****new release list no.200

This week continues the strange soft releases of last week, with GHOST TOWN, EAGLE EYE, BAGHEAD, and THE DUCHESS being released last Saturday. Tuesday, Dec 30th sees a lot of interesting independent films at the story, as well as a little batch of new additions (many of them from the 1980’s).

NEO NED is the tale of a skinhead who falls in love with a black woman who thinks she’s the reincarnated Adolf Hitler. INTERNET DATING follows Katt Williams down its foible lined path. TOWEL HEAD is the story of a young Arab-American girl struggling to deal with her life during the Gulf War. Also this week is NIP/TUCK: SEASON FIVE PART ONE, which continues the tale of the plastic surgeons out to make your body perfect.

Happy Holidays from Four Star Video! We hope that as we all look back over 2008 that each and every one of us can find the wonderful nuggets of beauty that occurred and cherish them. And we hope that 2009, though certain to be full of challenges both micro and macro, is also capitalized on as a tremendous opportunity for change and growth.

One thing we can hopefully count on is that as you walk (or drive) down Cortland Avenue, as you pass Red Hill Books and Progressive Grounds, but before you get to Heartfelt, Bernal Yoga and Good Life Grocery, FOUR STAR VIDEO will be awaiting you, with a bright red carpet, good cheer, laughter, conversation and bunches of great films for your viewing entertainment. Thank you very much for supporting this store. We appreciate it!

Love and Kisses,
Ken

............//NEW RELEASES//............

AN AMERICAN CAROL.
Comedy/Fantasy.
Kelsey Grammer/Dennis Hopper.
Directed by the David Zucker.
* A cynical movie maker, out to try to abolish the celebration of Independence Day (yeah, right, how’s he gonna do that?) is visited by three ghosts who take him on a journey to highlight the true meaning of America in this twist on the classic Christmas Carol tale.

DELBARAN.
Drama/Foreign (Persian).
Kaim Alizadeh.
Directed by Abolfazl Jalili.
* Character study film focusing on a fourteen year old Afghan refugee living and working in a small Iranian town near the border. This film won awards on the festival circuit some years ago, and is finally completing its journey to wide-scale release.

DONA FLOR AND HER TWO HUSBANDS.
Comedy/Foreign (Portuguese).
Sonia Braga.
Directed by.
* This sexy Brazilian film from 1976 is just making its way to DVD. It stars the lovely Braga as a woman who is having a full relationship with both her current husband and the ghost of her past one.

INTERNET DATING.
Comedy.
Katt Williams.
Directed by Master P.
* A goofy expose of the internet dating world in which a short fellow (Four Star Favorite, Katt Williams) sets up an internet profile claiming he is a 7 foot Lakers basketball player. The chicks are bummed when he shows up slightly different, but what he discovers is that everyone is lying about something online.

NEO NED.
Drama/Romance.
Jeremy Renner/Gabrielle Union.
Directed by Van Fischer.
* Beautiful little film about a messed up kid who grows up involved with the Aryan Nation people (Nazis) and eventually meets a young black woman who believes Adolf Hitler has been reincarnated within her. What follows is a love story unlike many ever made. This film was highly celebrated on the festival circuit with many awards.

SURFER DUDE.
Comedy.
Matthew McConaughey/Alexie Gilmore.
Directed by S. R. Bindler.
* I read somewhere someone said it was SUPERBAD for the surfing set.

TOWELHEAD.
Drama.
Summer Bishil/Aaron Eckhart/Toni Collette.
Directed by Alan Ball.
* This is the tale of a young Arab-American girl (Bishil) struggling with racism and her own blossoming sexuality during the Gulf War.

THE TROUBLE WITH DEE DEE.
Comedy.
Lisa Anne Walter/Kurtwood Smith.
Directed by Mike Meiners.
* Indie comedy about a wealthy eccentric woman who finds her life turned upside down when she is disowned by her mega-wealthy father.

............//TELEVISION//............

NIP/TUCK: SEASON FIVE PART ONE.
Television/Drama.
Dylan Walsh/Julian McMahon.
* Season five of the popular show about a couple of plastic surgeons living the good life in Miami.

THE SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN TEENAGER: 1st SEASON.
Television/Drama.
Created by Brenda Hampton.
* Molly Ringwald (BREAKFAST CLUB, PRETTY IN PINK) is in this fictional tale of a bunch of high school kids struggling to grow up in a world full of peer pressure.

............// NEW ADDITIONS//............

ATTACK!
* Jack Palance and Lee Marvin star in this 1956 Robert Aldrich film about betrayal between American soldiers in the waning days of WWII. This is our first DVD.

EXOTICA.
* First DVD of the Atom Egoyan story starring Mia Kirschner (THE L WORD).

HAMLET.
* First DVD of the Kenneth Branagh version.

MA VIE EN ROSE.
* First DVD of this French story about a young boy who decides he wants to be a girl.

NOW AND THEN.
* First DVD of this movie starring Rosie O’Donnell, Thora Birch, Christina Ricci, Demi Moore, Melanie Griffith, Janeane Garofalo, and Rita Wilson among others. Damn, what a cast!

ORLANDO.
* First DVD of the Tilda Swinton tale.

QUIET EARTH.
* First DVD of this New Zealand film about a man who awakens one day to find himself alone on the planet.

SOMETHING WILD.
* First DVD of this Jonathan Demme 1980’s flick starring Jeff Daniels and Melanie Griffith.

WEIRD SCIENCE.
* First DVD of this John Hughes 1980’s classic.

............// REPLACEMENT DISCS//............

L’AVVENTURA.
* Replacement of the Michelangelo Antonioni classic about a woman’s disappearance during a Mediterranean boating trip.

****

****new release list no.199

DVD Sale at Four Star Video! $5 each for used DVD's. Perfect holiday gifts. This sale will last until 2009!
It’s another weird release week in the movie world. In essence, this week’s releases are HAMLET 2, BURN AFTER READING, DEATH RACE and THE WOMEN. However they had us release them early this weekend, and now we have another double batch coming out this week. Of the feature films below, only MY HEART IS MINE ALONE will be available tomorrow Tuesday Dec 23rd. Also available are the kids movies listed, and the television series 10 ITEMS OR LESS, as well as the new additions. The others, GHOST TOWN, BAGHEAD, THE DUCHESS, EAGLE EYE, and RESIDENT EVIL: DEGENERATION are all being released on Saturday, Dec 27th. However, b/c of the holiday, I decided to just send out one email this week and good luck understanding it!

In the immortal words of Mr. Turkentine, Charlie’s teacher in WILLY WONKA, “I've just decided to switch our Friday schedule to Monday, which means that the test we take each Friday on what we learned during the week will now take place on Monday before we've learned it. But since today is Tuesday, it doesn't matter in the slightest. Pencils ready! “

Hey, by the way, happy holidays. Whether you are celebrating a traditional holiday this year or just celebrating the continuation of your corporal existence, celebrate bravely, celebrate warmly and celebrate thankfully. As tough as things seem right now, we are still living in a mostly peaceful environment and continue to be able to survive aboveground! Yeah!

On to some movies…

GHOST TOWN is like the comedic flip side of THE SIXTH SENSE. He sees dead people! But instead of frightening him (Gervais of THE OFFICE and EXTRAS), they annoy him. In that way, they are just like all the living people he knows because everyone annoys him. Well, almost everyone…

In EAGLE EYE, Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan are on the run from the mean old government with a mysterious lady calling them on their cell phones with instructions generally involving things blowing up. Kaboom!

THE DUCHESS is the latest historic fictobiopic about royalty in all their tight little outfits and their scandalous ways. Starring Ralph Fiennes as the Duke and Keira Knightley as the Duchess.

We’ll be open on Christmas Eve this Wednesday until around 7pm and we will be closed the next day. We will re-open on Friday, Dec 26th at our regular hours. Hope to see you this week.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

Ps. I am taking a vote, and I need a show of hands. Who would support a maximum wage? As a part of fixing this totally demented economy I think that we should implement it. Call it a “salary cap”. Call it “compassionate capitalism”. After all, who is worth 6 million a year to do anything? No one…unless you can hit the long ball.

............//NEW RELEASES//............

BAGHEAD. AVAIL SAT
Drama/Horror/Comedy/Indie.
Ross Partridge/Steve Zissis.
Directed by the Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass.
* Is it a horror film, a comedy and indie flick? It is hard to classify…The Duplass brothers follow up their debut feature THE PUFFY CHAIR, with this tale of four out of work actors staying in a cabin in the woods who come up with a story that will make them famous about a crazed killer terrorizing people in a cabin in the woods while wearing a bag over his/her head. Ah, but then their little tale becomes real as a real Baghead arrives and begins the terror.

THE DUCHESS. AVAIL SAT ****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Drama/Fictobiopic.
Keira Knightley/Ralph Fiennes/Charlotte Rampling.
Directed by Saul Dibb.
* The tale of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (Knightley) whose unhappy marriage (to Fiennes) casts a sorrowful shadow over the other details of her extravagant and somewhat hedonistic life

EAGLE EYE. AVAIL SAT ****ALSO ON BLU-RAY****
Action/Cellphone.
Shia LaBeouf/Michelle Monaghan/Rosario Dawson/Billy Bob Thornton.
Directed by D. J. Caruso.
* Super duper blow em up action flick about a couple of strangers being manipulated by a strange woman’s voice on the other end of their cell phones who appears to know things that seem unknowable. If you dig the huge action blockbusters, than this one is for you. Shia LaBeouf rules…he was great in SURF’S UP!

GHOST TOWN. AVAIL SAT ****ALSO ON BLU-RAY****
Comedy.
Ricky Gervais/Greg Kinnear/Tea Leoni.
Directed by David Koepp.
* Bertram Pincus DDS (Gervais) is a total antisocial, obnoxious turd. That is, until he dies during a routine hospital surgery. Technically he is dead for only seven minutes, but that is long enough for him to be completely altered by the experience. Not that he’s not still a total jerk, but now he sees the dead, too. It’s like THE SIXTH SENSE re-envisioned as a comedy! And, like that other film, the dead want his help. The need resolution. Especially Kinnear’s character, a swarmy adulterer dude whose wife (Leoni) is preparing to remarry to someone he deems unworthy.

MY HEART IS MINE ALONE.
Drama/Foreign (German).
Directed by Helma Sanders-Brahms.
* From Amazon.com: The story of the real-life love affair between Jewish poet Else Lasker-Schueler and Nazi poet Gottfried Benn is told largely through their poetry in this experimental drama scored with improvised music..

RESIDENT EVIL: DEGENERATION. AVAIL SAT
Animated/Disaster/Horror/Sci-Fi.
Directed by Makoto Kamiya.
* Zombie animation.

............//TELEVISION//............

10 ITEMS OR LESS: SEASONS ONE AND TWO.
Television/Comedy.
* It’s kind of like FOUR STAR VIDEO, oops, I mean, THE OFFICE but at a grocery store.

