Tuesday
02Dec2008
New to Home Video: 'Wanted,' 'Prince Caspian,' 'Step Brothers,' and 'X-Files'
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 6:13AM
It's a pretty big Tuesday for DVDs. Of course, last week
was, in the words of Miracle Max, mostly dead, and next Tuesday is The Dark
Knight. So it's only natural that we'd have a packed Tuesday in between.
Wanted
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Step Brothers
The X-Files: I Want to Believe
Fly Me to the Moon
WantedI happen to agree with whatever blurbmeister is adorning the ads for this DVD when he said it's the biggest adrenaline rush of the summer. The Dark Knight has great action, but it's a long, moody sumbitch, and Iron Man is frankly less interesting the more action there is. Wanted, though, is kind of a stupid, incredulous ballet of violence and action, gives us another great piece of work from James McAvoy, and Angelina feels right at home.It's an absolutely insipid story, once you get the details out of the way, but you can't say it's slow moving.
(Please, won't you read our review?)
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince CaspianIt turns out you can't just release a franchise movie whenever you feel like it. Disney learned the hard way, moving Narnia from the fall to the summer, and the result was a bad opening weekend, a less-than-exciting domestic and international run, and now a very important DVD release. If this thing doesn't sell, the whole franchise might actually be in some jeopardy.
Knowing all that doesn't diminish the fact that Prince Caspian is more exciting, better-assembled, and a more rewarding effort than The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. It's not as family-friendly, unless your family loves beheadings, but it is the better film.
(Here's our review)
Step BrothersI know Tropic Thunder gets a lot of love from everybody, and deservedly so. It's clever, big, somewhat original, outlandish, and hysterical. But for guilt-free jackass laughs, it's tough to top Step Brothers.This is not a movie everyone will love, and people who prefer smart, incisive comedy will have a real issue with the arrested development manchild slap party that is Step Brothers.But there's another side to that story: Do you really think Will Ferrell and Adam McKay were looking to make Annie Hall? No. This is big, dumb, crybaby fun. That it can still be entertaining 90 minutes in is a huge compliment.
(RVWN)
The X-Files: I Want to BelieveThe problem with the second X-Files movie should've been its strength. I Want to Believe has nothing to do with the series, although it borrows its title from the famous poster over Mulder's desk. But there's no aliens or anything, just a standalone two-hour episode.
That would've worked for the first movie, when the show was still on the air, but not now. It's not a bad flick, and Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny still have great chemistry, but it's not at all what people really wanted to see.
(Our review)
Fly Me to the MoonSometimes, it's great to have fodder like this. We're supposed to go easy on animated kids' movies in the critical game, because of the target audience and all the rest. Nonsense. A movie's either good or it's not. And this is a bad movie, a bad cartoon, a bad kids' movie, just bad, bad, bad.
The story is about three flies who've always wanted to go to the moon. Get it - Fly Me to the Moon? It's a waste of 3-D and 90 minutes. The best part is when astronaut Buzz Aldrin interrupts the closing credits to shatter the dreams of children everywhere by saying there's no scientific way anything in the movie was plausible.
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