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On DVD: "Knight and Day" - The Best Action Comedy of the Year
Last night I was at a loss for a DVD pick of the week and wondered if I might find some worth in either "Knight and Day" or "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." I do love to defend the merits of a dismissed or underrated Hollywood production. Sometimes it doesn't work out, as was the case when I finally saw...
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On DVD: "Countdown to Zero" - The Scariest Film of the Year
Again let me remind everyone that I'm not much of a horror guy, but even if I've only seen a few titles of that genre this year I think I can honestly say "Countdown to Zero" is the scariest film of the year. Don't be fooled because it's a documentary, Lucy Walker's first release of this year (she also has the Oscar-shortlisted "Waste Land" currently in theaters) may not have any gore or vampires or zombies or exorcisms, but it does have some revealing details on how easy it is for terrorists to get their hands on nuclear weapons. And that is obviously a whole lot more real and therefore a whole lot more frightening. This is the stuff that wi...
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On DVD: "EXAM" is "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" for Grown-Ups
My number one DVD (and Netflix Instant) recommendation this week is for the restored "Metropolis" (aka "The Complete Metropolis"), which I'm assuming will be more enjoyable at home than in a theater full of laughing newbies, as was the unfortunate case with my experience of it earlier this year. I will get to more on that obvious choice later, though, as I'd like to first spotlight a lesser known new title called "EXAM," a British psychological thriller which was put out on VOD platforms over the summer but which I think will find a greater audience on DVD. It has definitely got cult potential, at least on the level of superficially similar e...
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"Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" Released on DVD. Will the Mainstream Embrace it Now?
While "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" was playing to a disappointingly small audience upon its release this past summer, many movie geeks predicted that when the film hit home video and mainstream audiences "discovered" it there/then that these people would admit they wish they'd seen it in theaters. I disagreed at the time partly because I don't think a lot of those viewers care what format they see most films in. But now I'm also wondering if the mainstream audience will even "discover" and embrace the comic book adaptation the way a lot of bloggers hopefully and scornfully presume. It could be a while before we see just how big a hit "Scott ...
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Explaining the Cellphone User in the 1928 "Circus" Premiere Footage
In what seems to be the greatest potential real time-traveler mystery since John Titor, indie filmmaker George Clarke ("Battle of the Bone") has noticed a person seemingly talking on a cellphone at the 1928 premiere of Charlie Chaplin's "The Circus." Clark has shown the footage to hundreds of people...
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On DVD: Nicole Holofcener's "Please Give" - AKA "You Can't Take It With You, Too"
With "Please Give," out on DVD today, Nicole Holofcener ("Lovely and Amazing") comes her closest to Frank Capra. The comedy is a kind of light black -- not gray; I mean light in tone, black in subject matter -- reminiscent of "Arsenic and Old Lace." And the themes made me think of "You Can't Take It With You," especially after reading an interview with the filmmaker in which she says the very words of that title. Probably not meaning to reference the play or film, though. There are no great idealistic protagonists in "Please Give," and for Holofcener the ultimate allegiance to capitalism is far more blatant in her films. I said she comes her ...
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Now You See It: "MacGruber" - Necessary Spoof or Deserved Flop?
There is a sort of outcry I keep noticing regarding certain movies that aren't doing well at the box office. Movies that are very popular with the blog critics out there, like "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" and "Kick-Ass." Those kinds of movies that are enthusiastically supported at Comic-Con only to be dismissed by the mainstream come theatrical release time. This year the phrase has also been used in relation to the disappointment of "MacGruber," which was well-received by the Austin crowd at its SXSW premiere only to be ignored at the multiplex two months later (it made even less than both the much-hated "Jonah Hex" and the science document...
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"Machete" Primer: "Grindhouse: Planet Terror"
I've finished the second half of my self-assigned task to see the two "Grindhouse" features before seeing "Machete." You can go back and read my thoughts on Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof," which is the preferred part for many film buffs. I have to admit, though, that in many ways Robert Rodriguez's "Planet Terror" is more satisfying. It doesn't seem to have as much subtext going on, but there's a whole heck of a lot more happening on the screen here than in Tarantino's feature. As someone who's only liked one of Rodriguez's films in the past -- "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" -- I'll say I don't mind his films being mindless if they're a good...
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"Machete" Primer: "Grindhouse: Death Proof"
In anticipation of the new film "Machete," which opens this Friday, I'm making a point to familiarize myself with some must-see forerunners. They're not all necessarily linked in an official manner to Robert Rodriguez's latest, which is based on a (then) fake trailer included in the double-feature release of "Grindhouse," but I consider them relative predecessors. First up is Quentin Tarantino's half of "Grindhouse," "Death Proof." I guess it makes sense to see this after the Rodriguez half, "Planet Terror," but I was more excited by this, if only because it received more praise. I also, like many, prefer Tarantino's films to Rodriguez's. Sta...
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"Red Riding" Trilogy on Netflix Watch Instantly?
I was hoping to spotlight the "Red Riding" trilogy this week in lieu of doing a DVD pick. The three films (fully titled, in order, "Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1974," Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1980" and Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1983") won't physically be released on DVD and Blu-ray until August 31, but they all hit the digital platform a few days ago via Netflix's Watch Instantly service. I think exclusively. There is a lot of mainstream appeal with the trilogy at the moment, including new Spider-Man Andrew Garfield starring in the first movie, its comparability to the "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" films (aka the ...
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