RoosterFlix DVD Picks for February 3rd

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Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)
dir. Kevin Smith

Most of Kevin Smith's recent work hasn't blown me away, but I still like him. I wasn't expecting a whole lot from this, but I ended up really enjoying it. It seems like Seth Rogen has been in every comedy made since 2004, and for good reason. He's a funny dude. He's completely overexposed, but I still get a kick out of him. Teamed with the hawwwwt Elizabeth Banks, they make a great (and pretty unlikely) screen couple. I'll definitely be watching this again.

Product Decsription:
Fans of writer/director Kevin Smith (auteur of Dogma and Chasing Amy) should run to see Zack and Miri Make a Porno--the adored filmmaker has clearly made this with his hardcore following in mind. Zack (Seth Rogen, Knocked Up) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks, Slither) are longtime friends and housemates who, after their power and water get shut off, turn to pornography to pay their bills. After assembling a cheerful and perhaps dimwitted cast and crew, the hapless pair launch into their cynical yet heartwarming scheme with enthusiasm, only to discover--spoiler alert!--that they have feelings for each other. Smith clearly wanted to make a sex comedy with heart, something in the vein of The 40 Year Old Virgin. Unfortunately, Zack and Miri Make a Porno combines the mawkish, formulaic sentimentality of Jersey Girl with the belabored, formulaic sex gags of Clerks II. For a movie that clearly hearkens back to Smith's own experiences making the beloved and archetypally cheap-and-dirty Clerks, Zack and Miri Make a Porno is sadly generic and predictable. But Smith's fanbase will appreciate that the movie has snarky jokes about science fiction, a good dose of bare breasts (and two actual porn stars, Traci Lords and Katie Morgan), and the schlubby guy/hot chick dynamic that drives a thousand sitcoms. --Bret Fetzer

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Madagascar - Escape 2 Africa (2008)
dir. Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath

I haven't seen the first Madagascar, so I'll wait until I do that to watch this one. No idea when that's going to be, though.

Product Decsription:
In 2008's MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA, the endearing New York City zoo animals of the original hit movie return for another zany round of CGI adventures abroad. Leaving the island of the title by way of a ramshackle penguin-designed aircraft, the quartet of Alex the Lion (voiced by Ben Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), and Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer), along with unlikely friends such as King Julien the Lemur (Sacha Baron Cohen), crash-land on the African savannah, setting in motion a whole new series of exploits, involving Alex's long-lost parents (Bernie Mac and Sherri Shepherd) and a stranded group of tenacious NYC human tourists.
Reuniting directors Tom McGrath and Eric Darnell, as well as all the principal cast members of the first film, MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA takes full advantage of its sweeping setting, making room for beautifully expansive landscapes amidst the mammal mayhem. While the leads are in fine form, they are ably assisted by series newcomers, including the late Mac, Shepherd, and Alec Baldwin, who plays a scheming rival lion. Though various plotlines get increasingly ridiculous as the movie goes on (see the return of MADAGASCAR's aggressive Grand Central Station granny), the good-natured main characters and their silly support players (particularly lemurs and penguins) keep ESCAPE 2 AFRICA entertaining no matter how far the story strays off the wildlife reserve.

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Oliver and Company (20th Anniversary Edition) (1988)
dir. George Scribner

Kind of a forgotten animated Disney movie, probably because it's not as critically acclaimed as everything else. I still really enjoyed it, although I haven't seen it in a pretty long time.

Product Decsription:
Disney does Dickens in this animated version of Oliver Twist, in which a homeless New York City cat falls in with a bunch of mischievous dogs under the leadership of the appealing scoundrel Fagin. The roots of Disney's success with animation in the '90s begins with this clever, energetic, atmospheric movie, which succeeds in capturing the grim world Dickens conjured. Lyricist Howard Ashman (The Little Mermaid) worked on the songs, the best of which is sung by Billy Joel, who provides the voice of (the Artful) Dodger. --Tom Keogh

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Being There (Deluxe Edition) (1979)
dir. Hal Ashby

There are a couple cuts of this movie in circulation: one with an outtake that rolls IMMEDIATELY when the movie ends, and one without the outtake. Hopefully this DVD contains the one without because the outtake COMPLETELY kills the mood that the movie sustained for the previous 2 hours. REGARDLESS of all that, this is a really really good movie, and it contains one of Peter Sellers' best performances.

