THE JAZZ SINGER (Three-Disc Deluxe Edition)

Written by FilmRadar's Karie Bible

If you love Hollywood history, this DVD is a must-have item for your home library. The Jazz Singer kicked off the sound revolution with a bang. It wasn’t exactly the first “all talking picture,” but it was the first silent with talking sequences that worked and ignited the public’s interest.

I’ve seen some other (and even earlier) silents with “talking” sequences, but they always feel very awkward. It is almost like the minute the sound and dialogue started, someone threw on the brakes and the film just came to a screeching halt. The Jazz Singer feels like it is hitting its peak when the sound comes in, and Al Jolson is the main reason this film works so well. There is something very electrifying about him.

This Three-Disc Deluxe Edition set features a new digital transfer for the film with restored picture elements and a refurbished soundtrack. It looks and sounds fantastic! There are also several Al Jolson shorts. Disc 2 of this collection features a wonderful feature-length documentary called “The Dawn of Sound: How Movies Learned to Talk.” It provides fascinating insight into the sound revolution and the impact it made on the film industry and on the movie-going public. Disc 3 contains a whopping 3-1/2 hours of rare, historic Vitaphone shorts. Many of these feature Vaudeville performers and in many cases it is the only surviving record of their work. If you’ve ever seen the Vitaphone programs at UCLA, then you know how wonderful and entertaining these shorts can be. I’m really hoping that more and more of the Vitaphones will get a DVD release in the future. The box set also includes a set of black and white postcards and three booklets about the film. The packaging is very nice and really well done.

Warner Bros. Home Video has done a first class job with all of the materials and they are hands down the best studio when it comes to releasing classic titles.

THE NAMESAKE

Written by Pollo Misterioso

Think about where you come from. More importantly, think about where your name comes from and what it means. The Namesake (2006) kindly reminds us of the importance of family history and the responsibility given to every new generation; but by the end of the film it feels strained by the length of its message.

The Namesake from female director Mira Nair (Vanity Fair, Monsoon Wedding), is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, with the same title. More than just an adaptation, Nair lived in Kolkata (Calcutta), India and New York in her lifetime, which are the two settings for the film.

This is the story of the lives of the Ganghuli family, beginning with the journey to America with the father Ashoke Ganghuli, played by Ifran Khan and his wife Ashima, played by Tabu .The film opens with a train accident in India that determines the fate of the entire family, or at least for Ashoke, who decides that he needs to see the world after this near-fatal experience. Without straying from his cultural codes, he presents himself to Ashima’s family to arrange a marriage so that he can move to New York and start a new career and family.

When their first child Gogol, played by Kal Penn (Van Wilder, Harold and Kumar go to White Castle) is born he is given two names of which he can chose to become his true name. But America removes Gogol from the practices of his immigrant parents as he tries to find a way to fit in. In a way to feel “normal” Gogol changes his name to his other given name, Nikil, after his high school graduation. We then follow Gogol through different moments in his life—graduation, girlfriends, marriage, family—as he waivers between his names. His ultimate decision of his identity reflects his inner struggle for who he is and who he wants to be.

Sacrifice is what makes The Namesake powerful. Every character struggles between what they want and what they need, to retain a sense of identity. But the length of the film drags the message away from the viewer. It’s only so long that we can watch and try to understand this family. Many of the scenes are simply emotional set pieces, used to have the audience understand the characters. It’s as if we wouldn’t connect enough with these characters, so we are made to see everything, but you will form a bond with this family immediately.

There is so much careful attention paid to the customs and feelings associated with this immigrant family. Even though there was an attempt to make the two cities, New York and Kolkata, the same, the Indian culture is loved through the eyes of the camera. Everything from the clothing, the food, the city life, are all vibrant and alive. Khan gives such a warm and strong performance as Ashoke, often with close-ups on his face, showing emotion only through his eyes. He is the father that loves unconditionally, not always understood with words.

A name becomes more than just a name—it is a connection with the past, present and future. For The Namesake, one’s name is sacrifice and understanding, what it means to represent one’s heritage and oneself, if only the length of the film took its own advice and sacrificed some of the content to better itself as a whole.

