Plot in one sentence: The crew of the Enterprise travel back in time to contemporary San Francisco to save both the earth and the whales.

Extras:

• Disc One:
  
• Audio commentary track from star/director Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner
  
• Text commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda, co authors of THE STAR TREK ENCYCLOPEDIA
  
• Disc Two:
  
• Part One: The STAR TREK Universe:
  
• "Time Travel: The Art of the Possible," interview with three quantum physicists from August 2002: Nick Herbert, Fred Alan Wolf, Jack Sarfatti (11:14)
  
• "The Language of Whales" with Ree Brennin, Marine Biologist, the Monterey Bay Aquarium (5:46)
  
• "A Vulcan Primer," with TREK novelist Margaret Wander Bonanno (7:50)
  
• "Kirk's Women," with Catherine Hicks, Katherine Browne, Louise Sorel, Celeste Yarnell (8:19)
  
• Part Two: Production:
  
• "Future's Past: A Look Back," making of featuring interviews with Nimoy, Shatner, the producers, and the writers (27:30)
  
• "On Location" (7:25)
  
• "Dailies Deconstruction," two takes each of six set ups filmed on location on April 26, 1986 (4:14)
  
• "Below-the-line: Sound Design," with Mark Mangini, sound effects engineer (11:44)
  
• Part Three: Visual Effects:
  
• "From Outer Space to the Ocean: The Visual Effects of STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME," (14:42)
  
• "The Bird of Prey" about the Klingon ship the crew uses in the film (2:49)
  
• Part Four: Original Interviews:
  
• Leonard Nimoy (15:39)
  
• William Shatner (14:32)
  
• De Forest Kelley (13:02)
  
• Part Five: Tributes:
  
• "Roddenberry Scrapbook," Eugene Roddenberry on his father (8:17)
  
• "Featured Artist: Mark Lenard," interviews with the family of the actor who plays Spock's dad (12:44)
  
• Part Six: Archives:
  
• Production Gallery, montage of images (3:54)
  
• Storyboards: "Encounter with the Saratoga," (14 screens), "The Probe Approaches Earth," (32 screens), "Time Warp," (27 screens), "Mind Meld," (six screens), "The Whaling Ship, (19 screens) "Return to the 23rd Century," (18 screens), "Communication," (39 screens), "NCC 1701-A" (22 screens)
  
• Theatrical trailer (2:23)
  
• All supplements in widescreen
  
• Optional English or French subtitles, and close captioning
  

This is the TREK in which Kirk saves the whales.

He also, in passing, saves the earth.

Still one of the most popular, if not the most popular, TREK tale since "The Trouble with Tribbles," THE VOYAGE HOME is a valuable lesson in how to make a STAR TREK movie.

First, don't kill off any of your characters unless they really want out of their contract. They killed off Spock in II, only to revive him in III, and they are still dragging out the effects of that story, a very boring subplot, in IV. And the handlers of the franchise have continued the error with NEMESIS. Oy! When will they ever learn? Yes, I know that II, III, IV make a trilogy, but just like the STAR WARS trilogy, it didn't start out to be one. In both cases, it's the result of moviemakers scrambling to make more money, eh, oh, excuse me, "please the fans." Otherwise, why would Paramount, as revealed on this disc, strike the sets after each movie? As Shatner says on his audio track, "We're always being cancelled!"

Second, emphasize the people over the special effects. Except for some costumes, two fake whales, a few intergalactic vistas, a ship, a "probe," and a few other things, most of this movie takes place in San Francisco, a special effect in itself. Even the Klingon ship the crew members use is "cloaked," i.e., invisible, i.e., something no one has to pay for. And the film is wildly successful still, if for no other reason that beloved, familiar characters are put in an interesting situation in which they interact with the contemporary world and mock it.

Third, never forget the liberal pieties with which Roddenberry originated his series, with its TWILIGHT ZONEish morality tales propagandizing for population control, utopianism, peace, and universal harmony and issuing dire warnings about technology. IV criticizes whale-killers, the military-industrial complex, corrupt science, bureaucratic sludge, and wayward youth, all to howls of recognition and satisfaction from the Buddha-bellied viewer.

IV is a legitimately funny, fun, and moving movie that justified the TREK franchise when it was released back in '86. I assumed it pleased the hardcore fans, but it also entertained the half-assed followers of the series, such as myself, who kept up with the show and the movies in a desultory manner and can't tell the difference between a phaser and a crystal.

IV was released on DVD once before, but this double-disc set continues the tradition of Paramount methodically issuing all the TREK movies in special editions seriatim. It's packed, and I can imagine that the only people who could be disappointed by it are the hardcore fans who know everything about the history of the production already.

