Now On DVD: Grace is Gone
May 27, 2008 - Film Reviews, New on DVD | No comments
Even if you’re a John Cusack fan, (and who isn’t?), it’s tough to love this belabored, melancholy film about Stanley Phillipps, a working class father and his two young daughters as they deal with the death of their mother, who was recently killed in Iraq. The majority of the film follows Phillipps, a simple man having trouble with his own emotions, as he takes his daughters on a road trip in an attempt to find te right moment to break the news to them that their mother will never return. The score, sparse but haunting, was written by Clint Eastwood. It was released in theaters late last year, at a time when viewers had had quite enough of war and ponderous, heavy, dark films, no matter how moving or well made. Grace is Gone cost an estimated $2 million to make and had high Oscar hopes, but it never made it to more than seven screens, and grossed about $50,080 total. If you’re in the mood for a poignant tear jerker, this is a sure bet. Rated PG-13
Now On DVD: The Air I Breathe
May 20, 2008 - New on DVD | No comments
Never before has such a stellar cast been combined in such a stinker film. You take Forest Whitaker, Kevin Bacon, Brendan Fraser, Julie Delpey, Sarah Michelle Geller, Andy Garcia and Emile Hirsch, and how can you lose? Ask writer/director Jieho Lee, who based the script on a Chines proverb that breaks life down into four different emotions: happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love. Since, from the very beginning, you have a pretty good idea that things can’t end well for anyone, it’s hard to connect the character with the emotion they’re supposed to personify. With four distinct stories tying together in the end, you get the feeling Jieho was going for a Crash effect, and fails miserably. Ponderous, cliche and melodramatic, the film has value to film students as an example of what not to do. Rated R
Now On DVD: Mad Money
May 13, 2008 - New on DVD | No comments
One of the best, and most underrated comedies of the year so far, Mad Money is a girlie-girl heist flick that the boys will enjoy as well. Who doesn’t like to dream about obtaining wealth untold by helping yourself to something that has absolutely no value to anyone else? That’s the premise of this movie, in which three very different workers at the US Mint, played by Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes (obviously having more fun than should be legal), devise a system to help themselves to the old bills that are destined for destruction. Since no one misses the money, is it really a crime to use it? That’s the moral dilemma of this film, that has plenty of laughs as these three unlikely comrades deal with life, love, and the pursuit of staying out of jail. Rated PG-13
Now On DVD: The Great Debaters
May 13, 2008 - New on DVD | No comments
Denzel Washington has come of age as a director (is there anything the man can’t do?), in this riveting film based on a true story, about a humble debate team from a small, African American college in Texas, which fights it’s way up to compete in a national championship. The characters exhibit astonishing chutzpah and sensitivity as they come of age together. While his first directing effort, Antwone Fisher, was an admirable start, The Great Debaters is a more sophisticated film, addressing racism, poverty, religion, higher education and more, without being preachy. Washington himself gives a fine performance as the professor who leads the debate team, and Forest Whitaker also shines as a conservative professor and father of one of the debaters. But the casting of the debate team members, Denzel Whitaker, Nate Parker and Jurnee Smollett, is shear genius. There’s inspiration for everyone in this film. Denzel for Vice President! Rated PG 13
Now On DVD: Untraceable
May 13, 2008 - New on DVD | No comments
Is it really possible to commit unspeakable crimes and cavalierly post them on the internet without fear of detection or retribution? Untraceable makes it look quite feasible, and the villain in this “Cyber-Saw” film even crafts his crimes so that the hits hasten the murders and make them even more macabre. You find yourself yelling at the screen “Stop logging on, you sickos! You’re killing the poor guy!” It’s actually a pretty clever, if grisly premise, and seeing Diane Lane as a special agent in the cyber crime unit racing to to find the killer before he hits home, is a great diversion. It’s nice to see a woman save the day for a change. This one is a single mom living at home with her mother, but she’s anything but vulnerable. The film is full of nice surprises like this. It’s a great Friday night rental. Rated R
