DVD Review: "THE MACHINIST" Score C

This movie is a waking nightmare. It is strange and out there but the plot is primarily this, a man who due to a past action a year ago, has stopped eating lost most of his weight, and is an insomniac. His insomnia is creating paranoia, schizophenia and a variety of bad life choices. The film is disturbing, and I am not really sure why it was made. Bale made a remarkable personal transformation by cutting his weight down to 120lbs to play this troubled man. I think that Bale took this movie on just to make this actors choice and go anoexic for the role. Its not a particually jaw dropping twist of an ending and if you didn't see it coming then you must not have been watching. SPOILER ALERT: here is the deal, A Man hits and kills a little boy, then he drove away from the accident, this caused him anguish and he stopped eating or sleeping for over a year, now he is disturbed mentally and is seeing the images of the mother, the boy and a strange mangled hand guy called Ivan...all of whom are just in his head he goes crazy and eventually turns him self in for the hit and run and can finally fall asleep in jail THE END... Nothing particularly great, scary or ultimately entertaining about this one.

DVD Review: "BODY OF LIES" Score B

DiCaprio is genuinely good in almost everything that he does these days. In this one he is an Agent stationed in Iraq doing undercover work (however he would really stick out like a sore thumb there if this were a real operation). The story takes an odd turn when he falls for a local nurse and she is ultimately a downfall for him and almost gets him killed. Russel Crowe is primarily useless in this one as his role of an op who now spends little time in the field and most of the time on this handsfree cell phone mic getting intel while tending to his kids. The role required little more than phoning it in.. Some of the action in this is decent but overall the slow moving pace of a relatively open storyline doesn't help this one along. Could have been a better piece.

DVD Review: "FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL" Score B-

Jason Segal is one of the new crop of dorky goofy average looking leading men. Its fine for a comedy. In this he is genuinely funny in certain scenes as he is a competent actor. The storyline here is funny enough however the convenient writing (of him happening to be staying at the same hotel on the same island at the same time as his recent ex and of a hot new replacement girl that happens to be single and happens to fall for him) leads to the comedy and the ultimate happy ending (unlike in real life). The supporting players are all funny in their respective parts and lend a hand to making this a fun ride. Its a nice little film nothing spectacular but worth a view for some laughs.

DVD Review: "MOVING MCALLISTER" Score C--

This lame attempt at a comedy road trip film falls into the crevasse of unfunny-over-trying slacker wanna be hip character film. The non-existent plot of a mail room boy who has to deliver a box from his Miami to LA to impress his law firm CEO. Also he has to pick up the CEO's "wild" niece and drop her off in LA too. Oh and now we are all set for a wacky cross country adventure. Throw in Jon Header as a slacker hitch hiker that joins the ride. The conventions of what the characters all do and their motivations make little sense The lead in 5days will take the Bar Exam and yet takes the job to drive to LA from Miami and get back. The CEO doesn't even give him enough money to rent the truck. The trippy dream/drug sequences are thrown in for whatever. He falls in love in the short 5 days. The CEO who never knew this kid in the first place was setting him up with his niece, the box only had the kid's own shoe in it, he misses his Bar Exam. Its all over the place, and not a cohesive or funny road trip (gross random things are thrown in here to try and get a laugh...they don't). Skip it.

DVD Review: "THE BUCKET LIST" Score C+

Although the teaming up of Nicholson and Freeman is a good paring this film lacked real solid scripting to take full advantage of their chemistry. Of course Freeman can't exist anymore in a film without a voice over by him, essentially un-needed. Nicholson recreates a touch of his cranky old guy with adventurous risk taker and drags Freeman with him. Their adventures are entirely anti-climatic and the film moves rather slow, we all wish they had a few hundred things on their list we could witness not just a couple. Directorial the pace is all to slow. These guys work very well together as actors just this is the wrong piece of film to put them in. Its an OK film just nothing to run out and see right now.

DVD Review: ”I LOVE YOU MAN” Score B++

A delightful buddy comedy away from the mold of a sappy romantic comedy and into the new genre of a bro-mance film. I enjoyed this one a lot more than I thought I would. There are some really funny moments supplied readily from both Rudd (with his awkward character improv) and from Segal who brings a couple outlandish breaks along with sincere acting. Overall the chemistry with these two is great. Both of these guys deliver honest acting moments and deliver real down to earth relate-able characters. The writing is crisp and clear and this one doesn't lag at all. The story is simple enough, newly engaged Realtor Peter (Rudd) has no real male friends so he seeks one out, failed "man dates" flop and he meets a nice guy Sydney (Segal) at an open house he is holding. They hit it off and begin hanging together, which his fiance doesn't care much for. The guys split and in traditional happy ending make up by the end. Along the way this film is filled with little moments of funny that are intertwined in what are real life moments. Its a great film actually..its funny and leaves you feeling good.

DVD Review: "THE WEATHERMAN" Score C

In one of the more boring mis-fires that Nicholas Cage has starred in, the Weatherman has a great director and a decent supporting cast but fall flat. As a moderately successful weatherman in a local market, Cage's character has a life that is in shambles. Divorced (but wants to get back together) a frumpy clueless apathetic 12 year old daughter (who he is trying to hard to hang out with and be her friend) a 15 year old son (that gets sexual hit on by a counselor) and a prize winning writer of a father just diagnosed with cancer (who he can't seem to get approval from). The film plods along slowly and many scenes make no sense other than to try to set up some kind of overall message. I have never heard of a local weatherman being pelted (repeatedly) with various fast food items as he walks down the street, but its in this film. Its a weird film that repleat with bland voice overs attempt to convey a sense of dread about this one man's life. You won't be missing anything if you pass this one by.