DVD Digest for September 2, 2008

Paul Clark — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:00:00 GMT

This week’s DVD Digest is highlighted by a bumper crop of new TV-on-DVD releases in conjunction with the upcoming fall season. In addition, a large number of Blu-Ray only releases and a crush of new indie films on DVD helps to smooth over the lack of a first-rate “DVD of the Week”-worthy release.

This week’s high-profile new releases on DVD include Ira Sachs’ acclaimed fifties-set drama Married Life (Sony, also Blu-Ray), the Norwegian import Reprise (Buena Vista) (click here for Bryan Whitefield’s interview with the filmmaker), and the animated direct-to-DVD Marvel feature Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow (Lionsgate, also Blu-Ray). Also, in a strange coincidence, this week also brings the release of four films I caught at Columbus’ Out@Wex series of GLBT films this past spring: Jacques Nolot’s Before I Forget (Strand), the coming-of-age drama Water Lilies (Koch), the gender politics comedy Itty Bitty Titty Committee (Wolfe Video), and Lagerfeld Confidential (Koch), a documentary about the fashion designer.

This week’s slate of classics coming to DVD is highlighted by three new Fox Noir releases: Elia Kazan’s Boomerang, Jean Gabin in Moontide, and Road House (no, not that one), which includes a commentary track from Screengrab favorite Kim Morgan. Somewhat less notable is MGM’s 20th Anniversary Edition of the unholy union of Michael J. Fox and Jay McInerney, Bright Lights, Big City.

In the TV-on-DVD department, this week brings Desperate Housewives Season 4 (Disney), Eli Stone Season 1 (Disney), Ghost Whisperer Season 3 (Paramount), It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 3 (Fox), Life Season 1 (Universal) starring the ever-underrated Damian Lewis, Supernatural Season 2 (Warner), and The Office Season 4 (Universal).

Finally, this week’s action-heavy Blu-Ray only releases include: Jet Li in Black Mask (Lionsgate), Arnold Schwarzenegger in Eraser (Warner), the Clint Eastwood double feature Every Which Way But Loose (Warner) and The Gauntlet (Warner), Marvel’s animated The Invincible Iron Man (Lionsgate), the killer-virus thriller Outbreak (Warner), Michael Bay’s Transformers (Paramount), and Steven Seagal ridin’ the rails in Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (Warner).

When Good Directors Go Bad: Dreamcatcher (2003, Lawrence Kasdan)

Peter Smith — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 19:00:00 GMT

The setup: After writing the screenplays for The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lawrence Kasdan made his directorial debut with the acclaimed neo-noir Body Heat. He’s worked in numerous genres, but is best known for ensemble dramas like Grand Canyon, The Accidental Tourist, and 1983’s baby boomer favorite The Big Chill. So it seemed a bit odd for him to take on a Stephen King novel.

What went wrong?: A far cry from the relatively straightforward thrillers that made King’s reputation, Dreamcatcher is an ambitious, uneasy mix of story elements — lifelong friendships, disgusting monsters, mysterious powers, and military power gone mad. It begins as a downbeat drama about four childhood buddies, now grown up, dealing with the strange talents bestowed on them in childhood by a fifth, mentally-challenged boy called Duddits. The setup holds such promise that it’s disheartening how far astray the rest of the film goes.

One problem is how sketchy the protagonists are, distinguished mostly by a single character trait. Thomas Jane’s Henry is suicidal, Timothy Olyphant’s Pete has an uncanny ability to find things, and Jason Lee’s Beaver has an unfortunate compulsion to chew on a toothpick, which ends up getting him killed. The most fleshed-out of the four is Jonesy, played by Damian Lewis, who consequently gets the most interesting character trait — the "memory warehouse," a vast storeroom in his mind. This serves him well when the alien has taken over his body and he has to barricade himself in his mind with the information the alien is searching for.

And let’s talk about those aliens, or as the movie calls them, "shit weasels." It’s bad enough that they’re so disgusting that their every appearance distracts from the story. But add to that the barely hidden gay-panic subtext — they’re giant, toothy phallic objects who crawl up people’s asses, and the marble-mouthed Duddits pronounces their leader name as "Mr. Gay" — and they become the most odious monsters I’ve seen in a movie in ages.

But wait, there’s more (oh, how there’s more). There’s the risible military subplot, which could have been jettisoned with little discernible difference. There’s also flatulence as a plot point, turning an allegedly serious film into the fartingest Hollywood movie since Blazing Saddles. And finally, there’s the grown-up Duddits (Donnie Wahlberg), who confronts "Mr. Gay" with a rallying cry of "Scooby-Dooby-Doo, we got some work to do now," before morphing into an alien and stomping the anally-intruding baddie. Dreamcatcher is the work of talented movie veterans — along with Kasdan and King, there’s screenwriter William Goldman. Didn’t it occur to anyone that this story just wouldn’t work onscreen?

The fallout: Dreamcatcher got dumped by Warner Brothers in late March, functioning primarily as a launching pad for the Animatrix short Final Flight of the Osiris. Predictably, the film flopped. Kasdan’s next project is the Tom Hanks vehicle The Risk Pool, which I’m guessing will not contain a scene in which the hero uses a handgun as a telephone. At least, I hope not. — Paul Clark

For more When Good Directors Go Bad columns, visit:

http://opalfilmsarchive.blogspot.com/2007/09/when-good-directors-go-bad.html

The Screengrab : damian lewis

DVD Digest for September 2, 2008

When Good Directors Go Bad: Dreamcatcher (2003, Lawrence Kasdan)