Posts Tagged ‘dvd’

There are many movies that have been released over the years where sequels make sense. That doesn’t mean they need sequels, but you can see how it’ll work. A sequel to Donnie Darko, however, never crossed my mind.

Donnie Darko, one of the most unique, intriguing, mind-bending and debate-invigorating films of the 21st century, is one of my favorite movies. The film, though it was never a box office hit, has become a cult classic, solidified Jake Gyllenhaal as a leading man and is just one damn fine film. It is also a movie with a satisfying ending… an ending where the title character dies to save the world.

Read the full article »

A little known movie called No Country for Old Men came out a couple years back, raked in a few random awards and then settled into obscurity. With few critics or audiences avidly backing the film, the movie disappeared quickly, taking with it its shoddy acting and direction. Good riddance.

Alas, Miramax believes it can make a few more dollars on the unsuspecting moviegoer, as they are about to release on Tuesday a 3-Disc Collector’s Edition. You can read my full No Country for Old Men movie review, where I fault the picture for a variety of things including its lack of excitement, questionable acting – especially by the awful Javier Bardem – and horrific direction by the Coen brothers, or you can read on for my review of this new DVD collection…

Read the full article »

When I first heard about Bedtime Stories, it sounded like a disaster. You take Adam Sandler, the bane of parents everywhere for delivering inappropriate and idiotic humor to their children, and put him in a PG-rated Disney flick, thus circumcising away what makes him so popular among his fan base: I smell mega-flop. But with a Christmas-time release date and some imagination, Bedtime Stories turned into a surprise hit, and deservedly so.

Adam Shankman has a knack for taking adult-oriented actors and making successful children’s comedies out of them. While I’m not a fan of Bringing Down the House, The Pacifier or Cheaper by the Dozen 2, the director has a talent for turning the likes of Steve Martin and Vin Diesel into children’s actors. Still, it was hard to imagine that Sandler’s fan base would accept him in a kid’s flick, or that parents would want to take their children to something featuring him. Nevertheless, Shankman has made the impossible possible; Bedtime Stories is funny, entertaining and utterly harmless, exactly what a Disney comedy should be.

Read the rest of the Bedtime Stories movie review.

One of the greatest – or oddest – on-screen couples of all time returns to DVD in a Centennial Collection edition. Yes, it’s Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, and they are The Odd Couple.

In The Odd Couple, Lemmon plays Felix Ungar, a man who just been kicked by his wife. Left to fend for himself, he ponders suicide until he is taken in by his friend Oscar Madison (Matthau), a divorcee who lives simply and like a slob. Felix seems to be the perfect complement to this, as he’s a clean freak verging on obsessive compulsive. Unfortunately, Felix’s mannerisms begin to gnaw at Oscar’s soul…

Read the full article »

Frozen River is one of those movies that you may not have heard of until Oscar nominations were announced, and that left you wondering how you could see such an acclaimed film that had long since left theaters. Thankfully, Frozen River is now available on DVD and Blu-Ray…

I watched the movie over the weekend, so please read my Frozen River movie review now:

One of the most talked about movies that no one has heard of, Frozen River arrives on DVD on Tuesday, just in time for audiences to get a peek at the Oscar-nominated performance by star Melissa Leo before awards are handed out at the end of the month. Read more…

In other news, I’m giving away a Blu-Ray copy of Frozen River – so enter to win a copy today!

The Weinstein Company will release Jet Li’s The Enforcer in a Special Collector’s Edition DVD on Tuesday, February 10, along with a variety of new bonus features including interviews with the producer, former child star Tse Miu and the villain of the picture, Ken Lo – as well as a feature commentary.

What The Weinstein Company really should have done instead is included a Cantonese audio track so I wouldn’t have had to sludge through a poorly dubbed English version.

Yes, this special collector’s edition is so special that it doesn’t even include the original audio. For someone who has never seen The Enforcer before, like me, it doesn’t do much to win me over by forcing me to listen to dubbed audio, something I vowed never to do after sitting through one too many cringe-inducing Jackie Chan dubs. Dubbing automatically pisses me off, especially when the voice-over actors speak non-accented English. At least have Chinese people with Chinese-accents do the voices!

In reaction to the lack of its original Cantonese track, The Weinstein Company released this statement:

Dragon Dynasty strives to provide fans with only the highest quality DVD releases, including restored video and audio and extensive never-before-seen bonus features created exclusively for the label.

Though no usable version of the original Cantonese-language track was available in time for this release, every effort was made to bring together the best elements in the world in creating the greatest version of The Enforcer ever experienced on DVD in the U.S.

