video vault
DVD PICK OF THE WEEK BAD LIEUTENANT (LionsGate Home Entertainment): Harvey Keitel gives a fierce, fearless performance in the title role of Abel Ferrara’s controversial, awardwinning 1992 character study, newly reissued in a special edition that includes director’s commentary. Keitel’s cop-gone-bad (never given a proper name, nor are the other characters) is a booze-soaked, bribetaking, drug-addled member of New York’s Finest, but he runs into a dead end — spiritually speaking — when he investigates the brutal rape of a young nun (Frankie Thorn). Through his bleary, disbelieving eyes, we follow the Bad Lieutenant on the long and winding road to redemption after experiencing a form of spiritual awakening. A pretty picture it is not, but a compelling and often bizarre one it is. Raw and ragged, the film is primarily a showcase for Keitel, whose no-holds-barred performance is tremendous. This is not a perfect film, but it is a resonant and shocking one — for those who can take it. It received an NC-17 rating, and it deserved it. This is not a film for everyone, and it’s most definitely not for children. ***ALSO ON DVD
“ADAM-12”: SEASON THREE (Shout! Factory): Police officers Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) and Jim Reed (Kent McCord) again cruise the mean streets of LA, in all 26 episodes from the 1970-’71 season of the popular, prime-time NBC-TV police drama created by executive producer Jack Webb. Guest stars included Trini Lopez, Margaret O’Brien, Kenneth Tobey, Norm Crosby, Foster Brooks, Shelley Berman, Felton Perry and a young Jodie Foster. The series scored the only Emmy nomination of its entire run — for Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition (for the episode “Elegy for a Pig”). This four-DVD boxed set retails for $34.99.
BART GOT A ROOM (Anchor Bay Entertainment): A few scattered laughs in writer/director Brian Hecker’s award-winning debut feature, with Steven Kaplan as a neurotic teenager preparing for his high-school prom. William H. Macy and Cheryl Hines play his divorcing parents, and the cast also includes Jon Polito, Dinah Manoff and Jennifer Tilly, but the film runs completely out of energy at exactly the wrong time — at the prom. Rated R. *½
COMIC LEGENDS (MPI Home Video): A selection of classic television appearances — some rarely seen since the original broadcasts — showcasing the talents of five American icons of comedy: “Dick Van Dyke: In Rare Form,” “Phyllis Diller: Not Just a Pretty Face,” “Redd Foxx & Groucho Marx” and “Tim Conway: Timeless Comedy.” This boxed set retails for $19.98.
FAST & FURIOUS (Universal Studios Home Entertainment): The stars of the original film — Vin Diesel (also a producer), Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez — are reunited for the fourth in the inexplicably popular franchise about hot-rodding auto thieves. As you might expect, this focuses primarily on spinning wheels, screeching tires and predictable motorized mayhem. There is some visual flair, but in keeping with the series, this is much ado about nothing. Available as a singledisc DVD ($29.98 retail), a two-disc special-edition DVD ($34.98 retail), or a two-disc Blu-ray ($39.98 retail). In addition, Universal is releasing a boxed set containing all four films ($69.98 retail). Rated PG-13. *½
GOODBYE SOLO (LionsGate Home Entertainment): Ramin Bahrani’s award-winning, justly acclaimed human drama — filmed in and around Winston-Salem (Bahrani’s home town) — depicts the complicated friendship that develops between a Senegalese cab driver (Souleymane Sy Savane, in a smashing screen debut) and an embittered, mysterious old man (Red West) who hires his cab. Without question, one of the best films of 2009. Rated R. ***½
“THE HARDBODIES COLLECTION” (Anchor Bay Entertainment): Fans of ’80s sex comedies — and you know who you are — will doubtless remember this twin bill of raunchy comedies which played endlessly on late-night cable-TV: Hardbodies (1984) and its 1986 follow-up, the aptly named Hardbodies 2. Both films involve beaches and babes, both are directed by Mark Griffiths, both are rated R and both are available on one DVD ($14.98 retail).
“THE IT CROWD” — THE COMPLETE SEASON TWO (MPI Home Video): All six episodes from the 2007 season of the awardwinning British TV sitcom about the misadventures of three malcontents (Chris O’Dowd, Richard Ayaode and Katharine Parkinson) who run the technical support division of a multi-billion dollar corporation. This special-edition DVD, which retails for $24.98, includes an audio commentary, bloopers and featurette.
THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (Universal Studios Home Entertainment): Producers Wes Craven and Sean S. Cunningham revisit their 1972 classic with this award-winning remake in which a pair of teenaged girls (Sara Paxton and Martha MacIsaac) fall prey to a band of vicious thugs, who in turn wind up at the mercy of the former’s parents (Tony Goldwyn and Monica Potter) when they seek shelter. Like its predecessor, this is a merciless, visceral, knee-jerk shocker — and not for the squeamish. Craven based the original film on Bergman’s The Virgin Spring (see below). Rated R (also available in an unrated version). **½
“LIONSGATE BLU-RAYS” (LionsGate Home Entertainment): Jumping aboard the Blu-ray bandwagon, LionsGate introduces the debuts of Renny Harlin’s 1995 box-office flop Cutthroat Island, starring his thenwife Geena Davis, Matthew Modine and Frank Langella, rated PG-13; Johnny Depp and Langella in Roman Polanski’s The Ninth Gate (1999), rated R; Jean-Claude Van Damme (in a dual role) and Michael Rooker in Replicant (2001), rated R; Chaos (2005), starring Jason Statham, Ryan Phillippe and Wesley Snipes, rated R; and the dreadful 2006 shocker See No Evil, starring pro wrestler Kane and rated R. Each Blu-ray retails for $19.99.
“MAD MEN” — SEASON TWO (LionsGate Home Entertainment): The “Golden Age” of Madison Avenue’s advertising boom (the early 1960s) is dramatized in all 13 episodes from the 2008-‘09 season of the critically acclaimed, award-winning AMC (American Movie Classics) series created by Matthew Weiner. Nominated for 16 Emmy Awards including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Jon Hamm), Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (Elisabeth Moss) and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (John Slattery). The DVD boxed set and the Blu-ray boxed set each retail for $49.98.
MERLIN AND THE BOOK OF BEASTS (Anchor Bay Entertainment): Camelot’s in ruins, so the famed wizard (James Callis) is pulled out of mothballs to save the day in this OK fantasy that moves reasonably well and gets some punch from Laura Harris (as the warrior Avlynn) and a good-humored Callis, who sometimes sounds as if he’s doing a Pete Postlethwaite impression. ** “NFL
RUN FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP: THE 2008 SEASON IN REVIEW” (NFL Films/Warner Home Video): We all know how it ended — with the Pittsburgh Steelers winning their unprecedented sixth Super Bowl championship — but this documentary ($19.98 retail) provides an overview of the entire 2008 season from beginning to end… just in time for the 2009 season.
TABLE FOR THREE (Anchor Bay Entertainment): Lovelorn bachelor Brandon Routh advertises for a roommate and ends up with “perfect couple” Sophia Bush and Jesse Bradford, who proceed to drive him crazy with their behavior and habits. Nicely played, particularly by Bush and Bradford as the duo from hell, but this wannabe black comedy lacks edge. Rated R. **
VAN WILDER: FRESHMAN YEAR (Paramount Home Entertainment): This prequel explores how the lothario of Coolidge College (played here by Jonathan Bennett) got to be so cool. The cast tries hard, but this grossout comedy falls short. Leading lady Kristin Cavallari looks great jogging in slow-motion, however. Rated R. *½
THE VIRGIN SPRING (The Criterion Collection): Ingmar Bergman’s critically acclaimed 1960 parable and thriller is set in 14th-century Sweden, with Max Von Sydow and Birgitta Valberg as a couple bent on avenging the murder of their young daughter (Birgitta Pettersson), who get their chance when the culprits show up at their house seeking shelter. This was the inspiration for The Last House on the Left (see above), and won the Academy Award as Best Foreign-Language Film, with an additional nomination for costume design. Special features include an introduction by filmmaker Ang Lee and video interviews with cast members Pettersson and Gunnel Lindblom. This special-edition DVD retails for $39.95.
Mark Burger can be heard Friday mornings on the “Two Guys Named Chris” radio show on Rock-92. Copyright 2009, Mark Burger !
