missybluesblog

This is an agreeable, if morally ambiguous, little documentary covering the unlikely story of five plucky football freestylers (that’s keepy-uppy experts to you and me) from various UK locations who decide to meet up and busk their way across the US to meet Argentinean football ace, Diego Maradona.

It’s all fairly innocuous for the first half-hour which consists mainly of choppily-edited montages set to the standard throng of feel-good pop anthems. It’s bizarre, though, that as soon as the conceptual weakness starts to shine through (as well as the fact that its episodic structure would have been better suited to TV), a series of deeply implausible twists begin to occur which drag the film into an altogether darker domain. By the time they’ve got as far as Mexico City, it turns out that they’ve only made enough money for two of them to advance any further, and just as you’re waiting to hear the inevitable sermonising about ‘teamwork’, ‘friendship’ and ‘sticking together’, they’re drawing lots to see who stays and who goes. The film’s teary-eyed conclusion is clearly intended to have you punching the air in elation, but the message it delivers will actually leave you feeling quite cold.

A Lifetime silver screen on crack, "The Quiet" dredges up every graphic bromide from the well of teen hormonal havoc in a naval scuttlebutt of dysfunctional progenitors meltdown that seems unsure whether to push for suburban-Gothic psychosexual superfluous or tongue-in-cheek malevolence. Following "But I'm a Cheerleader," director Jamie Babbit throws much more than mead former lesbian tendencies at her girls this time around in a movie high-frequency on ill-starred atmosphere that goes so wildly sour-headquarter it becomes a borderline guilty pleasure. Commercial chances will depend on teens mute enough to take it or adults stoned enough to find it funny.

Following the death of her widowed father, Dot (Camilla Belle) is taken in by her adoptive godparents, Paul (Martin Donovan) and Olivia (Edie Falco) Deer. Deaf and silent since age 7 when her mother died, Dot is sullen and introspective. She is treated like a freak by the Deers' hostile daughter Nina (Elisha Cuthbert), whose poisonous behavior goes unchecked by mom and dad.

Dot fits in even less in the "mean girls" world of high school, finding refuge only in banging out a few bars of Beethoven on the music room Steinway.

As Dot quietly observes her new environment, it soon becomes apparent that the Deers are not the Cleavers. Decorator Olivia is a pill-popping zombie, while Paul regularly pops Nina, phoning her at school to ask, "Are you wearing your cheerleader outfit?"

Pretty soon, everyone is unburdening their secrets to Dot, who has secrets of her own. Nina wants to kill dad (her vengeful love-hate feelings almost find an outlet in a steam-iron incident), Paul acknowledges that he's sick and needs help, while poor Olivia just wants the right wallpaper and tchotchkes.

Into the murky mix, screenwriters Abdi Nazemian and Micah Schraft stir some barely closeted lesbian desire from slutty cheerleader (what is it with Babbit and the pom-pom girls?) Michelle (Katy Mixon, hilarious), whose bedroom is pure contempo-bordello, and who makes best pal Nina look like a rank amateur in the bitchstakes.

Possibly unintended laughs come from the "surprisingly" sensitive and not quite hunky enough hunk Connor (Shawn Ashmore), a sex-addicted jock with a learning disorder who's also a washout on the basketball court. Spurred by the belief that Dot can't hear him, Connor lets rip with some timeless seduction dialogue: "I can smell your hair. It smells like cucumbers. I got really, really hard last night." It's around this point the suspicion takes root that the writers might in fact be joking. However, the push in this direction is far too hesitant.

While it's great fun to see piano wire being employed in carnage again, the film is derailed by its own silliness. This is too bad, since stepsisters Dot and Nina, once they learn to communicate, might have been intriguingly complex characters in a teen thriller with a minimum of logic and subtlety. And Belle and Cuthbert provide more-than-adequate echoes of the Thora Birch-Mena Suvari dynamic.

Babbit does well at teasing out an environment of lurking everyday evil and the movie works best when Dot is locked in silent observational mode, looking poised to unleash some terrible pent-up force on the cracked suburban world. While there's little detail brought to that nondescript world, d.p. M. David Mullen's high-definition, widescreen camerawork supplies a lucid, moody look, matched by Jeff Rona's brooding score.

id., Francia / Israele
/ Italia 2001

di

Amos Gitai,

con

Samantha Morton, Thomas Jane, Luke Holland, Daphna Kastner

Con il triste paravento della matrice letteraria (Arthur Miller), Gitai
mette in scena il suo film forse più arduo e insulso, fatto di
insostenibili vuoti spaziali, narrativi e attoriali, con l'imprevedibile
eccezione della comprensibilmente smarrita Samantha Morton.

Un cinema così intellettualoide, piccolo, rachitico e gelido
che riesce a non dire nulla sull'amore, la guerra e le emozioni in generale.

If "Three of Hearts" is designed to be a particular not too bad of friendship experiences, then why does it seem so familiar, so old hat?

The premise presents a gender switcheroo on a well-worn mainstream formula, and there's at least a hint of originality in the setup. After living together as a couple in Manhattan for the past few years, Connie (Kelly Lynch) and Ellen (Sherilyn Fenn) decide to call it quits. Ellen, an English teacher who dresses like the headmaster of an all-girls academy, fell in love with Connie, a nurse of Polish descent, after the collapse of Ellen's previous relationship (with a man). Now Ellen needs some "space" to think things through. Connie, who never saw the breakup coming, is devastated. She's still madly in love with Ellen, loading up her former girlfriend's answering machine with desperate messages and obsessively torturing herself by reviewing happier moments from their relationship on videotape.

