You loved the movie, what about the DVD?
Find out as we examine the extras on this week's best movie DVDs...
"THE BUCKET LIST"
Stars: Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman
Director: Rob Reiner ("This Is Spinal Tap")
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray
What we said: "Seeing this movie is not something you need to do before you die."
Extras: DVD: "Writing a Bucket List," a how-to guide with writer Justin Zackman; John Mayer music video.
Blu-ray: DVD features plus an interactive trivia track; "Rob Reiner Interviews the Stars," featuring Jack and Morgan; the making of Mayer’s music video.
Worth watching: The Reiner interviews, since there’s an obvious friendship there that makes for interesting interrogation.
Worth skipping: The making of Mayer’s music video, since we didn’t want to watch the video in the first place, and thus don’t know why we’d want to watch them making it.
Worth adding: An interview with Rob Reiner done by either Jack or Morgan. Or maybe Jack and Morgan tag-team Reiner. To the death.
Buy, rent, or ignore: Rent.
"JUMPER"
Stars: Hayden Christensen, Samuel L. Jackson, Rachel Bilson
Director: Doug Liman ("Mr. & Mrs. Smith")
Formats: Single-disc DVD, Two-disc DVD, Blu-ray
What we said: "The movie begins with [Christensen] insisting, ‘Once I was a normal person, a chump just like you,’ and, some OK effects aside, the rest of the movie isn’t any friendlier to its audience."
Extras: Single-disc DVD: Audio commentary by Liman, writer/producer Simon Kinberg, and producer Lucas Foster; "Making an Actor Jump" and "Jumping From Novel To Film, The Past Present, & Future Of ‘Jumper’" featurettes.
Two-disc DVD: Single-disc features plus deleted scenes; "Jumpstart," an animated graphic novel; "Doug Liman’s Jumper: Uncensored" and "Jumping Around the World" featurettes; alternate scenes; digital copy.
Blu-ray: All DVD features plus a picture-in-picture feature.
Worth watching: The animated graphic novel, though it might make you wish this had been animated instead of live action.
Worth skipping: The deleted scenes, since it’s obvious that most were deleted for a reason.
Worth adding: Once again, the original trailers would’ve been nice.
Buy, rent, or ignore: Buy the two-disc or Blu-ray; Ignore the single-disc.
"THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL"
Stars: Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana
Director: Justin Chatwick
Formats: DVD, Blu-ray
What we said: "Everyone will wonder why these girls continue to trust a king who
constantly betrays them and wears such pimp-tastic fur."
Extras: DVD: Deleted and extended scenes; "To Be a Lady," a featurette on what women had to go through in 16th century high society; "Translating History to the Screen," a featurette about turning the Philippa Gregory’s book into a movie; biographies of King Henry, Anne Boleyn, and other historical figures who appear in the film; camera tests with comments by Chatwick.
Blu-ray: DVD features plus "Inside the Court," a picture-in-picture option that features facts and trivia.
Worth watching: "To Be a Lady," if only to see why your plan to invent a time machine so you can go back to the 1500s and be King Henry’s girlfriend is just not worth it.
Worth skipping: The camera tests; Chatwick just isn’t that interesting to listen to.
Worth adding: "The Other Boleyn Girls," a sketch from the Ellen Page episode of "Saturday Night Live" earlier this year that revealed there were actually several sisters left out of this film.
Buy, rent, or ignore: Rent.
Other DVDs out this week:
— One of last year’s most critically acclaimed films: "4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days"
— Woody Harrelson, Cheryl Hines, David Cross and more improv their way through a poker tournament in “The Grand”
— Mass murder in New Zealand is the focus of “Out of the Blue”
— Explore the minds of men in the clever documentary “Protagonist”
— TV drives people insane in the indie horror anthology “The Signal” (also on Blu-ray)
— See why Larry The Cable Guy has a reputation as one of the greatest actors and comedians of all time in "Witless Protection" (also on Blu-ray)
— Celebrate one of France’s best actresses with the "Catherine Denueve 5-Film Collection"
— Celebrate one of Italy’s best actresses with the "Sophia Loren 4-Film Collection"
Other titles:
“Heavy Metal in Baghdad”
“High Noon” (2-Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition)
"Natural Born Killers" (Blu-ray)
"Otis"
“The Professionals” (Blu-ray)
Buy, rent or ignore?
"The Bucket List," "Jumper" and "The Other Boleyn Girl"
By Paul Semel
Special to MetromixJune 10, 2008


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