Theatrical Release Year: 1988
DVD Release Year: 2007
Director: Penny Marshall
Writers: Gary Ross, Anne Spielberg
Starring: Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, David Moscow, Robert Loggia, John Heard, Jared Rushton, Mercedes Ruehl
Length: 130 minutes
Studio: 20th Century Fox
MPAA Rating:

Sometimes being big isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Twleve-year-old Josh Baskin (David Moscow) is sick of not being able to do what he wants when he wants. For his 13th birthday he goes to a fair in New York City and pays his quarter to Zoltar, a fortune-telling game that grants wishes. Josh’s simple request: “I wish I were big.” Zoltar responds that his wish has been granted.

After a stormy night’s sleep Josh wakes up to find out that his wish has, in fact, been granted and he is now a 30-year-old version of himself (Tom Hanks). Josh returns to the fair site but sees that the fair, and the Zoltar machine, are gone. He tries to go home and explain everything to his mother (Mercedes Ruehl) but that interaction does not go well, to say the least.

Josh runs off to find his best friend Billy (Jared Rushton) and convince him that he really is Josh. Billy then helps Josh run away to a scary New York City hotel where he spends his first night away from all his family, friends, and the comforts of home. The news gets worse when he and Billy finally learn how to track down the Zoltar game but learn it will take at least six weeks to get the list of fairs where the Zoltar game is scheduled to appear.

To pass the six weeks Josh gets a job working at MacMillan Toy Company testing toys where he meets Susan Lawrence (Elizabeth Perkins) who pursues him as a love interest. Josh finally decides to enter the adult world of feelings and begins a relationship with Susan, falling in love with her and in love with his adult life.

Then the fair list arrives… Will Josh choose his new life with Susan or will he return to his childhood?

Big is one of the best romantic comedies of all times. It bridges the gap between our love of being a child but our sense of duty in our adult life. And, its best lesson of all, it reminds us to be a kid at heart no matter how old we are in years. The dialog of this film is brilliant, amusing the audience with Josh’s duality as a boy trapped in a man’s world. A great supporting cast, and beautiful cinematography of the best city in the world for reinventing yourself (New York City) make this a movie worth owning.

Special Features are expectedly lacking since this movie came out in theaters before the DVD was the widespread medium. It boasts the typical features of an ’80s movie pushed to DVD for its fans — a theatrical trailer and the cast credits. No points off for not turning in a homework assignment they never were told about.

Buttery’s Rating:

Recommendation

Pepsi is Josh’s vending machine product of choice! (Too bad, Coke.)

We should all definitely have a hot fudge sundae with vanilla ice cream and a maraschino cherry on top with Josh and Billy. Yum! And maybe a piece of Kindle cake in honor of the Kindle that basically rips off the handheld comic book idea Josh comes up with in the movie.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Theatrical Release Year: 1990
DVD Release Year: 1999
Director: Allan Moyle
Writers: Allan Moyle
Starring: Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, Anthony Lucero, Scott Paulin, Mimi Kennedy, Cheryl Pollak, Robert Shenkkan, Seth Green, Holly Sampson
Length: 102 minutes
Studio: New Line Home Video
MPAA Rating:

Steal the air. Talk hard. Keep the dream alive.

Through the invisible night time airwaves of Arizona, Mark Hunter (Christian Slater) allows his alter-ego pirate DJ Happy Harry Hardon to speak out on such items as girls, music, and the pressures of society on teenagers he cannot bring himself to speak out on during the day due to a severe infliction of shyness. Slowly his fan base builds up, and piques the interest of Nora Diniro (Samantha Mathis) who sets out to unmask Happy Harry Hardon’s real identity.

However, not everyone is a fan of the pirate DJ. Through access to school records he slowly uncovers corruption at the high school he himself attends, and by doing so antagonizes the guidance counselor David Deaver (Robert Shenkkan) and Principal Loretta Cresswood (Annie Ross) into action against his fellow students. Further notoriety and criticism befalls him when fellow student Malcolm Kaiser (Anthony Lucero) commits suicide after calling into the radio show.

By speaking forth words that incite the establishment into interdiction, inspire his generation into united action, and may bring him the girl of his dreams, Happy Harry Hardon has everything to gain… but Mark Hunter has everything to lose.

Pump Up The Volume is a classic story that validates teen angst in a way never before shown, and never since having been repeated. While the movie suffers from a low production budget that included obvious gaffs (a teacher pushing the play button on a radio to stop a cassette, and pushing the pause button to play it; audio/visual not on sync towards the end), some hokey acting by under talented adults, and a lack of stunning visuals… the theme of anonymous voices “crying out in the wilderness” with a message is even more relevant today with the evolution of the internet blog as it was then.

Popcorn’s Rating:

To be like Happy Harry Hardon you need to be both happy and hard. The CANDY CIGARETTES should be able to make you happy and make people think your hardcore without exposing yourself to the possibilities of lung cancer.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Theatrical Release Year: 2004
DVD Release Year: 2004
Director: Edgar Wright
Writers: Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Tim Baggaley, Nicola Cunningham, Sonnell Dadral, Lucy Davis (II), Bill Nighy
Length: 100 minutes
Studio: Universal Studios
MPAA Rating:

It’s entirely possible the vinyl records are worth more than the lives they’re saving, but it sure is fun throwing them.

Shaun (Simon Pegg) is in a bit of a rut with no real life ambitions. He has stalled relationships with his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield), his best mate Ed (Nick Frost), and his mother Barbara (Penelope Wilton) as well as a stalled career at a local appliance store. Frustrated by this lack of ambition, Liz breaks up with Shaun when he commits the cardinal sin of forgetting to book a reservation for their third anniversary and offering to take her once again to his favorite pub, The Winchester. While Shaun’s relationship with Liz dissolves before his eyes the rest of the world around him happens to slowly become overrun by zombies.

Shaun’s tunnel vision to the utter destruction around him somehow saves him from the hands of the zombies too many times to count. Once he finally notices that zombies are taking over London and has a bit of fun with Ed taking a few of them down he decides he must set out on a crusade to save both Liz and his mother from the undead. And, where’s the best place to go to protect you and those you love from those indiscriminate flesh eaters? Why, the Winchester, of course!

This is, hands down, one of the funniest zombie movies of all time. A fantastic supporting cast, clever fight sequences, unique camera angles, and perfectly understated zombie-to-regular-life comparisons (aren’t we all just drooling drones? yup!) make Pegg and Wright’s film a cult classic.

Special Features

Zombie Gallery: A photo collection of the undead.
TV Bits: Music videos from the film soundtrack.
Trailer: The US theatrical trailer for the film.
Missing Bits:
Funky Pete - A cleaned up version of Pete’s dialog when he’s woken up at 4:00am
The Man Who Should Be Shaun - Simon Pegg using a silly voice for his character
Plot Holes - Answering your questions about what happened to characters during parts of the film
Outtakes - The goofy bits — yaaaaaay!
Extended Bits - Fifteen (15) extended scenes… Wow!
Raw Meat - A proverbial meat pie of the leftover bits:
Simon Pegg’s Video Diary - A behind-the-scenes montage of the film set.
Casting Tapes - Some seriously hilarious versions of my favorite scenes are shown, plus strange things are done with fruit. That’s always funny!
Edgar and Simon’s Flip Chart - The detailed plan of the movie in word form. Booooring! (Skip it.)
SFX Comparison - Very cool footage of how Mary gets that pipe through her stomach, and consequently a hole through her entire mid-section, using green screen and splicing.
Make-Up Tests - Zombie walkers in full costume set to music, including Simon Pegg in full zombie get-up and side-by-side comparisons of CGI zombie eyes versus color contacts (freaky!).
EPK Featurette - A description of the film is given, including an in-depth look at the relationship between Shaun and Ed.

Can we say awesome special features? AWESOME SPECIAL FEATURES! (I knew we could.)

Buttery’s Rating:

Recommendations

A nice, chewy Guinness really hits the spot when holding down the Winchester fort.

Bacon candy must be consumed while fighting zombies. Mmmm, zombie bacon…

Popularity: 13% [?]

