RA: Renters Anonymous – November 17th, 2009
New Releases
Star Trek – 8.1/10 – Trailer
Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood, Winona Ryder, Ben Cross
On the day of James Kirk’s birth, his father dies on his ship in a last stand against a mysterious alien vessel. He was looking for Ambassador Spock, who is a child on Vulcan at that time, disdained by his neighbors for his half-human nature. Twenty years later, Kirk has grown into a young troublemaker inspired by Capt. Christopher Pike to fulfill his potential in Starfleet even as he annoys his instructors like young Lt. Spock. Suddenly, there is an emergency at Vulcan and the newly commissioned USS Enterprise is crewed with promising cadets like Nyota Uhura, Hikaru Sulu, Pavel Chekov and even Kirk himself thanks to Leonard McCoy’s medical trickery. Together, this crew will have an adventure in the final frontier where the old legend is altered forever even as the new version of it is just beginning.
RA: Renters Anonymous – November 10th, 2009
New Releases
Up – 8.4/10 – Trailer
Starring Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai, Bob Peterson, Delroy Lindo, Jerome Ranft, John Ratzenberer, Elie Docter
A young Carl Fredrickson meets a young adventure spirited girl named Ellie. They both dream of going to a Lost Land in South America. 70 years later, Ellie has died. Carl remembers the promise he made to her. Then, when he inadvertently hits a construction worker, he is forced to go to a retirement home. But before they can take him, he and his house fly away. However he has a stowaway aboard. An 8 year old boy named Russell, whose trying to get an assisting the elderly badge. Together, they embark in an adventure, where they encounter talking dogs, an evil villain and a rare bird named Kevin.
RA: Renters Anonymous – November 3rd, 2009
New Releases
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra – 5.4/10 – Trailer
Starring Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Rachel Nichols, Ray Park, Sienna Miller, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dennis Quaid, Lee Byung-hun, Christopher Eccleston
An elite military unit comprised of special operatives known as G.I. Joe, operating out of The Pit, takes on an evil organization led by a notorious arms dealer.
RA: Renters Anonymous – October 27th, 2009
New Releases
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs – 6.8/10 – Trailer
Starring Ray Romano, Queen Latifah, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Simon Pegg, Chris Wedge
After the events of “Ice Age: The Meltdown”, life begins to change for Manny and his friends: Scrat is still on the hunt to hold onto his beloved acorn, while finding a possible romance in a female sabre-toothed squirrel named Scratte. Manny and Ellie, having since become an item, are expecting a baby, which leaves Manny anxious to ensure that everything is perfect for when his baby arrives. Diego is fed up with being treated like a house-cat and ponders the notion that he is becoming too laid-back. Sid begins to wish for a family of his own, and so steals some dinosaur eggs which leads to Sid ending up in a strange underground world where his herd must rescue him, while dodging dinosaurs and facing danger left and right, and meeting up with a one-eyed weasel known as Buck who hunts dinosaurs intently.
Transformers – Augmented Reality
The new Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has released today and besides all the awesome Baysplosions! and Megan Fox sexyness there is a pretty amazing piece of tech included with the DVD/Blu-ray. And no I don’t mean the Autobots. It’s a little piece of digital imaging trickery that falls under the term “augmented reality”. What it’s supposed to do is, by using a digital video camera (such as a webcam or cellphone camera), add some extra material to the viewing experience. It’s a little hard to explain so I have embedded a nice little demo video for you.
RA: Renters Anonymous – October 20th 2009
New Releases
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – 6.6/10 – Trailer
Starring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro, Peter Cullen, Hugo Weaving, Charlie Adler
Decepticon forces return to Earth on a mission to take Sam Witwicky prisoner, after the young hero learns the truth about the ancient origins of the Transformers. Joining the mission to protect humankind is Optimus Prime, who forms an alliance with international armies for a second epic battle.
RA: Renters Anonymous – October 13th, 2009
New Releases
Drag Me to Hell – 6.6/10 – Trailer
Starring Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Loma Raver, Dileep Raver, Adriana Barraza, David Paymer, Reggie Lee
Christine Brown is responsible for loans in a bank and expects to be promoted to the open position of assistant manager after dealing a big contract. However, the new hire Stu Rubin is a collusive coworker that scheming against Christine to be selected by the manager Mr. Jacks to the position. When Mrs. Ganush, an old gypsy with appearance of witch that has been evicted by the bank, requests a third extension of her mortgage, Mr. Jacks tells Christine that it is her call. Christine denies the loan to prove her boss that she can take tough decisions. Mrs. Ganush begs for the loan but Christine shames the woman calling the security. In the night, Christine is stalked by Mrs. Ganush in the parking lot and they struggle. Out of the blue, Mrs, Ganush removes a button from Christine’s coat, curses it, returns the button to her and vanishes. Later, while going home with her psychologist boy-friend Clay Dalton, they pass by the fortune teller Rham Jas, and Christine decides to consult him. He advises her that Christine has the fiend Lamia, the Black Goat, upon her. When Christine is haunted by the dark spirit during the night, at home, she tries to fix the situation releasing the loan of Mrs. Ganush.
