Notable new releases
I’M NOT THERE (Alliance) Amateur Dylanologists will now be free to apply the same level of scrutiny to Todd Haynes’ cubist biopic as they once did to their bootlegs of The Basement Tapes. Chances are that the sequences with Cate Blanchett as just-gone-electric Bob will get more replays than the more languorous Peckinpah/Altman homage starring Richard Gere — the most problematic part of I’m Not There, although it still features indelible cameos by My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and a giraffe. On the whole, the movie’s obfuscations, provocations, twisted logic and sheer inconsistency all make it a thoroughly appropriate tribute to its subject. And if ever a director needed to explain himself, it’s Haynes — the extras on the double-disc edition include a full commentary, deleted scenes with more commentary and a “conversation” with the filmmaker; additional featurettes cover the making of the film and the soundtrack. Look and you shall also find audition tapes, a gag reel, a New York Times article on Haynes’ film, a Dylan filmography and discography, and the original promo for “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” Not included: a weatherman so you know which way the wind blows.
FRONTIER(S) (Lionsgate) Nothing exceeds like excess in this first feature by director Xavier Gens — a gore-soaked French variation on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it makes up for what it lacks in novelty by cranking the volume way past 11. References to burning banlieues give the proceedings a sketchy sociopolitical context but Gens needn’t be so high-minded given his flair for carnage. There are no extras on the domestic DVD, but at least this version comes uncut.
Also this week
LA CHINOISE + LE GAI SAVOIR (Koch) Just in time for your May ’68 anniversary bash, young Frenchies get their Mao on in two key Godard titles of the late ’60s. EXTRAS: introductions, interviews.
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (Paramount) If you’d rather make it a “come dressed as your favourite melting Nazi” party, the three first Indiana Jones movies are now available for the first time in single-disc special editions. EXTRAS: new bonus content not included in the 2003 box set.
UNTRACEABLE (Sony) Cyber-killers may be a growing threat to our safety, but could they really be more annoying than spam? EXTRAS: commentary, featurettes, picture-in-picture supplements.
YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH (Sony) Though Francis Ford Coppola’s confounding science-fiction tale fell well short of glorious-comeback status, it’s still the kind of courageous mess only he could make. EXTRAS: commentary, featurettes.
Out May 20
National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, Strange Wilderness, Diary of the Dead, The Flock and the long-awaited DVD debut of ’80s teen-com Square Pegs — the truth about Sarah Jessica Parker’s secret romance with Devo can finally be told!