Release Dates Nov 24 2008 @ 10:30 pm
DVD Releases for November 25th, 2008
Jiang Ke Jia's STILL LIFE.
But wait! Have you entered our free DVD giveaway of Mirrormask? It’s easy and painless and requires only 2 ounces of blood and your first born. What a steal! Contest ends tomorrow, so don’t be slow.
Speaking of slow, that’s a good way to describe this week, although those of you clamoring for big busty blockbusters have a bit to chew on.
Hancock – 
Such high hopes had I for this one (I know, I know, silly), primarily because director Peter Berg is one of my favorite guilty pleasure directors (another? Tony Scott). He’s the auteur behind such classics as The Rundown, which many of you know I bring up any chance I get. I apologize if you’re sick of it; it will likely continue to happen. So, Will Smith is a down-n-out superheroic bum who fights crime whilst downing Jim Bean. It has enjoyable moments, but the 3rd act veers off into la-la land, hand in hand with Charlize Theron.
Recommended if you liked I, Robot, Mystery Men, or I Am Legend.
Still Life
If Up the Yangtze was the documentary version of the widespread changes taking place, both personally and sociologically, as the 3 Gorges slowly filled up with water, displacing 2 million people, then Still Life is the fictionalized account. A husband and a wife return to their submerged village and attempt to repair their lives, only to discover that the water has buried more than their home. Seems meditative and emotionally moving, just like Yung Chang’s spellbinding doc was.
Recommended if you liked Up the Yangtze or are at least a tad bit curious about life in China.
Fred Claus
I love how the marketing machines for Christmas flicks are always delayed till the following holiday. When DVD turnaround is anywhere from 2 to 4 months (depending on the crappiness of the movie – the more crappy, the faster it hits DVD), having to wait a full 11 seems like an eternity. Not that I was waiting with baited breath for Fred Claus, the story of Santa (Paul Giamatti) and his good-fer-nothin’ brother Fred (Vince Vaughn) – I just think it’s funny. It felt like this movie came out an eternity ago. Does anyone still care?
Recommended if The Wedding Crashers meets Sideways meets Santa Claus Vs. The Martians is your idea of a good time!
Space Chimps – 
Lord, save us from ourselves. Quickly.
Recommended if lemon juice enemas just aren’t masochistic enough for you anymore.
on Nov 25 2008 @ 9:45 am 1. Daniel said …
Still Life was here for about a week and I missed it. Thanks for the reminder. I’m sure I’d like it.
on Nov 25 2008 @ 10:03 am 2. Evan Derrick said …
I have a screener on my desk I’m hoping to view soon.
on Nov 25 2008 @ 8:57 pm 3. Luke Harrington said …
Ugh…I remember Fred Claus. It was one of those movies you just *knew* would be bad because of how heavily marketed it was. Theaters were crammed with posters and displays for it by mid-July…
Sometime in September, I pointed out how obvious it was that it would be terrible — a little too loudly, I guess — and managed to deeply offend a theater patron who had swallowed the marketing hook, line, and sinker.
Will we ever learn?
on Nov 25 2008 @ 9:37 pm 4. Evan Derrick said …
While hunting for a poster for Fred Claus, I discovered there were about 67 different versions.
Marketed to within an inch of its already miserable existence.