My reaction to this: then don’t release the DVD until you have that audio track available. I thought we were well past the day of dubbing movies, or at least not giving the viewers a choice. Dubbing erases an actors’ performance and reduces the picture to a cheesy mockery of its former self. It’s preposterous that the studio would provide a version like this to Jet Li fans.

As for the movie itself, The Enforcer is just OK. Had I watched the original Cantonese version, I might have thought differently, but with a bunch of English actors providing their voices, most of the dialogue in the movie comes off as overly cheesy and ridiculous. Some of the dialogue, frankly, is painful to listen to.

Beyond the audio issues, however, the movie does suffer from a few unintentionally goofy moments. Some of the wire work at the end, where Jet Li is throwing his kung fu son at bad guys and then withdrawing him with a piece of rope, is funny but completely stupid. The son should also have been brain dead a few times over by the end, yet he always manages to come back to life even after being declared dead by a surgeon. My favorite is that after the boy “dies,” his dad’s first reaction is that, “We need to get him out of here!” rather than to set him down and give him immediate CPR. It’s just little things like this that add up to make the movie look sort of foolish.

That being said, there are some excellent action scenes. The final climax is non-stop and enjoyable, with some good, gritty fighting and stunts. For Jet Li fans, this is more than enough.

When all is said and done, The Enforcer comes off as a lesser version of Infernal Affairs (or The Departed, for that matter), with some good action but a plot full of holes. Unfortunately, without being able to watch a subtitled version of the picture, I can’t give a very good assessment. I’m still amazed that The Weinstein Company would release a movie on DVD without its original audio track.

I love movies. I really love movies. I love watching them, I love playing them, and I love stroking them. Wait, what? Ignore that last part. Getting back on track, as much as I love movies, I’m really not a huge fan of bonus features. It’s not that there aren’t some really good bonus features that get packaged with DVDs – it’s just that the movies themselves are enough for me. The only reason bonus features are included on discs are to sell more – which is fine – but they are, in fact, bonus. And unlike bonus questions on a test that can raise your grade from a B+ to an A-, bonus questions don’t elevate a movie from one plateau to the next.

Given that, I was actually happy to see that W., the George Bush docu-drama from famed director Oliver Stone, had only one real bonus feature. That’s not to say I’m going to recommend the DVD, but when I can knock off a DVD review in a matter of minutes… that’s just awesome.

W. itself is a decent movie, with strong performances from some of the actors (Josh Brolin and Richard Dreyfuss as Bush and Cheney, respectively) and others that are just plain strange (Thandie Newton as a nasally Condoleeza). The movie works for the most part, even though it clips over some important aspects of the Bush presidency and would probably have worked better had it been made a couple years from now, when the taste of Bush is more of a nagging thought than a cringing reminder of what has happened to our country. You can read my full W. movie review here.

Read the full article »

OK, I’ll admit it: I’d never seen Mary Poppins. In fact, I didn’t even know what it was about. I knew that some lady named Julie Andrews was the star – and of course I know who Dick Van Dyke is – but other than that, I heard something about it being a cheesy combination of live-action musical and cartoons. It sounded pretty damn stupid, and when I actually watched this so-called classic Disney film, it confirmed my beliefs: completely – and I mean completely – overrated. I don’t get what people like about this film, and will never watch it again. When I will have children, I will ensure they never, ever see Mary Poppins.

OK, I’ll admit it: that first paragraph is a complete lie. Mary Poppins is one of the biggest family classics of all time, and it deserves to be. It stands the test of time incredibly well, thanks to the enjoyable songs and overall goofiness picture, combined with authentic performances from everyone involved – including the child actors.

To go on raving about Mary Poppins is rather wasteful, so I’ll shift my attention to the 45th Anniversary 2-Disc set that came to DVD earlier this week. The DVD contains a variety of bonus features, and I’ll admit it (for real this time): it’s a pretty good collection of items.

The quantity is good, and the quality is good, and both kids and adults should find something to enjoy here. The one that stands out the most to me is a “musical reunion with Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke and Richard Sherman.” While there’s nothing remarkable here, it’s nice to see Van Dyke and Andrews back together again, singing songs and talking about their experiences.

Speaking of Van Dyke and Andrews, it’s nice to see actors not completely consumed with themselves, even after all these years. These days, if an actor does a big film and is asked to do a reunion interview some years later, I would expect that 50% of the time they would turn it down. In this collection, both Van Dyke and Andrews show up in a variety of special features in their modern-day forms (still looking surprisingly good) – whether it be a new Mary Poppins short (yes, Julie Andrews is back as Mary Poppins!) or a making-of featurette.

