DVD Picks & Pans: More Rx for Cabin Fever

Military.com - Tom Miller

There's good news and bad news this week.  The good news is that we've passed the halfway mark of winter--climatologically speaking.  That would be Jan. 15.  The bad news is that we've [barely] passed the halfway mark of winter.  Punxsutawney Phil won't even stir for a couple of weeks yet. 

Out here in flyover country, this winter has been much colder than average. This past week, record low temps have been reported from Maine to North Dakota.  The overnight low on Friday here at our "cabin" in Hog Heaven was -29.  Yes, that's right.  Twenty-nine degrees below zero.  It was the coldest temperature ever recorded locally.  Coldest.  Ever.  They've been keeping records here for 140 years.  That's before the internal combustion engine that Big Al hates so much.  My heating bill this month is $250.  Big Al would like to add a carbon tax on top of that.  Me?  I wish that it would warm up.

So, as you can imagine people stayed inside even more, and the epidemic of cabin fever continues to spread.  As I've noted before, I don't have a cure.  Despite the pretensions of people like Big Al, Mother Nature remains in control.  I can, however, suggest some movie and TV magic to temporarily relieve the worst of the symptoms. 

Take two of these and drink plenty of fluids.
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Appaloosa
DVD-2009 ($28.98, New Line Home Video) Also available in Blu-ray.

I grew up watching westerns when the genre was a Hollywood staple.  The local theater in my little town ran a double-feature on Saturday afternoons, and one--and sometimes both--of the films usually was a western.  Hollywood doesn't make many westerns anymore--perhaps because the genre doesn't lend itself easily to the relativism of the times--but I'm still a sucker for them. 

I'm also a fan of mystery writer Robert B. Parker who, stepping outside his usual genre, wrote the novel from which this movie is adapted. 

So, there was no way I wasn't going to see "Appaloosa."  Directed by Ed Harris--only his second stint behind the camera--and starring Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Jeremy Irons, and Renee Zellweger, the movie is clever-enough and thoroughly entertaining.

Two gunfighters--Virgil Cole (Harris) and Everett Hitch (Mortensen)--who work as contract lawmen, hire themselves out to clean up the town of Appaloosa, New Mexico.  They soon run afoul of local outlaw boss Randall Bragg (Irons), who murdered the former sheriff and his two deputies.  Cole and Hitch surprise Bragg and arrest him.  They then have to guard him until he can be tried and hanged.  His gang, of course, is just as determined to bust him out.

Meanwhile, an enigmatic young widow, Allison French, arrives in town, and Virgil--whose knowledge of women is limited to squaws and whores--falls for her.  Viewers never learn Allison's back-story, but it's soon obvious that she isn't what she seems. 

The dialogue is sharp--much of it humorous--and there's not a lot of moral ambiguity.  There's enough action to keep things interesting, and the star-studded cast is, with the exception of the miscast Ms. Zellweger, excellent. 

Military.com Rating: *** ½ 

(DVD extras include audio commentary, additional scenes, and featurettes: "Bringing the Characters of Appaloosa to Life," "Historical Accuracy of Appaloosa," and "The Town of Appaloosa.")
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The Express
DVD-2009 ($29.98, Universal Studios Home Entertainment) Also available on Blu-ray.

The nexus between sports and civil rights is the focus of this biopic about Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win college football's coveted Heisman Trophy.

Director Gary Fleder traces Davis' (Rob Brown) rise from poverty in Pennsylvania coal country to gridiron success at Syracuse University in an era--the 1950s and early 1960s--when black Americans were still struggling to win basic rights.  Unlike his idol and predecessor in the backfield at Syracuse, Jim Brown, Davis was quiet and unassuming.  It was only reluctantly that he began to stand up and speak out against injustices.

Davis' courage and character eventually won over his teammates and led his coach Ben Schwartzwalder (Dennis Quaid) to question his own complicity in the face of racial injustice.  And, Davis' success on the field inspired millions of black Americans just as Jackie Robinson's success had inspired a young Ernie Davis. 

"The Express" is also a football film, and the filmmakers are meticulous in recreating Davis' legendary career on the field, including his role in leading the Orangemen to their first--and only--national title in 1959.  That triumph was followed by another, the 1961 Heisman.  Although he didn't know it, Davis was already dying from leukemia when he accepted the Heisman and signed a professional contract with the Cleveland Browns. 

