There are strange multiple New Release dates this week. There are a bunch of Tuesday (regular day) releases, then there are a few Friday, Dec 19th (AMERICAN TEEN, TRAITOR, HOUSE BUNNY) releases, and another handful of Sunday Dec 21st releases of some HUGE titles (BURN AFTER READING, THE WOMEN, HAMLET 2, DEATH RACE). You will receive a second New Release email from us Thursday or Friday this week.
This week the sugary sweet yet relatively raunchy MAMMA MIA is here at the store. Featuring the music of ABBA, this musical comedy should lead to much nostalgic humor at home. The much-lauded television series GENERATION KILL is here as well.
This week marks the first week that I am purchasing Criterion releases on Blu-ray. If you have a Blu-ray player, you can now dig THE THIRD MAN, THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH and THE CHUNGKING EXPRESS in high definition.
We had our Four Star Video holiday party this last Friday, and it was awesome! Like so many businesses, we have toned down our celebrations this year and are kind of waiting with cautious optimism to see what the Economy will bring us for the Holidays. But in the meantime, everyone here is still working hard to create a fun and joyous environment. I am so proud of the staff at Four Star Video! Every single one of the seven of them has been here for over a year, and most of them have been here for a year and a half. For a little retail store, that’s incredible!
So, hats off to Shila, Chris, Rachel W, Evan, Jeff, Rachel S and Andrew. Thanks for all your hard work and for making Four Star Video the terrific video store that could.
Love and Kisses,
Ken
............//NEW RELEASES//............
LOVE GIRLS.
Uh….
Forman Shane/Dianne Michaels.
Directed by Lee Frost.
* This tame almost cute 1964 soft-core classic reminded me of REEFER MADNESS in a way. It is definitely a sexploitation film, and for its time, it is quite racy as it portrays a young man obsessed with women and mostly with their boobs. It is would be humorous to hear the filmmakers interviewed today and to hear their feelings about the internet and how it has affected the modern man.
MAMMA MIA.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Musical/Comedy/Romance.
Meryl Streep/Pierce Brosnan/Colin Firth.
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd.
* A young woman is trying to find her real father on the eve of her wedding in this classic and extremely successful romp based on the phenomenal music by the disco gods ABBA. I still remember the first time I heard ABBA when my dad became obsessed with their enormous hit TAKE A CHANCE and showed us kids how adults could become passionate and emotional about music, a lesson I keep with me!
THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPOROR.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Action/Adventure.
Brendan Fraser/Jet Li/Maria Bello/Michelle Yeoh.
Directed by Rob Cohen.
* Yada yada yada the Mummy.
THE WEDDING DIRECTOR.
Drama/Mystery/Foreign (Italian).
Sergio Castellitto/Donatella Finocchiaro.
Directed by Marco Bellocchio.
* A film director, in a down moment in his career, accepts a job in Sicily directing a wedding video for a dangerous man’s daughter. In a wild plot twist, the director falls in love with the daughter.
............//TELEVISION//............
GENERATION KILL.
Television//War/HBO.
Alexander Skarsgard/James Ransone/Lee Tergesen.
*Baghdad; 2003. A Rolling Stone reporter embedded with a marine battalion tells the story of the American invasion through the eyes and actions of its young soldiers killing and dying. This series has been acclaimed as a very realistic and gritty portrayal of the real events that happened.
WILL SHAKESPEARE.
Television/Mini-Series.
Tim Curry/Ian McShane/Nicholas Clay.
Directed by Mark Cullingham and Robert Knights and Peter Wood.
* 1978 six hour miniseries about the bard (Curry) and his Elizabethan life. With McShane as Christopher Marlowe and Clay stealing scenes as the flamboyant Earl of Southampton.
............//DOCUMENTARY//............
PLANET B-BOY.
Documentary/History/Music/Dance.
Mr. Freeze/Skwall/Luis Mateo.
Directed by Benson Lee.
* An amazing and in-depth international history of breakdancing as experienced through a competition called BATTLE OF THE YEAR where the Planet B-Boy will be crowned.
............//FAMILY//............
THE CHEETAH GIRLS: ONE WORLD.
THE LITTLE MERMAID 2: RETURN TO THE SEA SPECIAL EDITION.
* Four copies for the little mermaids in training!
POWER RANGERS JUNGLE FURY: WAY OF THE MASTER.
POWER RANGERS JUNGLE FURY: INTO THE JUNGLE.
............//NEW BLU-RAY ADDITIONS//............
CHUNGKING EXPRESS.
Comedy/Criterion/Foreign (Japanese/Mandarin/Cantonese/English).
Brigitte Lin/Takeshi Kaneshiro/Tony Leung.
Directed by Wong Kar-Wai.
* Is this my first Criterion blu-ray purchase? I think so! It is a beautiful and lush portrait of Hong Kong in the 1990’s, the film follows a couple of cops dealing with the loss of their girlfriends.
THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH.
Sci-fi/Criterion.
* The amazing David Bowie film about an alien seeking water for his dying planet. Now on Blu-ray!
OLD SCHOOL.
Comedy.
* The Will Ferrell romp now on Blu-ray. I grudgingly admit I thought this was pretty funny.
THE THIRD MAN.
Film Noir/Thriller/Criterion.
Orson Welles/Joseph Cotten.
Directed by Carol Reed.
* Amazingly complicated dark tale of corruption and murder in Germany circa the late 1940’s.
............//HIGHLIGHTED NEW ADDITIONS//............
SISTER ACT.
Comedy.
Whoopi Goldberg.
* She’s a singer hiding from the mob disguised as a nun!
SISTER ACT 2.
Comedy.
Whoopi Goldberg.
* She can’t get enough of this nunsense!
THE VALLEY OF GWANGI.
Western/Sci-fi.
Directed by Jim O’Connolly.
* Wow! The tagline says: Cowboys Battle Monsters in the Lost World of Forbidden Valley! Enough said.
............// NEW ADDITIONS//............
STORY OF A LOVE AFFAIR.
Crime/Drama/Romance/Foreign (Italian).
Lucia Bose/Massimo Girotti.
Directed by Michaelangelo Antonioni.
* Thanks to one of our customers for requesting this and thus helping us add to our Antonioni collection. This film is about a beautiful and married young woman who is kind of being investigated by a former husband.
****
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