ha ha

ha ha I didn't do shit Read Full Post »

Return of the Mack

OK, it's about time I get back to writing more shit for good ol' Rooster Flix. I have nothing at the moment, but I will work on stuff. PS HOLY SHIT DID YALL SEE THE NEW TRON TRAILER, CAUSE GOD DAYYUMM Read Full Post »

so I watched The Hangover this weekend

it was really funny


I also watched Fred Claus Read Full Post »

Brand New 'Terminator Salvation' Footage Leaked

Read Full Post »

RoosterFlix DVD Picks for February 10th

_______________________________



W. (2008)
dir. Oliver Stone

There's nothing groundbreaking here....anyone who barely pays attention to the news probably knows everything contained in this movie. The main reason to watch is for the great performances (minus Thandie Newton's HORRIBLE exaggerated portrayal of Condi Rice), especially Josh Brolin. I'm actually kind of mad he didn't get a nod for Best Actor, he's really that good in this role. The only problem I had with the movie, other than Newton, was the placement of the "fool me once" quote. Why have that happen in a place where EVERYONE knows it didn't?

Product Decsription:
Oliver Stone’s W. is similar to his other movies about American presidents (JFK, Nixon), which is to say these films are much more about Stone’s imagined versions of reported events than they are alleged reenactments. As such, W. is Stone’s case for what he sees as the absurdity of George W. Bush’s ascendance to the White House and especially the arrogant blunder of the Iraq War. Josh Brolin is very good as the miscreant son of George H. W. Bush (James Cromwell), Vice President to Ronald Reagan and 41st president of the United States. Adrift in a sea of booze and squandered opportunities, the younger Bush is largely driven by a need for his disapproving father’s love and respect, which never truly arrives. Becoming a hatchet man for Bush Sr.’s administration, “W” (as his wife, Laura--played by Elizabeth Banks--call him) meets Karl Rove (Toby Jones) and heads toward the Texas governorship, despite his father’s preference that the more golden son, Jeb, get all the family’s support in his Florida gubernatorial bid.
Told in broken chronology, W. focuses on Bush’s post-9/11 path to waging a “preventive war” in Iraq despite no hard evidence of weapons of mass destruction to justify it. The major players in W’s administration--Rove, Colin Powell (Jeffrey Wright), Condoleeza Rice (Thandie Newton), and especially Dick Cheney (Richard Dreyfuss)--all participate in closed meetings that look and sound like every investigative account by the New York Times or Bob Woodward about the administration’s inner workings leading up to the war. Much of this is quite fascinating if a little weird (Newton’s performance is indeed strange), but the drama is often powerful, particularly around Powell’s resistance to the rising tide for a supposedly slam-dunk war. A number of the film’s key performances, besides Brolin’s, are very strong, especially Cromwell, Jones, Wright, Dreyfuss and Bruce McGill as George Tenet. --Tom Keogh

_______________________________



Miracle at St. Anna (2008)
dir. Spike Lee

Haven't seen this yet, but will watch it very soon. I'm really interested to see Spike Lee tackle war.

Product Decsription:
Every major American filmmaker has a war movie inside them. After the twin triumphs of When the Levees Broke and Inside Man, his biggest box office hit, Spike Lee puts his distinctive stamp on World War II. Though Miracle at St. Anna begins and ends in 1983, most of the action takes place in 1944. The segregation of the time leads to the Army's African-American 92nd Infantry Division. In Italy, four of these Buffalo Soldiers, Sergeants Stamps (Antwone Fisher's Derek Luke) and Bishop (Barbershop's Michael Ealy), Corporal Hector (Jarhead's Laz Alonso), and sweet, superstitious Private Train (The Express's Omar Benson Miller), get separated from their unit while fighting the Germans. On the way to higher ground, Train rescues a boy from the rubble. With nine-year-old Angelo (newcomer Matteo Sciabordi) in tow, the soldiers secure shelter in a Tuscan town, where they band together with the villagers, including lovely English speaker Renata (Artemisia's Valentina Cervi), nurse the delusional boy back to health (he has an imaginary playmate named Arturo), and prepare for the next attack. Like Inside Man, Miracle marks one of the few times Lee has drafted an outsider to write the script, in this case bestselling author James McBride, who adapts from his novel. The combination of sensibilities results in a film that alternates, sometimes awkwardly, between cynicism and sentimentality. Tonal irregularities aside, Miracle at St. Anna pays overdue tribute to the 15,000 men who fought for freedom in a country that showed them greater respect than their nation of origin. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

_______________________________



Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!: Season 2 (2008)
dir. Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim

I was INCREDIBLY disappointed to discover that there is no commentary on this disc, especially when the 1st season had commentary on every episode. It goes without saying that the show is not for everybody, but it is 100% for me. Love this show.

Product Decsription:
Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, creators of TOM GOES TO THE MAYOR, are the hosts for this bizarre comedy show that finds its muse by scouring the debris of televised culture. Late-night commercials, instructional videos, and peppy infomercials are but a few of the targets for the 11-minute series' skewed sensibility. Layered with cheesy video effects, the show's whimsical sketches descend into the nether regions of television hell as they follow the heroic deeds of the Snuggler and educate the viewer in toilet use with jaw-dropping musical interludes. Bad taste has never been so wickedly entertaining in this Adult Swim series' second season, featuring appearances by John C. Reilly, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Skerritt, Zach Galifianakis, Rainn Wilson, and many others.

_______________________________



Simon of the Desert - Criterion Collection (1965)
dir. Luis Bunuel

Product Decsription:
Simon of the Desert is Luis Buñuel's wicked and wild take on the life of devoted ascetic Saint Simeon Stylites, who waited atop a pillar surrounded by a barren landscape for six years, six months, and six days, in order to prove his devotion to God. Yet the devil, in the figure of the beautiful Silvia Pinal, huddles below, trying to tempt him down. A skeptic s vision of human conviction, Buñuel's short and sweet satire is one of the master filmmaker's most renowned works of surrealism.

DVD Features:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer
A Mexican Buñuel (1995), 50-minute documentary by Emilio Maillé
New interview with actress Silvia Pinal
New and improved English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Michael Wood and a reprinted interview with Buñuel
_______________________________



The Exterminating Angel - Criterion Collection (1962)
dir. Luis Bunuel

Product Decsription:
A group of bourgeois cosmopolitans are invited to a mansion for dinner and inexplicably find themselves unable to leave, in Luis Buñuel's daring masterpiece The Exterminating Angel. Made just one year after his international sensation Viridiana, this is a furthering of Buñuel's wicked takedown of the rituals and dependencies of the frivolous upper classes, full of eerie and hilarious absurdity.

DVD Features:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer
The Last Script: Remembering Luis Buñuel, a 2008 documentary featuring Jean-Claude Carrière and Jean Luis Buñuel
New interviews with filmmaker Arturo Ripstein and actress Silvia Pinal
Theatrical trailer
New and improved English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film scholar Marsha Kinder and a reprinted interview with Buñuel
_______________________________



Frozen River (2008)
dir. Courtney Hunt

Watched this a couple days ago. Really good movie. Melissa Leo absolutely deserves to win Best Actress.

Product Decsription:
When her husband runs off with the payment for their new home, Ray (Melissa Leo, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada) turns to crime to keep herself and her two sons afloat. A chance encounter with Lila (Misty Upham, Edge of America), an equally desperate young Mohawk woman, leads Ray to smuggling illegal immigrants by driving across the frozen Hudson River onto tribal land. But with every trip, things go wrong in small and not-so-small ways, until Ray finds herself pushed into a more desperate corner than ever before. Leo delivers a gritty, restrained, but richly compelling performance; her raw face, beautiful but worn down by life, radiates a weary defiance. Frozen River has scenes as tense as any Hollywood thriller, but so grounded in the fully developed characters of these two women that the taut suspense grips the full spectrum of your emotions. This is an impressive debut by writer/director Courtney Hunt, featuring excellent supporting performances by Charlie McDermott (The Ten) as Ray's unhappy oldest son and Michael O'Keefe (The Great Santini) as a suspicious state trooper. --Bret Fetzer

_______________________________



Blindness (2008)
dir. Fernando Meirelles

Ugh, immensely disappointing. I wrote something about this movie earlier, I'll just post it....

