DVD Weekend: The Other Boleyn Girl & 30 Days of Night
Instead of heading to the theater this weekend for what reliable sources are calling mediocre comedies, I stayed home to catch up on some movies I had previously skipped. I probably should have spent $8 on a mediocre comedy.
The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)–*1/2
Quickie Review
To advance their family, sisters Mary and Anne Boleyn strive to position themselves as King Henry VIII’s mistress. Dull, unfocused and rather weightless, this period drama cannot contend with its own miscalculations. Neither sister is a reliable guide as they are juggled about by the amorous king and the Boleyn family. The only character with any sense of humanity—the mother—is tossed into the background. Scarlett Johansson, as Mary, once again proves she can’t star in a period film, while Natalie Portman, as Anne, struggles to make us believe she’s a scheming temptress. I never thought I’d say this, but I’d rather be watching Showtime’s The Tudors. Also starring Eric Bana and Jim Sturgess.
30 Days of Night (2007)–**
Quickie Review
As 30 days of darkness fall on the isolated town of Barrow, Alaska, acts of random vandalism serves as warnings of a coming vampire invasion. Like most recent graphic novel adaptations, a lack of cinematic visual creativity and dearth of story hamper what could have been a commendable horror picture. The actors do their best to produce something tangibly human out of the hollow sketches that are their characters, but the film rarely connects on an emotional level. So much for premise alone holding up this movie. Starring Josh Hartnett with a brief, but always superlative performance by Ben Foster as the vampires’ human confederate.
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