Dec & Jan DVD Releases
Posted on December 1, 2013 by bob in DVD
DECEMBER RELEASES
Fast & Furious 6 (PG-13)
The cars, crew and cast are back for yet another mind-numbing, adrenaline-overloading series of chases, crashes fights and explosions. If you’ve liked one or more of the first five, you’ll be satisfied with this one. Newcomers will not feel particularly out of the loop, since the backstories are easy enough to catch during the previews from any nearby franchise fan in the audience.
The Rock, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and company reunite for another critical mission. This time the stakes are higher (duh), with world peace up for grabs at the hands of a supersoldier’s malevolent team, rather than the level of crooks and drug lords they’ve opposed before. The gang is straying into James Bond territory, both for villainy levels, and by staging most of the mayhem in London and other parts of Europe.
The action is first-rate and plentiful, though some scenes were either too choppily edited to follow, or I’m getting too old for the video-game pace of such flicks. Macho humor among the characters still works during and between the physical stuff.
The Wolverine (PG-13)
For most, if not all, fans of the misunderstood, evil-fighting mutants known collectively as the X-Men (even though many of them are women), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is the favorite. So why not give him his own vehicle? We meet him in his civilian Logan persona, hiding from painful memories of his violent past in the Alaskan boonies. He’s living so deep into the woods that Sarah Palin couldn’t see his cabin from her porch. But foxy warrior Yukio (Rila Fukushima) tracks him down to bring him to Tokyo.
An enemy soldier he saved in WW II during the Nagasaki bombing is dying, and wants to say goodbye. Well, not quite. Fans of the comic book and movie franchise will be quite satisfied, especially since they will better appreciate the nightmares and flashbacks that drove Wolverine into seclusion – particularly his agonizing over the loss of his beloved Jean Grey (Famke Janssen). Who wouldn’t?
Compared to recent soulless epics like Pacific Rim with little regard for plot cohesion or character development, the protracted moping and talking in this one are relatively forgivable. Better to overdo the backstories than to leave us trying to care about caricatures amid the carnage.
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (PG)
This is the second feature film based on a series of popular fantasy novels for young adults. It chronicles adventures of a contemporary teen who happens to be the son of the Greek Sea God Poseidon and a mortal mom. In this round, Percy lives with fellow half-bloods in a magically-protected camp, because evil lurks without. He’s the most important because his dad outranks the other fathers of such offspring. When the barrier is breached, this quest begins, leading to a showdown with the biggest and baddest their mythology offers.
Compared to the Harry Potter phenomenon, it’s hard to imagine a mediocre movie like this boosting the print franchise to the same extent. Granted, big-budget pix make Greek mythology more accessible and retainable than a typical class curriculum, but the script is lame, illogical and tedious.
There are few moments of excitement or suspense. Actually, since this overlaps thematically with the two recent Titans flicks (Clash of and Wrath of), it winds up making them look better by comparison. Once again the gods of cinema were seemingly dazzled by the CG and other f/x powers they could deploy, leaving the screenplay and casting to lesser beings.
JANUARY RELEASES
The Spectacular Now (R)
In most teenage romances, whether comedies or otherwise, whenever the flawed popular boy becomes surprisingly involved with a girl from the other end of the social order, he invariably learns Valuable Lessons making him a better person; and she ends the film prettier, happier and more fulfilled than anyone in their school could have imagined. This dramedy admirably steers clear of convention, giving us a shot at a more realistic view of teen angst – romantic and familial – with Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley showcasing bright acting futures in the lead roles.
Teller, resembling a young John Cusack, plays a good-time Charlie. He’s obviously bright, but puts all his energy into drinking and clowning. He’s a Peter Pan, fixated on a carpe diem approach to life. In their senior year, his teen-queen girlfriend finally dumps him in search of a guy who offers an adult future. He doesn’t even understand the problem. After passing out from a night’s drunken revels, he awakens in Woodley’s yard, with no idea how he got there, and only a vague idea of who she is. They start spending time together. Will they become friends, or more? Will anything between them be real, or just a rebound? Without covering the plot too specifically, the film’s tone is far more dramatic than romantic. Teller has many devils to purge which may or may not lead to a combined future for the couple. Several scenes are quite effective; other aspects of the story seem more contrived, if not overly convenient. The net result is intriguing, but well short of profound.
Thanks for Sharing ***½ (R)
This dramedy, with more emphasis on the serious side, offers some insights into sex addiction and methods of dealing with it. Despite the subject matter, there’s very little titillation or voyeuristic content. Mark Ruffalo, Tim Robbins and Josh Gad are the main characters dealing with that (and some other types of addiction) through 12-step programs. They’re in various stages of admitting to and coping with their problems. We also see how the disease affects those around them at work, in their families and in all facets of life.
The fine ensemble cast notably includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Joely Richardson and singer Pink, in a solid dramatic live-action feature debut. I have no idea how realistic any of this may be. Some consider sex addiction less of a medical/psychological illness than a personality weakness, compared to the chemical varieties. This film makes a compelling presentation for the legitimacy of that as a diagnosis – at least in appropriate cases. The script gives us a seemingly honest look into several lives without sugar-coating or idealizing the characters or any solutions. The last five minutes may seem a bit overly florid, but at least co-writer and director Stuart Blumberg delivers a sensibly non-Hollywood ending.
Closed Circuit (R)
Conspiracy theorists can go bananas with speculation over the extent to which this espionage-themed thriller from England reflects THE TRUTH. A truck bomb kills 120 people in London. An anonymous tip leads to the location where the bomb was assembled and loaded, followed shortly by the arrest of a Turkish immigrant who’d leased that space. He claims to have sublet it to one of the terrorists killed in the explosion, knowing nothing of its contents or their plans. Two lawyers are appointed to defend him, due to special national-security procedures used for such cases.
One lawyer will defend him in the standard criminal system. But since the Government claims part of its evidence is too sensitive for public disclosure, a second lawyer handles his interests in a closed hearing before a special judge to argue for discovery if any of that intelligence might aid the main defense, thus determining how the open trial can proceed. The two lawyers may not communicate with each other – especially after the after the second one sees the secret material. Rebecca Hall plays the secret half of the team.
The first public defender is replaced by Eric Bana, after an apparent suicide. Keeping up with the plot requires quite an effort between the legal procedures and the spy side of the story. The script arguably includes too many sidebars and subplots for the kind of taut thriller we’ve savored in films like Munich or Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Mercifully, the two lawyers don’t turn into action heroes while scrambling through the web of obstacles and deception, maintaining some sense of grounding in a credible cinematic reality. Ciaran Hinds, Julia Stiles and Jim Broadbent anchor a deep, talented supporting cast to fine effect in this better-than-average political thriller.
Mark Glass is an officer and director of the St. Louis Film Critics Association.
