New on DVD
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Rated G
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
In spite of being a huge Disney fanatic, I’ve never been that much of a fan of Snow White as a movie. That being said, I’ll freely admit that I do understand that it is arguably the most important animated film ever made. When Walt Disney suggested the idea of a feature-length animated film in the 1930s, the idea was unheard of. After all, why would anyone want to watch a cartoon that is more than 5 minutes long? The movie was supposed to be a disaster, and had it been anything less than it was, who knows if we would have had the rich tradition of animated films since. One of the special features on the disks even suggests that The Wizard of Oz was only greenlit after Snow White’s success, and without the success of this particular fantasy, we might have never have seen the likes like Dorothy or Luke Skywalker grace the screen. I’d say that makes a movie important. The film itself has numerous special features, but my favorite is an interactive tour through Hyperion Studios, the studio that housed the early Disney artists. A+
The National Parks: America’s Best Idea
Unrated
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Filmmaker Ken Burns brings us his next masterpiece with this look at our national parks in this twelve hour documentary that was almost a decade in the making. Exploring the history of natural treasures and the reasons why some of our great leaders tried to protect them, Burns uses archival footage in combination with stunning cinematography from the majority of our national parks, to augment the masterful storytelling that we have come to expect from him. While Burns has impressed us in the past with his documentaries on Jazz, Baseball, and WWII, I can’t help but feel that this is his both his best looking and most compelling story yet. A
Man vs. Food
Unrated
Available on DVD
Three of the things I love most in life are entertainment, food and travel, so there’s no surprise that I’m hooked on the Travel Channel’s hit show Man vs. Food which follows Adam Richman as he travels around America discovering its greatest pig-out spots. In every city he visits, he also takes one of its famous food challenges, from eleven pound pizzas in Atlanta, to tackling eight plates of breakfast tacos in Austin, to wolfing down the world’s hottest curry in New York City. The show is very addictive and the only thing the DVD lacks is a trip to H-Town. The nerve! A-
Assassination of a High School President
Rated R for sexual content, some nudity, language, and drug and alcohol use – all involving teens
Available on DVD
When a budding high school journalist is tricked into committing a character assassination piece against the reigning student body president, he tries desperately to both get his mistakes corrected and blow the whistle on the real guilty party. Distracting him along the way is the president’s ex, played by Mischa Barton, who he unexpectedly becomes romantically entangled with. The pic makes for a decent enough high school drama/mystery, but fails to reach any real significance with its complicated plot. Also, the addition of Bruce Willis as the principle whose biggest concern is to get kids to stop chewing gum in school was funny at first, but got a little silly after a while. That being said, the film is very convincing at portraying rich white kids as vindictive little monsters and some of the worst villains you could possibly go up against. C+
IMAX: Dinosaurs Alive!
Unrated
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Dinosaurs Alive! takes a look at many of the different dinos from millions of years past, how we found out about them, and what their particular skills and traits were. On a big IMAX screen, with 3D glasses, this film is truly impressive and really does come alive. Unfortunately, on a anything smaller, and in 2D, the results are less than impressive. The science is very basic and overly dramatic, and the film, at less than an hour, is not exactly compelling. The documentary on how the film was made is actually a nice special feature worth checking out though. C
Surrogates
Surrogates
Starring Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames, and James Cromwell
Directed by Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3)
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, language, sexuality, and a drug-related scene
Appropriate for ages 13+
Set in the future, humans no longer have to leave their homes, but rather they project themselves into young-looking robotic surrogates that can live their lives for them, keeping them completely safe from harm and always looking their best. When someone invents a weapon that can kill the human owner through its surrogate, the police, led by agent Tom Greer (Willis) must find how to stop this weapon from killing off not only the surrogates, but all of their human owners as well.
Stealing from films such as Total Recall and The Matrix, the story isn’t entirely original, but none the less still feels like it could have been penned by Philip K Dick himself as maybe one his lesser stories. The tale is a little preachy in regard to trying to show what we could all be like if we stop getting out there in the real world and spend all of our time behind our computers. Then again, maybe the preaching is necessary.