............//FAMILY//............

BEETHOVEN’S BIG BREAK.

SKUNK FU: ART OF MONKEY LAUNCHING.

SKUNK FU: ART OF RIVALRY.

............// NEW ADDITIONS//............

LUMIERE & COMPANY.
* From IMDB: 40 international directors were asked to make a short film using the original Cinematographe invented by the Lumière Brothers, working under conditions similar to those of 1895. There were three rules: (1) The film could be no longer than 52 seconds, (2) no synchronized sound was permitted, and (3) no more than three takes. The results run the gamut from Zhang Yimou's convention-thwarting joke to David Lynch's bizarre miniature epic.

ROBOCOP
* First DVD of the Paul Verhoeven classic about a cyborg cop patrolling Detroit.

SCROOGED
* I love Bill Murray…this is our first DVD of this take on A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

****

****new release list no. 198

A bunch of titles available this Friday and Sunday: word is that Wal-Mart forced this bizarre industry change. You think they’re on steroids? Maybe…

BURN AFTER READING is the latest from the Coen Brothers. Clooney (that’s what he told me to call him) is great in it as a paranoid government analyst. DEATH RACE is the latest jaw-dropping adrenaline ride starring action superhero Jason Statham. In HAMLET 2, we get to see what would have happened next, had Shakespeare continued the story. The less said about HOUSE BUNNY the better. Will Hollywood move past racial and religious stereotypes? Viewing TRAITOR, I think ought perhaps the answer is no. Still, Don Cheadle is a pleasure to watch in all of his movies, and if you like the international conspiracy flicks, then you will probably enjoy this one. THE WOMEN is about women dealing with feminine issues. And AMERICAN TEEN is something I was, and would never willingly be again.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

PS. Three quick hits – 1) Danger around Bernal Heights reported recently, some muggings, shoplifting and an assault near Eugenia. Please keep your eyes open and pay attention to your surroundings. Holiday season makes some people crazy. 2) Saw MILK last night at the Castro and left with my face still wet. Wow! Go see it at the Castro if you can. It was amazing walking out of the theatre and being RIGHT THERE! 3) Damn, my television at home is tiny. I am desperately seeking an upgrade. Are you buying a bigger better tv this holiday season? Wanna trade your old one for a lot of movie rentals? I am looking ideally for like a 32” Hi-def set. Just putting it out there.

............//NEW RELEASES//............

BURN AFTER READING.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Comedy/Crime.
Brad Pitt/Frances McDormand/George Clooney/Tilda Swinton/John Malkovich.
Directed by the Coen Brothers.
* Pitt and McDormand are two doofuses who work at a gym. He is more of just a pretty clown and she is desperate for some cash for a little body manipulation surgery. Neither are bad per se, but you certainly can question their intelligence when they find a computer disc containing the memoirs of Osbourne Cox (Malkovich, in a role that mostly requires him to say “fuck”) and decide to blackmail the CIA or FBI or Treasury Dept, or whichever convoluted agency he works for. As you can imagine, things don’t work out great for their plans and convolution occurs. Swinton plays Cox’s soon to be ex-wife who is sleeping with Clooney, who (as you could imagine) is sleeping with anyone. Clooney’s physical mannerisms in this movie are probably reason enough to see it.

DEATH RACE.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Action/Adventure.
Jason Statham/Joan Allen/Ian McShane.
Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson.
* Post-industrial prison car killer race death explosives back-stabbing baby stealing wife-killing cars death speed gasoline oil bombs bad economy statham masked for-profit pay per view race death lies. Did you see Death Race 2000 with Sylvester Stallone? Now that was a movie…

HAMLET 2.
Comedy.
Steve Coogan/Catherine Keener/Elizabeth Shue/Amy Poehler.
Directed by Andrew Fleming.
* After staging one after another pathetic stage adaptations of films for a high school drama class, Dana Marschz (Coogan) decides to write a politically incorrect musical sequel to Hamlet to try to save the Drama program. This is at least a two-hitter on the Green Ratings.

HOUSE BUNNY.
Comedy.
Anna Faris/Colin Hanks.
Directed by Fred Wolf.
* No but its PG-13.

TRAITOR. ****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Crime/Drama/Thriller.
Don Cheadle/Guy Pearce/Said Taghmaoui.
Directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff.
* Is he a traitor or not? That is pretty much the question of this international thriller about an FBI agent (Pearce) tracking an international conspiracy where all paths appear to lead back to Horn (Cheadle) a form Special Ops government employee and perhaps a terrorist, too.

THE WOMEN. ****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Drama.
Meg Ryan/Annette Bening/Eva Mendes/Debra Messing/Jada Pinkett Smith/Bette Midler/Candice Bergen/Carrie Fisher/Cloris Leachman.
Directed by Diane English.
* This remake of the 1939 film starring Joan Crawford appears to star just about every woman in Hollywood. It is about women, the things they do, the way they do them. Women! Mysterious, unpredictable! Strange! From Venus! (or is it Mars?) As a man, I was not able to find out much in the way of plot. I’m not being disrespectful! I swear – I’m married to a pretty tough woman, and I assure you she will kick my ass if she thinks I am being disrespectful. I do have two copies of the original film, if you’d like to check that out. I’m not sure what it’s about.

............//DOCUMENTARY//............

AMERICAN TEEN.
Documentary.
Directed by Nanette Burstein.
* Oh the pain! This doc examines life at a high school in small town Indiana as seen through the eyes of five or six seniors. Who was it that said High School was the best time in your life? Yikes!

****

****new release list no.197

There are strange multiple New Release dates this week. There are a bunch of Tuesday (regular day) releases, then there are a few Friday, Dec 19th (AMERICAN TEEN, TRAITOR, HOUSE BUNNY) releases, and another handful of Sunday Dec 21st releases of some HUGE titles (BURN AFTER READING, THE WOMEN, HAMLET 2, DEATH RACE). You will receive a second New Release email from us Thursday or Friday this week.

This week the sugary sweet yet relatively raunchy MAMMA MIA is here at the store. Featuring the music of ABBA, this musical comedy should lead to much nostalgic humor at home. The much-lauded television series GENERATION KILL is here as well.

This week marks the first week that I am purchasing Criterion releases on Blu-ray. If you have a Blu-ray player, you can now dig THE THIRD MAN, THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH and THE CHUNGKING EXPRESS in high definition.

We had our Four Star Video holiday party this last Friday, and it was awesome! Like so many businesses, we have toned down our celebrations this year and are kind of waiting with cautious optimism to see what the Economy will bring us for the Holidays. But in the meantime, everyone here is still working hard to create a fun and joyous environment. I am so proud of the staff at Four Star Video! Every single one of the seven of them has been here for over a year, and most of them have been here for a year and a half. For a little retail store, that’s incredible!

So, hats off to Shila, Chris, Rachel W, Evan, Jeff, Rachel S and Andrew. Thanks for all your hard work and for making Four Star Video the terrific video store that could.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

............//NEW RELEASES//............

LOVE GIRLS.
Uh….
Forman Shane/Dianne Michaels.
Directed by Lee Frost.
* This tame almost cute 1964 soft-core classic reminded me of REEFER MADNESS in a way. It is definitely a sexploitation film, and for its time, it is quite racy as it portrays a young man obsessed with women and mostly with their boobs. It is would be humorous to hear the filmmakers interviewed today and to hear their feelings about the internet and how it has affected the modern man.

MAMMA MIA.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Musical/Comedy/Romance.
Meryl Streep/Pierce Brosnan/Colin Firth.
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd.
* A young woman is trying to find her real father on the eve of her wedding in this classic and extremely successful romp based on the phenomenal music by the disco gods ABBA. I still remember the first time I heard ABBA when my dad became obsessed with their enormous hit TAKE A CHANCE and showed us kids how adults could become passionate and emotional about music, a lesson I keep with me!

THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPOROR.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Action/Adventure.
Brendan Fraser/Jet Li/Maria Bello/Michelle Yeoh.
Directed by Rob Cohen.
* Yada yada yada the Mummy.

THE WEDDING DIRECTOR.
Drama/Mystery/Foreign (Italian).
Sergio Castellitto/Donatella Finocchiaro.
Directed by Marco Bellocchio.
* A film director, in a down moment in his career, accepts a job in Sicily directing a wedding video for a dangerous man’s daughter. In a wild plot twist, the director falls in love with the daughter.

............//TELEVISION//............

GENERATION KILL.
Television//War/HBO.
Alexander Skarsgard/James Ransone/Lee Tergesen.
*Baghdad; 2003. A Rolling Stone reporter embedded with a marine battalion tells the story of the American invasion through the eyes and actions of its young soldiers killing and dying. This series has been acclaimed as a very realistic and gritty portrayal of the real events that happened.

WILL SHAKESPEARE.
Television/Mini-Series.
Tim Curry/Ian McShane/Nicholas Clay.
Directed by Mark Cullingham and Robert Knights and Peter Wood.
* 1978 six hour miniseries about the bard (Curry) and his Elizabethan life. With McShane as Christopher Marlowe and Clay stealing scenes as the flamboyant Earl of Southampton.

............//DOCUMENTARY//............

PLANET B-BOY.
Documentary/History/Music/Dance.
Mr. Freeze/Skwall/Luis Mateo.
Directed by Benson Lee.
* An amazing and in-depth international history of breakdancing as experienced through a competition called BATTLE OF THE YEAR where the Planet B-Boy will be crowned.

............//FAMILY//............

THE CHEETAH GIRLS: ONE WORLD.

THE LITTLE MERMAID 2: RETURN TO THE SEA SPECIAL EDITION.
* Four copies for the little mermaids in training!

POWER RANGERS JUNGLE FURY: WAY OF THE MASTER.

POWER RANGERS JUNGLE FURY: INTO THE JUNGLE.

............//NEW BLU-RAY ADDITIONS//............

CHUNGKING EXPRESS.
Comedy/Criterion/Foreign (Japanese/Mandarin/Cantonese/English).
Brigitte Lin/Takeshi Kaneshiro/Tony Leung.
Directed by Wong Kar-Wai.
* Is this my first Criterion blu-ray purchase? I think so! It is a beautiful and lush portrait of Hong Kong in the 1990’s, the film follows a couple of cops dealing with the loss of their girlfriends.

THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH.
Sci-fi/Criterion.
* The amazing David Bowie film about an alien seeking water for his dying planet. Now on Blu-ray!

OLD SCHOOL.
Comedy.
* The Will Ferrell romp now on Blu-ray. I grudgingly admit I thought this was pretty funny.

THE THIRD MAN.
Film Noir/Thriller/Criterion.
Orson Welles/Joseph Cotten.
Directed by Carol Reed.
* Amazingly complicated dark tale of corruption and murder in Germany circa the late 1940’s.

............//HIGHLIGHTED NEW ADDITIONS//............

SISTER ACT.
Comedy.
Whoopi Goldberg.
* She’s a singer hiding from the mob disguised as a nun!

