New on DVD & Blu-Ray: 'Elysium', 'The Lone Ranger', 'Kick-Ass 2'

Elysium: In a world where only the seriously wealthy get to live in Utopian-like society with health machines that cure everything from the common cold to cancer, it's not hard to wonder why the other half is angry and desperate to get the same thing. And when an accident befalls a factory worker and he only has days to live, he sets out to help himself and the remainder of the population that's left to suffer on Earth. The film stars Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, and Diego Luna. 

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The Lone Ranger: Gore Verbinski re-teams with Johnny Depp, this time playing the famous Tonto, to bring us the movie-version of the hit TV series of the same name. Train action, the Lone Ranger's horse Silver, and an adventure that's filled with humor are sprinkled throughout the film. Also starring Armie Hammer, Ruth Wilson, Helena Bonham Carter, William Fichtner, and Tom Wilkinson. 

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Kick-Ass 2: The sequel to the popular 2010 film brings back Kick-Ass and Hit Girl as they move on after Big Daddy's death and try to live normal lives only to realize that they really can't. Red Mist plots his revenge and Kick-Ass joins a crime-fighting team of misfits and do-gooders who are led by Colonel Stars and Stripes. The film stars Chloe Grace-Moretz, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Morris Chestnut, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Jim Carrey.

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Prisoners: What happens when two families are faced with the kidnappings of their daughters? They face anger, desperation, anguish, and are pushed into morally questionable actions in order to get back what they lost. A drama filled with great performances and a fantastic story. Starring Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Terrence Howard, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo, and Paul Dano. 

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Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters: Percy Jackson takes his next great adventure when he has to save his friend Grover from the Cyclops who's holding him hostage. With the help of Annabeth and his newly-discovered half-brother Tyson, Percy sets out to cross the sea of monsters. Starring Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, Douglas Smith, and Brandon T. Jackson. 

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The Family: Robert De Niro plays a mobster who's had to go into the Witness Protection Program after ratting out a fellow mobster to the FBI. His family can't seem to keep the secret of their identity... well, a secret. So they move from place to place, finally landing them in the south of France. But the past always has a way of biting everyone in the ass. Also starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Tommy Lee Jones, and Diana Agron. 

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One Direction: This is Us: If you're a fan of the British pop group (or maybe your tween), then this movie is most definitely for you. It highlights the each of the five members' pasts, how they got into the music scene, and follows them through moments in their private and public lives. An extra bonus is the concert footage.  

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Ain't Them Bodies Saints: To protect his pregnant wife, Bob Muldoon is sentenced to four years of prison for a crime he didn't commit. He escapes prison before his sentence is over and teams up with a man named Will in order to find his wife and the daughter he's never met. The film stars Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, Rami Malek, Ben Foster, and Keith Carradine. 

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The Sound of Music Live!: Millions of viewers tuned in to watch country music star Carrie Underwood fill the shoes of Julie Andrews in the stage musical of The Sound of Music. Originally a stage production, the beloved story of the Von Trapp family singers and their governess was filmed during a live production and is available to add to your stockings for Christmas! 

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Review: 'Ain't Them Bodies Saints' Starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck

NOTE: This is a reprint of my earlier review from the Sundance Film Festival.

David Lowery has been around a long time, but chances are you've never heard of him. A multi-hyphenate who has done practically everything in the filmmaking business, his previous features, including 2009's Texas-set St. Nick, came and went without registering much of a blip, and deservedly so. But with his white-hot, layered outlaw romance Ain't Them Bodies Saints, Lowery stakes his claim as a director just now hitting his stride creatively.

With a dark, storybook mood set firmly in the mode of Terrence Malick's Badlands, or perhaps even Andrew Dominik's The Assassination of Jesse James, Lowery flips the Bonnie & Clyde paradigm on its ear. Rooney Mara, venturing as far away from Lisbeth Salander as imaginable, plays Ruth Guthrie, a Texas woman with a deep Southern twang and a deep love for Bob Muldoon(Casey Affleck). From the very first, elegantly framed scene, Lowery establishes their bond as the two are embroiled in a passionate argument, which comes to an abrupt end once Bob learns she's pregnant. The two make up an outlaw pair, and after a robbery they find themselves in a bloody shoot out with the cops, leading to the death of a member of their gang. Also shot in the melee is cop Patrick Wheeler(Ben Foster), and when all the dust has settled, Ruth and Bob are taken in with him taking the fall.

