The Shipping News [HD]

My life as a dog......
Although many recollect CHOCOLAT as Lass Hallstrom's "classic" film, longtime fans are more likely to connect THE SHIPPING NEWS with his earlier film MY LIFE AS A DOG. Hallstrom has a gift for eliciting excellent performances from children and oddballs living in northern climates. Like Ingmar in the older "foreign" film from Sweden, Quoyle has much to learn about being an adult.

THE SHIPPING NEWS is a beautiful psychological study about the transformation of a damaged man into a whole human being. NEWS reinforces the truth most of us already know -- unconditional love can heal. The most telling line of the story is spoken by Juliette Moore when she says that when she was at her lowest point, the people in her Newfoundland village lifted her up with their love.

I read THE SHIPPING NEWS (which one the Pulitzer) and I laughed until I cried. It is probably the most humorous book I have ever read. I took my husband who had not read the book with me to see the film...

Headliner
Rarely does a movie adhere to a book's story as well as Shipping News does to Annie Proulx' sparkling literary masterpiece, a novel about time, place, traditions and love.

The big lump of a main character, Quoyle, a sad, pathetic man (Kevin Spacey) is defined by a metaphor deftly recreated in this film: He cannot swim. As the movie opens, we find that he cannot do much of anything else either.

The inksetter for a Poughkeepsie newspaper drives into a gas station in the pouring rain and witnesses a lovers' quarrel between the driver and passenger in the first car. He doesn't get gas. A split-second courtship instigated by Petal (Cate Blanchett) saddles Quoyle with a disastrous marriage--and his child, Bunny--and ends more disastrously than it began. But Quoyle, lump that he is, unwinds after Petal leaves the picture and his parents die.

Quoyle's Aunt Agnes arrives, ostensibly to pay her respects, but with a caper in mind. Our befuddled man Quoyle leaves with her for his family's...

Quoyle is a man who bravely takes charge of his life
Quoyle (Kevin Spacey) is a middle age man lacking in self esteem who is living a banal and unrewarding existence. One is reminded of Thomas Hobbes' famous aphorism that men often are doomed to endure lives of quiet desperation. He falls in love with Petal Bear (Cate Blanchett) only hours after they meet who does nothing to hide her manipulative dark side. They have a daughter Bunny and this selfish woman proves totally lacking in compassion and loyalty to the both of them. The movie industry has rarely put on the screen a more despicable mother in its entire history. It is regretful that Blanchett will not likely receive an Academy Award nomination for her too short time in this film.

The very promiscuous Petal Bear is ultimately found dead in a car accident with a new boy friend. Quoyle's Aunt Agnis (Judi Dench) entices him and Bunny to move back to their ancestral home located in Newfoundland. This is a part of Canada that the tourists make sure they don't visit...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (BD) [Blu-ray]

Finally! A fantasy masterpiece for the cinema!
A cinematic version of Tolkien's THE LORD OF THE RINGS ranks up with the hope that Lucas will indeed make another Star Wars Trilogy, and, I think I can safely say, this is one of the most anticipated films in the movie industry's long and checkered history. You would think it's movie paradise, considering Lucas has been in the midst of another Star Wars trilogy and LORD OF THE RINGS has finally got a cinema deal (live action!), but PHANTOM MENACE proved something of a disappointment (Mesa Jar Jar Binks!), and I think quite a few people will enter into the theatre with a certain amount of trepidation.

There's a reason for that. Three animated Tolkien films have been released with very problematic results. The 1978 Bakshi release is just embarrassing; the film is both incoherent and confusing.

Rankin & Bass's two movies are fine for little kids; those two films are Tolkien for Saturday Morning cartoons. They proved my introduction to Tolkien and for that I am thankful, but...

NEVER WATCH THE ORIGINAL AGAIN!
I just finished watching the extended version and it was like watching a whole new film! In every way, this version is superior. The thirty extra minutes are not wasted. The characters are fleshed out, the battles seem more desparate and the agony of the journey both to Rivendale and beyond is made plain. I urge anyone who hasn't already purchased the theater version to skip it and get the extended one instead. Anyone who already has the theater version.....well this one is definately worth forking out the extra dough to get.

Excellent Addition to your DVD Library!
If you saw and loved the theater version, you won't want to miss this extended edition. I won't go into detail about the theater version; instead I'll assume you've seen it and write about the new scenes.

I was very excited to learn that these new scenes weren't going to be a "special section" of the DVD. Instead the extra scenes were added into the movie, edited and polished to blend perfectly. There were some scenes which were altogether new; at other times a familiar scene would include added dimension.

Every added minute (I believe there were about 30 altogether) was thrilling and illuminating! For example, I enjoyed learning more about Hobbits and life in The Shire! This extended opening to the movie gave a broader foundation to those of us who knew nothing about Hobbits before seeing this movie.

Though there was some great battle footage added, a great deal of the added footage included conversations amongst the characters. These conversations gave the...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Lucky Christmas

Entertaining Holiday Chick Flick
Holly Ceroni is a single mom who is aspiring to be a chef, but has to resort to waitressing several jobs to support herself and her son. They board in the attic room of an elderly couple in a large, old home. She cooks for them to help pay her way, and she buys a lottery ticket regularly, hoping to win the money to make the dream of her own cafe come true. She drives an old car, but at least it gets her around--until she meets a girlfriend one night at a local bar & grill. As they leave the place she discovers that her car is missing, apparently stolen. On top of that, when she returns home she learns that the lottery ticket she had recently purchased is a winner, and it is in the glove box of her stolen car.
Cut to Mike. He is an architect in sustainable (green) building, who was trying to establish his own business. He left it all behind when his Dad had health issues and had to retire from the family construction business. Mike came home to lend a hand to his brother, Bob, who...

Heartwarming and the cast is wonderful!
Love this movie,I bought it as one of my favorite actress's is Elizabeth Berkley. The movie sure delivers and it offers drama,romance,the holiday spirit,friendship etc. Everything you could want in a good Christmas movie. Very happy with my purchase!

Christmas movie encore!
Christmas time is a great time for curling up with good books & good movies. Enjoying the holidays with this Christmas movie. Thank you.
Sincerely, RL

Click to Editorial Reviews

Red Dog BD Combo [Blu-ray]

Oh YEA it is a WINNER!
Just finished watching RED DOG! Amazing performance by the dog character - great eye expressions! The dog is very amusing and holds your interest throughout the movie. And no animal movie goes unfinished without pulling on your heartstrings. This was a very entertaining movie. Do not let the first 10 minutes put you off - takes a little getting used to the characters - but once you do, you will not regret it. Loved it!

The New Old Yeller Movie
I've always thought that one of the best "dog" movies of all time was the classic Disney movie; "Old Yeller" and I've often wondered why Disney hasn't done a modern remake of that great movie. I'm a 62 year old ex-marine and I still get a little teary eyed with I see that that movie.

What I'm getting to is this: If you like "Old Yeller" then you will love this movie. It's one of those movies that will make you laugh and cry and then laugh again. Not sure if this flick will be an instant classic but it will one that I will watch more than once.

Gorgeous, heartwarming film!
I just saw this film at the TriMedia Film Festival in Colorado and LOVED it. Visually beautiful, rich characters, and lots of laughs. I have pre-ordered this and look forward to adding it to my library!

Click to Editorial Reviews

The Doctor's Wife

Exceptional experience
This documentary was quirky, funny, heart-wrenching and exhilarating. For anyone moving to a small community, watch this movie and take notes. There are few better ways to ingratiate yourself to a new place than to become part of the community, and these guys show you how that's done. Recommended.

Funny, inspirational and moving
This Australian doco will strike a chord with anyone who has had to re-establish themselves in a new town. Vincent and Jonathan relocate from big-city Brisbane to a small (very small!) town in Central Queensland. Jonathan has documented their move in this terrific film. While Vincent slotted quickly into a busy country medical practice, Jonathan was left to find ways to become a part of his new community. As "the doctor's wife" he had a certain role to play. The ways he does this, and the reactions and feelings of the townsfolk, (most of whom had never, to their knowledge, met anyone gay), is a revelation. Anyone contemplating a similar move could do much worse than follow some of Jonathan's advice.
This is a funny, and ultimately very moving, story and well worth the time to check it out

Pleasantly surprised
when I read some of the reviews, I almost skipped watching this little film. But I decided to watch it anyway. I was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed it. Jonathan is a very talented film maker and artist. I found this film to be interesting and worth the watch. Give it a try.

