Weekly DVD and Blu-Ray Picks

My DVD new release picks for May 5, 2009

2009-05-07T17:44:00.000-07:00

It has been quite a while but I'm back in the cut! Check out these cool movies!

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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Criterion Collection (2008)
dir. David Fincher

It's good to see Criterion release something once in a while that's going to make them a ton of money, even though the movie itself wasn't that great. It's an incredible looking movie for sure, and the visual effects are ridiculous. Sadly, the story is also ridiculous, and, according to most everyone who saw the movie, it's also been done before with Forrest Gump. If you haven't seen it, check out the Curious Case of Forrest Gump video on funnyordie.com. Priceless.

Product Description:
“I was born under unusual circumstances . . .” Thus begins The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the Academy Award–winning film starring Brad Pitt as a man who is born in his eighties and ages backward, and Cate Blanchett as the woman he is destined to love forever. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a monumental journey—as unusual as it is epic—that follows Benjamin’s remarkable adventure of romance and redemption from the end of World War I through the twenty-first century. Directed by David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a powerful testament to life and death, love and loss.

DVD Features:
Interviews with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett
Audio commentary featuring Academy Award-nominated director David Fincher
Never-before-seen footage revealing the innovative techniques behind the Academy Award–winning visual effects and makeup
Step-by-step examination of the motion-capture process aging Brad Pitt
In-depth exploration of David Fincher’s creative process on the set
Interview with acclaimed composer Alexandre Desplat about the score
Featurettes on the film’s storyboards, costumes, and Academy Award–winning art direction
Stills galleries, including costume design and candid behind-the-scenes production photos
Optional French- and Spanish-dubbed soundtracks
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, and optional French and Spanish subtitles
PLUS: An essay by film critic Kent Jones
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Wendy and Lucy (2008)
dir. Kelly Reichardt

Depressing plot + depressing visuals = extremely depressing movie. Michelle Williams is really great in this, though.

Product Description:
Kelly Reichardt’s second feature, Wendy and Lucy, has even more Pacific Northwest piney quietude than her debut Old Joy, since its starring couple is a canine-human pair rather than a male duo. Will Oldham again makes a charged appearance, this time as Icky (Will Oldham), a grungy, train-hopping punk. Based on a short story, this time Jonathan Raymond’s "Train Choir," Wendy and Lucy’s dialogue is a sparse spattering amongst long, languid scenes that moodily portray a young woman, Wendy (Michelle Williams), suffering economic crisis and road trip malaise on her way to work Alaskan fishing boats. The bulk of the story takes place in Portland, where her Honda breaks down and she must engage the local mechanic (Will Patton) and Walgreen’s security guard (Wally Dalton) for honest advice and for help finding her dog, Lucy, who disappears during one of Wendy’s disasters. Wendy and Lucy would aptly be titled Wendy’s Bad Day, as problems pile up due to one main misstep. Williams does a great job portraying a woman who is semi self-sufficient but clueless in the art of survival. As the film speaks to many young people who have been broke and stranded, one will inevitably wonder why Wendy makes the unwise choices she does, for example sleeping in a dangerous area along a train track instead of finding a safer campground, or wandering the streets looking for her lost pooch in lieu of hunkering down for a temporary part-time job. The film straddles the line between social realism and fantasy in this regard, provoking frustration during certain plot twists. However, Wendy and Lucy is a pleasure to look at for its grainy greenery, hypnotic, sweeping landscape and train yard shots, and for the story, when it centers on developing the deep bond between a lady and her dog. --Trinie Dalton

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Last Chance Harvey (2008)
dir. Joel Hopkins

I've heard mixed reviews, but because Dustin Hoffman's involved, I want to believe that the people who liked it are the people that are right. I doubt I'll see this anytime soon, though.

Product Description:
Anyone who’s seen the trailer for Last Chance Harvey can easily guess how it ends. In fact, the title alone is a clue. But the destination is hardly the point with movies like this; it’s the journey that counts, and this one is pretty entertaining. You could call director-writer Joel Hopkins’ film a romantic comedy, but it’s not especially robust in either of those departments. This is more of a character study, and veteran lead actors Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson are well up to the task of bringing theirs to life. Both are awkward, lonely, social misfits. Hoffman’s Harvey Shine is a bit of a schlub; his gig as a jingle composer in jeopardy, estranged from his ex-wife (Kathy Baker) and daughter (Liane Balaban), he flies to London for the latter’s wedding, only to have her tell him that she has chosen her step-father (James Brolin) rather than him to give her away. Meanwhile, Kate Walker (Thompson) spends her days trying to survey harried travelers at Heathrow Airport, answering her meddling mother’s constant stream of cell phone calls, and awaiting the all-to-inevitable onset of spinsterhood. Harvey has already brushed her off once when, having put in a humiliating appearance at the wedding and missed his return flight to America, he runs into her in an airport bar. What ensues--the initial repartee and sarcastic snarking, the gradual breaking of the ice, the burgeoning attraction, the complications and misunderstandings--is entirely predictable. But it’s also well done. These are people one might actually identify with; when Kate tells him, "I’m more comfortable with being disappointed. I’m angry with you for trying to take that away," one senses a real person in there, which helps raise Last Chance Harvey above its conventions. --Sam Graham Fennessy

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Enchanted April (1992)
dir. Mike Newell

Mike Newell has been directing forever, but his career has just recently started to explode. I really like the movies of his I've seen, but I haven't seen this. I'll give anything with Alfred Molina a chance.

Product Description:
This lovely, 1991 adaptation of Elizabeth Von Arnim's novel has a superb cast and a tone so mellow you can feel your pulse get slower. Josie Lawrence and Miranda Richardson play a pair of unhappily married women who rent an Italian villa for a month, sharing the rent with a crusty Englishwoman (Joan Plowright) and a lonely aristocrat (Polly Walker). Sun, rest, sinking into the green grass for long naps--they all have a soulful effect on the quartet, and then on the men in their lives who make a surprise visit. Mike Newell (Into the West) directs with seeming effortlessness, and it is impossible not to be swayed by the promise of restoration for these burdened characters--or for anyone alive. Wonderful performances all around, including a particularly sensitive one by Alfred Molina and a very funny one by Jim Broadbent. --Tom Keogh

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The Last Templar (2009)
dir. n/a

Supposedly this is extremely, hilariously bad, but I'm just including it cause I can't remember seeing Mira Sorvino in anything in a long time.

Product Description:
An ancient decoder has been stolen from a collection of Vatican art. When an archaeologist discovers its connection to the history of the Knights Templar she enlists the help of a NYC detective to find it before it falls into the wrong hands. Clue by clue, continent by continent, the quest is on to discover a secret that could change the course of history. Based on the #1 international best-selling novel.

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Smother (2008)
dir. Vince Di Meglio

Looks like a waste of talent.

Product Description:
Since getting his start on PUNK'D, Dax Shepard has had the privilege of starring opposite Hollywood's loveliest ladies, from Jessica Simpson in EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH to Amy Poehler in BABY MAMA. SMOTHER continues that tradition, pairing the comic actor with Liv Tyler and Diane Keaton. In this comedy, Shepard stars as a down-on-his-luck therapist whose mother (Keaton) moves into his house with her five dogs and without any desire to leave.

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American Yakuza (1994)
dir. Frank Cappello

I had a helluva time trying to find a description of this movie, although there's a bunch of user reviews on Amazon. I'm not sure how you can go wrong with a Yazuka movie starring Viggo.

Product Description:
An American FBI agent is lured away by the Japanese Mafia--the Yakuza--in this action film.

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Frankenhood (2008)
dir. Blaxwell Smart

Absolutely no way can this movie be bad. Especially since it's directed by a guy named Blaxwell Smart. Have GOT to see this.

Product Description:
Motown (DeRay Davis) and Darius (Jasper Redd) work in a morgue, trading put-downs and toiling among the most undemanding of customers. But outside of their decidedly dreary jobs, the two dream of bigger and better things. If only they could win the $25,000 prize that will go to the winners of the upcoming 3-on-3 Streetball Tournament. One night, having been demoted to graveyard shift, they run into their semi-sane colleague Franklin (Charlie Murphy) in a dark alley outside the morgue. They find Franklin using the auto battery of Motown’s precious Gremlin to bring to life a monstrous dead man (Bob Sapp) whose heart Franklin has just replaced. That 3-on-3 basketball tournament isn’t looking so bad...if they can just get their new mutant friend to play basketball!

DVD and Blu-Ray picks for November 11, 2008

2008-11-12T11:57:00.001-08:00

What a week! There are sure a lot of great DVDs and Blu-Ray discs out for Christmas! You guys should all buy a lot of them to help out the economy like me. I like to support original creative works and that is why I work so hard on this blog every week.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)
dir. Guillermo del Toro

A truly great movie with some of the best CG imagery in a movie to date, and the cinematography/art direction is amazing, thanks in no small part to Guillermo del Toro. Also, Ron Perlman is so awesome.

Product Description:
The feverish Hellboy II: The Golden Army is a very busy sequel that might have looked unhinged in the hands of a less visionary director than Guillermo del Toro. Ron Perlman returns as Hellboy, aka "Red," the Dark Horse Comics demon-hero with roots in the mythical world but personal ties in the human realm. Still working, as he was in Hellboy, for a secret department of the federal government that deals (as in "Men In Black") with forces of the fantastic, Red and his colleagues take on a royal elf (Luke Goss) determined to smash a longtime truce between mankind and the forces of magic. Meanwhile, Red's relationship with girlfriend Liz (Selma Blair), who can burst into flames at will, is going through a rocky stage observed by Red's fishy friend Abe (Doug Jones), himself struck by love in this film. Del Toro brilliantly integrates the ordinary and extraordinary, diving into an extended scene set in a troll market barely hidden behind the façade of typical city streets. He also unleashes a forest monster that devastates an urban neighborhood, but then--interestingly--brings a luminous beauty to the same area as the creature (an "elemental") succumbs to a terrible death. Del Toro's art direction proves masterful, too, in a climactic battle set in a clockworks-like stronghold tucked away in rugged Irish landscape. But it's really the juxtaposition of visual marvels with not-so-unusual relationship issues that gives Hellboy II a certain jaunty appeal hard to find in other superhero movies. --Tom Keogh

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The Sopranos - The Complete Series (1999-2007)
dir. n/a

I'd imagine Sopranos fans that like the show enough to buy the DVDs have already bought all the individual seasons, but if not, you can pick up this behemoth for a pricy $250.

Product Description:
For six seasons, fans have devotedly watched Tony Soprano deal with the difficulties of balancing his home life with the criminal organization he leads. Audiences everywhere tuned in to see the mob, the food, the family, and who was next to be whacked. Celebrate the show that Vanity Fair called, "the greatest show in TV history", in the ultimate Sopranos collector's edition.

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Shogun Assassin: 5 Film Collector's Set (1972-1974)
dir. Kenji Misumi

One of the best series of movies that exists. There's actually 6 Lone Wolf & Cub movies, but the American version, Shogun Assassin, splices about 10-15 minutes of the first LW&C with most of the second one. I know purists will always take original audio & subs over dubbing, but there is some top notch dubbing going on here. A weird thing to say, but it's true.

Product Description:
He is the most feared assassin in all of Japan, known only as the Lone Wolf. Pushing his young son along the back-roads of feudal Japan in a heavily armed baby-cart, he strikes fear into the hearts of evil-doers everywhere - as long as someone can come up with his fee. Nothing, not even the legions of a mad shogun, hordes of Yagyu ninjas, or the undead, can stop him! This collector's set contains the complete series on 5 DVDs. From the explosive first film that became a cult-classic, to the snow-capped finale, there is never a dull moment for this father and son team.

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The General (The Ultimate 2-Disc Edition) (1926)
dir. Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman

One of the greatest movies ever.

Product Description:
Buster Keaton's career reached its creative apex with this rousing comic adventure. Not merely one of the finest silent films, this remains one of the great film comedies of all time. The Great Stone Face stars as Southern railroad engineer Johnny Gray, a man with only two loves: the sweet Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack) and his trustworthy engine, the eponymous General. When Fort Sumner is fired upon he's one of the first to enlist, but when the war office rejects him (he's too valuable as a trained engineer) his sweetie rejects him as a coward. Johnny has the opportunity to prove his bravery when Yankee spies steal his engine and inadvertently kidnap Annabelle, and Johnny pursues with all the resources at his disposal: handcar, bicycle, and finally railroad engine. Keaton's love/hate relationship with technology and machinery shines as he becomes one with his beloved locomotive and wrestles with a finicky cannon that threatens to blow his engine off the tracks; with tremendous dexterity, he nails the humor with inimitably deadpan takes. Spunky Marion Mack makes a perfect partner for Keaton, not merely a foil but a gifted comedienne in her own right. Other Keaton films contain more laughs and inspired comic stunts, but none combines romance, adventure, and comedy into a solid story as seamlessly as this silent masterpiece. --Sean Axmaker

DVD Features:
- Three musical scores to choose from:
(1) Music composed and conducted by Carl Davis, performed by The Thames Silents Orchestra (in 5.1 Stereo Surround or 2.0 Stereo)
(2) Music arranged and directed by Robert Israel
(3) Theatre organ score by Lee Erwin
- A video tour of the authentic General, presented in association with The Southern Museum
- A tour of the filming locations, presented by John Bengtson, author of Silent Echoes
- Behind-the-scenes home movie footage
- Filmed introduction by Gloria Swanson
- Filmed introduction by Orson Welles
- The Buster Express, a brisk montage of train gags from throughout Keaton s career
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JFK (Ultimate Collector's Edition) (1991)
dir. Oliver Stone

A bit long, but I still really enjoyed it. One of Oliver Stone's best.

Product Description:
Director Oliver Stone added 17 minutes of previously unseen footage for the "director's cut" edition of his hypnotic courtroom epic about the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963. That fateful day in Dallas set in motion a sequence of events that would only intensify the mystery behind Kennedy's death, causing New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) to begin an investigation that would gradually become a personal obsession. Bravura filmmaking combined with controversial treatment of historical facts and audacious speculation, this breathtaking revision of history presents a mesmerizing parade of shady figures and conspiracy theories, unfolding like a classic mystery based on history's greatest unsolved crime. A technical triumph boasting Oscar-winning cinematography and editing, Stone's film is guaranteed to grab the viewer's attention with its daring take on the JFK controversy. The stellar supporting cast includes Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Pesci, Jack Lemmon, Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, Kevin Bacon, and Gary Oldman as Lee Harvey Oswald. --Jeff Shannon

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Sukiyaki Western Django (2007)
dir. Takashi Miike

I still can't make up my mind whether or not I like this movie. It's so fucking weird. The novelty of an all-Japanese cast that doesn't speak English speaking English wears off pretty quick. I've said it before, but Django really isn't referenced that much. The main plot is more of a Yojimbo remake. Quentin Tarantino's appearances are just bizarre. He's completely out of place, but fun to watch.

Product Description:
The prolific Takashi Miike co-wrote and directed this strikingly postmodern remake of Sergio Corbucci's 1966 Spaghetti Western, Django. The story is much the same, but the highly stylized fusion of Japanese gangsterism and operatic musings on the Western form makes for a wild and unexpected cult movie. Still, there is not much here beyond the film's relentlessly creative surface, making Sukiyaki a bit wearying. Feuding for centuries, the Genji and Heiki clans both arrive in a 19th century Nevada town, determined to find hidden treasure rumored to be there. In the midst of their fighting comes a solitary gunslinger (Hideaki Ito) courted by each clan to work for them. When he refuses, the cross-currents of betrayal and murder escalate, and hidden truths behind at least one tragedy, and the real identity of an unlikely shooter, come to the surface. The film's energy, dynamic camerawork and almost tongue-in-cheek performances are fun and admirable, and Miike has a fascinating sense of composition. The story gets a little soft just past the halfway point and Miike attempts to fill the void with exhausting new ways of filming bloody mayhem for its own sake. Quentin Tarantino has a small role as a mystery man with a link to these events. --Tom Keogh

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Quo Vadis (Two-Disc Special Edition) (1951)
dir. Mervyn LeRoy, Anthony Mann

Product Description:
"Welcome to Nero's House of Women" greets a concubine to a slave girl, Lygia (Deborah Kerr). Later this self-same greeter reveals that she, too, like Lygia, is really a fellow Christian neophyte. And it's that mixture of tawdry Hollywood sex and a strong Christian message that makes this film an enjoyable "gentiles and gladiators" flick. Marcus Vinicius returns home after conquering the Britons to find that Rome is infected with a crazy new sect called Christians and that his beloved emperor Nero (Peter Ustinov, roly-poly and wicked) has become increasingly wacky. Marcus tries his centurion wiles on Lygia, and she's smitten, but she's also a Christian convert and begs Marcus not to force her to choose between him and her god. The Christians have a tough go of it, with martyrdom in the Coliseum as punishment for belonging to the new religion in town. Though three hours long, director Mervyn LeRoy's film always has something going on. It could help you enjoyably kill any rainy Sunday afternoon. --Keith Simanton

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Love and Honor (2007)
dir. Yoji Yamada

The Japanese Academy really loves Yoji Yamada. I loved Twilight Samurai, so I'll have to check this out soon.

Product Description:
Shinnojo (Takuya Kimura) is a low-level samurai bored with his assignment as a food-taster for his emperor. Like any young husband, Shinnojo shares his work frustrations at home with his wife, Kayo (Rei Dan), and dreams of resigning his post to start a dojo that will teach fighting skills to kids in a positive environment. Shinnojo and Kayo clearly care for each other, teasing and sharing laughs just out of earshot of their longtime helper, Tokuhei (Takashi Sasano). Everything changes, however, when Shinnojo eats some bad shellfish intended for the emperor--so bad that it leaves him permanently blind. Feeling useless and facing an uncertain future, Shinnojo experiences grief and anger. Meanwhile, Kayo appeals to his family for help and is only advised to seek assistance from another samurai (Mitsugoro Bando), a man with dubious intentions toward Kayo. The fallout deeply affects Shinnojo and Kayo's marriage, and gives the former a new reason to carry on: defending his and Kayo's honor. This domestic drama by Yôji Yamada, based on a story by Shûhei Fujisawa, has the slow, somber tone both of ritual and a tragedy unfolding behind closed doors. A much more handsome than cinematically exciting movie, Love and Honor is like a silent era melodrama with visually appealing actors, a story blatantly tugging at the audience's heartstrings. A climactic fight scene gets one's adrenaline going, though nothing tops the promise of forgiveness and reconciliation for real excitement here. --Tom Keogh

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Postmen in the Mountains (1999)
dir. Jianqi Huo

Product Description:
An old postman has spent his whole life delivering mail to the mountain of Hunan and is about to retire. His only son is due to take over his duties. As father and son journey through the mountains, the son begins to appreciate the toil and burden his father has to bear as postman for the villagers, and the old postman is also deeply moved as his son relates his mother's anxiety as she waits for him to return home from every trip.

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Blood And Bones (2004)
dir. Yoichi Sai

The title + Beat Takeshi = can't not watch

Product Description:
Internationally acclaimed actor and director Takeshi Kitano gives his most captivating performance yet as Kim Shunpei, a Korean immigrant in Japan whose life is a disturbing tableau of cruelty, abuse and shocking violence. Kim is a despicable man who physically and emotionally assaults everyone around him the workers at his fish cake factory, his mistress, his estranged wife, and his entire family. Ruthlessly pursuing success at any cost, he wastes away his earnings while keeping the people closest to him in desperate need. Spanning several decades and adapted from the semi-autobiographical novel by Korean-Japanese author Yang Seok-Il, Blood and Bones is a fiercely beautiful film that exposes the raw brutality of unchecked ambition and greed. Winner of four Japanese Academy Awards, including Best Actress, Best Director and Best Screenplay, Blood and Bones was Japan s official entry as the Best Foreign Language Film for the 2006 Academy Awards.

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Pure (2005)
dir. Gillies MacKinnon

Product Description:
Set in the East-End of London, PURE is a story about the bond between a family and the pull of drugs. Following the death of his father, ten-year old Paul (Harry Eden) becomes the caretaker of his family mother Mel (Molly Parker) and youngest brother Lee (Vinni Hunter). His only friend is a flighty waitress Louise (Keira Knightley) who helps Paul in his desperate attempt to protect his family from the mother s drug addiction and her boyfriend, the local dealer (David Wenham).

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Holiday Affair (1949)
dir. Don Hartman

The God Robert Mitchum lookin all young n shit

Product Description:
One of the lesser holiday movies, this 1949 comedy stars Janet Leigh as a war widow who can't afford to buy her son a toy train for Christmas. A veteran (Robert Mitchum) who happens to be standing by in a department store overhears her plight and offers to purchase the toy, thus setting into motion a series of funny complications. Wendell Corey plays Leigh's suspicious, condescending boyfriend, whose jealousy compounds Mitchum's problems, and Harry Morgan is very good as a night-court judge trying to make sense of everything that happens. The movie didn't do so well at the box office at the time of its release, but it has gained an affectionate fan base over the years. Don't expect Miracle on 34th Street, but as a spirited lark for Yuletide, this is a lot of fun. --Tom Keogh

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Western (1997)
dir. Manuel Poirier

Product Description:
Catalonian Paco is a traveling rep for a shoe manufacturer. When he stops to pick up Russian emigree hitchhiker Nino, Paco soon finds himself on the side of the road with everything stolen out from under him. Local gift shop owner Marinette gives the Spaniard a lift. Their mutual attraction manifests itself quickly, and Paco, who was fired over the stolen-car episode, hangs around. When he happens to spot Nino in the same town, he beats up the scrawny Russian, who lands in the hospital. Oddly enough, this marks the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Paco and Nino soon take the trip down the road together.

