“The Jane Austen Book Club”

Kathy Baker
Maria Bello
Marc Blucas
Emily Blunt
Amy Brennenan
Hugh Dancy
Maggie Grace
Jimmy Smits
Kevin Zegers
Lynn Redgrave

PG13           106min           2007

Six Months. Six novels. Six members. The Jane Austen Book Club takes reading the classics to new heights of passion in this romantic comedy featuring an all-star cast.

When five women and one man get together to discuss the English writer’s beloved novels, they realize the heartaches of Emma, Mr. Dancy and the Bennet sisters are not so different from their own. Finding comfort, wit and wisdom from the pages and each other, they discover that, in matters of love, all they need to ask is: What would Jane do?

“The Jane Austen Book Club” is a contempary look at her characters as they read six of Austen’s book and is based on the book of the same name by Katlen Joy Fowler. Some who say this is a “chick flick”, I found it more akin to a soap opera. The characters lives where suppose to resemble reality yet the drama is heighten for dramatic purposes, and you never really see anyone work.

Every character is a full realized person even if we do not understand their motivations, yet they also fit the characterization of one of Austen’s characters. The actor’s in the character do a great job of keeping me interested in their lives and the story. Even if most of the relationships end in a predictable fashion, it’s the journey not the destination with this film. This is a great date movie. Beware women may to want to read Austen with their boyfriends and husbands.

Having just discovered Emily Blunt, she stands out in this film of great performances. She is an unhappy high school French teacher, whio has nnever been to France, in a crumbling marriage on the verge of an affair with one of her students. That is a mouth full that tells her character but doesn’t do justice to her performance. Only recognizing her from her other work “The Devil Wears Prada”, she finds an amazing comedic timing in this film. I do not think the moments are supposed to be funny they are to me because they are moments that we all had in real life and her reaction are so real. From the wig to the clothes they all make this character memorable for me.

There are the standard featurette. There is a cast and crew commentary. It has a behind the scene featurette and deleted scenes. There are also three featurettes: 1. Life of Jane Austen, 2. The Book Club: Deconstructed, 3. The Los Angeles Premiere. The movie previews are “Persepolis”, “Across the Universe”, “My Kid Could Paint This”, “Jimmy Carter Man From Plains”, “Blonde Ambitions”, “Comanche Moon”, “Little Women”, “My Mom’s New Boyfriend”, and “Saawariya”.

I give it 4/5.

“The Brave One”

Jodie Foster
Terrence Howard
Naveen Andrews
Nicky Katt
Mary Steenburgen

R           122min           2007

”Why don’t they stop me?” Erica Bain wonders. Bain, a popular New York radio host, watched her fiancé die and nearly last her own life to a vicious, random attack. Now she discovers a stranger within herself, an armed wanderer in the urban night, out for vengeance and of war with her own soul.

“The Brave One” is Jodie Fosters best work in awhile. She plays the duality of the character perfectly. She is clearly a character that has snapped but has not gone off the deep end. The story leaves you questions of morality. It’s one of those rare dramas that really gave me a gut check to ask myself how far was too far for this character and how far who I have gone.

Jodie Foster’s character has an despicable act of violence laid upon her and her fiancée. She after recovering she is a change person. It is the fact of trying to find a semblance of normal in this new world she is facing that she does an amazing job at. You question if she is truly all right and if she ever will be at the end.

“The Brave One” stays the middle ground leaving the viewer to decide based on their on morality and value system. All the violence she enacts can be justified but the question is that is it right. That question it left to the viewer every single time I think that it makes the film more interesting. At what point in the film does her fight for vengeance become excessive.

Those questions made me really take a gut check of me. Others that watched the film all had different points when they thought she had crossed the line of justified to become the same thing that created her. It this reason that we have laws to govern us, but its also about what do we do when those laws fail to protect us and let us protect ourselves. It’s a question you will have to ask yourselves and “The Brave One” gives great examples to start dialogues of conversation as heated as the sands of the Sahara.

There is only one featurette and some additional scenes that comprise the special feature section of this disc. The movie previews for the movie are for “Michael Clayton”, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford”, “Get Smart”, and “Shoot Em Up”.

I give it 4/5.

“When A Man Falls”

Dylan Baker
Stacie Bono
Timothy Hutton
Sharon Stone
Pruitt Taylor Vince
David Williams

R           86min           2007

When a lonely housewife (Sharon Stone) faces the reality of her dying marriage to Gary (Timothy Hutton), she seeks comfort in unlawful and forbidden activities. While Gary takes to drinking away his troubles he doesn’t realize that things are falling apart around him – until it’s too late.

“When a Man Falls” is a film that it put me to sleep, every time I tried to watch it. It’s a waste of veteran actors. The only reason I do not classify it as an “End of Days” because it maybe I gave up on it too soon.

There are no special features to speak of.

I give it 1/5.

“The Legend of Butch and Sundance”

David Rodgers
Ryan Browning
Rachelle Lefevre
Blake Gibbons
Mark Conseulos
Michael Biehn
Jay Brazeau
Michelle Harrison
Susan Ruttan

PG13           89min           2004

Just before the turn of the Century two young outlaws team up for a historic ride. Based on historical references, the “True Story” of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

“The Legend of Butch and Sundance” is a failed “backdoor” pilot that has been released to capitalize on the release of “3:10 to Yuma”. With a cast of relative unknowns, I see why it never made it pass the pilot stage. It has a gimmicky feel that would not work well with a televised serial. The film also did a good job of concluding the early story of Butch and Sundance.

As a stand-alone, film its not that bad. It is a little rough around the edges. It’s fatal flaw is that the story is too tied off. The ending neatly wrapped up most of the stories told in this film.

“The Legend of Butch and Sundance” cover says that it takes its story from historical information on the duo. To me it feels like a poor man version of “American Outlaws”. It plays very similar to the film and deviates only in a very points.

This is a bare DVD. It has a theatrical trailer and still gallery. The movie previews for this DVD are “3:10 to Yuma”, “Young Guns: 15th Anniversary Edition”, and “Dust”.

I give it 2/5.

“Feast of Love”

Morgan Freeman
Greg Kinnear
Radha Mitchell
Billy Burke
Alexa Davalos
Selma Blair
Toby Hemingway
Jane Alexander
Fred Ward
Stana Katic

R           102min           2007

Bradley is a hopeless romantic; Harry has the wisdom and experience to guide those around him; and young beautiful Chloe defines romantic fate. Each of their lives intertwine into one story in which no one can escape being bent, broken, befuddled, delighted and ultimately redeemed by love’s inescapable spell.

This film is based on the novel of the same name by Charles Baner. “Feast of Love” is a touching film about different version of love. It has an amazing ensemble cast that delivers the emotion impact that makes this a good film. It is a warm blanket that when you are feeling blue you will want to come back to.

This ensemble film is lead by Morgan Freeman, centers around Greg Kinnear and is anchored by Alexa Davalos. Morgan Freeman does a great job of being the elder statesman mentoring to the other characters. Greg Kinnear is the center of the action and everything revolves around him and his café. He’s the catalyst for the most of the action that takes place. Chloe is the emotion anchor of this film and is played amazingly by Alexa Davalos.

“Feast of Love” is an amazing film. It is one of those films that you will repeatedly come back to. It has the strong emotion story. It has a cast that does an amazing job.

There are no special features on this disc. There are movie previews for “Death at a Funeral” and “2 Days in Paris”.

I give it 4/5.