How to Spend $20
By Eric Hughes
June 15, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Pick of the Week
For people who knew Michael Cera always had a bad side: Youth in Revolt
Let’s hear it for Michael Cera, everybody! In Youth in Revolt, just half of his screen time is devoted to playing that all-too-familiar George Michael Bluth character. In the other half, he plays a more spontaneous alter ego with blue eyes, a mustache, a deeper voice and a sexy-ish name: François Dillinger.
In Youth in Revolt, based on the first three books in C.D. Payne’s six-part epistolary novel, Cera (now 22) plays a 16-year-old outcast, Nick Twisp, who falls for a smart and beautiful girl named Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday). When Nick realizes they’ll probably have to split up when his family moves away, Nick adopts a more dangerous persona to keep Sheeni at bay. The shit hits the fan, however, when his alter ego makes him a wanted criminal.
Youth in Revolt, actually, is a regrettably overlooked movie released by the Weinstein Company in January. It’s got a quick wit and is peppered with creative influences that keep the movie visually interesting (that claymation sequence in the car) and a lot of fun. Made for $18 million, Youth in Revolt earned just $15.2 million in the U.S.
The movie is supported by a cast of colorful secondaries – Zach Galifianakis in particular. Other actors include Jean Smart, Ray Liotta, Steve Buscemi, Fred Willard and Justin Long, who, ever since He’s Just Not That Into You, is contractually required to appear in every big studio release.
Disc includes: Deleted scenes, deleted and extended animated sequences, Audition Footage featurette, audio commentary
For people who think it’s a wonderful day for pie: Family Guy: Volume 8
Fox continues its strange and confusing release of the Family Guy series on DVD with this volume eight disc. On it is the final seven episodes of the seventh season and first eight episodes of the eighth season, which wrapped on May 23rd with a one-hour Star Wars parody called Something, Something, Something, Dark Side.
Perhaps what gets included on each volume would make more sense if Family Guy seasons operated on a schedule not unlike Comedy Central’s South Park, where half of the season airs in the spring, the other in the fall. But this doesn’t happen. Instead, Family Guy seasons run on a traditional broadcast TV schedule. Consider me confused.
I’m not a religious Family Guy watcher, but I did see a good number of the episodes on the volume eight disc. Standouts for me would be 420, which aired a day before the recognized stoner holiday, and Road to the Multiverse, which opened the eighth season in late September.
420 is notable for its fantastic song and dance number, which Stewie launches into to teach Brian, who is arrested for marijuana possession, the evils of bud. Joined by the citizens of Quahog, the tune emphasizes how all’s “we need is a bag of weed to keep us worry free!”
As for Road to the Multiverse, Stewie and Brian happen upon an otherworldly remote control that allows the duo to travel through a series of alternate realities. They end up on a world where humans obey dogs, but prior to that they live like The Flintstones, enter the world of Robot Chicken and experience what it’s like to live inside an animated Walt Disney movie. You can watch the clip here.
Disc includes: Audio commentary, deleted scenes, The Road to Road to the Multiverse featurette, Family Guy Karaoke
For people who think Denzel Washington should be trusted just as much as Jason Statham to deliver something from point A to point B: The Book of Eli
After American Gangster and its monster $43.5 million opening weekend, Denzel Washington’s second best opener is The Book of Eli, a movie released in mid January by Warner Bros. to the sweet tune of $32.7 million. The $80 million budgeted feature – the Hughes brothers’ first since 2001’s From Hell – proved to have decent legs at the box office. It managed to wrangle $94.8 million from domestic theaters and another $47.3 million abroad.
Not bad for a movie that probably would have done decent business during the summer box office season but took advantage of a historically dead month instead. Were Avatar not occupying half of the month’s top eight(!) weekends of all time, The Book of Eli would be the proud owner of the month’s fifth-best three-day weekend ever.
A post-apocalyptic action film, The Book of Eli revolves around Denzel’s titular character, a loner who must deliver his copy of the King James Version of the Bible to a safe location. As he journeys westward, the history of the post-war world, and the importance of his copy of the Bible, is explained.
Disc includes: Maximum Movie Mode Survival Guide featurette, Starting Over featurette, Eli’s Journey featurette, The Book of Eli soundtrack, additional scenes, A Lost Tale: Billy featurette
For people who think Kristen Bell is a catch in any country – not just Italy: When in Rome
To date, there have been three movies named When in Rome. Yes, the Olsen twins were in one about eight years ago in a direct-to-DVD release for Warner Bros. This write-up, however, refers to that poorly executed mess released earlier this year with Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel at the helm. According to Rotten Tomatoes, just 16% of critics would recommend what they saw. The movie, which opened in late January, collected $32.6 million in domestic receipts, and another $2 million or so from international audiences.
In When in Rome, Bell stars as a hopeless romantic who’s pursued by a handful of suitors after snagging coins from a Roman fountain – probably based on the Trevi – that’s supposed to bring love to those who toss coins into it.
Disc includes: Bloopers, deleted scenes, two music videos, alternate opening and ending, Crazy Casanova: Mischief from the Set featurette, Extended Pain with the Suitors featurette
June 15, 2010
Blu-ray
American Bandits: Frank & Jesse James
The Book of Eli
Circle of Pain
Control Alt Delete
Darkman
Enter The Dragon
Flash Gordon
The Horseman
Mary and Max
Mystery Train (Criterion Collection)
Porcupine Tree: Anesthetize
Sanctuary: The Complete First Season
The Stepfather
Supernatural: The Complete First Season
Unthinkable
Vengeance Trilogy
When in Rome
Youth in Revolt
DVD
American Dad: Volume 5
The Best Years: The Complete Second Season
The Book of Eli
Circle of Pain
Control Alt Delete
Dennis Brown: Living Legends Live in Concert
Everwood: The Complete Third Season
Family Guy: Volume 8
Hawthorne: The Complete First Season
Here's Lucy: Season 3
The Horseman
Leave it to Beaver: Season Three
Lewis Black: Stark Raving Black
Mary and Max
Mystery Train (Criterion Collection)
Porcupine Tree: Anesthetize
Pulp Fiction: The Golden Age of Sci-Fi, Fantasy (Special Edition)
Sanctuary: The Complete First Season
Sanctuary: The Complete Second Season
The Secret Life of the American Teenager: Volume 4
Showgirls (15th Anniversary Edition)
Supernatural: The Complete First Season
Unthinkable
When in Rome
X: The Complete Series
Youth in Revolt