SISTER ACT 2.
Comedy.
Whoopi Goldberg.
* She can’t get enough of this nunsense!

THE VALLEY OF GWANGI.
Western/Sci-fi.
Directed by Jim O’Connolly.
* Wow! The tagline says: Cowboys Battle Monsters in the Lost World of Forbidden Valley! Enough said.

............// NEW ADDITIONS//............

STORY OF A LOVE AFFAIR.
Crime/Drama/Romance/Foreign (Italian).
Lucia Bose/Massimo Girotti.
Directed by Michaelangelo Antonioni.
* Thanks to one of our customers for requesting this and thus helping us add to our Antonioni collection. This film is about a beautiful and married young woman who is kind of being investigated by a former husband.

****

****new release list no.196

It’s cold! Must be winter, I guess. Good time to curl up with THE DARK KNIGHT, the latest installment of the Batman series. This was Heath Ledger’s last completed role and he plays the uber-creepy Joker. Christian Bale reprises the Batman role and Michael Caine is excellent as the cockney-accented butler.

Truly stunning is MAN ON WIRE about high-wire walker Phillipe Petit’s walk between the Twin Towers in 1974. This movie just pushes so many boundaries of human possibility. The visuals are startling and evocative and the interviews bring you along Petit’s journey as he goes from 17-year-old dreamer to 23-year-old poetic terrorist. He is such a beautiful maniac, I am grateful for his existence!

We have a big stack of Criterion this week including MISSING, EUROPA (Lars Von Trier), and KENJI MIZOGUCHIS FALLEN WOMEN: ECLIPSE SERIES 13, as well as some terrific pictures about fundamentalism and its effect on our personal lives (MY FATHER MY LORD and TAKVA: A MAN’S FEAR OF GOD).

There’s about a bazillion more, including some more of Shila’s highlighted new additions. Scroll down for the full scope.

Don’t forget this holiday season, we sell T-Shirts (Adults $20, Kids $15) Wristbands ($5) and Gift-Certificates in all sizes. Thanks for shopping locally!

Love and Kisses,
Ken

............//NEW RELEASES//............

BLUE BLOOD.
Suspense/Noir.
Roy Scheider/Bill Sage.
Directed by Ben Cummings and Orson Cummings.
* One of the last three Scheider films, it was released last year as IF I DIDN’T CARE, but came to DVD with the new name BLUE BLOOD. It is a mystery about wealthy Hampton residents dabbling in infidelity and murder. Scheider plays a local cop named Linus trying to piece together the evidence.

CHANGE MY LIFE.
Drama/Foreign (French).
Fanny Ardant/Roschdy Zem.
Directed by Liria Begeja.
* Two people, very down on their luck, discover each other and though their desires are quite different are motivated to help the other put their broken pieces back together.

THE DARK KNIGHT****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Action/Drama/Comic.
Christian Bale/Heath Ledger/Aaron Eckhart/Maggie Gyllenhaal/Michael Caine/Morgan Freeman/Gary Oldman/Anthony Michael Hall.
Directed by Christopher Nolan.
* The second in the latest Batman series (which are much darker and creepier than the first batch), this one follows the Dark Knight (Bale) in his quest to pass the baton to Harvey Dent (Eckhart) the new DA of Gotham City. Batman’s hope? That he can one day be done with the leather suit and gadgetry, and that he can make a life with Rachel (Gyllenhaal) his old flame, who is currently sparking it up with Harvey. Although Harvey is a very promising DA, certainly strong with words and personality, Gotham is under attack by a new villain, the twisted and demented Joker (Ledger, in his final completed role) who’s plans for destabilizing and petrifying the entire city put Harvey quite literally on the hot seat. The scarred and painted bad guy digs especially the demoralizing of, well, anything and anyone. He just gets off on bringing people to their lowest common denominator. It’s not that he doesn’t enjoy menacing people himself, he truly does. But what really floats his boat is turning normal people into cold-blooded killers. The Batdude is heavily armed with stuff that 007 wishes he had…especially fancy is the “sky-hook” that he employs to depart an extra tight situation. He suit is also pretty stylish, with just the slightest cut eye-holes that give you very little insight into this flying night critters motivation. In this installment, Batman truly is a “Dark Knight” and perhaps one you may not want to come across in the dead of night. The cinematography is filled with gigantic breath-taking tableaus and the soundtrack is creepy and edgy and will keep your heart beating fast. Ledger, of course, is fascinating. It is hard to not flash on his somewhat accidental death while watching this film; and it is not hard to imagine the demons that he may have been trying to drive away with the medications he eventually OD’d on.

ELDER SON.
Comedy/Drama.
Shane West/Leelee Sobieski/Eric Balfour.
Directed by Marius Balchunas.
* A young scammer who has just been involved in a failed car heist passes himself off as the son of a Russian clarinet player living in Los Angeles.

ELEPHANT TALES.
Family/Action/Adventure.
Directed by Mario Andreacchio.
* A couple of elephants brothers dealing with adverse jungle situations.

EUROPA.
Suspense/Criterion/Foreign (German/English).
Jean-Marc Barr/Barbara Sukowa/Udo Kier.
Directed by Lars Von Trier.
* Very heavy-hitting film about an American who takes a job on the railroad in post WWII Germany and gets involved in various political plots. The film is a must see for any true student of film, as it uses various techniques and styles masterfully and takes you on a journey that is both terrifying and spellbinding. I highly recommend this film!

HORTON HEARS A WHO.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Animation.
Jim Carrey/Steve Carell.
Directed by Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino.
* Horton, the kind-hearted (and somewhat dimwitted) Elephant finds himself in such a predicament. You see, he hears an entire culture or beings that are living in turmoil and desperately need help, but are so small that they live on a speck of dust and are really not visible to the naked eye. The other animals in the jungle are not quite as sympathetic as Horton, and in fact think perhaps Horton is completely crazy for talking to dust. But Horton stays the course, yo.

IRMA VEP: ESSENTIAL EDITION.
Comedy/Crime/Fantasy/Foreign (French).
Maggie Cheung/Jean-Pierre Leaud.
Directed by Olivier Assayas.
* A director whose best work is behind him, decides to remake a famous silent vampire movie, and casts a famous actress from Hong Kong (Maggie Cheung, playing herself) in the main role, even though she doesn’t speak a word of French in this 1996 classic.

KENJI MIZOGUCHIS FALLEN WOMEN: ECLIPSE SERIES 13.
Drama/Criterion/Foreign (Japanese).
Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi.
* Four films by the Japanese master director (Osaka Elegy, Sisters of the Gion, Women of the Night and Street of Shame) about women, and the trials they face to survive in the social structure established between the years of 1930’s and 1950’s Japan.

THE MAN WHO CAME BACK.
Western/Action.
Billy Zane/Sean Young/Armand Assante/Carol Alt.
Directed by Glen Pitre.
* Classic Western revenge film.

MISSING.
Drama/Criterion.
Jack Lemmon/Sissy Spacek.
Directed by Costa-Gavras.
* This amazing film traumatized me so bad when I saw it in the theatres back in 1982! It is about a conservative father (Lemmon) and his more liberal daughter-in-law (Spacek) searching for her husband (his son) an idealistic writer who has gone missing in a South American country in 1973. They are pushing through the bureaucratic nightmare of searching for one of thousands missing and presumed dead during a military coup. Won the Oscar for Best Screenplay and was nominated for Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Film Oscars as well.

MY FATHER MY LORD.
Drama/Foreign (Hebrew).
Assi Dayan/Ilan Grif/Sharon Hacohen.
Directed by David Volach .
* Beautiful and sorrowful tale of an orthodox Rabbi in Israel who spends all his time praying and preparing his sermons and his wife and son, who both crave his attention. The story focuses on the young boy, who is growing up, and becoming aware of his surroundings, and is full of wonder and questions about life.

OPEN WINDOW
Comedy.
Robin Tunney/Joel Edgerton/Cybil Shepherd/Elliot Gould.
Directed by Mia Goldman.
* A young couples lives are shattered by a random act of violence that effects their entire respective families. Won awards on the festival circuit.

ROBERTO ROSSELLINI’S DIRECTOR SERIES.
Drama/Foreign (Italian).
Directed by Roberto Rossellini.
* Two films (ESCAPE BY NIGHT and WHERE IS FREEDOM?) from the Italian director.

TAKVA: A MAN’S FEAR OF GOD.
Drama/Foreign (Turkish).
Erkan Can/Guven Kirac.
Directed by Ozer Kiziltan.
* Muharrem (Can) is a devout Muslim, devoted to his religion and filled with pious fear of his god, until a promotion at his job changes his life dramatically and leads him to question everything he holds sacred. This film is almost a companion piece to MY FATHER MY LORD in that both films show a very dogmatic and religious life thrown into turmoil by the realities of life on earth and interpersonal relationships.

TEENAGE ANGST.
Drama /Foreign (German).
Franz Dinda/Niklas Kohrt.
Directed by Thomas Stuber.
* Four boys at an elite boarding school form play out their dissatisfactions with life in increasingly violent and demeaning games with each other.

THREE SHORT FILMS BY WERNER HERZOG: BALLAD OF THE LITTLE SOLDIER, THE DARK GLOW OF THE MOUNTAINS, PRECAUTIONS AGAINST FANATICS.
Short Weird Films.
Directed by Werner Herzog.

............//TELEVISION//............

LOST: THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON.
Television/Drama/Adventure/Mystery/Thriller.
Matthew Fox/Naveen Andrews/Jorge Garcia/Josh Holloway.
* Season four of the exciting and mysterious tale of survivors of a plane crash on an island struggling to make sense of it all (don’t you feel like that sometimes?).

............//DOCUMENTARY//............

MAN ON WIRE.
Documentary.
Phillipe Petit.
Directed by James Marsh.
* This mind-boggling documentary will take you deeply into the mind of Phillipe, a multitalented artist whose many talents include tightrope walking. In the early 1970’s, he walked several of the world’s large constructions such as Notre Dame Cathedral and the Harbour Bridge in Sydney, Australia. Then, in 1974, with a small group of cohorts and supporters, he pulled off the biggest coup of all when he stretched a wire between the tops of the two World Trade Centers and spent 45 minutes walking back and forth between the two mega-structures. If you ever wondered about human limitations as far as fear, concentration, bravery, scope of vision and pure elation, watching this film will stretch your concepts of what is possible. I feel as though I will be filled with the imagery of this film for the rest of my life.

UP THE YANGTZE.
Documentary.
Cindy Shui Yu/Jerry Bo Yu Chen.
Directed by Yung Chang.
* An amazing documentary about the Yangtze river in China and the incredible transformation many towns and regions went through as a result of the building of the Three Gorges Dam.

............//FAMILY//............

ADVENTURES OF SONIC THE HEDGEHOG: VOL. 2

JANE AND THE DRAGON

KAYLAS: CHANUKAH CONCERT.

