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

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RoosterFlix DVD Picks for February 10th

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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

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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

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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.

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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
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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
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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

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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

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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.

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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)
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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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RoosterFlix DVD Picks for February 3rd

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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!

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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RoosterFlix DVD Picks for January 27th

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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).

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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!

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Read Full Post »

Cecil's Top 10 Movies of 2008

The 81st Academy Award nominations are out, and boy are they fucking horrendous. Well, most of the categories anyway, best picture especially. I thought 2008 was a really great year for movies, but sadly the Academy's nominations don't reflect that sentiment at all. THIRTEEN nominations for Benjamin Button? Are you fucking serious? It was rightfully nominated for best cinematography and will probably win, but that should be it. A lot of people will be complaining about not nominating The Dark Knight for Best Picture. Originally I would've been like "shut up you fucking baby" but after seeing what got nominated, I can kind of agree that it got the shaft. The Wrestler was screwed out of Best Picture, Best Director, Editing, and Best Original Song. How could they overlook The Boss??? The category only has 3 fucking nominations! Write him in there or something!

FUCK

anyway, on with the show....

Since RoosterFlix has only been around a short while, I wasn't able to share my 2007 top 10. Here's a quick recap:

10. Tekkon Kinkreet
09. Once
08. Rescue Dawn
07. Ratatouille
06. Superbad
05. Persepolis
04. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
03. The King of Kong
02. No Country for Old Men
01. There Will Be Blood

I'd probably put Ratatouille at 3 or 4 if I made that list today. I'd also probably move Once a little higher. Everything else looks right.



Biggest Disappointments of 2008:

Blindness
dir. Fernando Meirelles

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."

Gran Torino
dir. Clint Eastwood

I have a feeling that critics were afraid to admit that this is a terrible movie simply because it's a Clint Eastwood movie and they are too busy sucking his rotting zombie cock to know any better. Hey, Clint Eastwood is the motherfucking man, I'll be the first person to say that. Who wouldn't want to see Eastwood as a bitter, mean-ass, old racist dickhead? It has the potential to be a poignant, somber, darkly humorous statement on the society we live in, right? Nah. This movie is horrible. I've never seen worse acting from an entire cast in my life, and that's including Eastwood. I'm pretty sure he doesn't unclench his teeth or unfurrow his brow for the entirety of the movie. There's a moment at the end where a not-so-subtle J-Christ reference gets a slap on the forehead. So heavy-handed. Talking about slaps to the forehead, how could these guys think that leaving the song in at the end of the movie was a good idea? It's seriously the most ridiculous shit ever. It sounds like a bad parody of Grover singing a song from a Muppets movie. COMPLETELY out of place.


Looking forward to these movies in 2009:

Up (trailer)
Watchmen (trailer)
Public Enemies
Black Dynamite (trailer)
9 (trailer)
Inglorious Bastards
Crank 2: High Voltage (trailer NSFW)
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (trailer)
Where the Wild Things Are (hopefully)
The Expendables (doubtful)
Tron 2 (seriously doubtful, fuck, this is probably 2010, maybe even 2011)


Best Documentary of 2008 - Man on Wire

There wasn't a movie all year - documentary or otherwise - with such an unbridled sense of enthusiasm and such a contagious sense of excitement as Man on Wire. Even though you basically know how it ends, it works perfectly as a thriller, building tension throughout the entire film, intercutting with previous public acts of tightrope walking and invaluable footage of home movies.

Honorable Mentions for Documentaries -
Encounters at the End of the World
Standard Operating Procedure
Trouble the Water


Honorable Mention (Top 11 through whatever, in alphabetical order)

Che (Part 1)
The Good, The Bad, and The Weird
Hellboy 2
In Bruges
JCVD
Kung-Fu Panda
Milk
Rambo
Slumdog Millionaire
Step-Brothers
Tell No One
Timecrimes
Wendy & Lucy

note: I didn't see Gomorra or Waltz With Bashir until after I got my list done, but I think they both definitely would've made the top 10.




Top 10 Movies of 2008




10. Synecdoche, New York
dir. Charlie Kaufman

This is the type of movie that if I was to revise this list one or two years down the road after watching this movie 10 more times, it'd probably be in the top 3. I'm not so sure I should even be placing it in the top 10 after only one viewing because immediately after finishing it, I said to myself "fuck, I have to watch this again" (and I mean that in the best possible way). There are layers upon layers upon layers (that I probably didn't even know were there) upon layers (that only exist in my mind) upon layers. I'd do the movie a disservice by trying to explain it, it's just something that needs to be seen.





9. Chop Shop
dir. Ramin Bahrani

When this film was released on DVD last year I had never heard of it, but I knew the director from his previous movie, the highly underrated Man Push Cart. I think from this point forward I'm going to try and be aware of everything Ramin Bahrani is working on. The performances he gets out of his non-actors, especially the kids, is pretty incredible, and the low-key cinematography is easily some of the best of the year. The Iron Triangle, right across the street from Shea Stadium in Queens, NY, is not the most photogenic of locations, but the way the film is shot really gives this area a certain charm and charisma to the point where the location itself becomes a character and takes on a life of its own.





8. Iron Man
dir. Jon Favreau

I don't have much to say about this movie, just that it was 2 hours of pure entertainment. Great performances from everyone, especially Robert Downey Jr. Awesome cameo from Tom Morello. The only real problem I had was with the villain. I loved Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane, but at the end he's just a bigger version of Iron Man, basically. Kind of boring. I had the same problem with Ed Norton's The Incredible Hulk. He ends up fighting a slightly bigger version of himself. Zzzzzzz. I mean, I know Iron Man & The Hulk don't have the kind of iconic arch nemeses that Spider-Man or The X-Men had, but they can do better than a souped-up clone. They set-up The Leader for the next Hulk movie with Tim Blake Nelson's character, but what about the inevitability that is Iron Man 2? Is The Mandarin gonna show up out of nowhere? Is he going to be dressed like a transvestite Chinese Robin Hood and wearing those ten alien rings? He's so lame, but I guess there's really no choice. Spider-Man has like 400 enemies...how about sharing the love, Pete?





7. Pineapple Express
dir. David Gordon Green

David Gordon Green usually likes to work within the confines of his own space. His movies are completely and unmistakably his. He generally directs what he writes, and his films are intensely personal. And even though I love his work, nothing made me happier than hearing he would be directing a comedy, scripted by Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg no less. The end result is one of the best comedies of the year. Quotable for days. "You just got killed by a Daewoo Lanos, motherfucker!" Stoner-buddy-action-comedies don't come along too often, but when they do and they're this good, you have to appreciate. One of the biggest reasons this movie works so well is because of the great chemistry between Seth Rogen and James Franco. They're both perfect in their roles, but Franco easily steals the show. He's never been better. Originally, their roles were supposed to be switched, with Franco playing Dale the civil servant and Rogen playing Saul the pot dealer. I'm glad they changed their minds.





6. The Dark Knight
dir. Christopher Nolan

Let me get this out of the way: The Dark Knight is a really, really great movie.

Now, let me get THIS out of the way: half a year after its theatrical release, the internet continues to make this movie more and more difficult to enjoy. It has its flaws (Batman voice) like most other films, but it's still one of the best of the year. BUT, people who are saying this is one of the best movies of all-time need to start watching movies that were made before 2003. You know, honestly, I don't mind if people think it's one of the best movies ever. Just don't tell me that I have to like it as much as you. Case in point, people and articles like this. "It’s more than the best movie of the year, it’s one of the best movies ever made. Snub it and there will be consequences." Consequences? Really? There is a legion of people with this mindset, no joke. It's almost like they are extremist disciples of a new Dark Knight religion, hell-bent on making this the #1 rated movie on IMDB, and I really wish they would stop pushing their shit on me. Just let people make up their own fucking minds. ANYWAY, I'm not going to go on and on about The Dark Knight, it made about 8,000 billion dollars so there's a pretty good chance you've already seen it. It might be the most grossly overrated movie of all-time, but that doesn't mean it's not great.





