Days of Heaven (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Days of Heaven (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] Review

Days of Heaven (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] Overview

One-of-a-kind filmmaker-philosopher Terrence Malick has made some of the most visually arresting movies in history, and his glorious period tragedy Days of Heaven, featuring Oscar-winning cinematography by Nestor Almendros, stands out among them. A Chicago steelworker (Richard Gere) accidentally kills his supervisor, and he, his girlfriend (Brooke Adams), and his little sister (Linda Mans) flee to the Texas Panhandle, where they find work harvesting in the wheat fields of a wealthy farmer (Sam Shepard). A love triangle, a swarm of locusts, a hellish fire—Malick captures it all with dreamlike authenticity, creating at once a timeless American idyll and a gritty evocation of turn-of-the-century labor.

Stills from Days of Heaven

Days of Heaven (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] Specifications

Richard Gere works in a Chicago steel mill at the turn of the century, but must flee the city after accidentally killing a man. Heading for the wheat fields of Texas, he packs up his girlfriend (Brooke Adams) and his younger sister (Linda Manz). Instead of a better life, they head straight into tragedy when a wealthy farmer (Sam Shepard) falls for Adams. Believing him to be dying and expecting to inherit a fortune, she agrees to marry him. Their plans change when Shepard fails to die and Gere takes matters into his own hands. Aesthetically flawless, this film about a romantic love triangle is diminished by the small scope of video. Originally shown in 70mm, it is an eye-catching period piece that won its cinematographer, Néstor Almendros, a 1978 Oscar. Texture and color are the unbilled characters in this tragic tale, and are just as important as the players. The story, sadly, fades somewhat when compared to the glory of the visuals. --Rochelle O'Gorman

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Modern Times: The Criterion Collection [Blu-ray]

Modern Times: The Criterion Collection [Blu-ray] Review

Modern Times: The Criterion Collection [Blu-ray] Overview

Modern Times, Charlie Chaplin’s last outing as the Little Tramp, puts the iconic character to work as a giddily inept factory employee who becomes smitten with a gorgeous gamine (Paulette Goddard). With its barrage of unforgettable gags and sly commentary on class struggle during the Great Depression, Modern Times—though made almost a decade into the talkie era and containing moments of sound (even song!)—is a timeless showcase of Chaplin’s untouchable genius as a director of silent comedy.

Modern Times: The Criterion Collection [Blu-ray] Specifications

Charlie Chaplin is in glorious form in this legendary satire of the mechanized world. As a factory worker driven bonkers by the soulless momentum of work, Chaplin executes a series of slapstick routines around machines, including a memorable encounter with an automatic feeding apparatus. The pantomime is triumphant, but Chaplin also draws a lively relationship between the Tramp and a street gamine. She's played by Paulette Goddard, then Chaplin's wife and probably his best leading lady (here and in The Great Dictator). The film's theme gave the increasingly ambitious writer-director a chance to speak out about social issues, as well as indulging in the bittersweet quality of pathos that critics were already calling "Chaplinesque." In 1936, Chaplin was still holding out against spoken dialogue in films, but he did use a synchronized soundtrack of sound effects and his own music, a score that includes one of his most famous melodies, "Smile." And late in the film, Chaplin actually does speak--albeit in a garbled gibberish song, a rebuke to modern times in talking pictures. --Robert Horton

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Jim Henson's Fantasy Film Collection [Blu-ray]

Jim Henson's Fantasy Film Collection [Blu-ray] Review

Came as described.... works great.... my daughter loves labrynth.... and im a big fan of the dark crystal..... and mirror mask was an interesting film as well..... worth the money spent :)

Jim Henson's Fantasy Film Collection [Blu-ray] Overview

Labyrinth
Relive the magic! This newly restored, 2-disc anniversary edition of Jim Henson's Labyrinth contains an all-new commentary and bonus features that are guaranteed to captivate as never before. David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly invite you into a magical universe where nothing is what it seems! Babysitting infant stepbrother Toby on a weekend night isn't young Sarah's (Connelly) idea of fun. Frustrated by his crying, she secretly imagines the Goblins from her favorite book, labyrinth, carrying Toby away. When her fantasy comes true, a distraught Sarah must enter a maze of illusion to bring Toby back from a kingdom inhabited by mystical creatures and governed by the wicked Goblin King (Bowie).

