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Ratatouille

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BY Jason Anderson   November 07, 2007 11:11

RATATOUILLE (Disney) Sophisticated enough to include references to synesthesia, Rostand and Proust, yet effortless in its all-ages machinations, Pixar’s latest challenges the studio high-water mark set by The Incredibles. Brad Bird directed both films, and at this point, it’s hard to think of another mainstream American director with a comparably fluid visual style or such a vise grip on storytelling mechanics. His furry gourmand hero, voiced by Patton Oswalt, is irresistible, but it’s the bad guy — a nasty restaurant critic voiced by Peter O’ Toole — who speaks most eloquently towards Bird’s genius for characterization: he’s scarily imperious, yet hardly impervious when presented with a quality dish. Anyone snobbish enough to dismiss the film as “kid’s stuff” sight unseen should follow his lead. [Editor’s note: follow up a viewing with Oswalt’s brilliant, recent stand-up album Werewolves and Lollipops. DO NOT bring the kids this time.] Extras: bonus shorts, deleted scenes, documentary.

SICKO (Alliance) Though less scattershot than Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore’s healthcare system broadside is marred by the director’s usual self-aggrandizement. (Revealing your identity after anonymously donating money to aid a stricken rival is the height — or perhaps the depth? — of self-righteous smarm). Also, the scenes trumpeting Canada’s healthcare system as flawless should rankle the same people who bristled at Bowling For Columbine’s suggestion that Toronto residents lived with an open-front-door policy. These are niggles, but that’s precisely the problem: every little thing Moore distorts (or neglects) clouds the bigger picture his work strives to illuminate. Extras: never-before-seen segments, extended interview, footage of the Sicko premiere in Los Angeles.

ALSO NEW THIS WEEK
THE BEST OF THE COLBERT REPORT (Paramount) A Colbertian postulation: is this a great DVD? Or is it the Greatest DVD? Extras: none.

THE BOSS OF IT ALL (Warner) When one of the world’s most controlling filmmakers decides to shoot portions of his new film at random (using a camera technique called Auto-Mavision) it’s not out of laziness — Lars Von Trier’s vaguely Office-biting office comedy is rigorously offhanded (a contradiction in terms almost as odd as “Lars Von Trier” and “comedy”). Extras: trailer, mockumentaries, interview with Von Trier and Peter Hjorth.

FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON (Warner) HBO’s stone-deadpan comedy about New Zealand folkies trying to make it in NYC features the star of Eagle vs. Shark, but don’t hold that against it. The musical numbers are frequently inspired (best lyric: “I’m not crying, it’s just raining… on my face”). Extras: none.
I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY (Universal) In which a contrite Adam Sandler directly implores us not to make fag jokes… after making an entire film’s worth of ’em. Well done, sir. Extras: director/star commentaries, deleted scenes, featurettes, outtakes.

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