06/21/11 Recommended New Releases

Another solid week of releases, and it is one that can surely benefit from the Best Buy coupon I mentioned last week: Save $5 on any DVD/Blu-ray priced $14.99 and up. On to the movies:

The Adjustment Bureau (George Nolfi, 2011) - Loosely based on the Philip K. Dick short story, Adjustment Team; starring Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, and Michael Kelly. You can read my review of the film here.

Format: Blu-ray/DVD/DC Combo - The Blu-ray version of the film includes an exclusive feature (a 33-minute, interactive behind-the-scenes featurette), is BD Live-enabled, and comes with the DVD and a Digital Copy of the film. It is on sale at most retailers for $22.99 this week, though you can save an extra $5.00 with the Best Buy coupon provided at the top of this post.

Unknown (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2011) - Based on the French novel, Out of My Head by Didier van Cauwelaert; starring Liam Neeson, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, Diane Kruger, Bruno Ganz, and Frank Langella. You can read my review of the film here.

Format: Blu-ray/DVD/DC Combo - The Blu-ray version has an exclusive feature (though it is only 5 minutes in length), and includes the DVD version of the film as well as a Digital Copy. It is on sale for $22.99 this week, but can be had for a little cheaper with the Best Buy coupon.

Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich, 1955) - The Criterion Collection brings us this adaptation of the Mickey Spillane novel. Ralph Meeker stars as Mike Hammer, a private detective whose decision to pick up a hitchhiking woman one night has dire consequences.


Format: DVD - As I have mentioned in the past, I prefer my Criterions on DVD. The supplements are the same for both formats, and the DVD is significantly cheaper at $19.99 via Amazon (Best Buy does not carry the title in stores). If you have a MovieStop in your area, it is on sale for the same price as Amazon this week.

Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story (Jeffrey Shwarz, 2007) - a documentary about legendary showman William Castle, whose five-decade career included a slew of low-budget thrillers promoted by innovative gimmicks designed to enhance the theatrical experience. Joe Dante's 1992 comedy, Matinee, stars John Goodman as a character inspired by Castle.

Format: DVD - Only available on DVD. I do not believe it is being sold in stores anywhere, but Amazon has it for $17.99.











Finally, I will wrap up this update with a mention of the first downloadable character add-on for Mortal Kombat, which was released today for Xbox 360 and PS3 users. You can purchase the new character, Skarlet, for $5.00 (400 Microsoft points). For Xbox 360 users, however, the better option is to purchase the "Mortal Kombat Season Pass," which is priced at $15.00 (1200 Microsoft points). With the season pass, you will get Skarlet, as well as three other fighters as they are released in the future: Kenshi and Rain in July, and another fighter in August whose identity has yet to be revealed. Furthermore, with Skarlet comes Klassic Costumes for Cyrax and Sektor. Klassic Costumes for Smoke and Noob Saibot will accompany the July content, and two more unrevealed costumes will come with the August content. So, $15.00 now, and you will be able to download these fighters and costumes at no additional cost as they are released (essentially getting four for the price of three). This Xbox 360-exclusive deal is meant to compensate for PS3 users receiving an exclusive fighter (Kratos) and his stage, so they will wind up shelling out an extra $5.00 to acquire all the fighters. A fair trade-off, in my opinion. Anyways, my money is on the mystery fighter being Reiko, but we shall see soon enough...

Theatrical Review: Unknown (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2011)

When I first saw the trailer for Unknown, I was left with an unyielding anticipation for the film. Not only would it star Liam Neeson, an actor whose return to prominence these last few years I have enjoyed very much, but it would sport an outstanding supporting cast, and it had a premise with which I was ready and willing to be engaged. Naturally, I rushed to the theater to catch the midnight opening this past Thursday, and while the film was not quite what I expected nor wanted, I was far from disappointed.

The film begins simply enough: Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson) and his wife, Elizabeth (January Jones) arrive in Berlin, where Martin is to give a presentation at a biotechnology conference. The couple take a taxi to their hotel, where Martin learns he has left a briefcase at the airport, and thus he leaves Elizabeth to check in while he hails another taxi to take him to retrieve the luggage. On the way to the airport, however, a freak accident leaves Martin in a coma, from which he awakens four days later with no immediate recollection of the accident, and he can only recall fragments of the events leading up to it. His doctor (Karl Markovics, whom you may recognize from The Counterfeiters) fills him on what happened. Martin, remembering the hotel he was going to stay at, promptly leaves the hospital to find his wife, who he is sure must be worried about being alone in a city she does not know as well as the fact that her husband has been missing for four days.

After an initial scuffle with the hotel staff due to Martin's lack of any identification, he spots his wife amid a throng of people and makes his way over to her. However, she does not seem to recognize him at all. Even stranger is when she calls out to "Martin," and a man quickly comes to her side. He is her husband, Dr. Martin Harris (Aidan Quinn). Baffled, Martin is escorted away from the crowd, now faced with the challenge of somehow proving that he is the real Dr. Martin Harris and that the man with his wife is an impostor. He has the hotel security attempt to contact a friend and colleague in the United States (a man named Rodney Cole, played by Frank Langella), but there is no answer. He has them check his profile on the website of the University he teaches at; the photo is not of him, but of the impostor. Obviously, someone went through a lot of trouble to take his place - but how, and why?

Several occurrences thereafter escalate the tension and assure Martin that he is not crazy - namely the fact that he is being pursued by menacing individuals intent on killing him (discreetly). He tracks down the cab driver that saved his life, Gina (Diane Kruger), in hopes that she will help him, learning in the process that she is an illegal immigrant from Bosnia who is trying to lay low. She is hesitant to get involved, naturally, but once it becomes apparent that the assassins after Martin intend to silence her as well, she has little choice. He then enlists the help of an ex-East Berlin Secret Police officer named Jürgen (portrayed by legendary actor Bruno Ganz, notable for his starring roles as Damiel in Wings of Desire and Adolf Hitler in Downfall). Jürgen begins a bit of investigating while Martin and Gina continue to elude their assassins and attempt to reach Elizabeth, whom Martin is convinced must surely be acting against her will.

Throughout the remainder of the film, most of the mystery unravels, but whether or not the secrets revealed are satisfactory depends entirely on the mindset of the viewer. Does it all really make any sense by the time the credits role? Not really. The answers the viewer receives are often preposterous, but that does not stop the film from being engaging. There are two exciting car chases and a few scenes of action that are generally edited efficiently, though there are moments of cutting between rapid close-ups framed at canted angles that, while I can acknowledged their effect of inviting the viewer into the disorientation of the moment, I do not particularly care for. Still, Unknown is ripe with outstanding performances (particularly from Neeson, Kruger, and Ganz) as well as enough exciting moments to make it a worthwhile thriller, so long as one does not expect the mystery to be laden with explanations grounded in conventional logic.

B+