Quantcast
Channel: canada.com » paul rudd
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 15

DVD releases for Sept. 2: Night Moves, Draft Day and more (with video)

0
0

ART-HOUSE THRILLS
Night Moves: Four stars out of five — It’s the sense of alienation that lingers. Like a morning haze that never burns off, Kelly Reichardt’s latest movie Night Moves hangs over you with a slightly icy chill. It’s creepy, unsettling and depressing, but that’s what makes it so insightful on so many levels. This is a story about moral responsibility as it pivots on the idea of two young people who decide to blow up a dam. Dakota Fanning and Jesse Eisenberg play granola-chomping activists want to make the world a better, kinder, gentler place, but when their actions set off an avalanche of unexpected consequences, we have to watch them navigate a minefield of doubt, dishonesty and shattered ideals. It sounds like a thriller, but this is really more of a landscape painting. Special features unavailable.

DEPP THOUGHTS
For No Good Reason: Two stars out of five — Johnny Depp salutes the spirit of his personal god, and devout non-believer, Hunter S. Thompson in this sketchy documentary featuring pen-and-ink artiste Ralph Steadman. Though Depp is really just there for marquee appeal, he does bring added context to the film by asking Steadman questions about his time with Thompson and the nature of their friendship. We hear all kinds of colourful anecdotes about drug-fuelled debauchery and literary licentiousness, but most of it has an airbrushed feeling that betrays the visual style of the subject and his preference for explosive ink blots and slightly monstrous faces. Depp tries to manifest cool in every frame, but it ends up feeling fake — if not downright affected. Special features include commentary from director Charlie Paul.

Draft Day

Kevin Costner and Jennifer Garner star in Draft Day

MARQUEE COSTNER
Draft Day: Three stars out of five — Kevin Costner became a superstar after Bull Durham, partly because he was so believable as an aging jock. Everything from the cut of his hair to the way he wore a pair of Levi’s combined elegance and strength, the core of athleticism, so watching Costner play a football coach looking to put a winning team together feels warm, cosy and familiar. Director Ivan Reitman even goes for a Jerry Maguire feel as he sets Costner up as the general manager of the flagging Cleveland Browns, a team lined up for the No. 1 draft pick. The owner wants the GM to pick a top quarterback, but for all the flash and cash a new passer could bring in, the GM is looking at another prospect to create a winning team. There’s no real chemistry on any scorecard — not even the romantic one featuring Jennifer Garner as the love interest — but Costner and the football chatter still make it endurable for fans of the game. Special features include On the Clock, Welcome to Primetime, audio commentary, deleted scenes.

ROM-COM BOMB
They Came Together: One and a half stars out of five — Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler star in this un-funny, un-romantic send-up of rom-coms conceived by David Wain. Without a single realistic beat in this juvenile pile of purposefully overcooked cliché, the whole movie slides off the table — with each new scene offering another smashed dish, a vulgar mess and a waste of perfectly good talent. When the funniest scene involves a loose bowel in a unitard, you know a certain amount of nose-holding is required — and this bomb leaves quite the stink. Special features include They All Came Together featurette, audio commentary, deleted scenes, San Francisco Sketchfest table read.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 15

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images