DVD Report
New Releases | Tom Russo
Likable 'Elizabethtown' struggles with self-indulgence
There's a scene in writer-director Cameron Crowe's latest, ''Elizabethtown" (2005), in which central character Orlando Bloom struggles to find the word that describes the look on his recently deceased father's face as the old man lies in his coffin. Finally, Bloom's Drew comes up with it: ''whimsical." That's fitting, given that Crowe himself often seems to be trying hard to get a handle on whimsy in this likable but uneven mix of romantic comedy and drama.
Drew gets the news about his father at a point when he's already in shock over an amusing work meltdown (shades of Crowe's ''Jerry Maguire") in which a new sneaker he designed cost
A late-story, soundtrack-heavy road trip, meanwhile, is Crowe at his most self-indulgent. You'll probably wish ''Elizabethtown" spent more time in Niketown.
Extras: Limited, but there is a full cut of a mock ''Learning to Listen" kid video included in the movie -- and incredibly, it actually might work. (Paramount, $29.95)
''BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S" (1961)
And speaking of ''Moon River" . . . quelle coincidence. But this anniversary reissue is surely more likely occasioned by, say, interest in director Blake Edwards's catalog stoked by the new ''Pink Panther" remake, or possibly even the film's Capote pedigree. Whatever the case, Audrey Hepburn is, as ever, the luminescent main attraction as original hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold (if one takes the cynical view) Holly Golightly. The romantic comedy bits between Hepburn and George Peppard are classic, but it's the drama that's truly timeless.
Extras: A 15-minute retrospective featurette seems to have caught Edwards on a bad humor day. He recalls scolding Hepburn to quit listening to outside acting coaches, voices misgivings about casting Peppard, and as for Mickey Rooney's walking stereotype -- well, we're with ya there, Blake. Producer Richard Shepherd supplies commentary. (Paramount, $19.99)
''RYAN'S DAUGHTER" (1970)
This wasn't quite the end of the era of David Lean epics -- the director would enthrall audiences a decade and a half later with ''A Passage to India" -- but this story of sexual and social restlessness in rural Ireland during World War I does feel like it came a little after its time. Sarah Miles is Rosy, a freethinking girl in a small-minded village who marries schoolteacher Charles (Robert Mitchum) but eventually begins a double-taboo affair with a British officer (Christopher Jones). Given the film's 200-minute length and a script by Lean's ''Doctor Zhivago" collaborator Robert Bolt, one wishes there were more to the story. Still, as a picture postcard of the rugged westernmost point in Europe, the film was a deserving Oscar winner for best cinematography.
Extras: Commentary by Miles, Lean's widow, and Mitchum's daughter; retrospective documentary and vintage featurettes. (Warner, $26.98)
''WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT" (2005)
In their first feature outing, absent-minded Wallace and his canine best friend are exterminators trying, gently, to solve their town's garden pest problem. Throwing a were-rabbit into the mix means those trademark homely, blinking looks are complemented by even bigger buck teeth than usual. Ralph Fiennes is a hoot as a cad giving our heroes grief.
Extras: Featurettes and commentary singular stop-motion animation. (DreamWorks, $19.95)
Television Box Set | Steve Greenlee
Charged up about learning, all over again
Many of my childhood hours were spent viewing the excellent PBS series ''The Electric Company," and the memories have come flooding back in recent weeks as I've watched these old episodes again with my own children, thanks to ''The Best of the Electric Company," which comes out on DVD this week.
The four-disc package, which presents 20 of the show's 780 episodes, is marvelous. Yes, the psychedelic graphics and sounds -- which conjure up thoughts of Jimi Hendrix on the set of ''Logan's Run" -- are a bit dated, and the street slang is a little hokey, but the basic material holds up incredibly well. The whole point of ''The Electric Company," which began in 1971, was that television could teach kids to read, and darn if it doesn't still do it. My 6-year-old boys were captivated, eagerly reading along from the moment we started watching. (Hey, they didn't know it was dated!)
For adults, the nostalgic factor will be a big reason to buy it. Not only do we get to revisit these old skits (including personal favorites ''Fargo North, Decoder" and the classic crumbling-monolith cartoon set to the music from ''2001: A Space Odyssey," a vision that haunts me 30 years later), but we get to see Bill Cosby and Morgan Freeman in some of their earliest roles. Watching Freeman in full '70s get-up, prancing about as Easy Reader and imploring us to sound out our words, is priceless. The recurring ''Love of Chair" segment -- which, full disclosure here, my kids don't quite get -- could be a ''Saturday Night Live" skit these days, outrageous for its minimalist opaqueness. What was the point of that? Never mind. Cast member Rita Moreno explains in her introduction to the series, '' 'The Electric Company' made reading fun and cool." Well, heck, it still does. (Shout! Factory, $49.98)
Foreign DVD | Cate McQuaid
Artist imitates life in 'Edvard Munch'
It will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with his iconic painting ''The Scream" that Edvard Munch led a tortured life. Repeatedly reviled by the critics of his day, the Norwegian-born Munch became the standard-bearer of the German Expressionist movement, which sought to portray the internal wranglings of the psyche in art.
