TheCakeEaters Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Quantum of Solace
Daniel Craig's second outing as James Bond, this time under the direction of Marc Forster, was a straight-ahead revenge drama, with rough edges intact, missing many of the character touches that we've come to expect from 007. That made it feel too much like an anonymous, overly-caffeinated action thriller for my taste, but there are enough dynamic, high-powered sequences to justify a rental. Olga Kuylenko is pretty easy on the eyes, too. Available in one and two-disk DVD editions, as well as Blu-ray. Rent it.

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Bolt
"An entertaining movie for kids," our own Jette Kernion opined. "However, there's not much here for grownups to enjoy ... apart from watching the kids get a kick out of the film." Sounds like it was made for home viewing. John Travolta and Miley Cyrus voice key roles. Available in one and two-disk DVD editions, as well as Blu-ray. Rent it.

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Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter & Under the Hood
Two vital components of the original Watchmen graphic novel that didn't make the theatrical cut; pirate saga Tales of the Black Freighter is brought to life as a 2-D animated mini-feature and features the voice of Gerard Butler, while Under the Hood uses live-action and CGI to spin a faux-autobiography of the original Nite Owl. Both may be included in a forthcoming Director's Cut of Watchmen, but if you just can't wait any longer ... Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.

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After the jump: Indies on DVD, more Blu-ray picks, and Collector's Corner

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs
Man, I love that title. I haven't read the kids' book that this is based on but the trailer has tons of charm. Flint Lockwood has always dreamed of being an inventor and now it looks like his latest contraption will solve world hunger as he's got food literally falling from the sky. Not just the titular meatballs, but spaghetti, cheeseburgers and a house made of jello that I thought was particularly cool. The storm clouds start gathering on September 18.

The Cake Eaters
This film concerns the interactions between two families in a small town in upstate New York. The trailer focuses on a budding romance between a guy who works in the school cafeteria and a girl with degenerative neurological disorder, but judging from Erik's review of the film the story covers a lot more. Looks like a worthwhile little drama. It's bypassing theatrical release and arriving on DVD on March 24.

Crank 2
The movie's U.K. site has added a new red band trailer for this action sequel and there's so much packed into the thing I have to wonder if there's anything left for the movie. Jason Statham's heart has been stolen, and I don't mean in a romantic way. The artificial heart he has been left with requires periodic jolts of electricity and, well, it gets a little wacky from there. This will be in U.S. theaters on April 17.

Though it has this certain "Lifetime Movie of the Week" quality about it, The Cake Eaters is one of those films that sneaks up on you a half hour after the credits roll. Pic, which marks Mary Stuart Masterson's directorial debut, is charming when it needs to be, and careful not to become too melodramatic. It's one of those comfortable quiet films where most of the action is non-verbal and the characters rarely ever say what's really on their minds. But when they do, the dialogue is delivered in a way that's so personal, you almost feel like that awkward third party -- the ear that's not supposed to be hearing all this. Set in one of the many small towns of Upstate New York, most of the drama revolves around two families; each dealing with their own separate tragedies.

The Kimbrough's, which consist of Easy (Bruce Dern) and his two sons Beagle (Aaron Stanford) and Guy (Jayce Bartok), are still trying to come to terms with the recent death of their wife and mother. Things become a bit complicated when Guy returns home after disappearing to New York City for three years in search of those rock star dreams. Thus, he missed his mother's slow, agonizing death; he wasn't there when the cancer was at its worst. And he never made it to the funeral. Meanwhile, Beagle was at his mother's side every moment of every day -- even in the end when not even Easy could stomach the sight of his deteriorating wife. Throughout the film, there's this thick tension between all three men; tension that turns to anger once it's revealed to Beagle that his father had been having an affair for years.