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.
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.
Video: 3
Audio: 3
Extras: 4
A friend’s mom had told him to see writer-director Noah Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale, which is about a family splitting apart with two boys that are years apart. I thought her recommendation very odd since this situation mirrored my friend’s family in high school. But now it makes perfect sense, as no other film encapsulates as well the black comedy that is divorce.
Video: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 4
What Harold and Maude was to funerals, Wedding Crashers is to nuptials. A rollicking buddy comedy that spearheaded the great "Return of the R-Rated Comedies" campaign of 2005, this Owen Wilson/Vince Vaughn team-up proved to be a true word-of-mouth box-office success. Besides wonderful comedic chemistry between Wilson and Vaughn and the writing's total immersion in sexual frankness (e.g., "Why don't you go enjoy yourself while I go ice my balls and spit up blood?"), David Dobkin's assured pacing and direction won over audiences with both the film's infectious energy and the sincerity of the romantic subplot.
Ryan Vincent
Site Map / Direct Links
