DVD Reviews 12: March

Crash - ensemble
Drama, Action - Won the Oscar for Best Picture surprisingly. Not as great as it sounds, I feel it's a nod to encourage more ensemble films which since the advent of the $20million+ star wage, have dried up in numbers. Film itself deals with racial undertones in middle America, LA. Excellent cast inc. Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Ryan Phillippe, Terrance Howard and to a lesser extent Brendan Fraser. 3.5 stars.

Osama - foreign
Drama - An afghani low budget film about life under the Taliban for a girl who must dress as a boy to earn money for her family. Poor production values, but authentic setting and realistically disturbing ending. 3 stars.

Vanity Fair - Reese Witherspoon, Mira Nair [D]
Drama - Based on the novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, Nair's film is sumptuous in production design from hair to sets to spectacular costumes. Witherspoon is very good, bringing complexity and nuance to the social climber Becky Sharp. Excellent supporting roles are filled by Romola Garai, Rhys Ifans, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Bob Hoskins, James Purefoy and Gabrielle Byrne. 3.5 stars.

Cinderella Man - Russel Crowe, Renee Zellweger, Paul Giamatti, Ron Howard [D]
Drama - A well made, acted and directed movie which was released in a market previously saturated with 'safe' movies (Seabiscuit), and ultimately failed to find the little something to make it a great movie. 3.5 stars.

Elizabeth Town - Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Cameron Crowe [D]
Drama, Romance - I fell asleep by the end, that gives you a small indication that the film lacks the gripping romance of say, Jerry Maguire, which director Crowe garnered so much success. There's a few 'small town USA' films recently(Garden State), are middle americans looking for a semi-seachange, but don't want to go too far into red america? 2.5 stars.

Wedding Crashers - Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn
Comedy - a poor movie with some funny jokes interspersed, esp first half. Vince Vaughn doesn't have a face or demeanour for comedy. Isla Fisher is hilarious as the freaky, immature Senator's daughter (also she gets her kit off!). Owen Wilson is good but needed to be paired with say Ben Stiller. Will Ferrel's cameo is hilarious, but too late in the film. 2 stars.

Sky High - Michael Angarano, Danielle Panabaker, Kurt Russell, Kelly Preston, Mike Mitchell [D]
Childrens, Superhero - Young actors Angarano and Panabaker are excellent, and Russell is terrific as SuperDad. Mary Elizabeth Winstead was cute as Gwen. Production level was very average. Best line: "I'm Ron Wilson. Bus Driver!"2.5 stars.

Red Eye - Cillian Murphy, Rachel McAdams, Wes Craven [D]
Thriller - Craven has made teen, shock horror his own. That's not a good thing. Be prepared for clumsy, frightening music and effects, and yes, the badguy is behind the door. Well acted, poorly directed, terribly scripted. A shame, since Murphy could have been made terrifying by the right director. 1.5 stars.