What It’s About: Jane Austen is everywhere. And although this isn’t one of hers, this is another novel turned into a movie. And it’s cute. Not incredibly compelling, but immensely watchable.
The movie has an episodic feel as the book club reads all of Austen’s works in six months and they are mirrored in the lives of the members. All the acting is superb and some of the chemistry is great but none of the storylines and particularly memorable or unique.
Technical Stuff: The picture is perfect, as is the sound. All the whiny pop songs come through beautifully. Waa. There is optional French Dolby Digital 5.1 track, and optional English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Synopsis: Six months. Six novels. Six members. The Jane Austen Book Club takes reading the classics to new heights of passion in this romantic comedy featuring an all-star cast. When five women and one man get together to discuss the English writer's beloved novels, they realize the heartaches of Emma, Mr. Darcy and the Bennet sisters are not so different from their own. Finding comfort, wit and wisdom from the pages and each other, they discover that, in matters of love, all they need to ask is: What would Jane do?
Extras?
Closed Caption; Deleted scenes; Cast and crew commentary; Behind-the-scenes; The Life of Jane Austen; The Book Club: Deconstructed ; Los Angeles premiere
Final Verdict: It’s a girlie night rental.

What It’s About: Cats are funny. There is no doubt about that. Watching The Aristocats after having a cat makes me realize just how detailed and creative this movie is. As I type, my cat is trying to rub his head on my fingers which are trying to press keys. But he refuses to jitterbug. Darn it.
The movie is the first finished after Walt’s death and is actually super-hip when you watch it now. It’s all blues and jazz and Duchess is the coolest cat-lady around. The animation is great and this new version has really cleaned it up nicely.
Technical Stuff: The picture is in its original theatrical release, an anamorphic transfer of 1.75:1. It looks great and much better than the original Gold Edition release from 2000. The sound is excellent with a 5.1 Dolby Sound and French and Spanish dubs in 5.1, and Closed Captioning for English-language viewers. You can add titles to the songs only like a sing along feature or you can just watch the songs on their own.
Synopsis: Disney's irresistible classic The Aristocats is all jazzed up in a spectacular Special Edition, complete with a new digital transfer. In the heart of Paris, a kind and eccentric millionairess wills her entire estate to Duchess, her high-society cat, and her three little kittens. Laughs and adventure ensue as the greedy, bumbling butler pulls off the ultimate catnap caper. Now it's up to the rough-and-tumble alley cat, Thomas O'Malley, and his band of swingin' jazz cats to save the day. Loaded with fun bonus features, including a new Virtual Kitten game, a heartwarming deleted song and more, The Aristocats is purr-fect for the whole family.
Extras?
Games & activities:; New Disney virtual kitten; New virtual kitten dvd-rom; New the Aristocats fun with language game; Backstage Disney:; The Great Cat Family (excerpt); The Sherman Brothers: The Aristocats of Disney songs; The Aristocats scrapbook; Deleted scene "She Never Felt Alone"
Final Verdict: Another must-own from that dang Disney vault. Sigh. And I know I’m going to have to rebuy all these when HD or BluRay takes over.

What It’s About: Blonde Ambition is a complete vanity film, produced by Jessica Simpson’s dad Pimp, I mean Joe, starring Jessica Simpson, and even shilling her damn hair extensions. Seriously? Did they really think people would want to see this crap? And does Luke Wilson have some kind of clause in his contract forcing him to be in any movie with Blonde in the title? Only reason I can think that’s he’s here.
Jessica tries to act her way through this movie as a small town girl ending up in New York City. Unfortunately, she can’t act. And she’s not funny when she’s not being her idiotic self and the movie relies on her physical comedy. She just doesn’t have the timing. It’s all a big disaster and it’s a good thing it only ran in one movie theatre in Texas or whatever.
Technical Stuff: Simpson’s fire engine red lipstick is quite vivid, as is the rest of the movie. Too bright. My eyes. Sound is budget so it doesn’t do anything fancy but it’s adequate.
Synopsis: Jessica Simpson stars as Katie Gregerstich, a small-town Oklahoma beauty who's come to New York to visit her long-time boyfriend. But after finding him in the arms of another woman, Katie decides to lose her cheating man and to find herself. With the help of two scheming co-workers she lands a job a top construction firm where she meets and falls for a great guy (Luke Wilson) with an even greater secret. Now, nothing is going to stop this go-getter from getting exactly what her heart desires in the romantic comedy proves you can't keep a bright, beautiful down-home girl down.
Extras?
Deleted scenes; Behind-the-scenes featurette
Final Verdict: Oh Lord, unless you’re a HUGE Jessica fan, skip it.

What It’s About: I don’t really get this movie but was really into it. I’m not even sure what to classify it as, but I guess it’s a dramedy. Anyone remember this being in theatres? Nope? Me neither.
It’s almost like the film is trying to be Love Actually but doesn’t come close. There are several storylines and of course it’s narrated by Morgan Freeman. It has comedy mixed with romance and sadness and even some violence. It’s weird. But it kept me interested all the way through so that’s something. Oh, and it has full frontal nudity in case you were wondering.
Technical Stuff: Another Fox screener here so I can’t really comment. It looks decent and gives a choice of 5.1 Dolby Surround sound, Spanish Dolby Surround or French Dolby Surround; optional English or Spanish subtitles.
Synopsis: From venerable Academy Award-winning director Robert Benton (Kramer vs. Kramer), comes a kaleidoscopic ode to life and love in all its funny, sad, sexy, crazy, heartbreaking and life sustaining facets: Feast of Love. In a coffee shop in a tight-knit Oregon community, local professor Harry Stevenson (Academy Award-winner Morgan Freeman) witnesses love and attraction whipping up mischief among the town's residents. From the unlucky in love, die-hard romantic coffee shop owner Bradley (Academy Award-nominee Greg Kinnear) who has a serial habit of looking for love in all the wrong places, including with his current wife Kathryn (Selma Blair); to the edgy real estate agent Diana (Radha Mitchell) who is caught up in an affair with a married man (Billy Burke) with whom she shares an ineffable connection; to the beautiful young newcomer Chloe (Alexa Davalos) who defies fate in romancing the troubled Oscar (Toby Hemingway); to Harry himself, whose adoring wife (Jane Alexander) is looking to break through his wall of grief after the wrenching loss of a beloved...they all intertwine into one remarkable story in which no one can escape being bent, broken, befuddled, delighted and ultimately redeemed by love's inescapable spell.
Extras? Closed Caption; The Players of "Feast of Love"
Final Verdict: This movie is confused and leaves you confused. But it’s engrossing and worth a rental.

