Sunday, July 31, 2011

Speed [Blu-ray]







Speed [Blu-ray] Overview


Hold on tight for a rush of pulse-pounding thrills, breathtaking stunts and unexpected romance in a film you'll want to see again and again. Keanu Reeves stars as Jack Traven, an L.A.P.D. SWAT team specialist who is sent to diffuse a bomb that a revenge-driven extortionist (Dennis Hopper) has planted on a bus. But until he does, Jack and passenger Sandra Bullock must keep the bus speeding through the streets of Los Angeles at more than 50 miles per hour - or the bomb will explode. A high-octane chase of suspense, non-stop action and surprise twists, Speed is a joyride sure to keep everyone on the edge of their seats.

Speed [Blu-ray] Specifications


Everything clicked in this 1994 action hit, from the premise (a city bus has to keep moving at 50 mph or blow up) to the two leads (the usually inscrutable Keanu Reeves and the cute-as-a-button Sandra Bullock) to the villain (Dennis Hopper in psycho mode) to the director (Jan De Bont, who made this film hit the ground running with an edge-of-your-seat opening sequence on a broken elevator). This is the sort of movie that becomes a prototype for a thousand lesser films (including De Bont's lousy sequel, Speed 2: Cruise Control), but Speed really is a one-of-a-kind experience almost anyone can enjoy. --Tom Keogh



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Saturday, July 30, 2011

Arlington Road [Blu-ray]







Arlington Road [Blu-ray] Overview


A gripping contemporary thriller about the terrible truths that can hide behind everyday appearances, Arlington Road is an intense, edge-of-your-seat journey that reveals just how little we know about the world around us. Widowed when his FBI agent wife is killed by a right-wing group, college professor Michael Faraday (Jeff Bridges) becomes obsessed with the culture of these groups, especially when his new neighbors, the all-American Oliver and Cheryl Lang (Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack), start acting suspiciously. With each twist, the mystery deepens and the question looms: is Faraday just consumed by fear and driven by paranoia, or has a lethal conspiracy been born on Arlington Road?

Arlington Road [Blu-ray] Specifications


It's easy to understand why Arlington Road sat on the studio shelf for nearly a year. No, the film isn't awful; rather, it's an extremely edgy and ultimately bleak thriller that offers no clear-cut heroes or villains. In other words, Hollywood had no idea how to sell it. Director Mark Pellington's underrated directorial debut, Going All the Way, suffered the same fate, essentially because the filmmaker's presentation of suburban America often shifts dramatically within the same film. Characters are usually miserable and bordering on meltdown, no situation is straightforward, and things usually end badly. Arlington Road begins as an astute study of suburban paranoia. Michael Faraday (a face-pinched Jeff Bridges, who spends most of the film on the brink of tears) is a college professor who teaches American history courses on terrorism. He's been a conspiracy freak since his wife, an FBI agent, was killed during a botched raid that feels like a thinly fictionalized reference to the Waco tragedy. After saving the life of his next-door neighbor's child, he initially befriends the family (Tim Robbins and Joan Cusack), but soon believes the husband is a terrorist. The first half of the film mocks Faraday: he has no real evidence and is not the most stable of protagonists. Despite the fact that it was government paranoia that got his wife killed, Faraday repeats the same type of behavior. Pellington shifts gears in the second half, however, and for awhile, it seems that the film has simultaneously sunk into a cheap, high-octane brand of Hollywood entertainment and undermined its own point. Arlington Road, though, possesses a stunning ending that's a real gut punch, one that may leave you needing a second viewing to catch all of its smartly executed setup. --Dave McCoy



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Friday, July 29, 2011

Sphere [Blu-ray]






Sphere [Blu-ray] Feature


  • Condition: New
  • Format: Blu-ray
  • Anamorphic; Color; Dolby; Subtitled; Widescreen


Sphere [Blu-ray] Overview


SPHERE - Blu-Ray Movie

Sphere [Blu-ray] Specifications


From yet another derivative science fiction novel by Michael Crichton comes this equally derivative and flaccid movie, in which three top Hollywood stars struggle to squeeze tension and excitement out of material that doesn't match their talents. You're supposed to find awe and mystery in Crichton's story about a team of scientists and scholars who discover a 300-year-old alien spacecraft deep on the ocean floor, but mostly you feel that this is all much ado about nothing. The exploration team consists of a psychologist (Dustin Hoffman), mathematician (Samuel L. Jackson), biochemist (Sharon Stone), and an astrophysicist (Liev Schreiber), and when they enter the alien ship they discover a mysterious sphere inside. What they don't know is that the sphere has the power to manipulate their thoughts and perceptions, and before long the scientists' undersea habitat is a veritable haunted house of frightening visions and creeping paranoia. Who can be trusted? What is the sphere's purpose, and why is it on the ocean floor? Sphere makes some attempt to answer these questions, but the film is a mess, and it leads to one of the most anticlimactic endings of any science fiction film ever made. There are moments of high intensity and psychological suspense, and the stellar cast works hard to boost the talky screenplay. But it's clear that this was a hurried production (Hoffman and director Barry Levinson made Wag the Dog during an extended production delay), and as a result Sphere looks and feels like a film that wasn't quite ready for the cameras. Though it's by no means a waste of time, it's undeniably disappointing. The special edition DVD includes audio commentary by Hoffman and Jackson and a behind-the-scenes featurette, Shaping the Sphere: The Art of the Special Effects Supervisor, exploring the alien ship's design and creation by special effects technicians. --Jeff Shannon



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Thursday, July 28, 2011

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (35th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray]







The Rocky Horror Picture Show (35th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray] Overview


