May
2, 2006
No
DVD recommendations for this week.
May
9, 2006
Munich
Directed
by Steven Spielberg, this bleak, noirish drama was nominated for five Academy
Awards including Best Picture. Inspired by real events, the film is about a five-man
commando squad sent out in response to the murders of Israeli athletes at the
1972 Olympic Games in Munich. Led by Avner (Eric Bana), the squad is tasked by
the Israeli government with tracking down and assassinating Palestinian terrorists.
The movie's version of the story is aimed at raising moral issues for viewers
of all nationalities and ethnicities.
Nanny
McPhee
Emma Thompson and Colin Firth star in this family comedy. The
wife of Cedric Brown (Firth) has died, leaving him with seven children to raise.
After going through 17 nannies, he hires Nanny McPhee (Thompson), who starts to
whip the kids into shape. She is ugly, but each time she teaches the children
a lesson, she gets better looking. Meanwhile, Mr. Brown will fall into poverty
if he doesn't continue getting money from his aunt (Angela Lansbury). But she
decrees she'll cut him off if he doesn't marry in a month.
The
New World
Terrence Malick (Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line)
wrote and directed this historical drama, which stars Colin Farrell. The story
begins in 1607 when an English expedition under Captain Newport (Christopher Plummer)
arrives in what became Virginia. Captain John Smith (Farrell) gets captured by
local Indians, but he is saved by Pocahontas (Q'orianka Kilcher), and this pair
goes on to teach each other about their respective cultures. Later, Pocahontas
marries settler John Rolfe (Christian Bale) and travels to England with him.
May
16, 2006
Napoleon
Dynamite Special Edition DVD
Set in a small Western town, this little
comedy's protagonist is an awkward, wild-haired, nerdy high school student named
Napoleon Dynamite (John Heder). Napoleon lives with his grandma and his unemployed
30-something brother, and his eccentric uncle, who's stuck in a 1982 timewarp,
eventually moves in with them. At school, Napoleon is constantly picked on, but
he befriends the only Latino student and helps him run for class president.
Something
New
This movie is about interracial romance from the viewpoint of upscale
African-Americans. Kenya McQueen (Sanaa Lathan) is a hard-working black woman
who is on the way up at a prestigious L.A. accounting firm. She meets Brian Kelly
(Simon Baker), a white landscape architect, and they begin dating. But this doesn't
sit well with her African-American social circle, and Kenya and Brian become concerned
that their relationship might not work out. Then comes along a handsome IBM (ideal
black man).
May
23, 2006
Transamerica
Felicity
Huffman got a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance in this drama.
Although born male, Bree (Huffman) is well into the process of changing gender.
She dresses like a woman and looks forward to the surgery that will make her one.
But Bree has a 17-year-old son, and though they don't know each other, she must
come to terms with him before having the surgery. Without revealing her identity,
Bree bails him out of jail in New York, and the two of them drive to L.A. with
a lot happening along the way.
May
30, 2006
No
DVD recommendations for this week.
