Punch Drunk DVDs: 5/4/10

Saving Private Ryan
So the first 15 minutes are without a doubt the best part of the movie. Big deal? I'll still put that up against the entirety of Shakespeare in Love, which notably defeated the presumed favorite at the Oscars back in 1998. Spielberg's war classic finally hits Blu-Ray, and for me I'll always remember it for the brutal up close death Adam Goldberg's character suffers near the end. That scene has always stuck with me moreso than the storming the beach stuff.







Leap Year
Unless there's a pot of gold at the end of this lame romantic comedy set in Ireland, the chances of me ever seeing it are zero. I don't care how fine Amy Adams looks on that cover, I've seen enough of the movie to know she doesn't look nearly as good in it. The premise? She plays a woman who travels to Ireland during leap year. Why? Because it's only during that time that women can propose to men. What if he refuses? Does he get to keep the ring? Does she slip the ring  hamburger or something during dinner? This is just stupid.






Nine
Repurposing Frederico Fellini's 8 1/2 for the big screen couldn't have been an easy feat, but director Rob Marshall(Chicago) manages to channel the glitz and glamour of the 1963 original. It's that suave, cool tone that makes Nine a success even if the story is a bit watery. Not all of the musical acts work(why are you here, Nicole Kidman?), but Penelope Cruz, Kate Hudson, and Marion Cotillard put on one sexy show. Daniel Day-Lewis is his usual, borderline hammy self. That's come to be expected, right?







Tooth Fairy
If it wasn't totally possible that he'd kick my ass up and down the street I'd want to take Dwayne Johnson and shake him. Why are you continuing to make movies like this? You're a 275lb. dude in a leotard. With wings. Go blow something up! You should be walking around with a 2x4, bashing in windows and breaking down doors! The hardest hits in this comical farce are to The Rock's credibility, which is maybe why he's lined up a steady stream of action flicks in the upcoming months. Thank goodness.







Doctor Zhivago
I tried watching this once but couldn't get past Omar Sharif's mustache or the running time. It'll be revisited someday.











Tetro
Just barely missing my top 10 of last year was Francis Ford Coppolla's operatic tale of a rivalrous family of artists. The father, a boisterous egotist clutching hard to his own fame at the expense of his son Tetro(Vincent Gallo). Tetro, a poetic soul with a hardened heart, learned to hate his father over the years, choosing to live in relative isolation from the entire family. Coppolla leaves no emotion unexplored, no secret unrevealed, creating what I think is his most creative film in years. Certainly better than Youth Without Youth was.