HOME OF THE BRAVE (2006)

TITLE
Home of the Brave

STARRING
Samuel L. Jackson, Jessica Biel, Brian Presley, 50 Cent, Christina Ricci, Victoria Rowell, Chad Michael Murray

WHAT THE BOX DOESN'T TELL YOU
The adjustment of four soldiers (Jackson, Biel, Presley, and 50 Cent) to civilian life upon their return from the war in Iraq, where they suffered casualties and combat wounds far beyond imagination is followed. As cities and lives are rebuilt abroad, these individuals struggle to envision their own lives returning to normal.

WHY I WOULD RENT IT AGAIN
I wrestle with what a movie like this can teach us. Perhaps it is designed to enlighten, and if so, should avoid scenes, which feel much more like a Lifetime Movie than a major motion picture. I rent a movie like this and I am reminded of why something like Jarhead, Good Morning Vietnam, or Born on the 4th of July are so much more effective. I essentially felt trapped in a series of bad performances and lack of direction. The Marsh Family (Jackson) scenario is especially excluded from this statement. Surprisingly enough, it casts Victoria Rowell as matriarch, who is familiar to fans of the soap, The Young and the Restless, where she played Drucilla Winters since the early '90's. The movie tackles too many issues, righteousness of war, horrors of combat, righteousness of of the U.S., reintegration post-service, etc., to do any one of them justice. An Irwin Winkler-directed picture, I wonder if it is simply missing Kevin Kline as both of his previous directions in De-Lovely and Life As a House were wonderful forays into storytelling of a most impressive, and sometimes horrific nature.

WILL MY GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND LIKE IT?
Hmmmm......hard to say.

SPECIAL FEATURES
A shocking lack of......

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MR. BROOKS (2007)

TITLE
Mr. Brooks

STARRING
Kevin Costner, Demi Moore, Dane Cook, William Hurt, Marg Helgenberger, Danielle Panabaker

WHAT THE BOX DOESN'T TELL YOU
The box omits to advise that this 2007 sleeper film was better than critics gave it credit for and offers a cast whose own careers would not normally lead them to these roles. If you know someone who saw Mr. Brooks in the theater, I imagine they either loved it or hated it. A well-regarded member of his community. Mr. Brooks (Costner) enjoys the comforts an established career and loving family (Helgenberger, Panabaker) by day. By night though, he gives way to a lively alter-ego (Hurt) with an exacting desire to kill random strangers. The murderous tendencies are curbed when he is caught in the act by a trusting, yet duplicitous photographer (Cook) with a self-fulfilling agenda of his own. Mired down by the possibility of having his life torn apart, Mr. Brooks seems set on doing away with the man until another plan involving a cop (Moore) who is investigating his crimes reveals itself.

WHY I WOULD RENT IT AGAIN
Oh I don't know, it was a pretty intelligent take on a psycho killer (he professed to be more of an addict) living among us with some type conscience. You don't typically get a film of this genre that is well-conceived. I am sure Mr. Brooks was poorly marketed, because I never expected to enjoy this film. In fact, when I received it via mail (thank you Blockbuster for the prompt delivery of new releases) I was upset to see I did not act quickly enough to remove it from my queue. Despite Costner's affection for emotionally void or detached roles, in Mr. Brooks it actually works. You can be certain the casting agent's call to Hurt went something like this: "you basically have to act the opposite of Kevin, can you do that?" He's calculated and ridiculous all at the same time. I was disappointed in was Demi Moore for singular, if not distracting reason. She used the word cousin, but pronounced it "cousint." Nothing plagues me like using or pronouncing a word improperly as part of a cultural habit - a bad one at that. I illustrate this through other examples, but irregardless, instead of regardless and Meijers, instead of Meijer are also peeves. I would have cut that scene or made Ms. Moore do it over 100 times until that colloquialism was all but a distant memory. It's my blog, I digress if I so choose. That aside, there is a fair plot worthy of your consideration and while I expect this movie will never make it to my own DVD case, I enjoyed it nonetheless.

WILL MY GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND LIKE IT?
Yes...if they like thrillers, this is a right up their alley!

SPECIAL FEATURES
Naw, there's not a lot to these.

