New DVD Releases

DVD Releases January 25 2011

2011-01-24T15:00:00.000+07:00

From New DVD Releases January 25 2011 & Buy Cheap New DVD Movies January 25 2011

Movie & TV DVD Releases this week. January 25 2011

Secretariat
From Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Average customer review:

The "greatest racehorse of all time" mantle fits easily around the neck of Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown winner. So why not a movie version of this champion's life? Secretariat begins in the late '60s, with some good behind-the-scenes material on how thoroughbreds come to be (there's flavorful atmosphere inside the horsey world, including an account of Secretariat's ownership being decided by a coin flip as part of an old-school agreement). A highly lacquered Diane Lane plays Penny Chenery, the inheritor of her father's stables, who segues from being an all-American mom to running a major horse-racing franchise; reliable character-actor support comes in the form of John Malkovich, as a gaudily outfitted trainer, and Margo Martindale, as Chenery's assistant. Screenwriter Mike Rich and director Randall Wallace must do some heavy lifting to make Lane's privileged millionaire into some sort of underdog--luckily, the hidebound traditions of the male-dominated racing scene provide some sources of outrage. The need to stack the deck even more leads the movie into its more contrived scenes, unfortunately, as though we needed dastardly villains in order to root for Penny and her horse. Meanwhile, attempts to reach for a little Seabiscuit-style social relevance don't come off, and a curious religious undertone might make you wonder whether we're meant to assume that God chose Secretariat over some less-deserving equine. The actual excitement of the races can't be denied, however, and Secretariat's awe-inspiring win at the Belmont Stakes remains a jaw-dropping, still-unequaled display of domination in that event. And maybe in sports.

Red (Special Edition)
Directed by Robert Schwentke
Average customer review:

You can take the agent out of the CIA, but you can't take the CIA out of the agent--or so discovers Frank Moses, to his chagrin. Frank, played by Bruce Willis, simply wants to live his simple life with his government pension. But when a troop of black-ops guys descends on his house one night and blows it to smithereens, Frank realizes he needs to get a few of his old colleagues together and find out what's what. That's the premise of Red, a jolly action flick based on a rather more serious graphic novel. Because Frank's old posse includes kicky roles for Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and a tea-pouring, hot-lead-spraying Helen Mirren, the movie boasts a certain appeal just at the "Holy cow, can you believe who's in this thing?" level. Actually, the rest of the cast is pretty sweet as well: Mary-Louise Parker steals much of the film as Frank's unsuspecting civilian date (swept into the action because she might innocently become a CIA target, too), Brian Cox hams it up as Frank's former Soviet adversary (wistfully recalling how he always wanted to assassinate a US president), and Karl Urban (Star Trek) supplies brawn and brains as the current CIA agent in charge of bringing the hammer down on Frank. The breezy tone barely pauses to notice the semi-serious story point at the heart of the plot (a hazily recalled disaster in Guatemala many years earlier), nor the dead bodies that pile up around the edges of the action. Flightplan director Robert Schwentke lets his actors act up, which is not a capital crime given the skills of the cast list, and he shoves the plot along with fitting speed. It's not art, but as a multiplex diversion, Red scatters a decent share of legitimate jolts and rim-shot one-liners.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest
Directed by Daniel Alfredson
Average customer review:

It takes a while, but the saga of one of the more fascinating characters put on the page or the screen in recent years comes to a satisfying conclusion with The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, the last installment of the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson's so-called Millennium Trilogy. That character is Lisbeth Salander, the computer-hacking, Goth-loving, dark angel of revenge, played by Noomi Rapace with the same black stare and taciturn charisma that were so riveting in the first two films (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire, both also released in 2010). When we last saw her, Lisbeth was trying to kill her father, a Russian defector and abusive monster; in the process, the girl was seriously wounded by her half-brother, a hulking freak with a strange condition that renders him impervious to physical pain. As the new film opens, all three are still alive, and she's being taken to a hospital to recover while waiting to stand trial for attempted murder. Meanwhile, her champion and erstwhile lover, journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), sets about uncovering the full extent of the conspiracy responsible for (among other crimes) Lisbeth's being sent to an asylum at age 12 while her father was protected by evil forces within the government. This investigation, which puts not only Lisbeth but also Blomkvist and his colleagues in considerable danger, leads to "the Section," a thoroughly repellent bunch of aging liars, killers, thieves, and perverts with a great many secrets they'd like to keep (the oily Dr. Peter Teleborian, who was responsible for Lisbeth's "treatment" as a child, emerges as the most vile antagonist since the guardian who brutally assaulted her in the first film). Although much of the exhaustive detail about these and other matters has been eliminated by director Daniel Alfredson (who also helmed The Girl Who Played with Fire) and screenwriters Jonas Frykberg and Ulf Ryberg for the purpose of adapting the novel to the screen, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is still quite long (148 minutes), and less kinetic and violent than the earlier films; there are some exciting sequences, but Lisbeth, previously an unlikely but magnetic action heroine, is seen mostly on a hospital bed or in a courtroom, and much of the film is spent on procedural matters. Still, the fact that the loose ends are wrapped up in fairly conventional fashion doesn't make the conclusion any less satisfying. In fact, the only real letdown comes from knowing that we won't get to see Noomi Rapace play Lisbeth Salander again.

Saw: The Final Chapter (Formerly Saw 3D)
Directed by Kevin Greutert
Average customer review:

All gross things must come to an end--even the Saw franchise, which reaches its terminal point with this seventh feature (its first released in 3D in theaters). "Franchise" actually isn't the proper term for the grisly series; each new film might be best described as the latest model, like a car or a DVD player, since the mechanics of the infernal machines created and unleashed by the morally driven Jigsaw and his henchman, Matt Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), are the real selling points, not the plot or acting or direction. Suffice it to say that the story here is somewhat novel--B-movie vet Sean Patrick Flanery is a self-help guru whose fame has hinged on the notion that he survived Jigsaw's deadly traps. The claim is a lie, of course, and Flanery soon finds himself in Hoffman's clutches, attempting to rescue his wife (Gina Holden) while all manner of accomplices die in hideous ways. As the Saw universe goes, Saw 3D is still relentlessly ghoulish and Sadean to a fault, but since the characters still refuse to operate like real human beings, it's difficult to feel anything about their gruesome passing. What the film does have going for it is a cameo from Cary Elwes's Dr. Gordon, who famously survived the first film, as well as the de rigueur flashback with Tobin Bell as Jigsaw, who brings malevolent energy that the rest of the film sorely lacks. As for the traps, their fans will be undoubtedly pleased by the latest array, of which there are 11, the most ever featured in one Saw film, and in particular by the opening worktable contraption, and by a device involving several cars, levers, and some very sticky glue.

Nowhere Boy
Directed by Sam Taylor Wood
Average customer review:

On 1970's "Mother," John Lennon sang, "You had me, but I never had you." Fine artist-turned-filmmaker Sam Taylor-Wood delves into the story behind those words, starting with a 15-year-old Lennon (Kick-Ass's Aaron Johnson, a star in the making), who lives in Liverpool with his impish uncle George (David Threlfall) and imperious aunt Mimi (Kristin Scott Thomas, all pin curls and British reserve). George's death spurs Lennon to seek out Julia (Anne-Marie Duff), his birth mother, who turns out to be surprisingly fun and flirtatious (their scenes together carry a subtle sexual tension). The mother of two daughters, Julia welcomes the opportunity to reconnect with her son, even if her common-law husband (David Morrissey, Duff's Is Anybody There? costar) doesn't share her enthusiasm. She introduces John to rock and roll and teaches him how to play the banjo--useful information when he switches to the guitar--but she also suffers from mood swings and can't always meet his emotional needs. Torn between the mother who raised him and the one who gave him life, John funnels his frustrations into music, forming the Quarrymen, but then he meets Paul McCartney (Bright Star's Thomas Sangster) and revamps the lineup to work in George Harrison and his art school colleague Stu Sutcliffe (whose biography formed the basis for Backbeat). As Lennon aficionados know, John's relationship with Julia didn't come to a happy end, but she would have a profound effect on his life--and provide the inspiration for this tenderhearted tribute.

Zorro: The Complete Series
From A&E
Average customer review:

Out of the night a hero must rise with courage that even a mask can t disguise! So begins the adventures of Zorro swordsman, scientist and relentless defender of the oppressed.

In early 19th century Spanish California, a corrupt Alcalde (mayor) grows rich by terrorizing the good people of Los Angeles. Young and dashing Don Diego de la Vega (Duncan_Regehr), pretending to care only for science and study, secretly creates a bold alter-ego: Zorro the Fox. Aided by his mute servant Felipe, inspired by the faith of the beautiful tavern-keeper Victoria, and carried into battle by the mighty steed Toronado, Zorro thwarts the Alcalde s plots at every turn.

Filmed entirely in Madrid, Spain, Zorro aired on The Family Channel for four seasons, from 1990-1993. Still a tremendous fan favorite, Zorro is renowned for its swashbuckling family-friendly adventure as well as its top-notch cast of featured characters and guests, including Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Don Alejandro de la Vega, Daniel Craig, Andre the Giant, Philip Michael Thomas, Jesse Ventura and Adam West.

For the first time ever, all 88 episodes have been collected in one DVD set, including a bonus disk with classic Zorro films, an alternate series pilot and much more.

Broadcast News (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]
Directed by James L. Brooks
Average customer review:

Holly Hunter plays a network news producer who, much to her chagrin, finds herself falling for pretty-boy anchorman William Hurt. He is all glamour without substance and represents a hated shift from hard news toward packaged "infotainment," which Hunter despises. Completing the triangle is Albert Brooks, who provides contrast as the gifted reporter with almost no presence on camera. He carries a torch for Hunter; she sees merely a friend. Written and directed by James L. Brooks, this shows remarkable insight into the people who make television. On the surface it is about that love triangle. If you look a little deeper, however, you will see that this behind-the-scenes comedy is a very revealing look at obsessive behavior and the heightened emotions that accompany adrenaline addiction. It is for good reason this was nominated for seven Academy Awards (though it did not win any). There are scenes in this movie you cannot shake, such as Hunter's scheduled mini-breakdowns, or Brooks's furious "flop sweat" during his tryout as a national anchor. Watch for an uncredited Jack Nicholson as a senior newscaster.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind [Blu-ray]
From Universal Studios
Average customer review:

Screenwriters rarely develop a distinctive voice that can be recognized from movie to movie, but the ornate imagination of Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) has made him a unique and much-needed cinematic presence. In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a guy decides to have the memories of his ex-girlfriend erased after she's had him erased from her own memory--but midway through the procedure, he changes his mind and struggles to hang on to their experiences together. In other hands, the premise of memory-erasing would become a trashy science-fiction thriller; Kaufman, along with director Michel Gondry, spins this idea into a funny, sad, structurally complex, and simply enthralling love story that juggles morality, identity, and heartbreak with confident skill. The entire cast--Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Wilkinson, and more--give superb performances, carefully pitched so that cleverness never trumps feeling. A great movie.

Color Purple [Blu-ray]
From Warner Brothers
Average customer review:

Steven Spielberg, proving he's one of the few modern filmmakers who has the visual fluency to be capable of making a great silent film, took a melodramatic, D.W. Griffith-inspired approach to filming Alice Walker's novel. His tactics made the film controversial, but also a popular hit. You can argue with the appropriateness of Spielberg's decision, but his astonishing facility with images is undeniable--from the exhilarating and eye-popping opening shots of children playing in paradisiacal purple fields to the way he conveys the brutality of a rape by showing hanging leather belts banging against the head of the shaking bed. In a way it's a shame that Whoopi Goldberg, a stage monologist who made her screen debut in this movie, went on to become so famous, because it was, in part, her unfamiliarity that made her understated performance as Celie so effective. (This may be the first and last time that the adjective understated can be applied to Goldberg.) Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including best picture and actress (supporting players Oprah Winfrey and Margaret Avery were also nominated), it was quite a scandal--and a crushing blow to Spielberg--when it won none.

Relate Links:

Cheap New DVD Movies
DVD Releases
DVD releases UK
DVD releases CA

DVD Releases January 18 2011

2011-01-18T12:56:00.000+07:00

From New DVD Releases January 18 2011 & Buy Cheap New DVD Movies January 18 2011

Movie & TV DVD Releases this week. January 18 2011

Stone
Directed by John Curran
Average customer review:

Edward Norton is always fascinating to watch--something slippery always lingers behind his eyes. In Stone, Norton plays a convicted arsonist nicknamed Stone who's desperate to persuade his parole officer, Jack Mabry (Robert De Niro), to argue for his early release--so desperate that he asks his wife, Lucetta (Milla Jovovich, The Fifth Element), to seduce Mabry. But while these machinations play out, Stone starts having a spiritual awakening … or is this another attempt at manipulation? Director John Curran and Norton worked together previously on The Painted Veil, and they clearly have a rapport: Norton's performance is fluid and sinuous, working its way into Mabry's consciousness and, potentially, the audience's. De Niro is, of course, solid, though he projects such a steely will that it's difficult to accept him as a man who succumbs to base appetites. Writer Angus MacLachlan wrote the luminous Junebug; while Stone doesn't manage the same rich humanity--despite the excellent acting by all involved, the story feels cramped and schematic--there are strong passages. But fundamentally, it's Norton who makes the movie worth watching; even the scenes he's not in feel like they're about him, how his influence ripples out into the people around him.

Takers
From Sony Pictures
Average customer review:

Slick, stylish, and flush with studliness, Takers follows a cadre of thieves as they plot a tricky new heist. The movie has two strengths: it deftly juggles three intertwining plot lines (the mechanics of the heist itself; the maneuvering of the police hunting the thieves; and the scheming of a former member of the gang who feels betrayed) and it walks a fine line between just enough realism to make us care about the thieves (the performances are effectively understated) and just enough absurdity to make everything entertaining (each of the guys has his own fancy car!). It doesn't hurt that the man flesh is all ridiculously handsome (Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Chris Brown, Jan Hernandez, Hayden Christensen, even old-school hunk Matt Dillon) and smashingly tailored in swank suits. And there are a handful of high-energy sequences--including a chase that features zippy parkour climbing stunts through moving traffic--that give the story clichés a nice jolt of pep. All in all, Takers probably won't stick in your memory very long, but it's good fun while it lasts.

Paper Man
Directed by Kieran Mulroney, Michele Mulroney
Average customer review:

In the tradition of Lost In Translation and The Squid and the Whale, PAPER MAN is a wonderfully quirky drama about people trying desperately to find the same joy in real life as they do in their imagination. Golden Globe and Tony nominee Jeff Daniels stars as Richard Dunn, a no-hit wonder of a novelist squirreled away in Long Island by his sensible, surgeon wife (Emmy winner Lisa Kudrow) to get cracking on his next novel. Richard isn t totally alone: along for the ride is a local teen (Emma Stone in a breakout performance) who befriends Richard after he hires her to be a babysitter...his babysitter. Plus, there s Richard s imaginary best friend from childhood, Captain Excellent (Ryan Reynolds), a confidante always ready to prod him along towards adulthood, whether Richard wants it or not. Aching, funny and true, PAPER MAN is a genuinely offbeat gem that marks the promising debut of writing and directing team Kieran and Michele Mulroney.

Jack Goes Boating
Directed by Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Average customer review:

Philip Seymour Hoffman plunders social awkwardness for comic effect in Jack Goes Boating. At first, the movie seems like a sad-sack love story: Jack (Hoffman, Academy Award winner for Capote), a limo driver who likes reggae music for its positivity, gets set up with Connie (Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone), a trouble-magnet telemarketer, by their mutual friends Clyde (John Ortiz, Fast & Furious) and Lucy (Daphne Rubin-Vega, Wild Things). Connie inspires Jack to improve himself: he starts learning to cook and to swim (so that he and Connie can go boating in the summer to come). But as Jack and Connie take tentative, sometimes clumsy steps toward love, Clyde and Lucy's relationship threatens to collapse from betrayal and jealousy. In the wrong hands, Jack Goes Boating would flounder in angst and sappiness. Fortunately, Hoffman and Ryan always reach for the hopeful (and often humorous) side of their characters, while Ortiz and Rubin-Vega vacillate between tenderness and unsettling bitterness. Hoffman makes his directorial debut with this movie, and his eye for telling social detail comes through as strongly as a director as it does as an actor; Jack Goes Boating's greatest strength is the psychological richness of its characters.

Virginity Hit
Directed by Andrew Gurland Huck Botko
Average customer review:

If every generation gets the American Pie or Porky's it deserves, then the arrival of The Virginity Hit in 2010 makes sense. This tale of four high-school friends agreeing to lose their virginity is entirely seen through the lens of a video camera, as the guys themselves document the process. Actually, three of them are dispatched within the first couple of minutes; mostly we focus on Matt (Matt Bennett), the geekiest of the bunch, who's been going out with Nicole (Nicole Weaver) for a couple of years. They've finally "set a date," and--perhaps appropriately for the communal, no-privacy zone of the Facebook age--they've shared their intentions with all their friends. In fact, some of Matt's bumbling preparations for the big night end up on YouTube, as do the disasters that surround the scheduled liaison: Matt learns that Nicole might have cheated on him at a frat party, and he goes into a tailspin that includes a confrontation with his absent father and a date with a porn star (played by porn star Sunny Leone). All of this is digitally documented by the pals, of course, a process directors Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland seem to consider perfectly normal rather than sadistic. Their angle (they also wrote the faux-documentary The Last Exorcism) could be perfectly acceptable if the movie were funnier and maybe had a few characters who weren't repellent. The film makes a half-hearted attempt to pass itself off as real, but it can sustain itself even if you don't buy that--the jokes about bodily functions and transsexual blow-up dolls require no particular gimmick to translate them into lowbrow humor. But that's about the best that can be said for this buffoonish exercise.

Animal Kingdom
Directed by David Michôd
Average customer review:

The title leaves no doubt about the nature contained in this Australian crime picture: the law of the jungle prevails, and it's kill or be killed out there. That's the belief within the Cody clan, anyway, the Melbourne criminal family whose exploits give Animal Kingdom its fire. The central character is something of a deliberate vacancy, a blank slate for the movie to write on: 17-year-old Joshua, known as J (James Frechville), is taken in by his grandmother after his mother dies of an overdose (a memorably chilling opening scene). Grandma (Jacki Weaver) is known as Smurf, but don't let the name fool you: she's the Ma Barker-like matriarch of a brood of sociopaths, none more lethal than oldest son Andrew, known as the Pope (a blood-curdling performance by Ben Mendelsohn). Luke Ford and Sullivan Stapleton play her other sons, and Joel Edgerton (The Square) is on hand as an outlaw associate. The way J is brought in and tested in this world of blood-spattered machismo is director David Michod's subject, and even if the film has a few heavy-handed moments along the way, the overall effect is tense and unsettling. J's journey comes up short compared to a contemporaneous study of another unformed youth learning the ropes of crime (Jacques Audiard's A Prophet), but its portrait of amorality thriving in a somewhat ordinary-looking urban landscape is effective. Bonus: Guy Pearce's role as a detective who tries to catch J on the course of his tragic trajectory, a rare glimpse of humanity in an otherwise chaotic zoo.

Justified: The Complete First Season
From Fox
Average customer review:

Justified is the story of Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant), a true-blue hero and something of a throwback, given to wearing a Stetson and cowboy boots, carrying his sidearm in a hip holster – a weapon he only draws when he has to, and when he does, he shoots to kill, because, as he sees it, that’s the purpose of a gun. The character of Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens was created by America’s pre-eminent crime novelist Elmore Leonard (Get Shorty, Out of Sight) and is played by Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood, Live Free or Die Hard). The Chief Deputy of the Lexington USMS office is Art Mullen, played by Nick Searcy (Cast Away, From the Earth to the Moon). Working alongside Raylan are fellow deputies Tim Gutterson – played by Jacob Pitts (The Pacific) – and Rachel Brooks – played by Erica Tazel (Life, The Office). Raylan, Art and the other deputies do what all U.S. Marshals do – chase down fugitives, protect witnesses, transport prisoners.

Merlin: The Complete Second Season
From Warner Brothers
Average customer review:

Arthurian legend meets Beverly Hills 90210 in this BBC series that imagines the lives of King Arthur and the wizard Merlin as teenagers. The show takes any number of liberties with the traditional mythos, but two are crucial: Arthur's father, Uther (Anthony Head, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), has banished magic from Camelot on pain of death; and Guinevere (Angel Coulby), Arthur's destined queen, is the servant of Uther's ward, Morgana (Katie McGrath), setting up a class schism between her and Arthur (Bradley James). This developing romance is one of the strongest throughlines of the second season, which also sees Morgana cultivating her magical powers and Merlin (Colin Morgan) learning about his mysterious father. In fact, season 2 is much more about Arthur than Merlin--episode after episode features Arthur maturing, learning a little humility and patience whilst engaging in a lot of swordplay and jousting, while Merlin spends a lot of time observing from the sidelines and muttering the occasional spell. (Though fans of the young sorcerer shouldn't fear--Merlin has plenty of dashing moments himself.)

The special effects budget has clearly been upped--the show teems with monstrous creatures, including gargoyles, giant scorpions, a troll, a were-panther, and of course the last dragon from season 1 (voiced by John Hurt, Alien, 1984). Merlin has its flaws; the young actors seem more modern than Arthurian thanks to their wonderful teeth and contemporary attitudes, and the scripts and direction can be a bit pedestrian. But that's not what connects viewers to the show--it's the passions of adolescence merged with the pageantry and derring-do of British legends, enacted by a charismatic cast. The climactic episodes will leave fans hungry for season 3. In addition to 13 episodes, Merlin: The Complete Second Season offers an entire disc of behind-the-scenes footage and other extras.

21 Jump Street - The Complete Fourth Season
Directed by Various
Average customer review:

The fourth season of Fox's hip undercover cop phenomenon opens with Ioki (Dustin Nguyen) in the hospital and Hanson (Johnny Depp) in prison (falsely convicted of murder). The end of the premiere ("Draw the Line") brings good news for one of them when Penhall (Peter DeLuise) and Booker (Richard Greico) join forces, while the fate of the other looks promising. This is confirmed in the following episode ("Say It Ain’t So, Pete"), but by then, Booker will have split the scene (to return for the Booker-Jump Street crossover, "Wheels & Deals").

Other notable episodes include "Eternal Flame," directed by Mario Van Peebles (Baadasssss!) and guest starring a longhaired Thomas Haden Church (Sideways). There's also "Come From the Shadows," in which Penhall marries a Salvadoran refugee to prevent her deportation (and adopts her nephew when he becomes orphaned), "Stand By Your Man," in which Hoffs (Holly Robinson Peete) is the victim of date rape, and "Mike's P.O.V." with a scruffy Donovan Leitch (Gas, Food Lodging) and preppy Vince Vaughn (Swingers).

The rap on the fourth year is that Depp started turning in lackluster performances when he couldn't get out of his contract. Fortunately, he doesn't sink the show, but it's clear his heart isn't in it anymore. On the bright side, 21 Jump Street remained as much a time capsule of the late-1980s as ever with music from the B-52s and Devo and references to Ghostbusters and Back to the Future. (Hoffs’ surname was even taken from a notable 1980s figure: Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles.) Once Depp was set free, Fox pulled the plug on the program, which ran for a final season in syndication. In exchange for the Booker episode, this set deletes the season finale, "Blackout," which featured Depp's final appearance as Officer Tom Hanson.

Relate Links:

Cheap New DVD Movies
DVD Releases
DVD releases UK
DVD releases CA

DVD Releases January 11 2011

2011-01-12T16:44:00.000+07:00

From New DVD Releases January 11 2011 & Buy Cheap New DVD Movies January 11 2011

Movie & TV DVD Releases this week. January 11 2011

The Social Network (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
Directed by David Fincher
Average customer review:

They all laughed at college nerd Mark Zuckerberg, whose idea for a social-networking site made him a billionaire. And they all laughed at the idea of a Facebook movie--except writer Aaron Sorkin and director David Fincher, merely two of the more extravagantly talented filmmakers around. Sorkin and Fincher's breathless picture, The Social Network, is a fast and witty creation myth about how Facebook grew from Zuckerberg's insecure geek-at-Harvard days into a phenomenon with 500 million users. Sorkin frames the movie around two lawsuits aimed at the lofty but brilliant Zuckerberg (deftly played by Adventureland's Jesse Eisenberg): a claim that he stole the idea from Ivy League classmates, and a suit by his original, now slighted, business partner (Andrew Garfield). The movie follows a familiar rise-and-fall pattern, with temptation in the form of a sunny California Beelzebub (an expert Justin Timberlake as former Napster founder Sean Parker) and an increasingly tangled legal mess. Emphasizing the legal morass gives Sorkin and Fincher a chance to explore how unsocial this social-networking business can be, although the irony seems a little facile. More damagingly, the film steers away from the prickly figure of Zuckerberg in the latter stages--and yet Zuckerberg presents the most intriguing personality in the movie, even if the movie takes pains to make us understand his shortcomings. Fincher's command of pacing and his eye for the clean spaces of Aughts-era America are bracing, and he can't resist the technical trickery involved in turning actor Armie Hammer into privileged Harvard twins (Hammer is letter-perfect). Even with its flaws, The Social Network is a galloping piece of entertainment, a smart ride with smart people… who sometimes do dumb things.

Alpha and Omega
Directed by Anthony Bell, Ben Gluck
Average customer review:

Love is blind to the rules of tradition, opposites attract, and both clichés apply quite nicely to the wolves in Alpha and Omega. In the wolf world, the pack values the omega wolves' skill of defusing tense situations with humor just as much as they value the keen leadership skills of the alpha wolves, but tradition dictates that alpha wolves don't mate with omega wolves. So, when the all-business alpha wolf Kate (Hayden Panettiere) and the fun-seeking omega wolf Humphrey (Justin Long) find themselves attracted to one another, the pair resign themselves to a life apart, and Kate agrees to a match with alpha male Garth (Chris Carmack) from a rival pack in order to peacefully merge the two packs into one. But when Humphrey and Kate are tranquilized in their home in Jasper National Forest, Canada, and relocated to Sawtooth Forest far away in Idaho, the two discover that not only can opposites work very well together, but that neither of them can continue to ignore their attraction for the other. The question is, will working together, combined with a little help from a golf-playing goose and his duck caddy, be enough to get the pair all the way back to Jasper National Park before the rival wolf packs tear one another apart at the next full moon? And what will become of their relationship if they do return in time? This animated film is amusing and entertaining, if not particularly outstanding. A lot of the humor is pretty corny and the plot has been done many times before (think Open Season 2), but the characters are likable, the action is pretty good, and who can resist chuckling at images like a retired, golf-playing French-Canadian goose or the distractive powers of a good cupcake? (Ages 5 and older)

Piranha
Directed by Alejandre Aja
Average customer review:

Debating the merits of Piranha 3D, director Alexandre (Mirrors) Aja's testosterone-driven valentine to Joe Dante's 1978 original and the excesses of '80s genre films in general, is a fool's errand; it is, after all, a movie about prehistoric fish preying on hormonal partygoers in various states of undress--and in 3D, mind you--so any review must answer the question--does it deliver what its key audience (young men, ages 14 to 24) require? On that front, the answer is an unequivocal yes. Special effects creators Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger present a veritable buffet of gruesome ways for the thinly drawn characters to die, from a piranha burrowing through a swimmer's head to the horrible encounter between a boat propeller and a longhaired victim. The sheer amount of nudity on display rivals a week's worth of Cinemax late-night screenings, rendered all the more excessive in 3D; as for the gimmick itself, it lends some unsettling depth to the underwater attacks. In short, if one attends Piranha 3D for grindhouse-style yucks, it's bound to be a rollicking good time. All others may find its relentless, Red Bull drive wearying; the whole affair is clearly meant to be a goof, just as Dante's original (produced by Roger Corman and penned by John Sayles) was, but where Dante's target was monster movie camp of the '50s and '60s (as well as Jaws), Aja and writers Peter Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg take aim at either cynical zeitgeist elements like the Girls Gone Wild series (with Jerry O'Connell striking the right tone as its craven creator) or hapless partygoers, which leaves an unpleasant aftertaste of misanthropy. Where the film does succeed is in its supporting cast, which strikes the same winking tone as Dante's version; Richard Dreyfuss and Christopher Lloyd poke fun at their Jaws and Back to the Future roles, while Adam Scott, comic Paul Scheer, and Eli Roth give appropriately broad turns. Elizabeth Shue, of all people, is the sheriff hero and acquits herself well to the absurd story line, as do Steven R. McQueen (yes, Steve's grandson) and Gossip Girl's Jessica Szohr as the film's Young Lovers. Again, taking issue with Piranha 3D is like finding fault with a cheeseburger for being greasy, but for those expecting a full-course meal, the fish get all the big bites here.

