Author: crunchonthis

Posted on

New on DVD

New on DVD

Black Dynamite
Rated R for sexuality/nudity, language, some violence and drug content
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
This parody of 1970 blaxploitation films stars Michael Jai White as Black Dynamite, an ex-CIA operative that seeks revenge for his brother’s death when he is killed working undercover on a drug sting.  Unlike other, more expensively produced parodies such as Undercover Brother and I’m Gonna Get You Sucka, Dynamite has fun reproducing the actual look and feel of the original genre with a premise that is too ridiculous to be believed.  Microphones getting in the way of shots, stunts going wrong and remaining in the film, bad acting, worse writing, and all of the whacked out racial stereotypes abound in this low-budget production.  This is not only one of the most clever films of the last year, but one of the funniest as well.  Some of the scenes had me in absolute stitches and forced me to rewind due to laughing over some of the dialogue.  While the ending is completely over the top, I still found it very enjoyable and refreshing.  Also, this film allowed me to finally forgive Michael Jai White for that atrocious performance in The Dark Knight.  A-

Coco Before Chanel
Rated PG-13 for sexual content and smoking
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Before she launched a fashion empire, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel started from humble beginnings and this story follows her rise to the top, but not further.  Audrey Tautou (Amelie) stars as the iconic designer whose complicated romantic affairs allowed her to do what she ended up being most famous for.  The film is a little slow, but even though I’m not the most fascinated by the fashion world, I still found myself very interested.  The performances were all very good, as is to be expected from a cast including one of the world’s most extraordinary actresses.  The production here is phenomenal with stunning cinematography and an exquisite musical score by Oscar-nominated composer Alexandre Desplat (Julie and Julia).  Story-wise, the film chose fiction over fact in many facets of her life in order to tighten the script, but this is forgivable as long as you understand that movies sometimes bend the truth to shape what works best for the script.  B+

Spirit Camp
Unrated but contains sexuality/nudity, graphic violence, and language
Available on DVD
Local filmmaker Kerry Beyer writes, directs, and stars in this low-budget indie horror flick filmed in Houston and just outside Cleveland, TX.  This cross between cheerleader and slasher-camp genres follows a group of beautiful young cheerleaders as they head to cheerleader camp deep in the woods.  The film delivers exactly what you expect: young cheerleaders, lots of violence, all with a B-movie look and feel.  With any luck, Houston might have itself a budding horror film star in Kerry.  Available right now only on www.spiritcampmovie.com.

Posted on

New on DVD

New on DVD

A Serious Man
Rated R for language, some sexuality/nudity, and brief violence
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
This low budget dark comedy by the Coen brothers (No Country For Old Men) follows a 1960’s Midwestern professor whose life is falling apart around him.  His wife wants to leave him and expects him to be very OK with the proposition.  His money problems are mounting up on him.  He has a student attempting to blackmail him when he doesn’t accept a bribe.  His son is a pothead who even gets stoned on the day of his Bat Mitzvah.  His loser brother spends all of his time in their only bathroom, which puts a huge strain on their entire family.  There are some that think that this is a retelling of the book of Job from the Bible.  Others have even more detailed observances of the meanings of each of the picture’s little quirks.  The message boards are a blast to read with everyone having different insights and they are all correct in their own heads.  All I know is that I enjoyed it thoroughly.  The Coen brothers have such a unique filmmaking and storytelling style and this one is prime proof.  Watching the making of documentary, it doesn’t appear that the brothers had such deep thoughts as the folks in the audience, but regardless, it’s a clever, funny, ridiculous adventure that is very worthy of its Oscar nom for best picture this year.  I strongly advise to catch the short feature Hebrew and Yiddish for Goys which will teach you what you need to know to translate the film correctly.  A

Couples Retreat
Rated PG-13 for sexual content and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, and Jason Bateman lead an all star cast of four couples that are tricked into going to Bora Bora for what they think will be a vacation, but in reality turns out to be couples therapy.  There is so much talent here that I am perplexed how this got to be such a mediocre film.  These guys all know comedy well.  They all have great timing. Favreau and Vaughn have proven their writing skills in the past.  So maybe the beauty of Bora Bora was just too much for them?  There were a few decent one-liners that got through and the pro-marriage message was admirable, but why did it have to be so absolutely stupid and overall unfunny?  C- 

