Sunday, November 27, 2011

Frost/Nixon [Blu-ray]

  • Condition: New
  • Format: Blu-ray
  • AC-3; Color; Dolby; DTS Surround Sound; Dubbed; Subtitled; Widescreen
From Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard comes the electrifying, untold story behind one of the most unforgettable moments in history. When disgraced President Richard Nixon agreed to an interview with jet-setting television personality, David Frost, he thought he’d found the key to saving his tarnished legacy. But, with a name to make and a reputation to overcome, Frost became one of Nixon’s most formidable adversaries and engaged the leader in a charged battle of wits that changed the face of politics forever. Featuring brilliant portrayals by Frank Langella and Michael Sheen, Frost/Nixon is the fascinating and suspenseful story of truth, accountability, secrets and lies.Sounds like a good match: a historical drama from the author of The Queen, but! with an American subject in the generational wheelhouse of director Ron Howard. And so Peter Morgan's Tony-winning play morphs into a Hollywood movie under the wing of the Apollo 13 guy. Morgan's subject is a curious moment of post-Watergate shakeout: British TV host David Frost's long-form interviews with ex-President Richard Nixon, conducted in 1977. It was a big ratings success at the time, justifying the somewhat controversial decision to cut an enormous check for Nixon's services. The movie adds a mockumentary note to the otherwise straightforward style, having direct-to-camera addresses from various aides to Frost and Nixon (played by the likes of Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell, and Kevin Bacon); these basically tell us things we already glean from the rest of the movie, adding unnecessary melodrama and upping the stakes. In this curious scheme, the success of Frost's career, which could bellyflop if he doesn't get something worthwhile out of the cagey, long-win! ded Nixon, is given somewhat more weight than the actual revel! ations o f the interviews. Even with these questionable storytelling decisions, there's still the spectacle of two actors going at it hammer and tongs, and on that level the movie offers some heat. Michael Sheen, who played Tony Blair not only in The Queen but also in another Morgan-scripted project, The Deal, is adept at catching David Frost's blow-dried charm, as well as the determination beneath it. Frank Langella's physical performance as Nixon is superb, and he certainly can be a commanding actor, though veteran Nixon-watchers might find that he misses a certain depth of self-pity in the man. Both actors were retained from the original stage production, a rare thing in Hollywood--and probably Howard's best decision of the project. --Robert HortonFrom Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard comes the electrifying, untold story behind one of the most unforgettable moments in history. When disgraced President Richard Nixon agreed to an interview with j! et-setting television personality, David Frost, he thought he’d found the key to saving his tarnished legacy. But, with a name to make and a reputation to overcome, Frost became one of Nixon’s most formidable adversaries and engaged the leader in a charged battle of wits that changed the face of politics forever. Featuring brilliant portrayals by Frank Langella and Michael Sheen, Frost/Nixon is the fascinating and suspenseful story of truth, accountability, secrets and lies.Sounds like a good match: a historical drama from the author of The Queen, but with an American subject in the generational wheelhouse of director Ron Howard. And so Peter Morgan's Tony-winning play morphs into a Hollywood movie under the wing of the Apollo 13 guy. Morgan's subject is a curious moment of post-Watergate shakeout: British TV host David Frost's long-form interviews with ex-President Richard Nixon, conducted in 1977. It was a big ratings success at the time, justifyin! g the somewhat controversial decision to cut an enormous check! for Nix on's services. The movie adds a mockumentary note to the otherwise straightforward style, having direct-to-camera addresses from various aides to Frost and Nixon (played by the likes of Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell, and Kevin Bacon); these basically tell us things we already glean from the rest of the movie, adding unnecessary melodrama and upping the stakes. In this curious scheme, the success of Frost's career, which could bellyflop if he doesn't get something worthwhile out of the cagey, long-winded Nixon, is given somewhat more weight than the actual revelations of the interviews. Even with these questionable storytelling decisions, there's still the spectacle of two actors going at it hammer and tongs, and on that level the movie offers some heat. Michael Sheen, who played Tony Blair not only in The Queen but also in another Morgan-scripted project, The Deal, is adept at catching David Frost's blow-dried charm, as well as the determination beneath it. Fr! ank Langella's physical performance as Nixon is superb, and he certainly can be a commanding actor, though veteran Nixon-watchers might find that he misses a certain depth of self-pity in the man. Both actors were retained from the original stage production, a rare thing in Hollywood--and probably Howard's best decision of the project. --Robert Horton