The two standout DVD extras are "The Anatomy of The Namesake: A Class at Columbia University’s Graduate Film School" and "Fox Movie Channel Presents: In Character with Kal Penn." The former is definitely worth watching if you are interested in the filmmaking process. Nair gives a seminar about the process of creating this film. There are production-cost breakdowns along with her explanation of her own connection with the material. A very interesting setting and insight into the film. The latter is an interesting interview with Kal Penn about his connection with the character. He read the book and fell in love with Gogol and he explains his similarities and differences with this particular character.

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (2-Disc Collector's Set)

Written by Senora Bicho

The It’s A Wonderful Life 2-Disc Collector’s Set is being released in time for your holiday-viewing pleasure. It is considered by many to be the best holiday film ever made and is one of the best films, in my opinion, of all-time. It was originally released in January 1947 and was not an instant success. Reviews were mixed as it ranked 26th at the box office that year. It was a financial failure, even though it was nominated for five Academy Awards and Frank Capra won the Golden Globe for Best Director.

In the 1980s it was revived thanks to broadcast television, where it aired on many channels throughout the holidays, and the introduction of the VCR. The film also got some attention when it was colorized. The original thought was that this would make it appeal to more viewers. It was not well received, and Capra and Stewart both strongly opposed this version. I did also and always removed the color from my set. Thankfully, the black-and-white version soon returned to TV.

It’s a Wonderful Life is the story of honest, hardworking family man George Bailey, played by James Stewart in perhaps the best and most well known performance of his career. The film begins with prayers from various people in the small town of Bedford Falls seeking help for George. Pan up to the heavens and Clarence (Henry Travers), an angel trying to get his wings, is assigned to the task. To prepare him for the assignment, he is shown pivotal events from George’s life.

From an early age, George is determined to get out of the town and make an exciting life for himself. After high school he plans to travel the world, go to college, and then start a career building something big. George saves money while working at his father’s Building and Loan. As he is about to start off on his adventure, his dad has a stroke and dies, which leads him back to his father’s business. He also finally finds romance with Mary (Donna Reed) who has loved him since childhood. Although he couldn’t follow his big dreams, he ends up married with four kids and running the Building and Loan in little Bedford Falls. He has accepted his life and is happy.

Then it all starts to crumble. Henry Potter, played devilishly perfect by Lionel Barrymore, has long wanted to bring down the Building and Loan because it is the only thing in town he doesn’t own. When George’s dimwitted but lovable Uncle loses an $8,000 deposit, it finds its way into Potter’s hands. He of course doesn’t return the money. Instead he calls the police claiming that George has embezzled it.

George goes on the run, facing both financial ruin and jail time. He regrets all of his decisions and considers ending his life so his family will benefit from his life-insurance policy. When he is at the depths of despair, Clarence appears and shows him that ending his life is not the solution; however, George then comes to the conclusion that he should have never been born. Clarence grants his wish and George goes on an adventure that proves how wrong he is and leads to the best ending in cinema history. It makes me cry like a baby every time I watch it.

It’s a Wonderful Life is a great film for many reasons. There are strong performances by all of the actors; they play real people that you come to love or hate. Also, the messages and themes are about what truly makes a life rich, and it is not money. You need to appreciate what you have and not lose sight of what is important. Also, one person can make a difference no matter how small and seemingly insignificant. As we head into the holiday season, this film is a great reminder about spending time with those people you love rather than the commercial aspects that have become so much more prevalent today.

I love this film and strongly feel that it should be a part of everyone’s collection; however, I can’t say that this DVD set is wonderful. It includes both a restored black-and-white version and a colorized version. The black and white looks amazing and sounds great. It is crystal clear and so much better to watch compared to the grainy television version I have watched repeatedly over the years, but I can’t say how much better it is compared to last year’s 60th Anniversary Edition release that also included a restored picture.

The colorized version is the only new item included in this set and is extremely distracting. I have always been against the colorization of classic films and this furthers my belief. In the film, people’s skin looks yellow and the other colors do not look natural. However, it is a restored version and has not been available previously, so for those that prefer to watch it in color (and you should be ashamed of yourselves if you do), this is your chance to own it. There are no other new special features. There is a making-of featurette and a Frank Capra remembrance that have been included on every released version since the 1990s. If you already own a recently restored version of It’s A Wonderful Life, you are all set. Now you just need to go buy some eggnog, build a fire, sit back, and enjoy.

