Martian Successor Nadesico

On the surface, it looks like just another giant robot space opera, but this extremely clever anime series is anything but predictable. How many series can you think of where a major character – or what you think will be a major character – gets killed off after only a few episodes? Nadesico is a cut above the rest thanks to its wicked sense of humor and its ability to keep the audience guessing what the captain and her crew will do next: A lot of space adventures depict a restless crew becoming mutinous, but few crews do it because the rules won’t let them get busy in bed with each other. The DVD box set features the entire 26-episode television series and its sequel motion picture (Prince of Darkness), as well as its Gekigangar 3 OVA spin-off — the first time Gekigangar 3 is available to North American audiences. It’s a lot to work though, but the high standard of storytelling from director Tatsuo Sato, as well as the animation production by XEBEC makes it a series worth owning and exploring.

David Copperfield

Is it possible for a movie to tell the story of David Copperfield in 40 minutes? It may sound impossible, but director George O. Nichols was able to do it back in 1911. The silent film may not have all the nuances of the Dickens novel, but it certainly stands on its own as visual interpretation of the tale of young Pip and his adventures on the road to adulthood. The acting is impressive, especially in terms of not depending too much on the melodramatic gestures that most performers used in the silent era. The new and original music by Dr. Phillip Carli adds to the atmosphere and enjoyment of the experience. Be sure to check out the bonus features which include a silent screen version of another Dickens story, Nicholas Nickleby, told in only 31 minutes.

Mother's Day

Ah, the 80s. A time when horror movie makers weren’t interested in toning down the onscreen sex and violence to make sure the movie got a PG-13 rating so it could play to the teens hanging out at the local mall. All they wanted to do was push the envelope and give the real horror movie fans something to talk about when the lights came up, and director Lloyd Kaufman did it better than almost all the others. This classic gore-fest tells the tale of three young women whose camping vacation becomes a nightmare when an evil elderly lady and her two crazy sons kidnap them for a series of disturbingly bizarre episodes. The blood looks faker now than it did when the movie was in theaters 30 some odd years ago, but the violence still has the power to shock and, if you like this sort of film, entertain.

Take Me Home Tonight

Franklin (Topher Grace) is a recent MIT grad who is unsure just what he wants to do with the rest of his life, so he spends his post-grad summer working at a mall video store. He enjoys the anonymity of the job until the girl of his high school dreams, Tori Frederking (Teresa Palmer), walks in and, after he lies to her about having a job at a big investment company, invites him to an end of the summer blow out party where all the popular kids will gather once again to be cool for a night before starting their adult lives. Directed by Michael Dowse (It’s All Gone Pete Tong), Take Me Home Tonight does a great job of capturing the look, the feel and the fashion madness of the1980s, from the Flock of Seagull haircuts to the Men Without Hats dance moves. What separates it from the mass of similar movies that seem to hit theaters every five years or so ever since Animal House first made being dumb and drunk in college popular film fodder, is the strong script and the equally effective acting. While it, unfortunately, still thinks a movie like this has to have its share of gross out scenes to be effective, Take Me Home Tonight balances the scale by also giving us something to think about as we watch it.

Pirahna 3DD

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water….the makers of the 2010 cheese-fest, Piranha 3D, have released a sequel that is so bad it never even made it into theaters. It’s easy to see why, and you don’t even have to see the movie. All you need to know is that in the sequel the flesh-eating fish are now running amok inside a giant water park. That’s right, a water park. If you can wrap your head around that idea and still want to see it, then by all means do so. Piranha 3DD isn’t as gory as the film that spawned it; heck it’s not even as funny or as smartly written. There are, however, a few good death scenes and a few chuckles to be found, especially if you watched and liked the first one. If you read the title and think you are going to get 90-minutes of buxom bikini clad babes, then you should look somewhere else. The title, probably the cleverest thing about the sequel, is as fake as the boobs of most of the women in the film.

Dirty Pretty Things

Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Okwe, an undocumented Nigerian immigrant trying to make a living in London doing jobs that nobody else wants, like driving a gypsy cab and working the overnight shift on the front desk of a seedy hotel. The fact that he was a doctor in his home country means nothing without the papers he needs – and can’t get – to live in London legally, so he keeps his head down, doesn’t make eye contact and keeps his mouth shut. Unfortunately for him, his slimy boss (a chilling Sergi lopez) finds out what he used to be and blackmails him into performing illegal operations in the hotel, operations where undocumented people desperate for papers sell their kidneys for a passport. The film is beautifully acted, and surprisingly lovely to look at given the disturbing subject matter. Director Stephen Frears does a masterful job of pacing the story for maximum tension, while at the same time giving the cast plenty of room to do their job, which in this case means bringing a humanity and dignity to the people we walk past without thinking about every day.

High School

The cinematic highways are littered with stoner comedies that even the most stoned person in the audience wouldn’t find funny. This is not one of those films; in fact, it’s just the opposite – a smart stoner comedy. The film stars Matt Bush as Henry Burke, an ace student about to leave high school behind and go to MIT on a full scholarship. One day he hangs out a little too long with the school’s biggest burnout, Travis (played by John Belushi style with by Sean Marquette), and succumbs to peer pressure to get high. The next day, Henry finds out the school principal (a hilarious Michael Chiklis) has instituted a school-wide drug testing program, and Henry knows a failed test could lead to his scholarship being taken back. So Harry and Travis come up with a plan to save the day by getting the entire school stoned on pot brownies. After all, if everybody fails the drug test then nobody can get in trouble, right? It’s a nice twist on the plot to most pot comedies, and the actors all deliver the kind of funny, off kilter performances a film like this need to be more than just another Cheech and Chong rip-off.