Future theory aside, what most folks will want to know is the quality of the action, and overall, it’s not bad. There’s loads of violence, chases, and other miscellaneous action-junkie fodder. In other words, you won’t need a long attention span to enjoy.
That being said, some of the plot is a bit confusing and/or just doesn’t make sense. But by the time you get to the end, you just want to see how it’s going to go down and how they are going to get to the great trailer moments you’ve already seen (shame on them).
The biggest problem with the film is that Bruce Willis seems miscast. Maybe it’s because he was trying to act tired since he was used to using a surrogate, or maybe because he was tired since he can’t do these types of roles the way he used to. I like him in the action roles, but this one just didn’t feel right. It makes me wonder what the film would have been like with a Vin Diesel or a Hugh Jackman in the lead. B-
New on DVD
New on DVD
Away We Go
Rated R for language and some sexual content
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Sam Mendes (American Beauty) directs John Krasinski (The Office) and Maya Rudolph (SNL) in this little indie about an expecting couple that travels around North America looking for a place that they can finally consider a true home for themselves and their new baby. The pic feels more like a thought-provoking buddy road trip movie than a romantic comedy, although there are enough laughs to keep the film well in the comedy genre. But I think it’s the tears that folks will remember the most and the performances by the leads here are truly touching. There are also a bevy of interesting characters to keep your attention throughout, with great cameos by a host of terrific actors like Catherine O’Hara, Jeff Daniels, Allison Janney, and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Check out the extra on how the cast and crew went out of their way to keep the film’s carbon footprint to a bare minimum. A-
Management
Rated R for language
Available on DVD
If you are like me and you were hoping that Jennifer Anniston’s latest theatrical release Love Happens would have been a romantic comedy instead of whatever that was, check out this very low budget pic starring Anniston and Steve Zahn. Anniston is a bored salesperson staying in a cheap motel in the middle of nowhere and Zahn is the son of the owners of said establishment. When his cute but kind of creepy moves prove effective, a very different kind of relationship is forged and what we get is one of the better rom coms of the last few years. Don’t let the art house label scare you off. If this would have been released in theaters by Paramount it would have made a killing. I just hope it gets a better second life on DVD. A-
The Girlfriend Experience
Rated R for sexual content and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Between big box-office releases, director Steven Soderbergh (The Informant!) likes to push out an occasional very low budget indie. The Girlfriend Experience tells the story of a high-end prostitute (played by adult film star Sasha Grey) as she attempts to live a half-way normal life, including her committed relationship with her personal trainer boyfriend. Granted, too much time is spent exploring her boyfriend’s career and not the subject at hand, but still, the film is a fascinating and fresh look at the world’s oldest profession and the most surprising thing is that the movie isn’t at all about sex. B
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Rated R
Available on Blu-ray
This obscure little film, which just so happened to be named one of Entertainment Weekly’s 20 Scariest Movies of All Time, is making its much anticipated blu-ray debut. Loosely based on the real life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, the story follows Henry, living in Chicago with his sociopathic friend Otis and Otis’s sister Becky. As he and Otis travel around committing acts of random murder, Henry becomes romantically involved with Becky, putting a strain on his relationship with Otis. The movie is definitely sick and twisted. I wouldn’t call it scary, but I would use the word disturbing. Even more disturbing is the documentary on the real life Henry Lee Lucas who committed many of his murders in the state of Texas. I’m actually very thankful they didn’t make the film completely accurate after watching that doc. I’m even more thankful Lucas is not around to see it. B
The Universe Seasons 1-3
Unrated
Available on Blu-ray
The complete History Channel series The Universe is available in this 10 blu-ray set filled with pretty much everything you ever wanted to know about the universe we live in. While the production isn’t quite up to Cosmos standards, and the animation is a little bit and miss, the content is very interesting and the examples made, while sometimes a little cheesy, are usually entertaining. Sometimes there is a feeling that there’s not quite enough to fill each hour-long episode and that they are stretching a bit, but it seems that that is the route many of the science programs are going nowadays. Still, if your goal is to learn about everything outside of the Planet Earth, this set will fully educate you. B-
The Informant!
The Informant!
