Movies for Christmas: Big titles arrive on DVD just in time for the

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Nov 21, 2003 | by Chris Hicks Deseret Morning News

The Christmas-shopping season is heating up, and more and more big titles are among newly released DVDs, each feverishly competing for your holiday dollar.

Here's a roundup of some of the newest discs on store shelves now.

BEST BETS

-- "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (New Line, 2002, PG- 13, $39.99, four discs). Whether you are thrilled or annoyed by the annual year-end box-set "Lord of the Rings" releases depends on how rabid a fan you are.

To release the theatrical film on DVD, and then follow up with another $40 set later seems a bit greedy. (Although you can find it for $22-$26 if you shop around).

On the other hand, how many versions of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" are out there? And though there is already a box set of the "Alien" films, yet another -- with double-disc editions of each of the four moves -- is on the way.

Anyway, there's no question that "LOR" fans will be in hog heaven.

This set includes an extended version of "The Two Towers" (43 minutes longer!), and it really does make this second in the trilogy a better movie. Usually, deleted scenes -- whether or not they are integrated into the film -- have been deleted for a reason. They don't work. But the theatrical version of "Two Towers" occasionally bogged down and began to seem too much like merely a battle-weary action picture; the new scenes give it more balance and weight.

Extras include no less than four audio commentaries and five documentaries, and there is much more, of course.

There is also a five-disc gift set version that retails at $79.92.

Extras: Widescreen, audio commentaries, making-of documentaries, galleries, etc.

-- "Winged Migration" (Columbia/TriStar, 2003, $26.95). This beautifully filmed documentary (which includes scenes in southern Utah) was an unexpected hit over the summer, and it's as mesmerizing on DVD as it was on the big screen.

Not many humans show up on-camera, and the narration is sketchy at best, but this series of little more than shot after shot of various kinds of birds doing as the title suggests, with the camera capturing in amazing detail their migration habits, is truly a wonder to behold.

The question I hear most often is, how did they do it? Well, now you can see that, too, with a documentary among the bonuses that shows just how the film was made -- and it wasn't easy. (There is also an audio commentary by the filmmaker, though his French accent made it difficult for me to understand much of what he said.)

Extras: Widescreen, audio commentary, making-of documentary, interviews, photo gallery, trailer, etc.

-- "Once Upon a Time in the West" (Paramount, 1968, PG-13, $19.98, two discs). After his "Dollar" trilogy -- "A Fistful of Dollars," "For a Few Dollars More" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" -- Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone came up with what many still consider his greatest masterpiece, "Once Upon a Time in the West." Yet, as with many of Leone's works, this film was undervalued at the time.

Leone imaginatively pays homage to his favorite Westerns -- from "The Searchers" to "Shane." Yet, he still turns every Western cliche on its ear, right down to the casting of Henry Fonda as one of the most despicable villains in the history of cinema, and Charles Bronson as the hero!

Also starring are Claudia Cardinale, as the inevitable hooker with a heart of gold, and Jason Robards, as a charming rogue, along with a bevy of familiar character actors. The opening scene, an unforgettable sequence with Jack Elam and Woody Strode, is fascinating, and it sets the stage for a film that has very little dialogue and where movement (of the camera as much as the people) says everything.

Slow, meticulously plotted and just as meticulously framed and shot, "West" is as mesmerizing as ever. (There are also quite a few shots of Monument Valley, a la John Ford, and Utah gets a credit at the end.)

Now if we could only prevail upon MGM to release the full-length "A Fistful of Dynamite" (a k a "Duck, You Sucker!"), the Leone Western DVD collection would be complete.

Extras: Widescreen, audio commentary, making-of documentaries, historical railroad documentary, text biographies, trailer, etc.

-- "Tokyo Story" (HVE/Criterion, 1953, b/w, not rated, $39.95, two discs). Arguably Yasujiro Ozu's finest film, "Tokyo Story" is a perfect example of his minimalist cinematic approach to stories that are rooted in realistic human drama. Drama with which anyone in any culture can identify.

Here, the deceptively simple story has an elderly couple traveling to Tokyo to visit their adult children, whom they see all too little these days. But once there, they are ignored, if not downright insulted by their self-centered progeny. In fact, the only one who seems to be glad to see them is their widowed daughter-in-law. The performances are pitch-perfect, and in the end, the lessons learned can only be taught by time and experience.

The movie also has a fascinating film-school-style audio commentary by David Desser, who may spend too much time on minutae for the general audience. The second disc includes a wonderful two- hour biographical film about Ozu, loaded with interviews -- with him and other filmmakers, including Paul Schrader and Wim Wenders -- and many of clips from his films.