DVD Deals

DVD Deals

Old, new and classic film reviews.

David Lynch's Mulholland Dr. is, by far, one of the most bizarre - and entertaining - movies you'll ever see.

The first two hours of this two hour and twenty-six minute DVD skip happily along. Then, just like the turns on Mulholland Drive, the plot takes a hairpin turn. You'll find yourself plunged into darkness and confusion, just as though you'd gone over a Hollywood Hills cliff...

Naomi Watts, who was nominated for an Academy Award (best actress) this week, stars in this dark, dark film. Don't let the minors watch and don't watch if you are already depressed. The film is very entertaining, however, and will certainly keep your interest.

Most films made over four decades ago have long been forgotten. To Kill A Mockingbird, the 1962 Academy Award winning film based on the Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning (1960) novel, is one of the exceptions. To Kill A Mockingbird remains not only a perennially popular book, but the film version is now available on DVD-a sure sign of a film classic.

I was too young to see To Kill A Mockingbird when it was released in 1962. For whatever reason, when it came out in the movie theatres during the early years of the Civil Rights movement, my elder sisters went to see it without taking myself and my younger brother along. I read the book during my high school years and was moved by it. Throughout the years, I've seen parts of the film, but never the whole movie. So when I saw the DVD on the local video store shelf, I decided to take it home.

I decided to watch the DVD of To Kill A Mockingbird with my nine-year-old daughter. She was entranced by the film from the opening credits: the music is harntingly beautiful. The first scenes show a close-up of the sort of inexpensive, little toys a small child might keep in his or her treasure box even today:jacks, glass marbles, an old watch which no longer worked, and odds and ends that only children of limited means-or great sentimentality-would value. My daughter happens to be both. I explained to her that, although the film was set in 1932 small-town Alabama, a time and place far removed from her own little world, she should pay particular attention to the details for several reasons:1932 was the year when her own grandmother-my mother-was about the same age as the children in the film; 1962 (the year the film was made) was when I would have been about the same age as "Scout", the little girl who narrates the film as an adult, and 2003, she (my daughter) was watching the movie in her own childhood and could, perhaps, someday continue the tradition with her own little girl or boy. My daughter liked the mirror-in-a-mirror-in-a-mirror effect of that explanation.

Mostly everyone knows the two-fold plot of To Kill A Mockingbird:a young boy (Jem Finch, portrayed by Philip Alford) and his sister (Scout Finch, whho narrates the film and is portrayed by Mary Badham) growing up in small town Alabama during the Great Depression, learn how ignorance, prejudice, and hatred can wreak havoc on an innocent man's life as well as on an entire community. Fortunately, Jem and Scout's father is not afflicted with the same ignorance, prejudice and hatred that characterizes the actions of some of his fellow townspeople. Attorney Atticus Finch (portrayed by Gregory Peck) takes on the unpopular job of defending an unjustly accused, very poor black man, Tom Robinson (portrayed by Peter Brock) against charges of raping and assaulting a poor white farm girl. Atticus' courage teaches his children the importance of tolerance, fairness, and courage.

The secondary plot, but an important one from which the title of both the book and the film are derived, deals with the Finch's next door neighbor, Boo Radley. Boo (portrayed by thirty-one-year old Robert Duvall) is a recluse who lives with his parents, does not speak, and has not been seen in the neighborhood since he was a young boy some fifteen years prior to the opening of the film. Throughout the years, stories about Boo's horrific appearance, anti-social behavior, and general personality deficits snowball until he becomes a legendary monster in the eyes of the neighborhood children and the less enlightened adults. Scout and Jem get to know Boo Radley throughout the fifteen-month time span that the film covers,and their knowledge of who he really is will change their lives forever.

Of interest: Scout and Jem have a summer friend who comes from away to stay with his aunt, another neighbor of the Finch's. Dill, the summer friend, only has limited presence in the film, and not a lot of importance to the plot-line, but his character is off-beat and memorable. He is a precocious, wealthy, old-beyond-his-years child. The story goes that Harper Lee, the author of the best-selling book and co-writer on the film version of To Kill A Mockingbird, based this character on her own childhood friend, Truman Capote. The boy who played Dill, an actor by the name of John Megna, is Connie Stevens' brother. John Megna passed away in 1995 from a HIV related disease.

To Kill A Mockingbird was directed by Robert Mulligan. The script was co-written by Harper Lee and Horton Foote. Harper Lee was born in 1926 (the same year as the fictional Scout). Harper Lee has long claimed that To Kill A Mockingbird is a work of fiction and not based on a true childhood experience. She wrote the book, her first and only novel, while working as an airline reservations agent in New York, where she moved while still in her twenties. Ms. Lee reportedly never gives interviews, is a very private person, and, for most of her adult life, has divided her time between her homes in Alabama and New York.

Gregory Peck, who was outstanding as Atticus Finch, has referred to To Kill A Mockingbird as his favorite film among his own.

