Thursday, July 03, 2008
New DVDs: 'Vantage Point,' 'Drillbit Taylor'
'Vantage Point' (PG-13)
What we gave it: 2 stars
Someone's out to kill the president -- and this breakneck thriller applies a "Rashomon"-style multiple-viewpoint approach to tell and retell the story through the eyes of people at the epicenter. The same 15 minutes or so of action unfold again and again, each segment providing a different look and revealing more about what's actually happening during a shooting and explosion at the site of the U.S. leader's visit to a counterterrorism conference in Spain. The cast includes Dennis Quaid, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver and Forest Whitaker.
'Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns' (PG-13)
What we gave it: 1 star
The latest from director, writer and co-star Tyler Perry features Angela Bassett as a single mother struggling to raise three kids in Chicago who heads off to Georgia for the funeral of the father she never met -- and is initiated into the lively, crazy world of her kinfolk.
'Drillbit Taylor' (PG-13)
What we gave it: 1 star
When school bullies knock you around, who you gonna call? Owen Wilson. A rare clunker from the Judd Apatow comedy factory ("Knocked Up," "Superbad," "The 40-Year-Old Virgin"), the movie stars Wilson as a supposed ex-mercenary hired by some high school nerds as their personal bodyguard.
Parents advisory:
A somewhat crude and rude updating of that age-old teen movie theme, bullies and how to cope with them. Only the method and message is vintage "Andy Griffith Show."
'My Blueberry Nights' (PG-13)
What we gave it: 3 stars
Norah Jones makes her acting debut and Wong Kar Wai does his first English-language film with this tale of a brokenhearted lover on a meandering cross-country foray. Singer Jones takes the lead as a woman in the aftermath of a romance that ended badly, first seen spilling her guts to the New York cafe owner (Jude Law) who feeds her blueberry pie, then waitressing down South and watching the painful marital breakup between a cop (David Strathairn) and his bimbo wife (Rachel Weisz), finally hanging with a gambler (Natalie Portman) in Nevada.
Coming Tuesday:
'Stop-Loss' (R) 4 stars
'The Ruins' (R) 2½ stars
'Superhero Movie' (PG-13) 1 star