This movie had absolutely everything going for it. Director Fernando Meirelles has made probably the best movie of this decade (it's my favorite, anyway), City of God, and my favorite movie of 2005, The Constant Gardener. The script for Blindness is adapted from the novel of the same name by Nobel Prize-winning author Jose Saramago. And even with an A-list cast, the movie is just not fun to watch. Ebert said it best (as is usually the case) - "Blindness is one of the most unpleasant, not to say unendurable, films I've ever seen. It is an allegory about a group of people who survive under great stress, but frankly I would rather have seen them perish than sit through the final three-quarters of the film. Not only is it despairing and sickening, it's ugly. Denatured, sometimes overexposed, sometimes too shadowy to see, it is an experiment to determine how much you can fool with a print before ending up with mud, intercut with brightly lit milk."

Product Decsription:
Based on José Saramago's allegorical novel, Blindness is a haunting film that works like an unusual fusion of fable and gritty suspense. Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo star as an unnamed, married couple living in an unidentified city where a mass epidemic of blindness hits. Ruffalo's character, a doctor, is affected, but Moore's is not. When the two are transferred to a government-run quarantine facility complete with armed guards, they soon find themselves in a rapidly deteriorating situation. Criminals take over food distribution and extort possessions and sex from the innocent. Sanitation becomes a thing of the past. More subtly, rules that might govern one's judgement and behavior on an everyday basis simply vanish, and personal and collective values rewrite themselves. Moore's character hides the fact that she can see (except from her spouse), and thus becomes the audience's surrogate in the thick of so much misery. She also becomes an avenging angel at exactly the right time, and then a matriarch when the action shifts from the quarantine hell to the city's streets. The latter part of Blindness finds a handful of the inmates (played by Danny Glover and Alice Braga, among others) joining Moore and Ruffalo in a kind of post-apocalypse oasis, a chapter as touching as the previous chapters were nightmarish.
Director Fernando Meirelles deftly captures the film's spirit of mixed parable and horror, grounding the action but at the same time encouraging a viewer not to take it too literally. He honors Saramago's creative depiction of blindness not as a field of black but, in this case, as an ocean of white. He also does some tricky, disorienting things with the camera, shooting at odd angles, putting his frame around strange details in a scene--all of it has a way of giving a viewer a feeling of what it's like to perceive the world in a whole new way. --Tom Keogh

_______________________________



Chocolate (2008)
dir. Prachya Pinkaew

Much like all other Prachya Pinkaew movies, light on story, heavy on awesome ass-kicking fight sequences. The whole scene where they're fighting on the side of a building is really awesome.

Product Decsription:
A young girl learns to fight from watching TV and the fighters from the boxing school next door. When she finds a list of debtors in her ailing mother s diary, she sets upon a violent quest to collect payment for medical expenses. Her quest is a dangerous one that ultimately leads her to her father, a gang member of the Yakuza.

_______________________________



Raging Bull (1980)
dir. Martin Scorsese

One of the greatest movies ever. I don't usually mention blu-ray releases of movies that have already great DVD editions, but this movie is too good.

Product Decsription:
Martin Scorsese's brutal black-and-white biography of self-destructive boxer Jake LaMotta was chosen as the best film of the 1980s in a major critics' poll at the end of the decade, and it's a knockout piece of filmmaking. Robert De Niro plays LaMotta (famously putting on 50 pounds for the later scenes), a man tormented by demons he doesn't understand and prone to uncontrollably violent temper tantrums and fits of irrational jealousy. He marries a striking young blond (Cathy Moriarty), his sexual ideal, and then terrorizes her with never-ending accusations of infidelity. Jake is as frightening as he is pathetic, unable to control or comprehend the baser instincts that periodically, and without warning, turn him into the rampaging beast of the title. But as Roman Catholic Scorsese sees it, he works off his sins in the boxing ring, where his greatest athletic talent is his ability to withstand punishment. The fight scenes are astounding; they're like barbaric ritual dance numbers. Images smash into one another--a flashbulb, a spray of sweat, a fist, a geyser of blood--until you feel dazed from the pummeling. Nominated for a handful of Academy Awards (including best picture and director), Raging Bull won only two, for De Niro and for editor Thelma Schoonmacher. --Jim Emerson

DVD Features:
#Commentary by Director Martin Scorsese and Editor Thelma Schoonmaker
#Cast and Crew Commentary with Irwin Winkler, Robbie Robertson, Robert Chartoff, Theresa Saldana, John Turturro, Frank Warner, Michael Chapman and Cis Corman
#Storytellers Commentary with Mardik Martin, Paul Schrader, Jason Lustin and Jake Lamotta
#Raging Bull: Before the Fight (The Writing, the Casting and Preproduction) (26m:08s)
#Raging Bull: Inside the Ring (The Choreography of the Fight Scenes) (14m:49s)
#Raging Bull: Outside the Ring (Behind-the-Scenes Stories on the Making of the Film) (27m:19s)
#Raging Bull: After the Fight (The Sound Design, the Music, the Impact of the Film) (16m:01s)
#The Bronx Bull (Making of Documentary) (27m:52s)
#De Niro Vs LaMotta (Shot by Shot Comparison in the Ring) (3m:48s)
#La Motta Defends Title (Newsreel Footage) (0m:57s)
#Original Theatrical Trailer (3m:55s)
_______________________________



Soul Men (2008)
dir. Malcolm D. Lee

Product Decsription:
Though it's been some twenty years since they have spoken with one another, two estranged soul-singing legends agree to participate in a reunion performance at the Apollo Theater to honor their recently deceased band leader.

_______________________________



Cross Creek (1983)
dir. Martin Ritt

Product Decsription:
Mary Steenburgen (MELVIN AND HOWARD) stars in this adaptation of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings's classic novel about her experiences living in rural Florida during the 1920s and 1930s. Mixing together elements of both CROSS CREEK and THE YEARLING, director Martin Ritt creates a glowing period piece that finds the essence of both books. In the film, Mrs. Rawlings (Steenburgen), a New Yorker, buys an orange grove in the Florida swamps for the purpose of going there to write the gothic romance she can't seem to finish in the city. As soon as she arrives, Mrs. Rawlings becomes immersed in the colorful backwoods community that surrounds her grove, and acquires a young cook named Geechee (Woodard) as well as farm hands to work the groves. Enchanted by life in Cross Creek, Mrs. Rawlings finds herself writing not gothic romances, but tales of small town life in rural Florida. Next thing she knows, her stories catch the attention of a major publisher. A lyrical meditation on both rural life and the nature of creativity, Martin Ritt's film is filled with lush imagery and standout performances. In particular, Rip Torn's performance as Marsh Turner, a drunken but loving father, is outstanding, and it rightfully won him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

_______________________________



My Name Is Bruce (2008)
dir. Bruce Campbell

I love Bruce to death, but something about this movie turns me off. I can't put my finger on it, but I just feel like I'm going to be very dissatisfied with it. Oh well, I'll watch it anyway.