NASA
Directed by None

NASA (10-PK) contains NASA: 50 YEARS OF SPACE EXPLORATION (5-PK) and HISTORY OF THE SPACE SHUTTLE (5-PK). NASA: 50 YEARS OF SPACE EXPLORATION (5-PK): Enjoy the epic story of NASA and American space exploration like never before! This exciting and comprehensive 5-DVD collectors’ edition takes you on the adventure of a lifetime, a showcase of all the most thrilling moments in U.S. space exploration—while also examining the heartbreaking events when tragedy struck our heroes. It’s all here . . . the “Eagle had landed” historic mission to the moon by Apollo 11; the amazing flight of John Glenn in Friendship 7; the landmark docking of Apollo and Soyuz; the scientific breakthrough of Skylab; the horrific Challenger disaster; plus so many more of the dramatic events in NASA’s 50 year history. What’s more, this highly informative special edition offers so many fascinating stories you might never see—the launch and retrieval of satellites; behind-the-scenes on a space station; the true story of spy satellites; travel beyond Mars–this is the most complete, entertaining and educational presentation of the amazing history of America’s space exploration available! NASA: 50 YEARS OF SPACE EXPLORATION is an extraordinary collectible, a brilliant combination of adventure story, science, history and more—perfect for the whole family! But, above all, these profiles in courage, the stories of brave men and women who proudly served their country in a bold new journey of space discovery. HISTORY OF THE SPACE SHUTTLE: Columbia’s autonomous journey around the Earth during February 1981 opened a new chapter in space exploration. The advent of a “spaceworthy” vehicle severed our dependence upon “Mission Control,” and placed the emphasis upon the new vistas observed by the astronauts themselves. The Space Shuttle represented the culmination of more than a century’s worth of thought and technological experimentation. This 5-DVD collection features hours of rare archival film and photographs dating back to the pioneering efforts of the 1960s that paved the way for Challenger’s ascent. After placing NASA’s “Space Workhorse” in context, History of the Space Shuttle takes you behind the scenes of every mission the vessels have undertaken during the past three decades. These years have been intensely dramatic ones for the program, as scientists have struggled to cope with new contingencies that the founders of rocket propulsion never dreamed of encountering. The march of progress has never been particularly smooth, and this series does not flinch from examining the tragic aspects of the Space Shuttle saga—including the horrific disintegration of Challenger an mere 16 minutes from home on February 1st 2003. Whether you are an aficionado of the space program or merely dipping into its lore, this extraordinary set features material that will open your eyes and pique your interest.

Dances with Wolves (20th Anniversary Extended Cut) [Blu-ray]
Directed by Kevin Costner
Average customer review:

Kevin Costner stars in and directs this triumphant masterpiece written by Michael Blake, based on his novel. On Blu-ray for the very first time, this breathtaking 20th Anniversary Edition includes an extended cut of the film and all-new exclusive extras. Winner of seven Academy Awards®, including Best Directing and Best Picture, this modern classic tells the story of Lt. Dunbar (Costner), a Civil War hero who befriends a tribe of Sioux Indians while stationed at a desolate outpost on the American frontier. What follows is a series of unforgettable moments – from Dunbar’s tender scenes with Stands With A Fist (Mary McDonnell), to the thrilling, action-packed buffalo hunt. Experience the excitement, emotion and sweeping beauty of this cinematic treasure as never before on Blu-ray!

Clint Eastwood Collection
From Warner Home Video
Average customer review:

As both an actor and a director, Clint Eastwood has had a string of unparalleled critical and commercial successes, from his trademark Westerns to the Dirty Harry action films. This set of six Eastwood films captures the actor as both cowboy and cop, from the 1970s to the '90s. Eastwood ventured into new territory with 1971's The Beguiled, a creepy and seductive thriller about an injured Civil War soldier who causes strife at an all-girls school. While there, he tempts an innocent girl (Elizabeth Hartman), and engages in an unnerving battle of the minds with the school headmistress (Geraldine Page, at her tortured best). The same year, Eastwood burst onto screens with Dirty Harry. This action blockbuster introduced the world to Harry Callahan while making waves with its aggressive violence and nonstop thrills. Eastwood himself helmed the vigilante Western The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) as well as the comedy Bronco Billy (1980), which films show Eastwood at different ends of the cowboy spectrum: a vengeful family man seeking revenge and an amiable traveling showman who runs a Wild West extravaganza, respectively.

With his Oscar-winning film Unforgiven, Eastwood showed himself as the master of the revisionist Western, crafting a morally complex tale of Western justice that turns the notion of good guys and bad guys on its head. And he proved he still had star status with the thriller In the Line of Fire, playing an aging FBI agent who takes on a cunning psycho (John Malkovich) determined to assassinate the president. While this selection doesn't feature any Sergio Leone Westerns or Eastwood's later acclaimed dramas, it remains a great snapshot of a long and illustrious career.

The John Wayne Collection
Directed by Robert N. Bradbury

John Wayne is without a doubt the quintessential All-American hero. Strong, silent, frank and rugged, he personified the ways of the Wild West and beyond, becoming an institution both on the big screen and in real life. The challenge for many fans became pinpointing where the character ended and where Wayne began! Now for the first time, 15 of “Duke’s” classic early works are all compiled in one stunning collector’s tin. These five DVDs contain great westerns from his heyday in the 1930s and will guarantee hours of gun-slinging entertainment. With timeless works like Dawn Rider, The Desert Trail and West of the Divide, you can take a piece of the old west home today! Films include: Blue Steel, Lawless Range, The Dawn Rider, Lucky Texan, Man from Utah, Texas Terror, Rainbow Valley, The Star Packer, The Desert Trail, Riders of Destiny, Randy Rides Alone, The Trail Beyond, West of the Divide, Winds of the Wasteland, Paradise Canyon

Once Upon a Time in America [Blu-ray]
Directed by Sergio Leone
Average customer review:

Once Upon a Time in America has a checkered history, having been chopped from its original 227-minute director's cut to 139 minutes for its U.S. release. This longer edition benefits from having the complete story (the short version has huge gaps) about turn-of-the-century Jewish immigrants in America finding their way into lives of crime, as told in flashback by an aging Jewish gangster named Noodles (Robert De Niro). On the other hand, it's almost four hours long, and this sometimes-indulgent Sergio Leone film is no Godfather. Still, it is notable for the contrast between Leone's elegiac take on the gangster film and his occasional explosive action, as well as for the mix of the stoic, inexpressive De Niro and the hyperactive James Woods as his lifelong friend and rival.

Robinson Crusoe on Mars (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]
Directed by Byron Haskin
Average customer review:

Although it is a thoughtful and surprisingly nonexploitative movie, the title Robinson Crusoe on Mars might conjure up unholy echoes of cross-pollinated genre movies such as Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter or Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. Well, don't worry. This 1964 space epic is in fact an adaptation of the classic Daniel Defoe novel, and it plays fair by logic and science. After his spaceship crash-lands on Mars, astronaut Paul Mantee must figure out how to survive on the hostile planet (shot mostly in Death Valley), aided only by a monkey from his ship. Director Byron (The War of the Worlds) Haskin's sober approach brings a refreshing emphasis to issues of survival--how many space travel movies have you seen where the traveler tests the air of a distant planet and discovers that, by George, he can breathe just fine? Not this one. Mantee's desperate methods of tracking his air flow and experimenting with methods of breathing are painstakingly explored, and seem like exactly the kind of problems a real planetary voyager would encounter. The second half of the picture cleverly blends Defoe's plot with sci-fi conventions, and the movie never does "dumb down."

The Criterion Collection's DVD of Robinson Crusoe on Mars is a handsome treatment of a minor classic. A commentary track stitches together comments from a variety of participants, including Mantee, Haskin (in a 1979 interview), and original screenwriter Ib Melchior (disagreements between Haskin and Melchoir are included). A featurette, Destination--Mars gives some of the "science fact" behind the movie, and excerpts from Melchoir's original treatment show suggest changes made. And a "music video" puts movie clips alongside a song written and performed by co-star Victor Lundin, a number he developed for his appearances at sci-fi conventions.

Relate Links:

Cheap New DVD Movies
DVD Releases
DVD releases UK
DVD releases CA

DVD Releases January 4 2011

2011-01-04T12:42:00.000+07:00

From New DVD Releases January 4 2011 & Buy Cheap New DVD Movies January 4 2011

Movie & TV DVD Releases this week. January 4 2011

Dinner for Schmucks
Directed by Jay Roach
Average customer review:

Steve Carell, whose gift for playing dumb yet remaining sympathetic is unparalleled, and the astoundingly likable Paul Rudd make an excellent comedy team in Dinner for Schmucks. Tim (Rudd, I Love You, Man) gets invited to take part in a game his boss plays every year: each of his executives has to bring a perfect idiot to dinner; the biggest loser wins an award and the executive who brought him gets a promotion. Tim's girlfriend thinks the idea is appalling, and Tim reluctantly agrees--until he literally runs into Barry (Carell), an obtuse IRS agent who makes dioramas with stuffed dead mice. Barry is so perfect for the game that Tim can't resist inviting him to dinner--but by inviting Barry into his life, Tim loses control of everything he wants as Barry's bumbling attempts to help go hopelessly awry. Dinner for Schmucks has its share of broad slapstick, but what may surprise some viewers is the mix of verbal wit and elegant visual jokes (some of Barry's dioramas are both funny and truly beautiful). The movie's farcical formula is familiar and threadbare, but Rudd and Carell give it genuine heart as well as humor and the supporting performances from Jemaine Clement (Eagle vs. Shark), Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover), and Kristin Schaal (Flight of the Conchords) are all deliriously funny. A loose but honorable remake of the French comedy The Dinner Game.

Machete
Directed by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis
Average customer review:

As a tribute to both the hyperbolic excesses of 1970s drive-in cinema and the fearsome screen persona of veteran character actor Danny Trejo, producer-writer-codirector Robert Rodriguez's Machete is, in grindhouse parlance, one mean mother. A full-length version of Rodriguez's faux "Mexsploitation" trailer in Grindhouse, Machete sketches, in the boldest strokes possible, the adventures of its titular hero (Trejo), a former federal agent turned day laborer after losing his wife and child to a katana-wielding drug lord (Steven Seagal, of all people). Recruited by shady businessman Jeff Fahey (Lost) to assassinate a rabble-rousing senator (Robert De Niro) with a particular hate vibe for immigrants, Machete soon finds himself the target of government agents, border vigilantes (led by Don Johnson!), and about half the state of Texas. Unfortunately, none seem to realize the film's central thesis: Machete's business is killing, and business is booming.

Viewers expecting subtlety or even story coherence in Machete should probably check out another movie; the script by Rodriguez and cousin Alvaro leaves no genre cliché or absurd scenario untouched, resulting in less of a plot than a collection of over-the-top set pieces, dialogue, and casting stunts (Johnson, Lindsay Lohan as Fahey's libertine daughter, and Rodriguez regulars Cheech Marin, Daryl Sabara, Tom Savini, Michael Parks, and an uncredited Rose McGowan). Most of the cast seems in on the joke, most notably a gleefully over-the-top De Niro and Michelle Rodriguez as a taco truck operator/revolutionary leader who borrows her look from the infamous Thriller: A Cruel Picture (Jessica Alba is also on board as a sympathetic fed who becomes Machete's love interest). Though it's occasionally overlong and unnecessarily convoluted, the film's value rests on how well it allows star Danny Trejo to exude his steely, implacable Danny Trejo-ness; on those merits alone, Machete is a blockbuster.

Catfish
Directed by Ariel Schulman Henry Joost
Average customer review:

The slipperiness of truth and lies on the Internet gets played out in unexpected ways in the documentary Catfish. When Nev Schulman receives a painting based on a photograph of his from an 8-year-old girl named Abby in Michigan, he doesn't realize this is going to lead to a long-distance romance with Abby's older sister Megan… and that this romance, conducted over the phone and the Internet, will lead to something far more troubling. It would be unfair to reveal more details of Catfish, as the process of discovery is one of its pleasures--but even if you do know the sequence of events, the movie's ultimate reward is not the revelation of secrets but the surprising and very human interactions of the movie's last third. While there is a thriller aspect to the movie--and the suspense at points is indeed nail biting--the revelation isn't the bang that Hollywood movies lead you to expect. Instead, Catfish turns sad, unsettling, and sure to inspire arguments about motivations and human nature.

Case 39
From Paramount
Average customer review:

A top-notch cast led by Renée Zellweger meets Hollywood's newest member of the Evil Little Girl army in the long-gestating supernatural thriller Case 39. Zellweger is a concerned social worker who takes in young Jodelle Ferland (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse) after she is nearly roasted alive by her foster family. She soon discovers that the girl possesses a wide array of unpleasant abilities, from the prerequisite foul mouth and bad attitude to devastating powers of suggestion, which bring untimely ends to most of the cast. Director Christian Alvart (Pandorum), working once again with his talented Antibodies cinematographer Hagen Bogdanski, delivers a suitably creepy-looking film but can do nothing with Ray Wright's inert, derivative script (Wright also penned the equally DOA remakes of Pulse, 2006, and The Crazies, 2010). What's left is a smattering of shocks and straight-faced turns by such capable vets as Zellweger, Ian McShane, Bradley Cooper, Cynthia Stevenson, and Callum Rennie. Horror fans will find more compelling kiddie chills in The Omen, The Exorcist, or even 2009's Orphan.

Yellow Handkerchief
Directed by Udayan Prasad
Average customer review:

A love story at its core, THE YELLOW HANDKERCHIEF is about three strangers of two generations who embark on a road trip through post-Katrina Louisiana. Along the way, relationships forge and change in a myriad of ways, leading to the possibility of second chances at life and love. The film is loosely based on a short story by renowned writer Pete Hamill. Brett Hanson (William Hurt) is an ex-convict, just released from prison after serving six years for manslaughter and now adrift in a world of new freedoms and responsibilities. Finding initial difficulties in reconciling himself to a troubled past, Brett crosses paths with lonely and troubled teenager Martine (Kristen Stewart) and her new 'ride' Gordy (Eddie Redmayne). The trio head out in the same car and direction Martine to cut loose and get away from her family, Gordy to get closer to Martine, and Brett, who must decide whether he wants to return to his troubled past and an uncertainty with May (Maria Bello), the woman he left behind.

Visa Dream
Directed by Jorge Meraz
Average customer review:

"Visa Dream" is a documentary of a couple from Southern Mexico who apply for a U.S. Visa in order to visit their children whom they have not seen in 16 years. It is an expensive and time consuming gamble and this documentary shows the drama along the way. Learn more about this divided family situation as well as the challenges that face about 6 million applicants each year trying to get a USA tourist visa. Lots of extra features including extended interviews and director/producer commentary. Produced by Centurion5 Ad Agency Director - Jorge Meraz Producer - Steven Javitz

Backdraft (Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray]
Directed by Ron Howard
Average customer review:

A somewhat contrived screenplay doesn't stop this thriller from serving up some of the most spectacular fire sequences ever committed to film. Like any Ron Howard production Backdraft is impressively slick and boasts a stellar cast, including Kurt Russell and William Baldwin. The actors play sibling rivals who have been at odds since the death of their firefighter father years earlier. Robert De Niro is the veteran fire inspector who is tracking a series of mysterious and deadly arsons, and Donald Sutherland is effectively creepy as the former arsonist who understands the criminal psychology of pyromaniacs. Rebecca De Mornay, Scott Glenn, and Jennifer Jason Leigh are featured in supporting roles. Backdraft is a triumph of stunt work and flaming special effects.

The Last Exorcism
Directed by Daniel Stamm
Average customer review:

Just when you thought it was safe to see another shaky, handheld, faux-documentary horror movie… along comes The Last Exorcism to raise the creep factor. Supposedly we are watching a documentary crew tagging along after one Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian), a hell-raising preacher who sidelines in exorcisms. He's got a leather-bound volume full of dire drawings and incantations, and he knows the rubes just eat this kind of stuff up. Now Cotton has vowed to expose his own gimmicks for the camera, so he journeys to backwoods Louisiana to answer the call to save a putatively possessed girl--the better to debunk his own methods, once and for all, and get out of the exorcism business. Sounds like nothing could possibly go wrong. Then we meet the Sweetzer family: bible-thumping papa (Louis Herthum), not-quite-right son Caleb (eerie Caleb Jones), and possessed daughter Nell (Ashley Bell). Someone's been mutilating the farm's livestock, and dear little Nell has the vacant stare and sweet smile of a demon child. Director Daniel Stamm wisely allows the buildup to go on and on in non-hyped fashion, letting the sense of reality increase with each scene--the better to unleash the mayhem in the second half of the movie. It all goes over the top, and obviously the "found footage" gimmick has long since become a cliché that you either go along with or reject. But the climax is enough to warm the heart of any self-respecting fan of devil movies, and The Last Exorcism is distinguished by some very good performances, especially TV veteran Patrick Fabian, who creates a deft, funny, full-blooded character.

Ever After: A Cinderella Story [Blu-ray]
From Fox
Average customer review:

Take away the Fairy Godmother, and what have you got left from the Cinderella fable? The story of a girl for whom a bad stroke of luck is no match for her internal strength and purity of heart. Drew Barrymore plays Cinderella's alleged inspiration, Danielle, in this romantic drama that purports to tell the "facts" behind the Grimm brothers' story. One of three daughters of a man (Jeroen Krabbé) who dies and leaves her fate in the hands of a conniving stepmother (Anjelica Huston), Danielle is cast into the lowly role of a servant. Meanwhile, her sisters are evaluated as possible mates for a French prince (Dougray Scott), but he's far more intrigued with Danielle's intelligence and beauty--not to mention her way with a sword and fist. Directed by Andy Tennant (who directed Barrymore in TV's The Amy Fisher Story), Ever After has that rare ability to win the heart and mind of a viewer simply by being committed to its own innocence, particularly where Barrymore's luminous performance is concerned. A contemporary take on an old, virtually forgotten Hollywood convention--the costume adventure with middling artistic ambition but real audience appeal--Ever After is a surprisingly delightful film.

Relate Links:

Cheap New DVD Movies
DVD Releases
DVD releases UK
DVD releases CA

DVD Releases December 28 2010

2010-12-28T15:09:00.001+07:00

From New DVD Releases December 28 2010 & Buy Cheap New DVD Movies December 28 2010

Movie & TV DVD Releases this week. December 28 2010

The American
Directed by Anton Corbijn
Average customer review:

Control's Anton Corbijn gives the crime film a distinctly European twist in this understated thriller (think The Day of the Jackal). A trim George Clooney plays Jack, a hit man who relocates from Sweden to Italy after assailants try to take his life. Jack's handler (Johan Leysen) advises him not to make any friends, which proves easier said than done. Ensconced in medieval Abruzzo, the assassin passes himself off as a photographer (in Martin Booth's novel, A Very Private Gentleman, he claimed to be an illustrator), but he's actually customizing an assault rifle for Mathilde (Thekla Reuten), his female counterpart. Upon his excursions through town, Jack meets Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli), who senses he has something to confess--"A priest sees everything," he explains--but Jack would prefer to share a brandy. He also befriends Clara, a prostitute (Violante Placido, perfectly comfortable with onscreen nudity). What starts out as a sexual relationship deepens as Jack's sensitive side--he has a thing for butterflies--emerges, but then the Swedes discover his hiding place, and Jack develops doubts about his lady friends, leading to a showdown that plays like a scene from an old Western, a debt Corbijn acknowledges when Jack chances upon a broadcast of Once upon a Time in the West. If the conclusion doesn't cut as deep as the director intends, his admirable restraint throughout keeps the tension at a low boil, while Clooney tamps down his charisma to play a dogged professional with redemption on his mind.

Resident Evil: Afterlife
Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson
Average customer review:

In Paul W.S. Anderson's Resident Evil: Afterlife, the fourth entry in the seemingly endless action-science fiction horror franchise based on the popular Capcom video game series, plot, dialogue, and character development all remain secondary considerations: What's key here are the set pieces that allow Milla Jovovich to unleash maximum damage to virally infected zombies, villainous henchmen, and just about anyone else who stands in the way of her stopping the shadowy Umbrella Corporation. Jovovich retains the blend of grit and pulchritude that have made her a fanboy favorite (though said viewers may decry the film's bit of shower-scene interruptus), and she's well supported by returning cast members Ali Larter and Boris Kodjoe (Undercovers) and Prison Break's Wentworth Miller, who, as Claire's brother, is back behind bars in a postapocalyptic jail overrun by plague zombies. Those looking for more than what the Resident Evil franchise is designed to provide--souped-up, B-movie thrills--are advised to lower their expectations; franchise devotees should be pleased, especially by the film's final scene, which (naturally) sets up another sequel.

Legendary
Directed by Mel Damski
Average customer review:

Cal Chetley is an extremely bright, engaging, undersized fifteen year-old. He's been picked on most of his life primarily because he's always been a little different. Mike, Cal's older brother (WWE Superstar John Cena) and one time world-class high school/collegiate wrestler, left him and his mother behind years ago after a tragic car accident killed their father...an accident to this day Mike feels responsible for. Hoping to revive a relationship long since forgotten, Cal joins his high school wrestling team in the hopes his brother will train him. More importantly, Cal uses wrestling as the tool to reunite his family.

And Soon the Darkness
Directed by Marcos Efron
Average customer review:

Stephanie (Amber Heard) and Ellie’s (Odette Yustman) vacation to an exotic village in Argentina is a perfect ‘girl’s getaway’ to bask in the sun, shop and flirt with the handsome locals. After a long night of bar-hopping, the girls get into an argument, and Stephanie heads out alone in the morning to cool off. But when she returns, Ellie has disappeared. Finding signs of a struggle, Stephanie fears the worst, and turns to the police for help. But the local authorities have their hands full already - with a string of unsolved kidnappings targeting young female tourists. Skeptical of the sheriff’s competency, she enlists help from Michael (Karl Urban), an American ex-pat staying at their hotel. Together they go on a frantic search for Ellie, but Stephanie soon realizes that trusting his seemingly good intentions may drag her farther from the truth. With danger mounting, and time running out, Stephanie must find her friend before darkness falls.

WWE: Bobby "The Brain" Heenan
Average customer review:

Fans loved to boo Bobby Heenan but despite their vocal displeasure with The Weasel, everyone acknowledges he's the greatest manager in the history of sports entertainment. He guided members of the infamous Heenan Family to great heights in both the AWA and WWE, even occasionally stepping into the ring himself. He also further cemented his place in pro wrestling lore by becoming one of the great color commentators of all time, completely earning his 2004 induction into the WWE Hall of Fame. Now, for the first time ever, fans can relive the Brain s magnificent career in Bobby The Brain Heenan, a 2-disc DVD that tells the life story of Heenan as well as collects his most famous matches, interviews, and moments.

Derailed [Blu-ray]
Directed by Mikael Håfström
Average customer review:

With a nasty villain and a plot twist that will take many viewers by surprise, Derailed is the kind of potboiler that's enjoyable in spite of its flaws. It's basically two-thirds of a good movie, with a convincing set-up and a barely plausible payoff that... well, you've just got to see it and decide for yourself. Like Fatal Attraction, it's a good-enough thriller that turns infidelity into every man's nightmare, beginning when Charles (Clive Owen), a well-to-do Chicago advertising director with a sickly, diabetic daughter and a slightly troubled marriage, has a chance encounter with Lucinda (Jennifer Aniston), a lovely and quick-witted financial advisor who's also stuck in a marital rut. Their chemistry is instant (between both characters and stars), but their eventual hotel tryst is interrupted by a mugger (French actor Vincent Cassel at his vile, despicable best) who's out to milk Charles for every dollar he's got. Of course, one phone call to the police would solve everyone's problems, but as he did with Collateral (albeit more convincingly), screenwriter Stuart Beattie turns up the tension with such manipulative skill that you're willing to skate past the plot holes and go along for the ride. With lively supporting performances by rappers Xzibit and RZA, Derailed marks a commercially slick American debut for Swedish director Mikael Håfström, whose 2003 thriller Evil was a Best Foreign Film Oscar®-nominee.

Battlestar Galactica: Razor [Blu-ray]
Directed by Félix Enríquez Alcalá
Average customer review:

Battlestar Galactica: Razor was an oasis for BSG fans--when the double-length episode aired in November 2007, it was the only new material broadcast during the 12-month gap between seasons 3 and 4. But although it sets up some events in season 4, chronologically Razor is a prequel taking place within season 2, when Galactica had unexpectedly met up with a fellow Battlestar, Pegasus. The central character is new, Kendra Shaw (Stephanie Jacobsen), who becomes the XO after Lee Adama (Jamie Bamber) takes command of the Pegasus. Shaw's promotion is controversial among Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff) and others because Shaw learned the trade under the previous commander of the Pegasus, Admiral Cain (Michelle Forbes), who lived by her own wartime rules. The central conflict in Razor involves the Pegasus trying to rescue a Raptor crew from the Cylons. During the mission Shaw flashes back to 10 months earlier, and her experiences in the immediate aftermath of the Cylons' wipeout of Caprica influence how she handles this mission and its implications of a new Cylon-human hybrid. Razor is a riveting adventure, full of the top writing, great acting, and dark end-of-humanity vision that makes Battlestar Galactica the best show on television (that is, when it's actually on). Fans will also enjoy the appearance of old-school Cylons, and the revelation that Gaius is not the only one who fell for the wiles of Number 6 (Tricia Helfer).

Shinobi - Heart Under Blade [Blu-ray]
Directed by Ten Shimoyama
Average customer review:

Equal parts Romeo and Juliet and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Shinobi offers breathtaking cinematography, appealing actors, and ninjas. What more could a movie fan ask for? Released in 2005, Shinobi is set in 17th century Japan, which is dominated by two powerful clans. Oboro is a member of the Iga clan, while her lover Gennosuke is the son of the leader of the Koga clan. Both groups are comprised of expert ninjas who have developed skills unknown to most mortals. When Oboro and Gennosuke meet, they are unaware that by their birthrights, they are meant to hate--not love--each other. When the nefarious Shogun--eager to increase his own power by doing away with both clans--announces that each faction will send in five ninjas to fight to the death, Oboro and Gennosuke are sent in to battle against each other for the honor of their clans. Filled with action (including some computer-generated images to enhance the actors' warrior-like qualities) and romance, Shinobi has the makings of a sweeping epic. Though based on an anime series, the film succeeds as a stand-alone piece of work. Beautifully filmed and well-acted, the film is exciting and heartbreaking, and the viewer senses both hope and doom all the way through the finale.

Ragnarok: The Complete Box Set S.A.V.E.
Directed by Tyler Walker

Want to add to your collection without breaking the bank? A great evil is sweeping over the realm, an evil that the young swordsman Roan and his life-long companion, the acolyte Yufa, must face head on! For these two travel toward their destiny, from the highest towers to the depths of the underworld, through forest and desert alike. With an ever-growing cast of fellow heroes, fate will grasp these travelers by their very souls and propel the band of skilled adventurers towards a noble end. Or ignoble, if they don’t watch their step! Monsters are afoot and the way rife with danger and magic, the path forward may be unclear… But where will is strong, there is a way! Lessons wait in the depths of darkness, and good must prevail. The journey starts now!

Relate Links:

Cheap New DVD Movies
DVD Releases
DVD releases UK
DVD releases CA

DVD Releases December 21 2010

2010-12-21T13:00:00.000+07:00

From New DVD Releases December 21 2010 & Buy Cheap New DVD Movies December 21 2010

Movie & TV DVD Releases this week. December 21 2010

Salt
Directed by Philip Noyce
Average customer review:

Angelina Jolie confirms her status as action-heroine supreme in the sinewy thriller Salt. Evelyn Salt (Jolie) is a respected high-ranking CIA agent… until a defecting Russian operative declares that she's a Russian mole in deep cover, launching her on the most delicious chase sequence since the Bourne movies. When the film's over you'll realize the motivations for much of what happened didn't make much sense, but while the movie's going on the pell-mell pace will brush such concerns from your mind. Director Phillip Noyce (Patriot Games, Dead Calm) has a gift for staging action sequences you can actually follow moment to moment, which is infinitely more engaging than frenzied editing that blurs everything into cattle-prod jolts--the movie's first third is top-notch orchestration. Jolie's star magnetism provides the cool, calm axis around which everything else revolves; the sturdy supporting performances of Liev Schreiber (The Manchurian Candidate) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Inside Man, Dirty Pretty Things) give enough heft to the plot to keep you from questioning anything. Salt is an old-fashioned entertainment, a skillfully made mechanism with enough grace notes to let it breathe and catch you by surprise.

