Each summer we hop in the car, line up in droves at the local multiplex, slap down our cash, settle into our seats, and hope for one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences. This year promises to be more interesting than most, but isn't that always the case? In the real world, what we finally see on the screen often turns out to be less than we'd hoped for.
Video: 4
Audio: 3
Extras: 2
Based on the short French film La Jetée, 12 Monkeys follows poor, hapless convict and time traveler Cole. He is tasked with preventing a plague that wiped out most of humanity. Time travel not being an exact sport, he is tossed around a bit, and everybody thinks he's insane. Monty Python alum Terry Gilliam directs one of the best science fiction movies of the 1990s. Bruce Willis plays poor Cole, while Brad Pitt is truly incredible as nutcase Jeffrey Goines.
Video: 3
Audio: 3
Extras: 3
I've never been a fan of John Waters. In fact, I thought the guy was dead. But I suspect that his latest effort will try even his ardent admirers' patience. Sexploitation films definitely have their place in cinema history; but peppering such a film with name talent—albeit B-list talent like Tracy Ullman and Johnny Knoxville—is a misguided attempt to lend legitimacy to a genre that's best left in the underground. It's like putting a fancy sign on a porn store.
Dream Street
Welcome to their Nightmare…again.
This new and greatly improved infinifilm edition of A Nightmare on Elm Street reminds me that New Line had other blockbuster franchises before the reign of hobbits and snaggletoothed British spies. Director Wes Craven’s imaginative script struck a nerve with audiences who were growing tired of contemporary horror flicks. He introduced us to the iconic Freddy Krueger, a supernatural murderer relegated to attacking his young victims in their sleep, where no one can protect them from his knife-enhanced fingers. Elm Street also marked the big-screen debut of a baby-faced boy next door named Johnny Depp.
Video: 3
Audio: 4
Extras: 5
As with most Robert Altman films, A Prairie Home Companion isn’t easy to summarize. It’s an oddly ethereal little film that’s about nothing in particular and yet explores the cosmic everythings of life, love, and death. Written by Garrison Keillor, the man behind the real Prairie Home Companion radio show, the story chronicles the final performance of a radio show much like PHC, as its cast and crew struggle to say goodbye.
Video: 4
Audio: 5
Extras: 5
Before MTV got punk'd and The Real World was still slightly real, the proprietor of music television featured a late-night show so fluid in its experimentation that they called it Liquid Television. Geared toward insomniacs with an appetite for the avant-garde, LT featured several animated shorts, including Aeon Flux. Soon, it was turned into its own 30-minute weekly program. Aeon Flux is a sadistic, leather-clad secret agent who lives across the border from the enemy state, run by Trevor Goodchild, who is both Aeon's nemesis and her forbidden love. While the story does not necessarily echo Romeo and Juliet-type themes, this combination of opposites is intriguing in its paradoxical nature.
Video: 5
Audio: 4
Extras: 4 Akeelah and the Bee is a moving story about a precocious “tweenager.” She discovers she is more than the sum of her spelling parts and helps others around her realize their own abilities to become powerful beyond measure. Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett reunite in this inspirational tale of hope, audacity, and some very hard-to-spell words. Fishburne gives an impeccable performance as the candid Dr. Larabee, who guides Akeelah to the national spelling bee under his rigorous tutelage.
Video: 2
Audio: 2
Extras: 2
It’s funny; I was just saying to myself the other day how much I wanted to see a remake of An Officer and a Gentleman, only more boring. Lo and behold, Annapolis answered my call. It tells the tale of a tough young Naval Academy recruit (James Franco) who doesn’t obey the rules at first but learns teamwork, respect, and honor through…boxing. Or something. I won’t lie: The film put me to sleep several times. And, while it’s not a terrible film, it certainly is a dull one.
Video: 4
Audio: 3
Extras: 3
Before XXX State of the Union iced his destiny as an action star, Ice Cube stretched his wings with this charming but fairly routine family-bonding flick that hit box-office bling earlier this year. The family here is a surrogate, as Cube hauls a pair of spirited kids from Portland, Oregon, to Vancouver in his new Lincoln Navigator in order to win points with their hottie divorce mom. Illicit thoughts of mom aside, the road trip actually brings him close to the two brats. It's a no-lose formula, and any film with Nichelle Nichols (Star Trek's Lt. Uhura) earns extra points in my book.
Video: 4
Audio: 3
Extras: 2
When writers Mitchell Hurwitz and Jim Vallely accepted the 2005 Emmy for Arrested Development's season-two finale, "The Righteous Brothers," they kindly reminded everyone that they were receiving an award for a show that no one watches. In fact, three of the five nominees in the Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series category were from Arrested Development. Does that give you an idea just how good this show is?
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