Extending from my complaint about modern actors, it’s also impressive to see footage from the original premiere. The interviews seem like something straight out of a Disney movie, and yet they’re sincere. Van Dyke especially just seems happy to be there, and he waves at his baby girl like a goofball. Compare this to modern day premiere or red carpet events and… well, it’s hard to see the similarities.

Less interesting to me were the featurettes about the Broadway version. I didn’t find these all that stimulating, though people with more interest in theater should find something to enjoy. The Broadway elements are extensive – they just didn’t do it for me.

The Mary Poppins: 45th Anniversary DVD has a variety of other features, including the original theatrical trailer, makeup tests with Dick Van Dyke, some additional music numbers, among other things.  All in all, it’s an impressive set of bonus features – and while I have a pile of other movies sitting around waiting to be reviewed, I couldn’t help but stick this movie in. The music is great, the visuals stand up surprisingly well and it’s just an all-around entertaining movie.

To be honest, I just had a single glass of wine and for some reason it’s hitting me harder than I would expect… so I’m going to glaze over the rest of the features. In all fairness, big fans of the movie -

This will be a short movie review, simply because there is little to say. For those of you who have been reading my blog with some consistency, you’ve noticed that I’ve been slowly working my way through the many classic Audrey Hepburn movies, that I, as a 20-something male, never got around to seeing. This series of reviews is no coincidence, of course, because Paramount has been releasing Hepburn’s works in the form of new Centennial Collection DVDs.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s is the fifth DVD release in this line, and it didn’t come a moment too soon. After all, I hold Breakfast at Tiffany’s as one of the best romantic comedies ever made, and one that all future films should be compared against.

The movie works on many levels: Hepburn is fantastic and super hot in it; the chemistry between her and George Peppard is great; the story is fun and more than stands the test of time; the movie is romantic and funny all at once; and so on and so forth.

I told you this was going to be a short review. Analysing films that I really like is always rather boring, because anything you write in attempt to fill out the review ends up being filler for the baseline fact: the movie is damn good. So, why waste words?

I’m done.

Seriously.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s is great, and if you’re young like me and haven’t seen the movie, you should check it out. Especially you ladies, because then maybe you wouldn’t go flocking to such pictures as Bride Wars, which looked funny but rather disparaging to the fairer sex from the previews.

God, you’re still here? The 2-disc DVD set includes commentary by producer Richard Shepherd and a variety of featurettes, including:

• A Golightly Gathering
• Henry Mancini: More Than Music
• Mr. Yunioshi: An Asian Perspective
• The Making of a Classic
• It’s So Audrey: A Style Icon
• Behind the Gates: The Tour
• Brilliance in a Blue Box
• Audrey’s Letter to Tiffany
• Original Theatrical Trailer

So, if you’re an Audrey Hepburn fan, this new DVD version of Breakfast at Tiffany’s may be worth purchasing.

My Best Friend’s Girl arrives on DVD on January 13th, 2009. Here’s my movie review for the romantic comedy:

Dane Cook continues his quest to prove he’s unfunny in My Best Friend’s Girl, a less-crude version of Good Luck Chuck with only a slightly altered premise. In the movie, Cook plays a guy named Tank, who is hired by other men to take their ex-girlfriends on dates and show those women, by being a complete and utter asshole, that their former flames aren’t so bad. So, once again, Cook plays a womanizer who ultimately falls for one of his victims.

Thankfully, My Best Friend’s Girl is no Good Luck Chuck. It isn’t hilarious, it isn’t a must-see, but it is mildly entertaining and easy to watch. It also doesn’t self-destruct the way the aforementioned did, though it isn’t completely clear of a Cook-meltdown that seems to be commonplace in his films.

Read the rest of the My Best Friend’s Girl movie review.

Swing Vote will be released on DVD on January 13, 2009. Here is my Swing Vote movie review:

Poor Kevin Costner. Once a box office star, he is now the anti-star, and for no real apparent reason. He’s an enjoyable actor, and if you look at his resume, he has far more good films than bad ones. Audiences and critics alike still punish him for Waterworld and The Postman, even though since he hasn’t done any more disasters than most other big actors. Nevertheless, it’s no surprise that his latest film, Swing Vote, came and went from theaters without a thought. It’s a shame, actually, as Swing Vote is surprisingly entertaining.

Costner stars as a down-on-his-luck single father named Bud who has never cared about politics – or much of anything at all. In complete contrast is his young daughter, wise beyond her years and well-educated on the world. By fluke chance, however, Bud is thrust into the national spotlight when it is determined that he is the one vote that will decide the outcome of the presidential election. Suddenly, Bud finds himself hounded by reporters and candidates alike, even though he has no interest in the process or the issues. Read the full Swing Vote movie review.

