When two banished angels find a loophole that will allow them back into heaven at the cost of humankind an unsuspecting mortal woman two prophets and the thirteenth apostle are the only ones who can stop them. Special features: subtitles in english spanish and french talent files and murch more. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/22/2008 Starring: Ben Affleck Matt Damon Run time: 130 minutes Rating: R Director: Kevin Smith
Subtle is not the word to describe Drop Dead Gorgeous, a mock documentary purporting to cover the Sarah Rose Cosmetics Teen America Beauty Pageant in Mount Rose, Minnesota. Ellen Barkin (Sea of Love) and Kirsten Dunst (Interview with a Vampire, Dick) are perfectly cast as a mother and daughter whose only ambition is to use the pageant to get out of their claustrophobic small-town lives. Opposing them are Denise Richards (Wild Things, Starship Troopers) and her mother, Kirstie Alley (Look Who's Talking), who just happens to be the pageant's organizer. The plot, which centers on contestants being murdered (mostly by flaming explosions), is clearly secondary to the backstage shenanigans and satirical portrayals of vanity, small-town corruption, and family dysfunction. There's not much suspense to the pageant itself, but Dunst is an endearing protagonist and along with the broad jokes are some excellent acting turns from the cast, particularly Barkin, Brittany Murphy (Clueless), Nora Dunn (a Saturday Night Live alumna), and the great character actress Allison Janney, who's played small roles in countless movies but finally gets a chance to shine as the supportive neighbor of Barkin and Dunst. In fact, for all the jokes and satirical jabs, in the end it's the characters' relationships that stay in your mind. A bonus: the soundtrack features a hard-rocking version of the theme from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, performed with cool aplomb by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Bret Fetzer
This is where is the Lynchian nightmare began. Though he may have redefined surrealistic cinema in the 1980s and forever altered the face of television in the 90s, for many hardcore fans it is this infamous feature film debut that is David Lynch's crowning achievement. Many words have been used to describe Eraserhead (weird, bizarre, frustrating, enlightening, significant, unwatchable, meaningless, and momentous), but there is no denying it is completely unforgettable. As a surreal work of art, Eraserhead easily holds it own next to the works as Buñuel, Cocteau, and Dali. And like many surrealistic works, there is no clear answer on what Eraserhead "means." But, if you are trying to find a simple, linear, plot in Eraserhead, you are clearly missing the point. For Eraserhead is not simply a movie to view, but a true cinematic experience, like jumping into someone's nightmare and seeing it from their perspective. Whether you see it as a meditation on the terror of being a new parent, the suffocating feeling of living in an increasingly vapid, industrial wasteland, or a nightmare about the fear of loneliness, the film easily holds up to multiple viewings. And since this film is a dark visual ride and a supreme aural achievement, this long awaited, new transfer is an absolute blessing for David Lynch fans who will finally get to see, hear and experience Eraserhead clearly on DVD. Bizarre experiment? Surrealistic nightmare? Or a meaningless cult film? You be the judge. Rob Bracco
Studio: Wea-des Moines Video Release Date: 05/23/2006 Run time: 180 minutes
Groundbreaking on several counts, not the least of which was an innovative use of animation and stereophonic sound, this ambitious Disney feature has lost nothing to time since its release in 1940. Classical music was interpreted by Disney animators, resulting in surreal fantasy and playful escapism. Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra provided the music for eight segments by the composers Tchaikovsky, Moussorgsky, Stravinsky, Beethoven, Ponchielli, Bach, Dukas, and Schubert. Not all the sequences were created equally, but a few are simply glorious, such as "Night on Bald Mountain," "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," and "The Nutcracker Suite." The animation ranges from subtly delicate to fiercely bold. The screen bursts with color and action as creatures transmute and convention is thrust aside. The painstaking detail and saturated hues are unique to this film, unmatched even by more advanced technology. Rochelle O'Gorman |
Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 02/18/2003 Run time: 119 minutes
