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Generation gap
Popular films from the ’30s, ’80s out on DVD this week09:31 PM CST on Saturday, November 7, 2009
This week we start in Old Hollywood:
The Claudette Colbert Collection — Three-Cornered Moon, Maid of Salem, I Met Him in Paris, No Time For Love, The Egg and I and Ernst Lubitsch’s Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife. Universal Studios continues its Backlot Series with this no-frills, three-disc set of six films from one of Hollywood’s premier actresses of the 1930s and ’40s. The films, some making their DVD debut, have been digitally remastered from the original prints.
Overall, they give a fair representation of Colbert’s impressive range, including costume drama (Maid of Salem), screwball comedy (Three-Cornered Moon), social commentary (The Egg and I) and female emancipation (No Time for Love).
None of the films are rated and all run less than 90 minutes.
*
Say Anything — 20th Anniversary Edition (***1/2) Cameron Crowe’s painful portrait about first love returns in a remastered reissue with plenty of new supplements. High school senior Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) idolizes school queen Diane (Ione Skye). He suffers not in silence but with friends, played by Lili Taylor, Joan Cusack and Jeremy Piven.
Rated PG-13, 100 minutes.
In addition to previously available supplements (alternate and deleted scenes, featurettes, commentary and more), this new edition offers new featurettes, a trivia track, a “revisited” segment and a new interview with Crowe.
*
Will Ferrell: You’re Welcome America: A Final Night with George W. Bush (***) Adam McKay directed Ferrell in his Broadway show in which the comic takes various forms of the former president: the Crawford Bush, the Mission Accomplished Bush, et al. Ferrell looks, talks and acts like his target, and he takes his material from events that transpired during Bush’s eight years in the White House. Ferrell’s improvisational skills shine in the last few minutes when he sticks members of the audience with their own personal nicknames.
Rated TV-MA, 90 minutes.
The DVD also holds a six-minute “Bush on Bush” interview, with Ferrell taking both sides. Plus, an eight-minute featurette on the “Road to Broadway.”
*
The Maiden Heist (**1/2) William H. Macy, Morgan Freeman and Christopher Walker play three museum guards who discover that their favorite pieces of art are about to be removed. They conspire to replace the works with forgeries and then keep the originals for their own admiration. Standard heist caper sports a fine cast (also with Marcia Gay Harden) but never blossoms into anything special.
Rated PG-13, 90 minutes.
The DVD offers commentary from the director, writer and producer, an 18-minute “making-of” featurette, 12 deleted scenes and three minutes of bloopers.
*
Nothing Like the Holidays (***) An all-star multicultural cast elevates this home-for-the-holidays tale.
Alfred Molina plays the patriarch of a Puerto Rican family in Chicago when his contentious relationship with his wife (Elizabeth Peña) becomes the center of holiday attention among his pretentious lawyer son (John Leguizamo), his soldier son (Freddy Rodríguez), his entrepreneurial son (Luis Guzmán), and his aspiring-actress daughter (Vanessa Ferlito). Elevated family drama mixed with good-natured comedy.
Rated PG-13, 98 minutes.
The DVD contains commentary, bloopers and the theatrical trailer.
*
Stan Helsing (*1/2) Extremely lame horror satire tries to trade on cliches of the genre (see: Scary Movie) but falls flat. Stan Helsing (Steve Howey), a video store worker on Halloween, must deliver a package to a gated community filled with ghoulish surprises.
Rated R, 90 minutes.
The DVD, also on Blu-ray, contains commentary, a “making-of” featurette, outtakes and extended, alternate and deleted scenes.
*
P (**1/2) The Sundance Channel’s genre film showcase Asia Extreme returns with this Thai horror flick about a young woman who comes to Bangkok, naive but versed in rural witchcraft. When, in her new job, she discovers the evil in some people, she uses the sorcery she’s learned.
Not rated, 110 minutes.
The DVD offers a brief behind-the-scenes featurette.
*
Disney has several special items of note this week:
Up (****) Ed Asner voices 78-year-old adventurer Carl, a retiree who drifts away in a house propelled by balloons. Carl’s life quickly flies by on-screen, but in his old age, he finds himself in the land of his dreams (South America), fighting off villains and protecting his traveling companion, 8-year-old Junior Wilderness Explorer Russell (Jordan Nagai). This latest fun, exciting, colorful Disney/Pixar gem brings out the child in everyone.
Rated PG, 90 minutes.
The DVD comes in the usual array of Disney choices, from four-disc Blu-ray combo pack to two-disc DVD. Included in most sets are commentary, two short animated films, an extended “making-of” featurette, alternate endings and more.
*
Monsters, Inc. (****) The Disney/Pixar hit returns, now on Blu-ray, along with ample new add-ons. Its groundbreaking computer animation tells the story of Boo (no relation), who finds herself in the scream-processing factory. But the soft and cuddly monsters who work there turn out to be scared of her. They get over it and help Boo get back to her world.
Rated G, 95 minutes.
The DVD offers the previously available supplements, along with new ones, including a filmmakers’ roundtable and a look at the new Monsters, Inc. ride.
*
Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed In at the House of Mouse This full-length Christmas story features more than 35 Disney characters, including Ariel, Bambi and many others.
Not rated, 65 minutes.
The DVD also holds singalong songs, a featurette on sound effects and a separate episode of House of Mouse.
*
Walt Disney Treasures: Zorro — First and Second Seasons In the latest installment of their “Treasures” series is this highly popular TV series from 1957-59. All 78 episodes starring Guy Williams as Zorro appear in these two six-disc sets. Both sets also include two one-hour specials, which originally appeared on the Disneyland TV show. The sets come in striking, black tin cases.
*
Also this week: The Ugly Truth, The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete Second Season, Heat (Blu-ray)
DR. BOO ALLEN is an award-winning film critic for the Denton Record-Chronicle.
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