Click to Editorial Reviews

Blue-Eyed Butcher

A Horrific True Life Case And Appealing Leads Make This Formulaic Lifetime Endeavor Better Than Expected
I can, and have been, critical of Lifetime made-for-TV movies for ripping "based on actual events" cases from the headlines and turning them into rather lurid fodder for fictionalized dramatic recreations. It is one of their go-to genres. Sometimes you don't need all the media hype and sensational coverage to deliver a compelling true life story. But that subtlety is generally lost in the translation. With the title "Blue-Eyed Butcher," the network announces that it isn't taking the restrained approach with this story of a Houston marriage gone wrong. But really, the case played out very publicly and even became a crusade for Nancy Grace (not exactly known for her demure opinions) so maybe subtlety was already off the table! If you've ever seen one of these interpretations before, "Blue-Eyed Butcher" does not veer from the expected formula. Indeed, you know exactly where you are headed from the very first scene. Despite this lack of imagination, however, I must admit that I...

Based on a True Crime
Blue-Eyed Butcher, 2012 film

The story begins with a trial. Susan Wright murdered her husband rather than divorce him. [Divorce could mean a 50-50 split of assets, a death meant the widow got all.] People on the beach play volley-ball. Susan meets Jeffrey Wright. She was studying to become a nurse; she worked as an exotic dancer for a few months. They date. Susan goes to Jeff's place. Did she trap him? They marry. Did this change Jeff for the better? In court Susan tells how she stabbed him. The testimony brings out more details about their lives: marriage, the birth of a son. But Jeff forgets to come home after work. What is happening to them? Susan talks about their sex life. She decides to go back to school - at night. Jeff dislikes this decision. Was she beaten by Jeff? No doctor visit? Jeff works out at a gym.

There is a separation, then they come together. Jeff threatens Susan. There is a second child. Susan keeps a clean home. Then Susan finds unpaid...

incredible
This is one of my favorite movies. It brings you through the emotion of a battered wife who snaps finally. Amazing

Click to Editorial Reviews

Becoming Chaz

Putting A Celebrity Face On Gender Transitioning--A Strong And Personal Doucumentary
"Becoming Chaz" is certainly one of higher profile documentary efforts to be released in the last year. Promoted extensively in the media by Oprah Winfrey (its television premiere was on her network) and Rosie O'Donnell, the film tells the personal story of Chastity Bono as she goes through gender reassignment surgery to become a man. It's an intriguing subject handled with candor. Putting a celebrity face on the issue certainly might make the topic more visible to those unaccustomed to such things and, in my mind, a little education and mind expansion is always good! I don't think that I have to say that Chastity (now Chaz) Bono is the offspring of Sonny Bono and Cher and has always been reluctantly in the spotlight. Her trials and tribulations have been documented by the press though the years, and it seems that this documentary was an effort to put this life changing story out to the public on her own terms. In as much, this is a successful exploration of the psychological...

Touching, honest and heart opening
Interesting documentary about Chastity Bono's sex change to become Chaz
Bono. It deals well with the complexities of life for both the
transgendered, and for the children of very famous people.

Quite touching and informative, it makes the still uneasy and confusing
(for many) subject of sex re-assignment far more human, and
understandable on both a technical (how does it work?) and - more
important - emotional level.

It also doesn't shy away from the hard parts (e.g. the difficult
personality changes brought on in Chaz by his intense hormone therapy).
Chaz is allowed to look self-centered, and even like a jerk at times,
without it impeding on our sympathy or identification. He's just a
person, like all of us, which is the whole point.

While the film-making itself can be uneven, this is the kind of film
that helps people open their hearts and minds to those who seem
'different'. And that is always...

Awesome
I'm a 39 year old FTM and learned a lot by watching Becoming Chaz. I have been on T for over 2 years but found this to be very helpful.

Click to Editorial Reviews

Angelina Ballerina: Superstar Sisters

So cute
I have two little girls and this is a collection of sweet little stories about sisters that my girls just loved.

Sibling Fun!
"Superstar Sisters" is the latest of the Angelina Ballerina DVD's. My kids both adore Angelina so they were jumping up and down (literally) when they saw I had a new DVD for them to watch.

This one is about Angelina and her sister Polly. It's funny because my daughter Paige is 3 and calls her 4 year old brother Reed "sister" so this was another good opening for me to have a conversation with them about the difference between brother and sister! As with my kids, the siblings have a conflict when Angelina breaks Polly's favorite music box. A great lesson is taught about love and forgiveness. There are several other sister stories, each with their own unique lesson.

I always appreciate the moral lessons and clean humor found in Angelina stories. The one thing that can be confusing is that there is just one title on the cover (Superstar Sisters) which make it seem it is one movie. However, it is actually several small stories. The overall plot still involves...



Click to Editorial Reviews

Being Julia [HD]

"I'm utterly exhausted and I need holiday."
Annette Bening has one of her best roles as the aging stage star, Julia Lambert. Set in 1938 London, the film follows Julia's exploits as she attempts to find some meaning in her drama-filled life. Her relationship with her husband (Jeremy Irons) has always been "open," so she decides to have a fling with a young American (Shaun Evans, who is actually English). Unfortunately, what was meant to be a fun lark turns into something more serious, threatening to upset Julia's life completely, especially when the lovely young Avice Crichton (Judy Punch) enters the picture. However, Julia is far too strong to become a second-string player in her own life, leading to some delicious retribution.

"Being Julia" is a very enjoyable movie with some spark and playfulness not always seen in period films. Bening of course is quite stunning, and she brilliantly portrays her character's late-in-life personal growth. She deservedly won a slew of acting awards for the role, including a...

Benning at her absolute best.
This film plays homage to the lost age of British stage Divas and a time (1930's) when film acting was still viewed with snobbishness and the stage was a world of riotously overbearing performers. Benning is perfectly cast in the lead and is every inch the slighty unhinged stage Goddess. Speaking as a Brit I also have to say that her accent is utterly perfect, it surpasses Rene Zelweiger in her Bridget Jones role; of whom it has to be said, did brilliantly.

The film is very much the telling of a midlife crisis, coupled with the fear of fading stardom. The story takes place in the closing years of the 1930's, when European politics loomed large and cast an ugly shadow over British life. The story of Julia herself, is the life of a woman who has honed her craft of flambouyant acting so superbly, neither she, her social circle nor us as the audience is ever entirely sure of the boundry between real Julia and Julia the actress. Initially this pampered Madam is hilariously...

Just how should one grow old?
With the Oscar buzz for Annette Benning and its focus on the theatre, I felt that this movie would end up being a deep drama. Instead, it was more of a farce and a clever exploration of how acting an alter one's personality.

Annette Benning's character, Julia, is an accomplished actress who wrestles with boredom while seeking to escape age and the potential diminishing of her powers. She needs her status as a grand actress even as she is bored by that status and wonders what will become of her should she lose her youth. Early in the movie, she throws a tantrum and demands that her husband end the run of "Farewell My Love" that she stars in. But a young American appears on the scene and she begins an affair seeking to capture her lost youth.

For me, the movie was hard to care about at first. Mostly, this was because I had a hard time rooting for any of the characters to succeed. Nobody seemed to be a postive presence. Julia? Didn't dig her, too entitled. The...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Last of the Great Unknown

Inspirational
Visually stunning look into the world of canyoneering. Unique content and beautifully captured, never before seen areas of the Grand Canyon make this a must watch!

Follow your passions
It's inspiring to see people follow their passions.
Amazing scenery that makes me rethink the Grand Canyon as something other than a big hole in the earth. :) Production quality is top notch.
Thanks for the inspiration.

Really great Intro to canyoneering
I loved the photography, and a little of the history of the Grand Canyon, but was hoping for a longer movie, quite frankly. For something as indescribably enormous as the Grand Canyon, 23 minutes seemed pretty short. But then again, what would I rather do - make a longer movie or get out and explore canyons? That's a no-brainer, so it's hard to fault Rich Rudow for that! I'm really glad he made the movie - Thanks Rich!

Click to Editorial Reviews

Jorge Cervantes' Cannabis Expeditions: The Green Giants of California

Absolute Giants
Very awesome gardens. Especially the last one. I found this to be very inspiring. Healthy happy beastly plants. I wish that there was more on fertilizers and applications. But overall very cool video.





Click to Editorial Reviews

Sisters

Creepy, ghoulish, surreal... and a lot of fun!
A terrifyingly twisted cult classic that wholly deserves Criterion's exceptional red-carpet treatment. Some people believe "Carrie" brought Brian DePalma his first critical and commercial notice -- but it was actually this sinister concoction (starring the lovely Margot Kidder) that paved his way to the big-leagues.

