This peanut butter cookie contains Reese’s peanut butter chips, Hershey’s milk chocolate chips, and the entire bottom of the cookie is dipped in Hershey’s milk chocolate. The cookie is sufficiently soft without the disgusting taste of raisin that many soft cookies contain to keep them soft. As soon as I took my first bite I was reminded of the Nabisco Almost Home peanut butter cookies I loved a little too much as a child.

I had expectations for this cookie, but Reese’s and Hershey’s far exceeded them. I love soft baked cookies, I love peanut butter cookies, I love Reese’s products, and I love Hershey’s products. Put all four together and the best pre-packaged cookie on the planet is hanging out in my mouth being chewed ferociously.

In the “I wish I’d known that before I ate it” department, a single cookie is two servings, each serving weighing in at 170 calories and 8 g of fat. Oddly, the cookie used to be 190 calories and 9 g fat per serving, but the package I picked up in Tennessee clearly states that the same 2.75 oz cookie shown elsewhere on the internet is 20 calories and 1 g fat less per serving. BFD, though, really, it’s still bad for you! So, indulge, eat both halves!

Buttery’s Rating:

Recommendations:

A glass of milk really hits the spot with this cookie.

Eat your vending machine cookie while watching Neal and Del eat their vending machine food on their way home for Thanksgiving in Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

New York Times chief art critic Michael Kimmelman admits, “all art in some ways is a lie.” But is Marla Olmstead’s art the biggest lie of all?

In this riveting documentary we follow the life of Marla Olmstead, a then 4-year old abstract artist whose paintings sky rocket to fame after her story is picked up by the New York Times.

Director Amir Bar-Lev is invited into the Olmsteads‘ home to document the story of Marla’s first gallery show. But while filming footage in support of Marla’s work a 60 Minutes story airs hypothesizing that her father Mark, who is also a painter, coached Marla while creating the paintings then sold the art as Marla’s.

Once speculation from the 60 Minutes story spreads, as well as additional speculation that perhaps Mark created the paintings from start to finish himself and marketed them as child prodigy art, sales of Marla’s art dry up completely. Mark and his wife Laura begin to receive threatening letters that they are using their daughter to commit fraud. Amir is invited into the home to film one of Marla’s pieces from start to finish to put to rest the rumors that Marla is not the true artist, but Amir is left to wonder if the Olmsteads are being truthful.

Is the young child of a Frito-Lay factory manager and a dental assistant really a world renowned-worthy abstract artist? The Olmsteads look like the all-American family pursuing the American dream until we learn that gallery owner Anthony Brunelli, himself a hyper-realist artist, believes that abstract art is a sham. Was he in on a scheme with the Olmsteads to fool collectors into buying art under false pretenses?

Side-by-side comparisons of several of Marla’s previously created pieces to her Oceans piece which she creates start to finish in a 5-hour video filmed by Mark Olmstead are included in the film so viewers can decide for themselves if Marla’s works are truly her own.

This documentary’s haunting undertone of potential deceit is in itself a masterpiece. It starts off as an innocent film about the happy results of a child’s creative outlet, but is twisted into a dark tale of manipulating collectors with an eye for art out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Bar-Lev attempts to be objective about the news that Marla’s paintings are not completely her own, doing his best to disprove the 60 Minutes story with his own footage of Marla in her natural element. He does not compromise the story by blindly sticking to his original objective, but rather takes the time to delve into the truth behind Marla’s creative process.

Special features include art critic Michael Kimmelman’s overview of art and the artistic process, footage of Amir Bar-Lev making the trip to Binghamton and debuting the film at Sundance 2007, the continued blind support of local Binghamton reporter Elizabeth Cohen who wrote the original story which propelled Marla’s works into the mainstream art world, stories from local Binghamton residents who give their opinion on the Olmsteads‘ story, Mark’s showcase of Marla’s paper drawings at age 6 which are very intriguing, and Amir’s thoughts on what the truth is behind Marla’s paintings.

One bucket off for the bitter “something just isn’t right” taste left in my mouth after watching this film.

Buttery’s Rating:

Recommendation

Lots and lots of Utz Potato Chips add the perfect crunch to this biting documentary.

Some Absinthe to enjoy the ride this documentary takes you on may be in order.

It’s a viral war between the evil vs. the eviler… and it’s bloody.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t make it a good movie. But we’ll get to that.

It’s April 3, 2008 and the Reaper virus breaks out in Scotland, causing its victims’ faces to bubble and their bodies to basically rot. The virus is, of course, highly contagious and it takes no time at all for most of Scotland’s people to die from the disease. The UK government orders that Scotland be sealed off with a wall perimeter so that no one can go in and no one can get out. All of Scotland’s people are left to die. Fortunately for young Eden Sinclair (Christine Tomlinson), her mother is able to put her on a helicopter transport out of Scotland before the country is completely abandoned.