Fasten your garter belt and come up to the lab and see what's on the slab! It's The Rocky Horror Picture Show Special Edition, a screamingly funny, sinfully twisted salute to sci-fi, horror, B-movies and rock music, all rolled into one deliciously decadent morsel. And now there's even more to make you shiver with antici...pation: two additional musical numbers, "Once In A While" and "Superheroes", never seen theatrically or available on video! The madcap, musical mayhem begins when rain-soaked Brad and Janet take refuge in the castle of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a transvestite mad scientist from outer space who is about to unveil his greatest creation - and have a bit of fun with his reluctant guests! Join Tim Curry, Barry Bostwick, Susan Sarandon and rock star Meat Loaf in the most popular cult classic of all time.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (35th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray] Specifications


If a musical sci-fi satire about an alien transvestite named Frank-n-Furter, who is building the perfect man while playing sexual games with his virginal visitors, sounds like an intriguing premise for a movie, then you're in for a treat. Not only is The Rocky Horror Picture all this and more, but it stars the surprising cast of Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick (as the demure Janet and uptight Brad, who get lost in a storm and find themselves stranded at Frank-n-Furter's mansion), Meat Loaf (as the rebel Eddie), Charles Gray (as our criminologist and narrator), and, of course, the inimitable Tim Curry as our "sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania."

Upon its release in 1975, the film was an astounding flop. But a few devotees persuaded a New York theater to show it at midnight, and thus was born one of the ultimate cult films of all time. The songs are addictive (just try getting "The Time Warp" or "Toucha Toucha Touch Me" out of your head), the raunchiness amusing, and the plot line utterly ridiculous--in other words, this film is simply tremendous good fun. The downfall, however, is that much of the amusement is found in the audience participation that is obviously missing from a video version (viewers in theaters shout lines at the screen and use props--such as holding up newspapers and shooting water guns during the storm, and throwing rice during a wedding scene). Watched alone as a straight movie, Rocky Horror loses a tremendous amount of its charm. Yet, for those who wish to perfect their lip-synching techniques for movie theater performances or for those who want to gather a crowd around the TV at home for some good, old-fashioned, rowdy fun, this film can't be beat. --Jenny Brown



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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

The Man Who Would Be King [Blu-ray Book]







The Man Who Would Be King [Blu-ray Book] Overview


Based on a Rudyard Kipling story and packed with spectacle, humor, excitement and bold twists of fate, John Huston’s film of The Man Who Would Be King earns its crown as “an epic like no other. One of the screen’s great adventure yarns” (Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic). Sean Connery and Michael Caine – chins out, shoulders squared and with a sly wink – star as British sergeants Danny Dravot and Peachy Carnehan. The Empire was built by men like these two. Now they’re out to build their own empire, venturing into remote Kafiristan to become rich as kings.

The Man Who Would Be King [Blu-ray Book] Specifications


A grandly entertaining, old-fashioned adventure based on the Rudyard Kipling short story, The Man Who Would Be King is the kind of rousing epic about which people said, even in 1975, "Wow! They don't make 'em like that anymore!" When director John Huston (The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen) first started trying to make the film, with Gable and Bogart, the project was derailed by the latter's death. It was a few decades before Huston was able to finally realize his dream movie--and with an unimprovable cast. Sean Connery and Michael Caine are, respectively, Daniel Dravot and Peachy Carnahan, a pair of lovably roguish British soldiers who set out to make their fortunes by conning the priests of remote Kafiristan into making them kings. It's a rollicking tale, an epic satire of imperialism, and the good-natured repartee shared by Caine and Connery is pure gold. In today's screen adventures, humor is usually imposed on the material by a writer or director trying to make some kind of cleverly self-aware comment ("Hey, we know it's a movie!"), but that sort of jokiness can create so much ironic distance that it pushes the audience right out of the picture. Huston lets the humor emerge naturally from the characters, for whom we wind up caring more deeply than we ever expected. --Jim Emerson



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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Lennon NYC [Blu-ray]






Lennon NYC [Blu-ray] Feature


  • LENNONYC COLLECTOR'S ED. BLU-RAY (BLU-RAY DISC)


Lennon NYC [Blu-ray] Overview


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. John 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 scorn he and Yoko Ono had suffered in London, and, simply, the freedom to live a normal life.

LENNONYC tells this remarkable story with never-before-released in-studio recordings, concert film only recently transferred to high definition, and a trove of rarely-heard Lennon/Ono compositions. 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; 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.

This deluxe Blu-ray edition features a striking 1080p high-definition transfer of the film as well as over 20 minutes of additional interviews with Lennon s close friends and collaborators, giving us deeper insight into the artist whose life and work is as powerful and relevant today as it has ever been.

BONUS FEATURES: Over 20 minutes of additional interviews.

Lennon NYC [Blu-ray] Specifications


John Lennon famously began his life in working-class Liverpool. Just as famously, he lost it in every-class New York. This edition of American Masters explores the nine years he spent in the United States, counting the recording of 1973's Mind Games in Los Angeles during his infamous lost weekend. Director Michael Epstein compiles his words with new interviews, photographs, home movies, and performances (including studio outtakes). In 1971, Lennon and Yoko Ono sought to escape the hostility of the London press and reinvent themselves, so they moved to the Big Apple, where they hobnobbed with Andy Warhol and Abbie Hoffman. Former senator Tom Hayden talks about their efforts on behalf of the antiwar movement and how that caught the attention of the Feds who tried to deport them, while musicians recall the making of albums like 1974's Walls and Bridges. Ono remembers Lennon's househusband days with fondness, even if she still seems hurt when describing the night he slept with another woman (Lennon nemesis Richard Nixon had just won the presidency). In the end, he found the happiness he sought, even if it didn't last. Other speakers include photographer Bob Gruen, talk show host Dick Cavett, Double Fantasy producer Jack Douglas, and Elton John, Lennon's duet partner on the chart-topper "Whatever Gets You Through the Night." LennoNYC, which takes an even-handed look at an enormously talented human being, duplicates events that appear in other films, like Imagine, but there's enough vital material here to please fans old and new alike. --Kathleen C. Fennessy



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Monday, July 25, 2011

The Great Debaters [Blu-ray]







The Great Debaters [Blu-ray] Overview


Inspired by a true story, The Great Debaters chronicles the journey of Professor Melvin Tolson (Denzel Washington), a debate team coach who shapes a group of underdog students from a small African American college into a historically elite debate team.

