her offer.

Nicholson steps up in the latter part of the film, after Freeman's condition worsens. Conscious of his friend's deeper appreciation for life, he starts to appreciate that material pleasures aren't always what they're cracked up to be. A bittersweet visit between the two segues into uproarious laughter, after Freeman educates Nicholson on the exact, repulsive way that the rare coffee he drinks is brewed. It is a moment that these two master actors elevate beyond its cliche roots.

Maybe the film's premise, rooted in mortality, was judged to be depressing enough as it is. But an interesting and potentially darkly comic take on terminal patients was creeping around on the fringes of this story. The Bucket List would have marked a strong departure for Reiner, and would have benefited greatly from Nicholson and Freeman's dramatic chops, had he opted to stretch beyond his limited storyline.

Still provided courtesy of Warner Home Entertainment.

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DVD Review: Grace is Gone and Numb - Spotlighting Offbeat Dramatic Performances by Two Popular Comedic Actors

Here are a couple of smaller movies for you to check out today. What do they have in common? Each stars an actor with mass appeal in their more lighthearted mainstream appearances, John Cusack and Matthew Perry, who sometimes fail to connect with audiences in more dramatic roles. However, both of these little gems are worth your time.

The first, Grace is Gone, stars Cusack as Stanley Phillips, a dad who manages a home repair store and raises two daughters while his wife, Grace, is fighting in Iraq. When he is informed of Grace's death, he doesn't quite know how to break it to their kids, so instead he decides to take them on a trip, a stalling tactic while he figures out what to do.

Writer-director James C. Strouse never milks the story for tears, and aptly captures the solitary, insulated feel of the situation. Phillips cuts his daughters and himself off from the world while he copes with the news of his wife's death. We are never shown that Phillips is particularly spiritual, so he doesn't seem to be stalling for some kind of divine intervention. But he does seem to be waiting to get an assist from Grace, who, no doubt, always dealt with their young kids' emotional life. Phillips often calls his home while on the trip, leaving plaintive messages to his late wife that he knows will stay unanswered. Director Strouse and Cusack both use this to make us hyper-aware of Grace's absence.

The film has proven popular with audiences on the festival circuit, and it's easy to see why. While Cusack has always been a very sympathetic lead for audiences to relate to, he is aided tremendously here by the casting of two strong child actors in the role of his daughters, Shélan O'Keefe and Gracie Bednarczyk, who apparently were discovered in Cusack's native Chicago and make their film debuts here. The children act like real children do: cute, annoying, often caught up with their own mini-dramas, and sometimes clueless to everything else going on. Cusack establishes a genuine rapport with them, that of a man who's been adept at playing the caretaker, but realizes he must finally come closer to being their friend, as well.

Numb, stars Matthew Perry as screenwriter Hudson Milbank, an obvious autobiographical stand-in for the film's writer-director Harris Goldberg. Milbank is chronically depressed, suffering from a rare anxiety disorder called depersonalization. It causes the sufferer to live in a constant fight-or-flight mode of detachment from his emotions. But when he meets Sarah (Lynn Collins), he feels motivated to start finding a cure for this disorder, hoping to start a new life with his new love.

As a screenwriter, Goldberg is best known for his Deuce Bigalow films, and it shows. Numb's greatest weakness is its tonal inconsistency. It doesn't know whether to be a romantic comedy, or a serious depiction of a rare psychological disorder. Supporting player Mary Steenburgen, as Milbank's psychologist, Dr. Blaine, masterfully steals every scene she's in. Amusingly reinforcing the cliche of the "therapist in need of therapy", the normally staid doctor falls head-over-heels for Milbank, leading to a funny, and embarrassing, confession in a restaurant that is the comedic centerpiece of the movie. But is the movie a comedy? Matthew Perry's dramatic performance doesn't seem to indicate it is. He never trivializes the character's affliction, highlighting the need for further exploration of a disorder that may affect many that haven't even heard of it. His scenes are easily the strongest of the film. But they also cause you to focus on Goldberg's uneven emotional direction.

