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Monday, May 18, 2009

New movies to be released tomorrow on DVD

Fanboys (2009) ** This film doesn’t delve into the mania of fandom, it exploits it.

My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009) ** Wooden performances by forgettable, generic actors — just like in the original — don’t aid in making things any less leaden. Perhaps this is the best one can hope for from something like My Bloody Valentine 3-D, that it be just good enough to not be annoying. Or in this specific case, physically painful.

Outlander (2009) *½ By taking nonsense seriously Outlander never achieves camp. It’s a comic book that’s mistaken itself for scripture. Not helped by a wooden performance from Jim Caviezel as a humanoid alien who accidentally imports a real alien to eighth-century Earth.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009) *½ A tossed-off comedy from Adam Sandler’s production company that makes one long for the comparative genius of I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. Perfectly inoffensive and almost entirely unfunny, this film is more of a numbing experience than a painful one. Great comics from Jerry Lewis to Peter Sellers have turned pathetic into comedic. But Kevin James never seems to able to get beyond pathetic.

Valkyrie (2008) **½ A film more concerned with "how" than "why" or "who," it would have benefited from more scrutiny and complexity. Still, once the bomb goes off, the thrills come in spades.

Yonkers Joe (2009) ** For all its attention to detail, this film isn’t half as tough as it pretends to be. The real story of these bottom-feeders and the sad young man they exploit is a lot uglier than the movie even begins to let on. Christine Lahti, however, burns through a thinly written role with a surprising level of warmth and humanity.

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