COMING ATTRACTIONS
Friday, September 29, 2006; Page WE39
Notable DVDs available Tuesday include:
· X-Men: The Last Stand (PG-13) The third installment in the series features the core group of physically gifted mutants -- Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), Storm (Halle Berry), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Cyclops (James Marsden) -- plus a new character or two (Kelsey Grammer in blue as Beast). Director Brett Ratner took the helm for this one and went heavier on the action and lighter on the angst than in the first two installments.
  Iceman (Shawn Ashmore, left) and Pyro (Aaron Stanford) face off in "X-Men: The Last Stand." (Weta) Save & Share |
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· Thank You for Smoking (R) Aaron Eckhart stars as Nick Naylor, a lobbyist for the tobacco industry who pitches cigarettes as a symbol of America's right to choose. This adaptation of Christopher Buckley's 1994 novel is an amusing satire that will make you laugh, but it's occasionally a bit too nice to be completely satisfying. Still you could watch a lot worse than this.
· The Little Mermaid 2-Disc Platinum Edition (G) Disney reaches into the vaults to make this popular movie available again (for a limited time only though, as is the company's standard method of operation for such releases) in a digitally restored version with several bonus features, including deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes features, a new music video and games.
· Body Double Special Edition (R) Director Brian De Palma's thriller stars Craig Wasson and a young Melanie Griffith (in a role that won her the National Society of Film Critics best supporting actress award) in a story of a voyeur who witnesses a murder. This "Special Edition" includes four new featurettes with interviews with Griffith, De Palma, Deborah Shelton, Gregg Henry and Dennis Franz.
· Point Break: Pure Adrenaline Edition (R) The FBI suspects a wild bunch of surfer dudes is robbing banks while wearing masks of ex-presidents Reagan, Carter, Nixon and Johnson. This new edition is in anamorphic widescreen with English Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Surround 4.0 and has several deleted scenes and featurettes. But really, what sort of extras do you need when Patrick Swayze is the top surf dog, Keanu Reeves is the FBI agent who tries to infiltrate the gang and, best of all, Gary Busey is his FBI partner. Forget Keanu, that makes me say, "Whoa!"
· Sam Kinison: Why Did We Laugh? (Unrated) This documentary has clips of the raw, often hilarious preacher turned stand-up comic delivering sermons from the pulpit and doing his comedy routines. The films also includes interviews with Rodney Dangerfield, Richard Pryor, Dennis Miller, Larry King, Jay Leno, Judy Tenuta and others as well as clips from Kinison appearances on "Larry King Live" and "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." A separate CD called "The Passion of Sam" features Kinison delivering a sermon and singing at the Emanuel Temple Church in Rockford, Ill.
· 50 Years of Country Gold (Unrated) As you would expect from the title, you get a plethora of country performances by such stars as Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, Ernest Tubb, Barbara Mandrell, June Carter Cash, Mel Tillis, Roy Clark, Waylon Jennings and more.
· Penn and Teller: B.S.! The Complete Third Season (Unrated) Th ey abbreviate the title on the cover of this DVD, no doubt to help it in terms of placement on store shelves. If you haven't seen it, the show has Penn Jillette and his partner, Teller, researching ideas, many of which are accepted as true by society, and discrediting and mocking them. If you've seen their magic act, you know that humor and sarcasm are two key weapons of choice for them. Some of the topics the duo tackles in this season include circumcision, conspiracy theories, hair, gun control and life coaching.
· Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Unrated) This Guy Ritchie-directed crime caper comes to DVD for the first time in an unrated director's-cut version. The darkly comic flick stars Jason Statham, Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran, Sting, Lenny McLean and P.H. Moriarty and tells the story of four not-so-wise guys who try to con a London crime boss. There are many funny twists and turns (much like "Snatch," another Ritchie film) on the way to a lethal climax.
-- Curt Fields