The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.: The Complete Series

  • Condition: New
  • Format: DVD
  • Box set; Closed-captioned; Color; Dolby; DVD; Subtitled; NTSC
Mud Creek, Texas, is about to get all shook up. When mysterious deaths plague the Shady Rest retirement home, it's up to an aging, cantankerous "Elvis" (Bruce Campbell) and a decrepitand black"JFK" (Ossie Davis) to defeat a 3,000-year-old-Egyptian mummy with a penchant for sucking human souls! Can the King show the world that he can still take care of business?Don Coscarelli directs and Bruce Campbell stars as the King of Camp in this intentionally over-the-top schlockfest. Bubba Ho-Tep is partially about Elvis Presley and partially about the title character, an Egyptian cowboy zombie, but mostly it is about camp. The movie is equal parts story and back story. We learn through narration and flashback how Elvis didn't really die, ending up instead in a rest home in East Texas with! JFK (played by Ossie Davis), who was dyed black and had his brain removed, presumably for reasons of national security. Campbell and Davis realize that something strange is going on when their rest-home compatriots start dropping off suspiciously. The whole movie leads up to a final showdown to the death with the Egyptian cowboy zombie who has been sucking the souls of their fellow residents because he thought no one would notice. The movie unfolds a bit slowly; it is, after all, a geriatrics-fight-Egyptian-cowboy-zombie movie. However, one wishes this self-conscious movie's pacing took its cue from the atypically fast-moving zombie instead of from the senior-citizen Elvis and JFK. In the end, though, Campbell is flawless as the aged King; his accent, intonations, glasses, and trademark karate are at the same time sincere and over the top. --Brian SaltzmanMud Creek, Texas, is about to get all shook up. When mysterious deaths plague the Shady Rest retirement ho! me, it's up to an aging, cantankerous "Elvis" (Bruce Campbell)! and a d ecrepitand black"JFK" (Ossie Davis) to defeat a 3,000-year-old-Egyptian mummy with a penchant for sucking human souls! Can the King show the world that he can still take care of business? Don Coscarelli directs and Bruce Campbell stars as the King of Camp in this intentionally over-the-top schlockfest. Bubba Ho-Tep is partially about Elvis Presley and partially about the title character, an Egyptian cowboy zombie, but mostly it is about camp. The movie is equal parts story and back story. We learn through narration and flashback how Elvis didn't really die, ending up instead in a rest home in East Texas with JFK (played by Ossie Davis), who was dyed black and had his brain removed, presumably for reasons of national security. Campbell and Davis realize that something strange is going on when their rest-home compatriots start dropping off suspiciously. The whole movie leads up to a final showdown to the death with the Egyptian cowboy zombie who has been sucking the sou! ls of their fellow residents because he thought no one would notice. The movie unfolds a bit slowly; it is, after all, a geriatrics-fight-Egyptian-cowboy-zombie movie. However, one wishes this self-conscious movie's pacing took its cue from the atypically fast-moving zombie instead of from the senior-citizen Elvis and JFK. In the end, though, Campbell is flawless as the aged King; his accent, intonations, glasses, and trademark karate are at the same time sincere and over the top. --Brian SaltzmanDon Coscarelli directs and Bruce Campbell stars as the King of Camp in this intentionally over-the-top schlockfest. Bubba Ho-Tep is partially about Elvis Presley and partially about the title character, an Egyptian cowboy zombie, but mostly it is about camp. The movie is equal parts story and back story. We learn through narration and flashback how Elvis didn't really die, ending up instead in a rest home in East Texas with JFK (played by Ossie Davis), who was dyed! black and had his brain removed, presumably for reasons of na! tional s ecurity. Campbell and Davis realize that something strange is going on when their rest-home compatriots start dropping off suspiciously. The whole movie leads up to a final showdown to the death with the Egyptian cowboy zombie who has been sucking the souls of their fellow residents because he thought no one would notice. The movie unfolds a bit slowly; it is, after all, a geriatrics-fight-Egyptian-cowboy-zombie movie. However, one wishes this self-conscious movie's pacing took its cue from the atypically fast-moving zombie instead of from the senior-citizen Elvis and JFK. In the end, though, Campbell is flawless as the aged King; his accent, intonations, glasses, and trademark karate are at the same time sincere and over the top. --Brian SaltzmanSomething evil is stirring in the small mining town of Gold Lick, and it's not happy. Guan-di, the Chinese protector of the dead with a strange affinity for bean curd, has been awakened by reckless teenagers, and now hi! s bloody crusade to wipe out the town's entire population can only be stopped by one man - Bruce Campbell (the guy who starred in all three Evil Dead movies and Bubba Ho-tep), B-move star and deadbeat ex-husband extraordinaire, who's recruited to be their unwitting savior. Thinking the whole scenario's a publicity prank, Bruce is distracted from his mission by a hot mom and fan boys aplenty-- but when our hero has to face off against a dark force more fearsome than a Hollywood agent, the laughs and screams start flying!

