‘Banger’ director tells all

“The Banger Sisters”

Goldie Hawn, Susan Sarandon

Fox, $28

Hawn and Sarandon give it the old college try in this pedestrian comedy about two former 1960s groupies, now in their 50s, who reunite.

The digital edition is available in both a wide-screen and pan-and-scan version and features an overly slick and not very funny outtakes reel. Writer Bob Dolman, who makes his directorial debut, has a monotone delivery but talks honestly about making his first film. He confesses he didn’t know at first when it was the appropriate time to yell “Action” and had no inkling how many snap decisions a director has to make on the set. In one funny segment, Dolman chats about how the costumer utilized various methods to give the illusion that the flat-chested Hawn had had breast augmentation surgery. Hawn, not used to bigger breasts, would continually bump into things.

*

“24 Hour Party People”

Steve Coogan, Lennie James

MGM, $27

Michael Winterbottom directed this innovative, entertaining semi-documentary drama on the rise of the music scene in Manchester, England, from the 1970s to the early ‘90s through the eyes of the rather pompous TV news journalist and impresario Tony Wilson (Coogan). Though the bands depicted in the film -- Joy Division, New Order and Happy Mondays -- didn’t get much airplay in America, their influence and popularity were huge in England and throughout Europe. Coogan is perfectly cast as the self-absorbed Wilson, who early on realized the power and potential of these performers.

-- Susan King