New DVDs This Week...
Posted on September 13, 2008 - 10:17pm by michael
Short list of new DVDs this week, but despite immediate impressions they all seem to be pretty interesting in their own way. Tina Fey, Jackie Chan and Jet Li head up the list of new releases this week, but there's a new Indian film that looks far more fascinating than anything we usually see these days. And I might add that Special Editions of
The Big Lebowski and
Cool Hand Luke are also out. Here are the rest of the details -
BABY MAMA (2008), Romantic Comedy, PG-13, 99 mins.
Baby Mama is an immediate turn-off to me at first glance, although I'm not sure exactly why. It could be that I'm just not into baby comedies anymore, if I ever was. But it should be noted that this is a Saturday Night Live comedy with an outstanding cast, including Tina Fey, Amy Poehler (with the Big Gulp), Sigourney Weaver, Greg Kinnear, and Steve Martin (who we also have to thank for
Traitor).
Fey plays Kate Holbrook, a professional woman who has for years neglected her personal life in pursuit of a successful career. Now, at age 37, she suddenly determines herself to have a baby, only to discover that she has an infinitely small possibility of conceiving. Undaunted, she embarks on a mission to find the kookiest blonde imaginable to be her surrogate mother.
Middle-aged, ultra-organized Kate begins an intense self-preparation program for motherhood, reading books about pregnancy and infant care, preparing her home for a new baby, and researching quality schools in her area. Angie (Poehler), however, soon shows up without a place to live, and in classic sit-com mode, the movie combines the super-successful with the super-unsuccessful, and their competing methods of preparing for a baby create all manner of havoc.
Don't expect a cognitive workout, but it's actually a pretty heartwarming family comedy.
THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM (2008), Action/Adventure/Comedy/Romance, PG-13, 113 mins.
The long-awaited pairing of Jackie Chan and Jet Li, China's most prominent ass-kicking movie stars, arrives this week on DVD with
The Forbidden Kingdom. I'm going to go ahead and admit that at the time of this writing I have yet to see the movie, but I have to say that the premise gives me a deep feeling of unease at the future of the international kung-fu movie scene.
Jet Li plays the part of The Monkey King, while Jackie Chan plays an old pawn shop owner in Chinatown. One day an American teenager who is obsessed with Chinese martial arts cinema is in the pawn shop and discovers the legendary weapon of the Monkey King which soon sends him to ancient China where he teams up with some Chinese warriors from old lore on a mission to rescue the imprisoned king.
I have heard good things about the movie, but I also know that one of the most effective ways to ridicule any topic, genre, idea, or culture is to add cinematic versions of American teenagers. That just never goes well. Nevertheless, Jackie Chan has been pretty reliable with the cool combinations of action and comedy, and teaming up with Jet Li is reason enough by itself to check it out.
THE FALL (2006), Adventure/Drama/Fantasy, R, 113 mins.
This is going to be my recommendation for the week. It's the story of Hollywood stuntman in 1920s Los Angeles who lands himself in the hospital while trying to perform a stunt to impress his girlfriend. While in the hospital, he becomes severely depressed and suicidal after his girlfriend leaves her, and he befriends his bedridden roommate, a young girl named Alexandria.
He entertains and enchants Alexandria with vivid, heroic stories about five people uniting to fight a common enemy, setting the stage for fact and fiction to blend together in the drug-ridden hospital environment. He has real affection for Alexandria, but is also gaining her friendship for the purpose of using her to get extra morphine so he can commit suicide.
Definitely a weird premise, but I've also noticed that weird premises are generally where the most interesting movies come from. Stories based on stories within stories allow for the most memorable and fascinating experiences, and Indian director Tarsem Singh's
The Fall presents a story that allows a total break from reality and an entrance into a complete fantasy world, reminding me of some classics like
The Princess Bride, The Neverending Story, Labyrinth, and even
The Cell. See this one.
Baby Mama is an immediate turn-off to me at first glance, although I'm not sure exactly why. It could be that I'm just not into baby comedies anymore, if I ever was. But it should be noted that this is a Saturday Night Live comedy with an outstanding cast, including Tina Fey, Amy Poehler (with the Big Gulp), Sigourney Weaver, Greg Kinnear, and Steve Martin (who we also have to thank for Traitor).
Fey plays Kate Holbrook, a professional woman who has for years neglected her personal life in pursuit of a successful career. Now, at age 37, she suddenly determines herself to have a baby, only to discover that she has an infinitely small possibility of conceiving. Undaunted, she embarks on a mission to find the kookiest blonde imaginable to be her surrogate mother.
Middle-aged, ultra-organized Kate begins an intense self-preparation program for motherhood, reading books about pregnancy and infant care, preparing her home for a new baby, and researching quality schools in her area. Angie (Poehler), however, soon shows up without a place to live, and in classic sit-com mode, the movie combines the super-successful with the super-unsuccessful, and their competing methods of preparing for a baby create all manner of havoc.
Don't expect a cognitive workout, but it's actually a pretty heartwarming family comedy.
THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM (2008), Action/Adventure/Comedy/Romance, PG-13, 113 mins.
The long-awaited pairing of Jackie Chan and Jet Li, China's most prominent ass-kicking movie stars, arrives this week on DVD with The Forbidden Kingdom. I'm going to go ahead and admit that at the time of this writing I have yet to see the movie, but I have to say that the premise gives me a deep feeling of unease at the future of the international kung-fu movie scene.
Jet Li plays the part of The Monkey King, while Jackie Chan plays an old pawn shop owner in Chinatown. One day an American teenager who is obsessed with Chinese martial arts cinema is in the pawn shop and discovers the legendary weapon of the Monkey King which soon sends him to ancient China where he teams up with some Chinese warriors from old lore on a mission to rescue the imprisoned king.
I have heard good things about the movie, but I also know that one of the most effective ways to ridicule any topic, genre, idea, or culture is to add cinematic versions of American teenagers. That just never goes well. Nevertheless, Jackie Chan has been pretty reliable with the cool combinations of action and comedy, and teaming up with Jet Li is reason enough by itself to check it out.
THE FALL (2006), Adventure/Drama/Fantasy, R, 113 mins.
This is going to be my recommendation for the week. It's the story of Hollywood stuntman in 1920s Los Angeles who lands himself in the hospital while trying to perform a stunt to impress his girlfriend. While in the hospital, he becomes severely depressed and suicidal after his girlfriend leaves her, and he befriends his bedridden roommate, a young girl named Alexandria.
He entertains and enchants Alexandria with vivid, heroic stories about five people uniting to fight a common enemy, setting the stage for fact and fiction to blend together in the drug-ridden hospital environment. He has real affection for Alexandria, but is also gaining her friendship for the purpose of using her to get extra morphine so he can commit suicide.
Definitely a weird premise, but I've also noticed that weird premises are generally where the most interesting movies come from. Stories based on stories within stories allow for the most memorable and fascinating experiences, and Indian director Tarsem Singh's The Fall presents a story that allows a total break from reality and an entrance into a complete fantasy world, reminding me of some classics like The Princess Bride, The Neverending Story, Labyrinth, and even The Cell. See this one. 
