Fat Kid Rules the World
DVD
Directed by Matthew Lillard
Starring Jacob Wysocki, Matt O’Leary, Billy Campbell
Arc Entertainment
Release Date: January 22, 2013

Troy Billings (Jacob Wysocki) is a high school student living with his widowed ex-Marine father (Billy Campbell) and younger brother Dayle (Dylan Arnold) in metropolitan Seattle. He is depressed most of the time because he is grossly overweight, has no friends, and never seems to have the approval of his family. One day Troy decides to end it all and walks in front of an oncoming city bus only to be pushed out of the way at the last minute by Marcus (Matt O’Leary), a strung-out teen about his age. Marcus was expelled from Troy’s school but continues to hang out there and spends most of his time angling to become a punk rock star. But his old band P.O.I. wants nothing more to do with him and his hedonistic antics.

Marcus latches onto the shy and insecure Troy and convinces him to join his new band the Tectonics as the drummer. Troy reluctantly agrees out of fear of losing the only real friend he has had in years and once exposed to the music and punk club scene Marcus inhabits he begins to emerge from his shell and unearth his inner rocker. Troy’s father, who has also bonded somewhat with Marcus, sees his son’s new friend for what he really is: a junkie and an opportunist. Troy isn’t ready to write off Marcus just yet so he conspires to make the Tectonics a real thing and in the process try to save his friend from continuing down the path of self-destruction.

Talk about a way to jump start a career.

With just a few TV credits to his name, The Wrap is reporting that actor Joe Massingill has joined the cast of the upcoming film, Trouble With The Curve, for WB.

The film stars Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams, with Matthew Lillard also in talks to take a role in the project. The movie will follow an “ailing baseball scout who takes his daughter on one last recruiting trip to Atlanta.” Eastwood will take the lead, with Adams taking on the role of the daughter.

The Descendants
Directed by Alexander Payne
Starring George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Nick Krause, Beau Bridges, Matthew Lillard, Judy Greer, Barbara L. Souther and Robert Forster
Release Date: November 16, 2011

Director Alexander Payne‘s films aren’t fashioned with any hidden aims or methods. Slowly revealing to audiences instances that would provide instant revelation isn’t his main concern. He understands the importance of a matter and what the most essential points are to it. In his newest feature, The Descendants, which Payne and screenwriter Nat Faxon adapted from Kaui Hart Hemmings’ 2007 novel, the most essential point is capturing the many facets of humanity. Payne admires human behavior and the incredible yet emotionally painstaking adventures it provides for individuals to travel.

Scooby-Doo 1 & 2 Collection
Blu-ray
Directed by Raja Gosnell
Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., Matthew Lillard, Linda Cardellini
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Release date: November 10, 2010

I have never been a big Scooby-Doo fan. I was more involved with mutant turtles and tiny toons to pay attention, but I had some passing knowledge of the popular cartoon. Next to Mickey Mouse, Scooby-Doo is pretty high up on the animated animal chart so it was only natural that his presence would be felt on the big screen. Enter Scooby-Doo and its sequel, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, which were recently re-released on Blu-ray as a two-pack.

Scooby-Doo brings the famous Mystery Inc. detective agency together in their first live-action adventure. After a solving case involving a flying “ghost,” the Scooby gang gets into a heated argument, resulting in Fred, Velma, Daphne, Shaggy, and Scooby going their separate ways. Two years pass and the former Scooby gang are brought back together once more by an eccentric millionaire. It seems his amusement park, Spooky Island, is having an odd effect on his guests and he wants the top detective agency to solve the mystery. In Scooby Doo-2, the sequel picks up with Mystery Inc. right at the height of their popularity up until some of their foes from their cartoon past make their presence appear, causing all sorts of havoc on their lives.