First off, there is an audio commentary track from star-co-writer-director Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner. This is Shatner's first TREK audio track (though my sources tell me that he did one previously for INCUBUS). The two men's coziness belies any suggestion that they are like Tim Allen and Alan Rickman in GALAXY QUEST. Repeating much of the material you are going to learn in the other supplements, they two chat their way through the film, Shatner impressing the auditor with his vocabulary. He uses such words as "sagacity," "rapidity," and deus ex machina, and even pronounces them correctly, though he has a little trouble with remembering the title of a time travel TREK episode, and can't quite get out the phrase "six degrees of separation." Nimoy says that an extra whom Chekov talks to on the streets of San Francisco ad libbed her lines, but elsewhere on the second disc one of the producers says that she was a real person unsuspectingly giving a real answer whom they had to chase down and have sign a release from.

In a kind of infinifilm technique, there is also a text commentary written by Michael and Denise Okuda, co-authors of THE STAR TREK ENCYCLOPEDIA, which runs along the bottom of the screen in yellow subtitles, over the image rather than in the black border. Incidentally, this feature did not work on my Toshiba player (I got the Nimoy-Shatner track again), but did appear on my computer.

Supplements heat up with disc two. Part One is "The STAR TREK Universe, and has four features. "Time Travel: The Art of the Possible" is a video interview with three quantum physicists, Nick Herbert, Fred Alan Wolf, Jack Sarfatti, who talk about the possibility of time travel. There is no consensus, and the concept is still a little hard to understand. "The Language of Whales" features a marine biologist named Ree Brennin and is exactly what it sounds like. "A Vulcan Primer" is a discussion by TREK novelist Margaret Wander Bonanno about the rules and rituals of Spock's culture. "Kirk's Women" is an amusing film essay on one of the most famously campy aspects of the original series, featuring interviews with Catherine Hicks, Katherine Browne, Louise Sorel, and Celeste Yarnell. God, how we miss those sexy aliens and crewmembers in their short skirts and go-go boots.

Part Two focuses on Production and kicks off with a lengthy "making of" featurette that goes into quite a bit of detail. Called "Future's Past," it includes interviews with Nimoy, Shatner (in a jokey mood, though I never think he is really joking), the producers, and the writers, including Nicholas Meyer. This material continues with "On Location" about the hazards and joys of shooting in San Francisco, and that is followed by "Dailies Deconstruction," which takes two takes each of six set ups filmed on location on April 26, 1986 and lets the viewer see the actors doing variations on their lines and movements. "Below-the-line: Sound Design" is an interview with Mark Mangini, the sound effects engineer, who describes how he got the sounds of the probe and the whales.

Part Three concerns Visual Effects, and this is probably the section that the fanboys will hit first. It only comes in two parts, "From Outer Space to the Ocean: The Visual Effects of STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME" and "The Bird of Prey" and is fairly brief.

Part Four is an interesting feature containing original, unedited interview footage with Nimoy, Shatner (14:32), DeForest Kelley (spelled "De Forest"). Nimoy is relaxed and funny and you can see that he takes direction very well; it's fascinating to see him pick up on the interviewer's cues. Shatner's interview is conducted on a noisy outside set, and the brownnosing British interviewer doesn’t seem quite to know how to take the actor. DeForest Kelly is interviewed on a set, and haunts the viewer with his resemblance to Roger Corman. He is just about to reveal the source for Bones's character, a journalist whom Roddenberry knew of, but then can't think of the name. Frustrating.

Part Five comprises an interview with Gene Roddenberry's son in "Roddenberry Scrapbook," and a profile of the actor who played Spock's father, in "Featured Artist: Mark Lenard." Finally, there is an archive section that includes a montage of stills from the set, storyboards for eight sequences from the film, and theatrical trailer. All the supplements are presented in widescreen, with optional English or French subtitles, and close captioning.

RINGU Cycle

THE RING

• Theatrical release: 2 October, 2002
  
• DreamWorks Home Entertainment
  
• $26.99
  
• 105 minutes (IMDB has 115 minutes)
  
• R
  
• Region 1
  
• Street Date: 4 March, 2003

• Single disc
  
• Color
  
• Widescreen transfer (1.85:1) enhanced for widescreen televisions, with a full frame version available for separate purchase
  
• Animated, musical menu with 23-chapter scene selection
  
• Single sided, dual layered disc
  
• Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround in English and French, DTS 5.1 Surround, Dolby Digital 2.0
  
• English, French, and Spanish subtitles, and close captioning
  
• One page insert with chapter list
  
• Keep case

• Cast: Naomi Watts (Rachel Keller), Martin Henderson (Noah), Brian Cox (Richard Morgan), Jane Alexander (Dr. Grasnik), Lindsay Frost (Ruth Embry)
  
• Directed by Gore Verbinski
  
• Credited writers: Ehren Kruger, from the 1998 screenplay RINGU by Hiroshi Takahashi, derived from the novel Ringu by Kôji Suzuki
  
• Cinematography: Bojan Bazelli
  
• Editing: Craig Wood
  
• Significant music: Hans Zimmer, with additional music by James Michael Dooley, Henning Lohner, and Andy Patalan (uncredited)

Plot in one sentence: A Seattle reporter delves into the sudden deaths of various teenagers who watch a mysterious video.

