DVDebuts: the remainder from last week

The first half-hour of WALL-E (which does not release to DVD till 11/18) is so wonderful -- funny, moving, poignant, inventive and important -- that I suppose there is no way that any film could keep up such amazing content and pace for another hour. (Actually, Ratatoulle came pretty close.) What's left turns into a rather typical us-against-them chase scenario, albeit one that does offer a good deal of fun and some original moments. And the message the movie carries is clear and simple. Kids will certainly understand it -- and maybe even a few Republicans. Whether those few will be able to face this news and act appropriately is questionable. But after today's vote, perhaps it will not matter whether any remaining Republicans understand or act. Let's hope that they are released from their duties for at least the next decade or two -- or until they learn that the word "conservative" has its root in the word "conserve."

Breaking news: THE LOVE GURU is not as bad as you've heard. It's certainly not very good, but there are a few solid laughs along the way, and even a little charm and sweetness scattered like powdered sugar amongst the (elephant) shit. Mike Meyers is no less burdensome here than elsewhere, though it is Justin Timberlake who provides the best laughs. Jessica Alba looks good (what else is new?), and the visuals are occasionally OK.

Ellen Spiro's and Phil Donahue's documentary BODY OF WAR is one of the saddest to come out of our Iraq debacle, as it tells the story of young Tomas Young who joins the army immediately after 9/11 thinking he will be sent to Afghanistan and then learns, too late, that it is to be Iraq -- where after only a few days he is shot and returned to the USA, paralyzed for life. Tomas is smart, angry, focused and severely troubled. We see him interact with other veterans, with his supportive mom and his new wife, and to a lesser extent with his I'm-a-Republican-and-proud-of-it stepfather and gung-ho younger brother who himself leaves mid-film to serve in Iraq. The movie documents Tomas' activities against the current war and for his health and body, which continually fail him. By the end, there is almost no way you can not be depressed yet proud that anyone who has sacrificed so much can continue to work for change and peace, despite all the problems he encounters from others -- and from himself.

What most of the negative reviews (and reviewers) seem to have missed about ELITE SQUAD is that it takes place in Brazil -- a nation that has one of the least decent social contracts between not just the government and its people, but between the people themselves. Yet these negative judgments appear to come from critics who imagine that this country operates somewhat like their own. I don't think so. What director/co-writer José Padhila shows us -- native to his particular country -- ain't pretty but it's damn believable. Padilha ladles out blame all around: from the cops to the higher-up elite squad of the title, from government officials to the student liberals who do good but must have their drugs, and so work to ensure the safety of their particular drug lord. Everybody uses -- and loses -- to the point where nothing works and the only winner is the guy with the ultimate power. Shockingly enough, a major critic for The New York Times calls the film "a relentlessly ugly, unpleasant, often incoherent assault on the senses." Sorry, but it is incoherent only to those who are not paying attention. The film moves fast but nothing in it is unintelligible. It is, in fact, less assaultive that many others of its type. Yet its violence -- which escalates and is used very wisely and knowingly -- does truly shock. The response of the Times' critic is a lazy way to avoid coming to terms with the kind of ugliness that in endemic in Brazil, for it is much easier to dismiss out-of-hand what is so terribly difficult for us "first-worlders" to accept. The movie has a documentary look and feel -- no surprise, since Padilha also gave us Bus 174 a few years back. I suppose much of the negative press arose after Elite Squad won its Berlin prize. I wasn't there and do not know what competition may have been slighted. But I do know that a film this strong does not deserve anything less than an honest viewing.

Seeing the Warner Bros logo preceding a foreign film is always a bit of surprise, though I've noticed it in front of movies of varying quality from all over Europe. EIGHT MILES HIGH is the latest (from Germany and presumably somewhat Warner-financed). It has many of the earmarks of a mainstream European movie -- in fact, a mainstream Eurotrash movie. There is beaucoup nudity, lots of casual sex (often in groups) and a paint-by-numbers quality to literally everything you see and hear: visuals, dialog, acting, situations, emotions, the works! Based loosely on the memoirs of a pretty young German girl from the 1960s who becomes a famous fashion model and beds, blows and blows off a number of partners, famous and semi-so, prior to settling on her "one true love," nothing in the film rings particularly true. Of course, that seldom matters for movies of this highly tasteful and intelligent genre. What's unforgivable about Eight Miles High (called Das Wilde Leben in its native land) is how boring it quickly becomes, even as so much of its 114-minute running time remains ahead of you.