Starring Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, and Joel McHale
Directed by Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Eleven)
Rated R for language
Appropriate for ages 15+
When Mark Whitacre (Damon) starts lying to protect himself from crimes he has committed at work, he volunteers to serve as a star witness to the FBI against his company in order to protect himself.
There’s a whole lot more to the film than that last statement, but I’d hate to give anything else away because it’s all just too much fun to discover for yourself. To think that this film is a true story is absolutely amazing.
The story itself isn’t that excitement. A whistle blower from an agricultural company works with the FBI to have his company investigated for price fixing. Wow. Yawn. So what makes it fun? Matt Damon. Damon brings a life to this character that I’m sure the real life character could have never given off. He narrates the film so that we as the audience know exactly what is going on at all times, but then his inner monologue goes off on tangents like a dog being distracted by a squirrel. So even when there is some serious stuff going down on screen, you hear him getting distracted and off subject and you can’t help but wonder what the heck he is going to say next. As a character he is one of the most entertaining I’ve seen in years. He had me in stitches from start to finish. As a performance, his is the best I’ve seen this year – by far. I don’t know if that will be my final synopsis in December, but nine months out of ten ain’t bad.
Directing-wise, this is Soderbergh’s best work since Traffic. The film is well-paced and well-crafted. Of course it helps when you have a script of this quality from Bourne Ultimatum writer Scott Z. Burns.
So consider yourself informed – you gotta see this movie! A
New on DVD
New on DVD
Observe and Report
Rated R for pervasive language, graphic nudity, drug use, sexual content and violence
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Seth Rogen is the anti-Paul Blart in this dark comedy about a drug using, power abusing mall cop that has two goals: 1) catch and kill the flasher that exposed himself to his dream girl and 2) join the police force. This is a sick and twisted tale that is probably just what you would expect from writer/director Jody Hill, the creator of the HBO show Eastbound and Down. Seth is convincing as the psycho wannabe cop, although Anna Faris, Ray Liotta, as well as the rest of the cast serve as caricatures more than believable human beings. Still, if you are in the right mood, I think you will find this to be an enjoyable film with some very big laughs. B
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 4
Not rated but contains adult content
Available on DVD
I’ll admit that I’ve let this little FX sitcom about the worst-run bar in Philadelphia escape me now for four years. I thought I would watch a couple of episodes for review here just to see what it was about, and now I can’t believe I’ve let this one get away for so long. This is one incredibly funny show. Always Sunny follows Danny DeVito and a group of four twenty-somethings as they badly run a bar in Philly. But in all of the episodes, each incredibly flawed character tries to scheme and plot against one another until the laughs build to a huge crescendo. This is not nice-guy comedy, but the really good ones rarely are. To see for yourself, check out one of the few episodes available on hulu.com and then you might be like me – completely hooked. I devoured the show on this three DVD set, and then set my DVR for Season 5. A
O’Horten
Rated PG-13 for brief nudity
Available on DVD
Norwegian with English subtitles
This Norwegian import follows the strange life of retired train engineer Odd Horten (appropriately named, even if it is in Norwegian) as he tries to figure out what to do in his post-retirement life. Maybe I wasn’t in the right frame of mind while watching this movie, but it just never sank in for me. Its humor is very subtle and while it is a comedy of sorts, the comedy is so deadpan and absurdist that while it occasionally brought a smile to my face, I never did find it to be terribly funny. I did, however, find it interesting if that is any concession. His little adventures are far from boring and I kept asking myself what I would do if put in similar circumstances. B-
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
Rated PG-13 for sexual content throughout, some language and a drug reference
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner star in this not very romantic romantic comedy about a womanizing photographer who goes through the Dickens ghosts with girlfriends past, present, and future in order to show him how horrible his life truly is. From start to finish this is just nothing but a bad film. Badly acted, poorly directed, and lazily written, Ghosts is one of those films that has a decent premise, but terrible execution. This is really surprising too since the writers of this trash also turned in a little hit called The Hangover and the director has done some decent work himself including the hit Mean Girls. Of course it doesn’t help when your two leads lack any sort of chemistry and the judge of romance is that the hero suddenly doesn’t want to sleep with the other brides maids any longer. Give me a break. This is not a romantic comedy, but rather an unfunny sex comedy that tries to convince women desperate for the latest rom com to bite like a worm on a hook. I say don’t bite. While they’ll eventually throw you back, why spend all that wasted time in the boat? F
