Warner Bros. has released Martin Scorsese’s “The Aviator” in several forms, including a two-disc, standard definition DVD. They’ve now released it again, this time on HD DVD. All of the extras and, of course, the movie remain the same as in the standard definition set. Most of what follows is a reprint of our review of that set. First, though, a discussion of this film as a high definition viewing experience. To be brief, it’s great. Scorsese always gives a lot of thought to how his pictures look, but he seems to have spent even more time on that aspect of “The Aviator” than he usually does. In his informative, entertaining commentary track (which includes comments by his long-time editor Thelma Schoonmaker and others), he reveals himself as a die-hard, enthusiastic film buff who ran with the production ball. The ...

  Why is it nearly impossible to have sympathy for rich characters in movies? Perhaps there’s something about the realistic physicality of their clothing, their houses, the cars they drive and the middling concerns that they have that are easy to ignore or be unaware of in a book or a play, but become in-your-face obvious and hard to ignore on film. When characters with such privileged upper class lives get to continue their opulent charmed existences for eternity in even more glorious surroundings can an audience honestly be expected to give a damn? Doctor Chris Nielsen (Robin Williams) meets painter Annie (Annabella Sciorra) in Switzerland and they instantly click. Years later, married with two teenage kids, Marie (Jessica Brooks Grant) and Ian (Josh Paddock) the two find their lives shattered when Marie and Ian are both killed in a car accident. Chris recovers from this devastating event, but Annie remains somewhat unstable after a ...

  Paul Weitz has an unusual, admirable talent. In “American Pie,” “About a Boy” and “In Good Company,” he handled unpromising material in unexpected ways, finding heart and soul in material that wouldn’t seem to require, or even have, such virtues. Although at 110 minutes, “In Good Company” is definitely too long, it’s a warm, funny movie with compassion for even the least of its characters. It’s also a romantic comedy which winds up the romance in an unusual but rewarding way—and in which the most meaningful relationship is between two men. Dennis Quaid is Dan Foreman, the executive ad salesman for the popular “Sports America” magazine. As the story opens, he’s trying to sell ad space to sporting goods manufacturer Kalb (Philip Baker Hall), but he’s anything but a hard seller, and though he doesn’t make a sale, he and Kalb part as friends. Meanwhile elsewhere, at vast global conglomerate Globecom, eager-beaver, ambitious ...

  “Erin Brockovich” is remembered as one of those signature roles that made an actress’s career. Julia Roberts’s portrayal of the title character certainly did it for her, and won her an Academy Award. It also allowed her to shed her innocent image to pave the way for her to take on meatier roles. Roberts manages the somewhat risqué attire in flamboyant style that she wasn’t known for. She has no problem shifting her breasts for the camera, flashing them at a hapless character in the movie that she needs help from, or shoving them back into the sexy bras as the scene calls for. More than that, though, Roberts delivers one of the sharpest bits of acting in her career. If the movie is to be believed, the real Erin Brockovich had a mouth on her that wouldn’t quit and attitude out the wazoo. Roberts can turn on innocent charm, sultry seductress, ...

  When Al Pacino connects with a role, he soars, he sings, he's at the top of the acting world — and he connects with Lt. Col. Frank Slade in "Scent of a Woman" like a wet finger connects with a socket. It's a glowing, incandescent performance, unlike anything Pacino did before or since—and yet it’s become his emblematic performance, along with “Dog Day Afternoon” and “The Godfather” trilogy. Using an odd delivery that sounds like John Huston doing an impression of W.C. Fields, Pacino also adopts a different speaking rhythm than he used before, and a faint Southern accent. Slade is an exasperating, aggravating guy, a now-retired career soldier who loves to refer to being on Lyndon Johnson’s staff, but who also made a stupid blunder (juggling live hand grenades) that blinded him. Now he's sitting in a little house behind the New Hampshire home of his niece, snarling at her, annoying ...