New Releases on DVD/Blu-ray: Weeks of October 4th/11th

By Paco McCullough, Jason Haskins, Terry Cleveland

We had a lot to handle in this two week period, so we'll get right to it.

Fast Five

I had such high hopes for Justin Lin. His debut film, Better Luck Tomorrow, is one of the most engaging low-budget crime movies I've seen in a while. Since then, his track record has nosedived. Fast Five, the third film in the franchise that Lin has directed, is obnoxious, stupid, and full of unlikable characters. More importantly, it's boring, the one fault action films can't have. There are two standout moments in the otherwise horrible film- a train robbery near the beginning and an epic car chase through the streets of Rio at the end. As a matter of fact, they almost redeem the film. The ending car chase is easily the best car chase I have seen since The Bourne Identity. If you're a fan of car chases, consider renting it, but just skip the agonizing middle hour and a half.

2 out of 5 stars

Scream 4

Released ten years after the third entry in the series, Scream 4 is quick to place itself in a new decade of horror. It attempts to further iron out the franchise by commenting on the current genre trends. The original cast returns--Neve Campbell as Sydney Prescott, who is cornered by the Ghostface Killah for one more stab with Deputy Dewey (David Arquette), trying to protect her with the help of his wife (played by his then-wife Courtney Cox). There are some great moments of gore as well as surprises that I really dug. I have to say that it's the best movie in the series since the first. The filmmaking was good, and I found it to be a lot of fun.

4 out of 5 stars

Zookeeper

Zookeeper is yet another Kevin James farce of a movie that shouldn’t ever be seen let alone released in theaters. Similar to other his other films (Paul Blart: Mall Cop) Kevin James plays a schmuck who rises to the occasion named Griffin, except this times he’s a zookeeper who can talk to animals. It turns out that all animals can talk, and they decide to give Griffin pep talks on how to get laid. And that’s about all this one has to offer. Sure it’s a family friendly kid’s movie; but this one was bad. Animals that are actually thinly veiled stereotypes of real people and real people who are just actual stereotypes are the least of this film’s worries.   I would have rather watched Dr. Doolittle (the one with Eddie Murphy) than this lump of shit.

1 out of 5

The Tree Of Life

The Tree of Life is a very interesting vision of childhood. The film’s entire length is told in fleeting surrealistic scenes that have a rough plot about faith. The surrealism in the movie is interesting. However, it all feels very pretentious, comes across very boring, and is unreasonably long. I was interested at a few points but it all floated by so lazily that I just really didn’t care what was going on.

2 out of 5 stars

Terri

Terri is a quirky indie-dramedy from this year's Sundance Film Festival set in a high school. By this point you probably already know if this film is for you or not, but I'll continue. Terri (Jacob Wysocki) is an overweight high school student who comes to school late and in his pajamas everyday. At home he has to care for an uncle that is falling into dementia (The Office's Creed Bratton); at school he falls under the wing of a principal who was also once awkward (John C. Reilly). Eventually he begins to connect with a troublemaker and a girl who was taken advantage of in class. This film is surprising poignant, with complex and engaging characters. While it is a fairly conventional indie flick, it avoids the normal high school cliches. If into indie films, this is worth your time. Otherwise, this probably isn't for you.

4 out of 5 stars

 Green Lantern

DC and Warner Bros finally unleashed a new comic property, promptly shitting on it. Ryan Reynolds plays Hal Jordan, a pilot who comes into contact with an alien who gives him a ring of power. The ring gives Jordan the power to uphold the Green Lantern Corps and fight for peace in the galaxy. The idea sounds really lame, but the comics (preferably by author Geoff Johns) are outstanding. This movie tarnishes how cool the character is and gives us possibly the worst comic book adaptation since Ghost Rider. It's as if everyone who made this movie had no idea what they are doing. The script is an epic mess, the CGI is so in-your-face (and not that impressive) that it distracts you, and while Reynolds fits the role--he certainly doesn't fill it. It's a forgettable and terrible comic movie you should avoid at all costs.

1 out of 5