Product Decsription:
BEING THERE is based on Jerzy Kosinski's short comic novel about a simpleton, Chance (Peter Sellers), raised in isolation whose only education came from watching TV. When he's forced out of the house where he worked as a gardener by the death of the wealthy recluse who raised him from infancy, he's fortuitously struck by a limousine carrying Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine), the wife of a wealthy industrialist. He's mistaken, because of his well-tailored suits, for a man of means and taken to dinner with her husband, Ben Rand (Melvyn Douglas). There, as Chauncy Gardner, his blank affect is taken for seriousness and his literal pronouncements about gardening for metaphoric economic predictions. Soon he's meeting the president (Jack Warden) and becoming a star on TV--where he's a natural.
Kosinski was well known to be personally fascinated by the power of television. In BEING THERE, which he adapted for the screen himself, he presents a comic fable about a man whose entire sense of reality came from watching television. Sellers is marvelous as the always-deadpan cipher in whom everyone he meets sees whatever it is they need to see. Shirley MacLaine, Jack Warden, and Melvyn Douglas give outstanding performances in this biting satire directed by Hal Ashby.

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The Secret Life of Bees (2008)
dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood

Product Decsription:
Headed by an all-star cast of women, The Secret Life of Bees is the heartwarming and well-told story of a young girl who finds love and acceptance from a trio of independent sisters. The Secret Life of Bees is based on the bestselling book of the same name by Sue Monk Kidd and centers around the plight of 14-year-old Lily (Dakota Fanning). Assuming the burden for her mother's premature death, she has a precarious relationship with her abusive father T. Ray (Paul Bettany). Lily's only friend is her caregiver Rosaleen (Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson). Set in South Carolina in 1964, when civil rights wasn't a given, Rosaleen's life is threatened by racists who'd just as soon see her dead than exercise her right to vote. Lily runs away with her to a town she believes may hold the secrets of her mother's life. There the pair meet the Boatwright sisters August (Queen Latifah), June (Alicia Keys) and May (Sophie Okonedo)--who produce the area's famous Black Madonna honey. They eventually provide Lily with the unconditional love she never felt she had and also show Rosaleen that being a black woman in the South doesn't mean she can't have a sense of worth. The Secret Life of Bees doesn't try to pass itself off as a historical documentation of race relations in the 1960s. But the fictional slice of life still resonates because of the feelings of injustice that it stirs up. Though the film is written to show the disparity between blacks and whites, there is always a strong sense of hope, thanks to the lead actresses who bring empathy and dignity to their roles. Hudson exhibits some of the same quiet grace that Regina Taylor brought to her role as the family housekeeper in the superb TV series I'll Fly Away. Latifah has the part of wise matriarch down pat, even when she's playing a sister rather than a mother. And it's clear that Fanning is making a seamless transition from kid to young adult roles. Whether she's giving an impassioned monologue or listening thoughtfully, Fanning brings nuance and intelligence to her role. --Jae-Ha Kim

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Bottle Shock (2008)
dir. Randall Miller

Product Decsription:
"Bottle shock" describes what can happen to wine as it travels from place to place. Set in 1976, Randall Miller's widescreen docudrama concerns the real-life showdown between California's wineries and their French counterparts. Napa Valley's Jim Barrett (Lost Highway's Bill Pullman) has been plugging away for years with minimal success. A former attorney, Barrett runs Chateau Montelena with his wayward son, Bo (Chris Pine, the Star Trek prequel's Captain Kirk), who would rather do anything than assist his stern father. Bo's co-workers include Gustavo (Six Feet Under's Freddy Rodríguez) and Sam (Transformers' Rachael Taylor), who long to produce the perfect chardonnay. Naturally, the young men compete for the favors of the beautiful blonde (the movie's least interesting angle). Across the Atlantic, Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) struggles to keep his Parisian wine shop going (cheapskate American Dennis Farina is his only regular customer). Then Spurrier conceives a contest to attract customers; surely, his beloved French growers will put those upstart Yanks in their place. He flies to Napa to look around, and persuades the Barretts to compete. Miller and his wife, screenwriter Jody Savin, previously worked with Pullman and Rickman on Nobel Son, but decided to release Bottle Shock first. Though comparisons to Sideways will be inevitable, the filmmakers take more of a historical look at California wine country. The "Judgment of Paris" changed the face of the business forever, and they've found a lively way to recount the tale. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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Friday the 13th Uncut (1980)
dir. Sean S. Cunningham

Even though the iconic Jason isn't in this, it's still a really solid horror movie, still one of the best of the series.

