DVD 6/10/08: The Signal, The Grand, The Bucket List, Jumper, Intervention: Season One: Then and Now, Sidekick, John Adams, Comedy Central: Home Grown, Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes: The Complete First Season
The Signal (R, 2007, Magnet/Magnolia)
We’ve all heard about how television can rot the brain, but who knew the technology had come this far? No one, really, until a scrambled signal on New Year’s Eve possesses some people to suddenly turn on other people, which in turn makes those people turn on everyone else because nobody knows who is out to get whom. Is group A crazy, or is group B crazy, or is group A crazy for thinking group B is crazy and killing them even though group B is fine but simply afraid of group A? Who knows? It’s a mess, and “The Signal” probably would not have it any other way, skillfully and sometimes beautifully jumping from comedy to bloodbath to dark horror to something out of a dinner theater play without slowing down to check its pulse. All this insanity eventually forces the film to paint itself into a bit of a corner, which in turn leaves it scrambling for an ending that isn’t entirely neat or logical even by the loose definition established here. At that point, depending on your perspective, you’ll either stand validated in your hatred of everything that came before it or ready to just go along for whatever last leg this ride takes you down. If you like the characters and scenarios presented thus far — and “The Signal” packs in a lot to love for an audience whose mind operates on the same wavelength — the plausibility of the ending is practically inconsequential.
Extras: Director commentary, deleted scenes, short film “The Hap Hapgood Story,” two behind-the-scenes features, three bonus transmissions (with introduction).
The Grand (R, 2007, Anchor Bay)
The ultimate achievement of a good mockumentary is its ability to make you laugh out loud. But if you don’t have the spirit of Christopher Guest in you, getting the viewer to at least buy into the drama and forget it’s a fake documentary is a pretty good consolatory feat. That, in the end, is what “The Grand” — a mockumentary about a fictional poker tournament not unlike the World Series of Poker — has going for it the most. The film leans on some weak poker humor while it rolls out its cast of characters (among others, Woody Harrelson, Chris Parnell, David Cross, Cheryl Hines, Richard Kind and Dennis Farina), and some wooden cameos turned in by real Poker Pros don’t help matters much. Fortunately, the humor is just decent enough to tie us over until “The Grand’s” second phase, which focuses less on the game and more on the people playing and calling it. It’s at this point that the film not only becomes considerably funnier, but strangely compelling as well. If the poker jokes don’t grab you, finding out who wins the tournament — and rooting for the character you like the most — just may.
Extras: Director/writer commentary, deleted scenes, alternate endings, player profiles, YouTube contest winner.
The Bucket List (PG-13, 2008, Warner Bros.)
Putting down “The Bucket List” is an act of seeming evil not unlike making fun of your grandmother’s inability to play “Call of Duty 4.” The failure to execute is plain for all to see, but that doesn’t mean it feels good to point it out. “List” is, after all, a syrupy sweet movie about two dying men (Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman) from very different walks of life who meet in a hospital room and decide, rather impulsively, to make the most of the time they have left. That’s a nice, inspiring message we all could heed, and it’s hard to deny the might of the actors in charge of delivering it. But for all “List” does — and perhaps because of all it attempts to do — there’s something missing. The film bravely illustrates the horrors of terminal illness, but only for so long until it loses its nerve and cut to some filler drama or a cute diversion that comes dangerously close to trivializing whatever ugliness we just witnessed. Slowly but convincingly, the trite moments overwhelm the ugly stuff, and “List” becomes just another movie about people who are doing something most of us couldn’t possibly afford, monetarily or otherwise, to do. Well-intentioned though “List” may be, it simply feels too contrived, too preachy and too disconnected from reality to leave the mark it so clearly wants to leave.
Extras: Behind-the-scenes feature, music video.
