DVDs of the Week: Eight Men Out and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

This week, I have two recommended DVDs.

At the All-Star break, it’s time for a baseball movie, so I recommend John Sayles’ 1988 Eight Men Out, which tells the true story of the Black Sox Scandal – the Chicago White Sox players who fixed the 1919 World Series.  Sayles used actors, not baseball players, but the baseball scenes are totally authentic.  The characters of star players Eddie Cicotte, Buck Weaver and Shoeless Joe Jackson and owner Charles Comiskey vividly come alive.

Also, because its sequel, The Girl Who Played With Fire is opening in theaters, there’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, one of my Best Films of 2010.  It’s a rock-em, sock-em feminist suspense thriller built around the very original character of damaged, angry, master hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace).  Lisbeth makes Dirty Harry look like Bishop Tutu.  The Swedish title was Men Who Hate Woman, and there’s lots of violence against women in this film, satisfyingly avenged.  This is a whodunit with layers of romance, suspense, and sex, with even some Nazis thrown in.

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