Author: crunchonthis

New in Home Entertainment

October 2, 2012

American Horror Story: The Complete First Season
Rated TV-MA
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
I sat down to watch two, maybe three episodes of this new FX horror series on a rainy Saturday and thirteen hours later, upon finishing it, I couldn’t believe how engaged I was with this innovative mini-series about a family living in a house known for dozens of grizzly murders that took place over the last century.  This twisted and risqué drama took a lot of guts to bring to television (quite literally) and I admire the courage to produce such a quality creepfest.  While I wasn’t exactly scared, I was effectively goose-bumped throughout much of the show.  The script is a fantastic example of good writing, and I love that they completely changed the rules when it comes to ghosts.  But what really makes the show work is the amazing cast including Jessica Lange, Dylan McDermott and Connie Britton, along with the rest of the talented group.  Now I can’t wait to see where they take it in season two.  B+

Dark Shadows
Rated PG-13 for comic horror violence, sexual content, some drug use language and smoking
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Loosely based on the 1960’s campy soap opera by the same name, Tim Burton directs Johnny Depp and a slew of talented actors in a tale about a several-hundred-year-old vampire who returns to 1970s America to seek his revenge on a witch.  As you would expect from a Tim Burton film, the production design is top notch.  Unfortunately that’s the only decent attribute the project has going for it.  Its biggest problem is the film doesn’t know what it wants to be.  Is it a comedy?  Is it a horror flick?  Well it doesn’t scare and I can’t exactly see folks chuckling much.  What it is can be described as a beautiful mess.  And to make matters worse, the scenes trod by at a snails pace making the film feel three hours long even though it clocks in at 113 minutes.  Whether that’s the acting or the directing is debatable, but what is not is that this irrelevant film is not in the least enjoyable.  C-

People Like Us
Rated PG-13 for language, some drug use and brief sexuality
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
When a distant son (Chris Pine) discovers that his recently deceased father had another child (Elizabeth Banks), he sets off on a journey to introduce himself awkwardly into his newfound sister’s life.  While this movie seems like more of an after-school special than a theatrically released film from Disney and DreamWorks, this well-written and extremely well-acted family drama turns out to be a nice little gem of a film that will make you think, put a smile on your face and a tear in your eye.  I’ll admit that it’s a very manipulative and the characters’ actions don’t make a lot of sense in moments, but it’s fun sometimes to come away with some unexpected joy after watching what you are certain will be a lame drama.  B

Cinderella: Diamond Edition
Rated G
Available on Blu-ray
Disney’s classic 1950’s fairly tale about a young girl who is transformed from rags to riches and back to rags is getting the hi-def treatment with this new blu-ray release.  If you’re like me, you kind of miss the hand-drawn animation we used to watch growing up.  This short but impactful movie really looks fantastic on the right television.  Make sure to check out the terrific Disney animated short Tangled Ever After which tells the story of Maximus and Pascal, the couples fun-loving horse and chameleon, as they attempt to chase down the rings they clumsily manage to lose during Rapunzel and Flynn’s wedding ceremony.  A-

New in Home Entertainment

September 25, 2012

Delicacy
Rated PG-13 for some strong language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
In French with English Subtitles
The very beautiful French actress Audrey Tautou (Amelie) stars in this charming little romantic comedy about a young widow who finds romance at work years after her husband dies in an accident.  I say romantic comedy but in actuality the film is rather plain at first, then depressing as can be, and then finally a third way in starts to blossom into a workable romance with plenty of laughs.  Much of the laughter though comes from a weirdness brought on by the Swedish love interest played by Francois Damiens.  His strange mannerisms and even stranger actions make you think that truly anyone could have a chance with lovely Audrey.  Movies are such liars aren’t they.  While adorable much of the time the film does suffer from occasionally dull writing and wardrobe choices that are almost unforgivable. Seeing Tautou wearing a Captain Kirk costume for half of the film shows that either the budget needed a slight increase or the costume designer needed to be sacked.  But even with its faults, I still found myself enjoying this little foreigner which had me laughing and crying in equal measure.  B+