MY LITTLE PONY: LIVE! THE WORLD’S BIGGEST TEA PARTY.

............//NEW BLU-RAY ADDITIONS//............

DAY OF THE DEAD.
Horror.
* George A. Romero’s classic zombie tale.

GET SMART.
Comedy.
* First copy took a walk and never came back.

TROPIC THUNDER.
Comedy.
* Just got another, cuz, dang, everyone wants to see it on blu-ray!

THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE.
Suspense/Thriller.
* I neglected to buy this last week, so I picked it up.

............//HIGHLIGHTED NEW ADDITIONS//............

HERCULES: DISNEY GOLD CLASSIC EDITION.
* Animated classic.

RALPHIE MAY: GIRTH OF A NATION.
Stand-up Comedy.
Ralphie May
* May delivers his Southern Fried comedy.

TEEN WOLF.
Comedy.
Michael J. Fox.
* Goofy comedy sendup of I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF.

TEEN WOLF, TOO.
Comedy.
Jason Bateman.
* Bateman replaces Fox in the sequel.

............// NEW ADDITIONS//............

CLASH OF THE TITANS..
* First DVD of the 1980’s big budget Greek mythological classic.

SIXTEEN CANDLES..
* First DVD of the John Hughes classic starring Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall and the elusive Michael Schoeffling, who left Hollywood in the early 1990’s for the normal life.

ULTRAMAN..
* Three disc set of the 1960’s Japanese monster television extravaganza.

............// REPLACEMENT DISCS//............

POOH’S GRAND ADVENTURE..

****

****new release list no.195

Hey parents! This Thursday, December 4th, there will be a live puppet show in our backyard screening patio at 4:30pm! Nick Barone Puppets will be performing his show “Tales From The Enchanted Forest”. Here is a link to frequently asked questions about his shows.

Yo, it’s the Chronic (what?) cles of Narnia! PRINCE CASPIAN is in the house. Follow the further adventures of Lucy, Edmond, Peter and Susan as they traverse the mythical terrain of Narnia and battle evil all in the name of Aslan, and the restoration of Prince Caspian himself to his rightful throne – whoop whoop!

In WANTED – James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie play super trained assassins in the employ of Morgan Freeman. Lots of bullets getting bent like Beckham in this one.

In STEP BROTHERS, John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell battle it out for who is the biggest moron in the house. Eventually though, they both realize that if they combine their intelligence (term used loosely) they can make their dreams come true. It’s heartwarming!

All three of these are available on Blu-ray as well as regular DVD. Hey Blu-ray renters – I notice there are more and more of you, and I am upping the quantity of copies I am buying on Blu-ray starting next week with the release of THE DARK NIGHT. Keep giving me feedback on this – I appreciate it!

December marks a new month of Highlighted New Additions to our collection. Actually, this Four Star feature is now happening every two months, but I don’t have a snazzy name for that, so I will just stick with the aforementioned HNA. This month is Shila’s month, and she is bringing a great batch of television to the store (WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU, SCRUBS, PSYCH) as well as some stand up comedy (BILL ENGVALL) and a few more editions of DEF POETRY (Seasons 2, 4 and 5). We hope you like them!

Did you buy any movies at my DVD sale last week? I sold about 200 movies last Wednesday and Friday for $6 for one and $10 for two. Wish you had partaken? Catch me anytime in the store this month and I will offer you the same deal. Buy quantity – they make great holiday gifts.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

............//NEW RELEASES//............

BAM MARGERA PRESENTS: WHERE THE %$@#$ IS SANTA?
Comedy.
Bam Margera.
Directed by Jon DeVito and Bam Margera.
* One of the jackasses from the JACKASS movie made a movie.

CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Adventure/Fantasy/Thriller.
Ben Barnes/Georgie Henley/William Moseley/Peter Dinklage.
Directed by Andrew Adamson.
* My personal favorite of the original books, PRINCE CASPIAN follows the further adventures of the four Pevensie siblings as one year later they are again pulled from London to the magical and mystical land of Narnia. There, they discover, hundreds of years have passed since their last visit and currently an evil King named Miraz has taken control of the land, much to the dismay of its rightful leader, Prince Caspian. Together, the Pevensie’s and their iconic buddy, Aslan, help to restore order and peace to the land.

DARK WORLD.
Suspense.
Michael Pare/Theresa Russell/James Russo.
Directed by Zia Mojabi.
* Pare continues his spiraling descent into irrelevance – oops, I mean, this is a weird and dark cops and robbers flick set in LA and centering around some mysterious kidnappings.

FLY ME TO THE MOON: 3D.
Family/Animation.
Kelly Ripa/Nicolette Sheridan/Tim Curry/Christopher Lloyd.
Directed by Ben Stassen.
* It’s kinda like the Russian flies versus the American flies, in this strange tale of a small posse of houseflies who stow away aboard the Apollo 11 headed to the moon.

SHE LIKES GIRLS: 3.
LGBT.
* Eight short films about women and the women who like them.

STEP BROTHERS. ****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Comedy.
Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly.
Directed by Adam McKay.
* When an older couple get married, their adult age ne’er do well sons come together as competitive and moronic step brothers. Hijinks follow. I don’t think this is a stoner movie, but I do think it is the kind of comedy that calls for a new Four Star rating system to be, ahem, rolled out. We’ll call them the Green Ratings. Here is a short synopsis: A “one hit” movie is pretty funny! A “two hit” movie is still pretty funny, albeit with maybe more than a few moments of inanity. A “bong hit” movie probably shows most of the funny parts in the trailer. Finally, a “full doobie” film must be properly prepared for, and even then may lead to a gentle nap in the middle. I haven’t seen this one yet (but I probably will tonight), but I’m going to go out on a limb and give it a “full doobie”.

STILL LIFE.
Drama/Romance/Foreign (Mandarin).
Tao Zhao/Sanming Han.
Directed by Zhang Ke Jia.
* Stilted tale of a town and its inhabitants in flux, as symbolized by the Three Gorges Dam construction and the destruction of the town as a result.

TROJAN HORSE.
Drama/Suspense.
Paul Gross/Tom Skerritt/Greta Scacchi.
Directed by Charles Biname.
* TV movie about Canada becoming annexed by the US!

WANTED.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Action/Suspense.
James McAvoy/Angelina Jolie/Morgan Freeman.
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov.
* McAvoy plays Wesley, a bumbling and lonely clerk living a sad existence mostly consisting of being unfulfilled and humiliated until he meets a fox, or more accurately, Fox (Jolie) who helps him gain confidence by revealing his amazing killing abilities to him and offering him work as an assassin with a team led by the enigmatic Sloan (Freeman). The film is an adaptation of a graphic novel and is basically a super-complicated, shoot em up, action joyride.

THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE.
Drama/Mystery/Thriller/Sci-Fi.
David Duchovny/Gillian Anderson/Amanda Peet.
Directed by Chris Carter.
* Six years after the finale of The X-Files, Mulder and Scully are called back to action, this time to investigate a defrocked pedophiliac priest who claims that God is sending him visions of his crimes. I know, right? But I digress… Severed heads, amputated limbs, perversity, dementia, and all the other things you loved about this TV show are on full display as the paranormal crime fighters slog through many messy messes in an attempt to find truth and do good.

............//TELEVISION//............

THE BEST OF DR.KATZ: PROFESSIONAL THERAPIST.
Television/Comedy/Animation.
Jonathan Katz.
* A best of collection of the weird and strangely hysterical animated show.

SNL: THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON 1978-1979.
Television/Comedy.
George Carlin/Paul Simon/Rolling Stones/Devo/Frank Zappa/Steve Martin/Van Morrison/Walter Matthau/Peter Tosh/Kate Bush/Rickie Lee Jones/Talking Heads/James Taylor/Blondie/Dylan.
* Are we almost done with all the good seasons here? Should I keep buying these? You tell me.

............//DOCUMENTARY//............

IN THE GUTTER
Documentary/Comedy.
John Waters/Stephen Furst.
* A comedic quest to discover what makes us laugh, featuring interviews with many actors and directors.

............//FAMILY//............

CURIOUS GEORGE LEADS THE BAND: AND OTHER MUSICAL MAYHEM!
* Georgie-poo and the Imperialist in the Big Yellow Hat!

HEY THERE, IT’S YOGI BEAR
* Original Hanna-Barbera action.

LAND BEFORE TIME: FRIENDS FOREVER
* Or until a meteor hits the earth.

............//HIGHLIGHTED NEW ADDITIONS//............

BILL ENGVALL: HERE’S YOUR SIGN.
Stand-up Comedy.
* Stupidity is shown no mercy in the stand-up comedy show.

DEF POETRY: SEASONS 2, 4 & 5.
Series/Poetry.
Featuring Jamie Foxx/Erykah Badu/Malcolm-Jamal Warner/Dave Chappelle/Alicia Keys/Kanye West/Common/Mike Epps.
Hosted by Mos Def.
* Stars, super stars, seasoned veterans and virgin poets united. If you don’t like one poet, just skip to the next.

PSYCH: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON.
Television/Comedy.
James Roday/Dule Hill.
* A show about how just being perceptive can make you seem psychic.

SCRUBS: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON.
Television/Comedy.
Zach Braff.
* Zach Braff and other hotties in this hilarious long running show about the life of doctors.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU.
Television/Comedy.
Amanda Bynes/Jennie Garth/Simon Rex/Wesley Jonathan.
Created by Wil Calhoun and Dan Schneider.
* I LOVE AMANDA BYNES! A teenager living with her older sister in NYC and all the funny problems that come along with that.

****

****new release list no.194

Ah, yes, it is Thanksgiving week – a complicated holiday in some ways, and yet so easy to simplify. I am thankful for my place in the world, and I am psyched to eat some yummy food with my peeps.

And what is HANCOCK thankful for? Another shot of whiskey, perhaps? As Will Smith plays him, he is a drunken, clumsy mess who also happens to be a superhero. Hated by the public and super rude to everyone who criticizes him; he is a total disaster. Can a PR firm save his image and will that be enough to keep him on the wagon?

Will it be a COLBERT CHRISTMAS in your household? Stephen tackles the holidays as only he can.

Harmony Korine (GUMMO, KIDS) has made a new film called MISTER LONELY about the strange and beautiful world of celebrity impersonators. Michael Jackson meets Marilyn Monroe in Paris and travels with her to Scotland to a commune full of other impersonators. If you have ever seen Korine’s films, you know they are strange journeys in the seedy undergrowth of the human psyche where truth lies in hibernation. As he himself once put it, he loves to tell jokes, but doesn’t give a damn about the punch line.

Eddie Murphy’s new one MEET DAVE is here, as is the feature length 24 film called 24: REDEMPTION.

There is also a big batch of foreign films (BIRTHDAY, JUST SEX AND NOTHING ELSE, THE UNDERNEATH, LIFE THE WAY IT IS, A PERFECT DAY) and some great other stuff.

