Andrew suggested that I cross post my DVD listings that I have been doing over at stuffical and I’m quite happy to do so. This week is a bit of a bad week for DVDs and it took some searching but I did find a few movies that I’m interested in and I hope you are too.

Each and every Tuesday (sorry about being one day late this week) I will be posting what I hope will be an eclectic list of DVDs that are available being released for the week. I had to actually do some digging to find some good suggestions to make for this week. Fortunately after a bit of work I was able to find a few Asian movies that we’re not listed on most lists. This week I’ve got a musical that I’ve heard looks beautiful but isn’t actually that good as a movie, a classic David Lean film, a movie about a tortured film maker, a dysfunctional family story that has an amazing ending and a double feature that really shouldn’t be a double feature.

Exiled / Dynamite Warrior

I haven’t mentioned Johnnie To yet here at stuffical so what better way to do so than to mention a DVD release of Exiled. Johnnie To is one of China’s most prolific directors. He is best known for his many Triad and crime action thrillers. While Exiled is not his most recent movie it is my favourite. To manages to combine the feel of the western genre into Exiled. The movie has a sense of playfulness combined with the grittiness of many of To’s other Triad films. It also has some of the best cinematography of any of his movies. The basic gist of the movie is that a pair of hitmen is sent to kill an old friend. Two of their old partners show up to protect their friend. The five friends decide to pull one last job before the big shoot out between them all so that their target’s family can live a decent life once he is gone. The action as always with To is amazing and the story and characters are extremely compelling.

I am not as big of fan of Dynamite Warrior which is paired up with Exiled in this set. Dynamite Warrior is a Thai martial arts flick that is somewhat fun and while I’m all for attempts at expanding the martial arts genre audience by showing the movies to everyone I do feel that this movie would pair up better with one of the other Thai martial arts flicks like Chocolate or Ong Bak. The story and acting are nothing special here but the action is rather good so you won’t be suffering by checking it out but I’m sure if you are a fan of martial arts you will have already seen this one.

Tokyo Sonata

I am sure that Tokyo Sonata was released on DVD a while ago but it was on the list that I was reading and I definitely do not have any problem with getting people to watch it. Kiyoshi Kurosawa is probably best known for directing Japanese horror movies and while Tokyo Sonata may seem like a huge departure from the genre there are still touches of horror in his extremely compelling story of a family that is falling apart after the father loses his position. The story of the family really digs into the pressures that are felt by the modern Japanese family and ho they deal with the ways that their society has been changing. I also wanted to mention the ending of Tokyo Sonata. It is one of the most touching endings I have seen in a long time and it is completely earned.

Tetro

Tetro is the latest Francis Ford Coppola movie and it really seemed to come and go without much fan fare which is somewhat disappointing. I did manage to catch this in theatre and it is a very strong movie. The movie around Tetro and his brother, Bennie. Bennie has arrived in Buenos Aires to find his brother who had left many years ago after a falling out between Tetro and their father. The story takes many twists and turns and delves into the difficulties between the family and also the creative process and where inspiration comes from. What really drew me in were the scenes which dealt with the possible suicidal nature of Tetro. There is a sense of dread when you watch him and his actions thanks to an excellent performance by Vincent Gallo.

Doctor Zhivago

I’m not sure how much more I really have to add to the discussion when it comes to Doctor Zhivago. It is a classic epic by David Lean. We are now at the 40th Anniversary of its initial release and while I do prefer Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia, Zhivago does follow closely behind as a true classic. As an interesting side note I was contacted about reviewing the iTunes version of Doctor Zhivago and will be doing so later this week both here and on Row Three. I am really interested to check out the quality of the iTunes and I can’t think of a more interesting way that to do so with this one.

Nine

I skipped Nine in the theatres and for the time being will probably skip it on DVD but I have heard enough about the set pieces to have me interested in checking this out even though I’ve heard the movie is a bit of a mess and not very good. I am mostly including this as it really does seem to be one of the bigger releases this week and while I might not be very interested in seeing it I’m sure there are others who are. Nine is the musical remake of 8 1/2 which has been on my to see list forever and I can guarantee that I will see 8 1/2 before I seen Nine.