RoosterFlix DVD Picks for November 25th

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Hancock (Two-Disc Unrated Edition) (2008)
dir. Peter Berg

I was actually kind of looking forward to seeing this movie in the theaters until reviews starting rolling in. I'm still slightly interested in it, but I'll probably wait til it hits cable or something.

Product Decsription:
Hancock turns the standard superhero movie inside-out: The title character (Will Smith) can fly, has superstrength, and is invulnerable, but he's also a sloppy, alcoholic jerk who causes millions of dollars in property damage whenever he bothers to fight crime. When he saves the life of a public-relations agent named Ray (Jason Bateman, Arrested Development), Ray decides to improve Hancock's image--starting by having Hancock surrender himself to the authorities and go to prison for his lawless behavior. The idea is that once he's in prison, the crime rate will go up, and people will start to realize Hancock might be of value after all. This is only the first act of Hancock--from there, the movie takes several clever turns that shouldn't be revealed. Hancock isn't a great movie (among other things, director Peter Berg overuses close-ups with a hand-held camera to a degree that may cause motion sickness), but it is an extremely entertaining one. The script, which holds together far better than most superhero movies, has a propulsive plot, good dialogue, some compassion for its characters, and even an actual idea or two. The spectacular action at least gestures towards obeying the laws of physics, which actually makes the special effects more vivid. The three leads (Smith, Bateman, and Charlize Theron as Ray's wife, Mary) deftly balance the movie's mixture of comedy, action, and drama. All in all, a smart subversive twist on a genre that all too often takes itself all too seriously.

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Bottle Rocket - Criterion Collection (1996)
dir. Wes Anderson

It's been a while since I've seen this, but I remember liking it quite a bit. Certainly Anderson's cinematography just keeps getting better and better with every movie he makes, but the quality of the plot have been inconsistent. Rushmore is still my favorite movie of his, followed by the Royal Tenenbaums, then it's a toss-up. I'm looking forward to seeing this again, and by the way, the Blu-Ray edition of this comes out in a couple weeks at the exact same price. It's Criterion's first shot at HD, and considering their quality standards on regular old DVDs, I can't wait to see how they look.

Product Decsription:
Wes Anderson first illustrated his lovingly detailed, slightly surreal cinematic vision in this witty and warm portrait of three young middle-class misfits. Fresh out of a mental hospital, gentle Anthony (Luke Wilson) finds himself once again embroiled in the machinations of his best friend, elaborate schemer Dignan (Owen Wilson). With the aid of getaway driver Bob (Robert Musgrave), they develop a needlessly complex, mildly successful plan to rob a small bookstore then go on the lam. Also featuring Lumi Cavazos as Inez, the South American housekeeper Anthony falls in love with, and James Caan as local thief extraordinaire Mr. Henry, Bottle Rocket is a charming, hilarious, affectionate look at the folly of dreamers. Shot against radiant southwestern backdrops, it s the film that put Anderson and the Wilson brothers on the map.

DVD Features:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer supervised and approved by director Wes Anderson and director of photography Robert Yeoman
Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack
Commentary by director/co-writer Anderson and co-writer/star Owen Wilson
The Making of Bottle Rocket : an original documentary by filmmaker Barry Braverman featuring Anderson, James L. Brooks, James Caan, Temple Nash Jr., Kumar Pallana, Polly Platt, Mark Mothersbaugh, Robert Musgrave, Richard Sakai, David and Sandy Wasco, Andrew and Luke and Owen Wilson, and Robert Yeoman
The original thirteen-minute black-and-white Bottle Rocket short film from 1992
Eleven deleted scenes
Anamorphic screen test, storyboards, location photos, and behind-the-scenes photographs by Laura Wilson
Murita Cycles, a 1978 short film by Braverman
The Shafrazi Lectures, no. 1: Bottle Rocket
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by executive producer James L. Brooks, an appreciation by Martin Scorsese, and original artwork by Ian Dingman
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Chungking Express - Criterion Collection (1994)
dir. Wong Kar-Wai

This will also be on Criterion Blu-ray in a couple weeks. I think the majority opinion is that this is still Wong Kar-Wai's best film, and I'd probably agree, although In The Mood For Love is a strong contender.

Product Decsription:
The whiplash, double-pronged Chungking Express is one of the defining works of nineties cinema and the film that made Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai an instant icon. Two heartsick Hong Kong cops (Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tony Leung), both jilted by ex-lovers, cross paths at the Midnight Express take-out restaurant stand, where the ethereal pixie waitress Faye (Faye Wong) works. Anything goes in Wong s gloriously shot and utterly unexpected charmer, which cemented the sex appeal of its gorgeous stars and forever turned canned pineapple and the Mamas and the Papas California Dreamin into tokens of romantic longing.

