Big films hit the DVD shelves
By Bruce R. Miller Journal staff writer | Posted: Sunday, December 02, 2007
This is the week to stock up at the DVD counter. One of the funniest comedies of the year -- "Superbad" -- and the final installment of "Pirates of the Caribbean" mingle with a group of classics ("The Graduate," "Some Like it Hot," "Rocky") for shelf space.
While "Superbad" comes in an unrated edition, the regular one is bawdy enough.
Drawing from the same gene pool as "Knocked Up" and "The 40-year-old Virgin," it tells a sweet story of two high school friends who want to make the most of their last days together.
Determined to get dates with the "cool" girls in school, they enlist another friend to help them get liquor and an automatic pass into the hottest party in town.
Unfortunately, they're not built for that kind of lifestyle. Seth and Evan (which also happen to be the same names as the film's writers) encounter road blocks every step of the way. Two cops trail them and befriend their equally geeky classmate.
Before the night is over, the two learn plenty about themselves and their friendship. It's a sweet story that, unfortunately, won't reach the right audience because of its R rating. The designation comes for profanity, largely, but teenagers have heard as much at school. Unlike "American Pie," "Superbad" doesn't celebrate the crass. It praises the normal.
Michael Cera and Jonah Hill play the friends -- two who think they've missed something connected to the high school experience. Cera is a droll comedian, able to make just about any line funny. Hill's a non-stop machine, able to get laughs with little more than a raise of his eyebrows. And newcomer Christopher Mintz-Plasse (as their friend Fogell) is so refreshing you'll almost want a sequel.
Director Greg Mottola separates the three routinely in order to build the tension. While "Superbad" looks like a '70s exploitation film, it's really "American Graffiti" for the cellphone generation.
Also: 'Pirates'
Clocking in at almost three hours, "PIrates of the Caribbean: At World's End" is one of the longest -- and, at times, most boring -- films of the year. There are so many spare subplots and side stories it's impossible to keep them all straight. After a while, you give up, just hoping Johnny Depp will turn up and do something funny.
Occasionally, he does. But we don't get a glimpse of his Jack Sparrow until director Gore Verbinski has done his tribute to "Les Miserables," "Miss Saigon" and just about every other bloated musical on Broadway. The sturm und drang is designed to set the stage and show just how difficult life is for the pirates and their friends. Verbinski takes his time shuffling the deck of cards, then plays each -- laboriously -- on a table set for action.
Pirate lords (representing various ships) need to get together to vote about the fate of Davy Jones' heart. They've got other issues, too, but the point of all this is to get Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom together, Depp back on board and various and sundry bad guys out to sea. It happens -- sort of -- after special effects experts have had a chance to clone Depp, bring amphibious creatures to life and let the voodoo queen (Naomie Harris) grow to mast-size proportions. Individually, the effects are spectacular. Collectively, they're just filler. Easily, Verbinski could edit all three films into one manageable two-hour edition and still be true to the story. As with the second out, "Pirates 3" has taken on too much water and threatens to sink.
Depp keeps its afloat by toying with everyone -- even Keith Richards as Captain Teague. He saves his best moments for Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) and Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush). But his real contributions to the storyline don't occur until the final swordfights. Then, he earns his keep and justifies all the preceding horseplay.
Also: 'Nanny Diaries'
As a book, "The Nanny Diaries" was like a cool breeze on a hot summer afternoon. As a film, it's often as dry as an empty pool.
The book reveled in detail. The movie paints in broad strokes. It's still "chick lit," but there isn't the same sassiness, just a lot of straightforward storytelling.
A bland Scarlett Johansson plays a recent college grad who accepts a job as a nanny for a New York couple who barely acknowledge they have a son. He (Paul Giamatti) is so immersed in business, he barely lifts his head from the newspaper. She (Laura Linney) busies herself with charity work and shopping. Both are ill-equipped to raise a bratty little boy. The nanny? She's there as a buffer, charged with dispensing love like so many Wet Ones.
While directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini have a neat concept to bookend the adventures, they don't really ask much of anyone but Linney. Like Meryl Streep in "The Devil Wears Prada," she relishes the role of heavy. Mrs. X (as she's called) isn't mean, just oblivious. She thinks tough love is something the nanny needs in order to perform. Instead, it's a wall that divides her and just about everyone around her. Linney knows the character -- perhaps she even worked for one -- and has all the tics down to perfection. When she's left waiting for her uncaring husband, a bit of the Botoxed facade cracks but, still, it's hard to feel sorry for someone who doesn't know the first thing about compassion. Giamatti, meanwhile, is like a jetliner, stopping long enough to refuel but barely hanging at the gate.
That leaves Johansson to give "Nanny" some heart. Strangely, she's as lifeless as a stuffed animal. There's an intriguing subplot with an upstairs neighbor (played nicely by Chris Evans) but it's not nurtured. Instead, he breezes in just to show her there's life outside the penthouse, then he disappears.
Also this week:
Film: "12 Angry Men"; "Artic Tale"; "Carrie"; "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"; "Erik the Viking"; "Fiddler on the Roof"; "Guys and Dolls"; "Lady Chatterly"; "Mad Max"; "Midnight Clear"; "Moonstruck"; "Rocky: The complete saga"; "The Sure Thing"; "West Side Story"; "When Harry Met Sally"
TV: "24," season six; "7th Heaven," season five; "Battlestar Galactica: Razor"; "The Best of Crank Yankers"; "Diagnosis: Murder," season three; "The Fever"; "Highlander," complete series; "Law & Order SVU," season four; "House of Payne," volume one; "Saturday Night Live," season two; "Touched by an Angel," season four; "Wallace and Gromit in Three Amazing Adventures"; "Will and Grace," season seven; "The Wire," season four.
