The Scoop

April is an ambitious beauty in search of success, but she may not know how to reach her goals with her clothes on. Sally St. Clair is a sexy realtor with a secret past. She’s got a great eye for spotting adventurous souls and thrives on giving them direction in life.

One of those adventurous souls is Nathan, her new assistant. Nathan moved to Los Angeles from Nebraska seeking success as a dancer, but now most of his time is spent making photocopies for Sally and her clients.

One of those clients is Todd, a porn-addicted artist who agrees to help Sally get revenge for a past indiscretion in exchange for her helping him realize his greatest fantasy. Meanwhile, a starry-eyed street musician Sammy moves in with Nathan, and they soon find they have very different ideas of their relationship status.

Soon, everyone becomes hopelessly ensnared in Sally’s kinky entanglements.

The Truth

Garden Party is an emotionally charged Drama, with a closer look at the troubled lives of five individuals. Willa Holland and Vinessa Shaw are wonderful at portraying the typcial lost female soul and you feel a real connection to them. Willa’s portrayal of April is wonderful, if not sexy and dangerous and you want to reach through the screen and save her from destroying herself and her future.

The film touches on every bad element you can fall into, and many trapped young adults endure on their search for independence and a future. How they go about it is a wonderful, if at times frightening and realisting journey well worth the wait.

Release Date

Street Date: 11/18/08

Starring

Vinessa Shaw , Willa Holland , Richard Gunn, Fiona Dourif and Erik Smith

Reminds me of

This may sound like an unusual comparison, but if you could take St. Elmos Fire and remake it for 2008, it would be something like this film. Sure, the romance isn’t the same, but the idea behind the film is remarkably similar.

The Verdict

A very enjoyable Drama with a very talented group of actors. The subject matter is sometimes harsh and dark, but thats why I enjoyed it so much. Garden Party is a really good film, I recommend it!

The Scoop

Information is still hard to find on the next Iron Man, but what we know is Iron Man 2 will go further into the role of SHIELD and even touch on Stark’s alcoholism. The main focus of the movie is Tony Stark going after a terrorist called The Mandarin, one of his most notorious villains in the comic books.

Terrence Howard had been replaced on “Iron Man 2″ by Don Cheadle.

Mandarin

Iron Man’s main nemesis in the comics is Manderin, a descendent of Genghis Khan who wears ten alien rings, each with their own special ability. The movie actually alludes to him. The terrorist group which captures Tony Stark at the beginning of the film is named “The Ten Rings”, a reference to the ten rings of power the Mandarin seeks in the comics.

Writer Joe Favreau has said their version of the Mandarin “allows us to incorporate the whole pantheon of villains”.

Superhero Cameos

Iron Man 2 is supposedly going to feature brief appearances from Thor and Hulk and possible a couple of The Avengers. This will tie in the release of the Thore movie.. and of course.. The Avengers movie in 2010.

War Machine : In the comics, Tony Stark turned to alcoholism after a hostile takeover of Stark Enterprises, and Rhodes was forced to take his place in the Mark III suit. But, in the same way as would happen if you borrowed a friend’s underpants, Rhodes soon got headaches, started behaving erratically and eventually went on a rampage. A recovering Stark then donned a crude prototype suit to bring him down. Stark subsequently designed a heavier-armed version of the Iron Man suit for Rhodes, which became known as the War Machine armor.

Iron Man 2 Release Date

May 7th 2010

Starring

Robert Downey Jr : Gwyneth Paltrow : Don Cheadle

Interesting Fact

Iron Man 3 is slated to be released in 2012 and shot the same time as Iron Man 2.

Related Movies

Iron Man {2008}
Iron Man Movie Review {2008}

Official Site and Trailer

Coming Soon.

The DVD Collection

Shout! Factory is very excited to present 6 titles that are perfect for your holiday gift guide and special features.

This season, the titles include :

Freaks and Geeks Yearbook Edition

The Home Movies 10th Anniversary Box Set
Mystery Science Theater 3000: 20th Anniversary Edition

The Gonzo Tapes: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
I Got the Feelin’: James Brown In The ‘60s
Sports Night: The Complete Series 10th Anniversary

The Book

The Mental Floss History of the World: An Irreverant Romp Through Civilization’s Best Bits is a hysterical new primer of world history that brings to light a variety of historic facts you may have missed in class. The guys at mental floss have carefully composed twelve chapters, ranging from as far back as 60,000 BCE to the present, tackling all of history’s most interesting details and compressing it into one very funny (and, of course, informative) read!

The Truth

Mental Floss is a really addictive compilation of historical facts that I bet you never knew about. I found myself reading it, even to this day, over and over again. Its the perfect book to place upon the back of your toilet for informative reading and facts.

If you enjoy Uncle John’s Bathroom bible, you’ll love this novel as well. I can’t recommend this enough, its available now in stores!

The Movie

Intelligence is relative in this hilarious new spy comedy from Joel and Ethan Coen, the Academy Award® -winning directors of No Country for Old Men and The Big Lebowski. Academy Award® winners George Clooney and Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, and Academy Award® winner Tilda Swinton star in this brilliantly clever and endlessly entertaining comedy of errors.

DVD Features

BONUS FEATURES (AVAILABLE ON DVD AND BLU-RAY HI-DEF):

* FINDING THE BURN: The making of Burn After Reading from inspiration to the big screen.
* DC INSIDERS RUN AMUCK: We show the strength in putting together some of the most amazing talent in the world to create a world of Washington, DC insiders all trying to get ahead or find true love.
* WELCOME BACK GEORGE: This is a companion, comedy piece, focusing on Mr. Clooney as he returns for his third collaboration with Ethan and Joel Coen.

BONUS FEATURES EXCLUSIVE TO BLU-RAY HI-DEF:

* Get Connected with BD-Live!
o Access the BD-Live Center through your Internet-connected player and download even more bonus content, the newest trailers and more!
o Plus, explore MY SCENES and collect your favorite clips from the movie then share with your BD-Live buddies!

The Contest

You can enter to win a copy of Burn After Reading by replying to this post with your favorite Brad Pitt or George Clooney movie. I’ll draw names Dec 15th to pick a winner!

The Contest

We have a copy to give away to one lucky winner!
The awe-inspiring adventure of the year with breathtaking visual effects is available to own on December 16, 2008 when The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor hits store shelves in a Deluxe two-disc Edition on DVD and Blu-ray™ Hi-Def from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is available as a two-disc Deluxe Edition DVD and a two-disc Blu-ray™ Hi-Def version that offers perfect picture and purest digital sound, featuring hours of bonus material including exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, outtakes and deleted scenes, as well as a digital copy of the film; and in a single disc DVD version.

How To Enter

Reply to this thread with the name of your favorite Brendan Fraser, or Jet Li movie and you are automatically entered!

When

The contest starts today, Nov 10th and ends Dec 10th 2008. Get your entry in now!

The Scoop

In the highly-anticipated sequel to “Madagascar,” Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria, King Julien, Maurice and the penguins and the chimps find themselves back home in Africa, only to meet up with long lost family and friends.

The Truth

Escape 2 Africa is more of the same, with a little more emphasis on the life of Alex the lion and his history. The original cast of characters is all here, the laughs are pretty witty and mature at times, my kids looked lost at the one-liners and subject matter as was I for that matter.

The penguins were the surprise hit of the movie, and are worthy of their own spin-off. Wonderful dialoge, witty undertones and a likable ensemble of memorable moments. If you ask me, they steal the entire show.

The Action

The action is pretty solid, the film moves along pretty well. There’s a lot more dialoge in this animation than the first one.

The Animation

You won’t be confusing Madagascar 2 with Ratatouille any time soon. While the visuals are impressive, the big screen does it no justice. The movie will best be served on a HDTV and a Blueray player.

The Old Lady

The old lady from the first film makes an appearance over and over again, beating the animals senseless for some reason. It really just felt like filler, I never got the impression anyone in the the audience enjoyed her character in the film either. I never heard any kids laughing, it was just dull. She gave me a headache, her character was disappointing.

The Message

There’s a message in this film somewhere, I’m confused as to what it is. Part of me says the film shouts “There’s no place like home” others said the message was “Family First”. I was left wondering if the movie was suggesting animals in captivity is cruel and wrong. Why else would they celebrate their release into Africa so openly?

Who really knows, maybe I shouldn’t even care, but my kids asked me if I knew what the movie was really trying to say and I couldn’t honestly answer them. Maybe I read too much into movies and I should just let it go, but I have no idea what the clear message of the film was.

The Verdict

I rarely goto the movies anymore, I really dislike the whole experience. However, when its a movie for the kids I happily go along just to see them smile and take in all the environment the theater has to offer. You know, the sticky floors, the horrible smells of the homeless around you, the popcorn that stinks like Grandpas distinct fart.

Madagascar 2 is a decent animation, suitable for kids 5 and up. There’s a fair amount of violence for a movie aimed a young kids, it was rather irritating at times.

5 and up? Lots of guns firing, hitting and content you may not want your kids 4 and under to endure. I just found it a little too much for the really young kids, so I think its safe to say 5 and up is a little more suited to Madagascar 2.

Madagascar 2 is a fairly fun journey with a more mature undertone than the previous film, but it still works. Your kids will probably enjoy it, and its pretty entertaining for the adults to sit through as well. We noticed a lot of kids enjoying it, although the laughs were nothing as compared to Kung Fu Panda or Toy Story2.

Up

Movie details for the movie “Up” coming in May 2009 :

In this “coming of old age” story, a seventysomething hero, alongside his clueless wilderness ranger sidekick, travels the globe, fighting beasts and villains, and eating dinner at 3:30 in the afternoon.

Trailer

You’ll Care Because

This is Pixar/Dinsey’s next big movie since Ratatouille and you know its going to be a monster of a hit.

Up Release Date

May 29th 2009

Pictures and Downloads

Coming soon! Visit the official site for the teaser trailer.

Official Site

Up - The Official Site

The Scoop

Two best friends become rivals when they schedule their respective weddings on the same day.

Official Site

Bride Wars

Bride Wars Trailer

Yahoo! Trailer

Release Date

9 January 2009

Starring

Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway. Vivacious old cougar Candice Bergen also makes an appearance.

Prediction

Make plans for a ski trip with your buddies this opening weekend, you won’t want to be the only man in the theater for this one.

The Scoop

When hundreds of videotapes showing torture, murder and dismemberment are found in an abandoned house, they reveal a serial killer’s decade-long reign of terror and become the most disturbing collection of evidence homicide detectives have ever seen.

When police raid a house in upstate New York, they discover a profoundly disturbing record of one man’s ugly crimes. Investigators find over 240 hours of videotape shot by the killer which present a visual record of his murders in all their horrifying details.

Release Date

Fri 2 January 2009

Starring

Nobody you’ve heard of.

History Lesson

Although Hollywood is basing this off of a true story, its really not that accurate. Kendall Francois killed like 6 - 8 prostitutes, stashing their bodies In his house on 99 Fulton Street, they names him The Water Street Butcher.

* Kendall Francois did not film his murders.
* Kendall Francois is serving a life sentence to this day.
* Kendall Francois is black.

Read more about Kendall Francis and the background of the movie.

Official Site and Trailer

http://www.poughkeepsietapes.com/