I will be selling DVD’s in front of the store on Wednesday and probably Friday for $6 each or 2 for $10. I have about 400 to sell, so if you are looking for a big bunch of stocking stuffers, come on down. I will have another DVD sale the week before Christmas.

Hey, we got blogged about in a new Bernal-focused blog - check it out here: Bernal Beat.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

............//NEW RELEASES//............

BEAUTIFUL OHIO.
Comedy/Drama.
William Hurt/Rita Wilson/Julianne Marguilies.
Directed by Chad Lowe.
* Tale of a family in 1970’s era Ohio struggling to accept themselves and each other.

BIRTHDAY.
Drama/Foreign (Polish).
Piotr Lysak/Andrzej Lapicki/Jolanta Grusznic.
Directed by Ewa Petelska.
* The life of a young Pole during war and political unrest as seen through his birthdays in 1938, 1939, 1943 and 1944.

BOTTLE ROCKET.
Comedy/Quirky/Criterion.
Muriel Box/Luke Wilson/Owen Wilson/Other Wilsons.
Directed by Wes Anderson.
* The brilliant debut of the Wes Anderson team finally comes to Criterion. The film focuses on a group of friends trying to pull off a simple robbery, and the problems that arise.

CHUNGKING EXPRESS.
Comedy/Criterion/Foreign ().
Brigitte Lin/Takeshi Kaneshiro/Tony Leung.
Directed by Wong Kar-Wai.
* A beautiful and lush portrait of Hong Kong in the 1990’s, the film follows a couple of cops dealing with the loss of their girlfriends.

FRED CLAUSE.
Comedy.
Vince Vaughn/Paul Giamatti/Miranda Richardson/Kevin Spacey/Rachel Weisz/Elizabeth Banks.
Directed by David Dobkin.
* Nick (Giamatti)’s older bitter brother Fred (Vaughn) is a broke loser looking for a handout. Santa offers him that handout on the condition he come to the North Pole and work off the debt.

HANCOCK. ****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Comedy/Action.
Will Smith/Jason Bateman/Charlize Theron.
Directed by Peter Berg.
* A washed-up drunk superhero (Smith) who everyone hates because of the damage he causes every time he tries to save something gets a make-over from a PR firm whose president (Bateman) he has saved. Coincidentally, the PR guys wife (Theron) appears to possibly have a history with Hancock. The tone of this film is like a cross between TROPIC THUNDER and I AM LEGEND. It’s funny, and it’s not, and by the end, things get pretty serious.

JUST SEX & NOTHING ELSE.
Comedy/Foreign (Hungarian).
Kata Dobo/Judit Schell.
Directed by Krisztina Goda.
* Romantic comedy about love and getting older and settling down.

LIFE THE WAY IT IS.
Drama/Foreign (French).
Maria Luiza Garcia.
Directed by Jean-Claude Brisseau.
* Very intense tale of women working in a chemical factory in Florence dealing with sexual harassment, a dangerous work environment and violence lurking shallowly below the surface.

MEET DAVE.
Comedy/Sci-Fi.
Eddie Murphy/Eddie Murphy/Eddie Murphy.
Directed by Brian Robbins.
* He’s an alien, no he’s an alien spaceship, but we all know that Eddie Murphy’s different. Either way, the ship stalls when it becomes hot for an earth woman.

MISTER LONELY.
Indie/Foreign (English/French).
Diego Luna/Samantha Morton/Werner Herzog.
Directed by Harmony Korine.
* From the writer of KIDS and the writer/director of GUMMO comes this new fairytale about a young man working as a Michael Jackson lookalike, who meets a Marilyn Monroe lookalike and goes with her to a lookalike commune where he meets Charlie Chaplin and Shirley Temple, among others.

MISTY.
Family.
David Ladd/Arthur O’Connell/Pam Smith.
Directed by James Clark.
* Have you been to Assateague? It is this little island where wild horses still rule the habitat. I went there as a small child and my favorite stuffy, Cubbie, fell onto the muddy ground and became ruined. I was inconsolable. My parents bought me a “new” Cubbie, but I wasn’t fooled. Cubbie was gone, and that was my first experience with death. I think this movie has something to do with Assateague.

PERFECT DAY.
Drama/Foreign (Arabic).
Ziad Saad/Julia Kassar.
Directed by Joanna Hajithomas and Khalil Joreige.
* Malek (Saad) is obsessed with his ex-girlfriend and dealing with a sleep disorder and a mother who is still dealing with the disappearance of her husband 15 years earlier. This 2005 film takes us on a journey through Beirut and the struggles of modern-life there.

SPACE CHIMPS.
Family/Animation.
Andy Samberg/Cheryl Hines.
Directed by Kirk Micco.
* It ain’t Pixar, but it’s entertainment…My kids loved it.

THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD.
Suspense/Criterion.
Richard Burton/Claire Bloom/Oskar Werner.
Directed by Martin Ritt.
* Wonderfully acted spy film adapted from the John le Carre novel. Richard Burton earned a nomination for the Best Actor Academy award for his performance as Alec Leamas, an increasingly disillusioned British spy working in and around East Berlin.

THE TOWN THAT BANNED CHRISTMAS.
Family/Comedy.
Matt McCoy/Jane Sibbett.
Directed by John Dowling Jr, and Karl Fink.

24: REDEMPTION.
Television Film.
Kiefer Sutherland/Eric Lively/John Voight.
Directed by John Cassar.
* Jack (Sutherland) deals with feature length period of what has amounted to be a very bad day.

UNDERNEATH: SENSUAL OBSESSION.
Thriller/Foreign (Dutch).
Magdelena Boczarska/Jaroslaw Boberek.
Directed by Marek Gajczak.
* A writer and his girlfriend go to the home of a potential employer who once vied for the same girlfriend. Tensions mount, as the writer finds himself lusting after the employers new girlfriend.

............//TELEVISION//............

A COLBERT CHRISTMAS: THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL.
Television/Satire.
Stephen Colbert/Elvis Costello.
* Colbert gives us Christmas, as only he can.

............//DOCUMENTARY//............

HEROD’S LOST TOMB: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC.
Documentary.
Directed by Eleanor Grant.
* It’s lost; please help us find it.

............//BLU-RAY NEW ADDITIONS//............

MIRRORMASK.
* Much loved fantasy film about a battle between opposing kingdoms.

............// NEW ADDITIONS//............

ZARDOZ.
Fantasy/Sci-Fi.
Sean Connery/Charlotte Rampling.
Directed by John Boorman.
* Freaky sci-fi 70’s film that a customer has been adamant that I must see. I haven’t seen it, but I bought it on DVD!

............// REPLACEMENT DISCS//............

IDIOCRACY.

LILO & STITCH.

POCAHONTAS: 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION.

****

****new release list no.193

Happy wintertime to you! I already have that “curl up with some hot apple cider” feeling inside. Except for Friday, when I had that “I am so lucky to live somewhere where it is amazingly warm sometimes in the middle of winter” feeling. Yeah.

Better keep the earth clean and beware of the messages we give our computers according to the somewhat dark moralistic tale that is WALL E. The animation is pretty spectacular, and this is coming from someone who used to hate computer animation. WALL E is a cleanup robot left on an unpopulated earth thousands of years after we abandoned the place to the toxic garbage we left behind. He is a quirky little fellow, with an amazing home full of trippy stuff, kinda reminded me of Maude in HAROLD AND MAUDE a little bit. His lonely existence is rocked when Eve, a little reconnaissance robot, shows up. She mesmerizes him with her lovely blue eyes, and he becomes so attached that he follows her into space so as not to be alone anymore.

In TROPIC THUNDER, we get a somewhat hilarious insider Hollywood take on the business as seen through a tragically run film set on location in some dangerous Southeast Asian country where the local heroin trade is run by a blood-thirsty 12-year old. Add Robert Downey, Jr, as an Oscar-Award winning Australian actor playing an African American soldier and Tom Cruise as a bald, curse-spewing film executive and you have a mind-bending adventure into filmmaking. Don’t try this at home! These are professionals.

Also of interest this week will be SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS 2! Me, I can’t wait for 3, when they all go thrifting together. Moving on.

We have a large stack of documentaries this week, a bunch of them music related (WORKING CLASS ROCK STAR, STARS AND THEIR ELECTRIC GUITARS, NEW YORK CITY BALLET, THE LAST KLEZMER, PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC: THE MOTHERSHIP CONNECTION LIVE IN 1976) as well as a couple of film powerhouse releases, such as from Werner Herzog ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD and Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney (NO END IN SIGHT, WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR, TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE) brings his new one out, the much awaited GONZO: LIFE AND WORK OF DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON.

There’s more, there’s more. Scroll on down.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

P.S. Skip this part if you don’t wanna hear any pontificating…

Recently, I heard that Noe Valley Video, a video store on 24th street that had long been an institution in Noe has closed their doors. Wow, how many does that make? I never feel that bad when a Blockbuster or Hollywood Video goes down, but when a family-owned independent video store closes its doors it scares me! Then I heard that Streetlight Records was closing its Noe Valley store as well. Wow, that place has been there for 30 years!

All this got me thinking about the concept of local economy as compared to the global village, which got me thinking about my own spending habits. As I have mentioned in this space before, I enjoy purchasing stuff on the internet. It’s fun, and it’s easy. And it’s really simple not to consider the consequences. However, when I think about Bernal Heights, and I hear myself tell people about it who don’t live here, I always hear myself use terms like “village” and “neighborly” and I find myself speaking about Cortland Avenue and how people smile at each other as they stroll down the street, and how so many people know each other’s names, and how unusual that sometimes seems to me.

So, as this holiday season rolls into our lives, and as we are confronted with our individual financial challenges, let’s spend locally. Let’s support our neighbors. Let’s keep our businesses in operation. Let’s keep our community strong. If yer still with me thanks for reading…

............//NEW RELEASES//............

ARIZONA SKY.
Drama/Romance/LGBT.
Eric Dean/Jayme McCabe.
Directed by Jeff London.
* Two men, twenty years removed from an unmanageable high school crush, find out that it is never too late to find love.

BACHELORMAN.
Comedy/Romance.
David Deluise/Missy Pyle.
Directed by John Putch.
* A serial bachelor scammer dude finds his powers to charm are diminished when he briefly finds real love.

BUTCH JAMIE.
Comedy/LGBT.
Michelle Ehlen.
Directed by Michelle Ehlen.
* Jamie is an out of work actress struggling to get a job. When she decides to audition as herself, she accidently scores a job as a man. This leads to many TOOTSIE-like complications that send her life into a tailspin.

THE CLIQUE.
Comedy.
Elizabeth McLaughlin/Ellen Marlow.
Directed by Michael Lembeck.
* Mean girls probably not named Heathers bring it on while Massie (McLaughlin) struggles to stay pretty in pink.

THE DEVIL’S CURSE.
Horror.
Colin Salmon/MyAnna Buring.
Directed by Alex Wakeford.
* A group of theology students attempt to prove believe enough to go to hell.

