Cinematical

Enough time has passed since 9/11 that filmmakers are beginning to feel comfortable talking about it in their films. In Sorry, Haters, writer and director Jeff Stanzler wonders if, for some, tragedy is an addiction. New Yorkers, in particular, pride themselves on their ability to unify in the face of adversity. The blackout of 2003 and the "blizzard" of 2006 each had newscasters (and the Mayor) standing on street corners, lauding the citizens and their willingness to band together. Would we be so concerned with that image if we didn't have to live up to the expectations created by 9/11? We have a duty to fulfill, it seems, and for some life was never better than it was in the shadow of no towers.

Phoebe (Robin Wright Penn, frenetically overacting) has a thankless job at Q-Dog, an MTV-type conglomerate. Her closest friends are well-meaning, but ultimately oblivious, not to mention richer and more successful; Phoebe's jealousy is palpable. In tragedy, however, all are equal, and this becomes her focus and biggest fantasy: how to make it happen—to recreate that feeling of belonging—all over again? The premise is an interesting one, and not unfathomable. Tragedy does bring a community closer together, not to mention the pride that comes with "living through" said tragedy. In a time where war, for many, is an abstract, far-away thing fed to us piecemeal by network talking heads, just living through seemingly random violence  is equivalent to courage, and as we know from all war films, courage equals bonding. What to do, then, when the camaraderie fades away?

I am generally suspicious of "star-studded" casts; that five, ten, or even twenty actors would all agree to participate in an independent film speaks not so much to the quality of the project but the current vogue of Hollywood actors wanting to create for themselves "indie" cred. And TV cred. And stage cred. So on and so forth like little Mexican jumping beans they go, from one acting platform to the next, building the versatile resume of an A-grade 21st century star. But perhaps the star-studded cast is less for resume building and more for rubbing elbows between the established and the new, the young and the old, the Hollywood icon and the crossover hit. Or maybe everyone's just feeling sentimental.

Some combination of the above theories might explain the strange amalgamation that is Nine Lives, with tearjerker experts Glenn Close, Kathy Baker, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Holly Hunter, Robin Wright Penn, Amy Brennerman, and Dakota Fanning reading dutifully from a script that seems to have been drafted during an Oprah post-show party.

The search for meaning is not a search for truth. I've come to this conclusion (which now seems so obvious) while doing research on Vincente Minnelli's 1956 film, Lust for Life, which purports to chronicle the life of Vincent Van Gogh. Of course, we're now old hats at knowing bio-pics very rarely stick to the unadulterated truth. But in 1956? I can't say what audiences thought then. Lust for Life the film was based on Lust for Life the book, by Irving Stone, which became a bestseller in its second edition. I haven't read the book, but my guess is this is an example of small stones casting wide ripples--the compass is off by one degree, but travel eight thousand miles by that compass and you might find yourself living among "indians," not Indians. See how that works?

Fictionalize the life of one great man and set the entire genre of film biography going in the wrong direction. Fans approach these films like they would an ancient, unearthed diary. Vincent Van Gogh in SpectraColor! His secrets revealed! It's just too tempting a scenario for sentimentalists like myself. Admirers and scholars spend years riddling out the hidden meaning behind paint strokes; they flap their hands and push their glasses up their collective noses and say "Ah, yes! The dark colors here, in the background--they symbolize his pain, his heartache!" Because art means so much more when there's an actual living, breathing, tortured soul behind it. And who's more tortured than Van Gogh?

So, why make a film about a real-life tortured soul, only cut out all the really tortured parts? Why gloss over the whores, the absinthe addiction, the permanent midnight? Van Gogh's mania and suicidal tendencies are well known; his agonies are legendary. The fact is, peering into a fictional man's soul is far less fascinating than fictionalizing a real man's soul. As film historian Dr. Drew Casper explains in the DVD commentary track, Lust for Life was made in a time when "consensus and conformity were valued," yet the American male, returning home from war, was "unsure." Casper wagers that much of the success of the film can be attributed to its making this "dialectic [...] its heartbeat." America needed a portrait of its agony, and Hollywood served up an amputated Starry, Starry Night. The details might be off, but emotionally, it was a perfect fit.

I've been sitting here for a while now, staring at the blinking cursor on my blank screen, trying to think of something to say about the collector's edition--out this week--of the 1984 Alex Cox film, Repo Man. What do you say about a film that is quoted, still to this very day and largely unknowingly, by young punk wannabes, suburban potheads, and 30-something film nerds, but probably would elicit a "what?" from this decade's stock of yawning teenagers? Let alone that Repo Man couldn't get made in this decade, or the next, or the next after that. It's too political, satirical, and absurd; it reaches way beyond any current measuring stick we have for political, satirical, absurdist films--beyond Mean Girls, beyond Election, beyond whatever's dubbed the newest "piercing look at today's youth." Bah. Piercing look my ass.

