DVD Pick of the Week: Trick 'r Treat

Welcome back! Well, to some of you, anyway. To the rest of you, glad you decided to stop by and I hope this humble column helps you navigate the stacks of new releases each week. My goal is to point you toward titles of interest and warn you away from those films that seek to do nothing but leech away your time and give you nothing in return.

Full disclosure: I have not seen many of these titles, and what follows are not necessarily reviews, but opinions based upon what I know of the titles I pluck from the new release lists I peruse. The opinions I give based on the new releases are my own, and my recommendations are based on my personal interest. In any case, I hope you enjoy and perhaps find something you like or a title to point me towards.

Trick 'r Treat (also Blu-ray). This week has a few titles that put up a challenge for the coveted top pick, but there is one thing that put this one over the top, anticipation. This film has been floating around for awhile now, wherever it goes, it has been received with rave reviews, yet it was never deemed suitable for a theatrical release, no matter how many people clamored for it. I have been able to successfully avoid reading much of what it is about, so as to go into my eventual viewing as fresh as possible. The trailer looks very good and I really hope that it has been worth the wait. I just wish we could get movies like this (assuming quality) in theaters instead junk like The Collector.

Bones: Season Four - Body Bag Edition (also Blu-ray). I remember when this show first appeared, I liked it but felt fairly certain that it would not last a full season, or at best would be canceled after one. Here we are, a few episodes into season five and heralding the arrival of season four on home video. I like the show and think it has developed nicely over the years, standing apart from the CSI-style procedurals with its blend of humor and character. Definitely worth checking out, and also happy to see it surviving this long.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (also Blu-ray). The classic Disney film has gotten the remaster treatment en route to its high definition debut. This is not one of my favorites, but I cannot say I don't like it. Disney's classic era turned out some fantastic and memorable films, all of which should be in our collections. The restored clips I have seen look really good.

My Life in Ruins. This came and went from theaters before anyone noticed, which was probably for the best. Nia Vardalos returns to the big screen with a tale of a woman with relationship issues who goes on a vacation. At least that is what I gathered from the commercials. I was not interested then and I am not interested now. However, I am sure she has her fans who will want to know this is available.

Anvil: The Story of Anvil. When I first heard about this I thought it was a fakumentary. Turns out Anvil is a real band that failed to hit it big in the 1980's. I want to see this story of band that keep trucking through the good times and the bad times. Funny thing, this real life Spinal Tap has a member named Robb Reiner (Rob Reiner directed Spinal Tap).

Audition (Blu-ray). Perfect for the Halloween season. This Japanese film from prolific director Takashi Miike is sure to get under your skin. It centers on a widower whose movie producer friend holds a casting call to try and find a date. He meets a young woman who seems to be perfect, but she has a dark side. You won't believe where this one goes. I wonder how this will look on Blu-ray?

The Gate. A young Stephen Dorff and friends unwittingly open a gate to Hell in the backyard and must deal with demons overrunning the neighborhood. I have not seen this since I was a kid. This may be worth a rental.

Year One (Blu-ray). No, this is not a good movie, but for some reason I really enjoyed it. It was funny, stupid and Jack Black seemed to be perfectly paired with Michael Cera as the straightman. I do think the it was at the harder end of the PG-13 scale and certainly would not let my theoretical young children see it. Not sure it is worth owning, but I would not be averse to seeing it again.

A Charlie Brown Christmas (Blu-ray). A holiday classic in high definition? Yes please.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Blu-ray). Another holiday classic in high definition? An even bigger "Yes Please!" For those worried about this title, it is indeed the classic animation.

It's Alive (2009). The trailer for this evil baby remake looks pretty good. I really need to go back and see the original movie. It is one of those titles that has been on the "to see list" forever that I have not gotten around to. Funny thing, when I saw the trailer I was certain this was going to be a theatrical release.

