Reservation Road

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to the titles below, you can also rent Reservation Road (not to be confused with Revolutionary Road), and Leonardo DiCaprio's global warming warning, The 11th Hour.

There Will Be Blood
This April is a great month for renting DVDs because a new stellar, Oscar-nominated film seems to come out every week. Today's release is the stirring Paul Thomas Anderson masterpiece, There Will Be Blood. The film is loosely based on Upton Sinclair's novel Oil! and follows the story of an ambitious oil man, Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) as he becomes one of those famed self-made American magnates, a la William Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie.

If you haven't heard by now that this film is both visually stunning and soul-stirring, and that Daniel Day-Lewis gives the Oscar-winning performance of the year, then you've had a very distracting year. I stuck this movie on my April must-haves list not only because of its classic story of greed vs. compassion, but also because Day-Lewis only seems to emerge to knock one out of the park every five years or so, which in Hollywood years can seem like a lifetime. You'll want to own this one to get you through to 2013 when he's had enough of shoe-making on the Italian Coast or something and decides to show the rest of those amateurs how it's done. Again.

For two more titles that couldn't be more different than each other, read more

Reservation Road premiered in LA last night, bringing out the movie's four big name stars. Joaquin, Mark, Jennifer and Mira all looked happy to be reunited on the red carpet, but I'm sure they were all missing their other all star costar, Elle Fanning. Jennifer Connelly was obviously too busy reveling in her new deal to be the face of Balenciaga to realize that the designer's runway look doesn't translate too well to the everyday premiere. Two words: Hot mess. With all the super dramatic movies opening this weekend it's hard to choose just one. If you're interested in Reservation Road (with its awesome cast....and cute Mark), check out my review over on Buzz. And then go ahead and get on the waiting list to nab Jennifer's shoes — they're gonna be all the rage.

To see more from the premiere including the entirety of Jennifer's crazy dress and all the other stars just read more

Note: Another one from me. I'm on a roll today.

Ever since I read the book Reservation Road a few years back, I thought it would make an excellent movie. I could hardly contain my excitement when I saw the cast — Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo, Mira Sorvino, Jennifer Connelly (and personal favorite, Elle Fanning). Unfortunately, I walked out of the theater disappointed. Not because it didn't live up to the book (really, what does?), but because it just wasn't particularly great.

The premise of the story is simple: Ethan and Grace Learner (Joaquin and Jennifer) are driving home on a windy local road on a mid-October evening with their two children. They stop for gas and when their son jumps out to release his caught fireflies, he is killed in a hit and run. Driving the car is Dwight Arno (Mark) who is rushing his young son back to his mother after a Red Sox game. After he hits the boy, which wakes up his sleeping son, he pauses. He makes eye contact for a second with Ethan, and then makes the split second decision to drive away and tell his son they just hit a log. It's an intense opening for the movie — and it's well done. The emotions are all there for the first 20 minutes. Ethan's sadness contrasted with Dwight's huge moral and ethical dilemma. Sadly, the movie cannot sustain the level of intensity they reach in the beginning. Not even close. To read the rest of my review just read more

Joaquin Phoenix cleaned up real nice for the NYC premiere of Reservation Road. It really is amazing what a haircut and a shave can do for a guy. He definitely holds his own as the man of the hour since his co-star Mark Ruffalo couldn't make it to the event. Mira Sorvino showed off her long legs while Jennifer Connelly looked beautiful but we're not loving the huge flower on her dress. The movie doesn't hit theaters until Oct. 19th, but Molly was lucky enough to see an advanced screening of the film, so be sure to check into Buzz next week for her review.

More pics including Edie Falco so just read more

Joaquin showed up at the Toronto Film Festival looking a bit rough but he cleaned up nicely for the premiere of Reservation Road. He looked a bit shy leaving the festival but maybe he was just tired out from all the dance moves he so elegantly displayed. Joaquin showed both his goofy and serious sides when talking about how the role in the movie affected him personally. Here's more:

"I'm going to be frank with you," he says, shifting sideways in his chair, admitting that in the past he probably talked about how certain roles might have been affected by his personal life.

"But, to be honest ... there is no effect on your real life. And if I said so in the past, I was probably only trying to get nominated."

And since, after being nominated twice for Oscars, it's no longer an issue?

"And now that that's done," he laughs. "I can finally be honest."

Well, now that Joaquin isn't trying so hard for the Oscar, maybe this will be the year that he finally gets to win one.

Flynet

The stars of Reservation Road showed how well they can clean up at the movie's TIFF premiere yesterday. Jennifer Connelly looked gorgeous in her LWD (although we're a bit confused about her choice of shoes) and Mark and Mira looked fabulous as well. Joaquin wins the most improved award in comparison to the press conference on Wednesday, and gets bonus points for showing off some killer ballet moves. Clearly Joaquin has no problem hamming it up with his co-stars, but got serious when asked how he prepared for the film, saying,

"If you're sitting in the theatre and wondering what an actor did to come up with a performance, or what personal experiences contributed to that performance, you're not in the movie. Hopefully, you should just be lost in that experience."

Joaquin and the rest of this cast have delivered some intense performances in the past, so we can definitely imagine getting lost in this movie. That is of course, if we can get the image of goofy Joaquin leaping across the stage out of our heads.

More pics including Paul Sorvino, Rain Phoenix and more Joaquin being silly if you read more

The all-star cast of Reservation Road hit the Toronto Film Festival, first stopping off for a press conference to discuss the film. Sure, Joaquin wasn't looking his very best but (the newly daughter-expecting) Mark more than makes up for it in the adorable factor. Mira and Jennifer looked like they were having a lot of fun with their male co-stars (hey, I wouldn't mind spending an afternoon with those boys). Unfortunately little Elle Fanning didn't make it out to the press conference - she is just precious. I loved the book of Reservation Road (not to be confused with Leo/Kate's Revolutionary Road), so I'm definitely excited to see this one. Hopefully this excellent cast will be able to do the story justice.

To see more of the press conference just read more

After outlining the differences between Reservation Road and Revolutionary Road yesterday, you should be all set and ready to watch this trailer for the one of the road-themed movies coming out this fall: Reservation Road. Starring Mark Ruffalo, Joaquin Phoenix, Mira Sorvino and Jennifer Connolly, Reservation Road is a quiet thriller set in suburban Connecticut.

After his son is killed by a hit-and-run accident, Ethan (Phoenix) goes on a manhunt to find the person who was behind the wheel. Little does he know that the person he's sniffing out lives in the same town and has a young son himself. Trying to come to terms with the incident, Dwight (Ruffalo) falls down a spiral of guilt while Ethan gets closer and closer to sniffing out his son's killer.

The book reads like a creepy, heart-wrenching film, so it should be fairly simple to adapt for screen, though the trailer leaves much to be desired. The movie opens October 19, so to watch the preview, read more

There has been much buzz surrounding the project that is bringing Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet back together for the first time since Titanic, a family drama based on a 1961 novel titled Revolutionary Road. Yet there's another movie that comes out this fall with a similar title which is also set in suburban Connecticut! Titled Reservation Road and also based on a novel, the thriller can easily be confused with Revolutionary Road, so I've devised a handy-dandy chart to help keep them straight:

I've read both books and they're each worthy of a read before the film versions hit theaters. Between the two, however, I'd more recommend Revolutionary Road for its rich writing, depth and startling peek into the private life of a 20-something couple during a fascinating bygone era (the 1950s). Reservation Road is also a terrific read as a gripping, poignant page-turner. Both are roads you should wander down.