If you’ve ever consciously considered how to live your life while doing the least harm possible to others, or if you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the amassing of little responsibilities that happens when you become an adult, or if you’ve ever wondered if you’re a fuckup, Away We Go (written by McSweeney’s founder Dave Eggers and his wife, Vendela Vida; and directed by Sam Mendes) is a rare movie that’s meant just for you.
(And if you do watch Away We Go on DVD, I hope you'll read my (spoiler-filled) interview with Vida and Eggers after you watch it.)
Kelly O was not pleased with the Soderbergh-directed and Sasha Grey-starring The Girlfriend Experience:
"Girlfriend experience" is a term used by chichi, expensive, $2,000-an-hour escorts to describe not just paid fucking, but the accompanying personal time—lots of kissing, cuddling, hair tussling, and talking. Oh, the TALKING. This is a movie all about talk-talk-TALKing. It's a story about relationships and sex—yet there isn't any sex in the film. All they do is TALK. And talk. And talk some more.
And Brendan Kiley liked Shrink despite everything about Shrink:
It wouldn’t be difficult to build a case against Shrink. It’s glossy. It’s maudlin. It’s self-referential: an L.A. movie about L.A. celebrities and how unhappy they are. It can’t find the bottom of the cheese barrel and its deus ex machina will insult your intelligence. Most infuriatingly, though, this dark comedy about addiction, anomie, and the wages of privilege totally works.
You can read about all the other DVD releases of the day, including Monsters Vs. Aliens, The Brothers Bloom, How I Met Your Mother: Season 4, and several failed TV series (Kings and the American Life on Mars) over here.