Amelia
Rated PG for some sensuality, language, thematic elements and smoking
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Hillary Swank is Amelia Earhart, the legendary female pilot that disappeared somewhere in the Pacific Ocean as she attempted fly around the world.  While it’s an overly long, horribly paced, and extremely boring look at the icon, Swank plays the part well and I like the history lesson, though I wish it were a little more exciting or at least interesting.  Great cinematography and a lush musical score are the highlights of the film, but can’t overcome the poor directing by Mira Nair, who should have been less concerned with making an epic and more concerned with telling a decent story.  C-

Dare
Rated R for sexual content, language, and alcohol use – all involving teens
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Emmy Rossum is a do-no-wrong high schooler that wants to be an actress.  When an actor she respects tells her that she has to actually live more uncomfortably to be a great actress, she starts having sex, partying, and doing things that go against the way she was raised.  The film takes some turns that don’t really make a lot of sense, like her moving in with her gay male friend when her parents feel she is acting up too much.  But that being said, I think some parents might like to watch just due to the fact that it’s a pretty real look at what kinds of messes kids get into when parents aren’t around.  Some might find the homosexual sex scenes very uncomfortable, but I’m convinced that there’s a touch of realism here pertinent to what kids are pressured with today.  B-

Posted on

Edge of Darkness

Edge of Darkness

Starring Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, and Danny Huston
Directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale)
Rated R for strong bloody violence and language
Appropriate for ages 17+

    After an eight-year hiatus, Mel Gibson returns to acting as a Boston cop whose daughter is brutally killed in front of him.  While the world thinks he was the target of the deadly crime, he sets off an investigation to discover who might want his daughter dead and the answers lead him to an unimaginable conclusion. 

    I have to admit, this film surprised me.  I felt that the trailers sold it as an R-rated version of Taken, with Mel getting his vengeance on a plethora of baddies in heinous ways for what they did to his daughter.  This film is far from that.  Don’t get me wrong, it has its share of Mel committing violence, but the movie is not about violence, which is how it’s being sold.  Mel is simply a father that wants to know the truth and he finds out too much.  The theme is stated very shortly after his daughter’s death as he is pouring her ashes into the ocean telling her “I’ll be with you shortly honey.”  He’s a man that now has nothing to lose and knows that the direction he is going only has one destination.

    But the movie turns out to be even more than that.  With a subplot involving a secret agent (Winstone) the movie turns out to deliver a sharp, resounding message about our political system, special interests, and the potential of America.  It’s a deeper and more thought-provoking film than I could have expected or imagined.

    The acting for the most part is pretty solid, although Mel’s accent is thick Bostonian in some scenes and not so much in others.  Also, the film is far from boring, but the film does lag in spots.  Then again, like a rocket taking off, there are some moments that had my heart racing seconds later as well.  A-

Posted on

New on DVD

New on DVD

Whip It
Rated PG-13 for sexual content including crude dialogue, language and drug material
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Drew Barrymore makes her directorial debut in this feel good sports comedy about a young girl, played expertly by Juno’s Ellen Page, who decides to end her mother’s dream of becoming a beauty queen in small town Texas, in order to make it big in Austin’s roller derby scene.  While completely predictable, the film is very charming, funny and extremely well-acted by the very talented cast including Barrymore, Marcia Gay Harden, Daniel Stern, and SNL’s Kristen Wiig.  And capturing some of the quirkiness of both small town Texas as well as Austin, the film will be pleasantly familiar to most folks reading this column.  A-

The House of the Devil
Rated R for some bloody violence
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Set in the early 80’s in both time and style, this indie horror pic follows a young college girl who thinks she is being hired to be a babysitter, only to find out that a Satanic cult has other plans for her.  There’s not a lot of jump out and scare you moments, but the suspense here is very frightening throughout as you just wait for something very bad to happen at any second.  Writer/director Ti West had a little too much fun making the movie look like it was filmed 30 years ago, but had I not known in advance that the film was made this last year, I might have thought it was an authentic 80’s cult pic.  B

New York, I Love You
Rated R for sexual content
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
One of the current trends in independent cinema right now is to take a breathtaking city and have some of the world’s greatest directors and actors tells their short stories within it in order to give a sense of the city from many directions and viewpoints.  In 2006 we saw Paris, je taime, and now a few years later, New York, I Love You (Jerusalem and Rio are said to be next and who knows, maybe Houston will get one someday).  This film follows many different love stories from directors such as Mira Nair (Amelia), Brett Ratner (Rush Hour), and even Natalie Portman tries her hand behind the camera.  Actors include Bradley Cooper, Shia LaBeouf, Orlando Bloom, and a full assortment of other A-list actors wanting to get in on the game.  It’s very artsy, but the different slices of New York life come together in a fascinating way that make the film fairly entertaining.  Some of the stories were a bit too weird to fit into this film, but I loved the overall feel and energy.  B-

