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Tuesday, September 29, 2009
What Are You Watching? Monsters, Aliens and such?
Today’s DVD selection brings us monsters, aliens, misfits, and a porn star starring in a movie by an Oscar-winning director.
Away We Go: John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph play an expecting couple who travel around the country to find the right home, only to realize everyone else is crazier than they are. The movie gets a little too self-consciously kooky at times, but the strong performances of the two leads keep the movie grounded. Directed by Sam Mendes, the film makes a fascinating companion piece to his much bleaker (and underrated and misunderstood) relationship movie, Revolutionary Road. GRADE: B+
The Girlfriend Experience: One of Steven Soderbergh’s experimental movies got quite a bit of press for casting porn star Sasha Grey in a non-porn role. I intend to watch it soon to see if it deserves press for being a good movie.
Monsters vs. Aliens: I enjoyed this funny, often inventive mash-up that pits a band of underground monsters against an alien force, but like so many DreamWorks animated features, this movie is noisy, busy and shallow in story and character. It’s fun to watch, but it could have been even better. Full review: GRADE: B
Management: Some will be curious to pick up this indie title because Jennifer Aniston is in it. It didn’t get much of a release (I’m not even sure it played Dayton) and reviews were mixed.
The Wizard of Oz: Some movie about a girl with ruby slippers walking down a road paved with yellow bricks comes out on DVD again today. For those who are not yet Blu-Ray converts (like myself), there isn’t much new material if you already own one of the special editions that came out a few years ago. However, If for some strange reason, you don’t have a copy already, you really ought to remedy that. GRADE: A+ (of course)
Speaking of Blu-Ray, check out fellow blogger and fellow movie buff Zack McGhee’s roundup of Blu releases.
What Are You Watching?
Fame: I didn’t watch much on the small screen over the past week, but I did catch the original Fame, as promised. Those who mainly remember the TV series may be surprised at how gritty and emotionally intense the movie was. That’s very typical of the films of director Alan Parker, who is particularly skilled with musical material, as also evidenced by Pink Floyd The Wall, The Commitments and Evita. The “fly on the wall” narrative gives short shrift to too many characters and leaves a lot of story threads dangling, but at its best, the movie resonates and pulses with energy, especially during the musical sequences. GRADE: B+
Standard question for Tuesday: What have you seen lately?
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