Extras:

• "DON'T WATCH THIS" (15:29)
  
• Additional trailers for RINGU (:26), CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (2:26), 8 MILE (:34)
  

The much-anticipated THE RING (read my review of the theatrical release—if you dare!) hits the shelves with little or no extras, but a beautiful transfer and good sound.

DreamWorks has issued "point discs" before, such as ALMOST FAMOUS, discs that as it were stick their toes in the commercial market and see if there is any warmth, to be followed, if there is some heat, by a special edition later on. Is it possible that there will be another RING down the line, say in October, or at some time if and when there is a RING sequel?

This is a bare bones disc. There is nothing inherently wrong with that. I would rather have a fantastic transfer of a good movie than a shitty transfer of a bad movie but with 10,000 extras. THE RING is a special case, however. It's a cult, not quite yet on the order of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, though it will be a longer lasting cult; and it is only one of six RING movies all total, based on a bestselling Japanese horror novel (the current issue of VIDEO WATCHDOG, number 92, has a survey of the RING cycle by Richard Harland Smith). There is a great deal of supplement potential in this movie: A Verbinski/Watts audio track; deleted scenes (if there were any: it seems like a pretty tight script); a special effects feature; the original RINGU, or at least a comparison of Verbinski's version to scenes from the others. But most significant of all, the "ring" videotape itself as a stand-alone feature. Created by Method Studios, it's a bit of footage that comes across like a David Fincher credit sequence, with BLAIR WITCH sounds in the background. But DreamWorks's disc has none of these things.

The one supplement of note on the disc is Gore Verbinski's untitled short that is suppose to "reveal more electrifying secrets" of THE RING. It's a 15-minute summary of the whole movie, a glorified trailer, with some additional footage, but I didn't get much out of it.

Nevertheless, I think that the status of THE RING is going to grow over time, especially now that it is out on disc and people can watch it in the film's actual setting (much like seeing THE BLOB or THE TINGLER in a neighborhood movie theater). The American version clears up some of the difficulties of the original, and adds to the mythos. It will be interesting to see how DreamWorks nurtures this franchise over time.

Extras:

• "DON'T WATCH THIS" (15:29)
  
• "Ring" video, hidden as an Easter egg (2:00)
  
• Additional trailers for RINGU (:26), CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (2:26), 8 MILE (:34)
  

RING note 3/4/03: A reader named Scott B. writes to point out that in fact the actual "ring" video is on the disc, but hidden. His directions are: "At the main menu put the red arrow next to 'play movie' and press up. The arrow should disappear. Then press enter and the freaky two minute video should play." Well, I am glad DreamWorks included that component of the movie in the package, and that Scott B. can alert the readers to it, but here is my philosophy on Easter eggs: Fuck 'Um! Hey, if you want me to view the material on your disc, make it accessible already! On a weekly basis, I have anywhere from four to six or more DVDs to watch and write about in detail. Frankly, I have neither the time, nor the computer programmer's bent, for fussing around on a disc looking for shit that the manufacturers have "cleverly" hidden! I swore off Easter eggs some time ago, specifically with the release of the second MEMENTO disc and the first HARRY POTTER movie. If anybody wants to know about them, there are plenty of websites that specialize in this supposedly "fun" feature. I only include this update because I stupidly said that the disc didn't have it.

NOTE, 3-12-2003: Inspired by a reference on the excellent Mobius Home Video Forum I revisited the "Don't Read This" supplement on the disc and discovered that it is in fact a suite of deleted scenes organized in near chronological but tricked up with editing stylings by Verbinski and Co. Seeing it again outside the rush of deadlines I see that it is a pretty good way to offer up deleted scenes which are separated by bits of the "ring" video. The scenes include: Noah knocking on the door; Naomi Watts looking through one of the dead girl's rooms (her niece?) and finding the one hour photo ticket; her son drawing maniacally; Watts confronting her sister about her daughter's unknown boyfriend, with a scary flash in it; a montage of medical forms; Noah searching Watts's apartment for the ring tape; Watt's in a video store with a snotty clerk; a montage of the kids' vacation photos, which get "dirtier"; Watts at the cottage, and walking along the porch; Noah entering the office of the lodge and finding suspicious evidence (which is creepier when you know what happens at the end of the movie), while Watts breaks into the Morgan's house and finds a bizarre diary; Noah finding the lodge manager in a canoe; Watts on the Morgan ranch; Watts interviewing some fish factory employees about the Morgans (which explains more of the plot), intercut with a more bloody suicide and child murder; and what was undoubtedly the film's original last shot, a long tracking shot through a the video store until the camera rests upon the ring tape, resting quietly between THE TENANT and THE PARALLAX VIEW. Clearly the reason for these cuts was the MPAA. Besides being violent, they show the kids in a kind of Larry Clark-Calvin Klein orgy, and Noah mouths the word "fuck." The supplement made me like the disc better and like Verbinski better (I've always liked MOUSE HUNT). Watts is perfect in this role, and if they do a sequel I hope she's in it. The supplement also suggests that if DreamWorks does another version of the film on disc it could be a "harder" R version, with all the scenes put back in.

The Old College Try

THE RULES OF ATTRACTION

• Theatrical release: 11 October, 2002
  
• Lion's Gate Home Entertainment
  
• $24.99
  
• 110 minutes
  
• R
  
• Region 1
  
• Street Date: February 18, 2003

• Single disc
  
• Color
  
• Widescreen transfer (1.78:1) enhanced for widescreen televisions, with a full frame version on the flip side
  
• Animated, musical menu with 24-chapter scene selection
  
• Single sided, single layered disc
  
• Dolby Digital 2.0
  
• Close captioning
  
• Sixteen page Lion's Gate catalog insert
  
• Keep case

• Cast: James Van Der Beek (Sean Bateman), Shannyn Sossamon (Lauren Hynde), Jessica Biel (Lara Holleran) Ian Somerhalder (Paul Denton), Fred Savage (Marc), Clifton Collins Jr. (Rupert Guest), Thomas Ian Nicholas (Mitchell Allen), Eric Stoltz (Professor Lance Lawson), Faye Dunaway (Mrs. Eve Denton), Swoosie Kurtz (Mrs. Mimi Jared), Paul Williams (ER Dr. Phibes), Ron Jeremy (himself in a porno movie)
  
• Directed by Roger Avary
  
• Credited writers: Roger Avary, from Bret Easton Ellis's novel
  
• Cinematography: Robert Brinkmann
  
• Editing: Sharon Rutter
  
• Significant music: Songs by Milla Jovovich, among numerous others

Plot in one sentence: One drug-addled, sex-tinged term in the life of three college students.

Extras:

• Audio commentary track from Carrot Top
  
• Audio commentary track from Sharon Seymour, Ron Jeremy, Ian Somerhalder, Russell Sams
  
• Audio commentary track from Shannyn Sossamon, Theresa Wayman, Kip Pardue, and Clifton Collins, Jr.
  
• Audio commentary track from Jeramiah Samuels, Andy Milburn, Thomas Ian Nicholas, and Joel Michaely
  
• Audio commentary track from Robert Brinkmann and Harry Ralston
  
• Audio commentary track from Sharon Rutter and Eric Szmanda
  
• Sundance Channel's ANATOMY OF A SCENE (26:40)
  
• Theatrical trailer, widescreen (2:01)
  
• Unrated promo trailer, widescreen (1:17)
  
• Rated promo trailer, widescreen (1:35)
  
• Commercial for the source book (:17)
  
• Commercial for the CD (:26)
  

At this point in time Roger Avary has written/directed more movies than Quentin Tarantino, his erstwhile co-worker, friend, and collaborator (his 10 to QT's nine). And while QT's "body of work" is more culturally iconic, Avary's films are more "coherent" and—dare I say it—assured.

But that's debatable. I liked KILLING ZOE quite a bit but I don't know anyone else who did. And there is problems with RULES OF ATTRACTION. It's creative, has visual dexterity and some good performances, but at a certain stage of the film you wonder, what is the point? Why is this "college students on drugs" movie any different from, say, LESS THAN ZERO, another film based on a Ellis novel, or KICKING AND SCREAMING (also starring Eric Stoltz), or PROZAC NATION? Or different from other dynamic "speed" films such as GO or RUN LOLA RUN? Part of the problem is that Avary means something, he has a point to make, he is critical but also cares about his characters and is trying to capture a reality that he experienced, rather than recreate movie scenes he loves.

The film is about a term in the life of Sean Bateman (James Van Der Beek). Everyone loves him. Lauren (Shannyn Sossamon), a virgin, loves him, or at least did for a little while. Her ex-boyfriend, the gay Paul, loves him. And an anonymous and suicidal girl who writes him love letters on purple scented paper loves him (and commits suicide when he continues to not know she exists). Playing with time like many recent films, RULES charts the ups and downs (mostly downs) of its characters. The movie opens at its nadir, with a drugged, passed-out Lauren being date-raped in a college dorm during an end of term party, and at the same time being photographed by a nerdy NYU student and vomited upon by the wild man who is taking her from behind.

