Extras Disc One:

• Audio commentary with Oliver Stone
  

Extras Disc Two:

There's a favorite example I like to trot out whenever the subject of Oliver Stone's paranoia comes up. In the movie DAVE, Stone has a cameo as a television talking head trying to convince CNN that the President is no longer the President, that another body has been substituted for him. This is offered up as paranoia, and Stone was a good sport in allowing himself to be mocked thus. But there is one important thing to know about this joke. Stone is right. Within the context of DAVE, the President has been replaced. Dave, a presidential look-alike who runs a job agency and freelances at store openings as the Prez, replaces the President after he is stricken by a heart attack. So what is the joke suppose to be, exactly? If Stone is factually correct about Dave, why is it funny that he smells a conspiracy?

Thoughts tend Stoneward at this time thanks to the 40th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, and Warner Home Entertainment re-releasing JFK on DVD, a two disc set, by the way, that this reviewer had to purchase after the fact, because Warner publicity prefers not to send MoviePoopShoot movie reviewers tickets to advance screenings or screener DVDs.

From the outside, Stone's career seems to be in a shambles right now. He has flitted from one unrealized project to another, and has alienated many of his former collaborators. Yet he remains one of the most important filmmakers, with numerous Oscars to his credit and a distinctive visual and editing style. I would prefer not to think that his career spiral is due to his making JFK, that he is the victim of CIA destabilization.

JFK remains one of my favorite films of all time. As a Kennedy assassination buff, I find the film supremely accurate about some of the theories surrounding the assassination. The movie includes such far flung figures as Rose Cheramie, who claims to have heard men plotting the shooting days before, and the guy in Dealey Plaza who suffered an epileptic fit just before Kennedy's motorcade entered, thus preoccupying an ambulance and several cops who otherwise might have notice untoward rifle barrels pointing out of buildings. Stone also challenges the viewer to keep up with him. The rapid editing style, which would probably have been incomprehensible to viewers of early cinema, keeps the story on two or three levels at once and allows Stone to speculate and report on history at the same time.

Warner has released JFK twice before. The first version was a barebones "flipper." The second arrived as part of the Oliver Stone Collection, and was a two-disc set with commentary track, deleted scenes, and other supplements. This third iteration is exactly the same as the second release, with the addition of the 1992 documentary BEYOND JFK: THE QUESTION OF CONSPIRACY, which has appeared on laser disc versions of the movie and was supposed to be on the first DVD but wasn't (even though it was mentioned on the box cover).

For consumers the question will be if they want to spend an additional $30 dollars for a film they already have on DVD. The only reason to purchase this new edition is if you want to get the documentary, which is itself old news and 10 years out of date (though still interesting). If you already have the second DVD version and don't care about the doc than you are fine. The only other thing to recommend the new DVD is the improved packaging, which is a dual disc snap case in cardboard slipcase, much better than the second DVD's flap into which the second disc was tucked.

The Good Michael Powell

THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

Original Movie:

• Theatrical premiere: 10 January, 1938
  
• 74 minutes
  
• NR
  
• Producer/distributor: Joe Rock/United Artists
  
• Directed by Michael Powell
  
• Credited Writer: Michael Powell
  
• Cast: John Laurie (Peter Manson), Belle Chrystall (Ruth Manson), Eric Berry (Robbie Manson), Kitty Kirwan (Jean Manson), Finlay Currie (James Gray), Niall MacGinnis (Andrew Gray), Grant Sutherland (John, the catechist), Campbell Robson (Dunbar (the laird), George Summers (Trawler skipper), Margaret Grieg (baby), Michael Powell (Mr. Graham (the yachtsman), Frankie Reidy (Yachtswoman)
  
• Cinematography: Monty Berman and Skeets Kelly and Ernest Palmer
  
• Editing: Derek N. Twist and Robert Walters
  
• Significant music: Cyril Ray
  
• Awards: none
  
• Budget: ˆ20, 000
  
• Stated initial box office returns: NA

Plot in one sentence: An island in northern Scotland is under economic threat.

