Theatrical

 

ICv2’s DVD correspondent apologizes for the delay in the appearance of this column, but the H1N1 virus intervened leaving this poor scribe with a 5-day headache that made it easy for him to empathize with the cats in director Todd (Old School) Phillips’ The Hangover (Warners $28.98, 2-Disc Unrated Special Edition $34.99, BD Unrated $35.99).  This saga about the after-effects of a bachelor party trip to Las Vegas perfectly caught the zeitgeist of a nation suffering from an acute economic hangover from years of too easy credit and extreme over-indulgence in an unsustainable housing boom. 

 

The Hangover earned $277 million at the domestic box office, making it the highest grossing “R” rated comedy of all time by a mile—and it earned a healthy 78% positive rating from the critical reviews tabulated on the Rotten Tomatoes Website, no mean feat for a comedy.  While some might fault Phillips for finding the humor in binge drinking, the non-stop onslaught of raunchy jokes, language and sight gags is irresistible to any male with a sense of humor that encompasses anything even slightly broader than Noel Coward—and with the missing tooth and the hooker marriage, etc., it’s hard to claim that Phillips is glamorizing binge boozing too much. The Unrated Version is eight minutes longer than the theatrical cut, but the additions are essentially more of the same “R” rated stuff—good, but nothing that changes the character of the film.  The gag reel is fine, but it’s the film itself, not the extras, that make this package worthwhile.

 

The Hangover’s main competition this week comes from Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (Universal, Rated “R”, Single Disc $29.98, Two-Disc Special Edition $34.98, BD $39.98), an uber-violent, a-historical revenge fantasy that is enlivened by one great performance (Christolph Waltz as the Nazi officer Landa).  Critics love Tarantino’s self-reflexive work (88% positive on Rotten Tomatoes) because it is based on cinema (rather than on life or history).  While Tarantino’s film is no remake of Enzo Castellari’s 1978 film The Inglorious Bastards (itself a rip-off of Robert Aldrich’s attempt to create exploitation cinema out of WWII in The Dirty Dozen), its lavish production values make it appear like a glossy cinematic symphony created from a banal theme (as if Beethoven had fashioned his Fifth from the three-notes of the "Ricola" commercial).

 

At least Inglourious Basterds has endless reserves of vitality.  Richard Eyre’s The Other Man (Image Entertainment, Rated “R” $27.98, BD $35.98) is a lifeless triangle saga that wastes the talents of Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, and Antonio Banderas.  Glorious Italian locations (Milan, Lake Como) can’t save this talky misfire that earned only 18% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.  Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock (Universal, Rated “R” $29.98, BD $39.98), an ambitious film that tells a personal story that manages to link the Stonewall riots and the Woodstock Music festival without really concentrating on either of them, fared a little better with critics (49% positive on RT).  But Taking Woodstock bombed at the box office ($7.3 million) largely because audiences were looking for a different view of the music festival, not necessarily an examination of the local political and social interactions that allowed it to take place. 

 

Another film that failed to connect (earning only $15 million in wide release) was Neal Brennan’s comedy, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (Paramount, Rated “R” $22.99), which wastes the talents of a sushi-free Jeremy Piven, along with Ving Rhames, James Brolin and David Koechner in producer Adam (Talladega Nights) McKay’s only partially-successful attempt to find the comedic side of a David Mamet-like expose of “salesmanship.”

 

Anime

This week two excellent anime series, Samurai Champloo and Basilisk, are debuting in the Blu-ray format, which considerably enhances both the visual quality and the soundtracks of these series, which have been previously released as conventional DVDs.  Originally released here by Geneon, Shinichiro (Cowboy Bebop) Watanabe’s hip-hop inflected Samurai Champloo (Funimation, Rated 16+, $79.98) aired on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim starting in 2005.  The complete 26-episode series is being released on three Blu-ray discs.  The 24-episode, ninja-themed Basilisk (Funimation, Rated “TV-MA” $69.98) anime from Gonzo, which aired in Japan in 2005, is based on a seinen manga series by Masaki Segawa (published here by Del Rey), which in turn is based on Futaro Yamada’s 1958 novel The Kouga Ninja Scrolls.

 

New standard format DVD anime releases for the week include the complete two-part El Cazador de la Bruja (Funimation, Vol. 1, $49.98, Vol.2, $49.98), a science fiction/fantasy saga of two young girls on the run, as well as the latest 13-episode American release of the uncut, unedited pirate saga One Piece.  One Piece Season Two, Fourth Voyage (Funimation, $49.98) is a two-disc set collecting episodes 92-110 of what is arguably the most popular anime (and manga) series in Japan. 

 

Viz Media is releasing Honey and Clover Complete Collection Part 2 ($59.98), which is based on Chika Umino’s slice-of-life shojo comedy/romance set among students at an art college.  Also due out this week from Viz Media is Bleach Vol. #23, ($24.92), a single-disc release from the popular supernatural fantasy series that is still airing on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.

 

Sentai Filmworks has two new releases including the first half (13 episodes) of the Xebec-animated To Love-Ru ($39.98), a science fiction harem comedy romance based on the manga written by Saki Hasemi and illustrated by Kentaro Yabuki (Black Cat).  The To Love-Ru anime series aired in Japan in 2008.  Also due from Sentai is the second half of the Ghost Hound Complete Collection 2 ($59.98), the stylish supernatural horror series from Production I.G.  Written by Chiaki J. Konaka (Texhnolyze, The Big O) and directed by Ryutaro Nakamura (Serial Experiments Lain), the Ghost Hound anime series aired on Japanese TV in 2007 and 2008.

