Matt's DVD Picks: The slow building but rewarding narratives edition!

So I'm a day late on this one, in the future I'm going to try and get this column up for you guys on a Monday but forgive me if I'm late, you will never know how long this kind of article takes to write, code and make it look as tidy as possible. Especially after some people mentioned to me that I wasn't really reviewing the titles in the column last week and was taking the easy way out by just indicating what titles are coming out. So now, you can find a handy paragraph or two letting you know what I thought of each movie though I won't be able to discuss everything that's released that day... just those I am interested in or having something to say about. If you want a full list of releases, DVD Talk are usually the best guide for what's out today in the U.S. Oh, and I'm only doing U.S. releases for now because they usually get titles quicker than we do in the U.K. For example, that excellent IRON MAN Blu-Ray I reviewed last week which is one of the Best Blu-Ray's I have seen so far... you can already order from Axel Music and it will arrive before it's released in this country. And remember, it's region free so there's no benefit at all in waiting for the Region 2 disc. Lots of good titles here, with AMERICAN GANGSTER, EASTERN PROMISES and CASINO... it feels like this week was the week for slow building narratives and great storytelling!

AFTER THE JUMP... EASTERN PROMISES, INDIANA JONES IV, AMERICAN GANGSTER, CASINO, CONSTANTINE AND MORE!!!

PICK OF THE WEEK

EASTERN PROMISES - I bet there is a lot of you who avoided this one when it was quietly released in September last year. Well shame on you, especially if your a fan of David Cronenberg because this is one of his strongest works in a while... better than A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, with a better lead performance from Viggo Mortensen in what could have easily been a ill conceived gimmick of him playing a tattooed Russian "driver". Steve Knight's script is incredible but what Cronenberg, cinematographer Peter Suschitzky and that perfectly toned score from Howard Shore has done to this tale, is truly extraordinary. A movie where you have no God damn idea where it's going next but love it so much more for where it does venture... highly recommended for genre lovers who love slow building character pieces. INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL - Quite incredible that the first INDIANA JONES movie in two decades and the first in glorious 1080p gets a release this week and it hasn't made my top title choice. Shocking, quite unbelievable actually because of my love for the first three movies and just how awesome Harrison Ford was in this movie. He fucking deserved better for having the guts to take on this character again when he could have easily stayed at his home and sulked whilst Steven Spielberg made the movie he clearly wanted to make with Shia LaBeouf. Fuck it, we deserved better. After all the failed scripts, the failed promises and the years of "maybe's"... all those long years of anticipating and false hopes... I couldn't believe that this was the story they wanted to tell. I will never ever forget that feeling I got in the early hours of that sad May night... that feeling of being robbed again of my money, my heart and my sanity. George Lucas, how did you manage to burn me twice? Never again, never again. AMERICAN GANGSTER - Ridley Scott's best movie in a while, AMERICAN GANGSTER is a worthy addition to the great man's filmography that much like ZODIAC, takes joy out of building characters that grew around real life events from the 70's. There's nothing flash here, some might call it boring but I was engrossed. The movie moved along nicely paced, in a smooth, almost documentary style manner. Ridley Scott just got up there and told a great story. Too often in American cinema, we don't get directors who just wanna tell a story with characters. Denzel Washington was robbed of an Oscar nom here, as much as I loved SWEENEY TODD... Washington was stronger here than Depp last year. Oh, and this disc has a fantastic audio commentary from Scott... one of my favourite directors who record such things. THE ULTIMATE MATRIX COLLECTION - It's a pretty darn expensive set, especially if your one of the many who only really enjoys the first movie and could take or leave the two sequels and if you are one of those who has purchased this mega set in one form or another already. I think I've bought box sets for these movies at least twice now, though never in HD. Personally, I'm going to wait until the price comes down a little, maybe sometime after Christmas before getting my hands on this. I can tell you from the standard DVD release of this set, it's one of the most worthwhile and rewarding box sets ever produced. The extra's are stunning and although it's sad to see the Wachowski's so camera shy, what it has allowed is a very honest, frank, and in depth critical (especially of the two sequels) commentary tracks from various film critics including Variety's Todd McCarthy. POLTERGEIST: 25th ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION - Ah, I remember stumbling across POLTERGEIST one late night back in the mid 90's, what a creepy ghost thriller if your of the right age. I think I lost a lot of hours of sleep time because of that evil clown. This might be the closest we ever get to seeing what an out and out horror film from Steven Spielberg might look like and his close collaboration with Tobe Hooper worked surprisingly well. Though, I kinda agree with the conspiracy theorists who say this movie is more Spielberg than anyone else, you can certainly tell by his unique camera style that it's him behind the camera. whether ghosts aThe extra's are nothing to write home about, two extremely boring documentaries that try and dissect whether ghosts and the paranormal are real (eugh!) but it comes with a gorgeous digipack book thingy. I like how my ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST packaging of my Blu-Ray DVD looks on my shelf, if you like such things then this is for you... though I've never found this movie as much fun as I've gotten older. CASINO - Well, it's not quite GOODFELLAS but comparisons to that movie were always I felt unfair anyway. What you are paying for is a masterpiece from one of the greatest directors that ever lived. I love nearly everything about this movie... the Saul Bass credits, the unusual long narrative voice-over from Pesci & De Niro, the long assed narrative. Funnily enough, this is a movie very reminiscent of AMERICAN GANGSTER... one feels the epic running time is needed to tell such a glorious tale. There's some extremely good character releases this week. This was Scorsese's last great movie with Robert De Niro... can you believe the two haven't worked together for 13 years as a director/actor pairing? Just too long man. WAR, INC. - What happened to this movie? How did a political comedy starring John Cusack, Marisa Tomei, Ben Kingsley, Joan Cusack, Dan Ackroyd and er, Hilary Duff... end up being brushed under the carpet? I mean hell, you have Cusack almost playing an older version of the hitman he played in GROSSE POINTE BLANK and you have his sister Joan Cusack and Ackroyd back in a movie shot in the same kind of style. This is almost an unofficial sequel to a great movie. What the fuck happened? CONSTANTINE - How NOT to adapt a comic book character. Whose idea was it to strip all the things that made the character work so well in the comics and translate it into a boring assed Keanu Reeves star vehicle and MATRIX inspired knock-off? There are some positives though. Francis Lawrence shows he has a talent with visual effects, though this is nothing compared to the good work he would do on I AM LEGEND a few years later. Rachel Weisz is always solid and Tilda Swinton shows us why, even in a blockbuster, she should get an automatic Oscar nom every year. And if there is one positive from the title change... we might still see a true to form adaptation of HELLBLAZER at some point. STUCK - If you've had a big crush on Mena Suvari ever since you sympathised with Kevin Spacey's middle aged perv Lester Bangs in AMERICAN BEAUTY and you often wonder where she has been all those years, you can pretty much get caught up right here. She has been stuck in quietly released movies because, honestly, she has about one character in her repertoire. Though she is still hot... and well if you wanna see a rather steamy sex scene in Blu-Ray, then pick this one up. It's not the worst movie ever made. It's about guilt... and what happens to those who kill on the roads and can't bring themselves to go to the police. Better than RESERVATION RAOD which opened last year with some huge names. This one is directed by Stuart Gordon, who way back when brought us RE-ANIMATOR. And well... Mena Suvari goes nude. CHAPLIN: 15th ANNIVERSARY EDITION - I find it hilarious that people were shocked how good Robert Downey Jr. was in IRON MAN. Have ya'll forgotten how good an actor this guy is and has been for God knows how many years now? I've never actually thought that Richard Attenbrough's direction was all that spectacular but contrary to Ray's review, I thought Downey Jr. captured the spirit of Charlie Chaplin completely. I mean, do we really know the inside psychology of Chaplin all that much, the man has remained such a great mystery for us. However, the fact that this is a 15th anniversary edition... one wonders what happened to the celebratory anniversary extra's. This DVD is pathetically light as it is and is an obvious IRON MAN cash-in. I wouldn't have minded that so much, if we got a Blu-Ray transfer but as it is we needed more here. MONGOL: THE RISE OF GENGHIS KHAN - I remember Mike going crazy over this film back in May, I've yet to see it but an epic about Genghis Khan that is favourably compared to the best of GLADIATOR, APOCALYPTO and SPARTACUS is a must see for me. What I didn't know is that this movie is actually only the first of a trilogy of movies on Khan and I can't personally think of any other historical epic trilogy in the history of cinema. BRAVEHEART and the likes only had one movie... this is out to set a new precedent here. Can anyone think of one? It was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar in 2007... but is available now for the first time on DVD. Unmissable, I'd say. ICONS OF HORROR: HAMMER FILMS (THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY'S TOMB, SCREAM OF FEAR, THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL, THE GORGON) - Wow, what a nice little collection this is... four excellent Hammer Horror films which would make for a delightful Halloween marathon next weekend. THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY'S TOMB, despite it's 4.8 IMDB rating!!! is a joy to watch. No really, it is. I love their take on Jekyll and Hyde, in fact I just love Hammer's take on all classic literature and gothic horror quite frankly. BIG TITLES NEWLY AVAILABLE IMPORTANT BLU-RAY PRE-ORDER SIN CITY - Oct. 21stBAND OF BROTHERS - Nov. 11th HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY - Nov. 11thWALL-E - Nov. 18thFIRST CRITERION BLU-RAY TITLES.... THE LAST EMPEROR: CRITERION COLLECTION FIRST, MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH, THE THIRD MAN, CHUNGKING EXPRESS & BOTTLE ROCKET - Nov. 18thTHE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION - Dec. 2ndTHE DARK KNIGHT - Dec. 9th