DVD Features:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer
Remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack supervised by director
Wong Kar-wai
Audio commentary by noted Asian cinema critic Tony Rayns
U.S. theatrical trailer
New and improved English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Amy Taubin and excerpts from a 1996 Sight and Sound interview with Wong by Rayns
More!
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Spy Who Came in from the Cold - Criterion Collection (1965)
dir. Martin Ritt

Haven't seen this, but seems like a movie I could really get in to. I'll wait to check some reviews before I buy it blind.

Product Decsription:
John Le Carré's acclaimed bestselling novel, about a Cold War spy on one final, dangerous mission, is every bit as precise and ruthless onscreen in this adaptation directed by Martin Ritt. Richard Burton delivers one of his career-defining performances as Alec Leamas, whose hesitant but deeply felt relationship with a beautiful librarian (Claire Bloom) puts what he hopes will be his last assignment, in East Germany, in jeopardy. An intelligent, hard-edged, and even tragic thriller, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is etched with realism and suffused with genuine political and personal anxiety.

DVD Features:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer
New interviews with author John Le Carré and cinematographer Oswald Morris
The Secret Center: John Le Carré (2000), a BBC documentary on the author s extraordinary life and work
Acting in the '60s: Richard Burton, a 1967 interview with the BBC s Kenneth Tynan examining the actor's performances
and accomplishments
Gallery of set designs
Theatrical trailer
PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic
Michael Sragow and a reprinted interview with Ritt
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George Carlin: It's Bad For Ya (2008)
dir. George Carlin

You could kind of tell from Carlin's body language in his last couple of HBO specials that he probably wasn't going to be around much longer. Regardless of his condition, he's on stage giving everything he's got, and he still had one of the sharpest minds in comedy. RIP to a true legend.

Product Decsription:
It s Bad For Ya, Carlin s Emmy nominated 14th and final HBO special from March of 2008 features Carlin s noted irreverent and unapologetic observations on topics ranging from death, religion, bureaucracy, patriotism, overprotected children and big business to the pungent examinations of modern language and the decrepit state of the American culture.
For this unprecedented 14th HBO special, Carlin once again comes up with an hour of brand new material that not only makes you laugh, but makes you think.
George Carlin will always remain part of the popular lexicon for his "Seven Dirty Words" routine, and as a comedian who was never afraid to challenge his audience.

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Fred Claus (2007)
dir. David Dobkin

I like the idea of Paul Giamatti as Santa, and it's hard to go wrong with Vince Vaughn, but still, it looks like a paint-by-numbers holiday comedy to me. Would check it out on HBO.

Product Decsription:
Vince Vaughn is enormously enjoyable as the titular Fred Claus, disgruntled older brother of the better-known St. Nicholas himself, i.e., the North Pole’s very own Santa (Paul Giamatti). A garrulous hustler running from the emotional fallout of the ultimate sibling rivalry, poor Fred keeps trying to find happiness through one failed scheme after another, pushing away the people who care about him most. When brother Santa puts the squeeze on him to help out in the toy factory atop the world, Fred turns the place into one big, raucous party. Unfortunately, he’s unaware that Santa and Mrs. Claus (Miranda Richardson) are under tight scrutiny from an oversight committee (represented by a calculating Kevin Spacey) and could be shut down. The film, directed by David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers), gleams and twinkles the way a holiday movie should, and has plenty of fun material for youngsters, including a wacky chase scene in which Fred goes on the run from a half-dozen, angry Salvation Army Santas. But Fred Claus is also supposed to appeal to hip adults with a taste for ironic farce, and on that score the movie feels like a succession of Saturday Night Live skits more than an organic whole. Still, Vaughn holds everything together with a smart, insightful performance that looks deep into his character’s torment--with more than a few laughs. --Tom Keogh

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Meet Dave (2008)
dir. Brian Robbins

I wish someone close to Eddie Murphy would tell him that he sucks right now. Everybody knows it, why the fuck isn't he getting the message? You think the slap in the face that was Pluto Nash would've kicked him back into gear, but everybody's got a price I guess. Who wouldn't pay to see him in an R-rated comedy again? That shit would make like 200 mil.