And Lynn Collin's wonderful performance as the girl of Milbank's dreams, Sarah, serves to highlight the thinness of her character. Goldberg should have focused more attention on her since she plays such a pivotal role in the protagonist's decision to seek recovery. A virtual cipher, Sarah is never given any distinctive qualities, save for her predilection of cursing when she gets high-strung... which is not really much of a quirk. It is only the ebullient personality of actor Collins that infuses Sarah with any dimension at all.

Good for a weekend rental, Grace is Gone is definitely the superior film over Numb, but both films are worth checking out if you want to see these two popular actors stretch a bit outside their familiar territory.

Still for Grace is Gone provided courtesy of Genius Products and The Weinstein Company.

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DVD Review: When the Moors Ruled in Europe - A Welcome Alternate View of the Rich and Proud Islamic Culture

Hosted by Bettany Hughes, When the Moors Ruled in Europe is a stunningly beautiful and informative documentary that debunks a lot of the myths associated with the Moors' invasion of Europe. In the course of doing that, it also illuminates the rich and advanced Muslim society of the Middle Ages, presenting an alternative view of the Islamic culture that has, unfortunately, become our society's bogeyman post-9/11.

It traces the roots of modern society's misunderstanding of the Muslims to their expansion into Europe. Contrary to popular notions, when they invaded what is now Spain, they were welcomed by many as saviors from the more primitive Visigoths. The Muslims, who valued education highly, quickly established a number of libraries, irrigated the land, and erected architectural wonders that survive to this day (like the Alhambra, pictured above). Over time, cross-cultural pollination softened some of the more orthodox practices of the Muslim conquerors, later known as Moors, and they settled in as benevolent rulers of what were for the most part, an appreciative, newly enlightened people. But the ugly head of religious intolerance reared itself, soon enough.

Catholics slowly started chipping away at the Muslim encroachment during the time of the Inquisition. Driving them first into hiding, then into disavowing their religion, before banishing them from Spain altogether, the Catholics established their dominance over Spain. They solidified their rule over Europe during the reign of Isabella, yet a curious thing happened. The architecture and the technological advancements of the Moors became such an ingrained part of the local tradition that it was assimilated by the re-conquering Catholics.

The two-episode series does a great job of summing up some of the little-known legacy of the Moors' time in Spain. They illustrate, for example, how the architecture of the Alhambra has a seemingly ineffable harmony that is directly related to the very conscious geometrical planning of the building and the relationship with its environs. Hughes speaks to various scholars who dispel long-held myths by giving credible explanations. One example is the reframing of El Cid from heroic Moor-slayer to benevolent and well-loved ruler over a mostly Muslim people. His name is actually derived from the dialectal Arab word "sïdi", or the honorific "sayyid" which means "Lord." Illustrated throughout with cinematography depicting the still-standing architectural achievements of the Moors, the documentary serves as a tempting invitation to visit Spain and experience some of these influential buildings they left behind.

Perhaps the Moors' most long-standing and unspoken legacy is visible on the faces of many Spaniards. The majority of Spain's people still bear the strong genetic features of the invading Moors, a handsome reminder of this culture's once dominant status in pre-Renaissance Europe.

This entry first appeared on Blogcritics on 6/16/2008.

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DVD Review: The Invaders: The First Season - Paranoid Sci-Fi Show Plays Even Better Today

Making its long awaited debut on DVD recently, is the 1967 cult favorite, The Invaders. Starring Roy Thinnes as brooding architect David Vincent, The Invaders lasted only two seasons. But what a dramatically rewarding and influential two seasons they were. The 5-disc set contains all seventeen episodes of the first season, including an extended edition of its pilot, "Beachhead". In addition to new introductions for each episode recorded by the dapper Thinnes, a half hour interview with the actor is also included. And a refreshingly honest audio commentary for this season's best episode, "The Innocents", by cult director and series creator, Larry Cohen (It's Alive), describes his limited involvement with the show once it aired, while putting the show into political context within its era.

