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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, September 28, 2001

Extra Scoop
'Citizen Kane' a must for movie buffs

By Jordan Riefe
Special to The Advertiser

"CITIZEN KANE" (RKO Pictures) 1941
PG
119 minutes
Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins

Bio-pic on fictional newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane based on real-life newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst.

"'Rosebud' — it explains everything, but really it explains nothing," says film critic Roger Ebert in his commentary. "And yet it's one of the most famous words in motion picture history." As knowledgeable and elucidating as Ebert is, film director and Welles biographer Peter Bogdanovich is more so in a second commentary track.

Finally, here's a film that warrants the scrutiny afforded so many lesser pictures in DVD format. This two-disc set is an exhaustive look at what is commonly regarded as the best motion picture of all time. Not just a great story well told, "Citizen Kane" is structured and shot like no film before it. It is revolutionary, the medium at its finest, and Warner Bros. pays it due respect with loads of extras, including the Oscar-nominated documentary "The Battle Over Citizen Kane," which covers the rise of two extraordinary individuals — Orson Welles, a prodigy, and William Randolph Hearst, the powerful newspaper magnate. With Welles' first foray into film, these two colossal egos found themselves on a collision course that would epitomize the battle between art and commerce.

Don't get too excited by a section labeled "Deleted Scenes"; they aren't scenes at all, just storyboards and stills from scenes that were planned but never included. Program notes, posters call sheets and correspondence round out the collection, which is a must for any film aficionado.

"A KNIGHT'S TALE" (Columbia Tristar) 2001
PG-13
132 minutes
Heath Ledger, Rufus Sewell, Mark Addy, Alan Tudyk, Shannyn Sossamon

A peasant posing as a knight competes in jousting tournaments in 14th-century Europe.

The big selling point of a "A Knight's Tale" around the time of its release was the use of contemporary pop songs in a medieval setting, a not entirely original gimmick that seems more incidental than it does groundbreaking.

A run-of-the-mill jousting saga, the film is saved from mediocrity by co-star Paul Bettany, who plays English poet Geoffrey Chaucer. His scenes are beautifully written, his character refreshingly quirky and his delivery nonpareil. Unfortunately, much of his work was cut from the original film, but is restored on the DVD in three of the six deleted scenes, principal of which is a climactic passage wherein he elicits sympathy from the townspeople for Sir Ulrich (Ledger), who lies manacled before them in the stocks.

An HBO "making-of" is mostly promotional in nature, giving us far more info than any but the most ardent fans would care for. The same is true of 11 featurettes on various subjects from filming in Czechoslovakia to art direction, each apparently culled from the film's promotional electronic press kit. Commentary from director Brian Helgeland and actor Paul Bettany is entertaining, informative and refreshingly insouciant.

"ALONG CAME A SPIDER" (Paramount Pictures) 2001
R
103 minutes
Morgan Freeman, Monica Potter, Michael Wincott, Penelope Ann Miller

Suspense drama in which ace detective Alex Cross is called out of retirement to solve the kidnapping of a senator's daughter.

An overblown suspense thriller with a twist ending (albeit one that this reviewer guessed early on), "Along Came a Spider" took $74 million at the box office earlier this year. Morgan Freeman's performance elevates the production to something better than a TV movie, and the finished product is an improvement on its forebear, "Kiss the Girls."

With such lavish box office grosses, one would think the pic has earned the special-edition treatment from Paramount. Oddly, that is not the case. The only supplements on the DVD are a 15-minute featurette, strictly promotional in content, and the theatrical trailer.

"FRIDAY THE 13TH, PART V: A NEW BEGINNING" (Paramount Pictures) 1985
R
92 minutes
John Shepherd, Melanie Kinnaman, Richard Young

Kids at a secluded halfway house are sliced and diced by a machete-wielding madman.

Not scary, not even gory, this pic has little to recommend it other than cheesy '80s styles and music. So it comes as no surprise that Paramount opted not to provide any special features. The killings look as if they were put together by the MPAA: picture Jason with machete raised, followed by a body falling to the floor. There's plenty of violence, just not much imagination.

As expected, acting is subpar, but the film's principal weakness is its earnestness. No tongue-in-cheek kitsch here, just hysteria, gratuitous shots of topless women and the unfortunate promise of a sequel to follow.

"FRIDAY THE 13TH, PART VI: JASON LIVES" (Paramount Pictures) 1986
R
87 minutes
Thom Mathews, Jennifer Cooke

Kids at a secluded summer getaway are sliced and diced by a machete-wielding madman.

Clunky acting aside, this installment of the "Friday" series is downright watchable. Loaded with humor and an elevated level of cinematic expertise, "Part VI" eschews gratuitous sex for a little more gore. Writer/director Tom McLoughlin shows promise, breathing life into a moribund series with limited possibilities. However, like its predecessor, this disc also contains no special features.

"CIRCUITRY MAN/CIRCUITRY MAN II" (Columbia Tristar) 1989/90
R
85/97 minutes
Vernon Wells, Jim Metzler, Dennis Christopher, Traci Lords

Cyberpunk saga in which computer chips simulating pleasure are smuggled through an underground maze, with man/robot "Plughead" in pursuit.

Not as idiotic as it sounds, the first installment is a fine B-film with wit and imagination. However, the second installment misses the mark, the filmmakers stretching the premise beyond its limitations.

Both discs feature an army of commentators, including director/co-writer Steven Lovy, production designer/co-writer Rob Lovy, actor Vernon Wells and composer Deborah Holland for "CM1," and composer Tim Kelly for "CM2." It's a few too many cooks in this case and commentary tends to be of the self-congratulatory ilk. "Circuitry Man" is clearly the high point of the Lovys' careers and commentary is bittersweet as they reminisce about what must have felt like a time loaded with promise.

Jordan Riefe is a Los Angeles-based writer who is the West Coast radio correspondent for Variety magazine.