With the fan(s) whirring in the background, the hot noon day sun beating down hard outside (or, perhaps, it is the early evening sun that is preparing to set off in the distant west), yes, this just may be the perfect time to pick up the remote, slide a DVD into the machine, and relax.
A couple of recommendable DVD’s this week; so let’s get started, shall we?
 |
Surprisingly entertaining, this spring 2004 cinematic re-imagining of the vividly drawn Dark Horse comic series, may not be Spiderman-inspiring, but with WWII Nazis, aided by occultists, summoning a creature from hell to help destroy the earth, and good guy Professor Broom (John Hurt) intervening to raise Hellboy to fight the evil monsters who first brought him into the world, well …. the DVD simply crackles. Talented writer / director Guillermo Del Toro (The Devil’s Backbone) and co-writer Peter Briggs (Alien vs Predator) give Hellboy the mythic treatment, while actor Ron Perlman (City of Lost Children) occupies Hellboy with more than enough humanity to ground him. With its surfeit of twirling gears and clockworks juxtaposed with crumbling castles pelted by dark rain, the action sequences comes fast (and satisfyingly clear). All and all, one helluva good time.
 |
The guilty pleasure of the week, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights is the perfect DVD for a steamy summer’s night, a movie that will have you swinging your hips and singing “Cuba!” under your breath for days to come. The ‘prequel’ has almost the same plot as the 1987 original, and works for much the same reason the first one worked: the two lead characters. This time around up-and-comer Romola Garai (luminescent in any number of films) and Diego Luna (Y Tu Mamá También) bring the classic teen Romeo and Juliet story (and the idea of a girl’s initiation into sexual awareness) to life, once again rendered onscreen by the transmutation into sexy dancing.
