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Michael Giltz
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Posted: January 31, 2011 06:25 PM
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0Inspiring Funny Hot Scary Outrageous Amazing Weird CrazyDVDs: Aaron Johnson Kicks Ass in
Nowhere Boy
Read More: Aaron Johnson , Dvds , John Lennon , Kick-Ass , Movies , Puppets , The Beatles , The Social
Network , TV Shows , Entertainment News
It's a pretty dreadful idea: a biopic about John Lennon as a teenager. But the result -- Nowhere Boy
($30.95 BluRay and $28.95 regular DVD; Sony) -- is pretty darn good, if flawed. It shows sensitive young
John (Aaron Johnson) living with his uptight aunt (Kristin Scott Thomas) but being increasingly drawn
to his biological mother when she pops back into his life and encourages John's love of rock and roll (and
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playing hooky and general rebelliousness). As a massive Beatles fan, I'm rather surprised and pleased you
can watch John as a teen in this, then follow the climax of this movie (where he heads to Germany) into
Backbeat , which shows the band on that tour; then I Want To Hold Your Hand (the delightful Robert
Zemeckis film about fans in America trying to get tickets to The Ed Sullivan Show ); then John and Brian
Epstein on their lost weekend in The Hours and Times and on and on. It's not surprising that the biggest
band of all time should inspire such creativity; it's surprising that so many of these movies don't suck.
The big reason for Nowhere Boy's relative success (it is a bit heavy-handed in the psychology
department) is lead Aaron Johnson. He does a great job of creating a character that stands on its own;
look at how his cockiness masks insecurity or the scene where he's a bit freaked out (and thrilled) whenhis sexual come-ons finally get rewarded. Combine his subtle work here with his turn as a nerdyAmerican kid in Kick-Ass and you have a one-two punch that shows Johnson is the real deal. Up next for
him is Albert Nobbs , a period piece in Ireland and then (possibly) the big budget Bryan Singer film Jack
The Giant Killer and then a Kick-Ass sequel. Here's hoping he keeps doing quality indie dramas while
cashing his big paychecks. I think he's going to be around for a long time to come.
CLIENT 9: THE RISE AND FALL OF ELIOT SPITZER ($29.98 BluRay and $26.98 regular DVD;
Magnolia) -- This solid documentary shows former New York governor Eliot Spitzer on the road to
redemption, heading from this mea culpa straight to a talk show on CNN. But the real story here is not
Spitzer's personal life or him facing what he did (sleep with hookers) with the appropriateacknowledgment. It's really the film's nailing of a conspiracy to take Spitzer down by powerful figures in
Wall Street and in Albany and DC -- people who hated Spitzer not for the minor irony of being a crusader
against prostitution and other crimes while committing one himself but for his effective crackdown on thefar bigger crimes of Wall Street. You'll walk away convinced of several points. One, Spitzer deservedpunishment for his crime but not being railroaded out of office. Two, Spitzer was targeted by people
using law enforcement to exact political revenge. Three, if Spitzer had stayed in office, he might have
been able to curtail, lessen or even prevent the Wall Street meltdown because he was so focused on thevery ills that brought the country's economy to its knees. Well done.
DOGTOOTH ($29.95; Kino) -- Surely one of the oddest films to ever be nominated for an Oscar for Best
Foreign Film and for that I'm pleased. (By the way, shouldn't they change Foreign Film to International
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Film?) Where to begin? Very simply, three teenagers are kept in complete isolation in their home by
parents who lie to them about conditions in the outside world. As the teenage boy reaches puberty, the
parents reluctantly let a tutor enter their enclosed universe to "tutor" the boy in love and problems ensue.They don't just lie to the kids about the outside being a vicious dystopian nightmate -- the parents alsorandomly substitute one word for another so that the kids have bizarre names for common objects andgenerally make your head spin. It's like Harold Pinter crossed with Pirandello or god knows what. It's
playful, strange and definitely not for your average Joe who likes their movies offered up nice and easy.
But for anyone willing to go on a ride, this Greek film is oddly compelling.
