Movies: DVD Reviews

BBC solves mystery of executing 'Murder Room'

"P.D. James: The Murder Room"
(Warner Home Video, $19.98)
(TV movie)
(DVD format and extras)

As a longtime fan of P.D. James, I'm always astounded at the ability of the BBC to bring the author's cerebral mysteries to the screen. The multiple characters, convoluted plots and the sleuth's inward nature are not made for film. But the BBC comes through again with "The Murder Room," James' 2003 novel featuring the main hero of her 40-plus years of writing, Commander Adam Dalgliesh.

With Martin Shaw playing Dalgliesh, the three-hour, two-segment film develops around a feud about a family museum that includes a "murder room" with displays of famous killings between World War I and II. As copycat murders take place and Dalgliesh seems about to lose the one romantic connection he's managed to establish (Emma, played by Janie Dee), the film moves with dexterity and speed that lead to a chilling finale.

As good as this BBC production is, the DVD extras were disappointing. They included a relatively short, not-particularly-enlightening interview with James from a British morning television show and printed bios of James and the movie's stars, including Shaw and Dee.
— Dale Rice

"Disney's DuckTales Volume 1" and "Disney's Chip 'n' Dale Rescue"
($34.99 each, Disney DVD)
(cartoon series)
(DVD format and extras)

"DuckTales" and "Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers" don't advertise anything special, and they don't give us anything special, either. Both offer a three-DVD collection of 27 episodes. That's more than 10 hours each of the animated TV shows.

Great mysteries are never solved: Why does Scrooge McDuck have a Scottish accent? What, after all these years, is Donald Duck talking about? What would happen if we took the helium away from Chip and Dale? And who is Gadget Hackwrench (hubba, hubba) in "Rescue Rangers"?

Still, kids will enjoy hours of mindless entertainment — mouth open, gazed fixed, slightly comatose. Need to clean the house, pay the bills, work the latest Sudoku puzzle uninterrupted? Pop in one of these DVDs and get a moment's peace. These DVDs might become particularly attractive on Day 6 of winter vacation. (Best doled out in small doses, or you, too, will be humming the "Chip 'n' Dale" theme song.)

One more warning: "DuckTales" introduces some scary elements — a mummy, an Elvira-type duck, mysteries solved in dark passageways. My 2-year-old was scared. My 4-year-old was unfazed. It didn't stop both of them from requesting more viewings.
— Nicole Villalpando

"The Devil's Rejects (Unrated)"
(Warner Home Video, $44.98)
(movie)
(DVD format and extras)

"The Devil's Rejects" is the sequel to director Rob Zombie's "House of 1000 Corpses," a tribute to '60s and '70s exploitation horror. "Corpses" stuck to the "Texas Chainsaw" design, but "Rejects" tried to graft a plot onto what's essentially an excuse for this year's most revolting and violent movies, an orgy of gaudy sadism.

The brutal Firefly family — the hideous clown "Captain Spaulding" and his two kids Otis (the one who looks like a redneck Rob Zombie) and Baby (in reality, Mrs. Rob Zombie) brutalize hostages in a hideous fleabag motel after an unhinged sheriff (William Forsythe) drives them out of their home, bent on avenging his dead brother. Unchecked overkill from the first corpse to the last, "Rejects" is one nasty piece of work, devoid of anything resembling a sympathetic character.

But it shore is purty. A few years back, it seemed as if Zombie's love of trash culture had reached its apotheosis in his music, first with the industrial funhouse rock of White Zombie, then a solo career that, well, pretty much sounded exactly the same. He started life as a cartoonist, and the White Zombie videos looked great, so it's no surprise that both "Corpses" and "Rejects" are stunning.

The extras on this double DVD are a blast. Zombie shows a love for the material on both his commentary and the two hour making-of doc, which manages to be more entertaining than the film itself. Also check out the blooper reel, a couple of fake ads, deleted scenes and more. And try to keep your lunch down.
— Joe Gross