DVD Releases for Tuesday, August 10
Posted on Aug 10, 2010 @ 05:53PM - Add a comment
Date Night (PG-13)
Movie Review: Letters to Juliet
Posted on May 15, 2010 @ 10:32AM - 3 comments
Prepare to be delighted. Honey-dipped Letters to Juliet is so thoroughly charming that true love seems like like it’s just around the corner, while getting published in The New Yorker is simply one submission away. In this story, the heart knows no obstacles -- and neither does the movie, with its delicately witty take on inter-generational dynamics and boundless belief in fairy-tale romance. Set in the idyllic Italian countryside, Juliet’s world is where relationships blossom among fields of gold and truth is found beneath the stars.
Doe-eyed Amanda Seyfried stars as Sophie, an aspiring writer who’s engaged to the wrong guy and desperately wants to move up the ranks at her hum-drum magazine job. Her fortunes change when she takes a fateful trip to Verona (the setting for Romeo and Juliet) with Victor (Gael García Bernal), her husband-to-be. Getting more neglect than amore from her foodie of a fiancé, she soon finds her own fun with a group of ladies who answer letters from the love-lorn addressed to Shakespeare’s fabled Juliet. While Victor trembles over local wines and quakes with the ecstasy of cooking, Sophie answers a letter that’s been lost for 50 years -- and can hardly believe it when the author arrives to take her advice.
Vanessa Redgrave plays Claire, who responds to Sophie’s reply with a plan to track down Lorenzo, a local farmer who asked her for her hand way back when. In tow is Claire’s ornery grandson Charlie (Christopher Egan), who provides not only Ken-doll eye candy but also a dry wit that makes Juliet much more fun than the average romantic comedy. Claire’s no slouch either: With more than 117 acting credits under her belt (including a recent stint on the pulpy Nip/Tuck), Redgrave brings her best to a role that could easily have slipped into stereotypical territory for so-called old ladies. Both the writing and the actress’s visible commitment humanize Claire as a woman with feelings that transcend age and whose wisdom informs her young charges. Plus, Redgrave’s presence alone imbues the film with a dignity often missing from the genre.
Still, Seyfried and Egan aren’t simply riding their talented elder’s coattails as Sophie of course joins Claire on her excellent adventure, serving as the heart and soul of Mission Amore, while Charlie is the hunky wet blanket and stand-in for romantic cynics. Juliet cements Seyfried as a capable, inoffensive female lead. Where her past roles have sometimes left a smarmy residue, her portrayal of Sophie is all feel-good and clean. The role is Seyfried’s third major one this year, but it’s also her best. As Sophie, the actress works her mellifluous appeal to the max, becoming both a gorgeous girl-next-door and an earnest ingenue who’s waiting for her big break. Egan, an Australian import, similarly handles his dreamy looks (which were groomed with soapy, homegrown fare like Home and Away), reveling in Charlie’s adorable dorkiness and crossing the line of palatable cheesiness just a couple of times when the plot predictably dictates.
Enhancing everything is the hopelessly beautiful setting, portrayed here with such warmth that regional airline Alitalia could have been a co-sponsor. While the Italian hills nurture budding romance between the young’uns, they’re also the only place that could make a guy like Victor look less than perfect. Bernal is another gem of Juliet -- not his sex appeal, but his knack for comedy. Having made his reputation on heavy Spanish-language dramas like Amores Perros and Y Tu Mama Tambien, the Mexican native wouldn’t be the first actor that his character might seem to call for. Yet in Bernal’s hands, the self-obsessed Victor is more lovable than malicious.
Letters to Juliet has its corny moments and is shameless in purpose. But none of that really matters when it lets us believe, even for just 100-odd minutes, that magic might actually be possible.
Shrek Forever After
Posted on May 14, 2010 @ 04:33PM - Add a comment
For the average American male, a mid-life crisis means a Ferrari. For Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers), a hulking green ogre with antennae, facing mid-life mundanity means getting back to roots, complete with terrorizing villagers, eschewing responsibility and playing in the mud.
In Shrek Forever After, the fourth and, ostensibly, final installment in the animated DreamWorks franchise, the titular character is back in what appears to be modern suburban bliss. He’s married to Princess Fiona (voiced by Cameron Diaz), father to three mini-ogres, and lives in a cute little hut in the woods that features a mud-jacuzzi and an ample outhouse. It’s quickly apparent that living the ogre dream is too boring to handle, and suddenly Shrek is making a deal with the resident devil (aka Rumpelstiltskin, voiced by Walt Dohrn), signing away his life in exchange for some youthful fun with the awkward strokes of a magic pen.
