February 17, 2010 THE VILLADOM TIMES I, II, III & IV • Page 17 ‘Paris, Texas’ is vivid portrait of man and environment by Dennis Seuling Occasionally, a film comes along that, in its simplicity, captures the character of a landscape and the people in it. Such a movie is “Paris, Texas” (The Criterion Collection), German director Wim Wenders’ second American film. His first, “Hammett” (1982), was re-edited by its producer to make it more commercial. Two years later, Wenders returned to America with European financing and full artistic freedom, and created “Paris, Texas,” a road movie of great visual beauty that works on several levels. The story focuses on Travis Henderson (Harry Dean Stanton). The viewers’ first image of the character is a dis- tant shot of him emerging from the Southwestern desert, a scene reminiscent of Omar Sharif on camel in “Lawrence of Arabia” slowly approaching the camera as heat rising from the desert sands gives the scene a mirage-like effect. Travis wanders into a small Texas town and collapses from exhaustion. The local doctor contacts Travis’ brother Walt (Dean Stockwell) who, with his wife, has been rais- ing Travis’ son, Hunter. Travis goes back to Walt’s home in Los Angeles, but remains distant. Uncomfortable with life in the suburbs, he decides to take his son and go back to Texas to find his former wife and Hunter’s mother, Jane (Nastassja Kinski). The movie is technically a road picture, but also explores themes of redemption and restlessness while couching itself in mystery. Viewers are told Travis has been lost for five years, but are never clued in as to where he has been. This gives a mythic aura to the character. He is a man on a quest -- a modern day Don Quixote not jousting at windmills but lost in the metaphorical desert. This is the only movie in which Stanton was the star. He has made quite a career as character actor, but this is his best role. His rugged face suggests a man who has expe- rienced a hard, unhappy life, and his reticence suggests a Gary Cooper-like Everyman. Wenders lets his images resonate with the viewer. He establishes a slow pace that allows viewers to see what Travis and the other characters are thinking. This is not a movie overstuffed with dialogue. With evocative cinematography by Robby Muller and music by Ry Cooder, “Paris, Texas” is a beautiful looking film with a distinctly American feel. The Criterion Blu-ray edition contains audio com- mentary by Wim Wenders; “The Road to Paris, Texas,” a 43-minute making-of documentary; deleted scenes; and a featurette containing reminiscences by Claire Denis and Allison Anders, the film’s first assistant director and pro- duction assistant, respectively. The 1970s saw a proliferation of movies popularly termed “blaxploitation.” These were action films, gener- ally R-rated, featuring African-American actors in starring roles as either cops, bad guys turned good, martial arts experts, or other men of power waging war against street thugs, drug dealers, pimps, and especially the corrupt white establishment – “The Man.” The best known films from this genre are “Shaft” (1971) and “Superfly” (1972). “Black Dynamite” (Sony Pictures Home Entertain- ment) pays homage to such films by capturing their look, style, and over-the-top action. The action-comedy-spoof follows the exploits of ex-CIA agent and full-time ladies’ man Black Dynamite (Michael Jai White), out to avenge the death of his brother against kung-fu masters, drug- dealing pimps, and The Man. Whether he is taking down drug dealers or sweet-talking curvaceous women, he is the man out to stop The Man. Director Scott Sanders provides a letter-perfect parody on a par with “Airplane!” or “The Naked Gun.” He incorpo- rates all the clichés of the genre, from hairdos and machine- gunned one-liners to continuity errors, non-sequiturs, excessive zooms, split screen, visible boom microphones, faded color, and close-ups to overemphasize “dramatic” dialogue. White, however, manages to avoid totally bur- lesquing the lead character by portraying him as an earnest action hero. The movie is great fun at first, but wears out its welcome long before its 90-minute running time. The spoof might have been more effective as a short. Harry Dean Stanton stars as a man trying to reconnect with his family in ‘Paris, Texas.’ “Black Dynamite” is available in DVD and Blu-ray formats. Both contain filmmaker and cast commentary, deleted and alternate scenes, and two featurettes. The Blu- ray edition contains “The ‘70s: Back in Action” featurette. “Clint: 35 Films, 35 Years” (Warner Home Video) is a massive, 19-disc box set featuring 34 films starring and/ or directed by Clint Eastwood for Warner Brothers over the last three and a half decades. Because this set focuses on only one studio, a number of major Eastwood films are absent, most notably “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly,” “Play Misty for Me,” “The Beguiled,” “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Changeling.” Some of the included titles are “Dirty Harry,” “The Outlaw Josey Wales,” “Bird,” “The Rookie,” “Unforgiven,” “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” “Mystic River,” “Million Dollar Baby,” “Letters from Iwo Jima,” and “Gran Torino.” The 35th film is “The Eastwood Factor,” a 22-minute documentary from Time magazine critic and film historian Richard Schickel, in which Eastwood visits locations where his movies were created, on the Warner lot visiting the costume department and Eastwood Scoring Stage, and at his home. Eastwood reflects candidly about his body of work and the choices he made, and Schickel has included scenes from Eastwood’s movies, including his latest, “Invictus.” Also in the box set is a 24-page booklet featuring photos from all the films, comments by Schickel, studio letters, and quotes from Eastwood about most of the movies. “Law Abiding Citizen” (Anchor Bay Entertainment) fol- lows Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler), an upstanding family man whose wife and daughter are brutally murdered during a home invasion. When the killers are caught, hotshot Phil- adelphia prosecutor Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) is assigned to the case. Nick offers one of the suspects a light sentence in exchange for testifying against the other. Ten years later, the man who got away with murder is found dead and Clyde Shelton admits his guilt, issuing a warning to Nick: Fix the flawed justice system that failed his family or key players in the trial will die. The film addresses the weakness of the justice system while providing plenty of action. I was never convinced Shelton would be able to engineer the mayhem that he does from behind bars, but a sense of the believable does not seem to have been a priority for director F. Gary Gray. The movie is available in DVD and Blu-ray. Extras include audio commentary by the producers, the featurette “The Justice of Law Abiding Citizen,” a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie, and a mini-documentary on its special effects. The Blu-ray edition contains both the theat- rical and unrated versions. Sword-and-sandals meet horror in “Hellhounds” (Vivendi Entertainment). After his young bride is poi- soned on their wedding day, a brave warrior and his loyal comrades descend into the underworld to retrieve her soul. Challenged at every turn by one horror after another, they return from their chilling journey to find they are not alone; they have been tracked by a pack of snarling, savage beasts that kill everything in their path. The only interesting thing about this low-budget flick is the combination of ancient times with modern, grisly special effects. The movie is not for those easily turned off by the sight of blood. There are no extras. Celebrating Our 5 th Year Anniversary Anniversary Specials A Set Menu - Over 30 Entrées To Choose From 2 for $ 22 Entrées served with Soup or Salad, Offer good for lunch or dinner. Potato & Vegetable, Dessert Expires 2/28/10 Open 7 Days • 6:00am - Midnight 44 Franklin Tpk. • Mahwah, NJ • 201-529-9999 • Fax: 201-529-4444