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Rango (2011)
dir. Gore Verbinski
Product Decsription:
An animated Western with a chameleon as the hero is an unlikely concept, but Rango is a great film thanks to its witty mix of parody, intriguing characters, and sophisticated humor. When a common pet chameleon who's suffering from an identity crisis crashes headfirst into the stereotypically classic Western town of Dirt, he has the unique opportunity to completely reinvent himself. Dubbing himself Rango, the chameleon boasts of his own heroism and creates a spiral of deception that lands him an appointment as sheriff of a town in crisis. The question is, can one unprepared and completely unqualified chameleon possibly change this little town's future for the better? And how do road kill, enlightenment, and the Spirit of the West figure in to the equation? The animation looks great in this film and kids will love the goofy characters and crazy scenarios. But adults will find the film intriguing on a whole different level because of its comic parody of the iconic classic and spaghetti Western genres and the skilled balance of action, romance, and adventure. Kudos to director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) and the talented voice cast, among them Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Ned Beatty, Abigail Breslin, Alfred Molina, and Bill Nighy, for an award-worthy film. Some kids ages 7 to 9 may find the film rather dark and the action a bit too intense, but kids 10 and older should be fine as long as parents don't object to the PG rating (some rude humor, language, smoking, and action). --Tami Horiuchi
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The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
dir. Brad Furman
Product Decsription:
Smooth operator Mickey Haller (Matthew McConaughey) zips around Los Angeles in his chauffeured Lincoln town car, cutting deals and finding clients on the road. Then he lands a doozy: a rich real-estate heir (Ryan Phillippe) accused of the brutal assault of an escort. At first, the case looks like a breeze, but odd details start nagging at Haller until he recognizes an ugly connection to an earlier case--and realizes he's been set up in the strangest way. There are some deep implausibilities in The Lincoln Lawyer, but they hardly matter. This is a movie that cruises on charm and smart casting, from McConaughey as a man whose glib polish is betrayed by a streak of doubt, down to the detectives (solid performances from Bryan Cranston, Michael Paré, Michaela Conlin, and others) and lowlifes (Katherine Moennig as an unlucky hooker, Shea Whigham as a lazy snitch) that flesh out the legal world. Every character pops out, clean and distinct; this sort of web-of-deceit story line, full of twists and turns, depends on the audience clearly connecting all the players. Some moments get overstated or maybe don't make complete sense, but the zippy pace carries the audience over those bumps. The Lincoln Lawyer could easily turn into a television series, a sort of Rockford Files-esque mixture of procedure and puzzle making. Also starring Marisa Tomei, William H. Macy, Frances Fisher, John Leguizamo, and Josh Lucas as the prosecuting attorney who gives McConaughey some competition in the chiseled-looks department. --Bret Fetzer
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Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)
dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul
I really liked this movie, but it's definitely slow and extremely weird in parts. You probably haven't seen anything like it, that's for sure.
Product Decsription:
Winner of the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives is a unique tale of a man embracing life's greatest mystery. Choosing to spend his final days surrounded by his loved ones in the countryside, Boonmee is visited by his dead wife (a ghost) and his lost son (an strange hairy beast with red glowing eyes) who come to guide him to his final resting place, a cave where his first soul began. With a wry sense of humor and a humanist spirit, Uncle Boonmee, one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year, is a magical tale of reincarnation, karma and nature.
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Naked: The Criterion Collection (1993)
dir. Mike Leigh
This movie isn't everyone's cup of tea, but still should be watched for David Thewlis alone. "One of the great performances of the 1990s" is right on the money.
Product Decsription:
In between his breakthrough film (Life Is Sweet) and his world sensation (Secrets and Lies), filmmaker Mike Leigh created his most abrasive and daring film, Naked. This "Angry Young Man" for the 1990s follows an acidic wanderer (Cannes award winner David Thewlis) who observes a corrosive Britain. An intellectual, bitter film filtered with debauchery and black humor, Naked follows the bemusing Johnny as he crosses in and out of doorways, drifting into old acquaintances and new lost souls. It is more of a character film than sheer entertainment and thus it can be hard to watch, but it offers one of the great performances of the 1990s. Thewlis would have been an Oscar shoo-in if he'd worn a tuxedo and repressed his emotions. He didn't, and his brilliant work went unrecognized in mainstream America. --Doug Thomas
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Miral (2010)
dir. Julian Schnabel
Julian Schnabel has directed some really good films (after checking his credits I don't see one I don't like) and this got really positive reviews so I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this soon.
