DVD REVIEWS OF NEW RELEASES.Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor More to chew on with 'Chocolate Factory' Roald Dahl's book ``Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' was more like bittersweet chocolate than its first film version, ``Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.'' The 1971 film, starring Gene Wilder, with its much-loved songs like ``Candy Man'' and ``Pure Imagination,'' by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse, was more like sweet milk chocolate. But Tim Burton's weird imagination has concocted a new ``Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' with more bite. The grimy exterior of Wonka's mysterious candy factory looks more like something out of a Charles Dickens novel than an invitation to Disneyland. But inside is a kaleidoscope of surprises for Charlie (Freddie Highmore), beginning with Wonka, the eccentric candyman played by Johnny Depp, who has a flair for the eccentric himself. As Wonka, Depp has eerily reminded some of Michael Jackson, a grown man with a high-pitched voice living in a fantasyland fan·ta·sy·land n. A place conjured up by the imagination, often populated by bizarre inhabitants: a fictional fantasyland teeming with unicorns and elves. . Charlie Bucket is one of five children with a golden ticket that has allowed them into the factory, along with a parent, with the promise of riches and candy. The others - Augustus Gloop, Violet Beauregarde, Veruca Salt and Mike Teavee - all have been neatly updated for the film. Mike Teavee, for instance, has become a video-game champ. Charlie, though, seems to live in some netherworld of poverty, with all four grandparents sharing a bed, but when he gets a golden ticket from a bar of Wonka Chocolate, Grandpa Joe (David Kelly) volunteers to chaperon chap·er·on or chap·er·one n. 1. A person, especially an older or married woman, who accompanies a young unmarried woman in public. 2. An older person who attends and supervises a social gathering for young people. the boy. In Wonka's factory, all the worst tendencies of the children - their gluttony Gluttony See also Greed. Belch, Sir Toby gluttonous and lascivious fop. [Br. Lit.: Twelfth Night] Biggers, Jack one of the best known “feeders” of eighteenth-century England. [Br. Hist. , their selfishness, their greed - come into play, and they all pay in frightfully amusing ways as they wend Wend Any member of a group of Slavic tribes that by the 5th century AD had settled in the area between the Oder and Elbe rivers in what is now eastern Germany. They occupied the eastern borders of the domain of the Franks and other Germanic peoples. their way through the bizarre factory. Lovely songs have been replaced in ``Charlie,'' with ``Wonka's Welcome Song'' (sort of a deranged de·range tr.v. de·ranged, de·rang·ing, de·rang·es 1. To disturb the order or arrangement of. 2. To upset the normal condition or functioning of. 3. To disturb mentally; make insane. ``It's a Small World''-style ditty dit·ty n. pl. dit·ties A simple song. [Middle English dite, a literary composition, from Old French dite, from Latin dict ) and four tunes for the children, which Burton and composer Danny Elfman wanted to model after big Bollywood productions. They are all performed by the Oompa-Loompas - the strange factory's workers, all played by one actor, Deep Roy - with lyrics from Dahl's prose. There are two editions of the film out. The single disc doesn't offer much. The two-disc edition has lots of games and features, including ``Becoming Oompa-Loompa,'' on how the filmmakers turned one Roy into hundreds of Oompa-Loompas. And while ``Charlie'' is tasty, it isn't simply sweet; it's tart and odd and surprising, which is all kids of any age want. ``Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' (Warner; $28.98; two-disc deluxe edition is $30.97) 'Yes,' 'Christmas With the Kranks,' 'The Devil's Rejects,' 'Apres Vous' Sally Potter's ``Yes'' is all in iambic pentameter. Yes, the stuff of Shakespeare, and it can be frustrating for the uninitiated. Like her previous films, ``Orlando'' and ``The Tango Lesson,'' Potter's segmented storytelling is not for everyone. But give the director credit for daring to tell an unconventional love story in an unconventional way. ``Yes'' stars Joan Allen as a married Irish-American woman who falls for a Lebanese waiter and kitchen worker (Simon Abkarian). They are known only as She and He. They are from different worlds, and Potter is asking a question with broad implications: Can they live together? As we have come to expect, Allen gives a vibrant, intelligent performance. ``Christmas With the Kranks,'' starring Jamie Lee Curtis  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. and Tim Allen, has a silly premise, but the film never finds the silliness it needs to make it work. Instead, this story of a Chicago suburban couple, the Kranks, forced to take part in their neighborhood's elaborate Christmas decorating scheme, comes off as forced - and so does the comedy, under the direction of Joe Roth. Why the Kranks give into this instead of just becoming cranky makes no sense. Watching this could deflate your holiday spirit. Radar magazine recently noted that Rob Zombie's 109-minute ``The Devil's Rejects'' holds the record for dropping the F-word in a movie - 560 times. That's once every 12 seconds. That should tell you enough about this horror movie, which has characters named after Groucho Marx roles - like Captain Spaulding. Now, some people - not me - found ghoulish ghoul n. 1. One who delights in the revolting, morbid, or loathsome. 2. A grave robber. 