Movie Review: Lars And The Real Girl

I enjoy subtle, sarcastic, and dark humor so seeing a preview for Lars And The Real Girl was all it took to garner my interest. Oddly enough, I had just watched a documentary on people who had “relationships” with the life-size sex dolls that made for another reason to see a movie about just that.

While the idea of a movie centering around a lonely man who orders a customizable doll online to be his girlfriend sounds depressing, Lars And The Real Girl is actually full of hope and love. Sure, it examines the life of a lonely soul, but it focuses more on how loving and supportive a community can be.

Lars (Ryan Gosling) is a lonely man who has retreated into a hermit-like shell and finds physical contact literally painful. Being the nice twenty-something man that he is, those around him worry about his solitary life and push the idea of dating on him like hotcakes. His news of having a girlfriend shocks those who know how uncomfortable he finds attention from others to be; even more shocking is their discovery that Bianca is in fact an anatomically correct mannequin. Yes, the sort of doll with holes in all the right places for one’s enjoyment.

Ryan Gosling truly must be a genius. He plays Lars so well that he becomes real and someone you care about. His expressions and movements bring to life Lars’ emotions so we know how he feels without anyone having to spell it out. Gosling plays Lars in such a way that his delusions seem real without taking over the film to make it about his affliction. His impairment is merely a means to tell a much bigger story.

While the film could be one big opportunity for jokes and crass humor, the filmmakers instead choose to present real people with both strengths and weaknesses that the audience begins to admire in some way. They could have easily made an exploitation film instead of a heart-warming story that is at the same time endearing and tragic.

The subtleties in the film are intelligent and easy to miss. The costumes have motivation and the changes in them reflect the growth of characters through the film (pay attention to the blanket-turned-scarf Lars wears for an example).

I find most character study films to be nothing but dull and drab but all the elements of Lars pull me in in such a way where other films fail – it makes me actually care about the characters and want to see how things will resolve. Ironically, Lars, along with his delusional faults, presents the community around him with a sign of sanity. Lars And The Real Girl brings to life a hope in community, finds respect for traumas, and shows the difficulty some have with maturing.

And no, Lars doesn’t use Bianca for her intended purpose.

Movie Review: No Country For Old Men

Everyone I know loves No Country For Old Men. I even heard several people talk about how it is the best movie they have seen in years. I couldn’t disagree more. I actually hated the movie. But I also understand how it is a good movie all at the same time.

Let me start by saying I thought the actors are all great; the casting was spot on for this film. They deliver their lines in such a way that the movie brings to life Cormac McCarthy’s novel of the same title. Tommy Lee Jones is able to deliver a performance with restrained emotion while still coming off as passionate. Each glance Javier Bardem makes adds to how creepy his character is – in fact he is perhaps the most evil man I have ever seen in a movie.

The cinematography is also something to be complimented. Each shot and display of color truly makes West Texas come alive. It emphasizes the size and dusty climate beautifully without going over the top. The camera work helps maintain the chase elements into what is ultimately a character driven story. And therein lies the rub.

I don’t like movies where nothing happens. If it is dialogue with nothing for me to grasp onto, I get bored. Don’t get me wrong, I like most of the Coen Brothers’ movies. In fact, I think I enjoy all of them but O Brother, Where Art Thou? and for many of the same reasons. Something about the story keeps the chase and thriller aspects under such constraint that it is as if nothing really happens. Sure, people are being murdered by an air compressor powered cattle stun gun, but in a way that fails to shock me. And perhaps the lack of shock is what makes Javier Bardem’s performance believable. The story manages to make action seemingly nothing and any build up of anxiety completely disappear. It fails to suck me in to care what happens to any of the characters. I neither want nor hope against what any of the characters are trying to accomplish.

This film confuses me in that I think it is great as a film but also find it to be absolutely boring. The problem for me is the story. All the cinematic elements are as perfect as anyone could have made it. The music, the editing, the directing is all spot on. I appreciate No Country For Old Men as a body of cinematic art but hope to never waste what to me feels like an eternity in watching it again. But then, I also don’t like any of Cormac McCarthy’s novels.

DVD Review: Scrubs - The Complete Sixth Season

Scrubs is one of the plethora of hospital shows on television. But unlike the rest, it is a 30-minute sitcom. Sure the show deals with some less-than-happy subject matter, but each episode has its funny moments that endear the series. It is also one of those rare shows where the reruns are just as funny as they were when they originally aired. While I have to say the first two seasons were pure gold, season six is still full of great television.

