Golden Globe 2011 Winners

Did this Sunday’s Golden Globes ceremony leave you interested in checking out some of the winners?  We have a lot of them at our three locations!

Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical:  The Kids Are All Right

Best Animated Feature:  Toy Story 3

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Made for Television:  Claire Danes in Temple Grandin

Best Television Series – Comedy or Musical:  Glee (also honored were Supporting Actor Chris Colfer and Supporting Actress Jane Lynch)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical:  Jim Parsons for The Big Bang Theory

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama:  Katey Sagal for Sons of Anarchy

Lots of the other winners haven’t been released on DVD yet, so keep checking back to see if we have them!

DVDs for January

January 5

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

In a town where food drops from the sky like rain, a young inventor hopes to create something that will change everyone’s life. However, when the weather takes a turn for the worse, the residents of the town of Chewandswallow will find their eating habits have drastically changed.

January 12

Fame – Debbie Allen,  Charles Dutton

The inspiring story of a group of dancers, singers, musicians, and actors at the New York City High School of Performing Arts, and their spirited drive to live out their dreams of stardom. In an incredibly competitive atmosphere, each student must shine amidst the tumult of school work, deep friendships, budding romance, and self-discovery.

Big Fan – Kevin Corrigan,  Michael Rappaport

A diehard New York Giants fan meets his hero, the quarterback of the team, with disastrous results that impact his entire life and those around him.

Moon – Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey

Astronaut Sam Bell is completing a three-year contract with Lunar Industries to mine Earth’s primary source of energy, Helium-3. His declining health is causing headaches and hallucinations that lead to a near-fatal accident, rendering him unconscious. After recuperating, an unexpected discovery leads him to doubt his sanity, his identity, and the integrity of the company. Believing he is alone on his mission, his sole purpose is getting back home on his own.

January 19

The Invention of Lying – Jennifer Garner, Ricky Gervais

In a world where people speak the truth and have no concept of deception, a young man about to lose everything invents the ‘lie’ and goes on to not just change the nature of movie-making, but also creates the basis of religion. After much effort, he also gets the girl he loves.

January 26

Michael Jackson’s This is It

Presents a rare, behind-the-scenes look at Jackson as he developed, created, and rehearsed for his sold-out concerts at London’s O2 Arena. Drawn from more than one hundred hours of behind-the-scenes footage, the singer, dancer, filmmaker, architect, creative genius, and great artist at work is captured in raw and candid detail as he created and perfected his planned final London shows.

Surrogates – Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames

People are living their lives remotely from the safety of their own homes via robotic surrogates – sexy, physically perfect mechanical representations of themselves. It’s an ideal world where crime, pain, fear, and consequences don’t exist. When the first murder in years jolts this utopia, FBI agent Greer discovers a vast conspiracy behind the surrogate phenomenon and must abandon his own surrogate, risking his life to unravel the mystery.

Favorite Christmas Movies

Rita’s choices for Christmas viewing are all about 1940s and 50s nostalgia. Take a step back to a simpler time before the words “video game” and “internet” were invented.

white christmasWhite ChristmasBing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen.

After leaving the Army after W.W.II, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis team up to become a top song-and-dance act. Davis plays matchmaker and introduces Wallace to a pair of beautiful sisters (Betty and Judy) who also have a song-and-dance act. When Betty and Judy travel to a Vermont lodge to perform a Christmas show, Wallace and Davis follow, only to find their former commander, General Waverly, is the lodge owner. A series of romantic mix-ups ensue as the performers try to help the General. I love the singing and dancing and the romantic mixups of the 1954 movie.

ralphieChristmas Story Peter Billingsley, Darren McGavin, Melinda Dillon

This vignette-laden, nostalgic view of Christmastime in 1940s Indiana follows nine-year-old Ralphie, who desperately wants a Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas–and is waging an all-out campaign to… This vignette-laden, nostalgic view of Christmastime in 1940s Indiana follows nine-year-old Ralphie, who desperately wants a Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas–and is waging an all-out campaign to convince his reluctant parents that the toy will be safe in his hands. By turns warped and winsome, the comedy follows Ralphie as he prepares for the big day with his rather idiosyncratic family. Based on the novel by humorist Jean Shepherd (who also narrates the film), A Christmas Story gained popularity long after its theatrical run, through frequent holiday broadcasts that turned its schoolyard “triple-dog” dares, family neuroses, and childhood indignities into a Yuletide tradition. I love this movie as it reminds me of my early life in Davenport. In the 1960’s we were still double dog daring, going to see Santa Claus at Petersen Harned Von Maur and wishing for the perfect Christmas gift. Mine was a Tiny Tears Doll.

