DVD REVIEW: Miami Vice (2006) ***

Introduction:

I've always been a fan of Miami Vice, the show that NBC pitched as "MTV cops." I remember seeing the actual 2 hour premiere on a Sunday night back in 1984. My 12 year-old eyes were taken by the kinetic opening montage filled with the beautiful sights of Miami and the distinctive sound of Jan Hammer's synthesized score. The fast cars and boats. The undercover assignments to bring drug dealers to justice. I was enthralled by all of it. My dad, sister and I would eventually be hooked on the Friday night show. The shows glitzy and gritty storylines and integration of music attracted not only viewers but also some great musicians and actors.

Among the many well-known bands and artists who contributed their music to the show were Jackson Browne, Phil Collins, Bryan Adams, Tina Turner, Peter Gabriel, ZZ Top, Dire Straits, Depeche Mode, The Hooters, Godley and Creme, Glenn Frey, U2, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Foreigner, The Police, Laura Branigan, Ted Nugent, Suicidal Tendencies, The Damned, and Billy Idol. Some of them even guest-starred in episodes, such as Phil Collins as a game show host (whose single "In the Air Tonight" became synonymous with the show), Glenn Frey as a drug smuggler, Willie Nelson as a retired Texas Ranger, Gene Simmons and Ted Nugent as a drug dealer. Some of the other actors that appeared were Miles Davis playing a pimp, Frankie Valli a mob boss, Danny Sullivan in his acting debut, played a racing driver which was incidentally his actual profession, Little Richard as a street preacher, and Leonard Cohen was an Interpol agent. In a bizarre move, auto executive Lee Iacocca appeared in one episode as a gun-crazy parks commissioner while G. Gordon Liddy added a realistically political edge to two episodes by starring as a politically-motivated drug runner.

Athletes also played guest roles on the show, as legendary Boston Celtics center Bill Russell appeared as a crooked judge with a huge gambling debt, with 1980s NBA superstar Bernard King playing his son, a star basketball player for the FIU Sunblazers. Boxer Roberto Duran appeared as a convict, while fellow pugilist Carlos Palomino appeared as a drug runner who runs a boxing gym as a cover. Other notable appearances include now well known stars such as Annette Bening, Bruce Willis, Viggo Mortensen, Ben Stiller, Chris Cooper, Wesley Snipes, Liam Neeson, Michael Richards, Chris Rock, Julia Roberts, Helena Bonham Carter, Melanie Griffith, Alfred Molina and Benicio Del Toro. The show also featured many up-and-coming television and film actors including Michael Madsen, Dennis Farina, Steve Buscemi, John Leguizamo, Charles S. Dutton, Lou Diamond Phillips, Ed O'Neill, Luis Guzmán, Ving Rhames, Jimmy Smits (who appeared in the pilot as Crockett's ill-fated original partner), Dan Hedaya, Bill Paxton, Bruce McGill, Garcelle Beauvais, Penn Jillette, Nathan Lane, Michael DeLorenzo, Giancarlo Esposito, Esai Morales, Vincent D'Onofrio and Ian McShane.

Shwew! Yeah. There's some really amazing talent and some surprising ones too.It just goes to show that for it's time, the show had an attraction from all aspects of the entertainment world.

I loved the characters of the show created and produced by Michael Mann. Vice detective Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) with his sunglasses, pastel suits complete with loafers and no socks, living on a boat with his pet crocodile, Elvis. Detective Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas with his three first names) came from New York City in pursuit of a drug lord named Calderone who killed his detective brother Raphael. Eventually the two detectives realize they are both in search of Calderone and team up in pursuit. Those two were the main characters but the supporting cast I liked just as much. There was fellow detectives Trudy Joplin (Olivia Brown) and Gina Calabrese (Saundra Santiago) who would go undercover with and without Crockett and Tubbs. The other detectives Switek (Michael Talbott) and Zito (John Diehl) added some comedic relief but always had the team's back. The glue that held the team together was their eventual lieutenant Martin Castillo (played with quiet intensity by Edward James Olmos). He was probably one of the coolest characters on television at the time. Always kept his cool. I remember the time when he had to take action and he got out this samurai sword. Alright!

The rest is 80's history. When I first heard that Michael Mann was updating the concept of Miami Vice for the big screen I was filled with trepidation and pessimism. Chicago's very own Michael Mann whose birthday is the day after mine (different year mind you) has put out some great movies over the years like "Thief", "Manhunter", "Last of the Mohicans", "Heat", "The Insider" and "Collateral" but it still made me nervous that he would be updating a show dear to my heart. Sure, the show is now quite dated but it excelled for what it was (plus I was watching it between the impressionable ages 12 to 17) still, I didn't see what more he could do with it. After recently watching this updated version that was released last July, It took me a while to soak it all in, but I have to say I'm not nervous anymore. My trust in Mann's abilities are restored....

