John Hughes' movies worked largely because they felt honest. I Love You, Beth Cooper doesn't feel honest. This is a movie where the title character faces off with an angry and violent boyfriend while wielding only a plastic lightsaber -- and still seems surprised at the beating that follows. This is a movie where Denis' best friend is named Richard Munsch (think about it, it'll come to you). The characters act in ways that are convenient, but never convincing. ...more

Well, I don't know about sub-version, but the guys from It's Always Sunny... certainly add per-version, and loads of it. Almost all Christmas trappings get the finger in the rear, from obvious ones like presents and Santa, but there's also a B-story extension of the song, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," and some Grinch story threads. Taken apart like that, it's a pretty solid entry into the Christmas-episode canon, though it was released on DVD first. (It's 43 minutes long, so you know it's going on TV later.) But this is an unedited version, and even when you look beyond all the holiday homage, it's also one of the best episodes of It's Always Sunny... ever. ...more

Following the hit Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen returns with a third character from Da Ali G Show – Brüno. Brüno is a gay Austrian fashion reporter who is fired after disrupting a Milan Fashion week catwalk. His lover then leaves him for another man, and Brüno decides to come to America to become a superstar. He tries unsuccessfully to become an actor and creates an over-the-top talk show, which the focus group hates. During the film he attempts to interview Harrison Ford, who is nastier than has ever been seen before, but he succeeds in interviewing Paula Abdul and other celebrities, as well as various senators. He also tries to make his name as a peace negotiator for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with less than spectacular results....more

It's always interesting when a film gets universally panned by critics and yet makes a crazy amount of money at the box office. Sometimes this is because the film just had a big first weekend before anyone heard the word of mouth reviews, but sometimes it is genuinely because mainstream audiences loved it and ignored the critics altogether. The Ugly Truth is a classic example. It came out in July and got hit hard by critics, but it made almost $200 million dollars in theaters. Could it be because of the widespread appeal of stars Katherine Heigl and Gerald Butler? Or that sometimes critics can be snotty and expect romcoms to be more than they are? Whatever the reason, the film will most likely do just as well now that it is out on DVD and Blu-ray. It's not hard to understand why....more

What can I say about Say Anything that hasnt been trod over a thousand times, sliced and diced to bits, ideas that still mean as much to a viewer as mush to Oliver Twist. Cameron Crowe is brilliant here in his directorial debut, and Randy Stone cobbled together a cast that is perfectly suited to each characters roles and even propelled the careers of some. Oh yeah, and there is a scene where John Cusack holds a boombox in the air, propelling a love so deep and angsty any given audience will yearn alongside him. If you havent seen it, rent it. Now. ...more

The thing I never really thought about before, but noticed while watching the new Anniversary Edition DVD of 1954 musical White Christmas, is that if the title song wasn't included, you'd have a movie that has almost nothing to do with Christmas. Take out Bing Crosby crooning the song at the beginning and a group rendition at the end and you could have an above-average Hollywood musical, rather than a perennial Christmas favorite. ...more

One of the chief entries in the pseudo-cinephile's hall of fame, Fight Club occupies hallowed ground among those who have spent most of their movie-watching career ingesting Hollywood studio output. Based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk and directed by David Fincher, Fight Club makes its Blu-ray debut on the occasion of its 10th anniversary. Marrying brutal machismo with dime-store philosophy about commercialism and manliness, Fight Club definitely has more ideas than the average Hollywood film, but some kind of genius manifesto on society, it's not....more

Have you always dreamed of taking a tour of Europe but can’t find the means to make it happen? Now you can do it from your living room, thanks to Acorn Media’s travel series, Visions of Europe. Newly released on DVD in October 2009, this 10-disc boxed set has over 15 hours of footage from the popular television series. The set includes: Visions of Italy, Visions of France, Visions of Greece and Visions of Germany, as well two new releases: Visions of Austria and Visions of the Great Cities of Europe....more

As the impending idiocracy approaches, it becomes harder to differentiate between those who have already succumbed, and those who hasten its arrival because it’s an easy way to make a buck and gain a little notoriety. Both groups create “decade in review” pieces a year early, but the sell-outs who know better reveal themselves through admittedly wise selections. A surefire way to spot one is if they include Adult Swim’s The Venture Bros. in any best-of article dealing with animation, comedy, or television in general because the series is a damn fine piece of brilliance and has been for three seasons running....more

Gear up for more outrageous Southern Californian hijinks with Californication: The Second Season. Picking up several months after the end of the previous series, the second season finds sexaholic writer Hank Moody (David Duchovny, in his best role since The X-Files) reunited with his true love, Karen (Natascha McElhone). So far, life has been great for both Hank and Karen — as well as their daughter, Becca (Madeline Martin). But the days of sunshine and happiness soon go awry following a disastrous party at the mansion of music king Lew Ashby (Callum Keith Rennie), who hires Hank to write his biography....more