Nothing out this week for me to go ga-ga over, but there are still several discs worthy of your attention. Chief of which is a Spielberg flick that manages to feel old school Raiders despite it's use of state-of-the-art technology. And yeah, let's not forget about the latest Paul W.S. Anderson new-classic, The Three Musketeers.
Buy!
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: Released just a couple weeks before Spielberg's maudlin War Horse, this mo-cap adventure film brought back a sense of adventure that I haven't felt since the early days of The Beard's career. Films like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. And, yeah, the animation is stunning. The Pirate Ship Battle, was there anything close to being that cool in those Johnny Depp Pirates movies? I like those flicks, but the answer is no. I didn't know what to expect from this film going into the theater, but what I got was a Real Action Movie with Real Threat and Real Excitement that still managed to be perfectly suitable for the younger members of the crowd.
THE DESCENDANTS: This film definitely has its haters, but I'm most certainly not one of them. George Clooney gives one of his finest performances as the grieving husband struggling to understand his relationship with his coma wife and run amuck daughters. Manipulative as all hell, but in a good way. I left the film a puddle and liked it.
YOUNG ADULT: Damn funny and Damn sad. Young Adult is ten times better than Juno, the last film to team up director Jason Reitman with writer Diablo Cody. Charlize Theron is a monster (pun intended) as the YA author trying to score with her family man ex. And Patton Osswalt is her perfect foil as the crippled nerd of yore. Their final bit of intimacy is one of the saddest moments caught on film last year. And I laughed my butt off during the whole miserable experience.
Rent!
THE THREE MUSKETEERS: Glutton for punishment? You know it. But I really enjoyed the last Resident Evil film and I'm in the mood for another crappy take on the classic Three Musketeers. And c'mon, Christoph Waltz and Mads Mikkelsen as the two big bads. I gotta check that out.
WIZARDS (BLU): I haven't seen this film since High School when I was devouring Ralph Bakshi flicks like Fritz the Cat and Heavy Traffic. They were never as good as I wanted them to be, but they were also just good enough. Released the same year as Star Wars, Wizards is a post-apocalyptic horror mining plenty of Tolkien, hippie-dippie, and WWII imagery and I'm sure it will look pretty in blu.
COONSKIN: Now here's a Baskshi cartoon I've never seen. I wonder why? Bakshi turns his aggressively politically incorrect eye towards the Blaxploitation genre and I'm sure it's about as subtle as the crows in Fritz the Cat. Still, gotta check it out.
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN: I need another Marilyn Monroe film in my life about as much as I need a new Three Musketeers flick. That being said, people seem to be really enamored with Michelle Williams' performance even if they're not crazy about the actual film. I'll throw this on my Netflix queue, but it's not gonna be near the top. I'm guessing this will be okay at best.
BAG OF BONES: Having just recently watched Seraphim Falls and a batch of Matador clips, I'm kinda enamored with Pierce Brosnan right now. But Bag of Bones is not one of my favorite King novels. It's okay at best. But I've enjoyed every one of Mick Garris' Kingly adaptations (yes, even his Shining) and I'm sure I'll find something to like here.
Avoid!
MELANCHOLIA: I really hated this movie. It's pretty looking and all that, but I found Kirsten Dunst unlikable to the point of detrimental. I have no idea how she got to her wedding day in the first place, what was Skarsgard's groom thinking!?!?!
--Brad
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