I saw this for the first time in high school on one of those late-night, local independent stations in Baltimore. Being a huge "Superman" fan, once I saw Margot's name top billed, I was hooked. I had no idea what I was in for.

By today's horror-movie standards, "Sisters" begins rather slowly. Be patient. You'll soon be drawn into a world of mad doctors, inquisitive neighbors, overbearing mothers, slayings, slashings, malevolent institutions and one seriously unbalanced set of Siamese twins. Top this off with Bernard Herrmann's weird, wonderful score plus the best split-screen editing I've ever seen and you've got a flick...

Sisters and Criterion Collection DVD
First of all, "Sisters" is a great movie and one of the best of the Hitchcock influenced movies. Also, it is De Palma's best movie, mainly because he shows an incredible enthusiasm and energy for filmmaking, and the limited budget probably made him more aware of all the elements of the movie, as well as more liberated to express his film ideas more visually exciting than ever before or since. Also, the performances are very good especially Margot Kidder looking very alluring as well as psychotic. Not to mention the incredible musical score by one of the greates master composers Bernard Hermann, which definitely adds tremendously to the movie. The Criterion Collection DVDs are always great even if some of their DVDs don't have many extras, the picture and sound quality is always excellent. The "Sisters" DVD is great, it looks and sounds better than ever, although their are no behind the scenes featurettes or audio commentary, the overall presentation is again...

underrated classic finally gets its due
A very cerebral bloodbath by a young mad scientist of a director with sex and murder on the brain. They don't make 'em like this anymore!

The folks at Criterion have rescued another lost classic from the wear and tear of time. Previously available only in inferior prints, this lovingly remastered SISTERS marks the beginning of De Palma's smart series of Hitchcock hommages, and for sheer terror really can't be touched by any of its successors (Carrie, Obsession, Dressed to Kill, etc.) The plot unfolds with a terrifying calculation that avoids the arrogance of De Palma's later work; coming off of his string of low budget independent releases (GREETINGS, HI MOM!) the young writer/director seems like a kid in a candy store. (For deeper commentary on the Hollywood milieu in which this picture was created, read Peter Biskind's exceptional history EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS.)

I was pleasantly shocked to find that Criterion had reissued SISTERS and immediately picked it up;...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Slaughter Creek

Very good story for a low-bduget film
A very unique story and some good acting but you can tell it was made with a micro-budget film. But considering everything,
it was entertaining and I would recommend this movie to anyone as long as your expectations are not too high.

Waiting, and I'm waiting...
I kept waiting for something to happen. Some story line or action. Something. The only reason I watched the whole thing is I had it on while doing something else. This would never have kept my attention if I was just sitting down and watching it.

If only no star was an option
Save yourself. Save your money. The plot was horrible the acting was worse. I'm out of words
about how bad this was.

Click to Editorial Reviews

Serving Life

Good
This program was really thought provoking. Generally, society likes to label incarcerated people as being bad and unfeeling. This show demonstrates how untrue labels can be. The documentary spotlights a hospice program in Angola. Other prisons around the country have similar programs. It is a study in compassion and redemption.

A life-changing look into another world, hospice in prison
An amazing life-changing chronicle. The theme- finding hope and spiritual meaning through service to others. This documentary examines the extremes- men who are incarcerated for life for heinous crimes against their fellow man- murder, armed robbery and such are learning to give and find God through service to the dying. Life imprisonment is an ultimate existential crisis- what is the meaning of my life, why am I here? It also challenges us "free persons" to look at the concepts of jain, incarceration, life imprisonment, the death penalty, redemption, punishment, penal code, protecting society and so on. The prison Warden says something to this effect in the film- these are old men, dying men, no longer predators; what are they doing living and dying here?

Awakening!
This is quite the inspiring documentary. Very well done. It gives humanity to men considered like mistakes in our society.
You will end up wondering if we had programs available for our young people (the one susceptible to take a wrong turn) to have a similar experience, would we have so much crime in our country....

Click to Editorial Reviews

Sons of Perdition

A New Brand Of American Refugee--Kids On The Run, But With Nowhere To Go
For a documentary with such a straightforward and no-nonsense approach, "Sons of Perdition" packs an emotional punch that will likely stay with you. The story chronicles three years in the life of young men who have left Warren Jeffs' Fundamentalist Latter Day Saint (FLDS) sect. Jeffs' regime was extreme, to say the least, and his efforts to purify his clan makes for one of the most harrowing tales of isolationism in recent American history. He banned public schooling, all secular reading, and any recreational activities. He excommunicated other prominent men and systematically redistributed their holdings and families to suit his own interests. "Sons of Perdition" documents three exiled young men who have taken refuge in a neighboring town overrun by those in similar circumstances. But it's not an easy road to build a new life after years of emotional abuse. And despite escape, the world outside offers little solace and fewer choices to this ever expanding underground...

Escape from hell
"Sons of Perdition" is a documentary about the small town of Colorado City in Arizona, a community controlled by a bizarre cult known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS).

I read about Colorado City in several books, but this is the first time I've actually seen how the community looks like. The people wear old-fashioned dresses, and the girls ride horses or ponies. It looks creepy, like M. Night Shyamalan's movie "The Village" in real life. But of course, some people might find it idyllic, a little bit like the Amish. In reality, child labour is common, dating is prohibited, and all marriages are decreed by the leader, Warren Jeffs. The cult is polygamous, there are no real schools, and defectors are shunned. Warren Jeffs himself was recently sentenced to life imprisonment for various polygamy-related crimes.

"Sons of Perdition" follow a group of teenagers who manage to escape from the clutches of the cult. They move to the...

Trying to escape from Zion.
Here's a suggestion: Before you put this movie in your queue, read the book "Lost Boy" by Brent W. Jeffs. Brent grew up in the Fundamental Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and is actually a nephew of Warren Jeffs, the de-facto (though jailed) leader of that polygamous Mormon sect. The emotional and sexual abuse Brent endured is horrifying, but the book also provides an inside look into the bizarre and isolated FLDS world, in which Warren Jeffs is glorified a lot like Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il were glorified in North Korea. Read Brent Jeffs' book, THEN watch "Sons of Perdition." You will have a much better perspective on what these boys are going through.

Click to Editorial Reviews

Haxan

Criterion bewitches with their new Haxan dvd
I have just finished watching the new Criterion dvd of Haxan and I couldn't be more pleased! I have never seen this film, but thought I would try it out, as I have always had a fascination with the grotesque, mysticism, and the occult. Haxan delivers in spades.

This 1922 Danish silent film about black magic, witches, satanism, and the persecution of said subjects during the middle-ages, which attempts to make a connection between the ancient phenomena and the modern study of hysteria (modern in 1922), has been wonderfully presented by The Criterion Collection in their new dvd. This new Criterion dvd has the original 104 min. version with a newly recorded 5.0 soundtrack orchestrated from archival documentation, and the 76 min. version released in 1967, which has narration by legendary counter-culture icon William S. Burroughs.

Watching the original version, I found it full of great imagery and fine silent acting. Emotions and actions are superbly conveyed by the actors, and the...

More "bewitching" than ever!
One of the most famous cult/horror films from the silent era, Benjamin Christensen's "Häxan" is at its devilish best on this EXCELLENT DVD release by the great folks at the Criterion Collection. Say good-bye to those murky, washed out video prints we've all had to put up with, and say hello to a nearly flawless print of the film wonderfully transfered to the disc. The images are so crisp and clear, many of the scenes look as if they could have been filmed yesterday. The clarity also allows for you to see much more of the detail in each frame. Also lending to the beautiful images is accurate tinting and correct "projection" speed. Also included is a terrific musical score which has been reconstructed from the actual music that accompanied the original 1922 release in Denmark.

Extras include movie outtakes, production stills, audio commentary, and the 1960's version of the film with William S. Burroughs narrating.

The bottom line: this is far and away the...

Faulty or Incomplete? Criterion Might Be Safer Bet
WARNING: My copy of the "(Enhanced)" version, does not contain the entire film!!!

Shortly after the Devil has compelled a nun to exit her office with a knife, the DVD abruptly ends! After some research (on youtube), I discovered that this act continues with the culmination of a dance frenzy at her convent, followed by the concluding act depicting the woes of a woman's psychosis. All said, the final 15 minutes of the film are missing.

The DVD states it is 90 minutes long. The feature length of the film is supposed to be 105 minutes! There is no sign of these final acts in the chapter menu either.

Whether a faulty DVD or an incomplete version of the film, you might do better purchasing the Criterion release instead.

