NEW TO DVD APRIL 08, 2008

NEW TO DVD TUESDAY, APRIL 08, 2008

11th Hour, The-NR-Starring Leonardo DiCaprio-Documentary. This is one of those “save the planet” movies. DiCaprio doesn’t actually narrate a big portion of the movie, due to his apparent lack of actual expert knowledge on the subject, unlike Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth. A large portion of the movie is spent hearing from the “experts”. Renew and recycle to save yourself from impending doom. There, now you don’t have to sit through it.

Cellar Door-R for strong bloody violence and terror, and language-Starring James DuMont and Michelle Tomlinson. Horror/Thriller. OK, tell me this is not funny. James DuMont has been in a lot of movies. Most often his characters do not have names. His characters are like “gas can guy,” and, “well-meaning father,” and “vacuum salesman,” and “prison driver,” oh, the list goes on. This is funny to me. Apparently his does quite a good job in this movie. Kind of a twisted plot, yet an already used one. Not only did they use a plot that another movie has already used, they used the name of another movie as well. There was a short horror movie with the same name that was just released with the exact same title. There was another movie with the same title released a few years ago as well. Aside from the fact they used the name and plot from another movie, I’m sure it’s quite original. A girl finds herself the obsession of a creepy stalker guy, who turns out to be one of those guys who takes girls and keeps them in cages in his basement for purposes of twisted and sadistic torturing—you know the type. Finding herself in a wooden cage, and realizing she is not the first target of his…affection, she attempts an escape through a cellar door.

Day of the Dead-R for strong pervasive horror violence and gore, and language-Starring Mena Suvari, Michael Welch, and Ving Rhames Horror/Thriller This gets a little confusing, so try to follow along: There was Romero’s movie Night of the Living Dead in 1968, following by his sequel, Dawn of the Dead in 1979, right? Then in 1985 Romero came out with a sequel to Dawn of the Dead, titled Day of the Dead (#3). Night of the Living Dead was remade in 1990, and again in 2006 (Night of the Living Dead 3D). This week, Steve Miner brings us a remake of Romero’s 1985 Day of the Dead. This skipped the box office and went straight to DVD. Also in this series was Land of the Dead (2005), and Diary of the Dead (2007). (Dawn of the Dead was remade in 2004 but was not a sequel to the 1968 Night of the Living Dead version…) The Return of the Living Dead, and The Return of the Living Dead II, III, etc. are NOT part of this series, officially. Romero has plans to make one more in the Night of the Living Dead series. All I have to say is, wow. The disorganization pains me. As far as the quality of the movie, it really got terrible reviews. I’m not sure why it was remade to begin with, going straight to DVD. If you are going to remake a movie, your purpose should be to make it better than the first. I’m guessing by the comments that it anything but.


Lions for Lambs-R for some war violence and language-Starring Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, Michael Pena, and Andrew Garfield. Drama/War. Two stories intermingle here and tie up neatly at the end. An experienced journalist (Streep) who feels like her employers have sold out in the name of ratings and advertising takes on a difficult interview with a politician (Cruise) trying to spin America’s view of the Iraqi war via the media. Meanwhile, a college professor (Redford) questions one of his bright-but-slacker students, telling him about two of his former students who now are serving in the war in Afghanistan, in the very military action Cruise is trying to sell to the media. Streep, sensing a sham, is torn between printing what she knows to be hype, and following her employers instructions, led by advertising dollars rather than the truth. The story is actually quite good, if not politically motivated to some degree. You can set everything aside (yes, even Tom Cruise), simply because Meryl Streep and Robert Redford are in it. There aren’t words to describe what they bring to any film. One of them alone is enough. Having both is just too good to be true. It could be a movie about the phone book, and it would still be good. Michael Pena (The Shield) was also very good, as was Andrew Garfield. Cruise was OK, just not a very big fan. The story was sad, at least the Robert Redford/war storyline. The Meryl Streep/Cruise story line was great. This is the must-see movie of the week.

Music Within-R for language including sexual references and some drug content-Starring Ron Livingston, Melissa George (30 Days and Nights), Michael Sheen, Yul Vazquez, Rebecca De Mornay, Hector Elizondo, and Leslie Neilson. With Marion Ross (Happy Days). Comedy/Drama. The true story of a public speaker who returns from Vietnam with a severe hearing impairment, and is forced to find a new purpose. He channels his efforts into Americans with Disabilities, paving the way for many disabled Americans. Won awards, is purported to be both witty and engaging. Authentic story.

Reservation Road-R- Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Elle Fanning, Jennifer Connelly, Mark Ruffalo, and Mira Sorvino. A big cast for a movie that did less than $1M in the box office. Drama/Thriller. Based on the novel. A hit-and-run car accident takes the life of one father, and destroys the life of another. The movie starts off with the tragedy, and then takes the entire movie to resolve the conflicts. I think this would be exhausting rather than enjoyable, not to mention that I can’t stand movies where a character makes bad decisions (or a single bad decision) throughout the movie, when the audience can clearly see the positive outcome of the alternate decision. This is like watching your two-year-old stick their finger in a light socket, telling them not to do it, and them watching them do it again. And again. It’s painful to watch, and certainly not enjoyable. (No, my children have never stuck their finger into a light socket, but most of my children come to me after the age of 14… that would be r….e….a…l…l….y stupid.)

Resurrecting the Champ-PG13 for some violence and brief language-Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Josh Hartnett, Kathryn Morris, Alan Alda, and Teri Hatcher Drama/Sport/Boxing A sports reporter (Harnett) rescues a homeless man (Jackson), and discovers he is a former boxing champ formerly thought to have been deceased. Harnett attempts to cash in on the champ’s story to make a name for himself as a reporter, escaping the shadow cast by his father’s success. This is loosely based on the true story of boxer Bob Satterfield and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Moehringer. Possibly a sleeper. Not very many of these out there. The cast is solid, and the story sounds good. Looks good to me.

P2-R for strong violence/gore and language-Starring Rachel Nichols and Wes Bentley. Horror/Canada. By the maker of Hills Have Eyes and High Tension. A woman finds herself stalked by a psychopath after being locked in a parking garage on Christmas Eve. This actually isn’t supposed to be half bad, although I have not seen it.


There Will Be Blood (aka Oil!)-R for some violence-Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Kevin O’Connor, Colleen Foy. Crime/Drama. Won 2 Oscars, nominated and won over 30 other awards. Set in California at the turn of the century, this is a story about the a greedy prospector obsessed with his success and the failure of others, and the effects this early prospecting had on a family and the town, and his eventual self-alienation. Based on the novel Oil!

Walk Hard-Dewey Cox Story-R for sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and language-Starring John C Reilly, Jenna Fisher, Raymond Barry, and Margo Martindale. Comedy. The story of singer Dewey Cox, who apparently has had over 400…. relationships….. has habitually taken every drug and then kicked the habit, and so on, and still managed to be a music legend (how uncanny). It looks as bad as the summary sounds.