HT Staff

DVD: X-Men 1.5—20th Century Fox
Audio: 4
Video: 5
Extras: 4
X-Men 1.5 is a sneaky way to squeeze a few more dollars out of the public's hands and get X-Men back in their minds for the sequel, which hits theaters in May. X-Men, based on the comic of the same name, is about a group of mutant humans who fight other mutant humans to decide their place in society. The disc's audio and video quality seem to be no different from the first DVD release. The 2.35:1 anamorphic video is excellent, with lots of fine detail. One new addition is the DTS soundtrack, which is just as good as the original Dolby Digital 5.1.

DVD: The Color Purple Special Edition—Warner Brothers
Audio: 4
Video: 4
Extras: 4
Although many critics criticized The Color Purple as a "safe" version of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel at the time of its theatrical release, the film still garnered 11 Academy Award nominations in 1985. Inexplicably, it managed to lose in every single category. To make matters worse, Steven Spielberg wasn't even nominated for best director, despite the film's nomination for best picture. There were rumors at the time of a Hollywood conspiracy against the ultra-successful Spielberg, and, after watching the new two-disc special-edition DVD of The Color Purple, I almost believe them. Perhaps best known for the powerful big-screen debuts of Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, The Color Purple boasts superb acting performances across the board.

DVD: Uptown Girls—MGM/UA
Video: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 3
Eight-year-old Ray (Dakota Fanning), the daughter of a wealthy but inattentive mom and a father on his deathbed, never had a proper childhood. Molly (Brittany Murphy), the suddenly penniless daughter of a deceased rock icon, seems to have never entered adulthood. When Molly is recruited as a nanny to the obsessively clean, wise-beyond-her-years girl, they both learn how to act their ages.

DVD: The Guru—Universal
Audio: 2
Video: 3
Extras: 2
Are there any excuses for a movie like this? The self-proclaimed romantic comedy The Guru doesn't elicit the faintest smile as it plods through a mediocre storyline that's studded with unentertaining musical sequences. We're forced to sit though the story of Ramu (Jimi Mistry), an Indian guy who dreams of a grand life in the United States buy instead gets stuck working in a restaurant once he arrives. In a desperate attempt at stardom, he takes a job on a porn flick and befriends his costar (Heather Graham), who gives him more than enough sage advice on love and sex. He then turns that advice into a career of his own—a fake sex guru for lonely rich women. Unfortunately, if there's anything entertaining here, I don't see it. They lost me when Ramu stripped to his underwear and did Tom Cruise's Risky Business number in Hindi.