This week on DVD:
What to watch, what to watch? Hollywood seems dead set on shoving its worst garbage down our throats this week, what with Spider-Man 3 devouring all the screens at the Multi-Plex. There’s not a whole lot that’s new this week down at your local video store, either. Breaking and Entering is half a good movie, boasts some of the most intense and realistic sex scenes in recent memory, but also veers wildly out of control. Jude Law gets his computer stolen by some young punk, and falls for the thief’s mother, who just happens to be Juliette Binoche, who is making every attempt to look dumpy and unattractive. For God’s sake…
No, I didn’t see Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus because I love Arbus’ work, know that casting Nicole Kidman was a grievous error, and think the film looks shallow and silly… Deliver Us From Evil, on the other hand, looks almost too intense, a probing look at abuse in the Catholic church, and including interviews with one particular priest who might just be the worst pedophile in American history… The Tiger and The Snow is the new, universally panned feature from Roberto Benigni. I am in utter awe at the Hindenburg-like crashing of this actor’s career. Life is Beautiful could be the worst film ever to win as many Oscars as it did, and that seems to have prompted Mr. Benigni to remake it, over and over and over again. Apparently, he sold his soul for Hollywood’s magic hardware, and now he’s paying the price…
On a side note, the great critic Anthony Lane has an incredible article about Barbara Stanwyck in last week’s New Yorker. A wise cineaste would do well to read the piece, marvel at the writing, ignore what’s new at the Hollywood Video and rent The Lady Eve, Sam Fuller’s The Forty Guns, Stella Dallas, or Double Indemnity, among the many classics that starred that classic broad.
Also, check out that weird southern rag The Oxford American, which has an entire issue dedicated to Southern Films (available at select newsstands through June). Uneven as usual, the American is nonetheless fascinating, especially Gerald Early’s great piece on exploitative films. Includes a DVD of film clips. At the very least, you’ll come away with a handful of titles to grab for your Netflix queue.
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