Just last week I received the latest release from the critic-led Benten Films -- Kentucker Audley's mumblecore film Team Picture, which comes out on DVD today. Imagine a Slacker sort of world with everyday life and a collection of varied people, but without the rolling conversation of UFOs and Like a Virgin pap smears.
Audley's style is to show a more realistic life without the allure of stars or irresistably charismatic...
New DVD Picks of the Week: 'Nightmare Before Christmas' & 'Lynch'
Last week, I alerted you to a few sneak previews for the new Collector's Edition of The Nightmare Before Christmas, and now you can see the discs in all their glory for yourselves!
The stop-motion classic stars Chris Sarandon as the voice of Jack Skellington -- the Pumpkin King of Halloweentown. He gets bored with the town's work of scaring humans on Halloween, and when he accidentally falls into Christmas and sees all the good tidings, he comes back with a plan to nab...
New DVD Picks of the Week: 'Please Vote for Me' and 'Wizard of Gore'
It's a slow week, packed mainly with television box sets, but there are a few little-known films you might want to check out.
Please Vote for Me This was a film that I was dying to see at TIFF last year, but scheduling conflicts kept me from it. Luckily, the highly praised Please Vote for Me is now hitting DVD shelves.
Imagine a group of third-grade students putting Tracy Flick to shame as they hold a democratic election for school monitor. In my day (man, that phrase makes...
New DVD Picks of the Week: 'Brand Upon the Brain!' & 'CJ7'
Brand Upon the Brain! If you ever loved the artistry of David Lynch, but thought his films were too dark and incomprehensible, there's Guy Maddin to ride in on a sea of comedic absurdity. With his silent film Brand Upon the Brain! he did something entirely different -- he created the ultimate live theater experience, one that can never be replicated at home unless you're ridiculously rich with a live orchestra, group of foley artists, a celebrity narrator, and a castrato at your disposal. But even still, this Criterion...
The movie DVD choices from this week's release schedule are quite scarce, but there is Abigail Breslin swinging in to save the day.
Nim's Island In the vein of classic family adventure scenarios, Breslin stars as Nim, a young girl who lives with her scientist father on a far-off tropical island. Life is idyllic until Nim's dad (Gerard Butler) is stranded far away leaving Nim to not only survive on her own, but also fight off the tour companies that threaten her island home. But she needs help and unknowingly turns to...
New DVD Picks of the Week: 'Spaced' & 'Robot Chicken: Star Wars'
This is a pretty slow week for DVDs, but there are two more TV-themed releases just perfect for the movie world with slices of celebs and Star Wars content.
Spaced Tim and Daisy are two strangers who meet while trying to find a new place to live. When they find the perfect apartment, one that requests a couple, they fake it and move in together. The pair try to keep this from the alcoholic landlady while dealing with their dysfunctional romantic lives and spending time with downstairs neighbor Brian, Tim's best friend Mike,...
New DVD Picks of the Week: 'The Bank Job' and 'Meet Bill'
The Bank Job It sounds like your run of the mill caper movie. It stars Jason Statham, which means that it could go either way. Yet this flick fell safely on the positive scale -- nabbing itself a 78% fresh rating. Our Jeffrey M. Anderson said of the film: "The Bank Job doesn't add anything new to the genre, but it delivers everything we loved about it in the first place."
Statham plays a hustler in debt named Terry who is trying to even...
When Kimberly Peirce gave us Boys Don't Cry, it was a critical explosion. She came, she moved us, and Hilary Swank came out of it with an Oscar. The film raised our expectations, and they rested there as Peirce moved out of the spotlight and worked behind the camera. The wait lasted almost a decade, but after nine years, she was finally back with Stop Loss -- another film in the cinematic, Iraq War whirlwind. While it was destined to fall under the weight of Iraq apathy, it was...
New DVD Picks of the Week: 'Gotham Knight' & 'Batman Begins'
Batman: Gotham Knight Like the Animatrix, Batman: Gotham Knight is a collection of filler stories. Created by the hands of different writers and animators, Gotham Knight was made to bridge the gap between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. But it's not just a collection of adventure stories -- these blips into Gotham take the story from all sides -- the villains that wreak havoc, the police whose work is interfered with, the kids who spot him in action, and even Bruce Wayne working with Lucius Fox on gadgetry. Be prepared...
Flakes is a neighborhood breakfast fantasy -- a funky, retro shop dedicated to cereal. You walk in, pick your crunch of choice, and are instantly served a bowl of cereal that you can enjoy with the quirky members of your community. But it's not all Corn Flakes and Cheerios -- there's a large wall of selections from the new to the old, discontinued, and hard-to-find varieties. It's history in a bowl, served without the capitalist cleanliness.
In a film, there's a number of ways this can play out that could make...
