How to Spend $20
By Eric Hughes
July 6, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Pick of the Week
For people who can memorize a sizable family tree and not get confused: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Unless you’ve been living not only under a rock, but under a rock within the confines of a town not unlike the one from The Village, you have at least heard of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the first of three novels written by Swedish author/journalist Stieg Larsson before his death in 2004 at the age of 50. The book, which has sold phenomenally well nearly everywhere (if not everywhere), was also adapted for the screen and distributed to Swedish theaters in 2009. (The movie premiered here, too, in a limited fashion in March 2010).
Produced for $13 million, the 152-minute piece grossed a smidge over $100 million in worldwide receipts. It maintains an 84% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and earned three Guldbagge Awards (big Swedish film prize), including film audience award, best actress (Noomi Rapace) and, most notably, best film.
I haven’t seen the adaptation, but have devoured the book and one of its sequels. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (actually Men Who Hate Women if you directly translated the Swedish) follows an investigative journalist named Mikael Blomkvist, who is commissioned by a rich man to find out what happened to the man’s foster child, Harriet, who went missing dozens of years ago.
Disc includes: Interview with Noomi Rapace, The Vangar Family Tree featurette, trailer
For people who have yet to injure themselves using a George Foreman grill: The Office: Season One & Two Value Pack (Back-To-Back)
Most Office fans will tell you that the show’s best season is its second season. Besides its genuine quality, I think much of this
reasoning rests on the fact that it was such a vast improvement over the show’s speedy six-episode seasonette that debuted as a midseason replacement in 2005.
“Vast improvement,” actually, may not be strong enough language to reflect how much the comedy series matured following those initial half-dozen episodes. For example, the season two premiere, “The Dundies,” felt like a different program altogether. The pacing quickened, the jokes stuck and Michael Scott’s hair actually looked good. Plus, the episode treats us to the first of what would turn out to be many Jim and Pam kisses.
I don’t mean to suggest that season one is awful. Much of it isn’t, actually. In fact, I’d be down to watching “Diversity Day” and/or
“Basketball” if A) I had either one at my disposal and B) I didn’t have a BOP column to write. There’s comedy in season one. It’s just different.
What’s especially nice about today’s two-fer is it provides a great opportunity for Office newbs to see the distinct differences between the two seasons. Whereas I generally tell Office novices to skip the show’s frosh season because little to nothing is carried over to subsequent seasons, I’ll quash that argument for now in favor of an educational comparison.
Season one disc includes: Audio commentary, deleted scenes
Season two disc includes: Deleted scenes, outtakes, audio commentaries, NBC.com webisodes, Fake PSAs featurette, Steve on Steve featurette
For people who think Colin Firth would be one sexy gay: A Single Man
Colin Firth bats for the other team in A Single Man, based on the same named novel by Christopher Isherwood. Directed by fashion designer (and first-time helmer) Tom Ford, A Single Man finds Firth’s character struggling to understand the significance of his life after the death of his longtime partner (Matthew Goode) continues to haunt him. Julianne Moore plays his close female friend, Charley.
The movie, which was production designed by the same team who designed AMC’s fantastic Mad Men, grossed more than $23 million worldwide versus a budget of $7 million. About 86% of critics like it, according to Rotten Tomatoes, and Firth’s acting chops in particular were commended by the press and a number of his peers. Firth won the BAFTA for best actor and earned nominations for an Oscar, Golden Globe and SAG Award.
Relatedly, Julianne Moore plays a lesbian in The Kids Are All Right, which opens this weekend. In the movie, the redhead (who just
can’t play a convincing Bostonian) will play partner to Annette Bening’s character. Both she and Annette have two children through artificial insemination.
Disc includes: Audio commentary, The Making Of featurette
For people who think Don Cheadle has a thing for playing detectives in movies with interconnected storylines: Brooklyn's Finest
Brooklyn’s Finest paid off swimmingly for distributor Overture Films. The company, which paid less than $3 million for the rights to distribute the movie in the States, found itself in the black very quickly when the flick earned more than $13 million in its first
weekend. Brooklyn’s Finest would finish with a theatrical total of $27.1 million.
Starring Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke and Wesley Snipes, the movie is about a trio of unconnected Brooklyn cops who end up at the same deadly location after arriving there via greatly different career paths.
Disc includes: Audio commentary, Chaos and Conflict: The Life of a New York Cop featurette, Boyz N the Real Hood featurette, An Eye for Detail featurette, From the MTA to the WGA featurette, deleted scenes, Three Cops and a Dealer: Character Profiles
July 6, 2010
Blu-ray
Brooklyn's Finest
Dr. Giggles / Otis
Eyeborgs
Funny Farm / Spies Like Us
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Into the Deep: America, Whaling and the World
Jason And The Argonauts
Jimmy Hollywood
Ladybugs
Larry The Cable Guy: Git R Done
Last Boy Scout / Last Man Standing
Love & Other Disasters
Pratical Magic / Witches of Eastwick
A Single Man
Steamboat Bill, Jr. (Ultimate Edition)
Steve Byrne: The Byrne Identity
DVD
Absolute Zero
Absolute Zero / Disaster Zone (Double Feature)
Battlestar Galactica: Seasons 4.0 & 4.5 (Back-To-Back)
Brooklyn's Finest
Dragnet 1968: Season 2
ER: The Complete Thirteenth Season
Everybody Loves Raymond: Seasons 8 & 9
Eyeborgs
The Game: The Third Season
The Game: Three Season Pack (Set)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
A Haunting In Connecticut (Bonus Edition)
Haunting of Winchester House (Bonus Edition)
Life on Mars (UK Version): The Complete Series (Set)
Mysterious Island (Bonus Edition)
The Office: Season One & Two Value Pack (Back-To-Back)
A Single Man
Steamboat Bill, Jr. (Ultimate Edition)
Steve Byrne: The Byrne Identity