Home Theatre Tuesday (April 24, 2012)

Each week, we bring you a quick run-down of what's out on DVD so you don't miss the hits and you can skip the misses.

 

 

 

Rent it: Contraband

I'm not much into action movies. But after seeing The Italian Job, also starring Mark Wahlberg, I realized I need to give them more of a chance. Which is why I saw Contraband.  

Contraband isn't so much of an action movie as it is suspense. While there are some high adrenaline physical moments and hot chases, it is more comprised of palpably tense phone calls and confrontations. Combined with talented roster of actors (well, I'm not so much a fan of Wahlberg but this is his genre if there was one), these scenes make for a captivating thriller with perfect pacing and occasional bouts of action. 

Read the rest of Michelle's review.   

Also out: Pariah

This drama, about a young African American lesbian (Adepero Oduye) coming to terms with her identity, got high praise from top critics. It also landed some pretty sweet indie loot including Best Cinematography at Sundance and the John Cassavetes Award at the Indie Spirits. 

Home Theatre Tuesday (April 17, 2012)

Each week, we bring you a quick run-down of what's out on DVD so you don't miss the hits and you can skip the misses.

Don't even rent it: The Divide

I'm a bit of a germaphobe (or so I'm told; I think my constant hand-washing and sanitization are more than justifiable). Old places, basements and unfinished room also sometimes gross me out because they've collected years of dust and germs (you can laugh, but I'm sure some of you completely understand). I hadn't really realized that The Divide took place in an old, unfinished, apartment basement when I saw the trailer. Even still, I could get over that, but over two hours, this movie just grew to become more and more disgusting, beyond poor hygiene into physical human cruelty, emotional torment and ultimately societal corruption and despair. This movie left me with such a feeling of disgust that no amount of soap could wash away.

Read the rest of Michelle's review on Thursday.

Also out: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Supposedly the most intense installable in the Mission: Impossible series. When a bombing causes the IMF to shut down, Ethan Hunt and his team are out again, this time to clear his organization's name in what seems to be the most dangerous mission of all.

Home Theatre Tuesday (April 10, 2012)

Each week, we bring you a quick run-down of what's out on DVD so you don't miss the hits and you can skip the misses.

Buy it now: The Iron Lady

The story of a strong, unrelenting woman who defied norms mixed with a sad reality that everyone must one day face, even if you are the only woman to date to be Prime Minster of Britain. Beautifully written and tremendously acted, it's both motivating and heartbreaking. Meryl Streep's win at the Oscars was more than deserved (but it would have been for any of five stellar nominees this year).

Home Theatre Tuesday (March 20, 2012)

Each week, we bring you a quick run-down of what's out on DVD so you don't miss the hits and you can skip the misses.

Buy it: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The story of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is compelling, and I was curious how Fincher would adapt and interpret the narrative I had become familiar with. I was also drawn in by Daniel Craig, a perfect, spot-on choice for Mikael Blomkvist, and intrigued by the casting of Rooney Mara, a relative unknown, in a role that has become so iconic (Lisbeth Salander), and was performed so brilliantly by Noomi Rapace in the original Swedish-language films. So, I went. And despite myself, I really liked this movie.
 

Read the rest of Jennifer's review.

Buy it now: The Muppets

For lifelong fans, like the gigantic presence that is star and writer Jason Segel (who originally revealed his fandom--and freakly bod--in Forgetting Sarah Marshall), The Muppets is a fitting return to flat-out punny form after the flop that was Muppets in Space. For those who did not grow up with Kermit and his furry friends, it  is the perfect, meta first meeting (the plot is about the Muppets trying to save their Studio and careers from disappearing). I'm not sure that life really is (as the first song of the film states), a "Happy Song." But when I left the theatre, I certainly felt like it.

Read Emily's Top 10 of 2011. 

Home Theatre Tuesday (Mar. 13, 2012)

Each week, we bring you a quick run-down of what's out on DVD so you don't miss the hits and you can skip the misses.

Buy it now: Young Adult

Last time Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody teamed up, for the dividing 2007 Sunny D-elight Juno, they introduced us to a hipster girl (Ellen Page) who was pushed into early adulthood after being knocked up by her gawkward track team BFF (Michael Cera). Now, with the Cody-penned, Reitman-directed Young Adult, the dynamic duo are telling the opposite story, one that's not being retold repeatedly via MTV reality shows, but is not all that uncommon either. Here, lies the tale of an modern day, Marc Jacobs-wearing J.M. Barrie character, a selfish thirtysomething woman who refuses to grow up.