The Dark Crystal
Enjoy incredible footage from the Henson archives in The Dark Crystal. Travel back in time to the faraway planet of Thra. Cheer on the Mystics as they fight to overthrow the evil Skeksis and take back control of their planet! When Jen, a member of the Gelfling tribe, sets out to find the crystal's missing shard, his dangerous journey brings him face to face with monsters at every turn. Determined to restore peace to their planet, Jen will not back down! From the brilliant imagination of Jim Henson, this masterpiece of animation recounts the timeless tale of good vs. evil and has become a cult favorite of children and grown-ups alike!

Mirrormask
The White Queen sleeps and will not wake. Black shadows have fallen across her kingdom. The balance between Dark and Light is broken and only the Mirrormask can restore it. So Helena, a stranger in a strange land, embarks on an epic quest to find the missing charm before darkness envelops the Dreamworld forever. Written by award-winning fantasy writer Neil Gaiman, Mirrormask is a phantasmagorical treat for the eyes and mind, a wondrous blend of live action and CG animation, where strange, magical creatures dwell in a fantasy world of unbridled imagination and scope, as told through the spectacular, cutting-edge visuals of designer/director Dave McKean.

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Ray Harryhausen Collection (+ BD Live) (20 Million Miles to Earth, Earth vs. Flying Saucers, It Came from Beneath the Sea, 7th Voyage of Sinbad) [Blu-ray]

Ray Harryhausen Collection (+ BD Live) (20 Million Miles to Earth, Earth vs. Flying Saucers, It Came from Beneath the Sea, 7th Voyage of Sinbad) [Blu-ray] Review

This is a great set of movies that have never looked better.
I really am grateful for the colorized versions of these classic
sci fi movies from the age of stop motion animation mixed with live people. These movies were always alot of fun to watch and now they look really good with fine remastering. Although this is not going to look like a more recent movie looks on blu ray. As the previous reviewers said it is not a good thing that the previously available '20 million
miles to earth" is on this set too. As many of us bought that one already; a different movie should have been included. Among the films here the weakest is 'it came from beneath the sea" but that doesn't mean that it's a bad movie at all. These movies were top notch for their day and still remain works of art due to the masterful animation techniques of Ray Harryhausen. You don't have to be from the past to enjoy earlier movies with their non computerized effects as these movies were top notch
sci fi flicks from their era. If you can relate to this fact and not act like a snob who complains about the not realistic effects by todays standards you can sit back and let the fun begin.

Ray Harryhausen Collection (+ BD Live) (20 Million Miles to Earth, Earth vs. Flying Saucers, It Came from Beneath the Sea, 7th Voyage of Sinbad) [Blu-ray] Overview

20 Million Miles to Earth
When an American spaceship crash-lands off the coast of Sicily, a rescue team discovers that the crew has brought back a gelatinous mass that soon hatches and evolves into a strange bi-ped creature which increases in size rapidly. Soon 20-feet tall, the creature rampages through Rome before being destroyed as it seeks refuge in the Colosseum.

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
It's an incredible cinematic adventure as the legendary Sinbad sets off on a dangerous journey to the mysterious Island of Colossus. His quest is to break the spell cast over his beloved princess by a diabolical magician. But before he can save her, Sinbad must battle an awesome collection of mythical monsters, the man-eating Cyclops, a saber-wielding skeleton, a ferocious two-headed bird called the Roc and a fire-breathing dragon. Starring Kerwin Mathews, Kathryn Grant, Torin Thatcher and highlighted by the stunning visual effects mastery of Ray Harryhausen. Now in a pristine, hi-definition transfer that captures the magic of Harryhausen's "eye-popping" special effects in dazzling Technicolor.

It Came from Beneath the Sea
A giant stop-motion-animated octopus (with six arms) attacks San Francisco. A pair of scientists and a nuclear sub captain try to stop it before it tears down the Golden Gate Bridge.

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers While driving through the desert with his wife Carol Marvin to a military base to send the eleventh rocket to the orbit of Earth for helping the exploration of the outer space in the Operation Sky Hook, Dr. Russell A. Marvin and Carol see a flying saucer and accidentally records a message in their tape recorder. Once in the base, Dr. Russell is informed by his father-in-law and general that the ten first satellites had mysteriously felt on Earth. When Dr. Russell decodes the message, he encounters the aliens that ask him to schedule a meeting with the leaders of Earth in Washington in 56 days with the intention to invade Earth without panicking the population. Dr. Russell develops an anti-magnetic weapon that becomes that last hope of human race against the hostile aliens.

