What DVDs should I rent?

[Demon Yoyoloach]

I'm waiting for "Teeth". Sounds hysterical.

[Mark in Vancouver]

Aliens was on recently, and again I suffered through it. Man, what crappy movie! The part played by Paul Reiser (who couldn't act at gunpoint, let alone on the set), was made for Sam Neil. The screeching child, the grating half hour devoted to pumping US marines... It's so dreary. After the first movie in the series, and before the third, the producers should burn the footage.

I like Sigourney, and I like Lance Henrickson. Every single other actor in that film should be punished. And ripping off the HR Giger sets/design should also be punished. Bleah!

[Mark in Vancouver]

For a bit of a change, I recommend renting any film by Alexandro Jodorowsky. El Topo, The Magic Mountain, or Santa Sangre are the three choices. Luis Bunuel made about 30 elegant and strange films, and watching all of them in a row is vaguely equivalent to one Jodorowsky movie.

I recently found El Topo and The Holy Mountain for sale on DVD, so snapped them up - they are extremely obscure, but worth the search. I watched El Topo the other night and it's still making me crazy. It's so violent and transgressive... It's like seeing all the early John Waters movies without the director having a sense of humour.

A great exercise in cinema. Viva Jodorowski.

[Mark in Vancouver]

I rented The Invasion tonight, against my better judgment. THAT SHOW SUCKED!

On the one hand, Nicole Kidman looks good acting against a backdrop of zombies, and the zombie scenes are handled competently. There is an amusing stunt at one point late in the film.

On the other hand, remaking a sensational sci-fi film is stupid - unless you pull it off and improve on it, as the remake to the original accomplished. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, with Donald Sutherland, Jeff Goldblum and Leonard Nimoy, was a very good remake, and an excellent film on its own.

The writing in The Invasion was not good enough to put on television, so they made a movie. Continuity flaws, no apparent realism, incredibly bad holes in the dialogue... "We'll go on watch and keep each other awake."

Most offensively of all - and this is what makes me really ill, it's yet another American remake of a good film with happy ending tacked on. I'm sure this is some terrible propaganda plot. Take a well-received film from somewhere, and put the tail on the donkey.

In this film, at the end (and you couldn't "spoil" this movie's ending), Nicole Kidman gets better, her child is immune, and even her James Bond boy friend is cured - and they all live happily ever after.

Mark vomits.

What next? The Thing with a happy ending? Apocalypse Now? Psycho? The Omen - and after Damien turns 11 he's okay?

Lowbrow has found a new genre.

Mark vomits again.

The only part of this movie resembling the previous remake is the "look calm and evade the zombies" motif. Otherwise it is derivative in every way. The editing was bad, the early editing "technique" that is so irritating eventually stops, and then doesn't reoccur. This is so you can tell foreshadowing from regular scenes.

Even the "new" material is derivative. They stole the vomiting shock value from 28 Days Later (as well as similar lighting and camera work) and thought that this would be enough new material to recast an old movie.

Watch for the scene where Kidman shoots James Bond's kneecap and he doesn't suffer - and then shows up as her blissful husband at the end.

Crap crap crap! I'm dancing on that film's failure. I'm still throwing up.

Maybe it's me, but product placement for cars and soft drinks precludes an entry into the annals of cinema. Boring crap that will entertain boring crappy people. I guess I have to insert my own cynical ending.

Fech!

[tariesindanrie]

Well, I'd heard it was bad. Thanks for confirming that!

Kate

[Jim Powers]

I haven't seen this film and really have no desire to.
As Mark stated, the 1978 version "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" is a good film and really didn't need to be remade. Although this was actually a remake (or sequal depending on how you look at it) to the also cool '50's version based on a story by Jack Finney.
I would say that its not some "American plot" (we are such a horrible people ) but more a "remake" that didn't need "remade".

[Mark in Vancouver]

Manufactured Landscapes is amazing. A documentary about a photographer who shoots industrial sites, most of it filmed in China. Absolutely breathtaking, and a good movie for Gary and his son to watch.

The scale of it!

Trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv23xwe0BoU

[Dave C]

I just watched Sex and Lucia (Lucía y el sexo). Really good film. More then a bit of nudity but I liked the story. Seriously.

[Mark in Vancouver]

I finally saw Hot Fuzz, and enjoyed it. For some reason the ads for it really put me off, but a friend recommended it. Very funny.

[Martin Thoene]

Eastern Promises....great Cronenburg....Vigo Mortenson is excellent.....his hair spectacular!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq_M8EOC4zA

War....Jason Statham and Jet Li......nice twists.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-a2CFplrhQ

Rendition........Jake Gyllenhaal....really sticks it to US "terrorist" policies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaK-HKIdv1E

Martin.

[Dave C]

Eastern Promises....great Cronenburg....Vigo Mortenson is excellent.....his hair spectacular!

Now there's a suggestion I'll follow. I love Viggo and Cronenburg is usually good too. I've added it to the list.

[Dave C]

It's an older flick but I just watched Sleepers again. Wow, that was a good movie. The author says it is a true story (with himself as the lead character) but the "New York youth correctional authorities and the Manhattan district attorney's office deny that the events in the film took place".

[Martin Thoene]

Agreed Dave. Only saw it for the first time a few weeks ago. Excellent, if harrowing movie. Well acted and the metering out of justice is very satisfying to the soul.

Martin.

[Ken]

We've been enjoying a couple of HBO series on DVD. We finished Rome a couple of weeks ago and are most of the way through the first season of Deadwood.

I recommended both although you may find yourself calling people cocksuckers a lot after watching Deadwood.

[Jim Powers]

I really enjoyed both Rome and Deadwood, too and definately agree on the cocksucker thing.
Right now, HBO is airing a very good mini-series about John Adams you might want to check out when it becomes available.