Library

Languages: English, German, French

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Taut and gripping, "U-571" follows the exploits of a fictional team of World War II U.S. submariners who undertake a secret mission to capture a German Enigma machine to decode German documents. Writer-director Jonathan Mostow ("Breakdown") tells an intense, economical tale, reminiscent of the best classic war films, while infusing it with modern sentiments.
Spring 1942: A crew of young submarine sailors are on a much-needed 48-hour liberty when they're suddenly called together and engaged in an expedition. At the helm are Lieutenant Commander Mike Dahlgren (Bill Paxton), Lieutenant Andrew Tyler (Matthew McConaughey), and Chief Klough (Harvey Keitel). Other pivotal crew members include Tyler's Annapolis pal Lieutenant Pete Emmett (Jon Bon Jovi, proving his acting mettle) and Lieutenant Hirsch (Jake Weber), who, along with Marine Major Coonan (David Keith), organizes the mission. As much of the movie takes place in a submarine during WWII, there are inevitable comparisons with the technical masterpiece "Das Boot", but Mostow's masterfully shot tale can hold its own.
McConaughey's Tyler is believably earnest as he comes to grips with the reality, tragedy, and consequence of being in command. While this explosion-filled film consistently maintains its tense pace (as did the underrated "Breakdown"), it also presents with surprising restraint a genuine human story--and the remarkable journey of an unexpected hero. "--N.F. Mendoza"

Languages: English

Sound: Dolby

Summary: The definitive 7-disc DVD set The Ultimate Matrix Collection features all three films in the trilogy together for the first time ever with a newly remastered picture and sound for The Matrix. Also included is the companion piece The Matrix Revisited and the best-selling The Animatrix plus five entirely new DVDs packed solid with brand-new supplemental materials that encompass every aspect of the Matrix universe including two new audio commentaries on each film Enter the Matrix video game footage 106 deep-delving featurettes/ documentaries and much more!Format: BLU-RAY DISC Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY/FANTASY UPC: 085391167921 Manufacturer No: 1000025732

Languages: English, French

Subtitles: Chinese, English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: As an overdose of eye candy, "Ultraviolet" can be marginally recommended as the second-half of a double-feature with "Aeon Flux". Both films are disposable adolescent fantasies featuring a butt-kicking babe (in this case, the svelte and sexy Milla Jovovich) in a dystopian future, and both specialize in the kind of barely-coherent, video-game storytelling that's constantly overwhelmed by an over-abundance of low-budget CGI. Director Kurt Wimmer fared much better with his earlier film "Equilibrium", but he's trying for a lively comic-book vibe here (beginning with "Hulk"-like opening credits) with a digitally enhanced, "Tron"-like color palette. It largely suits this late-21st century story of a "blood war" between the ultra-violent Violet (Jovovich), member of a vampire-like group of resistance fighters infected with a man-made virus called the Hemophage, and the human Vice Cardinal Daxus (Nick Chinlund), who's determined to eliminate Violet's kind once and for all. Wimmer takes all of this way too seriously, crafting a plot involving Violet's rescue of a human clone boy (Cameron Bright) that's intended as an homage to John Cassevetes' 1980 drama "Gloria", but Wimmer's good intentions are mostly lost in a repetitive series of chaotically choreographed fight scenes, mostly involving the tight-bodied Jovovich wiping out dozens of armor-clad enemies. It's all too numbingly hectic to qualify as a satisfying movie, but sci-fi buffs should give it a look anyway, if only to see how locations in Shanghai and Hong Kong contribute to the film's futuristic design."--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English

