Right Cinema

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.