Author: crunchonthis

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New in Home Entertainment – March 15, 2011

New in Home Entertainment

March 15, 2011

The Fighter
Rated R for language throughout, drug content, some violence and sexuality
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
While the real story of boxer “Irish” Micky Ward and his brother Dicky might have gotten by you in the mid 1980s, you would almost have to be living under a rock to have escaped the press The Fighter has gotten over the last few months.  Winning Academy Awards for supporting actor and actress, Christian Bale and Melissa Leo, as well as a host of other known and unknown actors like Mark Wahlberg and Amy Adams, turn in easily the best ensemble performance of the year in this unique boxing flick which is more about the relationships than the fight.  While the basic premise is essentially your typical boxing plot, the film turns out to be very special due to the strong writing and superb acting, as well as a nicely paced drama directed by the extremely talented David O. Russell.  Originally under the direction of Black Swan’s Darren Aronofsky, David picked up the reigns and turned what could have been just another sports flick into a critical and box office success.  A

Hereafter
Rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements including disturbing disaster and accident images, and for brief strong language
Available on DVD, Blu-ray and Video on Demand
When I first saw this film a few months ago, I didn’t really have much love for it.  And while I still don’t think it’s a particularly good film, the release is timely and completely and unexpectedly relevant.  The opening sequence of Clint Eastwood’s afterlife drama begins in a town as it is devastated by a tsunami.  The effects of the destruction were good enough to earn the film an Oscar nod and in light of what just happened in Japan, the movie couldn’t be more sobering.  I still think that the filmmakers chickened out of taking any kind of religious stance, and even went as far as to mock two of the world’s largest religions.  But this time around the film has a different vibe in spite of its boring screenplay and not-so-great supporting cast.  C+

Sony Masterworks Classic Film Scores
In 1972 Charles Gerhardt released his famous Classic Film Score Series featuring the music of some of the greatest composers of the Golden Age of film.  Now 38 years later, the scores are being re-released on CD by Sony Masterworks, having been re-mastered using the original analog masters and including the original LP liner notes.  Among this release is Citizen Kane – featuring music from scores by Bernard Herrmann, Sunset Boulevard – featuring music from scores by Franz Waxman, Elizabeth and Essex – featuring music from scores by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Spellbound – featuring music from scores by Miklos Rozsa, Now, Voyager – featuring music from scores by Max Steiner, Laura/Forever Amber/The Bad and the Beautiful – featuring music from scores by David Raksin, and scores from movies featuring Bette Davis.  The recordings here sound like they were made yesterday and you could tell a lot of love went into releasing the series for the true movie music lovers of the world.  A

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Rango

Rango

Starring the voice talent of Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher and Ned Beatty
Directed by Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean)
Rated PG for rude humor, language, action and smoking
Appropriate for ages 8+

    When an eccentric pet chameleon separates from his owner and finds himself stranded in the desert, he winds up in the town of Dirt, a rundown Wild West outpost with a water shortage and no sheriff.  Calling himself Rango, the chameleon finds himself on the fortunate end of a battle with the town’s worst enemy, a hawk, and becomes a hero to the animals in deep need of one. 

    If the Coen brothers ever decided to do an animated film, I would picture it looking much like this.  It’s beautiful, quirky, and well told with some really great performances by the ensemble.  While the scale of the animals feels off since all of the creatures are roughly the same size, they are still wonderfully conceived and stunningly put on film.  Better than that though, the characters are well-written.  I realize that much of the plot of the film is a cross between China Town and Pale Rider, but it still comes off as original and charming, and most of the audience won’t catch the easy references. 

    Much like the voice recording of Fantastic Mr. Fox, the cast was recorded while actually acting around each other, rather than by the actors by themselves alone in a studio.  This type of recording obviously brought out the best in these performers and managed to make the action much more enjoyable.  Johnny Depp, who carries the film as Rango is superb, and unlike characters voiced by the likes of Jack Black, Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, I wouldn’t have even known it was Depp had his name not been plastered over the title.  He really gets into the character here and turns in a much stronger performance than he did in his Golden Globe nominated role in The Tourist.  The rest of the cast here is also pretty darn solid and the good time they had making it comes through in the finished project.

