Area 51; Contact; Men in Black

Have you ever woken up, scratched your butt, poured some corn flakes, turned on The Jenny Jones Show, and suddenly asked yourself--somewhere between the tenth soggy mouthful and the second guest--"Surely, there must be more to the universe than this?" I hope not, because I would like to think that the readers of Video Librarian are a little more sophisticated than its editor. Still, we've probably all wondered at some time whether there is extraterrestrial life out there, and the likelihood seems pretty good. Otherwise, as the characters in Contact remind us, we're looking at a truly cosmic waste of real estate.Contact, which is based on the late Carl Sagan's bestselling novel, begins a lot like director Robert Zemeckis' last film, Forest Gump. In a simpleminded ‘science is as science does' set-up, the film methodically spends the first third of its 150(!) minutes over-introducing Dr. Eleanor Arroway (Jodie Foster), a Driven Misunderstood Orphan Scientist who will fight skeptical colleagues and tight-fisted grant committees until the sun freezes over in her singleminded pursuit to point big satellites out toward nellie's booty and listen for E.T. During the second third, Zemeckis--perhaps realizing that he was about to lose an audience--takes a defibrillator to the film and sends Ellie the fateful signal from the star Vega, the unraveling of which turns out to be the movie's most cinematically and intellectually satisfying section. Unfortunately, once Contact sets up its mission to meet the senders of the celestial Hallmark card, the movie retreats to the predictably familiar ground of backstabbing scientists, interfering government agents, and wacko saboteurs. The "contact" is, I'm sorry to report...aw heck, at $24.95, I suppose you can afford to make this discovery for yourself. Libraries will probably want to stock up on Contact, not because it's good, but because it's cheap and lots of people are waiting in line to be disappointed. Aud: J, H, P.To a slightly lesser extent, the same holds true for Men in Black, the Tommy Lee Jones/Will Smith star vehicle in which a pair of government agents monitor Earth's alien resident population. Working from a weird Ellis Island-like immigration station (filled with far more than the usual number of arms, legs, and eyes), the MiB (for "Men in Black") try to maintain a workable buffer between Mr. and Mrs. Average American and Giant Multi-Legged Arthropods who take on human form and occasionally get into intergalactic squabbles on battlefield Earth. When one particularly nasty bug inhabits the body of farm boy Vincent D'Onofrio, Mr. Jones and Mr. Smith, known as Agent K and J, respectively, embark on what is basically an extended chase and eventual showdown. Men in Black has a handful of fine one-liners and the special effects are certainly watchable (though not terribly special). Still, if you cue this puppy up with great expectations--as I did--you are liable to think MiB (Men is Boring). But if your enjoyment threshold is low, then--to paraphrase Jason Alexander's gargoyle in The Hunchback of Notre Dame--break out the wine and cut the cheese. A strong optional purchase, especially given the price. Aud: P.The pick of this issue's extraterrestrial litter, however, is the documentary Area 51, which proves, once again, that truth (?) is stranger than fiction. Deep in the heart of the Nevada desert lies a secret military base not shown on any map which is known only as Area 51. Here, people gather at the "black mailbox" (which is, literally, a black mailbox located at a ranch near the base) to watch bright lights in the sky move in ways and at speeds that present laws of physics cannot explain. The conspiracy theories here are far more delightfully fruity than Hollywood offers (one of my favorites is that aliens traded us technology for--specifically--"boron and arsenic"), and the interviews with ufologists are alternately thought-provoking and downright hilarious. Who knows, maybe you'll come away agreeing with interviewee Dale Punter's observation that "there's something out there." Yeah. Well. Maybe. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)[Blu-ray Review—June 24, 2008—Sony, 98 min., PG-13, $28.98—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1997's Men in Black sports a great looking transfer with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 sound. The extras include two audio commentaries (one with director Barry Sonnenfeld and costar Tommy Lee Jones; the other with Sonnenfeld, alien makeup effects artist Rick Baker, and the ILM effects team), the 23-minute “Metamorphosis of MIB” featurette (23 min.), a six-minute original production featurette, five minutes of extended and alternate scenes, three “Visual Effects Scene Deconstructions,” an interactive scene editing workshop, stills galleries, storyboard comparisons, character animation studies, the music video for “Men in Black” by costar Will Smith, an “Intergalactic Pursuit” multi-player trivia game, an “Ask Frank the Pug!” interactive game, an alien subtitle track (incomprehensible, of course), and trailers. Bottom line: although it looks better than ever, the only two Blu-ray exclusives for this popular but overrated sci-fi spoof are the trivia game and the alien subtitle option.]