DVDs, 8/8.

You'd think that assembling a weekly roundup of DVD reviews would be easy. After all, when there is an average of 30 new discs a week, and at least 50 notable websites dedicated to DVD reviews, you'd think that there would be too much to read on any given disc. Au contraire. It can be a bit of a chore just to find one review of a new disc, especially if it is from a small label, but even "big" films can be greeted with an awesome silence. If reviewed at all, a disc's publicity can be way too early or much too late. And it is not for want of publicists sending out screeners, as I know to my own shame, being several-score discs behind in my own reviews.

Plus, the casually written tone of most reviews and their consumer-advocacy orientation, not to mention their tendency to be personal without being interesting, militate against the kind of in-depth analyses that most serious film students prefer.

Thus, this Tuesday, the curious DVD fanatic was blessed with only two reviews of Italian film specialist NoShame's R1 release of Marcello Pagliero's Roma Citta Libera, from 1946, and never before distributed in the United States. The New York Times's David Kehr led the charge into unknown territory with his Tuesday review, finding Pagliero's post-Open City tale of unrelated strangers experiencing degrees of change and grace in the course of one night to be an interesting transitional work, one that sees the resurgence of melodrama into the neorealist project: "While this movie's locations in the depressed, underpopulated city seemed devastatingly authentic, the screenplay, by six writers including the dean of neorealism, Cesare Zavattini, was already creeping back toward the smoothly manipulative romances that were a specialty of the Italian cinema between the wars."

At the same time, DVD Talk's Svet Atanasov found the film's most intriguing feature to be "the manner in which all of the main protagonists manage to remain crucial to the story. Unlike the films of Michelangelo Antonioni, Luchino Visconti, and even Alessandro Blasetti where one (very strong) character will often eclipse everyone else, in Roma Citta Libera it is rather difficult to pinpoint exactly who the most enigmatic character is. Marcello Pagliero appears to have structured his film in such a way that until the final credits roll it is virtually impossible to single out any of the main characters - they are all overpowering in their own unique way."

But it's Spike Lee's Inside Man that has been greeted with abundant attention, as if it were the only film to come out today. Mark Zimmer at Digitally Obsessed was pleased to see that in general the "heist genre just never quite seems to run out of possibilities," and is happy with the supplements on the Universal disc, especially the five deleted scenes "running nearly half an hour. The bulk of these consist of additional witness interviews, which help flesh out the story and the details of the caper, covering a number of matters that might raise questions in the viewer's mind."

Matt Brighton at DVD Authority found the supplements "worth the price of admission." He likes Lee's commentary track, but determines that "with the movie being 2-plus hours already, it's clear why [the 25-minutes of deleted scenes] were left out of the final cut." Still: "There's a lot going on in Inside Man, but Lee manages to make it work."

JJB at DVD Journal praises Lee's versatility. "Lee appears comfortable with his budget - despite shooting quickly, he mixes Stedicam, verité, and crane cameras, uses high-contrast exposures in the interviews, and enhances a documentary flavor by encouraging a great deal of improvisation," and the writer also singles out Lee's commentary track, in which "he reveals his homages to Sidney Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon (he brought in two cast members for bit parts) and motifs borrowed from his own films."

The most detailed review comes from Preston Jones at DVD Talk: "[Russell] Gewirtz's amateur screenplay - an exercise in yanking the rug from beneath viewers - coupled with Lee's seeming incapability isn't worth the energy it takes to finish off a box of Milk Duds." Nor is he happy with the yak track from the "notoriously loquacious Lee." Jones also gets super-exact about those deleted scenes and other features: "There are five deleted scenes included, playable separately or all together in anamorphic widescreen, that run for about 19 minutes (not the 'over 25 minutes!' advertised on the DVD case)." Meanwhile, "the 10-minute 'The Making of Inside Man' [featurette] is pretty routine EPK fluff and the 10-minute 'Number 4' is a fun, relaxed conversation between Lee and Washington about the four films they've collaborated on."

Jones is much more fond of Rian Johnson's Brick, a "tough slice of film noir that's impeccably constructed, deliciously convoluted and one of the most original American films of thus far in 2006." For Jones, Universal's disc of Brick is "worthwhile" and a "chance to more fully appreciate what Johnson has wrought" via a "kitchen sink commentary" along with "eight deleted and extended scenes, playable separately or all together for an aggregate of 22 minutes, [featuring] introductions by Johnson, who explains that more scenes were trimmed than deleted outright."

Chicks, meanwhile, dig Prison Break. The DVD Journal's Betsy Bozdech says that "when it comes to addictive, escapist television, you can't beat Prison Break," and the Fox set's supplements are pleasing, "particularly the tattoo-centric [featurette], which reveals the intricate planning process that went into creating the show's signature work of art."

Holly Beeman at DVD Talk asserts that Prison Break "works for a number of reasons, but perhaps most importantly, because of the writing, much of which can be accredited to creator, executive producer, and writer Paul T Scheuring. The writers and creative staff have obviously put a great deal of thought into each and every aspect of the show, down to the last gritty detail." And Beeman too takes a fancy to "Beyond the Ink," a "16-minute featurette which takes a look at Michael Scofield's amazingly ambitious tattoo, an entity in and of itself, as well as the artist behind it, Tom Berg. It focuses on the design, the symbolism, the execution and basically all the thought that went into the creation of Michael's faux-tattoo, which takes about four to five hours of application each time. We find out that the Devil within his tattoo was actually supposed to be Jesus (something brought up in the commentaries a number of times), but had to be changed due to events which take place in Riots, Drills and the Devil (Parts 1 & 2)."

At almost the same time as the release of The Descent in theaters in R1, otherwise known as America and Canada, the R2 two-disc of Neil Marshall's horror film hit the shelves in the UK. Gabriel Powers at DVD Active is skeptical: "Some British magazines have slightly over-praised this film, even calling it one of the best horror films of all time. I'm going to disagree with these exaggerated analyses, but still strongly recommend the film, especially to horror genre fans." Once past that lukewarm endorsement, Powers goes on to note that "the DVD itself is nothing earth-shattering, but presents some satisfying extras and a squeal-inducing soundtrack," with special emphasis on the deleted scenes, "all rightfully deleted for pacing purposes, with the possible exception of a few that reveal an actual sister relationship between two of the girls. With these snippets missing from the final feature, I had no idea that any of the characters were suppose to be blood related."

As is well known, the ending of The Descent was altered by Lions Gate for the American market, but that should be the least of a R1 resident DVD fan's worries about the film, especially if the distributor's record remains consistent with past imports, such as its version of Lars von Trier's Dogville, so pallid in comparison with the famous two-disc Danish edition, which Noel Megahey at DVD Times called "a magnificent DVD."

Posted by dwhudson at August 8, 2006 4:49 AM