B Scene Magazine

the ugly truth on DVD

2009-11-14T09:11:00.000-06:00

Jacket: "Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler star in this wildly funny battle of the sexes from director Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde). Abby (Heigl), a successful morning show producer, is looking for a lot in a man. Mike (Butler), her obnoxious TV star, knows men only want one thing. Determined to prove that she's not romantically challenged, Abby takes Mike's advice during a promising new romance, but the unexpected results will stun everyone."

I don't know about "wildly funny", but I did crack up several times watching this. And I had to watch it a second time. Check it out.

Disneynature earth on DVD

2009-11-10T19:31:00.000-06:00

Jacket: "An epic story of adventure, starring some of the most magnificent and courageous creatures alive, awaits you in earth. Disneynature brings you a remarkable story of three animal families on a journey across our planet - polar bears, elephants and humpback whales. Filmed with spectacular clarity and beauty, earth is both majestic and intimate as it captures rare footage of nature's wildest and most elusive animals. From the landmark Disneynature collection, earth is an astonishing and heartwarming film filled with adventure, suspense and humor that will take your breath away."

I agree with this description. This is such a beautiful film to watch AND experience. And of course, it is wonderfully narrated by James Earl Jones.

I think my favorite scenes involved birds. They were a crack up!

Don't worry, it's rated G for the kids so you won't be seeing what happens when animals really attack.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on DVD

2009-11-01T14:41:00.000-06:00

Jacket: "When college-bound Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) learns the truth about the ancient origins of the Transformers, he must accept his destiny abd join Optimus Prime and Bumblebee in their epic battle against the Decepticons, who have returned stronger than ever with a plan to destroy our world."

My 13-year-old cousins will like this one, especially with the annoyingly forced relationship angle they strove for. Eh, I found the new sarcastic bots pretty funny.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)

2009-11-01T13:59:00.000-06:00

Wikipedia: "The Wind That Shakes the Barley is a 2006 Ken Loach film set during the Irish War of Independence (1919–21) and the Irish Civil War (1922–3). Written by long-time Loach collaborator Paul Laverty, this drama tells the story of two County Cork brothers, played by Cillian Murphy and Pádraic Delaney, who join the Irish Republican Army to fight for Irish independence from Great Britain.

Widely praised, the film won the Palme d'Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Loach's biggest box office success to date,^[1] the film did well around the world and set a record in Ireland as the highest-grossing Irish-made independent film ever.^[2]"

^{This was very good and very educational for those of us across the pond.}

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan on DVD

2009-10-29T19:49:00.000-05:00

Jacket: "The Cylons began as humanity's robot servants. They rebelled and evolved and now they look like us. Their plan is simple: destroy the race that enslaved them. But when their devastating attack leaves human survivors, the Cylons have to improvise. Battlestar Galactica: The Plan tells the story of two powerful Cylon leaders, working separately and their determination to finish the task."

We get most of the answers we were looking for here. Frackin cool.

If you are new to the series. Get on it! You've got four years to catch up. It'll be interesting to watch this series again the AFTER watching this film.

Law Abiding Citizen

2009-10-25T21:43:00.003-05:00

This movie was soooo kick-ass. Gerard Butler plays a Law Abiding Citizen whose his family gets murdered. When the attackers brook a deal, he takes matters into his own hands.

Although I enjoyed the action-filled build-up, the ending just kind of fizzled.

This is definitely worth seeing in the theater.

The Proposal on DVD

2009-10-22T22:44:00.000-05:00

Jacket: "On the verge of being deported and losing the high-powered job she lives for, the controlling Margaret (Bullock) announces she's engaged to her unsuspecting, put-upon assistant Andrew (Ryan Reynolds). After proposing a few demands of his own, the mismatched couple heads to Alaska, where they have four short days to convince his quirky family and a very skeptical immigration agent that their charade is real."

Although overly predictable, I didn't hate this film ... in large part due to the talented supporting cast. Betty White is a scene stealer. She's still got it! This film is rentable for a very lazy Sunday afternoon at home on the couch.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past on DVD

2009-10-12T23:01:00.000-05:00

Jacket: "Connor Mead is the kind of guy who dumps three girldfriends. At the same time. By teleconference. So when he attends his brother's wedding he has a single goal: score with the only bridesmaid he somehow missed. But the ghost of his departed Uncle Wayne - who taught him to love 'em and leave 'em - has another goal in mind: restore Connor's lost faith in true love, a tough assignment requiring the services of many, many Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. [Starring] Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner and Michael Douglas."

I wasn't impressed by the forced similarity to "A Christmas Carol". McConaughey seems to play the same kind of character in every film. Snoooooozer!

Year One on DVD

2009-10-10T14:53:00.006-05:00

Yahoo Movies: "When a couple of lazy hunter-gatherers are banished from their primitive village, they set off on an epic journey through the ancient world."