Includes Collectible 24-page MY NAME IS BRUCE comic book inside

Special Features:
-Feature-length commentary with director/actor Bruce Campbell and producer Mike Richardson
-Documentary: Heart of Dorkness The Making of My Name is Bruce
-Featurettes: Bruce On..., Beyond Inside the Cave: The Making of CaveAlien 2, Kif s Korner, Awkward Moments with Kif, Love Birds, Hard Truth News from Hollywood The Real Bruce Campbell
-CaveAlien 2 ! Trailer, My Name is Bruce Trailer
-Poster Art Gallery, Prop! s Art Ga llery, Photo GalleryCult film and TV star Bruce Campbell (Burn Notice) lampoons his own B-movie legacy with My Name is Bruce, an agreeably goofy horror-comedy which pits him--well, a version of him, anyway--against a malevolent Asian spirit in order to save a die-hard fan. Campbell also directed Bruce, and brings a loose, kitchen-sink vibe to the proceedings, which has teenager and die-hard Bruce Campbell fan Jeff (Taylor Sharp) kidnap his idol in order to save his small town from an ancient Chinese demon. Unfortunately, the movie Bruce Campbell is a broken-down, booze-swilling reprobate who lacks even an ounce of the insouciant charm of his screen persona in Evil Dead 2 or the Hercules series, and proves woefully inadequate in dispelling the monster. But as films ranging from Cat Ballou and My Favorite Year to Galaxy Quest and Three Amigos! have proven, the unwavering belief of a fan can bring out the h! ero in even the worst heel, and Bruce rises to the occasion in the picture's final third. Obviously, Bruce is slated towards fans of Campbell's eccentric screen c.v., and aficionados will undoubtedly appreciate the endless slew of nods to his previous films, as well as cameos by many of his co-stars, including Ted Raimi in multiple roles (one of which is a Chinese gentleman that gives Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's a run for his money in the stereotype department). Campbell himself remains the movie's chief selling point; his knack for physical humor (read: self-abuse) and pulpy line readings have lost none of their charm, which does much to override some of the flick's flotilla of stale gags. Campbell's sense of humor is also given free reign on the commentary track, which he shares with producer Mike Richardson; the DVD, which comes with a 24-page comic book adaptation from Dark Horse, also includes an amusing making-of featurette, as well as a ! spoofy tell-all mockumentary on the "real" Bruce Campbell, and! a trail er for the atrocious film-within-a-film, Cavealien 2. -- Paul Gaita