5. The Fall
dir. Tarsem

I've always been a sucker for amazing visuals. The Fall is chock full of some of the most fantastic, awe-inspiring imagery ever committed to film, so it was no surprise I responded so positively to it. I'm going overboard with hyperbole, but it really struck a chord. One of the biggest reasons this movie was not adored by critics was due to its thin plot. Sure, The Fall's plot, lifted from the 1981 Bulgarian film Yo Ho Ho, isn't mind-blowing, but I felt that combined with what was happening on-screen, everything came together perfectly and resulted in one of the best experiences at the theater I've had in recent years. Even more amazing to me is that the movie is completely self-financed by Tarsem Singh, and what he went through to get this movie made is something that sounds perfect for a Burden of Dreams-ish documentary. I also thought that as amazing as the cinematography was, Tarsem's discovery of non-actor Catinca Untaru for the part of Alexandria was the key to making this movie work, because it wouldn't be the same without her.





4. The Wrestler
dir. Darren Aronofsky

The Oscar is in the bag. All the hype about Mickey Rourke's performance is completely justified. The Wrestler is not just a great movie, but it's also deeply affecting, especially considering the parallels between Mickey and his character. It's a complete 180 in style and direction compared to Darren Aronofsky's past work, which is something I always enjoy seeing from accomplished directors. I think my favorite sequence from any movie this year was when the camera follows Rourke's character, Randy, from the employee's bathroom of the grocery store to the plastic curtain of the deli counter, all while faint music and crowd noise is played in the background. I can't imagine anyone not being moved after seeing this movie.





3. Let The Right One In
dir. Tomas Alfredson

One of the best Swedish imports since Ingmar Bergman. This is not your average horror movie......in fact, I wouldn't label it as a horror movie at all. Sure, there's some gruesome imagery, a bunch of blood, some light murder. OK, you can label is as a vampire movie, but don't expect the Lost Boys type. Being a vampire in this world is some serious, heavy shit. This is a drama that focuses on a relationship between two young kids, one of which just happens to be a vampire. The relationship between the two kids is handled better than most adult relationships in the movies. The cinematography is stark, cold, and calculated, with lots of blues and grays on the palette. The story explores a range of emotions, and the ending is bitter-sweet. It's really a dumb move on Sweden's part that they did not submit this movie as their entry for the Best Foreign Film at this year's Oscars, it had a pretty damn good chance of winning.





2. WALL-E
dir. Andrew Stanton

I've typed and immediately deleted about 20 different paragraphs about WALL-E and no matter what I say, I can't say it without rambling on like an idiot about how great Pixar is. I'll just say this: It's amazing to me how consistent this company is at cranking out truly incredible movies, and WALL-E is probably my favorite of them all. A robot dancing along with Hello, Dolly!, pretending that a hubcap is hat, and wanting nothing in life but to hold hands with another robot is like, the cutest fucking thing ever, come on.





1. Speed Racer
dir. Larry & Andy Wachowski

First of all, fuck ANYBODY that puts this movie on a "worst of 2008" list. They should have their eyes scooped out with a melon baller. I fully understand that Speed Racer is not everyone's cup of tea, but did all of these people forget that the two most jaw-droppingly retarded fuck-ups in Hollywood, Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg, released TWO movies in 2008? Meet the Spartans and Disaster Movie were so terrible that all "worst-of" lists for the rest of time should only consist of those two movies. To lump Speed Racer in with that crowd is a never-forgive action.

Now, why did I like the movie so much? It's a combination of reasons. I watched a ton of Speed Racer growing up, and strangely enough it ended up having a huge influence on me. One thing I love about the movie is how closely the Wachowskis stuck to the source material. I really never thought a live-action version of Speed Racer could be this fully-realized. It's a well-known fact that the Wachowski brothers are big fans of anime, and you can tell through their writing and direction that they know their stuff and that they truly love what they're doing. They probably knew the characters inside and out before they even started working on the movie, which is probably why everyone in Speed Racer fit the parts so well. It is probably the best cast movie since Robert Altman's Popeye. I can't stress enough how important it is for this movie that the cast be absolutely perfect in order for it to work, and they nailed it. Before Speed Racer was released I was saying that getting Matthew Fox as Racer X was the some of the best casting in movie history, and after watching the movie it only solidified the fact. The editing and transitions are completely next level. Sure it's fast and furious, but not in the Michael Bay Transformers sense where you can't tell what the fuck is happening. The CG is amazing. Every color of the rainbow is being shoved into your eyeballs with a bulldozer at all times. I would imagine that if a person with synesthesia watched this movie their brain would explode almost immediately. The thing everyone seems to attack is the story, which I don't really understand. It's cartoony, it's over-the-top, it's action-packed, and it fits the movie like a glove. Rest assured, It's not all happy-go-lucky, there's some devious, double-crossing shit going down here, but it usually manages to keep a light tone. What, not depressing enough for you? Movies can't be fun anymore? Sorry losers, go watch The Crow while listening to Morrisey's "You Are The Quarry", Pink Floyd/Wizard of Oz style. Remember, you have to hit play the moment you slit your other wrist. YEAH!! SPEED RACER!!!! Read Full Post »

RoosterFlix DVD Picks for January 20th

City of Ember (2008)
dir. Gil Kenan

I enjoyed this, even though the lead actress in it, that girl from Atonement, is kind of annoying. It's kind of a wild, dystopian, underground, steampunkish fantasy that is good for what it is. Nothing groundbreaking. The god Bill Murray does not get enough screen time.

Product Decsription:
Light bulbs speckle the sky instead of stars in City of Ember, a fantasy in which a secret city has been built to preserve mankind from worldwide disaster. But over time, the purpose of the city is lost--and the city gradually decays. As power failures threaten to bring on the collapse of everything, young messenger Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan, Atonement) discovers damaged instructions for leaving the city. Her friend, pipeworker Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway, Brothers of the Head), helps her find the hidden mechanisms that will let everyone escape...but the city's corrupt Mayor (Bill Murray) is more interested in personal gain and tries to stop Lina. City of Ember begins marvelously; the story unfolds smoothly, the production design is rich and engaging, the young leads are charming (Ronan is particularly good), and Murray is as superb as ever. Unfortunately, the movie starts to stumble; some plot turns are baffling (there seems to be some connective tissue left on the cutting room floor) and what should be an action climax flounders with subpar special effects. But even when the movie loses its sure-footedness, there are delightful moments and visual wonders. The strong supporting cast includes Tim Robbins, Mary Kay Place (Sweet Home Alabama), Mackenzie Crook (The Office), Toby Jones (Infamous), and Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Secrets & Lies). --Bret Fetzer

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Max Payne (2008)
dir. John Moore

It's no secret that most movies based on video games are pure garbage, and unfortunately it looks like that trend is alive and well with Max Payne. I mean, I never saw it but the trailers looked kinda cool.

Product Decsription:
Based on the video game from Rockstar, MAX PAYNE stars Mark Wahlberg as a New York City cop out to avenge his slain wife and child, and heaven help anyone who gets in his blood-strewn way. The trail leads him into a network of shady characters mixed up with an experimental drug that causes super strength and fearlessness, as well as wild hallucinations of winged angels and demons. As Max gets closer and closer to the truth, he finds himself the target of a massive police manhunt, and in the crosshairs of the powerful kingpin behind the racket; soon enough, the angels and demons become downright deadly. Olga Kurylenko (QUANTUM OF SOLACE) is a beautiful Russian party girl who winds up dead after a late-night visit to Max's pad; her assassin sister (Mila Kunis) first goes after Max, then tries to help him get some answers. Rap star Ludacris (here credited as Chris Bridges) is a tough internal affairs cop investigating Payne's behavior.

Shot in an impressively grungy palette of high-contrast grays and blacks, with snow and sheets of rain soaking the grim atmosphere, New York City is brilliantly morphed into something like Gotham City by way of Detroit, with a touch of X-FILES-style supernatural dread looming over everything. Director John Moore knows how to stage his action scenes: offices blow up, big chunks of rubble crush police cars, bodies and shattered glass suspend in mid-air for some of the slowest slow-mo moments in action film history. Fans of the video game and/or action movies in general should get a kick out of all the mega-loud insanity, stylish design, and Wahlberg, who never changes his mean expression, but still commands the screen.

