Greetings Earthlings,
We've got lots of stuff new at Four Star Video this week! Some of you will be very happy to hear that THE QUEEN has arrived. Also this week we have a thriller with Denzel, which seems like a DEJA VU, as well as a fun time with Ben Stiller in NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM. Sobering up the party is TSUNAMI: THE AFTERMATH, which focuses on some of those who survived the tragic disaster in 2004
We also have some new acquisitions this week for you, including some great war films (49th PARALLEL, THE BURMESE HARP, BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI), a vamp film with David Bowie (THE HUNGER) and some continuing series (SANDBAGGERS SET 3, and OZ: THE FOURTH SEASON).
We hope you enjoy everything this week. Also we want to remind you about our big party coming up May 5th at 3pm at the store. This party is serving both as a hello from us (Ken and Amy) and a goodbye and thank you to Jeremy and Jamie. We expect it will be a madhouse, and hope to see you all there.
Best regards,
Ken
Four Star Video
............**//RELEASE OF THE WEEK//**............
THE QUEEN.
Biography/Drama.
Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen.
Directed by Stephen Frears.
* The Queen tracks the interpersonal dealings between Tony Blair and Queen Elizabeth II in the aftermath of Princess Diana's death as the public clamoured for an emotional response from the royal family. This film has been described as touching, funny, thought-provoking, intimate, politically shrewd, engrossing and delightful. It was loved by the critics and Helen Mirren won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance.
............//NEW TITLES//............
THE QUEEN.
see above: "release of the week"
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM.
Action/Comedy
Ben Stiller/Carla Gugino/Dick Van Dyke.
Directed by Shawn Levy.
* Ben Stiller plays a total loser (hah!) who, in his new job as the night watchman at the Museum of Natural History in New York, inadvertently unlocks an ancient curse that causes all of the animals and exhibits to come to life. Appearances by other comic greats, Mickey Rooney and Robin Williams, take all of the skillful computer graphics to amusing heights. As an interesting side note, Amy went to theater camp with the director, who--at theater camp--went out with Ken's friend from highschool, and who is now married to the high school girlfriend of Amy's college boyfriend. Diagrams available at the store. Small world!
DEJA VU.
Action/Romance.
Denzel Washington, Paula Patton, Val Kilmer.
Directed by Tony Scott.
* In a gripping example of unrestrained federal government, Denzel Washington plays an ATF agent who goes back in time to save the life of a woman, and ends up falling in ... wait, we don't want to give away the unpredictable surprises of the film. Shot largely in post-Katrina New Orleans, the New York Post called this film "a solidly entertaining time-traveling romance" and Variety says that "Cinema's natural felicities for time and action have seldom felt as beautifully dovetailed." Sounds like fun.
TSUNAMI: THE AFTERMATH.
Action/Crime/Thriller.
Tim Roth/Chiwetel Ejiofor/Sophie Okonedo.
Directed by Bharat Nalluri.
* Originally an HBO mini-series, this fictional account of the aftermath of one of the great natural disasters of our time follows an assortment of characters who each experience loss and transformation.
............//NEW ACQUISITIONS//............
A trilogy of great World War II films and a sexy rock vampire tale.
BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI.
Adventure/Drama/War.
William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins.
Directed by David Lean.
New to DVD, this classic and tragic tale of life in a Japanese POW camp won 7 Oscars in 1958, including best picture, best actor (Alec Guinness), best director, best cinematography, best editing, best music for its score. And still some say that it was David Lean's study for the even-better Lawrence of Arabia!
THE BURMESE HARP.
Drama/War.
Rentaro Mikuni, Shoji Yasui.
Directed by Kon Ichikawa.
Nominated for best Foreign Language Oscar in 1957, this Criterion release of a 1956 film tracks a Japanese soldier in disguise as a Buddhist priest on a mission to bury the dead in the waning days of WWII.
49th PARALLEL.
Drama/History/Thriller.
Laurence Olivier, Leslie Howard, James McAvoy.
Directed by Michael Powell.
This is basically a propaganda film from 1942 made to convince the US government to join in the fight against the Nazi's starring some of the great actors of ANY period. Tragically, Leslie Howard would die at the actual Battle of Biscay just a year after this film was released. The movie is about a damaged U-Boat in Canadian waters struggling to get to the still-neutral US to avoid being captured.
THE HUNGER.
Drama/Horror/Romance.
Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon.
Directed by Tony Scott.
From the opening sequence of Bowie and Deneuve on the prowl at a nightclub where Bauhaus is rocking Bela Lugosi's Dead in a steel cage, to the sexy seduction of Sarandon by Deneuve, this 1983 sexy-rock-vampire love story is a must-see.
............//SERIES//............
SANDBAGGERS - SET 3.
Spy/Series/UK.
Roy Marsden.
Created by Ian Mackintosh.
The last 7 episodes of this tightly written Cold-War television series about covert operations of the British Intelligence.
OZ - SEASON FOUR.
Prison/Series/Drama.
Season Four of the acclaimed HBO drama about life in Prison.
****
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