Easy A
Directed by Will Gluck
Average customer review:

Easy A is a frothy, fizzy, and funny romantic comedy for teens--and adults will love it too. Not since Clueless has a high-school heroine been able to delight both audiences, and Easy A's Olive (the sparkling Emma Stone) is a stellar young star. But Easy A benefits from a great script by writer Bert V. Royal and assured direction by TV veteran Will Gluck. Olive is a smart girl happy to stay in the shadows of high school, until her good friend, Brandon (Dan Byrd), who's gay, begs her to pretend to have sex with him so the rest of the school will stop picking on him. She obliges, but soon she picks up not one but two reputations--as the girl who sleeps around, and, on the down-low, as the girl who'll pretend to sleep with a guy so he won't be branded a virgin. Soon Easy A's complications pile up higher than the entrance of Olive's high school, and her two story lines, neither of which reflects the real Olive, take on lives of their own. There are backlashes and blacklists and repercussions galore. "I always thought pretending to lose my virginity would feel a little more special," muses Olive. "Judy Blume should have prepared me for that." Stone is accompanied by a strong supporting cast: Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as her bemused parents, Gossip Girl's dreamy Penn Badgley, the freshly unretired Amanda Bynes, Thomas Haden Church, Lisa Kudrow, and Malcolm McDowell. And it's to the cast's and the writer's credit that the audience is kept engaged, and guessing, till the very end. Easy A should be awarded exactly that.

Step Up 3
Directed by Jon Chu
Average customer review:

Step Up 3D capitalizes both on the compelling dance moves of the first two films in the series, as well as on the trend toward using 3D in full-length feature films. And the idea to present a high-energy dance film in 3D turns out to be a brilliant use of the technology. Viewers feel as though they're right in the midst of the competitive moves, the sweaty, almost frenzied choreography practically palpable on the screen. Step Up 3D follows a plot arc similar to the first two Step Up films, with urban kids kicking around in the streets, at loose ends but dying to express themselves artistically and physically. The dance numbers are the climaxes worth waiting for and are sprinkled throughout the movie, holding together a thin plot that nevertheless works just fine to get viewers from Dance Point A to B and beyond. Standouts in the young, hip, incredibly talented cast are Rick Malambri as Luke, the Australian hot-body Sharni Vinson as Natalie, and Keith Stallworth as Jacob--but the entire cast is eye-popping eye candy when they do their gravity-defying hip-hop moves. Luke and Natalie and Adam Savani as Moose take on a world-ranked dance group where the competition is heightened, tensions erupt, and the stakes couldn't be higher. Step Up 3D is reminiscent of films like Bring It On and even TV shows like Glee in which talented young people struggle in their art and in their personal lives--but the payoff for the characters, and the viewers, comes in their impossibly watchable performances at the end. Step Up 3Dhas plenty to root for and is family friendly except for the youngest viewers. Don't be surprised if you feel like busting a move as you get deep into the dance showdown.

Devil
Directed by John Erick Dowdle Drew Dowdle
Average customer review:

Five people trapped in an elevator, and one of them is the Devil--it's an intriguing launch pad for a movie, and in the hands of producer M. Night Shyamalan, it has all the makings of a first-class supernatural thriller. Unfortunately, Shyamalan's concern is more with the mechanics of the story--how to pull off that celebrated final-act switcheroo--than in presenting flesh-and-blood characters or dialogue that reeks of pulp. There's a moral high-handedness to the proceedings that's also off-putting--there's a reason why these five strangers are trapped in the lift, and why Detective Messina (the very likable Chris Messina from Julie & Julia) is summoned to rescue them, and why every character is set in motion in Shyamalan's Skinner box of a plot, but it hinges on very well-worn territory, which bites deeply into the story's novel conceit. The cast is uniformly fine--in addition to Messina, there are fine turns by such underrated actors as Bokeem Woodbine, Jenny O'Hara, Geoffrey Arend (in the elevator), and Matt Craven and Caroline Dhavernas (outside)--and the direction by John Erick Dowdle (Quarantine), who coproduced with brother Drew and Shyamalan, does an impressive job of keeping the action fluid in the confines of the setting. But the central conceit of Devil is comic book material tarted up as an event picture, which doesn't elicit much hope for the rest of Shyamalan's Night Chronicles trilogy, of which this is the first entry.

Gilmore Girls: Complete Seasons 1&2
From Warner Home Video
Average customer review:

A very atypical mother-daughter relationship is at the center of Gilmore Girls, a comedy-drama that immediately set itself apart from the herd with smarter-than-smart dialogue and an endearing mix of whimsical comedy and family drama. Set in the Capra-esque burg of Stars Hollow, where everybody knows everyone and eccentrics abound, Gilmore Girls was less a mother-daughter show and more of a screwball buddy comedy in which the two buddies happened to be parent and child. Pregnant at 16, Lorelai (Lauren Graham) left her rich parents to bring up her daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel) on her own terms; when Rory herself turns 16, Lorelai wants to send her academically gifted daughter to the prestigious Chilton school. The catch is, Lorelai can't afford it on her own, and rather than let Rory go without, the elder Gilmore girl brokers an uneasy truce with her parents (Edward Herrmann and Kelly Bishop), who finally get a chance to bond with their granddaughter while financing her education.

It sounds like a premise potentially fraught with angst and trauma, but in reality Gilmore Girls was one of the freshest, airiest, most enjoyable shows to air on the perpetually melodramatic WB network, critically praised once viewers got hooked on its unique brand of humor. Rory's growing-up adventures, including her acclimation to snooty Chilton and romance with townie dreamboat Dean (Jared Padalecki), gave the show a teen-friendly feel, but Gilmore Girls was anchored in the adult by the luminous Graham, a brilliant comedic leading lady who could turn dramatic on a dime and never break stride. The show's hallmark was its rat-a-tat, whipsmart dialogue, delivered perfectly by Graham and Bledgel, as well as a host of wacky supporting characters who would go on to become invaluable cast members. The first season allowed the show--and its lead actresses--to bloom gracefully and establish a deep, humorous rapport that lent itself perfectly to weekly travails both comedic and dramatic.

Love was in the air at the beginning of the second season of Gilmore Girls, as both Gilmores found themselves in the midst of perfect, giddy relationships--or so they thought. Lorelai had accepted the proposal of English teacher Max (Scott Cohen) and was excitedly planning her first wedding; Rory was back on happy footing with townie hunk Dean (Jared Padalecki) after a dust-up near the end of season one that prompted a mini-break for the teen twosome. However, series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino had anything but smooth sailing on the horizon for her heroines, giving Lorelai a severe case of cold feet and Rory a major distraction in the form of Jess (Milo Ventimiglia), the bad boy newly arrived in town. Soon, Rory found herself extremely attracted to Jess, while Lorelai rekindled the flame of passion that once burned long ago with Rory's father, Christopher (David Sutcliffe), who made his way back into her life despite a girlfriend in the wings.

After the minor romantic speed bumps of the first season, the introduction of actual conflict into the second season of Gilmore Girls helped give the happy-goofy atmosphere of Stars Hollow a decided tension, as Rory tangled with her emotions over Jess and began the first tiny steps away from her good-girl persona. The episode "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," centered around the annual town auction of picnic baskets, was a wonderful portrait of Rory's conflicting adolescent feelings for both Dean and Jess. However, it was Lorelai's simmering chemistry with former flame Christopher, only hinted at in the first season, that gave the show its energy as well as its heartbreak, culminating in the stellar season finale "I Can't Get Started." But lest you think Gilmore Girls was centered only on romance, the second season also gave the expansive ensemble cast many hilarious moments, ranging from the hallway politics of Rory's private school to the town antics that shaped the Gilmores' daily lives. Through it all, the appealing Bledel and the radiant Graham exuded wit, charm, and a way with snappy patter not seen since the golden days of '30s screwball comedy.

The Matador [Blu-ray]
Directed by Richard Shepard
Average customer review:

Pierce Brosnan gives one of his finest performances in The Matador, a low-key buddy comedy with an agreeably sinister twist. Light-years from his former James Bond image, Brosnan is unshaven, unnerved and unpredictable as freelance assassin Julian Noble, who encounters desperate businessman Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear) in the bar of a modern Mexico City hotel. Danny is intrigued when Julian reveals that he's a "facilitator of fatalities," and his wife "Bean" (Hope Davis) is equally fascinated when Julian shows up unexpectedly, six months later, at Danny's home in Denver. Having lost his touch as a reliable hit-man, Julian needs Danny's help with "one last job," but the logistics of Julian's lethal profession (involving an employer played by Philip Baker Hall) are secondary to writer-director Richard Shepard's offbeat, slightly uneven character study, which gives Kinnear and Brosnan a memorable opportunity to riff on their established screen personas. In making Julian a likable yet tormented drifter who's made a habit of "running from any emotion," Brosnan creates an edgy yet sympathetic character as mysterious as he is fun to be around; if you're going to befriend a hired killer, you could do far worse than a guy like Julian. As Brosnan plays him, he's worthy of a sequel, but The Matador is the kind of entertainingly quirky movie that's a hard act to follow.

Orlando [Blu-ray]
From Columbia Tri-Star
Average customer review:

Breathtaking and practically nondiscursive, Sally Potter's audacious Orlando overcomes some dodgy performances and a narrative structure that could most generously be described as "loose" to emerge as a haunting, discussion-provoking trans-historical and transsexual drama. Commanded never to age by Queen Elizabeth (played with surprisingly little camp by legendary cross-dresser Quentin Crisp), the title character becomes immortal; we then follow Orlando through 400 years of dreamlike British history. Midway through the film, Orlando changes genders--to Potter's immense credit, the transformation is handled with little fanfare and no explanation. Tilda Swinton, in the lead role, is far more convincing as a woman than as a man, and even during the film's latter half, her impassivity and lack of expression can be annoying. Potter encourages Swinton to play to the camera, and the resulting asides and glances askance can be amusing, but often seem purposeless, or even arch. Nevertheless, the willful idiosyncrasy and understatement of the film never quite capsize the project, and once you give yourself over to the filmmaker's logic, the panoramic sweep of the cinematography (remarkable sets include an aristocratic skating party on the frozen Thames during the Great London Frost of 1603, a stunning tent-caravan in Central Asia, and countless fastidious boudoirs and interiors) will surely keep you enraptured. Orlando is no Merchant-Ivory production, no prissy, forgettable period piece; this film has teeth, and it may bite ferociously when you least expect it to. Based on, but scarcely resembling, the Virginia Woolf modernist classic of the same name.

The Films of Rita Hayworth (Cover Girl / Tonight and Every Night / Gilda / Salome / Miss Sadie Thompson)
Directed by Charles Vidor, Curtis Bernhardt, Victor Saville, William Dieterle
Average customer review:

Rita Hayworth, who was born Margarita Cansino, the daughter of Spanish and Irish parents, trained from a young age as a professional dancer and would become one of the more enduring symbols of glamour and sex appeal of her era. As a result of her sultry good looks and talent displayed in every genre, including comedies, dramas, musicals, thrillers, and even westerns, Rita Hayworth became the unmatched Queen of the lot at Sunset and Gower, in Hollywood, and one of Columbia's most important contract stars. By 1940, a picture starring Rita Hayworth guaranteed the highest level of production values and her films are some of the most iconic of their era. Now Sony Pictures and The Film Foundation have teamed again to bring five of her finest films to DVD--three of them for the first time. These films highlight Hayworth's charm, grace and allure as a dancer, dramatic actress, and vamp--while charting the exceptional range of her career. It's a collection that showcases one of Hollywood's most unforgettable stars...and is certain to win her legions of new admirers as well.

Cover Girl-- Rita's gorgeous red hair made her a natural for Technicolor, and her beauty is amply displayed in this musical about a dancer who unexpectedly becomes a magazine cover model. Dance partner and love interest, Gene Kelly (who also served as an un-credited choreographer with Stanley Donen) becomes jealous when her rising celebrity clashes with his ambition. The songs are by Ira Gershwin and Jerome Kern, with supporting actors Phil Silvers, Lee Bowman, Otto Kruger, and Eve Arden rounding out the superb cast.

Gilda-- Gilda (Rita Hayworth), the wife of a casino owner (George Macready) in Buenos Aires, is surprised to be introduced to her husband's new casino manager (Ford), a man from her past. Rita's legendary striptease to "Put the Blame on Mame" is an unforgettable moment in one of the greatest of all film noirs, and the peak of her career--not to mention a searing depiction of one of the most erotic and tortured relationships on film. Directed by Charles Vidor, the film co-stars Joseph Calleia, Stephen Geray and Gerald Mohr.

Miss Sadie Thompson--The fourth screen version of the famed Somerset Maugham story details the arrival of a free-spirited woman to Samoa, where she naturally arouses the interest of the Marines based there (especially sergeant Aldo Ray), as well as the wrath of the fire-and-brimstone preacher (Jose Ferrer) who wants her sent away immediately. Curtis Bernhardt (A Stolen Life) directed the film, which was originally released in 3-D.

Salome-- Rita plays the gloriously beautiful but wicked Salome with relish in this Biblical tale of the stepdaughter of Roman King Herod (Charles Laughton), whose growing lust for his charge leads her to make a very unique demand involving John The Baptist (Alan Badel). William Dieterle (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) directed this lavish production, which also stars Stewart Granger, Dame Judith Anderson and Sir Cedric Hardwicke.

Tonight and Every Night-- This moving picture of life in war-time London is a tribute to those enduring the nightly bombing raids that strafed the city, and Hayworth is radiant as an American showgirl in London. Another gorgeous Technicolor musical and an unusual dramatic role for Rita, based on the real theater troupe who never missed a performance, despite increasingly dangerous circumstances. Victor Saville (Goodbye, Mr. Chips) produced and directed the film, which co-stars Lee Bowman, Janet Blair and Leslie Brooks.

The Virginian - The Complete Season Two - 30 Full Color Episodes! 10 DVD Set in a COLLECTIBLE EMBOSSED TIN!
Average customer review:

The Virginian - The Complete Season Two - 30 full color episodes! Special Embossed Tin! Owen Wister's 1902 western novel The Virginian was one of the first great novels of the American West. Set in the semi-mythical town of Medicine Bow, Wyoming in the 1890s, it chronicled the lives and relationships of the people who came west and settled the wild land. Starring James Drury in the title role, The Virginian was the first 90 minute television western, airing in prime time on NBC from 1962-1971. The stellar cast included Lee J. Cobb, Doug McClure, Gary Clark and Roberta Shore, and each week brought talented guest stars to The Virginian. Season Two's line-up includes Joan Blondell, Broderick Crawford, Everett Sloan, Pat O'Brien, Iron Eyes Cody, Jane Wyatt and many more!

Relate Links:

Cheap New DVD Movies
DVD Releases
DVD releases UK
DVD releases CA

DVD Releases December 14 2010

2010-12-15T16:06:00.000+07:00

From New DVD Releases December 14 2010 & Buy Cheap New DVD Movies December 14 2010

Movie & TV DVD Releases this week. December 14 2010

The Other Guys
Directed by Adam McKay
Average customer review:

Although the comedy team of Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg does not sound like a threat to Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello, they conjure up consistent laughs in The Other Guys, yet another comedy from Talladega Nights director Adam McKay. Ferrell plays a mild-mannered police accountant partnered with Wahlberg's hothead (recently demoted to desk-jockey duty after shooting a very famous Yankee player during the World Series), and both men must endure the showboating fame of a pair of supercops (Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson) in their New York City precinct house. Along with sending up cop-movie clichés, the movie basically exists to give Ferrell and Wahlberg room to work amusing variations on their characters (with grace notes for Michael Keaton's stereotypical tough captain, too). The loosey-goosey structure works especially well when Wahlberg is needling his partner's squareness or marveling, in wonderfully awestruck tones, at the unbelievable hot-i-tude of Ferrell's wife (Eva Mendes)--a discrepancy made all the more maddening because Ferrell seems indifferent to her charms. Throw in a plot about a billionaire Wall Street crook (Steve Coogan) and the revelation of Ferrell's hilariously dark past, and the movie finds a nice zone of silliness. Of course, any Will Ferrell vehicle must be judged by the opportunities for the star to launch into some borderline-surreal riff--and happily, this film comes through. From the moment Ferrell begins deconstructing Wahlberg's lion versus tuna metaphor, The Other Guys manages to find time for such nonsense, and the film--the world in general, for that matter--is the better for it.

The A-Team
Directed by Joe Carnahan
Average customer review:

Give it up to the A-Team: they've always been good at demolishing things in big, big ways. Freed from the confines of the 1980s TV series, the 2010 blockbuster movie version allows the four members of the paramilitary squad to really amp up the mayhem to newly crazed heights. Liam Neeson plays team leader Hannibal Smith (inheriting the cigar-chomping from the show's George Peppard), and pro wrestler Quinton "Rampage" Jackson is "B.A." Baracus, the TV show's most iconic character (insert Mr. T "I pity the fool" joke here). As the vain Face, Bradley Cooper preens in convincing fashion, and District 9 out-of-nowhere star Sharlto Copley plays the unhinged pilot "Howlin' Mad" Murdock. These boys are on the trail of some money-counterfeiting plates, from Bagdad to Germany to places in between. It would be understating it to say that the plot is not of primary importance, although Patrick Wilson has some fun as a CIA official and Jessica Biel occasionally strikes poses as Face's ex-flame, now a military officer displeased with the A-Team's extra-legal shenanigans. The storytelling is insipid and half-hearted--but when it comes to snarky dialogue and two-fisted action scenes, director Joe Carnahan is in his comfort zone. It's reasonably fun watching the working-out of such logistical puzzles as dropping a tank (with crew inside) from a plane, or scattering the main characters on a dockside as cargo containers rain down from a ship looming above them. Good times, although is it asking too much for certain basic laws of physics (if you drop a human body ten stories, for instance, it might actually sustain injuries) to be used as a guideline? But worrying about such matters isn't in the spirit of The A-Team, which cheerfully ignores the petty concerns of credibility and logic.

Nanny McPhee Returns
Directed by Susanna White
Average customer review:

Nanny McPhee Returns is a simultaneously dark and funny film that features the formidable Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson), an ugly woman who has a magical way of helping kids mature and learn proper behavior--even against their will. Based on the Nurse Matilda books by Christianna Brand, Nanny McPhee Returns is not so much a sequel to the first Nanny McPhee film as a second, stand-alone story. While her husband is off fighting in the war, Isabel Green (Maggie Gyllenhaal) has her hands full taking care of her three children (Oscar Steer, Asa Butterfield, and Lil Woods), running the family farm, and refusing the constant entreaties of her brother-in-law (Rhys Ifans) to sell her share of the farm. When two cousins (Eros Vlahos and Rosie Taylor-Ritson) from the city arrive with a healthy disdain for their new surroundings and a better-than-you attitude, things begin to get really out of control. Nanny McPhee appears, as if by magic, and though Isabel won't admit she needs her help, McPhee immediately takes charge, vowing to teach the children five lessons that they simply must learn. While the film is somewhat dark, thanks to the family's monetary hardships and the uncertainty regarding the father's status in the war, it also offers abundant humor in scenes such as the spoiled cousins' arrival at what they call the "British Museum of Poo," and in imaginative gimmicks like an elaborately complicated farm invention dubbed the "Pig Scratch-O-Matic" and a litter of acrobatic piglets who occasionally engage in the art of synchronized swimming. Add in a putty-eating bird, the ever-stern Nanny McPhee with her magical walking stick and her dubious ties to the War Department, and a very scatterbrained shopkeeper (Maggie Smith), and there always seems to be something entertaining to chuckle about. (Ages 7 and older)

Cyrus
Directed by Mark Duplass Jay Duplass
Average customer review:

Mumblecore auteurs the Duplass brothers (Baghead, The Puffy Chair) dip their toes in the precarious waters of Hollywood by casting well-known actors in Cyrus. But their devotion to clumsy, uncomfortable people remains: John (John C. Reilly, Step Brothers) has barely left his apartment in the seven years since Jamie (Catherine Keener, Lovely & Amazing) divorced him, so Jamie demands he come to a party--where, miraculously, he meets Molly (Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler), who seems like the woman of his dreams. Unfortunately, Molly comes with some baggage: her 22-year-old son, Cyrus (Jonah Hill, Superbad). To say Molly and Cyrus are close is an understatement, and John finds himself in a battle of wills with Molly as the prize. The Duplass brothers seek a kind of cinematic simplicity--to call it purity would be too highbrow for these aggressively pedestrian filmmakers--and when it works, it brings the viewer in intimate contact with life in its ordinary, essential glory. When it doesn't work, it's just dull. Despite its flatfooted plot, Cyrus works pretty well. The higher caliber of the cast helps--Reilly, Tomei, Hill, and Keener are all excellent, and much of the movie is genuinely funny. Don't expect elegance, but sometimes, something plain can please.

The Town
Directed by Ben Affleck
Average customer review:

Ben Affleck worked triple-time on The Town, in which he directs, stars, and co-adapts Chuck Hogan's Prince of Thieves. Affleck's Doug MacRay comes from a line of Boston bank robbers. With his father (Chris Cooper) behind bars, he spent most of his childhood in Charlestown with loyal hothead Jem (The Hurt Locker's Jeremy Renner). Doug had a chance to go legit as a pro hockey player, but he threw it away on drugs and bad behavior. After the armed robbery that opens the film, Jem becomes convinced that bank manager Claire (Vicki Cristina Barcelona's Rebecca Hall) saw something, so Doug, who wore a disguise at the time, sets out to make sure she doesn't tell FBI agent Frawley (Mad Men's Jon Hamm) anything incriminating (Titus Welliver plays Frawley's partner). Doug starts by asking Claire out, and finds she's more shaken than stirred--and that he likes her better than Jem's oxy-addicted sister, Krista (Gossip Girl's Blake Lively), his sometime girlfriend. Unfortunately, neither Jem nor vicious enforcer Fergie (Pete Postlethwaite) will cut him loose until he orchestrates two more scores--the last to take place at Fenway Park. If The Town offers fewer surprises than Affleck's directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, he raises the stakes with well-planned heists, nerve-jangling car chases, and deadly shootouts. Though Affleck looks too clean-cut to portray a thug, he gives a nicely understated performance, while Hall proves an inspired choice as a woman who could make a bad guy turn good--or die trying.

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole
Directed by Zack Snyder
Average customer review:

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, 300 director Zack Snyder's debut animated feature, is based on Kathryn Lasky's juvenile novel series Guardians of Ga'Hoole. Soren (voice by Jim Sturgess), a young owl, has grown up listening to his father's stories about the Guardians, a legendary band of heroes who fought to keep owldom free. But when he and his jealous older brother Kludd (Ryan Kwanten) are kidnapped, Soren learns the evil Pure Ones are once again plotting to enslave owlkind. Escaping from their clutches, he and a typically mismatched group of friends set out to find the Guardians, the only owls capable of defeating the Pure Ones. The first feature from the Animal Logic studio since the Oscar-winning Happy Feet, Legend of the Guardians quickly degenerates into an unsatisfying muddle of elements borrowed from Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and The Lion King. The storytelling borders on the inept: The Pure Ones are using bats to create some sort of blue electricity that paralyzes owls, but no one ever explains what it is, how it works, or why the bats created it. The first battle between the Pure Ones and Guardians is presented as an ancient myth, yet many of the participants are still alive. Soren and his friends look up at the stars to navigate their way to the Guardians' island, but when the camera pans down to them flying, the sky is the blue of a summer afternoon. The vocal cast includes Helen Mirren, Miriam Margolyes, and Geoffrey Rush, who somehow manage to read hokey lines like "listen to your gizzard" without snickering. Despite Snyder's elaborate use of swooping 3-D pan shots to energize the visuals, the film feels achingly slow at 91 minutes. Too scary for small children and too clichéd for their older siblings and parents, Legend of the Guardians ranks among 2010's most disappointing animated films. (Rated PG, but suitable for ages 9 and older: considerable violence and grotesque imagery)

Exit Through the Gift Shop
Directed by Banksy
Average customer review:

It wouldn't be in character for British street artist Banksy to reveal all, even in a film about his work--nor would it be legally prudent. Instead, the elusive stencil-master, face concealed via hoodie, shines a light on amateur documentarian Thierry Guetta. Based in Los Angeles, the French-born bon vivant films everything. On a trip to Paris, he follows his cousin Space Invader around as he affixes his video-game mosaics to walls throughout the city. As he says in retrospect, "I liked the danger." A vintage clothing shop proprietor, he decides he's found his new calling and returns to record other artists, like Shepard Fairey, who found fame through his Orwellian "Obey" image, which features André the Giant (Fairey later designed Obama's "Hope" portrait). Through Fairey, Guetta meets Banksy, whose visage remains a mystery. Guetta captures him in his studio, on the streets, and during preparations for his "Barely Legal" exhibit, at which Brad Pitt and Jude Law make appearances, but things fall apart after an ill-fated trip to Disneyland, where Banksy pulls a stunt that references Guantánamo Bay. Afterward, he encourages the videographer to mount his own show, which yields unexpected results. If it seems as if Banksy is making fun of Guetta, he mostly holds a mirror up to hipsters who'll fall for anything deemed cool (like this film). Narrated by Rhys Ifans, Exit preserves Banksy's anonymity while biting the hand that feeds--with wit and humor.

Despicable Me (Minion Madness DVD Double Pack + Digital Copy)
Directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud
Average customer review:

Despicable Me is a compelling animated comedy about an aging supervillain's falling popularity at the hands of a younger supervillain and three young orphan girls. Gru is a true, bad-to-the-core evildoer who's earned the title of the world's No. 1 supervillain. But when young upstart Vector steals the Pyramid of Giza, Gru's status suddenly sinks to No. 2. Gru counters his fall by speeding up his plan to shrink and steal the moon, enlisting the help of his army of minions and the elderly Dr. Nefario, but a lack of funding and the difficulties involved in stealing the needed shrink-ray gun threaten to derail everything. Adopting three young orphan girls is an unlikely, but seemingly effective means to further Gru's evil mission, but Gru quickly discovers that caring for three young girls is more work, and distraction, than he could ever have anticipated. What unfolds is an unexpected shift in attitude that will forever change the lives of Gru, Vector, and all three young girls. A visually appealing film produced by Chris Meledandri (Ice Age, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, and Horton Hears a Who), Despicable Me is full of weirdly shaped characters and settings that are somehow a perfect fit for Sergio Pablos's story. What's especially refreshing is that in this film, 3-D effects are used skillfully and effectively: even when the effects are exploited for comic reasons, they don't become a distraction, as is all too common in many recent movies. The film is full of corny banter and silly antics that inspire plenty of spontaneous laughter, and the minions, while not the best-developed characters, sure are comical. Ultimately, there's also a wholesome message about following one's heart. Steve Carell is the perfect villain-gone-soft in his role as Gru, Jason Segal is quite funny as Vector, and Julie Andrews makes a surprising appearance as Gru's very un-motherly mom. The story isn't new, the humor is relatively juvenile and somewhat forgettable, and it's no Toy Story 3, but Despicable Me celebrates silliness in a way that's satisfying and highly entertaining. (Ages 6 and older)

Hard Boiled [Blu-ray]
Directed by John Woo
Average customer review:

Masterful Hong Kong action director John Woo (The Killer, Face/Off) turns in this exciting and pyrotechnic tale of warring gangsters and shifting loyalties. Chow Yun-fat (The Replacement Killers) plays a take-no-prisoners cop on the trail of the triad, the Hong Kong Mafia, when his partner is killed during a gun battle. His guilt propels him into an all-out war against the gang, including an up-and-coming soldier in the mob (Tony Leung) who turns out to be an undercover cop. The two men must come to terms with their allegiance to the force and their loyalty to each other as they try to take down the gangsters. A stunning feast of hyperbolic action sequences (including a climactic sequence in an entire hospital taken hostage), Hard-Boiled is a rare treat for fans of the action genre, with sequences as thrilling and intense as any ever committed to film.