ZORRO: THE COMPLETE SERIES ($99.95; A&E) -- I'm not quite sure why the swashbuckling hero
Zorro is always aimed at kiddies on TV. The Antonio Banderas film showed it was ripe for a more adult
(but still family friendly) take. But this series that ran on the Family Channel for 88 episodes in the early
1990s is aimed squarely at tykes and won't make anyone blanch who though the original Disney serieswas the cat's meow. You get a string of half hour episodes with so-so action and Zorro clambering about
on the roofs of California towns, taunting the law and generally doing good. Only the very young and
parents desperate for a Latino hero will be pleased. Some very good extras include a behind the scenesfilm (of course), a very welcome copy of the Douglas Fairbanks silent classic The Mark of Zorro (1920)and the first episode of a Zorro serial from 1939.
ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS ($39.95 BluRay; Criterion) -- Criterion is such a stamp of quality
that filmmakers must love to make it onto their list. By and large, that list is composed of stone cold
classics. The marvelous Eclipse series is for more unexpected discoveries or secondary work from major
directories. But every once in a while a cult film slips onto Criterion and you just know it's becausesomeone there has a personal passion for it. That's certainly the case with Robinson Crusoe On Mars , a
1964 retelling of the Daniel Dafoe classic via the Red Planet. Directed by special effects master ByronHaskin it is -- I'm sorry to say -- a minor work that doesn't deserve the honor. The acting is stiff, thecompanion Friday (who is conveniently humanoid and bizarrely dressed like an Egyptian) laughable andthe special effects rudimentary. The main draw is the film's attention to technical detail that make it not
so crazy when it comes to science. It's the sort of thing you might stumble on late at night and watch it
fascination, but it's not actually good. It's certainly been given the usual Criterion treatment with audiocommentary from today and interviews from the past, a good essay and even a music video created for
the goofy song that Victor Lundin (Friday) wrote. I wish their passion had uncovered a gem, but not this
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ENTER THE VOID ($24.98; IFC) -- Gasper Noe's follow-up to his terrific Irreversible is a nearly three
hour glimpse at a young man who is shot by the police, arguably has his life flash before his eyes and then
gets reincarnated as his sister's baby. It's technically proficient, but once you've seen a fly-over shot of
Tokyo or rather once you've seen it eight or ten times the point of seeing it yet again begins to pale. Twoorphaned siblings are at the heart of the story: a sister who strips at a Tokyo bar and a brother who is
dealing drugs. At the very beginning of the film, overly aggressive police trying to bust him shoot the
brother in the chest. We soon get loads of flashbacks showing how he became a dealer, seeing theirparents die in a car crash, watching the brother sleep with a friend's mom to get money, getting drugsfrom a dealer and on and on, all while our hero refers endlessly to The Tibetan Book Of The Dead in
order to prepare us for the reincarnation. The show-stopper here is certainly the shot of a penis entering
a vagina...from the perspective of inside the vagina. You've never seen THAT before in a mainstreammovie. To me, the film is so simple-minded that no camerawork can save it. Certainly the acting is
affectless and flat, except for the brother and sister played as little children -- those young actors are very
nuanced and good. It literally begins with death and ends with birth and I wanted to break out into "TheCircle Of Life." A blank screen is thrown in towards the end for no apparent purpose other than to trickpeople into thinking the world is over. It began with a giant ENTER filling the screen and ended with a
giant THE and then VOID. Surprising, it ain't. It's conceivable that the film could be more effective at
half the length and it would certainly be easy to do since there is endless repetition here that doesn't giveit any cumulative power. On the other hand, I stayed awake throughout the entire three hours and never
felt antsy except on an intellectual level. It's certainly well-crafted; it's just not well-thought out.
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BILL WITHERS: STILL BILL ($29.99; Docurama)/ TUPAC: THE LOST PRISON TAPES ($14.95;
New Video) -- Bill Withers is a terrific artist with a string of classic albums to his credit that extend far
beyond "Lean On Me" and "Ain't No Sunshine." I've attended tribute concerts to him where Withers sat
in at the end, I've watched DVD extras on his album Just As I Am that showed a fascinatingly pricklyman and I eagerly looked forward to this film that document where he was today and why he dropped outof the music rat race. He deserves a world class film. What he got was this loving, rudimentary, surfacelook at Withers as he dips tentatively back into the studio. It's fine for hardcore fans like myself but not
particularly well done as a film. Also just out is Tupac: The Lost Prison Tapes, a 45 minute interview
done with Tupac behind bars. Much of this has popped up on other documentaries or online but it's niceto have the whole interview unedited and in one place and the price is pretty cheap. With the endless
stream of Tupac releases, this should have been an extra on some fuller documentary film but fans who
want every scrap will want it.
