DVD OF THE WEEK

FROST NIXON *****
Starring: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Kevin Bacon, Sam Rockwell
Dir: Ron Howard

Why would anyone want to watch a film centring around an interview that happened over thirty years ago? Why? Because it's fascinating and gripping and brilliantly acted.
This comes (partly) from the team that brought us The Queen. Michael Sheen leaves behind Tony Blair and takes on David Frost, interviewer, womaniser and would-be intellectual. Peter Morgan wrote both pieces.
For the uninitiated here's the background. President Richard Nixon has left office in disgrace, resigning to avoid impeachment for many wrongdoings, the central one that unravelled his presidency being a break-in at his democratic rival's office conducted by shady ex-CIA types. The Whitehouse attempts to cover this up also involved much law-breaking.
Of course there was much more Nixon did wrong (illegal bombing of Cambodia killing thousands?), but Watergate was the smoking gun. Or it would have been if his replacement hadn't given him the incriminating tapes and allowed him to slink off in solitude to his Santa Monica mansion.
Frost – thought by the Nixon camp to be a 'soft” touch – eventually scored the first televised interview, some three years later. It was a chance for Nixon to either rehabilitate himself or be exposed. The film follows Frost's manoeuvres to get the interview and then the confrontation itself, Frank Langella (who fully deserved his Oscar nod) brilliant and evasive as Nixon and Sheen's Frost trying to find the resources to counter Nixon and save the fortune that he has committed to spending on the interview. It is a riveting battle.
Full marks to Ron Howard for keeping it simple, with the focus solely on the two leads (though there is excellent support work from a fine ensemble). Even if you care nothing for Nixon or politics the detail and performances here – as in The Queen – are so precise as to be absolutely fascinating.

And if you prefer a little reality, or want to explore things more fully, try Frost Nixon The Original Watergate Interview (****). Hard to give something like this a star rating because it's a real historical document. This is the final interview, the one about Watergate, which the fictional film builds towards. And it's not as dramatic as the recreation but it is fascinating as Nixon slowly breaks in front of camera. David Frost was right about the power of the close-up. Watching the sorrow and guilt slowly take the place of the ingratiating smiles and yearning to be liked is a remarkable experience. Essential stuff for students of history or politics.

Keanu Reeves is an alien in The Day the Earth Stood Still (***) and, with that slightly other-world blankness that he does so well, is very effective. Elsewhere this remake is likely to disappoint. The problem is that the original is more a thinking film than an action one and things do tend to move slowly. But the updating of the theme to focus on the environment does give Keanu's quest to save or stop mankind a modern resonance and, if you aren't expecting too much and can put up with an unusually irritating kid (even by Hollywood standards) then there is a fair amount to enjoy here.

B-movie lovers have held up Bruce Campbell as an icon since the time long ago in Evil Dead 2 when he chopped his own hand off and gleefully attached a chainsaw in its place. Campbell panders to that in My Name is Bruce (**) a cheap but fun piece of schlock in which Bruce plays a nasty version of himself inveigled by fans into fighting monsters which he assumes are movie special effects. It's rubbish and very silly, overacted with crap effects. Fans will love it.

Third Man Out (***) and two other made for TV movies have finally arrived in NZ. These are mystery movies featuring Donald Strachey ('America's favourite gay detective”), the 'private eye who always gets his man” . The plots are tricky, the characters good and, despite an obviously low budget, the film is very engaging. Unlike other gay-themed films – Brokeback Mountain etc – this has the feel of being made from a gay perspective looking out rather than a hetro one looking in.