There are many faces in Mockingbird which will look familiar:Paul Fix (as the judge who appoints Atticus to defend Tom Robinson), Rosemary Murphy (Atticus' kindly next-door-neighbor, Maudie), Alice Ghostly (Dill's gossipy and uppity but small-minded aunt) and William Windom (the sarcastic prosecutor) are a few whose names should ring a bell. Peter Brock, who portrayed Tom Robinson (the falsely accused black man), was born in New York City in 1927. Peter Brock is still active in films and voice-overs. Hhis most recent work includes the 2002 Star Trek movie as well as voice work in The Wild Thronberries Movie

If you haven't seen this Milos Forman classic since it's original run in the theatres, go out and rent the DVD. And share it with your teenagers. They'll love it. And they'll love Jack Nicholson at age 38. Although Jack was a already a "star" when he made this movie, I think it's safe to say that One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the film which upgraded his status to "superstar".

I was surprised at how much more I enjoyed this movie, in middle-age, than I did as a young adult. The first time around, I didn't really appreciate the richness of the characters. Each and every one of the mental patients who are "Randle Patrick McMurphy's (Jack Nicholson) ward cronies are unique and well developed. Each has something both tragic and comic to offer-an accomplishment which much have been quite challenging to achieve for the writers, producers and actors.

How could a movie which largely takes place in a ward in a mental hospital have enough of a plot to spellbind the viewer? Besides the above mentioned, it is the charisma of Jack Nicholson which made this movie the classic which it has become. Now that you have DVD, you'll find yourself slowing down and watching, frame by frame, the facial transitions which Jack brings to the role. For example, when he's in the interview room with the psychiatrist (who was played by a real psychiatrist by the name of Dean R. Brooks), and is telling the good doctor about Miss Ratched's dishonesty, slow down the DVD and take a look at his face in when he asks what he has to do to prove he's nuts. It's hilarious.

For those of you who have already seen the movie, I'm sure I don't have to tell you about what a wonderful Louise Fletcher did in bring to life the nurse we all love to hate-Miss Ratched. Her ice-blue cold eyes, her controlling demeanor (always hidden under a cloak of concern and sweetness), and finally, her revenge over McMurphy's attempt to come in an shake up her secure little world, have made her character a classic: no nurse wants to be called a "Miss Ratched".

What many viewers may not realize is that the psychiatric unit you see in Cuckoo's Nest is quite accurately protrayed. I worked in mental health in the years which followed this movie. Things had mellowed out by then, and normalization was the trend in psychiatric units by the time we entered the profession, but group therapy was nearly exactly as it was represented. And we had all heard the horror stories of the Thorazine-controlled, chronic mental patients who had been kept for years and years beyond what was necessary in state mental hospitals. Many had been, literally, locked up and forgotten by their families.

All the characters in the unit with Jack Nicholson are just terrific that it's hard to pick a favorite. Cheswick was our personal favorite. We won't tell you right now who were the actors who were in this movie, but it's worth watching just to see how many relatively unknown actors became superstars in the years that followed their roles in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

I mentioned that you should share this movie with your teen. My nineteen-year-old watched the movie from beginning to end. He didn't move and enjoyed it so much that he invited his girlfriend over the next night to watch it again. Now he's thinking of majoring in psych and buying the DVD...not necessarily in that order.

Not many movies can make me cry. This one did. The sheer beauty of the concept - and the purity of the characters - is very moving.

Trevor McKinney (Haley Joel Osment) lives with his alcoholic/crap dealing/part-time strip-club waitress mom, Arlene (Helen Hunt). Trevor and Arlene live in a modest ranch home on the outskirts of Las Vegas.

Arlene has been unsuccessfully trying to win the battle-of-the-bottle for some time. The pressures of being a single-mom and trying to keep food on the table have not made it easy to stay sober, much to Trevor's chagrin. Trevor's father has gone off at some undetermined time prior to the beginning of the movie, and Arlene, although a good mother who loves her son, is not having an easy time of it. It is obvious, however, that the mother and son have a close relationship and love each other.

Trevor is approaching his twelth birthday. He has just entered "middle school", or seventh grade. He's got a new school, a new classroom, and and a new Social Studies teacher named Mr. Simonet (Kevin Spacey). Mr. Simonet off-handedly assigns his pre-teen students, as he does every year, an assignment to "Make a plan to change the world and put it into action". Trevor takes the assignment to heart. He thinks up a movement called "Pay It Forward" and does put it into action.

The movie moves forward and backward (to the present) within a 4 month window as the results of Trevor's plan to change the world are revealed. The plan, which involves doing three difficult favors for three people, who, in turn, must "pay it forward" by each doing three more difficult favors for three more people, and so on and so forth, moves from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. There, in LA, a recipient of one of the favors, who is a reporter, decides to trace the movement back to its unknown originator (Trevor) with the intent of doing a story.

There are several surprises in this movie. The romantic involvement between Trevor's teacher and his mom is rather cliche, but nothing else in this film is. The supporting actors, which include Jay Mohr, John Caviezel, Jon Bon Jovi, Angie Dickinson, and other recognizable faces if not names, are excellent.

This is a don't miss DVD. And while it's very entertaining, it is also a motivational film: the world could use a little "pay it forward".