Posted on

Extraordinary Measures

Extraordinary Measures

Starring Brendan Fraser, Harrison Ford, and Keri Russell
Directed by Tom Vaughan (What Happens in Vegas)
Rated PG for thematic material, language and a mild suggestive moment
Appropriate for all ages

    Based on a true story, Fraser and Russell are parents to two children with an incurable disease that will most likely take their lives before they hit their teens.  Fraser enlists the support of a researcher from the University of Nebraska (played by Ford) that is doing research that could be the answer to a cure for their children.  Together, the two of them set off to raise enough money to start a biotech company in order develop a product that might save his children and thousands more like them that would die otherwise. 

    I’ll just get this out of the way since everyone has been saying it – yes this is totally ‘movie of the week’ material.  It probably didn’t deserve the big screen treatment it got and although Ford’s character tries to throw in a bit of conflict to keep things interesting, it just isn’t meant for ‘the movies.’ 

    That being said – it’s a darn high quality movie of the week.  The acting by all is far above what you would have gotten normally in a film such as this as are the production values.  If the goal is to get the story out there in grand fashion, I can’t think of a better platform than what they chose and it’s a gusty move putting a movie like this into theaters competing with what most folks consider to be popcorn-worthy pictures. 

    One thing a lot of folks may or may not like is how manipulative it is.  This film sets out to make you cry – a lot.  And even I had to fight it back a couple of times.  It’s very difficult to watch children dying (even children acting like they are dying) and not have an emotional response.  But this starts to get sappy after a while. 

    Also, the story has to follow a predictable path, I fully understand that, which means it’s important for the hero to lose everything at the end of the second act, but I have a feeling that most of the audience will be a little confused as well as depressed since the science-heavy talk abounds at the same time the hero is at his lowest.  They tried to keep this simple, but I know a lot about the health sciences field having worked in it for much of my life, and even I had to concentrate. 

    So my advice to you is if you feel like a nice and inspirational Hallmark commercial of a family movie that will have you crying yet leave you feeling good at the end, check it out.  Otherwise, wait a bit and it will be the ‘movie of the week’ on TV in no time.  C+

Posted on

New on DVD

New on DVD

WWII in HD
Unrated but contains some graphic violence and adult language    
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
We’ve all seen many World War II documentaries, but I can honestly say that you will be astonished at what lies in this set of 10 episodes chronicling the great war.  Most footage of the war was shot in black and white, but the filmmakers spent two years on a world-wide search of any existing color film that might exist and what they found was that much of it was practically pristine since it had never been seen before.  Gary Sinise  narrates the story of the war, mostly told from the point of view of a dozen individuals that experienced the war first-hand.  While some of the material is extremely graphic and disturbing, this series is visually the most impressive account of the war I have ever seen and one of the History Channel’s crowning achievements.  I started with medium expectations and was completely blown away.  A

Surrogates
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, language, and a drug-related scene
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Bruce Willis is a cop in the future where folks don’t ever have to leave their house, but instead they just live their lives through a robotic surrogate that does everything for them.  When a weapon turns up that has the ability to kill humans through their surrogates, Willis must find the inventor of the weapon and stop them before they destroy every human who owns a surrogate.  While Willis is way too old to play this part, it’s still not a bad piece of sci-fi, even if it does get a bit silly at times.  The plot gets a little convoluted in order to try to convince the audience it’s a smart film, but it is overly predictable and does not play as well on a second viewing.  The preachiness is also extremely annoying, especially if you’ve seen it once already.  C

Pontypool
Not Rated but contains graphic violence
Available on DVD
This indie intellectual zombie flick follows a DJ in the small Canadian town of Pontypool where the citizens have suddenly started turning into mindless killing creatures from a virus being spread through language.  For most of the film it’s just he and two employees in the studio trying to figure out what’s going on with a town gone mad.  Eventually the zombies come but it never really gets that scary or violent.  It almost plays out like an old-fashioned radio show that you would get more pleasure listening to than watching.  That being said, there is a radio show version of the story on the DVD.  Overall, it’s pretty funny and fairly intriguing, but I never really got into it that intensely.  B-

