February 10, 2004
BUSINESS as Usual... Though Not an Entirely Bad Thing
The subtitle of BARBERSHOP 2: BACK IN BUSINESS pretty much sums up the film. Mostly all of the elements contributing to the original's sleeper success are back, and accordingly this film more than recalls the first. All of the principal cast members are back in their familiar roles, most notably Cedric the Entertainer as veteran cutter Eddie, he of the indiscreetly outspoken mind. This film, like the first, feels a little ramshackle in its episodic pacing though there is more of a concentrated plot interest this time out--the proposed revamping of the shop's South Side block, not least of which includes a slick, franchised haircutting establishment located directly across the street. However, any new plot wrinkles are used to reinforce the familiar overlying theme of the importance of history and community.
But that latter point is the key to why the first film, and, hence, this sequel works: a warm sense of heart, and this return visit to Calvin's Barbershop is like settling back in with old friends. As in life, all of the familiar characters--Eddie, Calvin Jr. (Ice Cube), Terri (Eve), Ricky (Michael Ealy), Dinka (Leonard Earl Howze), Jimmy (Sean Patrick Thomas) and Isaac (Troy Garity)--have all moved on a bit since we last them, but they all remain the distinct personalities we warmly (and, at times, not so warmly) recall. New director Kevin Rodney Sullivan, taking over for Tim Story, wisely doesn't try to fix what isn't broken, instead simply realistically building on the characters' established personalities and life directions. In true sequel form, there is an expanded role this time out for the original's fan favorite scene-stealer: Eddie, whose back story is further fleshed out; but instead of coming off as a blatant attempt to simply give Cedric the Entertainer more screen time, his flashback thread organically fits into the bigger picture.
What doesn't fit into the bigger picture, however, is Queen Latifah's cameo role as Gina, a sassy stylist at the heretofore unmentioned beauty shop next door and an ex-flame of Calvin's. While there is an undeniably amusing argument scene between Gina and Eddie, Sullivan and writer Don D. Scott can't quite disguise that Latifah's fairly fleeting presence serves no purpose other than to set up what in sitcom land is called a "planted spinoff"--the gimmick of introducing a guest star/character within a successful series for the express purpose of spinning the actor/character off into their own vehicle. And, indeed, the Latifah/Gina-starring BEAUTY SHOP is on the drawing board for release this fall. Much like how Calvin's homey neighborhood is slowly being touched by slick commerce, how fitting that the charmingly laid-back, old-fashioned BARBERSHOP series--in a sequel subtitled BACK IN BUSINESS, no less--would itself be infected by bald-faced commercialism.
Not a Film About Waiters
Anyone who buys a ticket for YOU GOT SERVED is there to watch high-energy hip-hop dance numbers, and writer-director Christopher B. Stokes wastes no time in giving the audience what it wants, rolling the opening credits over what will be a commonplace scene for the rest of film: two dance crews engaged in a fierce performance battle. Stokes's music video training serves him well for his film's bread and butter though at times one wishes he'd lay off the cheesy visual tricks and simply just point and shoot these impressive displays--case in point, his irksome tendency to punch-up any hard landing or stomp with a quake of the frame.
However, one almost wishes he'd shake the camera during any scene not featuring any dancing, for the dramatic scenes that fill in the spaces between street dance numbers could definitely use some livening up--or, rather, the actors. While they are very good dancers, that obviously wasn't so much a factor in the casting of leads Marques Houston and Omari "Omarion"Grandberry as their popularity in the music world as members of, respectively, IMx and the recently disbanded B2K. Grandberry's erstwhile B2K cohorts Jarell "J-Boog" Houston, DeMario "Raz-B" Thornton and Dreux "Lil' Fizz" Frederic also turn up in smaller roles. While they all have some degree of natural presence, blessed with natural acting ability they are not. Similarly, female lead Jennifer Freeman (who plays Liyah, sister to Houston's Elgin/love interest to Grandberry's David) is most definitely easy on the eyes, but trouble starts whenever she opens her mouth. Her bizarrely slurred, slow-motion delivery of the would-be straight-faced line "Your boy is reeeeeeally trip-piiiiiiiiiiing" is the unintentional comic highlight of the film.