The Carol Burnett Show: Carol’s Favorites
Available on DVD
Some of my earliest laughs I remember come from watching the Carol Burnett Show in the early 70’s.  Very quickly into this set it’s easy to see that much of today’s television comedy is inspired by this brilliant lady and her terrific writing team.  Time Life is releasing, mostly through their website, a variety of different options including 22-disc and 11-disc options, but this batch of Carol’s favorites includes a mere 18 hours of Carol’s own picks with guests like Steve Martin, Betty White, The Jackson Five and many others.  I especially loved some of the bonus features including a rare interview with two of my favorite classic comedians Tim Conway and Harvey Korman.  A

Modern Family: The Complete Third Season
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Three years ago everyone was telling me to watch this new show that frankly I just wasn’t interested in.  But shortly after the first season had completed I decided to see what the big deal was.  Baby what a big surprise.  What I thought from the outside looked like a run-of-the-mill family comedy I soon learned was one of the best written and acted television programs in years.  The third season is full of winners and there is little wonder why season three just brought home so many trophies at the Emmys.  Like The Carol Burnett Show and MASH were in their day and Seinfeld was a decade later, Modern Family will one day be thought of fondly as a great American classic.  A

New in Home Entertainment

September 18, 2012

Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures
Available on Blu-ray
Fans have much to be excited about with Indie finally hitting blu-ray.  Not only is one of the most beloved franchises finally being released in hi-def, but the first film in the series, Raiders of the Lost Ark, has a brand-new frame-by-frame restoration making it look and sound like it could have been made yesterday.  Being that I grew up with these films about the Nazi-fighting archeologist (aside from Crystal Skull for which I am one of the few critics who actually enjoyed apparently) I have a very special place in my heart for Indie and love that one of my heroes is able to get such a high-quality release.  A+

Cabin in the Woods
Rated R for strong bloody horror violence and gore, language, drug use and some sexuality/nudity
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
This trippy and quirky little horror film from Joss Whedon (The Avengers) tells the story of a group of college friends who go camping in a small cabin in the middle of nowhere.  Unbeknownst to them, they are actually part of what seems like an experiment for some white-collar secret government workers with a frightening agenda.  Slick and creative, there’s not much horror to this horror pic, but it is a lot of fun and it is at times absolutely hysterical.  And the cast, including Chris Hemsworth, Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford, as well as being written by the writer/director of 2012’s highest-grossing film The Avengers, lends the film the necessary high caliber of talent needed to make the film work.  B+

Chico & Rita
Unrated but contains nudity, sexual situations, language and violence
Available on DVD and special Blu-ray/DVD/CD Soundtrack Combo
Earlier this year we got quite the surprise when Cars 2 and The Adventures of TinTin were excluded from the Oscar nominations for Best Animated Film and in their place were two foreign projects hardly anyone had heard about.  The first of these is Chico & Rita which is getting a grand blu-ray release this week.  Jazz pianist Chico meets Rita in their native Cuba when he sees her sing at a local jazz club and falls in love immediately.  The love-struck couple encounter a torturous life-long obsession with each other as their careers progress and they each go their separate ways performing around the world.  The animation is simple, but fits the film well.  What really pops off of the screen though is the amazing music which adds so much to the art of the film.  B

Supernatural: The Complete Seventh Season and The Vampire Diaries: The Complete Third Season
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
The CW show that is part-way responsible for setting the trend for all of today’s fantasy television programming is still running strong and this latest season, full of demons and other devastating baddies is surprisingly fresh, or at least fresh enough to come off as an enjoyable guilty pleasure.  Also about to start off a new season and out on DVD this week is CW’s The Vampire Diaries which serves as proof that CW is capable of making low-budget yet high quality fantasy and horror programming.  Neither are quite up to AMC or HBO standards but then again, their audience is vastly different and I’m sure their advertisers are extremely happy.  B

