Another look at two Oscar nominees
By Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press
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Usually, it's the Oscar winners who get all the attention. Not this week, thanks to releases that spotlight the Judi Dench you might not have ever seen, and a dramatic effort by Will Smith.
There was little chance that Dench, so terrific in "Notes on a Scandal" (coming to DVD April 17) would score a best actress upset over Helen Mirren ("The Queen" arrives April 24), but odder things have happened — like, say, Dench not becoming a movie star until 10 years ago.
That's when she received her first best-actress Oscar nomination for playing a queen of her own, Victoria, in "Mrs. Brown," and made her first appearance as M in the James Bond adventure "Tomorrow Never Dies."
By that time, Dench had been a mainstay of British theater, television and radio for almost 40 years. A sampling of some of the great Dame Judi roles we Yanks missed can be seen in "The Judi Dench Collection" (BBC). It's the chance to see and hear Dench in all the above-mentioned media, in roles comic, dramatic and all things in between.
Dench is one of the few film actors who have won BAFTA awards, England's version of the Emmy. Hers came in a televised adaptation of Shakespeare and two sitcoms, "A Fine Romance" and "As Time Goes By."
Though collections of those TV shows are available in the United States from BBC, "The Judi Dench Collection" includes special BBC presentations. The most special show might be "The Cherry Orchard," a stellar production of the Chekhov play that was first broadcast in 1981. Dench plays returning Russian noblewoman Madame Ranevsky; it's directed by Richard Eyre, her director in "Notes" and 2001's "Iris."
Also included is the Royal Shakespeare Company production of the same play, televised in 1962. Dench had the role of Anya in that cast.
Other highlights of the 8-disc, 9-title DVD:
Another Oscar nominee this year, Will Smith, showed his serious side in "The Pursuit of Happyness" (Columbia-TriStar), based on the true story of Chris Gardner, who struggled to make a new life for himself and his son. Also available in Blu-Ray.
Some of the extras are a director's commentary and a conversation with the real-life Gardner.
ALSO NEW
"Children of Men" (Universal), another Oscar hopeful that came up empty, is a thoughtful, provocative drama set in a near future in which Britain is the last country that has not collapsed into anarchy, and bureaucrat Clive Owen finds himself attempting to hide the first pregnant woman in years from his government and a rebel group that would exploit her. In an interesting move, Universal is releasing this in a dual-format edition that couples a standard DVD and an HDTV version, in an effort to stave off Blu-Ray's growing dominance in the high definition format war.
TV ON DVD
The History Channel's fascinating 12-part series about how the world's great civilizations were made, "Engineering an Empire" (A&E), gets boxed in a 4-disc set; historian Peter Weller narrates.
The inspirational "7th Heaven — The Complete Fourth Season" and "Touched by an Angel — The Fourth Season Vol. 1" are both available through Paramount.
FAMILY PICK OF THE WEEK
Proof that penguins rule came with the animation Oscar win of "Happy Feet" (DreamWork). The computer-generated imagery comedy is about the misfit Emperor penguin Mumbles (the voice of Elijah Wood), who can't carry the tune that would help him find a mate, but can hoof better than John Travolta. Academy voters found this a lot more entertaining than I did, and so did moviegoers, especially those younger than 8. Extras here aren't outtakes, but two new scenes that were created especially for the DVD, and videos for the Prince and Gia songs on the soundtrack.
And if that penguin jones still isn't satisfied, MGM is riding the tuxedo tails with the direct-to-DVD "The Pebble and the Penguin." In this tale Martin Short gives voice to another stumbling penguin suitor.