Product Decsription:
Meet Dave is a family space farce with enough Eddie Murphy slapstick to make the whole family chuckle. With elements of InnerSpace, Starman, Men in Black, and even a bit of Woody Allen's Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex, the film may not break new ground, but Murphy's giddy performance lifts the material to an engaging level. Murphy plays a space ship in human form, carrying wee aliens on an excursion to earth. As "Dave Ming Chang," he interacts with his surroundings and fellow humans by following the orders given by the ship's commanders inside his "head." It's an endearing fish-out-of-water yarn that riffs of pop culture as well as potty humor for its laughs. ("Lieutenant Bottoms, what is your status?" "Captain, we had a small gas leak. It was silent, but not deadly.")
In the course of his mission, Dave is hit by a car, becomes a substitute teacher in a New York City public school, and starts to develop feelings for earth kids--and ladies. All the while his homage to the Bee Gees, from the white suit to his high-pitch-perfect rendition of "Stayin' Alive," provides an oddly perfect backdrop and symbol for Dave's being ever so slightly behind the times. Murphy is engaging as always, firing off deadpan one-liners and happily being the straight man to the film's jokes. A potential love interest, Gina (Elizabeth Banks), mentions that her late husband was a captain in the Navy. Dave says, "I am a captain." Gina: "Oh really? A captain of what?" Inside Dave's head, the crewmembers frantically search their earth database to give him the answer: "I am a captain of crunch." --A.T. Hurley

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Still Life (2006)
dir. Jia Zhang Ke

I guess this could almost be a companion piece to Up The Yangtze considering the plot revolves around the construction of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze. I've read nothing but good things about this movie, and Up The Yangtze was a great documentary, so it seems like a nice little double-feature. There's also another film on the DVD (also directed by Jia Zhang Ke) by the name of Dong. Heh.

Product Decsription:
In Still Life, great changes have come to the town of Fengjie due to the construction of the Three Gorges hydro project on the Yangtze River. Countless families that had lived there for many generations have had to relocate to other cities. Fengjie's old town, which has a 2000-year history, has been torn down and submerged forever. There are still things that need to be salvaged and yet there are also things that must be left behind. In Still Life, such life-changing choices face both Sanming, a miner traveling to Fengjie in search of his ex-wife of sixteen years, and Shen Hong, a nurse who has come to Fengjie to look for her husband who she hasn't seen in two years. Both Sanming and Shen will find who they're looking for, but in the process they too will have to decide what is worth salvaging in their lives and what they need to let go of.
Still Life is an empathetic portrait of those left behind by a modernizing society and, as in director Jia Zhang-ke's earlier films (Platform, Unknown Pleasures, The World), it is a unique hybrid of documentary and fiction.

DVD Features:
- Additional feature film, Dong (68 minutes)
- Interview with director Jia Zhang-ke
- Theatrical Trailer
- Scene Selections
- Dolby Digital 5.1
- Enhanced for 16x9 TVs
- Optional English subtitles
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The Atomic Cafe (Collector's Edition) (1982)
dir. Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty

Product Decsription:
On its 20-year anniversary, and not a moment too soon, THE ATOMIC CAFÉ is back to provide us with a much needed release of comic energy. A dark comedy in the truest sense, this timeless classic took the nation by storm when it first debuted in theaters in 1982. A chilling, provocative, and often hilarious reminder of cold-war era paranoia in the United States, THE ATOMIC CAFE reveals a defining period of 20th century history, artfully presented through a collage of newsreel footage, government archives, military training films, and fifties music. Profoundly shocking and perversely topical, THE ATOMIC CAFÉ craftily captures a panicked nation, offering a fascinating and witty account of life during the atomic age and resulting cold war, when fall-out shelters, duck-and-cover drills, and government propaganda were all a part of our social consciousness. Regarded by critics as a nuclear REEFER MADNESS and likened to Stanley Kubric's DR. STRANGELOVE, this profoundly shocking and highly amusing film is a stunner, a gripping account of an unforgettable era and an indisputable must-see for all Americans.

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Slap Shot 3: The Junior League (2008)
dir. Richard Martin

Product Decsription:
Fans of George Roy Hill's 1977 sports farce, SLAP SHOT, can rejoice: the outrageous Hanson Brothers are back for a third installment in the much-loved (and much-quoted) hockey franchise. SLAP SHOT 3: THE JUNIOR LEAGUE sees the rough-and-tumble siblings hit the ice to help a new team of underdogs fight its way to glory. This chapter features guest appearances from Leslie Nielsen and hockey legends Mark Messier and Doug Gilmour, and offers all of the over-the-top ice action that made the first film famous.

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Girls in Chains (1973)
dir. Don Jones

Just because.

Product Decsription:
In a remote country house, a malevolent form of sleaze and terror is being bred. A crazy mother encourages her two sons raving lunatic Frank and his not-all-there brother Johnny to kidnap young women and chain them up in the basement. The girls are treated like animals and then subjected to games that grow increasingly sinister and depraved. When the brothers tire of their playthings, the girls must be replaced. This lost exploitation classic is every bit as morally corrupt as you've heard.

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