New Release Tuesday!!! (3/20/12)

Yes, yes, yes.  Now here's a good week's worth of releases.  No real classics, but some fine cinema from 2011 along with one of my favorite (seemingly) under appreciated modern Bat cartoons.  That's right The Brave and the Bold gets the--

Must Buy DVD of the Week!

BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD SEASON 2 PART 2:  I've been catching up on these shows via the slow DVD trickle and I've enjoyed each and every whacky disc.  Unfortunately, after this one, there is only one season left to the show; so we gotta enjoy it while it lasts.  I know I've stated my love for this show on this blog before, but it's worth repeating.  Forget Bruce Timm's untouchable animated series from the 90s.  This doesn't touch that.  But it doesn't try to either.  The Brave and The Bold celebrates the insanity of the 40s-70s Bat comics.  Tales in which Bats battles talking gorillas and falls into dinosaur riddled alternate dimensions.  It's all kinds of crazy fun.  Take a taste below.

Buy!

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY:  My fifth favorite film from last year, Tinker Tailor came very close to making my Must Buy DVD of the Week.  Gary Oldman disolves into MI5er Smiley and its one of the single best performances of the last ten years.  Mean, angry, but calculating and quiet.  And the film just looks utterly amazing.  Let The Right One In was a solid enough venture, but Tomas Alfredson knocks it outta the park with this deliberate spy thriller.  You can't just leave it on in the background, you have to give yourself to the story but if you invest your time you'll be rewarded with some pretty damn intense Cold War espionage.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO:  Yeah, I was definitely disappointed in this flick but there's enough interesting bits from an acting and directing standpoint to be worth the purchase.  And David Fincher DVDs are usually well worth the price tag.  But I don't want to see another Salander flick, especially one helmed by Fincher.  Time to move on.  Get yer butt on 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea or something seriously genre.  I want your art doing pulp now.

THE MUPPETS:  Just finished watching this with the wife minutes ago.  She eats it up and I'm right there with her.  The best Muppet film since the original for sure, but I don't think it succeeds strictly on nostalgia.  Jason Segal nearly drowns the film with love, but its downright intoxicating.  And Bret McKenzie's songs are adorable and addictive, impossible to get outta my head after the credits roll.


Rent!

THE SITTER:  An R Rated & male centric take on one of my favorite 80s classics, Adventures in Babysitting, I was pretty much uninterested in this flick until I saw 21 Jump Street earlier this afternoon.  That film was so ridiculously funny I think I'm gonna give this grossout fest a try.

ROADRACERS:  Robert Rodriguez filmed this TV movie after El Mariachi, but it didn't see a release till after Desperado.  And it's the only Rodriguez effort I've never seen before.  Curious, but not overjoyed due to the David Arquette involvement.  Gotta say I love how this cover tries to ape that Sin City look--by all accounts, those expecting Frank Miller should look elsewhere.  But it's got William Sadler...so, that's cool.

Avoid!

THE HILLS HAVE EYES PART 2:  I love Wes Craven's original film, but this is just an uncreative mess.  Granted, it's been at least ten years since I've seen this and it was only the one time, but I remember hating it with a rather intense passion.  Just watch the original again.

--Brad

Dork Art: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Thank you Badass Digest for discovering this hilarious Dragon Tattoo/Fantasy Island mashup by artist Dennis Culver.  Glad I wasn't drinking milk when I saw this...

--Brad

Fake Trailer: The Dark Knight Rises Mashup

Thanks to Geek Tyrant for posting this awesome Dark Knight Rises fake trailer using the brilliant editing  & music from Fincher's Girl With A Dragon Tattoo teaser.  This fake has gotten me more pumped for Nolan's film than anything else I've seen.  Damn, I love Batman Begins so darn much.  And Dark Knight was great even though I probably don't love it as much as some of you obsessives out there.

--Brad

A Fistful of Fall Anticipation! (Brad's Picks)

With the release of Shark Night 3D, Apollo 18, and Blackthorn (on VOD) today the Fall Movie Season is here!  It's about time is all I can say.  Don't get me wrong, I love the Summer Blockbusters but after four months of popcorn I need a little brain candy.  And as usual, The Fall offers up a wide variety of cinematic entertainment.

5.  Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy:  One of those books I remember enjoying quite a bit in High School, but 15 years on I can't remember a single thing about it.  For me, this flick is all about its trailer and its cast.  Colin Firth, Mark Strong, John Hurt, Tom Hardy, Toby Jones.  And I really need another vehicle to showcase Gary Oldman's talents (Tiptoes came close, but...).

4.  Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows:  The first film seemed to divide a few people into The Haters and The Lukewarm.  Personally, I loved the flick.  I'm a big time Holmes fan and I thought Guy Ritchie put together a fantastic Steampunky, Action Hero version and anyone bemoaning that it doesn't fit Arthur Conan Doyle's mold should really check out Basil Rathbone's Nazi Hunter Holmes.  So, I'll be ready to have a little Summer Fun in December.  And Jared Harris as Moriarty?  That's fantastic casting.

3.  The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo:  I couldn't make it through the book.  I was not particularly thrilled with the original adaptation.  However, as much as I liked Ben Button and The Social Network this is the genre David Fincher really knows how to get under my skin.  And he's assembled a pretty epic cast here:  Daniel Craig, Stellan Skarsgard, Christopher Plummer, Julian Sands, Goran Visnjic (ER!), and Robin Wright.  Plus, the girl herself Rooney Mara who creeps me the hell out with her look.  And has there been a cooler trailer concocted all year?

2.  A Dangerous Method:  Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud and Michael Fassbender as Carl Jung in a film directed by David Cronenberg.  That's all I need to know, my ass is in the theater.  Now what the trailer offers below is a creepy, kinky relationship drama that would probably ruffle some middle American collars if they ever got out to see these kinds of flicks.  

1.  Drive:  Before San Diego Comic Con I had heard a few rumblings about this flick and since Bronson & Valhalla Rising I'd probably be somewhat interested in anything director Nicolas Wending Refn got his hands on, but after seeing some footage at the SDCC panel and listening to the cast rant on about the flick, Drive immediately jumped to the top spot of this year's most anticipated movies.  The trailer below looks great.  Stuntman/Wheelman Ryan Gosling gets mixed up in some of Albert Brooks underworld shenanigans and has to elevator stomp some bastards to make things right.  Along the way you've got heavy Ron Perlman, gimpy Bryan Cranston, and damsel Carrey Mulligan.  The footage we saw was slick & cool and scary with its bursts of violence.  It was the only time I heard the Hall H crowd gasp is shock/uncomfortable terror.  Can't wait.

--Brad

The Feel Bad Movie Of Christmas!

Okay, the bellow Red Band trailer for David Fincher's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is probably going to be taken down any second so you better act fast.  Honestly, I'm a little disappointed that David Fincher picked this for his follow up to The Social Network.  I tried reading the book, couldn't get past page fifty.  Watched the first film, but stopped halfway through the second.  Stieg Larsson's story just doesn't really appeal to me.  But I do love Daniel Craig.  And I love the tagline, "The Feel Bad Movie of Christmas."

--Brad