Ever hear of a D Skin? Yeah, me too. Well that chapter of Four Star Video is over. Sorry to anyone that was difficult for. Please let me know if you sustained any player damage. On the other hand, it was an attempt to better our movie watching community, so that was a positive. Hopefully this will be the last time I mention those things.
RIP D SKINS.
Hey, guess what? Amy and I have owned this store for one full year on Sunday, March 9th! And what a year it’s been. We have learned so much about community this year. And about running a small retail business! There have been some big ups and some big downs, but most of all, it has been really fun. I can’t believe how many people I know by name now. It is really astounding. We will be in the store during the day next Sunday (between 1-4pm) to celebrate with some snacks and drinks. Please stop by to say hi!
When we bought this place, a lot of people questioned our sanity. What about Netflix? Comcast Cable? Downloads? Well, we said…uh…
And it’s true, those things hang over our heads every day, the elephant in the room that we feed DVD’s and sometimes an old VHS. Just as long as we don’t dress like a peanut, like ol’ Chuckles the Clown (on the Mary Tyler Moore Show) and hopefully the elephant won’t eat us!
Like Sly sang, Que Sera Sera. Whatever will be, will be. The future is not ours to see, so until then, we will keep pushing the envelope at Four Star. Our energy is strong, and we are ready for year 2. We had lots of good ideas when we started, most of which have not yet been accomplished. Hopefully this year we get some new stuff going.
Stuff like:
• A new computer system which will enable us to have “subscription” style memberships. (My friends call these “Kenflix”).
• A new floor of some sort or another (Astroturf anyone?).
• Monthly or bi-monthly screenings out back.
• Our library posted online (maybe even with the ability to see if things are in-stock or not).
• Customer of the month! Complete with your own recommendation shelf.
• Books on CD for rent!
• More books for our free filmbook library.
• More Blu-ray titles.
• Customer computers to browse and research films on.
• A new whiteboard with “coming soon” titles and dates on it.
So many ideas! You know I lie in bed at night and just obsess over this stuff. I told someone at the good-bye Jamie and Jeremy party last year that I fantasized that this would be my place in the world. A year later, it is my place! Maybe not forever; maybe not for a very long time. But for now. And for that, and for all of your support, I am very grateful.
Best regards to you, the customers, supporters, members, trumpeters, and champions of Four Star Video.
We have lots of movies this week, most notable INTO THE WILD directed by Sean Penn and THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE directed by Susanne Bier.
Love and Kisses
Ken
............//NEW TITLES//............
AWAKE.
Drama/Thriller.
Hayden Christensen/Jessica Alba/Terrance Howard.
Directed by Joby Harold.
* A young man who’s intimate involvement with his mother’s personal assistant is causing social drama at home awakens during heart surgery (yeah, he’s clearly got “heart” problems) only to discover a murder plot against him and be somewhat powerless to do anything about it. It’s a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Oooh.
EIGHTH COLOR OF THE RAINBOW.
Drama/Foreign (Portugese).
Directed by Amauri Tangara.
* Lovely sounding tale of a boy who is being raised by his sick grandmother, who decides to sell the family goat to pay for her medicine and is enlightened on his journey to the city.
EN LA CAMA.
Drama/Foreign (Spanish).
Blanca Lewin/Gonzalo Valenzuela.
Directed by Matias Bize.
* Sex and confessions in bed. Partay.
INTO THE WILD.
Drama/Adventure.
Emile Hirsch/Vince Vaughn/William Hurt/Marcia Gay Harden/Catherine Keener.
Directed by Sean Penn.
* The somewhat true-life tale of Chris McCandless, a young smart middle class kid who, in 1992, threw away all the trappings of his life (including cash, his car and his identity) and hit the road to Alaska. On his way, he meets many characters, who come to share wisdom and love with him, but nothing can stop him on his trek with his destiny. The movie is a bit loosey-goosey with the real details of Chris’ life, but the story that emerges about the spirit of life remains strong nonetheless. I hear there is another movie that is out and maybe coming to DVD called THE CALL OF THE WILD that is more of a documentary of Mr. McCandless’ actual life, but I cannot find any info about it online. If you like Eddie Vedder, you’ll be psyched to hear his voice all over the soundtrack. If you don’t, then you won’t.
