Blast From the Past

• BLAST FROM THE PAST (DVD MOVIE)

Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 11/09/2010Coasting on the successes of Gods and Monsters and George of the Jungle, Brendan Fraser turns in yet another winning performance in this fish-out-of-water comedy in which Pleasantville meets modern-day Los Angeles, with predictably funny results. Fraser stars as Adam, who was born in the bomb shelter of his paranoid inventor dad (a less-manic-than-usual Christopher Walken), who spirited his pregnant wife (Sissy Spacek, in fine comic form) underground when he thought the Communists dropped the bomb (actually, it was a plane crash). Armed with enough supplies to last 35 years, the parents bring up Adam in Leave It to Beaver style with nary any exposure to the outside world. When the supplies run out, and dad suffers a heart attack, Fraser goes up to modern-day L.A. for some shopping and lon! g-awaited culture shock. More of a cute premise with lots of clever ideas attached than a fully fleshed out story, Blast from the Past is also supposed to be part romantic comedy, as the hunky Adam hooks up with his jaded Eve (Alicia Silverstone) and tries to convince her to marry him and go underground. The sparks don't fly, though, because Silverstone is saddled with the triple whammy of being miscast, playing an underwritten character, and suffering a very bad hairdo. Fraser, however, carries the film lightly and easily on his broad, goofy shoulders, mixing Adam's gee-whiz innocence with genuine emotion and curiosity; only Fraser could pull off Adam's first glimpse of a sunrise or the ocean with both humor and pathos. Also winning is Dave Foley as Silverstone's gay best friend, who manages to make the most innocuous statements sound like comic gems. --Mark Englehart

Appleseed Ex Machina [Blu-ray]

• The next installment in the Appleseed franchise, Appleseed: Ex Machina,available on DVD! Produced by John Woo and Directed by Shinji Aramaki,and featuring next generation CG technology, Appleseed: Ex Machina isback bigger and badder! Based on the manga from reknown creator Shirow Masamune, in this movie,Deunan and Briareos are both partners and lovers. As members of ESWAT,the elite forces servi

The next installment in the Appleseed franchise Appleseed: Ex Machinaavailable on DVD! Produced by John Woo and Directed by Shinji Aramakiand featuring next generation CG technology Appleseed: Ex Machina isback bigger and badder!Based on the manga from reknown creator Shirow Masamune in this movieDeunan and Briareos are both partners and lovers. As members of ESWATthe elite forces serving Olympus they are deployed everywhere troublestrikes. The two fighters find their partnership tested in a new way by! the arrival of Tereus who uncannily resembles Briareos before thewartime injuries that led to his becoming a cyborg. At the same timeOlympus finds itself under a stealth attack . Cyborg terrorism deadlynanotech zealots and rioting citizens are just some of the threats thatDeunan must contend with as she fights to save Olympus.System Requirements:Running Time: 104 minutesFormat: BLU-RAY DISC Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY/FANTASY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 085391200666 Manufacturer No: 120066Produced by John Woo and directed by Shinji Aramaki, Appleseed Ex Machina (2007) ranks as the most elaborate, stylish, and violent of the three adaptations of Masamune Shirow's manga. When it was released in 1988, the original Appleseed felt like a summary of anime's past, while Akira pointed the way to the future. The second Appleseed (2004), also directed by Aramaki, was an unimpressive motion-capture CG feature that borrowed elements from other sci-fi anime. In this lat! est incarnation, Deunan, Briareos, and Tereus of the E.S.W.A.T! . team a re charged with preserving the peace of the city-state of Olympus, a hi-tech paradise on a largely ruined Earth. Screenwriters Kiyoto Takeuchi and Todd W. Russell have given the story a contemporary twist, adding attacks by "cyborg terrorists" and an effort by the ruler of Olympus to control a world-wide satellite surveillance system. When cyborgs and human launch coordinated attacks on the government headquarters in Olympus, Deunan, Briareos, and Tereus swing into action against a mysterious enemy. The plot has little in common with the earlier films: the Appleseed technology that was at the core of the story isn't even mentioned. The look, tone, and characters in Ex Machina recall Shirow's Ghost in the Shell, rather than the original Appleseed. Not surprisingly, the elaborately choreographed fight scenes reflect Woo's signature style, with slo-mo martial-arts combat, close-ups of falling shells, dynamic camerawork, and all-out gun battles. But the weig! htless movements of the motion-capture characters and the limited rendering of the skin textures gives Appleseed Ex Machina the feel of an extremely elaborate computer game. Despite the limits of the mo-cap technology, Appleseed Ex Machina is a fast-past, take-no-prisoners cinematic adventure that will delight action-movie fans as well as anime lovers. (Rated PG-13: violence, violence against women, profanity, grotesque imagery, potentially offensive religious imagery.) --Charles Solomon

