Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck expecting third child

Congratulations to Jennifer Garner and husband Ben Affleck.

The celebrity couple are expecting their third child as confirmed by the Associated Press. The couple have two daughters: Violet, 5½, and Seraphina, 2½.

Extract (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

Hilarious, smart and outright witty!  “Extract” is an enjoyable dark comedy that Mike Judge fans will definitely enjoy on Blu-ray!

Images courtesy of © 2009 Buena Vista Home Entertainment. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Extract

DURATION: 92 Minutes

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:85:1), English 5.1 DTS-HD MA (48 kHz/24-bit), French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish

RATED: R (For Langugage, Sexual References and Some Drug Use)

COMPANY: Miramax Films

RELEASE DATE: December 22, 2009

Written and Directed by Mike Judge

Executive Producer: Dave Krinsky, Tom Lassally, Glenn Lucas

Co-Executive Producer: Michael Flynn

Producer: John Altschuler, Michael Rotenberg

Line Producer: Bergen Swanson

Music by George S. Clinton

Cinematography by Tim Suhrstedt

Edited by Julia Wong

Casting by Venus Kanani, Mary Vernieu

Production Design by Maher Ahmad

Art Direction by Austin Gorg

Set Decoration by Gene Serdena

Costume Design by Alix Friedberg

Starring:

Jason Bateman as joel

Mila Kunis as Cindy

Kristin Wiig as Suzie

Ben Affleck as Dean

J.K. Simmons as Brian

Clifton Collins Jr. as Step

Dustin Milligan as Brad

David Koechner as Nathan

Beth Grant as Mary

T.J. Miller as Rory

Javier Gutierrez as Hector

Lidia Porto as Gabriel

Gene Simmons as Joe Adler

Matt Schulze as Willie

Lamberto Gutierrez as Victor

Brent Briscoe as Phil

Joel Reynolds (Jason Bateman) is sitting pretty. With a beautiful wife, a comfortable home and the almost finalized acquisition by General Mills of the culinary extracts business he has built with his loyal lieutenant Brian (J.K. Simmons), Joel seems to have it all. Except his wife is about as interested in him as she is in her career (supermarket coupon design), his employees want a piece of the pie and the sweet young thing with designs on him (Mila Kunis) is really a wily con-artist. On the advice of a drug-addled confidante (Ben Affleck), Joel cooks up a scheme to cheat with impunity by hiring a gigolo to seduce his wife—only to discover the young object of his affection is behind a lawsuit by long-time employee Step (Clifton Collins, Jr.) that will scotch the General Mills deal and leave Joel penniless. The best-laid plans unravel with hilarious results in this off-the wall comedy about life in the not-so-fast lane.

In 2009, Mike Judge (writer, director and creator of “Office Space”, the animated series “King of the Hill” and “Beavis and Butthead”) returned with a dark comedy titled  “Extract”.

“Extract” focuses on Joel (played by Jason Bateman, “Arrested Development”, “Hancock”, “Juno”), a man who owns his own company “Reynold’s Extract” that specializes in flavor-extract.

Joel puts long hours into his work in hopes that one day a major company will purchase his business, a dream that his manager Brian (played by J.K. Simmons, “Spider-Man” films, “Juno”) hopes will happen.  Having to deal with the amiable employees day in and day out, Joel feels that his main way of getting out his frustrations is through sex with his wife Suzie (played by Kristen Wiig, “Saturday Night Live”, “Adventureland”) and that he needs to get home to his place before 8:00 p.m. before his wife puts on her sweats.  Otherwise, he doesn’t get any.  As for Suzie, she yearns for their earlier years when life was much more simple for them and they had more time with each other.  Since Joel is working all the time, you get a sense that Suzie is quite lonely at home.

Meanwhile each time he tries to go home, Joel encounters his meddling and annoying neighbor Nathan (played by David Koechner, “Hank”, “American Dad!”) who tries to get Joel and his wife to go to a club dinner with them.

But at the extract factory, Joel’s employees are having a problem with people not pulling their own weight at the job and things start to go downhill when the workers briefly stop working and chaos takes place.  One of the factory’s hardworking employees Step (played by Clifton Collins Jr., “Star Trek”, “Crank: High Voltage”) gets into an accident and for Joel and Brian, they know that a lawsuit by Step can hurt the company’s chances from being purchased.