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Black Orpheus (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Black Orpheus (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] Review

Black Orpheus (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] Overview

Winner of both the Academy Award for best foreign-language film and the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or, Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus (Orfeu negro) brings the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice to the twentieth-century madness of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. With its eye-popping photography and ravishing, epochal soundtrack, Black Orpheus was a cultural event, kicking off the bossa nova craze that set hi-fis across America spinning.

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Everlasting Moments (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Everlasting Moments (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] Review

I have an old photograph of my mother when she was five years old walking down the Boardwalk in Atlantic City in 1930 with my grandparents and I often wonder what their lives were like at that moment in time. Jan Troell's "Everlasting Moments" attempts to do just that as he brings old family photographs to life in his sweeping family saga set in Sweden at the turn of the century.

Everlasting Moments begins in the Swedish port city of Malmo in 1907. It's a true story based on the reminiscences of Maja Larrson who is the film's narrator. She takes us back to when she was a child and we're introduced to her parents Maria and Sigfrid (Siggie) Larrson. Siggie is a dock worker who also happens to be an alcoholic. Maria (wonderfully played by Maria Heiskanen) is his long-suffering wife. Although Siggie belongs to the Temperance Society he is continually relapsing and most of the tension in the film's first half revolves around the harrowing scenes of domestic violence in which Siggie uses his wife as a veritable punching bag.

Maria is under tremendous pressure, not only from the heartache of having to deal with her often drunk and philandering husband but also raising a brood of precocious children. One day Maria rediscovers an expensive camera that she and her husband had won in a lottery at the time they got married. She decides to take a picture of her children without her husband knowing about it and brings it to a local photography shop and meets the kindly shop owner, Sebastian Pedersen. Pederson is a bit older than Maria but they soon form a lasting friendship. Pedersen eventually shows Maria how to use the camera and develop pictures.

Meanwhile, we get a real feel for the history of the times as we see what happens to Siggie as he becomes involved with Socialist and Communist agitators who seek to unionize dockworkers in their fight against the shipowners. At one point British scabs are brought in and one of the strike breakers is murdered. Siggie is a suspect for a short while but is cleared after a local floozy who he's been having an affair with provides an alibi.

To Siggie's chagrin, Maria presses forward with her fascination with photography. Eventually she starts earning extra money taking photos of people in the community. In one sad and sensitive scene, Maria declines to charge a woman who asks her if she could take a picture of her daughter who has just died after falling through the ice wandering too far out on to a not so frozen pond. The image of the deceased girl is one of the many striking images of still photography seen in this film.

Things come to a head when Siggie suspects that Maria has been having an affair with Pedersen and brutally rapes her. As a result, Marie is pregnant with another child who ends up with polio. Finally, Siggie takes things too far and drags Maria outside and almost slits her throat with a knife. As a result, he's arrested and thrown in jail (presumably there were neighbors who were witnesses to this horrible act but we never see them nor are there any scenes of Siggie being arrested and brought before a magistrate).

While I expected Maria to leave her husband and go off on her own running her own photography business, that's not what happens in the film's denouement. Instead, Maria stops taking photos for quite awhile and loses contact with Pedersen after the family moves to a different part of town. After Siggie gets out of jail, Maria decides to stick it out with him. Some say it was Maria's memories of her father exhorting her never to leave her husband since it was "God's will" or perhaps it was simply Maria's conservative nature. More likely it was Siggie eventually becoming more mature. He gives up the bottle, starts running a successful moving company and becomes a decent family man. It should be pointed out that Siggie is only a monster when he's drunk. Other times he's shown to be a sensitive man (in one scene, he prevents a man from abusing a horse in the street).

Maria's farewell to Pedersen is a poignant and bittersweet moment in the film. The two part knowing that their relationship was never meant to go further than it did. Pederson's shop is like an oasis for Maria while she's trying to cope with her husband in the early years. Although Pedersen is not a very 'exciting' character, and there's little conflict between the two, he's a soothing and supporting presence, contrasting nicely with the brutal and oppressive Siggie.

Some of the other characters in the film are not sufficiently developed. Siggie's 'anarchist' buddy who commits suicide due to an fulfilled life is one such character. Maja, the film's narrator, has a brief scene where she's almost molested by an employer while working as a housekeeper and then there's the youngest son who's briefly seen trying to cope with the ravages of polio--these characters and scenes seem almost like afterthoughts.