Relate Links:

Cheap New DVD Movies
DVD Releases
DVD releases UK
DVD releases CA

DVD Releases December 7 2010

2010-12-07T16:20:00.000+07:00

From New DVD Releases December 7 2010 & Buy Cheap New DVD Movies December 7 2010

Movie & TV DVD Releases this week. December 7 2010

Shrek Forever After (Single-Disc Edition)
Directed by Mike Mitchell
Average customer review:

Shrek Forever After delivers laughs, life lessons, and a striking picture of the realities of parenthood in this surprisingly good, fourth Shrek film. Like the original film, this fractured fairytale works because of the humor--it pokes fun at the whole fairytale genre on a multitude of intellectual levels while simultaneously offering visual humor that's appealing to all ages. After a frantic flip through a tongue-in-cheek fairytale book of the first three Shrek films, the scene opens on a beaming Shrek and Fiona as they awaken to a chorus of their noisy children standing at the foot of the bed, and it follows them through a typically hectic day of feeding, diapering, and caring for their children until they collapse into a satisfied heap at the end of the day. One of the funniest bits in the film, at least for adults, is how this scene repeats, faster and faster and in smaller and smaller excerpts, until Shrek's look of bliss slowly turns into a pained, midlife-crisis expression that screams "Help me, I'm trapped in this domestic purgatory and there's no escape in sight." As in any good fairytale, the protagonist's chance for escape comes in the form of a deal with the devil, in this case Rumpelstiltskin. Following in the footsteps of the classic film It's a Wonderful Life, Shrek is granted the opportunity to spend a day in an alternate reality in which he is the independent, terrifying ogre he once was. Of course, the deal carries some very serious, unintended consequences, and Shrek's day of freedom may just cost him Fiona, the children, and even his very existence. Mike Meyers and Cameron Diaz are once again stellar as the voices of Shrek and Fiona; Antonio Banderas is still all swagger despite Puss-in-Boots' now-portly figure and thoroughly domesticated ways; Eddie Murphy remains just as hilarious as in the first film as Donkey, who in this story doesn't recognize Shrek and can't fathom the possibility of a donkey and an ogre becoming friends; and Walt Dohrn is an extremely effective newcomer as the voice of Rumpelstiltskin. Other key players are the Pied Piper, with his new, tricked-out flute; a mob of broom-riding, jack-o'-lantern-throwing witches; an overgrown white goose; and a whole resistance movement of ogres under the command of a most unexpected leader. The battles are fierce and the lesson powerful: learn to appreciate what you've got. While 3-D digital is always nice, most viewers will completely forget that the film is in 3-D after the initial scene, and it will view just as well in the traditional format. (Rated PG, but appropriate for most ages 6 and older)

Inception
Directed by Christopher Nolan
Average customer review:

Science-fiction features often involve time travel or strange worlds. In Christopher Nolan's heist thriller Inception, the concepts converge through the realm of dreams. With his trusty associate, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a fine foil), Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio, in a role that recalls Shutter Island) steals ideas for clients from the minds of competitors. Fallen on hard times, he's become estranged from his family and hopes one last extraction will set things right. Along comes Saito (Ken Watanabe, Batman Begins), who hires Cobb to plant an idea in the mind of energy magnate Fischer (Cillian Murphy, another Batman vet). Less experienced with the art of inception, Cobb ropes in an architecture student (Ellen Page), a chemist (Dileep Rao), and a forger (Tom Hardy) for assistance. During their preparations, Page's Ariadne stumbles upon a secret that may jeopardize the entire operation: Cobb is losing the ability to control his subconscious (Marion Cotillard plays a figure from his past). Until this point, the scenario can be confusing, since the action begins inside a dream before returning to reality. Then, after the team gets to Fischer, three dream states play out at once, resulting in four narratives, including events in the real world. It all makes sense within the rules Nolan establishes, but the impatient may find themselves much like Guy Pearce in Memento: completely confused. If Inception doesn't hit the same heights as The Dark Knight, Nolan's finest film to date, it's a gravity-defying spectacular to rival Dark City and The Matrix.

Lennon NYC
Directed by tbd
Average customer review:

LENNONYC is the story of one of the most famous and influential artists of the Twentieth Century, and how he found redemption not in the public adoration he craved as a youth, but in the quiet and simple pleasures of fatherhood. And, though he wasn't a typical immigrant, his story is certainly an immigrant's tale. Lennon came to New York City in 1971, seeking what every other immigrant who has washed up on its shores has sought: freedom-the freedom to be himself and not 'Beatle John,' the freedom to love without the overwhelming public scorn he and Yoko had suffered in London, and, simply, the freedom to live a normal life.

LENNONYC tells this story with never before-released in-studio recordings, concert film only recently transferred to HD, and a trove of Lennon/Ono compositions-some in versions previously unheard. It also contains interviews with those closest to Lennon during this period in his life-friend and photographer, Bob Gruen; musical collaborator and drummer, Jim Keltner; May Pang, Lennon's companion during his 'lost weekend;'rock superstar, Elton John; and Jack Douglas, the producer of Double Fantasy. LENNONYC also contains one of the most powerful and emotionally direct interviews Yoko Ono has ever given. No film about John Lennon has ever covered this story with the same breadth and depth as LENNONYC.

As the public turns its attention to what would have been Lennon's 70th birthday and the 30th anniversary of his murder LENNONYC uniquely commemorates the life of one of the most important and influential artists of the Twentieth Century-someone whose life and work is as powerful and relevant today as it has ever been

A Dog Year
From Warner Brothers
Average customer review:

From Old Yeller to Marley and Me, movies about people and their dogs have a built-in appeal as long as they contain the basic elements--like funny canine high jinks, a few adorable "aww" moments, and, of course, the opportunity for a good healthy cry. So it is with the slight but winning A Dog Year, author Jon Katz's tale of his relationship with an errant border collie named Devon. When we meet Katz (Jeff Bridges), he's at the airport, having agreed (for reasons not very well illuminated, as is the case with a number of story elements) to add Devon to a brood that already includes two lovely golden retrievers, Stanley and Julius. The dog instantly escapes and runs amok through the terminal--a sure sign of things to come, as he was apparently abused by his previous owner and Katz, whose daughter is away at school and whose wife has temporarily left home, is afflicted with severe writer's block and is too angry and stubborn to train the dog properly. After "the dog from hell," as Jon calls him, proceeds to tear up the house, chase cars, and such, Katz threatens to send him back. But we know that won't happen, especially when the aging Stanley's heart starts to let him down. Soon Katz has relocated to a squalid farmhouse in the country, where he eats butter and processed cheese sandwiches, sleeps on a bare mattress, stares at a blank computer screen, and finally connects with a trainer (Lois Blair) who points out that it's Jon, not Devon, who really needs fixing. Bridges is perfectly cast in this curmudgeonly role, the dogs are all adorable, and while there are no surprises, A Dog Year will surely find favor with dog lovers everywhere.

ESPN Films 30 for 30 Gift Set Collection, Volume 1
Directed by Peter Berg;Barry Levinson;John Singleton;Steve James

In celebration of the ESPN 30th anniversary, ESPN Films presents 30 for 30 , a critically acclaimed series of films from some of todays finest directors. From Barry Levinson & Peter Berg to Steve James, Brett Morgen and Ice Cube, each filmmaker brings their unique perspective to an extraordinary sports story from the last 30 years. The New York Times calls the films entertaining and Time Magazine says it is a thrilling collection. ESPN has nailed it with this gripping series (The Los Angeles Times). Multiple films have received official selections from the Sundance, Toronto, Tribeca and South by Southwest Film Festivals, making this collection of remarkable films a must-have for any film fan. The ESPN 30 for 30 Gift Set, Volume 1, is a 6-disc set that includes the first 15 films from the series: Kings Ransom, The Band That Wouldnt Die, Small Potatoes: Who Killed The USFL?, Muhammad & Larry, Without Bias, The Legend of Jimmy The Greek, The U, Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks, Guru of Go, No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson, Silly Little Game, Run Ricky Run, The 16th Man, Straight Outta L.A. and June 17th, 1994. The Gift Set also includes over 2 hours of bonus features.

Shrek: The Whole Story Boxed Set (Shrek / Shrek 2 / Shrek the Third / Shrek Forever After)
From DreamWorks
Average customer review:

In 2001, the world was introduced to the greatest fairy tale never told. It was the story of a grumpy ogre who just wanted to be left alone and instead was chosen to take the adventure of a lifetime. For 9 years the story of Shrek has been a huge part of film and pop culture and is one of the greatest family film franchises ever. Now, with the 4th and final installment the entire story is being released in a complete box set. It includes a ton of special features including all the holiday specials, which really makes it a true complete collection.

Shrek is a great story because it is a well written parody of the traditional fairy tale. It brings all the traditional fairy tale characters and puts a few hysterical spins on them. (My personal favorite is in S4 when the Pied Piper playes 'Sure Shot' on his flute) Also there is a little bit of hostility to Disney throughout the Shrek Saga, because Dreamworks does consist of a few ex-Disneyites so the jokes are pretty obvious digs. The cast is probably the sagas strong point with Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz. Then you add a ton of other brilliant character actors and comedians and you get comedy gold. The list includes: John Lithgow, John Cleese, Antonio Banderes, Julie Andrews, Justin Timberlake, Larry King, Rupert Everette, Maya Rudolph, Eric Idle, Amy Poeler, Craig Robinson, Meredith Viera and more! Each part of the story is unique, some more likable than others, but if you look at it as a whole it is a great story.

Now that the whole story has been told the true point of the story is not about fairy tales and mythical creatures, but life in general. Shrek goes from meeting his true love to taking care of a family and all the hardships and responsibilities that one encounters. Even though the story is meant to be out of the ordinary there are so many relatable features that can be seen in the characters. Shrek is a masterpiece and a treasure in modern cinema. If you purchase the box set I guarantee it will be one of your greatest treasures.

Fox 75th Anniversary Collection
Directed by Alexander Payne, Andrew Marton, Baz Luhrmann, Bernhard Wicki, Billy Wilder
Average customer review:

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment paints the town diamond white with the release of the Twentieth Century Fox 75th Anniversary Gift Set, a 75-film, three-volume set, highlighting a remarkable, rich and unparalleled heritage of classic films, Academy Award® winners and box office smashes. Each of the three volumes cover 25 years of the studio’s legacy along with an exclusive hard cover book detailing the historic filmmaking of some of the greatest movie stars and directors from yesterday and today.

The massive DVD set features a variety of genres and some of the finest films of all time from South Pacific to Star Wars, Alien to Avatar and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes to The Devil Wears Prada. Among its 46 Academy Award®-winning features, the collection highlights seven Best Picture winners including How Green Was My Valley, All About Eve, The Sound of Music, Patton, The French Connection, Slumdog Millionaire and the DVD debut of Cavalcade.

Videodrome (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]
Directed by David Cronenberg
Average customer review:

Love it or loathe it, David Cronenberg's 1983 horror film Videodrome is a movie to be reckoned with. Inviting extremes of response from disdain (critic Roger Ebert called it "one of the least entertaining films ever made") to academic euphoria, it's the kind of film that is simultaneously sickening and seemingly devoid of humanity, but also blessed with provocative ideas and a compelling subtext of social commentary. Giving yet another powerful and disturbing performance, James Woods stars as the operator of a low-budget cable-TV station who accidentally intercepts a mysterious cable transmission that features the apparent torture and death of women in its programming. He traces the show to its source and discovers a mysterious plot to broadcast a subliminally influential signal into the homes of millions, masterminded by a quasi-religious character named Brian O'Blivion and his overly reverent daughter. Meanwhile Woods is falling under the spell, becoming a victim of video, and losing his grip--both physically and psychologically--on the distinction between reality and television. A potent treatise on the effects of total immersion into our mass-media culture, Videodrome is also (to the delight of Cronenberg's loyal fans) a showcase for obsessions manifested in the tangible world of the flesh. It's a hallucinogenic world in which a television set seems to breathe with a life of its own, and where the body itself can become a VCR repository for disturbing imagery. Featuring bizarre makeup effects by Rick Baker and a daring performance by Deborah Harry (of Blondie fame) as Wood's sadomasochistic girlfriend, Videodrome is pure Cronenberg--unsettling, intelligent, and decidedly not for every taste.

Lost in Translation [Blu-ray]
Directed by Sofia Coppola
Average customer review:

Like a good dream, Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation envelops you with an aura of fantastic light, moody sound, head-turning love, and a feeling of déjà vu, even though you've probably never been to this neon-fused version of Tokyo. Certainly Bob Harris has not. The 50-ish actor has signed on for big money shooting whiskey ads instead of doing something good for his career or his long-distance family. Jetlagged, helplessly lost with his Japanese-speaking director, and out of sync with the metropolis, Harris (Bill Murray, never better) befriends the married but lovelorn 25-year-old Charlotte (played with heaps of poise by 18-year-old Scarlett Johansson). Even before her photographer husband all but abandons her, she is adrift like Harris but in a total entrapment of youth. How Charlotte and Bill discover they are soul mates will be cherished for years to come. Written and directed by Coppola (The Virgin Suicides), the film is far more atmospheric than plot-driven: we whiz through Tokyo parties, karaoke bars, and odd nightlife, always ending up in the impossibly posh hotel where the two are staying. The wisps of bittersweet loneliness of Bill and Charlotte are handled smartly and romantically, but unlike modern studio films, this isn't a May-November fling film. Surely and steadily, the film ends on a much-talked-about grace note, which may burn some, yet awards film lovers who "always had Paris" with another cinematic destination of the heart.

Relate Links:

Cheap New DVD Movies
DVD Releases
DVD releases UK
DVD releases CA

DVD Releases November 30 2010

2010-11-30T13:06:00.000+07:00

From New DVD Releases November 30 2010 & Buy Cheap New DVD Movies November 30 2010

Movie & TV DVD Releases this week. November 30 2010

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
From Summit Entertainment
Average customer review:

The third installment of Stephenie Meyer's blockbuster vampire series is its most action packed, both in terms of fight scenes and human-vampire-werewolf lovin'. In Eclipse, the vampiric Cullen clan and the werewolves--their sworn enemies--unite against an army of "newborn" vampires, whose remnants of human blood in their veins makes them stronger and more uncontrollable, causing a string of murders in the Seattle area. They've been created by the vengeful vampire Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard, taking over for Rachelle Lefevre), still keen on destroying human Bella (Kristen Stewart). Thus, Bella is under careful watch, and her undead love Edward (Robert Pattinson) and werewolf best friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner) spend a lot of time arguing over who is the better man for her. (In one hilarious scene where Bella's freezing and only Jacob has the lupine body heat to warm her, he looks over at Edward and cracks, "I am hotter than you." Go Team Jacob!) But there's more at the heart of the triangle than love: Bella, against Edward's warnings, doesn't want to grow older than him and would willingly give up contact with her parents, the chance to grow old with children, and more to be turned into a bloodthirsty vampire. (Jacob's trump card is that Bella wouldn't have to give up her mortality to be with him.) But the unfolding of this love triangle is even clumsier than it was on the page; you're never really convinced Bella has romantic feelings for Jacob, even during their climactic kiss on top of the mountain. This is likely to confuse non-readers of the book series, as Stewart emotes nothing that intones there's a real competition here (clearly, she's Team Edward).

Pattinson, on the other hand, appears to have overcome his awkwardness to become a much cooler Edward; Howard, while missing Lefevre's mischief as Victoria, brings her own touch of soft-spoken manipulation; and Billy Burke, as Bella's father Charlie, continues to steal every scene he's in. The other Cullens also get far more play here, notably Rosalie (Nikki Reed), whose revealing back story is touching and tragic, and Jasper (Jackson Rathbone), who trains everyone in combat and who, halfway through the movie, adopts a sudden Southern accent that he didn't have before, once it's revealed he was a Confederate soldier (on a side note, it's mentioned in the books that Jasper can calm the emotions of others, but that trait isn't used in the movie). The climactic fight scene is well staged by director David Slade (30 Days of Night, Hard Candy); the violence, while not bloody, is still more abundant and disturbing than in the previous films; and the sex, while not actually happening between anyone (yet), is certainly on everyone's mind (but Edward wants to get married first). It seems the characters, and the series, are growing up.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid
From 20th Century Fox
Average customer review:

The first volume in Jeff Kinney's wildly popular Web and book series hits the screen in this live-action adaptation. The impish Zachary Gordon, who recalls Wonder Years-era Fred Savage, plays Greg Heffley, who enters middle school determined to become class favorite. It won't be easy. His best friend, Rowley (the sweetly funny Robert Capron), is a big, redheaded lug who embarrasses him at every turn. Greg's obnoxious teenage brother, Rodrick (Devon Bostick), advises him to keep his head down, but Greg believes he needs to excel at something to achieve his goal. Smart, but small for his age, he tries wrestling and safety patrolling, but nothing seems to fit. During gym class, he and Rowley meet wise-beyond-her-years newspaper reporter Angie (Chloë Moretz, (500) Days of Summer), who finds popularity overrated. Greg isn't convinced, but the harder he tries, the more boorish he becomes, until even Rowley abandons him. After a humiliating encounter with some high school bullies, though, Greg learns what really matters: self-respect (he also discovers that the dreaded "cheese touch" is just a myth). Berlin-born director Thor Freudenthal (Hotel for Dogs) avoids any dull or sentimental patches, which should please kids and adults alike (an upbeat modern-rock soundtrack doesn't hurt). Rachael Harris and Steve Zahn could use more face time as the terminally un-cool Heffley parents, but Harris's rhythm-impaired moves at the mother-son dance provide one of the best laughs. Kinney fans will also appreciate the way Freudenthal weaves stick-figure drawings from Greg's journal throughout this zippy entertainment.

Vampires Suck (Extended Bite Me Edition) [Blu-ray]
Directed by Jason Friedberg, Aaron Seltzer
Average customer review:

If any pop-culture phenomenon ever deserved a send-up, surely it's the Twilight world, with its overheated vampire love and shirtless teenage werewolves. The moment is seized by Vampires Suck, yet another movie parody from the team of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, the boys behind Disaster Movie and Meet the Spartans. As in their previous spoofs, Friedberg and Seltzer string together some jokes around the plot, a few topical references, and a barrage of irrelevant pop-culture allusions (unless you can figure out how Tiger Woods, the Kardashians, and Lady Gaga are relevant to the proceedings). The first couple of Twilight pictures are rapidly condensed, with heroine Becca (Jenn Proske) moving to a rainy town in Washington and meeting the unnaturally pale Edward Sullen (Matt Lanter), whose vampire clan can hardly keep from draining Becca's blood on the spot. Of course there's also wolf-boy Jacob (Chris Riggi), who reminds Becca that he is contractually obligated to take his shirt off and expose his bare chest (his torso here is more elaborate than in the real Twilight movies) every 10 minutes. That joke is an example of how far Vampires Suck is behind its own audience; the movie hits the obvious points, with plenty of dead air in between. A few gags pay off, including Jacob's werewolf clan (shirtless, natch) breaking out into a dance routine to "It's Raining Men." And Jenn Proske, in her film debut, does a lights-out impersonation of Kristen Stewart's trembling Bella from the series, right down to every last downward glance and stutter. It's a performance that deserves a better setting.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Directed by Jon Turteltaub
Average customer review:

Who doesn't wish they could unleash fire from their fingertips and make mops come to life? The Sorcerer's Apprentice enjoyably captures this fantasy as a young physics student named Dave (Jay Baruchel, She's Out of My League) learns that he's the inheritor of the powers of Merlin--and suddenly finds himself in the middle of a war between two of Merlin's protégés, Balthazar (Nicolas Cage) and Horvath (Alfred Molina, Spider-Man 2). The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a special-effects blockbuster--but it's a pretty good one, not reaching the charmed heights of Pirates of the Caribbean but so much better than Prince of Persia. It runs out of air toward the end, but before that it's jauntily entertaining, with capable dialogue, clever curlicues of plot, and most importantly delightful performances: Cage maintains a light touch, with enough eccentricity to be interesting but not so much that it derails the momentum; Baruchel continues his nerdy hero streak; supporting performances from Toby Kebbell (RocknRolla) and Alice Krige (best known as the Borg Queen from Star Trek) are comic and creepy respectively; Monica Bellucci (Shoot 'Em Up) and Teresa Palmer (Bedtime Stories) are mostly eye-candy but likable nonetheless; and Molina, as ever, is the best thing in the movie, playing silky villainy with effortless aplomb. All in all, good fun.

Beyonce: I Am... World Tour (Deluxe Edition) [DVD/CD]
Beyonce
Average customer review:

108 Shows, 78 Cities, 32 Countries, 6 Continents, 1.1 Million Fans. Beyoncé’s I Am... World Tour captures concert footage from numerous shows edited into one extraordinary concert. Weaved into this concert are highlights that give a rare glimpse into the dynamic and personal world of this multi-faceted icon. Included in this package is a Live CD of the concert, a behind-the-scenes documentary of her life along the tour and a 40-page book of exclusive photos. I Am... World Tour captures not only an unforgettable performance from the superstar singer and entertainer, but showcases her astonishing talent as a filmmaker, director and producer.

Waking Sleeping Beauty
Directed by Don Hahn
Average customer review:

In the decade between 1984 and 1994, the animators at the Walt Disney Studio created an unprecedented string of critical and box-office hits that included The Little Mermaid, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. The documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty offers a rare inside look at the studio's renaissance--and at the internal tensions that led to its subsequent decline. In 1984 a stockholders' revolt brought in a new management team that included Michael Eisner, Frank Wells, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Roy E. Disney (Walt's nephew). In the years after Walt's death, the studio seemed to be sleepwalking, producing well-animated but dull films like The Aristocats and Robin Hood. Instead of asking "What would Walt have done," the new team and their young artists set out to reclaim the Disney legacy of making films that represented the cutting edge of animation, technology, and filmmaking. But the films' success led to quarrels among the executives over who deserved the credit. The death of chief operating officer Frank Wells in 1994 exacerbated these problems. Director Don Hahn (the producer of Roger Rabbit, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King) and Peter Schneider (who headed feature animation) combine clips from the films, behind-the-scenes footage, home movies, and interviews with Eisner, Katzenberg, and Disney to present a fascinating portrait of the rise and fall of an entertainment empire. In addition to its obvious appeal to animation fans, Waking Sleeping Beauty offers object lessons in sensible management and the dangers of corporate gigantism.

Going the Distance
Directed by Nanette Burstein
Average customer review:

Going the Distance sparkles with wit and true romance--something of a rarity among mass-market romantic comedies. Drew Barrymore and Justin Long, who have been a couple in real life, use their personal chemistry to effective ends in the film. They play Erin and Garrett, geography-crossed lovers who, after a whirlwind romance of six weeks in New York ("Keep it light! Keep it light" they both say, futilely), try to see if they can keep the love fires burning when Erin must move to the West Coast. There are predictable pitfalls and speed bumps that populate any romantic comedy, as well as a sublime supporting cast of friends and siblings. Especially notable is Christina Applegate as Erin's sister, Corinne, jaded and hilarious, and fiercely protective of her sister. But the charm of Going the Distance is in the winsomeness of its main stars. Barrymore and Long seem to be acting effortlessly, and their enjoyment of each other's company lets the audience feel a part of the romance. First-time screenwriter Geoff LaTulippe is less focused on zingers that are hard to believe as dialogue, and more on the subtle ways people get to know each other, and enjoy each other--especially with humor. Director Nanette Burstein (documentaries including American Teen and The Kid Stays in the Picture) keeps the action moving deftly and lets the two stars shine--even as they long for one another across the miles. Erin and Garrett's stab at phone sex is laugh-out-loud funny, yet their tender, tentative connection feels real and warm. Going the Distance lets its likable stars cross the finish line, and bring the audience along with them.

Celebrity Nude Revue, The Saucy 70's, Volume 1
From Citrus Cinema
Average customer review:

Remember the 1970s? The Me Decade? It's easy to forget the tough financial times that characterized the 1970s. Times were so tough in fact that a number of the era's most popular actresses went without clothing on a regular basis. Remember Cybill Shepherd in The Last Picture Show, or Julie Christie in Don't Look Now, or Melanie Griffith in Night Moves? All these scenes and more are featured in Celebrity Nude Revue: Best of the Saucy 70's Volume 1. Why, to see all these scenes in their original context, you'd have to watch over sixty films! With this compilation, you can enjoy all these scenes on high quality DVD in the comfort of your home for the price of a single DVD rental!

Fantasia / Fantasia 2000 (Four-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)
Directed by Ben Sharpsteen;Bill Roberts;Don Hahn;Eric Goldberg;Ford Beebe;Francis Glebas;GaÃ«tan Brizzi;Hamilton Luske
Average customer review:

Because of everything involved, the music, the effects, the animation, Fantasia, has to be at the pinnacle. It s a great package. It is really timeless, and it was made well enough to stand the test of time. --Diane Disney-Miller, eldest daughter of Walt Disney

The Blu-ray picture for Fantasia was the most important thing for the studio to get right, and they passed with flying colors. It stands apart, it s so different, it s so unique. I think everyone at the studio knew they were on to something special and unique, but it was years later that it was looked at as a classic. --Walter Disney-Miller, Walt Disney s grandson

Relate Links:

Cheap New DVD Movies
DVD Releases
DVD releases UK
DVD releases CA

DVD Releases November 23 2010

2010-11-23T15:55:00.000+07:00

From New DVD Releases November 23 2010 & Buy Cheap New DVD Movies November 23 2010

Movie & TV DVD Releases this week. November 23 2010

Eat Pray Love
Directed by Ryan Murphy
Average customer review:

Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir of enlightenment gets the deluxe treatment at the hands of Glee creator Ryan Murphy, who bathes every scene in a golden glow. Unaccustomed to being alone, Liz (Julia Roberts) exits her marriage to Stephen (Billy Crudup, quite good) only to enter into an affair with an actor (James Franco, curiously uncomfortable), who introduces her to meditation. Just as her editor, Delia (Doubt's Viola Davis, making the most of a small role), longed to have a baby, Liz has longed to see the world. Delia persuades her to seize the day (plus, money presents no obstacle). First, she travels to Italy, where she noshes from Rome to Naples, making new friends along the way. Then, she heads to an ashram in India, where she meets a bride-to-be and a remorseful man (Richard Jenkins, heartbreaking), who nurture her altruistic side. Her sojourn ends in Bali, where she reunites with Ketut (Hadi Subiyanto, hilarious), the healer who first encouraged her to reassess her situation. While there, she befriends a single mother and a single father (No Country for Old Men's Javier Bardem) who falls for her charms. In an improvement over his version of Running with Scissors, Murphy combines two Oscar winners, two Oscar nominees, and four countries to follow one woman's path to fulfillment. Like Julie and Julia and How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Liz's story becomes more involving as she lets go of the superficial, but Murphy's movie still represents a triumph of escapism over spirituality.

I'm Still Here
Directed by Casey Affleck
Average customer review:

Art prank or self-immolation? I'm Still Here claims to be a documentary about Joaquin Phoenix, star of Walk the Line and Gladiator, as he shucks his film career for a new life as a rapper, transforming himself into a pudgy, sullen, unkempt man-child. The result is a sometimes mesmerizing, sometimes tedious portrait of life within the dehumanizing bubble of celebrity, as Joaquin (or "Joaquin") abuses his entourage, pursues P. Diddy to produce his album, cavorts and does drugs with prostitutes, and finally has a supremely awkward appearance on Late Night with David Letterman, which triggers an emotional implosion. What are Phoenix and cowriter-director Casey Affleck after--an x-ray of their lives under the spotlight of fame? An essay on the banality of decadence? A heartfelt exploration of how hard it is to escape the labels placed on us? The movie may simply be evidence of the true project, which was planting a meme in our culture--demonstrated by the abundance of parodies and caustic commentary heaped on Phoenix after his Letterman interview. Whether it's real or fake or a variation on the Borat approach of provoking real responses through fake behavior, there's no questioning Phoenix's thorough immersion in this persona. Whether it's a performance or a perverse martyrdom, it's impressive.

Flipped
Directed by Rob Reiner
Average customer review:

Even if you're not a child of the early '60s, Flipped's tale will resonate with your heart. Director Rob Reiner treats viewers to a sweet but honest glimpse into the lives of a young girl and boy during the early 1960s as they maneuver through first crushes and heartbreak. Reiner once again shows he understands how to put together a compelling, yet simple, human story. We meet Juli Baker (Madeline Carroll) and Bryce Loski (Callan McAuliffe) on the day Bryce's family moves across the street from Juli's. Told by "flipping" between Juli and Bryce's voices, a tale of early childhood love emerges. Juli loves Bryce's baby blues from the first moment she sees them and she just knows he's holding onto her first kiss. Bryce thinks Juli, who raises chickens and loves the neighborhood sycamore tree, is weird. The story doesn't merely flip between the two stories, though. In 1963, the year eighth grade comes around, Juli begins to wonder if there's any substance behind those baby blues… just as Bryce starts to see Juli's eccentricities as endearing instead of embarrassing. Sweetly reminiscent without a saccharine aftertaste, the overall story is perhaps a tad predictable but is skillfully directed and acted--the families are played by a supporting cast of recognizable names, including Aidan Quinn, Anthony Edwards, Rebecca De Mornay, Penelope Ann Miller, and John Mahoney--so that you don't mind getting exactly what you expect. Based on the novel of the same name by Wendelin Van Draanen.

