CASA DE MI PADRE
A a painstakingly specific and often pain-inducing parody of the types of sprawling family dramas produced in Mexico for decades. Specifically, the film feels a great deal like the Gabino Barrera cycle of films directed by Rene Cardona and starring Antonio Aguilar. The film is, for the most part, played so very straight that the tone is the joke – but then there’s that occasional nosedive into absurdity as if to remind you that it is a comedy. It’s in these moments that the film botches – but those instances are few, and they don’t sink this strange experiment.
DOWN BY LAW (CRITERION)
Jim Jarmusch’s weird/sad/awesome jailbreak comedy/drama/dream introduced Roberto Benigni to America – and introduced Benigni to his wife. Tom Waits and John Lurie star alongside Robert as a trio of inmates who escape incarceration into Louisiana bayou country, where tensions – and quirk – run high (‘cause with that cast – how could they not?).
HARD TO KILL
BUY IT FROM AMAZON – IF YOU MUST…
Oh man…Hard to Kill. How does a well-worn plot readied for the screen by a well-worn director (Bruce Malmuth, director of the superior Stallone thriller Nighthawks – can I have a Blu Ray for that, please) go so wrong? It’s tonally moronic and miserably paced and the logic is fractured even for an action flick – hell, even for a Seagal flick (and I love the guy). This is the film where Takashigamichi cemented the idea that he didn’t actually need to hire anyone who looked as though they could be a credible threat, he just needed to stage action scenes in which he snapped twenty-six necks and never takes a single punch.
And I can’t even discuss his character’s – er, that would be Mason Storm’s – seven-year-coma, or his magic shoppe beard or his bland wife Kelly LeBrock as his bland love interest. Thank heavens that Dwight Little injected a little screwy (face) irony into Seagal’s next.
HIGH NOON
That’s it. That’s what I got. Buy it from Amazon. It’s great, and the DVD it replaces was bunghole. Also – I’m loving that Olive is putting these out with old-school key art. Like this next one:
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS
The original Don Siegel classic sees a high-definition remaster for Blu. Nice.
MEAN STREETS
Like High Noon, I really can’t say anything else but “buy it.” I mean, c’mon. You’re here because you love movies, right? Okay. So do.
4:44 Last Day on Earth
Albino Alligator
American Masters: Johnny Carson, King of Late Night
The Blood Beast Terror
Burke And Hare
The Butterfly Effect – I’ve always thought this was a decent Stephen King-style yarn. Maybe my love fro Amy Smart is so boundless that I’m blinded.
The Butterfly Effect 2
Camelot
Casa De Mi Padre
Cellular – Decent little film with a high concept Larry Cohen script that works. Chris Evans was a movie star even then.
Code Of Silence – Oh look! It’s the only good film Carlos the Jackoff ever made.
Crosby, Stills & Nash 2012
Darkness
Deserter
Dirty Pretty Things
Doomsday Prophecy
Down By Law (Criterion)
The Faculty – Shitty dump-bin release gets a decent picture and it’s first 16×9 release.
The Fairy
Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest
FMA Brotherhood: Collection Two
Fractale: The Complete Series
Friends with Kids
Get the Gringo – Mel Gibson goes straight to video? Must be a Jew-run media conspiracy…what a dumbass.
Hard To Kill
High Noon
Impostor
Intruders
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers
Just Cause
Lockout
Lone Wolf McQuade
Mean Streets
Murder In The First
Next Of Kin – a better movie than anything Chuck Norris has ever made.
O
Operation Condor
A Perfect Murder
Renaissance
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Sanctuary: The Complete Fourth Season
The Three Stooges
When Amazon’s top-selling advance album is “Kidz Bop 22,” you’ve basically got a skip week, and I really haven’t listened to any of the 7/17 releases. But here’s a few things coming out this week that might or might not be worth your time:
NAS – LIFE IS GOOD
First new studio album in four years, and “The Don” is a strong advance track. Plus, Funkmaster Flex!
SOUL ASYLUM – DELAYED REACTION
Admittedly, it’s been a few years since I thought Pirner had anything new or interesting to tell me, but the addition of Tommy Stinson guarantees at least a listen.
CITIZEN COPE – ONE LOVELY DAY
Mixing roots and hip-hop works reasonably well in small doses on Justified, but the results are a bit more mixed in Cope’s case: genre-hopping as a way of playing down a vocal style that’s more derivative than inspired, and songs that hang on cliches more often than on hooks. I’m sure it’ll be listenable, but learning that “…the title track, “One Lovely Day,” is featured in the movie Battleship…” has me a bit nervous.
SUSANNAH HOFFS – SOMEDAY
From the Under the Covers collaborations, to the Bangles’ surprisingly strong 2011 Sweetheart of the Sun, the secret to Hoffs’ longevity has been collaboration with Matthew Sweet (she even loaned him the Bangles’ guitar tech to play lead in his touring band). This time out, she swaps Sweet for smooth-roots guy Mitchell Froom, and given her spotty record as a songwriter (think of a Bangles song, and it was probably written by someone else), my expectations are modest.
OTHER NOTABLE 7/17 RELEASES:
Baroness – Yellow & Green
Capital Lights – Rhythm N Moves
Jimmy Cliff – Rebirth
The Farm Inc. – The Farm Inc.
The Fixx – Beautiful Friction
For the Fallen Dreams – Wasted Youth
Hellyeah – Band of Brothers
Masta Ace & Mf Doom – Ma Doom: Son of Yvonne
Missy Higgins – The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle
Michael Kiwanuka – Home Again
Matisyahu – Spark Seeker
Milos – Pasion
Old Crow Medicine Show – Carry Me Back
Pierce the Veil – Collide With the Sky
Pnau/Elton John – Good Morning to the Night
Saving Abel – Bringing Down The Giant
Billy Joe Shaver – Live at Billy Bob’s Texas
Smashing Pumpkins – Pisces Iscariot Box set
Angus Stone – Broken Brights
Tremonti – All I Was
HEROES OF RUIN (3DS)
One game is hitting retail shelves this week. But hey, it’s Diablo for 3DS. Complete with four player online, voice chat, and an economy. If we’re only getting one game, I’m all for this. The 3DS has had a serious lack of dungeon crawlers, especially when compared to its smaller brother. Hell, even if Heroes of Ruin is one of fifteen Diablo-style dungeon crawlers we’re getting this year, the fact that it’s freaking portable makes it better than Diablo 3 by default.
Almost.
As for me – I’ll be buried in the new Mass Effect 3 Earth Mutiplayer DLC. Come join me. I’m Deathstalker-HAM (obviously).
FIN.