No, You’re Outta Order…!, by Ric Meyers
DVD special features are an invaluable tool for aspiring filmmakers. In addition to the discs that let you reedit sequences, there are many who simply present the filmmakers’ points of view in such a clever, informative, interesting, and edifying way that volumes can be learned with even a cursory viewing.Cases in point: this week’s selections – both scheduled to break into home entertainment sites and shops this coming Tuesday. First there’s Sleuth, a fascinating but ultimately unnecessary remake of the original 1972 movie adaptation of Anthony Shaffer’s hit Broadway who-what-why-where-dunnit. Not that you could blame anyone involved for wanting to be a part of the action. First they get the two movie Alfies, Michael Caine and Jude Law, to star, then get award-winning playwright Harold Pinter to adapt the screenplay, then secure master showman Kenneth Branagh to direct.
Only one problem … like Presumed Innocent before it, the pulpy delights of Sleuth don’t really benefit from grade A veneer. At its heart, it’s an old-fashioned, now somewhat wheezy, puzzle pic. But that’s just the movie. It’s the extras on the disc that make this purchase worthwhile. The “making of” doc is fine, but nothing extraordinary. The short “Make-up Secrets Revealed” featurette is okay, although abrupt. But the commentaries really deliver the goods.
If you read the back cover, it gives the impression that there is one commentary with director Branagh and stars Caine and Law. But actually there are two commentaries: one with Branagh and Caine, and the other with co-star/co-producer Law. That makes all the difference, because the play and films are a two-man show. The whole plot is predicated on which man’s point of view you take or believe. So it’s inadvertently brilliant that you listen to Caine’s p.o.v. on one track, and Law’s on another. You not only appreciate the movie’s story, but the making of the movie’s story, from their two different, unique, points of view. And Branagh is no slouch either in the creativity department, either.
Besides, I love Michael Caine’s work, and the commentary allows him to be there in the room with you, having a pleasant (albeit one-sided) chat about film, life, acting, and et al. The fact that Caine was also in the original 1972 version, playing the Jude Law role, is just icing on the cake.
Comic book artist Rick Burchett was born in 1952. He originally worked in advertising in St. Louis, Missouri but was always a comic book fan. In the early 1980s he switched to comics professionally and worked for several smaller comic book publishers before joining DC.
The Dark Knight is overlooking the city from the ledge of a towering skyscraper when he spies a violent crime occurring in the streets below. Without even the hint of a pause, he jumps off the top of the building and uses his his outstretched cape to swoop down onto the crowd of evil-doers.
One of the best surprises in the stores this week was Mark Evanier’s long-awaited Kirby: King Of Comics biography of Jack Kirby, which is the latest step in his longtime association with the King. Mark gives us the story behind the book in an excerpt from an interview you can read on Monday here at ComicMix, plus:
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Last week, I pulled a muscle in my back. This event, though rare, is not unknown; my back will hurt me every other year or so. I should know the steps by now – hideous, agonizing pain, worse than any other person ever born has ever endured (because it’s happening to me), rest and recuperations, which includes excruciating guilt about suspending my workouts while the muscle recovers. In a week or so, the pain will be gone and I’ll forget about it until the next time.
Here at ComicMix, we can admit when we’ve made a mistake — luckily for us, we don’t make mistakes very often.
in our Jan. 1, 2008, post commemorating 