My new Christmas tradition is to watch all the Christmas movies broadcast on ABC Family Channel’s “25 days of Christmas” Some of these are the hokest Christmas movies ever, but it does get you in the mood.

It is a truth univerally acknowledged that Mr. Darcy is dreamy.

I admit it. I am definitely one of those girls who watches the BBC presentation of Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy over and over and over again. I also watch Bridget Jones’ Diary starring Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy over and over and over again. In fact, a good majority of my favorite movies  are a version of the Jane Austen’s classic.  Why watch anything else when you can watch Mr. Darcy (especially when that Mr. Darcy is played by Colin Firth)?

BrideAndPrejudiceBride and Prejudice
Bride and Prejudice is Pride and Prejudice gone Bollywood, and it is FANTASTIC. Aishwarya Rai, Bollywood actress and former Miss World, is absolutely stunning as the Elizabeth Bennet character.

Lost in AustenLost in Austen
What girl wouldn’t want to trade places with Elizabeth for some alone time with Mr. Darcy? Yeah, that is what Amanda thought, too, until she started causing chaos in her beloved story when Mr. Bingley falls in love with her and Jane agrees to marry Mr. Collins. Maybe Miss Austen didn’t tell us the whole story…

Becoming JaneBecoming Jane
So Colin Firth will always be my favorite Mr. Darcy, but after seeing James McAvoy as Tom LeFroy, the man who may have inspired the Darcy character, he became my favorite actor. Swoooooon.

Bridget Jones's DiaryBridget Jones’s Diary
FAVORITE! I went through a phase in college where I watched this movie about once a week, now I watch it about once a month. Renée Zellweger is BRILLIANT as Bridget Jones and Colin Firth is DREAMY as Mark Darcy. Laugh laugh tear giggle swoon laugh.

Pride and PrejudicePride and Prejudice (the BBC Version)
By far THE BEST straight-up movie version of Pride and Prejudice. Some may be daunted by the six hour viewing time, but I say the longer the better (I have been known to watch it twice in a row…).

and for those of you who prefer Emma:

cluelessClueless
Long before he was part of Seth Rogen’s gang, Paul Rudd was the Mr. Knightley to Alicia Silverstone’s Emma of Beverly Hills. Hmmm, this represents a crossover into my other genre fave: teen movies based on classics…

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog on DVD

s-singalong-blogConceived, written and filmed during the 2008 writer’s strike, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog is a musical unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Originally available for free online, it’s now on DVD with additional (hilarious) commentary and making-of mini-documentaries.

The story is simple, yet devious. Mild-mannered Billy (played by Neil Patrick Harris) is actually Dr Horrible (“I have a PhD in Horrible”), bad-guy-in-training. He desperately wants to join the Evil League of Evil (led by Bad Horse who is – a horse) but his every evil attempt is foiled by his nemisis, Captain Hammer (played to the full, cheesy hilt by Nathan Fillion) Billy/Dr Horrible sings of his love for Penny (Felicia Day), the girl at the laundromat he is too shy to talk to then watches in horror as Captain Hammer claims her for himself. How far will Dr Horrible go to be admitted to the Evil League of Evil? Will he ever defeat Captain Hammer? Can he ever tell Penny his true feelings?

The brainchild of Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly), the lyrics and dialogue are smart and funny, the singing and acting are terrific and the world-view delightfully skewed. If you’re a fan of Buffy or Flight of the Conchords or Sweeney Todd, you’ll find a lot to like in this musical.