THE WAR

Written by Fumo Verde

I have been a student of the Second World War for over twenty years. I have a mini-library with well over 200 books on the subject from top authors and military experts from around the world. When it comes to war movies and documentaries, I have seen them all—twice. The War beats them all. It sits above Hollywood’s idea of what war is, reaching beyond the Military Channel’s tactical strategies. This film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick brings the courage, the pain, and the reality of what the Second World War was to those who lived through it on the home front and the battle line.

I won’t get into the complexities of why we fought, or what type of country we were before this great conflict began, and neither does Burns. He gives you the basic background, though his main focus is on the war itself and those who were in the thick of it. The stories come from the heart because the folks that were interviewed lived it. The war ran their lives morning, noon, and night. No matter young or old, the whole country took part, and that’s what this film shows.

This was total war, which meant that even the folks at home had to sacrifice too. Every American citizen participated in many different ways, whether it was buying war bonds or helping on a scrape metal drive or a rubber collection party. The American people rolled up their sleeves and pitched in. Women filled the workplaces making tanks, bullets, grenades, and bombers. Kids collected metal and rubber, which they brought in by the wagonload. Everyone was taking part; everyone felt that they were in the fight.

From the towns of Waterbury Connecticut; Sacramento, California; Luverne, Minnesota; and Mobile, Alabama the men and women of the Greatest Generation tell us their stories. At the time these four cities were unique, yet they still had that small-town American feel to them. Burns is quoted on the inside cover of this four-disc box set, “The Second World War was fought in thousands of places, too many for any one accounting. This is the story of four American towns and how their citizens experienced that War.” To try and cover the whole country would have been impossible, but by narrowing down the locations and people from these cites, Burns pieced together a story that spanned the entire reach of the war.

Keith David is the narrator while Josh Lucas, Samuel L. Jackson, Eli Wallach, and a host of others add voices to the letter writers who didn’t make it back home. Tom Hanks provides the voice for Al McIntosh, owner and editor of Luverne's Rock County Star Herald, whose inspiring editorials and down-to-earth common sense seem to ease the fears of his fellow citizens. All these fine actors did an outstanding job in relaying the feelings that were in these correspondences and newspapers; they brought to life the emotions of these fallen heroes.

Starting with the attack on Pearl Harbor, the film follows the progression of the war, but it’s not all battles with big guns going off. Between each fighting step of the campaign, Burns intercedes with a scene from home. Images give the viewer a break from the savage fury that is war. You will see many dead bodies and even many more wounded ones, but you cannot understand this story without visualizing the real cost of what war is.

One of the most stunning moments in this whole epic was the Time Magazine photo, the first of its kind mind you, of three dead Marines whose bodies were still stuck in the sand. These pictures showed the American people what was really at stake, what the “true” cost of freedom is. This image did not break the American spirit like some thought it would. Instead, it strengthened it, creating a fortitude to work harder and faster. If you really want to see what a nation looks like when it is united, this film will show you. This war defined our nation and the stories told here help to break down those definitions, by bringing a face to the words that are telling this history.

These faces have expressions such as Olga Ciarlo when speaking of her brother Babe. His letters home to his family, especially his widowed mother never reflected the life he was living on the front lines in places like Anzio. In one letter he tells his family he’s doing fine, and there is not much for him to do except eat and sleep. The savage and fierce fighting up the Italian peninsula conveys what is really happening as it becomes the backdrop for the letter being read aloud. To measure the degree of what Babe Ciarlo kept from his family, narrator David recants the numbers of dead and wounded at Anzio: 7,000 killed, 36,000 wounded or missing, and another 44,000 non-battle casualties from frost bite or shell shock. The dead bodies are disturbing, almost as disturbing as the wounded, and this is just a small glimpse of the big picture. The stories from both the home front and the battlefront weave a tale of fear, angst, anxiety, will, and determination that has been unrivaled since. Before the Second World War, we were still a developing country; after the war, we were a superpower.

