Edge of Darkness – Mel Gibson returns in front of the camera with this thriller based on the BBC mini-series. The film follows Gibson, a Boston cop, who watches his daughter murdered right in front of him. Gibson’s character thought the killers were targeting him, but as he begins to investigate his daughter’s death, he soon realizes that it might be his daughter they were after because his daughter was full of secrets. Martin Campbell directed both the BBC mini-series and the film, and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised at how good this film was, despite being released in January. Although Gibson is the star of the film, the performance to see is that of Ray Winstone. I know it will not happen, but Ray Winstone’s performance is the best supporting role I have seen in 2010, and I really do hope he gets recognized in awards season. This is the must own DVD of the week.
Legion – This film stars Paul Bettany as an archangel who comes to a diner on Earth to help save the people in the diner. What is the archangel trying to save the humans from? The Apocalypse! In my opinion, the film was decent for the first third, but it began to lose my interest until I could care less about it. As much as I’m a fan of Paul Bettany, I didn’t think this film put his talent to the greatest of use. You get mad at the characters for falling into stereotypes, and doing stereotypical things in horror films. There is potential in the story, but it just was not executed in the end. I also am not a fan of trailers spoiling good parts of the film, but one of the best sequences is early on in the film when everyone is eating, and an old lady visits the diner. If you’ve seen that already, the I would suggest that you pass on Legion.
Daybreakers – Another decent cast in a horror film that actually got decent notices when it was released, but got ignored by audiences. The film stars Ethan Hawke, Sam Neill, and Willem Dafoe in a story set in the future, where most of the Earth is ruled by vampires. Only 5% of the people left on Earth are human, and when they all die, so does the vampires blood supply. One vampire is trying to come up with an alternate solution to let vampires live longer, but if he fails, he knows the vampires will turn on one another to survive. Then, a creature comes along that that was once a vampire, and was able to become human again, creating hope that there is a way to solve the problem. An interesting premise and it should find an audience on DVD.
M – Another film school staple arrives on Blu-Ray for the first time. Peter Lorre stars in the famous German film about a child murderer who keeps eluding the police. In fact, the police have no idea who the killer is at all. The crimes are so horrific that even the underworld is disturbed by the death of the children. The criminals only want to find the murderer because the police crackdown on the underworld to try and find the murderer has been so intense, that criminals cannot conduct their business, so they try to help out in their own way (not co-operating with the police, but trying to find out who the murderer is amongst themselves). It’s a great film, and is one of the top 100 films of all-time on the Internet Movie Database. Definitely a must-have for any film buff.
TV ON DVD
Thirtysomething: The Complete Third Season – This is the penultimate season of the critically acclaimed series, that follows the lives of people who were anti-establishment in their youth, only to become part of what they rebelled against when they are in their 30’s, as they have settled down and started families.
Until Next Tuesday!