SECRETARIAT ($39.99 BluRay or $29.99 regular DVD; Disney) -- It's no Seabiscuit, but this family
friendly fare from Disney is exactly as advertised with Diane Lane and John Malkovich delivering their
turns as an independent and determined owner and her unconventional trainer with the skill you'd
expect. No points for guessing the finale.
FREAKONOMICS ($29.98 BluRay and $26.98 regular DVD; Magnolia) -- A documentary film based
on the nonfiction book that pulled together newspaper columns (and original content) illustrating
unexpected economic angles on familiar questions? Huh? It seemed like the strangest idea since a movie
about Facebook. But rather cleverly, this film is really a string of shorts by different filmmakers thattreats individual pieces as stand-alone puzzles. Like any omnibus, the results are mixed but -- in this case-- generally entertaining.
INSPECTOR BELLAMY ($24.98; IFC) -- The final film of French director Claude Chabrol is a
shambling mess. Gerard Depardieu stars as a famous policeman on holiday who gets drawn into a
potential murder thanks to a man's confused confession. The tone is light. Or dark. Or light and dark.
Chabrol indulges in random camera movements and bizarre cuts out of a fear of repeating himself.Depardieu and everyone else seems thoroughly bored. The story is tiresome (thanks to his very annoyingand drunken brother), misleading in an uninteresting way and has a resolution that is both hard to
swallow and kind of laughable. Consider this a Gallic shrug of the shoulders.
ROGER CORMAN'S CULT CLASSICS TRIPLE FEATURE: SCI-FI CLASSICS ($24.97; Shout) --
Heck, I wasn't even a drive-in fan back when they had drive-ins everywhere and B movies have never
been my thing. But Shout Factor packages these flicks so lovingly and Corman's titles and posters --
Attack Of The Crab Monsters, War Of The Satellites, Not Of This Earth -- do exactly what they were
always meant to do: sucker you into spending 70 or so minutes waiting for the movie to deliver on theircrazy premises. They rarely do, but then it's over and you move on to the next one. Shameless.
THE SOCIAL NETWORK ($34.95 BluRay and $28.96 regular DVD; Sony) -- The most acclaimed film
of the year and now probably the underdog for Best Picture at the Academy Awards (which is more fun
than being a dull fait accompli), The Social Network is ideal for DVD viewing. Great home theater
systems can capture the subtlety of director David Fincher's work and the brilliance of the score by Trent
Reznor and Atticus Ross (the one sure bet for the movie on Oscar night). It's subtle acting -- especially by
a superb Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake -- is worth a second and third look.
And people who thought they didn't want to see a movie about Facebook can finally catch up. You gettwo audio commentary tracks (one with Fincher and the other with screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and thecast), as well as the usual wealth of extras.
ALSO OUT NOW:MI-5 VOLUME 8 ($39.98; BBC) -- This British spy show proves the UK is thoroughly up-to-the-
minute when it comes to frantic editing and splashy action scenes that would make 24 proud.
Unfortunately, that's become the de facto approach of a lot of British TV, even period films. But don'tblame them. This season revolves around an elaborate conspiracy including Irag, missing uranium (still?
) and an MI-5 alumni who can't be trusted.
WHICH WAY HOME ($29.95; Docurama) -- Fans of the terrific foreign film Sin Nombre should check
out this documentary about real-life kids from Mexico and Central America who ride the rails in hope of
making it to a new life in the US.
BURIED ($29.95 BluRay; LionsGate) -- Ryan Reynolds is buried alive and doesn't know why. Thank
God he has a cell phone. And reception? Meanwhile, I can't get reception standing on a street corner with
the phone held up as high as possible. This thriller about an American contractor in Iraq would have
been ideal as a 22 minute episode of The Twilight Zone. But it's painfully stretched out to feature length
and it shows.
MAN IN A SUITCASE ($59.99; Acorn) -- A Cold War spy-for-hire series with Richard Branford stuck
in Europe and forced to hire himself out to shady figures while trying to prove his innocence ot US
authorities. Ran for one season with a total of 30 episodes. This contains the first 15 hour-long episodes.
Quite pricey for half a season of a pretty obscure show but not bad and the theme song is a keeper.
