DVD Release Reviews for September 29th

Monsters vs. Aliens –B+ (Gotta Rent, Gotta Own for Kids)

Monsters vs. Aliens is the next animated feature from Dreamworks. Both the animation and voice casting are excellent featuring voices such as Seth Rogen, Reese Witherspoon, Hugh Laurie and Kiefer Sutherland. Possibly the best role is a somewhat small one with Stephen Colbert playing a hilarious rendition of an inept president. The downside is the storyline which is lackluster and nowhere near the quality that Pixar implements in its animation masterpieces. Whereas Pixar’s movies such as Wall-E, Up and Ratatouille have great stories that connect the viewer to the characters (even if they are robots and rats), Dreamworks doesn’t have that connection with its audience. MVA is a very good animated film and definitely worth a watch with the family, however do not expect a great film that’s on par with the Pixar greats.


Management – B (Wait for It)
Management is an interesting romantic-comedy starring Jennifer Aniston and Steve Zahn (That Thing You Do, Rescue Dawn) that’s about a guy trying to win the heart of a girl that is way out of his league. The best way to describe this film is that it is a weird one to watch. The casting seems very weird matching up Aniston, who does tons of Rom-Coms, and Zahn who normally plays the idiot friend but never the main role. The movie never really makes you laugh out loud or have any sort of special connection to the characters, nor does it necessarily cause you to lose interest. Aniston plays her role as a somewhat uptight businesswoman well and so does Zahn as the loser with nothing going for him except for his parent’s motel. Management has unnecessary plotlines, is slow at parts and doesn’t even have that believable of a storyline, however, something about it keeps your interest and makes it worth watching.


Away We Go – A (Gotta Rent)
The year’s best films always seem to not be the big budget blockbuster hits, but instead the small indie-films that are made on a relatively pint-sized budget. Away We Go is another perfect example of this as John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph both shine in this heartfelt comedy. Sam Mendes showed the destruction of a marriage in Revolutionary Road and in this he shows the other side of a relationship. The story is about Karisinski and Rudolph, recently pregnant, traveling the U.S. looking for a place to start their family. Many of the shots and scene transitions are very reminiscent to ones in Juno. Krasinski proves he can step outside his Office role as does Rudolph and her regular SNL appearances. The chemistry between the two is perfect as Krasinski is the eternal optimist and always trying to break any tension or stress with jokes, whereas Rudolph is a pessimist and always worried about what lies ahead. This is definitely worth a rent as it is one of the better movies of the year.


Shrink - B+ (Gotta Rent)
Shrink follows Kevin Spacey, a middle-aged shrink for the celebrities that is flooded by problems of his own. He tries to deal with the death of his wife through excessive use of drugs, all the while trying to help Hollywood’s finest with all of their own problems. Spacey plays the role of the cynical and depressed shrink perfectly. You begin to feel very sorry for his character as he avoids having to deal with his wife’s death. Alongside Spacey there is a very strong performance from Keke Palmer (Akeelah and the Bee) playing a very troubled young girl who’s life is turned upside down by the suicide of her mother. Shrink’s faults lie in the sub-par performances of the other Hollywood characters, including a very irritating OCD agent. Too much focus was placed on all of the other characters that it watered down what could have been a great connection between Spacey and Palmer. That being said, the ending leaves you feeling satisfied and really pulls everything together. This movie is definitely worth a watch, if only to marvel at the great acting of Kevin Spacey.


The Brothers Bloom - B+ (Gotta Rent)
The Brothers Bloom is an action-adventure-comedy about 2 brothers that have spent their entire lives as con-men. The brothers, played by Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo, decide to attempt one more con, trying to dupe a millionaire heiress, played by Rachel Weisz. Weisz’s character is tired of living alone with all of her riches and needs to have an adventure, so she decides to accompany the brothers thinking she’s in on a con of her own. The casting is perfect as all 3 work great together, especially Brody and Ruffalo. What really makes this movie is the endless amount of twists and turns that keep you guessing until the very end. If you don’t like unpredictable plots then you’ll probably want to avoid this, however everyone else should give it a shot as its entertaining, funny and will keep your attention until the very end.

Observe and Report - C (Skip It)
Observe and Report is one of the most disappointing films of the last few years. It had a lot of promise starring one of today's premier funnymen Seth Rogen, and hilariously ditzy Anna Faris. However it quickly turned into a very dull, not even remotely funny film that basically took the storyline of Paul Blart: Mall Cop and made it rated R. The main focus of the storyline changed about 5 times, never making much sense as to why it would abandon the previous one. The crudness of Seth Rogen's jokes that made films such as Knocked Up and Superbad instant classics came off as just him being a jerk didn't create hardly any laughs at all. After seeing the previews this was one of my most anticipated comedies of the year and immediately left me feeling greatly disappointed.

Ghosts of Girlfriend's Past - B (Gotta Rent)
I went into this moving thinking it was going to be a complete flop along the same lines as Matthew McConaughey's previous 3 or 4 romantic comedies. However, I was actually pleasantly surprised at how easy of a watch it was. It wasn't nearly as funny as it was probably intended to be, but at the same time wasn't as agonizing to sit through as most romantic comedies are these days. The best part of the movie is Michael Douglas coolly playing the ghost of his party-loving uncle. The relationship between Jennifer Garner and McConaughey is believable, as is his relationship with his little brother. The story basically takes A Christmas Carol's and merges it with that of a typical romantic comedy, trying to make the chauvinistic McConaughey realize the error in his ways. It's very predictable and doesn't bring anything new to the genre, but still entertains and is worth a watch.

DVD Releases September 8th ON REVIEW

Crank 2 - B- (Wait for It)
After you get over the fact that they made a sequel to the first Crank, following its ending that seemingly didn’t leave a possible storyline for a sequel; you’ll realize that Crank 2 is the most random, over-the-top film of the year, if not the decade. From start to finish it charges ahead at full throttle and never once lets up. Crank 2 is one of the most insane movies you’ll ever watch, throwing “believability” even further out the window than the first one (which is honestly what made the first one good), and creating scenes that you couldn’t even think up. I give this a B- because only big fans of the first film (or Jason Statham’s other films such as the Transporter trilogy) will enjoy it as everyone else will think its one of the worst movies of the year. It’s not as good as the first one, but fans of crazy and random action movies will probably love it.

State of Play - A- (Gotta Rent)
State of Play is one of the better movies of the year as it immediately grabs your attention and never lets go. Starring Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren and Ben Affleck (who is actually tolerable in this role), State of Play is a political crime drama from a journalist’s perspective. An adaptation from a BBC series, it has just enough twists and doesn’t have any unnecessary scenes or plotlines. Just when you think you know what will happen next, a perfect curveball is thrown your way. The entire cast does a great job as is the direction from Last King of Scotland director Kevin Macdonald. It’s quite a shame that this was such a box office disappointment because it’s easily one of the top 20 movies of the year. State of Play is definitely not worth just one watch but multiple viewings.