Get a Life: The Complete Series
Available on DVD
Christ Elliot is not for everyone, but if you love truly weird and random comedy that is way ahead of its time, you gotta check this one out.  Sharing the adventures of a 30-year-old paperboy who lives at home with his parents, Get a Life was out of place in the 90s but seems rather at home twenty years later.  The strange and ridiculous humor pulls laughs seemingly out of nowhere and it becomes quickly obvious why this program has become such a cult classic.  A-

New in Home Entertainment

September 4, 2012

The Walking Dead: The Complete Second Season
Rated TV-MA
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
When I had heard that the second season of AMC’s breakout horror drama The Walking Dead would be losing its creator Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption), and that it would also be slashing its budget, I was skeptical about the show continuing the momentum left off from the first season.  But with its very talented cast and equally talented writing team, Dead proved that it is still one of the best shows on television.  After leaving Atlanta, the group of survivors find a farm in the country where they take temporary shelter from the zombie incursion.  Just as you would expect, the internal drama is as effective as the external horrors when it comes to keeping a sense of tension floating throughout each episode.  And talk about a barn-burner of a finale.  We are all left with a dreadful sense of impatience as we have to wait for season three to hit on October 14.  A-

The Five-Year Engagement
Rated R for sexual content, and language throughout
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Jason Segel and Emily Blunt play a couple whose engagement keeps getting pushed off again and again in order to make room for life’s inconvenient challenges that keep getting thrown in their way.  If you go into this movie thinking you’ll get an hysterical raunch com, then you will be sadly mistaken.  Very sadly.  There is a lot of good humor to be found here, but most of it is soaked in gravity and much of the film comes off as more real than funny.  Unfortunately, while some of the jokes work, much of it seems random and incoherent.  The worst part of this is Blunt’s group of grad students she works with.  While I’m sure they are meant to lighten the load, they come off as silly and unnecessary and a complete distraction from the film, rather than a nice bonus.  And when you see a more than two-hour running time on a rom com, you start to come up with stuff that should have been left out and I really wish these characters would have all been cut.  B-

Hung: The Complete Third Season
Rated TV-MA
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
In this third season of HBO’s comedy about a down-on-his-luck school teacher in Detroit who moonlights as a male prostitute, Thomas Jane finds himself having to compete against a younger male-ho who begins to steal his business.  Unfortunately, the show seems to be delivering more of the same and the nuance has completely worn off.  It’s still funny and equally quirky, and the performances are solid, but just like the lead character, I’m beginning to think the series might be running on a bit too long.  C+

The Office: Season Eight
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
You gotta give props to the original British Office which quit early and left the audience craving more.  Wouldn’t it be nice if the American version could do the same?  When Steve Carrell bid adieu to the show in season seven, he left behind a talented group of actors, but no where to go with them.  The story lines are all dried up and the show is now a train wreck.  I’m not sure what’s more embarrassing – that they won’t put this show to pasture or that I keep watching it.  Either way, if you don’t want to experience the complete mess, just do what I wish I did and pretend that the show ended back in 2011.  C-

New in Home Entertainment

August 28, 2012

Battleship
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, action and destruction, and for language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
If you think its quite a stretch to make a movie based on the Hasbro game Battleship and throw in an alien invasion then you aren’t alone.  Unfortunately, not only did they run with this idea (and spend over $200 million on it) but they decided to make the alien/U.S. military battle a turn-based skirmish and they even made the alien weapons look like the original game pieces.  The film is not just dumb but unpatriotic as well.  I’m surprised the U.S. Navy allowed a film to use their ships in a battle where the Americans are the aggressors.  After all, the aliens only killed after being threatened and they chose not to kill unarmed citizens.  Apparently we just kill and think later.  Maybe that’s why the film only pulled in $65 million here and over $300 million worldwide: making fun of American policy, even in regards to an imaginary alien invasion, is an entertaining spectator sport.  D

The Pirates!  Band of Misfits
Rated PG for mild action, rude humor and some language
Available on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D
From Aardman Animation, the British animation house responsible for Arthur Christmas and Wallace & Gromit, comes the only bright spot so far in this year’s crop of mediocre animated features.  Following the adventures of Pirate Captain, a kind-hearted pirate leader that dreams of notoriety amongst his peers, The Pirates provides a swashbuckling good time with a sense of humor that aims its sights more at adults than children.  This is a downright hysterical movie that serves up a treasure chest worth of entertainment.  I wouldn’t be surprised if at the Oscars this year The Pirates forces Pixar to take a step off the plank.  A-


