Category: DVD Review

New on DVD

The Class
Rated PG-13 for language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
French with English Subtitles
This winner of the 2008 Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival and Academy Award nominee for best foreign language film follows the life of a French teach in Paris as he guides his young students in class over the period of a school year.  The style feels like a documentary, but is really just an amazingly acted, thoughtful, and powerful drama that shows not only what life is like in a French school, but also the consequences of one’s decisions, no matter how small they may seem when made.  I absolutely loved this film, and had I seen it last year when it was released in theaters, it would have been in my top 10.  It makes me wish I had made more time in my schedule for sure.  A

I Love You, Man
Rated R for pervasive language, including crude and sexual references
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
When Paul Rudd gets engaged, he discovers that he really doesn’t have any male friends worthy of being called a best man.  So he sets out on a mission to find a best friend through a series of man dates and develops a bromance with a crazy bachelor played by Jason Segel.  Watching this film again brought back to memory how funny this movie really is.  Not only is the premise pretty darn brilliant, but they follow through with terrific writing and performances as well.  The disc contains some very funny deleted and extended scenes, but you can stay clear of the gag reel.  A-

17 Again
Rated PG-13 for language, some sexual material and teen partying
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
When Matthew Perry finds that he regrets the decisions he has made in life, he jumps into a vortex and comes out as Zac Efron, a younger version of himself, ready to do it all over again.  The first act just plain stinks, but the film does get going once the second kicks in and I even found myself laughing on several occasions.  Stealing the show was sidekick Thomas Lennon who you might know from Reno 911.  You don’t know where he’s coming from at first, but by the end he manages to take you by surprise and I found that he provided by far the most laughs.  The DVD is bare-boned, but the blu-ray has tons of special features including a nice segment where the castmates recount their own teen years.  B-

Flight of the Conchords: Season 2
Available on DVD
In this season two of HBO’s cult classic musical comedy, the two boys from New Zealand had a challenge: how to do it all over again.  After all, it took them years to write much of the music for the first season, and for the second, they only had less than a year.  So OK, the tunes weren’t as good, but in my mind, the comedy was better.  It definitely was more creative.  Whether it be charity for epileptic dogs or a crazy parody of West Side Story, this was another great season from Bret and Jemaine.  I just hope that with that ending, they weren’t trying to say goodbye to TV.  That would truly give me hurt feelings.  A

Race to Witch Mountain
Rated PG for sequences of action and violence, frightening and dangerous situations, and some thematic elements
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is a struggling Vegas cabbie whose life is on auto-pilot until he picks up two kids that turn out to be aliens trying to get to their ship so that they can escape back to their home planet.  With the government and an alien assassin both trying to stop them, he must find a way to get the kids to their ship alive without getting himself killed in the process.  While it’s not a terrific film by any stretch of the imagination, it does provide lots of good action, great stunts, decent comedy, and not much time to think about how bad the acting and script are.  So while I wouldn’t have recommended it for the theaters, for home video you could do a lot worse.  B-

Fragments
Rated R for violent content, sexuality and language
Available on DVD
This straight to DVD film follows a group of intersecting lives after they have been deeply affected by a gunmen that kills several innocent people in a small town diner.  Kate Beckinsale, Forest Whitaker, Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson, and Guy Pearce lead this impressive all-star cast in what should have at least been afforded the chance to be a box-office dud.  It’s not that it’s a bad film.  Far from it.  The performances, script, and direction are all decent enough.  Where the film will lose its attraction for most audiences is in the tone.  This is a dark film with zero sense of humor or even a chance to take a breath.  For much of the film it’s one either dark or depressing scene after another and any sign of hope given is quickly stripped away.  B-

Obsessed
Rated PG-13 for suggestive material including some suggestive dialogue, some violence and thematic content
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Beyonce Knowles is the jealous wife of a man whose secretary has begun stalking him.  As far as I can tell the only real point of this film was to set up a cat fight between the hot black chick and the hot white chick.  I’ll admit that it’s a good fight, but you have to get through 90 minutes of bad film to get there.  Obviously this ploy worked at the box office.  In case you think I’m joking, the special feature they tout on the back of the jewel box is “Girl Fight! An Inside Look of the Cinematic Fight Sequence Between Beyonce Knowles and Ali Larter.”  D

Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.5
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
I find it amazing, yet not surprising, that this spectacular series from the Sci Fi Channel was all but snubbed in the major Emmy categories this year.  I fully believe that were the exact same show aired on HBO instead of basic cable, it would have swept the nominations, but that’s a scenario that lies in an alternate universe, just as the setting for the show.  Regardless, Battlestar ended strongly with these last episodes and a finale blew its fans away.  Over the course of the last several years the series has challenged many social issues such as race, religion, gender, torture, freedom, and class in a way that no other show on television has dared.  Sure it’s science fiction, but this is not your normal brand of sci fi and has truly gathered a loyal group of followers.  Along with this season 4.5 is a new complete series set, both on blu-ray and regular dvd that will allow anyone to discover for the first time, or catch up on what they might have missed.  The blu-ray contains a special tease of the upcoming movie “The Plan,” as well as a six part retrospective of the show.  A

Fast & Furious
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexual content, language and drug references
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
This fourth film in the franchise brings the team together for only the second time.  This time around Vin Diesel and Paul Walker team up to bring down a heroin kingpin, and of course race cars.  Just like the other flicks in the series, the plot is thin, the acting is weak, but the action is big.  Before you watch the movie, check out the original short film Los Bandoleros which was written and directed by Vin Diesel.  It shows that Diesel actually does have some talent hidden away in there, and not only is it a better film than Fast & Furious, but it sets the movie up so that it makes more sense in the beginning.  C

Prison Break: The Final Break
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
After the fourth and final season of Prison Break aired on Fox, they decided to make a two hour movie to tag onto the end, with one more break.  This time, Michael’s new wife Sarah is put into prison and the gang needs to get her out before she and her unborn baby die inside.  When this show first started, it was such a great program.  An architect who tattoos the blue prints of a prison on his body and gets arrested so that he can help his innocent brother escape?  It was a seriously cool premise filled with colorful characters and great plot twists.  But over four seasons and now this final soiree, the show has become a parody of itself.  The Final Break came an entire season too late.  D

Big Man Japan
Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action and crude humor
Available on DVD
Japanese with English Subtitles
This mocumentary follows the life of Masaru Daisato, a not-so-normal human that has the ability to grow to an enormous size in order to protect Japan from giant monsters.  The problem is that he is lonely and depressed and unwilling to put his life on the line for his country.  His wife has left him and he is not allowed to see his child.  The people of Japan hate him for the destruction he leaves in his wake.  To make matters worse, he’s kind of a coward.  This is truly one of the weirdest films I have ever seen.  The special effects are super-cheesy, yet hysterically funny at the same time.  I found myself laughing throughout, all the time thinking that I wasn’t supposed to be.  But once I got to the random ending, I realized that the laughter I experienced was planned by the filmmakers all along.  What a strange and wonderful ride.  B

New on DVD

Watchmen: Director’s Cut
Rated R for strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
In time for the world-famous Comic-Con convention in San Diego comes this new three-hour cut of the cult comic classic turned big-budget blockbuster.  When one of a group of renegade super heroes named The Comedian is brutally murdered, one of his teammates, Rorschach investigates who could have killed him and what he discovers is bigger than he or anyone could ever imagine.  The movie itself is very good, but very dark, with, what I thought, were some questionable artistic choices in music and even story.  But I really liked this new cut and and what I liked even more was the special blu-ray feature of immersive maximum movie mode where director Zach Snyder shows you his take on the movie while you are watching it, with all kinds of great looks at the special effects and features that went into the making of the film.  This is truly one of the most impressive special features I have come across yet and it seems like Zack and Warner Brothers are really setting the bar high here.  A-

Coraline
Rated PG for thematic elements, scary images, some language, and suggestive humor
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
For young Coraline, the world just seems flat.  She has just moved to a boring, bland town.  Her parents are always working on their computers and have no time to spend with her and no money to buy her things.  One night when she enters what she discovers to be the “Other World” she finds a nice mom and dad, with lots of great food, and time, and things.  The new world is full of color and life.  But it comes with a cost.  This stop-motion animated film from Henry Selick, the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas, and based on the book by Neil Gaiman is masterfully crafted and just plain weird.  The film was in 3D in select theaters and is available in a 3D version here.  While the 3D is cool, it’s not nearly as beautiful as the 2D and I highly recommend watching the film without the included glasses.  The colors are much more brisk and you’ll end up with less of a headache from the red-blue tints.  Also, check out the making-of special feature as it is almost as impressive just watching them make the film.  A-

The Great Buck Howard
Rated PG for some language including suggestive remarks, and a drug reference
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Colin Hanks is a law school drop out that goes on the road to work as an assistant to an aging magician/mentalist (John Malkovich), whose claim to fame was that he appeared on the Johnny Carson show dozens of times.  While the film seems a little too indie, especially with a cast including these two plus Tom Hanks and Emily Blunt, it is fun to see Malkovich in such an incredible role.  The film is worth a rental just for his amazing performance as the lonely, end-of-his-life entertainer.  I hope that enough folks see this film come awards time this year so that he might get his due from it.  B

