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What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 06:30:00 -0700

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 titles below, Guy Ritchie's Revolver and Southland Tales starring Justin Timberlake, The Rock, and Sarah Michelle Gellar are also available today.

Enchanted
Is it just me or does it feel like we've been waiting for this movie to come out on DVD for forever? Enchanted is a treat for anyone who grew up loving those good old-fashioned animated Disney films (remember life before Pixar?). I truly enjoyed this trip down Disney Memory Lane and I know a lot of you did, too. The movie, starring Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, Susan Sarandon, and James Marsden is a wonderfully fun twist on the classic princess tale.

The story centers around Giselle (Adams), an amalgamation of Disney heroines from the days of yore who lives in a land called Andalasia. Giselle's chief concerns are marrying Prince Edward (Marsden), singing, and dancing with forest creatures. Edward's stepmother (Sarandon) is unhappy with Gisele and Edward's relationship, and she uses her evil magic to boot Giselle out of the animated world and into real-world Times Square. Once there, Giselle's simple, optimistic outlook on life is challenged by a force much darker and more cynical than any evil witch: a New York divorce attorney (Dempsey).

This DVD comes with lots of special featurettes including bloopers, a glimpse behind the creation of Andalasia, and extra shorts about Pip's (Giselle's trusty chipmunk friend) adventures.

More romance and adventure coming out this week, so read more.

I am Legend
I Am Legend was hit or miss with folks when it came out, but now that it's on DVD it's the kind of movie that will do the trick if you're looking to kick back and be entertained by some action. Plus, it's Will Smith and he's always good entertainment.

The film is based on Richard Matheson's 1954 sci-fi novel and follows Robert Neville (Smith), one of the few people who survives a virus that nearly renders humanity extinct. Robert's not alone however, there is another group of people, the infecteds, who have turned into "the night seekers." These scary things are like vampires/zombies that go around at night trying to infect surviving humans. Robert, a scientist, is working hard to find a cure for the disease before the creepies can get him. Thus, this sci-fi thriller takes you through a suspenseful race against time.

Special features include four animated comics as well as bonus material "exploring the history and current status of life-threatening viral infections."

Love in the Time of Cholera
I'm a big fan of Gabriel García Márquez’s wonderful 1985 novel Love in the Time of Cholera, as are many, but when I heard it was being adapted to film I had a hard time figuring out how that would work. In the book, plot isn't necessarily the driving force so much as the long, gorgeous sentences and the poetic feeling of the exquisite torture of longing for something you love. Like many, this film slipped off my radar and I still haven't been able to see this story brought to life onscreen.

I'm adding this to my queue partly out of curiosity, but also because the Oscar-winning super dreamy Javier Bardem stars as Florentino Ariza, a young man who falls hard (seriously, he loves her forever) for Fermina Daza (played by Giovanna Mezzogiorno). The film is directed by Mike Newell (Donnie Brasco, Four Weddings and Funeral) and was filmed in Columbia. Add it all up and this is one romantic drama I'm excited to get lost in at home.

Movie Preview: Love in the Time of Cholera

BuzzSugar — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:30:17 -0700

This trailer for the film adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's classic novel Love in the Time of Cholera is high in lush colors and meaningful looks, but low in most anything else. I also think this is one example of a voiceover nearly ruining a trailer. I don't think I need the deep, husky voice telling me this is "the greatest love story... ever told." I get it, I get it, now show me some drama and romance!

The story takes place in South America and follows the undying, lifelong love Fiorentino Ariza has for Fermina Daza. At the end of the trailer we find that the movie will feature songs by Shakira, some of which you can hear now at the movie's official MySpace page. I'm kind of digging "Pienso en Ti," a mournful, passionate tune. Love opens November 16. To check out the movie's trailer and then let me know what you think, read more

Photo courtesy of New Line

Fall Movie Preview: The Period Pieces

BuzzSugar — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 07:30:00 -0700

We may not be getting the crisp fall weather just yet, but we are getting previews for tons of movies opening in the fall. In preparation for this autumn and winter at the theaters, I've broken up the lengthy list of upcoming movies into many small themes for my Fall Movie Preview series. This way, you'll be in the know when the chillier months roll around, bringing a whole new crop of new films. For today's preview, let's go back in time and check out some of the period pieces coming to a theater near you.

Silk
One of the two period movies coming out this fall that stars Keira Knightley, Silk tells the story of "a married silkworm merchant-turned-smuggler [Michael Pitt] in 19th century France traveling to Japan for his town's supply of silkworms after a disease wipes out their African supply. During his stay in Japan, he becomes obsessed with the concubine of a local baron." Knightley plays the silkworm merchant's wife Helene. This film looks like it will be beautiful, and as it also stars Alfred Molina I'm already on board to see it when it comes out September 14.

More great period pieces coming out this fall, so read more

Lust, Caution
Ang Lee's follow-up project to his critically successful Brokeback Mountain is the much anticipated thriller Lust, Caution. This time he's trading in the lovestruck cowboys for lovestruck spies in post-WWII Shanghai. In the movie, "a young woman, Wang Jiazhi (Tang Wei), gets swept up in a dangerous game of emotional intrigue with a powerful political figure, Mr. Yee (Tony Leung)." From the trailer it seems that Lee continues to be a master of visual storytelling, every lush frame evoking passion, fear and sensuality without anyone saying a word. I'll be in line to see this one when it opens September 28.

Love in the Time of Cholera
Based on the beloved novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera follows "a love triangle set in turn-of-the-century South America, where two lovers wait out careers, marriages, affairs and deaths until they can reunite." There's an interesting cast attached to this one, which includes John Leguizamo, Liev Schreiber, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Javier Bardem and Benjamin Bratt. Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) directs. I'm surprised it took this long for the book to be adapted, but now that it has been, I'll be curious to see how it's done. Love in the Time of Cholera opens November 16.

Atonement
I couldn't resist posting the trailer for Atonement recently because the cast is just so darn attractive. Also, it looks like a successful and gorgeous WWII romantic drama. Keira Knightley and the beautiful James McAvoy star as lovers whose affair is interrupted when the young Briony (Saoirse Ronan, who is also in another movie this fall, and is set to play Susie in Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Lovely Bones) makes a false accusation. If you haven't yet watched the lovely trailer, I suggest you do so before Atonement opens December 7 in the U.S. (or September 7 in the U.K.). Also, check out the Ian McEwan novel on which the movie is based.

Silk and Love photos source
Lust and Atonement photos source