Mamet’s genius doesn’t always translate to screen
“The Shield: The Complete Sixth Season”
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We love our antiheroes, from Capt. Ahab to Larry David, and such characters have made for some of the best drama and comedy conceived. Yet few characters are harder to get a hold on than Vic Mackey, the L.A. police detective played by Michael Chiklis in the FX network series “The Shield.” Mackey heads a special Strike Team, which allows him to play fast and loose with the technicalities of the legal system both to arrest (or otherwise stop) criminals and to pad his own pockets. That Chiklis, once the teddy-bear of an actor who starred as “The Commish,” was able to reinvent himself to play the hard-ball Mackey was almost as amazing as is this series’ ability to walk that fine line between exploitation and true-to-life human drama. DVD, which picks up where season five left off (following the murder of Curtis “Lem” Lemansky, played by Kenny Johnson), includes all 10 episodes, commentaries, deleted scenes. (four discs; not rated)
“Son of Rambow”
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If you didn’t catch this little import when it played Spokane theaters for, oh, five seconds, then you might have at least seen the trailer. And if you did, what you saw played like a mere child’s romp about two boys who make their own version of Sylvester Stallone’s original Rambo film, 1982’s “First Blood.” What you didn’t see in the trailer, though, was that the film overall is a more serious look at the problems that family life (religious and secular) cause the boys, who devote all their spare time to making their movie. The two young actors, Bill Milner and Will Poulter, are good. But the film, overall, goes in too many directions at once, from creepy family dynamics to the schism caused by a bus full of French exchange students. DVD includes commentary by director Garth Jennings, making-of featurettes, interviews. (1:35; rated PG-13 for reckless behavior, some violence)
“What Happens in Vegas”
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Never judge a film by its trailer. That advice has caused many film fans from passing up movies that are better than the trailers indicate. Sometimes, though, just looking at the movie poster is enough, and that certainly was the case with this bit of Hollywood flotsam. Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz, vying to see who could look the cuter, play a mismatched couple who, after meeting and marrying cute in Vegas, find themselves sentenced to six months “hard marriage.” The conceit is that they must stay married to claim a $3 million casino prize he won with her quarter. Can you guess what happens? There’s a bit of honest emotion in this film, but three minutes isn’t enough to make a good movie. DVD, which is available in Blu-ray, includes commentary by director Tom Vaughn, a chat with Kutcher and Diaz, making-of featurettes, deleted and extended scenes. (1:39; rated PG-13 for a drug reference, language, some sexual and crude content)
Also available: “A.K.A. Tommy Chong,” “Chicago 10,” “My Sassy Girl,” “Postal,” “Purple Violets,” “Uncounted,” “Virgin Territory,” “Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?”