Demonlover (Unrated)

• Olivier Assayas' Demonlover takes us deep into the underbelly of the illicit and financially lucrative world of 3D animated pornography. With billions at risk, Diane (Connie Nielsen) is hired into a high stakes game of espionage, which leads her to the twisted world of the Hellfire Club, an interactive torture website. Her bid to gain fortune quickly becomes a frantic race to survive as she is

The most fearless film yet by France's idiosyncratic Olivier Assayas (Irma Vep) is an unholy marriage of ruthless corporate thriller and sinister science fiction. Connie Nielsen is the American "ice princess" in a French multination, an ambitious executive whose betrayals and invasive tactics would make her a villain in any other film. Here she's just a pawn in a shadowy conspiracy that may involve contemptuous new assistant Chloe Sevigny and fellow dealmaker Charles Berling and takes her from th! e legal (if unsavory) commerce of Japanese Internet porn to the brutal market of underground pornography. Assayas directs his modern corporate nightmare with a voyeuristic style, a hard eye for disturbing images, and more passion than explanation. It isn't his most audience-friendly film, but his portrait of international commerce and image culture in the 21st century is impassioned and haunting--cinema for viewers hungry for ambitious and provocative filmmaking. --Sean AxmakerThe film captures a culture spiraling out of control in which reality is posited as a video game and where every twist escalates the film to a new level.The most fearless film yet by France's idiosyncratic Olivier Assayas (Irma Vep) is an unholy marriage of ruthless corporate thriller and sinister science fiction. Connie Nielsen is the American "ice princess" in a French multination, an ambitious executive whose betrayals and invasive tactics would make her a villain in any other film. H! ere she's just a pawn in a shadowy conspiracy that may involve! contemp tuous new assistant Chloe Sevigny and fellow dealmaker Charles Berling and takes her from the legal (if unsavory) commerce of Japanese Internet porn to the brutal market of underground pornography. Assayas directs his modern corporate nightmare with a voyeuristic style, a hard eye for disturbing images, and more passion than explanation. It isn't his most audience-friendly film, but his portrait of international commerce and image culture in the 21st century is impassioned and haunting--cinema for viewers hungry for ambitious and provocative filmmaking. --Sean Axmaker

Bringing Down The House (Full Screen Edition)

• The hilarious Steve Martin (FATHER OF THE BRIDE) and Academy Award(R)-nominee Queen Latifah (Best Supporting Actress, 2002, CHICAGO) star with Eugene Levy (AMERICAN PIE) in the laugh-out-loud hit comedy BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE. Peter Sanderson (Martin), a divorced, straitlaced, uptight workaholic attorney, meets a brainy bombshell lawyer in an on-line chat room and they make a date. Expecting his

The long-running New York Times bestseller that has become a cultural phenomenon, Bringing Down the House is an action-filled caper carried out by the unlikeliest of cons -- supersmart geeks. Gambling pervaded the M.I.T. campus, and genius kids with money and glittering futures were just as likely to be found in a Paradise Island casino as in the school library. A highly elite group of mathletes was recruited to join The Club, a small, secret blackjack organization dedicated to counting! cards and beating the major casinos across the nation at their own game. As a successful ring of card savants, backed by a mysterious ringleader and shadowy investors, they infiltrated Vegas and won millions.

