COME IN TO THE STORE FOR OUR GRAND RE-CARPETING! We are rolling out the red carpet for y’alls’s. Today (May 5th) is the last day the old schwagalicious (that’s a technical term) carpet will be at Four Star Video. Then during the nights over the next few days the new carpet will be installed. It will be red, as we feel you all deserve the red carpet treatment. By Thursday, May 8th, the new carpet will be installed and we will be very happy. We hope you will, too.
Starting this month, one of the employees will choose a small stack of films that we currently don’t carry and these movies will be the Highlighted New Additions in the green room (new release room) for the entire month. Chris is the first of us to run the highlighted section (although thanks also go out to Andrew for picking last months new Anime films). Take a look at the stuff Chris has selected…you are bound to find something you like. They are listed below in the HIGHLIGHTED NEW ADDITIONS section.
This week is a week of fluffy comedy for the most part. Titles like ACE OF HEARTS, OVER HER DEAD BODY, FIRST SUNDAY, I REALLY HATE MY JOB, and others fill this niche. The long awaited Bob Dylan biofictopic I’M NOT THERE is also in this week, as is the faux horror flick TEETH about a young lady who discovers teeth where generally there are none. Yup, you get it… There are also a couple of documentaries that look good: HOW TO COOK YOUR LIFE and THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN. Hopefully there is something in that will appeal to your particular sense of escapism.
One quick note about the crime wave that Bernal Heights is experiencing: please pay attention to your surroundings when you are walking around. You probably know that we have had a large amount of muggings already this year. Last week Martha Bros. was robbed in the early morning. Believe me, the leadership organizations in this neighborhood (Tom Ammiano’s office, the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center, Police Captain Denis O'Leary’s office, the Merchants Association) are aware of this problem and everyone is doing what they can to protect us. However a problem like this doesn’t just disappear because of righteous anger and higher police presence. There is a lot we can do as a community to combat muggings. Do not put yourself in dangers way, but do not turn and walk the other direction if you see something suspicious. Be safe, but don’t be paranoid. Try not to be judgmental about this. As long as there is no money and our economy is tanking, people with less means are going to go to where they perceive there is money and harvest it. This is completely related to the housing markets, the gas prices, the unemployment rate and the war. I’m sure you already know that. Hopefully we can join together during this crisis and not splinter into factions. And hopefully this can encourage us to vote in the upcoming election and do what we can to insure that those who are intent on getting rich off of our fear get out of office.
Ken
............//NEW TITLES//............
ACE OF HEARTS.
Family/Comedy.
Dean Cain/Anne Loder/Mike Dopud.
Directed by David Mackay.
* A cop works hard to clear his partners’ good name and save him from death…the twist? The partner is a doggy.
BELLA.
Drama.
Eduardo Verastegui/Tammy Blanchard.
Directed by Alejandro Monteverde.
* A story within a story riding the theme of how one moment can change people’s lives forever.
DANS PARIS.
Drama/Foreign (French).
Romain Duris/Louis Garrel.
Directed by Christophe Honore.
* A story of love and depression as a young man struggles to get over the woman who left him (probably cuz he was a jerk). The ONION really dug it.
DELIRIOUS.
Drama/Comedy.
Steve Buscemi/Michael Pitt/Alison Lohman.
Directed by Tom DiCillo.
* As in INTERVIEW, Buscemi plays a borderline journalist, willing to do whatever to further his career. In this, he befriends a homeless kid (Pitt, maybe starting to break out??) who’s luck in hooking up with a hot young music star (Lohman) drives the tale to its dark conclusion.
FIRST SUNDAY.
Comedy/Crime.
Ice Cube/Katt WilliamsTracy Morgan.
Directed by David Talbert.
* When Durell (Ice Cube) and LeeJohn decide to rob a neighborhood church to come up with the cash to keep Durell from losing his son (huh?) they are forced to spend a night in the church and get more than they expected. Hmmm, okay.
I’M NOT THERE.
Drama/Biofictopic.
Christian Bale/Cate Blanchett/Marcus Carl Franklin/Richard Gere/Heath Ledger/Julianne Moore/Kris Kristofferson.
Directed by Todd Haynes.
* Very strange and complex tale of Bob Dylan told using six different characters playing different elements of his life. Tremendous soundtrack!!!
I REALLY HATE MY JOB.
Comedy.
Neve Campbell/Shirley Henderson.
Directed by Oliver Parker.
* Sounds kinda like THE BREAKFAST CLUB meets WAITRESS. The tale focuses on five women working in a café in London.
OVER HER DEAD BODY.
Comedy/Light-fare.
Eva Longoria/Paul Rudd.
Directed by Jeff Lowell.
* Uh-huh. Yep.
P.S. I LOVE YOU.
Comedy/Romance.
