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If you're going to remake a Giuseppe Tornatore movie, swapping Marcello Mastroianni for Robert De Niro seems like a fair trade. That's what happens in this American version of a 1990 movie about a father and his children.
Mr. De Niro plays Frank, an Elmira, N.Y., widower and retiree who is anticipating visits by his four grown children. They are scattered around the country and pursuing their passions -- from painting and music to dance.
When they cancel, he decides to surprise them and show up on their doorsteps. As you might suspect, everybody isn't fine. Or, perhaps, forthcoming, in this movie also starring Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell and Drew Barrymore.
"Everybody's Fine" is noteworthy for its sheer ordinariness: Sometimes Frank cannot help but see his grown children as their younger selves, he misses his wife terribly, and he is very much a product of his age.
The audience likely will see the turns in the road before Frank does, but that doesn't diminish the story's quiet power and pull. Its theatrical release, sandwiched between Thanksgiving and Christmas, was perfect timing, but its themes resonate year round.
The DVD has seven extended or deleted scenes, including one with an elderly man in a diner who goes off script, calls Mr. De Niro a great guy and says, "I watch your pictures" as the actor gently reminds him, "You can't talk about that now."
It also features a 10-minute look at Paul McCartney and his song, "(I Want to) Come Home," which closes the movie. The former Beatle says the first time he watched the movie, the temporary track "Let It Be" with Aretha Franklin had been laid in.
There was no way he could do another "Let It Be" although he could relate to the movie's subject, since most of his children are grown with families of their own. Even Sir Paul says he's heard, "Well, we would like to have our own first family Christmas."
He channeled that into a lovely song that didn't make the cut for Oscar nominations but provides a sweet coda for a heartfelt movie.
-- Barbara Vancheri, PG movie editor
As Mark Whitacre, Matt Damon zigs, zags, embroiders, omits, misleads and spins stories like a master weaver in the Steven Soderbergh comedy based on a remarkable real story.
Whitacre is a biochemist and executive on the climb at the agri-industry giant Archer Daniels Midland in the early 1990s. He and his family are living in Decatur, Ill., when he becomes ensnared in a case of industrial sabotage worthy of a Michael Crichton novel.
That brings the FBI into his life, and soon he's sharing with a couple of agents details about illegal price-fixing and working with the feds to bring his employer to justice. But investigations by the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice don't play out like a James Bond caper or a Crichton thriller, thanks to the true-life bones of the story told in an exhaustive source book by Kurt Eichenwald.
The less you know about Whitacre and the movie's outcome, the more you will enjoy the ride. An outstanding Mr. Damon, excellent supporting cast (especially Melanie Lynskey as Mark's wife and Scott Bakula and Joel McHale as FBI agents), Mr. Soderbergh and mood-setting composer Marvin Hamlisch take a corn-fed tale and let it ... sizzle and then pop.
-- Post-Gazette
Even with her double life and drug habit, Jackie Peyton is the nurse you want standing between you and a heartless hospital system, inexperienced doctors and stupid rules. As played by the always wonderful Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie was among the most compelling characters on TV last year, hard-bitten and sardonic but clinging to her humanity. If you missed the acclaimed series on Showtime, here's your chance to see all 12 episodes, including the marvelous scenes with Ms. Falco and Merritt Wever as student nurse Zoey.
The season ($39.98 on DVD or Blu-Ray, Showtime and Lionsgate Television Inc.) follows Jackie's high-wire act, trying to keep a demanding job, patients, pharmacist lover, husband, kids and meds from colliding mid-air.
The best special features look at the realities of the nursing profession and present real nurses telling their stories. There's also an inside look at the show's creation, the requisite adulatory piece about the star (as if somebody's going to say she stinks) and audio commentaries featuring Ms. Falco with the show's creators.
-- Sally Kalson, Post-Gazette staff writer
"Stargate SG-U: 1.0" ($49.98, MGM) is another stage in the life of a saga that began almost 20 years ago. The difference is this time the drama is the soul of the story. Unlike many sci-fi adventures where special effects carry the show, it is the story and characters that carry you through "SG-U."
Stranded on the spaceship Destiny, a mix of civilians, scientists, military and a video game player need to find their way home or at least a way to survive. The conflict of personalities combines with the challenges of their situation as the quest continues.
Three disks with 10 episodes from season one and extras that include cast comments, log books (diary entries) by the cast, words from the production side and, for something different, what seems like your average high school video of the historical background to the mission that takes you on their adventure.
-- Liz Gray, Post-Gazette staff writer
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