Weekly DVD Pick - Robocop, Lives of Others & Serenity
I was listening to the Movie Patron Cinecast last week and there was mention that the rest of August was going to be a bit dry for DVD releases. I was a bit shocked when I wandered over to the DVD shop today and saw the 20th Anniversary of Robocop Edition DVD, The Lives of Others and a new Collector’s edition of Serenity. I guess I’m a bit lucky in that I’ve never actually picked up Robocop or Serenity but even without those two The Lives of Others is a worthwhile addition to my rapidly expanding DVD collection.
Out of the three Serenity is probably the one I’m looking forward to revisiting the least. Sure its a good science fiction movie, but I think I was just expecting too much. I really enjoyed the TV series Firefly and my hopes were pretty high going in, perhaps they were too high. I haven’t seen Serenity since I first saw it in theatre a couple of years ago. I’ll give this a rewatching and this time I’ll try to separate it from the series and see if I enjoy it more.
I’ve heard over and over just how good the unrated cut of Robocop is. I’ve checked around every so often in my local video stores but I’ve just never been able to find it and I just never got around to ordering it from Amazon. Fortunately my laziness in no longer an block for me. The 20th Anniversary edition of Robocop. Disk 1 has the original theatrical cut and disk 2 has the unrated extended cut. I’ll finally get a chance to see just how far Verhoeven goes with it.
I personally do not think that The Lives of Others deserved to beat Pan’s Labyrinth at the Academy Awards yet it is still an excellent movie. Ulrich Mühe brings a great deal of humanity to his character. He starts off the movie looking almost inhuman and slowly grows through the entire movie into someone who I would respect. This movie isn’t so much a thriller as it is a drama about human nature just like Mühe’s character the audience is drawn completely into the lives of the character’s he listening in on.
Overall this is a pretty good week for DVDs. We have a good satire/action with Robocop, an excellent drama in The Lives of Others and I’m willing to give Serenity another chance.
Andrew James said
August 23 2007 @ 2:19 am
Oh yeah, forgot to mention the Serenity disc on the Cinecast. Don’t LOVE the film, but sure like it a lot. never watched Firefly, but really love Nathan Fillion. Maybe this is one to pick up.