Donnie Darko, one of the most unique, intriguing, mind-bending and debate-invigorating films of the 21st century, is one of my favorite movies. The film, though it was never a box office hit, has become a cult classic, solidified Jake Gyllenhaal as a leading man and is just one damn fine film. It is also a movie with a satisfying ending… an ending where the title character dies to save the world.

So, when Donnie Darko fans heard of S. Darko, a sequel (sorry, continuation), they were understandably upset. As was I. As was Donnie Darko’s writer/director, Richard Kelly. Why ruin something that’s perfectly good in its own right, like the Wachowskis did to the The Matrix?

In reality, S. Darko is not that bad of a movie. It has strong acting, fairly slick directing and a decent screenplay. Especially for a direct-to-DVD title, the movie is much better than expected, other than the rather dismal special effects.

The problem, however, is that the only people who will watch S. Darko are Donnie Darko fans, the exact group that would prefer if this movie didn’t exist. This explains its 4.0/10 rating on IMDB; it’s not that bad, but it is completely unnecessary.

The movie is just as confusing, if not more so, but without the payoff or originality. The writers decided to bring back Daveigh Chase, who played Samantha Darko in the original and who has gone on to play the evil dead girl in The Ring and a psychotic teenage wife in HBO’s “Big Love.” Unfortunately, Daveigh is left to play a dull, depressed teenager who sees the same thing her brother did, but doesn’t get to show off her acting chops (though no one can blame her for taking on a lead role such as this and proving that she can indeed act). Other cast members include Briana Evigan (Step Up 2), Ed Westwick (Son of Rambow) and Jackson Rathbone (Jasper in Twilight), and all turn in pretty good performances.

Unfortunately, the movie seems like a less enjoyable copy of the original. Though director Chris Fisher gives it his all, the style feels, at times, as if he’s simply trying to mimic moments from the first film. There’s even a musical montage, albeit without “Mad World.” The story is very similar, not necessarily when it comes to specific plot points but just in overall theme and goals. It’s like Fisher and writer Nathan Atkins just recreated the movie with different characters and a slightly different plot and didn’t think anyone would notice.

The movie also falls apart in the end as its low budget finally rears its ugly head and the plot and characters take a turn for the worst.

Ultimately, S. Darko isn’t a horrible film, but it is like that unwanted bastard child no one wants. The only saving grace is that S. Darko is in fact a direct-to-DVD release, so we can just ignore it. Or you can. But I know curiosity now has the better of you, and you will watch it. Damn it, 20th Century Fox.

The DVD comes with a short behind-the-scenes documentary which is actually halfway decent, a few deleted scenes and a commentary with the filmmakers.

Alas, Miramax believes it can make a few more dollars on the unsuspecting moviegoer, as they are about to release on Tuesday a 3-Disc Collector’s Edition. You can read my full No Country for Old Men movie review, where I fault the picture for a variety of things including its lack of excitement, questionable acting – especially by the awful Javier Bardem – and horrific direction by the Coen brothers, or you can read on for my review of this new DVD collection…

For the small group of people who actually liked this dull picture, this new collector’s edition is packed full of interviews, featurettes and other stuff, though unless you’re a part of the 0.5% who actually care to watch this movie on a three-inch-wide iPod screen, you will be disappointed to find that the third disc is simply a digital copy of the movie.

The first disc comes with a couple of featurettes, highlighted by a 30-minute making-of documentary that does a very good job of exploring the casting, writing and direction of No Country for Old Men. The featurette feels very honest in its approach and avoids coming off as promotional; this is one of the better making-of featurettes I’ve seen recently.

The Diary of a Country Sheriff is a waste of time, but Working With The Coens is one of many interesting featurettes that attempt to dive into the minds of the Coens. They have a unique way to making films, and these featurettes address how the two work together, how they never fight, and why they tend to sleep more than work. It also brings to light their $2 million procedure that allows them to reattach themselves at the hip each night, much to the disapproval of their wives.

The second disc starts off with a bang, offering us the short but inspired Josh Brolin’s Unauthorized Behind-the-Scenes Featurette, a Brolin-helmed documentary that shows how the movie was really made. The highlight here is a silhouette of Bardem explaining how cruel the Coens were to him, always staring him down and telling him just how much he sucks. Priceless.

