dvd/vod/streaming

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End comes to DVD next week, completing the definitive pirate trilogy of our day. What’s left to fulfill your jones for pirates? There are lots of flicks to choose from: Captain Blood (1935): This swashbuckling classic is not only a grand time at the movies, it’s also clearly a … more…

See it: • Waitress [buy it]. From my review: Life is messy: really messy. This is, if nothing else, the tale Waitress has to tell. Good people do things that aren’t noble or decent, like Jenna and the affair she finds herself startled to be falling into with, of all men, the only gynecologist in … more…

See it: • Hairspray [buy it]. From my review: These shows — on stage — are tourists traps, no matter how enjoyable and singalong-snappy they may be. They’re designed to be theme-park amusements for theatergoers who want a taste of the roar of the greasepaint, the smell of the crowd but wouldn’t want to know … more…

There’s a new DVD edition of The Princess Bride. Yes, another one. Sure, it’s one of the best movies ever made, a wonderful and sweet tale about the power of true love. But I can’t help but remember the words of the Dread Pirate Roberts: that life is pain (and not all about True Love … more…

See it: • Ocean’s Thirteen [buy it]. From my review: Of course, much of the pleasure of O13 comes in watching Danny and his pals worm their way around Bank’s countermeasures, but there is also some bittersweet and melancholy to-do about how this town is changing and how little room there is left in it … more…

Need another dose of the jolly old elf after Paul Giamatti’s in Fred Claus? The thing is, for all the many many many many many movies about Christmas, there aren’t all that many that are actually about the man himself. But there are a few: The Santa Clause and The Santa Clause 2: Tim Allen … more…

See it: • Ratatouille [buy it]. From my review: Oh, but there is joy in this movie, this Ratatouille, this new marvel from Pixar and Brad Bird, whose babies I want to have, he’s so brilliant. Not easy joy: hard-won joy, the best kind, which comes from struggle and pain and sacrifice and almost losing … more…

Michael Moore’s incendiary diatribe Sicko lands on DVD today in a Special Edition, and you’re gonna wanna check it out. If you missed the film in theaters, don’t miss it now — it remains my No. 1 movie of 2007 so far for its audacity, its pertinence, and its necessity. Moore has an amazing capacity … more…

It’s a joke, see the title of Bee Movie, opening this weekend, because, insect movies have historically been the B-movies, the cheapie monster movies, the second-billed flicks there just to fill up the schedule. You know, back in the day when going to the movies meant taking in an afternoon-long program of cartoons and newsreels … more…

See it: • Talk to Me [buy it]. From my review: I’m not grading on a curve when I tell you: See Talk to Me if you want to see two incredible actors at the very top of their game. Forget skin color: Don Cheadle and Chiwetel Ejiofor are two of the best actors of … more…