DVD Picks & Pans: Valentine's Viewing

Tom Miller

DVD Picks & Pans for Valentine's Viewing

Valentine's Day is supposed to be fun.  Romantic. But, it's on a Thursday this year.  Where are you going to find a sitter on a school night?  Even if you don't have kids, there's that six a.m. wakeup for work.

Here's an idea.  Forget going out.  If you're lucky enough to have kids, order pizza and banish them to the family room until their bedtime.  Enjoy a quiet dinner alone.  Exchange valentines.  And, retire to the master suite for . . . a movie. 

Hey, it's Valentine's.  You deserve better than Letterman tonight.  I've got some suggestions for both Venus and Mars.  For her, the recent DVD releases include a couple of charming chick flicks.  Guys, if you can't watch a chick flick on Valentine's, when can you?  Surprise her.  Bring one home.  She might surprise you.

For you gals looking for something for him, I'm identified a couple of new DVDs in typically masculine genres: Westerns and Vigilantes.  Don't despair, there's something here for you too.  The Western is actually a psychological case study of a killer, and the vigilante is . . . surprise! . . . a woman. 

And, for you losers . . . Wait . . . I didn't mean that.  I meant, for those of you who find yourself alone on Valentine's, I also have a suggestion--and, an inspired one at that: a period drama about one of history's most famous virgins.

Remember: Nothing says loving like a good movie.  You can thank me later. 

FOR HER

"The Jane Austen Book Club," DVD-2008 ($26.96, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) Also available in Blu-ray.

Okay, guys, on the surface, this doesn't look very promising.  Five women--Jocelyn (Maria Bello), Sylvia (Amy Brenneman), Prudie (Emily Blunt), Bernadette (Kathy Baker), and Allegra (Maggie Grace)--and one sensitive young man--Grigg (Hugh Dancy)--meet once a month for six months to discuss Jane Austen novels.  Yes, that Jane Austen.  The Homer of chick lit. 

The book club members all have issues, of course, and those issues parallel those that test  Austen's fictional characters.  It's a clever premise and it's executed with wit and intelligence.  So what if it's also oh so sweet?  Valentine's is synonymous with sweet.

Of course, there's no testosterone here: no car chases, fist fights, or explosions.  The principle characters drink wine, drive hybrids, and love animals.  And, that's the guys.

There is one recognizable man's man here--Prudie's husband Dean (Marc Blucas)--and you'll recognize him immediately.  He's the guy who cancels a trip to Paris with his wife in order to go to the NBA finals with his boss.  He likes beer and thinks that Austen is a city in Texas.  But, even he ends up having an epiphany and morphs into a wine-sipping, Austen-reading wimp. 

Hey.  Just relax.  It's not that bad.  And, it's only a couple of hours.  It's also easy on the eyes.  Especially Prudie.  That would be the seriously sexy Miss Emily Blunt. 

Writer/director Robin Swicord (in an otherwise auspicious debut) missteps, however, when she asks viewers to believe that Trudie's husband is inattentive.  I didn't believe it and you want either.  I'd happily accompany Miss Blunt to an Al Gore lecture.  That's like the eighth circle of Hell. 

It doesn't even matter that the whole thing is formulaic and predictable.  So is Valentine's.  If you're lucky.  Military.com Rating: *** 

(DVD extras include deleted scenes, audio commentary, and featurettes "The Life of Jane Austen," "The Book Club: Deconstructed," and "Walking the Red Carpet: Los Angeles Premier.")
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"Becoming Jane," DVD-2008 ($29.99, Buena Vista Home Entertainment/Miramax) Also available in Blu-ray.

What is this?  The Jane Austen Movie Club?  This time around it's the historical Jane in a leisurely period piece (late eighteenth-century) set in southern England.  Be prepared for lots of ballroom dancing, strolls in the woodsy countryside, witty repartee, and even a cricket match. 

Okay.  Take a deep breath and repeat after me: Yes, I can.  Yes, I can.  Good.  She'll love it . . . and you too for sharing it with her. 

And, there's also the diverting Anne Hathaway to help you past the rough spots.  Miss Hathaway is perfectly charming as Austen: an independent-minded young woman--at a time when such behavior was discouraged--and an aspiring novelist. 

Director Julian Jarrold ("Kinky Boots") takes a few known facts about a brief encounter between a twenty-year-old Austen and an impoverished Irish rogue (James McAvoy), adds a dollop of Austen's own fiction (Pride and Prejudice) for ballast, and seasons it with a generous pinch of artistic license.  The result is a bittersweet confection that will resonate with fans of romantic comedy.  Isn't that all of us on Valentine's?  Military.com Rating: ***

(DVD extras include deleted scenes; audio commentary with Jarrold, writer Kevin Hood and producer Robert Bernstein; and featurette "Discovering the Real Jane Austen.")
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FOR HIM

"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Bob Ford," DVD--2008 ($27.98, Warner Home Video) Also available in Blu-ray and HD DVD.

Yes, ladies, it's that Jesse James.  The outlaw and cold-blooded killer.  And that makes this a Western. 