This section of the film is its freshest, primarily because Lynch — who with her lank, reddish blond hair looks remarkably like Axl Rose — gives such urgency to Connie's heartbreak. The end of the affair is a real blow to her, and she's not about to give up without a fight. After hiring a smoothly polished male escort named Joe (played by a sleepy-eyed William Baldwin) to play her fiance at a family gathering, Connie has a brainstorm. The problem, she's sure, is men; if Ellen can get them out of her system, then she's sure to come running straight back home. And so Connie hires Joe — who, like Richard Gere in "American Gigolo," has a special talent for seducing women — to give Ellen a quick education in what monsters men can really be, break her heart and cure her forever of this heterosexual nonsense.

There are actually some nice moments here, but director Yurek Bogayevicz ("Anna") fails to capitalize on the real strengths of Adam Greenman and Mitch Glazer's screenplay. The most interesting relationship in the film is between Connie and Joe, both of whom are experts in feminine psychology, and who, apart from their secret plot, become real pals. But instead of exploring this platonic male-female friendship, Bogayevicz distracts us with Joe's tiresome conflicts of conscience over his chosen line of work (poor thing, he doesn't like being a whore) and his violent dispute with an underworld acquaintance who thinks Joe set him up with the cops.

Joe's affair with Ellen also has an unconvincing, perfunctory air about it; he smooth-talks his romantic target, buttering her up with suave lies, and without knowing the first thing about him or his background, she's snowed. The problem is, so is Joe, which puts him in trouble both with Connie, who feels betrayed, and Joe's pimp (Joe Pantoliano), who made him what he is and isn't happy about seeing his investment squandered.

At this point, the movie shifts away from the women and, by concentrating on Joe's problems, misplaces its emotional center. Strangely enough — at least in a movie that bills itself as a lesbian romance — it's Joe who has been the movie's love object since the beginning; even though all three characters are prime physical specimens, it's his body, his movie-star looks and confident boudoir manner that are portrayed as irresistible to all women, regardless of orientation.

And why not? After all, he's a pro, but when he starts seeing Ellen he suddenly becomes ashamed of his life. Playing out the cliched scenario of the whore who finds his heart of gold, Joe wants to make something of himself — for her — so they can live together happily ever after.

To the movie's credit, this goal is not so easily accomplished (though the audience is given ample reason for hope). Still, we are subjected to endless rounds of banal, pseudo-philosophical conversation about the woes of love, sex and friendship, in addition to a great deal of hair-tossing and fledgling star posturing. By some miracle, the movie seems both too heavy — that is, too self-important and pleased with itself — and too light. There's an interesting idea in here somewhere; perhaps when it resurfaces, the filmmakers will realize its potential and not approach it as if they were making an episode of "Beverly Hills, 90210."

"Three of Hearts" contains adult language and situations.

"It's in the same pasta bowl
as the Sergio Leone films, only with even more red sauce."

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

This is arguably erratic spaghetti western Italian filmmaker Sergio
Corbucci's ("Django"/"A Professional Gun") best film; it's a bleak and
unrelenting bloody actioner that takes no prisoners and feels content with
its high body count. It's in the same pasta bowl as the Sergio Leone films,
only with even more red sauce. It relishes in the themes of class struggle,
the corruption of the law and in violent political revolution, keeping
with the turbulent times over the Vietnam War protests going on in America
during its filming. Never released in American theaters, only on video
and later on DVD, it nevertheless found its niche with a small but appreciative
following of hardened cult fans that could handle its tough lessons on
law and order and not be squeamish over its bloodbath. Its grim ending
has all the good guys dead and most of the bad guys alive, as it shows
that one man alone can't fight against the system to make it right–contrary
to what most of the other Westerns were spewing out as the American way.

It's set in the Utah Territory (filmed at the Pyrenees) during a
snowy winter around the turn of the last century.

The film's hero is a mute gunslinger, who kills only in self-defense,
appropriately named Silence (Jean-Louis Trintignant), whose vocal cords
have been slashed by a sadistic bounty-hunter when he was a youngster and
witnessed his parents gunned down by the bounty hunter working for crooked
Snow Hill banker Pollicut (Luigi Pistilli). Since then Silence has hated
the bounty hunters who murder and bully the unfortunate under the full
protection of the law, and he charges $1,000 to those requiring his services
to eliminate the bounty hunters. His M.O. is to force the bounty hunters
to draw on him, and he either kills them or shoots off their thumbs. When
a group of Mormons have been forced to go into the mountains as unwilling
outlaws, forced into stealing for survival by creepy storekeeper/ banker/justice
of the peace Pollicut, some hire Silence to protect them from the bounty
hunters seeking them out. His rep has grown in the area over time and he's
hired to get revenge by the light-skinned Negro Pauline (Vonetta McGee,
her film debut), who was recently made a widow when the deranged bounty
hunter Loco (Klaus Kinski) and his vulgar partner Charlie gunned down her
husband after he threw down his rifle and surrendered. Pauline says "They
call him Silence, because wherever he goes, the silence of death follows."
Silence eggs Charlie to draw on him and is killed, and he then pursues
Loco.

Loco also charges $1,000 for his services, but only uses the law
as a cover for his greed and killing: he's a madman who would kill either
for money or to get his kicks. Though both claim to work within the law:
Loco works for the wealthy and powerful Pollicut to put down the oppressed
Mormon renegades, while Silence works for the oppressed to get justice
against the powerful. 

The governor of the territory is aware of the bounty hunters taking
advantage of the law and says in the near future amnesty will come and
the outlaws can leave the hills in peace, but until then he sends his top
man Burnett (Frank Wolff), the patriotic hero soldier and fast draw, to
be the law-abiding sheriff of Snow Hill.