Product Decsription:
Cult film and TV star Bruce Campbell (Burn Notice) lampoons his own B-movie legacy with My Name is Bruce, an agreeably goofy horror-comedy which pits him--well, a version of him, anyway--against a malevolent Asian spirit in order to save a die-hard fan. Campbell also directed Bruce, and brings a loose, kitchen-sink vibe to the proceedings, which has teenager and die-hard Bruce Campbell fan Jeff (Taylor Sharp) kidnap his idol in order to save his small town from an ancient Chinese demon. Unfortunately, the movie Bruce Campbell is a broken-down, booze-swilling reprobate who lacks even an ounce of the insouciant charm of his screen persona in Evil Dead 2 or the Hercules series, and proves woefully inadequate in dispelling the monster. But as films ranging from Cat Ballou and My Favorite Year to Galaxy Quest and Three Amigos! have proven, the unwavering belief of a fan can bring out the hero in even the worst heel, and Bruce rises to the occasion in the picture's final third. Obviously, Bruce is slated towards fans of Campbell's eccentric screen c.v., and aficionados will undoubtedly appreciate the endless slew of nods to his previous films, as well as cameos by many of his co-stars, including Ted Raimi in multiple roles (one of which is a Chinese gentleman that gives Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's a run for his money in the stereotype department). Campbell himself remains the movie's chief selling point; his knack for physical humor (read: self-abuse) and pulpy line readings have lost none of their charm, which does much to override some of the flick's flotilla of stale gags. Campbell's sense of humor is also given free reign on the commentary track, which he shares with producer Mike Richardson; the DVD, which comes with a 24-page comic book adaptation from Dark Horse, also includes an amusing making-of featurette, as well as a spoofy tell-all mockumentary on the "real" Bruce Campbell, and a trailer for the atrocious film-within-a-film, Cavealien 2. -- Paul Gaita

_______________________________



The Enforcer (1995)
dir. Corey Yuen

Product Decsription:
A secret agent infiltrates the Hong Kong triad scene with the help of his son, whose low-key admiration for his detached but loving dad springs from the story's blend of family "honor" melodrama and conventional "cop" action. Considered to be one of Li's best.

_______________________________



Against the Dark (2008)
dir. Richard Crudo

Seagal fighting vampires, how can you go wrong? From the reviews I've read, apparently it went VERY wrong, but this still seems like something that needs to be seen.

Product Decsription:
Katana master Tao (Steven Seagal) leads a special ops squad of ex-military vigilantes on a massacre mission, their target: vampires. On the post apocalyptic globe, sucked dry by bloodthirsty vampires, a few remaining survivors are trapped in an infected hospital. Tao is their only hope and he knows the only cure is execution. Now it's time for the last stand against the flesh-eating vampires and there's nothing left to lose but the last of humanity.

_______________________________



Street Fighter Extreme Edition (1994)
dir. Steven E. de Souza

Just in time for Street Fighter IV.

Product Decsription:
Get ready for action-packed excitement in the all-new Street Fighter Extreme Edition – on both DVD and Blu-ray! Based on one of the most popular video game franchises of alltime, this martial arts adventure stars international superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme as a commando who leads an elite team of street fighters against an evil general. Featuring a digitally remastered picture and loaded with bonus features including deleted scenes, featurettes, director commentary, outtakes, storyboards and much more, Street Fighter Extreme Edition is the ultimate way experience one of the hottest properties of both yesterday and today.

_______________________________
Read Full Post »

RoosterFlix DVD Picks for February 3rd

_______________________________



Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)
dir. Kevin Smith

Most of Kevin Smith's recent work hasn't blown me away, but I still like him. I wasn't expecting a whole lot from this, but I ended up really enjoying it. It seems like Seth Rogen has been in every comedy made since 2004, and for good reason. He's a funny dude. He's completely overexposed, but I still get a kick out of him. Teamed with the hawwwwt Elizabeth Banks, they make a great (and pretty unlikely) screen couple. I'll definitely be watching this again.

Product Decsription:
Fans of writer/director Kevin Smith (auteur of Dogma and Chasing Amy) should run to see Zack and Miri Make a Porno--the adored filmmaker has clearly made this with his hardcore following in mind. Zack (Seth Rogen, Knocked Up) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks, Slither) are longtime friends and housemates who, after their power and water get shut off, turn to pornography to pay their bills. After assembling a cheerful and perhaps dimwitted cast and crew, the hapless pair launch into their cynical yet heartwarming scheme with enthusiasm, only to discover--spoiler alert!--that they have feelings for each other. Smith clearly wanted to make a sex comedy with heart, something in the vein of The 40 Year Old Virgin. Unfortunately, Zack and Miri Make a Porno combines the mawkish, formulaic sentimentality of Jersey Girl with the belabored, formulaic sex gags of Clerks II. For a movie that clearly hearkens back to Smith's own experiences making the beloved and archetypally cheap-and-dirty Clerks, Zack and Miri Make a Porno is sadly generic and predictable. But Smith's fanbase will appreciate that the movie has snarky jokes about science fiction, a good dose of bare breasts (and two actual porn stars, Traci Lords and Katie Morgan), and the schlubby guy/hot chick dynamic that drives a thousand sitcoms. --Bret Fetzer

_______________________________



Madagascar - Escape 2 Africa (2008)
dir. Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath

I haven't seen the first Madagascar, so I'll wait until I do that to watch this one. No idea when that's going to be, though.

Product Decsription:
In 2008's MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA, the endearing New York City zoo animals of the original hit movie return for another zany round of CGI adventures abroad. Leaving the island of the title by way of a ramshackle penguin-designed aircraft, the quartet of Alex the Lion (voiced by Ben Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), and Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer), along with unlikely friends such as King Julien the Lemur (Sacha Baron Cohen), crash-land on the African savannah, setting in motion a whole new series of exploits, involving Alex's long-lost parents (Bernie Mac and Sherri Shepherd) and a stranded group of tenacious NYC human tourists.
Reuniting directors Tom McGrath and Eric Darnell, as well as all the principal cast members of the first film, MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA takes full advantage of its sweeping setting, making room for beautifully expansive landscapes amidst the mammal mayhem. While the leads are in fine form, they are ably assisted by series newcomers, including the late Mac, Shepherd, and Alec Baldwin, who plays a scheming rival lion. Though various plotlines get increasingly ridiculous as the movie goes on (see the return of MADAGASCAR's aggressive Grand Central Station granny), the good-natured main characters and their silly support players (particularly lemurs and penguins) keep ESCAPE 2 AFRICA entertaining no matter how far the story strays off the wildlife reserve.

_______________________________



Oliver and Company (20th Anniversary Edition) (1988)
dir. George Scribner

Kind of a forgotten animated Disney movie, probably because it's not as critically acclaimed as everything else. I still really enjoyed it, although I haven't seen it in a pretty long time.

Product Decsription:
Disney does Dickens in this animated version of Oliver Twist, in which a homeless New York City cat falls in with a bunch of mischievous dogs under the leadership of the appealing scoundrel Fagin. The roots of Disney's success with animation in the '90s begins with this clever, energetic, atmospheric movie, which succeeds in capturing the grim world Dickens conjured. Lyricist Howard Ashman (The Little Mermaid) worked on the songs, the best of which is sung by Billy Joel, who provides the voice of (the Artful) Dodger. --Tom Keogh

_______________________________



Being There (Deluxe Edition) (1979)
dir. Hal Ashby

There are a couple cuts of this movie in circulation: one with an outtake that rolls IMMEDIATELY when the movie ends, and one without the outtake. Hopefully this DVD contains the one without because the outtake COMPLETELY kills the mood that the movie sustained for the previous 2 hours. REGARDLESS of all that, this is a really really good movie, and it contains one of Peter Sellers' best performances.

Product Decsription:
BEING THERE is based on Jerzy Kosinski's short comic novel about a simpleton, Chance (Peter Sellers), raised in isolation whose only education came from watching TV. When he's forced out of the house where he worked as a gardener by the death of the wealthy recluse who raised him from infancy, he's fortuitously struck by a limousine carrying Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine), the wife of a wealthy industrialist. He's mistaken, because of his well-tailored suits, for a man of means and taken to dinner with her husband, Ben Rand (Melvyn Douglas). There, as Chauncy Gardner, his blank affect is taken for seriousness and his literal pronouncements about gardening for metaphoric economic predictions. Soon he's meeting the president (Jack Warden) and becoming a star on TV--where he's a natural.
Kosinski was well known to be personally fascinated by the power of television. In BEING THERE, which he adapted for the screen himself, he presents a comic fable about a man whose entire sense of reality came from watching television. Sellers is marvelous as the always-deadpan cipher in whom everyone he meets sees whatever it is they need to see. Shirley MacLaine, Jack Warden, and Melvyn Douglas give outstanding performances in this biting satire directed by Hal Ashby.

_______________________________



The Secret Life of Bees (2008)
dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood

Product Decsription:
Headed by an all-star cast of women, The Secret Life of Bees is the heartwarming and well-told story of a young girl who finds love and acceptance from a trio of independent sisters. The Secret Life of Bees is based on the bestselling book of the same name by Sue Monk Kidd and centers around the plight of 14-year-old Lily (Dakota Fanning). Assuming the burden for her mother's premature death, she has a precarious relationship with her abusive father T. Ray (Paul Bettany). Lily's only friend is her caregiver Rosaleen (Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson). Set in South Carolina in 1964, when civil rights wasn't a given, Rosaleen's life is threatened by racists who'd just as soon see her dead than exercise her right to vote. Lily runs away with her to a town she believes may hold the secrets of her mother's life. There the pair meet the Boatwright sisters August (Queen Latifah), June (Alicia Keys) and May (Sophie Okonedo)--who produce the area's famous Black Madonna honey. They eventually provide Lily with the unconditional love she never felt she had and also show Rosaleen that being a black woman in the South doesn't mean she can't have a sense of worth. The Secret Life of Bees doesn't try to pass itself off as a historical documentation of race relations in the 1960s. But the fictional slice of life still resonates because of the feelings of injustice that it stirs up. Though the film is written to show the disparity between blacks and whites, there is always a strong sense of hope, thanks to the lead actresses who bring empathy and dignity to their roles. Hudson exhibits some of the same quiet grace that Regina Taylor brought to her role as the family housekeeper in the superb TV series I'll Fly Away. Latifah has the part of wise matriarch down pat, even when she's playing a sister rather than a mother. And it's clear that Fanning is making a seamless transition from kid to young adult roles. Whether she's giving an impassioned monologue or listening thoughtfully, Fanning brings nuance and intelligence to her role. --Jae-Ha Kim

_______________________________



Bottle Shock (2008)
dir. Randall Miller

Product Decsription:
"Bottle shock" describes what can happen to wine as it travels from place to place. Set in 1976, Randall Miller's widescreen docudrama concerns the real-life showdown between California's wineries and their French counterparts. Napa Valley's Jim Barrett (Lost Highway's Bill Pullman) has been plugging away for years with minimal success. A former attorney, Barrett runs Chateau Montelena with his wayward son, Bo (Chris Pine, the Star Trek prequel's Captain Kirk), who would rather do anything than assist his stern father. Bo's co-workers include Gustavo (Six Feet Under's Freddy Rodríguez) and Sam (Transformers' Rachael Taylor), who long to produce the perfect chardonnay. Naturally, the young men compete for the favors of the beautiful blonde (the movie's least interesting angle). Across the Atlantic, Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) struggles to keep his Parisian wine shop going (cheapskate American Dennis Farina is his only regular customer). Then Spurrier conceives a contest to attract customers; surely, his beloved French growers will put those upstart Yanks in their place. He flies to Napa to look around, and persuades the Barretts to compete. Miller and his wife, screenwriter Jody Savin, previously worked with Pullman and Rickman on Nobel Son, but decided to release Bottle Shock first. Though comparisons to Sideways will be inevitable, the filmmakers take more of a historical look at California wine country. The "Judgment of Paris" changed the face of the business forever, and they've found a lively way to recount the tale. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

_______________________________



Friday the 13th Uncut (1980)
dir. Sean S. Cunningham

Even though the iconic Jason isn't in this, it's still a really solid horror movie, still one of the best of the series.

Product Decsription:
Despite repeated warnings to stay away, a group of fun-loving but none-too-bright teenagers set out to reopen the eerie Camp Crystal Lake, which closed 20 years earlier after a series of bizarre and unexplained deaths. Now someone is lurking in the woods, spying on the happy campers, and plotting a gory, grisly revenge on those who would disturb the camp's slumber. A horror classic that set the standard for slasher flicks of the 1980s.

_______________________________



Friday the 13th, Part 2 (1981)
dir. Steve Miner

...and even though Jason is doing the killing in this one, it's not the awesome Jason. It's just lame burlap sackhead Jason.

Product Decsription:
As bad as Friday the 13th, Part 2 is, it's a work of art in comparison to the rest of the Friday the 13th flicks that came afterward. This installment officially introduced us to Jason Voorhees as the killer (if you remember Drew Barrymore's fatal phone quiz in Scream, you know that the killer in the first Friday the 13th was actually Jason's mother), and made the slicing and dicing even more generic. Survivor Alice is dispatched within the first 10 minutes, and we're left with plucky Ginny (Amy Steel, doing a fairly decent Jamie Lee Curtis impression) to do battle with the monstrous Jason. Ginny's part of a another group of horny teenagers (less intelligent as well as less attractive than their predecessors) who try to resurrect Camp Crystal Lake five years after the initial murders--a pretty mean feat, considering this movie was made only a year after the first one. Being a smarty-pants child-psychology major, Ginny tries to outwit the dim Jason, and at one point dons the bloody and moldy sweater of Jason's late mother (which is more disgusting than any of the killings beforehand) in an attempt to confuse the masked killer. Jason may not be the brightest bulb on the tree, but the only one who's going to pull the wool--or in this case, the burlap--over his eyes is Jason himself, who wears a sack with one eyehole throughout the movie to hide his deformed features (he finally found his way to a sporting-goods store and his trademark hockey mask appears in the third installment of the series). Directed by Steve Miner, who also helmed the next Friday the 13th film (in 3-D no less) as well as the more reputable House, Forever Young, and Halloween: H20. --Mark Englehart

_______________________________



Friday the 13th, Part 3 3-D (1982)
dir. Steve Miner

I could never get over how dumb the 3D parts of this movie were. Old 3D technology will always be gimmicky, but when it's this bad and it's the main thing that sticks out when remembering stuff about the movie, that's not a good sign.

Product Decsription:
The tender, tragic saga of Jason Vorhees, the world's unhappiest camper, continues when yet another batch of hormonally advanced teens decide to ignore past history and spend some time at the woodsy, pine-scented slaughterhouse known as Camp Crystal Lake. It may be a bit of a stretch to describe any of the entries in this interminable series as "good," but this creatively grotesque installment manages to come surprisingly close with a welcome sense of humor and some quick glimmers of real menace (courtesy of director Steve Miner, who would later go on to helm the far more accomplished Halloween: H20). Originally presented in 3-D, which explains the never-ending slew of objects (knives, pitchforks, yo-yos, cats, eyeballs, etc.) that are repeatedly thrust in the viewer's general direction. --Andrew Wright

_______________________________



His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th (2008)
dir. Sean S. Cunningham, Daniel Farrands

Seems like a really interesting doc, especially for fans of horror, even if you're not a big fan of the Friday the 13th series.

Product Decsription:
Jason Voorhees has carved his place into American pop culture and is one of the most recognizable cinematic killer in horror history. Now nearly, 30 years later, see how it all happened! With over 100 interviews with cast and crew, behind the scenes footage and dozen of film clips spanning the entire Friday the 13th series leading up to the 2/13/09 remake, there is no better way to get up close and personal with one of the most feared icons of our generation. Shut off the lights, lock up the cabin and get ready to learn all about a boy... His Name Was Jason.

HIS NAME WAS JASON: 30 YEARS OF FRIDAY THE 13TH is a two disc set loaded with over 4 hours of bonus material. This film is a behind the scenes look at the franchise that broke horror box office records and made Jason a pop culture icon. With over 80 interviews from the cast and crew of the Friday the 13th film franchise, including the new Friday the 13th film, these firsthand accounts of never-before-told stories and rare behind the scenes photographs offer the ultimate look at the history of FRIDAY THE 13TH!

