Five New DVD Releases to Watch on a Cold Night

I am queen of the video store. I simply can not go to the movie theater, even when it is a movie I really want to see, I wait for it to come out on video, so thank god DVD's come out so fast now, and my video store gives me a good rental plan, or I would be anxiously waiting weeks for the movies I want to see to arrive on my video stores shelves. Here are a few I have checked out recently, they weren't big movies because my husband went to the video store this time and he has a knack for finding and renting the obscure. Anyway here are three I have reviewed:

The Illusionist

Starring Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti, and Rufus Sewell.

I didn't like this movie. It was directed by Neil Burger who wrote Interview with the Assassin, which I must say I have never seen and I also do not know much about Neil Burger. The story is two kids from two different walks of life, fall in love, are forbidden to see each other, then are separated, only to meet again years later. Of course the character played by Jessica Biel is the love interest of the character played by Edward Norton. Mrs. Beil is Sophie who is a countess, and Mr. Norton plays the magician Eisenheim. Paul Giamatti is Inspector Uhl, and Rufus Sewell is Crown Prince Leopold.

Of course when they meet again years later the countess is engaged and can't break the engagement because, of course, she is engaged to the crown prince who is a very bad guy, and is only marrying her for status. Then surprise, surprise she dies, Paul Giamatti is investigating, and figures out in the end that the crown prince is responsible and brings him to justice. The only cliché' left out of this movie is the framing of the lover Eisenheim. There is a twist at the end that is supposed to make this movie unlike all the others, but after sitting through a whole movie of cliché's it sort of falls short.

I love Paul Giamatti so it is worth watching the movie for his performance, also Rufus Sewell plays a wonderful jealous prince and is the only authentic English actor in a movie set in an English setting. What I can't get over is Mary Camden I don't think I will ever be able to see Jessica Biel as any thing else.