"Recently-released DVD You Must Buy Right Now": "Malcolm X"
Film: A+
DVD: A-
One of the marks of great cinema is the creation of a character so compelling, fascinating, engaging and compulsively likable that one of the primary motivations to watch the movie is simply to spend time with them.
Most of the best films of the '90s possess such a character: Police Chief Marge Gunderson of "Fargo," the definition of "badass" of Samuel L. Jackson's character, Jules Winfield, in "Pulp Fiction" and, of course, Hannibal Lecter in "Silence of the Lambs."
This concept is displayed best in Spike Lee's masterpiece "Malcolm X." Why do I watch it over and over again? Simple: to spend time with Malcolm.
Among the many gifts that Lee and his team gave the world when he made "Malcolm X," this is perhaps the most emotionally fulfilling. Just pop in the DVD, and there you go --- 202 minutes with Malcolm, thanks to a Denzel Washington performance that can best be described as a spiritual possession.
And now, thanks to Warner Bros. home video, who finally got their heads on straight and put out a proper DVD of "Malcolm X," they'll provide the 202 minutes of Malcolm and raise us 92 more. In the new special edition, they provide us with two discs, the second of which features an Oscar-nominated 1972 documentary about Malcolm.
This documentary, at times, is almost as emotionally intense as Lee's film. It's also a testament to Washington's performance as the two of them seem almost identical.
There's also a great, new making-of documentary that really digs deep and provides comments from such people as Rev. Al Sharpton and director Martin Scorsese. This is more than some quick, pat-on-the-back, wimpy little featurette like the kind you find on so many DVDs.
Several deleted scenes are also included with introductions from Lee.
It's always a plus when the director takes the time to provide context for excised sequences.
Two elements mar an otherwise solid DVD presentation. The first is that the film is chopped in half, forcing the viewer to insert the second DVD to watch the rest of the film. This is unacceptable.
The commentary is also flawed. It features Lee, director of photography Ernest Dickerson, costume designer Ruth Carter and editor Barry Brown. The four were obviously recorded separately and then spliced together. A single continuous track with just Lee or with the four of them all in one room would have been better.
Regardless, it's still an excellent DVD for one of the most fulfilling films of our time.
New theatrical release: "Hitch"
D+
The new Will Smith romantic comedy "Hitch" started off clever and likable with a visual flair that most comedies don't possess. Smith played it cool rather than annoying.
The film stars Smith as a "date doctor" who coaches socially-inept men on their first few dates. The irony comes when he tries to woo a gossip columnist and Murphy's law swings into full force.
Forty-five minutes in, the thought was, "Wow. This is much better than it looked and it's somewhat entertaining. Looks like a B." It was not particularly funny, but at least it was pleasant and fun.
It was then that the standard equipment of the romantic comedy appeared: man keeps secret, woman finds out, big misunderstanding ensues, action-packed climax sets things right.
Some movies can survive the formula if there's enough originality and engaging performances to compensate. Too bad the film used up all its energy early on, like a sprinter running a marathon.
Thus there was nothing to rescue the audience from going through the gears of the movie's machine.
Such a tragedy --- at the beginning it was fresh and lively; by the end, I was bored, waiting for it to end.
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