VIDEOS. - Review - video recording review

SUMMER BLOCKBUSTERS

The weeks leading up to the Academy Awards traditionally are the dog days as far as new movies are concerned. The studios have shot their bolt with end-of-the-year releases of their "important" Oscar possibilities and audience pleasers designed to pack the family crowd into the theaters over the holidays. Meanwhile, the next batch of "summer" releases (which have been creeping back on the calendar of late to Memorial Day weekend or before) is months away. What is leaking out to the multiplexes at this time are the dregs, pictures the studios hope to salvage at least a little out of before they slide into limbo and the video stores. So, what are viewers to do for movie entertainment during these dark days? Quite simply, now is the time to catch up on last summer's blockbusters, which recently have come out on DVD.

Gladiator (DreamWorks Home Entertainment, 155 minutes, $21.95) brought audiences flocking to a revival of the timeworn sword-and-scandals epics that used to be a staple at drive-in movies. This time, instead of no-talent musclemen like Steve Reeves, it's the new international heartthrob Russell Crowe wielding the sword and defying an evil emperor. The picture works on all levels, posing intellectual challenges as well as spectacle, and greatly benefiting from strong performances by British character actors Richard Harris, Derek Jacoby, and Oliver Reed in his final performance, actually dying before he could finish his role, but able to complete his scenes through computer magic. The picture hinges on the interaction between the stalwart general-turned-gladiator Maximus (Crowe) and the power-mad emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), and is rousing throughout. Phoenix maintains the time-honored Hollywood tradition of psychotic despots mined so well by Malcolm McDowell, Jay Robinson, and other scenery-chewers over the years, while Crowe suffers manfully as he waits for his noble revenge for the murder of his family.

The DVD is rich in bonus features, with commentary by director Ridley Scott, deleted scenes, a montage of scenes set to music from the film, various behind-the-scenes short features, and a special documentary on the history of gladiatorial games--enough to keep you occupied until the next batch of spectaculars comes along.

Mission: Impossible 2 (Paramount Home Entertainment, 123 minutes, $29.99) sends Tom Cruise out to save the world from madmen again, but this time, fortunately for viewers, the picture makes sense. Of course, the confusion of the original was no deterrent to a huge gross, so why quibble? This time around, the film was helmed by John Woo with all his signature high-action stunts, making the movie at times resemble an expensive music video crossed with a Hong Kong martial arts movie. With hero and villain alike switching identities helter-skelter thanks to the art of lifelike rubber masks, you sometimes can't tell the players without a scorecard. So what? Just settle back and let the action flow over you as the M:I crew do their thing.

The DVD add-ons are a cavalcade of stunt sequences, including ones insisting Cruise did his own stunts in the before-the-title prologue, leaping across chasms from one mountain ledge to another. If so, he's crazy! The rest of the action sequences are equally wild and adrenaline-stirring, and Woo's commentary makes it sound like just another day at the office, as if people did this sort of thing every day. Throw in a Metallica music video, an alternate title sequence, and the "Mission Improbable" parody from the MTV Movie Awards, and grab your popcorn, you're in for a helluva ride.

Any Given Sunday (Warner Home Video, 157 minutes, $24.98) serves double duty, providing a fix for all those football junkies stranded between the Super Bowl and training camp in addition to those waiting for the new movies. Director Oliver Stone actually has two films here--a struggle with a veteran coach (Al Pacino) and his aging quarterback (Dennis Quaid) on one side, an unscrupulous owner (Cameron Diaz) and corrupt team doctor (James Woods) on another, and a New Age quarterback doing his own thing on the sideline make up the movie half; the on-field action, looking like a cross of MTV, the new XFL football league, the World Wrestling Federation, and "Roller-ball," exploding in cinematic pyrotechnics, makes up the other part. With a deafening soundtrack during the games themselves and Stone's rapid-fire crosscutting, the picture will keep you rocketing along, never leaving you enough time to wonder what the costume designer was thinking about when he came up with the team uniforms. It's "Monday Night Football" without the commercials and pontification, and it's guaranteed to keep your pulse pounding--as long as you're a football fan. This is definitely not a chick flick.

The DVD special features are equally fevered with "Full Contact: The Making of Any Given Sunday" and a music video by rap star LL Cool J, who plays the egotistical me-first running back in the movie. By the time you're done watching everything, you'll feel like you're in sudden-death overtime.