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The Mechanic (2011)
dir. Simon West
Product Decsription:
Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham) is a 'mechanic' - an elite assassin with a strict code and unique talent for cleanly eliminating targets. It's a job that requires professional perfection and total detachment, and Bishop is the best in the business. But when his mentor and close friend Harry (Donald Sutherland) is murdered, Bishop is anything but detached. His next assignment is self-imposed - he wants those responsible dead. His mission grows complicated when Harry's son Steve (Ben Foster) approaches him with the same vengeful goal and a determination to learn Bishop's trade. Bishop has always acted alone but he can't turn his back on Harry's son. A methodical hit man takes an impulsive student deep into his world and a deadly partnership is born. But while in pursuit of their ultimate mark, deceptions threaten to surface and those hired to fix problems become problems themselves.
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ESPN Films 30 for 30 Gift Set Collection, Volume 2 (2011)
There's some really, really good documentaries in here, The Two Escobars being the standout of the bunch. I hope they stream these on Netflix or somewhere else.
Product Decsription:
In celebration of the ESPN 30th anniversary, ESPN Films presents 30 for 30, a critically acclaimed series of films from some of the finest directors of today. From Barry Levinson & Peter Berg to Steve James, Brett Morgen and Ice Cube, each filmmaker brings their unique perspective to an extraordinary sports story from the last 30 years. The New York Times calls the films entertaining and Time Magazine says it s a thrilling collection. ESPN has nailed it with this gripping series (The Los Angeles Times). Multiple films have received official selections from the Sundance, Toronto, Tribeca and South by Southwest Film Festivals, making this collection of remarkable films a must-have for any film fan. ESPN Films 30 for 30 Gift Set Collection, Volume 2 Contains : The Two Escobars (Jeff Zimbalist & Michael Zimbalist), The Birth of Big Air (Jeff Tremaine) (Producer: Spike Jonze & Johnny Knoxville), Jordan Rides the Bus (Ron Shelton), Little Big Men (Al Szymanski & Peter Franchella), One Night in Vegas (Reggie Rock Bythewood), Unmatched (Lisa Lax & Nancy Stern Winters), The House of Steinbrenner (Barbara Kopple), Into the Wind (Steve Nash), Four Days in October (MLB Productions), Once Brothers (NBA Entertainment), Tim Richmond: To the Limit (Rory Karpf), Fernando Nation (Cruz Angeles), Marion Jones: Press Pause (John Singleton), The Best That Never Was (Jonathan Hock), Pony Excess (Thaddeus D Matula), and hours of bonus features!
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Diabolique: The Criterion Collection (1954)
dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot
Product Decsription:
Before Psycho, Peeping Tom, and Repulsion, there was Diabolique. This thriller from Henri‑Georges Clouzot (Le corbeau, The Wages of Fear), which shocked audiences in Europe and the U.S., is the story of two women—the fragile wife and the willful mistress of a sadistic school headmaster—who hatch a daring revenge plot. With its unprecedented narrative twists and unforgettably scary images, Diabolique is a heart-grabbing benchmark in horror filmmaking, featuring outstanding performances by Simone Signoret (Casque d’or, Army of Shadows), Vera Clouzot (The Wages of Fear), and Paul Meurisse (Le deuxième souffle, Army of Shadows).
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Pale Flower: The Criterion Collection (1964)
dir. Masahiro Shinoda
Product Decsription:
In this cool, seductive jewel of the Japanese New Wave, a yakuza, fresh out of prison, becomes entangled with a beautiful yet enigmatic gambling addict; what at first seems a redemptive relationship ends up leading him further down the criminal path. Bewitchingly shot and edited and laced with a fever-dream-like score by Toru Takemitsu (Woman in the Dunes, Ran), this breakthrough gangster romance from Masahiro Shinoda (Samurai Spy, Double Suicide) announced an idiosyncratic major filmmaking talent. The pitch-black Pale Flower (Kawaita hana) is an unforgettable excursion into the underworld.