Disc Stats:

Extras:

• Audio track by Powell scholar Ian Christie, Powell widow Thelma Schoonmaker, with readings of excerpts from Powell's book read by Daniel Day-Lewis
  
• "Return to the Edge of the World," from 1978 (22:56)
  
• "An Airman's Letter to His Mother," from 1943 (5:36)
  
• Animated stills gallery (00:53)
  
• DVD-ROM material: original press kit and Milestone press kit
  

Michael Powell continues to be the most under-represented great director on DVD. There are only five that I know of, but now thanks to Milestone Pictures there is at least a sixth.

THE EDGE OF THE WORLD is a significant film in the course of Powell's career. In fact you could say that it set the course. From this film, which was only a modest financial success, Powell came under the influence of Korda and subsequently met Pressburger, with whom he was to form a mostly happy and very creative partnership.

On the basis of this early film you might be misled into thinking that Powell was what I like to call a "location masochist," one of those guys like Herzog and Huston who like to drive themselves and their crew to exhaustion in hard-to-reach places. But this film was something of an anomaly in Powell's career and shows more the influence of Flaherty and other documentarians as it describes life on a remote island north of Scotland, whose citizens work the land for a benevolent laird but which is becoming increasingly isolated and backward as the 20th century progresses. The modest saga plot concerns the conflict between two families, the Mansons and the Grays. Son Andrew Gray loves daughter Ruth Manson, sister of his best friend Robbie Manson. But a conflict between Andrew and Robbie, one that represents the political turmoil of the island itself, leads to Robbie's death and Andrew's eventual exile. In a heartbreaking sequence at the end, the island confronts the inevitable, and its citizens abandon it.

Powell is always in danger of being considered the worst British director because he was unabashed about allowing emotional expression that is always on the verge of vulgar melodrama. In a opening and closing that evokes Proust and Waugh's BRIDESHEAD REVISITED, Andrew, on the island years later as a guide to a rich yachtsman, "sees" the ghosts of those he left behind. Even the sentimental Ford wouldn't go that far in pinpointing the agonizing force of the past on the present, with a female choir of high pitched voices in the background. For me, however, to get into the spirit of Powell's films is to enter the lush spirit of cinema itself.

THE EDGE OF THE WORLD comes with an array of pleasing extras. First off is an audio commentary track by Powell scholar Ian Christie, along with Powell's widow, the editor Thelma Schoonmaker. Their reminiscences and analyses are spiced with readings from Powell's book about the making of the film, read by Daniel Day-Lewis. One of Powell's last films was a short he made for British television in 1978 called "Return to the Edge of the World," in which he and the cast and crew return to the island, Foula, where he shot the film and revisit old locations. An added bonus is "An Airman's Letter to His Mother," a short propaganda effort from 1943. The disc wraps up with an animated stills gallery and some press kits in DVD-ROM.

Crossed Roads

HOW TO DEAL

Original Movie:

• Premiere: July, 2003
  
• 101 minutes
  
• PG-13
  
• Producer/distributor: Focus Features/New Line
  
• Directed by Clare Kilner
  
• Credited Writer: Neena Beber, from the YA novels, SOMEONE LIKE YOU and THAT SUMMER, by Sarah Dessen
  
• Cast: Mandy Moore (Halley Martin), Allison Janney (Lydia Martin), Trent Ford (Macon Forrester), Alexandra Holden (Scarlett Smith), Dylan Baker (Steve Beckwith), Nina Foch (Grandma Halley), Peter Gallagher (Len Martin)
  
• Cinematography: Eric Alan Edwards
  
• Editing: Shawna Callahan and Janice Hampton
  
• Significant music: David Kitay, with songs by Beth Orton ("Wild World") and Liz Phair ("Why Can't I?")
  