Theatrical Release Year: 2003
DVD Release Year: 2005
Director: Luke Greenfield
Writers: David Wagner & Brent Goldberg
Starring: Elisha Cuthbert, Emile Hirsch, Timothy Olyphant, James Remar, Chris Marquette, Paul Dano, Amanda Swisten, Sung Hi Lee
Length: 109 minutes
Studio: Universal Studios
MPAA Rating:


Matthew Kidman (Emile Hirsch) is in his senior year in high school, carefully following a life’s blueprint that includes being president of the Student Government, chair of a charitable fund for a foreign exchange student, and the front runner for a coveted Ivy League scholarship. Everything is going as planned for a future on the path to fulfilling his dream of becoming the President of the United States. That is, until he meets The Girl Next Door…
When the dreamily beautiful Danielle (Elisha Cuthbert) moves in next door, Matthew’s world goes every which way, except seemingly the right way. Danielle herself is a newly retired porn star, at the ripe old age of 19, and decidedly takes it upon herself to teach Matthew how to live his life to the fullest. This results in Matthew falling in love with her. Yet, when he discovers her past he unwittingly drives her back into the hands of her porn producer Kelly (Timothy Olyphant).

From there, the answer to the iconic question of “Is the juice worth the squeeze?” must be answered.

Special Features

One of the best things about Special Features is the inclusion of deleted clips. Unfortunately, because this is the Unrated version, most of the clips are in the movie. Although the “original” ending is included, it became obviously apparent to me that the theatrical ending is in fact the better concluding scene for the film.

There is, however, a hidden gem in the form of The Eli Experience. This is a short film featuring Chris Marquette in his role as Matthew’s best friend Eli Brooks, who aspires to be a film director. The short takes Eli to the REAL Adult Film Convention, where he considers himself a star, and with the help of WWE Wrestler Matthew “Horshu” Wiese (Mule in the film) and Mora Dominguez, stages The Eli Experience with real life convention goers. So what exactly is it? Three words: bait and switch.

While the movie itself would normally garner a full fiver for its superior storyline in being both a drama and comedy… the emptiness of this DVD’s Special Features is hugely distressing.

Popcorn’s Rating:

To show just how far love can launch you to new heights, we recommend Orbit-Jumbo Variety Pack as the craziest snack you can have while watching this movie.

For a movie that continually asks if the juice is worth the squeeze, the obvious recommended beverage is Tropicana Orange Juice.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Theatrical Release Year: 2003
DVD Release Year: 2004
Director: Sofia Coppola
Writer: Sofia Coppola
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray, Akiko Takeshita, Kazuyoshi Minamimagoe, Kazuko Shibata,Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris
Length: 102 minutes
Studio: Universal Studios
MPAA Rating:

If there isn’t “more than this” then what’s the point?

Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is a washed up American actor in Tokyo, Japan filming an ad campaign for Santori whiskey. His lack of understanding of Japanese coupled with his marriage slump leave him feeling alone, depressed, and lost until he meets fellow American Charlotte (Scarlett Johnansson) who is also in a life and marriage slump. Charlotte is in town tagging along with her photographer husband John (Giovanni Ribisi) who is constantly working, leaving Charlotte to fend for herself. Bob and Charlotte it it off in the lounge of the hotel they’re both staying at and begin spending all their free time together. Their friendship quickly develops into something deeper.

Both Murray and Johansson deliver seemingly effortless understated performances as quasi-love interests while Anna Farris, who cameos as an actress vying for the attention of her “favorite photographer” who happens to be Charlotte’s husband John, is fantastically over the top. Coppola keeps us guessing about the friendship-turned-more between Bob and Charlotte: Will they allow their relationship to become physical? Will they remain faithful to their spouses? Is their deep emotional connection alone an act of infidelity?

A beautiful soundtrack matches beautiful cinematography of both the colorful Tokyo nightlife and the muted and serene Zen gardens of the day life. The sequencing of the movie feels a bit off and problematic at times, as if not enough footage was filmed to make the movie feature length, so the story seems slightly incongruous if you pay close enough attention (or watch it 50 times like I have), but the incongruity does nothing to change the flow of the story.

Special features include in-depth and hilarious Behind the Scenes footage in Tokyo with the cast and crew, the entire Bob Harris segment on “Matthew’s BestHitTV”, the City Girl music video featuring nighttime footage of Tokyo, several deleted scenes (the scene with Bob and Charlotte in their respective beds could have stayed in the movie), a conversation with Bill Murray and Sofia Coppola in which Sofia confesses that the movie wouldn’t have happened without Bill, and the theatrical movie trailer.

Slight spoiler: If you wear earbuds and turn up the sound really loud for the end scene you can hear part of what Bob says to Charlotte.

Buttery’s Rating:

Recommendation

Best served with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups — two great tastes that taste great together, just like Bill and Scarlett!

Popularity: 9% [?]

Theatrical Release Year: 2003
DVD Release Year: 2004
Director: Richard Curtis
Writer: Richard Curtis
Starring: Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Laura Linney, Liam Neeson, Martine McCutcheon, Rowan Atkinson
Length: 135 minutes
Studio: Universal Studios



Love Actually follows the stories about falling in love, falling out of love, looking for love, and revealing the love one has for another among an inter-woven group of English citizens.

Love Is Elementary shows Daniel (Liam Neeson) as he loses his beloved wife, Joanna. Daniel is not alone in his loss though, as his stepson Sam (Thomas Sangster) is also dealing with the passing of his mother and a growing fondness for a girl at school who apparently does not realize he exists.

Love Rocks On with aging music legend Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) and his long time manager Joe (Gregor Fisher). When Billy Mack attempts to regain fame and fortune, he does it from the remake of a love song. The journey for artistic redemption is long and hard… but luckily for Billy he does not travel it alone.

Love At Work intertwines Sarah (Laura Linney) with Karl (Rodrigo Santoro) in one of the most common examples of love and its place in our lives. Of course, with all things work related, love is as well… although this love is complicated not by work at all… but rather by love of a different kind when Sarah’s brother Michael (Michael Fitzgerald) unintentionally hurls the proverbial monkey wrench into the inner workings of the heart.

Love As A Second Language proves once again that not only does love know no boundaries, but its language is universal. When Jamie (Colin Firth) finds his girlfriend shagging his brother, he leaves for the coast of France to finish working on his novel. His first meeting with Aurelia (Lucia Moniz), who is the housekeeper, leaves one to wonder what these two could possibly have in common… but decidedly proves that love will always find a way.

Love Lasts A Lifetime showcases the undying nature of love, irregardless of the trials it may be put through. Karen (Emma Thompson) and Harry (Alan Rickman) live the lives of a couple whose flame has dimmed and the chill is in the air. Of course, Harry decides that he needs to be warmer and enters into a flirtatious relationship with Mia (Heike Makatsch). It’s when that flirtatious relationship is taken a bit far do the fires threaten to burn down the house… and the love that fills it.

Love Is Awkward when John (Martin Freeman) and Judy (Joanna Page) meet on the set of a film where they are serving as body doubles for a pair of actors in a number of love scenes. Building from that first, naked, introduction is a tale of innocence in a world that has long ago lost its own.

Love American Style proves the love is redder on the other side of the pond. Colin Frissell (Kris Marshall) is tired of stuck up English women, and instead travels to a classic American bar in Michigan where he meets Stacey (Ivana Milicevic), Jeannie (January Jones), and Carol-Anne (Elisha Cuthbert) who are instantly entranced by his cute English accent and take him in. The fireworks however really start when Harriet (Shannon Elizabeth) comes home…

Love And Politics is both a statement on love between Prime Minister David (Hugh Grant) and his secretary Natalie (Martine McCutcheon) and a statement on one’s love for their country… and some of the insane things we will do for such love. Standing up to bullies in the form of the US President (Billy Bob Thorton) and going to such great lengths as to carol on command are just a few of the things to prove the power the emotion holds over us… and that thick thighs are indeed heavenly.

Forbidden Love, could there be such a thing? Mark’s (Andrew Lincoln) love for Juliet (Keira Knightley) is such a case. What is seemingly all too familiar, Mark cannot openly reveal his feelings for the woman who has just married his best friend. He is left to anguish alone with the pieces of his heart in his hands, or is he?

Although boasting an English A-List cast, the true gem of this movie is the simplicity in the message it tries to convey. Love Actually is… all around. For that reason, I think this is the most romantic movie of them all.

Popcorn’s Rating:

There is only one snack befitting a movie that opens and closes with real people giving real hugs… Hershey’s Hugs, 13-Ounce Bag (Pack of 4).

Popularity: 16% [?]