MIAMI VICE (2006)

***

rated R (for strong violence, language and some sexual content)

2 hrs. 15 min.

written by: Michael Mann

produced by: Michael Mann & Pieter Van Brugge

directed by: Michael Mann

In the 2006 Miami Vice world you can forget the white suits and flared hair of the '80s. This glitz is gone, but the grit is still there and Mann gives us some sharp-edged material that truly shadows any recollection of his TV series. It's all here – his signature cinematography, strong characters, and tightly woven script. While the dialogue grips your attention (it has to cuz unfortunately, many of the characters mumble their lines which is why I watched it with English subtitles) with its lightning quick pace, the intricately confusing plot is equally as cold and heavy as the aesthetic elements of the film. Instead of being cool to behold like Mann's stellar outings with "Heat" and "Collateral", however, this film taxes the soul and confuses the mind. Yet, with gripping performances and some moments when the intense story truly shines through the clouds, Miami Vice comes washes up on shore as a fairly enjoyable, yet frustrating crime caper.

Crockett (Colin Farrell) and Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) are two undercover detectives working the underbelly of Miami. During one of their higher-profile engagements, a colleague phones in a life-threatened warning to Crockett regarding his involvement in the exposure of several government operatives. After receiving this call, the pair learns of the government's mission, who the target is, and how they can become involved. What ensues is an offer to both Crockett and Tubbs to be yanked into a very high profile drug syndicate that spans numerous continents.

As the pair sinks further into this underworld utilizing their own resources, aliases and talents, they begin to weave into the syndicate, gain their trust, and piece together the hierarchy. This hierarchy is much larger than the streets of Miami, however. Along the way, Crockett reaches out to the enemy by growing infatuated with Isabella (Gong Li), a professionally ambivalent financier that works with the syndicate to strategize and maximize profits. The further ingrained Crockett and Tubbs edge into the operation, the more their personal lives weave into their cause.

Mann knows how to craft one slick, stylish film. His eye for chilling cinematography, his ear for impeccably fitting audio accompaniment, and his wonderful ability to craft engaging characters set his films apart from the typical crime caper fare. Furthermore, Mann has a way with casting those quality characters with fitting actors. From Jamie Foxx's Tubbs to the fantastic work from John Ortiz as Yero (one of the dealers), each character is bestowed life through quality performances. This supporting cast was especially vibrant this time around, especially Gong Li and Naomis Harris (as Trudy Joplin). Farrell, even though a bit rough along the edges, stayed strong and fairly impressive as Crockett. Everything is here for Mann's next high-quality crime film possessing the same weight as his preceding works. I was totally disappointed in the casting of Barry Shabaka Henley as Lt. Castillo, who exuded no mystery or authority here. I did enjoy the character of Gina (Elizabeth Rodrigez) who played a crucial role in rescuing Trudy from some arian junkies. The supporting cast that excelled in their roles were good enough to carry the film yet I wanted to know more about them.

The tense performances and the slick cinematography are there but the film tends to waver away from the solid core that distinguishes Mann's talents from the rest: heart and soul. Amidst the intricate, confusing storyline, the emotional connection with the characters gets lost. Throughout the course of the film, some connections are made that really do pop out and ignite some warmth. However, they are very few and far between. Watching a Mann film is like waltzing along a high wire trapeze – the story leans heavily towards the criminal portion of a story and, just as faith feels lost, the film leans back over to a heartfelt center by connecting the viewer with the heroes OR the villain. In general, the film feels lost amidst the complicated storyline and doesn't surface enough above the plot to rejuvenate that warmth. Plus, this film is highly dialogue driven without enough action. While the tension is there, the excitement factor and the passion behind the characters are lacking.

Even through its shortcomings, "Miami Vice" is a fast-paced, stylish film that's definitely worth a watch. Mann crafts some stellar performances, a delicious pairing of visuals and score, and an interesting, albeit demanding, storyline. Staying strong during both the blindingly-fast dialogue and the demanding storyline will help the film be an enjoyable experience.

The DVD rated here is the Miami Vice Unrated Director's Edition. As Michael Mann states in his Director's Commentary, this "Director's Edition" isn't necessarily just expanded, but also re-edited and fleshed out further. As I have not seen the theatrical edition of Miami Vice, any comparisons between the two are unable to be made by me.

Special Features:


This Director's Edition of "Miami Vice" comes with some particularly interesting extras:

A Director's Commentary is included from Mann. Mann is always particularly entertaining in regards to his explanations of his films. He goes to lengths to capture the perfect mood, setting, and other aesthetical elements of his films. His commentary on Miami Vice is no different.

Miami Vice Undercover is a featurette regarding how Farrell and Foxx honed in on their undercover mind frames for the film. As with his other films, Mann demands his cast get a realistic feel on how their characters work by real-time experience. Farrell and Foxx worked with undercover cops involved with an equally high-profile scenario as in this film. The cast also accompanied a crew on a government bust. Through these elements (and a realistic prank played on Farrell involving a training exercise), the process appeared to be fairly interesting.

Miami and Beyond focuses on the locations that Michael Mann selected across the globe for Miami Vice. Some of these obscure, yet strangely beautiful locales are very interesting. From the inclimate conditions of Miami's hurricane season to the obscure locations in Uruguay, this series of places crafts a very distinctive look for the picture. The actors all are in awe at how Mann finds these locations, and Mann seems to take pride in his ability to find them.