As with REQUIUM FOR A DREAM, you really need to like descending into hell to enjoy this movie. But it has much to recommend it. A clutch of interesting actors. A certain exaggerated accuracy about college life. Great camera work and editing (done with Final Cut Pro on a Mac). The bravura moment in RULES is when Lauren and Sean meet in a hallway. This scene is the subject of the supplement from the Sundance Channel's highly entertaining ANATOMY OF A SCENE.

The other supplements are massive. This is the first disc I've encountered with no less than six audio commentary tracks. The first is from the comedian Carrot Top, who basically pulls a MST3K on it ("Is everyone in this film fucking?#!"). More to the point are the commentary tracks first from Sharon Seymour, Ian Somerhalder, Russell Sams, then lead Shannyn Sossamon, Theresa Wayman, Kip Pardue, and Clifton Collins, Jr., then from Jeramiah Samuels, Andy Milburn, Thomas Ian Nicholas, and Joel Michaely, then from DP Robert Brinkmann and Harry Ralston, and finally from Sharon Rutter and Eric Szmanda. You are going to learn more about this movie than you ever thought you could know. I happen to love the idea that Avary would cram this stuff onto one disc. It's the same sort of offbeat humor that compelled him to tell the Academy and the whole world that he had to get off stage and pee while accepting his Oscar for best original screenplay.

Also on the disc are the theatrical trailer, widescreen, and two promo trailer, one rated, the other unrated, and two commercials, one for the source book, the other for the CD.

ROAD Rage

ROAD TO PERDITION

• Theatrical release: 12 July, 2002
  
• DreamWorks Home Entertainment
  
• $26.99
  
• 117 minutes
  
• R
  
• Region 1
  
• Street Date: 4 March, 2003

• Single disc
  
• Color
  
• Widescreen transfer (2.35:1) enhanced for widescreen televisions, with a full frame version available by separate purchase
  
• Animated, musical menu with 24-chapter scene selection
  
• Single sided, dual layered disc
  
• Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (a DTS version is sold separately), DD 2.0, and DD 2.0 in French
  
• Descriptions for the visually impaired
  
• English, French, and Spanish subtitles, and close captioning
  
• English, French, and Spanish subtitles for the audio commentary track
  
• Four-page insert with chapter titles and production information
  
• Keep case

• Cast: Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tyler Hoechlin, Liam Aiken, Daniel Craig, Ciarán Hinds, Stanley Tucci, Jude Law
  
• Directed by Sam Mendes
  
• Credited writers: David Self, from the graphic novel Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner
  
• Cinematography: Conrad L. Hall
  
• Editing: Jill Bilcock
  
• Significant music: Thomas Newman and John M. Williams

Plot in one sentence: A betrayed hit man takes his surviving kid on the road in a trek of revenge across the midwest.

Extras:

• Audio commentary track from directors Sam Mendes
  
• 10 deleted scenes with optional audio commentary: "Suppertime" (2:07), "Condolences" (2:45), "Words from the Heart" (:56), "Maternal Love" (1:42), "The Nightclub" (2:30), "Confession" (1:32), "The Motel" (2:06), "Gathering Information" (2:24), "A Dance" (3:02), "Mr. Capone" (1:31), "The Image of His Father" (1:29)
  
• HBO "The Making Of ROAD TO PERDITION" (25:01)
  
• CD soundtrack ad (:32)
  
• Cast biographies of Hanks (11 screens), Paul Newman (12 screens), Jude Law (seven screens), Jennifer Jason Leigh (eight screens), Stanley Tucci (eight screens), David Craig (five screens), Tyler Hoechlin (four screens), and Liam Aiken (four screens), with optional director commentary.
  
• Filmmaker biographies of Mendes (eight screens), Richard Zanuck (15 screens), Dean Zanuck (five screens), David Self (five screens), Walter F. Parkes (seven screens), Joan Bradshaw (four screens), Conrad L. Hall (five screens), Dennis Gassner, production design (three screens), Jill Bilcock, editor (four screens), Albert Wolsky, costumes (six screens), and Thomas Newman (seven screens).
  
• Production notes (24 screens)
  
• Photo gallery (20 screens with grey highlighting)
  

When will they stop raping our graphic novels? First the Hughes Brothers took Alan Moore's massive, detailed, unusually structured FROM HELL and turned it into a tale from the 'hood with 'hos and drugs. Then Sam Mendes, at the behest of DreamWorks and Fox, blanded-out Max Allan Collins's 1998 book, THE ROAD TO PERDITION. The filmmakers ripped, sawed, tore, and laid waste to the source novel. They couldn't even leave the title along. They had to drop the article.