The Boston Herald acclaimed it as "a suspenseful tale that portrays the players as Davids going up against Goliaths." And Bill Simmons of ESPN magazine exclaimed, "This book made me want to gamble! Vegas! Vegas!" Filled with tense action, high stakes, and incredibly close calls, Bringing Down the House is a nail-biting chronicle of a real-life Ocean's Eleven. It's one story that Vegas does not want you to read.The hilarious Steve Martin (FATHER OF THE BRIDE) and Academy Award(R)-nominee Queen Latifah (Best Supporting Actress, 2002, CHICAGO) star with Eugene Levy (AMERICAN PIE) in the laugh-out-loud hit comedy BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE. Peter Sanderson (Martin), a divorced, straitlaced, uptight workaholic attorney, meets a brainy bombshel! l lawyer in an on-line chat room and they make a date. Expecti! ng his s oul mate, he opens the door and finds himself face-to-face with Charlene (Latifah) -- a wild and crazy soul "sister" who's just escaped from prison and wants Peter to clear her name. But Peter wants absolutely nothing to do with her, and that prompts Charlene to turn Peter's perfectly ordered life totally upside down. Hysterical complications abound and Peter soon finds out he may need Charlene just as much as she needs him. It's a houseful of fun your family will enjoy again and again.The pleasingly contrasting comic styles of Queen Latifah and Steve Martin bring some energy to Bringing Down the House, a hopelessly formulaic comedy. Martin plays Peter, an uptight lawyer too obsessed with work to spend quality time with his kids. Into his life comes Queen Latifah as Charlene, an escaped convict who threatens to wreck his relationship with a wealthy but arch-conservative client (Joan Plowright, in high dudgeon) if Peter won't take up her case. Of course, Latifah's exu! berant ways enchant his kids and bring out a looser, livelier side of Peter, all in a series of scenes so standard they hardly register. Thank goodness for Eugene Levy; as one of Peter's law partners with a taste for Charlene's bodacious brand of sexy, Levy's ingenious transformation from nebbish to loverman is the movie's secret weapon, stealthily planting comic explosions amidst the modest rice-krispie-crackle of the stale plot. --Bret Fetzer

Brooklyn's Finest

• BROOKLYN'S FINEST (DVD MOVIE)

Something of a genre homecoming, Antoine Fuqua's latest film once again finds him delving into the gritty, brutal realm of cops and crooksâ€"as he did in Training Day. Tango is an undercover officer on a narcotics detail that forces him to choose between duty and friendship. Having been to hell and back, he wants out, but the powers that be won't let him quit. Family-man Sal is a detective tempted by greed and corruption. He can barely make ends meet, and now his wife has an illness that threatens the life of their unborn twins. Eddie is nearing retirement age and has long since lost his dedication to his job as a cop. He wakes up every morning trying to come up with a reason to go on living...and he can't think of one. Fate brings the three men to the same Brooklyn housing project as each takes the law into his own hands. Crosscutting between multiple s! ubplots, Brooklyn's Finest unfolds violently and passionately as coiled, constantly roving cinematography contributes a measure of unease to the underworld action.Fans of the grit of HBO's The Wire, as well as of the mean-streets story intersection plot of Crash, will find a lot to like in the intense crime drama Brooklyn's Finest. Directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) with a sure hand, Brooklyn's Finest follows three NYPD cops who come from very different places (geographically and personally) as their lives, and the compromises they have made daily to coexist with the mean streets of Brooklyn, dovetail to a climax that will have viewers on the edge of their seats. Fuqua has assembled a stellar cast here, including Richard Gere, a veteran cop just a week from retirement; the always amazing Don Cheadle, an undercover officer whose loyalties to the force may be compromised by his growing loyalties to the groups he's in! filtrating; and the film's true revelation, Ethan Hawke, a you! ng corru pt cop whose morals make the stomach turn, though Hawke's performance is nuanced and riveting. Supporting cast members include Wesley Snipes as a badass gangster whom even the police have second thoughts about messing with. Other great performances are turned in by Vincent D'Onofrio, whose wooden delivery works here to make his character all the more menacing; Lili Taylor; and a ravishing, world-weary Ellen Barkin. The action is propelled along by the great performances, the excellent cinematography, Fuqua's deft direction, and the moody score by Brazilian composer Marcelo Zarvos. If the plot is a little far-fetched, even for a crime drama, the stellar performances more than make up for it, making Brooklyn's Finest one of Fuqua's, and certainly Hawke's, finest.

