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A witty look at A Serious Man
DVDs out now.
A NEW Coen brothers film is always a big event and Joel and Ethan rarely disappoint.
Their latest movie to arrive on DVD, thoughtful comedy A SERIOUS MAN (15: Universal), is no exception to the rule.
In one of their more subtle pieces, Larry (Michael Stuhlbarg), a physics professor in 1960s Minneapolis, turns to a series of rabbis for advice when his life starts falling apart at the seams.
Larry has just learned that his wife (Sari Lennick) wants a divorce, he's afraid of not being granted tenure at college and his socially maladjusted brother (Richard Kind) is in the bathroom draining his cyst.
And if you thought that was bad enough, there's even worse to come...
The Coens introduce elements of wicked farce as calamities pile upon the hapless protagonist in a film whose cast is refreshingly free of Hollywood big-hitters.
It's mainly a reflection on how we try to understand a world that often seems to have fun at our expense.
Expect to go through all the emotions, with smiles, grimaces and a slightly furrowed brow, before a final feeling of satisfaction. For this is one movie where the intricate storytelling and off-the-wall wit is worth sticking with.
> Splatter-filled road movie ZOMBIELAND (15: Sony) is only fitfully funny and nowhere near as clever as earlier zom-com Shaun Of The Dead.
The neurotic Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), gung-ho cowboy Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) and two con-artist sisters (Abigail Breslin, Emma Stone) form a reluctant alliance on a post-apocalypse Earth overrun by zombies.
Their blackly comic tale is told in flashback while they head for the refuge of a Californian amusement park, with the fearful Columbus's list of 47 survival rules, including "Don't be a hero" and "check car back seats".
Gory mayhem ensues en route, but the most inspired scene is when the quartet settles in the Beverly Hills house of Tallahassee's hero, actor Bill Murray, who appears in an extended cameo sending up his career.
> Filmed on location in Liberia with a cast of non-professionals, JOHNNY MAD DOG (15: Momentum) is a graphically violent expose of the use of child soldiers in poor African countries.
As harsh as its subject matter suggests, the film reveals how youngsters are brutally taken from their families, fed drugs, handed guns and then pumped up with inflammatory revolutionary politics.
Against this bleak backdrop is the developing story of Johnny Mad Dog (Christophe Minie), who is already a veteran of warfare at the age of 15.
Johnny is starting to tire of the guerilla life when a chance meeting with teenager Laokole (Daisy Victoria Vandy) gives him the impetus he needs to leave it all behind.
Although the sparse love story offers a glimmer of hope within a hellish scenario, this well-intentioned picture never gives enough respite from the horror and feels like a gruelling slog for the viewer.
> MOTHERHOOD(15: Metrodome), given a simultaneous cinema and DVD release, also has its heart in the right place, but it's a mediocre comedy.
In this day in the life of a hassled mum-of-two, Uma Thurman plays the former writer-turned-blogger who lives with hubby (Anthony Edwards) and their kids in Manhattan's Greenwich Village.
She struggles to face up to the daily grind of being a full-time mother, but attempts to provide amusing insights are hamstrung by the 24-hour time frame.
Some ill-judged bad language, the irritating nature of the characters and events that feel contrived mean that we are more likely to feel annoyed than entertained.
> In risible hoax UFO thriller THE FOURTH KIND (15: Entertainment In Video), psychiatrist Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich) believes that the unusual number of disappearances in an Alaskan backwater are the result of alien abduction.
She sets out to prove it by delving into the subconscious of her patients using hypnosis.
The film is supposedly based on true events, but the more the director tries to convince us that this is the case, the more fake it feels.
If you are a fan of the Blair Witch or Paranormal Activity take on authenticity, this may be a chilling experience.
Others will consider it a mere close encounter of the cheating kind.
> TOP TEN: 1 Zombieland; 2 Surrogates; 3 The Time Traveler's Wife; 4 Harry Brown; 5 Couples Retreat; 6 The Fantastic Mr Fox; 7 The Ugly Truth; 8 The Invention Of Lying; 9 Jennifer's Body; 10 Up. Chart from Blockbuster.
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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