Reckless Video - January 27, 2009

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Cops and Robbers

Edward Norton (The Incredible Hulk, Frida) stars as a conflicted cop in Pride & Glory, looking into the on-duty deaths of four police officers in his older brother's (Noah Emmerich: Cellular, The Truman Show) unit. Encouraged by their father (John Voight: Transformers, Enemy of the State) to simply find the killers and ignore anything that would show the department in an unflattering light, his situation gets more and more difficult when it looks like one of their own men (Colin Farrell: In Bruges, Daredevil) has gone rogue.

RockNRolla is a return to form for director Guy Ritchie's (Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Revolver), a cascade of characters in the criminal underworld that pass through each other's schemes at unexpected angles. If the main plot revolves around two small time thieves who stage a heist (Gerard Butler: Dear Frankie, 300 and Idris Elba: American Gangster, This Christmas) to pay a debt to an underworld boss (Tom Wilkinson: Girl with a Pearl Earring, Michael Clayton), to be collected by his right-hand-man (Mark Strong: Stardust, Babylon A.D.)... that's just the rough outline. The body of the film is shaded by a dangerous Russian millionaire, an informant in the den of thieves, a junkie rock star who refuses to die, a sketchy accountant, and a painting that imbues luck to whoever possesses it, and these pieces ricochet off one another until the jigsaw comes together.

Neil LaBute's (In The Company of Men, The Wicker Man) newest film is Lakeview Terrace, where a newlywed couple (Patrick Wilson: Hard Candy, Little Children and Kerry Washington: Ray, The Last King of Scotland) moves into their dream home. When they meet their new neighbor (Samuel L. Jackson: Jumper, Pulp Fiction), a police officer and watchdog of the neighborhood, he initially makes them feel safe... but as the two households find themselves more and more at odds, how can the young couple stand up against the aggression of a man who seems to hold all the cards?

Wild Times

Rainn Wilson (The Office, Juno) stars as the outcast drummer of a popular rock band in The Rocker. Thrown out of the band Vesuvius right before their big break, Wilson spent twenty years holding down menial jobs as Vesuvius became the biggest band in the world. Though he vowed never to drum again, his teenage nephew (Josh Gad: 21) and his band (Emma Stone: Superbad and Teddy Geiger) need a drummer in order to play their prom... and suddenly, they're a band on the rise, even if their drummer is a little older, clumsier, and sweatier than the rest of the group.

Dumped by his highschool girlfriend, Drake Bell (Yours Mine & Ours, Superhero Movie) teams up with two friends (Andrew Caldwell: Drillbit Taylor, Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny and Kevin Covais: American Idol) for a wild weekend at freshman orientation in College. The parties are crazier than they imagined, and the girls more beautiful, but the fraternity "pledging" the boys might not have their best interests in mind.

Documentaries and Animated

Two new animated features are new this week, the first being Open Season 2, set one year after the first picture, following Boog the bear and Elliot the deer as Elliot gets ready for marriage. The other is the double feature Hulk vs., pitting the Marvel superhero against X-Men's Wolverine in one segment and Avenger teammate Thor in the second segment.

The documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired focuses on acclaimed filmmaker Roman Polanski (The Pianist, Chinatown) and his conviction for unlawful intercourse with a minor, which led to him to stay out of countries that would extradite him to the United States. The film documents the initial incidents, trial, and the eventual dismissal of charges against him

The other new documentaries this week are Flow, asking "How did a handful of corporations steal our water?" and focuses on the privatization of the water infrastructure, and Frontrunners, a political documentary, looking at high school students as they compete for class president seats.

Odds 'n ends

Sent home from Iraq after being injured, Michael Pena (Buffalo Soldiers, Shooter) is on his way back overseas when his flight gets cancelled in The Lucky Ones. He ends up sharing a ride with to other servicemen (Tim Robbins: City of Ember, Noise and Rachel McAdams: Married Life, The Family Stone) back from Iraq, as they realize the world and their lives have changed while they were away.

Four no-name actors, inspired by a friend's successful no-budget film, head to a cabin to write and star in their own picture in Baghead. While their first idea, a horror film about a killer with a grocery bag over his head, seems logical enough, things take a turn for the worse when they believe themselves to be stalked by a bag-headed maniac. Not technically a horror film, Baghead focuses on the drama between four friends, and about the process of making independent films.

Alexander Fodor's new release of the classic Hamlet re-imagines the Shakespeare story "in the extreme," using non-linear storytelling, a modern soundtrack, and an arthouse sensibility to make this version of the story unlike any ever filmed.

New this week to Reckless Video's TV New Release section is the Secret Policeman's Ball series, featuring Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean, Love Actually), John Cleese (Monty Python, Scorched), Billy Connolly (Still Crazy, The X-Files: I Want to Believe), and many more, including The Secret Policeman's Ball, Pleasure at Her Majesty's, The Secret Policeman's Biggest Ball, Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball?, The Secret Policeman's Other Ball, and The Secret Policeman's Third Ball. We also have Ewan McGregor (Cassandra's Dream, Trainspotting) and Charley Boorman's (On Edge, Excalibur) follow-up to Long Way Round, Long Way Down, as the pair take their motorcycles through Africa, and the complete series of Joss Whedon's Firefly on Blu-Ray.

 

Older movies... New on DVD!
Movies that hadn't been previously available are released in our New to Reckless section, resurrecting them from late-night cable broadcasts and poorly transferred VHS tapes... and Reckless makes them available!

Previously, On...

2012 Archives, 2011 Archives,
2010 Archives, 2009 Archives,
2008 Archives, 2007 Archives

The Basics

Feature films: $4.50
Blu-Ray discs: $5.50
TV, Toons, Documentaries, etc: $3.00
Newest Movies: 1-day rental
All others: 3-day rental
Keep it an extra day for $1.00

and...
$2 Tuesdays!
5 Day Sundays!

 

Reckless Video Is... an independent, neighborhood video store with a wide variety of titles from popular to obscure. Come see us at:

9020 Roosevelt Way NE
Seattle WA 98115
206-524-4473

Open 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM Sun-Thur
10:00 AM to 11:00 PM Fri-Sat
Closed December 25th


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