The result is as far from Tarantino as a gangster film can get. Being a DreamWorks production it is a tale, of course, that emphasizes a child watching adult doings. But it is also a movie created by a clutch of filmmakers lauded with the industry's highest honors, taking a gritty, abrupt, experimental comic story and turning it into a ponderous and boring action film that is afraid of action. This is a movie with a big ego. You can tell by the slow, serious pace and the tinkling music. It is very impressed with itself and assumes you are impressed with it, too. It is a self-regarding, humorless film smitten with its own gravitas. It's so motionless it becomes a slide show about how to shoot a gangster film.

But I have already said much the same thing in my original review of the film at the time it came out, which I won’t boringly repeat here. Suffice it to say that ROAD TO PERDITION has its good points and bad points and that DreamWorks took none of my advice as to what to put on their DVD.

Among the film's good points are the lush, characteristically autumnal cinematography of the late Conrad L. Hall, and the sober music of Thomas Newman and John M. Williams, which the disc's menus burn into your brain.

Tom Hanks convinced me as a troubled enforcer (but I'm partial to Hanks and perhaps easier on him than others might be), but one gets a little sick of Paul Newman in the inevitable grand patriarch role. Anybody could have played this part and Newman seems to bring little new to it. Instead he's there solely for Oscar cred.

A lot of the things "wrong" with the film are explained by the supplements on the disc. The main feature is the audio commentary track from director Sam Mendes, who is getting to be an old hand at this sort of thing. Mendes offers up an informed line of chat, and allows the viewer to see behind the screen to the thinking he brought to bare on it. Mendes, primarily a stage director, notes how the film transitions from dark in the early scenes to light in the second half, and that over all the film takes the posture of the boy watching his dad. He makes the interesting point that rain creates intimacy, though he doesn't go all the way and note that throughout ROAD TO PERDITION death and violence in the film is associated with rain and water, as the interviewer of Mendes in a recent issue of the trade journal IN FOCUS notes, anonymously quoting yours truly. Mendes also notes that the scenes by the lake were shot on Lake Michigan, which the filmmakers managed to make look a lot like California. Mendes also says that he and his team "labored over those final words," words ("He was my dad"), by the way, which were so predictable that the audience in the theaters chanted them in unison. Mendes, who is still "dating" my prospective girlfriend Kate Winslet, also doesn't address the fact that the end of his movie is a raft of "family member shooting at the last minute" clichés from FATAL ATTRACTION and beyond time.

The HBO featurette "The Making Of ROAD TO PERDITION," is the usual thing, and if you like it you see Newman and Hanks and others standing around on the set waiting to be shot. The virtue of the short is that it does offer a few meager stills from the original Max Allan Collins graphic novel, at least acknowledging in some small fashion the source book.

Many reviewers complained that Jennifer Jason Leigh had a nothing part (so unlike the wives and females in AMERICAN BEAUTY). The 10 deleted scenes (with optional audio commentary) solve that mystery: Leigh spent most of her time on the cutting room floor. Deleted moments such as "Suppertime" and "Condolences" and "Maternal Love" are Leigh heavy. They don't enrich her character but at least they expand it. , "The Nightclub" is a longer version of Hanks's arrival at a club where he is supposed to be shot. It is a Scorsese-GOODFELLAS style long tracking shot that worked for me. The most insightful deleted scene is "Mr. Capone," which is the sole scene with Anthony LaPaglia as the Chicago gangland kingpin. Capone is presented as a very unimposing figure. He is overweight, his shirt-tales hang out, and he is suffering from a bad cold, elements of Mendes's "clever" deconstruction of the Capone mythos as generated by Lee J. Cobb, Robert De Niro and others. On his commentary track Mendes noted that he sought to "withholds violence" and here he withholds Capone, saying that he came to the conclusion that Capone was more forceful a presence in the film by not appearing. It baffles me as to how a character can be more of a presence by not being there at all, but then I'm not dating Kate Winslet, either.

The disc wraps up with a host of cast and crew biographies, obviously compiled before the death of Conrad L. Hall, the original press kit offered up as "production notes," a photo gallery in which the images are annoyingly partially obscured by grey highlighting, and an ad for the CD soundtrack—but not the theatrical trailer.