    While I know it will be hard to get your young kids not to see it, I will say that some parents will have a big problem with the language.  It’s probably not enough to garner a PG-13 rating, but there are enough hells and damns to throw off any parent who might be trying to “earmuff” their kids.  What stinks is that the bad language is unnecessary and the filmmakers should have had better sense than to include it in a film that will make most of its money from families. 

    Overall, I think that while this is not nearly as good as the best animated films of 2010, it is on par with the likes of Kung Fu Panda and Despicable Me in entertainment value.  A- 

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Cedar Rapids

Cedar Rapids

Starring Ed Helms, John C. Reilly and Anne Heche
Directed by Miguel Arteta (Youth in Revolt)
Rated R for crude and sexual content, language and drug use
Appropriate for ages 17+

    Ed Helms is just a plain, honest insurance salesman from a small midwestern town who is sent to represent his company at an insurance convention in the metropolis of Cedar Rapids, IA.  Not knowing a soul there, he relies on three veteran salespeople to guide him through the meeting, and eventually lead him down a comically dark journey full of sex, drugs and corruption.

    Going into this film I was baffled by the fact that this was a small indie from Fox Searchlight.  After all, it has a great ensemble of comic actors and a tried and true formula of the debaucherous night out.  I thought before going in that this being an indie with a limited release is a bad thing, and my opinion turned out correct.

    The subject matter is right up the alley for the adult comedy audience, but the look and feel scream low-budget filmmaking with a decent cast.  Also, the script seems like it was put together with only the set pieces in mind, almost like the writer thought up some hilarious ideas after going to an insurance meeting, but didn’t know how to tie them together with a working narrative.  The MacGuffin here is the two-diamond award which supposedly every insurance company desires.  But it seems only Helms has his eyes on it, because the other agents don’t even compete and the way it is won is amateurish.  Also, the cost for him earning the award only works on an emotional level.  So much could have been done with the script to juice it up and force the actions of the characters to make sense, but because the subplot wasn’t thought out properly, it only serves as a distraction from the hi-jinx. 

    The good thing about the movie is that Helms, Reilly, and Heche do an excellent job with what they are given and they make the comedy work.  I’ve been to too many of these types of meetings, and the drunken behavior shown is fairly accurate and pretty funny.  Still, a comedy like this could have and should have been better than what ended up on screen.  C+

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New in Home Entertainment – March 1, 2011

New in Home Entertainment

March 1, 2011

Bambi: Diamond Edition
Rated G
Available on DVD/Blu-ray Combo
What was originally supposed to be Walt Disney’s second feature film after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, became his fifth release and almost bankrupted the studio due to WWII and the loss of the European box office.  Now, almost seventy years later, Bambi still holds up as a masterpiece of animation and art.  With this blu-ray premiere, the print was cleaned up and enhanced again and looks simply gorgeous in 1080p.  Also there are many new special features that will have you watching the disc long after the movie ends.  Perhaps the coolest feature, and a groundbreaking one at that, is the new second screen technology which allows the movie to interact with your iPad or laptop while you are watching the film, providing a new and innovative way to learn more about the movie you are watching while you are watching it.  A

127 Hours
Rated R for language and some disturbing violent content/bloody images
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Certainly one of the best films of 2010, 127 Hours was also one of the most difficult to watch.  Hours tells the true story of Aron Ralston (James Franco) who finds his hand trapped by a boulder in the middle of nowhere which leaves him very few choices if he wants to survive.  Almost the entire length of the film is spent with Aron and his struggle, yet because of the superb acting by Franco and the intense directing of Danny Boyle, the film is extremely fast paced and never bores.  If you are even the least bit squeamish, however, you won’t want to come near this as it would make the strongest of stomachs weak.  But even with the gore fest, the film comes out triumphant and gives a great insight to the events that occurred and provides a positive, life-affirming message to its audience.  A-

