DVD Release Reviews for November 9th

Up - A+ (Gotta Own)

Pixar does it again by striking animation gold with Up, the story of a widowed old man going on one final adventure in memory of his wife. Up is fantastic in every aspect, from the animation, to the story to the individual characters. It’ll have you crying within the first 10 minutes of the movie, laughing throughout the entirety of the film and entertain you until the end credits. Like Wall-E, Ratatouille, and the dozen other films it is great for both children and adults and has to rank as one of the top animated movies of the decade. The best part of the movie has to be the “talking” dogs. I can’t imagine dogs thinking anything but what is portrayed in the movie. No matter what type of movie you like or what your feelings are towards animated films, you have to see this. This is a must-see, must-rent and must-own.

The Ugly Truth - C+ (Wait for It)

The ugly truth of this movie is that it is a complete waste of good actors and a potentially good script. It is overwhelmingly and unnecessarily vulgar to the point of greatly detracting from the film itself. None of the characters come across as likeable at all, and actually come to brink of just being annoying. It tries to be a romantic comedy except that it’s not really all that funny. There are some funny scenes, such as an updated version of Meg Ryan’s infamous diner scene from When Harry Met Sally, but they are few and far between. To go along with that the “romance” aspect of it is not remotely believable. It seemed like it could be your typical date movie, but its excessive vulgarity just make it ridiculous. It’s even more surprising considering all 3 screen writers are women and the film really disrespects women as a whole.

The Goods - C+ (Don’t Bother)

I would characterize The Goods as a comedy very similar to Observe and Report. The stories are nothing alike; however both of them left me feeling greatly disappointed. It is quite raunchy and vulgar, to an unnecessary level, not a funny one similar to most of Judd Apatow’s films. The cast should have made this a home run as it stars Jeremy Piven and just about all of the minor characters from some of the great comedies of recent years such as Role Models, Knocked Up and Zack and Miri. It’s an hour and a half of non-stop one liners and attempted gags to try and produce laughs. Some succeed, however most fall flat. Piven almost tries to hard to be like Ari, his hilarious role from Entourage but just comes across as an over-confident jerk instead. Overall it has some laughs but can probably be skipped by most and seen on T.V.

Accidental Husband – B (Gotta Rent)

Accidental Husband is a straight to DVD (domestically at least, it was in theaters briefly overseas) romantic comedy. The main premise of the story is Jeffrey Dean Morgan gets revenge on Uma Thurman, a radio talk show host that convinces his fiancé to call off their wedding. The ridiculous part of the story is that his revenge consists of marrying himself to Uma with just a click of the mouse on his computer, just before she is to marry Colin Firth. The film tries to do a new take on the romantic comedy genre with a fresh new story, but it’s just as predictable as every other rom-com out there. Although the story itself is a little out there and the decisions that Uma’s character makes doesn’t make any sense, the film is light-hearted and fun enough to be a decent rom-com. If you can overlook the implausible storyline and just take it for what it’s worth then it would be worth a rent, especially considering it’s essentially a direct-to-DVD film.