****new release list no.161

Thanks to those of you who braved the cold and came to our screening last week. It was fun! We’re hoping to schedule many more of these as the weather gets nicer.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD is our featured release this week. Although I rarely agree with the Academy, I have found most of the lauded films of 07 to be pretty terrific, and this one is no different.

Hey, were you in here last Monday during our plumbing nightmare? It was a bit startling, with quite a lot of water flowing in from upstairs in the apartments above. It was quite a sour lemons moment, but you know what? We are making lemonade with those lemons. Yup, it looks like the new floor we have needed forever is finally around the corner. The question is…what color should it be? Send in your suggestions…

One last reminder about this. Drop off your old electronics on April 13th, between 9am and 2pm, at Fairmount Elementary School (65 Chenery Street at Randall) This is a free E-Waste drop off to raise money for the school. You can drop off: computers, printers, monitors, etc.

Okey-dokey, then.

Love and kisses,
Ken

PS. Here is a short list of the more than 200 titles we have for sale. Our used DVD’s are $8 + tax.

ALPHA DOG, BABEL, BLACK SNAKE MOAN, BREACH, BOURNE ULTIMATUM, FRACTURE, THE GOOD SHEPHERD, I HEART HUCKABEES, LITTLE CHILDREN, THE LIVES OF OTHERS, MAN OF THE YEAR, THE PAINTED VEIL, PREMONITION, RUMOR HAS IT, YELLOW.

............//RELEASE OF THE WEEK//............

THERE WILL BE BLOOD.
Horror.
Daniel Day Lewis/Paul Dano/Ciaran Hinds.
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.
* Yes, there will be blood, and there will be some disagreements as well. Winning two Academy’s (BEST ACTOR and BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY) that were well deserved, this film is a deeply dark and relatively demented. And you know what? It’s even kinda funny! You have to have a very weird sense of humor to laugh with this movie, but if you can tap into your inner-weirdo, there are moments of hilarity (take, for example, the baptism scene). You may have heard that this film is “over the top” and “melodramatic” and yes those things are true. But the main subject matters are Oil and Religion, and I don’t think it could have been melodramatic enough. Can any of us truly imagine a world without these things? Our world is dominated by them, and this tale is about a couple of kooks hung up on getting them to the masses. But, it’s also about a couple of kooks hung up on rounding up power to feed some personal demons. And feed them they do. From the opening shot to the last line (one of the best I’ve ever heard), the film depicts a beautiful world of desolation, a private world full of wealth gained through loss and an ocean of oil waiting to be tapped. The sound design is also remarkable, its breadth of instrumentation and its use of chaotic rhythms draws the viewer emotionally deeper and deeper into the abyss. In the end, the argument of which film should or should not have won the BEST FILM Oscar will rage between this and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN long into the future. I, for one, think that this year the Academy got it right. But I also think that THERE WILL BE BLOOD is a must see for any true cineophile, and that it is a triumphant and remarkable achievement.

............//NEW TITLES//............

DAY OF THE DEAD: THE NEED TO FEED.
Horror.
Ving Rhames/Mena Suvari/Nick Cannon.
Directed by Steve Miner.
* Suvari stars in this remake of the George Romero classic.

DEAD FISH.
Action.
Gary Oldman.
Directed by Charley Stadler.
* Crime, drama, homicide and a bit of dark humor thrown in.

INNOCENT VOICES.
Drama/Foreign (Spanish).
Carolos Padilla/Leonor Varela/Xuna Primus.
Directed by Luis Mandoki.
* Very realistic portray of El Salvador in the war-filled 1980’s and a mother trying to protect her son from the fighting around them.

JEFF DUNHAM: SPARK OF INSANITY.
Stand up Comedy.
Jeff Dunham.
* Hilarious stand up, featuring ventriloquism.

LIONS FOR LAMBS.
Drama.
Tom Cruise/Meryl Streep/Robert Redford/Michael Pena.
Directed by Robert Redford.
* Three stories woven together about the current war in Afghanistan and the politics that are driving it.

LOOKING FOR CHEYENNE.
Drama/Lesbian/Foreign (French).
Mila Dekker/Aurelia Petit.
Directed by Valerie Minetto.
* A disgruntled journalist leaves her lover and her home to find a simpler life. Her lovers’ attempts to get over her leave her flummoxed.

RESERVATION ROAD.
Drama/Suspense.
Joaquin Phoenix/Mark Ruffalo/Jennifer Connelly/Mira Sorvino.
Directed by Terry George.
* Tragic tale of a hit and run car accident that kills a boy and the anger, sorrow and guilt felt by the driver (Ruffalo) and the family who loses their son (Connelly and Phoenix).

RESURRECTING THE CHAMP.
Drama
Samuel L. Jackson/Josh Hartnett/Alan Alda/Peter Coyote.
Directed by Rod Lurie.
* Tale of a young sportswriter (Hartnett) who discovers that the homeless guy (Jackson, in another terrific performance) he has helped is actually a boxing champion who has been believed to be dead.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD.
See Release of the Week.

TICK TOCK LULLABY.
Drama/Romance/Lesbian.
Joanna Bending/Raquel Cassidy/Lisa Gornick.
Directed by Lisa Gornick.
* The struggles to have a baby both in a heterosexual or a homosexual relationship are chronicled in this true family values movie (take that, Right Wing!).

WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY. **** BLU-RAY AND DVD.
Comedy.
John C. Reilly/Jenna Fischer.
Directed by Jake Kasdan.
* Comedy from the Judd Apatow production team featuring Reilly as Dewey Cox, a hard rocking music icon. Dig the Beatles scenes…that’s good casting.

WATER HORSE: THE LEGEND OF THE DEEP.
Adventure/Fantasy.
Alex Etel/Emily Watson.
Directed by Jay Russell.
* Sort of a Loch Ness Monsterish tale about a creature and a boy in Scotland.
From the book by Dick King-Smith, who had his first book published at the ripe age of 57. So don’t be discouraged!

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO SHORTS.
Lots/Foreign (Many).
Directed by Hugo Maza and Daniel Skill and Hans Petter Moland and Adam Guzinski and Jane Malaquias and Andreas Hykade.
* A collection of six shorts from Chile, Australia, Norway, Poland, Brazil and Germany.

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

THE 11th HOUR.
Documentary.
Directed by Nadia Connors and Leila Connors Peterson.
* This pet project narrated and produced by Lenny DiCaprio is a stark look at Earth’s ecosystems and global environment concerns and details some potential ways we can change things before the midnight bell tolls on our fair planet.

FOG CITY MAVERICKS.
Documentary.
George Lucas/Francis Ford Coppola/John Lasseter/Sophia Coppola/Saul Zaentz.
* A doc celebrating the famed filmmakers of this tremendous nook.

MANDA BALA (SEND A BULLET).
Documentary/Foreign (Brazil)
Directed by Jason Kohn.
*An expose of sorts of Brazil’s class warfare.

............//SERIES//............

THE 4400: COMPLETE 2nd SEASON.
Television/Sci-Fi.
* More weirdness about those 4400 missing persons who have all suddenly returned. Where have they been? Crouching and hidden? Oh, shit, that’s a different movie.

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

DEXTER: THE FIRST SEASON.
Replacement copies already for this show. RIP D-Skins.

THE INSPECTOR GENERAL.
Musical.
Danny Kaye.
* Brilliant musical comedy featuring the genius of Danny Kaye.

LIFE SIZE.
* I cannot tell you how psyched I am to watch this Tyra Banks and LINDSAY LOHAN extravaganza. Until you’ve lived and lost like Lindsay…well, you know where I am going with this. I can tell you for certain, this is the first copy of any sort we’ve had of this fine flick.

THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE.
Replacement DVD of the biopic about Ms. Page.

SIX FEET UNDER: THE COMPLETE 4th SEASON.
Replacement DVD’s of this well-loved HBO series.

SUPER SIZE ME.
Replacement DVD of this documentary that grows to epic proportions.

****