John Patrick Shanley’s Academy Award-nominated adaptation of his own Tony-winning play Doubt is arguably this week’s most significant new release, though what crackled on stage comes off a little stiff on screen, even with Shanley tilting the camera like a madman. Honestly, although Doubt’s script and performances are clearly superior, the movie is every bit as heavy-handed as the overblown remake of the sci-fi classic The Day The Earth Stood Still, also out this week. But The Day The Earth Stood Still has a spaceship and a robot. Choose accordingly.
On the animation front, the clunky feature adaptation of Kate DiCamillo’s Newberry-winning novel The Tale Of Despereaux arrives, ready to beguile and frustrate in equal measure. And Disney is repackaging its store of classic shorts yet again, this time in the “Disney Animation Collection:” stripped-down discs anchored by longer shorts like Mickey And The Beanstalk and Three Little Pigs. Classics-wise, the big news of the week is Universal opening its vaults and letting out a set of rarely seen films from the early ‘30s, made prior to Hollywood’s adoption of the family-friendly Hays Code. (Most intriguing title: Merrily We Go To Hell.) In a separate deluxe set, Universal is also releasing Cecil B. DeMille’s code-testing 1934 version of Cleopatra, preserving its lavish sets and tastefully naked slave girls.
Finally, if the opulence of Cleopatra makes you nostalgic for a time in this country when we could throw money around like a linebacker at Scores, let the documentary I.O.U.S.A. bring you back to Earth. In carefully argued, easy-to-grasp terms, documentarian Patrick Creadon explains that even when we thought we had money, we were actually broke, and that we’re likely to stay broke for a very long time. It’s a movie scarier than any slasher flick.
13 Most Beautiful… Songs For Andy Warhol Screen Tests
Plexifilm, $34.98
2010: The Year We Make Contact
Warner Blu-ray, $28.99
Above The Law
Warner Blu-ray, $28.99