• Awards: none
  
• Budget: $16 million
  
• Stated initial box office returns: $14 million

Plot in one sentence: A year in the life of a teen age girl.

Disc Stats:

Extras:

• Audio commentary with director Clare Kilner along with stars Mandy Moore and Alexandra Holden
  
• Moore on Mandy
  
• Macon on Trent
  
• To Be Clare
  
• How to deal with YA literature
  
• Four deleted scenes with optional commentary
  
• Music videos: "Why Can't I" by Liz Phair and "Billy S." by Skye Sweetnam
  
• Theatrical trailer
  
• DVD-ROM content for Windows users
  
• One sheet insert with chapter list
  

HOW TO DEAL is an agreeable film based on two young adult novels that stretch the definition of what we usually assume to be young adult material. Like the books of S. E. Hinton, the novels by Sarah Dessen, on the basis of their adaptation here, are much more progressive than you'd think. Death, drugs, teen sex and so on, are dealt with squarely, although the film can't bring itself to endorse abortion (although the unwed pregnancy in this story works out fine for all).

The film appears to have been designed as a star vehicle for singer Mandy Moore, whose previous film A WALK TO REMEMBER, was something of a surprise hit. Here she plays a girl experiencing the divorce of her parents and her dad's remarrying, the pregnancy of her best friend, and her first love affair. It's all endearing, and has something of the After School Movie quality to it of affirming society and allaying fears.

Mandy Moore is a more tomboyish singing star than Britney Spears and her numerous competitors. She seems younger than her years, more girlish than her appearance, and a better actor than a lot of her contemporaries (although young girls today, especially singers, seem to all be natural actors). HOW TO DEAL is a very touching film without being unduly sentimental. It seems to have been chopped up, however, more so than even the deleted scenes would indicate, and some characters, such as Dylan Baker's suitor to Moore's divorced mom, are introduced only to vanish without mention again, or, like the grandmother character, appear out of nowhere for only one or two sequences. The sub-plot about a girl who may or may not be dating the cute boy Moore likes seems also to be denuded, and on the commentary track there is reference to a telltale earring that causes plot complications. As usual, I would prefer that all this stuff be retained.

HOW TO DEAL is beautifully shot by Eric Edwards, and New Line does its predictably excellent job in transferring it to disc. It looks good and sounds good. The extras are ample, and there is a nice 20 minute or so documentary about young adult fiction, in which kids are seen to be reading and talking about something besides Harry Potter.

Other supplements include the commentary track, which is like a girls' night out, deleted scenes, a making of broken up into three mini docs, and two music videos from the film, one by Liz Phair. I wonder what she would be like in a teen romantic comedy?

Elementary School, Watson

YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES

Original Movie:

• Theatrical premiere: 6 December, 1985
  
• 109 minutes
  
• PG-13
  
• Producer/distributor: Paramount/Amblin Entertainment/ILM
  
• Directed by Barry Levinson
  
• Credited writer: Chris Columbus
  
• Cast: Nicholas Rowe (Sherlock Holmes), Alan Cox (John Watson), Sophie Ward (Elizabeth Hardy), Anthony Higgins (Rathe/Ehtar/Moriarty), Freddie Jones (Cragwitch)
  
• Cinematography: Stephen Goldblatt
  
• Editing: Stu Linder
  
• Significant music: Bruce Boughton
  
• Awards: a Saturn award and two various nominations
  
• Budget: $18 million
  
• Stated initial box office returns: $4.2 million

Plot in one sentence: Aspects of the adult Sherlock Holmes are accounted for by this imaginary look at his school days, in which Holmes and Watson.

Disc Stats:

Extras:

• None
  

Sometimes the unstated story behind the film is as or more interesting than the film itself. That's the case with YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES. Released in 1985, YSH was produced by Spielberg as part of a years long onrush of projects conceived and/or husbanded by the director, with yet another young hotshot director at the helm. He had already made films with Bob Zemeckis, Joe Dante and others. Now he was working with Barry Levinson, the Baltimore bred poet of the diners and DINER. But the viewer comes away with the impression that their visions did not mesh.

