Punch Drunk DVDs

Tangled
Disney celebrates their 50th animated feature with a story that harkens back to their many classic screen fairy tales over the years, yet also takes an innovative visual approach. Mandy Moore voices Rapunzel, a feisty girl with long, ever growing hair. Trapped in a tower by her "mother", she wants nothing more than to see the world for her 18th birthday, and gets that opportunity when the dashing thief, Flynn Ryder(Zachary Levi) crashes into her room.








Black Swan
You'll likely never look at ballet the same way. Nor for that matter, Natalie Portman, who puts literally every bit of herself into the role of Nina, an obsessed ballerina agonizing over an upcoming performance of Swan Lake. Pressured into realizing untapped feelings of anger and recklessness for the darker black swan role, it's disturbing to see the depths Nina goes to in order to be perfect. Sure, Darren Aronofsky's direction is insane and wildly over-the-top, but it's oddly fitting.







Fair Game
A film that I think got shafted during awards season, as Naomi Watts and Sean Penn make for a convincing Valerie and Joe Wilson. As you'll recall, Valerie Plame-Wilson was the CIA agent outed by the Bush Administration as payback for her husband's open contradiction of their stated reasons for going to war in Iraq. She loses everything. Her job, her friends, her privacy, while Joe's ego sends him on a crusade for the truth. However it also causes a deep rift between the couple, and it's in the exploration of their relationship during these traumatic events that make this movie work so well. 






All Good Things
Director Andrew Jarecki(Capturing the Friedmans) turns softens his documentarian eye a little bit when exploring one of this country's greatest missing persons cases. The film follows the true story of Robert Durst, son of a wealthy real estate. He was tried but never convicted of the disappearance and presumed murder of his wife, Kathie, who vanished back in 1982 amidst some family turmoil. While Kirsten Dunst gives what I think is the most mature performance of her career, Gosling seems to be struggling with the duality of Robert's character. A flimsy script, which goes totally haywire in the second half, doesn't do Gosling any favors.





Soylent Green
It's people, ya'll. Soylent Green is people.













Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown
The first all-new Peanuts special in years, this one follows everyone's attempts to cure Linus of his infamous literal security blanket. How well do you think that goes? Probably about as well as Charlie Brown's attempts to kick the football.











The Resident
How does a movie starring multi-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank, Jeffrey Dean Morgan(The Losers) and Christopher Lee(The Lord of the Rings) wind up going straight-to-DVD? I dunno, but I'm guessing The Resident can't be all that awful considering the cast. Swank plays a recent divorcee looking to start a new life in a brand new apartment. Only she gets the feeling something isn't right, and that she's being watched. I'm going to assume she's right. The question is by who or what?