Author: crunchonthis

New on DVD

The Book of Eli
Rated R for some brutal violence and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Denzel Washington stars in this post-apocalyptic thriller about a man on a mission from God traveling west through America after civilization is destroyed, only to be hunted down by Gary Oldman for the book he is carrying with him.  I missed this one in theaters and wasn’t too keen on catching the Blu-ray release either, but figured there were far worse things to watch.  Little did I know that this critically-panned film is actually a pretty darn good movie that is hard to take your eyes off.  Washington is terrific in the butt-kicking journeyman role and once again Oldman pulls off a fabulous villain.  What really wins here though is the story and the message, and while I don’t want to spoil anything, I feel that if I don’t say that this movie is ultimately about the power of The Bible, the right audience might not give it a try.  That audience will probably have some difficulties with the extreme amounts of violence, but I’ve never seen a more convincing argument that the Good Book is the most critical weapon one can possess.  Just like many of the other Warner Brothers titles, the Maximum Movie Mode provides for the ultimate film school experience with picture-in-picture director and crew interviews and storyboard comparisons put right in during the film.  A-

The Last Station
Rated R for a scene of sexuality/nudity
Available on DVD/Blu-ray
The story of Leo Tolstoy and his wife (portrayed by 2009 Oscar nominees Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren) is played forth in this heartbreaking drama about the famous author and his desire to leave his fortunes to the Russian people while his wife tries to do everything possible to keep this from happening.  The cast is as solid as you can get with Paul Giamatti and James McAvoy along for the ride.  The surprise for me was that there was a bit more sense of humor, in the beginning at least, than I expected.  I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not, but I feel like I know the life of Leo Tolstoy a lot better now; what I’m not certain of is how interested I am in it.  It’s a very well-made film, but for me it just wasn’t a very engaging one.  C+

Hung: The Complete First Season
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
In HBO’s breakout freshman comedy, Tom Jane is a down-on-his-luck high school coach who needs to find extra work in order to support his teenage son and daughter.  The only career he thinks he is suitable for, besides coaching, is becoming a male prostitute due to the fact that he is so, well, the title of the show kind of says it.  I’ve always thought that Tom Jane could have been an A-lister were it not for his unfortunate choice in name (he was actually born Thomas Elliott).  His comic abilities in this series are showing what he is capable of and this has quickly become one of my favorite guilty pleasures.  It’s funny, moving, weird, sexy, and very entertaining.  B+

She’s Out of My League
Rated R for language and sexual content
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Jay Baruchel (How to Train Your Dragon) is just your average lovable loser until he somehow impresses a beautiful woman at the airport to the point where she wants to date him.  From the trailers this looks like an unbelievable tale dreamed up by someone that looks like Jay Baruchel.  Once inside the movie, you find a sweet interior that helps you understand how something like this could and actually does happen.  The pic is really raunchy, just like you would expect in an r-rated comedy, and there are some gags that will have you in absolute stitches.  There are also a few two-dimensional characters that are as badly acted as they are written,  so the film is far from perfect.  But if you need a laugh, you’ll get your money’s worth.  B

Entourage: The Complete Sixth Season
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
In this latest season of HBO’s hit show about celebrity and friendship, Vince  is finally on top again as he stars in the newest Martin Scorsese film while his crew are all trying to make it doing their own thing.  While the group are still friends, they are getting to be less and less of an “entourage.”  Still, their antics are fun to watch and if Johnny Drama making an idiot of himself doesn’t make you laugh, not much will.  One mistake they made this season was taking the Ari Gold/Andrew Klein relationship a lot too far as Ari tries desperately to both save his friend’s marriage and be as mean to his assistant Lloyd at the same time.  These story lines just didn’t take hold like they should have and made Ari seem like a bad business man rather than the shark he is.  The writers might have been trying to make him look human, but frankly, I like the shark.  C+

