Week of January 5th

It's Raining Food

On a small island, hidden on maps under the "A" in "Atlantic Ocean," a misfit inventor (Bill Hader) comes up with an idea that can save the island's inhabitants from their all-sardine diet: a machine that turns water into food. In Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, his invention works-- it makes him the island's biggest celebrity, and the mayor (Bruce Campbell) uses the invention the make the town a world-renown tourist attraction... but his father (James Caan) thinks something might be wrong with food falling from the sky three times a day, the poster boy (Andy Samberg) for the old sardine industry doesn't like being pushed out of the limelight, and the weather girl (Anna Faris) broadcasting the event begins to suspect danger on the horizon. They band together as a group of unlikely heroes to stop a food-hurricane from covering the globe... or end up living under ground, wearing clothes made of bacon. On DVD and Blu Ray.

 

---

Ike's Corner

So you were one of the lucky ones that came out of the holidays with one of them new-fangled Blu-Ray machines.  It's all hooked up and ready to go...so...now what?  You need some kind of tester movie.  Lucky for you, Reckless Video has a large selection of Blu-Ray titles for you to choose from.  Below are a few suggestions that will tickle your ears and dilate your pupils.

1) Blade Runner, the 5-disk Complete Collection:  This is the movie that you want to see on your new system.  Warner put extreme effort into encoding this movie with the highest-quality digital restoration they possibly could.  In other words, It's really freakin' pretty.  Best of all, you only need to use ONE of your punches to get the Theatrical Edition, the Directors Cut and the Final Cut, since they are all included in one box.  There is no better option at this point.

show more...

2) 2001 A Space Odyssey:  It's a Stanley Kubrick classic.  Watch it in the comfort of your own personal theatre, you lucky dog.  This movie was made for Blu-Ray...or maybe Blu-Ray was made for it...  It's filled with psychedelic scenes, pretty colors and tantalizing sound that give you the sensation of floating in space.  Now you can see the facial expressions of the people in all the long shots.  Beware of firmware upgrades making your Blu-Ray player self-aware.

3) Children of Men:  This was the first Blu-Ray that went into my own player.  The sound design will blow your hair to the back of the room.  This movie, like the two above it, is on The Perfect List for good reason.  Those single-take shots that seem to go on forever were no easy task to complete.  Therefore, they didn't skimp when it came time to distribute the movie on the High-Definition format of choice.  You will forget that you are only watching a movie.

Drama

Jim Sturgess stars as Martin McGartland in Fifty Dead Men Walking, based on McGartland's autobiography, telling the story of his infiltration of the Irish Republican Army. Starting out as a petty criminal, McGartland has solid roots in the Northern Ireland community, but his reluctance to accept an invitation from the IRA attracts the attention of Fergus (Ben Kingsley) who recruits him to work for the police, saving lives by going undercover... a complicated, dangerous life, where the IRA would kill him if they discover him, the police will deny their involvement if he's caught, and his girlfriend (Natalie Press) worries that he'll end up in a ditch. With Kevin Zegers and Rose McGowan. 

Michelle Monaghan is a long-haul driver in Trucker, living a life of one-night stands, no attachments, and all-night drinking sessions with Nathan Fillion... until she is introduced to her 11-year-old son (Jimmy Bennett) who is suddenly her responsibility when the boy's father (Benjamin Bratt) is hospitalized. The two make an uneasy pair, but the mother and son find themselves facing a new future that neither of them expected. With Joey Lauren Adams and Mika Boorem.

Jean-Pierre Dardenne's newest film is Lorna's Silence, where a young woman sees her chance to move up in the world when she's offered a role in a mobster's plan... but the more she learns about the part she has to play, the worse the deal works. When her silence is the only thing keeping the plan from flying apart, her situation becomes even more dangerous.

---

 
The fourth in the series, The Final Destination revisits the franchise's theme of a group of kids that cheat death-- this time, they avoid being crushed by a race car that flies off the track. Death never takes these things lightly, and it slowly catches up with each of them, one by one, and snuffs them out in increasingly grizzly ways. Starring Bobby Campo, Nick Zano, Mykelti Williams, Krista Allen, and Andrew Fiscella.

---

 

New this week to Reckless Video's TV New Releases are the second season of the spy comedy series Chuck, and the third season of HBO's polygamist drama Big Love. Also new this week is documentary filmmaker Warren Miller's "Riders Collection," containing three skiing/snowboarding films: Freeriders, Snowriders, and Snowriders 2.

[X]Bill Hader:
Adventureland, Knocked Up

[X]Anna Faris:
Observe and Report, The House Bunny

[X]James Caan:
Misery, The Godfather

[X]Andy Samberg:
I Love You, Man, Hot Rod

[X]Bruce Campbell:
Burn Notice, My Name is Bruce

[X]Bobby Campo:
Legally Blondes

[X]Nick Zano:
Beverly Hills Chihuahua, College

[X]Mykelti Williams:
Lucky Number Slevin, August Rush

[X]Krista Allen:
Feast, Paycheck

[X]Andrew Fiscella:
Vacancy, Quarantine

[X]Ben Kingsley:
Elegy, Suspect Zero

[X]Jim Sturgess:
Across the Universe, Crossing Over

[X]Kevin Zegers:
The Jane Austen Book Club, Dawn of the Dead

[X]Natalie Press:
Nightwatching, My Summer of Love

[X]Rose McGowan:
Scream, Planet Terror

[X]Jean-Pierre Dardenne:
L'enfant, The Son

[X]Michelle Monaghan:
Gone Baby Gone, Eagle Eye

[X]Joey Lauren Adams:
Chasing Amy, Dazed & Confused

[X]Mika Boorem:
Sleepover, Blue Crush

[X]Jimmy Bennett:
Star Trek, Shorts

[X]Benjamin Bratt:
The Great Raid, Demolition Man

[X]Nathan Fillion:
Firefly, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog