SEATTLE TIMES
REVIEWS TOMB RAIDER DVD
Copyright 2001 www.tombraiderchronicles.com
[ November 16th 2001 ]
Complaining
about inadequate plot and characterization in
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is like going to a porno
flick and asking why more effort wasn't put into
the costume design.
Attention
people of Earth: "Tomb Raider" is based on a video
game, and it's one of the best movies of its very
specific kind. It looks great, has entertaining
action set pieces and perfectly casts Angelina
Jolie as the three-dimensional manifestation of
the busty pixilated adventurer.
The DVD
is padded with extras including some deleted/alternate
scenes, a U2 music video and documentaries on
the stunts, effects, Jolie's training and the
"Tomb Raider" video-game phenomenon. Its DVD-ROM
features include a game demo.
The two-dimensional
comedy "Osmosis Jones" features an animated Chris
Rock as a maverick cop with an uptight partner
struggling with bureaucratic superiors to bring
down a nasty bad guy. It's a very clever, very
gross, very funny spoof of the clichéd cop genre,
but it takes place in the animated City of Frank
- aka the inside of live-action slovenly Bill
Murray.
Younger
kids may flatline at the rapid-fire anatomical
jokes - made under the producing auspices of the
Farrelly Brothers (Shallow Hal, There's Something
About Mary). The DVD includes "Deleted Spleens,"
behind-the-scenes and voice-recording-session
documentaries, an audio commentary and an interactive
feature called "Frank's Gross Anatomy."
You
won't find a more one-dimensional comedy than
"America's Sweethearts". Billy Crystal co-wrote
and co-stars as a publicist trying to navigate
a bitterly separated movie-star couple (John Cusack
and Catherine Zeta-Jones) through a big press
junket for their new film. Julia Roberts plays
the woman's sister, who's nurturing a crush. The
farce is flat, the laughs seldom and the ending
preordained.
For
a laugh-out-loud farce, try "The Closet", a political
correctness satire by "La Cage Aux Folles" writer
Francis Veber. Daniel Auteuil plays a boring accountant
whose estranged wife and son hate him and who's
about to get fired from his condom-factory job.
But he hatches a plan: He starts a rumor that
he's gay, without changing his behavior at all.
Suddenly, everyone finds him fascinating and treats
him better - most notably the office macho pig
(Gerard Depardieu).
For some
respectable teen melodrama: Kirsten Dunst is the
first half of the title in "Crazy/Beautiful" and
Jay Hernandez is the second half: She has issues,
he's straight-laced, they're in love, and it's
destructive.
Considerably
more destructive: the title character of "Chopper".
The extremely violent and funny tale of real-life
convict Mark "Chopper" Read has a big cult-film
shelf-life potential as well as a great performance
from Eric Bana, the Aussie signed to star in the
upcoming "Incredible Hulk" movie (directed by
"Crouching Tiger's" Ang Lee).
The
"Weekend with Chopper" DVD extra features video
footage of Bana hanging out on Read's home turf
listening to the amiable psychopath and best-selling
author of "How to Shoot Friends and Influence
People" tell the stories behind the film. The
footage makes Read seem like the ultimate yarn-spinning
drinking buddy - until, say, you stiff him on
a round.
Finally,
proof that whining gets results: After releasing
"Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" only in
a cropped full-frame version this August, Warner
has coughed up a wide-screen version. But if he
had spent his money on the first version, Hulk
would smash!
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