The week’s DVDs begin in South Texas:
DVDs for Jan. 31 by Boo Allen
This week we begin in South Texas:
Texas Killing Fields (***)
This dark authentic drama shows how catching murderers is probably much nastier than the way it is
usually portrayed on television. Don Ferrarone wrote the script,
allegedly based on true events, and Ami Canaan Mann directs. But the
gritty work sometimes seems to have pieces missing, as it takes place
in and around Texas City, Texas, a place so forlorn, as one character
puts it, “even God don’t come here.” Its deserted, swampy
marshland serves as a perfect place to dump dead bodies. So, when
several girls go missing, and later when the bodies of several begin
popping up in the fields, detectives Mike Souder (Sam Worthington)
and Brian Heigh (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), and
later a third, Pam (Jessica Chastain), follow obscure leads that send
them through the area’s hellish slums to confront the scary natives.
They dodge bullets while enduring several car chases
through the area’s alleyways and junk yards. The main purpose of
nabbing the killer, or killers, remains clear, but everything else
remains murky, so that the pursuits often become jumbled. At the end,
not everything ties neatly up, as even a major subplot is left
hanging. But, overall, Texas Killing Fields
deftly
mixes nasty characters, moody atmospherics, and a trio of high energy
detectives.
Rated R, 105 minutes. The DVD, in all formats, offers
commentary from director Mann and writer Ferrarone.
The Double (**1/2)
This over-plotted espionage drama is filled with so many twists, by the
end it becomes borderline comical. Richard Gere stars as Paul
Sheperdson, a retired CIA agent who beckons the call to return to
work from his old boss Tom (Martin Sheen). Young FBI agent Ben Geary
(Topher Grace), needs Sheperdson’s expertise finding Cassius, a
Russian double agent long thought dead. When a U.S. Senator is
murdered, it seems Cassius has returned, and old and young operatives
must pool their knowledge. Director and co-writer Michael Brandt
keeps the action frantic, keeping viewers in the dark until the end.
Stana Katic, of TV’s “Castle,” receives prominent billing but
only appears briefly.
Rated PG-13, 98 minutes. The DVD, available in all formats, includes
director and co-writer commentary and an eight minute
behind-the-scenes featurette.
Chalet Girl (**1/2)
This innocuous comedy is better than it should be, primarily due to the
charms of Felicity Jones, who plays Kim, a one-time champion
skateboarder who eventually lost her nerve after an accident. Now,
she flips burgers in London and helps support her single father. She
fortuitously lands a part-time job as a Chalet Girl at a posh private
home in the Austrian Alps. Doing mostly domestic chores, she makes
friends, albeit reluctantly, and gradually transfers her dormant
skills into learning snowboarding so well she competes for a large
award, giving the film its sports-cliche finale. Of course, in the
interim, she becomes better acquainted to the point of romance with
the son (Ed Westwick) of the well heeled chalet owners (odd couple
Bill Nighy and Brooke Shields).
Not rated, 97 minutes. The well-stuffed DVD includes a nine minute
“behind-the-scenes” featurette, nine viral videos, 13 Youtube
videos, and ten cast and crew interviews.
Thunder Soul (***)
Jamie Foxx helped produce and bring to fruition this engaging documentary
about “Prof” Johnson, a beloved, legendary high school band
leader. He was credited with transforming a mediocre jazz band into a
well known funk group. But he also helped shape the destiny and
character of many of those he mentored.
Rated PG, 88 minutes. The DVD also offers commentary with director Mark
Landsman and editor Claire Didier, and 14 minutes of previously unseen
footage from “The Prof and the Band,” a 1974 documentary on
Johnson.
In Time (***)
Andrew Niccol (Gattaca) wrote and directed this futuristic science fiction film in which time
is actually money. In the vague future, people quit aging at 25. But
forever young Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried star as a pair of
Robin Hood (and Bonnie and Clyde) lovers who “steal” time from
the rich and give it to the oppressed poor. Cillian Murphy plays the
“timekeeper” chasing them. As he has done in his career, Niccol
raises probing questions about being and non-being, but he also pays
attention to the action, providing a surprising thinking-thriller.
Rated PG-13, 109 minutes. The DVD, in all formats, offers a 17 minute “making of” featurette,
ten deleted and extended scenes, and more.
Big Year (**1/2)
Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson star in this
buddy-comedy about three male bird-watchers at different points in
life who make a similar decision. They enter a competition among
themselves about who can see the most bird species in a single year.
This sets up cross-country road trips and various madcap adventures
as the three men re-discover their love of life. Director David
Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada) keeps the mood light
and avoids the maudlin.
Rated PG, 100 minutes. The DVD, in all formats, includes
both the theatrical and the extended versions of the film. Plus: an
18 minute “making of” featurette, a six minute gag reel, and over
40 minutes of 12 deleted scenes.
Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles
This shaggy dog documentary, which keeps promising to be
more than it is, focuses mainly on Justin Doerr, a not particularly
likable man who becomes obsessed with the not-so-mysterious Toynbee
tiles. In the 1980s, the tiles began appearing in Doerr’s native
Philadelphia. Then they gradually popped up across the country and
even in some South American locales. They were tiles embedded in city
streets with a cryptic message, with no clue as to who left them.
Doerr and a small group of friends embark on a quest to uncover the
mystery.
Not rated, 87 minutes. The DVD includes commentary from
director Job Foy, 26 minutes of additional footage, three deleted
scenes, and more.
The Comic Strip Presents—the Complete Series
Our week’s top TV-Series-To-DVD is an odd offering of
comedy, not nearly as well known here as in England. “The Comic
Strip” featured a regularly changing line-up of sketch comedy,
compared, obviously, to “Saturday Night Live.” First appearing in
the 1980s, the series gave jump starts to the careers of Nigel
Planer, Peter Richardson, Kathy Burke, Robbie Coltrane, Rik Mayall,
Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and many others. Alums, like SNL
alums, eventually created and appeared in several movies, with the
foundations for those films seen in some of the sketches that appear
in these nine discs holding 39 episodes ranging from 1982 to 2000.
The collection also holds the featurette “The Comic Strip: A
Retrospective,” and both parts one and two of “First Laugh on
Four,” as well as “The Comic Strip,” a short film from Julien
Temple.
Not rated, around 1600 minutes.
Also on DVD: The Double, Drive, The Thing, In Time, Transformers: Dark Side
of the Moon,