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REIGN OVER ME (2007)

TITLE
Reign Over Me

STARRING
Don Cheadle, Adam Sandler, Jada Pinkett Smith, Liv Tyler, Saffron Burrows

WHAT THE BOX DOESN'T TELL YOU
It's pretty straightforward. Dentist (Sandler) loses family in 9/11 terrorist attacks. Man detaches himself from society until he happens to reconnect with his former roommate (Cheadle), also a dentist on the street. Their friendship, or a version of it, rekindles and they share the messiness that is life, but to what end?

WHY I WOULD RENT IT AGAIN
Ok, so Sandler shows range and we are expected to fall all over ourselves. Let's face it, Punch-Drunk Love changed Sandler's options, and well, we can't be certain he did or did not want that, but funny, especially as an actor ages gets harder and harder. Though it may have been Spanglish that put him on the map for being the comedian who could act, as opposed to an actor that could do comedy. Either way, this movie is not the caliber of Spanglish or the novelty of Punch-Drunk Love. It is in my estimation a dud if not for the superb acting by the cast. I am troubled by the intrusion of the in-laws on a life to which they are no longer connected and I am certain that people who went through PTSD following 9/11 present less of a danger to others or themselves than your routine bipolar or schizophrenic personality.

Mike Binder who wrote and directed this film (and more notably The Upside of Anger) seems to do a better job writing about the lives and anguishes of a family of women than he does with characterizing the aftermath of traumatic event. The complexity of this story, especially the many angles of the friendship between Cheadle and Sandler plays as if it might have been too much to accomplish in two hours.

WILL MY GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND LIKE IT?
Maybe....my guess is it may be hard for some, likeable for others, or a genuine disappointment. It is most certainly an adult's movie.

SPECIAL FEATURES

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THE HOAX (2006)

TITLE
The Hoax

STARRING
Richard Gere, Alfred Molina, Hope Davis, Marcia Gay Harden, Stanley Tucci, Eli Wallach

WHAT THE BOX DOESN'T TELL YOU
Boring....oh wait, I save the opinion for the next part. The box doesn't tell you exactly how much no one cares about this story, at least not today. But that's about the long and the short of it. While this is both good and bad, The Hoax is the fictitious account of Clifford Irving's (Gere) bio on Howard Hughes, which alarmed republicans during the Nixon-era to the extent that they conducted various crimes and misdemeanors at DNC Headquarters at the Watergate.

WHY I WOULD RENT IT AGAIN
Nope, wouldn't. Had high expectations for the film and specifically the performance of Gere, but it was Molina who bumbled is way into the talent portion of the action. The writing didn't hold my attention and I thought the direction particularly evasive as an avid fan of the biography.

WILL MY GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND LIKE IT?
Depends if they were obsessed with Irvin, Hughes, Nixon or 70's politics - maybe.

SPECIAL FEATURES
Right - I'm sure there are, but if the movie isn't worth it, are the special features?

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TRANSFORMERS (2007)

TITLE
Transformers

STARRING
Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Jon Voight, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Anthony Anderson, Rachael Taylor, John Turturro

WHAT THE BOX DOESN'T TELL YOU
So, I didn't know the story and that tends not to matter because Optimus Prime (an Autobot) explains it all in the second act to Sam Witwicky (LaBeouf) and his soon-to-be girlfriend (Fox). The box doesn't really mention the levity employed by the film though it is really Transformers strong suite, in addition to some very impressive CGI, which ten years from now we will all probably gasp at thinking it was remotely evolved.

WHY I WOULD RENT IT AGAIN
I know, I should be hanging my head in shame right? Since when do I like the summer blockbuster? At least in adulthood it is a rarity that I've fallen prey to the mass commercialism of such a film. Burger King, eBay, The Strokes (wait did they have to pay for that advertisement or did LaBeouf just show up in that shirt?). You get what I am saying - these movies are about product placement, cross promotion, and for God's sake, selling some toys, DVDs, soundtracks, etc.

That said they did the following and they did it well:
Casting - great job, I just love that little kid from the Even Stevens, Tyrese was totally underplayed and probably under paid, and when was the last time Anthony Anderson was completely ridiculous, yet loveable for it?
CGI - Bravo, and thanks Michael Bay for your obsession with filming in part or whole around downtown Detroit (because I like to think it looks like L.A. too.)
Autobots - The scene when they are in the backyard evading the parents, hysterical!!