And that points to what is Stokes's key miscalculation with YOU GOT SERVED; I can see this same cast of relative acting novices working far better in a fairly lighthearted dance-centered feature, not something that takes itself so seriously. With the young audience hooked in by the dancing and music, Stokes tries to feed them something a little heavier, which is a noble ambition. That turns out to be a wasted effort, however, when all Stokes can serve are heavy-handed hood movie clichés. Elgin and David's side work for the neighborhood crime boss (Michael "Bear" Taliferro) leads to all manner of trouble, from a rift between the two best friends to--that old standby--the tragic demise of an innocent. That Stokes goes so far as to name the designated martyr character "Saint" shows how completely out of his element he is when attempting to tell a story.
But when the dialogue and melodrama is dialed down, the music is turned up, and everyone simply just shuts up and dances, YOU GOT SERVED does spring to life, and all involved look more interested, invested and--crucially--comfortable. It's too bad Stokes didn't just make a non-narrative film about the street dancing culture; I'm sure even traditionally documentary-leery young audiences wouldn't have minded, particularly considering the self-important, melodramatic tedium they have to endure to get to the too-few worthwhile bits that are served.
MIRACLEs Are a Studio-Manufactured Creation
Gavin O'Connor's film about the "MIRACLE on ice," the U.S.A. Olympic Hockey Team's upset victory over the Soviet team in the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games, hits the expected inspirational notes: young team members who don't initially get along but ultimately become (as it is explicitly spoken) "a family"; a driven, sometimes obsessively so, coach (Kurt Russell); the coach's neglected but supportive wife (Patricia Clarkson); difficult team cuts; injuries occurring at inopportune moments; the climactic Big Game. O'Connor does tackle the formula with craft: the hockey action is decently (read: coherently) staged; the period details provide ample historical context; Russell delivers a fine performance as coach Herb Brooks. That said, I couldn't help but feel that this film missed the proverbial boat in a sense; the victory over the Soviets was the central goal and a milestone loaded with added symbolic value in the dead heat of the Cold War, but something rings strangely when the American team's ultimate gold medal win becomes little more than a tossed-off closing footnote. A classic underdog-defeats-goliath scenario is, indeed, inspiring, but more inspiring--and less formulaic and brazenly jingoistic--in my mind would be a story about an underdog that sets out to achieve the singular goal of defeating the favorite only to push themselves toward a greater glory. But even if that were the angle O'Connor and screenwriter Eric Guggenheim chose to take, nothing could ever excuse the closing dedication to the late Brooks: "He didn't see [the film]. He lived it."
There's More to Life Than Sex and Movies
Despite the inherent level of weight and pretension that comes with the turbulent historical backdrop of 1968 Paris, the message behind Bernardo Bertolucci's THE DREAMERS can effectively be summed up by that headline. The dreamers of the title are American student Matthew (Michael Pitt) and Isabelle (Eva Green) and Théo (Louis Garrel), siblings with whom he initially hooks up for friendship and film. But when the pair's parents go away, they're left to play, and they invite Matthew to stay in their flat--making a messy ménage of mindgames and movie-quoting that, try as they might, cannot remain hermetically sealed from the social upheaval occurring outside their walls. While the film's abundant sex scenes and nudity are indeed explicit enough to justify the NC-17 rating, they're not as erotic as Bertolucci obviously wants them to be, and the bare flesh becomes a bit numbing after a while. With the sex failing to titillate and the story ultimately rather simple-minded, it's up to the actors to make the film compelling, and they succeed--two of them, at least. While the usually annoying Leo knockoff Pitt is tolerable for once, he's no match for the seductively charismatic duo of Green and Garrel, who make the siblings and their twisted relationship warm yet disturbing, off-putting yet inviting--it's easy to see why Matthew would become so taken with them. It's too bad it's we can never quite understand what they find so interesting in him.
Scaling Dramatic Heights
According to the press notes, for many years Sally Field tried--and failed--to turn British mountain climber Joe Simpson's amazing story of survival, TOUCHING THE VOID, into a big-screen starring vehicle for the quintessentially all-American Tom Cruise. In this case, thank goodness for development hell, for I can't imagine a more effective film adaptation of Simpson's book than the one that finally came to pass, by Academy Award-winning documentarian Kevin Macdonald (ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER). By blending talking head interviews with Simpson and climbing partner Simon Yates with stunning re-enactment footage, Macdonald paints a remarkably vivid portrait of the duo's disastrous 1985 climb of the Siula Grande mountain in the Peruvian Andes, on the descent from which Simpson broke his leg and Yates ultimately felt forced to cut him loose. It goes without saying that Simpson survives (after all, not only did he live to write the book, we see him alive and well in the interview segments) so the amount of nail-biting suspense Macdonald is able to wring from the scenario is startling--which is not only a testament to Macdonald's fimmaking skill, but also to the inherent power of Simpson and Yates's story. It's difficult to imagine any of the manufactured dramatic "flourishes" that would've undoubtedly been built into any traditional feature treatment of the story would have made such a hypothetical film more effective than Macdonald's straightfoward approach. Given the documentary approach, no doubt Macdonald had a fairly limited budget to work with, which makes his recreations of their ascent and dramatic descent all the more impressive. Aiding in no small part are Mike Eley's cinematography, which makes the Andes look both breathtakingly beautiful and menacing; and the eloquent, near-wordless performances by Brendan Mackey and Nicholas Aaron as, respectively, Simpson and Yates, which are likely to be underrated and written off as being "mere" re-enactments.
