New DVDs: ‘Premonition,’ ‘Hills Have Eyes 2’

REVIEWS

By David Germain

updated 3:28 p.m. ET July 16, 2007

“Premonition”
What a week Sandra Bullock is having. This paranormal thriller has her as a mildly bored, mildly frazzled housewife who suddenly starts living the days of the week out of order — with her hubby (Julian McMahon) dying in a car wreck one day, then sipping coffee in the kitchen safe and sound the next. Bullock’s forced to scramble to figure out what’s happening, stitch together missing pieces in her fractured life and try to prevent the accident from happening. The movie is accompanied by deleted scenes and an alternate ending with commentary from director Mennan Yapo, who also joins Bullock for commentary on the full film. Extras include a couple of behind-the-scenes featurettes and a segment on real people who claim they had premonitions of the future. DVD, $28.95; Blu-ray disc, $38.96. (Sony) Read the review

“The Hills Have Eyes 2”
The cannibalistic mutants live on in this sequel to the remake of Wes Craven’s 1970s horror tale about a family whose road trip turns into a bloody nightmare. This time, a group of National Guard soldiers on assignment in the desert picks up a distress signal and mounts a rescue mission, only to become lunch meat for the ravenous creatures that crave human flesh. The movie is available in the R-rated theatrical version or a more graphic unrated edition. The DVD includes a Fox Movie Channel segment on Craven, who wrote the screenplay for the new movie with his son. The disc also features deleted scenes and an alternate ending, plus three background featurettes. DVD, $29.98. (20th Century Fox)

“Factory Girl”
Sienna Miller stars as 1960s “It” girl Edie Sedgwick, who had her 15 minutes of fame as a muse and intimate of Andy Warhol before dying of a drug overdose at 28. Directed by George Hickenlooper, the film co-stars Guy Pearce as Warhol and Hayden Christensen as a musician modeled after Bob Dylan, another of Sedgwick’s celebrity associates. The movie comes to DVD in an unrated director’s cut that adds 15 minutes of footage. The disc also has a deleted scene with commentary by Hickenlooper, who offers commentary for the full film. Other extras include a documentary segment on Sedgwick, a video diary by Pearce, a making-of featurette and Miller’s audition tape. DVD, $28.95. (Genius) Read the review

“The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg”
The man who wrote the Beat Generation epic poem “Howl” is the subject of this in-depth portrait from director Jerry Aronson, who spent 25 years gathering interviews and footage of Ginsberg, his associates and his admirers. The film follows Ginsberg, who died in 1997, from his rise to literary fame during the beat movement through his counterculture and political activism, his spiritual quests, his photography work and other varied preoccupations and interests. The impressive lineup of interviews in the documentary include Andy Warhol, Hunter S. Thompson, Abbie Hoffman, William Burroughs, Ken Kesey, Timothy Leary, Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, Joan Baez, Bono and Johnny Depp. The two-disc set also packs a huge range of extras, featuring Ginsberg reading some of his poems, visiting Jack Kerouac’s grave with Bob Dylan and offering an exhibition of his photos. DVD set, $34.95. (New Yorker)

“Ace in the Hole”

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The media circus is not just a product of today’s ravenous quest for news. It was alive and well and just as sleazy half a century ago. Also known as “The Big Carnival,” Billy Wilder’s 1951 critique of American obsession and ambition stars Kirk Douglas as a reporter in New Mexico scheming to boost his prospects by fanning the frenzy when he stumbles into a news story about a man trapped alive in a mine. The two-disc set includes a 1980 documentary featuring interviews with Wilder, a 1984 conversation with Douglas, an audio interview with the movie’s co-writer Walter Newman, and some comments from filmmaker Spike Lee. The film also is accompanied by commentary and essays from filmmakers and critics. DVD set, $39.95. (Criterion)

“Esther Williams: Volume 1”
The lady in the water from Hollywood’s golden age is featured in five of her swimming extravaganzas from the 1940s and ’50s, including “Bathing Beauty,” her first starring role in a romantic comedy that casts Williams as a teacher at a women’s college where her estranged fiance (Red Skelton) enrolls to win her back. The five-disc set also includes “Easy to Wed,” co-starring Lucille Ball in a remake of the 1930s comedy “Libeled Lady”; “On an Island With You,” featuring Ricardo Montalban, Cyd Charisse and Jimmy Durante; “Neptune’s Daughter,” with Montalban and Skelton; and “Dangerous When Wet,” which blends live-action with animation featuring the cartoon cat and mouse Tom and Jerry. DVD set, $49.92. (Warner Bros.)

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