Every week as I write this column, I am amazed at just now many movies are released each week. Hundreds of titles enter the vast ocean of DVDs and Blu-rays already in existence, all asking to be bought, to be watched. Admittedly many of them are low-grade, low-budget Z-movies being released in the cheapest of ways, or films in the public domain getting cheaply reproduced to make a quick buck and then there is the Girls Gone Wild-style of pornography that seems to reproduce like bunnies. Still, after taking away all that garbage, there are still dozens upon dozens of big or important films making it into the home theatre market. It is more than even the most completist of film collectors can handle.
It is no wonder that I can’t keep up with everything. What is most surprising to me when looking through the week’s list are films by people I know and like who are something of stars in new DVDs that I’ve never heard of. I keep pretty good abreast with new films and what’s out and nearly every week I still see a movie that fits right into my style with interesting people and I’ve never once heard of it before.
This week’s entry into that category is Upside Down. It stars Kirsten Dunst and has some Inception-style visuals and a very sci-fi concept, all of which should have made it fly right into my radar, and yet, no, I’d not heard of it until now. Admittedly Dunst’s star has fallen quite a bit since her Spider-Man days but still, how did I let this slip through?
Ah, no matter, I know of it now and dub it my Pick of the Week. The plot involves twinned worlds with opposite gravities and a young man trying to reunite with a girl in the other world. To do so, he must overcome the laws of physics. The reviews have been good especially on the visual front and that’s enough to convince me to take a chance on it, even if I never knew it existed until just moments ago.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
Shoah (Criterion Blu-ray): A nine-hour documentary that interviews survivors, witnesses, and former Nazis about the Holocaust. That sounds terribly interesting and terribly exhausting.
Beck: Vol. 7 & 8: A terrific Swedish detective series. Read my full review here.
Borgen: Season 2: My Beck DVDs had previews for this Swedish political drama and it looks spectacular.
No: Based on the true story of Chilean dictator Pinochet and starring Gael Garcia Bernal.
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone: The reviews for this were terrible, but something always makes me root for Jim Carrey.
The Call: I’d never heard of this thriller with Halle Berry either. Maybe I’m just slipping.
