Return to Table of Contents November 2007

on DVD

By Marni Weisz

SPOTLIGHT

November 6

RATATOUILLE ($30)

This year has seen a slew of Paris-set features — Paris, Je T’Aime, 2 Days in Paris, Rush Hour 3, to name a few.

But of them all, this adorable animated feature about a rat gourmand may very well be the one that best captures The City of Lights. The food, the skyline, the snobbery, the romance, Ratatouille has them all en masse.

Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt, a.k.a. Spence from The King of Queens) is a rat with an unusual dream. He wants to cook, and not just steak and eggs or mac and cheese. This little rodent knows his cilantro from his basil and Parmesan from Romano.

While Remy’s fellow rats are content to eat garbage, he lives for an odd crumb of fantastic cheese or a perfect piece of fruit. So when Remy becomes separated from his rat pack and ends up alone in the kitchen of a famous French restaurant he’s in heaven. That is, until he’s discovered by the nefarious head chef (Ian Holm) who orders busboy Linguini (Lou Romano) to exterminate the little furball. But Remy strikes a deal with Linguini — spare his life and Remy will teach him to cook.

Not convinced that an animated feature is for you? Take a look at the film’s rating on RottenTomatoes.com — a 96% at press time — one of the best grades of any film released this year.

The DVD features the expected deleted scenes and such, but also a brand-new animated short, “Your Friend the Rat” starring Remy and his brother Emile (Peter Sohn), and a piece about how top New York chef Thomas Keller taught director Brad Bird (The Incredibles), and hence Remy, to cook.

November 6

SICKO

Stars: Michael Moore, George W. Bush
Director: Michael Moore (Fahrenheit 9/11)
Story: This time it’s the American health care system that’s in Moore’s crosshairs. And, by comparison, our own bunged-up system comes off looking good, particularly in a sequence where Moore contrasts how two men who’ve lost fingers — one in the U.S, the other here — are treated. Moore also takes a boatload of sick and neglected Americans (including some  9/11 volunteers) to Cuba to get the care they can’t afford at home.
DVD Extras: deleted scenes, interview gallery, music video  

November 13

SHREK THE THIRD

Voices: Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz
Directors: Chris Miller, Raman Hui
Story: When his father-in-law King Harold (John Cleese) dies, Shrek discovers that he is heir to the throne of Far Far Away. Which sucks, because he doesn’t want to be in charge of anything. So he sets off to find the King’s nephew Artie (Justin Timberlake) and convince him to become the new monarch.
DVD Extras: “Meet the Cast,” “Donkey Dance,” “Big Green Goofs,” “Merlin’s Magic Crystal Ball,” “Royal Tournament Games,” printables

LA VIE EN ROSE

Stars: Marion Cotillard, Gérard Depardieu
Director: Olivier Dahan (Ghost River)
Story: The turbulent life story of French singer Edith Piaf begins with a childhood spent passed from relative to relative (eventually landing with her brothel-owning grandmother) and ends with her premature death at age 47. In between there are loves, losses, a debilitating morphine addiction and some of the most recognizable songs of the 20th century.

OCEAN’S THIRTEEN

Stars: George Clooney, Brad Pitt
Director: Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Eleven)
Story: Revenge is the motivation for Danny Ocean and his band of thieves this time around. One of their own, Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould), is double-crossed (and roughed up) by his smarmy business partner Willie Banks (Al Pacino) just before they’re supposed to open a new casino together. So Tishkoff’s pals come to the rescue by sabotaging the casino’s big opening.

November 20

THE SANTA CLAUSE 3: THE ESCAPE CLAUSE

Stars: Tim Allen, Martin Short
Director: Michael Lembeck (Connie and Carla)
Story: This bit of seasonal fare may have hit theatres more than a year ago, but Disney likes to delay their Santa Clause DVD releases until Kris Kringle season is upon us once again. This time, Santa (Allen) has to stop that bitter little imp Jack Frost (Short) from taking over Christmas.
DVD Extras: Christmas Carol-Oke, making-of featurette, “Creating Movie Magic”

LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD

Stars: Bruce Willis, Justin Long
Director: Len Wiseman (Underworld)
Story: This fourth Die Hard movie sees hero John McClane (Willis) team up with young computer hacker Matt Farrell (Long) to catch a cyberterrorist (Timothy Olyphant) intent on destroying the U.S. defense system. Lots of explosions, bravado, attitude and, yes, the line “Yippee-Ki-Yay Motherf---er” has been keeping fans of the franchise surprisingly happy.
DVD Extras: commentary tracks, deleted scenes. Two-disc special edition has an additional 10 featurettes

HAIRSPRAY

Stars: Nikki Blonsky, John Travolta
Director: Adam Shankman (Cheaper by the Dozen 2)
Story: This musical remake of John Waters’ 1988 film is about 50% less subversive but replaces that edge with wall-to-wall song-and dance-numbers that aren’t half-bad. Newcomer Blonsky plays refreshingly secure plus-sized teen Tracy Turnblad, who earns a spot on Baltimore TV’s Corny Collins Show despite protests from the station’s shallow manager (Michelle Pfeiffer). Travolta steps into a fat suit and drag to play Tracy’s mom.
DVD Extras: commentary tracks, deleted scenes, “You Can’t Stop the Beat: The Long Journey of Hairspray”

RESCUE DAWN

Stars: Christian Bale, Steve Zahn
Director: Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man)
Story: Based on a true story, Bale plays U.S. Navy pilot Dieter Dengler who’s shot down over Laos during the Vietnam War. The rest of the movie follows Dengler’s attempt to escape the Viet Cong and an even more dangerous enemy — the jungle.
DVD Extras: directory commentary, making-of featurette, deleted scenes

November 27

WAITRESS

Stars: Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion
Director: Adrienne Shelly (I’ll Take You There)
Story: Russell plays Jenna, a small-town waitress with a mean-spirited husband (Six Feet Under’s Jeremy Sisto) and a talent for making delicious pies. When Jenna unintentionally becomes pregnant she meets a doctor (Fillion) who may change her life. Sadly, director Shelly (who also plays Jenna’s fellow waitress Dawn) was murdered in her New York City office before the film came out.

I KNOW WHO KILLED ME

Stars: Lindsay Lohan, Julia Ormond
Director: Chris Sivertson (The Lost)
Story: College student Aubrey Fleming (Lohan) is apparently abducted by a serial killer, but is found merely injured by the side of a road a week later. But when she wakes up in the hospital, Aubrey swears she’s never met her parents and claims to be a stripper named Dakota Moss.
DVD Extras: alternate opening and ending, blooper reel, extended dance sequence

HOT ROD

Stars: Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone
Director: Akiva Schaffer (debut)
Story: Real-life buds Samberg, Taccone and Schaffer team up to tell the story of one Rod Kimble (Samberg), a low-rent stuntman who aims to jump 15 buses on his motorcycle in order to raise money for his abusive stepfather’s (Ian McShane) life-saving operation. Why save daddy? So he can finally kick his butt. Taccone plays Rod’s half-brother Kevin.
DVD Extras: commentary track, behind-the-scenes featurette, outtakes, deleted and extended scenes