Try ‘Starsky and Hutch,’ be it TV or film

  • By David Germain / Associated Press
  • Monday, July 19, 2004 9:00pm
  • LifeGo-See-Do

Selected home-video releases:

“Starsky &Hutch” – Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson’s overblown and undercooked adaptation of the ’70s cop show is spiced up a bit by breezy, amusing DVD extras. Co-star Snoop Dogg shows off his outrageous Huggy Bear clothes in a featurette, while the DVD has commentary from director Todd Phillips and half a dozen deleted scenes, including an extended cameo by the original Starsky and Hutch, Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul.

A behind-the-scenes mockumentary begins like the usual self-congratulatory making-of special, then devolves into a funny series of put-downs as cast and crew have at one another (“It’s like working with, you know, 90 10-year-olds,” snipes co-star Juliette Lewis.) As for director Phillips, the straight man in the mockumentary: “He’ll get what he deserves,” Wilson deadpans. “Because the movie doesn’t work.” DVD, $27.95. (Warner Bros.)

Debuting on DVD at the same time is “Starsky and Hutch: The Complete Second Season,” a five-disc set with 25 episodes of Glaser and Soul’s small-screen adventures. DVD set, $49.95. (Columbia TriStar)

“Early Summer” – Yasujiro Ozu’s lyrical 1951 classic centers on an aging daughter living with her parents, who bucks societal expectations when she resists pressure from family and co-workers to marry a man they have chosen. The DVD includes commentary from Japanese film expert Donald Richie and essays by film scholar David Bordwell and filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, who calls Ozu “one of the film directors from whom I received my deepest inspiration.” The disc also has a behind-the-scenes look at Ozu’s methods featuring interviews with his collaborators. DVD, $39.95. (Criterion)

TV on DVD:

“Millennium: The Complete First Season” – Chris Carter, creator of “The X-Files,” went a step darker with his short-lived series about a crime profiler (Lance Henriksen) using his almost psychic insights to hunt otherworldly killers. The six-disc set has 22 episodes, with Carter contributing commentary on the pilot. DVD set, $59.98. (20th Century Fox)

“K Street: The Complete Series” – Executive producers George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh deliver an intriguing blend of fiction and reality with this insider’s look at power-brokering in Washington. Mary McCormack, John Slattery and Roger G. Smith star as consultants rubbing shoulders with such real-life capital critters as James Carville, Michael Deaver and Mary Matalin. The two-disc set has all 10 episodes. DVD set, $24.98. (HBO)

“All in the Family: The Complete Third Season” – Carroll O’Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers return for another round of conservative bigotry butting heads with liberal indignation in Norman Lear’s ’70s sitcom. The three-disc set has 24 episodes. DVD set, $29.95. (Columbia TriStar)

“Soap: The Complete Second Season” – Year two of the soap-opera spoof adds John Byner to a cast that included Billy Crystal, Katherine Helmond, Robert Guillaume and Richard Mulligan. The set has 22 episodes on three discs, with a making-of featurette and the original pilot as bonuses. DVD set, $29.95. (Columbia TriStar)

“Boomtown: Season One” – In the vein of Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon,” this edgy crime drama examines misdeeds through different perspectives, gradually piecing together the truth from multiple points of view. The five-disc set has 18 episodes, with commentary on six from co-stars Donnie Wahlberg and Neal McDonough and other collaborators. DVD set, $49.98. (Lions Gate)

“The Lion in Winter” – Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close ably handle a daunting task, starring in a TV remake of the 1968 masterpiece that featured Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn. Stewart plays King Henry II, embroiled in a cagey round of mind games with wife Eleanor over his successor. DVD, $19.98. (Lions Gate)

Other new releases:

“Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen” – Lindsay Lohan stars as a hip Manhattan teen trying to regain her cool when she runs up against the queen bees at her new school in Jersey. The DVD has a deleted scene, a Lohan music video and commentary with director Sara Sugarman and collaborators. DVD, $29.99. (Disney)

“Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights” – This tepid retelling of the 1980s hit transplants the story to pre-Castro Cuba, where a young American woman (Romola Garai) finds passion and hot moves with a Cuban dancer (Diego Luna). Among DVD extras are deleted footage, commentary from the choreographer and the stars’ dance auditions. DVD, $26.98. (Lions Gate)

“The Human Stain” – Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, Gary Sinise and Ed Harris star in last year’s adaptation of the Philip Roth novel of doomed romance between a janitor and a light-skinned black man who has masqueraded as a white throughout his academic career. DVD, $29.99. (Miramax)

“The Big Bounce” – The 1960s original adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s offbeat thriller wasn’t all that hot, and Owen Wilson’s comic update is worse. Wilson stars as a drifter drawn into a theft caper by a luscious beach babe. The movie wastes a talented supporting cast led by Morgan Freeman, Gary Sinise and Charlie Sheen. DVD, $27.95. (Warner Brothers)

“People I Know” – Al Pacino plays a publicity spin doctor who tumbles into a quagmire when he tries to smooth over a mess for a Hollywood client. Ryan O’Neal, Kim Basinger and Tea Leoni co-star. The DVD includes deleted scenes and commentary from director Dan Algrant. DVD, $29.99. (Miramax)

“Air America” – Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr.’s 1990 flick about CIA smuggling operations in Laos during Vietnam gets a DVD makeover. The movie is accompanied by commentary from co-writer John Eskow and a retrospective featurette about the movie and its subject matter. DVD, $19.98. (Lions Gate)

“Highlander 2” – Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery are back for another round of immortals lopping heads off immortals in this dreadful sequel that’s for hardcore fans of the series only. The new DVD version comes in a two-disc set with reworked visual effects and deleted scenes. DVD, $19.98. (Lions Gate)

Some DVD issues may not have corresponding VHS releases. VHS prices vary widely.

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