The premise is simple. David Vincent, while driving home late one night, believes he sees a UFO landing in a desolate area. After convincing authorities of what he witnessed, they go back to that area, but with all evidence of their landing having been erased, he ends up looking like a crackpot. After further investigation on his own, he discovers several things: the aliens look like us (except most have a mutated pinkie finger); they must regenerate often or risk death; when they die, they - as well as anything they are touching - disintegrate; and they are already deeply entrenched in key positions of authority throughout the world, laying the foundation for an invasion. Most importantly, Vincent must now watch his back, as they are aware of his knowledge, and fear any setback to their plans.

With the rebirth of American society after World War II into a cultural and military superpower, the U.S. leading the anti-communist charge in Korea and the cold war, and the assassination of JFK (and his Camelot ideals), the cultural turbulence and general malaise of the late sixties was emerging. No longer able to discern evil in simple terms, the average American couldn't have been blamed for the paranoia they felt in a society that had become a little less black-and-white and more shades-of-grey. Gone was the fascistic bogeyman of Hitler, replaced by the multi-headed hydra of the Red Scare. Conspiracy theories prevailed regarding who was culpable for both a president's assassination, and the death of his alleged assassin. The time was ripe for Larry Cohen to create a show that would comment on the times, even if disguised behind the allegory of an alien invasion.

However, as he describes in his commentary, another veteran producer was assigned to run the show. Quinn Martin, producer of The Fugitive, took those duties, bringing his show's format to The Invaders. Every week, the show's grander alien mythology would serve as a backdrop to the more grounded earthly problems of other guest characters Vincent would run into. This attracted a lot of existing and future stars to the show, as their characters usually had their own dilemmas for the actors to chew on. Among the celebrities who make an appearance in the first season, are Ed Asner, Ralph Bellamy, Peter Graves, Roddy McDowall, and Burgess Meredith.

Some themes would be visited frequently in these morality plays, like adultery, or the questionable motives of the U.S. involvement in both Korea and Vietnam. Producer Martin's subtle house-style was effective in pushing these then taboo themes past the censors in a way that I doubt the in-your-face Cohen could have done. Our ambivalence over whether to trust radicals or the establishment was being reflected in the paranoia inherent in Vincent's alien conspiracy theories. "Vikor" is an episode that perfectly encapsulates this. Guest star Jack Lord plays a war hero, whose wife has turned to alcohol, since his return from Korea. Having lost a leg in the war, the self-made industrialist felt betrayed when he was turned down for a government loan to start his business. So instead he throws in with the aliens, hoping to give his wife a happy life under the new alien world order.

Martin's appreciation for stoic actors, who could still be physically dynamic (like The Fugitive's David Janssen), proved to be essential to The Invaders' alchemy. Roy Thinnes was a strong lead, generous when sharing a scene with a prominent guest star, but commanding when fighting the conspiratorial enemies of mankind. This would prove to be an essential part of the formula in subsequent series strongly influenced by the format, like The Incredible Hulk, and the casting of its star, Bill Bixby. Thinnes is still highly regarded, appearing as a recurring guest star on another show that shares its legacy, The X-Files. And as recently as August 2004, Thinnes' portrayal helped David Vincent rank number six on TV Guide's list of the Top 25 Sci-Fi Legends.

Given the current political climate's similarity to the Red Scare era that The Invaders comments on, the ultimate compliment I can pay the show is that it transcends the period's anachronisms and plays extremely well today. Definitely worth a look.

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DVD Review: The Night They Raided Minsky's and If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium - Ekland and Pleshette Highlight Iffy Flicks

You're wondering why I have these photos of two very striking women at the top of this review. Well, let me tell you about each of them. The one on the left is Britt Ekland, featured in The Night They Raided Minsky's, recently released on DVD. The one on the right is the late Suzanne Pleshette featured in If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium, also recently released.

