Universal had announced the launched of Reservation Road DVD would be next January 22, but they have taken it off the schedule and will re-announce it for a later date at some point.

The note is from the site DVD Times.

The Oscar race has now begun, with the specialty divisions of the major Hollywood studios and the truly independent players pulling out all the stops to ensure their films make the cut when nominations are announced on January 22.

Reservation Road is one of Focus Features movies waiting for January 22, when nominations will be announced.

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Is there anything more depressing than the senseless death of a child? In the real world, perhaps not; in Reservation Road, plenty. For starters, it’s depressing to note that director Terry George elected to follow his powerful Hotel Rwanda with this simple-minded melodrama. It’s also depressing to note that this film largely wastes the talents of not one but two Best Supporting Actress Oscar winners, Jennifer Connelly and Mira Sorvino. And finally, it’s depressing when a strong premise is compromised by lazy plotting and cop-out resolutions. Based on John Burnham Schwartz’s novel (with Schwartz co-writing the screenplay with George), Reservation Road starts with a young boy being struck and killed by an SUV.

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Even though a film may appear loaded for Oscar bear, it doesn’t take long for critics and the box office to transform it into a load of awards season bull.

Oscar season is somewhat like a Rotary Club bake-off. There’s generally a lot of talk about new recipes for success, and everyone excitedly looks forward to trying something new and perhaps a bit exotic. Yet when it comes time to hand out the blue ribbons, it’s often the most tried and true concoctions, or at least some slight iteration upon an old favorite, that carry the day. For example, awards voters have proven time and again their love for epic-scale productions (Titanic, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King … The English Patient), just one of many easily identifiable Oscar and Golden Globe trends. At this time of year, various pundits are well into the momentum – or lack thereof – of various actors, actresses and films. If a performer is lucky enough to score an early nomination or award (e.g. Cate Blanchett as Venice’s Best Actress, Juno as the Rome Film Festival’s Best Feature, etc.), it generally begets them extra opportunities, within the larger context of the odds favoring previous winners and honorees. Like Lions for Lambs opening this weekend, Reservation Road was on paper a film with all the essential Oscar bait ingredients. It stars Joaquin Phoenix - twice nominated for an Academy Award, most recently in 2006 for his turn as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line — and Mark Ruffalo, an habitual awards season flirter. The film’s female lead, Jennifer Connelly, was of course 2002’s Best Supporting Actress for her role in A Beautiful Mind.

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“Reservation Road” falls victim to a common affliction of parallel-action narratives: One story is far more meaningful and emotionally affecting than the other. Director Terry George’s latest film is about how grief, guilt and introspection emerge in two men involved in a fatal accident. It tries to mix an intensely internalized Mark Ruffalo performance with Joaquin Phoenix’s scenes, which descend into a contrived haze of investigatory paranoia. It’s a character drama mistakenly reworked as a tense thriller.

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Nobody does sheepish guilt like Mark Ruffalo. The doggedly boyish-looking actor from You Can Count On Me, We Don’t Live Here Anymore and (as proof he can do rom-coms as well as the next guy) 13 Going On 30 has a real penchant for playing remorseful dudes. That quality is perfect for his role as Reservation Road’s Dwight Arno, the man who leaves behind Ethan and Grace Learner’s (Joaquin Phoenix and Jennifer Connelly) son in a hit-and-run and then must live with the consequences. I spoke with Ruffalo during the Film Festival, where, fittingly, he spent the entire interview in shadow.

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Always at the top of his game in every movie he does, Mark Ruffalo might be one of America’s most underrated actors, which may be why he’s unlikely to get nearly the attention he deserves for his performance in Reservation Road, an adaptation of John Burnham Schwartz’s stirring novel about the grief and guilt surrounding a hit ‘n’ run accident.

In this dramatic film adaptation by Terry George (Hotel Rwanda), Ruffalo plays Dwight Arno, a Connecticut lawyer who’s been separated from his wife (Mira Sorvino) but who still wants to spend time with his young son, something that might be taken away from him after a tragic accident in which he hits and kills a young boy with his SUV and then decides to drive off. Racked by guilt, Dwight suddenly finds himself in constant contact with the boy’s grieving parents, played by Joaquin Phoenix and Jennifer Connelly, without them realizing he’s to blame.

Most people seeing this movie will probably put their main focus on the grief suffered by the boy’s parents, but in actuality, Ruffalo has the more interesting part, as we watch him dealing with the repercussions of his action while struggling with the decision on whether to confess and face possible jail time.

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This under-rated star picks favourites in film and politics

Not only is Mark Ruffalo one of the finest actors working today, he’s also probably the most self-effacing.

The former stage actor’s brand of performance is the kind that too often goes unnoticed. Like a chameleon, Ruffalo inhabits the space of a character to an extent that most don’t recognize the actor beneath. Sure enough, audiences end up showering his costars with recognition instead.

Overdue for some awards recognition of his own, Ruffalo has already punched in two memorable performances this year that could serve as his ticket to the Oscars, with stand-out roles in Zodiac and Reservation Road (which opens this Friday). Ruffalo would rather not play favourites. After some arm twisting he leans towards Zodiac, but not for his own purposes.

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