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— by Ben Cosgrove and Carl Davis
Admit it — you sometimes don't see movies that you secretly want to see because you're afraid of seeming uncool, out of touch or just plain strange. You, over there! The guy in the Motörhead t-shirt and artfully ripped jeans — why didn't you go see Disney's "Sky High" when you had a chance? And you — soccer mom! What kept you from standing in line to see that midnight showing of "Land of the Dead"? Worried your minister might catch you? Well, for all you fans who missed some of the year's best flicks when they first came out — for whatever legitimate or lame reasons — here are a few that have made their way to DVD and are worth a look. No more excuses, people.
 "D.E.B.S."
Kurt Loder wrote of this film: "Along with being the best — okay, the only — teenage lesbian superspy movie to date, 'D.E.B.S.' is also sweet and surprising. It's funny in an off-hand, unassuming way, and you root for it to work. In a year that's so far been littered with, shall we say, undistinguished Hollywood product, this film is a cheering reminder of what can be done by clever people with a small budget and a lot of enthusiasm.
"The premise is cute, but don't be afraid. Hidden inside the annual S.A.T. test is a secret, government-funded sub-test that identifies girls who have special talents for lying, cheating, fighting and killing. High scorers are taken to a secret paramilitary academy, where they're trained in the arts of espionage and the wearing of short Catholic-schoolgirl-type plaid skirts.
" 'D.E.B.S.' is of course a take-off on 'Charlie's Angels,' but it has none of the self-conscious hipness of big stars slumming with junky material. It has appealing actors (Sara Foster, Meagan Good, Jill Ritchie, Devon Aoki, Jordana Brewster), some good lines, and a nice little soundtrack, too. It's good-natured and romantic, and, best of all, maybe, there's nothing winkingly 'hip' about it. How hip is that?"
"George A. Romero's Land Of The Dead"
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This thought-provoking and gratifyingly gore-filled epic shows director George A. Romero in fine form, nearly four decades after he first terrified audiences and re-invented the zombie genre with the 1968 classic, "Night of the Living Dead." This time around, Dennis Hopper plays a cynical, manipulative creep named Kaufman who lives in precarious luxury above a blasted landscape populated by quasi-feral humans (including John Leguizamo, Simon Baker and Asia Argento) and an army of zombies on the lookout for yummy intestine snacks. As with all of Romero's "Dead" movies, here one can simply revel in his masterful and — still, even today — shocking depictions of brute, sudden violence, or take the high road and ponder the man's highly politicized take on complacency, consumerism and the stupefying crassness of modern American "culture." Either way, this is some mighty entertaining stuff from one of the most influential directors alive.
"Lords Of Dogtown"
In his review of "Lords of Dogtown," Kurt Loder wrote that it's "the kind of youth-culture film that, like 'American Graffiti,' can make you nostalgic for a time and a place that you never experienced firsthand. It's only the second picture directed by Catherine Hardwicke ('Thirteen') but it's sleek with assurance, and it vibrates with a bouncing-off-the-walls energy that sucks you right into the action. ... The movie also features a sweet, touching performance by Michael Angarano, who plays a lovable, gnome-like hanger-on named Sid ... [and] the final scene, in which the Z-Boys tenderly maneuver a wheelchair-bound friend down into an empty pool and then hop on their skateboards and start zooming up and over and all around him, is wonderfully moving. Your heart soars along with them."
"Murderball"
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The idea behind co-directors/producers Dana Adam Shapiro's and Henry-Alex Rubin's film is deceptively simple: Follow the fortunes of a bunch of "murderballers," or quadriplegic rugby players, as they open up about their injuries, their lives and their hopes of winning gold for Team USA at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, Greece. Unsentimental, insightful and occasionally wickedly funny, the movie features compelling characters (Mark Zupan, the charismatic rock and roller from Austin, Texas; Joe Soares, the prickly former coach of Team USA; Keith Cavill, a young, paralyzed ex-motocross rider who discovers the adrenalized joys of quad rugby; and a host of others), as well as moments of raw emotion and high human drama. Oh, yeah — and the soundtrack rocks.
"Oldboy"
Korean director Park Chan-wook is on a roll, with no less than three of his films released this year in the U.S. — including the first two installments of his celebrated "Vengeance" trilogy, "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" and "Oldboy." The latter, awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, chronicles the Kafkaesque troubles of a man named Oh Dae-su, who one day is taken off the street and imprisoned in a shabby hotel room without any idea who his captors might be or why they're holding him. After 15 years of watching TV, eating dumplings and stoking his desire for revenge, he is released just as mysteriously as he was abducted. Now he has just five days to unravel the clues that will lead him to his captor — and to vengeance.
"Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior"
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In an age of "wire-fu" and CGI-choreographed "bullet time" fight scenes, the unassisted stunt work of Thai martial-arts phenom Tony Jaa is both refreshing and astonishing. A potential successor to superstars like Jackie Chan and Jet Li, Jaa's masterful grasp of the "Muay Thai" boxing style and his onscreen charisma more than carry this enjoyably big-on-action, low-on-plot vehicle. The storyline is pretty standard fare: Tasked with retrieving the stolen head of his village's sacred Buddha, Jaa's character must travel to the big city and compete in a crime lord's underground fight club in order to discover the idol's whereabouts. The film runs on pure adrenaline, with Jaa punching, kicking and leaping his way into the forefront of martial-arts film stars before one's eyes.
"Sky High"
Anyone familiar with the show "Smallville" or the "Spider-Man" films has seen what it's like to be a hero stuck in high school, but what if Kal or Peter were enrolled in a whole school full of super-powered students? Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano) is the son of the Commander (Kurt Russell) and Jetstream (Kelly Preston), the premier crime-fighting team on the planet, but he's lived his whole life as a normal boy. At Sky High, all the heroes' (and even some of the villains') kids learn how to deal with their powers — except for Will, who has none. In fact, his meager strength has relegated him to ignominious "sidekick" status. Sure, it's "The Incredibles" as directed by John Hughes (well, actually Mike Mitchell), but with a suitably super supporting cast — including the wonderful Lynda Carter and the chin-tastic Bruce Campbell — "Sky High" is superhero fun at its finest.
"A Very Long Engagement"
Audrey Tautou, the amazingly expressive actress who made the film "Amélie" an international hit, is at it again, this time bringing brains and heart in equal measure to this tale of a young woman who spends years trying to learn the fate of her fiance in post-World War I France. One of the few movies in recent years that manages to feel at once vast in scope and intensely personal, "A Very Long Engagement" is a romance that doesn't go for easy tears; instead, it shows human beings at their worst and best, and respects both the intelligence and empathy of its audience. Simply excellent.
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