Product Decsription:
Despite repeated warnings to stay away, a group of fun-loving but none-too-bright teenagers set out to reopen the eerie Camp Crystal Lake, which closed 20 years earlier after a series of bizarre and unexplained deaths. Now someone is lurking in the woods, spying on the happy campers, and plotting a gory, grisly revenge on those who would disturb the camp's slumber. A horror classic that set the standard for slasher flicks of the 1980s.

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Friday the 13th, Part 2 (1981)
dir. Steve Miner

...and even though Jason is doing the killing in this one, it's not the awesome Jason. It's just lame burlap sackhead Jason.

Product Decsription:
As bad as Friday the 13th, Part 2 is, it's a work of art in comparison to the rest of the Friday the 13th flicks that came afterward. This installment officially introduced us to Jason Voorhees as the killer (if you remember Drew Barrymore's fatal phone quiz in Scream, you know that the killer in the first Friday the 13th was actually Jason's mother), and made the slicing and dicing even more generic. Survivor Alice is dispatched within the first 10 minutes, and we're left with plucky Ginny (Amy Steel, doing a fairly decent Jamie Lee Curtis impression) to do battle with the monstrous Jason. Ginny's part of a another group of horny teenagers (less intelligent as well as less attractive than their predecessors) who try to resurrect Camp Crystal Lake five years after the initial murders--a pretty mean feat, considering this movie was made only a year after the first one. Being a smarty-pants child-psychology major, Ginny tries to outwit the dim Jason, and at one point dons the bloody and moldy sweater of Jason's late mother (which is more disgusting than any of the killings beforehand) in an attempt to confuse the masked killer. Jason may not be the brightest bulb on the tree, but the only one who's going to pull the wool--or in this case, the burlap--over his eyes is Jason himself, who wears a sack with one eyehole throughout the movie to hide his deformed features (he finally found his way to a sporting-goods store and his trademark hockey mask appears in the third installment of the series). Directed by Steve Miner, who also helmed the next Friday the 13th film (in 3-D no less) as well as the more reputable House, Forever Young, and Halloween: H20. --Mark Englehart

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Friday the 13th, Part 3 3-D (1982)
dir. Steve Miner

I could never get over how dumb the 3D parts of this movie were. Old 3D technology will always be gimmicky, but when it's this bad and it's the main thing that sticks out when remembering stuff about the movie, that's not a good sign.

Product Decsription:
The tender, tragic saga of Jason Vorhees, the world's unhappiest camper, continues when yet another batch of hormonally advanced teens decide to ignore past history and spend some time at the woodsy, pine-scented slaughterhouse known as Camp Crystal Lake. It may be a bit of a stretch to describe any of the entries in this interminable series as "good," but this creatively grotesque installment manages to come surprisingly close with a welcome sense of humor and some quick glimmers of real menace (courtesy of director Steve Miner, who would later go on to helm the far more accomplished Halloween: H20). Originally presented in 3-D, which explains the never-ending slew of objects (knives, pitchforks, yo-yos, cats, eyeballs, etc.) that are repeatedly thrust in the viewer's general direction. --Andrew Wright

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His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th (2008)
dir. Sean S. Cunningham, Daniel Farrands

Seems like a really interesting doc, especially for fans of horror, even if you're not a big fan of the Friday the 13th series.

Product Decsription:
Jason Voorhees has carved his place into American pop culture and is one of the most recognizable cinematic killer in horror history. Now nearly, 30 years later, see how it all happened! With over 100 interviews with cast and crew, behind the scenes footage and dozen of film clips spanning the entire Friday the 13th series leading up to the 2/13/09 remake, there is no better way to get up close and personal with one of the most feared icons of our generation. Shut off the lights, lock up the cabin and get ready to learn all about a boy... His Name Was Jason.

