CHE (2008). Upon its original theatrical release, director Steven Soderbergh's epic look at revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara was screened in some cities as two separate films – Che: Part One (subtitled The Argentine during production) and Che: Part Two (Guerilla) – and in others as a single 4-1/2-hour experience. Catching it at home on DVD allows the viewer to pursue either option, but whether it's screened in one or two sittings, the fact remains that Soderbergh's ambitious but erratic film wastes its generous running time by failing to really burrow beneath the media myth, determined not to provide much insight into the individual whose iconic image has adorned countless T-shirts and posters. The first half boasts the stronger material, as the idealistic Che (commandingly played by Benicio Del Toro) helps Fidel Castro (Demian Bichir) and his gang of rebels overthrow the Batista regime in 1950s Cuba. The second half, which finds Che taking the revolutionary road to Latin America, becomes bogged down in repetitious material, with all the additional jungle treks, gun battles and soldiers' squabbles adding nothing except minutes to the length. Two familiar faces, Maria Full of Grace's Catalina Sandino Moreno and Run Lola Run's Franka Potente, appear in key supporting roles, while Matt Damon turns up in a cameo that's about as brief (and pointless) as his blink-and-you-miss-him appearance in Francis Coppola's Youth Without Youth. Clearly, Soderbergh's take shouldn't be confused with 1969's Che! (starring Omar Sharif as Che and Jack Palance as Castro), a colossal dud that's considered by some scribes to be one of the all-time worsts. At least that's some sort of distinction; this Che, on the other hand, remains resolutely middle-of-the-road.
Extras in Criterion's three-disc set include audio commentary by Jon Lee Anderson, author of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life; a 50-minute making-of piece; 14 deleted scenes; interviews with Cuban Revolution participants and historians; and the 26-minute documentary short End of a Revolution (1968).
Movie: **1/2
Extras: ***
THE HURT LOCKER (2009). Before 2009, who knew that director Kathryn Bigelow was anything other than a Hollywood hack? Sure, sure, she's had her supporters, but practically all of her past projects have favored cold style over warm substance. The justly forgotten Blue Steel was one of the worst films of the 1990s, Point Break was merely daft masturbation fodder for fans of Patrick Swayze and/or Keanu Reeves, and the Harrison Ford dud K-19: The Widowmaker was so dull that just writing about it makes me ... zzzzzz. Where was I? Oh, yes, getting ready to praise Bigelow for a tightly wound film whose few flaws can be found in Mark Boal's screenplay rather than in her own potent direction. Boal, who co-wrote the only other worthy Iraq War film to date (In the Valley of Elah), has elected this time to focus all his attention on the soldiers who are placed in the line of fire. The Hurt Locker, an early favorite to take home the Oscar, follows the three members of a bomb squad plying their trade during the last six weeks of their tour of duty in 2004. Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner) is the leader of the outfit, a man as reckless as he is efficient when it comes to defusing bombs. Sergeant J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) is the most professional – that is to say, most stable – member of the team, anxious to get away from a job he despises. And Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) is the young pup of the outfit, a clean-cut kid terrified that his life will soon get snuffed out. The movie works best when its storytelling remains shaggy; it gets into real trouble when it introduces a forced subplot in which James sets out to avenge the death of a friend. But never does Bigelow falter in her direction, which, by adroitly alternating between muscular and sensitive, reapplies a recognizable face to a conflict that is already slipping from the American public conscious with all the wispiness of a bad dream.
DVD extras include audio commentary by Bigelow and Boal; a 13-minute behind-the-scenes featurette; and an image gallery presented in tandem with an audio Q&A session with Bigelow and Boal.
Movie: ***
Extras: **
IN THE LOOP (2009). With only a couple of notable exceptions (such as the aforementioned The Hurt Locker), American films about the war in the Middle East have tended to be so ineffectual that viewers are less inclined to wring their hands over the real-world events being addressed and more likely to wring filmmaker necks over wasting their time. Leave it to the Brits, then, to make a topical movie that actually matters – and trust the cheeky bastards to also take that extra step by turning it into a comedy with ice in its veins and poison in its fangs. It starts when bumbling British official Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) suggests in an interview that the likelihood of a U.S.-backed war in the Middle East is a possibility. All of a sudden, the Brit hits the fan, as Foster's innocent comment reverberates through the corridors of power not only in the U.K. but here in the States as well. Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), the Prime Minister's right-hand man, uses his tongue as if it were a machine gun and mows down everyone around him – not just hapless Foster – as he tries to figure out how best to handle the situation. It's decided that Foster and his suck-up assistant Toby (Chris Addison) will travel to D.C., where they must match wits – or, rather, half-wits – with both ineffectual liberal politicians brandishing an anti-war stance and soulless conservative politicos who can't wait for the killing to begin. The beauty of In the Loop – which made my 10 Best list for 2009 – is that while everything is played at a slightly surreal speed, there's nothing in the film that feels bogus. All of the performers are fearless in their respective assignments, although I especially enjoyed Capaldi and the manner in which he turns insults into an art form; among his more benign hurls, he calls Toby "Ron Weasley" and addresses James Gandolfini's U.S. military man as "General Flintstone." Recent Iraq War flicks like Lions for Lambs and Redacted sought to encourage outrage but only inspired boredom. In the Loop should provoke intelligent discourse, but honestly, will anyone be able to stop laughing long enough to get worked up?
