New Releases: August 23rd

By Paco McCullough and Terry Cleveland

This week we had a gimmicky documentary, a controversial actor's attempt to redeem himself, and a direct to DVD Action/Thriller. Curious?

The Beaver

The Beaver is a film about depressed Mel Gibson who decides to remove himself from his own life with the help of a beaver puppet that he communicates exclusively through. That’s about all you need to know about this one. The story was predictable and sappy in the worst ways, and none of the events in the movie were compelling past the cookie cutter variety that you can expect from most sappy movies in the same vein. The film was directed by Jodie Foster, who also plays Gibson wife in the movie. While it's an original concept, she drops the ball. If you like Mel Gibson as an actor I still wouldn’t recommend this one, although if you do like him as a crazy ass creepy old man than maybe this one will tickle your fancy, but probably not. Skip it.

1 out of 5

 Blitz

Blitz is Jason Statham's latest feature, as well as the first movie produced by Lionsgate UK. Despite Statham's starpower, BLITZ did not get a theatrical release here in the United States and was just released on DVD and Bluray. Considering that this is a direct to DVD release, it is surprisingly decent. A departure from Statham's normal action roles, this film is more of a crime procedural/ thriller. Statham plays a loose-canon cop who is always getting in trouble for committing acts of police brutality. Soon a madman is killing cops, and it's up to Statham and his unlikely gay partner (Paddy Considine) to stop him. When it focuses on this, the movie works remarkably well, even if it is very generic. However, it shifts frequently to a B-story about another cop struggling to recover from drug addiction. This is blatant filler, adding nothing to the story and killing the pacing. Overall, this is recommended for fans of Statham or the genre. Otherwise, you won't be missing anything special.

3 out of 5 stars

POM Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

Morgan Spurlock is the king of the gimmicky documentary. After finding fame for filming himself eating McDonalds, he worked on some other bland films. This one's about how he's trying to finance his film by selling out. I was unable to screen this, so I can't say anything about its quality. Spurlock rubs me the wrong way, but I am curious to see what he had to say in this documentary. Fans of film (and I'm assuming most reading this are) may want to check it out.