FANFAN LA TULIPE.
Action/Adventure/Criterion/Foreign (French).
Gerard Philipe.
Directed by Christiane-Jacque.
* 1952 comedy about a young handsome French peasant tricked into joining the army to chase after accolades and royal love.

GAMERS DORKNESS RISING.
Action/Adventure/Family/Comedy.
Nathan Rice/Brian Lewis.
Directed by Matt Vancil.
* Kind of a goofy slapsticky take on the whole gaming reality.

GARDEN PARTY.
Drama.
Vinessa Shaw/Willa Holland.
Directed by Jason Freeland.
* Teenagers being teenagers in one bad situation after another.

PARK.
Indie/Comedy/Drama.
Dagney Kerr/Vincent Riverside.
Directed by Kurt Voelker.
* Produced by a Bernal Heights neighbor’s sister, this film follows a dozen offbeat characters as they spend a day in the life in a park in Los Angeles. From nudism to infidelity to suicide, many topics are covered here.

PRICELESS.
Comedy/Romance/Foreign (French).
Audrey Tautou/Gad Elmaleh.
Directed by Pierre Salvadori.
* Tautou plays a gold-digger who normally just dates the rich dudes, but eventually finds someone who is not wealthy, but has a real heart proving the axiom that emotional honesty will ruin you.

SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS 2.
Comedy/Drama.
Amber Tamblyn/America Ferrera/Blake Lively/Alexis Bledel.
Directed by Sanaa Hamri.
* Movie two about a quartet of young women on the road to adulthood, sharing one pair of pants.

TROPIC THUNDER. ****ALSO ON BLU-RAY****
Comedy
Ben Stiller/Jack Black/Robert Downey Jr./Nick Nolte/Steve Coogan/Bill Hader/Tom Cruise.
Directed by Ben Stiller.
* Nolte plays a war vet who has written a book about his experiences in Vietnam. Stiller, Black, and Downey, Jr. play some of the guys who are on location shooting the film that has been adapted from the book. Unfortunately, things are not going so well on the shoot, and soon the director aims for a little improvisational acting by dropping them off in the middle of the jungle and having them just act out the scenes without a bunch of obvious cameras around them. Too bad the local heroin production gang is in the same woods and is not so psyched at the perceived DEA infiltration. Soon, the actors are involved in a much more real battle then they realize, but there is no way out, except to fight! This band of brothers that emerge are tougher, and wiser than when they went in. Cruise gives a terrific performance as a tough Hollywood Producer that is prepared to sacrifice the whole bunch of them and cash in on the insurance. Robert Downey Jr.’s character is an Australian so deep into his role as an African American that he has had a skin treatment rendering him black. His character is so weirdly captivating; it helps smooth over the rough patches.

WALL-E. ****ALSO ON BLU-RAY****
Sci-Fi/Animation/Family.
Fred Willard/Jeff Garlin/Sigourney Weaver.
Directed by Andrew Stanton.
* A truly amazing film, it manages to be a beautiful children’s story and a dark environmental omen at the same time. Very little dialog marks this latest Pixar release; in fact the two main character’s do not even have mouths (let alone gastro-intestinal systems). Early silent films were studies for the making of this film as they prepared to have so much communicated without the use of words. The film is quite entertaining, it steers clear of the usual scary imagery that many kids and adult movies thrive on, and introduces a melancholy longing to the genre. In essence, WALL E is a lonely robot who finds love in the form of a beautiful probe (not the one Cartmen deals with) named Eve. Dig especially the terrific credits animation sequence at the end where we are treated to a whole array of animation styles.

WINKY’S HORSE.
Family/Foreign (Dutch).
Ebbie Tam.
Directed by Mischa Kamp.
* Winky wants a horse. And, really, who doesn’t?

............//TELEVISION//............

DR. WHO: COMPLETE 4TH SERIES.
Sci-Fi Television.

DR. WHO: THE INFINITE QUEST.
Sci-Fi/Animation.
Directed by Gary Russell.
* Animated Dr. Who feature following the doc as he races through the universe trying to find the legendary spaceship Infinite before bad guy Balthazar does.

HANNAH MONTANA: 1st SEASON.
Television/Shila.
Miley Cyrus.
* She’s got the best of both worlds, whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean.

PROJECT RUNWAY: SEASON FOUR.
Catwalk.
Heidi Klum.
* Right Said Fred said it best:

I'm too sexy for my car too sexy for my car,
Too sexy by far
And I'm too sexy for my hat
Too sexy for my hat what do you think about that.

I'm a model you know what I mean
And I do my little turn on the catwalk
Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah
I shake my little tush on the catwalk.

............//DOCUMENTARY//............

ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD.
Documentary.
Directed by Werner Herzog.
* Here, Herzog takes his camera to Antarctica to meet the men and women who have left society to devote themselves to the sciences that are being studied in this hard and treacherous environment.

GONZO: LIFE AND WORK OF DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON.
Documentary.
Directed by Alex Gibney.
* Home movies, audiotapes, unpublished manuscripts – Alex Gibney mines it all to get to the essence of the man who changed journalism forever and brought mainstream America inside the dark and musty corners of life.

THE LAST KLEZMER.
Documentary/Music/Foreign (English/Polish/Yiddish/Russian).
Directed by Yale Strom.
*A search for a great Klezmer musician living in Poland uncovers truths about the Holocaust while celebrating the spirit of humanity and the amazing place music plays in our lives.

NEW YORK CITY BALLET: BRINGING BALANCHINE BACK.
Documentary/Music/Performing Arts.
* Great in-depth look at the NYC Ballet as it travels to St. Petersburg, where one of its founders, George Ballachine, first learned to dance.

102 MINUTES THAT CHANGED AMERICA.
Documentary.
* History Channel doc on the terrible events of September 11, 2001.

PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC: THE MOTHERSHIP CONNECTION LIVE 1976 .
Documentary/Music.
George Clinton/Bootsy Collins/Bernie Worrell.
Directed by Brian Blum.
* Tear the roof off the muthasucka! Tear the roof off the mutha! Put on your funkiest duds, do your hair up right, pop this DVD in and prepare to be transported to another planet.

STARS AND THEIR GUITARS: HISTORY OF THE ELECTRIC GUITAR.
Documentary/Music.

WORKING CLASS ROCK STAR.
Documentary/Music.
Directed by Justin McConnell.
* The painful tale of touring rock bands these days. This doc follows three bands around and takes an intimate look at an industry that does very little to support its hard working artists.

............//FAMILY//............

BEAR SNORES ON AND MORE BEARY TALES.

............//BLU-RAY NEW ADDITIONS//............

HEATHERS.
* One of the finest films in the teen genre of all time.

............// REPLACEMENT DISCS//............

KILL YOUR IDOLS.
* Awesome doc about the New York rock scene featuring Sonic Youth among others.

****

****new release list no.192

We Win!

And enough for this week about politics.

HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY arrives this week, with its crazy array of monsters and evil elves stirring up the universe as only Guillermo del Toro can. Also, this week we have the first of a bunch of huge animated blockbusters coming this holiday season. This week it is KUNG FU PANDA. Little Po must learn how to fight if he is to save the Valley of Peace from the bad bad Snow Leopard. Grrrrr! Follow the further adventures of the animated Anakin Skywalker in STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS a film that takes place between the second and third Star Wars tales and fills in some blanks on the mighty Clone Wars!

On the quirky side is WESTERN, a movie about a Spaniard and a Russian walking the streets of France and WHATEVER YOU SAY, another French film about a television producer who gets in over his head with his boss and his sexy wife.

Voyeurism plays a big role in the films CRUEL BUT NECESSARY, where a jilted housewife decides to film her entire life and MISTER FOE about a teenager who spies on people from the roofs of Edinburgh ostensibly with the hopes of solving the mystery of his mother’s death.

Also released this week are a bunch of newly released (and in some cases re-released) older films such as APPRENTICE (starring a young Susan Sarandon), THE BOYS IN THE BAND, SABRINA and ROMAN HOLIDAY.

Scroll on down to check out the new editions and the new Blu-ray titles we have added this week as well.

Don’t forget about Four Star Video while you are contemplating your holiday shopping. We have awesome Four Star Shirts and Wristbands as well as our usual Gift-Certificates on sale now.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

............//NEW RELEASES//............

APPRENTICE.
Drama/Romance/Foreign (French).
Susan Sarandon/Steve Fiset.
Directed by Larry Kent.
* 1971 Sarandon film just hitting DVD. This French-Canadian love triangle tale concerns a young criminal who falls for Sarandon, but who’s involved with the girlfriend of his crime partner.

THE BOYS IN THE BAND.
Drama.
Kenneth Nelson/Leonard Frey.
Directed by William Friedkin.
* Tempers fly in this 1970 film just getting to DVD at a party mostly populated by homosexual men when a het is accidently invited.

CRUEL BUT NECESSARY.
Drama.
Kate Albrecht/Fred Goss.
Directed by Saul Rubinek.
* Voyeurism takes a strange twist as Betty (Albrecht) videotapes every aspect of her life after discovering on tape that her husband is cheating on her. The camera, which is the entire viewpoint of the film, captures the disintegration of Betty’s life.

GAMER.
Drama/Foreign (French).
Said Taghmoui.
Directed by Patrick Levy.

HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Action/Suspense.
Ron Perlman/Selma Blair/.
Directed by Guillermo del Toro and Brian Steele.
* The Golden Army is a vicious group of fighting machines intent on destroying the human race (before global warming). It is up to Hellboy to stop the evil elf intent on setting them loose. I love me an evil elf.

KATT WILLIAMS: IT’S PIMPIN PIMPIN.
Stand-up Comedy.
* Four Star favorite Katt Williams delivers snarky humor while giving you deep insight to the big pimpin’ culture.

KUNG FU PANDA.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Drama.
Jack Black/Jackie Chan/Dustin Hoffman/Lucy Liu/Seth Rogen/Angelina Jolie.
Directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne.
* More CG animation! This time it is Po, a lazy pandude living in the Valley of Peace who must learn Kung Fu to from an evil and treacherous (but gorgeous!) snow leopard named Tai Lung. Voiced by many of Hollywood’s faves!

MISTER FOE.
Suspense/Indie.
Jamie Bell/Sophia Myles.
Directed by David Mackenzie.
* Tweaky Scottish film about a young man searching for the truth behind his mother’s suicide. His search leads him on a dangerous and voyeuristic exploration of the cities rooftops and the lives he can spy on from above. This dark and erotic thriller features good music, by Franz Ferdinand, among others.

OPIUM: DIARY OF A MADWOMAN.
Drama/Foreign (Hungarian/English).
Ulrich Thomsen/Kirsti Stubo.
Directed by Janos Szasz.
* Thomsen (Adam’s Apples, The Celebration, Kingdom of Heaven) plays a drug-addicted doctor working in an asylum.