A Winning DATE
Much of the media attention around WIN A DATE WITH TAD HAMILTON! has, fittingly enough, focused on Josh Duhamel, who plays the titular movie superstar. While the charismatic big screen newcomer would be a revelation to those unfamiliar with his Daytime Emmy-winning work on ALL MY CHILDREN or his current gig on the prime time series LAS VEGAS--which is to say, most people--equally revelatory, if not more, are the two other young stars at the top of the cast list, Kate Bosworth and Topher Grace.
Bosworth and Grace are hardly unfamiliar faces, but audiences have never quite seen them as they are in Robert Luketic's agreeably sunny romantic comedy. "Sunny" isn't a word one would associate with its leading lady in particular, considering her most prominent credits: wearing a perpetually glum face in the surfing drama BLUE CRUSH and appearing as John Holmes's teenage girlfriend in the perpetually glum WONDERLAND. In TAD HAMILTON!, Bosworth exudes an early Julia Roberts-esque incandescence as Rosalee Futch, a simple checkstand girl at a West Virginia Piggly Wiggly who... wins a date with Tad Hamilton. A staple on the long-running sitcom THAT '70S SHOW, Grace's most notable feature work to date was a small but memorable role in TRAFFIC--in no way hinting at the appealingly offbeat leading man he makes here as Pete Monash, Rosalee's manager at the Piggly Wiggly, who (natch) carries a secret torch for his longtime friend.
Rosalee's trip to Hollywood is supposed to be a Cinderella-like, single-evening dream come true, but her small-town charm awakens something in Tad. What was intended as a shameless PR gimmick turns out to be more for the jaded Tinseltown player, and Tad makes a sudden move to West Virginia--much to Rosalee and her best friend Cathy's (a wonderful, scene-stealing Ginnifer Goodwin) delighted shock, but much to Tad's same-named manager and agent's (Nathan Lane and Sean Hayes, both given little to do) chagrin, not to mention Pete's as well. It's easy to see where Victor Levin's script is going from the outset, but Luketic and, most especially, his game cast make the proceedings not only enjoyable, but something to actually worth caring about.
To label Tad as the "bad guy" in the scenario isn't entirely accurate; while he is definitely the designated spoiler character, Duhamel makes Tad likable beyond his matinee idol looks and charisma. While Tad doesn't always do the right thing, his more questionable behavior is more due to misguidedness than malice; overall, he's a nice and well-meaning guy--it's just that Pete is a preferable match for Rosalee. Pete, as played by Grace, is not your typically sad sack guy next door; his astringent, sarcastic wit adds welcome levity to a film that seems almost antiquated in its freshly-scrubbed, innocent idealism. Grace is also able to convincingly play along with the film's overriding sincerity; look no further than Pete's climactic confessional to Tad, which is at once wryly funny and genuinely heartfelt (not to mention somewhat absurd, given that it is delivered in a men's room stall, of all places). Bosworth's Rosalee makes it very easy to believe that these two very different guys would fall over themselves for her; beyond her cuteness and spunk, Rosalee also has a sensible brain that makes her all the more difficult to resist.
And that also applies to the whole of WIN A DATE WITH TAD HAMILTON! There's nothing here that hasn't been seen or done before, but Luketic and his stars' unabashed sweetness and sincerity make for a winning confection.