Ekland is a Swedish actor, underrated in my opinion, whose career never gained the notoriety that her private life has. Best known for her role as Mary Goodknight in the 007 adventure The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), she also made some more than respectable appearances in such films as Get Carter(1971), The Wicker Man (1973), and Scandal (1989). But she will always be better known for marrying actor Peter Sellers, who proposed after having only seen her in a picture. She also had a long relationship with Rod Stewart, before having a series of relationships with other rockers such as John Waite and L.A. Guns singer Phil Lewis. Her daughter with Sellers, Victoria, has been in the news, primarily stemming from her association with "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss.

Pleshette was an American actor, also underrated, who was often cast as the supporting character in such movies as The Birds (1963), Nevada Smith (1966), Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971), and was a frequent guest star in a long list of TV shows including Route 66, Ben Casey, Kojak, and Will & Grace. She was best known for playing Emily Hartley on The Bob Newhart Show which led to one of the best cameos in TV history in the later series, Newhart. In Newhart's series finale, Bob Newhart wakes up describing a strange dream, about being an innkeeper in Vermont (the premise of Newhart), to Pleshette who reprises her role as Emily. Sultry and sardonic, she later played the title role in a TV biopic called Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean (1990). She died on January 19, 2008 of respiratory failure.

I tell you all this, and show you each of their photographs, because they are each the best reasons to see their respective movies.

Minsky's is a badly executed film with an interesting premise. Notable mainly for being William Freidkin's sophomore directorial effort (though it was released after his third movie), and Bert Lahr's (The Wizard of Oz's Cowardly Lion) last appearance, the story had potential. Ekland plays an Amish woman who runs away from home to join Minsky's Burlesque, and inadvertently becomes the innovator of the striptease. Her onstage sexual awakening at the end of the film is both funny and assertive, despite being surrounded by leering men. It's too bad that the film is edited past the point of comprehension. The signs are there that a lot of effort was spent in trying to save the movie, as there are numerous zoom shots which, because of excessive graininess, appear to have been created in post-production.

Belgium on the other hand is a pleasant romp that follows Pleshette on a whirlwind tour of Europe while she falls in love with their tour guide (an unexpectedly dashing young Ian McShane from Deadwood). Directed by Mel Stuart (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), it is full of cameos by John Cassavettes, Joan Collins, Vittorio De Sica, Ben Gazzara, Virna Lisi and Robert Vaughn, among others. Witty and disarming, it is enjoyable, but beyond that, it is such a trifle, that the only thing I can really hang my recommendation on is a chance to see Pleshette carry a movie.

Not bad enough to be offensive, but not great enough to be classics, don't expect anything more than the chance to appreciate these two underrated actors in these films.

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DVD Review - Diary of the Dead and Night of the Living Dead - Zombies Redux for 21st Century

It's the dawn of the 21st century, and George Romero reboots his zombie franchise for modern times with Diary of the Dead. The innovative Romero invented the genre in 1968 with the first film in the franchise, Night of the Living Dead, which commented on the sixties just as Diary comments on current events.

Night of the Living Dead was filmed on a shoestring budget by Romero and his crew, a Pittsburgh advertising production house aspiring to make narrative films. Listening to their commentary on the new 40th Anniversary Edition DVD, it seems like the still-friendly cast and crew had a lot of fun and learned a lot of hard lessons during filming. One of the saddest was the need for proper placement of copyright information. Because of their mistake, the film has been in the public domain for many years. Little did they know that it would be so influential. Films like Signs and 28 Days Later... owe much to Romero's horror movie in their use of setting, pace, and scary monsters.

Also attributable to the film's copyright issues are its numerous inferior releases on home video. Well, shop no more. The new edition released by The Weinstein Company and Genius Products puts all others to shame. Released with an all-new transfer and with new special features overseen by Romero, this is as close as you'll get to an "official" release. The highlights are 2 new audio commentaries with cast and crew, as well as a feature-length making-of documentary. Special treat: a seldom heard audio interview with the star of the movie, the late Duane Jones, who rarely acknowledged the film after its release.