Read the rest of Emily's review.

Also buy: My Week with Marilyn

Let’s start with the obvious: Michelle Williams looks very little like Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn was a bombshell: glamourous, voluptuous, with an hourglass figure (although reports she wore a size 16 dress have been somewhat overstated), and a delicate, heart-shaped face. Michelle Williams is a waif: cute rather than gorgeous, stick-thin (the padding Williams wore holds no candle to Marilyn’s curves), with a full-cheeked round face. Physically speaking, the only thing the two women really seem to have in common is their blonde hair.

Luckily, Michelle Williams is extremely talented.

Read the rest of Jennifer's review.

Don't even rent: The Descendants

The Descendants has everything going for it: a famous leading man (Clooney), an acclaimed writer and director (Payne) and a beautiful setting (Hawaii). But somehow, all of these great things combined make for a very unimpressive film.

Read the rest of Regan's review.

Home Theatre Tuesday (Feb. 21)

Each week, we bring you a quick run-down of what's out on DVD so you don't miss the hits and you can skip the misses.

Don't rent: J. Edgar

For a film about a man that tightly controlled his message, J. Edgar doesn’t really know what it’s trying to say.

Clint Eastwood’s latest directorial effort has us travelling back and forth through the life of J. Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio), the controversial and mysterious former director of the FBI. The film spans 50 years, following his rise from a twenty-something Justice Department employee obsessed with Bolsheviks and bomb-loving radicals to his fastidious creation and dictatorship of the Bureau.

Read the rest of Jelena's review.

Don't even rent: Tower Heist

Despite an all-star cast of Eddie Murphy, Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck, Alan Alda, Téa Leoni, Michael Peña and Gabourey Sidibe, this "comedy" (if you can call it that) completely failed to deliver. It came with way too much hype that it couldn't live up to, flaunting its big names and promising to be hilarious. (Sound familiar? Cough--Rush Hour 3--cough. Sorry, Ratner.)

Home Theatre Tuesday (Jan. 31, 2012)

Each week, we bring you a quick run-down of what's out on DVD so you don't miss the hits and you can skip the misses.

Photo: amazon.ca

Buy it now: Drive

Three quarters of the way through Drive, Ryan Gosling's character, a stunt driver who doubles as a late-night criminal chauffeur, takes Carey Mulligan into a elevator and kisses her with reckless, slow-mo abandon as a overwrought romantic soundtrack thumps. Then, suddenly, he turns towards the other guest in the elevator and bashes the dude's head in with his feet. It's a morbidly gorgeous scene and a spot-on summary of Nicolas Windling Refn's way-cool ode to dimly-lit '80s action thrillers.

Read the rest of Emily's review.

Rent it: The Thing

Back in October, the Filles went to see this prequel to the '80s Kurt Russell-starring sci-fi horror film of the same name. The next day, we did a live blog about the experience, discussing the distractingly off-the-mark special effects, the nods to its classic predecessor and our favourite part - the film's driving force: self-sufficient, scream-free survivor girl, Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).

Read the Filles' live blog.

Home Theatre Tuesday (Jan. 24, 2012)

 Each week, we bring you a quick run-down of what's out on DVD so you don't miss the hits and you can skip the misses.

 Photo: amazon.ca

Buy it now: 50/50

Joseph Gordon Levitt and Seth Rogen star in this truly touching, based-on-true-events tale of a young man diagnosed with terminal cancer. The script, written by cancer survivor and Rogen BFF Will Reiser, is not the usual melodramatic (and thus, wholly insincere) drivel that one might easily associate such a story. It's refreshingly raw, making you cry with laughter just as much as it does with sadness.  No wonder it made Emily's Top 10 of 2011.

Rent it: Restless

Restless is the super sappy love story attempt by director Gus Van Sant and starring Henry Hopper (Dennis Hopper's son) and Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland and Jane Eyre). Though there is the ever-constant teenage "the world is ending" attitude to the film, I didn't feel it overpowered the undercurrent of new love and fun hats. He really let the two youngens try and work out their weird story on their own, similar to his style in Elephant.

Read the rest of Isa Montagnese's review.

Also out: Real Steel

A down-and-out boxer (played by Wolverine) coaches a misfit robot in combat. As he helps the robot KO his competitors in an underground, machine-based fight club, the dude also works to rebuild his relationship with his estranged son. Sounds like Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots the Movie. But with more crying.

Home Theatre Tuesday (Jan. 17, 2012)

Each week, we bring you a quick run-down of what's out on DVD so you don't miss the hits and you can skip the misses.