The Next Generation of Teen Schlock
Matthew Lillard has a supporting role as an older brother character in THE PERFECT SCORE, which put a jarring shock to my system--could it be that we're already one generation on in schlocky teen movie casting? While I was watching this movie, all signs pointed to this rather depressing thought to be true; in what only seems like yesterday, this film would have had an entirely different cast: Freddie Prinze Jr. instead of Chris Evans as the ostensible pretty boy lead; Breckin Meyer instead of Bryan Greenberg as his slightly geeky best friend; Julia Stiles instead of Erika Christensen as the overachiever; Fairuza Balk instead of Scarlett Johansson as the goth-ish outcast; Lillard instead of Leonardo Nam as the stoner; Usher (remember when he had a "hot" movie career?) instead of Darius Miles as the baller/token dash of color. It's also interesting to look at this movie, which was shot two long years ago, in terms of the current career positions of the actors who are in it, particularly Christensen and Johansson. Christensen, so impressive in TRAFFIC, has been in one long flounder ever since; for Johansson, the belated release of the film is a capper to an especially bad week for her rapidly rocketing career, after going zero-for-two at the Golden Globes and getting denied an Oscar nomination for her justly-lauded work in LOST IN TRANSLATION.
If this sounds like I'm going out of my way to discuss the actual matter at hand--that is, the movie itself--it's because I am. This MTV--or, should I say, "Empty-V"--production about a group of old-looking high schoolers who conspire to steal the answers to the SAT is an even more lame-brained sitcom than that in which director Brian Robbins starred many eons ago, HEAD OF THE CLASS. Will these losers succeed in their scheme, or will they instead learn Valuable Life Lessons and such? It doesn't take a high SAT score to figure that out--or that the monotone Miles really has no business whatsoever being in front of a movie camera.
A Leaden BOUNCE
Well, it seemed like a good idea: Owen Wilson, Morgan Freeman, Gary Sinise, Charlie Sheen and other notables directed by George Armitage in a breezy, Hawaii-set caper based on Elmore Leonard's pulp fiction. But THE BIG BOUNCE couldn't be any less like its title, as the mix of quirks, crime and comedy that Armitage so effortlessly pulled off in GROSSE POINTE BLANK comes off as labored and largely unfunny. That the film holds some innocuous watchability on the most base level is a testament to the appeal of its lead stars, Wilson and big screen newcomer Sara Foster. As, respectively, a small-time con artist and the foxy femme fatale who ensnares him in a scam to swindle his former boss/her lover (Sinise), they share a rapport as appealingly laid-back as Wilson's naturally nimble way with one-liners. But the film ultimately feels too relaxed, thanks to Armitage's listless sense of rhythm, and the game stars can only do so much with screenwriter Sebastian Gutierrez's often dead-on-delivery dialogue and too-telegraphed twists, which all too appropriately sputter to an anticlimactic fizzle of a finale.
Sights Unseen
It seems that this is the week of indie directors leaping into mainstream studio projects, for as TUMBLEWEEDS's Gavin O'Connor releases MIRACLE, THE MYTH OF FINGERPRINTS and WORLD TRAVELER director Bart Freundlich enters AGENT CODY BANKS/SPY KIDS family action-adventure territory with CATCH THAT KID.
The hilarious, retro-styled trailer for THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA played like gangbusters before the Nuart Theatre's special 10th anniversary midnight show of CLERKS, but I have difficulty imagining this homage to/recreation of/satire of cheesy '50s, Ed Wood-style sci-fi/horror could maintain its novelty and wit very far beyond a merely 90-second spot, let alone for the duration of a full 90-minute feature.
At the Video Store
Not-so-coincidentally arriving in stores at the same time as the Academy Award nomination announcements is THIRTEEN (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment), Catherine Hardwicke's searing 2003 Sundance award winner in which a junior high school student (Evan Rachel Wood) falls into a destructive blur of sex and drugs after hooking up with the most popular girl in school (Nikki Reed, who co-wrote the script with Hardwicke). Golden Globe and SAG nominee Wood missed out on an Oscar nod (though she was easily deserving), but Holly Hunter did earn a shot at the Supporting Actress gold for her solid work as Wood's mother. The DVD includes commentary by Hardwicke, Reed, Wood and co-star Brady Corbet; deleted scenes; and a making-of featurette.