The Hannibal Lecter Collection
Featuring the films Manhunter, The Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal
Rated R for strong gruesome violence, some nudity, and language
Available on Blu-ray
If you are ready for a night or weekend of cannibalistic terror, this 3 Blu-ray set includes all three of the major Lecter stories in stunning hi def. While I did like Red Dragon better than Manhunter (they were both based on the same book) Manhunter was the film that started it all and deserves to be included in the same set. While Anthony Hopkins didn’t show up till Lambs, Brian Cox makes for a very good Hannibal and CSI’s William Petersen under Michael Mann’s direction creates one of the 80’s greatest police thrillers. Once Hopkins came on board though, Silence of the Lambs turned in an exceptional Oscar run and brought the Thomas Harris series to the forefront. The brutally violent Hannibal furthered Lecter’s killing spree as he escapes from prison and goes after a new set of victims. All in all, this is a great collection of stomach-turning films that any horror film or cop thriller buff will want to add to their collection. Manhunter B+ The Silence of the Lambs A Hannibal B
Concentrated Stupidity
*Warning* This is scary, scary stuff.
Whiteout
Whiteout
Starring Kate Beckinsale and Tom Skerritt
Directed by Dominic Sena (Swordfish)
Rated R for violence, grisly images, brief strong language and some nudity
Appropriate for ages 15+
Based on the graphic novel by Greg Rucka, Whiteout follows U.S. Marshall Stetko (Beckinsale), haunted by her own demons, as she tracks a killer in Antarctica just before the sun is about to set for six months.
The first few minutes of the film start out with a Russian plane that crashed fifty years ago. All the audience knows from the opening is that the plane was military and they were carrying something very valuable that will play into the story somehow. Not a bad opening.
Then Beckinsale walks in to her modern day Antarctic lodging, takes off all of her clothes in a very sexy manner, and gets in the shower. After that, it’s very hard to take the film seriously. OK – it’s impossible. The basic premise itself is pretty good and I can see why Warner wanted to put a lot of money behind it, but the script is just laughable. At first I thought they were trying to do a film noir thing with the dialogue, but then I realized that it was just bad writing made worse by horrendous line delivery.
Then there’s the action scenes. Most of the big scary scenes are done outside where the wind and snow are blowing so hard that they can kill you if you aren’t attached to a rope. The problem is that everyone is moving so slow that it’s hard to get excited or scared. Again, just laughable.
From start to finish, this film turns out to be nothing more than a failed experiment with lousy execution from the production team. D
New on DVD
New on DVD
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action violence and some partial nudity
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Hugh Jackman reprises his role as Wolverine in this Marvel spin-off that attempts to tell the tale of how Wolverine came to be Wolverine. When his brother (Liev Schrieber), who becomes Sabretooth, kills his true love, Wolverine sets off on a quest for revenge. This wasn’t quite the box office hit it was predicted to be, so I suspect a lot of folks are waiting for the dvd to see if it was wise to wait. I would say yes it was. This is definitely a renter, and should see quite a strong life on the video shelves. It’s not that the acting is bad. The characters are all quite likable and full of charisma. And while many could blame the writing and directing, this is one of those situations where I would probably blame Hugh Jackman for getting too heavily involved in the production, and the studios for allowing it. First off, the director, Gavin Hood, was all wrong for the project. His brilliant Oscar winning film Tsotsi proved that he could do drama with the best of them, but big budget action? No way. The writers also were either too unfamiliar with the genre or too close to Jackman. This has worked in past films, but failed miserably here. Overall, this movie provides a mediocre superhero film that neither moves nor excites the audience. C
Crash: Season 1
Unrated but contains adult content
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