Love and Other Drugs
Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, pervasive language, and some drug material
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
This controversial film starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway appears on the outset to be a romantic comedy about a drug rep that falls for a patient at one of his doctor’s offices.  But then it converts to a romantic drama about learning to love someone no matter what the consequence.  The comedy part of the film doesn’t work too well at all, mostly due to a poorly thought-out script that lacks authenticity.  The drama however, delivers a punch to the gut as it asks the question of committing to someone knowing that their disease will eventually put you through hell.  If the film had a better sense of itself then I think it could have been a classic romance, but as it stands, it’s simply going to be known as the Jake and Anne sex flick.  C

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I Am Number Four

I Am Number Four

Starring Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, and Teresa Palmer
Directed by D.J. Caruso (Eagle Eye)
Rated PG-13 for intense sequence of violence and action, and for language
Appropriate for ages 13+

    John Smith (Pettyfer) is one of several young people sent to Earth to seek safety from Alien invaders.  But when the first three are killed, John and his protector (Olyphant) must move to a small Ohio town to escape certain destruction.  While there John falls in love for the first time and also discovers his unique powers, which may or may not help defend him from the assassins.

    Part of me really wants to like this film.  After all, unlike most of the tent pole pictures out there – its somewhat original in plot and has a big look and feel to it.  The young actors are talented and dynamic enough and Olyphant is fun to watch as the father figure.  I even want to like the aliens who are truly a dastardly bunch with nasty weapons and even nastier pets. 

    But then after thinking about the whole thing, I realized that there is so much to dislike about this film.  First off is the flat dialog which does nothing to help the story.  And while the plot feels original, the way they carry out the plot is as cliched and copycatted as you can get.  Stealing from Twilight, Spiderman, Terminator and others, the film doesn’t deliver on its original promises it makes in the opening act.  I know we are supposed to say that “teenagers do stupid things and that rational thought doesn’t enter their heads at times,” but why would a teenager from another planet with a group of interstellar assassins hot on his trail act in such a fashion.  His actions defy logic and really pinpoint the flaws in the script. 

    And as for Olyphant, he proves once again that he can shine even in the worst of films.  While this is not the most horrible film he could star in, it is also not a place for his talents to be put to the test. 

    But what I found most insulting was the whole “franchise” feel to the movie.  The third act gives a tidy ending to this particular story, but then stands up and declares that there are sequels are on the way.  A smart film would have ended where the audience didn’t feel like they were in some studio’s master plan to make millions and millions of dollars.

    So while I think that the demographic this film was intended for will not see past some of this sloppy filmmaking and might actually enjoy the picture, it will most like never break out and become a huge box office smash.  C+

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New in Home Entertainment – February 22, 2011

New in Home Entertainment

February 22, 2011

Due Date
Rated R for language, drug use and sexual content
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
When father-to-be Robert Downey Jr. gets booted off of a plane for an altercation with Zach Galifianakis, the two end up on a cross-country road trip trying to get back home to Los Angeles in times for his child’s birth.  While the setup doesn’t make a lot of sense, the film itself works well as a buddy road comedy, mostly because of Galifianakis turning in a hilarious performance.  Downey is fine, but could have been played by anybody, and the role might have been better served had he and co-star Jamie Foxx switched characters.  As is, though, the film is still really funny at parts and worth the watch.  B

