Home Media Magazine - June 1-7, 2008 - (Page 20)

REVIEWS I FLAWLESS Street 6/3 Magnolia, Drama, B.O. $1 million, $26.98 DVD, ‘PG-13’ for brief strong language. Stars Michael Caine, Demi Moore. www.homemediamagazine.com I R U INVITED? Prebook 6/3; Street 7/15 Ariztical, Drama, $29.95 DVD, NR. Stars Oscar Contreras, John de los Santos, Phil Harrington, Christopher Jones, Brandon Dixon, Gabriel Praddo, David Matherly. F lawless is a cleverly-plotted diamondheist thriller set in mad, mod 1960 London. Moore is Laura Quinn, an American who attended Oxford and then stayed abroad, rising through the ranks of the London Diamond Corporation until she encountered a glass ceiling. And Caine is Hobbs, the company’s nighttime janitor who has spent his 20 years on the job watching, listening and learning. One of the things he sees as he makes his rounds is Quinn, the first one into the office and the last one to leave, passed over for promotion after promotion. Sensing her growing dissatisfaction, he proposes a plan he has devised to steal just enough diamonds to give them both freedom from, and revenge against, the company. But there is more afoot than a simple heist. Soon Quinn finds herself at the center of one of the most audacious robberies ever. Moore, whose most recent roles have been more notable for the remarkable nature of her abdominals than anything else, delivers a very strong performance as the buttoned up American who has even “caught” a bit of the British accent during her years with the firm. R U Invited? aims to push boundaries — five gay guys discuss their relationships, sexual histories and personal habits while awaiting invitations to a sex party — but ends up being campier than an episode of “Queer as Folk.” Ironically, a little more camp would have helped. And Caine is very good as the jovial janitor whose good nature masks a hardened heart hell-bent on revenge. The film does a great job of evoking the period, before electronics invaded every aspect of our lives. Everyone puffs away on cigarettes, drinks heavily and wears suits that button all the way up to the teeth. This is a nifty little heist film that was largely overlooked at the box office and should do well on DVD based on the power of its stars. – Anne Sherber I PRESSURE COOK: SEASON 1 Street 6/10 Infinity, Special Interest, $24.98 two-DVD set. Stars Ralph Pagano. R alph Pagano has no idea where he is. However, he can usually cook his way out of any situation. That’s the idea behind “Pressure Cook,” a show that airs exclusively on the cable network Mojo HD. In each episode, Pagano, the runner-up from the first season of Fox’s “Hell’s Kitchen” (recently released on DVD from Vivendi), finds himself dropped off in exotic locales such as Iceland, Belize, the Amazon, Macau and Wyoming. Wait, Wyoming? Yes, no matter where Pagano is dumped, this friendly, funny guy can usually find a way of working his Jersey charm into a plane ticket home. He’d better, anyway. Because if he can’t pick up enough odd jobs to fi- nance his return fare, the alternative is that he must sample local “delicacies,” which include decayed shark meat, lamb brains, nasty cheeses, habanero peppers and even maggots. A cross between “Dinner: Impossible,” “Survivorman” and “Dirty Jobs,” this show seems like the perfect marriage of the Discovery Channel and Food Network. Pagano also has a way of making his subject matter seem mouth-watering, with the exception of an occasional worm and/or hearty helping of bird saliva soup, of course. The two-disc set is presented in 16:9 widescreen; however, original viewers might miss the high-definition, which is the Mojo network’s specialty. Other than that, there are no extras here, which is a shame. Considering the situations Pagano is working with, there must be a killer blooper reel around somewhere. – Rachel Cericola Gordy (Contreras) is a sweet, inexperienced guy anxious to show his friends he’s just as sexually daring as they are. Ben (de los Santos) is happily in an open relationship with sugar-daddy Anderson (Harrington). Mondo (Praddo) and Jason (Matherly) are testing the open waters in their six-month relationship. And Charlie (Jones) is generally bitchy and troublesome. Credit is due to writer-director Israel Luna for not merely spitting out gay stereotypes for his five guys in question. That’s not to say these guys are particularly deep, or that their relationships are very interesting, or their frank talk of gay sex and nudity very shocking — but at least it’s not five guys talking about shoes and sex toys for 85 minutes. What emerges is a film that’s far less sexual, and more emotionally grounded, than it first appears. The “sex party” in question takes about a minute of film time, while the rest of the film is spent exploring the insecurities unearthed by waiting for the thing to happen. It’s a good idea, but the endless banter and soul searching wears thinner than a pair of edible undies. Some of these conversations play out better than others — some are funny, many are unintentionally funny, and very few are poignant. At one point Charlie’s drag queen boyfriend (Wade) comes to visit for a hilarious beatdown of his cheating boyfriend. The levity is welcome; a few more scenes like that could have elevated R U Invited? to the quality camp status of recent films such as Eating Out 2 and Another Gay Movie. – Billy Gil 20 Home Media Magazine June 1–7, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.clerkdogs.com

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Home Media Magazine - June 1-7, 2008

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