ping pong Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Indies on DVD: 'Wind That Shakes the Barley,' 'Georgia Rule'
Filed under: Drama », Foreign Language », Independent », New on DVD », Home Entertainment », Cinematical Indie »
My favorite starting point, DVD Journal, has ceased publication, though they've added a plethora of fan mail to their front page. What I liked about their Release Calendar was the stunning simplicity -- just the title, in alphabetical order, sometimes with the original release date. If you have a personal favorite "upcoming releases on DVD" site or page that you find useful, please share by leaving a comment.My pick of the week is Ken Loach's The Wind That Shakes the Barley. Cillian Murphy stars as an aspiring doctor in 1920s Ireland who gets caught up in his country's struggles against England. Cinematical's James Rocchi says it has "all the suspense of a wartime film -- ambushes, clever plots, daring escapes -- but it also has a kind of gut-punch realism that's hard to shake ... in many ways it's a film that best demonstrates what makes [Loach] one of our greatest living directors." I can't find details on any extra features for the Region 1 disk. A two-disk special edition is available for those able to play Region 2 DVDs.
In Ryan Stewart's review of Stephanie Daley, he says the lack of a clear answer for the actions of a teenage girl who suffocates her newborn child is 'dramatically intriguing up to a point, but also frustrating.' I wasn't sure I wanted to watch this drama, but after reading his review again, I'm sufficiently curious to add it to my rental list. This is another DVD where I can't find any suggestion of additional features.
Georgia Rule sounds like it would appeal to indie film fans, with its cast including Jane Fonda and Felicity Huffman, but Jette Kernion says: "It's difficult to become absorbed in a story about characters with little personality and no complexity." These titles aside, I'll be hitting my local rental shop to see if they have the Korean action film City of Violence and/or the Japanese sports flick Ping Pong, both of which sound promising.
Check Out These Furious Balls
Filed under: Comedy », Sports », Universal »
There's something vaguely schizophrenic about the career arcs of filmmakers Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant. (And by "vaguely" I mean "ridiculously.") On one hand they're the co-creators of stuff like The State and Reno 911!, both of which are certifiably hilarious TV shows. On the other, less enjoyable, hand, these guys wrote not only The Pacifier, but Taxi and Herbie: Fully Loaded as well. (And they also have Let's Go to Prison and Night at the Museum on the way, as well as the Reno 911! movie.)Mr. Garant makes his directorial debut on a bizarre-looking ping-pong comedy called Balls of Fury, and before you check out the brand-new trailer, give a gander at the blissfully bizarre cast list: Dan Fogler, Maggie Q, George Lopez, Aisha Tyler, James Hong, David Koechner and Christopher Walken, looking as if he just wandered off the set of Dracula: The Spoof.
OK, now you can check the trailer out. I got a few chuckles out of the thing, even if it does feel more like a Netflix rental than an opening night gotta-see.
Jeremy Renner Wants To Be An Avenger
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Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
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