This was stupid ... and not in the good way. I think I fell asleep after 20 minutes.

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

2009-10-05T19:26:00.004-05:00

Jacket: "NYT best-selling author John Connolly ... examines the grin side of fairy tales in a spellbinding novel about a 12-year-old boy lost in an extraordinary world.
Mourning the loss of of his mother, David finds comfort in the books she left behind. But soon the make-believe world of the books melds with David's reality, and the figments of his imagination become startlingly real. Suddenly, he finds himself in a brutal land populated by trolls, harpies and werewolf-like creatures. His only hope is to find the king, whose Book of Lost Things could show David the way home.
... The Book of Lost Things is a riveting fantasy and a dark reminder that we all must brave the journey from youth to adulthood."

So I'm listening to this story while at work and I'm getting a little creeped out! I can't remember the last time a story did that to me. This is not your kid's Grimm fairy tale! READ THIS BOOK!

Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry

2009-10-03T09:13:00.000-05:00

Jacket: "When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week, there's either something wrong with your world or something wrong with your skills ... and there's nothing wrong with Joe Ledger's skills. Ledger, a Baltimore detective assigned to a counterterrorism task force, is recruited by the government to lead a new ultrasecret rapid-response group called the Department of Military Science (DMS) to help stop a group of terrorists from releasing a dreadful bioweapon that can turn ordinary people into zombies."

Some whack critics think that this is a story that just happens to have zombies, and even if that is the case, it still reads like a good action film (which it very well could be). The zombie purists may have issue with this, but I really enjoyed it.

Yes Man on DVD

2009-10-02T15:58:00.000-05:00

Jacket: "Carl Allen has stumbled across a way to shake free of post-divorce blues and a dead-end job: embrace life and say yes to everything. Take a bungee plunge? Yes. Accept call-now TV offers. Yes ... Jim Carrey place Carl in a YEScapade about opening up to life's possibilities - especially when those possiblities include romance with an intriguing, free-spirited musician (Zooey Deschanel)."

This was mildly funny.

Confessions of a Shopaholic on DVD

2009-09-25T20:40:00.000-05:00

Jacket: "...Living in glamorous New York, Becky [Isla Fisher] desperately wants a job writing for a high-fashion magazine. She gets her stilettos in the door when she gets a job writing a personal finance column at a sister publication. Much to her surprise, her column not only becomes a hit, but she falls head over heels for her overworked yet handsome boss (Hugh Dancy). But Becky has a secret that leads to some hilarious high jinks that could unravel it all."

This was cute, but I never read the books.

Book of Fate by Brian Meltzer

2009-09-24T16:33:00.001-05:00

Jacket: " In Six minutes, one of us would be dead.

So says Wes Holloway, a once cocky and ambitious presidential aide, about the day that changed his life forever. On that Fourth of July, Wes put Ron Boyle, the chief executive's oldest friend, into the presidential limousine. By the time the trip came to an end, Wes was permanently disfigured, and Boyle was dead, the victim of a crazy assassin.

Eight years later, Boyle is spotted, alive and well, in Malaysia. In that moment, Wes has the chance to undo the worst day of his life. Trying to figure out what really happened takes Wes back to a decade-old presidential crossword puzzle, mysterious facts buried in Masonic history, and a two-hundred-year-old code invented by Thomas Jefferson.

But what Wes doesn't realize is that The Book of Fate holds everyone's secrets. Especially the ones worth dying for.

The Book of Fate. What does it say about you?"

This book was okay. I was expecting more of the Freemason story, but this is a story that just happens to have a Freemason reference.

Dog on It: A Chet & Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn

2009-09-23T19:31:00.021-05:00

I didn't think I could get into a book narrated by a police-academy-dropout dog, but the character is very endearing and then don't you know it, you want to find out how it ends.

PUBLISHER: "Meet Chet, the wise and lovable canine narrator of Dog on It, who works alongside Bernie, a down-on-his-luck private investigator. Chet might have flunked out of police school ("I'd been the best leaper in K-9 class, which had led to all the trouble in a way I couldn't remember exactly, although blood was involved"), but he's a detective through and through.

In this, their first adventure, Chet and Bernie investigate the disappearance of Madison, a teenage girl who may or may not have been kidnapped, but who has definitely gotten mixed up with some very unsavory characters. A well-behaved, gifted student, she didn't arrive home after school and her divorced mother is frantic. Bernie is quick to take the case -- something about a cash flow problem that Chet's not all that clear about -- and he's relieved, if vaguely suspicious, when Madison turns up unharmed with a story that doesn't add up. But when she disappears for a second time in a week, Bernie and Chet aren't taking any chances; they launch a full-blown investigation. Without a ransom demand, they're not convinced it's a kidnapping, but they are sure of one thing: something smells funny.

