Well, what can we say? Now that the cinematic cycle is slowly moving into that short limbo between the typically robust Summer movie season and the Oscar-friendly late Fall movie season, it looks like the home video releases are following suit; there are precious few notable titles to spotlight this week, and even a couple of the notable ones aren't so hot to begin with. But with that said, have a quick look at what's available in our short list this week, and who knows? Maybe you'll find something you were just dying to get.
The Last Song
It's savvy that this film, Sparks' first "crossover" into screenwriting (he adapted his own novel), is also Miley Cyrus' first crossover from the sanctified Disney hothouse into the wild, almost-real world. About grumpy teen Ronnie (Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana) who's stuck in Georgia with her composer father (Greg Kinnear) and little brother (Bobby Coleman) for reasons unknown to her, Cyrus sulks through her summer on the Southern shore until she meets hottie Will (Liam Hemsworth). As her parents' divorce was rough on her, she's gone out of her way to make bonding impossible, so all this prodigious piano playing she used to do is off the table, even if Julliard (presumably the only music college in existence as far as Hollywood is concerned) is knocking at her door with a scholarship she doesn't want. The highpoint here is Will, (played by Chris Hemsworth's - a.k.a. Thor's - little brother), he's cute enough to protect us from splitting a side at the fact Kinnear's father character is a piano player named "Steve Miller" (fail). Besides being eye candy his character has the added benefit of bleaching the misplaced angst out of Ronnie and making her someone less... teethgritting. DVD extras in the 2 disk set are mighty; longer scenes (a crucial Church fire and alternate endings) look like the highlights with music videos thrown in for variation. Commentary by star and director included.
Furry Vengeance
Despite a couple of turns in serious movies, Brendan Fraser has made a career out of starring in toothless family fare, often with disappointing results (Monkeybone, anyone? No? Dudley Do-Right, then? Or George of the Jungle?). This year brought us another of his kid-friendly endeavors, and again, it received middling reviews, to be generous. Registering at just 8% on the Tomatometer, this slapsticky romp saw Fraser playing Dan Sanders, a real estate developer and family man who is charged with transforming a forest into a housing community. The wild animals who call the forest home naturally won't leave quietly, and they do their best to inflict every kind of abuse on poor Dan to let him know exactly what they think of his company's plans for the forest. Sadly, critics didn't feel that Furry Vengeance had enough going for it to overcome its inherent flaw, namely squeezing every last drop of potential from its premise and stretching it thin over the course of an hour and a half. Still, if you want some goofy pratfalls to keep your kids occupied for a little while, feel free to pick this up, pop it in your DVD player, and do some household chores with headphones on.
The Good, the Bad, and the Weird
Back in 2003, South Korean director Ji-Woon Kim achieved something of an international cult hit with his mindbending psychological horror film, A Tale of Two Sisters. Last year, he followed in the footsteps of Japanese director Takashi Miike, who helmed 2007's Sukiyaki Western Django, by turning his talents upon the genre western and putting a decidedly Asian spin on it with The Good, the Bad, and The Weird. If you're thinking, "Hey, that sounds an awful lot like a certain Clint Eastwood movie from way back when," it's for good reason; The Good, the Bad, and the Weird borrows more than just its title from the classic Sergio Leone spaghetti western. The story revolves around a bounty hunter (the "good"), a bandit for hire (the "bad"), and a thief (the "weird") in Japanese-occupied 1930s Manchuria whose lives all become intertwined in a grand chase revolving around a stolen map. Overall, at a Certified Fresh 82% on the Tomatometer, critics felt that the film was rollicking fun, never taking itself too seriously, and managed to demonstrate the director's fondness for the genre and films it mimics while still retaining an original feel of its own. The action is fast-paced, and the film moves fast, so if you missed this foreign gem when it hit theaters in very limited release earlier this year, then now's your chance to check it out on home video.