Jumper (R, 2008, Fox)
In the world of “Jumper,” there are Jumpers, like David (Hayden Christensen), and there are Paladins, like Roland (Samuel L. Jackson). Most populously, just as in our world, there are ordinary schmucks like Millie (Rachel Bilson), who somehow go about their lives without ever having heard of Jumpers or questioning why their ability to warp from one point on the globe to another sometimes ends up with one instantly crashing into a populated area they weren’t anywhere near mere seconds ago. How that’s possible is just one of several questions you might ask yourself after seeing “Jumper,” which wraps a simple and not-so-terrible gimmick and a classic good-versus-evil fight over the entirety of a movie that could have used a whole lot more. “Jumper” does explain why the Paladins are after the Jumpers — quite simply, the former sees the latter as too powerful for anyone’s good — but there’s a ton of potential mythology that goes shelved in favor of a silly love story that might as well provide the foundation of a Kate Hudson comedy. It’s dull, it reeks of corner cutting, and it robs a lot of valuable time from what could have made “Jumper” special. Instead, we jump, appropriately, from introduction to climax, and the final showdown has all the anti-climactic excitement of the NFL Pro Bowl.
Extras: Crew commentary, deleted scenes, animated Graphic Novel “David’s story,” five behind-the-scenes features.
Intervention: Season One: Then and Now (NR, 2005, A&E)
A&E may bill this as the complete first season of “Intervention,” but one could certainly make a strong argument to the contrary after taking a peek inside. The intention — subjects suffering from various addictions face their family and friends for an intervention and (hopefully) eventual treatment — certainly has merit. Should “Intervention” somehow inspire a viewer with a problem to look inside and fix that problem, then bravo. But it’s hard to imagine how, exactly, that’s supposed to happen given the show’s format, which spends 80 percent of its time on car crash footage of its subjects dealing with their addictions, another 15 on the actual intervention, the remaining 5 percent on a brief post-treatment update, and zero on the actual treatment process itself. That may be the result of privacy concerns or some other such issue that’s bigger than the show. Regardless, it results in the most crucial piece of the recovery puzzle going completely undocumented. What remains serves more as mindless entertainment than anything else, and it’s entirely feasible that the only positive message you reap from watching “Intervention” is that your problems aren’t near as bad as the troubles others have.
Contents: Four episodes, plus new updates on selected subjects.
Sidekick (NR, 2005, Warner Bros.)
Hey, here’s an idea: A geeky cube rat and comic book geek (Perry Mucci) discovers that one of his co-workers (David Ingram) may possess a smidgen of something resembling a superpower. The co-worker thinks it best to suppress it, but our giddy friend has other ideas, and yes, this does sound a little bit like “Heroes,” doesn’t it? In all fairness, though, “Sidekick” originally came to be in 2005. But it’s now 2008, “Heroes” exists, and if “Sidekick” has a superpower, it’s the ability to continually get in its own way. The film tries but rarely can maintain a balance, and if it isn’t being excessively heavy-handed, it’s mining too hard for laughs or taking some bizarre detour into darkness. Bad dialogue permeates the landscape, bad acting provides additional blows, a stable of one-dimensional characters makes these problems impossible to overlook, and our protagonist is so hammy and ridiculously nerdy that only Mucci’s mother could possibly root for him. “Sidekick’s” ending, if you can call it that, sets the table for a sequel that almost certainly will never come. That’s fine: Between a superior product on television and the film’s many failings, there likely won’t be much of an appetite for one in the first place. Daniel Baldwin also stars. No extras.
Worth a Mention
— “John Adams” (NR, 2008, HBO): The revered HBO miniseries, based on the acclaimed David McCullough book of the same name, wastes no time coming to DVD, and HBO gives it the dressing it deserves. Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney star. Contents: Seven episodes, plus McCullough retrospective, interactive historical guide and a behind-the-scenes feature.
— “Comedy Central: Home Grown” (NR, Various Years, Comedy Central): In case you don’t have cable and wonder what this Comedy Central thing is all about, this DVD should provide some nice insight. Includes episodes of “The Sarah Silverman Program,” “TV Funhouse,” “Strangers With Candy,” “Reno 911!” and “Root of All Evil,” as well as skits and samples from “Chappelle’s Show,” “Crank Yankers” and others.
— “Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes: The Complete First Season” (NR, 2006, Fox): It doesn’t appear that this animated cartoon ever will see a second season, but nice of whomever is in charge of naming the set to keep the door open anyway. Contents: 26 episodes (nine unaired), plus commentary, three behind-the-scenes features and a stills gallery.