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Thunderbolt Fist (1972)
dir. Il-ho Jang

Product Description:
The plot has to do with the takeover of a Chinese town by a group of Japanese who wear traditional costumes, ride horses and carry swords, even though this is set in the early 20th century, long after Japan's modernization. Our hero, Tie Wa, is sent off as a boy to train in the mountains with a resistance group. He has left his family's "Thunderbolt Fist" manual in the care of a female friend, Feng Niou, and, after growing to adulthood returns to the town to scope out the strength of the Japanese fighters and their Chinese lackeys, including one Gu Gang, whom Tie Wa fought as a child. He gets the manual back after some difficulty with Feng Niou's jealous husband, but gets beaten up and maimed by Gu Gang for his trouble and eventually is let go, allowing him to return to the mountain to train his one good arm in the Thunderbolt Fist style so he can lead the others back and retake their town from the Japanese.

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HD Moods Fireplace (2008)
dir. Greg James

For those of us not lucky enough to get the fireplace channel for the holidays. Greg James has the easiest and most relaxing job in the world I bet.

Product Description:
Nothing warms the soul and soothes the spirit like a bright crackling fire on a cool winter night. HD Moods Fireplace is so realistic you ll swear it s actually heating your room as the sights and sounds of the burning natural wood bring your HD TV to life!

Video selections for October 14, 2008

2008-10-16T22:07:00.000-07:00

Some people say you can have too many movies or spend too much time and money watching and collecting them. To those people I would say you are probably on the wrong blog because this blog is pretty explicitly used for selecting GREAT movies for you to buy each week.

Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection
MOVIES INCLUDE:
Lifeboat (1944)
Spellbound (1945)
Notorious (1946)
The Paradine Case (1947)
Sabotage (1936)
Young and Innocent (1937)
Rebecca (1940)
The Lodger (1927)

This set kicks ass, and is a must-buy for any serious Hitchcock fan. Some of these have been (and still are) available, some have been out of print for a while. Now they're all in one collection with lots of extra shit, and I'm looking forward to tearing into it.

Product Description:
With hours of all-new special features including audio commentaries, featurettes, screen tests, still galleries, vintage radio interviews, an AFI Tribute to Hitchcock and more, the DVD collection also includes a 32-page notebook with trivia, and production notes. Rebecca, Spellbound and Notorious will also be available as single discs. The following is the press release for the set:

Lifeboat (1944)
After their ship is sunk in the Atlantic by Germans, eight people are stranded in a lifeboat, among them a glamorous journalist , a tough seaman, a nurse and an injured sailor. Their problems are further compounded when they pick up a ninth passenger - the German captain from the U-boat that torpedoed them. With its powerful interplay of suspense and emotion, this legendary classic is a microcosm of humanity, revealing the subtleties of man's strengths and frailties under extraordinary duress. Nominated for three Academy Awards, Alfred Hitchcock's World War II drama, is a remarkable story of human survival.
BONUS FEATURES:
Commentary by Film Professor Drew Casper
The Making of Lifeboat
Still Gallery

Young and Innocent (1937)
In this witty, suspense thriller a police chief's daughter helps a fugitive accused of murder prove his innocence.

BONUS FEATURES:
Commentary with film historians Stephen Rebello & Bill Krohn
Isolated Music and Effects Track
Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
Audio Interview: Francois Truffaut Interviews Hitchcock
Restoration Comparision

The Lodger (1927)
One of the best silent films still in existence has no extra features? I know it was previously only available in the public domain, so believe me, I'm thankful, but nothing?
Story synopsis: A serial killer is seeking blonde girls as his victims in London. A strange lodger moves into a rented room. The man goes out on foggy nights, keeps a photo of an unidentified blonde girl in his room, and flirts with the landlady's daughter, Daisy, who just happens to be blonde. Daisy's boyfriend is a police detective, and jealousy arouses his suspicion more than it might normally be stirred.

Notorious (1946)
Daughter of an accused World War II traitor, Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) is enlisted to entrap one of her father's colleagues in Brazil, Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains). Her American contact, secret agent T.R. Devlin (Cary Grant) is openly contemptuous of Alicia and instructs her to wed Sebastian. It is only after she is wed that Devlin lets himself admit that he's fallen in love with her.

BONUS FEATURES:
Commentary with film historian Rick Jewell
Commentary with film historian Drew Casper
Isolated Music and Effects Track
The Ultimate Romance: The Making of Notorious Featurette
Alfred Hitchcock: The Ultimate Spymaster Featurette
AFI Tribute to Hitchcock
1948 Radio Play Starring Joseph Cotton and Ingrid Bergman
Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
Audio Interview: Francois Truffaut Interviews Hitchcock
Restoration Comparision
Still Gallery
PLUS: A 4-Page Booklet

Rebecca (1940)
A young woman marries a fascinating older widower only to discover that she must live in the shadows of his first wife, Rebecca, who died mysteriously several years before.

BONUS FEATURES:
Commentary by film historian/author Richard Schickel
Screen tests
Making of Rebecca Featurette
The Gothic World of Daphne Du Maurier Featurette
Original 1938 Radio Play Starring Orson Welles
1941 Radio Play Presented by Cecil B. DeMille
1950 Radio Play with Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier
Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
Audio Interview: François Truffaut Interviews Hitchcock
PLUS: A Four-page booklet

Sabotoge (1936)
A woman learns that her movie theater manager husband is actually a foreign agent when a device he has made kills her brother. Based on Joseph Conrad's novel, The Secret Agent.

BONUS FEATURES:
Commentary with film historian Leonard Leff
Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
Restoration Comparision

Spellbound (1945)
When John Ballantine (Gregory Peck), the new director of a mental institution arrives on the job, the staff is concerned. He seems too young for the position and his answers to their questions are vague and detached. Dr. Peterson (Ingrid Bergman), while knowing he is an impostor with emotional issues, nevertheless falls in love with him. Turning to her mentor, Dr. Alex Brulov (Michael Checkhov) and the use of psychoanalysis she tries to get to the root of Ballantine's emotional problems.

BONUS FEATURES:
Commentary with film historians Thomas Schatz & Charles Ramirez Berg
Guilt by Association: Psychoanalyzing Spellbound Featurette
A Cinderella Story: Rhonda Fleming Featurette
Dreaming with Scissors: Hitchcock, Surrealism and Salvador Dali Featurette
1948 Radio Play Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
Audio Interview: Film Historian Rudy Belhemer Interviews Composer
Still Gallery
PLUS: A Four-page booklet

The Paradine Case (1947)
Beautiful Anna Paradine (Alida Valli) is accused of poisoning her older wealthy husband. Her lawyer, the happily married Anthony Keane (Gregory Peck) takes the case but also lets his heart rule his head when he falls hard for his client.

BONUS FEATURES
Commentary with film historians Stephen Rebello & Bill Krohn
Isolated Music and Effects Track
1949 Radio Play Starring Joseph Cotton
Audio Interview: Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock
Restoration Comparision

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4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)
dir. Cristian Mungiu

I liked this movie, but, I don't know...it just didn't grab me. It looked amazing, and the acting was great, but it was a little slow and the plot generally couldn't hold my attention. More power to you if you thought it deserved the Palme D'Or, but I didn't.

Product Description:
There was a loud outcry when Romania's 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days failed to garner a 2008 Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film, and it could certainly be argued that this extraordinary movie was unfairly overlooked. At the very least, had it been nominated, it would have offered a stark contrast to Best Picture contender Juno. Whereas the latter is a funny, touching tale of a teenage girl who decides to find more suitable parents for her soon-to-be-born child, 4 Months is a decidedly bleak look at a time and place when one of the two alternatives to adoption (i.e., keeping the child) is beyond consideration and the other is an illegal, highly dangerous last resort. It takes a while for the viewer to realize that abortion is the subject of director Cristian Mungiu's film; for the first 40 minutes or so, all we know is that Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) and Gabita (Laura Vasiliu), college roommates in a country still controlled by the Ceausescu dictatorship, are up to something they'd prefer to keep secret. Gabita, it develops, is pregnant. She is also an innocent, scared screw-up who's unable to handle any of the necessary details involved in solving her problem, which obliges the far more capable Otilia to take care of everything from booking the hotel and meeting the abortionist to buying black market cigarettes for the pair. What follows is anything but cute, clever, or romantic. Mr. Bebe (Vlad Ivanov), the abortionist, is a straightforward but frightening character who demands more than money for his services. Meanwhile, Adi, Otilia's boyfriend, is a decent but essentially clueless fellow who insists that she attend his mother's birthday party on the very day that the two girls have checked into the hotel where Gabita's procedure takes place; the two scenes in which we meet Bebe and Adi's parents, reveal Mongiu's mastery of his medium and are at once intense, discomfiting, and completely riveting. And if Oscar voters missed the boat, many other didn't: among numerous other plaudits for the film was the '07 Palme d'Or at Cannes. --Sam Graham

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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Two-Disc Special Edition) (2008)
dir. Steven Spielberg

Ugh. I GUESS I'll mention this. It's very sad to me that 1) I won't buy this and 2) I don't give a fuck. I know that Spielberg still has great movies left in him, but George Lucas is just an old bag of shit as far as I'm concerned.

Product Description:
Nearly 20 years after riding his last Crusade, Harrison Ford makes a welcome return as archaeologist/relic hunter Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, an action-packed fourth installment that's, in a nutshell, less memorable than the first three but great nostalgia for fans of the series. Producer George Lucas and screenwriter David Koepp (War of the Worlds) set the film during the cold war, as the Soviets--replacing Nazis as Indy's villains of choice and led by a sword-wielding Cate Blanchett with black bob and sunglasses--are in pursuit of a crystal skull, which has mystical powers related to a city of gold. After escaping from them in a spectacular opening action sequence, Indy is coerced to head to Peru at the behest of a young greaser (Shia LaBeouf) whose friend--and Indy's colleague--Professor Oxley (John Hurt) has been captured for his knowledge of the skull's whereabouts. Whatever secrets the skull holds are tertiary; its reveal is the weakest part of the movie, as the CGI effects that inevitably accompany it feel jarring next to the boulder-rolling world of Indy audiences knew and loved. There's plenty of comedy, delightful stunts--ants play a deadly role here--and the return of Raiders love interest Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood, once shrill but now softened, giving her ex-love bemused glances and eye-rolls as he huffs his way to save the day. Which brings us to Ford: bullwhip still in hand, he's a little creakier, a lot grayer, but still twice the action hero of anyone in film today. With all the anticipation and hype leading up to the film's release, perhaps no reunion is sweeter than that of Ford with the role that fits him as snugly as that fedora hat. --Ellen A. Kim

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The Ultimate Matrix Collection
dir. Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski

This is pretty much the same set that came out a few years ago, except on Blu-ray. If it were a little cheaper, I might buy it, but I can't justify paying $80-90 for one great movie and two pieces of shit.

Product Description:
The definitive seven-disc Blu-ray set, The Ultimate Matrix Collection features all three films in the trilogy together for the first time ever with a newly remastered picture and sound for The Matrix. Also included is the companion piece The Matrix Revisited and the best-selling The Animatrix, plus two entirely new Blu-ray discs packed solid with brand-new supplemental materials that encompass every aspect of the Matrix universe, including two new audio commentaries on each film, Enter the Matrix video game footage, 106 deep-delving featurettes/documentaries and much more!

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Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan (2007)
dir. Sergei Bodrov

Looking forward to watching this....the reviews are all over the map, but it seems like a movie I'd enjoy.

Product Description:
Subtitled "The Untold Story of the Rise of Genghis Khan," director Sergei Bodrov's sweeping MONGOL focuses on battles physical and emotional as it follows the early ascent of the "Great King" in the 12th and 13th centuries. Born Temudgin to a kingly father, the film introduces the nine-year-old Temudgin (Odnyam Odsuren) making his first fateful decision: going against his father's wishes and choosing the lesser-born Borte as his future wife. When his father is poisoned, Temudgin flees from his father's rivals. Temudgin is saved by a young prince, Jamukha, and the two become blood brothers. That bond of friendship is tested, though, when the grown Temudgin (Tadanobu Asano) wages war--against the Mongol code--to win back the captive Borte. As Temudgin asserts his own power, he must also face Jamukha in all-out battle if he is to secure the safety of his family and his own kingly destiny. Gorgeously shot on location in Kazakhstan and Inner Mongolia, MONGOL represents the first in a proposed trilogy of films that will chronicle the full impact of Genghis Khan's reign. As ambitious in scope as its subject was in life, MONGOL--a 2008 Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film--offers a unique look at the influence of love and loyalty to the life and times of one of history's most enigmatic rulers.

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The New World - The Extended Cut (2006)
dir. Terrence Malick

The theatrical cut was already a little long in my opinion, but sometimes extended cuts and director's cuts can make the pacing a little quicker depending on what goes where, and can generally make the movie better. It worked wonders for Kingdom of Heaven. I'm kinda baffled as to why they wouldn't release this on Blu-ray. Malick's films are just screaming to be watched in high-def.

Product Description:
The legend of Pocahontas and John Smith receives a luminous and essential retelling by maverick filmmaker Terrence Malick. The facts of Virginia's first white settlers, circa 1607, have been told for eons and fortified by Disney's animated films: explorer Smith (Colin Farrell) and the Native American princess (newcomer Q'orianka Kilcher) bond when the two cultures meet, a flashpoint of curiosity and war lapping interchangeably at the shores of the new continent. Malick, who took a twenty year break between his second and third films (Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line), is a master of film poetry; the film washes over you, with minimal dialogue (you see characters speak on camera for less than a quarter of the film). The rest of the words are a stream-of-consciousness narration--a technique Malick has used before but never to such degree, creating a movie you feel more than watch. The film's beauty (shot in Virginia by Emmanuel Lubezki) and production design (by Jack Fisk) seems very organic, and in fact, organic is a great label for the movie as a whole, from the dreadful conditions of early Jamestown (it makes you wonder why Englishman would want to live there) to the luminescent love story. Malick is blessed with a cast that includes Wes Studi, August Schellenberg, Christopher Plummer, and Christian Bale (who, curiously, was also in the Disney production). Fourteen-year-old Kilcher, the soul of the film, is an amazing find, and Farrell, so often tagged as the next big thing, delivers his first exceptional performance since his stunning debut in Tigerland. James Horner provides a fine score, but is overshadowed by a Mozart concerto and a recurring prelude from Wagner's Das Rheingold, a scrumptious weaving of horns fit to fuel the gentle intoxication of this film. Note: the film was initially 150 minutes, and then trimmed to 135 by Malick before the regular theatrical run. It was also the first film shot in 65mm since Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet. --Doug Thomas

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Standard Operating Procedure (2007)
dir. Errol Morris

Product Description:
It's impossible to talk about Standard Operating Procedure without referencing Taxi to the Dark Side. Fortunately, both documentaries are vital to any discussion about US military interrogation techniques. While Alex Gibney's Oscar winner uses the death of an Iraqi taxi driver as a framing device, director Errol Morris and writer Philip Gourevitch (We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families) examine the issue through visual evidence (they also collaborated on a book of the same name). While Gibney concentrates on Bhagram, Morris focuses on Abu Ghraib, but his self-described "non-fiction horror film," which features a dramatic Danny Elfman score and slow-motion reenactments, runs along two tracks. First, he aims to find out what happened at the infamous institution. Along with the photographs and video footage, he speaks to the guards and the brigadier general who oversaw their operations, including former army specialist Lynndie England, who has all the charm of Aileen Wuornos (so memorably immortalized in Monster). As in his Thin Blue Line, accounts contradict other accounts. In Morris's world, absolute truth doesn't exist; it's up to viewers to decide which subjects seem most reliable. This leads to his parallel goal, which is to question the reliability of imagery. Photography was prohibited at Abu Ghraib, so he identifies the responsible parties, the reasoning behind their rule-breaking, and the stories behind the most incendiary pictures. If less emotionally engaging than Gibney's feature, Standard Operating Procedure is just as essential--and every bit as disturbing. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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Chaplin (15th Anniversary Edition) (1993)
dir. Richard Attenborough

Even though he's done some great work over the years, especially recently, I think this is still probably Robert Downey Jr.'s best performance to date. The real footage of Chaplin showing up at the Oscar tribute still chokes me up a little (although bringing out his hat and cane was lame).

Product Description:
Sir Richard Attenborough's biographical film of the life and times of Charles Chaplin is a little thin as a narrative, but it is so charmingly creative and ultimately moving, it's hard to care about any deficits. Robert Downey Jr. does an excellent job re-creating Chaplin's graceful slapstick and getting inside the silent-film superstar's head over many years of triumph, defeat, scandal, official persecution, exile, and inner peace. A huge cast portray the allies, friends, lovers, and enemies in Chaplin's life, including Moira Kelly as his final, longtime wife, Oona, Kevin Kline as Douglas Fairbanks, Geraldine Chaplin as Charlie's mother, and James Woods as a prosecutor working hard to nail Chaplin for anti-American sentiments. Attenborough declines to tell the story in a flat, linear way, employing such clever techniques as detailing one chapter in Chaplin's life as a silent comedy. The climactic scene set at an Oscar tribute for Chaplin will get the tears flowing. --Tom Keogh

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War, Inc. (2008)
dir. Joshua Seftel

Cusack is always solid, but this movie hasn't really interested me up to this point.

Product Description:
A wobbly mix of violence and sentiment, War, Inc. takes up where Grosse Pointe Blank left off. A conscience-stricken killer in the previous film, producer/co-writer Cusack now plays an international assassin. In Joshua Seftel's political satire, corporations operate like governments. In the volatile nation of Turaqistan, Cusack's hot sauce-addicted Brand Hauser sets his sights on Omar Sharif--the oil baron, not the actor (it's never clear why this is meant to be funny). As a cover, Hauser passes as the producer for an economic trade show with fellow operative Marsha (Joan Cusack) acting as his assistant. Trained by Southern smoothie Walken (Ben Kingsley) in his CIA days (depicted though flashbacks), Hauser now takes orders from an oily CEO (Grosse Pointe co-star Dan Aykroyd). Offing Sharif, however, turns out to be harder than expected. Hauser's obstacles include left-wing journalist Natalie Hegalhuzen (Marisa Tomei) and foul-mouthed pop tart Yonica Babyyeah (Hilary Duff, erasing innocent images of Lizzy McGuire). Cusack and his crew come up with a few clever ideas, but too many crass gags blunt their thesis about military contractors run amok. Pitched somewhere between Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove and Mike Judge’s Idiocracy, War, Inc. registers as more of a miss than a hit. On the plus side, Cusack and Tomei have a snappy rapport; it's the more over-the-top performers who look out of place, especially Ms. Cusack and Kingsley, though the latter's deft turn as a boozy hit man in the overlooked You Kill Me almost makes up for this misfire. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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Young People Fucking (2007)
dir. Martin Gero

Product Description:
This frank--and frankly hilarious--Canadian indie certainly lives up to its risqu‚ title, but there's more going on in than just sex in this debut from writer/director Martin Gero. YPF follows one night in the lives of four couples and one threesome. Though most of the actors are unknown south of the Canadian border, each of them gives a heartfelt, genuine performance that should lead to more work in the future.

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Revenge of a Kabuki Actor (1963)
dir. Kon Ichikawa

Product Description:
While performing in a touring kabuki troop, leading female impersonator Yukinojo comes across the three men who drove his parents to suicide twenty years earlier, and plans his revenge on them.

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Holiday Inn (1942)
dir. Mark Sandrich

Sure you've all heard the best selling single ever, "White Christmas", but have you seen the movie where it came from? It's pretty great in its own right, and is definitely deserving of a 2-disc + soundtrack edition DVD.

