On Demand Weekly

The Movies On Demand MOD February Preview of The Indies has arrived. Highlights of the new release schedule for January, 2012 include MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE, FIREFLIES IN THE GARDEN, THE WAY, TAKE SHELTER and more. People who missed these highly-regarded titles can catch them on demand in February.

Almost every indie new release listed comes to Movies On Demand either before or the same day as DVD.

Enjoy On Demanding this month!


Indie Titles:

THE GUARD – Premieres January 3
R, Comedy
Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle

Same day as DVD


ANONYMOUS – Premieres February 7
PG-13, Thriller
Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave

Same day as DVD


FIREFLIES IN THE GARDEN – Premieres February 7
R, Drama
Ryan Reynolds, Willem Dafoe

Same day as DVD


THE WAY – Premieres February 9
PG-13, Comedy
Martin Sheen, Emilio Estevez

Pre-DVD


TAKE SHELTER – Premieres February 14
R, Drama
Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain

Same day as DVD


BRAKE – Premieres February 17
TV-MA, Action
Stephen Dorff, Chyler Leigh

Before theatrical release

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand and from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: BRAKE (IFC Films).

BRAKE
By Joe Charnitski

In Hollywood parlance the “high concept” movie is a film driven by one big idea, a bold concept, as opposed to propelled by character or even plot. For example, the high concept of THE TRUMAN SHOW is “one man’s entire life is a reality tv show, but he doesn’t know it.” “A weatherman is reliving Groundhogs Day over and over again,” is another example of a high concept driving a picture.

There are three requirements for a successful high concept movie: 1) obviously, a strong concept. You need the kind of conceit that elicits “oh, what a great idea for a movie” as a response; 2) the concept has to build, take fresh turns and keep an audience intrigued. Some big ideas are excellent in the first 10 minutes, but if you don’t know where to take the story, you’ve got a big “who cares” on your hands; 3) the payoff, the climax, the big reveal - it’s got to be good, surprising yet satisfying. The high concept poses a question, the end needs to provide an answer.

The claustrophobic action flick BRAKE certainly has a high concept: a secret service agent is trapped in a plastic box in the trunk of a car by terrorists intent on killing the President. He has information they want. They have his wife. What should he do? So, the first requirement is met. Unfortunately, it’s less successful with the other two.

Stephen Dorff (SOMEWHERE, PUBLIC ENEMIES) stars as secret service agent Jeremy Reins. He’s the guy stuck in the trunk. He wakes up in this predicament and assumes he’s been placed there because of gambling debts. Soon he discovers the much darker truth. Not only are terrorists trying to use him to assassinate the President. Not only are they threatening his wife. They’ve kidnapped another man, placed him in a separate trunk and kidnapped his family, too. Jeremy can save the lives of all of these people. He only needs to break the most solemn oath he’s taken: to protect the President.