There hasn’t been much by way of new DVDs lately. I mean, there was the Earth Day release of Avatar, which has already made eleventy bajillion dollars no duh no doy, but besides that: Crazy Heart and The Young Victoria, both of which are good enough for the genres they represent; The Lovely Bones, which was terrible; and The Horse Boy, the Mongolia autism rehab film that recently played SIFF Cinema.
Then there is Summer Hours, which is enjoyable as both a nuanced family drama and a mediation on the future of France. Catch it before the assuredly terrible American remake. Don’t forget Mystery Team, which is undeservedly underseen cute little comedy about solving crimes when you should be growing up and going to college. And Uncertainty, because I will gladly see any indie film with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. But besides that? Pirate Radio and The Slammin’ Salmon? Meh. Consider that done. With the past few weeks out of the way, let’s take a look at this week’s new releases, care of our good friends at Scarecrow Video.
The big release for this week was Meryl Streep-Alec Baldwin-Steve Martin love triangle It’s Complicated–and remember, Mother’s Day is next Sunday, May 9th. The other big release was Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, better known as “Heath Ledger’s final movie.”
On to the smaller films: Five Minutes of Heaven is Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt taking on The Troubles in Northern Ireland, while Disgrace (based on the J.M. Coatzee novel) stars John Malkovich as a South African professor in a whole heap of trouble. Transylmania should’ve been a direct-to-DVD release, but the studio decided that anything with vampires must be golden, so they put it in the theaters and made no money. Similarly, The Descent: Part 2, the sequel to the genuinely scary female-fronted horror flick, should’ve never been made. Meanwhile, District 13: Ultimatum is just as much silly stupid fun as its predecessor.
In terms of documentaries, William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe looks at the controversial civil rights/free speech attorney, while Milton Glaser: To Inform & Delight looks at the beloved graphic designer. Why We Laugh is an examination of black comedy, and (spoiler alert) I’ve got the answer to The End of Poverty? No.
On the small screen, this week marks the DVD release of the Georgia O’Keefe movie from Lifetime starring Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons. And most importantly, even though the Syfy flick Megapiranha just aired a few weeks ago, the huge killer fish is out on DVD now.