Video: 3
Audio: 3
Extras: 3
I've never been a fan of John Waters. In fact, I thought the guy was dead. But I suspect that his latest effort will try even his ardent admirers' patience. Sexploitation films definitely have their place in cinema history; but peppering such a film with name talent—albeit B-list talent like Tracy Ullman and Johnny Knoxville—is a misguided attempt to lend legitimacy to a genre that's best left in the underground. It's like putting a fancy sign on a porn store.
Video: 4
Audio: 3
Extras: 3
Before XXX State of the Union iced his destiny as an action star, Ice Cube stretched his wings with this charming but fairly routine family-bonding flick that hit box-office bling earlier this year. The family here is a surrogate, as Cube hauls a pair of spirited kids from Portland, Oregon, to Vancouver in his new Lincoln Navigator in order to win points with their hottie divorce mom. Illicit thoughts of mom aside, the road trip actually brings him close to the two brats. It's a no-lose formula, and any film with Nichelle Nichols (Star Trek's Lt. Uhura) earns extra points in my book.
Video: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 1
“Your mother can’t be with you anymore,” intones the Great Prince, a regal buck, to young Bambi, thus setting into motion the events of this modern-day follow-up to the timeless classic. Voiced by Patrick Stewart, the Great Prince breaks with tradition by taking everyone’s favorite fawn under hoof, teaching Bambi the ways of the forest, while bonding with his son. Consider this Bambi: The Formative Year.
Brendan Fraser, Elizabeth Hurley, Frances O'Connor, Orlando Jones, Miriam Shor, Brian Doyle-Murray. Directed by Harold Ramis. Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1. 93 minutes. 2000. Fox Home Entertainment 2000815. PG-13. $26.98.
Martin Lawrence, Paul Giamatti, Nia Long, Terence Howard. Directed by Raja Gosnell. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1. 98 minutes. 2000. Fox Home Entertainment. PG-13. $26.98.
Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katherine Ross. Directed by George Roy Hill. Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital mono. 110 minutes. 1969. Fox Home Entertainment 2000043. PG. $29.98.
Video: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 4
For those who thought the world wasn’t ready for a fair-haired James Bond, Daniel Craig acquits himself extremely well in this twenty-first entry in the franchise, which plays fast and loose with the series’ chronology to show the super spy as a newly minted double-0. Cool, steely-eyed, and, above all, physically and emotionally vulnerable, this Bond can actually love a woman, although we learn in short order why he stopped doing so. In this installment, Bond infiltrates an arms financier’s high-stakes poker game staged to win back clients’ lost money. While the story line doesn’t hold up to close scrutiny, we get to see the evolution of the shaken vodka martini and the spy’s signature line of introduction.
Video: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 3
Halle Berry revived the comics' most seductive villain in 2004. Aside from a new midriff-revealing leather catsuit (meow!), there's little to recommend this movie, which produced a hairball at the box office.
Video: 4
Audio: 3
Extras: 3
The third series in the juggernaut forensics franchise brings the police procedural to the city of NYPD Blue, quite literally. In stark contrast to the orange and mango hues of CSI: Miami, NY is bathed in deep, metallic blues and grays, making investigators and killers look as if they could use a good dose of Florida sun. Nowhere is the disparity between the look of the two shows as apparent as in the pilot, which blends both locales as it introduces the new cast.
Gary Frisch
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