Dead Head

HALF PAST DEAD

• Theatrical release: 15 November, 2002
  
• Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment
  
• $26.95
  
• 98 minutes
  
• PG-13
  
• Region 1
  
• Street Date: 4 March, 2003

• Single disc
  
• Color
  
• Widescreen transfer (1.85:1) enhanced for widescreen televisions, with full frame option
  
• Static, musical menu with 28-chapter scene selection
  
• Single sided, dual layered disc
  
• Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround in English and DD 2.0 French
  
• English and French subtitles, and close captioning
  
• One sheet insert with chapter titles
  
• Keep case

• Cast: Steven Seagal, Morris Chestnut, Ja Rule, Nia Peeples, Kurupt, Tony Plana, Stephen J. Cannell, Claudia Christian, Bruce Weitz, Linda Thorson
  
• Directed by Don Michael Paul
  
• Credited writers: Don Michael Paul
  
• Cinematography: Michael Slovis
  
• Editing: Vanick Moradian
  
• Significant music: Tyler Bates and Ken Jorgan

Plot in one sentence: Undercover FBI agent on New Alcatraz stumbles into a heist by a penologist gone bad.

Extras:

• Audio commentary track with director Don Michael Paul
  
• Three deleted scenes: "The Shooting" (1:29), "Where's the Gold?" (1:06), "Taking Care of Hubbard" (:53)
  
• Theatrical trailer, widescreen (2:24)
  
• Additional trailers: I SPY (2:28), NATIONAL SECURITY (2:06), XXX (1:32), all widescreen
  
• "The Making of HALF PAST DEAD" (13:15)
  

Franchise Pictures is the elephant's graveyard of movie-makers. It's where old, washed-up action stars (Stallone, Willis, Seagal, Russell, Travolta) go to make their last tired films with their stunt doubles. In recent years the company, owned by laundry chain magnate Elie Samaha, has turned out BALLISTIC, THE WHOLE NINE YARDS, CITY BY THE SEA, 3000 MILES TO GRACELAND, GET CARTER, BATTLEFIELD EARTH. There are some noble films within the company's filmography, such as THE ANIMAL FARM and THE PLEDGE, but for the most part Samaha's movies come across like Bruckheimer wannabees, with hard-driving rock scores set to clipped editing styles for basically well-shot movies graced with the occasional odd camera angle.

Steven Seagal is the latest weight-challenged action hero to fall into Samaha's embrace. In HALF PAST DEAD, he is Sascha Petrosevitch (what is it with Seagal and his Eastern European noms de guerres?). At the start of the film he is arrested with his buddy Nick Frazier (Ja Rule), and they are sent to New Alcatraz, which is run with a firm hard by another old action film actor, Tony Plana.

It comes to pass that Nick and Sascha have joined the island community just prior to the execution of one Lester (HILL STREET BLUES's Bruce Weitz in Lector mode), who robbed some gold and buried it a long time ago but is only now being executed for killing several federal agents in the process. Things get complicated when the execution is "stayed"—by Donny (Morris Chestnut), a member of the New Alcatraz think tank who bursts in with his team to force Lester to reveal the location of his millions, much to the shock of Donny's boss, Hubbard, played action TV show writer Stephen J. Cannell (another old timer who turns up is Linda Thorson as a supreme court judge on the isle to watch the execution: she was the post-Rigg — and underrated — partner to John Stead on THE AVENGERS). In DIE HARD fashion, Sascha, who is really an undercover FBI agent trying to find the guy who killed his wife (an associate of Nick's), now has to clean up this mess from within, fighting off the high kicks of one dame (Nia Peeples, in Trinity mode) and the urgent needs of another (his FBI boss, played by Claudia Christian).

It's all harmless, low-grade, second rate multi-ethnic nonsense in the tradition of AN INNOCENT MAN and TANGO AND CASH, and passes the time until DIE HARD 4 or CON AIR 2 come around. It has violence, but muted violence (it's hard to see what's happening in the darken environs of the prison, but it is clear that there is a lot of shooting going on). The disc presents the film as if it is the latest Hannibal Lector extravaganza, with loads of extras. One wonders what kept them from releasing a two-disc set.

The main supplement is an audio commentary track with director Don Michael Paul. DMP has worked on PACIFIC BLUE and SILK STALKINGS (a Cannell show), and as an actor starred in ALOHA SUMMER. He also wrote HARLEY DAVIDSON AND THE MAROLBORO MAN, one of the more fun oddball pairings (Don Johnson and Mickey Rourke) with a fairly witty script. On his yak track Paul reveals that the film was written 10 years earlier as "The Rock" (superseded by the other ROCK), and was actually shot in Germany under severe time constraints rather than on Alcatraz proper. DMP gives a calm, reasonably audio track, and it's one of those educational tracks about the difficulties of making "big" action movies on small budgets.

Also on hand is "The Making of HALF PAST DEAD" which is about one-third trailer, and the rest star interviews and behind the scenes footage. A notable quote is Paul reassuring the audience that "This movie has a lot of characters. Everyone can find someone that they like." The principal benefit of this "making of" is that you get to see Nia Peeples in her swashbuckling garb without the impediments of smoke, dark, and swift editing, although she does at times look a lot like Michael Jackson on "bullet time."

