Hey Out There,
Thank you everyone who came to our party on Saturday. For those of you who couldn't make it, it was a lovely sunny day and Jeremy and Jamie and family and friends were on hand to thank you all for your support over the years. It was a really wonderful and emotional send-off for them and what felt like a new beginning for us; much yummy food was consumed. Thanks for all the delicious offerings, and please come pick up your plate or bowl at the store any day.
This week there are a few bigger releases (THE PAINTED VEIL, MUSIC AND LYRICS, BECAUSE I SAID SO, FUR: AN IMAGINARY PORTRAIT OF DIANE ARBUS), as well as a bunch of assorted other stuff. Probably the best of those is OLD JOY, starring indie music legend Will Oldham. We have more old war films (THE CAINE MUTINY, THE GUNS OF NAVARONE), as well as three awesome music offerings (ICKY FLIX: THE RESIDENTS, BAUHAUS: SHADOW OF LIGHT, 18 FILMS TO THE MUSIC OF CLOSER TO CARBON) that were all donated to us. Unfortunately, as we were entering some of the donated stuff, we lost track of who gave them to us, so please let us know if it was you so we can put some credits on your account! I am happy to report we have finally gotten SLINGS AND ARROWS (both seasons 1 and 2 - with 3 on the way), as well as the much anticipated documentary DELIVER US FROM EVIL. We have some new foreign films (TIGER AND THE SNOW, VIOLETTE, GIRL FROM PARIS, COMEDY OF POWER) as well as an art film (THE SECRET LIFE OF WORDS). Rounding it all out is a collection of Jewish film trailers (TRAILERS SCHMAILERS) and a Richard Linklater short about post-911 NY (LIVE FROM SHIVA'S DANCE FLOOR).
Keep the requests coming. We are starting to get a system down.
Thanks for supporting Four Star Video!
Best regards,
Ken
............**//RELEASE OF THE WEEK//**............
PAINTED VEIL.
Drama/Romance.
Naomi Watts/Edward Norton/Liev Schreiber.
Directed by John Curran.
* Based on a story by William Somerset Maugham, this is a tale of a cross-class marriage that is tested by a multitude of situations. When the upper-class wife of a middle class doctor falls in love with someone else, she is punished by being brought to a disease-ravaged remote part of China by her husband.
............//NEW TITLES//............
BECAUSE I SAID SO.
Comedy/Romance.
Diane Keaton/Mandy Moore/Lauren Graham/Gabriel Macht.
Directed by Michael Lehmann.
* This is a story of motherly love that truly knows no bounds, or perhaps boundaries is the more appropriate word. Diane Keaton's Daphne is a mother of three young women. Her attempts to set Milly (Moore) up with an online ad achieve amusing and maybe preposterous results.
CAINE MUTINY.
Drama.
Humphrey Bogart/Jose Ferrer/Van Johnson/Robert Francis/May Wynn/Fred MacMurray/E.G. Marshall/Lee Marvin.
Directed by Edward Dmytryk.
* There is very little cinematically more amazing than watching Capt. Queeg (Bogart) fondling his balls (marbles?) during the court martial hearing of the first officer who relieved him of his command during WWII. This film is a collector's addition of the classic!
CATCH AND RELEASE.
Comedy/Drama.
Jennifer Garner/Timothy Olyphant/Kevin Smith/Juliette Lewis/Joshua Friesen.
Directed by Susannah Grant.
* Catch and Release follows Gray Wheeler (Garner) during the period after her seemingly perfect fiancee dies suddenly. As secrets come out about him that tear down her notions of his life, Gray begins re-thinking herself and the people around her.
COMEDY OF POWER.
Comedy/Drama.
Isabelle Huppert/Francois Berleand/Patrick Bruel.
Directed by Claude Chabrol.
One of two this week from Claude Chabrol starring Isabelle Huppert. This one is about all the fun stuff: Corporate greed! Governmental oversite! An investigation! I'm laughing my head off just thinking about it. If you are an Isabelle Huppert fan, you must see this film.
FUR: AN IMAGINERY PORTRAIT OF DIANE ARBUS.
Imaginary Biograph/Drama.
Nicole Kidman/Robert Downey Jr.
Directed by Steven Shainberg.
* This is not a biography. It is a strange fantasy that imagines how Diane Arbus was drawn to the subjects of her later work. She falls in the love with the Chewbacca-esque Downey Jr character Lionel Sweeney who introduces her to the world of freaks and other marginalized people who become the object of Diane's fascination.
GIRL FROM PARIS.
Drama.
Mathilde Seigner, Michel Serrault.
Directed by Christian Carion.