ROMAN HOLIDAY: CENTENNIAL EDITION.
Comedy/Romance/Classic.
Gregory Peck/Audrey Hepburn.
Directed by William Wyler.
* Princess Anne (Hepburn – hot!) is a sheltered young princess who sneaks away from her handlers and hooks up with Joe the American News Reporter (Peck) stationed in Rome. Hijinks follow. Won three Oscars including Best Actress for Audrey in 1953.

SABRINA: CENTENNIAL EDITION.
Comedy/Drama/Romance/Classic.
Humphrey Bogart/Audrey Hepburn/William Holden.
Directed by Billy Wilder.
* Sabrina (Hepburn again) is the young hottie daughter of the chauffeur (see Monica Lewinsky) who becomes the amorous focus of attention for two very brothers who employ her dad. Ms. Hepburn almost won the Oscar again for this film in 1954. She lost (to Grace Kelley in The Country Girl), but the film did take home the hardware for Best Costume Design.

SHRED.
Comedy.
Tom Green.
Directed by David Mitchell.
* Washed up snow-boarders attempt to regain some glory when they start a snow-boarding camp.

STAR WARS: CLONE WARS.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Sci-Fi/Action/Animation.
Matt Lanter/Ashley Eckstein.
Directed by Dave Filoni.
* Set between the 2nd and 3rd movies, this animated story fills in more plot about the Clone Wars and follows Anakin on a secret mission with far-reaching consequences!

THE STILL LIFE.
Drama.
Rachel Miner/Jason Berry.
Directed by Joel Miller.
* Little indie film exploring the artist’s life as seen through their intake of sex and drugs.

SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO.
Action/Western/Foreign ().
Hideaki Ito/Koichi Sato/Quentin Tarantino.
Directed by Takashi Miike.
* Have you seen Miike’s movies? They are range from the uber-violent to the almost ridiculous. They generally contain fantastical plots and a lot of weaponry. This is no different. A mysterious gunslinger stumbles upon two warring factions and pimps himself to the highest bidder.

WESTERN.
Comedy/Foreign (French).
Sergi Lopez/Sacha Bourdo.
Directed by Manuel Poirier.
* Paco (Lopez) is a Spanish shoe salesman; Nino (Bourdo) is a Russian drifter. Their paths diverge on the highways of France and soon they are hitchhiking together and discovering the (drum roll, please) true meaning of friendship. Or at least that’s how Hallmark would put it. This looks really good to me!

WHATEVER YOU SAY.
Comedy/Crime/Drama/Thriller/Foreign (French).
Francois Berleand/Diane Kruger/Guillaume Canet.
Directed by Guillaume Canet.
* A young man (Canet) new to television gets involved with a powerful producer (Berleand) who submits him to strange and dangerous demands involving his beautiful wife (Kruger).

YO-YO SEXY GIRL COP.
Action /Foreign (Japanese).
Mihiro.
Directed by Daigo Udagawa.
* She’s a high school beauty working underground for the Japanese Government armed with a deadly yo-yo.

............//TELEVISION//............

THE COMMANDER: SET ONE.
Television/Cops and Robbers/British TV.
Directed by.
* From the creator of PRIME SUSPECT comes this police story of Clare Blake (Amanda Burton) who is Scotland Yard’s highest ranking female cop. She heads the Serious Crime Group and the Murder Review Team. The crimes are gnarly, but Blake will do anything to solve them.

STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO: SEASON TWO VOLUME TWO.
Television/Cops and Robbers.
Karl Malden/Michael Douglas.
* The streets are tough. And steep. But not snowy.

TRACY ULLMAN’S STATE OF THE UNION.
Comedy.
Tracy.
* Hysterical mad-cap comic Tracy Ullman delivers a glimpse into her concept of American life today. Remember the original Tracy Ullman show? THE SIMPSONS got it start on that show back in 1987.

............//DOCUMENTARY//............

FLYING: CONFESSIONS OF A FREE WOMAN.
Documentary.
Directed by Jennifer Fox.
* Six hour mini-series about female life and sexuality filmed around the globe.

............//FAMILY//............

I SAW MOMMY KISSING SANTA CLAUSE.
* Ain’t no particular sign she’s more compatible with, she just wanted his extra time and his – kiss.

IMPY’S ISLAND.

MIRACLE ON 34TH ST (1994 Version).
* Three copies of this for the season…

PINGU: SOUTH POLE ADVENTURES.

SHAUN THE SHEEP: OFF THE BAA.
* From the folks who brought us Wallace and Gromit comes this tale of Shaun, who is no flock follower.

............//BLU-RAY NEW ADDITIONS//............

BLACK CHRISTMAS.
* Just got this Olivia Hussey and Margo Kidder horror film on DVD a few months ago. Now you can watch it in high definition.

STORY OF O.
* Cue up the chicka-bow. Super explicit 70’s tale of sexual deviancy, bondage and perversion. File this under the “movies we don’t have on regular DVD but do have on Blu-ray.”

............// NEW ADDITIONS//............

SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET.
* Brad Pitt becomes friends with the Dalai Lama years before he meets Angelina and sees God.

WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE.
* Cassavetes film starring Peter Falk and Gena Rowlands as a couple dealing with madness.

****

****new release list no.191

Well, as I write this, it is Monday morning, November 3rd and America is perched on the edge of Election Day 2008. Wow! I can barely believe that W had 8 full years in office. How tragic.

I have found myself, as I am sure so many of you can relate, endlessly thinking about this election and what it means to me and my community and the country and the world, and I cannot shake the feeling that this election is the most important one of my lifetime. In a sense, we are perched on the edge of a group evolutionary moment. How cool is that? Yesterday someone told me that we could become the first white majority country to elect a black president. I am not sure if that is true or not, but I think the message that America could send to the rest of the world by electing Barack Obama President is tremendous.

I am not under any illusion that this will make the economy better immediately, or improve interpersonal relations, or even help create peace. I don’t think any of us can predict that. However, I do think that what it does say is that we are no longer willing to accept what we KNOW is wrong. We are no longer willing to go with the status quo JUST BECAUSE.

Does Joe the Plummer (or for that matter, Ken the Video Store Owner) understand exactly how the economy is affected by presidential policy? Of course not. Does Ken the Video Store Owner have a deep sense of how to conduct Foreign Policy? Not really. Does Ken the Video Store Owner even really understand how the Electoral College works? No, I don’t. But I think what most of the Ken the Video Store Owners DO understand is that something is deeply wrong with the way we are currently running our government.

Something is wrong with our health-care systems, and our insurance systems.

Something is wrong with our environmental policies and our ability to adapt to scientific data.

Something is wrong with our corporate structures and the ability for CEO’s to get impossibly rich while people are losing their savings.

Something is wrong with our international policies and our inability to be honest about why we are doing what we are doing.

This is not deep analysis, just basic concerns clear to anyone who reads the news.

I am not going to urge anyone to vote any certain way in this blog. I know that mostly I am preaching to the choir. To that end, I am tremendously proud of the community I live in, both on the micro level (Bernal Heights) and the macro (The San Francisco Bay Area). Just vote, vote your conscience and that’s all you can be expected to do.

I look forward to tomorrow, because I think that by the time I am ready to go to sleep, we will be looking forward to a tremendous new time in our history, a time that will likely be written about in school books in years to come. As we face the economic fears that will likely not go away right away, let’s remember that we are still living and breathing and we still have a responsibility to ourselves to be positive and spread positivity! As a community, we can get through tough times. Isn’t that one of the basic reasons we have a government?

Today, in light of the election, I have written most of the film encapsulations highlighting the special archetypes that one of the parties likes to see us as. I think it is likely you will find yourself somewhere in these capsules.

In the event that the other party wins tomorrow, all I can say is thank god for movies.

Alrighty, then. See you at the store. We’ll have snacks and drinks all evening, come by and whoop it up with us.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

............//NEW RELEASES//............

BIRDS OF AMERICA.
Comedy/Drama.
Matthew Perry/Ben Foster/Hilary Swank.
Directed by Craig Lucas.
* Morrie the Regular Guy (Perry) struggles with his weird-ass normal life and his freaky abnormal siblings while trying to make sense of it all.

FLASHBACKS OF A FOOL.
Drama.
Daniel Craig/James D’Arcy/Claire Forlani/Keeley Hawes.
Directed by Baillie Walsh.
* Joe the Aging Hedonistic Hollywood Star (Craig) looks back on his childhood after the death of his friend and confronts the pain that he has been hiding from his whole life.

FUTURAMA: BENDER’S GAME.
Animation.
John DiMaggio/Billy West.
Directed by Dwayne Carie-Hill.
*Bender Bending Rodríguez, the “Alcoholic, Whore-Mongering, Chain-Smoking Gambler” Robot (DiMaggio) gets involved in a deep and lethal game of Dungeons and Dragons in this the third (of four) planned Futurama films.

GET SMART.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Comedy/Action.
Steve Carell/Anne Hathaway/Dwayne Johnson/Alan Arkin/James Caan.
Directed by Peter Segal.
* Maxwell Smart the Secret Agent Man (Carell) helps thwart KAOS from world domination with super hottie Agent 99 (Hathaway) at his side.

THE GOOD LIFE.
Comedy/Drama/Suspense.
Mark Webber/Zooey Deschanel/Chris Klein/Bill Paxton/Drea de Matteo/Patrick Fugit/Harry Dean Stanton.
Directed by Stephen Berra.
* Jason the Almost Normal Guy Who Has Problems Fitting In (Webber) kinda fits in with Frances (Deschanel) but not really. This character driven film about isolation features great performances from its character actor cast.

KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN: COLLECTOR’S EDITION.
Drama.
Raul Julia/William Hurt/Sonia Braga.
Directed by Hector Babenco.
* Valentin Arregui the Imprisoned South American Revolutionary (Julia) shares a jail cell with Luis Molina, the Wrongfully Charged Yet Correctly Characterized Transvestite Homosexual (Hurt) and through the beautiful and charged fantasy of films come to an understanding and respect for each other. This movie is so wonderful!

MOSCOW ZERO.
Action/Suspense/Drama/Mystery/Thriller.
Vincent Gallo/Val Kilmer.
Directed by Maria Lidon.
* Owen the Priest (Gallo) hires some people to look for his friend Sergei the Demon-Researcher and Looker For The Entrance To Hell who has disappeared under ground in Moscow where they encounter Andrey the Head of The Underground People (Kilmer). While there, they search for both Gallo and Kilmer’s missing careers.

7 VIRGINS.
Crime/Drama/Foreign (Spanish).
Juan Jose Ballesta.
Directed by Alberto Rodriguez.
* Tano the Fucked-Up Teenager In Juvenile Hall gets a 48 hour leave and tries to accomplish everything he is prevented from doing while in jail. In the meantime, he experiences a collapse of his community causing his ride of recklessness to turn into a journey into adulthood.

