The process to cleanse the white house begins for Californians today. I know it’s not cool to be political, but we here at Four Star Video strongly urge you to exercise your right to vote in the primary on Tuesday, Feb 5th. Every opinion counts.
In movie land, we have a huge bunch to release this week. I believe there are 35 titles when you include the new acquisitions at the bottom. Probably the biggest three releases are THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSIE JAMES (starring Brad Pitt), THE BRAVE ONE (Jodie Foster), and ELIZABETH THE GOLDEN AGE (Cate Blanchett), but there are also a plethora of Indie comedies (BLIND DATING, FLOGGING MARGARET, GREAT WORLD OF SOUND, AMERICANIZING SHELLEY, NIAGARA MOTEL, WEIRDSVILLE), some larger budget drama (THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB, FEAST OF LOVE, FIERCE PEOPLE, 2 DAYS IN PARIS), foreign flicks (DRESDEN, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, ROMEO AND JULIET GET MARRIED), bunches of TV (THIRD WATCH, STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL, WIRE IN THE BLOOD: SEASON 4, BEST OF COMEDY CENTRAL PRESENTS) a couple documentaries (9 STAR HOTEL, THE MONASTARY: MR VIG & THE NUN), kids stuff (GO DIEGO GO, CHARLIE AND LOLA V.7, SNOW BUDDIES, another MADELINE title) and a bunch of older stuff including THE MOSQUITO COAST, THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA, BILL AND TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE and more!
All the new movies have the D Skins on them now. Again, please do not remove these, and make sure that you return the film with the D Skin.
Also, Blu-Rays are coming soon. Are you psyched about this? Don’t care? Either way, let me know what you think.
Love and Kisses,
Ken
............//NEW TITLES//............
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE.
Romance/Musical.
Evan Rachel Wood/Jim Sturgess/Eddie Izzard.
Directed by Julie Taymor.
* Love story musical based on the Beatles songs with over 30 of them woven into the story, which is set around anti-war protest, civil rights, sex, drugs and rock and roll.
AMERICANIZING SHELLEY.
Comedy/Romance.
Namrata Gujral/Beau Bridges.
Directed by Lorraine Senna.
* Beau Bridges is Gary Gordon, a Hollywood guy trying to “Americanize” a Himalayan woman (Gujral). What next? AMERICANIZING PLANET EARTH. If a Republican wins, maybe.
THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD.
Action/Western.
Brad Pitt/Casey Affleck/Sam Shepard/Sam Rockwell/Robert Duvall/Zooey Deschanel.
Directed by Andrew Dominik.
* Oscar nominated film about the gradual disintegration of the idol worship that Robert Ford had for Jesse James. In this portrayal, it is more of a classic Jesus/Judas relationship that emerges, with Ford being handed the gun and offered the target. It is probably slower than most westerns (not sure, cuz I don’t know the genre very well), but I thought the acting was great, and it kind of reminded me of a different era of Hollywood when the cast was so clearly having fun making the movie that it shined through onscreen.
SIDE NOTE: If you like Zooey Deshanel, you may be interested to hear that she and song-writer and producer M. Ward are headlining the closing night of Noisepop this year. Noisepop is one of the 5 or 6 annual huge indie-music festivals that happen in the US, and this one is based in SF. Also interesting is that my band, The Dont’s is also playing Noisepop this year. Ask me when…
BLIND DATING.
Comedy/Romance.
Chris Pine/Anjali Jay.
Directed by James Keach.
* Hmmm, I sense a trend here. In this film, Danny (Pine) is a blind man who is in love with an Indian woman (Jay). Cultural differences challenge their relationship.
THE BRAVE ONE.
Drama/Suspense.
Jodie Foster/Terrance Howard.
Directed by Neil Jordan.
* Fascinating portray of Erica Bain (Foster) a NY radio personality at the top of her world. When senseless tragedy strikes, she and her partner are brutally attacked and her partner killed, Erica is traumatized to the point of paralysis. Her fear leads her to get a gun, and soon after she begins exacting brutal revenge on bad guys around the city. Howard plays an NYPD detective who is trying to track down the vigilante killer.
DRESDEN.
Drama/Foreign (German).
John Light/Benjamin Sadler/Felicitas Woll.
Directed by Roland Richter.
* A tragic love triangle set against one of the most lethal bombings in all the sad human history of warfare.
ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE.
Drama/Suspense/Historical.
The Wonderful Cate Blanchett/Clive Owen/Samantha Morton
Directed by Shekhar Kapur.
* A historical (but maybe not as much as you’d wish) exploration of Elizabeth I (Blanchett) and her relationship with Sir Walter Raleigh (Owen) among other things.
FEAST OF LOVE.
Drama/Romance.
Morgan Freeman/Greg Kinnear/Radha Mitchell.
Directed by Robert Benton.
* A treatise on love and it many incarnations set in Oregon.
FIERCE PEOPLE.
Drama.
Donald Sutherland/Diane Lane/Kristen Stewart.
Directed by Griffin Dunne.
* Lane plays a drug addicted mom trying to get her life on track. She has implicated her teenage son in a drug purchase, ruining his opportunity to go study a South American tribe in the jungle with his anthropologist father. Instead they live among the mega-rich on Ogden C. Osbourne (Sutherland)’s property. There they discover that they are studying an equally wild and dangerous tribe – the uber-wealthy..
FLOGGING MARGARET.
Comedy.
Nick Wilder.
Directed by Oliver Assiran.