With all these problems in his life, Joel confides his problems to his friend/bartender Dean (played by Ben Affleck, “Armageddon”, “Chasing Amy”, “Daredevil”) who comes up with the wildest (and morally wrong) ideas to help his friend.

Meanwhile, with Step’s accident making it on the front page news, a kleptomaniac, habitual liar and opportunist named Cindy (played by Mila Kunis, “That 70′s Show”, “Family Guy”) gets a job at the extract factory and is up to no good.

Needless to say, Joel’s life changes when he meets Cindy.  But will the change be for the positive or the negative?

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“Extract” is featured in 1080p High Definition (1:85:1).  Picture quality has a fine layer of grain and colors vary from vibrant during the outdoor scenes, an emphasis on reds during the bar scenes and natural light or blues used in the factory.  Skin tones are natural and for the most part, picture quality is satisfactory for this film.

Audio is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD MA (48 kHz/24-bit) and French 5.1 Dolby Digital.  For the most part, “Extract” is a dialogue driven film with most of the audio being front and center channel driven.  There is  music that utilizes the bass in the film but “Extract” is one of those films not to expect too much in terms of uses of lossless audio.   The soundtrack is appropriate for this film, being front and center channel and driven but you do hear the music utilized within the surround channels but that’s pretty much it.

Subtitles are featured in English SDH, French and Spanish.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Extract” comes with the following special features featured in 1080p or 480i, English 5.1 or 2.0 Dolby Digital and with English SDH, French or Spanish subtitles.  Included are:

• Mike Judge’s Secret Recipe—(10:48) What are the ingredients of a classic Mike Judge film? Go straight to the factory floor to uncover the writer and director’s secrets. From shooting in a real working factory to the unique cast of characters and situations, Mike Judge always seems to have the right recipe.  Interviews with the talent of “Extract” and more.
• Extended Scenes—(4:28) 5 scenes featuring extended portions with Joel, Dean and Brad that didn’t make the final cut of the film.  Exclusive for the Blu-ray release.
• Deleted Scene—(:37) Straight from the factory floor, watch this exclusive deleted scene (Blu-ray only) where Dean explains his rather abrupt departure from Willie’s party the night before and finds out Joel got punched in the face.

Many people including myself wondered if Mike Judge could pull of another sleeper hit with “Extract” as he did a decade ago with “Office Space”.  Although, “Office Space” was not a box office winner, on DVD it quickly gained a cult following.

Although, “Extract” is an enjoyable dark comedy, it doesn’t quite reach “Office Space” status but it sure does make for one entertaining 92-minutes.

Part of my enjoyment of the film is its unapologetic characters.  Jason Bateman does an incredible job as the role of Joel.  Deadpan humor, Joel seems like your average Joe, despite owning his own extract company.  But it’s the common repetitiveness in his life that his only satisfaction is by making sure he gets home in time before his designer wife puts on her sweatpants.

Joel’s wife (played by “Saturday Night Live” comedian Kristen Wiig) is your wife almost has a similar situation where she wants more from her marriage and have a closer relationship as they had when they were younger but the tradeoff for Joel’s success and a good living is her husband’s commitment to his business.  So, needless to say, the pressure of maintaining a large factory of workers takes up most of Joel’s time and thus leaving his wife home alone quite a bit.

But it’s the other characters that give “Extract” such a nice spin.  From the fed up factory workers who are not sure if Joel will sell the company; the stoner/bartender named Dean (played by Ben Affleck) who Joel goes to, when he needs to air his problems; Brian (played by J.K. Simmons), the second in command who tries to urge Joel to sell the company; the nosy and annoying neighbor Nathan (played by David Koechner);  the kleptomaniac and habitual liar Cindy (played by Mila Kunis); Brad the gigolo (played by Dustin Milligan, “90210″) hired to seduce Joel’s wife and the greedy attorney Joe Adler (played by KISS rocker Gene Simmons) .

Probably one of the funniest characters in the film is T.J. Miller (“Carpoolers”, “Cloverfield”) who plays the character of the musician Rory who goes up to everyone he works with and ask them to show up at his band’s gig.   His demeanor is quite hilarious and it’s good to see his character utilized quite a bit during the factory sequences of the film.

Each of these characters play a unique part in the film and for the most part, some of these characters are unapologetic, often misinformed and even greedy. But for the most part, Mike Judge really executed these characters quite well in the film.

If there was one thing about “Extract” which I felt was not as strong as his previous hit film “Office Space”, where there were characters that you do like and enjoy, “Extract” tends to have characters that you just don’t feel any good or bad towards them.

These are characters are dysfunctional in many ways and for the main character, you wonder how far down Joel will drive himself down to his poor decision making.  Needless to say, it all comes down to one’s sense of humor.

As for the Blu-ray release, I have to admit that I was surprised that there were only three special features.  I was expecting a commentary track, a gag reel, improve scenes or something more than what was included.   But overall, PQ is well-done and the lossless soundtrack was appropriate for the film.

There is no doubt that Mike Judge has a great take on comedy and he knows how to utilize humor in various settings (as he did in his animated series “King of the Hill” and even “Beavis & Butthead”) and once again he is able to accomplish a film that is hilarious, smart and outright witty.

As mentioned, it all comes down to your sense of humor.  If you enjoyed Mike Judge’s works, especially “Office Space”, definitely give “Extract” a chance!

Forces of Nature (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

BUY THIS DVD

MOVIE COMPANY: DreamWorks Pictures
CAST: Starring Sandra Bullock, Ben Affleck, Maura Tierney, Steve Zahn, Blythe Danner, Ronny Cox and more.
DIRECTED BY: Directed by Bronwen Hughes
PRODUCED BY: Susan Arnold, Donaa Arkoff Roth and Ian Bryce
RATING: Rated PG-13
INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE URL: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0141098
TYPE OF MOVIE: Comedy, Romance

It’s only two days before his wedding when Ben’s (Ben Affleck) plane skids out of control, leaving him stranded in New York with no way home to his nervous fiancé in Savannah.  Against his better judgment, the reliable groom-to-be hitches a ride with free-spirited traveler Sarah (Sandra Bullock) – setting off the year’s most riotous road trip.  At first, these two opposites attract nothing but trouble in a sidesplitting series of comic mishaps and unnatural disasters.  But an irresistible attraction and the forces of nature threaten to detour them forever in this sexy, whirlwind adventure Jeffrey Lyons (WNBC-TV) declared, “a fun, hip ride”-one you’ll never forget.

DVD EXTRAS:

• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby
• Production notes
• Theatrical trailer(s)
• Deleted Scenes
• Behind-the-scenes featurette
• Widescreen anamorphic format

KNOWN DVD SECRET(S): None that I could find.

DVD REVIEW:

I was first recommended the movie by a friend.  I guess many of us guys who plan to get married should watch this movie because it does hit straight for your heart.

The movie itself is not the greatest love story but it’s nevertheless pretty good.  I wondered before the movie on how the chemistry between Affleck and Bullock would be and in my opinion the two did pretty well for their characters.

The movie showed a lot of colors but many times it’s dark.  I wonder why the director chose this and thus I wish they added a director’s commentary with this DVD.

According to the booklet, this movie was shot before Affleck’s popularity which was interesting.  The special effects for the movie are well done and sound good in your 5.1 digital surround system.  But where the movie is a little above average and the sound and video well done (I noticed just a little artifacts but nothing severe), the letdown was in the extras department.  Hardly any.  But I have seen worse and I’m just glad they included the deleted scenes, trailers and featurette.  The alternative ending was quite interesting and I’m glad they left it out.  It would of ruined the movie I think.

All in all, it’s your average DVD.  It’s not the best nor it is any worse.  It’s a good movie and I picked mine up for $14.99 at Blockbuster Video, so I’m happy. But if you were to make a decision, buy or rental, rent it first.  For those who have friends who are thinking about marriage and thinks about it continuously like I have, let your friend borrow the DVD or tell him to buy it.  Because this movie in a way makes us evaluate our own relationships. 

