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Action

VOD Spotlight: Jared Harris is Moriarity in “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”

If there was one thing you could count on when Sherlock Holmes went up against Professor Moriarty in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s tales of the quintessential sleuth, it’s that Moriarty, that arch-nemesis, could be back at any time for the next adventure. So it was all but inevitable that he would turn up in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, the follow-up to Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes.  Portraying Moriarty in A Game of Shadows is Jared Harris, whose storied career currently has him best known for playing Lane Pryce in AMC’s Mad Men. According to Harris, he was understandably excited […]

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Drama

VOD Spotlight: “Safe House” makes Denzel Washington a sociopath

In the Daniel Espinosa-directed thriller Safe House, Denzel Washington plays a former CIA operative gone traitor, a role that seems not all that far removed from his Academy Award-winning turn as corrupt cop Alonzo Harris from Training Day. But Tobin Frost is a different animal altogether, and Washington took a fresh approach to developing this character. To start with, he didn’t model his behavior based on anything to do with the CIA. “I didn’t want to do a lot of CIA research because Tobin Frost wasn’t CIA anymore,” Washington explains. “He hated everything about the CIA, and I wanted to […]

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Family

VOD Spotlight: Classic tales inspire “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island”

In Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (the sequel to 2008’s Journey to the Center of the Earth) the characters are on a quest that takes them to an island located in place where no island is supposed to exist.  Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson), his stepfather Hank (Dwayne Johnson), helicopter pilot Gabato (Luis Guzman) and Gabato’s niece, Kailani (Vanessa Hudgens) encounter a strange world on the island, one where the plant and animal life grow by rules not familiar to the visitors. The Island Rule, also known as Foster’s Rule, is explained by producer Charlotte Huggins. “It’s a genuine biogeographic theory, […]

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Comedy

“Piranha 3DD” available on TV/Internet VOD today, same day as theatrical release

Representing the first Dimension Films release to be offered as a day-and-date theatrical/Video On Demand (VOD) launch — and the first ever launch of this sort for a 3D movie — Piranha 3DD will be available On Demand and online for VOD rentals starting today, coinciding with its theatrical release. The film will be available for a 48-hour VOD rental; $6.99 in standard and high definition, and $7.99 in 3D. Consumers have 30 days from the time of purchase to begin viewing. While you should check with your local system to verify availability and for ordering information, Starz Digital Media […]

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Action

VOD Spotlight: Kate Beckinsale returns in “Underworld: Awakening”

Possibly the best thing the creators of the Underworld franchise could have done with Underworld: Awakening was to develop its lead character, Selene (Kate Beckinsale), by making her a mother. Up to now, Selene has been a cold killing machine warring against the Lycans. Now, as a mother, she finds herself with instincts that have her fighting for something. Winning the part of Selene’s daughter was something of an endurance test for India Eisley — she tested on the first day of casting, and no one ever topped her. “She was terrific,” producer Tom Rosenberg recalls. “I remember her enchanting […]

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Drama

VOD Spotlight: Forgotten promises at the heart of “The Vow”

“Till death do us part.” Just about everyone knows these words and their significance. They’re a public sign of commitment to a life together. Many couples who say them don’t make it to the “till death” part. Sometimes life has a way of forcing people to grow apart. And sometimes it intervenes in other ways. The Vow, starring Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum, tells the story of a couple separated, in a sense, by an accident — and how they managed to find their way back to each other. Based on the true story about — and subsequent book written […]

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Comedy

VOD Spotlight: Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah make a “Joyful Noise”

Dolly Parton is nothing if not forthright when discussing her role as G.G. in the film Joyful Noise, costarring Queen Latifah. “It really is the perfect part for me,” Parton says of G.G. — which stands for “Gorgeous Grandma.” “She likes the hair and nails and clothes, and she’s had a few procedures done. She comes right out with whatever she thinks, and I’m like that. I was real comfortable with it.”  She may have been comfortable, but it was also part of the role of G.G. to maintain an uncomfortable relationship with Vi Rose, Latifah’s character. It was a […]

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Comedy

VOD Spotlight: Real-life romance inspires Marshall’s “New Year’s Eve”

Garry Marshall has been a part of our entertainment culture for decades and has his fingerprints on some of the most memorable projects of all time, from The Dick Van Dyke Show and Happy Days to Pretty Woman and Runaway Bride. But according to Marshall, there was something particularly special about directing the film New Year’s Eve. It was on a New Year’s Eve nearly 50 years ago that Marshall proposed to his wife, Barbara. “She was wearing a dress the same color as the dress Halle Berry wears in the movie,” he says. “We were in love, we were […]

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Action

VOD Spotlight: Tom Cruise returns in “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”

OK, about that skyscraper scene. The signature moment in Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, and perhaps of the entire film series up to this point, takes place about an hour into the fourth installment, which finds Tom Cruise’s super spy Ethan Hunt on the run with a group of fellow IMF operatives after being framed for a bombing at the Kremlin. Yes, that really is one of the world’s biggest movie stars hanging close to 2,716.5 feet in the air near the top of the world’s tallest building, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. (For a bit of perspective, it’s about twice the height […]

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Animation

VOD Spotlight: “Hop” gives the Easter Bunny a son and a backstory

For years the cotton-tailed bringer of colored eggs and candy languished as a second-rate legend, far behind the red-clad bringer of holiday toys, Santa. No more! The family film Hop — which seamlessly blends animation with live action — changes all that, giving the Easter Bunny a workshop, a charming mythology and a host of helpers covered with fur and feathers. The film explains that off the coast of South America, on the island of Rapa Nui — fondly known as Easter Island — the most magnificent candy factory in the world can be found under the giant stone heads. […]