The week’s DVDs begin at the University
DVDs for Oct. 29 by Boo Allen
This week, we begin at the University:
Monsters University (***1/2)
Disney’s animated treat, a prequel to their earlier hit Monsters, again takes up the hijinks of cuddly monsters Mike Wazowski (voice of Billy Crystal) and James P., “Sully,” Sullivan, (John Goodman). The story follows the two when they first meet at Monsters University. They prove so competitive, they end up being expelled before finally deciding to work together. Helen Mirren voices the school’s Dean Hardscrabble, and Alfred Molina is Professor Knight. Other voices are supplied by a distinguished group, including Steve Buscemi, Sean Hays, Dave Foley, Nathan Fillion, Aubrey Plaza, and others. And Randy Newman contributes one of his inimitable music scores.
Rated G, 103 minutes. The DVD comes in all formats, downloads, and combo packs. The abundant supplements include commentary, four deleted scenes, and around nine “making of” featurettes, covering everything from the challenges of creating a prequel, to a look at Monster University, to Newman’s music, and much more.
The Internship (**1/2)
Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson team up again in this buddy comedy that hopes to rekindle some of the zany magic of their 2005 hit Wedding Crashers. The results prove lukewarm however as the two struggle under Vaughn and Jared Stern’s script, from a story by Vaughn, meant to draw laughs from the fish-out-of-water scenario but one noticeably light on the laughs. They play two hapless salesmen left adrift when their company goes under. They then have the brilliant idea of applying for an internship at Google, which they hope might lead to a job. They are somehow selected and find themselves competing with a large group, all better educated, smarter, and about half their age. But of course they use their wily smarts to succeed in various contests, all while a romance flickers between Wilson and Rose Byrne. Supporting help comes from “The Daily Show” connections Aasif Mandvi, Josh Gad, and Rob Riggle. The party that comes out looking best, not surprisingly, is Google.
The DVD comes with copies of both unrated (125 minutes) and PG-13 rated (119 minutes). The DVD includes commentary with director Shawn Levy, eight minutes of deleted scenes, and an 18 minute “making of” featurette, “Any Given Monday.”
The Beauty of the Devil (***1/2)
In 1951, René Clair, prolific French director and one-time World War I ambulance driver, helmed this lively take on the Faust legend. The film had been more recently overlooked but has now been gratefully recovered and remastered for issue by the Cohen Film Collection. Clair, who loved to work in the fantasy genre, benefited here from the presence of aged French icon Michel Simon in the role of Prof. Faust, who barters his soul to the devil for money, success, and prolonged youth. Popular French actor Gérard Philipe takes the role of the re-imagined youth who finds himself in constant dilemmas and love affairs, all while being guarded and watched by his hovering devil, Mephistopheles. Clair came to America during World War II and directed the two hits I Married a Witch and And Then There Were None, both delightful successes which hold up today.
Not rated, 97 minutes. The DVD contains Pierre-Henri Gibert’s excellent 50 minute documentary on Clair: “Through the Looking Glass with René Clair: Master of the Fantastic.”