The City of Your Final Destination
Not to be confused as an installment in the horror franchise of a similar title, The City of Your Final Destination is an adaptation of a 2002 novel by Peter Cameron about a grad student who attempts to convince the family of a deceased South American writer to allow him to pen the writer's biography. Directed by James Ivory (A Room with a View, Howard's End, The Remains of the Day), who is no stranger to the Academy Awards, and starring the likes of Laura Linney, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Anthony Hopkins, the film probably expected to achieve the level of success familiar to those involved. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the stellar cast and the typically beautiful direction on the part of Ivory, critics felt the film lacked an emotional punch or dramatic heft, and it only managed a mediocre 40% on the Tomatometer. It's difficult to say whether it was the source material or the adaptation itself, but whatever the case, no one seemed to be fooled by the flat dialogue and regrettably dull storyline. Nevertheless, if you're a fan of Ivory or any of the principal actors, this might still be worth a watch, just to see them working at their craft.
L'enfance nue - Criterion Collection
French director Maurice Pialat is best known for films like Loulou and A nos amours, but this week, Criterion has seen fit to honor his feature film debut with a brand new edition. L'enfance nue focuses on the life of young 10-year-old Francois (Michel Terrazon), who is placed into foster custody by his mother and who then is moved from family to family, acting out and growing increasingly troubled. Pialat has earned a reputation for presenting his subjects in a realistic light, and falling in line with this, L’enfance nue refuses to look upon Francois with a sentimental eye, choosing instead to focus on the child's stark worldview and his struggles to come to terms with his mother’s abandonment. The film is a little-seen gem, to be sure, but thanks to Criterion, it's now widely available, and it comes with the label's typically fantastic set of extras, including one of Pialat's short films, a documentary on L'enfance nue, and excerpts from a 1973 TV interview with Pialat. This would make a good pickup for fans of classic French cinema.
Black Orpheus - Criterion Collection
French musicals come from a tradition of casual song; street music is a big part, and though street music is a typically working class affair (insofar as street musicians are usually struggling artists) this sense that music is woven into the fabric of a life is at the heart of the genre. A French film made in Brazil, Black Orpheus retells the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in the favelas of Rio de Janiero during Carnivale. The villains lurk behind every corner, which isn't to say our hero and heroine are "good" in the traditional sense. The world they inhabit is so various and brightly colored and the depravation and glamour are ever-present, heightened, and just a little romantic. But the music... that's the sweetness of this one. Orpheus is as aesthetically lush as anything to come out of the Hollywood but in its heart it's a French musical about a place where music, like myth, is so deeply woven into each day that there's no distinguishing song from speech, story from fact. The Criterion Blu-Ray includes archival interviews with director Marcel Camus and actress Marpessa Dawn and video interviews with Brazilian film scholar Robert Stam, jazz historical Gary Giddins and Brazilian author Ruy Castro, along with a feature long doc about the roots of the story and its resonance in Brazil today and a booklet with an essay by Michael Atkinson.
Written by Ryan Fujitani and Sara Vizcarrondo
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There is honestly nothing that incites my intrest here.
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On the same page with ChickMagnet. Also, why does Miley Cyrus still exist?
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Because Disney has declared it must be so.
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You should get The GOod the bad the weird. Not bad, check out the trailer.
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The Good, Bad, and the Weird sound interesting.
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Not really a good week for me DVD wise.. Definitely don't want to see The Last Song and I'm worried about my future college roomate because she listed that as one of her fav. movies. Not a good sign lol
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Let me see... pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, and... yes, you guessed it, PASS. I disagree with the writer of the article on one point. No child should have Furry Vengeance inflicted on them by their parents. That movie's case shouldn't even be used as a coaster. It should be burned and purged from memory. I can't wait for September. There are a few DVD releases I'm actually interested in next month, like Iron Man 2 and Prince of Persia.
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"No child should have Furry Vengeance inflicted on them by their parents. That movie's case shouldn't even be used as a coaster.", nicely said man.
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Prince of Persia ws surprisingly well done.
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Prince of Persia was not well done. It was worse than the Mummy 3. Watch Brothers and watch P of P. And tell me Jake is not phoning it in. Watch Sexy Beast and tell me if Ben Kingsley tried even a little bit. Waste of a few hundred Million dollers. Jerry Bruckheimer is out of control.
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Jake is not phoning it in. There, I said it. In fact, he did a much better job playing an action hero than I suspected. Were the leads in PoP at their best? Obviously not, but that's not what Bruckheimer movies put on display anyway. I liked Prince of Persia because it felt true to the spirit of the game and had a lot of cool action. I didn't go in expecting Oscar-caliber acting, and anybody that did is insane. And even comparing it to Mummy 3 is just unfathomable to me. But whatever. You want to see an action movie where the leads are really phoning it in? Watch Predators. Now THAT'S some lousy acting.
