Top DVD Releases for the Week of January 27 2009
Here is a list of the DVD Releases for the week of January 27 2009:
RocknRolla
Synopsis:A Russian mobster orchestrates a crooked land deal, putting millions of dollars up for grabs and attracting all of London’s criminal underworld.
Cast: Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Idris Elba, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges
Recommendations:Classic Guy Ritchie. Awesome movie. Worth Buying
Buy it: RocknRolla (Single-Disc Edition) (Also available on Blu-ray)
Pride and Glory
Synopsis:Four New York City cops are dead, killed in an ambush that has the entire police department on alert and on edge. With a cop killer on the loose and so much riding on the case, Chief of Manhattan Detectives Francis Tierney, Sr. asks his son, Detective Ray Tierney, to lead the investigation. Reluctantly Ray takes over the case knowing the cops who were lost had served under his brother, Francis Tierney, Jr., and alongside his brother-in-law, Jimmy Egan. On the surface, it looked like a routine drug bust gone terribly, tragically wrong. But as Ray delves deeper into the case, he realizes someone had to have tipped off the drug dealers that the cops were coming. Someone on the inside. Worse, the evidence starts to point in an unthinkable direction: to his own brother and brother-in-law. As the questions mount, the case forces the family to choose between their loyalties to one another and their loyalties to the department.
Cast: Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Jennifer Ehle, Noah Emmerich, Lake Bell
Recommendations: Smells like a paycheck movie to me. However, I am willing to put in on my Netflix queue.
Buy it: Pride and Glory (Also available on Blu-ray)
The Rocker
Synopsis:A failed drummer is given a second chance at fame. Robert “Fish” Fishman is the extremely dedicated and astoundingly passionate drummer for the eighties hair band Vesuvius, who is living the rock n’ roll dream until he is unceremoniously kicked out of the band. Twenty years after his rock star fantasies are destroyed, just when Fish has finally given up all hope, he hears that his nephew’s high school rock band A.D.D. is looking for a new drummer. They reluctantly make him the newest member of the band, giving him a chance to reclaim the rock God throne he’s always thought he deserved, and taking the young band along for the ride of their lives.
Cast: Rainn Wilson, Christina Applegate, Jeff Garlin, Josh Gad, Emma Stone
Recommendations: Rainn Wilson is usually funny enough. I’ll give this one a try.
Buy it: The Rocker (Also available on Blu-ray)
The Lucky Ones
Synopsis:After suffering an injury during a routine patrol, hardened sergeant TK Poole is granted a one-month leave to visit his fiancee. But when an unexpected blackout cancels all flights out of New York, TK agrees to share a ride to Pittsburgh with two similarly stranded servicemen: Cheaver, an older family man who longs to return to his wife in St. Louis, and Colee, a naive private who’s pinned her hopes on connecting with a dead fellow soldier’s family. What begins as a short trip unexpectedly evolves into a longer journey. Forced to grapple with old relationships, broken hopes and a country divided over the war, TK, Cheaver and Colee discover that home is not quite what they remembered, and that the unlikely companionship they’ve found might be what matters the most.
Cast: Rachel McAdams, Michael Pena, Tim Robbins, Spencer Garrett, Molly Hagen
Recommendations: Story is not my typical cup of tea but there are some strong actors here so I’ll give it a shot.
Buy it: The Lucky Ones (Also available on Blu-ray)
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Synopsis:Two young American women, Vicky and Cristina, come to Barcelona for a summer holiday. Vicky is sensible and engaged to be married; Cristina is emotionally and sexually adventurous. In Barcelona, they’re drawn into a series of unconventional romantic entanglements with Juan Antonio, a charismatic painter, who is still involved with his tempestuous ex-wife Maria Elena.
Cast: Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson, Patricia Clarkson, Kevin Dunn
Recommendations: Woody Allen should stop making movies. It is going too far.
Buy it: Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Also available on Blu-ray)
Lakeview Terrace
Synopsis: A young interracial couple move into their dream home and are increasingly harassed by their next-door neighbor, a tightly wound black LAPD officer. When the couple decides to fight back the feud turns deadly.
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson, Kerry Washington, Ron Glass, Ajay Mehta
Recommendations:Samuel Jackson has not met a role he hasn’t accepted. This is one he should have walked away from.
Buy it: Lakeview Terrace (Also available on Blu-ray)
Fireproof
Synopsis:At work, inside burning buildings, Capt. Caleb Holt lives by the old firefighter’s adage: Never leave your partner behind. At home, in the cooling embers of his marriage, he lives by his own rules. After seven years of marriage, Caleb and Catherine Holt have drifted so far apart that Catherine wishes she had never married. Neither one understands the pressures the other faces–he as firefighter and she as the public relations director of a hospital. Regular arguments over jobs, finances, housework, and outside interests have readied them both to move on to something with more sparks. As the couple prepares to enter divorce proceedings, Caleb’s father challenges his son to commit to a 40-day experiment he calls ‘[The Love Dare.’ Wondering if it’s even worth the effort, Caleb agrees, but more for his father’s sake more than for his marriage. When Caleb discovers the book’s daily challenges are tied into his parents’ newfound faith, his already limited interest is further dampened. While trying to stay true to his promise, Caleb becomes frustrated time and again. He finally asks his father, ‘How am I supposed to show love to somebody who constantly rejects me?’ When his father explains that this is the love God shows to us, Caleb makes a life-changing commitment to love God. And–with God’s help–he begins to understand what it means to truly love his wife. But is it too late to fireproof his marriage? His job is to rescue others. Now Caleb Holt is ready to face his toughest job ever–rescuing his wife’s heart.
Cast: Erin Bethea, Ken Bevel, Kirk Cameron, Jason McLeod
Recommendations: OMG, who paid to shoot this movie? Kirk Cameron should have stayed back in the 80’s.