The sixth season of Scrubs had some interesting storylines. JD gets his doctor girlfriend Kim pregnant, Dr. Cox’s wife is pregnant, Carla and Turk have their baby, and Elliot gets engaged to Keith. The season also dealt with more serious issues than previous seasons seem to have touched on. Carla deals with postpartum depression. Nurse Roberts not only winds up in the hospital but also dies. JD has to deal with his thoughts on becoming a father when his girlfriend moves away and breaks up with him. Sure, this season focuses a lot more on the serious aspects of relationships than the first five seasons, but Scrubs hasn’t lost its focus of being a hospital comedy. Dr. Kelso, Janitor, and Ted continue to bring their humorous touches to the life at Sacred Heart Hospital.

Discussion of the sixth season cannot be complete without a mention of “My Musical,” the musical episode of Scrubs. The song and dance routines embrace the spirit of the show by having the serious up against the humorous. Personally, my favorite songs were “Guy Love” and “Everything Comes Down To Poo.” Obviously I am not the only one who enjoyed those songs, as they were one of the multiple Emmy nominations the episode received. Another new thing worth mentioning about the sixth season is characters other than JD narrated a few episodes; in fact some of the more minor characters took over.

Many feel this season stumbled to a point that wasn’t at the standard previous seasons had set. Luckily, Scrubs regained its footing before the end of the season, which had been hinted at being the final season. The creators of the show have agreed to a seventh season, but it is coming to an end. I appreciate ending the show before it goes to utter crap and there really is no reason a television series needs to be around for a decade or more. Unfortunately, the current WGA writers strike threatens Scrubs from airing a complete final season. In fact, it is rumored that the finale may not be shown until it is released on DVD.

The special features include a making of the musical episode. It includes glimpses at why they made the episode, how the cast and crew felt about it, and the special people they brought in to make it perfect. The next one is called “Judy Reyes Keep Talking” which looks at everything Carla – from auditioning, to her relationships with the other characters, to struggles Carla faced on the series, and what is up next. Naturally, a collection of deleted scenes is included but it takes on a different approach than most by showing the scene as aired before the deleted version is shown. Similarly, there is a feature showing alternate lines than the ones used in the show. “The Third Tier” is the next featurette and it is about characters that were initially meant for one joke and ended up with a recurring role. Following is “The Debra and Stephanie Show” which is another look at the musical episode. There are the commentary tracks for each episode and an Easter Egg — if you don't want spoilers for the seventh season, I recommend you not try to find this.

Overall, the sixth season of Scrubs is chock full of scalpel sharp wit and unforgettable characters with their quirks. Like the first five seasons, Scrubs - The Complete Six Season DVD is a must-have set for your television DVD collection.

DVD Review: Veronica Mars - The Complete Third Season

Veronica Mars came to a cruel fate. It was a great show, had a fan following, and received critics’ praises. Usually, that is a recipe for a long-running series, or so you would think. Not so much for Veronica Mars, which was canceled after only three seasons. Now people are hoping for something like Firefly/Serenity with a feature film version, or perhaps a made-for-TV movie and some comics.
For those who live under a rock in a cave and never saw Veronica Mars, you’re lame. Okay, in all seriousness it is worth checking out. Veronica is a teen girl who works for her dad, who happens to be a private investigator. He used to be the sheriff but some stuff went down so he was fired and then he gets to be sheriff again, and well, that’s a different story. Veronica has a knack for investigating things herself, which naturally gets her some side jobs, and some unwanted trouble. Each episode has its own contained mystery, and then there are arcs within the series that work out over anywhere from seven episodes to the entire season.

Season Three saw Veronica in college. She’s up to her same tricks, discovering who a campus rapist is, what really happened to cause the dean's death, there’s even a nerd in love with a prostitute he wants to save. While the third season wasn’t as strong as the first two, even the weakest episodes of Veronica Mars were heads above the best episodes of most TV shows on the major networks.

As far as the DVD set of Season Three is concerned, five discs are your typical bundle of episodes. None seem to have commentary tracks available. But the little booklet that comes with the DVDs is nice enough to include the original airdate, who wrote each episode, and who the director was .The true gem is the sixth disc – it is why any fan of Veronica Mars must get the third season DVDs right now.