Sound: Dolby

Summary: When "Unbreakable" was released, Bruce Willis confirmed that the film was the first in a proposed trilogy. Viewed in that context, this is a tantalizing and audaciously low-key thriller, with a plot that twists in several intriguing and unexpected directions. Standing alone, however, this somber, deliberately paced film requires patient leaps of faith--not altogether surprising, since this is writer-director M. Night Shyamalan's daring follow-up to "The Sixth Sense". While just as assured as that earlier, phenomenal hit, "Unbreakable" is the work of a filmmaker whose skill exceeds his maturity, its confident style serving a story that borders on juvenile. However, Shyamalan's basic premise--that comic books are the primary conduit of modern mythology--is handled with substantial relevance.
Willis plays a Philadelphia security guard whose marriage is on the verge of failing when he becomes the sole, unscathed survivor of a devastating train wreck. When prompted by a mysterious, brittle-boned connoisseur of comic books (Samuel L. Jackson), he realizes that he's been free of illness and injury his entire life, lending credence to Jackson's theory that superheroes--and villains--exist in reality, and that Willis himself possesses extraordinary powers. Shyamalan presents these revelations with matter-of-fact gravity, and he draws performances (including those of Robin Wright Penn and Spencer Treat Clark, as Willis's wife and son) that are uniformly superb. The film's climactic revelation may strike some as ultimately silly and trivial, but if you're on Shyamalan's wavelength, the entire film will assume a greater degree of success and achievement. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Steven Seagal can consider himself lucky if he ever makes a better movie than this one, which was appropriately dubbed ""Die Hard" on a battleship" when released in 1992. Seagal handles the heroic duties with his usual wooden efficiency, but the movie's greatest assets are a punchy script and the scene-stealing performances of Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey. The two play leaders of a terrorist group who take over the venerable battleship USS Missouri during its final commissioned voyage. They're crazed psychotics who seize control of the ship's nuclear arsenal, but they don't know that Seagal--as the ship's cook, no less--is a former Navy hero, lurking in the shadows and waiting to spoil their nefarious scheme. Director Andrew Davis ("The Fugitive") helms the action with skillful style, and as the cheesecake stripper who proves handy with a hand grenade, Playboy Playmate-turned-actress Erika Eleniak gives Seagal another reason to strut his macho stuff. "Under Siege" is hormonal hokum for gun-happy viewers, but as action movies go, this one's a definite guilty pleasure. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English

Summary: The success of"Under Siege" made a sequel mandatory according to Hollywood's rules of maximum revenue, and as sequels go, this one's not half bad. Steven Seagal returns as former Navy SEAL and skilled chef Casey Ryback, who's trying to spend quality time with his niece on a cross-country train trip. But as luck and action-movie formulas would have it, the train has been hijacked by a demented genius (Eric Bogosian) who is using the train as a moving platform to seize computerized control of a top-secret U.S. satellite that is capable of causing earthquakes from space. Seagal has to stop the train or the villain (whichever comes first), and the action is fast and furious on its way to a high-speed climax. He's not as wacky as Tommy Lee Jones in the first "Under Siege", but Bogosian has got a delirious quality that serves the comic-book plot, and action fans get more than their fill of dazzling stunts and special effects. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Comments: An immortal battle for supremacy.

Summary: For centuries Selene, a beautiful vampire warrior, is entrenched in a war between the vampire and werewolf races. She discovers a Lycan plot to kidnap a young human doctor. After shadowing Michael through the city, she forms an unprecedented bond with him, and when the Lycans make their next move, Selene is there to fend off their vicious assault. As she races to save Michael and unravel the Lycan intrigue surrounding him, Selene discovers a secret that has terrifying repercussions for both tribes--a nefarious plan to awaken a new invincible species of predator that combines the strengths of both creatures and the weaknesses of neither, which threatens to tip the balance of power in favor of the werewolves, who have been on the losing end of the struggle for centuries.

