This week on dvd we have cancer comedy, family dysfunction, robot boxing, a brave woman doing the right thing, pretty twenty-somethings without a clue and things that go bump in the night.
Inspired by a true story, Golden Globe nominated 50/50 is a comedy centered on a 27-year-old guy who learns of his cancer diagnosis, and his subsequent struggle to beat the disease.
Directed by Jonathan Levine and written by Will Reiser who based the film on his own experiences fighting cancer, this poignant comedy stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Adam, a 27-year old public radio employee who discovers he has cancer. As his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) tries to help out, his girlfriend Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard) proves to be a less than ideal life partner for this particular crisis. All the while, Adam's overprotective mother Diane (Anjelica Huston) tries to overcome her son's continued attempts to keep her out of his life. As Adam begins to discover how hard it is to deal with his situation, and to maintain various relationships in his life, he begins seeing a young counselor (Anna Kendrick) who might prove to be just as helpful personally as she is professionally. Matt Frewer and Philip Baker Hall co-star as Adam's fellow chemotherapy patients.
Special Features:
Audio Commentary
Deleted Scenes
The Story of 50/50
Another Happy Day was the first feature film from writer and director Sam Levinson, and received its world premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival
A wedding brings together one very dysfunctional family in this dark comedy-drama. Lynn (Ellen Barkin) was married to Paul (Thomas Haden Church), but they split up on bad terms, and Lynn took custody of their daughter Alice (Kate Bosworth) while Paul got their son Dylan (Michael Nardelli). Years later, Lynn attends Dylan's wedding at Paul's estate, with her younger sons Elliott (Ezra Miller) and Ben (Daniel Yelski) in tow; Elliott is a chronically depressed drug addict and Ben prefers to look at life through a camera than confront the world head on. Meanwhile, Alice deals with her anxieties through cutting, Dylan hasn't spoken to Lynn in years, Lynn is fearful of Paul and his wife Patty (Demi Moore), Lynn's mother (Ellen Burstyn) blames her daughter for her family's many troubles, and her father (George Kennedy) is in poor health and hardly cares what's happening around him. To the surprise of no one, all this has left Lynn an emotional wreck, and she's not sure just how she's going to get through the day.
Need a diagram? Another Happy Day is the screenplay I will forever wish I’d written. I’ve been threatening to write a tell-all about my family for years. Sam Levinson beat me to it. If you can relate you’ll howl with laughter. If not, you’ll be confused.
Real Steel is about a retired pugilist, played by a ripped Hugh Jackman, who transitions to the business side of the ropes after human boxers are replaced by robotic ones in director Shawn Levy's feature-length adaptation of the Twilight Zone episode "Steel." I was surprised to learn that. I don’t think I read it in any of the press prior to the film’s release.
Charlie Kenton (Jackman) was a true contender when the sport of boxing was changed forever. Now, instead of humans duking it out for the masses, huge, powerful steel robots trade blows in the ring. As a result, former gladiator Charlie has been forced into the role of two-bit promoter, piecing together cut-rate fighting bots from scrap metal as he makes the rounds on the underground boxing circuit.
Just when it seems that Charlie has sunkas low as he can go, his estranged 11 year old son, Max (Dakota Goyo), offers him the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at a comeback by constructing and training a true champion. Now the stakes are higher than ever before, and Charlie is about to get a second chance at leaving an indelible mark on the sport he once dedicated his life to.
Cue Rocky theme.
Real Steel costars Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie, Hope Davis and James Rebhorn.
Special Features:
Bloopers
Making of Metal Valley
Building the Bots
Audio Commentary with Director Shawn Levy
Based on English novelist David Nicholls’ book of the same name, One Day is a romantic weepie starring Anne Hathaway as Emma and Jim Sturges as Dexter.
SYNOPSIS: After one day together – July 15th, 1988, their university graduation – Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew begin a friendship that will last a lifetime. She is a working-class girl of principle and ambition who dreams of making the world a better place. He is a wealthy charmer who dreams that the world will be his playground. For the next two decades, key moments of their relationship are experienced over several July 15ths in their lives. Together and apart, we see Dex and Em through their friendship and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. Somewhere along their journey, these two people realize that what they are searching and hoping for has been there for them all along. As the true meaning of that one day back in 1988 is revealed, they come to terms with the nature of love and life itself.
Let’s see – we’ve got Emma who is smart and Dexter who is charming. After spending one night (without having sex!) after meeting at their graduation, we see them coming together every July 15th. Through the years they grow apart as their lives take very different directions. Will they eventually be together? Dun Dun Dun…. Sounds like Same Time Next Year for the new millennium with a little When Harry Met Sally thrown in for good measure.
Director Lone Scherfig caught fire with An Education, the movie that catapulted Carey Mulligan into our hearts. Hopefully this is just a sophomore slump and her next feature will return engaging storytelling.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Feature Commentary with Director Lone Scherfig
Deleted Scenes
Em and Dex: Through the Years
Anne Hathaway: Bringing Emma to Life
The Look of One Day
Inspired by real events, writer/director Larysa Kondracki's intense docudrama, The Whistleblower, tells the tale of an American policewoman (Rachel Weisz) who uncovers evidence of human trafficking while assisting a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. Nebraska cop Kathy Bolkovac is caught in the middle of a vicious custody battle with her ex-husband when she seizes the opportunity to make a quick $100,000 tax-free (yeah, I get being tempted by that) by spending six months in Bosnia as a U.N. peacekeeper. Shortly after her arrival in Bosnia, Human Rights Commission head Madeleine Rees (Vanessa Redgrave in her other great performance of 2011) promotes her to the U.N.'s Gender Office, where she begins studying sexual-assault cases. But when Kathy discovers that her fellow peacekeepers are involved in a human-trafficking ring, the ensuing controversy makes her the target of some very powerful — and incredibly ruthless — people.
Costarring Benedict Cumberbatch, David Strathairn, Monica Bellucci and Nikolaj Lie Kass, The Whistleblower is an an important film that doesn’t make the misstep of seeming too “earnest”. Rachel Weisz gives another powerful performance (and in any other year would have been nominated for it, but no one saw The Whistleblower and the little bit of awards buzz she got has long sinced faded.) It’s an engrossing story all the more horrifying because it’s true. I can heartily recommend this one.
Special Feature
Cast & Crew Interviews
Paranormal Activity 3, whose tagline is “It Runs In The Family”, is more of a prequel than a sequel. It stars Katie Featherston, Sprague Grayden, Christopher Nicholas Smith, Lauren Bittner, Chloe Csengery, Jessica Tyler Brown and Dustin Ingram.
In 1988, young sisters Katie and Kristi befriend an invisible entity who resides in their home, the same home that will be the subject of Paranormal Activity (1). The directing duo of Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (Catfish) taking on the helming duties from a script by the returning team of Christopher Landon and Oren Peli.
I have to wonder if there’s anyone left who had any interest in this that hasn’t already seen it. From a budget of $5M, this thing grossed more than $200M worldwide. (I’m sure that among those that have, there will be a lot of repeat viewers. Their target demographic will buy it and wear out their copies.)
Blu-ray Special Features
Original theatrical version of the film
Unrated version of the film
Lost Tapes
DVD Special Features
Unrated version of the Film
Digital copy of unrated version—compatible with iTunes® and Windows Media
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