Director: James Cameron
It’s loud, obvious, naive, disorienting: it’s “Avatar”. The mega-blockbuster is James Cameron’s follow up to his still-reigning box office champion, “Titanic”, and twelve years later his intentions are no more humble: Cameron has quite literally set out to reinvent cinema. Making advances in motion capture and 3D technology, “Avatar” depicts what Cameron believes to be the future of movie-going. I can’t say that I have the stomach for more than a few “Avatar”’s a year, but for what it is, Cameron’s effort has some moments of pure cinematic bliss. That is, until things descend rapidly into an orgy of explosions, gunplay, and cornball dialogue.
Filed under: In Theaters, Reviews | Tags: 2009, jason reitman, up in the air
Director: Jason Reitman
After impressive freshman and sophomore efforts in “Thank You For Smoking” and “Juno”, director Jason Reitman has taken on perhaps his most thematically ambitious work to date in “Up in the Air”. Heralded by nearly all critics as “a film for our times”, the film uses our sour economy as the backdrop for a story very much about corporate inhumanity.
Director: John Hillcoat
It’s 2009, and the apocalypse is in. “Zombieland”, “2012″: audiences love nothing more than mass-destruction, the kind that leaves nothing but devastated landscapes and a few stragglers who’ve somehow managed to persevere. “The Road”, however, is not about the cause of our demise, rather how we’d respond in an environment of dirt-stained skin, torn shoes, and an everlasting stomach growl. Needless to say, Cormac McCarthy doesn’t think the majority of us would fare too well.
Filed under: Columns, One to Rent, One to DVR | Tags: blu-ray, new to dvd, dvd releases, dvd, rent, dvr, new to blu ray
Note: No, I haven’t forgotten you! I apologize, once again, for the lack of updates in the past few weeks. I will have a lot of time immediately following Christmas, however, so expect several reviews every day until the New Year.
No cutesy introduction this week – Merry Christmas, everyone! Here’s One to Rent, One to DVR for the week of 12/22/09 – exclusively at ForReel.net.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: blu-ray, dvd, dvd releases, dvr, new to blu ray, new to dvd, rent
Ah – a massive week of new DVD releases just in time for Christmas. Two of this year’s most applauded efforts, “Inglourious Basterds” and “The Hangover”, have made their way to Blu-ray. There’s nothing I can tell you about those two films that you haven’t already heard, so instead i’ll remind you of a smaller DVD release that’s worth your time.
Also, airing on Turner Classic Movies this week, is a great classic from the 1950s. It’s not yet available on Region 1 DVD, so make sure you set your DVRs for it tonight! Here’s One to Rent, One to DVR for the week of 12/15/09 – exclusively at ForReel.net.
Director: Louie Psihoyos
Like last year’s great documentary “Man on Wire”, “The Cove” tells it’s story under the guise of a thriller. It’s a caper movie, complete with adrenaline-pumping music and the threat of danger around every corner. The stakes are high, but none are higher than those of Ric O’Barry. You probably don’t know the name, but he’s the guy responsible for training five dolphins to star as Flipper in the popular television series. Now, seeing the effects that captivity has had on dolphins, he regrets doing so to such an extent that he is quite literally haunted by his contributions to their mainstream success.
Director: Uli Edel
On the surface, “The Baader Meinhof Complex” doesn’t seem to distant from your average Hollywood thriller. It’s young revolutionaries are presented as rock stars – their charisma and don’t-give-a-fuck attitudes make them easy objects of our support. But wait, what’s this? They’re robbing banks, blowing up buildings, and shooting people? The body counts of, say, a Roland Emmerich film aren’t of much consequence, but “The Baader Meinhof Complex”’s violence, based on historical fact, defines the film’s central characters as far from your typical heroes.
Director: Clint Eastwood
Closing in on the first year of Obama’s presidency, several of this year’s late releases coincidentally reflect racial harmony and goodwill to our common man. “The Blind Side” exemplifies a charitable white Southern woman who takes in a homeless young black man, and “The Princess and the Frog” has given us our first African-American princess. The latter film is not overt in it’s preaching, but both the former and Clint Eastwood’s latest, “Invictus”, are more than guilty of it.
Director: Jim Sheridan
“Brothers” is a film unfortunately doomed to come and go. Suffering from an unfortunate release date in the wake of “Avatar” and big Oscar hopefuls like “Up in the Air”, this bizarre tale of post-traumatic stress disorder hasn’t quite connected with American audiences. The film, however, is way too good to overlook.
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
The connection has become tiresome, but I will rehash: Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Still Walking” confirms Kore-eda as the most likely heir to the legendary Yasujiro Ozu. This film, which has drawn similarities with Ozu’s masterful “Tokyo Story”, is methodically paced and elegantly composed. Shots linger for a greater time than an American audience might expect, but it’s in those moments that the film generates it’s power – it’s our breathing room, the space for us to fully consider the on-screen family and our own.
