I’m 26 years old, which means as I watch the movies of the future, I slowly delve into the pictures of the past. A wave of classics arrived in new Centennial Edition DVD packages this week, including Roman Holiday, and it has given me the chance to watch the Gregory Peck/Audrey Hepburn film for the first time.

I’ve only seen a spattering of Hepburn films in my lifetime, but I have realized while she was one of the most sought after actresses in the late 50’s and early 60’s. She was gorgeous, likable and entertaining, and had a knack for picking quality projects. Between Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Roman Holiday, Hepburn set the stage for the modern romantic comedy. It’s absolutely intriguing watching a picture like Roman Holiday, which has a simple, almost ludicrous plot, an unlikely relationship and forced conflict that is reminiscent of today’s romantic comedies. At the same time, it feels fresh and is consistently enjoyable from beginning to end. The same formula that has been duplicated time and time again - and continues to be so - works wondrously well. And this is a movie that was made in the year both my parents were born. (more…)

An entertaining yet strangely sad classic from 1950, Sunset Boulevard is ranked #26 on IMDB’s Top 250. The movie was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won three others, including Best Writing. IMDB’s extremely high rating is a little surprising to me, but Sunset Boulevard is still a well-done and memorable picture about Hollywood, fading fame and ultimate murder - it’s no surprise that it was nominated for Best Picture.

Sunset Boulevard stars William Holden as a struggling screenwriter who is behind on his payments. Upon eluding some collection agents, he finds himself at the secluded mansion of silent film star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), who was the best of her era. Unfortunately, her era is past, but the hermit doesn’t realize it. Accompanied by her butler (Erich von Stroheim, who along with the other actors in the film was nominated for an Oscar), she lives as though she’s still in high demand, throwing parties for herself and driving around a classic but antique car. With the sudden presence of a newcomer - especially one who has ties to the industry - she takes profound interest in him, but will her psychological issues spell downfall? (more…)

Hellboy II: The Golden Army is now out on DVD! This was meant to be an advance review, but travel plans, a busy week and little desire to write this DVD review (DVD reviews just aren’t as fun to write as regular movie reviews) means that I’m writing this Tuesday night when I should be zoning out staring at the television. OK, I am still zoning out while staring at the television, but my fingers are apparently typing something that hopefully forms cohesive sentences.

The Guillermo Del Toro action-fantasy flick rushed into theaters with high hopes, good reviews and a great opening weekend. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to expectations, leaving the film to be a victim of opening weekend fanboy rush. Despite a great start, it plummeted in the weeks following. Regardless of its box office performance, Hellboy 2 was a bit of a disappointment for me. While still good, it felt as though Del Toro got caught up a little too much in making fantastic sets and creatures and lowered the priority of the pacing and action. Strangely, this exact flaw is what I was looking forward to in the film, as the first Hellboy was quite good - but not amazing - whereas Pan’s Labyrinth, Del Toro’s Oscar-nominated drama, was extraordinary. I figured a hybrid of the two would be downright awesome, but it just wasn’t. (more…)

For years, Robert Downey Jr. has been poison. Maybe not complete box office failure poison, but he was a name people immediately associated with drugs, career suicide and uncontrollable. Oh, how a couple of years of sobriety and a super hero can make a difference. Downey is at an all-time career high, and it isn’t too surprising that Chaplin, for which he earned an Oscar nomination fifteen long years ago, is being re-released in a - you guessed it - 15th Anniversary Edition.

I had never seen Chaplin before, nor did I know much about the famed actor other than the few short films I’ve seen of his. The movie, directed by Richard Attenborough, is pretty good, but Downey is tremendous as the British, silent-film innovator. Much of the time he is unrecognizable, and not just physically. He transforms himself into Chaplin, capturing his moves, his mannerisms, accents and behaviors with amazing sincerity. Given that this is Downey’s one and only Oscar nomination, one has to wonder what he would have done over the last fifteen years had he not been flying a kite the entire time.

Beyond his performance, Chaplin is dotted with a dizzying array of supporting actors, including Anthony Hopkins, Diane Lane, Dan Akroyd, Milla Jovovich, Marisa Tomei, Penelope Anne Miller and Kevin Kline. All turn in fine performances, but none stand out in any way or form.

The movie itself is pretty good, chronicling Charlie Chaplin’s life from childhood through his honorary Oscar acceptance in 1972. Attenborough keeps things rather biographical and subtle, avoiding dramatized moments where possible. Unfortunately, this approach leads to an understated feel and a lack of power; while good, the movie rarely captivates. It also doesn’t help that the makeup used on Downey when he’s portraying Chaplin in his later years looks pretty God-awful.

