DVD Review: American Gangster

American Gangster
2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition
Directed by Ridley Scott
Starring Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cuba Gooding Jr., Josh Brolin, Ted Levine, Armand Assante, John Ortiz, John Hawkes, RZA
Rated R
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Available Feb. 19, 2008

“More important than any one man’s life is order.” -- Dominic Cattano (Armand Assante)

Maintaining law and order has been important from the beginning of time. However, when breaking the law and disrupting order becomes suitable and degrees of acceptability erupt, a truly tragic figure blossoms -- Frank Lucas. Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) is a paradox. He is sensitive yet violent, he has ethics but is immoral, and completely composed yet explosively volatile. It is Frank Lucas’s oppositional code of life which led him to control the heroin drug kingdom from the late 1960s to early 1970s. With his new, almost 100% pure product and his structured drug council, Frank Lucas took the illicitness and covertness of drug trafficking to a new level...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!

Movie Review: No Country for Old Men

No Country for Old Men
Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones
Rated R

It's the American Dream in a goddamn gym bag! -- Lou Chambers from A Simple Plan

I don't know, he ought to. He's seen the same things I've seen, and it's certainly made an impression on me. -- Ed Tom Bell from No Country For Old Men

No Country for Old Men: Chronic Malevolence and Avarice

Anton Chigurh is Death. Chigurh is the vicious, unstoppable psychopath at the heart of the Coen Brothers new film, No Country For Old Men. Chigurh is played to wicked perfection by Javier Bardem. He stalks the Texas border looking for a satchel containing two million dollars. Nothing and no one can come between him and the money. Chigurh is a far cry from the character Bardem played in The Sea Inside. Sadly, for his victims, Chigurh is very much mobile. Bardem’s intensity is in high gear right from the start of the film. He manages to escape the clutches of a police arrest. Once he escapes jail, no one is safe. A looming sense of dread has entered the barren and desolate landscapes of Texas in 1980. He uses a lethal nail gun to do away with his victims. Bardem is a one man reign of terror -- a specter of pure violence with a Prince Valiant haircut; coin tosses save some of his potential victims. Chigurh could put the fear of God into such cinematic monsters as Dennis Hopper’s Frank Booth, Anthony Hopkins’ Dr. Hannibal Lecter, Michael Rooker’s Henry, or even Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!

Movie Review: American Gangster

American Gangster
Directed by Ridley Scott
Starring Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Ted Levine, Josh Brolin, Joe Morton, Common, RZA
Rated R

The first time Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe appeared together was a little sci-fi action film called Virtuosity. Crowe played an android serial killer and Washington played a cop with a robotic arm. Twelve years and Academy Award wins for both men later, the two reunite in American Gangster, a film that above all, showcased how far the men have come in that time.

Based on a true story, American Gangster follows the rise and fall of Frank Lucas (Washington) as one of the biggest drug kingpins in American history while simultaneously showing the fall and rise of officer Richie Roberts (Crowe) in his career in law enforcement...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!

DVD Review: 'Planet Terror' Extended and Unrated

Planet Terror
2-Disc Extended and Unrated Edition
Written and Directed by Robert Rodriguez
Cast: Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Marley Shelton, Josh Brolin
The Weinstein Company
On sale: October 16, 2007

Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror was originally released in theaters earlier this year along with Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof under the title Grindhouse. The two feature-length films were accompanied by four faux action/horror trailers and were filmed in low budget style in an effort to replicate the 1970's "grindhouse" movie-going experience.

Sadly, while Grindhouse nailed the theater experience, it failed at the box office -- though not for lack of a few good stories, my favorite being Rodriguez's zombie romp Planet Terror, released here in its own unrated and extended DVD edition...continue reading this review at Geeks of Doom!