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Video / DVD
New releases
A look at what's hitting the shelves
By Times Staff
Published April 28, 2005
LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
DIRECTOR: Brad Silberling
CAST: Jim Carrey, Meryl Streep, Billy Connolly, Liam Aiken, Emily Browning, voice of Jude Law
SYNOPSIS: Carrey's manic portrayal of Count Olaf, an evil guardian to orphans Violet, Klaus and Sunny, highlights an atmospheric comedy based on the popular children's book series.
WHAT WE SAID: Times film critic Steve Persall gave the film a B-. "As clumsy as its title already is, the word "repetitive' should be placed somewhere in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Brad Silberling's movie, based on three of 11 books in a popular series, leaves the impression that if you've read one, you've read 'em all," Persall wrote. "In each episode - the division between books is glaring - Violet will invent something, Klaus will recall vital knowledge or Sunny will bite something important."
MPAA RATING: PG; mild peril, mature themes
RUNNING TIME: 107 min.
THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON
DIRECTOR: Niels Mueller
CAST: Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Don Cheadle, Michael Wincott, Jack Thompson, Brad Henke, Jared Dorrance, Nick Searcy, Jenna Milton, Mariah Massa
SYNOPSIS: Based on a real-life failure who plotted to kill President Richard Nixon in 1972.
WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave the film a B+
. "The Assassination of Richard Nixon is too deliberately paced at times, repetitive at others, and reminiscent of Taxi Driver almost to a fault," he wrote. "But for terrific acting and occasionally chilling suspense, it's a solid choice."
MPAA RATING: R; language and a scene of graphic violence
RUNNING TIME: 95 min.
BLADE: TRINITY
DIRECTOR: David S. Goyer
CAST: Wesley Snipes, Jessica Biel, Ryan Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson, Parker Posey, Dominic Purcell
SYNOPSIS: In the third installment of the series, Marvel Comics' vampire slayer is up against a resurrected Dracula with help from the young Nightstalkers.
WHAT WE SAID: Times reviewer Rick Gershman gave the film a B-. "Blade: Trinity has its share of flaws, to be sure, providing plenty of fodder for critics to rip the film," he wrote. "But it's also exactly what it intends to be: fast-moving, action-packed, occasionally intense and often very funny. Even if the humor, in Snipes' case, is largely unintentional."
MPAA RATING: R; strong pervasive violence and language, sexual content
RUNNING TIME: 105 min.
DARKNESS
DIRECTOR: Jaume Balaguero
CAST: Anna Paquin, Lena Olin, Iain Glen, Giancarlo Giannini, Fele Martinez, Stephan Enquist, Fermi Reixach
SYNOPSIS: Forty years after the disappearance of seven children during a lunar eclipse, the lone survivor returns to the Spanish countryside with his family, including a curious daughter and a son who's seeing ghosts.
WHAT WE SAID: The Times did not review this film.
MPAA RATING: PG-13 (for disturbing images, intense terror sequences, thematic elements and language)
RUNNING TIME: 102 min.
UNDERTOW
DIRECTOR: David Gordon Green
CAST: Dermot Mulroney, Josh Lucas, Jamie Bell, Devon Alan, Shiri Appleby, Leigh Hill, Robert Longstreet, Kristen Stewart
SYNOPSIS: Two boys (Bell, Alan) and their single father (Mulroney) move to Georgia, where a shifty uncle (Lucas) leads to trouble.
WHAT WE SAID: Times reviewer Philip Booth gave the film a B, referring to it as a "slow-moving mood piece from Southern social commentator David Gordon Green. . . . Undertow, bolstered by the atmospheric sound schemes of Philip Glass, takes its time winding to its inevitably tragic conclusion. The getting there is often fascinating, if not quite satisfying."
MPAA RATING: R; violence
RUNNING TIME: 107 min.
[Last modified April 27, 2005, 10:13:08]
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