Hamlet 2 on DVD

Jacket: "One high school drama teacher is about to make a huge number 2 in this wildly irreverent and completely outrageous movie from the producers of Little Miss Sunshine. When his school's theater department is threatened to be cut, failed actor-turned-high-school-drama-teacher Dana Marschz writes a play that he hopes will solve everything: a sequel to Shakespeare's Hamlet. Now, staging on of the most politically incorrect musical theater extravaganzas ever seen, Dana and his class will put it all on the line for one controversial, conflicted night of hilarity!"

What did I just watch?! But like a train wreck I couldn't keep my eyes off of it and found myself laughing on more than one occasion. You have to be in a silly mood to sit through this one.

RocknRolla on DVD

Jacket: "I own this town." But owning is getting expensive for old-school London gangster Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson). A wealthier foreign mob is moving in with a riverfront property swindle. A small-timer (Gerard Butler) and his crew think they can play both sides and become big-time. Now add a hard-as-ice accountant (Thandie Newton), a rocker playing dead to boost sales, wannabe music moguls, a missing painting and a mad mosh of money and muscle, and you've got a real RocknRolla. From Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch) comes a fierce and funny caper, a smash-mouth cinematic smackdown of sex, thugs & rock 'n' roll."

LOVE IT!! Rent it, buy it or whatever ... you gotta check this out. And for the newbies, first check the aforementioned Ritchie films.

The Rocker on DVD

Jacket: "Rainn Wilson (TV's The Office) drums up huge laughs in this hilarious comedy about living in a rock 'n' roll dream . . . and waking up in a midlife crisis. Twenty years after being kicked out of his nearly famous '80s hair band, retired rocker Robert Fishman (Wilson) gets a hilarious second chance at stardom and must pull out all the stops to reclaim the rock-god throne he always thought he deserved!"


This is pretty friggin funny!

DiCaprio set to 'Beat the Reaper'

New Regency is acquiring screen rights to "Beat the Reaper," eyed as a star vehicle for Leonardo DiCaprio.

The protagonist in the novel penned by Josh Bazell is a Manhattan emergency room doctor, whose life becomes complicated when a mobster recognizes the doc from his former life as a hitman who went into the witness protection program.

The book is just being published by Little Brown, which acquired the title in an eight-house auction in 2007. Bazell, a medical intern, was in his hospital scrubs on the night shift as publishers waged a seven-figure fight for his first novel.

DiCaprio, who is Golden Globes-nominated for "Revolutionary Road," most recently completed shooting "Shutter Island" for director Martin Scorsese at Paramount. Appian Way recently completed "Orphan" at Warner Bros., and is developing a film based on the anime classic "Akira" at WB.

Clink link for full article.

Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell

Jacket: "Dr. Peter Brown is an intern at Manhattan's worst hospital. He has a talent for medicine, a shift from hell, and a past he'd prefer to keep hidden. Whether it's a blocked circumflex artery or a plan to land a massive malpractice suit, he knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.

Pietro "Bearclaw" Brnwa is a hit man for the mob, with a genius for violence, a well-earned fear of sharks, and an overly close relationship with the Federal Witness Protection Program. More likely to leave a trail of dead gangsters than a molecule of evidence, he's the last person you want to see in your hospital room.

Nicholas LoBrutto, aka Eddy Squillante, is Dr. Brown's new patient, with three months to live and a very strange idea: that Peter Brown and Pietro Brnwa might - just might - be the same person . . .

Now with the mob, the government, and death itself descending on the hospital, Peter has to buy time and do whatever it takes to keep his patients, himself, and his last shot at redemption alive. To get through the next eight hours - and somehow beat the Reaper.

Spattered in adrenaline-fueled action and bone-saw-sharp dialogue, Beat the Reaper is a debut thriller so utterly original you won't be able to guess what happens next, and so shockingly entertaining you won't be able to put it down."

That last line is VERY true. I brought this book with me on a recent trip home and my lil sister stole it and did not return it until she was finished, which also happened to be on my way BACK to the airport. Yup, that's how good it was.

One reader compared this book to a mix between "House" and "The Sopranos." That is nearly dead on! I may have even gasped at one point while reading this. Okay, maybe twice. Forget about sleeping. Once you crack open the first page, you will NOT put it down.

City of Ember on DVD

Wikipedia: "The movie introduction explains that the City of Ember is a fully-contained city built underground to house a human community for 200 years as a shelter from an unspecified disaster. Having long since passed the 200-year mark, Ember's food supplies are becoming depleted and blackouts are increasingly frequent and longer-lasting, as the hydroelectric generator that powers the city has deteriorated. Much of the knowledge and technology from the city's near-mythic Builders and earlier generations has been lost.

Two 12-year-olds, Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan) and Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway), who live in the City of Ember are graduating from school. They begin their assigned jobs with Lina as one of the messengers who deliver communications around the city following the collapse of the telephone system. Doon is a technician in the Pipeworks of the hydroelectric generator. Lina witnesses the city's decay as she relays messages, and Doon learns that the Pipeworks are held together with increasing amounts of patchwork. Nobody knows in detail how any of the city's systems work. After a major malfunction of the generator during the city's annual celebration, Lina and Doon conclude that Ember is in danger of imminent collapse. With the city's adult population either largely ignorant of their plight or cowed by the corrupt Mayor Cole (Bill Murray), Lina and Doon search for the clues left by the Builders showing the citizens of Ember how to save themselves."

