The Devils Double [Blu-ray]

There are many ways to describe Uday Hussein, Saddam Hussein's oldest son. None of them are positive.
The Devil's Double is a "take no prisoners" film that's as hard to watch as it is entertaining. It follows Latif Yahia (Dominic Cooper), an Iraqi soldier from an upper class family, who is plucked from the war to act as Uday's double. Uday (also played by Cooper), remembers the comparisons the two would get when they jointly attended grade school. He asks Yahia to be his double - for both political and personal reasons. Like his father, Uday is in a constant state of worry over an assassination attempt. Further, he wants to send Yahia on personal trips that he himself doesn't wish to attend. Yahia, kind and warm, refuses, but is forced to with the threat of harm to his family. Yahia is given cosmetic surgery and dentures to complete the look.
Yahia is thrust into Uday's world. This is a world filled with rape, torture, murder, drugs, sex and money. The lifestyle that the Hussein's live is more than Presidential - it is royal. Immediately, Uday claims Yahia as his own property. Uday has grown into a monster, getting whatever he wants and never having to deal with the consequences. Yahia is who he wants. The atrocities he witnesses because of Uday disgust him, but he is stuck in this nightmare. We watch as Uday preys upon young girls walking home from school. We watch as he guts his father's best friend at a party. We watch Yahia struggle with the lifestyle he is forced to live. Uday's fascination with Yahia grows stronger and it enters your mind that Uday may actually be in love with his double. This doesn't necessarily mean in a romantic way, but because his love of himself is so great, that he sees Yahia as apart of himself.
While the rest, as they say, is history, I certainly don't want to spoil the way the rest of the film plays out. This is a movie that you must see for yourself!
The acting in dual roles by Cooper, his first film as lead, is Oscar worthy. He gives both men their own voices, mannerisms and idiosyncrasies, that instantly allow the viewer to tell them apart. Subdued and stoic, Cooper plays Yahia as a guilt ridden man, grappling with the life he has been thrust into. He plays Uday as a manic, hyper madman with a broken smile and a creepy laugh. You literally believe they are two different actors.
Latif is an ordinary man who is thrust into an extraordinary situation. An object of admiration for the President's son, he has no choice but to comply with the excruciating horrors that are put forth before him. Never once, however, do we seem his morals waver.
We know how it ends, but as with life, it's the journey that's important. The Devil's Double is the real life, Middle Eastern Scarface. Powerful, unsettling, thrilling and always entertaining, The Devil's Double, is quite easily one of the best movies of 2011.


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Bite Marks (DVD)

SPECIAL FEATURES
- Director audio commentary - Director and cast audio commentary - Interview with actor Windham Beacham - Interview with actor Benjamin Lutz - Gag reel - Production photo gallery - Behind-the-Scenes
SYNOPSIS
While backpacking across the country, bickering gay couple Cary and Vogel decide to speed up their trek by hitchhiking instead. That s when fate brings them Brewster, a sexually-confused trucker who picks the pair up on his way to delivering a shipment of coffins. After a few strokes of bad luck, the mismatched trio ends up lost and broken down in an abandoned junkyard. Though surviving a night of petty fights and sexual tension seems tough enough, the nightmare is only just getting started as strange noises in the back of the truck reveal the presence of five bloodthirsty vampires...
Mark Bessenger s directorial debut puts a smart, sexually charged spin on a genre that s been all but sucked dry. With buckets of blood, biting humor, and horrific thrills that pay homage to bloodsucker classics, Bite Marks is a fast-paced, sharp-tongued horror comedy that pushes sexual boundaries.