The Great Debaters [Blu-ray] Specifications


Inspired by real events, the fascinating The Great Debaters reveals one of the seeds of the Civil Rights Movement in its story of Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington in a captivating performance) and his champion 1935 debate club from the all-African-American Wiley College in Texas. Tolson, a Wiley professor, labor organizer, modernist poet, and much else, runs a rigorous debate program at the school, selecting four students as his team in ’35, among them the future founder of the Congress of Racial Equality, James Farmer Jr. (Denzel Whitaker). Washington, who directed The Great Debaters from a script by Robert Eisele (The Dale Earnhardt Story), anchors the story with the team’s measurable progress, but the film is also about the state of race relations in America at the height of the Great Depression. With lynchings of black men and women a common form of entertainment and black subjugation for many rural whites, the idea of talented and highly intelligent African-American young people learning to think on their feet during debates would seem almost a hopeless endeavor. But that’s not the way Tolson sees it, as his students serve themselves and the cause of racial equality in America with energetic arguments in favor of progressive government and non-violence as a viable social movement. There are some startling moments in this movie, particularly the sight of a man found lynched and burned to death, and an extraordinary moment in which we see black sharecroppers and white farmers engaged with Tolson in arguments about unionizing together. Forest Whitaker is outstanding as Farmer’s emotionally-reserved father, also a Wiley professor. This is the kind of film where one hopes two great actors such as the elder Whitaker and Washington will have a scene together, and when it comes it’s as powerful as one might hope. --Tom Keogh



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Sunday, July 24, 2011

Slumdog Millionaire [Blu-ray]






Slumdog Millionaire [Blu-ray] Feature


  • Condition: New
  • Format: Blu-ray
  • AC-3; Color; Dolby; DTS Surround Sound; Dubbed; Subtitled; Widescreen


Slumdog Millionaire [Blu-ray] Overview


Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) is just one question away from winning a fortune on India's version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" But how has this uneducated young man from the slums succeeded in providing correct responses to questions that have stumped countless scholars before him? And will he ultimately win it all or lose everything, including his true love?

Slumdog Millionaire [Blu-ray] Specifications


Danny Boyle (Sunshine) directed this wildly energetic, Dickensian drama about the desultory life and times of an Indian boy whose bleak, formative experiences lead to an appearance on his country's version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Jamal (played as a young man by Dev Patel) and his brother are orphaned as children, raising themselves in various slums and crime-ridden neighorhoods and falling in, for a while, with a monstrous gang exploiting children as beggars and prostitutes. Driven by his love for Latika (Freida Pinto), Jamal, while a teen, later goes on a journey to rescue her from the gang's clutches, only to lose her again to another oppressive fate as the lover of a notorious gangster.

Running parallel with this dark yet irresistible adventure, told in flashback vignettes, is the almost inexplicable sight of Jamal winning every challenge on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?," a strong showing that leads to a vicious police interrogation. As Jamal explains how he knows the answer to every question on the show as the result of harsh events in his knockabout life, the chaos of his existence gains shape, perspective and soulfulness. The film's violence is offset by a mesmerizing exotica shot and edited with a great whoosh of vitality. Boyle successfully sells the story's most unlikely elements with nods to literary and cinematic conventions that touch an audience's heart more than its head. --Tom Keogh

Stills from Slumdog Millionaire (Click for larger image)


  





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Saturday, July 23, 2011

La Femme Nikita / Run Lola Run (Two-Pack) [Blu-ray]







La Femme Nikita / Run Lola Run (Two-Pack) [Blu-ray] Overview


La Femme Nikita
From director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) comes this "wild and irresistible" (New YorkPost) thriller about a vicious street punk turned sexy, sophisticated and lethally dangerous assassin. Starring Anne Parillaud, Jeanne Moreau, and Jean Reno, La Femme Nikita is "slick, stylish and tremendously entertaining" (The New York Times)!

Rescued from death row by a top-secret agency, Nikita (Anne Parillaud) is slowly transformed from a cop-killing junkie into a cold-blooded bombshell with a license to kill. But when she begins the deadliest mission of her career only to fall for a man who knows nothing of her true identity Nikita discovers that in the dark and ruthless world of espionage, the greatest casualty of all...is true love.

Run Lola Run
A thrilling post-MTV, roller-coaster ride, Run Lola Run is the internationally acclaimed sensation about two star-crossed lovers who have only minutes to change the course of their lives. Time is running out for Lola (Franka Potente). She's just received a frantic phone call from her boyfriend, Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu), who's lost a small fortune belonging to his mobster boss. If Lola doesn't replace the money in twenty minutes, Manni will surely suffer severe consequences. Set to a throbbing techno score, "Lola's like a human stun gun!" Peter Rainer, New York Magazine.

