Archive for the ‘DeeVeeDees’ Category

  • Paycheck on Blu-Ray

    Sunday, May 17th, 2009

    paycheckBased on a short story by Philip K. Dick, who wrote the stories that were turned into Blade Runner, Minority Report and Total Recall, Paycheck stars Ben Affleck as Mike Jennings, an engineer who invents a machine but then agrees to have his memory erased in exchange for a $90 million dollar paycheck. When he “comes to”, he finds that he has mailed himself an envelope full of seemingly random objects, and has a girlfriend Rachel that he doesn’t remember (played by Uma Thurman). And, he learns he also turned down the $90 million dollars, so he turns to his friend Shorty (Paul Giamatti) to help him figure out why.

    The man who hired him to invent the machine, played by Aaron Eckhart, doesn’t want Mike to remember what he invented, so he has guys chasing Mike and Rachel trying to stop them from learning the truth. There’s lots of dodging of poorly-aimed bullets, some very cool futuristic technology, and great action from director John Woo.

    The special features are a commentary by John Woo, a commentary by screenwriter Dean Georgaris, a featurette about designing the future world that the movie takes place in, a featurette about the stunts, and extended/deleted scenes. Visually, the colors are bright and the sound is excellent, I don’t own the movie on regular DVD so I don’t have anything to compare it to, but it seems like a good choice for a Blu-Ray collection. Pick it up on Amazon.com or in stores.

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  • DVD Review- The Uninvited

    Thursday, May 7th, 2009

    the-uninvitedIt’s been a long time since I saw a truly scary movie. It seems like the horror genre has become dominated by movies that call themselves scary but are really just gory (the Saw movies, the Hostel movies, etc.).  I love scary movies, jump outta your seat, hands over your eyes peeking through your fingers SCARY.  I can’t ride rollercoasters and I freak out if a fly gets trapped in the bathroom with me, so I get my adrenaline rush watching scary movies.

    The Uninvited, which came out last week on DVD and Blu-Ray is a SCARY MOVIE. As in, prepare to keep your hands glued to your face (which might possibly be pressed into your husband’s shoulder as well).

    The Uninvited is the story of Anna (Emily Browning, “A Series of Unfortunate Events”), a young girl who is just getting out of a 10-month stay in a mental institution after attempting suicide. Her bed-ridden mother had died in a fire, and when Anna is released by her psychiatrist with the suggestion that she “finish what she started” (he means working through her feelings about her mother’s death but boy do those words take on a different meaning), she learns that her father has become romantically involved with Rachel (Elizabeth Banks, “Scrubs”), the nurse who was caring for Anna’s mother.

    Anna is also reunited with her sister Alex (Arielle Kebbel, “The Grudge II”) who is one year older and her best friend. At first Alex is upset about Anna going away and leaving her there to deal with the horrible Rachel, but they quickly resume their close friendship.  Rounding out the cast is the always terrific David Strathairn (”The Spiderwick Chronicles”) as their father Steven, who is just trying to resume his life and find some happiness after his wife’s tragic death.

    So the question presented to viewers is this- is Rachel really a dangerous person trying to sabotage the family? Was Anna’s mother’s death really an accident?  Don’t watch the behind-the-scenes bonus feature before you’ve seen the movie, it’s got major spoilers. This bonus video clip courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment won’t give anything away, I promise:

    I liked this movie, the DVD itself was sorely lacking in extras, though. Besides the “making of” feature (which is interesting), there are just four deleted scenes and a short alternate ending. I would watch this DVD again if there was a commentary track to listen to.  It would have been nice to get a look at the original Korean film and see how the two movies compare and contrast.  Nevertheless, I recommend The Uninvited on DVD or Blu-Ray for lovers of scary movies.


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  • The Day The Earth Stood Still (Remake) on DVD

    Sunday, April 26th, 2009

    the-day-the-earth-stood-stillI reviewed the original 1951 movie The Day The Earth Stood Still back in December, and in that post I wrote that I wasn’t sure if I was going to like the remake because the original is just so darn good, and because reviews of the theatrical release were so negative.

    So, when Click asked for reviewers for the remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still on DVD, I said yes. And you know what? I have to respectfully disagree with everyone who posted a “oh god this is the worst movie ever” review on Amazon. Okay, it’s not the best movie ever, and the changes made from the original are pretty drastic, but I enjoyed watching it.

    If you aren’t familiar with the story, The Day The Earth Stood Still is about an alien sent to Earth with the mission of telling everyone on Earth that they need to stop destroying the planet or else the rest of the Universe is going to have to take action. In order to prove how serious they are, the alien makes, well, the earth stand still by shutting down every single bit of electricity.

    But even before that happens, the U.S. government gets freaked out about an alien and his “bodyguard”, a giant metal robot who is standing in front of their spaceship not moving. They try to take the alien prisoner and destroy the robot, because it’s all so threatening to our “peaceful” existence.  In the remake, this point is hammered home even more strongly by having the Secretary of Defense argue that no good can come from letting the alien discuss anything with anyone.

