Welcome to our November 2007 DVD reviews & video reviews.
Home video is exploding these days because of one thing:
High Definition Digital Television. The high definition video disc format wars are over, and that should mean an
ever-increasing number of titles in the new Blu-Ray format. We hope you enjoy this archive of our
DVD reviews & home video reviews archive for November, 2007.
Its a theme park ride for kids as brainy young Lewis invents a machine that
can show your memories on a TV screen. Lewis is an orphan who desparately
wants to reconnect with his parents, and the dream machine gives him a glimpse
of his mother. But there's trouble brewing. According to this slightly odd
older kid named Wilbur Robinson, there's fiendish villain from the
future is out to steal Lewis' invention. Wilbur takes Lewis with him back to the
future to try to save him and his dream machine.
Disney's latest CGI animated feature is a great relief to fans of animation.
If you're a parent, you can always rely on Disney to provide a pretty good show
for your kids. But if you're... well... a mature fan like me, you've seen a
string of disappointing outings in the last ten years that have included a string
of disappointing direct-to-video sequels of the classics, puncuated by the really
awful Chicken Little. But "Meet The Robinsons" shows there's still some flicker
of creativity left at Disney Feature Animation. Its a poignant story that will
truly entertain your entire family.
Nicholas Cage takes an Indiana Jones-style adventure in this fun-filled action
movie. As treasure-seeking Benjamin Franklin Gates, he discovers a clue to a
treasure of the ancient cult of the Knights Templar that leads him to believe
there's another clue hidden in the original copy of The Declaration of Independence
stored in the National Archives in Washington DC. To get at it, he enlists the
help of his estranged father, played largely numbly by Jon Voight, and a cast of
treasure seekers. The fly in the ointment - besides the fact that The National
Archives tend to be rather parochial about the documents in their care - is a
beautiful young archivist Cage tries to persuade to allow him to examine The
Declaration. At heart, its simply a bank caper flick with car chases and intrigue around
every corner, but its a great evening's entertainment.
Based on a Stephen King story, 1408 is an eerie tale of Mike Enslin who writes
travel guides to haunted houses. We see that in spite of his occupation, he has
a healthy level of skepticism about the supernatural. One day he receives a
postcard inviting him to explore room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel. When he arrives
and asks about room 1408, he's told its unavailable. When he insists, the hotel
manager, played by Samuel L. Jackson, tells him the whole story of how so many
people died after staying in that room, that the hotel no longer rents it out.
But Eslin is undeterred and does indeed check in to room 1408 and eventually
finds himself trapped in a house of horrors.
John Cusack is one of my favorite actors. He never fails to throw himself completely
into every character he takes on, and his often quirky choices of scripts just tickles
my funny bone. Although I suspect he took on this role more for his bank account than
any other reason, it hardly matters. 1408 is a truly scary film that will keep you
guessing until the very end.
Never a fan of the animated TV series, I came to this live-action "Transformers" as a toy-loving aging Baby
Boomer willing to give the show a try. I came away disappointed. It was a predictable
plot about a young male misfit who finds himself engulfed in a war between dueling bands of
robots - the Autobots (the good guys) and the Decepticons (take a guess). Lots of CGI
explosions and non-stop mayhem, but little to engage the newcomer. Fans of the TV show have
had a generally positive response to this movie, so take that into consideration. But its
unlikely that any newcomer will be swept up in Transformer Fever by this film.
Kevin Costner is a business tycoon in Portland with an unusual addiction - murder. Obviously,
he's been as much of a success in his secret life as he has been in his public persona since
he's not in jail. That is, until he's seen doing the deed one dark and stormy night. The
young man in question approaches Costner, blackmailing him into teaching him about committing
perfect murders.
Dark and often grisly, Mr. Brooks shows us people we don't want to know, much less like. We're
drawn into a certain level of sympathy for Brooks/Costner who is being haunted by a ghostly alter ego
figure, deftly portrayed by William Hurt. Its a throat-clutching film that dares to examine
the pleasure of violence. If you're looking for something off the beaten path, you'll find it
in Mr. Brooks.