Levinson, a comedy writer turned director, had already done DINER and the hit THE NATURAL. And as we now know, he had producing ambitions of his own, and his individual vision of childlike things, seen in the peculiar TOYS. In a sense, he didn't "need" Spielberg. And the movie sure doesn't "feel" like a Levinson film, the way that POLTERGEIST doesn't feel like a Tobe Hooper movie. Levinson is interested in groups, in a quasi-Hawksian manner, and in rebels who go against the grain of popular morality. Spielberg has at the center of his films usually men who want to return society to status quo in the face of a disruptive intrusion. His characters what the world to be the way it was, whereas, broadly speaking, Levinson's don't like it as it is.

As YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES unspools, shots and situations that are very much unlike Levinson's movies pop up, such as the scene in which young Holmes is going to solve the "crime" of where a fellow student hid a cup. It's an absurd, padded out scene, with lots of tracking shots as expectant kids follow Holmes from a distance or from behind windows in grand rooms. This is also a milieu that Levinson hasn't cottoned to in the past: the rich, the comfortable, the upper class, and, of course, the British.

The premise is, of course, absurd. Holmes is a perfectly credible character on his own and does not need this augmentation of his legend. Here, the movie contrives to unite Holmes and Watson as early as grade school, nullifying the establishing of the characters in A STUDY IN SCARLET. The movie also gives Holmes a girlfriend, and creates makeshift versions of his future nemeses. The point is to create back-story for the adult Holmes's peccadilloes, but the film isn't as great at it as Wilder in THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, which features loving parody.

Speculating about the behind the scenes struggle of this movie is somewhat more entertaining than the movie itself, which is formulaic in the now familiar Spielbergian mode of Disneyfied shock and awe. I could see that Levinson thought that it might be a good career move to align himself with Spielberg, especially given that he was still early in his directing career. But soon it must have dawned on him that he and Spielberg were incompatible in so many ways (is RAIN MAN a secret account of his view of the relations between him and Spielberg?). Meanwhile, Spielberg, finding himself with newfound clout in the industry, was looking to mentor other, younger filmmakers, the way he had been successfully mentored by older, paternalistic men in Hollywood and various executive offices. But Levinson may have bristled under such paternalism. He makes movies about rebels, and he may have rebelled himself. Certainly the finished product bears little of his mark.

But there is one person involved in the production whose later work came to be the mirror image of this film. That is the screenwriter Chris Columbus. The lad seemed to take to the Spielbergian paternalism with alacrity, and his later films have that sparkly suburban comfort film quality of many of Spielberg's. Later still, he did the first two Harry Potter movies. In fact, someone could probably argue successfully (and perhaps already have, somewhere on the net) that the Harry Potter books owe a lot to YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES.

The premises of the two projects are shockingly similar. Three friends, one of them a girl, all trapped in an oppressive school. The main boy has powers that exceed those of his simpler classmates. He has a contemporary nemesis in the form of a competing arrogant rich kid. And one of the teachers proves not to be a friend but a villain. Even the feel of the films is similar, despite the fact that Columbus only wrote this one.

An acquaintance mentioned recently that YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES was the scariest film she saw as a kid. This is plausible in the world of Spielberg. Just as BAMBI or other Disney films are still imprinted in the minds of people who were kids in the '40s and '50s, whole new generations bear the "scars" of scary Spielberg movies from the '70s and '80s. With YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES, Spielberg is in GOONIES mode, ostensibly making a children's film, but with adult sensibilities.

I imagine that Spielberg's Harry Potter films would have been very much like this, even though Spielberg had very little involvement in the YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES, according to some quotes in Joe McBride's bio of Spielberg. It's not really all that bad a film, but does feel like much the same old stuff if you have been immersed in Spielbergiana for the last five years.

