New on DVD: Mar. 9 (2004/03/11)- Tickets to Movies in Theaters, Broadway Shows, London Theatre & More

New DVD’s This Week: March 9

In 1953, a time when women’s roles were rigidly defined, free-spirited, novice art history professor Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts) begins teaching at the prestigious all-female Wellesley College–which despite its academic reputation, is an environment where success is measured by how “well” the students marry. Encouraging these women to strive for a more enlightened future, Watson challenges the administration and inspires her students to look beyond the image of what is, and consider the possibilities of what could be–contrary to popular belief. Also stars Kirsten Dunst, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Julia Stiles.

What’s
Cool:

Featurettes: “Art Forum”; “College Then and Now” and “What Women Wanted: 1953”
Music video: “The Heart of Every Girl” by Elton John
Subtitles: English, French

	From Our Review:
	Mona Lisa Smile‘s lesson of the day–that the ’50s were an oppressive decade for women–is delivered in an unoriginal manner through such shallow and unlikable characters that its message lacks an emotional punch. More. . .

Schindler’s List

This Oscar-winning opus from director Steven Spielberg looks at the true story of Austrian industrialist Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who harbored Polish Jews during WWII by using them as workers in his factory and saved 1,100 Jews from certain death. The film also stars Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes and Embeth Davidtz.

What’s Cool:

About Oskar Schindler
Cast and filmmakers
“The Shoah Foundation Story” with Steven Spielberg
Voices from the List

Still Hot

School of Rock

Dewey Finn (Jack Black) is a hell-raising guitarist with delusions of grandeur. Kicked out of his band and desperate for work, Dewey impersonates a substitute teacher and turns a class of fifth grade high-achievers into high-voltage rock and rollers. The private school’s uptight and skeptical head, Principal Mullins (Joan Cusack), watches on as the new sub preps the kids for Battle of the Bands.

What’s Cool:

Commentary by director Richard Linklater and star Jack Black and the School of Rock kids
Featurettes: “Lessons Learned in School of Rock,” “Jack Black’s Pitch to Led Zeppelin,” “Dewey Finn’s History of Rock”
Music Video: School of Rock
Kids’ Video Diary: Toronto Film Festival

	From Our Review:
	School of Rock is rated PG-13 for rude humor and drug references, but both are rather mild and inoffensive. Director Richard Linklater delivers a family film that is hilarious, honest and inherently good-natured that will appeal to moviegoers of all ages. More. . .

Good Boy!

Owen Baker is the neighborhood dog-walker waiting to get a dog of his own. His hard work pays off when he adopts a scruffy mutt, Hubble. Both boy and dog get more than they bargained for when Owen wakes up one morning to discover he can understand every word Hubble says and learns that dogs came to Earth thousands of years ago from the Dog Star Sirius to colonize and dominate the planet but eventually became pets instead. Now the Greater Dane is coming to see the domination herself and if she’s displeased, she will send all the dogs back to Sirius. The fate of Earth dogs hangs in the balance, and it’s up to Owen, Hubble, and their canine companions to save man’s best friend.

What’s Cool:

”Canine-tary” by director John Hoffman and cast members
“Crafty Canines” featurette
“Dog Walking Duty” interactive map
“The Dog Pound”: deleted and alternate scenes
Good Boy! scrapbook
“A Dog-umentary: The Making of Good Boy!”
Pooch Profiles
Q&A with Hubble

	From Our Review:
	Perhaps Good Boy! is not meant to be analyzed, but a film targeted at children should at least have some insight into the spirit of human nature or some sort of lesson. Instead, it’s just a silly little dog tale. More. . .

Cold Creek Manor

Gothamites Cooper Tilson (Dennis Quaid) and his wife, Leah (Sharon Stone), pack up their kids and all their possessions, and move into a recently repossessed mansion in the New York State back woods. Once a grand and elegant manor, the house at Cold Creek is now in shambles, but Cooper and Leah have unlimited time to show the house the tender loving care that it desperately needs. All’s well until Dale Massie (Stephen Dorff), the mansion’s former owner, gets out of prison, looking to reclaim his home by any means necessary.

What’s Cool:

Commentary by director Mike Figgis
Featurettes: “Cooper’s Documentary” and “Rules of the Genre”
Bonus alternate ending
Deleted scenes

	From Our Review:
	Cold Creek Manor is one of those cases of the trailer making it look a whole lot scarier than it actually is. More…

Duplex

In terms of living the American Dream, Alex (Ben Stiller) and Nancy (Drew Barrymore) are a young, vibrant couple in New York City with bright futures ahead of them and the desire for one thing: a home of their own. When they find one, it comes with one feature they didn’t expect–an upstairs tenant, Mrs. Connelly (Eileen Essell), who can’t be kicked out of her rent-controlled apartment, and who isn’t quite as easygoing or frail as Alex and Nancy assume. As their blissful life begins to unravel and their dream home rapidly turns into a nightmare, they decide that they must get Mrs. Connelly out of their lives.

What’s Cool:

Behind-the-scenes featurette
Deleted scenes

	From Our Review:
	With the triple threat of Stiller, Barrymore and director Danny DeVito, along with a great turn by Essell as the evil elderly woman, the generally hilarious, definitely disreputable Duplex should make its mark as one of the better blacker comedies out there More…

Compiled by Anne Reiman

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