Visualizing Miami Vice shows how Michael Mann gave this film (and his other films) such a distinct look. It's interesting to see how he meshes the scenery with artistic elements and camerawork to create such attractiveness. He discusses such elements from what guns he decides to use for the film, all the way to his work with aerial cameras and photography to grab his work.

Three other Behind The Scenes Featurettes are included – Gun Training, Haitian Hotel Camera Blocking, and Mojo Race. While the Haitian Hotel piece is mildly interesting to watch since it involves an intricate location and the actors navigating through the room, the Gun Training and Mojo Race pieces are both pretty entertaining. Gun Training shows all of the primary actors in fairly rigorous automatic weapons training. Any chance to see the actors learning a new craft is a blast. The Mojo race piece is interesting since it talks about how the crew assembled this fully functional speedboat that also integrates camerawork into the mix.

As stated before, this is not like the "Miami Vice" from the '80s. This is sleek, calculated, and extremely hard-edged in regards to the multi-layered drug associations across continents. The music is great as with all of Mann's films. there's some Audioslave, some Moby, and a okay cover of "In the Air Tonight" by Nonpoint. The characters are, for the majority, engaging, compelling, and portrayed very well from the great cast. While the plot has some coherency issues and the dialogue needs a bit of work (and annunciation), the story is still compelling enough to grasp your attention. "Miami Vice" is what it should be, an interesting trip into the world of undercover cops involved in an extremely high profile crime bust.

The Skinny:

• Filming in Dominican Republic was suspended during October 2005 due to raucous behavior from the public and a shooting where the aggressor was injured.
• Jan Hammer was asked to do a different type of score, but turned it down.
• The quotes in the theatrical trailer, "We get down, if the play calls for it bud" [Crockett], and "We can close each others eyes real fast, but then nobody's gonna make any money" [Tubbs], were both lines from the 'Smugglers Blues' episode of the original series.
• Gunshots heard outside of the film's Dominican Republic set on October 24th, 2005 caused the crew to delay filming for three days.
• The RZA was hired to do the films score, but was later replaced with Organized Noize.
• The sunglasses worn by Colin Farrell are the "Slam" model made by Sama Eyewear.
• Several of the firearms used in the film include the Barret M82A1 .50 sniper rifle, the Heckler & Koch G36C and G3A3 assault rifles, a Heckler & Koch HK69 40mm grenade launcher, a Benelli M4 Super 90 12-gauge semiautomatic shotgun, a Sig 552 carbine, a Remington M24 sniper rifle, and a Colt M4A1 carbine.
• The boat taken to Cuba by Sonny and Isabella is a MTI 39' foot powerboat. Top speed: ~115 miles per hour.
• Crockett's car in the film is a Ferrari F430 Spider, which according to Ferrari of North America, has a top speed of 193 mph and can go from 0-60 mph in just 3.9 seconds.
• The twin engine pusher/puller airplane is an Adam Aircraft A500.
• The following boats are used by Crockett & Tubbs to transfer the load from the cargo ship into Miami: Donzi 38 ZR, Donzi 43 ZR, Donzi 38 ZF Daytona.
• Mann had his actors train with real-life undercover law enforcement officers. Colin Farrell stated that he was told they would be tagging along on real sting operations. During one such operation, guns were drawn and the officers identities questioned. Farrell reports being scared for his life. The next morning, Farrell was contacted and told that the sting operations were staged and that the dealers were actors. Farrell stated feeling "punk'd."
• During filming in Uruguay the crew came across bootleg and other illegal merchandise for sale in a similar fashion to that of the film's theme. Mann purchased a copy of "Collateral" for two dollars while he was there.
• It was Foxx who first brought up the idea of a "Miami Vice" film to Mann during a party for Muhammad Ali. Jamie had gone on for more than 20 minutes about why the movie should be made. This led Mann to revisit the series he helped create.
• Like "Collateral", which also starred Foxx, most of the film was shot with the Thompson Viper Filmstream Camera, and the remainder was shot on Super 35mm film.
• Also like "Collateral", there are no opening credits. The title appears at the end of the film.
• The first teaser trailer to appear for the film featured the Linkin Park/Jay-Z song "Numb/Encore".
• When filming was completed, Colin Farrell entered into rehab for exhaustion and dependency on prescription medication. The medication had been prescribed to him after he suffered a back injury while filming "Alexander".
• According to a Euroweb article, Tubbs' suits were designed by famous fashion designer Ozwald Boateng. He had worked with Foxx in the past and caught Mann's eye who then asked him to work on the movie.
• Crockett's Boat (white paint and labeled "Mojo") is a MTI (Marine Technology Inc.) 39 Series with two Mercury Engines fitted. In correct sense it is a Offshore Catamaran.
• Prominent product placement occurrences include Apple, BMW, Bacardi, IWC, Range Rover and Sony.
• Lyndon LaRouche has stated that his slogan for his 2008 Presidential Campaign will be Rico Tubbs' line "Smooth. That's how we do it".
• Luis Tosar who played drug lord Arcángel de Jesús Montoya does not dub himself in the Spanish version.
• When deciding if they will continue to work with Yero, Tubbs quotes The Eagles by saying "Let's take it to the limit one more time", a reference to the song "Take It To The Limit".
• Special Agent Fujima (Ciarán Hinds) asks Sonny "what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?". In "The Insider", the character Wigand asks the FBI agent the exact same thing when he asks Wigand if he owns a gun.
• Lines between Crockett and Isabella about life being short and whatever time people have being luck echo a line spoken by Robert DeNiro in Mann's crime saga "Heat". Also in Mann's "Manhunter", Detective Graham has a similar conversation with his wife.
• Edward James Olmos was offered and declined the opportunity to reprise Castillo, saying he'd never actually watched the original show. Sigh, that woulda been cool.

