Here’s a fun event! People who buy the Blu-ray copy of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” (read my review here) can actually watch the film with Harry himself, Daniel Radcliffe, and director David Yates.
Well, sort of. Probably as close as we’ll ever get to the real thing anyway. It’s the first worldwide live community screening of the movie, and here’s how it works:
- Buy the Blu-ray disc of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” available on Dec. 8, 2009. Buy it on Amazon.com!
- Be one of the first 100,000 BD-Live community members (accessible through a BD-Live enabled …read more

Sometimes a little film comes along that grabs your emotions and won’t let go. Such is the case for “Cheri,” a period film with some of the best period actors around.
It takes place in the decadent world of Paris at the dawn of the 20th century. Michelle Pfeiffer plays Lea, a legendary courtesan who agrees to undertake the romantic education of Chéri (Rupert Friend), the 19-year-old son of a former rival (Kathy Bates).
Lea is 30 years older than Chéri and the former lover of some of France’s wealthiest and most powerful men. The last thing she expects is to …read more

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” hits DVD and Blu-ray on Oct. 20, 2009, and I’ve got some fun stuff to give away on behalf of Paramount Home Entertainment:

Two-disc Special Edition DVD (read my review here)
Poster
T-shirt

THE GIVEAWAY: Two (2) Prize Packs that include the above DVD, poster and T-shirt.
HOW TO ENTER: To enter the contest, simply leave a comment on this post by midnight on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009. Be sure to include a valid email address. Winners will be drawn randomly. I’ll email the winners for their snail-mail address after the contest ends. Good luck!
Check out …read more

"The Proposal” hits DVD today! I put the exclamation mark, because my daughter and I really loved this movie, and actually ended up seeing it twice in the theater. Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds have great chemistry, but the real scene stealer is Betty White, who plays Reynolds’ grandmother.
The story follows an uptight corporate staffer, Margaret (Bullock), who needs to get married in order to avoid being deported back to Canada. So she ropes her assistant Andrew (Reynolds) into getting married, but things go awry when they travel to Alaska to visit his family, who decides that the …read more

I’ll preface this post by saying I’m a big fan of anything “Star Trek” (thanks to my Trekkie mom), so I was thrilled to learn that Warner Archive would be releasing Gene Roddenberry’s 1970’s TV pilots, “Genesis II” and the follow-up “Planet Earth” on DVD today.
GENESIS II, 74 minutes, 1973. “My name is Dylan Hunt. My story begins the day on which I died.” Set between now and the era of the starship Enterprise, this story follows Hunt (Alex Cord), who awakens after 154 years of suspended animation into a post-apocalyptic world that’s torn between the peace-loving citizens …read more

DVD: Shrink * Trailer * Official Site
In Theaters: July 24, 2009; On DVD Sept. 29, 2009

Runtime: 104 minutes
Directed by: Jonas Pate

MPAA Rating: R for drug content throughout, and pervasive language including some sexual references
Gecko Rating:

I thought “Shrink” was going to be funny, but I’m here to tell you, it’s not. It’s kind of depressing, actually. It reminds me a lot of “Crash,” both in mood and music and plotline, with a lot of different storylines all crossing paths.
The movie shows us the side of Hollywood most of us never see – where people are seeing shrinks, …read more

Warner Bros. has released the “Our Gang Collection,” which includes all 52 MGM shorts from the Little Rascals gang. I watched it the other day with my family, and wow, those kids were tough back then. I know they were being portrayed as grown-ups (sort of), but the whole era was just rough and tumble. It’s like watching old “Three Stooges” films and going, wow, they did their own stunts?
But this is a great collection to own if you’re a fan of the Little Rascals and that era. The five DVD set includes all 52 shorts from 1938 through …read more

TCM has been releasing some fantastic collections on DVD lately, and this week brings “TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Murder Mysteries.”
The set includes “The Maltese Falcon,” “The Big Sleep,” “Dial M For Murder,” and “The Postman Always Rings Twice.” I can see myself vegging out on the couch for an afternoon with these lovely murder mysteries. More detail on this two-disc set from Warner Home Video (Buy it on Amazon):

The Maltese Falcon. This is classic Bogart in his prime, with plenty of rat-a-tat banter as he plays a detective so tough, he beats someone with his own gun …read more

The popular “Bring It On” series is back with an all-new movie! Christina Milian stars in “Bring It On: Fight to the Finish,” available on Blu-Ray, DVD, and Download to Own on Sept. 1, 2009. Yep, that’s today!
The story follows sassy cheer captain Lina Cruz (Milian), whose world goes all topsy-turvy when she moves with her family from the urban streets of East L.A. to the sunny beaches of Malibu. At her new school, Lina clashes with Avery (Rachele Brooke Smith), the competitive all-star cheer captain, while also falling for Avery’s cute brother, Evan (Cody Longo).
Plenty of …read more

I loved “Duplicity,” because it’s like a throwback to all of those great film noir flicks of the 1940’s, 50s and 60s, with the sexual tension and rat-a-tat banter between Clive Owen and Julia Roberts.
The story is all about corporate intrigue, spies and secrets, but it’s more light-hearted than you might think at first glance. Instead of missiles and terrorists, we’re dealing with something more benign, along the lines of body lotion, hair gel and pizza crust. The great Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti also star in this fun caper, written and directed by Tony Gilroy.
Read my …read more