How to Spend $20
By Eric Hughes
December 7, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Pick of the Week
For people who own totems: Inception
A rare thing happened for me upon leaving a matinee showing of Inception: I really wanted to see Inception again – like, at that moment. Soon after, I realized that kind of thing would’ve been horrifically excessive for a weekend afternoon and promptly sally forthed to lunch with friends. Yet, may the record indicate I was satisfied, but then again not fully satisfied with 148 minutes of Christopher Nolan goodness. I could’ve gone for another round.
I find the idea telling of the film’s quality, actually, when I can probably count on one hand the number of times I went to the movie theater this year to watch a new release. Simply, I just don’t go anymore. I’d much rather wait, or, which has become more natural to me, not see the movie at all. To say such a thing on a movie industry website reads odd, I know. Yet I’m not going to pay for crap anymore when there are many, many more things out there more deserving of my hard-earned dollars than Hollywood. I’m doing my best to not get fooled anymore, and I wish the same to you.
So… Inception. I dug it. I loved it, actually, and look forward to another viewing - or two - to, hopefully, pick up on the things I missed the first time. Even though I feel like I understood the movie – its shell, at least – Inception is a complicated piece of fiction that requires its audience to be perfectly attentive. And I mean perfectly.
I’m leaving out plot details for a reason here: Inception is a dish best served cold.
I get excited when a quality movie does extremely well at the box office. (Inception made over $292 million in the U.S. alone). It makes me think – or, at least, makes me want to think – that Hollywood’ll put more faith in original ideas and concepts by producing more big-budget movies that have zero roots in a book series, television show or current event. Go ahead and try thinking of some blockbusters that didn’t get their starts in other media. (The Matrix is one). I’m willing to bet you don’t get far. Granted, anyone can understand why studios struggle to open their wallets to ideas without built-in audiences. Yet, to me, that thinking makes Hollywood feel lame and secondhand.
Disc includes: Extraction Mode featurette, Dreams: Cinema of the Subconscious featurette, Inception: The Cobol Job: Comic Prologue in Full Animation and Motion featurette
For people who live in fairy tales: Shrek Forever After/Shrek: The Whole Story Quadrilogy
And with every success (see above), there’s, of course, disappointment. I haven’t seen the fourth (and final?) Shrek movie – which earned a healthy $238 million in the States – but I can only imagine that any of the magic that was built in the series’ debut and subsequent chapters has been all but used up by now. Why? There are only so many ways to tell the same story. (Oftentimes, once).
Nowadays, I’m more shocked when a sequel doesn’t get made than when it does. I mean hell, even Pixar has caught sequelitis. Many have given the studio a pass because it’s still, mostly, churning out quality. Yet please don’t forget the house put in a good 20-some years before resorting to reprise.
But this post shouldn’t be about Pixar. It’s about DreamWorks Animation, which succeeded in building franchises rather early in the game. This, of course, includes Shrek, which was delightful the first (and, yes, second) time ‘round. Though in much the same way I’ll ignore Little Fockers, I decided against round three when Shrek and his bride had ogre babies.
Also out today is the Shrek franchise in one convenient set. I’d dub the set complete, but that – Scream, Friday the 13th: The Final Friday – may not be so.
Shrek Forever After disc includes: The Animator’s Corner featurette; Shrek’s Interactive Journey: IV featurette; Spotlight On Shrek featurette; Secrets of Shrek Forever After featurette; deleted scenes; audio commentary; Conversation with the Cast featurette; The Tech of Shrek Forever After featurette; Shrek, Rattle & Roll: Music and More featurette
For people who work at Best Buy: The 40 Year-Old Virgin [Blu-ray]
One of my favorite comedies in recent memory, The 40 Year-Old Virgin helped launch the exciting career of Steve Carell, who I believe to be only getting started. What with his seven-year run on The Office ending in May and his announced deal to write a new comedy over at NBC for next season, the dude is a rocket ship. I respect his desire to move on from Michael Scott because a) I think it’s the right move and b) I’m oh-so-excited to see what he does next with his brand of comedy.
But before Steve Carell was Steve Carell, he starred in Judd Apatow’s debut feature, The 40 Year-Old Virgin. Mostly cast with other unknowns who have since become knowns – Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Jane Lynch – the comedy was admired by folks much like me for, yes, its raunchy humor but also its genuine heart. Smart comedy is a challenge, and Apatow excelled at it here.
A sex comedy about a man’s desire for, well, fornication is of course nothing new. What separates The 40 Year-Old Virgin, though, from just about all of its predecessors is that it isn’t about a nerdy teen who prays to lose his virginity by prom; it’s about a nerdy fortysomething (actually, 40, as the title implies) who’s terrified to do it. It’s an original twist on an old idea.
Disc includes: Audio commentary, deleted scenes, You Know How I Know You’re Gay? Featurette, Date-A-Palooza featurette, Line-O-Rama featurette, gag reel, Judd’s Video Diaries featurette, Waxing Doc featurette, My Dinner with Stormy featurette, Raw Footage featurette, Poker Game Rehearsal featurette, Auditions featurette, Reel Comedy Roundtable featurette, Cinemax (R) Final Cut: The 40-Year-Old Virgin, 1970’s Sex Ed Film featurette
December 7, 2010
Blu-ray
About Last Night...
Across the Line: The Exodus of Charlie Wright
Ayaka Is Your Angel
Barry Munday
Beyonce: I Am World Tour
The Big Hit
Caged Animal Rental
Carlton Lukather Band: Paris Concert
Closer
Cronos Criterion Collection
The Deep
Dinosaurs Alive! (IMAX)
Echo: An Elephant to Remember
Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk
Half Past Dead
Harpoon: Whale Watching Massacre Unrated
Inception
Iwo Jima: 36 Days of Hell
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
Les Gamins
Letters to God
Mademoiselle Chambon
The Mission
MLB 2010 World Series Champions: San Francisco
Pearl Harbor: (70th Commemorative Edition)
Restrepo
Robben Ford: New Morning Paris Concert
Rush Hour
A Scanner Darkly
The Shawshank Redemption
Shrek Forever After
Shrek: The Whole Story Quadrilogy
St. Elmo's Fire
UFC: Ultimate Heavyweights
Videodrome (Criterion Collection)
Wild Ocean
The Year of Getting to Know Us
DVD
About Last Night... (Widescreen)
Against All Odds (Special Edition)
Betty White: In Black & White
Bonnie And Clyde (New Packaging)
Boy Meets World: The Complete Fourth Season
Cronos (Criterion Collection)
Half Past Dead
Hoarders: Season 2, Part 1
Inception
Law & Order: The Eighth Year
Letters to God
MLB 2010 World Series Champions: San Francisco
Pearl Harbor: 70th Commemorative Edition (Anniversary Edition)
The People Vs. Larry Flynt (Special Edition)
Restrepo
Short Circuit 2 (Widescreen)
Shrek Forever After
Shrek: The Whole Story Quadrilogy
Vega$: The Second Season, Volume 1
The Virginian: The Complete Second Season
The Year of Getting to Know Us