Hayden Christensen and Jessica Alba in "Awake"
courtesy of MGM
"Your Worst Nightmare"

Ever think about what one of your worst nightmares would be? Getting buried alive would be right up there. Maybe you have phobias about snakes, bugs, etc. How about being awake during an operation? Now there's a nightmare. And that is what is explored in the new DVD "Awake." Hayden Christensen of "Star Wars" fame and Jessica Alba of "Fantastic Four" fame team up in this new drama "Awake." In the film they play young lovers and are very convincing in their roles. Christensen is not your most charismatic actor, and Alba is very good at acting good but very bad at acting bad. That means they both have a limited range, and the roles of the lovers are in this range.

Christensen plays Clay Beresford, a very wealthy young man who has a bad heart. He is in line for a heart transplant as soon as a donor heart is found. His girlfriend Sam (Alba) is very loving and supportive but she can't win over Clay's mama (Lena Olin). Mama B doesn't think she is right for her Clay and says so loudly.

Clay decides to marry Sam anyway and then on their wedding night he gets notice there is a heart available for him. His good friend and physician Jack Harper (Terrence Howard) is going to do the surgery. Sam kisses him good-bye and he is off to get a new heart.

After being given the anesthesia by the anesthetist (Christopher McDonald) Clay goes to sleep, but wakes up as they are making the incision. He can't speak or move but he is awake. As I pointed out, it could be your worst nightmare come true and it is happening to him.

From that point on things get more and more complicated and most of it stretches the limits of believability. People wander in and out of the operating room, and the hospital appears to be fairly deserted except for them.

Christensen is okay in his role. He is never going to get the "most charismatic or dynamic" award. The reason to see the movie however is Alba. As stated she is a competent actress as long as she is playing a good person or even a funny person, but when she tries to be evil - well that is not her forte'.

Howard just walks through his role but Olin gives it her best. Next to Alba, she is the best thing in the movie. You don't know how powerful she is gong to be until the final scenes. Plus she has that mature sensual beauty thing going for her.

"Awake" didn't win any awards as movie of the year but it will keep you entertained. You just have to suspend logic in order to accept the story, but then you have to do that with a lot of scripts lately. It is a DVD worth watching and you will have a fun time with it.

Talk about horrifying situations, the new DVD "Black Water" tells a story based on a true event. It concerns a group of friends who set off on a boat tour of the land surrounding a river in Northern Australia. When the boat capsizes they find themselves in the water. And in the water there is a salt water crocodile.

This is a tense film about survival and it holds you glued to its events. The DVD also includes a "Making of" featurette that gives even more details about the movie and the event that inspired it. Plus there are deleted scenes and other extras.

For a movie that may give you nightmares, this is one of the most engrossing. It is "Black Water" and it is the stuff of pure horror.

"Lonesome Dove" is one of the most popular western movies (mini-series) ever made. Now there is a prequel to that story and it is on DVD. Once again Gus McRae and Woodrow McCall are center stage in a saga about the old west.

This story centers on the two men's personal lives and their efforts against the Commanches, an Indian tribe that is really fierce. They know they are fighting a losing battle against the white man but they are determined to defend their land as long as possible.

Steve Zahn plays Gus and Karl Urban plays Woodrow. Other actors in the film are Val Kilmer, Rachel Griffiths, Wes Studi and Linda Cardenelli. All are good in their roles with Zahn being my personal favorite.

Tom Selleck joined the cast of "Vegas" this year and though he was good in his role the series has now been cancelled. Still he can take pride in the fact that he is still being asked to make "Jesse Stone" movies. The fourth in the series is on DVD and is titled "Jesse Stone: Sea Change."

Stone is a police chief in a New England town. He is far from perfect as he has a drinking problems and other bad habits. In this story he tries to solve a "cold case." There is a twelve-year-old murder that gets his attention. As he investigates it, he stumbles on to other crimes.

William Devane, Kathy Baker and Sean Young co-star in this film. They are good but it is Selleck who makes the movie. He still has the old charisma he first displayed in "Magnum P I." 

"The Little Einsteins" are composed of kids named Leo, June, Quincy, Annie and Rocket. They each have individual talents and add to the adventures with which they get involved. Their latest series of adventures is collected in "Little Einsteins: Race For Space."

There are three separate episodes included in this collection and one of them, "The Treasure Behind the Little Red Door," has never before been seen. All of them involve space and races. There are a variety of machines featured and music is also front and center. So for your youngest children this is a perfect DVD.

Different folks have different obsessions and in the new DVD "Inside" the obsession is "the lives of strangers." A young couple likes to follow strangers and observe them and what they do. Alex (Nicholas D'Agosto) and Josie (Leighton Meester) feed off of each other's obsession and encourage each other in it. But one day it goes too far and Alex intrudes into the lives of the wrong people.

This is a fascinating film about obsession and how seemingly harmless acts can become harmful. D'Agosto and Meester are talented young stars and if people see this movie it should help their careers.

Stelan Skarsgard is artist Francisco Goya in the film "Goya's Ghosts." The film focuses on his relationship with a beautiful woman (Natalie Portman) who inspires his painting. The time is the end of the Spanish Inquisition and this woman comes under scrutiny and is accused of being a heretic. Goya's friend Lorenzo (Javier Bardem) is the monk who is leading the Inquisition and the woman's fate is in his hands.

Bardem is this year's Oscar winner as Best Actor, and Portman is growing as an actress. Still somehow this movie just didn't intrigue me like it should have. I used to be a big Portman fan but her choice of roles lately has left me cold, and I still have that "No Country" image of Bardem in my mind.
 

 

 

 

 

©2008 Jackie K. Cooper

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