Tim Robbins

DVD Round Up, Feb. 3, 2009: ‘Cheers,’ ‘Lucky Ones,’ ‘RocknRolla,’ ‘The Gene Generation’

BrianTT — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 08:37:33 -0700

CHICAGO – Another week, another edition of HollywoodChicago.com’s legendary Round-Up. Any TV fans out there? Lovers of sci-fi action movies? Afficionados of Rachel McAdams? If you still like Guy Ritchie, raise your hand. Now, all of you, step up to the Round-Up.

“Cheers: The Final Season,” “The Gene Generation,” “The Lucky Ones,” and “RocknRolla” were all released on January 27th, 2009.

“Cheers: The Final Season”

Photo credit: Paramount

When people talk about shows going out at the top of their game, they inevitably turn to “Cheers” as a prime example of a series that knew when to turn off the lights and close the bar. Raise a glass to the final season with this amazing 28-episode set. In this season, Sam (Ted Danson) rebuilds the bar after Rebecca (Kirstie Alley) sets it on fire, Norm (George Wendt) gets audited, Cliff (John Ratzenberg) gets promoted, and Lilith leaves Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) in order to live in a biosphere. Woody (Woody Harrelson) runs for city council and Carla (Rhea Perlman) sees her daughter get married. Sam invites Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) back to Boston and pretends he’s married to Rebecca. “Cheers” is one of the best sitcoms in the history of the form and now fans can own all eleven seasons on DVD.

“Cheers: The Final Season” is presented in full frame with a 4:3 aspect ratio and spread out over four discs and nearly eleven hours of running time. Sadly, “Cheers” comes essentially free of special features, but each episode does include episodic promos.

“The Gene Generation”

Photo credit: Lionsgate

The front of the case for “The Gene Generation” features Bai Ling holding two guns and the phrase “The film that inspired “The DNA Hacker Chronicles” comic book series”. I’m sure that means something to someone but “The Gene Generation” clearly has a niche audience who will be excited to find it in the video store this weekend. Consider this your heads up. According to the case, Ling plays Michelle, a seductive young assassin who preys on corrupt DND hackers who must resuce her brother from Olympia’s seedy underworld as she fights for the survival of mankind in this futuristic thriller. The futuristic action movie won the Grand Jury Award at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival and features music by Combichrist. Once again, means something to someone.

“The Gene Generation” is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen and comes with an English 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio track. The special features include a commentary with director pearry Teo and actors Bai Ling and Parry Shen, a commentary with direcotr Pearry Teo and producer Keith Collea, cast and crew interviews, storyboard to screen comparisons, visual effects and concept art, deleted scenes, “The DNA Hacker Chronicles - 1st edition digital comic book, Combichrist music video for “Get Your Body Beat,” and a trailer gallery.

“The Lucky Ones”

Photo credit: Lionsgate

Neil Burger, the director of “The Illusionist,” took a wrong turn with the road movie “The Lucky Ones” starring Rachel McAdams, Tim Robbins, and Michael Pena, but the film is a well-intentioned drama that is likely to find a curious audience on the home market if just for the strength of its cast. Pena stars as Sgt. T.K. Poole, a soldier in the Iraq War who suffers medical problems after a serious attack. He is granted one-month leave and ends up in the same airport as fellow soldiers Sgt. Fred Cheaver (Tim Robbins) and Pvt. Colee Dunn (Rachel McAdams) when a blackout forces the trio into a road trip. What begins as a short visit home turns into a poignant journey of self-discovery.

“The Lucky Ones” is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio with 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby Digital audio tracks. The only special feature was “A Look Inside The Lucky Ones”.

“RocknRolla”

Photo credit: Warner Brothers

Guy Ritchie used to be on top of the world. “Lock, Stock, & Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch” branded him as the next big thing, a British Quentin Tarantino that spoke to his generation’s love for gangster movies. Then he made “Swept Away” and “Revolver” and it all went to hell. The mediocrity of “RocknRolla” would be more acceptable if this Gerard Butler flick was Ritchie’s third movie, but this far down the slide of the former Mr. Madonna’s career trajectory, it’s just not notable enough to reverse Ritchie’s sliding reputation. “RocknRolla” does have a few things going for it - a charming lead performance, a twisting and turning plot - to barely recommend a rental, but it’s not the return to form that we were all hoping for.

In “RocknRolla,” Gerard Butler and Idris Elba play a couple of small-time thugs stuck in a complicated plot involving a London gang leader (Tom Wilkinson), a hard-as-ice accountant (Thandie Newton), a presumed dead rock and roll star (the “RocknRolla” of the title), a pair of music moguls (Jeremy Piven & Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges), a missing painting, and some deadly Russians. “RocknRolla” is presented in widescreen with a 5.1 Dolby Surround track in English, French, and Spanish. Special features include a commentary by writer/director Guy Ritchie and co-star Mark Strong, an additional scene, and “Guy’s Town: The Director Reflects on His Fascination with Ever-Evolving London”.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

DVD Round Up, Jan. 27, 2009: ‘Moonlight,’ ‘College,’ ‘City of Ember’

BrianTT — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 08:19:16 -0700

CHICAGO – We apologize to the people behind these four titles but the star power is a little dim in this edition of HollywoodChicago.com’s DVD Round Up. When a canceled vampire series is arguably the biggest release in a four-pack of titles, it’s a weird edition of the Round Up. Prepare yourself.

“Amusement,” “City of Ember,” “College,” and “Moonlight”. A straight-to-DVD horror movie, a TV series cancelled after one year, and two movies that barely opened in theaters and made a COMBINED $13 million in domestic gross. These titles are for specialized audiences but that’s why we love the Round Up. Enjoy.

“Amusement,” “City of Ember,” and “Moonlight: The Complete Series” were released on January 20th, 2009. “College” was released on January 27th, 2009.

“Amusement”

Photo credit: Warner Brothers

“Amusement” is one of those movies that you pass at the video store and wonder, “What the heck is that?” The creepy clown on the cover is intriguing. Horror fans will probably be interested in the title alone and we’re all looking for that rare straight-to-DVD gem that outshines the junk that this genre usually produces in the multiplex every year. More than any genre, horror fans love to be able to say they saw the cult hit first. Will “Amusement” be the cult hit in your group of friends?

Clearly designed to be a rental, as it has been released with both widescreen and full-frame formats on one disc and with zero special features, “Amusement” delivers under 90 minutes of product for your hard-earned dollar. The film is about three women forced to deal with a seemingly innocent incident from their school days when it comes back to seek vengeance. Sounding loosely like a “Saw” movie, “Amusement” features a stone-walled chamber of prison cells and mechanisms of doom in which the three women and other victims are forced to fight to survive. It’s all for someone’s amusement. Is it yours? The film was written by Jake Wade Wall (the remakes of “The Hitcher” and “When a Stranger Calls”) and directed by John Simpson (“Freeze Frame”).

“City of Ember”

Photo credit: Fox

Gil Kenan ran face first into the sophomore slump with the massively underperforming “City of Ember,” a well-intentioned but disastrously designed slice of family entertainment. Reportedly budgeted around $55 million, the special effects extravaganza limped into theaters, opening in 11th place in its first weekend of release and grossing less than $17 million worldwide. With Tim Robbins, Bill Murray, and Saoirse Ronan (“Atonement”) and the backing of Walden Media (“Journey to the Center of the Earth,” “Bridge to Terabithia”), everyone thought “City of Ember” would make more of a dent. It probably will find a curious family audience on the home market.

That audience will find a mostly disappointing film with a few decent performances and interesting ideas and a DVD shockingly light on features. In fact, Fox was so frustrated with the results of “City of Ember” that they didn’t even release it on Blu-Ray. Ouch. A $55 million not in HD? That’s rare. The film is based on the best-selling novel by Jeanne Duprau. For centuries, the residents of the underground City of Ember have flourished in an amazing world of glittering lights and quiet contentment. But when the City’s massive power generator begins to fail, the street lamps start to fade - along with the hopes and dreams of the townspeople. Now it’s up to two courageous teenagers to follow a trail of clues left by the ancient Builders and find a way out of Ember before their world is plunged into darkness forever.

“College”

Photo credit: Fox

Another month, another teen sex comedy. As long as kids are still trying to get drunk and get laid, someone will make movies about it. The latest is Fox’s “College,” another film with a few unknowns that barely registered when it was released in theaters late last summer but will probably find an audience on DVD. Any movie with a big keg and the word “Unrated” on the cover draws an audience at the video store. The DVD for “College” includes both widescreen and full screen versions with a 5.1 Dolby track and a gag reel. Oooh, a gag reel.

Drake Bell, Kevin Covais, and Andrew Caldwell star in “College” as three high school friends who visit a local college campus as prospective freshmen looking for the best weekend of their lives in the world of kegs, sorority girls, and all-night parties. They go to the rowdiest fraternity on campus and are recruited as pledges by the frat’s resident jock (Nick Zano). The boys deal with endless humiliation just to get close to drunk girls on the frat party scene. They are made to look like idiots. You’re supposed to laugh. Good luck.

“Moonlight: The Complete Series”

Photo credit: Warner Brothers

It’s a little weird that “Moonlight” couldn’t be saved by the CBS juggernaut but “The Ghost Whisperer” is still on the air. When the show debuted, the pilot episode landed first among total viewers and adults 18-49 for the night. Of course, the ratings for this “Angel” rip-off dropped a bit, but you would think that the young demo of the audience and an average rating of 7.57 million viewers a week might keep it on the air. According to Wikipedia, “Moonlight” might have been a casualty of the writer’s strike. In early December, CBS was claiming a second season would come. When production shut down in the middle of that month, only four more episodes would run in the ‘07-‘08 season and the show was cancelled in May. How ironic that a poorly written show got the axe because of the writer’s strike.

“Moonlight” features some groan-inducing dialogue, but will surely have an audience interested in it just because of the vampire craze currently gripping the nation. Alex O’Loughlin plays Mick St. John, an L.A. private eye who also happens to be a blood-sucker. He has a friend played by Veronica Mars’ Jason Dohring and his memories of the alluring ex-wife (Shannyn Sossamon) that turned him into a creature of the night. He has a modern relationship with a woman (Sophia Myles) who he feels drawn to protect and maybe fall in love with. Mick knows a vampire-human romance is eternally dangerous. The 2008 People’s Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama comes home in a widescreen presentation and, shockingly, without a single special feature.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Interview: Writer, Director Neil Burger Follows Iraq Soldiers on Leave in ‘The Lucky Ones’

HollywoodChicago.com — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:33:09 -0600

CHICAGO – In his short career as a writer and director, Neil Burger has taken on the John F. Kennedy assassination in “Interview with the Assassin” and the mysteries of magic in “The Illusionist,” which starred Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti and Jessica Biel.

With his new film “The Lucky Ones,” Burger tackles the dichotomy between the fighting soldiers in Iraq and a country that can’t equal that sacrifice on the home front during wartime.

Tim Robbins as Cheever in “The Lucky Ones,” which is directed by Neil Burger.
Photo credit: James Bridges

In a recent interview with HollywoodChicago.com, Burger spoke about the research he did in understanding the modern soldier, his surprising casting choice of anti-war activist Tim Robbins as one of the veterans and why he chose to relate this story while the Iraq conflict continues.

“What ‘The Lucky Ones’ shows about the situation now is the disconnect between soldiers who have given of themselves selflessly versus the self-centered attitude of the country when they get home,” Burger said.

The story involves three Iraq veterans on leave from the war. Stuck at an airport during a blackout, U.S. National Guardsman Cheever (Tim Robbins) manages to score a rental car to drive to his home in St. Louis.

He agrees to allow fellow soldiers Colee (Rachel McAdams) and TK (Michael Peña) to accompany him and then take the car to their destination in Las Vegas. Burger added: “Tim Robbins has been outspoken. That did give me pause in the sense that I didn’t want anybody to resist the movie.”

Michael Peña as TK and Rachel McAdams as Colee in “The Lucky Ones,” which is directed by Neil Burger.
Photo credit: James Bridges

Rating: 2.5/5.0

But he quickly interjected: “Tim is anti-war, but he’s also a great patriot. He loves this country and has done quite a bit of outreach with soldiers and their families. Tim liked the character and wanted to be part of the movie.”

The road trip of the soldiers also becomes a journey of conscience. All three people discover the country’s reaction to them and (in the case of Cheever) the dissolution of a marriage. Confrontations in a bar, a strange religious service and a wealthy man’s birthday party are just some of the America they encounter.

There is one particular moment in the film that Burger feels is emblematic of this country’s separated curtain between the war and modern life.

“There was one scene that happened at the wealthy guy’s birthday party,” Burger related. “Tim’s character says they were ‘just trying to stay alive over there’. The reaction from the party guest is: ‘Stay alive? No wonder we’re losing the war.’”

Director Neil Burger on the set of “The Lucky Ones”.
Photo credit: James Bridges

“I actually heard something like that,” he continued. “If the reasons aren’t presented exactly the way they want to hear it, it’s shocking how quickly people who say they support the troops or support the war are willing to condemn or alienate even the good soldiers.”

But Burger was quick to point out that the film isn’t about the physical aspect of fighting the war but the inner conflict of adjusting to the homeland away from the battlefield.

“When these soldiers come home, I learned that their feelings toward everyone saying ‘thank you! thank you!’ – as I depict in the movie – completely rubs them the wrong way,” he explained. “They would rather be told ‘welcome home’ than ‘thank you’. To them, ‘thank you’ implies ‘thank you for doing it so I didn’t have to’. They feel as if there is an emptiness behind it.”

Burger added: “Ultimately, however, the movie and the characters are less about soldiering and more about what they want as ordinary Americans who come home.”

He continued: “[They want] to have a good time and find their families and loved ones. That is when they find they’re strangers in their own land.”

RELATED IMAGE GALLERY
View our full, high-resolution “The Lucky Ones” image gallery.

RELATED READING
More film reviews from critic Patrick McDonald.

Even though the subject of the film deals with the Iraq war in the background, it’s more of a mirror to the United States culture that reacts to their soldiers coming back (similar to the World War II-era film “Best Years of Our Lives” and the Vietnam-themed “Coming Home”).

“The movie looks at America now. [It’s] a snapshot of the country now,” Burger said.

He concluded: “We used to have a collective psychology and a sense of national purpose. That has been lost in recent years. The war is a depressing situation and people tend to turn away from depressing things. But this has long-term consequences for the overall moral health of the country.”

“The Lucky Ones,” which opened everywhere on Sept. 26, 2008, is written and directed by Neil Burger and features Tim Robbins, Rachel McAdams, Michael Peña, John Heard and Molly Hagan.

By PATRICK McDONALD
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com