And the things we had to suffer through:
Suspending our disbelief: On countless occasions, but let's think about it, Autobots learned English through the Internet....when was the last time you saw proper English on the Internet, and seriously what about the Megatron whose been frozen since before we had computers???
Scenes - Making out on Bumblebee while the other Autobots watch, you're kidding right? This is a family film and we did not need to see that!
Weapons - We'd just go nuclear, because if the Autobots and Decepticons can travel light years here, they are already way more advanced (as is their weaponry) and we would have but once choice.

WILL MY GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND LIKE IT?
Totally! At least that's the phrasing we used when last I held a Transformer in my hand.

SPECIAL FEATURES
Well, what all the special features tell you is that the 2009 sequel has at least this film to live up to, and that's a lot considering Michael Bay is real hit or miss kind of director.

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WE ARE MARSHALL (2006)

TITLE
We Are Marshall

STARRING
Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, David Strathairn, Kate Mara, Kimberly Williams

WHAT THE BOX DOESN'T TELL YOU
A predictable series of events, as is normal with the genre, leads to a day of reckoning for the West Virginia residents and families who suffered the loss of the Marshall College football team. Survivors are left to piece together an existence amidst the tragedy. Healing begins after an eager, but unorthodox new football coach (McConaughey) is hired and manages to salvage from the wreckage several players, an assistant coach (superbly played by Lost's Matthew Fox) and an unwilling but supportive college president (Strathairn). We like the first twenty minutes, we love the last forty and somewhere in between, we struggle with Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle director McG's choices, good and bad.

WHY I WOULD RENT IT AGAIN
Loyal readers will expect me to pan this film for a variety of reasons. McConaughey's lack of range, yet another football movie, Hollywood's stylized versions of true events, etc., but in all truth I enjoyed the film. It flowed and without flaw for sometime until I realized because of the nature of this true story, they struggled with clearly identifying the protagonist (Fox) and never really succeeded with overcoming some of the against-all-odds stereotypes. Was it uplifiting? Yes. Did I think McConaughey should have been a football coach instead of an actor? Yes. Would I rent it again. Maybe not, but I would watch it again, even with some of the cliches. Is Remember the Titans still a better rental? Absolutely!

WILL MY GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND LIKE IT?
That's the plan......it does not endeavor too far into the football realm that anyone cannot enjoy it, but if college football was played like this we wouldn't make it to the bowl games.

SPECIAL FEATURES
Yes, but unless you love this movie, you will be bored in a matter of minutes.

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1408 (2007)

TITLE
1408

STARRING
John Cusak, Samuel L. Jackson

WHAT THE BOX DOESN'T TELL YOU
It's totally decent mind you, but if I knew it was going to end the way it did, I might never have rented it. If a place has no memory, the fictional story of room 14o8 at the Dolphin Hotel doesn't really exist, and neither does its super creepy powers, but once again we suspend disbelief for Hollywood. It indulges us, and with of all people John Cusak, who once again is playing a version of himself (honestly not that different from all of his other characters, except in this movie ghosts and evil hotel rooms don't respond to his occasional comedic interludes).

WHY I WOULD RENT IT AGAIN
Debatable, once you've seen it, you've seen it. Now, this movie is so popular I will get someone who will e-mail me and say that I am selling it short. I honestly am not trying intentionally to downplay this movie, but it is a big budget film and we expect this caliber of story, acting and filming. There is nothing incredible or special, but a solid rental for a Friday night if you like horror or suspense flicks.

WILL MY GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND LIKE IT?
Yeah, of course.

SPECIAL FEATURES
Some, but I skipped them all.

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FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER (2007)

TITLE
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

STARRING
Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon, Kerry Washington, Beau Garrett,

WHAT THE BOX DOESN'T TELL YOU
Obviously a box saturated with quotes from second tier papers across the country praising the action tell you volumes about the quality of the story. In this installment of the series, The Fantastic 4 amidst the nuptials of Mr. Fantastic (Gruffudd) and The Invisible Woman (Alba) team up against the Silver Surfer (voiced by Laurence Fishburne) who serves a devastating alien master necessitating world destruction in order to sustain life. Comic books turned action films are generally one of two things: a true departure from the comic series OR a two hour film comprised of several of comics editions. They are predictable and include comedy that appeals to a wide audience, sometimes they do this well, sometimes they do this as predicted and pretty averagely.

WHY I WOULD RENT IT AGAIN
It just didn't send me. I wouldn't call it horrible, in some ways it was better than the original, but still it lacked something cohesive. We knew it was bad writing from the start to have The 4 team up with Dr. Von Doom. Otherwise, it was a pretty uneventful feature.

