New York and Chicago are two big cities with definite movie personalities; they shine right out in two new DVD releases.
Spike Lee, a New York and Knicks loyalist, has never really tried to be a big-budget genre director. But “Inside Man” shows he could be one if he wanted. A heist thriller loaded with twists, it stars Clive Owen as the masked mastermind behind a complex Manhattan bank robbery, Jodie Foster as a high-priced corporate fix-it pro and Denzel Washington as the cop trying to outwit them. The acting is fine, the action, script, production and pace all sharp. What makes this film special though is Lee’s talent for bringing multiethnic urban ensembles to life–which he does here again.
“The Weather Man,” starring Nicolas Cage as a high-profile Chicago TV weatherman whose family life crumbles as his professional life seems ready to soar, never caught the public’s fancy. But this keen-eyed look at modern manners and foibles–written by Steve Conrad and directed by Gore Verbinski–deserved better. It has a memorably moody and perceptive job by Cage, a fine one by Michael Caine as his dad and good work by Hope Davis (as the ex-wife) and others. The city looks great too.
`Inside Man’ (star)(star)(star) (U.S.; Spike Lee, 2006). Extras: Spike Lee commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes. (Universal)
`The Weather Man’ (star)(star)(star)1/2 (U.S.; Gore Verbinski, 2005). Extras: Featurettes, trailer. (Paramount)
Other recent releases
Jayne Mansfield Collection (star)(star)(star)1/2 Riding the crest of the Marilyn Monroe bosomy movie blond phenomenon in the `50s, Jayne Mansfield became, very briefly, a sex-goddess movie star. Mansfield was actually more busty than Monroe, her hair was dyed a fairer color and her onscreen persona was a cruder parody of Monroe’s girlish dumb-blond specialty. For awhile, Mansfield was pretty ubiquitous. But her career self-destructed and her life ended tragically. Today, Mariska Hargitay (daughter of Jayne and hubby Mickey Hargitay) reminds us, on “Law and Order,” that Mansfield was much smarter than she played.
This boxed set preserves much of what’s worth saving among J.M.’s movies (except Stanley Donen’s “Kiss Them for Me,” co-starring Cary Grant), especially her two knockout, cartoonish comedies for director Frank Tashlin.
“The Girl Can’t Help It” (star)(star)(star)1/2 (U.S.; Frank Tashlin, 1956) A terrific Little Richard-topped rock score drives this gangster-show biz satire, with Tom Ewell and Edmond O’Brien. “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” (star)(star)(star)1/2 (U.S.; Frank Tashlin, 1957) Tashlin’s wild TV/advertising satire, from George Axelrod’s play, with Tony Randall and Mickey Hargitay. “The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw” (star)(star)1/2 (U.S.; Raoul Walsh, 1958) Brawny western spoof, with Kenneth More as a Brit-out-of-water. (20th Century Fox)
Bogie and Bacall: The Signature Collection (star)(star)(star)(star) Two weeks ago, the top DVD in the National Society of Film Critics poll was Howard Hawks’ “To Have and Have Not,” starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. But we should have mentioned something we found out later–just by walking into the video store. That movie is also part of a great new four-disc boxed set, containing their four co-starring ventures and new “making of” documentaries for both “To Have” and the classy noir “Dark Passage.” Here is the set’s smoky, sexy, glorious contents, all starring Mr. and Mrs. Bogart.
