It’s Complicated – Steve Martin, Meryl Streep, and Alec Baldwin star in a story about a divorced couple who rediscover their spark at their son’s college graduation, despite the fact that they are now married to other people. What they think was a one off event somewhere in the country ends up interfering with their personal lives back home. If you were to take away the stars, you would think this film would be a heavy duty drama, but it’s a comedy, so don’t expect too much seriousness. Nancy Meyers specializes in directing chick flicks (What Women Want, The Holiday, and Something’s Gotta Give). The film was a modest hit at Christmas, as it has grossed just over $112 million. The cast is appealing, and this is the highest profile title of the week.
The Descent 2 – It’s a Direct-To-DVD sequel, and some people have asked if this sequel is necessary. It picks off where the original ended with Sarah escaping the caves, and having problems making people believe what happened. She’s covered in blood, her friends are gone, and the authorities do not believe her story. Sarah has to return to the caves with a search party to locate her pals, and revisit the horrors within. Not only is she fighting the creatures in the caves, but she’s also dealing with the search party not believing her version of the events that transpired. In horror movies, when people doubt other people, they usually get killed, so I would expect that to happen here.
Disgrace – John Malkovich stars in this drama about a South African teacher who has an affair with one of his students. When he is found out by the university elders, he is forced to resign. Malkovich goes to live with his lesbian daughter, and finds out that she has a business partnership with a man named Petrus, who is black. One day, when Malkovich is not around, his daughter is attacked and raped, and Malkovich immediately assumes that Petrus is somehow involved. Malkovich’s daughter becomes pregnant after the rape and decides to keep the baby. It’s a pretty heavy film, but Malkovich is always an interesting actor to see what he does.
Ride With The Devil – This film was overlooked back in 1998, but is getting a second chance thanks to the Criterion Collection. The film is directed by Ang Lee, and stars Tobey Maguire, Jeffrey Wright, Skeet Ulrich, Jim Caviezel, Simon Baker, Mark Ruffalo and Jewel (that’s a pretty awesome cast). Ride With The Devil is about life on the frontier during the Civil War. It is not a typical Civil War film as you will not see as much of the epic battlefields that you might be used to seeing, as the film deals with the Bushwhackers//Jayhawk battles on the frontier. Maguire is the star of the film who has to deal with the war killing more and more of his friends, which causes him to debate where his loyalties lie in the war.
TV ON DVD
The Hills: Season Five, Part Two – With Lauren leaving at the end of Season Five, Part One, the doors opened for Kristen to take over as the focus of the show, and Kristen wastes no time in making an impression, as she goes after Audrina’s boyfriend in front of Audrina. Meanwhile, Heidi and Spencer are having marital issues. I have never watched an episode of the show, and I question how re-watchable it is.
G.I. Joe: Season 2.0 – Follow General Hawk, Duke, Scarlett, Lady Jaye, Snake Eyes and the rest of G.I. Joe, as they battle the forces of Cobra led by Cobra Commander and Destro. I’ll be blunt, I bought the first season on DVD, and the series did not hold up as well as I remembered it, although I still love the life lessons at the end of every episode. Having said that, the original cartoon is more entertaining than the 2009 film, so it’s definitely a sentimental purchase if you buy it.
Until Next Tuesday!
