Draft Day – Kevin Costner never stopped being cool. He could be a dick, sure, but every cool guy can be a dick, so it’s to be expected. Draft Day is another of his Costner Sports movies, and no one does ‘em better. This one looks at the good and bad of being the first to choose on NFL Draft day. Costner is the guy who gets the glory or blame for making the call for the Cleveland Browns. Ivan Reitman directs. I’ll be checking it out.
For No Good Reason – Ralph Steadman is the man. He was the eyes to Hunter S. Thompson’s voice. Documentary filmmaker Charlie Paul tries to show us the man behind those eyes with the help of Johnny Depp. Which is part of the problem with this, as interesting as most of it is, the documentary really is more about how linked Steadman is to Thompson and too much time is spent on that and not on Steadman, his thoughts, his process and art itself. We get snippets, but not enough focus.
They Came Together – This is a really cute movie I knew nothing about. The Showalter/Wain stock repertory company (including Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Michael Ian Black, Ken Marino and Christopher Meloni) jump up and down on the rom-com genre and everything that makes it tick. Lots of funny stuff, some obvious, some stuff falls flat, but it’s a good repeater. I’ll watch it again sometime soon. It’s like their Wet Hot American Summer that way.
Universal Monsters – Okay, if you know me (and who doesn’t) you know I can’t get enough of the Monsters!!! God I love them. Ever since I was a kid, it’s all I cared about. Star Wars, eh. I like the toys. But Monster Movies, especially the Universal ones – maaaaaaan. Well, for those that were upset that Universal only released the Blu-ray upgraded as a box set, you’re in luck. Dracula, Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Mummy, The Wolfman and The Creature from the Black Lagoon are now available as single titles. Joining up with them is the DVD only box-set Complete Legacy Collection that has all of the above along with their spin-offs and sequels on single-disc (instead of those flipper discs that get getting reports of bad glue). There is also individual DVD packages for the Legacy Collection sets for Frankenstein, Dracula, Creature, Phantom of the Opera, the Wolfman, the Mummy and Invisible Man. For shits and giggles, I’ll raise you Dracula (1979 with Frank Langella), The Wolfman remake with Benicio, The Mummy series with Brendan Fraser, Van Helsing, King’s Firestarter, Wes Craven’s long song to Twin Peaks: People Under The Stairs and The Watcher (which is very 90s, but also kinda okay) are also being reissued onto Blu. Get your Universal Horror fix this week!
TV Collections of Note: Crossbones, Dr. Who: Season 4 Part 2, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 9, New Girl: Season 3, The Originals: Season 1 and Person of Interest: Season 3 are all making their way into homes this week for those who enjoy good TV in one fell swoop.
That’s about all I can handle for now. But if you need me, just ask. Until we one-sidedly speak again, keep spinnin’ those discs,
– Todd Doogan