Tuesday, November 23, 2010

New DVD Tuesday

The Expendables (2010) - Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, et al
The most ridiculous, over the top action movie in the history of mankind revolves around a group of hardened mercenaries who take on a no-win mission to bring freedom to a city in Mexico. Like "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" I saw this right before I essentially put my arm in a chipper and wasn't able to write a review. Simply put, this is the stupidest movie I've ever thoroughly enjoyed. I think the entire movie can be summed up by my brother's statement regarding a particularly ridiculous moment in the film's final battle. As a river of gasoline that for some reason runs right through the middle of the enemy camp goes up in flames, my brother said, "Wait what in the...you know what, I don't care." That's how I felt throughout. Nothing made the least bit of sense but I didn't care, it was too much fun. Totally worth a viewing.

Eat Pray Love (2010) - Julia Roberts, Javier Bardem
A middle aged woman (Roberts) goes on year long journey around the world to rediscover her zest for life. I have always loved Julia so I'm sure I'll check this out at some point. The subject matter, however, doesn't really interest me. Guess that proves that, at least for this guy, big name movie stars still have some appeal.

Flipped (2010) - Callan McAuliffe, Aidan Quinn
A boy (McAuliffe) and girl in the early 60s go through the ups and downs of first love. Totally uninterested if not for the fact that the director is Rob Reiner. What I like most about Reiner is his distinctiveness. If you flip to a movie on a Saturday afternoon, you will know immediately if it's a Reiner film just because of the dialogue. If this pops up on Instant View, I might give it a whirl.

I'm Still Here (2010) - Joaquin Phoenix
The pseudo-documentary by Casey Affleck that follows the life of Phoenix as he transitions from movie superstar to would-be underground rapper. Affleck let lose that this was in fact a bit and not an actual career change but still, the work Phoenix put into this role is remarkable. So looking forward to checking this out.

New to Blu Ray
Beauty and the Beast (1991) - Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson
The classic Disney film that really set the stage for "Toy Story 3," "Up," and the like as far as taking animated films seriously goes. I'm not in love with this movie by any means but there's absolutely no denying its legacy.

Deadwood: The Complete Series (2004) - Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, Garrett Dillahunt, John Hawkes
A realistic look at life in a Frontier town of the Old West, "Deadwood" is one of the best TV series ever in my opinion. You could convince me that it's the best drama series ever. I'm not saying it is, but you could convince me. It's also one of the ROUGHEST shows around and is certainly not for everyone (really, it's not for about 95% of people). That said, you will very rarely see as strong a cast as "Deadwood" put together nor a better example of actors feeding off of each other. In its entire three year run, never once did the show miss the target and never once did a performance fail to inspire. Seriously outstanding piece of work.

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