KHADAK.
Drama/Foreign (Mongolian).
Tsetsegee Byamba.
Directed by Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth.
* Well acted and received film about a nomad living in the seriously cold region of Mongolia. Maybe this is a sort of IN THE WILD for the Mongolian set.
MR. MAGORIUM’S WONDER EMPORIUM.
Comedy/Family.
Natalie Portman/Dustin Hoffman/Jason Bateman.
Directed by Zach Helm.
* Seriously, I don’t know. It’s a pretty big tale for a kid’s movie. Is it a WILLY WONKA meets BIG kinda thing? In a way… It’s also a bit of ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL (maybe not, but it sounded good) Okay, plot. Mr. Magorium (Hoffman) has a toy store that he’s run for a hundred or two years and he is on his last pair of shoes (get it? Me, neither, I get the New York Times). So, he decides to give the store to Portman (and who wouldn’t, given the opportunity). Unfortunately, the store is essentially ALIVE and it is not happy to see the kind Mr. go, and so challenges arise, and are handled. Children grow and change and become more childrenly. Adults stop working so damn hard, and all in all, life ends on a pretty good note. So, there you go.
THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE.
Drama.
Halle Berry/Benicio Del Toro/Alison Lohman/David Duchovny.
Directed by Susanne Bier.
* After making numerous films in her native Denmark, including AFTER THE WEDDING which was very popular here at Four Star Video over the last 6 months, Bier makes her Hollywood debut with this sorrowful, yet hopeful tale about a young widow (Berry, giving a moving performance) who takes in her recently deceased husband’s best friend (Del Toro) to live with her and her kids as they are all confronting the grief of their loss. Del Toro gives a strong performance as an addict struggling to get his life back together.
............//TELEVISION....
BLOOD +.
Animation/TV/Foreign (Japanese).
Directed by Junichi Fujisaku.
* Kooky animation tale (good with all our other new Anime titles) about a girl named Saya fighting shape-shifting demons.
KILL POINT: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON.
Crime/TV.
Donnie Wahlberg/John Leguizamo/Tobin Bell.
* Intense crime tv show about some ex-military chaps who pull of a serious bank robbery.
............//DOCUMENTARY//............
MY KID COULD PAINT THAT.
Documentary.
Directed by Amir Bar-Lev.
* Wow, so painful! This doc follows a kid who actually had INTERNATIONAL success as a painter for a while, being compared to the likes of Picasso, and selling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of art. Until it seems that maybe her parents were actually painting the pics. Ugh. And this poor kid’s picture is on the cover! Makes me feel better about my parenting skills that’s for sure.
RADIANT CITY.
Documentary-ish.
Directed by Jim Brown. and Gary Burns.
* Kooky pseudo-doc about the nature of suburban existence and the existential pain it causes.
............//FAMILY//............
DR. SEUSS’ HORTON HEARS A WHO!
Family.
............//FEATURED NEW ADDITIONS//............
SAMURAI CHAMPLOO: VOLUME 01.
Animation/Foreign (Japanese).
Directed by Shinichiro Watanabe.
* More incredible anime from the guy who directed COWBOY BEBOP. Now, he brings us Mugen and Jin, two fierce and independent warriors who come together randomly and end up joining forces to search for a mysterious samurai “who smells of sunflowers.”
............//NEW ADDITIONS//............
ALIAS: SEASON ONE.
Replacement DVD’s.
CITIZEN KANE.
Replacement DVD of the Orson Welles classic!
PROJECT RUNWAY: COMPLETE FIRST SEASON.
Replacement DVD’s.
THE SPITFIRE GRILL
First DVD of this film about a girl finding herself.
TWITCHES.
Not to be confused with TWITCHES, TOO. This is the epic tale that spawned the sequel. (I’m not kidding).
****
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