Product Description:
In 1942, Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby teamed up at Der Bingle's Paramount Pictures for Holiday Inn, a black-and-white musical that proves more entertaining than Crosby's color semi-remake White Christmas in 1954. Astaire and Crosby play partner/rival song-and-dance men who compete for the hand of their performing partner, played by Virginia Dale. After Crosby loses, he moves to the Connecticut countryside where he creates a resort that is only open on holidays and puts on the shows with the help of Marjorie Reynolds. Dumped by Dale, Astaire makes a drunken arrival at the inn on New Year's Eve and dances with Reynolds. He decides she'll be his new partner, but doesn't remember what she looks like, setting off a frenzied search at every subsequent show while the once-bitten Crosby does his best to steer him off track. The theme gives Irving Berlin an excuse to craft or recycle a number of holiday-themed songs, such as (in the former category) "Washington's Birthday" or (in the latter) "Easter Parade." The most famous of the new material, of course, is "White Christmas," which became one of the bestselling songs of all time and the title song of Crosby's 1954 film. Astaire and Crosby also team up for "I'll Capture Her Heart," which playfully contrasts the stars' specialties, and Astaire's "It's So Easy to Dance with You" became one of the signature songs of his post-Ginger Rogers career. Astaire and Crosby teamed up again for Blue Skies in 1946. --David Horiuchi

DVD Features:
Disc 1: Original Black & White Version
- A Couple of Song and Dance Men: An intimate retrospective of Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire featuring an interview with Ava Astaire-MacKenzie
- All Singing-All Dancing: Experience the making of the unforgettable song and dance numbers of Holiday Inn
- Audio Commentary: Feature-length audio commentary with film historian Ken Barnes with archive audio comments by Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire and John Scott Trotter
- Original Theatrical Trailer

Disc 2: New Color Version
- Coloring a Classic: Learn how Holiday Inn was color-designed using amazing new technology that transformed the black and white classic to color with the help of Jan Mucklestone, personal sketch artist of the famed costume designer Edith Head

Disc 3: Music Soundtrack CD
- 12 classic Irving Berlin holiday songs from the original soundtrack including Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" and "Happy Holiday"

Track Listing
1. I'll Capture Your Heart (Bing Crosby & Fred Astaire)
2. Lazy (Bing Crosby)
3. You're Easy to Dance With (Fred Astaire)
4. Happy Holiday (Bing Crosby)
5. Let's Start the New Year Off Right (Bing Crosby)
6. Abraham (Bing Crosby)
7. Be Careful, It's My Heart (Bing Crosby)
8. I Can't Tell a Lie (Fred Astaire)
9. Easter Parade (Bing Crosby)
10. Song of Freedom (Bing Crosby)
11. I've Got Plenty to be Thankful For (Bing Crosby)
12. White Christmas (Bing Crosby)
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Icons of Horror: Hammer Films (2-disc)
MOVIES INCLUDE:
The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964)
The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960)
Scream of Fear (1961)
The Gorgon (1964)

Product Description:
Though perhaps not as iconic as their Dracula and Frankenstein pictures, this quartet of fright flicks from England's Hammer Films deliver enough Saturday afternoon creature feature thrills to please devotees of the legendary studio's output and vintage horror fans alike. 1964's The Gorgon will be the title to attract the most immediate attention due to the presence of Hammer's biggest stars, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, in its cast, and its most celebrated director, Terence Fisher, behind the camera. It's an atmospheric and offbeat entry in the Hammer canon, with one of its most unusual villains: a snake-haired fiend from Greek mythology who turns men into stone. Cushing and Lee are typically fine (both are on the side of the angels for once), and the picture's sole stumbling block is the lackluster makeup for its monster. Lee is also present in supporting roles in two other films in the collection: Scream of Fear (1961), one of several competent psychological suspense features made by Hammer in the wake of Psycho, with Susan Strasberg as a fragile young woman plagued by terrible visions and a house full of suspicious types; and Fisher's The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960), a revamp of the Stevenson story with Paul Massie as the dour scientist whose personality experiments unleash a virile but unhinged alter ego. Hardcore Hammer aficionados will be thrilled to discover that the DVD version is uncut and preserves much of the (mildly) salacious material trimmed for its release in America under the title House of Fright. The final film on Icons of Horror is Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, with Hammer exec Michael Carreras (son of company founder James Carreras) behind the camera for a featherweight monster romp that doesn't hold a candle to Terence Fisher's Mummy in 1959. Unlike previous Icons of Horror DVDs, the supplemental features here are slim--just the theatrical trailers for each film--though they do offer their own degree of charm, especially the ballyhoo-heavy tone of Mummy and the oddly elegant and unnerving preview for Scream of Fear, which is centered solely around an image of Strasberg's face. --Paul Gaita

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Ghost House Underground Eight Film Collection
MOVIES INCLUDE:
Dance of the Dead (2008)
No Man's Land: The Rise of the Reeker (2008)
The Substitute (2007)
Dark Floors (2008)
Trackman (2007)
Room 205 (2007)
Last House in the Woods (2006)
Brotherhood of Blood (2007)

Product Description:
Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, the creative forces behind 30 Days of Night and the Spiderman, The Grudge and Evil Dead franchises, bring you Ghost House Underground – eight premium branded horror movies in one frightening collection. The DVDs included are Dance of the Dead, No Man’s Land: The Rise of the Reeker, The Substitute, Dark Floors, Trackman, Room 205, Last House in the Woods and Brotherhood of Blood. Hand picked by Raimi and Tapert, the most trusted names in horror, Ghost House Underground will bring fans a fresh look at horror from around the world.

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The Edge of Heaven (2007)
dir. Fatih Akin

Product Description:
Fatih Akin, the critically-acclaimed director of HEAD-ON, weaves overlapping tales of friendship and sexuality into a powerful narrative of universal love. Six characters are drawn together by circumstances-an old man and a prostitute forging a partnership, a young scholar reconciling his past, two young women falling in love, and a mother putting the shattered pieces of her life back together. Akin's piercing sense of the human condition and contemporary world events charge these hyperlinked stories into a multi-cultural powder keg.

DVD and Blu-Ray picks for October 7, 2008

2008-10-16T22:03:00.000-07:00

It's time to start buying and watching movies if you ask me because Christmas is approaching fast and we are in a recession.

You Don't Mess With the Zohan (2008)
dir. Dennis Dugan

I know it looks pretty stupid, but give it a chance, especially if you like Adam Sandler, even a little bit. One of the funniest movies of the year so far in my opinion.

Product Description:
If You Don't Mess with the Zohan feels like an extended and crazed sketch from Saturday Night Live, there are reasons for that. Zohan's star and SNL alumnus Adam Sandler is joined by several fellow cast members (in uncredited cameo roles) from his years on the NBC show. But Sandler also co-wrote the film's absurdist script with SNL veteran writer and sometime-performer Robert Smigel. Echoes of a few of their classic skits on the show--built around high-strung Israeli characters obsessed with disco and selling junk electronics out of a New York shop--are in revisited in Zohan and are a lot of fun to see again. Zohan is unbridled nonsense thrown at the wall, but with a sunny disposition that proves surprisingly persuasive. Sandler stars as an Israeli intelligence operative who fakes his death to reinvent himself in New York City as a hairdresser. Putting the lie to assumptions that any man in that professional field must be gay, Zohan routinely provides raucous sexual favors for all of his older female customers. The sight of bottles of gels and hairsprays falling off shelves while the indefatigable Zohan pleasures randy grannies on the other side of a salon wall is pure SNL, and is funnier than it might sound. The silly story involves an old, Palestinian enemy of Zohan, the Phantom (John Turturro), showing up in Manhattan, but everything is really leading to a Big Apple version of the resolution of Israeli-Palestinian conflicts we'd all like to see on a large scale. The film is almost instantly forgettable, and there are many times it veers toward the dumb, but it also sells itself well as a nutty concept. --Tom Keogh

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Sleeping Beauty (1959)
dir. Clyde Geronimi

Product Description:
Disney's 1959 animated effort was the studio's most ambitious to date, a widescreen spectacle boasting a gorgeous waltz-filled score adapting Tchaikovsky. In the 14th century, the malevolent Maleficent (not dissimilar to the wicked Queen in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs taunts a king that his infant Aurora will fatally prick her finger on a spinning wheel before sundown on her 16th birthday. This, of course, would deny her a happily-ever-after with her true love. Things almost but not quite turn out that way, thanks to the assistance of some bubbly, bumbling fairies named Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. It's not really all that much about the title character--how interesting can someone in the middle of a long nap be, anyway? Instead, those fairies carry the day, as well as, of course, good Prince Phillip, whose battle with the malevolent Maleficent in the guise of a dragon has been co-opted by any number of animated films since. See it in its original glory here. And Malificent's castle, filled with warthogs and demonic imps in a macabre dance celebrating their evil ways, manages a certain creepy grandeur. --David Kronke

DVD Features:
All-New Digital Restoration With Enhanced Picture And Sound
All-New 5.1 Disney Enhanced Home Theater Surround Sound
All-New Once Upon A Dream Music Video, Performed By HANNAH MONTANA'S Emily Osment
Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough A Fully Immersive Virtual Tour
All-New Enhanced Dance Game With Help From Briar Rose's Forest Friends, You Can Learn How To Dance
Never-Before-Seen Alternate Opening
Deleted Songs
All-New Making Of SLEEPING BEAUTY Featurette
And Much, Much More
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The Happening (2008)
dir. M. Night Shyamalan

Product Description:
You'd expect the end of the world to be no day in the park, but in M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening, a day in the park is where the end begins. One otherwise peaceful summer morning, New Yorkers strolling in Central Park come to a halt in unison, then begin killing themselves by any means at hand. At a high-rise construction site a few blocks over, it's raining bodies as workers step off girders into space. And all the while, the city is so quiet you can hear the gentle breeze in the trees. That breeze carries a neurotoxin, and what or who put it there (terrorists?) is a question raised periodically as the film unfolds. But the question that really matters is how and whether anybody in the Middle Atlantic states is going to stay alive. The Happening is Shyamalan's best film since The Sixth Sense, partly because he avoids the kind of egregious misjudgment that derailed The Village and Lady in the Water, but mostly because the whole thing has been structured and imagined to keep faith with the point of view of regular, unheroic folks confronted with a mammoth crisis. Focal characters are a Philadelphia high-school science teacher (Mark Wahlberg, excellent), his wife (Zooey Deschanel) and math-teacher colleague (John Leguizamo), and the latter’s little girl (Ashlyn Sanchez). Instinct says get out of the cities and move west; most of the film takes place in the delicately picturesque Pennsylvania countryside, with menace hovering somewhere in the haze. There are no special effects (apart from a wind machine and some breakaway glass), but the movie manages to be deeply unsettling in the matter-of-factness of its storytelling. Especially effective is its feel for what we might call the surrealism of banality. One warning sign that someone has been infected by the neurotoxin is irrational or erratic speech and behavior, yet Shyamalan has a genius for dialogue that sounds normal and everyday as it's spoken, yet flies apart grenade-like a second later as its logic (or illogic) sinks in. Then there's Deschanel's eye-rolling dodginess about the messages some guy has been leaving on her cellphone. Or the fellow (Frank Collis) who addresses his greenhouse plants as though they were his children--has a stray toxic zephyr wafted his way, or is this just his idea of normal? --Richard T. Jameson

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The Visitor (2008)
dir. Tom McCarthy

Richard Jenkins is the MAN. That is all.

Product Description:
A deeply moving drama built around longtime character actor Richard Jenkins, The Visitor is a simmering drama about a college professor and recent widower, Walter Vale (Jenkins), who discovers a pair of homeless, illegal aliens living in his New York apartment. After the mix-up is resolved, Vale invites the couple--a young, Syrian musician named Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and his Senegalese girlfriend (Danai Gurira--to stay with him. An unlikely friendship develops between the retiring, quiet Vale and the vital Tarek, and the former begins to loosen up and respond to Tarek’s drumming lessons as if something in him waiting to be liberated has finally arrived. All goes well until Tarek is hauled in by immigration authorities and threatened with deportation. His mother, Mouna (Hiam Abbass), turns up and stays with Vale, sparking a renewed if subdued interest in courtship. But the wheels of injustice in immigration crush all manner of hopes in post-9/11 America. Vale soon realizes his unexpected capacity for anger over Tarek’s plight, and the positive changes to his personal life that emerged from a deep involvement with his friend and Mouna, might be the only legacy he takes from this experience. Writer-director Thomas McCarthy has created a wonderfully measured story about change and renewal, and put it all on the shoulders of Jenkins, a largely unheralded but masterful performer whose time for renown has surely come. --Tom Keogh

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The Simpsons - The Complete Eleventh Season (1999)
dir. n/a

Product Description:
The Simpsons is the ultimate (if very unorthodox) nuclear family. Homer, the lovable dufus father, stumbles apathetic ally through his family life and work at the local nuclear power plant. Marge, the overbearing but responsible mother, Bart, the 4th grade underachiever and nemesis to Springfield elementary's principal, Lisa, the brainy and responsible 8 year old, and Maggie, the oft-forgotten baby, round out the family. Based on a series of small cartoon sketches from the Tracy Ullman show, the Simpsons enjoy many wacky exploits in their hometown and beyond. Other characters include an incompetent lawyer, the tyrranical nuclear power plant owner, the too-perfect neighbors (the Flanders) of the Simpsons, and the less than perfect "Klown", Krusty. Colorful characters and situations abound.

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Le Doulos - Criterion Collection (1964)
dir. Jean-Pierre Melville

Can't get enough Melville. I'm surprised there are still films of his that Criterion hasn't got ahold of yet.

Product Description:
The backstabbing criminals in the shadowy underworld of Jean-Pierre Melville's Le doulos have only one guiding principle: Lie or die. A stone-faced Jean-Paul Belmondo stars as enigmatic gangster Silien, who may or may not be responsible for squealing on Faugel (Serge Reggiani), just released from the slammer and already involved in what should have been a simple heist. By the end of this brutal, twisty, and multilayered policier, who will be left to trust? Shot and edited with Melville's trademark cool and featuring masterfully stylized dialogue and performances, Le doulos (slang for an informant) is one of the filmmaker's most gripping crime dramas.

DVD Features:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer
Selected-scene audio commentary by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau, author of Jean-Pierre Melville: An American in Paris
Video interviews with directors Volker Schlöndorff and Bertrand Tavernier, who served as assistant director and publicity agent, respectively, on the film
Archival interviews with Melville and actors Jean-Paul Belmondo and Serge Reggiani
Original theatrical trailer
New and improved subtitle translation
PLUS: A new essay by film critic Glenn Kenny
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Le Deuxième Souffle (1966)
dir. Jean-Pierre Melville

Product Description:
With his customary restraint and ruthless attention to detail, director Jean-Pierre Melville follows the parallel tracks of French underworld criminal Gu (the inimitable Lino Ventura), escaped from prison and roped into one last robbery, and the suave inspector, Blot (Paul Meurisse), relentlessly seeking him. The implosive Le deuxième soufflé captures the pathos, loneliness, and excitement of a life in the shadows with methodical suspense and harrowing authenticity, and contains one of the most thrilling heist sequences Melville ever shot.

DVD Features:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer
Audio commentary by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau, author of Jean-Pierre Melville: An American in Paris, and film critic Geoff Andrew of the British Film Institute
New video interview with director Bertrand Tavernier, who served as publicity agent on the film
Archival footage featuring interviews with Melville and Lino Ventura
Original theatrical trailer
New and improved subtitle translation
PLUS: A new essay by film critic Adrian Danks
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Touch Of Evil (50th Anniversary Edition) (1958)
dir. Orson Welles

Product Description:
Considered by many to be the greatest B movie ever made, the original-release version of Orson Welles's film noir masterpiece Touch of Evil was, ironically, never intended as a B movie at all--it merely suffered that fate after it was taken away from writer-director Welles, then reedited and released in 1958 as the second half of a double feature. Time and critical acclaim would eventually elevate the film to classic status (and Welles's original vision was meticulously followed for the film's 1998 restoration), but for four decades this original version stood as a testament to Welles's directorial genius. From its astonishing, miraculously choreographed opening shot (lasting over three minutes) to Marlene Dietrich's classic final line of dialogue, this sordid tale of murder and police corruption is like a valentine for the cinematic medium, with Welles as its love-struck suitor. As the corpulent cop who may be involved in a border-town murder, Welles faces opposition from a narcotics officer (Charlton Heston) whose wife (Janet Leigh) is abducted and held as the pawn in a struggle between Heston's quest for truth and Welles's control of carefully hidden secrets. The twisting plot is wildly entertaining (even though it's harder to follow in this original version), but even greater pleasure is found in the pulpy dialogue and the sheer exuberance of the dazzling directorial style. --Jeff Shannon

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Paranoid Park (2007)
dir. Gus Van Sant

Product Description:
It's hard to believe that a middle-aged filmmaker can fully evoke the chaotic, anxious world of a troubled teenager, but that's what Gus Van Sant has done with Paranoid Park. Alex (newcomer Gabe Nevins), a teenaged boy whose parents are going through a difficult divorce, is drawn to the rough community that's built up around the titular skateboarding park in Portland, Ore. One night, when an older boy is showing him how to hop a freight train, Alex accidentally kills a security guard. The movie captures the before and after by looping back and forth in time, focusing far more closely on Alex's state of mind than the investigation that threatens to close around him. Filmgoers leery of the drawn-out, atmospheric sequences of Van Sant's recent films (like Gerry and Last Days) need not fear; though Paranoid Park favors mood over plot, it successfully balances character, mood, and story, resulting in considerable dramatic tension, similar to Van Sant's meditation on the Columbine shootings, Elephant. This is not a thriller; Paranoid Park pays as much attention to Alex's relationship with his girlfriend Jennifer (Taylor Momsen, Gossip Girl) as to the killing. The result is a vivid, compelling portrait of adolescence, in all its messiness and confusion. This may be Van Sant's best film since his early masterpieces, Drugstore Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho. --Bret Fetzer

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Vertigo (Universal Legacy Series) (1958)
dir. Alfred Hitchcock

These Hitchcock movies have been released on DVD about a bazillion times a piece, but they've never looked better than on these Universal Legacy Series DVDs. Veritgo is my favorite of all Hitchcock movies, but he's made so many classics that it's almost impossible to pick a favorite (although it usually seems to be between Vertigo and Rear Window).

Product Description:
Although it wasn't a box-office success when originally released in 1958, Vertigo has since taken its deserved place as Alfred Hitchcock's greatest, most spellbinding, most deeply personal achievement. In fact, it consistently ranks among the top 10 movies ever made in the once-a-decade Sight & Sound international critics poll, placing at number 4 in the most recent survey. (Universal Pictures' spectacularly gorgeous 1996 restoration and rerelease of this 1958 Paramount production was a tremendous success with the public, too.) James Stewart plays a retired police detective who is hired by an old friend to follow his wife (a superb Kim Novak, in what becomes a double role), whom he suspects of being possessed by the spirit of a dead madwoman. The detective and the disturbed woman fall ("fall" is indeed the operative word) in love and...well, to give away any more of the story would be criminal. Shot around San Francisco (the Golden Gate Bridge and the Palace of the Legion of Honor are significant locations) and elsewhere in Northern California (the redwoods, Mission San Juan Batista) in rapturous Technicolor, Vertigo is as lovely as it is haunting. --Jim Emerson

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Rear Window (Universal Legacy Series) (1954)
dir. Alfred Hitchcock

Product Description:
Like the Greenwich Village courtyard view from its titular portal, Alfred Hitchcock's classic Rear Window is both confined and multileveled: both its story and visual perspective are dictated by its protagonist's imprisonment in his apartment, convalescing in a wheelchair, from which both he and the audience observe the lives of his neighbors. Cheerful voyeurism, as well as the behavior glimpsed among the various tenants, affords a droll comic atmosphere that gradually darkens when he sees clues to what may be a murder.
Photographer L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries (James Stewart) is, in fact, a voyeur by trade, a professional photographer sidelined by an accident while on assignment. His immersion in the human drama (and comedy) visible from his window is a by-product of boredom, underlined by the disapproval of his girlfriend, Lisa (Grace Kelly), and a wisecracking visiting nurse (Thelma Ritter). Yet when the invalid wife of Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) disappears, Jeff enlists the two women to help him to determine whether she's really left town, as Thorwald insists, or been murdered.

Hitchcock scholar Donald Spoto convincingly argues that the crime at the center of this mystery is the MacGuffin--a mere pretext--in a film that's more interested in the implications of Jeff's sentinel perspective. We actually learn more about the lives of the other neighbors (given generic names by Jeff, even as he's drawn into their lives) he, and we, watch undetected than we do the putative murderer and his victim. Jeff's evident fear of intimacy and commitment with the elegant, adoring Lisa provides the other vital thread to the script, one woven not only into the couple's own relationship, but reflected and even commented upon through the various neighbors' lives.

At minimum, Hitchcock's skill at making us accomplices to Jeff's spying, coupled with an ingenious escalation of suspense as the teasingly vague evidence coalesces into ominous proof, deliver a superb thriller spiked with droll humor, right up to its nail-biting, nightmarish climax. At deeper levels, however, Rear Window plumbs issues of moral responsibility and emotional honesty, while offering further proof (were any needed) of the director's brilliance as a visual storyteller. --Sam Sutherland

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Psycho (Special Edition) (Universal Legacy Series) (1960)
dir. Alfred Hitchcock

Product Description:
At last--a great American movie available on video for the first time in its original aspect ratio. For all the slasher pictures that have ripped off Psycho (and particularly its classic set piece, the "shower scene"), nothing has ever matched the impact of the real thing. More than just a first-rate shocker full of thrills and suspense, Psycho is also an engrossing character study in which director Alfred Hitchcock skillfully seduces you into identifying with the main characters--then pulls the rug (or the bathmat) out from under you. Anthony Perkins is unforgettable as Norman Bates, the mama's boy proprietor of the Bates Motel; and so is Janet Leigh as Marion Crane, who makes an impulsive decision and becomes a fugitive from the law, hiding out at Norman's roadside inn for one fateful night. Psycho gets the masterpiece treatment it deserves on DVD, with extras including newsreel footage surrounding the making and release of the movie; an archive of production stills; the special trailer in which Hitchcock (acting as one of the original Universal Studio tour guides) himself leads viewers around the Bates place; credit designer Saul Bass's original "shower scene" story boards; posters and advertising materials for the movie's William Castle-like publicity campaign (No One Will Be Seated After the Feature Begins!); and a 90-minute documentary on the making of the film! What more could any movie fan possibly want? --Jim Emerson

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Young Frankenstein (1974)
dir. Mel Brooks

One of the funniest movies ever. If you didn't already know that, then I'm not really sure why you're even looking at this whole thing to begin with.

