August's Most Anticipated Films and DVDs
by Brian Eggert
Theatrical Releases
Finally a month this summer without any superheroes... And yet, given the ongoing success and universal acclaim for The Dark Knight, said superhero film will be the greatest competition for August releases, the best of which seem to be hilarious-looking comedies. Take a look…
For the full list of upcoming movies, check out Deep Focus Review’s Calendar.
August 6th:
Pineapple Express
Click here for the theatrical trailer
At first glance, Pineapple Express looks like your average stoner comedy. The story follows a process server (Seth Rogen, from Knocked Up) who witnesses a murder; in a panic, he elicits the help of his pot dealer friend (James Franco, from Spider-Man) to escape the murderers closing in on their trail. With a surreal amount of drug-infused oomph, the potheads arm themselves and fight back to trippy extremes. Why it isn’t your average stoner comedy: director David Gordon Green, the “indie” filmmaker behind such wonderful meditations on small-town idiosyncrasy as Snow Angels and Undertow. For some reason, he’s involved in this project, assuring at the very least it will be well-directed. Rogen, who wrote the screenplay for last year’s Superbad, also penned this film with Evan Goldberg.
August 15th:
Tropic Thunder
Click here for the theatrical trailer
One of the most talked about movies of the year finally arrives. Tropic Thunder offers a caravan of high-profile talent putting themselves into insanely funny costumes and situations conceived by writer-director Ben Stiller. Topping that list is Robert Downey Jr. playing a Caucasian actor who is surgically-altered to make himself appear African American for a movie role (anyone who complains should take a look at Eddie Murphy’s career). Also making a highly raved-about cameo is Tom Cruise as a foul-mouthed movie studio executive. Even the concept is novel: The director of a disastrous Apocalypse Now-like movie production sends his actors into the jungle to experience some authenticity; when they’re kidnapped by local terrorists, they go on thinking they’re still making a sort of guerilla film, while, unbeknownst to them, they’re actually in serious danger. Rumor has it a feature-length faux documentary called Rains of Madness, following the fake troubles of the movie’s production and modeled after Coppola’s Hearts of Darkness: Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, will eventually be released on DVD.
August 22nd:
Hamlet 2
Click here for the theatrical trailer
Steve Coogan, co-star of Tropic Thunder, also headlines Hamlet 2, which is not a filmic adaptation of Shakespeare’s lost sequel. Instead, it’s concerned with a down-and-out high school drama teacher desperate to revive interest in the theater. What better way than to write a follow-up to the most beloved play ever written? Even though almost everyone dies at the end of the original, Coogan’s character envisions a solution involving a time machine. Seems reasonable enough. His play is also a musical, filled with vulgar dialogue, and of course features a very sexy Jesus. Nevermind its inconsistency with the Bard’s plays; this movie, and the play produced therein, look like they’ll provide some welcomed inappropriate humor.
DVD Purchase Recommendations
August 19th:
The Small Back Room (1949) The Criterion Collection
Order The Small Back Room
This WWII drama examines the gloomy existence of an alcoholic and disabled weapons expert unable to cope with his curbed abilities. Trapped in a going-nowhere affair, he finds some solace when his town needs his help to disarm an undetonated bomb. A film by The Archers, the nickname for co-directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, The Small Back Room adds to The Criterion Collection’s small library of DVDs by the duo. Including masterpieces like Black Narcissus, The 49th Parallel, I Know Where I’m Going!, and The Life and Dead of Colonel Blimp, along with David Lean, theirs is one of the few truly impressive filmographies from a British filmmaker(s).
August 26th:
Errol Flynn Westerns Deep Focus Review's DVD of the Month
Order Errol Flynn Westerns
This set includes:
-Montana (1950)
-Rocky Mountain (1950)
-San Antonio (1945)
-Virginia City (1940)
If ever there was an unlikely Western hero, it ’s Errol Flynn, the Tazmanian swashbuckler made iconic by roles in Captain Blood and The Adventures of Robin Hood. Carrying a slight accent derived from his Australian upbringing and British theater education, by all accounts his voice alone shouldn’t work in such an environment. But something about Flynn’s natural charisma, his penchant for doing his own stunts, including horsework, and his physical agility make his Westerns some of the most purely entertaining in the genre. This Warner Bros. set features four catalogue titles for a bargain price of $34.99 at Amazon.com. The gem is director Michael Curtiz’s Virginia City, which also stars Humphrey Bogart in one of his more villainesque roles.
August 26th:
Redbelt (2008)
Order Redbelt
Writer-director David Mamet (House of Games) takes a noirish look at the world of mixed martial arts in Redbelt. Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Emily Mortimer, Joe Mantegna, Tim Allen, and Rebecca Pigeon, the film concerns a trainer of Brazilian jiu-jitsu conned into competing for sport, despite his strong adversity to arranged bouts. There’s a samurai ideology at the heart of Mamet’s narrative, one that elevates the material from mere fighter yarn to a brooding tale about when and where not to fight. In true Mamet form, it’s a film about dialogue versus action, about set-ups versus progression, and about honor versus competition. Lost under the popularity of Iron Man, perhaps the film will find new life on DVD.
DVD Rental Recommendations
(click for the review)
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