Hilary Swank/Gerard Butler/Lisa Kudrow.
Directed by Richard LaGravenese.
* In the schmaltzy tale, Swank plays a woman who finds the love of her life, only to lose him to tragedy soon after. However, he has prepared her some messages designed to help her find herself and rediscover her passion for life without him.
SAAWARIYA.
Drama/Musical/Bollywood (Hindi).
Ranbir Kapoor/Salman Khan/Rani Mukherjee/Sonam Kapoor.
Directed by Sanjay Bhansali.
* A Bollywood tale inspired by the Dostoevsky store “White Nights”.
SPIDER LILIES.
Drama/LGBT/Foreign (Mandarin).
Isabella Leong/Rainie Yang.
Directed by Zero Chou.
* Lesbian-themed romance between a web-cam girl and a tattoo artist.
TEETH.
Horror/Comedy.
Jess Weixler/John Hensley/Josh Pais.
Directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein.
* Campy, witty, toothy, future cult-classic about a high school girl who is working hard at being a model of abstinence who discovers that her vagina is toothed.
............//DOCUMENTARY//............
THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN.
Documentary.
Ricki Lake.
Directed by Abby Epstein..
* A film about birth and pregnancy that studies different methods families choose when preparing to bring a child into the world.
HOW TO COOK YOUR LIFE.
Documentary.
Edward Brown.
Directed by Doris Dorrie.
* A profile of Zen Master Edward Espe Brown and his slant on preparation of food as well as practicing the art of Zen Buddhism!
............//HIGHLIGHTED NEW ADDITIONS//............
BLOOD FEAST.
Horror/Splatter.
Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis.
* From 1963, this was to be one of the first splatter films made, as well as the first installment of the Blood Trilogy (all featured in this month’s new additions). This film focuses on an Egyptian caterer who is gathering some lovely young maiden’s body parts in order to bring Ishtar back to life. There is much blood shed in this classic.
COLOR ME BLOOD RED.
Horror/Splatter.
Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis.
* Part three in the Blood Trilogy, this film follows the exploits of an artist who is struggling with his color sense. When he discovers that his own blood makes a fanciful color, he is pleased. However, soon he realizes the need to go outside his own veins for his paint supply.
DANCING OUTLAW.
Documentary.
Jesco White.
Directed by Jacob Young.
* Very wacky doc about Jesco White, a mountain dancer from rural West Virginia who briefly achieved fame in the 1990’s for his hard-living, hard-dancing ways.
DAVE CHAPPELLE: KILLIN’ THEM SOFTLY.
Stand-up Comedy.
* More stand-up from one of the kings of comedy in this decade.
HARLEM NIGHTS.
Comedy/Crime.
Eddie Murphy/Richard Pryor/Redd Foxx/Danny Aiello.
Directed by Eddie Murphy.
* Cops and vicious gangsters in this Oscar nominated film from 1989 (Best Costume Design) about an owner of an illegal casino who is struggling to stay in business against all odds.
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE.
Fantasy/Action.
Dolph Lundren.
Directed by Gary Goddard.
* The follow up film to ROCKY IV for Dolph Lundren where he plays He-Man from the popular children’s show of the 80’s. BY THE POWER OF GREYSKULL! Or something like that…
THE TICK: VS. SEASON ONE.
Animation/Comic Book Hero.
* Sophisticated and inventive series about The Tick, a less-than-bright yet very powerful superhero who protects the city from all manner of villains. This show was more spoof than not, and remains one of the more classic and loved tv shows of the 90’s. Alas, it was canceled after three seasons. Dude wears the blue tights of justice!
TWO THOUSAND MANIACS!
Horror/Splatter.
Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis.
* The second installation in the Blood Trilogy, this tells the tale of a small southern town that is having a centennial celebration and lures some northerners in to take part in the celebration. Only catch is that this small town still hasn’t gotten over their loss in the Civil War and is planning to take revenge for the atrocities they were subject to back then. This is a total gore-fest that inspired a remake called 2001 MANIACS that starred Robert Englund of NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET fame.
............//KIDS//............
MADELINE: NEXT STOP, AMERICA.
Madeline.
* Whoop, whoop.
............//NEW ADDITIONS//............
ABOUT LAST NIGHT.
Comedy/Drama.
* Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Jim Belushi in this 1986 film based on the David Mamet play “Sexual Perversity in Chicago”. Quotable line “At this point, we don’t know”.
ARMY OF SHADOWS.
Drama/War/Criterion/Foreign (French).
Lino Ventura/Jean-Pierre Cassel.
Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville.
* Intense war movie based on the book by Joseph Kassell about the occupation of France by the Nazi’s and the underground French Résistance movement who did what they could to overthrow them. This is the re-mastered Criterion release from April 2007.
****
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