The Expendables
Directed by Sylvester Stallone
Average customer review:

They might be expendable, but they sure are durable: The Expendables is crammed with well-traveled action heroes, called to a summit meeting here to capture some of that good old ultraviolent '80s-movie feel. Star-director Sylvester Stallone rides herd as the leader of this mercenary band, which includes Jason Statham, Jet Li, and Stallone's old Rocky V nemesis Dolph Lundgren. Mickey Rourke, looking like a car wreck on Highway 61, plays the tattoo artist who communicates the gang's assignments to Stallone; throw in Terry Crews and Ultimate Fighting champ Randy Couture, and you've got a badass crew indeed. The specifics here involve a Latin American island where US interests have mucked up the local politics beyond repair--but when Sly's eye is caught by the feisty daughter (Giselle Itie) of the local military jefe, a simple job gets complicated. Adding to the B-movie flavor of the enterprise, we've got Eric Roberts and Steve Austin bouncing around as badder-than-the-bad guys, plus Bruce Willis popping in for a one-scene bit, and… well, perhaps another unbilled cameo. The violence doesn't reach the frantic pace of Stallone's last Rambo picture, but it builds to a pretty crazy crescendo in the final reels, during which each cast member gets to show his stuff. Although Stallone's face looks younger than it did in the first Rocky movie, his line delivery is more sluggish than ever, and what lines! The dialogue is stuck in the '80s, too. Although it's pretty ham-handed throughout, The Expendables is likely critic-proof: the audience that wants to see this kind of body-slamming throwdown isn't going to care about the niceties. Let the knife throwing begin.

Beauty and the Beast (Two-Disc Diamond Edition)
Directed by Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
Average customer review:

The film that officially signaled Disney's animation renaissance (following The Little Mermaid) and the only animated feature to receive a Best Picture Oscar nomination, Beauty and the Beast remains the yardstick by which all other animated films should be measured. It relates the story of Belle, a bookworm with a dotty inventor for a father; when he inadvertently offends the Beast (a prince whose heart is too hard to love anyone besides himself), Belle boldly takes her father's place, imprisoned in the Beast's gloomy mansion. Naturally, Belle teaches the Beast to love. What makes this such a dazzler, besides the amazingly accomplished animation and the winning coterie of supporting characters (the Beast's mansion is overrun by quipping, dancing household items) is the array of beautiful and hilarious songs by composer Alan Menken and the late, lamented lyricist Howard Ashman. (The title song won the 1991 Best Song Oscar, and Menken's score scored a trophy as well.) The downright funniest song is "Gaston," a lout's paean to himself (including the immortal line, "I use antlers in all of my de-co-ra-ting"). "Be Our Guest" is transformed into an inspired Busby Berkeley homage. Since Ashman's passing, animated musicals haven't quite reached the same exhilarating level of wit, sophistication, and pure joy.

Michael Jackson's Vision
From Sony Legacy
Average customer review:

It might have been fate that MTV was born at the same time people began to notice the rare talent and artistic ingenuity of Michael Jackson. It proved to be a perfect match between the new television network and the young rising icon. Early on, Michael saw MTV’s potential as a force of its own and understood that it offered him the chance to pioneer a whole new visual style through which people could see music, not just listen to it. For the first time, artists had the opportunity to truly shape a vision of a story around their songs. For Michael, this meant treating the song as a “script” and creating a stand-alone film to tell that story. In fact, Michael referred to each of these productions as a "short film" and not a “music video.”

No other artist contributed more to the development of this art form than Michael Jackson. Just look at the impact of Thriller, which was recently named the first (and only) music video ever to be inducted by the Library of Congress into the National Film Registry - an elite collection of only a few hundred films. In addition to this, Michael’s vision had immense cultural impact . The enormous popularity of his short films proved to MTV Executives that they were wrong about what their audience wanted; it was Michael who broke through that initial barrier and created opportunity for future African American artists.

Here, for the first time, is the complete collection of all 35 of the short films produced by Michael during his career as a solo artist - 10 of which are appearing on DVD for the first time. All of the short films have been meticulously restored and remastered for the ultimate audio and visual experience and a bonus DVD includes 7 additional videos including “Enjoy Yourself” with The Jacksons, “Say Say Say” with Paul McCartney and the Previously Unreleased video for “One More Chance”. This is a true representation of Michael Jackson’s Vision.

The Complete Metropolis [Blu-ray]
Directed by Fritz Lang
Average customer review:

Fritz Lang's Metropolis belongs to legend as much as to cinema. It's a milestone of sci-fi and German expressionism. Yet the story makes minimal sense, and the "theme" belongs in a fortune cookie; to experience the film's pagan power, you have to see the movie. But for decades we couldn't, not really--not with so many versions, all incomplete, often in public-domain prints like smudged photocopies. This Murnau Foundation restoration changes all that. Some shots, scenes, and subplots may be lost forever, but intertitles indicate how they fit into the original continuity and the characters' individual trajectories. Most crucially, the images are crisp, vibrant, and three-dimensional instead of murky and flattened. The composite sequences (the Tower of Babel, a sea of lusting eyes) have been restored to their hallucinatory ferocity. And there's one moment when you can see a bead of sweat roll down a man's cheek--in medium long-shot.

Salon Kitty [Blu-ray]
Directed by Tinto Brass
Average customer review:

Tinto Brass' Uncensored Director's Cut!
Berlin, 1939: At the dawn of World War II, power-mad SS Officer Wallenberg (Helmut Berger of THE DAMNED) is ordered to find and train Germany's most beautiful women to work in the opulent brothel of Madam Kitty (Ingrid Thulin of CRIES AND WHISPERS). Here these Nazi nymphs will submit to the bizarre passions and carnal degradations of the Reich's highest-ranking men and women while Wallenberg secretly records their acts for blackmail. But when an innocent young prostitute (Teresa Ann Savoy of CALIGULA) uncovers the conspiracy, her revenge will ignite a holocaust of pain, pleasure and shocking sexual perversion. The story is true. The depravity is real. The film is SALON KITTY.

John Steiner (TENEBRE), Tina Aumont (TORSO) and John Ireland (RED RIVER) co-star in this infamous epic co-written and directed by Tinto Brass and featuring exquisite production design by Oscar(r) winner Ken Adam (BARRY LYNDON, GOLDFINGER). Released in America as the heavily censored MADAM KITTY, this controversial shocker has been newly transferred and fully restored in opulent High Defintion from the director's own personal vault materials featuring extended scenes of unspeakable sexual atrocities.

Celebrity Nude Revue, The Saucy 70's, Volume 1
From Citrus Cinema
Average customer review:

Remember the 1970s? The Me Decade? It's easy to forget the tough financial times that characterized the 1970s. Times were so tough in fact that a number of the era's most popular actresses went without clothing on a regular basis. Remember Cybill Shepherd in The Last Picture Show, or Julie Christie in Don't Look Now, or Melanie Griffith in Night Moves? All these scenes and more are featured in Celebrity Nude Revue: Best of the Saucy 70's Volume 1. Why, to see all these scenes in their original context, you'd have to watch over sixty films! With this compilation, you can enjoy all these scenes on high quality DVD in the comfort of your home for the price of a single DVD rental!

Relate Links:

Cheap New DVD Movies
DVD Releases
DVD releases UK
DVD releases CA

DVD Releases November 16 2010

2010-11-16T11:15:00.000+07:00

From New DVD Releases November 16 2010 & Buy Cheap New DVD Movies November 16 2010

Movie & TV DVD Releases this week. November 16 2010

Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
Directed by Brad Peyton
Average customer review:

A definite improvement over the original 2001 Cats & Dogs, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore is a brand-new story about an underground world of animal intelligence, featuring cat spy agency M.E.O.W.S., a dog intelligence agency, and even a pigeon. They find themselves in the unlikely position of joining forces against renegade M.E.O.W.S. agent Kitty Galore as she seeks revenge against dogs and humans in a plan that will destroy the human race and allow her to rule the world. This 3-D film is a blend of live action, puppetry, and animation, and the combination of better writing and a cast of talented voice artists makes the animal spies in this sequel much more believable than in the previous film. Kitty Galore is unlikable to the core and Bette Midler is absolutely perfect in the role. Neil Patrick Harris is highly effective as Lou, head of the dog agency; James Marsden plays the conflicted police-dog-turned-new-recruit Diggs; Nick Nolte plays fellow canine agent Butch; Christina Applegate is M.E.O.W.S. agent Catherine; and Katt Williams as Seamus does a great pigeon. The unlikely cooperation between canine, feline, and bird leads to an action-adventure that takes the agents from dark back alleys to a cat house run by a cat lady pushing catnip and even a local carnival. The action scenes will hold the interest of most children ages 6 to 12, though many of the adults in the crowd may find them rather on the slow side, and kids and adults alike will chuckle at the silly jokes and slapstick comedy that pop up throughout the film. A notable laugh for the adults in the audience comes in an extended scene that clearly invokes Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. Add in a robot cat, some silly magician tricks--including Kitty Galore zipped into a rabbit suit--a squirrel robot that self-destructs after a quick dance, and the requisite 3-D effects and you've got a perfectly adequate action comedy that kids will enjoy and their parents can stomach without too much complaining.

Disney's A Christmas Carol
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Average customer review:

Fans of Robert Zemeckis's brilliant special effects, and of Jim Carrey's transformative acting abilities, will be swept away by their collaboration in the stunning A Christmas Carol. Perhaps more surprising is that Charles Dickens purists will also be impressed and captivated by this version of the oft-told tale--which is dark, complex, and in its way, uncompromising. Which is all to say that this Christmas Carol is an instant holiday classic, easily taking its place alongside the Alistair Sim version, the Patrick Stewart version, and even the Mr. Magoo version of the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and his ultimate holiday redemption. Carrey is dazzling as not only Scrooge, the most miserable, and miserly, man in 19th-century England, but as the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Future. As with The Polar Express, Zemeckis animates the film over the actors' physical performances onscreen, but here, the emotion is intact--even heightened by the spiffy effects. Joining Carrey in the cast are terrific players, including Gary Oldman (Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim, and the ghost of Marley), Cary Elwes, Bob Hoskins, and Robin Wright Penn. But the heart of the film is Carrey, whose dramatic acting has shone in films like The Truman Show and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. The emotional connection Carrey makes with his characters is what brings Dickens's classic alive--and what connects the viewer with the true spirit of the holidays. "God bless us, every one."

The Last Airbender
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Average customer review:

The cartoon epic Avatar: The Last Airbender comes to the big screen as live-action special effects spectacular, with the title simplified to The Last Airbender. The movie is crammed with as much of the show's anime-influenced mythology as can fit: In a fantasy world, different tribes have influence over the elements of air, earth, fire, and water. Only one person can manipulate all four--the Avatar, who is also a bridge between the terrestrial and spirit worlds, and who reincarnates throughout the centuries. But for a hundred years, the Avatar has disappeared--until Katara, a young waterbender, and her brother Sokka discover a young airbender, Aang, frozen under the southern ice. Aang sets off to master the other elements so that he can counter the marauding Fire Nation, who have slain all other airbenders in their campaign to rule the world. Aang's journey and the titanic battles owe a significant debt to the Lord of the Rings trilogy--it's surprising that director M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) hasn't made more of an effort to craft something more distinctive. The only character who stands out is Prince Zuko (Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire), an exiled firebender who can only regain his place by his father's side if he can capture the Avatar. Everyone else is fairly bland--but this movie isn't about characters, it's about special effects, and lots of money and labor has been lavished on blasts of fire and water flying through the air. Viewers unfamiliar with the cartoon are likely to be confused; some fans will be disappointed at how cramped the story has become, while others will enjoy the visual delights.

The Kids Are All Right
Directed by Lisa Cholodenko
Average customer review:

If the relationships that anchor Lisa Cholodenko's warmly funny films appear unconventional, their problems--their pleasures--remain universal. In The Kids Are All Right (no relation to the Who documentary), she takes on a suburban Los Angeles family with two teens, Joni (Alice in Wonderland's Mia Wasikowska) and the unfortunately named Laser (Josh Hutcherson, The Bridge to Terabithia), and two mothers, Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (an atypically relaxed Julianne Moore), who conceived via artificial insemination. Now that she's heading off to college, Laser urges 18-year-old Joni to seek out their birth father, who lives in the area (her name comes from folksinger Mitchell). Though she hits it off with Paul (Mark Ruffalo, effortlessly charming), a motorcycle-riding restaurant owner, Laser has his doubts (troublingly, the 15-year-old's best friend uses "faggot" as an all-purpose epithet). After they introduce Paul to their parents, allegiances start to shift. While Nic, a doctor, serves as breadwinner (and disciplinarian), Jules, a homemaker-turned-landscape artist, provides the nurturing. Paul, on the other hand, lives free from attachments, inciting both curiosity and suspicion. Furthermore, Jules finds him strangely irresistible, which only expands the fissures in her loving, yet unstable union. As with Laurel Canyon, Cholodenko doesn't just create fully rounded characters, but entire communities. In the end, Kids isn't about children vs. adults as much as the family unit vs. the singular outsider. Though the story concludes on a relatively happy note, it's clear where her allegiances lie.

Avatar (Three-Disc Extended Collector's Edition)
Directed by James Cameron
Average customer review:

After 12 years of thinking about it (and waiting for movie technology to catch up with his visions), James Cameron followed up his unsinkable Titanic with Avatar, a sci-fi epic meant to trump all previous sci-fi epics. Set in the future on a distant planet, Avatar spins a simple little parable about greedy colonizers (that would be mankind) messing up the lush tribal world of Pandora. A paraplegic Marine named Jake (Sam Worthington) acts through a 9-foot-tall avatar that allows him to roam the planet and pass as one of the Na'vi, the blue-skinned, large-eyed native people who would very much like to live their peaceful lives without the interference of the visitors. Although he's supposed to be gathering intel for the badass general (Stephen Lang) who'd like to lay waste to the planet and its inhabitants, Jake naturally begins to take a liking to the Na'vi, especially the feisty Neytiri (Zoë Saldana, whose entire performance, recorded by Cameron's complicated motion-capture system, exists as a digitally rendered Na'vi). The movie uses state-of-the-art 3D technology to plunge the viewer deep into Cameron's crazy toy box of planetary ecosystems and high-tech machinery. Maybe it's the fact that Cameron seems torn between his two loves--awesome destructive gizmos and flower-power message mongering--that makes Avatar's pursuit of its point ultimately uncertain. That, and the fact that Cameron's dialogue continues to clunk badly. If you're won over by the movie's trippy new world, the characters will be forgivable as broad, useful archetypes rather than standard-issue stereotypes, and you might be able to overlook the unsurprising central plot. (The overextended "take that, Michael Bay" final battle sequences could tax even Cameron enthusiasts, however.) It doesn't measure up to the hype (what could?) yet Avatar frequently hits a giddy delirium all its own. The film itself is our Pandora, a sensation-saturated universe only the movies could create.

The Complete Metropolis
Directed by Fritz Lang
Average customer review:

Fritz Lang's Metropolis belongs to legend as much as to cinema. It's a milestone of sci-fi and German expressionism. Yet the story makes minimal sense, and the "theme" belongs in a fortune cookie; to experience the film's pagan power, you have to see the movie. But for decades we couldn't, not really--not with so many versions, all incomplete, often in public-domain prints like smudged photocopies. This Murnau Foundation restoration changes all that. Some shots, scenes, and subplots may be lost forever, but intertitles indicate how they fit into the original continuity and the characters' individual trajectories. Most crucially, the images are crisp, vibrant, and three-dimensional instead of murky and flattened. The composite sequences (the Tower of Babel, a sea of lusting eyes) have been restored to their hallucinatory ferocity. And there's one moment when you can see a bead of sweat roll down a man's cheek--in medium long-shot.

Open Season [Blu-ray 3D]
Open Season

Growing up can be a confusing journey fraught with difficult choices. Boog (Martin Lawrence) is a domesticated Grizzly Bear who leads a perfectly happy life inside of Park Ranger Beth's (Debra Messing) garage, but a chance meeting with an overly energetic mule deer named Elliot (Ashton Kutcher) quickly changes everything and lands Boog high in the forest a few days before the opening of hunting season. Devoid of even the most basic survival skills, Boog and Elliot stumble through the woods and find themselves at the mercy of every forest animal from skunks to chipmunks as well as an evil hunter named Shaw (Gary Sinise). After unintentionally inciting and endangering an entire forest full of clever animals, Boog and Elliot come to the realization that only by banding together do the forest animals stand a chance of outsmarting the hunters and ensuring their own survival. This first animated film from Sony Pictures Animation takes its inspiration from cartoonist Steve Moore (In the Bleachers) and features animals with human-like intelligence, a vibrant color palate, and skilled animation that makes everything from the wind blowing Boo's fur to the animals' wild trip down the falls simply breathtaking. While it doesn't quite live up to Over the Hedge, Open Season is an entertaining production that explores the difficult process of maturation, the universal need for acceptance, and the true value of friendship. (Ages 3 and older)

IMAX: Under the Sea (Single Disc Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray Combo)
Directed by Howard Hall
Average customer review:

Filmed in IMAX 3D, Under the Sea is a strikingly realistic underwater exploration of the amazing sea life of the coral triangle in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and the Great Barrier Reef. Viewers instantaneously become divers, immersed in the coral reefs and floating mere inches away from sea life ranging from cuttlefish to venomous sea snakes, nautiluses, sea dragons, and great white sharks. Narrated by a surprisingly sensitive and (mostly) serious Jim Carrey, the film explores everything from how various species use color and pattern changes to communicate to the mating habits of cuttlefish and the symbiotic relationships between sea creatures as varied as the crab and jellyfish. Carrey points out that man's actions have increased the oceans' carbon dioxide levels--a situation which leads to ocean warming and acidification which could potentially upset the symbiotic balance of undersea life and result in dissolving the coral reefs and destroying multiple species of ocean life. The film ends on a hopeful note, declaring that man is beginning to take responsibility for his actions and now possesses the skills to mitigate his effects on the environment and preserve the ocean wonderland. The underwater photography in this film is absolutely stunning and the realism of the 3D format can't be overstated. Viewers of all ages will be mesmerized throughout this 45-minute film and will leave with an important understanding about man's vital role in preserving ocean life.

The Night of the Hunter (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]
Directed by Charles Laughton
Average customer review:

In the entire history of American movies, The Night of the Hunter stands out as the rarest and most exotic of specimens. It is, to say the least, a masterpiece--and not just because it was the only movie directed by flamboyant actor Charles Laughton or the only produced solo screenplay by the legendary critic James Agee (who also cowrote The African Queen). The truth is, nobody has ever made anything approaching its phantasmagoric, overheated style in which German expressionism, religious hysteria, fairy-tale fantasy (of the Grimm-est variety), and stalker movie are brought together in a furious boil. Like a nightmarish premonition of stalker movies to come, Night of the Hunter tells the suspenseful tale of a demented preacher (Robert Mitchum, in a performance that prefigures his memorable villain in Cape Fear), who torments a boy and his little sister--even marries their mixed-up mother (Shelley Winters)--because he's certain the kids know where their late bank-robber father hid a stash of stolen money. So dramatic, primal, and unforgettable are its images--the preacher's shadow looming over the children in their bedroom, the magical boat ride down a river whose banks teem with fantastic wildlife, those tattoos of LOVE and HATE on the unholy man's knuckles, the golden locks of a drowned woman waving in the current along with the indigenous plant life in her watery grave--that they're still haunting audiences (and filmmakers) today.

Relate Links:
Cheap New DVD Movies
DVD Releases
DVD releases UK
DVD releases CA

DVD Releases October 26 2010

2010-10-27T12:42:00.000+07:00

From New DVD Releases October 26 2010 & Buy Cheap New DVD Movies October 26 2010

Movie & TV DVD Releases this week. October 26 2010

Sex and the City 2
Directed by Michael Patrick King
Average customer review:
The four glitziest ladies ever to hit Manhattan as a single force--Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte--are back, fabulous as ever, in Sex and the City 2. They may be older, and even a little wiser, but the pulls of love, lust, careers, and a pair of well-turned stilettos are still the focus of this Fab Four. As the women gamely face the prospect of aging--children, menopause, glass ceilings, and, in Carrie's opinion a fate worse than death--domesticity--they still manage to sparkle with the banter and great outfits that made the HBO series and the first film such hits. Sex and the City 2 opens with Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) at the wedding of two of the foursome's favorite gay male friends, Stanford (Willie Garson) and Anthony (Mario Cantone). The wedding itself pulls out all the stops--in the true spirit of Sex and the City--and is one of the highlights of the film. From the no-holds-barred décor, including live swans, to the gay men's chorus singing show tunes while the guests arrive, the event is on the far side of over the top. As the guests settle into their seats, Miranda whispers, "Could this wedding be any gayer?" and as if on command, out comes Liza Minnelli, playing herself, to officiate. (Minnelli's performance is unexpectedly splendid, and her "wedding song" will wow all her fans--gay, straight, married, single.) Yet beneath the luscious glamour and the really bad hats (oh, Carrie, you should have resisted that harlequin feathered crown), the heroines are struggling with the not-so-glamorous realities of their lives. Charlotte and Harry (the always delightful and dependable Evan Handler) have two demanding young daughters--and a nanny from Ireland whose braless voluptuousness puts new meaning in the phrase "Irish spring," and who may be threatening their marriage. Miranda, ever the focused career gal, is getting nowhere fast at her law firm. And Carrie, now married to Mr. Big (Chris Noth), is chafing at the cozy staying-in and lying-low that she thinks spell death to romance. (It should be noted that vixen Samantha is still game for walking on the wild side. At the wedding she meets a handsome straight guy and asks him what he does for a living. "I lay concrete," he says. Samantha: "That sounds promising.") And for once there are no easy, glib answers to the real-life problem of the four stars, and Sex and the City 2 lets the characters actually grow up, at least a little. Which doesn't mean their fashions aren't fabulous. The film is also chock-a-block with great cameos, including Miley Cyrus, Project Runway's Tim Gunn, and Penélope Cruz. And longtime fans of the TV series will be happy to hear that Smith Jerrod (Jason Lewis), Samantha's onetime flame, and Aidan (John Corbett), who once stole Carrie's heart, also make appearances. Sex and the City 2 is frothier than a shaken bottle of Champagne, and goes down as smoothly as a couple of appletinis. So fans, drink up!

Winter's Bone
Directed by Debra Granik
Average customer review:
Family loyalty and self-reliance take on whole new meanings in this dark story of one family's desperate struggle to survive in the Ozark woods of southern Missouri. Day-to-day life is tough in the economically depressed, unforgiving harsh rural landscape that's home to the extended Dolly clan, but it's made much tougher thanks to their history of cooking crank and deep involvement in the local drug culture. For Jessup Dolly and the other men of the family, looking out for oneself has become the first priority. Seventeen-year-old Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) has been caring for her mentally ill mother and her two younger siblings while her father runs from the law. Ree has been managing OK, but when the sheriff shows up with news that her father has put the house up as bond collateral and is unlikely to show for his court date, things get desperate. Ree is well aware of the family code of silence, but desperation forces her to confront her relatives in search of her father, regardless of the personal consequences. One by one, Ree's relatives refuse to help, protecting themselves even at the cost of one of their own. This is a dark, often violent film that doesn't shy away from the harsh realities of the manic drug culture permeating some rural areas of the South. It is intense, emotional, and extremely effective: it is at times simultaneously uncomfortable to watch and paradoxically riveting. Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, and Dale Dickey deliver phenomenally powerful performances and are completely believable in their respective roles. While this official selection in the dramatic film competition at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival doesn't align well with many of the details in the Daniel Woodrell novel on which it's based, what is absolutely faithfully rendered is the overwhelming sense of resolute self-reliance, complete desperation, and intense, yet distorted family loyalty.

The Girl Who Played With Fire
Directed by Daniel Alfredson
Average customer review:
The toughest chick in Sweden returns to action in The Girl Who Played with Fire, the second film adaptation of the late author Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy novels. That would be Lisbeth Salander, once again played with quiet, feral intensity by Noomi Rapace. As Larsson's readers and anyone who saw the first film (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, also released in 2010) knows, Lisbeth is small in stature but big trouble for any man who crosses her--after all, this is the woman who set her father on fire after he abused her mother and later, after being released from a mental institution, took extreme revenge on her legal guardian after he brutally assaulted her (those scenes are briefly revisited for the enlightenment of those who missed the earlier film). Also back is investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), Lisbeth's erstwhile lover and partner in solving the Dragon Tattoo mystery. When two of his young colleagues are killed while at work on a story about sex trafficking, followed shortly by the murder of the aforementioned guardian, Salander is the prime suspect. But Mikael is sure of her innocence; in fact, he's convinced she's the next victim, leading to a tangled tale in which Lisbeth learns more about her family and its very dark secrets than she ever wanted to know. The story is compelling, if a bit slow to take shape, and director Daniel Alfredson, taking over for Niels Arden Oplev, skillfully sustains the mystery and tension (there are also doses of nudity and violence, the latter much more graphic than the former). But Lisbeth isn't on screen nearly as much this time, and her relationship with Blomkvist, so central to Dragon Tattoo, is almost an afterthought. Still, The Girl Who Played with Fire will certainly whet fans' appetites for the next installment, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest; and considering the overall class and quality of these Swedish productions, one shudders to think how they'll turn out in the inevitable American versions, the first of which is due in 2011, with Daniel Craig as Blomkvist.

South of the Border
Directed by Oliver Stone
Average customer review:
Rather than being offered as a definitive journalistic statement, Oliver Stone's South of the Border seems intended as a bit of applecart upsetting by one of cinema's provocateurs. Stone is clearly perturbed by what he sees as Western media's one-sided treatment of South American political movements in the early 21st century (he's got the absurd excerpts from Fox News to prove it), and his movie is intended as a response--an alternative narrative, as it were. Instead of the one-dimensional and possibly communist tyrants, Stone sees a continent-wide movement of South Americans taking control of their own affairs and getting out from under the overbearing presence of the United States and the International Monetary Fund. His documentary style goes in the Michael Moore direction, as Stone himself appears on camera, shambling from one leader's presidential palace to the next, road-tripping it from Venezuela to Bolivia to Argentina and so on. The bulk of the conversation happens with Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, whose contentious relationship with the U.S. has been particularly thorny, given the large amount of Venezuelan oil exported to America (Stone summarizes the bizarre 2002 coup attempt against Chávez, which left the U.S. with a certain amount of explaining to do). On the one hand, Stone accomplishes his goal: this movie will absolutely force the average person to reassess his or her opinions about the state of things in Latin America. But Stone's lack of journalistic skepticism, and his willingness to allow his subjects to speak without serious questioning, leaves a gaping hole in the midst of the picture. Stone is a widely educated man of enormous passion, and his films have often been ruled more by his emotional side than his erudition, a fact that sometimes results in very exciting movies. South of the Border is decidedly stronger on enthusiasm than critical thinking.

Tonight - 4 Decades of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson
Directed by Bobby Quinn;Robert
Average customer review:
Born on October 23, 1925, Johnny Carson grew up in Norfolk, Nebraska. Perhaps Johnny was destined to be the King of Late Night. At 14 he had a magic act called The Great Carsoni. At 20, as an Ensign serving aboard the USS Pennsylvania, Johnny entertained enlisted men during shows on the ship. While a student at the University of Nebraska, he also worked at a local radio station, KFAB and later at WOW in Omaha, where he wrote comedy and announced commercials. Deciding that his entertainment future was in California, he landed a job in 1950 as staff announcer for KNXT in Los Angeles, where he soon hosted, Carson's Cellar. He suspended his on-camera work to write material for Red Skelton's TV program. One night, Skelton ran into a breakaway door and suffered a concussion during rehearsal. Johnny went on in Red Skelton's place, opening with a monologue he had put together while driving to the studio. Jack Benny's said after You better watch that Carson kid. The kid is great... At 29, Carson became host of his own network show, Earn Your Vacation, while also appearing as a substitute host for another up and coming TV personality, Jack Paar, on CBS's The Morning Show. In 1957, Johnny moved to ABC as host of a new daytime game show, Who Do You Trust where he was teamed with his future Tonight Show announcer, Ed McMahon. In 1958 he was again asked to fill in for Paar, this time on NBC's The Tonight Show! On October 1, 1962, Groucho Marx introduced Carson to the nation's late-night television audience as the new host of The Tonight Show and the rest, as the say, is history!