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If the impetus for action in the final Shrek seems far removed from what its intended audience might comprehend, the antics that ensue and ultimate message -- be grateful for what you have -- are pounded in hard enough for movie-goers of any age to understand. Daddy’s bored with his idyllic existence and needs to shun Mommy and misbehave for a while to feel like a masculine ogre again. Daddy’s immaturity is punished, though, when he loses everything he cares about, and must battle evil witches (whose gnarled visages and penchant for all-lady raves are truly disturbing) possibly to the death to get his boring existence back again. There are no trophy girlfriends, and Shrek sports a renaissance vest instead of a proverbial gray flannel suit, but the punishment is clear enough to communicate the point.
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Despite Shrek’s identity issues and misguided decision, there’s enough lighthearted fun to balance out the unseemly conundrum. It takes a little while for Shrek Forever After to find its pace -- and its humor -- but once the heroic ogre heads for battle, there’s a surge of much-needed energy, as if suddenly everyone remembers how to crack jokes in a time of crisis. Some of the film’s best moments are the least dramatic. In Shrek’s new alternate world, Donkey (Eddie Murphy) is not yet his friend and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) has grown fat and lazy, letting rats share his cream and Fiona stroke his fur (and his ego). His languid state allows for some adorable jokes that capitalize mainly on house cats and their shamelessness, while Donkey does his performative thing, with pop songs that cull chuckles of surprise out of context.
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From a visual standpoint, Shrek Forever After is similar to its previous editions, and demands an adjustment period to acclimate to its computer-generated images. There’s a grotesqueness to the characters (even the good guys) that takes some getting used to, but the 3-D effects provide a good distraction. As the film’s energy warms up, so it seems the creatures’ faces do, too. Entertaining and mostly unsurprising, Shrek Forever After fulfills its mission. Its creative use of catchy, multi-generational hits and its stars’ unswerving talent keeps it lively enough to mostly make up for initial stalling. As a final chapter to the ogre-driven epic, the film -- at times both tepid and enjoyable -- is a fitting end to a series whose time has come to close the book and live happily ever.
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Movie Review: Clash of the Titans
Posted on Apr 02, 2010 @ 12:23PM - Add a comment
Short tunics, thigh-high boots and a lot of eye candy make the campy remake of Clash of the Titans a delectable romp, full of ridiculous dialogue and overwrought effects.
Director Louis Leterrier’s redux of the 1981 original stars Avatar stud Sam Worthington as the the demi-god Perseus, a reluctant hero raised by a fisherman but fathered by the mighty Zeus (Liam Neeson). In this 3-D rendering of the Greek myth, the humans have had it with the Gods and wage war like insolent children in Togas that barely reach the knee. Spurred by the power-hungry Hades (Ralph Fiennes), the Gods strike back and threaten to unleash their most awful weapon -- the Kraken, created here with apparent inspiration from Jurassic Park -- unless the beautiful princess is sacrificed before the solar eclipse.
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Perseus, however, isn’t going to take it anymore: Not the lack of fish, not the idol worship, or any other unspoken wrong that can’t be discerned during the film. With a script that’s melodramatic and ridden with cliches, it’s tempting to wonder whether Worthington, as newly minted Hollywood royalty, is ruing the day he took the role. To his credit, he plays out Perseus’s mission with dignity, slaying Medusa’s head with vigor and holding his boring demi-god protector, Io (Gemma Arterton), with devotion during what look like her final moments. Much like Avatar’s Jake Sully, Perseus is defiant, unconventional and willing to stand up for his convictions. In some respects, he’s a more satisfying hero, not only because his mortality is real, but because we get to savor his human attributes, complete with real biceps, a Grecian tan and perfect teeth.
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Meanwhile, up on Mt. Olympus, the Gods get to romp in a smoky environment that feels like a 1980s heavy metal video. Zeus's and Hades’s costumes only enhance this effect, with the heavenly ruler in a metallic, shoulder-padded get-up and the infernal leader sporting a coif that’s fit for a hair band. To their credit, both actors make the most of it, playing out a parable of modern power that Machiavelli could be proud of, while staying true to the film’s mythological roots.