The gripe that DESPERADO was too much like its predecessor could not be repeated in regards to ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO (Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment), Robert Rodriguez's final installment in his EL MARIACHI trilogy; Rodriguez himself had said that while it is a continuation of the story of the nameless musician (Antonio Banderas) with a fully-loaded--in more ways than one--guitar case, it wasn't really a sequel, and indeed the film feels like a different animal. Not only does a more laconic than usual El Mariachi feel more like a background player in this film's unusually crowded cast, the plot this time is rather convoluted, with political coups, a corrupt CIA operative (a movie-stealing Johnny Depp) and a drug lord (Willem Dafoe) among the elements in a hard-to-follow mix. What does remain constant, however, is Rodriguez's relentlessly resourceful, one-man-show creativity and undeniable affinity for kinetic action, even if the narrative framework is a bit inscrutable this time out. The DVD is, per the Rodriguez norm, as loaded as El Mariachi's guitar case; among the extras are deleted scenes, commentary by Rodriguez, his trademark "Ten-Minute Film School" featurette and--for the first time--a "Ten-Minute Cooking School" featurette. Not included is something I would've liked to have seen: a music video and/or performance of the film's should've-been-Oscar-nominated closing credits ballad, the sultry "Siente Mi Amor," gorgeously performed by co-star Salma Hayek.
Damn that Josh Schwartz. If it weren't for his gloriously addictive series THE O.C., then I wouldn't have become a fan of supporting player Adam Brody, and hence I wouldn't have decided to check out GRIND (Warner Home Video), a skateboarding comedy I went out of my way to avoid during its brief theatrical run last summer. And, indeed, I would have been better off resisting such O.C.-spawned impulses, as this is as bad of an example of the much-maligned teen flick genre as one can get. The thin premise has Brody and his obnoxious skateboarding pals embarking on a cross-country trip to catch the attention of a successful pro skater, along the way running into predictable obstacles: stolen vehicles, fights with rival skaters and--per contemporary comedy norm--lots of messes involving bodily functions. Notice that I didn't mention the names of any of Brody's co-stars, for he is the only one worth mentioning; in fact, he's the only thing worth mentioning about the whole film, which, appropriately enough, suffers from the big problem of comedy that Brody's O.C. character complained about in a recent episode: it's simply big, and big isn't funny. While his co-stars and director Casey LaScala seem to subscribe to the "big is better" philosophy, Brody's talent, timing and understatement stands out all the more. With his TV gig continuing to generate buzz and ratings--in no small part due to his work--hopefully better feature film offers are coming Brody's way. The DVD includes commentary by LaScala, Brody and two of his co-stars.
JOHNNY ENGLISH (Universal Studios Home Video) finds Rowan Atkinson taking a stab at establishing his own AUSTIN POWERS-style spy spoof franchise, but while Mr. Bean is game (after all, isn't it about time a project used his rather suave natural speaking voice for such ironic comic effect?) the material struggles to keep up with him--showing that veteran Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (who co-wrote with William Davies) are better at handling the one-eyebrow-raised genuine article than outright wackiness. Similarly, John Malkovich, sporting a truly atrocious French accent as the film's villain, has never looked less comfortable or more embarrassed. The DVD includes a handful of deleted scenes, a trivia game, a making-of featurette and some DVD-ROM features.
SWIMMING POOL (Universal Studios Home Video) proved to be a surprise word-of-mouth hit last summer, no doubt stemming from the film's twist ending; however, I find the twist to be the least interesting thing about François Ozon's thriller. Far more interesting is the subtle, slow-building set-up in which a bitchy English mystery writer (Charlotte Rampling) finds her relaxing getaway at her publisher's (Charles Dance) vacation home in France interrupted by the arrival of his brazen, uninhibited daughter (a very sexy Ludivine Sagnier); the development and exploration of the two women's uneasy relationship is more compelling than the thriller mechanics that ultimately take over. Universal has released two versions of the DVD, the R-rated theatrical version and a negligibly longer unrated version. Both discs share the skimpy supplements: a reel of understandably deleted scenes and the theatrical trailer.
After steaming it up in UNFAITHFUL, Diane Lane took a comedic detour with UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN (Touchstone Home Entertainment), in which she plays a divorcée who impulsively buys a run-down villa while on holiday in Tuscany. Needless to say, in addition to finding a new house, she also finds new friends but more importantly herself, blah blah blah. Audrey Wells's loose adaptation of Frances Mayes's memoir is typical chick flick/Oprah Book Club material, and the glorious Italian locations and the glowing presence of Lane and Sandra Oh (as Lane's best friend) aren't enough to combat the bland formula. The DVD includes three very short deleted scenes, commentary by Wells and a making-of featurette.