Elf (Ultimate Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]
From New Line Home Video
Average customer review:
Elf is genuinely good. Not just Saturday Night Live-movie good, when the movie has some funny bits but is basically an insult to humanity; Elf is a smartly written, skillfully directed, and deftly acted story of a human being adopted by Christmas elves who returns to the human world to find his father. And because the writing, directing, and acting are all genuinely good, Elf is also genuinely funny. Will Ferrell, as Buddy the adopted elf, is hysterically sincere. James Caan, as his rediscovered father, executes his surly dumbfoundedness with perfect aplomb. Zooey Deschanel, as a department store worker with whom Buddy falls in love, is adorably sardonic. Director Jon Favreau (Swingers) shepherds the movie through all the obligatory Christmas cliches and focuses on material that's sometimes subtle and consistently surprising. Frankly, Elf feels miraculous. Also featuring Mary Steenburgen, Bob Newhart, Peter Dinklage, and Ed Asner as Santa Claus.

You Don't Know Jack
Directed by Barry Levinson
Average customer review:
Made for HBO, Barry Levinson's sympathetic telefilm casts an affable eye on a serious subject: the mission of Jack Kevorkian (a thoroughly de-glamorized Al Pacino). In the opening sequence, Kevorkian tells his long-suffering sister, Margo (Brenda Vaccaro, excellent), how hard he found it to watch their mother die a long and agonizing death. Convinced that the terminally ill deserve the right to die with dignity, he shares his beliefs with Jack (James Urbaniak), a Detroit journalist; Janet (Susan Sarandon), a Hemlock Society leader; and Neal (John Goodman), a medical supply salesman (the scenes of Neal and Jack playing poker recall Levinson's Diner). Before he's assisted a single patient, Kevorkian makes the national news, prompting Neal to quip, "You're not a local quack anymore. You're America's quack." Writer Adam Mazer profiles several of the 130 patients to take advantage of his "mercy machine," starting with Janet Adkins, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease. For protection, Jack acquires the services of attorney Geoffrey Fieger (Danny Huston), who supports him through evictions, lawsuits, jail time, and hunger strikes--until Kevorkian engineers his own downfall by defending himself. As with HBO's Recount, Levinson adds archival footage at key points, such that Barbara Walters and others appear to play themselves. If he handles Jack's quirks with humor, he always treats the afflicted with respect, and if Pacino's accent skews more New York than Michigan, his pleasure in playing this strong-willed eccentric fuels Levinson's finest directorial effort in ages.

Paths of Glory (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Average customer review:
Stanley Kubrick had already made his talent known with the outstanding racetrack heist thriller The Killing, but it was the 1957 antiwar masterpiece Paths of Glory that catapulted Kubrick to international acclaim. Based on the novel by Humphrey Cobb, developed by Kubrick and starring Kirk Douglas, it would become one of the most powerful films about the wasteful insanity of warfare. In one of his finest roles, Douglas plays Colonel Dax, commander of a battle-worn regiment of the French army along the western front during World War I. Held in their trenches under the threat of German artillery, the regiment is ordered on a suicidal mission to capture an enemy stronghold. When the mission inevitably fails, French generals order the selection of three soldiers to be tried and executed on the charge of cowardice. Dax is appointed as defense attorney for the chosen scapegoats, and what follows is a travesty of justice that has remained relevant and powerful for decades. In the wake of some of the most authentic and devastating battle sequences ever filmed, Kubrick brilliantly explores the political machinations and selfish personal ambitions that result in battlefield slaughter and senseless executions. The film is unflinching in its condemnation of war and the self-indulgence of military leaders who orchestrate the deaths of thousands from the comfort of their luxurious headquarters. For many years, Paths of Glory was banned in France as a slanderous attack on French honor, but it's clear that Kubrick's intense drama is aimed at all nations and all men. Though it touches on themes of courage and loyalty in the context of warfare, the film is specifically about the historical realities of World War I, but its impact and artistic achievement remain timeless and universal.

House (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]
Directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi
Average customer review:
Infamous Japanese whatsit House is the ultimate 1970s artifact. The animated opening recalls The Rocky Horror Picture Show, while former ad man Nobuhiko Obayashi extends the anything-goes impression through freeze frames, painted backdrops, and old-timey flashbacks. He starts by introducing schoolgirls Fantasy (Kumiko Ohba) and Gorgeous (Kimiko Ikegami) to groovy H.R. Pufnstuf-style music. Then Gorgeous's widowed father presents his new bride, Ryôko (Haruko Wanibuchi), who enters like Joan Crawford in a flowing white gown. Afterward, Gorgeous invites Fantasy, Melody, Kung Fu, Prof, Sweet, and Mac to her aunt's house for the summer. Little does she know that Ryôko plans to crash the party.

While they gather at the train station, the film slips into slapstick Monkees territory: a shoemaker croons as Fantasy's crush object, Mr. Tôgô (Kiyohiko Ozaki), trips over Gorgeous's green-eyed cat, Blanche. The girls make it to the country without incident, but the moment they arrive at the cobweb-covered estate, freaky things start happening: Auntie (Yôko Minamida) and Blanche, for instance, have met before. The ladies delight in the weirdness, enjoying a meal and exploring the grounds, but then Mac disappears. Auntie and Blanche, meanwhile, find novel ways to entertain themselves. Soon, mirrors are cracking, mattresses are flying, blood is flowing, and a piano goes berserk. There's only so much the girls can do, so they pin their hopes on Tôgô--and his sideburns--to set things right.

House arrives for the first time in the United States with a testimonial from House of the Devil director Ti West, who declares it "one of the most original films I've ever seen"; Emotion, an experimental short; and a featurette in which Obayashi credits his daughter, Chigumi, for several plot points. Fans of Carrie, Suspiria, The Evil Dead, and Pee-Wee's Playhouse: meet your new cinematic obsession.

Relate Links:
Cheap New DVD Movies
DVD Releases
DVD releases UK
DVD releases CA

DVD Releases October 12 2010

2010-10-12T14:51:00.000+07:00

From New DVD Releases October 12 2010 & Buy Cheap New DVD Movies October 12 2010

Movie & TV DVD Releases this week. October 12 2010

Jonah Hex
From Warner Home Video
Average customer review:

Another DC Comics hero gets a workout in Jonah Hex, the movie incarnation of DC's scar-faced bounty hunter, played here by Josh Brolin. Out to exact revenge on the varmint who wrecked his face and killed his family, Jonah also gets yanked back into the service of his country--against his will, of course. Said varmint, Quentin Turnbull, is played by John Malkovich, although the more spirited villainy is provided by Turnbull's tattooed Irish assistant (Inglourious Basterds's Michael Fassbender plays the part with the kind of energy noticeably absent from the other cast members). In this 80-minute hodgepodge of a movie, Jonah regularly checks in with his lady friend, a prostitute (Megan Fox) whose bordello room has a remarkable amount of glamour lighting, and in his spare time investigates Turnbull's plot to use a super weapon against Washington, D.C. By giving Jonah a halfway-interesting supernatural talent--he can talk with the dead, by placing his hands on them--the film adds a kicky new wrinkle, but it's not enough to improve the mangled storytelling or the sleepwalking pace. Brolin's makeup is impressive, but in scarring his cheek and pulling his mouth back in a grotesque grimace, the prosthetics designers have robbed the actor of any ability to express himself through speech. Kind of a miscalculation there, and typical of this movie's tendency to shoot itself in the face.
See more details and customer reviews: Jonah Hex

I Am Love
From Magnolia Home Entertainment
Average customer review:

This movie is like eating bonbons in a hothouse. For some films, walking the fine line between sublime and silly becomes an entertainment in itself, and such is the case with I Am Love, Luca Guadagnino's lush drama set within an Italian business dynasty in Milan. We see much of the film from the perspective of an outsider who has nevertheless fitted herself into this aristocratic world for many years: Emma, the Russian-born wife of the textile company's new CEO. She's played by Tilda Swinton, whose customarily penetrating work is enhanced by her speaking Russian and Italian (how does she do it?). The Russian heritage might be a tip-off--Emma could have a touch of Anna Karenina about her--because she embarks on a grand affair with a much younger man. The many levels of melodrama play out against gorgeous exteriors and wildly overdressed interiors, as though Guadagnino looked back through Italian film heritage and decided it was time for someone to out-do the opulent visions of Luchino Visconti. Adding to the strong flavor of high aestheticism is the soundtrack, which uses various excerpts of pieces by the great contemporary composer John Adams, to evocative effect (the opening shots of snowed-over Milan buildings are spellbinding). But let's not forget about the silly: one can concede the movie's usefulness as eye candy while noting that there is something fundamentally pretentious and overheated about it all, a designer's vision of storytelling. I Am Love overshoots the sublime by a wide margin, but it's fun to consume.
See more details and customer reviews: I Am Love

How to Train Your Dragon
Directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders
Average customer review:

A winning mixture of adventure, slapstick comedy, and friendship, How to Train Your Dragon rivals Kung Fu Panda as the most engaging and satisfying film DreamWorks Animation has produced. Hiccup (voice by Jay Baruchel) is a failure as a Viking: skinny, inquisitive, and inventive, he asks questions and tries out unsuccessful contraptions when he's supposed to be fighting the dragons that attack his village. His father, chief Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), has pretty much given up on his teenage son and apprenticed him to blacksmith Gobber (Craig Ferguson). Worse, Hiccup knows the village loser hasn't a chance of impressing Astrid (America Ferrera), the girl of his dreams and a formidable dragon fighter in her own right. When one of Hiccup's inventions actually works, he hasn't the heart to kill the young dragon he's brought down. He names it Toothless and befriends it, although he's been taught to fear and loathe dragons. Codirectors and cowriters Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, who made Disney's delightful Lilo and Stitch, provide plenty of action, including vertiginous flying sequences, but they balance the pyrotechnics with moments of genuine warmth that make the viewer root for Hiccup's success. Many DreamWorks films get laughs from sitcom one-liners and topical pop culture references; as the humor in Dragon comes from the characters' personalities, it feels less timely and more timeless. Toothless chases the spot of sunlight reflected off Hiccup's hammer like a giant cat with a laser pointer; Hiccup uses his newly found knowledge (and an icky smoked eel) to defeat two small dragons--and impress the other kids. How to Train Your Dragon will be just as enjoyable 10 or 20 years from now as it is today. (Rated PG: suitable for ages 8 and older, violence, some intense action and scary dragons)
See more details and customer reviews: How to Train Your Dragon

Leaves of Grass
Directed by Tim Blake Nelson
Average customer review:

Leaves of Grass as a title, referring here to both Walt Whitman and marijuana, is indicative of this film's hybridity in regards to genre--half comedy and half brutal crime drama--and tone, which is at once irreverent and highly philosophical. Directed by Tim Blake Nelson, who also costars as the redneck pothead Bolger, Leaves of Grass is about the troubles that follow two identical twins, philosophy professor Bill Kincaid and his marijuana-growing brother Brady, both skillfully played by Edward Norton. When Brady, the man with a criminal mind but an open heart, convinces Bill to return home to their small Oklahoma town, Bill becomes inadvertently embroiled in more than either sibling can handle. While their schemes get complicated, one meets the zany women in their lives, including Daisy (Susan Sarandon), their ex-hippie mom who at a very young age has relinquished herself to a retirement home; Brady's teen sweetheart, Colleen (Melanie Lynskey); and Bill's fling, high school teacher and poet Janet (Keri Russell), who has turned her back on the rigors of New England academic life for one of catfish noodling and Whitman's poetry. Absurd plot lines make up the comedic bulk of this film, ushered along by druggie investor Pug Rothbaum (Richard Dreyfuss), who seems to exist so that clever jokes about Jews populating Tulsa, Oklahoma, can pepper this witty satire. While many shots recall Coen brothers classics like Raising Arizona, Leaves of Grass still manages to distinguish itself from its obvious influences. Hilarious sets and situations, as when Bill stumbles into Brady's black-light-poster-decorated waterbed room, give this film unique style. The strangest aspects of this movie, including its waffling between comedy and drama so that one knows not, at times, when to laugh and when to squirm, become a source of its ambition. Leaves of Grass is also well written and juggles a highly complex, almost slapstick essence with ingenuity.
See more details and customer reviews: Leaves of Grass

Angel: Complete Series
From Ingram Entertainment
Average customer review:

Episodes: City of Lonely Hearts In the Dark I Fall to Pieces Rm w/a Vu Sense and Sensitivity The Bachelor Party I Will Remember You Hero Parting Gifts Somnambulist Expecting I've Got You Under My Skin Prodigal The Ring Eternity Five by Five Sanctuary War Zone Blind Date To Shanshu in L.A. Judgement Are You Now or Have You Ever Been? First Impressions Untouched Dear Boy Guise Will Be Guise Darla The Shroud of Rahmon The Trial Reunion Redefinition Blood Money There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb The Thin Dead Line Reprise Epiphany Disharmony Dead End Belonging Over the Rainbow Through the Looking Glass Happy Anniversary A New World Benediction Billy Birthday Carpe Noctem Couplet Dad Double or Nothing Forgiving Fredless Heartthrob Loyalty Lullaby Offspring Provider Quickening Sleep Tight That Old Gang of Mine That Vision Thing The Price Tomorrow Waiting in the Wings Deep Down Ground State The House Always Wins Slouching Toward Bethlehem Supersymmetry Spin the Bottle Apocalypse Nowish Habeas Corpses Long Day's Journey Awakening Soulless Calvary Salvage Release Orpheus Players Inside Out Shiny Happy People The Magic Bullet Sacrifice Peace Out Home She Hell Bound Unleashed Just Rewards Conviction Soul Purpose Harm's Way Destiny Lineage The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco Life of the Party Damage You're Welcome Why We Fight Smile Time A Hole in the World Shells Underneath Origin Time Bomb The Girl in Question Power Play Not Fade Away
See more details and customer reviews: Angel: Complete Series

Older Than America
Directed by Georgina Lightning
Average customer review:

Kill the Indian. Save the Man.
Bradley Cooper (The Hangover, The A-Team) stars in this mystery about a geologist tracking down the epicenter of an earthquake that leads him to an Indian reservation. Actress Georgina Lightning (TV s The West Wing and Walker, Texas Ranger ) makes her co-writing and directing debut with this passion project while also starring alongside Cooper as Rain, a woman beset by troubling visions from the past. Both their journeys lead to an abandoned schoolhouse and shocking secrets secrets that corrupt politicians and businessmen want to pave over. But the spirits won t be silenced. Like the Oscar-nominated Doubt and acclaimed Canadian drama The Boys Of St. Vincent, this powerful film turns a painful chapter of US history into a compelling, piercing drama. The award-winning cast also includes Adam Beach (Flags Of Our Fathers), Chris Mulkey (TV s 24 ) and the great Wes Studio
See more details and customer reviews: Older Than America

Relate Links:

Cheap New DVD Movies
DVD Releases
DVD releases UK
DVD releases CA

DVD Releases September 21 2010

2010-09-22T13:30:00.000+07:00

From New DVD Releases September 21 2010 & Buy Cheap New DVD Movies September 21 2010

Movie & TV DVD Releases this week. September 21 2010

Ondine
From MAGNOLIA FILMS
Average customer review:

Colin Farrell shows his soulful side in Ondine, a lovely Irish drama from director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game, Breakfast on Pluto). Syracuse (Farrell), a down-on-his-luck fisherman called Circus by friends and foes alike due to his formerly boozy ways, pulls up his net one morning to find a beautiful, near-drowned woman in it. She calls herself Ondine (Polish actress Alicja Bachleda) and Syracuse's daughter Annie (charming newcomer Alison Barry) thinks she's a selkie (a seal that's taken human form and can grant wishes). Ondine is happy to feed Annie's fantasies, and Syracuse is pretty convinced himself--but things take a dark turn as Annie's illness and Ondine's past intrude on this sweet fantasy. Ondine has a different feel than typical Hollywood fare; events that in most movies would be hyped and emphasized (such as a plot-turning car crash) here pass with jolting swiftness. Instead, Ondine lingers on the interplay between a sad father and a yearning daughter, between a lonely man and a lost woman. The movie builds a rich and deeply felt web of relationships--when the story takes hold, you'll be all the more gripped as a result. Featuring a delightful comic turn by Stephen Rea (V for Vendetta) as a skeptical priest.

Robin Hood
Directed by Ridley Scott
Average customer review:

Cast aside all notions of men in tights: Ridley Scott's Robin Hood is decidedly earthier and more grown-up than most romps through Sherwood Forest. The presence of the over-40 Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett cinches the deal, lending a dose of worldliness to a project that means to be about the origins of the famous character, who in this incarnation was evidently a late bloomer. Robin Longstride (that's his name before he started wearing a hood) is just returned from a 10-year jaunt in the Crusades when he loses his king (Danny Huston as Richard the Lionheart) and his job. Back in England, Robin folds himself neatly into a Nottingham family, where a grieving widow named Marion (Blanchett) and her father-in-law (Max von Sydow) hardly care that he doesn't much resemble their own departed warrior. But the merry men and their famous sideline will have to wait: except for one bit of robbing from the rich (i.e., the greedy government of King John) and giving to the poor, this movie is more concerned with creating a portrait of the royal intrigue that went into creating Robin Hood than in detailing the high jinks of the Nottingham outlaws. And that's not a bad thing, because although Robin Hood lacks the mechanical action beats that distinguish most films of its scale, it creates an engrossing story line around its political chess playing (outlined by screenwriter Brian Helgeland and apparently a few others). Crowe is in reliable crusty-tender form and Blanchett summons up more than her sketchy character probably deserves, but the film has a large cast of chewy, fun performers: Mark Strong (Kick-Ass) does baddie duty as the treacherous pal of King John (preening Oscar Isaacs), William Hurt is stalwart and wise as a royal power broker, Eileen Atkins is a carefully considered royal mum, and Matthew Macfadyen is a Sheriff of Nottingham who's no longer central to the villainy--though no less hissable for his ineptitude (and a prime candidate at film's end for No. 1 bad guy in the sequel). In short, not a Gladiator re-do for Scott and Crowe, but a civilized tale of tyrants and rebels, staged in a pleasingly old-fashioned way.

Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue
Directed by Bradley Raymond
Average customer review:

What would you do if you met a fairy? Witness the historic moment when Tinker Bell first meets a human being, and it’s not who you think.

Years before meeting Wendy and the Lost Boys, Tinker Bell met Lizzy, a little girl with a steadfast belief in the power of pixie dust and the magic land of fairies. During the fairies’ summer visit to the flowering meadows of England, two very different worlds unite for the first time and Tink develops a special bond with a curious child in need of a friend. As her fellow fairies launch a daring rescue, Tinker Bell takes a huge risk, putting her own safety and the future of all fairykind in jeopardy.

Experience Disney’s astonishing all-new movie about the true power of faith and friendship. Bursting with excitement and imagination, Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue is magical entertainment for the whole family. You might even learn to fly.

The Experiment
Directed by Paul Scheuring
Average customer review:

Adrien Brody and Forest Whitaker star as ordinary men who find themselves transformed by strange circumstances in The Experiment. Tempted by a large paycheck, 26 men agree to be divided into prisoners and guards and placed in a mock prison for two weeks--but within a matter of days, these seemingly sane men have turned the mock prison into a sadistic pressure cooker. The Experiment is in part a remake of a German film, Das Experiment, which was inspired by a psychology experiment conducted at Stanford University in 1971--an experiment sometimes cited as demonstrating an innate human capacity for sadism. But despite a strong cast--in addition to solid work from Brody and Whitaker, Clifton Collins Jr. (Capote) gives a typically strong performance--and some delving into several characters' back-stories, The Experiment never quite grabs hold. Still, there are compelling sequences and a creepily effective use of infrared cinematography. Also featuring Maggie Grace (Lost), Ethan Cohn (Gilmore Girls), Cam Gigandet (Twilight), and Fisher Stevens (Short Circuit). Directed by Paul Scheuring, the creator of Prison Break.

El Secreto de Sus Ojos
Directed by Juan José Campanella
Average customer review:

The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos), an Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film, is part cold-case mystery, part long-lost love story, and part thriller set both in the present and in 1970s Argentina, under the tight control of its infamous military dictatorship. Director Juan José Campanella manages to tread easily across these genres with a story that's gripping, a little outlandish, and compelling--if full of a growing sense of dread. The Secret in Their Eyes stars Ricardo Darín as Benjamin, a policeman who gets pulled into investigating a decades-old crime, and becomes drawn in, almost against his will, as layers of information about the missing (murdered?) girl slowly come to light. As Benjamin investigates, he runs into a woman for whom he has long carried a torch, Irene (Soledad Villamil), an ambitious judge who had also at one point been involved in adjudicating the old crime. The chemistry between Benjamin and Irene is part of the "secret in their eyes," as the pull between the old colleagues becomes palpable. But also palpable is the hold that this unsolved crime has over Benjamin--a creepy borderline obsession that is reminiscent of the American film noir classic Laura. Fancy cinematography and well-crafted flashbacks to the era of the crime--set against the backdrop of the military dictatorship--add extra depth to what is a truly original story, told in layers with great intelligence. Fans of great mysteries and dramas--and of lost love that may again be found--will not want to miss The Secret in Their Eyes.

Directors: Life Behind the Camera
Directed by Various
Average customer review:

Made in cooperation with the American Film Institute, DIRECTORS: LIFE BEHIND THE CAMERA features thirty-three legendary directors who reveal intimate and in-depth knowledge about the art of filmmaking and, as well, their own career in the movies.
Culled from over 300 hours of interviews, this two-disc, four hour presentation is totally interactive, allowing instant access to a single director, or access to an entire topic involving all directors. Also included are film clips, interviews with guest actors and industry veterans, and biographies and interesting facts about each director.

Featuring (in alphabetical order):
Robert Altman, Robert Benton, Tim Burton, James Cameron, Chris Columbus, Wes Craven, Cameron Crowe, Frank Darabont, Jonathan Demme, Richard Donner, Clint Eastwood, Nora Ephron, William Friedkin, Terry Gilliam, Ron Howard, Lawrence Kasdan, Spike Lee, Barry Levinson, George Lucas, David Lynch, Adrian Lyne, Garry Marshall, Penny Marshall, Sydney Pollack, Rob Reiner, Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Bryan Singer, Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, Robert Zemeckis, David Zucker

TOPICS DISCUSSED INCLUDE :

Everyone has to Start Somewhere
The Art of Writing and Choosing Scripts
The Care and Feeding of Actors
Your Cinematographer is Your Best Friend
One of their Most Compelling Films
Will the Industry Survive?
Long After they are Gone

Also featuring a wide range of A-list actors and industry veterans including:
Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Beals, Jerry Bruckheimer, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Cruise, Ossie Davis, Robert Englund, Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, Scott Glenn, Jeff Goldblum, Elliott Gould, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, Dennis Hopper, Michael Keaton, Leslie Nielsen, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, Roy Scheider, Wil Wheaton

Community: The Complete First Season
From Colombia Tri Star
Average customer review:

Community hits an ingenious balance: it's both a top-notch sitcom about a gaggle of misfits at a community college and a satire on the very nature of sitcoms. Jeff (Joel McHale of The Soup), a fast-talking suspended lawyer seeking an authentic undergraduate degree, forms a Spanish study group for the sole purpose of wooing Britta (Gillian Jacobs, Choke), a former political activist trying to move into mainstream life--but to his dismay a handful of other students show up as well. As happens in sitcoms, they turn into an alternate family, including Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown), a Christian housewife; Abed (Danny Pudi), a business/film student with Asperger's syndrome; Troy (Donald Glover), a former high school football star; Annie (Alison Brie, Mad Men), an overachieving ex-drug addict; and a former moist-towelette magnate (Chevy Chase, Saturday Night Live, Foul Play). Community's plots occasionally revolve around classes--most often abusive assignments from their volatile Spanish teacher, Señor Chang (Ken Jeong, The Hangover)--but more often the show veers into daffy social territory, such as female bathroom etiquette, excessive political correctness, sexually transmitted disease prevention, the true meaning of Christmas, bullies, and teacher-student affairs. The characters are delightful, the dialogue swift and clever, and the stories skillfully orchestrated.

But the secret pleasure of Community is its sneaky commentary on sitcom mechanics, from the whole concept of an alternate family to the manipulative nature of will-they-won't-they sexual tension to any number of subtle but affectionate digs. The show's pop-culture awareness extends even further in two of the best episodes, one that turns a craving for chicken fingers into a GoodFellas-esque Mafia tale and another about a paintball competition that escalates into a quasi-apocalyptic action thriller. Also, Community: The Complete First Season is packed with delicious extras--in addition to cheerful and entertaining commentaries (which demonstrate how much the cast enjoys working together) and the usual outtakes of the cast breaking character, there are excellent mini-episodes, mock cast interviews, and some very creative use of sound effects. Fans of Arrested Development will enjoy the rich, layered humor and fans of How I Met Your Mother will take similar pleasure in the clever stories, but Community should appeal to anyone seeking smart, high-energy comedy.

Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral On a Moving Train -- Special Commemorative Edition
Directed by Deb Ellis;Denis Mueller
Average customer review:

In celebration of the life of Howard Zinn (1922 - 2010), First Run Features is releasing a commemorative edition of the 2004 film "Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train", complete with over an hour of extra bonus features and interviews.

New Bonus Materials Include: Bonus Speeches and Interviews (Zinn on power and war, philosophy, civil rights and labor activism. Excerpts with Studs Terkel, college talks and off-the-cuff interviews); Zinn's Recommended Reading List ; Speech Transcripts; Film Excerpts; Daniel Ellsberg's A Memory of Howard Zinn

In these turbulent times, Howard Zinn is inspiring a new generation. This acclaimed film looks at the amazing life of the renowned historian, activist and author. Following his early days as a shipyard labor organizer and bombardier in World War II, Zinn became an academic rebel and leader of civil disobedience in a time of institutionalized racism and war. His influential writings shine light on and bring voice to factory workers, immigrant laborers, African Americans, Native Americans and the working poor.

Featuring rare archival materials and interviews with Zinn and colleagues such as Noam Chomsky, You Can't Be Neutral captures the essence of this extraordinary man who has been a catalyst for progressive change for more than 60 years.

Narrated by Matt Damon and featuring music by Pearl Jam, Woody Guthrie & Billy Bragg!

Relate Links:

Cheap New DVD Movies
DVD Releases
DVD releases UK
DVD releases CA

DVD Releases September 14 2010

2010-09-15T11:40:00.002+07:00

From New DVD Releases September 14 2010 & Buy Cheap New DVD Movies September 14 2010

Movie & TV DVD Releases this week. September 14 2010

Just Wright
Directed by Sanaa Hamri
Average customer review:

If you've ever doubted that Queen Latifah is a movie star, watch Just Wright. It's not that Just Wright is a great movie--it isn't. It's a perfectly capable romantic comedy with some lovely touches and some typical clichés. The plot--physical therapist Leslie Wright (Latifah) becomes the personal therapist to basketball star Scott McKnight (rapper Common) after a devastating injury, and gradually, love blossoms--isn't really the point. What makes the movie work are little moments of pain and pleasure, such as the flicker of betrayal when Leslie watches her mother give a pair of heirloom earrings to Leslie's prettier childhood pal, Morgan (Paula Patton, Precious), or the hesitation, followed by a leap, when Leslie and Scott have their first kiss. Director Sanaa Hamri, who also made the unjustly ignored interracial romance Something New, has an excellent eye for the details of how people interact; she never forgets that people rarely know what they're going to do until they actually do it, so her movies are in a constant state of discovery. She draws a new vulnerability out of Queen Latifah, who usually coasts on a sassy, breezy confidence. Just Wright is about a woman who's quietly endured a thousand indignities and tries not to let her unhappiness show--which is what makes it so engaging. This sort of performance doesn't win awards, but it makes this sort of movie an unexpected pleasure.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Directed by Mike Newell
Average customer review:

Jake Gyllenhaal's doe eyes and bulging biceps will make some hearts flutter in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Dastan (Gyllenhaal), adopted prince of the Persian empire, must flee into the desert when accused of murdering his royal father--but a glass-handled dagger he found as loot from a captured city turns out to hold powerful time-manipulating magic. Not only is he pursued by his vengeful brothers, his scheming uncle (Ben Kingsley, Sexy Beast), and a strange cabal of assassins, but a princess/priestess named Tamina (Gemma Arterton, Quantum of Solace) wants the dagger back and will kill Dastan if she has to. Prince of Persia wants to be a rollicking adventure along the lines of Pirates of the Caribbean. Unfortunately, it's hampered by clumsy dialogue and hard-to-follow action sequences, with choppy editing that wrecks the flow of the parkour-inspired stunts. But the production design is extravagant and every time Alfred Molina (Spiderman 2) appears as a greedy sheik the movie gets a delightful jolt of energy. Gyllenhaal doesn't have much to work with--Dastan is a fairly generic hero--and whoever designed his hair should have been fired on the first day, but his lazy charm comes through and carries him through the movie.

Letters to Juliet
Directed by Gary Winick
Average customer review:

Letters to Juliet succeeds in being just what it's meant to be, a feel-good romantic comedy about love lost and love found, in which love triumphs in the face of cynicism. Inspired by the book of the same name, and filmed against the beautiful backdrop of Verona, Italy, the movie tells the story of how troubled young women seek advice from Shakespeare's Juliet by leaving letters tacked to a wall, where they are carefully answered by Juliet's self-appointed "secretaries." One such note is found 50 years later by Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), a young American woman who is soon to be married and who yearns to become a writer. Her heartfelt answer to the letter serves as a catalyst for an epic romantic journey that will span continents and generations. The success of the film lies in the powerful interaction between the wistfully romantic and fully mature author of the letter, Claire (Vanessa Redgrave); the romantically idealistic Sophie; and Claire's overly pragmatic, downright cynical grandson Charlie (Christopher Egan), who grudgingly accompanies his grandmother on what he deems an insane quest to Verona to find her long lost love, Lorenzo. The filmmakers, writers, and actors all capitalize well on the comic possibilities of the situation, and there are more than a few good chuckles to be had at the absurdity of the interactions between these three very different characters, as they experience everything from hope and longing to disappointment and unexpected fulfillment. In the end, each character grows and changes profoundly as a result of their shared journey. Sure, the events portrayed in the film are highly unrealistic, but that doesn't change the fact that the film speaks to that innermost part of us all that, despite all logic, makes us want to believe that true love really does exist and that it just might triumph in the end.

Princess Kaiulani
Directed by Marc Forby
Average customer review:

Princess Kaiulani is a moving film that's part romantic epic, part historical period piece. But mostly it's a portrait of how a frightened young girl grew into an extraordinary woman. The film begins in 1889, when civil unrest unseated Hawaii's royal family and the Hawaiian people began a struggle to maintain their independence and right of self-governance, and when the 13-year-old princess Ka'iulani (Q'orianka Kilcher), who was next in line for the Hawaiian throne, was exiled to England to ensure her safety. Shot on location in both England and Hawaii by indie director Marc Forby, this breathtakingly beautiful film follows Ka'iulani as she is plopped down in a foreign world that looks upon Hawaiians as barbarians and where her royal heritage counts for virtually nothing. Princess Ka'iulani, or "Victoria," as the English often call her, endures harsh treatment at the hands of both teachers and students at boarding school, but she refuses to crumble, carrying on with a strength and quiet resolve that's powerfully portrayed by Kilcher. As Ka'iulani matures, she falls in love with Englishman Clive Davies (Shaun Evans) and becomes engaged. Just as Ka'iulani's happiness seems assured, her father visits her in England, bringing with him serious news: her uncle, King Kalakaua (Ocean Kaowili), has died unexpectedly after having been forced to adopt a constitution in conflict with the best interests of the Hawaiian people, and Ka'iulani's aunt Liliu'okalani (Leo Anderson Akana), who ascended to the throne, has subsequently been put under house arrest and removed from power. Incensed by the grave injustices inflicted upon her people, Princess Ka'iulani is propelled by her inherent sense of duty to sacrifice her own potential happiness. She journeys first to America, where she eloquently pleads with outgoing president Grover Cleveland for his help, and later to Hawaii, where she fights for her people's rights in person. Princess Kaiulani is a powerful film, and what comes across so strongly is not just the often-overlooked perspective of the native Hawaiian people regarding America's annexation of Hawaii and the cultural consequences of that annexation, but the truly heroic acts of Hawaii's extraordinary Princess Ka'iulani.

The Twilight Zone: Season 1 [Blu-ray]
From Image Entertainment
Average customer review:

All 36 episodes of the first season of Rod Serling’s classic, groundbreaking series, now presented in pristine high definition for the first time ever!

Loaded with new and exclusive bonus features not available anywhere else including extremely rare, never-before-released unofficial pilot “The Time Element” written by Rod Serling and hosted by Desi Arnaz – the episode that started a cultural phenomenon – presented in glorious high definition!

All new 1080p high-definition transfers have been created from the original camera negatives, as well as uncompressed PCM audio, remastered from the original magnetic soundtracks. Season One Episodes: Where Is Everybody?, One for the Angels, Mr. Denton on Doomsday, The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine, Walking Distance, Escape Clause, The Lonely, Time Enough at Last, Perchance to Dream, Judgment Night, And When the Sky Was Opened, What You Need, The Four of Us Are Dying, Third from the Sun, I Shot an Arrow into the Air, The Hitch-Hiker, The Fever, The Last Flight, The Purple Testament, Elegy, Mirror Image, The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, A World of Difference, Long Live Walter Jameson, People Are Alike All Over, Execution, The Big Tall Wish, A Nice Place to Visit, Nightmare as a Child, A Stop at Willoughby, The Chaser, A Passage for Trumpet, Mr. Bevis, The After Hours, The Mighty Casey, A World of His Own. Season 1 included such stars as Anne Francis, Burgess Meredith (eventual veteran of numerous TZ episodes), Ida Lupino, Jack Klugman, Richard Conte, Gig Young, Nehemiah Persoff, Sebastian Cabot, Claude Akins, Earl Holliman, Roddy McDowall, Kevin McCarthy, Ed Wynn, Murray Hamilton, Vera Miles and Ron Howard, all featured in classic episodes. Before the season had even finished, it was hailed by the critics, named by Daily Variety as "the best that has ever been accomplished in half-hour filmed television,” a new phrase had entered the pop-culture lexicon and its success and impact is still felt today – fifty-one years after its debut.

Seven [Blu-ray Book]
From New Line Home Video
Average customer review:

The most viscerally frightening and disturbing homicidal-maniac picture since The Silence of the Lambs, Seven is based on an idea that's both gruesome and ingenious. A serial killer forces each of his victims to die by acting out one of the seven deadly sins. The murder scene is then artfully arranged into a grotesque tableau, a graphic illustration of each mortal vice. From the jittery opening credits to the horrifying (and seemingly inescapable) concluding twist, director David Fincher immerses us in a murky urban twilight where everything seems to be rotting, rusting, or molding; the air is cold and heavy with dread. Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt are the detectives who skillfully track down the killer--all the while unaware that he has been closing in on them, as well. Gwyneth Paltrow and Kevin Spacey are also featured, but it is director Fincher and the ominous, overwhelmingly oppressive atmosphere of doom that he creates that are the real stars of the film. It's a terrific date movie--for vampires.

Relate Links:
Cheap New DVD Movies
DVD Releases
DVD releases UK
DVD releases CA

DVD Releases September 7 2010

2010-09-07T15:18:00.000+07:00

From New DVD Releases September 7 2010 & Buy Cheap New DVD Movies September 7 2010

Movie & TV DVD Releases this week. September 7 2010

Killers
Directed by Robert Luketic
Average customer review:
Killers has been murdered by most film critics, and the box-office receipts haven't been too impressive either. But that's kind of a bad rap. Granted, it isn't likely to make many year's best (or even month's best) lists, but this is an entertaining little diversion that at the very least offers an appealing cast, a few laughs, and some cool chase scenes. Katherine Heigl plays Jen, who, having recently been dumped by her boyfriend, is vacationing in Nice with her parents (Tom Selleck and Catherine O'Hara). Enter Spencer (Ashton Kutcher), a hired assassin (hey, it's a comedy) who happens to be on the scene for a job. The couple's cutesy flirting turns into a romantic dinner, which leads to some heavy drinking… and before you know it, Spencer has renounced the killing gig, married Jen, and moved back to her hometown in the States, where he becomes a "corporate consultant." Three years later his past catches up to him, as we knew it would, and a seemingly limitless array of hired guns emerges from the woodwork, intent on collecting the $20 million bounty that's been put on Spencer's head. Exactly why this is, and who's responsible for it, are secrets revealed only at the end, although perspicacious viewers will no doubt have seen it coming. In the meantime, Spencer's revelation of who he really is and Jen's reaction to it are mildly reminiscent of the Arnold Schwarzenegger-Jamie Lee Curtis relationship in True Lies, as issues of trust, safety, and Jen's newly discovered pregnancy complicate Spencer's attempts to keep the two of them alive while he tries to figure out what's going on. Director Robert Luketic displays a sure hand during the action sequences, but he's working with a thin script and a pair of attractive young actors whose chemistry doesn't exactly burn up the screen. Those are serious drawbacks, but all in all, there are far worse ways to kill a couple of hours than watching Killers.

MacGruber
Directed by Jorma Taccone
Average customer review:
No comic explosion, but not quite a dud, no Wayne's World, but not The Ladies Man either, MacGruber does manage to pull off the seemingly impossible mission of expanding a 90-second one-joke Saturday Night Live sketch into a feature film. What's next: "Toonces the Cat Who Could Drive a Car"? In those MacGruber sketches, Will Forte's mullet-maned hero "makes life-saving inventions out of household materials" but always gets sidetracked as the bomb he's defusing ticks down to its last 20 seconds. Blown up for the big screen, MacGruber finds a bigger payoff whenever the film sidetracks from the standard-issue '80s action movie plot, as witness MacGruber's deranged revenge fantasies toward a driver who hurled a drive-by insult at his car. MacGruber's secret weapon is Val Kilmer as a megalomaniacal villain (his name, not appropriate for a family website, is a profanely puerile running joke) with a stolen Russian nuclear warhead and a grudge against MacGruber. MacGruber's somewhat less than A-team includes Vicki St. Elmo (SNL MVP Kristin Wiig), more into her music than into saving the world, and straight arrow Lieutenant Piper (Ryan Phillippe), who begins to question MacGruber's unorthodox tactics (one involving a diversionary stalk of celery is just one of the film's more jaw-dropping gross-out gags). MacGruber may not set the world on fire, but the insanely committed Forte, like MacGruber, will do anything, no matter how obscene, to complete his mission. Mission pretty much accomplished, particularly in a sex scene that is the most outrageous of its kind since Team America: World Police (albeit, thankfully, not as graphic).

Solitary Man
Directed by David Levien Brian Koppelman
Average customer review:
Michael Douglas has spent the second half of his career perfecting playing charming, morally flawed rakes (Fatal Attraction, Wall Street, Wonder Boys). So his performance in Solitary Man--as a morally flawed rake who is somehow ingratiating, if not exactly charming--is a subtle but real revelation of Douglas's acting skills. His character in Solitary Man, Ben, shows elements of his roles in the other films, yet Ben is no master of the universe; he's one step away from pathetic--and just enough so that viewers will be invested in finding out how his story plays out, even if at the same time they'd like to see Ben get some comeuppance. Douglas's Ben gets a late start on his midlife crisis, at roughly age 60, when his doctor suggests further tests on a heart irregularity. In the aftermath of that shocking news, Ben's tidy life (beautiful wife Nancy, played by Susan Sarandon; thoughtful daughter Susan, played by Jenna Fischer) has come undone, rent by divorce, a giant fall from his career as a successful car dealer, and a string of rather nauseatingly inappropriate liaisons with far younger women. Ben should have "hit bottom" by the time Solitary Man picks up his story, some six years later, and in many ways he has--broke, despondent, lonely. Yet somehow Ben can still charm the thongs off the ladies (and this is one area that Solitary Man just doesn't ring true in; Ben may be a good salesman, but no unemployed 65-year-old is that good a salesman). The supporting cast is outstanding, especially Sarandon and Fischer, whose characters should have given up on Ben long ago, and yet still remain invested, even bailing him out, sometimes unwisely. Mary-Louise Parker is also splendid as Jordan, Ben's wealthy girlfriend, who also keeps him afloat financially. The lovely Imogen Poots plays Allyson, Jordan's teenage daughter, whom Jordan entrusts to Ben's care on a trip to check out his alma mater. (Bad idea.) "You can't cheat death, no matter how many 19-year-olds you talk into your bed," Nancy tells Ben, who seems to be listening--yet this old dog may not have it in himself to learn the new tricks he'll really need to make his life work. It's to Douglas's enormous credit, and to the script's, that Solitary Man, and Ben, manage to come off as human and real--even sympathetic.

Loss Of A Teardrop Diamond
Directed by Jodie Markell
Average customer review:
Synopsis: The story of Fisher Willow, a Memphis débutante daughter of a plantation owner with a distaste for narrow-minded people and a penchant for shocking and insulting those around her. After returning from studies overseas, Fisher falls in love with Jimmy, the down-and-out son of an alcoholic father and an insane mother who works at a store on her family's plantation. She tries to pass him off as an upper-class suitor to appease the spinster aunt who controls her family's fortune, but when she loses a diamond, it places their tenuous relationship in further jeopardy.
ed on the long lost screenplay from celebrated playwright Tennessee Williams (A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof)!

Prime Suspect: The Complete Collection
From Acorn Media
Average customer review:
Helen Mirren's Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison, the only female DCI on an old boy's club London homicide squad, is like a phantom lurking around the edges of the action while the men rush through their latest murder case, joshing and winking in the kind of male camaraderie the cop genre has celebrated for decades. When DCI Shefford dies of a sudden heart attack, Tennison demands to take over. Despite her superintendent's resistance ("Give her this case and she'll start expecting more."), she becomes the squad's first woman to head a murder investigation. Scrutinized at every moment by her superior officers, Tennison is faced with a case that spirals out from a single murder to a serial spree, a second-in-command who undermines her authority and her investigation at every turn, a team resistant to taking orders from a woman, and a private life unraveling due to her professional diligence. Lynda La Plant's script is a compelling thriller riddled with ambiguity that turns dead ends, blind alleys, and the mundane legwork of real-life cops into fascinating details. Mirren commands the role of Tennison with authority, intelligence, and a touch of overachieving desperation. Superb performances, excellent writing, and understated direction make this BBC miniseries one of the most involving mysteries in years. Look for future British stars Ralph Fiennes and Tom Wilkinson in supporting roles.

That Evening Sun
Directed by Scott Teems
Average customer review:
Academy Award-nominee and ten-time Emmy-winner Hal Holbrook (Into the Wild) stars with Oscar-winner Ray McKinnon (The Blind Side) and Alice in Wonderland's Mia Wasikowska in this critically acclaimed gem. Fleeing the retirement home where his son abandoned him, Abner Meecham sets out to reclaim his beloved Tennessee farmstead - only to find it's been leased to an old enemy, the volatile Lonzo Choat. After Abner intervenes to protect Choat's daughter from her drunken father's abuse, events spiral toward a startling, violent climax in "...an exceptionally fine, richly atmospheric film." (Joe Leydon, Variety) Dedicated to the memory of the late Dixie Carter

Relate Links:
Cheap New DVD Movies
DVD Releases
DVD releases UK

DVD Releases August 31 2010

2010-08-30T17:01:00.000+07:00

From New DVD Releases August 31 2010 & Buy Cheap New DVD Movies August 31 2010

Movie & TV DVD Releases this week. August 31 2010

Harry Brown
Directed by Daniel Barber
Average customer review:

With its themes of rampant urban decay and crime, mistreatment of the elderly, and vigilantism, Harry Brown will inevitably be compared to earlier movies from Death Wish to Gran Torino. The comparisons are apt, but with the able assistance of Michael Caine in the title role, director Daniel Barber and screenwriter Gary Young's tale stands on its own, grimly but compellingly. Caine's Harry Brown, a retiree and former marine, lives alone in a flat in a decrepit London council estate, spending his time visiting his comatose wife in the hospital, playing chess at the local pub with his only friend (David Bradley), and gazing out at the quotidian violence and drug dealing carried out with virtual impunity by the insolent young thugs and lowlifes on the estate grounds. It's a lonely existence that only gets sadder when his wife dies and his pal is murdered; and when the police inform him that nailing those responsible will be next to impossible, Harry turns dirty. His first killing is in self-defense, but once he gets hold of a gun (obtained from a dealer-junkie in a nightmarishly vivid scene), it is on, as our "vigilante pensioner" takes no prisoners in his pursuit of street justice. The cops, who are mostly depicted as clueless and thoroughly inept, assume the local gangs are responsible; only Detective Inspector Alice Frampton (Emily Mortimer), about the only one with a brain and a heart, suspects Harry, and she plays an important role as the film careens towards its operatically brutal climax. The scenes of violence are intense but very well staged, and the film's overall look and downbeat color palette effectively convey the sense of squalid hopelessness permeating this stratum of British existence. Harry Brown isn't a lot of fun, but it will stick with you.

Marmaduke
Directed by Tom Dey
Average customer review:

Marmaduke is a lighthearted comedy based on the comic strip by Brad Anderson. When Phil gets a job with an organic pet food company in California, he moves his family, including his huge Great Dane Marmaduke and Balinese cat Carlos, from their home in Kansas in order to pursue his new job opportunity, but he's so wrapped up in his new job that he doesn't really take time to listen to his wife and kids and consider their needs. Marmaduke knows exactly what's going on, but he can't get Phil to listen, and besides, he's got his own problems trying to fit in at the local dog park. Phil and Marmaduke each struggle to impress their peers and reinvent themselves in the image of what they think others want them to be, but they only wind up hurting themselves and their family. Marmaduke is full of classic, if overused comic moments--the oversized dog passing gas while lying on Phil and Debbie's bed, Marmaduke and his dog friends trashing the house at an out-of-control dog party, and a crazy dog-surfing scene--but the gags manage to not completely overwhelm the plot, as happened in Furry Vengeance, and the film leaves viewers with an important message about the value of family, being true to oneself, and taking time to really listen to those you love. Marmaduke could almost be classified as Marley and Me light: it combines silly gags with a serious message like Marley and Me, but it lacks a high level of emotional investment. Voice talent includes Owen Wilson, George Lopez, Fergie, Emma Stone, and Kiefer Sutherland. Marmaduke isn't a great film, but the kids will be entertained by it and most adults will find it palatable enough. (Rated PG for some rude humor and language, but appropriate for most ages 7 and older.)

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too? (Widescreen Edition)
Directed by Tyler Perry
Average customer review:

Part Couples Retreat and part Douglas Sirk on steroids, Tyler Perry's sequel to his 2007 ensemble drama from the play of the same name reunites the four dysfunctional couples from the original film and runs each relationship (and the audience) again through the wringer. If you missed the first trip, don't sweat it. Perry writes in broad strokes, rendering each character readily definable (prideful husband, harpy wife, etc). The Bahamas is an exotic upgrade from Colorado, but the couples arrive for their annual retreat with even more baggage. Relationship guru Patricia (Janet Jackson) is unable to save her own marriage to Gavin (Malik Yoba). Terry (Perry) suspects his attorney wife Diane (Sharon Leal) is cheating on him, while Angela (Tasha Smith) is convinced her husband Marcus (Michael Jai White), now a successful sports talk show host, is cheating on her. Sheila (Jill Scott) is now married to former sheriff Troy (Lamman Rucker), who cannot find a job. Further drama arrives in the form of Sheila's abusive ex-husband Mike (Richard T. Jones), who claims his time-share privileges. The film is graced by the all-too-brief appearances of Louis Gossett Jr. and Cicely Tyson as an elderly married pair who provide the couples with a reality check. Even by Perry standards, the film's last half hour is one jaw-dropping confrontation/revelation after another on its way to the requisite uplifting conclusion. Some may miss Madea, but Angela's Katrina-esque rants fill the void. Using Gavin's 80/20 theory of marriage introduced in the first film, Too gives his fans even more than 80 percent of what they want in a Tyler Perry film.

Spread
From Anchor Bay/Starz
Average customer review:

Director David Mackenzie trades the Scottish Highlands for the Hollywood Hills in this darkly comic fable about a male hustler. While Julia Roberts famously portrayed a hooker with a heart of gold, Nikki (producer Ashton Kutcher) suffers from Tin Man Syndrome: he doesn't seem to have a heart at all. As he boasts in his opening narration, "I don't wanna be arrogant here, but I'm an incredibly attractive man." (He has a point, but those suspenders have gotta go.) With his finances in disarray, he sets his sights on Samantha (Anne Heche), a high-powered attorney with an amazing abode overlooking Los Angeles. For such a sophisticated woman, she's surprisingly quick to fall for his patter. Aside from attending to her physical needs, Nikki cooks, runs errands, and makes himself so indispensable he gains the use of her Amex and Mercedes. Then he meets the more age-appropriate Heather (Margarita Levieva), who doesn't find his talk quite so cute, but she gets him in a way Sam doesn't because she's a player, too. Through Heather, Nikki finds his heart, but a real relationship proves far more challenging than a fake one. If the characters in Mackenzie's first American feature, much like the gang on TV's Gossip Girl, are too vain to inspire much sympathy, they're still fun to watch. Kutcher's ladies' man may not be as iconic as the studs in Midnight Cowboy and American Gigolo, but then Mackenzie (Young Adam, Mister Foe) isn't going for tears or fears, but rather for escapism with a sexy, slightly cynical edge.

9TH COMPANY (original and English language)
Directed by Fyodor Bondarchuk
Average customer review:

Based on real-life events, 9th COMPANY recounts a year in the shared lives of a group of young soldiers drafted to serve in Afghanistan during the final year of the Soviet conflict. It is a poignant story of the unit s dedication to each other during their valiant defense of Height 3234...a futile battle that ravaged their forgotten company, who fought on, unaware that the war had ended.

Reminiscent of Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket and The Big Red One, 9th COMPANY is credited as being the first real post-Soviet era war film.

The highest grossing film in Russia in 2005 at $27 million, 9th COMPANY also won a NIKA Award for Best Film and marks the feature directorial debut of Fyodor Bondarchuk, son of renowned director Sergei Bondarchuk War and Peace, 1968.

The Evil Dead
Directed by Sam Raimi
Average customer review:

In the fall of 1979, Sam Raimi and his merry band headed into the woods of rural Tennessee to make a movie. They emerged with a roller coaster of a film packed with shocks, gore, and wild humor, a film that remains a benchmark for the genre. Ash (cult favorite Bruce Campbell) and four friends arrive at a backwoods cabin for a vacation, where they find a tape recorder containing incantations from an ancient book of the dead. When they play the tape, evil forces are unleashed, and one by one the friends are possessed. Wouldn't you know it, the only way to kill a "deadite" is by total bodily dismemberment, and soon the blood starts to fly. Raimi injects tremendous energy into this simple plot, using the claustrophobic set, disorienting camera angles, and even the graininess of the film stock itself to create an atmosphere of dread, punctuated by a relentless series of jump-out-of-your-seat shocks. The Evil Dead lacks the more highly developed sense of the absurd that distinguish later entries in the series--Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness--but it is still much more than a gore movie. It marks the appearance of one of the most original and visually exciting directors of his generation, and it stands as a monument to the triumph of imagination over budget.
Relate Links:
Cheap New DVD Movies
DVD Releases
DVD releases UK

DVD Releases August 17 2010

2010-08-17T16:12:00.001+07:00

From New DVD Releases August 17 2010 & Buy Cheap New DVD Movies August 17 2010

Movie & TV DVD Releases this week. August 17 2010

The Last Song
Directed by Julie Anne Robinson
Average customer review:

This romantic tearjerker from writer Nicholas Sparks (Dear John, The Notebook) can be formulaic at times, but it stays interesting thanks to pacing and snappy dialogue. Miley Cyrus sulks through The Last Song as troubled teen Ronnie, who resents her father (Greg Kinnear) for divorcing Mom (Kelly Preston) and leaving the family. A piano prodigy, Ronnie refuses to play after her father leaves, and she snubs admission to Julliard. Ronnie and her wisecracking brother Jonah (Bobby Coleman) are sent to spend the summer with their father in a small Georgia beach town. Handsome townie Will (Liam Hemsworth) strikes up a tense relationship with Ronnie and, true to romance formula, they fall in love. Ronnie softens her attitude and the ice between father and daughter begins to melt away. But Dad has a tragic secret, and in the end, music helps Ronnie open her heart and heal. Cyrus gives a predictable performance as the all-attitude Ronnie, but she's helped along by Coleman's cute-little-brother shtick (which can be a bit heavy-handed, but the youngster is a scene-stealer). Veteran actors Preston and Kinnear are one-dimensional, but The Last Song is a harmless teen romance--who's watching the adults, anyway?

Furry Vengeance
Directed by Roger Kumble
Average customer review:

Humans are out to destroy the forest in the name of progress, but the animals that live there won't go out without a fight. We've seen it before in films like Over the Hedge, but this time it's a green, eco-friendly company versus a very organized group of animals under the leadership of a clever raccoon. Dan (Brendan Fraser) is the project manager who has moved his family from Chicago to the middle of an Oregon forest to live on-site in the community's model home. His wife Tammy (Brooke Shields) and son Tyler (Matt Prokop) aren't particularly happy about the move, but how bad can it be for one year? When unforeseen obstacles like an inconveniently located beaver dam threaten to slow progress and put the project over budget, Dan's commitment to eco-friendly methods is tested and his son dubs him a hypocrite. The animals start fighting back in a very organized, conniving way, but all Tammy sees is that Dan is beginning to go a little bit crazy. When phase 2 of the development is unveiled and the opportunity to head up the project, along with a considerable raise, is presented to Dan, he accepts without regard for the forest animals or his family. After suffering everything from a wet crotch resulting from a chewed sprinkler line to repeated skunk sprayings, a run-in with a swarm of bees, and an encounter with an insistently pecking crow that almost gets him killed, Dan begins to reconsider what's really important in life. This basic plot has been the basis of many similar movies, some good, some bad, but Furry Vengeance is such a predictable, superficial gag-fest that it quickly becomes more tiresome than funny--trite doesn't really even begin to describe it. (Ages 7 and older with parental guidance due to some mildly rude humor.)
The City of Your Final Destination
Directed by James Ivory
Average customer review:

Omar (Omar Metwally) is a professor of literature at an University of Colorado and he tries to get legal permission to write the biography of a writer who has only had one novel published. The author's family is against the idea so Omar decides to go to South America to meet them and get their permission. He finds a dysfunctional family with many secrets and skeletons in the closet. Deirdre (Alexandra Maria Lara) arrives to see how things are going and it gets very interesting. The writer's widow, (Laura Linney) and the writer's girlfriend, Ardenia, (Charlotte Gainsbourg), the gay brother of the writer (Anthony Hopkins) and his lover (Hiroyuki Sanada) all live together on an estate far from anything else and we get a study of personalities and a look at the dynamics between there people. We also see Omar's feelings for Ardenia and the choices he is forced to make. The film is about decesions and how they influence the lives of everyone.
Based on the novel by Peter Cameron, the screenplay was written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and the film was directed by James Ivory. This is a good example of literary cinema.The characters all play cultured, cosmopolitan residents of a remote place in Uruguay and they seem to be constantly philosophizing and bickering. People talk a lot and we are plunged into the emotions of the characters. We realize that what we are watching is little more than a power struggle between adulterers and malcontents as they test the bonds of family as well as the boundaries that confine them.
The Good, the Bad, the Weird
Directed by Ji-Woon Kim
Average customer review:

Asian westerns are a rare breed of film. As of this writing, I'm only aware of three: "Tears of the Black Tiger" (2000, Thailand), "Sukiyaki Western Django" (2007, Japan), and "The Good, the Bad, and the Weird" (2008, South Korea). The Thai entry was pretty good, with excellent use of color and some decent humor. The Japanese entry (directed by the wildly popular Takashi Miike) was a piece of trash that had horrible scriptwriting, lame action scenes on the whole, and a penchant for provoking maximum irritation on the part of the viewer.
Enter South Korean director Ji-woon Kim, the mastermind behind the single greatest film ever made - "A Tale of Two Sisters" (2003) - and the man who gave us other quality films such as "A Bittersweet Life" (2005), "Memories" (2002), and the very funny "Quiet Family" (1998) and "Foul King" (2000). While "A Bittersweet Life" demonstrated Kim's talent for directing action, "The Good, the Bad, and the Weird" ("GBW") is an entirely different beast due to the elaborate setups of epic shootouts involving dozens upon dozens of actors. This is not an easy step to take, but Kim pulled it off in masterful fashion.
Unlike Miike's crapfest - which only had one decent clash near the end - GBW is packed with the best set of wild west style shootouts of any film I've ever seen. There are a number of reasons for this, but the big one is the genius of Kim's camera-work and directing skill. I kid you not, the lengthy tracking shots are no less than sheer brilliance. The camera will begin with one particular character/scenario only to then move in unique ways with zoom ins, zoom outs, aerial maneuvers, and high speed helicopter/crane shots to gradually reveal the action of a different character/scenario - thus linking the events together without the need for editing. If nothing else, Kim should be applauded for his camera-work, because with GBW he has convincingly ascended to a level that's equal to guys like Dario Argento and Andrei Tarkovsky. Yeah, it's that damn SPECTACULAR.
Byung-hun Lee (from "A Bittersweet Life") and Woo-sung Jung (from "Musa: The Warrior") do well with their characters, but it's Kang-ho Song who steals the show. I know that some will complain that Kang-ho uses his trademark dim-witted awkwardness a bit too much, but he does it so well that I don't mind seeing it so long as it's used in different ways. Fortunately, he has some classic scenes in GBW - a few of which are laugh-out-loud hilarious.
Those expecting the dramatic weight that made "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" (1966) so awesome will be sorely disappointed. This is an all out action film at its core, and only uses a few ideas from Sergio Leone's classic as a springboard for non-stop popcorn entertainment. The films are so different that they are not even remotely comparable. That does not mean, however, that GBW dips to the pathetic levels of some Hollywood epics. At no point during this film did I gather the impression that Kim was pandering to create a hollow, empty product because the outcome has so much energy and spirit. (It was only after reading online comments that drew the comparison.) Even more convincing is that GBW is 99% CGI free, which is anti-Hollywood to the extreme. If you want to see an Asian film industry that sacrifices quality in an attempt to ape Hollywood, look no further than recent Chinese historical epics like "The Warlords" (2007) and "Red Cliff" (2008). Now THOSE are some essentially worthless fluff pieces - one of which was directed by a now-worthless director (John Woo) who has used the same two clichés for the past 20 years. GBW, on the other hand, is a resounding success - further solidifying Ji-woon Kim's status as one of the best directors alive today.
Hollywood cinema is really becoming superfluous in the grand scheme of things. You can basically find every kind of film in non-American countries, and the fact that they're surpassing their American counterparts in terms of sheer entertainment value is a nasty indictment on the cinema of the west. Times are changing - and American movie-making will crumble from within as the mega studios keep churning out garbage for a quick buck. I say, good riddance.
The Assassin Next Door
Directed by Danny Lerner
Average customer review:

