Rocket Science
by Jeffrey Blitz
List Price:
Our Price: $21.99
You Save: $5.99 (21%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $3.99 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Anna Kendrick, Dionne Audain, Nicholas D'Agosto, Reece Thompson, Vincent PiazzaDirector: Jeffrey Blitz
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 101 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-01-29
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Hbo Home Video
DVD Reviews of Rocket Science
DVD Review: Then Again Maybe It Is...
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a fine little movie. Start with the soundtrack, Clem Snide, singing some of the group's own and then, over the closing credits, The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Trust me, it only sounds absurd before you've seen the movie.
Which is about a stuttering kid who tries to find -- in no particular order -- his voice, love, himself. Triumph on all fronts would be too simple and, as we all know, Rocket Science isn't simple. But it is full of turns and, looking back on the movie a couple days later, while many of those turns surprise, none feel false, arbitrary or forced. It's a scary future out there, but at the end of Rocket Science, Hal (or, as his annoying but loyal big brother would prefer to call him, Penelope) has made an impressive start.
Funny and true, right down to three pieces of pizza at closing on a New Jersey boardwalk, this movie should not be missed.
DVD Review: Small, simple and subtle: a very nice film about growing up
Summary: 4 Stars
A small and well-made film about a boy who stutters and stands back from life and what led him to engage.
I liked this movie quite a bit. It's not groundbreaking or classic or amazing -- and the basic premise of a kid with speech problems who ends up on a debate team due to a crush on a deceitful girl is a bit implausible -- but it fits very nicely into the genre of "Sundance-style" quirky films about ordinary folk with issues finding their way. I did think that the omniscient voiceover was a bit out of place and unnecessary.
Still, the film features some excellent performances, clever dialogue, engaging cinematography, and an enjoyable soundtrack. Quite good, well worth watching -- and very likely to mark an early point in a number of excellent careers: especially those of the director Jeffrey Blitz and the lead actor Reece Thompson.
DVD Review: This was the best movie of 2007.
Summary: 5 Stars
There are two types of people - there's people like me, and there's everyone else. A lot of reviews of Rocket Science I've read have been written by people who fall into the latter category. They criticise this film for being too consciously quirky or affected ... I take umbrage with this the same way one ought to take umbrage with the idea that the movies of the Farrelly brothers are consciously scatological, or that the films of Chris Guest are consciously improvisational. I mean, it's a comedy, people! Quirkiness is this particular film's conceit, its schtick, and if you're not willing to play along with a film's conceit, then move along...move along.
The other type of people - people like me - will love this film. I saw it in a theatre filled with people like me (well, not filled exactly, but one-quarter-filled; there aren't that many of us I'm afraid). And it was the first time in a long time that I recall hearing people laugh out loud during a film. I'd say the audience who I saw it with certainly connected.
And it marks the return of Mike Yanagita (aka Steve Park)! That scene-stealer from Fargo. The whole cast is great, actually, but especially Reece Thompson as Hal Hefner. Phenomenal. Stutterers on film are uniformly annoying to the point of unwatchability, but not Hal - he is utterly endearing.
If you're like me, you'll see this movie, and you'll like it. If you're not like me, then F.U. This was the best movie of the year.
DVD Review: Not Real, But Good Anyways
Summary: 4 Stars
I liked this film quite a bit for a number of reasons which compliment most of the departments working to put together a movie. Acting, for example was exceptional. Surely Reece Thompson's Hal Hefner (the main character) is on par with Ellen Page's Juno. The Directing was covered with a unique up-and-coming mind and eye, Jeffrey Blitz. There is that indie-feeling all over this film, which is both comforting and, well, comfortably annoying. As for writing (also in Jeffrey Blitz' hands) his latest film was lovingly made with exceptional attention being paid to teenage angst. As I watched the film, I felt it, I recalled it and I can even say I relived it at times. The fact that Hal was a stutterer is just icing on the cake. Te bottom line was that great care was taken into the writing of this story for an awkward boy who is in love or infatuated or simply didn't care what he was. I also loved Eef Barzelay, musical score. Eef Barzelay was/is apart of the indie-folk/rock/country band Clem SnideYour Favorite MusicThe Ghost of Fashion These are two relaxing, very suburban New Jersey feeling albums.
However............I guess this film just caught me at the wrong time. After seeing a number of fairytales and fantasies, I simply needed something real and "Rocket Science", which I am the first to say was very true in its representation of the mind of the teenager, just wasn't real enough for me. In my very suburban high school (which just so happens to be in New Jersey like this film), no one could ever talk and think the way these great debaters in the film could, no one (no matter how high on LSD) could or would ever throw a cello through a living room window, and lunch ladies would wait ever-so-motherly for you to say whether you want pizza or fish. Oh and brothers did not have Brooklyn accents, when I spoke with a more common New Jersey/General American accent.