There are nearly a dozen other interviews, featurettes and TV segments included on the disc, though I could only find half of what was listed on the back of the box. Some are better than others, but they are mapped out on a timeline that depicts the film’s public relations tour. Included here are more interviews with the cast – the best are the ones between Bardem and Brolin, who seem to have a great rapport with one another – and the Coens. A podcast that further drills into the Coens’ work habits is pretty entertaining. Avid TV watchers may recognize segments from ABC, EW.com and other stations, as well as NPR and a few others.

As for the other featurettes that I couldn’t find, I’m presuming that since I was using my computer to watch the DVD, the link to the second page wasn’t clickable. Great product design there, Miramax.

As bad as No Country for Old Men is, this is a pretty worthwhile collection, though standard featurettes like an audio commentary or deleted scenes are noticeably missing. And how much do you want to bet that at least one person is going to comment on this post describing how stupid I am for hating the movie, ignoring the overt sarcastic overtones riddled throughout the review.

Adam Shankman has a knack for taking adult-oriented actors and making successful children’s comedies out of them. While I’m not a fan of Bringing Down the House, The Pacifier or Cheaper by the Dozen 2, the director has a talent for turning the likes of Steve Martin and Vin Diesel into children’s actors. Still, it was hard to imagine that Sandler’s fan base would accept him in a kid’s flick, or that parents would want to take their children to something featuring him. Nevertheless, Shankman has made the impossible possible; Bedtime Stories is funny, entertaining and utterly harmless, exactly what a Disney comedy should be.

Read the rest of the Bedtime Stories movie review.

In The Odd Couple, Lemmon plays Felix Ungar, a man who just been kicked by his wife. Left to fend for himself, he ponders suicide until he is taken in by his friend Oscar Madison (Matthau), a divorcee who lives simply and like a slob. Felix seems to be the perfect complement to this, as he’s a clean freak verging on obsessive compulsive. Unfortunately, Felix’s mannerisms begin to gnaw at Oscar’s soul…

Though made 40 years ago, The Odd Couple is still a hilarious film that lives up to expectations. The movie, directed by Gen Saks and written by Neil Simon, is simply done – but it works. Funny enough, having watched this movie the other day, I realized that I had never seen it before; I’d seen the sequel, but never this original classic. I’m amazed I went this long without seeing The Odd Couple.

There’s not much else to say: the movie is pitch perfect. It doesn’t try too hard; it doesn’t try to cram jokes into every second of the picture. The comedy comes naturally, and a lot of that is thanks to the chemistry between Lemmon and Matthau. They play off each other expecially well, but the supporting cast is also strong. The two women are hilarious, as are the poker friends.

Those of the younger generation (like me) who haven’t gotten around to seeing The Odd Couple should give it a chance. It is surprisingly modern in its presentation, and yet harkens back to a day when comedies didn’t need to be edgy or over-the-top to succeed.

The Odd Couple comes to Centennial Collection DVD on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 and includes the following bonus features:

• Commentary by Charlie Matthau and Chris Lemmon
• In the Beginning…
• Matthau & Lemmon
• Memories from the Set
• Inside The Odd Couple
• The Odd Couple: A Classic
• Photo galleries
• Theatrical trailer

I watched the movie over the weekend, so please read my Frozen River movie review now:

One of the most talked about movies that no one has heard of, Frozen River arrives on DVD on Tuesday, just in time for audiences to get a peek at the Oscar-nominated performance by star Melissa Leo before awards are handed out at the end of the month. Read more…

In other news, I’m giving away a Blu-Ray copy of Frozen River – so enter to win a copy today!

What The Weinstein Company really should have done instead is included a Cantonese audio track so I wouldn’t have had to sludge through a poorly dubbed English version.

Yes, this special collector’s edition is so special that it doesn’t even include the original audio. For someone who has never seen The Enforcer before, like me, it doesn’t do much to win me over by forcing me to listen to dubbed audio, something I vowed never to do after sitting through one too many cringe-inducing Jackie Chan dubs. Dubbing automatically pisses me off, especially when the voice-over actors speak non-accented English. At least have Chinese people with Chinese-accents do the voices!