    This movie has a terrific cast- Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connolly, Jaden Smith, Kyle Chandler, Jon Hamm, John Cleese. It gets overly dramatic at the end (Jennifer Connolly pleading with Keanu Reeves not to destroy Earth, sobbing “we can change, we can change”),  but like I said, I found it enjoyable to watch. You can get a two-disc set, a three-disc set that includes the original movie and a digital copy, plus it’s available on Blu-Ray. Rent or buy it and decide for yourself!

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  • Centennial Collection-The Odd Couple and To Catch A Thief

    Friday, April 24th, 2009

    Paramount Home Entertainment has released two more classic movies on DVD as part of it’s Centennial Collection- The Odd Couple starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, and To Catch A Thief starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly.

    the-odd-couple“The Odd Couple” began as a play written by Neil Simon that was performed on Broadway starting in 1965, starring Walter Matthau as Oscar and Art Carney as Felix. Later in the show’s run, Jack Klugman took over the role of Oscar. In 1968, the play was made into a movie starring Walter Matthau as Oscar, and Jack Lemmon as Felix.

    Felix is compulsively clean and fastidious, while Oscar takes the word “slob” to a whole new level. Despite these differences, they are friends, and when Felix’s wife kicks him out, he moves in with the already-divorced Oscar. Oscar trys to involve Felix in his social life, inviting him to his poker party (Felix makes drinks and sandwiches for everyone instead) and enlisting his help in wooing their upstairs neighbors, the Pigeon Sisters (Felix trades divorce stories with them instead).  Ultimately, Felix learns to loosen up and Oscar learns to think about his responsibilities. The first DVD has a commentary from Charlie Matthau and Chris Lemmon, and the second Disc has five featurettees plus production galleries and the original theatrical trailer.

    to-catch-a-thiefTo Catch A Thief  is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s lighter movies. Cary Grant is John Robie, a former cat burglar living in the French Riviera who finds that someone is committing robberies using his old style, which brings suspicion on him. He needs to find the thief and keep him from robbing anyone else. When wealthy Jessie and Francie Stevens (Grace Kelly) come to the Riviera for vacation, dripping with diamonds, Robie tries to warn them of the potential thief but when Jessie’s jewels are stolen anyway, he and Francie play a cat-and-mouse game of their own.

    I had never seen this movie before, but reviews on Amazon indicate that this DVD has restored the original, removing scratches and brightening the picture considerably. I can say that scenes like a car chase down a mountain and a meeting in a flower market are certainly vibrant. And Grace Kelly is stunning in her first scene, wearing a powder-blue filmy ball gown. You can see why she became a Princess!  The first disc has a commentary by a Hitchcock Film Historian, and there’s a second disc packed with ‘making of” featurettes and other information.

    Both movies are available from Amazon.com, The Odd Couple is $18.99  and To Catch a Thief is $18.49. Add them to your classic movie collection today!

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  • Happy-Go-Lucky on DVD Delivers Laughs and Surprises

    Monday, April 20th, 2009


    happy-go-luckyI just finished watching Happy-Go-LuckyHappy-Go-Lucky DVD on DVD, and now I know exactly why this film earned so many awards both here in the U.S. and in Britain. If you haven’t seen it, this needs to go on your Netflix list or better yet, buy a copy so you can watch it and then loan it to your friends. Writer/Director Mike Leigh was nominated for an Academy Award for this screenplay about Poppy (Sally Hawkins), a perpetually happy 30 year old London schoolteacher who loves her life. She enjoys working with her grade school class, has a close-knit group of friends including her roommate Zoe,  sister Suzy, and pals Alice and Helen.

    The film starts out with Poppy blissfully happy yet seemingly unaware of the world around her- she attempts to engage a bookstore clerk in conversation and doesn’t even seem to notice that he has no interest in talking to her. When her bicycle is stolen, her reaction is to say “I didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye”, then enroll in driving lessons. She agrees to accompany the headmaster of her school to Flamenco dance lessons,  exercises by jumping on a giant trampoline, even tries to cheerfully deal with a class bully.

    Slowly, however, the real world begins to intrude on Poppy’s enthusiasm. She encounters a homeless man, witnesses the Flamenco dance teacher’s emotional meltdown in class, discovers the real reason her pupil is hitting other kids, and in the most surprising element of the film, finds that her driving instructor Scott is a seething ball of hatred and anger. She takes one driving lesson a week, and each subsequent lesson reveals more and more of Scott’s paranoid, intolerant view of the world and the people in it.

    The last few scenes of the film show Poppy finally having to face that not everyone is as happy as she is.  I was completely unprepared for her final confrontation with Scott,  and found myself on the edge of my seat waiting for her to finally explode with frustration. Instead, she manages to diffuse the situation with a calm tenderness, but her final scene showing her walking home from the encounter leaves one wondering if Poppy will continue to view the world with such optimism. I’d like to think she will.

    Did you see Happy-Go-Lucky? I’d love to know your thoughts about it, please leave a comment!

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