THE LOSERS (Blu-Ray/DVD)

Despite not really being a big fan of the original Andy Diggle comic series this 2010 movie was based on, “The Losers” ranks among my biggest disappointments of the year. Certainly the “A-Team”-ish premise had much potential for greatness. Ensemble comedy action films, when well done, can be the highlights of a summer. We certainly needed something, ANYTHING to qualify as a highlight for this terrible summer. “The Losers” was NOT it. Directed by the man behind 2007’s “Stomp the Yard” (so, you know, how could it go wrong), the Losers in the film, a group of ex-special forces soldiers who’ve been betrayed and are on the lam, manage to blow lots of stuff up, sure, but they miss the bus completely on the likability factor. Despite many failed attempts, the Losers evade being funny as often as they do the bullets constantly whizzing by them. Only Chris Evans manages to inject some effective comedy into the proceedings. Poor Jeffrey Dean Morgan is left with nothing to do but act smug and all one can think about Zoe Saldana doing rough and tumble action is fear that she’s going to snap like the brittle twig she looks like these days. Seriously ladies (and I'm talking to you as well, Angelina Jolie), if you want to be an action movie bad-ass, fine, but drink some goddamn protein shakes and work out first! There’s no question that “The Losers” only got made in the first place to compete with the “A-Team” movie. Take my word for it: just watch the “A-Team” instead. “The Losers” isn’t a complete waste of time, but it’s more the type of film other movies parody these days, than the inventive and stylish actioner it has aspirations to be.
EXTRAS: One lousy deleted scene; “Zoe and the Losers” - Saldana talks about her role; “Action Style Storytelling” - the comic artists talk about their inspiration; Three behind the scenes featurettes; Advance look at “Batman: Under the Red Hood” animated film; Digital copy
CLICK HERE FOR THE ORIGINAL SPILL.COM REVIEW
CLICK HERE TO BUY The Losers [Blu-ray]

BEING HUMAN (Blu-Ray/DVD)

I’m aware that I’m the one who’s late to the game, only now watching this BBC horror drama. Folks have been harassing me to watch it for over a year now. I unfortunately saw the failed pilot with two different actors in it initially and blew off the entire thing. Thankfully, the rebooted show is much better, albeit perhaps too melodramatic for some. But hell, I go over the whole thing in depth in my review here.
EXTRAS: Deleted scenes; ‘Character Profiles’; Video diaries; Four behind the scenes featurettes; Interview with the showrunner/creator
CLICK HERE TO BUY Being Human: Season 1 [Blu-ray]

ENTRE NOS (DVD)

I’m so lame. I had all this extra time to catch up with the DVDs for this week, and I skipped the arty one. I can almost see my History of Cinema 101 teacher shaking his head at me disappointedly. This Spanish language film is by first time director Paola Mendoza who tells the story of her mom’s experience as a new resident of NYC having just immigrated from Columbia. She has moved there with her two children in order to rejoin her husband who has been working there, but no sooner does she arrive then he’s off to Miami for a different job and she’s stuck alone again. Determined to be with him, despite his obvious reluctance to want to have his family with him, she scrimps, saves, and works, but this is New York. It’s hard just to get by, much less move out. She is remarkably nonplussed by the economic trap she finds herself in. “Entre Nos” has a goal to achieve and it spells it out for you by some of the one word reviews on the cover of the DVD: “Courageous”, “Uplifting”, “Remarkable”...who knows what the rest of those sentences originally said? Never trust that kind of marketing. Even with Michael Moore (who yes, I like, screw you) putting it on his top 20 films of 200, I remain unconvinced. The consensus I’m hearing is that “Entre Nos” IS rather inspiring and even effective at tugging at the heart strings. I’m not so sure I want that kind of inspired heart tugging. Maybe it’s just me. I’m gonna go watch a horror movie instead.
EXTRAS: Commentary with director; 14 minutes of Behind the Scenes footage; “How to Make Empanadas” - featurette that may be worth the cost of the DVD....mmm empanadas; Documentary short by the director “Still Standing” about her grandmother recovering from Hurricane Katrina. What the hell is she gonna make movies about when she runs out of family members?
CLICK HERE TO BUY Entre Nos

COP OUT (Blu-Ray/DVD)

All of the sudden this holds a special place in my heart, especially after one of our own’s recent....troubles with the director. Oh, I laughed and laughed. But I’m sadly indulging in schadenfreude here, It’s obviously wrong to be proud of being a prick. That would be an asinine way of going about my life and would deserve some sort of karmic retribution. What I will say is that regardless of any recent silly shenanigans, this is indeed one hell of a crappy movie. I mean, even for Kevin Smith, who certainly has had his fair share of crappy movies in his career, this may be a low point. In his defense, “Cop Out” is a work for hire for Smith, the first film he’s made that he didn’t write, although it’s obvious watching it, that he had a heavy hand in the re-writes. Even with that defense, Smith was very enthusiastic about the script and wanting to direct it. So, no points there. The movie follows Tracy Morgan (playing Tracy Morgan, as always) and Bruce Willis (not having to stretch much) as two New York cops who have somehow worked together for nine years without Willis brutally bludgeoning Morgan to death with his own broad humor. After a job mishap, the two are suspended without pay which puts Willis in a tough spot, with his daughter’s (Michelle Trachtenberg) wedding coming up and no money to pay for it. Meanwhile, Tracy suspects his wife of cheating on him and sets up a nanny-cam so there's something for him to act unreasonably upset about. Willis tries to sell a valuable baseball card to pay for the wedding but it’s stolen, along with his gun, by Sean William Scott (one of the only people in the film who manages to be funny) who, once they catch up with him, it’s discovered he’s already sold them to a local drug lord who offers to return them if they retrieve a stolen car which turns out to have a kidnapped woman in it who the drug lord plans on killing. I’d say, you can see where this is going, and you despite the convoluted series of events, you probably can, but I don’t want you to think too much about it. Clearly, Smith didn’t. This is awkwardly unfunny stuff only mildly saved by the clever hiring of Harold Faltermeyer, 80’s cop film soundtrack maestro, as part of the series of references Smith throws in to make it seem as if this is all passable because it’s just a satire of those older movies. It’s not enough.
EXTRAS: “Maximum Comedy Mode” - An actual reason to watch this? Who knew? Smith is always at his best when he's just talking, as in his 'Evening with Kevin Smith' videos and he takes full advantage of the Blu-ray format and his own amiability to pop in and out of the frame with various commentary jokes, even parodying himself at points. Clickable ‘gumballs’ allow for viewing of deleted scenes and outtakes. It’s the only way you SHOULD try to watch this beast.
CLICK HERE FOR THE ORIGINAL SPILL.COM REVIEW

CLICK HERE TO BUY Cop Out

THE PROFESSIONAL (DVD)

French bad-ass manly man spies? Come on, if you can buy Jean Reno in the totally unrelated film of the same name, you can buy the enormously awesome Jean-Paul Belmondo in the title role of this 1981 thriller. He’s almost a French Steve McQueen, so self-assured, suave, yet brutish when necessary. Hell, he’s Jackie Chan’s favorite actor. So get past the French jokes and check this out. Belmondo plays Beaumont, a best-of-the-best French agent who has been sent to Africa to kill a dictator but is sold out by his own people before he can finish the job. After a period in a prison, he escapes and makes his way back to Paris, telling his former bosses that he’s back, he’s gonna kill the dictator on his upcoming visit to the city, and nyeah, nyeah, nyeah. Beaumont goes from lover to lover, screwing and then efficiently and brutally dispatching agents sent to collect him. He’s slick like Bond but direct and to the point like Bourne. There’s a helluva lot to like both about Belmondo in the role and everything else in the film. Lots of boobs, a righteously cool car chase, and one of the best Ennio Morricone scores make this a retro movie that you just KNOW Quentin Tarantino must own an original print of. If you’re even vaguely into spy movies, this is a classic that I must beg of you to discover. Kind of a bummer ending (it certainly is French though) but “The Professional” is top-notch otherwise.
EXTRAS: Don’t watch the dubbed version. The audio sounds terrible. Besides, what the hell are you doing watching it that way anyways? Fail. Other than that, there’s the trailer.
CLICK HERE TO BUY The Professional

A TOWN CALLED PANIC (DVD)

Unfortunately, I didn’t get sent the DVD for review of this 2009 movie adaptation of the Belgian animated series featuring the everyday lives of three toys, a Cowboy, an Indian, and a Horse. I’m still not even sure who I would have had to talk to in order to get a copy. I’m sad because this was probably the most talked about film at Fantastic Fest in Austin last year, easily winning the Audience Award. And I didn’t see it. Bad call, Cyrus. The film follows the three and their surreal misadventures which end up with them going to the center of the Earth amongst other even odder places. All this starts with a badly placed order for bricks to build a homemade BBQ that ends up with them mistakenly getting 50 million of them. I've had BBQ sessions turn that bad, but it was more to do with me drinking 50 million beers during them. I’m not sure what else to say about this without having seen it myself. The consensus seems to be ‘funny, bizarre, endlessly re-watchable’ from the many, many folks I’ve had rave about it to me. Looks like this is going on my Netflix Queue right away.
EXTRAS: An exhaustive 52 minute ‘Making of' featurette; Deleted scenes; Interviews with the creators; Test shot comparisons and photo gallery; “Obsessive Compulsive” short film by a 13 year old fan
CLICK HERE TO BUY A Town Called Panic

CLICK HERE FOR PART ONE OF THE NEW RELEASES