How to Spend $20
By Les Winan
April 28, 2005
BoxOfficeProphets.com

What did Les say about my acting again?
Taking a look ahead at the week's DVD releases is always dicey for your wallet. Nearly every week, there's a disc that would fit nicely into any size collection. When it comes time to decide what to buy, there are really two determining factors: how much you love the content and the quality of the extra features on the disc.

As a result, decisions will be totally subjective (I bought the full run of the unjustly canceled ABC dramedy Sports Night, no matter that the discs are featureless, The Criterion Collection edition of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a disc I had been dreaming of for years). The massive unreleased studio (film and television) back-catalogue means that every week there's likely something for every film fan.

How to Spend $20 would like to offer its sincerest apologies for the multi-week absence. We never like to miss a column, but when you’re climbing Mount Everest, driving in Le Mans and running a Fortune 500 company, eventually something’s gotta give. This is an impressively uninspiring week to return.

For fans of The World According to Garp: Undertow (2004)

Despite significant critical success for his first film, George Washington, David Gordon Green has yet to find true commercial success, eschewing showy, star-laden films for smaller films that are stark in their life-like dialogue and pacing. Undertow tells the story of a poor family in rural Georgia and stars Jamie “Billy Elliot” Bell, Josh Lucas and Kristen Stewart. Included on the DVD are an audio commentary with Green and Bell, deleted scenes and a documentary.

For the thrill of Wesley Snipes’ complete insanity: Blade: Trinity (Unrated Version) (2004)

By far the most entertaining thing about Blade: Trinity is not the sudden appearance of Ryan Reynolds’ muscles; it’s the behavior of Wesley “Blade” Snipes on set. Snipes was reportedly less than thrilled to be on set and part of the film and didn’t hesitate to let everyone know. Currently suing New Line for forcing him to make a crappy film, Snipes seems to have been correct in his assessment of it. If you do check out this DVD, you’ll notice the extreme lack of Snipes in the extra features, unless you’re looking for comments by his costars. Included on the disc are bloopers, an alternate ending and an audio commentary with director David Goyer and stars Jessica Biel and Reynolds.

For the catharsis of watching Bette Midler die. What? Barbara Hershey’s the one who dies? DAMN IT!: Beaches (Special Edition) (1988)

I think we all have but one question of any movie directed by Garry Marshall: what part does Hector Elizondo play? With this late '80s weeper about lifelong friends who connect and then reconnect at various points in their lives, Marshall may have hit an all-time high…with annoyingly ubiquitous songs. More of an anvil over the head than anything uttered by Jim Nantz during the NCAA Tournament or The Masters (rendering April to be known as “Mute Month”), Midler’s “Wing Beneath My Wings” remains a horrifying song. If you’ve recently taken in multiple screenings of The Notebook and just don’t know where to turn next, you may want to take a look at this DVD, which features bloopers, an audio commentary by director Garry Marshall; screen tests; Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings” music video and featurettes.

For never missing a chance to see Jim Carrey’s attempts to turn himself into a taller, less hairy Robin Williams: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (Special Collector's Edition) (2004)

Brad Silberling’s adaptation of the wildly successful children's books was mildly successful, unless, of course, you consider giving Jim Carrey many opportunities to overact in strange costumes the only barometer of success. The story of three recent orphans sent to live with a distant relative (Carrey) the film concerns, apparently, a series of unfortunate events that befall the children. Carrey, from the look of the film, is given free reign to act crazy and bizarre. He is now, in my estimation, mere weeks from doing a movie where he attempts to entertain a sick person with a red rubber ball on his nose. In fact, if you check out BOP Today, filming started this past Monday. If you do buy this DVD, you’ll be treated to the unfortunate event of an audio commentary with Silberling, an additional with Silberling and “the Real Lemony Snicket” (whatever that means); deleted scenes; outtakes; featurettes and other assorted extras.

April 26, 2005

Alien Abduction (2005)
The American Revolution (1994)
The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004)
Bad Boy Bubby (1993)
Beaches (Special Edition) (1988)
The Black Gate (1995)
Blade: Trinity (Unrated Version) (2004)
Boccaccio '70 (1962)
Book of Love (2004)
Darkness (2004)
Divorce Italian Style (2-Disc Criterion Edition) (1962)Emile (2003)
ER: The Complete Third Season (6-DVD Set) (1996)
F for Fake (2-Disc Criterion Edition) (1975)
Glass Bottom Boat (1966)
Hard Ground (2003)
Hell's Gate 11:11 (2004)
Heroic Duo (2003)
Highway to Heaven: Season One (7-DVD Set) (1984)
I Do (but I Don't) (2004)
Indigo (2003)
Larva (2005)
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (Special Collector's Edition) (2004)
Leonard Part 6 (1987)
The Lost Angel (2004)
Love Me or Leave Me (1955)
Lullaby of Broadway (1951)
My Name is Nobody (1974)
Plain Truth (2004)
Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960)
Undertow (2004)
Until the Night (2004)
The Waltons: The Complete Second Season (5-DVD Set) (1973)
Wild Things: Diamonds in the Rough (2005)
Womens Prison Massacre (1983)
Wooly Boys (2001)
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1964)
Young Man with a Horn (1950)