JACK GOES BOATING ($39.99 BluRay or $29.98 regular DVD; Anchor Bay) -- Philip Seymour
Hoffman makes a promising directorial debut with his adaptation of the play by Bob Glaudini. Hoffman
stars as a lonely soul trying awkwardly to date Amy Ryan. Fellow stage vets John Ortiz and DaphneRubin-Vega are the friends who try to encourage him even as their relationship falls apart. The dialogue
has a theatrical feel that the film can never overcome, despite Hoffman's many visual flourishes that
open up the story nicely. And it becomes claustrophobic as a dinner party scene that surely worked wellonstage just feels stifling and artificial.
SHAUN THE SHEEP: SPRING SHENA-A-ANIGANS ($14.98; Lionsgate/Hit) -- This franchise
from creator Nick Park is clearly not at the same level as Wallace & Gromit. But it is amusing and
decently done. So if they want to turn out a bunch of episodes while laboring over the latest W&G, that's
fine by me. Surely if anyone deserves a money-maker, it's Park.
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Swimsuit (PHOTO)WISH ME LUCK SERIES 2 ($39.99; Acorn) -- More derring-do behind enemy lines for women in
WW II in this series from the late 1980s. Since each of the three seasons often includes new recruits, you
can never rest easy that anyone will survive. Quite fun.
SANTA SANGRE ($29.98; Severin) -- I'm just not a fan of Alejandro jodorowsky, the madman behind
El Topo and The Holy Mountain, the sort of films even John Waters might consider a little wacky. But for
those who love his work or want to check it out, this reissue of his 1989 circus film is lovingly presented
with loads of extras including an elaborate making-of, a UK documentary, multiple interviews, a
documentary on the real-life inspiration for the film and more. Gloriously over-stuffed, just like his
movies.
SCOOBY-DOO! MYSTERY INCORPORATED ($14.98; Warner Bros.) -- The new reboot of Scooby-
Doo! harkens back to the original rather nicely, but with an ongoing mystery and -- in this case -- Velma
having a thing for Shaggy. You mean she's not gay? OK, maybe not but this is one romance too far.
Finally, the season contains just 13 episodes so parceling out four to a volume is just annoying in every
way.
PUPPETS WHO KILL: THE BEST OF SEASON 3 AND 4 ($19.95; VSC) -- A halfway house for
criminally insane puppets? Either you're in or you're out after that description. And if you like The
League Of Gentlemen and Kids In The Hall (but darker), you should give it a whirl.
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinionmakers as guests. It's available free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and alsoavailable for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and
reviews .
NOTE: Michael Giltz is provided with free copies of DVDs to consider for review. He typically does not
guarantee coverage and invariably receives far more screeners and DVDs than he can cover each
week. Also, Michael Giltz freelances as a writer of DVD copy (the text that appears on the back ofDVDs) for some titles released by IFC and other subsidiaries of MPI. It helps pay the rent, but does notobligate him in any way to speak positively or negatively of their titles.
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FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT COMEDY SPORTS STYLE WORLD GREEN FOOD TRAVEL TECH
LIVING HEALTH DIVORCE ARTS BOOKS RELIGION IMPACT EDUCATION COLLEGE NY LA CHICAGO DENVER BLOGS
Michael Giltz
Freelance writer and raconteur
Posted: January 31, 2011 06:25 PM
BIO
Become a Fan
Get Email Alerts
Bloggers' Index
2
6
2
0Inspiring Funny Hot Scary Outrageous Amazing Weird CrazyDVDs: Aaron Johnson Kicks Ass in
Nowhere Boy
Read More: Aaron Johnson , Dvds , John Lennon , Kick-Ass , Movies , Puppets , The Beatles , The Social
Network , TV Shows , Entertainment News
It's a pretty dreadful idea: a biopic about John Lennon as a teenager. But the result -- Nowhere Boy
($30.95 BluRay and $28.95 regular DVD; Sony) -- is pretty darn good, if flawed. It shows sensitive young
John (Aaron Johnson) living with his uptight aunt (Kristin Scott Thomas) but being increasingly drawn
to his biological mother when she pops back into his life and encourages John's love of rock and roll (and
MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST
1 of 2FOLLOW HUFFINGTON POST
BIG NEWS: Lady Gaga | Movies | Lindsay Lohan | Christina Aguilera | Smarter Ideas | More...
