New DVD Releases: April 19
This week's New DVD Releases are fit for royalty! First up: The magnificent film The King's Speech, 2011 Academy Award Winner for Best Motion Picture, featuring the Best Actor-winning performance of Colin Firth as King George VI. That's followed by Sofia Coppola's overlooked gem Somewhere, which follows a bored and disillusioned action film star as the companionship of his daughter awakens his emotional life. Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart are a wife and husband dealing with the tragic death of their son in the heartbreaking drama Rabbit Hole. Finally, Ed Harris, Colin Farrell, Jim Sturgess and Saoirse Ronan play four unlikely companions on a desperate race for freedom in Peter Weir's The Way Back. My goodness what a great week. See you again next Tuesday for more New DVD Releases!
If there's one thing the Brits can still lay claim to being the preeminent world power in, it's acting. The sterling performances of Colin Firth (who won a long-deserved Best Actor Oscar) and Geoffrey Rush (who should win one every time he's on screen) carry the magnificent true-life story of The King's Speech (Starting at $14.99: Up to 50% in Savings). In an England teetering on the brink of war with Germany in the mid-1930s, the hale King George V (Michael Gambon) dies and leaves the throne to his son Edward VIII (Guy Pearce). But when Edward abdicates the throne in order to scandalously marry a divorced American woman, the monarchy falls to Prince Albert (Firth)--known to his intimates as "Bertie"--who is to be crowned as King George VI. But many--including Bertie himself--doubt his own fitness to lead, as he is debilitated by a miserable speech impediment that overshadows all his other strengths. His wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) goes behind his back to seek help from eccentric speech therapist Lionel Logue (Rush), whose own ambitions to be a great actor are soon woven into his tireless devotion to helping Bertie conquer his stammer and become the king he was born to be. Guided by Best Director Tom Hooper, with a Best Original Screenplay from David Seidler, the actors deliver absolutely letter-perfect performances in an inspiring and important true story of deriving strength from vulnerability and the power to lead from a trusting friendship. SEE THIS FILM! Get it Now on Aol Shopping.
Criminally overlooked during awards season, Somewhere (Starting at $19.99: Up to 33% in Savings) is the latest evidence of writer-director Sofia Coppola's emergence from her father's shadow as a transcendent filmmaker. Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) is living the Hollywood dream: He's a bad boy action movie star, able to bed damn near any woman he meets, with celebrity pals, a Ferrari and a room at the Chateau Marmont Hotel on the Sunset Strip. With a phone call he can order up twin blond exotic dancers to lull him to sleep, or any kind of food he wants from room service. His every need is met and over-met by eager-to-please publicists and PAs, and he's whisked off at a moment's notice to accept enigmatic awards in Italy. But every second of it becomes more and more hollow as he realizes that he's completely barren of an emotional life. Things begin to change, however, when Johnny's 11-year-old daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning) is unloaded on him by her mother. The industrious and cheerful girl gives Johnny purpose where his career merely gives him increased isolation--culminating in a suffocating 45-minute sit in a plaster mask. Easily one of my favorite movies in a fantastic year, Somewhere conveys both the inanity of Hollywood and the emptiness of celebrity in a way no film ever has--with silence and interminable patience. It's Coppola's best yet, Dorff is heartbreakingly vulnerable, and Fanning's earnest performance heralds the arrival of a young new star. Get it Now on Aol Shopping.
Nicole Kidman (nominated for a Best Actress Oscar) and Aaron Eckhart deliver luminous performances as parents saddled with the most unimaginable tragedy: the loss of their young son. Rabbit Hole (Starting at $14.99: Up to 50% in Savings) finds Becca and Howie Corbett (Kidman and Eckhart) reeling from the death of their 4-year-old boy Danny in a tragic accident. No measure of cold sympathy from outsiders makes a dent in Becca's grief, despite her resolve to carry on their lives. She flat-out rejects the lame-brained words of condolence ("God needed another angel") from friends and from members of a support-group that she and Howie attend. While Howie seeks to restart their sex life and perhaps make another baby, ultimately the two find no solace in one another, their guilt and blame threatening to shatter them. Howie begins to turn to the support of Gabby (Sandra Oh), a member of the support group, while Becca wonders how her mother Nat (Dianne Wiest) ever got over the death of her brother. Uplifting even as it breaks the heart, the film is deeply human, addressing one of the fundamental agonizing facts of life: losing someone you love. Get it Now on Aol Shopping.
Peter Weir directs a fantastic cast in a World War II-era film following escapees from a Soviet gulag. The Way Back (Starting at $15.99: Up to 43% in Savings), based on the questionably true memoir of Slavomir Rawicz, follows a motley trio of men as they make a daring escape from a Siberian gulag during the middle of a blizzard: Polish POW Janusz (Jim Sturgess), American Mr. Smith (Ed Harris), and Russian criminal Valka (Colin Farrell). They and four other men enact their bold escape plan, striking out south into the freezing winter hoping to reach Mongolia. They manage to reach Lake Baikal, where they encounter a teenage Polish girl named Irena (Saoirse Ronan), who conceals the real devastating truth behind her escape from a collective farm. The group are dismayed to find Mongolia apparently under Stalin's control, and so decide to trek on to India across the Gobi Desert. The unforgiving landscape will represent the ultimate test of their determination and their ability to work together to survive. Get it Now on Aol Shopping.