Must buy: The Ides of March

Although this George Clooney-directed pulsing drama didn't pick anything up at this weekend's Golden Globes, with the Oscars nearing, there's still hope. And fear not if politics aren't your strong suit, it's not really about that. It's more about the pieces that make up a person and how far someone will go to stay true to who he is. It's poetically written, captivatingly shot and brilliantly acted by 2011's favourite lead actor Ryan Gosling.

Also out: Abduction

Taylor Lautner proves he's more than just a werewolf named Jacob in this action-filled, non-stop chase. Of course, not without a few genre clichés, but overall, a nice surprise and good rental pick.

Home Theatre Tuesday (Jan. 10, 2012)

Each week, we bring you a quick run-down of what's out on DVD so you don't miss the hits and you can skip the misses.

Must buy: Moneyball

Baseball could not be more boring in my mind. Baseball movies, however, are a whole other ball game.

A League of Their Own. Bull Durham. Field of Dreams. Damn Yankees. The Sandlot. The Rookie. Fever Pitch. (Okay, maybe that one’s just Jimmy Fallon-fawning me.) The most long-winded, slow-paced nationally-played sport has inspired some serious cinematic catches. Some of them are straight-up great films, with great scripts to run home on. And others are simply exciting because they cut the actual game down to barely-quarter inning stretches to make it seem exciting. Moneyball is a bit of both.

Read the rest of Emily's review here.

Don't even rent: What's Your Number

I know, we should have seen it coming. It looked like an un-funny female take on Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and it was. But let's just blame it on the fact that we're fans of all other "terrible awesome" Anna Faris comedies (ie. The House Bunny, The Hot Chick).

Also out: Paranormal Activity 3

Hailed as the redeemer of Paranormal Activity 2, the third instalment to the series is actually a prequel to the first, and supposedly brings back the scares we loved from the original. Remember when Katie talked about the demon following her since she was a kid? This is that story.

Home Theatre Tuesday (Dec. 20, 2011)

Each week, we bring you a quick run-down of what's out on DVD so you don't miss the hits and you can skip the misses.

Must buy: Midnight in Paris

I can't express how often I wish I was born in another era. For me, it's the sixties in the U.S., with the dreamy allure of Bob Dylan, the Civil Rights movement and the Merry Pranksters. In Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, struggling novelist Gil similarly yearns for another time: in his case, Paris in the 1920s. In this sweet and astute film about the trouble of wanting to be somewhere you're not, Allen channels observations about a restless society into one of his best films to date.

Read the rest of Manori's review.

Also out: Straw Dogs

We didn't get a chance to catch this apparently brutal remake of the 1971 Sam Peckinpah -directed Dustin Hoffman starrer, but we hear it's definitely not for everyone. Following a couple (Kate Bosworth and James Marsden) who are terrorized by a group of local thugs (led by True Blood's Eric Northman - sorry, Alexander Skaarsguard) before taking their own terrifying revenge, it sounds like The Strangers meets Funny Games. Read into that what you will.  Ebert said he liked it better than the original.

Home Theatre Tuesday (Dec. 13, 2011)

 Each week, we bring you a quick run-down of what's out on DVD so you don't miss the hits and you can skip the misses.

Buy it now: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

If I had to judge this film prior to seeing it based on its title alone, I probably wouldn't see it. Talking apes waging war on humanity? Monkeys are cute but that's just not appealing. But after seeing this trailer, there was something deeper to it, something sinister and uncanny. And it didn't disappoint. Rise of the Planet of the Apes is like Deep Blue Sea with chimps.

Read the rest of Michelle's review.

Home Theatre Tuesday (Dec. 6, 2011)

Each week, we bring you a quick run-down of what's out on DVD so you don't miss the hits and you can skip the misses.

 Photo: amazon.ca

Must buy: The Help

Mississippi writer Kathryn Stockett's rendering of African American life in the southern U.S. in The Help, earned her a spot on the NYT Best Sellers list as well as critical scorn for re-imagining the slavery of Blacks in the pre-civil rights movement '60s as a struggle concerning white folk themselves. (Things like where will whites allow their 'help' to use the toilet and what ingredients should they bake into pies.) Director Tate Taylor (Pretty Ugly People) picks up on the book's self-imposed dilemma and runs with it, all the way, including a meditation on what these answers would look like (comedic, it appears) in his adaption of the self-same book.

Read the rest of Ava's review.