Maybe I'll use some kind of joke for an introduction, something political and absurd, you know, just to mirror what I feel about this film? How about this: "So, a British guy wearing a headband and the inventor of the neutron bomb are sitting around one afternoon watching clips from the film Repo Man..." That's the start of a pretty great joke, no? Except, right then when you were thinking, "Hey, great joke!" I  was chuckling because what you don't know is that the British guy is director Alex Cox and the inventor of the neutron bomb is Sam Cohen, inventor of the neutron bomb, and yes, they really are sitting around watching Repo Man--in fact, they're part of a bonus featurette on the disc. Cohen is relaxing in a barcalounger, his feet up.   He wonders aloud in a gravelly voice, "What's that Emilio Estevez--that is his name?--up to these days?" Alex Cox doesn't know. He thinks Emilio might be trying his hand at directing, but he's not sure.

That's so obviously punk rock, right? A winking put-on by Cox for the DVD release, the disheveled scientist an unwitting stand-in for The Man. You think, "Poor guy's gonna get eviscerated by this aging punk rocker!" But it turns out that Sam Cohen called Alex Cox--essentially invited himself over--because next to Dr. Strangelove, Repo Man is his favorite film.

Let me begin by extending a warm thanks to the folks at Reel Life Video in Brooklyn, New York. Were it not for them, you would be reading a review of a current DVD release--maybe Resident Evil: Apocalypse, or perhaps the Final Destination Scared 2 Death Pack. Really, it could have been anything from the new release wall, but blind luck and a surly hipster video clerk conspired instead to deliver Preston Sturges's Unfaithfully Yours to my door, labeled both "Drama" and "New" and therefore able to pass undetected into my home by way of my well-intentioned (but not very film-knowledgeable) partner. The mix-up is to be expected – this particular film, plucked from the Sturges archives and revamped by the Criterion Collection in 2005, is as unplaceable as it is brilliant. It doesn't fit easily into any particular niche, and resists, as Sturges himself did, being labeled and shelved by folks who don't know nil from nought.

A fifty-eight year old film that confuses video clerks today surely flummoxed audiences then. Now more properly dubbed a "pitch-black comedy," Unfaithfully Yours announced itself to the world as "six kinds of picture in one!" and the trailer, a bonus feature on the Criterion Collection disc (and what should be a stock feature on any DVD of any film), zips from one clip to the next, rubbernecking the viewer with rapid fire promises of "Great music! Sheer terror! Hilarious comedy! Tense drama! Sparkling dialogue and high temperature romance!" I personally envisioned six frazzled 20th Century Fox studio executives, wagging their cigars at each other, spitting invectives and cursing Sturges's name. "Comedy!" one cried, "Murder!" cried another, "Screw it! Do 'em all!" cried the last.

It's been said that there are a fixed number of unique, dramatic storylines—romance, adventure, etcetera—and no matter how hard we try to come up with an original story, it's usually already been told. Hollywood knows this adage well—I don't think there's a film out there that doesn't have a "sequel" in some form or another. So even if you've never seen Pillow Talk (1959), you've probably heard of it's modern spin-off, Down with Love (2003), which has Ewan McGregor and Renee Zellweger doing split-screen push-ups amidst a 1960s color-palette. The set design is about as accurate as the film gets, time-wise; for the most part, it's your average 21 st-century, politically-correct love story, reiterations of which are sprinkled all over the New Release shelf: man wants woman, woman wants man, man deceives woman, woman finds out, woman gets comeuppance, man grovels but ultimately whisks woman off her proverbial feet—but only because the woman lets him. Love has been reduced to the level of business transaction: you can have me, but only on *my terms. That said, there's nothing resembling Pillow Talk on the shelves today (except for all the other Doris Day/Rock Hudson films, which are generally thought of as sequels to Pillow Talk). The sexcapade is dead. Long live the sexcapade!

Landing on the shelves this week are several special editions of previously released DVDs. Sin City, Airplane!, and Mel Gibson's Gallipoli each get a makeover, while Michael Bay's The Island tries to slip quietly onto the New Release wall.