Nonetheless, 'Everlasting Moments' is still filled with indelible, everlasting moments and images (especially check out the effect that Charlie Chaplin had on the Larrson family--that's a scene you won't forget!). Jan Troell's look into the past is not sentimental but more wistful. And even more important, he teaches us about the trials, tribulations and the sacrifices made by the older generation as they stumbled into a firm and rewarding maturity.

Everlasting Moments (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] Overview

Swedish master Jan Troell (The Emigrants, The New Land) returns triumphantly with EVERLASTING MOMENTS, a vivid, heartrending story of a woman liberated through art at the beginning of the twentieth century. Though poor and abused by her alcoholic husband, Maria Larsson (Maria Heiskanen, in a beautifully nuanced portrayal) finds an outlet in photography, which opens up her world for the first time. With a burnished bronze tint that evokes faded photographs, and a broad empathetic palette, EVERLASTING MOMENTS--based on a true story--is a miraculous tribute to the power of image making.

Everlasting Moments (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] Specifications

Fitting for a movie about a woman who finds a new life through photography, Everlasting Moments features stunning images: A streetcar looming out of a wall of fog; the shadow of a zeppelin gliding across a courtyard; a family bouncing around a bedroom, all wearing Charlie Chaplin mustaches. This rich, emotionally powerful film begins in 1907 in a Swedish port, where Maria Larsson (Maria Heiskanen) struggles to raise her four children with little help from her boozing, womanizing husband Sigfrid (Mikael Persbrandt). By accident, she rediscovers a camera that she'd won in a lottery; through its lens she reinvents her confined, unhappy world as a place of warmth, hope, and spiritual transcendence--and begins a furtive, yearning romance with an older photographer who gives her supplies from his studio. Everlasting Moments covers decades of Maria's life, capturing not only her character but the character of the times in which she lived--an era of social unrest, world war, and personal upheaval. Yet despite this dense story, the movie feels relaxed and unfolds with the easy command of writer/director Jan Troell, whose films have won dozens of awards around the world, though he is little-known in the U.S. With any luck, Everlasting Moments will bring him some much-due recognition. --Bret Fetzer

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Close-Up (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Close-Up (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] Review

A man on a bus gets mistaken for the famous Iranian filmmaker Mohssen Makhmalbaf, and he pretends to be him for a while, ingratiating himself into the life of a family by speaking of a project he is working on. He's not in it for the money, though he borrows taxi fare and is given food. It's the sense of being someone, someone who matters, someone who these people he has come to care about will look up to. When another Iranian filmmaker hears about the trial for this alleged conman, he asks permission to film it and follows up by reconstructing elements of the case, using the actual perpetrator as his main actor.

I don't want to give away more of the situation, captured here in a unique blend of documentary and fiction. What I do want to give is a personal account of my experience with this film, that I hope will motivate a few to take a look -- and to be patient. The film doesn't work its magic right away -- and in fact the beginning of the film can be somewhat disorienting.

I'll admit, I'm biased. I've become fascinated by the work of Kiarostami in the past few years. Plus, I am very much drawn to films where reality and fiction intersect and overlap in interesting ways. Still, I'm convinced that with a bit of patience -- if you just give yourself the time to let the film work on you without bringing to it expectations that it won't fulfil -- anyone would be overwhelmed by the marvelous simplicity of this film.

Kiarostami has a way of finding the fantastic in the mundane. Somehow, he sets up his films in such a way that I can find myself for the most part merely interested wondering what it is all about, and then suddenly surprised to find myself overwhelmed, surprised by an emotional response that was not manipulated from me with music but somehow, mysteriously. This happened to me while watching ABC Africa, and even more powerfully during this film. His style, the way he achieves this, can almost be thought of as an anti-style -- I know that may not make a lot of sense, but it would take longer than I have here to make clear what I am thinking when I say this. It seems like he is doing very little, but the effect is (in my experience) magical, unexplainable and overwhelming. (For those familiar with Paul Schrader's provocative work on "transcendental style" in Bresson, Ozu and Dreyer, I'd suggest Kiarostami as another who works in this vein -- but whose work is quite distinct from these three).

