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| New At the Blockbuster Staying in tonite? Want to rent something but you know you always end up going home with a loser (not your boyfriend, the movie)? Check out this page to learn what's new and worth seeing at your local video stores. Also consult our Great Movies page for great older movies you can catch on video and DVD. |
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| Not So New Video Reviews our video review archives |
| Before Night Falls A tour-de-force. Recounts the life of Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas's life from birth to death and his struggle to maintain artistic and sexual freedoms under the Communist Castro regime. Brilliant performance by Oscar nominated Javier Bardem and cameos by Johnny Depp and Sean Penn. Magnificent but not extravagant. Vibrant but not intrusive. Before Night Falls is film as art by former painter/badboy Julien Schnabel. Grade: $4.75/$5.00 Read more... |
| Panic Check out this tagline: A Story of Family, Lust, Murder ...and Other Midlife Crises. This excellent acted and directed, though largely ignored noir is a breath of fresh air next to recent rental options. William H. Macy stars as a hitman with an overbearing father and a new psychologist he's just been ordered to kill. Neve Campbell, John Ritter, and Donald Sutherland round out a cast of underdog actors allowed to shine in this potboiler. $4.00/5.00 Read more.... |
| 15 Minutes Supposed indictment of America's media with respect to violence follows a cop and a fire marshal in pursuit of two Euros who videotape their killings and sell to TV. Sickeningly becomes more of a how-to for violent entrepeneurs instead of commenting or satirizing like it wants to. The movie falls short on social messages, but is very watchable thanks to Edward Burns and Robert Deniro. $2.75/$5.00 Read more... |
| Josie and the Pussycats The absolute most fun you will have at the movies this year. Josie is an update of the 1970s Archie comics spinoff of the same name. Here the Pussycats are signed to a major label only to discover that their records are being laced with subliminal messages, controlling teenage consumerism. This full-on pleasurefest will put on a smile on your face until long after you're out of the theatre and is sure to winkwink its way into your heart with double entendres and requisite puns galore. The soundtrack's great, too! $4.13/5.00 Read more... |
| Chocolat As sweet a confection as its title. Juliette Binoche moves to a small town constipated with religious constriction/rigidity and turns things upside down to the chagrin of the stubborn Mayor. While the plot/message are hardly original, the film nevertheless feels fresh and pleasant. Binoche is excellent as is the wonderful supporting cast which includes Dame Judi Dench, Alfred Molina, and Johnny Depp. $4.25/$5.00 Read more... |
| heartBREAKers When good actors go bad! Look at this cast- Gene Hackman, Sigourney Weaver, Ray Liotta- reduced to second banana status just to cement the fact that, yes, Jennifer Love Hewitt has breasts. Who cares? I honestly don't. If you're really dying for JLH in skimpy outfits, surf the net. This dreck went on and on and on. Weaver and Love play a mother-daughter con team who marry to get rich off divorce settlements. Hackman as a cigarette mogul is their last big score. You'll probably need a shower just for seeing Sigourney in her ohmigodshe'scompletelynakedisn'tshe postwedding lingerie. Eeeeeewwwwww. $1.50/5.00 |
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| Blow True story of George Jung, one of the US's most infamous/successful coke smugglers from the 60s to the 80s. As you may have heard, this really is the role of Johnny Depp's career and the supporting cast (including everyone from Ray Liotta to Franka Potente) is boffo, esp. Rachel Griffiths as Jung's longsuffering mother and Paul Reubens (!) as his CA connection. While the flashy directing and cinematography are indeed excellent, as well, the story drags along slowly and unfortunately. Considering its largely positive elements, this could and should have been much much better than it is- generally slow and uneventful, with a few excepted set pieces. $3.50/5.00 (thanks to great style and performances) |
| Bridget Jones's Diary This is a great review written by reader Josie Hemmingsen. She's read the book and seen the movie so her insight is especially thoughtful. As you'll find, she liked the movie very much. And her female perspective should be refreshing, though she asserts that Jones "defies the chick flick genre" So read on: "Quirky, witty, charming, and endearing: meet Bridget Jones." $4.50/$5.00 Read more... |
| Shrek Ok, so call me joyless, but after seeing Shrek and not liking it in the theatres, I was made to watch it again recently on video. Let me tell you. It only got WORSE! How disgustingly base and inappropriate that what qualifies for children's entertainment must have no fewer than ten fart and penis jokes per minute. Shrek is a sad excuse for a kids movie hidden cowardly behind a cruel political jab session by Dreamworks honcho Jeff Katzenberg against former employer Michael Eisner at the Mouse House. My suggestion to you instead, go out and rent the brand new transfers of Dumbo and Snow White on spectacular Special Edition DVDs. Your children and your inner child will thank you for saving them from this pathetic bottom feeder. $1.00/$5.00 Click here to get whole story on both the politics behind the film and why to keep it from kids |
| Simians and thespians best Julia and Co. in a triple review of three summer smashes: Joe Roth’s America’s Sweethearts, Tim Burton’s The Planet of the Apes, and Frank Oz’s The Score. Read more about all three... |
| Town & Country Middle of the road movie about middle of the road couples going through issues of fidelity in this finally-released, troubled production. Excellent first half brought down a bit by the latter. Interesting turns by Charlton Heston making a complete ass of himself and Warren Beatty in a polar bear costume. Also, Goldie Hawn gets naked (yes!!) and Diane Keaton plays....Diane Keaton....again. Fairly harmless fare for a light matinee before the onslaught of summer excess. $5.00/$10.00 Read more... |