DVD Day: December 20th, 2011
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?? Warrior
If you’re wondering how Tom Hardy will handle his brawls with Batman in The Dark Knight Rises, this might be your best preview: a martial-arts drama about two estranged brothers competing in the same tournament. It’s also a critically lauded movie about redemption and family bonds, but…eh, I’m going with the Batman angle.
? Futurama Volume 6
The second half of Futurama’s sixth season, featuring such episodes as “All the Presidents’ Heads,” “Law & Oracle,” and the first character study of robot mobster Clamps. There’s also the gender-flipping story of “Neutopia,” which has nothing to do with the old TurboGrafx action-RPG of the same name.
? Columbiana
Luc Besson (Nikita, The Fifth Element) produced this movie instead of directing it, but it’s pretty his kinda movie: a vengeful, lethally trained woman tears shits up with firearms, martial arts, parkour, and anything else that looks stylish. One critic compared it to the MST3Ked classic Danger: Diabolik, and that’s a sterling recommendation if ever I heard one. The Blu-Ray also comes with a digital copy of Ultraviolet, or rather, a digital copy of the same film. Sorry, Ultraviolet fans.
? Straw Dogs
Sam Peckinpah’s vicious tale of revenge rattled a lot of people back in 1971, but this isn’t that movie. It’s director Rod Lurie’s remake, updated with a bunch of modern political subtext. At the very least, it’s something to argue over.
? Rosario + Vampire and Heaven’s Lost Property
If you want to convince someone that anime’s not all derivative crap, then buy Redline next month and show it to them. But if you want to reinforce every negative perception of Japan’s animated output, these two series stand ready to help you. Rosario + Vampire is an awful sex-comedy about a bland teenager who attends a school full of vampires and succubi and other creatures of the night. As for Heaven’s Lost Property, the borderline not-work-safe cover tells you all you need to know.
? Dolphin Tale
A
treacly little family film where a socially maladjusted boy’s summer is
brightened by dolphins and Harry Connick, Jr. I’ll give it credit for
not spelling its title Dolphin Tail.