I'm very excited to hear that Criterion is re-releasing this film, and hope that it manages to receive wider attention and acclaim. Here's what to expect on the Criterion dvd release:

-a new, restored high-definition digital transfer
-an audio commentary by Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa and Jonathan Rosenbaum, authors of Abbas Kiarostami
-The Traveler, a notable early feature by director Abbas Kiarostami
-"Close-up" Long Shot, a forty-five-minute documentary on Close-up's central figure, Hossein Sabzian, five years after Kiarostami's film
-a new video interview with Kiarostami
-A Walk with Kiarostami (2003), a thirty-two-minute documentary portrait of the director by Iranian film professor Jamsheed Akrami
-a new and improved English subtitle translation
-and a booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Godfrey Cheshire

Close-Up (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] Overview

Internationally revered Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami (Taste of Cherry, Ten) has created some of the most inventive and transcendent cinema of the past thirty years, and CLOSE-UP is his most radical, brilliant work. This fiction-documentary hybrid uses a sensational real-life event--the arrest of a young man on charges that he fraudulently impersonated well-known filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf--as the basis for a stunning, multilayered investigation into movies, identity, artistic creation, and existence, in which the real people from the case play themselves. With its universal themes and fascinating narrative knots, CLOSE-UP continues to resonate with viewers around the world.

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Vivre sa vie (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Vivre sa vie (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] Review

Vivre sa vie (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] Overview

Vivre sa vie was a turning point for Jean-Luc Godard and remains one of his most dynamic films, combining brilliant visual design with a tragic character study. The lovely Anna Karina, Godard’s greatest muse, plays Nana, a young Parisian who aspires to be an actress but instead ends up a prostitute; her downward spiral is depicted in a series of discrete tableaux of daydreams and dances. Featuring some of Karina and Godard’s most iconic moments—from her movie theater vigil with The Passion of Joan of Arc to her seductive pool-hall strut—Vivre sa vie is a landmark of the French New Wave that still surprises at every turn.

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

•

New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack •

Audio commentary featuring film scholar Adrian Martin •

Video interview with film scholar Jean Narboni, conducted by historian Noël Simsolo •

Television interview from 1962 with actress Anna Karina •

Excerpts from a 1961 French television exposé on prostitution •

Illustrated essay on La prostitution, the book that served as inspiration for the film •

Stills gallery •

Director Jean-Luc Godard’s original theatrical trailer •

New and improved English subtitle translation •

PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Atkinson, interviews with Godard, a reprint by critic Jean Collet on the film’s soundtrack, and Godard’s original scenario

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Funny Guy Collection (Napoleon Dynamite / Office Space / Young Frankenstein) [Blu-ray]

Funny Guy Collection (Napoleon Dynamite / Office Space / Young Frankenstein) [Blu-ray] Review

I got this collection because it is pretty cheap for three silly flicks and for only .49.

All three movies are hilarious and all looked and sounded amazing on Blu-ray. Office Space in particular looked very very good. Napoleon Dynamite also looked decent for a lower budget film. Young Frankenstein looked pretty good too, but the fact that it is in black and white and sort of was intended to be a little fuzzy.

I think FOX did a great job bringing all of these films to Blu-ray.

All in all, it is well worth it if you're like me and pretty much have a great collection of action Blu-rays an need a chuckle.

Funny Guy Collection (Napoleon Dynamite / Office Space / Young Frankenstein) [Blu-ray] Overview

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 05/12/2009 Run time: 401 minutes Rating: Nr

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Ultimate Unrated Comedy Collection (Forgetting Sarah Marshall / Knocked Up / The 40-Year-Old Virgin) [Blu-ray]

Ultimate Unrated Comedy Collection (Forgetting Sarah Marshall / Knocked Up / The 40-Year-Old Virgin) [Blu-ray] Review

I bought this 3 pack since it was cheaper then getting each of them individually, and honestly all 3 are worth owning for fans of the Judd Apatow type of comedies that we're seeing lately. The real world, rated R type with a combination of stoner and dirty humor mixed together. The humor throughout is pretty much the same because of the source, and you'll also see some of the same characters pop up that are normal to Apatow's crew like Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen.

All 3 are solid comedies, with my favorite being Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I only give this 4 stars because the Blu-ray quality on all of these aren't exactly the greatest. They're better then DVD, sure, but they aren't as sharp as some of the best looking Blu-ray transfers out there which is a bit of a disappointment. My box also came with all 3 blu-ray cases inside a bit nicked and damaged, which is a bit of a disappointment. The box these come in is just a cheap cardboard cover with the 3 regular movies kept inside. I've thrown away the box and just filed the movies on my shelf in alphabetical order.

Ultimate Unrated Comedy Collection (Forgetting Sarah Marshall / Knocked Up / The 40-Year-Old Virgin) [Blu-ray] Overview

Three of the most outrageous and quotable comedies of all time - Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin - are available together for the first time! Judd Apatow's comic genius is thoroughly exposed with hilarious unrated and extended versions of each film as well as hours of undeniably funny bonus materials, plus interactive features exclusive to Blu-ray Hi-Def. It's the wild threesome that everyone wants in their living room!