* Indie revenge comedy about post college kids. Seriously, when I finished watching this clunker, I felt like flogging myself.
GREAT WORLD OF SOUND.
Comedy.
Directed by Craig Zobel.
* Another Indie comedy, this one blurring the lines between Narrative Fiction and Documentary. It is a tale of a guy who is training to be a record producer. In the filming of the movie, they have real musical artists being filmed (unbeknownst to them) interacting with this training producer. I loved this film, it was weird and tweaky and beautiful.
THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB.
Drama/Romance.
Maria Bello/Emily Blunt/Kathy Baker/Lynn Redgrave.
Directed by Robin Swicord.
* The stories of Jane Austen are mimicked by the real lives of a group of people who have formed a book club to discuss Ms. Austen’s works.
NIAGARA MOTEL.
Comedy.
Anna Friel/Craig Ferguson/Kevin Pollak.
Directed by Gary Yates.
* A low-budget hotel is the setting of this tale of a bunch of very down-on-their luck people who’s lives on teetering on the edge.
ROMEO AND JULIET GET MARRIED.
Comedy/Romance/Foreign (Portuguese).
Luana Piovani/Luis Gustavo/Marco Ricca.
Directed by Bruno Barreto.
* The fanaticism of soccer (football) fans in Brazil is portrayed in this comedy about fans of different teams falling in love.
2 DAYS IN PARIS.
Comedy/Drama.
Julie Delpy/Adam Goldberg.
Directed by Jeffrey Blitz.
* A couple (Delpy and Goldberg) end their European vacation in Paris, still attempting to rekindle their love. Their stay with her parents (played by Delpy’s real life mom and dad, who are evidently awesome) is fraught with misunderstandings and visits from ex-boyfriends which stresses their relationship tremendously.
WEIRDSVILLE.
Comedy/Foreign (CANADA!).
Wes Bentley/Scott Speedman.
Directed by Allan Moyle.
* Very dark sounding comedy, here is a quote from a reviewer on IMDB.com “Royce and Dexter are two slackers who live in the strange little town of Weedsville. When Royce's girlfriend Matilda overdose's on their stash and dies, they decide to bury her in an abandoned Drive-In theater. Things get out of control when they discover Satanists performing a ritual sacrifice right where they were going to bury the body”. Oh yeah.
............//TELEVISION....
THE BEST OF COMEDY CENTRAL PRESENTS.
Comedy.
* The very best of the show that presents all manner of stand up comedy.
STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL: COMPLETE SERIES.
Television/UK.
Suranne Jones.
* Super quirky show about a former cop turned sex therapist and all the freaky crime and otherwise stuff that happen in Leeds where her practice is.
THIRD WATCH: COMPLETE 1st SEASON.
Television/Drama.
Coby Bell/Molly Price.
* Multiple Emmy Award winning show about the cops/firefighters/etc serving the peeps of the fictional 55th Precinct of New York City.
WIRE IN THE BLOOD: COMPLETE 4th SEASON .
Television/Drama.
* Season four in the crime show following a clinical psychologist doing part time work for the local police.
............//DOCUMENTARY//............
THE MONASTARY: MR VIG & THE NUN.
Documentary/Foreign (Danish).
Directed by Pernille Gronkjaer.
* The true story of Jørgen Lauersen Vig, who bought a castle in the Danish countryside 50 years ago, with the hopes of turning it into a monastery.
9 STAR HOTEL.
Documentary/Foreign (Hebrew/Arabic).
Directed by Ido Haar.
* Intense doc about Palestinian illegal workers in Israel living very difficult and complicated lives. This is less a movie about the middle East conflict and more a movie about the strength of the human spirit.
............//FAMILY//............
ALVIN & THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPMUNK ADVENTURE.
Family.
Alvin/Critters.
CHARLIE AND LOLA: VOLUME 7.
Family.
Charlie/Lola.
* This is the cream of the crop of kids shows.
GO DIEGO GO: DIEGO’S MAGICAL MISSIONS.
Family.
Diego.
MADELINE: MEET ME IN PARIS.
Family.
Madeline.
SNOW BUDDIES.
Family.
............//RECENT ACQUISITIONS//............
BILL & TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE.
Comedy.
Keanu Reeves/Alex Winter/George Carlin.
* First DVD copy of this movie that never appears to have been in the system, but that can’t be true, can it? I kind of hate Keanu, but this movie is awesome, dude!
DE-LOVELY.
Drama/Musical.
Ashley Judd/Kevin Kline.
* Replacement DVD.
PAUL MOONEY: KNOW YOUR HISTORY, JESUS WAS BLACK.
Comedy.
Paul Mooney.
* First DVD copy of this stand up comedy performance.
MOSQUITO COAST.
Adventure.
Harrison Ford/River Phoenix/Helen Mirren.
* First DVD copy of classic 80’s flick.
NAVY SEALS.
Drama.
Charlie Sheen/Michael Biehn.
* First DVD copy of this movie featuring a machine gun wielding Sheen on the cover.
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA.
Drama.
Spencer Tracy.
* First DVD of this classic.
WHEN NIGHT IS FALLING.
Drama.
Pascale Bussieres/Rachael Crawford.
Directed by Patricia Rozema.
* First DVD of this film.
WISH UPON A STAR.
Disney/Family.
Katherine Heigl.
* First copy of this early flick starring Heigl who would achieve huge fame in Knocked Up. Shila’s already watched this film four times in the store. Rent it before we have to watch it again!
****
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