Pride & Prejudice
Rated PG for some mild thematic elements
Available on Blu-ray
I usually don’t discuss catalog titles when they become newly available on Blu-ray, but this is one of my favorites so I thought I’d give it a mention.  Joe Wright’s multi-Oscar nominated version of the Jane Austen classic pairs Keira Knightly vs. Matthew Macfadyen as the stubborn lovers, but what makes this film so special is the lovely cinematography of Roman Osin, the spectacular vision of director Joe Wright and the sweeping score of Dario Marianelli.  And if you ever want to show off your new LED or LCD home theater setup just turn to 1 hour and 19 minutes into the film and crank up the volume.  I can’t think of a more awe-inspiring movie sequence you could turn to.  A

Posted on

Crazy Heart

Crazy Heart

Starring Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Colin Farrell
Rated R for language and brief sexuality
Appropriate for ages 17+

    Bad Blake (Bridges) is a broken-down, hard-drinking country singer from Houston that has had a tough life on the road and it has finally caught up to him.  A light appears at the end of his tunnel though when he meets and falls for a young journalist (Gyllenhaal) that could be just what he needs to pull himself out of the mess he’s allowed himself to get into.

    Story-wise, the film is very similar to last year’s film The Wrestler.  There’s the down and out male lead with potential and the single mother he falls for that could be his salvation.  That being said, the movie doesn’t have nearly the quality of story or the heart of the Mickey Rourke vehicle, but what it does have is a tremendous performance by the amazing Jeff Bridges.  Bridges seems so at home with this character that it almost appears he was born to play it.  As an outside observer you really want this character to rise above and get the girl and you really feel the pain when he screws up over and over again. 

    Just as impressive as the acting by Bridges though, is the wonderful soundtrack with an impressive assortment of music compiled by T-Bone Burnett, the same fellow that brought us Across the Universe and O Brother, Where Art Thou?  It seems that whenever you hear a soundtrack that you just have to go out and buy afterward, this man’s name is on the label.  So far the song ‘The Weary Kind’ by he and Ryan Bingham has already scored a Critics’ Choice Movie Award and a Golden Globe and will probably be the front runner for the Oscar.

    While the movie itself isn’t as impressive as its parts, it is still a darn good film and between its country roots and the fact that part of it takes place in Houston, you’ll probably feel a strong connection.  A-

Posted on

New on DVD

New on DVD

The Invention of Lying
Rated PG-13 for language including some sexual material including and a drug reference
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
In an alternate reality where there is no such thing as a lie, Ricky Gervais is having a tough time with his life until he realizes that if he just makes stuff up, people believe whatever he says.  With his new powers, he becomes amazingly wealthy, writes the greatest movie the world has ever known, and invents an all-knowing “man in the sky” who controls the destiny of everyone.  The movie starts out with a clever premise, but Gervais’s agenda of disproving religion becomes such a theme of the movie that it gets to be a huge distraction.  If you’ve ever seen one of his stand-up routines you know that he is one of the most aggressively atheist actors in Hollywood and it doesn’t take long for you to understand that this film is simply a love letter to his own special religion.  If the film could have been funny, then at least I could have said offensive but funny, but for me it was neither.  Instead it was just kind of a sad and pathetic attempt at filmmaking.  D

Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassins’ Ball
Rated R for bloody violence and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
What was originally pegged as a prequel to the box-office dud Smokin’ Aces is now a straight-to-DVD release as a sequel, although it really bares no connection, aside from one minor character, to the first.  In this film, several assassins are all given the same assignment: kill a soon-to-be-retired FBI desk jockey who know too much.  The Feds put him into hiding, but these assassins, some talented and some just crazy, all converge on the hideout to try to collect on the bounty.  It’s an extremely violent, badly written, poorly acted, b-film that will have most women leaving the room and most men admitting they were right to do so.  The good news – it’s short.  The bad news – it’s poorly paced so it feels long.  But then again, what did you expect from such a film.  That might just be what you are looking for at Blockbuster on a Friday night.  D-

