****new release list no.274

It’s Funny, cuz we are clearly THE BEST video store in SF (I know some of you out there still think that title belongs to Le Video, and I know I am bias, but we have surpassed them in every way except the 60,000+ VHS they have from the pre-DVD days), but we were voted 2nd in the SF Gate poll recently. I am not much of a contest lover, nor am I much of a promoter, so I rarely post links to these things asking you to vote. However, now that I am struggling for our business to stay afloat, I will suggest when you see things like this, that we certainly appreciate your public show of support. In the meantime, on to the movies…

This week, THE WHITE RIBBON, from Michael Haneke, makes its premier on DVD and BD. The film is about a small town in Germany in the months before the first World War and the strange and unpleasant happenings that are going on there. Is this film making a comment on the pre-Nazi culture of Germany, or just on the dark side of children and humanity in general? You decide.

Is HOT TUB TIME MACHINE making a statement about our culture? Pray, pray it is not. John Cusack is one of a little posse of bored adult men who find themselves able to travel back in time to the fabulous…80’s! This will make you think twice before you slide into the next hot tub you see.

PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF should make your elementary school kids super happy, and THE CRAZIES will satisfy those of you out there who love you your protozombie movies.

There is a nice batch of art and nature documentaries out there, including A TRAVELER’S GUIDE TO THE PLANETS, that look interesting and educational.

For some reason, I linked a nice batch of movie trailers in this week’s blog. Go figure.

Alrighty then, see you down at the store.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

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............//NEW RELEASES//............

ANTARCTICA.
Drama/Romance/LGBT/Foreign (Hebrew/English/German).
Oger Regirer.
Directed by Yair Hochner.
* This romantic story about a young man on the verge of his 30th birthday looking for love and meaning waxes poetic on the heart as a frozen place yearning for some defrosting. Not with a sharp tool though!

BASS ACKWARDS.
Indie/Adventure.
Linas Phillips.
Directed by Linas Phillips.
* In this film, a young man (Phillips) takes a nomadic cross country trip in his VW as he contemplates the broken pieces of his heart and soul. Interestingly enough (for me), this film reminds me of another film that is just being completed here in San Francisco, by the lead singer of my band. JH Lucas directs a similar story, in this case about not one, but two guys and a van. In fact, that is the name of the film. What? You’d like to see a trailer? Why here is one now. And, look – here is another!


THE CRAZIES.
Action/Horror.
Timothy Olyphant/Radha Mitchell.
Directed by Breck Eisner.
* Yes, another virus outbreak violent psycho murder movie! This one is a remake of the 1973 George A. Romero classic of the same name. In this case it takes place in the corn-fed flat lands of Iowa where something weird is in the water, and it ain’t fluoride!

CRAZY.
Drama.
Ali Larter/Waylon Payne.
Directed by Rick Bieber.
* The silly review? It’s like CRAZY HEART, but without any heart. The serious review? Inspired by the real life of country musician Hank Garland, this film shows the struggle of a musician to get recognition in Nashville. Since it’s trailer week (which it just became this moment) I will link another trailer for a film called C.R.A.Z.Y. which was awesome and very few people saw…We have it, and I highly recommend it.

EVERLASTING MOMENTS.
Criterion/Drama/Foreign (Swedish/Finnish).
Maria Haiskanen/Jesper Christensen.
Directed by Jan Troell.
* Maria, a young woman in the early 1900’s wins a camera in a lottery. Seeing life through its lens shifts her life and creates a powerful destiny for her to examine herself, her children and her challenging husband. This movie came out in 2008 and we can thank Criterion for bringing it to the world’s attention.

HOT TUB TIME MACHINE.****BD****
Comedy.
John Cusack/Craig Robinson/Chevy Chase/Clark Duke/Crispin Glover.
Directed by Steve Pink.
* You really have to say the title correctly, I wish you were here now, and could hear the nuances – Hot Tuuuuub Time Machine! Got it? Also, the back of the film says: Rated R for strong crude and sexual content, nudity, drug use and pervasive language. Need I say more? Yeah? Okay, four bored adult men travel back in time to the 80’s when they were cool to relive some of their lost glory. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! I haven’t seen it, but I LOVE this movie.

PERCY JACKSON & THE OLMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF.****BD****
Adventure/Fantasy.
Logan Lerman/Brandon T. Jackson/Alexandra Daddario/Pierce Brosnan/Steve Coogan/Catherine Keener/Uma Thurman/Rosario Dawson.
Directed by Chris Columbus.
* This is the first of the adaptations of the Rick Riordan teen novels about Percy Jackson (Lerman) a lonely isolated New York youth who discovers he is a descendant of Poseidon, and gets involved with a mysterious battle between the gods, with the fate of humanity at stake! I saw this with my 9-year-old earlier this year, and we had a blast. The story is not complicated, and riffs off many of the famous adventure tales of the current day, but there is plenty of fun Greek God imagery and interplay to love, and the Zac Efron look-alike that plays Percy is probably in for a fine career.

