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DVD Picks & Passes 04.26.2009
BY Steven D. Greydanus
April 26-May 2, 2009 Issue |
Posted 4/17/09 at 6:00 AM
Now available
on DVD, Marley & Me is an endearing, affecting,
remarkably pro-family dramedy with a rambunctious yellow Lab that is not the
slapstick center of the film so much as the bright, colorful hook in a tale of
a likable young couple’s transition from newlywed professionals to parents of a
family of five with a breadwinning dad and stay-at-home mom.
Based on John Grogan’s autobiographical book about life with “the world’s
worst dog,” Marley
& Me stars Owen Wilson and
Jennifer Aniston as John and Jenny Grogan, a couple of young journalists who
get a dog, originally because John hopes to stall Jenny’s family impulses.
Three kids later, they realize Marley was the beginning of their family. John’s
career doesn’t go as expected, but sometimes “life has a better idea.”
Uplifting and decent.
Frost/Nixon, new on
DVD, is Ron Howard’s entertaining film version
of the stage play by Peter Morgan about the 1977 Nixon interviews conducted by
British journalist David Frost. Buoyed by strong performances from Frank
Langella and Michael Sheen, the film is compromised by historical revisionism
in relating Frost’s efforts to ambush Nixon and get him to make crucial
incriminating admissions.
Fred
Schwartz’s assessment in a National Review Online piece that Frost/Nixon
seeks to “retrospectively turn a loss into a win” seems accurate. Still, it’s
not bad as a piece of political theater.
Finally,
this week the X-Men
trilogy comes to Blu-ray. The
first two films, X-Men and X2: X-Men United,
directed by Bryan Singer, are smart, entertaining
action movies and moral dramas pitting telepathic peacemaker Professor Xavier
(Patrick Stewart) against angry, subversive Magneto (Ian McKellen) as rival
leaders of the superpowered “mutant” world. Hugh Jackman shines as Wolverine, a
feral but good-hearted mutant with healing powers and knife-like claws.
X-Men, which
revitalized the comic-book genre, is easy to recommend. The sequel X2
is a tougher call.
On the plus side, Nightcrawler’s
folk-inflected Catholicism — he prays the Our Father, the Rosary and Psalm 23,
has “angelic” body art supposedly given by Gabriel, and recommends faith as an
antidote to anger — is one of the more interesting portrayals of faith in pop
moviemaking. But with ramped-up violence and sexuality, it’s not for all
tastes.
The series falls apart, alas, with X-Men
3: The Last Stand, directed by Brett Ratner, a dull, crude film
lacking the wit and subtlety of its predecessors. Skip it.
CONTENT ADVISORY:
Marley & Me: Some marital sexiness, sexual references and a few crass expressions.
Teens and up. Frost/Nixon: Some profane and obscene language; brief partial
nudity; mature viewing. X-Men trilogy: Comic-book action violence, some objectionable
language and stylized non-explicit nudity. The latter two films escalate the
violence as well as sexual content (nothing explicit). X-Men: Teens and up. X2: Mature viewing. X-Men 3: Not recommended.
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