Welcome one, welcome all, welcome to the DVD Pick of the Week! The place where I play the ever congenial host, helping you dig through the piles of new releases each week. I will spotlight the worthy titles, as well as those you would do best to avoid at all costs, and even a few that seem to be rather curious. I have something new for you folks with this week's edition. I am going to try and play around with the format a little bit. Generally, I will start off with the week's top pick, followed by a series of other titles of interest. This week I have decided to try out a new format, where I fore-go with the opening spiel on the week's top pick and perhaps write a little bit more about each of the titles I have plucked from the current list of releases. What do you think? I am nothing if not receptive to your thoughts during this experiment.
American Gangster. I believe this would have to be considered the week's top release, although it is not without a little bit of controversy. It is being released on both standard DVD and Blu-Ray; however, the standard DVD will contain the theatrical release as well as a new extended cut that clocks in with eighteen minutes more footage in the film while the Blu-Ray will only contain the theatrical release. Needless to say, this is not going over to well with Blu-Ray owners, nor should it. I cannot see any reason to hold back the longer cut except for a future hi def double dip.
As for the film itself? I thought it to be a very good, if not great gangster film. It is sort of like a distilled version of Scorsese or DePalma. It is led by a pair of strong performances from Oscar winners Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. My biggest problem with the film is that it seems to glorify crime and also barely scratching the surface of the story. I feel that there could have been a lot more done with it. Still, it is well worth your time and is good film. Next week Ruby Dee will vie for the supporting actress Oscar for her performance here.
Michael Clayton. Here is another film that I thought was very good although not great. George Clooney does give what may be the finest performance of his career, albeit in a film that does not seem to be completely up to the task of supporting him. It is strange, as the performances, all around, are quote good, but the story does not seem to be terribly strong. Michael Clayton is much more of an actors piece than a narrative one.
It is the story of a cleaner (Clooney) working for a powerful law firm who is called in when one of the big guns (Tom Wilkinson) has a breakdown. It is during his work here that the cleaner discovers that he has a choice, that things are not as they seem and he can help make things right.
Next week the film will compete for a number of Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Director.
Lust, Caution. I never had the opportunity to see this film theatrically, although I look forward to catching up with it on DVD. It is the latest from director Ang Lee who has helped shepherd it to the big screen in uncut fashion, thus sparking a bit of controversy. You see, the film contains some explicit sex scenes and Lee was urged to at least cut them back for an R rating, but he stuck to his guns and the film was released in its original NC-17 rated format, although it was cut for airing in mainland China.
It is the story of a young woman (Tang Wei) who becomes involved in a conspiracy involving a powerful politician in WWII era Shanghai. From the clips I saw, the film looks absolutely beautiful and has an excellent score from Alexandre Desplat.
It was nominated for, but lost, the Best Foreign Language Golden Globe. It is being released in both NC-17 and R rated versions.
In the Valley of Elah. This film had a rather lukewarm reception when it was released last Fall. It is one of the numerous films throughout the season that dealt with the ongoing war in Iraq. It is a subject that many people do not wish to see on the big screen yet, if ever. So, when films started coming out, it was akin to picking a scab. In other words, not a pleasant experience.
The movie is based on actual events of a soldier being murdered upon his return from overseas and his father who investigated the murder, thus turning up some uncomfortable questions. I found the movie to be quite good as it brought up the question of whether or not we are doing all that we can for our soldiers.
Tommy Lee Jones is nominated for the Best Actor Oscar, in a surprising to me choice. I do not believe he will be able to wrest the award from Daniel Day-Lewis, but it is good to see his excellent work recognized.
Rendition. Here is another war-themed film that tanked at the box office. It's content was also unsavory to a large portion of the population who are not interested in seeing these themes played out in a fictional setting while the real thing is still ongoing.
It tackles the policy of Extraordinary Rendition, which allows the government to disappear individuals of interest to locations outside of official jurisdiction where they can be tortured for information. In this case, Reese Witherspoon's character's Egyptian born husband. He is tortured under the auspices of Jake Gyllenhall and a rather ruthless torture professional.
I cannot say it is a good film, and the issues seem to be oversimplified, but could be worth a rental.
Kurt Cobain: About a Son. This could definitely prove interesting. I have no first hand knowledge of the film, but there is no denying the subject is an intriguing individual who has garnered considerable interest in the years since his untimely demise.
Director AJ Schnack has put together this documentary with taped recordings and interviews with Kurt Cobain covering his lifetime. Essentially, you get to listen to him tell his own life story. Frankly, this sounds rather interesting, as well as something you do not often see.
Margot at the Wedding. Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Jack Black star in Noah Baumbach's latest film. His last outing was 2005's Oscar nominated The Squid and the Whale. This time he turns his eye on a pair of sisters whose lives become torn open and exposed to the world when Kidman and her son pay Leigh a visit following the news of her engagement to Jack Black.
I thought the trailers for this were interesting, although I never had the opportunity to see it. Jack Black seemed like an interesting cast choice. I look forward to catching it on DVD.
Redacted. This is a film I am not sure I want to see. It is yet another war-themed film (a lot coming out in one week, don't you think?). This one is from Brian DePalma and, like many of his past films has rendered a pretty strong line between lovers and haters.
It was shot in such a way to make you think you are actually watching it through camcorder and security footage It concerns itself with real events such as a rape conducted by American soldiers.
Frankly, I think this may be the one that I am the most not interested in of the recent slate of war films.
Chaos. This action/thriller was shot back in 2005, and I believe this is its first release anywhere. I don't think it was ever given a theatrical release, and we all know what that means. There is a reason why it was deemed to be a direct to video, or very limited theatrical run, film.
It stars Jason Statham, Ryan Phillipe, and Wesley Snipes. The first two are a couple of detectives investigating a bank robbery which leads them to Snipes. Outside of that, I do not know much about the film other than it involves Chaos Theory in some fashion.
German Expressionism Collection. This set, from Kino, contains four classics of German Expressionism in restored forms: The Hands of Orlac. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Secrets of a Soul, Warning Shadows.
How can you go wrong with that? Especially when I only know one of the films in it (Caligari). These old films are good examples of what you could do with low budgets and a lot of creativity.
Spiral. From the director of Hatchet comes this new journey into horror. This could prove interesting as the gore of Hatchet gives way to more psychological horror in Spiral. The former proved to be a fun journey into the bayou, with plenty of gratuitous gore and nudity.
The new film concerns a disturbed telemarketer and can count Chuck's Zachary Levi, Mr. Brooks' Amber Tamblyn, and Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer among the cast.
Zebraman. Takashi Miike's latest creation to arrive on American shores is a family outing. If nothing else, this prolific director always provides something interesting to watch (just check out the decidedly non-family friendly films such as Audition, Fudoh, Visitor Q, and Ichii the Killer).
This film concerns a teacher who is a failure at all that he does who turns to canceled television show Zebraman for inspiration. He makes his own costume and goes to the streets to fight crime.
I don't know about you, but I am definitely intrigued!
Well, that about wraps up this week's edition of DVD Pick of the Week. Be sure to let me know what you think of the new(potential) format!
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