Monday, April 24, 2006
"Aeon Flux": First there was Halle Berry with "Catwoman." Then Charlize Theron with "Aeon Flux." Women who win Academy Awards be warned: Action flicks can be embarrassing for your career. In fairness, Theron's live-action rendition of the cryptic MTV animated series is not laughable like Berry's "Catwoman." "Aeon Flux" is just lethargic and dull. Set centuries in the future, when survivors from a global plague live inside a walled city, the movie stars Theron in the title role as an agent sent to assassinate the totalitarian society's leader. Director Karyn Kusama contributes to DVD interview segments shot while the movie was in production, but she is conspicuously absent in commentary, which is handled by Theron and producer Gale Anne Hurd. The movie's screenwriters contribute a second commentary track, and featurettes include interviews with Peter Chung, who created the animated "Aeon Flux." DVD, $29.99. (Paramount)
"Match Point": Woody Allen left his beloved Manhattan behind, went to London, switched to a youthful cast and turned serious. The result: His biggest mini-hit in ages with this solid drama examining the universe's cruel indifference to justice. Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Scarlett Johansson and Emily Mortimer star in the tale of a social-climbing tennis pro whose actions turn harsh when a fling with an American actress endangers his cozy new life as an heiress's husband. Thematically, the film's a throwback to Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors," though "Match Point" never rises to that movie's level of rich drama and character interplay. Allen prefers to let his films speak for themselves, so like his other DVD releases, the disc is barren of extras. DVD, $29.99. (DreamWorks)
"Shopgirl": Fans usually aren't clamoring for DVD commentary from screenwriters, but here's a film that really could have used it. Steve Martin, who co-stars with Claire Danes and Jason Schwartzman, wrote the script based on his novella about an unusual love triangle. Danes stars as the title character, a depressive sales clerk at a posh Beverly Hills department store who's wooed by a suave, well-to-do older man (Martin) and an awkward young slacker (Schwartzman). Instead of Martin, director Anand Tucker offers commentary. The DVD also has deleted scenes and a making-of featurette. DVD, $29.99. (Disney)
"Robert Altman Collection": Altman fans will have to take the good with the so-so in this boxed set of four films, since only the previously released "M*A*S*H" is available separately. The set features the DVD debuts of three of Altman's late 1970s films: "A Wedding," with Carol Burnett, Mia Farrow, Lillian Gish and Desi Arnaz Jr. in a sloppy prenuptial farce; "A Perfect Couple," starring Paul Dooley and Marta Heflin in an engaging computer-dating romance; and "Quintet," featuring Paul Newman in a dramatically chilly story about people fighting to survive after an ice age overruns the planet. "M*A*S*H" has previously available commentary from Altman, while the other three movies are accompanied by featurettes. DVD set, $39.98. (20th Century Fox)
--Associated Press