DVD Pick of the Week 12/16/08

By Fred Squires on December 16th, 2008

I thought this was going to be a disappointing week for DVDs, but then I dug a little deeper and found much more than I was expecting.

I have to start off with Girls Gone Wild: Horny Schoolgirls – All Girl Sleep Over and Girls Gone Wild: Horny Schoolgirls – Orgy Party. Everyone knows about Girls gone Wild, it’s that video your roommate in college kept in his bedroom for months on end, OK, so I shouldn’t have brought that up. According to the Amazon Description of “All Girl Sleepover”:

“There’s nothing hotter than being invited to an all-girl sleepover. Especially with a bunch of hot young bad girls. It’s Samantha’s 18th birthday and we got her what she really wanted a Rabbit sex toy. Our present is getting to watch her break it in.”

And then there’s the “Orgy Party” Description:

“Go behind the scenes of the hottest college parties you can imagine. Watch hot, barely legal coeds get naked and crazy in dorm rooms, clubs and the GGW bus. Texas is full of hot young bad girls and Ashley is no exception. She strips out of her fishnet top and tiny miniskirt to show off her unbelievably tight, tan body.”

They go on from there, of course. You know want them.

Next up there’s Death Race. Death Race is a remake of the Roger Cormac classic Death Race 2000. According to Amazon:

“Mayhem rules in Death Race, a head-over-heels remake of the Roger Corman cult classic Death Race 2000, in which cars become lethal weapons. The strength of this new version is its total single-mindedness about vehicular homicide; it has the virtue of no cluttering subplots or simpering sentimentality. And banish all memory of the original’s wild satirical comedy: Death Race is as grim as a dinner tray to the face (a reference that will be explained in a key sequence). In a slightly futuristic maximum-security prison, cons take part in brutal races around the island prison, their violent deaths watched live by millions of viewers. Jason Statham, possibly cast because of his driving dexterity in the Transporter movies, plays a man wrongly imprisoned for murder.”

You know you love action, and vehicular homicide, so check out Death Race.

Next up is Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. OK, so yes this is a love story and also a musical, but don’t let that drive you away. Earlier this year, during the writer’s strike, a lot of writers were sitting around with nothing to do, including a writer named Joss Whedon. Writers Guild members couldn’t write for TV, Movies or Radio, so some decided to write for new media. Whedon released Dr. Horrible streaming for free on the internet in July, and then released it on iTunes, now it’s coming out on DVD. Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris) is as a misguided super villian who’s in love with Penny (Felicia Day), a girl he met at the laundromat. He seems to be doing well with Penny until Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion) shows up. Check it out to see if Dr. Horrible gets the girl.

I’m going a little crazy this week, featuring 5 (well 6 really) movies, and next we have The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. It’s basically the classic Mummy premise, but this time, Brenday Fraser’s in China, and the Mummy is played by Jet Li. It’s not quite as good as the earlier films in this franchise, but it’s has some fantastic martial arts and special effects. It’s an action/adventure movie through and through, and if you liked the earlier Mummy movies, you’ll also enjoy this one.

You might be confused if you read this earlier, but this week’s DVD Pick of the Week is Burn After Reading. Somehow I missed this one earlier, I don’t know how, because I’m a huge fan of the Coen Brothers. Burn After Reading is a crazy ride, in the classic Coen Brothers style reminiscent of The Big Lebowski and Raising Arizona. I’m going to let Amazon explain the Plot:

“After the dark brilliance of No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading may seem like a trifle, but few filmmakers elevate the trivial to art quite like Joel and Ethan Coen. Inspired by Stansfield Turner’s Burn Before Reading, the comically convoluted plot clicks into gear when the CIA gives analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) the boot. Little does Cox know his wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton, riffing on her Michael Clayton character), is seeing married federal marshal Harry (George Clooney, Swinton’s Clayton co-star, playing off his Syriana role). To get back at the Agency, Cox works on his memoirs. Through a twist of fate, fitness club workers Linda (Frances McDormand) and Chad (Brad Pitt in a pompadour that recalls Johnny Suede) find the disc and try to wrangle a “Samaratin tax” out of the surly alcoholic. An avid Internet dater, Linda plans to use the money for plastic surgery, oblivious that her manager, Ted (The Visitor’s Richard Jenkins), likes her just the way she is.”

It’s quirky, it’s convoluted, and that’s why we love it.

Also, coming out this week: