AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH (2006). This absorbing documentary about global warming — a surprise box office hit — gently pushes a message that all Americans of sound mind and good conscience can embrace: Let’s work together to make the world a better place. It’s a tall order, but the beauty of the film is that it inspires audience members to actually believe they can be a part of something important — as Al Gore, the film’s host and guiding visionary, notes, all the resources are already available for combating global warming; the only thing that’s missing is “political will.” Personal anecdotes, charts, slide shows and even cartoons are employed to allow the information to be easily digested by almost anyone. As for Gore, he’s far more personable and animated than he ever was on the campaign trail — what remains unchanged is his blazing intelligence, a far cry from the monosyllabic chimp presently sitting in the White House. As has been the case with Jimmy Carter, getting ousted from office might end up being the best way for Gore to serve his country. DVD extras include audio commentaries with director Davis Guggenheim and the producers, “An Update With Former Vice President Al Gore,” a making-of piece, and the music video for Melissa Etheridge’s “I Need to Wake Up.”
Movie: ***1/2
Extras: **1/2
SUPERMAN RETURNS (2006). A viewer would have to go back 28 years to find the motion picture that still ranks as the finest superhero movie ever made. The 1978 version of Superman holds up beautifully, with dazzling special effects, plenty of heart and spunk, and career performances by Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder as Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Director Bryan Singer (X-Men and X2) has a great affinity for that film, and he pays his respects with a new picture that’s neither a remake nor a direct repudiation; instead, he imagines Superman Returns as a continuation of the original saga, a chance to advance the story without radically altering it. Like Christopher Nolan with Batman Begins, Singer has elected to add dramatic heft to a deceptively simple comic-book framework, by spending as much screen time on the characters’ mental battles as on the gee-whiz theatrics of Superman’s crime-fighting prowess. The script’s mixture of melodrama and mirth seems just right, and newcomer Brandon Routh is effective as the Man of Steel and his bumbling alter ego. Extras on the two-disc DVD edition include additional scenes and approximately three hours of behind-the-scenes info, including a look at how Jor-El (played by the late Marlon Brando) was incorporated into the film as well as a study of the film’s costume and set designs.
Movie: ***1/2
Extras: ***
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2006.
