CHLOE (Blu-Ray and DVD)

Sex. It sells. Especially when it’s current hottie Amanda Seyfried getting naked and having it. See, like half of you just switched webpages to Netflix to order it immediately. But what if I told you that “Chloe”, above and beyond the celebrity nudity was actually a darn good film? Hello? Anyone still there? Damn, they all went to Netflix. Oh well, for my own benefit as much as anything, I’ll wax on. Julianne Moore and Liam Neeson are a rich, well-to-do couple whose life seems perfect from the outside. When Liam misses his birthday party, Moore gets suspicious and sees evidence which she believes indicates he’s having an affair. Suffused with jealousy, she contacts a call girl (Amanda Seyfried) who she sees every day from her ivory tower of an office, entering a hotel across the street with various clients. She wants her to approach her husband so she can see how he reacts. Turns out Liam is rather taken with the young minx and it’s not long before the two of them are meeting for more than coffee. Moore is horrified but there’s clearly more than that; she’s actually beginning to get turned on by the whole thing, hearing the accounts of the sex from Seyfried and the next thing you know...well, I don’t want to spoil everything. Suffice it to say, there’s a scene that’ll be in my own personal spank bank for the next year or so. Of course, this is by the great Atom Egoyan, one of the few guys who actually knows how to make good erotic thrillers, so things are more complicated than just a skinimax film. Not everything is as it seems. Excellent performances and believable characters make “Chloe” much more than the sum of its parts.
EXTRAS: Commentary with Egoyan, writer Erin Wilson, and Amanda Seyfried; “Introducing Chloe” - 26 minute making of featurette; Deleted scenes; Trailer
CLICK HERE TO BUY Chloe [Blu-ray]

OUR FAMILY WEDDING (Blu-Ray and DVD)

I’m not going to watch this. I’m not. Nothing can make me. Not wild dogs. Not promises of kinky sex. Nothing. Okay, maybe promises of kinky sex BUT I WON’T ENJOY IT....the movie not the...well, you get the picture. It’s not just that it’s got Carlos Mencia, the king of all douchebag, joke-thieving hacks in it (once again, the movie, not the kinky sex). It’s that I’m already exhausted with ethnically diverse goofball wedding comedies. DO NOT WANT. This latest chapter in the war against mankind’s better sense features America Ferrera, whose “Ugly Betty” status at this point is about as convincing as Clark Kent’s glasses, and Lance Gross (of which I have nothing to say about since I've never heard of him) who are in love and getting married despite having wildly racist fathers (Forest Whitaker, who must have owed someone a big favor and Mencia). Please explain to me clearly, if you’re out there somewhere intended audience, why this sounds like something you’d want to spend 90 minutes of your time on? Please. I feel like I’ve fallen completely out of the loop. Not that I’m looking for a way back in, I just would like to complete my report on it for future generations so they can fully understand why our society collapsed.
EXTRAS: Deleted scenes; Extended scenes; “Till Dads Do Us Part” featurette; Gag reel; gun to shoot yourself with
CLICK HERE TO BUY Our Family Wedding [Blu-ray]

ZIFT (DVD)

I watched this, only, I still don’t know what to say about it. I’m not entirely sure what I saw. “Zift” is a 2008 black and white Bulgarian film that appears to be a riff on socialism in the 1960’s in that part of the world. I think. It tells its downright weird story by following Moth, a recently released criminal who is being chased by his ex-partner who believes he knows where a missing diamond is they were both after. The tale flashes back and forth to his current travails running from he ex-partner’s military cronies, to the heist that went terribly wrong, to his days in prison. There are numerous sidetracks to unrelated anecdotal tall tales (for some reason) as well. So what does it all add up to? Got me. It’s clear that there’s a lot of talent at work here, as the cinematography is inventive and the film has a rapid pace and plenty of humor. It just wasn’t directed at me. Big fans of cold war history might very well look at “Zift” and declare it a masterpiece of dark humor and political satire. I declare it time to put on something that I can vaguely identify with. Sorry, “Zift”, but my ugly American side has shown through.
EXTRAS: Trailer
CLICK HERE TO BUY Zift (Sub)

THE SUPERHERO SQUAD SHOW: VOLUME ONE - QUEST FOR THE INFINITY SWORD (DVD)

I know it’s for kids. Little kids. Not real bright little kids. Possibly retarded, even. Marvel comics’ television production arm has put out some good stuff like “Spectacular Spider-Man” (which, of course, they promptly canceled) but this is NOT one of them. I understand wanting to sell more toys, I really do, but this is so blatantly nothing but a sales pitch (and not much more) for their Hasbro line of kid-style versions of their heroes and villains, that it raised the bile in my throat. There’s just enough in the way of references to the Marvel universe featured in various in-jokes and obscure character appearances to make a grown man who likes comics like myself be tempted to watch it. I’m telling you right now, don’t do it. This is a non-stop cavalcade of fart and booger jokes only with some hellish re-imaginings of Marvel’s characters. Focusing on the "Superhero Squad”, which stars Iron Man, Hulk, Falcon, Silver Surfer, Thor, and Wolverine, each of the seven episodes in this first volume takes them out looking for pieces of ‘The Infinity Sword’ which their primary villain, Dr Doom, of course, is looking for as well. Unless you really want to see the Silver Surfer talking like Keanu Reeves in the Bill & Ted movies and the Hulk being picked out of the snotty nose of a giant monster, I’d advise you to stay far, far away from this monstrosity. Seriously, WTF, Marvel? Five years ago you were my favorite comics company. Now....now, I can barely even read your actual comics much less the abortion nightmares you keep slapping down as adaptations of these works. Aside from the “Iron Man” films right now, if you don’t get your act together, I’m gonna have to start siding with Leon on that upcoming “Avengers” movie.
EXTRAS: Interview with Stan Lee
CLICK HERE TO BUY The Super Hero Squad Show: Volume One