The film of course led to a whole series of sequels, both official and unofficial. Official: Romero's Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead. Unofficial: the more humorous Return of the Living Dead series started by John Russo and Dan O'Bannon, and many remakes, including, notably, Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead. The unofficial sequels rarely displayed any of the social commentary so prevalent in Romero's films, which attacked such topics as racism, materialism, and class strife. In each of his successive films, Romero's zombies, and the world they inhabited, evolved until in Land of the Dead, the zombies are intelligent enough to strategize in their war against humans, and humans are accustomed to the post-apocalyptic cohabitation with the zombies. There wasn't much of a place left to go for Romero.

So he goes back to the beginning with Diary of the Dead, giving the zombies a new lease on life... or death. Following a student film crew caught at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, but set in modern day, the film gives Romero a chance to comment on some new issues in a fresh new way. Shot entirely in subjective camera, ostensibly by the members of the student film crew -on video cameras, cell phones, and news cameras - there are many instances of poking fun at the cutthroat world of "emerging media" and the blogosphere. The protagonists frequently ask their subjects to restage events since they might have missed them while shooting. Filmmakers will ignore impending doom in order to get reactions from their cohorts. And cut in to the film is footage culled from such real-life tragedies as the Hurricane Katrina aftermath in New Orleans.

It is telling that such footage blends in so easily with Romero's film, proving the theme of all his zombie flicks to be correct. It is not the zombies that are the scariest creatures in his films; it is we.

Still provided courtesy of Genius Products and The Weinstein Company.

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DVD Review: Cassandra's Dream - Serviceable Thriller Mired by Predictable Plot

Woody Allen's latest European foray, Cassandra's Dream, is a serviceable thriller, with a great cast of British actors. Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor play Terry and Ian, brothers who are in need of money. Dumb, but noble, Terry needs it to pay off some pretty high gambling debts. Smart schemer Ian, needs it to impress his new girlfriend, Angela (Hayley Atwell) with his latest half-baked investment plan. They turn to rich Uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson) for help. But Howard takes the opportunity to enlist the boys for a favor of his own. He'll help them IF they get rid of a business partner about to sell him out to the cops over some shady dealings.

Part of the fun here is to see the spectacular cast squirm, manipulate and betray each other through the proceedings. McGregor is particularly oily in his performance, bullying his younger brother into conforming with the plan in order to avoid jeopardizing his new relationship. On the flip side, McGregor is also up to playing his character's naivete, as his actress girlfriend is obviously a golddigging tart already sizing up her next conquest before his eyes. Wilkinson is effective in his brief part, conveying his desperation while not letting the boys' inexperience in crime bring down his own plans. Farrell is the one who's most sympathetic, as his simple-minded gambler, seems to at least have his heart in the right place, if not his head. He generally has noble intentions, wanting to provide for his fiancee, but is unable to shake his gambling addiction.

The main flaw is the predictability of the plot. We've all seen this noir staple before. Sidney Lumet even depicted a variation on this theme to better effect in the superior Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. But where Lumet used pace, setting, and circumstance to affect a tone of believability and surprise, Allen's direction is mired in cliche. For example, out on a date with a coworker, Ian drives past a car broken-down on the side of the road with a woman working under the hood. He turns around to help, and meets his future love, Angela, who will lead him to his inescapable tragic fate. Now, why is it that I, a somewhat nice, average guy, rarely stop to help a stranded driver, yet these cinematic ne'er-do-wells, always do?

Allen is lucky to have actors at his beck and call, most likely because of the reputation he's earned on his older films. But he should slow down his prodigious output and put a little more effort into the stories he's been churning out lately.

Still provided courtesy of Genius Products and The Weinstein Company.