While "Superbad" comes in an unrated edition, the regular one is bawdy enough.
Drawing from the same gene pool as "Knocked Up" and "The 40-year-old Virgin," it tells a sweet story of two high school friends who want to make the most of their last days together.
Determined to get dates with the "cool" girls in school, they enlist another friend to help them get liquor and an automatic pass into the hottest party in town.
Unfortunately, they're not built for that kind of lifestyle. Seth and Evan (which also happen to be the same names as the film's writers) encounter road blocks every step of the way. Two cops trail them and befriend their equally geeky classmate.
Before the night is over, the two learn plenty about themselves and their friendship. It's a sweet story that, unfortunately, won't reach the right audience because of its R rating. The designation comes for profanity, largely, but teenagers have heard as much at school. Unlike "American Pie," "Superbad" doesn't celebrate the crass. It praises the normal.
Michael Cera and Jonah Hill play the friends -- two who think they've missed something connected to the high school experience. Cera is a droll comedian, able to make just about any line funny. Hill's a non-stop machine, able to get laughs with little more than a raise of his eyebrows. And newcomer Christopher Mintz-Plasse (as their friend Fogell) is so refreshing you'll almost want a sequel.
Director Greg Mottola separates the three routinely in order to build the tension. While "Superbad" looks like a '70s exploitation film, it's really "American Graffiti" for the cellphone generation.
Also: 'Pirates'
Clocking in at almost three hours, "PIrates of the Caribbean: At World's End" is one of the longest -- and, at times, most boring -- films of the year. There are so many spare subplots and side stories it's impossible to keep them all straight. After a while, you give up, just hoping Johnny Depp will turn up and do something funny.
Occasionally, he does. But we don't get a glimpse of his Jack Sparrow until director Gore Verbinski has done his tribute to "Les Miserables," "Miss Saigon" and just about every other bloated musical on Broadway. The sturm und drang is designed to set the stage and show just how difficult life is for the pirates and their friends. Verbinski takes his time shuffling the deck of cards, then plays each -- laboriously -- on a table set for action.
Pirate lords (representing various ships) need to get together to vote about the fate of Davy Jones' heart. They've got other issues, too, but the point of all this is to get Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom together, Depp back on board and various and sundry bad guys out to sea. It happens -- sort of -- after special effects experts have had a chance to clone Depp, bring amphibious creatures to life and let the voodoo queen (Naomie Harris) grow to mast-size proportions. Individually, the effects are spectacular. Collectively, they're just filler. Easily, Verbinski could edit all three films into one manageable two-hour edition and still be true to the story. As with the second out, "Pirates 3" has taken on too much water and threatens to sink.
Depp keeps its afloat by toying with everyone -- even Keith Richards as Captain Teague. He saves his best moments for Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) and Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush). But his real contributions to the storyline don't occur until the final swordfights. Then, he earns his keep and justifies all the preceding horseplay.
Also: 'Nanny Diaries'
As a book, "The Nanny Diaries" was like a cool breeze on a hot summer afternoon. As a film, it's often as dry as an empty pool.
The book reveled in detail. The movie paints in broad strokes. It's still "chick lit," but there isn't the same sassiness, just a lot of straightforward storytelling.
A bland Scarlett Johansson plays a recent college grad who accepts a job as a nanny for a New York couple who barely acknowledge they have a son. He (Paul Giamatti) is so immersed in business, he barely lifts his head from the newspaper. She (Laura Linney) busies herself with charity work and shopping. Both are ill-equipped to raise a bratty little boy. The nanny? She's there as a buffer, charged with dispensing love like so many Wet Ones.
While directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini have a neat concept to bookend the adventures, they don't really ask much of anyone but Linney. Like Meryl Streep in "The Devil Wears Prada," she relishes the role of heavy. Mrs. X (as she's called) isn't mean, just oblivious. She thinks tough love is something the nanny needs in order to perform. Instead, it's a wall that divides her and just about everyone around her. Linney knows the character -- perhaps she even worked for one -- and has all the tics down to perfection. When she's left waiting for her uncaring husband, a bit of the Botoxed facade cracks but, still, it's hard to feel sorry for someone who doesn't know the first thing about compassion. Giamatti, meanwhile, is like a jetliner, stopping long enough to refuel but barely hanging at the gate.
That leaves Johansson to give "Nanny" some heart. Strangely, she's as lifeless as a stuffed animal. There's an intriguing subplot with an upstairs neighbor (played nicely by Chris Evans) but it's not nurtured. Instead, he breezes in just to show her there's life outside the penthouse, then he disappears.
Also this week:
Film: "12 Angry Men"; "Artic Tale"; "Carrie"; "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"; "Erik the Viking"; "Fiddler on the Roof"; "Guys and Dolls"; "Lady Chatterly"; "Mad Max"; "Midnight Clear"; "Moonstruck"; "Rocky: The complete saga"; "The Sure Thing"; "West Side Story"; "When Harry Met Sally"
TV: "24," season six; "7th Heaven," season five; "Battlestar Galactica: Razor"; "The Best of Crank Yankers"; "Diagnosis: Murder," season three; "The Fever"; "Highlander," complete series; "Law & Order SVU," season four; "House of Payne," volume one; "Saturday Night Live," season two; "Touched by an Angel," season four; "Wallace and Gromit in Three Amazing Adventures"; "Will and Grace," season seven; "The Wire," season four.
Story Comments
Read More and Post Comments 0 comment(s)
Please note: The following are comments from readers. In no way do they represent the views of The Sioux City Journal or Lee Enterprises. We will not edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to not post or to remove comments that violate our code of conduct. No comment may contain potentially libelous statements; obscene, explicit or racist language; personal attacks, insults or threats. Terms of Service