In reaction to the lack of its original Cantonese track, The Weinstein Company released this statement:

Dragon Dynasty strives to provide fans with only the highest quality DVD releases, including restored video and audio and extensive never-before-seen bonus features created exclusively for the label.

Though no usable version of the original Cantonese-language track was available in time for this release, every effort was made to bring together the best elements in the world in creating the greatest version of The Enforcer ever experienced on DVD in the U.S.

My reaction to this: then don’t release the DVD until you have that audio track available. I thought we were well past the day of dubbing movies, or at least not giving the viewers a choice. Dubbing erases an actors’ performance and reduces the picture to a cheesy mockery of its former self. It’s preposterous that the studio would provide a version like this to Jet Li fans.

As for the movie itself, The Enforcer is just OK. Had I watched the original Cantonese version, I might have thought differently, but with a bunch of English actors providing their voices, most of the dialogue in the movie comes off as overly cheesy and ridiculous. Some of the dialogue, frankly, is painful to listen to.

Beyond the audio issues, however, the movie does suffer from a few unintentionally goofy moments. Some of the wire work at the end, where Jet Li is throwing his kung fu son at bad guys and then withdrawing him with a piece of rope, is funny but completely stupid. The son should also have been brain dead a few times over by the end, yet he always manages to come back to life even after being declared dead by a surgeon. My favorite is that after the boy “dies,” his dad’s first reaction is that, “We need to get him out of here!” rather than to set him down and give him immediate CPR. It’s just little things like this that add up to make the movie look sort of foolish.

That being said, there are some excellent action scenes. The final climax is non-stop and enjoyable, with some good, gritty fighting and stunts. For Jet Li fans, this is more than enough.

When all is said and done, The Enforcer comes off as a lesser version of Infernal Affairs (or The Departed, for that matter), with some good action but a plot full of holes. Unfortunately, without being able to watch a subtitled version of the picture, I can’t give a very good assessment. I’m still amazed that The Weinstein Company would release a movie on DVD without its original audio track.

Given that, I was actually happy to see that W., the George Bush docu-drama from famed director Oliver Stone, had only one real bonus feature. That’s not to say I’m going to recommend the DVD, but when I can knock off a DVD review in a matter of minutes… that’s just awesome.

W. itself is a decent movie, with strong performances from some of the actors (Josh Brolin and Richard Dreyfuss as Bush and Cheney, respectively) and others that are just plain strange (Thandie Newton as a nasally Condoleeza). The movie works for the most part, even though it clips over some important aspects of the Bush presidency and would probably have worked better had it been made a couple years from now, when the taste of Bush is more of a nagging thought than a cringing reminder of what has happened to our country. You can read my full W. movie review here.

Despite what I said earlier, there are two bonus features included on the disc, an audio commentary with Oliver Stone and a documentary on the damage that Bush has done to the United States. I don’t normally listen to audio commentaries, but I may just have to listen to this one: I’d love to hear why Stone skips over certain parts (like the contested 2000 election) and his reactions to people’s complaints that he wasn’t nearly as harsh on Bush as they were expecting (a complaint that I believe even took the director by surprise, even though it’s valid).

The documentary, unfortunately, is just DVD filler. It’s short, includes both scenes from the movie and real-life footage, and thus comes off as semi-promotional. The problem is that with so many damning, full-length documentaries that go into much more detail and provide more valid arguments out on the market, why this one was even made would beg the question “why,” if it wasn’t so clear. Frankly, it would have better not to include anything rather than spend the money to create this feature.

W. is a decent film that’s worth seeing, but not good enough to buy. The DVD bonus features, if you can call them that, don’t do anything to change that statement.

View pictures and learn more about W. at my W. details page. The movie comes to DVD on February 10th.

OK, I’ll admit it: that first paragraph is a complete lie. Mary Poppins is one of the biggest family classics of all time, and it deserves to be. It stands the test of time incredibly well, thanks to the enjoyable songs and overall goofiness picture, combined with authentic performances from everyone involved – including the child actors.

