DVD Zone: December 2009
Star Trek
Paramount
With franchises such as Batman, Superman, even the Friday The 13th series seeing successful cinematic “reboots” over the past few years, did you think for a second Paramount was going to leave their biggest cash cow sitting on the shelf? Did you think the sun wasn’t gonna come up this morning?
Having seen four spin-off television series and 10 big-screen jaunts, the Star Trek brand seemed to have run out of steam after the vastly underrated “Enterprise” series. However, after a couple of years, someone realized that they needed something new to talk about at the conventions, so the original characters get hauled out of the mothballs and given a shiny new makeover.
With the original cast being so iconic, it could have been disastrous. Instead, just about everything works. Director J.J. Abrams, having achieved small-screen cred with “Alias” and “Lost,” deftly fills in the history and backstory. And, unlike “Lost,” there’s never a problem with wondering what the hell’s going on.
Chris Pine takes the handoff of Kirk beautifully, advancing the character’s smart-ass-maverick quality that began with Shatner. And Zachary Quinto of “Heroes” fame is quite simply perfectly cast as Spock. Also coming up big are Zoë Saldana as Uhura, John Cho from Harold And Kumar as Sulu, and the always reliable Bruce Greenwood as Captain Pike. (Trekkers will get the reference.)
Time travel has always been a tried-and-true plot device in the Trek world, and here it’s no different. Hey, ya gotta get Leonard Nimoy in the film somehow. This time, its Romulan bad guy Nero (Eric Bana) going back in time to try to destroy Vulcan, Earth, and every planet between as a little payback for his home world getting blown out of the sky.
Despite a couple of missteps (Anton Yelchin’s Chekov is way too young; Spock and Uhura hooking up, really?) Star Trek ranks with The Wrath Of Khan and First Contact as one of the franchise best big-screen efforts.
When it comes to disc selection, get the two-fer. It has deleted scenes, commentary, gag reels, behind-the-scenes features, and a downloadable copy for your iPod or iPhone.
Film:***1/2 Features: ****
Monty Python: Almost The Truth (The Lawyer’s Cut)
Eagle Rock
When you think about it, most of us have never lived in a world without Monty Python. The legendary British comedy troupe celebrate their 40th anniversary with the three-disc Almost The Truth. Contained in the set is the six-part BBC documentary commemorating the event on discs one and two, and classic bits such as “The Parrot Sketch,” “The Ministry Of Silly Walks,” and of course “Spam.”
The six-hour documentary has all five surviving members — John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin — as well as plenty of old interviews and archival footage of the late Graham Chapman. Over the course of the series, not only do we get insight from the five about the creative process, but also loads of clips from the series, movies, and rare unseen footage.
Also on hand are those who were influenced by the Python, such as Eddie Izzard, Tim Roth, Seth Green, Simon Pegg, and others.
Even if you can quote every line from every episode and every film (don’t laugh, I know people who can), Almost The Truth is essential to your collection.
Set: **** Features: ***
Also Available . . . When you think of artists getting together to combine talents, you immediately think of Willie Nelson and Ray Charles. I mean I do, don’t you? O.K., so it doesn’t look like it will work on paper, but The Willie Nelson Special Featuring Ray Charles (Eagle Rock) shows otherwise. Filmed in 1985, the 14-song set sees the pair run through classics like “Georgia On My Mind” and “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” as well as Willie flying solo on his keynotes “On The Road Again” and “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before.”
— Timothy Hiatt
