Columns By Douglas PrattPratt@moviecitynews.com
DVD Geek: Camelot
One can speak derisively of Blu-rays for their operational legthargy, but there are amazing things that the format can accomplish, and a very good example is that they can turn bad movies into good movies. Musicals have always played by different rules than other movies, and that is what is at work here. Rather than dwelling on the film’s failures, the BD enables one to embrace what does succeed in the film, and allows those glories to reign.
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: A Night to Remember
It‘s a masterly historical reconstruction — and despite its typically British, somewhat staid cinematics, an absolutely thrilling film. As gripping and excitingly visual as Cameron‘s movie may have been, this picture, even more, is the movie Titanic to remember.
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: The Secret World of Arrietty
The everyday beauty and transcendent charm of The Secret World of Arrietty — the latest feature cartoon import from Japan’s master animator/writer/director Hayao Miyazaki ) — is a balm to the restless spirit, a tonic for the troubled heart.
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: The Woman in Black
“The Woman in Black” is an old-style British horror movie with some new-style violence, a film that takes advantage of the new screen freedoms and technology, but that also employs, often pretty effectively, a lot of the familiar archetypes and tropes of British literary and movie horror, particularly the ones for the haunted house sub-genre.
Read the full article »The Gronvall Files: Interview with Tanya Wexler, Director of Hysteria
Unlike most of the starched, corseted, and repressed female characters that populate her new comedy Hysteria, filmmaker Tanya Wexler is comfortable in her own skin.
Read the full article »The Weekend Report: Shipwreck!
No one expected the trio of new national releases to unseat “The Avengers” … they just expected them to be more competitive. “The Avengers”‘ third weekend prevailed with an estimated $55.2 million with “Battleship” not quite right behind with $25.3 million. Third spot went to “The Dictator” with $16.7 million and the third freshman, “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” slotted fifth with $10.5 million.
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: The Dictator
Of course the Marx Brothers were partial to non sequiturs too, and several crtics have compared this film to both Chaplin’s The Great Dictator, and the Marx Brothers’ “Duck Soup.” But in their greatest films, Groucho, Chico and Harpo made their comedy work through sheer brazenness, through adroit asides and clever playing to the audience. That kind of wacky genius isn’t really a Cohen forte.
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: Battleship
Gallantly, Alex rushes out to get her said burrito, which he does by breaking into a nearby convenience store, tearing up the ceiling, stealing and (I presume) microwaving a chicken burrito and then resisting arrest, a feat of insane derring-do that so impresses the hottie, Samantha Shane (Decker) that she falls madly in love with Alex. Samantha, incidentally, turns out to be the daughter of Stone’s boss, Admiral Shane, the commander of the entire Pacific Fleet (played by Liam Neeson).
Read the full article »In Victorian England, good vibrations trump ‘Hysteria’ every time
All kidding aside, the prohibition on vibrators in Alabama — and, until recently, other several states – harkens to the 1920s, when a sharp-eyed publisher noticed that the same therapeutic gizmos being advertised in their periodicals were being used in stag films to accomplish paroxysms of a less clinical nature.
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: What to Expect When You’re Expecting
The movie, which tries hard to leaven its sunny comedy and advice with a little darkness and realism, succeeds only in dredging up unwelcome memories (to me) of Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve, and unpleasant thoughts of a possible “What to Expect When You’re Expecting: The Musical.” Is that likely? Is that conceivable? I’m afraid to ask.
Read the full article »The DVD Wrapup: The Grey, Golf in Kingdom, Norwegian Wood, We Were Here, My Perestroika, 42nd St. Pete’s 8mm Madness … More
Normally, it wouldn’t be unusual for a filmmaker of any ethnic or cultural background to choose a Beatles song for the title of his or her movie. “Norwegian Wood,” however, is a particularly significant track in the band’s repertoire, both for its enigmatic Lennon-McCartney lyrics and George Harrison’s choice of the sitar as a lead instrument. That it was based on an affair between Lennon and a friend’s wife also set it apart from the “yeah, yeah, yeah … I wanna hold your hand” bunch.
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: Certified Copy, The Report
The story of “Certified Copy,” according to Godfrey Cheshire’s exemplary notes, comes from a tale of two people that director Kiarostami once told to Binoche in Tehran: a story he initially claimed was true, and had actually happened to him, but which he later confessed was a fabrication.
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: The Devil Inside; My Perestroika; Who’s Minding the Store?; Who’s Got the Action?; The Spiders
Jerry Lewis, that’s who. Without Dean. And since this Frank Tashlin-written-and-directed farce — set in a department store that Jerry, as the well-meaning but accident-prone Norman Phiffler, systematically demolishes — dates from Lewis’ biggest commercial (and even artistic) period, the early ’60s, that means we’re going to see plenty of the man doing his thing: all-out slapstick, spazzy chaos and wild mugging.
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: The Grey
Fitting that this movie is called The Grey, because grey it certainly is—cold, and bitter, and sunless, a suspense picture full of existential terror, untamed nature, overwhelming anxiety and relentless death, always a step or two behind. And wolves. And Liam Neeson.
Read the full article »Wilmington on Movies: Dark Shadows
Most interestingly the filmmakers take a lead character, Barnabas C., whom I remember as something of an epicene icon, and they let Depp (who has said that he interprets many roles with a gay slant) make Barnabas so unabashedly heterosexual with his lady loves — Eva Green in Lara Parker’s old role of witch/bitch Angelique Bouchard and Bella Heathcote as both eternal 18th century love Josette Duprez and ’70s governess Victoria Winters — that they either die or kill for love of him.
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: Alambrista!
“Alambrista!”– a moving and perceptive cinematic tale of a Mexican illegal immigrant and his odyssey over the border — is a movie that almost defines American film realism in the ‘70s.
Read the full article »The DVD Wrapup: Underworld, Dark Tide, Kreutzer Sonata, 42nd Street Forever…More
Contrary what’s implied by the cover art, Berry dons a bikini only in the film’s early scenes. Otherwise, her remarkably fine body is fully encased in a wet suit.
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: The Mel Brooks Collection
It’s good to be the King… But sometimes, it‘s better to be the Kaminsky.
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: Haywire
Steven Soderbergh is smooth, and he’s never smoother than when he’s engaged in some big crime thriller — whether it’s one of the Oceans or something brainier and more realistic, like “Traffic.” I had mixed feelings about “Haywire,” though. I liked it okay, I guess. But I should have liked it more, since it’s the same type of rock-’em-sock-’em wish-fulfiller as “The Limey.”
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie
TIM & ERIC’S BILLION DOLLAR MOVIE (Also Blu-ray/DVD Combo, with Digital Copy) (One Half Star) U.S.: Tim Heidecker-Eric Wareheim, 2012 (Magnolia) I have just one thing to say about this sorry excuse for a movie — this nauseatingly taste-challenged, almost putrefyingly preposterous goulash of scatological gags, failed nonsense, barf jokes, poop jokes, piddle jokes, and…
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