DVD new releases

Like Crazy - I was in love with the trailer for this movie from the first time I saw it. I've probably watched the Like Crazy trailer more than any other ever. The movie is everything I thought it would be based on those two minutes. It stars Anton Yelchin as an American furniture designer and Felicity Jones as a British writer. The two meet in California at college and fall instantly crazy in love with each other. They can't stand to be apart. Which is why she over stays her student visa and then when she visits home for a friends wedding, isn't allowed back into the country. Our distraught love birds try to make it work despite being on separate continents. Then they try to see other people (including the lovely Jennifer Lawrence). Like Crazy is bittersweet and beautiful, touching and heartbreaking. The performances are sensational. The direction is perfection And that ambiguous ending is just plain great.
Grade: B+


Footloose - So, by now everyone should be well aware of my obsession with dance movies. They are my guilty pleasure. I love me some Step Up and Stomp the Yard. So, despite my hatred of remakes (in general, not always), I was kind of psyched about Footloose. Well, it's pretty damn good. Directed by Craig Brewer (who also directed two of my favorites - Hustle and Flow and Black Snake Moan), the remake of Footloose manages to stay true to the original while creating its own sort of swagger. They pay homage to the original - Ren still teaches his bestie to dance to Let's Hear it For the Boys, but still keep it modern - these days Ren is solo anger dancing to the White Stripes. And while newcomer Kenny Wormald is no Kevin Bacon (but, really, who is??), he is still pretty damn good as the city boy who suddenly finds himself in a small country town where dancing is illegal. Julianne Hough proves she can actually act and isn't just a pretty dancer. Overall, the Footloose remake proves that sometimes it's not such a bad thing to remake a classic, if you do it with respect.
Grade: B


Martha Marcy May Marlene - Despite the fact that this movie may have the single worst ending of any movie I have ever seen in my entire life (TRUTH!), I loved it. In fact, I wish I had seen it pre-Oscars so I could have used my blog (and my three readers) to campaign for Elizabeth Olsen and John Hawkes. The story follows Olsen's character as she escapes from a cult where she's been living for the last two years. She gets taken in my her sister and her husband but finds it increasingly difficult to assimilate to regular life. She has no idea why it's not appropriate to skinny dip in a lake with children or why you shouldn't curl up on the foot of the bed while your sister is having sex with her husband. Plus, she's super trouble. We see why during flashbacks to the cult where she has to deal with the super creepy but charismatic leader (Hawkes) and his seemingly nice but possibly psychotic followers (including Brady Corbet). Olsen's performance is ridiculously good. Like, so good, she may have topped my Best Actress list good. No wonder she is going to be a huge star. She's incredible. Martha (her real name) Marcy May (her cult name) Marlene (a code name they use when answering the phones) is a great little gem of a movie, interesting and intense, artistic and fascinating. Too bad about that ending.
Grade: B+