It?s a perfect mix of talent from the past coming together to make a pretty perfect film.
Written by El FangorioThanks to the phenomenal success of The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series, these days pretty much any children’s book can be made into a film franchise so long as it contains a wizard, a dragon, or an ogre. The Spiderwick Chronicles series of books, written by Holly Black and illustrated by Tony Diterlizzi,…

Charlie Bartlett is the story of one boy’s struggle to find himself and become popular in the process.
Charlie Bartlett is the story of a troubled youth who has been kicked out of almost every private school, most recently for selling fake IDs to the student body. Since Charlie (Anton Yelchin) has burned through his private school options, his mother (Hope Davis) has no recourse than to bring him home and enroll him in public school. Charlie wants…

I say Dino De Laurent-it, and if that fails, steal it!
Written by El FangorioOkay, this is what happens to the discerning viewer within the first 20 minutes of watching 1979’s King of the Gypsies:Ethnic music starts to play. Sounds Italian. You may even say to yourself, “Kind of sounds like The Godfather.” Credits start to roll. Sterling Hayden (“Love that guy. Can’t be…

Alexis has morning-after regrets. Sonny and Ric talk. Sam and Lucky head back to Port Charles.
Wednesday/Thursday (June 18-June 19)After spending the night with Jerry, Alexis went to work, only to find her office filled with bouquets of flowers from her nefarious lover. At least, she’s pretty sure they are from him. As she’s looking for a card, Nikolas comes by to ask for her help in going against the mayor on the free clinic….

This collection has a few good movies, but is underwhelming overall.
This year is the 10th anniversary of Frank Sinatra's death. Perhaps a bit morbidly this has been seen as a chance to re-release a lot of his material. There have two greatest hits packages released, multiple DVD sets, and even postage stamps. The Golden Years set includes five Warner Bros. movies Frank made between 1955 and 1965. Marriage on…

A truly mesmerizing Blu-ray experience.
Loads of hype and a lot to live up to Cloverfield only misses one mark: explaining its gigantic CGI star. The intensity of the handheld camera footage isn’t completely original, but lets audiences live through a fantastical disaster from a viewpoint unique to the genre. J.J. Abrams may not get his wish for this to be a cultural giant monster…

Futurama is back with the second of four direct-to-DVD movies.
Futurama was an animated FOX comedy about the misadventures of Philip Fry and company. On New Year’s Eve 1999, Fry delivered a pizza to a cryogenic lab; finding that the order was a prank, he falls into an open cryo-chamber and was frozen for 1000 years. When he wakes up the world is a much different place. As he gets his bearings, Fry…

Do we share in the shame of our ancestors? Think about your answer.
2008 marks the bicentennial of the United States’ abolition of the slave trade on its shores. That’s a landmark event in the nation’s history, and yet, it’s been largely overlooked. Maybe it’s because we like to pat ourselves on the back about the quantum leaps we’ve made in the two centuries since, or perhaps…