Ariel Gade and Jennifer Connelly in "Dark Water"
courtesy of Disney Home Entertainment
"Jennifer Connelly's Horror Flick"

Jennifer Connelly won the Academy Award for her acting in "A Beautiful Mind." She is a gorgeous, talented actress who followed that film with "House of Fog and Sand" which netted her another nomination. So what is she doing making horror movies like "Dark Water"? 

If you are going to take the horror film career path, you had better make sure it is a good one. Nicole Kidman did it with "The Others" but that was a pretty pedigreed movie. "Dark Water" is not.

This is a mother/daughter movie in which the mother may be losing her mind. Throughout the film you have to worry the child is going to be alright, and that always makes me nervous. Especially when the child is as cute and loveable as Ariel Gade is. She is the little girl who also stars on "Invasion."

The DVD has lots of extras such as deleted scenes, a making of featurette and many more. These always enhance the movie and make you understand it a little bit better.

The film is murky and quirky and full of ominous things. If you like Jennifer Connelly and you like horror stories then this might be just the movie for you.

One of the trends in Hollywood today is to create a sequel to a movie franchise and send it directly to DVD. This is the case with "American Pie Presents Band Camp." This movie was never sent to theaters but instead became available only in video stores.

It is available in "unrated" and R rated versions, and presents a brand new cast. The only returning member of the original group is Eugene Levy who is back one more time as "Jim's dad."

Stiffler is represented in the movie by Tad Hilginbrinck who plays Stiffler's younger brother Matt. He works hard to keep the Stiffler image alive. Still this all comes off as second rate entertainment if you compare it to the original(s). 

The best way to watch it is to blot out any of the former cast and former plots from the other movies. Just take this one as a strictly original movie and you will enjoy it more. Plus the extras, such as deleted scenes and cast interviews, are geared just towards this movie.
Tourism has to be down in the South American countries with all the talk of kidnappings, and violence there. In "Secuestro Express" a young couple (Mia Maestro and Jean Paul Leroux) are kidnapped by a gang in Caracas, Venezuela. 
This is a very tense film that focuses on the victims and how they can be put in even more danger as the kidnapping plans unravel. It makes for a scary but enjoyable movie but it does put a damper on my desire to go to Venezuela.

Benjamin Bratt and James Franco star in the new to DVD movie "The Great Raid." This film highlights a true story about World War II in which American troops liberated over five hundred prisoners from a prisoner of war camp. 

The tension of the film comes from the actions inside the camp that might negate the value of the rescue. There is also a tense situation with Connie Nielsen's character as she tries to aid the prisoners from the outside.

This is a good, solid film but it needed a major action star. Where is John Wayne when we need him! Or Steve McQueen. All the good ones are gone.

Fans of the Wong Kar Wai film "In the Mood For Love" will want to get the DVD of "2046," which is a sequel of sorts to that film. Tony Leung returns in the role of the playboy/womanizer. The women in his life in this film include Maggie Cheung, Gong Li and Ziyi Zhang.

The film is fluid and moves between the past, present and future. It is a complex way to watch a film but one that is ultimately satisfying. The numbers 2046 mean a lot of different things at a lot of different times in the movie. Watch and see what they really mean.

Eric Carle's children's book, THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR, comes to life on a Disney DVD. It is a way to help children learn to count and identify shapes, etc. So make sure you get this for your smaller kids.

You can also get a new Rolie Poly Olie DVD. This one is titled "Rolie Olie Polie - Springy Time Fun." The DVD contains a selection of several stories and each has a theme and a moral. So this is another "must have" for the kids.

 

 

 

 

 

©2006 Jackie K. Cooper

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