Kate Beckinsale. Kate Beckinsale in tight, black leather. Kate Beckinsale sucking blood and making nooky with a hairy vampire. This stuff sells tickets, folks.

The first Underworld is the perfect example of glitz over substance, but a fast-paced storyline, lots of action, R-rated gore and yes, Kate Beckinsale in black leather, made it a worthwhile entry in the action-horror genre, if there is such a thing. Unfortunately, such a film inevitably led to a sequel, which tried to be bigger and better but suffered from the typical sequel issues. Underworld: Evolution was entertaining, but overblown.

Now, with the release of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans – which replaces Kate Beckinsale with Rhona Mitra – Sony is bringing Underworld and Underworld: Evolution back to DVD in an all-new Double Feature DVD set, which includes the unrated director’s cut of the original film (15 extra minutes, give or take) and its sequel.

Read the full article »

Fox’s hit TV show 24 starts today, January 11th, so it’s no surprise that its main character, Jack Bauer, is getting three straight days of action. Two hours of 24 on Sunday, two more hours on Monday, and then, on Tuesday, Kiefer Sutherland’s horror movie Mirrors arrives on DVD.

Mirrors is a creepy movie, for obvious reasons. Think of all of the horror movies you’ve watched in your lifetime, of the good ones and the bad ones: one of the most reliable scare tactic in any of these films is the predictable yet effective mirror sequence… you know, where the character goes to pop a couple pills in the bathroom, closes the cabinet door and – bam! – something is behind the character, waiting to strike. You know it’s coming, yet is scares you nonetheless.

The first horror movie I ever remember watching – in elementary school – was Candyman. Say his name six times into the mirror and you are one dead bastard. For years, I never went into the bathroom when the lights were off – I snaked my hand inside to find the light switch. I finally overcame this fear when I went to college.

Read the full article »

In my continued case to see all things Audrey Hepburn, I popped Funny Face into my DVD player today. Thankfully, Paramount Pictures has been releasing Hepburn films over the last few months under its Centennial Edition banner, and Funny Face is the latest to be re-released. Having just watched Sabrina, Roman Holiday and, of course, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, my expectations were set pretty high – little did I know that Funny Face was an annoying musical that definitely does not stand the test of time.

Funny Face is about a fashion magazine photographer (Fred Astaire) who, in order to get a perfect shot, storms into an old bookstore to perform a photo shoot – taking the poor bookkeeper (Hepburn) by surprise. Though she has a “funny face,” Mr. Astaire sees something in the young women and selects her to be his next model. Hepburn is swept away to Paris for her big premiere, though her intentions are more to philosophize with Parisians than walk down a runway. At the same time, an awkward relationship forms between the two.

Read the full article »

On January 16th, Battlestar Galactica returns with its final season, the end of a glorious run. BSG is easily one of the best sci-fi shows ever made, and one of the best dramas, too. It’s had its ups and downs, of course, but even it’s worst episode is better than the best episodes of some pretty decent shows.

If you can’t wait that long, Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.0 comes to DVD on January 6th.

Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.0 begins with the return of Starbuck, who was assumed dead. Her return is regarded with suspicion, as her death was witnessed and the logical assumption is that she is indeed a Cylon. But Adama puts his faith in her anyway, and lets her set out with a crew of dedicated soldiers to search for Earth, something she realizes she has been dreaming about since she was a child.

Other storylines continue the revelation of the Final Five Cylons, whose destinies are yet to be determined. The defintion of what it is to be human is explored in greater detail, especially when the Cylons fraction, causing a civil war. Adama, President Roslin and others find themselves forced to make a huge leap of faith: join forces with one faction to eliminate the other, all in the quest to discover Earth.

BSG: Season 4.0 is as rich as the other seasons, and its character and story developments continue to expand our expectations and make us question what is right and what is wrong. At the same time, the show also presses further on its ideas of destiny and fate, something I’ve never really liked, at least not when the production is otherwise grounded in reality. While it works, the show’s mysticism continues to irk me some.

Every episode comes with a series of deleted scenes, and also included is the one-off BSG movie Razor (strangely with different, rather rudimentary font and packaging compared to the rest of the discs). Special features include those previously included on the Razor disc that was available to own last year, and a bunch of featurettes and video blogs. The featurettes found on disc four are pretty interesting and include each actor’s perspective on their characters. The Music of Battlestar Galactica is surprisingly funny. I didn’t watch all of the video blogs.

This DVD review is pretty useless, as fans of the show no doubt already have preordered Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.0 to own. If you haven’t watched the show, you have to start from Season One, Episode One. BSG is one of the best shows ever made.