5/9/06
Edition
Aisle Seat Teacher's Day edition
Andy
Conducts Class on WHEN A STRANGER CALLS
Plus: RONIN
Special Edition, New TV on DVD from Buena Vista & More
A few years ago director Simon West rose quickly through the
Bruckheimer school and helmed “Con Air,” one of 1997's box
office hits. Nearly a decade later, after fumbling high-profile star
vehicles “Lara Croft, Tomb Raider” and “The
General’s Daughter,” West has been relegated to helming
low-budget horror dreck like the terrible remake of the memorable Carol
Kane-Charles Durning 1979 teaming WHEN A STRANGER
CALLS (*, 2006, 87 mins., PG-13; Sony).
Far worse than Screen Gems’ other genre re-do from last autumn
(“The Fog”), “When a Stranger Calls” is a
painful exercise in how not to make a horror movie. Unbelievably
incessant music from James Dooley not just telegraphs every scare, but
cranks up before the story is even established; we’ve apparently
now reached the point where characters walking down corridors is
apparently grounds for cliched “menacing music” to start up
on the soundtrack. Writer Jake Wade Wall’s pedestrian script
strips the story of Durning’s character from the original,
focusing instead on the basic conflict between a teen babysitter
(Camilla Belle) tormented by a creepy killer (voiced by Lance
Henriksen), who’s (gasp!) really making calls from inside the
house she’s in. Sorry if I gave it away, but that plot
development was only used in all the trailers and marketing for the
film!
About as scary as an early ‘80s Filmation cartoon, the 2006
“When a Stranger Calls” is a complete waste of time.
I’d call it a waste of talent as well, but what talent is here is
questionable; Bell makes for an unappealing heroine, Wall’s
script tries (and fails) to develop the original’s opening 15-20
minutes into an entire feature, and West hasn’t a clue how to
illicit suspense. If you’ve never -- and I mean never -- seen a
horror film before, you might be sitting on the edge of your seat at
the amount of pregnant pauses, faux scares, and that blaring music West
uses. For anyone else, this is a bland, crushingly dull remake with one
of the worst endings in recent memory...apparently meant to set up a
sequel which Wade is writing, along with his work on the upcoming
“Hitcher” remake and “Halloween” sequel. After
seeing this film, one can hardly wait to see how Wade fares with those
efforts!
Sony’s DVD (out on May 16th) offers a typically high-caliber
presentation from the studio, with a 2.40 (16:9) transfer, 5.1 Dolby
Digital sound, two commentaries (one with West and Bell, another with
Wall), a couple of brief deleted scenes and a standard Making Of
featurette.
Also New From Sony
RONIN:
Collector’s Edition (***½, 1998). 121 mins., R, MGM/Sony.
DVD FEATURES: Commentary with John Frankenheimer; Making Of
featurettes; Interviews; 16:9 (2.35) Widescreen, 5.1 Dolby Digital.
Director John Frankenheimer’s last great film, Sony has finally
brought the 2-disc Collector’s Edition of “Ronin” to
the U.S. after lying dormant on the MGM shelves for nearly two years.
Frankenheimer's realistically filmed and impressively
staged action sequences -- which were a precursor to (and possible
influence on) the “Bourne” pictures -- were seldom more
effective than they were in “Ronin,” a low-key, taut, and
decidedly old-fashioned thriller that enabled the director to
concentrate on what he does best -- provide excitement without padded
exposition or reliance on visual effects. Nowadays in particular, it's
refreshing to see a film that is fully satisfied to create a skillfully
told, if leisurely, tale that wouldn't have been made any different
thirty years before.
Robert DeNiro and Jean Reno are the principal leads in the simple,
straightforward and uncluttered plot, co-written by David Mamet under a
pseudonym, which could be best described as a more realistic rendition
of the James Bond movies some years after the fact, in that the
characters are former mercenaries and government employees, but seeking
work in a world where the employers and secret packages are more
suspect and deadlier than ever.
The performances of DeNiro, Reno, Natascha McElhone ("The Truman
Show"), and Jonathan Pryce give the material the required nuance,
double-crossing and deceit that it needs, but it's really
Frankenheimer's show all the way. The French locales add immeasurably
to the atmosphere and mood of the picture, while the car chase
sequences -- much discussed and lauded by critics and fans -- deliver
the goods in such a manner that you wonder why many prerequisite auto
pursuits are so bland by comparison. With crisp editing and a pounding
pace, Frankenheimer illustrated that pure filmmaking beats CGI,
blue-screen, and other modern forms of filmmaking trickery any day of
the week. From Nice to the tunnels of Paris, Frankenheimer evokes
favorable comparisons to the equally dizzying set-pieces of his more
memorable films ("French Connection II," "Black Sunday") with the
movie’s two extended, masterfully executed car chases, which
certainly rank as some of the finest action filmmaking of the '90s.
Sony’s two-disc Special Edition offers a newer 16:9 enhanced
transfer and 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack that I’d rank as
superior to MGM’s older DVD. The original disc’s alternate
ending and commentary with Frankenheimer have been reprised, while a
handful of featurettes (most running 10-20 minutes) include a look at
Tony Gibbs’ editing, Robert Fraisse’s cinematography, and
Elia Cmiral’s score to name a few. Vintage interviews from the
Venice Film Festival and the original Making Of featurette make for a
good, but not great, supplemental section -- the newer portions of
which were shot some time ago, since they bear a 2003 or ‘04
copyright.