Directed by Mimi Leder. Written by Catherine Ryan Hyde (book) and Leslie Dixon (screenplay).

Warren R. Schmidt (Jack Nicholson) has just retired from his job as an insurance executive. Shortly after handing over his actuary tables, Schmidt comes to the humbling realization that his life's work, both career-wise and family-wise, has had little impact on its beneficiaries. This is the basis of the plot of About Schmidt.

Jack Nicholson plays this part as no one else could. There are no earth-shaking twists and turns; this is basically a slice-of-life movie. However, that does not mean that it is not thoroughly enjoyable! This movie comes under the category of Drama/Comedy. And it is that. There is death, adultery, and human frailty mixed in with the lighter moments. The laughs come primarily from the superb acting on the part of Nicholson and Kathy Bates (Schmidt's only child's soon-to-be mother-in-law). Dermot Mulroney (Copycat) and Howard Hessman (WKRP in Cincinnatti) also have supporting roles in this film. The only thing about the whole movie that we didn't like was the miscasting of Dermot Mulroney as a sleaze-ball. Mulroney did a fine acting job, and the mullet helped, but this guy is far too cute and nice to ever thoroughly convince viewers that he could be as trashy as he was supposed to be in this role.

There was one scene in which Kathy Bates does a very shocking nude scene. Jack Nicholson's facial expressions as he reacts to Bates' nudity made us laugh harder than we have since that scene with the hair mousse in There's Something About Mary.

Directed by Alexander Payne. Written by Louis Begley (novel) and Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor (screenplay).

Yummy! What a great movie. We finally got our hands on My Big Fat Greek Wedding three days ago. And watched it three times. We were watching it right up until it was time to dash back to our local video store and return the VHS copy we'd rented. (The DVD is so much in demand there wasn't a copy to be had!).

If you liked Moonstruck and if you liked Crossing Delancy, you are sure to love this movie. You are most likely sure to love it anyway.

"Toula" is a thirty-year-old spinster working in her Greek-immigrant parents' restaurant. Love and togetherness are as plentiful as the lamb specialties the restaurant serves up. But Toula is ready for a change. Yes, enter a handsome stranger. That much is predictable. But just watching the courting, the family's interference, and the impending wedding mixed in with the ethnic eccentricities is the magic that makes this movie really work.

Nia Vardalos, who plays "Toula", wrote the original play. Mrs. Tom Hanks - Rita Wilson - saw the play, wanted to make the movie, and the rest is box-office history. By the way, Nia was paid only $150,000.00 for her part in the movie. No one expected this "little" movie to be the runaway summer hit that it turned out to be, thanks to "word of mouth".

The television series, which premiered on Monday night to 25,000,000 viewers, has many of the principal players from the movie: Lainie Kazan and Michael Constantine as Toula's very Greek and very loving parents, Andrea Martin as "Aunt Voula", Nia Vardalos as "Toula", and a few others. Toula's fiance and later husband, Ian, is portrayed by Steven Eckholdt in the television series. In the movie, John Corbett played the part.

If you haven't already seen the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, make sure you do before you watch the television series.

Congratulations to Mrs. Hanks/Ms. Wilson on this smash hit, and to the other people involved in putting together such a feel-good, yummy Greek treat!

Mel Gibson portrays a minister who has lost his faith because of the accidental killing of his wife in this best selling dvd release. Signs, also starring Joaquin Phoenix as Mel Gibson's brother, centers about an alien invasion. Mel Gibson's farm is the recipient of the aliens corn field mowed messages. Silly stuff, we at DVD Deals think. Even Mel has gone on record as saying he doesn't think aliens would really contact anyone in this manner. But anything with Mel in it is worth watching.

Just in case you are looking to rent a great movie on DVD, we have a suggestion: Unfaithful, starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane. The movie also stars French actor Olivier Martinez in one of his first English-speaking roles.

Unfaithful first caught our eye shortly after New Year's when we at Nippies went to the video store and noticed that every single copy on DVD had been rented out. Hmmmm, we said, it must be a good DVD. OK, we reasoned, if it's that good we'll rent the VHS. No go because all 10 copies on VHS had been rented out, as well.

Well, as we all know, nothing succeeds like success! So, we at Nippies placed a "hold" on the next available copy of Unfaithful/ We were not disappointed.

This movie, at first, appears to be a mirror image of Fatal Attraction, that box-office killer, psychological thriller, and cheating-husband chiller! However, Unfaithful is much richer both in plot and cinematography. It also has a subtle but unmistakable psychological impact on the viewer. Things are really not quite what you think they are.

Olivier Martinez is wonderful in his role as the "younger" lover of Diane Lane. (He will, in fact, celebrate his 36th birthday on January 12th, making him only one year younger than Diane Lane). Olivier, who was born into a Parisian working-class family (his father was a mechanic), is not only eye-candy and very young looking for his age, but he delivers a superb performance. We at Nippies are sure we'll be seeing more of Olivier Martinez, a former jeans salesman, on the big screen, and thats a good thing.

DVD DEALS comment: Rent it and see for yourself. It's amazing how one act of poor judgement in one's life can result in endless ripples of regret and tragedy.