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Tangled (DVD)

Without female companionship, it's hard to go see Tangled and still maintain an air of manliness and virility. So, abandoning all hope of preserving that fa?ade, I decided to go all the way to the deep end of the lame pool and see it with my parents. And for once, the dearth of self-confidence that inspired me to long ago stop vying for success with the fairer sex paid off, because when the dust settled and the credits rolled, there was only one fact left standing, and it towered above all other thoughts and insecurities: Tangled was AWESOME!
What a cast of characters! Zachary Levi, or Chuck from Chuck (for those of you who watch my favorite television show), is perfectly charming as Flynn Rider, the shallow and selfish thief whose good looks are rivaled only by Narcissus. Immediately likeable despite his negative qualities, Flynn Rider's journey toward empathy is one which is quickly obvious, and yet it is so flawlessly executed that I found his transformation transfixing at every turn.
As for Rapunzel (Mandy Moore), well, I was pretty much in love with her the moment I saw her. The epitome of innocence, Rapunzel is a drop of sunshine in the darkness. Her unadulterated joy is contagious, infecting even the most jaded and cynical. It was a pleasure to see how people changed when touched by such a fair creature, whether it be a group of thugs singing about their dreams or innumerable citizens breaking out into dance in the streets. Again, Rapunzel's character arc was rather obvious: from an obedient girl afraid of the world to a real person living her life. And again, it didn't matter, because that arc was artfully crafted.
Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy) is an understandable villain. I mean, Rapunzel's magic hair gives her eternal youth. If that's not a good reason for keeping your daughter in a tower, I don't know what is. The two characters of a different genus deserve quite a bit of recognition themselves. Pascal the chameleon makes for an excellent sidekick to Rapunzel. He's just about the cutest thing ever (right behind How to Train Your Dragon's Toothless), and his indignant looks are a great counterpoint to Rapunzel's innocent absurdity. Even Maximus, the head guard's horse, is an amazing character with a story of his own. He tracks Flynn Rider with brutal determination, but as per usual, ends up joining the team.
Honestly, this movie has the perfect setup. You see, Flynn Rider is a character you can really get behind. Sure, he doesn't care about other people, but his charm makes him unarguably, well, charming. Oh, and Rapunzel is a character you can really get behind. The opposite of Flynn, she is trusting and cares deeply for everyone, and yet she has much to learn about the world. We love both characters from the beginning, and the traits that make each of them so great directly reflect the other's flaws, so when fate brings them together, we get to watch an incredible relationship blossom.
Plus, there were a couple of little lines that broke the fourth wall in an amusing way. At one point, Flynn Rider calls Pascal a frog. Rapunzel, offended, points out that it's a chameleon, to which Flynn responds "Nuance." Bringing up the cliché of a princess and a frog is especially amusing, since Disney's last animated film was titled The Princess and the Frog. Also, like I said, Mother Gothel isn't particularly villainous during the film, just a bit attached to the idea of immortality. Now, when she argues with Rapunzel, she always complains that Rapunzel is "making her the bad guy." Well, I really wanted her to be the bad guy so I could cheer when she got her comeuppance, and then finally, much to my delight, she snaps, saying "You want me to be the bad guy? Fine. Now I'm the bad guy." To her, she was harkening back to those old arguments, but to me, she was talking directly to the audience, letting us know that it was ok to root against her.
If I had one complaint, and I do, it would be that the songs didn't quite live up to my expectations. They were still excellent, but they were a bit more ponderous than some Disney tunes. With the exception of "I've Got a Dream," they were slow, character-heavy numbers that, while still of a high quality, lacked the pizzazz that got the Aladdin soundtrack stuck so firmly in my head.
But the songs certainly didn't detract from the experience. The dialogue was sharp, the animation was beyond beautiful, and the movie was both touching and hilarious. And as an added bonus, there was a lot of great insight into human nature. I cared for those characters, and the film was able to jerk my emotions around however it wanted. My sides hurt from laughing, my eyes ached from tears. Flynn's charm and Rapunzel's joy didn't just affect the other characters; they reached right out of that screen and touched me too, and because of that, I give Tangled:
5/5 Stars
The only truly sad thing about this movie was that Rapunzel ended up becoming a brunette. Oh, the humanity!
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In the Mood for Love (The Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray)