THE DIRTY
DOZEN: The Deadly Mission & the Fatal Mission (1987-88, 94 mins.
each; MGM/Sony, available May 23rd): With Warner’s
two-disc Special Edition of the original “Dirty Dozen” due
out in a couple of weeks, Sony has dusted off these made-for-NBC
sequels starring Telly Savalas as an American major placed in charged
of a dozen unhinged soldiers in WWII Europe. Decent production values
permeated the two small-screen efforts, which obviously in no way
approximate the entertainment value of the original “Dirty
Dozen,” but provide fun, ‘80s-styled TV action for buffs,
along with the requisite colorful supporting casts: Ernest Borgnine,
Vince Edwards, Bo Svenson and two Van Pattens in “The Deadly
Mission,” with Borgnine, Erik Estrada, Ernie Hudson, Heather
Thomas, John Matuszak and Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini on-hand
in “The Fatal Mission.” Sony’s disc includes decent
full-screen transfers with mono sound; fans should note that the
original, high-rated 1985 TV-movie starring Marvin (“Dirty Dozen:
The Next Mission”) will be available in the Warner “Dirty
Dozen” Special Edition out on May 23rd.
New From Paramount
LAST HOLIDAY
(**½, 2005). 111 mins., PG-13, Paramount. DVD FEATURES: Deleted
Scenes; Three Featurettes; Trailer; 16:9 (2.35) Widescreen, 5.1 Dolby
Digital sound.
Queen Latifah’s engaging performance makes this old-fashioned
comedy a pleasant, albeit predictable, star vehicle.
Latifah plays a plain, demure New Orleans department store clerk who
learns she’s dying. Jeffrey Price and Peter Seaman’s script
(updating J.B. Priestley’s screenplay for the 1950 Alec Guinness
film of the same name) follows Latifah’s character to France
where she opts to live life to its fullest, meeting chef Gerard
Depardieu, and deciding to court co-worker LL Cool J.
The story might be formulaic and the film’s length unnecessarily
padded to some 111 minutes, but director Wayne Wang does an excellent
job coaxing amiable performances out of the cast (Latifah in
particular) with colorful supporting characters making for an
enjoyable, laid back romantic fantasy. The ending is as fluffy as its
premise, but it’s all good fun, with a nice score by George
Fenton adding further pleasure to the package.
Paramount’s DVD includes several deleted scenes, three basic
Making Of featurettes, the trailer, and two recipes (note
Emeril’s cameo at the end as well). The 2.35 (16:9) transfer and
5.1 Dolby Digital sound are both top-notch.
New TV on DVD from
Buena Vista
It wasn’t a huge hit, commercially or artistically, but the Jim
Henson-Michael Jacobs production DINOSAURS (1991-92,
30 Episodes) hits DVD for the first time next week in a
four-disc set from Buena Vista. “Dinosaurs” took a standard
family sitcom premise and “updated” it to suit a dinosaur
clan. Henson’s company provided the animatronic characters,
including the central Sinclair family, while fairly standard genre
plots permeate each show...albeit with the unique trappings of
prehistoric times.
I have to admit that I was never a fan of “Dinosaurs.” The
series debuted when I was in high school and, as excited as I still was
about the prospects of a Henson co-produced comedy about dinosaurs, the
writing was never strong enough to lure me in to watch another episode
after the pilot.
Flipping through Buena Vista’s superb four-disc DVD box set,
which compiles the first and second seasons of the show (30 episodes
total, since the first season debuted late in the 1990-91 season and
only ran for six episodes), I found that the DVDs backed up my initial
thoughts about the series. The characters are fairly well articulated,
at least in an ‘80s Disney World/EPCOT sort of amusement park
manner, but their movement is predictably stiff -- just like the jokes.
A lot of time and effort went into producing the series but with little
attention, it seems, at offering stories that broke away from the
conventions of the genre. Young kids might enjoy the episodes (though
keep them away from the horrifying -- and awful -- final episode should
Buena Vista complete the series’ release on DVD), but anyone else
is likely to find “Dinosaurs” to be a relic of early
‘90s sitcom manufacturing: had the program not boasted the
setting it did, it’s doubtful the show would lasted the three
years that “Dinosaurs” managed to on the ABC airwaves.
If you’re a fan, though, Buena Vista has done the series more
justice than it perhaps deserves, offering bonus clips, sketches, and
behind-the-scenes footage from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop,
highlighted by series writer/designer Kirk Thatcher demonstrating his
original designs for the characters. The full-screen transfers and 2.0
Dolby Stereo soundtracks are all in good condition.
This week, Buena Vista releases the Complete Fifth Season of THE GOLDEN GIRLS
(1989-90, 26 Episodes) in another satisfying compilation for
fans of the long-running NBC series. Thankfully, this time the studio
has included new interviews with Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Betty
White, who also provide commentary on six of the show’s 26 fifth
season episodes (“Sick and Tired, Part 2"; “The Accurate
Conception”; “Dancing in the Dark”; “Not
Another Monday”; “Clinton Avenue Memoirs”’ and
“An Illegitimate Concern”).
Though the series is currently on the fence in terms of being renewed, SCRUBS (2003-04, 22
Episodes) remains of TV’s most consistently funny
series...and one of its most under-appreciated. NBC continues to bat
the series around its prime-time schedule like a ping-pong ball, with
only the series’ most dedicated viewers usually tuning in.
Thankfully, the show’s reputation as a critical darling and cult
favorite has enabled “Scrubs” to last five seasons with
hopefully more to come -- provided struggling NBC finds a place in next
fall’s schedule for the program.
Buena Vista this week issues the complete Third Season of
“Scrubs” in a dynamite package that’s just as much
fun as their previous box sets of the show. The four-disc set includes
the third season’s 22 episodes with their original, unedited
music soundtracks (in 5.1) and full-screen transfers; a gag reel;
numerous unaired scenes; amusing featurettes; and other goodies for
fans of the series. Highly recommended!
NEXT
TIME: The Dirty Dozen Special Edition! Don't
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