Heydy Ho,
Lots of stuff again this week…a lot of movies with big names and some interesting no name action as well. Big titles this week include GONE BABY GONE, WE OWN THE NIGHT, NO RESERVATIONS and BECOMING JANE. There’s also bunches of other stuff, including another musical (ROMANCE & CIGARETTES), this one starring (get this) James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon, Aida Turturro, Kate Winslet, Steve Buscemi and more…Wacky, huh? I didn’t see it, so I cannot give it any more than your basic recommendation. Go figure, huh? Musicals are hot.
I saw 12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST, which we finally got in this weekend. It is a little Romanian comedy which has been highly touted by the critics. The central storyline is regarding whether or not the revolution in Romania happened before 12:08pm (when the dictatorship fell) or afterwards in the little city where the story takes place. There are no fancy plot twists and you won’t be overwhelmed by the narrative. It is however a beautiful little film about people, streetlights, and the things we argue about that maybe don’t really matter much. Take it to heart!
Is everyone out there as into the construction on Cortland as I am? I love it! It is so fun, and loud and smelly and wonderful!!!! I hope it goes on and on forever! (There, I got that off my chest).
Three quick store notes: 1) Blu-rays will be here starting next week. We will just have two titles to begin with (MICHAEL CLAYTON and IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH). Please let us know what you think, so that we can continue to add to this new collection here at the store. There is a rumor we will purchase a new HD set for the store to preview these flicks, but at this point it’s just a rumor. 2) We are gonna move some more stuff around soon. Criterion is going to splitsky out of the back and we are going to be moving the New Additions section onto the wall where Criterion is. Why? Because most of those New Additions are titles we are adding to the store for the very first time, and in order to be cost effective we are going to rent them out for the New Release price for a couple months before they enter the library. That won’t count for movies we are just replacing in the library. I hope everyone understands…Ask me if you don’t! 3) and Lastly) Regarding the D Skins, I have been talking to many people with many comments about these things. Please keep telling me about them. There have been some mixed reviews, but all in all, we are very happy about these things. I am altering the policy a little bit. If it isn’t working, please feel free to take it off and watch the movie unprotected (there’s a joke in here somewhere). Leave the D Skin off, but return it in the box with the movie. If you do not return it, you will be charged the $1 fee. I think as the next months roll by, we will all be psyched as a community that these things are on the discs.
Alrighty then, on to the cinema…
Ken
............//NEW TITLES//............
THE AMATEURS.
Comedy.
Jeff Bridges/Tim Blake Nelson/Ted Danson.
Directed by Michael Traeger.
* There ain’t no mid-life crisis, than the kind that inspires you to make your riches by convincing the co-habitants of the small town you live in to band together and make a good old fashioned porn film! Jeff Bridges plays the motivator.
BECOMING JANE.
Drama/Romance/Period Piece.
Anne Hathaway/James Cromwell/James McAvoy/Maggie Smith.
Directed by Julian Jarrold.
* A character study of Jane Austen (Hathaway) portraying an early moment in her life when a romance with an equally young and less well-off Irishman named Tom Lefroy (McAvoy) threatens to change the course of her life, and becomes a formative experience.
BLUE STATE.
Comedy.
Breckin Meyer/Anna Paquin.
Directed by Marshall Lewy.
* Okay, truthfully, how many of you threatened to move to Canada if Bush won? I remember hearing a lot of people talk about it, and I think there may have been a moment or two when it seemed to me like a pretty great idea. This film sees a disgruntled politik (Meyer) forced by his friends to make good on his threat to move north. There’s jolly good Bush-bashing all through this Indie flick.
THE BUBBLE.
Drama/Romance/Foreign (Israel).
Ohad Knoller/Yousef Sweid.
Directed by Eytan Fox.
* Life through the eyes of a group of Israeli’s in Tel Aviv. Three friends, straight and gay, living together in Tel Aviv have their lives altered by the arrival of a young Palestinian. The filmmakers suggest that this movie is as much of a love story, as it is a love song to the city of Tel Aviv.
ESL: ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE.
Drama.
Kuno Becker/Danielle Camastra.
Directed by A.Y. Delara.
* Starring one of the actors from the recently released SEX AND BREAKFAST (Becker), this film follows a young man who has crossed the border from Mexico
into California, and the hardships and challenges he discovers as he tries to assimilate.
FAT GIRLS.
Comedy.
Ash Christian/Ashley Fink
Directed by Ash Christian.
* A coming out tale of a sort about a Texas theatre loving teenager (Christian) and the isolation he feels in his town.
GONE BABY GONE.
Drama/Suspense.
Casey Affleck/Morgan Freeman/Michelle Monaghan/Ed Harris.
Directed by Ben Affleck.
* Intense and thought provoking thriller about a kidnapped 4 year old girl in a tough neighborhood in Boston and the two detectives that are hired to find her. In the end, the discoveries they make will tear many lives apart, including their own. Wow, that sounded right off the movie box, but I swear it wasn’t! Props to Ben Affleck, hopefully he will stay on that side of the camera. As far as his brother Casey goes, I think the guy has an exciting career ahead of him.
HAVE SWORD WILL TRAVEL.
Action/Martial Arts.
Ching Lee/Lung Ti.
Directed by Cheh Chang.
* Complicated tale of a couple of young fighters transporting a fortune of silver.
INTRODUCING THE DWIGHTS.
Comedy/Foreign (Australia).
Brenda Blethyn/Emma Booth/Khan Chittenden.
Directed by Cherie Nowlan.
* The story of a shy adult son (Chittenden) of an aging Comedienne (Blethyn) and the challenges they face. With scenes of Blethyn’s character doing stand up comedy.
MARTIAN CHILD.
Comedy/Drama.
John Cusack/Bobby Coleman/Amanda Peet/Joan Cusack.
Directed by Menno Meyjes.
* Is he from Mars? That is the question that everyone is asking. The kid (Coleman) says he is, and eventually the recently widowed Sci-Fi writer who takes him in (Cusack) starts wondering if maybe he’s telling the truth.
NO RESERVATIONS.
Comedy/Drama.
Catherine Zeta-Jones/Abigail Breslin/Aaron Eckhart
Directed by Scott Hicks.
* Probably completely different, but reminds me of GAMEPLAN the Rock movie recently out on DVD. In this, Zeta-Jones is a very skilled and successful chef at a top restaurant whose life is thrown into turmoil when her dead sister’s 9-year-old daughter comes to live with her.
ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES.
Romance/Musical.
James Gandolfini/Susan Sarandon/Kate Winslet/Christopher Walken/Aida Turturro/Steve Buscemi/Eddie Izzard/Amy Sedaris.
Directed by John Turturro.
* Nick (Gandolfini) is married to Kitty (Sarandon) but having an affair with Tula (Winslet) while trying to raise his three daughters. And everyone is singing and dancing! Report: The musical is BACK!
12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST.
Comedy/Drama/Foreign (Romania).
Mircea Andreescu/Teodor Corban.
Directed by Corneliu Porumboiu.
* Lovely little comedy about a small town in Romania debating their place in the 1989 revolution.
VENGEANCE IS A GOLDEN BLADE.
Action/Martial Arts.
Hsiung Chiao/Ping Chin.
Directed by Meng Hua Ho.
* Father-daughter tale of a crippled hero who has been perfecting a blade to counter the Golden Blade that was long-ago stolen from him, and his daughter who will wield the new weapon.
THE WANDERING SWORDSMAN.
Action/Martial Arts.
No-Shik Park.
Directed by Shi-Hyeon Kim.
* It’s a Robin Hood story about a swordsman who helps the poor.
THE WATER MARGIN.
Action/Martial Arts.
David Chiang/Lung Ti.
Directed by many.
* Based on an epic novel, this is the tale of a group of mountain rebels who defeated a great army to avenge the murder of their leader.
WE OWN THE NIGHT.
Drama/Crime.
Joaquin Phoenix/Mark Wahlberg/Eva Mendes/Robert Duvall.
Directed by James Gray.
* Phoenix is a night club manager in a family of cops. When a Russian Mafioso starts hanging out in the club, he is pulled into an increasingly dangerous standoff between the criminal and his brother and father (Wahlberg and Duvall) who are police officers.
WHY DID I GET MARRIED?
Comedy/Drama.
Tyler Perry/Janet Jackson.
Directed by Tyler Perry.
* Adaptation of the stage play of the same name. This follows four couples as they struggle to find meaning in their marriages.
............//TELEVISION....
THE 4400: THE COMPLETE 1st SEASON.
Sci-Fi/Television.
* Freaky sci-fi show about the re-appearance of 4400 people who have been gone a wide range of time, and now have come back mysteriously, without having aged.
............//DOCUMENTARY//............
SIGUR ROS: HEIMA.
Music Doc.
* I don’t know this band SIGUR ROS, but this film documents them returning to their native Iceland in the summer of 2006 and playing a series of free concerts all over the country.
............//RECENT ACQUISITIONS//............
AMERICAN GRAFFITI.
First DVD of this awesome 1973 film.
AMITYVILLE HORROR (05).
Replacement DVD copy.
COPYING BEETHOVEN.
Drama/History.
Diane Kruger/Ed Harris/Ralph Riach.
Directed by Agnieszka Holland.
* A fictionalized tableau of the last year of Ludwig van Beethoven’s life.
CRIA CUERVOS.
Amazing/Criterion/Drama.
Directed by Carlos Saura.
* Someone ran off with this fantastic film, so we bought another copy.
DUNE: EXTENDED EDITION.
Replacement copy of this epic sci-fi tale featuring a great cameo by Sting. (I will kill him!)
FATSO.
Comedy.
Dom DeLuise.
Directed by Anne Bancroft.
* First any type of copy of this classic DeLuise flick about a large fellow having to choose between his girlfriend and the yummy other things he likes to eat.
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES.
First DVD of the Kathy Bates film of 1991.
GOLDFINGER.
First DVD copy of this awesome Bond flick.
INSECTICIDAL.
Horror/Comedy.
* Why did I get this? I don’t know…cuz I am pathetic I guess. It’s about giant mutant insects looking for food in a sorority house. I wanted to see it, okay? I never went to college…maybe this is the closest I will ever get to sorority girls.
KATT WILLIAMS: THE PIMP CHRONICLES PT. 1.
Standup Comedy.
First any type of copy of this funny dude’s film.
THE POWER OF ONE.
* One of you out there in videostoreland asked me to get this Morgan Freeman film (that marks Daniel Craigs film debut) about a little English kiddo who wants to change the world.
PRINCESS OF THIEVES.
Action.
Keira Knightley.
* First DVD copy of this movie featuring Keira Knightley as Robin Hood’s daughter Gwyn. Seriously.
THE SEA INSIDE.
Replacement DVD.
STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE.
First DVD copy of the original Star Trek feature film.
VIRGINIA’S RUN.
Drama/Family.
Gabriel Byrne/Joanna Whalley.
Directed by Peter Markle.
* The simple story of a girl and her horse.
THE WIRE: COMPLETE 2nd SEASON.
Another copy of this insta-classic tv show.
****
No comments:
Post a Comment