Right Cinema

In case you don’t feel like going to the theater to fight the Batman crowd, there’s still at least one good movie you can watch right in your own home. The DVDs releasing this week include “21″, “Picture This”, and “Two Tickets to Paradise”.

“21″ Releases Tuesday on DVD

21

A movie based on the book “Bringing Down the House”, “21″ stars Kevin Spacey and Kate Bosworth. It tells the story of some very gifted MIT students who use their math skills to count cards and score some serious cash. But when you start down a road of excitement and danger, you never know where you’ll end up. When Ben gets in too deep, he’s got to get out of the game before it’s too late.

Picture This

“High School Musical” star Ashley Tisdale is back on the screen in this dramedy about a girl who trying to discover herself in the high school hallways. It’s an ABC Family original. Ashley plays Mandy, a senior who happens upon a date with the most popular guy in school. Unfortunately, she’ll have to overcome a few obstacles to get to the date, including her own unpopularity, mean high school girls including Drew’s ex-girlfriend, and her dad. And there’s an Ashley Tisdale cover of Pat Benatar’s “Shadows of the Night”. Sounds like it’s perfect for next weekend’s slumber party.

Two Tickets To Paradise

This little-known movie stars John C. McGinley, D. B. Sweeney, Moira Kelly, and Ed Harris. It’s a story of three friends pulling each other up from the blows life has thrown their way. After one loses his money and his family on a bet, one loses his wife to an affair, and one realizes he’s just not into the life he’s ended up with, they take off on a journey for the College Football Championship Bowl. And of course hilarity ensues, followed by that heartwarming feeling you get from being with great friends.

See the trailers for the movies below.

Videos

The DVDs releasing this week include “Vantage Point”, “Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns”, and “Drillbit Taylor”. It looks like a little bit of action, a little bit of love, and a little bit of laughs.

“Vantage Point” Releases on DVD July 1

Vantage Point

When the President of the United States is shot while giving a speech at an international location, it’s up to the people in the crowd and a couple secret service agents to put the pieces together and figure out what exactly went wrong. The movie stars Dennis Quaid, Forest Whitaker, Matthew Fox, and Sigourney Weaver, but even with a strong cast like that, the critics say they can’t carry a weak script. Even the good reviews have comments like, “To fall for Vantage Point you have to throw away any connection to reality” and “watchably silly”.

Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns

When Angela Bassett’s character loses her job in inner city Chicago, she’s almost at wit’s end with how to make ends meet. But then she receives word that a father she has never met has passed away, and the single mother of three decides to take her kids to Georgia for the funeral and see what kind of help she can find. In the process of getting her feet back on the ground, she finds friends, family and even love. Critics give this one a C.

Drillbit Taylor

Another film in a long line of Judd Apatow scripts, “Drillbit Taylor” stars Owen Wilson as a pre-teen bodyguard. When three boys start high school as freshman, they’re small size makes them perfect targets for the school bullies. So they take matters into their own hands and hire a bodyguard, who teaches them how to stick up for themselves. But again the movie is not all it’s cracked up to be. Wilson is said to be phoning it in this time around and the bullies are just a little too dark for how lighthearted the film is supposed to be.

See the trailers for the movies below.

Videos

Not many new DVDs releasing this week, but enough to write about. For both the big screen and small screen, we’re in the dead zone as far as exciting new releases go. But there’s a couple, so here we go.

“Rambo” Releases This Week on DVD

Rambo

Sylvester Stallone is back. In “Rambo”, both written and directed by Stallone, we find the always kickass fighter living a quiet life in the jungles of Thailand. That is, until he is hired by a group of mercenaries to travel to Burma to save a group of Christian aid workers. Fans have been waiting for more Rambo since 1988, but it looks like they might be a little disappointed. The New York Times writes,

“Rambo” is, for most of its fairly brief running time, a blood bath punctuated by occasional bouts of clumsy dialogue. There are beheadings, mutilations, disembowelings — enough gore to rival “Apocalypto.”

But if you’re looking for violent excitement, this might be just the movie for you this week.

Grace Is Gone

John Cusack made two movies about the war this year, “Grace is Gone” and “War, Inc.” “War, Inc.” is a satirical look at the capitalist side of conflict. But “Grace is Gone” is a much more emotional story. Cusack plays a husband whose wife has been killed in the line of duty in Iraq. With two daughters to raise, Cusack isn’t sure how to break the news, so he waits. Throughout the movie we watch him struggle with how and when to tell his 8 and 12-year-olds that their mother isn’t coming home. I’m guessing Kleenex are a requirement with this one - I needed one just for the trailer.

Cassandra’s Dream

“Cassandra’s Dream” is written and directed by Woody Allen. But with a plot that sounds a lot like “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” (Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei), it looks like Allen has backed away from comedy this time. “Cassandra’s Dream” follows two brothers down on their financial luck who turn to crime as a way to make some cash. When their Uncle Howard offers to help, by paying them to kill an old business associate, the brothers must come face-to-face with their decision. In the film we follow Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell as they deal with the criminal decisions they make.

