Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - (Page 14) Edited by John Latchem REVIEWS BLU-RAY SPOTLIGHT I DEAD LIKE ME: LIFE AFTER DEATH Street 2/17 Fox/MGM, Fantasy, $26.98 DVD, ‘R’ for language, some sexual content and I MAX PAYNE Fox, Action, B.O. $40.7 million, $29.98 DVD, $34.98 two-DVD set, $39.99 Blu-ray, ‘PG-13’ for violence including intense shooting sequences, drug content, some sexuality and brief strong language. Stars Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Chris O’Donnell, Amaury Nolasco, Olga Kurylenko. violence. Stars Ellen Muth, Callum Blue, Jasmine Guy, Sarah Wynter, Henry Ian Cusick, Britt McKillip, Cynthia Stevenson. n the annals of movies based on video games, Max Payne will be remembered for sticking close to its story roots: Good cop’s family is murdered by junkies on a dangerous new drug; good cop must sacrifice values and align himself with shady characters to get vengeance; good cop gets stuck in needlessly complicated plot involving assorted gangs, dirty police and a corrupt corporation; friends are actually enemies, and vice versa. A jumbled story can succeed in a video game. After all, you’re actually involved in third-person shooters, blowing stuff up, taking bad guys out with headshots, looking for the next chapter boss. Why is irrelevant. But in movie form, such a narrative often leaves viewers detached and uninterested. In Max Payne, a new bad guy is introduced every other scene, it seems, and none of them last long enough to be hated. And there’s little suspense from the beginning — the people behind the murder of Payne’s family are pretty obvious. The film does look outstanding on Blu-ray Disc, with a crisp, gritty, dirty city setting, and a purposefully nasty feel to every death scene. But as good as it looks, the false advertising from the previews also gets in the way: There’s nothing supernatural about Max Payne the movie. Maybe if there were actual angels and demons, it would have been more interesting. Two excellent picture-in-picture offerings could arguably be used on your first viewing, from the start of the movie, and a short-form “Michelle Payne” graphic novel should delight video game fans. A digital copy, a commentary and a making-of documentary round out the Blu-ray features. Both the theatrical and unrated, extended versions of the film are included. – Chris Tribbey I I t’s somewhat ironic that one of the themes of Dead Like Me: Life After Death is learning how to let go in the wake of great loss. For in bringing back “Dead Like Me,” the movie may stir mixed emotions from fans who had accepted the show was gone. Those who enjoyed the show’s all-too-short 29-episode run on Showtime from 2003 to 2004 will likely flock to Life After Death. Though the movie will be a hard sell to non-fans, it begins with a lengthy prologue that tries to orient viewers to the mythology of the show. But really there’s no easy way to explain “Dead Like Me,” a show so tied up by its own mythology that the only proper exposition is the show itself. It was a show about grim reapers, living among us and collecting our souls when our time had come. But it was also about how fleeting an experience life is, and what that meant to young reaper George Lass (Ellen Muth), who had no idea about how to live until she died. It was quirky and cynical and filled with attitude — a dark comedy that appealed to some sort of base schadenfreude not always found in ordinary people. After some welcome snarkiness from the main characters to re-introduce us to what we loved about the show, the film takes an unfortunate shift into the realm of the dopey and depressing. Director Stephen Herek (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) takes credit for the tonal change, describing how he wanted to imbue the movie with an American Beauty mystique he felt was lacking on the series. However, in taking a “less funny, more drama” approach, the creators lost sight a bit of what attracted the fans in the first place. Not all is lost. Some characters are allowed to experience significant growth through motifs of sacrifice and responsibility. And there are a number of good scenes and bits of dialogue that remind us of what we miss from the original series. Those looking for a refresher course of the show can pick up a nine-disc complete collection (including the new movie) for $69.98. – John Latchem I STRICTLY SEXUAL Street 2/10 Arts Alliance America, Comedy, $24.95 DVD, ‘R’ for strong sexual content including graphic dialogue, pervasive language and some drug use. Stars Amber Benson, Johann Urb, Kristen Kerr, Stevie Long. S Correction: Last week’s review of The Good Student indicated the film had played in film festivals under the title of Mr. Gibb. According to distributor Screen Media, the film did not play at festivals and was finished in 2008 to debut as a direct-to-video release. trictly Sexual is an entertaining, unorthodox romantic comedy that takes an honest, funny approach to relationships and sex. Donna (Amber Benson of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) is a young Angeleno living off her parents’ wealth and spending most of her time writing screenplays that never get finished. She’s opinionated, loud and has a high sex drive. Her roommate, Christi Ann (Kristen Kerr), is a fashion designer whose levelheaded and more-conservative nature balances out Donna. Joe (Johann Urb) and Stanny (Stevie Long) have just arrived in L.A. Homeless and jobless, they decide to have some drinks at a bar that, unbeknownst to them, is known for male prostitutes. In walks Donna, who has dragged Christi Ann with her in search of some gigolo action. Predictably, the women take home the men. In the morning when the women offer to pay them, the guys get upset about the mix-up. The women offer to have them stay in their poolside cabana in return for no-stringsattached sex. The guys have no complaints about this arrangement. However, both couples start spending more and more time together and begin to fall for each other. The film wisely focuses on each of the four characters, who are fairly well developed, rather than on explicit, gratuitous sex scenes, as the title may suggest. – Angelique Flores 14 Home Media Magazine February 9–15, 2009
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 Contents News Family Cine Mercado Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 (Page Cover1) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 (Page Cover2) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 (Page 1) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 (Page 2) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 (Page 3) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 (Page 4) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Contents (Page 5) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - News (Page 6) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - News (Page 7) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - News (Page 8) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - News (Page 9) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Family (Page 10) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Family (Page 11) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Cine Mercado (Page 12) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Cine Mercado (Page 13) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Reviews (Page 14) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Reviews (Page 15) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Reviews (Page 16) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Reviews (Page 17) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Pipeline (Page 18) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Pipeline (Page 19) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Top 20 Sellers (Page 20) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 21) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 22) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Just Announced (Page 23) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Just Announced (Page 24) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Just Announced (Page Cover3) Home Media Magazine - February 9-15, 2009 - Just Announced (Page Cover4)
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.