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.

The Fille Files (September 11-16)

Each week, the Filles bring you some of our favourite films finds of the week -  news, reviews,  features, interviews, tweets, new releases, etc. -  just in case you missed them.

REEL GREAT READS

• Katherine Monk Goes to the Movies (Ryerson Review of Journalism) - A profile of Postmedia's national film critic Katherine Monk and what it's like working in the male-dominated field.
• Seth Rogen plans to co-direct film co-starring Baruchel, Hill and Franco (Canadian Press) - Rogen is directing a horror-thriller called The Apocalypse starring his buds James Franco, Jonah Hill and Jay Baruchel trapped in a house while the end of the world goes down outside. How can you not want to see that?
• What would you be doing if you weren't a movie star? (The Grid TO) - Eight stars in the city promoting films at TIFF answer the question (well, seven) of what they think they'd be doing if not acting. Although most answers aren't very exciting, the photography is beautiful.
• 'Restless' Director Gus Van Sant Talks About Death, Movies, and 'Twilight' (Yahoo Movies) - A Q&A with Milk and Good Will Hunting director Gus Van Sant about his upcoming film Restless, his style and more.

WEEKEND WATCHES

• Drive - This immensely awesome flick, which Emily caught at TIFF last weekend, has Ryan Gosling playing a stunt driver who moonlights as a limo service for late-night criminals (robbers and such) and moons over his married neighbour (Carey Mulligan). It drifts in between hopeless, New Wave-music set romanticism and brutal, watch-through-your hands violence, giving it a cool, late 1970s, early 1980s B-movie feel. SEE IT.
• Straw Dogs - A husband (James Marsden) moves with his wife (Kate Bosworth) back to her hometown in the South to meet with tension from locals. Looks like a mix of Joy Ride, Last House on the Left and A Perfect Getaway.

TRAILER OF THE WEEK: The Awakening

Because anything that hints at Henry James' The Turn of the Screw is just amazing.