This Week on DVD: December 18, 2012

Pitch Perfect
“Glee” meets “Bring It On.” Anna Kendrick stars in this film about competitive college a cappella teams. Got pretty good reviews.

Sleepwalk With Me
Mike Birbiglia directs and stars in this comedy based on his one man show, about his relationship and somnambulism issues, and how they interrelate.

Total Recall
The general consensus was that this version was dumber than an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, and that’s saying something. It’s a high energy CGI fest that doesn’t have time to slow down and deal with the ideas in the original story. Read More

This Week On DVD: December 4th, 2012

The Dark Knight Rises
Just in time for Christmas shopping… the finale of the Batman trilogy was a big letdown in my opinion, but I know many (if not most) people didn’t agree with me. Read my full review here.

Beasts of the Southern Wild
It could be this year’s “Winter’s Bone.” Set in the bayou’s of Louisiana, it’s about a little girl who fights against mystical powers (I think?) to save her family. I’m excited to see it.

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This Week on DVD: November 13, 2012

Brave
Pixar’s latest was certainly better than “Cars 2,” but still lacked the originality and commitment to storytelling that has set them head and shoulders above the competition for the last decade. It’s a beautifully made movie, but a little to similar to “Brother Bear” for my taste.

Two Days in New York
Julie Delpy, who gained attention with “Before Sunrise” and its sequel “Before Sunset,” has made another set of movies; first “Two Days in Paris” and now “Two Days in New York” and she’s earning comparisons to Woody Allen with this one.
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This Week on DVD: November 6, 2012

Your Sister’s Sister
Mark Duplass (who was just in “Safety Not Guaranteed,” released last week) finds himself in the middle of a love triangle between Rosemarie DeWitt and her sister, Emily Blunt. Well, there’s worse places to be. Directed by Lynn Shelton, who made the profoundly uncomfortable “Humpday.”

360
Anthony Hopkins, Ben Foster, Jude Law and Rachel Weisz star in this film from Fernando Meirelles about a daisy-chain of lovers that cross lines of class, race, gender and politics. Reviews were lukewarm. Read More

GonnaWatchIt.com: Argo

Ben Affleck made quite a splash a few years ago with his directorial debut, “Gone Baby Gone,” which was my favorite movie of 2007. His next project, “The Town,” wasn’t nearly as impressive, and I wondered if directing and starring in a film was too much for him to take on (“Gone Baby Gone” starred his little brother, Casey.) But with “Argo,” Affleck proves that he has figured out how to both act and direct admirably. Read More

This Week on DVD: October 30th, 2012

The Campaign
Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis square off as opposing candidates in this dumb comedy about politics. Might be a good release valve if you’re all worked up about the real election.

Ruby Sparks
From the folks who gave us “Little Miss Sunshine.” Paul Dano is a writer with no love life until he writes a character he falls in love with, and she magically takes on flesh and blood. Quirky and sweet, it got decent reviews.  Read More

This Week on DVD: October 23rd, 2012

A surprising lack of legit horror films for the week before Halloween. Guess I’ll be watching “The Descent” again this year.

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
The premise is ridiculous on purpose, but director Timur Bekmambetov doesn’t seem to know it. He’s a big fan of Zack Snyder, so everything’s in bone-crunching slow-mo. If you liked “Watchmen”, you might like this. If you read the book, not so much.

Magic Mike
Of course all the girls want to see it. (Channing Tatum plays a male stripper, for heaven’s sake.) Surprisingly, all the critics wanted to see it too. Steven Soderbergh directs, and it got surprisingly good reviews, and I won’t be surprised if it shows up on Top 10 lists at the end of the year. Read More

This Week on DVD: October 16th

Moonrise Kingdom
Wes Anderson’s oddly delightful latest. Read my full review here.

Chernobyl Diaries
Oren Pelli (“Paranormal Activity”) delivers this film about a group of friends who decide to spend their vacation touring the abandoned city of Prypiat, home of the Chernobyl disaster. Got pretty terrible reviews, even for a b-horror flick.  Read More

GonnaWatchIt.com: The Master

Like me, you’ve probably heard that “The Master” is about the pseudo-religion Scientology, featuring a cult leader played by Philip Seymour Hoffman who bears more than a slight resemblance to L. Ron Hubbard, and a troubled follower, played by Joaquin Phoenix. You might have heard that there was a lot of buzz and controversy about this film before it was ever released, with Scientologists launching their own publicity campaign against it and threatening lawsuits. Read More

This Week On DVD: October 9th

This week, a ton of the movies coming out are throwbacks to the ’80s & ’90s, in one way or another.

Rock of Ages
Deliriously silly rock n roll musical (focusing on ’80s’ & ’90s glam rock) starring Tom Cruise. Read my full review here.

Prometheus
The supposed prequel to “Alien,” except not really, because it happens on a differently numbered planet. Plus Guy Pearce spends the entire film wearing really terrible aging makeup. Other than that, it was a pretty good film. Charlize Theron and Idris Elba co-star.

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