We Own the Night (Blu-ray) Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / 2007 / 117 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: February 12, 2008
Genres: Crime, Drama
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes
Director: James Gray
Plot Synopsis: What if your own family stood in the way of everything you worked for? Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) has forsaken his name to escape his family and their tradition in law enforcement to pursue his ambitions as a Brooklyn nightclub owner. As he turns a blind eye to the drug dealers around him, he comes face to face with the family he abandoned when his brother (Mark Wahlberg) and father (Robert Duvall) crack down on the club. Now Bobby must choose a side. Is he going to turn informant or will he help run the biggest crime ring in New York history?
Disc Features:
• Audio Commentary with Writer and Director James Gray
• Featurettes: "Police Action: Filming Cops, Cars, and Chaos," "A Moment In Crime: Creating Late 80's Brooklyn"
Gone Baby Gone (Blu-ray) Buena Vista Home Entertainment / 2007 / 114 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: February 12, 2008
Genres: Drama, Thriller, Crime
Starring: Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Casey Affleck
Director: Ben Affleck
Plot Synopsis: Two young private detectives are hired to take a closer look at the mysterious disappearance of a little girl and soon discover that nothing is what it seems. Ultimately, they will have to risk everything -- their relationship, their sanity, and even their lives -- to find a little girl-lost.
Disc Features:
• Audio Commentary with Director Ben Affleck
• Featurettes: "Going Home - Behind the Scenes with Ben Affleck," "Capturing Authenticity: Casting Gone Baby Gone"
• Deleted scenes including Extended Ending
No Reservations (Blu-ray) Warner Home Entertainment / 2007 / 104 Minutes / Rated PG
Street Date: February 12, 2008
Genres: Comedy, Romance
Starring: Abigail Breslin, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart
Director: Scott Hicks
Plot Synopsis: A perfectionist chef addicted to her work struggles to adjust when her sister passes away leaving her with a little girl to raise and a new soup-chef threatens to take over her kitchen with his high-spirited and free-wheeling ways.
Disc Features:
• Food Network's "Unwrapped:" hosted by Marc Summers, goes behind the scenes of the making of No Reservations
HD Exclusive Content:
• Food Network's "Emeril Live Show:" Emeril re-creates the famous dishes from the movie with his guest stars Aaron Echkart and Abigail Breslin.
Becoming Jane (Blu-ray) Buena Vista Home Entertainment / 2007 / 120 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: February 12, 2008
Overall Grade 
Genres: Periodic Drama, Romance
Starring: Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, Julie Walters, and James Cromwell
Director: Jullian Jarrold
Plot Synopsis: The only portrait I ever saw of Jane Austen appears on countless spines of the Modern Library edition of "Pride and Prejudice." Drawn by her sister Cassandra, Jane looks, well, like one would expect the witty Miss Austen to look: poised, civilized, reflective and intelligent. With some imagination and forgiveness with regard to the talent of the artist, she could even be conceived as pretty with her large dark eyes and ringlet fringe peeking out from the typical gentlewoman's cap of that time period. How ingenious for Hollywood to cast the sumptuous Anne Hathaway with her silky brown hair, curvaceous figure, deer-in-the-headlights eyes and perfect lips as the young burgeoning author? Let's face it---no one wants to be a plain Jane - and plain she is not--she's pretty much got it all: not only is she innocently stunning, she's independent, wants to work, exhibits impeccable manners, loves her family, acts upon noble ideals all of which along with her cricket skills results in attracting and snaring the deliciously boyish James McAvoy ( Last King of Scotland) as supposed ill-fated lover, Tom Lefroy.
As a film, all of this romanticism works wonderfully. The verdant countryside shimmers in the sunshine. The period clothing---all empire waists, beribboned hair, top hats and velvet frockcoats----sway and rustle delightfully as the couples dance and speak in clever well-mannered innuendo as expectant matchmaking parents play chaperone and contemplate lucrative alliances that will set their children up for life. The dialogue sufficiently reflects that Austenian repartee which the educated audience delights in as it makes them feel they are on an even keel with one of the greatest satirists in the English language. The notion of Austin's relationship with Lefroy as presented first in Jon Spence's biography from which the film gets its name, suggests that many of Austin's dream partnerships as presented in her novels were based on actual, personal and emotional incidents that although painful, gave her characters so much flesh and blood poignancy, we still discuss them today.
Whether or not any of this is actually true matters naught. The film seduces with the same charming intensity of McAvoy's blue-eyed stare as he quite openly undresses Hathaway in his mind. Is Lefroy the basis for Mr. Darcy? This is difficult to say, but I wouldn't mind bumping into this film's Tom Lefroy while I was taking my daily constitutional. Of course, I'd have to go back in time to become a few years younger---or perhaps not as flirty cousin Eliza de Feuillide certainly does have her way with Jane's rakish brother, Henry Austen (Joe Anderson)---oh, what money can buy!
With that in mind, leave the historical authenticity to the Austen scholars and enjoy the film for its performances and its visual delights. Secondary players congregate to form a veritable Austen menagerie of characters that for the most part plays a bit too conveniently to reflect reality. But take it all in fun ---the film leads one to believe that Austen needed little imagination to conceptualize her personalities; rather they were all there under her nose, just waiting to be captured on paper. Nevertheless, Maggie Smith as the formidable Lady Gresham never fails to elicit a chuckle as does her fictional counterpart Lady Catherine de Bourgh from "Pride and Prejudice." Julie Walters and James Cromwell as Jane's parents seem the perfect Mr. and Mrs Bennett clones while Laurence Fox, as Mr. Wisley (Mr. Collins again from "Pride and Prejudice") interjects just the right 21st century computer geek persona to the mix to act the perfect foil for the more glamorous but definitely shallower Tom Lefroy character.
Disc Features:
- Audio Commentary - Director Julian Jarrold, screenwriter Kevin Hood, and producer Robert Bernstein sit down for a group chat, and it starts out strong. Hood in particular provides a great deal of insight into crafting a story that is part biopic, part made up from whole cloth, while Jarrold has fun recalling the chemistry between the leads and other on-set fun. Unfortunately, the track begins to drag, eventually falling into the trap where the participants just regurgitate what we're seeing onscreen. Had the strong pace of the first half kept up this one would have been a must-listen, but as is, it's quite hit-or-miss.
- Featurette: "Discovering the Real Jane Austen" (SD, 16 minutes) - Not quite living up to its title, this is hardly a doc on Austen but rather a standard making-of EPK. The cast and crew champion the script’s insights in all things Jane, and there is a wealth of film clips and behind-the-scenes footage. It's just all too generic, and barely more than an extended commercial.
- Deleted Scenes (SD, 9 minutes) - Five scenes in all, and they're actually not bad. There are some added bits involving the Austen family and a few amusing comedic moments with the James McAvoy character -- nothing revelatory, but at least these are more than just meandering scene extensions. Some optional commentary or textual context would have been nice, though...
- Theatrical Trailers (HD) - Clips are provided for 'Enchanted,' 'Sleeping Beauty' and the upcoming Pixar theatrical release 'Wall•E.' There is no trailer for 'Becoming Jane.'
The Amateurs (Blu-ray) First Look Studios / 2007 / 98 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: February 12, 2008
Genres: Drama
Starring: Tim Blake Nelson, Jef Bridges, William Fichtner
Director: Michael Traeger
Plot Synopsis: Citizens of a small town, under the influence of a man in the midst of a mid-life crisis (Bridges), come together to make an adult film.
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