Ghost Ship (Blu-ray). This was the third film under the Dark Castle banner, at the time it was the weakest of the bunch. It still isn't a great film, but it is still a fun flick on a dark stormy night. Gabriel Byrne stars as the head of a team that finds a ship missing from the 60's that seems haunted. I do seem to remember a good scene where people get sliced into cubes.

Man v. Food: Season One. I only watch this show once in awhile, but I am always entertained. Some of the stuff this guy eats looks awesome, while some others scare me. Not sure it has a lot of replay value.

Hard Day's Night (Blu-ray). I had no idea this was coming. This should be great. This is one the great films and easily the best one the Beatles ever made. This is must have, unless reviews reveal it to be a bad disk, that is.

The Thaw (also Blu-ray). This Val Kilmer starring horror film sees him in the Arctic, ice is thawed, and evil critters start causing some trouble. I do not expect it to be good, but the trailer looked entertaining enough.

Children of the Corn (2009). A remake of the Steven King adaptation. It ran on the Syfy Channel recently. I have heard that it is pretty good. It's not like we don't have enough creepy kid movies already....

Rogue (Blu-ray). Australian giant alligator movie. I have heard good things. Hopefully they are right, it cannot be worse than Primevil, can it?

Box Office Update 10/2-10/4: Zombieland Rules!

Zombieland outdid expectations on its way to a decisive victory in this week's cinematic battle for supreme popularity. The horror/comedy loaded up its shotgun, grabbed a chainsaw and went to work entertaining audiences around the country. As it turns out, all of the good word that was swirling around web leading up to its release was true. The movie is incredibly entertaining, it brings laughs and blood together under one banner and even folds in a little heart to round out the mixture. It may be short, but it makes the most of its time.

Slipping to second place is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It had another good showing, slipping just 37%, which is pretty good considering it probably lost a bunch of its screens to the Toy Story double feature, which is in 3D. In any case, Meatballs is a good family film that exceeded my expectations. It is worth it whether you get to see it in 3D or not.

Speaking of Toy Story, the 3D re-working of the classic Pixar films came in 3rd place. I saw this at a sold out screening and it was an absolute blast. The crowd cheered when it began, and I felt like I was a kid. I had not seen these in years and it was great to see them again, I had forgotten just how good they are. Make sure you see it before it goes away!

Fourth place is owned by Bruce Willis' latest Surrogates. This is a dumb action film that wants to be smart. Well, I am not sure it wants to be smart, but it has some unexplored smart ideas. If all you want is dumb action, this is for you, just try not to over think it.

The Invention of Lying opened to moderate numbers, placing fifth. I have not seen it yet, so I cannot comment on its quality, but my guess is that the American audience is not all that familiar with Ricky Gervais, the same thing afflicted Ghost Town last year. I think this looks pretty funny and hope to catch it soon.

Drew Barrymore's return to the box office charts was not as strong as had been expected. It is her directorial debut and it failed to crack the $5 million barrier. Whip It is a very well made coming of age tale that does not bring anything new to the table, but it does do a wonderful job of making everything feel fresh. It has an infectious quality that deserves to be experienced.

The latter portions of the list is not all that exciting. The only thing of note is the arrival of Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story. Love him or hate him, he is the only documentary film maker who can open on a national scale.

Next will see a new batch of films hit the national stage, well, it will see one movie at least. Couples Retreat arrives, the comedy stars Jason Bateman, Kristen Bell, Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Malin Ackerman, Kristen Stewart, and Faizon Love. It was also directed by A Christmas Story, Peter Billingsley.

Five movies dropped off the top ten this week: Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself (11), Pandorum (12), Inglourious Basterds (13), 9 (14), and Jennifer's Body (15).