It all builds to one downbeat shootout massacre of at least some
twenty people by the guncrazy bounty hunters, as it ends in despair and
hopelessness. It follows with a title card pointing out that justice didn't
come to the territory until decades afterwards. The feeling that everyone
is trapped in this beautiful looking snowbound winter wonderland is superbly
captured by the camerawork of cinematographer Silvano Ippolito. Ennio Morricone's
haunting score adds to the eerie beauty of this grim film. Except for a
few spots in the story where the actions of the men can be questioned as
not being real, the western holds up as a hardhitting but unique one that
was serious about what it had to say about law and order and the social
order.

Technical Information

Studio:
Main
Pictures Home Video
Year of Theatrical Let off:
2000
Disc Format:
1
single-sided, Dual Layer
Image Composition:
Anamorphic
(16×9 enhanced)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85:1
Region Encoding:
1
Sound Format:
Dolby
Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 (Pro Logic)
Running Time:
126
minutes
Director:
Nancy
Meyers
Stars:
Mel Gibson,
Helen Hunt, Alan Alda, Marisa Tomei
MPAA Rating:
PG-13

Disc Supplements:

Commentary with Nancy Meyers and Production Designer
Jon Hutman.

Behind the scenes featurette.

Cast and crew interviews.

2 Theatrical trailers

The premise of What Women Want is that a womanizing
man is given the ability to read women's thoughts. What a great
gift. Now he'll know exactly what to say to get women to sleep
with him. Now he'll know exactly what to do when they get in
bed. Now he can have revenge against his new female boss, who
he feels stole a job that was rightfully his.

It's an interesting premise, but a dangerous
one because it could easily fail on so many levels. First of
all, we need a main character that is slimy enough that we recognize
he desperately needs a clue, yet we need to like him enough
that we hope he gets one. In clumsier hands, the main character,
Nick Marshall, could easily be completely unlikable.

It's also important that the film not dwell
on the source of the mind-reading ability. We know its absurd
that a man can get struck by lightning and gain the ability
to read only the thoughts of women (much less survive). A lesser
script would have spent screen time trying to explain the phenomenon.

That same script might have also have made
Darcy Maguire (Helen Hunt), Nick's newly appointed boss, into
a villain. Instead, she's a normal person who's just doing her
job, and Nick exploits that. It's not her that needs to change;
it's Nick's perception of her that requires changing.

The casting of Mel Gibson as Nick Marshall
is perfect. Gibson is well known as an action hero, but he is
also comfortable mocking himself. Not many of Hollywood's testosterone
crowd could get away with prancing around in pantyhose and eyeliner,
but somehow this star of Braveheart makes it work.

Perhaps the only flaw in the film is the handling
of one of the side-stories. A young woman in Nick's office feels
underappreciated and unnoticed and contemplates suicide. Nick
hears her thoughts and feels he needs to help her. The set-up
works and we feel genuinely concerned for this girl, and then
the resolution falls flat. I feel it was either necessary to
expand this girl's story a little more, or drop it from the
film entirely. But it's a minor flaw and doesn't seriously harm
the film.

Paramount continues their tradition
of solid transfers for this release. The anamorphic picture is nearly
flawless with no visible artifacting and only slight edge enhancement.
Colors are all accurate and vibrant and the darker scenes still
retain detail.

The sound is also very good. For
the most part, the surround channels remain extremely subtle, but
some scenes make very good use of the rear and bass speakers. Overall,
the sound mix matches the various moods of the film.

Paramount is getting better and better about
adding extra features to their discs. While this one can't compare
to some of the feature-heavy releases of late, it does have the
extras that count. First up is an audio commentary by director Nancy
Meyers and Production assistant Jon Huttman. One of the things that
comes through on this track is just how open this production was
to input from the cast. Gibson is well-known for his ad libbing
antics and he and the rest of the cast were given the opportunity
to do just that.

Two featurettes are included, The Making of What
Women Want and What Women Want: A Look Inside. Neither featurette
goes into great detail about the making of the film, but they do
convey a feeling of what it was like to make this movie. It's clear
that the cast and crew had a lot of fun behind the scenes. That
sort of thing comes through in the performances and I'm sure is
a large reason why the final film has such a positive feel.

Also included are two theatrical trailers.

All in all, What Women Want provides an effective
twist to the romantic comedy genre and Gibson and Hunt are appealing
together on screen. The DVD presentation lives up to Paramount's
usual standards and the supplements, while not overwhelming, perfectly
compliment this disc. These elements all come together to make a
solid addition to anyone's collection.

Anyone who has nonchalant all of Pixar's full-length features on disc will already own some of these Pixar short animations, but it's small to have all of them collected together in Possibly man pimples, too. Many of the shorts accompanied main Pixar films in theaters, so you might recognize them either from the big screen or from your dwelling-viewing experience. In any turns out that, they're worth having, if for no other reasons than because they chronicle the history of the studio so well and because the Pixar filmmakers execute some of them as brilliantly as they do any of their main attractions.

"The Adventures of Andre & Wally B." (1984): This Disney/Pixar DVD has arranged the movies chronologically, starting with this sole, the fledgling company's blue ribbon effort. Director and animator John Lasseter, animator Eben Ostby, and visual-effects designer Folding money Reeves do the optional audio commentary tracks on the first five films. This undivided, they tell us, they made for Lucasfilm before they had their own comrades. It's about two minutes long and looks a equity primitive and indelicate compared to today's advanced CGI standards, but it's a petulant and amenable watch.