Green Zone
Rated R for violence and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy) re-team in this fictionalization of events that took place during the war in Iraq where Damon is a rogue U.S. Army officer who is trying to hunt down either WMDs or proof that they don’t exist.  There is some good food for thought and the action is pretty solid throughout, but for the first half Damon is just a little too redundant as he repeatedly asks about the WMDs over and over and over again like a broken record.  Once he gets it that there aren’t any, the film starts moving in the right direction and turns into a decent enough thriller.  Some might think it’s closer to fact than fiction.  I can’t say.  I can say it will start discussions no matter which side of the argument you may stand on, but if you lean too far right, you may want to skip it entirely.  If you check out the special features you’ll learn that the soldiers working with Damon in the film are actual veteran soldiers and not trained actors.  In order to get the realism they needed, they hired the real thing and they did an impressive job.  B

New on DVD

When in Rome
Rated PG-13 for brief suggestive content
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Beth (Kristen Bell) is unlucky in love until she goes to her sister’s wedding in Italy and steals a few coins out of a local fountain.  Upon returning to America, she is confused as to why she is being heavily stalked by a group of fanatical men, when she realizes that she stole those mens’ coins from the fountain. Unless she returns them to the fountain, they will be stalking her forever.  If you just watched the first and last act of the film, you would think you were in worst film of the year territory.  The setup and conclusion are both so horrendous that it’s hard to believe the actors were able to get through their lines with a straight face.  The second act, however, has some pretty bright spots.  The men chasing her, played by Josh Duhamel, Will Arnett, Jon Heder, Dax Shepard, and Danny DeVito, all had some pretty hilarious moments and make you rethink your synopsis, that is until you get to the end.  If you are looking for the great romantic comedy that we’ve been missing for a long time now, this isn’t it.  I’ll keep searching though and let you know.  C-

Collapse
Not Rated
Available on DVD
Former Los Angeles police officer turned reporter Michael Ruppert was one of the only people who correctly predicted our recent financial crisis, almost perfectly.  Now Chris Smith (The Yes Men and American Movie) sits down for a riveting interview with him where he gives his next prediction: a new meltdown based on oil, economics, and covert U.S. policies that he thinks are leading us to an impending global catastrophe.  Is he paranoid?  Brilliant?  Crazy?  Perhaps a little of all of these, but frighteningly so – he is convincing.  His arguments have a lot of facts thrown in that are hard to refute.  This is an incredibly exciting documentary that you really should check out, no matter what your politics dictate.  A-

Supernatural: The Complete First Season
Available and Blu-ray
For five seasons now this CW show has flown under my radar, and I’m not exactly sure how, because this is exactly the kind of show I like to watch.  Supernatural follows two brothers whose father hunted evil for 22 years.  When their father turns up missing, they must hunt what their father hunts.  Along the way they run into vampires, ghosts, and demons, all of which must be brought down.  It’s a fun concept and a pretty well constructed show, with great special effects – especially considering it’s on the CW (no disrespect intended).  B

The Illusionist
Rated PG-13 for some sexuality and violence
Available on Blu-ray
Back in 2006, two magician film went head-to-head at the box office: The Illusionist, starring Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti and The Prestige, starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale.  The Prestige might have won the box office battle, but in my humble opinion, The Illusionist was by far the better of the two.  The acting is excellent, the story is tricky but not impossible to follow, and the production values are spectacular.  Plus, the award-winning score by Philip Glass gives the film an added dimension of beauty.  A-

Shutter Island
Rated R for disturbing violent content, language and some nudity
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
When a girl goes missing in an insane asylum located on a remote island, two U.S. Marshals (Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo) attempt to investigate her disappearance, and anything else fishy that might be going on in the hospital run by its strangely-behaving doctor (Ben Kingsley).  Watching Shutter Island for the first time, I found myself really enjoying the ride trying to figure out what the heck was going on in the completely unpredictable world author Dennis Lehane (Mystic River) created.  Watching for the second time I understood why director Martin Scorsese wanted so badly to direct this film and what a masterpiece it truly it is.  Lots of films have surprise endings that throw a huge twist at you, but I’ve never seen a picture like this that is capable of taking you on two completely different journeys.  You could literally watch it twice back-to-back and not feel like you just saw the same film for a second time.  It is masterfully directed and wonderfully acted by the entire talented cast.  I do recommend you watch the extras on the disc, but only do so after you’ve seen the film as the spoilers will give away way too much before hand.  My prediction is that years to come, this could steadily climb many lists to reach the status as one of the great American films.  A+

Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Seventh Season
Available on DVD
Much of the Seventh Season of Larry David’s hit HBO show’s excitement was brought on by the promise of the great Seinfeld reunion, and while the Rated-R Seinfeld is hilarious, some of the other episodes were so wrong and uncomfortable that my stomach still hurts just thinking about them (from both pain and laughter).  You have to have a twisted sense of humor to appreciate Larry David as he will really try to offend you if he can.  The season opens with him wanting to break up with his girlfriend because her breast cancer interferes with his ability to get out and play golf.  Then he dates a girl in a wheelchair just because he realizes that people in restaurants treat them better.  And these are minor offenses compared to some of his other misdealings.  But somehow he makes you laugh and the season turns out, once again, extremely satisfying.  A-

Ice Road Truckers: The Complete Season Three
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
250 miles north of the Arctic Circle lies Prudhoe Bay and during the winter, a brave group of truckers have three months to get as many loads to the Prudhoe Bay oil fields as they can before the road created from ice over the water, known as the Dalton Highway, melts away.  The problem is, the Dalton is the most dangerous highway in America, having claimed more than 400 people since it was built 30 years ago.  Season three cranks up the amps by adding a hot woman driver, great computer-generated graphics demonstrating exactly what can go wrong, and some of the most beautiful scenery on TV.  It’s a little too much testosterone for most folks, but the element of danger combined with big rigs and raw determination make this, at the very least, and interesting show to check out.  B-

Elvis 75th Birthday Collection
Available on DVD
Had The King made it past 1977, he would have turned 75 in January, and to celebrate, Fox is releasing this set of Elvis pics including Clambake, Flaming Star, Follow that Dream, Frankie and Johnny, Kid Galahad, Love Me Tender and Wild in the Country in one deluxe box set.  While certainly not amongst his better-known, or better-made films, the collection is sure to make some fans happy, although it would have been nice to have had them remastered for the new set.  C+

The Man with No Name Trilogy
Available on Blu-ray
Since the subject is birthdays, Clint Eastwood just turned 80 last week and even though he seems to be still going strong, these early films of his are still some of my all-time favorites of his.  This set, containing A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly are arguably some of the best westerns ever made and yes, I’d put up young Clint above John Wayne any day of the week.  These blu-ray transfers look and sound amazing and are stuffed with special features that have been collected throughout the years.  Thanks for the birthday present Clint!  A

New on DVD

Alice in Wonderland
Rated PG for fantasy action/violence involving scary images and situations, and for a smoking caterpillar
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
What do the critics know?  After all, this Tim Burton juggernaut of an adaptation just became the sixth picture to join the prestigious billion dollar club.  So obviously audiences found something great here.  For some reason I still can’t though.  I’m just not that in love with Johnny Depp  and Tim Burton that I can enjoy their films when they are this poorly told.  Just because there are a lot of weird and strange little things going on for two hours and just because the production design (which director Tim Burton is probably best known for anyhow) is pretty amazing, the picture is still not very entertaining.  For something that looks so original on the outside, the story turns out to be so unimaginative.  I am glad that Disney decided to include a ton of special features on how they made the film, since that is a little more interesting than the film itself.  C

The Wolfman
Rated R for bloody horror violence and gore
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins star in this remake of the 1941 horror classic about a man that visits his ancestral homeland to investigate the death of his brother only to find himself bitten by a creature trying to kill him, thus turning him into the legendary half-man, half-beast.  The wolfman bits are bunches of fun, although some might find them a little too violent for their taste.  The problem is that the human parts are just plain boring.  Luckily the film is only an hour-forty-five unless you watch the new director’s cut which is just at two.  Sometimes the pacing of the film makes you think it is much, much longer.  One really cool feature on the blu-ray version is it will let you watch the original 1941 Wolf Man and if you have a smart phone with Universal’s Pocket BLU app, you can even download both movies to your phone.  B