La Femme Nikita / Run Lola Run (Two-Pack) [Blu-ray] Specifications


French director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) broke the commercial taboo against female-driven action movies with this seminal, seductively slick film about a violent street punk (Anne Parillaud) trained to become a smooth, stylish assassin. Though it amounts, in the end, to little more than disposable pop, the film has a cohesiveness in style and tone--akin to the early James Bond films--that gives it a sense of integrity. Parillaud is compelling both as a wild child and chic-but-lethal pro (trained in good manners by none other than Jeanne Moreau). Tchéky Karyo is also good as the cop mentor who develops feelings for her. --Tom Keogh



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Friday, July 22, 2011

Dead Snow [Blu-ray]







Dead Snow [Blu-ray] Overview


Ein! Zwei! Die!
Get ready for the film that shocked Sundance, rocked Europe and knocked American horror fans out of their seats: When a group of medical students take a sex-and-booze-fueled ski vacation to a remote cabin in the Norwegian Alps, they uncover a dark secret from WWII that resurrects a battalion of uncontrollable, unstoppable and extremely undead Nazis. What follows is a blitzkrieg of bloodshed, body parts and action-packed zombie carnage that The New York Observer hails as relentless thrills, unimaginable horrors and a shock ending guaranteed to make you scream out loud! Writer/director Tommy Wirkola spares no amount of flesh-chomping, intestine-ripping, and chainsaw-slicing to deliver perhaps the finest Nazi Zombie movie of our time and one of the most ferocious, outrageous and over-the-top horror hits of the year!

Dead Snow [Blu-ray] Specifications


Let us begin with two words: "Nazi zombies." Let us add two more: "Hitler's gold." Yes, it's true. These are the elements of Dead Snow, a Norwegian horror picture that unleashes an undead blitzkrieg across an otherwise inviting winter landscape. The five vacationing med students who have blundered into this backcountry in search of fun have no idea that their actions will draw the attention of the aforesaid zombies of the Third Reich (what these reanimated corpses are doing in the mountains of Norway will be explained in good time). It would be nice to report that Dead Snow lives up to the outrageousness of its concept, but far too much of this thing is taken up with standard-issue slasher tropes: self-conscious dialogue about the plot's resemblance to an Evil Dead scenario, gross-out moments for their own sake (a sequence in an outhouse is especially regrettable), and decidedly uneven acting. The movie earns a few points for a grabby nighttime opening sequence and its unhealthy devotion to the art of entrails stretching (which, when it comes to people hanging off snowy cliffs, can have practical applications you probably never even thought about). The enthusiastic mayhem can't be denied, so if a sheer body count is your yardstick, Dead Snow comes across. But given the proximity of Nazi gold and the possibilities suggested by Hitler's minions returning from their snowy graves, this movie disappoints. --Robert Horton



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Thursday, July 21, 2011

Anastasia [Blu-ray]







Anastasia [Blu-ray] Overview


A spellbinding mix of adventure, comedy, romance and music, this acclaimed animated spectacular tells the thrilling story of the lost Russian princess Anastasia and her quest to find her true identity. When the shadow of revolution falls across Russia, the royal family's youngest daughter barely escape with her life. Years later, Anastasia and a band of heroic companions must battle the evil Rasputin, his sidekick Bartok the bat and a host of ghostly minions in a headlong race to reach Paris, reclaim her rightful destiny and solve the greatest mystery of the 20th century.




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Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Movie - Equilibrium







Movie - Equilibrium Overview


A broad science fiction thriller in a classic vein, Equilibrium takes a respectable stab at a Fahrenheit 451-like cautionary fable. The story finds Earth's post-World War III humankind in a state of severe emotional repression: If no one feels anything, no one will be inspired by dark passions to attack their neighbors. Writer-director Kurt Wimmer's monochromatic, Metropolis-influenced cityscape provides an excellent backdrop to the heavy-handed mission of John Preston (Christian Bale), a top cop who busts "sense offenders" and crushes sentimental, sensual, and artistic relics from a bygone era. Predictably, Preston becomes intrigued by his victims and that which they die to cherish; he stops taking his mandatory, mood-flattening drug and is even aroused by a doomed prisoner (Emily Watson). Wimmer's wrongheaded martial arts/dueling guns motif is sheer silliness (a battle over a puppy doesn't help), but Equilibrium should be seen for Bale's moving performance as a man shocked back to human feeling. --Tom Keogh




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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Boogie Nights [Blu-ray]






Boogie Nights [Blu-ray] Feature


  • Condition: New
  • Format: Blu-ray
  • Color; Dolby; Subtitled; Widescreen


Boogie Nights [Blu-ray] Overview


From writer/director P.T. Anderson comes the turbulehnt behind-the-scenes story of an extended family of filmmakers who set out to revolutionize the adult entertainment industry in the seventies.

Idealistic producer Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds) has always dreamed of elevating his films into an art form. When he discovers young actor Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg), Jack begins to turn his dreams into reality. Under the stage name of Dirk Diggler, Eddie soon gives the adult entertainment world a star the likes of which it has never seen. But the rise to fame has its costs, and soon Dirk finds himself sliding down the slippery slope of sex, drugs and violence. The only question: can he get himself back together before it's too late?

Boogie Nights [Blu-ray] Specifications


Even if the notorious 1970s porn-filmmaking milieu doesn'texactly turn you on, don't let it turn you off to this movie's extraordinary virtues, either. Boogie Nights is one of the key movies of the 1990s, and among the most ambitious and exuberantly alive American movies in years. It's also the breakthrough for an amazing new director, whose dazzling kaleidoscopic style here recalls the Robert Altman of Nashville and the Martin Scorsese of GoodFellas. Although loosely based on the sleazy life and times of real-life porn legend John Holmes, at heart it's a classic Hollywood rise-and-fall fable: a naive, good-looking young busboy is discovered in a San Fernando Valley disco by a famous motion picture producer, becomes a hotshot movie star, lives the high life, and then loses everything when he gets too big for his britches, succumbs to insobriety, and is left behind by new times and new technology. Of course, it ain't exactly A Star Is Born or Singin' in the Rain. Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson (in only his second feature!) puts his own affectionately sardonic twist on the old showbiz biopic formula: the ambitious upstart changes his name and achieves stardom in porno films as "Dirk Diggler." Instead of drinking to excess, he snorts cocaine (the classic drug of '70s hedonism); and it's the coming of home video (rather than talkies) that helps to dash his big-screen dreams. As for the britches ... well, the controversial "money shot" explains everything. And the cast is one of the great ensembles of the '90s, including Oscar nominees Burt Reynolds and Julianne Moore, Mark Wahlberg (who really can act--from the waist up, too!), Heather Graham (as Rollergirl), William H. Macy, John C. Reilly, and Ricky Jay. --Jim Emerson



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Saturday, July 16, 2011

Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant [Blu-ray]







Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant [Blu-ray] Overview


Welcome to the Cirque Du Freak, a traveling sideshow filled with magical creatures, misunderstood freaks, and the mysterious vampire, Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly). Drawn to the dark, unpredictable world of the Cirque, 16-year-old Darren (Chris Massoglia) decides to trade in his ordinary life for a chance to become an immortal vampire. As Darren explores his newfound powers and faces unexpected enemies, he’ll find that his existence as a member of the undead is filled with more challenges, suspense and fun than he ever thought possible. Based on the best-selling book series and co-starring Salma Hayek, Josh Hutcherson, Ken Watanabe, and Willem Dafoe, it’s a fast-paced, suspenseful journey critics call, “Imaginative!” (Peter Hall, Cinematical.com)

Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant [Blu-ray] Specifications


Adapted from Darren O'Shaughnessy's book series the Saga of Darren Shan, Cirque du Freak: A Vampire's Assistant is an endearingly goofy teen-vampire tale reminiscent of The Goonies or Lost Boys. Like those kids' horror classics, Cirque du Freak is a coming-of-age tale in which maturity is hastened by horrific discoveries of alternate realms. Best friends Darren Shan (Chris Massoglia) and Steve (Josh Hutcherson) embark on a life-changing career path as monster prodigies after attending a taboo freak show starring various mutants and Madame Octa, a fluffy, neon orange, Muppetlike spider that Darren is irrevocably compelled to kidnap. Darren's petty theft results in the boys' introductions into the dualistic realm of good vampires, including the paternal Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly), and less-generous bloodsuckers such as Murlaugh (Ray Stevenson) and his Vampaneze family. Part of the fun is in learning how vampires are defined in this world; for example, they can't turn into bats but they have magic spit. The film's additional appeal is in its clever teen-vampire cultural nods, such as when Darren plays his Gameboy inside his coffin. The actual circus, too, offers a wide array of fun, spooky characters, such as ringleader Mr. Tall (Ken Watanabe) and Darren's scaly buddy Snakeboy (Patrick Fugit). Cirque du Freak: A Vampire's Assistant has tough moments, too, once the boys realize they can't look back. These moments transform Cirque du Freak: A Vampire's Assistant into a film parents may even be charmed by. --Trinie Dalton



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Friday, July 15, 2011

Puccini: La Boheme [Blu-ray]







Puccini: La Boheme [Blu-ray] Overview


John Copley's enduring production of
one of the most famously melodious and popular of all operas is a classic of the Royal Opera repertory. With historically accurate designs by Julia Trevelyan Oman and an excellent cast headed by Hibla Gerzmava and Teodor Ilincai, this 2009 revival, in which conductor Andris Nelsons makes a distinguished Royal Opera House debut, does full justice to Puccini's masterpiece. Filmed in High Definition and recorded in true surround sound.




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Thursday, July 14, 2011

Buried (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)







Buried (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) Overview


Paul Conroy is not ready to die. But when he wakes up six feet underground with no idea of who put him there or why, life for the truck driver and family man instantly becomes a hellish struggle for survival. Buried with only a cell phone and a lighter, his contact with the outside world and ability to piece together clues that could help him discover his location are maddeningly limited. Poor reception, a rapidly draining battery, and a dwindling oxygen supply become his worst enemies in a tightly confined race against time; fighting panic, despair and delirium, Paul has only ninety minutes to be rescued before his worst nightmare comes true.

Buried (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) Specifications


Alfred Hitchcock, eat your heart out. Sure, the master of suspense set himself some tough challenges with limited scenarios: Lifeboat took place entirely within the title craft, Rear Window didn't stray from Jimmy Stewart's apartment, and Rope stuck mostly to an unbroken take. But Spanish director Rodrigo Cortés wants to do the master one better: Buried is set inside a coffin, buried beneath a few feet of immovable earth. Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) wakes up inside the coffin, a cell phone and lighter next to him; for the next 90 minutes, we won't leave the narrow space of that wooden box. No cheats: no flashbacks to Paul's past, no cross-cutting with efforts to free him. Cortés sticks to the rules and follows his story out to its conclusion, and in the process he must think of every possible way to shoot and light someone in a confined space. Seems Paul was in Iraq as a non-military truck driver when he got caught in some crossfire, and somebody wants to make a point. The cell phone allows him to speak, and try to puzzle out what's happening, but except for the voices on the other end, this is entirely Ryan Reynolds's show. The actor is up for it: although he can't use his body, he calls on both his action-movie chops and (at certain exasperating moments) his comic talents. By definition, this is a bravura turn, and Reynolds comes through firing on all cylinders. Buried is an exercise, but it manages to sneak in a few sly suggestions about the nature of an American's presence in the Middle East. It even earns points for an excellent credits sequence--a clever nod to Hitchcock classics. Somehow you suspect the master would approve. --Robert Horton



