Not another wide release of DVDs

    With its grotesque deluges into shock comedy and ubiquitous display of scantily clad women, “”Not Another Teen Movie,”” which parodies the teen movie genre, is quite the opposite of its namesake.

    However, unlike the recent deluge of flicks aimed at a younger and stupider demographic, a sparkle of cynical intelligence shines from this movie’s toilet humor, making its burlesque scenes, which are many in number, funny and not just shockingly sexual or disgusting.

    Fortunately, the DVD of the movie shows the same sparkle. The 18 included deleted scenes are without a doubt the highlight of the DVD. Since the movie is basically a sequence of scenes strung together by a very thin plot, watching all 18 is like watching another 20 minutes of the movie.

    The “”unrated”” presentation of Marilyn Manson’s “”Tainted Love”” music video is also particularly horrible — in that good kind of way. Manson, however, does go a bit over the line in some of his behind-the-scenes comments.

    Finally, for the teen movie initiated, the makers of the DVD included a handy teen movie factoids track that points out all satirical references to teen movies.

    All in all, boasting not only a decent flick but also a plethora of special features, this DVD is a welcome addition on any teen movie fan’s shelf.

    ‘Ali’

    Muhammad Ali may have been the undisputed heavyweight boxing champ of the world, but the DVD of “”Ali”” — the movie that chronicles his life — is an ultra lightweight loser in the arena of DVD entertainment.

    Without a single respectable special feature, the “”Ali”” DVD is reminiscent of DVDs at the beginning of the digital video revolution. Way back then, it was excusable to drain consumers’ pocketbooks solely in the name of enhanced video and sound quality. Now, this practice is the DVD equivalent to sacrilege.

    The DVD partially makes up for its total depravity of extra content with its admirable sound and video fidelity. The video clarity easily handles the minute cinematographic details that characterize director Michael Mann’s style in “”Ali.”” The slightly yellow tint engulfing scenes that take place in the ’60s, for instance, is captured beautifully by the video track.

    Nevertheless, the current DVD market is saturated with discs that offer equal picture and sound quality, sport a respectable set of special features, and most importantly, include a better movie. As such, the “”Ali”” DVD stands out solely in its sub-mediocrity and only belongs in the collection of a DVD fan who, for some reason, really, really loves the movie.

    ‘Jerry Maguire’

    Featuring one of the best romantic comedies to hit theaters in the past 10 years and packing hours of extra content, the “”Jerry Maguire Special Edition DVD”” two-disc set is sure to have the movie’s producers crying “”Show me the money!””

    With the DVD’s unusually pristine video quality, fans of “”Jerry Maguire”” can watch more closely as Jerry, a prominent sports agent played by Tom Cruise, recovers from a job-losing breakdown to find the love of both his personal and professional life.

    More importantly, child star Jonathon Lipnicki’s smiles appear even more adorably cute in DVD quality. Also, entirely new audiences will be able to lavish in Lipnicki’s show-stealing performance — the DVD features an expansive set of subtitled languages, including Chinese and Thai.

    The music video for Bruce Springsteen’s “”Secret Garden,”” the movie’s theme song, is another of the DVD’s highlights. In the video, which is almost as romantic as the movie itself, The Boss shows he can be just as sentimental as Cruise.

    Moreover, the usually ho-hum DVD audio commentary is made special by the appearance of every one of the movie’s stars — Cruise, Renee Zellweger and Cuba Gooding Jr. — as well as the movie’s director, Cameron Crowe.

    To top it off, among other text-based special features, the DVD includes the full text of Jerry’s mission statement/memo that is so crucial to the film’s plot. True “”Jerry Maguire”” fans will find this to be a godsend; less fanatical DVD fans will wonder why on Earth somebody took the time to write all 20-plus pages of the manuscript.

    The “”Jerry Maguire Special Edition DVD”” two-disc set is an example of a DVD set that lives up to the movie’s greatness. The sap inside any DVD fan deserves to have this one on call at all times.

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