The Secret Life of Bees

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 my selections below you can now add Bottle Shock and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa to your queue.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno
I still smile when I think about this movie starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks because it's so silly and raunchy and yet manages to be somewhat heartwarming. But it should come with a serious warning: This is pretty graphic stuff so you should avoid watching with say, a boss, or a brother, or even maybe your roommate's boyfriend. It's a series of really awkward movie moments just waiting to happen. It's also hysterically funny in parts, though, so don't hesitate to add this one to your queue.

The special features both frighten and intrigue me. They include deleted scenes; a "making of" featurette; something called "Money Shots Webisodes"; outtakes, ad-libs and bloopers; and "Seth vs. Justin: Battle for Improvisational Supremacy."

Two more up next, just read more

Mark Wahlberg had a good weekend. His movie Max Payne was No. 1 at the box office, with an estimated $18 million. Plus, it looks like he made nice with Andy Samberg, after things got tense last week.

Second place turned out to be what Variety calls a "photo finish" between those dancing dogs and The Secret Life of Bees. Disney's Beverly Hills Chihuahua just barely eked out a second place finish its third weekend in theaters with an estimated $11.2 million with Bees close behind with about $11.1 million.

Oliver Stone's biopic W also did well, coming in at No. 4 with an estimated $10.6 million its first weekend out followed by Eagle Eye at No. 5.

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox

When I left my screening of The Secret Life of Bees I felt comforted and content, and it took me a while to understand why: This movie calls back to older, Southern-set, empowering movies like Steel Magnolias and Fried Green Tomatoes. Those films celebrate womanhood and the importance (and potency) of female friendship, all against the unique backdrop of the American South. The stories are beautiful and sentimental, with tragedy and heartache going hand-in-hand with love and humor. This is what The Secret life of Bees is like, while also including the tension of race relations in South Carolina in 1964 and a coming-of-age story. I've sometimes wondered mournfully if movies like these were no longer relevant or could not be made well in this day and age, so it is with relief that I report to you: They can, and have.

Dakota Fanning plays Lily, a 14-year-old girl in South Carolina whose mother died when she was young, leaving her in the care of an abusive father (Paul Bettany) and a kind housekeeper named Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson). Lily decides to run away from her father and her small town, and she takes Rosaleen with her. Included in her mother's belongings, Lily has a piece of wood with an image of a black Mary holding a black infant Jesus and the name of a town written on the back. So, Lilly and Rosaleen head off for this town and discover that the image of Mary matches the labels on some locally-made honey. Further investigation brings them to a bright pink house where the honey is made. It's more than just a brightly-colored house, though, so read more

Queen Latifah was on SNL this weekend assisting Tina Fey in recreating the VP debates but last night she was cracking up with Will Smith on the red carpet in LA for the premiere of The Secret Life of Bees. Will was there as a producer and to support Jada who embraced Fall's latest lace trend and is an executive producer of the film based on the best-selling novel. Dakota Fanning continues to look all grown up while looking perfectly age appropriate. The recently engaged Jennifer Hudson got gorgeous in navy with matching blue eye shadow. The all-star cast already premiered their movie at the TIFF so if you haven't already checked out the trailer we'd suggest doing so before it opens next weekend.

To see more pictures of Dakota, Jennifer Hudson, Ali Landry and more just read more

The MTV VMAs may have been the talk of the town, but the Toronto Film Festival proved to be just as star-studded. Jennifer Aniston looked fabulous as usual in her mini black dress for Management, while Keira Knightley looked like royalty once again on the red carpet for The Duchess. Brad Pitt showed off his Burn After Reading and talked about how little sleep he's getting these days taking care of six kids. Dakota Fanning wowed us in her black number, looking so pretty and grown-up at the premiere of The Secret Life of Bees with costar Jennifer Hudson.

Mark Ruffalo pulled double duty for Blindness with Julianne Moore and The Brothers Bloom with Adrien Brody, while Anne Hathway looked gorgeous continuing promotions for Rachel Getting Married. Of course, it wouldn't be a festive weekend without a few parties, and Kate Hudson, Diddy, and Lindsay Lohan were just a handful of stars who had plenty of fun without any movies of their own to endorse.

To see over 70 more photos including Queen Latifah, Evangeline Lily, Paris and Benji, Alicia Keys, and tons more, just read more

It's not every day that the film adaptation of a well-loved book appears to capture the same atmosphere and sentiments that the book does, but in my opinion, the trailer for The Secret Life of Bees looks like it might do just that. I loved the novel by Sue Monk Kidd; it was one of those books that left me feeling sad at the end because I had to part with characters I'd come to care about deeply.

The story follows 14-year-old Lily (Dakota Fanning) whose mother died, leaving Lily with an abusive father. Together with her caregiver Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson), Lily runs away from her father, and the two wind up at a pink house and under the protection of four smart, strong, beekeeping sisters.

The trailer does seem to veer into sappiness a few times, but is just grounded enough to avoid looking like a Lifetime TV movie. Queen Latifah has a solid, maternal way about her in this role, which is refreshing, and it's really great to see Dakota Fanning playing an older character. Alicia Keys has a good presence onscreen, and I may be most excited to see Sophie Okonedo (who was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Hotel Rwanda), whom I find absolutely mesmerizing every time I see her in another movie.

The Secret Life of Bees opens October 17. To see what I'm talking about, read more

• Did you get all my holiday brainteasers this week? Test your knowledge with these trivia questions about A Christmas Story, Miracle on 34th Street" National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Scrooged.
• I also have a quiz about holiday music and another quiz about some of those movies that aren't "holiday movies" but feature the holidays, like Love Actually and Beautiful Girls.
• Speaking of holiday entertainment, what gets you in the spirit the most: holiday music, movies or TV specials?
• I got the incredibly cool opportunity to interview Ellen Page. And she is awesome.
• Striking members of the Writers Guild plan to picket the Golden Globes — in full evening wear.
• Of course, the biggest movie trailer of the week is the super creepy one for The Dark Knight, but I also really dug the one for George Clooney's Leatherheads.
• In Dakota Fanning movie news, Alec Baldwin will be joining her in My Sister's Keeper, and Fanning herself will be at the center of the film adaptation of The Secret Life of Bees.
• After this week's last episode of Gossip Girl for a while, are you on Team Blair, Team Serena, or Team Both?.

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In yet more book-to-movie news, the bestselling novel by Sue Monk Kidd The Secret Life of Bees will be adapted for film and they already have a cast mostly in place. The young girl at the center of the story will be played by — who else? — Dakota Fanning. With the addition of this project, Fanning has six movies in various stages of production. When does she have the time to come-of-age in real life?

Jennifer Hudson, Queen Latifah and Sophie Okonedo have also signed on for the project and Alicia Keys is apparently in talks to join as well. According to Variety:

Set in South Carolina in 1964, story centers on Lily Owens (Fanning), who escapes her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father by running away with her caregiver and only friend (Hudson) to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Latifah, Okonedo and Keys would play the three sisters.

I liked the book very much so I hope they don't make it into a silly Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood kind of thing. What do you think? Are you interested in a big-screen version of The Secret Life of Bees?

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