Burn Notice: Season Three
Available on DVD
Cable’s new number one series is back for season four on June 4 so USA thought they would give you two days to catch up with the season three DVDs just in case you missed out or need some brushing up.  If you’ve never heard of this show, and you don’t have time to add another show to your list, then you better not watch an episode of this one because, unfortunately, it is highly addictive.  Burn Notice tells the story of Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donavan), a “burned” spy that has been left dry in Miami with his assets frozen.  He does mercenary and PI work for hire with his partners, Gabrielle Anwar and Bruce Campbell, to raise money both to live on and investigate who burned him in the first place.  To make matters worse for him, he now has a sexy female cop, played by Moon Bloodgood, on his trail.  This is one super fun show full of style and wit and while the eye-rolling does occur from time to time, you can’t help but feel entertained.  B

New on DVD

Invictus
Rated PG-13 for brief strong language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
In this Clint Eastwood directed film about South African leader Nelson Mandela starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, the newly appointed leader of the nation chooses to bring the divided country together by uniting them behind a common cause: winning the Rugby World Cup.  It’s such an unconventional story and quite inspirational.  While it did huge business worldwide, it pulled in relatively few dollars in the states.  This could possibly be because of America’s unfamiliarity with Rugby, as the film was certainly one of Eastwood’s most ambitious and the critical response was fairly strong.  I wasn’t too keen on Freeman getting a nomination for best actor here, but Damon definitely earned his best supporting nod (and should have gotten one in the best actor category for The Informant! also in my humble opinion).  And while I’ve still never seen an actual game of rugby, I found the sport to be well represented and well-enough explained for the film to be enjoyed.  A-

Legion
Rated R for strong bloody violence, and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
God is angry with mankind and has decided to destroy them, so he sends a group of angels to do his bidding.  But the angel Michael knows that by saving the life of a mother and child at a diner in the middle of nowhere could change God’s mind.  To do so, though, he must lose his wings, steal a ton of guns, and shoot every last creature they throw at him.  So I think it’s safe to say they won’t be showing this one in Sunday School.  This is truly Hollywood trying to be religious and while most theologians will simply ignore the film, those that do watch will do a lot of eye-rolling.  But theology aside, is it a good movie?  Not quite.  Paul Bettany is a terrific actor who keeps picking bad roles that aren’t right for him.  He’s good in this, but the rest of the actors are really pretty horrible.  Lucas Black, Dennis Quaid, and Charles S. Dutton are starting to look like B-movie stars with these kinds of performances.  The special effects aren’t too bad though and it has some good scares, so if that’s all you are looking for then by all means check it out.  But if you are looking for a good film about this subject matter that is actually well written and much better acted, check out the 2005 film Constantine.  C

Valentine’s Day
Rated PG-13 for some sexual material and brief partial nudity
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
The Brits took on Christmas with Love, Actually and did such a great job with it that Hollywood decided to attempt to do the same thing with Valentine’s Day by throwing every actor in town into a blender and seeing what would become of it.  And by every actor, I really do mean most.  Alba, Bates, Biel, Cooper, Dempsey, Elizondo, Foxx, Garner, Grace, Hathaway, Kutcher, Latifah, Lautner, Lopez, MacLaine, Roberts, and Swift with famed romantic comedy director Garry Marshall (Pretty Woman) at the helm.  But they forgot a decent script!  It’s almost as if they said to the actors – “act like it is Valentine’s Day – ACTION!!!”  The story lines are awful and the performances are worse.  Very little of the film seems well thought out at all.  What worked about Love, Actually is that we were interested in the characters.  We didn’t get to spend that much time with them, but that didn’t matter because they were our friends by the end.  And what about that tremendous music driving the entire film?  By the end I think everyone could hum that amazing Craig Armstrong score.  My point is, if you are going to copy a great film, copy it.  Don’t act like you are trying to do something different and then release this kind of drivel.  If Simon Cowell were judging this film I’m fairly certain he would sum it up in the same three words I’ll use: indulgent Hollywood crap.  F

The New Daughter
Rated PG-13 for thematic material including violence, disturbing images and brief strong language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
In this almost straight-to-DVD release, Kevin Costner is a single dad who has just moved into a creepy house with his young daughter and son.  When the daughter starts to exhibit strange behavior after prolonged exposure to being outside, he starts to believe that there is something on his property that could be possessing her.  While not a great film, for a monster movie with a big name star, it’s not completely bad.  It’s a lackluster horror script, but has decent enough effects and production values.  I’m not sure what kind of draw Costner found with a project like this, but he certainly has seen better days.  C