This Week	Last Week	Title	Wknd Gross	Overall	Week in release
1	N	Zombieland	$24,733,155	$24,733,155	1
2	1	Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs	$15,809,039	$81,501,320	3
3	N	Toy Story 1 & 2 3D	$12,491,789	$12,491,789	1
4	2	Surrogates	$7,241,054	$26,284,134	2
5	N	The Invention of Lying	$7,027,472	$7,027,472	1
6	N	Whip It	$4,650,812	$4,650,812	1
7	3	Fame (2009)	$4,626,952	$16,507,188	2
8	31	Capitalism: A Love Story	$4,447,378	$4,849,067	2
9	4	The Informant!	$3,689,235	$26,469,331	3
10	7	Love Happens	$2,749,025	$18,882,080	3

Box Office Predictions Recap
Another week where I started strong on the top few placings before beginning to hiccup a little bit. Still, I am rather pleased with how my guesses matched up with reality this week. My biggest mistakes were on the gross prediction side of the table. I underestimated the strength of Zombieland, sure I new it would be number one, but it pulled a good chunk more than I thought. That makes me happy. On the other hand, I expected Drew Barrymore's directorial debut to open stronger. Hopefully positive word of mouth will help this one out in coming weeks.

Here is how the field matched up:

Actual	Prediction	Title	Wknd Gross	Prediction
1	1	Zombieland	$24,733,155	$17.5 million
2	2	Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs	$15,809,039	$16.5 million
3	3	Toy Story 1 & 2 3D	$12,491,789	$13 million
4	6	Whip It	$4,650,812	$10 million
5	4	Surrogates	$7,241,054	$7.5 million
6	5	The Invention of Lying	$7,027,472	$6 million
7	8	Capitalism: A Love Story	$4,447,378	$5.5 million
8	7	Fame (2009)	$4,626,952	$4.5 million
9	9	The Informant!	$3,689,235	$2.5 million
10	12	Pandorum	$1,979,061	$2 million

Pandorum

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to view a low-budget French science fiction film called Eden Log. It was an interesting film that played out across a screen splashed in gunmetal hues, telling a story that unfolds slowly and leaves many questions in its wake. It tells the story of a man who does now know who he is, he has no memories and he has just woken up in some vast underground facility. After a short while stumbling around, he discovers he is not alone, there are creatures in the darkness and they do not sound happy. As he makes his way through the facility, he slowly begins to piece together what happened and the truth about who he is. The question is, will he like what he finds?

It is an interesting film that I wondered could be made better had it had a budget. Not that it needed it, but sometimes I wonder about low budget films that I like and if money would make an improvement. More often than not, money only serves to sap creative energy. What was difficult to do and required a good deal of imagination is made easy by the expanded CG toolbox. I think I will take creativity over toolbox any day. Not to say I am immune to their flashy charms.

By now I am sure you are wondering why I am babbling about French science fiction and the sapping of creativity. The answer is simple, Pandorum, as entertaining as it is, is a bigger budget reworking of Eden Log. The latter being more introspective and mysterious and the former being flashier and more visceral. Whether or not there actually is a connection between the two, I do now know, but in my eyes there seems to be a definite link.



As Pandorum begins we learn that the Earth is running out of resources as the population grows out of control. A series of missions are staged in deep space where Tanis is discovered. It is an Earth-like planet that may hold the salvation of humanity. A ship carrying 60,000 people is sent as the initial mission to colonize the planet. The last thing we see is a message telling the flight crew they are the "last of us." A rather ominous start to our viewing mission, wouldn't you say?

Anyway, we jump ahead some unknown amount of time and we meet Bower (Ben Foster). He has just been awakened, and he does not know who he is, what the mission is, or pretty much anything. On top of that, he is literally in the dark. There are apparent power issues on the ship as it shudders and lights flash. Not long after his wake up call, a second man is stirred from his slumber, Payton (Dennis Quaid).

Together, the two men have to figure out what exactly is going on. Bower ventures into the body of the ship in search of answers. He runs into other survivors, as well as some nasty bloodthirsty critters that apparently like to eat any random human that happens to cross their path.

So, what exactly is going on? What happened to the mission to Tanis? What is up with the power? Where did those creatures come? And just what deep dark secrets does the ship hold within?

Wouldn't you like to know.



