And it’s an entertaining ride. Though the Warren Ellis comic book upon which it is based had a fairly serious tone, this adaptation is much more comedic, and the lighter vibe fits the material quite well. We first meet Moses in a surprisingly sweet and appealing opening sequence which contrasts his awkward and ascetic suburban existence against his flirtatious phone conversations with the woman who handles his pension checks (Parker). His domestic bliss is interrupted by a squad of assassins, and after he creatively dispatches them (and most of his house in the process) he sets out on a bouncy road trip, first to save Parker and then to enlist his aforementioned old friends’ aid in finding out who’s after him.

RED manages to find a nice balance between madcap comedy and classic action/espionage/heist tropes. It’s hardly the first movie to do so, of course–but it pushes the zaniness a little further than most. As each big star appeared, I felt I was always very pleased to see them. If RED has a critical weakness, it’s that its character introductions are so much fun to watch that by the time they’re over and the big action climax is underway, it almost feels like the movie has fizzled a bit. Not that it isn’t fun to watch Mirren mowing down baddies with a huge tripod-mounted machine gun. That’ll never get old.- [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Action/Comedy/Crime

Rated PG-13

DVD Release Date: 1/25/11

Love Ranch

All this being said, the story was a deliciously lascivious one at the time, and still is, especially when acted with such gusto by these two Academy Award winners, whom I could never have pictured together before this. Pesci plays the other owner as an amoral pimp (maybe there is no other kind?), who helps himself to the girls and beats up people who get in his way of doing business. Mirren takes it upon herself to be den-mother to the girls, who are constantly bickering and stealing each other’s drugs.

The big wrench thrown into the works is fairly true-to-life – Pesci’s character is a boxing fan who realizes another of his dreams by buying a fighter, although one who is a bit over-the-hill. This plotline does depart from reality when the boxer and Mirren’s character fall in love, but again, watching Mirren gamely attempt to put an interesting slant on this is
somehow worth watching.

Gina Gershon has a few moments of screen time, for those interested. - [DVD]

Comedy/Drama/Romance

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 11/9/10

Case in point: Vladimir Chertkov (Paul Giamatti), a zealous Tolstoyan (and Leo’s self-appointed lieutenant) who enlists Valentin, a fresh-faced young writer (James McAvoy) as Tolstoy’s personal secretary, dispatching him out to the famous author’s pastoral estate/commune, and recruiting him as a spy against the Countess Sofya, who, as Chertkov asserts, is wholly opposed to everything her husband stands for. Upon his arrival, Valentin is befriended, even adopted, both by Tolstoy himself and Sofya, who herself asks him to keep watch against her enemies. She is in the midst of a protracted heartbreak, as her husband drifts ever further into his own self-styled asceticism, while she stubbornly clings to the complications of a worldly and romantic life. Valentin discovers his own worldly complications in the form of Masha (Kerry Condon), a fellow Tolstoyan inhabiting the commune who has–to Valentin–appealingly flexible notions about sex.

The Last Station doesn’t venture very far from the style of a typical Hollywood pastoral period romance. It is certainly well acted, and Plummer earns his Oscar nomination handily. Mirren is always a pleasure to watch. Giamatti more or less reprises his role from 2006’s The Illusionist, twirly mustache and all. McAvoy and Condon are appropriately charming and earnest as the young mirrors to their elders’ tragic drama. I can’t say the film matches the delicacy or poetry of recent films like Jane Campion’s phenomenal Bright Star, but it is an engaging enough study of the distressing conflict between stubborn idealism and love. – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Biography/Drama

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 6/22/10

The gimmick here is that Fraser can bring characters in books to life by reading from them aloud. In turn someone from real life gets drawn into the books. This apparently happened to Fraser’s wife with the title tome and he needs a new copy so he can read her back out, but his search for one is hampered by the book’s big bad guy (Andy Serkis), whom Fraser unintentionally released.

I like that the film endorses reading books, and I really like the idea of being able to read people out of them. And it’s fun watching familiar literary creations pop up– the ticking crocodile from “Peter Pan,” the flying monkeys and Toto from “The Wizard of Oz” and Rapunzel herself. Not to mention a Minotaur and Excalibur, which Serkis tries to pry loose from its rock.

But the direction by Softley (The Skeleton Key) is so utterly uninspired as to suck from the film any charm or sense of wonder, and the top-notch effects and talented cast, which includes Helen Mirren, Paul Bettany and Jim Broadbent, struggle to compensate. What’s more Fraser, a pro at not taking big effect flicks too seriously, merely mopes around. And the supposedly epic ending is epically unexciting.

Serkis is OK as the sneering villain who loves duct tape, Mirren adds some pep as Fraser’s book-loving aunt, and Broadbent is amusing as the the title tome’s author. He gets the film’s best line, too, at one point yelling to Bettany, “You don’t have to be selfish just because I wrote you like that!”

As a fire-eater read out of the book by Fraser, Bettany, in fact, is the best thing here. He manages some decent depth as a man who misses his wife (Jennifer Connelly in a cameo) and kid and the life he has inside the book. We actually kind of feel for him and his plight, which is more than I can say about anyone or anything else in this infuriatingly inert film. – [DVD]

Adventure/Fantasy/Family

Rated PG

DVD Release Date: 6/25/09