Stills from My Name is Bruce (Click for larger image)
The world's favorite western/sci-fi/comedy/action cult hit rides again! Here on 8 discs is the complete series about Brisco (Bruce Campbell), a tough-as-rawhide cowpoke, debonair ladies' man and Harvard-educated smarty-britches who roams from Frisco to Jalisco in pursuit of outlaws who killed his father...and in search of a mysterious orb possessing out-of-this world pow! ers. Hot lead and cool anachronisms await Brisco as he and his sidekicks - including Comet, the intellectual equine who doesn't know he's a horse - fight for justice in the way, way, way-out West. Put your boots in your stirrups, your tongue in your cheek and join the fun. Let's play cowboys and aliens.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Documentary
Featurette
Other
Documentaries:The History of Brisco County: A behind-the-scenes documentary with cast and creator.
Featurette:1.) "Tools of the Trade" - mini featurettes on special aspects of the show narrated by Bruce Campbell. 2.) "A Brisco County Writer's Room" - Roundtable discussion with the writers & producers fo Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
Other:1.) "A Reading From The Book of Bruce" 2.) "Brisco's Book of Coming Things" - interactive menu launching mini-featurettes about the signature references to futuristic elements of the show, narrated b! y Bruce Campbell.

A science fiction-Western and comedy! -drama w ith echoes of The Wild Wild West and Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.: The Complete Series is uniquely entertaining. Anchored by the comically heroic style of likable B-movie actor Bruce Campbell, Adventures lasted one television season in 1993-94. But it left behind a full 27 episodes (including two two-part stories) full of classic TV Western production values and a running storyline that resembles The X-Files after awhile.

Campbell plays Brisco County Jr., a bounty hunter and son of a legendary U.S. marshal (R. Lee Ermey) gunned down by the villainous John Bly (Billy Drago) and his band of misfits. The younger Brisco is hired by a consortium of businessmen to protect their interests from the likes of Bly, and while he's dedicated to that cause, Brisco is also determined to avenge his father's murder. Helping him do a little of both is a fussy attorney, Socrates Poole (Christian Clemenson); a rival bounty ! hunter, Lord Bowler (Julius Carry); a wacky inventor, Professor Wickwire (John Astin); and a sultry saloon singer, Dixie (Kelly Rutherford). Rockets, mysterious orbs, and superhuman strength are some of the delightfully out-of-their-element phenomena that find themselves alongside more conventional cowpoke ingredients, including a horse so smart he can chew the ropes binding Brisco's hands. For the most part, the stories stand alone. But as the season progresses, a lot of things get weirder, albeit in a good way: the truth about Bly and his connection to a golden orb everyone wants, for example, are certainly unexpected. But the show is always dazzling, often satiric ("Oy!" Dixie exclaims when Brisco outlines the steps involved in stopping a runaway wagon they're trapped within), yet heartening in an old-fashioned way. Special features include Campbell's reading of a chapter about the series in his autobiography. --Tom Keogh