PRETTY BIRD.
Comedy/Drama.
Billy Crudup/Paul Giamatti/Anna Camp/Kristen Wiig.
Directed by Paul Schneider.
* I really wanted to watch this film, as I had the feeling it would be a good one that I would want to recommend. As it is, all I have is the feeling. The story is about three entrepreneurs would set up to invent and market a rocket belt. Unfortunately, as many small business owners know, things are sometimes harder to maintain as they are to envision. And for these guys, things go downhill; deeply, darkly and wholeheartedly downhill. Wanna see the trailer? It’s here.

WARLORDS.
Action/Drama/History/War/Foreign (Mandarin).
Jet Li/Andy Lau.
Directed by Peter Chan and Wai Man Yip.
* It’s a remake of 1973’s THE BLOOD BROTHERS about a three siblings struggle for survival and integrity during the Qing Dynasty.

THE WHITE RIBBON.****BD****
Drama/Mystery/Black and White/Foreign (German/Italian/Polish/Latin).
Christian Friedel.
Directed by Michael Haneke.
* The maker of FUNNY GAMES and CACHE and CODE UNKNOWN has made a very polarizing film in THE WHITE RIBBON. The time is the early years of the 20th century, before WWI. We are in a town in Northern German where mysterious and violent events are happening without explanation. Crops are being destroyed, a child is kidnapped and beaten, and the mysteries are piling up. The elders of the village are struggling to maintain reason and control, while a local school teacher slowly begins unraveling the secret. What he finds is confusing and apparently not just to him, but to movie viewers as well. There is a lively debate as to whether or not this film is trying to explain the culture that allowed Nazism to flourish twenty years later, or whether it is simply a tale of the latent evil of humanity that occasionally zig-zags its way through rural communities everywhere, and during every time period. Wanna see the trailer?

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

A TRAVELER’S GUIDE TO THE PLANETS.****BD****
Documentary/Nature.
* This five hour documentary takes us on a journey through the very different planets in our solar system.

A WALK INTO THE SEA: DANNY WILLIAMS AND THE WARHOL FACTORY.
Documentary/Art/Music.
Directed by Esther Robinson.
* Danny Williams, the director’s uncle, was a filmmaker and collaborator of Andy Warhol’s, who disappeared at the age of 27 during the heyday of the Factory scene. This doc examines his work, and his legacy. I read a comment that said we will like Andy Warhol less after seeing this, and I am not surprised, as everything I ever see about him makes me feel that way.

HOW EARTH CHANGED HISTORY.****BD****
Documentary/Nature.
* Here is the official product description: The traditional interpretation of history has focused largely on human factors. Yet the natural environment has also shaped history since the dawn of time. This series reveals for the first time on television how geology, geography and climate have had a far more powerful influence on mankind than has previously been acknowledged. With passionate storytelling and extraordinary HD camerawork, this series combines bold ideas with a new science, geo-determinism, to form an original version of human history. Discover why societies have succeeded or failed, and how the environment has influenced every aspect of our history from art to industry, religion to war, world domination or collapse. This series overturns preconceptions about our nations and our cultures to offer a new perspective on who we are today.

NEXT: A PRIMER ON URBAN PAINTING.
Documentary/Art.
Directed by Pablo Aravena.
* This is a very in-depth doc about graffiti and its culture.

............//TELEVISION/............

THE CLOSER: THE 5th SEASON.
Crime/Drama/Mystery/Television.
Kyra Sedgwick.
* Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson (Sedgwick, who is married to Kevin Bacon, is actually separated from you by seven degrees) is tough, beautiful, and very successful at solving her precinct biggest cases.

............//FAMILY/............

MADELINE’S GREAT ADVENTURES.

THE 13 GHOSTS OF SCOOBY-DOO: THE COMPLETE SERIES.

............//NO ONE HERE BUT US CHICKENS/............

What are we doing down here? The blog is done, right? What? Me? I made a movie once? How did you know that? Yeah, it’s true. I did. I made a feature film! It was crazy, man. A good few years of my life went in to that experience, and a lot of coin. And in the end, it didn’t go anywhere. But it was super fun! And Dave Ayoob (the previous owner of Four Star Video) bought a copy on VHS which is here at the store now, in the Independent section. What? Was there a trailer? Why yes there was. Low end, small window, and even with some timecode on it, but here it is now.

****

****new release list no.273

For me (and I guess technically everybody) the summer starts NOW. School is out, the kids are at camp, it’s blockbuster season on the silver screen, it’s hot during the day and cold at night, Mitchell’s is beckoning, hope fills the air, and I can almost remember how it all feels to be a kid without responsibility with a seemingly endless amount of time.

