Tuesday, January 29, 2008
New on DVD: The Invasion, Trade and Ira & Abby
Paranoia strikes deep. Into your REM sleep it will creep. (Aargh.)
This week's releases on DVD are highlighted by Nicole in familiar body snatcher territory, Kevin Kline (a winner at last night's SAG awards) caught up in a human trafficking nightmare and the scrumpdiddlyumptious Jennifer Westfeldt pairing up with Chris Messina in a troubled relationship dramedy. (That is, the relationship's troubled, not the dramedy. Although it, too, has its issues.)
The Invasion finds the winsome Ms. Kidman looking to stay awake to avoid being taken over by alien spores, with Bond boy Dan Craig lurking in the wings. All rather formulaic and predictable, I'm afraid, except for the parts where Nicole chugs Mountain Dew from a two-liter bottle in order to avoid drifting off to dreamland.
Seems like a nice normal suburban home, but it's occupied by a demon bitch from Hell.
Second up, there's the disturbing though wonderfully acted Trade, in which Kline steps into a cowboy-boot role that might have been custom designed for Tommy Lee Jones and ends up doing a damn good job of it. He's morose - he's dedicated - he's determined - he bids on children in an internet auction. Not to be missed (because you need someone to have nightmares about) is the evil child-destroying bitch from Hell essayed by Kate del Castillo. (Yeah, I know, she looks so friendly.)
Last but not least of our featured home movie selections this week is the analysis-obsessed R-rated boy-meets-goofy-girl (and marries her) flick Ira & Abby. As mentioned, actress Jennifer Westfeldt is gorgeous; she's also multi-talented, having written the script for this film as well as starring in it. By the time you're done watching you might end up falling for her (in the person of Abby) just as the Ira did. Sure, she's flawed: but you need the eggs, right?
Ah, marital bliss. For about ten seconds.
Also showing up on hard copy digital media are old favorites Life of Brian ("Blessed are the cheesemakers") in a two-disk "Immaculate Edition"; Lake Placid 2, which finds Cloris Leachman standing in for the croc-friendly Betty White; and Groundhog Day, in which world-weary weatherman Bill Murray attempts to win the affections of the lovely and out-of-his-league Andie MacDowell - again and again and again. (And again.) Punxsutawney Phil never had it so good.