It’s never clear what exactly the humans are rebelling against, but it doesn’t matter. Coming into his own as a warrior, Perseus is a stand-in for the American dream, longing freedom to become the master of his own universe. In this light, Clash of the Titans is ripe for co-opting by those who might embrace the promotion of self-governance. Fundamentally, though, poor orphan Persy is simply struggling with identity politics at a time when “mixed race” isn’t part of the equation.
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Despite his lonely genetic lot, Perseus isn’t really alone. As he sets out on his epic journey across barren land, he has some help from more experienced warriors, a few pretty boys with long hair and the Djinn, an ethnically dubious tribe who possess magic powers. Io’s also handy to have around, until she’s sidelined by injury and P.’s left to his own devices for a final battle scene.
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Loud and unrelenting, Clash of the Titans is a fantastical drag of epic proportions so boldly anachronistic that it feels like an homage more than a timely action film. But with a star who’s dripping with sex appeal and a few titans of acting, it manages to hold its own, reveling in all its un-modern glory.
Movie Review: The Last Song
Posted on Mar 30, 2010 @ 06:52PM - Add a comment
Break out the tissues and skip the mascara, because there’s no escape from the tear-jerking clutches of The Last Song.
In her first big-screen departure from Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus plays Ronnie Miller, a musically-gifted teen with a pretty face and a tough attitude. When she and her little bro Jonah (Bobby Coleman) are shipped from New York to the Southern coast to spend the summer with their dad, family issues, filial bonding and romance ensue -- but not without a shameless amount of melodrama and no-holds-barred emotional manipulation that could bring the most cynical of movie-goers to their knees.
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Ronnie arrives at her estranged father’s house full of rage and sports combat boots to prove it. In opening scenes that feature her stomping and sulking her way across the beach, both her choice of footwear and her tough-girl demeanor are regionally inappropriate and ready for readjustment, stat. Luckily, she meets hunky volleyball player Will Blakelee (Liam Hemsworth) within minutes of arrival. Instantly smitten, he begins to break her down until she’s helpless in the face of his adorable dimples, perfect teeth, Ivy-League grooming and blue-blood pedigree. Soon, they’re in the throes of gilded summer romance, and there’s no turning back -- except, that is, when Ronnie’s childish ‘tude takes over from time to time, turning on a dime and threatening to ruin everything.
While The Last Song employs all the usual devices that typify films from author and co-writer Nicholas Sparks, it rises above the romantic drama riff-raff with multiple relationship arcs, touching plot details and a polished look perfect for the tween set. As Ronnie and Will play out their star-crossed romance, Ronnie and her dad, Steve (Greg Kinnear), have some patching-up to do as he strives to connect with her through their shared love of music, and she reluctantly seeks out his parental advice. Little Jonah, meanwhile, holds his own with scenes that are absolutely realistic for a younger brother left with the short end of the family drama stick.
Along with trying family dynamics, the Millers also encounter events outside their control, which add texture to the The Last Song’s particularly addictive form of saccharine. There’s an ugly secret ripe for telling, painful class division, some mean girls, one especially mean boy and a nest of adorable turtle eggs that become far more than a plot device. With a relentlessly touchy-feely soundtrack that features indie faves like José Gonzáles, Iron & Wine and -- obvs! -- Miley Cyrus, each dramatic beat gets its own musical sucker-punch that takes no prisoners.
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Don’t even bother trying to hold the tears in -- each blow (Ronnie’s baby brother is neglected!) is followed by yet another (Blake has problems too!) and still another (Someone leaves forever!). For Cyrus, The Last Song is a chance to prove she can do more than broad, Disney-style kid stuff (she has a few old habits to break). For audiences, the film is one big, messy cry that leaves no choice but to snivel loudly, and long for summer.
DVD Review: Sherlock Holmes
Posted on Mar 30, 2010 @ 04:59PM - Add a comment
Sherlock Holmes stars Robert Downey Jr. as the classic, crime-solving hero in Guy Ritchie’s thoroughly modern take on the iconic character. While the film is a lively, action-packed affair, the DVD edition -- which arrives Tuesday -- features little else to tantalize fans.