Languages: English, French, Hungarian

Sound: SDDS

Summary: Better action, a bit of sex, and gorier R-rated violence make "Underworld: Evolution" a reasonably satisfying sequel to 2003's surprise hit "Underworld". Looking stunning as ever in her black leather battle gear, Kate Beckinsale is every goth guy's fantasy as Selene, the vampire "death dealer" who's now fighting to stop the release of the original "Lycan" werewolf, William (Brian Steele) from the prison that's held him for centuries. As we learn from the film's action-packed prologue, William and his brother Marcus (Tony Curran) began the bloodline of vampires and werewolves, and after witnessing centuries of warfare between them, their immortal father Corvinus (Derek Jacobi) now seeks Selene and the human vampire/lycan hybrid Michael (Scott Speedman) to put an end to the war perpetuated by Victor (Bill Nighy), the vampire warrior whose betrayal of Selene turns Underworld: Evolution into an epic tale of familial revenge. This ambitious attempt at Shakespearean horror is compromised by a script (by Danny McBride and returning director Len Wiseman, Beckinsale's real-life husband) that's more confusing than it needs to be, with too many characters and not enough storytelling detail to flesh them all out. Aspiring to greatness and falling well short of that goal, "Underworld: Evolution" succeeds instead as a full-throttle action/horror thriller, with enough swordplay, gunplay, and CGI monsters to justify the continuation of the Underworld franchise. If you're an established fan, this is a must-see movie; if not, well... at least it's better than "Van Helsing". "--Jeff Shannon"
On the DVD
The features of the "Underworld: Evolution" DVD are pretty similar to the first "Underworld" DVD. Director Len Wiseman and his technical team combine for a commentary track that discusses how they "cheated" on Kate Beckinsale's action sequences, how they reused backgrounds from the first film to save money, and the difficulty of filming a love scene involving the director's wife. Over an hour of featurettes cover the story and the casting, visual effects (CGI, props, and miniatures), stunts, production design, music, and sound effects. Wiseman also mentions in his commentary that there are more bits and pieces of the story to reveal "if an extended edition [comes] out." Considering Underworld was released four times on DVD, another release of "Underworld: Evolution" would seem to be almost a foregone conclusion. "--David Horiuchi"
DVD Features:
* Available Subtitles: English, French
* Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1)
* Commentary by: director Len Wiseman, production designer Patrick Tatopoulos, second-unit director and stunt coordinator Brad Martin, and editor Nick De TothUnknown Format
* The Hybrid Theory: visual effects
* The War Rages On: stunts
* Bloodlines: From Script to Screen: making-of
* Making Monsters Roar: creatures
* Building a Saga: production design
* Music and Mayhem: music and sound design
* Music video: "Her Portrait in Black" by Atreyu

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Winner of four Academy Awards, including best picture, director, supporting actor, and best editing, Clint Eastwood's 1992 masterpiece stands as one of the greatest and most thematically compelling Westerns ever made. "The movie summarized everything I feel about the Western," said Eastwood at the time of the film's release. "The moral is the concern with gunplay." To illustrate that theme, Eastwood stars as a retired, once-ruthless killer-turned-gentle-widower and hog farmer. He accepts one last bounty-hunter mission--to find the men who brutalized a prostitute--to help support his two motherless children. Joined by his former partner (Morgan Freeman) and a cocky greenhorn (Jaimz Woolvett), he takes on a corrupt sheriff (Oscar winner Gene Hackman) in a showdown that makes the viewer feel the full impact of violence and its corruption of the soul. Dedicated to Eastwood's mentors Sergio Leone and Don Siegel and featuring a colorful role for Richard Harris, it's arguably Eastwood's crowning directorial achievement. The digital video disc offers standard and widescreen formats and a remastered soundtrack. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English

Sound: DTS

Comments: A cyber killer has finally found the perfect accomplice: You.

Summary: "Untraceable" fuses "Saw" with "The Net" in a perverse yet moralistic story about a psychopath who broadcasts acts of torture over the internet--all to better reveal the twisted underbelly of the American public, who hasten the victims' deaths simply by looking at the website. FBI agent Jennifer Marsh (Diane Lane, her mature-sexy mojo tamped down but still simmering in the corners of her eyes and the nape of her neck) launches a cyberhunt for the killer, only to find herself and her team caught up in his murderous scheme. It's hard to make tapping on a keyboard and staring at a computer screen exciting, but Untraceable does its best by making Marsh and her cybercrimebusting partner (Colin Hanks, King Kong) rattle off cascades of jaunty techno-jargon and do impressive bits of long-distance surveillance. The movie aims for the audience that flocked to see Ashley Judd in thrillers like "Kiss the Girls" and "Double Jeopardy", but it's hard to say if fans of Lane's romantic fare like "Under the Tuscan Sun" or "Must Like Dogs" will enjoy the queasy violence. Nonetheless, the cast--including Mary Beth Hurt ("The World According to Garp") as Marsh's mother--does a solid job and the movie clips along at an aggressive pace, maintaining tension throughout. "--Bret Fetzer"