The Promotion After Dane Cook's Employee of the Month ripped out our interest in office-led comedies and stomped on it, The Promotion was a welcome breath of fresh air that has become a comedic emblem over here at Cinematical. It's graced a top films of 2008 list, popped up in a few fanrants, and has been part of a lot of multimedia. And now, after a modest release, the comedy is on DVD.
Seann William Scott and John C. Reilly play supermarket workers...
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...
Indies on DVD: 'Life Before Her Eyes,' 'American Crime,' 'Miss Pettigrew'
Suffering from the Hollywood blockbuster blues? Have I got some indies for you! All three are newly available this week on DVD.
Kim Voynar called Vadim Perelman's The Life Before Her Eyes "a lovely, nuanced film packed with imagery, and bracketed by an intriguing storyline." The story revolves around the survivor of a school shooting; Uma Thurman plays her as an adult and Evan Rachel Wood as a teenager. Kim wrote in part: "I'd expect the director's commentary on the DVD to be intriguing." The DVD does indeed feature...
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...
Comedies don't have an obligation to be particularly insightful, but you'd think an indie aimed at an adult audience would have something to say about its characters. Smart People stars Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ellen Page, and Thomas Haden Church; the cast and the multitude of laughs scored at the expense of easy targets might justify a rental, though I liked it much less after I started thinking about it. I'm in the minority -- James Rocchi expressed all kinds of love
Tarantino and the Original 'Inglorious Bastards' on DVD
Men on a mission! Naked women shooting machine guns! Wildly inappropriate hair styles! The recent arrival of Enzo G. Castellari's The Inglorious Bastards on DVD makes clear that the movie is an entertaining, stylish adventure in its own right, justly deserving its reputation as a Eurocult genre gem. Inevitably, it also prompts speculation about what exactly Quentin Tarantino will do with his upcoming version, especially since the DVD features an extended conversation between Tarantino and Castellari about their respective visions.
The 1978 original doesn't have a "bat-wielding Nazi hunter," as one...
I've always been a sucker for killer croc movies. But, as Scott Weinberg so eloquently wrote in the recent past: "There's maybe one true 'classic' of the sub-genre (that'd be Lewis Teague's and John Sayles' Alligator, of course), and the rest of 'em are pretty much floating crap." Scott was ranting about the limited theatrical release by The Weinstein Co. (actually, their "dumping ground" subsidiary Third Rail Releasing) for Greg McLean's Rogue, which was limited to ten US cities.
So Scott (and most of you reading this) probably didn't get to see...
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...
Suffering from the Hollywood blockbuster blues? Have I got some indies for you! All three are newly available this week on DVD.
Comedies don't have an obligation to be particularly insightful, but you'd think an indie aimed at an adult audience would have something to say about its characters. 
I've always been a sucker for killer croc movies. But, 