With Ruth set free mostly due to her pregnancy, four years pass with Bob writing her a letter from prison every single day. Sentenced to 25 years, he vows to one day return to her and their daughter, attempting escape five times before finally succeeding on the sixth. In the meanwhile, Patrick has begun sniffing around Ruth, feeling an empathic closeness to the woman many perceive as being duped into a life of crime. But Ruth is no saint. She's first and foremost a survivor, recognizing that the same forces that drew her to Bob all those years ago are the same ones that must keep him away from her and their daughter.

Daniel Hart's rousing fiddle and handclap-laden score signals a coming reckoning, as Bob seeks to reclaim the family he already lost once. While violence is mostly kept to a minimum, when it happens it's quick and brutal, captured in dusty and dimly-lit landscapes that harken back to the old West. While Lowery keeps the narrative straight-forward and linear, the scope of his vision is grand and lyrical, bringing a timeless quality. Bob's narrow focus gets a bit more complicated with the interference of Skerritt(Keith Carradine), Ruth's friend and guardian who has helped her build a life over the years. As Bob's circuitous route leads closer to Texas, Skerritt goes to dangerous lengths to keep him away, while at the same time Patrick and Ruth have become even closer.

It's not a stretch to say that both Mara and Affleck give career best performances here. While we only see them together for a few minutes, their romantic moments are memorable and heartfelt, carrying through as the film's true driving force. But it may be Ben Foster who is the real scene stealer, proving once and for all he can be a leading man who smolders as much as any other. Always a screen chameleon of sorts, his turn as the gentle and curious Patrick is especially impressive when compared to his other Sundance performance as famed beatnik William Burroughs in Kill Your Darlings.

At only about 90 minutes in length, Lowery packs a lot of story without ever taking a harried approach. In fact, there are times when perhaps he's a bit too casual, especially when stepping away from Bob's quest or Ruth's struggles. For all the slow dread Lowery teases us with, we never quite get the bloodthirsty showdown we were all expecting. While anticlimactic only in that regard, Lowery more than makes up for it with an intense and emotionally draining climax that feels natural to this particular story and these characters. It will be interesting to see how it gets marketed, but they may want to start by proclaiming Ain't Them Bodies Saints one of the most impressive films to emerge out of Sundance. With its cast and director all but poised for greatness, we may be talking about it for a very long time.

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Beautiful trailer for festival hit 'Ain't Them Bodies Saints' with Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck

The term "Malick-esque" has been getting thrown around a lot recently, especially in regards to a handful of films making their way through the festival circuit. One film that quickly earned the label, and is perhaps more deserving of it than others, was David Lowery's gorgeous, poetic Ain't Them Bodies Saints. Debuting at Sundance to rave reviews before moving to Cannes for similar treatment, the build to its eventual summer release is here with the release of its first trailer.

All all-around excellent cast is led by Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck as Ruth and Bob, lovers on a crime spree who are apprehended after he is injured in a shootout. Pregnant and alone, Ruth begins to build a different life for herself while Bob sits in prison. Four years later, he escapes and sets out to be reunited with the woman he loves, and to meet the child he's never met. Along the way he runs into some old acquaintances, including an old friend played brilliantly by Nate Parker. Ben Foster gives a smoldering performance as an earnest cop who begins a casual flirtation with Ruth, offering her a glimpse at what her life could be.

It's certainly a film that struck a chord with me, calling it "grand and lyrical" with a "timeless" quality. One look at the trailer and it's easy to understand the comparisons to Terrence Malick's Badlands, but the film stands capably on its own.

Ain't Them Bodies Saints hits theaters on August 16th. You can check out my review here.
 

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First Clip from 'Ain't Them Bodies Saints' with Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck

Sundance proved to be the great coming out party for David Lowery, a filmmaker who has been toiling around in the industry for awhile without really breaking through. Along with being entrusted with the editing on Shane Carruth's Upstream Color, Lowery saw his name mentioned in the same breath as Terrence Malick for his latest film, Ain't Them Bodies Saints. A special screening of it will take place during Cannes this week, and so the first clip has arrived to help pump up a little excitement for it.

Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara are Patrick and Ruth, a Bonnie & Clyde criminal pair who are separated when he's captured and imprisoned. Years later, Patrick escapes with plans to reunite with her and the daughter he's never met, but finds that she's already begun the process of moving on. The scene is taken from very early on, and involves a tense conversation that shows just how much the two lovers rely on one another. 

It was certainly a favorite of mine, describing it as having "a dark, storybook mood set firmly in the mode of Terrence Malick's Badlands".  As terrific as the two leads are, the supporting turns by Ben Foster and Nate Parker may be even better. Ain't Them Bodies Saints opens on August 16th.

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Sundance Review: 'Ain't Them Bodies Saints' starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck

David Lowery has been around a long time, but chances are you've never heard of him. A multi-hyphenate who has done practically everything in the filmmaking business, his previous features, including 2009's Texas-set St. Nick, came and went without registering much of a blip, and deservedly so. But with his white-hot, layered outlaw romance Ain't Them Bodies Saints, Lowery stakes his claim as a director just now hitting his stride creatively.

With a dark, storybook mood set firmly in the mode of Terrence Malick's Badlands, or perhaps even Andrew Dominik's The Assassination of Jesse James, Lowery flips the Bonnie & Clyde paradime on its ear. Rooney Mara, venturing as far away from Lisbeth Salander as imaginable, plays Ruth Guthrie, a Texas woman with a deep Southern twang and a deep love for Bob Muldoon(Casey Affleck). From the very first, elegantly framed scene, Lowery establishes their bond as the two are embroiled in a passionate argument, which comes to an abrupt end once Bob learns she's pregnant. The two make up an outlaw pair, and after a robbery they find themselves in a bloody shoot out with the cops, leading to the death of a member of their gang. Also shot in the melee is cop Patrick Wheeler(Ben Foster), and when all the dust has settled, Ruth and Bob are taken in with him taking the fall.

With Ruth set free mostly due to her pregnancy, four years pass with Bob writing her a letter from prison every single day. Sentenced to 25 years, he vows to one day return to her and their daughter, attempting escape five times before finally succeeding on the sixth. In the meanwhile, Patrick has begun sniffing around Ruth, feeling a empathic closeness to the woman many perceive as being duped into a life of crime. But Ruth is no saint. She's first and foremost a survivor, recognizing that the same forces that drew her to Bob all those years ago are the same ones that must keep him away from her and their daughter.

Daniel Hart's rousing fiddle and handclap-laden score signals a coming reckoning, as Bob seeks to reclaim the family he already lost once. While violence is mostly kept to a minimum, when it happens it's quick and brutal, captured in dusty and dimly-lit landscapes that harken back to the old West. While Lowery keeps the narrative straight-forward and linear, the scope of his vision is grand and lyrical, bringing a timeless quality. Bob's narrow focus gets a bit more complicated with the interference of Skerritt(Keith Carradine), Ruth's friend and guardian who has helped her build a life over the years. As Bob's circuitous route leads closer to Texas, Skerritt goes to dangerous lengths to keep him away, while at the same time Patrick and Ruth have become even closer.

It's not a stretch to say that both Mara and Affleck give career best performances here. While we only see them together for a few minutes, their romantic moments are memorable and heartfelt, carrying through as the film's true driving force. But it may be Ben Foster who is the real scene stealer, proving once and for all he can be a leading man who smolders as much as any other. Always a screen chameleon of sorts, his turn as the gentle and curious Patrick is especially impressive when compared to his other Sundance performance as famed beatnik William Burroughs in Kill Your Darlings.

At only about 90 minutes in length, Lowery packs a lot of story without ever taking a harried approach. In fact, there are times when perhaps he's a bit too casual, especially when stepping away from Bob's quest or Ruth's struggles. For all the slow dread Lowery teases us with, we never quite get the bloodthirsty showdown we were all expecting. While anticlimactic only in that regard, Lowery more than makes up for it with an intense and emotionally draining climax that feels natural to this particular story and these characters. It will be interesting to see how it gets marketed, but they may want to start by proclaiming Ain't Them Bodies Saints one of the most impressive films to emerge out of Sundance. With its cast and director all but poised for greatness, we may be talking about it for a very long time.

Read More