We are having an outdoor screening this coming Friday, June 13th. Yes, it's Friday, the 13th, but we are not showing a horror film (missed opportunity?). Instead, we are showing THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU. This wonderful Wes Anderson movie, starring Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, Willem Dafoe, and Jeff Goldblum (among many others) is about fictional oceanographer Steve Zissou, and his quest for revenge against a mythical shark that killed his partner. The music is wonderful, and the under water scenes are full of magic and wonder. We will show the film at 9pm sharp, with the doors open at 8:45pm. Suggested donation: $5.
Lots of new movies at Four Star this week, including a flashy amount of documentaries, some good tv, and a couple of big star movies including THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL. Listen, according to this movie, both the Boleyn girls were pretty hot, and frankly, I’m cool with either, but hey I’m not the King of England, right? The movie itself was pretty cool. It was emotional without being manipulative and historical without being too dry. There were a lot of scenes with people walking very purposefully down long corridors…and I’m not sure what to say about that. All in all, I enjoyed it very much.
One of our customers is involved with a very cool sounding film festival called VIDEOFEST which will be presented at the MCCLA Theatre (150 capacity) on October 17th and 18th, 2008. Deadline for submissions is 9.11.08 and there will be at least $1,800 in prizes. Download the entry form here.
And read more info about VIDEOFEST 2008 Existence-Co-Existence here.
I have seen some people are really digging on KenFlix, which makes us all very happy here. We really think this is the way to rent at Four Star Video, and we are proud to offer this awesome program. Netflix can’t hold a candle to us. Read this guy’s blog to see how you, too, can take full advantage of KenFlix.
Alright then, hope to see you down at the store.
Love and kisses,
Ken
............//NEW TITLES//............
BUCKET LIST.
Comedy/Drama.
Jack Nicholson/Morgan Freeman/Sean Hayes.
Directed by Rob Reiner.
* A couple of cancer patients decide they would rather try to live life to its fullest than languish in the hospital waiting for the dude with the scythe. And word up to that.
FUNNY GAMES (07).
Suspense/Thriller.
Michael Pitt/Naomi Watts/Tim Roth.
Directed by Michael Haneke.
* A shot by shot remake of a movie of the same name and same director from Austria about 10 years ago. It’s a hysterical view of a couple ‘a psychos who take a family hostage in their cabin! Woohoo! Ha ha ha ha…
THE GRAND.
Comedy.
Woody Harrelson/Cheryl Hines/David Cross.
Directed by Zak Penn.
* It’s a comedy about some actors playing characters competing in a real poker tournament.
JUMPER.****ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY****
Action/Adventure/Science Fiction.
Hayden Christensen/Samuel L. Jackson/Diane Lane.
Directed by Doug Liman.
* Oho! It eez a genetic anomaly! He can jump, really really high! Okay okay, not just jump, but zzeee teleportation! Aha, oho! Ah, but wait, zere eeees zese bad guys, they no like zeee jumpers. And now, we just join the war programming that has already been in progress for thousands of years! Boing! Boing!
THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL.
Drama/Biopic.
Scarlett Johansson/Eric Bana/Natalie Portman.
Directed by Tom DiCillo.
* Okay, all jokes aside, this is a visually stunning film about King Henry VIII and the Boleyn family whose demented ambition saw a father pimp out both his daughters to the King of England. The cinematography is lush and rich, and the dialogue is minimal enough not to spoil it. Portman’s Anne Boleyn is viciously selfish and driven and pays for it dearly, and Johansson’s Mary is loyal and just and pretty much pays for that as well. Bana, as the King, is torn by desire and tradition, and mostly just wants to get with these cute Boleyn ladies. And who can blame him? It’s good to be king.
OTIS.
Horror/Comedy.
Bostin Christopher.
Directed by Tony Krantz.
* Not sure yet about this film. Rachel Whiteside, down here at the shop, said it was pretty good, strange, more than she expected. I read it had some similarities in dialogue and hipness to JUNO, but it is clearly a darker movie about a psycho serial killer and the teen he kidnaps.
SUMMER ‘04.
Drama/Foreign (German).
Martina Gedeck/Robert Seeliger.