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Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job: Season Cinco (2010)
dir. Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim
Product Decsription:
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! is back with Season Cinco on DVD! The 5th season of their award-winning sketch-bits comedy show includes sketch-bits with local favorites and international superstars! To top it all off, they even filmed a 22-minute Christmas special, filled with holiday sketch-bits for everyone to enjoy. Most people might say, "It's the best season yet!"
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The Comancheros (50th Anniversary Edition) (1961)
dir. Michael Curtiz
Product Decsription:
Nobody made a fuss about The Comancheros when it came out, yet it has proved to be among the most enduringly entertaining of John Wayne's later Westerns. The Duke, just beginning to crease and thicken toward Rooster Cogburn proportions, plays a veteran Texas Ranger named Jake Cutter. When we first see him (in a tongue-in-cheek delayed entrance), he's catching up with a New Orleans dandy (Stuart Whitman) who killed a judge's son in a duel just after that gentlemanly practice was banned. Monsieur Paul Regret--or "Mon-sooor," as Jake insists on calling him--is not a bad fellow, let alone a badman, and it only follows that, after the requisite number of misunderstandings, he and Jake will join forces to subdue rampaging Indians and the evil white men behind their uprising. The Comancheros was the last credit for Michael Curtiz, who, ravaged by cancer, ceded much of the direction to Wayne (uncredited) and action specialist Cliff Lyons. With support from Wayne stalwarts James Edward Grant (coscreenplay) and William Clothier (camera), the first of many rousing Elmer Bernstein scores for a Wayne picture, and a big, flavorful cast including Lee Marvin (the once and future Liberty Valance), Nehemiah Persoff, Bruce Cabot, and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams (in his last movie), they made a broad, cheerfully bloodthirsty adventure movie for red-meat-eating audiences of all ages. Even the liberal-pinko Time magazine had to second the salute from leading lady Ina Balin at film's end: "Take care of yourself, Big Jake ... we've sort of gotten used to you." --Richard T. Jameson
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The Other Woman (2011)
dir. Don Roos
Laziest, most boring cover art ever?
Product Decsription:
Academy Award winner Natalie Portman ("Black Swan") in an "utterly fearless performance" (Rob Nelson, Variety) stars as a newlywed trying to cope with guilt and loss in this sensitive and compelling modern drama adapted by writer-director Don Roos ("The Opposite of Sex") from the novel by Ayelet Waldman. Portman plays Emilia, a law-school graduate who falls in love with her married boss, Jack (Scott Cohen, "The Understudy"). After Emilia marries Jack, her happiness turns unexpectedly to grief following the death of her infant daughter. Devastated, Emilia nonetheless carries on, attempting to forge a connection with her stepson William (Charlie Tahan, "I Am Legend") and to resist the interference of Jack's jealous ex-wife (Lisa Kudrow, "Easy A," "The Opposite of Sex"). Don Roos ("Happy Endings," "Bounce") demonstrates his keen eye for the nuances of love, loss, and rebuilding life in this heartfelt and touching drama.
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The Rite (2011)
dir. Mikael Håfström
Product Decsription:
Inspired by true events, this supernatural thriller follows a seminary student (Colin O’Donoghue) sent to study exorcism at the Vatican in spite of his own doubts about the controversial practice and even his own faith. Only when sent to apprentice with legendary Father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins), who has performed thousand of exorcisms, does his armor of skepticism begin to fall. Drawn into a troubling case that transcends even Father Lucas’s skill, the young seminarian glimpses a phenomenon science can’t explain or control – and an evil so violent and terrifying that it forces him to question everything he believes.
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Revenge (1964)
dir. Tadashi Imai
Product Decsription:
An illegal duel leads to tragic results for an impoverished samurai in this Japanese classic from director Tadashi Imai (STORY OF A PURE LOVE) and screenwriter Shinobu Hashimoto (THE SWORD OF DOOM). When tensions erupt between angry commoner Shinpachi (Kinnosuke Nakamura) and decorated officer Magodayu, the two samurai engage in a bloody duel to the death. When the swords have ceased swinging, Shinpachi is the last man standing. In order for the samurai families to maintain their honor, Shinpachi and Magodayu are both declared insane, and Shinpachi is sent into exile. Later, Magodayu's younger brother seeks to avenge the death of his dignified sibling, leading to a high profile duel with Shinpachi that will shatter the honor and integrity of the samurai code.