From Wake Island, to the liberation of Dachau, to the dropping of the atom bomb, The War puts into prospective an era that changed the history of our people, our nation, and the world. The words from Churchill’s speech after the Battle of Britain holds as much truth now as it did then, and for the generation who fought and died in this war we owe at least a bit of thanks for what we have today for “…Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

If you love history or even want to understand what the big brouhaha is all about, see Ken Burns' The War. It will enlighten your mind about how our country used to be. Thanks to all veterans of foreign wars and those who serve our country now.

Roots: The Next Generations

Written by Musgo Del Jefe

The historical mini-series has gone the way of the dinosaur, at least in name. From the mid-'70s to the mid-'80s, we were privileged to experience some of the best long-form storytelling ever to be seen on television. Roots kicked off the trend in 1977 with the finale still reigning as the third highest-rated program ever to air on television. This lead to some remarkable adaptations of works considered too long to make into theatrical films. The best were led by entries like Centennial, Shogun, Masada, The Winds Of War, and North and South. The multi-part series is the perfect format to tell a sweeping historical drama. Told over many nights or weeks, the best of these drops into key moments in the lives of the characters, tell an episodic story, and lay the groundwork for an ongoing theme.

Roots: The Next Generations followed a mere two years after the success of the original series. Roots told the story of Alex Haley's African-American family from its origins in Africa with Kunta Kinte through the end of the Civil War with Chicken George and his son Tom (Alex's great grandfather). The story of Haley's family from Africa, through being forced into slavery, through the days as slaves in America to freedom at the end of the war was as a powerful story. While telling the story of Haley's family, there are the rich stories of family and tradition that apply to all viewers. It's no surprise the rise in interest in genealogy that happened after Roots aired. And there's the story of America and the growth of a young nation that happens around the family. For a family caught up in slavery, the end of the Civil War and Emancipation was a natural emotional stopping point for the first miniseries.

The Next Generations picks up the torch in post-Civil War Tennessee in 1882. Chicken George is now an old man and his son, Tom Harvey is struggling as the first generation of freed blacks. The first miniseries' journey from freedom to slavery is mirrored by Next Generations' journey from slavery to freedom. Harvey struggles to raise his family in this new world. He must struggle with Jim Crow laws, the Ku Klux Klan, and the role of blacks in a free society. His daughter will marry Will Palmer by the second episode in 1896 and their child, Bertha, will be Alex Haley's mother.

The third and fourth episodes deal with Bertha and future husband, Simon Haley. Simon's experience in World War I fighting with the 92nd Infantry Colored marks a nice tent pole mark for the story. The bravery of these soldiers will begin to place them on a path to equality that will make it possible for Alex Haley's (played to perfection by James Earl Jones) opportunities in World War II in the Pacific and his ultimate freedom to pursue a career in writing.

The last episode details the final leg of the journey that will take us neatly back to the start of the very first episode of Roots. Alex collaborates with Malcom X on his autobiography and has a controversial interview with American Nazi, George Lincoln Rockwell (Marlon Brando in full-blown overacting mode - ala Apocalypse Now and Superman). The professional success he gains leads to Alex's 12-year quest to retrace his family history all the way back to Kunta Kinte in Africa. The triumph of his quest is not just that of an African-American, it goes much beyond that: it's the continuity of the family. It's the family overcoming history. There's an oral tradition throughout these episodes that overwhelms whatever historical events are taking place. Alex Haley's confirmation of the family stories is a point of pride and validation that we all can feel.

The seven episodes released on seven discs are still powerful to watch. The mixture of TV and film actors (Henry Fonda, Richard Thomas, Olivia de Havilland, and Marc Singer are just a part of the 53 stars) makes a great mixture that really brings the characters to life. The production value is not what we would expect of an "event" these days. There are fancy set decorations and most of the film is produced on Hollywood back lots. The biggest change in the 30 years is the free and excessive use of the "N-word". In context, it completely fits the plot and in fact, Haley himself in a later episode admits that it doesn't hold any power over him because it's been used so many times. But with today's sensitivities, it's shocking to hear the likes of Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan using the word.

The Next Generations was presented over seven straight nights. While miniseries just don't air this way anymore, the watching experience of TV shows on DVD is very similar. I like the way seven separate 105-minute films tell the story of three generations over an 80-year period. There's a rhythm that's hard to find in today's episodic television. I wish there was a way today to adapt longer pieces of literature in a similar method.

The link of these stories is that of progress. Elizabeth tells her father Tom Harvey, "The scars from slavery aren't on your back, they're in your soul." It would take three generations and maybe even more to heal these scars. These are the stories of triumph. Two steps forward, one step back but always moving. Each generation builds upon the success of the others. Will Palmer would run a lumber company and his son, Simon, would use that success to go to college and become a professor. Alex would use his father's success to become a prolific writer. That's the story of America. The story of American families.

The DVD set is not full of many extras. There's a Behind-The-Scenes Documentary on the last disc that offers little insight. But with a story like this to tell, that is easily forgotten. A good story is more than enough.

THE REAPING

Written by Puño Estupendo

I can read your mind. I know you've been wondering when Hilary Swank was going to star in a supernatural horror film and if your life would be complete on a spiritual level were that to happen. Well I'm here to give you a mixed bag in the answers to your questions.

The Reaping is a tale of supernatural horror and it does star Hilary Swank, but it really doesn't have any of the wonderful goodness that you've been praying for.

When a small, middle of podunk town is facing (what appear to be) the 10 plagues of the Bible, they reach out for help to Katherine Winter. A professor whose specialty is in the debunking of unexplained phenomena, she grabs her former assistant and travels down there with every intention of calling foul yet again. A river of blood? Surely this can all be logically explained? Maybe not. The townsfolk seem to be of the belief that it's being caused by a little girl.

As her investigation deepens, her personal issues rise to the surface. Though obviously charmed by Doug, her solicitor and hunky guide around town, she just can't let herself give in to either him or the plagues that are also defying her logic. Her sleuthing takes her through a pretty predictable cast of locals, from the religious zealot to the super-normal housewife; the set-up is nothing new. There's a conspiracy brewing here and they want that poor little girl killed! Professor Winter had better work some stuff out quick or there might literally be hell to pay! Is the little girl innocent or evil incarnate?

The Reaping has a couple of things going for it. It's shot fair enough and everything to do with each of the plagues looks great. What it suffers from is its forwardness. I couldn't help but think that the original story for this was probably pretty good, but after being Hollywood-ized, it got completely dumbed down so it could easily be spoon fed to the masses. It's kind of predictable at times and very clichéd when there really was no need to be. This is driven home by the fact that they manage to keep Hilary in some shorts and tank tops to give just the right amount of T&A factor without going too ridiculous with it. That's pretty much the recurring theme here. Everything is just predictable enough to keep it from being great, but not so much as to make it truly painful.

Without divulging spoilers, the plot does lead to a couple of interesting places. It's just too bad that the cost of that ended up being its smarts.

THE TRIPPER

Written by Puño Estupendo

Sometimes a moviegoer strikes out. For whatever reason, you find yourself in the distasteful position of having just watched a complete piece of shit movie. It lingers in your brain with thoughts like, “Someone actually put up a lot of money to make that horrible waste of time?” and you scratch your head in disbelief. Same thing goes for an actor or actress that blows you away at how untalented they are and you just can't believe that they have any sort of fame whatsoever.

Keeping these things in mind, take to heart the name “David Arquette” and let your hopes of life having a fair-and-balanced reward system be completely dashed against the jagged rocks of failed cosmic karma. As if knowing he's out there as an actor isn't heartbreaking enough, now the man is writing, producing and (stab my eyes!) directing.

This brings us to his film The Tripper. Touted as a horror/comedy, I feel it very safe to say that it doesn't come close to being either scary or funny, but it definitely is disturbing. With a mixed cast of head-scratchers and good-enoughs, Arquette attempts to tell a tale about a serial killer with a Ronald Reagan-fixation who is killing modern-day “hippies” that are gathered in the forest for some sort of music festival. With a staggering amount of Reagan-era references that are just a little outdated, Arquette tries to make some grand statements about politics and social themes that are neither new or even, in this case, particularly well done. Mix in some awful attempts at gore and murder and you're pretty much caught up to speed on what to expect.

Now the truly sad thing is that some of the people in front of the camera are pretty good here. Jaime King is very likable in this, as is Lukas Haas, and you get surprise appearances by Paul Reubens and Thomas Jane. What they're doing in here kind of baffles me more than a little bit and leads me to think that Arquette must be a pretty charming guy to have talked these people into this movie. There's enough in the on-screen charisma amongst the cast to suggest to me that everyone involved in the making of this flick enjoyed themselves quite a bit. In the supplemental behind-the-scenes feature, everyone interviewed speaks kindly of him and are really positive about their involvement, but it's just not enough to make this thing work on any level.

I could rip on this all day long, and am quite tempted to do so, but I think you're catching my drift. At the risk of not giving a proper description of the movie, there's no need for you to waste any time watching it; I wasted my time for you. Took one for the team on this one, so don't say I never did anything for you. You’re welcome.

The Sarah Silverman Program: Season One

Written by Fumo Verde

Get ready to laugh your ass off because Season One of The Sarah Silverman Program has hit DVD. Some call her humor offensive, tasteless, and abrasive, but this what the world needs right now. Silverman takes on racism, bigotry, and other social issues with a clever wit by bringing out the irony and mindless stupidity of such “wedge issue” positions. Accompanied by her older sister Laura and a fantastic cast and crew, The Sarah Silverman Program is a must-see for those who can stomach such an outrageous comedian.

All six episodes are on this DVD and the hilarity ranges from Silverman getting drunk on cough syrup to her going down to the local clinic to get an AIDS test because she has the blahs and needs something to cheer her up. Before her test is done, Silverman is on crusade to rid the world of either AIDS or those who have it. It isn’t as much about AIDS as it about SARAH. When Silverman finally learns that she doesn’t have AIDS, all her crusading comes to an immediate stop. And why not, she doesn’t have the blahs anymore.

My favorite is the “Not Without My Daughter” episode where Silverman quasi-adopts a young girl so she can enter her in the Little Miss Rainbow Contest. When the eight-year-old is about to quit, Silverman sees the crown in her grasp and gives her a pep talk by using abortion as the underlying theme. “Do you want to be a quitter, or do you want to go out there and have the abortion of your dreams.”

Besides the sidesplitting laughs being thrown around by Silverman and her “daughter,” played by Laura Marano who does a superb job, Silverman’s gay neighbors, Steve and Brian, are tracked down by the FBI for a phone conversation they had. With the bomb squad ready, they prepare to open the cop car Steve laid a bomb in. At the same time, Marano starts to sing “Amazing Grace” for her final song, and everything goes into slow motion. By the end of her song, the bomb squad cop opens the car door only to shout out in silence, “It’s a fart!” My eyes are still tearing up over that whole scene.

Call her what you want, but I see Silverman as the female Lenny Bruce of today. She pushes the limits of what is being said about these issues on TV, or to better put it, what is not being said. She reverses the bigotry and hatred and pulls it off beautifully. Besides being intelligent, funny, and quick, Sarah is smoking hot too. All that and a potty mouth, what more can a boy ask for? There are some extras on here too, a little karaoke, intro sequences, and commentary with Steve and Brian.

By playing on the edge, Silverman has created a show that has a humble “American pie” look with a shit-eating grin. This show is one of the most intelligent comedies out there and though abrasive humor can even make Fumo Verde blush, don’t discard what is being said. The Sarah Silverman Program: Season One is out now, so pick it up as soon as you can.

INTO THE WILD

Written by Hombre Divertido

Sean Penn directs from a screenplay he wrote from the book by Jon Krakauer on the story of Christopher McCandless. A young man who, after graduating from college, drops out of society and makes his way to Alaska while meeting people and experiencing adventures along the way. The story is engaging and thought provoking, and for the most part the movie does the story justice.

Penn seems to employ two types of directorial techniques when telling this story, one for the first part of the film, and another for the second. In the first half of this 140-minute endeavor the choices made by Penn at times create distractions. The choice to tell the story in different time frames takes a little getting used to, as does the need to make the film look more artistic than necessary. The side-by-side framing, close-ups, and awkward angles that plague the opening segments are like watching something a child would do with a new toy. Perhaps in the second half of the film the audience simply gets used to the director's style, but it would appear that Penn makes more traditional choices that better suit the telling of this tale.

