Tuesday, December 21, 2004
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VIDEO PREVIEW: Big names dot week's top video releases

Big names dot week's top video releases

Sen. Eleanor Shaw (Meryl Streep) copes with a curious Maj. Ben Marco (Denzel Washington) in "The Manchurian Candidate." Cole Porter (Kevin Kline, center) and his wife, Linda (Ashley Judd, right), join friends in singing "Well Did You Evah?" in "De-Lovely."

From historical figures (King Arthur, Cole Porter) to hysterical figures (Danny Deckchair, Napoleon Dynamite), it's a big week for big names on ...

• The big screen scene: The week's best movie, however, turns out to be a remake of a Cold War classic: "The Manchurian Candidate" (Paramount), with Denzel Washington and Liev Schreiber as brainwashed Gulf War veterans programmed to wreak havoc when they return home. Meryl Streep co-stars as Schreiber's scheming senator mother.

On the historical front, the madcap musical "De-Lovely" (MGM) explores the anything-goes life of legendary songwriter Cole Porter (a nimble Kevin Kline), an Indiana boy who became the toast of Broadway, a gay man devoted to his wife Linda (Ashley Judd).

"King Arthur" (Touchstone), by contrast, provides a revisionist reassembly of the cinematic Round Table, transporting Arthur ("Closer's" Clive Owen), Guinevere ("Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl's" Keira Knightley) and Lancelot (Ioan Gruffudd, alias TV's swashbuckling Horatio Hornblower) to the isolated Roman outpost of Britain, where Arthur clashes with Saxon invaders (led by Stellan Skarsgard) and his own divided loyalties.

Turning to the hysterical guys, "Napoleon Dynamite" (Fox) focuses on a gangly, geeky high-school misfit (Jon Heder), thinking big and living small beneath spacious Idaho skies. Meanwhile, "Danny Deckchair" (Lions Gate) details the wild ride of an eccentric Sydney construction worker ("Notting Hill's" Rhys Ifans) who takes a (literal) flight of fancy by attaching dozens of giant helium balloons to a patio chair -- an adventure that leads to romance with a lovelorn small-town traffic cop (Miranda Otto, "The Lord of the Rings' " valiant Eowyn). And it's a TV salesman versus the living dead as flesh-chomping zombies overrun London in the horror parody "Shaun of the Dead" (Universal).

Venturing into the animal kingdom, "Two Brothers" (Universal) follows the fates of two tiger cubs separated at birth: One becomes a circus star, the other a notorious predator in 1920s Asia. And in "Anacondas: Hunt for the Blood Orchid" (Columbia/TriStar), a sequel to the 1997 thriller, scientists searching for "the pharmaceutical equivalent of the Fountain of Youth" instead find the title reptiles.

• Critic's choice: Two '70s independents make welcome DVD debuts today. Carol Kane earned a well-deserved Oscar nomination for "Hester Street" (Home Vision), Joan Micklin Silver's 1975 account of a young Jewish immigrant's eye-opening journey to turn-of-the-century New York. Peter Falk and John Cassavetes, meanwhile, deliver knockout portrayals in Elaine May's 1976 "Mikey & Nicky" (also from Home Vision), about two childhood pals who grow up to be small-time hoods.

And, making its local debut on home video, "Stander" (Columbia/TriStar) chronicles the real-life exploits of a South African cop ("The Punisher's" Tom Jane) who rebelled against apartheid -- by becoming a notorious bank robber.

• Kidvid corner: The prequel "The Young Black Stallion" (Disney) recounts the storied colt's beginnings in post-World War II North Africa. And a new version of the coming-of-age heartwarmer "Where the Red Fern Grows" (Disney) follows the adventures of a boy (Joseph Ashton) and his beloved dogs.

• TV transfers: Don't look now, but "The Simpsons: The Complete Fifth Season" (Fox) arrives on DVD, with guest stars ranging from George Harrison to Las Vegas' own Robert Goulet. And the made-for-cable "The 4400: The Complete First Season" (Paramount) centers on the strange and sudden reappearance of 4,400 long-missing folks -- who may have been abducted by aliens.