Five New DVD Releases to Watch on a Cold Night

I am queen of the video store. I simply can not go to the movie theater, even when it is a movie I really want to see, I wait for it to come out on video, so thank god DVD's come out so fast now, and my video store gives me a good rental plan, or I would be anxiously waiting weeks for the movies I want to see to arrive on my video stores shelves. Here are a few I have checked out recently, they weren't big movies because my husband went to the video store this time and he has a knack for finding and renting the obscure. Anyway here are three I have reviewed:

The Illusionist

Starring Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti, and Rufus Sewell.

I didn't like this movie. It was directed by Neil Burger who wrote Interview with the Assassin, which I must say I have never seen and I also do not know much about Neil Burger. The story is two kids from two different walks of life, fall in love, are forbidden to see each other, then are separated, only to meet again years later. Of course the character played by Jessica Biel is the love interest of the character played by Edward Norton. Mrs. Beil is Sophie who is a countess, and Mr. Norton plays the magician Eisenheim. Paul Giamatti is Inspector Uhl, and Rufus Sewell is Crown Prince Leopold.

Of course when they meet again years later the countess is engaged and can't break the engagement because, of course, she is engaged to the crown prince who is a very bad guy, and is only marrying her for status. Then surprise, surprise she dies, Paul Giamatti is investigating, and figures out in the end that the crown prince is responsible and brings him to justice. The only cliché' left out of this movie is the framing of the lover Eisenheim. There is a twist at the end that is supposed to make this movie unlike all the others, but after sitting through a whole movie of cliché's it sort of falls short.

I love Paul Giamatti so it is worth watching the movie for his performance, also Rufus Sewell plays a wonderful jealous prince and is the only authentic English actor in a movie set in an English setting. What I can't get over is Mary Camden I don't think I will ever be able to see Jessica Biel as any thing else.

If I were to rate this one I would give it a 5.5.

A Scanner Darkly

Starring the cartoon versions of Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey JR., Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder, and Rory Cochrane.

At first I didn't know why Richard Linklater chose to make and animated movie out of real actors, but after watching this I understood.

A new drug called substance d is being sold on the streets of California, and Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves) is an undercover cop investigating a group of guys who are supposedly wrapped up in selling it. James Barris (Robert Downey Jr.) and Ernie Luckman (Woody Harrelson) are the main suspects along with his girlfriend Donna Hawthorne (Wynona Ryder). The investigation is going well until Bob becomes addicted to substance d himself and has to go into rehab.

This movie makes you go Huh? until the end then all is cleared up for you. It is a little tough to watch cartoon versions of actors that you already know, but I think the effect was supposed to be how you would see things if you were hooked on this drug. It is worth renting and watching I enjoyed it.

If I were to rate this one I would give it an 8.

Idiocracy

Starring Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, and many more.

Funny, funny, funny. I loved this movie. Luke Wilson is Joe Bauers who is a clerk for the library in the marines, he unwillingly is ordered along with a prostitute named Rita, to participate in a top secret experiment in which they are frozen in a pod for a year. Because the director of the program tries to become a pimp and is caught the program loses funding, and Joe and Rita are forgotten.

Five hundred years later a trash avalanche opens the pods and they find them selves in a world full of idiots. Joe becomes the smartest man in the world and folly follows.

This movie is so funny you have to watch it to understand just how truly funny it is. It is directed by Mike Judge so you know it is hilarious.

If I were to rate this on I would give it a 10.

All The Kings Men

I must admit I only rented this movie because Jude Law was in it, and I have to say yum, I love Jude Law he is gorgeous. I just love the English boys in general, that accent those chiseled features, it has got to be something they feed them over there.

Any way on to the review, All The King's men is about a politician named William Stark played by Sean Penn, it is loosely based on the life of Huey Long who was the governor of Louisiana, and hotshot candidate for president in 1928.

The movie follows Willie Stark while he is trying to keep from being impeached from office. Jack Burden (Jude Law sigh) is a reporter he befriends and hires on as one of his aides. Willie apparently in his efforts to do right for the average people of Louisiana ticks off the higher ups, and this is what leads to the decision of his impeachment. In the end he holds office but shortly thereafter dies.

I thought this was a very good movie, but found it hard to concentrate, because of Jude Law. I had to watch the movie twice, and I still am a little foggy on the details of it because of him. Oh well I gave a semi decent review.

If I were to rate this movie I would give it an 8.

The Black Dahlia

I rented this movie because of the director, Brian Depalma. I had heard that he was majorly influenced by Alfred Hitchcock and since I am a Hitchcock fan, I decided to rent this Brian DePalma film.

Now this is based on the true murder of a gal named Elizabeth Short, but since the movie is a fictional account of her murder I have to say I don't know much about her. There is an all star cast Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Hillary Swank, to name a few, but you wonder if the actors were bored and they just need something to do in between blockbusters, because they don't give their best performances in this film. The plot is a tad bit rushed and confusing, and there were scenes that made me so uncomfortable at times that I was squirming.

I really didn't like this film, but I am not letting that deter me from seeing other DePalma films, even the best directors and actors make an occasional stinker, so I will give him another chance, but The Black Dahlia will not make my favorites list.