I lucked out to a certain extent with this first set of recommendations. There are plenty of new releases in theaters this week that look like they are worth watching. But on the flip side the DVD releases are particularly sparse. Plenty of big name releases like I am Legend, Enchanted and Atonement with a few other studio failures sprinkled in for good measure, but not much else.
So you must be thinking that this idea of DVD recommendations is already a failure, but you would be wrong. I’ve actually got a pretty good under-the-radar selection. You see a few weeks ago I took a gig writing DVD reviews for UGO.com and they were kind enough to dump several direct-to-DVD films on me to serve as an introduction. And while the majority of them were outright terrible, their was one that actually had its moments, a little revenge film called Rockaway.
It has a very simple premise, a soldier stationed in Afghanistan is sent home after his wife and child are brutally murdered in a gangland slaying. Vowing revenge he proceeds to make his way through the ranks trying to find the men who gave the order and carried out the murder. It is violent and at times ridiculous, but the acting is more then passable and some interesting characters emerge during the film. It even finds a way of turning a ridiculous plot twist into a fairly believable resolution. Now I’m not saying run out and buy Rockaway, but if you want a pop corn flick for an evening alone you can find plenty worse films to rent.
As for theatrical new releases I have three very different films to recommend. First up is Doomsday. An over the top action film from director Neil Marshall. If you have seen his last film The Descent you probably know why his next film should be must viewing. Doomsday probably won’t be as great of a movie as The Descent was, but it looks to be rip roaring fun.
Next is a smaller art film called Chicago 10. Based on the transcripts from the infamous trial of the Chicago 7, Chicago 10 uses live footage from telecasts as well as rotoscoped animation for the trial reenactment. It looks to be a fascinating look at one of the worst moments in US legal history.
But the one film that I highly recommend is the film you as a viewer are most likely to hate, and that is Michael Haneke’s remake of his brilliant 1997 film Funny Games. Slightly updating the film and making the family focused on American rather then German, Funny Games is a near shot for shot remake of his original film. It is a film that is brutally violent, sadistic and cruel. It also manages to denounce audiences that watch that sort of film, creating a remarkably hostile environment between the theater goer and the film itself. This movie will insult you, but more importantly it challenges you, which is what makes this a great, if entirely cruel, film.
Need more convincing? I have trailers for you after the break. Word of warning, the Rockaway trailer is not safe for work.
Rockaway Trailer
Doomsday Trailer
Chicago 10 Trailer
Funny Games Trailer
Tags: Chicago 10, Doomsday, Funny Games, Movies, Previews, Rockaway, Trailers
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March 14th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Yikes, Doomsday is getting panned so far. A couple of quotes:
“Doomsday is a mess of lousy filmmaking and unrelenting artistic bankruptcy, smashed together to form an ear-splitting, overcooked, awfully irritating shell of an experience.”
“Has Neil Marshall been studying under Paul W.S. Anderson?”
Harsh. I’ll have to see for myself, I reckon.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:15 am
I have complete and total faith in Neil Marshall. Critics are idiots.
March 14th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Touche. But a comparison to Paul W.S. Anderson is always frightening.
If anything though, I have faith in Bob Hoskins.
March 14th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
I am so looking forward to Funny Games. I saw the original a couple of months back, and have since then spent to much time hunting down some more Haneke films. The one thing I don’t get is all the hate that is being directed at this remake. Why does it matter if Haneke does a shot by shot remake. Those cineaphiles that saw the original movie aren’t the target market are they. Funny Games remade for the English mainstream market will mostly get new people that wouldn’t normally go out of their way to see a foreign language film. I personally am eager to see just how close of a shot by shot remake Haneke films. It could evolve into a drinking game. One shot for every inconsistancy.
March 15th, 2008 at 6:19 am
Mortal Kombat was not genius???
March 15th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Haneke is a huge Hitchcock fan so it really shouldn’t be surprising that he is doing a remake of one of his own films, as Hitchcock did with The Man Who Knew Too Much. And you would think people would recognize that he is doing a shot-for-shot remake because he knows the first film was great, he simply wants to lecture American audiences. I’m not sure if their is a better movie to watch with a packed house then Funny Games, yet it will probably never happen.
And the hits keep on coming for Doomsday:
“Neil Marshall cobbles together his third feature, in the manner of a junk-food glutton topping a pizza with French onion dip, ice cream, and four bags of Cool Ranch Doritos.”
And that is somehow a negative review. Sounds awesome to me.