3. An evil spirit or demon in Muslim folklore believed to plunder graves and feed on corpses. humor amid the gore. Personally, I'd rather laugh at a Marx Brothers film and skip the bloodletting bloodletting, also called bleeding, practice of drawing blood from the body in the treatment of disease. General bloodletting consists of the abstraction of blood by incision into an artery (arteriotomy) or vein (venesection, or phlebotomy). . ``Apres Vous'' is a lightweight French comedy starring Daniel Auteuil, who rescues a man about to commit suicide and then feels responsible for him. Mixed-up situations ensue, but it all becomes more complicated than the viewer is likely to care about. ``Yes'' (Sony; $24.96) ``Christmas With the Kranks'' (Sony; $28.95) ``The Devil's Rejects'' (Lions Gate; $27.98) ``Apres Vous'' (Paramount; $29.99) 'Ugetsu,' 'Pickpocket,' 'Jumanji,' 'Lady Sings the Blues,' four Brando films Criterion is releasing the 1953 film ``Ugetsu,'' considered a masterpiece of Japanese cinema. This visually beautiful film, directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, follows the lives of two ambitious 16th-century potters as civil war rages in Japan. Their lives take different turns, but they have in common the fact that their wives suffer for their desires. The DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. includes a 14-minute appreciation of ``Ugetsu'' by director Masahiro Shinoda, a documentary on the filmmaker (who died in 1956), and a 72-page book with an essay by film critic Phillip Lopate and three short stories that influenced Mizoguchi in making the film. Robert Bresson's 1959 ``Pickpocket'' is also out from Criterion. The film takes some ordinary questions of right and wrong and strips them down to the basics. For Bresson's pickpocket PICKPOCKET. A thief; one who in a crowd or. in other places, steals from the pockets or person of another without putting him in fear. This is generally punished as simple larceny. , it isn't merely about money but his willingness to steal it, putting himself outside common morality. The DVD includes an introduction by writer-director Paul Schrader, a documentary on the film, a 1960 interview with Bresson, and a new essay by novelist and culture critic Gary Indiana. ``Jumanji,'' the 1995 film starring Robin Williams, like the upcoming ``Zathura,'' is based on a Chris Van Allsburg book and involves kids - in ``Jumanji's'' case, Judy (Kirsten Dunst) and Peter (Bradley Pierce) - getting in trouble while playing strange board games. Many found Joe Johnson's special-effects-laden film too frantic (Williams' antics aside), but I thought it entertaining. Perhaps not for younger kids. ``Lady Sings the Blues'' was an almost totally fictional account of jazz singer Billie Holiday. As long as you don't think of it as an actual biopic bi·o·pic n. A film or television biography, often with fictionalized episodes. biopic Noun Informal a film based on the life of a famous person [bio(graphical) + pic(ture)] , ``Lady'' - starring Diana Ross as the tortured songstress song·stress n. 1. A woman who performs songs, especially ballads or popular songs. 2. A woman who writes songs. See Usage Note at -ess. - is sudsy suds·y adj. suds·i·er, suds·i·est Full of or resembling suds. Adj. 1. sudsy - resembling lather or covered with lather lathery , tawdry fun. Strange fruit, indeed. Speaking of strange, there are four Marlon Brando films out separately, and one of the more bizarre films of all time is included. Arthur Penn's 1976 Western, ``The Missouri Breaks,'' has Brando as a crazy gunfighter and Jack Nicholson as a cattle rustler rus·tle v. rus·tled, rus·tling, rus·tles v.intr. 1. To move with soft fluttering or crackling sounds. 2. To move or act energetically or with speed. 3. To forage food. . There was absolutely no restraint on the part of anybody in making this film, but it's a fascinatingly document. And where else can you see Brando taking a bubble bath or in a dress? ``Ugetsu'' (Criterion; $39.95) ``Pickpocket'' (Criterion; $39.95) ``Jumanji'' (Deluxe Edition) (Sony; $19.94) ``Lady Sings the Blues'' (Paramount; $14.99) ``The Missouri Breaks,'' ``Burn,'' ``A Dry White Season'' and ``Fugitive Kind'' (Sony; $14.95 each) 'Reefer Madness - The Movie Musical' and more TV Showtime's ``Reefer reef·er n. Marijuana, especially a marijuana cigarette. Madness - The Movie Musical'' is so over-the-top that you'll either go with the high or feel frustrated. Based on the cult classic movie of the 1930s about ``marijuana addiction'' and reinvented as an off-Broadway play, ``Reefer Madness - The Movie Musical'' boasts Tony winner Alan Cumming (``Cabaret'') and Kristin Bell, the star of the UPN UPN User Principal Name (Microsoft Windows 2000) UPN United Paramount Network UPN Unión del Pueblo Navarro (Navarrese People Union) UPN Umgekehrte Polnische Notation series ``Veronica Mars,'' who proves once again what a talent she is. Fun if you're in the mood. Other television-related releases listed below. ``Reefer Madness - The Movie Musical'' (Showtime; $26.99) ``Blue Collar TV Blue Collar TV was a television program on the WB Television Network and starring Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy. The show's humor dealt principally with contemporary American society, and especially the hillbilly, redneck, and Southern stereotypes. - Season 1, Vol. 1'' (Warner; $24.98) ``The Kumars at No. 42'' (BBC BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. ; $24.98) ``Remington Steele - Season Two'' (Fox; $39.98) ``Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 8'' (WEA WEA Weather WEA World Evangelical Alliance WEA Washington Education Association WEA Wilderness Education Association WEA Workers' Education Association WEA WebSphere Everyplace Access (IBM) WEA Wisconsin Education Association ; $59.95) tag!``Beavis & Butt-head, Vol. 1 - The Mike Judge Collection'' (Paramount; $39.99) ``Space Above and Beyond - The Complete Series'' (Fox; $49.98) tag!``The Partridge Family - The Complete Second Season'' (Columbia TriStar; $29.95) ``The White Shadow - Season 1'' (Fox; $39.98) Rob Lowman, (818) 713-3687 robert.lowman(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 4 photos Photo: (1) ``CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY'' (2) DIANA ROSS in ``LadySings the Blues'' (3) SMITS (4) ALDA ALDA Association of Late-Deafened Adults ALDA Australian Learning Disability Association ALDA Adult Learning Development Association ALDA Asociación Larense de Astronomía (Barquisimeto, Venezuela) ALDA Alabama Dietetic Association |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion