Neither Dwayne Johnson nor Jason Statham starred in one of the best action films of the year. That honour went to a group of kids armed with nothing but a Super 8 camera. J.J. Abrams (Cloverfield, Lost) was at the helm and Steven Spielberg produced this thriller about an alien who wreaks havoc on a small Ohio town.
A group of friends, among them Joe (newcomer Joel Courtney) and Alice (Elle Fanning) are shooting their own zombie movie when theres a horrific train crash nearby. Strange things start happening in the town: dogs and engine parts go missing, and the air force moves in. Its only after Joe and his pals develop the film that they realize what is really taking over their town.
The mayhem complements a potent emotional side about Joes grief over the loss of his mother, and the boys inability to reach out to his taciturn dad (Kyle Chandler). Alice is wrapped up in this, too, which is why dad is so angry when he sees the two of them together. Excellent effects, fine performances by new and veteran actors both, and a story that blends action, humour and heart.
Many extras on both blu-ray and the standard disc include an interesting look at how Spielberg read an article about Abrams (then aged 14) and his friends in a local paper, and hired the teens to restore his personal 8mm home movie collection.
Flypaper
In this crime caper run amok, Patrick Dempsey stars as Tripp, a suave bank customer who strolls up to Kaitlyn and asks for change of $100 in quarters, dimes and nickels. Their repartee is interrupted by not one bank robbery, but two simultaneously. There are the polished guys with all the Mission Impossible gear, and the country bumpkins who can barely remember the nicknames they came up with, especially for the heist.
This marginally funny film aspires to indie coolness but suffers from a silly soundtrack and over-the-top characters that are better suited to kid movies (Home Alone, anyone?) than adult fare. Judd and Dempsey do their best with the material, which is weak and maybe even a little offensive to those suffering from OCD. Only big Dempsey fans should get grab this one.
Soundbites are the only extras on the standard disc.
Friends With Benefits.
Should you have sex with your friends? Thats the question to take away from Friends With Benefits, the umpteenth film to tackle the topic. Different actors, different panties, same conclusion. The panty-wearers this time round are triple-threat Justin Timberlake (star of song, screen and viral videos) and Mila Kunis (who last got naked with Natalie Portman in Black Swan).
Timberlake plays Dylan, an L.A. webmag designer who gets head-hunted by Jamie (Kunis) to be GQs New York art editor. After having been burned before, both sides endeavor to be like George Clooneysex, with no permanent ties. When Jamie and Dylan discover that theyre on the same page they waste no time hopping into the sack. The only problem about demystifying sex is that they skip the unknowns and head straight into married territory, talking about their day and current events during the act. And soon after they talk turkey (sandwiches, that is) the sex-bickering thing gets irritating. There are side plots explaining how the duo ended up this wayJamies mom (Patricia Clarkson) is a promiscuous free-spirit and Dylan has mommy abandonment issuesbut mostly we just get to see a lot of JTs ass.
And while the film goes out of its way to make fun of formulaic romantic comedies via a cheesy movie-within-a-movie starring Jason Segel and Rashida Jones it inevitably falls into the same traps, complete with the grand gesture and bended knee. Strong supporting players (Clarkson, the excellent Richard Jenkins) and bits by Emma Stone, Andy Samberg, snowboarder Shaun White, Jenna Elfman and Woody Harrelson nevertheless fail to make Friends With Benefits memorable.
Good selection of extras on the blu-ray disc including commentary with director Will Gluck (Easy A), Timberlake and Kunis, plus expletive-laden gag reel, pop-up trivia, interviews and more.
