New DVD Releases This Week, 2/21/12

Getting back into swing of things around here, I’m starting up a new weekly feature that covers the DVDs that are available every Tuesday. Not a great batch of movies to start off with, but nothing I can do about that. I will have the movies ranked top to bottom by quality, or perceived quality for those that I haven’t watch yet. I rarely buy DVDs unless there is something that is an absolute must have, so I will let you know if it’s worth renting or not, or whether it might worth a try. Let’s get to it.

Martha Marcy May Marlene

The best pick for this week is Marcy May, a haunting dramatic thriller about a young woman who flees an abusive cult to stay with her sister. It’s a magnificent character study, and the juxtaposition of the two lifestyles is done with incredible skill by director Sean Durkin. It does move incredibly slow at times, and misses the mark a bit as far as story goes, but Elizabeth Olsen’s performance alone is good enough of a reason to check this out.

Verdict: Rent It

Puss In Boots

Talk about a wonderful little surprise. I went into this expecting a generic and low quality spinoff by Dreamworks, just looking for a quick buck. But the movie was pretty charming, and the animation was top notch. Rango comparisons are naturally going to come about, but this is more family friendly, but doesn’t sacrifice entertainment for the adults as well. This movie won’t be released until Friday, however.

Verdict: Rent It

Tower Heist

Aaaaaaand there’s the drop-off. Ben Stiller’s latest isn’t horrible, but it isn’t exactly quality entertainment either. Unless you couldn’t tell from the title, Stiller gets together a gang of people headlined by Eddie Murphy that tries to…wait for it….rob a tower. Character interaction kept the movie interesting enough, but the movie is about as implausible as they come. Every time Casey Affleck was in a scene, I had to question what he was doing there.

Verdict: Rent It If You Dare

War of the Arrows

Other than Marcy May, this is the new release that intrigued me the most. I have a soft heart for skilled archery in movies, so this was right up my ally. There are some pretty awesome kill shots in the movie, including a couple at the very beginning of the story, which throws you into the action right away. What the story is about, I couldn’t tell you exactly. It’s a semi-revenge story, but everything is muddled and I lost track of who is who. It’s just to hard to follow along, while playing at a very long two hours.

Verdict: Rent It If You Dare

J Edgar

I still haven’t watched this, and I’m not sure if I ever will. Rarely does Leonardo DiCaprio make a bad movie, but I haven’t read many good things about this one. Add to the fact that I’m just not a fan of Clint Eastwood’s latest work, and I really don’t see a reason to check this one out. If you happened to enjoy this, let me know, and I will give it a try.

Verdict: Rent It If You Dare

The Way

The other new release this week that I didn’t get around to. The trailers made this film appear way too cheesy, with Martin Sheen completing a pilgrimage while carrying the ashes of his dead son, Emilio Estevez. Yeah, not really up my ally, but it has received a decent amount of reviews, along with an 80% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Verdict: Rent It If You Dare

London Boulevard

Talk about your disappointments. A red hot Colin Farrell teaming up the writer of The Departed seemed like match made in heaven, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Farrell plays a ex-convict who is hired to protect Keira Knightley’s retired model who is trying to hide from the paparazzi who camp outside her house. The movie loses sight of what its trying to say, and turns into a big, convoluted mess. Farrell does his best to keep the film afloat, but not even a terrific David Thewlis could save it from eventually drowning.

Verdict: Skip It

The Son of No One

Castor posted an article about Channing Tatum and how he recognizes he isn’t the best actor, but is doing his part to become better, and sometimes that includes doing a bunch of lower quality work. He has earned new respect from me because of that, but this movie certainly doesn’t help. Al Pacino, Ray Liotta, Tracy Morgan, Katie Holmes, and Juliette Binoche all star in this crime drama, but the story is ridiculous and every single one of those actors sports a dull and lifeless character. If you need something to put to you sleep, this just might do the trick.

Verdict: Skip It

That’s it for the new releases. Let us know what you thought of the movies hitting the shelves this week!