Click to Editorial Reviews

Glenn Beck Unelectable 2012

Sweet
I love hearing the truth so boldly put!! Hopefully America will wake up and smell the crap that Mr . Obama is dishing out.

CBlan2012
Glenn is always forthcoming and very inspiring... he reminds me of a preacher we had 40 yrs ago -- one who would tell you the truth about events and inspire you to do the best you can with your own God-given talents.

UnElectable 2012 - Fantastic
Loved this. It was as good as the first one. He is one of the few people in this country who are still speaking out for freedom and damn anyone who tries to stop him. I will buy anything that he puts out.

Click to Editorial Reviews

Betrayed at 17

worth your time
Considering many films on the Lifetime Movie Network fall short of excellence in several categories, it's almost a minor miracle that Betrayed At 17 manages to escape the mediocrity that many films fall victim to and actually ends up being pretty suspenseful with a few twists and turns in the plot development that make the second half drastically different from the first.

It's about a 17-year old boy who encourages a 17-year old cute and reluctant girl to have sex with him as part of a bet with a friend. He films the act of sex using his laptop after luring the girl to his bedroom, and when he finally goes through with it he sends the video to his friend intended initially for a few cheap laughs. However he never would have guessed the entire school would find out about it.

When the girl is eventually killed in a freak accident during really awful circumstances, well, from here it's all about pointing fingers at each other over who's really responsible for not...

A Lifetime Message Movie That Proves, Once Again, That Terrible Things Happen When You're 17
Premiering as a Lifetime network original movie, "Betrayed at 17" has all the trappings that you would expect from such a distinction. I can be critical of the Lifetime brand with movies that tend to veer between sensationalized instances based on real life and thrillers of fantastical proportions. While "Betrayed at 17" feels a bit more grounded than the network's usual fare and tries to offer more realistic situations, it still strains under a soapy formula and stock characters. There is an interesting angle on the typical bullying story, but the screenplay lacks the subtlety to really let people connect with the material. The villains are painted in broad strokes, the victimization is devastating, and yet don't be surprised that there are important life lessons to be learned by everyone. The movie has a certain sincerity, I just wished that it had felt a bit more realistic (and not so much like an lurid after school special).

Before I get into the movie, has anyone...

So-So Artificial Drama
Made-for-TV movie where Greg, a popular high school football jock, bets his buddy, Jared, that he can "make it with any chick in this school!" He tapes his bedroom encounter with Lexi, a very attractive "Class-A prude," on his laptop just for the sake of proving to Jared that it really happened. However, Greg's ultra-vain, jealous, and apparently sociopathic ex-girlfriend gets ahold of his I-phone and forwards the taped encounter to half the school. A long string of tragedy follows.

Positives:

--Compelling enough story that keeps your attention;

--Several intriguing layers of plot, with the sort of conflict that we actually hear about in the news;

--Fairly decent acting by some of the cast;

--Characterization improves in the latter parts of the film;

--The film has some submerged yet meaningful statements to make about our society, particularly on the lack of privacy we face in the I-phone age and the effects of so many...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Zombies vs Strippers

For Camp Lovers
A satisfying movie for fans of the camp horror genre. The film, Zombies Vs Strippers, combines slap-stick humor with much wanted fanservice from both its sassy heroines and from its living dead. The ladies, especially Brittany Vaughn's character, Vanilla, have some great zombie-ass kicking moments, spiced up with sexy poledancing and strip-teases. And no zombie apocalypse movie is complete without some good old-fashion zombie gore and "brains" hungering.

Almost As Good As Zombie Strippers!
Zombies vs. Strippers is the latest funfest from Full Moon Studios, responsible for the Gingerdead Man, Evil Bong, and Puppet Master series'. It's a kick-butt horror-action-comedy that is fast-paced and fun with great characters and some humorous dialogue. It was almost as good as Zombie Strippers. The only thing it was missing was Robert England and Jenna Jameson. Also, there is a good bit of nudity in this movie. Three women appear topless. Zombies vs. Strippers is just a great zombie movie, possibly the best since Zombieland. And no I did not work on this movie, which I'm sure some people will accuse me of since I gave a 5 star review to a movie called Zombies vs. Strippers. I just love fun B-movies!

Good Acting, bad bad movie
The people in this movie can act. It's like they thought they were in a real movie! The problem is, the movie itself tries too hard to a serious movie as well.

With the title and subject matter, I don't want to see a serious movie. I want funny and stupid. There is just a little too much serious here and while they do try for funny and stupid the serious kind of ruins it.

Not a bad movie, but not really a good movie either.

I don't regret buying it.

UPDATE!

I wrote the part above while I was still watching the movie. I had yet to see a stripper with a high-heel duct taped to a stick fight Michael Jackson from Thriller.

It's still not a great movie, but it has moments. I still don't regret buying it.

Click to Editorial Reviews

Night on Earth

Beautiful fragments of human life
There isn't much going on in Jim Jarmusch film, but there's a lot happening beneath the surface. Even more than he is a terrific filmmaker and a wonderful screenwriter, Jarmusch is a great observer of human nature. Even though 'Dead Man' and 'Ghost Dog' are the films that gave him more widespread commercial success, these are not typical of his style; Jarmusch's early film hardly have any plot at all, and all they give us is fragments of human lives. His approach towards his characters is always very up-close and personal, but never first-person; the viewer is always an observant, sometimes as comfortable as a close friend, sometimes too close for comfort, almost a voyeur. And yet, with his incredible insight into the human soul and what makes it tick, Jarmusch makes every one of his characters come to full life - even though there are no internal monologues, no revealing close-ups; Jarmusch creates his characters solely through their behavior; and he understands people so well, that...

Oh. My. God.
If you haven't seen this 1991 classic comedy, see it now.
The premise is that we follow events during one night in taxis in several places around the world: New York, LA, Paris, Rome, and Helsinki. The best, by far, the one I always think of first when someone mentions this incredibly funny and touching film, is the one set in Rome with Roberto Benigni as the taxi driver. He gives this rambling monologue sort of a confession about lambs and pumpkins and sex that you HAVE to see the movie to appreciate. There's a priest in the back seat getting more and more `cardiac challenged' by the specific nature of this confession. It's a marvelous set piece, and I always rewind and watch that sequence at least 2-3 more times. It is just as funny on the 3rd viewing as it was on the first.
Top notch.

A Great Night on Earth
I watched this film late at night, when every sane person is supposed to be asleep, out of their cars and in their beds. Life still goes on, however, for the taxi-drivers who move people from one quiet location to another in the wee hours of the night. The locations are quiet, but the people are not, and the dialogue in this movie is humorous, meaningful, and real. A temporary bond is formed between passenger and driver (sometimes the roles are even reversed, as in the New York vignette featuring Helmut Grokenberger and YoYo, played by Armin Mueller-Stahl and Giancarlo Esposito, respectively). Armin Mueller-Stahl, born in 1930, may be relatively unknown to American audiences (as opposed to, say, Rosie Perez), but he did play Vertikoff in the George Clooney flick "The Peacemaker" (1997). Who is the stranger at the wheel who is responsible for bringing one home? What kind of person drives late at night, waiting for the dispatcher's call to a new address? A passenger has...

Click to Editorial Reviews

M

Again? ...but well, I've got to buy this one...
I'm sorry for those who already own the former 1999 Criterion DVD of M (including myself, of course....) but this one is a must-buy item.

After more than 7 decades since its making, Fritz Lang's M remains a poignantly modern film; a striking portrait of the contemporary human world as we live in.

Fritz Lang, who always regarded M as his best film and the one by which he would be remembered, used to call it "a documentary". It is one of the first films about serial killers, and already Lang goes beyond depicting the pathology of such criminal; what M examines is the pathology of our contemporary society of urbanization, mass politics, and mass media: it's also a film about a 20th century metropolis of mass society and mass media culture.

The former Criterion DVD edition of M was made of the best available material back then-- a print restored from many different sources, re-establishing as close as possible, Lang's original release cut. It was also a...

"This man is a mental case."
Having seen most of director Fritz Lang's wonderful films noir, I finally decided to get a copy of his famous "M" from 1931. After seeing it I readily agree with previous reviewers who call this one of the true masterpieces of German cinema. And, as many film noir historians have written, "M" paved the way for the entire genre in terms of style and cinematography. Peter Lorre, despite playing a dispicable character, gave the performance of his career. Oh and in case you haven't seen the film, the movie's title refers to the letter that's used to identify Peter Lorre as the murderer when he tries to escape.

