This Week in DVD - January 29th

Real Steel

I was pleasantly surprised by this.  It has some corny dialog and it's a little more kid oriented than I was expecting, but I think it turned out to be a nice family film.  I think I put it this way, if I would have taken my nephew to see this, he would have loved it, and I wouldn't have felt like I completely wasted my time.  It's like a Rocky movie, but with robots.

You can read the original review here.

3 (out of 5) Death Stars.

50/50

Emotional, yet funny, story based on the real life experiences of writer Will Riser.  As I mention in my original review, Seth Rogen plays the best friend in the movie, but was also the real life best friend of Will Riser.

It's one of those you'll laugh, you'll cry movies, but I think it was one of the year's better films and anchored by yet another great Joseph Gordon-Levitt performance.  I think JGL, and the movie, might have gotten a slight snub by the Oscars this year, but JGL will get his due eventually.

You can read more about it here.

4 Death Stars.

Paranormal Activity 3

I still think this is a terrible movie.  I really don't get what anyone sees in this series.  It's just a bunch of bad actors reacting to doors slamming shut and noises off camera.  Then, they aren't even consistent with the whole found footage thing in this one.  This is supposed to be a prequel taking place in the 80's, yet the film quality looks current.  Then there are shots in the film where you see the camera, so it's like they kind of gave up on trying to sell you on these being home movies.  Unless you want to believe that they filmed themselves filming themselves.  Right...

I will say it might be the best of the three films, but that's not saying much.

0.5 Death Stars - I still consider this to be one of the worst films of 2011.

Restless

Mia Wasikowska stars in a indie film directed by Gus Van Sant basically about two young teens that meet and fall in love, but it's also about how each character deals with death.

It might be a little too cute and twee for some, and it's a little predictable, but it worked for me.  I think the movie suffered by the lead, played by Henry Hopper, in his first role.  I think based on the subject matter, a slightly more experienced actor would have helped sell it more.  I thought his performance was kind of lifeless.  You might be tempted to say that's how he was playing the role, but when I watched the special features, that's how he appeared in interviews as well.  There's an interesting special feature that allows you to watch the movie done as a silent film, but The Artist this is not.

I did really like Mia Wasikowska's performance though and she's one of my favorite young actresses.  It also kind of freaks me out how she's a dead ringer for Aurora Snow.

3 Death Stars - I think it's worth a rental if you like cute, indie films.

That's it for this week.  I didn't watch that much as I'm trying to catch up the shows saved on my DVR.