"A Thousand Words" and "Mirror, Mirror" are also reviewed.
Jean Dujardin (left) and Berenice Bejo (right) star in "The Artist."The Washington Post
The following movies are available this week on home video:
“The Artist” – A delectable homage to the silent movies of the 1920s, Michel Hazanavicius’ romantic comedy plays like a sweet, airy confection. That “The Artist” is itself a silent movie - in black-and-white, no less - shouldn’t deter viewers from giving it a whirl. “The Artist” opens in 1927, when the dapper filmstar George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) rules Hollywoodland. When George crosses paths with an eager newcomer named Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), he’s cast in the role of mentor; but when talking pictures become the order of the day, she quickly begins an ascent up stardom’s ladder, while George’s fortunes begin their inevitable slide. Even themost arresting visual stunts would amount to little more than pastiche were it not for Dujardin and Bejo, who infuse their characters with palpable longing and regret. With equally able supporting performances, “The Artist” hews faithfully to the classics it celebrates, offering a cautionary parable regarding the wages of fame but wrapping it in velvety aesthetic values, crisp storytelling and fabulous dance numbers. Extras: making-of featurette, Q&A with the filmmakers and cast, blooper reel, and Hollywood-on-location featurette.
“A Thousand Words” – Eddie Murphy’s Jack McCall is a powerhouse literary agent who doesn’t stop talking long enough to read the books he pitches to major publishers. His latest target is a stadium-packing, vaguely Indian new age guru who presents Jack with an unmarketably terse five-page book and a mystical Bodhi tree. The tree, it turns out, is psychically grafted to Jack. It loses a leaf every time he releases a word, and both tree and man will perish when the last leaf falls. This is a problem not only at work, but also at home, where Jack’s wife has picked exactly this moment to insist that her husband communicate better. More bland than bad, the film has a few nice moments. Sure, there are cheap sex gags and broad slapstick routines, but the movie seems sincere about its self-help-book moral. DVD extras: Six deleted scenes. Also, on Blu-ray: five more deleted scenes, alternate ending.
“Mirror Mirror” – Director Tarsem Singh has shown a gift for fantastical settings, and Snow White’s kingdom is no exception. Unfortunately, actress Lily Collins as Snow White offers a pale reflection of her stunning setting. The fair Snow White is sequestered in her late father’s castle by her pathologically vain stepmother, the Evil Queen (Julia Roberts). After sneaking out of the fortress for a visit to the village, Snow meets Prince Alcott of Valencia in the woods. He has been bound and burgled, and she, having no idea he is a prince, unties him and then blushes furiously. Later, when the prince arrives at the castle looking for sanctuary, the queen goes into cougar mode. But naturally, the prince has eyes only for the mysterious, raven-haired beauty he encountered in the forest. Most of Snow’s interactions with the magnetic prince are tepid, except for one flirty sword fight. Even the climactic kiss is a snooze. DVD extras: making-of and “Prince and Puppies” featurettes. Also, on Blu-ray: deleted scenes, an alternate opening, a dance-along to the Nina Hart song “I Believe in Love” performed by Collins and an interactive digital storybook.
“21 Jump Street” – A surly police captain played by Ice Cube tells two new recruits that the force has resurrected a defunct program from 30 years ago that sent undercover cops into high schools. The neophytes he’s screaming at are Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum), a bumbling nerd and good-looking dullard, respectively, who were arch-opposites in their high school but have become best buds since going through the police academy. Despite the edginess and vulgarity, the production is suffused by an unmistakable sweetness, no doubt thanks to the film’s co-directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Hill and Tatum work joyfully in harness, developing a chemistry reminiscent of Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg in the similarly anarchic buddy flick “The Other Guys.” This is “The Younger Guys,” with more surreally funny drug trips and amusing cameos. “21 Jump Street” might be yet another product of Hollywood’s recycling program, but it deserves to be noticed. DVD extras: Director and cast commentary, behind-the-scenes featurette, deleted scenes. Also, on Blu-ray: gag reel, outtakes, four other featurettes.
Also: “Wrath of the Titans,” “The 39 Steps” (1935, Criterion Collection), “C’mon Man” (a k a “The Last Laugh”), “Almost Kings,” “Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham and Other Stories” (1973, remastered TV feature), “Law & Order: Criminal Intent: The Seventh Year,” “Oranges and Sunshine” (2010, Britain/Australia), “The Samurai Trilogy” (“Musashi Miyamoto,” 1954; “Duel at Ichijoji Temple,” 1955, “Duel at Ganryu Island,” 1956, Japan; all directed by Hiroshi Inagaki and starring Toshiro Mifune), “Some Guy Who Kills People,” “Best Laid Plans,” “Sector 7” (2011, South Korea), “Bullhead” (2011, Belgium), “Identical,” “Damages: The Complete Fourth Season,” “Second-Story Man,” “The Perfect Family,” “Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns: Season 6,” “Springtime in the Sierras” (1942, starring Roy Rogers and Trigger, Film Chest/American Pop Classics), “Dora the Explorer: Dora’s Rescue in Mermaid Kingdom,” “Earth From Above” (the first two installments in the travelogue series), “The Hedgehog (Le Herisson)” (2009, France) and three TCM Greatest Classic Legends releases (four discs each, on Joan Crawford, Humphrey Bogart and Kirk Douglas, Warner) and TCM Greatest Gangster Films, with Humphrey Bogart, Warner).