Elf
Buddy’s Sing & Cheer Along Edition
DVD
Directed by Jon Favreau
Written by David Berenbaum
Starring Will Ferrell, James Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Edward Asner, Daniel Tay, Faizon Love, Peter Dinklage, Leon Redbone
Warner Brothers
Not Rated | 97 minutes
Release Date: November 27, 2018

Elf is the story of Buddy (Will Ferrell), an orphan who as a baby, crawled into Santa’s bag and accidentally went to the North Pole. One of the elves (Bob Newhart) decides to raise him as his own. 30 years later, Buddy is the biggest elf in the toyshop and not very good at making toys. He accidentally overhears that not only is he not an elf, but he is a human and his father is in New York City. Not only that, he is on the “naughty list.” Hoping to find him anyway for a special reunion, Buddy begins his journey to New York for Christmas.

Misery
Blu-ray (Collector’s Edition)
Director: Rob Reiner
Screenwriter: William Goldman
Cast: James Caan, Kathy Bates, Frances Sternhagen, Richard Farnsworth, Lauren Bacall
Distributor: Scream Factory
Rated R | 108 Minutes
Release Date: November 28, 2017

“I’m your number one fan. There’s nothing to worry about. You’re going to be just fine. I will take good care of you. I’m your number one fan.”

Directed by Rob Reiner (This is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride) and written by two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All The President’s Men), 1990’s Misery is based on the Stephen King’s 1987 novel of the same name. King, the world’s foremost writer of horror fiction, has had something of a resurgence in popularity lately, with this year’s theatrical releases of The Dark Tower and It, not to mention Netflix’s excellent adaptations of Gerald’s Game and 1922.

Elf
Ultimate Collector’s Edition Blu-ray
Directed by Jon Favreau
Starring Will Ferrell, Zooey Deschanel, James Caan, Peter Dinklage
Warner Bros Home Entertainment
Release date: October 26, 2010

Ask any Will Ferrell fan about his movies, and they most definitely will be able to quote lines from it, almost verbatim. Some like his wacky turn as news reporter/lothario Ron Burgundy in Anchorman. Other prefers him as Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights. For me, my favorite movie from the Ferrell library is Elf, his first major movie and box office success. So, with the holidays right around the corner, it is no surprise that the movie would be re-released on Blu-ray as an Ultimate Collector’s Edition.

Elf stars Will Ferrell as Buddy, a human who when he was just a baby, hopped into Santa’s sleigh and was whisked to the North Pole. Because he was an orphan, an old wise elf (Bob Newhart) decides to raise him as his own. Fast forward 30 years, when Buddy discovers that not only is he not an elf, but his real human father is in New York City. Hoping to reconnect with the father he never knew he had, Buddy embarks on a quest to the Big Apple one special Christmas season.

The Sci Fi (SyFy? If we all refuse to acknowledge that, will they change it back?) channel has already far and away proven that they can take an old TV series, completely restructure it, and create one of the best shows of all time. Now that Battlestar Galactica has come and gone, Sci Fi is developing a new potential series based on Alien Nation with fanboy favorite Tim Minear writing.

Alien Nation first started as a movie starring James Caan and Mandy P in 1988 that turned into a 1989 TV series on Fox. The show was canceled after one season, but has seen five new TV movies made since then, as well. The show is basically a social observation using a fictional setting and aliens known as “Newcomers” who were at first made to live away from humans, but now have been allowed to reside among us; of course this doesn’t stop racism from continuing. The original movie for which this new project is being based followed an L.A. cop (Caan) whose partner is killed while investigating the Newcomers. When the first alien police officer comes to his department, he volunteers to join up with him in order to sneakily try and investigate the death of his former partner.

The Godfather – The Coppola Restoration
Blu-ray edition
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, John Cazale, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy Garcia, Eli Wallach, Robert De Niro
Paramount Home Entertainment
Release Date: September 23, 2008

Everyone knows the Corleone family and its members on a first name basis. Everyone speaks the family’s language. Some people even try to make their homemade sauce like them and fail miserably in trying. If I were to say the words “˜toll booth,’ “˜cannoli,’ “˜Sicily’, and “˜horse’s head’ you would know what I was talking about. These characteristics are what make Francis Ford Coppola‘s The Godfather arguably the greatest film ever made.

When watching, whether for the first time or the 100th time, it is like we are entering the Corleone’s dinning room. Their setting is dark, but it’s still inviting, the feeling is intimidating but once we become familiar with it it turns into intimacy. It’s a film that is told entirely from the inside. The outside world of the Corleone family bears little consideration. From the film’s opening lines, “I believe in America,” The Godfather paints an exact replica of American capitalism but adds a few more colors that makes this capitalism seem OK in society. It’s a vivid view of a powerful Mafia family, which wakes up one morning to find their enterprise isn’t as powerful as it once was.