Don't even rent:  The Hangover Part II

You know that dismal feeling when you’re watching a film, and everything seems so... familiar? You know all the punch lines, can predict every plot twist, and once-interesting characters are about as engaging as wet paint. Fans of The Hangover will likely experience this very melancholia after the second instalment of Todd Phillips' burgeoning franchise, which is little more than a tired carbon copy of its predecessor. 

 Read the rest of Manori's review. 

Home Theatre Tuesday (Nov. 29, 2011)

Each week, we bring you a quick run-down of what's out on DVD so you don't miss the hits and you can skip the misses.

Don't even rent: One Day

It took me all of two days to finish David Nicholls’s novel One Day. I suppose I could have read it in a sitting if I was ambitious (and didn’t take frequent breaks to eat chocolates and weep), but the 2009 bestseller is the kind of read you want to savour: that rare romance that is as whipsmart as it is true. Indeed, Nicholls’s story about Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew, two people who spend a romantic evening together after their college graduation and the 20-year friendship that follows, presents two of the most realized characters you could ever hope for in a story.

Read the rest of Manori's review.

Don't even rent: Our Idiot Brother

Paul Rudd as the funny guy in a comedy, not the sarcastic, reasonable guy seems an easy sell. Zooey Deschanel, Rashida Jones and Steve Coogan make it even easier. But although we rarely see Rudd in this role anymore, there's nothing refreshing about this movie. The story is old and the jokes are predictable. The moronic stoner brother who ruins everyone's lives was best when Jack Black did it.

Michelle

Also out: 30 Minutes or Less

Jesse Eisenberg, Aziz Ansari, Danny McBride and Nick Swardson star in the crude, slapstick comedy where two guys force a pizza guy (Eisenberg) to rob a bank. While most critics deemed its humour cheap and obscene, others praised the actors' comedic performances and absurdity.

Home Theatre Tuesday (Nov. 22, 2011)

Each week, we bring you a quick run-down of what's out on DVD so you don't miss the hits and you can skip the misses.

Must buy: Super 8

Super 8 may kick off with a train wreck of epic (and possibly extraterrestrial) proportions, but J.J. Abrams’ sci-fi adventure film is anything but that. It blazes pre-established trails smoothly and near-effortlessly and moves at a pleasant pace. It’s fast enough to make it worth your while, but slow enough to give you a chance to take in the oft-missed scenery – which in this nostalgia-heavy case, is made up of the love lives, pet projects and various monstrosities (!) facing a group of tween cinephiles in 1970s Ohio.

Read the rest of Emily's review.

Also out: Conan the Barbarian

While some critics praised the visuals and cinematography of this 80s fantasy remake, most others docked it for it's poor dialogue and (lack of) story. Selling itself almost solely on an epic war battle, though falling to obvious criticism, it sounds like Immortals, if you ask us. 

Home Theatre Tuesday (Nov. 15, 2011)

Each week, we bring you a quick run-down of what's out on DVD so you don't miss the hits and you can skip the misses.

Don't even rent: Larry Crowne

Larry Crowne is an indie(ish) film that seems like a high production film posing as an indie film. It's also directed by, co-written by and starring Tom Hanks; so it's like Tom Hanks: The Movie. And the whole time it's got this we're-good-friends-playing-lovers-and-we-think-that's-hilarious vibe going on. In short, it's very weird.

Read the rest of Michelle's review.

Also out: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Jack Sparrow, or Johnny Depp acting drunk and loving the fact that he's the only reasonable dude who can pull off guyliner and dirty rags and still look like the sexiest man alive, is back in the fourth installment in the series loosely based on the Disney World ride of the same name. We haven't seen it yet because the third one, with all its hallucinatory crabs and not-long-enough Keith Richards cameos, made us want to walk the plank.

Home Theatre Tuesday (Nov. 8, 2011)

Each week, we bring you a quick run-down of what's out on DVD so you don't miss the hits and you can skip the misses.

Must buy: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 2

We all knew there would come a day when the books about the Boy That Lived would come to die. And when that day arrived, we threw our Hermione bookmarks aside and cried into our Gryffindor scarves. Then, once we composed ourselves, we started counting down to the days until the movies based on the books about the Boy That Lived would come to die.

Read the rest of Emily's review.

Don't even rent: The Change-Up

In The Change-Up, up-tight workaholic and family man Dave Lockwood (Bateman) switches bodies with his best bud, pothead and out-of-work actor Mitch Planko (Ryan Reynolds) when the two make a wish out of frustration with their own lives. Predictably, it's not all it's cracked up to be. And you can write the rest yourself.

Read the rest of Michelle's review.