Video: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 4
Revenge is a dish best served cold, and, in John Singleton's Four Brothers, it's taken rather literally. Set in the icy tundra of Detroit in the wintertime, the film follows four foster brothers who return home to exact vengeance upon the killer of their mother. Led by tough brother (although they're all tough) Mark Wahlberg, the brothers hunt down those responsible. After one of the weakest expository scenes in recent memory, the movie picks up steam and delivers a solid experience.
Video: 4
Audio: 5
Extras: 4
To blast off his 1970s roller-boogie film, director Malcolm D. Lee (Undercover Brother) chose R&B hits like Parliament's "Flashlight," Bill Withers' "Lovely Day," and Johnny "Guitar" Watson's "Superman Lover." But that is early in Roll Bounce, when our heroes are rulers of the South-side Chicago roller rink that they call home. As that arena has closed, Xavier aka "X" (Bow Wow) and his friends travel to the cool kids' rink, Sweetwater, where disco reigns. While hormones rage, X and his crew of underprivileged adolescent misfits try to make Sweetwater their own. The jarring musical shift into disco reflects the boys' alienation, but the South-siders keep on moving, which is what this coming-of-age/roller-disco/dance-off spectacular will make you want to do.
Somewhere at my mom's house, I still have a Planet of the Apes action figure or two and possibly a 45-record with a storybook. Prior to Star Wars, POTA was the movie-marketing phenomenon.
Video: 3
Audio: 4
Extras: 3 The Yards is a moody little film noir that, while pretty to look at, doesn't become the movie it desperately wants to be. It's cut cleanly from the Mean Streets cloth, as it tells the story of Leo (Mark Wahlberg, barely making eye contact with anyone), a recently paroled thief. Leo's attempts to go straight run afoul by his Uncle Frank (James Caan, sporting a nice mustache) and best friend Willie (Joaquin Phoenix), both shady characters involved in the corrupt world of railroad contractors. There's also some creepy sexual undertones between Leo and his cousin Erica (a pre-Oscar Charlize Theron). The visuals (in anamorphic 2.35:1) seem kind of foggy, which seems to be the director's intention but does not look very good. The Dolby Digital 5.1 is the highlight of the entire package, providing a rich soundscape that achieves what the film as a whole could not.
Video: 5
Audio: 4
Extras: 5
Leaving my first theatrical viewing of MirrorMask, I was reminded of the dream sequence in the middle of Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound, where Salvador Dali was given carte blanche to design a surrealist dream. It's a great sequence. Sixty years later, a top-notch visual artist and an accomplished storyteller had the limitless potential of computer-generated imagery at their disposal. It's as if Dali had been given today's technology, but, instead of melting clocks and big crutch-like sticks, there's Dave McKean and Neil Gaiman's lexicon of sphinxes, monkey-birds, and fish.
Video: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 3
Forty-year-old retail employee Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) loves sci-fi, comic books, video games, magic, and action figures, but, alas, he's given up on loving women. After he is unable to come up with a convincing tale of sexual conquest for his coworkers, they form a mission: get this geek laid.
We last wrote about the explosion of science fiction TV shows on DVD in a two part feature that appeared in the November 2004 and January 2005 print issues of Ultimate AV. Those features, which covered the gamut from Star Trek to Babylon 5, will be posted on the website in April. Watch for it.
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: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 3
After one of the best season-ending cliffhangers ever, Battlestar Galactica returns for a second season. Of course, calling 10 episodes a season is a bit of an overstatement. If you are a fan of sci-fi at all, you need to check out this show. It's one of the best-written shows on TV and is truly excellent television. Amazing everyone, the second season was even better than the first. Hyperbole? Not even close.
Video: 3
Audio: 3
Extras: 2
Naturalist Timothy Treadwell wanted to become one with nature, and, in a way, he did. Having lived amongst dangerous grizzly bears over 13 summers in Alaska, he—along with his girlfriend—was eventually mauled and eaten by one of them.
Video: 3
Audio: 3
Extras: 3
On the Bad News Bears DVD, cowriter Glenn Ficarra says, "I think the way you remake a classic is not to change it too much." Apparently, director Richard Linklater agreed, as the 2005 movie is a near scene-for-scene remake of the 1976 version, and not for the better. But it does serve a purpose—to let the audience appreciate just how great the original is.
Video: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 3
A terrific musical score, a multifaceted performance from Tom Hanks, and a cool-to-watch animation style help elevate a disappointingly conventional Christmas story to a potential holiday classic.
Video: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 3
Steven Spielberg's frightening remake of George Pal's seminal 1953 classic was the popcorn-munching movie of last summer. This time out, the aliens' decimation of Earth is told from the highly personal viewpoint of a single, divorced man (Tom Cruise), trying merely to keep his family safe amid the chaos. This one-view approach proves highly effective, as it thoroughly puts the viewers in our hero's working-class sneakers.
Video: 4
Audio: 5
Extras: 5
The search for salvation, fortune, and a new world are all familiar things that many continue to fight for today; during the Crusades, it was no different. Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven is yet another masterpiece created by the father of the director's cut, who is best known for his unique vision. Orlando Bloom is Balian, a Frenchman who becomes a knight and travels to the Holy City to find redemption. As the words "I am Jerusalem" are uttered from both sides, Balian must defend his people in this historical clash between Europe and the Middle East.
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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