• Bad News Bears: Collector's Edition - Richard Linklater's rougher, meaner remake of the classic 1976 film. A rag-tag group of screw-up kids are mentored to victory by an alcoholic ex-baseball pitcher (Billy Bob Thorton). Thorton plays the part of grizzled coach Morris Buttermaker with such aplomb that it's hard not to wonder if he might be like that in real life. Fast forward to present: Angelina Jolie tabloids it up with Brad Pitt.
• The Island - If you blinked, you missed it. Michael Bay's (Armageddon, The Rock) The Island scraped by at the box office back in July, but its borrowed plot (think Gattaca, Logan's Run) might hold your attention long enough to warrant a rental.  Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson find themselves in a utopian society run amok. Who would've thought? It turns out that McGregor and Johansson are clones, spare-parts for their aging human counterparts. They run. Also starring Ewan McGregor's hair. And a helicopter. And a fast car. And a bridge. Possibly also some explosions and an existential crisis.
• Sin City: Recut, Extended, Unrated - Robert Rodriguez's cutthroat adaptation of the ink-noir Frank Miller comic book/graphic novel. In the perpetually crooked Sin City, the characters beat each other bloody in the name of love, revenge, and sadism. (One of its Amazon.com keywords is "cannibalism.") With Jessica Alba, Benicio del Toro, Brittany Murphy, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, and Clive Owen, there are enough stars to fulfill anyone's Hollywood idolatry. Special features include fresh commentary by Frank Miller, special guest director Quentin Tarantino, and Robert Rodriguez. There's also film school and cooking school with Rodriguez, an interactive game, a blooper reel, mini-docs on everything from costuming to cars, the complete Sin City graphic novel "The Hard Goodbye," and 20 minutes of additional footage. And that's the short list.
• Airplane! The "Don't Call Me Shirley" Edition - The tag-line for the film was "What's slower than a speeding bullet, and able to hit tall buildings at a single bound?" Oops. This absurdist take on air travel is part Monty Python, part National Lampoon, but now rings eerily true as the frenzy of holiday travel descends upon us. Ted Striker (Robert Hays) is a traumatized pilot who finds himself aboard a plane-in-peril. Bizarre comedy ensues, and believe me, there's enough of it to warrant a frame-by-frame analysis. This special edition includes deleted scenes, interviews, and commentary by producer Jon Davidson and writer/directors Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker and David Zucker.
• Gallipoli: Special Collectors Edition - The first real "film" introduced to me by my sixth-grade History teacher in our after-school film club, and one of the world's first glimpses of Mel Gibson back when he still had his Australian accent. Gallipoli won several well-deserved awards for it's portrayal of two young men thrown willy-nilly into the trenches of World War I. The film's final shot is an arresting iconographic eulogy to all "the innocent doomed" of war. Directed by Peter Weir.

Peter Jackson looms even larger, as The Frighteners, starring Michael J. Fox, gets a re-re-release and some additional footage. The comic book-adaptation Fantastic Four arrives with a thud, and a vintage King Kong rip-off sounds vaguely amusing.

• Fantastic Four - Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, and Ioan Gruffudd are The Fantastic Four, Julian MacMahon is Dr. Doom. Our very own Tom Biro reviewed it and, well, evidently watching it is akin to a disappointing, "terribly short sexual experience." But hey, it's out on DVD now, so now you can have that experience in the privacy of your own home.
• Cinderella Man - Here comes Jim Braddock, "washed-up Irish palooka" and boxing come-back legend! Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger star in this period piece, recounting the true-story of Braddock and his cauliflower ears. It's either a heart-warming tearjerker or a middle-of-the-road "eh, I'll watch it" kind of film. Cinematical's hyper-critical eye, Ryan Stewart, reviewed the film back in June. Check it out.
• The Dukes of Hazzard - Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott as Luke and Bo Duke, respectively. Jessica Simpson adds cleavage in the role of Daisy, and Willie Nelson fuels The General Lee with his own special brand of bio-diesel. Oh, wait, no, he just plays Uncle Jesse. Will the Duke boys stop Boss Hog (Burt Reynolds) from stealing the family farm? Oh my! Watch and see!
• The Frighteners: Peter Jackson's Director's Cut - Michael J. Fox is a paranormal investigator out to stop a supernatural killer. The film was Mr. Jackson's first big studio production, and here we're treated to an extra 14 minutes of footage as homage to how unbelievably popular he has since become, although the New York Times' Dave Kehr still thinks it falls short. As far as entertainment value goes, Fox is his naturally charming self and the spook bit alternates from silly to genuinely creepy.
• Konga - Waaay back in 1961 some clever Brits decide to add an 'A' to the end of Kong, take away the "born in the jungle" bit (and the fact that King Kong is an ape, not a chimp), add a unscrupulous botanist (aren't they all?) and a "carnivorous plant serum" and Voila! Giant chimp terrorizes London. Big Ben looms in the distance as a "gee, haven't I seen this somewhere before?" visual reference.

