Full Release: DVD/Blu-Ray

The studios lined up a pretty decent week for you guys as far as releases go this time. We have a couple of major releases that aren’t horrible and a couple of indies that are definitely worth your time. Let’s stop wasting time and get down to business. I don’t read the script. The script reads me.

Iron Man 2 – A disappointment? Yes, but only when compared to the first one. What can I say, it was a hard act to follow. Robert Downey Jr. is back in the role that showed the suits in Hollywood that he could open a movie, Tony Stark/Iron Man. This time it seems everyone is lining up to take their shots against him: the government; his friends; his competition; even a new adversary in the form of the Russian supervillain Whiplash (Mickey Rourke). What seems to be lost is the fun of the first film. Where the first Iron Man had the necessary origin story,  this has what feels to be a dozen origin stories: SHIELD operative Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), War Machine (Don Cheadle), Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell). Honestly, if it wasn’t for Robert Downey Jr.’s charisma, the Tony Stark/Iron Man character would easily get lost in the shuffle. As it is, this is a serviceable sequel while we wait for The Avengers to hit. Relive the excitement by watching the trailer here.

Get Him to the Greek – Universal rolled the dice on this spin-off of their modest hit, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. They took two stars without long histories of opening films (Jonah Hill and Russell Brand), based the film on the fourth most important character in FSM, and featured Sean “P. Diddy” Combs in much of the ad campaign. What they ended up with was a mild critical success that was a disappointment at the box office. Hill plays a record company intern hired to make sure British rock star Aldous Snow (Brand) makes it to L.A.’s Greek Theater in time for an anniversary concert. Get your daily Diddy requirement by watching the trailer here.

Frozen – Pick of the week! I have been waiting for this to hit DVD ever since I saw the theatrical trailer and just assumed it would skip my town. Three skiers are accidentally left on a chairlift at a ski resort during a snow storm. When it becomes apparent that they will freeze to death if they stay where they are, they must figure out a way to get down. This looks awesome.

The Killer Inside Me – If not for Frozen, this would be your Pick of the Week despite getting bad reviews during its theatrical run. Based on the classic Jim Thompson novel, The Killer Inside Me stars Casey Affleck as Lou Ford, a mild mannered deputy sheriff to those who know him. Some may even call him a bit slow. What they don’t know is it’s really all an act. See, Lou is actually a killer and he is hiding in plain sight. Directed by Michael Winterbottom (A Mighty Heart), an auteur not known to change his vision for commercial appeal, the film was controversial upon release for its depiction of physical abuse on women. The film costars Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson, and Bill Pullman.