on DVD
New Releases: A Mighty Heart, Spider-Man 3 and Reign Over Me hit video stores
By Marni Weisz
SPOTLIGHT
October 30
SPIDER-MAN 3
If you’ve already accepted that a bite from a radioactive spider can turn a boy into a web-slinging superhero, then you shouldn’t have too much trouble believing that some mysterious black ooze from another planet can turn that superhero into an arrogant jerk.
In one of the many plotlines running through this third film featuring Tobey Maguire as Marvel Comics’ arachnid crimefighter, a meteorite carrying the alien entity crashes to Earth and attaches itself to Peter Parker’s Spidey suit giving him immense strength, but also turning the mensch into an ornery s.o.b.
This personality change puts Peter’s relationship with Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) in jeopardy, but that’s the least of his problems. The alien ooze has also bestowed extreme power upon a new villain, a weaselly photographer named Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) who tried to cheat Peter out of a promotion at the Daily Bugle. Once bonded with the ooze, Eddie transforms into the superstrong Venom. Plus, Peter has to contend with the shape-shifting escaped convict Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), who may be responsible for his Uncle Ben’s death.
A single-disc version of the movie ($40) features bloopers, photo galleries and a music video, as well as commentary by director Sam Raimi and all of the major cast members. A two-disc Special Edition DVD ($48) comes with all of that, plus an extra disc boasting about a dozen featurettes like “Grains of Sand - Building Sandman,” “Hanging On…Gwen Stacy and the Collapsing Floor,” “Tangled Web: The Love Triangles of Spider-Man 3” and “Inside the Editing Room.”
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October 2
JINDABYNE
Stars: Laura Linney, Gabriel Byrne
Director: Ray Lawrence (Lantana)
Story: This eerie drama begins as four friends set off on a camping trip to a remote part of Australia. When they finally reach camp one of them discovers the body of a dead girl floating in the river. Instead of returning to the city immediately, they stay the night and then spend the next day fishing. When they return home their families, and the media, are aghast at their decision to put their vacation above the needs of the dead girl.
DVD Extras: Deleted scenes, “Jindabyne – The Process”
October 9
REIGN OVER ME
Stars: Adam Sandler, Don Cheadle
Director: Mike Binder (The Upside of Anger)
Story: Sandler’s latest foray into dramatic acting sees him playing Charlie Fineman, a dentist who’s been living as a virtual hermit in his New York apartment since September 11, 2001 — the day his wife and daughters were killed in the terrorist attack. Cheadle plays an old friend trying to coax Charlie out of his depression.
DVD Extras: Photo montage, making-of documentary, “extended jam session” with Sandler and Cheadle
28 WEEKS LATER
Stars: Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne
Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Intacto)
Story: This breakneck sequel to 2002’s 28 Days Later (the film credited with stoking the zombie-flick revival) takes place six months after the rage virus turned nearly everyone in England into bloodthirsty automatons. With London deemed safe for repopulation a handful of Brits are allowed to return. Bad move, zombies abound. Gone are the first film’s heroes, replaced by Carlyle as a dad trying to protect his two kids and Byrne as an American doctor searching for a cure.
DVD Extras: Director and writer commentary, “Code Red: Making of 28 Weeks Later,” flash-animated graphic novel, deleted scenes
SURF'S UP
Voices: Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges
Directors: Ash Brannon, Chris Buck
Story: This animated documentary (wrap your head around that one) follows the exploits of Cody Maverick (LaBeouf), a cocky young penguin competing in the prestigious Big Z Memorial Surf Off. Z, you see, was a legendary surfer who went missing after an accident and is presumed dead. Bridges lends his voice to the Geek, a laidback hippie penguin who may not be exactly who he seems.
YOU KILL ME
Stars: Ben Kingsley, Téa Leoni
Director: John Dahl (The Great Raid)
Story: This dry comedy stars Kingsley as a hitman from Buffalo whose drinking problem is having a detrimental effect on his job performance. Sent to San Francisco to dry out and attend AA meetings, he gets a part-time job at a funeral parlour and falls for a hot sales executive (Leoni).
DVD Extras: Director commentary, behind-the-scenes featurette
October 16
THE INVISIBLE
Stars: Justin Chatwin, Margarita Levieva
Director: David S. Goyer (Blade: Trinity)
Story: After being beaten and left for dead, the only way angst-ridden teen Nick (Chatwin) will survive is if his body — which was dumped in a ravine — is discovered. Fortunately, his soul is able to leave his body and return to his high school, where it haunts the girl (Levieva) responsible for his injuries and coaxes her into a change of heart.
A MIGHTY HEART
Stars: Angelina Jolie, Dan Futterman
Director: Michael Winterbottom (The Road to Guantanamo)
Story: Daniel Pearl (Futterman) was a Jewish journalist working for the Wall Street Journal in Pakistan when he was kidnapped by Muslim extremists, held captive and then beheaded. This recounting of the futile search for Pearl is based on a book by his widow, Mariane Pearl (Jolie).
THE HOAX
Stars: Richard Gere, Alfred Molina
Director: Lasse Hallström (Chocolat)
Story: The true story of Clifford Irving (Gere), a writer who, in the 1970s, pretended to be in contact with reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes so that he could pretend to write Hughes’ authorized biography. All that pretending came to a halt when Hughes pulled himself out of seclusion just to call Irving a liar and a fake.
DVD Extras: Deleted scenes, director commentary, “Stranger than Fiction,” “Business as Pleasure,” “Mike Wallace: Reflections on a Con”
THE REAPING
Stars: Hilary Swank, AnnaSophia Robb
Director: Stephen Hopkins (The Life and Death of Peter Sellers)
Story: A former priest (Swank) who now makes a living debunking “miracles” travels to the odd southern community of Haven, Louisiana, to try and explain their suddenly red river, all those dead frogs falling from the sky, and that weird little girl (Robb) running around the bayou.
October 23
MEET THE ROBINSONS
Voices: Daniel Hansen, Wesley Singerman
Director: Stephen J. Anderson (debut)
Story: Disney taps into its “World of Tomorrow” iconography for this animated feature about Lewis, a spunky young orphan inventor who just wants to be reunited with his birth mother. But then Wilbur Robinson, a boy from the future, appears and tells Lewis that he absolutely must accompany him to the year 2037 —the fate of the world depends on it.
DVD Extras: Deleted scenes, “Arriving in the Future,” “Meeting Carl,” “Bowler Hat Guy’s Redemption,” director commentary
HOSTEL: PART II
Stars: Lauren German, Heather Matarazzo
Director: Eli Roth (Hostel)
Story: Three American girls (German, Matarazzo, Bijou Phillips) travelling Europe on the cheap are lured to a budget hostel where their inexpensive room rates are subsidized by the rich businessmen who pay big bucks for the chance to hunt and kill them.
DVD Extras: “Blood and Guts Montage”
MR. BROOKS
Stars: Kevin Costner, Dane Cook
Director: Bruce A. Evans (Kuffs)
Story: It’s been two years since respectable, mild-mannered businessman Earl Brooks (Costner) has killed anyone. So he’s long overdue. Or at least his bloodthirsty alter ego Marshall (William Hurt) is overdue. Cook steps in as a creepy photographer who witnesses Brooks’ latest indiscretion and then asks to be taken on as an apprentice serial killer.
DVD Extras: Deleted scenes, director commentary, “On the Set of Mr. Brooks”