Product Description:
If you were to argue that Mel Brooks's Young Frankenstein ranks among the top-ten funniest movies of all time, nobody could reasonably dispute the claim. Spoofing classic horror in the way that Brooks's previous film Blazing Saddles sent up classic Westerns, the movie is both a loving tribute and a raucous, irreverent parody of Universal's classic horror films Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Filming in glorious black and white, Brooks re-created the Frankenstein laboratory using the same equipment from the original Frankenstein (courtesy of designer Kenneth Strickfaden), and this loving attention to physical and stylistic detail creates a solid foundation for nonstop comedy. The story, of course, involves Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) and his effort to resume experiments in re-animation pioneered by his late father. (He's got some help, since dad left behind a book titled How I Did It.) Assisting him is the hapless hunchback Igor (Marty Feldman) and the buxom but none-too-bright maiden Inga (Teri Garr), and when Frankenstein succeeds in creating his monster (Peter Boyle), the stage is set for an outrageous revision of the Frankenstein legend. With comedy highlights too numerous to mention, Brooks guides his brilliant cast (also including Cloris Leachman, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, and Gene Hackman in a classic cameo role) through scene after scene of inspired hilarity. Indeed, Young Frankenstein is a charmed film, nothing less than a comedy classic, representing the finest work from everyone involved. Not one joke has lost its payoff, and none of the countless gags have lost their zany appeal. From a career that includes some of the best comedies ever made, this is the film for which Mel Brooks will be most fondly remembered. Befitting a classic, the Special Edition DVD includes audio commentary by Mel Brooks, a "making of" documentary, interviews with the cast, hilarious bloopers and outtakes, and the original theatrical trailers. No video library should be without a copy of Young Frankenstein. And just remember--that's Fronkensteen. --Jeff Shannon

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Ray Harryhausen Collection (20 Million Miles to Earth, Earth vs. Flying Saucers, It Came from Beneath the Sea, 7th Voyage of Sinbad)

Product Description:
20 Million Miles to Earth
When an American spaceship crash-lands off the coast of Sicily, a rescue team discovers that the crew has brought back a gelatinous mass that soon hatches and evolves into a strange bi-ped creature which increases in size rapidly. Soon 20-feet tall, the creature rampages through Rome before being destroyed as it seeks refuge in the Colosseum.

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
It's an incredible cinematic adventure as the legendary Sinbad sets off on a dangerous journey to the mysterious Island of Colossus. His quest is to break the spell cast over his beloved princess by a diabolical magician. But before he can save her, Sinbad must battle an awesome collection of mythical monsters, the man-eating Cyclops, a saber-wielding skeleton, a ferocious two-headed bird called the Roc and a fire-breathing dragon. Starring Kerwin Mathews, Kathryn Grant, Torin Thatcher and highlighted by the stunning visual effects mastery of Ray Harryhausen. Now in a pristine, hi-definition transfer that captures the magic of Harryhausen's "eye-popping" special effects in dazzling Technicolor.

It Came from Beneath the Sea
A giant stop-motion-animated octopus (with six arms) attacks San Francisco. A pair of scientists and a nuclear sub captain try to stop it before it tears down the Golden Gate Bridge.

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers While driving through the desert with his wife Carol Marvin to a military base to send the eleventh rocket to the orbit of Earth for helping the exploration of the outer space in the Operation Sky Hook, Dr. Russell A. Marvin and Carol see a flying saucer and accidentally records a message in their tape recorder. Once in the base, Dr. Russell is informed by his father-in-law and general that the ten first satellites had mysteriously felt on Earth. When Dr. Russell decodes the message, he encounters the aliens that ask him to schedule a meeting with the leaders of Earth in Washington in 56 days with the intention to invade Earth without panicking the population. Dr. Russell develops an anti-magnetic weapon that becomes that last hope of human race against the hostile aliens.

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Watership Down (Deluxe Edition) (1978)
dir. Martin Rosen

Product Description:
Much like Richard Adams's wonderful novel, this animated tale of wandering rabbits is not meant for small children. It is, however, rich storytelling, populated with very real individuals inhabiting a very real world. The animation is problematic, sometimes appearing out of proportion or just subpar; but it seems to stem from an attempt at realism, something distinguishing the film's characters from previous, cutesy, animated animals. A band of rabbits illegally leave their warren after a prophecy of doom from a runt named Fiver (Richard Briers). In search of a place safe from humans and predators, they face all kinds of dangers, including a warren that has made a sick bargain with humankind, and a warren that is basically a fascist state. Allegories aside, Down is engaging and satisfying, and pulls off the same amazing trick that the novel did--you'll forget that this is a story about rabbits. --Keith Simanton

Movie release picks for September 30, 2008

2008-10-16T21:55:00.000-07:00

Here's my favorite DVD and Blu-Ray disc picks released September 30, 2008! I think you should buy or watch these movies and I will tell you about them.

Iron Man (Ultimate Two-Disc Edition) (2008)
dir. Jon Favreau

Still one of the best movies of the year, but I have a feeling once Oscar season is over, it'll probably drop down the list, but still be in the top 10. Robert Downey Jr. is PERFECT as Tony Stark. I love Jeff Bridges, but I'm still not real crazy about his character being the villain. Although, out of everyone in the Marvel Universe, Iron Man probably had the least interesting arch-enemies. Mandarin would be cool, but who would be after that? Fin Fang Foom? That would get ridiculous.

Product Description:
You know you're going to get a different kind of superhero when you cast Robert Downey Jr. in the lead role. And Iron Man is different, in welcome ways. Cleverly updated from Marvel Comics' longstanding series, Iron Man puts billionaire industrialist Tony Stark (that's Downey) in the path of some Middle Eastern terrorists; in a brilliantly paced section, Stark invents an indestructible suit that allows him to escape. If the rest of the movie never quit hits that precise rhythm again, it nevertheless offers plenty of pleasure, as the renewed Stark swears off his past as a weapons manufacturer, develops his new Iron Man suit, and puzzles both his business partner (Jeff Bridges in great form) and executive assistant (Gwyneth Paltrow). Director Jon Favreau geeks out in fun ways with the hardware, but never lets it overpower the movie, and there's always a goofy one-liner or a slapstick pratfall around to break the tension. As for Downey, he doesn't get to jitterbug around too much in his improv way, but he brings enough of his unpredictable personality to keep the thing fresh. And listen up, hardcore Marvel mavens: even if you know the Stan Lee cameo is coming, you won't be able to guess it until it's on the screen. It all builds to a splendid final scene, with a concluding line delivery by Downey that just feels absolutely right. --Robert Horton

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Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
dir. Nicholas Stoller

Pretty funny movie, but not something I'd own. I just wish the fictional show "Crime Scene" that was portrayed in the movie was actually a show. I'd watch it for Billy Baldwin alone.

Product Description:
Breaking up is hard to do--but that doesn't mean you can't have some belly laughs about it. Forgetting Sarah Marshall provides that rare treat: a romantic comedy about breakups, that is both romantic and funny. The laughs, especially from writer-star Jason Segel, are both heartfelt and raunchy, and the film is just unexpected enough that it keeps the viewer's attention till the end. The touches of producer Judd Apatow, who's famously retooled rom-coms to appeal to guys as much as women, are woven throughout the film, but Segel's script, reportedly based on many of his own experiences, is fresh and original. And adult. Forgetting Sarah Marshall features male genitalia laffs presented in unexpected and human ways (the nude breakup scene is played for giggles but also deep poignancy), and the language and sex scenes are strictly for grownups--and rightly so. Segel's script, and his performance as Peter, show that he understands the true nature of adult relationships, which provides the refreshing difference between this film and some of Apatow's other crude creations. The cast is sublime; Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) plays title character Sarah, a self-absorbed actress, and Russell Brand is her new British honey who accompanies her to--what are the chances?--the exact same Hawaiian resort as Peter, who's nursing his broken heart. Mila Kunis plays Rachel, the resort employee who gives Peter a reason to hope, and Paul Rudd is the surfing instructor who gives him his own brand of heartfelt advice ("When life gives you lemons, just say 'F--- the lemons' and bail," he says cheerily). The pacing is screwball, and the absurdities fly (a "Dracula" musical puppet show, and a surprisingly lovely Hawaiian version of "Nothing Compares 2 U"). Nothing the viewer will forget any time soon.--A.T. Hurley

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An Autumn Afternoon - Criterion Collection (1964)
dir. Yasujiro Ozu

Back to the Criterion Collection where Ozu belongs. I like those Eclipse sets, but I'd much rather have these.

Product Description:
Yasujiro Ozu's final film is also his final masterpiece, the gently heartbreaking story of a man's dignified resignation to both life s ever-shifting currents and society's gradual modernization. Though widower Shuhei Hirayama (Ozu's frequent leading man Chishu Ryu) has been living comfortably for years with his grown daughter, a series of events leads him to accept and encourage her marriage and departure. As elegantly composed and achingly tender as any of the Japanese master's films, An Autumn Afternoon (Sanna no aji) is one of cinema s fondest farewells.

DVD Features:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer
New audio commentary featuring David Bordwell, author of Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema
Excerpts from Yasujiro Ozu and the Taste of Sake, a 1978 French television program looking back on Ozu's career featuring film critic Michel Ciment
Theatrical trailer
New and improved English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring new essays by film scholars Geoff Andrew and Donald Richie
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Bigger, Stronger, Faster* (2008)
dir. Christopher Bell

Product Description:
Pop culture junkies tend to think of Hulk Hogan, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger as entertainment figures. In Poughkeepsie, NY, back in the 1980s, filmmaker Christopher Bell and his brothers viewed them as heroes and became bodybuilders. Like the Hulkster, Mike and Mark Bell even turned to professional wrestling. Chris, a former staffer at Venice's famous Gold's Gym, doesn't use anabolic steroids--he did try them once--but his heroes have and his brothers do, leading him to look deeper at this increasingly common practice. While Bell explores the health costs of juicing, he's mostly concerned with the moral consequences involved in the use of performance-enhancing substances. Though he refrains from judgment, he stopped taking steroids because it felt dishonest. Naturally, his burly brothers feel otherwise. Aside from his family, Bell speaks with doctors, lawyers, congressmen, gym rats, and professional athletes, like Olympic sprinters Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis and Tour de France cyclist Floyd Landis. He also includes footage of José Canseco, Barry Bonds, and Mark McGwire testifying during the federal grand jury and congressional hearings on steroid use in the major leagues (prompted by the publication of Canseco's Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big). For the most part, Bell doesn't leave any stone unturned and the personal nature of his entertaining and enlightening inquiry elevates Bigger, Stronger, Faster, i.e. The Side Effects of Being American, above your average exposé. Recommended to athletes, sports fans, health nuts, and of course, pop culture junkies. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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Taxi To the Dark Side (2007)
dir. Alex Gibney

Product Description:
Among the slew of documentaries inspired by the post-9/11 war, arguably none is more important than Alex Gibney's Taxi to the Dark Side. The story it has to tell, with compelling thoroughness and no recourse to rhetoric, should be as disturbing to Americans supporting the war as it is to opponents. In December 2002, Dilawar, a young rural Afghan cabdriver, was accused of helping to plan a rocket attack on a U.S. base, clamped into prison at Bagram, and subjected to physical torture so relentless that he died after two days of it. But Dilawar was innocent--and he'd been denounced by the real culprit, who thereby took the heat off himself and won points with U.S. forces by giving them "a bad guy." Dilawar was the first fatal victim of Vice President Dick Cheney's devotion to "working the dark side"--torturing, humiliating, and otherwise abusing prisoners in the "Global War on Terror." His story, developed in horrific detail with testimony from the soldiers who tortured him, and also from two New York Times investigative reporters, becomes a prism for slanting light onto the "dark side" policy and the mindset behind it. The program at Bagram was deemed such a success that it served as the model for Abu Graibh the following year in Iraq, and both prisons became pipelines to the detainee facility at Guantánamo, Cuba.
The film's impact is powerful and complex. We come to see the very soldiers who broke Dilawar's body and spirit as victims, too--and patsies of a policy that, from Cheney and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on down, ignored the Geneva Convention and shrouded itself (and commanding officers) in "a fog of ambiguity" while the grunts took the fall. A lot of these grunts testify here, and the accumulation of their individual perspectives on a shared tragedy is devastating. The latter half of the film features penetrating commentary from critics of torture as a policy (Senator John McCain was still one at the time), all of whom agree that it doesn't work and it only damages us. And for Theatre of the Absurd, there's a PR tour of (a discrete portion of) the Guantánamo facility, which turns out to be kinda like summer camp: "They get ice cream on Sundays." Finally, Taxi to the Dark Side isn't about torture or politics or the justness or unjustness of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Gibney is entirely correct when he says, "It's really about the American character and whether we have become something rather different from what we imagine ourselves to be." He's asking; he doesn't want it to be true. --Richard T. Jameson

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Sports Night: The Complete Series 10th Anniversary Edition (1998-2000)
dir. n/a

Product Description:
With breakout and memorable performances by Josh Charles (In Treatment), Robert Guillaume (Benson), Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives), Peter Krause (Six Feet Under), Sabrina Lloyd (Sliders) and Joshua Malina (The West Wing), this was writer/producer Aaron Sorkin's (A Few Good Men , The American President) first television series. And it was director Thomas Schlamme's first collaboration with Sorkin. The pair, who would continue to click brilliantly with The West Wing and Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip, may not have known it at the time, but with Sports Night they defined a new style and raised the bar for all television programs to follow.
Critically acclaimed when it debuted on ABC in 1998, Sports Nigh was an innovative half-hour program about a team of funny, smart and likeable people who put on a daily live sports cable newscast, much like ESPN's SportsCenter. They are a group of consummate professionals whose personal lives operate in apparent chaos, communicating every uncensored thought and feeling through a libretto of witty and honest chatter over the hum of the separate-but-integrated live show-within-the-show.

DVD Features:
*The Show: An in-depth look back at Sports Night with creator/writer Aaron Sorkin, directors Thomas Schlamme and Robert Berlinger, cast members Felicity Huffman, Peter Krause, Josh Charles, Joshua Malina, and Robert Guillaume, Emmy(r) award-winning editor Janet Ashikaga, Emmy(r) award-winning director of photography Peter Smokler, producer John Amodeo, and set designer Thomas Azzari. Includes never-before-seen behind-the-scenes home movies shot by John Amodeo.
*Face Off: ESPN's SportsCenter vs. CSC's Sports Night - Sports Night's real-life ESPN counterparts discuss what the series got right and wrong.
*A Conversation with Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme
*Inside The Locker Room - A look at the innovations of Sports Night with Aaron Sorkin, Thomas Schlamme, Robert Berlinger, Janet Ashikaga, Peter Smokler, John Amodeo, and Thomas Azzari.
*Season Gag Reels
*8 Episode Commentaries including creator/writer Aaron Sorkin, director/executive producer Thomas Schlamme, director Robert Berlinger, editor Janet Ashikaga, and cast members Peter Krause, Josh Charles, Joshua Malina, Sabrina Lloyd, Greg Baker, Kayla Blake, Timothy Davis-Reed, and Ron Ostrow.
*Original Promos
*36-Page Booklet including an introduction by creator Aaron Sorkin
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The Rebel (2007)
dir. Charlie Nguyen

Product Description:
Johnny Nguyen (The Protector) stars as an elite double agent tasked with taking down his own country s freedom fighters. But when he meets a beautiful rebel (pop star Thanh Van Ngo), he rethinks his loyalty to the oppressive French regime and fights back against his sadistic captain (Dustin Nguyen, 21 Jump Street).

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Deadly Duo (Shaw Brothers) (1971)
dir. Chang Cheh

Product Description:
It's the Sung Dynasty versus the Chin invaders as the "Iron Triangle" of director Chang Cheh and stars David Chiang and Ti Lung truly hit their stride with this crowd-pleasing kung fu epic. When a handsome prince is taken captive and guarded by a martial arts master it's up to two powerful patriots to fight overwhelming odds. From the first fascinating minute to the final desperate battle to the death--culminating in an unforgettably evocative conclusion--this duo is dynamic as well as deadly.

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The Last Laugh (Restored Deluxe Edition) (1924)
dir. F.W. Murnau

Product Description:
Two-DVD Deluxe Edition - The crowning achievement of the German expressionist movement is F.W. Myrna's THE LAST LAUGH. Emil Jennings stars in the bleak fable of an aging doorman whose happiness crumbles when he is relieved of the duties and uniform which had for years been the foundation of his happiness and pride. Through Jennings's colossal performance, THE LAST LAUGH becomes more than the plight of a single doorman, but a mournful dramatization of the frustration and anguish of the universal working class. Restored in 2003 by Lucian Berretta and the Friedrich Wilhelm Myrna Sifting, this Kino edition is the definitive version of a silent masterwork, presented with unprecedented clarity and a new orchestral recording of the original 1924 score. Photographed by Karl Freund (Cinematographer of Tod Browning s 1931 Dracula).

DVD Features:
Two-DVD edition featuring both THE RESTORED GERMAN VERSION and THE UNRESTORED EXPORT EDITION
New recording of the original score by Giuseppe Becce, available in 5.1 Stereo Surround or 2.0 Stereo
The Making of THE LAST LAUGH; a 40-minute documentary
Original German title sequences
Image Gallery
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Boss (1974)
dir. Jack Arnold

I seem to recall this movie having a longer title.........

Product Description:
The Boss (former football star Fred Williamson), has "decided to hunt white folks for a change," becoming a bounty hunter and setting out on the trail of fugitive outlaw Jed Clyton (William Smith). With his comic sidekick Amos (D'Urville Martin), he rides into the town of San Miguel, finds that it has no sheriff and takes the job himself. Boss takes a bite out of local crime and brings the hammer down on Clyton in this amusing and action-filled parody of the 1970s blaxploitation genre, as he institutes black man's law in this white man's town!

Blu-Ray and DVD Picks for September 23, 2008

2008-10-16T21:47:00.000-07:00

Phew sorry for taking so long to get you these but I was being a lazy cunt! Get money everyone!

The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration Giftset
dir. Francis Ford Coppola

I fully expect to see about 7 or 8 more re-releases of this trilogy within the next 20 years.

Product Description:
THE GODFATHER: Popularly viewed as one of the best American films ever made, the multi-generational crime saga The Godfather (1972) is a touchstone of cinema: one of the most widely imitated, quoted, and lampooned movies of all time. Marlon Brando and Al Pacino star as Vito Corleone and his youngest son, Michael, respectively. It is the late 1940s in New York and Corleone is, in the parlance of organized crime, a "godfather" or "don," the head of a Mafia family. Michael, a free thinker who defied his father by enlisting in the Marines to fight in World War II, has returned a captain and a war hero. Having long ago rejected the family business, Michael shows up at the wedding of his sister, Connie (Talia Shire), with his non-Italian girlfriend, Kay (Diane Keaton), who learns for the first time about the family "business." A few months later at Christmas time, the don barely survives being shot by gunmen in the employ of a drug-trafficking rival whose request for aid from the Corleones' political connections was rejected. After saving his father from a second assassination attempt, Michael persuades his hotheaded eldest brother, Sonny (James Caan), and family advisors Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) and Sal Tessio (Abe Vigoda) that he should be the one to exact revenge on the men responsible. After murdering a corrupt police captain and the drug trafficker, Michael hides out in Sicily while a gang war erupts at home. Falling in love with a local girl, Michael marries her, but she is later slain by Corleone enemies in an attempt on Michael's life. Sonny is also butchered, having been betrayed by Connie's husband. As Michael returns home and convinces Kay to marry him, his father recovers and makes peace with his rivals, realizing that another powerful don was pulling the strings behind the narcotics endeavor that began the gang warfare. Once Michael has been groomed as the new don, he leads the family to a new era of prosperity, then launches a campaign of murderous revenge against those who once tried to wipe out the Corleones, consolidating his family's power and completing his own moral downfall. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards and winning for Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando), and Best Adapted Screenplay, The Godfather was followed by a pair of sequels.

THE GODFATHER PART II: This brilliant companion piece to the original The Godfather continues the saga of two generations of successive power within the Corleone family. Coppola tells two stories in Part II: the roots and rise of a young Don Vito, played with uncanny ability by Robert De Niro, and the ascension of Michael (Al Pacino) as the new Don. Reassembling many of the talents who helped make The Godfather, Coppola has produced a movie of staggering magnitude and vision, and undeniably the best sequel ever made. Robert De Niro won an Oscar®; the film received six Academy Awards, including Best Picture of 1974.

THE GODFATHER PART III: One of the greatest sagas in movie history continues! In this third film in the epic Corleone trilogy, Al Pacino reprises the role of powerful family leader Michael Corleone. Now in his 60's, Michael is dominated by two passions: freeing his family from crime and finding a suitable successor. That successor could be fiery Vincent (Andy Garcia)... but he may also be the spark that turns Michael's hope of business legitimacy into an inferno of mob violence. Francis Ford Coppola directs Pacino, Garcia, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Eli Wallach, Sofia Coppola, Joe Montegna and others in this exciting, long-awaited film that masterfully explores the themes of power, tradition, revenge and love. Seven Academy Award® nominations, including Best Picture.

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L.A. Confidential (1997)
dir. Curtis Hanson

Product Description:
In a time when it seems that every other movie makes some claim to being a film noir, L.A. Confidential is the real thing--a gritty, sordid tale of sex, scandal, betrayal, and corruption of all sorts (police, political, press--and, of course, very personal) in 1940s Hollywood. The Oscar-winning screenplay is actually based on several titles in James Ellroy's series of chronological thriller novels (including the title volume, The Big Nowhere, and White Jazz)--a compelling blend of L.A. history and pulp fiction that has earned it comparisons to the greatest of all Technicolor noir films, Chinatown. Kim Basinger richly deserved her Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of a conflicted femme fatale; unfortunately, her male costars are so uniformly fine that they may have canceled each other out with the Academy voters: Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey, and James Cromwell play LAPD officers of varying stripes. Pearce's character is a particularly intriguing study in Hollywood amorality and ambition, a strait-laced "hero" (and son of a departmental legend) whose career goals outweigh all other moral, ethical, and legal considerations. If he's a good guy, it's only because he sees it as the quickest route to a promotion. --Jim Emerson

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Leatherheads (2008)
dir. George Clooney

Product Description:
Academy Award® winners George Clooney and Ren e Zellweger team up in this fun-filled comedy set against the beginnings of pro football. Dodge Connelly (Clooney) captain of a struggling squad of barroom brawlers has only one hope to save his team: recruit college superstar Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski The Office). But when a feisty reporter (Zellweger) starts snooping around she turns the two teammates into instant rivals and kicks off a wild competition filled with hilarious screwball antics! Critics are cheering Leatherheads as a real winner (Claudia Puig USA Today).

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Run, Fatboy, Run (2008)
dir. David Schwimmer

Not a terribly funny movie, but it's OK. If nothing's on TV and I come across it on HBO, I'd probably watch it again.

Product Description:
It only makes sense that a television star would turn to a fellow practitioner for his first film. With Run Fatboy Run--no commas, please--Friends' David Schwimmer doesn't reinvent the romantic comedy, but he finds the perfect lovable loser of a lead in TV vet Simon Pegg (Faith in the Future, Spaced). On his wedding day, London lay-about Dennis (Pegg, who co-wrote with Michael Ian Black) deserts his pregnant fiancée, Libby (Crash's Thandie Newton), seconds before the ceremony. Crippling insecurity--which remains unexplored--prevents him from finishing anything ("Not even a sentence," Libby quips). Flash-forward five years, and he's a loving dad to son Jake (the charming Matthew Fenton), but sports a small potbelly, smokes too much and entertains no ambition beyond his job as security guard at a high-end boutique. Fortunately, he has friends, like gambler Gordon (Shaun of the Dead co-star Dylan Moran) and avuncular landlord Mr. Ghoshdashtidar (Harish Patel). Fit American financier Whit (Huff's Hank Azaria) shakes up his routine when he starts seeing Libby. To win her back, Dennis trains for the same 26-mile charity marathon as Whit. No one believes he can make it to the end, and even Dennis has doubts, but true love is a formidable motivator. It may not have been Schwimmer's intention, but there's more chemistry between the buddies than the couples. That makes the movie a must for fans of Pegg and the scene-stealing Moran--but optional for admirers of Newton and Azaria. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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This American Life - Season One (2007)
dir. n/a

Product Description:
The widely popular, award-winning Chicago Public Radio show of the same name is now a Showtime show. Drawing on a different theme each week, viewers hear compelling stories from everyday folks culled from six months on the road. Host Ira Glass and company create a captivating look at the American Life in a series that’s not quite documentary, not much of a news magazine and definitely not a reality show – it’s simply unlike anything else.

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Aki Kaurismäki's Proletariat Trilogy
dir. Aki Kaurismäki

Product Description:
The poignant, deadpan films of Aki Kaurismäki are pitched somewhere in the wintry nether lands between comedy and tragedy. And rarely in his body of work has the line separating those genres seemed thinner than in what is often identified as his Proletariat Trilogy, Shadows in Paradise, Ariel, and The Match Factory Girl. In these three films, something like social-realist farces, Kaurismäki surveys the working-class outcasts of his native Finland with detached yet disarming amusement. Featuring commanding, off-key visual compositions and delightfully dour performances, the films in this triptych exemplify the talents of a unique and highly influential film artist.

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Deception (2008)
dir. Marcel Langenegger

Product Description:
With its attractive cast and "stylish thriller" vibe, Deception is a much better movie than a raft of negative reviews might suggest--provided that you can suspend (if not completely discard) your disbelief and go along for the ride. The first feature by veteran commercial director Marcel Langenegger, it stars Ewan McGregor as Jonathan McQuarry, a mousy freelance tax auditor who’s taken under the wing of one Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman), a slick, ultra-confident Manhattan lawyer. We know from jump that Jonathan’s new best friend isn’t all, or even any, that he seems, and sure enough, when the pair "accidentally" switch cell phones, a series of credibility-defying events destined to turn Jonathan’s bleak, lonely life upside down is set in motion. At first, it’s all good, as the wide-eyed young CPA finds himself joining "The List," a Wall Street sex club that brings together lawyers, stockbrokers, and other professionals whose lives are too busy for anything more than brief, anonymous assignations at various high-rent hotels (exchanging real names is verboten is this world). But apparently spending nights with the likes of Natasha Henstridge and Charlotte Rampling isn’t enough; when he meets the blonde beauty known only as "S" (Michelle Williams), the club’s credo of "intimacy without intricacy" goes out the window, lust turns to love, and Jonathan is drawn into a protracted cat-and-mouse game that leads to murder, big-time corporate embezzlement, identity switches, and other nefarious activity. One needn’t be Nostradamus to predict where all of this is headed, but that’s hardly the point. Even if you don’t buy a single moment of it, Deception is fun, flashy, and entertaining--and since when is pure escapism a bad thing? --Sam Graham

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Savage Streets - Special Edition (1984)
dir. Danny Steinmann

Product Description:
After nearly being rundown by a gang known as the Scars, Brenda (Linda Blair) and friends trash the leader's car. Gang leader, Jake, exacts his revenge by getting his cohorts to gang-rape her mute-deaf sister, Heather (in a gloriously nuanced role by Linnea Quigley). Armed with a crossbow and a bad attitude, Linda Blair sets out to avenge her mute-deaf sister while blazing a bloody, Bronson-inspired trail through 80's Los Angeles.

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Friday The 13th - The Series: The First Season (1987)
dir. n/a

Product Description:
Fans awaiting the DVD release of this 1987 cult fave made-in-Canada series, this is your lucky day! Friday the 13th: The Series has as much to do with Jason Vorhese as Halloween III: Season of the Witch had to do with Michael Myers; that is to say, nothing. But it stands on its own as a horror anthology series that delivers cheap, but effective, thrills. Louise Robey and John D. LeMay star as Micki and Ryan, distant relations who are reunited after inheriting her uncle Lewis' antiques shop. They learn that Lewis' death was by (super)natural causes; he broke his immortality pact with the Devil to sell cursed antiques. Now, Lewis is in hell (from which he returns in the episode, "Hellowe'en"), and Micki and Ryan must recover everything Lewis sold to an unsuspecting public. Jack (Chris Wiggins), Lewis' former friend, a magician with a helpful knowledge of the occult and an eventful backstory (as revealed in the episodes "Bottle of Dreams" and "Brain Drain"), helps them. The series gets off to an auspiciously creepy start with "The Inheritance," in which yuppie Micki and geeky Ryan attempt to retrieve a killer doll that has worked its demon magic on a spoiled brat (a young Sarah Polley) who uses it to dispatch her strict new stepmother. Perhaps worth the price of this set is "Faith Healer," directed by David Cronenberg, a grisly episode in which a charlatan gains the power to heal from an ancient glove. Atom Egoyan, another Canadian art house darling, directed the episode "Cupid's Quiver." Another memorable episode is "Scarecrow," which introduces a boogieman that gives Jason a run for his hockey mask, a scythe-wielding scarecrow. This inaugural season's most stellar guest star is Ray Walston as an embittered "has been" comic book artist whose superhero creation comes to murderous life. Unlike the movie franchise, Friday the 13th: The Series gets better as the season unfolds. The special effects are resourceful and the gore quotient at times pushes the syndication envelope. All in all, this show delivers--to quote the name of Micki and Ryan's emporium--the "Curious Goods." --Donald Liebenson

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The New Centurions (1972)
dir. Richard Fleischer

Product Description:
Fans of the TV series Police Story and Hill Street Blues will dig this gritty 1972 drama based on Joseph Wambaugh's groundbreaking first novel. George C. Scott is in his element as Kilvinski, the philosophical 20-year veteran who mentors his new night shift partner, Roy (Stacy Keach), a "slick-sleeved" rookie. "Kilvinski's Law," he growls, "If a dude uses his fist, you use your stick. If he uses a stick you use your gun." Quincy Jones' Shaft-ian score gives the film a funky '70s vibe. Jane Alexander costars as Roy's neglected spouse, with Eric Estrada and Scott Wilson as fellow rookies, and Isabel "Weesie" Sanford as one of a vanful of prostitutes the partners roust in one of the few sequences played for laughs. Directed by Richard Fleischer (Compulsion) and written by Academy Award-winner Stirling Silliphant (In the Heat of the Night), The New Centurions deglamorizes the cop drama with gallows humor and sudden and shocking violence. It is a little dated, but in portraying the dangers and stresses that beat cops face everyday, The New Centurions is not, to quote Kilvinski, the same old "Hollywood crap." --Donald Liebenson

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The Anderson Tapes (1971)
dir. Sidney Lumet

Product Description:
An early example of the techno-thriller, The Anderson Tapes--sharply directed by Sidney Lumet from the novel by Lawrence Sanders--follows just-out-of-jail Duke Anderson (a balding Sean Connery) as he plots the heist of an entire New York apartment building, enlisting a crew that includes Martin Balsam as a vintage 1971 gay stereotype and a very young Christoper Walken in perhaps the first of his jittery crook roles. The gimmick is that Anderson has been out of circulation so long that he doesn't realizse his mafia backers are only supporting him because they feel nostalgic for the days before they were boring businessmen and that the whole set-up is monitored by a criss-crossing selection of government and private agencies who don't care enough to thwart the robbery, which instead becomes unglued thanks to a spunky handicapped kid-cum-radio ham. With a cool Quincy Jones score, very tight editing, a lot of spot-on cameo performances from the likes of Ralph Meeker as a patient cop, The Anderson Tapes hasn't dated a bit: it's wry without being jokey and suspenseful without feeling contrived. --Kim Newman

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$ (Dollars) (1971)
dir. Richard Brooks

Product Description:
Superstars Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn both took on the mantle of Robin Hood as they set out to fleece the criminally over-privileged (drug dealers, racketeers, gamblers, etc.) of $1 million from a safe-deposit vault in Hamburg. He's a security expert, she's a hooker. Together they made a dynamite combination at the box-office.

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Mother of Tears (2007)
dir. Dario Argento

Product Description:
The final installment of the "Three Mothers" trilogy. A young American art student, Sarah, "unwittingly opens an ancient urn that unleashes the demonic power of the world's most powerful witch. As a scourge of suicides plague the city and witches from all over the world converge on Rome to pay homage, Sarah must use all her own psychic powers to stop the 'Mother of Tears' before her evil conquers the world."

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Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1990)
dir. Anthony Hickox

Product Description:
Bruce Campbell co-stars with David Carradine in a terrifying tale of bloodthirsty horror. The townsfolk of Purgatory are mean and ornery for one very good reason-they're vampires! Hidden away in their secret community, the come out at night and feast with gusto! Now the Harrisons, an unsuspecting family from "outside" have ventured into Purgatory. Count Margulak, the ruler of the vampires, has ended their tradition of human bloodletting. Now the vampire get their fix from synthetic bottled blood, a drink so distasteful it's making the natives crave the "real thing." Rebel leader Shane and his army plan to overthrow the count- but it won't happen without a fight! The battle for the "right to bite"- begins at SUNDOWN!

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Last House on the Beach (1978)
dir. Franco E. Prosperi

Product Description:
As European producers raced to top the deviant extremes of 1972's LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, only one movie dared to combine the genres of sicko-psycho thriller with the unholy depravity of 'nunsploitation'; Ray Lovelock (of LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE fame) stars as the leader of a gang of brutal bank robbers who invade an isolated seaside villa, only to discover five teenage schoolgirls, their nun teacher (Florinda Bolkan of FLAVIA THE HERETIC), and a nightmare of sexual assault and horrific revenge. Laura Trotter (NIGHTMARE CITY) and Sherry Buchanan (WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS?) co-star in this rarely seen slice of `70s EuroSleaze - also known as LA SETTIMA DONNA - now presented uncut and uncensored for the first time ever in America!

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Bloody Moon (1981)
dir. Jess Franco

Product Description:
Re-Mastered In High-Definition And Featuring An All-New Interview With Jess Franco!As the body-count genre stabbed its way into audiences hearts in the early 80s EuroTrash auteur Jess Franco (SADOMANIA MANSION OF THE LIVING DEAD) was asked to create his own saga of slaughtered schoolgirls complete with gratuitous nudity graphic violence and gory set pieces. But just when you thought you d seen it all Franco shocked the world by delivering surprising style genuine suspense and a cavalcade of depravity that includes incest voyeurism and roller disco. The luscious Olivia Pascal of VANESSA fame stars in this twisted thriller that was banned in England yet is now presented uncut and uncensored including the complete stone mill power saw sequence for the first time ever in America!

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In the Folds of the Flesh (1970)
dir. Sergio Bergonzelli

Product Description:
In a genre defined by shocking violence and psychosexual kink, it remains perhaps the most over-the-top 'giallo' in EuroCult history: Former MGM starlet and doomed James Dean paramour Pier Angeli - two decades past her Golden Globe award for 'Most Promising Newcomer' and just one year before her tragic death - stars in this ultra-lurid epic packed with decapitations, pet vultures, creepy incest, groovy fashions, cyanide baths, swirly psychedelics, inexplicable plot twists, Nazi death camp flashbacks and more. Eleonora Rossi Drago (CAMILLE 2000), Fernando Sancho (RETURN OF THE BLIND DEAD) and Luciano Catenacci (KILL BABY, KILL!) co-star in the 1970 sickie that would make Freud himself scream in horror, now fully restored from the original Italian vault elements.

Blu-Ray and DVD Picks for September 9, 2008

2008-09-09T20:21:00.000-07:00

Check out the hot new releases I've cooked up for you this week! Phew!

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 3 (2008)
dir. n/a

Easily one of the funniest shows on TV. So many classic moments in this season, Green Man & Day Man being just a few of them. I still think the episode where Dee, Dennis & Mac tried out for the Eagles was my favorite episode of this season, but I can't wait to watch them all again to see if I'm still partial to that one. Don't forget, season 4 starts next week.

Product Decsription:
Philadelphia is known as "The City of Brotherly Love," but the town may soon be famous for its bad behavior thanks to this mean-spirited comedy. Not for the easily offended, IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY--as the kids call it--is one dark sitcom. Still, it garners critical praise and loyal fans with its smart writing. Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, and Kaitlin Olson star as friends who run Paddy's Irish Pub. Fueled by alcohol, vanity, and selfishness, the foursome has a series of misadventures as high on the laugh scale as they are in their cringe quotient. Though most sitcoms don't joke about crack addiction, abortion, and racism, IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA turns these subjects into comedy goldmines. Season 3 in particular counts a dumpster baby, a dead mom, Fatty McGoo, the aluminum monster, a registered sex offender, serial killers, a retarded person, fire, and bums--lots and lots of bums--among its guest stars. Last season, veteran actor Danny DeVito returned to TV to play a misanthropic patriarch and, yes, he's still around. This release includes the entire third season, plus an intimate look at the possibly incestuous McPoyle Brothers, a gag reel, and a number of other supplemental features.

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The Fall (2008)
dir. Tarsem Singh

As I've said many times before, I've always been a sucker for amazing visuals. Considering this movie is chock full of some of the most fantastic, awe-inspiring imagery ever committed to film, it was no surprise I responded so positively to it. I know I'm going overboard with hyperbole, but it really was incredible. Now, I should probably explain that I am not retarded and that the plot IS an important part of the equation to me...if a movie looks beautiful but the plot stinks, naturally, I won't have the best reaction to it. The Fall's plot isn't mind-blowing, but I felt that combined with what was happening visually, everything came together perfectly and resulted in one of the best experiences at the theater I've had in recent years. Even more amazing to me is that the movie is completely self-financed by Tarsem Singh, and what he went through to get this movie made is something that sounds perfect for a "Burden of Dreams-ish" documentary. I also thought that as amazing as the cinematography was, Tarsem's discovery of non-actor Catinca Untaru for the part of Alexandria was the key to making this movie work, because it wouldn't be the same without her. I've read that the Blu-ray version of this film is possibly the best looking transfer of a movie ever committed to the format, DVD or otherwise, so I'd highly recommend picking this up if you have the equipment. I can't wait to watch this again.

Product Decsription:
Roger Ebert proclaimed it "one of the most extraordinary films I've ever seen," and there's no denying the avalanche of wild images in The Fall: grand castles, desert vistas, elephants swimming in the open ocean. Commercial and music-video director Tarsem has piled these visions into an elaborate remake of an obscure Bulgarian film, Yo Ho Ho, which is anchored in (but by no means limited to) a quiet hospital during the silent-movie era. A stunt man (Lee Pace) is laid up with leg injuries, and an eye-popping black-and-white prologue (utterly mystifying while we're watching it) tells us how he got here. Depressed over his disability and a recent lost love, he plans suicide, but is temporarily derailed by the inquisitive friendship of a little girl (Catinca Untaru), to whom he tells wild stories of adventurers and princesses. We see these stories, which is where the dizzying visuals come in. This movie probably won't inspire many lukewarm responses: either you'll fall madly for this paean to storytelling magic, or you'll be suspicious about the parade of pretty pictures, which tend to have a magazine-layout sheen. The movie certainly has more soul than Tarsem's yucky previous feature, The Cell, and the scenes between Pace and Untaru (who scores an 11 on the cuteness scale) are genuinely charming. The director actually put a considerable amount of his own money into the production (which shot in over 20 countries), and whether you buy his vision or not, he put his money on the screen.

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The Big Lebowski - 10th Anniversary Limited Edition (1998)
dir. Joel & Ethan Coen

If you love this movie (who doesn't?) and you love crazy DVD packaging, this is a must-buy (#1 reason is because it's actually really cheap). If you're also into extras, they actually included more of them this time around. The 2005 re-release was decent, but this 2008 re-re-release is the best-to-date. Now all we need is a Blu-ray version. 8-year-olds, dude.

Product Decsription:
After the tight plotting and quirky intensity of Fargo, this casually amusing follow-up from the prolifically inventive Coen (Ethan and Joel) brothers seems like a bit of a lark, and the result was a box-office disappointment. The good news is, The Big Lebowski is every bit a Coen movie, and its lazy plot is part of its laidback charm. After all, how many movies can claim as their hero a pot-bellied, pot-smoking loser named Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) who spends most of his time bowling and getting stoned? And where else could you find a hairnetted Latino bowler named Jesus (John Turturro) who sports dazzling purple footgear, or an erotic artist (Julianne Moore) whose creativity consists of covering her naked body in paint, flying through the air in a leather harness, and splatting herself against a giant canvas? Who else but the Coens would think of showing you a camera view from inside the holes of a bowling ball, or an elaborate Busby Berkely-styled musical dream sequence involving a Viking goddess and giant bowling pins? The plot--which finds Lebowski involved in a kidnapping scheme after he's mistaken for a rich guy with the same name--is almost beside the point. What counts here is a steady cascade of hilarious dialogue, great work from Coen regulars John Goodman and Steve Buscemi, and the kind of cinematic ingenuity that puts the Coens in a class all their own. Be sure to watch with snacks in hand, because The Big Lebowski might give you a giddy case of the munchies.

DVD Features:
Audio: English, French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Audio: Spanish Dolby Digital Stereo
Contained In Exclusive Bowling Ball Packaging, Individually Numbered For Collectibility!
Dubbed: French, Spanish
Featurettes: An Exclusive Introduction, The Dude's Life, The Dude Abides - The Big Lebowski Ten Years Later, The Making Of The Big Lebowski, The Lebowski Fest - An Achiever's Story, & Flying Carpets & Bowling Pin Dreams - The Dream Sequences Of The Dude
Interactive Map
Interactive Menus
Jeff Bridges' Photo Book
Original Theatrical Trailer
Photo Gallery
Production Notes
Scene Selection
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Baby Mama (2008)
dir. Michael McCullers

This movie looks terrible, but considering the people involved, I'll probably give it a chance.

Product Decsription:
Laughter and hearty guffaws abound in this comical look at 37-year-old career woman Kate Holbrook's (30 Rock's Tina Fey) desperate attempts to have a baby. Never mind that she's not married and has never been involved in a serious relationship; Kate wants a baby and will stop at virtually nothing to get one. After failed attempts at broaching the concept of conception with first dates and trying artificial insemination with the help of a sperm bank, Kate finds out that her t-shaped uterus leaves her with only a one in a million chance of conceiving a child. Adoption doesn't work out and she's left with the distasteful option of hiring a surrogate mother. Enter Chaffee Bicknell's (Sigourney Weaver) surrogate service and her recommendation of the working-class Angie Ostrowiski (Saturday Night Live's Amy Poehler) who, with her common-law husband Carl (Dax Shepard), is just desperate enough to take on the job in order to make some money, and the stage is set for baby making. As fate would have it, Angie and Carl break up just after Angie announces she's pregnant and Angie ends up moving in with Kate. Unfortunately, the two are completely incompatible and what ensues is a hysterical struggle to coexist while clashing over everything from proper nutrition to stroller selection, hair dye, and delivery options. Further complicating matters is Kate's budding relationship with ex-lawyer and juice-store owner Rob (Greg Kinnear), who just happens to be morally opposed to the whole concept of surrogate parenting. Finally, there's the question of just how fully Angie embraces the virtue of honesty. It's the juxtaposition of opposing viewpoints--so boldly stated, humorously set, and blatantly exploited--that makes this witty comedy so darn funny. Expect graphic references, raunchy humor, and a whole lot of laughter. --Tami Horiuchi

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Cool Hand Luke (1967)
dir. Stuart Rosenberg

Paul Newman is one of my all-time favorite actors, and I think Cool Hand Luke is one of the best movies of the 1960s. You can check out what I had to say about this movie here (for those of you too lazy to scroll down the front page). Alternately, you can read a much better review/explanation of the movie by Paul Mavis at DVDTalk.com.

Product Decsription:
Paul Newman gives one of the defining performances of his career, and cemented his place as a beautiful-rebel screen icon playing the stubbornly tough and independent title character in Cool Hand Luke. And before he became familiar as a sidekick in 1970s disaster movies (Earthquake and the Airport movies), George Kennedy won an Oscar for playing Dragline, the brutal chain-gang boss who tries to beat loner Luke's cool out of him. It's a classic rebel-against-the-repressive-institution story in the line of One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest or The Shawshank Redemption. Certain moments have become classics--particularly the hardboiled egg-eating contest, and the immortal line (drooled by Strother Martin, as a sadistic redneck prison officer), "What we have here is a failure to communicate." And don't forget, Luke is also the source of the oft-quoted driving ditty, "I don't care if it rains or freezes, long as I have my plastic Jesus, right here on the dashboard of my car..." He is cool, all right.

DVD Features:
All-New Featurettes Including The Making Of Cool Hand Luke - A Profile Of Novelist, Co-Screenwriter & The Real "Cool Hand Luke" Donn Pearce
Audio: English Dolby Digital Mono
Interactive Menus
New Audio Commentary By Eric Lax (Noted Writer & Paul Newman Biographer)
Newly Restored & Remastered!
Original Theatrical Trailer
Scene Selection
Subtitles: English, French
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Fox Horror Classics Collection, Vol. 2
MOVIES INCLUDE:
Dragonwyck (1946)
Chandu the Magician (1932)
Dr. Renault's Secret (1942)

Product Decsription:
Disk 1: Chandu the Magician **Commentary by Author Gregory William Mank **Masters of Magic: The World of Chandu **Chandu the Magician Radio Serial Episode **Restoration Comparison **Trailer **Still Gallery
Disc 2: Dr. Renault's Secret **By The Book: Horror, Suspense, and Literary Inspiration **Restoration Comparison **Trailer **Interactive Pressbook **Still Gallery

Disc 3: Dragonwyck **A House of Secrets: Exploring Dragonwyck **Dragonwyck Radio Show Performed by Vincent Price and Gene **Tierney - October 7, 1946 **Restoration Comparison **Trailer **Interactive Pressbook **Still Gallery

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The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)
dir. Rob Minkoff

Thoroughly enjoyable, but not [i]great[/i]. Although it IS great to see Jackie Chan and Jet Li together on screen. The thing that killed the movie for me was the horribly miscast American kid. Aside from him, I really had fun watching this.

Product Decsription:
Getting martial-arts superstars Jet Li and Jackie Chan together in the same action film is like a fantasy come true, even if The Forbidden Kingdom is more of a children's movie than an instant kung-fu classic. Yes, Li and Chan square off in a lengthy, acrobatic fight scene that is a lot of fun, though it can't be what such a scene might have been even a decade ago: careful editing now compensates for the 54-year-old Chan's slower moves and reflexes. Still, Chan doesn't disappoint as Lu Yan, a drunken immortal in ancient China who mentors a modern-day American kid, Jason (Michael Angarano), the latter having slipped into the past while in possession of a magical staff that belongs to the imprisoned Monkey King (Li). In order to get back to his own time and help an old friend (also Chan) wounded by thugs, Jason accompanies Lu Yan and a lovely warrior, Golden Sparrow (Liu Yifei), on a journey to return the staff. Along the way, a (mostly) silent monk (Li, again), who has spent his life in search of the staff, joins their mission. He helps Lu Yan train Jason in fighting and adding more muscle to the party as it comes under siege from a violent witch (Li Bing Bing) and pathological warlord (Collin Chou). Screenwriter John Fusco (Hidalgo) and director Rob Minkoff (The Haunted Mansion) have made a slightly chintzy, Western version of a Chinese swords-and-sorcery tale. The gravity-defying, flying-through-the-air-while-fighting choreography looks pretty choppy and graceless compared to, say, the martial arts films of Zhang Yimou. But The Forbidden Kingdom is really aimed at kids, not aficionados of epic fight movies. On that score, the movie aims to please and does so for the right audience. -- Tom Keogh

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How the West Was Won (Special Edition) (1963)
dir. John Ford, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall, Richard Thorpe

Product Decsription:
The first feature film to be photographed and projected in the panoramic three-camera Cinerama process, this epic Western is almost as expansive as the West itself, chronicling a pioneering family's triumphs and tragedies in numerous episodes spanning three generations and a half century of westward movement. Divided into five segments directed by veteran Hollywood filmmakers Henry Hathaway, George Marshall, and the legendary John Ford (and including uncredited sequences directed by Richard Thorpe), the film was one of the most ambitious ever made by the venerable MGM studio. Its stellar cast reads like a virtual who's who of Hollywood's biggest stars. Debbie Reynolds plays a sturdy survivor of many pioneering dangers, and the eventual widow of a gambler (Gregory Peck), who is later reunited with her nephew (George Peppard), a Civil War veteran and cavalryman who heads for San Francisco as the transcontinental railroad is being built. Many more characters and stories are woven throughout this epic film, which is dramatically uneven but totally engrossing with its stunning vistas and countless outdoor locations in Illinois, Kentucky, South Dakota, Monument Valley in Arizona, California, Colorado, and elsewhere. --Jeff Shannon

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Seed (2007)
dir. Uwe Boll

Uwe Boll for the second time in three weeks? What did we do to deserve this? (I mean that in the best way possible)

Product Decsription:
This story of a supernatural serial killer is reminiscent of Stephen King s finest horror films. Prison guards fail to exorcise the evil in a murderer and inadvertently unleash a malevolent monster. The resulting reign of violence, with its extreme gore and torture, set a new standard for the horror genre.

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Heckler (2007)
dir. Michael Addis

Product Decsription:
Heckler, a comedy-documentary that explores the increasingly critical world we live in, follows Jamie Kennedy as he investigates hecklers and the entertainers who endure them: Russell Peters, Lewis Black, Craig Ferguson, Bill Maher, Paul Rodriguez, Roseanne Barr, and more. A fast-moving, "hilarious...claws-out look at the often brutal relationship between performers and their most vocal critics" (VARIETY), Heckler shows just how nasty and mean the fight is between those in the spotlight...and those in the dark.

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House of Traps (1981)
dir. Chang Cheh

Product Decsription:
Produced by the famed Shaw Brothers studio in Hong Kong, HOUSE OF TRAPS follows a team of fierce martial artists into a terrifying haunted home built to ensnare any and all entrants. This 1981 kung fu cult classic stars the Venoms, a team of fighters best known for serving up bloody action in the Shaw Brothers' DEADLY VENOMS film series.

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Zombies! Zombies! Zombies! - Strippers VS Zombies (2007)
dir. Jason M. Murphy

Well, if I'm judging a book by it's cover (and I am), count me in.

Product Decsription:
A drug experiment gone wrong produces a league of blood-thirsty zombies. It is up to a small band of exotic dancers trapped in a gentleman's club to fight back. Together they must rely on their wits and skills to survive the night, and pray that they don't become victims of the flesh-eating zombies!

August 27, 2008 DVD and Blu-Ray Picks

2008-08-27T08:49:00.000-07:00

I sure did make some great DVD and Blu-Ray recommendations a while back and let me tell you the train keeps chugging along! Buy some of this stuff ok?

Dexter - The Complete Second Season (2007)
dir. n/a

I still haven't seen one episode of this show, but I'll be watching the first two seasons within the week. There's too much positive word-of-mouth to let this show go unwatched any longer.

Product Decsription:
Dark and sinister is the new sexy, thanks to Dexter, which in its second season has proven to be the most successful series Showtime has offered up yet. Remember how much you squirmed in your seat during the season one finale? Believe it or not, the premiere of season two felt like it could have been a season finale--because jaws were on the floor when the credits rolled. For being a supposed sociopath, Dex is pretty broken up about the gruesome events that concluded last season. The one and only person who could possibly understand him is six feet under, and it seems our unlikely hero is losing his homicidal grip. He’s even having a little trouble slicing up a few of his latest victims (from a murderous gang member to a chainsaw-wielding fiend from his past). Enter Lila (Jaime Murray, Hustle), a lady with a sweet British accent and a few dark secrets of her own. She seems to accept Dex for who he really is, and he finds himself feeling relaxed for the first time in his life. In contrast, his relationship with his girlfriend Rita (Julie Benz) has been stretched almost to a breaking point. The problem is, he should be anything but relaxed. Someone picked a poor place to go scuba diving off the Florida coast, and came across an underwater graveyard: Dex’s primo spot for dropping dismembered bodies wrapped in heavy-duty trash bags. Word about the "Bay Harbor Butcher" gets out quick, and the F.B.I. sends the best of the best, Special Agent Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine, Deadwood) to work alongside the police to sniff out Miami’s latest serial killer. This guy is no schlub, and Dex may have met his match. And, yes, Dexter gets to work with Lundy on a daily basis, which provides some wonderfully awkward moments. It certainly doesn’t help that the intuitively paranoid Sergeant Doakes (Erik King, Oz) is hot on Dex’s trail.
Season two of Dexter is all about decisions. Lila or Rita? Old code or new code? Run or fight? Right or wrong? Well, one thing’s for sure: When it comes to writing, casting, acting, and production, the makers of this show made all the right decisions. Michael C. Hall is simply superb as the title character. You’ll never find yourself more willing to genuinely root for a serial killer. It’s bloody liberating.

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Recount (2008)
dir. Jay Roach

A very solid made-for-HBO movie. It's impressive how, considering we all lived through this event and know the outcome, they can still create a pretty intense feeling of tension with the results of the elections.

Product Decsription:
At the height of the 2000 election season, CBS anchor Dan Rather quipped, "The presidential race is crackling like a hickory fire." Director Jay Roach (Austin Powers) recaptures that blaze in his smart HBO docudrama about the thriller in Palm Beach County. Written by actor Danny Strong, Recount bounces between the Sunshine State, Gore's Tennessee headquarters, and Bush's Texas stomping grounds. Gore adviser Ron Klain (an excellent Kevin Spacey) provides a privileged window into those weeks when the American public first became familiar with obscure terms like "hanging chad." (Since Klain has an ax to grind with the vice president, neither he nor Gore appear completely heroic.) First, the Democratic candidate pulls ahead; then he falls behind. Just as he prepares to concede, Klain's colleague, Michael Whouley (Denis Leary), spots an anomaly in the vote count, and the race continues. Enter eccentric Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris (Laura Dern, a certain Emmy nominee), who orders a recount, and former Secretaries of State Warren Christopher (John Hurt) and James Baker III (Tom Wilkinson), who oversee a process that ends up in the Supreme Court (where Ed Begley Jr.'s David Boies represents Gore). Produced by the late Sydney Pollack, who originally intended to direct, Recount skillfully integrates news footage with dark comedy, most provided by the foul-mouthed Whouley and Bush adviser Ben Ginsberg (Bob Balaban), who's still livid about JFK's victory over Nixon. If the Democrats come across as more sympathetic, the Republicans come across as more colorful--and strategically effective.

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Street Kings (2008)
dir. David Ayer

Looks pretty generic...I was gonna say it looks pretty similar to that Christian Bale movie Harsh Times, then I found out that David Ayer directed that, too. Hmm.

Product Decsription:
Street Kings is a pungent bouquet of corruption, violence, multi-ethnic mayhem, macho glee laced with macho angst, and fluorescently obscene dialogue from the mind of James Ellroy. Its hero, though he'd scarcely consent to be called one, is L.A. police detective Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves), for whom life is a wound that won't heal and dealing out retribution to scumbags is the ongoing treatment. Ludlow's the star player--"the tip of the [expletive] spear"--on a team of detectives headed by Capt. Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker). Coach Wander relies on his boys to keep breaking lurid cases, usually through deeply darkside underground work, and raising his profile with the media and the department. In pursuit of these goals, nothing is forbidden except failure, and the truth is what you make it look like. This is familiar Ellroy territory, most effectively translated to the screen in L.A. Confidential (which should have won the 1997 Oscar, and would have if Titanic hadn't launched that year). If you know Ellroy's ground game, you can pretty much guess where Street Kings is going, and where it's been. Still, the twists and torques of its urban road-rage course maintain the centrifugal force needed to hold us in our seats (a tactical highlight: refrigerator adapted as rolling barricade), and the movie keeps bopping us with oddball casting coups: comic Jay Mohr and Northern Exposure/Sex and the City veteran John Corbett as two members of Coach Warden's gonzo detective squad; Cedric the Entertainer doing a nicely nuanced turn as a street creature; Hugh Laurie doing a less-hyper version of House, if House worked Internal Affairs.
The problem is that director David Ayer keeps everything intense. Dialogues are shot too close-up, line readings are too strident, the action is too nonstop slam. Recall Curtis Hanson's L.A. Confidential and the mind's eye summons up a whole spectrum of existence, mood, place, historical period, emotional investment; there's an amplitude to the picture and the sensibility bringing it to us, something besides the whodunit and the endless rap sheet of nasty what-they-done. Everything in Street Kings is one-note, and with Keanu Reeves playing it implosive and Forest Whitaker locked in crazier-than-an-outhouse-rat mode, that's no way to stay the course.

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Twenty-Four Eyes - Criterion Collection (1954)
dir. Keisuke Kinoshita

Keisuke Kinoshita isn't as well known as Japan's bigger directors, but his catalog is just as impressive. Twenty-Four Eyes is probably his masterpiece.

Product Decsription:
Keisuke Kinoshita's Twenty-Four Eyes (Nijushi no hitomi) is an elegant, emotional chronicle of a teacher s unwavering commitment to her students, her profession, and her sense of morality. Set in a remote, rural island community and spanning decades of Japanese history, from 1928 through World War II and beyond, Kinoshita's film takes a simultaneously sober and sentimental look at the epic themes of aging, war, and death, all from the lovingly intimate perspective of Hisako Oshi (Hideko Takamine), as she watches her pupils grow and deal with life's harsh realities. Though little known in the United States, Twenty-Four Eyes is one of Japan's most popular and enduring classics.

DVD Features:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer
New video interview with Japanese cinema historian and critic Tadao Sato about the film and its director
New and improved English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay be renowned film scholar Audie Bock and excerpts from an interview with Kinoshita
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The Small Back Room (1952)
dir. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger

I'm just surprised there are still some Powell & Pressburger movies out there that Criterion hasn't released yet.

Product Decsription:
After the lavish Technicolor spectacle of The Red Shoes, British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger retreated into the inward, shadowy recesses of this moody, crackling character study. Based on the acclaimed novel by Nigel Balchin, The Small Back Room details the professional and personal travails of troubled, alcoholic research scientist and military bomb-disposal expert Sammy Rice (David Farrar), who, while struggling with a complex relationship with secretary-girlfriend Susan (Kathleen Byron), is hired by the government to advise on a dangerous new German weapon. Frank and intimate, deftly mixing suspense and romance, The Small Back Room is an atmospheric, post World War II gem.

DVD Features:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer,
Audio commentary featuring film scholar Charles Barr,
New video interview with cinematographer Chris Challis,
Excerpts from Michael Powell's audio dictations for his autobiography.
PLUS: A new essay by film scholar Nick James.
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Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008)
dir. Bharat Nalluri

Product Decsription:
Based on a 1938 Winifred Watson novel, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a colorful story about lives stalled in middle age but kick-started again by the follies of youthful lovers all around. Frances McDormand stars as Miss Pettigrew, whose inability to hold a job in London as a governess compromises her well-being shortly before England’s entry in World War II. Finessing her way into a position as social secretary to a young, American golddigger and singer named Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams), the starving Miss Pettigrew finds herself at the center of a whirlwind that is her new employer’s life. Hemmed in by lovers and suitors--including a young, theatrical producer (Tom Payne) looking to cast one of his pleasing girlfriends in a plum role; a creepy nightclub owner (Mark Strong) in whose flat Delysia lives; and a pianist (Lee Pace) who genuinely loves her--Delysia needs a map to figure out how to navigate through life. Miss Pettigrew, who suffered a loss during WWI that she does not speak of, nudges the naïve songstress toward wise decisions. But she is at the mercy of Delysia’s formidable friend (Shirley Henderson), who knows the truth about her impoverished state and is engaged to a much older man (Ciarán Hinds). The latter, a fellow of substance who seems to be meandering through life, falls instantly for the soulful Miss Pettigrew. Full of Art Deco trappings and paced with a vintage, screwball comedy energy, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is like watching a contemporary version of a Hollywood classic.

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Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles - The Complete First Season (2008)
dir. n/a

This show is garbage, but as a geek, I feel obligated to mention anything Terminator-related.

Product Decsription:
This spin-off from the science-fiction franchise follows John and Sarah Connor after the events of TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY. An onslaught of robotic killers from the future are bent on destroying teenager John Connor (Thomas Dekker), humanity's future savior. Standing between them are his determined mother, Sarah (Lena Headey), and Cameron (Summer Glau), a beautiful girl from John's school who turns out to be a Terminator assigned to protect him. They can't run forever, however, and their only chance of survival rests on preventing the creation of Skynet--stopping judgment day and creating a new future for the human race. This collection presents the first action-packed season of this intelligent, well-written series.

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Don Quixote (2007)
dir. Orson Welles, Jesús Franco

Probably the most (in)famous of all the unfinished Quixote projects. Jesus Franco was an assistant director on this project and decided to throw together the rest of the film himself, with mixed results.

Product Decsription:
Cervantes' epic novel DON QUIXOTE is notoriously un-filmable--several major directors have tried, only to be left with half of a finished project after a series of disasters. The most mysterious of these incomplete attempts belongs to Orson Welles; the legendary director began shooting his adaptation in 1955, but a final product was never released. This presentation of ORSON WELLES' DON QUIXOTE is a simulation of the auteur's vision, crafted after his death by assistant director Jess Franco using Welles's extensive notes and copious raw footage.

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The Fletch Collection (1985)
dir. Michael Ritchie

Two movies don't really make up a "collection" in my book, and only the first Fletch is worth watching anyway.

Product Decsription:
Gregory McDonald's lightweight mystery novel about an undercover newspaper reporter cracking a police drug ring is transformed by screenwriter Andrew Bergman (Blazing Saddles, and writer/director of The Freshman and Honeymoon in Vegas) into a fairly sarcastic and occasionally very funny Chevy Chase vehicle. Enjoyment of the film pivots on whether you find Chase's flippant, smart-ass brand of verbal humor funny, or merely egocentric. If you don't like Chase, there's really no one else worth watching (Geena Davis is sadly underused). Chase seems born to play I.M. "Fletch" Fletcher, a disillusioned investigative reporter whose cynicism and detached view on life mirrors the actor's understated approach to comedy. Fletcher offers Chase the opportunity to adopt numerous personas, as his job requires numerous (bad) physical disguises, and much of film's humor centers on the ridiculous idea that any of these phony accents or bad hairpieces could fool anyone. These not-so-clever disguises are put to use when Fletch becomes involved in the film's smart but continually self-mocking two-part mystery. As well as trying to gather drug-smuggling evidence against the LAPD for a long-overdue newspaper story, a rich and apparently terminally ill stranger also offers Fletch a large payoff to kill him. While the film does a fairly good job juggling both of these plots, not to mention tossing in a love interest as well, it's subservient, for better or worse, to Chase's memorable one-liners and disguises. Followed by two forgettable sequels that lack both the original's wit and Chase's attention span.

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An American Crime (2007)
dir. Tommy O'Haver

As I said last week, Ellen Page is my motion picture kryptonite, so while other people might want to check this out, I'll pass.

Product Decsription:
Based on a true story that shocked the nation in 1965 the film recounts one of the most shocking crimes ever committed against a single victim. Sylvia and Jennie Fae Likens the two daughters of traveling carnival workers are left for an extended stay at the Indianapolis (3850 E. New York St. is hardly suburban nor was it in 1965 by any stretch of the imagination.) home of single mother Gertrude Baniszewski and her seven children. Times are tough and Gertrude's financial needs cause her to make this arrangement before realizing how the burden will push her unstable nature to a breaking point. What transpires in the next three months is both riveting and horrific leaving one child dead and the rest scarred for life.

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The Life Before Her Eyes (2008)
dir. Vadim Perelman

Product Decsription:
Based on the novel by Laura Kasischke this powerful drama starring Uma Thurman unfolds in out-of-sequence flashbacks. Recklessly hedonistic teenager Diana (Evan Rachel Wood) and her best friend a Christian virgin (Eva Amuri) come face to face with a machine-gun-wielding classmate one morning at school in a situation reminiscent of Columbine. Thurman plays the grown-up version of Diana who has a perfect life in the same small town 15 years after the tragedy. On the anniversary of the shooting unpleasant flashbacks haunt her as she takes her daughter to school lectures on Gauguin to a bored art history class and possibly spots her older professor husband out with a younger woman. As the events cohere and time collapses one realizes nothing is certain and life renews and ends on a moment-by-moment basis. Under the helm of Vadim Perelman (HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG) a spiritual presence is imbued in lovingly photographed close-ups of flowers dirty dishes cats ants spiders bees on flowers leaves and Wood diving in and out of a swimming pool in slow motion. The dialogue is peppered with believably offhand philosophical inquiry and if the film does nothing else it makes one reevaluate one's perspective on the sanctity of every life decision--and to feel a degree of awe and reverence for the acting skills and beauty of both Thurman and Wood who meld believably into the same complex character.

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Please Vote for Me (2007)
dir. Wiejun Chen

Product Decsription:
Two males and a female vie for office, indulging in low blows and spin, character assassination and gestures of goodwill, all the while guaging their standing with voters. The setting is not the Democratic presidential campaign, but a third-grade class at an elementary school in the city of Wuhan in central China. "Please Vote For Me", which is on the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences documentary feature shortlist, packs its fleet hour with keen observations. Chroniciling a public school's first open elections - at stake is the position of class monitor - filmmaker Weijun Chen has crafted a witty, engaging macro-lens view of human nature, China's one-child policy and the democratic electorial process as the ultimate exercise in marketing.