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The Express (2008)
dir. Gary Fleder

Product Decsription:
Based on the real-life story of college football hero Ernie Davis, The Express will remind some moviegoers of the heart-tugging Brian's Song. Ernie Davis was a star athlete at Syracuse University and the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy. Unlike other winners of that era, he wasn't allowed to attend his banquet dinner because the venue didn't serve blacks. He died of leukemia at the age of 23 in 1963. That element of his story is well known to football fans. What the filmmakers concentrate on in The Express isn't just Davis' athletic prowess, but the relationship he had with his coach Ben Schwartzwalder (Dennis Quaid). Rob Brown (Stop-Loss, Coach Carter) lends both gravity and charm to the role of Davis. He plays Davis as a strong willed and moral young man who refuses to let racism and discrimination dominate his life. He joins a Jewish fraternity, gets along with his predominantly white teammates and shows respect for his family and coach. The film is wise not to present Schwartzwalder as wholly color blind. Though not overtly racist, he makes a few references that would not be acceptable in modern-day society. Overall though, the coach doesn't care what color his players are, as long as they share the common goal of winning. Quaid is well cast in the role, adding just the right amount of gruff mannerisms without becoming a caricature. Brown has the difficult task of adding suspense to a character where most of the audience already knows his fate. Still, he manages to keep moviegoers on their toes--hoping for a miracle that we know will never come. --Jae-Ha Kim

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MGM: When the Lion Roars (2008)
dir. Frank Martin

Product Decsription:
On April 24, 1924 the movies changed forever: the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio opened and soon assembled “more stars than there are in the heavens.” Patrick Stewart hosts this enthralling Emmy winner as Best Informational Series, a 3-part story of MGMs reign as Hollywoods class act and legendary entertainment empire. Bursting with memorable film clips, rare interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and insider info, this is a mother lode for film fans, profiling perfectionist moguls, glamorous and charismatic actors, innovative filmmakers and landmark movies. Experience the dramatic and romantic fire, singing and dancing magic, and sweeping epic adventure of Hollywoods greatest studio in this must-have 2-Disc DVD set.

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Chris Rock: Kill the Messenger (2008)
dir. Marty Callner

Not Chris Rock's best stand-up special, but still solid, and Rock is still one of the funniest guys on the planet. The thing that drove me nuts with this performance is all the jarring cuts in-between the three locations where he filmed this special. I guess I kind of got used to it, but it's completely pointless.

Product Decsription:
Four years after 2004's NEVER SCARED, Chris Rock returns with another hilarious standup performance in KILL THE MESSENGER. Intercutting between performances held in South Africa, London, and New York City, the program finds Rock riffing on the upcoming 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama, and (as always) the troubles between men and women. It's fascinating to watch how Rock improvises with each crowd, and their differing reactions. Thankfully, the effect never becomes tiresome or overdone, and as always it's Rock's passionate delivery, razor-sharp timing, and fearless take on life that take center stage.

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El Norte - Criterion COllection (2007)
dir. Gregory Nava

Product Decsription:
Brother and sister Enrique and Rosa flee persecution at home in Guatemala and journey north, through Mexico and on to the United States, with the dream of starting a new life. It s a story that happens every day, but until Gregory Nava's groundbreaking El Norte (The North), the personal travails of immigrants crossing the border to America had never been shown in the movies with such urgent humanism. A work of social realism imbued with dreamlike imagery, El Norte is a lovingly rendered, heartbreaking story of hope and survival, which critic Roger Ebert called a Grapes of Wrath for our time.

DVD Features:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer supervised and approved by director Gregory Nava
New audio commentary featuring Nava
In the Service of the Shadows: The Making of El Norte: a new video program featuring interviews with Nava, producer and cowriter Anna Thomas, actors Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez and David Villalpando, and set designer David Wasco
Wall of Silence, a new short documentary by Nava and Barbara Martinez Jitner, concerning the building of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border
The Journal of Diego Rodriguez Silva, the 1972 award-winning student film by Nava
Gallery of Chipas location-scouting photographs
Theatrical trailer
New and improved English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by novelist Héctor Tobar and Roger Ebert's 1983 review of the film
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Magnificent Obsession - Criterion Collection (1954)
dir. Douglas Sirk

Product Decsription:
Reckless playboy Bob Merrick (Rock Hudson, in his breakthrough role) crashes his speedboat, requiring emergency attention from the town s only resuscitator at the very moment that beloved local Dr. Phillips has a heart attack and dies waiting for the life-saving device. Thus begins one of Douglas Sirk's most flamboyant master classes in melodrama, a delirious Technicolor mix of the sudsy and the spiritual in which Bob and the doctor s widow, Helen (Jane Wyman), find themselves inextricably linked to one another amid a series of increasingly wild twists, turns, trials, and tribulations. For this release, Criterion also presents John M. Stahl's 1935 film version of the Lloyd C. Douglas novel, starring Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor.

DVD Features:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer
Audio commentary featuring film scholar Thomas Doherty
Magnificent Obsession (1935, 102 minutes): a new digital transfer of John M. Stahl s complete earlier version of the film
Douglas Sirk: From UFA to Hollywood (1991): a rare 80-minute documentary by German filmmaker Eckhart Schmidt in which Sirk reflects upon his career
Video interviews with filmmakers Allison Anders and Kathryn Bigelow, paying tribute to Sirk
Theatrical trailer
PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film critic Geoffrey O Brien
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The Children of Huang Shi (2008)
dir. Roger Spottiswoode

Product Decsription:
The Children of Huang Shi is a powerful, inspiring film about a real-life, outsider hero who emerged from Japan's catastrophic invasion of China in 1937. A British journalist, George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) sneaks into Nanjing at the height of Japan's destruction of that cosmopolitan city. Rescued from certain death by a suave rebel named Chen Hansheng (Chow Yun-Fat), Hogg goes deep into China's countryside in search of another front to the war. Instead of furthering his career, however, Hogg is talked into taking control of a destitute orphanage occupied by starving, lice-ridden, half-savage boys. A roving nurse, Lee Pearson (Radha Mitchell), keeps Hogg focused on his task, provides him with medical supplies, and ultimately becomes his lover. But the former reporter has to figure many things out on his own, including how to inspire the boys to help fend for themselves.
With the Japanese closing in on the orphanage and the Chinese looking at the boys as likely soldiers, Hogg, Pearson, and Hansheng lead the kids on an extraordinarily strenuous, 700-mile hike to Marco Polo's so-called Silk Road, leading to the Gobi Desert. The second half of The Children of Huang Shi is taken up by this sometimes deadly labor, and director Roger Spottiswoode balances the dreariness of it with knockout images of mountains and eerie, desert vistas. The multi-national cast is the best thing about the film, which avoids canonizing the saintly Hogg by not ignoring his sins of pride (he refers to the kids as "my boys" to the wrong Chinese authority, and pays the price) and jealousy. Chow's jaunty persona adds an essential swagger to this Schindler's List-like story, but it's Mitchell's gritty, soul-weary performance that really grabs one's attention. --Tom Keogh

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George Wallace (Two-Disc Special Edition) (1997)
dir. John Frankenheimer

Product Decsription:
Based on the book by Marshall Frady, this epic bio by John Frankenheimer stars Gary Sinise as one of the century's best candidates for true Aristotelian tragic status. The Aristotelian tragic protagonist is not an entirely bad man, but he has a fatal flaw. Wallace's flaw was not (originally) racism. It was lust for power and status, a lust so all-consuming that it turned Wallace into a fellow traveler with racists, and made of him one of the most destructive and most hated American politicians of his time. Sinise, who seems doomed to be underrated for his acting talents, captures memorably both the corruption and the belated search for redemption. Frankenheimer shows off all his skill with a story line, working through a series of flashbacks from the 1972 assassination attempt and weaving together real and constructed black-and-white footage. The pace does stumble; in the end, the movie is half an hour too long. But you get sucked in by the period feel, the accents as thick as grits, and the many excellent supporting performances. Especially notable are Mare Winningham as Wallace's long-suffering first wife, Clarence Williams as his servant Archie (a somewhat questionable fictionalization by Frankenheimer), and Joe Don Baker as his mentor and predecessor in the governor's mansion, Big Jim Folsom. Frankenheimer, Sinise, and Winningham all won Emmys for their work, and the film won the Golden Globe for Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV. --Richard Farr

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Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)
dir. Darren Lynn Bousman

