DVD Zone: May 2008

Posted on April 30th, 2008 in Columns, Monthly, DVD Zone by IE E-Mail This Post/Page Print This Post/Page

Juno
Fox Home Video

juno

Time was when an independent film simply meant a film released outside the studio system by an independent production company. However, once the Sundance festival became as much of a corporate-sponsored entity as any other film festival in the world, a vast majority of independent films have tried to one-up each other on the hipness scale.

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DVD Zone: April 2008

Posted on March 31st, 2008 in Columns, Monthly, DVD Zone by IE E-Mail This Post/Page Print This Post/Page

I Am Legend
Warner Home Video

legend

What is it about the end of the world? The current trend is to speculate about what the planet would be like if humans weren’t around to tend to the old homestead. Both The History Channel and The National Geographic Channel have run specials about it, and there’s I Am Legend.

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DVD Zone: March 2008

Posted on February 29th, 2008 in Columns, Monthly, DVD Zone by IE E-Mail This Post/Page Print This Post/Page

DVD Zone
Sony’s Revenge

Do you like having the newest gadgets? Does the thought of running out and buying the latest technology, no matter the cost, make you a little moist? If so, you might have been one of the few who plunked down some hard-earned coin on a spiffy new HD-DVD player. Guess what? You’re screwed.

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DVD Zone: February 2008

Posted on January 30th, 2008 in Columns, Monthly, DVD Zone by IE E-Mail This Post/Page Print This Post/Page

Strike? What Strike?

torch

What seems to be troublin’ ya, bunkie? Are you bummed because you haven’t seen a new episode of your favorite show in months? Do you feel you’ll projectile vomit if you stumble across another inane “reality” show? Have you gotten a little sick of all those high-falootin’ writers thinking they should get paid for their work? Rest easy, troubled soul. I’m here to help.

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DVD Zone: January 2008

Posted on January 2nd, 2008 in Columns, Monthly, DVD Zone by IE E-Mail This Post/Page Print This Post/Page

Once
Fox Searchlight

once

It seems to happen every year: The S.L.I., or Scrappy Little Indie. At some point a scrappy little indie flick from across the pond shows up on our doorstep to remind us $300 million is not needed to make a good film. It will generally be about a scrappy dweller (or dwellers) of the underclass fighting the odds to work their way to better things. The writing will be impeccable, and the love story — be it love of family or love of another — will be universally hailed. Above all, it makes us remember that when green-lighting a film, the executives and tastemakers in Hollywood are really doing nothing more than tossing darts at a board.

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DVD Zone: December 2007

Posted on November 30th, 2007 in Columns, Monthly, DVD Zone by IE E-Mail This Post/Page Print This Post/Page

Help!
Capitol/Apple

help

After the success of A Hard Day’s Night, it would have been easy for The Beatles to try to recreate the faux documentary style that made that film such a delight. Instead, for their second foray into the big-screen world they went a totally different direction. While it isn’t the grand slam that Night was, Help! qualifies as a solid RBI double.

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DVD Zone: November 2007

Posted on October 31st, 2007 in Columns, Monthly, DVD Zone by IE E-Mail This Post/Page Print This Post/Page

Grindhouse Presents: Planet Terror
Grindhouse Presents: Death Proof
Dimension

grindhouse

B-movies have been around practically as long as the film industry itself. Originally, the studios would knock off a feature with second-tier actors to toss on the bill at drive-in theaters, often using the same sets as other films to keep the budget to a minimum.

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DVD Zone: October 2007

Posted on October 1st, 2007 in Columns, Monthly, DVD Zone by IE E-Mail This Post/Page Print This Post/Page

The Graduate:
40th Anniversary Edition
MGM

http://illinoisentertainer.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/dvd_graduate.jpg

With all of the hoopla surrounding the 40th anniversary of all things 1967, it’s about time someone got around to the best film of the year, The Graduate. Tons of ink has been spilled about the summer of love, and now MGM has released a two-disc Special Edition of director Mike Nichols’ masterpiece that had the same effect on the film world that The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper had on music.

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DVD Zone: September 2007

Posted on August 31st, 2007 in Columns, Monthly, DVD Zone by IE E-Mail This Post/Page Print This Post/Page

The Elvis Re-Releases
Warner Home Video

pres

You could say that Warner Home Video is commemorating the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death by re-releasing a healthy portion of Elvis’ Hollywood work. There’s a six-film box set, two “Deluxe” editions, and one giant oversight. However, “commemorate” is the wrong word. Let’s just call it what it is: “cashing in.”

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DVD Zone: August 2007

Posted on July 30th, 2007 in Columns, Monthly, DVD Zone by IE E-Mail This Post/Page Print This Post/Page

Factory Girl
The Weinstein Company

Factory Girl

Call her the prototype. Call her the mold from which today’s crop of celebutards — your Hiltons, Ritchies, et al — sprung. Call her the first person famous for just being famous. Just remember, she did have a ringside seat and a heavy hand in the most revolutionary movement of 20th century art.

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DVD Zone: July 2007

Posted on June 28th, 2007 in Columns, Monthly, DVD Zone by IE E-Mail This Post/Page Print This Post/Page

Glastonbury
Thinkfilms

glasto

With the summer festival season in full swing, why not take a look at one of the most famous and long-running get togethers of them all?

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DVD Zone: June 2007

Posted on May 30th, 2007 in Columns, Monthly, DVD Zone by IE E-Mail This Post/Page Print This Post/Page

Not Just The Best Of The Larry Sanders Show
Sony Pictures

Nineteen ninety-two saw a seismic shift in the landscape of late-night television, touched off by the retirement of Johnny Carson. In a futile effort to fill the void, every network tried to throw someone up in the 11:30 time slot. The results, for the most part, were disastrous. If the late-night territory wasn’t rife with opportunities for parody, nothing was.

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DVD Zone: May 2007

Posted on April 27th, 2007 in Columns, Monthly, DVD Zone by IE E-Mail This Post/Page Print This Post/Page

Smokin’ Aces
Universal

aces

Picture if you will Ocean’s Eleven with a mob hit at the center of the plot instead of a casino heist. Now amp up the gunfire and mayhem, and you get Smokin’ Aces.

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DVD Zone: April 2007

Posted on March 30th, 2007 in Columns, Monthly, DVD Zone by IE E-Mail This Post/Page Print This Post/Page

Casino Royale
Rocky Balboa

MGM/Sony Pictures

When it was announced Pierce Brosnan would no longer be filling the tux of Bond, James Bond, the chatter among industry insiders and the blogosphere reached a kind of critical mass. Would it be Clive Owen? What about Colin Farrell? When little-known actor Daniel Craig was chosen, the response was swift and sure: Who’s this Craig? Why Craig? Ugh . . . Craig. He certainly can’t play Bond, he’s blonde for cryin’ out loud. What in the name of George Lazenby are they thinkin’?

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DVD Zone: March 2007

Posted on February 28th, 2007 in Columns, Monthly, DVD Zone, Uncategorized by IE E-Mail This Post/Page Print This Post/Page

Dissenting Opinions

dixie

The U.S. Vs. John Lennon
Lionsgate

Shut Up And Sing
The Weinstein Company

Public backlash was nothing new to John Lennon. After all, it was his ill-fated 1966 comment about The Beatles being bigger than Jesus that set off a firestorm of protest among Southern conservatives.

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