Les Miserables: The 25th Anniversary Musical Event of a Lifetime
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
I have a special place in my heart for Les Mis since it is the musical that made me a Broadway junkie.  Before seeing this show, I had no interest in musical theater, but then I saw this in Oklahoma City in 1992 and it blew me away.  Since then I’ve seen it five or six times but have craved a version that I could just pop in the DVD or Blu-ray player and enjoy anytime.  So needless to say I was excited to get a chance to review this new concert event.  Putting together one of the most amazing group of singers you could imagine with a huge orchestra and a choir made up of various talents from West End theater, this production had me as happy as I could get in front of the TV.  The only flaw in the event is the addition of Nick Jonas from the Jonas Brothers in the role of Marius – most likely as a ploy to get young folks to see the show.  For me it was like Garth Brooks playing baseball: sure he sold some tickets and it was fun to see him in the uniform, but once he picked up the glove or bat you know it wouldn’t be pretty.  Rather than singing from the diaphragm, he has a throaty, poppy voice that stands out badly with the rest of the brilliant cast.  But don’t let that stop you from checking this out because not only do you get Lea Salonga and Matt Lucas, but in the role of Jean Valjean is one of the most lovely voices I’ve ever heard, performed by opera sensation Alfie Boe.  A

Megamind
Rated PG for action and some language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Will Ferrell lets loose in this animated film about an evil mastermind who loves to do battle with his superhero nemesis, Metro Man.  But when he accidentally kills Metro Man, he discovers that his life is worthless without someone to battle.  While the film is kind of clever at times and Ferrell has his moments, the movie overall is pretty stale.  Maybe it’s because there was a movie about the bad guy earlier this year with Despicable Me.  Or maybe it was because it felt more like a lame parody than an original picture.  Whatever it was, the movie wasn’t as entertaining as I would have hoped.  That being said, Dreamworks crammed in the special features in on the blu-ray edition and you get a lot of bang for your buck with the set.  Also, I can see kids liking the film, although I would feel kind of weird with my young children singing the soundtrack that includes AC/DC, Ozzy and Guns N’ Roses.  C+

Fish Tank: The Criterion Collection
Unrated
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
When an angry fifteen-year-old girl begins to fall for her young mother’s boyfriend, a twisted series of events changes her life.  This piece-of-English-life art film by Academy Award Winning short filmmaker Andrea Arnold shows a lot of Mike Leigh influence, and for most American audiences – that ain’t a good thing.  This is a tough, uncomfortable story that is engaging enough but relies more on in-your-face realism than a strong narrative.  I much prefer An Education which is very similar in theme to Fish Tank, but tells a better story where you actually feel empathy for your heroine rather than wishing she wouldn’t be such a screw up all of the time.  While this is one of the few Criterion titles that lacks a commentary, they did include some nice features including the director’s Oscar-winning short film Wasp.  B-

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Barney’s Version

Barney’s Version

Starring Paul Giamatti, Dustin Hoffman, and Rosamund Pike
Directed by Richard J. Lewis
Rated R for language and some sexual content
Appropriate for ages 17+

    The biggest shock of the Golden Globes wasn’t the insulting remarks by host Ricky Gervais, but rather the moment when Paul Giamatti won the Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy.  I don’t consider it a shock because he didn’t deserve it, but rather because this little film has gone completely unnoticed and this was the only nomination Giamatti even received for the film.  So did he deserve it?  Absolutely.  This was easily one of the year’s greatest performances, and worthy of much more praise than it is receiving. 

    Barney’s Version follows Giamatti as Barney, an uber-blunt soap producer whose life’s journey is captured in two hours.  From his first wife to his second and onto the true love of his life, Barney, as a character, seems too over-the-top, but yet his story is so interesting that you can’t help but sit back and enjoy the ride. 

    Giving his best performance in perhaps over twenty years is Dustin Hoffman, who masterfully plays Barney’s father.  I find it even more sad that Hoffman was left off of the ballots this year for this stellar performance that is both touching and hilarious.  The rest of the cast, and especially Rosamund Pike as Barney’s third wife and Minnie Driver as his second, turn in impressive performances as well.

