The DVDs I haven't reviewed

     Apparently, I don't give an opinion on everything.  Here's what I haven't posted about, either because I was too lazy or didn't care enough.

AUGUST

Blessed (2006) — So, this was pretty awful.  It is slow, overly low-key, and Heather Graham puts close to nothing into her performance.

Heartland: The Complete Second Season (2008-09) — I only watched one episode, out of devotion to Katharine Isabelle.  But it looked like a decent, mostly wholesome show.  Better than most of the other Canadian offerings as of late.

Snow Angels (2007) — It is hard to make a movie that doesn't note just how unbelievably attractive Kate Beckinsale is.  But there is too much going on in this one, to the detriment of the two major stories at play.  Not a bad movie, but not as focused as it should have been.

SEPTEMBER

Rec (2007) — Good, but I still prefer Quarantine (2008).  There is certainly a different central element at play here.  Much more horror in concept than its American cousin.

The Resident (2011) — This was horrible.  Plodding.  Predictable.  Completely lacking in tension.  I have a hard time believing that both stars wanted to do this movie, but it is hard to criticize working actors when it comes to taking jobs.

Fanboys (2009) — There is a good concept at work here, but the delivery is lacking.  Maybe it would have been better if the movie hadn't be reworked and scenes re-done in an effort to make it more mainstream.  But my main problem was the idea that more Seth Rogen is ever better.

The Special Relationship (2010) — This was a disappointment.  It essentially shows how necessary, but not always friendly, the relationships between Great Britain's Prime Minister and the American President.  Too much time was spent on tidbits and too little on the meat of the relationship.  Really felt more like an old-school Network TV movie.

Limitless (2011) — Not bad, but I found myself eager for this one to end.  If Cooper weren't so charismatic, I don't know if it would have gotten a release.

Thor (2011) — I hated this movie.  Just hated it.

X-Men: First Class (2011) — I liked this prequel, but will continue to wonder why starting the X-Men as the comics started is an impossibility.

OCTOBER

Definitely, Maybe (2008) — I have a man-crush on Ryan Reynolds.  He is great in this, as is Isla Fisher.  This could have been tighter, but it is one of the better rom-coms I've seen in a while.

Scream of the Banshee (2011) — Ugh. 

Mirrors (2008) — Too much early action, not enough of a slow build for my tastes.  I also couldn't understand why prime real estate was just sitting there waiting to claim victims with its haunting.

Ann Rule Presents The Stranger Beside Me (2003) — Yeah, this was a TV movie that did nothing to give a better idea of how the people close to Ted Bundy had no idea he was a serial killer.

NOVEMBER

Feast (2005) — Hey, Krista Allen keeps her top on.  I actually like Feast, but it is a flawed horror film.  One of the better creature features I've seen from the modern era, but too casual with how the characters are disposed of.

Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda: Season One (2000-01) — Much worse than I remember.  Hard to see how this ran for five seasons.

Killshot (2008) — Mickey Rourke as a Native American hitman.  If the film had centered on him, I think it would have appealed to me more.  The victim characters are underdeveloped (but played by likeable actors), and that means that there isn't any investment in terms of what happens to them.

DECEMBER

Bond of Silence (2010) — TV movie that wastes the talents of Kim Raver and Greg Grunberg.

Red (2010) — A little too over-the-top for me, but at least Red was entertaining.

Gene Roddenberry's Earth Final Conflict: Season One (1997-98) — Wow.  There was actually a good show here in the first season.  Sure, it had too many campy moments, but it really looked like it was laying the groundwork for a great humans vs. aliens, cloak and dagger series.

Attack the Block (2011) — I was rooting for the aliens for most of this.  Just couldn't root for the wanna-be thugs.

JANUARY

Adventureland (2009) — Hey, its Ryan Reynolds having sex with Kristen Stewart.  I kind of expect that to happen in real life.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) — Somehow, this was worse than the original trilogy.  And they managed to add a bunch of characters I couldn't be bothered to care about.  Note to Disney: these movies can all be an hour shorter.

Gene Roddenberry's Earth Final Conflict: Season Two (1998-99) — Robert Leeshock (not pictured above) takes over as the lead and the show goes to hell.  Coincidence?  Maybe.  But killing off the main character and removing the subtlety made this show go from good to awful in about two episodes.

The Shunning (2011)

     Okay.  The worst thing – for me – about this DVD was the (seemingly) 20 trailers for faith-themed movies that seem to insult religious convictions and film-making, or at least a reminder that some actors don't get much work these days.  Or, in one instance, that Doris Roberts is a more bankable star than Jewel Staite.  That may be true, but I'll forever hold out hope that Staite finally breaks through in a TV show co-starring fellow BC native Katharine Isabelle (they've worked together plenty of times in the past, but never on anything very good).  Enough about Jewel Staite.
      The Shunning (2011) isn't really in my wheelhouse.  Actually, if former co-worker and irregular contributor to this blog Silence Do Nothing hadn't shown an odd fascination with the Amish, I'm certain I would have never considered watching this.  Now, if Danielle Panabaker had become the live action Kim Possible [as was rumored around the time she did Sky High (2005)], I'm sure I would more interest in following her career.  But since I tend to think of her as the girl who gets a rather ignominious death in The Crazies (2010), she just doesn't stir much interest for me.  Nor is seeing Sherry Stringfield, who I really must assume regrets walking away from ER (1994-2009) in 1996 when she was one of the stars and culturally relevant.
     What does that leave me?  With a moderately well produced (if we accept that only one movie has ever done the Amish beard justice, and this isn't it) TV movie that doesn't feel the need to faithfully represent Amish culture or faith.  That is probably just as well, because it isn't like the Amish are going to see it and complain.  But with all of the clearly 'Christian' themed movies previewed on the disk, it struck me as odd that the faith an customs of the Amish were things to be overcome with singing and shopping.  I would like to think that these were handled better in the book, but again, it isn't like the Amish are going to fact check it.
     To go ahead and spoil this (seriously, if you've read my blog, you aren't going to watch The Shunning), the actual shunning gets ignored by the multiple members of the Amish community because, sometimes, there are problems that are just too big for the old ways.  I'd like to think that attitude would bring electricity in to a shared building so that dairy could bet kept from spoiling, but the movie wants it to be an excuse to love an adopted child and member of the community so much that they'll forgo their faith for her.  And apparently the Amish community is rife with secrets.  Because they are, at heart, a strange and devious people, right?
     As much as I was offended by how The Shunning dealt with the Amish, I still enjoyed it more than The Road (2009).  There is something to be said for having a story that at least goes somewhere.  And that ends much sooner.