SAINT JOHN OF LAS VEGAS (DVD)

I totally did not get, when Korey and I saw this in the theater this year, that it was a re-telling of Dante’s Inferno. I still really don’t. Neither do I get the largely negative response it gathered. Sure, it’s disjointed, odd, and ultimately kind of meaningless, but it’s a fun watch even so. Steve Buscemi plays an ex-gambler on a bad luck streak who takes a job in Albuquerque working for an auto insurance company run by Peter Dinklage (best dwarf...ever). There, he wants nothing more than to keep a low profile, have a normal life, and maybe hook up with his co-worker (Sarah Silverman) which he just manages to do when he’s promoted to Fraud Investigator and is forced to leave for an investigation in Vegas with the company’s top man (Romany Malco). From there on, it’s one of those ‘series of quirky encounters’ road trip movies that may or may not be your cup of tea. While I thought “Saint John” pulls off its oddball meet-ups better than most of the films of its ilk, it doesn’t really go anywhere either. At least anywhere that makes much sense. Still, sometimes you like to get out and drive just to drive and look at the sights. “Saint John of Las Vegas” taken in that context is a pleasant and funny voyage as long as you weren’t planning on getting anywhere in particular.
EXTRAS: “Conversations with the Cast” - 3:34 with the actors except Buscemi who talk about the movie’s meaning; Trailer
CLICK HERE TO BUY Saint John of Las Vegas

INSOMNIA (Blu-Ray)

While we’re all celebrating the newest Christopher Nolan film (and we really should, it’s amazing) it seems like now is as good a time as any to look back at the man’s career. At least, that’s the impetus behind the re-release of his 2002 remake of the 1997 Norwegian film “Insomina”. Of all the six films he’s made before his current release, this is probably the last one I’d have promoted with a re-release on HD. Wouldn’t his wonderfully puzzling “Memento” been perfectly timed for a Blu-Ray special edition? But, whatever. Even Nolan at his weakest is still better than most directors working today. In a small Alaskan town, a teenage girl is murdered and for some reason, two LA detectives (Al Pacino and Martin Donovan) are sent up to help. These two are a strange choice to be working on any case at the time, as Pacino apparently is under investigation for planting evidence against a suspect in a child murder case and his partner Donovan is going to give testimony against him for immunity. Still, neither is into letting child murderers go free, so they focus on the Alaskan murder, despite Pacino starting to lose his mind from lack of sleep (those 24 hour Alaskan summer days can be hell for those who DON’T HAVE THE MONEY TO BUY A SLEEPING MASK...just saying). Evidence points towards a local crime writer (Robin Williams) but how far will Pacino go to get his man? While I thought this adaptation was completely unnecessary, as the Norwegian film is wonderful in its own right, Nolan still made an excellent, albeit quiet, crime film. The trailers badly marketed this as more of a thriller than it really was. While it certainly is creepy at points, “Insomnia” seems to have more in common with slow burn character based movies like “Repulsion” than “Silence of the Lambs”.
EXTRAS: Commentary with Nolan; Commentary with Hilary Swank (the young police officer put in charge of the investigation into Pacino’s character), the production designer, editor, cinematographer, and screenwriter; one 3 minute deleted scene with commentary; stills gallery; “Christopher Nolan Interviews Al Pacino” - pretty cool at 17 minutes; “Day for Night” - 8 minute making-of; “In the Fog: Cinematography and Production Design” - a look at just what it says; “Eyes Wide Open - The Insomniac’s World” - once again, self described; trailer
CLICK HERE TO BUY Insomnia [Blu-ray]

GREENBERG (Blu-Ray and DVD)

I’ll hand it to writer/director Noah Baumbach, he totally got me with his 2005 film “The Squid and the Whale”. It was a realistic look at a family trying to function in the midst of a divorce that was heartfelt, honest, and touching. Other than that, when he’s double-teaming the writer/director duties, I’ve been less than impressed. The 2010 film “Greenberg” did almost nothing to change that for me, although it’s not anywhere near as painful as his last (“Margot at the Wedding”). Ben Stiller plays the title character, a complete neurotic of a 40 year old (What, Ben Stiller playing an aging neurotic? What a stretch!) who is staying at his brother’s house while he and his family are away on vacation. He reluctantly begins, then, stops, then begins again, then stops, a relationship with his brother’s assistant Florence (Greta Gerwig), pisses off his old band mates who he screwed up a record deal for (notably, Rhys Ifans), essentially stalks his ex-girlfriend (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and generally acts like a complete schlub. However, “Greenberg” doesn’t celebrate its main character’s asinine behavior; he is punished repeatedly for it and eventually, a tiny bit at a time, there’s a crack of light. He actually begins to figure out that maybe HE’S the one acting like a dick. The real saving grace here is the performance by relative newcomer Greta Gerwig who is positively enchanting as a normal, slightly screwed-up, but decent human being. She manages to become wildly attractive just by lieu of this realism, the type of portrayal of female characters rarely seen on screen. I’d want to see a sequel just about her. But Noah, seriously, you can leave Stiller out of it.
EXTRAS: “A Behind the Scenes Look at Greenberg” - short promo fluff; “Greenberg Loves Los Angeles” - 2 minutes about location scouting (?); “Greenberg: Noah Baumbach Takes a Novel Approach” - 1 1/2 minutes on Baumbach’s inspirations; control of blu-ray with your blackberry (for folks who don’t own a remote control, I suppose?); some crap called ‘social BLU’ for online something or other
CLICK HERE TO BUY Greenberg [Blu-ray]

CLICK HERE TO GO TO PART ONE OF NEW RELEASES