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Homewreckers on DVDBy Jordan Harper, Luke Y. Thompson, Robert WilonskyPublished on December 01, 2005Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Fox) The pairing of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, both in real life and on celluloid, is so obvious as to be almost cartoonish. So even though both are better actors than they need to be, they perfectly belong in this goofy, explosion-filled world. Married assassins trading bullets and smoldering looks ... this is what the nation demands of them. The film itself is tissue-thin and has no reason to exist outside of its stars. A tight-orificed indie snob would tell you this is Hollywood at its worst, but it's also damned watchable. No one on Earth gives two shits about the special features for a film like this, including the people who assembled them. The three commentary tracks will not be heard even by fans of Pitt or Jolie; a featurette on the evolution of a scene -- actually a fairly interesting glimpse into the thinking behind a Hollywood blockbuster -- will go unwatched. Next time, just give us a featurette called Brad & Angie Do It. -- Jordan Harper The Mummy Collector's Set: The Franchise Collection (Universal) Not to be confused with the plain old Mummy Collection, this new set includes The Scorpion King, which has no mummies in it at all but does feature the Rock in his first (and arguably best) lead performance. On the off chance that anyone who likes these movies doesnt already own them, this is a good way to get them for less than 10 bucks each; each set also contains a coupon to see Peter Jacksons King Kong. The discs here are all the same as previously released versions, which offered decent commentaries and extras. But factor in the price of the Kong ticket, and youre basically getting one of them for free anyway. -- Luke Y. Thompson March of the Penguins (Warner Bros.) Its the nature doc that became the years phenomenon -- perhaps because it was also the best film for kids, one full of sweeping, frozen vistas populated by cutey-pie penguins toddling off to do their thang. Its astonishing, really, to contemplate what should be so obvious: As studios spend millions to animate animals that sound like Ray Romano, director Luc Jacquet proves that all you need is the real deal. Without sentiment (but not without love), Jacquets crews have captured the crunch and squawk of emperor penguins slipping and sliding over 70 miles of wasteland to mate. Those who thought Jacquet pushed too hard by trying to conjure human emotions in tuxedo-clad birdies should skip the fascinating bonus doc Of Penguins and Men, which recounts the difficulty and wonder in getting the footage. -- Robert Wilonsky The first misconception that this documentary clears up is that quadriplegics cant move their arms. The second is that they cannot kick your ass. This film about wheelchair-rugby players lives up to the inspirational hype not because the subjects are angels but because they are raging, randy devils. Mark Zupan, the charismatic, goateed breakout star of the film, is such a caricature of a sporting fellow that you almost want to smack him -- not that you could get away with it. The scads of extras show how broad the films appeal is: Theres a lowbrow clip of Zupan acting stupid with Johnny Knoxville, a middlebrow Larry King interview and a highfalutin Charlie Rose special. The deleted scenes are worth skipping, but an expanded scene of the athletes answering childrens questions is worth watching; kids, after all, arent too ashamed to be as curious as the rest of us. -- Harper
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