It is very reminiscent of Eden Log, but it also brings to mind Event Horizon. All of these films have some great atmosphere, it does not necessarily last all the way through the film, but they all do something that will put you on the edge of your seat.

Director Christian Alvart does a great job of building tension through the first half. Shadows on the wall, sounds in the distance, the cold metal pipes along the walls, unforgiving metal grates, everything adding up to palpable tension. Unfortunately, it settles into some standard cliches like the ethnic martial artist, the female with the low cut top that likes knives, not to mention the crazy guy who explains the story. These elements work against the tension of the first half as the second half devolves into a series of action/chase sequences and some mildly confusing character developments on its way to the inevitable happy ending.

Sure, the setting is not the most original, and the cliches do not help it much, but there is enough to hang onto here that makes it an interesting trip to take. There is the big picture of what happened on Earth, plus the origin of the creatures and why the ship is acting so strange. The screenplay does not give you all of the answers and I am not sure there is enough information to definitively discern everything, but I suspect it will be fun to revisit.



What helps make this movie work are the performances, specifically, Ben Foster. Foster has turned in a few good performances and I look forward to seeing where his career takes him. This film sees him playing an initially paranoid man who slowly gains the necessary memories to carry him through. He is quite convincing throughout and carries real weight and emotion in his eyes. Dennis Quaid is decent if a bit hammy, the funny thing is that there is an odd sincerity even at his hammiest moments. The rest of the cast does a decent job pulling their weight.

Bottomline. This is a good movie, not a great one, not a bad one. Ben Foster carries the dramatic weight and makes the story interesting while Christian Alvart delivers the slick sci-fi action. All things considered this is a good movie, one that genre fans will likely enjoy. No, not a classic, but why does everything have to be?

Recommended.

New Movies and Box Office Predictions: 10/2/09

This week's wide releases -
Capitalism: A Love Story
The Invention of Lying
Toy Story 1 & 2 in 3D
Whip It
Zombieland

September is over, it is now time to start October and we all know what October brings, right? That's right, Halloween. That said, this first week of October brings the first horror film of the season. Yes, I know that we have had a few horror films recently, but October is the real horror month and this is the Halloween season. Unfortunately, we do not get a Halloween movie, but we do have yet another Saw to anticipate in a few weeks. I know, exciting.

Capitalism: A Love Story. (2009, 127 minutes, R, documentary) The "most dangerous film maker in Hollywood" Michael Moore is back with a new film. That dangerous tag is not something I buy into, but he is nothing if not an interesting documentarion. I cannot lay claim to being a fan, but his movies are immensely watchable and always offer up some things to talk about afterward. This film takes Moore back to his corporate roots and looks at the controls of business and seeks to find where our money went.



The Invention of Lying. (2009, 99 minutes, PG-13, comedy) Ricky Gervais is one funny guy, if you have any doubt, look him up on YouTube, or just watch the original UK The Office, you can even check out Ghost Town. Now Gervais is returning to the big screen with what looks to be another winner. This story is set in a world where no one lies, well, no one unit Gervais cracks the first one. Aside from that, I have no idea what this film is about. I see that he has a date with Jennifer Garner, but that is about it. Still, it looks pretty darn funny. I hope it pays off.



Toy Story 1 & 2 in 3D. (2009, 172 minutes, G, animated comedy) Let's take a journey into Pixar's past. The 1990's brought two of their most celebrated works, including the original computer animated feature. Now, the company has gone back to those classics and re-worked them into Disney Digital 3D and is releasing them as a double feature. Is it possible to improve on them? I am eager to find out. It will be interesting to see what it is like to wear those 3D glasses for such a long. Could this be a test of endurance before the arrival of Avatar?



Whip It. (2009, 111 minutes, PG-13, comedy) Drew Barrymore makes her directorial debut with this coming of age tale. Ellen Page stars as Bliss, a young girl in a small town, trapped in her mother's world of conformity and beauty pageants. She sees an opportunity to rebel in the form of roller derby. She lies to her folks about her new hobby until the inevitable happens. The movie looks like a lot of fun.