The Simpsons: The Complete Twentieth Season
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
It’s hard to believe that it’s been twenty years since this show hit the air.  I was in high school when we would watch The Simpsons, Married with Children, and Living Color back to back.  I don’t think any of would have ever thought there was a chance that the show could still be going strong and still creating high-quality comedy over twice my age later.  This twentieth year is full of great political material including George W. Bush’s last year in the White House as well as Obama’s first, Bart trading places with his doppleganger, the family buying a pub in Ireland, and border disputes with a neighboring town.  The material seems almost as fresh as day one and some of the episodes had me laughing myself sick.  The biggest plus of all – this was the first season The Simpsons were made and available in hi-def.  There’s nothing like crappy animation in big, bold, beautiful hi-def!  A

Whiteout
Rated R for violence, grisly images, brief strong language and some nudity
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
This will be the last time I discuss this Kate Beckinsale stinker in my column, I swear.  But in case you missed my last mention, this pic follows Kate as a U.S. Marshall in Antarctica hot on the trails of a murderer.  It’s just bad from start to finish and aside from the laughable opening shower sequence, there is not a redeeming quality to be found.  Most comical of all is that while only about 100 minutes, the film seems to last forever due to horrible pacing and the fact that the cold slows the chase and fight scenes down to a freezing crawl.  F

Pandorum
Rated R for strong horror violence and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
When Ben Foster wakes up in his cryo chamber in deep space, he discovers that something is wrong with his ship and that there is an evil on board killing what’s left of the thousands of survivors.  His co-captain, Dennis Quaid, attempts to guide him through the ship by radio to get things going in the right direction again so that they all can survive.  This movie died a quick death in theaters, in large part I think to the fact that they went to market without letting any press in to screen it, but it’s really not a bad film if you are a hard core sci-fi junkie.  It begs the question “what would happen if you put the film The Descent in space?”  Granted, that was already kind of done with the Alien series, but at least here the creatures are somewhat humanoid.  The film is by no means as good or scary as The Descent (you must see if you haven’t already), but it had me going and I liked the twist at the end.  Some of the writing didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but maybe it would in multiple viewings.  B-

Fame
Rated PG for thematic material including teen drinking, a sexual situation and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
This update of the original 1980 film follows the lives of a group of students at the New York City High School of Performing Arts as they go through their Freshmen through Senior years.  Some of it is motivational and inspirational, just like the original movie, and some of it is as cheesy and silly as High School Musical.  Personally, I couldn’t stand the inconsistency of the tone.  The film didn’t really know what it wanted to be.  Had it chosen to be more like the French film The Class, it could have been truly great.  Instead it toyed with that but strayed.  Perhaps it went the other direction for box office purposes.  If so, that was a big mistake because the film was a dud and teens weren’t buying.  C

Posted on

The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones

Starring Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, and Stanley Tucci
Directed by Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings)
Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material involving disturbing violent content and images, and some language
Appropriate for ages 15+

    Based on the best-selling book by Alice Sebold, Bones follows a young girl as she tells her story after she has been brutally murdered by one of her neighbors.  She finds herself not in Heaven, but rather in the ‘In Between’ place until she can fully let go of her life on Earth.  But she has work to do such as spy on the boy she loves but never got to experience love with, and more importantly – help her family find her murderer. 

    I found myself very torn by this film.  It’s not that the material was too tough considering the talent of the filmmaker, but rather how Jackson handled it.  Some things he did I thought were absolutely brilliant, and others I thought were horrible mistakes that were almost laughable. 

    I’m not so concerned that he varied from the book and toned down the murder quite a bit.  After all, had he included the girl being raped and murdered, the tone would have been much darker, and much more difficult to watch.  As it stands, the murder is not shown and rape is not even implied and that was probably a good decision.  That being said, I’m not sure if the tone was dark enough the way it was made.  A PG-13 movie about a girl who was slain just doesn’t sit right with me.  It feels too light at times when it should be much heavier. 

    So where he went right was in his handling of the ethereal quality of the ‘In Between’.  It’s a beautiful, eerie place and everything from the spectacular visuals to the enveloping sounds create a world for the audience that is a truly unique theatrical experience.  The only film I’ve ever seen that comes close to matching this unique look is the Oscar-winning What Dreams May Come, a spectacular vision of the afterlife. 

    Acting-wise, Ronan and Tucci both turn in terrific performances as the hunted and the hunter.  Before this film I thought Tucci would get his Oscar nod for Julie and Julia, but this role solidifies a nomination, although a win is unlikely with Christoph Waltz in the running.  He is the ultimate creepy neighbor and Ronan is the perfect naive girl that falls into the trap.  Wahlberg on the other hand was horribly miscast as the dad and his overacting is hard to stomach at times.  Weisz delivers a less than desirable performance as well.