Talledega Nights: The Legend Of Ricky Bobby (2006) ***

rated PG-13 (for crude and sexual humor, language, drug references and brief comic violence).
1 hr. 50 min.
written by: Adam McKay
produced by: Will Ferrell & Adam McKay
directed by: Adam McKay


Will Ferrell and director Adam McKay have hit upon a formula that works for them, and they're sticking with it. The pair's previous big-screen collaboration, 2004's "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy", goosed TV newsrooms while simultaneously skewering the Dumb American Male over a fire pit. Its humor was silly, largely improvisational and devoted to a spirit of anarchy. That movie's basic plotline -- self-satisfied macho idiot wins it all, then loses it all -- is grafted on to Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. This time around, the jabs are aimed at NASCAR culture instead of TV news. But unlike Anchorman, Talladega Nights feels more like an actual movie and less like a series of flimsily connected sketches.

Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell), destined for the literal fast track from the moment he is blasted out of his mother's womb in the backseat of a speeding Chevelle. "If you ain't first, you're last," his pot-dealing, derelict father Reece (Gary Cole) tells young Ricky, instilling in the boy a warped lifelong obsession with winning. Ricky rises quickly to NASCAR stardom, acquiring all the trappings of southern-fried success, including a lakeside mansion, blonde trophy wife (Leslie Bibb) and two foul-mouthed boys named, of course, Walker and Texas Ranger (Houston Tumlin and Grayson Russell).

Ricky's need for speed is rivaled only by his oversized ego, and so he flips out when a Formula One champion racer, Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen), arrives on the scene. Girard is everything that Ricky and his best friend and fellow racer, Cal Naughton Jr. (John C. Reilly), fear and loathe....he's gay and he's a French intellectual who reads Camus and sips macchiato, sometimes in the middle of racing.

Bobby buckles under the stress of this newfound competition. After a bone-crushing crash, he suffers a nervous breakdown and -- this being a Ferrell movie -- runs around a racetrack, stripped down to his tighty-not-so-whiteys. So begins his downfall. He suffers delusions that he is paralyzed and eventually lands work delivering pizzas on a bicycle while his gold-digger wife, Carly, shacks up with Cal. Will our hero bounce back and redeem himself? Um, duh!





This is unmistakably a Will Ferrell vehicle, but the actor is magnanimous enough to allow plenty of shining moments for a first-rate supporting cast. Michael Clarke Duncan, what can I say? The Oscar-nominated hulk of a man is one of my favorites as one of Bobby's crew. Just seeing him read Judy Blume's classic "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" and singing Donna Summer in his efforts to comfort a hospital bed-ridden Bobby was enough to bring my rating to three stars. Another crew member, who I know I can always get a good laugh from is David Koechner, a "Ron Burgundy" alum and so good in last year's "Thank You for Smoking". Oscar-nominated for "Junebug", Amy Adams brought the same sweet and bright-eyed character with a dose of crazy. The always nutso Molly Shannon was funny yet you wish there was more for her to do. In an environment that obviously relied on improv, Reilly, Cohen and Bibb are uniformly terrific; Cohen is a particular standout, sporting the most tortured French accent since Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau. This made up for his sad and distasteful Borat character that everyone loves but me.

As they did in Anchorman, co-writers Ferrell and McKay employ a kitchen sink aesthetic, hurling gobs of running gags against the wall in hopes that enough shtick sticks. To their credit, much of it is hilarious. I gotta say though, a lil of the potty-mouthed sassiness of Bobby's boys was enough for me. Sure, it was funny initially, but I got distracted, thinking, "What kinda parent lets their child act out such a role?" Even the dinner scene was a bit too much. It was funny at first but how many times do we have to sit through Bobby praying his "baby Christmas Jesus," (his preferred incarnation of Christ) prayers?

Here is a movie (one of the few) motion pictures in recent memory in which shameless product placement actually works, reflecting NASCAR's obsession with corporate sponsorship. You have to admire any movie that actually interrupts its climax for an Applebee's commercial. Very appropriate. The movie isn't for everyone due to the lengths it will go to get a laugh but I like as much as "Ron Burgundy", just a little less. Just part you're brain and prepare to have many laughs.