Product Decsription:
Begun in 2002 as a Los Angeles stage production by writers Darren Smith and Terrence Zdunich, REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA was designed as a gory, comedic Grand Guignol to appeal more to club goers than fans of musical theater. One fan, aspiring director Darren Lynn Bousman, who has since worked on the SAW franchise, vowed to one day direct a film version of the show. Six years (and five SAW films) later, he has made good on his promise with a bizarre, gory, and unique piece of work that is as sure to entertain as it is to polarize its audience. In the year 2056, following an epidemic of human organ failure, the GeneCo Corporation--owned by the mafia-like Largo family--grows and installs new organs on a massive scale. The business, though, necessitates the employment of repo men to reclaim the organs from clients who miss their payments. Repo man and single father Nathan Wallace (Anthony Head, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER) keeps his job a secret from his terminally ill daughter, Shilo (Alexa Vega), doing it only to pay for her costly medication. Nathan also has a secret history with GeneCo patriarch Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino)---and their connection is about to become public knowledge on the night of a concert from popular singer--and GeneCo client--Blind Mag (Sarah Brightman).
Compellingly strange, REPO! resembles a comic book-influenced goth dinner theater production set within a dystopian video game. Musically, the score concentrates more on libretto-like sung dialogue than memorable tunes (save Vega's pop-punk "Sixteen" and Brightman's chilling "Chromaggia"), but the cast appears to be having a blast. Skinny Puppy's Nivek Ogre lends some underground cred as the most twisted member of the Largo clan, but Brightman gives the comically bloody proceedings true legitimacy. A surprising casting choice, she's an almost regal presence, and her goosebump-inducing soprano soars stratospherically above this fun cult film in-the-making.

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Saw V (2008)
dir. David Hackl

Product Decsription:
How do you keep a horror franchise going when your villain has been unquestionably and irrevocably killed off? That's a conundrum any number of genre series have tackled--to varying degrees of success--and the problem facing the sadistic Saw films in its latest entry, Saw V. The filmmakers' answer--faithful henchmen--is at first blush a savvy idea, as it allows the mayhem of original bad guy Jigsaw to continue unabated, despite the fact that he was dissected on a morgue slab in the previous film. Saw V extends the premise by having disgraced detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor from the previous two films) don the pig mask to unleash horrific tortures on another group of seemingly unconnected strangers. Scott Patterson (Aliens in America) also returns as Hoffman's Javert, a dogged fellow agent who escapes death in the fourth film and an ugly fate in this entry to continue his pursuit. All the elements that have made the Saw series popular with horror fans--the elaborate killing machines, the trompe l'oeil plotting, and the sociopathic judgments handed down by Jigsaw--are intact in Saw V, which is a positive for its most faithful followers, but a negative for just about everyone else. Saw V covers no new ground, expands no part of the mythology of the series and seems perfectly content to present a lifeless retread of Saw III and IV. It also suffers from the absence of Tobin Bell as Jigsaw, who despite his top billing, is glimpsed only in brief flashbacks. Bell, who could be unsettling even in the stillest moments, gave the series a gravity that kept its least plausible moments in check, and Mandylor, though game, simply cannot provide the same. What's left is dreary and relentlessly downbeat, and to make matters worse, ends on an open note that clearly indicates that a sixth film is in the works, no matter how obvious that the diabolical ingenuity of the original Saw has been worn to the bone by its sequels. Only diehard Saw fans need to sign up for this round of Jigsaw's games. -- Paul Gaita

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Spain... On The Road Again (2008)
dir. Charles Pinsky

I don't really understand why this exists, but I am fascinated by it. It almost seems like a much happier version "No Reservations" mixed with something on the Food Network, I guess? If this was on TV, I'd totally watch it.

Product Decsription:
From the seaside cliffs of Mallorca to the bustling tapas bars and majestic museums of Barcelona, this is the ultimate road trip across Spain. Academy Award®-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow, celebrity chef Mario Batali, celebrated author Mark Bittman (How to Cook Everything), and Spanish actress Claudia Bassols embark on a ten-week tour of a country at the forefront of the culinary and cultural worlds. Each episode finds the four in a new locale, from learning how Cava is made in Catalunya to meeting the famed pigs of Salamanca, as they steadily reveal the undiscovered delights of a country brimming with gastronomic and aesthetic treasures.

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King Frat (1979)
dir. Ken Wiederhorn

My dream of being the first person to film something in fart-o-vision was crushed 30 years ago and I didn't even know it.

Product Decsription:
In terms of debauchery, ANIMAL HOUSE has nothing on this 1979 romp in which the boys of Pi Kappa Delta at Yellowstream University participate in drinking games and an intense farting contest.

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RoosterFlix DVD Picks for January 13th

Appaloosa (2008)
dir. Ed Harris

I really loved Ed Harris's only other directorial effort, Pollock. As a veteran of the theater, he's great at directing actors, especially hisself. I can't wait to see how he handles a western.

Product Decsription:
Actor Ed Harris takes only his second stab at directing, following the Oscar-winning feature POLLOCK (2000) with this spirited western. Harris draws on a strong cast, many of whom have acted with him in previous films, to tell the story of two gunfighters attempting to bring peace to the small town of Appaloosa in the late 1800s. Virgil Cole (Harris) and Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) ride into the windswept New Mexico town and are hired to bring vigilante entrepreneur Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons) to justice. Bragg has imposed a reign of terror over Appaloosa, but his murderous actions are tempered when Cole and Hitch take control. Matters get complicated when widower Allison French (Renee Zellweger) flounces into town and variously woos Cole, Hitch, and Bragg, allowing Harris to throw in a few neat twists as his two principal characters attempt to bring the miscreant entrepreneur to justice.

APPALOOSA is a slow-moving and beautifully shot feature that perfectly translates the dusky New Mexico landscape to celluloid. The film stands shoulder to shoulder with 21st-century westerns such as THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD and THE PROPOSITON, and much like those films Harris's feature draws heavily on deeply affecting performances from his leads. Irons is particularly affecting as the baleful Bragg, who brings a real air of menace to the screen any time he appears on camera. The nuanced turns by Harris and Mortensen play like a master class in subtlety, with the two seasoned actors perfectly delivering two stoic characters who are masking a lifetime of pain and suffering. Harris's feature is a welcome addition to the fold of introspective westerns, effortlessly standing alongside similar efforts such as Clint Eastwood's UNFORGIVEN or James Mangold's 3:10 TO YUMA.

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Mirrors (2008)
dir. Alexandre Aja

Product Decsription:
French director Alexandre Aja adds to his growing canon of horror features with this remake of the Korean feature GEOUL SOKEURO (2003). Kiefer Sutherland stars as Ben Carson, a disgraced former New York City cop who attempts to put his checkered past behind him by taking a job as a security guard. Carson is required to take the night shift in a department store in the city. The store closed down after a fire put an end to its business, and Carson soon discovers that malevolent spirits are lurking behind its walls. The spirits connect with the human world through the mirrors in the store, and when they discover Carson's presence they go after his ex-wife, Amy (Paula Patton), and his kids (played by Erica Gluck and Cameron Boyce). Carson attempts to figure out the meaning of a cryptic message carved into one of the mirrors, hoping it will save his family and cut off contact with the malignant lurking presence.
Aja successfully replicates much of the tension and edge-of-your-seat moments that he managed so skillfully in HAUTE TENSION (2003). The film begins with an unnerving set piece in which Carson's predecessor takes a shard of mirror and slashes his own throat, and it's an indication of the gore-filled fun that awaits intrepid viewers. Aja creates a palpable sense of unease by shooting dim-lit set pieces in the department store. Sutherland makes for a convincing lead in a character that closely resembles his turn as Jack Bauer in 24. There are plenty of genuine scares in the film, and the director ultimately spins MIRRORS as a cross between a psychological thriller in the vein of the POLTERGEIST movies and a no-holds-barred splatter flick.

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Little Britain USA (2008)
dir. n/a

Product Decsription:
Matt Lucas and David Walliams bring their hit BBC show to the States in LITTLE BRITAIN USA. The ensemble of bizarre, dough-faced characters--mostly played by Lucas and Walliams in heavy makeup--continue to wreak havoc on those around them. Leaping across the pond to irritate the Yanks are some of the show's most memorable characters, including braying teenager Vicky Pollard and closeted heterosexual Daffydd Thomas, while scandalous new creations make their debut; among them are Mark and Tom, muscle-engorged weight-lifters with comparatively microscopic genitalia. This collection presents all six episodes of the series, including appearances by Paul Rudd, Rosie O'Donnell, Hayden Panettiere, and Sting.