 

Classics on Blu-ray

The 1951 adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (VCI, $29.98), which was directed by Brian Desmond Hurst, has been released on Blu-ray in a beautiful, high contrast, black-and-white transfer.  The original title of this U.K. production was Scrooge, and at its heart is Alistair Sims’ masterful portrayal of Ebenezer Scrooge with its transformation from mean-spirited moneygrubber to kind and generous employer.  The film not only includes all the elements that have made Dickens’ novella so compelling, it actually adds bits (including the backstory on the formation of the firm of "Scrooge and Marley") that fit perfectly with Dickens’ narrative.  The cold snow-covered Victorian streets and the equally bleak and frigid interiors of Scrooge’s office and lodgings have never been surpassed.  This is indeed a definitive holiday season masterwork, and the Blu-ray also includes a standard DVD transfer of the film, a very useful feature.

 

TV on DVD

With the new Guy Ritchie/Robert Downey, Jr. iteration of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes as an action movie hero about to open, A&E is releasing The Sherlock Holmes Collection (3-Discs, $29.95), which collects the five remaining Peter Cushing episodes (out of 16) from the 1960s BBC series Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.  Cushing, who also played Holmes to great effect in the Hammer Films’ 1959 Hound of the Baskervilles, replaced Douglas Wilmer in the BBC series.  A more faithful two-part adaptation of the tale of the giant hound of the moors is included in the Sherlock Holmes Collection along with productions of The Sign of the Four, The Blue Carbuncle, A Study in Scarlet, and the Boscombe Valley Mystery.  While most contemporary Holmesians cite Jeremy Brett’s 1980s portrayal of the super sleuth as the ideal, Cushing makes an admirable Holmes, cerebral, commanding, and considerably less haughty than Brett, while Nigel Stock is a solidly serviceable Doctor Watson.  Considering that the rest of this series has apparently been lost, the visual quality of the five mysteries is quite good.  The colors are true and the details well-realized.  Though the interior lighting and production values cannot match those of the Granada-produced Brett series, this is a fine series that makes the viewer wish that more episodes had survived.

 

With the plethora of product in the “TV on DVD” category producers are becoming innovative.  This week MTV released two animated series, Eric Fogel’s The Head: The Complete Series ($24.95) and The Maxx: The Complete Series ($24.95) via Amazon.com’s “Createspace” manufacture on demand program on DVD-R rather than standard DVD (most DVD players can handle DVD-R discs, which also play in almost all computer DVD drives, so the format difference doesn’t matter for most folks).  Comic book fans will be especially intrigued by The Maxx: The Complete Series, which includes all 13 episodes of the animated series based on the comic book created by Sam Kieth.  The DVD includes interviews with Kieth and director Gregg Vanzo and audio commentaries on all 13 episodes. 

 

Also due out this week are: Ice Road Truckers Season 3 (A&E, $34.95), The Paper Chase: Season 2 (Shout Factory, $49.99), Adult Swim’s animated Robot Chicken: Season 4 (Warner Home Video, $29.99), The Tudors: The Complete Third Season (Showtime, $42.99), and the third season of the original Star Trek series, which will be available in a feature-laden Blu-ray edition (Paramount, $107.99) for the first time.

 

Foreign Films

Manga-ka Naoki Urasawa is the leading practitioner of the art of the manga thriller (his Monster has been made into one of the best anime series of all time (see “December 8th DVD Round-Up”).  Urasawa’s 22- volume 20th Century Boys, which has won 3 major manga prizes, has been made into a trilogy of live-action films, with a budget of 6 billion yen making it one of the biggest projects in the history of Japanese cinema.  This week Viz Pictures is releasing the first film in the trilogy, 20th Century Boys Vol.1, Beginning of the End ($24.92, subtitled).  Readers of the manga series (published here by Viz Media) will enjoy seeing the first five volumes of the manga series come to life with a strong ensemble cast led by Toshiaki Karasawa as Kenji.  The narrative skips over the decades from the moon landings of the 1960s to events in 2017, and those unfamiliar with the storyline could have a hard time following the film through its lengthy (142 minutes) running time.  This ambitious undertaking brings up the question of whether the best adaptation format for a lengthy serial drama such as 20th Century Boys that stretches across some 22 volumes of manga, is some sort of TV series, either anime or live action, or if an epic film trilogy can perform the same narrative mission as effectively.  The verdict on that question awaits the release of the second and third films in the trilogy, which aren’t due to be released here until 2010.

 

Also due out this week are Anne Fontaine’s “R” rated satiric thriller The Girl From Monaco (Magnolia, $26.98, 47% positive on Rotten Tomatoes), and Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel’s The Headless Woman (Strand, $27.98), an enigmatic film about an upper class matron who may have killed a child in an auto accident.  The Headless Woman functions as a sort of murky metaphor for the economic changes and class conflicts that have wracked Argentina.

 

Documentaries

Megumi Sasaki’s documentary Herb and Dorothy (New Video, $29.98) demonstrates that you don’t have to be a Rockefeller to amass a great art collection.  Herb, a postman, and Dorothy Vogel, a librarian, began collecting minimalist and conceptual art in the 1960s and many of the artists they championed, including Christo, Chuck Close and Robert Mangold, all of whom are interviewed in the film, have gone on to have huge careers.