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Adam Sandler puts away the child-man persona to play Zohan,
Israeli counter-terrorist hero and all-around super dude who trades his lethal
weapons for a 1987 Paul Mitchell style book and a pair of precision scissors.
Imagine Warren Beatty in "Shampoo" by way of a Jewish Rambo who fakes his own
demise so he can wash, snip and coif his way to the Big Apple, only to lose his
most potent gift when he falls for a Palestinian beauty (Emmanuelle Chriqui).
Sandler has fun pushing his nice Jewish boy shtick into extremes, where sex is
not just part of the service but the responsibility of a loyal Hebrew stud. But
the codpiece gags and sex machine references get old fast. What is it about
sexual humor that makes so many filmmakers think that they don't need to
actually write a joke? John Turturro is Zohan's Palestinian counterpart and,
yes, there is still a part for Rob Schneider. And he doesn't even have shout
"You can do it, Zohan!" this time around. The DVD is available in
multiple versions, all of them featuring two separate commentary tracks, the
first a gratuitous party track with Sandler (who likes to refer to himself in
the third person as "the Sandman"), co-writer Robert Smigel and co-stars
Schneider and Nick Swardson making cracks and riffing on the film, the other a
slightly more informative but less funny track by director Dennis Dugan. Also
features 15 inconsequential deleted scenes (a lot of them ad-libs) and 10
featurettes (most of them played for fun). The two-disc unrated extended version
runs about four minutes longer and features five additional featurettes
(including one on Sandler's doubles and stuntmen -- well over a dozen of
them) and a digital copy of the film that can be downloaded to PC, iPod or other
compatible players. The Blu-ray edition also features an exclusive
graphics-in-picture translation track for both real and made-up foreign words.
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| The Happening |
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M. Night Shyamalan's eco-horror is another high concept idea
that delivers eerie imagery and a sense of unease without actually any suspense
or thrills, let alone a story. Citizens of Northeastern cities are suddenly
gripped with an uncontrollable urge to kill themselves, and the epidemic is
spreading to smaller and smaller communities, a natural disaster with a
supernatural atmosphere that would be right at home in a Japanese horror film
but merely feels gimmicky here. Mark Wahlberg is the high school science teacher
trying to protect his fragile, emotionally withdrawn wife (Zooey Deschanel) and
his best friend's young daughter from a toxic outbreak no one understands.
Except Shyamalan, of course, who can't help but underline every bit of
exposition laced into the script. What I want to know is: What's up with the
world's slowest gusts of wind? Shyamalan dominates the self-congratulatory
collection of featurettes, introducing four deleted/extended scenes,
pontificating through the 12-minute making-of "Visions of The Happening"
("Because the movie's so dark & if you didn't have a person that brings
light, as soon as you see him, the movie would be overwhelming") and explaining
the genius of key scenes. I don't mind that he thinks so highly of his talent, I
just don't want to hear about it from him. Also available in Blu-ray
format.
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| The Visitor |
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The second directorial effort from Tom McCarthy ("The Station
Agent") is a lovely little character piece about a widowed college academic
(Richard Jenkins) going through the motions of life until he meets a young
foreign couple (who happen to be living in his otherwise empty New York
apartment). The connection that Jenkins' insular Walter makes with Syrian
musician Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), an open, generous fellow who teaches Walter to
play the djembe (an African drum), feels natural and necessary, as does Walter's
devotion to Tarek when he lands in the labyrinth of Homeland Security. It's a
quiet screenplay of a life suddenly awakened by friendship and music, and a film
full of sublime moments of intimate observation. Features laid-back commentary
by writer/director McCarthy and star Jenkins, the brief promotional featurette
"An Inside Look at The Visitor," a featurette on the djembe, and four brief
deleted scenes with optional commentary. Also available in a Blu-ray
edition.
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| Paranoid Park |
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Gus Van Sant continues his explorations in subjective
storytelling and expressions of human experience with this oblique adaptation of
Blake Nelson's novel. Newcomer Gabe Nevins, who wears his sad, often blank face
like a mask, plays an inexpressive skateboarder who puts to paper his jumbled
thoughts of his recent past, which unfolds into the story of the accidental
killing of a railroad security guard. Van Sant circles around the event, less
interested in the narrative than exploring the kid's oblique emotional life, and
cinematographer Christopher Doyle finds an impressionistic shooting style to
match the subjective perspective. The images shift in and out of focus and blur
around the edges, as if to show the kid's disconnection. There are no
supplements on the DVD.
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| Boy A |
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John Crowley's drama of a young adult (Andrew Garfield)
transitioning from 14 years in juvenile lockup to living in the outside world
takes an emotional approach to an interesting idea: How does an adult start over
years after being vilified as a violent child criminal? He is given a new
identity and a new start in a small British town, with the help of a paternal
case worker (Peter Mullan). Mullan's compassion and protectiveness and
Garfield's buoyant performance as a boy exploring the delights of young adult
life light up their dreary, working-class milieu and bring a warmth to the
otherwise grim drama. No supplements.
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Sean Axmaker is a film critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a DVD
columnist for MSN Entertainment and a contributing writer for GreenCine.com,
Turner Classic Movies Online, Parallax View and Asian Cult Cinema, among other
publications. Find links to all of this and more on his shamelessly
self-promoting blog.
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