WILL MY GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND LIKE IT?
A movie for the masses it is.

SPECIAL FEATURES
Sure, but I didn't care much for them.

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28 WEEKS LATER (2007)

TITLE

28 Weeks Later

STARRING
Jeremy Renner, Rose Byrne, Harold Perrineau, Imogen Poots, Mackintosh Muggleton, Robert Carlyle, Catherine McCormack

WHAT THE BOX DOESN'T TELL YOU

Please save us Danny Boyle! Let me preface this review by saying I am a huge fan of the original movie, 28 Days Later. It is among my top ten favorite movies (good company considering The Shawshank Redemption, Unbreakable, Imitation of Life, Holiday Inn, Die Hard, Wonder Boys, Kill Bill, and a revolving door of 10th movies are my gold standards. This movie is unlike any of those aforementioned.) Keeping this in mind, children are not designed, nor are they intended to survive an apocalypse or a dystopian future. Repopulation among true survivors capable of the most extreme forms of adaptation is the only hope for the preservation of human life and when you throw children into a movie like 28 Weeks Later, you treat all moviegoers like kids.

I'm sure it was the first illogical premise stumbled upon, which could continue the series and simultaneously spread the virus to other land masses (apparently select people are immune but can be carriers of the rage virus and this trait can be passed down to children, but you only know it after you've been bit, bled on, sprayed, etc. and don't go fully apeshit, but are still a little weird.) The movie spirals out of control after an initial scene and fails to identify or stick with a protagonist/antagonist. Acceptable in an ensemble feature, this movie is not privy to such exclusion and then severs logic from the filmmaking process completely when it kills off every character with even an ounce of known purpose or courage, all in the vain of saving a potentially important discovery contained within the blood of two children who are of course the root of the safezone's breach, allowing the virus to recontaminate an innocent populous.

WHY I WOULD RENT IT AGAIN
No, I would not and quite simply it's because it is awful. We are asked to believe someone with the rage virus is capable of consciously stalking his son and refraining from action because the moment to strike has not yet presented itself. We are asked to believe that a government would not instantly kill a person whom they learned was infected with the rage virus. We are asked to believe too many things which contradict the original film and the virus itself. Furthermore, these things are not even in good cinematic taste. The addition of recognizable talents proves to be less compelling than the original cast, which was anchored by only one veteran of the world stage. In other words, this movie was a horrible mishap; I expect better if there is a third film in this series.

WILL MY GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND LIKE IT?
No, they won't because it is a bad sequel with possibly an even worse third movie forthcoming in the trilogy.

SPECIAL FEATURES
There are supposed to be some features centering around the original movie, I'm unsure why they appear on this disc.

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BUG (2006)

TITLE
Bug

STARRING
Ashley Judd, Harry Connick, Jr., Michael Shannon

WHAT THE BOX DOESN'T TELL YOU
The box doesn't actually tell you much about anything. I've listened to many reviews on this movie and watched carefully to see what genre it ended up in - popular notion says horror or sci-fi. I'm frankly not sure it is either. At its core, Bug is a movie about a broken woman (Judd) whose down and out on life and through happenstance meets a tortured and psychologically disturbed man (Shannon). Things begin to break down upon the return of Judd's paroled husband (Connick, Jr.) who symbolizes a larger disturbance in their newly formed relationship. Convinced he was somewhat of a human lab rat used by the military for experiments of the insect variety, Shannon breaks into delusional paranoia and takes with him the sanity of his cohabitant.

WHY I WOULD RENT IT AGAIN
The performances are excellent and I can tell this movie was written by an extremely creative individual, one whom I could only probably talk to a handful of times without being creeped out by. I'm uncertain if I could sit down and watch this movie again. To give it an honest review, I could categorically describe this as a drama. It's kind of melting pot for conspiracy theories, mental instability, and counterculture themes. Bug looks cool but the last fifteen minutes are pure hell, and if that was the goal -it was achieved. You're almost certain it will be or could be about anything - except what it eventually delivers. Unfortunately, this is not a film that leaves you feeling as if you understand anything more clearly when the credits roll than you did at the close of the first act.

There's a line in the sand you draw between truth and perception, Bug blurs that line completely. This is the most intentionally ambiguous review I've ever written, but if I were to say I liked or disliked this film because of _________, it would most certainly be a lie, as I am still perplexed.