''Edvard Munch," Peter Watkins's 1974 television film about the artist, is a relentless, dark, and clever examination of the artist's life and how it informed his art. His mother and sister died of tuberculosis when he was a boy; Munch came close to death more than once. As a young man in the city that is now Oslo in the 1880s, he fell in with a bohemian crowd, and loved a married woman, who dallied with him and then spurned him. For Munch, life was a cycle of love, loss, despair, and jealousy, and his goal as an artist became to express those emotions as conditions of humanity.
Watkins creates a fast-paced pastiche of images and memories, always cycling back to iconic moments of connection and disconnection, many of which ultimately appeared in Munch's work. In a move that was before his time, Watkins occasionally employs a handheld camera, which effectively mimics both Munch's erratic mood and his wild brushwork. The quick editing is balanced with wrenching, sometimes ponderous dialogue, and sewn all together with a voice-over (in English) that provides historical context.
The director worked with a largely amateur cast, one of many risks that paid off. Now and then, they speak directly to the audience, ad-libbing their real opinions about the art. Geir Westby is a callow, long-suffering Munch, beautiful to look at, always negotiating the border between propriety and angst. (New Yorker, $29.95; available Feb. 21)
ALSO THIS WEEK
''JUST LIKE HEAVEN" (2005)
Accident victim turned lingering spirit Reese Witherspoon haunts her old apartment's new occupant, Mark Ruffalo, who should have known you don't land that kind of San Francisco pad without a catch. Standard romantic comedy somewhat smartened up by the stars.
Extras: Production featurettes; gag reel; filmmaker commentary. (DreamWorks, $29.99)
''EROS" (2005)
Michelangelo Antonioni, Wong Kar-Wai, and Steven Soderbergh toss off libidinous doodles in this intriguing but not quite world-rocking anthology project. With Gong Li and Robert Downey Jr.
Extras: Antonioni short. (Warner, $27.98)
''BAMBI II" (2006)
Bambi gets together with his dad (Patrick Stewart) for some interaction that goes beyond just ''Your mother can't be with you anymore." Better than most of Disney's direct-to-DVD ''classic" sequel fare.
Extras: Production featurette; trivia, games, and activities. (Disney, $29.99)
''DOOM" (2005)
The Rock is an interplanetary Marine battling his least favorite Martians in this noisy adaptation of the popular video game. Also available in an unrated version.
Extras: Production featurettes. (Universal, $29.98)
''WAITING" (2005)
This tepid comedy follows workers at a chain restaurant as they wile their days away, um, waiting. Which is all that cast member Ryan Reynolds (''Van Wilder") seems to be doing until a movie that's actually as amusing as he is comes his way. (Lions Gate, $28.98)
REISSUES
''THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING" (1988)
Young doctor in lust Daniel Day-Lewis gets mixed up in a romantic triangle with Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin as well as his tumultuous political surroundings in Prague circa 1968. Philip Kaufman's adaptation of Milan Kundera's novel is sensual, yes, but also overlong, a deliberateness that dampens some of the spark.
Extras: The two-disc package includes commentary by Kaufman, Olin, and others, along with a production featurette. (Warner, $26.99)
''THE CARY GRANT BOX SET" (2006)
''His Girl Friday" and ''The Awful Truth" anchor a five-film collection that also includes ''Talk of the Town" and the somewhat tricky to find ''Only Angels Have Wings" and ''Holiday."
Extras: Commentaries and production featurettes. (
''BLOOD AND WINE" (1997)
Jack Nicholson and director Bob Rafelson try to recapture those ''Five Easy Pieces" collaborative glory days with this noirish tale of a wine dealer plotting a jewelry heist. Michael Caine, Judy Davis, and Jennifer Lopez make the talent lineup more interesting than the movie.
Extras: Commentary by Rafelson; select commentary by Nicholson and the cast; Nicholson and Rafelson featurette. (Fox, $14.98)
FOREIGN
''THE BEST OF YOUTH" (2003)
Clear out six hours to see this epic of normal life unfurling against 35 years of recent Italian history. The first half of Marco Tullio Giordano's massive drama -- made for Italian TV but never aired -- follows two young brothers (Luigi Lo Cascio and Alessio Boni) through seemingly random occurrences, but the second half pulls it all together with staggering emotional impact. In Italian, with subtitles. (Miramax, $29.99)
TY BURR
Capsules are written by Globe correspondent Tom Russo and titles are in stores Tuesday unless otherwise specified.
