DVD/VIDEO REVIEWS week of October 12, 2009
This week's DVD and Blu-ray releases
The following are capsule reviews of new and recent DVD and Blu-ray releases from the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Theatrical movies have a USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification and Motion Picture Association of America rating. These classifications refer only to the theatrical version of the films below, and do not take into account the discs' extra content.
Drag Me to Hell
Intentionally over-the-top horror tale in which a Los Angeles loan officer (Alison Lohman) is cursed to death and damnation by a woman (Lorna Raver) on whose home her bank is foreclosing and, with the reluctant support of her skeptical boyfriend (Justin Long), enlists the aid of a fortuneteller (Dileep Rao) in her increasingly frantic efforts to undo the spell. Gross-out sight gags abound in director and co-writer Sam Raimi's shockfest, but bloodletting is generally minimal and the occult elements, like the dubious premise that one person can consign another to Hades, need not be taken seriously. Some hand-to-hand violence, a premarital situation, a couple of uses of profanity and of the S-word, and a few crass terms. Spanish language and titles options. A-III -- adults. (PG-13) (Universal Studios Home Video; also available on Blu-ray) 2009
Land of the Lost
The innocent, mildly cheesy Saturday morning TV show from the 1970s has morphed into an overblown, special-effects-laden, but plot-thin star vehicle for comedian Will Farrell, a washed-up scientist who claims that his invention, the "tachyon amplifier," is a time machine. With a beautiful academic (Anna Friel) and a sleazy sideshow operator (Danny McBride) at his side, he opens a "space time vortex" and lands in a prehistoric world filled with menacing creatures, reptilian aliens and furry Cro-Magnon natives. What ensues is a "Wizard of Oz" adventure as the trio seeks a way home. Unfortunately, what was marketed as a "family" film is far from one. Cartoonish violence and peril; rough language; sexual banter, innuendo and encounters; partial nudity and drug use. Spanish language and titles options. A-III -- adults. (PG-13) (Universal Studios Home Video; also available on Blu-ray) 2009
The Proposal
To avoid being deported back to Canada, a hard-driving New York book editor (Sandra Bullock) coerces her brow-beaten executive assistant (Ryan Reynolds) into getting engaged, but the hostility underlying their charade of love mellows during a visit to his parents' (Mary Steenburgen and Craig T. Nelson) Alaska home for his grandmother's (Betty White) 90th birthday. Brief interludes of questionable humor and a largely predictable plot aside, director Anne Fletcher's effervescent romantic comedy is mostly a valentine to family affection and against-the-odds ardor. Implied premarital sexual activity, fleeting nudity, some sexual humor, a couple of crude and a dozen crass words, and at least two uses of profanity. Spanish language and titles options. A-III -- adults. (PG-13) (Touchstone Home Entertainment) 2009
Scrooge
Truncated but effective version of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" with impressive performances from Seymour Hicks in the title role and Donald Calthrop as Bob Cratchit, though the only ghost to be seen is the robust figure of Christmas Present (Oscar Asche). Director Henry Edwards delivers an atmospheric picture of 1840s London emphasizing the oppressive gulf between rich and poor bridged by Dickens' fable of helping others. A-I -- general patronage. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America. (Genius Productions, Inc.) 1935
Sunchaser
Pretentious clunker in which a smug Los Angeles physician (Woody Harrelson) is forced at gunpoint to drive a dying 16-year-old killer (Jon Seda) to Arizona in quest of a cure by a Navajo medicine man and, by journey's end, the doctor is himself transformed. Director Michael Cimino's unconvincing attempt to concoct a mythic story of spiritual regeneration out of dreary stereotypes and trite New Age platitudes is annoying in its shallow depiction of characters, motivations and the social realities of different cultures. Much menace, some brutal violence and incessant rough language.
L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. R -- (Warner Home Video)
1996
Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic
merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating,
the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief
synopsis of the movie.
The classifications are as follows:
- A-I -- general patronage;
- A-II -- adults and adolescents;
- A-III -- adults;
- A-IV**
- L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
- O -- morally offensive.
** Discontinued classification. All archived movies that were originally in the A-IV category are now classified as L.