DVD reviews: 'Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay,' 'Shine a Light,' 'The Band's Visit,' 'Doomsday'
Studious Harold and stoner Kumar get with the political spirit of the times in this long and uneven but occasionally hilarious sequel to Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. The story picks up not long after the end of White Castle, with investment banker Harold Lee (John Cho) and med-student friend Kumar Patel (Kal Penn) off to Amsterdam to win the heart of Maria (Paula Garces), the woman on whom Harold was crushing big time in the first film. But the would-be romantic European getaway is hijacked by events, as well as H&K’s nerdy stupidity.
As with White Castle, much of the humor is as sophisticated as a college kegger. In the opening minutes, there’s a brief, sex-related sight gag that no doubt will repulse as many viewers as it entertains. Neil Patrick Harris, once again playing the Bizarro version of himself, returns with an even bigger sexual appetite. And the whole men-in-prison scenario plays out like Oz meets Beavis and Butt-head.
The two-disc special edition features an unrated version with seven extra minutes that may have been too raunchy for theaters.
— Cary Darling
***
Shine a Light
****
(2008, PG-13, $29,99)
Harnessing the timeless power of the Rolling Stones and applying his razor-sharp visual acumen, Martin Scorsese makes a concert film that’s studded with backward glances (it’s startling to see a young Mick Jagger guessing that his band would exist for only a few years) and crackles with electricity. It’s fitting that Scorsese lets the music take center stage: These rockers seem to have little time for analyzing or remembrances — it’s all about the here and now. In documenting this pair of 2006 performances at New York City’s Beacon Theater, Scorsese deftly captures one of rock’s elemental acts in its natural habitat. The DVD includes four extra songs.
— Preston Jones
The Band’s Visit
****
(2008, PG-13, $28.96)
A group of Egyptian police officers, dressed identically in powder-blue suits, steps off an airplane in Tel Aviv. They’re members of a police orchestra, and they’ve come to Israel to perform at the opening celebration of an arts center designed to foster understanding between Israeli and Arab cultures. When they take a bus that puts them in the wrong town entirely, it soon becomes apparent that they will have to rely upon the kindness of strangers. The Band’s Visit doesn’t pound us over the head with its message about warring peoples who are able to discover the humanity in one another. Extras include a documentary and photo gallery.
— Christopher Kelly
Doomsday
***
(2008, $29.98, not rated)
To play a deadly commando in the year 2035, Rhona Mitra has her hair cut in an ultra-angular shag so she resembles Victoria Beckham on steroids. When signs of life emerge in Scotland, which has been sealed off from the rest of the world for decades after the outbreak of a monster virus, Mitra is sent in to investigate. Most fantasy-action films blow their budgets in the first half-hour and limp home, but Doomsday smartly saves its fireworks for the later innings. The film has more blood splatter than a dozen zombie movies. If you can handle that, its drunken mash-up of futuristic and feudalistic is surprisingly satisfying. Extras include unrated version and two documentaries.
— Philadelphia Inquirer
