Animated documentary, offbeat Brynner film released

Published: Friday, June 26, 2009 6:07 p.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 

Here are some of the new DVDs landing on shelves this week.

"Waltz With Bashir" (Sony Classics/Blu-ray, 2008; R for violence, language, nudity, sex; $39.95). Ari Folman's animated documentary — yes, animated documentary — is quite an accomplishment, as the filmmaker looks back on his time in the Israeli army more than 25 years ago.

Folman examines the nature of youthful events vs. middle-age memories, and whether the chaos of war is an excuse for certain action — or inaction. Are we complicit in horrifying events if we simply watch and fail to intervene?

As a teen soldier, Folman was sent to Lebanon in 1982 during the Israeli occupation, and now he uses his documentarian skills to interview fellow soldiers about what occurred there, using animated re-creations of events and memories, and even hallucinations.

Extras: widescreen, audio commentary, featurettes

Story continues below

"Catlow" (Warner, 1971, PG-13, $14.97). Yul Brynner takes an atypical comic role in this offbeat Western based on a Louis L'Amour novel. The film alternates between broad comedy and more serious action with Brynner as a gunslinger on the run from an old friend who's now a lawman (the always sturdy Richard Crenna) and a particularly nasty, ruthless killer (Leonard Nimoy, playing against type; he also has a nude scene!).

Extras: widescreen, trailer

"Phoebe in Wonderland" (Image, 2008, PG-13, $27.98). This is one of those love-it or hate-it movies, depending on how you respond to the story of a troubled young girl (Elle Fanning, younger sister of Dakota) whose obsessive-compulsive behavior puzzles her parents (Felicity Huffman, Bill Pullman) and frustrates her school principal (Campbell Scott).

When she bonds with an eccentric drama teacher (Patricia Clarkson) who is casting "Alice in Wonderland," Phoebe begins to see those around her as fanciful characters in daydreams of Lewis Carroll's stories.

Extras: widescreen

"Alice's House" (IndiePix, 2009, $24.95). Sad and sleazy tale of a Brazilian wife and mother who works as a manicurist and gets no respect from her cheating husband or despicable three sons, and who views her mother's life as a dead end she fears she will repeat. So she has an affair with a former childhood sweetheart as a means of escape.

Extras: widescreen, in Portuguese with English subtitles, featurettes, trailers

E-MAIL: hicks@desnews.com

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

Image
Sony Pictures Classics, Thinkfilm

Dakota Fanning in "Phoebe in Wonderland."

previousnext

Latest comments

Why do they hate us? Try asking

["yes, render unto God that which is God's, and marriage is definitly God's"]...

The kind of curiosity that led to your son's makeshift flamethrower is the...

"Your same train of thought says that homosexuality is already legitimate,...

White House mocks Sarah Palin

I WANT the President using a Teleprompter and an entire roomful of speech...

it could not happen to nicer people!

White House mocks Sarah Palin

Palin is not the best thing to happen to Democrats...trust me on this...but...

I've always wondered how anyone can honestly call someone else a hypocrite....

The paranoia of the Far Right is really working overtime today.

Letters: Return of liberties

To @ Why is that | 4:13 p.m. Feb. 9, 2010 Show me a liberal who's ever had...

State workers' 401k could be cut

Dear Scare Tactics: When I read these posts I'm always amazed at how angry...

Advertisements