College Road Trip

• COLLEGE ROAD TRIP (DVD MOVIE)

COLLEGE ROAD TRIP stars Martin Lawrence as Chicago cop James Porter, an overprotective father who wants to keep his college-bound daughter, Melanie (Raven-Symone), close to home. When the smart, assertive Melanie declares her intention to attend Georgetown instead of Northwestern, James insistently sets out with her on a cross-country car journey to Washington D.C., hoping to dissuade her along the way. En route, of course, plenty of hijinks ensue, including scenarios involving a precocious pig and, oddly enough, Donny Osmond, who turns up as an eeriely cheery dad also on a college-touring campaign.Choosing a college and striking out on one's own is an exciting time that requires a big adjustment by both child and parent, but few parents will have as much difficulty relinquishing control over their daughter's life as Chicago police chief James Porter (Martin Lawr! ence). The ultimate in loving but overprotective fathers, James wants his daughter Melanie (Raven-Symoné) to attend nearby Northwestern College, so when she's waitlisted and called for an interview at Georgetown in Washington, D.C., James gets more than a little nervous. Squashing her plans for a road trip to D.C. with her girlfriends, James insists on a father-daughter expedition which he envisions being full of reminiscing, heart-to-heart conversations, and a healthy dose of persuasive promotion of Northwestern. The car trip definitely doesn't turn out as planned--instead it’s a trip rife with strained silences and festering conflict in which the police vehicle rolls down a wooded embankment, Melanie's little brother (Eshaya Draper) and pet pig stow away in the back of the truck, and the Porters inexplicably keep running into a syrupy sweet father (Donny Osmond) and college-bound-daughter (Molly Ephraim) whose close relationship, clean-cut enthusiasm, and willingness t! o befriend and help the Porters is downright unsettling. Absu! rdly fun ny scenes include the family pig crashing and demolishing a fancy outdoor wedding; James' party-loving mother (Arnetia Walker) scrambling to live up to her son's uptight image of her as a fragile, elderly woman; James breaking into a local sorority house and hiding under a bed in hopes of protecting Melanie's innocence, and James' and Melanie's unexpected skydive into Washington, D.C., in order to keep Melanie's interview appointment at Georgetown. In the end, James and Melanie both mature as a result of their road trip and are finally able to forge an emotionally healthy relationship with one another. (Ages 8 and older) --Tami Horiuchi

The Exterminating Angels

• EXTERMINATING ANGELS (DVD MOVIE)

From the director who scandalized France with SECRET THINGS, comes THE EXTERMINATING ANGELS, a film that will shock you, make you think and turn you on. Francois is a filmmaker holding auditions for his upcoming film about female pleasure. He expects the process to be unconventional but cannot predict the danger that so much arousal can cause. As his female cast embarks on a journey of intense physical pleasure-seeking they become emotionally involved with the director and each other. This film brings new meaning to the warning to never mix business with pleasure.

Fast & Furious (Two-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray]

• Condition: Average
• Format: Blu-ray
• AC-3; Color; Dolby; DTS Surround Sound; Dubbed; Special Edition; Subtitled; Widescreen

Vin Diesel and Paul Walker reteam with Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster for the ultimate chapter of the franchise built on speed! When fugitive Dominic Toretto (Diesel) returns to Los Angeles to avenge a loved one’s death, it reignites his feud with agent Brian O’Conner (Walker). But, as they race through crowded city streets and across international lines, they must test their loyalties by joining together to bring down a shared enemy. From big rig heists to precision tunnel crawls, Fast & Furious takes you back into the high-octane world, which lives for speed, drives for the rush and breaks all the rules!Fast & Furious is high octane torque-er porn that puts the franchise back on course after drifting in Tokyo. With the original cast ! once again in the driver's seat, we are good to go with a this-time-it's-personal plot and spectacular race and chase set-pieces that exceed the promise of the stripped-down title, beginning with an awesome highway hijacking of an oil truck led by former street racer Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel, at his glowering and gravel-voiced best). Dom is a fugitive in the Dominican Republic, but after a devastating personal loss, he is driven by revenge to return to Los Angeles to bring down an elusive drug smuggler. He is reunited with Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker), the undercover FBI agent who let him go eight years earlier. Brian, also on the case, must come to terms with Dom and make amends with Dom's sister (Jordana Brewster), whom he betrayed in his original pursuit of Dom. Fast & Furious is just the ticket for putting your mind on cruise control. From a see-what-you've-got racing challenge through the streets of L.A. to the illicit kicks of the street-racing subculture (this is extr! eme PG-13), there is nothing cheap about these thrills. A reco! rd-shatt ering opening weekend at the box office could mean faster and more furious action to come, but if this is the franchise's last time around the block, it goes out a winner. --Donald Liebenson

