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Directors on Disk
The Bridge on the River Kwai
(1957) Directed by David Lean
Not much need be said about Bridge on the River Kwai except that if you don't have this movie in your home-video collection, you don't much care about film or film history. Quite simply, Kwai is a stunning example of what epic films customarily used to be like, and more than that, it's arguably one of the best movies about war ever made. Director David Lean assembled a first-rate cast and crew and set off for the jungles of Ceylon to tell the famous (albeit fictionalized) story of British prisoners of war in Burma detailed to build a bridge that would reinforce the Japanese military's stranglehold on the country. The starving captives, brutally treated, rose to the occasion and despite all the unimaginable suffering completed the task for which at the end they felt enormous pride. In Lean's retelling, the bridge is ultimately destroyed, metaphorically signaling the Japanese forces' demise.
Starring Alec Guinness in an Oscar-winning turn
and William Holden as a cynical American imposter, Lean's Kwai is a testament to the indomitable spirit of survival. Columbia/Tri-Star's new DVD comes in two incarnations;
the first is a movie-only bare-bones presentation that showcases the sparkling new transfer - the second is a gourmet two-DVD limited edition that offers up a wealth of goodies irresistible to fans of Lean and Kwai. Director John Milius waxes poetic about the film in his own little eight-minute
segment, wherein he attempts to place the film in its proper perspective. "It'll look good 20 years from now, just as
it looked good 20 years ago and 20 years before that," Milius says.
Indeed, the film does look sumptuous, both in its Technicolor CinemaScope palette, and in its compelling narrative. Also included is a brand-new documentary that painstakingly assembles much welcome historical information and builds the case for the film from the crew's point of
view. Produced by Laurent Bouzerau, the 50-minute program leaves you wishing it were longer. Also featured is a short
film produced by USC containing footage from the shoot and an introduction by the late William Holden - a collection of stills, and as an added attraction, Malcolm Arnold's score presented as an isolated track. John Milius gets the last word: "It's a great story with a great cast and just enough money to make it." What more do you want?
-Nick Redman
Gladiator
(2000) Directed by Ridley Scott
Returning to the sword and sandals epics that were mainstays of theaters in the '50s and '60s, director Ridley Scott set about telling a tale of corruption and political intrigue in the waning days of the Roman Empire. Richard Harris plays aging Emperor Marcus Aurelius who has decided to hand over the reigns of power not to his son Commodus [Joaquin Phoenix] but to his trusted and loyal general Maximus [Russell Crowe] to ensure a smooth transition of rule by Emperor to a Republic run by senators. To prevent this, Commodus murders his father and when Maximus refuses to recognize him as Emperor, orders Maximus' execution. Thus begins Maximus' circuitous route that eventually leads to Rome and the gladitorial arena.
Scott, in a thorough and frequently fascinating audio commentary on this two-DVD home-video presentation, reveals that one of the most memorable lines of the film, when Harris says to Phoenix, "Your faults as a son is my failure as a father," was actually improvised on the set. "That's Richard's line," Scott explains. "He came to me after we'd rehearsed, then gone to lunch, and said, This scene needs pinning. What do you think of this line?' I thought it was perfect."
The scene became one of Scott's favorites in the film and he says, "The thing that makes a scene are the choices you make. If [Richard] hadn't knelt, then [his character] would be alive. The fact that he knelt and did this emotional reaching out to his son is what inevitably killed him. His son had never seen this before and he didn't like it. It made him uncomfor able. So there was this loss of respect for the father. [Commodus] doesn't begin [the scene] with the idea of I'm going to murder my father.' It's when they meet emotionally that he decides."
In addition, to the audio commentary, the second disc features a wealth of extras including a number of quite lengthy scenes that were cut from the final print of the film. Among them are sequences involving feeding Christians to the lions, an execution of two Roman centurions personally overseen
by Commodus, and a detailed look at the behind-the-scenes power struggle in Rome involving the Emperor's daughter Lucilla [Connie Nielsen] and several Roman senators who
are wary of Commodus. These scenes also feature audio
commentary by Scott. Yet it would have been nice to have them included on the first disc, with an extended branching capability giving the viewer the option to watch the film as shown theatrically or with the scenes placed where they were initially intended. Still, this is a very complete package offering a comprehensive look at the work of a master filmmaker.
-Ted Elrick
Magnolia
(1999) Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
Magnolia is a miniature marvel - or perhaps not so miniature, clocking in at an epic three hours and 14 minutes - but it is nevertheless a marvel, a film that should never in a million years work, but somehow it does, magically, beautifully - the alchemy of filmmaking thrusting the twisting subtexts up through the spine and out into the dark, blinking open.
