DVD Releases August 25th ON REVIEW

Sunshine Cleaning - A- (Gotta Own)
Sunshine Cleaning is a funny yet touching movie about 2 sisters that start a crime scene cleanup business just to make ends meat. The sisters are played by the ever amusing Amy Adams and Emily Blunt. Adams shines once again as a single mother who can’t catch a break. The chemistry and interactions of Adams and Blunt couldn’t be closer to 2 real sisters. Alan Arkin costars as their father who is trying to come up with any scheme he can to not necessarily get rich, but to just get by with doing as little work as possible. My only gripe about the movie would be a subplot between Blunt and Mary Lynn Rajskub’s character (Chloe from 24) which was greatly underdeveloped and could have used a lot more screen time. Overall a great film with plenty of laughs and well worth a rent.

Duplicity - B- (Wait for It)
Starring Clive Owen, Julia Roberts, Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson, and written and directed by Tony Gilroy (writer of the Bourne Trilogy and writer/director of critically acclaimed Michael Clayton) Duplicity had all the promise in the world, yet quickly lost its way. The trailer promises that it will be a corporate espionage with a thriller of a heist involved, yet fails to live up to its own expectations as it is boring, fairly uneventful and incredibly confusing throughout. I stuck with the movie hoping the ending would either be satisfying or surprising, however was greatly disappointed. I don’t generally get confused during movies, however this left me thinking about what I just watched, and not in a good way. My recommendation is to just wait for it to come on cable and watch it for free.

Adventureland - B+ (Gotta Rent)
In the ever-growing genre of Indie romantic comedies, Adventureland is its next installment. This “dramady” set in the 80’s isn’t as laugh out loud as recent comedy gems such as Superbad, but still provides many laughs, as well as very interesting characters. Its laughs are mainly supplied by the hilarious Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig (Superbad, Knocked Up, SNL, etc.) whereas the 2 main characters played by Kristen Stewart and newcomer Jesse Eisenberg provide all the drama of complicated relationships, very reminiscent to some of the classics of the 80s. Fans of the wave of indie films hitting the market will love this (as well as its great soundtrack) as well as most people who just like romantic comedies. If you’re expecting a Superbad type of movie you’ll be disappointed, but this is definitely worth a watch.