Directed by Stefan Krohmer.
* Seriously, I think the mom in this movie, who is around 40, hooks up with some 30-year old dude, who loves her 15-year old son’s 12-year old girlfriend. That does not sound too healthy to me.
UNTRACEABLE.
Crime/Thriller.
Diane Lane/Colin Hanks/Billy Burke.
Directed by Gregory Hoblit.
* Oops, we missed this movie from a few weeks ago about some FBI agents tracking down a nasty killer who posts yucky videos and such to the internet.
YOUNG YAKUZA.
Crime/Foreign (Japanese).
Naoki Watanabe.
Directed by Jean-Pierre Limosin .
* It’s kind of a documentary style view of a young man drifting aimlessly into a life of crime.
............//DOCUMENTARY//............
HEAVY METAL IN BAGHDAD.
Documentary/Music/Foreign (Iraq).
Acrassicauda.
Directed by Eddy Moretti and Suroosh Alvi.
* There is one heavy metal band in Iraq;, it’s name: Acrassicauda. This is their story, the tale of young men, in crisis, living war-torn threat-filled lives, rocking their brains out and expressing the insanity of their lives through heavy metal.
KING.
Documentary.
* Martin Luther King, Jr., as revealed in footage, and opinion.
THE MAN YOU HAD IN MIND.
Documentary.
Directed by James Tuchschmidt.
* Love and commitment in the context of gay couples in America, specifically, five male couples in Oregon. Why is this such a hot topic? Who doesn’t understand that everyone falls in love, and everyone deserves the same rights to marriage as anyone else? Why would law make heterosexual marriage legal but not homosexual? Why do people want to control love??? Who knows? Well, maybe this is a watershed moment we are having as a result of the CA Supreme Court ruling. I hope so, because I think society has more important things to fight against, like skateboarding!
MILLIONS: A LOTTERY STORY.
Documentary.
Directed by Paul La Blanc.
* The story of six big money lottery winners, and how their lives changed as a result. Do you think you have to be in it to win it? I am actually doing a lifelong study about that, trying to prove that you have the same chances of winning it, whether you play or not, and that maybe, you don’t have to be in it to win it. So far, I have not won.
WHEN THE MOORS RULED IN EUROPE.
Documentary.
* Fascinating doc about the Muslims 700 year rule in Spain and the many advances they made to culture and civilization during that time.
............//TELEVISION//............
THE ANIMATION SHOW: VOL. 3.
Television.
* Seventeen tweaked out short animation films in a series put together by Mike Judge and Don Hertzfeldt.
BOONDOCKS: 2nd SEASON.
Television.
Created by Aaron McGruder.
* In Season 2 of this radical, pull-no-punches social commentary series, even the television channel that airs it gets skewered mercilessly. All hail freedom.
CITY OF VICE.
Television/Crime/Drama/History.
Ian McDiarmid/Iain Glen.
* This is a series about London in the late 18th century and follows the bad guys and the good guys (you decide which is which), as they develop their opposing systems.
INTO ALASKA W/JEFF CORWIN.
Television/Nature/Huckleberry (that’s my son, he loves this stuff).
Jeff Corwin.
* I’m not sure if they have snakes in Alaska, but Jeff loves handling snakes, any snakes. In truth, this is a pretty fun nature show that’s good for kids and parents.
JOHN ADAMS.
Television/HBO.
Paul Giamatti/Laura Linney.
Directed by Tom Hooper.
* Seven part series about the first chunk of history in the United States of America, focusing on John and the massive effect he had on this country.
............//HIGHLIGHTED NEW ADDITIONS//............
PINK FLOYD: LIVE AT POMPEII.
Rock footage.
* This is an awesome concert featuring terrific footage of the band playing, while ostensibly developing music for “Dark Side of the Moon”. Most of the show takes place at the epic ruins of Pompeii, and some also takes place in some recording studios. These guys just ruled so hard.
............//NEW BLU-RAY ADDITIONS//............
THE SHINING.
* First Blu-Ray copy of this frightening Jack Nicholson movie based on the frightening Stephen King novel.
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.
* First Blu-Ray copy of this insanely tripped out and wonderfully visual science fiction epic.
****
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