DVD Digest for March 18, 2008

Paul Clark — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:00:00 GMT

This week, a memorable trio of new Criterions shares a release date with three of the most critically lambasted films of 2007. Who will prevail?

DVD of the Week: In the past decade, the suburban-dysfunction genre has had a lot to answer for, not least the seemingly endless string of glib American Beauty clones full of easy laughs and cheap stabs at profundity. But The Ice Storm shouldn't be held accountable for this- an uncommonly sensitive take on similar material, Ang Lee's adaptation of Rick Moody's novel ventures into uncomfortable corners of the bourgeois lifestyle without softening them with irony. Lee's film also boasted a cast that if anything is more impressive now than it was then, given the subsequent careers of then-newcomers Tobey Maguire and Katie Holmes, as well as former child stars Elijah Wood and Christina Ricci. Criterion's new two-disc set features commentary from Lee and writer/producer James Schamus, interviews with Moody and many of the film's stars, and much more, plus it promises to make Frederick Elmes' cold, wet cinematography look particularly gorgeous. It's the perfect opportunity to revisit a film that warrants a second look.

Also this week, Criterion brings us two films that are new to DVD, Alberto Lattuada's Mafioso and Hiroshi Teshigahara's documentary Antonio Gaudi. Not having seen either of these films I can't pass judgment on them, but I'm glad Criterion has seen fit to give them the best treatment possible, particularly Teshigahara's film, the latest effort on their part to celebrate his often-overlooked career.

Recent releases coming to DVD include: Joe Wright's Oscar-nominated Atonement (Universal), the kid-friendly princess comedy Enchanted (Disney, also Blu-Ray), the surprisingly good I Am Legend (Warner, also Blu-Ray), Fox's failed attempt at a Potter-like franchise The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, and the aforementioned trio of critically-drubbed films, Love in the Time of Cholera (New Line), Revolver (Sony), and Southland Tales.

New TV on DVD includes Volume 1 of the 2007 reboot of The Bionic Woman (Universal) and Season 8 of Married... with Children (Sony). That's a strange juxtaposition of flashy action and soundstage-bound low comedy, but then when it comes to television, you can't have one without the other.

Also of note is MGM's trio of new DVD editions of baseball-themed movies to get viewers geared up for Opening Day: Bull Durham, Eight Men Out, and Pride of the Yankees. Indeed, these new editions appear to be geared more toward baseball fans than movie lovers, as they're chock full of baseball-themed extras, particularly the Curt Schilling-heavy Pride of the Yankees platter.

Finally, we bring you yet another edition of the ever popular Huddleston Corner. This week, we're offering shout-outs to two new HD-DVD releases, Atonement (Universal) and Justice League: The New Frontier (Warner). However, Mr. Huddleston would like to inform you that he doesn't know how many more condolences he has left in him, and he hopes that the bums companies who are still stuck on HD-DVD will get their acts together soon.

Rep Report Supplement: The New York International Children's Film Festival

Phil Nugent — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 19:00:00 GMT

Tomorrow marks the opening of the tenth annual New York International Children's Film Festival, which runs through March 16 and spreads its bounty across four venues: IFC Center, the Directors Guild of America (DGA) theater, Symphony Space, and the Cantor Film Center. The festival was launched a decade ago by Eric Beckman and Emily Shapiro, who immediately discovered that they faced an uphill battle from those who associate the term "children's film" with "inoffensive pap." It's a measure of just how ingrained that idea has become that the festival founders had to address it even in their discussions with filmmakers who were reluctant to have their films shown, lest they become tainted with the dread "family friendly" label. As Beckman told S. James Snyder in an interview for the New York Sun, "Over and over, I found myself talking to filmmakers who reacted along the lines of 'I'm not sure this is a movie for children.' And I just started to become this broken record: 'Don't judge it through the lens of whether this will be nice for children. If it's a great film, then it's a great film for all age groups.'"

Beckman and Shapiro hung in there, and by now, they've begun to reap the respect and rewards befitting their mission to provide young viewers with some movie excitement untainted by condescension, pandering, cheesiness, Slurpee cup tie-ins, and all the other general hatefulness that goes with the family "entertainment" mass-produced with the goal of teaching future consumers that it's never too early in life to start scaling your expectations downward. In the teeth of that machinery, the Children's Film Festival's mission statement — "to promote intelligent, passionate, provocative cinematic works for ages three to eighteen and to help define a more compelling film for kids" by presenting "a highly selective slate of the best animation, live action, documentary and experimental film from around the world" is clearly a heroic one. (The festival also includes filmmaker Q & As and workshops designed to light a fire under aspiring moviemakers. You can buy tickets, get more information, or watch a few films on-line at their website.) This year the schedule includes seventy-five features and shorts (carved out of a mountain of some 2500 entries) and a festival jury that includes Gus Van Sant, James Schamus, Susan Sarandon, and Adam Gopnik. As Beckman points out, the festival's awards selection helps to point up the need that the festival serves in the lives of budding young movie geeks, "As part of the audience award," he says, "we give ballots to both children and the adults, and in the early years, we started seeing this strange trend, that almost without fail parents would vote for the movie that seemed sweetest and nicest, and kids often chose the more challenging and interesting material. For us, it wasn't just interesting, it was educational. The parents picked the happy option, and the kids picked the films that respected them enough to go serious."

The Screengrab : james schamus

DVD Digest for March 18, 2008

Rep Report Supplement: The New York International Children's Film Festival