Zombieland. (2009, 81 minutes, R, horror/comedy) Here is the movie I am most looking forward to seeing this weekend. The film is set in a world overrun with zombies. Zombies are everywhere and they are not friendly. Jesse Eisenberg is a shy young man who teams with the considerably less shy Woody Harrelson on the zombie hunt. They eventually team with Abigail Breslin and Emma Stone on their adventures. The trailers look excellent and I am expecting a good time, although I am a little worried about that 81-minute run time.



Also opening this week, but not near me:

• Afterschool
• More than a Game
• A Serious Man

Box Office Predictions
Will I be able to predict a fickle public's taste for this weekend? Like always, I am not sure, but will give the old college try. I know what I would like to see on top, but if it makes it, well, that is the big question. I do think that the winner of the past two weeks will fall, but I think it is going to be close.

Here is how I think it could play out.

Rank	Title	Box Office
1	Zombieland	$17.5 million
2	Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs	$16.5 million
3	Toy Story 1 & 2 in 3D	$13 million
4	Whip It	$10 million
5	Surrogates	$7.5 million
6	The Invention of Lying	$6 million
7	Capitalism: A Love Story	$5.5 million
8	Fame (2009)	$4.5 million
9	The Informant!	$2.5 million
10	Pandorum	$2 million

Darkest Hour - The Eternal Return

It was nearly two years ago that I was officially introduced to Darkest Hour and their brand of aggressive and melodic metalcore. It feels like forever ago, despite being well into the metalcore cycle and a full four albums into the band's run. I liked the album but felt it fell just shy of being something particularly great. There was a lot to like, and I do like them, but I felt there was something missing. Do they find that nebulous "something" on The Eternal Return? Sort of. I think it is a better album, but there is something about them that fails to completely hook me. I wish I knew what it was.

At first, The Eternal Return feels and sounds like more of the same. It is a sound and feel that I find easy to get into. Despite the lack of that "big hit" type song that I can sometimes be affected by, this is a very easy album to get hooked by. The music is heavy and catchy and you will want to bang your head. On the other hand, however, it is relentlessly depressing. This is a dark, dismal, and apocalyptic album. That is saying something after how dark Deliver Us was.

This latest album gets off to a roaring start with "Devolution of Flesh." The song begins with the fateful words "This is the end of a sickening tale." Interesting choice, it seems to mark a change in path, leaving behind the old ways for something new. Of course, I could just be reading into it a little too much, which is probably the likelier option. Combine this charge for change with the fact that this album is so reminiscent to Deliver Us and then the meaning behind the new album's title. It definitely makes one wonder how much research was made during the album's naming process.


"Eternal return" is a theory the universe keeps recurring and will continue to do so in a similar fashion to what is here now. The concept has been taken so far as to be applied all the way down to the level of the individual, suggesting that people will continue to do the same things in the same order and not by reincarnation, but in the same bodies, where life is cyclical and not linear. Interesting, no?

In any case, the album title may be just a touch too telling of what is contained within. Sure, the song titles are different, and border on the epic style of classic metal bands (witness "The Blessed Infection," "Death Worship," and "A Distorted Utopia"), but I listened to a few of these tunes back to back with those from Deliver Us, and they are quite similar in style. If nothing else, this new album is a darker and touch thrashier.

Darkest Hour definitely play with passion, and they music sounds like it has the fullness of their collective energies, but there is something amiss. They are forever on the cusp of greatness. They have skills and there is definitely a high level of technical prowess on display and they are very easy to get into. It is just that when I turn them off, I remember the name but none of the songs.

Bottomline. I suppose I can say I like them. The two albums I have definitely have their moments and sound great turned up, but I cannot say they are a band I will reach for instead of other, similar acts. The Eternal Return has a slight edge on Deliver Us for it being a bit more aggressive and dark. Fans of the band will want this, but I am not sure they will win new ones.

Oh yes, the best song by far is "No God."

Mildly Recommended.