This "unrated" DVD boasts 13 minutes of additional footage, but parts of this rejiggered version actually dilute some of the humor. A smattering of scenes from the theatrical version, including one in which a young Ricky Bobby steals his mother's car while she's buying milk, are now inexplicably absent. And still other vignettes, while funny, are extended to the point that they lose their punch. "Unrated" DVD's seem to be the thing now. You can count on most comedy or horror films getting an "UNRATED" slapped on their packaging in an effort to lure buyers. Whatever. If the movie was good, people will buy it. Sometime even if it isn't.







Special Features:

One thing you can bank on with DVDs of largely ad-libbed movies; there will be plenty of supplemental material that ended up on the cutting room floor. That's surely the case with this film. So, fans are rewarded with a rich bounty of bonuses.

The only real disappointment, in fact, is a commentary by McKay and actor Ian Roberts, who appears in the film as Kyle. McKay spoofs the arrogance and pretentiousness that drips from so many commentaries, but the joke grows tiresome and -- stretched across the length of the entire feature -- just unbearable. Maybe that's the point. If so, mission accomplished.

Thankfully, the other extras more than make up for the commentary. Nine deleted and extended scenes (which have a combined running time of 25 minutes, 20 seconds) are generally funny; some of the material probably deserved to make the final cut. We get more scenes with Amy Adams as Ricky's personal assistant, Susan. If included in the theatrical version, such footage would have helped ease the character into the third act, where she suddenly takes on a quasi-critical role. The deleted scenes also showcase the considerable comedic skills of Leslie Bibb and John C. Reilly.

Similarly, a five-minute, 22-second line-o-rama is essential, terrific stuff -- montage of adlibs that didn't make the final cut.

Other supplemental material nixed from the theatrical version includes: Ricky and Cal's commercials (1:35), Ricky and Cal's public service announcements (2:31) and a five-minute, 40-second grouping of some outtakes that I coulda done without with Walker and Texas Ranger.

Fake interviews with the characters of Talladega Nights, however, strain the gag. This features Ricky and Cal (5:30), Jean Girard and his husband Gregory (3:39) and Cal and Carly (4:12). Intermittently entertaining.

Will Ferrell Returns to Talladega is a five-minute, 20-second clip of the actor making an appearance at the celebrated raceway sometime after the completion of the film. Ferrell is quick-witted, funny and likeable in his interactions with racecar drivers and enthusiasts.

Also included is a theatrical trailer, a two-minute, 27-second gag reel and bonus race footage that clocks in at one minute, 18 seconds.

The impulse of DVD producers to dress up already released films with "unrated" versions is always a dicey affair. Typically, there are solid reasons that certain footage was left on the cutting-room floor. "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby", however, is an interesting case. While the 13 minutes added to the film are hit-or-miss, a fair amount of what we find in the DVD's "deleted and extended scenes" is good stuff. Regardless, Will Ferrell fans would be well-advised to race out and pick up this extras-laden DVD of a movie that might just be his funniest to date (although I do have a soft spot for "Ron Burgundy"). One of the resons I waited for DVD for this one was cuz I knew that it'd be loaded with "bells and whistles" that I'd look forward to. That and my wife delivered our baby the weekend of the film's release!



The Skinny:

• Producers pitched the movie idea to studios as: "Six words: Will Ferrell as a Nascar driver."
• The race cars were housed in a warehouse in Charlotte, North Carolina, that formerly held the Interstate Brands Corporation plant, former owner of Wonder Bread. Bimbo Bakeries purchased Wonder Bread shortly after filming was completed. Ricky Bobby's All-American sponsor is now a Mexican-owned company and bakes all of its bread in Canada (as it has for many years). As the cars were wrecked, pieces were given to a local shopping center to display.
• When they were at an actual racetrack to get audio clips, director Adam McKay apparently didn't need to prompt the audience for one scene. When Sacha Baron Cohen's character Jean Girard was introduced as a driver from France driving the Perrier car, the entire crowd started booing on their own.
• Will Ferrell offered a role to Steve Carell, but Carell couldn't accept due to scheduling conflicts.
• Reese Bobby drinks Laughing Clown Malt Liquor throughout the movie, which was the first sponsor Ricky's team had.
• A cardboard cutout of Dale Earnhardt wearing Mardi Gras beads can be seen briefly in the infield during the final race at Talladega, just before the "time to let the cougar loose" sequence.
• Reese Bobby drives a black and gold #13 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu, an apparent homage to Smokey Yunick, who campaigned similar Chevelles with driver Curtis Turner in NASCAR in the mid 60's.
• There is a post-credits scene featuring Walker and Texas Ranger reading a William Faulkner novel with Lucy Bobby.
• Ricky Bobby's driver's license is shown to have been issued on July 16, which is Will Ferrell's birthday. The license also states that Ricky was born on July 16, 1971.
• The English equivalent to "Jean Girard" is "John Jerry," a name construction which echoes "Ricky Bobby" in that it consists of two first names.
• Jean Girard is said to have dominated the Formula One circuit, followed by a clip of the sport. The black F1 car which is supposed to be Jean is Gianmaria Bruni's Minardi Cosworth PS04B (now Scuderia Toro Rosso) and a backmarker, while the blue car following closely is the Mild Seven Renault F1 R24 of Jarno Trulli coming around to lap him at the 2004 Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring. Ironically, Minardi has never had a podium finish in its history.
• In the mini-documentrary about Jean Girard, you can hear Gregory, Jean's husband, refer to the German Shepherds he is training as "Brigatta", "Marta", and "Rolfe the Nazi boyfriend". These are names of characters from The Sound of Music.
• Cal, Ricky and Girard were all actually introduced during driver introductions at the 2005 UAW Ford 500 at Talladega. Ricky and Cal were cheered, but when Girard was introduced as a driver from France driving the Perrier car, the entire crowd started booing without any prompting.
• Ferrell's "Anchorman" co-stars Ben Stiller and Steve Carell were originally cast in the film, but they couldn't accept because of scheduling conflicts.

