New to Home Video: 'Vicky Cristina,' 'Rocknrolla,' 'Lakeview Terrace'

Hello, and welcome to "That didn't do very well" week of DVD releases. To be fair, a couple of these movies were successful. But of the eight new releases we're highlighting, I'd say five were commercial failures. They're lifted this week, however, by the most profitable movie of 2008. More on that later. Incidentally, our list is just an overview of some of the bigger releases. For a complete rundown, including re-released DVDs and TV series box sets you can pick up today, check out Video ETA. Lakeview Terrace While watching Lakeview Terrace, I realized for the first time that Samuel L. Jackson's true talent is in making bad movies better. Let's face it: Sam has been in a lot of garbage over the years. But he's seldom hard to watch. And without him, Lakeview Terrace is nothing to write home about. The movie did pretty well last fall, and I think we know who to thank for that. He's an effective bad guy in Lakeview Terrace, tormenting his poor neighbors, Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington, because they're a mixed race couple. The problem is in the script, which is just a little too rubber stamp for my tastes. (Here's our review)
Vicky Cristina Barcelona If nothing else, Vicky Cristina Barcelona proves that Woody Allen is still a vital filmmaker. We saw too very different movies from Allen in 2008, Cassandra's Dream, a bleak tale of murder and greed, and this film, a passionate, sun-drenched vacation for us (and him) in Spain. To Allen's credit, neither film really resembles the kind of work we had come to expect from him over the years. It makes you wonder why the movies that immediately preceded Match Point were the worst three movies of his entire career. He's certainly rebounded. Oh, and I know what the poster promotes, but the best performance in this movie is by Rebecca Hall. (Our review of Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
Fireproof Kirk Cameron's faith-based, family-first, firefighter movie was the butt of many jokes in the weeks before it was released. And then this $500,000 movie went out and earned a healthy 6600% of its budget in theaters. The number of movies in 2008 that could say that? One. Fireproof. If that's not a staggering enough figure for you, check this out: The rest of the movies we haven't talked about in this DVD column made $30 million...combined. Yeah. Thems some growing pains.
Rocknrolla On the one hand, I'm a Guy Ritchie fan, because I love Lock, Stock, Snatch, and Rocknrolla, his latest London crime comedy. On the other hand, I can't stand Guy Ritchie, because he can only make London crime comedies. So, until he proves he can do something else, he's just a one-trick pony, even if he's not wearing Madonna's saddle anymore. But Rocknrolla was delirious fun, so have a blast watching it. And look for Tom Wilkinson in a great villainous role. (Our review)
College College, like college for most students, sets a pretty low bar. It's a bawdy comedy about high school kids that sneak onto a college campus because they heard the parties were amazing. So, there's only so much you can get out of it, but if you're lucky, it won't be a total waste of time. I sense that audiences were just completely sick of this genre last year, because College and the much better Sex Drive returned very little business. I don't expect the DVD to catch on in a big way, either. (RVWED)
Pride and Glory It doesn't happen often that a movie gets delayed for months and months and then becomes a big hit after all that waiting. Titanic was a big exception, and Harry Potter will do fine. Again, that's another exception. But with a movie like Pride and Glory, where the expectations aren't that high, failure is usually Option A. Why is that? Because the studio isn't going to put a lot of effort into the release. The stars don't go on talk shows, there aren't as many commercials, and those things don't happen because the studio is already in the cycle of films it planned on promoting already. Six months after the fact, a Pride and Glory is just a burden and (hopefully for the studio) a write-off.(Here's our review)
The Rocker Rainn Wilson gave it his all in The Rocker, and upon reflection, that might be one of its major shortcomings. Wilson is not a do-everything comedian. He operates in a very well-defined niche. That's not to say he can't do other things. But it is to say that perhaps he shouldn't. That may sound rough, but as Steve Martin once said back when he was funny, comedy is not pretty. The Rocker has a workable set-up: Aging never-was joins his nephew's high school band for one last shot at glory. I think there was a big reality check problem with this movie. Literally in four months, the never-was goes from living in the basement to opening up a sold out arena show. So between prom and Labor Day, this band got signed and became huge. I just think the second act really worked against the movie.(The Rocker reviewed)
The Lucky Ones We know war movies have been very poorly received over the past couple of years, and The Lucky Ones felt that sting pretty hard. It didn't get the festival push it needed so when it arrived in theaters, it had very little buzz or even audience recognition. Because of that, it wasn't even given a chance to build word of mouth. What you need to know: Tim Robbins is always solid, the movie's a little too sentimental, and Rachel McAdams fits herself with a bad accent, but otherwise, she's quite good.(Our review)