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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Premonition [Blu-ray]







Premonition [Blu-ray] Overview


PREMONITION - Blu-Ray Movie

Premonition [Blu-ray] Specifications


In Premonition, Linda Hanson (Sandra Bullock) is living in the Twilight Zone as she experiences recurring dreams of her husband's car crash, mediated by days in which the tragedy hasn't yet happened. By the time Linda does see her husband Jim's (Julian McMahon) death, one feels relieved instead of grievous. Though Premonition mines fascinating material, investigating the ways women in particular have uncanny psychic abilities to predict impending family dangers, Linda's premonitions are so convoluted, even to her, that it is difficult to determine their reality. Unrealistic scenes involving a sadistic psychiatrist and an unwarranted lithium prescription would lead one to question Linda's sanity, but instead add falseness to the story. Irritating sequences in which Linda confides in a priest at the local church, who tells her that faith will heal all, seem like Christian propaganda that completely eradicates any real witchcraft in the story. For a truly scary film about clairvoyance, see Dario Argento's Phenomena. Premonition is a bogus take on psychic prediction, as tearjerking as Ghost was during Patrick Swayze's heyday. --Trinie Dalton



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Tuesday, July 12, 2011

The Protector [Blu-ray]






The Protector [Blu-ray] Feature


  • PROTECTOR, THE BLU-RAY (BLU-RAY DISC)


The Protector [Blu-ray] Overview


Martial arts superstar Tony Jaa reunites with his Ong-Bak director to deliver bone-breaking thrills and amazing gravity-defying action (Daily Star), performed without stunt doubles, wires, or CGI. Packed with incredible fight scenes, mesmerizing muay thai moves, and a jaw-dropping final showdown that pits Jaa against 50 enemies.

The Protector [Blu-ray] Specifications


Thai-born martial artist Tony Jaa, whose gravity-defying stunts wowed American audiences in Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior, returns in an equally eye-popping stunt fest that should thrill all but the most jaded action fans. The very simple plot has the soft-spoken, mild-mannered Jaa as a young man from a rural community dispatched to Australia to recover a pair of sacred elephants. Once there, he discovered that a female crime boss (played by transgendered actor Jing Xing) is behind the missing pachyderms, and Jaa pulls out all the stops to recover the animals for his village. As in Ong-Bak, the appeal of The Protector is watching Jaa unleash his muay thai skills on a host of villainous types, and he gets several astonishing showcases in this film, most notably a nearly-unbroken take in which he dispatches some 50 goons as he makes his way up a four-story structure. Those looking for the depth of story or character found in the best of Hong Kong action cinema won't find it in The Protector, but the rewards for action fans are plentiful and thoroughly entertaining. The two-disc Collector's Edition of The Protector includes a wealth of extras, most notably the original Thai version of the film (titled Tom Yum Goong), which runs approximately 30 minutes longer than the American version. Commentary by martial arts writer and fan Bey Logan is featured on the American edit, along with a deleted scene, a featurette about Jaa with Logan and rapper/producer The RZA (who scored the American version and, for some reason, is described as a major force in bringing Asian entertainment to the States), making-of featurettes on both the English and Thai versions of the film (the latter features a subtitled Thai-language commentary track with Jaa, director Prachya Pinkaew, and stunt coordinator/mentor Panna Rittikrai), and three fair short films that were produced for a promotional tie-in contest. -- Paul Gaita



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Monday, July 11, 2011

Elephant White [Blu-ray]







Elephant White [Blu-ray] Overview


Mercenary Curtie Church (Djimon Hounsou, ''Blood Diamond'') is hired to take out a notorious Thai sex-trafficking gang by a father's whose daughter was kidnapped and murdered by the gang. With the help of a ruthless weapons dealer (Kevin Bacon, ''Mystic River''), Church finds the men he is hired to kill. But what starts as a paying job turns into an outright war between two rival gangs, and Church finds himself caught between the corrupt world that surrounds him and the truth behind the man who hired him.




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Sunday, July 10, 2011

Linkin Park: Road to Revolution - Live at Milton Keynes [Blu-ray]







Linkin Park: Road to Revolution - Live at Milton Keynes [Blu-ray] Overview


FEATURING OVER 1 HOUR OF PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED LIVE LINKIN PARK FOOTAGE FROM THE '08 PROJEKT REVOLUTION FESTIVAL AT THE ACCLAIMED MILTON KEYNES BOWL IN ENGLAND.

Track Listing:
1. One Step Closer
2. From The Inside
3. No More Sorrow
4. Given Up
5. Lying From You
6. Hands Held High
7. Leave Out All The Rest [Live At Milton Keynes] (video)
8. Numb
9. The Little Things Give You Away
10. Breaking The Habit [Live At Milton Keynes] (video)
11. Shadow Of The Day [Live At Milton Keynes] (video)
12. Crawling
13. In The End
14. Pushing Me Away
15. What I've Done [Live At Milton Keynes] (video)
16. Numb / Encore - By Jay-Z / Linkin Park
17. J igga What / Faint - By Jay-Z / Linkin Park
18. Bleed It Out




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Saturday, July 9, 2011

Anaconda [Blu-ray]







Anaconda [Blu-ray] Overview


Anaconda is an action-packed thriller starring Jennifer Lopez (The Wedding Planner), rap superstar Ice Cube (XXX: State of the Union), Academy Award®-winner Jon Voight (1978 Best Actor, Coming Home) and Eric Stolz (Almost Famous). A documentary film crew, headed by anthropologist Steve Cale (Stoltz) and director Terri Flores (Lopez), ventures into the world's most isolated jungle - the Amazon - in search of a lost and forgotten civilization. Early in their journey, they come to the aid of Paul Serone, a Paraguayan guide (Voight), who joins their expedition. But Serone is actually a poacher on the trail of a legendary snake. When Serone hijacks the boat and its crew on his quest to track and kill the giant snake, he steers the expedition right into the path of the deadly monster. Ger ready for a wild, scare-a-minute thrill ride because ANACONDA will grab you and take your breath away.

Anaconda [Blu-ray] Specifications


This giant-man-eating-snake-in-the-jungle thriller definitely scores points as a guilty pleasure, especially with Jon Voight hamming it up as the monster-poacher. He makes life miserable for a team of documentary filmmakers on the Amazon river. Anaconda is one of those movies that exists for no other reason than to give computer animators a chance to strut their stuff with a new digital beastie, and they don't disappoint. It's a lot of fun to watch the mega-snake scarf down its victims and--in the case of Voight--regurgitate 'em right back up again, all covered in gooey digestive juices. You might wonder why Eric Stoltz, who plays Dr. Steven Cale, showed up for a role that requires him to be off-screen for most of the movie, but hey--when it comes to big snake movies, you might as well put your brain on hold and sit back for the slimy ride. --Jeff Shannon



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Friday, July 8, 2011

Dexter: The First Season [Blu-ray]







Dexter: The First Season [Blu-ray] Overview


DEXTER:COMPLETE FIRST SEASON - Blu-Ray Movie

Dexter: The First Season [Blu-ray] Specifications


An interesting and original idea that's very skillfully executed, Showtime's Dexter is never less than watchable, often quite compelling, and sometimes thoroughly riveting. As the 12 episodes from the show's first season (packaged here in a four disc set) reveal, it's also the epitome of "high concept," a kind of Silence of the Lambs for the C.S.I. generation. Creator-executive producer James Manos Jr.'s title character, one Dexter Morgan (played by Michael C. Hall of Six Feet Under renown), works for the Miami Police Department as an blood spatter analyst, visiting crime scenes and helping figure out what happened. He has an avocation, too: during his off hours, he tracks down some very, very bad people who for various reasons have eluded the proper authorities. Seems his adoptive father, a cop himself, taught the kid how to channel his dark side in a "positive" direction; and so, having captured these evildoers (including a child molester-murderer and a recidivist drunk driver with a trail of bodies in his wake), Dex dispatches them with clinical precision, thus making him a serial killer who snuffs serial killers. But there's more--much more, as it turns out. By his own description, Dexter is "a monster," an empty shell who fakes all human interactions and admits to no real feelings for anything or anyone, including his foster sister (Jennifer Carter) and his nominal girlfriend (Julie Benz), a former crack addict and battered spouse who's as uninterested in sex as he is. There's an explanation for Dexter's weirdness, of course, one so deep and traumatic that even he isn't aware of it. It's gradually revealed over the course of the season as he and the cops (who include Erik King, Lauren Velez, and David Zayas, all first-rate) track down the so-called "Ice Truck Killer," a fellow monster whose grisly m.o. both fascinates and taunts our hero, leading to a genuinely shocking and squirm-inducing finale. Dexter can be a bit arch, with an ironic, too-hip-for-the-room tone that get a little old. Still, it's a safe bet that anyone who views this first season will be salivating for the second. Extras include audio commentary on two episodes, a featurette about real-life blood spatter analysis, and a variety of DVD-ROM items. --Sam Graham

Beyond Dexter


More TV Head-cases on DVD

The Book that Started It All

More from Showtime

Stills from Dexter: The First Season (click for larger image)











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Thursday, July 7, 2011

John Adams [Blu-ray]






John Adams [Blu-ray] Feature


  • Condition: New
  • Format: Blu-ray
  • Color; DTS Surround Sound; Widescreen; Subtitled


John Adams [Blu-ray] Overview


John Adams is a sprawling HBO miniseries event that depicts the extraordinary life and times of one of Americas least understood, and most underestimated, founding fathers: the second President of the United States, John Adams. Starring Paul Giamatti (Sideways, Cinderella Man, HBOs American Spendor) in the title role and Laura Linney (You Can Count on Me, Kinsey) as Adams devoted wife Abigail, John Adams chronicles the extraordinary life journey of one of the primary shapers of our independence and government, whose legacy has often been eclipsed by more flamboyant contemporaries like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin. Set against the backdrop of a nations stormy birth, this sweeping miniseries is a moving love story, a gripping narrative, and a fascinating study of human nature. Above all, at a time when the nation is increasingly polarized politically, this story celebrates the shared values of liberty and freedom upon which this country was built.

John Adams [Blu-ray] Specifications


Based on David McCullough's bestselling biography, the HBO miniseries John Adams is the furthest thing from a starry-eyed look at America's founding fathers and the brutal path to independence. Adams (Paul Giamatti), second president of the United States, is portrayed as a skilled orator and principled attorney whose preference for justice over anti-English passions earns enemies. But he also gains the esteem of the first national government of the United States, i.e., the Continental Congress, which seeks non-firebrands capable of making a reasoned if powerful case for America's break from England's monarchy. The first thing one notices about John Adams' dramatizations of congress' proceedings, and the fervent pro-independence violence in the streets of Boston and elsewhere, is that America's roots don't look pretty or idealized here. Some horrendous things happen in the name of protest, driving Adams to push the cause of independence in a legitimate effort to get on with a revolutionary war under the command of George Washington. But the process isn't easy: not every one of the 13 colonies-turned-states is ready to incur the wrath of England, and behind-the-scenes negotiations prove as much a part of 18th century congressional sessions as they do today.