Chaplin is a worthwhile film, though not tremendous by any means. Downey, however, delivers the finest performance of his career.

I am young, by cinematic standards. I didn’t grow up in the 40’s and 50’s where the film industry was still, in many ways, relatively young. I haven’t had sixty years to watch movies and say with sincerity that dozens of films from the 1940’s are masterpieces. I do see old movies and appreciate them - and sometimes love them - but not all old films are great just because other people say there are. Take Cool Hand Luke, for example. It’s ranked #118 on IMDB’s Top 250, which means that there are only 117 films that are better. In the world. I’m sorry, folks, but Cool Hand Luke isn’t that good.

Cool Hand Luke is a pretty good movie starring the late Paul Newman, but I’d have to say my reaction to the film was lukewarm at best - forgive the quasi-pun. The movie is about some cool dude named Luke who’s a bit of a troublemaker, so much so that he finds himself in a minimum security prison for two years for destruction of private property. However, the rural prison can’t hold a man like Luke, physically or mentally. Constantly beaten down, Luke refuses to give up, and often escapes - only to be dragged back in time after time. After his mother dies, though, the warden sets all sights on Luke, determined to break him.

The movie features some good and likable performances from a recognizable cast. George Kennedy delivers a great performance as Luke’s eventual sidekick, and Newman himself turns in a quality performance. Unfortunately, while Newman is good, his subtle performance - and the movie’s subtle approach - just didn’t work for me. I wouldn’t say that the movie doesn’t stand the test of time; now out on a new DVD, the film looks great, especially when the scantily clad woman is washing her car. The writing, direction and look and feel all hold up well.

It’s just that the movie is sort of boring. I like character-driven stories, but Cool Hand Luke just isn’t one of those stories. Its plot is minimal at best, and I never felt like I could connect with Luke or any of the other characters. Ultimately, Luke keeps resisting and escaping, but I don’t care.

There’s not much more to it than that. Cool Hand Luke isn’t a bad movie, but it certainly isn’t one of the world’s top 250 movies.

When hearing that Year of the Fish is a modern-day Cinderella story, that’s not a cue to take your children to it. After all, the movie is about a Chinese immigrant named Ye Xian (An Nguyen) who finds herself working for and in debt to the owner of a massage parlor - in actuality a brothel - in New York.

Year of the Fish is a film festival picture that opened in Seattle (and presumably elsewhere) over the weekend and that rolls Chinese folklore, modern-day issues and a Cinderella love story into one. The result is mixed, but given the obvious small budget and limited scope, it is decent enough. (more…)

Iron Man. The movie shocked audiences by raking in $100 million in its opening weekend and lots of critical praise. This, a movie about a guy who dresses up in a metal suit and goes around blowing things up. Who would have thought?

The huge box office winner is coming to DVD this Tuesday, September 30, 2008, and Marvel and Paramount managed to forward me an early copy of the two-disc special edition. The DVD is a great addition to anyone’s collection, though I doubt this review is going to have any bearing on your decision one way or another. You either liked the movie or you didn’t, though I haven’t met a person who wasn’t blown away by the flick.

As far as special features go, there is a good deal of deleted scenes, some of which are halfway decent. I suspect that a couple of them were removed to keep a PG-13 rating, as one makes a rather direct allusion to a three-way, and eventually a four-way. Others add unnecessary exposition and explanation to the story; you can see where they fit in, but were most likely removed for pacing reasons. Nevertheless, they make for good deleted scenes.

Moving onto the second disc, we are greeted with a series of seven featurettes that look at various stages of the production, from location shooting to suit design to special effects. Some of the best behind-the-scenes featurettes come from the biggest of films, and this single feature runs for a good hour and a half. The featurette is pretty insightful and not promotional in the least, meaning you get a lot of sincerity from Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., the stuntmen and everyone else involved.

Other special features include a deeper look at the visual effects, a screen test with Robert Downey Jr., a featurette called The Actor’s Process that I was too lazy to watch (actually, after watching most of the special features I got so eager to watch the movie that I returned to the first disc to fire it up… though I then got interrupted by the Presidential debates for a couple of hours) and your typical stills gallery, previews, et cetera. Why do they even bother including stills galleries on DVDs? Does anyone actually look at them? Ooh, cool! I can look at non-moving images of a movie I just watched. This is most awesomest.

The DVD is pretty good, though I’d expect there to be an even bigger version to be on the horizon. Regardless, Iron Man itself is well worth the $20 to add this to your collection. You can read my full Iron Man movie review here.

