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Video releases - 11/03/09
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This week on DVD ...
A few small character films worth seeing, a horrifying doc about the food we eat, a big stoopid flick that's seen enough action, young love and the taking of a very familiar train car. In other words, there is literally something for everyone!
ALIENS IN THE ATTIC
ANSWER MAN, THE (2009)
Jeff Daniels, Lauren Graham, Kat Dennings, Olivia Thirlby, Tony Hale, Nora Dunn
SCR/DIR: John Hindman
R / 1:35 / www.answermanmovie.com/
Daniels is Arlen Faber, a reclusive spiritual guru who “cornered the faith market” twenty years ago with “Me and God,” a tome that’s as bogus as it is successful. All he wants is to be left alone, and to date, he has been successful in concealing his identity. But a debilitating back injury forces him (on all fours) to see the local chiropractor (Graham) and it’s only a matter of time before he bonds with her troubled young son. There is also a young alcoholic running a rapidly-failing independent bookstore who accepts books-for-trade in exchange for advice from the guru. Alas, this tasty concept has its wings clipped by a story that never achieves what the late, great Blake Snyder would have called “the promise of the premise.” The finale, in which Daniels makes a grand re-entrance into the world isn’t given the set-up needed and leaves established characters standing around while he chases down the girl. It’s a shame, because Daniels is perfectly cast in a challenging role. Dennings, Thirlby and Dunn wallow in thankless roles. (Magnolia)
FOOD, INC.
G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA
I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER
ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS (2009)
Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Simon Pegg
SCR: Michael Berg, Peter Ackerman
DIR: Carlos Saldanha
PG / 1:52 / www.iceagemovie.com
In Part 3 of this CGI-animated series, Manny (Ray Romano) and Ellie (Queen Latifah) await the birth of their mini-mammoth, Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo) adopts three dinosaur eggs; and Diego the saber-toothed tiger (Denis Leary) wonders if he's gone "soft." After Sid is captured by the angry T. Rex mama, the gang heads underground into a mysterious world where they have some close encounters with dinosaurs and meet a relentless, one-eyed, dino-hunting weasel named Buck (Pegg). Everyone in this film is having babies, talking about having babies or doing the mating dance. Even Scrat the crazy squirrel can’t decide what he loves more: his precious acorn or the lady squirrel he has a Pepe-le-Pew thing for. The visuals may get better with every new episode, but the story and humor elements are as extinct as these creatures should be. (20th Century Fox)
MARC PEASE EXPERIENCE, THE (2009)
Ben Stiller, Jason Schwartzman, Anna Kendrick, Kelen Coleman, Gabrielle Dennis, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Amber Wallace
SCR: Jacob Koskoff & Todd Louiso
DIR: Todd Louiso
PG-13 / 1:24 / DVD RELEASE 11/03/09
It’s hard to imagine why Stiller – and for that matter, Schwartzman – would agree to have anything to do with this stillborn Rushmore wannabe. Stiller is Mr. Gribble, a self-absorbed high school chorus teacher seeing an awkward student (Kendrick) on the side. Whoops, she’s also the girlfriend of 24-year old limo driver Marc Pease (Schwartzman), a delusional man-child so obsessed with recording a demo with his a cappella group Meridian 8 (now down to four) and having Gribble produce it that’s he’s willing to sell his condo. This is filled with risible, despicable souls without the benefit of any satirical wit or (worse) a single solid laugh. It’s poorly written and directed. As this mess lumbers to a finale built around a high school performance of The Wiz, it becomes more entertaining to figure out what the hell kind of movie writer-director Louiso actually thought he was making. At the very moment Schwartzman confronts Stiller and things start getting ugly and real, Louiso queues up the wacky comedy music and puts his movie out of its misery. This film, which was dumped straight-to-DVD after an aborted theatrical run, has the reputation of being the final nail in Paramount Vantage’s coffin (before the studio was shuttered by its parent company).
STAR WARS THE CLONE WARS: THE COMPLETE SEASON ONE
TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3, THE (2009)
Denzel Washington, John Travolta, John Turturro, Luis Guzman, Michael Rispoli, James Gandolfini
SCR: Brian Helgeland;
Based on the novel by John Godey
DIR: Tony Scott
R / 1:46 / www.sonypictures.net/movies/thetakingofpelham123
Travolta hijacks a New York subway train and demands via telephone $10 million for the lives of 18 hostages – and he wants the dough in just one hour. On the other end of the line is dispatcher Washington, who lacks the ability to deal with a hostage situation, but Travolta insists on dealing with him. Third version of the seminal potboiler is effectively contemporized and revved up, and the solid cast doesn’t hurt. Travolta is a little too hammy at first, which is never a good thing (um, Battlefield Earth…) but fortunately settles into a rhythm with the more subdued Washington. Helgeland’s spare script compliments Scott’s direction perfectly until the helmer gets too carried away with flashy tricks that muddy the action. But even if the last act suffers from visual flourishes and shoe-horning Washington into the action, Pelham is a taut thrill-ride. WAIT, DID YOU SAY THIRD VERSION? Yep, there was the iconic 1974 crime classic with Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw; and a 1998 TV remake with Edward James Olmos and Vincent D’Onofrio. (Columbia/MGM)
WILL FERRELL: YOU'RE WELCOME AMERICA
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