NOVA - Galileo's Battle for the Heavens

  • At a time when heretics were burned alive for dissent, scientist Galileo Galilei risked his life to advance his revolutionary concepts of the universe. British actor Simon Callow (Shakespeare in Love, Four Weddings and a Funeral) brings Galileo to life, humanizing the great thinker s passion, intelligence, and arrogance while depicting his frustrations with fellow philosophers and scientists, and
Marcos (Marcos Hernandez) is the middle-aged chauffeur of Ana (Anapola Mushkadiz), daughter of a Mexican general who amuses herself by working as a prostitute in a high-end brothel. Marcos and his wife (Berta Ruiz) have kidnapped a baby for ransom but it went tragically wrong when the infant died. When he confesses his guilt to Ana, a bond of secrecy consecrated by the flesh unites them. As the police draw closer, she urges him to turn himself in but instead he seeks redemption from a higher power.Battle In Heaven, Carlos Reygadas’ follow-up to Japón, opens with a controversial oral sex scene involving beauty, Ana (Anapola Mushkadiz), and the beast, Marcos (Marcos Hernández). Marcos is Ana’s chauffeur, who has kidnapped and accidentally killed a baby. Ana, a general’s daughter by day and a prostitute by night, confides in Marcos and performs sexual favors for him in order to persuade him to turn himself in. She is too young, however, to understand Marcos’s confused mental state, and her sensitive position with him puts her in peril. Set in Mexico City, this tragic drama is as much about failed intimacy as it is about Mexican class structure, as Ana and Marcos attempt to bridge the class gap. A few explicit sex scenes show Marcos in bed with Ana or his wife (Bertha Ruiz), thus garnering it reviews that compare it to The Brown Bunny. In fact, the slow pacing and artsy, self-consciously composed shots do remind one of The Brown Bunny,! in that both films are initially interesting but grow dull as! their p lots take forever to unfold. An intriguing plot is buried under seemingly eternal panoramic shots of the city, painfully slow conversation between characters, and constant close-ups of Marcos’ face that are meant to capture his angst but only deter narrative. Nevertheless, this film’s merit is based in its experimental energy, and any director who follows up a graphic sex scene with a cut to the waving of the country’s flag (in this case Mexico’s) has my respect. --Trinie DaltonSpain released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: Spanish ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), English ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Biographies, Deleted Scenes, Film Credits, Interactive Menu, SYNOPSIS: Marcos and his wife kidnap a baby for ransom money, but it goes tragically wrong when the infant dies. In another world is Ana, the daughter of the general he drives for,! who prostitutes herself for pleasure. Marcos confesses his guilt to her in his troubled search for relief. And then finds himself on his knees amidst the multitude of believers moving slowly towards the Basilica in honor of the Lady of Guadalupe. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Cannes Film Festival, European Film Awards, ...Battle in Heaven ( Batalla en el cielo )The Brown Bunny is both a love story and a haunting portrait of a lost soul unable to forget his past. After finishing a motorcycle race in New Hampshire, Bud Clay (Vincent Gallo) loads his racing bike into the back of his van and begins a cross-country odyssey to Los Angeles, where he is to compete in another race. During his trip, he meets three very different women: Violet, a wholesome all-American gas station attendant; Lilly (Cheryl Tiegs), a fellow lost soul he connects with at a highway rest stop; and Rose, a Las Vegas prostitute. Throughout his journey, Bud can never escape his intense feelings for the love of his li! fe, Daisy (Chloë Sevigny), so he plans to reconcile with her ! when he reaches Los Angeles. Arriving in Los Angeles, Bud checks into a motel before visiting the abandoned home he once shared with Daisy. He leaves a note, hoping she will turn up at his motel room . . .Building to a notorious climax, the film presents one of the frankest portrayals of male sexuality ever seen in American cinema.After its scandalous screening at the 2004 Cannes film festival, Vincent Gallo's The Brown Bunny was cut from 118 to 92 minutes, and that made all the difference. The film that critic and long-time Cannes attendee Roger Ebert originally called "the worst film in the history of the festival" was transformed, by Gallo's judicious editing, into a perfectly acceptable if not universally respected art-house curio, widely criticized yet ripe for cult status, able to stand beside Gallo's Buffalo 66 as the work of a genuine artist with a singular vision. Yes, that vision is self-indulgent, narcissistic, and likely to turn off a majority of viewers wi! th its glacial pace and endless shots of Gallo driving, driving, and driving some more. But in portraying a melancholy motorcycle racer who drives cross-country while mourning a private loss that remains secret until the final scenes, Gallo gives us a character, and a film, that feels spiritually akin to such early '70s classics as Five Easy Pieces and Two-Lane Blacktop. It's a flawed yet ultimately moving example of maverick, unconventional cinema, and while Chloe Sevigny's explicit oral sex scene with Gallo is completely unnecessary, it's just one more element that places The Brown Bunny firmly, and refreshingly, out of the mainstream. --Jeff ShannonAt a time when heretics were burned alive for dissent, scientist Galileo Galilei risked his life to advance his revolutionary concepts of the universe. British actor Simon Callow (Shakespeare in Love, Four Weddings and a Funeral) brings Galileo to life, humanizing the great thinker’s passion, int! elligence, and arrogance while depicting his frustrations with! fellow philosophers and scientists, and with Roman Catholic church leaders.

Based on Dava Sobel’s best-selling biography Galileo’s Daughter, this two-hour film offers a vivid re-imagining of Galileo’s incredible achievements that forever changed the way we view our place in the universe. It also investigates the momentous personal and spiritual conflicts Galileo faced- most especially in defending the controversial theory that the earth revolves around the sun.