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Hurry Sundown (1967)
dir. Otto Preminger
Product Decsription:
Following the Second World War, a northern cannery combine negotiates for the purchase of a large tract of uncultivated Georgia farmland. The major portion of the land is owned by Julie Ann Warren and has already been optioned by her unscrupulous, draft dodging husband, Henry. Now the combine must also obtain two smaller plots - one owned by Henry's cousin Rad McDowell, a combat veteran with a wife and family; the other by Reeve Scott, a young black man whose mother had been Julie's childhood Mammy. But neither Rad nor Reeve is interested in selling and they form an unprecedented black and white partnership to improve their land. Although infuriated by the turn of events, Henry remains determined to push through the big land deal. And when Reeve's mother Rose dies, Henry tries to persuade his wife to charge Reeve with illegal ownership of his property, confident the the bigoted Judge Purcell will rule against a Negro.
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DVD Picks for May 24th, 2011
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The Great Dictator: The Criterion Collection (1940)
dir. Charlie Chaplin
Classic. Can't wait to see this in HD.
Product Decsription:
In his notorious masterpiece, The Great Dictator, Charlie Chaplin (City Lights, Modern Times) offers both a cutting caricature of Adolf Hitler and a sly tweaking of his own comic persona. Chaplin (in his first pure talkie) brings his sublime physicality to two roles: the cruel yet clownish “Tomanian” dictator and the kindly Jewish barber who is mistaken for him. Featuring Jack Oakie (Thieves’ Highway, Lover Come Back) and Paulette Goddard (Modern Times, The Women) in stellar supporting turns, The Great Dictator, boldly going after the fascist leader before the U.S.’s official entry into World War II, is an audacious amalgam of politics and slapstick that culminates in Chaplin’s famously impassioned plea for tolerance.
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Solaris: The Criterion Collection (1972)
dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
Same here.
Product Decsription:
The Russian answer to 2001, and very nearly as memorable a movie. The legendary Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky made this extremely deliberate science-fiction epic, an adaptation of a novel by Stanislaw Lem. The story follows a cosmonaut (Donatas Banionis) on an eerie trip to a planet where haunting memories can take physical form. Its bare outline makes it sound like a routine space-flight picture, an elongated Twilight Zone episode; but the further into its mysteries we travel, the less familiar anything seems. Even though Tarkovsky's meanings and methods are sometimes mystifying, Solaris has a way of crawling inside your head, especially given the slow pace and general lack of forward momentum. By the time the final images cross the screen, Tarkovsky has gone way beyond SF conventions into a moving, unsettling vision of memory and home. Well worthy of cult status, Solaris is both challenging art-house fare and a whacked-out head trip. --Robert Horton
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Childrens Hospital: Complete First & Second Seasons (2010)
dir. Rob Corddry
One of my favorite shows on TV. Extremely funny, insanely absurd at times, and the cast is amazing. The seasons are short and the show itself is even shorter at around 10-15 minutes, so I would recommend just watching both seasons all in one sitting.
Product Decsription:
Transitioning from the Internet to television, Children's Hospital is a new comedy series created by Rob Corddry (Hot Tub Time Machine, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) -- and featuring an all-star cast -- that lampoons the medical show genre by exploring the emotional struggles and sexual politics of a group of doctors with supercharged libidos. The dedication of these doctors to their personal lives is relentless -- and is interrupted only by the occasional need to treat sick children. No medical condition is too severe to distract these oblivious physicians from their primal need to flirt, gossip, make out, talk about sex, show their underwear and more, all in front of horrified children and their anxious parents. The new series is based upon the Webby Award-winning digital show that debuted on TheWB.com in 2008 and quickly became a Web hit with its twisted take on network medical dramas like Grey's Anatomy and House. Check into the hospital!
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Public Speaking (2010)
dir. Martin Scorsese
Kind of like a modern day My Dinner With Andre, except with Fran Lebowitz and Martin Scorsese, obviously. Lebowitz does all the talking though, which I don't have a problem with because she's very entertaining and has lots of interesting stuff to talk about.