RA: Renters Anonymous – October 6th, 2009
New Releases
Year One – 5.5/10 – Trailer
Starring Jack Black, Michael Cera, Olivia Wilde, June Raphael, David Cross, Paul Rudd, Harold Ramis, Juno Temple, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Eden Riegel
Zed (Jack Black) and Oh (Michael Cera) are
cavemen who stumble out of the mountains into an epic journey of biblical proportions. One’s a bumbling hunter, the other’s a gentle gatherer; together, they become unlikely participants in history’s most pivotal moments.
RA: Renters Anonymous – Sept 29th 2009
New Releases
Monsters vs Aliens – 6.1/10 – Trailer
Starring Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Rainn Wilson, Kiefer Sutherland, Stephen Colbert
When a meteorite from outer space hits a young California woman named Susan Murphy and turns her into a giant monster, she is taken to a secret government compound where she meets a ragtag group of monsters also rounded up over the years. As a last resort, under the guidance of General W.R. Monger, on a desperate order from The President, the motley crew of Monsters is called into action to combat the aliens and save the world from imminent destruction!
Collector’s Corner: Watchmen – The Ultimate Cut
So remember how there were like 3 seperate films of Watchmen out to buy? The film, Motion Comics and Black Freighter? Well they are finally merging them all together and splicing Black Freighter into the film (like it was originally intended, and how it is in the graphic novel) making an Ultimate Cut. When the film released in theaters, it was 162 mins long. And then when it released on home video for the first time as a Director’s Cut, it stretched to 186 mins. Now with more scenes and the Black Freighter spliced in, the film will be an epic 215 mins (that’s over 3.5 hrs!). The special features will be a mash up from Watchmen: Director’s Cut and The Black Freighter. The Ultimate bundle will also include the full Motion Comics, this is where they do a fancy slideshow of the whole graphic novel with voiceovers and minor animation. The DVD set will have 5 epic discs while the Blu-ray will have 4 discs, because they have more room per disc to stuff things in.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Season 2 (Blu-ray review)
Warner Bros. | 2009 | 1012 mins | Not rated
The second season of ‘The Sarah Conner Chronicles’ explodes onto blu-ray and closes out the series in the best way possible.
If it’s an enjoyable science fiction show on the FOX network it will most likely get canceled. I think this is why the cancellation of ‘Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles’ came as no surprise to fans of the series. FOX as a network loves to give sci-fi shows a chance and then immediately cancel them when they do not perform how they want them to. It was almost more shocking that ‘The Sarah Conner Chronicles’ went to solid seasons before it came to a close. In that short time it expanded on the story of John and Sarah Conner and laid the groundwork for some intriguing new layers in the ‘Terminator’ mythos. In my opinion the two seasons of ‘Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles’ were far more interesting than the last two ‘Terminator’ films, and they went in a far more interesting direction with the story as well.
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past… Whoops, I mean A Christmas Carol (Blu-ray Review)
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
Warner Brothers Entertainment and New Line Cinema
Street date: September 22, 2009 on DVD, Blue Ray, On Demand and Digital Download
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Breckin Meyer, Lacey Chabert, Michael Douglas
Directed by Mark Waters
Written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore
“Chick flicks” are generally a good move for a first date: a safe comedic cushion that can gauge the humor level of the people involved in the date. These types of movies will go down in the history books of dating with the following storyline: boy meets girls (or vice versa), boy falls for girl (or vice versa), hijinks ensue, emotional character changing climax, boy wins girl (or vice versa) sealed with a kiss, roll credits and fade to black. Pretty common place. So that’s what I expected with Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.
‘Observe And Report’ or “Menace to society” (Blu-ray Review)
Warner Bros. | 2009 | 86 mins | Rated R
If you only see one mall cop movie this year, make sure it’s this one.
After viewing ‘Observe And Report’ the first time I wasn’t necessarily sure that I enjoyed the film. I laughed and had a fun time with it, but I wasn’t sure about the value it had. Upon a second viewing and experiencing the film on blu-ray I can now honestly say that Jodie Hill’s ‘Observe And Report’ is one of the most challenging comedies to be released this year, but it’s also one of the best comedies too.
RA: Renter’s Anonymous – Sept 22nd, 2009
New Releases
Observe and Report – 5.9/10 – Trailer
Starring Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, Michael Pena, Collette Wolfe, Ray Liotta
Bi-polar mall security guard Ronnie Barnhardt is called into action to stop a flasher from turning shopper’s paradise into his personal peep show. But when Barnhardt can’t bring the culprit to justice, a surly police detective, is recruited to close the case.
Collector’s Corner: Harry Potter Ultimate Editions
So are you a huge Harry Potter fan? Than I bet you have all the films on DVD (or Blu-ray if you’re one of the lucky ones). So I have some good news and some bad news for you. Good news, they are re-releasing all of the Harry Potter films with Ultimate Editions, 4 discs of DVD goodness per film (3 for Blu-ray). Bad news, you will be buying your Harry Potter collection all over again. So not only are you getting a ton of extra features for each film, but you will also be getting two separate cuts of the film. There will be the regular Theatrical cut that you saw in theater’s, and an Extended cut with 7-13min of extra footage thrown in. Also there will be some neat little photo books with rare images.