Join noted Galileo authorities and experience the remarkable life behind the discoveries, and see letters from his illegitimate daughter, Maria Celeste, a cloistered nun, have shed new light on Galileo’s pioneering telescopic observations, his fateful Inquisition trial for heresy, and life in the seventeenth century.

Everything Is Illuminated: A Novel

  • ISBN13: 9780060529703
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

With only a yellowing photograph in hand, a young man -- also named Jonathan Safran Foer -- sets out to find the woman who may or may not have saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Accompanied by an old man haunted by memories of the war; an amorous dog named Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior; and the unforgettable Alex, a young Ukrainian translator who speaks in a sublimely butchered English, Jonathan is led on a quixotic journey over a devastated landscape and into an unexpected past.

The simplest thing would be to describe Everything Is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer's accomplished debut, as a novel about the Holocaust. It is, but that really fails to do justice to the sheer ambition of ! this book. The main story is a grimly familiar one. A young Jewish American--who just happens to be called Jonathan Safran Foer--travels to the Ukraine in the hope of finding the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis. He is aided in his search by Alex Perchov, a naïve Ukrainian translator, Alex's grandfather (also called Alex), and a flatulent mongrel dog named Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. On their journey through Eastern Europe's obliterated landscape they unearth facts about the Nazi atrocities and the extent of Ukrainian complicity that have implications for Perchov as well as Safran Foer. This narrative is not, however, recounted from (the character) Jonathan Safran Foer's perspective. It is relayed through a series of letters that Alex sends to Foer. These are written in the kind of broken Russo-English normally reserved for Bond villains or Latka from Taxi. Interspersed between these letters are fragments of a novel by Safran Foer--a wonderfully imagined, almo! st magical realist, account of life in the shtetl before the N! azis des troyed it. These are in turn commented on by Alex, creating an additional metafictional angle to the tale.

If all this sounds a little daunting, don't be put off; Safran Foer is an extremely funny as well as intelligent writer who combines some of the best Jewish folk yarns since Isaac Bashevis Singer with a quite heartbreaking meditation on love, friendship, and loss. --Travis Elborough, Amazon.co.uk

Fat Girls

  • A candidly funny and off-beat coming-of-age story focusing on the trials and tribulations of a gay, theater-obsessed Texan high school senior who has his heart set on Broadway stardom and an eye out for love. With the help of his 300-pound best girl friend, he embarks on a winning journey of self discovery. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R Age: 858423001230 UPC:&
A candidly funny and off-beat coming-of-age story focusing on the trials and tribulations of a gay, theater-obsessed Texan high school senior who has his heart set on Broadway stardom and an eye out for love. With the help of his 300-pound best girl friend, he embarks on a winning journey of self discovery.

Motion Picture Masterpieces Collection (David Copperfield 1935 / Marie Antoinette 1938 / Pride and Prejudice 1940 / A Tale of Two Cities 1935 / Treasure Island 1934)

