ATL (HD DVD)

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Note: Warner Bros. have made "ATL" available in three disc formats: widescreen, which I reviewed earlier; fullscreen; and the HD-DVD and DVD Combo reviewed here. WB's Combo discs, as you know, contain a 1080-resolution high-definition transfer on one side and a 480-resolution standard-definition transfer on the other. The Combo format costs a little more but provides greater flexibility for playback in either HD or SD DVD machines.

First, the movie. You may recall my thing about movie titles. I keep thinking about how much they influence box-office receipts. I read somewhere recently that a surprisingly large number of moviegoers only make up their minds what to see when they read the marquee at their neighborhood multiplex. Then they decide on a movie based on starting times and titles. Hard to believe but apparently true.

Which brings me to "ATL," a 2006 release from Warner Bros. that did terrific business in its opening weekend and sank precipitously in the following month. I didn't see it in a theater, but I noticed an advertisement for it in my local paper. "ATL"? I wondered what it meant. The first thing that crossed my mind was "ATM." Was it a movie about asynchronous transfer modes or automated teller machines? I could picture it: "The Attack of the Automatic Teller Machines!" No, that's silly. But it wasn't until the movie arrived on DVD that I learned the setting was Atlanta, Georgia. And wouldn't you know, I still didn't get it. I had it in my head that "ATL" was an acronym standing for three separate words. OK, now I figured the "A" had to stand for Atlanta, but what of the rest? "Atlanta Termite Legion"? The movie was about teens, so maybe it was "Atlanta Teen League"? No, I soon discovered that "ATL" stood for....Atlanta. Sometimes the simplest answers are the best.

Still, if I had that much trouble figuring out the title, I wonder how many other people did, too, and whether it kept some folks away from the theater. Of course, the fact that it's a movie about black teenagers in Atlanta probably limited its potential audience as well, which is sort of a shame since it can easily appeal to all age groups and all ethnicities. I didn't find it a particularly memorable film, mind you, but there is nothing offensive about it, either.

What I enjoyed most about it was its high energy, its spirit, especially in its first half. For me, this was no doubt attributable more to the music than to its rather commonplace plot and characters. The music is described on the keep case as "crunk," a style I had never heard of before, being a rather a sheltered and provincial lad. The thing that immediately popped into my mind was Detroit's celebrated Kronk Gym. Sorry, no relation. I have since learned from several good readers that the word "crunk" is a noun, an adjective, and a verb, meaning a number of different things, but that in reference to music it is a form of hip-hop popular in Atlanta and elsewhere in the South.

Tina Gordon Chism based the screenplay on a story by Antwone Fisher, a fellow you may recognize from the movie of the same name. If you're going to write about yourself, you might as well let them know who you are up front; and "ATL" is said to be based loosely on the real-life experiences of producers Dallas Austin and Tionne Watkins.

The movie stars singer/rapper/musician Tip "T.I." Harris as Rashad Swann, a young man in his last year of high school narrating a story about him and his friends a few weeks from graduation time. The movie follows Rashad, his buddies, and his younger brother as they seriously question where they're going in life. It's a typical coming-of-age story in the tradition of "Boyz N the Hood," "American Graffiti," and "The Outsiders," but with black youngsters, set in Mechanicsville, Georgia, about a mile south of downtown Atlanta, in a less-than-affluent neighborhood. As in "Graffiti" the music serves a significant function in the story line, and as in "Boyz" and "The Outsiders" the character bonding is all-important. In the long run, though, "ATL" is more about the journey than the destination, and its many small, memorable moments are probably more meaningful than the movie as a whole.

Antwone "Ant" Swann (Evan Ross) is Rashad's brother. The two of them live with their Uncle George (Mykelti Williamson) since their parents died in an accident a few years earlier (more shades of "The Outsiders"). But it's more like their uncle lives with them.

Rashad's best friends are Brooklyn (Albert Daniels), a young fellow from New York who is gentle and poetic; Teddy (Jason Weaver), a little older than Rashad and into ornamental teeth; and Esquire (Jackie Long), who has just been accepted to an Ivy League college. The five of them pal around, all of them but Esquire trying to figure out what to do next in their lives. Rashad works as a custodian for a department store, a job he sees as a dead end but all he can get. Esquire is the only one attempting to make more of himself, trying to get a letter of recommendation from a rich, black CEO (Keith David).

Sunday nights all the young people in town head for Cascade, a roller-skating rink that brings everybody together. It's like the Mel's Diner in "Graffiti." At Cascade they show off their stuff, look for girls, and practice their routines for skating competitions. And it's at Cascade that Rashad meets a cute girl named New New (Lauren London), with whom he becomes involved.