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Prom Night (Unrated) (2008)
dir. Nelson McCormick

Product Decsription:
An attractive cast of young performers lead by Brittany Snow (Hairspray) is the main selling point for Prom Night, a remake of the 1980 Canadian slasher film starring Jamie Lee Curtis. Snow makes for a capable lead as the sole survivor of her family's massacre at the hands of an obsessed teacher (Jonathan Schaech), who returns three years later to finish his campaign on the eve of her senior prom. While no one's idea of a classic horror film, the Paul Lynch-directed Prom Night offered viewers a modest whodunit angle in between the killings; here, the villain's identity is known from the get-go, and what's left is a string of mechanical stalkings (which feature a surprisingly modest amount of blood) and reams of turgid teenspeak, which is handled as best as possible by Snow and her cast mates. The end result is a dull, suspense-free chiller that manages to make its mediocre source material seem inspired by comparison. Older moviegoers may note the presence of actors Idris Elba and James Ransone, both used so well on The Wire, and so thoroughly wasted here.

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The Wizard of Gore (2007)
dir. Jeremy Kasten

A role Crispin Glover was born to play. Throwing in some of the Suicide Girls seems like a gimmick, but it'll probably work.

Product Decsription:
Magic, madness and mayhem join in this diabolical remake of the 1970 horror cult classic. Crispin Glover (Willard) stars as a master illusionist whose female audience participants (The Suicide Girls) are hideously murdered onstage, only to miraculously reappear untouched. But when a smart reporter (Kip Pardue, Remember the Titans) finds they re later turning up dead with the same wounds as those inflicted during the performance, his investigation leads to unimaginable terror. Featuring Bijou Phillips (Hostel: Part II) and Brad Dourif (Rob Zombie s Halloween), Wizard of Gore takes you on a terrifying journey deep into the heart of evil.

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Wimbledon - The 2008 Finals: Nadal vs. Federer (2008)
dir. n/a

Not just the greatest tennis match ever, but one of the most incredible sporting events I've ever seen.

Product Decsription:
On July 6 2008, one dream ended, and a new one began on the Centre Court in Wimbledon. In the latest, magnificent chapter of their storied rivalry, Rafael Nadal dethroned five-time champion Roger Federer by winning the longest-ever Wimbledon men's final.
The consistently heart stopping 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (8-10), 9-7 classic began at 2.35 pm and, thanks to a couple of breaks for rain it ended at 9.15 pm with the 22-year-old from Mallorca dropping to the ground with his arms outstretched in celebration. With the win, Nadal matched Bjorn Borg's fantastic feat of winning the Grand Slams at the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back and also prevented Federer from surpassing the five titles in a row Borg collected between 1976 and 1980.

Conditions for the latest duel between tennis's two finest players could not have been more demanding. The rain, which delayed the start for 27 minutes, eventually cleared but the chill, gusting wind which accompanied it persisted throughout the match, blowing winning shots off course and making life even more difficult for the two competitors. That they coped so well spoke volumes for their skill and adaptability.

The match is being proclaimed as the greatest Grand Slam finals of all time.

The Spaniard, who had squandered two match points in a nerve-shredding fourth set tie-break, added a first All England Club title to his four French Opens, shattering Federer's dreams of an historic sixth successive Wimbledon trophy.

'It's impossible to explain what I felt when I won. I'm just very happy to win this title. I never thought I could win but to do so is a dream'; said Nadal who had lost the last two finals to Federer.

It was late, very late, but not too late to crown a new champion.

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Marco Ferreri: The Collection
MOVIES INCLUDE:
El Cochecito (1960)
The Seed of Man (1969)
La Grande Bouffe (1973)
Don't Touch the White Woman (1974)
Bye Bye Monkey (1978)
Seeking Asylum (1979)
Tales of Ordinary Madness (1981)
The House of Smiles (1988)

Product Decsription:
Marco Ferreri's satirical and often surreal films embody a unique vision of humanity borne of exasperation and nihilism. Through these eight genre-bending black comedies the controversial director crafted a fiercely contemporary cinematic language of his own delving deep into the alienation of men women and children.

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The Riddle (2007)
dir. Brendan Foley

Product Decsription:
A brutal string of murders spurs reporter Mike Sullivan (Vinnie Jones, Snatch, X-Men: The Last Stand) to search for the cunning killer in this supernatural mystery. But to stop the killings, he first must solve a century-old murder hidden inside the pages of a newly discovered Charles Dickens manuscript. Co-starring Derek Jacobi (Gladiator, Underworld: Evolution) and Vanessa Redgrave (Atonement), this intriguing thriller takes an unusual twist guaranteed to surprise you!

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Fighting With Anger (2008)
dir. Sam Um

Could they have picked a less intimidating guy to play an "aging mentor assassin" in a martial arts action thriller? Can Wille even fire a gun without his heart exploding?

Product Decsription:
Ray (Fleming) is a young, beautiful and deadly assassin looking for answers about her past. Will (Willie Nelson) is her aging mentor who assigns her to a series of new jobs and may know more about her past than he is letting on. When an innocent woman is killed, Ray is faced with the pain of her past and a new nemesis that emerges from the shadows. Fighting With Anger is a non-stop martial arts action thriller filled with gripping mystery, blazing gun battles, and fast and furious hand-to-hand combat!

July 8, 2008 DVD and Blu-Ray Picks

2008-07-08T21:57:00.000-07:00

Phew what a week it's been! Hope you enjoy all my hard work this week:

Batman Begins (2005)
dir. Christopher Nolan

Hmm, I wonder why this is coming out now? Same transfer as the HD-DVD edition, a.k.a. amazing. This is also coming out in a limited-edition gift set this week. ONLY A WEEK AND A HALF LEFT

Product Decsription:
Batman Begins discards the previous four films in the series and recasts the Caped Crusader as a fearsome avenging angel. That's good news, because the series, which had gotten off to a rousing start under Tim Burton, had gradually dissolved into self-parody by 1997's Batman & Robin. As the title implies, Batman Begins tells the story anew, when Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) flees Western civilization following the murder of his parents. He is taken in by a mysterious instructor named Ducard (Liam Neeson in another mentor role) and urged to become a ninja in the League of Shadows, but he instead returns to his native Gotham City resolved to end the mob rule that is strangling it. But are there forces even more sinister at hand?
Co-written by the team of David S. Goyer (a veteran comic book writer) and director Christopher Nolan (Memento), Batman Begins is a welcome return to the grim and gritty version of the Dark Knight, owing a great debt to the graphic novels that preceded it. It doesn't have the razzle dazzle, or the mass appeal, of Spider-Man 2 (though the Batmobile is cool), and retelling the origin means it starts slowly, like most "first" superhero movies. But it's certainly the best Bat-film since Burton's original, and one of the best superhero movies of its time. Bale cuts a good figure as Batman, intense and dangerous but with some of the lightheartedness Michael Keaton brought to the character. Michael Caine provides much of the film's humor as the family butler, Alfred, and as the love interest, Katie Holmes (Dawson's Creek) is surprisingly believable in her first adult role. Also featuring Gary Oldman as the young police officer Jim Gordon, Morgan Freeman as a Q-like gadgets expert, and Cillian Murphy as the vile Jonathan Crane.

DVD Features:
The Dark Knight IMAX Prologue
In-Movie Experience. An in-depth and in-context look at Batman Begins with comics, commentary and more
Tankman Begins. A parody done for the MTV Movie Awards starring Jimmy Fallon
Batman: The Journey Begins. How the movie was developed, written, and cast
Shaping Mind and Body. The training and rehearsing Christian Bale required for the role
Gotham City Rises. The production design of Gotham City, the Batcave, and Wayne Manor
Cape and Cowl. The costume design of the new batsuit
Batman: The Tumbler. The creation of the new Batmobile
Path to Discovery. Filming in Iceland, origins of Batman's fighting skills
Saving Gotham City. How action sequences were filmed using as little CGI as possible
Genesis of the Bat. The story goes from comics to the screen
Stills Gallery. Designs and concepts that were developed for the theatrical marketing of the film
Confidential Files. Viewers can discover facts, trivia and story points that were not fully revealed in the film
Reflections on Writing
Digital Batman
Batman Begins Stunts
Trailer
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Batman - Gotham Knight (2008)
dir. Yasuhiro Aoki, Shojiro Nishimi

Looks a bit too "anime-y" for Batman, but still looks like it could be pretty decent regardless. I mean, I haven't heard good things, but still.

Product Decsription:
Acclaimed screenwriters including David Goyer (Batman Begins) Josh Olson (A History of Violence) and Alan Burnett (Batman The Animated Series) join forces with revered animation filmmakers on six spellbinding chapters chronicling Batman?s transition from novice crimefighter to Dark Knight. These globe-spanning adventures pit Batman against the fearsome Scarecrow the freakish Killer Croc and the unerring marksman Deadshot. Using an arsenal of high-tech gadgetry from Wayne Industries Batman?s ethical boundaries exist only where he chooses to place them leaving some fearful of his power. The sharp storytelling complemented by stylish art from some of the world?s most visionary animators masterfully depicts the blurred lines of Batman as man myth and legend.

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The Ruins (Unrated Edition) (2008)
dir. Carter Smith

The trailer kinda creeped me out, stuff crawling under the skin and things of that nature make me squint a bit. Ultimately, I don't have too much faith in this, but will probably watch it on HBO or something.

Product Decsription:
Whether you consider plants a source of terror or not will ultimately determine how you feel about the grisly horror movie The Ruins, but director Carter Smith and his cast and crew certainly give their all in bringing the chills of Scott Smith's novel to the big screen. Jena Malone (Saved) and Shawn Ashmore (the X-Men franchise) are the name actors in a pair of American couples down Mexico way who are ambushed by hostile Mayans and forced to the top of an ancient temple, where a monstrous and diabolically clever entity awaits them. Director Smith and his talented crew (which includes cinematographer Darius Khondji of Se7en fame and composer Graeme Revell) create a visually impressive spookshow but can't quite deliver genuine suspense (gore, however, is handled capably), and Scott Smith's script boils away much of the character development and mounting terror in his book, which also strands the likeable cast. The movie's monster, so alarming and imaginative in the original novel, is likely to provoke as many laughs as screams from filmgoers, especially when it reveals its unique talent.

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Stop-Loss (2008)
dir. Kimberly Peirce

Topical. Yeah, I got nothin.

Product Decsription:
Kimberly Peirce's long-hatching follow-up to Boys Don't Cry is another issue-driven look at its era: Stop-Loss hinges on U.S. military policy allowing Iraq War soldiers to be returned to combat even after their official hitches are up. In this case, a band of brothers return to home turf in Brazos, Texas, only to discover that team leader Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) has gotten a Stop-Loss order to head back to the Middle East. After some flavorful sketches of small-town Texas life and the awkwardness of re-adjustment, the movie somewhat clumsily hits the road, where there's more wheel-spinning than deep insight. Peirce and co. seem to want to hit all the Iraq War bases, which may be one reason the film lacks a strong focus. Supporting soldiers Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are rather more interesting than Phillippe's brooding hero, and Abbie Cornish is stuck in a thankless town-between-two-lovers storyline. It's sincere as all get-out, but Stop-Loss feels like a project that began with an issue and a cause, rather than compelling characters.

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Mon Oncle Antoine - Criterion Collection (1971)
dir. Claude Jutra

I'm in the dark on this one. The Criterion Seal of Approval is all I need.

Product Decsription:
Claude Jutra's evocative portrait of a boy's coming of age in wintry 1940s rural Quebec has been consistently cited by critics and scholars as the greatest Canadian film of all time. Delicate naturalistic and tinged with a striking mix of nostalgia and menace Mon oncle Antoine follows the everyday lives of both young Benoit as he first encounters the twin terrors of sex and death and his fellow villagers living under the thumb of the local asbestos-mine owner. Set during one ominous Christmas Mon oncle Antoine is a holiday film unlike any other and an authentically detailed illustration of childhood's twilight.

DVD Features:
SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director of photography Michel Brault
On-Screen: "Mon oncle Antoine," a 2007 documentary tracing the making and history of the film
Claude Jutra: An Unfinished Story, a 2002 documentary by Paule Baillargeon, featuring interviews with Brault, director Bernardo Bertolucci, and actors Geneviève Bujold and Saul Rubinek
A Chairy Tale, a 1957 experimental short codirected by Jutra and Norman McLaren
Theatrical trailer
Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
New and improved English subtitle translation
PLUS: A new essay by film scholar André Loiselle
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The Mummy (Universal Legacy Series) (1932)
dir. Karl W. Freund

An absolute classic monster movie. Not much else to say. Can't fuck with Boris Karloff.

Product Decsription:
In 1921 a field expedition in Egypt discovers the mummy of ancient Egyptian prince Im-Ho-Tep, who was condemned and buried alive for sacrilege. Also found in the tomb is the Scroll of Thoth, which can bring the dead back to life. One night a young member of the expedition reads the Scroll out loud, and then goes insane, realizing that he has brought Im-Ho-Tep back to life. Ten years later, disguised as a modern Egyptian, the mummy attempts to reunite with his lost love, an ancient princess who has been reincarnated into a beautiful young woman.

DVD Features:
DISC 1:
Mummy Dearest: A Horror Tradition Unearthed
Feature Commentary by Film Historian Paul M. Jenson
Feature Commentary by Rick Baker, Scott Essman, Steve Haberman, Bob Burns, and Brent Armstrong**
Posters & Stills**
Trailer Gallery
DISC 2
He Who Made Monsters: Life and Legacy of Jack Pierce**
Unraveling the Legacy of The Mummy**
Universal Horror Documentary**

**New Bonus Features not on previous releases.
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Chop Shop (2007)
dir. Ramin Bahrani

Ramin Bahrani is really making an impression in the film world, and especially with Roger Ebert apparently. Man Push Cart was excellent, and I have no doubt this will be excellent as well. Can't wait to watch this.

Product Decsription:
Set in Willet's Point an industrial sprawl of auto repair shops and junkyards in outer New York City CHOP SHOP tells the story of 12-year-old Alejandro (Alejandro Polanco) an orphan living a hardscrabble existence in the "Iron Triangle." The boy earns a meager living hustling customers into body shops hawking candy on the subway and helping to chop up the parts of stolen cars. But he dreams of a better life. When his older sister Isamar (Isamar Gonzales) comes to live with him Alejandro devises a plan to escape their desperate situation: they'll buy a lunch truck that they can run together. Alejandro begins stashing money and even indulges in criminal activity to achieve his goal. When he learns a devastating secret about his sister it makes him more determined than ever to change things. But reality proves a difficult opponent in his struggle for the American dream. Full of naturalistic performances and exquisite handheld photography CHOP SHOP shows a side of New York that is rarely seen in films about the Big Apple. Its characters mostly immigrants inhabit a landscape of rubbish-strewn alleys deafening expressways and rusted steel. Manhattan's skyscrapers and the stands of Shea Stadium loom forever on the horizon. Though some may find the film's unsparing depiction of poverty difficult to watch the film is never hopeless and the humanity of its characters always shines through. Altogether it achieves an air of documentary-like authenticity that convinces the viewer that long after the screen goes black the lives of its characters will continue.

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Hard Times at Douglass High: A No Child Left Behind Report Card (2007)
dir. Alan and Susan Raymond

If you are angered by the sight of kids reveling in stupidity, just so proud to be dumb, don't watch. You'll want to reach through the TV and choke kids to death. Great documentary, though.

Product Decsription:
The No Child Left Behind Act was created to boost academic levels of American students by setting standardized goals across the nation - and holding states, districts and schools accountable for performance. For urban schools in high-poverty areas, reaching these goals is a daunting task, and many now face the possibility of being taken over by the state - even being shut down. At Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore, MD, the expectations raised by NCLB have reached a critical point. Academy Award winning filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond (I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School) offer a yearlong look inside a storied institution at a time when its very existence is in doubt. From cautionary profiles to triumphant tales, Hard Times at Douglass High serves as a reminder that education is inevitably an achievement of people, not policy.

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Jet Li's Fearless (Unrated Director´s Cut) (2006)
dir. Ronny Yu

This version is listed at 141 minutes, as opposed to the previous release's 104. That's a pretty big chunk of movie added in. The more Jet Li, the better...I hope, anyway.

Product Decsription:
A moving and inspiring story of redemption and personal triumph in the face of great odds, Jet Li's Fearless is the based-on-facts story of Chinese folk hero Huo Yuanjia (Jet Li). The son of a martial-arts master whose greatest strength was his restraint, Huo grows into an unbeatable fighter whose pride and thoughtlessness lead to a chain of tragic losses. After a classic wanderer-in-the-wilderness penance, Huo reinvents himself as a mature instructor of Wushu, a martial arts system that embraces all forms of fighting without preference or pre-judgement. He also becomes a populist symbol, at the dawn of the 20th century, of China's refusal to entirely capitulate to the boot of Western colonialists. Taking on whatever European, American, or Japanese fighter the outsiders bring in to demoralize the natives, Huo becomes a legend that, in real life, is still revered. Thrillingly directed by Ronny Yu (Warriors of Virtue), Jet Li’s Fearless is a dazzling action movie that transcends its breathless fight sequences with Huo's sportsmanship virtues, i.e., knowing when you've won by example, rather than by the fist. Jet Li is superb in the role.

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Blood Brothers (2007)
dir. Wong Jing Po, Ching-Po Wong

Product Decsription:
BLOOD BROTHERS is produced by John Woo and Terence Chang and directed by first time director Alexi Tan.Blood Brothers is set in 1930s Shanghai a flourishing modern-day Babylon replete with warlords politicians wealthy industrialists courtesans and gangsters. Three innocent young brothers Kang (Liu Ye Curse of the Golden Flower ) Fung (Daniel Wu Around the World in 80 Days ) and Xiao Hu (Tony Yang) arrive in this seeming paradise in search of a better life. Enticed by the rich and powerful world of organized crime the three brothers start down a path of no return: they are hired to do the bidding for one of the city s largest mob syndicate. When Fung begins an affair with the mob boss girlfriend beauty Lulu (Shu Qi Transporter) and life takes a difficult turn for all three brothers when the forbidden love affair is exposed. Friends turn against friends brother against brother. The days of innocence have passed; the three brothers must stand up as men and make their choices.

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Flakes (2007)
dir. Michael Lehmann

Product Decsription:
Miss Katz (Zooey Deschanel) desperately wants her boyfriend to ditch his dead-end job at Flakes--a bohemian cereal shop. So when an eager young businessman opens a rip-off version of this beloved neighborhood hang Miss Katz joins the competition to bury Flakes. Stand offs sit ins pranks and clever revenge will result in victory for one half of the feisty couple but it may just leave their relationship all soggy!

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Superhero Movie (2008)
dir. Craig Mazin

Keyyyy-rist. At least it's not from those two fucking braindead morons who made Meet The Spartans and all those other dumb shitty movies that they get to keep inexplicably making.

Product Decsription:
Adolescent fantasy meets sophomoric humor in the latest cuisinart comedy, Superhero Movie. The story of how frustrated loser Rick Riker (Drake Bell of Drake & Josh) becomes the superpowered Dragonfly is largely poking fun at Spider-Man, but there are a handful of digs at X-Men, Fantastic Four, and other Marvel Comics superhuman flicks. What's disappointing is how few of the jokes are specific to the genre--the abundance of gags about urine, feces, horniness, and especially flatulence (long, drawn-out gags about flatulence) could have been shoehorned into a parody of pretty much anything. The strong point of Superhero Movie is the above-average cast; while there are the obligatory cameos by the likes of Pamela Anderson, the cast is mostly filled out with actual actors like Marion Ross (Happy Days), Christopher McDonald (Thelma & Louise), Brent Spiner (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development), and Leslie Nielsen, who trots out his trademark deadpan one more time. As Dragonfly's love interest, Sara Paxton (Aquamarine) does a flawless and subtle imitation of Kirsten Dunst's sultry vocal mannerisms. And for fans of Airplane! (the movie that started the whole everything-but-the-kitchen-sink genre of comedy), there's an appropriate cameo by Robert Hays as Rick Riker's father. Superhero is a step above such recent tripe as Date Movie and Meet the Spartans... but sadly, that's not saying much.

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Little Chenier: A Cajun Story (2008)
dir. Bethany Ashton Wolf

Product Decsription:
The story is quite simple yet manages to convey a sense of importance for the players involved. A tale of love, betrayal, tragic death and intertwined stories while the simple life passes by in the Cajun country. Two brothers ebb their existence by selling fish bait from their small dock, whilst being watched by the local sheriff for crimes they may or may not have committed. Their best friend, played by Clifton Collins (who is awesome in Dirty - a must see for fans of his) adds the slightly comedic element and semi-protector of the group. Lines are crossed, beautiful topography imagery is interlaced, and locals get their 15 minutes. Performances are forced and the accents slip quite often, but the background is what holds it together.

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Little Girls (1966)
dir. Gilbert Wolmark

No idea what to make of this, and the cover really isn't doing it any favors. According to IMDB, this movie was lost for 40+ years. There might be a good reason for that. I'm not sayin, but I'm just sayin.

Product Decsription:
Blackmail Extortion Prostitution Drugs and Rape are all part of the mix in this classic French sexploitation film.A young hipster has befriended a bevy of beautiful rich socialite girls that love to party. He and his partner set up a scheme to use the girls for their own needs photographing them in compromising situations and then blackmailing them and their parents with the evidence of their scandalous lifestyles. They may have bitten off more than they can chew though as the girls and their parents react with a passion that has to be seen to be believed. They were made of sugar and spice and everything nice... Except for what they did!

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The Man with X-Ray Eyes (1963)
dir. Roger Corman

Fire the graphic designer, quick.

