gardens of the night 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

When you think of independent cinema, the first name you think of is undoubtedly Jean-Claude Van Damme. Thank goodness the Indie Spotlight is here to tell you where you can see Mr. V.D. at an arthouse new you! Along with JCVD, this week's new indie releases are The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, House, Repo! The Genetic Opera, The Guitar, Otto; or, Up with Dead People, and Gardens of the Night.

Here's the rundown on each of them.

JCVD
What it is: Jean-Claude Van Damme plays himself, a washed-up B-movie actor, getting caught in a real-life hostage situation.
What they're saying: Cinematical's James Rocchi, who reviewed it at Toronto, called it a "smart, nicely pitched action-comedy." Eight of the 10 reviews at Rotten Tomatoes are positive, too. (I've seen it, and I concur: it's an entertaining meta-comedy with surprisingly poignant drama.)
Where it's playing: New York City (Angelika Film Center, AMC Empire 25).
More info: The official site has the release dates for other cities, including quite a few next week.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
What it is: A World War II drama about two little boys who become friends from opposite sides of the fence. Those "striped pajamas"? They're what concentration camp prisoners wear.
What they're saying: It has a 71% Fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, with most critics calling it touching and haunting.
Where it's playing: New York City (CC Cinemas), Los Angeles (The Landmark), Chicago (AMC River East), Dallas (Angelika), Seattle (Landmark Harvard), Denver (Landmark Chez Artiste), San Francisco (Century S.F. Centre), Atlanta (UA Tara), Philadelphia (Ritz 5).
More info: Official site.

A guy stars on the one the best TV series of all time, and all he can get is a lame, second-banana gig in the Matrix sequels. Then he shows up on a show of debatable quality that everyone watches, and he's got jobs coming out of his ears. Yes, I'm talking about Harold Perrineau. And no, I'm not surprised, just a little depressed. Don't get wrong -- I'm happy the man's getting gigs, just a little resentful that it didn't happen during Oz.

My own pouting aside, things are looking damn good for Perrineau these days: In the past few weeks he's signed up for gigs in three upcoming films. The first is 28 Weeks Later..., in which his role as "an upbeat American Special Forces pilot who documents and leads to safety the families returning to London after the viral outbreak" sounds likely to be pretty small (I'm thinking, like, Richard Dawson in King Rat small here). The others, however, could be more substantial. He'll be playing Richard Roundtree (who in my mind is at least three times Perrineau's size) in Matthew Wilder's Philip K. Dick movie -- recently retitled Your Name Here -- because, at least within the weirdass world of Wilder's film, Roundtree is obsessed with Dick. So to speak. In addition, Perrineau will appear in the harrowing-sounding Gardens of the Night alongside John Malkovich, Jeremy Sisto and Diana Ross' little boy Evan.

Odds and ends from Thursday:

• After already lending their voices to the animated short film Igor: Unholy Frijoles, Steve Buscemi, Christian Slater and John Cleese have signed on to reprise their roles for the feature film based on the same character. This past winter, The Weinstein Co. picked up all North American distribution rights for the animated film which follows the hunchbacked lab assistant of a mad scientist who dreams of winning the Evil Scientist Fair. Slater will, once again, voice the lead role of Igor, with Buscemi playing an intelligent, sarcastic lab rabbit and Cleese taking on Igor's evil master.
• New Line is attempting to pump some life back into its remake of the classic 1940 comedy, I Love You Again. The original, which starred Myrna Loy and William Powell, tells the story of a business man who, after building a nice life for himself, realizes he's been suffering from amnesia for the past seven years and used to be a con man. Studio has now tapped the writing team of Bob Hilgenberg and Rob Muir to pen the script, after striking a deal for the remake back in 2004 and assigning it to scribe Andrew Bergman. With Adam Sandler's Happy Madison involved, unfortunately, I'd look for Rob Schneider's name to pop up soon.
• The always reliable, yet often spooky John Malkovich will star alongside Jeremy Sisto in Gardens of the Night, to be directed by Damian Harris. Pic will delve deep into the world of child abduction following an 8-year-old boy and girl who are taken from their homes and told their families do not want them anymore. After being held hostage for nine years, the two are suddenly set free and must find a way to survive on the streets. Production will begin next month in San Diego and Los Angeles.