Drillbit Taylor: Extended Survival Edition
Directed by Steven Brill
By Thomas Quinlan

A mix of My Bodyguard, 3 O’Clock High and Revenge of the Nerds, with homages to a few other films thrown in for good measure, Drillbit Taylor ends up as a straightforward revenge comedy with a foregone conclusion long before the story reaches its climax. It all begins with a familiar premise: on their first day of high school, a trio of nerds make enemies with the resident bullies and eventually resort to hiring a bodyguard to protect themselves. Amidst the chaos created by this new bodyguard, scam artist Drillbit Taylor (Owen Wilson), both friendships and romances begin to bud. With the screenplay co-written by Seth Rogen (along with Kristofor Brown, who also contributed last-minute one-liners to many of the actors on set), there are some hilarious moments, such as the 8 Mile-inspired rap battle or the fight training between best friends Wade (Nate Hartley) and Ryan (Troy Gentile). Drillbit Taylor also contains a lot of great cameo appearances and some terrific adlibs. The kids deliver quality performances and Owen Wilson is pretty much what you would expect, but the standout performance comes from Alex Frost as head bully Filkins, who is such a sweet talking asshole that it’s absolutely impossible not to desire his comeuppance. The commentary track, primarily by Kristofor Brown and director Steven Brill, reveals some very interesting titbits about the movie’s three main young actors (Nate, Troy and David Dorfman), who drop by to contribute short sections to the commentary. Along with the brief-ish phone conversation featurette between the two writers, the commentary also reveals a lot about the difficulties of maintaining the artistic vision of a product with the input of producers, film company heads and other bigwigs. The Extended Survival Edition also contains extra footage reinserted, along with additional deleted and extended scenes, a line-o-rama and a gag reel. Finally, a few featurettes are included that highlight certain aspects of the film. Although the special features are a little more than this somewhat mediocre comedy deserves, Drillbit Taylor is still worth a rental for a few good laughs. Plus, you’ll probably be seeing these young actors appearing in films a whole lot more now. (Paramount)
Daft Punk's Electroma - Dir. by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo
Daft Punk have never tried to live up to expectations. They frustrate their fans with painfully large gaps between albums and instead of recording, dip their toes into other media, like filmmaking. While they may or may not be working on a follow-up to 2005’s Human After All, Thomas and Guy-M ...Read More
Stop-Loss - Dir. by Kimberly Peirce
Boys Don’t Cry director Kimberly Pierce ends her lengthy absence from filmmaking with this earnest mediation on the influence of war on those fighting it. An instant message discourse with her enlisted brother while he was stationed in Iraq inspired Pierce to research deeper into the war from ...Read More
10,000 B.C. - Dir. by Roland Emmerich
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days - Dir. by Cristian Mungiu
Be Kind Rewind - Dir. by Michel Gondry
Bonneville - Dir. by Christopher N. Rowley
Brutal Massacre: A Comedy - Dir. by Steve Mena
Burn Notice: Season One
Californication: Season 1
Careless - Dir. by Peter Spears
City Of Men - Dir. by Paulo Morelli
Darfur Now - Dir. by Theodore Braun
Dirty Harry: Ultimate Collector’s Edition
Flawless - Dir. by Michael Radford
Fool's Gold - Dir. by Andy Tennant
Heathers: 20th High School Reunion Edition - Dir. by Michael Lehmann
Honeydripper - Dir. by John Sayles
Jericho: Season 2
John Adams - Dir. by Tom Hooper
Late Fragments - Dir. by Daryl Cloran, Anita Doran & Mateo Guez
Love Songs - Dir. by Christophe Honore
Mama's Boy - Dir. by Tim Hamilton
Masters of Science Fiction: Volume One
My Name is Juani - Dir. by Bigas Luna
On The Doll - Dir. by Thomas Mignone
Persepolis - Dir. by Vincent Parronaud and Marjane Satrapi
Popeye the Sailor: 1938-1940
Rails & Ties - Dir. by Alison Eastwood
Rescue Me: The Complete Fourth Season
Saving Grace: Season One
Seven Wonders of the Industrial World
Shutter - Dir. by Masayuki Ochiai
Smiley Face - Dir. by Greg Araki
Sunflower - Dir. by Zhang Yang
Superhero Movie - Dir. by Craig Mazin
The 4400: The Fourth Season
The Air I Breathe - Dir. by Jieho Lee
The BBC Natural History Collection
The Doors - The Doors: Classic Album
The Fantastic Four: The Complete First Season
The Flock - Dir. by Andrew Lau
The Other Boleyn Girl - Dir. by Justin Chadwick
The Rat Pack Ultimate Collectors Edition
The Ruins - Dir. by Carter Smith
The Spiderwick Chronicles - Dir. by Mark Waters
The Walker - Dir. by Paul Schrader
Under The Same Moon - Dir. by Patricia Riggen
Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show - Dir. by Ari Sandel
Waiter - Dir. by Alex van Warmerdam
Weeds: Season Three
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins - Dir. by Malcolm D. Lee
The Music Box
The term "videogame music" is often intended as an insult, deriding electronic beatscapes as rudimentary by comparing them to the 8-bit by necessity, bleep-based soundtracks of early Atari and Nintendo games. (See: Castles, Crystal) That Super Mario's theme music remains embedded in the frontal lobes of anyone under the age of 40 proves the critical weakness of the diss ― but it's also hopelessly archaic considering how much videogame music has evolved over the years.... Read More
Etaoin Shrdlu - Mating Calls
Explosive and precise, Etaoin Shrdlu knowingly wink at the perception that their post-hardcore math rock musical approach might be a throwback while simultaneously contributing something vibrant to punk rock with Mating Calls. Featuring members of significant bands like Blake, I Can Put my Ar... Full Review
Bayonetta [PS3 / Xbox 360]
"I've got a fever and the only cure is dead angels."
-Bayonetta

Ever since the Christmastime gaming deluge ended, I've been killing a lot of angels. Though God's messengers have been bad guys in other pop-cultural products ― His Dark Materials book trilogy, the pas... Full Review
Social Networking
• Be our friend on MySpace
• Be our fan on Facebook
• Tweet us on twitter
Viewing the August 2008 Issue: • Contents Page • News • Click Hear • Articles --> On the Cover  •  Front Five  •  Points  •  Comics  •  Questionnaire  •  Release Dates  •  Research  •  Timeline  •  Conversations • Music Reviews --> Recently Reviewed  •  Aggressive Tendencies  •  Beats & Rhymes  •  Destination Out  •  Frequencies  •  Groove  •  No Future  •  Pop Rocks  •  Wood, Wires & Whiskey  •  Concert Reviews • Motion Reviews --> Recently Reviewed  •  Dvd Reviews  •  Film Reviews  •  Music DVD Reviews  •  Short Film Fest  •  Videogame Reviews • Music School --> Label Life  •  Where I play • Contests • Contact --> About Us  • Advertising  • Distribution  • Getting Reviewed  • Getting Published  • Letters To The Editor  • Partnerships  • Subscriptions • Exclaim! Radio --> Aggressive Tendencies Radio  • Beats & Rhymes Radio  • Destination Out Radio  • Frequencies Radio  • Groove Radio  • No Future Radio  • Pop Rocks Radio  • Wood, Wires & Whiskey Radio • Exclaim! TV • Home & Latest Issue • Browse Issues