DVD Movie Reviews

Amid the publicity surrounding her high profile relationship with Tom Cruise and the birth of their first child, it’s easy to forget that way back in the day, Katie Holmes was the next big thing in Hollywood. The Romantics sees Holmes returning to her former glory in a measured performance as Laura. She is among a group of friends who have reunited for the marriage of two of their friends in Lila (True Blood’s Anna Paquin) and the very spunky and intelligent Tom (Josh Duhumel). But matters are complicated by the fact that while Laura is Lilah’s best friend, she was also Tom’s on-again, off-again girlfriend. Enter Lilah’s alcoholic brother (played by Elijah Wood) and two soon-to-be married couples and we’ve got one delicious movie plot bubbling away. Yes, a lot of issues come and go while watching The Romantics but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

What do you do if you watch on helplessly as a child gets separated from his family while they’re all on public transport? Well, if you’re Sam Wexler (Josh Radnor), you make a brief attempt to locate their family and then you take the boy whose name is Rasheen (Michael Algieri) in. It seems as though Sam just doesn’t have the heart to part ways with Rasheen once he learns that the boy’s onto his seventh foster home. Before long, Rasheen becomes a part of Sam’s life so much so that his best friends Annie (Malin Ackerman), Charlie (Pablo Schreiber) and Mary Catherine (Zoe Kazan) find out about him and implore Sam to deal with the matter appropriately. Meanwhile, Sam meets Mississippi (Kate Mara), a singer that fears becoming involved in a relationship and let’s just say: when she finds out about Rasheen after she and Sam hook-up, she’s not exactly enthused.

Making Christopher Walken’s character Nat Parker in any way appeal to audiences is no easy feat but the ever-reliable Walken pulls it off. Yes, there are many reasons to dislike Nat: his character is ultra-quirky and hasn’t talked to his son Flynn (Alessandro Nivola) in years. And then, he suddenly reappears in his son’s life to drop one pretty massive bombshell: he has cancer. Meanwhile, Flynn’s life isn’t exactly going to plan anyway: he’s just been fired from his job and found out that his girlfriend Maggie (Amanda Peet) is leaving him. While down in the dumps, Flynn visits his father who convinces him to get away and accompany him on a road trip. From this point on, $5 A Day transforms itself into a heart-warming story about a father and son trying to come to terms with one another’s differences and salvage what’s left of their relationship. Oh, and there are plenty of laughs to be had along the way.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: controversy sells. So, if Exit Through the Gift Shop needed a little push in the right direction, it sure did receive one when word of mouth spread that Thierry Guetta’s story, which is presented to us as fact, is a hoax. So who is Guetta? He’s a French immigrant who finds himself in Los Angeles and completely engrossed with street art. Eventually, he crosses paths with an anonymous graffiti artist originating from London, nicknamed Banksy who arrives to paint the walls in L.A. But suddenly, he and Guetta swap roles as Banksy guides the direction of the documentary after believing that Guetta’s vision isn’t authentic. Call Exit Through the Gift Shop anything you like but dare to call it boring at your own risk: Banksy includes footage depicting over a decade of work from graffiti artists that has been recorded by Guetta.

With projects such as Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers and now The Pacific to his name, it’s safe to say that Steven Spielberg has a vested interest in World War II.  Teaming up with Tom Hanks to bring us this 10 part mini-series, The Pacific follows a group of soldiers stationed with the 1^st marine division. Together, Robert Leckie (James Badge Dale), Eugene Sledge (Joseph Mazzello), Sidney Phillips (Ashton Holmes) and Sergeant John Basilone (Jon Seda), face the intense battle of Guadalcanal that eventually sees Basilone awarded a Medal of Honour for his fine leadership. While he returns to the US to take his place in a war bond tour, his troops return to Melbourne to recoup and rejuvenate. Think their time in the war is over? Think again because they’re about to be pushed to the limit in the battles of Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa where their bodies, their minds and their morals will be challenged repeatedly.

Long before vampires were all the rage thanks to True Blood and Twilight, the first two Lost Boys flicks kept you coming back for more. This installment completes the trilogy and sees vampire hunter, Edgar Frog (Corey Feldman) in dire money troubles (seriously, he’s had to sell his prized comic book collection which certainly drives a stake through his heart) and terribly lonely (he has no friends). So when the beautiful writer of vampire romance novels Gwen (Tanit Phoenix), offers him a wad of cash to accompany her on the vampire hunt of a lifetime, he thinks his luck has turned around and doesn’t hesitate. Their mission? To save Gwen’s brother from an army of newborn vampires using a new drug called the Thirst, a mixture of Ecstasy and vampire blood. Feeling a little overwhelmed, Edgar seeks the help of his brother Alan (Jamison Newlander). Achieving the perfect combination between humour and gore, we say: bring on the fourth Lost Boys!