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DVD Review: Sinatra - A Biopic and a Treasure Trove of Sinatra Favorites

To honor the 10 year anniversary of Frank Sinatra's passing, Warner Home Video has teamed up with Reprise Records (the label Sinatra himself founded in 1960), Turner Classic Movies, MGM Home Entertainment, and even the U.S. Postal Service for a unique tribute to the the singer. Among what you'll see are a commemorative postage stamp, a CD collecting 21 of his classics, and a month-long festival of films and specials on TCM. For their part, Warner is releasing a whopping 22 films, including 11 brand new to DVD, in four new collections. Also debuting is a two-disc DVD of Sinatra, the 1992 award-winning CBS miniseries.

Here's the rundown on the films:

The Rat Pack Ultimate Collector's Edition
Repackaged versions of Ocean's 11, 4 For Texas, and Robin and the 7 Hoods are great, but the centerpiece of the collection is the western, Sergeant's 3, never before released on DVD, with the core Rat Pack-ers being directed by John Sturges of The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape fame. Loaded with special features, this is the set to get for fans of the "Chairman of the Board".

The Golden Years
This one's a mixed bag, combining some of his most interesting work with some of his most forgettable. Most interesting: None But the Brave, Sinatra's only credited attempt at directing a movie; The Man with the Golden Arm, Sinatra's Academy Award-nominated performance as heroin addicted drummer, Frankie Machine, directed by Otto Preminger; and Some Came Running, a cult favorite directed by Vincente Minelli, and starring female Rat Pack member, Shirley MacLaine in an Oscar-nominated role. Least interesting: The Tender Trap, a cutesy musical with Debbie Reynolds, and Marriage on the Rocks his last film with Dean Martin, costarring Deborah Kerr. All of these are available for the first time on DVD. This set is for fans of Sinatra, the underrated actor.

The Early Years
Young Frankie Sinatra learning the Hollywood ropes in some pretty rare but unworthy films notable mostly for a look at the charismatic man he would become. All available on DVD for the first time, this set includes Higher and Higher, Step Lively, It Happened in Brooklyn, The Kissing Bandit, and Double Dynamite. This set is for fans of "The Voice".

The Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly Collection
The most disappointing set of the bunch, because it consists entirely of repackaged already released DVDs. And these are some of his most enjoyable films. Gene Kelly is disarming as the leading man, but you can see Frank starting to come into his own. Anchors Aweigh features Kelly's dance with Jerry of Tom and Jerry fame. Also included are Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and On the Town. This set is for fans of Sinatra, the underrated dancer.

Sinatra (1992)
Executive Produced by Tina Sinatra, this is a surprisingly brave, warts-and-all look at the singer. Philip Casnoff, who bears little resemblance to "Ol' Blue Eyes", nonetheless transforms into him through the power of performance. Playing him from his early twenties through his late fifties, one always forgets that he is not Sinatra. Maybe it's because he's got his walk down perfectly. Difficult job for Casnoff also, as he must remain sympathetic despite reenacting some of Sinatra's truly awful and pathetic moments. His contractual dispute with Tommy Dorsey (Bob Gunton), his serial philandering, and tempestuous relationship with Ava Gardner (Marcia Gay Harden) while wife Nancy (Gina Gershon) stays home to raise the kids, his shady connections with the mob, in the form of Sam Giancana (Rod Steiger), on behalf of the Kennedys, all get their spotlight in the surprisingly, too short 4-hour epic. Period details are captured perfectly throughout, and performances are all understated and top-notch. This DVD is a must-have for even the casual fan.

Still provided courtesy of Warner Home Entertainment.
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DVD Review: 24 Season One Special Edition - Innovative First Season Finally Gets a Release Worthy of Its Significance

With the recent announcement of a 24 two-hour TV movie, premiering this fall on Fox, now is the perfect time for Fox to release a special edition of 24's first season. Fans are hungry. Season seven was supposed to premiere this past January, and in fact, a few episodes were completed. But then the writer's strike interfered. Rather than leave fans hanging between episodes while that business sorted itself out, Fox has instead rewarded patient fans with a two-hour movie. Meant to bridge the gap between season six and season seven, the movie is filming in South Africa (!), and is a significant way to lead in to the new season which takes place in Washington, D.C. (!!). These locations will no doubt prove to be quite the game-changers in a series that has a long tradition of game-changers. So much so, that the Job-like obstacles that have afflicted its hero, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), were at this point bordering on self-parody. Let's go back in time to season one for a look at an innovative series that was just starting to affirm its strong identity.