Flash forward to 2035 when the Reaper virus resurfaces, this time in England. Eden (Rhona Mitra) is called upon to lead a special ops team into the walls of Scotland to find a scientist named Kane (Malcolm McDowell) who presumably could help find a cure for the virus. What the team finds when they arrive is a large population of people immune to the virus who have forsaken any semblance of a lawful society (and why shouldn’t they since they were forsaken by the rest of society!) who are led by Kane’s son Sol (Craig Conway). Eden’s team is captured by Sol’s thugs but Sol’s sister Cally (MyAnna Buring) helps them escape and leads them to Kane who has crowned himself king of a medieval castle (yup, weird) where his people fear and follow him because they are led to believe there are no survivors outside the walls of Scotland.

This Mad Max meets Robin Hood meets 28 Days Later film sounds really good in print, but its execution on the main screen is a complete and utter letdown. Dark filming and close camera angles make it hard to see what’s going on during the action sequences. There were several gruesome scenes that were semi interesting, including total annihilation of an innocent bunny rabbit, shotgun blast to the head, machete to cut off a dead man’s hand, a man set on fire and roasted alive then carved for eating, several people being thrown into fiery explosions and burned to death, and several heads chopped clear off.

However, it seems that writer/director Neil Marshall put three stories together into one, none of them were particularly interesting, and none integrated in smoothly with each other. I found myself bored during the movie, fighting to concentrate or actually care about any of the characters. I love end of the world movies, particularly at the theater, so when I’m bored you know it’s really quite bad.

The ending is really unsatisfying, and obviously I can’t say too much more than that other than: hokey! Bob Hoskins (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) could have been great in this movie, but he was completely wasted, used simply as a plot device to tie in Prime Minister Hatcher (Alexander Siddig) to the story line and to bridge the gap between young and adult Eden.

One of the movie’s best attributes is its 6-song soundtrack, including a rendition of Fine Young Cannibals‘ Good Thing during Sol’s Mad Max-esque spectacle. Also, eye candy deserving of a bucket: Adrian Lester as Norton who doesn’t seem to ever agree with Eden’s plans of action and makes that known but follows her anyway with guns blazing. Yummy.

Go see this movie with your mother (which I did — hi, Mom!) so you have something to trash talk over lunch.

Buttery’s Rating:

Recommendation

We recommend some nice Buffalo Bills 3.5oz Honey Pepper Country Cut Beef Jerky so you can pretend like you’re part of the cannibal scene! Yummy people meat!

A Kamikaze is the only appropriate drink for the end of the world.

Iron Man May 2, 2008 - Considered one of the most highly anticipated movies of not just the entire comic book industry, but of the year, Iron Man appears poised to be taking the place of Spider-Man in the Marvel summer line-up as one of the first films out for the summer movie going season. While trailer viewings have revealed it as effects heavy (which is to be expected with a summer blockbuster nowadays) and quickly paced, Iron Man also appears to be the vehicle of revival to Robert Downey Jr.’s acting career. Before the movie has had even one box office receipt, there are rumors of making it into a full trilogy over the next 6 years. Is it all hype and fanboy pipe dreams? There’s only one sure way to find out… to go and see it.

The Dark Knight July 18, 2008 - The untimely loss of Heath Ledger to the world has placed a new perspective on his portrayal of the Joker, who was already the primary focus of The Dark Knight marketing campaign. The tragedy aside, the second outing for Christian Bale in the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne looks to cement his position in the role for a third film to create a formal and solid trilogy out of the property for a base, which it lacked during its last outing with the studios. Of course, the true test of any trilogy is its sophomore edition, and from the looks of it Dark Knight will surpass Batman Begins in both action and pacing to quite possible become THE blockbuster of the summer. On a casting note, while we are happy to see the Cruise Controlled Katie Holmes away from the film, we can only hope that the delicious Maggie Gyllenhaal can be the actress that sheds some light into the darkness for more than one feature.

Hell Boy II: The Golden Army July 11, 2008 - Four years after the original Hellboy hit the screen in true love story fashion, Ron Pearlman thunders back to the big screen as the cigar chomping demon from another dimension who has an unusual attraction to pussy… cats. This time around it seems that Hellboy will be battling creatures from the mythical underworld as opposed to a different dimensional plane. No matter which way you cut it, the trailer shows more of the hard pounding action with the humor that made the original such a cult success. Reprising her role as Hellboy’s love interest and spontaneous combuster Liz Sherman is the lovely Selma Blair. I am a strong believer and prophetizer that the original Hellboy was at the very base a love story, and I truly hope to see more of the same. Comic book characters can love too, ya know?

Punisher: War Zone September 12, 2008 - With Ray Stevenson taking over the role of Frank Castle from Thomas Jane, the hope of a decent movie from Punisher fans withered on the vine. Although 2004’s The Punisher with Jane was a gigantic improvement over the 1989 straight to video version with Dolph Lundgren, it still lacked the box office pizazz that movie executives have come to expect. The direction this sequel was determined to go in apparently drove Jane off the project, to be replaced by Stevenson which in itself may not necessarily be a bad thing visually, but can negatively impact the film for continuity if they are looking to make this into a regular franchise.