    While the acting here is certainly top notch, the screenplay by B-movie writer Michael Konyves allows for such tremendous performances to take place.  The rest of the production is strong also including the Oscar-nominated make-up job by Adrien Morot who does an impressive job of aging Giamatti and Pike into their senior years. 

    I believe that the chief reason this film is getting overlooked is that while the cast is huge and it is highly enjoyable, it is still considered an indie with a limited audience.  There could have been some huge buzz built up on this film and it might have had a nice box office return as well if someone at Sony Pictures Classics would have had faith in it as a potential earner.  But regardless of how much it earns, the movie comes across as a real gem and a very entertaining way to spend a couple of hours.  A

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New in Home Entertainment – February 15, 2011

New in Home Entertainment

February 15, 2011

Waiting for Superman
Rated PG for some thematic material, mild language and incidental smoking
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
One of the most glaring omissions from this years Oscar ballot was this sobering documentary about the failure of the American public school.  Following children and schools from around the country as well as leaders in education, the documentary sets out first to explain why we are in the mess we are in and then shows not only how we can get out of it, but how programs around the country already have.  Most of the blame given in the film lies on the very powerful teacher unions and the fact that it is almost impossible to fire a teacher in this country.  While the rebuttal is not allowed by the opposition, the case is made well and is difficult to refute.  The film itself is a roller coaster of emotion that will leave you in hopeless tears.  More than anything, the movie makes you angry that the answers seem apparent, but yet nothing is being done to correct the problem.  As an incentive to buy the film, the movie comes with a $25 gift card for donorschoose.org which will allow you to make a donation to school projects from around the country.  A-

Unstoppable
Rated PG-13 for sequences of action and peril, and some language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
I was not looking forward to this Tony Scott directed film due to the fact that I thought he was getting on too much of train kick since his last film, The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3, was a runaway train film as well.  But I came out very impressed at this original actioner where the villain isn’t human, but rather a large locomotive aimed to destroy a major U.S. city if not stopped.  Scott infuses the movie with a tremendous adrenaline push and the performances by Denzel Washington and Chris Pine are perfect for the picture.  While some of the side stories don’t work as well as the central plot, the film is so fast-paced that you hardly notice.  B

The Double Life of Veronique: The Criterion Collection
Rated R for scenes of sexuality
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Polish and French with English Subtitles
This 1991 classic film by legendary Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski is getting another royal treatment from Criterion in this new Blu-ray edition.  In this complex fantasy, Irene Jacobs stars as two women living in separate countries who each have live different lives but have a subtle sense of each other.  It’s not only a fascinating story, but it is so beautifully handled that it becomes mesmerizing.  Many will be thankful that the film utilizes the original ending rather than the U.S. ending that Mirimax’s Harvey Weinstein forced Kieslowski to add.  As you would expect from Criterion, the special features are numerous and include the U.S. ending, commentary from Kieslowski biographer Annette Insdorf, and many other featurettes.  A-

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The Eagle

The Eagle

Starring Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell and Donald Sutherland
Directed by Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland)
Rated PG-13 for battle sequences and some disturbing images
Appropriate for ages 15+

    When a Roman general leads 5,000 troops into northern Britain, none of the men are heard from again.  Twenty years later, the general’s son (Tatum) and his slave (Bell) attempt to find out what happened to his father and return the lost golden Eagle that disappeared two decades prior.

    The premise of this adventure has great potential.  Personally, I love a good historical battle film, especially when they involve Roman soldiers.  And while the cast isn’t as exciting as you would hope, hiring Kevin Macdonald to direct seemed to provide some street cred as well.  Unfortunately, there are some huge chinks in the armor here, so to speak, which fatally flaw the picture. 

    First off is the dry, flat dialog that sounds exponentially worse when spoken in American accents.  Perhaps an English accent would have sounded better here, but the words just didn’t sound right coming from this group of actors.  Artistically, I think they were trying to give the Britains English accents to distinguish them from the Romans, but there was something here that just didn’t sound right.  And casting Donald Sutherland as the uncle was just a terrible idea as his role was phoned in and could have been much better acted by a different character actor who wasn’t hired for his name recognition. 

