Release Round-Up
By Sarah Carlson
March 27, 2007
Here's a look at some of today's new releases:
DVDs
Children of Men
My favorite film of 2006 that was unfairly overlooked come awards season, "Men" provides a chilling dystopia set in near-future London. In a world where women are infertile and the world's youngest person has just died at age 18, what's worth living for? When a jaded former activist (Clive Owen) finds himself in charge of leading a miraculously pregnant girl to safety, we see what it really means to have hope in humanity, no matter what.
Happy Feet
The animated penguins sing, dance, crack jokes and preach enough environmental talking points and anti-zoo spiels to make The Goreacle proud. If you'd rather not see "An Inconvenient Truth" meets "March of the Penguins" meets "Shrek," skip this bizarre karaoke night and stick with a Pixar or Disney classic.
The Pursuit of Happyness
I avoided this one, but sources tell me you'll bawl your eyes out. Will Smith will emotionally manipulate you as he plays the broke father out to save his son at all costs, and there's nothing you can do about it. And really, there aren't enough movies with characters whose sole goal in life -- and the ultimate way they can attain happiness -- is to achieve wealth.
Other DVD releases: "Curse of the Golden Flower," "Full House: The Complete Sixth Season" (DJ goes to the prom!), "The Shield: The Complete Fifth Season"
CDs
Kaiser Chiefs, "Yours Truly, Angry Mob"
I'm a sucker for British pop rock, as you can see by my CD selections here, and the Kaiser Chiefs have won over U.K audiences more than once with their pop hooks. Critics are calling "Mob" more mature than the band's debut, "Employment," thanks to a slightly different sound and touches of social commentary, but the gist of the band's dedication to bringing back New Wave is still there.
Mika, "Life in Cartoon Motion"
Falsetto-voiced, Freddie-Mercury-reincarnation Mika has already inundated MTV promos with his infectious "Love Today." Whether his electronic eccentricities will win over the U.S. carts as they did those in the U.K. doesn't matter -- "Love" and his other single, "Grace Kelly," are delightful, even if not completely original, pieces of pop.
Other CD releases: "Let it Go," Tim McGraw; "Now, Vol. 24," Various Artists; "Good Morning Revival," Good Charlotte; "Crystal Visions -- The Very Best of Stevie Nicks," Stevie Nicks
Video Games
Meet the Robinsons (multi-platform)
Next week is an amazing week for video games. This week, we have “Meet the Robinsons,” based on the computer animation of the same name, opening this Friday. I’m uncertain what to say about the film or the game, except that it will be kid-friendly and it seems to involve time-travel shenanigans, my favorite sort.
Say one thing about the House of Mouse: They’ve got money, and so this game is being released in one form or another on every imaginable format. If you own something that plays video games made from about 2000 on, chances are the Robinsons have found a roost there.
Video games made from movies are a dicey sort of thing. For every good one, there’s two dozen that aren’t. Rarely, and it’s great when this happens, a game will actually exceed its cinematic counterpart. It happened with “Chronicles of Riddick,” which turned out to be an amazing game tied to a somewhat less-amazing film.
As long as you don’t expect much more than a kid-friendly platformer, and especially if you do have kids, “Meet the Robinsons” will probably serve just fine. As for the rest of us? We’ll have to wait until next week for Guitar Hero 2 for the 360, a new Prince of Persia for the Wii and PSP, and more. -- Brian Bethel
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