Last week was not a big week in DVDs, but this week there is a little more to choose from. In a conspicuous marketing coincidence, the theatrical release of the disappointing Al Pacino/Robert DeNiro thriller Righteous Kill is accompanied by the DVD release of last year’s disappointing Al Pacino thriller 88 Minutes, both of which were directed by Jon Avnet, who I am starting to think might be well advised to try a different genre. The Wachowski Brothers have adapted an old tv cartoon and Mike Meyers has teamed up again with Mini-Me for another 90-minutes of disappointment. George Clooney heads up this week’s new releases with Leatherheads, along with the Sex and the City movie and another comedy from the star of Shaun of the Dead.
LEATHERHEADS (2008), Comedy/Drama/Romance/Sport, PG-13, 114 mins.
George Clooney is back in the director’s chair for this sports comedy about the football scene of the 1920s, where college teams got all the fame and glory while the pro football players were all but ignored. Clooney stars as a veteran grunt trying to build up pro football into something big, and he recruits Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski), a war hero and college star to help him.
Renee Zellweger stars as a reporter who comes into the picture snooping around for a good story, but ends up becoming the center of the romantic subplot of the movie, which involves a love triangle that complicates the job of earning sports fans.
The movie didn’t find much of an audience when it was released in theaters in April but was not poorly received. Sports/Clooney fans are sure to be pleased.
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SEX AND THE CITY (2008), Comedy/Drama/Romance, R, 148 mins.
I have a small confession to make - Sex and the City is just not my thing. I don’t think I ever saw a single frame of a single episode of the tv show, and at a whopping two and a half hours, I am pretty sure I’m never going to see a single frame of this prodigious screen adaptation. But for the rest of you, here’s what you need to know -
After moving in together in an impossibly beautiful New York apartment, Carrie Bradshaw and Mr. Big make a rather arbitrary decision to get married. The wedding itself proves to be anything but a hasty affair–the guest list quickly blooms from 75 to 200 guests, and Carrie’s simple, label-less wedding gown gives way to an enormous creation that makes her look like a gigantic cream puff. An upcoming photo spread in Vogue puts the event–which will take place at the New York Public Library–squarely in the public eye. Meanwhile, Carrie’s girlfriends–Samantha, the sexpot; Charlotte, the sweet naïf; and Miranda, the rigid perfectionist–could not be happier. At least, they couldn’t be happier for Carrie. Charlotte still has the unrealized hope of getting pregnant. Samantha is finding a loving, committed relationship more grueling than she could have imagined. Miranda unwittingly lets her own unhappiness–created when Steve admits to cheating on her just once–spoil Carrie’s. After a heated encounter with Steve, she happens to spot Mr. Big and tells him he’s crazy to get married. She’s really only thinking of her own marriage. But her angry remark gets Mr. Big to thinking.
DECEPTION (2008), Drama/Romance/Thriller, R, 90 mins.
Ewan McGregor stars as an accountant enticed into an underground sex club and then later implicated in a heist and a woman’s disappearance. The movie is not hurting for star power, with McGregor starring opposite Hugh Jackman, but unfortunately, it does nothing new for the genre, mostly rehashing the tired themes of the seedy late-night thrillers that my mom used to never let me watch when I was a kid but did anyway. I was fascinated at the time because women were always running around in their underwear, but now it’s clear to me that this is going on so much because there’s not much else to the movie. It’s essentially another one of the type of thriller where smart people are doing unbelievably stupid things, and screwing up their lives in the process. We’re meant to be entertained by how far they go in creating problems for themselves and digging deeper while trying to escape from the holes in which they now find themselves, but no luck. The movie is just as stale and generic as this poster.
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RUN FATBOY RUN (2007), Comedy/Romance, PG-13, 100 mins.
Simon Pegg, of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz fame, is directed by David Schwimmer in his directing debut in Run Fatboy Run. Pegg palys Dennis Doyle, a slacker who tries to win back the respect of his fiance five years after leaving her standing at the altar pregnant. He discovers that she’s really his one true love when he finds out that she’s dating someone else, someone more responsible and respectable than himself, so he vows to prove to her that he is the one for her.
She doesn’t believe him, because of his tendency to start things and never finish them, so he sets out to prove himself to her, by starting something that he intends to finish. That thing, however, is a Nike River-run in London, in which her obnoxious new man (Hank Azaria), a skilled and practiced runner, is also participating.
I had high expectations for the movie because Shaun of the Dead was so good, but it’s essentially the exact same character as he was in that movie, a loser struggling to get his girlfriend back, without zombies or Nick Frost, both of which are significant losses. Cute date movie, but not the best work from anyone involved.
88 MINUTES (2008), Action/Crime/Thriller, R, 108 mins (not what you thought, but good guess, though).
Al Pacino plays Jack Gramm, a forensic psychiatrist who receives a threat that he has 88 minutes to live, saddling him with the task of analyzing a murder in advance. Complicating matters is the fact that he is also a college professor (like me!) with disgruntled students, he recently helped put a man on death row whose execution is approaching, he has a jilted lover holding a grudge (after a one night stand), and there is a copycat killer on the loose perpetuating the murderous modus operandi of the man Gramm has put behind bars. Needless to say, he’s gonna have his hands full to find out who it is that’s threatening his life.
I’m reminded of that Johnny Depp movie Nick of Time, remember that one? Depp plays this guy named Gene Watson who is in LA with his daughter to go to his wife’s funeral. His daughter is kidnapped and he is given a person’s itinerary and a note explaining that if he doesn’t kill that person within 75 minutes his daughter is going to be killed. What makes it more interesting is that it’s shot in real time, which could have been a good gimmick for 88 Minutes as well.
THE LOVE GURU (2008), Comedy, PG-13, 87 mins.
An American is raised by gurus in an ashram in India, until he finally returns to his home country to seek fame and fortune in the world of self-help and spirituality. His first task is to settle a marital dispute between a star professional hockey player Darren Roanoke and his estranged wife, who has begun dating L.A. Kings star Jaques Grande (Justin Timberlake). This new relationship creates havoc in Roanoke’s professional life, to the dismay of the team’s owner, Jane Bullard (Jessica Alba) and Roanoke’s coach, Coach Cherkov (Verne “Mini-me” Troyer). Oh, and if you don’t get the joke of the coach’s name, try reading it out loud.
The previews look like there are some laugh out loud moments, but I still can’t shake the feeling that the movie is the product of a lot of disjointed ideas that were swept up and tossed en masse into the same movie, making them fit in whatever way possible. It’s a sad follow-up to his success as Austin Powers…
MADE OF HONOR (2008), Comedy/Romance,
Tom and Hannah have been platonic friends for ten years, Tom dating haphazardly and Hannah always looking for her true love but thus far without success. Eventually Tom begins to see Hannah in a way that he never had before, and just as he begins to think that they would be good together, she gets engaged to someone else.
In a true illustration of how close and genuinely platonic their relationship has been, she asks him to be her maid of honor, and he reluctantly agrees, mostly just so he can try to stop the wedding from the inside and woo her himself.
If the plot sounds vaguely familiar the most likely reason is because you’ve probably seen this exact story a dozen times before. But enjoy! It does make a good date movie, after all. If you’re into this stuff, I recommend The Wedding Planner, My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Bachelor (my favorite), Runaway Bride, 27 Dresses (note: don’t watch 27 Dresses. It sucked. Trust me), Maid in Manhattan, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
SPEED RACER (2008), Action/Family/Sport, PG, 135 mins (!!).
Speed Racer has come along from that strangely animated old television cartoon that I never really got interested in. This live action adaptation is directed by the Wachowski Brothers, directors of the Matrix trilogy (and the underrated 1996 sex thriller Bound), and produced by legendary Hollywood producer Joel Silver, whose list of production credits is far too long to do justice to here. He has been involved in everything from 80s classics like Commando, Weird Science, and Predator to the whole Lethal Weapon series and the Matrix films.
The story seems a bit of a backdrop to the novelty of the film itself, but it’s about a young kid named Speed Racer who grows into the sport and ultimately finds himself in a moral position to save the integrity of the sport itself from becoming a cheap game wheeled by corporate interests who fix rig races for profit. Speed lost his older brother Rex to racing, and along the way he gets support from the rest of his family as he battles the corporate interests eager to get rid of his meddling with their wheeling and dealing as well as his opponents on the track.
YOUNG AT HEART (2007), Musical Documentary, PG, 109 mins.
Young at Heart tells the story of the Young at Heart Chorus, a choir of chaotic senior citizens who must battle various health problems and aging issues in order to prepare for a show that will include performances of songs by groups ranging from James Brown to Coldplay.
Their tireless musical coach leads the group through a series of charming and hilarious reheasals, showing us a whole new side of making music. They are more watchable than you would expect because they are a highly experienced team of singers, but the documentary focuses on the new challenges of learning new songs, many of which are made for a much, much younger generation.
It’s an inspiring story about life and music and their affects on each other, and culminates in a heartwarming finale that will leave you cheering. See this one.
“FRIDAY THE 13TH” (series, 1987-1990), 60 min/episode.
Related quite literally deliberately to the classic slasher film series, the “Friday the 13th” television series aired for three years from 1987-1990 and had nothing whatsoever to do with with the movies. In fact, Frankie Mancuso deliberately named the series “Friday the 13th” for no other reason than to call attention to it and make it stick out from the rest of the new shows coming out in 1987.
Each episode tells a different story about a young man and woman who have inherited a mysterious antiques dealership from their uncle, who had made a pact with the Devil to sell cursed antiques. The show tells of their adventures in trying to recover the already purchased antiques from customers before they can do any harm.
At first glance this seems like a safe one to avoid, but I’ve heard nothing but good things about it. The show has tons of fans, so may be worth checking out at least a few episodes. Season 1 is released this week…
