DVD Report
New Releases | TOM RUSSO
Being 15 isn't all it's cracked up to be
When "My So-Called Life": The Complete Series (1994-95) hit the air for its fleeting 19-episode run, it was a given that the program came with an expiration date stamped on it. Claire Danes wasn't going to be a teenager forever - and the show was all about proving that a realistic, honest depiction of being a teen had more than enough drama to satisfy, so it would have been gone long before Danes's Angela Chase strayed into Ian Ziering, "Beverly Hills, 90210," territory. Still, there's no question that a fan campaign to save the show from cancellation would've been more visible - and maybe even successful - had Internet culture been what it is today. Revisiting the series here, you're reminded it could be as imperfect as its characters; for all of Angela's relatable introspective moments, and those aching scenes with frizzy-haired unrequited crush case Brian (Devon Gummersall), much of the girl talk with peer-pressuring pal Rayanne (A.J. Langer) can feel forced. But you'll wince again at Angela's frostiness toward her mom (Bess Armstrong): "I cannot bring myself to eat a well-balanced meal in front of my mother," she says, memorably. "It just means too much to her."
Extras: Unlike the no-frills reissue of a few years back, here bonuses are ample. Series creator Winnie Holzman and partners supply pilot commentary, noting how Danes had her first kiss onscreen before she did in real life. Danes joins Holzman for commentary on the episode "Self-Esteem," and the two also sit down for a video conversation. Armstrong, Gummersall, and Wilson "Rickie" Cruz also turn up on audio tracks. And glossy liner notes feature an entertaining appreciation by Joss Whedon, who cops to swiping some tricks for "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." (Shout! Factory, $69.99)
"SPIDER-MAN 3" (2007)
Director Sam Raimi ups the ante by pitting the web-slinger against three villains: the Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), spider nightmare Venom (Topher Grace), and erstwhile friend Harry Osborn's new Goblin (James Franco). The movie delivers, but clearly Peter Parker's walk on the dark side can't be the end for Raimi and Tobey Maguire. Can it? Give them credit: Their desire not to do the same old Spidey could have been self-indulgent, yet they instead hit on something valid in having our hero fall victim to an alien "symbiote" that externalizes his pride and anger. The bottom line, though, is that developments here make for a curious bummer of a trilogy-capper for Peter and Kirsten Dunst's Mary Jane. Count on another encore.
Extras: The feature disc includes group commentary by Raimi and all the principal cast, although newcomers like Bryce Dallas Howard are respectful of the franchise to the point of just sounding star-struck. A bonus disc spotlights the movie's cutting-edge effects, which lose a little on the small screen, but are still pretty dazzling. (
"TWIN PEAKS": THE DEFINITIVE GOLD BOX COLLECTION (1990-91)
David Lynch's TV mondo bizarro left behind enough twisty rights issues that there was a five-year gap between the debuts of seasons one and two on DVD. But with all of that recently ironed out, fans can now get their surrealist geek on with this comprehensive, 10-disc set. Featurettes include Lynch, Kyle MacLachlan, and Madchen Amick reminiscing, naturally, over coffee and cherry pie; archival materials include new deleted scenes. (Paramount, $108.99)
"DAY WATCH" (2007)
We all get so caught up in the hype of Hollywood movie magic, it's easy to forget that much of that magic comes in off-the-shelf software boxes these days, making Russian director Timur Bekmambetov perfectly capable of conjuring up a sports car playing racetrack with the side of a high rise. Bekmambetov's frenetic "Night Watch" sequel finds "Matrix"-y hero Konstantin Khabensky doing more paranormal policing, and even going undercover via a gender-bending body switch with a female colleague. Cue girl-girl shower scene - and, presumably, the Wachowski brothers' fetish-envy.
Extras: Director commentary; production featurette. (Fox, $27.98)
Television DVD | MATTHEW GILBERT
To the meerkat manor born
"Meerkat Manor" is a hybrid show: melodramatic, thrilling, comic, and, most important, cute. Awfully cute.
If you've never seen the Animal Planet series, you probably can't fathom exactly how miles and miles of intimate footage of meerkat families in the Kalahari Desert could be shaped into engaging TV. You might imagine a bunch of foot-long mongooses chaotically wrestling, hunting, and digging, always digging.
And yet the producers, Oxford Scientific Films, have edited "Meerkat Manor" down into an addictive multigenerational soap tinged with the reality-TV tribalism of "Survivor." Each episode chronicles the deaths, births, dangers, and glories of the Whiskers meerkat family. It is serial storytelling at its most essential.
Of course, the many dramas that unfold - during the 13 episodes of "Meerkat Manor: Season One" they include illegitimate births, a Romeo-and-Juliet love affair, and the heroics of a 'kat named Shakespeare - have strong anthropomorphic overtones. Without the narration, delivered by Sean Astin (Bill Nighy does the British version), the Whiskers' actions would not have much emotional content. It's only through the narrator's interpretations that we can appreciate the maternal power of Flower, the communal child-rearing of the Whisker family, or the territorial wars with the Lazuli family, a rival clan led by Big Si.