DVD REVIEW: Little Miss Sunshine (2006) ***

R (for language, some sex and drug content.)

1 hr. 41 min.
written by: Michael Arndt
produced by: Albert Berger, David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf, Marc Turtletaub, & Ron Yerxa
directed by: Jonathon Ayton & Valerie Faris

Here's a great family film that I wouldn't recommend for the whole family. It's definitely for the adults (mature or not) in the family. It's a fractured and fractious comedy, spiked with dark laughs and genuine affection for its dysfunctional characters. Arndt's subtly lacerating screenplay takes stock clichés and infuses them with quirks that approach reality, albeit an extremely heightened sense of reality; you watch the movie and see a splintered, spirited family unit grow closer and approach something resembling understanding. To lay out the twists and turns of Little Miss Sunshine would rob those coming to the film fresh.

The Hoover family takes a road trip from Albuquerque, New Mexico to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in Redondo Beach, California, to fulfill the deepest wish of 7-year-old Olive (Abigail Bresson), an ordinary little girl with big dreams. Her father, Richard (Greg Kinnear) is a manic go-getter striving to sell his motivational nine-step technique to becoming a winner. Truth is, he's an annoying loser who insecurely leans on self-help to help others. Ironic. Her father, Sheryl (Toni Colette) has her hands full with her suicidal brother and Proust scholar Frank (Steve Carell) and Richard's caustic, drugged out, potty-mouthed dad (Alan Arkin). Then there's brother Dwayne (Paul Dano) is going on nine months as a mute, studying the nihilistic works of Nietzsche.

When Olive wins a spot in the prestigious Little Miss Sunshine pageant in, the family pile into a past-its-prime Volkswagen van and head out towards the promise of a glittering future in California. What's great about the movie is that it doesn't unfold in an entirely predictable manner, often zigging where you might think it would zag – lining scenes with a patently absurd vibe, music video vets turned feature film directors Dayton and Faris swipe a few pages from the Woody Allen/Wes Anderson playbook, electing to play gags straight ahead and letting the laughs evolve naturally. As I said, I'm not gonna get into all the various dramedic situations the family gets in due to their tensions and personalities. We all know the myriad difficulties that can arise during a road trip. The finale of the film presents a scathingly satirical depiction of child beauty pageants, in which elementary school girls model swimsuits and strut onstage to dance music. It's great to finally see Olive demonstrate to her family and the audience what she has learned from her grandfather's private dance routine rehearsals. It's Olive and this routine that ultimately brings this formerly dysfunctional family together.

In retrospect (I guess all reviews are) I almost see this movie as a live-action version of "The Simpsons". It has the dysfunctional family that underneath it all really mean well. The father is a bumbling, lovable idiot (like Homer), the mother is doing everything she can to keep the family together (Marge), Arkin plays his Grandpa character in a cross-between Moe & Grandpa Simpson, while Dwayne is an amalgam of Bart and Nelson. Haw ha! Of course, lil Olive is akin to Lisa Simpson in her sunny disposition and resilient nature. Just an observation.

The directors have assembled a cast brimming with impeccable comic timing; Kinnear, Collette, Carell, Breslin, Dano and Arkin take Arndt's screenplay and give it a loose, improvised feel – if the Academy weren't so predictably out of touch, I'd say that Little Miss Sunshine might be due a raft of trophies come Oscar time....but what do I know?

So few films truly worth sitting through have made their way into our multiplexes in 2006 that when a work like Little Miss Sunshine comes along, you can't recommend it strongly enough. It's a rib-tickling ray of light beamed from Hollywood, of all places, reminding you that, yes, in fact it is possible to be both moved and amused, with nary a toliet joke or product placement in sight.


Special Features:


Unfortunately, these features are a tad scant. They might have some thinking "double dip," (referring to they way studios have come out with "special additions" and "ultimate addictions") and indeed, as awards season begins to heat up, it's entirely possible that Fox could re-visit this title with a tricked-out special edition in six months, after the trophies have been handed out.

Nevertheless, what's included is worth at least a cursory spin: a pair of commentary tracks -- a "somewhat reluctant" one with co-directors Dayton and Faris and another equally chatty one with screenwriter Arndt, Dayton and Faris -- are here, along with four alternate endings, playable together for an aggregate of five minutes and all sporting directors' commentary with a music video for DeVotchKa's "Till the End of Time" completing the disc.


