|
"DUE DATE" Blu-ray Review by Kevin Carr MOVIE: *** (out of 5 stars) BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: *** (out of 5 stars) Rated R Studio: Warner Bros. Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Acerbic and confrontational Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.) is trying to get across the country for the birth of his first child. However, a chance meeting with Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis) at the airport spirals into an altercation that gets him booted off the plane and on the no-fly list. This leaves Peter and Ethan to make the road trip from Atlanta to Los Angeles without killing each other.
WHAT I LIKED
I’ll admit that while I wasn’t wild about this movie when I first saw it in the theaters, I actually found it more enjoyable on home video. A lot of this is due to the fact that I knew what to expect. Instead of a raunchy but fun comedy like “The Hangover,” I knew to expect something darker, more mean-spirited and sardonic.
What carries the movie are the performances. It’s not that Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis have the greatest chemistry. Rather, they work incredibly well with the roles they are given. Each has his time to shine, and they are both generous enough to allow the other to capitalize on this.
As far as road trip comedies go, this isn’t the best one. However, it has plenty of funny parts – even outside of the trailer. Fans of the actors will enjoy it the most, of course.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
I don’t mind movies about social pariahs and dysfunctional people. I just have to find something likeable about the characters. Unfortunately, the only likable things about the characters in this film are their underlying personalities. Both men carry the film, but it’s more about them as good performers in appropriate roles.
Of course, part of the purpose of this film is to see characters like Peter Highman grow as a person, but he’s such an asshole in the beginning of the film – and through pretty much 85 percent of it – that it become really hard to feel any sort of sympathy for him.
BLU-RAY FEATURES
The Blu-ray comes with a gag reel, which is also included on the DVD. Features exclusive to the Blu-ray include a couple deleted and extended scenes, two mash-ups (one featuring the physical comedy in the movie and the other featuring the most annoying questions from Ethan Tremblay) and the complete scene from “Two and a Half Men” featuring Ethan Tremblay... which ironically might be the final word on the show considering Charlie Sheen’s recent meltdown.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
People who like mean-spirited, sarcastic comedies.
|
"LIFE AS WE KNOW IT" Blu-ray Review by Kevin Carr MOVIE: **1/2 (out of 5 stars) BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: **1/2 (out of 5 stars) Rated PG-13 Studio: Warner Bros. Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel play a young non-couple who do not like each other but have mutual friends. When said friends die in a car accident, they are left as the godparents of the couple’s daughter Sophie. Together, they must learn to live together so they can become parents to the child and raise her in a stable home.
WHAT I LIKED
I like a good romantic comedy, and it’s refreshing to see that Hollywood is still making those in light of the recent (and somewhat desperate) trend to raunch them up to fit in the Apatow model. “Life As We Know It” definitely pushes all the right buttons, from the cute kid mugging at the camera to the attractiveness of the stars.
Much of the film plays out decently for the rom com crowd, and Duhamel definitely seems comfortable in the role, considering he’s subordinate in the film to Heigl (who fancies herself a massive rom com star but barely holds it together for each film).
“Life As We Know It” is a date movie at heart. Use it to make your lady happy. There’s worse movies out there to see.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
How much you like “Life As We Know It” greatly depends on your tolerance of Katherine Heigl. I personally find her smug, irritating, arrogant and not that good of an actress. So, watching this film was an uphill battle.
It seems that whenever Heigl is cast in a film like this, she’s made into a stiff, borderline-OCD character. I’m not sure this works in any sense, unless you’ve secretly got a thing for the shrill and prissy Kate Gosselin type. Heigl lacks a level of relateability, at least for someone like me. It’s something that Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, Drew Barrymore and Reese Witherspoon never had a problem with. In short, I find Heigl attractive, but it just seems like it wouldn’t be worth it when dealing with her on-screen (and if rumor serves, off-screen) persona.
So if you’re like me, and you don’t like Katherine Heigl, you’ll want to skip this one.
BLU-RAY FEATURES
While the Blu-ray features are not extensive on this disc, it’s got some pretty entertaining smaller ones. There’s about 15 minutes of deleted scenes, which are also available on the DVD. Blu-ray exclusive features include “A Survival Guide to Instant Parenting” which includes cast members offering funny parenting advice (which seems to be mostly delivered in-character).
There’s also a spotlight on Katherine Heigl called “Becoming the Best Mom Ever,” which is alarmingly self-congratulatory (not a surprise considering Heigl is an executive producer on the film). Finally, there’s a spotlight on Josh Duhamel called “The Triplet Tamer,” which focuses on his relationship with the triplets who play his on-screen daughter.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
People who like rom coms and Katherine Heigl, but you’ve gotta like both.
|
"SUNDAY IN NEW YORK" DVD Review by Kevin Carr MOVIE: ** (out of 5 stars) DVD EXPERIENCE: * (out of 5 stars) Rated GP Studio: Warner Archive Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
William Holden and Ryan O’Neal play cowboys who decide to turn in their working gloves for a life of crime. They rob a bank but soon find themselves on the run from a persistent posse.
WHAT I LIKED
Over the past few years, I have enjoyed revisiting (or in cases like this, simply visiting) older films that came out while I was a child. I either never saw them because I was too young, or I saw them and didn’t get much out of them because I was too young.
