The computer-animation boom has its disadvantages, mostly in the major studios' panicked flight away from traditional cel animation. But at least the rise of a new technology has prompted studios to explore their own visual styles instead of clinging to Disney's time-tested mold. Case in point: Robots (Fox), the latest feature helmed by Ice Age co-directors Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha, boasts terrifically inventive character designs and an intricate robot world worth perusing in slow-motion on DVD. Too bad its thin coming-of-age story about an idealistic young inventor robot with a dream isn't as colorful, and its obligatory riffs from a rattletrap robot voiced by Robin Williams aren't as fresh…
David Fincher and noted baseball-cap enthusiast Fred Durst were both bandied about as possible directors, but it was ultimately thirteen director Catherine Hardwicke who ushered Lords Of Dogtown (Sony) into frenetic mediocrity. Hardwicke's take on the legendary Zephyr skateboarding team subscribes to the tired post-Boogie Nights school of dizzying sensory overload, wasting a fine performance from Emile Hirsch as hotshot skateboarder Jay Adams and Heath Ledger's inspired homage to Val Kilmer in The Doors…
Ever wonder what Saving Private Ryan would be like if it were set in Korea during the Korean War? Then run, don't walk, to rent Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood Of War (Columbia Tristar). Oh wait: It's probably worth noting that it features all of Ryan's gore, but none of the emotional impact, and that it just goes on and on and on. Better walk, not run…
In the two decades since Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer (MPI) was released to equal parts acclaim and revulsion, the lives of mass murderers have become common territory for thrillers and horror movies. But John McNaughton's gritty independent feature still distinguishes itself by emphasizing the mundane business of everyday life. The 20th-anniversary edition includes commentary, deleted scenes, an hourlong making-of documentary, and a profile of Henry Lee Lucas, the killer who inspired the movie.