Here's a selection of new movies on DVD for April, 2007.
April 3, 2007
Charlotte's Web
Dakota Fanning stars in this 2006 screen adaptation of E.B. White's beloved children's book, which was done back in 1973 as an animated musical. This time around most of the animals are real with mouth movements added when they talk. However, the title character, Charlotte the Spider (voice of Julia Roberts), is computer-animated. The story is about how Charlotte saves the life of a pig. Voices heard include Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, Oprah Winfrey, Cedric the Entertainer, Kathy Bates and Robert Redford.
The Good Shepherd
Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie star in this drama about the origins of the CIA that was directed by Robert De Niro, who appears in a key supporting role. The main character is Edward Wilson (Damon), who seems to be based on James Angleton. Jolie plays Wilson's wife, and De Niro plays a character rather like "Wild Bill" Donovan. The film traces Wilson's life from his days in Yale's Skull and Bones society through his Office of Strategic Services activities during World War II and up to 1961 in the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba.
Volver
Pedro Almodóvar wrote and directed this Spanish-language movie starring Penélope Cruz and Carmen Maura. The main character is Raimunda (Cruz), whose drunken husband is stabbed to death when he comes on to her teenage daughter. Raimunda puts his body in a restaurant freezer. Also, Raimunda's mother (Maura), who died in a fire several years earlier, seems to return from the dead and reside with Raimunda's sister (Lola Dueñas). Almodóvar has created a tragicomedy that celebrates the world of women.
April 10, 2007
Bobby
Emilio Estevez wrote and directed this drama that tries to capture the flavor of American life at the time of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination in 1968. The film is set at L.A.'s Ambassador Hotel, where RFK was fatally shot in the kitchen just after he won the California primary election. The movie interweaves the stories of nearly two dozen people, including hotel employees and guests, as well as campaign workers. Many well-known actors are in the large ensemble cast, and archival footage of RFK is inserted.
Payback -- The Director's Cut
Director Brian Helgeland was fired before this crime drama starring Mel Gibson was finished. Paramount then had additional footage shot and completed a version of the film that was released theatrically in 1999. A few years later, Paramount and Helgeland got together and created a version of the movie that is closer to the director's original intent. There's more focus on Gibson's character, but he is less sympathetic and a subplot involving his son's kidnapping has been cut. Also, Kris Kristofferson is no longer in the film.
Phantasm
A quirky, low-budget horror indie, Phantasm has had something of a cult following since its initial theatrical run in 1979. The protagonist, a boy of about 13, sees something strange at a funeral home and investigates. He soon provokes the wrath of a creepy mortician known as the Tall Man, who employs flying spiked metal spheres to drill into victims' heads. The Tall Man shrinks cadavers and then brings them back to life as demonic, hooded dwarf slaves. The movie is sometimes nightmarish, sometimes funny.
More April DVD Releases on the Next Page
