What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:29:57 PST

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to these titles, you can also check out the indie comedy Smiley Face, starring John Krasinski and Anna Faris.

3:10 to Yuma
This remake of the classic 1957 Glen Ford Western is a fine example of how to make a Western film that will be palatable to modern audiences. There's action and intrigue, danger and betrayal, with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe providing solid performances.

The film takes place in late-1800s Arizona where struggling rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) finds himself in the presence of famed outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crowe), and with the promise of a sizable reward, Dan agrees to help deliver Ben to the 3:10 PM train that will take him to the Yuma prison. Yet Ben's men are hot on Dan's trail, and the stakes get even higher when Dan's son William joins the group, trying to help his father get Ben on that train.

Special features on the DVD include a making-of documentary, audio commentary with director James Mangold, a featurette on the history of Western film and a featurette on the role of real-life outlaws in the history of the Old West.

Two more new titles, so

read more. Eagle vs. Shark One of the year's sweetest and most offbeat love stories, Eagle vs. Shark also gets credit for introducing me to Jemaine Clement, the drolly hilarious New Zealander who took TV by storm in Flight of the Conchords this summer. In Eagle vs. Shark, Clement plays Jarrod, a lovable loser who doesn't know he's a loser - and who's bent on exacting revenge on a high school rival. Things get complicated when he meets Lily (Loren Horsley), a gawky oddball who doesn't quite know how to deal with Jarrod's self-important quest. To check out my full review of the movie, along with a trailer, click here.
Sunshine A favorite among sci-fi enthusiasts, Sunshine follows a spaceship crew (which includes Cillian Murphy and Damages' Rose Byrne) in the year 2057 who have been tasked with reigniting the dying sun. The DVD features plenty of extras, like an audio commentary by director Danny Boyle as well as an audio commentary by physicist Dr. Brian Cox. There are also deleted scenes, an alternate ending and cast interviews.

Eagle vs. Shark: Sweet, Nerdy Love

BuzzSugar — Mon, 07 May 2007 16:00:10 PDT

If Eagle vs. Shark doesn't take over Napoleon Dynamite's position at the top of the nerd-core film canon, it will be a shame. The movie, which will be released in select cities June 15, is a pitch-perfect, poignant and often hilarious look at love between two socially awkward misfits. I saw the film over the weekend at a sold-out screening at the San Francisco International Film Festival, and it truly was a movie where I both laughed and cried - often simultaneously.

The film, developed at the Sundance Institute by Oscar-nominated New Zealand writer-director Taika Waititi, focuses on Lily, a well-meaning but gawky oddball, and Jarrod, a lovable loser who doesn't know he's uncool. They connect at Jarrod's "come as your favorite animal" party, and she ends up tagging along on a trip to his hometown, where he plans to exact some ninja-style revenge on his high school nemesis. There, she meets his unsurprisingly dysfunctional family (swindling siblings, emotionally withdrawn father, child who could give Abigail Breslin's Little Miss Sunshine a run for her money) and tries to navigate her new relationship with a guy who thinks he's much more important than he is. To hear more about the film and watch the trailer,

read more Eagle vs. Shark isn't a movie that will overwhelm you with dialogue, but what's there is spot-on. When Jarrod leaves a phone message for his nemesis saying "justice is waiting" and the message-taker mishears "justice" as "Justin," well, that's just the kind of thing that would happen to Jarrod. And when Lily responds to Jarrod's "Do you want to kiss?" with a simple "yup," it somehow feels like the height of romance. The soundtrack of fuzzy indie rock and adorable (if twee) animated interludes centering on a pair of rotten apples fit Eagle vs. Shark perfectly, but in the end, the movie belongs to Jarrod and Lily. Their occasionally frustrating but always big-hearted love story is something that anyone who's ever felt lonely and underappreciated will understand. Photo courtesy of Miramax