This Week on DVD & Blu-ray (09-10-13 thru 09-13-13)
“Star Trek Into Darkness” is out this week. It’s the first of a handful of big summer blockbusters that did well at the box office, despite the mixed reaction from fans. I enjoyed it thoroughly, yet completely understood most of the issues people had with director J. J. Abrams sequel. I had such a good time with it that I don’t care. Now, for those who purchase Blu-rays for Special Features – well, Paramount doesn’t care about you. They’ve managed to scatter them throughout many platforms (iTunes has a commentary, Best Buy and Wal-Mart has some others as well), so keep that in mind when you’re considering picking up “Star Trek Into Darkness”. There’s also “Peeples”, which is a “Tyler Perry Presents” comedy starring Craig Robinson who decides to crash his girlfriend’s (Kerry Washington) family reunion in the Hamptons in order to ask for her hand in marriage. Awkwardness and familial dysfunction ensues. I haven’t seen it, but Robinson is always a hoot, so maybe. Disney is releasing a 20th Anniversary of “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas” (even though Burton didn’t direct it, Henry Selick did) with Halloween just around the corner, just in case you don’t have a copy in your collection. What else is out this week….
Blackfish (2013)
written by: Gabriela Cowperthwaite, Eli Despres and Tim Zimmermann
produced by: Gabriela Cowperthwaite and Manuel V. Oteyza
directed by: Gabriela Coweperthwaite
rating:
runtime: 83 min.
U.S. release date: July 19, 2013 (limited release)
On February 24, 2010, during a “Dine with Shamu” show at SeaWorld Orlando, 40 year-old orca trainer Dawn Brancheau was pulled underwater, scalped and dismembered by the park’s star killer whale, Tilikum. When such an event hits the news waves, everyone questions how it could happen. That’s where Cowperthwaite, a filmmaker who frequented SeaWorld with her family, started and it eventually motivated her to examine the horrific incident, resulting in “Blackfish”, a documentary that premiered earlier this year at Sundance. Anyone expecting the film to use heavy journalism though, will be disappointed.
The Company You Keep (2013)
written by: Lem Dobbs
produced by: Robert Redford, Nicolas Chartier and Bill Holderman
directed by: Robert Redford
rating: R (for violence)
runtime: 121 min.
U.S. release date: April 5, 2013
DVD/Blu-ray release date: August 13, 2013
Fully content to direct films as he likes and sees fit while also staying in the background of the Sundance Film Festival, it’s easy to forget what a legend Robert Redford really is. He’s one of the few remaining legitimate screen legends from the 1960s and 1970s. When he does make a film – directing/acting – moviegoers and fans should jump. Or as the case with “The Company You Keep”, he does both, directing and acting.
Phantom (2013)
written by: Todd Robinson
produced by: John Watson, Julian Adams and Pen Densham
directed by: Todd Robinson
rating: R (for violence)
runtime: 98 min.
U.S. release date: March 1, 2013
DVD/Blu-ray release date: June 21, 2013
Okay, it’s official. If you believe the movies (and I do), there is nowhere worse you can serve in any country’s military than a submarine. Betrayals, mutinies, drowning, claustrophobic conditions, horrific food, how can you lose? If you’re a Russian submariner I suppose. “Hunt for Red October”, “K-19”, and now, “Phantom”, released ever so briefly in theaters, is yet another horrific experience for the Russian navy.
The Grandmaster (2013)
written by: Wong Kar-wai
produced by: Ng See-yeun, Megan Ellison and Wong Kar-wai
directed by: Wong Kar-wai
rating: PG-13 (for violence, some smoking, brief drug use and language)
runtime: 108 minutes
U.S. release date: August 30, 2013
In scrolling through your preferred movie streaming venue, you may have come across a movie called “Ip Man” and its sequels. Maybe you’re like me and knew nothing about this Ip Man character let alone that he was actually a real person. It took doing a little prep work in anticipation for director Wong Kar-wai’s latest film “The Grandmaster” to understand the significant impact of the martial arts legend. Anyone expecting to see a kung fu action movie should adjust their expectations and prepare for an ambitious epic drama that covers a historical period of time in China and a decades spanning love story. It’s Wong Kar-wai after all. But something happened to this film on the way to the States.