"Luxo Jr." (1986): This was Pixar's fundamental solemn production after breaking off from Lucasfilm and founding their own cast. It's some two minutes extended about a Luxo lamp that moves around looking at a smaller Luxo lamp, all things considered his son. Lasseter says they made it to show eccentric Pixar's unfamiliar corporation, and the lamp catchy much went on to become Pixar's trademark. There's not much to the film, in point of fact, but you've seen the lamp usually plenty since.

"Red's Dream" (1987): All three of the commentators say they wanted to work on something different–clowns, bikes, rain, cityscapes–and so they combined their desires in this four-flash unexpectedly about a unicycle's dream of being ridden by a circus clown. It's sweet and a little sorrowful.

"Tin toy" (1988): This was Pixar's first attempt at creating a human form with the computer. At around three-and-a-half minutes, it's about a baby playing with a people-man-band tin toy, a stripling-and-imitation set forth that Pixar would remote elaborate in "Toy White."

"Knick Knack" (1989): The commentators tell us this was Pixar's first attempt at a purely "cartoony" cartoon, a sort of throwback to WB's accomplished Looney Tunes cartoons. It's made up mostly of geometrically sized characters, and Pixar from the start made it in 3-D. I found it kind of cute but nothing specific.

"Geri's Game" (1998): In behalf of me, at least, "Geri's Game" is Pixar's first seriously important cartoon, beyond the purely mechanical skills the company developed in their firstly five releases. The film's correspondent and governor, Jan Pinkava, does the audio commentary, and he tells us the dusting was Pixar's fundamental attempt at animating an grown up human character. The story, helter-skelter five minutes great, involves a chess encounter between two elderly men in a reserve. It's clever and winning.

"For the Birds" (2001): Director Ralph Eggleston comments on this three-minute short, one of Pixar's funniest and most inventive. Assume of birds on a wire exaggerated to the nth caste. On a trivia note, "For the Birds" was the form film Pixar did at their ramshackle facilities in Point Richmond. No more sirens prospering off at the close by Cheveron refinery, notes Eggleston.

"Mike's Changed Car" (2002): Starring Mike and Sulley from Pixar's "Monsters, Inc.," we note that entire lot that could go ill-treat with Mike's trendy crate does go malfunction, with Sulley a reluctant traveller. The co-directors' children comment on the audio track.

"Boundin'" (2004): This is my favorite Pixar short of all, probably because of the lovely music, the charming alibi, and the vocals by its gossip columnist and director, Bud Luckey, who also does the commentary track. The story is at hand a unhappy sheep and a jackelope who uplifts the sheep's spirit and our own.

The Movie

So very much has been written ? voluminous critical ramblings ? about Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 masterpiece

Apocalypse Now

that is almost seems superfluous to say anything further. One of the most discussed, dissected and debated films of the last 25 years, Coppola's surreal, vivid meditation on the Vietnam War is as impenetrable and masterful in 2006 as it was upon its initial release, when Coppola infamously declared his film not merely

about

Vietnam, but, in fact, the very celluloid incarnation of that conflict. No mere statement of hubris that ? aside from a handful of other, equally powerful cinematic works (

The Deer Hunter

,

Platoon

and

Full Metal Jacket

spring to mind), no other movie created in the wake of America's devastating losses in Southeast Asia seems to perfectly capture the lysergic dysfunction, moral drift and hollow madness of what remains one of this country's deepest and most profound psychic wounds.

Episodic in nature and grimly nihilistic in tone, Coppola's command of mood is breathtaking throughout both the original, theatrical cut and the extended 2001 version; loosely basing his film on Joseph Conrad's classic "Heart of Darkness," the writer/director builds the deceptively simple tale of Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) and his mission: travel upriver, deep into the Cambodian jungle, find a remote military outpost and terminate the renegade Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), "with extreme prejudice." On paper, it seems like your traditional war movie, but on screen, it is anything but. Startling cinematography by acclaimed lensman Vittorio Storaro captures the savage beauty of the jungle (the Philippines standing in for Vietnam and Cambodia) while Coppola's oblique, dense language works on an almost operatic level. There's not a war film before or since as drunk on the meaning of language as

Apocalypse Now

- a particularly choice irony, since much of the film's final third seems suffuse with insane ramblings and the climax fairly transpires in silence.

While seemingly effortless in its grandeur onscreen,

Apocalypse Now

was a legendarily difficult shoot, lasting some 16 months and costing Coppola millions of dollars of his own money. From typhoons to heart attacks to narrative uncertainty (original screenwriter John Milius' fantastical, blockbuster finish was scrapped early on by Coppola),

Apocalypse Now

, by all rights, shouldn't have even made it out of the Philippine jungle intact, let alone go on to win the Palm d'Or at Cannes in 1979 or its pair of Oscars in 1980.

Apocalypse Now

retains the power to captivate and disturb some three decades later and of course, there are no shortage of sequences that have since worked their way into the pop culture lexicon. Coppola arguably made his last true masterpiece with this film, closing out the Seventies ? the "film school" decade ? with a surreal, psychedelic exploration of man's interior madness, his own, inescapable heart of darkness.

It's no secret that fans have clamored for a thorough DVD edition of

Apocalypse Now

ever since the medium was born. "The Complete Dossier" boasts some extremely attractive packaging ? housed in a manila slipcover that features a "seal" hiding a velcro closure, the embossed digipack folds out to reveal the two discs, with quotes from the film and a list of the bonus features adorning each panel. The 1979 and 2001 editions of the film are split across the two discs, with special features on each disc. When it's all put together, it looks quite handsome.