You can tell that Paramount is releasing this film somewhat begrudgingly because it has the standard silent, static menu that it assigns to extras-free films. The print is a scratchy thing at the beginning, over the Paramount logo, but after that it's fine. In audio, the film comes with three options, one of them a restored French mono track.

Poetry in Motion

CUT-UP: THE FILMS OF GRANT MUNRO

Original Movie:

• Theatrical release: from the mid '40s into the '80s
  
• 110 minutes
  
• NR
  
• Producer/distributor: National Film Board of Canada, among others
  
• Directed by Grant Munro
  
• Awards: none
  

Plots in one sentence: A collection of short films from 1945 to 1983 by or starring the Canadian filmmaker.

Disc Stats:

Extras Disc One

• Audio track with Grant Munro, interviewed by John Canemaker and Dennis Doros
  

Extras Disc Two

• Film specific audio commentary by Grant Munro, interviewed by John Canemaker and Dennis Doros
  
• Stills gallery
  
• Flip book
  
• DVD-ROM material: Milestone press kit
  

Grant Munro is perhaps the unsung hero of the National Film Board of Canada from its heyday up into the '60s. That's when filmmakers such as Norman McLaren were making political allegories while at the same time expanding the language of film with pixilation, multiple exposures, computerized music, and other tricks that are now common place.

Munro was a colleague of McLaren's and worked with him on several films, plus on other short educational movies with a comic bent, such as the one included here, BALLOT-O-MANIAC, a cautionary tale about the Canadian voting system. Like his other Film Board colleagues, Munro worked in numerous styles, and also acted. Many of his films include dance, and most of them are animated, but in many different styles of animation. His films often have a political message, such as TOYS, in which children gaze through a store window at war toys that come to life and attack each other. Reduced to a mere message the film's point is mushy and vague, but in the realization it is effective.

The most famous film Munro is associated with is NEIGHBORS, an anti-war statement made with pixilation. This is the brand of film that kids were likely to see in high school film classes in the '70s, along with Saul Bass's WHY MAN CREATES. The point being made is obvious, but the use of stop motion creates wondrous effects, such as the illusion of men flying. Another effective film is CHRISTMAS CRACKER, a suite of three animated mini-shorts about the spirit of Xmas. The rest of the films on the disc are THREE BLIND MICE, ON THE FARM, TWO BAGATELLES, SIX AND SEVEN-EIGHTS, CANON, THE ANIMAL MOVIE, ASHES OF DOOM, BOO HOO (an arty documentary about a guy who tends a graveyard), and MCLAREN ON MCLAREN.

Munro is still alive, though inactive, and is interviewed for the disc. The unedited interview is laid over the movies on the first disc as a commentary track and then, on the second disc, in edited form, so that his thoughts on specific films is matched to the work as it plays. The only other extras are a short stills gallery, DVD-ROM press kits, and a recreation of one of Munro's flip books. In fact it makes you wonder why this is a two-disc set, as I assume that all of this material could have fit on one sole disc.

In interview, Munro comes across as a somewhat odd and cranky guy who doesn't like people very much. It would probably help to know a lot about him and the Film Board before listening to this track, as some of it won't make sense to the uninformed. In any case, Munro claims to not like people very much or get along with them (except for a man, if I heard the track right, he met in a London bath house!), and makes no bones about certain people he dislikes, such as the "moral coward" who fired him once. Munro is something of a difficult interview. His answers don't flow naturally from the questions, and he sometimes doesn't give full answers. Some of his anecdotes promise more than they deliver, such as a tale about going to a dinner party in Manhattan and meeting the real life inspirations for Edward Albee's George and Martha in WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF. In fact, even as I type this I am beginning to think that maybe most consumers should skip the audio tracks on this disc and let the films speak for themselves, which they do most eloquently.

NEXT TIME: THE ALIEN QUADRILOGY

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