BuzzSugar

What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 08:30:35 -0800

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 the selections below, you can also add Kevin Costner's Swing Vote to your queue.

Brideshead Revisited
Here's a movie I never got around to seeing in '08, which makes it my favorite kind of new DVD release! This lavishly costumed period drama starring the wonderful Emma Thompson sort of gives me an Atonement vibe except it didn't get nearly as much critical or box office attention.

Based on the bestselling novel, the movie follows "the memoirs of Captain Charles Ryder who is stationed at Brideshead Castle during WWII and remembers his involvement with the owners of the Brideshead estate: The aristocratic yet Catholic Flyte family and in particular brother and sister Sebastian and Julia."

Special features include deleted scenes, filmmakers' audio commentary, and a segment titled "The World of Brideshead."

Two more up next, so read more.

Appaloosa
I enjoy a Western every now and again and Appaloosa, directed by and starring Ed Harris, is a good one. Harris plays Virgil Cole, a man who, along with his partner Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen), makes a living off the lawless frontier by helping out towns overrun with criminal activity. Things get complicated when a gal (Renee Zellweger) appears right as they're in the middle of sweeping the bad guys out of town.

It's a good-looking, sometimes funny movie with some great acting and, of course, shoot-em-ups. I recommend bringing this one home.

Special features include additional scenes and commentary by Harris and screenwriter/producer Robert Knott.

Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys
This recent Tyler Perry flick has a large and impressive ensemble cast that includes Kathy Bates, Sanaa Lathan, Alfre Woodard, Rockmond Dunbar and Benjamin Button's Taraji P. Henson. Like other Perry movies, The Family That Preys looks to be heavy on the familial melodrama that, according to Netflix, centers on "a pair of friends - wealthy socialite Charlotte (Academy Award winner Kathy Bates) and working-class Alice (Alfre Woodard) - whose families stand to be ripped apart by greed and scandal."

DVD extras include special featurettes titled "Two Families, Two Legends," "Preying in the Big Easy," "Casting the Family," and "Delving Into the Diner."

Appaloosa: Solid Entertainment But Could Have Been More

BuzzSugar — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:33:32 -0700

Appaloosa is a totally passable and - to my surprise - fun (and funny) Western movie. I'm amazed Ed Harris, the star/director/co-writer of the film, hasn't played more gunslingers, because his face was built for it. Under the shadow of a wide-brimmed hat, his skin looks believably weathered and creased, his bone structure sturdy and chiseled. By contrast, Harris's costar, Viggo Mortensen, is not what I think of when I think "cowboy." He's long and lean and hardly recognizable under a strange (but probably historically accurate) haircut and facial hair. His character drags around one of those giant long-barreled shotguns as opposed to expertly twirling a smaller one out of his holster.

The pair make a fine acting duo; they have an easy chemistry I could watch all night long. Beyond that, Appaloosa tells a well-thought-out story. But unlike Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven or last year's remake of 3:10 to Yuma, there is no new cinematic ground being broken here. For the most part, it's simply a traditional Western, which - depending on your outlook - can either be a great way to spend a night at the movies or a teensy bit disappointing. To see what I mean, just read more.

Harris plays Virgil Cole, a man who makes a living off the lawless frontier by helping out towns overrun with criminal activity. When we first meet Virgil and his deputy, Everett Hitch (Mortensen), it's clear the two men have known each other for a while; they're the Old West dude-equivalent of BFFs. They can read each other's body language, complete each other's sentences, and are committed to having each other's backs. It's touching and pretty cute without ever being silly. Not even the charms of a new gal in town, Allie French (Renee Zellweger), can shake up the loyalty between the friends.

They arrive in Appaloosa, New Mexico, at the request of the business leaders there to help rid the town of a criminal menace named Randall Bragg (played by Jeremy Irons, sporting a strange American accent). Irons plays evil eloquently, and it suits his character well, but it's hard to get over seeing him in cowboy boots in this dusty town. Physically, he doesn't move like the others; it's hard to tell if this is inspired casting or just weird. Anyway, Virgil, in order to get the job done, declares himself the top law dog, and from there the stage is set for a showdown of some sort in a coral.

To Harris's credit, what could have been a totally predicable movie is not. Zellweger's Allie is one of the most interesting, complicated female characters I've seen in the genre, and just when you think you know the outcome of a given scene, the plot twists and turns in unexpected ways. To that end, it's a great ride. On the negative side, lots of little moments wrapped up in those twists are never really explored or given much weight. There's a moment near the beginning when all the fun cowboy stuff abruptly ends and Harris's character beats the crap out of someone for no good reason. We've warmed up to the guy only to learn he's a live wire with an ambiguous sense of justice. It's intriguing but glossed over. Digging in to his psyche is the kind of thing that could have made this movie great, but as it is, it's just a darn good story come to life by darn good actors.

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Movie Preview: Appaloosa

BuzzSugar — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:30:25 -0700

Appaloosa hasn't really been on my radar since the casting news was first announced over a year ago, which I find odd, especially since it stars some pretty big names, is directed by Ed Harris, and looks all Western epic-y. By contrast, we've had to see every new photo and poster and trailer for Australia as that film has been in production - and that one's coming out two months after this one. So, I find the lack of Appaloosa awareness to be strange.

Then again, the trailer's not totally fascinating. It's a dusty, dramatic Western. There are manly men (Viggo Mortensen, Ed Harris, Jeremy Irons) and guns and a brief flash or two of a woman's face (Renee Zellweger). The plot description states, "Two friends hired to police a small town that is suffering under the rule of a rancher find their job complicated by the arrival of a young widow."

My favorite thing is the tagline on the movie's official website: "Feelings get you killed."

Is the fact that we haven't heard much about this a bad thing? Not necessarily. But I'm still a little puzzled. Appaloosa opens in limited release Sept. 17 before its wide release Oct. 3. To check out the trailer, read more.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Renee Zellweger, Viggo Mortensen Headline Western

BuzzSugar — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 15:19:37 -0700

The news:
Renee Zellweger and Viggo Mortensen will star in Appaloosa, a Western based on a Robert B. Parker novel. Ed Harris will direct and also star.

Here's the story:
According to Variety, the film centers on "a pair of friends hired to protect a lawless town suffering at the hands of a renegade rancher. The arrival of an attractive widow disrupts their plans." I'm guessing Zellweger is the attractive widow.

What I like:
I have a soft spot for Ed Harris, and I'm glad to see him back behind the camera; the other feature he directed, Pollock, was a pretty impressive film that won Marcia Gay Harden an Oscar. Harris and Mortensen also shared the screen well in A History of Violence.

What I'm not sure of:
I actually loved Zellweger's Oscar-winning performance as the scrappy Ruby in Cold Mountain; it was probably my favorite thing about that movie, as well as one of my favorite Zellweger roles ever. I just hope she doesn't just turn the dial back to "spunky Westerner" and give the same performance again this time.

Source