“Wild Rovers” is such a film, offering a dose of old-time nostalgia from films long gone as well as giving me a feel for my childhood as its popular culture was captured on the screen. In particular, “Wild Rovers” is one of the last films to include an Overture and an Entr’acte with music. While these elements are completely out-of-place on a DVD presentation, they serve as a pleasant reminder of the filmgoing experience.
Unlike many westerns, this film doesn’t rely on gunfights and horse chases, though those elements do exist in the film. Rather, it’s a characters study that examines the father and son relationship between two cowboys and the consequences of their actions.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
I’m a fan of many of the people involved in this film, including director Blake Edwards. However, this feels more like his features from the 60s, which weren’t my cup of tea, than his later films of the 70s and 80s. “Wild Rovers” was made with a 60s-era feel to it even though it was released in 1971. These films are just lost on me as they don’t quite click with my sensibilities.
In short, I had the hardest time focusing on this pictures. Whether it was the writing or the directing, it just seemed to be a little aimless to me.
DVD FEATURES
Nothing but the film.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Fans of the westerns of the 60s and 70s.
|
"FINISHING SCHOOL" DVD Review by Kevin Carr MOVIE: *** (out of 5 stars) DVD EXPERIENCE: * (out of 5 stars) Not Rated Studio: Warner Archive Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Young lady Virginian Radcliffe (Frances Dee) is eager and happy to join the Crocket Hall finishing school. They have plenty of rules, including no smoking, no drinking and no lipstick. Once she meets the girls, she learns that the students run by their own set of rules. After a weekend in New York, she meets a handsome doctor in his internship, and the romance threatens her place at the school.
WHAT I LIKED
There’s a misconception that older films are stuffy and have no spice to them. That might have been the case later in the 40s and 50s, but in pre-Code Hollywood, some pretty saucy things could happen. Sure, they’re still tame by today’s standards, but they are kind of shocking to see in what you’d expect from a squeaky-clean black-and-white movie.
“Finishing School” may not quite be “Reform School Girls” or the parody “Catholic High School Girls in Trouble” from “The Kentucky Fried Movie,” but it’s still a fun little romp. The story has been seen many times before and many times since, but it’s effectively put together, and the cast works well in their roles. From the naughty girls who lure Virginia on a weekend adventure to the prissy teachers at the school, this is a fun little semi-exploitation film from the early 30s.
Also, like many films from this era, it has a scant 71-minute running time, which is entirely appropriate for a naughty little tidbit of a movie like this one.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Of course, I prefer the modern naughty schoolgirl movies for many obvious reasons. But these complaints are signs of the era rather than problems with the films. After all, does anyone really expect a “Porky’s” shower scene in this flick?
DVD FEATURES
None.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
People who know that black-and-white films were not always squeaky clean.
|
"AMERICA AMERICA" DVD Review by Kevin Carr MOVIE: *** (out of 5 stars) DVD EXPERIENCE: ** (out of 5 stars) Not Rated Studio: Warner Bros. Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Elia Kazan tells the story of young Stavros (Stathis Giallelis) who was born in the turmoil of ethnic conflict. Stavros takes a long journey through Greece and Turkey to eventually make his way to America for a better life. Facing racism, robbery, social conflict and murder, Stavros’ life is a fictionalized account of Kazan’s own family’s history.
WHAT I LIKED
“America America” was made almost 50 years ago, and it’s even more interesting to watch now as a historical piece. Most people look at problems of the world in a very narrow window of how it affects them contemporarily. However, looking back on the world of “America America” which is a half-century old and telling the story from more than a century ago, we see the problems of today are not very different from the problems of that time.
Directed with a mixture of restrained fly-on-the-wall examination of scenes and in-your-face dramatic action, Kazan allows the viewer to be removed from the film but also engage in the emotion of the moment. It’s one of the more visceral depictions of immigration without delving into current politics to deflect the drama of the film itself.
The 168-minute running time might be somewhat daunting for some people, but it’s worth making it through. Giallelis does a great job as the conflicted and rage-filled young traveler who wears many different hats in the course of his journey.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
I was raised in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, so I had very limited exposure to the Old World immigrants from the past. Even today, the immigrants in my area tend to come from the Middle East, Asia and Latin America rather than Europe. Even my own family, who is Hungarian by blood, had much of its Old World elements Americanized by the time I made it into this world. So I feel that I miss out a little bit in the familiarity of the people presented in this film.
This, of course, isn’t a criticism of the film per se, and there is still plenty that people can get out of this film, regardless of their family history and their neighborhood experience.
DVD FEATURES
While the only feature on this DVD is a commentary track by film historian Foster Hirsch, it is a pretty insightful commentary track, which chronicles not just the development and making of the film but also looks at the people – including director Elia Kazan and star Stathis Giallelis – who made it.
Sadly, “Conviction” has only a single special feature, which is a conversation with director Tony Goldwyn and the real Betty Anne Waters. Sure, this is interesting, but I really hoped for more, particularly something more objective to look at the original case.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Anyone looking at the immigrant experience from the 19th century.