Tony Leung is a journalist in Hong Kong, who rents a room with his wife in a family apartment. Next door, Maggie Cheung has done the same thing with her husband, who is almost always away on business.
As part of Kar-wai's game plan, neither the wife, nor the husband, is seen. They exist and are talked about, but never introduced.
Both Leung and Cheung's characters are painfully polite, which means you don't know what they're thinking. Even when it becomes obvious that their other halves are having an affair, it takes ages for either of them to respond. The idea of an emotional outburst would be unthinkable.
The film is so subtle and slow and internalized that it crystallizes into a thing of beauty. Longing has been choked by a thousand years of acceptable behavior. The cut of Cheung's dresses and the sheen of Leung's hair take on an unexpected importance in what appears to be Kar-wai's experiment into the purity of unconsummated passion.
By now this one is the most beautiful movie I had ever seen.
Every shot is like a poem. Each picture is a work of art.
I couldn't help myself from repeating the scenes again and again just to make sure i hadn't miss a thing.
A masterpiece.

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Blazing Saddles (30th Anniversary Special Edition) (DVD)

"...of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives." Thus spoke Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman), the State Procurer, Attorney General and Assistant to the Governor as he plotted against the residents of Rock Ridge in Mel Brooks' hilarious western spoof "Blazing Saddles", which was first released to theaters in 1974. With the meager budget of only $2.6-million, the film grossed over $119.5-million, making it the highest grossing western of all time until the release of "Dances with Wolves" in 1990, which grossed over $184-million. The success of "Blazing Saddles" is attributable in large part to the superb direction and writing (in conjunction with several other writers) of Mel Brooks, who (of course) also acted in the film in three separate roles: as Gov. William J. LePetomaine, an Indian chief and a World War I aviator. Equally important are the many very talented comedic actors who brought the film to life.
The plot of "Blazing Saddles", as I eluded to in my review opening, takes place primarily in the fictional old-west town of Rock Ridge, whose residents seemingly all have the same last name and who have been mercilessly besieged by a group of thugs who are lead by a man named Taggart (Slim Pickens, 1919-1983). After the thugs kill the sheriff of Rock Ridge, the residents send an urgent plea to Gov. LePetomaine to immediately appoint a new sheriff. Gov. LePetomaine delegates the appointment to his assistant Hedley Lamarr, whose nefarious secret agenda is the destruction of Rock Ridge to make way for a new railroad line. Lamarr devises what he believes will be the final, unconscionable inducement to the residents of Rock Ridge for them to vacate: the appointment of a black sheriff, Black Bart (Cleavon Little, 1939-1992). Most of the residents of Rock Ridge are aghast when Sheriff Bart rides into town. However, he quickly acquires a sidekick in Jim 'The Waco Kid' (Gene Wilder) and some unsolicited attentions from the heavily accented visiting stage performer Lili Von Shtupp (Madeline Kahn, 1942-1999), whose passions include the consumption of schnitzengruben. The story continues to entertain as it builds to a climax that only the twisted comedic genius of Mel Brooks could devise. Also, in classic Mel Brooks fashion, the film includes several musical interludes that include the film's title song (sung by Frankie Laine), "The Ballad of Rock Ridge", "I'm Tired" (sung by Madeline Kahn), "The French Mistake" and "April in Paris". Other memorable characters include Olson Johnson (David Huddleston), Rev. Johnson (Liam Dunn, 1916-1976), Mongo (Alex Karras in his first big-screen role), Howard Johnson (John Hillerman), Van Johnson (George Furth), Gabby Johnson (Jack Starrett, 1936-1989), Harriett Johnson (Carol DeLuise, a.k.a. Carol Arthur), Dr. Sam Johnson (Richard Collier, 1919-2000), Buddy Bizarre (Dom DeLuise) and a cameo by Count Basie (1904-1984). There were also several brief uncredited appearances by Anne Bancroft, Gilda Radner (1946-1989) and Rodney Allen Rippy who played Bart at age 5.
Overall, I rate "Blazing Saddles" with a resounding 5 out of 5 stars. It is a hysterically funny film that I can highly recommend to everyone. Though none of Mel Brooks' other films were as financially successful as "Blazing Saddles", many are noteworthy of mention, including "The Producers" (1968), "Young Frankenstein" (1974), "High Anxiety" (1978), "The History of the World, Part 1" (1981) and "Spaceballs" (1987).

