Music/DVD Review: Paul McCartney’s Memory Almost Full
Listening to Memory Almost Full, Paul McCartney’s Starbucks (Hear Music) album, it’s hard to believe the 65-year-old McCartney is still producing songs so vibrant and so exhilarating. You don’t hear his age in his voice, but you can hear his age in his lyrics. The songs bounce from buoyant pop-melodies to personal retrospections. And then there are songs like “Ever Present Past” (download it) that are determined to be both. The DVD features the “Ever Present Past” music video, with a brown and white color scheme and dubious, but still fun choreography. It’s not the eccentric, entertaining video for “Dance Tonight” that also appears on the disc, that’s for sure, but few songs are as entertaining as “Dance Tonight,” video or no video. The song “Dance Tonight” (download it) was the first single released from Memory Almost Full. The...
Read MoreDVD Review: The Bourne Ultimatum
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)–**1/2 DVD Review When Paul Greengrass took on The Bourne Supremacy there was a kinetic energy, a freshness, that turned the sequel into a better film than the original. Well, lightning doesn’t strike the same franchise twice. The Bourne Ultimatum may be the smartest film of the bunch, taking aim and finally pulling the trigger on unchecked CIA power. Yet after watching writer Tony Gilroy’s film Michael Clayton, I can’t help but see The Bourne Ultimatum as a lesser work. Sure there’s action, but after three films, I think the audience has grasped the fact that Jason Bourne isn’t going to die at the hands of this CIA. Full of incompetent, power-tripping right-wingers, this CIA is in panic mode. Specifics on a top secret program known as Blackbriar were leaked to a reporter (Paddy Constantine). The...
Read MoreDVD Review: The Nanny Diaries
The Nanny Diaries (2007)–** DVD Review I don’t know which actor was more miscast in The Nanny Diaries, Scarlett Johansson or Laura Linney. Neither performer seems prepared for the tone of the film, a comedic romp through the world of Upper East Side nannydom with a slightly too upbeat romantic subplot. Both do their very best with the talents they have in order to survive this exercise is uneven filmmaking. Johansson plays Annie the nanny who is hired by Linney’s Mrs. X, a stiff, cold socialite mother. They met in Central Park where a ponderous Annie, contemplating her lack of self, saved Mrs. X’s son Grayer from being run over by a Segway. Let me explain the Mrs. X thing. Annie graduated with a practical degree in business administration with a minor in her passion field, anthropology. The Nanny...
Read MoreDVD Review: Ocean’s Thirteen
Ocean’s Thirteen (2007)–*** DVD Review Ocean’s Thirteen is the first film in the Ocean franchise I actually enjoyed. I laughed and smiled, charmed by the cast like in none of the films before it, even the Rat Pack original. Maybe it’s because after two outings, Ocean and his band of merry men have finally involved themselves in something so rapturously absurd that Ocean’s Thirteen bludgeons you into buying its game. What’s the game this time? Good old-fashioned revenge. Casino mogul Willie Bank (Al Pacino) steals control of what was once to be named the Midas Casino from Ocean Pack member Reuben (Elliot Gould). Reuben, who saw Midas as his last shot at being a Vegas player again, has a heart attack that nearly kills him. Danny Ocean (George Clooney) doesn’t take kindly to seeing his friend incapacitated, so he...
Read MoreDVD Review: Pixar Short Films Collection – Volume 1
Pixar’s short film collection, featuring every computer-animated short produced thus far by the pioneering animation studio, is the first DVD I was compelled to curl up with in a long time. I indulged in watching this disc not just because in Pixar’s short history (about a quarter century) it has produced some of the most charming animations you’ll ever encounter, but also because this DVD celebrates that short history. The disc features a total of 13 films, most of which have been seen in theaters or as DVD extras. The five original Pixar shorts featured on the disc, ones from 1984 to 1988, really make the DVD worth a purchase. Each of these five films features a short but sweet commentary from Pixar’s first animator and current chief creative officer, John Lasseter. He can’t provide much insight in five...
Read MoreDVD Review: Mr. Brooks
Mr. Brook (2007)–** DVD Review Mr. Brooks isn’t a stupid movie. It’s not even a bad movie. But it certainly is a movie that thinks it’s better than it is. Because of that, a film that could have been a black comedy with a hint of Silence of the Lambs rather finds itself looking more like the Stepford Wives remake. Kevin Coster stars as Earl Brooks, Portland area Chamber of Commerce Man of the Year, loving husband, caring father, and generally a good guy. When he’s not running his box company, he’s fighting his addiction: murder. One night, when Mr. Brooks falls off the wagon, amateur photographer and professional voyeur Mr. Smith (Dane Cook) catches him in the act. Instead of going to the cops, Mr. Smith has an idea. He wants to follow Brooks on his next murder....
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