Don't despair though.  If you must watch a Western, this isn't such a bad choice.  It's what some critics call a "poetic Western."  That means that it's more Dr. Phil than John Wayne.  There are lots of wistful looks, long silences, and sweeping vistas.  But, there are also enough killings, cussing, and male bonding to keep him happy too. 

Director Andrew Dominik's long and contemplative film picks up the James' saga near the end of the outlaw's short (34 years) life.  The action--such as it is--begins as an increasingly paranoid Jesse (an understated Brad Pitt) pulls off a final big train robbery.  Along for the ride is a young Jesse James groupie, Bob Ford (Casey Affleck). 

From that inauspicious beginning, the film traces the robbery's aftermath and the slowly-evolving relationship between young Ford and his reluctant hero.  Somewhere in there, the story gathers enough power to overcome the initial inertia.  And, by the time Ford realizes that his hero has feet of clay and begins plotting to bring him down, Dominik has generated enough interest and suspense to sustain this unorthodox Western through its long-anticipated climax. 

The best thing about Dominik's Jesse James is that he's no romanticized Robin Hood.  He's a cruel and paranoid killer.  Moreover, the lives of Dominik's nineteenth-century outlaws are not glamorous but dangerous and usually short.  It's not your father's Old West.  And, this isn't your father's Western.

The film garnered two Oscar nominations:  1) Casey Affleck for Best Supporting Actor, and 2) Best Cinematography.  Military.com Rating: ***

(The basic DVD is a bare bones edition.)
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"The Brave One," DVD--2008 ($28.98, Warner Home Video) Also available in Blu-ray and a Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD)

This updating of the vigilante drama stars veteran actress Jodie Foster as a distaff version of the Charles Bronson character in "Death Wish." 

Ms. Foster plays Erica Bain, the host of a New York City radio show called "Street Walk" that riffs on the sounds of "the safest big city in the world."

Everything is fine until Bain and her fiancé are attacked by gang bangers.  The fiancé is slain, and Bain--beaten unconscious--is left for dead. 

Bain recovers physically but is left emotionally scarred.  When the cops don't have time for her, she decides to take matters into her own hands.  She buys an illegal hand gun from a street vendor, and happening upon an armed robber, she shoots the perp and flees. 

After that, she trolls the city after dark waiting for trouble to find her.  Which, of course, it does.  She also strikes up a friendship with NYPD detective Sean Mercer (Terrence Howard) who only belatedly begins to suspect that Bain is the vigilante that's doing his job.   

Once you get past the unlikely premise and improbable chance encounters, you'll find plenty of action and suspense plus excellent work by Ms. Foster whose performance earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.  Military.com Rating: ***

(DVD extras include deleted scenes and a featurette, "I Walk the City.")
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ONLY THE LONELY

"Elizabeth-The Golden Age," DVD -- 2008 ($29.98, Universal Studios Home Entertainment) Also available in Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD.

England's Elizabeth I, the original Virgin Queen, offers the perfect antidote for anyone suffering through another solitary Valentine's. 

Despite all sorts of obstacles--a dysfunctional family, murderous enemies, religious schism, the threat of invasion from a vindictive Philip II of Spain--Elizabeth managed to lead England to the brink of wealth and power and establish herself as perhaps the greatest ruler in English history.  Not bad for a lady who spurned all suitors and likely spent a few Valentine's Days in exquisite seclusion.  (And, yes, Valentine's Day was already an established custom in the sixteenth-century.  It dates back at least to the fourteenth-century English poet Chaucer (best known, of course, for The Canterbury Tales).  

In this sequel to director Shekhar Kapur's 1998 "Elizabeth," that received seven Oscar nominations, the young Elizabeth I has grown into middle age.  While the earlier threat of assassination remains very real, she also faces a potentially devastating attack from rival Philip II of Spain. 

All the while, Elizabeth (Cate Blanchette, reprising the breakthrough role that won her a Best Actress Oscar nomination) toys with rogue pirate and court favorite Sir Walter Raleigh.  (The putative relationship with Raleigh makes for an interesting subplot, but the historical record does not support such a romance.)

Despite taking liberties with history, Kapur gives us an Elizabeth that's alternately charming and dramatic and altogether entertaining.  Quite like the Virgin Queen herself. 

In what is becoming her signature role, Ms. Blanchette delivers another Oscar-worthy performance.  Besides her Best Actress nod, the movie also scored a nomination for Costume Design.  Military.com Rating: *** 

(DVD extras include deleted scenes, audio commentary with director Kapur, and four featurettes: "The Reign Continues: Making Elizabeth: The Golden Age;" "Inside Elizabeth's World;" "Commanding the Wind: Creating the Armada;" and "Towers, Courts, and Cathedrals.")

Military.com Valentine Viewing Rating Scale

*       Like sitting at home on a Saturday night
**     As entertaining as the typical blind date
***   French kissing on Lover's Lane
**** The cinematic equivalent of true love

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Copyright 2012 by Tom Miller