While Lane tried to lighten up last fall, the perenially sunny Meg Ryan decided to delve into the dark side in the erotic thriller IN THE CUT (Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment). As with Lane's change of pace, there's nothing wrong with Ryan's performance here, and she admirably disappears into the character of a repressed English professor who falls into a steamy affair with a cop (Mark Ruffalo) who may be a serial killer. (However, it must be noted that since Ryan isn't sporting her usual blonde pixie cut here, some of the "America's sweetheart gets down-and-dirty" kick to the nude sex scenes is lost.) Much like how Ryan isn't normally associated with darker roles, director Jane Campion isn't exactly known for thrillers, but where Ryan is able to stretch convincingly, Campion shows no sensibility for the genre, and as such the film slogs on without the slightest bit of suspense--or mystery, for that matter, for the identity of the killer is far too obvious. The DVD comes in two separate versions, the R-rated theatrical cut and an extended unrated "director's edition"; both versions, however, have the same supplements: commentary by Campion and producer Laurie Parker, a making-of featurette, a "slang dictionary" featurette and the theatrical trailer.
As down-and-dirty as Ryan gets, none of her carnal antics are on the level of what's on display in MAÎTRESSE (The Criterion Collection/Home Vision Entertainment), Barbet Schroeder's 1976 film about a petty thief (Gérard Depardieu) who romances a dominatrix (Bulle Olgier). The S&M sequences, featuring actual B&D fetishists, which are presented in unedited form on Criterion's newly-issued disc, are handled with an unusually casual directness that perhaps justifies the film's notorious reputation, but those scenes are not nearly as shocking as an actual horse slaughter that is shown late in the film. All of the potentially inflammatory moments, though, are mere side dressing to what is actually an oddly sweet story about two people who are truly in love but are also in need of finding a common erotic ground. The DVD is one of Criterion's slimmer affairs, with a freshly-shot interview with Schroeder its sole supplement.
What with its plentiful nudity and explicit sex--including a scandalous scene of star Kerry Fox performing actual oral sex on co-star Mark Rylance--it would follow that Patrice Chéreau's INTIMACY (Koch Lorber Films) would have no problem finding home video distribution in the U.S. But the film is only now seeing American store shelves after its 2001 theatrical run, no doubt because the film is in actuality a thoughtful look at loneliness and the dangers of emotional intimacy, which unexpectedly creeps into the anonymous, sex-only relationship between two Londoners (Fox and Rylance).
The animated character of film critic Jay Sherman and his trademark catchphrase "It stinks!", while not exactly SIMPSONS-level household-name familiar, are still fairly well-known, so it's easy to forget that THE CRITIC's mid-'90s run on network television was brief (only 23 episodes, spread over two half-seasons on ABC and Fox)--so brief, in fact, that The Complete Series (Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment) fits on three discs with room to spare. Thanks to constant reruns on Comedy Central (where it still runs today), the show never quite left the air and actually grew in popularity, leading to a most unlikely revival as an Internet series in 2000-2001--and, of course, the demand for this DVD box set. In addition to the network episodes, the box set includes the ten shorts produced for the Web and other extras, including commentary on eight episodes by co-creators Al Jean and Mike Reiss and a revolving number of others.
Though being far more recent than THE CRITIC and having a higher episode count, the 1999-2000 television version of Scott Adams's lovable office drone DILBERT is a long-faded blip on the radar, unlike the still-popular comic strip. Such is the price of airing on UPN, I suppose. With the release of the four-disc The Complete Series (Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment) DVD set, more people can now decide if the series was killed before its time or a good idea gone wrong. The set features little in the way of extras: just an original making-of featurette and four clip compilations.
With ANGEL Season Three (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment), the still-running spinoff of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER had to more or less completely divorce itself from its parent show due to BUFFY's infamous WB-to-UPN network switch. To that end, co-creators/executive producers Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt and their writing staff spun off the spinoff into directions veering farther away from its origins in Sunnydale, most notably giving vampire-with-a-soul Angel (David Boreanaz) an evil son (the why-the-hell-does-this-guy-keep-on-getting-work Vincent Kartheiser) and making Angel's fellow BUFFY refugee Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) part-demon. As far as DVD set format goes, the ANGEL series falls right in line with BUFFY, as this latest six-disc set offers similar extras to any given BUFFY set: writer commentary on select episodes, deleted scenes, still galleries and a very helpful season overview featurette.