Jack Bauer, family man and federal agent, is called back to the field to prevent an assassination attempt on Presidential candidate David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert). Unfortunately, the timing couldn't be worse, as Jack's teenage daughter, Kim (Elisha Cuthbert), has been missing since last night, and his recent restored marriage to Teri (Leslie Hope), may not survive the strain of the day's events. The plot is a somewhat traditional thriller scenario. What made the series unique was its structure. Each hour would take place in real time, so that by season's end, the twenty-four episodes would correspond to the twenty-four hours in a day, thus making it, as Bauer would remind us in the opening narration every week, "the longest day of [his] life."

The production crew and its creators weren't sure if they could pull this off. As co-creator Bob Cochran explains in the documentary "The Genesis of 24" (included in the set), without time-cuts every minute would have to be accounted for. For example, if character X gets on a five-hour flight, that means he'll be absent for five episodes, and you better have another subplot you can switch over to that will carry you through that wait. David Palmer's campaign, and Bauer's family's travails would prove to be essential components to the plot structure.

24 would innovate in other ways. Palmer would become the first black President, years before Obama's run as a viable candidate. The show's frenetic pace would influence future action thrillers, like the Bourne movies, and Mission: Impossible III. And Bauer's, at times savage, relentless pursuit of counter-intelligence would put his morally compromised character in the pantheon of TV's most memorable antiheroes. It's hard to remember that back then, there may have been only Tony Soprano or Andy Sipowicz of NYPD Blue to keep him company there. Today's TV landscape is strewn with such characters like Battlestar Galactica's Bill Adama or Lost's John Locke.

Most importantly, let's not forget that the first season struggled in the ratings. It's premiere on November 2001, which featured a plane blown up by a terrorist, was coming to viewers on the heels of 9/11. After thirteen episodes, Fox seemed to renew it only because of Sutherland's Golden Globe win for the role. Going into season two, Fox did something that would pioneer the way TV series and TV DVDs in particular would continue in the future. Conscious of the show's addictive nature which invite viewers to watch the shows in large blocks of episodes, they released a quickie DVD version of season one to prepare uninitiated viewers before the second season premiere. Relying on the core fans to promote the DVD set to their friends by word-of-mouth, the gambit worked, as the second season premiered to higher ratings. And after American Idol premiered as the 24's lead-in, it really took off.

Season one's previous DVD version was bare-bones. To correct that, a special-edition was released this week with added features, such as the aforementioned documentary, and commentaries on the premiere and season finale episodes by the cast and crew of the show. It elevates the season one shows to the same level as the rest of the show on DVD. It is well worth your time and money to purchase this set, especially to relive the first season while you wait for season seven.
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DVD Review: I'm Not There - Bob Dylan... Chameleon or Cipher?

Look up the definition of a cipher. The first definition on Dictionary.com for cipher is simply the word zero. Singer Bob Dylan has been anything and everything but a zero. However, as Todd Haynes illustrates in his paean to Dylan, I'm Not There, Dylan viewed himself as somewhat of an empty receptacle. As he used his chameleon-like abilities to create new personas he could hide behind, friends, fans, and particularly the press, would fill that receptacle with their own preconceived notions of who Dylan really was. Haynes found it so difficult to present Dylan in a straightforward manner, that he instead chose six actors to interpret many of his adopted personas. And if much of the stories told about Dylan or by him are apocryphal, then Haynes found the best way to tell the story. He took the advice of a character in John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

