New DVDs mostly disappointing
Here are some of the latest movies to arrive on DVD, led by a caper film starring three Oscar winners.
"The Maiden Heist" (Sony, 2009, PG-13, $34.95). The Oscar winners are Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken and Marcia Gay Harden, and Oscar nominee William H. Macy is onboard as well in this peculiar straight-to-video caper comedy.
Freeman, Walken and Macy are longtime museum guards, each with a fetish for a particular piece of art. Walken is a quiet worker with a shrill younger wife (Harden); Freeman is a gay, cat-loving amateur painter; Macy is a former Marine who can't resist disrobing to pose nude alongside a beefy statue. When the museum plans to ship the art off to Denmark, they plot to steal the pieces and replace them with forgeries.
Hampered by implausibilities, a less-than-satisfying resolution and obnoxious supporting players. But Walken, Freeman and Macy manage some comic chemistry and the film does have its moments.
Extras: widescreen, deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurette, bloopers, trailers
"Night of the Creeps: Director's Cut" (TriStar, 1986, color and b/w, $19.94). This alleged cult favorite is a goofy horror comedy about a space bug that drops to Earth in the 1950s but remains dormant in one human until it is unleashed on a college campus in the 1980s, causing teens — as well as a cat and a dog — to turn into zombies. Pretty weak attempt at forced campiness, though veteran character actor Tom Atkins seems to be having fun as the chief investigating cop.
Extras: widescreen, deleted scenes/alternate ending, audio commentaries, featurettes, text-trivia track, trailer
"The Taking of Pelham 123" (Columbia, 2009; R for violence, language; $28.96). This second remake of the 1974 classic has some exciting moments but on the whole pales in comparison to the original, as John Travolta takes a New York subway train and its passengers hostage, and transit employee Denzel Washington tries to figure out how to defuse the situation.
Extras: widescreen, audio commentary, featurettes, trailers
"Whatever Works" (Sony Classics/Blu-ray, 2009, PG-13, $39.95). A number of critics claimed this as Woody Allen's worst movie, but it's not that bad. Still, a little of Larry David's whiney character goes a long way, and he's the entire movie — a crotchety misanthrope who takes in a young runaway (Evan Rachel Wood). Wood and Patricia Clarkson as her mother are the film's best elements.
Comments
- Brewer logs 42 minutes in win 10:51 p.m.
- Police seek 2 men after vehicle theft 10:44 p.m.
- 2 arrested in robbery, road-rage flap 10:43 p.m.
- Sports briefs 10:43 p.m.
- Deane enjoying time at Oregon St. 10:29 p.m.
- Man arrested in screwdriver attack 10:29 p.m.
- Police suspect same man in thefts 10:28 p.m.
- Provo fire displaces 4 families 10:27 p.m.
- Man injured when he is struck by car 10:26 p.m.
- Aggravated murder trial begins 10:24 p.m.
- Hall's pain reflects self-betrayal
- Y. student vanished in China
- Max Hall issues apology
- Utes won't respond to Hall
- Hall reprimanded by MWC
- Cougs begin bowl preparations
- Boy shot following traffic stop
- Mitchell called intelligent, controlling
- Matthews passes new Jazz tests
- U. eyes bowl for redemption
- Hall mouths off about hate of Utah
898 - Cougars beat Utes in overtime
481 - Max Hall issues apology
378 - Hall reprimanded by MWC
370 - Hall's pain reflects self-betrayal
312 - Utes won't respond to Hall
256 - BYU is champion of the state
140 - Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
121 - Cave to be sealed with body inside
119 - Religion in politics is tiresome
109
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the holiday retail season...
When "Dancing With The Stars" began more than two months ago, 16 couples...
Comedian Brian Regan, who is scheduled to perform at Abravanel Hall on...
Where was this "fire" and rage before the game ? Would the words have been as...
I have taken enough abuse from my non-Ute basketball friends to last a...
Go Aggies Go Aggies hey hey hey.
is BYU blue. How nostalgic watching that game. What I want to know is, who...
So Max Hall apologizes, which is better than NOT apologizing. And so that's...
You UTE people sure can dish it out but cry like little babies when it...
The giraffe is adorable, wish I knew how to knit!
Find my Family is truly a rip off of The Locator ... Find my Family can't...
"Just get them off Saturday television...maybe ABC will see the light."...
What a bunch of cry babies.This is why BYU or Utah is not taken seriously....



You can be the first to comment on this story.