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The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Extended Edition) (2001-2003)
dir. Peter Jackson
Even though it's close to 90 bucks, I'm strongly considering the double dip. The original extended trilogy is one of the best DVD sets ever and looks great, but I'd imagine the blu ray is kind of mind blowing. ........probably gonna do it.
Product Decsription:
As the triumphant start of a trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring leaves you begging for more. By necessity, Peter Jackson's ambitious epic compresses J.R.R. Tolkien's classic The Lord of the Rings, but this robust adaptation maintains reverent allegiance to Tolkien's creation, instantly qualifying as one of the greatest fantasy films ever made. At 178 minutes, it's long enough to establish the myriad inhabitants of Middle-earth, the legendary Rings of Power, and the fellowship of hobbits, elves, dwarves, and humans--led by the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and the brave hobbit Frodo (Elijah Wood)--who must battle terrifying forces of evil on their perilous journey to destroy the One Ring in the land of Mordor. Superbly paced, the film is both epic and intimate, offering astonishing special effects and production design while emphasizing the emotional intensity of Frodo's adventure, and ends on a perfect note of heroic loyalty and rich anticipation. After the breaking of the Fellowship, Frodo and Sam journey to Mordor with the creature Gollum as their guide in The Two Towers. Meanwhile, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) join in the defense of the people of Rohan, who are the first target in the eradication of the race of Men by the renegade wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee) and the dark lord Sauron. Fantastic creatures, astounding visual effects, and a climactic battle at the fortress of Helm's Deep make The Two Towers a worthy successor to The Fellowship of the Ring, grander in scale but retaining the story's emotional intimacy. With The Return of the King, the greatest fantasy epic in film history draws to a grand and glorious conclusion. The trilogy could never fully satisfy those who remain exclusively loyal to Tolkien's expansive literature, but as a showcase for physical and technical craftsmanship it is unsurpassed in pure scale and ambition, setting milestone after cinematic milestone as Frodo and Sam continue their mission to Mordor to destroy the soul-corrupting One Ring. While the heir to the kingdom of Men, Aragorn, endures the massive battle at Minas Tirith with the allegiance of Legolas, Gimli, and Gandalf, Frodo and Sam must survive the schizoid deceptions of Gollum, who remains utterly convincing as a hybrid of performance (by Andy Serkis) and subtly nuanced computer animation. Jackson and cowriters Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens have much ground to cover; that they do so with intense pacing and epic sweep is impressive enough, but by investing greater depth and consequence in the actions of fellow hobbits Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd), they ensure that The Return of the King maintains the trilogy's emphasis on intimate fellowship and remains faithful to Tolkien's overall vision. By ending the LOTR trilogy with noble integrity and faith in the power of imaginative storytelling, The Return of the King, like its predecessors, will stand as an adventure for the ages. --Jeff Shannon and David Horiuchi
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Sucker Punch (2011)
dir. Zack Snyder
Even though I'm generally a fan of Zack Snyder's work up to this point, I'm kind of neutral about wanting to see this. I'm sure I'll watch it soon but I'm in no hurry
Product Decsription:
Sucker Punch has Moulin Rouge's freewheeling disrespect for genre, cramming dragons, zombie steampunk World War I German soldiers, robotic samurai, military helicopters, and gun-toting, scantily clad superbabes into a series of hyperviolent fantasies that spring from the undulations of a schizoid madhouse inmate. Sucker Punch also has The Matrix's disdain for the laws of physics, as svelte young women in tight clothes leap, spin, twirl, kick, and crash in slow-motion spectacles that only vaguely resemble how bodies actually move in space. On top of that, Sucker Punch has a video game's disinterest in characters, narrative, sensible dialogue, or sense of any kind, really--anything that might get in the way of the next spasm of bullets and sword slashes. A troubled girl nicknamed Baby Doll (the preposterously glossy Emily Browning, whose china-doll looks previously appeared in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events), traumatized by her impending lobotomy, reimagines her asylum as a hybrid cabaret/brothel. She and her just as whimsically monikered fellow inmates (played by Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, and Jamie Chung) use their feminine wiles and some kick-ass gyrations to escape… but things go very, very wrong. The relentless eye-candy comes from director Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300), whose interest in decorative grime and glistening skin seems to short-circuit everything else. But there's no denying that eye-candy does abound. Also featuring Scott Glenn in the Yoda-esque role of "Wise Man." --Bret Fetzer
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Season of the Witch (2011)
dir. Dominic Sena
Nick Cage 4 Prez
Product Decsription:
14TH-CENTURY KNIGHTS TRANSPORT A SUSPECTED WITCH TO A MONASTERY, WHERE MONKS DEDUCE HER POWERS COULD BE THE SOURCE OF THE BLACK PLAGUE.
