DVD Reviews9: September 3

Get Shorty - John Travolta, Danny DeVito, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, Barry Sonnenfeld [D]
Comedy - A clever script of double crosses and deal making in the movie producing business. A terrific cast that also includes Delroy Lindo, Dennis Farina and James Gandolfini(The Sopranos), the adventure builds slowly and never quite sprints - but it suits this style laden film and Travolta's strut. 3 stars

Be Cool - John Travolta, Uma Thurman
Terrible Sequel - Trying to be bigger and better than the original, doubling the number of charachters leads to half the substance or less. Terrible B-grade ridden casting: The Rock (as gay cowboy bodyguard!), Vince Vaughn (American's find him funny? as street-talking wanna be pimp music producer sidekick...yeah), Andre 3000/Benjamin (from Outkast and can't act), Christina Milian (also can't act) and Cedric the Entertainer (wtf?). Harvey Keitel does his best, but surrounded by trash he looks like a garbo. James Woods also appears momentarily. Reminds me of Oceans 12, so much hype, so little substance. 1 star

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Garth Jennings [D]
Comedy - First time music video director Jennings creates a visually sumptuous film. Good casting, although Mos Def I found to be without adequate charachter direction, includes Sam Rockwell superb as Zaphod Beeblebrox, John Malkovich, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman as Marvin the depressed robot's voice and Zooey Deschanel as Trillian (last seen by me in Elf). Direction while I thought most inadequate in getting the ball rolling, and the tributory opening sequence to the BBC version looked out of place to the later action, the film builds spectacularly culminating in wonderous breathtakingly imaginative effects sequences. The brilliant CG in this film cannot be understated. Interesting fact: Douglas Adams finished the screenplay for this new version only to die in 2001 before production. 4 stars

The Sea Inside (Mar Adentro) - Javier Bardem, Alejandro Amenbar [D]
Drama - The true story of a spanish quadraplegic's fight for euthanasia and to end his own life. Amazing performance by Bardem with subtle and beautiful direction. Winner of the 2004 Best Foreign Film Academy Award, and nominated for makeup. 4 stars

The Astronaut's Wife - Charlize Theron, Johnny Depp
Thriller - Written and directed by Rand Ravich, his thriller/horror flick is a very coherent effort. However the film builds slowly and feels slightly rushed in the final third. Very capable performance by both leads although Depp is not called on often. 2.5 stars

Young Adam - Ewan McGregor, David Mackenzie [D]
Drama - Excellently directed with clever use of lighting to set the mood, and the metaphoric contrasting of elements in scene's. Very good and even performances from the cast. The film has a lot of nudity, but is dealt with very naturally and shouldn't offend, although I don't consider all of it necessary. An interesting story that reveals it self slowly and surreptitiously. 3.5 stars

Brother Bear - Disney
Disney - Short (80 mins), lame but not unbearable songs (omg pun lol!!). Cute baby bear, stupid mooses eh? yah eh? totally eh! 2 Stars

Bublegum Crisis 2040 - Anime Series
Anime - 26 episodes, 6 DVD's. Pretty groovy. 3 hot chicks in uber mecha suits gotta save Tokyo from crazy robots. Not completely brainless fare, as the story becomes darker and more violent by the apocalyptic end. 2.5 stars

Thus ends my DVD reviews for a lil while as my 3 month subscription has finally ended and I really ought to study and shiznat... :'(