Stills from Fast & Furious (Click for larger image) Vin Diesel and Paul Walker reteam with Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster for the ultimate chapter of the franchise built on speed! From big rig heists to precision tunnel crawls, Fast & Furious takes! you back into the high-octane world to race through crowded city streets and across international lines!Fast & Furious is high octane torque-er porn that puts the franchise back on course after drifting in Tokyo. With the original cast once again in the driver's seat, we are good to go with a this-time-it's-personal plot and spectacular race and chase set-pieces that exceed the promise of the stripped-down title, beginning with an awesome highway hijacking of an oil truck led by former street racer Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel, at his glowering and gravel-voiced best). Dom is a fugitive in the Dominican Republic, but after a devastating personal loss, he is driven by revenge to return to Los Angeles to bring down an elusive drug smuggler. He is reunited with Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker), the undercover FBI agent who let him go eight years earlier. Brian, also on the case, must come to terms with Dom and make amends with Dom's sister (Jordana Brewster), whom he betrayed in his o! riginal pursuit of Dom. Fast & Furious is just the ticket for ! putting your mind on cruise control. From a see-what-you've-got racing challenge through the streets of L.A. to the illicit kicks of the street-racing subculture (this is extreme PG-13), there is nothing cheap about these thrills. A record-shattering opening weekend at the box office could mean faster and more furious action to come, but if this is the franchise's last time around the block, it goes out a winner. --Donald Liebenson
Stills from Fast & Furious (Click for larger image)

Click to learn more about the BD-Live Experience

Dead Silence [Blu-ray]