Byzantium (***)
The older member of the mother-daughter vampire team found in Byzantium, the new blood-sucking caper from director Neil Jordan, likes to tell people she and her daughter are sisters. And who can blame a lady for shaving a little off when you’re over two hundred years old? Usually, when a daughter ventures out for the evening, the mother sits home worrying. But in this stylish twist on the un-dead, the poor daughter, Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan), just never knows when mom, Clara (Gemma Arterton), may drag home a body drained of blood. That’s only one of several delicious surprises director Jordan takes from Moira Buffini’s original play and screenplay. Not surprising consider the recent popularity of teen vampires, the two actresses in Byzantium make a handsome pair who would find no trouble in attracting gullible men. At that, the similarities end, as Clara rips through her victims, leaving behind a bloody messy, while Eleanor will only dispense of the most elderly and only then if they are ready. Plus, she is much more genteel. Jordan executes a double plot, beginning in 1804 when Clara works as a prostitute, eventually giving birth to Eleanor. Mom eagerly, and sneakily, becomes one of the undead, hoping that it will help her break her depressing cycle. But, flash ahead two hundred years, and mom is still earning money the same old way, much to her daughter’s disapproval. Byzantium is not a comedy and has virtually no laughs in it, but this mother-daughter contrast grows progressively richer with every disposed victim. Simultaneously, a subplot plays out about one of Clara’s original vampire connections (Sam Riley) chasing her through the ages but only now as a police detective. Director Jordan first gained fame in the genre with 1994’s Interview with the Vampire and seems now to have polished his interest in the subject while, here, delivering a movie that, for him, is typically picturesque with a striking series of images: a line of nuns walking single file on a beach, a couple walks through a penny arcade while being filmed off surfaces, a waterfall flows with blood, a Fun House’s warped hall of mirrors fills the frame with distorted reflections. At its core, Byzantium delivers the expected vampire shocks and horrors, but it’s Neil Jordan’s keen eye that makes it look so good and keeps it interesting.
Rated R, 118 minutes. The DVD includes interviews.
Funeral in Berlin (***), Elephant Walk (**1/2)
Warner Archive releases two unrated titles worth looks for various reasons.
The 1966 espionage-caper Funeral in Berlin (102 minutes) followed 1965’s The Ipcress File, the first of Len Deighton’s Cold War novels featuring Michael Caine as Harry Palmer, an often obstreperous employee of England’s M.I. 5. Palmer’s boss sends him to Berlin to help bring a defecting Russian officer (Oscar Homolka) to safety. But once there, Palmer becomes mixed up with various intrigues, including, of course, a beautiful woman (Eva Renzi) and even a former Nazi concentration camp officer gone into hiding. Director Guy Hamilton took time off from his many James Bond films to render a methodical, cool piece of deceit and bountiful double-crosses. The 1953 Elephant Walk (102 minutes) remains notorious for several reasons. The film began with Vivien Leigh in the lead female role. For various health problems, she was replaced by 21 year old Elizabeth Taylor. Also, the film’s ending called for a herd of elephants to destroy the Ceylon (Sri Lanka) plantation known as Elephant Walk. But, being elephants, they refused to follow their cues, leading to an escalated budget and a delayed shooting time for veteran director William Dieterle. The film is based on Robert Standish’s melodramatic novel about a tea plantation owner, John Wiley (Peter Finch), traveling to London to marry and bring back his new wife, Ruth (Taylor). The charm she saw in London dwindles away, as John resorts to his plantation-owner mentality, bossing his wife along with the servants. Before long, Ruth begins responding to the attentions of John’s manager, Dick Carver (Dana Andrews). Domestic squabbles, a cholera epidemic, and thwarted love play out somewhat desultorily until the culminating scene when the elephants finally take over.
And finally, from this week’s TV arrivals:
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts: Complete Collection
Fix yourself a drink, or two, light up a cigarette, and then, and this is the important part, look very, very relaxed. Only with such preparation will you then be ready to watch Dean Martin in his role as host in 53 roasts of an all star celebrity group. He also sits for a roast himself. Appearing on television from 1973 to 1984, the shows sat down some strange targets, such as the first, Ronald Reagan. Also included among the odd participants were Barry Goldwater, Wilt Chamberlain, Hubert Humphrey, Truman Capote, Hank Aaron, Evel Knievel, Ralph Nader, and others. But some more fitting names catch the eye: Johnny Carson, Don Rickles, Jack Benny, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, Frank Sinatra. The affairs played on network TV and lacked the venom seen in “Comedy Central” roasts. But the roasters included some of the best comics then working, thereby proving unfailingly hilarious. The set comes on 24 discs and also includes an additional fifteen hours of supplements, including new interviews, Dean Martin specials, a 44 page collector’s book, and much more. And, included for the serious Dean Martin fan is a seven and a half inch Dean Martin figurine.
Also on DVD: Harlequin, R.I.P.D.