How to Spend $20
By Les Winan
December 1, 2004
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.
For people who believe that Jesus would be the greatest golfer ever: Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004)
Despite tepid box office success, this film about golfing legend Bobby Jones is probably worth checking out. When else, after all, can you see Jesus playing a golfer? Really though, star Jim Caviezel apparently put a great deal of work into duplicating Jones’ swing. While purchasing the disc is probably for golf fans only, the disc does include a variety of extra features. Among the extras are bloopers (do you think they’ll include bloopers on the eventual Passion of the Christ Special Edition?); deleted scenes; a documentary; a featurette and photo galleries. Not a bad package.
For exactly one person…who happens to be on the BOP staff: Tru Calling: The Complete First Season (6-DVD Set) (2003)
While the clear target market for this set is Eliza Dushku fans who have already spent every moment they can with Buffy DVDs, I came to a realization while looking up information about this series. If I had known that one of Dushku’s co-stars was a guy named Zach Galifianakis, I would have at least checked out an episode just to see what a Galifianakis looked like. Okay, maybe not, but how bad must it have been to go through childhood with that name. Even if he joined the military, people would just call him “Zach” for simplicity’s sake. If you happen to be Reagen Sulewski and plan on running out to pick up this set, you’ll be excited about commentary tracks on selected episodes; deleted scenes with optional commentary and a variety of featurettes and music videos.
For those who enjoy suffering: Daredevil (Director's Cut) (2003)
As someone with a love for the Daredevil character, at some point, I will likely check out this disc just to see if it makes the movie any better. That said, I think that’s unlikely. I actually enjoy parts of the movie, it’s fun to see what they did get right (Bullseye, some of the other parts), but I can’t even advocate running out to pick up this disc. Unless you have a freakish need to have every scene that Ben Affleck has ever performed in on DVD, the first edition of Daredevil will likely do just fine. However, if you haven’t picked up either and meant to, go with this one…it’s already $14.99 at Best Buy and is only destined to get much, much cheaper. Extras on the disc include an audio commentary by writer/director Mark Steven Johnson and producer Avi Arad (during which they apparently, and with out irony, argue about which version of the film is best); additional footage; and a featurette.
For people who are interested in learning how to dodge arrows: Hero (2003)
For a discussion of the horrors Miramax puts Asian films, including Hero, through, I highly encourage you to read BOP’s own Chris Hyde’s open letter to Miramax Chairman Harvey Weinstein. There is no better advocate for Asian cinema than Mr. Hyde. If you are unfamiliar with Hero, it stars Jet Li, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi and was originally released in China in December of 2002. After an enormous number (roughly 236,443 by my count) of different U.S. release dates were announced, Miramax, the U.S. distributor, finally released Hero theatrically here in August of 2004. That seems like a reasonable turnaround. Except that it isn’t. The film is about different theories on how one man defeated the Emperor’s three assassins. Included on the DVD are storyboards and two featurettes. Most promising is the featurette that includes a conversation with Jet Li and Quentin Tarantino, which has to be the height of different language misunderstandings. I bet at one point Quentin tries to compliment Jet, who promptly can’t understand Quentin’s broken English and decides to beat the shit out of him.
For anyone who has ever been attacked by a guy with eight arms and man-boobs: Spider-Man 2 (Widescreen Special Edition) (2004)
A sequel in the great sequel pantheon with The Godfather Part 2 and The Empire Strikes Back, Spider-Man 2 is the DVD Pick of the Week. One of the best-reviewed and highest-grossing films of the year, Spider-Man 2 continues the adventures of, well, Peter Parker/Spider-Man as he faces a new villain and wrestles with the effect that being Spider-Man is having on his real life.
Directed, like the original, with extreme skill by Sam Raimi, working from a script by two-time Academy Award winning writer Alvin Sargent and a story by Miles Millar, Alfred Gough and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon, Spider-Man 2 has pedigree up the wazoo. It delivers. The film is a terrific blend of action, special effects, drama and, importantly, comedy. A film this earnest and well-meaning would be nothing without acting, and Tobey Maguire continues to fill out the Peter Parker role extremely well. Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina, James Franco, JK Simmons and Rosemary Harris round out the main supporting cast, with Simmons’ J. Jonah Jameson continuing to be a bigger scene-stealer than any Spider-Man villain could hope to be.
Fans of the first film were bilked out their money when the “DVD Gift Set” edition of the film was released and contained, quite literally, nothing worthwhile outside the Kevin Smith/Stan Lee interview disc. Beware! Sony has released another DVD Gift Set for Spider-Man 2! There is very little worth spending extra money on in that set, particularly given Raimi’s comments that indicate another version of the film (Spider-Man 2.5 is likely on the way next year).
All of the DVD-based features are intact on the regular DVD edition and they are extremely nice. Included are an audio commentary with Raimi, Maguire, producer Avi Arad, and coproducer Grant Curtis; photo galleries; four web-isodes (pun, I assume, intended); trivia tracks; bloopers and featurettes. It’s a terrific set for one of the best movies of the year and the DVD Pick of the Week. This is one of the few times that it’s probably worth picking this disc up, even if there is another version coming later.
November 30, 2004
Alive (2002)
Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004)
Chopin: Desire for Love (2002)
The Club (2004)
The Courage to Love (2000)
Daredevil (Director's Cut) (2003)
Eating (1990)
Faster (2003)
The Good War (2002)
Hero (2003)
It's All True (1993)
Lost in Space: Season Two, Volume Two (1965)
Luther (2003)
My Flesh and Blood (2003)
Northern Exposure: The Complete Second Season (2-DVD Set) (1991)
Racing with the Moon (1984)
Samantha: An American Girl Holiday (2004)
Spider-Man 2 (Full Frame Special Edition) (2004)
Spider-Man 2 (Widescreen Special Edition) (2004)
Tru Calling: The Complete First Season (6-DVD Set) (2003)
Vendetta: No Conscience No Mercy (2004)
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