mike | 20 Dec 2011 | 300 Views | 1 Likes | 0 Dislikes

The DVD/Blu Ray Shed: December 20th

Last minute gift ideas for folks that like mediocre-to-OK movies! Get 'em while they're hot!

Straw Dogs
Dir. Rod Lurie

A perfect example of the complete idiocy of the remake era we're currently mired in. In remaking 1971's hyperviolent home-invasion movie, you are theoretically appealing to three audiences:

People who were alive to see the original in the theatre, and remember it fondly, but who will not see your movie because they are either dead or in a retirement home.
People who are familiar with the original because it's a classic and controversial example of hyper-violent Sam Peckinpah cinema who will also not see your movie because they recognize it as what it is - a pointless cash-in with nothing new to say, replacing, in the process Dustin Hoffman with James Marsden.
People who haven't heard of the original, who may see your movie because they liked the trailer.

Congratulations, you have alienated a group of people for absolutely no gain whatsoever, and as it turns out, the people you have alienated see waaaay more movies than the people you haven't. Not a smart move, remakers.

Warrior
Dir. Gavin O'Connor

Surprisingly good sports movie that transcends its dreadfully au courant MMA/creaky clichéd BROTHER FIGHT BROTHER premise on the back of an unsurprisingly good couple performances from Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton. Rent it even if you're tired to the core of MMA WARRIOR PRIDE WHO'S THE ULTIMATE SLAMMER OORAGH

Midnight in Paris
Dir. Woody Allen

Mr. Allen's latest proves two things: he can still direct a comedy (in this case a slight time-travel romp featuring Owen Wilson as the Woody-in travelling back in time to escape his fiancé and commune with the artistic greats of Gay Paree), and he still likes to tell stories about old men falling in love with super hot almost-teenagers (Owen Wilson's character falls in love with a super hot almost-teenager). Anyone that was surprised, by the way, by how good model-turned-actress Léa Seydoux was in the new Mission Impossible must have missed her as the super hot almost-teenager in Midnight in Paris.

Colombiana
Dir. Olivier Megaton

Zoe Saldana is great as the latest iteration of Luc Besson's scary-damaged killer babe (this one being directed by the awesomely-named Olivier Megaton), but her performance and some pretty cool set-pieces are undone, eventually, by shoddy plotting. Still, though, it's waaaay better than it should be and was definitely overlooked this summer.

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