_______________________________



Inside Moves (1980)
dir. Richard Donner

Product Decsription:
Something of a departure for SUPERMAN director Richard Donner when it was released in 1980, this poignant and offbeat dramedy follows Roary, a man who?s been crippled by a recent suicide attempt. After resigning to spending most of his time in a bar full of down-trodden souls, Roary discovers that Jerry the Bartender has just been accepted to play basketball for the Golden State Warriors. As it turns out, helping Jerry train might just be the sort of transcendent therapy Roary and his fellow patrons need. INSIDE MOVES stars John Savage, David Morse, and Academy-Award-nominnee Diana Scarwid.

_______________________________



Paura - Lucio Fulci Remembered Vol. 1 [Limited Edition] (2008)
dir. Mike Baronas

Another seemingly interesting doc that any respectable horror fan should check out. The description says there was only 2,500 made, but they're still in stock everywhere I've checked.

Product Decsription:
Who was Lucio Fulci, director of such horror classics as ZOMBI 2, CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD and THE BEYOND -- an eccentric? A misogynist? A genius? Much speculation surrounded the life of this revered Italian director since his untimely death in 1996. Divided into three categories -- Accomplices (Crew), Peers (Directors) and Victims (Actors) -- the acquaintances Fulci engaged with throughout his long and diverse moviemaking career recall good, bad and sometimes ugly anecdotes by revealing the answer to one question: "What is your fondest memory of Lucio Fulci?" 7 years in the making, nearly 90 interviews and almost 4 hours of footage a must for any fan of EuroHorror cinema, limited to only 2,500 copies!

_______________________________



Sex and the Single Girl (1964)
dir. Richard Quine

Product Decsription:
Dr. Helen Brown (Natalie Wood) of the International Institute of Advanced Marital and Pre-Marital Studies is a therapist who advises single women about sex. And Bob Weston (Tony Curtis) is a sleazy magazine editor who plans to reveal the shocking truth about her: that she's a mere twenty-three year old virgin without any hands-on experience for the job. But when the two meet, fireworks explode -- and Weston may just find himself choosing between a hot romance or a hot story. A loosely based story on the adventures of Helen Gurley Brown, editor of Cosmopolitan and author of "Sex and the Single Girl." A bawdy madcap farce featuring an inspired supporting cast including Lauren Bacall, Henry Fonda, Larry Storch, and Mel Ferrer.

_______________________________



Brainstorm (1983)
dir. Douglas Trumbull

Product Decsription:
Brainstorm is a fascinating but frustrating film, simply because it dabbles in greatness but fails to develop the fullest implications of its provocative ideas. It's a visually dazzling film with outstanding special effects; directed by veteran effects creator Douglas Trumbull, of 2001 fame; but too caught up in marvels of hardware and software at the expense of its characters, who remain interesting but dramatically two-dimensional. The story involves the development of a headset recorder that can replay one person's experiences--even their emotional states--into the mind of another. The device obviously invites corporate or military exploitation, and Cliff Robertson plays a ruthless executive determined to tap into its lucrative potential. But when a scientist (Louise Fletcher) records her own death experience with the device, along with incriminating evidence, the technology's inventor (Christopher Walken) must unlock the mysteries of his colleague's suspicious demise and the very nature of death itself. Punctuated by remarkable sequences from the perspective of those who use the mind-expanding headset, Brainstorm dares to reach for ambitious themes and innovative movie experiences, and that alone makes it eminently worthwhile. But with a conclusion that too literally interprets the afterlife experience with conventional angelic imagery, and a disappointingly thin role for Natalie Wood (who died while the film was still in production), the film strives for profundity and settles instead for an inspirational light show. --Jeff Shannon

_______________________________



Five (1951)
dir. Arch Oboler

I hate the artwork on these Martini Moives line of DVDs, they look like cheap bargain bin DVDs, which is a shame because there are some real standouts in here. Definitely a couple notables being released this week.

Product Decsription:
Intriguing, offbeat film by famed radio writer-director Arch Oboler about the survivors of a nuclear holocaust. Five stars William Phipps, Susan Douglas and Charles Lampkin, and is probably the first film to deal with a post-apocalyptic theme.

_______________________________



Getting Straight (1970)
dir. Richard Rush

Product Decsription:
Elliott Gould stars as a womanizing Vietnam veteran who returns to the university to obtain a degree in education and finds himself involved in campus unrest. This socially relevant comedy co-stars Candice Bergen, John Rubenstein and Harrison Ford.

_______________________________



Gumshoe (1971)
dir. Stephen Frears

A really early Stephen Frears (The Queen, High Fidelity, Dirty Pretty Things) movie with a youthful Albert Finney, who is always great, in the lead.

Product Decsription:
Albert Finney stars as a bingo-caller who, bored with his mundane existence, takes out a newspaper ad offering his services as a private detective. In no time at all, Finney finds himself involved in a series of plots and counter plots.

_______________________________



Our Man in Havana (1960)
dir. Carol Reed

The God Alec Guinness paired up with the great Sir Carol Reed (director of one of the greatest movies ever, The Third Man, among other classics). Another great actor/director combo.

Product Decsription:
A vacuum cleaner salesman (Alec Guinness) is recruited by the British secret service to act as a spy in Havana. When Guinness sends off phony reports, "recruits" mysterious agents and "discovers" mysterious installations, the home office decides to send him some help in the form of an agent named Beatrice.

_______________________________



Vibes (1988)
dir. Ken Kwapis

This cast is more weird than anything. Early Jeff Goldblum and Cyndi Lauper? Odd.

Product Decsription:
This buddy comedy teams up Jeff Goldblum and Cyndi Lauper as Manhattan-based psychics who meet at an NYU research center and are later hired by a shady entrepreneur (Peter Falk) to find his missing son in Ecuador. Once in South America, the duo learns that Falk has actually duped them into finding a lost gold treasure which his former minions failed to retrieve. Meanwhile, they're pursued by another gang seeking the treasure, one of whom is a psychic himself. Part action-adventure and part '80s Cheez Whiz, Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel's script to Vibes is hokey. But in their respective parts, Goldblum's cynicism and Lauper's free-spirited quirkiness make them a charming pair to watch in spite of the story's shortcomings. --Bryan Reesman

_______________________________



Black Swarm (2007)
dir. Bradford May, David Winning

Product Decsription:
Welcome to Black Stone, "The Township of Good Neighbors," and now home to something a more ominous: a pack of intelligent--and deadly--genetically-modified wasps. Exterminator Devin Hall (Sebastien Roberts, Lucky Number Slevin) has seen a lot when it comes to peculiar insect behavior, but nothing like the swarm of wasps that descends on a homeless man and kills him. Amassing as a black swarm, they have a single, terrifying purpose: to kill. When the dark cloud descends, you haven't got a chance. The Black Swarm is here.

_______________________________



The Bloody Ape (1997)
dir. Keith Crocker

Product Decsription:
All in all THE BLOODY APE offers everything that a fan of cinema du bad needs. Violence, blood, nudity, exploitation, satire, nip twisting, ape ravaging, hippie genital removal, a nickel and dime budget and more than anything, a filmmaker who gives a damn. That is all you can ask. Crocker's description of THE BLOODY APE speaks volumes about where he was coming from, it wasn't JUST a guy in a Gorilla Suit. The film tells of the dire consequences suffered due to the inability of people to communicate properly. The film is a plea for mankind to see things the way that they really are, as opposed to how they perceive it to be. Lofty? High-minded? You decide after you see it...I say passionate about his damned work. That is why spent his own money to see it through! That is enough to demand you see it, you owe THE BLOODY APE that, fanboy! --Brains On Film

_______________________________



Space Buddies (2009)
dir. Robert Vince

Poor dogs.