Among the personas appearing in the movie are the poet-like Dylan known as Arthur Rimbaud (Ben Whishaw), Rimbaud being the poet whose quotation, "I is the other," is the central thesis of the film. Young African-American actor, Marcus Carl Franklin, plays the Woody Guthrie persona. Dylan had fashioned a background story for himself as a young folk-singing hobo, who spent his youth jumping on trains to travel cross-country, a story later found out to be false. Haynes casting of the 11-year-old Franklin is a wink to viewers, making it obvious that this kid could not possibly be a surrogate for Dylan despite his stories leading one to believe it so. Jack Rollins (Christian Bale) is the Greenwich Village folkie that we closely associate with Joan Baez (or in this movie, Julianne Moore's Alice Fabian). Bale also reappears as Pastor John, the born-again Dylan of the late seventies. Jack Rollins (Heath Ledger) is the self-absorbed movie star Dylan, who's crumbling marriage is symbolized by the trajectory America takes during the Vietnam war. Richard Gere is Billy the Kid, the Dylan that retreats from public view to live a quiet life in Riddle, a town populated by characters from his songs.

The most iconic and spot-on performance, in fact, almost a transformation, is Cate Blanchett as Jude Quinn, the defensive Dylan facing rejection from his folk fans after going electric. Her nomination for an Oscar is well deserved, for at no time are you consciously aware that this is Blanchett acting. You are transfixed by her charisma as the androgynous rock star at the height of his sixties-era confrontational posturing towards the press. Blanchett captures the Dylan that sees himself as a cipher, "One having no influence or value; a nonentity."

Haynes shoots each story in the style of cinema suited to the period and story being covered. For example, Blanchett's segment is reminiscent of Fellini's 8 1/2, and Gere's evokes the westerns of the seventies, like Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller or Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (which Dylan appeared in).

I was enthralled by the enigmatic film on a level that I can't quite explain. It certainly has an emotional effect on the most visceral level. But the enigmatic film resists any intellectualizing. Much of the explanations above were derived from a thorough survey of the special features included on the DVD, in stores now. I am a casual Bob Dylan fan so I did not have any reference points to lean on when watching the film. But the wealth of extras on the disc can serve as a crash-course on the singer's life and work. Special attention should be payed to the writings on the film collected under the title "An Introduction to the Film" on Disc 1. The point is that none of this should hinder enjoyment of the film, as long as you can accept its perplexing metaphorical nature.

"I is the other." As Dylan would say, I is not me... I'm not there. Haynes fractured biopic depicts the nonentity that characterizes Dylan. And perhaps his film consciously exemplifies yet another definition of a cipher, "[a private mode of communication] contrived for the safe transmission of secrets."

Still provided courtesy of Genius Products and The Weinstein Company.
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DVD Review: P.S. I Love You - Pulling Punches Causes Romance to Miss the Mark

A clever idea gives this romance a little more of an edge than normal. Holly Kennedy (Hilary Swank), a widow, starts receiving letters from her late husband Gerry (Gerard Butler). The letters are designed to help her deal with his death, and move on. They start out cute: go buy yourself an outfit, go out with the girls on a night out, get onstage and sing some karaoke. But by the time Gerry sends Holly on a trip to his native Ireland to a club where he used to play, and she hears the house band sing the first song he sung to her... well, there is more than a little manipulation from dear old Gerry from beyond the grave.

The film is not quite lighthearted enough to be a comedy. It is also not tragic enough to be a full-on tearjerker, either. But with a subtext that seems to be screaming that the charming Gerry, though dead, is not exactly ready to be metaphorically buried, it would have been extremely daring to veer in that direction.

The cast is there to pull it off. The two stars are genial, but better known for their dramatic roles. And with the oddball supporting cast that not only contains Harry Connick, Jr., Gina Gershon, and Lisa Kudrow, but also Buffy the Vampire Slayer's James Marsters in a strong extended cameo, the opportunity exists to do more with this film than the trifle ultimately depicted.

Neither comedy nor tragedy, the film plays more like one of those dramatic episodes of Sex and the City where Samantha was undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Yeah, I'd watch it once, but it's hardly a keeper. Skip this one.
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DVD Review: Indiana Jones - Keeping up with the Joneses on DVD