Entertainment - Movies - Video/DVD

Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009

Reviews of recent and upcoming DVD releases

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Up: Blu-Ray and DVD Combo Pack (PG, 2009, Disney/Pixar)

Once Pixar knocked out a few cute character movies and got the computer animation ball rolling, it forged ahead to more complicated fare while everybody else flooded the market with more cute character stories. That journey comes fittingly full circle with "Up," which itself chronicles a journey devised by a boy and potentially realized ages later by a cranky old man who grew to fear the world he once promised to explore. "Up" raises the maturity bar yet again with its disarmingly ardent (but, in true Pixar show-don't-tell fashion, completely elegant) look at the dark side of mortality. But in the same space, and often without losing a beat, "Up" reaches back for familiar conventions - hilarious physical comedy, clever dialogue that works on multiple levels, a cute kid, some adorably personified animals - it mastered years ago in ways few studios have even now. Per usual, "Up" also looks magnificent down to the most minute texture or light source, demonstrating a thorough understanding of the relationship between the film's script and its visual style. Pixar's track record is dependable to the point of predictable by now, and "Up" has its share of arguable nitpicks, particularly with regard to a cluster of scenes in act three that go on a bit longer than is necessary. Overwhelmingly, though, it's a remarkable display of all the things that make film so great working in near-perfect harmony.

Extras: Two shorts ("Dug's Special Mission" and "Partly Cloudy," which opened for it during the theatrical run), alternate endings, nine behind-the-scenes features (eight are exclusive to the Blu-ray disc, but the 22-minute centerpiece is on the DVD), Blu-ray game, international trailer/promo collections, digital copy.

- Also available this week: "Monsters, Inc.: Blu-Ray and DVD Combo Pack" (G, 2001, Disney/Pixar): The Pixar classic makes its high-definition debut, and it hasn't aged a moment. Extras include the "For the Birds" and "Mike's New Car" shorts, a new filmmaker commentary and roundtable, a new behind-the-scenes feature, a new Blu-ray disc game, a Pixar factory tour, outtakes, a compilation of banished concepts and a digital copy.

Paraiso Travel (R, 2008, Phase 4 Films)

"Paraiso Travel" is the heartwarming story of how Marlon (Aldemar Correa) and Reina (Angelica Blandon) braved the odds, chased the American dream and scratched their way to a storybook ending in bustling New York City. Or rather, that's how the young lovers think it'll go when we flash back in time and find them hatching their migration plan in Columbia. "Travel" doesn't keep us in suspense about whether it's a fairy or cautionary tale: The unpleasant aftermath of the trip is laid bare in the film's very first scene, and the film jumps back and forth in time to tie fantasy and reality together before the storylines merge for the final act. Given the heat surrounding the subject matter - it's illegal immigration, perhaps you've heard about it recently - "Travel" can't escape whatever preconceived (and immovable) notions viewers might have about its characters. Fortunately, it doesn't try to, either, ducking the message movie route and emerging simply as a polished and honest story about two people doing what they've set out to do. All that time-traveling allows "Travel" to pile extraordinary amounts of history and dimension on its characters, and by the time the story reaches its conclusion, all those exterior notions have long faded out of view. John Leguizamo and Ana de la Reguera also star. The original Spanish theatrical cut is available with English subtitles, but an English dub also is included.

Extra: Photo Gallery.

Spread (R, 2009, Anchor Bay)

Nikki's (Ashton Kutcher) life's mission is simple: Move to Los Angeles, say the right things to the right people, look as pretty as a man can look, and coast through life as a paid boy who trades sexual favors with the rich and glamorous (Anne Heche, in "Spread's" case) for a free slice of their lives. "Spread" initially tells its story through Nikki's narration, and it does so without any overly apparent irony or self-awareness, which means it also requests your cooperation while it tries to develop Nikki into a credibly likable lead rather than simply some schmuck whose potential downfall becomes the film's primary rooting interest. Whether it pulls that off comes down to personal perception, but without spoiling much, "Spread" at least gives both audiences a chance to get their way - sometimes predictably, but just as often surprisingly. And while the script gets off to a dangerously pretentious start and occasionally falls back into bad habits, it's smart enough to make Nikki - whether you like him or wish him the worst - a better character than he probably had any right to be. Margarita Levieva also stars.

Extras: Kutcher/Heche/Levieva commentary, three behind-the-scenes features.

Xavier: Renegade Angel: Season 1 and 2 (NR, 2007, Adult Swim)

Some shows are so completely beyond weird as to defy the typical parameters that constitute a review. Many of those shows make an appearance on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block. "Xavier: Renegade Angel" makes most of those shows appear somewhat normal by comparison, because that's how far out there this one lies. "Xavier" follows a self-appointed guardian angel Xavier, who goes on what he (and only he) classifies as spirit walks and quests to help regular Joes going about their lives. From there, the 11-minute plotlines simply explode in a fireball of inanity. Ever hear the one about the kid in a wheelchair who creates life in a petri dish and turns it into a persistent explosion that not could destroy the planet, but also happens to be his dad? Give "Xavier" a chance, and you will. The writing is so purposefully beyond bad as to be kind of hilarious, and the animation - 3D computer animation that would look horribly dated in 1997, to say nothing of 2007 - fits right in. It 's terrible and incredibly wonderful all at once, so who needs a review? Figure it out yourself.

Contents: 20 episodes, plus fan commentary, fan-made "Xavier" tribute shorts and an Xavier workout video.

Show me Yours: The Complete Series (NR, 2003, E1 Entertainment)

Trite premise, thy name is "Show me Yours," which finds a slightly uptight, not-quite-happily-involved psychologist (Rachael Crawford as Kate Langford) unhappily forced to co-research a book about sexual experiences with a silver-tongued counterpart (Adam Harrington as Benjamin Chase) who very openly wants to free her from that aforementioned involvement. Wonder what's going to happen here, right? Fortunately and probably necessarily, "Yours" gets a good chunk of the inevitable out of the way in the first episode, and in the same stroke leaves us with some characters who have a little more going on than those initial archetypes promise. "Yours" also is good with words, capably dabbling in storylines and exchanges that never get too smart or silly for their own good. And because it's Canadian rather than American network television, it can linguistically and visually go places a show about this stuff probably should go. Rachel Wilson, Jeff Seymour, Jennie Raymond and Alberta Watson also star.

Contents: 16 episodes, no extras.

Enlighten Up! (NR, 2008, Docurama)

Before you watch "Enlighten Up!," which bills itself as a "skeptic's journey into the world of yoga," ask yourself this: Are you here to be enlightened, or will some simple light entertainment suffice? If it's the latter, "Enlighten" is a reasonably fun documentary about filmmaker and yoga fanatic Kate Churchill's attempt to communicate the virtues of yoga through a lab rat - journalist Nick Rosen - who previously has never partaken and indeed lives up to his billing as a skeptic. The pair travel the world over a period of several months, meet a number of renowned yoga masters and receive some hands-on knowledge about a number of rather extraordinarily different disciplines. That makes for some good storytelling, as does the bickering that ensues when Churchill can't leave well enough alone and lets her emotions interfere with the purity of the experiment. But if it's wisdom you seek, it's there where the wheels fall off the film. For all the talking "Enlighten" does, the knowledge it passes along to the viewer rarely reaches beyond the superficial or abstract. If you come looking for answers to the same questions Rosen has, the film will leave you pretty much right where it finds you, and that's quite a bummer, entertaining or not.

Extras: Extended interviews, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes photo montage, filmmaker bio.

Worth a Mention

- "The Offical Major League Baseball World Series Film Collection" (NR, 2009, MLB/A&E/New Video): Yankee fans will rightly argue this set arrives a teensy bit out of date right out of the gate, but that's about as harsh as the criticism gets for this set, which packages its discs as companion pieces inside a so-beautifully-illustrated-it'll-make-you-cry picture book. The films - 50 hours' worth over 20 discs, covering the series between 1943 and 2008 - are still the main attraction, but it's a closer call than one might expect. Simply gorgeous.

- "G.I. Joe: The Complete Series" (NR, 1985, Shout Factory): Shout Factory's "Transformers" set was something to behold, and its treatment of "G.I. Joe" is no less sterling an example of how to do a gift set right. In addition to all 95 episodes, this 17-disc set - packaged inside a sturdy footlocker case that's as functional as it is pretty - includes eight new behind-the-scenes features, an archive of the "G.I. Joe" PSAs and Hasbro toy commercials, footage from G.I. Joe's 1963 Toy Fair presentation and fan submission material. Other in-box extras include a 56-page companion booklet, rub-on tattoos and a 1 GB flash drive, fashioned in the form of a dog tag, that includes two digital comic books. In a final nice touch, Shout includes an empty disc slot for the 1987 animated movie, which hits DVD next year. Just be sure to explain that to any giftees, because while the set makes many mentions of the 17-disc count, it doesn't outright say that the empty slot is a case of inspir ed design instead of missing materials.

(Billy O'Keefe writes video game and DVD reviews for McClatchy-Tribune News Service.)