WATCH: Christina Aguilera
Totally Messes Up National
Anthem
Rock Legend Found Dead
Obama, O'Reilly Interview:
Super Bowl Sit-Down
Between President & Fox
News Host (VIDEO)
How Blue Valentine's
Director Killed Michelle
Williams & Ryan Gosling's
Marriage
WATCH: The Top 10
Funniest Super Bowl
Commercials
Andrew Zimmern Finds The
Most Bizarre Food Ever,
And The Limit Of His
Appetite
Josh Brolin: Scientology
'Really F**king Bizarre' LOG IN | SIGN UP
SHARE THIS STORY
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playing hooky and general rebelliousness). As a massive Beatles fan, I'm rather surprised and pleased you
can watch John as a teen in this, then follow the climax of this movie (where he heads to Germany) into
Backbeat , which shows the band on that tour; then I Want To Hold Your Hand (the delightful Robert
Zemeckis film about fans in America trying to get tickets to The Ed Sullivan Show ); then John and Brian
Epstein on their lost weekend in The Hours and Times and on and on. It's not surprising that the biggest
band of all time should inspire such creativity; it's surprising that so many of these movies don't suck.
The big reason for Nowhere Boy's relative success (it is a bit heavy-handed in the psychology
department) is lead Aaron Johnson. He does a great job of creating a character that stands on its own;
look at how his cockiness masks insecurity or the scene where he's a bit freaked out (and thrilled) whenhis sexual come-ons finally get rewarded. Combine his subtle work here with his turn as a nerdyAmerican kid in Kick-Ass and you have a one-two punch that shows Johnson is the real deal. Up next for
him is Albert Nobbs , a period piece in Ireland and then (possibly) the big budget Bryan Singer film Jack
The Giant Killer and then a Kick-Ass sequel. Here's hoping he keeps doing quality indie dramas while
cashing his big paychecks. I think he's going to be around for a long time to come.
CLIENT 9: THE RISE AND FALL OF ELIOT SPITZER ($29.98 BluRay and $26.98 regular DVD;
Magnolia) -- This solid documentary shows former New York governor Eliot Spitzer on the road to
redemption, heading from this mea culpa straight to a talk show on CNN. But the real story here is not
Spitzer's personal life or him facing what he did (sleep with hookers) with the appropriateacknowledgment. It's really the film's nailing of a conspiracy to take Spitzer down by powerful figures in
Wall Street and in Albany and DC -- people who hated Spitzer not for the minor irony of being a crusader
against prostitution and other crimes while committing one himself but for his effective crackdown on thefar bigger crimes of Wall Street. You'll walk away convinced of several points. One, Spitzer deservedpunishment for his crime but not being railroaded out of office. Two, Spitzer was targeted by people
using law enforcement to exact political revenge. Three, if Spitzer had stayed in office, he might have
been able to curtail, lessen or even prevent the Wall Street meltdown because he was so focused on thevery ills that brought the country's economy to its knees. Well done.
DOGTOOTH ($29.95; Kino) -- Surely one of the oddest films to ever be nominated for an Oscar for Best
Foreign Film and for that I'm pleased. (By the way, shouldn't they change Foreign Film to International
1 of 5
Rhea Perlman
Meeting Children in Need
Rev. Jesse Jackson
A Chance to Get Some Answers
for ChicagoDON'T MISS HUFFPOST BLOGGERS
HOT TRENDS
1. Kim Kardashian W Magazine
2. Halle Berry
3. Christina Aguilera Super Bowl
4. Kim Kardashian Nude
5. Olivia WildePalin Blasts Obama's
Handling Of Egypt
Olbermann Announces
New Gig
More Celebrity News at People.com
More Celebrity News at Popeater.com
Like 466
Like 5K
Like 3K
Ty Murray: Jewel's
Pregnancy Is a 'Miracle'
READ MORE
Miley Cyrus Gets Cozy withAmy Winehouse's Ex
READ MORE
Lindsay Lohan To BeCharged with Felony Grand
Theft
READ MORE
Kevin Smith Lost 65
Pounds on 'Airplane Diet'
Heidi Montag Joining 'The
Real Housewives?'