The DVD’s single extra segment, “Sherlock Holmes: Reinvented,” is self-congratulatory, feeling less like an inside glimpse at the making of the film than one long awards-season speech. There’s more than enough praise to go around -- Ritchie is “generous,” Downey is “disciplined,” the ladies on set called Jude Law “Hot-son” (he plays Dr. Watson). Yet, the DVD leaves us out in the London cold without so much of a mention as to how Ritchie created the brilliant fight scenes, or where the gigantic bad guy came from, or how the crew managed to build green screens over the Thames.
Sherlock Holmes Trailer
Instead, the slick piece of propaganda simply lets everyone from producer Joel Silver to Rachel McAdams, who plays love interest Irene Adler, let loose with mutual adulation. It’s fun to see Downey Jr. joking around with Law and observe Ritchie thriving in his own element, far from tabloid turf. But his take on Sherlock has so many fantastic flourishes, from the period costumes to truly inspired closing credits, that it’s a let-down to find that all the good stuff was reserved for Blu-ray.
Still, Sherlock Holmes, while a little light on substance, deserves fresh attention for its incredible performances, impressive aesthetics and fearless approach to well-known material. Downey and his capable co-stars are able to transcend a script that doesn’t offer any of them much to work with, but each actor brings vibrance to the roles. While Sherlock seeks to unravel a mystery that weaves together magic and a quest for power, Downey imbues his character with an unabashed geekiness that’s both endearing and compelling. As the duplicitous object of Sherlock’s affections, McAdams’ Irene is believable as the only real foil for Sherlock, if only she had more depth. Jude Law, meanwhile, is allowed dignity in a role that lets him play a more serious (if not dashing) adult.
Gossip Hits Sherlock Holmes
The stars aren’t the only ones who bring personal style to the film. In the DVD, Downey Jr. aptly comments that, while Ritchie was reinventing Sherlock, he was also reinventing himself. With small but cult-status films like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and RocknRolla, the director has been a niche artist with a devoted but narrow fan base.
London Premiere
With Sherlock, Ritchie transcends his past (including that critical bomb, Swept Away) without eschewing it. Sherlock Holmes benefits from a big budget that allows for lavish sets and intricate outfitting, but also from the director’s vision and very specific aesthetic. Sure, the DVD release is thin on extras, but it doesn’t diminish a fun film that, like its hero, thrives on a big imagination and astonishing attention to detail.
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Posted on Mar 16, 2010 @ 02:13PM - Add a comment
The Twilight Saga: New Moon (PG-13) (To Be Released March 20)
America’s favorite chaste teens are back. After a little bloodshed at Bella’s birthday party sends the hungry Cullen family packing, the beautiful, mortal high-schooler finds solace in being reckless and ogling the newly jacked bod of her childhood pal, Jacob. Of course, she’s not fully out of danger, and suddenly she’s caught between two great loves and a whole lot of supernatural action. (Kristen Stewart [Bella Swan], Taylor Lautner [Jacob Black], Robert Pattinson [Edward Cullen])
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Broken Embraces (R)
Penélope Cruz stars as the ravishing woman at the center of a love triangle gone wrong. In this latest work, famed Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar brings his sense of the ridiculous and his favorite muse together in a melodramatic story of desire, loss, secrets and lies -- plus a few leftover photos that pretty much give away the whole story. (Penélope Cruz [Lena], Lluís Homar [Harry Caine/Mateo Blanco])
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Ninja Assassin (R)
Let the bloodshed begin! Raizo is a deadly assassin who was indoctrinated from childhood in the ways of the ninja. Now, as a muscly, long-haired adult who likes to train alone with nothing but a bed of nails and a movie montage, he’s determined to get back at those who enslaved him, while on the run and kicking ass with a sexy female Europol agent. (Rain [Raizo], Naomie Harris [Mika Coretti])
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Posted on Mar 10, 2010 @ 07:25PM - Add a comment
Capitalism: A Love Story (R)
Firebrand filmmaker Michael Moore turns his skeptical lens on Wall Street, for an examination of corporate economic dominance, what happened to the American economy, and how it's affecting everyday citizens. (Michael Moore [himself], Thora Birch [herself])
Old Dogs (PG)
John Travolta and Robin Williams play best-friend single guys Simon and Buford. They look like adults and speak like adults, but apparently lose all mature functionality when Simon's ex-wife is sent to prison, and he's left to care for their six-year-old twins. Let the slapstick fiesta begin! (John Travolta [Simon], Robin Williams [Buford])
Precious (R)
Inner-city high schooler Precious Jones is overweight, pregnant with her second child and invisible to the world. When a teacher opens a door for her at an alternative school, Precious walks through and finds a sense of identity, and a small taste of hope. (Gabourey Sidibe [Precious], Mo'Nique [Mary])
Up in the Air (R)
Ryan Bingham is good at firing employees en masse, living out out of a suitcase and keeping people at arm's length. But a chance encounter forces him to reconsider his priorities amid a brutal job and dismal economy. (George Clooney [Ryan Bingam], Vera Farmiga [Alex Goran])
DVD Review: The September Issue
Posted on Feb 23, 2010 @ 06:00PM - Add a comment
Sumptuous, lavish and spilling over with a plethora of previously unreleased footage, The September Issue double-disc DVD feels as luxurious as the pages of the magazine it depicts.
