Dear John – This film was a minor hit at the box office this winter. It’s based on the Nicholas Sparks book and stars Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried as a pair of lovers who spend more time apart than together. Tatum’s character is a soldier who meets Seyfried’s college student character by accident as he retrieves her purse that has fallen off a pier into the water. They get to know each other and fall in love, but their love is put to the test when she goes back to college and he returns to the army overseas. What follows is love letters going back and forth, and the hope that they will someday be reunited.
The Road – Based on the Cormac McCarthy novel, this film stars Viggo Mortensen as a father, who along with his son, try to survive a post-apocolyptic world where animal and plant life have been destroyed, and very few humans wander the earth. The humans who do survive have become scavengers and some even cannibals. The father carries around a gun, which only has two bullets remaining, in case the father has to kill his son and himself instead of being captured by cannibals. On their path, they encounter some cannibals who are storing living people for later feedings. The film is very bleak, and the subject matter is not for everyone, but this film did receive excellent notices from critics, even though it was ignored by audiences this past winter.
Stagecoach – Last week “M” was released by the Criterion Collection on Blu-Ray, and this week another classic gets the Criterion Blu-Ray treatment. Stagecoach stars John Wayne and follows a group of people on a stagecoach (a pregnant lady, a liquor salesman, a banker, an alcoholic, a whore, and an outlaw) as they travel across New Mexico. On their travels, they are all very cautious, as the word is out that the Apaches are attacking people who are on their land. Considered by some to be the greatest western ever made, this is another must-have for any true film buff.
TV ON DVD
True Blood: The Complete Second Season – This show really took off in this season. Bill and Sookie are enlisted to help find a 2,000 year old vampire who has mysteriously disappeared. The show also features the appearance of a maenad named Maryann who has a destructive influence on the town of Bon Temps. This is one of those shows that people at work seem to talk about and that you have to watch to take part in water cooler conversations so you can hang out with the cool kids at work.
21 Jump Street: The Complete Second Season – The series that first launched the career of Johnny Depp focuses on a group of young cops who use their age to their advantage to deal with issues in high schools and colleges such as hate crimes, AIDS, and drug and alcohol use. This show was very popular in the 80’s, so I wonder how well it holds up in 2010.
Until Next Tuesday!
