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Home (Re) Viewing: Let this weather be ‘Departed’
It might be rather hard to get to the video store today in Southwest Ohio, but when you can make it, or when your mail rentals arrive, here’s a rundown of this week’s pretty darn good video selection.
The Departed : One of last year’s very best movies makes this week’s selection pretty darn good all by itself. Click the title for my full-length rave of this top-notch Scorsese movie, with one of the best casts he’s ever had. DVD fans take note: The two-disc edition has all the goodies, including the very good documentary “Scorsese on Scorsese,” in which the director talks about his career up through “The Aviator.” GRADE: A+ Buy it/Rent it
The Infernal Affairs Trilogy: This ever -so-timely box collects the Hong Kong films from which “The Departed” sprang. I’ve seen the first film, and it’s extremely entertaining. Much of it is quite similar to Scorsese’s movie, but some of the plot twists are entirely different, which is why the Hong Kong filmmakers were able to make follow-ups. One is a prequel, the other is sort of a prequel/sequel. I prefer Scorsese’s version for its richer characters, but the original film deserves its rep as a Hong Kong classic. Buy it.
Half Nelson: A crack-addicted teacher (Ryan Gosling) forms a unique relationship with a student (Shareeka Epps) who catches him indulging in his habit, but the student s has her own burdens with which to cope; This gritty little indie is very powerful at times, thanks mainly to sterling performances by the two leads. Gosling richly deserved its Oscar nom. I found it somewhat overrated in that it was a little too emotionally remote at times, but it’s a memorable experience all the same. GRADE: A- Buy it/Rent It
Marie Antoinette: I greatly enjoyed looking at this anachronistic take on the queen of France who was content to let them eat cake, with its modern music playing over the period setting.However, I didn’t much care about anyone in it. Kirsten Dunst is lovely in the lead, and writer -director Sofia Coppola gets points for creativity, but the movie is like a coffee table book without substance. GRADE: C+ Buy it/Rent it
School for Scoundrels: Bad Santa and Napoleon Dynamite - uh, I mean, Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Heder trade barbs as Heder takes Thornton’s class on manliness, only to find that Thornton is gunning for his girl. The movie has a few inspired laughs, but it never builds enough steam to make it truly memorable. GRADE: C+ Buy it/Rent it
The US vs. John Lennon: This documentary on Lennon’s fight against deportation efforts by the Nixon administration comes across like “John Lennon for Dummies: The Green Card Fight.” The movie gets the job done well enough, but it’s all surface level. Any good Lennon biography or author Jon Wiener’s books on this subject offer much more insight. GRADE: B- Buy it/Rent it
Also out today
Infamous: The “other Truman Capote movie” got lost in the shuffle last year, but from what I hear it’s pretty good. A few even think it’s better than the Oscar-winning “Capote.” Buy it/Rent it
So Goes the Nation: Ohioans will be particularly intrigued by this documentary that looks at how the 2004 presidential election played out in this battleground state. Buy it/Rent it
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