DVD REVIEWS OF NEW RELEASES.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

No screeners, no Oscars for `Separate Lies'

You know the old ``if a tree fell ...'' question. For Julian Fellowes, it's if ``screeners had been sent ...''

The writer-director of the elegant bedroom mystery ``Separate Lies'' says that the studio didn't send out screeners of his film to academy members - thus an absence of nominations.

Fellowes is matter-of-fact about this. ``I'm not particularly attacking them. They do their sums and they decide. ... But I'm afraid these days if you don't send out screeners you don't get nominations, and that's it. People don't go to the showings anymore as they used to.''

Too bad, because while the film may have been considered in a number of categories, Tom Wilkinson's portrayal of the uptight London lawyer at the heart of the film is perfection.

The story involves Wilkinson's James, who thinks he has a perfect life with his wife, Anne (Emily Watson), but his sanctimoniousness - ``you want to punch him in the mouth,'' notes Fellowes - can't compete with a sexy new neighbor, Bill (Rupert Everett).

But the suspicious death of an area man complicates what would be James' outrage over the affair.

Fellowes notes that the way the dilemma is handled is pretty English. ``There's something moral about controlling your emotions that's still fairly English. In America, now the moral high ground is basically held by people who express everything they're feeling.''

So casting for Fellowes was important. He needed actors who could subtly show more than they were saying. Wilkinson, whom the director worked with when he was an actor himself, has the ``gift of suggesting layers.'' He says Watson, whose character could have been the villainess, has ``something so vulnerable about her, so naked about her,'' while Everett has the ``quality of being incredibly dangerous.''

Fellowes says he is drawn to stories with complicated moralities. ``In life it isn't just bad people who do bad things. It's all of us. ... good people, too, get into bad situations, lying, stealing, etc.''

``Separate Lies'' takes this and applies it to a marriage.

``Every marriage has its unique set of deals and negotiated treaties that nobody outside the marriage really understands.''

And that, of course, is part of the mystery.

``Separate Lies'' (Fox; $27.98)

`The Weather Man, `Domino,' `North Country,' `Rent' `The Memory of a Killer,' `First Descent'

Gore Verbinski's ``The Weather Man'' has laughs, but underneath it's a slightly melancholy examination of midlife crisis that goes deeper than you expect. An engaging Nicolas Cage plays Dave Spritz, a Chicago TV weatherman. He's separated from his wife (Hope Davis), his kids are in crisis, and he suffers from feeling he's a disappointment to his father, an award-winning writer, Robert Spritz (Michael Caine).

Dave is, like many 40-year-olds, successful but not yet a grown-up. He's apt to lapse into overuse of the F-word, like a frustrated child, when confronted with problems. He wants to do the right thing but is clueless as to what that is. He wants to be more - more to his family, more to his father, more than a silly TV personality who occasionally has fast food thrown at him when he walks down the street.

Give Verbinski and screenwriter Steven Conrad credit for not getting maudlin or silly, not opting for a tidy resolution. Dave does grow up, but he will make more mistakes. The difference is that he will not be a victim of his own foibles. ``The Weather Man'' is both entertaining and memorable.

Loosely based on the life of Domino Harvey, the model-turned-bounty- hunting daughter of actor Laurence Harvey, Tony Scott's ``Domino'' is as bizarre a trip as the character's life. Perhaps that was Scott's aim. Played with verve by Keira Knightley, Domino is an elusive character. Two of the extras give that sense. One is an interview with the real Domino before her death last year from a drug overdose. While it's interesting, you also become aware of how enigmatic she was. The second, called ``Bounty Hunting on Acid: Tony Scott's Visual Style,'' reveals how the director was more interested in a rock 'n' rock style than exploring who Domino was. He probably didn't know - probably no one did, but what he put out may have reflected her psyche because of how messed up and trippy ``Domino'' is.

``North Country'' is meant to be a wake-up film about sexual harassment. There are many who think that problem is less of an issue today, but like racial discrimination, it hasn't gone away. Charlize Theron - in an Oscar-nominated performance - plays Josey Adams, a young woman with children who takes a job in a Minnesota strip mine. Though there are other female miners, they are second-rate citizens, keeping their heads down or turning on a bit of charm. Though she, too, wants to be left alone, Josey's good looks make her a target of the other miners. The film, directed by Niki Caro (``Whale Rider''), is inspired by true events that culminated in a court case that ended in the '90s. While the arc of the story is predictable and Caro's handling of it heavy-handed at times, it's hard not to be stirred by its message. ``North Country'' also boasts solid performances from two other Oscar winners, Frances McDormand and Sissy Spacek.

