ParaNorman 3D

ParaNorman

From my theatrical review (read it here): “Somewhat surprisingly, there is a heck of lot going on inside the wickedly inspired ParaNorman, the new stop-motion animated marvel directed by Chris Butler and Sam Fell and brought forth from the same studio that unleashed Coraline back in 2009… Written by Butler, the narrative has an almost Pixar-level complexity that never rests on its laurels. Nothing is what it seems, the villains aren’t who you think they are and heroics, while flashy and filled with the requisite eye-popping whiz-bang, are of a more intimately delicate quality than one would normally expect.”

Men in Black 3 3D

Men in Black 3

From my theatrical review (read it here): “[Maybe] ten years away from this franchise has actually done Sonnenfeld and company some good. While not essential, while certainly not a film that’s going to be remembered very long after the fact, truth be told, even with all the stories of cost overruns and an unfinished script circulating during principal photography, Men in Black 3 is actually something of a hoot. Etan Cohen’s (Tropic Thunder) script manages to fix the majority of the problems that plagued the last film, returning to the same devil-may-care yet bizarrely grounded lunacy of the 1997 original, making the finished product far more enjoyable than it arguably has any right to be.” (Iten releases on Friday, Nov 30)

Step Up Revolution

From my theatrical review (read it here): “This fourth flick in the Step Up franchise is far superior to the third one. For one thing, it’s idiotic plot (a group of Miami dancers engage in a series of flash mobs as part of a YouTube contest end up taking to the streets in protest when a greedy billionaire developer threatens to destroy their neighborhood to build a swanky resort complex) doesn’t get in the way of the star-crossed love story at the heart of things. For another, the dancing is sensational. Better, it doesn’t seem to end, the whole movie nothing more than a series of ever more impressive musical vignettes showcasing spectacular choreography and athletic dancers seemingly capable of anything.”

Sparkle (2012)

From my theatrical review (read it here): “The bottom line is that, while Huston’s death was a tragedy, that doesn’t make Sparkle any less pedestrian, and while I’ll happily enjoy the singer’s music for the foreseeable future and beyond here’s hoping I never have to think about this film and her involvement in it ever again.” (Iten releases on Friday, Nov 30)

Luck: The Complete First Season

For all the excellent reviews it garnered, sadly creators David Milch (Deadwood) and Michael Mann’s (Heat, Last of the Mohicans) dramatic series circling around the world of horse racing will be remembered more for the on-set deaths of many of its animal cast than it will for anything else. Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte give extraordinary performances, but all that ends up mattering little thanks to the controversy. Still, I strongly suggest interested viewers give it a look, the bracing authenticity of the program truly something to behold.

The Apparition

From my theatrical review (read it here): “The Apparition is not a good movie. It lacks suspense, doesn’t do a decent enough job of setting up its scenario and asks the viewer to suspend disbelief to a point no rational person easily can. Worst of all, even with a solid setup (excluding the laughable pre-title prologue), even with a wonderful score from tomandandy (The Strangers) and some exquisite camerawork from Daniel Pearl (Friday the 13th), frankly the movie isn’t scary. Not once. Not ever. Not at any single point, a humongous problem no amount of technical virtuosity can either mask or allow the finished feature to recover from.”

OTHER NOTABLE BLU-RAY RELEASES

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·         6 Degrees of Hell

·         The Day

·         Stargate Atlantis: The Complete Season 1

·         Stargate Atlantis: The Complete Season 2

·         Stargate Atlantis: The Complete Season 3

·         Stargate Atlantis: The Complete Season 4

·         Stargate Atlantis: The Complete Season 5

NOTABLE DVD RELEASES

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Elliott Loves

Somewhat standard coming-of-age romance made notable for its robust and invigorating first half where it chronicles its titular protagonist as a questioning nine-year-old (beautifully portrayed by child actor Quentin Araujo). Things get a bit more standard by the time Elliott (now played by Fabio Costaprado) reaches 21, but writer/director Terracino manages his fair share of winning moments and humorously satisfying events to make the familiarity of it all more than tolerable.

Burning Man

A hotshot restaurant owner at Sydney's chic Bondi Beach struggles to keep his life from falling apart in the intense and stunningly directed Burning Man. In a tour de force performance, Matthew Goode (Match Point, Brideshead Revisited) stars as Tom Keaton, a hunky chef who meets and marries the beautiful Sarah (Bojana Novakovic, Edge of Darkness, Drag Me to Hell) and soon becomes a proud father. But when tragedy strikes, Tom is unable to cope and turns to a succession of sexual encounters with an array of women while neglecting his family and losing his grip at work. Co-starring Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under), Burning Man ultimately paints a poignant portrait of a young man confronting loss and searching for the possibility of redemption. (Description reprinted from Amazon.com)

OTHER NOTABLE DVD RELEASES

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·         Hot in Cleveland: Season Three

NOTABLE NEW BLU-RAY ANNOUNCEMENTS

·         Midsomer Murders Set 21 (Jan 8, 2013)

·         About Cherry (Jan 15, 2013)

·         End of Watch (Jan 22, 2013)

·         For a Good Time, Call… (Jan 22, 2013)

·         TerrorVision / The Video Dead (Feb 19, 2013)

·         The Nativity Story (March 5, 2013)