The innovative Cloverfield, which brought a whole new, personal style to monster movies, fares even better on DVD than it did in the theater. That’s because the film was shot as if by a guy who happened to have a camcorder with him when the monster appeared in Manhattan. Of course, even on the small screen, Cloverfield remains a truly intense experience, with its visual references to 9/11, its monster lice, and its very “old gods” looking beastie.

Cloverfield is unique as monster movies go in that it takes much more time to establish its characters than the average genre effort. This is because we have to know these people before we are plunged into the action with them. Since the only view of the action we get is from the point of view of the guy with the camera, we only catch glimpses of the monster – but are right there when one character gets mauled by one of the lice. The attempt to rescue someone we’ve seen only briefly on a bit of recording and for a few minutes at a party only makes sense if we know these people.

Overall, Cloverfield is a pretty special achievement in the monster movie genre, with its almost constant intensity and the intimacy of being right there with “The Man on the Street” as it were. The FX are amazing – and although we never quite see the whole monster at any one time, we see enough bits to be able to figure out its appearance.

Features include: Audio Commentary with Director Matt Reeves; Deleted Scenes; Document 01.18.08: The Making of Cloverfield; Cloverfield Visual effects; I Saw IT! It’s Huge! It’s Alive!; Clover Fun; Deleted Scenes; Alternate Endings, and www.cloverfieldfiles.com.

Grade: Cloverfield – A+

Grade: Features – A+

Final Grade: A+

It’s been twenty years since Heathers was released by a dying New World to critical acclaim and some box office success. Now, Anchor Bay has released the dark high school comedy as part of its Cult Classic Film Series. The film’s indictment of kids who will do anything to be popular – and become the ultimate jerks once they achieve it – is as grotesquely funny today as it was when it was first released.

Veronika [Wynona Ryder] is one of the Heathers – the most popular girls in school [the other three are all named Heather] – and the least ruthless. About the same time as she reaches her limit with her so-called friends, she meets a charismatic new guy in school, J.D. [Christian Slater] and becomes in embroiled in a series of murders that the two stage as suicides.

First-time director Michael Lehman and first-time writer Daniel Waters produced a terrific film with its own peculiarly daring sense of humor – and its own slang. With its budget constraints, what propels Heathers is the energy of its performances. Ryder and Slater have, frankly, never been better – And Shannen Doherty stands out as the shyest of the Heathers.

Features include: Audio Commentary by Lehman, Waters and Producer Denise DiNovi; Swatch Dogs and Diet-Coke Heads [a 30-minute of reminiscences by the cast, director, writer, producer and editor]; Trialer; Screenply Excerpt; Original Ending, and Talent Bios.

Grade: Heathers – A

Grade: Features – A-

Final Grade: A

This evening, beginning with Earth, Wind & Fire at 7/6C, the Documentary Channel will be airing five consecutive hours of documentaries that deal with alternative power sources; the effect of pollution on nature; the encroachment of development on the Amazonian rain forest, and the possibility of demand exceeding production of “cheap oil.”

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Civil unrest; civil war; a potential for mutiny and character death – this week’s Battlestar Galactica episode, The Ties That Bind, is picking up the pace. Outside of Cavil’s response to last week’s little fracas with the Centurions, did anyone see any of this happening? Spoilers follow.

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Forgetting Sarah Marshall is doomed to be remembered as “that naked break-up movie” though it’s considerably more. For one thing, the naked break-up is a simultaneously funny and poignant scene and Jason Segel’s performance as Peter [the breakee] is staggeringly vulnerable. For another, that vulnerability continues to come into play when Peter tries to get away from it all at the same Hawaiian resort where Sarah [Kristin Bell] is staying with her rock god boyfriend. In turn, Peter’s heartbreak is tempered by Rachel [Mila Kunis], a pretty, intelligent hotel employee who has also had a miserable heartbreak.

Segel‘s script meanders a bit, but those wanderings lead to emotional payoffs that make sense – especially when news that the TV series that stars Sarah, and for which he composes the “dark, ominous tones,” has been cancelled. A comment from Rachel leads Peter to finish his dream project [a rock opera for puppets – about Dracula and his search for True Love], while Aldous’ [the rock god, played by Russell Brand] behavior has Sarah rethinking leaving Peter.

Director Nicholas Stoller keeps the wandering script focused and gets terrific performances from his entire cast. Check out supporting work by the reliable Paul Rudd [as a goofy surfing guru] and Jonah Hill as Aldous’ number one fan. Stoller understands the necessity for an extra beat in a quiet moment and how to set up a gag without being obvious. As a result, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is one of the best films to come out of the Judd Apatow crude-with-a-heart comedy factory. I may not have laughed as often as the lady behind me, but I did laugh and smile and chuckle enough to recommend Forgetting Sarah Marshall as more than your daily recommended dose of fun.

Final Grade: B+

Hey it’s been a whole two or three months since the last Judd Apatow produced flick.  This time he applies his successful comedy formula to Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I’ve figured out the method to Apatow’s success, he uses the same script and characters in all of his films only he switches between teen comedies and adult comedies. But all of his films are essentially the same. I will say, as a hater, that with Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I’m finally aboard the Apatow train. The funny thing about this movie is, that it’s not that funny. Oh, you’ll get a few chuckles, but it’s not laugh out loud funny. It actually tries to be a little subtle and show more heart.

