CHRISTMAS DVDS
Last Christmas I gave yOu my heart but the very next day you gave it away. Who can believe it's been a year since i recommended a whole plethora of esoteric and life changing cinema on disc for your Yuletide enjoyment? I think, however. in retrospect that I may have overdone it on the giallos. Borowczyk freak—Outs and Surreal silents from the early part of the 20th century. 80 this year I'm going to make it real simple for y'all. I'm gomg to recommend just four DVDs for you and yours to watch this Christmas and I promise that. like the four advent candles. they will bring peace. serenity. toy and happiness to yOur humble abodes.
First up is this year's sleeper comedy 40 Year Old Virgin
Reviews
MOCKUME NlAHY BOB ROBERTS (15) 109min
'Universal Pictures. DVD rental retaili 0.0
This sharpiy observed political sat:re. written.
d'rectetl by and starring Tiii‘ Robbins. follows corrupt Senatorial candidate cum folk singer Bob Roberts on
60 THE LIST ‘5: l)i.-_;1/"i(,:'
(Universal Pictures Video 0... ). It is diffiCLilt to think of a funnier or more disarmingly likeable romantic comedy. This tale of repressed sexuality is held together by some brilliant improvisory comic turns from a fantastic cast which includes Steve Carell. star of The Office in the US. and Catherine Keener.
THE dare-(rim
Up next is the 1933 version of King Kong (Universal Pictures Video .OOOO). Forget all the hype. There will only ever be one lovesmk monkey for me and now you can check him out on this digitally remastered reissue. And then there is Emir Kusturica's remarkable Life is a Miracle (Artificial Eye
the campaign trail. pursued by flunkies and media monkeys. Roberts ()ll‘lfléttEOE; the murky theatre of public life. the iiiockLiiitentar'y format cleyei‘ly dragging the \.’|(}\.‘.’(}T along for the ride.
lhe film's l)l'(}'l‘-|S3(} that an offensrxe reactionary can bulldo/e 'iis '~.'.'ay into power by taking perfoiii‘aiice politics to extremes s I)(Ell()‘.£tl)l(} than it was in 1992. so it's a shame that the filii"s reality is undermined by several hysterical performances. Nonetheless. it's an aii‘bitioiis piece of filiiiri‘aking that's worth '.'.’£ii(lllill(] for the songs alone inspiiedtopsy tiir“.'y Dylan pastiches. Extras include
O... ). a big. sweaty, gregarious. primitive. epic romp through the Bosnian war. Life is indeed miraCiilous. And finally they are few pleasures more mainstream or more enjoyable than watching Brad Bird's wonderful family Superhero animated feature The Incredibles hNalt Disney Home Video .... ). Merry Christmas and happy viewing. (Paul Dale)
lHE i'icRsbiBtES
(:oiniiientaries and deleted footage. ltjllllilll Stonel
lllel l l H CAPRICORN ONE
(PG) 123min
lNetwork DVD retaili ....
As the big hoax reaiity lV sho'.'.' Space (Riders
yJIItf) \IINIIII ‘..’<ty. .".(>.'.
may be the time to
crieck out this re release
of a ratner interesting 19/8 conspiracy thriilei about the uncovering of a fraudulent US iii-ssscn to Mars, witch NASA is enacting :n order to secure funding. Elliot Gould and James Broiir‘. as nosey y()tl."flél'lSl and proud. compromised astronaut i'esper:t'\.c-;y'. are excelient.
Wi'itt)i director Peter llyams does great work with .iinited resources in the ftrst ir‘ a series; >‘ ‘.’tf§tl£ti ess; ys into the nature of space ‘.'.’.".f(:." ‘.'./(;‘l(} to he utie Out/and and 20M}. Extras Meade ci‘ez'.’ .nfer‘. one and film locat-oi‘. enforriiatiort. iPaul [)aie
‘.'.’AH
49TH PARALLEL (U) 116min
lDD Home Lntei’fainiiierit DVD retaili .00.
lhe fourth Michael Pout/ell Lnieric Pi‘essburger collaboration v-ras an accomplished \.'-/ar'tiriie thriller. Completed in the months before Pearl Harbour. the film was made wrth support from the Ministry of Information x-xhich. at the time. \.'./as seeking to conyiiice America to end its neutrality and come to the Allies aid. It tells the story of six Na/is. suryiyors from the wreck of a UrBoat. who land on the eastern coast of Canada and riiake for the neutral territory of the US. Starring l eslie l loturai‘d and l aiir'eiice ()liyiei. the film is crisply edited by [)ét‘.’l(l Lean ithe film is “.‘xithout an ounce of fat'. I)()‘.'.'(3|I i‘ecalledl and features a rousing score- by Vaughan \Ay/llllétll‘ES and later won a Best Original Story Oscar for Pressbiirger. Miiiiinal extras.
tl’asgiiale lannonei
COMEDY
GREEDY
(12) 113min
(Universal Pictures. DVD rental retaili 0.0
I F 4.; .t u. _\.1.J
Uncie Joc- McTeague K"K Dotigiasi is an £t{}(}l"{]_ loaded scrap meta. magnate who plays a game of sCruples with his grasping relatiu'es. nubile yoting 'carer' Nancy 80in Hunter'- ai‘o estranged. but pr noped. nephew Daniel iM:chael J Fox; in this \'.’£trtlt-li(-Z-£1'I(3(l but flabby comedy of morals from 1904.
British director Jonathan i'vlt' Cells/r: VIN/It" l ynne 'iiakes f'ECll. if familiar. pickings from. the opeiiirtr' 30 minutes. and the superb cast of conniy/ing cousins clearly rei.s't their xippy. caustic dialogue :Ph'l Hartman. who does the voice of Lionei l-lut/ ill The S/rripsons. is something of a live action revelation 'ierei. But sloppy pacing and lrnp performances rom the two leads allow this comedic cash cow to "un Into mediocrity. Mirnrna= extras.
J;r|.an Stone.
ACllON
OUTLAW BROTHERS
(18) 96min iContender DVD retail)
.James iFrankie Chant and Bond iMax Mokl -— see what they did there? - ' take a good liying stealing high performing
cars. but must unite wrth unstable detective Tequila (Yukari Dshima) when they accidentally cross a dangerous drug lord.
Chan's resemblance to Charles Bronson, the oven/vrought soundtrack and the fearsome array of casual sportswear on show have all dated this 1988 slice of chop sockery badly, but it retains enough quirky charm to merit a re- release.
So ignore the plot holes. let the fact that it was out by the BBFC for ‘cruelty to chickens guide the any style. and remember a time when Hong Kong action Cinema wasn't all slick Wire-fu. Minimal extras. iDave Martini
DOCUMEN l‘ARY STATUS ANXIETY
(E) 167min 000 (Revolver Entertainrrient DVD retaili
~ ;. .‘"i’iLAiii DE 4:-)K Burton
Why are w > so Jealous of each others' successes? Why are 0th value systems governed by Our appropriation of status. It's an age old question tackled by everyone from Freud and Max Weber to Herbert Marcuse. Adapting his likeable ‘middie brow' text book of the same name into an unnecessarily long pniiosOpiiical travelogue. A;a:n de Botton attempts to look for an answer. His resulting film has a sense of deia yu about it and the points he makes through the cross- references are kind of ()I)‘.’|OUS. Neyertheless. this may be of help to philosophy grads who have neither the gumption nor the discipline to tackle the lengthy tomes of Socrates and Schopenhauer. Minimal extras. (Paul Dalei
ALL DVDS WERE ON A SYSTEM SUPPLIED AND INSTALLED BY LOUD 8: CLEAR