DVD RELEASES



Renegade - Jan Kounen (2005)

When I looked this up on the IMDB I found out that this was also titled Blueberry. That might have made more sense, as I could never figure out who the renegade was supposed to be. Is it the hero, a bright-eyed Cajun boy turned lawman? The villain, a philosophical outlaw who says things like: "You have no respect for life. Animals are creatures but men are monsters." Maybe it's the leader of a small group of tribeless, outcast Indians who guards the secret of astral projection.

Renegade starts off as an average-enough Western with the betrayals and the reversals of fortune and guys on opposite sides of the law who have a personal history. There's even a coveted map to a sacred mountain where some folks think they'll find gold. But then things get weird. Gold ain't the treasure, so to speak. It's something else. The key to an ancient mystical power. Then things just go ape-shit crazy. It's the first Western I've ever seen with a showdown on the astral plane.

I've never seen, or actually even heard of, any of Jan Konan's other films, but he seems to have been around for a bit. He carries off Renegade with much style and confidence. Of course, it's downright impossible to make a bad looking movie in the American West unless you're a complete idiot. The vision quest scenes are incredible, if a bit long. I warn you though: you will have to see Juliette Lewis naked. I still don't feel clean.

---Dave Cole

Young Adam - Director: David Mackenzie (2003)

In Young Adam, Ewan plays a brooding drifter named Joe who has walked away from his failed writing career and now works on a barge. In his spare time, Joe has lots of dirty dirty sex. I'm serious. Almost every character with a speaking part appears full frontal. (Yes ladies, that includes McGregor).

As for the ladies, Joe screws them all. It's not the least bit erotic though. In Young Adam sex is all business. For Joe, it's an act closer to hate than love, particularly in one chilling scene where Joe goes too far. There's a parallel story involving a young girl fished from a river, a girl that Joe knows more about than he is willing to say.

The photography in Young Adam is stunning, the direction masterful, and every performance is pitch-perfect. David MacKenzie captures mood and atmosphere in a way that few directors can and he doesn't let up for a second. He's done some minor tinkering with the original story from Alexander Trocci's original novel, including one MAJOR switcheroo of two characters and their roles in the story. The effect of this being that Joe isn't quite AS bad a person as he was in the book. Don't worry though, he's still chillingly amoral. Don't expect to leave this one with a skip and a whistle. No redemption here. It ends the way it ends, deal with it.

---Dave Cole

Baadasssss Ð Director: Mario Van Peebles (2005)

Baadasssss is just one of those movies that sucked me in right off the bat. Mario Van Peebles' loving tribute to his father is one of the most exciting films I've seen in a long time. A young Melvin Van Peebles, fresh off the success of his studio comedy Watermelon Man, walks away from a three-picture contract to do a film nobody else believes in. In doing so, he sets the stage for the '70s renaissance of American film.

There had been "independent films" before. There had been "maverick directors" before. However, what Melvin Van Peebles did by making Sweet Sweetback's Bad Asss Song redefined both of those terms forever. No American movie had ever posed such a threat to the Hollywood system. It's a fascinating story that could easily have been a lackluster movie. Luckily, a son's determination to "do right by dad" didn't allow it to go that route.

Just because it's a family affair doesn't mean it's unflinching though. For the most part, Melvin is portrayed fairly and not always in the most heroic light. Pointedly, most of these instances seem to center around young Mario and his sister. Unresolved issues made public, good stuff. Too many names to even begin to count appear in the cast, most notably the stately Ossie Davis who is always welcome. Also, I discovered that I like Bill Cosby sometimes.

The best things about the DVD though are the bonus features, several of which feature interviews and Q&A with Melvin Van Peebles himself. There's also a father-and-son commentary track for the film.

---Dave Cole