DVD Corner

Each week BDN film critic Christopher Smith contributes reviews to DVD corner.

“King Kong”: The first 45 minutes are pure padding – dull and meandering – with the characters allegedly being fleshed out when it turns out that, really, there isn’t much to them at all. At least not in Peter Jackson’s hands. The director shows no restraint here, just computer-generated overkill peppered with flashes of what it could have been had Jackson not felt pressed to top his Academy Award-winning “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, which is an altogether different beast. For one thing, the “Rings” series wasn’t a love story, which “Kong” is, though you’d be hard pressed to know it until Jackson finally achieves a level of intimacy in key scenes that come well past the film’s midpoint. The movie inflates the original film’s running time from 95 minutes to more than three hours, which is absurd. The only reason this “Kong” should have been three hours is if it featured Jane Goodall in the sack with the ape. At least that would have made for an interesting show. But no. Instead, we get Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody and a wholly miscast Jack Black failing to fill some rather large shoes. The irony about Jackson’s “Kong” is that in spite of being a movie in which size matters, the script and the actors struggle to rise up and do their part; they shrink against the technical chaos, becoming almost secondary to the work being done by computers. The film’s best parts come when it just stops, when beauty and the beast can – oh, I don’t know – share some down time together and appreciate a sunset. At least during these moments you feel the weight of their odd bond, which is crucial if Jackson is going to bring audiences to their knees during Kong’s climactic fight atop the Empire State Building. If it’s spectacle you want, ignore this review -the movie succeeds in being 2005’s biggest spectacle. But if it’s something that recalls the original 1933 film you’re seeking, Jackson’s movie is too much. In the end, for me, ’twas overkill killed the beast. Rated PG-13. Grade: C

“Memoirs of a Geisha”: Jackie Collins by way of James Clavell. Taken for what it is – soap opera, nothing more – the film can be entertaining, particularly after the awkward first third, in which director Rob Marshall (“Chicago”) overplays every emotion to the point of laying it bare onscreen. What he doesn’t appreciate is that his story is set in the East, which handles its emotions a bit differently than we in the West. Still, since his movie is designed for Westerners, who demand an onslaught of emotion from a film like this, the clanging of cultures nevertheless can be oddly fun, regardless of whether that was Marshall’s intent. For instance, when the main character, a geisha-in-training named Sayuri (Ziyi Zhang), finally rises up against her hateful nemesis geisha Hatsumomo (Gong Li) – a teahouse tramp who has been trying to undo Sayuri for years, ever since she was a child dropped at the okiya – the hair pulling, slapping, shrieking and shoving that ensues roars with energy. Grounding the movie is Sayuri’s geisha trainer, Mameha, who is played with reserve and grace by the Chinese actress Michelle Yeoh. Even when she must talk to Sayuri in sexual metaphors about eels finding their way into caves, she does it with tact, gleaning over the dialogue with remarkable ease and somehow not a trace of humor. Grade: PG-13. Grade: C+

“Mr. Barrington”: A handsome-looking first effort by Maine director Dana Packard and his partner Jennifer Nichole Porter, a Maine native with Belfast roots who wrote the script, produced the movie, composed the soundtrack, performed the closing song and also stars in the lead. Obviously, talent and ambition aren’t in short supply. The film was shot in Maine, primarily at locations in Buxton and Parsonsfield, with most scenes occurring within the grand Victorian house Packard shares with Porter in Buxton. Re-edited to great benefit for this leaner release on DVD, the movie stars Porter as Lila, an agoraphobic poet of few words suffering from writer’s block. Her husband, Samuel (Eric Scweig), becomes alarmed when Lila starts having nightmares, and especially when bruises and abrasions mysteriously start appearing on her arm and bottom lip. What Lila is too afraid to tell him is that while she’s alone during the day, she’s being visited by a certain Mr. Barrington (Brian McCardie), a 19th-century apparition – complete with bowler – whose menacing presence ushers in horrific memories of Lila’s troubled past at St. Agatha’s, the orphanage in which she grew up after her father committed suicide. The psychological drama that ensues is leisurely paced yet compelling, a movie whose production values and strong principal performances bolster the weaker supporting turns. Porter’s score, in particular, is beautiful, and her script, in spite of its holes, offers its share of memorable moments. The film’s ending is especially well done, building to a climax that carries real emotional weight. Grade: B

“Six Feet Under: Complete Fifth Season”: Deepens the franchise – and ends it, as this is the final season – with new complexities and twists, one of which is major. The point of the series always has been that while there might be peace for the dead, there is little peace for the living. Here is a show that deals directly with issues few want to face – and not just death. Sexuality is explored, as is infidelity, familial turmoil, drug abuse, secrets, lies, revenge, love. As always, the acting is top notch, among the best in a contemporary television series, with Kathy Bates, Patricia Clarkson, Lili Taylor and Illeana Douglas appearing in fine cameos. This five-disc DVD collection features 12 episodes, including the terrific final episode, “Everyone’s Waiting,” and two well-done, 30-minute retrospectives. For all those still mourning the end of the series, there is consolation in the digitized world of DVD, where life and its dramas can unspool as often as you like – and nothing really dies so long as you can hit rewind. Grade: A-

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews.