If you thought that The Feathered Serpent, which we reviewed here not long ago, was some good stuff, then strap in and brace yourselves because we’ve got one that just might be even better. The folks out at Acorn Media sent over a copy of I, Claudius 35th Anniversary edition, and for unusual period dramas, this one’s going to be top notch. You’ll have a bit to wait to get your hands on this one, though, with this one not set to hit stores until March 27th.

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The upcoming Clint Eastwood film, Trouble with the Curve, is said to have welcomed a new addition to the cast: Matthew Lillard, who starred in a few Scream movies and played “Shaggy” in Scooby-Doo. According to Entertainment Weekly, Lillard is in negotiations to star opposite Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams in Trouble with the Curve, a drama about an old baseball scout (Eastwood) who takes his daughter on one last scouting trip. The film is scheduled to go into production this year, with a 2013 release.

Yesterday, we took a run at reality with a big old slice of life from the crew out at Anchor Bay, and now they’ve given us a shot of the other side of the coin thanks to Ice Quake, a copy of which they sent our way for review. But will Ice Quake shake us up? Or just leave us cold? Read on!

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After yesterday’s romp with science fiction joy with In Time, we get a shot of something much, much different. Today we’re getting in touch with the regular half thanks to the crew out at Anchor Bay, who sent over a copy of I Don’t Know How She Does It for us to review for you. And while we may not know how she does it, we’ll be left to ask, do we even care?

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Admittedly, I’ve been looking forward to covering this one for some time. The folks out at Anchor Bay were more than happy to oblige when they sent out a copy of Apollo 18 for me to cover for you. But would this one live up to my expectations?

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Director Baz Luhrmann is currently hard at work adapting F. Scot Fitzgerald’s famous novel The Great Gatsby, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio. We’ve gotten the first image of DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby, in a shot with co-stars Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire. The Great Gatsby is scheduled for release later this year.

If you have been reading the trades then you know that Australian actor Joel Edgerton has for a long been connected to the untitled Osama Bin Laden film with Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal attached. Edgerton, who is best known for starring in the Warrior has made it official – he has signed on to star.

According to the trades, Edgerton has been the number one choice since as early as May; but he had some scheduling conflicts and dealings with an unfinished script. Since Edgerton bowed out of Warner Bros. sequel to 300 and the script is now done, he’s joined the Bin Laden film, which also includes Jason Clarke.

Bigelow will direct the film from Boal’s script. The story focuses on the Navy Seal team that tracked and eventually killed Osama Bin Laden. Boal and Bigelow are well-known for their Hurt Locker collaboration – winning the Oscar for best movie.

The film is scheduled to go into production in February with a release date set for December 19, 2012.

Several roles are still open for casting. One role involves a female reporter entrenched with the Navy Seal team. Variety reports that Rooney Mara had been a possible choice, but her The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo promotion schedule ended that bright idea.

The Aussie has made a name for himself with such films as Animal Kingdom and Warrior. His next big film is The Great Gatsby, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan.

Combining Bruce Willis and Brad Dourif in the same movie sounds like a hard combination to pass up, at least in my book. Willis is one of the key figures in action movie history ever since his Die Hard days (there was a reason he was part of The Expendables), and Brad Dourif, well, he’s good in pretty much anything. So getting them together in Catch .44, which you won’t be able to actually find in stores until December 20th (and the folks out at Anchor Bay sent over a copy of) sounds like a smart idea. But will this one be more–or less–than the sum of its parts?

Catch .44 sends three ladies with the unusual occupation of contract killer down to Louisiana where a big style dope deal is about to go down. But when they get down to Louisiana to intercept the dope deal, they find the place where it’s supposed to go down mostly empty. Empty, at least, until the bullets start flying and very nearly killing the three hitman–or hit ladies, which ever–in question. But is the flying lead a simple misunderstanding? Or is this a double-cross in the making? And will any of them escape alive?

I give Catch .44 due credit for starting off with a bang–while it gets a little Tarantino-chatty in the beginning, I have to admit, they pick it right up. And if you’re thinking that this sounds like a pretty flimsy premise for an entire movie, you weren’t alone there. That’s exactly what I thought. But as it turns out, this is a lot more involved than the premise would indicate.

In fact, it actually brings back shades of Smokin’ Aces, though not quite as explosively violent, but still–take what you can get, I say.

Catch .44 also boasts an unusual layout, packed with flashbacks and repeated scenes for emphasis, which is unusual to say the least, but still pretty interesting. Check out a nifty reference to Bruce Willis’ brief–some would say mercifully brief–music career, which is some double irony to say the least since he’ll show up in this one. Though sadly, Brad Dourif’s piece in this one is also brief, though not so mercifully.

