Hitting movie theaters this weekend:
The Dilemma - Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder The Green Hornet - Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Christoph Waltz The Heart Specialist - Wood Harris, Zoe Saldana, Brian J. White (limited)
Movie of the Week
The Green Hornet
The Stars: Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Christoph Waltz The Plot: Following the death of his father, Britt Reid (Rogen) teams up with his late father's assistant Kato to become a masked crime fighting team. The Buzz: This looks to be an off-weekend for Hollywood. The Green Hornet is the 'Movie of the Week' only because I'm in the mood to rant, and because I don't want to rant about the latest Vince Vaughn romcom, and because I know absolutely zippo about The Heart Specialist.
So...
I believe The Green Hornet will likely be the 'B.O. Bomb of the Week.' Based on its horrible trailer, I just can't imagine how it could even attempt to pass itself off as entertainment -- looks more like...suicide.
How did we end up here? Seth Rogen as an action hero? It doesn't work, not even as kitsch. Rogen personifies nausea, laziness, crass stupidity. A passing glance is belch-inducing. I don't understand how he rose to such a position of power, it all makes very little sense to me. I did enjoy his limited role in Freaks and Geeks, but that's ancient history. And now, here in 2011, we find Rogen as a leading man in a superhero flick? HOLY CROW! Give me a break.
This weekend, a stinky green gas will emanate from theaters nationwide. Prepare yourselves accordingly.
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New Blu-ray and DVDs released this week:
Alpha and Omega (BD/DVD) - Hayden Panettiere, Christina Ricci, Justin Long Army of Shadows [Criterion Collection] (BD) - Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cass Dances with Wolves (BD/DVD) - Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene The Freebie (DVD) - Katie Aselton, Leonora Gershman, Ken Kennedy The Green Hornet: Movie Edition (DVD) - Gordon Jones, Keye Luke Heartbreaker (DVD) - Romain Duris, Vanessa Paradis, Julie Ferrier Once Upon a Time in America (BD) - Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern Piranha (BD/DVD) - Elisabeth Shue, Jerry O'Connell, Richard Dreyfuss Raging Bull [30th Anniversary Edition] (BD) - Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci The Social Network (BD/DVD) - Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake Temptations (DVD) - Charles Malik Whitfield, D.B. Woodside, Terron Brooks Wayne's World/Wayne's World 2 (DVD) - Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Rob Lowe, Christopher Walken
Blu-ray/DVD of the Week
The Social Network
The Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake The Plot: A chronicle of the founding of Facebook, the social-networking Web site. The Buzz: So much has already been written about this phenomenal film. It's just a great movie -- if you haven't seen it yet, you should do so.
I can't really add too much to what's already been said about The Social Network, but I can say that what tripped my trigger the most was the film's score. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross combined their considerable sonic talents and, in the end, the result was nothing short of phenomenal. Everyone's well aware that Reznor knows what he's doing when it comes to sound, but I might add that Ross is the unsung hero here -- his score for The Book of Eli (2010) is a mind-numbingly beautiful, somber dose of gritty ambience, which complements perfectly the underrated post-apoc masterpiece. I must have listened to that album, start to finish, close to a hundred times in 2010, and it never failed to move me. Ross is simply an expert with ambient tone, and he applied this expertise, again quite perfectly, to The Social Network. Had director David Fincher taken a different approach, sans Reznor/Ross, I believe this film would have only been about half as good.
So yes, check out this great film, and check out the great soundtrack while you're at it too.
Check out our reviews of these movies and more ... TSR's complete Film Review Database