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My Bloody Valentine (1981)
dir. George Mihalka

Product Decsription:
Twenty years ago in the sleepy mining town of Valentine Bluffs, a fatal mining disaster occurred on Valentine's Day while key members of the crew were decorating for a party. The sole survivor of the accident killed the absentee crew members and warned the town never to have another Valentine's Day celebration. When a group of teenagers decides that the the town has gone without a party long enough and begin planning one, a murderous maniac in mining gear begins dispatching townsfolk in bloody and creative ways. Combining the small town atmosphere of HALLOWEEN (1978) with the body count gore of FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980), MY BLOODY VALENTINE is an example of the glut of low-budget copycat films that those two influential films inspired in the early 1980s.

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The Taking of Power by Louis XIV - Criterion Collection (1966)
dir. Roberto Rossellini

Product Decsription:
Filmmaking legend Roberto Rossellini brings his passion for realism and unerring eye for the everyday to this portrait of the early years of the reign of France s Sun King, and in the process reinvents the costume drama. The death of chief minister Cardinal Mazarin, the construction of the palace at Versailles, the extravagant meals of the royal court: all are recounted with the same meticulous quotidian detail that Rossellini brought to his contemporary portraits of postwar Italy. The Taking of Power by Louis XIV dares to place a larger-than-life figure at the level of mere mortal.

DVD Features:
New, restored digital transfer
Taking Power, a multimedia essay by Tag Gallagher, author of The Adventures of Roberto Rossellini
The Last Utopia, a documentary about Rossellini s late career
Video interview with artistic advisor Jean Dominique de la Rochefoucauld and script supervisor Michelle Podroznik
Video interview with Renzo Rossellini
New and improved English subtitle translation
PLUS: A new essay by critic Colin McCabe
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Rossellini's History Films: Renaissance and Enlightenment - Eclipse Series 14
dir. Roberto Rossellini

Product Decsription:
In the final phase of his career, Italian master Roberto Rossellini embarked on a dramatic, daunting project: a series of politically minded televisions films about knowledge and history, made in an effort to teach, where the contemporary media was failing. Looking at the western world s major figures and moments, yet focusing on the small details of daily life, Rossellini was determined not to recount history but to bring it back to life, as it might have been, unadorned yet full of the drama of the everyday. In this selection of Rossellini's history films, Eclipse presents Blaise Pascal, the three-part The Age of the Medici, and Cartesius works that don t just enliven the past but illuminate the ideas that brought us to where we are.

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Tokyo Gore Police (2008)
dir. Yoshihiro Nishimura

If you like your movies completely fucking insane with tons of gore, this one still might be too "out there" for you.

Product Decsription:
In the near future, the Tokyo Police Corporation is locked in a bloody war with the "engineers." These genetically modified super-criminals can bio-fuse their open wounds with weapons, turning self-mutilation into a combat form. Ruka, the daughter of the police chief's murdered right-hand man, is now the top engineer hunter. With cold-blooded efficiency she cuts through the psychotic engineers and tracks down their home base, a truly bizarre fetish club. Nothing keeps her from her sworn duty, even when she finds out the truth behind her father's death.

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Blindsight (2006)
dir. Lucy Walker

Product Decsription:
This documentary from director Lucy Walker (DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND) follows a group of blind teenagers as they ascend Lhakpa Ri, the 23,000 foot peak on Mount Everest's north face. Led by renowned mountaineer Erik Weihenmayer, the young Tibetans set out on an incredible if dangerous journey.

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Humboldt County (2008)
dir. Danny Jacobs and Darren Grodsky

Product Decsription:
Peter Hadley, an uptight and disillusioned medical student is failed by one of his professors, who happens to be his father. Seeking some escape, Peter ends up in bed with a nightclub singer named Bogart, who invites him on a road trip to Humboldt County. It is here that he meets and is embraced by Bogart s eccentric marijuana farming family. When Bogart leaves Peter stranded, he begins a new journey of his own.

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Swing Vote (2008)
dir. Joshua Michael Stern

Product Decsription:
The ghost of Frank Capra is summoned up in Swing Vote, a populist comedy about the U.S. presidential election--because of an electoral deadlock--coming down to one man, one vote. Alarmingly (for the future of the world), that one man is Bud Johnson (Kevin Costner), a beer-swilling, newly-unemployed divorced dad in Texico, New Mexico. Bud's got a week to re-cast his flawed ballot, so the entire election process--including the two candidates, played by Kelsey Grammer and Dennis Hopper--descends on Texico for an orgy of campaign flapdoodle. Costner tries hard (probably too hard) to be the irresponsible good ol' boy, the kind of role he used to be able to handle with ease; by contrast, the composed Madeline Carroll, as his Little Miss Sunshiny daughter, comes off as a model of naturalism. Except for some pointed commercials, in which the candidates sell out their values to appeal to Bud's whimsical opinions on issues such as abortion and gay marriage, the movie's political bite is remarkably toothless. Both Stanley Tucci and Nathan Lane are in the groove as cutthroat campaign managers, and the movie is jolted out of its beery idle with a late one-scene performance by Mare Winningham. There's an interesting film trying to climb out of Swing Vote, but it needs Frank Capra to kick it into shape. --Robert Horton

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Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach (2008)
dir. Danny Leiner

Talk about coming out of left field. This must be absolutely horrible.

Product Decsription:
From the director of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and Dude Where's My Car comes this raunchy comedy starring Seann William Scott and Randy Quaid. Gary Houseman (Scott) is an overenthusiastic high school janitor who steps-up to lead the school's loser tennis team to the state finals when the acting coach drops dead. The brash and often insulting new coach is intent on inspiring these underdogs not only to win, but also to stand-up for themselves. Although his coaching tactics may be unorthodox, including motivating his star player with a pre-game stripper, his heart is in the right place. Besides, sometimes it takes big balls to play hard-ball.

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Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business Of America (2008)
dir. Michael Kantor

Product Decsription:
Billy Crystal hosts this hilarious, comprehensive look back at the grand traditions of American comedy, from vaudeville-era slapstick to contemporary political satire. Each of the six one-hour episodes--including "When I'm Bad, I'm Better - The Groundbreakers" and "Slip on a Banana Peel - The Knockabouts"--focuses on a particular comic style; the nostalgia-inducing series offers interviews with legendary comedians such as Larry David, Bill Maher, Carl Reiner, Jerry Seinfeld, and Lily Tomlin, as well as classic footage from the funniest movies and television shows of the past century.

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Patti Smith: Dream Of Life (2008)
dir. Steven Sebring

Product Decsription:
A conventional documentary wouldn't suit a timeless iconoclast like Patti Smith. Photographer-turned-filmmaker Steven Sebring's Dream of Life honors her originality through his own unique vision. Narrated by Smith in her unmistakable New Jersey drawl and shot primarily in grainy black and white, he revisits his subject's storied past through her reflective present. In the mid-1990s, when Sebring began filming, she was recovering from the loss of her husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith, guitarist for the MC5, while moving with their children, Jesse and Jackson, from Detroit to New York City. Over the next 11 years, the devoted director accompanies her as she travels to London, Rome, and other cities where she performs, speaks out against the Iraq War, and visits sites that hold special meaning, particularly the graves of poets. Along the way, she looks in on her proud parents and remembers departed friends, like Robert Mapplethorpe, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs, while Sebring intercuts clips and stills from her years as a punk pioneer (Michael Stipe, Sam Shepard, and Flea also put in appearances). As Smith notes in passing, "Life isn't some vertical or horizontal line... it's not neat," and Sebring’s jazz improvisation of a film follows a similar pattern, putting a feminist spin on vérité-style musician profiles from Don't Look Back (a Smith favorite) to Let’s Get Lost. If the pace is relaxed to a fault, the images are often intriguing, the performances are always inspiring, and Smith makes for an especially gracious guide into her own illustrious life. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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Our Daily Bread (2007)
dir. Nikolaus Geyrhalter

Product Decsription:
Welcome to the world of industrial food production and high-tech farming. To the rhythm of conveyor belts and immense machines, the film looks without commenting in the places where food is produced: monumental spaces, surreal landscapes and bizarre sounds a cool, industrial environment which leaves little space for individualism. People, animals, crops and machines play a supporting role in the logistics of this system which provides our society s standard of living. OUR DAILY BREAD is a wide-screen tableau of a feast which isn't always easy to digest and in which we all take part. A pure, meticulous and high-end film experience that enables the audience to form their own ideas.