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Barney's Version (2011)
dir. Richard J. Lewis
Product Decsription:
The publication of a book accusing him of murder leads schlock television producer Barney Panofsky (Paul Giamatti) to reflect on his tumultuous life--from his troubled first marriage to his best friend sleeping with his second wife to his one true love… and how he destroyed the happiest time in his life. By turns comic and self-lacerating, Panofsky is a richly drawn character given vivid life by Giamatti, who's built a remarkable career on prickly people (Sideways, American Splendor, John Adams). Regrettably, the women in his life aren't as fully realized, but the strong performances from the actresses playing them (Rachelle Lefevre, Minnie Driver, and Rosamund Pike) do a lot to make up for the thinness of how they're written. Rounding out the cast is Dustin Hoffman as Panofsky's father, a crude but vigorous ex-cop who loves his son unreservedly. Adapted from an award-winning Canadian book, Barney's Version feels, in the best sense, like a novel; small details and incidents build up to the picture of a man's life. The movie depicts that life without judgment, never manipulating the audience for cheap laughs or sentiment--and yet it is by turns wildly funny and achingly sad, largely due to Giamatti. He holds the viewer's attention effortlessly, quietly, never showboating his emotions or flaunting his intelligence. He's simply a superb actor, and this is a superb performance. --Bret Fetzer
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Black Moon: The Criterion Collection (1975)
dir. Louis Malle
Product Decsription:
Louis Malle (The Lovers, Au revoir les enfants) meets Lewis Carroll in this bizarre and bewitching trip down the rabbit hole. After skirting the horrors of an unidentified war being waged in an anonymous countryside, a beautiful young woman (Cathryn Harrison) takes refuge in a remote farmhouse, where she becomes embroiled in the surreal domestic odyssey of a mysterious family. Evocatively shot by cinematographer Sven Nykvist (Cries and Whispers, Fanny and Alexander), Black Moon is a Freudian tale of adolescent sexuality set in a postapocalyptic world of shifting identities and talking animals. It is one of Malle’s most experimental films and a cinematic daydream like no other.
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The Warrior's Way (2010)
dir. Sngmoo Lee
Product Decsription:
A warrior-assassin is forced to hide in a small town in the American Badlands after refusing a mission.
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People on Sunday: The Criterion Collection (1930)
dir. Robert Siodmak
Product Decsription:
People on Sunday (Menschen am Sonntag) represents an astonishing confluence of talent—an early collaboration by a group of German filmmakers who would all go on to become major Hollywood players, including eventual noir masters Robert Siodmak (The Killers, Criss Cross) and Edgar G. Ulmer (Detour, Bluebeard) and future Oscar winners Billy Wilder (Sunset Boulevard, Ace in the Hole) and Fred Zinneman (High Noon, A Man for All Seasons). This effervescent, sunlit silent film, about a handful of city dwellers enjoying a weekend outing (a charming cast of nonprofessionals), offers a rare glimpse of Weimar-era Berlin. A unique hybrid of documentary and fictional storytelling, People on Sunday was both an experiment and a mainstream hit that would influence generations of film artists around the world.
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Zazie dans le metro: The Criterion Collection (1960)
dir. Louis Malle
Product Decsription:
A brash and precocious eleven-year-old (Catherine Demongeot) comes to Paris for a whirlwind weekend with her rakish uncle (La Pointe Courte’s, Philippe Noiret); he and the viewer get more than they bargained for in this anarchic comedy from Louis Malle (Murmur of the Heart, My Dinner with André), which treats the City of Light as though it were a pleasure island just waiting to be destroyed. Based on a popular novel by Raymond Queneau that had been considered unadaptable, Malle’s audacious hit Zazie dans le métro is a bit of stream-of-conscious slapstick, wall-to-wall with visual gags, editing tricks, and effects, and made with flair on the cusp of the French New Wave.