THE MOVIE:  B-
THE DVD EXTRAS:  C
THE DVD OVERALL:  B-

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

BUY THIS DVD

MOVIE COMPANY: Miramax
CAST: Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck, Judi Dench and more.
DIRECTED BY: Directed by John Madden
WRITTEN BY: Marc Norman and John Stoppard
RATING: Rated R
INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE URL: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0138097
TYPE OF MOVIE: Romance, Comedy

Triumphant winner of 7 Academy Awards – Including Best Picture – this witty, sexy smash features Oscar winning Best Actress Gwyneth Paltrow (Sliding Doors, A Perfect Murder) and an amazing cast that includes Academy Award winners Judi Dench (Best Supporting Actress), Geoffrey Rush (Best Actor – Shine) and Ben Affleck (Armageddon;  Best Original Screenplay – Good Will Hunting)!

When Will Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes – Elizabeth) needs passionate inspiration to break a bad case of writer’s block, a secret romance with the beautiful lady Viola (Paltrow) stars the words flowing like never before!  There are just two things he’ll have to learn about his new love; not only is she promised to marry someone else, she’s succesfully impersonating a man in order to play the lead in Will’s latest production!

A truly can’t miss motion picture event with outstanding critical acclaim to match its impressive collection of major awards — everyone will love this funny behind-the-scenes look at the writing of the greatest love story ever told!

DVD EXTRAS:

• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby
• Theatrical trailer(s)
• Widescreen anamorphic format

KNOWN DVD SECRET(S): None that I could find.

DVD REVIEW:

Back in high school, I played the part of Hamlet and since then I have had a passion for Shakespeare’s works.  It’s been awhile since I delved into anything Shakespeare though and I was one of the few who refused to watch this movie because it was a comedy on Shakespeare’s works.  I also thought it was going to be too long of a movie and blah…passed it up.

What do you know…the movie is out on DVD and thus I figured, what the hell.  Don’t be daft and watch the movie.

So, I did and all I can say is “brilliant!”

It’s a great movie and I can’t believe I passed this up in the theaters.  I loved the movie and it’s a very good story.  Of course, you have to have an open mind and also to be able to enjoy things that aren’t modern.  Some people love modern things and refuse to watch things that are depicting things from the past.  Watch this movie because the acting is brilliant.  To remember so many lines, I have to give Paltrow my honor for such a difficult role.  Bravo!

But this is a DVD review.  Not a film review.  Buena Vista/Disney has always done a disservice to DVD watchers by not including extras and if so, just one or two.  This one they included the theatrical trailer and yes, it’s in 5.1 and anamorphic and so forth but that was it.  Ahh..the horror!  There are rumors for a special edition release of this movie.  There must be!  How can they release a movie with hardly anything on the DVD, if I wanted to watch just the movie, would I not just get the VHS.  Since this is mostly dialogue, you will not hear much of the 5.1 to begin with.  At least it had information on the actors and Shakespeare.

Anyway, brilliant film.  Good DVD but no extra’s moves the rating down a bit.

THE MOVIE:  A+
THE DVD EXTRAS:  C-
THE DVD OVERALL:  B+

Chasing Amy – THE CRITERION COLLECTION #75 (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

TITLE: CHASING AMY – THE CRITERION COLLECTION #75

CAST: Starring Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Lee, Dwight Ewell, Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes.

DIRECTED BY: Directed by Kevin Smith

PRODUCED BY: Scott Mosier

RATING: Rated R

TYPE OF MOVIE: Comedy, Drama, Romance

DURATION: 113 minutes

CHASING AMY is the third installment in the “New Jersey Trilogy” from award-winning writer/director Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats, Dogma).  Cult comic-book artist Holden (Ben Affleck) falls in love with fellow artist Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams), only to be thwarted by her sexuality, the disdain of his best friend Banky (Jason Lee), and his own misgivings about himself, filled with Smith’s unique ear for dialogue and insight into relationships.  CHASING AMY offers a thoughtful, funny look at now perceptions alter lives, and how obsession and self-doubt skew reality.

DVD EXTRAS:

• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Color, Widescreen, Dolby, AC-3
• Commentary by director Kevin Smith, producer Scott Mosier and actors Ben Affleck and Jason Mewes, associate producer Robert Hawk, Miramax executive Jon Gordon and View Askew historian Vincent Pereira
• Production notes
• Theatrical trailer(s)
• Ten Deleted Scenes
• Outtakes
• Special Poster Insert: The Askewniverse Legend: a guide to characters in the New Jersey Trilogy
• New Video Introduction To the DVD Edition From Director Kevin Smith
• Video Introductions From the Cast and Crew
• Widescreen anamorphic format

KNOWN DVD SECRET(S):

Test pattern introduction (Criterion version):
Select the “Color Bars” option at the main menu to view short introductions to the test patterns by various stars from the movie.

