Monday, July 02, 2007

Straight to DVD

In holiday weeks the action is on big screens rather than small, so slim DVD pickings this week...

Driving Lessons Julie Walters and The Lovely Laura Linney lock horns over Ron Weasley. Does anyone else find it a bit weird that Rupert is the only Harry Potter kid who has been in a movie outside of the franchise since it kicked off?
Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society that link will take you to Twitch's review. This famous anime landmark is still hanging on.
Neverwas I've never heard of this film even though it stars Aaron Eckhart, Jessica Lange, Nick Nolte, Vera Farmiga, Alan Cumming, Brittany Murphy AND Ian McKellen (whew). How can that be? It's about a psychiatrist (Eckhart) a schizophrenic (McKellen) and a children's book. This is an example of what we used to derisively call "straight to video" though that distribution structure has lost its ill repute in recent years, hasn't it?
Puccini for Beginners Gretchen Mol in a Logo lesbian movie which is billing itself as a "sophisticated screwball comedy" --I'm always afraid of the term 'screwball' since it almost never means what it meant. I'm really pulling for Mol after her Bettie Page turn last year but she needs to be really careful in her choices. Don't let that heat cool Gretchen.

9 comments:

RC said...

whoa, totally never heard of neverways either...it totally sounds like potential but it's release would suggest it was a bust determined too late in the game.

Glenn Dunks said...

Daniel Radcliffe filmed an Australian movie called December Boys last year. It's out later this year in Australia and America, I believe.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure Neverways is fantastic......or not.

Anonymous said...

Has Driving Lessons gone straight to DVD in the US?! I really enjoyed it - a solid 3 star comedy.

Julie Walters IS fantastic in it. She was in my Best Actress Top 10 of last year...

NATHANIEL R said...

not it was released for a second or two. i just titled the post that due to neverwas

Glenn Dunks said...

It was just released here, like, two weeks ago.

I love distributors.

Anonymous said...

Driving Lessons - yeah, I think it captures that area of North London it is set in so well. The tone of the people who live there, the look of the streets. Quite well done, I'd say. And then there's always the lovely Laura Linney.

Unknown said...

Puccini for Beginners was a sweet, light film that was obviously low-budget. It didn't always make sense, but Gretchen was good in it and it's worth a look. It wasn't exactly a proper follow-up for her Bettie Page triumph, though.

Emma said...

Ma boi Rupert. Is love.