How about a little Anna Faris to kick off your New Year? On January 10th, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment is releasing What’s Your Number? on DVD and Blu-ray. Faris stars as Ally Darling, a young professional who loses her job and fills her newfound free time trying to figure out how many people she’s slept with. Then, when she pinpoints the number, she finds out that according to a women’s magazine article, that that number deems her less likely to find a husband. In order to boost her odds, Ally circles back visiting each and every one of her exes in hopes that one’s now husband material. In addition…

A pumped-up remake of the same-named 1984 vampire horror-comedy, “Fright Night” represents a well oiled machine of goosed senses that unfortunately has no clearly defined motivating purposes, even within genre confines of its own story. Fun and engaging performances carry the movie a great distance, but it eventually bogs down courtesy of loosely defined stakes (no pun intended) and poorly incentivized action. The story centers on Las Vegas high school senior Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin), who lives with his single mom real estate agent, Jane (Toni Collette), and has successfully pivoted away from his geeky past enough to bag a popular girlfriend, Amy (Imogen Poots). Things get turned upside down…

“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” was a $480 million worldwide hit, but buzz-averse distributor 20th Century Fox rolled out the movie in early August with a blitz of TV advertising but otherwise so little fanfare (as per their usual operating procedure, screenings for critics were “opt-in,” and additionally hush-hush) that a lot of more savvy filmgoers who perhaps look to advance reviews and feature coverage peeks as signs of studio confidence in the marketplace thought the movie was a brainless dud. Far from it, actually. Director Rupert Wyatt’s reboot of Tim Burton’s reboot of Fox’s second most well known franchise property (not counting “Star Wars,” which they don’t own)…

In a business that frequently has the tendency to disproportionately celebrate the contributions only of above-the-line talent, a big part of the allure of something like “African Cats” lies in its below-the-line artisans. An engaging, gorgeously photographed nature documentary that puts audiences on Kenyan plains in stunning fashion amidst its title subjects, this Disneynature title only stumbles in its willful insistence on imposing a family-friendly narrative on footage that is more than capable on its own, with less artificial constraints. What does that mean, straight to the point? Less, or none, of Samuel L. Jackson’s narration, dripping as it is with exaggerated tones that needlessly attempt to dictate mood. Granted, he’s given…

In “Beautiful Boy,” Bill and Kate (Michael Sheen and Maria Bello) are a married couple already on the verge of separation when their college-age son, Sam (Kyle Gallner), goes on a shooting rampage at his school and then takes his own life. In the pained weeks that follow, as they avoid an inquisitive media by first staying with family and then holing up in a dingy hotel room, the pair finds that the tragedy both brings them together a bit while also exposing a variety of old wounds and grudges. The rawness and unprecious nature of the lead performances help neophyte director Shawn Ku’s film achieve a certain hold, enough so…

In an admission that will come as a considerable disappointment to a former coworker (who, for the record, is decidedly not Goth), my initial memories of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” were somewhat fuzzy. My first viewing of producer Tim Burton and director Henry Selick’s stop-motion animated film, not too long after its original home video release, was marred with, umm, distractions. So I hadn’t the concrete impressions one might have with a more focused viewing — just an impression of the hand-crafted feel, and a lingering sense of disappointment in relation to the movie’s songs, from Danny Elfman. A re-visiting of the somewhat seminal work — which scored a visual effects…

“Thor,” an almost $450 million worldwide box office hit earlier this year, introduced audiences to one of the players in Marvel Studios’ grand, forthcoming ”Avengers” saga. And that’s part of the problem, honestly. However admirably ambitious the creation of a unified superhero universe spanning multiple movies, certain entries, like this one, play like little more than origin story pattycake – wan set-up for something of later, actual consequence. On the verge of ascending to the throne of Asgard, headstrong Norse God Thor (Chris Hemsworth) flips out over some nasty ice giant interlopers who are vanquished in fairly short order, and decides to seek revenge, against the counsel of his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins),…

Too many romantic comedies witlessly hone in on the differences between men and women to create a heightened-stakes backdrop in which every interaction with the opposite sex is imbued with some sort of grand, gender-statement significance, which is of course then supposed to be neatly resolved and tidily put away by the time a paired-off happy ending rolls around. Co-written by Annie Mumolo and “Saturday Night Live”‘s Kristen Wiig, “Bridesmaids” instead focuses a considerable amount of its energy on female friendships, yes, but also the things women want in relationships — love, security, availability — that are the same as men. The result is the best female-fronted Hollywood comedy in years, and a…

Over a decade ago, Bryan Singer’s adaptation of the “X-Men” comic book franchise gave the modern superhero genre a kick in the pants, seeding action thrills with deeper ethical conflicts, and laying the groundwork for both the grander commercial success (think “Spider-Man”) and some of the more artistic-minded noodling of a wide variety of genre followers (see also: Ang Lee’s “Hulk”). A prequel to the original trilogy, director Matthew Vaughn’s ”X-Men: First Class” is a slick piece of pop entertainment marked by smarter than average characterizations and some solid performances, and it confirms that mainstream Hollywood studio films can indeed – with some effort, and the oversight of a savvy producer – still…

For Quentin Tarantino fans who have been patiently (or impatiently) waiting on the Blu-ray release of one of Tarantino’s most iconic films, “Pulp Fiction,” the wait is finally over. “Pulp Fiction” will be on Blu-ray and in stores October 4. In celebration of the upcoming release, Lionsgate is putting together a trailer about the film. The trailer is set to debut soon, but until then, ShockYa has received a short video about the release which, according to the press release, is “too ‘colorfully worded’ for television.” The video is below for your viewing pleasure. “Pulp Fiction” is not only thought of as one of Tarantino’s greatest films, but it is…