Unfortunately, I have not read this book yet for comparison, but it was visually intriguing to watch. The adapted story seems flat so I'll definitely be putting this one in the "to-read" pile.

Max Payne on DVD

Wikipedia: "Max Payne is a 2008 American noir action film based on the 2001 video game of the same name. The film was directed by John Moore and stars Mark Wahlberg in the title role. The film centers on a cop's journey through New York City's criminal underworld as he investigates the deaths of his wife and child."

This was payne-ful to watch!!

Battlestar Galatica: Season 4.0

This is OH SO GOOD. And I will be very sad when the series ends this year.

For those who are not in the know, you must pick up the premiere mini-series and then you'll be hooked. I promise.

Bangkok Dangerous on DVD

Jacket: "As a hired assassin , Joe (Nicholas Cage) is the best in the business, but the years of stone-cold murder have takn their toll. Joe's plan to make this current assignment in Bangkok his last takes a wild turn when he violates one of the most important rules of the game. Now the hunter is the hunted in this hard-driving, action-packed thriller."


Wikipedia: "Bangkok Dangerous is a 2008 crime film written and directed by the Pang Brothers and starring Nicolas Cage. It is a remake of the Pangs' 1999 debut film of the same name, a Thai film for which Cage's production company, Saturn Films, purchased the remake rights.^[1]

The original film's main character is a deaf-mute hitman whose disability makes him a fearless, unflinching gunman. That character has been changed in the remake. During production, doll hair was added to Nick Cage's real hair to produce his unique look. ^[6]

"We'd like to keep him the same, but we understand that from a marketing point of view Nic needs to have some lines," Oxide was quoted as saying in the International Herald Tribune. "So what we’re going to do is transform his girlfriend instead into a deaf-mute. This switch will maintain the drama of communication between the two main characters."^[7]"

Oftentimes, American re-makes dilute the essence of a story and this is a prime example. I'll have to check out the original.

Babylon A.D. on DVD

Jacket: "In the darkly futuristic world of Babylon A.D., the rules are simple: killed or be killed. Vin Diesel stars as Toorop, a ruthless mercenary hired to smuggle a mysterious young woman from the post-apocalyptic confines of Eastern Europe to the glittering megalopolis of New York City. Hunted at every turn, Toorop transports his charge across a nightmarish wasteland only to uncover a shocking secret that will bring the entire world to its knees."


Wikipedia: "Director Mathieu Kassovitz was very unhappy with the distributors, 20th Century Fox, producers and other partners. He described the film as "pure violence and stupidity" and stated that "parts of the movie are like a bad episode of 24." ^[17]

American artist Khem Caigan designed the sigil that appears as a tattoo on the right side of Toorop's neck - an emblem which originally appeared in the Schlangekraft Necronomicon in 1977. [An example of ripping off the classics. No amount of tattoos would help this film.]


The story is muddled, the look is copied from classic sci-fi films and you're left thinking "what the hell did I just watch?". Don't waste your time.

Joker by Brian Azzarello

Jacket: "I didn't know the particulars as to why, but he was . . . Joker was being released from Arkham Asylum ...

So begins this searing look at the crazed world and cracked mind of the Joker . . . the crowned king of Gotham City rackets.

Joker is getting out of the madhouse and, though he's laughing, he's not happy. While away, his fellow rogues have sliced and diced his chunk of the pie and sold it off for scrap - thinking he was gone for good. But now Joker's back on the street and eager to make Gotham bleed like it's never bled before.

During this long night of the soul, he'll cross paths with the likes of The Penguin, Two-Face, Killer Croc, Harley Quinn, The Riddler and, of course, The Batman . . . and heaven help them all.

Told through the eyes of his loyal (but naive) henchman Johnny Frost, JOKER is a true noir crime novel - a harrowing journey into a city of rain-soaked streets, dirty sheets and nothing but bad choices."

Slash Film Review: "Azzarello, known for writing hardcore violence into his comics, calls it “the most violent thing I’ve ever written.” Brian reteams with Lex Luthor: Man of Steel artist Lee Bermejo to “show an even darker and more disturbing side to the most dangerous man in Gotham.”

Bean: All I can say is WOW. This is the type of story you'd love to see on the big screen, but with all the blood and gore, it wouldn't get a rating. All the more reason to pick this one up!

The Wackness on DVD

Wikipedia: "It's the summer of 1994, and the streets of New York are pulsing with hip-hop. Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) is a socially uncomfortable teenage pot dealer with no friends, issues with his parents, and a whopping lack of confidence with girls. He trades weed for sessions with his therapist, Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley), whose wife (Famke Janssen) is slipping away from him. Squires - a drug-addled shrink with a receding hairline and a state of mind slouching back to adolescence - is a terrible role model. But the two of them forge a friendship based on a mutual need: neither one has a girlfriend. The intergenerational duo set off on a crawl that takes them all over New York, where they encounter several of Luke's "business associates," including a dreadlocked pixie (Mary-Kate Olsen), a one-hit-wonder (Jane Adams), and Luke's supplier (Method Man). Luke has long had an aching crush on Dr. Squires' way-out-of-his-league stepdaughter, Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby), and is stunned at his good luck when she returns his affections. Luke's innocent first love experience with Stephanie becomes a life lesson that sets him on the pathway towards adulthood. And when Squires breaks down, it is up to the younger man to throw the older one a lifeline."

For the thirty-somethings, this film is nostalgic. The soundtrack is dope, as it includes tracks from the golden age of hip-hop, which has yet to be outdone.