Peter Lorre plays a psychotic child murderer in Berlin who kills "because he can't help it". The police have looked everywhere for the elusive killer but can't find him. The crime leaders of Berlin are fed up, not because there's a child killer on the loose, but because his murders are causing the police to interfere with the underworld's business activities as they bring...

A classic every film lover should see
"M" has everything you could hope in a great film. The acting by Peter Lorre, Gustaf Gründgens, Otto Wernicke, and the rest of the cast all perfectly convey the different personalities in this complex story. The use of black & white and shadows is very moody and haunting. The use of sound is very important since it will tell you things the camera isn't showing. The camera work itself is amazing. I especially love the long shot in the beginning of the scene of the beggars are signing up to watch the streets where the camera moves back and forth, up and into a room through a window without a cut.

"M" offers so much for the viewer -- thrills, suspense, humor, terror! I enjoy it more and more with every repeated viewing. Fritz Lang does more than just give ideas on insane criminals. He compares and contrasts the police and the underworld criminal systems. You learn about the "state-of-the-art " systems of that time. And the last words harken a most important message...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Branded to Kill

Butterfly Kiss
I was inspired to seek out Branded to Kill as it's one of Jim Jarmusch's favorite films, and he's one of my favorite filmmakers. You could say that his interest in Japanese pop culture first came to the fore in Mystery Train, the darkly comic tale of two Japanese tourists on a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Elvis. But it's Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, which mostly clearly takes its inspiration from Seijun Suzuki's bizarre, yet strangely beautiful Branded to Kill. Certainly, the external trappings are different (Suzuki's film is in B&W, it's set in Japan, RZA most definitely did not compose the soundtrack, etc.), but the central characters are cut from the same inscrutable cloth. Arguably, Ghost Dog also takes its inspiration from another non-American noir released in '67--Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samourai with Alain Delon as, you guessed it, a bird-loving hitman of few words (a film that, in turn, inspired John Woo's The Killer).

Branded to Kill plays like a cross...

What's It Worth?
Honestly, I was expecting a New Wave film, but what I got was a film that, stylistically, compares with the New Wave, but fails to achieve New Wave pathos. But that doesn't mean "Branded to Kill" is a bad film, it just means you have to look at it from a different perspective: The film is fluff, substance is style. It's lack of cohesion seems to be an intellectual bluff rather than a conscious, "artistic" convention. Therefore, the film should be compared to the films of Roger Corman and the Blaxploitation era.

"Branded to Kill" seems like the Asian precursor to films like "Hard Boiled" and "The Killer". BTK's action scenes are inventive and frenzied. They are not "realistic", but they fit within the film's tone, which is unrealistic anyway. Everything is over the top, and the film has that "go for broke" feeling of the New Wave. You have to admire Suzuki's moxy, which suits the era and environment in...

Butterflys, rice cookers and Chipmunk Joe make this a Japanese B-film extraordinaire....
It certainly does take a certain kind of film buff to enjoy this film. Style over substance is the order of the day, and one must be willing to sacrifice a coherent plot line for an excess of style. In this film the way a thing gets done takes precedence over the thing that is done. Don't get me wrong- the basic idea of the story is simple. however the style almost becomes the story and this is something we are not all used to. (You might want to see Kill Bill first and then Tokyo Drifter before this one). I won't go into the plot here because I think it's better if you don't have any expectations before watching this one. The black and white cinematography is superb. The sound is as good as can be expected. The extras are minimal, however it is a criterion release, so it required viewing. The only thing that could have made it better would be if Bela Lugosi were in it....

Click to Editorial Reviews

Samurai Trilogy Part 3: Duel at Ganryu Island

RISE OF THE SWORD-SAINT
This film marks the glorious conclusion to the Samurai Trilogy and the ascent of Musashi Miyamoto to spiritual perfection, Musashi Kensei (The Sword-Saint). TOSHIRO MIFUNE, one of the world's greatest actors, delivers a memorable performance as the master at the peak of his enlightenment.

Several years have goneby and Musashi Miyamoto has emerged invincible in over SIXTY duels. Interestingly enough, one sees no pride or ambition in Musashi's manner. He turns down job offers from important lords, including the Shogun's martial arts teacher. In the meantime, Kojiro Sasaki (Koji Tsuruta) regrets the little recognition he has so far received, and seeks to duel Musashi and attain immortal fame.

Otsu (the beautiful Kaoru Yachigusa), the quintessence of loyalty, has fervently sought to see Musashi once again, having parted unwillingly in Part II. In like manner, Akemi (charming Mariko Okada) maintains hope of seeing Musashi, having through a tragic turn of events wound up as a...

Excellent film, bad transfer
While I agree with the other reviewers that the culmination of Inagaki's Samurai trilogy is a wonderful film, I feel that this DVD can't truly be rated at five stars. The reason for this is that the transfer on the disc (and the other two in the series) simply doesn't do justice to the film's beautiful cinematography. The colors are muted in most scenes, often shift from scene to scene, and the film itself is frequently scratched or pitted.

However, it's doubtful that these fantastic films will receive a better transfer any time in the near future, so be sure to see them, but be warned that the transfer is sub-par (although it's certainly watchable).

a great film regardless of print quality
i must disagree when people say the print quality is poor. the quality may not be what some people are used to, but if you look at the restoration footage of the seven samurai, you can see that not all films stand the test of time well. the performances are magnificent and this third installment in the trilogy completes the story nicely. toshiro mifune has, for me, always been the definitive samurai. with a lesser emphasis on action and a greater emphasis on mental and emotional development, this film portrays his final arrival on becoming a samurai. it should not be missed.

Click to Editorial Reviews

Hamlet

Entertaining, but a lot is missing
Laurence Olivier's Hamlet, at 153 minutes, is no popcorn flick. However, in order to get the film down to this rather long length, Olivier had to make significant cuts to the famous Shakespearean play. As a film that won four Oscars, this is (was) mainstream entertainment. Presenting Hamlet in its entirety (or even close to its entirety) under these circumstances was therefore an impossibility. Olivier's modifications come in three forms: small deletions from speeches and conversations, "streamlining" of main story lines, and cuts of entire subplots. The first, least drastic change, leads to the second, and finally the third, and greatest, of the changes. The cutting of lines has the least effect on the production's ability to tell the story. The removed lines are usually unnecessary and repetitive, and the transitions are smooth. Without a written version of the text in front of him, a viewer (unless he knows the play extraordinarily well) can rarely pick out where a line...

Reviewing this film is a trap
Consider this: Shakespearean films more than other films are dependent upon the director's translation of the text. HAMLET in particular has been adapted roughly 43 times in film. I'll say up front that this version is not my favorite interpretation, but I won't deny that it certainly set the standard back in its day.

For those unfamiliar with the play, Hamlet's father, the king of Denmark, has recently passed away and he resents the speed with which his mother, Queen Gertrude, remarried. It doesn't help that her new husband is the dead king's brother, Claudius. Soon an apparition who is the spirit of his father, the dead king, visits Hamlet. The ghost explains that Claudius, Hamlet's uncle, murdered him in his sleep and tells Hamlet to avenge his death. The remainder of the story primarily revolves around the Prince's struggle to stop thinking and start doing (exemplified by the famous "To be, or not to be" speech. Can Hamlet do what it takes to truly...

Essay, Laurence Olivier's Hamlet in comparison to BBC Versio
Many critics have viewed the Lawrence Olivier version of Hamlet to be the best among the 43 film adaptations of Hamlet. The film won four Academy Awards, and Lawrence Olivier amazingly gained two Academy Awards for both directing and acting. The Jacobi Hamlet, on the other hand, was a BBC TV film put together in a short time with a small budget during the late 70s. (As a side note, Jacobi was actually introduced into Shakespearean acting by Olivier.) Despite this difference in prestige, the films presented two equally valid interpretations of Hamlet. The central issue was if Hamlet was mad, and through manipulations of voices and the degree and timing of Hamlet's violent actions, the audience was faced with two emotionally upset Hamlets, one who had more madness and the other who had more control.

Both Hamlets were emotional in their voices and had bursts of anger, but Olivier was more rational and controlled in his voice then Jacobi, who seemed truly mad. At first,...

Click to Editorial Reviews

I Know Where I'm Going

Highland Fling !
What are the truly great, classic romances on film ? Many would think of "Casablanca", and justifiably so. However, in its own charming, subtle way, "I Know Where I'm Going" deserves a high place on any such list. My wife and I decided to watch this as our "Valentine's Day" movie--a perfect choice.

I suppose the big question is--why is a movie that is so predictable, so great ? As usual, the answer is a combination of fine ingredients--script, direction, setting and performances, both lead and support.

Dame Wendy Hiller stars as a bright, independent and arrogant young woman who "knows where she is going". Actually, she is "going" to a remote island off the west coast of Scotland to marry a much older, but incredibly wealthy man. There is never any suggestion of a relationship between these two people or that they love one another. It is presented to us as an "arranged" marriage, just as this fellow ( we never actually see him on screen ) would set up one of his business deals. Of...

One of the World's Great Films. Really.
This is one of the great romantic movies, and like all of the Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger films, it's quirky and original. Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) has always known where she's going. She's headstrong and determined to marry a man who is wealthy and has position. Her fiance is an industrialist (this is at the tail end of WWII), older than she, who is living on a leased island off the coast of Scotland. They're to be married on the island, and Joan takes the train to a small village on the coast, where she'll go across on the ferry. Bad weather sets in and she has to wait at the home of another woman, a woman of common sense and little money, who also has staying with her an old friend and naval commander, Torquil MacNeil (Roger Livesey).

This is Joan Webster's story, her determination to get to the island, her growing unease with MacNeil because he doesn't fit into her plans, her putting at risk a young couple who are in love and, as she comes to realize, may...

A haunting and treasureable film.
IKWIG (as its creative team of Powell and Pressburger dubbed it) was made on a black-and-white stock right after WWII, when technicolor film and equipment were temporarily unavailable. It was the tale of a London-based woman who has always known what she's wanted all her life, and has decided to marry a wealthy, nice, but elderly business tycoon. ("You can't marry Consolidated Chemical Industries!" sputters her father. "Can't I?" is her reply.) He has rented a sprawling castle on a distant isle of the remote, nature-claimed Hebrides Islands, off the coast of Scotland, and she's traveling to meet him for the wedding, there. Unfortunately, the weather doesn't cooperate, and she's stuck for days one island short of her goal, where she encounters endless local traditions, people, and scenery, along with the young Laird of Killoran. Her desperation to achieve her goal nearly causes the death of several people, and has a profound effect on her understanding of the culture she's dropped into...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Samurai Trilogy Part 2: Duel at Ichijoji Temple

THE INVINCIBLE MUSASHI MIYAMOTO
WHAT defines a man's greatness? Is it power and ambition, or something more? Part II of the magnificent Samurai Trilogy brims with action, force, kinetic energy, beauty and emotion. This film continues the saga of Musashi Miyamoto (performed by the venerable TOSHIRO MIFUNE) and his quest for perfection amidst the lives and loves that surround him.

The film begins with one of the most exciting scenes in the trilogy, in which Musashi duels with Chain-and-Sickle master Baiken using his trademark Two-Sword Stance. After the battle Musashi comes upon a priest who chides him for his lacking the chivalry and grace to match his power.

Much water has passed under Seijuro Bridge as Otsu (the lovely Kaoru Yachigusa) awaits for Musashi's return after three years -a testament to the Japanese virtue of loyalty. During her wait she comes upon the courtesan Akemi (Mariko Okada), who unfortunately also harbors feelings for Musashi, and the already-complicated romance becomes even more difficult...

a good continuation of the trilogy.
This review is for the Criterion collection edition.

In part 2 Musashi "Takezo" Miyamoto has earned the reputation of the greatest swordsman in all of Japan. In this release, which has the most action sequences in it. Takezo singlehandedly takes on 80 samurais in battle. I will not say more about the plot, lest this review would have spoilers.

The film was also good for actor Toshiro Mifune who is regarded as one of the best Japanese movie actors of all time.

The Second Movie of this Fantastic Trilogy!
In this movie Musashi continues to polish his soul and find The Way. Now he has a purpose in his life and is rapidly becoming famous and sought after. He begins to learn that to be a Samurai involves more that just Kenjutsu, but also requires Kensho(knowing thyself).

Musashi also aquires an apprentice and a determined suitor. Both willing to follow him across Japan and back.

This movie is so great and so different from the other two, you must see this movie as well as the other two!

Click to Editorial Reviews

Earrings of Madame De...

Psychologically complex. Emotionally profound. Beautifully crafted.
Anyone could see that Louise was an attractive but frivolous woman. Ensnared on her own volition in a loveless marriage to an aristocrat general, who showers her with fine furs and jewelry, and abides her petty flirtations whilst always maintaining the decorum proper for a military nobleman in high society, Louise too, adheres to the dictates and protocol demanded of a nobleman's wife in the elaborate, but meaningless and empty milieu in which she resides. Louise is a comely and innocuous creature, prone to fainting spells, whose marriage to the philandering Count is unremarkable and unmemorable. But into this very shallow, unremarkable existence, Louise will find passion, and it will complicate her life, and eventually destroy it.

MADAME de...opens with Max Ophuls' fluid camera taking Louise's viewpoint as it scans her jewelry cases, and wardrobe, searching for something of considerable value to sell. The woman has rung up a large debt, and she loathes to ask her husband...

One of Max Ophuls most elegant and saddest films, with superb performances by Boyer, Darrieux and De Sica
What a sad, elegant film this is. The Earrings of Madame de... takes us into the fin de siecle Parisian world of the mannered rich, where the act of amorous intimacy is as much an expected social obligation as it is a personal pleasure, where a serious discussion about serious things is considered as indiscrete as loving one's spouse.

"Madame de... is a most elegant lady," we are told, "distinguished, received everywhere. She seemed destined to a delightful, untroubled existence. Doubtless nothing would have happened but for the jewels." She (Danielle Darrieux) is married to the rich and assured General Andre de... (Charles Boyer). When she realizes she has debts she cannot pay and does not want her husband to learn of, she sells a pair of diamond earrings her husband gave her the day after they were married. She tells her husband a little lie, that the earrings were stolen. The jeweler, not knowing of the little lie, soon goes to the general, assuming he will want to buy...

One of Max Ophuls most elegant and saddest films, with superb performances by Boyer, Darrieux and De Sica
What a sad, elegant film this is. The Earrings of Madame de... takes us into the fin de siecle Parisian world of the mannered rich, where the act of amorous intimacy is as much an expected social obligation as it is a personal pleasure, where a serious discussion about serious things is considered as indiscrete as loving one's spouse.

"Madame de... is a most elegant lady," we are told, "distinguished, received everywhere. She seemed destined to a delightful, untroubled existence. Doubtless nothing would have happened but for the jewels." She (Danielle Darrieux) is married to the rich and assured General Andre de... (Charles Boyer). When she realizes she has debts she cannot pay and does not want her husband to learn of, she sells a pair of diamond earrings her husband gave her the day after they were married. She tells her husband a little lie, that the earrings were stolen. The jeweler, not knowing of the little lie, soon goes to the general, assuming he will want to buy...

Click to Editorial Reviews

The Last Wave

"A dream is a shadow...of something real"
"What are dreams?" asks lawyer David Burton (Richard Chamberlain) of his client Chris Lee (David Gulpilil), an Australian Aborigine on trial for manslaughter.

"I will show you a dream," he responds. "A dream is a shadow...of something real."

And, when you think about it, so are films. They are literally shadows of something real - recorded on transparent strips and projected onto screens with bright lights. Watching a good film is like dreaming while awake.

Peter Weir's The Last Wave has very much the texture of a beautiful, disturbing dream. Before going Hollywood and losing his artistic teeth, he made evocative little gems like this one - full of unformed dread and pregnant with the possibility of mythic revelation.

The plot concerns a routine bar fight between some Aborigines in Sydney, Australia, that ends in the death of one of them. Lawyer David Burton is called in as a Public Defender. No big deal - except that the case seems to...

"Are You A Fish? Are You A Man? Are you Melkur?" ~ Beware Taxicab Drivers With Boney Sticks
David Burton (Richard Chamberlain) is a well respected lawyer and family man living and practicing in Sydney, Australia. Of Occidental origin and Anglican faith, David has never been one overly concerned with the intangible, unexplainable mysteries of life. However his predictable, concrete world has recently been disrupted by a series of vivid and disturbing dreams that have called into question the very nature of reality. Unable to sleep for fear of more night visions he buries himself in his work.

His Stepfather, Reverend Burton (Frederick Parslow), notices the change in David's demeanor during a weekend visit with the family and questions his Stepson on the matter. David confides in him with the statement, "I'm having bad dreams." As a conversation ensues David is reminded of a series of repetitive nightmares he had as a child. He would awaken in the morning to tell his parents that taxicab drivers came to him in dreams and took him on long drives during the night...