  • MARIE ANTOINETTE The woman who was France! Norma Shearer and Tyrone Power headline an opulent saga of royalty and revolution.DAVID COPPERFIELD Based on the best-selling book by Charles Dickens. W.C. Fields is Micawber, and Freddie Bartholomew is young David in a splendid version of Dickens' most autobiographical work.A TALE OF TWO CITIES From the famed author Charles Dickens. "It was the best of t
Vince Rizzo (Andy Garcia) is a lifelong resident of the tiny, tradition-steeped Bronx enclave of City Island. A family man who makes his living as a corrections officer, Vince longs to become an actor. Ashamed to admit his aspirations to his family, Vince would rather let his fiery wife Joyce (Julianna Margulies) believe his weekly poker games are a cover for an extramarital affair than admit he’s secretly taking acting classes in Manhattan. When Vince is asked to reveal his biggest secret in clas! s, he inadvertently sets off a chaotic chain of events that turns his mundane suburban life upside down. Winner of the Audience Award at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival, City Island spins a web of misrepresentations, misinterpretations and misunderstandings into a smart and charming comedy about a family that stops at nothing to avoid the truth.
City Island is chock-full of the simple pleasures to be gleaned from a warm, generous, and skillful script, performed with humor and charisma by a talented cast. Vince Rizzo (Andy Garcia, Ocean's Eleven) is a prison guard--or "corrections officer," as he prefers--and has a family full of secrets: his son has some atypical desires and his daughter has been kicked out of school, while his wife Joyce (Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife) is powerfully attracted to the hunky young ex-con on parole that Vince has brought to stay with them. But Vince has some potent secrets of his own, including taking acting cla! sses. He tells Joyce he's playing poker, which leads her to be! lieve he 's having an affair--and when she meets his acting partner (Emily Mortimer, Lovely and Amazing), she thinks her fears are confirmed. This plot could easily have been melodramatic or sentimental, but thanks to the relaxed and confident guiding hand of writer-director Raymond De Felitta and the grounded, unfussy performances of the actors, City Island is engaging and thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. --Bret FetzerVince Rizzo (Andy Garcia) is a lifelong resident of the tiny, tradition-steeped Bronx enclave of City Island. A family man who makes his living as a corrections officer, Vince longs to become an actor. Ashamed to admit his aspirations to his family, Vince would rather let his fiery wife Joyce (Julianna Margulies) believe his weekly poker games are a cover for an extramarital affair than admit he’s secretly taking acting classes in Manhattan. When Vince is asked to reveal his biggest secret in class, he inadvertently sets off a chaotic c! hain of events that turns his mundane suburban life upside down. Winner of the Audience Award at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival, City Island spins a web of misrepresentations, misinterpretations and misunderstandings into a smart and charming comedy about a family that stops at nothing to avoid the truth.
City Island is chock-full of the simple pleasures to be gleaned from a warm, generous, and skillful script, performed with humor and charisma by a talented cast. Vince Rizzo (Andy Garcia, Ocean's Eleven) is a prison guard--or "corrections officer," as he prefers--and has a family full of secrets: his son has some atypical desires and his daughter has been kicked out of school, while his wife Joyce (Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife) is powerfully attracted to the hunky young ex-con on parole that Vince has brought to stay with them. But Vince has some potent secrets of his own, including taking acting classes. He tells Joyce he's playing poker,! which leads her to believe he's having an affair--and when sh! e meets his acting partner (Emily Mortimer, Lovely and Amazing), she thinks her fears are confirmed. This plot could easily have been melodramatic or sentimental, but thanks to the relaxed and confident guiding hand of writer-director Raymond De Felitta and the grounded, unfussy performances of the actors, City Island is engaging and thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. --Bret FetzerStudio: Tcfhe/anchor Bay/starz Release Date: 09/20/2011 Rating: Pg13City Island is chock-full of the simple pleasures to be gleaned from a warm, generous, and skillful script, performed with humor and charisma by a talented cast. Vince Rizzo (Andy Garcia, Ocean's Eleven) is a prison guard--or "corrections officer," as he prefers--and has a family full of secrets: his son has some atypical desires and his daughter has been kicked out of school, while his wife Joyce (Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife) is powerfully attracted to the hunky young ex-con on par! ole that Vince has brought to stay with them. But Vince has some potent secrets of his own, including taking acting classes. He tells Joyce he's playing poker, which leads her to believe he's having an affair--and when she meets his acting partner (Emily Mortimer, Lovely and Amazing), she thinks her fears are confirmed. This plot could easily have been melodramatic or sentimental, but thanks to the relaxed and confident guiding hand of writer-director Raymond De Felitta and the grounded, unfussy performances of the actors, City Island is engaging and thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. --Bret FetzerDisc 1: CHARLIE CHAN IN HONOLULU **Full Frame Feature **Reinventing Chan **Sidney Toler:The Man Who Became Chan **"Charlie Chan? Courage: A Re-creation of a Lost Chan Film" **Restoration Comparison **Still Gallery

Disc 2: CHARLIE CHAN IN RENO **Full Frame Feature **Welcome to Reno: America's Divorce Resort **Reno Memories **Chan's Killer Actress: K! ay Linaker **Restoration Comparison **Trailer **Still Gallery !