Product Decsription:
Working again with inventive cinematographer Eric Gautier (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Julian Schnabel offers a distinctly Palestinian perspective on the birth of Israel. Arranging the narrative by characters, he starts in Jerusalem with Hind Husseini (The Visitor's Hiam Abbass), who opens a center in 1948 for Arab orphans, before flashing forward 19 years to introduce Nadia (Yasmine Al Massri), an abused alcoholic who does time for assault. Through a cellmate, Nadia meets Jamal (Cairo Time's Alexander Siddig), a devout Muslim who becomes her husband. The story then advances 20 years to catch up with 17-year-old Miral (Slumdog Millionaire's Freida Pinto). An extended (and confusing) flashback reveals Miral's connection to the two women, whose experiences shape her feelings about the intifada. Then, when Miral falls for Palestine Liberation Organization leader Hani (Munich's Omar Metwally), she becomes convinced she can benefit her people more through revolution than education, the path Hind encourages her to pursue, but then Hani disappears, the authorities bring her in for questioning, and she ends up in Ramallah, where Lisa (Schnabel's daughter, Stella), a Jewish family friend, further influences her thinking. By 1993, Miral (which means "red flower") figures out how she can best serve her heritage. With its excess of plot, journalist Rula Jebreal's adaptation of her semiautobiographical novel gets off to a slow start, but builds to a moving finish. If Pinto seems over her head, and if the Tom Waits material feels misplaced, Abbass and Siddig ground the film with performances of warmth and compassion. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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Arthur (2011)
dir. Jason Winer
Product Decsription:
Russell Brand reinvents the role of lovable billionaire Arthur Bach, an irresponsible charmer who has always relied on two things to get by: his limitless fortune and lifelong nanny Hobson (Academy Award® winner* Helen Mirren) to keep him out of trouble. Now he faces his biggest challenge: choosing between an arranged marriage to ambitious corporate exec Susan (Jennifer Garner) that will ensure his lavish lifestyle, or an uncertain future with the one thing money can’t buy – Naomi (Greta Gerwig), his true love. With Naomi’s inspiration and some unconventional help from Hobson, Arthur will take the most expensive risk of his life and learn what it means to be a man in this re-imagining of the beloved Oscar®-winning* romantic comedy Arthur.
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Buster Keaton - Short Films Collection (3-Disc Ultimate Edition) (1920-1923)
dir. Buster Keaton
Product Decsription:
For the first time ever, Kino International proudly presents a box set of all of Buster Keaton's classic silent short films in one collection. All films have been digital remastered in high definition and include all new extras. ----- DISC 1: THE HIGH SIGN (1920/21 - B&W - 19 Min.), ONE WEEK (1920 - B&W - 24 Min.), CONVICT 13 (1920 - B&W - 19 Min.), THE SCARECROW (1920 - B&W - 18 Min.), NEIGHBORS (1921 - B&W - 19 Min.), THE HAUNTED HOUSE (1921 - Color Tinted - 20 Min.), HARD LUCK (1921 - B&W 21 Min.). ----- DISC 2: THE GOAT (1921 - B&W - 23 Min.), THE PLAY HOUSE (1921 - B&W - 23 Min.), THE BOAT (1921 - B&W - 23 Min.), THE PALEFACE (1922 - B&W - 20 Min.), COPS (1922 - B&W - 18 Min.), MY WIFE'S RELATIONS (1922 - B&W - 17 Min.). ----- DISC 3: THE BLACKSMITH (1922 - B&W - 21 Min.), THE FROZEN NORTH (1922 - B&W - 17 Min.), DAY DREAMS (1922 - B&W - 19 Min.), THE ELECTRIC HOUSE (1922 - B&W - 23 Min.), THE BALLOONATIC (1923 - B&W - 22 Min.), THE LOVE NEST (1923 - Color Tinted - 20 Min.) ----- SPECIAL FEATURES: Fifteen visual essays illustrated with clips and stills, written by various Keaton experts, Four visual essays on the film's locations by ''Silent Echoes'' author John Bengston, Eight page booklet with an essay by Jeffrey Vance, author of ''Buster Keaton Remembered'', ''The Men Who Would Be Buster'' a collection of clips from slapstick films influenced by Keaton's work, ''Character Studies'' (ca. 1925) a gag film starring Carter DeHaven, with cameos by Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Roscoe ''Fatty'' Arbuckle and others. ''Seeing Stars'' (excerpts) a 1922 promotional film featuring cameos by Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and others. A series of brief, alternate / deleted shots from ''The Goat'', ''The Blacksmith'' and ''The Ballonatic''.
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Insidious (2011)
dir. James Wan
Product Decsription:
For most of its first half, Insidious creeps along in top form as a classical haunted house movie, seething with chilling riffs and cinematic idioms that embrace the best elements of the genre. Director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell (the cocreative team that unleashed the Saw franchise onto unsuspecting moviegoers in 2004) create a genuine sense of foreboding that many audiences may experience as the kind of imagery vaguely recalled from actual nightmares. Shadowy figures are glimpsed behind curtains or are barely visible through darkened windows, with the tension building from something that is only halfway there. Or maybe that something is all the way there and we just can't make it out clearly enough through the haze of our gathering dread. There aren't any cheap thrills or phony scares; the menacing tone is measured and well earned and doesn't have to rely on things jumping out of the darkness. The terror often comes from what we don't see, or rather what we're afraid we're about to see. It's a simple story about a young family--Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne) and their three small children--settling into a new home. Again following classical form, there's a presence in the house that either doesn't want them there, or needs them to stay for the evilest possible reasons. When 8-year-old Dalton (Ty Simpkins) falls into an unexplained coma after a spooky encounter in the attic, Renai starts seeing the above-mentioned figures lurking around the house, sometimes none too subtly. Though the goings-on are unexplainable, no one acts crazy and Josh believes that his wife's bizarre encounters are real. Like any sensible people who believe they've taken up residence in a haunted house, they move. But the spookiness moves with them and the menace gets worse as months pass and Dalton remains unconscious without reasonable medical cause. Since things can't stay unexplained forever, the plot begins to intrude, especially when a geeky pair of paranormal investigators (Angus Sampson and writer Leigh Whannell) provide some slightly out-of-kilter comic relief. Fortunately their boss (Lin Shaye) is a bona fide psychic who's all business, and she determines that the ghosts, or demons, or whatever they are want Dalton, not the house or its other inhabitants. As the explanations continue, it's revealed that the little boy has the gift of astral projection and his spirit has left his body without really knowing it's gone. If he doesn't come back soon he'll be lost forever, taken by the strongest of the creepy phantoms, a blood-red fiend who provides the most terrifying moments of half-glimpsed horror. It turns out that Dalton inherited his gift from Dad, who has repressed his own childhood encounters with out-of-body flight, but must revisit the dark limbo where all the specters lurk in order to reunite his son's body and soul. All this narrative sometimes gets in the way of the sinister unknowns that started the story, but there are still plenty of frights to maintain a consistently disturbing tone (and without a drop of blood or gore). Wan and Whannell preserve the less-is-more strategy to fine effect, honoring the legacy of a timeless horror style while ably stamping it with their own unique imprimatur. Whether or not you have a personal history of nightmares, there are plenty of willies to go around in the eerie confines of Insidious--an apt title for a movie whose ideas and images invade the mind with scary and spectral imagination. --Ted Fry
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Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)
dir. Jimmy T. Murakami
Product Decsription:
Shad (Richard Thomas) must scour the cosmos to recruit mercenaries from different planets and cultures in order to save his peaceful home planet from the threat of the evil tyrant Sador (John Saxon), who’s bent on dominating and enslaving the entire universe. Joining this magnificant seven of mercenaries are the deadly Gelt (Robert Vaughn), carefree Cowboy (George Peppard) and the sexy Valkyrie Saint-Exmin (Sybil Danning). The film brought together some extremely talented people behind the scenes who went on to bigger and better things: Academy Award winning director James Cameron as the art director, Academy Award winning composer James Horner (Titanic, Avatar), screenwriter John Sayles (Lone Star, Piranha) and producer Gale Ann Hurd (Aliens, The Incredible Hulk) as an assistant production manager.
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Damnation Alley (1977)
dir. Jack Smight
Product Decsription:
A low-wattage cult hit among post-apocalypse movie fans, Jack Smight's Damnation Alley arrives on DVD in a deluxe presentation that underscores its troubled production, as well as its modest charms. Based very loosely on the 1967 novel of the same name by Roger Zelazny (who loathed the movie version), the film stars George Peppard and Jan-Michael Vincent as Air Force officers crisscrossing the ruins of America in massive armored personnel carriers (the 10-ton Landmaster, originally designed to lug trucks, and the film's most enduring image) in search of survivors. Their journey brings them in contact with shotgun-toting killers and giant, flesh-eating cockroaches, plus Jackie Earle Haley and Dominique Sanda as the final pieces in their new model of a nuclear family. Plagued by special-effects issues and reedits, Damnation Alley arrived with a thud in the wake of 20th Century Fox's other science-fiction release, Star Wars, which the studio initially regarded as Damnation's second-string support. The film developed a modest following in the ensuing decades among late-night TV habitués, who can finally retire their gray market dupes of the 1985 VHS release, thanks to Shout Factory's DVD release. The disc offers a new anamorphic widescreen presentation (minus the Sound 360 process, which was too damaged to preserve, but with three newer audio options), as well as commentary by veteran producer Paul Maslansky and a trio of interesting making-of documentaries, the most interesting of which features an interview with co-screenwriter Alan Sharp (Ulzana's Raid, Night Moves), whose assessment of his work isn't too far from Zelazny's reaction. Meanwhile, a look at the Landmaster with designer Dean Jeffries should satisfy fans of that unique vehicle. --Paul Gaita
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Dinocroc vs. Supergator (2011)
dir. Jay Andrews
Product Decsription:
They were created deep within the secret island laboratories of an unscrupulous biotech corporation and grown to horrific proportions...until they both escaped. Bullets won't stop them. Explosives only make them meaner. And their ravenous reptile appetites for scientists, tourists, S.W.A.T. teams and swimsuit models have only just begun. Now an undercover investigator, a sexy Fish & Game officer, and a cold-blooded swamp hunter known only as 'The Cajun' are all in pursuit of the scaly beasts that can outrun SUVs, crush buses, and snack on sleazy producers in hot tubs. But when these monster lizards ultimately meet in battle, will mankind be the defeated species? David Carradine (Kill Bill, Death Race 2000) -- in one of his final performances -- stars in this epic Syfy smash about the bone-crunching, body-chomping, earth-trembling smackdown of Dinocroc vs. Supergator!
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