"Cloverfield"
New Yorkers go out of their heads (and the Statue of Liberty
loses hers) as a 350-foot monster rampages through the city in this
horror hit whose secretive marketing campaign was as much a part of
the story as the movie itself. Using a cast of unknowns to
accentuate authenticity, "Cloverfield" is told entirely from the
perspective of a hand-held camera that had been recording a
farewell party among friends, the lens turned on the chaos that
results as the Godzilla wannabe tears up the town. The DVD has four
deleted scenes and a couple of alternate endings that offer slight
variations to the conclusion seen in theaters. The disc also has
detailed making-of segments featuring the cast and crew - including
producer J.J. Abrams, whose trip to Japan with his son made him
lament that America did not have a resident movie monster such as
Godzilla.
"Charlie Wilson's War"
A partying congressman, a Texas socialite and a slovenly CIA man
secretly back Afghanistan against communist invaders, help bring
down the Soviet empire and leave a legacy that still resounds in
the war on terrorism today. Sounds like the stuff of a Hollywood
laugh fest to us. Director Mike Nichols' sharp foreign-policy
satire stars Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman
(who earned a supporting-actor Academy Award nomination) as the
three unlikely masterminds to the covert U.S. response over the
Soviet action in the early 1980s. The DVD comes with a making-of
featurette and a segment on the real Wilson, featuring interviews
with the congressman along with Hanks, Nichols and screenwriter
Aaron Sorkin.
"The Savages"
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney are an ideal match in
this hilarious and heartbreaking comic drama about a couple of
emotionally stunted siblings forced to grow up and deal with each
other and the little messes they've made of their lives. Hoffman
and Linney play a brother and sister who have contentedly grown
apart amid their self-absorbed lives but are forced back together
to care for the ailing father (Philip Bosco) who never paid much
mind to them. The film grabbed two Oscar nominations, best actress
for Linney and original screenplay for writer-director Tamara
Jenkins. The DVD comes with an extended scene and a making-of
featurette.
"The Orphanage"
Good ghost stories are hard to find, so this subtle, creepy tale
is a welcome arrival at a time when Hollywood horror mostly
consists of slasher remakes and torture sequels. Produced by
Guillermo del Toro, the creator of "Pan's Labyrinth," the film
stars Belen Rueda as a woman who once lived in an orphanage and
returns there 30 years later with her husband and adopted son to
open a home for children with special needs. But they're not alone:
ominous spirits of her old playmates haunt the place to reveal an
old terror she had long forgotten. The DVD and Blu-ray
high-definition release have segments on the elaborate makeup and
the film's rehearsal sessions.
TV on DVD:
"Friday Night Lights: The Second Season" - The spinoff of the
big-screen sports flick continues with year two of the drama about
a small Texas town whose championship high-school football team is
at the center of life. The four-disc set has the season's 15
episodes, accompanied by deleted scenes and commentary on three
episodes.
"Laverne & Shirley: The Fourth Season" - Penny Marshall and
Cindy Williams return as roommates who work as bottle cappers at a
Milwaukee brewery and have an odd extended family of friends and
relatives in the "Happy Days" spinoff set in the 1950s and '60s.
All 23 episodes from season four come in a four-disc set.
Other new releases:
"One Missed Call" - The most annoying phone messages are the
ones from your future self that spell out the time and
circumstances of your own death. This horror dud stars Shannyn
Sossamon as a woman who loses two friends and then gets her own
death message and Edward Burns as the detective on the case.
"Starting Out in the Evening" - Frank Langella offers a
towering performance as an aging, forgotten writer toiling to
finish one last novel while dealing with a brilliant young admirer
(Lauren Ambrose) whose attentions prove a disturbing distraction.
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