Echelon Conspiracy
Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense violence and action, some sexuality and brief language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
A young engineer obtains a cell phone that sends him messages granting him good fortune wherever he goes, but soon he finds himself the center of a deadly international plot.  Ed Burns, Martin Sheen, Ving Rhames, and Shane West all phone their performances in for this horrendous Bourne wannabe.  It’s badly directed, badly written, and you could tell the actors were just taking their paychecks.  F

New on DVD

Leverage: The First Season
Unrated
Available on DVD
This new TNT action series starring Oscar winner Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People) tells the story of a former insurance investigator who leads a group of thieves on a series of Robin Hood adventures after they achieve the score of their lives.  Designed for an audience that is fed up with corporate America (for which TNT is part of), the lies they feed, and the money they steal, this movie could be a real crowd-pleaser.  I just wish the writing was stronger and that the stories were a bit more plausible.  The dialogue is fast and witty, almost like a sleight of hand keeping the audience from realizing that the substance of the show is so shallow.  C+

Karl Malden (1912-2009)
We’ve heard so much about Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett lately that we have all but missed the passing of one of the true legends of Hollywood: Karl Malden.  With this being a week where there’s not much out on DVD, I’d like to take this opportunity to recommend taking a look back at this truly amazing star.  While he acted in movies for almost fifty years, he was best known for his Oscar-winning turn as Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) costarring Marlon Brando.  A few years later he teamed up with Brando again in On the Waterfront (1954) as Father Barry, the priest that tries to convince Brando’s character to do the right thing and testify against the mob.  This role also had him nominated for a second Oscar (and with that kind of performance he should have had a second win).  The last film I’d like to recommend is the brilliant Patton (1970), where Malden took on the part of General Omar Bradley during World War II.  Overall, Malden lead a brilliant career and I think that in between listening to Jacko CDs and watching Charlie Angel’s reruns – check out this legendary actor and some of his magnificent films.

New on DVD

Eastbound and Down: The Complete First Season
Unrated but appropriate for 17+
Available on DVD
In this new HBO comedy, Danny McBride is Kenny Powers, a former professional baseball player that lived a little too hard and who has now lost his pitch.  Since he has also lost all his friends and his money, he has gone home to live with his brother, where he takes a swing at substitute teaching.  With zero humility and an uncontrollable urge to do and say the wrong thing to everyone he meets, Kenny finds himself in one ridiculous mess after another.  Will Ferrell produces and costars in this six-episode season that is a must-see for comedy fans.  A

The Unborn
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and terror, disturbing images, thematic material, and language including some sexual references
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
When a scary little boy starts haunting a beautiful girl that likes to walk around in her underwear, she enlists the help of a rabbi and a priest to help her exercise him.  I know this sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but it’s not.  Believe it or not, the movie is written and directed by David Goyer, the writer of Dark Knight.  Just shows that not everyone’s movies are perfect.  At least the girl gives you something lovely to look at for 90 minutes.  C-

Two Lovers
Rated R for language, some sexuality and brief drug use
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Before Joaquin Phoenix fell off the deep end he made this kind of depressing, but lovely love story with Gwyneth Paltrow.  As a lonely man living in New York City, he develops a relationship with two women – one that he can have and one he can’t.  Of course he really only wants the one he can’t.  The performances are very good, but be prepared for a moody experience.  And while the characters have a deep sadness to them, I didn’t empathize, but merely felt sorry for them.  I also was happy I wasn’t in their shoes.  B

The Mafia: The Cold Blooded History of the Mob
Unrated but contains very violent content
Available on DVD
If you are like me and you have learned all of your mafia knowledge from Coppola and Scorsese films, then you will really welcome this History Channel series of documentaries of the mafia in America.  Covering everything from prohibition years to the Gambinos, this is a 10 hour, very comprehensive look at the history behind the legends behind some of our favorite stories and movies.   B+

The Pink Panther 2
Rated PG for some suggestive humor, brief mild language and action
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Steve Martin once again stars as French Inspector Jacques Clouseau, a bumbling detective that is on the search for The Tornado, an international thief that has stolen some of the world’s greatest treasures including the infamous Pink Panther diamond.  What I find most amazing about a film like this is how so many great actors (John Cleese, Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer, Andy Garcia, Alfred Molina, and Jeremy Irons) could star in such a mediocre film.  Or how it could be mediocre with all of them in it.  Maybe it’s because they are all trying to do slapstick, and none of them are very good at it.  Some of the dialogue is a little funny, but the movie depends on its pratfalls to succeed and this just gets in the way (although the horrendous plot doesn’t help the film either).  The disc isn’t a lost cause though.  While the main disc has the movie and special features, which I can’t recommend highly, disc two contains almost three hours of wonderful classic Pink Panther cartoons.  C-

