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vidlib@videolibrarian.com
 Updated April 29, 2008 |
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Cloverfield  Paramount, 84 min., PG-13, DVD: $29.99, Apr. 22 
Aptly summed up by one wag as “Godzilla meets The Blair Witch Project,” this highly touted horror/sci-fi hybrid is set in New York City, where a going-away party for yuppie Rob (Michael Stahl-David) turns into an orgy of terror following the sudden appearance of a gigantic creature—possibly of alien origin—that lumbers through the city streets and lays waste to huge swaths of high-priced Manhattan real estate. The story, such as it is, revolves around the partygoers’ efforts to escape, captured on video by Ron’s best friend, and consequently it’s this first-person approach to the storytelling that lends Cloverfield a sense of immediacy that makes the outlandish yarn more believable, and thus more compelling. Director Matt Reeves rates kudos for his superb staging of the attack and its confusing aftermath, which finds hurriedly deployed military personnel attempting to mount a retaliation effort while evacuating the entire borough. Still, more discriminating viewers will be put off by the film’s one glaring weakness: insufficient characterization of the principals (which may admittedly have been an unavoidable result of Cloverfield’s on-the-fly narrative structure). A strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by director Matt Reeves, the 28-minute “making-of” featurette “Document 1.18.08,” a 22-minute “Cloverfield Visual Effects” featurette, “I Saw It! It’s Alive! It’s Huge!” creature featurette (6 min.), four minutes of “Clover Fun” outtakes, four deleted scenes with optional commentary (4 min.), two alternate endings with optional commentary (4 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a better-than-average horror flick.] (E. Hulse)
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27 Dresses Fox, 105 min., PG-13, DVD: $29.99, Blu-ray: $39.98, Apr. 29 
Fresh off her blockbuster box-office success as the star of Knocked Up, Katherine Heigl backslides into this pleasant but utterly predictable romantic comedy in which she plays Jane Nichols, a young woman who loves weddings and has been a bridesmaid 27 times, always participating in other people’s Kodak moments but making none of her own. Secretly in love with her hunky boss (Edward Burns), whom she’s too bashful to approach, Jane suffers the heartbreaking irony of seeing him propose to her irresponsible younger sister (Malin Akerman)—who, of course, wants Jane’s help in planning the upcoming wedding. Into this mess strides a cynical journalist (James Marsden), himself a spurned groom and confirmed wedding-hater, who sees Jane as the perfect subject for a story. Filmmaker Anne Fletcher’s 27 Dresses is all formula, right down to the inevitable “betrayal” at the end of Act Two and the obligatory, humiliatingly public declaration of love before a crowd of strangers, but Heigl is admittedly adorable as the warm, vulnerable, and selfless sister. A strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD extras include a 15-minute “The Wedding Party” making-of featurette, “You’ll Never Wear That Again” costume featurette (7 min.), five minutes of “Jane’s World” location segments, “The Running of the Brides” featurette on a real-life one-day dress discount sale (5 min.), three deleted scenes (4 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for an amiable if unexceptional romantic comedy.] (E. Hulse)
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First Sunday  Sony, 98 min., PG-13, DVD: $28.99, Blu-ray: $38.95, May 6 
A weak premise, sloppily executed, undermines the usually dependable Ice Cube’s latest starring vehicle, which bases much of its alleged humor on characterizations—of small-time crooks, street punks, church ladies, preacher men, and fey choir masters—that are so caricaturist as to be distasteful. When Ice Cube’s Durell, a seemingly intelligent and well-educated young man, can’t find a job, he lets himself be persuaded—by his dimwitted friend LeeJohn (Tracy Morgan)—into robbing a church of its building fund, because he’s desperate to prevent his ex-wife (Regina Hall) from leaving Baltimore for Atlanta with his infant son. The resulting fiasco finds the two would-be robbers taking virtually the entire congregation hostage, including the pastor (Chi McBride), his gorgeous daughter (Malinda Williams), a fast-taking deacon (Michael Beach), the abrasive church secretary (Loretta Devine), and the over-the-top choir director (Katt Williams). Time and again, writer-director David E. Talbert takes the easy way out, going for the quick laugh with predictable gags—the end result is a disappointing waste of some very talented performers. Not recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director David E. Talbert, 35 minutes of deleted scenes, 16 minutes of “Hood Robbin’” cast and crew interviews, a five-minute gag reel, five minutes of outtakes, “David E. Talbert’s Camera Wrap Speech” (3 min.), a “Fact Track” pop-up trivia option, and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a so-so comedy.] (E. Hulse)