Those who watch WIN A DATE WITH TAD HAMILTON! and hope to catch a glimpse of star Josh Duhamel's soap past on the DAYTIME'S GREATEST WEDDINGS (Buena Vista Home Entertainment) are in for a disappointment. While the DVD boasts a featurette hosted by Duhamel's former ALL MY CHILDREN leading lady Rebecca Budig in which she mentions her character's nuptials to Duhamel's, there isn't so much as a photo of him shown, let alone video footage of the blessed event. But the disappointment with the disc will run deeper for ABC soap fans (such as myself--yes, I admit it), as the DVD basically only collects the 1993 three-tape series featuring memorable weddings from AMC, GENERAL HOSPITAL and ONE LIFE TO LIVE--and, needless to say, in the ensuing decade, there have been a multitude of more memorable matrimonial moments. The aforementioned featurette hosted by Budig, in which she and other stars of ABC daytime dramas reminisce about their recent wedding scenes--with only an occasional still photo breaking the static, talking head interview monotony--is a half-hearted attempt to bring the collection somewhat up to date.
Access Bollywood
While there have been a few Hindi-language films I have liked the past year, on the whole I was about to write off 2003 as a fairly lackluster year in the world of Bollywood. But that all changed a few short days before the beginning of 2004 when I saw first-time director Nikhil Advani's beautiful love story KAL HO NAA HO (Tomorrow May Never Come)--which not only helped redeem the year in Bollywood in my hopelessly tear-drenched eyes, but the year in cinema as a whole.
This is not to suggest that the film is particularly innovative or groundbreaking. Advani and Karan Johar's screenplay begins by hitting beats familiar not only to Bollywood but movies the world over; the film's New York City setting (it was shot entirely on location) drives that point home. Naina (Preity Zinta) is the sensible, no-nonsense center of her barely-together family--a disabled younger brother, an adopted youngest sister, and a constantly bickering Catholic mother (Jaya Bachchan) and Punjabi paternal grandmother (Sushma Seth)--which has been in disarray since her father's passing. Enter Naina's new neighbor Aman (Shahrukh Khan), whose ever-helpful attitude and infectious joie de vivre quickly endears himself to everyone he meets, including Naina's best friend Rohit (Saif Ali Khan). Of course, Naina needs more convincing than most; after all, not even the chipper Rohit has much success in bringing a smile to her sullen face. It's no spoiler to say that Aman eventually succeeds in winning Naina over and giving her a positive outlook on life; it's even less of one, perhaps, to reveal that Rohit develops more-than-friendly feelings for Naina himself.
There are further complications beyond that inevitable triangle, ones (which I will not divulge here) that would have come off as too much the stuff of maudlin soap opera had Advani and Johar not taken exquisite care in developing the characters and their relationships. The three characters are all fully drawn with distinctive personalities, and each enjoys a unique link with the two others. While Naina and Rohit's bond is warm and deep, she and Aman have a more impetuous passion; the two guys are brotherly buddies. Factor in the highly natural chemistry between the Khans (no relation) and Zinta, and as such, the deck isn't predictably stacked in favor of one of Naina's suitors. Unlike the case of many screen triangles, either pairing is an equally viable one, which contributes to the film's mounting emotional impact as it heads to a conclusion--one comes to feel as if one truly knows these people, and one doesn't want to see anyone hurt.
Lest anyone get the wrong impression, however, this is a classic masala film experience through and through. It's not nearly the overly serious watch the plot description would suggest; all the buoyant music and broad comedy that one would expect from a Bollywood film is here in full force. However, this is masala in the best sense, as Advani is able to blend together the ingredients into a smooth consistency. It certainly helps that actors such as the two Khans are equally adept at cutting it up as they are at handling drama; even better is that Johar's script never gets too carried away with the silliness. Some double entendre/misunderstanding gags somewhat recall the THREE'S COMPANY line of humor, but if you ask me that's definitely not a bad thing, as it's genuinely funny. But what makes the juggling of tones work is that the mix of light and heavy is established from the outset; while the post-intermission half is definitely more serious and ultimately becomes rather intensely emotional, the film as a whole is quite, for lack of a better term, fun--reflecting the charming playfulness of all three central relationships. Advani obviously has fun himself, at times playing around with film devices in a way that is in line with the mood; for example, in one particularly lighthearted stretch, "day one," "day two," etc. labels that are usually reserved for on-screen text cards are instead verbally delivered by passing extras who directly address the camera.
