Out January 19 in Region 2:
• Doctor Who: “The Next Doctor” [buy at Amazon U.K.]. From my totally spoiler-laden coverage (don’t read beyond this if you don’t want its many surprises ruined for you):
Apparently some people look at this episode and see a giant goofy [redacted] and bad FX and cheesy melodrama and come to the conclusion that this is somehow a problem. I am not one of those people. I look at this episode and I see a giant goofy [redacted] and bad FX and cheesy melodrama and I find myself astonished — once again, and for about the 187,645th time since 2005 — that I’ve refallen so madly, stupidly in love with this ridiculous television show.
• You Don’t Mess With the Zohan [buy at Amazon U.K.]. From my yellow light review:
[T]he really vital thing here is that Zohan avoids that pitfall that brings down this genre of nutty comedy far more often than not: there’s nothing meanspirited about it. It’s crude in many ways, sure — the sexual humor is frank and nonstop — but it’s never vulgar, and in fact it’s often strikingly sweet.
(also available in Region 1, from Amazon U.S.)
• Recount [buy at Amazon U.K.]. From my green light review:
Do you want to relive this? Recount is smart and snappy and more than a little nasty — though maybe that’s appropriate — and there is, at least, enjoyment to be found in the all-around fantastic performances.
(also available in Region 1, from Amazon U.S.)
Out January 20 in Region 1:
• Igor [buy at Amazon U.S.]. From my green light review:
Has there ever been so amiably demented a flick as this one, about an igor — that is, a mad scientist’s minion; the term is a generic here as well as a name — who aspires to be evil but can’t seem to manage, no matter how hard he tries, to be less than adorable and gentle?
(available to preorder in Region 2, from Amazon U.K.)
• Max Payne [buy at Amazon U.S.]. From my red light review:
Too soon… all those wide-open possibilities about where this story can go get so narrowed down into something banal and bleak and ordinary that you can hardly breathe with it, and all the promise gets blown away like so many of the disposable bad guys offered up for Max’s target practice.
(available to preorder in Region 2, from Amazon U.K.)
• Henry Poole Is Here [buy at Amazon U.S.]. From my red light review:
This isn’t a movie: it’s a sermon. A gentle, relatively inoffensive sermon, to be sure… but nevertheless, this mild drama has nothing to offer nondevout Christians… and devout Christians probably don’t need its lesson on the value of choosing to believe.
• President Barack Obama: The Man & His Journey [buy at Amazon U.S.]. I reviewed this at Film.com: it’s all flags waving and soft focuses and comparing the man to FDR, JFK, and MLK before he’s even taken office.
• Moonlight: The Complete Series [buy at Amazon U.S.]. The lamentably short-lived vampire series. Good stuff.
• Children of the Stones [buy at Amazon U.S.]. Seriously cheesy and totally awesome 1970s British sci-fi horror miniseries. (I’ll review this soon.)
(available in an older edition in Region 2, from Amazon U.K.)
• The Last Detective: Complete Collection [buy at Amazon U.S.]. Peter Davison — aka, Doctor Who No. 5 — stars as a bumbling detective who, you know, solves mysteries and stuff. I’ll review this soon.
(available in a truncated edition in Region 2, from Amazon U.K.)