To go on raving about Mary Poppins is rather wasteful, so I’ll shift my attention to the 45th Anniversary 2-Disc set that came to DVD earlier this week. The DVD contains a variety of bonus features, and I’ll admit it (for real this time): it’s a pretty good collection of items.

The quantity is good, and the quality is good, and both kids and adults should find something to enjoy here. The one that stands out the most to me is a “musical reunion with Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke and Richard Sherman.” While there’s nothing remarkable here, it’s nice to see Van Dyke and Andrews back together again, singing songs and talking about their experiences.

Speaking of Van Dyke and Andrews, it’s nice to see actors not completely consumed with themselves, even after all these years. These days, if an actor does a big film and is asked to do a reunion interview some years later, I would expect that 50% of the time they would turn it down. In this collection, both Van Dyke and Andrews show up in a variety of special features in their modern-day forms (still looking surprisingly good) – whether it be a new Mary Poppins short (yes, Julie Andrews is back as Mary Poppins!) or a making-of featurette.

Extending from my complaint about modern actors, it’s also impressive to see footage from the original premiere. The interviews seem like something straight out of a Disney movie, and yet they’re sincere. Van Dyke especially just seems happy to be there, and he waves at his baby girl like a goofball. Compare this to modern day premiere or red carpet events and… well, it’s hard to see the similarities.

Less interesting to me were the featurettes about the Broadway version. I didn’t find these all that stimulating, though people with more interest in theater should find something to enjoy. The Broadway elements are extensive – they just didn’t do it for me.

The Mary Poppins: 45th Anniversary DVD has a variety of other features, including the original theatrical trailer, makeup tests with Dick Van Dyke, some additional music numbers, among other things.  All in all, it’s an impressive set of bonus features – and while I have a pile of other movies sitting around waiting to be reviewed, I couldn’t help but stick this movie in. The music is great, the visuals stand up surprisingly well and it’s just an all-around entertaining movie.

To be honest, I just had a single glass of wine and for some reason it’s hitting me harder than I would expect… so I’m going to glaze over the rest of the features. In all fairness, big fans of the movie -

Breakfast at Tiffany’s is the fifth DVD release in this line, and it didn’t come a moment too soon. After all, I hold Breakfast at Tiffany’s as one of the best romantic comedies ever made, and one that all future films should be compared against.

The movie works on many levels: Hepburn is fantastic and super hot in it; the chemistry between her and George Peppard is great; the story is fun and more than stands the test of time; the movie is romantic and funny all at once; and so on and so forth.

I told you this was going to be a short review. Analysing films that I really like is always rather boring, because anything you write in attempt to fill out the review ends up being filler for the baseline fact: the movie is damn good. So, why waste words?

I’m done.

Seriously.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s is great, and if you’re young like me and haven’t seen the movie, you should check it out. Especially you ladies, because then maybe you wouldn’t go flocking to such pictures as Bride Wars, which looked funny but rather disparaging to the fairer sex from the previews.

God, you’re still here? The 2-disc DVD set includes commentary by producer Richard Shepherd and a variety of featurettes, including:

• A Golightly Gathering
• Henry Mancini: More Than Music
• Mr. Yunioshi: An Asian Perspective
• The Making of a Classic
• It’s So Audrey: A Style Icon
• Behind the Gates: The Tour
• Brilliance in a Blue Box
• Audrey’s Letter to Tiffany
• Original Theatrical Trailer

So, if you’re an Audrey Hepburn fan, this new DVD version of Breakfast at Tiffany’s may be worth purchasing.

Dane Cook continues his quest to prove he’s unfunny in My Best Friend’s Girl, a less-crude version of Good Luck Chuck with only a slightly altered premise. In the movie, Cook plays a guy named Tank, who is hired by other men to take their ex-girlfriends on dates and show those women, by being a complete and utter asshole, that their former flames aren’t so bad. So, once again, Cook plays a womanizer who ultimately falls for one of his victims.

Thankfully, My Best Friend’s Girl is no Good Luck Chuck. It isn’t hilarious, it isn’t a must-see, but it is mildly entertaining and easy to watch. It also doesn’t self-destruct the way the aforementioned did, though it isn’t completely clear of a Cook-meltdown that seems to be commonplace in his films.

Read the rest of the My Best Friend’s Girl movie review.