The first special feature is one of the best features I’ve ever seen on any DVD set ... ever. It is called “Season 4 Presentation” and is a teaser of what the next season would have been if the show lived to tell the tale. Veronica is a special agent in the FBI and just as prickly as ever. The next featurette is “Pitching Season 4” with supervising producer Dan Etheridge and creator Rob Thomas (not the Rob Thomas from Matchbox 20). It discusses how the new direction of the next season came into being – from the concept of Veronica in the FBI to the color shift to give the show a new look.

Then there is a multi-part feature called “Going Undercover with Rob Thomas” and the sections are ‘Main Titles: Why the Change?’, ‘Rob’s Directing Experience,’ ‘Favorite Guest Star Moments,’ ‘Veronica Mars: Mean Girl,’ ‘The Politics of Veronica Mars,’ ‘Favorite Veronica and Logan Moments,’ ‘Favorite Veronica and Keith Moments,’ ‘Do-Overs?’, and ‘Highlights.’ Thomas and Dan Etheridge host this special feature as well. It sort of serves as the commentary that is lacking in any individual episodes on the other discs.

But wait, that’s not all. The next feature is the Webisode Gallery, which is more of a goofy look at some of the crew and actors on the show. Then there are some of your typical deleted scenes with an introduction from show creator Thomas. Finally, there is the Gag Reel.

Overall, the special features alone are reason to buy the third season of Veronica Mars. Add in the fact that Veronica Mars was a great show and there really is no reason it shouldn’t be part of your DVD library.

DVD Review: Transformers

I grew up watching Transformers as a kid. I had the toys, sheets, even costumes to be a number of different Transformers. Watching the movie, I was both very skeptical and extremely excited. In fact, the only thing I was truly weary of was that it was a Michael Bay movie.

Fortunately, Transformers rocked my face off. For those who live under a rock, the Transformers movie is about a boy who has some special information, only he isn’t aware of that fact. The Autobots are sent to protect the boy and the information from the evil Decepticons. The movie follows the obstacles, victories, and some killer action sequences in just what this information is and why it is so important.

Transformers is the movie that will bring out the inner child in all of us. If it doesn’t, I’d argue you have no soul. Even if Michael Bay isn’t one of the more well-liked directors out there, Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Rachael Taylor, Anthony Anderson, Jon Voight, and several others truly worked together to bring this story to life. Transformers isn’t meant to be some deep movie with a lot of meaning, so if that is what you want, look elsewhere. But Transformers is a fun and exciting story with a great soundtrack. The CGI was well done and didn’t distract from the movie, as sometimes is the case.

The DVD is a two-disc special edition. The first disc contains the film in widescreen format enhanced for 16:9 televisions. The sound is Dolby Digital Surround 5.1 available in English, French, and Spanish with subtitles available in the same three languages. The first disc also contains a commentary track by Michael Bay.

The second disc has three special features. The first is titled “Our World” and is a series of “behind the scenes” looks at how Transformers was created: the process of hiring teams and creating the script, how the casting was done, the special effects, and the locations of the shoot. The next featurette is called “Their War” which looks at the history of Transformers in all its incarnations and how that influenced the creation of the robots in the movie. The final featurette is “More Than Meets The Eye” and has three parts. The first details the desert fight scene’s development. The next part deals with concepts the filmmakers wanted to fit into the movie. Finally there are trailers with the first teaser and two of the theatrical trailers for Transformers. Really, the only thing missing that I expected to be included was a series of deleted scenes. The features alluded to them so it made their absence more disappointing.

However, as a whole, Transformers is more than worth buying. It is also available in HD DVD.

DVD Review: 28 Weeks Later

I have to admit, when 28 Weeks Later came out in theaters I had no interest whatsoever in seeing it. To me it seemed like one of the sequels that should never have been green lit. But I also didn’t like 28 Days Later as much as most people. Now that 28 Weeks Later is on DVD, I figured I would give it a try.

I am shocked to admit it, but I like 28 Weeks Later a lot more than 28 Days Later. For starters, it is a completely different genre. Instead of being a horror, it is much more of an action/thriller. There aren’t really moments where something unexpectedly pops out at you as in the first movie. But what I really appreciate is 28 Weeks Later doesn’t have the creepy, crazy rape thing going on in it. I don’t really like sexual assault in my entertainment. And it certainly wasn’t necessary in the first movie.

28 Weeks Later picks up with a few survivors holed up together to hide from the dangers outside. Unfortunately, some of the infected find them and it seems only Don escapes. Cut to 28 weeks after that and some people are slowly moving back into London, under an American-led NATO group. Don’s two children are two of the other survivors (they were abroad during the infection) and they believed their father when he tells them that mommy had been eaten until they happen to find her. Strangely, she doesn’t look much worse than you would expect from someone who has been fending for themselves for 28 weeks. And if you only learn one thing from watching 28 Weeks Later, let it be that kissing someone with a horrible disease is a very bad idea.

