How to Spend $20
By Eric Hughes
February 22, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Pick of the Week
For people who wanna throw a Depression-time funeral: Get Low
A cast nearly as aged as the one in Red assembled together for Get Low, a ‘30s-era period piece about a recluse who wants a living funeral so he can be there for the stories - and to share a story of his own. I liked this one a lot, and not only because my man Bill Murray is the owner of the funeral parlor that takes on the old man’s wish. Among its positive attributes are solid storytelling and gentle pacing.
Robert Duvall is fantastic as the labored and throaty Felix Bush, a character loosely based on a true Tennessean named Felix Breazeale. He sports a beard rivaling that of your average hipster, and has been living on his own for the better part of 40 years. Of course, the townspeople consider him a nut job for being such an extreme introvert, but their prejudices exist without fact. They know nothing about the dude: his experiences, his beliefs, his reasons - or should I say reason - for an obscure and misunderstood lifestyle choice. (All is revealed in a King’s Speech-ian way).
Duvall and Murray snag most of the runtime, but in this one, too, is Sissy Spacek, a widow and supposed flame of Felix’s past. She and Duvall share some nice exchanges.
Get Low qualifies as one of the best overlooked films I saw this year. After about five months in theaters - it may still be screening in a location or two - it has earned $9.1 million.
Disc includes: Cast and Crew Q&A featurette, The Deep South: Buried Secrets featurette, Getting Low: Getting Into Character featurette, A Screenwriter’s Point of View featurette, On the Red Carpet featurette, audio commentary
For people who work in hospitals: Nurse Jackie: Season Two
Not sure I can pinpoint what initially drew me to Nurse Jackie. Like a moth to a light source. I think it was the opportunity to see Edie Falco in something new - or faith that Showtime had developed another smart one. (Its track record with me - Dexter and Weeds - had been stellar until then). Or maybe I missed ER.
The series’ first season came and went, and I came away liking just about everything. Nurse Jackie teetered on the line between comedy from drama, and though the drama was silly at times - nearly satire, I think - the show issued a good amount of heart and consistent comedy. As well, Edie was surrounded by colorful support.
Season two was messier, and I wasn’t nearly as invested as that freshman season. Principally, the writers uncovered big, clunky scissors and snipped away everything hanging off the season finale. Other seasonal things - the Pill-o-Matix machine, a minor character - were done away with, too. In a way, season two was a baker’s paradise. It started from scratch. And I don’t know what type of message that sends to fans, or what that might say about a writers room’s confidence. Season two is okay, but not as thrilling.
Disc includes: Audio commentary, All About Eve featurette, Perfecting an Inappropriate Touch featurette, Main Title Music Montage featurette, gag reel
For people who deal: Weeds: Season Six
Weeds will make for one of the more interesting television case studies if and when it goes off the air. The show has undergone a total reboot - putting everything I just said about Nurse Jackie to shame - and, among other things, has moved through an ensemble’s worth of new and old faces. It’s no longer set in the fictional Agrestic, no longer lampoons posh neighborhoods and gossipy busybodies and nearly all its major characters have been reduced to one-dimensional nothings. What was once a tremendously funny comedy transmogrified into bland soap. It is, I guess, what happens when writers go about texturing a show with blinders on.
I didn’t watch any of season six, but I can’t imagine it touches its season one through three heyday. Trouble kicked in midway through season four. At that time, the show was still adjusting to its new digs in Ren Mar, an entire family got left up north in the show’s old setting and the series’ tone and what it was seeking to do had altered considerably. I took it all in stride, though - try, as I might, not to be a cynic - and assumed Weeds would auto-correct at some point.
And then, it didn’t. Weeds remained inane and immature and a far cry from its humble beginnings through the end of season five. I’ve grown callous toward what has become of The Office, but compared to Weeds’ great fall, you’d think The Office was still the best show on television.
Disc includes: Audio commentary, Kevin Nealon and Justin Kirk: What Do We Have Left to Say? featurette, Fandamonium: Weeds Creators Tells All featurette, Bye Bye Botwins featurette, gag reel
For people who write on themselves: Memento (10th Anniversary Edition)
Next month is the 10-year anniversary of Memento, a total sleeper hit and the movie that first got the world talking about Chris Nolan. I actually saw the thing for the first time a few months ago, and its twists (and major twists) are still fresh in memory. It isn’t a movie you toss aside right away.
Disc includes: N/A
February 22, 2011
Blu-ray
48 Hrs.
Alien vs. Ninja
All-Star Superman
Birdemic: Shock and Terror
Due Date
The Embodiment of Evil
Fish Tank Criterion Collection
FLCL: Season Set Classic
Garei Zero: The Complete Series
Get Low
Ghost Month
How The Earth Was Made: The Complete Season Two
Ice Road Truckers: The Complete Season Four
Jeff Beck: Rock N Roll Party Honoring Les Paul
Killshot
The Last Unicorn
Les Miserables: 25th Anniversary
Luke And Lucy: The Texas Rangers
Memento (10th Anniversary Edition)
Mesrine: Killer Instinct
Nature: Elsa's Legacy Born Free Story
Nurse Jackie: Season Two
Psych:9
Senso Criterion Collection
Stieg Larsson's Dragon Tattoo Trilogy
Sweet Smell Of Success (Criterion Collection)
Weeds: Season Six
WWE: Bragging Rights 2010
Megamind
DVD
2011 Cotton Bowl: LSU vs. Texas A&M
2011 National Championship: Oregon vs. Auburn
2011 Orange Bowl: VT vs. Stanford
2011 Rose Bowl: Wisconsin vs. TCU
2011 Sugar Bowl: OSU vs. Arkansas
2011 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: OU vs. UConn
Alien vs. Ninja
All-Star Superman (Special Edition)
Dennis Miller: Big Speech
Due Date
Fish Tank (Criterion Collection)
FLCL: Season Set Classic
Get Low
Ghost Month
How The Earth Was Made: The Complete Season Two
Huge: The Complete Series
Ice Road Truckers: The Complete Season Four
Johnny Cash: The Man in Black (Limited Edition)
Killshot
Les Miserables: 25th Anniversary
Luke And Lucy: The Texas Rangers
Megamind
Memento (10th Anniversary Edition)
Nurse Jackie: Season Two
Psych:9
Senso (Criterion Collection)
Stieg Larsson's Dragon Tattoo Trilogy
Sweet Smell Of Success (Criterion Collection)
Weeds: Season Six