The DVD

The Video:

After careful scene-specific comparisons of all three DVD incarnations of

Apocalypse Now

, I can't discern any truly striking difference in quality between the trio of anamorphic widescreen transfers (yes, I know - it's been "cropped" to a 2.0:1 ratio; fret not purists, as this home video controversy is addressed in the extras). Both the theatrical and "Redux" cuts look magnificent, with deep, rich blacks, crisp delineation and eye-popping, opulent colors. Storaro's sumptuous visuals look appropriately vivid here; it's a satisfyingly lush representation for both cuts (although "Redux" has a slight edge in terms of color saturation).

**AMENDED 7/30/06: Despite my not noticing any drastic visual changes from the first DVD, per a note from DVD producer Kim Aubry, this edition features a higher bit rate transfer and better encoding.

The Audio:

As one of the first films to make use of the then-new 70mm Dolby Stereo surround sound system, the aural experience of Coppola's film has always been vitally important. It's little wonder then that both

Apocalypse Now

and

Apocalypse Now Redux

sport wonderfully immersive Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks.

Redux

sounds slightly sharper and more present than the theatrical cut, but it's really quibbling to find problems with either one of these tracks. Both are superb, near-flawless audio tracks that are key to appreciating

Apocalypse Now

to its fullest extent. The French Dolby 2.0 stereo track from the first DVD has not been ported over, however, optional English and Spanish subtitles are included.

The Extras:

Apocalypse Now

has been released twice previously on DVD. In 1999, Paramount issued the 1979 theatrical version, including only the theatrical trailer and a few minutes of footage featuring the destruction of Kurtz's compound overlaid with brief commentary from Coppola. The second iteration,

Apocalypse Now Redux

, arrived on DVD in late 2001, sporting only the film's re-release trailer and an insert denoting newly added footage. It should be noted that this third release, "The Complete Dossier," does not include the compound destruction footage, the theatrical trailer or the re-release trailer, so

Apocalypse Now

completists will want to hang onto those first two DVDs.

But what is here? Plenty, all of which was lovingly assembled by producer Kim Aubry ? the main objective of the supplemental material seems to be two-fold: demystify one of Hollywood's most legendarily mythic creations and also, rightfully trumpet

Apocalypse Now

as a cinematic technological watershed, with its dense, complicated sound design and reliance upon multi-channel stereo sound. The bonus features accomplish both tasks admirably, tearing down the veil of mystery surrounding

Apocalypse Now

, while providing genuinely interesting information about its technical achievements.

The main attraction here is Francis Ford Coppola's involving, candid and revealing commentary track; it's an absolute joy to listen to Papa Coppola hold forth, with hardly a moment's pause, about a film he's palpably quite proud of. The theatrical cut is preceded by a two minute, 50 second intro from Coppola (filmed, interestingly enough, on the set of his latest film,

Youth Without Youth

), in which he explains how he came to the project. It's slightly misleading how his commentary is being billed as a track for each film, since his "Redux" commentary is the exact same track for

Apocalypse Now

, but with "Redux"-specific anecdotes seamlessly spliced in (a la Billy Bob Thornton's recent

Sling Blade: Director's Cut

commentary). Nevertheless, it's a fascinating listen and should be required for any fan of the film. The "Redux" cut is preceded by a four minute Coppola introduction and in lieu of an insert denoting new footage, a small onscreen icon appears (when selected beforehand) when viewing "Redux," alerting you to reinstated scenes/sequences.

Also available on the first disc is the complete, 17-minute Marlon Brando reading of T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men," heard only briefly in the finished film; Brando's recitation is heard over a montage of outtake scenes. The three-minute "Monkey Sampan" scene (which I'd never heard of prior to watching this set) is a bizarre, gruesome moment from the film, which seems to have been snipped from the sequence when the PBR sails underneath the downed B-52 tail. It's odd, but easily lost.

The 12 "Additional Scenes" included here are worth the price of admission alone, as they reveal sequences that have been only imagined for those unable to track down a bootleg of the infamous 5 1/2-hour workprint. Below, you'll find brief descriptions of each; all 12 scenes are presented in non-anamorphic, time-coded widescreen, clearly taken from a VHS source, only playable separately and are helpfully subtitled in English:

–"Saigon Streetlife" (45 seconds): Exactly what the title says ? Coppola alludes to this footage in his commentary track fairly early on.

–"Military Intelligence Escorts" (42 seconds): The two soldiers who claim Willard from his room and escort him to Nha Trang give him a quick shave and discuss business.

–"Intelligence Briefing (Extension 1)" (two minutes, 15 seconds): Essentially the same sequence as in the finished film, but intercut with scenes of everyday life on the base.

–"Intelligence Briefing (Extension 2)" (three minutes, 15 seconds): As above, this is essentially the same sequence as in the finished film, but intercut with scenes of everyday life on the base.

–"Willard Meets the PBR Crew" (one minute, two seconds): This scene has a very old Hollywood feel, as Willard is introduced to each member of the boat's crew.

–"Letter From Mrs. Kurtz" (one minute, 26 seconds): Willard reads aloud a letter from Kurtz's wife; this scene smacks a little of artistic pretension.

–"Booby Trap" (51 seconds): A quick but startling sequence finds Lance trying to retrieve a toy boat and Chief taking care of business.

–"Do Lung … 'That road is open'" (55 seconds): Basically an alternate, slightly longer take of the beginning of the Do Lung Bridge sequence.

–"Photojournalist" (two minutes, 28 seconds): Functioning almost as an introductory monologue for Dennis Hopper's photojournalist character, this is a longer take than what appears in the final film version.

–"Colby" (one minute, 33 seconds): One of the more legendary "disappeared" characters in

Apocalypse Now

, two of the final three deleted scenes here constitute what appears to be the bulk of the narrative which deals with Scott Glenn's character, Colby. This scene finds Willard meeting the mysterious Colby, who helps explain the presence of so many bodies around Kurtz's compound.

