DVD Reviews6: August

Welcome to Collinwood - Sam Rockwell, William H. Macy
Comedy - Produced by George Clooney (who has a small part) and Steven Soderbergh, this is the opposite of their super cool "Ocean's" heist movies. And hilarious! 3 Stars


Shiner - Michael Caine
Thriller - A gritty gangster film, although actually follows an underground boxing figure trying to leave to make it to the bigtime by risking it all on one last fight. However after biting off more than he can chew, his violent nature and past catch up with him. Gripping drama. 3 stars


Alexander (Directors Cut) - Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer, Oliver Stone [D]
Action, Epic - Only watched it out of the corner of my eye. A quite terrible 'movie'. Would be above par if it was on Discovery channel though. Pretentious and unsuited soundtrack. Horrible, distracting Irish accented Greeks. Disjointed retelling focus' on probably innacurate ideology of Alexander and the conflicts it caused that may have led to his downfall. The homosexuality is a non-issue except for homo-phobes and dealt with subtley and tastefully. Jolie is terrible as Alexander's she-bitch mother and has the thisckest wierdest accent of them all. Final battle with elephants is awesome and gory but does little to save this expensive excursion. 2 stars


Hart's War - Collin Farrell, Bruce Willis, Gregory Hoblit [D]
Action, Drama - A Hollywood war movie but once you excuse it historical innaccuracies and stereotyping of charachters and circumstances is a pleasant fiction. Based on the fictional novel of the same name, describes the precarious mystery of a series of murders within the American POW population of a German stalag and the young lieutenant assigned to defend the black american suspect. Well directed, with lush varied scenery and sets, and a very credible supporting. 3 stars


Stripes (Extended Cut) - Bill Murray
Comedy - OMG WTF? This movie sucked hard. And the extended cut means you are in for MORE crap. An 80's crappy comedy following 2 Joe Schmoes through boot camp to emerge our eventual heroes. Interspersed at regular intervals with titties and coarse jokes. This movie blows goats as does the one who made me watch it :P 1 stars


Ong Bak - Tony Jaa
Action, Martial Art - A Muay Thai Kickboxing movie. Poor acting, but the story line is little more than a frame to place the action sequences within. The film builds steadily into longer and increasingly fantastic stunts and fights. The muay thai styles are distinct and brutal giving the film a charachteristic flavour to distinguish it from lesser fight flicks. Fun action without being particularly gory. 3.5 stars


Lost in La Mancha - Terry Gilliam
Doco - A non-making of Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Shows the failure of the production after a series of problems culminating in the withdrawal of a principal actor and the subsequent foreclosing by the insurers. Informative but not enjoyable. 2 stars.


The Tailor of Panama - Pierce Brosnan, Geoffrey Rush
Thriller - Based on the spy novel by John Le Carre, essentially a story about a proverbial storm in a tea cup. Entertaining, although failed to really excite - perhaps if the stakes were higher (does any one care about Panama?) Good although not excellent performances from Brosnan and Rush. 2.5 stars.


Japanese Story - Toni Collette
Drama - Winner of goodness knows how many Australian film awards. Arthouse springs to mind. Quiet, but not subtle - dramatic, but not truthful. The sparse script wavers between poignant unspoken scenes and meaningless chit chat, with direction consistently failing to draw out the importance of each telling moment. Avoid the hype. 2 stars.