Home Media Magazine - June 22-28, 2008 - (Page 24)

REVIEWS Street 7/1 www.homemediamagazine.com I YANKEE STADIUM: BASEBALL’S CATHEDRAL Shout! Factory, Sports, $26.99 two-DVD set, NR. Narrated by Chazz Palminteri. T Marco Ferreri’s satirical and often surreal films embody a unique vision of humanity borne of exasperation and nihilism. Through these genre-bending black comedies, the controversial director crafted a fiercely contemporary cinematic language of his own, delving deep into the alienation of men, women and children. Cannes Film Festival FIPRESCI Prize1 WINNER Cannes Film Festival Grand Prize of the Jury2 WINNER KLF-DV-3163 • UPC:7-41952-31639-8 ISBN: 1-4172-0179-7 • SRP: $149.98 Running Time: 821 minutes • Genre: Drama/Foreign Audio: Dolby Digital • Aspect Ratio: 16x9 (El Cochecito: 4x3) English/French/Italian/Spanish with English Subtitles I TURN THE RIVER Prebook 6/24; Street 7/22 Universal/Screen Media, Thriller, B.O. $0.005 million, $24.98 DVD, ‘R’ for language. Stars Famke Janssen, Rip Torn, Matt Ross, Lois Smith, Marin Hinkle, Jaymie Dornan, Terry Kinney. J The Collection Includes 8 FEATURE-LENGTH FILMS La Grande Bouffe (The Big Feast) Bye Bye Monkey Tales of Ordinary Madness El Cochecito Seeking Asylum The House of Smiles Don’t Touch the White Woman The Seed of Man PLUS EXTRA BONUS MATERIAL • Bonus Documentary “Marco Ferreri: The Director Who Came from the Future” • 16-page booklet featuring a critical essay by Italian cinema scholar Jacqueline Reich NATIONAL MARKETING & PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN • Including advertising in Film Comment, DVD Talk and more • Extensive internet and editorial outreach to the Italian-American community FOOTNOTES: 1 La Grande Bouffe • 2 Bye Bye Monkey anssen (of Rounders and the “X-Men” series) stars as a pool hustler desperate to start a new life in this understated, sometimes moving drama by Whit Stillman regular Chris Eigeman (Metropolitan, Barcelona), making his directing and writing debut. Kailey (Janssen) needs to scrape together $60,000 to take herself and her estranged preteen son, Gully (Dornan of The Notorious Bettie Page), out of New York City and into Canada. Both are stuck in undesirable situations. Forbidden to see his mother, Gully is tormented by his tyrannical father (Ross of American Psycho), who in turn is pushed around by his domineering, dogmatic mother (Smith of P.S.). For Kailey, a life of living from game to game and sleeping on pool tables must be getting old. Eigeman effectively lets locale and acting inform us on the layer of loserdom stifling Kailey and the civilized torture Gully endures, but he doesn’t provide the audience with enough reasons as to why Kailey needs to leave right now, or how she and Gully were able to reconnect. Janssen’s casting is also a detriment: She gives a steady performance, but the former model doesn’t look worn-out enough to play such a hard-luck role. Fans of moody, character-driven dramas such as Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead or The Lookout will like Turn the River, if they can overlook the aforementioned flaws. DVD extras include a behind the scenes feature and commentary from Eigeman. – Pete Croatto he coming end of Yankee Stadium stirs up mixed emotions for me. As a lifelong Dodgers fan, I can’t help but think of the old ballpark as the source of so much heartbreak for my favorite team, constantly defeated by the Bronx Bombers in the World Series. That most of this history occurred before I was born does not alter my perspective, nor should any baseball fan be similarly deterred. And yet, the Dodgers clinched their lone championship in Brooklyn, in 1955, on the field of Yankee Stadium. The Los Angeles Dodgers polished off their 1981 title at Yankee Stadium. There is simply no denying the significance of Yankee Stadium in the annals of baseball history, a fact any true fan of the sport would appreciate. This terrific retrospective on Yankee Stadium covers all the bases, if you’ll excuse the pun, from opening day in 1923 to opening day in 2008, its final year. The Yankees will move into a new ballpark across the street in 2009. This is the story of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Thurman Munson. The story of game-winning home runs, perfect games and unprecedented championship accomplishments. The documentary reminds us of the most memorable moments in the stadium’s history, but does so out of chronological order, which strengthens the timelessness of the memories. This isn’t just a baseball story, either. The documentary includes segments on visits from three different popes. Yankee Stadium also hosted the 1958 NFL Championship, in which the Baltimore Colts upended the New York Giants in an overtime game that some credit with putting the NFL in the national consciousness for the first time. The program also previews the new Yankee Stadium, which combines the traditional elements of the original stadium with modern features incorporated during a two-year renovation in the 1970s. The presentation effectively casts the new ballpark as a continuation of the legacy of the old, though it seems almost inconceivable the new stadium can find its way into baseball lore with the same prestige. – John Latchem Watch MARCO FERRERI clips at www.kochclips.com For more information on these releases visit www.kochb2b.com Pre-Book Date: 7/8/08 Street Date: 8/5/08 24 Home Media Magazine June 22–28, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.kochclips.com http://www.kochclips.com http://www.kochb2b.com

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Home Media Magazine - June 22-28, 2008

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