Boardwalk Empire: The Complete Season Two
Rated TV-MA
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
HBO’s series about New Jersey gangsters during the age of prohibition turned in a spectacular first season, leaving the sophomore season mighty big spats to fill.  Unbelievably they came through with more surprises and plot twists than anyone could have imagined.  Following the path set by season one of Game of Thrones where no character is safe, Empire created a world this past year where everyone seemed to be in real danger.  I absolutely loved the extreme amount of tension built into each and every scene and the acting by the talented cast gives you an idea of what it must have been like to deal in booze during that tumultuous period.  A-
 

New in Home Entertainment

August 21, 2012

Bernie
Rated PG-13 for some violent images and brief strong language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Texas is full of colorful characters and this tale based on the true story out of Carthage, Texas is living proof.  Back in the 90’s, a local funeral director named Bernie (Jack Black) was a beloved member of the community who became close friends with the meanest lady in town (Shirley MacLaine) after her husband died.  About half the film uses actors and the other half is interviews with the actual townspeople of Carthage who tell their versions of the story.  While I’m sure folks outside of Texas might enjoy this film, I’m pretty sure that Texans will absolutely love it.  Had this movie been a Hollywood affair, I’m fairly certain it would have made fun of Texas; but under the control of Texas-based writer/director Richard Linklater (School of Rock) it shows the state and the people from it in the best possible light and manages to tell a story that you’ll be sharing with your friends for years to come.  A-

A Separation
Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Persian with English Subtitles
Winning the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film this year was this amazing Iranian film about a husband and wife who are going through a divorce because she wants to leave Iran and take their daughter and he needs to stay in Iran to take care of his ailing father.  What at first looks like a divorce drama turns into a complicated scenario that leaves you fascinated at both the Iranian legal system and the moral choices the characters must make while facing the worst of dilemmas.  It’s hard not to be completely consumed by the story (which was also nominated for best screenplay).  This is truly one of the best films of 2011 and one you won’t soon forget.  A

The Dictator
Rated R for strong crude and sexual content, brief male nudity, language and some violent images
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
It’s been a good year for comedy so far and The Dictator has been one of the best.  Sacha Baron Cohen stars as Aladeen, a crazy Dictator from a third world country who is forced to become a homeless American foreigner after an attempted coup.  It is so over-the-top that you can’t help but like Cohen’s crazy creation and the message at the end gives the story a touch of gravity you don’t expect.  A-

Chimpanzee
Rated G
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Disney has really stuck to their guns when it comes to their commitment to release nature documentaries on Earth Day under their Disney Nature label.  This newest film is extremely interesting.  I’m not sure if they ever intended it to be a movie about nothing more than Chimps, but once they discovered a male leader adopting and caring for an orphan, a beautiful story evolved that became the selling point of the film.  Overall, the film has beautiful cinematography (as is expected) and the story of the two chimps works well, but the rest of the tale seems forced, as if they needed to fill Tim Allen’s narration with something else exciting and they didn’t know quite how to do it.  I found myself even more fascinated by the documentary on how they made the film.  That story alone is worth checking out the disc.  B

Pocahontas
Rated G
Available on Blu-ray
This week Disney is adding several films to blu-ray including The Rescuers/Rescuers Down Under, The Aristocats, Lady and the Tramp 2 and The Tigger movie.  All of these are very mediocre representations of Disney animation but one release is definitely worth mentioning.  Pocahontas wasn’t their biggest hit, but it sure is a great animated feature.  The animation itself is lovely and the music was strong enough to earn two Oscars (song and score).  To this day, the Farewell scene is one of my favorite pieces of movie music.  Now if only they didn’t have to taint the set by adding in the not-so-great Pocahontas 2.  The good news is that you don’t have to watch it.  B+