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Cloud Atlas (Blu-ray/DVD + UltraViolet Digital Copy Combo Pack)

Have you ever felt hammered by a movie? Has it ever taken you days, weeks,
to integrate a movie, in your head and heart? Read on ...
If you see this movie, you'll probably see why some people don't like it. In
fact you may see different reasons for different people. A great movie allows
the individual to bring their own positive interpretation. Cloud Atlas also
allows the individual to bring their own negatives.
My own personal bitterness was "How come my heros always die, but your heros
always live happily ever after?" This hit me hardest as I was walking out of
the theater, but it still galls me to think about it.
You see, its like this: Cloud Atlas goes for power and effect. If they hit
something positive in you, you rave about it. If they hit something negative,
you hurt big time. This movie isn't about entertainment, its about achieving
enough kinetic force to shake you up. Its wrenching. And some people do not
like being shaken like a rag doll. More so, because as people have said,
Cloud Atlas is unlike any other movie ever made.
In a broader sense, I think almost everyone has at least one scene where you
ask yourself "Do I really wanna sit here and watch this?" The whole diversity
thing, not just diversity of people, but diversity of fates, gets close to the
point of overload with Cloud Atlas, and anyone who feels pushed over the redline
will walk out, having better things to do.
Again, its like this: If you can hold the movie at arms length, you're ok, but
if you step inside it, then its really disturbing. And I'm not talking about
the sex and violence either. Its the ideas, plural. There are so many ideas in
this movie, at so many different levels, its like a living fractal. Not ideas
just for the sake of ideas, not ideas just to shake you up, but ideas that
speak to you as a unique individual.
For me, Cloud Atlas is the most disturbing movie since Donnie Darko, although
they are radically different movies. But then again, some of it is funny, and
parts of it are exhilarating too. It has a mix of light and dark, it isn't all
dark. And it isn't "comic relief" either. Somehow, the lighter parts of the
movie are woven directly into the fabric of the story. It works amazingly well.
In technique, Cloud Atlas takes the concept of an ensemble movie, and re-invents
the entire purpose and effect of having an ensemble. And it isn't just in how
the actors are related, and who plays what role. One of the foundations of a
conventional movie is to build an association in our minds, between 1 actor and
the 1 role they play. Cloud Atlas demolishes that foundation and replaces it
with its own unique creation. Its disorienting, to such a degree that you can't
grasp it from other people's words. You have to experience it for yourself to
appreciate the *power* of it.
Cloud Atlas is also a film that has a voice, in particular on the subject of
artificial life. This topic has been around for many decades in science fiction
books and movies. But as technology seems to get closer to actually creating
it, fiction has gotten more sophisticated in how it expresses its message about
artificial life. That message is the most disturbing part of Cloud Atlas for me.
The writers see a storm coming, a new kind of storm that no one has ever seen
before.
I'm not talking about things like the Terminater and SkyNet. Cloud Atlas doesn't
deal with machines, it deals with souls. Sure, Cloud Atlas is fiction. But our
past is not fiction. We have an ugly history of repeating our mistakes. And some
mistakes only become fatal after they've been repeated over and over and over
again.
Regarding the "everyone's connected" philosophy, I thought this works great
as a narrative device, without me feeling (today at least) that I personally
subscribe to that philosophy. I would hope this philosophy doesn't deter
anyone from seeing the movie, because I think they turn it into a positive
thing, even for people who don't agree with it. Its part of how the story
is built, and built very well.
Another area where Cloud Atlas pushes the envelope is in taking all the actors
and doing radical, (sometimes humorous) make-overs to fit them into a character.
This itself has offended some people, because Cloud Atlas doesn't apply any
limitations at all, and it has dozens of makeovers. This is very different than,
for instance, Looper, where the make-up and acting are all focused with
overwhelming skill into changing 1 single person into another single person,
with absolute conviction. In Cloud Atlas, the transformations are beautiful,
striking, uncanny, other-worldly. It becomes another way in which this movie
hammers at you.
If you decide, like me, that Cloud Atlas is indeed a masterpiece, you will
probably have one moment, one scene, which pushes you over the edge and into
the realization that it *is* a masterpiece. Not necessarily the most powerful
scene in the movie, but the scene where the sum of it all finally overloads
your doubts.
For me, that scene was where we first see Doona Bae as Tilda. I've never seen
anything like that in a movie, and it took me about 15 seconds to just begin
to parse what I was seeing. The sheer creativity, the imaginative beauty of
the character, connecting outwards into 2 hours of the vast scope of the movie,
just blew me away. Truly, a masterpiece.

