dvd reviews
By ANDREW DOWLER
Due Date (WB, 2010) D: Todd Phillips, w/ Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis. Rating: N; DVD package: none
OPENS IN THEATRES M A RCH 4
Robert Duvall (left), Lucas Black and Bill Cobbs dig deep for Get Low.
Get Low (Sony, 2009) D: Aaron Schneider, w/ Robert Duvall, Bill Murray. Rating: NNNN; DVD package: N
WIN a soundtrack and tickets to the advance screening March 3 at nowtoronto.com
The star of the film Patrick Huard, director Daniel Roby and writer Steve Galluccio will all be in attendance!
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Spotlight.Italy: Featuring the best of Contemporary Italian Theatre and Dance at Canadian Stage
await them. Duvall plays Bush in a simple, straightforward manner, but he comes across as a complex, conflicted and very smart man in his scenes with Murray and Sissy Spacek, who plays a woman from Felix’s past. A faint strain of Southern Gothic bubbles beneath the unforced humour but never gets too strong. The characters act more from their best impulses than from their worst. Nobody has anything interesting to say on the commentary that the director and producer share with Duvall and Spacek, who barely speaks at all. EXTRAS Three making-of docs, cast Q&A, more. Widescreen. English, French, Spanish, Portuguese audio. English subtitles.
An unconventional, character-driven story, a dream cast who make the most of meaty roles, and beautiful painterly lighting easily overcome Get Low’s pedestrian pace to deliver a memorable, resonant drama. In 1930s Tennessee, Felix Bush (Robert Duvall), 40 years a hermit and the subject of nasty rumours, comes to town to arrange an unusual funeral party for himself: he wants it while he’s alive so he can hear what people say about him. Failing undertaker Frank Quinn (Bill Murray) and his young assistant (Lucas Black) hop to it, unaware of the crime and betrayal that
Megamind (DreamWorks, 2010) D: Tom McGrath, w/ voices of Will Ferrell, Tina Fey. Rating: NNN; DVD package: NN
Join us March 15 to 26, 2011 as Canadian Stage presents four ground-breaking Italian contemporary dance and theatre productions, along with a unique series of free music, art, food and wine events throughout the Berkeley Theatre space, all part of our salute to Italian culture: Spotlight.Italy. WIN AN ITALIAN PRIZE PACKAGE Four Spotlight.Italy ticket packages: A pair of tickets to La Natura delle Cose Wednesday, March 16 at 7:00 p.m, Canadian Stage Berkeley Street Theatre (downstairs). Grand Prize Two best seats in the house to Canadian Stage’s upcoming presentation of Untitled, the spectacular new work by the celebrated contemporary dance company La La La Human Steps, Monday, May 30 at 8:00 PM at the Bluma Appel Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre AND a $75 gift certificates for Romagna Mia Ristorante, featuring fabulous northern Italian cusine, at 106 Front Street East Toronto.
To win, go to at nowtoronto.com/contests Spotlight 4-packs from: $80/Single Tickets: $22 and $32. Click www.canadianstage.com/italy to buy tickets, see the calendar of events, and learn more about the festival.
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february 24 - march 2 2011 NOW
but not very informative commentary. EXTRAS Director and producers commentary, cast doc. Widescreen. English, French, Spanish audio and subtitles.
I wish I’d seen Megamind theatrically. The lively compositions and camera moves suggest that the 3-D is brilliant, and the beautifully detailed backgrounds need the pause button for home viewing. Even on the small screen, the animation is lively and lovely. But it isn’t the kids’ movie it’s pretending to be. Really, it’s for people old enough to have spent too much time thinking critically about the Lex Luthor/Superman relationship. Megamind, the Luthor figure, finally kills his nemesis, Metro Man, which plunges him into a relationship with spunky girl reporter Roxanne Ritchie and a bizarre plan to spice up his life. Terrific city-trashing, comic battles and many flying scenes ensue. Will Ferrell and Tina Fey deliver lots of good comic lines together as Megamind and Roxanne, and Ferrell hits delirious heights channelling Marlon Brando in The Godfather for Megamind’s Space Dad disguise. Much of the dialogue was improvised, according to director Tom McGrath on a pleasant
Black Heaven (Mongrel, 2010) D: Gilles Marchand, w/ Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Louise Bourgoin. Rating: NN; DVD package: none
It’s no Blue Velvet, but Black Heaven mines the same territory: strangeness and sex lure a naive guy into the shadows where something nasty awaits. The guy and his girlfriend stumble across a double suicide, but one of the participants, an attractive blond, survives. Soon the guy is pursuing her on a sinister Second Lifetype environment, hoping to save her from another attempt. The tension is mild, but the creepy atmosphere contrasts well with the sunny Mediterranean setting, so you could do worse in the dead of a Toronto winter. As usual with Eurothrillers, there are no extras. EXTRAS Widescreen. French audio. English subtitles.
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If you really want a night of mismatched buddies on the road, try the Steve Martin/John Candy classic Trains, Planes And Automobiles, or Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay and shun this witless wonder. Robert Downey Jr. plays a guy in Texas trying to get to his wife, who is giving birth in L.A. He’s supposed to have anger issues, but Downey’s trademark dry delivery makes him mildly testy at worst. Zach Galifianakis does broad shtick as the emotionally needy, space-case manchild whose idiocy gets them both kicked off a plane and onto a no-fly list. Except for two or three lines of dialogue, it feels like they’re in two different movies. Director Todd Phillips gives Galifianakis big emotional scenes that the music and Downey’s reactions tell us we’re supposed to take seriously, but the character is a complete cartoon. You can’t have it both ways, but Phillips tries and achieves neither. The gags are few, feeble and flatly staged. The mawkish sentimentality starts early and gets worse as it goes. Due Date arrives packaged with a Blu-Ray disc, which, of course, gets all the extras. I suspect it’s no big loss. EXTRAS Widescreen. English audio. English, French, Spanish subtitles.
Coming Tuesday, March 1 127 Hours (Fox, 2010)
Danny Boyle directs James Franco in the fact-based tale of a rock-climber who must take desperate measures to survive.
Burlesque (Sony, 2010)
Cher plays a club owner, and Christina Aguilera is a novice performer on the road to stardom.
Love And Other Drugs
(Fox, 2010) Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway star in a rom-com centred on the amorous adventures of a Viagra salesman and an equally commitment-shy office worker.
Room In Rome (eOne, 2010) In this erotic drama, two women discover each other and much about themselves in the titular hotel room. 3 movies@nowtoronto.com
= Critics’ Pick nnnnn = Must have nnnn = Keeper nnn = Renter nn = Coaster n = Skeet