SECONDHAND LIONS DVD

Features Firsthand Learning

I didn't want to spend the time writing another review or essay on SECONDHAND LIONS. My first blush with the movie in Los Angeles wasn't that exciting, except for meeting Michael Caine,. Robert Duvall and a very mature Haley Joel Osment, who was just 15 at the time.

But the studio sent me this nice DVD and I felt obligated to at least look at the menu and say something nice about it. Well, this isn't about obligation or being nice. What I thought would take me all of five minutes captured my interest in filmmaking for over two hours. DVDs are God's gift to movie fans and filmmakers alike. And New Line's Platinum Series, as the one sent to me, is an exceptional example.

Time and space will not permit me to wax eloquent on all that I learned and enjoyed over the last two hours, but let me hit the highlights.

The movie, in director Tim McCanlies' parlance, is about what men teach boys and what fathers ought to teach sons. The DVD of the movie is an in-depth look at what studio filmmakers are constantly learning about the political, artistic and technical intricacies of making movies.

There isn't time share everything about this DVD that I liked, but here are the highlights that you'll find on Side Two of this two-sided DVD Video/ROM.

-- In the entertaining and intricate 26 min. documentary One Screenplay's Wild Ride in Hollywood, you'll learn why it took 10 years to make this movie, and how even seasoned veterans in the industry, with credits on their sleeves, still had to work for years to get a greenlight. You'll learn how the budget for SECONDHAND LIONS ($30 million) came from New Line's profits of THE LORD OF THE RINGS.

-- In the insightful 12 min. documentary Haley Joel Osment: An Actor Comes of Age, you'll discover what role his Dad, Eugene Osment, played not only in Haley's career but what acting role he played in SECONDHAND LIONS. You'll also learn what natural physical change took place in Haley that actually helped his acting in the movie.

-- In the short Visual Effect Comparison you can watch top/bottom comparisons of how the geniuses at Digital Domain turned parts of Austin, Texas into the exotic North African locations in Walter's imagination of his uncle's earlier exploits.

-- Throughout the Special Features you'll have a front row seat with director Tim McCanlies, which in many ways is better than meeting him in person and asking him questions in a posh Beverly Hills hotel.

-- Among the many Deleted and Alternate Scenes you'll find some of the funnier moments that were shot but never made it to the film. I won't spoil it, but I think it's the only place in the history of cinema where "corn" has a character arc that rivals the best of reluctant heroes.

-- I'm a Macintosh computer fanatic and so I can't enjoy the feature that other DVDs, as well as this one, have offered where you can read in the screenplay while you watch the movie. Some day, someone will have to demonstrate this to me. But, if you're a writer, the next thing to it is to turn on the Subtitles.

And of course, there are the regular collection of trailers, and other stuff that make the DVDs almost better (but not quite) as good as watching the movie on a big screen with hundreds of fans.

My hats off to New Line for investing in this Platinum Series DVD. It is well worth the money and time. Thank you.