Their search for clues takes them into the desert to biker bars and other exotic locals, with Chet's highly trained nose leading the way. Both Chet and Bernie bring their own special skills to the hunt, one that puts each of them in peril. But even as the bad guys try to turn the tables, this duo is nothing if not resourceful, and the result is an uncommonly satisfying adventure.

With his doggy ways and his endearingly hardboiled voice, Chet is full of heart and occasionally prone to mischief. He is intensely loyal to Bernie, who, though distracted by issues that Chet has difficulty understanding -- like divorce, child custody, and other peculiar human concerns -- is enormously likable himself, in his flawed, all-too-human way."

Next Day Air on DVD

2009-09-20T20:46:00.009-05:00

Return to Sender! .... Don't bother with this one. All the funniest bits are in the trailer.

Jacket: "A haze-brained courier (Faison) sparks off a chain of uproarious events after he mistakenly delivers a package containing some high grade product to the wrong address and into the hands of two bumbling, wannabe gangsters (Epps and Harris). But these two fools have no clue that their neighbors down the hall - the real REAL gangster and his feisty girlfriend - are connected to the Mexican mob and will do whatever it takes to recover their package."

The Soloist on DVD

2009-09-16T19:29:00.010-05:00

This was very a very moving film. I recommend watching all the bonus features.

Wikipedia: "The Soloist is a 2009 drama film directed by Joe Wright, and starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. The screenplay by Susannah Grant is based on the book, The Soloist by Steve Lopez. The film is based on a true story of Nathaniel Ayers, a musician who develops schizophrenia and becomes homeless.

Foxx portrays Ayers, who is considered a cello prodigy, and Downey portrays Lopez, a Los Angeles Times columnist who discovers Ayers and writes about him in the newspaper"

The Lucky Ones on DVD

2009-09-04T12:37:00.006-05:00

Jacket: "After suffering an injury in Iraq, Sgt. T.K. Poole (Michael Pena) is granted one-month leave. When a sudden blackout forces all flights out of New York to be canceled, Sgt. Fred Cheever (Tim Robbins) agrees to share a ride with T.K. and Pvt. Colee Dunn (Rachel McAdams), two fellow soldiers he's met on the flight back. What begins as a short visit home turns into a poignant journey of self-discovery..."

The quote that says it all: "Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times observed, "What makes "The Lucky Ones" so gratifying to me is anything but gravitas; these three characters are simply likable, warm, sincere and often funny. The performances are so good, they carry the film right along . . . I believe audiences will be moved by the characters. I was." ^[5]"

Indie Films, Children’s Books Coming to iPhone

2009-09-03T20:52:00.000-05:00

Guy Ritchie to direct DC Comics adaptation "Lobo"

2009-09-03T20:41:00.001-05:00

The Class on DVD

2009-08-31T20:19:00.004-05:00

Allmovie.com:

	by Jason Buchanan
"François is a tough but fair teacher working in one of France's toughest schools, and his honest demeanor in the classroom has made him a great success with the students. But this year things are different, because when the students begin to challenge his methods François will find his classroom ethics put to the ultimate test."

Duplicity on DVD

2009-08-31T13:34:00.009-05:00

Jacket: "...Julia Roberts and Clive Owen star as two sexy spies-turned-corporate operatives in the midst of a clandestine love affair. When they fidn themselves on either side of an all-out corporate war, they'll put everything on the line to remain one double-cross ahead in a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse."

This wasn't as horrible as I'd thought it'd be. It's rental-worthy.

Sunshine Cleaning on DVD

2009-08-30T09:19:00.006-05:00

Wikipedia: "Former high school cheerleading captain Rose Lorkowski (Adams) is a thirty-something single mother who cleans houses for a living. Wanting to send her trouble-making eight-year-old son Oscar (Jason Spevack) to a private school, Rose decides to take her married lover's advice and get into the "lucrative" business of crime scene cleanup. Rose convinces her disillusioned, underachieving sister Norah (Blunt) to join her in the enterprise, which she calls "Sunshine Cleaning." The sisters begin to find meaning in their function to "help" in some way in the aftermath of a loss, just as the job stirs up memories of their own mother's death. Their priorities and goals tested, Rose and Norah face hard challenges as they strive to improve their lives."

A poignant film that reminds you about the harsh realities of relationships ... especially those with our family! Rent it!

Adventureland on DVD

2009-08-27T18:48:00.008-05:00

Jacket: "From the director of Superbad comes Adventureland, a smart, witty comedy we can all relate to. When James Brennan has to cancel his dream summer vacation and make some money for grad school, the only job he can get is at Adventureland, a tacky amusement park where the games are rigged and the rides make you hurl. But it's where he meets Em (Kristen Stewart), and his rollercoaster ride to nowhere turns into the best summer ever."

This had a great '80s soundtrack, which may have been better than the story itself.

Inglourious Basterds

2009-08-24T18:26:00.004-05:00

This film was kick-ass!