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Thursday, Aug 28, 2008
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THE REEL SPIN |
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| THE REEL SPIN | ||
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By Ron Anders -
SGN A&E Writer FALL DVD RELEASES PROMISE BLOOD, SWEAT AND BEEFCAKE Now that summer is drawing to a close, and Hollywood is preparing its big guns - serious dramas, historical epics, biographical spectacles - in time for the awards season, let's look at three recent dramatic DVD releases which tinseltown is hoping will bring in critical gold at year's end. The best of the bunch by far is David Fincher's grim, mesmerizing Zodiac, a meticulous recreation of the Zodiac murders investigation in California in the 1960s and 1970s. The script (based on Robert Graysmith's bestselling books) centers on the influence of the killings on three men involved in the case. A trio of excellent performances (and a controversial director's very surprising use of restraint) steer the film clear of exploitation territory. Casting three very attractive actors does not hurt either. Graysmith is played with clean-cut naiveté by Jake Gyllenhaal whose puppy-dog ingenuousness makes his path into an obsessive search for the killer all the more harrowing. Robert Downey brings his dissolute sexiness to an alcoholic reporter whose star is on the wane. Mark Ruffalo, with his customary versatility, breathes vivid life into his role of the sardonic, disillusioned police inspector. Given director David Fincher's penchant for in-your-face, explicit violence (Se7en, Fight Club), I was surprised by the avoidance of excess bloodletting in Zodiac. The film wisely gets the violence out of the way early in the film, leaving the balance of its 2½ hours to tantalize us with the twists, turns and red herrings in the search for the killer. From the first frame (and the first strains of Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man - which I couldn't get out of my head for days) the film essays a tone of chilling paranoia that had me completely seduced. Although not a classic on the order of Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs, I can't remember being as absorbed by a thriller since that film's debut almost 20 years ago. Coming from this film buff, that's not faint praise. Note to the producers: advertising an upcoming release of a "deluxe edition" of Zodiac on this no-frills edition may not elicit the good will of DVD buyers. I admit that I was not exactly positively predisposed to watching 300. I had seen the trailers, loaded with blood and beefcake. I anticipated that the film would be big and dumb. Not to my surprise, it was. I did not expect, however, that its visually enthralling, CGI-generated images would win me over and keep me riveted. This adaptation of Frank (Sin City) Miller's graphic novel pays homage to the author's unique pictorial style: comic book meets historical event. The overwhelmingly beautiful vistas and tumultuous battle sequences do not pretend to be realistic - which paradoxically enhances their thunderous power. Gerard Butler (star of last year's overstuffed film version of The Phantom of the Opera) grunts mightily through the role of Spartan King Leonidas, who leads 300 of his fiercest warriors into combat against the Persian army in the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. Butler wears his leather briefs well, as does the rest of the sweaty, pumped up, 6-packed cast. As the two-disc set's extras insist on informing us, 300 does not attempt to paint a historically accurate portrait of the ancient battle. That's a good thing - since the buff soldiers, hairless from the neck down - look just as hunky and ridiculous as Victor Mature and Charlton Heston did in Hollywood's sword-and-sandal epics of the 1950s. But the beefcake is very easy on the eyes, though I suspect that some biceps and triceps may have had some CGI enhancement. The film has its share of the genre's homophobia as well: a bejeweled, pierced, vaguely swishy King Xerxes represents the enemy. But the visuals save the day, with a sometimes silly, sometimes striking grandeur. A triumph of style over substance, 300 will undoubtedly spawn a few testosterone-filled sequels, countless gay porn knockoffs - and probably an ad campaign for Gold's Gym. If you're in the mood for more ancient battles, try and stay awake for Alexander Revisited, The Final Cut (Colin Farrell), Troy, The Director's Cut (Brad Pitt) or - better yet -- Cult Camp Classics 4 - Historical Epics, including The Colossus of Rhodes, Land of the Pharaohs and The Prodigal - campy costume dramas from the 50s and 60s. A surprise hit in theaters this past spring, Disturbia is an update of a Hitchcock classic. It pales by comparison to the original, but what thriller wouldn't? Still, it is a neat little suspense yarn with a breakout performance by Shia LaBeouf, a 21 year old actor who manages to look not a day over 15. Confined to his home by the police after socking his teacher in the jaw, our hero becomes convinced that the man next door is a murderer. The film begins with an absolute shocker, a brilliantly staged accident which comes out of nowhere. It took my breath away and gave me high hopes for a lively suspense yarn. The film never quite fulfills the promise of its knockout beginning, but is worth a rental. If you're in the mood for a real nail biter, rent the incomparable original, Rear Window. Spry James Stewart and ravishing Grace Kelly turn voyeurism into art, while Hitchcock's sly, hypnotic camerawork and black humor will have you glued to the screen. This is one of my all-time favorites - a flat-out masterpiece. 300 and Disturbia are currently at the top of the DVD sales charts. If there is any justice, Zodiac should be there also. |
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