This excellent film - which is well written, directed, and acted - is the story of a woman who has to fight tenaciously to regain her freedom, and to redeem herself (in her own eyes). The central character, Galya, is charismatic and psychologically strong, but she made a terrible mistake four years previously and her subsequent life has become a nightmare - trapped by a criminal gang, forced first into prostitution, then into becoming a gangland assassin. Her fight for freedom is symbolized by her attempts to regain possession of her passport, and her quest for redemption is symbolised by her desire to return home (to the Ukraine) to a hoped-for happier life with her five-year-old daughter. While trying to save herself from the criminals, she attempts to save her friend from her friend's abusive husband.
From the opening scene, where her eyes magnetically draw the viewer into Galya's world, Olga Kurylenko plays her part intelligently and skilfully. She's very good at emotional depth and complexity, and she convincingly projects Galya's conflicting emotions. Also well done is the way she shows Galya's fight for her life and her struggle to maintain her fundamental purity of heart, while being engulfed in the gang's earthly version of hell. She's superb at conveying feelings even when she's not interacting with the other characters. For example, on one wall of her apartment Galya creates a large drawing of herself and her child (it's a symbolic doorway to her paradise) and while she draws, Olga beautifully expresses the fleeting serenity of Galya's creativity, and the way it brings her closer to her daughter (in her imagination).
Ninet Tayeb is excellent as Elinor, Galya's next-door neighbour. For example, there's a nice scene where Elinor tries to excuse her husband. Galya dismissively says "it's not your fault" but Ninet conveys in her eyes that Elinor thinks it really is her fault. Thus, by good acting she shows that Elinor is abused both externally (by her husband) and internally (by her inner critic).
Writer/director Danny Learner cleverly structures the relationships of the characters by placing Galya at the centre, with everyone else in concentric circles around her. Galya is the sun, with Elinor in close orbit. The two women have fully developed characters, with faults as well a virtues. In the cold outer reaches of the film's solar system orbit the men, none of whom have any redeeming features: they have no love, no compassion, no sense of justice. Their only interest is in power (especially power over women). The gang leaders (well portrayed by Liron Levo as the heartless Roni, and Vladimir Friedman as the lyingly manipulative Mishka) are a collection of lost souls who have adopted enslavement and murder, including deliberate murder of the innocent, as a way of life. Their system of "business" would not be complete without its routine betrayals, and of course they betray Galya - the smaller betrayals building up to a larger betrayal.
The film has lots of fine details. For example, the reality of Galya's life is nicely contrasted with idyllic dream sequences (which, nevertheless, are never quite free of anxiety) where she tries to reach her daughter. The interior physical space of her apartment is used as a metaphor for Galya's interior mental space - a place where she tries to find refuge and solace from external events which she can't control. The apartment is grim and mirrors the grimness of her life. But like her spirit, it also has the beautiful door to paradise - the picture on the wall, which symbolises Galya's hope of returning to a better life.
The scenes where the women turn animosity into friendship, and later on friendship into love, are especially good. For example, early on Elinor manages to upset Galya very much by brusquely refusing her help, and a little later Elinor changes her mind and tries to befriend Galya, but by then Galya has her emotional armour in place and her response is frosty. Elinor has to work hard to break through to Galya, and Elinor/Ninet is irresistibly charming in thawing out Galya, and Galya/Olga is delightful in the way she lets herself be thawed out. In another scene, when they're on the bed together, there's a beautiful intimacy where the two women create a little bubble of love round themselves. It's a tender moment in a pair of desperate lives. Lyrical scenes like these constitute a humane slow movement in the violent symphony which is the rest of the film.
The music is good and enhances the plot.
The Lost Skeleton Returns Again
Directed by Larry Blamire
Average customer review:

Lost Skeleton returns is a great movie. Its a silly send up of the Jungle action movies of the '50s and its a great send up too. Most of you favorite characters are back from the first movie and a few new ones show up for even more crazyness.
Jennifer Blaire shows up again as Animala, the sexy animial hybrid. Ms Blaire is a hoot as the sexy alien.
Of course, the movie would not be complete with out the Skeleton. He is pretty much only a skull in this movie, but his lines are perfect.
Not every one is going to get some of the sly humor in this movie. Some of the gags only fans of 50 sci fi movies are going to get. But everyone will enjoy the antics of the cast. The Queen of the Cantaloupe People's Dance is worth the price of the DVD.
Larry Blamire's direction and writing are spot on. The Black and White look of the film is perfect for this kind of send up and Blamire uses it perfectly.
For a pre order the cost of a lunch buffet at a Chinese buffet, Return of the Lost Skeleton is a good deal. I have sure already ordered mine.
Hamlet (Blu-ray Book)
Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Average customer review:

It's the greatest work of literature, but nobody had ever filmed Hamlet uncut--until Kenneth Branagh went about the task for his lavish 1996 production. The result is a sumptuous, star-studded version that scores a palpable hit on its avowed goal: to make the text as clear and urgent as possible. Branagh himself plays the melancholy son of the Danish court, caught in a famous muddle about whether to seek revenge against his royal father's presumed slayer… the man who now sits on the throne and shares the bed of Hamlet's mother. (Or, as the song "That's Entertainment" summarizes the plot: "A ghost and a prince meet / And everyone winds up mincemeat.") As a director, Branagh (who shot the movie in 70 mm.) uses the vast, cold interiors of a vaguely 19th-century manor to gorgeous effect; the story might scurry down this hallway, into that back chamber, or sprawl out into the enormous main room. With its endless collection of mirrors, the place is as big and empty as Citizen Kane's Xanadu. That all works; what doesn't work is Branagh's tendency to over-direct the big dramatic moments. He indulges in quick cutting and flashbacks as though to fend off the audience's objections to the four-hour running time, and the style sometimes looks like wasted energy. The experienced Shakespearians in the cast come off nicely; Derek Jacobi's Claudius, Richard Briers' Polonius, and Michael Maloney's Laertes are just terrific.
Julie Christie is a suitably attractive Gertrude, and Kate Winslet makes the most of Ophelia's mad scenes. Branagh's habit of folding in unexpected American performers is on the mark, too: Billy Crystal is surprisingly good as the Gravedigger, Robin Williams predictably camps up Osric, and Charlton Heston is an inspired choice as the grandiloquent Player King. The biggest irony here is that Branagh himself is not quite spot-on as Hamlet. Of course he speaks the lines beautifully, but Branagh's screen personality radiates certainty and clarity of vision; there's little of the doubt that might make him Hamlet-esque. Still, tremendous credit for fending off slings and arrows to get the movie made.
Orlando
From Sony Pictures
Average customer review:

Breathtaking and practically nondiscursive, Sally Potter's audacious Orlando overcomes some dodgy performances and a narrative structure that could most generously be described as "loose" to emerge as a haunting, discussion-provoking trans-historical and transsexual drama. Commanded never to age by Queen Elizabeth (played with surprisingly little camp by legendary cross-dresser Quentin Crisp), the title character becomes immortal; we then follow Orlando through 400 years of dreamlike British history. Midway through the film, Orlando changes genders--to Potter's immense credit, the transformation is handled with little fanfare and no explanation. Tilda Swinton, in the lead role, is far more convincing as a woman than as a man, and even during the film's latter half, her impassivity and lack of expression can be annoying. Potter encourages Swinton to play to the camera, and the resulting asides and glances askance can be amusing, but often seem purposeless, or even arch. Nevertheless, the willful idiosyncrasy and understatement of the film never quite capsize the project, and once you give yourself over to the filmmaker's logic, the panoramic sweep of the cinematography (remarkable sets include an aristocratic skating party on the frozen Thames during the Great London Frost of 1603, a stunning tent-caravan in Central Asia, and countless fastidious boudoirs and interiors) will surely keep you enraptured. Orlando is no Merchant-Ivory production, no prissy, forgettable period piece; this film has teeth, and it may bite ferociously when you least expect it to. Based on, but scarcely resembling, the Virginia Woolf modernist classic of the same name.
Relate Links:
Cheap New DVD Movies
DVD Releases
DVD releases UK

DVD Releases August 10 2010

2010-08-10T13:43:00.000+07:00

From New DVD Releases Aug 10 2010 & Buy Cheap New DVD Movies Aug 10 2010

Movie & TV DVD Releases this week. August 10 2010

Date Night
Directed by Shawn Levy
Average customer review:

Tina Fey and Steve Carell are two of the most charming performers in entertainment today. Their goofy attractiveness makes them a perfect couple in Date Night: an unremarkable husband and wife from New Jersey, they get mistaken for crooks in Manhattan, sending them on a wild night replete with snooty wait staff, crooked cops, glitter-specked strippers, a shirtless superspy (Mark Wahlberg, as buff as ever), and a preposterous car chase. The movie makes no effort to be remotely plausible and the last third really goes off the rails, and it would probably be better served by less familiar faces in minor roles (bit parts are played by Mark Ruffalo, Kristen Wiig, Common, James Franco, Mila Kunis, William Fichtner, and Ray Liotta). It's disappointing that the dialogue doesn't crackle the way it does on 30 Rock or The Office. But Fey and Carell carry the movie along through sheer nerdy pluck. Rarely does a couple in a movie seem genuinely devoted to each other, not out of wild passion, but for all the things that a real marriage is built on: patience, shared humor, a willingness to deal with day-to-day annoyances, and simple affection. Fey and Carell seem like a couple you'd actually enjoy going out to dinner with. In today's world, that's more romantic than sunsets and bouquets of roses.

Death at a Funeral
Directed by Neil LaBute
Average customer review:

Less than three years after the 2007 Brit-com Death at a Funeral hit theaters, this remake offered a nearly scene-for-scene variation on the original. Once again a family has gathered for the dignified memorial service for a patriarch: older son (Chris Rock) has prepared a eulogy; younger son (Martin Lawrence) has flown in on his celebrity as a bestselling author; favorite niece (Zoe Saldana) has brought her fiancé (James Marsden, flipping out), unaware that he has accidentally ingested a hallucinogen manufactured by her pharmaceutically minded brother (Columbus Short, from Cadillac Records). You know, the usual fare for a funeral. The wild card is a stranger (Peter Dinklage, the only member of the cast to repeat his role from the 2007 film) who has something urgent to impart to the two sons. There's nothing terribly elevated about the slapstick, and one particular scatological sequence tests the boundaries of the bearable (30 Rock's Tracy Morgan, in his usual unbounded form, takes the brunt of this scene). The unexpected director is Neil LaBute, who shows off his sense of comic timing and keeps the whole apparatus moving along briskly. In addition to the relatively subdued lead turns by Rock and Lawrence, the big cast includes Danny Glover, Regina Hall, Luke Wilson, and Loretta Devine. It is almost irrelevant to debate whether this version improves or deflates the original; both hit their marks, deliver the broad yuks, and leave behind a mostly mechanical feel. But the job is accomplished--now rest in peace.

The Joneses
Directed by Derrick Borte
Average customer review:

Built around a brilliant idea, Derrick Borte's debut plays like The Truman Show in reverse. Whereas Jim Carrey's Truman had no idea his life provided fodder for a TV show, the upper-crust enclave that welcomes the Joneses has no idea they're a marketing unit in disguise. One day, Steve (David Duchovny, more Californication than The X-Files) and Kate (Demi Moore, whose businesslike demeanor serves the premise well) arrive with teenagers Jenn (Amber Heard) and Mick (Ben Hollingsworth) and a moving van full of luxury goods. Attractive and charismatic, they inspire everyone they meet to purchase the same sportswear, golf clubs, and gourmet foods (Lauren Hutton plays their supervisor). They make the biggest impression on Larry (Gary Cole) and Summer (Glenne Headly), whose marriage has hit a rough patch. Steve advises his new golf partner to buy his wife expensive presents. Larry takes his advice--and then some--in an attempt to keep up with the Joneses, who find it difficult to maintain the Stepford-like façade when Jenn gets involved with a married man and Steve falls for his make-believe wife. Until that point, the cast sells the concept with conviction, but then the story heads off in two directions at once. Duchovny and Moore lack the heat to bring the romance to a full boil, while the neighbors aren't sufficiently developed for their fate to have the intended impact. If it ends with more of a fizzle than a bang, The Joneses still posits a scenario that feels frightfully plausible.

Letters to God
From Possibility Pictures
Average customer review:

A boozing postal worker finds his life turned upside down by a boy struggling with cancer. Young Tyler Doherty (Tanner Maguire) faces his cancer with a strong spirit and good humor, and maintains his faith by writing letters to God--letters that the neighborhood's new mailman, Brady McDaniels (Jeffrey Johnson), doesn't know how to handle. Gradually, McDaniels finds himself drawn into the Doherty family's life… and drawn to Tyler's lonely mother, Maddy (Robyn Lively). Letters to God is earnest and family friendly, with moments of slapstick humor to leaven Tyler's troubled circumstances. Any viewer's response to Letters to God will depend on his or her faith; devout Christians will find it a sincere and uplifting testament to God's love, while non-Christians will find it saccharine and heavy-handed. But it's certainly a polished production, with professional cinematography, a cleanly written (if a bit obvious) script, and solid performances from the attractive cast.

Under the Mountain
Directed by Jonathan King

Teenage twins Rachel and Theo travel to Auckland to stay with relatives following the sudden death of their mother. Where there was once a psychic bond between them, now there is a rift as Theo, particularly, refuses to confront his grief. Rachel reaches out to him, but is rebuffed. Staying with their Aunt Kay and Uncle Cliff on Lake Pupuke, the twins are fascinated by the volcanic lake and the smell that seems to come from the creepy old Wilberforce house around the shore. They visit Mt. Eden, where Theo sees Mr. Jones, a strange old man from whose hands fire seems to glow. When it seems the twins are being watched – and that the Wilberforces can smell them – Theo resolves to investigate the Wilberforce house. Inside, he and Rachel find what can only be an alien environment. They overhear Mr. Wilberforce talking about something stirring beneath the ground. He says he will kill the twins if they find “the fire-raiser.” Rachel is alarmed and reaches out to Theo but, terrified of getting close to anyone since his mother’s death, he pushes her away and sets out alone to find the fire-raiser – the man he saw on the mountaintop.

Max Headroom: The Complete Series (Lenticular Cover)
From Shout! Factory
Average customer review:

Television networks battle one another in an unrelenting ratings war. Whoever controls the airwaves controls the dystopic world in which they broadcast. So when Network 23s star reporter, Edison Carter, uncovers a deadly secret that could shake up the dominion the station has over its viewers, the only option is to eliminate Carter before he can make his story public. After his “accident,” his mind is uploaded to create the world’s first self-aware, computer-generated TV host: Max Headroom! But will Max bow to his creators? Or will he be the key to his human alter ago bringing down a network superpower?
Able to boast his own international talk show, music videos, countless endorsements and merchandising, the puckish Max Headroom became more than just a character on television. He was a decade-defining icon, never better represented than in this sardonically witty, adventurous look at society and the place of media within it. Now all 14 uncut episodes — starring Matt Frewer (Watchmen), Amanda Pays (The Flash), Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development) and Morgan Sheppard (Star Trek) — are finally available together in one long-awaited DVD collection!

Relate Links:

Cheap New DVD Movies
DVD Releases
DVD releases UK

DVD Releases August 3 2010

2010-08-03T12:07:00.001+07:00

From New DVD Releases Aug 3 2010 & Buy Cheap New DVD Movies Aug 3 2010

Movie & TV DVD Releases this week. August 3 2010

The Ghost Writer
Directed by Roman Polanski
Average customer review:

Oscar-winning director Roman Polanksi (The Pianist) teams up with author-screenwriter Robert Harris (Enigma) for this twisty political thriller. Ewan McGregor plays an unnamed ghostwriter who signs on to pen the memoirs of former British prime minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan). The money is good, but there's a catch: the ghost's predecessor perished under mysterious circumstances (his body washed up on the shore in an apparent suicide). Being the adventurous sort, the ghost puts that information aside and travels to Lang's austere compound on Martha's Vineyard, where he meets Lang's efficient personal secretary, Amelia (Kim Cattrall, good but for an inconsistent accent), and acerbic wife, Ruth (An Education's Olivia Williams). Just as he's wading through Lang's dull text, the PM's ex-cabinet minister accuses him of handing over suspected terrorists to the CIA, fully aware that torture would be on the agenda. The next thing the ghost knows, he's working for a possible war criminal, and the deeper he digs, the more convinced he becomes that Lang is lying about his past. After exchanging a few words with a sharp-eyed old man (Eli Wallach) and a tight-lipped professor (Tom Wilkinson), he realizes his life may also be at risk. Then, while Lang hits the road to proclaim his innocence, the ghost gets to know Ruth better--much better. If the conclusion feels a little glib, Polanksi tightens the screws with skill, McGregor enjoys his best role in years, and Williams proves she's fully prepared to carry a movie of her own.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Directed by Thor Freudenthal
Average customer review:

The first volume in Jeff Kinney's wildly popular Web and book series hits the screen in this live-action adaptation. The impish Zachary Gordon, who recalls Wonder Years-era Fred Savage, plays Greg Heffley, who enters middle school determined to become class favorite. It won't be easy. His best friend, Rowley (the sweetly funny Robert Capron), is a big, redheaded lug who embarrasses him at every turn. Greg's obnoxious teenage brother, Rodrick (Devon Bostick), advises him to keep his head down, but Greg believes he needs to excel at something to achieve his goal. Smart, but small for his age, he tries wrestling and safety patrolling, but nothing seems to fit. During gym class, he and Rowley meet wise-beyond-her-years newspaper reporter Angie (Chloë Moretz, (500) Days of Summer), who finds popularity overrated. Greg isn't convinced, but the harder he tries, the more boorish he becomes, until even Rowley abandons him. After a humiliating encounter with some high school bullies, though, Greg learns what really matters: self-respect (he also discovers that the dreaded "cheese touch" is just a myth). Berlin-born director Thor Freudenthal (Hotel for Dogs) avoids any dull or sentimental patches, which should please kids and adults alike (an upbeat modern-rock soundtrack doesn't hurt). Rachael Harris and Steve Zahn could use more face time as the terminally un-cool Heffley parents, but Harris's rhythm-impaired moves at the mother-son dance provide one of the best laughs. Kinney fans will also appreciate the way Freudenthal weaves stick-figure drawings from Greg's journal throughout this zippy entertainment.

Kick-Ass
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Average customer review:

The cinematic equivalent of a half case of Red Bull chased with donuts, Kick-Ass is a giddy, violent experience--and not your average superhero movie. Based on the comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr., it offers a set of heroes who are decidedly without superpowers: Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) decides he'll be just like a comic-book character, and puts on a ridiculous green suit to fight crime as the mysterious Kick-Ass. Luckily, somebody else had the same idea and comes along to rescue the incompetent crusader: Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and his daughter Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz), who also happen to be running around town wearing masks and vanquishing evil. And here we have the movie's masterstroke: Hit Girl, a pint-sized preteen who slaughters bad guys and swears like a sailor on leave (and was the focus of a measure of controversy when the movie was released). The main target of our heroes is a gangster (Mark Strong, Sherlock Holmes), whose neglected son (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, McLovin from Superbad) figures he might just pull on a costume himself and become… Red Mist! (One of the many funny things about Kick-Ass is that the superhero names are hopelessly lame.) Director Matthew Vaughn is operating at the same glib level as his Layer Cake, with cutesy song cues galore and a freewheeling appetite for cartoon violence. This means the movie's high wears off quickly, but it does get high--a crazy, hilarious (and by the way: decidedly R-rated) kick. All that, plus Nicolas Cage executes a deadly Adam West imitation when he pulls on his cape and cowl. That's entertainment.

After.Life
From Starz / Anchor Bay
Average customer review:

Quite a few folks in the movies have seen dead people, especially since The Sixth Sense, but After.Life gives this by-now-familiar conceit an intriguing spin. As director-cowriter Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo's 2009 film would have it, the deceased aren't exactly dead. At least not yet; in the days between whatever killed them and the moment they're put in a box and lowered six feet under, they're caught in some kind of purgatory, no longer alive but still able to move and communicate. Not to everyone, of course; only Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson) has the ability, be it a gift or a curse, to converse with these infernal travelers as he readies them for their final rest in the basement of his funeral home. That's where he meets Anna Taylor (Christina Ricci), who died in a car crash following a nasty argument with her boyfriend, Paul (Justin Long). Anna, not surprisingly, is in denial. How can she be dead, when she can still walk, talk, and experience emotions? Well, it's complicated, but Eliot's there to help her sort it all out--that is, unless he's up to something considerably more sinister, a question that remains in doubt even at the very end. After.Life has a cool concept, a good look, an ominous vibe (driven by former Tangerine Dream member Paul Haslinger's relentlessly spacy, downbeat musical score), and some fine performances. But movies like this depend on the rules and boundaries the filmmakers establish. In The Sixth Sense, those rules ("dead people don't know they're dead," etc.) are simple and consistent. Here they're a bit more confusing. How can the deceased wield a knife, open a locked door, or even make a phone call? If Anna is dead, why can she still see her breath on a windowpane? The willingness to accept such things may well affect one's appreciation of this very absorbing film.

A Prophet
Directed by Jacques Audiard
Average customer review:

In his labyrinthine portrait of a convict turned kingpin, Jacques Audiard (A Self Made Hero) combines the grittiness of HBO's Oz with the shifting loyalties of a Leone western. After assaulting a cop, Malik (riveting newcomer Tahar Rahim) earns a six-year prison bid. Though illiterate, the 19-year-old speaks French and Arabic. Instead of congregating with the Muslim inmates, he keeps to himself, providing a perfect target for Mob boss César (Niels Arestrup of Audiard's The Beat That My Heart Skipped), who makes him a Godfather-like offer he can't refuse: kill Reyeb (Hichem Yacoubi), an Arab set to testify against the Corsicans, or meet his maker. Malik decides he would prefer to live (in a surrealistic touch, Reyeb's ghost will haunt him for the rest of the film). In return, Luciani offers him protection but stops short of treating him like an equal. When Malik isn't serving coffee and making deliveries, he studies French and Corsu. With what he learns from the mobsters, he befriends two other loners, Ryad (Adel Bencherif) and Jordi the Gypsy (Reda Kateb), and starts a drug-smuggling operation. The years pass, and Malik takes advantage of his parole leaves to work both sides of the fence, and when the authorities transfer César's crew to a different facility, the balance of power shifts from the aging master to the model student. At 149 minutes, A Prophet feels more like a miniseries than a movie, but there are no dead spots, no wasted moments, resulting in Audiard's most fully realized vision to date.

To Save a Life
Directed by Brian Baugh
Average customer review:

To Save a Life is a powerful Christian film about suicide, faith, and the power of one person to make a difference in the lives of many. Set in an urban high school where the jocks are high on the popularity scale and partying is commonplace, the film opens with several striking segments that include a surprisingly uncensored look at a teen culture ripe with underage drinking, bullying, and sexuality. Jake (Randy Wayne) is a popular basketball player who's at the heart of every party, but when he witnesses a childhood friend commit suicide in the halls of their school, he begins to reflect upon how he treated his friend in recent years. As he starts to grapple with his own sense of right versus wrong and struggles to define what his duty toward others might be, he meets a youth pastor who intrigues him despite his own disinterest in religion. As Jake's relationships with his parents and his girlfriend Amy become increasingly tumultuous and confusing, Pastor Chris (Joshua Weigel) serves as someone he can talk to, and his weekly youth group becomes a safe place where he can be himself without the fear of being judged. With Chris's help, Jake sets out on a journey of transformation and personal growth that will reveal God's unconditional love and Jake's power to make a difference in the lives of others. This film is both graphic in its demonstrations of immorality and openly preachy, traits that may render it uncomfortable viewing for many, but those very traits send a powerful message to modern teens.

Open House
From Lions Gate
Average customer review:

A couple on the verge of a nasty divorce attempt to sell their empty love nest and move on with their lives, separately. After a successful open house, they are horrified to discover, days later, that a potential buyer didn’t leave their home. While Alice is being held captive in the basement, the unannounced houseguest moves in upstairs. She senses her capture is being kept a rebellious secret. She knows her only way out, if she can only get out alive.

Relate Links:

Cheap New DVD Movies
DVD Releases
DVD releases UK

Ip Man (Collector's Edition)

2010-07-29T15:01:00.000+07:00

Directed by Wislon Yip
Average customer review:
Compare Prices

Ip Man (Collector's Edition)

Ip Man Collector's Edition (containing over 2 hours of bonus footage) is an award winning adaptation based on the life of Ip Man (Donnie Yen), the grandmaster of Wing Chun and later teacher and mentor to widely influential and legendary martial artist, Bruce Lee. Ip Man is set in the 1930s in Foshan, a hub of southern Chinese martial arts just as the Second Sino-Japan war breaks out. During the war, China is nearly ripped to pieces by racial hatred, nationalistic strife and warfare. Ip Man rose like a phoenix above these ashes as he defied an empire bringing hope to China. Winner of Best Picture and Actor, Ip Man ranks as one of the best martial arts movies of all time!

Ip Man (Collector's Edition)

Over 2 Hours of Bonus

Interviews with Donnie Yen, Wilson Yip, Simon Yam, Sammo Hung, Lynn Hung, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Ip Chun
US Trailer and Theatrical Trailer
Making Of
2 TV Spots
3 Main Scenes
On the set
Deleted Scenes
Gala Screening

Ip Man (Collector's Edition)

Released on: 2010-07-27
Rating: R (Restricted)
Number of discs: 2
Formats: AC-3, Anamorphic, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Surround Sound, Widescreen
Original language: Chinese
Subtitled in: English
Dubbed in: English
Running time: 330 minutes

Customer Reviews
An Instant Classic
As a fan of Chinese cinema for over 30 years, I've seen (and own) a lot of movies. However, whilst there have been dozens of memorable ones, few stand out as masterpieces in the Wuxia genre - 'Ip Man' is one such film, an instant classic that sets a new benchmark for action cinema. Wilson Yip, Sammo Hung and Donnie Yen have totally hit the mark in this outstanding motion picture, crafting a story that, although not sticking entirely to the facts (well, after all, it IS about entertainment!), works perfectly to tell the story of a real life Chinese hero, the late Grandmaster of Wing Chun Gung-fu, Ip Man. The camera work, direction and the performances of the entire crew make this a film that grabs the audience and holds them in its clutches from start to final gut-wrenching finish (all very good reasons why this film won the 'Best Picture' and "Best Action Choreography' awards in the 2009 Hong Kong Film Awards). Donnie Yen gives what I feel is his finest performance ever, whilst Sammo Hung's action choreography is briliant, showcasing the art of Wing Chun in a manner never before done so well. The soundtrack is also beautifully matched to the tone of the movie. I for one cannot wait to see 'Ip Man 2'

See more details: Ip Man (Collector's Edition)

Relate Links:

Cheap New DVD Movies >> Ip Man (Collector's Edition)
DVD Releases >> Ip Man (Collector's Edition)
DVD releases UK >> Ip Man (Collector's Edition)