The Fighter – This film was a seven time nominee at this year’s Academy Awards, as it was nominated for Best Picture and won the Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor (Christian Bale) and Best Supporting Actress (Melissa Leo). The film follows the true life story of boxer “Irish” Micky Ward (played by Mark Wahlberg) and how he resurrected his boxing career, at times with the help of his drug addicted brother and other times with the help of his new girlfriend (played by Amy Adams). Leo and Bale absolutely deserved to win their Oscars and this film definitely deserved its nomination for Best Picture. It’s my DVD pick of the week.
How Do You Know – This film stars Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson and Jack Nicholson and is directed by James L. Brooks. The plot of the film focuses on Witherspoon’s character, a USA softball player, who has just been cut from the team and the two men that are currently in her life. One man is a pitcher for the Washington Nationals while the other is an executive at a company and is now the subject of a criminal investigation. This film was a big bomb at the box office this fall, but I bet audiences give the film a chance on DVD because of the names attached to it.
Hereafter – This film is directed by Clint Eastwood and stars Matt Damon and is about three people dealing with death in very different ways. Damon is a reluctant psychic, who hides his gift and tries to plunge himself into his job as a factory worker to avoid his gift. Cecile de France plays a television journalist who survives the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and begins to write a book about her near-death experience. The other plot involves two young brothers looking after their drug addicted mother. Eventually the lives of the psychic, the journalist and one of the young boys intersect as they deal with whether or not there is an afterlife. This is another one of those films that didn’t make a big impact at the box office, but with Eastwood as the director and Damon as the star, I’m sure it will find an audience on DVD.
Sharktopus – What more needs to be said about a film with this title? It’s a Roger Corman film that has a sharktopus. The half shark, half octopus was created by the U.S. Navy as a weapon, but when the sharktopus escapes, it goes near the waters of Puerto Vallarta and attacks people. The trailer for this made-for-TV film looks like a lot of fun and it has Eric Roberts in it. It definitely looks to be a cult film.
No One Knows About Persian Cats – This acclaimed film is about two young Iranian musicians who look to form a band. They soon meet up with some people and begin to play music and try to leave Iran. What the film is noted for pointing out are the restrictions that the people of Iran have when it comes to music and how these restrictions have caused an underground rock movement in Iran.
BMX Bandits – This film came out in 1983 and had an unknown Nicole Kidman in it. The film is about a group of BMX bikers who happen to come across some police walkie-talkies. Unfortunately for the bikers, a group of thugs wants the walkie-talkies back as they can track the police’s movements as they want to rob a bank. A long chase ensues over many Australian locations with the villains desperate to get their hands on the walkie-talkies. I loved that I got to write about the plot of this film as it definitely represents a more innocent (albeit dated) time in film and life.
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Who Do You Think You Are? – Season 1
Until Next Tuesday!
