RoosterFlix DVD Picks for August 5th

talk about your slow weeks. This is ridiculous.


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The Counterfeiters (2008)
dir. Stefan Ruzowitzky

EDIT::: It recently came to my attention that I am retarded. I got my years mixed up and it was actually The Lives of Others that beat Pan's Labyrinth for Best Foreign Language Film, not The Counterfeiters.

Almost 2 years ago now, Pan's Labyrinth was raking in the Oscars, winning damn near every category it was nominated in. Then came Best Foreign Language Film, a category in which everyone though Pan's was a shoe-in, only to be punched in the mouth by The Counterfeiters. I haven't seen it, so I can't say whether or not it was deserving, but considering I thought Pan's Labyrinth was probably the best movie of 2006 (foreign or otherwise), I'm going to have to watch this very soon.

Product Decsription:
A deft blend of suspense and docudrama, Stefan Ruzowitzky's sixth feature focuses on history's largest counterfeiting operation. Before World War II breaks out, Salomon Sorowitsch (the compact yet steely Karl Markovics), a Russian-born Jew, lives the good life in Berlin. He forges documents, like passports and banknotes, and sketches beautiful women to the romantic strains of tango records. Sorowitsch's dolce vita comes to an end when he's sent to Mauthausen concentration camp. Once Reich officials decide to deploy imprisoned printers, craftsmen, and bank officials to counterfeit foreign currency, they draft Sorowitsch for "Operation Bernhard" and ship him to Sachsenhausen. Though he and his colleagues receive preferential treatment, the threat of execution hangs over their heads at all times. First, they master the pound; then they tackle the American dollar. At this point, communist co-worker Adolf Burger (The Ninth Day's excellent August Diehl) suggests sabotage. As he explains, they're extending the conflict and increasing the death toll, but the entire team will suffer if they fail, even their SS supervisor, Freidrich Herzog (Downfall's Devid Striesow), whose career depends on it. As Jews, however, they stand to lose more than their jobs. Based on Burger's book The Devil's Workshop, Austria's Ruzowitzky (Anatomy) sheds a compassionate light on the guilt and complicity of survivors. Though The Counterfeiters plays more like a prison camp movie than a Holocaust drama--Stalag 17 comes to mind--that doesn't make it any less significant, just less wrenching than some of its counterparts.

DVD Features:
Adolf Burger's Historical Artifacts
Audio Commentary With Director Stefan Ruzowitzky
Audio: German, French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Deleted Scenes
Dubbed: French
Featurette: The Making Of The Counterfeiters
Interactive Menus
Interviews With Real-Life Counterfeiter Adolf Burger, Actor Karl Markovics & Director Stefan Ruzowitzky
Q&A With Stefan Ruzowitzky
Scene Selection
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
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Joy House (Les Felins) (1964)
dir. René Clément

Seems like a title that Criterion might have released, although they have only released one of Clement's films (Forbidden Games). Alain Delon is great in everything, and '64 Jane Fonda seems like a great match.

Product Decsription:
A small-time con man on the run from the gangster husband of his girlfriend hides out in a strange brooding mansion run by two mysterious women. There he finds himself trapped in deception between the two women. A lush decadent thriller featuring beautiful French Riviera settings.

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The Executioner's Song (Director's Cut) (1982)
dir. Lawrence Schiller

Product Decsription:
Based on the true story of murderer Gary Mark Gilmore spanning the last nine months of his life (May 1976-January 1977) in which at age 35 after being released for serving a long prison term in Utah for armed robbery the unstable Gilmore murdered two men in two seperate and senseless robberies in which after a brief public trial in October he was sentenced to death by firing squad which drew a lot of media attention when Gilmore insisted that his execution be carried out and he became the first man to be executed in the USA since the government reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

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Get Smart - Season 1 (1965)
dir. n/a

Product Decsription:
In this lighthearted spoof of the spy genre, Don Adams played Maxwell Smart, a secret agent who was anything but. Under the guidance of his long-suffering Chief (Edward C. Platt), and catty partner Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon), Smart spent the show bumbling his way through the conspiracies of KAOS and saving the day despite himself. Created by Mel Brooks (THE PRODUCERS) and Buck Henry (THE GRADUATE), the series was marked by the pair's shrewd satire, wonderful sense of the absurd, and vaudevillian dialogue. The show's trapdoor telephone booth, phone shoe, and brassy theme song remain indelible pieces of classic television. This collection presents GET SMART's complete first season.

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Code Monkeys: Season 1 (2007)
dir. Adam de la Peña

This show isn't that great, but one thing I do think is great about it are all the subtle things happening on the edges of the picture, in the animation, in the cut scenes, etc. But yeah, this show isn't very good.

Product Decsription:
Grab your joystick and press start for G4 s smash hit comedy of 8 bit proportions! Set in the 1980s at the dawn of the home computer era, Code Monkeys revolves around the video game company GameAvision and its two star programmers, Dave and Jerry. Together these two best-bud slackers are destined for dysfunctional greatness. From Adam de la Peña, the twisted mind behind Comedy Centrals I'm With Busey and creator of Adult Swims Minoriteam comes a new animated series that Wired magazine hails as veering into the wildly surreal.