The Skinny:

• Originally written as an East Coast roadtrip movie from Maryland to Florida, it was shifted to a journey from New Mexico to California due to shooting issues.
• The role of the suicidal uncle was originally written for Bill Murray, the studios wanted Robin Williams, but eventually went for Steve Carell. Thanks you!
• Five identical Volkswagen Type 2s were used during filming.
• The movie was shot in sequence.
• The script was purchased from first time screenwriter Michael Arndt for $250,000.
• No filming was done in New Mexico; the Albuquerque scenes were actually shot in southern California. This explains why the family eats take-out chicken in a bucket from Dinah's Family Restaurant, located in Los Angeles.
• In another dining scene, the family looks at menus from Pann's, a well-known family restaurant not far from Los Angeles International Airport. However, the scene actually was shot in another restaurant.
• The scenes that took place in Redondo Beach, California were actually filmed in Ventura, California. There are no freeways that lead to the beach.
• Many of the freeway scenes were filmed on California State Route 14.
• The scene in the gas station was filmed in the Chevron station on Lyons Road in Santa Clarita, California.
• Although known to Comedy Central viewers for many years as a correspondent on the high-rated satirical news program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Steve Carell, at the time he was cast for Little Miss Sunshine, was a relative unknown in Hollywood. According to an article in Entertainment Weekly, the producers of the film worried that he wasn't a big enough star and didn't have much acting experience. However, between the time the film was shot in the summer of 2005 and its release in the summer of 2006, Carell became a huge success as the star of the high-grossing film "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" in August 2005 and the leading character of the popular NBC Emmy-winning television series "The Office", which premiered in March 2005 and for which Carell won a Golden Globe in 2006 for best lead actor in a comedy television series. In the span of just one year, Carell had become such a star that the producers had gone from protesting his casting to tapping him to do prominent promotion for the film.
• All the girls acting as participants in the beauty pageant, except Abigail Breslin, were veterans of real beauty pageants. They looked the same and performed the same acts as they had in their real-life pageants. Scary!
• Greg Kinnear and Paul Dano also star in the 2006 movie adaptation of Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation".
• On July 25, 2006 Fox Searchlight Pictures invited VW bus owners to a screening of Little Miss Sunshine at Vineland Drive-In theater in City of Industry, California. 65 VW buses were present at the event.
• The license plate of Frank's academic and romantic rival, Larry Sugarman (the #2 Proust scholar), reads "lost time", a reference to Marcel Proust's principal novel À la recherche du temps perdu or "In Search of Lost Time".
• Inside the convenience store, the price of Frank's slurpee and the pornographic magazines came to a total of $19.79. Directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris had previously directed the "1979" music video by The Smashing Pumpkins.
• Bryan Cranston's character in Little Miss Sunshine has the same name - Stan Grossman - as Larry Brandenburg's character in the classic Coen brothers film "Fargo".
• Paul Dano's character has the same given name - Dwayne - as one of the main characters in the Kurt Vonnegut novel "Breakfast of Champions"; in addition, the referenced main character has the family name "Hoover."
• A scene shot in Phoenix, Arizona, as the family leaves the area for California, shows the family's bus traveling eastbound on the Arizona State Route 101, crossing beneath the juncture of the Interstate 17 freeway. In reality, they would be headed in the wrong direction.
• Most of the beauty pageant interiors were shot at the Radisson in Culver City. It is across the street from Dinah's, a restaurant where the interiors for the 'ice cream' scene were shot. Ironically, they use menus from "Pann's", another restaurant a few miles away (on LaTijera).
• Screenwriter Steven Conrad did an uncredited draft while the film was at Focus Features. The only thing kept was Richard's trip to meet Stan Grossman.
• Dayton and Faris directed a sketch in Mr. Show episode 404, Rudy Will Await Your Foundation, about a prenatal beauty pageant, one of many location pieces they filmed for the show. It featured one character, played by Becky Thyre, very similar to the pageant director in Little Miss Sunshine.
• In one driving scene, Olive is shown playing with the same happy face puzzle that the main contestant played with in the 2001 HBO documentary Living Dolls: The Making of a Child Beauty Queen.
• The first name of the Grandpa -Edwin- is revealed only once in the film.

NOMINATONS:

SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Cast, Outstanding Supporting Male Actor (Arkin), Oustanding Supporting Female Actor (Breslin)

PGA (Producer's Guild of America) Awards: Best Feature Film

Golden Globe Awards: Best Musical or Comedy, Best Actress in Musical or Comedy (Collette)

Academy Awards: nominated for Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Arkin), Supporting Actress (Breslin) and Original Screenplay (Arndt). Arkin and Arndt won their respective Oscars.

DVD REVIEW: Grizzly Man (2005) ****

rated R (for language)
1 hr, 43 min.
written, directed, & narrated by: Werner Herzog
music by: Richard Thompson


I had heard about this documentary movie last year. I knew it was about some guy who spent a lotta time living with bears in the wild and wound up dying at the paws of on of 'em. That caught my curiosity right there. Then I found out that Richard Thompson did the score. I knew I'd eventually see it. Now, with a newborn at home and some time off work I find myself playing catch up with that list of movies I still have to see.

