The week’s DVDs begin in New Jersey
DVDs for Aug. 23 by Boo Allen
This week, we begin in New Jersey:
Win Win (***)
Of course the title Win Win is ironic. The only person in the new
comedy-drama (and heavy on the drama) from writer-director Thomas
McCarthy who believes everyone has won is the individual ignorant of
how much damage he has caused. We all know someone like Mike Flaherty
(Paul Giamatti), be they politicians, relatives, or meddlesome
friends. They, like Mike, blithely travel through life believing they
can make things right, even when ignoring others’ actual needs and
desires. They know what is best. For Mike, only when facing
personal and professional disaster does he comprehend the
consequences of as well as the limitations of his selfish approach.
McCarthy deftly examines this obtuse altruism, with its unforeseen
yet malignant ripple effects. Mike Flaherty practices law, but not
successfully. He also serves as an assistant high school wrestling
coach for the inept squad in his hometown of New Providence, New
Jersey. He and wife Jackie (Amy Ryan) have two small daughters, many
bills, and a bleak future. When confronted with an opportunity to
draw money from the state to act as guardian to his aging client Leo
(Burt Young), Mike takes the money. He then sticks Leo in a facility
but still pockets the money. About the time Mike rationalizes away
his belief that the mentally fading Leo would be better in a
facility, a wild card arrives in Kyle (Alex Shaffer), Leo’s teen-aged
grandson from Ohio who has run away from his drug-addled mother
(Melanie Lynsky). From there, McCarthy orchestrates his drama of Mike
juggling his duties towards Leo while also taking in Kyle, who,
ironically, turns out to be an excellent wrestler and the school
team’s possible savior. McCarthy cogently defines the necessities and
contradictions in Mike’s competing obligations, even if the tidying
up of these burdens eventually wraps up a little too neatly. Much of
the persuasiveness of Win Win comes from an ensemble
cast entrusted with making the conflicting demands believable.
Giamatti always looks best in these put-upon roles, and Amy Ryan,
whose immense talent has been increasingly recognized, persuades and
convinces in what could have been a throwaway role.
rated R, 106 minutes. The DVD, also on Blu-ray, contains two deleted
scenes, seven minutes with McCarthy and writer Joe Tiboni, and brief
segments on actor David Thompson visiting the Sundance Film Festival
for the film, on “family,” on Giamatti and McCarthy at Sundance,
and a music video by The National.
The Lucille Ball RKO Comedy Collection, volume one: Go
Chase Yourself (**1/2), Next Time I Marry (***), Look
Who’s Laughing (**1/2).
On-demand Warner Archives has rescued three, unrated, comedies from Lucille
Ball’s early career at R.K.O. Pictures and has assembled them onto
two discs in a single package. In 1938, she appeared in eight movies,
going from supporting (Go Chase Yourself) to starring (Marry). In Chase, she takes
second billing to the now deservedly forgotten Joe Penner. He plays a
bank clerk unwittingly involved with a trio of even dumber bank
robbers. Ball is his wife who has to convince the police of her
innocence. The film only shows energy with her presence. In Marry,
she ascends to top billing and dominates the screen as her playful
persona and knack for physical comedy become apparent. She plays an
heiress who pays a baffled ditch-digger (James Ellison) to marry her
so as to fulfill her father’s will so she can then marry her fiance
(Lee Bowman). The newly-wed couple then take an eventful trip to Reno
for a divorce, and, surprise, become attached to each other along the
way. Directed by Garson Kanin with supporting help from the great
Mantan Moreland. Ball heads the billing but has reduced screen time
in Laughing, a time capsule with performances by vaudeville and radio personalities Fibber McGee and Molly, the Great Gildersleeve, and Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. Bergen and
McCarthy go to the McGee’s house for a hair-brained real estate
scheme, leaving behind his love-smitten on-stage assistant (Ball).
It is pure silliness but enjoyable to see all these noted performers
in the same film.
The Killing (****)
The Criterion Collection releases on Blu-ray a polished, remastered
version of Stanley Kubrick’s masterly 1956 caper film. This small
noir masterpiece sports the glossy photography of legendary
cinematographer Lucien Ballard (The Wild Bunch) and has
gritty dialogue by noir icon Jim Thompson. Sterling Hayden heads a
group robbing a race track, a well planned, methodical undertaking
that looks perfect right up until the ironic last scene. The film’s
influence can be seen in virtually countless heist films. A tightly
constructed masterpiece with a supporting cast of noir favorites”
Elijah Cooke Jr., Jay C. Flippen, and the great Marie Windsor.
Not rated, 85 minutes. The DVD also includes the rare treat of a complete
version of Kubrick’s second film The Killer’s Kiss
(The Killing was his third). Plus: a 21 minute
interview with producer James Harris, 24 minutes with Sterling
Hayden, and 19 minutes with Thompson expert Robert Polito. And a 20
page booklet on the film.
Fistful of Dollars (***), For a Few Dollars More
(***)–Blu-ray
MGM continues to give Blu-ray releases to past classics and favorites.
Clint Eastwood became his generation’s model cowboy when he starred
as “The Man With No Name” in director Sergio Leone’s trilogy. In
Fistful, Eastwood plays an American everyone calls Joe. He wanders into the
small Mexican village of San Miguel, where two factions battle. He
sells his services and plays them against each other, before finally
over-playing his hand. In Dollars, Eastwood plays essentially the same character but now a bounty hunter
who competes and then teams with Lee Van Cleef. Both films are filled
with stylized violence, beautifully photographed Spanish scenery, and
all complemented by Ennio Morricone’s often imitated whistle-heavy
musical score.
Both rated R. Fistful: 99 minutes.
Dollars: 132 minutes.
Both Blu-rays hold similar supplements of nearly two
hours: commentary by historian and film scholar Christopher Prayling,
and featurettes with Prayling on each film. Plus, around five or more
common featurettes on: Clint Eastwood reflecting on the films, “The
Voci”–interviews with three men responsible for the films,
then-and-now location comparisons, and approximately 20 minutes on
the “New Kind of Hero,” and more.
Bereavement (**)
This slasher-porn also contains some surprisingly
effective scenes concerning parental abandonment, young love, and
sibling attachments. But it ruins any goodwill it builds up with its
repetitively exploitative scenes of child torture, grotesque violence
and needless gore. In early 1990s rural Pennsylvania, a high school
girl (Alexandra Daddario) goes to live with her aunt and uncle
(Michael Biehn). Meanwhile, local girls go missing, mainly because
the requisite madman (Brett Rickaby) is nabbing them and taking them
to his family’s defunct meat packing plant. Director Steven Mena
seems most intent on spilling the blood and orchestrating sequences
of pain.
Rated R, 103 minutes. The DVD, also on Blu-ray, includes
director’s commentary, a 35 minute “making of” featurette, a
seven minute “on the set” segment, and 11 minutes of deleted
scenes.
Super Hybrid (**1/2)
A likable, and photogenic, group of auto mechanics works
in a Chicago police impound garage run by a mean, offensive boss
(Oded Fehr). But everyone must work together, or appear to, when
trapped by a monster cleverly shape-shifting itself into various
automobiles. With a debt to Stephen King, and others, director Eric
Valette plays it straight and squeezes a few frights out of his
ghoulish story.
Rated PG-13, 94 minutes. The DVD, also on Blu-ray,
offers a 34 minute “making of” featurette–”Under the Hood.”