Posts tagged DVD
“Prisoners” Dark and Disturbing
Sep 29th
“Dark and Disturbing”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Prisoners is a disturbing movie in more ways than one.
The subject matter is disturbing, the action of the characters is disturbing, but most of all the ending is disturbing.
In fact, this movie is a prime example for one of those movies with alternate endings on the DVD version.
Hugh Jackman stars as Keller Dover, a survivalist who, when the movie opens, is out deer hunting with his teenage son.
On the way home, Keller tells his son the most important thing his own father ever taught him: “Be ready.”
Mario Bello plays Keller’s wife, they also have a daughter, Anna, who is six years old, and on Thanksgiving the whole family goes to dinner at the home of their friends and neighbors, Franklin and Nancy Birch, played by Terrence Howard and Viola Davis.
After dinner, Anna and her best friend, Joy Birch, go off playing, and the next thing the parents know is that they don’t know where their daughters are.
A frantic search throughout the house, outside, and back at the Dovers’ house leads to nothing, except that a suspicious RV that had been parked in the neighborhood is now gone, too.
When the police get involved, the investigation is led by Detective Loki, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, who has solved every case he has ever been assigned.
The only suspect is the driver of that RV, Alex Jones, played by Paul Dano, who is mentally challenged and lives with his aunt, played by Melissa Leo, but no evidence is found in the RV or at the aunt’s house.
The hours that Anna and Joy are missing become days, and Keller is so desperate that he begins following Alex, the only suspect the police had in the case, and he does more than just follow Alex.
We see a lot of police work from Detective Loki, there is a lot of rain that makes the story and the events even darker, and a couple of suspicious characters lead to nothing.
In fact, at some point in the movie, you might come to the conclusion that the movie goes on too long and is far more dramatic than it need be.
But what an ending it has, and as I said, it could even have more than one ending.
Prisoners is disturbing from beginning to end.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Your Sister’s Sister” with The Lady or the Tiger? Ending
Jul 23rd
“The Lady or the Tiger? Ending”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Your Sister’s Sister is a pleasant little independent film with a simple story, only three main characters, but a gimmicky ending reminiscent of the ending to a famous 1882 short story known as “The Lady or the Tiger?”
Of course, these days what does an ending matter when so many movies come out on DVD with alternate endings after a movie has a theatrical run with only one ending to it?
Now, the short story was written by Frank R. Stockton, and it was the most famous story that CENTURY MAGAZINE ever published. In it, a young man falls in love with the king’s daughter, and he is condemned by the king and forced to choose between two doors in a giant arena.
Behind one door is a beautiful maiden who would be given to him in marriage, and behind the other door is a ravenous tiger. The princess learns the secret of the doors and signals the young man to open the door on the right, but the story ends by asking Who comes out, the lady or the tiger?
I will explain how this non-ending is reminiscent of the ending to this movie at the end of the review.
The movie begins at a party and eulogy for Tom a year after Tom’s death. Jack, played by Mark Duplass, was Tom’s brother, and he says some nasty things about Tom.
Iris, played by Emily Blunt, had dated Tom, but she left him before Tom died. She also happens to be Jack’s best friend, but there is nothing romantic between them.
Iris goes up to Jack after his speech about Tom, and she says, “You just need some head space, okay?”
Iris offers to let Jack use her family’s vacation cabin on a nearby island for a week and says that he will have the greatest time doing nothing.
So, Jack bicycles to the ferry that takes him to the island, and he manages to find the cabin late at night.
However, a woman named Hannah, played by Rosemarie DeWitt, is staying in the cabin. She is Iris’s sister, and she is trying to get over her recent breakup with another woman after a seven-year relationship.
And then the next day Iris herself shows up unexpectedly and surprises them both.
Your Sister’s Sister ends after more story.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“The Five-Year Engagement” More Like the Five-Year Movie
May 5th
“More Like the Five-Year Movie”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Five-Year Engagement was made by the same people who made the 2008 Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and so it must be good, right?
Well, yes and no. Yes, it is good in some places, and no, it is not good in other places, mainly the scenes that go on for too long and the scenes that should have been cut in the first place.
Jason Segal and Emily Blunt star as Tom and Violet. They met a year ago at a New Year’s Eve party, which we keep seeing in flashbacks at various times throughout the movie.
They get engaged, and during a meeting with Tom’s relatives to plan the engagement party, one of the men comments that the men will all be wearing yarmulkes, of course. Violet says to Tom that he doesn’t have a yarmulke, and he replies that he does and, “It’s in my Jewish drawer.”
The story begins in San Francisco, and you can guess from the title that the engagement isn’t going to go smoothly, right?
Correct. Violet is working on her doctorate in psychology, and she gets accepted to a position at the University of Michigan, which will take two years to complete.
However, because Tom is a chef in a restaurant, he says that he can always find a job anywhere, and so they decide that Tom will move to Michigan with Violet, and they will postpone the wedding for two years.
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, couldn’t they get married in San Francisco before moving to Michigan, or couldn’t they even get married in Michigan?
But if they did that, then the filmmakers would have to change the title of the movie, wouldn’t they?
Well, you can guess from the title that the two-year plan isn’t going to go smoothly, either, right? Violet’s work at the University of Michigan gets extended, and I don’t want to spoil anything, but at one point the situation gets so bad that it looks like there won’t be any wedding at all.
Now, you know how the DVD version of some movies contains deleted scenes? Maybe the DVD of this movie will thankfully be missing some scenes that should have been cut.
The Five-Year Engagement lives up to its reputation of being a comedy, but it is more like the five-year movie.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”