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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, September 29, 2006

Guilty pleasure for boys-cars fans

By Susan King
Los Angeles Times

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"The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" (Universal, $30), the third installment in the popular boys-and-their-cars franchise, is a guilty pleasure. Justin Lin ("Better Luck Tomorrow") is the latest director to take the driver's seat, and former child actor Lucas Black ("Sling Blade") replaces Paul Walker as the speed-happy protagonist.

Extras include mini-documentaries on the actors' learning how to drift and the trials and tribulations of filming in Tokyo. Rounding out the disc is decent commentary with Lin.

The traditionally animated family film "Curious George" (Universal, $30), based on the classic children's books, finds an earnest young man named Ted (Will Ferrell) going to Africa to help save the struggling natural history museum where he works. While on safari, he meets a curious monkey that follows him back to New York.

Geared for the smallest of fry, extras include a sing-along, a lesson on how to draw George, a glimpse into how animators make George come to life and 10 interactive games.

Gretchen Mol was singled out for her performance in "The Notorious Bettie Page" (HBO, $28) as the infamous 1950s pinup.

Among extras are a decent documentary "Pin-Up Queen of the Universe," footage of Page stripping and ho-hum commentary with director Mary Harron, Mol and co-writer Guinevere Turner.

Jason Clarke and Jason Isaacs star in Showtime's "Brotherhood — The Complete First Season" ($30). The acclaimed series, which just completed its first season Sunday, concerns two brothers — one a gangster (Isaacs) and the other a politician (Clarke) — who live in an Irish neighborhood in Providence, R.I. Meager extras include audio commentary with creator and executive producer Blake Masters and executive producer and writer Henry Bromwell on one episode.

"A Nightmare on Elm Street" (New Line, $27): Yummy two-disc set of Wes Craven's clever 1984 shocker that introduced razor-fingered ghoul Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) and marked the feature debut of Johnny Depp.

This edition features well-produced documentaries on the film's difficult, financially strapped production, a spooky examination of dreams, a trivia track and superlative commentary with Craven, producer-New Line chief Robert Shaye, and stars Heather Langenkamp and Amanda Wyss among others.

"Daniel Boone" (Goldhil, $50 each): The first two seasons of NBC's series starring Fess Parker are making their DVD debuts. Unfortunately, the picture quality of the first season, shot in black-and-white, isn't very good.