What It’s About: Has anyone else noticed that Jason Statham is everywhere lately? And in pretty crappy movies? What’s the deal? Does he not have an agent or someone to give him some advice?
Jet Li looks so bored throughout this movie and Statham is wasted as it’s nowhere as fun as The Transporter. The script sucks and the flash sequences were enough to cause a seizure. Pass.
Technical Stuff: The movie sucks ass but the video is stunning and the Dolby EX sound packs a hell of a wallop. At least they got this part right.
Synopsis: After his partner is brutally murdered by the infamous assassin Rogue (Jet Li), FBI agent Jack Crawford (Jason Statham) vows to find the elusive killer and personally avenge his partner's death. But Crawford's thirst for vengeance jeopardizes his professional judgment, and as the violence escalates he finds himself in the middle of a conflict between two rival asian gangs. Now nothing is quite what it seems and he must be prepared for War!
Extras?
9 Behind-The-Scenes Vignettes
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Digital Stereo
Deleted Scenes
Extended Scenes
Featurette: Scoring War
Gag Reel
Interactive Feature: Audio Trivia Track
Interactive Menus
Scene Selection
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Two Audio Commentary Tracks: One With Director Philip G. Atwell, & The Other With Writers Lee Anthony Smith & Gregory J. Bradley

Final Verdict: Rent it if there’s nothing you haven’t seen but otherwise skip this one.

What It’s About: The Simpsons work so well because it’s ultimately a satire of American life and it’s damn smart. The movie is fantastic full of gags galore that will leave you giggling with delight.
Homer and the spider-pig are probably the highlight although all of the jabs at religion are pretty smart as well. Jokes like Bart writing his patented board lines as “I will not illegally download this movie,” The Simopsons movie is a winner.
Technical Stuff: I can’t really comment on the video as I was working of a screener and it wasn’t great, I can say the sound is top-notch. There is a 5.1 DTS soundtrack as well as a DD 5.1 option and both are crisp.
Synopsis: Homer accidentally causes an environmental catastrophe which could doom Springfield forever. Homer now must save the city and rescue his family. Springfield's usual characters and new favorites all turn up in the first ever movie length version of the hit TV show, 18 years in the making.
Extras? Commentary; Director's commentary; Deleted scenes and slightly alternate ending; Special stuff; A lot of trailers
Final Verdict: If you like the show, you probably already got this for Christmas.

What It’s About: I have to confess. I had heard all the raves about Once so I popped it into the dvd player with high expectations and an excitement I hadn’t felt in a while about a movie. And at the end, I sat there thinking “I don’t get it.”
Perhaps my blonde moment is just a relfection of the Hollywood machine that has turned my brain but I just couldn’t understand what all the fuss is about. The sotry is sweet, the acting good, the music just lovely. But I have no idea why it’s considered one of the best movies of the year. I found it…(gasp!!) boring.
Technical Stuff: The picture is not good at all but it’s another Fox screening copy. The sound is a Dolby 2.0 that works just fine for the acoustic and gentle rocking music.
Synopsis: A serendipitous meeting on the streets of Dublin between a down on his luck Irish street performer and a poor Czech immigrant sparks a bond that plays out in this hip, modern day music film. Once follows the two as they write, rehearse and record the songs that reveal their unique love story.
Extras? Music & film commentaries by writer/director John Carney and actors/musicians Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová; Making a modern day musical featurette; More guy, more girl featurette; Broken hearted hoover fixer sucker guy webisode (animated)
Final Verdict: A nice movie. A sweet movie. A funny at times movie. But I still don’t get it.

What It’s About: I’m embarrassed. I’m ashamed. I thought The Heartbreak Kid was really funny. It made me giggle and I was highly entertained. Does that make me a bad person?
I must say, the raunchy bits were actually funny and Malin Akerman is fantastic. She’s just so great at comedy I can’t wait to see her in the future. So there. I said it. The movie is a blast, check it out.
Technical Stuff: Beautiful picture and great sound. Paramount did a great job here. Optional French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks are included, as are optional English, French and Spanish subtitles.
Synopsis: Big laughs head south of the border in the Farrelly Brothers' newest twist on boy-meets-girl. When the single and indecisive Eddie (Ben Stiller) meets the sexy and beautiful Lila (Malin Akerman), the guy who could never pull the trigger jumps the gun. While honeymooning in Mexico, Eddie discovers he's made a really big mistake. He soon meets Miranda (Michelle Monaghan), his real soul mate. But when the love of your life isn't your wife, things can get quickly out of control. Now it will take some desperate measures to turn his honeymoon from hell into the perfect romantic getaway.
Extras?
Commentary by the Farrelly Brothers; Deleted scenes; Gag reel; The Farrelly Borthers in the French Tradition; Ben & Jerry; Heartbreak Halloween; The egg toss
Final Verdict: Makes me really want to head to the beach. The Heartbreak Kid got a bad rap but it`s funny so give it a chance.