DVD Reviews

12 Rounds (Extreme Cut)
Whenever athletes turn to acting, I always get a little ache in my stomach. Everyone knows how painful it is to watch someone who was successful at one thing try to expand out into a void they just cant fill. At least with athletes-gone-actors, theres usually plenty of bright, pretty explosions to keep you occupied in between the uncomfortable awkwardness of poorly delivered lines.

Eastbound And Down: The Complete First Season
Somewhere out there, comedy fans may exist who dont think Danny McBride is funny. There could possibly be one who hasnt ever heard of him, but its far less likely. After a stellar virginal performance in 2006s IFoot Fist WayI, hes appeared in a high profile comedy every 6 months or so. His appeal is of the doofus-next-door variety, but with a natural timing and mostly obscene wit that uncannily make him the funniest person in every scene he plays. In a 1990s Hollywood, he might have been stuck playing zany sidekick to some hunky leading man, but in 2009, the mullet flag flies high.

The Legend of Chun-Li [Blu-Ray]
It seems as though basing a film on a product with a huge following guarantees success. Youve got the diehard fans wholl come out no matter what the critics say and then you have the people theyll drag along as well as those who are lured in by the hype. It sounds like a foolproof formula, but Chun-Li manages to karate chop that concept to shards and blow them away with her red ball of energy thing.

Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience [Blu-ray]
One of the main problems with concert films that if you arent a fan of the band performing the concert, its tough to see it as a good film. I dont care how artfully put together it is, if you dont like the music, you arent going to get a lot out of an hour and a half of listening to the songs performed live. Thats my main issue with the IJonas Brothers: The 3D Concert ExperienceI Blu-ray. Its not a bad concert movie; I just dont have much interest in it.

Confessions of a Shopaholic (2-Disc Ed.)
The advertisement of this version of the film as being a 2-Disc DVD is pretty much a sham, as one of the discs is merely a digital copy of the film. The disc includes four deleted scenes, one blooper reel and a music video. The special features just scream made for teenagers, especially the music video.

Hide
iHidei does something incredible within minutes of fading in from black. It made me seriously question what year the film was made. From all the press material it seems like 2008 was the production date but this flick is more than a day old. Its also a dollar short but the budget never really gets in the way of the real problem which is that the films sensibility is that of the early 90s indie film genre.

Morning Light
A few years back, Roy Disney Walts nephew led a group of dissenting shareholders group against the Disney board and then CEO Michael Eisner. Eventually, Roy was appointed Director Emeritus of the company and everyone made nice-nice. A cynical person might think that one of the things that led to Roy rejoining the Disney fold was that the Mouse House would have to distribute his underwhelming sailing documentary, IMorning LightI.

Gran Torino [Blu-Ray]
My first car was a 1996 black Acura Integra. No, it does not have the horsepower, the craftsmanship or even the beauty of a pristine 1972 Gran Torino that has been wiped down with a diaper almost every day since the day of its purchase. But, it was my Gran Torino. It was my first car. It was my first love. And then I crashed it into a tree and flipped over three times in Ohio. Then, my 1999 black Pathfinder became my new 1972 Gran Torino. Ah, the memories.

Killing Ariel
I dont know how many times Ive asked myself, How come theyre arent more films about the Incubus? Followed quickly by, How come theyre arent more films about the Succubus? While some of you may know a thing or two about these denizens of the underworld, Ill bet that the majority out there wouldnt know incubuses from succubuses if they rolled into bed with you Which they do. So this at least gives iKilling Arieli an advantage over its competition as its about something other than masked killers, basement torturers, or reluctant vampires.

Tokyo!
In the spirit of IParis, je taimeI comes a collection of short films centered around the newest city to get the cinematic treatment, Tokyo. The film, ITokyo!I features segments from directors Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, and Joon-ho Bong. It seems like Tokyo must be a pretty strange place, if these are the shorts that inspired it, as they are all extremely bizarre in their own way. Gondry and Bongs pieces manage to be fun with a touch of strange while Caraxs is just plain weird to the point of being disorienting.

Z Rock
This is not ISpinal TapI. Not INiggaz With HatsI, IThe RutlesI, or ICB4I. For the most part, those were established comedians bringing laughs to the music world, cloaked in realism. IZ RockI is a show that drives music into unforeseen, raunchy, awesome comedy.

He's Just Not That Into You [Blu-ray]
In the Blu-ray extras, one of the co-writers of IHes Just Not That Into YouI explains that they didnt want to make a down the middle romantic comedy. I guess thats an admission that she has never seen a romantic comedy, since her movie is pretty much the textbook definition of down the middle romantic comedy.

Defiance
Lately, Liev Schreiber is all about sibling rivalry. In IWolverineI his Sabertooth is pissy about the attention paid to his younger brother, Hugh Jackman. Now, in IDefianceI, hes pissy about the attention paid to his older brother, Daniel Craig. Neither movie is particularly great, but Craig and Schreiber, help propel IDefianceI into something worth watching.

The International
German Director Tom Tykwer of the cult classic iRun Lola Runi brings to the screen a somewhat sophomoric script by Eric Singer in iThe Internationali. Its a rather mundane look at a mundane profession: banking. While the movie has at least one saving grace, the convoluted plot and erroneous logic drag what could have been a good intrigue movie down into an abyss of cliched archetypes and plot twists that are so foreshadowed that they are no longer twists but just matter-of-fact happenings in the story.

Army Wives - The Complete Second Season
The second season of iArmy Wivesi does well as it builds on the friendships that were established in the first season of the series.