Is there anyone cooler on the screen these days than George Clooney? Once again, Danny
Ocean is on the job with his crew of master crooks - Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle,
Bernie Mac, et al. This time, the gang is out to take their revenge on a hotel mogul played by
Al Pacinco who has cheated their pal Reuben Tishkoff (Elliot Gould) out of his share
in their new venture. The gang enlists their old nemisis Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia),
and several other characters. Like the first two films, the plot is really secondary to the
performances. As a fan of character actors, I just eat this stuff up. Carl Reiner still
has the chops for anything role you throw at him. Eddie Izzard, fresh off his recent
TV success with "The Riches", has an amusing little part. This is just a guaranteed
crowd-pleaser.
Michael Keaton, Chris O'Donnel and Alfred Molina star in this mini-series spy thriller about the early
days of the CIA, just after World War II when they evolved from the Army's Office of Special
Services (OSS) into a separate agency. The story begins with the agency recruiting bright young
men from Yale to be agents in the new organization. 3 new graduates and close friends, Jack McAuliffe
(Chris O'Donnell), Leo Kritzky (Alessandro Nivola), and Yevgeny Tsipin (Rory Cochrane), are each
recruited. The first two join the Agency, but Yevgeny goes the other way and becomes a mole for the
KGB.
Under the wing of his mentor, Harvey "The Sorcerer" Torriti (Alfred Molina), our hero Jack McAuliffe
is sent to find a leak in the Agency. The pair work in the backalleys of post-War Berlin to recruit
moles of their own in East Berlin. McAuliffe's contact there is a young ballerina whose grandfather
is a scientist whose motives are more anti-Russian than pro-West, but who is willing to pass on
information. The young girl is extremely suspicious of McAuliffe and insists on keeping her grandfather's
identity a secret, but the two young people are smitten with each other and eventually become lovers.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the top leaders at the Agency are desparately searching for the mole.
Michael Keaton plays James Angleton, a quiet, disdainful, arrogant man who is the head of
counter-intelligence and suspects everyone, has every member of the top staff under constant
survellience. As unlikeable as he is, Angleton is as quick-witted as he is scornful of others,
and comes to realize that the mole is one of his old friends. But the plot thickens as we
discover that there's another more deeply-buried mole named Sasha who eludes the first effective
sweep of the Agency and threatens to do even more damage.
"The Company" is a pot-boiler of the first order. The series plays out over three episodes, and
takes its time in developing the story, which includes some of the Agency's most imfamous blunders
in Hungary and Cuba. We see how these brave, zealous, and extremely bright men set out to do their
jobs with no holds barred. There are scenes of chilling torture and gripping suspence as McAuliffe
eventually teams with Angleton to ferret out the moles. Few movies or television series capture
the reality of these events as closely as we see here. Molina and Keaton give Emmy-worthy
performances, and Chris O'Donnel shows that he's not just another pretty face and is capable of
stirring portrayal of a young man who's torn between his allegiences to his friends, his country,
and his love.
The Web-Slinger is back for a third installment of the series. Young Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire)
decides to ask Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) to marry him, but there's trouble when the police inform
Peter and his Aunt that they believe they know who really killed his uncle. In the meantime,
Mary Jane's fledgling career on Broadway is crashing, and there's a new villain in town who can
morph himself into various shapes of sand. On top of that, Spidey's new black costume boosts
his powers, but it comes at a cost of his good nature (shades of The Dark Side!).
Like its predecessors, Spider-Man 3 is a rollicking special-effects bonanza. The story isn't
very cohesive, but fans of the series won't mind a bit as Tobey Maguire manages to keep
the human side of Spider-Man at the core of the character. Thomas Haden Church has a great
outing as the sand villain whose criminal background is at the center of the story of Peter's
quest for his uncle's killer. Just great fun!
Be sure to visit us again next month when we'll
review more entertaining and enlightening DVDs and home videos. Our
DVD reviews are written by our Editor, Richard L. Trethewey.
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