Product Decsription:
Disney's irresistible talking puppies are back in an all-new movie that takes them where no Buddy has gone before the moon! With the help of some stellar new friends, this out-of-this-world adventure is one small step for dog, one giant leap for dogkind. Moving at warp speed, dodging asteroids and more, the Buddies and their two new friends, Spudnick and Gravity, must summon their courage and ingenuity to launch plans for a moon landing and a rocketing trip back home. Will they have the right stuff?
Overflowing with intergalactic action and heart, Space Buddies is an amazing tale of teamwork, and loyalty that celebrates the journey of life and the friendships made along the way. It s Buddy-loving fun your family will enjoy again and again.

_______________________________

Read Full Post »

RoosterFlix DVD Picks for January 27th

_______________________________



RocknRolla (2008)
dir. Guy Ritchie

Lots of people keep saying this is Guy Ritchie's best movie since Snatch, and while they're not wrong, it's still not really that great of a movie. It's definitely worth a watch though, especially if you enjoyed Snatch and Lock Stock. Also, Thandie Newton is hawwwwwwwt

Product Decsription:
“I own this town.” But owning is getting expensive for old-school London gangster Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson). A wealthier foreign mob is moving in with a riverfront property swindle. A small-timer (Gerard Butler) and his crew think they can play both sides and become big time. Now add a hard-as-ice accountant (Thandie Newton), a rocker playing dead to boost sales, wannabe music moguls (Jeremy Piven and Chris Bridges), a missing painting and a mad mosh of money and muscle, and youve got this funny, smash-mouth smackdown of sexthugs&rocknroll from writer/director Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch).

_______________________________



The Rocker (2008)
dir. Peter Cattaneo

Horrible, horrible movie. Not funny at all. Jeff Garlin is the only redeeming feature and he's barely in it. The music written for this movie is ear-poison. The fat kid is not only a terrible actor, but painfully uncharasmatic and unconfortable to watch at all times.

Product Decsription:
Most star vehicles center on one individual, but The Rocker doubles as a showcase for singer Teddy Geiger and The Office's Rainn Wilson. After his band, Vesuvius, kicks him to the curb, Cleveland drummer Robert "Fish" Fishman (Wilson) spends the next 20 years working in a cubicle and mourning for what might’ve been, while Vesuvius (Will Arnett, Bradley Cooper, and Fred Armisen) goes on to fame, fortune, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After Fish loses his job, he moves in with his sister (Jane Lynch) and her husband (Curb Your Enthusiasm's Jeff Garlin). As it turns out, Fish's nephew, Matt (21's Josh Gad), plays keyboards with guitarist Curtis (Geiger) and bassist Amelia (Superbad's Emma Stone). When Fish finds out that ADD needs a stickman to play the senior prom, he offers his services. After a bumpy start, their styles--hair metal and power-pop--start to gel, and they hit the road (SNL's Jason Sudeikis offers hilarious value as their hipster manager). During their first tour, Fish becomes an older brother figure to the fatherless Curtis and a potential love interest for his mother (Christina Applegate). Written by Maya Forbes (The Larry Sanders Show) and Wally Wolodarsky (The Simpsons) and directed by Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty), The Rocker doesn't break the mold for unlikely success stories--think Rock Star or School of Rock--but it's hard not to root for Wilson's sweet slob (and Geiger isn't bad either). --Kathleen C. Fennessy

_______________________________



Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
dir. Woody Allen

Still not real sure what to make of this. I want to watch it because it's Javier Bardem and Woody Allen, and I don't want to watch it cause it looks terrible. I dunno.

Product Decsription:
It must be true that getting out of town can do a fellow a lot of good, because Vicky Cristina Barcelona is the best movie Woody Allen has made in years. Okay, you're right, 2006's Match Point already claimed that honor and, as Allen's first film made in England, established the virtues of getting away from overfamiliar territory (namely Manhattan). But the Woodman's first film made in Spain matches the ice-cold Match Point for crisp authority, and yields a good deal more sheer pleasure besides. Rebecca Hall (Vicky) and Scarlett Johansson (Cristina) play two young Americans, best friends, spending a summer in Catalonia. Vicky is going for a master's in "Catalan identity" (though her Spanish is shaky); Cristina is going along for, oh, just about anything. That soon includes celebrated abstract artist Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), who's anything but abstract in his forthright proposition that the two join him in his private plane, his travels, and his bed. That he has an insane ex-wife, Maria Elena (Penélope Cruz), who may or may not have tried to kill him is not really an issue until the wife reappears and ... well, consider the possibilities.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona isn't exactly a comedy, at least not in the manner of Allen's "early, funny ones," but it's informed by a rueful wit that finds its fullest expression in reflective voiceover commentary. Spoken by Christopher Evan Welch, but surely on behalf of the 73-year-old auteur, this element of the film is neither (as some have charged) patronizing nor uncinematic; rather, it's integral to the movie's participation in a venerable European literary tradition, the sentimental education. Instead of Bergman or Fellini, this time Allen is invoking the François Truffaut of Jules and Jim and Eric Rohmer in his many meditations on the game of love. The entire cast is terrific (both Hall and Johansson get to play "the Woody part" at different points), with Bardem and Cruz especially delightful as exemplars of Old Worldliness. Cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe honors every drop of Catalonian sunlight and glint of Gaudí architecture. --Richard T. Jameson

_______________________________



Lakeview Terrace (2008)
dir. Neil LaBute

On the surface this looks like another one of those movies where Samuel L. Jackson is just showing up for another paycheck, but Ebert gave it 4 stars so that woke a ton of people up. Also, Neil LaBute is no slouch...at least until he remade The Wicker Man he wasn't.

Product Decsription:
The usually provocative Neil LaBute reigns in his more eccentric tendencies for this straightforward domestic thriller. Then again, LaBute, who divides his time between cinema and theater, didn't write the material. The bad vibes begin when Chris (Patrick Wilson) and Lisa Mattson (Kerry Washington) move in next door to widowed cop Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson, as nasty as Aaron Eckhart in LaBute's In the Company of Men). A strict father of two, Turner works in a diverse unit (Jay Hernandez plays his partner), but takes less kindly to interracial relationships. From the start, he makes the Mattsons uncomfortable with inappropriate remarks and unwarranted intrusions, like the security light trained on their bedroom, under the guise of self-appointed neighborhood guardian. Initially, Turner's actions exacerbate the tensions between the seemingly happy pair--Lisa wants to start a family, Chris wants to wait--until they realize they'll have to work together to protect themselves from their troubled neighbor. And since he's a member of the LAPD, Turner's colleagues have his back, despite the break-ins and flat tires bedeviling the Mattsons. When they make it clear they intend to stay, Turner takes his harassment campaign to the next level. The A-list cast does what they can, but the B-movie script from Howard Korder and Passenger 57's David Loughery, offers few surprises--at least to those who've seen Fatal Attraction and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle--and LaBute's by-the-books direction lacks its usual bite. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

_______________________________



Pride and Glory (2008)
dir. Gavin O'Connor

Ahh, more cop drama. Regardless of the cast, the previews made this movie look pretty uninteresting and cliched.

Product Decsription:
Like a forgotten, one-and-only season of a 1980s television show about an Irish-American family of cops, Pride and Glory is full of ambition but lacks the storytelling instinct to realize the goal. Edward Norton stars as Ray Tierney, a New York City police detective whose father, Francis Sr. (Jon Voight), boss of all Manhattan detectives, pressures him into investigating the murder of four officers. Ray's efforts uncover a corruption scandal centered around his brother-in-law, Jimmy (Colin Farrell), a beat cop whose commander happens to be, of course, Ray's brother, Francis Jr. (Noah Emmerich). As Ray pushes forward, Jimmy's self-protective instinct goes savage, and the rest of the Tierney males shift to cover-up mode. Co-writers Joe Carnahan (Narc) and Gavin O'Connor (Miracle), who also directs this film, make a fatal mistake by forcing every element in a long story to further a prefabricated narrative shape, leading to the conclusion they want. But they can't pull it off without awkward transitions and bridges, including the perfunctory inclusion of an intrepid reporter who conveniently breezes in and out of the movie long enough to explain Ray's back story aloud. A monstrous scene involving Farrell holding a steaming iron (prop or not) over a baby's face is inexcusable. --Tom Keogh

_______________________________



Mary Poppins (45th Anniversary Special Edition) (1964)
dir. Robert Stevenson

Great movie, although I haven't seen it in yeaaaars. Strangely, the 40th anniversary edition DVD was better, see if you can find that one instead.