Product Decsription:
Dr. James Xavier (Ray Milland 1945 Best Actor Oscar© - Winner For The Lost Weekend) is a world renowned scientist experimenting with human eyesight. He devises a drug that when applied to the eyes enables the user to see beyond the normal realm of our sight. It also gives the user the power to see through objects. Xavier tests this drug on himself when his funding is cut off he takes refuge in a small carnival run by Crane (Don Rickles). As he continues to test the drug on himself Xavier begins to see not only through walls and clothes but through the very fabric of reality!

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Toxic (2007)
dir. Alan Pao

Charge it 2 da game

Product Decsription:
Sex insanity and bullets combine for one hi-octane action-thriller about a beautiful escaped mental patient who goes on a murderous rampage after her own father puts a bounty on her head. No one is safe as she unleashes her wrath on a number of unsuspecting victims including a nightclub owner a bartender a prostitute a psychic and a stripper. Starring a huge ensemble cast including Dominique Swain Master P. Tom Sizemore Danny Trejo Bai Ling Ron Jeremy and more Toxic is an edgy action-packed thrill ride that is guaranteed to both shock and awe.

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305 (2007)
dir. David M. Holechek, Daniel Holechek

I guess since their youtube video got 4 million hits, they get to make a full-length movie. Fuckin assholes.

Product Decsription:
After 300 There Were 5This is the not so legendary tale of the five somewhat brave Spartans who didn't go to Thermopylae but instead were assigned to guard the secret goat path and ran away at the first sign of trouble. They were the laughing stock of the entire Spartan army. All they had to do was guard a lousy goat path. And they failed.Claudius Darryl Demetrius the Blind Shazaam and Testicleese must embark on a hero/s journey to redeem themselves and become true warriors armed with only a sharpened carrot a rolling pin and an incredible sense of guilt. Smartly funny and based entirely on historical fact (allegedly) 305 proves that even the biggest losers get lucky sometimes.

DVD and Blu-Ray Picks for July 1, 2008

2008-07-04T18:49:00.000-07:00

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters - Criterion Collection (1985)
dir. Paul Schrader

If you know anything about Yukio Mishima, then you know his life story would make for a compelling and thought-provoking movie. After all, anyone who has the balls to commit seppuku has got to be at least a little bit captivating. Mishima became so completely wrapped up in samurai tradition and its heroic ideals (among other things) that his suicide seemed like a foregone conclusion. With Paul Schrader writing and directing, is there really any way at all this could go wrong? The man wrote Taxi Driver and Raging Bull for fuck's sake. Come on. I'm so glad Criterion got their hands on this.

Product Description:
Paul Schrader's visually stunning structurally audacious collage-like portrait of acclaimed Japanese author and playwright Yuko Mishima (played by Ken Ogata) investigates the inner turmoil and contradictions of a man who attempted an impossible harmony between self art and society. Taking place on Mishima's last day when he famously committed public seppuku (ritual suicide) the film is punctuated by extended flashbacks to the writer's life as well as gloriously stylized evocations of his fictional works. With its rich cinematography by John Bailey exquisite sets and costumes by Eiko Ishioka and unforgettable highly influential score by Philip Glass Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters is a sincere tribute to its subject and a bold investigative work of art in its own right.

DVD Features:
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES
New, restored high-definition digital transfer of the director's cut, supervised and approved by director Paul Schrader and cinematographer John Bailey
Optional English and Japanese voice-over narrations, the former by Roy Scheider, the latter by Ken Ogata
New audio commentary featuring Schrader and producer Alan Poul
New video interviews with Bailey, producers Tom Luddy and Mata Yamamoto, composer Philip Glass, and production designer Eiko Ishioka
New video interviews with Mishima biographer John Nathan and friend Donald Richie
New audio interview with coscreenwriter Chieko Schrader
Video interview excerpt featuring Mishima talking about writing
The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima, a 55-minute BBC documentary about the author
Theatrical trailer
PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Kevin Jackson, a piece on the film’s censorship in Japan, and photographs of Ishioka's sets
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Patriotism - Criterion Collection (1966)
dir. Yukio Mishima

The companion piece to Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters. Yukio Mishima is known primarily as a prolific, critically-acclaimed writer, but Patriotism marks the first and last time he ever stepped behind the camera. The cover shows an officer in the final seconds of his life before committing suicide, an eerie premonition of Mishima's own suicide 4 years later. If you pick up Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, I see no reason why you shouldn't get this as well.

Product Description:
Playwright and novelist Yukio Mishima predicted his own suicide with this ravishing short feature his only foray into filmmaking yet directed with the expressiveness and confidence of a true cinema artist. All prints of Patriotism (Yukoku) which depicts the seppuku (ritual suicide) of a naval officer were destroyed after Mishima's death in 1970 though the negative was saved and the film resurfaced thirty-five years later. New viewers will be stunned at the depth and clarity of Mishima's vision as well as his graphic depictions of sex and death.

DVD Features:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer of the Japanese and English versions, with optional Japanese or English intertitles
A 45-minute audio recording of Yukio Mishima speaking to the Foreign Correspondents' Association of Japan
A 45-minute making-of documentary, featuring crew from the film's production
Interview excerpts featuring Mishima discussing war and death
New and improved English subtitle translation
PLUS: A new essay by renowned critic and historian Tony Rayns, Mishima's original short story, and Mishima's extensive notes on the film's production
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Vantage Point (2008)
dir. Pete Travis

The trailers for this movie never really got me interested in it, but I would probably check this out eventually just based on the strength of the cast.

Product Description:
Vantage Point, which aspires to be a cunningly twisted thriller, comes equipped with plenty of hurtling action, handheld camerawork, what-was-that? editing, and a plot that has multiple, contradictory agendas writhing like a nest of snakes. It's all set a-boil within a few blocks of a town square in Spain where a U.S. President is targeted for assassination. Although the movie lasts 90 minutes, the events it depicts are mostly over with in a quarter-hour or so--but seen, rewound, and reseen from half a dozen different (you guessed it) vantage points. The first line in the credits reads "Original Film," apparently the name of the production company. "Gimmick Movie" would be more accurate; the opening reel, effectively jolting, affords an initial overview of the events through the eyes, lenses, monitors, and dueling sensibilities of a TV news producer (Sigourney Weaver), her activist-minded reporter (Zoe Saldana) and crew. Everybody’s in Salamanca (actually, Mexico City) for the start of an international conference to reaffirm Arab-Western commitment to the fight against terrorism. Terrorism, of course, sees this as an ideal moment to break out. As gunshots and explosions reduce everything to chaos, the clock is reset to zero and we proceed to revisit the scene as experienced by several Secret Service agents (namely Dennis Quaid and Matthew Fox), an American tourist with camcorder (Forest Whitaker), sundry locals--including three who may be caught up in a love triangle or a conspiracy or both--and even the President himself (William Hurt).

For a while, this is mildly diverting: that guy, or that gesture, so sinister when glimpsed across the plaza in one run-through, now appears harmless in close-up--or vice versa. But there's no real ambiguity (so stop with the careless comparisons to Kurosawa's Rashomon)--this is a shell game in which the peas aren't worth tracking. Despite decent actors, the characters might as well be holograms (although poor Forest Whitaker is saddled with "motivation" of surpassing sappiness), and the casting telegraphs several twists: one redoubtable good guy practically gives a wink-wink, nudge-nudge that he's really bad, etc. The movie declines to specify which nutjob philosophy the terrorists espouse, and their numbers are multi-ethnic. There's also a laborious suggestion that they have bloodthirsty, reactionary counterparts among the President's inner circle, which perhaps qualifies as redeeming socio-political comment and prompts a meaningless declaration of deep meaning from the Prez. The whole megilleh finally comes down to an extended car chase through impassably claustrophobic streets that would mark a lurch into unintentional self-parody--if only that point hadn't been passed a couple of rewinds earlier.

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Mad Men - Season One (2007)
dir. n/a

A critically-acclaimed series that I haven't had the opportunity to watch yet, but I'm going to try and catch up with it before the 2nd season airs. I've heard nothing but good things.

Product Description:
Set in 1960 New York City Mad Men explores the glamorous and ego-driven "Golden Age" of advertising where everyone is selling something and nothing is ever what it seems. And no one plays the game better than Don Draper (Golden Globe - winner Jon Hamm) Madison Avenue's biggest ad man - and ladies man - in the business.

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Gangs of New York (2002)
dir. Martin Scoresese

There have been complaints that the picture has been a bit over-processed for this Blu-ray release with edge enhancement running rampant. Still, it probably looks much better than the standard def release and considering how amazing the film looks, it deserves to be seen in HD. All the extras from the standard def release have been carried over to this disc.

Product Description:
Gangs of New York may achieve greatness with the passage of time. Mixed reviews were inevitable for a production this grand (and this troubled behind the scenes), but it's as distinguished as any of director Martin Scorsese's more celebrated New York stories. From its astonishing 1846 prologue to the city's infernal draft riots of 1863, the film aspires to erase the decorum of textbooks and chronicle 19th-century New York as a cauldron of street warfare. The hostility is embodied in a tale of primal vengeance between Irish American son Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his father's ruthless killer and "Nativist" gang leader Bill "the Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis, brutally inspired), so named for his lethal talent with knives. Vallon's vengeance is only marginally compelling; DiCaprio is arguably miscast, and Cameron Diaz (as Vallon's pickpocket lover) is adrift in a film with little use for women. Despite these weaknesses, Scorsese's mastery blossoms in his expert melding of personal and political trajectories; this is American history written in blood, unflinching, authentic, and utterly spectacular.

DVD Features:
Discovery Channel Special: Uncovering The Real Gangs Of New York
Audio: English, French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Dubbed: French
Feature Audio Commentary With Martin Scorsese
Featurettes: Costume Design, Set Design, & History Of The Five Points - Explore The Sets Of Gangs Of New York With Multiple Angles Utilizing 360-Degree Shots Of The Sets
Interactive Menus
Music Video: U2's The Hands That Built America
Scene Selection
This Is A Blu-Ray DVD Made For Blue-Laser Format Players Which Produce Higher Quality Picture & Sound
Trailers
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My Blueberry Nights (2007)
dir. Wong Kar-Wai

I like Wong Kar-Wai, but I don't think I'm as big a fan of his as alot of other people are. I absolutely love Chungking Express, and I don't think he's made anything as good since then. It'll be interesting to see how he handles his first English language film. One thing I'm sure is certain: it'll look amazing.

Product Description:
Bob Dylan's song "Lovesick" could describe every film Wong Kar-Wai has made since 1988's As Tears Go By. My Blueberry Nights, his first English-language feature, continues the Hong Kong helmer's fixation with the concept. Grammy-winning vocalist Norah Jones plays downhearted New Yorker Elizabeth. When her boyfriend takes up with another woman, she drowns her sorrows in the hand-crafted pie served up by sympathetic café proprietor Jeremy (Jude Law in a charming turn). Lizzie appreciates the support, but decides her best plan of attack is to leave town, so she hops a bus to Memphis, where she waitresses while serving as a sounding board for alcoholic police officer Arnie (David Strathairn), who pines for estranged wife Sue Lynne (Rachel Weisz). Later, Lizzie tries her luck in Vegas, where she joins forces with professional poker player Leslie (a brassy Natalie Portman). During her journey, Lizzie sends Jeremy postcards; through her wistful words, he finds himself falling in love. With Ry Cooder's plaintive score (bolstered by tunes from Jones and special guest Chan "Cat Power" Marshall) and golden-hued camera work from Darius Khondji (replacing regular cinematographer Christopher Doyle), My Blueberry Nights reaches for the elegiac tone of Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas as much as Wong's own Chungking Express. It's an odd combination that doesn't always work--the banal dialogue isn't up to the director's usual standards--but lovesickness has rarely been rendered more vividly.

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City of Men (2008)
dir. Paulo Morelli

City of God is still my favorite movie of this decade, so needless to say, my expectations of anything associated with it are exceedingly high. I still haven't seen the TV series, but I'm looking forward to watching it, as well as this movie.

Product Description:
Action-packed and fueled by Brazilian funk, City of Men returns the makers of City of God to the scene of their first success. In this case, the search for family supersedes the search for identity--not that there isn't a correlation between the two. Though produced by Fernando Meirelles, Paulo Morelli's feature isn't a sequel, but a follow-up to the four-season series of the same name. While Meirelles's movie takes place in Rio de Janeiro's past, Morelli's transpires in the present (not counting flashbacks from the show). Days away from turning 18, boyhood friends Acerola (Douglas Silva) and Laranjinha, a.k.a. Wallace (Darlan Cunha), grew up without fathers. Ace has a wife and child; Wallace has a steady girl. The duo gets along with the gang that rules their labyrinthine hillside neighborhood or favela, but hoodlum life holds little appeal. Ace struggles to raise his young son--his security guard father was murdered during a robbery--while Wallace tries to track down the dad he never knew. With Ace's assistance, Wallace solves the mystery of his genealogy, but at great cost to their friendship (and lives). Despite the South American pedigree, City of Men suggests the South Central of Boyz N the Hood more than City of God. It's not that Morelli's kinetic film looks like John Singleton's more classically composed enterprise, but that it deals with similar inner-city concerns. That said, Silva and Cunha are every bit as charismatic as Ice Cube and Cuba Gooding Jr.--if not more so.

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Sex and Death 101 (2007)
dir. Daniel Waters

I heard a couple decent things about this movie, but never got a chance to see it. The director, Daniel Waters, is responsible for writing The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, Hudson Hawk, Batman Returns, and Demolition Man. "Be Well!"...."Be Fucked."

Product Description:
Less than two weeks before his wedding, good-guy Roderick Blank (Simon Baker of The Devil Wears Prada) receives a mysterious email listing every girl he's ever had sex with...and the 70+ names of everyone he ever will have sex with. But as Roderick begins enjoying all the strippers, porn stars, stewardesses and celebrity lesbians on the list, he discovers that his ultimate date with destiny may lay with the serial killer known as 'Death Nell' (Oscar nominee Winona Ryder). Is the luckiest man in the world now doomed to face the final position of the Karma Sutra? Leslie Bibb (Talladega Nights), Patton Oswalt (Ratatouille), Neil Flynn (Scrubs), Julie Bowen (Boston Legal), Sophie Monk (Date Movie) and Mindy Cohn (The Facts of Life) co-star in this sexy black comedy written and directed by Daniel Waters, creator of the legendary cult classic Heathers.

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The Pied Piper (1972)
dir. Jacques Demy

Product Description:
The Pied Piper is director Jacques Demy's masterful retelling of the classic children's tale. Set in the Middle Ages, the divided town of Hamelin tries in vain to rid itself of the black plague. When a mysterious musician arrives (played by music legend Donovan), can the townspeople put aside their personal agendas to rid themselves of their rat infestation? Or will the petty and greedy town leaders, led by the sublimely creepy Donald Pleasence, attempt to take advantage of their savior? With great music and spectacular costumes and sets, The Pied Piper is a fascinating take on a familiar legend.

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The American Film Theater Complete 14 Film Collection

Lee Marvin will kick your ass if you don't buy this.

Product Description:
All these DVDs are presented in their original aspect ration and are loaded with Extras - This star-studded 14 FIlm Collection Includes the Following Films:

Eugene O'Neill's THE ICEMAN COMETH (1973) (2 DISCS) - Directed by John Frankenheimer - Starring Lee Marvin, Fredric March, Robert Ryan and Jeff Bridges. 239 minutes - A Majestic and Thrilling Achievement -- Charles Champlin, The Los Angeles Times

Edward Albee's A DELICATE BALANCE (1973) - Directed by Tony Richardson - Starring Katharine Hepburn, Paul Scofield, Lee Remick and Joseph Cotten. 132 minutes - A Superlative Record of Albee's Play, Enthrallingly Brought to the Screen -- San Francisco Examiner

Robert Shaw's THE MAN IN THE GLASS BOOTH (1975) - Directed by Arthur Hiller - Starring Maximilian Schell in His Academy Award nominated Performance. 117 minutes - Daring, Outragious, Utterly Provocative, Strikingly Effective -- Los Angeles Times

Eugene Ionesco's RHINOCEROS (1974) - Directed by Tom O'Horgan - Starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, the stars of Mel Brooks' The Producers. With Karen Black. 104 minutes - Rhinoceros is a Fast Paced, Inventively Realized Film -- The Boston Phoenix

Simon Gray's BUTLEY (1974) - Directed by Harold Pinter - Starring Alan Bates, Jessica Tandy and Georgina Hale. 104 minutes - An Extraordinary Success... A devilishly entertaining piece and showpiece for Alan Bates -- San Francisco Examiner

Jean Genet's THE MAIDS (1975) - Directed by Christopher Miles - Starring Glenda Jackson, Susannah York and Vivien Merchant. 94 minutes

John Osborne's LUTHER (1974) - Directed Guy Green - Starring Stacy Keach, Judi Dench, Hugh Griffith and Patrick Magee. 111 minutes - One of the Best Pictures of the Year -- The Denver Post

David Storey's IN CELEBRATION (1975) - Directed by Lindsay Anderson - Starring Alan Bates, Brian Cox, Bill Owen and Constance Chapman. 130 minutes - Anderson and a superb cast have made a harrowing and satisfying suspense drama -- New York Magazine

Anton Chekhov's THREE SISTERS (1970) - Directed by Laurence Olivier - Starring Laurence Olivier, Alan Bates, Joan Plowright and Derek Jacobi. 162 minutes - Four Stars... Highest Rating - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Harold Pinter's THE HOMECOMING (1973) - Directed by Peter Hall - Starring Ian Holm, Vivien Merchant, Paul Rogers and Cyril Cusack. 114 minutes - A Fine, Ferocious Film -- Time Magazine

Bertolt Brecht's GALILEO (1974) - Directed by Joseph Losey - Starring Topol, Edward Fox, John Gielgud and Tom Conti. 138 minutes - Taste, Class and a First-rate Cast -- Variety

Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson's LOST IN THE STARS (1974) - Directed by Daniel Mann - Starring Brock Peters, Melba Moore and Raymond St. Jacques. 97 minutes - Brock Peters is Outstanding... his ending scene is a triumph -- Atlanta Journal Constitution

Brian Friel's PHILADELPHIA, HERE I COME! (1975) - Directed by John Quested - Starring Siobhan McKenna, Donal McCann and Fidelma Murphy. 95 minutes

Jacques Brel's JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS (1975) - Directed by Denis Heroux - Starring Jacques Brel and Elly Stone. 97 minutes - Infected With Spirit... Bitingly Relevant -- Variety

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Only the Valiant (1951)
dir. Gordon Douglas

Product Description:
Capt. Richard Lance is an officer who is both respected and hated by his men, due to his by-the-book methods. Then one day, he and a small team of soldiers are assigned to keep watch over a mountain outstation, until the other troops arrive to retrieve them. Realizing that the nearby Apaches will surely attack their small, vulnerable group, Lance decides to choose the men who despise him the most for the life-threatening task...

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Drillbit Taylor (Unrated Extended Survival Edition) (2008)
dir. Steven Brill

Looks like pure shit, but I like Owen Wilson. I'll give him a chance.

Product Description:
Like Owen Wilson himself, Drillbit Taylor has a loose, shaggy-dog appeal. Wilson plays a homeless ex-soldier who wants to emigrate illegally to Canada--and when three misfit high-school students hire him to protect them from bullies, he sets out to fleece them for the money he needs to get away. Naturally, this being a formulaic crowd-pleaser, he bonds with the kids and discovers that maybe his life isn't so worthless after all. Fortunately for moviegoers, the creators of Drillbit Taylor (including co-writer Seth Rogen, star of Knocked Up) have the wit to tweak the formula and give what could have been prefabricated and bland some grit, surprises, and genuine laughs (as well as an allusion to this movie's obvious inspiration, the 1980 teen-movie classic My Bodyguard). While nowhere near as funny (or as rude) as Rogen's previous co-writing effort, the dorkily sublime Superbad, Drillbit Taylor benefits from a similar grasp of the genuine cravings and frustrations of adolescence. Still, it's Wilson's movie, and his slacker-romantic rhythm gives the hmor its swing. Also featuring Leslie Mann (The 40-Year-Old Virgin), who is woefully underutilized as Wilson's love interest. One sneaky bit of casting: The main bully is played by Alex Frost, who played an unhappy teen driven to shoot up his school in director Gus Van Sant's Elephant.

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Papa's Delicate Condition (1963)
dir. George Marshall

Van Hammersly is all I can think of.

Product Description:
Jackie Gleason stars in this warm-hearted look back at one family's larger than life father. Set at the start of the 20th century, Gleason plays Jack Griffith, a gregarious railroad man whose love for his family is rivaled only by his love for the bottle. Griffith's penchant for outrageous behavior, followed up by a more outrageous gift to atone for it, has begun to alienate his wife and oldest daughter, although his youngest still adores her father. Gleason portrays Griffith's "delicate condition" with a mixture of humor and humanity, and the end result is a moving portrait of a family's ups and downs. Gleason's performance of the Academy Award® winning song "Call Me Irresponsible" is not to be missed.

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Triloquist (2007)
dir. Mark Jones

If you enjoyed every single Leprechaun movie, you might enjoy this since Mark Jones wrote all of them, and directed the first one. He even wrote episodes of the A-Team and Turbo Teen, one of the most frightening cartoons of all time!

Product Description:
This is that old coming-of-age tale of two wide-eyed siblings who go on a life-changing road trip to Las Vegas, taking nothing with them but a creepy dummy that appears to be alive, some loaded weapons, and their own twisted and dangerous psychoses. It's the kind of simple, straight story that rekindles the nostalgia of your youth. Renowned horror director and creepy-little-monster lover Mark Jones (LEPRECHAUN, RUMPLESTILTSKIN) writes and directs this horror-comedy.

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