The Incredible Hulk June 13, 2008 - The possibility of having an incredible franchise based on The Incredible Hulk rests in the hands of Edward Norton. This is by far one of the least anticipated movies since the sour taste from Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk still has not been washed away. When I first heard about it, I wasn’t moved to joy. The trailer, although clearly showing Abomination, failed to thrill me. I will see it because I believe that Norton will in fact make the magic that is not CGI oriented to bring Bruce Banner to life. In the off chance that he doesn’t deliver, then I can always hope that Bruce Banner and Betty Ross have a love scene during which the condom breaks, enraging Banner, causing him to change into the big green brute, and therefore annihilating Betty Ross in the process. THAT would pretty much guarantee no sequel… or would it?

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To beat the sweltering summer heat, drink only Coca-Cola when at the theaters. If your theater doesn’t sell Coca-Cola, but rather that blasphemous corporate mongering cola, then you really need to find a new theater.

The candy itself is a simple marshmallow shaped like a chick and coated with colored sugar. While the granular coating provides a course initial texture, beneath is the familiar soft white squishiness of marshmallow that reveals itself as the sugar dissolves on your tongue. The taste is not really original or spectacular. It is uber-sweet and squishy, and marshmallow fans will enjoy it, but in the end it is a sugar coated marshmallow.

However their celebrity as a candy has resulted in a number of uses besides consumption, including what is called Peep Jousting. The basic premise is to lick the right side of two Peeps and stick a toothpick “lance” to its side. Then place both Peeps into your microwave facing each other, turn it on, and the winner is the Peep who does not explode or become deflated. I can think of no other candy that has been forced to fight its own for consumption. Nor can I think of any candy whose fans are crazed enough to think of such a concept.

Hence, while the candy is simple and plain, it has had enough power to inspire a culture around it and therefore I’m giving it around 2 buckets more than I normally would.

Popcorn’s Rating:

The movie to watch while swallowing those little yellow chicks by the handful is Chicken Run! We can let the Peeps hope before placing them into the microwave arena of death… can’t we?

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.

The tri-chocolate drizzle on top of the caramel covered popcorn alone puts this concoction over the top on sugar, and quite possibly makes it a diabetic’s public enemy number one. Besides the over sweetness (which before this, I never knew there could be such a thing) the problem is the severe lack of a distinct taste. We love each of the chocolates for their individuals flavors, but this carelessly throws them aside for an apparent sugar shock value.

The nuts never really stood a chance with this Frankenstein monster dominating them like the big bad bully in the schoolyard, but are the saving grace of the snack. While being lightly caramelized, they also seemed to avoid the multi-chocolate bath and only had one kind of chocolate or the other.

Popcorn’s Rating:

Such a funky snack deserves to be consumed while watching Funky Monkey to complete that craptastically funky experience.

We recommend having a few doses of insulin on standby.

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…

• Commentary: Commentary by Director Matt Reeves
• Featurette: The Making of Cloverfield
• Featurette: Cloverfield Visual Effects
• Featurette: I Saw It! It’s Alive! It’s Huge
• Featurette: Clover Fun
• Additional Scenes: Congrats Rob, When You’re in Japan, I Call That a Date, It’s Going to Hurt, Alt Ending #1, Alt Ending #2
• Easter Eggs: Slusho!, Person of Interest - JLVD Video 2, Person of Interest - JLVD Video 5, Person of Interest - JLVD Video 9, Person of Interest - JLVD Video 11, Rack ‘Em & Pack ‘Em, Fighting the X

There has been no announcement regarding a Blu-Ray version of the movie yet, but with the demise of the HD-DVD format it really is only a matter of time.

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Guinness is a heavy brew whether from draft or the can. Its healthy head of light foam covers the liquid below that is heavy to the tongue, and bitter to the palate. Many first time Guinness drinkers will turn away from it, having spent to many years consuming inferior “light” brews. However, once the first pint is down (a pint is the only way to drink Guinness… unless you wish to take the challenge of drinking a yard of it) the second pint, and every one thereafter goes down much smoother. While Guinness has been described as a “meal in a glass”, it actually is not as high in calories as one might think. At only 198 calories per Imperial Pint (20 fl. oz.), it has less calories than the same size bottle of Coca-Cola (240 calories).

Popcorn’s Rating:

What? Recommending a drink with another drink? This may be the only time this happens… but we need to recommend Bass Ale with Guinness in the form of a Black and Tan. A Black and Tan is a traditionally American drink that features the Guinness layered over the Bass Ale. The two do not mix due to the density of Guinness. The American Black and Tan is made by first filling half the glass with Bass Ale, then pouring the Guinness into the glass over a tablespoon to prevent splashing and the mixing of the layers.

We recommend watching the story of Irish immigrants in Gangs of New York (Two-Disc Collector’s Edition) while drinking Guinness either straight up, or the American style Black and Tan.

It’s a meal in a glass for pete’s sake! The only thing we may recommend to have on hand would be Emerald Nuts Mixed Nuts. Other than that… the only other thing we can recommend is a designated driver… but you should have one of those for whatever it is that your drinking.