With Christmas right around the corner, DVD "special edition" re-releases of blockbuster  movies are way up. Just this week we've got "Kermit's 50th Anniversary Editions" of a few classic Muppet movies, and the Jurassic Park Adventure Pack. A few good docs get their disc-day, too.

• March of the Penguins - They mate for life, wear little tuxedos, and live in the Antarctic. They're also unbearably cute, especially when they do the Emperor Penguin waddle. The DVD version of Luc Jacquet's documentary features a "crittercam," a Bugs Bunny short (?), and "Of Penguins and Men," a mini-doc about the making of the film. Go forth and whimper before the beauty of nature.
• Mr. & Mrs. Smith - Angelina Jolie + Brad Pitt + big guns + witty banter + sexual tension + rampant rumors = immensely enjoyable skin-deep guilty pleasure flick perfect for watching some night when you're home alone with nothing but a six-pack and a package of ramen. Which is exactly how I spent most of my grade-school weekends (neglectful, partying parents), except James Bond was my babysitter.
• The Muppet Feature Films Series (Kermit's 50th Anniversary Edition) - Sold separately. The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Muppet Movie, and The Great Muppet Caper each get a "Kermit" make-over. Director Brian Henson does voice-over commentary on The Muppet Christmas Carol, and there are "profiles" of individual Muppets ("Miss Piggy: The Diva Who Would Not Be Denied") on each disc. I wish they'd done commentary for each film, and I also wish that Muppet Treasure Island had been included (personal favorite), but, alas, no.
• Jurassic Park Adventure Pack - Pretty self-explanatory: Jurassic Park parts I, II, and II  wrapped up in a shiny package with a bonanza of bonus features intended to plump up the "collector value." Just remember folks, quantity vs. quality: featurettes like "Location Scouting" and "Early Pre-Production Meetings" might not be the awesome extras you were expecting.
• Murderball - Team USA plays full-contact quadriplegic rugby, and they play it well. This doc (from new-comer directors Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro) follows the team all the way to the Paralypmic Games in Athens, Greece. There's no weepy, sentimental heart-to-hearts here. These are tough-as-nails guys playing a tough-ass sport, and frankly, they make you look like a bipedal wuss. Extras include Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O doing godknowswhat, filmmaker commentary, and player commentary.

Jada Pinkett-Smith as yet another animated voice, the man behind the Ring of Fire, and cute children dancing in the Alps. Just your average week.

• Madagascar (Widescreen Edition) -- You know, talking penguins and whatnot. Ben Stiller is a timid lion and Jada Pinkett-Smith, whose entire career now seems to revolve around children's animated films, is a hippo. Together this band of zoo escapees find themselves dealing with "real" wildlife in Af-ri-ca.
• The Sound of Music (40th Anniversary Edition) -- The hills are alive! If you don't know what this film is about or haven't seen it you're probably on Bush's watch-list. As I am. Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer dance and sing saccharine songs in the Alps. This special edition features commentary by Andrews, Plummer, and a real Von Trapp. There's also a retrospective doc, a Von Trapp biography, and a screen test of Mia Farrow (huh?).
• The Unauthorized Life of Johnny Cash (Documentary) -- Another one of those "hot on the heels of" docs. Last week it was 50 Cent, this week Mr. Cash. We're looking forward to Joaquin Phoenix's performance in the upcoming Walk the Line, but if you're unfamiliar with Johnny's music and addictions, you might want to brush up with this. Contains some rare footage such as Cash's performance at the Nixon White House.
• Almost Normal (Gay & Lesbian) -- Say you're gay, in your 40s, and completely unhappy with life thus far. What better way to feel your oats than to be magically transported back to high school, where everyone is magically gay, and you can finally get it on with your favorite jock/crush. I haven't seen this, thus can't testify to its quality, but there are never enough gay and lesbian films on the shelves so this, at the very least, deserves a look.
• Happy Endings (Independent) - Maggie Gyllenhaal (yay! Secretary!), Laura Dern (yay! Citizen Ruth!), and Lisa Kudrow (yay! ...Friends?) star in this quirky yarn about "life and love." Quirky yarn. Life and love. Yup.
• The Edukators (Foreign) -- I harbor fantasies of breaking in to people's homes and rearranging their furniture (I toyed with the gang-name "Feng Shui Bandits"). In this case, the young thugs are mild revolutionaries, peacefully disturbing the peace with a little B&E, shuffling the belongings of the wealthy. In German with subtitles, directed by Hans Weingartner.