The Screengrab : max payne

DVD Digest for January 20, 2009

Paul Clark — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:00:00 GMT

With the recent deep freeze that has stricken much of the country, now’s the perfect time to curl up in front of the television and watch a DVD. And don’t think the studios don’t know it.

DVD of the Week: The cream of this week’s DVD releases looks to be the snazzy new Criterion edition of Gregory Nava’s breakthrough film El Norte. This lovely mini-epic about a pair of Guatemalan refugees venturing north to America, Nava’s film told a too-common story that hadn’t been successfully dramatized in movies before. Shooting the film largely on the fly, Nava and his wife/collaborator Anna Thomas helped to kick-start the American independent film movement by redefining the sorts of movies could be made with limited means. Both the standard edition and the Blu-Ray edition include a new commentary track by Nava, interviews with Nava, Thomas, and the film’s principal actors, Nava’s 1972 student film The Journal of Diego Rodriguez Silva, and more. At a time when “Sundance movies” have practically become a formula unto themselves, El Norte is a reminder that independent film can be more than just a cliché.

Also this week in classics is Criterion’s standard-format edition of Douglas Sirk’s Magnificent Obsession, which also includes a remastered version of the 1935 John M. Stahl original. Or if you like your weepies more contemporary, there’s always The Notebook Limited Edition Gift Set (Warner, also Blu-Ray).

This week’s slate of recent releases coming to DVD is headlined Saw V (Lionsgate, also Blu-Ray), the latest entry in a series that will surely continue as long as there are people willing to come up with convoluted ways to kill off characters. Also this week: Mark Wahlberg in the video game adaptation Max Payne (Fox, also Blu-Ray), the story of Heisman winner Ernie Davis in The Express (Universal, also Blu-Ray), the family films Igor (MGM, also Blu-Ray) and City of Ember (Fox), Jonathan Rhys-Meyers in the “a white man shall free them” drama The Children of Huang Shi (Sony), the cult-ready musical gorefest Repo!: The Genetic Opera (Lionsgate, also Blu-Ray), and the direct-to-DVD horror movie Amusement (Warner, also Blu-Ray).

In TV on DVD, this week brings The Rockford Files Season 6 (Universal), Emergency! Season 5 (Universal), and Moonlight: The Complete Series (Warner).

Finally, this week’s Blu-Ray only titles is highlighted by the enduring classic This Is Spinal Tap (MGM), in an edition that boasts all of the extras from MGM’s standard-format edition. Also this week: Jennifer Garner in 13 Going on 30 (Sony), Denzel Washington’s Antwone Fisher (Fox), Tony Scott’s Domino (Warner) (for my money, the most underappreciated movie of the decade so far), Alexander Payne’s Election (Paramount), Steve Martin making an ass of himself in The Pink Panther (Sony), and Richard Gere and Diane Lane in Unfaithful (Fox).

2008 in Review: Scott Von Doviak's Top 10 Unwatchables of the Year

Scott Von Doviak — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:00:00 GMT

As your resident movie janitor, I could hardly wrap up the year without a rundown of 2008's greatest crimes against cinema. As always, I see them so you don't have to.

10. STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS

I have little to add to my earlier rant. The sad thing is, there are still a few George Lucas zombies willing to defend this star dreck.

9. STEP UP 2 THE STREETS

A movie that raises many questions, not least of which is: “There was a Step Up 1?” A teenage street dancer (Briana Evigan, the next Demi Moore, if we needed one) is forced to enroll in an upscale school for the performing arts, leaving her old crew to accuse her of NOT KEEPING IT REELZ. This can only be settled with a dance-off! A thoroughly unconvincing dance-off that looks like an outtake from Night of the Living Dead: The Musical.

8. MAX PAYNE

Here we have a ludicrous new film genre (coincidentally featuring Ludacris): the videogame noir. Based on a first-person shooter game that was influenced by Hong Kong action movies and the "bullet time" effects of The Matrix, Max Payne is at least three steps removed from any semblance of originality. It boasts a stylish surface, but there's nothing new beneath it.

7. THE RUINS

Reviewed here at the time of its release. At least, it was in theaters when I started writing the review; I think it had been pulled by the time I posted it. A gripping, intense read becomes a dead teenager movie with laughable CG effects.

6.TYLER PERRY'S THE FAMILY THAT PREYS

Within the first five minutes of The Family That Preys, four different characters utter some variation on the line, "I need a drink." By the end of this latest Tyler Perry opus, I could definitely relate. Family is a mean-spirited endurance test populated by some of the most unpleasant movie characters in recent history. Perry prides himself on leaving out the sex and violence and making movies the whole family can enjoy. It's hard to imagine families enjoying this one, though; they're more likely to be traumatized when they aren't bored out of their minds.