Product Decsription:
There is only one word that comes close to accurately describing the enchanting Mary Poppins, and that term was coined by the movie itself: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Even at 2 hours and 20 minutes, Disney's pioneering mixture of live action and animation (based on the books by P.L. Travers) still holds kids spellbound. Julie Andrews won an Oscar as the world's most magically idealized nanny ("practically perfect in every way," and complete with lighter-than-air umbrella), and Dick Van Dyke is her clownishly charming beau, Bert the chimney sweep. The songs are also terrific, ranging from bright and cheery ("A Spoonful of Sugar") to dark and cheery (the Oscar-winning "Chim Chim Cher-ee") to touchingly melancholy ("Feed the Birds"). Many consider Mary Poppins to be the crowning achievement of Walt Disney's career--and it was the only one of his features to be nominated for a best picture Academy Award until Beauty and the Beast in 1991. --Jim Emerson

_______________________________



Closing the Ring (2007)
dir. Richard Attenborough

Product Decsription:
From Academy Award-winning director Richard Attenborough (Gandhi) comes this sweeping romance starring Shirley MacLaine (Terms of Endearment), Christopher Plummer (A Beautiful Mind), Mischa Barton (TV's The O.C.), and Neve Campbell (The Company). Moving seemlessly through time, this lush epic follows a beautiful 1940's Michigan girl (Barton) secretly married to a WWII pilot who crashes in the hills near Belfast, Ireland. 50 years later his wedding ring resurfaces -- along with the smoldering secrets that have kept the widow (MacLaine), her estranged daughter (Campbell) and devoted friend (Plummer) each from finding true love.

_______________________________



The Yellow Rolls Royce (1964)
dir. Anthony Asquith

I've never seen this, but the director should be killed if this movie is bad. Look at that fucking cast.

Product Decsription:
Following THE V.I.P.'S, their film about stars stranded at the airport, director Anthony Asquith and writer Terence Rattigan, turned to this stars-on-the-road vehicle; an unconnected three part romantic drama about the glamorous owners of a classic Rolls-Royce. Lord Frinton (Rex Harrison) originally purchases the car in the 1930s as a gift for his beautiful French wife (Jeanne Moreau) only to discover that she is using it to carry on an affair. He promptly sells the car.
In Genoa, an American gangster, Paolo Maltese (George C. Scott), buys the car to tour Italy with his gum chewing moll, Mae (Shirley MacLaine). A handsome photographer (Alain Delon) pursues Mae from town to town, but she resists until Paolo has business to attend to in America, leaving them alone in the Rolls, which once again acts as an aphrodesiac. When Paolo returns, he gets wise and sells the car.

During the Second World War, American millionairess Gerda Millett (Ingrid Bergman) buys the Rolls, now looking much the worse for wear, in Trieste for a dangerous trip to war torn Yugoslavia. When she meets Davich (Omar Sharif), a dashing young Yougoslav partisan, he compels her to take him with her. While not as weighty as previous Asquith-Rattigan efforts, THE WINSLOW BOY and THE BROWNING VERSION, this continental romp still manages a nice blend of drama and romance.

_______________________________



Waterloo Bridge (1940)
dir. Mervyn LeRoy

Product Decsription:
Based on the play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert E. Sherwood, WATERLOO BRIDGE stars Vivien Leigh as Myra, a shy ballerina whose life is irrevocably altered in war-torn London. It's love at first sight when Myra meets handsome, aristocratic British officer Roy Cronin (Robert Taylor) in the midst of an air raid. The couple soon plans to wed, but Cronin is called to the front, and shortly thereafter a newspaper reports his death. Forced out of ballet school, alone and destitute, Myra turns to prostitution. When she discovers that the newspaper report was inaccurate, Myra is unable to tell Cronin about her professional life, and tragedy ensues. This 10-handkerchief weeper was directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Joseph Ruttenberg's photography is beautiful, as is the inspired soundtrack by Herbert Stothart (THE WIZARD OF OZ), but what makes WATERLOO BRIDGE is Leigh's stunning performance and the very real chemistry between her and Robert Taylor.

_______________________________



Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
dir. Herbert Ross

I AM A TELEVISION SET! DID YOU HEAR ME?? A T.V.! PETER O'TOOLE.

Product Decsription:
Robert Donat won an Oscar for his portrayal of the humble British don in the 1939 film Goodbye, Mr. Chips--and Peter O'Toole was nominated for his version of the role in this lackluster musical (he, along with Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight of Midnight Cowboy, lost to John Wayne in True Grit). O'Toole is affecting as the shy English schoolteacher at a private boys' school who is brought out of his shell by the love of a good woman, then goes on to become a teaching legend after her tragic death. But the idea of turning this touching tale into a musical (with totally forgettable songs by John Williams and Leslie Bricusse) was almost as wrong-headed as having O'Toole do his own singing--or as casting singer Petula Clark as his wife. --Marshall Fine

_______________________________



Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008)
dir. Marina Zenovich

Product Decsription:
When Polanski’s defense attorney says midway through this film that he "isn’t surprised Polanski left under the circumstances" surrounding this corrupted court case, one really begins to understand why the director has not returned to America in nearly 20 years. Wanted and Desired, Marina Zenovich’s documentary about Polanski’s 1977 arrest for rape of a minor set facts straight about a case that was blown to ridiculous proportions by a sensationalistic press and a judge who was far from judicious. Comprised of interviews with producers and friends Andrew Braunsberg, Daniel Melnick, Mia Farrow, and many others, the film obviously sympathizes with Polanski. But ample interviews with D.A. Roger Gunson and defense attorney, Douglas Dalton, lend factual credence to the film’s assertion that the director was not guilty as charged and further, shows how separate public image and the real person are. Wanted and Desired covers the tragic loss of his wife, Sharon Tate, only to preface the court case and Polanski’s departing the country as a result. Short clips from many of his fine films are interspersed to poignant effect between interview clips, to show how his public image has been wrongly writ based on his films’ dark subject matter. Polanski’s lack of participation in the film, then, seems not like his condemnation of its making, but rather in keeping with his desire to avoid press in general. At best, Wanted and Desired may serve as a further invitation to the brilliant director, who has been living in France for almost 20 years with a wife and two children, to someday return to America. —Trinie Dalton

_______________________________



The Lucky Ones (2008)
dir. Neil Burger

Product Decsription:
An earnest if not wholly satisfying comedy-drama about an awkward homecoming for three dissimilar Iraq War veterans, The Lucky Ones works best as a vehicle for its interesting lead performances. Tim Robbins transcends his real-life, anti-war reputation by playing Cheever, a Reservist and decent fellow who is injured in Iraq when a porta-potty falls on him. Eager to see his family, he ends up on a road trip with two other soldiers trying to reach their own destinations. There's Colee (Rachel McAdams), a young and earnest woman who enlisted to escape family problems, endured a leg wound and is on her way to meet the family of her boyfriend, who was killed in combat. There's also T.K. (Michael Peña), recruited from a poor family and granted a month's leave after becoming impotent from a wound. The odyssey these characters, initially strangers to each other, share is fairly predictable for anyone who has seen such classic vets-coming-home movies as The Best Years of Our Lives. As Colee, T.K. and Cheever travel together, they encounter what sometimes feels and looks like an alien landscape: people who patronize them, people who despise the war without an inkling of what it's like to endure it, and a host of other exploitative chuckleheads who just don't get it. Inevitably, the trio has only itself to rely upon, to share the knowledge of the war's reality and provide support in ways that are sometimes funny and sometimes poignant. Co-written and directed by Neil Burger (The Illusionist), The Lucky Ones has a rambling structure that causes the film to lose focus. But its heart is in the right place, and Robbins, McAdams and Peña play people one can care about as much as enjoy. --Tom Keogh

_______________________________



Cannery Row (1982)
dir. David S. Ward

The Amazon review kinda tore this movie a new asshole.