WILL MY GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND LIKE IT?
Hard to say......don't rent it for Connick, Jr., he gets about fifteen minutes of screen time.

SPECIAL FEATURES
I perused these for clarity, I found little if any. If you are an instant fan of the film - you will love these.

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GRIFFIN AND PHOENIX (2006)

TITLE
Griffin and Phoenix

STARRING
Amanda Peet, Dermot Mulroney

WHAT THE BOX DOESN'T TELL YOU
This movie never made it to the big screen - instead it made its rounds at the film festivals and saw some theatrical releases abroad, but was aired on television once and released a year later on DVD. In a movie that had almost everything except good supporting performances (as there were no quirky sidekicks and or true antagonists, this is more a fault of the writing than the acting) Griffin and Phoenix adapts the process of dying and living in the moment well on screen.

WHY I WOULD RENT IT AGAIN
Tough subject matter acted well - its a rarity, but I like this movie more than Flannel Pajamas, which was also a stellar combination of both elements. The only qualm I have is that there was a lack of substantive supporting performances to add value and depth to the character's struggles and though this may be the result of bad editing (Sarah Paulson is credited but remarkably absent from the movie except for one silent scene) its distressing. I think this a "best of performance" for both of these actors and there is a lot of on-screen chemistry between Peet and Mulroney.

WILL MY GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND LIKE IT?
Yes, keep a box of Kleenex handy.

SPECIAL FEATURES
Nope.

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LUCKY YOU (2007)

TITLE
Lucky You

STARRING
Drew Barrymore, Eric Bana, Robert Duvall, Horatio Sanz, Debra Messing, Jean Smart

WHAT THE BOX DOESN'T TELL YOU
Aside from the obviously awful choice to cast Robert Downey, Jr. in a role limited to about five minutes of onscreen time, Curtis Hanson did a wonderful job with this movie. I credit him with the direction of one of my top ten films from the past five years - Wonder Boys. Kudos to the writing and acting talent, both of which are impeccable. To my 125 weekly readers, this little film about against all odds and settling your debts, including the personal ones, is a don't miss. Poker knowledge is not required!

WHY I WOULD RENT IT AGAIN
Well, it's Bana's best work, bar none, but Barrymore is enchanting, she's definitely in her element with a role like this. I enjoyed Duvall and clearly Hanson has put together a film worth watching. I feel empowered by films which emphasize the power of one's passion mixed with the strength of sober thought! Yes, yes, yes.....this is what a good lighthearted drama is all about!

WILL MY GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND LIKE IT?
I hope so, I really do.....my husband turned to me and suggested this is something I would write, then proceeded to fiddle with his camera for two hours. Bad choice because this movie is a real gem.

SPECIAL FEATURES
Yeah, they were good, but fewer than expected.

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THE TV SET (2006)

TITLE
The TV Set

STARRING
Sigourney Weaver, David Duchovny, Ioan Gruffudd, Judy Greer, Fran Kranz, Lindsay Sloane, Justine Bateman

WHAT THE BOX DOESN'T TELL YOU
That writer/director Jake Kasdan's inspiration probably comes from real life, although he is slightly more successful than his onscreen persona played by the talented David Duchovny would lead you to believe. Kasdan was the director and producer of the short-lived but heavily anticipated (and hyped) series Freaks and Geeks, which probably established his credibility though I am guessing this Zero Effect or some other unnamed series was the better impetus for The TV Set.

WHY I WOULD RENT IT AGAIN
Gruffudd, Weaver, and Greer brought their A-game. Really, all of the talent was marvelous to watch in each painful scene. I am sure I winced more times than Duchovny. Everything I needed to know about the Hollywood writer I learned from watching this movie. I cannot imagine the general public enjoying this film, which is likely why I found it in part to be both brilliant and savvy. We all know Hollywood is convoluted and we mean it in the best sense of the word. An idea can be ripped apart one week and resurrected the next; the process itself is seemingly unbearable, but the end user of the programming, if the programming is good probably cares little about the intentions of the creator. We might if we actually had to watch the process unfold before our eyes as this movie depicts. Thankfully, their is an undeniable element of comedy each of the characters cleverly pulls off in this film, making the whole experience somewhat delightful.

WILL MY GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND LIKE IT?
If they are an insider or wannabe insider - they will love it, otherwise opt for something more mainstream.

SPECIAL FEATURES
Thanks anyway.

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