German director Herzog narrates with such hypnotizing cadence that you simply relaxed and enthralled by the life and death of amateur grizzly expert and wildlife conversationalist, Timothy Treadwell. In "Grizzly Man", Herzog documents the documentary bear-lover who spent at least two months (sometimes more) in the wild tundra of Alaska's Katmai National Park and Reserve. Treadwell lived unarmed among the bears for thirteen summers, and filmed his adventures in the wild during his final five seasons. In October 2003, Treadwell's remains, along with those of his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, were discovered near their campsite, they had been mauled and devoured by a grizzly, the first known victims of a bear attack in the park. The bear suspected of the killings was later shot by park officials.

Founder of the organization Grizzly People, Treadwell devoted his life to the preservation of bears, co-authored a book with Jewel Palovak, "Among Grizzlies," and educated thousands of schoolchildren about bears. Treadwell also used his charisma and growing celebrity to spread the grizzly gospel, appearing on television shows including "The Late Show with David Letterman," downplaying the dangers of his encounters. What I later found out is the DVD I watched stated that "This film has been modified from the theatrical version" which usually means to me that it would not be shown in widescreen. That wasn't the case. What that mean was that the whole Letterman show bit was omitted cuz in that interview Letterman asked, "Is it going to happen? That we read a news item one day that you have been eaten by one of these bears?"."






Sadly it turned out Letterman predicted correctly. Herzog does not support Treadwell's ways or condemn them. He merely shows us his life through interviews with those who knew him, his parents, and through hundreds of hours of Treadwell's own footage. As the film began I was in awe that this guy decided to just immerse himself in such wilderness and danger. But, then as his story unfolded I realized this guy definitely had some inner demons. He had tried to make it as an actor and by his account....failed. In an interview, his father stated that when he didn't get the role of the bartender in the television show "Cheers" (which went to Woody Harrelson) that began his downward spiral. He became an alcoholic and tried many different ways of treatment. Then his interest in bears came and he wanted to "protect them." He decided that these bears needed him sober and that's when he quit one addiction and went to one that proved even more dangerous.

But was Timothy Treadwell a passionate and fearless environmentalist who devoted his life to living peacefully among Alaskan grizzly bears in order to save them? Or was he a deluded misanthrope whose reckless actions resulted in his own death, as well as those of his girlfriend and one of the bears he swore to protect? Guess it depends on your point of view. I see him as someone who passionately loved the animal world. Seeing him play and run with the red foxes that he befriended was pretty amazing. Yet, there was a sadness and disregard for his own life that was alarming. In his camera footage of which he was many times the star, you see him say, " love these bears. I would die for them." Clearly, he has crossed the line that we all should have between humans and wild animals. He wanted to be a bear among the bears. He was lucky to live as long as he did. But, his luck ran out.

During his last two or three years in the wilderness, Treadwell was joined by his new girlfriend, Amie Huguenard. Herzog is able to find only one photograph of her, and when she appears in Treadwell's footage (rarely) her face is hard to see. Treadwell liked to give the impression that he was alone with his bears, but Herzog shows one shot that is obviously hand-held -- by Amie, presumably.

Ironically, Treadwell and Huguenard had left for home in the September when they died. Treadwell got into an argument with an Air Alaska employee, canceled his plans to fly home, returned to the "Grizzly Maze" area where most of the bears he knew were already hibernating, and was killed and eaten by an unfamiliar bear that, it appears, he photographed a few hours before his death.



The cap was on his video camera during the attack, but audio was recorded. Herzog listens to the tape in the presence of his close friend (and co-founder of Grizzly People) Jewel Palovak, and then tells her: "You must never listen to this. You should not keep it. You should destroy it because it will be like the white elephant in your room all your life." His decision not to play the audio in his film is a wise one, not only out of respect to the survivors of the victims, but because to watch him listening to it is, oddly, more effective than actually hearing it. We would hear, he tells us, Treadwell screaming for Amie to run for her life, and we would hear the sounds of her trying to fight off the bear by banging it with a frying pan.





The documentary is an uncommon meeting between Treadwell's loony idealism, and Herzog's bleak worldview. Treadwell's footage is sometimes miraculous, as when we see his close bond with a fox who has been like his pet dog for 10 years. Or when he grows angry with God because a drought has dried up the salmon run and his bears are starving. He demands that God make it rain and, what do you know, it does. Against this is Herzog, on the soundtrack: "I believe the common character of the universe is not harmony, but hostility, chaos and murder." And over footage of one of Treadwell's beloved bears: "This blank stare" shows not the wisdom Treadwell read into it, but "only the half-bored interest in food."



SPECIAL FEATURES:



"In the Edges: The Grizzly Man Session," a 50-minute documentary on the making of the film's music with Herzog in a San Francisco studio that threw together musicians that have never played to together led by Richard Thompson. These musicians had two days to put together music and none of them had seen footage of the film until then. It's some great studio session workand should appeal to any behind-the-scenes or music fan.