This rousing musical, based on the stories of Shalom Aleichem, takes place in pre-revolutionary Russia and centers on the life of Tevye (Topol), a milkman who is trying to keep his family's traditions in place while marrying off his three older daughters. Yet, times are changing and the daughters want to make their own matches, breaking free of many of the constricting customs required of them by Judaism. In the background of these events, Russia is on the brink of revolution and Jews are feeling increasingly unwelcome in their villages. Tevyewho expresses his desire for sameness in the opening number, "Tradition"is trying to keep everyone, and everything, together. The movie is strongly allegoricalTevye represents the common manbut it does it dexterously, and the resulting film is a stunning work of art. The music is excellent (it won Oscars for the scoring and the sound), with plenty of familiar songs such as "Sunrise, Sunset" and "If I Were a Rich Man," which you'll be humming long after the movie is over. Isaac Stern's violinhe provides the music for the fiddler on the roofis hauntingly beautiful. And despite the serious subject matter, the film is quite comedic in parts; it also well deserves the Oscar it won for cinematography. Jenny Brown
A ticking-time bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman create a radical new therapy that channels primal male agression in the form of bare-fisted no-holds-barred brawling. Bonus features: subtitles in english and spanish outtakes and deleted scenes still gallery of set design and much more. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 11/29/2005 Starring: Brad Pitt Edward Norton Run time: 139 minutes Rating: R Director: David Fincher
Originally broadcast in April and May of 1998, the epic miniseries From the Earth to the Moon was HBO's most expensive production to date, with a budget of $68 million. Hosted by executive producer Tom Hanks, the miniseries tackles the daunting challenge of chronicling the entire history of NASA's Apollo space program from 1961 to 1972. For the most part, it's a rousing success. Some passages are flatly chronological, awkwardly wedging an abundance of factual detail into a routine dramatic structure. But each episode is devoted to a crucial aspect of the Apollo program. The cumulative effect is a deep and thorough appreciation of NASA's monumental achievement. With the help of a superlative cast, consistent writing, and a stable of talented directors, Hanks has shared his infectious enthusiasm for space exploration and the inspiring power of conquering the final frontier.
Stanley Kubrick's 1987, penultimate film seemed to a lot of people to be contrived and out of touch with the '80s vogue for such intensely realistic portrayals of the Vietnam War as Platoon and The Deer Hunter. Certainly, Kubrick gave audiences plenty of reason to wonder why he made the film at all: essentially a two-part drama that begins on a Parris Island boot camp for rookie Marines and abruptly switches to Vietnam (actually shot on sound stages and locations near London), Full Metal Jacket comes across as a series of self-contained chapters in a story whose logical and thematic development is oblique at best. Then again, much the same was said about Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, a masterwork both enthralled with and satiric about the future's role in the unfinished business of human evolution. In a way, Full Metal Jacket is the wholly grim counterpart of 2001. While the latter is a truly 1960s film, both wide-eyed and wary, about the intertwining of progress and isolation (ending in our redemption, finally, by death), Full Metal Jacket is a cynical, Reagan-era view of the 1960s' hunger for experience and consciousness that fulfilled itself in violence. Lee Ermey made film history as the Marine drill instructor whose ritualized debasement of men in the name of tribal uniformity creates its darkest angel in a murderous half-wit (Vincent D'Onofrio). Matthew Modine gives a smart and savvy performance as Private Joker, the clowning, military journalist who yearns to get away from the propaganda machine and know firsthand the horrific revelation of the front line. In Full Metal Jacket, depravity and fulfillment go hand in hand, and it's no wonder Kubrick kept his steely distance from the material to make the point. Tom Keogh
George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) directed this 1988 comedy that gives star Chevy Chase one of his better-quality vehicles. Chase plays a New York sportswriter who turns to the country for a simpler, happier way of living. He discovers, of course, that things don't work out that way. Hill's usual touch with comic timing, tone, and dialogue give Chase a rare career opportunity to be part of something a little classier than most of his other movies; but Funny Farm nevertheless has its share of so-what gags. Still, the film's overall tone is winning and laid-back, and it makes for nice escapist fare. Tom Keogh
A man seeks to avenge the murder of his father. Set in nyc just before the civil war hes caught in the middle of the equally powerful & corrupt politician machines of manhattan. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 06/06/2006 Starring: Cameron Diaz Leonardo Dicaprio Run time: 167 minutes Rating: R Director: Martin Scorsese |
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