DVD extras include 28 minutes of deleted scenes; a 3-minute behind-the-scenes featurette; and the theatrical trailer.
Movie: ***1/2
Extras: **
KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS (1977). Like those Biblical epics of yore, here's a motion picture that can boast of literally presenting a cast of thousands. In this case, though, that number applies to the hordes of spiders seen crawling all over the place – 5,000 seems to be the accepted figure, although a crew member in one of the extra features states that the number was anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000! At any rate, arachnophobes are advised to steer clear of any TV set showing this effective horror yarn, which managed to produce a handsome return on its half-million-dollar budget during a period when most moviegoers were busy re-watching Star Wars for the umpteenth time. William Shatner, still a couple of years away from the Star Trek movie franchise that would resurrect his career, plays "Rack" Hansen, a small-town veterinarian who teams up with a big-city entomologist (Tiffany Bolling) to figure out what's killing animals in his Arizona community. It turns out that the area's spiders, affected by the pesticides that have been destroying their natural food supplies, have set their sights on larger prey – and before long, humans are finding themselves being attacked, bitten and cocooned. John "Bud" Cardos, a veteran jack-of-all-trades (actor, stuntman, production manager, you name it) who worked under Hitchcock and Peckinpah but spent most of his career involved with low-budget fantasy fare, efficiently directs this entertaining picture that was clearly inspired by Jaws (right down to the blustery mayor worried that the intrusive presence of Mother Nature will ruin the town's upcoming holiday weekend), and the script by Richard Robinson and Alan Caillou is capped by a great ending.
DVD extras include audio commentary by Cardos, producer Igo Kantor, cinematographer John Morrill and spider wrangler Jim Brockett; a 16-minute interview with Shatner; a fascinating 12-minute conversation with Brockett (during which he hauls out several types of spiders); 17 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage; and a poster gallery.
Movie: ***
Extras: ***
MOON (2009). With Ziggy Stardust for a father, Major Tom for an uncle and, presumably, the spiders from Mars for assorted in-laws, is it any wonder that Duncan Jones chose a science fiction project to mark his feature film debut? Jones, of course, is the son of rock legend David Bowie, but after Moon, it's guaranteed that he'll be recognized as a talented artist in his own right. Serving as director and coming up with the original story (Nathan Parker wrote the actual screenplay), Jones has crafted a unique sci-fi yarn that pays tribute to such works as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Silent Running while also heading off in its own giddy direction. Sam Rockwell tones down the quirks to deliver an excellent performance as Sam Bell, an employee for the futuristic corporation Lunar Enterprises. It's long been discovered that the moon can provide Earth with its energy; Sam is the man on the moon, tasked with overseeing this operation. But he's mighty lonely up there, talking to himself as much as he talks to the base's mobile computer GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey). Fortunately, his three years in space are nearly up, but with only weeks left before his departure back to Earth, he begins to feel poorly, a condition that in turn leads him to have an accident. Upon awakening, he senses that something's not quite right, and GERTY, for one, isn't talking. The resultant twist is an intriguing one, and it solidifies the film's initial promise as a heady piece of sci-fi cinema. The prevalent theme is one of identity, and this extends beyond the character of Sam Bell to also involve GERTY, who proves to be one of the most fascinating robots in many a, uh, moon. The tech credits are impeccable, yet Moon chiefly succeeds because of Jones' ability to take an idea that could have remained as sterile as the moonbase decor and inject it with all sorts of messy emotions. "I'm only human" may be an excuse when uttered in real life, but in Moon, it becomes a declaration of defiance.
DVD extras include audio commentary by Jones and producer Stuart Fenegan; separate audio commentary by Jones and various crew members; a 17-minute making-of featurette; two Q&A sessions with Jones; and Jones' 2002 short film Whistle.
Movie: ***1/2
Extras: ***
A PERFECT GETAWAY (2009). A Perfect Getaway might be far from perfect, but it's good enough to be considered one of last year's biggest out-of-left-field surprises. A twisty thriller that will keep most viewers alternately on their toes and on the edge of their couches, this feels like a classic case of a B movie showing its more heavily hyped A-list competition how to get the job done with little fuss or fanfare. A Perfect Getaway is set in Hawaii, but forget Sarah Marshall: Despite some humor spicing up the picture at regular intervals, this mostly shows how Paradise on Earth can quickly morph into a living hell, as news spreads around the islands about how a newlywed couple was gruesomely murdered by another couple who got away. Cliff (Steve Zahn) and Cydney (Milla Jovovich), newlyweds themselves, are determined not to let this disturbing information disrupt their honeymoon, which consists of hoofing it through remote Hawaiian terrain. Largely to steer clear of a menacing couple (Chris Hemsworth and Marley Shelton) giving off that Natural Born Killers vibe, they hook up with another pair (Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez) whose own peculiarities quickly unnerve them. Is it possible that Cliff and Cydney's new friends are the actual killers? A key scene about two-thirds through the movie is overplayed and in effect makes it easier to guess the major plot pirouette. Yet even those who pick up on the forthcoming twist should enjoy this picture for its other merits, including the shifting dynamics between the characters, some memorable fight sequences, and the manner in which writer-director David Twohy plays with audience expectations. A Perfect Getaway will strike some as being too clever for its own good, but others (like me) will view it as solid escapist entertainment.
Aside from a few trailers, there are no extras on the DVD.
Movie: ***
Extras: *