With the success of HBO and Showtime original programming, Starz has gotten into the ring with this original series spin-off of the Oscar winning movie by Paul Haggis. Dennis Hopper and D.B. Sweeney headline this group of talented actors in this ensemble show about loosely intersecting dramas that take place around the city of Los Angeles. I was pleasantly surprised how well written and directed the show is. After all, I have a distaste for TV shows stolen from the big screen. But this program is really only related by name only, and it works for the same reason that the film did: the world is full of tension and discord. Crash has just found a nice way of bottling it up and helping you to appreciate that your life doesn’t have that much drama. Hopefully. B+
Easy Virtue
Rated PG-13 for sexual content, brief partial nudity, and smoking throughout
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Director Stephan Elliott (The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) brings to life this screen version of the Noel Coward play about what happens when a young British man (Ben Barnes) brings home his new modern American bride (Jessica Biel) to meet his family (Kristin Scott Thomas and Colin Firth) in the early 20th century. The movie itself is very funny and the performances are great as you can well imagine with this cast. Here’s the rub – I felt like the stuffy British family with this whimsical American under Elliott’s more-than-modern directing. Films like this should have a classic look, unless they are going full out Baz Luhrmann. This film sometimes keeps a classic look, just like Biel has at times, but then lots of modern nuances pop off the screen. I found this unsettling, and rather annoying. The difference here is that the audience, unlike the family, is not stuck with the movie. They can choose whether or not they want camera tricks and rock music. I’d rather not. I’d like to see this film played straight without the showing off just for the sake of it. C
Hero
Rated PG-13 for stylized martial arts violence and a scene of sensuality
Available on Blu-ray
If you were watching the Olympics this summer and were wondering what movies the director and composer of the opening ceremony had made – well – this is the best of them. Hero, directed by Zhang Yimou and with music composed by Tan Dun, stars Jet Li, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi and Donnie Yen. Using an innovative method of storytelling, the pic follows a nameless warrior (Li) as he embarks on a mission of revenge against the tyrants that massacred his people. This Oscar-nominated movie (Best Foreign Language Film, 2002) has some of the best cinematography, usage of colors, musical scores, and battle sequences that I have ever seen. I consider it a must-own for blu-ray. I do wish there were a few more special features. While there is a nice documentary on action sequences with Jet Li and Quentin Tarantino, I think a commentary or music only track would have been great for this special edition. Miramax is also releasing several other martial arts flicks on blu-ray this week, including Iron Monkey, which I highly suggest you check out. A+
The Wonderfully Generous United Health Care
Extract
Extract
Starring Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis, Kristen Wiig, and Ben Affleck
Directed by Mike Judge (Office Space)
Rated R for language, sexual references, and some drug use
Appropriate for ages 17+
Extract plant owner Joel (Bateman) has a severe crush on his new con-artist employee Cindy (Kunis), but won’t act on it because he is married. After his best friend (Affleck) gives him Special K instead of Valium, he makes the decision to hire a gigolo to seduce his wife (Wiig) so that he won’t feel guilty when he cheats on her. As you can imagine, things go downhill from there.
One talent writer/director Mike Judge has is inventing original characters, environments, and situations and making you feel like they are the mundane. This film has a lot going for it in regards to bored people doing irrational and despicable things and making the audience feel very judgmental. I don’t think you can help but cast judgment on every little action and misstep, just because that’s how it’s laid out. Even with this though, the laughs are really big throughout and while dark at every turn, the comedy makes the dark seem not so bad.
As far as performances go, Bateman makes for a great leading man, although I’m not sure if he’ll ever open a film with big numbers. Kunis plays the criminal cutie well, although I have a feeling that many of her scenes were cut to keep the film down to a short running time. Conversely, some of the factory workers are annoyingly bad actors here, such as Beth Grant, who I just wanted to choke, but maybe that was the point.
What I am really surprised about is how amateurish some of the directing is here. I would have thought with all of the experience Judge has had over the years, that the film would have a more polished feel to it, but some of it, such as the lawyer scene with Gene Simmons, looks like a college film. Maybe Simmons is just that bad of an actor, but if that were the case, I think he could have found a different iconic figures to play an attorney.
Overall, Extract is a very funny, but inconsistent film that will leave you kind of hollow inside. It is also not nearly as memorable or as important as his previous two films: Office Space and Idiocracy. C+