Universal DVD Grab Bag Giveaway – Eastern Promises, Balls of Fury and Bring It On: In It To Win It!!

Universal Home Video Has Given Us a ton cool DVDs to giveaway, including the amazing Eastern Promises, which is one of the best films of the year. We also have copies of the surprisingly funny Balls of Fury, and Bring It On Again. We will give away all THREE DVDs to FIVE lucky winners. To win, post a comment about one of these films or the stars. Then on January 14th, send an email to co******@ec*************.com with your User ID, Full Name, Full Address, and state which DVD Set you are interested in. We have Five Copies of each. I loved Eastern Promises because it gives me a chance to yell, “Holly Cowl, look at those twiggs and Berries!” I would give this film a solid A.

Eastern Promises DVD

David Cronenberg’s signature obsessions flower in Eastern Promises, a stunning look at violence, responsibility, and skin. Near Christmastime in London, a baby is born to a teenage junkie–an event that leads a midwife (Naomi Watts) into the world of the Russian mob. Central to this world is an ambitious enforcer (Viggo Mortensen) who’s lately buddied up with the reckless son (Vincent Cassel) of a mob boss (Armin Mueller-Stahl, doing his benign-sinister thing). Screenwriter Steve Knight also wrote Dirty Pretty Things, and in some ways this is a companion piece to that film, though utterly different in style. The plot is classical to the point of being familiar, but Cronenberg doesn’t allow anything to become sentimental; he and his peerless cinematographer Peter Suschitzky take a cool, controlled approach to this story. Because of that, when the movie erupts in its (relatively brief) violence, it’s genuinely shocking. Cronenberg really puts the viewer through it, as though to shame the easy purveyors of pulp violence–nobody will cheer when the blood runs in this film. Still, Eastern Promises has a furtive humor, nicely conveyed in Viggo Mortensen’s highly original performance. Covered in tattoos, his body a scroll depicting his personal history of violence, Mortensen conveys a subtle blend of resolve and lost-ness. He’s a true, haunting mystery man. (Description from Amazon)

Balls of Fury

Description

Balls of Fury will score points with anyone who ever wished that Enter the Dragon played out in the subterranean “underbelly of ping pong” instead of the world of martial arts. Tony Award-winner Dan Fogler (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), joining the ranks of Jack Black, Seth Rogan, and Jonah Hill as a schlub (romantic?) hero, stars as Randy Daytona, a Def Leppard-loving ping-pong wizard who, as a 12-year-old, was disgraced at the 1988 Olympics. Nineteen years later and gone to seed, he is reduced to performing a novelty act in Reno until an FBI Agent (George Lopez, and yes, at one point, he will proclaim, “Say hello to my little friend” a la Al Pacino in Scarface) recruits him to infiltrate an underground ping pong tournament run by Feng (Christopher Walken), the arch villain who killed Daytona’s father. Co-written by Reno 911 colleagues Robert Ben Garant (who also directed) and Thomas Lennon (who costars as Daytona’s taunting East Berlin rival), Balls of Fury is hit and miss, but it fitfully kills with some ace performances, including Walken, bringing more cowbell, as Feng, resplendent in silks and red fingernails (his Christopher Walken impression, while perhaps not as uncanny as Kevin Spacey’s or Jay Mohr’s, is dead-on). James Hong puts a wicked spin on the clichéd role of mentor, and action babe Maggie Q rocks as his niece. Look quick for David Koechner as hopeless entertainer Rick the Birdmaster, Patton Oswalt as an obnoxious early opponent, Kerri Kenney-Silver as a showgirl, and Diedrich Bader as one of Feng’s imprisoned sex slaves (don’t ask). With less go-for-the-groin humor than the title might indicate, Balls of Fury brings its A-game with some subversive bits of business, such as an ominous moment that is undercut when a menacing character is forced to re-enter the scene to ask for directions back to the highway. (Description from Amazon) My take, I walked into this film expecting to totally hate it, but it turned out to be more of a action/adventure comedy. So it worked for me. I would give it a B, should work great on TV.

Bring It On: In It To Win It

Description

The world of cheerleading crashes full-force into the world of young love ala Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story in this boy meets girl, Sharks versus Jets, cheerleading competition where the West-Coast Sharks cheerleading team takes on the reigning champion East-Coast Jets in a cheer camp championship that will culminate in a world-wide tour. Passion and attitude pervade both cheer squads and team leaders Carson (Ashley Benson) and Brooke (Cassie Scerbo) are intent on defeating one another by any means necessary. A chance encounter between Jet Penn (Michael Copon) and Shark Carson sparks a quick romance, but team rivalry and suspicion repeatedly put the two at odds with one another. When a rumble between the Sharks and Jets injures a significant number of cheerleaders from both teams, the rivals must either forfeit any chance of victory or find a way to work together to combine their strengths and defeat a host of significant challengers. The parallels to West Side Story are purposeful and strong, but the incessant snobbish, self-absorbed attitudes of the cheerleaders, the stereotypical actions and slang of many characters, and the surprising lack of actual cheer footage make this program unappealing and at times downright distasteful. Great music like “Get Me Bodied” by Beyoncé Get Me Bodied , “Never Stop” by Hilary Duff Never Stop, “Division” by Aly and AJ Insomniatic and “He Said, She Said” by Ashley Tisdale He Said, She Said permeates the entire show and the actual cheer footage is spectacular. Aptly rated PG 13 for language, suggestive content, and rude humor. (Description from Amazon)

Contest Rules

To win, post a comment about one of these films or the stars. Then on January 14th, send an email to co******@ec*************.com with your User ID, Full Name, Full Address, and state which DVD Set you are interested in. We will give away all three DVDs to FIVE lucky winners. So start posting and let Universal know that you appreciate these giveaways.