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X2 Almost on a par with the Y2K hit X-Men, this exciting sequel kicks off the summer movie season in style. While not quite matching the sense of wonder that accompanied the first picture, this one boasts a more polished script, vastly improved special effects, and a longer running time (135 minutes, a full half-hour over its predecessor) that gives more players more time to strut their stuff. This time, kindly Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and his band of do-gooder mutants find themselves teaming up with arch-villain Magneto (Ian McKellen) in an effort to bring down a ruthless military man (Brian Cox) hell-bent on eradicating every mutant on the planet. Practically every character from the first film returns, and there's the welcome addition of Alan Cumming as the sweet-natured Nightcrawler, a blue-skinned German with the ability to teleport out of tight jams. As with most sci-fi sequels, this will seem incomprehensible to folks who elected to skip the first film, but even they'll be able to glean the subtext often found in superhero adventures: A just and civilized society has no room for prejudice against those who are born different. X2 hammers that point home, with thinly veiled outbursts against warmongering right-wing administrations and homophobia. Hugh Jackman again excels as Wolverine, with noteworthy support by McKellen and especially Famke Janssen as soulful telepath Jean Grey. 
MILLER'S CROSSING (1990) / BARTON FINK (1991). Two of the Coen Brothers' earliest releases are simultaneously making their DVD debuts, and while they may not have endured in the public's mind as vibrantly as some of the siblings' other titles, both remain as compelling as ever. Miller's Crossing, somewhat overshadowed in its day due to being released between two higher-profile gangster flicks (GoodFellas and The Godfather Part III), casts Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney and John Turturro in a smartly scripted mob tale that's brimming with bravura filmmaking techniques and a welcome streak of nasty humor. Barton Fink, the first film to win the top three prizes at Cannes (Film, Director and Actor), is a complete original about a New York playwright (Turturro) who ends up in Hollywood to write a Wallace Beery wrestling picture for a "B" studio run by a dictatorial blowhard (Oscar-nominated Michael Lerner); he ends up befriending a traveling salesman (John Goodman), only to find his life turning into a surreal nightmare. Extra features on the Miller's Crossing DVD include a photo gallery and interview clips, while extras on Barton Fink include eight deleted scenes and theatrical trailers. Both films: 1/2
THE PIANIST (2002) Winner of the top prize at Cannes as well as three surprise Oscars (Actor, Director and Adapted Screenplay), Roman Polanski's drama recounts the story of Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody), a Jewish musician who, through the kindness of strangers and breaks of good fortune, managed to survive the Holocaust. The first half of the picture, more familiar but also more emotionally draining, centers on the Nazi atrocities occurring to those around Szpilman, while the second part shifts gears to concentrate on how he basically had to spend the remaining part of the war hiding out on his own, spending countless months with nothing to do, nothing to see, and usually nothing to eat. More reflective and deliberately paced than many films of this nature, this nevertheless contains some truly disturbing scenes that will be tough for many viewers to take. DVD extras include a making-of feature. -- Matt Brunson
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