Eerie, evocative, and haunting
Our modern, rational culture floats like a small boat on a huge, dark ocean of unguessable depth. Richard Chamberlain, in perhaps his best role ever, is a lawyer specializing in the arid technicalities of corporate taxation who is, by chance [well no, not really, as it turns out] drawn into the Shamanic world of the tribal aborigines who, unknown to most people, still inhabit Sydney, Australia. Little by little, the comfortable everyday world in which Chamberlain's character lived starts to dissolve, or at least become transparent, before the unguessably ancient and very different world around it. Meanwhile nature is acting very strange, paralleling the breakdown in Chamberlain's character. A wonderful movie, full of rich metaphors and images (including the final one) that remain in the mind long after the film is over. Even the soundtrack: some aboriginal instruments, some very nervous-sounding Australian-Irish dance music, and some spare but oh-so-telling chords, can stay...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Burden of Dreams

A vision you can sink your teeth into
Or maybe it will sink its teeth into you. The most compelling dreams are not neat and tidy and are not easy to understand, not even by the person who has and fulfills the dream. That's the case with Werner Herzog's dream of filming the story of Fitzcarraldo. If you liked that movie, this documentary is a must-see, a fascinating look at all the problems Herzog had during the making of the movie. The film is not just about the obvious difficulty of moving the steamship over a mountain in the middle of a jungle. First, there are problems with local Indians that cannot be resolved and so the first location must be abandoned. At the new location, with 40% of filming complete, the star of the movie Jason Robarbs becomes sick and goes home to recover. His doctor forbids him to return. Then Mick Jagger drops out because he can't stay the extra months needed to reshoot the film. (I was disappointed that there was only a minute or two of footage showing Robarbs and Jagger).

Back in Germany,...

Classic behind the scenes film
Fans of Apocalypse Now or Hearts of Darkness should check this out. It is a documentary detailing the madness Werner Herzog went through in making his film Fitzcarraldo in the jungle. This movie is great because it shows how Herzog's struggles in making his movie parallel those endured by the main character in Fitzcarraldo. Both figures attempt to drag a huge riverboat literally over a mountain in the middle of the Amazon. If you enjoy behind the scenes documentaries or believe in man's obsessive nature, you should see this.

Herzog fans REJOICE!
First, Anchor Bay gave rain to our parched Herzog-loving throats with the release of many of the eccentric German maestro's greatest feature films. And now, Criterion offers Les Blank's astonishingly beautiful and gloriously weird documentary on the desperate creation of one of those classic titles, Fitzcarraldo. A production that started off starring Jason Robards and Mick Jagger wound up with the director threatening to murder star Klaus Kinski if he walked off set! See Herzog obsessively orchestrating the movement of an entire steamboat over a treacherous mountain in Peru! No special effects for this master.

"Without dreams we would be cows in a field, and I don't want to live like that. I live my life or I end my life with this project." If every filmmaker thought this way, do you think we'd have to sit thru Son of the Mask?

As a five-star added bonus, we get "Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe," a brilliant short doc by Blank which chronicles Herzog actually...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Woman in the Dunes

A fascinating image of that timeless dance
When I first saw this movie a number of years ago it made a tremendous impression. I had walked in "cold" into an LA art theatre and had no idea what I was watching and what to expect. But I soon found myself mesmerized as if under the spell of the Ancient Mariner - it still retains some of this power today.

The plot of this movie has been fairly well summarized by several reviewers. For completeness, I give a thumbnail sketch: A youngish man for the city (Tokyo) goes to a desolate part of the countryside to collect insects (his hobby). He overstays, and misses the last bus back. The local villagers decide to put him up with "Granny" - who turns out to be thirtyish, not-unattractive woman, who ominously lives at the bottom of a sand pit. The next morning the man finds the ladder removed, and himself trapped in the sand pit. Much of the movie portrays his half-hearted attempts to escape, and his tempestuous relationship with his woman "jailor." Near the end of the movie he is given a...

An Ikebana-Trained Artiste Shows Startling Avant-Garde Style in an Intriguing DVD Box Set
Filmmaker Hiroshi Teshigahara was a true artiste who saw film as one of several creative outlets, which is why the sum of his cinematic output feels relatively paltry compared to his contemporaries. The Criterion Collection has smartly seen fit to present a four-disc DVD set showcasing his three most accomplished works - plus four shorts and a feature-length documentary about Teshigahara and his most frequent collaborator, author/screenwriter K

Dinotasia

Not as good as Dinosaur Revolution
This DVD is still worth getting, no doubt. Compared to Dinosaur Revolution, it leaves out quite a bit and jumbles up the story lines, often placing scenes out of context (where they made sense and followed a clear narrative in Dinosaur Revolution).
The scenes not included are : The Cryolophosaurus, the Mosasaur, the Gigantoraptor and the Eoraptor. The one bonus is you get a brief scene at the beginning where an Acrocathosaurus is brought to life from a skeleton and wanders out of the museum into a modern day city. My recommendation is buy it if you cannot get dinosaur revolution on DVD or Blu-Ray, or if you simply are willing to spend whatever it takes even for a brief glimpse of Acrocanthosaurus. For those of you already owning Dinosaur Revolution, this reshuffled and edited version will not add to what you already have witnessed (Acro aside). Overall, I thought Dinosaur Revolution was a better production.

Dinosaur Revolution
This is the Discovery Channels "Dinosaur Revolution" Just a Different Name .
It was on the Disc Channel sept 2011 here in the US .
The wait is over I will be getting it .
I Hope you all injoy it as much as I did .
The CGI is very good and the Storys are Great (My Fav is the Allosaurs with the Injured Lower Jaw :-)

If "Scientific American" owned the "Termite Terrace."
This is the movie that the cable series was supposed to be. Don't see it expecting it to be a longer version of the series. It is a different product, a different vision. It is a collection of classic Warner Brothers-inspired cartoons set to story lines that are based on the latest and best available scientific knowledge about dinosaurs. Some of the stories are violent and may be emotionally difficult for very young children, others show complex and rewarding family universality. At least one is a glorious, funny, nearly shot-for-shot homage to a very classic WB cartoon familiar to any baby boomer. Since Mel Blanc is no longer with us, Dinotasia's animals do not speak words, although they can and do communicate throughout this intelligent and courageous show of visual storytelling. But wait! Mel may be gone, but nothing can prepare you for what happens when Werner Herzog apparently wanders around the production office for a couple of days. In his distinctive vocal style that is both...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Red vs. Blue: Season 10 [HD]

The greatest season as of yet
This season was the most enjoyable for me, especially the ending. It might not have the same amount of laughs as the earlier seasons have had, but the new animation and action scenes coupled with the emotional journeys of the characters make this a more well-rounded story with a bigger pay-off.

The previous season didn't sit well with me primarily because the main characters whom we have come to love over the years, were not funny for the most part. *MINOR SPOILER* They were just parodies of themselves inside the Epsilon unit, but still their comedy was way off. However, season 9's action taking place in the past was what really made the story interesting, and it is that same action that carries forward into season 10. Thankfully, the present day plot has resumed being funny as well.

Another great return for the season is the music of Trocadero. They were the ones who originally made the music for Red Vs Blue but recently had been replaced with Jeff Williams and...

Better to get it from the Roosterteeth.com
I purchased this from Amazon because I have prime with free shipping. This was a mistake. In this version of the Blu-ray, you get the movie, outtakes and commentary. If you get it from the store at Roosterteeth.com, you get a second disk packed with special features. Don't get me wrong, this season is fantastic, but if you are like me and like to watch the behind the scenes and other special features, get it from Roosterteeth.com You might have to spend a little more, but it is worth it, and all the proceeds go to supporting Roosterteeth.

One of the best sci fi/comedy/action movies ever
The season is great with its amazing story line and characters,it's stunning visual effects,and its hilarious jokes that flow out of funny conversations,it leaves it's mark as a great season.even elijah wood is in it!if you want to laugh and be thrilled then you need to see this.it's Roosterteeth's(the creators)best season ever.of all time.

Click to Editorial Reviews

Louder than a Bomb [HD]

Louder Than A Bomb
It never opened in more than four theaters, and it didn't receive a whole lot of press, so there's a good chance you never heard of this engrossing documentary. Louder Than A Bomb depicts the journeys of four high school slam poetry teams in the Chicago area as they prepare for the largest youth slam in the world, profiling individual backstories and attempting to capture the creative processes that drive the students. While it's a bit of a niche subject, and while the overarching themes are somewhat familiar, the talent on display and the heartwarming stories portrayed succeed in lifting the spirits so effectively that the film is worth watching. If you're looking for an engaging and inspirational film peppered with charming personalities and stunningly delivered poetry, definitely give Louder Than A Bomb a chance.