The Screenhead Ten Scale has a tough time with this one, and gives Catch .44 a six out of ten. It’s got a lot going for it, but it also has a tendency to get a little too chatty for its own good. There’s plenty of exciting stuff going on here, sure enough, but it’s going to be buried in a lot of conversation. And the conversation isn’t even all that entertaining, worse yet. But still, the high points are high enough to make this one worth a look.

The folks out at Anchor Bay have sent us a little something unusual for review today, a copy of Tanner Hall. And this one is so new it’s not going to hit stores until this Tuesday, but will you want to be ready? Or can you safely ignore this one?

Tanner Hall follows Fernanda, a young lady who attends school–and lives–at the New England boarding school known as Tanner Hall. And Fernanda’s stay at Tanner Hall is about to be marked by a whole lot of drama when a girl from Fernanda’s past arrives. But when Victoria arrives and starts winning over all Fernanda’s friends, it has a decidedly unpleasant effect on Fernanda’s life. And that’s going to kick off a whole lot of woefully unpleasant drama branching out into their lives. But the end results of all this drama may well make all of them better for the experience.

At least, I hope it does, because this thing does not have merely a drama llama running through it, but rather an entire llama school. Interestingly, I spent absolutely no time as a teenage girl. I also spent a lot of time around them. Thus I’m reasonably assured that this kind of thing actually does go on in the circles of teenage girls, and it’s actually pretty disturbing. See, drama is par for the course, at least in what I was exposed to, and so Tanner Hall has a note–at least a note–of realism going into it. Naturally, your mileage may vary, but I think this at least has some note of realism involved.

Oh, and on the off chance that extreme amounts of sexual tension among possibly underaged girls makes you uncomfortable, then you’re definitely going to want to stay away from this one. Tanner Hall is quite literally jammed full of the stuff. Drama, sexual tension like no tomorrow, and teenaged girls. For some this will be heaven, and for the rest this will be massively cringeworthy. Thankfully, the one thing it will not be is boring.

Still though, for the most part, this is a good one to stay away from unless you’re really into either drama or teenage girls. Those enjoying both, meanwhile, will be in hog heaven, nothing but, and those wanting perspective into the lives of same should find themselves very much illuminated by the proceedings here. And those without interest in the subject matter, meanwhile, will find themselves quite nonplussed.

A brief word, though, about the involvement of Chris Kattan in this one–wow. That’s really all the word I need on this one, but man, if you ever thought someone could play a schoolteacher with an unnatural fascination for his students, then you’ve got every bit of proof of that you ever needed right here. Nicely done.

The Screenhead Ten Scale, meanwhile, gives Tanner Hall a six out of ten. It’s a little too narrow to be much of appeal outside of those deliberately interested in the subject matter, but will still put up a reasonably entertaining viewing.

Something big for you today, folks, as the crew out at Anchor Bay sent over a copy of Our Idiot Brother for us to review. And this one’s going to be a lot stranger–yet also a lot more engaging–than you might think.

Our Idiot Brother follows a family of four, three sisters whose lives may look pretty good but have some interesting issues scattered throughout and a brother who’s got possibly just a bit too much trust in humanity. While the sisters have industriously built their lives, their brother went into organic farming. And his organic farm covers a whole lot more than impressive strawberries and the best rhubarb in town, as he discovers when he gets locked up. His girlfriend–yes, he has a girlfriend–has thrown him off the farm, and with nowhere left to go, he turns to his sisters. But their brothers’ uncompromising honesty and faith in humanity–even in the strangest parts–will shake up their world beyond all their expectations.

It’s hard to call a movie heartwarming without it sounding like some giant sad cliche, but Our Idiot Brother does an excellent job of doing just that. See, this one focuses on what happens when a big part of your life is suddenly changed, and that changes the whole picture. And that’s how it works for the whole family: Ned loses the farm, his only real stability, and the family gains the biggest destabilizing influence of all, a man who has virtually no stability. This ends up changing everything, and the process of changing manages to make them all substantially better. You’d think that would be a big cliche, and I suppose it is on some level, but there are plenty of laughs thrown in for added variety and substance. Paul Rudd dancing to Willie Nelson’s Midnight Rider is inherently wild, and it gets better from there as their brother’s unusual philosophy interacts on all their lives.

Plain and simple, Our Idiot Brother is surprisingly fun to watch, especially for a movie that’s basically about people’s lives changing. This is going to be a shot of drama that will go down very smooth, thanks to the laughs mixed in.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives Our Idiot Brother a very sharp eight out of ten. It’s hard to find drama that doesn’t choke you under the weight of its own self-importance, and Our Idiot Brother takes a path that you’re certainly going enjoy.