I have to admit that I didn’t really understand the hype about Kevin Smith’s first movie “CLERKS” aside it being low-budget and unique, the storyline didn’t appeal to me.  But after watching his fourth movie, “DOGMA”, I had to check out the other movies he has done and his third movie, “CHASING AMY” is quite intriguing.

I must admit that at first I didn’t know what to expect from Kevin Smith in this movie but after seeing the performances between Ben Affleck and Joey Lauren Adams, all I can say is powerful.

Since this movie is again low-budget ($200,000) to make, I think Kevin Smith and crew did a great job!  I was impressed they had a digital 5.1 soundtrack and the video had certain spots especially during the end of the rain scene and afterwards but again, this is a low-budget movie and I’m not going to hold them on that.  This is a very awesome movie and I have more respect for Smith and his work now.  Awesome!

As for the extras on this DVD, this is a CRITERION COLLECTION and it has a lot of extras.  But the extras are from the Laserdisc version.  In fact, the introduction included on this DVD is Smith addressing a certain quote on the beginning commentary of the movie regarding DVD on the LD commentary.  So, since I don’t own the LD, I’m not disappointed, although others maybe.   What I enjoyed about this movie aside from the deleted scenes and the powerful acting is the commentary.  Very fun stuff from the guys this time and you can hear them!  Something I bitched about on the CLERKS DVD.

What I like about this DVD is that it covers something that I don’t see in other movies, how to deal with a relationship with someone who has had certain sexual situations in the past.  Interesting!

So, this is definitely a highly recommended movie.  Check it out!

THE MOVIE:  A
THE DVD EXTRAS:  A
THE DVD OVERALL:  A

ARMAGEDDON – THE CRITERION COLLECTION #40 (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

TITLE: ARMAGEDDON – THE CRITERION COLLECTION #40

CAST: Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Billy Bob Thornton, Will Patton, Peter Stormare, Keith David and Steve Buscemi

DIRECTED BY:  Michael Bay

PRODUCED BY:  Jerry Bruckheimer, Gale Anne Hurd and Michael Bay

TYPE OF MOVIE: Action, Romance, Sci-Fi and Thriller

DURATION:  153 minutes

Bruce Willis and an all-star cast of roughneck oil drillers blast off on a mission to save the planet in Michael Day’s doomsday space epic.

DVD EXTRAS:

• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Color, Closed-captioned, Criterion Collection, Widescreen, Dolby, Director’s Cut
• Theatrical trailer(s), TV spot(s)
• Michael Bay’s gag reel
• Deleted scenes, compiled by Michael Bay
• Storyboards and production design drawings
• Analysis of the special effects by visual effects supervisors Richard Hoover, Pat McClung and Hoyt Yeatman
• Music video “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith, plus interviews with the band
• Widescreen letterbox format
• Number of discs: 2

KNOWN DVD SECRET(S): None at this time

I’m so glad that a Criterion edition of “ARMAGEDDON” was released.   The story of a huge asteroid about to collide with Earth and a group of oil drillers and NASA to prevent that from happening, what more can you ask for right?

Well, all I can say is that if you do have one choice for this movie, the Criterion Collection is the way to go.

Yes, both movies have outstanding video and the digital 5.1 is used a lot in this movie.  But that’s where the comparisons end because the regular version of the DVD has no extras.  The Criterion Collection version is loaded with extras.  I mean fully loaded and each segment in the special features are quite long.  One of my favorites happens to be the gag reel.

Also, the movie contains trailers.  Oh, no…not the typical 1-3 trailers that DVD’s have, this one has many trailers.  I’m not sure how many trailers I counted for the 20-second or 10-second segment.  This DVD is loaded with them.

Then another cool thing about the DVD extras are how certain special effects were made.

So, yes, the Criterion Collection cost about $10 more but it is probably one of the best Criterion edition DVD’s out there.  This version of Armageddon is highly recommended!

THE MOVIE: A-
THE DVD EXTRAS:  A+
THE DVD OVERALL: A