The chase is on after the deadly kiss. The zombies are faster and deadlier. They don’t simply bite their victims but go for ripping apart the arteries. These zombies are full of rage and very little else. Yet this time around, the infected maintain some element of humanity deep within.

The movie also blends genres in its visual appearance. At times it looks like your typical hit movie, while other times it looks more like a photojournalist has documented an actual catastrophe. The blending of styles works well to give 28 Weeks Later a grittier feel. 28 Weeks Later also looks more at the choices we make in the face of disaster. The line between saving lives and exterminating the deadly infection is a blurry one with some questionable responses. Yet those responses are what drive the movie.

Special features are par for the course on DVDs these days. 28 Weeks Later includes commentary with the director, some deleted scenes, the theatrical trailer, and trailers for a few other movies. “Code Red: The Making of 28 Weeks Later” is a mini-featurette with a look at how the sequel was made, from the original inspiration and how it evolved into the film they made. Next is “The Infected” which is hopefully self-explanatory, but in case it isn’t, “The Infected” is a featurette looking at the infected extras in the movie. Finally there's another feature called “Getting Into The Action” and it details more of the actual action in the movie and the differences that set 28 Weeks Later apart from 28 Days Later. After these features are two looks at an animated comic book version of the story, “28 Days Later: The Aftermath Stage 1 Development” and “28 Days Later: The Aftermath Stage 3 Decimation.” They are an interesting take on the story but I haven’t any clue as to how many stages there actually are, or why only the first and third appear on the DVD.

The DVD is in English 5.1 Dolby Digital and in Widescreen. There are options for closed captioning, French and Spanish Dolby Surround with subtitles available in English or Spanish.

DVD Review: Jericho The First Season

I was hooked on Jericho from the first commercial I saw. I made it a point to make room for the show in my appointment TV watching. I easily watched each episode at least twice. The show is far from being cheery, yet it still holds onto a glimmer of hope. It also makes you think about what life would really be like in such a situation.

Jericho is about a small Kansas town and their survival after a nuclear attack on the United States. They have no idea if there are other survivors or if they are alone to rebuild. The show chronicles what would be very real problems like food shortages and looting and then goes a bit further to show war-like skirmishes between neighboring towns that had very different responses as to how to survive.

Jericho is another in the growing popular ensemble-cast thrillers. The thriller aspect comes in from living in a basically post-apocalyptic world. But sprinkled throughout the chaos are stories of the people of Jericho: who they are, their relationships with each other, and what secrets they aren’t telling anyone else. The setup has drawn a lot of comparisons to Lost, just without the supernatural aspect.

What makes Jericho so gripping, and perhaps timeless, is the invisible enemy. Without knowing who is attacking the US or why, it puts a real spin on the plot. I think the mysterious forces behind the nuclear attacks also force the audience to wonder how they would react in such a situation: would they maintain law and order or would it be a free for all?

The casting of the show also works in its favor. Skeet Ulrich (Scream) is the lead and is equally strong and vulnerable, which makes his character more compelling. He’s also ridiculously good looking, so you know some love triangles are in for the making. The cast of Jericho is rounded out by Gerald McRaney (Major Dad, Simon & Simon), Ashley Scott (Birds of Prey), Pamela Reed (Proof of Life), Kenneth Mitchell, Lennie James (Sahara), Sprague Grayden, Michael Gaston, Erik Knudsen (Saw II), Brad Beyer, and Shoshannah Stern (Weeds) who is really deaf.

The special features on Jericho: The First Season are fairly typical extras these days. Most of the episodes have deleted scenes, commentary, or even both available to watch. The sixth disc also has two mini-featurettes. The first is called “Building Jericho” and is a behind the scenes look at how the first season of Jericho was made – from audition tapes, to building the back lot, special effects, and even how fan feedback affected the season. The next feature is a mini documentary called “What If” that looks at possibilities of actual nuclear attacks in the past, present, and future. It chronicles the history of nuclear weapons with stock footage and interviews with various people. The feature also discusses responses to disasters, with Hurricane Katrina being a big example of how it can go wrong without a plan in place.

Technically speaking, Jericho: The First Season is in widescreen format, enhanced for 16:9 televisions. The sound is Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround with options for subtitles in English, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese.

I highly recommend Jericho be added to your DVD collection.