New On DVD

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Up In the Air

Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) fires people.  It’s his job.  He’s not a CEO nor does he work in Human Resources.  He is a hired gun brought in to facilitate a business’ bloodletting.  He handles the dirty work “the suits” don’t have the stomach for.  As such, he exists in a world of perpetual travel.  Constantly moving from town-to-town; delivering bad news like some sort of funhouse mirror Santa Claus.  Checking in.  Checking out.  Amassing frequent flyer miles and memberships in customer loyalty programs.  He exudes charm and detachment…he is, after all, George Clooney.  And make no mistake, Bingham enjoys his life; the corporate uniformity of airports and hotels and the status his incessant travel affords him.  And, believe it or not, he enjoys his job.  While the idea of interminably terminating might not sound palatable, it is work for which he is well-suited.  Years of on-the-job-training have turned him into an efficient officiant of the ceremony of ritualistic downsizing.  He’s not callous, mind you, but his natural state of detachment serves him well.  However, Bingham’s world is threatened when youthful corporate cutthroat Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) is brought on-board at his place of employment.  She is tasked with cutting costs and ushering the company into the 21^st century.  Her first order of business? Slash the company’s travel expenses by instituting a system that would allow them to fire people via video conference from the comfort of their home office. 

Read the full review here.

Precious

Falling firmly into the camp of “movies so good you’ll never want to see them again”, Precious is a bleak tale.  Claireece "Precious" Jones (Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe), our eponymous hero, is 16-year old girl living in Harlem.  The year is 1987, long before Harlem’s renaissance.  She resides in public housing with Mary (Mo'Nique), her willfully unemployed, welfare-cheat of a mother.  Precious is a tragic figure; overweight, illiterate, and pregnant with her second child both of whom were fathered by her own father.  She desperately wants more but doesn’t possess to the tools to know what “more” should be, let alone how to achieve it.  When her school discovers her second pregnancy she is sent to an alternative school where, inspired by her new teacher Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), she learns to read.

Read the full review here.

Planet 51

In the new animated film, American astronaut Charles Baker (Dwayne Johnson) lands on Planet 51 mistakenly thinking he’s the first intelligent life-form to ever step foot on the world.  Much to his chagrin, he finds the world to be populated with “little green men” who are not only intelligent but also speak English.  This world is a funhouse mirror version of the United States circa-1950.  Their hovercrafts look like the ‘50s era cars that Detroit used to churn out, they listen to the “oldies” and deluge their cineplexes in order to see “alien invasion” B-movies where the attacking extraterrestrials are zombie like creatures called “humaniacs.”   Baker is quickly discovered by Lem (Justin Long), who just got promoted at his job working at the planetarium.  He must choose between turning over the essentially harmless Baker to the authorities (and therefore certain death) or helping him escape (and making Lem a pariah on his own world). 

Read the full review here.

Also out on DVD today:

·         The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

·         Capitalism:  A Love Story

·         Old Dogs