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Hollywood Dreams TLA, 100 min., R, DVD: $19.99, May 6 
A potentially good comic idea is buried in independent writer-director Henry Jaglom’s Hollywood Dreams—involving an up-and-coming Hollywood hunk who pretends to be gay to boost his career—but it’s just a minor subplot in a tale that focuses instead on Margie Chizek (Tanna Frederick), a no-talent actress wannabe who’s tossed out of her apartment by a roommate and winds up being taken in by a pair of gay movie producers (in a twist that completely defies credulity). Here, she meets Robin Mack (Justin Kirk), a pretty-boy actor who’s passing for gay in order to jumpstart his career, and unaccountably falls for Margie, despite the fact that she’s both shrill and self-absorbed. Naturally, Margie will eventually be faced with a choice between pursuing love or stardom. While the outdated stereotyping is bad enough, the film is further undercut by the fact that Jaglom Always, Eating) doesn’t demonstrate the slightest sense of directorial rhythm here, and Frederick is entirely too convincing as a bad actress, creating an obnoxious heroine who doesn’t warrant the slightest sympathy. Hollywood Dreams may well appeal to Jaglom’s devoted fans, but to everyone else it will seem more of a nightmare. Not recommended. (F. Swietek)
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Jumping Off Bridges New Day Films (tel: 888-367-9154, web: www.newday.com), 93 min., not rated, DVD: $100: high schools & public libraries, $250: colleges & universities Essentially a feature-length after-school special, Kat Candler’s Jumping Off Bridges examines the toll that a mother’s suicide takes on her high-school-aged son, in terms of both his own psychological well-being and his relationships with other family members and friends. After discovering his mother’s body (the reason for her depression is only revealed late in the film), Zak (Bryan Chaffin) is sent into an understandable tailspin. His concerned father (Michael Emerson, Lost) tries desperately to reach out to his son, but the only person Zak really wants to talk to—his best friend Eric (Glen Powell, Jr.)—is strangely distant in the aftermath of the tragedy (for reasons also withheld until later). The title derives from the boys’ favorite thrill-seeking pastime—jumping into rivers from bridges—which obviously serves here as a woozy metaphor for their having to leap into unknown emotional territory. Although well-intentioned, Jumping Off Bridges suffers from a shaky script structure, amateur acting (apart from Emerson), and threadbare production values. While the film may stimulate discussion among high school adolescents—which is why it’s being pushed to the institutional market at a high price—its weaknesses make this strictly an optional purchase. [Note: this is also being sold to individuals for $25 from the filmmaker’s website at www.jumpingoffbridges.com.] (F. Swietek) |
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Before the Devil Knows You're Dead  THINKFilm, 117 min., R, DVD: $27.99, Blu-ray: $35.98, Apr. 15 
Sidney Lumet has been making movies for 50 years, and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead ranks as one of his best: a moody, expertly-crafted crime story/domestic drama featuring a superb ensemble cast. It’s basically a modern film noir revolving around a botched robbery, but revved up with some fancy narrative footwork that breaks the story into discrete scenes focusing on individual characters, and then shuffles them chronologically to provide changing perspectives. In theory, this one-step-forward, two-steps-back structure should feel self-consciously arty, but it’s pulled off so deftly that the film emerges as an engaging puzzle rather than an annoying bag of tricks. Kudos are also due to the excellent cast, which includes Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke as totally dissimilar brothers who become unlikely partners in crime, as well as Albert Finney as their father—owner of the jewelry store the siblings try to rob. When the heist derails, the brothers find their lives unraveling as their father obsessively seeks to identify the guilty parties and avenge his loss. Much more than just a detailing of a robbery gone awry, this portrait of a family disintegrating under the weight of old crimes and misdemeanors is highly recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Sidney Lumet and costars Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman, a 25-minute “Directed by Sidney Lumet: How the Devil Was Made” behind-the-scenes featurette with Lumet, Hawke, Hoffman, and costar Marisa Tomei, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a fine thriller.] (F. Swietek)
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Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight  Paramount, 90 min., PG-13, DVD: $19.99 