Emile Hirsch portrays McCandless with a youthful exuberance, and though he bares a resemblance to McCandless, he appears to be in over his head here as he fails to keep up with his stellar supporting cast that includes: Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Vince Vaughn, Catherine Keener, and Hal Holbrook. The performances of this fine ensemble leaves the audience wanting far more of them and less of Hirsch.

Where Penn does excel is in the cinematography. Beautiful parts of our country are explored here, and the locations shots are breathtaking. The narration by both Hirsch as McCandless and Jenna Malone as Christopher’s sister Carine are also extremely effective, especially in the case of Malone, who brings a subtle intensity to her voiceover that makes the emotional journey real to the viewer. Abandoning the voiceovers in favor of on-screen titles makes for a far less powerful ending than certainly could have been achieved with the continued narration, and leaves the audience wanting for Carine's words.

Recommendation: Aside from the brief nudity and sexual content, this is solid family entertainment, which is sure to become a classic. Yes, perhaps a more traditional telling would have been more effective, but Penn should be applauded for his efforts, even those that failed. The performance by the supporting cast alone makes this film worth seeing, and you will be left wanting to know more of their stories. The cinematography should be seen on the big screen, so catch it while it’s still there.

BABEL (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)

Written by El Conquistadorko

One of the best movies to hit screens in the past several years, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's 2006 film weaves together three stories—a pair of Moroccan brothers who fatefully make contact with an American tourist and later become hunted as terrorists, a deaf Japanese girl whose distant father is surprisingly tied to the incident, and the tourists' two kids who are brought to Tijuana by their maid and run into problems at the border. The movie is the third installment of Mexican director Inarritu's so-called “death trilogy,” following on the heels of the well-crafted Amores Perros and slightly less-than-satisfying 21 Grams.

Without giving too much away, suffice it to say that the gun you see in Act One does get fired, but that the tragic results are not as predictable as you'd think. The movie is a beautiful work of cinematography and masterful storytelling, and although it relies on the same technique of interwoven plot lines that marked Inarritu's first two films, it doesn't use the same anti-chronological device that Inarritu used so well in his debut feature Amores Perros (that whole movie is wrapped around a car crash) but which proved so irksome in 21 Grams. Instead, the movie follows a single trajectory as the camera shifts from one character's perspective to another, following the arc of a single bullet and the investigation that follows from its tragic destruction.

Babel features superb acting performances from Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, Boubker Ait El Caid and Said Tarchini (two non-actors who play the Moroccan brothers), and especially Rinko Kikuchi, who gives a convincing and heartbreaking turn as Chieko Wataya, the deaf, sexually frustrated Japanese teenager. It also contains one of the most intensely surreal sequences put on screen in recent memory: a scene where Cheiko and her deaf friends drop acid and stumble grinning, arms interlocked, through Tokyo until they wind up in a public fountain, soaking wet.

The new DVD of the film contains two discs, the second of which includes a feature-length bonus feature—a making-of documentary called “Under Construction.” The documentary kicks off with two American school kids asking Inarritu why he called his movie Babel, at which point he tells them the Biblical story of how God punished mankind for its architectural hubris by forcing them to speak different languages, a more powerful way to divide people than religion, politics or race.

The film traces the movie's production from Morocco to Japan, Mexico and the United States, and is mercifully devoid of the typical mind-numbing celebrity interviews that mar most DVD bonus featurettes, which are about as entertaining as your average daytime TV commercial, although it does include some funny footage of Gael Garcia Bernal clowning around with an American accent, pretending to be a border guard. Instead, the documentary shows Inarritu at work with his actors, most of whom aren't: like the eight teams of deaf-mute Japanese girl volleyball teams he assembled for one scene or the several hundred Mexican actors he used in Tecate to enact a wedding reception scene.

“Under Construction” stands well as its own movie, much in the same fashion as making-of documentaries like Hearts of Darkness about the filming of Apocalypse Now and Les Blank's 1982 film Burden of Dreams, about the making of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo.

Even if you already have the original DVD release of Babel, you might want to consider selling it. The new special edition is worth buying for Disc Two alone.