That’s the best Anchor Bay/Starz could come up with to describe this sublime motion picture? For this utterly faultless document not only of punishing high school hierarchy and melodramatics, but a pitch-black, pitch-perfect comedy that somehow manages to be completely reprehensible and socially irresponsible, yet remains shockingly devoid of mean-spirited characterization and preaching? Oh these marketing stooges…they just had to bring the rancid knockoffs into the mix to destroy the integrity of the preeminent high school disaster story.

Westerberg High School is ruled by Heather Chandler (Kim Walker), a dominating Junior who lords over the student body like a dictator, keeping council with her subordinates, Heather McNamara (Lisanne Falk), Heather Duke (Shannen Doherty), and trainee Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder). Veronica is weary of the Heather world, but can’t find the energy to disconnect from the popularity it brings, even while her soul is slowly crushed. When she meets outsider J.D. (Christian Slater), Veronica stumbles upon love, only to find her new beau is very eager to carry out her fantasy revenge scenarios on the Heathers. When the two “accidentally” kill Heather Chandler, Westerberg eats up the incident, kicking off a rash of publicity and sympathy ploys that makes the Heathers even more prized, leaving J.D. ready for more carnage and Veronica caught in a situation that’s out of her control.

Over the last 20 years, “Heathers” has crawled from a theatrical one-week-wonder to a towering, beloved cult classic; a feature film seemingly made to be discovered by accident, where the acidity of the concept is most effective. I caught “Heathers” during its initial release, and my horrifyingly underage mind was blow away by this corrosive, challenging motion picture. Two decades later the effect still remains. The finest compliment I can pay the movie is this: it establishes an unpardonable plot to a point where any other film would halt, soften, and retreat, only to plow forward boldly and survey every last hazardous square footage of narrative, as though it was gripping a stick of dynamite, remaining fascinated with the flaming fuse instead of instantly recognizing imminent danger.

The delicious pools of poison are provided by screenwriter Daniel Waters, who crafts an affectionate ode to fantasy revenge killing with his puckered screenplay. Unfortunately, a rash of idiotic copycat films (check the DVD cover quote) have perhaps diluted Waters’s barbed work, but the writing still stands as a monumental achievement in sarcastic snap and oily tonal blackness. Waters writes like others would wield a handgun, blasting away high school archetypes by arranging them in his cat’s cradle of fatality and plastic sympathy, constructing a story riddled with razor-sharp edges, eager to expose the aloofness of adults, the opportunism and fragile herd mentality of teenagers, and the ugly truth about mineral water.

Waters’s screenplay is both a hoot and horror show, and remains the finest thing he’s ever written, perhaps due to his Hollywood virginity at the time. “Heathers” doesn’t back down, tugging away at every possible sacred cow, but the film is careful to retain Veronica’s disgust with her actions and eventual witness to madness. Without her conscience and overall crisis of faith, the movie would be a hollow, button-pushing experience. It’s a blast to watch J.D. descend into bomb-happy lunacy, but there has to be a center worth investing in, and Waters endows Veronica’s monocle-sporting, diary-writing, habitual lovesickness with the ideal amount of concentration and bewilderment. The script is a tightrope act you don’t see much these days without heavy globs of wink-happy irony. Waters has his strained indulgences, but this is one amazing piece of writing.

Director Michael Lehmann was also making his professional debut with “Heathers,” and, like Waters, has never been able to top this artistic achievement. It’s a motivated piece of filmmaking, following the script down every dark hallway, bolstered by Francis Kenny’s exquisite cinematography (a sublime low-budget effort), and a delightful, evocative, snap-happy score from David Newman. Lehmann’s visual invention and concentration go a long way to making “Heathers” palatable and richly entertaining. The filmmaker also preserves Waters’s black comedy, straightforwardly offering the oddities without breaking the mood, holding back Ryder and Slater (both delivering wonderful, eyes-wide-open performances) the best he can without letting the whole thing trip into camp.

THE DVD

Visual:

Presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1 aspect ratio), it appears Anchor Bay/Starz is simply reusing the transfer handed to the 2001 release of the film. The image is soft, absent a great amount of detail, and the fleshtones appear too pinkish throughout. Black levels also suffer from softness, but remain dependable.

