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for Feb 24 DVDs

  • ACT OF VALOR

    Real-life Navy Seals do the action sequences in this thriller in which a lot of stuff blows up

  • GONE

    Amanda Seyfried in a serial-killer-on-the-loose thriller

  • WANDERLUST

    Jennifer Aniston and Paul Judd in a Judd Apatow story of a couple forced to move to the ‘burbs

  • TYLER PERRY’S GOOD DEEDS

    Standard Tyler Perry fare, but no Madea.  
 

  • 1. J. EDGAR:

    Leo DiCaprio is excellent with a screenplay that doesn’t live up to his talents in this look, from the beginning, as the man who would run the FBI for three generations.  Hoover’s public face was that of a tough law-enforcer who could wield a tommygun, but behind the scenes it was a different story.  His male companion and co-worker Clive Tolson (Armie Hammer) does not have his relationship with Hoover fully fleshed out, nor is the cross-dressing and other odd behaviour documented as well as the politics behind one of the most powerful Americans that ever lived.  Hoover’s issues with The Kennedys and his role in their demise isn’t explored fully either.  Directed by Clint Eastwood, and certainly worth seeing. PG.

  • 2. THE TOWER HEIST:

    Heist is the operative word here, as Ben Stiller leads a strong cast in a story of a Bernie Madoff-type (Alan Alda) who scams everyone he touches.  Living in the penthouse of a Manhattan hotel that he owns, Alda’s character is arrested, having successfully fleeced every employee of their pensions, savings, and future.  It’s clear that there isn’t enough evidence to convict him – unless embezzled gold is found as evidence, and the caper is on as the disparate gaggle of janitors, bellmen, and chambermaids, led by Stiller’s concierge character, try to break into the penthouse to find the goods.  Eddie Murphy overacts as usual,  the ending is flat and disappointing.  Casey Affleck and Tea Leone also star.  Rated 14A.   

  • 3. PUSS IN BOOTS:

    The Antonio Banderas-voiced tomcat from Shrek finally gets his own movie, and it’s a beauty.  This gives us the backstory prior to the time he met up with Shrek and Donkey, explains the boots, and offers some great dialogue by Puss/Banderas that is so clever, you quickly forget that you are watching a cartoon.  Selma Hayek voices Shrek’s rival/lover Kitty Softpaws, and becomes involved in the Jack-and-the-Beanstalk caper that has Puss and friends looking for the goose that lays golden eggs – but first, they have to find those magic beans. Billy Bob Thornton and Zack Galifianakis also provide voices.  Rated PG.

  • Fall 2010 TV Debut Week - Click to View

  • 4. J. EDGAR:

    Watch the scene in which Hoover and his mother are leaving a theatre … the marquee across the street contains the name of a famous female impersonator fo the day, in a veiled suggestion of Hoover’s inclination in that direction.

TAKERS: 

Despite some serious plot holes, this is a pretty good thriller.  Will you see the ending coming?  Probably!

  • GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE

    Some good moments in this Nicolas Cage supernatural thriller, but enough corn too, to see a farmer’s field

  • THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY

    Fine animated tale for kids

  • THIS MEANS WAR

    Good cast (Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine) in a reasonable spy vs spy sort-of-romance.

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