    Secondly, PG-13 is not the arena this film should be fighting in.  Should they have had the sense to take this project seriously, this would have been a strong R and much more realistic and enjoyable.  As it is, the battle sequences are toned down and hardly a drop of blood is seen.  If Braveheart or Gladiator had opted for a PG-13, then not only would they have been lame, but forgotten as well.  I can understand the need for attracting a younger audience, but not when it damages the integrity of the project.

    Finally, the film turns into kind of a buddy movie, especially in this joke of an ending .  That worked in HBO’s Rome because of the strength of the writing, but after this ending I could only imagine Tatum and Bell setting off on an adventure that could also be cast with Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider. 

    If you can’t tell, I had a lot of trouble taking this film seriously and found it to be an unremarkable movie that couldn’t come close to living up to its potential.  C-

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New in Home Entertainment – February 8, 2011

New in Home Entertainment

February 8, 2011

Paranormal Activity 2
Rated R for some language and brief violent material
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
After the terrifying first Paranormal Activity hit theaters I was very skeptical about a second installment.  So many horror films have lost their touch, such as Blair Witch and Saw, that I originally wrote this one off as just a way to make more money.  But these guys proved that they had more story in them and actually turned in a scarefest that was almost equal to the first.  PA2 takes place both before and after the events of the first one, allowing for a more complete story to be told.  Instead of Micah’s camera following all of the events, Katie’s sister and her husband set up a surveillance system after their house is left ransacked by what they thought must have been devious kids.  While I didn’t get that tingling feeling in my spine like I did in the first one, I still sat in the theater terrified, which is what a good horror film is supposed to do.  For those of you that hate blood and gore in your scary movies, you will especially want to check this one out since it relies more on what you don’t see than what you do.  A-

Life As We Know It
Rated PG-13 for sexual material, language and some drug content
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Since I first saw the trailer of this film about a man and woman that hate each other but are forced to live together to raise their Goddaughter when her parents die, I knew that this would be a predictable rom com with another horrible premise.  While the movie mainly lives up its expectations, I am willing to offer up slight praise in that it’s mildly enjoyable.  I can’t recommend it due to the fact that the premise is so bad and the trailer is just a short version of the whole, but the acting is decent, given the material, and there are some cute moments that make it so you can’t quite hate it.  These mild annoyances clash with the mild enjoyment and produce a very average film rather than the terrible movie I was expecting.  C

It’s Kind of a Funny Story
Rated PG-13 for mature thematic issues, sexual content, drug material and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Perhaps the filmmakers thought that adding the word “funny” in the title would give a light-hearted feeling to the film, or perhaps it’s meant to be ironic; but whatever the case may be, this pic about a suicidal kid who checks into a psych hospital falls flat.  The film is so boring that you almost feel like the performances were thorazine-induced.  The only bright spots were Zach Galifianakis who pulls off a respectable dramatic role and a haunting version of Pixies’s Where is My Mind by the brilliant pianist Maxence Cyrin that I had to download on iTunes after watching.  C-

I Spit on Your Grave
Unrated for pervasive strong sadistic brutal violence, rape and torture, nudity and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
This remake of the 1978 rape/revenge slasher pic (which is also seeing its blu-ray debut this week) follows much of the same plot line of the original in the fact that a girl is brutally raped and then goes after her rapists one-by-one to take them out.  The difference here is that there are better production values, stronger acting, and much more horrific murders.  While The Last House on the Left is a stronger picture in this horror sub-genre, if you like to see a pseudo-snuff film from a justified killer, then this one isn’t too bad.  The revenge killings are quite creative and less offensive to watch than the horrific rape sequence which seemed to last forever as I fast-forwarded through it.  C+