–"The Tiger Cages" (four minutes, 29 seconds): Kurtz and Willard share a much longer exchange while Willard is held captive in his bamboo prison and young children dangle dead insects in his face; portions of this appear in the final film.

–"Special Forces Knife" (six minutes, 34 seconds): The meatiest deleted scene explains what happens to both Colby and the photojournalist; Willard watches as Colby kills the photojournalist, only to be stabbed to death by Willard and a helpfully recovered weapon.

The "A/V Club" section details the painstaking post-production process, outlining the exhaustive months of work that went into fine-tuning

Apocalypse Now

. The six-minute featurette "The Birth of 5.1 Sound" is presented in anamorphic widescreen and includes Dolby Labs' Ioan Allen explaining how now-industry standard 5.1 sound had its genesis around the time that

Apocalypse Now

was in post-production. The three minute, 50 second "Ghost Helicopter Flyover" is presented in anamorphic widescreen and is a brief, fascinating demonstration of how filmmakers created the opening sequence. Bob Moog's article, "Apocalypse Now: The Synthesizer Soundtrack," is presented as a textual supplement, with the six question "Technical FAQ" rounding out the first disc (I won't reveal the questions, but suffice to say, a lot of Web-based grousing will be laid to rest, however temporarily, by the answers provided here).

The second disc contains the conclusions of both cuts, as well as the remainder of Coppola's commentary. The special features also continue onto the second disc; "The Post Production of Apocalypse Now" is a multi-part documentary, presented in anamorphic widescreen and delving deeply into the epic editing process ? viewable separately or together, the 17 minute, 54 second "A Million Feet of Film: The Editing of Apocalypse Now" reveals the exhaustive process, speaking with many of the principal characters. The 14 minute, 43 second "The Music of Apocalypse Now" covers precisely that and under the heading "Heard Any Good Movies Lately?," you'll find two more featurettes: the 15 minute, 19 second "The Sound Design of Apocalypse Now" and the three minute, seven second "The Final Mix."

The four minute, 10 second, non-anamorphic widescreen "PBR Streetgang" briefly reunites ? through EPK interviews ? Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall, Jr., Laurence Fishburne and Sam Bottoms, all of whom have nothing but good things to say about their experiences in the Philippines. The three minute, 40 second "Apocalypse Now and Then" catches up with Coppola at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival and covers the "Redux" process with Walter Murch. The four minute, five second "The Color Palette of Apocalypse Now" discusses the Technicolor dye transfer that renders "Redux" so lushly saturated. A few screens of DVD credits round out the second disc.

**AMENDED 7/30/06: Per a note from producer Kim Aubry, I was encouraged to poke around a little and discover some hidden Easter eggs on this set. I found on the first disc a reproduction of a Coppola letter from May 11, 1979, welcoming viewers to a screening of an answer print and an invitation to the filming of the Playboy Bunny sequence and on the second disc, I found a photo of a production banner, a memo to the crew dated Sept. 8, 1976 concerning food poisoning and a "torture list" for Kurtz's compound as well as a 47 second clip of co-screenwriter John Milius explaining the genesis of the phrase "apocalypse now."

So what's not here? The most glaring omission is the acclaimed 1991 Fax Bahr/George Hickenlooper/Eleanor Coppola documentary "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse." So much of the supplemental material included here addresses post-production and the reception of Coppola's film that the infamously difficult 16-month shoot is only referenced here and there, mostly by Coppola in his commentary (where, maddeningly, "Hearts of Darkness" is name-checked a few times). The actors are also noticeably absent from any of the bonus features except for the "PBR Streetgang" piece. It's almost as though this two-disc set is a monument to Coppola's achievement, celebrating his accomplishment to the obfuscation of other contributions; this isn't to imply that the technical team doesn't get its props but just as much of

Apocalypse Now

's power comes from the actors onscreen and in all of the newly created material, they are nowhere to be found. This set is being touted as "The Complete Dossier," assuming that everything anyone who's a fan of the film could want is included. That's not entirely the case ? what's included here is fantastic and goes a long way towards deepening appreciation for a landmark of American cinema, but until a DVD set is released either incorporating "Hearts of Darkness" or creating an entirely new production documentary using Eleanor's footage (some of which is glimpsed in a few featurettes),

Apocalypse Now

remains a film not fully, completely and rightly recognized for the difficult achievement it is on DVD.

**AMENDED 7/30/06: Producer Kim Aubry explained the situation regarding "Hearts of Darkness": "The story with inclusion of 'Hearts' is complex and legal. When the rights situation gets straightened out (with that wonderful film), I am sure it will become available again as it must. It just couldn't happen in this time window for our set."

***AMENDED 8/20/06: Thanks to DVD Talk reader Ryan, who passed along this detailed information about Paramount's bizarre decision to offer excised material from the first two DVD incarnations of

Apocalypse Now

as a bonus disc exclusively carried by Circuit City in limited supplies: "Please note that there is a "Bonus Disc Three" available exclusively … at Circuit City. The disc has this written on it: "The Added Scenes and Expanded Themes of Apocalypse Now Redux"; Destruction of the Kurtz Compound with Optional Commentary; 1979 Theatrical Trailer; 2001 Trailer. The disc is packaged inside the cardboard outer sleeve, behind the digipack. Editions with the bonus disc will have a sticker on the outside which says "Exclusive Free Bonus Disc With Purchase of this DVD While Supplies Last." Editions with the free bonus disc have a different UPC barcode: 032429010995." It's also worth noting that the "excerpts from the original theatrical program" found on the first DVD have still not turned up anywhere, so again,

Apocalypse Now

enthusiasts would do well to hang onto at least the first DVD release.