There's a lot to like here.  Davis' story is uplifting.  The football action is artfully recreated and rare archival footage is employed unobtrusively.  The cast--especially Brown who played football at Amherst College--is solid, and the film recreates a reasonable facsimile of a bygone era. 

Contrarily, the film isn't above stereotyping and clichés.  It also might be too sentimental for some and too superficial for others.   

In the final analysis, "The Express" is a rather conventional sports movie about an extraordinary young man. 

Military.com Rating: ***

(DVD extras include feature commentary with director Gary Fleder, deleted scenes, and four featurettes: "Making of The Express," "Making History: The Story of Ernie Davis," "Inside the Playbook: Shooting the Football Games," and "From Hollywood to Syracuse: The Legacy of Ernie Davis.)

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This American Life: Season Two
DVD-2009 ($19.99, Showtime/Paramount Home Entertainment)

Showtime's Emmy Award-winning documentary series returns for a second season of six episodes.

Based on the popular public radio show hosted by Ira Glass, "This American Life" features stories that explore . . . well, American life and lives.

Each episode focuses on a single theme--in "Season Two" they include, "Escape," "Two Wars," "Going Down in History," "Underdogs," "Scenes from a Marriage," and "John Smith"--that is explored in two or more stories.  The subjects are often unusual and range in tone from gloomy to hilarious.  More often they not, they are provocative. 

"Season Two" highlights include the poignant story of a twenty-seven-year-old man's struggle with a debilitating muscular disease that has left him unable to care for even his simplest needs.  His mother still sleeps on the floor beside his bed every night.  Despite his situation, he dreams of being independent.

Another follows a former Marine who turns professional boxer at twenty-eight, an age when many fighters retire.  After suffering through a four-year losing streak, he believes that two improbable upsets will jump-start his career.  The unsurprising theme of that episode is "Underdogs."

In "Two Wars" an auto dealer and an Iraqi square off in a booth set up in the lot of a Chevy dealership.  They debate freedom. 

One of my favorites is an animated look at the power of suggestion in a segment called "Judgment to the Wife."  It features a Jackie Onassis sighting. 

The series owes its whimsical attitude to creator, host, writer, and executive producer Ira Glass.  "Season Two" was nominated for five Emmy Awards and won two: Outstanding Nonfiction Series and Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming. 

Military.com Rating: ***

(DVD extras include audio commentaries, an extended episode, and "This American Life Live!" theater presentation.)

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Cheers: The Eleventh Season (The Final Season)
DVD-2009 ($42.99, CBS/Paramount)

It's easy to forget after eleven years, twenty-eight Emmy Awards, six Golden Globes, eight seasons in the Nielsen Top Ten, and a place in American culture that "Cheers" started series life back in 1982 as the lowest ranked primetime program and teetered on the brink of cancellation. 

Of course, it didn't happen and the rest, as they say, is history.  "Cheers" went on to enjoy an eleven-year run and secured its place in television history.  Now, the eleventh--and final--season of the acclaimed series comes to DVD: all twenty-eight episodes--including the finale--on four discs. 

"Cheers" needs no introduction, but . . . .  The comedy is set in a Boston bar and stars Ted Danson as Sam Malone--bar owner, former Red Sox reliever, and womanizer.  The other main characters include intellectual waitress Diane Chambers (Shelley Long), her working-class counterpart Carla Tottelli (Rhea Perlman), bartenders Coach (Nicholas Colasanto) and Woody Boyd (Woody Harrelson), bar manager Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley), and barflies Norm Peterson (George Wendt), Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger), and Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer).  (Some cast members left and others joined over the show's long run.)

Sam is a recovering alcoholic and sex addict, and the show's primary focus is his evolving relationship with women, including the unlikely Diane, a vocal feminist, and Rebecca. 

In the final season, accountant Norm gets audited, postman Cliff gets a promotion, Rebecca finally marries her plumber beau, and Woody runs for city council.  As the last call approaches, Sam invites Diane (after a six-year absence) back to Boston for "One for the Road."

Military.com Rating: ****

(DVD extras include episodic promos for all episodes.)

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Military.com Picks & Pans Rating Scale
* Pan--Save your time
** Borderline Pick--Okay but only as a last resort
*** Pick--Worthwhile & enjoyable
****Enthusiastic Pick--Excellent 
*****Not to Be Missed--A Classic

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Copyright 2009 by Tom Miller