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What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:30:59 -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. Besides the movies below, you can also find the Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal soccer charmer Rudo y Cursi, as well as TV shows Californication: Season 2 and House: Season 5.

Adventureland
This nostalgic coming-of-age comedy stars Jesse Eisenberg and angsty starlet-du-jour Kristen Stewart as co-workers and romantic prospects in an '80s-era theme park.
I loved director Greg Mottola's tender depiction of a frustrating but hopeful time in one guy's life. It's got more heart than the director's previous effort, Superbad, but just as many laughs.
The DVD extras include deleted scenes, a making-of featurette, cast commentary, and a feature music selection that lets you select scenes by picking the soundtrack song.

88%

Check out two other comedies out on DVD today when you read more.

Sunshine Cleaning
Fans of Amy Adams and Emily Blunt will be into Sunshine Cleaning, a dark comedy about two down-on-their-luck sisters who find success in cleaning up gruesome crime scenes. I drew some parallels to earlier indie comedy Little Miss Sunshine when I reviewed it (blame the van and Alan Arkin), and like its predecessor, there's a certain lightness in the bleak world of the featured profession.
Extras on the DVD include not just the usual commentary, but also a mini-documentary on real-life crime scene tidiers.

73%

Duplicity
Gorgeous actors Clive Owen and Julia Roberts reteam in this slick comedic caper, light years away from their prickly married couple in Closer.
I appreciated the scenery, but not necessarily the plot - it was a bit too twisty, to the point of unevenness. Still, you'll enjoy the two leads here if you're not too exasperated by the hairpin storyline.

65%

Sunshine Cleaning: A Cloudy Comedy

BuzzSugar — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 07:30:45 -0700

Critics may draw comparisons between this year's Sunshine Cleaning and 2007 Best Picture nominee Little Miss Sunshine. Both were Sundance darlings, both star the wonderful Alan Arkin, and both have optimistic-sounding titles. And despite each film's light-bright disposition, both skew closer to comedy of the darker sort. This intriguing juxtaposition worked quite well for Little Miss Sunshine, and, to a slightly lesser extent, it works for Sunshine Cleaning, too.

The off-kilter premise is what first drew me to the movie when I previewed it for last year's Sundance Film Festival. I loved that the film focuses on the dirty and demeaning task of cleaning up crime scenes, yet didn't seem as gloomy as the description suggested. By the time I saw the trailer, it was clear: No CSI confusion here. Luckily the film delighted me as much as I had hoped, mostly because the two lead actresses, Amy Adams and Emily Blunt, are so compelling to watch.

To hear a little bit more about the plot and what else I liked, read more

In the lead, Amy Adams is Rose Lorkowski, a former hot-shot high school cheerleader who has settled into a low-paying career of cleaning houses. Emily Blunt plays her sister Norah, who, as a failed waitress, is even more down on her luck than Rose. It seems that the strapped-for-cash sisters may have inherited a touch of fiscal bad luck from their father Joe (Alan Arkin) who is constantly searching for ways to get rich quick. And while Rose disapproves of her father's shenanigans, she, too, finds herself scheming to pay for her son's pricey private school.

Enter Sunshine Cleaning, a biohazard removal service that Rose starts with her sister when she discovers that the field is rather lucrative. What follows are oddly hilarious scenes of Rose and Norah learning the ropes of the business and navigating the truly messy world of crime scene clean-up. Picking up chunks of brain matter and bleaching out blood stains sounds like your typical horror fare, but in the hands of these two ladies, there is a sense of down-iness that comes from their "we're in this together" camaraderie.

Despite the more comical moments, there are touches of genuine grief, especially when we hear about the suicide of Rose and Norah's mother, and view some of the sisters' failed relationships (Steve Zahn and Mary Lynn Rajskub are lovely in their respective supporting roles). These parts add a melody to a movie that could otherwise be somewhat one-note.

Bottom Line: The film doesn't reach the fever-pitch fun that Little Miss has at the end, but it's still a worthwhile journey, especially if you're a fan of Blunt or Adams.

Photo courtesy of Big Beach Films

Movie Preview: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt in Sunshine Cleaning

BuzzSugar — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:44:03 -0700

"Turns out it's against the law to throw biohazards in the dumpster. Who knew?"

Emily Blunt's character, Norah, dryly says this in the preview for Sunshine Cleaning, a little indie movie from this year's Sundance that finds two sisters starting up a "biohazard removal/crime scene clean-up service." One of the sisters (Amy Adams) is a single mom who needs to earn money to send her son to a new school. From the trailer, the movie seems strange, dark and funny, a little like Six Feet Under but with the innocent sweetness of Amy Adams.

There's still no actual release date for the film, though apparently it'll open sometime this year. To check out the trailer, read more.

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Sundance Spotlight: Sunshine Cleaning

BuzzSugar — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 08:30:00 -0800

I am so thrilled to go to Sundance this year, and I can't wait to see as many movies as possible while I'm out there! For the next few days I'll be highlighting some of the films I'm most curious to see. Today's spotlight: Sunshine Cleaning.

Wait a minute - is this the award-nominated Amy Adams and Emily Blunt? Why, yes, yes it is! Sunshine Cleaning stars these two talented ladies, along with Steve Zhan, Alan Arkin and Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe from 24). To see what the story's about, read more.

The plot description reads, "In order to raise the tuition to send her young son to private school, a mom starts an unusual business - a biohazard removal/crime scene clean-up service - with her unreliable sister." Not sure which actress plays which sister, but Zahn plays a married police officer having an affair with Rose (Adams), and Rajskub plays a technician for a blood bank who is the object of Blunt's sexual obsession.

Wow, crime scenes, extramarital affairs, sexy blood bank technicians - and it's a comedy! Totally can't wait for this one.

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