Star and Writer Jason Segel, who wrote the wretched Knocked Up and director Nicholas Stoller (who also directed the upcoming Pineapple Express) have crafted a cute story about a television composer, Peter Breter (Segel) who gets dumped by his television star girlfriend, played by Kristen Bell who is really stretching her acting abilities here. In one of the film’s funnier moments he tries to forget her by having a series of one night stands. When this doesn’t work his brother in law, Brian (Bill Hader) tells him to take a vacation.  Naturally this doesn’t work because Sarah just happens to be there with her new lover, a sex crazed rock star (Russell Brand).  The first hour of Marshall fills a little long in the tooth, we get that Peter just got dumped we don’t need to have it beaten into the ground. The more we see of Sarah the less we like her. The film does a good job of showing balance, we see Sarah through Peter’s rose tinted eyes and as she really is - the cliched, vapid, Hollywood Actress who doesn’t know what she wants and becomes competitive when she realizes that Peter has started hanging out with the Front Desk Clerk. The movie looks amazingly beautiful, but then it’s almost impossible to make Hawaii look ugly.  

I love Kristen Bell in Veronica Mars but the more I see her outside of her trademark role, the less I like her. It doesn’t seem like she’s really trying that hard, she just is. I think the surprise in this film was Russell Brand who had most of the good bits in this. Segel does a great job of making you care about Peter but I almost couldn’t get past his uncanny resemblance to Judge Reinhold.  Marshall is a cute little, forgettable film.

Final Grade B-

EM Review by
Michelle Alexandria
Originally Posted 4.18.2008

For a long time, fans of martial arts movies have longed to see Jackie Chan and Jet Li do a film together. Well, even though Chan is noticeably a step slower, and the real hero of The Forbidden Kingdom is a time-traveling poor white kid from the present, the two still provide a lot of fun in a movie that’s a fun riff on a number of martial arts movie themes.

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When we last saw Ben Tennyson, he was a ten-year old kid with a ten-year old’s attitudes to most things – including thinking girls were yucky. Now he’s fifteen, a sports hero and more tolerant of girls – practically a fan, in fact. After five years, he’s also pretty certain that he won’t need to become Ben 10 again. He’s wrong… dead wrong. Ben 10 premieres tonight [8/7C] with a special, hour-long episode before moving to its regular time slot, Saturdays [10 a.m./9] on The Cartoon Network.

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Talk about anti-climatic and ho-hum. Chris Carter and company announced the name of the new X-Files Movie - “I Want To Believe.”  This title would be perfect if the focus was on the X-File’s convoluted mytharc, but this is a stand alone monster of the week film so it feels a little off to me. The second big-screen spinoff of the paranormal TV adventure will be called “The X-Files: I Want to Believe,” Chris Carter, the series’ creator and the movie’s director and co-writer, told The Associated Press. Distributor 20th Century Fox signed off on the title Wednesday. The title is a familiar phrase for fans of the series that starred David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as FBI agents chasing after aliens and supernatural happenings. “I Want to Believe” was the slogan on a poster Duchovny’s UFO-obsessed agent Fox Mulder had hanging in the cluttered basement office where he and Anderson’s Dana Scully worked. “It’s a natural title,” Carter said in a telephone interview Tuesday during a break from editing the film. “It’s a story that involves the difficulties in mediating faith and science. `I Want to Believe.’ It really does suggest Mulder’s struggle with his faith.” “I Want to Believe” comes 10 years after the first film and six years after the finale of the series, whose opening credits for much of its nine-year run featured the catch-phrase “the truth is out there.”   I’m attending Friday night’s New York Comic Con Panel and have been in talks with Fox to get Chris on the Hot Seat, but it’s looking more like it’s going to happen sometime after this weekend’s show.

Ok it’s about 8:34, I’m going to let me DVR go for another 15 minutes before I start tonight’s train wreck that will be American Idol. It’s Mariah Carey night tonight and one of the truisms of Idol has always been, don’t do Mariah, Whitney or Celine. But tonight Mariah has fallen so low that she’s reduced to plastering on that half smile of hers and praise these people? “Oh, David has an amazing voice, I think he showed a lot of emotion.” Bleck. You’re Mariah Carey, why the heck are you debasing yourself to be on American’s Karaoke? Maybe tonight I’ll finally see what’s going on with the mystery side of her face. Luckily it’s only an hour installment tonight so I should be able to do this in about 30 minutes. Now I can go and play some Super Mario Galaxy, check out the new PS3 Store, watch Keith Olbermann or I can ramble for 15 minutes. What to do, what to do. That Olbermann is so funny…

It’s time for the show. Let’s see how much name dropping Randy will do tonight. I think Mariah is one of his peoples. Ah, they showed a clip of Randy playing with Mariah. He just said he’s looking for these people to be original and show who they are. Hello, McFly, they are doing someone else’s well known songs. Of course they are going to be compared and will fail. I still say it was pretty crappy of them to send someone home last week when the theme was charity and inspirational. But then, I guess that’s just me. Who will the first guinea pig be.

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