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Beastly (2010)
dir. Daniel Barnz
Product Decsription:
Beastly definitely lives up to its name--it's an absolutely beastly film--and not in a good way. It's a modern-day retelling of Beauty and the Beast based on Alex Flinn's novel Beastly, and one expects some pretty extreme characters, but in this movie, the characters are shallow and one-dimensional to the extreme, and their supposed personal and emotional growth is totally unbelievable. As for the plot--self-absorbed pretty-boy gets cursed, nice girl gets imprisoned with now-ugly boy, boy changes, and the two fall in love--it just never feels real or believable in this film. With a cast that includes Vanessa Hudgens and Neil Patrick Harris, one expects a halfway decent movie, but no amount of talent can overcome bad writing. In fact, one has to question whether Hudgens and Harris even tried, as their performances just aren't that good. The performances of Alex Pettyfer and Peter Krause are even worse, and Lisa Gay Hamilton only saves herself by her comic delivery of lines that primarily consist of two to three heavily accented monosyllables strung together at a time. The audience at our screening squirmed, laughed in inappropriate places, and even groaned out loud as the actors casually tossed off nuggets of wisdom in proper language that seemed totally out of place with the rest of the slang-riddled dialogue. Perhaps truisms like "Be the man I know you to be," lines quoted from Frank O'Hara's poem "Having a Coke," and statements like "Best embrace the suck" are supposed to come off as funny contrasts, but instead it all just seems hopelessly incongruous and falls horribly flat. The one good thing in this movie is the special-effects makeup, though Kyle's face probably looks nothing like the face that most people picture when they read Flinn's book. Don't bother seeing Beastly unless you enjoy sneering at bad, shallow movies. (Ages 13 and older) --Tami Horiuchi
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Live Like a Cop Die Like a Man (1976)
dir. Ruggero Deodato
Product Decsription:
Fred and Tony are members of an elite 'special squad' of police in Rome, Italy whom are licensed-to-kill, undercover cops whom thrive on living dangerously.
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The Nesting (1981)
dir. Armand Weston
Product Decsription:
Agoraphobic mystery novelist Lauren Cochran decides to leave the city in an attempt to cure her recent writer's block. She rents an old Victorian house in the quiet countryside, unaware of its shocking history. As those around her suffer increasingly violent deaths, Lauren begins to unravel the truth: the house was once an infamous brothel now haunted by the victims of a bloody massacre. Will her terrifying phobia allow her to escape from THE NESTING? Also known as MASSACRE MANSION and PHOBIA, this eerie house of horrors was co-written, produced, and directed by notorious adult filmmaker Armand Weston, and stars Robin Groves (STEPHEN KING'S SILVER BULLET), John Carradine (SHOCK WAVES, THE HOWLING), and Academy Award(r) winner Gloria Grahame (THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, OKLAHOMA!) in her final film role. Long unavailable on home video, THE NESTING has been newly transferred in blood-curdling High Definition from the original camera negative!
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Zombie Holocaust (1982)
dir. Marino Girolami
Product Decsription:
In an effort to expose a flesh-eating cult in New York City, a team of scientists sets out on an expedition to the primitive island of Keto. They are soon trapped in the wilderness, surrounded by a tribe of murderous cannibals and an army of deadly zombies!
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Wild Cherry (2009)
dir. Dana Lustig
Rob Schneider and that one girl from Lost, a winning combo.
Product Decsription:
Three hot high school seniors are shocked to discover their names in a legendary book that pairs the school’s virgins with football players. Outraged, the girls are determined to show the guys who’s really running the game of love and launch a series of hilarious, humiliating pranks to get back at the baffled boys in a hysterical battle of the sexes. Rumer Willis (90210), Tania Raymonde (Lost) and Kristin Cavallari (The Hills) star with Rob Schneider (Saturday Night Live) as an overprotective father reluctant to let his daughter grow up.
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DVD Picks for July 5th, 2011
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13 Assassins (2010)
dir. Takashi Miike
Best movie of 2011 and it's gonna be damn hard to beat. To be honest, I'm kind of surprised I'm saying that about a Takashi Miike movie...I mean, he's a great and talented director, and he's made movies that I love, but I dunno, his sensibilities have always seemed just a bit too crazy to be able to make a movie that just blows me away. He obviously proved me wrong and I won't doubt him again. I also don't doubt that he'll dive back into the world of the batshit insane and even make more stinkers, but the great thing about Miike is that you're paying attention to virtually anything he's working on, and that's pretty rare.
Product Decsription:
Based on actual events that served as the inspiration for the 1963 film of the same name, Takashi Miike's 13 ASSASSINS follows a group of noble samurai as they seek to slay a tyrannical, politically connected lord before he seizes control of the entire country. Japan, 1844: as the era of the samurai winds to a close, a sadistic young lord uses his powerful political ties to commit heinous atrocities against the common people. Recognizing the dangers to both his country and its citizens should the lord manage to gain any more power, a concerned government official secretly recruits 13 of the most skilled swordsmen he can find to defeat the evil lord once and for all. But reaching their target won't be easy, because the elusive lord is constantly flanked by legions of fearless bodyguards. Realizing that the bodyguards would decimate his modest task force in a traditional battle, the assassins' leader (Koji Yakusho) lays an ingenious trap that will give his men the upper hand, and waits patiently for their prey to take the bait.
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Hobo with a Shotgun (2011)
dir. Jason Eisener
Really enjoyed this movie, and Rutger Hauer is perfect. The look of the movie is pretty damn spot-on as well. I had a couple problems with the ending (I think....I watched it a while back and my memory is a little fuzzy) but would definitely watch it again soon.