DVD Features:
A Look Behind the Scenes of Code Monkeys
Code Monkeys Daily Pranks
Original Barfight and Crosswalk Game Promos
Camera Tests
Gaming Tips From G4 s Kristin Holt
Original GameAvision Games
Downloadable Wallpapers and Posters
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Nim's Island (2008)
dir. Jennifer Flackett, Mark Levin

Before 300 was released in theaters, I was always saying how I thought Gerard Butler was really going to become a big name in Hollywood. WHOOPS. Maybe RocknRolla will do OK?

Product Decsription:
Adventure doesn't always begin with pirates on the high seas or explorers deep in the desert; sometimes it starts with an idyllic life on a private island in the middle of the South Asiatic Sea. For 11-year old Nim (Abigail Breslin) and her father and microbiologist Jack Russo (Gerard Butler), life is perfect thanks to their love of nature, Jack's mechanical ingenuity, and regular deliveries via supply ship. Loneliness is never an issue for Nim because of her special friendships with Selkie the sea lion, Galileo the pelican, and Freddie the iguana and her education is intensive, if rather unique. Adventure and imagination are ways of life for Nim whether she's heading out to sea to help her father collect plankton specimens, playing soccer on the beach with Selkie, or delving into the latest Alex Rover adventure novel, but everything changes when Jack departs on the boat for a two-night expedition to collect plankton specimens and gets caught in an unexpected storm. Alone on the island, Nim begins to worry about her father's safety as well as her own and, through a chance email, connects with Alex Rover (Jodie Foster) whom she begs to come help find her father. Problem is, author Alexandra Rover is an unbalanced big city shut-in who's afraid to leave her townhouse, not the fearless adventure hero portrayed in her books. Nim, Alexandra, and Jack embark upon the adventures of a lifetime in which each must overcome his or her own fears and perceived powerlessness and limitations in order to grow and help one another. The question is; can each prevail against his or her own insecurities and the fury of nature? Based on the novel Nim's Island by Wendy Orr, Nim's Island is first and foremost a captivating adventure full of suspense and peril which also offers a touching look at the love between a father and daughter. (Ages 7 and older) --Tami Horiuchi

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Wasted (2007)
dir. Matt Oates

Product Decsription:
Eddie Kaye Thomas (Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay), Kip Pardue (The Wizard of Gore, Thirteen) and Josh Cooke (TVs Big Day and Committed) star as twenty-something pals circa 1996 who revisit their small-town roots to attend the funeral of their high school friend Bender. The guys spend a wild weekend reminiscing over football, booze and babes while struggling with one buddy s self-destructive lifestyle, another s seemingly perfect life and the other s humiliating insecurities. Hilariously funny yet genuinely thought-provoking, Wasted is a 90 s alt-rock reminder that sometimes the hardest part of growing up is having to let go.

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Love Story (2007)
dir. Chris Hall and Mike Kerry

There's next to nothing available about this band in terms of biographies and the like, so if you're into Love, you might be interested in this.

Product Decsription:
After Arthur Lee's release from prison and his subsequent touring for the Forever Changes album which produced the 2005 DVD, The Forever Changes Concert, Love fans finally had some footage documenting the late Lee's effervescent performances as lead singer and songwriter of this great pop band. Previously, only secondhand biographies, such as Andrew Hulktrans' well-written book, attempted to piece together Love's intrigue and disintegration. But long have we craved vintage film evidence of this Los Angeles group's ascension from the Hollywood hippie underground. Love Story is a fabulous documentary tracing every detail of Love's formation and the release of each album. Spliced with ample vintage film clips, it is organized chronologically, beginning with the stories of Arthur Lee and Johnny Echols meeting in high school told from their perspectives. Infamous for their disagreements and Lee's notoriously difficult personality, Love Story explains from each band member's point of view, what happened to this band slated to become the next Doors or Byrds. Love Story is engaging and quite hilarious. History told by band members interviewed independently of one another makes for wild variation. Bryan Maclean candidly discusses his struggles for recognition, while other band mates, Echols, Snoopy Pfisterer, and Michael Stuart reveal what occurred behind the scenes. Of course, most entertaining throughout is Arthur Lee starring himself. In a never ending array of hats, bandanas, and shades, he cruises the filmmakers Chris Hall and Mike Kerry around his home turf by car, pointing out where he went to school, where the band used to live, and the spaces where clubs they played once thrived. As cliché as it may sound, Love Story really is indispensable for any Love fanatic. --Trinie Dalton

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Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers 20th Anniversary Edition (1988)
dir. Fred Olen Ray

We needed this.

Product Decsription:
Jack Chandler is a private eye tracking down Samantha the runaway. In his travels, he comes across a gang of chainsaw weilding prostitutes that like to carve people up for their cult.

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