DVD Zone – Latest releases reviewed
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Don’t even think about going down the video shop without reading it first! DVD Zone provides the definitive word on all the latest movie releases. Helen Carey’s lively style and harsh but fair ratings system will help your readers stock up for the ultimate weekend in.
Also filed with hi-res images of the latest movie releases.
Sample column >> Filed every Thursday afternoon
Fun of the fair
By Helen Carey
What a breath of fresh air Adventureland is. While the tactic du jour for most “indie” romcoms seems to be a self-conscious quest for quirkiness, Greg Mottola’s amiable comedy sidesteps all the usual pitfalls and concentrates on sketching a heartwarming coming of age yarn that revives tried and tested formulae.
The backdrop for a meandering summer of slacker angst is an amusement park where Jesse Eisenberg takes a job after things don’t quite go to plan upon leaving college. Soon he’s introduced to a shady underworld that is lit up only by Kristen Stewart – the woman of his dreams.
Ryan Reynolds (Definitely, Maybe) completes a charming central trio as Eisenberg’s love rival – a bad boy rocker turned handyman.
Rating ****
As director of the Notebook, Nick Cassavetes is responsible for more female tears than Tiger Woods. In My Sister’s Keeper, he is keen to liberate the ducts once more. Based on Jodi Picoult’s emotive novel, there is no shortage of tear-jerking ingredients; a sick child, a sibling needing a donor and a tug of love between parents and children.
Unfortunately, Cassavetes lathers so much schmaltz on what is, in its own right, a quite-intriguing story, you’re eventually unsure whether to cry or vomit.
Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric are watchable as the manipulative but shattered parents, while Alec Baldwin lights up the screen as the lawyer set to enter an ethical minefield.
The central moral dilemma retains the interest to the end but the overall feel is more TV movie than big screen.
Rating **
There’s been plenty of sci-fi action in recent weeks but Surrogates doesn’t live up to the high standards. Bruce Willis stars as a FBI agent in a world where people rely on robotic surrogates – more attractive versions of their human selves – to do all their social communication for them. This allows people to live vicariously through their more presentable substitutes without ever leaving the comfort and safety of their own homes. Sounds like a day on Facebook.
All very fascinating, at least until you put the concept away and the movie starts. Director Jonathan Mostow does an excellent job of fashioning a futuristic world that is soon resolutely wasted. Once Bruce assigns his surrogate to investigate the murder of a genius scientist, the imaginative premise gives way to standard action fare.
Rating **
On the way – a dedicated gaming column.