A movie that sort of flew under the radar earlier this year, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a romantic comedy that proved that it was a lot more than a fluff-and-kiss romantic comedy. In reality, it’s in the same vein as Knocked Up, as it’s a romantic comedy for guys - there’s swearing, boobs, crazy sex and lots of awkward situations, including a break up scene with full frontal male nudity. Of course, none of this is surprising since it’s just one of many successful Judd Apatow-produced comedies.

To be straight, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is the funniest movie of 2008 to date, thanks to its crafty writing and likable characters. Thankfully, the movie comes to DVD on September 30, 2008, and Universal was kind enough to send me an advanced copy of the 3-Disc Unrated Collector’s Edition. Here are the bonus features:

• Two versions of the movie. Guess. Guess, dammit! OK, fine, you’re going to feel stupid. The two versions are… the normal, R-rated version and - yes, you didn’t guess it - the unrated version. The unrated version has a few additional or extended scenes, but it doesn’t really matter - the movie is just as funny the first time I saw it.
• Deleted/Extended scenes. In addition to those seen in the unrated version, several other funny scenes are available for viewing. To the pleasure of all male audience members (well, the straight ones), the DVD includes a fair amount of additional sex scenes, several of which are pretty funny. There’s also an alternative get-back-together-with-Sarah scene that is notably different in one piercing way. Ha ha, I crack myself up. Don’t get it? Nevermind.
• Auditions. Some entertaining moments of the cast preparing for their roles. The DVD gives extra focus to Russell Brand, who plays the British sex addict rock star boyfriend. Interestingly enough, the character was originally written as a cocky yuppy writer, but Brand’s audition impressed the casting crew so much that the character was rewritten for him. Brand is certainly a funny guy; his “U Show” that is included on the DVD is also quite funny in a limited way.
• Crime Scene. See some alternate NBC television shows that Sarah Marshall will be starring in over the coming months. Some, if not all, are absolutely ridiculous.
• Drunk-o-Rama, Sex-o-rama, Line-o-rama. These little featurettes take the best moments and establishes montages of related material.
• Video Diaries. I watched these, but don’t remember much.
• Gag reel, cast and crew commentary and a few other special features.
• Oh, and the third disc is devoted to a digital copy that you can copy to your iPod. In the day of environmentalism, it’s sad that studios are starting to do this.

Read my full Forgetting Sarah Marshall movie review, or… enter to win a copy of the Forgetting Sarah Marshall DVD.

If you haven’t noticed, I haven’t been seeing a lot of movies lately. At least not at theaters. I have been making my rounds through the DVD racks, but with a lull in new releases worthy of my time, I haven’t been reviewing a whole lot. Even though the end of August and September are considered dead times for theaters, there have been several films out that I want to see, one of them being Vicky Cristina Barcelona, the latest Woody Allen movie that stars Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem.

Why? Because I actually like Woody Allen movies for the most part, the cast rocks and the film has Johansson and Cruz going at it… and I don’t mean fighting. Alas, due to an extremely busy month and some so-so reviews from friends, I have yet to get around to the romantic comedy-drama, and probably won’t see it until DVD.

Thankfully, my coworker Alice Graves, who is a diehard Woody Allen fan, did see the movie and has weighed in with her opinion. I trust it, even though she did think Javier Bardem was “cute” in No Country for Old Men.

Read Alice’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona movie review!

In anticipation of The Dark Knight this Thursday, I rented the direct-to-DVD movie Batman: Gotham Knights, which hit stores this last Tuesday. Thankfully, I used my Netflix account, because the movie certainly wasn’t worth the money.

Batman: Gotham Knights is meant to bridge the gap between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, so I assumed there would be something about the Joker, so on and so forth. Hell, I thought there’d at least be a plot.

Instead, this Batman movie is six stories pieced together to create a feature-length, 75-minute action-drama. The first story, about a group of kids who all see Batman from a different perspective (one sees him as a shadow monster, another as an invincible robot, so on and so forth), is completely inane. Actually, it’s downright terrible, and does nothing to move the film along.

The other stories aren’t nearly as terrible, as they delve more into some known but little-used villains such as Killer Croc and Deadshot (oh, and Scarecrow, but after Batman Begins I wouldn’t call him “little-used” anymore). Still, short stories aren’t very exciting as it’s impossible to get into the stories with any emotional committment, and then there’s the fact that this movie is meant to bridge the gap between the two Christopher Nolan movies - yet it doesn’t. Maybe I should never have expected much, but I did.

Oh, and just for a record, I am a fan of the original Batman cartoon, so I’m not anti-cartoon. In fact, the visuals are pretty impressive, as the artwork used in the film are much more advanced than anything I used to watch on TV back in the day. The visuals are the only saving grace.

Batman: Gotham Knights has potential and some of its stories are better than others, but its lack of a single story or connection to the films make it a throwaway film.