A Midsummer Night's Dream
by Michael Hoffman
from 20th Century Fox
Imagine a work by Shakespeare reduced to one of those pretty, glossy coffee-table picture books that have only a dollop of text alongside its sumptuous photographs, and you might have Michael Hoffman's adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. This all-star version of Shakespeare's comedy is gorgeously shot in Tuscany, complete with a magical forest, breathtaking landscapes, beautiful villas, picturesque villages, stunning period costumes--oh wait, there's supposed to be a story here, too! Hoffman hijacks Shakespeare's basic premise but doesn't instill it with much more than surface shine and transplants it to turn-of-the-century Italy. Ergo, it's left up to the actors to find the heart and soul of this classic play, in which the fairies of the forest play mix and match with four young lovers, courtesy of a magical love potion. Hoffman couldn't ask for better (or better looking) actors to play Shakespeare's dreamlike love games--Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett, Calista Flockhart, Christian Bale, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Kline, Anna Friel, Dominic West, the list goes on and on--but he sure as heck doesn't know what to do with them, aside from putting them in various states of undress. Only Flockhart (as the lovestruck Helena), Tucci (a sprightly Puck), Pfeiffer (dazzling and funny as the queen of the fairies), and especially the sublime Kline (as weaver-turned-donkey Bottom) seem to connect with their characters in ways that make this adaptation occasionally soar; the rest are inexplicably left to flounder. Hoffman does seem to set himself right with the film's climax, when Bottom's amateur acting troupe hilariously enacts the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe (it helps that the troupe includes Roger Rees, Sam Rockwell, and Bill Irwin). Those searching for a more in-depth exploration of Shakespeare's farce might do better to look elsewhere, but if it's gorgeous actors and scenery you're in the mood for (along with an evocative opera soundtrack), and an all's-well-that-ends-well ending, this Midsummer Night will give you pleasant if weightless dreams. --Mark Englehart
When two pairs of star-crossed lovers, a troop of inept amateur actors, a feuding pair of supernatural sprites and a love potion gone awry all come together in an enchanted moonlit forest, the result is an unequalled mixture of merriment and magic.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 15-APR-2003
Media Type: DVD
Popeye
by Robert Altman
from Paramount
A musical version of the cartoon character, Popeye the Sailor Man.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 8-AUG-2006
Media Type: DVD
Nothing interests filmmaker Robert Altman more than a contained culture that mixes bare humanity with local eccentricity (think of his M*A*S*H and Nashville). So Altman's Popeye (1980), based on the old comic strip, works best as a portrait of a busy, cluttered, cartoonish town called Sweethaven. But it is much less successful as a comprehensible story about the famous sailor with massive forearms and a relationship with Olive Oyl (Shelley Duvall). Robin Williams plays Popeye with his usual brilliance for mimicry, Paul Dooley makes a credible Wimpy, and Paul L. Smith makes an impression as the oversized bully, Bluto. But this strange, disastrous film never becomes more than an expensive workshop airing out Altmanesque themes. --Tom Keogh
Eight Men Out (20th Anniversary Edition)
from MGM (Video & DVD)