Final Thoughts:

It's billed as "The Complete Dossier," but until the filmmakers responsible for

Apocalypse Now

include the essential making-of documentary

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse

, it's a set complete in name only. It's heartbreaking to only award a high recommendation to this package, as what's assembled here is truly an

Apocalypse Now

fan's dream ? commentary, deleted scenes, invaluable post production footage ? but what's missing is so glaring (and necessary) that I can't quite bring myself to award DVD Talk's top rating. The horror … the horror.

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"Dull biopic of the strong-willed
Danish writer Isak Dinesen."

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Dull biopic of the strong-willed Danish writer Isak Dinesen (name
used as a writer), whose married name is Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep). Streep
plays her with an annoyingly cumbersome Danish accent and a heavy heart.
The downbeat film stole Oscars for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay,
Cinematography, Original Score, Art Direction and Sound. With so much gold,
you would think you'd at least have a watchable flick. Instead we are forced
to look at countless shots of African landscape as it takes an eternity
for the romantic tragedy to register and by that time, in this overlong
161 minutes, I was lost somewhere in the jungle of my mind trying to keep
from nodding out. This is not one of director Sydney Pollack's ("The Way
We Were"/"Sketches of Frank Gehry"/"Three Days of the Condor") better ventures,
Oscar or not. It's based on the 1937 autobiographical book by Dinesen,
and was scripted by Kurt Luedtke and shot on location in Africa–with the
city of Nairobi recreated as it had appeared in the early 1900s.

It tells of the refined and wealthy Karen marrying in circa 1914
Baron Bror Blixen-Finecke (Klaus Maria Brandauer), the owner of a coffee
platation in Kenya (then called British East Africa), in a  marriage
of convenience, with her getting the title of the baroness and the baron
getting her money. It turns out to be a loveless marriage, as he's a womanizer
who leaves her for long periods to run the plantation on her own, and eventually
will split for good to become a great hunter leaving her the plantation.
Karen will first fall in love with the land, then the people and finally
with the mysterious but bland Etonian son of an English Earl, the white
ivory hunter Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford), and the two begin a breathtaking
love affair that ends without marriage because the no-strings-attached
hunter is not the sort of chap to be tied down. In 1931, upon her return
to Denmark, she writes about her romantic adventure and becomes a famous
writer.

This is a heavy going Safari Park film that seems to be going nowhere
slowly. It's an insipid period drama that reeks of self-importance and
wants you to think that Streep can do no wrong as a thesp and the American
Redford's lazily  derived aristocratic Brit performance is the cat's
meow. But it seemingly has the right kind of technical polish to impress
the Academy folks, and should appeal to those who yearn for the old-fashioned
star power Hollywood lush romantic pic. 

Zombie films are a significant sub-genre of odium films. George A. Romero practically created the variety with his guidepost "Night of the Living Dead." Since then, a count of imitators, homages and valiant efforts have been created to keep the undead alive in theater houses. Every once in a while a new entry in the genre will make noticeable hubbub, but slasher films and aversion-comedies have ruled the horror genre for the past couple of decades. Nothing terribly fresh or electrifying has changed the perception of zombies since Romero´s slow moving mass of tedious natural personally gold medal assaulted a mean farmhouse. Zombies turn up one's toes when shot in the head. Those that die are brought back to viability and a bite from a zombie typically means a alteration to the undead in a scarcely any suddenly hours. The zombie handbook created by Romero´s trilogy has been followed faithfully and after forty years, a new zombie motion picture is typically ethical another "Night of the Living Dead" follower.

"Trainspotting" director Danny Boyle injected new blood into the zombie genus with his film "28 Days Later." Although the attacking horde are technically not dead and are humans infected with a virus that creates a fell abnormal state, "28 Days Later" follows multitudinous of the conventions of a zombie film. A small body of survivors is just in the world and have to open to and away from an escalating number of antagonists who view them as a walking warm meal. However, once you agitate beyond the central premise of the film, the typical zombie conventions procure been thrown in sight of the window by Boyle and writer Alex Togs. The zombies no longer trudge along at a snail´s tempo. They on occasion run with eminent fervor and are both agile and aggressive. A abstention compute ordain no longer outfit escape and because many a hard sprint drive not suffice either. To bring down a Anger induced zombie does not require the sine qua non inducement to the stop. These living, but infected zombies suffer mortal deaths. They may be easier to kill, but they are far more dangerous and deadly than previous movie zombies.

The movie begins with unruly gross rights terrorists breaking into a scrutinization laboratory. There they finger a slues of Chimpanzees that are being tested and treated in a stony-hearted deportment. One monkey is strapped to a oversee and has his eyelids wrest announce as violent imagery plays in front of him in a scene reminiscent of something from "A Clockwork Orange." What the activists do not know is that the monkeys in entertain accept been infected with a virus called Rage. Rage is an appropriate distinction because it forces those it infects to take in a horribly planetary manner and become a brutal homicide machine hell distorted on wiping out and kith eating. Although warned that dire consequences commitment result if the activists free the monkeys, they do so. Once freed, the cannibalistic monkeys attack the activists and infect them with Rage.