Product Decsription:
This 1982 effort at adapting John Steinbeck's Sweet Thursday and Cannery Row is barely watchable, salvaged only by the thoughtful performances of Nick Nolte as a marine biologist and Debra Winger as a drifter. David S. Ward (Down Periscope) made his directorial debut and thoroughly botched such essentials as pacing and verisimilitude. (The sets look as artificial as any of Francis Ford Coppolla's more egregious contrivances.) If you can stay with it, however, there are plenty of good acting moments to hang your hat on. --Tom Keogh

_______________________________



Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)
dir. John Schlesinger

For whatever reason, I didn't think Nicolas Roeg was that old, but he was the DP on this movie, as well as several other movies from 1960-1972, including Doctor Zhivago. Dude was born in 1928. Fuck. He's been directing since 1970, and directing exclusively since 1973, though.

Product Decsription:
John Schlesinger's solid adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel sees three rival suitors vying for the affections of the beautiful Bathsheba Everdene (Julie Christie decked out in a variety of bonnets and frilly dresses), who has just inherited a farm. The men in her life are stout, whiskered yeoman Gabriel Oak (Alan Bates), an impoverished local farmer; neurotic, repressed squire William Boldwood (Peter Finch); and handsome rascal Sgt. Troy (Terence Stamp), who breaks women's hearts for a hobby.
Thanks to cameraman Nicolas Roeg and production designer Richard MacDonald (who also worked for Joseph Losey), 19th-century Dorset looks as pretty and as picturesque as a John Constable reproduction on top of a cookie tin. Not that Schlesinger or screenwriter Frederic Raphael underplays the duress of rural life. We see the hardship of the farm workers' lives as the seasons turn. The film opens with a spectacular sequence in which Gabriel Oak's dog drives his flock of sheep over a cliff, thereby forcing him into penury. Whether hunger or heartbreak, every character here suffers. Bathsheba (like the model Christie plays in Darling) is a free spirit in a society in which women's rights are severely restricted. --Geoffrey Macnab

_______________________________



Hulk Vs. (2008)
dir. Frank Paur

Looks kinda badass, I have to say.

Product Decsription:
Marvel Animated Features premieres two all new action-packed films together on one release - Hulk vs. Wolverine and Hulk vs.Thor. Hulk vs Wolverine: Alberta, Canada. The Incredible Hulk has been tearing a line across the Canadian countryside, leaving a swath of destruction in his wake. He has to be stopped, and there's only one man up to the job. He's the best there is at what he does, but what he does isn't very nice. He's Wolverine, an elite agent of Canada's top secret Department H, and he's been put on Hulk's trail with a single objective: stop the green goliath...at all costs. Hulk and Wolverine are about to enter the fiercest battle of their lives. Hulk vs. Thor: Asgard, realm of the gods. For ages, Loki the trickster has sought a way to bring defeat to his accursed stepbrother, Thor. But for all the battles Thor has fought, in all the nine realms, only one creature has ever been able to match his strength - a mortal beast of Midgard known as The Incredible Hulk. Now, with Odin, the almighty king of the gods, deep in a regenerative sleep, and the forces protecting Asgard at their weakest, Loki is finally ready to spring his trap. In an epic battle that will pit gods against monsters, that will test a hero's limits more than ever before, only The Mighty Thor can hope to prevail

_______________________________



The Secret Policeman's Balls (1976-1989)
dir. Roger Graef

Product Decsription:
The Secret Policemans Balls are a legendary series of benefit shows staged to raise funds for Amnesty International. Beginning in 1976, they have featured the cream of Britain s comedians and musicians, and laid the groundwork for high-profile charity events,
including Live Aid. This 3-dvd set collects the five biggest and best Balls, featuring Monty Pythons John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman and Terry Gilliam, Beyond The Fringes Dudley Moore and Peter Cook, Billy Connolly, Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean), Jennifer Saunders(Absolutely Fabulous) and Hugh Laurie (House M.D.). In addition to the comics, the shows feature historic unplugged performances by Pete Townshend, Sting, Phil Collins, Bob Geldof, Peter Gabriel, Donovan, Jackson Browne, Lou Reed, Kate Bush and Joan Armatrading. Also featured are rare duets from guitar legends Eric Clapton & Jeff Beck and Mark Knopfler & Chet Atkins.

_______________________________



42nd Street Forever Vol. 4 (2008)
dir. various

Product Decsription:
Get ready for the fourth volume of classic exploitation, horror and just plain cool trailers in Synapse Films best-selling trailer compilation series. This time we ve got alien horrors, schizoid psychos, ridiculous comedies, vengeful action... and maybe even a naked woman or two... all transferred in high-definition! Chill out in front of your television and relive some of the greatest promotional trailers of all time, including:
THE SYNDICATE: A DEATH IN THE FAMILY,
COMBAT COPS,
IT CAME WITHOUT WARNING,
NO BLADE OF GRASS,
YOR: THE HUNTER FROM THE FUTURE,
SIMON KING OF THE WITCHES,
THE PSYCHIC,
SCHIZOID,
TENDER FLESH,
DIE SISTER, DIE,
SILENT SCREAM,
NEW YEAR S EVIL,
MORTUARY,
HUMONGOUS,
EMBRYO,
THE BOOGEYMAN,
THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK,
THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN,
GRAY EAGLE,
SHADOW OF THE HAWK,
RUTUALS,
AMERICATHON,
CAN I DO IT... TIL I NEED GLASSES?,
DIE LAUGHING,
IN GOD WE TRUST,
UNDERCOVERS HERO,
THE JEZEBELS,
FIGHTING MAD,
MOVING VIOLATION,
BONNIE S KIDS,
WALKING TALL PART 2,
THE KLANSMAN,
MONKEY HUSTLE,
THE SOLDIER,
BLACKOUT,
SHOUT AT THE DEVIL,
MARCH OR DIE,
HOG WILD,
THE HARD HEADS,
THE CHICKEN CHRONICLES,
BEST FRIENDS,
OUR WINNING SEASON,
COACH,
GOLDENGIRL
And MORE!

_______________________________



Sharks in Venice (2008)
dir. Danny Lerner

Want to see this NOW.

Product Decsription:
Traveling to Venice to investigate the mysterious death of his father, David (Stephen Baldwin), a famous archaeologist and diver, unearths a killer secret that lies beneath the Venetian waters. When a ruthless mob boss discovers his findings and kidnaps his girlfriend, David must brave the dangerous, shark-infested waters once again to recover the treasure and rescue his girlfriend. A dark and mysterious chase ensues and secrets are revealed in this sci-fi thriller.

_______________________________



Getting Lucky (1989)
dir. Michael Paul Girard

When I saw the thumbnail image of the cover, I thought "eh, looks like a generic 80's teen sex comedy type of thing". The I saw the big version and noticed a miniature normally-proportioned man that glows green and apparently wears a Cosby sweater. I don't know WHAT to think. More creeped out than anything.

Product Decsription:
Meet Bill Higgins, the nerdy 'Towel Boy' of Middleville High. All he could wish for is to clean up the environment and score a hot date with cheerleader babe, Krissi Chackler. Standing in his way is muscle-bound, meathead Tony Chanuka. Enter the most unlikely hero- Lepky, a four-inch leprechaun confined to a beer bottle, who can't quite master his micro-super powers. Wacky hijinks ensue as Lepky grants Bill zany wishes which lead to unsuspected transformations and screwy situations on the quest to Getting Lucky!

_______________________________
Read Full Post »