“To Have and Have Not” (star)(star)(star)(star) (U.S.; Howard Hawks, 1944) From Ernest Hemingway’s novel. “The Big Sleep” (star)(star)(star)(star) (U.S.; Howard Hawks, 1946) From Raymond Chandler’s novel. “Dark Passage” (star)(star)(star)1/2 (U.S.; Delmer Daves, 1947) From David Goodis’ novel. “Key Largo” (star)(star)(star)(star) (U.S.; John Huston, 1948) From Maxwell Anderson’s play. Extras: both the release and the (quite different) 1945 prerelease versions of “The Big Sleep,” documentaries, `40s Looney Tunes, Lux Radio Theater broadcast, trailers. (Warner Home Video)
The Fassbinder Collection II (star)(star)(star)1/2 Two from the protean “film fast-die young” German prodigy, who expired at 36. “Martha” (star)(star)(star) (German; R.W. Fassbinder, 1973) The troubles of a late-blooming spinster, who lives on Douglas Sirk Street. With Margit Carstensen. In German, with English subtitles. “In a Year With 13 Moons” (star)(star)(star)1/2 (Germany; Fassbinder, 1978) One of Fassbinder’s key films: the plight of a tragic transsexual (Volker Spengler) obsessed with a Jerry Lewis fan (Gottfried John). In German, with English subtitles. Extras: Commentary, introduction by Richard Linklater, documentary, interviews. (Fantoma)
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`Don’t Come Knocking’ (star)(star)(star) (U.S.; Wim Wenders, 2005) Director Wenders and writer-star Sam Shepard as a dissolute cowboy movie star looking for his roots (with Jessica Lange), in the first Wenders-Shepard teaming since 1984’s “Paris, Texas.” Not as good, but how could it be? Extras: Wenders commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes, interview. (Sony)
`Airplane!’ The `Don’t Call Me Shirley’ Edition (star)(star)(star)1/2 (U.S.; David & Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, 1980). This rowdy, hilarious sendup of every airplane disaster movie ever made–and particularly of 1957 ‘s “Zero Hour!,” whose plot it sends through the comic shredder–was the funniest movie from the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker writer-director team and maybe of its whole era. Extras: ZAZ commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes, interviews. (Paramount)
`Ray’ (star)(star)(star)(star) (U.S.; Taylor Hackford, 2004) Taylor Hackford’s epic bio movie on Ray Charles, with Jamie Foxx’s unimprovable Oscar-winning performance melding with Charles’ own voice on the songs: a movie with soul. 2 discs. Extras: original and extended versions of the film, deleted scenes, Hackford commentary, uncut musical performances, featurettes, trailer. (Universal)
The Billy Wilder DVD Collection (star)(star)(star)(star) Billy Wilder’s centenary, and this collection, with “Sunset Boulevard,” “Stalag 17” and “Sabrina,” remind us again what a top-of-the-line moviemaker he was. A master writer-director of sparkling American comedy and high-voltage drama, Wilder was born in Sucha, Austria, but made his greatest films in America after fleeing the Nazi regime in Germany where his screenwriting career had begun.
This package of three movies, all co-starring William Holden, presents Wilder at his Paramount best, in the years before he started his matchless writing collaboration with I.A.L. Diamond (“Some Like It Hot”).
The box also demonstrates his versatility: showcasing a great backstage Hollywood noir, a gritty dark comedy set in a Nazi P.O.W. camp and a sophisticated romantic comedy a la Ernst Lubitsch.
“Sunset Boulevard” (star)(star)(star)(star) (U.S.; 1950) A masterpiece: The doomed “romance” of silent movie diva Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) and her kept writer Joe Gillis (Holden). “Stalag 17” (star)(star)(star)(star) (U.S.; 1953) Holden and Otto Preminger in Wilder’s dark, breezy adaptation of the hit WW II play. “Sabrina” (star)(star)(star)1/2 (U.S.; 1954) Audrey Hepburn, Bogart and Holden in playwright Samuel Taylor’s tale of love among masters and servants. Extras: commentaries, “making of” documentaries, featurette, photo galleries, trailers, Sunset Boulevard “morgue” prologue.
Note: “Sabrina” also is included in another Paramount package, The Audrey Hepburn DVD Collection (star)(star)(star)(star), which contains her stunning debut “Roman Holiday” (star)(star)(star)(star) (U.S.; William Wyler, 1953) and her key performance as Holly Golightly in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (star)(star)(star)(star) (U.S.; Blake Edwards, 1961).
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