    There were also a few huge logic flaws of which I can’t get into detail without spoiling the film.  Let’s just say that common sense tells you that if you are going to throw something very, very heavy into a pit, you pull the truck up to the pit.  You don’t push it end over end over end for thirty feet just so there is time to add an important scene in between.  This is moronic and Jackson could have easily come up with another story device to give him what he needed here.  As for the other flaws – you’ll see them as they come and you’ll snicker.  They are annoying and get in the way of the storytelling.

    What really lacks here is the emotional punch you would expect from a movie about a dead girl.  Perhaps it’s because she is telling her own story so matter-of-factly, but whatever the reason, I found it hard to get emotionally involved with any of the characters.  To go back to the What Dreams May Come example, that film had me crying from start to finish, while this film failed to get me to shed a single tear.   

    So while it’s a beautiful, artistic, and aesthetically pleasing film with a couple of good performances, overall it wasn’t handled correctly by someone who should have been able to do a much better job with this challenging material.  C+

Posted on

New on DVD

New on DVD

Inglourious Basterds
Rated R for strong graphic violence, language and brief sexuality
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Quentin Tarantino’s World War II fantasia tells the story of a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers led by Brad Pitt as they are on a mission in Nazi-occupied France to kill and scalp as many Nazis as they can get their hands on.  This is a bloody entertaining, history-changing good time that is as funny as it is violent.  And it is very violent.  The movie is filled with terrific performances, including that by Christoph Waltz, which may very well be the best performance by any actor this year.  The blu-ray is loaded with special features  including a Nazi-killing trivia challenge you can play with your friends on BD-Live, although noticeably missing is a commentary by the maestro Tarantino.  A

The Hangover
Rated R
Pervasive Language, sexual content including nudity, and some drug material
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
One of the biggest success stories of the year has been this little comedy with no big stars about a bachelor-party-gone-wrong that made $277 million U.S. and $462 Worldwide.  In The Hangover, three groomsmen take the soon-to-be-wed to Vegas for a little fun, but the next morning the room is smashed, their is a tiger in the bathroom, a baby in the closet, and no sign of the groom.  To make matters worse, none of them have a clue what happened over the last twelve hours.  This movie is so funny the laughter was actually painful.  Zach Galifianakis is so on fire here as the crazy future brother-in-law that I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he pulls an Oscar nomination out of the role.  The rest of the ensemble play their parts perfectly as well making it so you might have to turn up the volume a bit so you don’t miss some of the lines due to laugh/coughing.  Special features are thick and include a great picture-in-picture commentary with the actors and director Todd Phillips.  A

G-Force
Rated PG for some mild action and rude humor
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
A group of specially trained guinea pigs attempt to save the world from a crazy billionaire.  Most kids didn’t even like this made exclusively for kids Disney flick starring way too many talented people to be this bad.  Zach Galifianakis, who was so good in The Hangover, should probably see about a new agent after this film.  It’s just a miserable way to spend 25 bucks or 90 minutes.  F

Julie and Julia
Rated PG-13 for brief strong language and some sensuality
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Based on two books, My Life in France by Julia Child and Julie and Julia by Julie Powell, Julie and Julia follows the life of Julia Child (Meryl Streep) as she learns to cook in France, teach cooking, and become the legend she is today, as well as Julie Powell (Amy Adams), who in the modern day cooked all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 365 days.  Child’s story is a joy to watch and I wish that more of the focus was put on her.  In fact, I would have loved to have seen a movie just about her.  But the Powell story line was still innovative and interesting, yet just a touch too whiny for my taste.  The DVD has a commentary and short doc, but the blu-ray has a bevy of special features that make it worth the extra price including some great cooking lessons and a feature where friends and family remember Julia Child.  B+

Taking Woodstock
Rated R for graphic nudity, some sexual content, drug use, and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) directs this comedy about the events that led up to Woodstock.  It doesn’t have much to do with the music, but rather with the logistics of the event, told from the eye of a young city councilman whose family’s motel is hosting most of the out-of-town visitors.  The problem with the film is that it’s just a mess from start to finish.  There are some interesting ideas, but too much felt improvised and what little plot there was didn’t feel strong enough to warrant an Ang Lee film.  C-