Eliot Asinof's detailed book Eight Men Out illustrates how the system of American sports collapsed in 1919, the year the Chicago White Sox threw the World Series. Filmmaker John Sayles worked on his script years before the 1988 film (or before he had the rights to make the film) as a labor of love. Sayles's adaptation proves one can make a historically accurate film in the day and age of artistic license. And what a story. Although many know about the "Black Sox," made famous--again--in the 1989 hit film Field of Dreams, the details of the saga are far less known. The center of Dreams, Shoeless Joe Jackson (portrayed correctly by D.B. Sweeney as illiterate and left-handed in Eight), is not the core of this film; it's ace pitcher Eddie Cicotte (Sayles favorite David Strathairn), who took the money, and third baseman Buck Weaver (John Cusack), who did not. The film fits nicely into Sayles's (Lone Star) strong suit: the ensemble drama. We are introduced to bickering owners, famous crooks, high-minded judges, lowlife gangsters, investigative reporters (played by Studs Terkel and Sayles himself), and, most of all, players who are at the breaking point when it comes to low salaries and degrading rewards. While some may feel the film is not as visceral as it should be, there is a great amount of verisimilitude when watching finely tuned athletes telling their bodies to play poorly--heartbreak on the nation's diamond. Beautifully detailed (like Sayles's previous labor-drama, Matewan), Eight Men Out gives us powerful lessons in which everyone lost: players, gamblers, and especially the fans who love the game. --Doug Thomas
John Cusack (Con Air) and Charlie Sheen (Major League) lead a "superb ensemble of actors" (Newsweek) delivering "striking performances" (The New York Times) in this "mesmerizing story" (Los Angeles Times) about the infamous 1919 Chicago White Sox scandal certainly one of the saddest chapters in the annals of professional sports. Buck Weaver (Cusack) and Hap Felsch (Sheen) are young idealistic players with the Chicago White Sox a pennant-winning team owned by Charles Comiskey a penny-pinching hands-on manager who underpays his players and treats them with disdain. And when gamblers and hustlers discover that Comiskey's demoralized players are ripe for a money-making scheme one by one the team members agree to throw the World Series. But when the White Sox are defeated a couple of sports writers smell a fix and a national scandal explodes ripping the cover off America's favorite pastime. System Requirements:Running Time: 120 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/CLASSICS Rating: PG UPC: 883904102953 Manufacturer No: M110295
Elmo's World - Dancing Music Books
by Emily Squires
from Sesame Street
Everyone's favorite preschool monster demonstrates three activities in this compilation of some popular "Elmo's World" segments from Sesame Street. Joining him are segment regulars Dorothy the pet goldfish and Mr. Noodle, the lovable, bumbling adult stand-in for children, who makes mistakes but perseveres until he gets it right. In each episode, real children also take turns mastering the skill. In "Dancing," Elmo shows off his finesse at the flamenco and hula, while the children choose more free-form moves. (Elmo's monster friend Zoe also makes a cameo appearance.) In "Books," a boy and his father visit the library in search of dinosaur books. And in "Music," kids play the flute and violin, while Mr. Noodle is a little slow in learning to bang the drum. For parents who meant to tape the "Elmo's World" segments, but never quite did it, this 45-minute video is a lucky break. Primarily for ages 2-5, but Elmo fans of all ages will enjoy it. --Kimberly Heinrichs
Elmo's World - Wild Wild West
by Jim Martin
from Sesame Street
Sesame Street's favorite furry red cowpoke saddles up to learn all about the wild frontier. Join Elmo as he finds out how to ride a horse, kicks up his heels at a hoe down, boards a time-traveling magic stagecoach and more! Featuring classic cowpoke songs, and plenty of fun with his partners the Noodles, Marshall Grover and special guests, country singer Travis Tritt and Broadway's Kristen Chenoweth. Elmo takes viewers young and old on a wonderful ride through the very best of the Wild Wild West! Also, features the brand new Sesame Street segment, Monster Clubhouse!
