Category: Movie DVDs (Page 92 of 100)

Out on DVD this week:

1) King Kong – BUY: An average DVD for an average film. Don’t get me wrong. I liked Peter Jackson’s epic just as much as everyone else, but by the end of the film, it just doesn’t stick with you the same way the “LOTR” trilogy did.

2) Memoirs of a Geisha – RENT: A great film that didn’t get the recognition it deserved. With that being said, however, I’m not exactly sure anyone needs to see it more than once.

3) Stay – PASS: This movie makes absolutely no sense. Renting it would make even less.

4) Get Rich or Die Tryin’ – PASS: Is 50 Cent the next Daniel Day Lewis? Hardly. So why is Jim Sherridan wasting his time with this no-talent hack? You got me. But please, don’t encourage this kind of behavior and stay away.

Also out this week is the sci-fi disaster “A Sound of Thunder,” season five of “Six Feet Under” and the “Planet of the Apes” Ultimate DVD Collection.

“The Thief Lord”
There’s nothing particularly wrong with this film, except that it’s a copycat of just about every popular children’s story of the past fifty years. The publicity for the film bills it as a story to rival the “Harry Potter” series, but it’s more like “Robin Hood” meets “Peter Pan” than anything else. Based on the children’s book of the same name, “The Thief Lord” is a decent addition to any youngster’s movie collection, but it’s a giant waste of time for anybody else. And that’s something that can’t be said of “Harry Potter.”

“Irish Jam”
If Rob Schneider is the least talented white guy in Hollywood, then Eddie Griffin is the least talented brother. A fitting comparison considering that both “actors” appeared in last summer’s “Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo,” a film so bad that it landed the top spot on many critics’ Worst of 2005 lists. If possible, “Irish Jam” is even worse, dropping the annoying Griffin in the middle of a small Irish town when he wins a poetry contest with a pub as the grand prize. Hell, even the DVD case is made of low-quality plastic, a surefire sign of genuine direct-to-DVD garbage.

“The Butterfly Ball”
We all know that the 70s was a strange era (even those that weren’t alive for it), but there’s simply no excuse for the DVD release of this 1975 live production of the illustrated series of poems entitled “The Butterfly Ball and Grasshopper’s Feast.” Narrated by an aged Vincent Price and featuring Twiggy on vocals, “The Butterfly Ball” is a horrendous production that includes stupid costumes, interpretive dance and a shitty video transfer to top it all off.

“The Jolly Boys’ Last Stand”
There’s really no better way to describe this film other than as a British “Jackass,” despite the fact that there’s actually very little stunting involved. Shot as a faux-documentary about a frat-like group of grown men known as the Jolly Boys, the story revolves around the upcoming marriage of the their leader, Spider (Andy Serkis), and his gradual separation from the remaining members. The film is composed of stupid situations that the cast members find funny, but anyone else watching won’t, and has most likely been made available on DVD in an atempt to exploit the more recent success of its stars, Andy Serkis and Sacha Baron Cohen.

Out on DVD this week:

1) Chicken Little – RENT: Okay, so it’s not the best Disney film ever made, but it’s certainly not the worst. In fact, it boasts one of the best voice casts with standouts like Zach Braff and Joan Cusack.

2) Capote – RENT: I missed out on this one earlier in the year, but all the Oscar buzz should be more than enough reason to check this one out. The special features are lacking, however, so don’t plan to lay down the cash for a copy unless you really like the movie.

Also out this week is the Clive Owen/Jennifer Aniston thriller “Derailed,” the indie flick “Everything is Illuminated,” and the foreign-language fav “Paradise Now.” A few new seasons of TV have also made their way on to DVD, including the seventh season of “South Park,” the first season of “Batman Beyond” and the first season of “Over There.”

Out on DVD this week:

1) A History of Violence – BUY: One of the best movies of the year, hands down.

2) Good Night, Good Luck – RENT: I haven’t seen this film yet, but after all of the Oscar buzz and the positive review by fellow BE movie critic David Medsker, I’m going to go ahead and recommend this one. The DVD, however, contains almost no special features and should probably only be purchased by die-hard fans.

A slow week for new releases, but there’s a slew of Special Editions debuting including “Ice Age,” “Basic Instinct,” “Remember the Titans,” “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo” and “A Fish Called Wanda.”