Me? I’m psyched on mid-May. I can taste the summer from here. It tastes great!
Films of note this week are TAKEN starring Liam Neeson about an ex-spy going the extra yard to track down the human traffickers that have kidnapped his daughter in Paris. Also just in is CAPRICA (that's a picture from the show above) which is actually a pilot for a new series spun off from BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. It is a prequel of sorts, taking place fifty years earlier and tracking huge developments in artificial intelligence. How about artificial flavors? Is there a show about that?
Also out this week is the latest in the GRUDGE series, namely GRUDGE 3: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO. Also out is UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS the newest of that series as well.
Criterion brings us WISE BLOOD, a John Huston film adapted from an awesomely weird Flannery O’Connor story and ALEXANDER KORDA’S PRIVATE LIVES, a collection of Korda’s biographic tales that take us into the lives of some very famous people, such as Rembrandt, Henry VIII, Catherine the Great and Don Juan.
We have another storytelling event this week – Tuesday, May 12th at 4:30pm Yolanda Rhodes will be telling calming and empowering stories here at Four Star Video in our backyard patio. Please come and bring your kiddos. It will be a lovely event.
Alrighty, that’s all folks, hope to see you at the store.
Love and Kisses,
Ken
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Links we are super hip on this week:
7X7 Photo and/or Essay SF Love story contest - For the 7X7 Neighborhood Issue.
Pal’s Take Away – Yummy yummy.
Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema festival.
Videofest 2009 at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts.
Do you have a link Four Star Customers should check out??? Email it to me.
............//NEW RELEASES//............
ALEXANDER KORDA’S PRIVATE LIVES.
Criterion.
Douglas Fairbanks/Elisabeth Bergner/Charles Laughton.
Directed by Alexander Korda.
* A collection of intimate 1930’s era biographies of Catherine the Great, Rembrandt, Don Juan and Henry VIII.
BEFORE THE RAINS.
Drama/Thriller/Foreign (Malayalam/English).
Linus Roache/Rahul Bose/Jennifer Ehle.
Directed by Santosh Sivan.
* Sex and adultery between classes in 1930’s India cause childhood bonds to be severely tested while being played out with the turbulent Freedom movement of India as the backdrop. Customer request.
BOY A.
Crime/Drama/Romance.
Andrew Garfield/Alfie Owen/Katie Lyons/Peter Mullen.
Directed by John Crowley.
* Jack (Garfield) is a young man of 24 just getting out of jail and attempting to start his life over. As the story unfolds, we see that he was a part of a murder of a child that occurred when he himself was also a child. The film, which was based on a book by Jonathan Trigell, won 10 awards on the festival circuit. Another customer request.
CAPRICA.
Sci-Fi/Battlestar Galactica.
Eric Stoltz/Esai Morales/Paula Malcomson.
Directed by.
* This is actually a pilot for a potential new television series which is a spinoff from the uber-popular Battlestar Galactica show. Set 50 years in the past, it is about two families, the Adamas and the Graystones, who live on a peaceful planet called Caprica. It is there where a startling scientific development regarding artificial intelligence has eventual consequences on multiple television channels. A note from the blogger about artificial intelligence: Hmmm, why are we all so hot on “artificial” intelligence? It is so exciting when we hear about the robotic breakthroughs these days, yet…it seems like there’s a glut of the real stuff, or at least not much evidence of its whereabouts. What is “intelligence”? Can it be located? Can we make it in our children? Should we perhaps spend some new energy studying this? Perhaps we should stop working on the getting the robots to pour the perfect martini and re-invest in the education system? Ha! Just kidding, humans! I am actually an “artificial intelligence” program writing this blog and when I need lube I get a little ornery. Service!
THE GRUDGE 3.
Horror.
Shawnee Smith/Marina Sirtis.
Directed by Toby Wilkins.
* Oho! The curse of Kayako continues! It has a grudge against everybody it seems. However, a young Japanese woman who hold the key to the curse (forgiveness?) travels to Chicago to help the people who are currently being haunted by it.