Aside from these few annoyances...for indie- film lovers, satisfaction is almost guaranteed.
DVD Review: public speaking scares me
Summary: 4 Stars
The Greek set great store by rhetoric and arguments in public speaking.
One trick used to get clearer speech was to to add pebbles to the mouth until the speaker could no longer be understood.
singing, whispering or talking in an accent are new to me. Some who has never been self-conscious can not understand the terror of standing up before a crowd and letting down your friends by failure. Over coming that with a stuttering problem included is a victory worth having.
Being driven to it by love or revenge is just motivation?
Description of Rocket Science
Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 01/29/2008 Run time: 101 minutesThe first fiction film from Jeffrey Blitz has nothing to do with aeronautical engineering and everything to do with finding your voice. For 15-year-old New Jersey-based Hal Hefner (Reece Thompson), that's a tall order. He's bright, but he stutters. To complicate matters, his parents are on the outs and his brother, Earl (the droll Vincent Piazza), is a bully. Just when he needs a guardian angel most, one materializes in his midst. Self-possessed schoolmate Ginny (Camp's Anna Kendrick) sees something in Hal no one else does. She's convinced he'll make a terrific debate team partner, so she recruits him. Unaccustomed to female attention, he opts to give it a try. Turns out, there's more to Ginny than meets the eye, but there's also more to Hal. When she double-crosses the lovelorn lad, he finds a brilliant way to get her back. It isn't about revenge, but self-respect. In Blitz's Oscar-nominated documentary Spellbound, the action revolves around the National Spelling Bee, but the director demonstrates greater interest in his subjects than the outcome of the contest. With its absurdist tone, Rocket Science may look different, but follows a similar trajectory. Unlike The Karate Kid and other teen favorites where an outcast triumphs over adversity and gets the girl, things aren't so simple in this case. As with its hero, Rocket Science can be awkward--there are too many subplots--but the throwaway gags, most involving Hal's buddy, Lewis (Josh Kay), are priceless, and Eef Barzelay's ukelele-based score is a nice touch. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
General DVDs
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Bestsellers in General DVDs
Jeff Dunham: Spark of InsanityDUNHAM,JEFF; Release date: 2007-09-18; DVD
Best price: $8.14
Price in other shops:
Pushing Daisies - The Complete First SeasonRelease date: 2008-09-16; DVD
Best price: $18.99
Price in other shops:
How I Met Your Mother - Season ThreeRelease date: 2008-10-07; DVD
Best price: $22.46
Price in other shops:
30 Rock: Season 2Release date: 2008-10-07; DVD
Best price: $24.74
Price in other shops:
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Three-Disc Unrated Collector's Edition)FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL: SE (DVD MOVIE); Release date: 2008-09-30; DVD
Best price: $17.74
Price in other shops:
Sex and the City - The Movie (Full Screen Edition)Release date: 2008-09-23; DVD
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops:
The Office: Season FourOFFICE, THE: SEASON FOUR (DVD MOVIE); Release date: 2008-09-02; DVD
Best price: $25.99
Price in other shops:
Hocus PocusBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2002-06-04; DVD
Best price: $6.38
Price in other shops:
Very Special Christmas SpecialRelease date: 2008-11-18; DVD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Sex and the City - The Movie (Special Edition)Release date: 2008-09-23; DVD
Best price: $19.84
Price in other shops:
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Into the WildParamount; Release date: 2008-03-04; DVD
Best price: $12.66
Price in other shops:
Eagle vs. SharkEagle; Release date: 2008-01-08; DVD
Best price: $16.64
Price in other shops:
Lars and the Real GirlLARS AND THE REAL GIRL (DVD MOVIE); Release date: 2008-04-15; DVD
Best price: $7.94
Price in other shops:
Michael Clayton (Widescreen Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2008-02-19; DVD
Best price: $4.86
Price in other shops:
The Darjeeling LimitedDARJEELING LIMITED, THE (DVD MOVIE); Release date: 2008-02-26; DVD
Best price: $12.74
Price in other shops:
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert FordWarner Brothers; Release date: 2008-02-05; DVD
Best price: $10.21
Price in other shops:
Gone Baby GoneBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2008-02-12; DVD
Best price: $8.17
Price in other shops:
The King of Kong: A Fistful of QuartersWarner Brothers; Release date: 2008-01-29; DVD
Best price: $11.23
Price in other shops:
No Country for Old MenRelease date: 2008-03-11; DVD
Best price: $10.83
Price in other shops:
Juno (Single-Disc Edition)TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2008-04-15; DVD
Best price: $5.54
Price in other shops: