Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Y Tu Mama Tambien" (2001)

In perfect timing, our blu ray pick this week happens to be one of our movie recommendations for August as well. Alfonso Cuaron's Y Tu Mama Tambien is now on Criterion Collection and is still a great movie that is often listed as one of the very best films of world cinema you can find. A smart, funny, sexy road trip movie that's a perfect choice for capping off the end of summer. In fact, even after Gravity, I still think this smaller, more personal film from the director is probably his best movie- it'd be interesting to see him try to make something in this vein again.

Original Trailer:

TEASER: "Men, Women & Children"

Jason Reitman's latest movie is set to premiere at Toronto next month, and from this it looks like it's going to be darker than his usual fare (Juno, Up in the Air, Young Adult). But it's only a teaser and you don't actually get to see any real scenes from the movie yet in this, so who knows. But part of me wonders if Adam Sandler has sunk so low these days that even showing up in a serious drama won't cut it unless he does the world a favor and stops making his own terrible movies. Like forever.

POSTERS: "Dumb and Dumber To"

The publicity campaign for Dumb and Dumber 2 is ramping up, starting with these new posters that do a takeoff on Scarlett Johansson's Lucy, asking what would happen if Lloyd and Harry use just 1% of their brain.

Kinda funny I guess, although it's no more true than the myth that people use 10% of their brain either. People still believe that, don't they? Yeah, that's pretty sad.

TEASER: "Mortdecai"

A first look here at Johnny Depp in the comedy Mortdecai, based on the first of a book anthology called The Mortdecai Trilogy. Looks like it's got a good cast and could be fun, but I really don't trust that release date. If this is any good why would they be releasing it in February? That's a pretty notorious dumping ground for new movies (it's where Channing Tatum's Jupiter Ascending was moved to at the last minute). It's directed by longtime Hollywood screenwriter David Koepp (who actually directed Depp back in 2004's Secret Window), but I'm a little wary of this one overall.

Lauren Bacall 1924-2014

We just can't catch a break this week, can we? Screen legend Lauren Bacall, once the wife of Humphrey Bogart, died today of a stroke at age 89. A great beauty who made her big screen debut at just 19 years old in To Have and Have Not (1944), her first film with her future husband. The two became the famous Hollywood couple known as Bogie and Bacall, and her best films came in the 1940's and 50's and included The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947) and Key Largo (1948), all with Bogie. She then continued to act in films right up to the present day and shared the screen with other legends like Marilyn Monroe in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), Rock Hudson in Written on the Wind (1956), John Wayne in The Shootist (1976), and well into her later years she was nominated for an Oscar for the Barbra Streisand directed The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996). She was one of the last remaining stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, and received an Honorary Oscar in 2009 and the Kennedy Center Honors in 1997.

The famous "do you know how to whistle" scene with Bogie in To Have and Have Not:

Being honored with the lifetime achievement Oscar in 2009:

Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Out of the Past" (1947)

One of the all time great film noirs is out on blu-ray today, and this one is right up there with The Big Sleep, Mildred Pierce, and Double Indemnity as a prime example of the genre from the 1940's, when it was at its peak. Robert Mitchum shows off his iconic screen persona as the PI caught up in a complicated mystery involving what else, a devious femme fatale (one of the very best, and by that I mean most evil, played by Jane Greer). It's also an early villainous role for the up and coming actor Kirk Douglas. Trust me, you should check this one out- it's truly one of the greats.

Scene from the film:

Robin Williams 1951-2014

I can't believe it. In what is, for me at least, probably the most shocking celebrity death since Michael Jackson, legendary comedian and actor Robin Williams has been found dead of an apparent suicide at the age of 63. The cause of death has been attributed to asphyxia, and his publicist has confirmed he'd been suffering recently from his years long battle with depression. Williams had been open about his struggles with depression, as well as alcohol and drugs, but this is a real blow to fans and anyone who was familiar with his work (which, let's face it, is pretty much everyone). From his start as a standup comedian whose routines resembled no one else's, to his days on the 70's Happy Days spinoff Mork & Mindy, to his films, of which there are more than I could ever name, but let's try just a few- The World According to Garp, Good Morning Vietnam, Dead Poet's Society, The Fisher King, Hook, Aladdin, Mrs Doubtfire, Jumanji, The Birdcage and Good Will Hunting (for which he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1997). For a kid of the 90's like me, it seems like he was in almost every movie you grew up watching. There will never be another like him.

Here he is winning the Oscar in 1998:

One of his most iconic roles as the Genie in Aladdin, which arguably redefined voice acting in animation forever:

And here's an example of his one of his inimitable stand-up routines. He was one of a kind:

TRAILER #3: "Maps to the Stars"

Another new trailer for Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars drops today. This is the international one, because unlike here, the movie has secured an actual release date of Sept 26th in the UK. It still looks good, so I'm wondering what's going on with the U.S. release in that it hasn't been scheduled yet. The movie appeared to get divisive reviews out of Cannes, but did the UK critics really like it that much better than the American ones? Julianne Moore was the most buzzed about performance in this, so if the movie ever comes out, I guess she's the one to watch out for.