• UK Import
• Blu-ray
• Region-Free

New unrated version more gruesome and horrifying than anything seen in theaters. Dare to unlock the deadly curse of Mary Shaw... From the writers and director of Saw comes a new thriller of relentless terror! Ever since Mary Shaw was hunted down and killed, the small town of Ravens Fair has been haunted by horrific deaths. When a local's wife is brutally murdered, he returns home to unravel the terrifying legend of Mary Shaw and the reason why when you see her, you should never, ever scream. Starring: Donnie Wahlberg, Ryan Kwanten, Amber Valletta, Bob Gunton, Michael Fairman, Judith Roberts, Laura Regan Directed by: James WanOld ladies, ventriloquist dummies, decrepit small-towns, and dolls are all exploited for their full creepy potential in DEAD SILENCE, a relatively innocent but thoroughly scary horror feature from the makers of SAW. After ! a heavily stylised black-and-white opening credit sequence that shows the story's central ghost, Mary Shaw, constructing her beloved ventriloquist dolls back in her heyday, the film transports viewers to the present. As newlyweds Jamie (Ryan Kwanten) and Lisa Ashen potter lovingly about their apartment far from their hometown of Raven's Fair, it is clear that something bad is about to happen. This dread is only further cemented when a knock on the door leads the lovebirds to discover an unmarked box containing a worn but eerily lifelike ventriloquist's dummy. When Jamie goes out to pick up some takeout, he returns to find his wife's mangled body (minus her tongue) propped up like the dummy seemingly responsible for her death. With detective Jim Lipton (Donnie Wahlberg) on his heels, and a very guilty dummy in his passenger seat, grieving Jamie returns to Raven's Fair with the hunch that his wife's death is linked to the town's murdered ventriloquist, Mary Shaw. Once grand, Raven's Fair is now in a state of decay, and many of its inhabitants have died mysterious and brutal deaths in the years since Jamie was last home. Jamie arrives at his wealthy father's home, only to find a young new bride (Amber Valetta) by his side. No one wants to talk about Mary Shaw, let alone whisper her name. If Jamie is going to get to the bottom of the Mary Shaw legend, he'll have to face the town's past on his own. Arriving in the midst of the gore/torture trend (SAW, HOSTEL), DEAD SILENCE comes as a breath of fresh air. It's nice to see that a horror movie can still use gore with discretion and deliver a fright through old-fashioned scare tactics and a premise as simple as a ghost story.Billy in Dead Silence i! nevitably recalls other possessed dolls such as those in Devil Doll, but he is an entertaining dummy nonetheless. As a variation on evil-doll films like Child's Play or Puppet Master, Dead Silence stars a dummy who isn't a killer himself but a vehicle for a vengeful ghost. Previously owned by Mary Shaw, a ventiloquist who was murdered by local Ravens Hill villagers for kidnapping a boy to turn him into a human puppet, Billy houses Mary Shaw's spirit while she gets revenge on all those who killed her. Jamie Ashen (Ryan Kwanten) unravels Billy's mystery after Billy is delivered to his door to claim Jamie's wife's life, since she is pregnant with Jamie's son. Mary Shaw aims to obliterate his entire Ashen clan, since they were partially responsible for her death. Plot, from there, teeters on the ridiculous, as Mary (via Billy) rips peoples tongues out left and right. Jamie's futile attempts to stop Shaw's ghost result in his discovering a gruesome secret ab! out his brutal, abusive father. Writer Leigh Whannell and dire! ctor Jam es Wan, of Saw, made this almost comical film about 101 dummies, all relatives of Billy's, who are slaves to their sadistic creator. With many direct references to '80s horror films, and a soundtrack theme song almost exactly like Phantasm's, Dead Silence's charm banks on its lack of computer-y special effects rather than its originality. Billy's sly violence is creepy but funny, making for a relatively lighthearted horror film that won't traumatize as much as it makes one chuckle. â€"Trinie Dalton

Natural Fruit Flavors Collection Set of 6

• Natural
• Gluten Free
• Flavors
• Extracts
• Kosher

The creator of Office Space, writer-director Mike Judge (Beavis and Butt-head), moves from cubicles to the assembly line with Extract-- his outrageous return to workplace comedy, featuring a hilarious ensemble cast of quirky characters. About to sell his successful flavor extract company, life is almost sweet for Joel (Jason Bateman) until a freak on-the-job accident happens. Add to that his bored wife (Kristen Wiig), his laid-back, stoner best friend (Ben Affleck), a sexy con artist (Mila Kunis) who blows into town with dollar signs in her bedroom eyes, and a dumb gigolo and life as he knows it turns sour. Filled with laugh-out-loud one-liners and raunchy comedy, Extract is 100% pure hil arity.The creator of Office Space, writer-director Mike Judge (Beavis and Butt-head), moves from cubicles to the assembly line with! Extract-- his outrageous return to workplace comedy, featuring a hilarious ensemble cast of quirky characters. About to sell his successful flavor extract company, life is almost sweet for Joel (Jason Bateman) until a freak on-the-job accident happens. Add to that his bored wife (Kristen Wiig), his laid-back, stoner best friend (Ben Affleck), a sexy con artist (Mila Kunis) who blows into town with dollar signs in her bedroom eyes, and a dumb gigolo and life as he knows it turns sour. Filled with laugh-out-loud one-liners and raunchy comedy, Extract is 100% pure hilarity.