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Mr. Mike's Mondo Video (1979)
dir. Michael O'Donoghue



Product Decsription:
From the twisted genius behind Saturday Night Live s early years, Mr. Mike s Mondo Video is the wildly demented comedy from the mind of National Lampoons and Saturday Night Lives notoriously funny writer/performer Michael O Donoghue. And like most of O Donoghue s humor, it was years ahead of its time. Originally conceived in 1979 as a television special slotted for one of Saturday Night Lives hiatuses, with much of the Saturday Night Live cast on board, it was summarily rejected by NBC as too outrageous for broadcast. Unseen for years, it is finally available on dvd. Features members of the classic Saturday Night Live cast: Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman. Also stars Michael O Donoghue, Carrie Fisher, Teri Garr, Margot Kidder, Edie Baskin, Judith Belushi-Pisano, Mitch Glazer, Joan Hackett, Deborah Harry, Julius La Rosa, Wendie Malick, Klaus Nomi, Paul Shaffer and Sid Vicious.

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Warbirds (2008)
dir. Kevin Gendreau

There is absolutely no fucking way any movie can live up to a cover that awesome.

Product Decsription:
In the final days of World War II, Colonel Jack Toller enlists a crew of WASP led by Maxine West to ferry a top secret weapon to an American airbase in the Pacific. But before they can reach their goal a violent storms strands their damaged B-29 on to a remote tropical island.

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RoosterFlix DVD Picks for January 6th

Pineapple Express (2008)
dir. David Gordon Green

Really really love this movie, can't wait to watch it again. One of my favorite movies of 2008. I'll talk more about it when I get my top 10 list done.

Product Decsription:
The latest bro-mance from team Apatow (the guys who brought us Superbad, Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin), Pineapple Express is the story of Dale Denton (Seth Rogan) and Saul Silver (James Franco), a pothead and his dealer who accidently get caught up in a drug war between two gangs with some corrupt cops, high-school girls and small-time henchmen thrown in for good measure. At its core, Pineapple Express is a stoner comedy--a tale of two semi-slow giggling and loveable idiots in way over their heads--this formula has made for some entertaining comedy over the years, Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke and Dave Chappell's Half Baked being two of the best examples. What sets Pineapple Express apart from these silly classics however, is the consistency of the humor, the perfect chemistry between Rogan and Franco and the giddily ridiculous action sequences (and the fact that even mild intoxication is not required to enjoy the humor). The movie retains the sweetness that is present in most of Apatow's films, making the characters’ poor choices and ultra-violent actions somehow justifiable, or at least relatable. The site gags, pop-culture references and perfectly timed non-sequiturs only enhance the hilarity. Director David Gordon Green, known mostly for the understated and reflective films George Washington and All the Real Girls, seemed like an odd choice for such a raucous and over-the-top comedy, but it turns out Green's stamp is all over this film (as is his long-time cinematographer, Tim Orr) who together manage to turn Pineapple Express into much more than the sum of its parts. --Kira Canny

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Righteous Kill (2008)
dir. Jon Avnet

I don't know what it is about this movie, but I have absolutely no interest in seeing it. Considering the DeNiro/Pacino team-up, that's a damn shame.

Product Decsription:
Righteous Kill pairs two cinematic icons whose previous screen collaboration, Michael Mann's 1995 Heat, was absolutely electrifying despite minimal time together in a long movie. Now in their mid-60s, De Niro and Pacino are playing veteran cops who, despite being grizzled, should look much younger than these actors. The incongruent casting makes the dark story improbable from the get-go, and things get worse as dialogue by screenwriter Russell Gurwitz quickly sounds like a parody of vintage cop movie cliches. It's a strain to find anything that works. The two leads play longtime detectives and partners whose weariness with rapists, murderers, pedophiles and other villains appears linked to the acts of a serial killer taking out bad guys who got away with heinous crimes. A videotape confession by De Niro's tightly-coiled Turk--who has been seeking the killer with Pacino's Rooster--would seem to establish his ties to the events. But the movie isn't over until it's over, assuming one is still with the movie after plodding along with its facsimile of noir conviction. Director Jon Avnet never gets a handle on Righteous Kill's gritty heart, superficially pushing suspense along with heavy-handed editing, and adding unpersuasive sauce in the form of Turk's somewhat S&M sexual relationship with a female cop (Carla Gugino). Giving the proceedings sort of a boost are Donnie Wahlberg and John Leguizamo as a younger pair of sleuths working the same case. This could easily have been a better movie with those two in the leads. --Tom Keogh

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Bangkok Dangerous (2008)
dir. Danny Pang, Oxide Pang Chun

Looks like a pretty generic, predictable action/thriller. Nick Cage catches a lot of hate these days, but I still like him.

Product Decsription:
An adrenaline-charged action thriller, Lionsgate's Bangkok Dangerous stars Nicolas Cage (Leaving Las Vegas, National Treasure) as "Joe," an anonymous assassin takes an unexpected turn when he travels to Thailand to complete a series of contract killings. Joe (Nicolas Cage), a remorseless hitman, is in Bangkok to execute four enemies of a ruthless crime boss named Surat. He hires Kong (Shahkrit Yamnarm), a street punk and pickpocket, to run errands for him with the intention of covering his tracks by killing him at the end of the assignment. Strangely, Joe, the ultimate lone wolf, finds himself mentoring the young man instead whilst simultaneously being drawn into a tentative romance with a local shop girl. As he falls further under the sway of Bangkok’s intoxicating beauty, Joe begins to question his isolated existence and let down his guard …just as Surat decides it’s time to clean house. Directors The Pang Brothers (The Eye) paint an explosive picture of the Bangkok underworld, illuminated with neon and saturated in violence. From a screenplay by Jason Richman, Bangkok Dangerous is based on the Pang Brothers’ wildly popular Hong Kong action film of the same name. Starring alongside Cage are Shahkrit Yamnarm (Belly of the Beast), Charlie Young (Seven Swords), Panward Hemmanee and Dom Hetrakul (Sniper 3). The film is produced by Jason Shuman, William Sherak, Nicolas Cage and Norm Golightly. Andrew Pfeffer, Derek Dauchy, Denis O’Sullivan and Ben Waisbren serve as the executive producers.

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Babylon A.D. (2008)
dir. Mathieu Kassovitz

This got hammered by critics, but supposedly the director's cut is much better. Mathieu Kassovitz hasn't made a movie since Gothika in 2003, which was a pile of shit, but he also directed La Haine, so he's got a pass in my book.

Product Decsription:
In sci-fi thriller BABYLON A.D., Vin Diesel's Toorop is an antihero who quotes the best of cinema's bad boys from films such as THE GODFATHER and SCARFACE. But all the tattooed muscleman really wants to do is leave poverty- and violence-ridden Russia and return to his family's home in upstate New York. However, he has been banned from his native America, so when a Russian mobster (a prosthetic-enhanced Grard Depardieu) offers him a job and a forged passport that will take him back home, he agrees, even though the mission seems close to suicide. He takes a strangely gifted orphan named Aurora (Melanie Thierry) from a Mongolian convent to Harlem, his only help being a nun--though it is a nun played by action star Michelle Yeoh. Thugs attack them on every leg of their journey, following them as they take car, train, sub, and snowmobile to ensure Aurora's safety.
BABYLON A.D works best when it's revealing facets of its futuristic world, from the refugee-camp look of Russia to the high-tech gloss of a 22-million-people-strong New York City. Production designers Sonja Klaus and Paul Cross, as well as director Mathieu Kassovitz (GOTHIKA), deserve praise for creating settings that evoke memories of dystopian films from BLADE RUNNER to CHILDREN OF MEN. Kassovitz, who is most familiar to audiences as the object of affection in AMELIE, also adapted the script from the Maurice G. Dantec novel BABYLON BABIES with Eric Besnard. The book weighed in at over 500 pages, so there are times when it feels like something is missing in BABYLON A.D. with its brief 90-minute run time. In small roles, Depardieu and French favorite Charlotte Rampling (who plays a mysterious religious leader) provide substance and gravitas.

