State of Play (Blu-Ray)
UNIVERSAL
MOVIE C+
SPECIAL FEATURES B-
DVD GEEK FACTOR 5
(OUT OF 10)
The majority of this film is actually quite good. Russell Crowe
plays an investigative newspaper reporter looking into the death of
young woman who was involved with his politician friend (Ben Affleck,
in fine form).
As a look behind the inner workings of daily newspapers, the movie
is an effective testament to a disappearing (or disintegrating)
profession. As a murder-mystery, it screws the pooch in the end, thanks
to a crappy, copout finale. Still, Crowe and Affleck are good here, and
it’s definitely worth a rental.
SPECIAL FEATURES: The U-Control feature provides cast and
crew interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. There are also some
deleted scenes and a making-of doc.
Adventureland
MIRAMAX
MOVIE B
SPECIAL FEATURES B+
DVD GEEK FACTOR 6.25
(OUT OF 10)
Director Greg Mottola (Superbad) based this one on his
experiences working at Adventure-land in the ’80s—yes, he
actually worked at the crappy park in Farmingdale on Long Island. I
grew up near that park, and it sucked. I honestly feared for my life
every time I went on the rickety rollercoaster. Peer pressure is the
only thing that got me on that monstrosity.
The park has undergone some major renovations since the ’80s, so
Mottola has moved the action to some rundown park in Pennsylvania. The
stand-in park actually did remind me of the horrible Long Island
establishment, so props to Mottola for getting that part right.
This is basically a coming-of-age story starring Jesse Eisenberg as
a high school grad trying to make some money to pay for tuition to a
pricey school. He falls in love with a troubled girl (Kristen Stewart,
making up a little bit for her dull performance in Twilight),
learns some life lessons and masters the art of emceeing one of those
stupid cardboard-horse-race games.
The film isn’t nearly the laugh riot that Superbad was, and
it’s not at all groundbreaking. But the performances are good, and the
storytelling is competent. Ryan Reynolds gives a strong performance as
a wannabe musician who is stuck in his amusement-park handyman job and
getting his kicks with younger women.
Bill Hader gets the film’s biggest laughs as the park manager,
hiring people after very short interviews and frying up corndogs that
might be well past their expiration date. Kristen Wiig does her usual
shtick, and it’s shtick I’m not yet tired of. Eisenberg and Stewart
make for a convincing couple with bad timing.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Just My Life: The Making of
‘Adventureland’ is a decent look at the film’s making, with Mottola
talking about his time as a carnie. He also does a decent commentary
with Eisenberg. Hearing their similar voices back to back suggests
Eisenberg was cast perfectly as Mottola’s alter ego. You also get
deleted scenes.
Earth (Blu-Ray)
DISNEY
MOVIE B
SPECIAL FEATURES B-
DVD GEEK FACTOR 6
(OUT OF 10)
This is a feature-length version of the excellent BBC TV series
Planet Earth, and it is mind-blowing on Blu-Ray. The story
segment about the starving polar bear is great, heartbreaking cinema.
If you already own the Planet Earth BBC Blu-Ray discs, you
probably won’t need this unless you want James Earl Jones, aka Darth
Vader, narrating the cool great-white-shark-eats-seal jump. Otherwise,
you have this footage already.
If you don’t have Planet Earth, and you want a condensed
version of that epic series, have at it. Your home-entertainment system
will get an impressive workout. Also, it’s G-rated, so it’s a nice way
to teach your kids about the circle of life.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Earth Diaries: The Making of ‘Earth’ the
Movie has some interesting moments. Disney also continues their
cool trend of providing a standard-DVD version along with the Blu-Ray
for those who haven’t converted yet, but might be thinking about
it.
Fast and Furious
UNIVERSAL
MOVIE D+
SPECIAL FEATURES C+
DVD GEEK FACTOR 3.5
(OUT OF 10)
Me no likey this movie, but the gas-truck-robbery chase scene, as
stupid as it is, looks pretty sweet on Blu-Ray. Still, the return of
Vin Diesel was not a blessing, as his mopey persona is many miles away
from anything that could be considered charismatic. When Paul Walker is
acting circles around you, you have some serious problems.
Now that Diesel is back, they will probably make more of these with
Sir Croak at their center. I prefer it when the guy voices Iron Giants
as opposed to when he actually appears onscreen.
Frightening trivia for you to chew on: Diesel and David Twohy are
talking about making more Riddick movies. Oh holy God.
SPECIAL FEATURES: More U-Control, with Walker and director
Justin Lin providing behind-the-scenes details. Some BD-Live stuff
allows you to make your own Fast and Furious video. (Ooooh!)
There are also several short features about getting Diesel and Walker
back, all the crazy-cool cars, and so on.
This article appears in Sep 3-9, 2009.