The human names help, too. Otherwise, it would be hard to distinguish among the little critters, all of whom look like pointy-nosed tubes of fur whose faces resemble 6-year-old boys with buzz cuts.
Yet "Meerkat Manor" seems less contrived and artificial than any reality-TV show about the mating ("The Bachelor") and the grating ("Big Brother") habits of people. The writers of "Meerkat Manor" are applying human labels to meerkat behavior, for sure, but they aren't fabricating it. The footage - so beautiful with lavender morning clouds, highly saturated blue skies, and ominous sunsets - is the result of years of filming as part of a long-term Cambridge University study. The plot twists have been isolated and condensed for our understanding, but they really happened the way we see them.
I was disappointed to find no making-of documentaries included - not even an interview with Astin, or a comparison of his narration with that of Nighy and Mike Goldman, who reads for the Australian version. And yet, perhaps letting the episodes stand for themselves preserves the show's magic.
Extras: Sneak preview of season two; highlight reel. (
Documentary | WESLEY MORRIS
Creating a quagmire in the desert
In one of the telling moments in Charles Ferguson's bone-chilling documentary, "No End in Sight," a reporter offers "quagmire" as an apt description of US involvement in Iraq and then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld takes umbrage. With the debonair assurance of an old Hollywood star, he says, "That's somebody else's word. I don't do quagmires." Ferguson's film is a clear-sighted counterpoint to Rumsfeld. As the title suggests, it's a seemingly infinite mess.
Ferguson's film could have been subtitled "How the Insurgency Got Started and Why It'll Be Extremely Difficult to Stop." There's no dwelling on the specious case made to invade. Instead, the film uses its amazing sources to explain what went wrong post-invasion. The people Ferguson interviews, from reporters and former high-ranking Bush administration officials to candid soldiers and knowledgeable Iraqis, explain how the war was effectively lost after the first few months.
"Quagmire" actually starts to seem like an inadequate description. It's too passive. The Iraq we read about and see in this film is a nationwide forest fire, burning on "bitter embers." That's what L. Paul Bremer, who led the Coalition Provisional Authority, which governed Iraq until June 2004, reductively calls it, in press conference footage.
A lot of the ground in "No End in Sight" has been covered in the dozens of books released during the last four years. The movie is more of a supplement to such books rather than a substitute for them. But on its own terms, the film is tough-minded and essential - a severely galling reality check.
Extras: Additional footage, director's commentary. (Magnolia, $26.98)
ALSO THIS WEEK
"TALK TO ME" (2007)
Don Cheadle gets down with his bad self, addictively, as Petey Greene, an ex-con who reinvented himself as a hard-talking Washington DJ in the '60s and '70s. Chiwetel Ejiofor has got chops equaling Cheadle's as Greene's program director.
Extras: Production featurettes; deleted scenes. (Universal, $29.98)
"LICENSE TO WED" (2007)
Gonzo minister Robin Williams puts his own spin on Pre-Cana for young couple John Krasinski ("The Office") and Mandy Moore. Seeing Krasinski put in some onscreen overtime is welcome, but as for Williams. . .
Extras: Deleted scenes. (Warner, $28.98)
"EL CANTANTE" (2007)
Jennifer Lopez throws caution - and those hard-learned "Gigli" lessons - to the winds, teaming with current love Marc Anthony for a biopic of troubled '70s salsa star Hector Lavoe. The music is the only real draw.
Extras: Filmmaker commentary; production featurettes. (New Line, $27.98)
"KNUFFLE BUNNY" (2007)
The always worthwhile Scholastic Storybook Treasures line gets even more current than usual, animating this so-true tale of early childhood by Mo Willems, a Cartoon Network staffer turned hipster picture-book standout. Kids' stuff that manages to be cute and cool all at once.
Extras: Additional shorts. (Scholastic, $14.95)
"IN THE LAND OF WOMEN" (2007)
Adam Brody finds life after "The O.C." to be rough going in more ways than one, starring in the treacly story of a Hollywood wannabe who bails to play support network for ill Meg Ryan and her daughter, Kristen Stewart, back home. (Warner, $27.98)
REISSUES
"BARBARA STANWYCK: THE SIGNATURE
COLLECTION" (2007)
No "Stella Dallas" or other Oscar-nominated turns in this set, just a sampling of the routinely solid work that more typically made Stanwyck's star, including "Annie Oakley," "My Reputation," and "Executive Suite" (above). (Warner, $49.98)
"THE THREE STOOGES COLLECTION":
VOLUME ONE (1934-36)
Moe, Larry, and Curly cranked out some 200 shorts during their long, distinguished career of eye-gouging and nose-tweaking for Columbia. Studio vault-minders dust off the first 19 two-reelers here, with more to come. (
FOREIGN
"THE MYTH" (2005)
Jackie Chan is a contemporary archaeologist in the "National Treasure" mode in this messily sprawling adventure from director Stanley Tong.
Extras: Chan's first full feature commentary is the selling point of this DVD debut. (Sony, $24.96)
Capsules are written by Globe correspondent Tom Russo and titles are in stores Tuesday unless otherwise specified.
