Home Video

Covert Affairs – The Complete First Season

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Covert Affairs The Complete First Season
  • tv.com: link

Most people remember Piper Perabo for her starring role in 2000’s Coyote Ugly, but my crush on her started with the first movie I saw her in where she played newbie FBI Agent Karen Sympathy. Covert Affairs is a return to form (of sorts) as Perabo stars as a young woman in her first days as an agent for the CIA.

The First Season follows Annie Walker (Perabo) going to work for the Domestic Protection Division of the CIA under the command of Joan Campbell (Kari Matchett), the wife of the Director of the National Clandestine Service (Peter Gallagher). Throughout the first season Annie will learn much about trust, spycraft, and the new shade of gray her life has become as she lies to her sister (Anne Dudek) about what her new job entails. She will also begin to unravel the mystery of a short-term love affair (Eion Bailey) from her past which has much more to do with the CIA than she could have possibly imagined.

…

Covert Affairs – The Complete First SeasonRead More »

Covert Affairs – The Complete First Season Read More »

No Strings Attached

/ / Home Video
  • Title: No Strings Attached
  • IMDB: link

no-strings-attached-blu-rayThe subject of friends with benefits usually makes for lackluster Hollywood scripts. No Strings Attached is no exception. Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher star as acquaintances who meet occasionally over the years and eventually get together in as sex friends who “use each other for sex at all hours of the day and night.” The story obviously wants us to root for these two wacky kids to get together in a real relationship, but gives us no real reason to do so.

There are also subplots about his career as a hopeful writer in show business and his father (Kevin Kline) dating his former girlfriend (Ophelia Lovibond), but neither of these amount to much. And, in true Apatowian homage (nicer than saying rip-off), we also get several scenes with and his friends (Jake M. Johnson, Ludacris) and and her friends (Greta Gerwig, Mindy Kaling) discussing relationships, sex, and menstruation with slightly inappropriate (but only occasionally funny) ways.

…

No Strings AttachedRead More »

No Strings Attached Read More »

Blue Valentine

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Blue Valentine
  • IMDB: link

blue-valentine-blu-raySome couples shouldn’t stay together. That’s the basic message behind Blue Valentine from writer/director Derek Cianfrance which stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams trapped in the painful end of a marriage which should have never happened.

Through flashbacks we’re shown their shy beginnings and the events which rush the couple into an all-too-quick marriage. The effects of this are all to obvious on the current state of their relationship.

I liked the film enough to sneak it onto my Best Movies of 2010 list. Williams and Gosling carry the film with a pair of strong performances of two people going through the motions of a doomed love affair which should have ended years ago.

Available on both Blu-ray and DVD the extras include deleted scenes, a making of the film featurette, and commentary with Cianfrance and editor Jim Helton.

…

Blue ValentineRead More »

Blue Valentine Read More »

XIII: The Conspiracy

/ / Home Video
  • Title: XIII: The Conspiracy
  • IMDB: link

xiii-blurayInspired by the original Jason Bourne novel, The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum, the Franco-Belgian comics by Jean Van Hamme and William Vance entitled XIII took things to an entirely new level by amping up the action by layering mystery, conspiracy, and mistaken identity on top of each other until no one knew who exactly the main character really was, even the readers.

I’m a fan of the comic and this TV mini-series, despite a couple of changes to the story, does a pretty good job making sense out of the Byzantine plot of the comic. Stephen Dorff stars as a man with a unique set of skills, suffering from amnesia, and with an appearance and wounds that match that of the assassin who killed the President of the United States (Mimi Kuzyk). The only clue to his identity is a roman numeral tattoo of XIII on his chest.

…

XIII: The ConspiracyRead More »

XIII: The Conspiracy Read More »

Country Strong

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Country Strong
  • IMDB: link

“Was [Townes Van Zandt] famous?”
“In some circles. But not as famous as Carrie Underwood.”

Coming out of rehab (again) country music star Kelly Canter (Gwyneth Paltrow) hits the road with her manager and husband (Tim McGraw), and two young aspiring stars (Garrett Hedlund, Leighton Meester) on a comeback tour.

The film’s running time is under two hours but it feels much longer as the characters and plot struggle to make their way to the story’s climactic performance in Dallas.

The performances are solid, but nothing special. The music is more country pop than country, and both Paltrow and Meester are adequate at performing them. However, neither the songs nor the performances will make you buy the soundtrack. And the story itself, aside from the ending (which serves up a very questionable message), is all to predictable.

Although the version I viewed contained no extras (not even the trailer was included), some version do include deleted scenes, the film’s original ending, an extended musical performance, and cast and crew featurettes.

…

Country StrongRead More »

Country Strong Read More »