LTAB is an exhilarting event.
I first watched this documentary at Louder Than a Bomb's first event of the festival called Crossing the Street where everyone from various cities to do one thing which is poetry in 2010, where I first started slamming as a poet, and honestly this is the most enthralling documentary. Ever since the first time i participated at LTAB (Louder than a Bomb) i was hooked and I now participate in the college slma. I recommend everyone to watch this film to understand many youth, who love poetry.

Made me like poetry
A magical documentary, a moving 100 minutes of a story full of emotion, of people, of words. OF WORDS that make you jump in you chair, leave you with your mouth open, make you clap like you are there, in the crowd.
You realize maybe how many things you have not written in your life!
A must watch really!!!!!

Click to Editorial Reviews

Last Call At The Oasis

A Watery Mess
As someone who worked in the clean water business for many years, I was looking forward to this movie. We do have problems that we need to address. But this movie doesn't help us do that.

It's a mess. It is a long litany of complaints about water in the US, without offering one thing the viewer can do to help make things better. And we need for people to have concrete things they can do to help.

It gives a really incomplete picture of the progress we've made in this country. For example, it whines that the average toilet uses 6 gallons of water per flush. Well, this is a big change from the 12 gallons they used to use. And reducing it further can cause other problems. The movie doesn't mention that many sewer systems require a certain quantity of water to flush out the sewer mains. Lower the toilet flow too much and the sewage won't move through the system.

While it has a segment on recycled/reclaimed water, it doesn't mention how much of it is used in...

Not A Drop To Drink: A Cautionary And Important Tale About The Impending Water Crisis
As someone who has watched just about every environmentally themed documentary ever made, I find that they generally fall into one of two camps. Either they serve as a call to action with ways that you might better your life and the world around you or they bludgeon you with harrowing statistics that make the situation seem hopeless. For the most part, "Last Call At The Oasis" fits more soundly in the second category. Don't get me wrong, I think that the subject matter is incredibly relevant and timely. We can't just bury our heads in the proverbial sand while ignoring the looming water crisis. While Americans still consume enormous amounts of water with abandon, the deleterious effects of a worldwide shortage are in evidence almost everywhere you look.

"Last Call at the Oasis" is really broken into two sections. The first half of the film deals with the actual shortage of ground water. It highlights areas devastated by the lack of water and even points out impending...

A 'must see' if I do say so myself.
Well, I'm in it, so please take my remarks with a grain of salt.

Critically acclaimed by virtually every major newspaper and media outlet, this movie succeeds on so many levels. Most importantly, it's one of those films that everyone should see. It's an eye opener about a resource that most of us simply take for granted. We turn on the faucet, and, great(!), there's our cool, crystal clear water. The reality is, in many places around the world, this is just not the case. And, unfortunately, this is becoming much more of a challenge in the United States, as the 2012 mega-drought and the impact of Hurricane Sandy have recently exposed.

It's a masterpiece of documentary filmmaking in the classic sense. In my case (I'm a professor at UC Irvine), the crew actually captured the scientific discovery process in real time. When I talk about 'the water cycle spinning out of control' in the film, I'm actually thinking about our ongoing research that suggests that this...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Rescue

I've seen more expensive films that didn't look nearly as good.
So I'm at a local retail store. I don't have a lot of money on me but I want a good 3D title. Then,as if my prayers where heard i stumbled upon this little gem called "Rescue" 3D.

Rescue 3D, centers around the U.S Air Force's relief efforts after the devastating earthquake in Haiti.
The opening shots are beautiful in 3D,offering a few moments that made me feel these objects where right in the room with me. When it comes to the pop out factor, Rescue certainly has its fair share and the effect of it is done rather nicely.

The biggest drawback to this film is that theirs quiet a few shot where the absence of 3D is noticeable. The pay off though,comes with the fact that you'll watch one or two scenes back to back with little to no 3D,then the next thing you know a great 3D shot comes around the corner. Another pass i'll give this movie,is that some of the 2D shots look so awesome by themselves it really didn't bother me that not all of them where 3D. I never...

Airplanes,Boats,Helicopters and Firefighters...whats not to like?
I first saw this movie at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. I purchased a copy to add to my personal video library. This is not a full length hollywood feature, but is about 45 minutes long, detailing first responder training, deployment and their actions during the Haiti earthquake emergency. The Blu Ray 2D Version is Impressive, but the 3D version is Spectacular! The 3D effects add to the realism and drama of the documentary instead of gratuitious Hollywood 3D effects. Overall: A feel good about America movie!

3D the way it should be
Watching a video that was shot in native 3D really shows you just what the format is really for. There were some close ups of a female pilot and her eyelashes were popping out of the screen in such clarity it was amazing!
The video as a whole was a day-in-the-life of, not so much an action packed multiple viewing fun film.
Soooo, I can't really say I'd watch it more than twice in my lifetime?

Click to Editorial Reviews

Lightning In A Bottle [HD]

A Great Start To The Year Of The Blues
This memorable concert was filmed at New York's Radio City Music Hall in February 2003. It was the start of the "Year Of the Blues". Martin Scorsese, who gave us the wonderful (but a bit controversial content-wise) series of Blues Films (which took over a year to be screened and available here in Australia) opens the show, after the Blues Year he was also a voice in "Shark's tale"!

There is no denying that this is a memorable and well presented concert. Many of the greatest living Blues players are here as well as those we might refer to as marginal-transitional people with Blues interests. Some we don't get to hear, Robert Jr Lockwood and Jimmie Vaughan are seen, but not heard. the concert itself represents a musical journey through various Blues styles from African songs, to WC Handy, to music hall styles, women singers, the lone Juke Player right up through B.B. King and Hendrix and, yes, Chuck D trying to stop the Iraq Invasion with "Boom Boom" Rap!

This DVD...

An historic celebration of the blues
Billed as "a one night history of the blues," Lightning in a Bottle (with Martin Scorsese serving as executive producer) assembles a ton of great performers to retrace the steps of the blues from the Mississippi Delta to Chicago to the rest of the country. The concert took place in Radio City Music Hall in February 2003, and it packs a lot of music and history into a little less than two hours. Old clips, interviews, and snippets of rehearsal accompany the performances themselves, offering a blues history lesson of sorts. I won't pretend to be an expert on the blues; Muddy Waters is about the only blues singer I've ever spent time seriously listening to. That will probably change, now that I know a little more about the incredible music I've been missing out on all these years.

It would be impossible to talk about every performance crammed into this concert - blues songs tend to be pretty short (especially when you don't include any jam session stuff), so an incredible...

Lightning in a Bottle
Attention, rhythm and blues fans- this is your movie! Exhilarating, toe-tapping performance film gives you a front-row seat for this milestone event, with peerless musicians young and old honoring the birth of the blues. Macy Gray and Steven Tyler, Natalie Cole and Buddy Guy, Bonnie Raitt and Keb Mo, and John Fogerty and B.B King appear to pay tribute and light up the auditorium with their joy and talent. What a ride!

Click to Editorial Reviews

Redneck Roots

Original and Hilarious -- Fantastic Movie!!
This is such a unique and original take on the "southern romantic comedy." It succeeds in portraying authentic "redneck" characters and southern atmosphere, while still remaining relatable and hilarious to everyone that watches it. The talented cast shine throughout the movie and will have you crying with laughter. Watching Redneck Roots is an experience that everyone in the family will enjoy!

Southern fried fun
A genuine and lighthearted movie! You don't have to be from the south to relate to Crystal Lynn's crazy family.
Grandma Lee had me in tears from laughing.
What I loved the most as a southern watching this movie was the details that really made it feel like my home town. The awful dresses at church, the hidden moonshine, the grandma's smoking virginia slims, the BOJANGLES!
Super cute and heartwarming movie!

Wet Your Pants Comedy Film Festival award winner!
"Redneck Roots" is a fantastically funny film that was a huge hit at the 2012 Wet Your Pants Comedy Film Festival. We were honored to award them the Steve Pearce Memorial Award, an award created to honor the memory of our festival's inspiration. Each and every character in this film is unforgettable with some of the greatest personality quirks we've seen. Jeff Hamrick as Darell Pigg steals the show as a radio disc jockey with tourettes and other issues. Carol Anne Watts is fantastic in her role as Amber Jo. We HIGHLY recommend this film.

Click to Editorial Reviews