Adventureland (DVD)

Adventureland (2008) starring Jesse Eisenberg, Ryan Reynolds, Kristen Stewart. It's 1987, and recent college grad James Brennan (Eisenberg) finds the his planned trip to Europe canceled due to money problems. Instead, he must take a summer job at Adventureland, a low-rent local amusement park. Although he fears he has fallen into a dead-end job, he meets interesting people and soon finds his life entwined with his fellow employees. The soundtrack of the movie is saturated with '80s music, which will surely have nostalgia value for those who came of age in the '80s. The characters and plot are interesting and original enough that I can recommend this movie. Grade: B+

Blade Runner (DVD)

Blade Runner (1982) starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young. This is the international theatrical release, the version that was shown outside the U.S. when the film was originally released. I've never seen it before and I'm curious to see if it is substantially different from the U.S. version. ... It's not. It only shows a few more seconds of explicit violence that, apparently, were felt to be too rough for Americans to see. It's essentially the same experience as watching the U.S. theatrical version. Grade: A-

Duplicity (DVD)

Duplicity (2008) starring Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Giamatti. Roberts and Owen play Claire and Ray, a pair of spies on opposite sides in an industrial espionage caper. Wilkinson and Giamatti are great as rival CEOs who hate each other. Though they are working against each other, Claire and Ray are romantically involved -- and they are secretly working together to raise $40 million so that they can get away and be together. Or at least that's what they tell each other. As befits such a movie, there's a Big Twist towards the end, and I must admit I didn't see it coming. Unfortunately, it doesn't lead to a Happy Ending, and I also admit I felt a little let down. But Roberts and Owen are fun to watch, and they are good together. The film also has excellent subtitles -- even including the lyrics to the closing song over the credits. Grade: B

Surveillance (DVD)

Surveillance (2007) starring Julia Ormond, Bill Pullman, Ryan Simpkins, Kent Harper, Pell James, Michael Ironside, Cheri Oteri, French Stewart. Written and directed by Jennifer Lynch, daughter of eccentric auteur David Lynch. Ormond and Pullman play a pair of FBI agents investigating a series of gruesome murders; Simpkins, Harper and James play witnesses with widely varying accounts of what they have seen. But that brief description doesn't begin to fully disclose what the experience of seeing this movie is like. It's one of the most sickening, disgusting movies I've ever seen. There's a major twist in the middle that makes it interesting, but it's not worth it to sit through all the sadistic bullying and bloody gore. To top it all off, it lacks English subtitles for the hearing-impaired, making it a chore to follow. Grade: F

Blade Runner (DVD)

Blade Runner (1982) starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young. This 1982 theatrical version of the movie is the first one I saw, at a theater here in Springfield. It's the version which features the voice-over by Ford. This must be at least the 20th time I've seen this movie, but I always marvel at the beauty of the future world the filmmakers created. And I always cringe at the glaring flaws of character, plot and dialogue. Overall, this remains among my top 10 films of all time, if only for the impact it had on me when I first saw it in the theater. Grade: A-

I Love You, Man (DVD)

I Love You, Man (2009) starring Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Jaime Pressly, Rashida Jones, Jon Favreau. Peter and Zooey (Rudd and Jones) become engaged, only to find that Peter does not have a close friend to serve as his best man. In fact, he doesn't have any real male friends at all. He goes on a series of "man-dates" until he finally meets Sydney (Segel) by chance at an open house. Soon, Peter's blossoming friendship with Sydney is threatening to ruin his relationship with Zooey. Unfortunately, what's lacking in this movie is clever writing and truly funny jokes. The funniest moments come between Pressly and Favreau, as a constantly feuding couple -- but that's not where the focus of the movie lies. The true center of the film is supposed to be the bromance between Rudd and Segel, but sadly the two seem to be lacking in chemistry. There are really no big laughs to be had, only wry smiles. [The subtitles are adequate, but I wish they would have shown the words to the numerous songs on the soundtrack.] Grade: B-

The Magnificent Seven (DVD)

The Magnificent Seven (1960) starring Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn. Farmers from Mexican village grow tired of being victims of gang of thieves, led by Wallach, and hire seven American gunslingers to help them fight back. The Americans, led by Brynner, are a ragtag bunch. Based on the Japanese film, "Seven Samurai," and hews fairly closely to it, until climactic battle scenes. Stirring score by Elmer Bernstein is memorable, instantly recognizable. Big drawback of DVD is the lack of English subtitles for the hearing-impaired, especially as many of the characters -- Wallach in particular -- speak with Mexican accents. Oddly enough, the Japanese movie, with English subtitles throughout, was easier to follow. Grade: Film, A-, DVD, F

Being There (DVD)

Being There (1979) starring Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine. A simpleton named Chance (Sellers) happens to meet rich and powerful people, who interpret his artless speaking patterns as brilliance. Through a misunderstanding, he becomes known as Chauncey Gardiner -- a cipher in whom everyone who meets him sees what he (or she) wants to see. It's funny, at first. The film gets in some good shots at Washington and the establishment. Unfortunately, it goes on a little too long and there are a few merely ridiculous scenes toward the end. Grade: B-

Hannah Montana: The Movie (DVD)

Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009) starring Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus, Emily Osment. This movie may be suitable viewing for tween girls -- it's certainly free of sex and violence -- but for adults it's just a big bore. There's a lot of nonsense about how Miley (brown hair) and Hannah (blond wig) keep disappointing people because they can't be in two places at the same time (since they're the same person). This all struck me as the basic weakness of the Hannah Montana concept -- kind of like the Clark Kent/Superman problem, but for girls. Kids might buy it, but it ain't for grown-ups. There are a few catchy musical numbers, but the subtitles are very inconsistent in displaying the words of the songs. Grade: D

Torchwood (DVD)

Torchwood (2006) starring Eve Myles, John Barrowman, Naoko Mori, Burn Gorman. BBC sci-fi production tells the tale of a secret organization known as Torchwood, which monitors alien incursions into Earth-space from a small city (Cardiff) in England. The premise is rather silly, but it's meant to be fun, not serious. In the first two episodes, contained on this disc, policewoman Gwen Cooper (Myles) stumbles onto the clandestine group and makes the acquaintance of its leader, Captain Jack Harkness (Barrowman), an American. In Gwen's first day on the job -- after being hired by Torchwood -- she accidentally releases an alien entity which kills its victims by having sex with them. Unfortunately, there's not much sci-fi and lots of low-fi in the action... typical of a low-budget series. Grade: B

Katyn (DVD)

Katyn (2007) by Polish director Andrzej Wajda. The names and faces of this film's stars will be unfamiliar to American audiences, but the drama is palpable. Beginning in 1939, at the beginning of World War II, Polish soldiers and other citizens find themselves trapped between the German occupying forces and advancing Soviet troops -- neither of which has the Poles' welfare foremost in mind. Sometime in 1940, some 12,000 Polish officers and intellectuals were massacred by the Soviets and buried in a mass grave in the Katyn Forest. During the war, the Germans use the slaughter as a propaganda point against the Soviets. After the war, the Soviets cynically blame the mass murder on the Germans. Poles living in Soviet-occupied Poland after the war find that they must agree with the Soviet line or face prison, or death. It's a tragic film without a happy ending, but worth seeing. Main shortcoming is mixture of Polish, German and Russian spoken during film, requiring sometimes complicated subtitle solutions. Grade: A-

The Class (DVD)

The Class (2008) starring Francois Begaudeau. Based on a non-fiction book, this movie tells the story of one year in the life of a French class in Paris, and the trials endured by the teacher of the class. The school is in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Paris, and the students' problems outside of class are reflected in the classroom. Though the ending of the film is anticlimactic, it still leaves the viewer with much to think about. Grade: B+

The Seven Samurai (DVD)

The Seven Samurai (1954) starring Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura. Directed by Akira Kurosawa. A village of Japanese farmers hires seven professional warriors to help them fend off a gang of bandits. Classic film has been the template for many others, including U.S. remake "The Magnificent Seven." The battle scenes of the second half of the movie are primitive, but exciting. My only cavil is the extreme length of the film, which comes in at about three and a half hours. Ultimately worth it, though. Grade: A

The Soloist (DVD)

The Soloist (2008) starring Robert Downey Jr., Jamie Foxx. Los Angeles newspaper reporter Steve Lopez (Downey) discovers brilliant street musician Nathaniel Ayers (Foxx) and decides to write about him. Their lives become intertwined when Lopez tries to rescue Ayers from life on the street. But Ayers does not want to be rescued, and Lopez must come to terms with his own limited ability to change the world. Ultimately, this movie becomes an indictment of the plight of the homeless, and why shouldn't it? The homeless section of Los Angeles is depicted as a kind of hell on Earth. Lopez may have been able to help Ayers in a limited way, but what about the rest of the 90,000 homeless in Los Angeles alone? Who will help them? Grade: B+

Speed (DVD)

Speed (1994) starring Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Dennis Hopper. Psycho villain (Hopper) likes to blow things up -- and he doesn't mind if people die. So he places a bomb on a bus, rigged to explode if the bus slows to below 50 miles per hour. Reeves plays Jack Traven, a Los Angeles policeman to whom it falls to save the bus and the people on it. Bullock, in her breakthrough role, plays Annie, a woman who is called into service as the bus driver when the regular driver is injured. One exciting scene follows another as the action, though mostly confined to a bus, keeps us riveted. Grade: A-

Seven Sinners (DVD)

Seven Sinners (1940) starring Marlene Dietrich, John Wayne. Dietrich plays Bijou, a south-sea island hopping singer who seems to bring trouble wherever she goes. Wayne plays Lieutenant Dan Brent of the U.S. Navy, the man she falls in love with. It's a fairly entertaining film, full of fist-fights and bar riots; but it all hangs on the romance between Dietrich and Wayne. I wasn't convinced -- she was six years older than him at the time the film was made, and it shows. A lot of people must have found her appealing, but I don't. For me, the film gets a Grade: B

Shepherd of the Hills (DVD)

Shepherd of the Hills (1941) starring John Wayne, Betty Field, Harry Carey. Somewhat sentimental story about Ozark mountain folks, and the man (Wayne) who lives his life in the shadow of a curse -- the promise to kill the man who left his mother and sent her to an early grave. The production quality is good, and the subtitles are adequate. Grade: B