Fantasia Barrino to Play
Mahalia Jackson
Film?) Where to begin? Very simply, three teenagers are kept in complete isolation in their home by
parents who lie to them about conditions in the outside world. As the teenage boy reaches puberty, the
parents reluctantly let a tutor enter their enclosed universe to "tutor" the boy in love and problems ensue.They don't just lie to the kids about the outside being a vicious dystopian nightmate -- the parents alsorandomly substitute one word for another so that the kids have bizarre names for common objects andgenerally make your head spin. It's like Harold Pinter crossed with Pirandello or god knows what. It's
playful, strange and definitely not for your average Joe who likes their movies offered up nice and easy.
But for anyone willing to go on a ride, this Greek film is oddly compelling.
ZORRO: THE COMPLETE SERIES ($99.95; A&E) -- I'm not quite sure why the swashbuckling hero
Zorro is always aimed at kiddies on TV. The Antonio Banderas film showed it was ripe for a more adult
(but still family friendly) take. But this series that ran on the Family Channel for 88 episodes in the early
1990s is aimed squarely at tykes and won't make anyone blanch who though the original Disney serieswas the cat's meow. You get a string of half hour episodes with so-so action and Zorro clambering about
on the roofs of California towns, taunting the law and generally doing good. Only the very young and
parents desperate for a Latino hero will be pleased. Some very good extras include a behind the scenesfilm (of course), a very welcome copy of the Douglas Fairbanks silent classic The Mark of Zorro (1920)and the first episode of a Zorro serial from 1939.
ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS ($39.95 BluRay; Criterion) -- Criterion is such a stamp of quality
that filmmakers must love to make it onto their list. By and large, that list is composed of stone cold
classics. The marvelous Eclipse series is for more unexpected discoveries or secondary work from major
directories. But every once in a while a cult film slips onto Criterion and you just know it's becausesomeone there has a personal passion for it. That's certainly the case with Robinson Crusoe On Mars , a
1964 retelling of the Daniel Dafoe classic via the Red Planet. Directed by special effects master ByronHaskin it is -- I'm sorry to say -- a minor work that doesn't deserve the honor. The acting is stiff, thecompanion Friday (who is conveniently humanoid and bizarrely dressed like an Egyptian) laughable andthe special effects rudimentary. The main draw is the film's attention to technical detail that make it not
so crazy when it comes to science. It's the sort of thing you might stumble on late at night and watch it
fascination, but it's not actually good. It's certainly been given the usual Criterion treatment with audiocommentary from today and interviews from the past, a good essay and even a music video created for
the goofy song that Victor Lundin (Friday) wrote. I wish their passion had uncovered a gem, but not this
time.TOP VIDEO PICKS
1 of 10
Justin Bieber's Valentine
Plans
Olivia Wilde and HubbySplit
Meryl's BritishTransformation
MOST DISCUSSED RIGHT NOW
HOT ON FACEBOOK
HOT ON TWITTER
112th Congress
Catholic
Church
Financial Crisis
Cap and Trade
Chicago
Restaurants
DesignersHUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES
Race War Continues:
Halle Berry Cites Slavery
Rules
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ENTER THE VOID ($24.98; IFC) -- Gasper Noe's follow-up to his terrific Irreversible is a nearly three
hour glimpse at a young man who is shot by the police, arguably has his life flash before his eyes and then
gets reincarnated as his sister's baby. It's technically proficient, but once you've seen a fly-over shot of
Tokyo or rather once you've seen it eight or ten times the point of seeing it yet again begins to pale. Twoorphaned siblings are at the heart of the story: a sister who strips at a Tokyo bar and a brother who is
dealing drugs. At the very beginning of the film, overly aggressive police trying to bust him shoot the
brother in the chest. We soon get loads of flashbacks showing how he became a dealer, seeing theirparents die in a car crash, watching the brother sleep with a friend's mom to get money, getting drugsfrom a dealer and on and on, all while our hero refers endlessly to The Tibetan Book Of The Dead in
order to prepare us for the reincarnation. The show-stopper here is certainly the shot of a penis entering
a vagina...from the perspective of inside the vagina. You've never seen THAT before in a mainstreammovie. To me, the film is so simple-minded that no camerawork can save it. Certainly the acting is
affectless and flat, except for the brother and sister played as little children -- those young actors are very
nuanced and good. It literally begins with death and ends with birth and I wanted to break out into "TheCircle Of Life." A blank screen is thrown in towards the end for no apparent purpose other than to trickpeople into thinking the world is over. It began with a giant ENTER filling the screen and ended with a
giant THE and then VOID. Surprising, it ain't. It's conceivable that the film could be more effective at
half the length and it would certainly be easy to do since there is endless repetition here that doesn't giveit any cumulative power. On the other hand, I stayed awake throughout the entire three hours and never
felt antsy except on an intellectual level. It's certainly well-crafted; it's just not well-thought out.