SHREK THE HALLS.
Animation/Holiday.
Mike Meyers/Eddie Murphy/Cameron Diaz/Antonio Banderas.
Directed by Gary Trousdale.
* Shrek the Big Green Ogre Dude (Meyers) stars in a thirty minute holiday Shrektastic Shrektacular Shrektacle.

TRANSSIBERIAN.
Suspense/Crime.
Woody Harrelson/Emily Mortimer/Ben Kingsley.
Directed by Brad Anderson.
* Roy and Emily the American Couple Who Travel All Over the World In Exotic Places Foreign-Relations Be Damned, get caught up in a dark world of drug dealing and international smuggling in this take on the classic train suspense film.

WHAT WE DO IS SECRET.
Drama/Rock and Roll.
Shane West/Bijou Phillips.
Directed by Rodger Grossman.
* The true life story of Darby Crash the Punk Rock Icon Who Died Early (West) ex-frontman for the L.A. band, The Germs who lived fast and died young. Produced by Pat Smear, the guitar player for The Germs.

WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER.
Drama.
Colin Firth/Jim Broadbent.
Directed by Anand Tucker.
* When Blake the Somewhat Alienated Adult Son (Firth) finds out his father Arthur the Pinched Older Guy Who Opens Up a Bit During the Dying Process, is near the end, he travels to visit him and the time they spend together helps them understand and process their lives. Based on the book by the real-life Blake Morrison.

............//DOCUMENTARY//............

DJ SPOOKY’S: REBIRTH OF A NATION.
Music Remix.
Directed by DJ Spooky.
* Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky the Trippy Hyper-Intellectual Supersonic Music Collagist DJ Guy remixes D.W. Griffith's infamous inflammatory film BIRTH OF A NATION.

GUNNIN FOR THAT #1 SPOT.
Documentary/Sports.
Directed by Adam Yauch.
* Adam Yauch, the Documentary Filmmaker brings us this snapshot in time of eight high-school basketball players competing in 2006 at an elite tournament who all have hopes of being drafted first in a future NBA draft.

TOO TOUCH TO DIE: JOHNNY RAMONE.
Roc-Doc.
Deborah Harry/Nicholas Cage/Eddie Vader (I think he is Darth’s son) – fine Vedder.
Directed by Mandy Stein.
* A rockumentary following a benefit concert celebrating the Ramones 30th anniversary right before the death of Johnny Ramone the Long-Haired Heroin-Addicted Punk Rock Legend.

............//FAMILY//............

BARBIE: A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

CHRISTMAS IS HERE AGAIN.

THE CHRISTMAS TOY.

EMMET OTTER’S JUG-BAND CHRISTMAS.

HIT FAVORITES: SNOW DAYS.

MIFFY & FRIENDS: MIFFY’S CHRISTMAS TREE.

............//BLU-RAY NEW ADDITIONS//............

A CHRISTMAS STORY.
* Ken the Video Store Owner’s favorite Christmas movie of all time.
-
............// HALLOWEEN NEW ADDITIONS//............

CASPER.
* First DVD of this, er, spooky film.

............// NEW ADDITIONS//............

DEATH BECOMES HER.
* First DVD of the Meryl Streep comedy co-starring Goldie Hawn, Bruce Willis and Isabella Rossellini.

MY FATHER’S GLORY.
* First DVD.

MY MOTHER’S CASTLE.
* First DVD.

............// REPLACEMENT DISCS//............

CASTLE IN THE SKY.
* Masterful Hayao Miyazaki animated film.

PRINCESS MONONOKE.
* Another super amazing Miyazaki film. Have you seen any of these? You must.

****

****new release list no.190

THIS FRIDAY, Oct 31th: we are having one final movie screening of our season. It will be a kiddy Halloween special night, so if you are up on Cortland and want to take a 30 minute break from the Trick or Treating crush, bring your kiddo over to Four Star Video and watch CHARLIE BROWN: IT’S THE GREAT PUMPKIN with a special short video from the SIPPY CUPS to start the show and assorted other specials if people are digging it. The movie will be shown at the early time of 7pm and the doors will be open at 6:45pm. Come on by!

Now that our outdoor screening season is coming to an end, I am going to spend a little time reflecting on what was fun, what worked, what didn’t work so well and what we can do better next year. If anyone has any input, please send it my way. All in all, my initial thought is that I had a great time doing it, and watching fantastic films bundled up outside with a group of people is really awesome.

The latest season of THE L WORD is here this week, as is Brendan Fraser’s new action film JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE WORLD: 3D. There is also an amazing looking pair of documentary’s about the indigenous people of New Guinea called THEM AND ME and THE SKY IN THE GARDEN. We’ve also got a bunch of Halloween new additions this week, thanks to Shila, also a nice little stack of new Blu-Ray titles, including A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.

Me? I’ve been totally bingeing on books and movies this week. I have become totally addicted to the American version of THE OFFICE. It hurts, it is painful, it’s crass, it’s so wrong. I love it! Wow, it will definitely affect your interactions at work. I highly recommend this show. I’ve also been reading for the first time the Harry Potter books. I am a huge reader, but not generally into magic tales, but after getting sucked into HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE at the store recently, decided to take the plunge. I am hooked. It is a total soap-opera, but I have to know what happens! I have only watched the first movie in totality, but I am very much looking forward to the rest. Wow, those actors were so young in that first one.

Alrighty, then. See you at the store.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

............//NEW RELEASES//............

CHRISTMAS CAPER.
Comedy/Holiday.
Shannon Doherty.
Directed by David Winkler.
* A thief (Doherty) goes back to her home in Connecticut to lay for the holidays after a con goes badly. Freaking Connecticut! Get a baseball team!

ELITE SQUAD.
Action/Crime/Foreign (Portuguese).
Wagner Moura/Caio Junqueira.
Directed by Jose Padilha.
* Cops and bad guys on the streets of Rio de Janeiro before an important visit by the Pope.

HANK AND MIKE.
Indie/Comedy.
Thomas Michael/Paolo Mancini/Chris Klein/Joe Mantegna.
Directed by Matthiew Klinck.
* Strange and potentially beautiful tale of Hank and Mike, two corporate Easter Bunnies dealing with downsizing and loss of employment. Kind of fitting in today’s world.

I LOVE BEIJING.
Drama/Foreign (Mandarin).
Yu Lei.
Directed by Ying Ning.
* Well respected Chinese film about urbanization and construction and migration to Beijing told through the eyes of a taxi driver.

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH: 3D.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Action/Adventure.
Brendan Fraser.
Directed by Eric Brevig.
* A scientist goes missing and his brother and his nephew go questing for him. While in Iceland, they discover a deep cave. A really deeeeeeep cave. That goes. To the center. Of the earth. There, they discover the world is in 3D, much like it is back up on earth. Also they discover many strange and phantasmagorical creatures, which isn’t surprising considering Bjork is from Iceland and she is kinda phantasmagorical as well, right?

KIT KITTREDGE: AN AMERICAN GIRL.
Family/Comedy.
Abigail Breslin.
Directed by Patricia Rozema.
* Based on a popular doll collection, this is the tale of Kit (Breslin – remember her from LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE and DEFINITELY, MAYBE and NIM’S ISLAND) a young girl living in Cincinnati during the depression and dreaming big dreams of being famous someday.

THE STONE ANGEL.
Family/Drama/Comedy.
Ellen Burstyn/Christine Horne/Ellen Page.
Directed by Kari Skogland.
* A story in the vein of AWAY FROM HER and THE BUCKET LIST about an aging woman fighting a battle to remember her life and to put her memories in order. Based on a book by Margaret Laurence.

............//DOCUMENTARY//............

BODY OF WAR.
Documentary/War.
Directed by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro.
* An anti-war documentary following the parallel stories of Tomas Young, an Iraqi war vet, home from the Gulf with a paralyzed body and new thoughts on the conflict, and the American Congress, struggling to come to consensus on what to do with the conflict that we are so deeply involved with.

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE.
Documentary/Sports.
Fred Fred Lebow.
Directed by Judd Ehrlich.
* A tribute to Fred Lebow, whose determination and love for running helped create the New York City Marathon.

THEM AND ME w/ THE SKY IN THE GARDEN.
Documentary/Anthropology.
Directed by Stephane Breton.
* From IMDB: Anthropologist and filmmaker Stephane Breton lived among the Wodoni of Papua, New Guinea, and produced two unique documentaries based on his remarkable adventures. Unlike other ethnographic filmmakers, Breton is more interested in how the Wodoni see him than he is in documenting their way of life, which provides the premise for THEM AND ME. Eventually, he builds a close bond with his neighbors, illustrating that certain parts of life are universal whether you are a French filmmaker or a Wodoni villager. In THE SKY IN THE GARDEN, Breton returns to the village after several years, knowing that future trips will be impossible and that this is his last visit. In this nostalgic account, he explores the poetry and beauty of the little things, sharing his perspective on a people he has grown to admire

............//TELEVISION//............

AFFAIRS OF THE HEART: SERIES 1.
Television/Drama/Fictobiopic.
*1974 series about romance and pain based on the work of Henry James.

THE L WORD: THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON.
Television/Drama.
Jennifer Beals/Mia Kirschner/Leisha Hailey/Pam Grier
* Same-Sex and The City, in Los Angeles.

............//FAMILY//............

PUCCA: SECRET SAMARAI SANTA.

TINKER BELL.
* Oh Nelly, the little girls are going CRAZY for this one. My daughter cried when I brought it back to the store this morning…

TURBO: A POWER RANGERS MOVIE.
* Customer request to get this one on DVD. Got it!

............//BLU-RAY NEW ADDITIONS//............

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.
* Classic Stanley Kubrick at his most creepiest.

THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD.
* Terrific work by Casey Affleck here in this Brad Pitt flick.

ELF.
* Will Ferrell lights it up in this Jon Favreau comedy also starring Ed Asner, James Kaan, Bob Newhart, Zooey Deschanel and Mary Steenburgen.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY.
* Another 007 on Blu-Ray, this time starring Roger Moore.

MARCH OF THE PENGUINS.
* They march and they march.

............// HALLOWEEN NEW ADDITIONS//............

ADDAMS FAMILY/ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES.
* A comic double feature about America’s favorite family of weirdoes.

HALLOWEEN.
* Our first DVD of the Jamie Lee Curtis spookfest.

HALLOWEENTOWN AND HALLOWEENTOWN.
* For the kids out there, it is a double-feature Disney Halloween tale.

HALLOWEENTOWN HIGH.
* And another story about this place.

HOCUS POCUS.
* First DVD of this film starring Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker as resurrected witches wreaking havoc on Salem 300 years after they were hung.

RETURN TO HALLOWEENTOWN.
* Just when you thought you couldn’t get any more Halloweened out.

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: ULTIMATE EDITION.
* First DVD of the 1974 iconic horror slasher flick.

............// NEW ADDITIONS//............

THE FIRM.
* First DVD of this Sydney Pollack film starring Tom Cruise about a sinister law firm.

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