COMING SOON Poll – September 2013
September is the month where we start to see films that generate awards buzz, ones that you’ll see pop up on all the end-of-the-year lists. Oh, there have certainly been some great movies already this year (“Mud”, “The Place Beyond the Pines”, “The Way Way Back” and “The Spectacular Now”), but traditionally, studios save their major contenders for the fall. Among the releases this month, is one of the final films of James Gandolfini (“Enough Said”) and the directorial debut of actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt (“Don Jon”). There’s also “Prisoners”, a crime thriller from Oscar-nominated Canadian director, Denis Villeneuve, which is already receiving good press. There’s also the return of “Riddick” and new movies from Ron Howard and Luc Besson, as well as the requisite monthly sequels (“Insidious Chapter 2” and “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2”) among the many indies. So, it’s time to vote!
This Week on DVD & Blu-ray (09-03-13)
For some reason, I had no desire to see Louis Leterrier’s bank heist/illusionist thriller “Now You See Me”, which came out last May. It has some actors in it that I generally like and find entertaining, but I guess I’ve lost interest in the concept in the “ensemble cast as clever and cool criminals” subgenre (and I have a slight case of Morgan Freeman fatigue). Surprisingly, I heard it’s pretty good AND they’re making a sequel (which better be called “Now You Don’t”). Michael Shannon plays real-life contract killer/family man Richard Kuklinski in “The Iceman” a crime thriller that saw a limited release on the same day of a certain Man of Iron. This qualifies as no-brainer inevitable viewing for me. Of course, “From Up on Poppy Hill” the new animated feature from Studio Ghibli piques my interest. Master animator Hayao Miyazaki may have announced his retirement recently, but it’s clear we’ll still be the recipients of his creative genius (he serves as screenwriter here). This beautifully animated film was directed by his son, Gorō Miyazaki, his first since his debut “Tales form Earthsea”, and is based on a popular Japanese manga strip from 1980, which follows a couple of high school kids who try to save their school from getting demolished in order to make room for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Getaway (2013)
written by: Sean Finegan and Greg Maxwell Parker
produced by: Steve Richards, Joel Silver & Courtney Solomon
directed by: Courtney Solomon
rating: PG-13 (for intense action, violence and mayhem throughout, some rude gestures and language)
runtime: 90 min.
U.S. release date: August 30, 2013
Watching “Getaway”, I wanted to open the door and roll out, with no regard of where I landed or the amount of pain I would receive. It didn’t take long for me to feel this way. It’s been a while since I had a moviegoing experience as painfully frustrating and annoying as this one. Sometimes, you think you know better, but you want to believe there’s at least some entertainment value present. I thought knowing the premise in advance – a worn out fortysomething dude stuck driving around in a super fast car with a barely legal teen – might help prepare me for how much the movie would suck. It didn’t help.
Spring Breakers (2013)
written by: Harmony Korine
produced by: Charles-Marie Anthonioz, Jordan Gertner, Chris Hanley & David Zander
directed by: Harmony Korine
rating: R (for strong sexual content, language, nudity, drug use and violence throughout)
runtime: 93 min.
U.S. release date: March 22, 2013
DVD/Blu-ray release date: July 9, 2013
There are movies so bad that it is hard to describe. “Spring Breakers”, appropriately released this past March, is at the top of that list. What’s the appeal? Even the premise that four attractive young actresses would prance around in bikinis for 90 minutes didn’t seem enough. But watching with a friend – thank you Redbox credit! – I gave it a shot. It’s beyond a guilty pleasure, it’s just an awful movie. And away we go!
This Week on DVD & Blu-ray (08-27-13)
While a new “Transformers” movie is being filmed in Chicago right now, director Michael Bay’s recent movie “Pain & Gain” is now available to rent or own – and believe it or not, it was on some critic’s Top Five Films of 2013 (so far) lists. I didn’t get around to seeing the based-on-a-true-story action comedy in theaters, so I’m interested to see how it fares at home. On the flip side, I can’t see how Baz Lurhmann’s “The Great Gatsby” can have any impact at home unless you have a home theater system with 3D capabilities. The F. Scott Fitzgerald adaptation starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan didn’t do too much for me other than the razzle dazzle it offers, but many viewers really enjoyed it. “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” (so many reasons why I shouldn’t like that title, but I do) didn’t find many viewers though. It might’ve been due to its limited release or maybe the time of year it was released or maybe that title after all. Directed by Mira Nair (“Monsoon Wedding” and “The Namesake”), someone whose films I enjoy, this intriguing thriller follows a young Pakistani man who finds himself caught between following his dreams here in America, getting finger-pointed for terrorist acts and finding himself pulled by the call of his homeland.