Now On DVD: Youth Without Youth
May 13, 2008 - New on DVD | No comments
Although you can’t help but revel in Frances Ford Coppola’s voluptuous visual style, the plot and message of this film are so hard to trace you come away thinking, “Wow– that was gorgeous! I wonder what exactly was going on?” Tim Roth is amazing, as always, as an elderly professor at the end of his life who is struck by lightening and mysteriously regains his youth, as well as a few super powers he’s not completely sure how to use. Maybe it looked better on paper. There’s a confusing love story intertwined in there, featuring the radiant Alexandra Maria Laura. Suffice it to say I just didn’t get the film, and I can’t find anyone else who can explain it, either. Still, we all claim to have enjoyed it for what it is: an independent, artistic, indulgent effort from one of America’s greatest directors. Rated R
Now On DVD: The Good Night
May 6, 2008 - New on DVD | No comments
A slow, thoughtful film in which everyone is dysfunctional, ‘The Good Night’ was written and directed by Gwyneth Paltrow’s brother Jake Paltrow, in an apparent attempt to do something cerebral and artsy. He succeeded. Gary, a commercial music composer played by Martin Freeman (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Shaun of the Dead) feels depressed and stunted with life, and his girlfriend, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, constantly snipes and complains about it. He seeks solace and meaning in his dreams, where a sexy muse (Penolope Cruz) both inspires and frustrates him. The strong supporting cast includes Simon Pegg (Run Fat Boy Run, Hot Fuzz) as Gary’s best friend and Danny DeVito as a dream coach. Rated R
Now On DVD: P.S. I Love You
May 6, 2008 - New on DVD | No comments
How can you go wrong with talented actors like Hillary Swank and Gerard Butler? This film is proof that it’s possible. Swank plays a pettish, whining woman who isn’t happy with anything her in life, from her beautiful New York apartment to her perfect Irish boyfriend. He dies in the beginning of the film and spends the next two hours haunting her — in a good way — in an effort to teach her to move on with life and start appreciating what she has. Ghostly Gerard Butler is painfully cheerful, as if he died and came back a leprechaun, and Hillary Swank just glowers in her mini skirts through the entire movie. Lisa Kudrow is cute as a desperate single sister and Harry Connick Jr. is a decent, possible romantic interest, but the rest of the film can pretty much be summed up as annoying. PG-13
Now On DVD: I’m Not There
May 6, 2008 - New on DVD | No comments
This is what I call an “Emperor’s New Clothes” film. Everyone is so busy praising its subject matter, originality and boldness that they overlook the stunt casted, self-indulgent mess it became. This is not the Bob Dylan bio pic you might have heard it is. On the contrary, Director Todd Haynes has cast Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Cate Blanchett and a young black boy, among others, as Dylan-like characters, and thrown them into a bizarre circus of a storyline that is almost impossible to follow. I love Cate Blanchett, but I don’t think her Oscar nod was merited in this case — you don’t forget for one minute that she’s a woman playing a man. This film is little more than a Hollywood conceit, and you don’t need to feel ‘un hip’ if you don’t appreciate it. There’s a reason it only made about $4 million in theaters. Rated R
Now On DVD: Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
May 2, 2008 - New on DVD | No comments
One of the best films of 2007, ‘Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead’ was overlooked come Oscar time probably because it was dumped on the market at the end of the year with all the other high profile, “quality” films. Sidney Lumet does an amazing job directing Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawk, Albert Finney and Marisa Tomei in this heist-gone-wrong-flick about two brothers who decide to rob their parents’ jewelry store, thinking insurance will cover any harm done. It’s a tragic, stylish study about crime, family relations and greed. It’s not upbeat or comedic as the poster might lead you to believe, but it will certainly make you stretch your intellect and come away feeling cinematically satisfied and satiated. Rated R