DVD Reviews: Winners and Losers

Recent DVD winners and losers

Winners:

ABRAHAM LINCOLN VAMPIRE HUNTER
This movie is far better than the exploitative popcorn title would have you believe. It mixes (surprisingly elegantly) outrageous fantasy and monster tropes with still redolent historical moments, and wraps it all in mesmerizing action and brilliant direction. I was and remain hugely impressed. Timur Bekmambetov continues to be a director to watch. And writer Seth Grahame-Smith surprises with a script that for all its action and outrageousness is surprisingly heartfelt and earnest and full of the import of those years of civil war. Highly Recommended.

INSIDIOUS
I think far more movies in general, and horror movies specifically, disappoint than satisfy. INSIDIOUS fortunately falls into the latter category. Being from first frame to last a downright compelling, creepy, and scary horror film. It’s a keeper.

REDBELT
David Mamet on his game is a joy to behold, and here in REDBELT he is plain superlative, in this tale of a Jujitsu instructor, played mesmerizingly by Chiwetel Ejiofor, and the lives that intersect one night, and the ramifications of that intersection. It’s a wonderful drama, that also happens to have some thrilling sequences of… prevailing. A movie to own. Highly Recommended!

So if these are this week’s winners, what are the losers? Glad you asked, they are:

A PERFECT GETAWAY

BLACK MASK
JULIA’S EYES

That’s all for this run around. Check back later for more.

TRAILER Review of the Day: ABRAHAM LINCOLN:VAMPIRE HUNTER

ABRAHAM LINCOLN VAMPIRE HUNTER- What sounds, and probably should remain a gag/fan short film, is actually going to be hitting our theaters in June of 2012, helmed by some major talent. Most notably Director Timur Bekmambetov of WANTED fame. I enjoyed WANTED, I thought it was way better than the joyless and annoying comic book it was based on, and find Bekmambetov to be a talented and visually exciting director, and those gifts are in full effect in this trailer.

Our 16th President may not exactly, in the great beyond, be enthused about this usage and monster-mashup mythification (yes I did just make that up)of his image, but it seems to be, if not exactly respectful, at least in the spirit of fun tall tales, and if anyone can understand that it’s a good old Kentuckian like our former President.

And the trailer visually looks like a lot of fun. If there’s a story to hold it together it may be a fun, brainless summer flick. Or it could be in excessively bad taste… time will tell.

View the trailer here.

I also watched three other trailers:

SPIDERMAN- The 2nd trailer makes me no more interested. The trailer commits the cardinal sin of just being boring, plus I don’t like anyone in the film. Particularly the new Peter Parker, just no personality. This is looking like a definite wait for DVD for me. It just looks boring as all heck.

7500- Instead of SNAKES ON A PLANE, you have ghosts on a plane. looks like a talented cast, interesting premise, but it’s directed by the director of the GRUDGE, and I wasn’t a fan of any of those films. And the reason is shown in this trailer, it’s all jump cuts and screeching sounds, rather than making a scary movie, the director just makes a discordant one. Just going by the trailer it looks like a hack job, a rental at best.

BOURNE LEGACY- The trailer is okay. Doesn’t really blow me away or give any impression that it will be up to the first trilogy, specifically the last film. That said the film sports great actors, so that alone is swaying me to check this one out on the big screen.

Okay, that’s all for now.