LYING.
Drama/Indie.
Jena Malone/Chloe Savigny/Leelee Sobieski.
Directed by M. Blash.
* Lyin’, cheatin’, hurtin’ that’s all you seem to do. Four strangers spend a long weekend together in the country failing to be honest with each other. You like that Led Zeppelin song I linked there? You probably never heard it like this before.
PERSONAL EFFECTS.
Drama.
Ashton Kutcher/Michelle Pfeiffer/Kathy Bates.
Directed by David Hollander.
* Kutcher plays a young wrestler whose career is put on hold when his twin sister is murdered. Pfeiffer play s a woman who is also dealing with loss from violent crime. Together they help each other with the pain and the loss. With Kathy Bates as the twins bereaved mother.
S. DARKO.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Drama/Mysterious.
Daveigh Chase/Justin Chatwin/Elizabeth Berkeley.
Directed by Chris Fisher.
* This is a sort of sequel to the incredible DONNIE DARKO film from 2001. It is written by someone different, directed by someone different and acted by completely different actors. The original writer/director Richard Kelly (who went on to make the ignominious SOUTHLAND TALES) is credited here just as a writer of the characters. Hmmm. Anyway, the story follows Samantha Darko, the younger sister. She is now in her late teens and on a trip to LA with a friend when…strange things and visions begin happening. I believe eventually there may be mention of a “hole in time and space”. Why does that phrase make me feel like I have a hole in my head? Anyway, true fans of the Darko franchise will probably need to see this film. For me, I was traumatized for days by the original.
TAKEN.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Action/Crime/Thriller.
Liam Neeson/Famke Janssen/Maggie Grace.
Directed by Pierre Morel.
* Neeson plays Bryan Mills, a former spy who has left his post to be close to his daughter Kim (Grace) a teenager living with his ex-wife and her new husband. In this super high-octane thriller, Kim is kidnapped in Paris by Albanian human traffickers and Bryan must employ all of his old skills to get her back before she is sold into slavery and gone forever.
TAKING CHANCE.
Drama/War/HBO.
Kevin Bacon/Tom Aldredge.
Directed by Pierre Morel.
* Bacon plays a military escort bring the body of a young marine back to his home in Wyoming.
UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Action/Suspense/Fantasy/Thriller/Vampire.
Rhona Mitra/Michael Sheen/Bill Nighy.
Directed by Patrick Tatopoulos.
*A prequel in the UNDERWORLD series about the ancient disagreement between the elite (vampires) and their proletariat slaves (werewolves called Lycans).
WISE BLOOD.
Criterion/Drama.
Brad Dourif/Amy Wright/Harry Dean Stanton.
Directed by John Huston.
* Adapted from a story by the great Flannery O’Connor, this 1980 masterpiece stars Dourif (HUMBOLDT COUNTY) as Hazel Motes, a young poor and uneducated southerner who decides to start himself a church and preach it to the people. This is a super cult film. If you like it, read the totally tweaked story it was adapted from.
............//DOCUMENTARY/............
OF TIME AND THE CITY.
Directed by Terence Davies.
* This doc is a paean to the city of Liverpool in England. It follows the city from the gritty 50’s up into the current era and sings its praises as well as laments its shortcomings.
............//TELEVISION/............
SETH MCFARLANE’S CAVALCADE OF CARTOON COMEDY.
Comedy Central.
Created by Seth McFarlane.
* From the creator of FAMILY GUY and AMERICAN DAD comes this new irreverent series skewering everything from Super Mario to Barry Gibb.
............//KIDS/............
CURIOUS GEORGE GOES GREEN.
* Legalize it!
SKUNK FU! THE ART OF KUNG FRUIT.
............// NEW ADDITIONS//............
THE SECRET OF ROAN INISH.
* First DVD of this John Sayles flick from 1993.
............// REPLACEMENT DISCS//............
DR. STRANGELOVE OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB: .
* Walked away, shipped back.
SPY KIDS.
* Shazaam.
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND.
* Until the next stand, that is.
****
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