Ultimate Unrated Comedy Collection (Forgetting Sarah Marshall / Knocked Up / The 40-Year-Old Virgin) [Blu-ray] Specifications

Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Breaking up is hard to do--but that doesn't mean you can't have some belly laughs about it. Forgetting Sarah Marshall provides that rare treat: a romantic comedy about breakups, that is both romantic and funny. The laughs, especially from writer-star Jason Segel, are both heartfelt and raunchy, and the film is just unexpected enough that it keeps the viewer's attention till the end. The touches of producer Judd Apatow, who's famously retooled rom-coms to appeal to guys as much as women, are woven throughout the film, but Segel's script, reportedly based on many of his own experiences, is fresh and original. And adult. Forgetting Sarah Marshall features male genitalia laffs presented in unexpected and human ways (the nude breakup scene is played for giggles but also deep poignancy), and the language and sex scenes are strictly for grownups--and rightly so. Segel's script, and his performance as Peter, show that he understands the true nature of adult relationships, which provides the refreshing difference between this film and some of Apatow's other crude creations. The cast is sublime; Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) plays title character Sarah, a self-absorbed actress, and Russell Brand is her new British honey who accompanies her to--what are the chances?--the exact same Hawaiian resort as Peter, who's nursing his broken heart. Mila Kunis plays Rachel, the resort employee who gives Peter a reason to hope, and Paul Rudd is the surfing instructor who gives him his own brand of heartfelt advice ("When life gives you lemons, just say 'F--- the lemons' and bail," he says cheerily). The pacing is screwball, and the absurdities fly (a "Dracula" musical puppet show, and a surprisingly lovely Hawaiian version of "Nothing Compares 2 U"). Nothing the viewer will forget any time soon.--A.T. Hurley

Knocked Up
Unwanted pregnancy might sound like a risky subject for slapstick comedy, but Knocked Up is from writer-director Judd Apatow--so we are in the hands of a man who likes to push things. And like Apatow's predecessor, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up is a shaggy crowd-pleaser, a comedy strewn with vulgarity but with a sweet heart at its center. A one-night stand between the utterly mismatched Ben (Seth Rogen, his first starring role) and Alison (Katherine Heigl) results in said pregnancy, and the two people reunite for mutual support--even though they barely know each other. Ben's a slob who lives with four other guys, all of whom share the same stunted approach to maturity; Alison is a new on-air personality at the E! channel. That these two eventually develop a shared understanding and affection is perhaps the movie's biggest stretch (some of the male-humor jokes amongst the guys are idiotic enough to test anybody's hope of civilizing them).

Rogen and Heigl don't really jump off the screen, but, to be fair, the movie frequently needs them to play straight while the supporting cast cuts up. Virgin vets Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd are around to supply some humor, as Alison's sister and brother-in-law, and the four idiots who live with Ben (Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Jason Siegel, and Martin Starr) are in their own zone of sophomoric bad taste. Still, by 40-Year-Old Virgin standards, this movie doesn't explode, and it sometimes feels ramshackle to the point of not being thought out. Apatow's indulgence of actors creates some fine moments (Paul Rudd seems to have most of them), but it can also make a movie feel flabby, and this is overlong by the length of a belly. --Robert Horton

The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Cult comic actor Steve Carell--long adored for his supporting work on The Daily Show and in movies like Bruce Almighty and Anchorman--leaps into leading man status with The 40 Year-Old Virgin. There's no point describing the plot; it's about how a 40 year-old virgin named Andy (Carell) finally finds true love and gets laid. Along the way, there are very funny scenes involving being coached by his friends, speed dating, being propositioned by his female manager, and getting his chest waxed. Carell finds both humor and humanity in Andy, and the supporting cast includes some standout comic work from Paul Rudd (Clueless, The Shape of Things) and Jane Lynch (Best in Show, A Mighty Wind), as well as an unusually straight performance from Catherine Keener (Lovely & Amazing, Being John Malkovich). And yet... something about the movie misses the mark. It skirts around the topic of male sexual anxiety, mining it for easy jokes, but never really digs into anything that would make the men in the audience actually squirm--and it's a lot less funny as a result. Nonetheless, there are many great bits, and Carell deserves the chance to shine. --Bret Fetzer

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