Product Decsription:
For Martin Scorsese to have directed this loving biopic about author Fran Lebowitz's life, one assumes that not only must she have enormous talent, but that she, as a character, can also entertain viewers enough to warrant the making of a feature-length documentary. Indeed, as Lebowitz says in one interview among the many here, she is first and foremost a public speaker, a woman who takes talking to a high art form after she dreamed, as a child, that people would care about her opinions. Public Speaking chronicles a truly iconoclastic author and thinker whose satirically barbed wit is hilarious and controversial on the page, as well as onscreen. In her interviews she pontificates most vocally about her experiences as a New Yorker, as a writer, journalist, feminist, smoker (yes, she actually takes the protection of cigarette smoking rights up as a cause), and gay rights activist. What it adds up to, in her words, is a devotion to maintaining individual freedom. Most poignant, however, are the scenes in which she places herself historically within a New York cultural framework, as she remembers first writing for Andy Warhol's Interview magazine, then publishing her first hit novel, Metropolitan Life. Of course, while tracking any influential author's career is important, Scorsese does a wonderful job of taking a wider cultural stance, occasionally editing in footage of James Baldwin, Truman Capote, Gore Vidal, and other radical authors to trace an American history of literary satire's ties to political causes. Lebowitz, who has been called a modern-day Dorothy Parker, astutely expresses brilliant, miniature rants on topics ranging from how wit could be connected to religious and cultural roots, to the equal importance of smart cultural audiences and artists. Lebowitz's overt manner and confidence is at first jarring, but as one settles in to listen to the many interesting points she makes, one realizes that her bold tone underpins her undying interest in watching urban culture mutate. If at first one is taken aback by what could be construed as Lebowitz's giant ego, one is likely to be swayed in her favor, coming to terms with the fact that, as she says to her friend Toni Morrison in one interview, that she's "almost always right." --Trinie Dalton
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Transformers: The Complete Series (1986)
dir. Transformers: The Complete Series
They shouldve done this a long time ago instead of releasing it in volumes
Product Decsription:
Four million years after crash-landing on an unfamiliar planet, sentient robots with the ability to disguise themselves as common vehicles awaken on present-day Earth. Engaged in a crucial race to find a new energy source for their home planet of Cybertron, Optimus Prime and the heroic Autobots must defend the innocent people of Earth against their archnemeses: Megatron and the power-hungry Decepticons!
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Grand Prix (1966)
dir. John Frankenheimer
There are a bunch of movies being re-released on blu-ray this week but this one sticks out to me, mainly because it was shot on 70mm and probably looks amazing in HD. I mean, the regular DVD already looks amazing. I'll have to check the reviews and see if it's worth double-dipping.
Product Decsription:
Light on story, this 1966 spectacle directed by John Frankenheimer was shot in 70 millimeter, with a cinematically enthralling emphasis on unique, visceral new ways of capturing the sensations of a car race. James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand, and Toshiro Mifune are part of the stellar, international cast whose characters plod through assorted relationship and business conflicts. But the film's real hook is the thrilling and inventive means by which Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate) brings an urgency to the drama happening on the racetrack. A true master of the plastic techniques of obtaining and cutting kinetic footage, Frankenheimer offers more than a joyride to viewers: he makes action part of the compelling language of stories. Cameras are strapped to vehicles as they round the track, shots are taken from a helicopter, the screen is split between angles for maximum impact--even if Grand Prix doesn't rank among the director's best character-driven stories, it is certainly driven on its own terms. --Tom Keogh
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The Kids in the Hall: Death Comes To Town (2010)
dir. Kids In The Hall
Product Decsription:
For five groundbreaking seasons, Canadian-bred comic prodigies THE KIDS IN THE HALL stretched sketch comedy to its ultimate limits with hilariously off-the-wall results. Now they’ve returned with: THE KIDS IN THE HALL: DEATH COMES TO TOWN an 8-episode comedy series featuring the Kids playing all characters. When Death gets off the Greyhound bus in small town Shuckton, Ontario, everyone in town is implicated when one of its most distinguished citizens is found murdered. As a suspect is arrested and the trial plays out, the entire town is affected and its dark secrets are unraveled and exposed.
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