Thank you Nick! PofP is one of the worst movies I've seen this year! It looks great but Jake was horribly miscast and is really bad in it. *SPOILERS START* The movie commits the cardinal sin of bad screenwriting when the big finale just stops and rewinds to the first act and one tiny detail is changed which means the last 2 hours of what we saw never happened and makes the entire movie worthless! I call BULLSHIT!! *SPOILERS END* Anyway, the movie really sucked and anybody who actually enjoyed it deserves to be strapped to a chair with their eyes taped open while Batman & Robin plays on repeat for all of eternity!
It's all crap to me.
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Waiting for Evil DEad to come out on Blu-ray.
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Wow, snoozefest on DVD this week. I do like Charlotte Gainsbourg, so I may check out City of Your Final Destination, maybe The Last Song, I have a soft spot for these types of movies, but really, boring week, zzzzzzzzzzz
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"...Julliard (presumably the only music college in existence as far as Hollywood is concerned)" Please! You think that's bad? My relatives overseas aren't even aware of any colleges in the US that aren't spelled H-A-R-V-A-R-D. Every time they talk to me, they're like "So when are you graduating Harvard?" And I'm like: "For the last time, There's no Harvard in California!"
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Julliard is the only music college that Hollywood uses because it is the BEST, there are no others that close to it. Weak writing by the author of this page
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There are other great schools of music out there, though. You don't see every kid going to college in the movies looking at going to just Harvard or Yale. It's weak writing on the writers of every movie that uses Juliard to not consider using another school of music in their screenplays.
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There are other music schools but the only one that matters is Julliard, if you have any talent at all you try to go there. To write in any other school would be stupid, it would be like writing a movie about a Genius and instead of them going to Harvard, Yale, MIT or University of Chicago you have them go to University of Florida.....so try again.
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WOW. You really know nothing about this topic. I'm a professional classical trumpet player. Julliard, while a great school, is NOT the only good music school. If you are an instrumentalist, the teacher you study with in music school is THE most important thing. The best teachers on every instrument do not teach at Julliard. Julliard would not be in my top 5 to study trumpet. The examples you use of U of C, Yale, MIT ect. only weaken your argument by saying that it would be stupid to leave any of those out in favor of Harvard. The same can be said for the music programs of Northwestern, DePaul University, Cleveland Institute of Music, Rice, Eastman, Curtis, Oberlin... should I go on? Julliard is famous and has many great, successful graduates in many fields, but to say that they're the only and best choice for everyone is plain ignorant. I always just snickered and thought it was funny whenever a movie acted as though Julliard was the only music school on the planet, because I thought people actually knew better, and didn't rely on movies for all of their facts. Your comment is making me reconsider that. Maybe I should be angry about Hollywoods stupidity, because it seems to reflect the general population after all.
This has to be one of the worst weeks for new releases in history
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Should be noted, if you haven't already seen it, Dexter Season 4 comes out this week. Best season yet. Can't wait till Sept 26 for Season 5.
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I can't wait to get to season 4, unfortunately I'm still on season 2. Dexter is amazing though.
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What is wrong with Brendan Frasier...I mean he had so much promise after the first Mummy, I really did love that movie. However he has not put out a decent film in a long time. I mean he puts out bad bad bad movies.
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Actually, Brendan Frasier last decent film was "The Journey To The Center Of The Earth".
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I probably won't be interested in any new DVD release until Nov. 2, since that's when Toy Story 3 comes out.
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Man, if that's all you are interested until Nov. 2nd that's pretty sad on your part because there is alot of new releases let alone re-releases that are coming out.
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I want to see Solitary Man, but I hate cam rips, and there no theaters in europe showing, and I have no idea when its coming on dvd.
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Just to inform you "Solitary Man' comes out on Sept. 7th.
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www.rottentomatoes.com/source-502/?sortby="/>alert('coococo'); test
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What is up with RT on DVD & Blu-Ray section? They are missing alot of films that came out this week such as "Me & Orson Welles", "The Red Riding Trilogy", & "Cemetery Junction". It's like they only displayed the shoddy new titles this weeks. Come on RT get with it.
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The Good, the Bad, the Weird was one of my favorite movies of last year. I've been looking forward to the DVD/Blu-Ray release for it.
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