The translation of ``Rent,'' Jonathan Larson's rock updating of ``La Boheme,'' to the big screen is fairly seamless if innocuous. Chris Columbus' version of the award-winning Broadway musical lacks pizazz but holds onto its core emotional moments as the Bohemians of the East Village of the '80s sing about AIDS, addiction, art and love. The cast - many from the original production (although looking a bit old) - is lively and game. Rosario Dawson nicely takes over the role of Mimi. The key here is, if you enjoyed the original, you should enjoy the film. Like he did with the first two ``Harry Potter'' films, Columbus hasn't tampered with much - nor has he left much of an impression.

Originally titled ``The Alzheimer Case,'' ``The Memory of a Killer'' involves a veteran assassin, Angelo Ledda (Jan Decleir), who is beginning to be plagued by dementia. Ledda, a villain but with a moral compass, finds himself as the hunted one after backing out on an assignment. Hit men have become far too common a subject for movies, but Decleir gives a fine performance, and there are enough twists in this clever conceit to make ``Memory of a Killer'' watchable.

With U.S. snowboarders cleaning up at the Olympics, ``First Descent,'' a film about snowboarders who are airlifted to the tops of Alaskan peaks so they can 'board down nearly vertical slopes in virgin snow, might be the ticket. The film is basically a paean to the daredevil sport without any reservations about its dangers, which is why to those of us less enthusiastic, it's not very compelling.

``The Weather Man'' (Paramount; $29.95)

``Domino'' (New Line; $27.98)

``Rent'' (Columbia; $28.96)

``North Country'' (Warner; $28.98)

``The Memory of a Killer'' (Columbia; $24.94)

``First Descent'' (Universal; $22.98)

`All the President's Men,' `Daddy Long Legs,' `Midnight Cowboy'

``Nothing's riding on this, except the First Amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press and maybe the future of the country.'' Those were the words of Washington Post managing editor Ben Bradlee as played by Jason Robards in his Oscar-winning performance in the 1976 ``All the President's Men.''

Of course, he prefaced it with the statement that few in the public cared about the brewing Watergate scandal. However, it wasn't long before the reporting of Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward - played by Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford - and other journalists forced the sitting president, Richard Nixon, to resign.

Thirty years later, ``All the President's Men'' is as much a cautionary tale as ever - perhaps now more so with questions about the government's truthfulness, eavesdropping on citizens, freedoms being curtailed. But now, as then, the public seems little concerned with the risks that Bradlee warned about.

The special edition of the film, which was brilliantly directed by the late Alan Pakula, contains a number of fascinating extras, including an insightful commentary by Redford, who was one of the producers of the film. There is a trailer gallery of some of Pakula's other films, such as ``Klute,'' ``Rollover,'' ``Presumed Innocent'' and ``The Pelican Brief.''

A second disc has three new documentaries narrated by Hal Holbrook (who played mystery source Deep Throat in the movie). The first, ``Telling the Truth About Lies: The Making of All the President's Men,'' has comments from Redford, Hoffman, screenwriter William Goldman, Woodward, Bernstein, Bradlee, cinematographer Gordon Willis and Jane Alexander. The second, ``Woodward and Bernstein: Lighting the Fire,'' looks at the two reporters. The third, ``Out of the Shadows: The Man Who Was Deep Throat,'' is about W. Mark Felt, the man who recently revealed himself as Deep Throat. There is also vintage documentary, ``Pressure and the Press: The Making of All the President's Men.''

Political and social films have made a mark this year. See a great one.

Another iconic film starring Hoffman is also out in a special edition. Everyone knows the classic scene where Hoffman's streetwise Ratso Rizzo pounds on a taxi while crossing the street and screams, ``I'm walking here!'' in John Schlesinger's 1969 ``Midnight Cowboy.'' Jon Voight played the naive Texan Joe Buck, who had gone to New York City to become a heterosexual male prostitute. They become an unlikely pair.

A gritty, provocative film that had an X rating at the time, the Oscar-winning best picture ``Midnight Cowboy'' still has eye-opening moments. The extras include features that discuss how controversial the film was at the time.

Johnny Mercer's ``Something's Gotta Give'' is the highlight of the 1955 ``Daddy Long Legs'' (it was the fourth version of the story) starring Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron. This May-September romantic musical is an otherwise somewhat tepid affair. But nothing with Astaire and Caron should be overlooked.

``All the President's Men (Special Two-Disc Edition)'' (Warner; $26.98)

``Daddy Long Legs'' (Fox; $19.98)

``Midnight Cowboy (Two Disc Collector's Edition)'' (MGM; $29.95)

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) NICOLAS CAGE in ``THE WEATHER MAN.''

(2) DUSTIN HOFFMAN and ROBERT REDFORD in ``ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN.''