Star Studded Dramas – 8 Engaging Films (DVD)

For movie fans looking for some dramatic features, Mill Creek is more than happy to provide an eight film boxed set of some varied dramas that will surely attract any audience in the mood for soapy, entertaining, or who just want to kill some time. The “Star Studded Dramas” are worthy of the watches, if only for their varying degrees of tone since neither title is very similar to the other.

2000’s Billy Bob Thorton directed “All the Pretty Horses” finds Matt Damon as a cowboy who falls in love with the local rancher’s daughter, who so happens to be Penelope Cruz. Filled with sudsy direction and a great cast, this is one of Matt Damon’s most unique films.  2004’s “A Love Song for Bobby Long” stars an interesting cast including John Travolta as an alcoholic and Scarlett Johannson as the woman who befriends him in the somewhat bleak drama about characters colliding in the middle of tragedy and soon they begin to learn about one another in ways they never imagined.

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it's a love thing. (2012)

lovething

The only problem I had with director Andy Dodd’s romantic dramedy is that it wasn’t a little longer. With another fifteen to twenty minutes added, “It’s a Love Thing” could have really become an excellent feature. But that’s a mere nitpick, because “It’s a Love Thing” could have been four hours and I’d still be complaining that it wasn’t long enough. “It’s a Love Thing” is a beautiful and engaging drama about two children in a big world that find one another in the midst of the randomness and find out that love is better than anything around them. Including Star Wars.

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Sho' Nuff! Remembering "The Last Dragon"

One of the biggest childhood favorites that I gladly admit to loving is “Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon.”
Many film buffs based in knowing cult classics or bad films in general just know what film I’m talking about and they just can’t help talk about and bask in all its pure horrid presence. To this day I fondly remember my mom asking “You actually like that movie?” every time I decided to watch it.

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Amour (2012)

Amour_PosterMichael Haneke is an often bold and interesting director who never wants to pull back from the truly disgusting aspects of reality that can tarnish something fragile. “Love [Amour]” while being a sweet tale of two people hopelessly in love, is really a grueling look at life destroying a relationship. From minute one, the tale of Georges and Anne is a love that begins to rot slowly from the inside out.

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Vamp U (2013)

vamp-uOddly enough “Vamp U” (formerly titled “Dr. Limptooth”) works much better as a horror movie than it does a comedy. Deep down it possesses the tone of one of those raucous horror comedies from the eighties that should rightfully star someone like Eddie Deezen or Linnea Quigley, and as a horror movie it’s a very effective tongue in cheek vampire film. As a comedy it’s a pretty decent riot, and one that may not inspire laughter, but will garner various giggles and chortles. When “Vamp U” decides it wants to be a straight up vampire movie, it’s a pretty wicked little throwback to the eighties, especially with Julie Gonzalo having a blast as the alpha vampire queen Chris, who begins sleeping with her vampire professor and turns in to a vampire mid-way.

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Django Unchained (2012)

In the tradition of “The Legend of Nigger Charley,” and “Boss Nigger,” director Quentin Tarantino tips his hat to the exploitation cinema of the seventies with his own epic tale of slavery, freedom, and avenging those that have been unjustly murdered. Quite possibly Tarantino’s boldest and most courageous cinematic undergoing, “Django Unchained” is yet again another wonderful love letter to classic exploitation cinema, and one that Tarantino revels in soaking with adoration, providing viewers with one of the few African American western heroes with a back story that taps in to the tropes of the hero’s journey. While many did decry “Django Unchained” as exploitative and hyper violent, Tarantino definitely has his finger on the pulse and knows full well what immortalized the classic blaxploitation westerns. They thrived on hyper violence and slavery revenge fantasies and Tarantino holds nothing back with a relentlessly violent and entertaining love letter to his favorite sub-genre.

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LOL (2012)

In vogue bright eyed teen stars are a dime a dozen in America, and they have a shorter shelf life than a can of beans. Often times a teen star can rise and fade before anyone even remembers their name, and it’s a struggle to fight for career success beyond being young and beautiful. What’s worse is teen stars are more and more presenting talent and aren’t the manufactured product that Disney keeps churning out. Miley Cyrus has shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that, like most teen Disney stars the studio churns out year after year, she’s pretty much fading in to the background.

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