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The Wackness (2008)
dir. Jonathan Levine

Product Decsription:
Jonathan Levine's nostalgic reverie recreates a more innocent New York. In 1994, the Twin Towers watch over Manhattan, and Rudolph Giuliani reigns as mayor--not a bestselling author or presidential candidate. Recent high school grad Luke Shapiro (sleepy-eyed Josh Peck, Drake and Josh) plies the kind of trade Giuliani seeks to discourage: dope dealing. Otherwise, though, Luke's not such a bad kid. He sees a therapist, the pot-smoking Dr. Squires (Sir Ben Kingsley), and nurses a crush on the doctor's flirtatious stepdaughter, Stephanie (Juno's Olivia Thirlby). Hip-hop fills the air, and Luke spends his days grooving to Nas, the Notorious B.I.G., and A Tribe Called Quest, while selling cannabis out of an ice-cream cart (Wu-Tang rapper Method Man plays his Rasta supplier). As the summer heats up, Luke and Stephanie grow closer, while Squires and his wife, Kristin (Famke Janssen), drift apart. Meanwhile, Luke's family faces eviction if his father's fortunes don't improve, and he finds himself torn between the hot girl, the bummed-out shrink, and a job that could land him in the clink for a good long time--or save the Shapiros from moving to New Jersey. Though Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane) doesn't judge his law-breaking protagonist, he does suggest that love can make a smart guy lose his head just as easily as lust--and even a trained psychiatrist can't always tell the difference. With Mary-Kate Olsen (Weeds) and Jane Adams (Happiness) as the spaciest of Luke's spacey customers. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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Duckman: Seasons Three and Four (1996-1997)
dir. n/a

I'm glad to see they didn't take forever to release the rest of this criminally underrated animated series. You can get all four seasons for under $60!

Product Decsription:
He's a foulmouthed mallard with a license to be a dick--Duckman (voiced by Jason Alexander) is a private detective with a chip on his shoulder, a family on his back, and a nonexistent work ethic. This cult animated series follows the sex-crazed duck as he rails against the Universe and gets in a succession of off-color adventures in the detective biz. Pushing the envelope years before SOUTH PARK and FAMILY GUY hit the airwaves, the adult cartoon's third and fourth seasons are assembled in this collection.

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Ping Pong Playa (2007)
dir. Jessica Yu

The trailer for this movie made me cringe, but supposedly it's not too bad.

Product Decsription:
Jessica Yu's Ping Pong Playa is that rare film unlikely to appeal to a director's usual fan base. Best known as a documentary filmmaker, her first feature targets a completely different audience. In it, co-writer/production accountant Jimmy Tsai plays Christopher "C-dub" Wang, a Los Angeles-based, basketball-obsessed, Chinese-American slacker. Chris shares his enthusiasm for urban culture with African-American best friend J.P. Money (Khary Payton). J.P., in turn, has been taking Chinese-language lessons, so the cultural exchange doesn't just run one way. Unfortunately for Chris, his family lives for ping-pong, a pursuit in which he has little interest. When his mother (Elizabeth Sung, The Joy Luck Club) and brother, Michael (Roger Fan, Better Luck Tomorrow), are injured in a minor traffic accident, however, they recruit him to help run their supply store and to teach table tennis at the local community center. Since Chris has just lost a gig hawking cell phones at the mall, he's in no position to decline. Along with some Asian-American youngsters, both Chinese and East Asian, who hunger for a cool role model, Chris changes from the world's laziest human being into something that almost resembles a respectable member of society. With its antic humor and underage hijinks, Yu's self-proclaimed popcorn comedy offers more mainstream appeal than her inventive documentaries In the Realms of the Unreal and Protagonist (she won the Oscar for non-fiction short Breathing Lessons). If the loud-mouthed Chris can be fairly off-putting at first, her affectionate representation of his multicultural world rings true. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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Hard Gun (1994)
dir. Panna Rittikrai

I guess the original title of this movie is Plook mun kuen ma kah 4, or Spirited Killer in the US. The reason I'm guessing is because there is absolutely no mention of the title "HARD GUN" anywhere on IMDB, so by process of elimination, I guess this is the one. Don't expect another ONG BAK or TOM YUM GOONG (The Protector) since this was made years before those.

Product Decsription:
Martial Arts superstar Tony Jaa (Spirited Killer, The Protector, Ong Bak) costars with his mentor and trainer Panna Rittikrai in this non-stop action assault on your senses. In an a-typical role for Jaa, Tony plays the villian, along with Rittikrai, being hunted down by police after pulling a robbery.

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Blind Mountain (2007)
dir. Li Yang

Product Decsription:
Li Yang, the award-winning Blind Shaft director and (master of cinematic tension - Screen International), raises the stakes in Blind Mountain, a (resolutely tough minded, beautifully crafted film - LA Times) of uncompromising intensity. In rural early 90 s China, Bai (Lu Huang), a pretty and enterprising college student, travels to a remote, mist shrouded mountain village in the company of a pair of affable strangers. But what Bai thought was an expedition to gather herbs for resale turns into a (true crime shocker - NY Times) when her fellow travelers sell her into slavery. This can t be happening!, Bai screams on awakening from a drugged stupor to find herself (married) to a middle-aged pig farmer, and her freedom, identity, and dignity stolen. Yang s (hard-to-shake drama - NY Times) depicts Bai s horrific ordeal with both gravity and the kind of (stunningly realistic - New Yorker) detail that emphasizes the authenticity of the all too common predicament that she fights to escape. Contrasting the exotic beauty of its locale and a (very fine lead turn by Lu Huang - Time Out London) with the cruelty of a system that tolerates human trafficking and a community that thrives on it, Blind Mountain premiered to (a thunderclap of applause and cheers from the audience - Time) at the Cannes Film Festival.

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The Grocer's Son (2007)
dir. Eric Guirado

Product Decsription:
It is summer, and thirty-year-old Antoine is forced to leave the city to return to his family in Provençe. His father is sick, so he must assume the lifestyle he thought he had shed driving the family grocery cart from hamlet to hamlet, delivering supplies to the few remaining inhabitants. Accompanied by Claire, a friend from Paris whom he has a secret crush on, Antoine gradually warms up to his experience in the country and his encounters with the villagers, who initially seem stubborn and gruff, but ultimately prove to be funny and endearing. In the end, this surprise French box-office hit is about the coming-of-age of a man re-discovering life and love in the countryside.

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The Alphabet Killer (2007)
dir. Rob Schmidt

Product Decsription:
A ten year old girl is found brutally murdered outside the small blue-collar city of Rochester, New York, and obsessed police detective Megan Paige (Eliza Dushku of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and DOLLHOUSE) suffers a mental breakdown while trying to solve the crime. But when the child-killings resume two years later, Megan’s return to the investigation also brings back her own horrific hallucinations. Even if she can prove a ‘double initial’ connection to the slayings, will she hang onto her sanity long enough to catch a psychopath? Cary Elwes (SAW), Michael Ironside (STARSHIP TROOPERS), Bill Moseley (THE DEVIL’S REJECTS), Carl Lumbly (ALIAS) and Academy Award® winner Timothy Hutton co-star in this chilling thriller directed by Rob Schmidt.

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Opium and Kung Fu Master (1984)
dir. Tang Chia

Ton of Shaw Bros. releases today, although this and Life Gamble are probably the last releases that BCI Eclipse will see, since Navarre recently announced that "BCI Eclipse Company, its wholly-owned subsidiary, will shut down its licensing operations in connection with the implementation of a restructuring plan." Always sucks to see another small label bite the dust. Read about it here.

Product Decsription:
Tang Chia is considered one of the greatest kung-fu choreographers ever. He directed three movies on his own and his last, is not only his greatest, but one of the greatest ever. Ti Lung, in one of his finest performances, stars Tieh Chiao-san, head of the Ten Kwangtung Tigers, who falls victim to opium, the drug which crippled China. The tragedies and drama that ensue are as stunning as the kung-fu, created by a superlative team of six martial artists. It leads to a truly unforgettable climax, as a trembling Tieh, still weak from going cold turkey, must face the gangsters who have ruined his town while he was addicted. A legitimate masterpiece and one of the finest, most effecting martial arts movies Shaw Brothers ever produced. Also starring Chen Kuan-Tai (Heroes Two) and Phillip Ko Fei (Enter the Dragon).