Director Paul Thomas Anderson daringly weaves nine seemingly unrelated stories into a fairly seamless whole, cathartically unleashing feelings and emotions that cascade from the characters in a wholly unexpected way. Once again, New Line Home Video, under the genial stewardship of DVD guru Mike Mulvihill, does right by Anderson, creating another stellar entry in the Platinum line. Following Boogie Nights, which also got the two-DVD treatment, Magnolia is jam-packed with extras, led by Mark Rance's Magnolia Diary, a vérité blow-by-blow which, by virtue of the access given to Rance gives us a glimpse into the world of this film's production that is second to none.
At 72 minutes the Diary ebbs and flows, affording us
a long, hard look at Paul Anderson's style and methodology. He's a whirlwind of talkative action one minute, a quiet
tired artist the next. He comes across as a passionate
filmmaker whose themes and preoccupations bubble up and overflow, spilling first onto the page and then into celluloid. It's very clear that his ensemble cast of talented actors
hold him in high regard and enjoy the challenge of his work. Mark Rance's unobtrusive eye takes it all in and lets us
watch the process without comment. The other goodies include trailers, the exceptionally well-done Aimee Mann music video, an uncut version of the T.J. Mackey seminar, an infomercial for Mackey and some TV spots. New Line's Platinum Series, along with the Criterion Collection, continue to be the untouched leaders of the DVD world.
-N.R.
Mission Impossible 2
(2000) Directed by John Woo
While scripter Robert Towne once again seems to be rewriting Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious, his script receives immense benefits from the visual acumen of one of the masters of directing action, John Woo. "All he [Tom Cruise] wanted was my style," Woo explains in his full-length DVD audio commentary. "He wanted every episode of this series to have a different style with a different director. I didn't want to do a high-tech thing with special effects because I'm no good at that." When Woo shot the first stunt involving Cruise rock climbing over the credits, he knew it would be difficult, but not impossible because his star insisted on doing his own stunts. "I let him do it [jump from one elevated rock to another], but I'm scared of heights so I didn't go near the edge."
The film's next big stunt was easier for Woo. "Thandie Newton [who plays Cruise's love interest] was English so she was used to driving on the other side of the road. When the cars are spinning, and Tom and Thandie's are banging into one another, it's very sexy, like two people making love. When I design an action sequence, I listen to music to get into the mood. That sequence was designed to the song The Windmills of Your Mind.'"
In addition to the audio commentary, Paramount
has loaded this disc with a 15-minute Behind the Mission
featurette, a stunts featurette called Impossible Shots, on-camera interviews with Woo, Cruise and stunt coordinator Brian
Smrz as well as the MTV Movie Awards show parody,
Mission Improbable with Cruise, Ben Stiller and Woo.
-Craig Modderno
The Patriot
(2000) Directed by Roland Emmerich
Mel Gibson stars as a French and Indian War veteran Benjamin Martin. He is haunted by his past military actions and initially refuses to join the fight against the British in the American Revolution. But he is forced to bring his guerrilla war experience to the cause by a brutal personal tragedy. Before production began on The Patriot, director Roland Emmerich found his inspiration in the films of director John Ford, particularly The Searchers. "I was most interested in how he shot landscapes," Emmerich reveals in the audio commentary that accompanies this DVD release from Columbia TriStar home video. "The way he set personal stories in the landscapes, the relationship between land and sky. I realized that Ford used more sky than we frame today. That gave an expanse to the landscape and the stories." Accompanying Emmerich on the commentary is producer Dean Devlin. They discuss casting, working with children and re-creating an 18th-century world in present-day South Carolina. The disk also features several featurettes: The Art of War detailing how the military battles were staged, and True Patriots on the historical basis for the film featuring interviews with experts at the Smithsonian and screenwriter Robert Rodat.
-T.E.
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X-Men
(2000) Directed by Bryan Singer
They are reluctant heroes forced to defend a world that hates and fears them. The next step in human evolution, they are mutants with remarkable powers facing ostracism from a society that considers them dangerous freaks. Based on the highly popular Marvel comic franchise, director Bryan Singer brings to the screen one of the most faithful comic book adaptations. This 20th Century Fox DVD features a number of extras including several deleted scenes. There is an extended branching capability allowing the viewer to watch the film as it was shown theatrically, or with the uncompleted, deleted scenes inserted where they were originally intended. There are also excerpts from an interview Singer did with Charlie Rose. In one segment, Singer talks about working with actors. "I try to create an environment where the actors feel that nobody knows more or cares more about the movie than me," he says. "Then trust exists, and once trust exists, the best that the actors have to offer can emerge." Also included are computer animatics of some action sequences, screen tests of Hugh Jackman [who plays Wolverine] and a FOX special The Mutant Watch which mixes behind-the-scenes looks at the film with a mock newscast alerting the public to the mutants and the campaign to have them register with the government. -T.E.
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