In this critically-acclaimed directorial debut of Christian Carion, Sandrine (Mathilde Seigner), successful 30-something Parisienne, tires of her job in the rat race and yearns for a life both more fulfilling and simple. She decides upon a radically different direction, enrolls in a two-year course to become a farmer, and emerges ready to do just that. Enter Adrien (Michel Serrault), an older, embittered farmer ready to retire. Sandrine buys Adrien’s isolated farm with the caveat that he remain onsite for a period of time. The next 18 months find the pair living more in conflict than harmony; Adrien’s pessimism threatening to overcome Sandrine’s hopeful innocence. Challenged to find a medium between curiosity and confusion, Adrien and Sandrine find that the joys of a simple life may very well be possible, but are not necessarily simple. Resplendent with spectacular vistas of the Rhone-Alps, THE GIRL FROM PARIS is a touching story of growth and change and of the glorious ability of nature to stir the depths of one’s heart. - Amazon Editorial
GUNS OF NAVARONE.
War.
Gregory Peck/David Niven/Anthony Quinn/Stanley Baker/Anthony Quayle.
Directed by J. Lee Thompson.
* The star-studded cast does not disappoint as an ace commando team (the original A-Team!) is sent to the Greek island of Navarone to blow up some German guns that are preventing the British troops there from evacuating.
MUSIC AND LYRICS.
Romance/Comedy.
Hugh Grant/Drew Barrymore.
Directed by Marc Lawrence.
* Hugh is a washed up singer, Drew is a "plant-girl". Do you have a "plant-girl?" I think you should get one, in case you need to write brilliant lyrics for a teen pop-sensation to save your career. It worked for Hugh; it could work for you.
OLD JOY.
Drama.
Will Oldham/Daniel London.
Directed by Kelly Reichardt.
* The excellent musician Will Oldham (Palace Brothers, Palace Music, Bonnie Prince Billy) is terrific in this buddy-ish movie about two men hiking in Oregon. Mark (Oldham) is facing an impending fatherhood while Kurt (London) is bopping from one carefree adventure to the next. As they journey deeper into the mountains and closer to their hot spring destination, they are forced to confront their relationship and the changes that have transformed it.
PAINTED VEIL.
See Above: Release of the Week
THE SECRET LIFE OF WORDS.
Drama.
Sarah Polley/Tim Robbins/Julie Christie/Javier Camara/Eddie Marsan.
Directed by Isabel Coixet.
* A tale of a hearing impaired woman who goes on her holiday to care for a burn victim on an oil rig out at sea.
see also: Breaking the Waves
TIGER AND THE SNOW.
Comedy/Drama.
Robert Benigni/Nicoletta Braschi/Jean Reno/Tom Waits/Emilia Fox.
Directed by Robert Benigni.
A love-struck Italian poet finds himself in Iraq at the outset of the American-led invasion.
VIOLETTE.
Isabelle Huppert.
Directed by Claude Chabrol.
Isabelle Huppert (12-time César Award nominee for Best Actress) stars in an award-winning performance based on the true story of Violette Nozière. The daughter of a respectable middle-class couple, Violette leads a disreputable double life. Far from being the innocent young girl her parents mistake her for, she spends her nights with dissolute young men in the less than savory areas of Paris. To acquire money for her latest lover, Violette resolves to murder her parents so that she can inherit their wealth. - Amazon Editorial
............//DOCUMENTARY//............
DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
Documentary.
Oliver O'Grady.
Directed by Amy Berg.
* A very painful movie about the corruption of the Catholic Church that allowed an active and known pedophile to make his way from church to church harming countless children. This film is well worth watching for believers and non-believers alike.
............//MUSIC//............
ICKY FLIX: THE RESIDENTS.
Music Video.
Directed by Many.
Crazy wacked out zaniness from a band that was alternative before that word didn't mean anything. This is an awesome disc with many classics.
BAUHAUS: SHADOW OF LIGHT.
Music Video and Archive Footage.
Terrific live and archival footage, as well as music videos from one of the most influential gothic bands.
18 FILMS TO THE MUSIC OF CLOSER TO CARBON.
Music Video.
* I am not sure who Closer to Carbon is, and I have not seen this whole film (did you donate this to us? Let us know!), but the one I did see was beautiful, with amazing nature footage combined with sublime jazzy and experimental music.
............//TELEVISION//............
SLINGS AND ARROWS: SEASONS ONE AND TWO.
Series.
Paul Gross
Directed by Peter Wellington.
In the fictional town of New Burbage, legendary theatrical madman Geoffrey Tennant returns to the New Burbage Theatre Festival, the site of his greatest triumph and most humiliating failure, to assume the artistic directorship after the sudden death of his mentor, Oliver Welles. When Geoffrey arrives he finds that Oliver is still there, in spirit anyway, and with his guidance (and often in spite of it) Geoffrey attempts to reconcile with his past while wrestling the festival back from the marketing department. Despite a bitter leading lady, a clueless leading man, and a scheming general manager, he manages to stage a remarkable production of Hamlet -- the play that drove him mad. - Movie Network Synopsis
............//OTHER COOL STUFF!!!//............
TRAILERS SCHMAILERS.
Trailers.
Directed by Many.
* This is a collection of trailers from Jewish movies.
LIVE FROM SHIVA'S DANCE FLOOR.
Short.
Speedy Levitch
Directed by Richard Linklater.
* One man's rant-like take on post-911 New York City.
****