For all the fun and laughs to be had over the startlingly easy-going three-hour-plus run time, as I noted from the outset, KAL HO NAA HO is, above all, a beautiful love story. While the music does provide the foundation for expectedly extravagant production numbers--from a rousingly rhythmic Hindi cover of Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman" to a self-explanatory dance floor ditty called "It's Time to Disco" (yes, it sounds cheesy, but it works in context)--the most memorable tune is Aman's gorgeously bittersweet title number, in which a rueful look at what-might-have-beens makes way for a cautious, but contented, optimism. The film is also beautiful in the most literal sense, as its Tinseltown-level of production polish marks a giant technical leap for Bollywood; Advani and cinematographer Anil Mehta make expert use of the Big Apple locations, from a beguiling, besotted prance along the sidewalks of Manhattan to a heart-wrenching confrontation set against the Brooklyn Bridge.
But most beautiful of all is its look at love: not only in the romantic sense, but love between friends, love within a family, and its power to make one selflessly sacrifice and forgive. KAL HO NAA HO may be shameless in its heart-on-sleeve sentimentality, but I am not ashamed to admit that it left me crying along with the rest of the audience, for its sincerity and craft earns every last tear.
Special thanks to Naz 8 Cinemas and Yash Raj Films.
Bridging Hollywood and Bollywood in Tinseltown
While I'd sometimes like to think that I'm the first film/entertainment writer to attempt to bring Hollywood and its Eastern counterpart of Bollywood together, that, of course, is incredibly delusional on my part. Not only have there been people covering this territory before I took up the cause in late 2002, but there are those who have been doing so on a much more prominent scale. One such person is Sheeraz Hasan, creator and host of the weekly Hollywood-based, globally-seen weekly television magazine series TINSELTOWN.
The 29-year-old Hasan's own story sounds like something that could have come straight out of a script from Hollywood or Bollywood. "[I] landed in LAX with only $4000 and a dream," says the native Londoner of Pakistani descent. And what an ambitious dream it was--after noticing a void in Hollywood coverage aimed at the international market, namely India and other South Asian territories, Hasan came to Los Angeles from London in January 2002 armed only with his vision and nothing in the way of filmmaking experience or--more crucially--contacts. The latter changed one morning in April 2002, when an emotional Hasan was spotted praying at, appropriately enough, the foot of the Hollywood sign by film producer Michael Levy. After a chat, a business meeting was set within the next ten days; within a month of that, the Levy-supported Hasan had secured a 52-week deal with B4U (Bollywood 4 U), a New York-based satellite provider of Indian/South Asian-targeted programming--all without a pilot presentation. The clincher? "I promised them celebrities, basically," Hasan says. With Levy's address book as a starting point and his own drive taking care of the rest, Hasan was on his way. Today, TINSELTOWN is seen by 500 million people worldwide, primarily in India, Iran, and other South Asian/Middle Eastern territories, but it is also broadcast in the United States, most prominently on Los Angeles's international-themed channel, KSCI/Channel 18.
At first glance, TINSELTOWN may not look terribly distinguishable from the ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHTs, ACCESS HOLLYWOODs or their ilk. Each show invariably opens with a montage of Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Will Smith, Catherine Zeta-Jones and numerous other A-listers (and the occasional B-lister) all done up to the nines, doing the familiar red carpet walk. But soon this E! network staple comes with a twist: all are shown giving personal shout-outs to Hasan, TINSELTOWN or both--thus setting the tone is set for the rest of the half hour. While the show serves up the familiar rundown of entertainment headlines as well as quick-cut footage from the outside red carpets and inside Hollywood parties, it all comes with Hasan's unmistakable stamp, whether from a general cultural viewpoint, as with the regular "Tinseltown Video Mix," which blends music videos from stateside acts and Bollywood films in one big masala mix; or a more intimately personal one, as in one recent episode commemorating his mother's birthday by featuring her favorite films and music, or his trademark queries to celebrities about their thoughts on spirituality.
With TINSELTOWN now firmly connected to the entertainment worlds of both East and West, Hasan's next move is solidifying his and the show's connection to their audience. The show's website already averages in the neighborhood of four million monthly hits, but Hasan is taking the added step of opening up the actual show to his viewers and giving them a chance to voice their interests and concerns on air. "I want to turn TINSELTOWN [into a show] not only about entertainment but more importantly about the community because the community needs a microphone, and TINSELTOWN is [a] microphone amongst all ethnicities," Hasan says. "At the end of the day, we need to have a voice. We need to make a difference in many things domestically and worldwide. We want everybody to participate in our show." It's a wildly ambitious, perhaps idealistic, idea, but given Hasan's track record so far, it would be a mistake to say that this latest goal is outside of his reach.
Next time...
...50 FIRST DATES and more. My home site, Mr. Brown's Movie Site, is now largely up to speed, so check it out (and make use of the merchandising links!).
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