If there's one thing the Brits can still lay claim to being the preeminent world power in, it's acting. The sterling performances of Colin Firth (who won a long-deserved Best Actor Oscar) and Geoffrey Rush (who should win one every time he's on screen) carry the magnificent true-life story of The King's Speech (Starting at $14.99: Up to 50% in Savings). In an England teetering on the brink of war with Germany in the mid-1930s, the hale King George V (Michael Gambon) dies and leaves the throne to his son Edward VIII (Guy Pearce). But when Edward abdicates the throne in order to scandalously marry a divorced American woman, the monarchy falls to Prince Albert (Firth)--known to his intimates as "Bertie"--who is to be crowned as King George VI. But many--including Bertie himself--doubt his own fitness to lead, as he is debilitated by a miserable speech impediment that overshadows all his other strengths. His wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) goes behind his back to seek help from eccentric speech therapist Lionel Logue (Rush), whose own ambitions to be a great actor are soon woven into his tireless devotion to helping Bertie conquer his stammer and become the king he was born to be. Guided by Best Director Tom Hooper, with a Best Original Screenplay from David Seidler, the actors deliver absolutely letter-perfect performances in an inspiring and important true story of deriving strength from vulnerability and the power to lead from a trusting friendship. SEE THIS FILM! Get it Now on Aol Shopping.Criminally overlooked during awards season, Somewhere (Starting at $19.99: Up to 33% in Savings) is the latest evidence of writer-director Sofia Coppola's emergence from her father's shadow as a transcendent filmmaker. Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) is living the Hollywood dream: He's a bad boy action movie star, able to bed damn near any woman he meets, with celebrity pals, a Ferrari and a room at the Chateau Marmont Hotel on the Sunset Strip. With a phone call he can order up twin blond exotic dancers to lull him to sleep, or any kind of food he wants from room service. His every need is met and over-met by eager-to-please publicists and PAs, and he's whisked off at a moment's notice to accept enigmatic awards in Italy. But every second of it becomes more and more hollow as he realizes that he's completely barren of an emotional life. Things begin to change, however, when Johnny's 11-year-old daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning) is unloaded on him by her mother. The industrious and cheerful girl gives Johnny purpose where his career merely gives him increased isolation--culminating in a suffocating 45-minute sit in a plaster mask. Easily one of my favorite movies in a fantastic year, Somewhere conveys both the inanity of Hollywood and the emptiness of celebrity in a way no film ever has--with silence and interminable patience. It's Coppola's best yet, Dorff is heartbreakingly vulnerable, and Fanning's earnest performance heralds the arrival of a young new star. Get it Now on Aol Shopping.Nicole Kidman (nominated for a Best Actress Oscar) and Aaron Eckhart deliver luminous performances as parents saddled with the most unimaginable tragedy: the loss of their young son. Rabbit Hole (Starting at $14.99: Up to 50% in Savings) finds Becca and Howie Corbett (Kidman and Eckhart) reeling from the death of their 4-year-old boy Danny in a tragic accident. No measure of cold sympathy from outsiders makes a dent in Becca's grief, despite her resolve to carry on their lives. She flat-out rejects the lame-brained words of condolence ("God needed another angel") from friends and from members of a support-group that she and Howie attend. While Howie seeks to restart their sex life and perhaps make another baby, ultimately the two find no solace in one another, their guilt and blame threatening to shatter them. Howie begins to turn to the support of Gabby (Sandra Oh), a member of the support group, while Becca wonders how her mother Nat (Dianne Wiest) ever got over the death of her brother. Uplifting even as it breaks the heart, the film is deeply human, addressing one of the fundamental agonizing facts of life: losing someone you love. Get it Now on Aol Shopping.Peter Weir directs a fantastic cast in a World War II-era film following escapees from a Soviet gulag. The Way Back (Starting at $15.99: Up to 43% in Savings), based on the questionably true memoir of Slavomir Rawicz, follows a motley trio of men as they make a daring escape from a Siberian gulag during the middle of a blizzard: Polish POW Janusz (Jim Sturgess), American Mr. Smith (Ed Harris), and Russian criminal Valka (Colin Farrell). They and four other men enact their bold escape plan, striking out south into the freezing winter hoping to reach Mongolia. They manage to reach Lake Baikal, where they encounter a teenage Polish girl named Irena (Saoirse Ronan), who conceals the real devastating truth behind her escape from a collective farm. The group are dismayed to find Mongolia apparently under Stalin's control, and so decide to trek on to India across the Gobi Desert. The unforgiving landscape will represent the ultimate test of their determination and their ability to work together to survive. Get it Now on Aol Shopping.