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BILL WITHERS: STILL BILL ($29.99; Docurama)/ TUPAC: THE LOST PRISON TAPES ($14.95;
New Video) -- Bill Withers is a terrific artist with a string of classic albums to his credit that extend far
beyond "Lean On Me" and "Ain't No Sunshine." I've attended tribute concerts to him where Withers sat
in at the end, I've watched DVD extras on his album Just As I Am that showed a fascinatingly pricklyman and I eagerly looked forward to this film that document where he was today and why he dropped outof the music rat race. He deserves a world class film. What he got was this loving, rudimentary, surfacelook at Withers as he dips tentatively back into the studio. It's fine for hardcore fans like myself but not
particularly well done as a film. Also just out is Tupac: The Lost Prison Tapes, a 45 minute interview
done with Tupac behind bars. Much of this has popped up on other documentaries or online but it's niceto have the whole interview unedited and in one place and the price is pretty cheap. With the endless
stream of Tupac releases, this should have been an extra on some fuller documentary film but fans who
want every scrap will want it.
SECRETARIAT ($39.99 BluRay or $29.99 regular DVD; Disney) -- It's no Seabiscuit, but this family
friendly fare from Disney is exactly as advertised with Diane Lane and John Malkovich delivering their
turns as an independent and determined owner and her unconventional trainer with the skill you'd
expect. No points for guessing the finale.
FREAKONOMICS ($29.98 BluRay and $26.98 regular DVD; Magnolia) -- A documentary film based
on the nonfiction book that pulled together newspaper columns (and original content) illustrating
unexpected economic angles on familiar questions? Huh? It seemed like the strangest idea since a movie
about Facebook. But rather cleverly, this film is really a string of shorts by different filmmakers thattreats individual pieces as stand-alone puzzles. Like any omnibus, the results are mixed but -- in this case-- generally entertaining.
INSPECTOR BELLAMY ($24.98; IFC) -- The final film of French director Claude Chabrol is a
shambling mess. Gerard Depardieu stars as a famous policeman on holiday who gets drawn into a
potential murder thanks to a man's confused confession. The tone is light. Or dark. Or light and dark.
Chabrol indulges in random camera movements and bizarre cuts out of a fear of repeating himself.Depardieu and everyone else seems thoroughly bored. The story is tiresome (thanks to his very annoyingand drunken brother), misleading in an uninteresting way and has a resolution that is both hard to
swallow and kind of laughable. Consider this a Gallic shrug of the shoulders.
ROGER CORMAN'S CULT CLASSICS TRIPLE FEATURE: SCI-FI CLASSICS ($24.97; Shout) --
Heck, I wasn't even a drive-in fan back when they had drive-ins everywhere and B movies have never
been my thing. But Shout Factor packages these flicks so lovingly and Corman's titles and posters --
Attack Of The Crab Monsters, War Of The Satellites, Not Of This Earth -- do exactly what they were
always meant to do: sucker you into spending 70 or so minutes waiting for the movie to deliver on theircrazy premises. They rarely do, but then it's over and you move on to the next one. Shameless.
THE SOCIAL NETWORK ($34.95 BluRay and $28.96 regular DVD; Sony) -- The most acclaimed film
of the year and now probably the underdog for Best Picture at the Academy Awards (which is more fun
than being a dull fait accompli), The Social Network is ideal for DVD viewing. Great home theater
systems can capture the subtlety of director David Fincher's work and the brilliance of the score by Trent
Reznor and Atticus Ross (the one sure bet for the movie on Oscar night). It's subtle acting -- especially by
a superb Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake -- is worth a second and third look.
And people who thought they didn't want to see a movie about Facebook can finally catch up. You gettwo audio commentary tracks (one with Fincher and the other with screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and thecast), as well as the usual wealth of extras.