HIS NAME WAS JASON: 30 YEARS OF FRIDAY THE 13TH is a two disc set loaded with over 4 hours of bonus material. This film is a behind the scenes look at the franchise that broke horror box office records and made Jason a pop culture icon. With over 80 interviews from the cast and crew of the Friday the 13th film franchise, including the new Friday the 13th film, these firsthand accounts of never-before-told stories and rare behind the scenes photographs offer the ultimate look at the history of FRIDAY THE 13TH!

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Inside Moves (1980)
dir. Richard Donner

Product Decsription:
Something of a departure for SUPERMAN director Richard Donner when it was released in 1980, this poignant and offbeat dramedy follows Roary, a man who?s been crippled by a recent suicide attempt. After resigning to spending most of his time in a bar full of down-trodden souls, Roary discovers that Jerry the Bartender has just been accepted to play basketball for the Golden State Warriors. As it turns out, helping Jerry train might just be the sort of transcendent therapy Roary and his fellow patrons need. INSIDE MOVES stars John Savage, David Morse, and Academy-Award-nominnee Diana Scarwid.

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Paura - Lucio Fulci Remembered Vol. 1 [Limited Edition] (2008)
dir. Mike Baronas

Another seemingly interesting doc that any respectable horror fan should check out. The description says there was only 2,500 made, but they're still in stock everywhere I've checked.

Product Decsription:
Who was Lucio Fulci, director of such horror classics as ZOMBI 2, CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD and THE BEYOND -- an eccentric? A misogynist? A genius? Much speculation surrounded the life of this revered Italian director since his untimely death in 1996. Divided into three categories -- Accomplices (Crew), Peers (Directors) and Victims (Actors) -- the acquaintances Fulci engaged with throughout his long and diverse moviemaking career recall good, bad and sometimes ugly anecdotes by revealing the answer to one question: "What is your fondest memory of Lucio Fulci?" 7 years in the making, nearly 90 interviews and almost 4 hours of footage a must for any fan of EuroHorror cinema, limited to only 2,500 copies!

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Sex and the Single Girl (1964)
dir. Richard Quine

Product Decsription:
Dr. Helen Brown (Natalie Wood) of the International Institute of Advanced Marital and Pre-Marital Studies is a therapist who advises single women about sex. And Bob Weston (Tony Curtis) is a sleazy magazine editor who plans to reveal the shocking truth about her: that she's a mere twenty-three year old virgin without any hands-on experience for the job. But when the two meet, fireworks explode -- and Weston may just find himself choosing between a hot romance or a hot story. A loosely based story on the adventures of Helen Gurley Brown, editor of Cosmopolitan and author of "Sex and the Single Girl." A bawdy madcap farce featuring an inspired supporting cast including Lauren Bacall, Henry Fonda, Larry Storch, and Mel Ferrer.

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Brainstorm (1983)
dir. Douglas Trumbull

Product Decsription:
Brainstorm is a fascinating but frustrating film, simply because it dabbles in greatness but fails to develop the fullest implications of its provocative ideas. It's a visually dazzling film with outstanding special effects; directed by veteran effects creator Douglas Trumbull, of 2001 fame; but too caught up in marvels of hardware and software at the expense of its characters, who remain interesting but dramatically two-dimensional. The story involves the development of a headset recorder that can replay one person's experiences--even their emotional states--into the mind of another. The device obviously invites corporate or military exploitation, and Cliff Robertson plays a ruthless executive determined to tap into its lucrative potential. But when a scientist (Louise Fletcher) records her own death experience with the device, along with incriminating evidence, the technology's inventor (Christopher Walken) must unlock the mysteries of his colleague's suspicious demise and the very nature of death itself. Punctuated by remarkable sequences from the perspective of those who use the mind-expanding headset, Brainstorm dares to reach for ambitious themes and innovative movie experiences, and that alone makes it eminently worthwhile. But with a conclusion that too literally interprets the afterlife experience with conventional angelic imagery, and a disappointingly thin role for Natalie Wood (who died while the film was still in production), the film strives for profundity and settles instead for an inspirational light show. --Jeff Shannon

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Five (1951)
dir. Arch Oboler

I hate the artwork on these Martini Moives line of DVDs, they look like cheap bargain bin DVDs, which is a shame because there are some real standouts in here. Definitely a couple notables being released this week.

Product Decsription:
Intriguing, offbeat film by famed radio writer-director Arch Oboler about the survivors of a nuclear holocaust. Five stars William Phipps, Susan Douglas and Charles Lampkin, and is probably the first film to deal with a post-apocalyptic theme.