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Life Gamble (1979)
dir. Chang Cheh

Product Decsription:
For the film LIFE GAMBLE, Legendary director Chang Cheh teamed his latest star, Alexander Fu Sheng (THE BRAVE ARCHER), with some new talent - a Taiwanese Opera artist (Kuo Chue) and a powerful Chinese muscleman (Lo Meng). These two new talents would become the foundation for his internationally popular Venom series including the classic film THE FIVE VENOMS. Teaming the trio with the top supporting actors (Ku Feng and Wang Lung-wei) and the prettiest starlets (Lin Chen-chi, Shirley Yu, and Hui Ying-hung), LIFE GAMBLE is an entertaining and exciting tale of a kung-fu blacksmith taking on four famous robbers while a villainous gambling boss plots to destroy them. The film would be another classic film in the distinguished career of the greatest martial arts directors ever!

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Sword Masters: The Battle Wizard (1977)
dir. Pao Hsueh

Product Decsription:
Based on Chin Yung s novel The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, a brother, Tuan Yu, who loves books and a sister, Mu Wan-Ching, who loves swords must face the yellow-robed warrior, the Red Python, a sinuous snake-charmer and a silk-masked beauty (who must kill or wed the first man to see her face) before they can bring peace to their battle-addled family. Danny Lee (John Woo s The Killer) stars as Tuan Yu, while the striking Tanny Tien Ni, plays Mu Wan-Ching, in this familial fight fest. Choreographed by Tang Chia and Huang Pei-Chi and directed by Pao Hsueh-li, trusted co-director for several of Chang Cheh s most memorable productions including The Water Margin, The Battle Wizard is kung-fu action and pure entertainment!

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The Lizard (1972)
dir. Yuen Chor

Product Decsription:
THE LIZARD takes the classic Robin Hood story and gives it a kung fu twist: the hero not only robs the rich to give to the poor, he's also a formidable martial arts expert. Produced by the Shaw Brothers in 1972, this flying-fist fairy tale is packed with corrupt cops, chase scenes, and plenty of carefully choreographed combat. This release features a rare English-dubbed version in addition to the subtitled Chinese version.

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RoosterFlix DVD Picks for December 30th

UGH. Another horribly slow week. Hopefully the start of 2009 will pick things up a bit.

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Towelhead (2007)
dir. Alan Ball

Alan Ball's most recent show on HBO, True Blood, lost my interest within the first two episodes...however, I really love some of his past work like American Beauty and Six Feet Under. I haven't seen this yet, but I'll probably watch it soon.

Product Decsription:
Haunting and moving, Alan Ball's directorial debut, Towelhead, settles around the viewer for hours, days, afterward, as its delicate layers unfold. Ball, the screenwriter of American Beauty and the creator of HBO's splendid Six Feet Under, revisits some familiar territory here, yet bestows grace upon even his most flawed characters. The film follows the life of 13-year-old Jasira (Summer Bishil), quiet and compliant, who's shuttled between an uncaring American-born mom and a strict, bigoted Lebanese-American dad (Peter Macdissi). When she goes to Houston to live with her father, Jasira starts babysitting for a bratty neighbor kid, whose dad (Aaron Eckhart) takes an unnatural interest in the girl. A new classmate, Tommy, also desires the eighth grader, and one begins to feel Jasira's whole world is a predatory nightmare. Yet the film, while uncomfortable at times to watch, manages to provoke without appalling. Young Jasira is exploring her own sexual awakening, secretly (with echoes of American Beauty), and so desires adult attention that she tiptoes into a flirtation with Eckhart's character, Mr. Vuoso--who is undeniably creepy, yet Eckhart's performance gives Vuoso a begrudging sympathy, no small feat. It's the film's achievement that characters the viewer should be repulsed by--the harsh, overbearing dad; the pervy Mr. Vuoso--have more than a shred of humanity. And luckily for young Jasira, another neighbor, played by Toni Collette, takes her under her wing--and there's almost a palpable sigh of relief when she does. And the script is shot through with humor, which doesn't exactly leaven the intense subject matter, but provides some lightness. When Jasira gets her first period, uptight dad takes her shopping for sanitary pads (no! tampons! ever!), and in the harsh light of the drugstore asks the mortified girl, "Would you describe your situation as Light, Medium, or Heavy?" Bishil is a lovely new discovery, like Thora Birch or Wes Bentley of Beauty, and stays true to herself while the adults around her--with the exception of Collette's Melina--let her down, or worse. The cinematography, draped in shadows, underscores Jasira's unstated plea: See me. Notice me. Care about me. --A.T. Hurley

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An American Carol (2008)
dir. David Zucker

This looks like hot fucking garbage, but Zucker has written & directed some of my all-time favorite comedies. No, not Scary Movie 3 & 4.

Product Decsription:
From David Zucker, the director of The Naked Gun and Airplane! comes a bare-knuckle comedy where no one is safe from the onslaught of lunacy. When obnoxious Hollywood director Michael Malone organizes a Ban the 4th of July campaign, his efforts are upended by a gang of spirits from America s past. Zucker roasts a herd of sacred cows in this latest parody featuring an all-star cast.

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Hellbound: Hellraiser II - 20th Anniversary Edition (1988)
dir. Tony Randel

Product Decsription:
In 1988, it emerged as the shocking follow-up to the film that redefined the face of horror. Two decades later, it remains the most brutally original sequel in horror film history. Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence and Kenneth Cranham co-star in this hit sequel from executive producer Clive Barker that experiences the flesh like no other. The time to play has come again: Surrender yourself to the infernal labyrinth of hellbound: Hellraiser II – The 20th Anniversary Edition.

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The Brave Archer (1978)
dir. Chang Cheh

Product Decsription:
Starring Alexander Fu Sheng stars as hero Guo Jing and Tanny Tian as Huang Rong adventures before their planned marriage. With old feuds and new allies, this is one of the most beloved stories written by Jin Yong and considered one of the most important in Chinese modern literature. Alexander Fu, who was a rising star and beloved actor of Cheng at the time, was tragically killed in a car crash aged 29, and this film captured his amazing star quality before his untimely death.

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Surfer, Dude (2008)
dir. S.R. Bindler

Matthew McConaughey IS Matthew McConaughey IN a Matthew McConaughey production OF Matthew McConaughey: The Movie

Product Decsription:
It’s hard to say just what the target audience for Surfer, Dude is. Maybe surfers--except that since the storyline involves one of the longest big wave droughts in Malibu history, there’s actually precious little surfing to be seen. Probably stoners--not only does the cast include noted herbivores Willie Nelson and Woody Harrelson, but many of the rest of the actors are rarely, if ever, seen without a joint dangling from their mouths. Definitely Matthew McConaughey fans, especially the female kind--as pro surfer icon Steve Addington, McConaughey spends approximately 99% of the movie shirtless. Slight but entertaining, director/co-writer S.R. Bindler’s film finds Addington returning to SoCal following a six-month surfing tour of the world. He soon finds out that things have changed. He still has his manager (Harrelson), but smarmy new sponsor Eddie Zarno (Jeffrey Nordling) wants Steve to appear in a reality TV show and be the model for “Free Surfer,” Zarno’s new “first person immersion video game.” But Steve’s not into it, brah. All he wants to do is surf, get high, and chase women, but when the former dries up for months on end, he decides to forego the other two until the waves return. Meanwhile, the dastardly Zarno re-edits some interview footage to make Addington look bad, whereupon Zarno’s cute East Coast assistant (Alexie Gilmore) quits and takes up with Steve, who plots (sort of) his revenge against the bad guy. It’s all pretty flimsy, occasionally amusing, filled with soft-core female nudity and, you know, like, stoked. --Sam Graham

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Internet Dating (2008)
dir. Master P

I'd probably go crazy too if I was at a point in my career where I was starring in movies directed by Master P.

Product Decsription:
Lonely and looking for some action, Mikey (Williams) creates an internet dating profile, describing himself as a 7 foot tall Lakers player. The ladies love him online, but they get a rude awakening when a 5 foot tall, broke, burger flipping, bicycle riding Mikey shows up at their front doors. And are the girls anything like they say they are?
All he wanted was to meet the right girl. What he got was an online roller coaster.

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