ALSO OUT NOW:MI-5 VOLUME 8 ($39.98; BBC) -- This British spy show proves the UK is thoroughly up-to-the-
minute when it comes to frantic editing and splashy action scenes that would make 24 proud.
Unfortunately, that's become the de facto approach of a lot of British TV, even period films. But don'tblame them. This season revolves around an elaborate conspiracy including Irag, missing uranium (still?
) and an MI-5 alumni who can't be trusted.
WHICH WAY HOME ($29.95; Docurama) -- Fans of the terrific foreign film Sin Nombre should check
out this documentary about real-life kids from Mexico and Central America who ride the rails in hope of
making it to a new life in the US.
BURIED ($29.95 BluRay; LionsGate) -- Ryan Reynolds is buried alive and doesn't know why. Thank
God he has a cell phone. And reception? Meanwhile, I can't get reception standing on a street corner with
the phone held up as high as possible. This thriller about an American contractor in Iraq would have
been ideal as a 22 minute episode of The Twilight Zone. But it's painfully stretched out to feature length
and it shows.
MAN IN A SUITCASE ($59.99; Acorn) -- A Cold War spy-for-hire series with Richard Branford stuck
in Europe and forced to hire himself out to shady figures while trying to prove his innocence ot US
authorities. Ran for one season with a total of 30 episodes. This contains the first 15 hour-long episodes.
Quite pricey for half a season of a pretty obscure show but not bad and the theme song is a keeper.
JACK GOES BOATING ($39.99 BluRay or $29.98 regular DVD; Anchor Bay) -- Philip Seymour
Hoffman makes a promising directorial debut with his adaptation of the play by Bob Glaudini. Hoffman
stars as a lonely soul trying awkwardly to date Amy Ryan. Fellow stage vets John Ortiz and DaphneRubin-Vega are the friends who try to encourage him even as their relationship falls apart. The dialogue
has a theatrical feel that the film can never overcome, despite Hoffman's many visual flourishes that
open up the story nicely. And it becomes claustrophobic as a dinner party scene that surely worked wellonstage just feels stifling and artificial.
SHAUN THE SHEEP: SPRING SHENA-A-ANIGANS ($14.98; Lionsgate/Hit) -- This franchise
from creator Nick Park is clearly not at the same level as Wallace & Gromit. But it is amusing and
decently done. So if they want to turn out a bunch of episodes while laboring over the latest W&G, that's
fine by me. Surely if anyone deserves a money-maker, it's Park.
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Swimsuit (PHOTO)WISH ME LUCK SERIES 2 ($39.99; Acorn) -- More derring-do behind enemy lines for women in
WW II in this series from the late 1980s. Since each of the three seasons often includes new recruits, you
can never rest easy that anyone will survive. Quite fun.
SANTA SANGRE ($29.98; Severin) -- I'm just not a fan of Alejandro jodorowsky, the madman behind
El Topo and The Holy Mountain, the sort of films even John Waters might consider a little wacky. But for
those who love his work or want to check it out, this reissue of his 1989 circus film is lovingly presented
with loads of extras including an elaborate making-of, a UK documentary, multiple interviews, a
documentary on the real-life inspiration for the film and more. Gloriously over-stuffed, just like his
movies.
SCOOBY-DOO! MYSTERY INCORPORATED ($14.98; Warner Bros.) -- The new reboot of Scooby-
Doo! harkens back to the original rather nicely, but with an ongoing mystery and -- in this case -- Velma
having a thing for Shaggy. You mean she's not gay? OK, maybe not but this is one romance too far.
Finally, the season contains just 13 episodes so parceling out four to a volume is just annoying in every
way.
PUPPETS WHO KILL: THE BEST OF SEASON 3 AND 4 ($19.95; VSC) -- A halfway house for
criminally insane puppets? Either you're in or you're out after that description. And if you like The
League Of Gentlemen and Kids In The Hall (but darker), you should give it a whirl.
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinionmakers as guests. It's available free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and alsoavailable for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and
reviews .
NOTE: Michael Giltz is provided with free copies of DVDs to consider for review. He typically does not
guarantee coverage and invariably receives far more screeners and DVDs than he can cover each
week. Also, Michael Giltz freelances as a writer of DVD copy (the text that appears on the back ofDVDs) for some titles released by IFC and other subsidiaries of MPI. It helps pay the rent, but does notobligate him in any way to speak positively or negatively of their titles.
Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz
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