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Getting Straight (1970)
dir. Richard Rush

Product Decsription:
Elliott Gould stars as a womanizing Vietnam veteran who returns to the university to obtain a degree in education and finds himself involved in campus unrest. This socially relevant comedy co-stars Candice Bergen, John Rubenstein and Harrison Ford.

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Gumshoe (1971)
dir. Stephen Frears

A really early Stephen Frears (The Queen, High Fidelity, Dirty Pretty Things) movie with a youthful Albert Finney, who is always great, in the lead.

Product Decsription:
Albert Finney stars as a bingo-caller who, bored with his mundane existence, takes out a newspaper ad offering his services as a private detective. In no time at all, Finney finds himself involved in a series of plots and counter plots.

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Our Man in Havana (1960)
dir. Carol Reed

The God Alec Guinness paired up with the great Sir Carol Reed (director of one of the greatest movies ever, The Third Man, among other classics). Another great actor/director combo.

Product Decsription:
A vacuum cleaner salesman (Alec Guinness) is recruited by the British secret service to act as a spy in Havana. When Guinness sends off phony reports, "recruits" mysterious agents and "discovers" mysterious installations, the home office decides to send him some help in the form of an agent named Beatrice.

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Vibes (1988)
dir. Ken Kwapis

This cast is more weird than anything. Early Jeff Goldblum and Cyndi Lauper? Odd.

Product Decsription:
This buddy comedy teams up Jeff Goldblum and Cyndi Lauper as Manhattan-based psychics who meet at an NYU research center and are later hired by a shady entrepreneur (Peter Falk) to find his missing son in Ecuador. Once in South America, the duo learns that Falk has actually duped them into finding a lost gold treasure which his former minions failed to retrieve. Meanwhile, they're pursued by another gang seeking the treasure, one of whom is a psychic himself. Part action-adventure and part '80s Cheez Whiz, Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel's script to Vibes is hokey. But in their respective parts, Goldblum's cynicism and Lauper's free-spirited quirkiness make them a charming pair to watch in spite of the story's shortcomings. --Bryan Reesman

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Black Swarm (2007)
dir. Bradford May, David Winning

Product Decsription:
Welcome to Black Stone, "The Township of Good Neighbors," and now home to something a more ominous: a pack of intelligent--and deadly--genetically-modified wasps. Exterminator Devin Hall (Sebastien Roberts, Lucky Number Slevin) has seen a lot when it comes to peculiar insect behavior, but nothing like the swarm of wasps that descends on a homeless man and kills him. Amassing as a black swarm, they have a single, terrifying purpose: to kill. When the dark cloud descends, you haven't got a chance. The Black Swarm is here.

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The Bloody Ape (1997)
dir. Keith Crocker

Product Decsription:
All in all THE BLOODY APE offers everything that a fan of cinema du bad needs. Violence, blood, nudity, exploitation, satire, nip twisting, ape ravaging, hippie genital removal, a nickel and dime budget and more than anything, a filmmaker who gives a damn. That is all you can ask. Crocker's description of THE BLOODY APE speaks volumes about where he was coming from, it wasn't JUST a guy in a Gorilla Suit. The film tells of the dire consequences suffered due to the inability of people to communicate properly. The film is a plea for mankind to see things the way that they really are, as opposed to how they perceive it to be. Lofty? High-minded? You decide after you see it...I say passionate about his damned work. That is why spent his own money to see it through! That is enough to demand you see it, you owe THE BLOODY APE that, fanboy! --Brains On Film

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Space Buddies (2009)
dir. Robert Vince

Poor dogs.

Product Decsription:
Disney's irresistible talking puppies are back in an all-new movie that takes them where no Buddy has gone before the moon! With the help of some stellar new friends, this out-of-this-world adventure is one small step for dog, one giant leap for dogkind. Moving at warp speed, dodging asteroids and more, the Buddies and their two new friends, Spudnick and Gravity, must summon their courage and ingenuity to launch plans for a moon landing and a rocketing trip back home. Will they have the right stuff?
Overflowing with intergalactic action and heart, Space Buddies is an amazing tale of teamwork, and loyalty that celebrates the journey of life and the friendships made along the way. It s Buddy-loving fun your family will enjoy again and again.

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