New Releases: August 11th, 2009

We have three heavy hitters this week, there's 'The Class,' a lifelike case study set in the French education system, which I haven't seen but soon will due to its excellent critical appraisal as well as the pre-Oscar rumors that called it a shoe-in for best foreign film. Next, there's 'I Love You Man,' to which future generations will owe the proliferation of the word 'bromance.' It's supposedly a fine example of the romantic/buddy comedy and I plan to check it out at my earliest. Finally, we have 'Waltz With Bashir,' and in my perfect world this is the film that should have won best foreign film, best animated film and best documentary last Oscars, it is assuredly all three. It's part Persepolis, part Waking Life, but also quite different from those films. The visuals are astonishing, like a page of a graphic novel brought seamlessly to life, retaining the tactile, handmade feeling of traditional cel animation but adding to it the perfectly smooth and fluid movement that only computers can provide. They didn't take documentary footage and extrapolate it into stunning animation just for show though, the film's singular goal is to blur the line between objective reality and the subjective world of dreams and memories, and without giving anything away, the film's final few shots make the entire effort worthwhile. It's got something for everyone, and I hope you'll give it a spin and enjoy it as much as I did. Oh yeah, and 17 Again.

New this week:

Donkey X



Gooby



London to Brighton



Road Trip: Beer Pong



I Love You Man



St. Trinian's



17 Again



Waltz With Bashir



The Class



Katyn



Bob Funk



Beverly Hills: 90210

New Releases - August 4th, 2009

Hello again, not really much to talk about this week. If you liked that 'Che' movie from three weeks back, it looks like good old sequel-happy Hollywood just couldn't resist going for a cash-in. We also have 'The Soloist,' can't beat the star power in that one, and 'Fragments,' (or is it Winged Creatures?) which proves once again you just can't make an ensemble film without calling up Forest Whitaker. 'Race to Witch Mountain' should speak for itself, we've got the previous two films in the series in the New Arrivals section by the way, and I don't think I even need to mention 'Obsessed,' in fact I already regret doing so. I'm quite looking forward to next week when we'll be bestowed with 'Waltz With Bashir,' one of my favorite films of last year and something I think everyone should see. Much more on that subject later on, so for now,

New this week:

Che Part 2: Guerilla



Obsessed



The Soloist



The Mysteries of Pittsburgh



Race to Witch Mountain



An Empress and the Warriors



Delgo



Fragments

PV Sale - On Now

We're having another previously viewed dvd sale right now, if you buy three movies of the same price, you get a big discount.

$12.99 = 3 for $30
$9.99 = 3 for $20 (3rd movie is within $0.02 of being FREE)
$6.99 = 3 for $10 (That's right, you pay LESS for three movies than you would for two.)

Won't last long, come and get them.

New Releases - July 28th, 2009

Hi there, this week's not exactly stunning, but right off the bat we've got the final release of the televisual juggernaut-du-jour, 'Battlestar Galactica.' Why not give it a rent, seeing as currently acquiring the complete series could ding you anywhere from $250 to $350? You sci-fi fans sure have deep pockets. We've also got 'Miss March,' which looks just like every other teen road trip sex romp ever made, except that it heavily features the 'Whitest Kids U'Know,' of whom this blog author was sometimes heard to remark 'they're the freshest thing in sketch comedy since The Kids in the Hall.' They're also an extremely rare case of a success story that started on the internet, that woeful economic afterlife where business models endlessly slay one another in gladiatorial combat. Please, watch some videos here, just not necessarily in front of the children. All this led me to hope that their feature film would be really good, but if I am to trust numerous reliable sources, it would seem that it is not. I'm watching it anyway. Speaking of internet success stories though, we've got Angel of Death, the DVD transcription of a web series starring the one and only Zoe Bell, the world's greatest player of "Ship's Mast" from Tarantino's 'Death Proof.' And further in an automotive vein, we also have 'Fast and Furious,' the last point on the parabolic trajectory of Vin Diesel's career before it's due to crash into a farmer's field in Iowa. And then there's 'Dollhouse' for all you Whedonites, 'Dragonball Evolution' for anyone who's curious how bad it really is, and 'The Fifth Commandment,' which looks like a fairly passable generic actioner. See you next week.

New this week:

An American Affair



Angel of Death



Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5



Dollhouse



Dragonball Evolution



Fast and Furious



The Fifth Commandment



Miss March



The Union

New Releases - July 21st, 2009

A well-rounded week of releases kicks off today with the slightly-less-terrifying adaptation of Neil Gaiman's terrifying children's story 'Coraline,' which does divert from the book somewhat, but it's an excellent stand-alone piece in its own right and I'd recommend it without hesitation. It's a great reminder of everything that's wonderful about stop-motion animation, and why it will always have a place alongside CGI. We also have the long-anticipated director's cut of 'Watchmen,' and while I'll refrain from giving my unsolicited opinion on the movie here, I will say it's a great package that raises the bar on 'bonus features' in general. Then there's 'Pontypool,' the latest by local-boy-made-good Bruce McDonald. I'm a big fan of McDonald, and of his most recent offering I can only say this: It's six pounds of crazy in a nine pound bag. By that I mean the bag is sufficiently deep and sturdy to contain its share of crazy, and then some, but at the end of the day you've still got six pounds of crazy to deal with. This is an art-house horror movie in the strictest terms, and it presents a situation that's at the very least challenging, perhaps even incomprehensible, in a genre (the zombie film) that's used to a reliance on convention and formula. It's weird. But sometimes I like it when a movie gives me something completely and utterly original, and I really enjoyed it, and so might you.

New this week:

Cadavres



Coraline



Echelon Conspiracy



G.I. Joe Season 1.1



Inconceivable



Messengers 2



Pontypool



Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods Final Cut



Watchmen

New Releases - July 14th, 2009

Hi again, one or two interesting films this week, but let me tell you, next week's going to be a real treat with the likes of Coraline, Pontypool, and Watchmen. For the time being, we've got the psionic action-thriller/new franchise bid Push, which isn't all that bad really, but still doesn't live up to its potential. We also have The Haunting in Connecticuit. Let's just go through the prestige horror checklist, shall we? Based on a true story? Check. Lots of jump scares? Check. Poor critical appraisal? Check. Box office success regardless? Check. Honestly, I have nothing against this film, but the one I'm looking forward to is 'The Skeptic' (trailer Here) All I'm saying is that it's a well-proven fact that even in the highest-budget horror film, less is usually more. Finally, we have Chocolate, which is probably my top recommendation this week. If you haven't heard, it's a Thai film by the director of Ong Bak, about an autistic girl who intuitively learns martial arts and uses her skills to extort money from gangsters to pay her mother's hospital bill. It's not perfect, as the martial arts aren't quite up to the ridiculously high standard of physical ability that we've come to demand from the genre, standards established thanks in no small part to the efforts of Thailand's own Tony Jaa, but in terms of storytelling, creativity and originality, it's way up there with the best in the world. I will say I liked the first half of the film more than the second, but that first half is as close to perfection as I've seen out of a martial arts movie since, say, Ong Bak. Check it out. We also have Part 1 of Steven Soderbergh's Che biopic, the second season of Mad Men, the HBO production of Grey Gardens, and a few other things which may amuse you. Read on.

New this week:

Push



Che: The Argentine



Two Lovers



The Haunting in Connecticuit



Chocolate



Mad Men Season 2



The Horsemen



The Great Buck Howard



Grey Gardens



Van Wilder: Freshman Year



Explicit Ills



Beach Kings