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 Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Rhys Meyers co-star in Woody Allen's excellent moral thriller Match Point, on DVD. |
While the Oscar voters didn't get it, or didn't want to because it was the marginalized Woody Allen whose career was being so spectacularly revived, Match Point was one of the best films of 2005.
Allen did get a nomination for his script, but the rest of the enterprise was ignored. Judge for yourself if that was fair when the widescreen DVD arrives tomorrow.
Match Point, set and filmed in London, England, is the filmmaker's best since Crimes And Misdeanors. Despite the cultural shift and distinct characters, it operates in the same territory, as a character-driven examination of moral turpitude, with structural elements of a thriller.
The ensemble is first-rate, starting with Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the rogue tennis pro with voracious ambitions in business and an unhealthy appetite for his best friend and brother-in-law's fiancee. That would be Scarlett Johansson, brilliant as the sexually charged American whose love for Matthew Goode can so easily be compromised.
Match Point, which plays as a sports metaphor for the luck in life's game of chance, is sexy, funny and then savage -- what no Woody Allen picture has been in years.
The DVD is being released with nothing in bonus materials, except for a trailer for another film. Allen likes his movies to speak for themselves -- and the transfer here is immaculate -- but this is so extreme it's sad.
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VINYL VISION: Charlize Theron is already one of the great screen beauties, when she is not deliberately mutating herself for a role. So slipping her into skin-tight vinyl and leather as a futuristic assassin-rebel in Aeon Flux is gilding the lily.
Too bad the movie itself is so silly, even incomprehensible. It is a live-action, big-screen version of Peter Chung's anime snippets from the 1990s on MTV. The anime, even when the segments were extended into episodes, didn't make any sense either, but they won audiences with the cool factor.
Aeon Flux fails because the stunning visuals are used in the service of a mediocre story that does not warrant the fuss.
Not that the DVD divas are willing to admit that. Out tomorrow in separate full and widescreen editions, the Aeon Flux DVD is boastful of its accomplishments. The featurettes do provide on-set insights, including the gem that Beatrix Aruna Pasztor's costume designs, bizarrely, were inspired by the 1970 film The Conformist. Also noteworthy is Theron's commentary with producer Gale Anne Hurd.
The DVD is being touted as a Special Collector's Edition and it actually pays off, if you are a fan of the film.
MYTH & MAYHEM: Years ago, Ridley Scott wanted to make Tristan + Isolde as an outer space romance. Instead, he produced director Kevin Reynolds' old-fashioned period piece set in Britain in the Dark Ages. The British tribes have to unite to fight the Irish but plans are thwarted when their greatest warrior (James Franco as Tristan) falls in love with the Irish king's daughter (Sophia Myles as Isolde).
Far from the Wagner opera, this Tristan + Isolde is a retro Hollywood romantic adventure played just a tad over the top. But it does have a lot of action appeal.
The DVD is out tomorrow in separate full and widescreen editions, with a decent lineup of extras, including two commentaries -- one with two producers, the other a solo job by screenwriter Dean Georgaris.
MARTINIZED: Shopgirl, based on Steve Martin's novella, was adapted by Martin, co-stars Martin as one of two men romancing Claire Danes, and his disembodied voice serves as the pretentious narrator, too. So any problems you have with this slight, awkward, if occasionally charming romantic comedy are Martin's responsibility. The DVD is out tomorrow with low-rent extras.