Lady in the Water (Widescreen Edition)
by M. Night Shyamalan
from Warner Bros. Pictures
Apartment building superintendent Cleveland Heep (Giamatti) rescues what he thinks is a young woman from the pool he maintains. When he discovers that she is actually a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the journey back to her home he works with his tenants to protect his new friend from the creatures that are determined to keep her in our world.Running Time: 109 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 012569763753 Manufacturer No: 76375
Or, if you prefer, I See Wet People. M. Night Shyamalan's attempt at a newfangled mythology--about a depressed apartment superintendent (Paul Giamatti) who discovers a sea-nymph (Bryce Dallas Howard) who may hold the key to humanity's hopeful future--is intriguing enough to capture the imaginations of children and adults who haven't lost sight of their innocent sense of wonder. Cynics, on the other hand, will likely scoff at Shyamalan's awkward fantasy, which includes one victim--a film critic--widely interpreted as Shyamalan's revenge against reviewers who panned The Village. Shyamalan originally improvised this melancholy fantasy as a bedtime story for his children; unfortunately, it still feels mostly half-baked and ultimately ineffective due to a number of plot holes and inconsistencies that a writer as talented as Shyamalan should've been able to avoid. For those wishing to learn more about the film's troubled history, and Shyamalan's petulant split from Disney studios, The Man Who Heard Voices: Or, How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairy Tale is an interesting read. --Jeff Shannon
My Blue Heaven
by Herbert Ross
from Warner Home Video
The idea is clever but the movie can't seem to pull its comic weight: Steve Martin plays a mob informer who is placed in the witness-protection program and doesn't fit into the suburban California life the Feds have picked out for him. Rick Moranis is the FBI agent assigned to protect him. Martin mugs his way through the role of an Italian wise guy from the New York streets, but his performance is never more than an impersonation. The script leaves a lot to be desired, as well. Director Herbert Ross (The Turning Point) brings some gloss to the production, but he can't seem to do much else with the material. --Tom Keogh
Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas (Deluxe Edition)
from Universal Studios
Under a thick carpet of green-dyed yak fur and wonderfully expressive Rick Baker makeup, Jim Carrey is up to all of his old tricks (and some nifty new ones) in this live-action movie of Dr. Seuss's holiday classic. He commands the title role with equal parts madness, mayhem, pathos, and improvisational genius, channeling Grinchness through his own screen persona so smoothly that fans of both Carrey and Dr. Seuss will be thoroughly satisfied. Adding to the fun is a perfectly pitched back-story sequence (accompanied by Anthony Hopkins's narration) that explains how the Grinch came to hate Christmas, with a heart "two sizes too small." Ron Howard proves a fine choice for the director's chair with a keen balance of comedy, sentiment, and light-hearted Seussian whimsy. Production designer Michael Corenblith gloriously realizes the wackiness of Whoville architecture, and his rendition of the Grinch's Mt. Crumpit lair is a marvel of cartoonish, subterranean grime. Then there's Cindy Lou Who (Taylor Momsen), the thoughtful imp who rallies her village to recapture the pure spirit of Christmas and melts the gift-stealing Grinch's cold, cold heart. You've even got a dog (the Grinch's good-natured mongrel, Max) who's been perfectly cast, so what's not to like about this dazzling yuletide movie? The production gets a bit overwhelmed by its own ambition, and the citizens of Whoville (including Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Baranski, Molly Shannon, and Bill Irwin) pale in comparison to Carrey's inspired lunacy, but who cares? If a movie can unleash Jim Carrey at his finest, revamp the Grinch story, and still pay tribute to the legacy of Dr. Seuss, you can bet it qualifies as rousing entertainment. (Ages 5 and older.) --Jeff Shannon
Elmo's World - Families, Mail & Bath Time
by Jim Martin
from Sesame Street
Igby Goes Down
by Burr Steers
from MGM (Video & DVD)
Many movies strive to capture the confused, yearning spirit of The Graduate or The Catcher in the Rye; Igby Goes Down succeeds. Igby (Kieran Culkin) is a teen struggling to find any purpose or meaning to his life; surrounding him are his tyrant mother Mimi (Susan Sarandon), schizophrenic father Jason (Bill Pullman), wealthy and deceitful godfather D.H. (Jeff Goldblum), and cold brother Oliver (Ryan Phillippe)--all of whom have their own problems. While evading being sent to yet another boarding school, Igby seeks solace with two women: Rachel (Amanda Peet), a drug-addicted dancer who's D.H.'s mistress, and Sookie (Claire Danes), a college student who becomes perhaps his only friend. Culkin carries the film, ably supported by the superb cast; script, direction, and performances are razor sharp. Igby Goes Down doesn't let anyone--including Igby--off the hook for their cruelty, hypocrisy, or lack of empathy. --Bret Fetzer
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