I first saw Primal Fear in the year 1996 and went in knowing nothing about it. It didn’t take long for me to get wrapped up in the movie and newcomer Edward Norton’s performance. Near the movie’s end, I felt I was hit with a steel bat across the face at it’s the first movie I can remember seeing with such an effective twisted ending. The marvelous ending and the performance by Edward Norton makes this movie an instant classic. Luckily, Paramount is releasing a special edition of the movie on Blu-ray called the Hard Evidence Edition. I’ve seen this movie on DVD a bunch of times and was delighted to re-visit it years later on Blu-ray.

In Primal Fear, Martin Vail (Richard Gere) is a famous defense lawyer who sets out to defend Aaron
(Edward Norton) who has just been accused of killing an Archbishop. Aaron tells Vail that he doesn’t remember anything except blacking out. Vail, becomes convinced that Aaron is innocent. However, it is soon discovered that Aaron suffers from multiple personality disorder and that he killed the Archbishop after blacking out and becoming the angry, aggressive Roy. Vail now sets up the court to declare his client insane and the director sets the audience up for a twist.

Watching this movie back in 1996 was a real joy and discovering Norton’s performance felt like something special. The movie on its own is good and effective, but Edward Norton’s performance takes it to the next level. Which is why it is without question that Norton got his Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination. Cuba Gooding ended up winner that year for his performance in Jerry Maguire.

The picture looks good on Blu-ray High-definition, but suffers from looking a bit soft and flat. However it does look a lot better than the DVD version. The disc also contains a bunch of extra features including The Final Verdict-where producer Luccheis speaks about keeping the ending of the book, Casting Edward Norton-a delightful interview with Norton and his experience during the casting, and The Psychology of Guilt-a feature discussing the insanity defend and multiple personality disorder.

Review By Brad Peterson

Release Date: March 10, 2009

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Lately, I’ve been watching a steady steam of Hollywood movies and so when I got the chance to review Let the Right One In, a movie I’ve been hearing very good thing about, I jumped at it. This film tells the story of a lonely 12 year old boy named Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) who is bullied at school. Oskar fantasies about getting back at his bullies. Oskar finds an unusual friend in his new neighbor Eli (Lina Leandersson). Eli is also lonely however her predicament is different since she’s a 200 year old vampire in a 12-year old girl’s body.

That’s all I’ll say about the plot because the least you know, the more you’ll enjoy the movie. The story unfolds wonderfully under the crafty direction of Tomas Alfredson and the writer Ajvide Lindqvist who wrote both the screenplay and the novel. With a running time of about two hours, the movie is never boring and keeps the excitement high now know exactly where the movie is going to take us.

The other thing that Tomas and Ajvide have manage to do, is present a fresh take on the vampire genre. This is perhaps the most original movie I’ve seen in a while and a breath of fresh air. I can’t recommend it enough. The performance by Lina Leandersson is pitch perfect mixing the viciousness of a vampire with the sweetness and innocence of a 12 year old girl.

Luckily for us Magnet is releasing this movie on Blu-ray in 1080P High definition. The movie look pretty good on Blu-ray. The color palette, which the director says are Swedish’s colors, feels and looks appropriate. The disc also features four deleted scenes and a seven minute behind the scenes with director Tomas Alfredson.

Review By Brad Peterson

Release Date: March 10, 2009

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Ever since the debut of the American television show The Office, Hollywood has fallen in love with Rainn Wilson. The character of Dwight Schrute that Wilson plays on The Office is one of the funniest characters television has seen in a long time. However, Wilson plays Dwight straight, he is funny because of how bizarre he is. In The Rocker Wilson is asked to give your typical comedic performance, something like Will Ferrell would do. I’m not say Will Ferrell would have faired any better since The Rocker follows the basic Hollywood formula. Since comedies are usually rated by how many laughs they get, and The Rocker has a few good laughs, but not enough; I would have to say The Rocker is at the least bearable.

In The Rocker, Robert ‘Fish’ Fishman (Rainn Wilson) is the drummer of the band Vesuvius. Right before the band is about to make it big, Fish is let go from the band. Fish spends the next twenty years roaming around never real getting anywhere in live. After getting fired from his job at a call center and losing his girlfriend, he moves in with his sister. Conveniently for him, his nephew Matt (Josh Gad) has a band, A.D.D, in need of a drummer. The rest of the band members, Amelia (Emma Stone) and Curtis (Teddy Geiger), are reluctant to let such an old person into the band. You can probably guess what happens next. A.D.D makes it big and Fish is set on a course to confront his past ghosts: the members of Vesuvius.

The Rocker has a good cast including Christina Applegate who plays Kim. Christina plays Curtis mom and develops a friendly relationship with Fish. None of the cast gives an above average performance expect for a supporting character played by Jeff Garlin who plays Stan, Fish’s brother in law. Jeff Garlin plays Larry David’s agent in the show Curb Your Enthusiasm, and he hilarious both on the show and in The Rocker. A cast member that real bother me was Josh Gad, he’s like a poor man’s Jonah Hill and every time I would see him I would think: this movie would be so much better with Jonah playing his part.

While the movie has it moments and is fairly entertaining, I felt it was about twenty minutes too long. Also, I don’t think this is the type of movie Rainn Wilson should be doing. The writing is just not there. When you sit down to write a comedy you have to remember to make it funny. You just can’t seat back hire a talent like Rainn Wilson and think he can make the material funny by making funny expression.

The Rocker didn’t do to well in the box-office, however, Fox has loaded the Blu-ray “Born To Rock” with a bunch of features. The movie is presented in 1080P anamorphic widescreen and looks great for this type of movie. The colors are vibrant and artifacts are nonexistence. The audio presented in 5.1 DTS-HD, is pristine and those who like this type of music will be very pleased with the quality. The “Born To Rock” edition also includes a digital copy of the movie for portable media players, commentary with director Peter Cattaneo and actor Rainn Wilson, commentary with actors Josh Gad, Teddy Geiger, Emma Stone and Jason Sudeikis, 10 Deleted Scenes, Gag Reel (including separate options of “Matt Gags” and “Vesuvius Gags”), Rainn Wilson: Office Rocker featurette, Pete Best Interview featurette, Behind The Band: Vesuvius featurette, Rock Beat With Fish Fishman featurette, The Music of The Rocker featurette, Rock Tales featurette, MTV Film Festival Panel, Fox Movie Channel Presents: In Character With The Rocker, “I’m Not Bitter” music video, Four exclusive pod casts and a Vesuvius Public Service Announcements. I spent about two hours going through the feature. If you are a fan of The Rocker the “Born To Rock” edition is for you.
Review By Brad Peterson

Release Date: January 27, 2009

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