Besides this peek into a less-romanticized version of the past, John Adams is also a story of the man himself. Adams' frustration at being forgotten or overlooked at critical junctures of America's early development--sent abroad for years instead of helping to draft the U.S. constitution--is detailed. So is his dismay that the truth of what actually transpired leading to the signing of the Declaration of Independence has been slowly forgotten and replaced by a rosier myth. But above all, John Adams is the story of two key ties: Adams' 54-year marriage to Abigail Adams (Laura Linney), every bit her husband's intellectual equal and anchor, and his difficult, almost symbiotic relationship with Thomas Jefferson (Stephen Dillane) over decades. Giamatti, of course, has to carry much of the drama, and if he doesn't always seem quite believable in the series' first half, he becomes increasingly excellent at the point where an aging Adams becomes bitter over his place in history. Linney is marvelous, as is Dillane, Sarah Polley as daughter Nabby, Danny Huston as cousin Samuel Adams, and above all Tom Wilkinson as a complex but indispensable Ben Franklin. --Tom Keogh



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Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Les cousins (Criteron Collection) [Blu-ray]







Les cousins (Criteron Collection) [Blu-ray] Overview


In Les cousins, Claude Chabrol (Les bonnes femmes) crafts a sly moral fable about a provincial boy who comes to live with his sophisticated bohemian cousin in Paris. Through these seeming opposites, Chabrol conjures a piercing, darkly comic character study that questions notions of good and evil, love and jealousy, and success in the modern world. A mirror image of Le beau Serge, Chabrol’s debut, Les cousins recasts that film’s stars, Jean-Claude Brialy and Gérard Blain, in startlingly reversed roles. This dagger-sharp drama won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and was an important precursor to the French New Wave.




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Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Don Pasquale [Blu-ray]







Don Pasquale [Blu-ray] Overview


A red hot ticket at the Metropolitan Opera in 2010/2011 was Donizetti's comic gem, Don Pasquale, with Anna Netrebko reviving Norina, the part that made her a star in New York. Opera summed up the simple truth: ". . . everyone adored her". John Del Carlo's impressive singing and acting chops as the Don are given every boost by Otto Schenk's hilarious staging and James Levine's witty conducting. Leading this opera for the first time at the Met, the renowned maestro demonstrates that his gifts suit Donizetti as perfectly as Wagner. Mariusz Kwiecien and Matthew Polenzani scintillate as Malatesta and Ernesto. When Norina slaps Pasquale, the old man sees how deluded he has been to believe that the young beauty loves him. The San Francisco Chronicle paid homage to this turning point thus: "Netrebko captures the moment that gives the opera a heart it otherwise would lack" Filmed in November 2010, the DVD features backstage intermission interviews caught during the hubbub of performance.




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Monday, July 4, 2011

The Orphanage [Blu-ray]






The Orphanage [Blu-ray] Feature


  • Condition: New
  • Format: Blu-ray
  • Anamorphic; Color; DTS Surround Sound; Subtitled; Widescreen


The Orphanage [Blu-ray] Overview


ORPHANAGE - Blu-Ray Movie

The Orphanage [Blu-ray] Specifications


It's only his first film, but Spain’s Juan Antonio Bayona has already figured out the secret to a successful supernatural thriller: emphasize character over special effects. Like Walter Salles's Dark Water and Alejandro Amenábar's The Others, The Orphanage pivots on a pretty woman and an unusual child. When her old orphanage goes on the market, Laura (Belén Rueda, Amenábar's The Sea Inside) and Carlos (Fernando Cayo) settle in with their son, Simón (Roger Príncep). Once acclimated to the remote seaside surroundings, they plan to re-open it as a home for special-needs children. Meanwhile, their seven-year-old doesn't know he's adopted or that he has a life-threatening illness. He does, however, have a lot of imaginary playmates. When Simón disappears without a trace, his parents contact the police, but to no avail. Because Laura has been hearing odd noises and having strange visions, they proceed to consult a medium. Aurora (Geraldine Chaplin, speaking perfect Spanish) is convinced they aren't alone. Carlos has his doubts, but Laura makes like a detective and revisits her childhood--through photographs, home movies, and exploration of the spooky stone manor--to determine who or what abducted her son. Produced and presented by Guillermo Del Toro, The Orphanage is less fanciful than his works, though it does bear a vague resemblance to the ghostly Devil's Backbone. There are a few gory make-up effects, but Bayona mostly preys on our fear of the unknown to craft a first-rate fright fest. --Kathleen C. Fennessy



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Saturday, July 2, 2011

Queens Blade Collection [Blu-ray]







Queens Blade Collection [Blu-ray] Overview


In four years time, the competition for the next Queen shall start.
The strongest warrior will continue to rule and expand the country,
according to tradition. The contestants must be older than 12
years and need not be intelligent or even human. The rules for
the tournament are simple: murder is allowed, any weapon can be
chosen, and the winner is decided when one of the participants
flees or can t move anymore. And, the entire event is broadcast
through a crystal sphere for the entire population to see and enjoy!




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Friday, July 1, 2011

Pirates of Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Three-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo in DVD Packaging)







Pirates of Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Three-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo in DVD Packaging) Overview


Once again thrown into the world of the supernatural, Captain Jack Sparrow finds out that he owes a blood debt to the legendary Davey Jones, Captain of the ghostly Flying Dutchman. With time running out, Jack must find a way out of his debt or else be doomed to eternal damnation and servitude in the afterlife. And as if this weren't enough, the captain's problems manage to wreck the wedding plans of a certain Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, who are forced to join Jack on yet another misadventure.




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