Audio:

The 5.1 Dolby Digital mix doesn’t rattle the neighborhood, but for low-tech film like “Heathers,” the experience is pleasing, with some action in the surrounds brought on by the score and acts of violence. Dialogue is easy to hear and separated accurately from the soundtrack.

Subtitles:

English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles are included.

Extras:

Ported over from the previous DVD (and the 1997 laserdisc):

A feature-length commentary with writer Daniel Waters, director Michael Lehmann, and producer Denise Di Novi is truly “Heathers 101″ for fans, divulging nearly every detail of the film in a warm conversational style befitting this fruitful artistic accomplishment. Some highlights:

- Distributor New World Pictures ran out of money as “Heathers” entered a wider release. Di Novi even offered to buy a newspaper ad for the studio to keep the film alive.

- Jennifer Connelly and Heather Graham were both considered for the role of Veronica.

- Christian Slater doing a Jack Nicholson impression? The trio claim no knowledge of such an act of profound coolness.

- “Heathers” was titled “Lethal Attraction” for some overseas markets, which mystifies Waters.

- While the commentators adore their film, they view the ending as a “compromise.”

It’s a marvelous listen, even if some of the comments could only make sense in 1997. For instance: Di Novi mentioning that the film’s fashion “still works.”

“Swatch Dogs and Diet Cokeheads” (29:55) is a definitive take on the “Heathers” experience, gathering cast and crew to collect their thoughts on participating in a black comedy classic. Scads of engaging yarn is spun here, but the finest moments spill forth from Winona Ryder, who reveals herself to be a slightly loopy personality, way into the film in a beaming, stoner manner I wish more actors would embrace.

“Original Ending Screenplay Excerpt” (DVD-ROM) is a PDF snippet of the film’s more ambitious, unfilmed conclusion.

And a Theatrical Trailer is included on this DVD.

New to this DVD:

“Return to Westerburg High” (21:21) is a featurette that merely embellishes previous production stories, bringing back Waters, Lehmann, and Di Novi to recount the making of “Heathers.” Time has passed and a smattering of new anecdotes are shared, but it’s a truly redundant offering, perhaps only meant to sweeten the DVD reissue pot. If you owned the previous release, you’ve already heard these stories.

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‘Sticky fingers’ Winona Ryder in new shoplifting scandal, claims magazine

A shopping trip has put Winona Ryder in the news again.

The 36-year-old actress was spotted leaving a Hollywood store with make-up on her that she hadn’t paid for, according to a US report.

Actress Winona made headlines six years ago, when at the peak of her career she was convicted of shoplifting £3,000 worth of clothing from a Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills.

Now in a new incident, according to America’s National Enquirer magazine, the Girl Interrupted star recently set off the security alarm at Hollywood CVC Pharmacy after making several purchases.

According to the publication, when she left the store, she set off an alarm that drew the attention of a security guard.

A store employee is quoted as saying: “Winona had a bag of stuff, but she set off the theft alarm when she left the store.

“When a security guard stopped her, he found make-up she had not paid for.”

And when she was asked about the make-up, Winona answered: “I don’t know how that happened.”

The store employee added: “We took unpaid items back and she left the store.”

Winona’s publicist at first denied the incident took place. But when told a store employee had confirmed it, said she would check with her again.

In Winona’s past shoplifting scandal back in 2002, she claimed as part of her defence that she stole from a Beverly Hills store to prepare for a film role.

But the court found her guilty, and she was sentenced to three years probation and 480 hours of community service. [DailyMail]

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Winona Ryder’s reps are blasting rumors that she is engaged. It has recently been reported that the actress was engaged to her boyfriend, musician Blake Sennett.

The rumor started at a Valentino show at the end of Paris’s fashion week. A photo later appeared that contained a caption that revealed the couple’s engagement, but Ryder’s reps replied by saying the caption went too far.

According to IMDb, most people didn’t even know that the actress was dating the Rilo Kiley guitarist. Sennett (who is a sometimes actor you might recognize from Salute Your Shorts or Boy Meets World) and Ryder met on the set of upcoming film Waterpill.

Ryder’s rep released the statement about the reported engagement, “It’s not accurate. They’re dating and they have been dating for some time, but they’re not engaged.”