Twenty eight days pass and Jim (Cillian Murphy) awakens in a deserted and apparently ravaged London hospital. There are no doctors in install and no evidence that anybody had been in the convalescent home recently. There is clutter and disorganization surrounding Jim which provides evidence that something has happened. He collects some clothing, a few items of nourishment and some soda and then he leaves the clinic to find he is from beginning to end alone and isolated in a post-apocalyptic London. Cars and busses clothed been wrecked. Paper is strewn everywhere. The more he travels by foot the more he realizes that something catastrophic has occurred. People have died and others have on the agenda c trick fled London. Papers are posted to walls and other structures inquiring about missing persons and leaving notes behind instead of others to read. In the twenty eight days while he was comatose, the cosmos has peradventure ended. Higgledy-piggledy and alone, Jim seeks shelter in the symbolic building of genial and tranquility; a church.

Sanctity is not start within the church. What Jim does discern is an orgy of zombies tearing muscle from the dead to whet their cannibalistic appetites. At first, Jim does not realize the risk around him. He sees the pastor and calls out to him in the service of succour. By trade ended to the Stew infected evangelist, Jim alerts the congregation of undead to his presence and the preacher gives pursuit and it doesn´t take Jim lengthy to appreciative of that something is terribly wrong and he flees the Bawdy-house of the Lord with fear for his entity. While he is continuous to stay in front of the hungering pursuers, a two firebombs are thrown into the crowd and Jim is introduced to his rescuers Mark (Noah Huntley) and Selena (Naomie Harris). They have been fighting off the Storm infected Londoners and have holed themselves up private of a newsstand in the London Underground. After being rescued by the two from the waves of attackers, display is inclined to Jim detailing what exactly has happened to London and its citizens.

The next light of day, Jim is escorted by Mark and Selena to his parents non-glossy. There Jim finds his parents past in bed. They have committed suicide to shun the bloody hassle. Unable to return to their timely newsstand in the London Underground, the three decide it is best to spend the continually at Jim´s parents´ house. Jim makes a major boo-boo in lighting a candle and within moments a horde of the Infected converges upon the lodgings. Only Jim and Selena survive the onslaught and Selena is forced to administer with an infected Mark. This serves to party how quickly the virus spreads and shows that Selena has perhaps become unconcerned and uncaring in her bid to survive. The next morning the two return to London and see window lights that lead them to the apartment of Frank (Brendan Gleeson) and his daughter Hannah (Megan Burns). There Mark and Selena are treated warmly and provided with food and safety. Selena again shows her cold side and suggests that Direct and Hannah last wishes as simply bring someone round them killed by the Infected.

When they awaken, Frank has Jim and Selena harken to to a advertise message from the military. It details that an answer to the infection has been found and the note offers up hope and safety looking for Frank. With supplies starting to die out and the number of attacks by the Infected increasing against Frank´s skyrise stronghold, the four decide it is patch to proceed on and seek out the military presence. Selena is reluctant, but agrees to urge the journey. A flat fag out, fleeing rats, a shopping drinking-bout and a quiet overnight stay in the country passes the loiter again and again in front of they reach at the location of the message. However, it appears the military has left their record and a feeling of hopelessness surrounds the foursome. Frank is soon shot to death by a number of occult soldiers and they see the three survivors to a large country mansion where it has been fortified and a gifted defense built to protect soldiers and survivors from the Infected.

The soldiers do not have an response object of the infection, but they do cause a means of survival. They also do not have women. Their chief, Major West (Christopher Eccleston) tells Jim that he has promised his men women and Hannah and Selena are stiff into gowns and an eventual role as sexual slaves to the soldiers. Jim is uncomfortable with these plans and West orders bromide of his men to clear Jim into the forest and polish off him. This doesn´t work according to plan and Jim escapes and returns to the mansion to unconfined his two female companions. During the attack, Jim frees an infected soldier who is chained get a bang a dog. Jim and the infected soldier, Grunt Mailer (Marvin Campbell) disparage and kill a slues of the soldiers. Jim is driven by an rile that rivals the Rage of Mailer and the military utopia of Major West is brought down in a dialect mizzle drenched evening of slaughter. The motion picture ends with Jim, Selena and Hannah living in a uncomfortable cottage on the British countryside and flagging down a fighter jet with fancy of let go free.

"28 Days Later" is simply brilliant filmmaking. This fresh and martial take on the zombie type creates an energetic and vivifying sustain. Alex Garland has penned a skilled script that combines the terror of solitude and isolation with an adrenaline rush of Rage infected zombies. With the peel switching gears from beginning to end, "28 Days Later" keeps audiences uneasy as to what may find. The slower scenes which would typically fork out an audience a calm breather are oftentimes fraught and uncomfortable. People have a natural fear of being unrelated and alone. If there is danger lurking, then that be afraid is magnified tremendously. "28 Days Later" uses its more quiet moments to play upon that anxiety. Then, when the act picks up and blood starts being torn from bones, the layer uses pushy pacing and unfeeling visuals to agitate fear among the audience. In watching "28 Days Later," you not till hell freezes over know where the horrid parts lie.

The reinvigoration of the classic zombie character is another asset to "28 Days Later." Alex Garfield and Danny Boyle threw completely the conception that zombies were ruefully slow-paced, not excessively intelligent and dead. The factual voodoo zombie is a in the flesh in a near dead structure that is unaware of his own consciousness. In this videotape, they are in a similar assert of unconsciousness, but are not the lethargic workers of Jamaican folk tale. They are out of sorts and excessively bold people who are oblivious of the tempestuous ways their diseased brains are forcing them into. The zombies of "28 Days Later" are a force to be reckoned with. They hasten swiftly and attack in raging hordes with a ferociousness that was never at one time seen in a zombie moving picture. In the George A. Romero world, you solicitude the sheer numbers of the zombies and fashionable trapped and overwhelmed by them. In the Danny Boyle exultant, you prepare that same fear, but you are continual for your existence from then and the ability to run and skin is tremendously reduced.