Adapted from a novel based on a role-playing game that’s ripped off from The Lord of the Rings, this is one seriously watered-down sword-and-sorcery adventure. Have you heard the one about the wizard, the priestess, and the half-elven warrior who walk into a tavern? Well, I can promise you that it’s better than this sorry tale, which sees those same poorly animated heroes fighting to save the pseudo-medieval world of Krynn from an evil goddess. Viewers can expect to hear many bad jokes and witness frequent offing of orcs and other creatures that might actually be vile if they were better drawn. But don’t expect anything like a satisfying experience from watching Dragonlance, which features the voices of Kiefer Sutherland and Lucy Lawless (who are probably grateful that you kinda can’t tell it’s them). Not recommended. (M. Johanson)
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The Final Season Sony, 118 min., PG, DVD: $26.99, Apr. 8 
Take as many sports clichés as you can imagine, double them, and you’ll have something approaching this well-meaning but heavy-handed saga of high-school baseball. Based on a true story, The Final Season focuses on the 1991 Tigers from the tiny burg of Norway, IA, who’ve won 19 state championships against far larger schools under their demanding coach (Powers Boothe) but are now about to be phased out of existence thanks to a district merger. The school board president hopes to overcome local resistance by insuring that the Tigers do poorly in their last season, replacing the coach with a neophyte (Sean Astin). But—what a surprise—the new guy not only inspires the team to stay on the winning track, but also strikes up a romance with the state numbers-cruncher (Rachael Leigh Cook) assigned to aid in the merger. And that’s not all folks. The success of the Tigers is sparked by the arrival of a troubled city teen come to live with his salt-of-the-earth grandparents who—the lad’s recently widowed dad hopes—can get him back on the right track. Director David Mickey Evans’ The Final Season is trying for something like a grand slam of uplift, but even though the corniness seems truly sincere, this is a double at best. Optional. [Note: DVD extras include two audio commentaries (one with director David Mickey Evans, costar Sean Astin, executive producer Carl Borack, and producer Michael Wasserman; the other by producer Tony Wilson and real-life coaches Kent Stock and Jim Van Scoyoc), a 21-minute “making-of” featurette, the 13-minute featurette “The Real Season: The Spirit of Norway” on the Iowa town, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a so-so film.] (F. Swietek)
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In the Name of the King Fox, 127 min., PG-13, DVD: $27.99, Apr. 15 
Another videogame adaptation from Uwe Boll, who’s gained a reputation as the modern-day Ed Wood, In the Name of the King is based on an apparently popular piece of software called Dungeon Siege. Set in a quasi-medieval era of sorcery and mayhem, the story pits a heroic peasant called Farmer (Jason Statham) against an evil wizard who is working with a malevolent duke towards unseating the benevolent king of a realm far, far away. Turning his plowshares into swords after the wizard’s army kills his son and kidnaps his wife, Farmer, aided by his grizzled adoptive father, takes off to avenge his boy and rescue his bride, eventually joining forces with the king and the beautiful daughter of his chief advisor, as well as a reclusive forest tribe led by vine-swinging nymphs. As presented by the apparently indefatigable Boll—with bargain-basement CGI, drab cinematography, and a script replete with howlers—In the Name of the King is an interminable bore, marked by a scenery-chewing performance by Ray Liotta as the wizard and a soporific one by Burt Reynolds as the king. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include a 10-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, three deleted/extended scenes (10 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a small extras package for an unimpressive film.] (F. Swietek)
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Mansfield Park WGBH, 90 min., not rated, DVD: $24.95 
Fanny Price, heroine of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, is beautiful, kind, modest, and noble of heart and spirit. In short, she’s perfect, which makes for less than compelling drama. Part of the new PBS-aired Austen marathon, this adaptation is thankfully not a total loss. Billie Piper, from the current Doctor Who series, seems like a bit of stunt casting as Fanny, but she’s probably the best thing here--so genuinely ebullient that you forget to hate her. While there’s something about her bleached blonde hair and contrasting dark eyebrows that’s far too modern, Piper is otherwise a good embodiment of the Fanny that director Iain B. MacDonald wants to capture: bright, bubbly and not at all demure. Unfortunately, the rest of the little society at the titular manor—where Fanny came as a child to live with her rich relatives the Bertrams--are pretty dull, even as all manner of typically Austen-like matrimonial intrigue threatens to rock the family, and threaten Fanny’s longtime secret love for her cousin Edmund (Blake Ritson). Yes, there’s a moment when Edmund finally perks up with the a-ha realization that he’s been in love with Fanny all along, but it’s a long time coming, and not quite worth the slog. Still, even so-so Austen should be considered a strong optional purchase. (M. Johanson)
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