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Dopo anni di assenza dal grande schermo, qualche problema con la giustizia e storie d’amore tormentate, Winona Ryder torna sul grande schermo nei panni di una lady vendetta eroina di tutte le donne e con un look completamente rinnovato nella commedia ‘Tutti i numeri del sesso’, dal 14 marzo nelle sale. La Ryder ha un ruolo secondario in questo film, ma con il suo personaggio contribuisce a creare la storia fantastica e un po’ grottesca diretta da Daniel Waters - sceneggiatore di ‘Schegge di Follia’ e ‘Batman Il Ritorno’ - che la differenziano dalle commedie Usa un po’ sboccate che trattano di sesso.

Chi lo ha detto che il futuro non è già scritto anche in amore? Nel film, il cui titolo originale in inglese è ‘Sex and Death 101′, si gioca proprio sul destino e sul tema della predestinazione attraverso l’avventura surreale capitata a Roderick Blank (Simon Baker). Manager di successo, in procinto di sposarsi con la sua bella fidanzata, il protagonista resta vittima di uno scherzo della tecnologia: uno strana macchina gli invia una email con i nomi di tutte le donne con cui ha fatto sesso e di quelle con cui dovrà farlo. Ma quello che dovrebbe essere il sogno di ogni uomo per lui si trasforma in un vero incubo.

La sua ‘lista rossa’ elenca in ordine cronologico 101 ragazze, le 29 già conquistate e le 72 ancora da conoscere; come perdersi l’occasione? Per un bel giovane biondo e con gli occhi azzurri la tentazione è troppo forte e basta un incontro casuale con la prima della lista per mandare a monte le nozze e farlo ributtare nella vita del single conquistatore. Roderick inizia una nuova giovinezza fatta di donne bellissime e formose, feste, avventure da rubacuori che destano l’invidia dei suoi amici sposati e con figli.

Ma dopo un po’ la vita ‘già scritta’ inizia a stufare e diventa anche pericolosa e il playboy finisce per restare vittima della sua lista fortunata. Per la città si aggira una dark lady che si fa chiamare Death Nell(Winona Ryder). Una donna provocante che seduce gli uomini e poi li riduce in stato di coma. Una femme fatale che agisce di notte senza pietà e, purtroppo per lui, figura come ultimo nome della sua lista.

To quotidiano.net/spettacoli

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Paramount has pushed the release of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek from Dec. 25 to May 8, 2009, part of a larger scheduling shift now that the writers’ strike is over and producers can look realistically at their films’ ETAs.

Abrams’ much-anticipated addition to the franchise, which will take fans back to Kirk and Spock’s formative years, is now due out on the Thursday before Mother’s Day.

To date, no other film jockeying for the same audience is slated to be released at the same time. The only possible eyeball-stealers at the moment are 20th Century Fox’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which is due in theaters May 1, 2009, and Sony’s Da Vinci Code prequel Angels and Demons.

So, apparently, while moviegoers couldn’t turn around in summer 2007 without smacking into a threequel, the summer of 2009 is shaping up to be the season of the prequel.

And there are plenty of Trekkers out there who aren’t thrilled that their Christmas Day plans have been turned asunder, although plenty actually like that Paramount seems confident enough in the product to make it a warm-weather movie.

“I’m psyched that this gives them more time to do their stuff to make as good a film as possible, but also, I can’t help thinking ‘Damn it’ because I’m already dying to see this movie as it is,” wrote Kamen Rider Blade on a trekweb.com message board.

The Star Trek teaser trailer, which premiered last month before Cloverfield and features Leonard Nimoy’s familiar voice intoning over images of the under-construction Enterprise, stoked fan interest.

“It means Paramount has great faith in the film,” added timmer33. “They’re seeing the dailies and know it has the potential to be huge. May is the time for BIG releases.”

The prequel’s cast is certainly big, rich with both newcomers and familiar Vulcan faces.

Among those venturing to the final frontier are Winona Ryder, playing Mr. Spock’s Vulcan mother (a twist on the original); Zachary Quinto, playing young Spock (Nimoy will also appear as the older version); Chris Pine as Kirk; Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy; Simon Pegg as Scotty; John Cho as Sulu; Zoe Saldana as Uhura; Anton Yelchin as Chekov; and Eric Bana, playing the villainous Nero.

Paramount shuffled a few other high-profile projects, as well: