Notable new releases
Chungking Express (Criterion/Paradox) Made on the fly while Wong Kar-wai was finishing Ashes of Time, Chungking Express remains the director’s giddiest and most irresistible movie. It was also the first to get him wide attention in the west after it was released via Quentin Tarantino’s Rolling Thunder imprint. The chief virtue of this reissue is the digital cleanup of the screen image: like the recent redux of Ashes of Time, it’s never looked so ravishing or so lustrous. As for the movie itself, it seems just as fresh. The twinned storylines — with Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tony Leung as heartbroken cops who stop their sobbing after their respective encounters with a blond-wigged gangster (Brigitte Lin) and a kooky waitress (Faye Wong) — boast a momentum and spontaneity sorely lacking in Wong’s more recent efforts.
Though skimpy on extras, the Criterion edition does cast an equally fresh light on the film’s production and impact thanks to the commentary by Tony Rayns and a new essay by Amy Taubin. Wong and cinematographer Christopher Doyle also appear in a short doc shot for British TV in 1996 giving a tour of Chungking Express locations. One of them was Doyle’s apartment, though the Aussie cameraman has a warning for anyone who would ever consider letting a film crew take over their home: “I lost most of my CDs, I lost my fax machine and the phone never worked again.”
A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All (Paramount) If you missed it on TV last week, here’s another chance to relish the very fine new carols created especially for the show by Adam Schlesinger and David Javerbaum (best of all is “Have I Got a Present For You,” a new seasonal redneck anthem sung by guest Toby Keith). What’s more, you get Stephen’s 25-day video advent calendar, a video yule log of burning books and three alternate endings, only one of which involves a bear attack.
Also this week
Hancock (Sony) Will Smith gets fake-drunk in the summer’s superhero blockbuster you probably liked the least. EXTRAS: unrated version, many featurettes.
Slap Shot 3: The Junior League (Universal) We’re guessing this was not made to commemorate the passing of Paul Newman. But any movie starring Mark Messier, Doug Gilmour and the Hanson Brothers is sure to be notable for other reasons. EXTRAS:
making-of featurettes.
Fred Claus (Warner) Vince Vaughn learns the meaning of Christmas by starring in a movie filled with people in green tights. EXTRAS: director commentary, deleted scenes, Ludacrismas music video.
Super Dave’s Super Stunt Spectacular Vol. One (Video Service Corp) This long-overdue best-of celebrates the achievements of a pioneer of stupid stunt comedy. Well, not that stupid — unlike the Jackass boys, he let the dummy suffer the worst of it. EXTRAS: none.
Out Dec 2
Wanted, Step Brothers, The Longshots and the first season of Jake and the Fat Man —
if you’re too young to remember the show, it was like CSI except with a lot more deli meat.