Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - (Page 14) REVIEWS I SKINS VOL. 1 Street 1/13 BBC Video, Drama, $39.98 three-DVD set, NR. www.homemediamagazine.com thimble-deep but impeccably constructed. The difference is British storytelling sensibility — it’s not focused on cheap thrills but rather on realistic stretches of less action punctuated by climactic sequences, and quirky choices that stay in your memory, such as the way Cassie perfectly arranges Sid’s french fries in episode two. or her own standpoint and maintains interest beyond the “what happens next?” mentality of American TV. The first two seasons of the show focus on the same characters, while the show’s third season, starting to air this month on British channel E4, will refocus on a new group of kids, with only a few holdovers, while the B BC’s “Skins” is a perfect point of entry into British programming for young viewers — witty, hip and quite British. “Skins” focuses on a group of Bristol teens from diverse backgrounds: Tony’s blessed with blue eyes, confidence and Rufus Wainwright’s singing voice; Cassie’s an addict and a head case; Maxxie is gay; Anwar is Pakistani. If these descriptions sound a bit superficial, they are indicative of the characters written, but these young actors do quite a bit with these rough sketches, particularly Slumdog Millionaire’s Dev Patel as Anwar and Mike Bailey as the nerdy, virginal Sid. It’s kind of not believable that these kids would be friends in real life, but the show is convincing enough. Suspending disbelief is pretty much standard practice for teen dramas. “Skins” is advertised as a sort of British “Gossip Girl,” and like America’s favorite scripted teen drama, it is It’s also a nice touch that each of the nine episodes of season one presented in this set focuses on one or two characters specifically, while the other seven or so central characters revolve around them. It gives viewers a chance to experience each character from his Q U I C K TAK E old characters head off to college. It’s sort of like the Menudo of British teen dramas. It’s also worth noting that, like many British shows of this nature, there is copious nudity and foul language. Cheers to that. – Billy Gil I MY BEST FRIEND’S GIRL Street 1/13 Lionsgate, Comedy, B.O. $19.2 million, $29.95 DVD, $39.99 Blu-ray, ‘R’ for strong language and sexual content throughout, including graphic dialogue and some nudity. Unrated version also available. Stars Dane Cook, Kate Hudson, Jason Biggs, Alec Baldwin, Lizzy Caplan, Diora Baird. I n My Best Friend’s Girl Dane Cook plays Tank, a guy who is such a world-class cad, other men pay him to take their ex-girlfriends on bad dates so the ladies will come running back to them. All is well in Tank’s world until his best friend (Jason Biggs) hires him, and instead of sending the beautiful girl (Kate Hudson) back into his friend’s arms, Tank falls for her. OK, so it isn’t the most original idea for a romantic comedy, but since finding an original rom-com is like spotting a unicorn or a leprechaun, I wasn’t going to hold that against it. And I’m glad I didn’t because this movie is funny as hell. Actually, when considering the crude sex-comedy genre, I would put My Best Friend’s Girl more on par with There’s Something About Mary than more recent (and lesser) gross-out films. That is perhaps attributable to Hudson, whose mere presence lends a sort of class and spirit of playfulness to the disgusting antics around her. Cook and Biggs are just as funny as you would expect them to be, with Cook a bit more vulnerable and charming than usual. And Alec Baldwin gives an amusing performance, chewing the scenery as Tank’s oversexed professor father. The DVD is loaded with special features, including an audio commentary with Biggs, writer Jordan Cahan and producer Greg Lessans, during which they play a drinking game in which anytime they tell a lie, they have to take a drink (it isn’t as amusing as it sounds). The featurette “Making It in Beantown: Where It All Began” is essentially a love note from the cast to the city of Boston, and the three other featurettes “The Cast’s Guide to Dating,” “A to Z: Professor Turner’s Sexist Rating System,” and “The Prom: A Teen Rite of Passage” feature somewhat amusing interviews with the cast about their personal experiences. Also included is an audio commentary with director Howard Deutch and the usual deleted and extended scenes. – Kyra Kudick Another ‘Puff’ Piece W Street 1/13 arner Home Video Jan. 20 releases The Complete Powerpuff Girls Anniversary Collector’s Set, much to the delight of the many fans of the animeinspired animated series about three superpowered girls who fight crime. The six-DVD set includes all six seasons of the show at $59.97. The content on the first-season disc is identical to the individual release of that season in 2007. This includes the pilot short and creator Craig McCracken’s original student film The Whoopass Girls. New to this set are a witty retrospective featurette and the 10th anniversary episode “The Powerpuff Girls Rule,” an amusing romp in which all the villains of Townsville fight over a special key that will grant them control of the entire world. The set is not quite “complete,” however, as it would have been nice to see the 2002 movie included as well. – John Latchem I CHOOSE CONNOR Strand, Thriller, B.O. $0.006 million, $27.99 DVD, NR. Stars Alex Linz, Steven Weber, Escher Holloway. O wen, a shy and bookish 15-year-old boy, delivers the graduation speech at his junior high school and catches the eye of the district’s congressman. The pair share a moment after the festivities, and before long the congressman has asked the boy to be his youth spokesman for the senate campaign he is mounting. Unfortunately, the boy discovers that in exchange for being at the center of an exciting political campaign, he is expected to keep his inconvenient opinions, observations and positions to himself. But he enjoys the attention and privilege that his new position provides and, for a time, he is willing to bite his tongue and toe the party line. As his public profile grows, he develops a friendship with the congressman’s nephew, an eccentric young man who creates vaguely menacing marionettes, and who tries to warn Owen away from the political tornado that is beginning to swallow the boy. Although Choose Connor suffers from a little cinematic schizophrenia, it is distinguished by a couple of very powerful performances. Steven Weber, playing against his good-guy persona honed for years on “Wings,” is the congressman — entitled, impervious and almost conscience-free. Even as his character slowly spins a seductive but ultimately dangerous web around Owen, he is not unlikable. And Alex Linz, as Owen, paints a very skillful portrait of a boy who is seduced by his own desire to be at the center of a political campaign even as he begins to realize what a dangerous game he is playing. Choose Connor, which springs from the imagination of young writer-director Luke Eberl, vacillates between a biting political drama and a lurid tale of power, corruption and deviance, and might have been a more powerful piece if Eberl had chosen one path or the other. But it is a very interesting first film from a provocative new voice who is worth watching as he develops and matures. – Anne Sherber 14 Home Media Magazine January 12–18, 2009 http://www.homemediamagazine.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 Contents News Cine Mercado Reviews Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - (Page 1) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - (Page 2) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - Contents (Page 3) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - News (Page 4) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - News (Page 5) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - News (Page 6) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - News (Page 7) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - News (Page 8) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - News (Page 9) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - Cine Mercado (Page 10) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - Cine Mercado (Page 11) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - Reviews (Page 12) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - Reviews (Page 13) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - Reviews (Page 14) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - Reviews (Page 15) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - Top 20 DVD Sellers (Page 16) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 17) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 18) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 19) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - Just Announced (Page 20) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - Just Announced (Page 21) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - Just Announced (Page 22) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - Just Announced (Page 23) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - Just Announced (Page 24) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - Just Announced (Page 25) Home Media Magazine - January 11, 2009 - Just Announced (Page 26)
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