New in Home Entertainment
November 13, 2012
Brave
Rated PG for some scary action and rude humor
Available on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D
Pixar’s latest fable tells the story of a young red-headed Scottish princess who loves her freedom and doesn’t want to marry the man her parent’s wish her to. Oh – and then there is some weird story with bears. At least with this new home video release, there is a short story called The Legend of Mordu which attempt to better explain the bear predicament. It’s just too bad the short is crudely animated and not actually in the movie itself. From an aesthetic point of view, the film is fantastic. It’s beautiful to look at, has interesting characters and a terrific score by Patrick Doyle. Unfortunately, the film’s heroine is a horrible role model for children due to the lackluster screenplay. She’s a spoiled brat who gets her way, even to the end. And then there’s the complete lack of a villain. Who makes a film without a bad guy? There’s a very good reason they exist in fiction and Pixar here ignores this centuries old rule and the film suffers because of it. So by far, this is Pixar’s worst movie to date, and a complete departure from what made them special to begin with. C+
Savages
Rated R for strong brutal and grisly violence, some graphic sexuality, nudity, drug use and language throughout
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Oliver Stone (Wall Street) wrote and directed this tale of two California drug growers (Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson) who get tied up with the wrong Tijuana kingpin and her henchman (Salma Hayek and Benicio Del Toro). Just like Stone’s 1994 Natural Born Killers, the violence here is over the top. The difference is that this film possesses some entertainment value. Aside from the torturous performance by Blake Lively who plays the girlfriend of the growers and unfortunate lynch pin of the film, the performances here are better than I expected. I especially liked Aaron Johnson who is one of Hollywood’s best chameleon actors. I didn’t even realize that the Kick-Ass star was in this film until I started to write the review. If it weren’t for Lively and the awful ending, I would recommend this film, but those flaws bring it down a few notches. C+
Dinotasia
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Dinotasia is a group of short stories taken from The Discovery Channel’s “Dinosaur Revolution” and then repackaged as a feature length documentary with narration by German filmmaker Werner Herzog. It’s a strange assembly of films that starts out lame and then becomes quickly captivating. I was hoping this could be something for my dino-loving toddler, but these shorts are extremely violent and kinda scary. There is also a sense of humor that is unexpected, such as a great scene where a dinosaur eats an hallucinogenic mushroom moments before being attacked by carnivores. The visual effects are good but not great. Don’t expect the big budget and you’ll be satisfied. B