5. FIRST SUNDAY

So bad that I’ve already covered it here as part of the Unwatchable series. Nuff said.

4. FOUR CHRISTMASES

Here's a movie that spends an hour showing how unpleasant family can be and how grotesque small children are before doing a complete U-turn into sickening sentimentality and hypocritical moralizing. Director Seth Gordon, who made last year's terrific documentary The King of Kong, turns out to be just another sitcom hack. Witherspoon is so chirpy and strident, it's not clear that anyone told her this was supposed to be a comedy. To say that Vaughn is phoning it in these days would be an insult to telecommuters everywhere. Four Christmases with this bunch is four too many.

3. PRIDE AND GLORY

There's nothing wrong with a gritty cop drama, so long as it has something to offer besides grit. Pride and Glory provides murky images, shaky camerawork, a muddy soundtrack, blood by the buckets and profanity by the bushel. It's easy to see why director Gavin O'Connor buried his movie under all this sludge; scrape it away and there's nothing but the most generic "bad cop" movie possible underneath.

2. TRAITOR

Don Cheadle is the world's most boring Muslim - but at least he's not evil like all the other ones! There's very little suspense in this dull, talky thriller, but there is a laughable twist ending for the ages.

1. THE LOVE GURU

Everything you’ve heard is true. This isn’t a case of mass hypnosis or the critical brotherhood sticking together – it really is that bad. Mike Myers described this comedy about a self-help guru’s attempts to help a hockey player win a championship as “a delivery system for some wonderful ideas.” Actually, it’s a delivery system for dick jokes, each one dumber than the last.

Morning Deal Report: A Brad Pitt Odyssey

Scott Von Doviak — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:30:00 GMT

No need for a recount: Max Payne has defeated George W. Bush at the box office polls. The Mark Wahlberg shoot-em-up took in $18 million over the weekend to claim the top spot. Finishing second was that pesky Beverly Hills Chihuahua, just edging out The Secret Life of Bees. Oliver Stone’s W. was fourth with $10.6 million.

After dumping Darren Aronofsky from his dance card, Brad Pitt is preparing for a space Odyssey. “After turning Homer's epic poem The Iliad into the 2004 film Troy, Warner Bros. and Brad Pitt are teaming with George Miller to adapt the Greek poet's other masterwork, The Odyssey,” Variety reports. “Their intention is to transfer the tale to a futuristic setting in outer space.”

Miramax is “developing Daily Show head writer Ben Karlin and Stu Zicherman's satirical comedy A.C.O.D. (Adult Children of Divorce), the story of a grown man still caught in the crossfire of his parents' 15-year-old divorce,” per The Hollywood Reporter. “‘We're very glad to get the validation from Miramax, especially since we've been working on the script longer than any of our parents were married,’ Karlin and Zicherman said.”

Related:
Brad Pitt Jilts Aronofsky Again
Screengrab Review: "W."

Trailer Review: Max Payne

Paul Clark — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:00:00 GMT

A few years ago, Roger Ebert set off an outcry in the gaming community when he questioned in print whether video games could, indeed, be art. While I’m a non-gamer myself, I remain optimistic of the artistic potential of the medium. However, whether Hollywood will manage to figure out how to make the proverbial good video game adaptation is somewhat more in doubt. I couldn’t say for sure, but I’m guessing that there are plenty of games out there that create interesting worlds and compelling narratives. So why does almost every big-screen video game adaptation look like a third-rate ripoff of The Matrix? Perhaps all it’ll take is for a genuine gifted filmmaker to take on a video game. Then again, maybe what makes video games really interesting- the actual, you know, playing of them- will always make the big-screen adaptations of them feel a lot like watching your buddies play Super Mario Bros. all afternoon without allowing you to take the controls for a while. Not that I’m bitter or anything…

Morning Deal Report: Wino Forever

Peter Smith — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 16:00:00 GMT

Winona Ryder (odd picture, eh?) has joined JJ Abrams' Star Trek. Wonders never cease. Now, the last time she jumped into a science-fiction franchise, it was. . . uh oh.

I love videogames. And I love movies. But the two really don't belong together. The most annoying trend in videogames over the past fifteen years has been the desire to turn every game into an "interactive movie." The pleasure of a videogame is not narrative; it's explorative, physical. As for movies based on games, I think the record is pretty clear. In any case, Mark Wahlberg will star in Max Payne, playing "[a] cop who is haunted by the tragic loss of his family and has little regard for rules". . . um, why do you people even need a license? Can't you make this shit up on your own?

Josh Hartnett will star in an adaptation of Don DeLillo's second novel, End Zone. "Yet to be cast," says Variety, "is a teacher of international terrorism and mass destruction." Yep, that sounds like DeLillo.

— Peter Smith