This Week's DVD Releases: Good Law-Abiding Coco Montes

It's a beautiful day, as if spring has sprung. That means it's time to lock yourselves indoors and watch some movies. And if you're looking for something to do this fine evening, head to the SAM, where their Steve McQueen series continues with Bullitt, followed by a Q&A with Steve's first wife, Neile McQueen-Toffel. And now here's this week's DVD releases, care of our good friends at Scarecrow Video.

Compared to the past few weeks, this week's lineup is actually pretty decent. So let's get the must-miss out of the way: Law Abiding Citizen, another title (like Couples Retreat before it) in bad need of punctuation, not to mention a better script. Don't remember this Jamie Foxx-Gerard Butler action thriller? Consider yourself lucky to have blocked those non-stop commercials from your memory.

Also out today is Coco Before Chanel, starring gamine cutie-pie Audrey Tautou as the fashion designer in her early years.  There's also Good Hair, Chris Rock's documentary about the politics and culture surrounding African-American hair. (Because there's two types of hair: the hair white people have, and the hair white people used to have.)  Speaking of black people, cult camp neo-classic Black Dynamite is also out on DVD. I thought it was released a couple weeks ago, but apparently it's actually out this week. I blame The Man.

There are three indie releases this week that are all sure things. Hunger is the first feature by the other Steve McQueen, the English visual artist. To quote myself: "The film's about the true-life hunger strike undertaken by jailed members of the Irish Republican Army, who just wanted to be treated as political prisoners rather than common criminals. While the politics of the film--does it glorify terrorists?--are debatable, McQueen's skills as a director are not; he's got a fine eye and a commendable patience with the camera. There's not much talking in the film, which leaves plenty of time for surprisingly lovely images (see the lonely inmate making friends with the fly in his cell), except for one virtuoso seventeen-minute single-take conversation/debate between a prisoner and a priest."

Then there's Revanche, one of last year's Foreign Film Oscar nominees. Says me: "Austrian director Götz Spielmann has crafted a taut yet meditative film about a star-crossed big city couple, their small-town bank heist, and the complicated aftermath. The less said about the story the better (e.g., don't watch the trailer), but suffice it to say Hollywood doesn't make films like this: the characters are imperfect, the action moves along at a contemplative pace, and the script eschews the need for extraneous subplots."

And then there's the simply stunning restoration of Lola Montes.  Yep, me again: "Max Ophuls' final film was a commercial failure, prompting some major re-edits and butchering at the hands of producers and studio execs, but that's only because it was so ahead of its time. Lola Montes may be an over-the-top hyper-saturated spectacle, but at its core it's a colorful, non-chronological meditation on the fleeting nature of fame and celebrity, with the titular character's story--as a dancer, courtesan, and mistress to some of Europe's biggest names--emerging through flashbacks. This is the definitive restoration, with all existing footage of the film incorporated into a beautifully restored 35mm print."

Any of those three are well worth your time. And now for something completely different: Splinterheads, which looks to be a cute-enough comedy about quirky slackers. Because sometimes cute-enough is good enough for a rental.