DVD Picks & Pans: An Autumn Hat Trick

Tom Miller

You can score three times with this week's DVD selections: a classic film noir, a rousing documentary featuring one of rock's greatest bands, and the third installment of the Spiderman franchise.

"Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who," DVD-2007 (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, $29.98)

First, an admission: After the Beatles, The Who is my favorite band of all time, and thirty-five years later, their classic rock-opera "Tommy" - one of the landmarks of rock 'n roll - continues to intrigue me.  So, it'll come as no small surprise that I found "Amazing Journey" a wonderfully evocative and insightful rock documentary. 

The two-hour documentary traces the long, and often bumpy, career-road traveled by  The Who, weaving interviews - with surviving band mates Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, family members, and musicians like Sting and Eddie Vetter -and archival footage of the group into a bittersweet tapestry.

The documentary follows the band - lyricist and guitarist Townshend, singer Daltrey, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon - from their early days as a 1960's pub band through their meteoric rise, their rivalries and losses, and their legacy.

The rivalry between Townshend and Daltrey is fully explored, but it's the painful evocation of the brilliant Moon's self-destructive behavior that grounds the narrative.  I would have preferred more analysis of "Tommy" and less of "Quadrophenia."  Whatever the band or the critics might think, The Who will always be identified with "Tommy."

Some of the archival footage is old and literally crackles, but at least it exists.  Fans of The Who in particular and rock 'n roll in general will enjoy this forty-year journey with one of rock's iconic bands. 
Military.com Rating: *** ½

(The 2-disc DVD set also includes a companion film, "Amazing Journey: Six Quick Ones," that examines individually the musical talents of Daltrey, Townshend, Entwistle, and Moon.  DVD extras include "The Scrapbook: Five Additional Insider Insights into the World of the Who" and "The High Numbers [The Who] at the Railway Hotel," the earliest extant footage of the band.)

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"Spiderman - 3 (Widescreen Edition)," DVD-2007 (Sony Home Entertainment, $20.97)

The latest adventure from our favorite arachnid arrives in "Widescreen," "Two-Disc Special Edition," and Blu-ray.

Early in director Sam Raimi's third movie in the highly-profitable Spiderman franchise, Spiderman/Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is asked a question by girlfriend Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) and answers, "It's complicated."  He could have been talking about the plot. 

Besides Peter's on-again, off-again relationship with MJ, Spidey faces a trio of villains as well as his own dark side.   Besides his alter ego, the villains include escaped con Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) who is miraculously transformed into the elusive Sandman; Harry Osborn (James Franco) who reprises his father's Goblin identity in an effort to avenge his death; and Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), a photographer-rival of Peter's who morphs into Marvel supervillain Venom. 

The action is fast-and-furious and the special effects are dazzling.  The final, climatic battle, although somewhat derivative, is a crowd-pleaser.  
Military.com Rating: ***

(DVD extras: Besides the bare-bones single-disc edition, the "Two-Disc Special Edition [$36.95] and the Blu-ray HD edition ($43.95) include over six hours of special features including director and cast commentary and featurettes on "Building Sandman," "Re-imagining the Goblin," and "Creating Venom," among others.)

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"Chinatown - Special Collector's Edition," DVD-2007 (Paramount Home Entertainment, $14.99)

Director Roman Polanski's classic film noir stars Jack Nicholson as private eye J.J. Gites and Faye Dunaway (Evelyn Mulwray) as his glamorous client with a wayward husband. 

Set in pre-World War II L.A., the movie literally crackles with tension.  Hired to investigate an extra-marital affair, Gites stumbles into a treacherous, morally-ambiguous world of deceit, incest, and political corruption where power is the means and the ends.

Robert Towne's edgy, bleak script recalls noir masters like Raymond Chandler and won an Oscar for Best Screenplay.  John Alonzo's muted cinematography is a visual echo of the screenplay and earned one of the film's eleven Oscar nominations.  The cast, led by Nicholson and Dunaway, who received acting nominations, is superb.  It's no wonder that the American Film Institute ranked "Chinatown" 19th in its list of "The 100 Best American Films." 
Military.com Rating: ****

Paramount also is releasing a "Special Collector's Edition" of the "Chinatown" sequel, "The Two Jakes."

(DVD extras include the theatrical trailer and four featurettes: "Chinatown: The Beginning and the End!" "Chinatown - Style," "Acting Chinatown, and "Chinatown: The Classic."

Military.com Picks & Pans Rating Scale

* Pan - Save your money & time
** Borderline Pick - Okay but only as a last resort
*** Pick - Worthwhile & enjoyable
**** Enthusiastic Pick - Excellent

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Copyright 2009 by Tom Miller