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Bullhead (+ Digital Copy) (Blu-ray)

'Bullhead' is one of those films that you will either love or hate. Not to do with the acting, perhaps to do with the subtitles, but moreover to do with the fact that it is a long, dark, foreign indie film that doesn't stray too far from the path of cow farming and the mafia that can sometimes go with that.
But, to miss out on viewing this masterpiece, to not witness what has to be one of the most incredible, passionately heartbreaking, violently stoic movies of the past decade is to have let something breathtaking avoid your gaze.
The film opens with a spoken warning that, basically, things long since buried have a way to still come back and bite you in the ass! Our lead actor, a domineering brute of a cattle farmer Jacky Vanmarsenille (played by a pumped-up-for-the-role Mattias Schoenaerts) is hooked on all manner of drugs. Why, we don't know quite yet, but nevertheless he is a force to be reckoned with - for others and himself. It turns out he is using Androstederm to fatten his cows. It fattens the animals in 8 weeks, not 10 weeks and after injected half an hour later is out of their system. It also adds 10% fat to their body weight! Jacky also uses it in small doses.
It turns out that in Belgium there is such a thing as the Hormone Mafia Underworld, which deals in such acts as this with other farmers. But why is Jacky so angry when he makes all this money, well, that is shown in a 20 year flashback to being a young boy; and the cruel, painful victim of a mentally-challenged older boy. An act that went unpunished at the time, it changed Jacky's life forever and put him instantly on the path of self-destruction.
Having taken growth hormones since being a little boy, we see how he views women, sex, gives out beatings and keeps injecting himself day in day out. His harrowing ordeal back all those years ago is hard, so very tough to watch (as a man), but suddenly explains everything as we progress.
His young friend at the time, Dieterick is now a distant adult friend of his, but out of nowhere he finds out that when he goes to do a new cow drugging deal, there is his old friend - worryingly involved in the whole thing. Now he's taking more, just to get by. Such high profile drugs as Sustanon, Mestanolone and Methyltestosterone which is making him think less and act more (hence the title of the film).
There are brutal scenes of a nightclub beating, a REAL cow gets cut open and has her calf removed (you simply couldn't fake that, for as the knife cuts the cow moans and flinches), and soon Jacky is visiting the long-lost never-had woman he could have had in his life. And so, as we get to the finale of this incredible film, Jacky is ploughed on as many drugs as he can inject and digest and takes on the world in one last stand.
The director, in the special features behind-the-scenes tells the young boy who plays the Young Dieterick in the flim that Jacky's spirit will come back and inherit the body of him in 'Bullhead 2.' The boy never flinches and says, "I'll still be playing the role, yes?" To which the director sarcastically responds with, Yes, ... but ten years from now!" We can only hope. We can only hope.

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