dvd/vod/streaming

See it: • The Astronaut Farmer [buy it]. From my review: To say that they don’t make movies like this anymore — splendidly, quietly angry in a folksy, old-fashioned kind of way — is to prove its point, that we seem to have lost something in the American spirit in our era of overlording corporatism … more…

See it: • Red Road [buy it]. From my review: This prickly sketch of a vengeance born out of loneliness and alienation carries the weight of horror of the everyday — it’s not a thriller and there’s nothing Hollywood-exaggerated about it, which makes it all the more disturbing, and all the harder to dismiss. • … more…

With the witty Death at a Funeral now playing and Mr. Bean’s Holiday, which is practically a silent movie in the style of Charlie Chaplin, opening this week, the multiplex is a suddenly a treat for fans of British comedy. Need more? You’ve got lots of choices on DVD. Be warned: this is not a … more…

See it: • The Lives of Others [buy it]. From my review: The last line, the last look, the last moment: every movie lover knows that the ending can make or break a film. The Lives of Others — which just won a very well deserved Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film — has one … more…

See it: • Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters [buy it]. From my review: I am not among the deeply initiated. But I feel the goodness and the strangeness and the unknowableness of it. I get it, this weird stream-of-consciousness riffing on pop culture and the absurdities of modern life and the … more…

Spotted at the IMDB: Sales of Hi-Def DVDs Outpace VHS Tapes My first thought: VHS tapes still exist as new consumer items on sale now, and not just as doorstops in my apartment? (Technorati tags: VHS)

Stardust opens tomorrow, and some who’ve seen the film in advance have been calling it “the next Princess Bride.” Alas, this isn’t quite the case … and I say that as the gal who literally wrote the book on that film. But it’s entertaining enough that it may whet your appetite for other (and somewhat … more…

I’m making do with a standard upconverting DVD player for the moment (instead of going HD or Blu-ray) because I’m seriously in the grips of techno-fatigue lately.

Holy moly, it’s surely the depths of August when absolutely every theatrical release on DVD is a stinker. Skip it: • Disturbia [buy it]. From my review: The world is in a heightened state of paranoia. We are solemnly informed of this by a character in Disturbia as if it’s a newsflash, but what it … more…