ClubHooligan.com - Burning it up at both ends

Web posted September 13, 2007

New on Video&DVD
'The Graduate' celebrates 40 years

Selected home-video releases

"The Graduate"

One of the great films of the 1960s gets a DVD makeover for its 40th anniversary. Still as fresh, funny and relevant as ever, the film stars Dustin Hoffman as indecisive college grad Benjamin, who's getting plenty of advice from parents and family friends about what he should do with the rest of his life. Seduced into an affair by the wife (Anne Bancroft) of his dad's business associate, Benjamin further complicates matters by falling for his lover's daughter (Katharine Ross). Hoffman and Ross offer one commentary track, while director Mike Nichols joins filmmaker Steven Soderbergh for separate commentary. DVD set, $24.98.

"Away From Her"

A remarkably assured directing debut from actress Sarah Polley, this beautifully understated drama presents Julie Christie in an Academy Award-worthy performance 40 years after her best-actress Oscar win for "Darling" and casts Canadian star Gordon Pinsent in a heartbreaking role alongside her. Adapted by writer-director Polley from a short story by Alice Munro, the film stars Christie as a woman whose memory is fading from Alzheimer's, with Pinsent her steadfast husband watching helplessly as he descends from lover and companion to stranger in his wife's eyes. DVD, $27.98.

"Face/Off"

John Travolta and Nicolas Cage swap faces in director John Woo's 1997 action hit, which gets a DVD upgrade in a two-disc set. Travolta plays an FBI man who takes undercover work to an extreme as he tries to bring down ruthless terrorist Cage. Travolta's good guy submits to high-tech surgery to replace his face with that of his prey, while bad guy Cage then makes off with his pursuer's face. The set comes with seven deleted scenes, including an alternate ending, a making-of featurette and a profile of Woo. DVD set, $19.99.

"The Lost World"

Decades before Steven Spielberg revived dinosaurs with "Jurassic Park" and its sequel, "The Lost World: Jurassic Park," the giant reptiles roamed the big-screen in two adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle's adventure novel "The Lost World." This two-disc set includes both Irwin Allen's 1960 tale, starring Claude Rains, Michael Rennie and Jill St. John as members of an expedition that discovers dinosaurs living in the Amazon, and the 1925 silent adaptation featuring Wallace Beery. DVD set, $19.98.

TV on DVD:

"Two and a Half Men: The Complete First Season" - DVD set, $44.98. (Warner Bros.)

"Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" - DVD set, $26.98. (HBO)

"Grey's Anatomy: Season Three" - DVD set, $59.99. (Disney)

"Supernatural: The Complete Second Season" - DVD set, $59.98. (Warner Bros.)

"Bones: Season Two" - DVD set, $59.98. (20th Century Fox)

"Prime Suspect 7: The Final Act" - DVD set, $29.99. (Acorn)

"Charmed: The Final Season" - DVD set, $54.99. (Paramount)

"I Dream of Jeannie: The Complete Fourth Season" - DVD set, $39.95. (Sony)

"McHale's Navy: Season Two" - DVD set, $44.99.