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DVD Playhouse December 2010

By

Allen Gardner

America Lost And Found: The Bbs Story (Criterion) Perhaps the best DVD box set released this year, this ultimate cinefile stocking stuffer offered up by Criterion, the Rolls-Royce of home video labels, features seven seminal works from the late ‘60s-early ‘70s that were brought to life by cutting edge producers Bert Schneider, Steve Blauner and director/producer Bob Rafelson, the principals of Bbs Productions. In chronological order: Head (1968) star the Monkees, the manufactured (by Rafelson, et al), American answer to the Beatles who, like it or not, did make an impact on popular culture, particularly in this utterly surreal piece of cinematic anarchy (co-written by Jack Nicholson, who has a cameo), which was largely dismissed upon its initial release, but is now regarded as a counterculture classic. Easy Rider (1969) is arguably regarded as the seminal ‘60s picture, about two hippie drug dealers (director Dennis Hopper...

Chicago – “A Dog Year” flew under everyone’s radar when it debuted on HBO in September 2009, mere months before its lead actor went on to win the Oscar for Best Actor. Now headlining two of the most anticipated films of the 2010 winter movie season, Jeff Bridges is bigger than ever. But will that make audiences any more interested in checking out this forgotten “Dog”?

It’s difficult to believe this gentle drama was originally televised on HBO, since it’s hardly up to the channel’s formidable quality standards. This picture would feel more at home on a “Lifetime for Men” channel featuring feel-good bromances, tear-jerking sports dramas, and the occasional dose of Betty White. With its overly polished cinematography and blatantly manipulative score, this project could’ve become a mawkish dud in the hands of a lesser actor.

DVD Rating: 3.0/5.0

Though Bridges has turned in decades of great work,...

In A Dog Year, the feature film directed by George Lavoo from Jon Katz's memoir, Jeff Bridges plays Katz, a midlife crisis-stricken writer who, impulsively and in an act of near-deliberate emotional self-destruction, adopts a rambunctious and unsocialized border collie, flying him cross country to his family's split-level home and their two other dogs. And while Lavoo's movie has its share of Beethoven-esque moments as the collie sprints down suburban streets or mischievously jumps rides on passing automobiles, the film is less about canine hijinks and more about the complex and unexpected emotional roles that dogs play in our lives. Bridges brings his customary outsized warmth to the character, but there's also a damaged and emotionally...

In A Dog Year, the feature film directed by George Lavoo from Jon Katz’s memoir, Jeff Bridges plays Katz, a midlife crisis-stricken writer who, impulsively and in an act of near-deliberate emotional self-destruction, adopts a rambunctious and unsocialized border collie, flying him cross country to his family’s split-level home and their two other dogs. And while Lavoo’s movie has its share of Beethoven-esque moments as the collie sprints down suburban streets or mischievously jumps rides on passing automobiles, the film is less about canine hijinks and more about the complex and unexpected emotional roles that dogs play in our lives. Bridges brings his customary outsized warmth to the character, but there’s also a...

'Dogs do speak. They speak to us in our dreams.' While I was preparing to direct A Dog Year, based on the autobiography by Jon Katz, for HBO Films, I ran across that quote in a book of essays on the relationship between human beings and dogs. It struck a chord. Even though Devon, the dog in A Dog Year, is a regular canine, and no animatronics, doggie voice-overs, or special effects are used in the film, his role is to impart some worldly advice and wisdom to his confused and broken human companion. Surprisingly - or not - without any words, Devon gets his message across. Naturally, the next question is: Are the humans listening to what the dogs are telling us? The theme of dogs learning from humans, instead of the other way around, is not only the core of the movie, but I found it was...