Product Decsription:
A train pulls into the station it's the end of the line. A Hobo jumps from a freight car, hoping for a fresh start in a new city. Instead, he finds himself trapped in an urban hell. This is a world where criminals rule the streets and Drake, the city's crime boss, reigns supreme alongside his sadistic murderous sons, Slick & Ivan. Amidst the chaos, the Hobo comes across a pawn shop window displaying a second hand lawn mower. He dreams of making the city a beautiful place and starting a new life for himself. But as the brutality continues to rage around him, he notices a shotgun hanging above the lawn mower... Quickly, he realizes the only way to make a difference in this town is with that gun in his hand and two shells in its chamber.
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The Sacrifice (1986)
dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
Product Decsription:
In The Sacrifice, Alexander's (Erland Josephson) birthday party is interrupted by news that World War III has begun and mankind is hours away from annihilation. To avoid war, Alexander promises to God that he'll sacrifice all he has -- even his son. This new remastered edition of Tarkovsky's final film features a new, much improved transfer of the film in anamorphic widescreen and the first time on Blu-ray! Special features include the feature length documentary 'Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky', a behind the scenes look at one of the most influential directors of our time, photo gallery, trailers and more!
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Of Gods and Men (2011)
dir. Xavier Beauvois
Product Decsription:
The monks at the Trappist monastery in Algeria seem almost to exist outside of time, so it may be a while before we recognize the 1990s as the setting for Of Gods and Men. And old traditions cannot escape new warfare in this stirring movie, based on a true story that happened at a remote enclave of peaceful, studious priests. These Christian monks minister to the largely Muslim (and very poor) villagers in their vicinity, a balance that is threatened by Algeria's Civil War. When nearby radical-Islamist insurgents begin killing foreigners, the monks must face a choice. Will they flee to safety--a perfectly rational and understandable decision that will leave the villagers without their only source of health care--or will they stay on, secure in their spiritual calling despite the possibility of abduction or murder? Director Xavier Beauvois makes an absorbing film from this question, and it's not at all difficult to understand why it became an unexpected box-office smash in France (and ended up winning the Cesar award for best film of 2010). The film is beautifully cast, and sometimes Beauvois simply trains his camera on the lined, weathered faces of his priests, as though allowing those lines to tell the story. Heading the cast is Lambert Wilson (of Matrix fame), who leads his men with an almost regal bearing, and veteran actor Michael Lonsdale, who quietly inhabits the role of the physician in the group. The film takes time out for quiet contemplation, as though understanding that the priests' suspenseful situation is only half the story. The wordless climax, which allows the men to be animated by the earthly pleasures of wine and Tchaikovsky, is something of a spiritual journey of acceptance all on its own. It's a moment you'll find very difficult to forget. --Robert Horton
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Das Boot (1997)
dir. Wolfgang Petersen
Product Decsription:
This 282-minute version of Das Boot is the full-length TV series, originally shown in six parts but here edited into a seamless whole. Director Wolfgang Petersen has since graduated to mega-budget Hollywood productions (2004's Troy for example), but has never managed to even come close to this, his German-language masterpiece. Petersen and his sterling cast (including Jürgen Prochnow in his best role as the U-boat Captain) went to great lengths to ensure that this claustrophobic depiction of life aboard the German sub U-97 while attacking British convoys in the Atlantic is thoroughly authentic, and totally convincing. Even the set itself, which is a replica of a U-boat interior, had no false walls, so all camera angles are necessarily from within its horribly narrow, overcrowded and sweaty confines. The result is certainly the finest submarine drama ever made, and one of the most compelling depictions of the physical, psychological and emotional effects of warfare. This miniseries is rather longer than the movie version, which is also available on DVD in a director's cut version. The differences are not in matters of plot, but in the pacing: everything here takes longer to happen, while the crew must sit around, bicker, swear, and sweat it out--the agonizing searching for action, the tension of the attack, the terrible stress of hiding from enemy destroyers. Everything unfolds as if in real time, which is the great advantage a TV production has over a movie (contrast, for example, Band of Brothers with Saving Private Ryan). This, therefore, is the definitive presentation of a World War II classic. --Mark Walker
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Wake Wood (2011)
dir. David Keating
Product Decsription:
Still grieving the death of nine-year-old Alice their only child at the jaws of a crazed dog, vet Patrick and pharmacist Louise relocate to the remote town of Wake Wood where they learn of a pagan ritual that will allow them three more days with Alice. The couple find the idea disturbing and exciting in equal measure, but once they agree terms with Arthur, the village s leader, a far bigger question looms what will they do when it s time for Alice to go back?
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