Entourage: The Complete Fifth Season
Unrated but contains adult content
Available on DVD
After Vince’s Cannes Film Festival nightmare, he is now an almost uncastable actor in bad need of a way to bring his career back.  While his manager and best friend Eric and his agent Ari both have their own battles to contend with, they still fight to get Vince into a movie that might bring him back to the top.  With season six coming back July 12th on HBO, I found it to be the perfect time to sit back and review what’s gone on up to now.  After all, due to its amazing pacing, this show just flies by and makes an entire season seem to last no time at all.  And even after five seasons, it’s still very fresh and just as funny.  The set is lean on features, but the commentaries with creator Doug Ellin and the cast is worth a listen.  B+

Do the Right Thing: 20th Anniversary Edition
Rated R
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Spike Lee’s controversial film hit its 20th birthday this year, and while Spike Lee openly admits that New York is not nearly as racist as it used to be back then, he admits on his new documentary that it still has problems.  Right Thing centers around boiling racial tensions on the hottest day of the year in a tough Brooklyn neighborhood.  And while Lee’s assessment that New York is not nearly as racist now, I still get the feeling that Lee still is.  I remember how angry the ending of this film made me, and how Lee justified it.  And listening to him on the new commentary he still justifies it.  The 25th Hour and Inside Man prove that he has it in him to make great movies, and no one doubts his skills and artistic abilities as a director.  I just wish he would have said something in this 20th Anniversary Edition that showed that his own racist thoughts and beliefs have subsided.  On the plus side, I was glad to see a focus on the artistic approach to the film and the interviews with the very talented crew since these are features that are usually lacking on most DVD special editions.  B-

New on DVD

Waltz with Bashir
Rated R for some disturbing images of atrocities, strong violence, brief nudity, and a scene of graphic sexual content
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Filmmaker and Israeli war veteran Ari Folman encounters a friend that is having nightmares brought on by the events of the First Lebanon War where they fought together.  When he realizes that he has many gaps in his own memory, he attempts to reconnect with many of the soldiers he fought with in an attempt to face the horrors of war he has shut away out of his mind.  Innovative in every way, this animated film that plays like a documentary was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.  That being said, this is not a film for everyone.  It is a tough, challenging film filled with disturbing content that you will wish to forget just as Folman is trying to remember.  It does give an account of this war that most, including myself, are largely unfamiliar with.  The disc contains both the English and Hebrew language versions of the films, as well as tons of special features to give deeper insight.  B+

Confessions of a Shopahollic
Rated PG for some mild language and thematic elements
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Based on the popular book series, Confessions follows a college grad that lands a job at a major financial magazine.  The only problem is that she is horrible with money, in deep debt and addicted to shopping.  Not knowing what to write about, she uses clothes as a metaphor for business and somehow becomes popular throughout the world.  Poorly written, lazily directed, and badly acted, this Bridget Jones wannabe is just miserable to watch.  Some might say that it’s good for teens and young girls due to it’s lack of mature content and wholesome feel, but I feel that the movie is so demeaning and insulting to women that I would have to disagree.  While there are women out there like this, I am thankful that it is the exception and not the norm this film portrays.  D

New on DVD

Friday the 13th: Killer Cut
Rated R for strong bloody violence, some graphic sexual content, nudity, language, and drug material
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
What they are calling a reinventing of the Friday the 13th franchise is merely just a slicker Michael Bay version of the violent film series from the 80s and 90s.  In this new edition, a group of teenagers is staying at a cabin across the water from Camp Crystal Lake when goalie-masked baddie Jason Voorhees shows up, knocking them off one by one.  I knew that this wasn’t going to be a brilliant film by any means, but I did expect more.  Michael Bay’s reimagining of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was at least a little more inventive than the original, although a little too gruesome for my taste.  This new Jason flick, however, is still just the same old silly formula with beautiful naked college students getting mutilated by a supernatural madman in laughable ways.  D+

Home
Unrated and appropriate for all ages
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
This French import has turned out to be a huge hit in Europe, although with very little fanfare it will have a tougher time finding a US audience.  Home is a two-hour documentary with aerial footage from 54 countries showing how all of the problems of our planet are interlinked.  The dialogue, narrated by Glenn Close, might be a little too preachy for some, but overall a convincing argument is made that the abundance our planet has to offer is running out.  With its beautiful and surreal photography, it plays like a cross between Planet Earth and An Inconvenient Truth, putting its audience in both a state of awe and utter discomfort.  Noticeably missing are any special features showing how the film was made.  With images this breathtaking, I figured that the filmmakers would have been proud enough of their work to show it off in a behind-the-scenes setting.  A-