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DVD Picks & Passes 10.19.2008
BY Steven D. Greydanus
October 19-25, 2008 Issue |
Posted 10/14/08 at 1:06 PM
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Erin Brockovich (2000)
Chaplin (1992)
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6 (2008)
New this week
on DVD, The Incredible Hulk isn’t in the same league
as Iron Man or The
Dark Knight, but it shrewdly manages to cater to two separate fan
bases: those who know the Hulk from the comic books, and those who know him
from the Bill Bixby TV show.
The effective opening act, with
Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) as a fugitive hiding in Brazil, gives both sets of
fans a textbook case of what they want. Ultimately, though, the filmmakers
can’t sustain the first-act energy. The Incredible Hulk
ignores the Jekyll-and-Hyde subtext of the volatile emotions in all of us that
can cause us to lose control. It’s diverting but not very memorable
entertainment.
Newly released on Blu-ray, Erin
Brockovich stars Julia Roberts as the abrasive, inappropriately
dressed but fundamentally decent title character, an unemployed single mother
who wages a legal battle against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Her style could
use work, but her cause is just; she responds to injustice and people in need
with action and personal commitment, not just sympathetic clucking. Roberts
convincingly plays a character too short-sighted to realize how her wardrobe
and vocabulary hurt her in job interviews and on the witness stand, yet she’s
sharp enough to sense something amiss in legal records, track down arcane
chemical distinctions and memorize details missing from her sketchy notes.
Also new on DVD, Chaplin
is an oddity: a movie with a great actor brilliantly playing another great
actor, surrounded by top-notch production values and solid supporting
performances, but it never quite comes together in a satisfying portrait.
Robert Downey Jr. shines as the
silent-era great, playing Chaplin from youth into old age, bringing his
immortal role, “the Little Tramp,” to life with verve. A few scenes capture
Chaplin’s comic genius (e.g., Chaplin snubbing J. Edgar Hoover at a dinner
party with a dancing dinner-roll routine). For the most part, though, Chaplin
plods through the great filmmaker’s life, particularly focusing on his
womanizing. Not exactly a waste, but I can’t quite recommend it.
All good things must come to an end:
This week’s release of the four-disc Looney Tunes Golden Collection:
Volume 6 is the last in the series. Like other later volumes, it
combines classic favorites with older, less kid-friendly black-and-white shorts
from the 1930s. Serious animation fans will want them all, but there’s also a
less pricey, more selective alternative: The two-disc Looney
Tunes Spotlight Collection sets; Volume 6 goes on sale this week.
Content advisory: The Incredible Hulk: Much
intense comic-book action violence; a brief, abortive bedroom scene (nothing
explicit); occasional mild objectionable language. Teens and up. Erin Brockovich: Recurring profanity, obscenity, and vulgarity; a
non-marital affair; Julia Roberts in a lot of provocative outfits. Teens and
up. Chaplin: Sexual references, brief nudity and occasional
obscenity. Mature viewing. Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Much slapstick violence; some historical stereotyping and innuendo.
Mostly okay for kids and up.
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