Disc 3: CHARLIE CHAN AT TREASURE ISLAND **Full frame Feature **Commentary by Film CriticKen Hanke & Film Historian John Cork **The Real Treasure Island **Charlie Chan & the Zodiac **Restoration Comparison **Still Gallery

Disc 4: CHARLIE CHAN IN CITY IN DARKNESS **Full frame Feature **The Making of Charlie Chan in City in Darkness **Writing Chan: Robert Ellis & Helen Logan **Restoration Comparison **Trailer **Still Gallery

Features include:

•MPAA Rating: PG
•Format: DVD
MARIE ANTOINETTE The woman who was France! Norma Shearer and Tyrone Power headline an opulent saga of royalty and revolution. DAVID COPPERFIELD Based on the best-selling book by Charles Dickens. W.C. Fields is Micawber, and Freddie Bartholomew is young David in a splendid version of Dickens' most autobiographical work. A TALE OF TWO CITIES From the famed author Charles Dickens. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Ronald Colman stars in the lavish story of ! the French Revolution...and one man's redemption. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE Based on the best-selling book by Jane Austen. Mr. Darcy (Laurence Olivier) sets maiden hearts aflutter - except for that of unimpressed Elizabeth Bennett (Greer Garson). Austen's masterwork! TREASURE ISLAND Based on the unforgettable book of the same title by Robert Louis Stevenson. Avast, me hearties, for the swashbuckler about a boy with a treasure map - and a pirate (Long John Silver) with a scheme. The Champ's Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper reunite!For an accurate look at how things were at MGM in the glory days, go directly to Motion Picture Masterpieces, a DVD box with five literary-minded A-list productions. MGM liked to think of itself as the studio of class, and its highbrow aspirations (mixed with plenty of old-fashioned hokum) are on lavish display in this collection.

Louis B. Mayer ran the studio, and boy wonder Irving Thalberg supervised production. However, another strong-willed! producer, future Gone with the Wind CEO David O. Selzn! ick, was responsible for guiding a pair of highly enjoyable Dickens adaptations, both released in 1935. David Copperfield is a wonderful condensation of the sprawling novel, crammed with memorable evocations of Dickens' roster of eccentrics. Freddie Bartholomew, who became a star with this role, plays the young David; equally indelible are W.C. Fields as Mr. Micawber, Basil Rathbone as Murdstone, and especially Edna May Oliver as Besty Trotwood. Director George Cukor's empathy and craftsmanship keep the movie humming with Dickensian wit. A Tale of Two Cities followed shortly thereafter, with Ronald Colman in one of his signature roles as the drunken romantic Sydney Carton, whose throttled love for the beautiful Lucie Manette leads to the French Revolution's guillotine. Jack Conway directs in tight, brisk fashion, and once again the supporting cast (Oliver and Rathbone return from Copperfield) is flavorful.

The French Revolution also figures in the rather pr! eposterous Marie Antoinette (1938), an eye-popping production about the bride of Louis XVI. The project was a pet of Thalberg and his wife Norma Shearer, and MGM proceeded with the overstuffed production even after Thalberg's early death. Marie gets an extramarital affair (with the young Tyrone Power) and an incredible parade of gowns and wigs, but not too much blame for the peasants starving. Robert Morley steals the show as Louis XVI, with John Barrymore in rascally form as his grandfather. Shearer's ordinariness somehow fits her out-of-it character.

Treasure Island (1934) casts Jackie Cooper as young Jim Hawkins and Wallace Beery as that one-legged seadog, Long John Silver (the pair had scored a huge hit in The Champ three years earlier). This is a lot of people's favorite adaptation of the marvelous Robert Louis Stevenson novel, and Victor Fleming's manly directing approach manages to take some of the sheen off the MGM house style (by the way, ! art director Cedric Gibbons, credited on all these films, is o! ne of th e stars of the box set).

Pride and Prejudice (1940) is a respectable take on Jane Austen's oft-filmed novel, with Greer Garson as the headstrong Elizabeth Bennet and Laurence Olivier as the difficult Mr. Darcy. MGM liked to corset Garson in fine-lady roles, but here she lets some of Elizabeth's sauciness come through; actually, Olivier's elaborate performance is the movie's too-theatrical weak spot. But boy, does this movie tell a good story--and that's rather the point of these (Marie excepted) solid literary adaptations. --Robert Horton

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