See the trailers for the movies below.

Videos

Just when you thought Tuesday was the worst day of the week, think again. It’s new DVD day, and you can’t go wrong there. So set your Netflix queue because we’ve got a few new DVDs releasing this week.

P.S. I Love You

P.S. I Love You

In one of the funniest and saddest romantic comedies in a long time, Hilary Swank stars in this movie about a woman who loses the love of her life, and gets his help from the great beyond to move on. Husband Jerry had time to prepare for his death, so he also prepared for his wife’s life after his death. He sends occasional packages with various tasks to Swank’s character in the hopes that she finds that she is strong enough to live life without him. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll miss your man immensely as soon as the movie is over. And then you’ll want the soundtrack. So grab your pint of Ben & Jerry’s and snuggle up.

I’m Not There

In this creative portrait of Bob Dylan, tons of actors star as the brilliant musician that embodied the spirit of the sixties. The movie selects six different stages of Dylan’s life, and portrays the artist in very distinct ways. Each of the stages has a different name (like Jude or John, for example), and follows Dylan on his path to becoming the legend he is today. An interesting bit of the movie: not once is Bob Dylan’s name mentioned. And it sounds like it’s worth seeing the movie for Cate Blanchett’s performance alone. Rolling Stone writes,

She burns through Haynes’ head-trip odyssey like an illuminating torch. Blanchett’s soon-to-be-legendary performance is not a stunt, it’s some kind of miracle. Playing the skinny, androgynous Dylan in his electric years — when his hair stood on end to match his fried nerves — Blanchett extends the possibilities of acting. You won’t see a better example of interpretive art this year by man or woman.

First Sunday

I have to admit, I have a very strong bias against Ice Cube, at least as an actor - if someone made a list of actors that will ruin a movie just by being cast in it, he’d be on it. Lucky for this movie Tracy Morgan and Katt Williams are here to save it. After Ice Cube’s ex tells him she’s moving his son to Atlanta because she can’t afford the rent at her beauty shop, he and Morgan come up with a not-so-brilliant yet comical plan … to rob a church. Unfortunately for these new criminals, someone beat them to the punch. To figure out where in the world the money is, the bumbling duo is forced to spend the night in the church. I’m not sold, but I’m willing to bet I’d laugh at least twice.

Over Her Dead Body

Wow, this movie went to DVD quickly! It appears Eva Longoria can’t carry the big screen crowds the way she does with “Desperate Housewives”. Quick synopsis: Eva Longoria dies on the day she’s supposed to marry Paul Rudd. The spirit talker falls for Rudd and tries to help him get over the loss, but Longoria’s ghost is there to haunt her every step of the way. There’s a reason I haven’t seen this movie yet - it was almost universally panned by critics. One reviewer so bluntly puts it,

Over Her Dead Body will find its best audience on airplane flights, where viewers will be unable to get up and leave without parachutes.

Ouch.

See the trailers for the movies below.

Videos

Tuesday is New DVDs Day, but there’s only a couple fresh titles hitting the shelves this week on April 1. Although, since Tuesday is April Fool’s Day, these titles somehow seem appropriate to have that holiday as their first day on the small screen.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Johnny Depp’s latest movie is a film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s musical of the same name. The interesting thing about this movie, though, is that it’s pretty gruesome as far as musicals go. You’ll see no Von Trapp family here.

Depp plays Benjamin Barker, and expert London barber whose wife and baby daughter are taken by Judge Turpin. After returning from exile, Depp plots his revenge against Turpin: murder. But he has to practice first, and he unleashes on unsuspecting customers. Helena Bonham Carter plays the meat pie shop owner downstairs who comes into a fresh supply of meat every time Depp finds a new victim.

The DVD is packed with special features that should help those viewers who were left wanting more. One of the features explores the real-life legend of Sweeney Todd.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Jason Lee has some great comedic talent on-screen, and he’s been a staple of Kevin Smith films for years. But lately he’s taken roles in family-friendly films, like “The Incredibles”, “Underdog”, and now “Alvin and the Chipmunks”. Lee plays David Seville, the father figure to the three ornery, musical chipmunks, Alvin, Simon and Theodore. Reviews of the film have been mixed, but kids are sure to enjoy the antics of the furry chipmunks.

The Good Night

The third new DVD release this week is a film I hadn’t heard of until now. Starring Penelope Cruz, Gwyneth Paltrow, Danny DeVito, and Simon Pegg, the movie is Jake Paltrow’s writing and directing debut. In the movie, we find a depressed Gary with dead-end job and bitchy girlfriend. Eventually, Gary seeks solace in his dreams, which star Penelope Cruz as Anna, and because the dreams are so much better than real life, he tries to sleep more and more, with the help of Tylenol PM, nightshades and a dream coach. It looks interesting enough, but it sounds like Jake Paltrow leaves the audience wanting and never really takes the movie anywhere.

See the trailers for “Sweeney Todd”, “Alvin and the Chipmunks”, and “The Good Night” below.

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