DVD Releases
Big movies coming to the small screen
By Marni Weisz
JANUARY 6
PINEAPPLE EXPRESS
Stars: Seth Rogen, James Franco
Director: David Gordon Green (Snow Angels)
Story: Ever wondered what an action movie would be like if the protagonists were stoned? Slacker Dale (Rogen) and his dealer Saul (Franco) try to stay focused while simultaneously smoking weed and running from some bad guys who want them dead.
DVD Extras: extended and alternate scenes, gag reel, commentary, making-of featurette
THE WACKNESS
Stars: Josh Peck, Ben Kingsley
Director: Jonathan Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane)
Story: After graduating from high school, Luke Shapiro (Peck) spends his summer selling pot out of an old ice cream cart. One of his clients, a psychotherapist (Kingsley), trades therapy sessions for weed, and counsels Luke to find a girl and have some fun. But he didn’t expect the kid to fall for his daughter.
DVD Extras: deleted scenes, commentary, a day in the life of the director, making-of featurette
RIGHTEOUS KILL (pictured above)
Stars: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro
Director: Jon Avnet (88 Minutes)
Story: The first big-screen pairing of Pacino and De Niro since Michael Mann’s Heat was — by most accounts — a disappointing, by-the-books thriller about two cops trying to solve some crime. But c’mon, it’s cold outside and it’s Pacino and De Niro. How bad could it really be?
DVD Extras: director commentary, “The Investigation: An In-Depth Look at Righteous Kill,” “The Thin Blue Line: An Exploration of Cops & Criminals”
JANUARY 13
MIRRORS
Stars: Kiefer Sutherland, Paula Patton
Director: Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes)
Story: An ex-cop (Sutherland) takes a job as a security guard at a burned-out shopping mall. But it’s not looters he has to worry about. It’s that all the mirrors in the place are possessed by an evil spirit.
DVD Extras: extended and unrated cut, making-of featurette, deleted scenes, alternate ending
Appaloosa |
APPALOOSA
Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Ed Harris
Director: Ed Harris (Pollock)
Story: Harris reunites with his A History of Violence co-star Mortensen
for only his second directing effort, and his first since 2000’s
Pollock. This one takes place in the 1880s Old West when two friends
(Harris, Mortensen) are hired to protect a small town from an evil
rancher (Jeremy Irons).
SWING VOTE
Stars: Kevin Costner, Kelsey Grammer
Director: Joshua Michael Stern (Neverwas)
Story: Bud Johnson (Costner) is a regular Joe Six-Pack who doesn’t care
about politics or even know who’s running for President. But when a
technical glitch means that the entire U.S. election will be decided by
his vote, the two candidates (Grammer, Dennis Hopper) descend on his
small town to win his support.
DVD Extras: commentary, deleted scenes
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JANUARY 20
MAX PAYNE
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis
Director: John Moore (The Omen)
Story: In this dark thriller based on a videogame, a New York City detective (Wahlberg) whose wife and baby were murdered teams with an assassin (Kunis) whose sister was killed to find the people responsible for both crimes.
JANUARY 27
PRIDE AND GLORY
Stars: Edward Norton, Colin Farrell
Director: Gavin O’Connor (Miracle)
Story: When four New York cops are killed in a botched drug bust, a police investigator (Norton) is called in to figure out what went wrong. Unfortunately, what went wrong is that some corrupt cops tipped off the dealers, and the investigator’s brother (Noah Emmerich) and brother-in-law (Farrell) were probably involved.
LAKEVIEW TERRACE
Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson
Director: Neil LaBute (The Wicker Man)
Story: In a bad case of reverse racism, a black LAPD officer (Jackson) is so incensed when an interracial couple (Wilson, Kerry Washington) moves in next door that he decides to harass them — in increasingly violent ways — until they leave.
DVD Extras: deleted scenes, “An Open House,” “Meet Your Neighbours,” “Home Sweet Home”
THE ROCKER
Stars: Rainn Wilson, Christina Applegate
Director: Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty)
Story: Twenty years ago Robert “Fish” Fishman (Wilson) was the drummer for the eighties rock group Vesuvius — until he was kicked out. Now his nephew’s high school band is looking for a drummer, and Fish realizes this may be his last chance at rock ’n’ roll fame.
DVD Extras: commentary, deleted scenes, gag reel, Pete Best interview, “Vesuvius Public Service Announcements”
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