Media Room

Burn After Reading (Universal, $29.98) - The Coen brothers are two of our most versatile directors. Like Woody Allen - another filmmaker who is equally master of both comedy and drama - the Coens take their laughs as seriously as their tears. They followed up their bleak Oscar-winning thriller “No Country for Old Men” with this riotous CIA farce with a sterling ensemble cast. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, John Malkovich and others star in one of the funniest films of the year, as Mr. Pitt’s blissfully stupid personal trainer stumbles on a computer disc with the tell-all memoir of just-fired CIA agent Mr. Malkovich. Extras include a making-of featurette, a comedy piece examining Mr. Clooney’s third outing with the Coens and, most interesting to local fans, a look at how these Hollywood stars created the dead-on satire of Washington insiders.

-

Bottle Rocket, Chungking Express, The Third Man, The Man Who Fell to Earth (Blu-ray, the Criterion Collection, $39.95 each) - “Bottle Rocket” is probably the most exciting of the Criterion Collection’s first four Blu-ray releases (See my article on the niche DVD distributor’s digital transfers at www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/12/criterion-digital-transfers-the-best-just-got-bett/) as we’re dealing with both a brand-new transfer and a brand-new array of special features. Wes Anderson’s first film is an interestingly flawed picture; originally a 13-minute short (and a big hit at the Sundance Film Festival in 1992), the picture suffers some damage to its overall integrity in the expansion to 90 minutes. The three-act structure feels both forced and aimless, not an easy trick to pull off. Leaving that aside, there’s plenty to enjoy here. The dialogue is affectionate and quirky, and, as Martin Scorsese noted in an Esquire essay included in the DVD’s booklet, the innocent and heartfelt acting of brothers Owen and Luke Wilson is a breath of fresh air.

The special features on this disc are extensive. Included are the original short as well as a handful of deleted scenes (some of which were reincorporated into the feature for the first time). One of the more intriguing features is an anamorphic widescreen test shot by Wes Anderson and cinematographer Robert Yeoman; comparing the test shot to the finished project gives the layman a pretty intriguing look at the less-understood decisions faced by filmmakers. The commentary with Owen Wilson and Mr. Anderson isn’t terribly informative, although a fan of the movie will glean some interesting trivia.

“Chungking Express” is another new release from Criterion and a nice little addition for anyone looking for an introduction to director Wong Kar Wai. It’s probably his most accessible film, and, according to the commentary track recorded by Asian cinema critic Tony Rayns, it perfectly captures the zeitgeist of a time and a place (namely, Hong Kong in the years before its handover by the British to the Chinese). Mr. Rayns’ commentary track is informative and interesting, although it can be tough sledding for those of us not well-versed in the intricacies of Asian cinema. The movie itself looks fantastic, with the sparkling new transfer giving extra heft to the innovative techniques Mr. Wong employed.

“The Third Man” is the most comprehensive disc in the group and probably the one most aided by the high-definition transfer. Black and white tends to get muddled at lower definitions as the shades of black blur together and white tends toward gray. The sharpness provided at 1080p is something to behold and the closest to film you’re likely to see outside the cinematheque. A pair of commentary tracks - one by Steven Soderbergh and Tony Gilroy, one by film scholar Dana Polan - are crash courses in filmmaking.

Mr. Soderbergh and Mr. Gilroy’s track is especially interesting; in it, they discuss basics of screenwriting (how long to wait to reintroduce a “call back” to something from earlier in the film, how to show and not tell, the importance of using film for all it’s worth instead of authoring little more than a spoken novel) and direction (framing shots, working around a recalcitrant star like Orson Welles). Also included are a handful of documentaries that take a closer look at the movie’s troubled production - the aforementioned Mr. Welles made life as difficult as possible for director Carol Reed, refusing, for example, to work in the sewers of Vienna and forcing the production company to build a lifesize set of the underground passageways in England. If you have to choose only one of these discs, do yourself a favor and pick up the British Film Institute’s No. 1 film of all time.

“The Man Who Fell to Earth” is probably the least seen of these films, and this is a welcome rerelease. David Bowie stars as an alien who comes to Earth to find a way to bring water to his homeland; he uses his superior intellect to create innovative technologies that turn a massive profit, hoping to use that money to get back to his home planet. The plot is largely secondary, however, to the surreal imagery and director Nicolas Roeg’s luscious, painterly landscapes. He, Mr. Bowie and co-star Buck Henry collaborate on a commentary track originally included on the 1992 laserdisc release. Fans of smart science fiction and experimental cinema (not to mention David Bowie) will find a great deal to enjoy here, and the lusciously shot imagery is more reminiscent of landscape painting than what you typically see in a feature film. Although not for everyone, Mr. Roeg’s feature is must-viewing - at least once.