The disc also offers three deleted scenes. In "The Shooting" we see in quasi-flashback form how Petrosevich lost his wife (the point seems to be that he didn't do much to save her as he seems to be blocking himself with her body in a far from Tibetan act of self preservation). "Where's the Gold?" is one of several interrogation scenes in which Donny tries to get more info out of Lester about the location of the gold. "Taking Care of Hubbard" is Stephen J. Cannell's death scene. Finally, there is the theatrical trailer, and additional trailers for I SPY, NATIONAL SECURITY, and XXX , all widescreen.

Strike Out

BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY

• Theatrical release: 26 August, 1973
  
• Paramount Home Entertainment
  
• $19.99
  
• 97 minutes
  
• PG
  
• Region 1
  
• Street Date: 4 March, 2003

• Single disc
  
• Color
  
• Widescreen transfer (1.85:1) enhanced for widescreen televisions
  
• Static, silent menu with 15-chapter scene selection
  
• Single sided, single layered disc
  
• Dolby Digital mono
  
• English subtitles and close captioning
  
• One sheet insert with chapter titles
  
• Keep case

• Cast: Michael Moriarty, Robert De Niro, Vincent Gardenia, Ann Wedgeworth, Heather MacRae, Barbara Babcock, Danny Aiello
  
• Directed by John Hancock
  
• Credited writers: Mark Harris, from his novel
  
• Cinematography: Richard Shore
  
• Editing: Richard Marks
  
• Significant music: Stephen Lawrence

Plot in one sentence: A pitcher looks after the catcher he knows is dying of cancer.

Extras:

• Zero
  

Somewhere in the course of his MEMOIRS, playwright Tennessee Williams dons his purple velveteen prognosticator's cap and predicts that Michael Moriarty will arise to become the new Brando-Dean-Clift, carrying forward the torch of dynamic, internalized, realistic, neurotic acting.

For some reason I have the memory that Williams was basing this opinion on having seen BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY, but at the same time I cannot imagine the hypochondriacal bard having much interest in the doings of athletes.

If, indeed his opinion was based on seeing BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY, he must have been nuts. How could he favor the bland blond Moriarty over the characteristically unpredictable De Niro? Moriarty comes across like the kind of dull, faceless actor you see in a billion TV shows. With his thick accent and monotonal vocal range, Moriarty seemed more destined to end up as a prosecutor on LAW & ORDER, which is what he did. Meanwhile, De Niro is so real, you might not think he is acting.

Maybe that's the problem. De Niro was so real that Williams couldn't tell that the actor had carefully studied Southern accents in order to recreate a pristine Cracker drawl and learned how to spit tobacco. Or maybe Williams meant De Niro but mixed up the two thespians in a post pill-popping haze. Never write your memoirs just after the cocktail hour.

But we need not tarry over BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY much longer. Just in time for the start of the baseball season, this adaptation of Mark Harris's novel, one in his series of books about the fictional New York Mammoths, comes to tell us the story of Henry Wiggen (Moriarty). He's a clean-cut pitcher for the Mammoths who has a beautiful blonde wife (the achingly cute, blonde Heather MacRae) and an eye for the main chance in his post-baseball career, selling insurance on the side to fellow baseball players.

As the movie begins, he has learned that the other member of his battery, Bruce Pearson (Robert De Niro), has contracted cancer (basically, the movie seems to start about 15 minutes into the story, as if the producers tore out the first 15 pages of the script). The rest of the film charts how Wiggen protects the dumb but earnest tobaccy-chewing Pearson from his teammates' ribbing and needling (called "ragging" in the film), and by doing so unites the team into a winning unit, while Pearson, in one of those cruel paradoxes of life, has the best season of his career. In the end, Wiggen has resolved never to "rag" anyone again. As Andrew Sarris wrote in his original review of the film back on September 6th, 1973, the film "is not so much a work of articulated art with irony and complexity and depth as it is an expert massage job on the tear ducts," though he adds that "there is nothing wrong with enjoying the pornography of sentimentality as long as one does not confuse it with the poetry of sentiment."

BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY didn't look so hot in the first place, being over-lit and poorly framed, but Paramount doesn't help the film's rep by issuing a disc of the movie derived from a bad print (or the previous video tape). The sound is also shitty, shredded and tinny, much like the original film. The disc has no extras, and really isn't worth a lot of time except for De Niro completists who would like to see an impossible sleek and young looking De Niro in his pre-TAXI DRIVER days.

NEXT TIME: THE AWFUL TRUTH, I SPY, I AM CURIOUS:YELLOW, and more!

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