The film, which arrives on DVD this week, offers an inside look at the making of Vogue and the chief forces behind it. Director R.J. Cutler obtained unprecedented access to the the inner sanctum of editor-in-chief Anna Wintour during the creation of the magazine’s 2007 September issue which, at 800+ pages, was the largest in its history. Cutler and his crew follow Wintour and members of her staff from New York to Paris, London to Rome and back again, capturing the upper echelons of the world’s fashion industry, while subtly illustrating the pervasive influence that Wintour maintains.
At the heart of The September Issue lies a compelling dynamic between Wintour and creative director Grace Coddington. The two women joined Vogue on the same day more than 20 years ago and their relationship defines much of the film, as well as the magazine itself. While Wintour is practically legendary for her icy demeanor, Coddington is all romance, nostalgia and artistry. With her signature bobbed coif and large sunglasses, Wintour is the ultra-decisive engine behind the magazine’s function as a tastemaker, running meetings with efficiency that would make the Swiss blush, and gently brushing off sycophants and designers alike with mind-boggling focus and equanimity.
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If Wintour is all angles and coolness, Coddington is less contained, expressing fierce devotion to her work and even lamenting her heartbreak when it hits the proverbial cutting room floor. While the two women represent stark contrasts in aesthetics and demeanor, their symbiosis -- as Cutler describes it his DVD commentary -- hinges on a deep mutual reverence and a shared commitment to their professional avenues. The extra segments on the new release further illustrate their personal drives and their working lives, from the glamour to the hurdles. Behind-the-scenes moments in show rooms across global fashion capitols reveal, on an even more granular level, the mechanics of the fashion industry, and their enormous roles therein. (Thakoon gets gentle mentoring while Lagerfeld gets a pat on the arm. And Galliano? Adoration -- and a few jokes at his expense).
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In his commentary, Cutler also points out the unique moment in time that The September Issue captures. Both Wintour and Coddington contemplate -- albeit briefly -- the ends of their careers, while the extreme luxury captured in the title magazine issue was the last gasp before the economy tanked and haute couture largely lost cultural relevance. Only Wintour’s daughter Bee, a picture of youth and beauty, suggests vague distaste for her mother’s gilded world. Despite sitting in on meetings at ateliers across Paris, Bee insists she wants to become a lawyer -- to which Wintour’s response is barely detectable.
For fashion mavens, The September Issue DVD set is not only an aesthetic feast, but an intellectual one as well. For couture neophytes, it’s simply fantastic filmmaking that points an all-too-rare lens at women who are defined simply by their work.
Movie Review: Shutter Island
Posted on Feb 19, 2010 @ 07:11AM - 1 comment
Taut, visually compelling and set to an imaginative set of aural cues and musical nuances, Shutter Island attempts to question the very grounding of the mind and human perception.
Clocking in at 138 minutes, however, it also questions the grounding of audience attention span, as it weaves in and out of the subconscious, fear, dreams and reality, and sometimes loses its grip. Martin Scorsese fulfills the film’s promise, creating an entertaining thriller filled with high-caliber performances and constructed with exceptional cinematography. Based on the eponymous novel by Dennis Lehane, Shutter Island unfolds in 1954, as U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) is investigating the disappearance of a woman from a hospital for the criminally insane. Set on a remote Massachusetts island, it’s assumed that the woman -- who purportedly drowned her children -- is hiding somewhere in the wild outside, as a storm rips through and everyone else is marooned.