Bonus Features include: Mike Judge's Secret Recipe Featurette The Ingredients For A Classic Mike Judge FilmMike Judge is in a familiar zone in Extract, which is sort of a close relative to his cult classic Office Space. But this time the main character owns the company, instead of being a cog in the machinery, and middle age presents a different set of challenges. Joel (Jason Batem! an) concocted a new approach to soda pop, and his small compan! y is bub bling along nicely--in fact, there's talk he might get bought out by General Foods…unless something were to come along to really, you know, screw up the deal. Hmm, what could go wrong? Joel is sexually unfulfilled with his wife (Kristen Wiig), there's a new temp worker (Mila Kunis) at the factory who favors minimal clothing, and Joel's best friend (Ben Affleck), a slacker bartender, is bursting with bad advice. Oh, and there's an employee (Clifton Collins Jr.) contemplating a lawsuit because of a workplace accident that left him missing an important piece of equipment. The film's plot machinations are less enticing than the moment-by-moment behavioral observations, always a Mike Judge specialty. Examples: the chattering of the factory floor workers, who could easily have stepped out of a King of the Hill cartoon, or Joel's suburban neighbor (David Koechner at his chummiest), the kind of yakety-yak blowhard who simply will not shut up, however many polite messages ! he receives. It might not amount to a whole lot, and somehow the gifted Bateman seems underused here (Affleck, on the other hand, is having a ball). But Extract seems destined for cable-TV repeatability, much like its corporate cousin. --Robert Horton

Stills from Extract (Click for larger image)

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The creator of Office Space, writer-director Mike Judge (Beavis and Butt-head), moves from cubicles to the assembly line with Extract-- his outrageous return to workplace comedy, featuring a hilarious ensemble cast of quirky characters. About to sell his successful flavor extract company, life is almost sweet for Joel (Jason Bateman) until a freak on-the-job accident happens. Add to that his bored wife (Kristen Wiig), his laid-back, stoner best friend (Ben Affleck), a sexy con artist (Mila Kunis) who blows into town wi! th dollar signs in her bedroom eyes, and a dumb gigolo and life as he knows it turns sour. Filled with laugh-out-loud one-liners and raunchy comedy, Extract is 100% pure hil arity.The creator of OFFICE SPACE, writer-director Mike Judge (BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD), moves from cubicles to the assembly line with EXTRACT his outrageous return to workplace comedy, featuring a hilarious ensemble cast of quirky characters. About to sell his successful flavor extract company, life is almost sweet for Joel (Jason Bateman) until a freak on-the-job accident happens. Add to that his bored wife (Kristen Wiig), his laid-back best friend (Ben Affleck), a sexy con artist (Mila Kunis) who blows into town with dollar signs in her bedroom eyes, and a dumb gigolo -- and life as he knows it turns sour. Filled with laugh-out-loud one-liners and raunchy comedy, EXTRACT is 100% pure hilarity.

Bonus Features include: Exclusive To Blu-ray Deleted Scene, Exclusive To Blu-ray Extended Scenes, Mike J! udge's Secret Recipe Featurette The Ingredients For A Classic ! Mike Jud ge FilmMike Judge is in a familiar zone in Extract, which is sort of a close relative to his cult classic Office Space. But this time the main character owns the company, instead of being a cog in the machinery, and middle age presents a different set of challenges. Joel (Jason Bateman) concocted a new approach to soda pop, and his small company is bubbling along nicely--in fact, there's talk he might get bought out by General Foods…unless something were to come along to really, you know, screw up the deal. Hmm, what could go wrong? Joel is sexually unfulfilled with his wife (Kristen Wiig), there's a new temp worker (Mila Kunis) at the factory who favors minimal clothing, and Joel's best friend (Ben Affleck), a slacker bartender, is bursting with bad advice. Oh, and there's an employee (Clifton Collins Jr.) contemplating a lawsuit because of a workplace accident that left him missing an important piece of equipment. The film's plot machinations are less e! nticing than the moment-by-moment behavioral observations, always a Mike Judge specialty. Examples: the chattering of the factory floor workers, who could easily have stepped out of a King of the Hill cartoon, or Joel's suburban neighbor (David Koechner at his chummiest), the kind of yakety-yak blowhard who simply will not shut up, however many polite messages he receives. It might not amount to a whole lot, and somehow the gifted Bateman seems underused here (Affleck, on the other hand, is having a ball). But Extract seems destined for cable-TV repeatability, much like its corporate cousin. --Robert Horton

Stills from Extract (Click for larger image)

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Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 09/27/2011 Run time: 92 minutes Rating: RSix 1 FL OZ bottles contained banana, blueberry, cherry, mango, raspberry and strawberry flavors