My movie goals for the summer involve delving more deeply into the Criterion section, getting through all the HARRY POTTER movies, watching THE DESERT TRILOGY by Nacer Khemir, watching at least one big Hollywood film that normally I would snub my nose at (THE BLINDSIDE, perhaps?), taking a deep breath and finally watching PRECIOUS, reading about a zillion films I may never see, and maybe doing some rearranging around the store to create more room for new movies. I am thinking of getting rid of some of our 8000 VHS tapes. Want one? Let me know. I’d like to be watching the 6th Season of THE OFFICE, but, alas, that doesn’t come out until September! Someone call me a waambulance!

Among other releases, which I will tell you about in a second, my band, The Dont’s, new record THOSE DELICATE CHEMICALS comes out tomorrow! It should be available in downloadable format everywhere music is bought (and stolen) by then, and it is available in actual CD form right here at the store. Somehow, I imagine a lot of you out there would like it.

This week at Four Star, we have a few more Hollywood films than usual, and a bunch of great Criterion releases. In the Criterion world, from the director of THE THIRD MAN, we have THE NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH, starring Rex Harrison and Margaret Lockwood. Also RED DESERT, a Michaelangelo Antonionionioni film about the industrial breakdown of family life. CLOSE-UP is another release by Criterion. Directed by Abbas Kiarostami , it is an Iranian film that must be seen to be understood. At the core, it is a story about censorship, and the vast distances that we must go to break down society’s iron grip on “what’s okay”.

From Chile, comes THE MAID, a highly anticipated (by me, at least) film about a woman who has worked for a family for 23 years and is now facing a crisis regarding her place within herself.

HUNG: SEASON ONE, is a new one from HBO about a basketball coach with a broken down life and one tremendous, uh, resource that he is trying to put to work for himself. ENTOURAGE: SEASON SIX continues the tragic comic look at a successful young actor in Hollywood, and his posse of friends that hang out with him.

THE LAST STATION, with Oscar nominated performances by Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren, and also starring James McAvoy, is about the latter portion of Leo Tolstoy’s life, as he balances his fame and celebrity with his desire to give away all the rights to his works.

GREEN ZONE is a new Matt Damon film directed by Paul Greengrass. Stunningly, it is NOT about a new marijuana dispensary, but is about the unsuccessful search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. What is they opened marijuana dispensaries all over Iraq? How would that affect society? It may just be me, but San Francisco seems pretty mellow these days…

REMEMBER ME is a love story starring TWILIGHT star Robert Pattinson, and is about two young lovers providing solace to each other as they try to deal with personal tragedies within their families.

SHE’S OUT OF MY LEAGUE is a goofy comedy about a nerdy dude who scores a super hot babe. I’m sure this is a fine movie, but I think they need to start making films about nerdy girls who score super hot guys. Or nerdy girls who score super high SAT scores. Wait, never mind.

Alrighty then, see you down at the store.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

******************************************************************************
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ESUB -One Movie at a time – Three movies total – $9.99 + Tax/Month
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............//NEW RELEASES//............

BLUEBEARD.
Fantasy/Suspense/Foreign (French).
Catherine Breillat.
Directed by Charles Perrault.
* The classic tale of a young woman married to a psycho-wife-killer and trying to avoid her fate.

CLOSE-UP.
Criterion/Drama/Crime/Foreign(Persian).
Directed by Abbas Kiarostami.
* This film, from 1990, has made it onto some of the lists of the finest films ever made. It is a fascinating film, which is basically a documentary, with some dramatic reenactments thrown into the mix. The story is about a man, who impersonates a famous Iranian filmmaker to gain access to…what exactly? To gain access to a philosophical acceptance, that would not be possible just as himself. He stays with a family, as he prepares to make his film, and then, after he is exposed as an imposter, he is prosecuted by the family, and ends up in court. Kiarostami films the court proceedings, although, it is hard to tell what is fact and what is fiction in this film.

GREEN ZONE.****BD****
Action/Drama/Suspense/War.
Matt Damon/Greg Kinnear/Amy Ryan.
Directed by Paul Greengrass.
* Damon reunites with the director of the Bourne movies to make this action packed thriller. Set in Iraq in 2003, Damon plays Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller who is in charge of an elite force charged with the impossible task of finding Weapons of Mass Destruction, you know, the weapons we went to war to find and destroy. What he does find is a deep conspiracy to mislead the United States people, their government, and governments around the world. Surprise!

THE LAST STATION.****BD****
Drama/Fictobiopic.
Helen Mirren/Christopher Plummer/Paul Giamatti/Anne-Marie Duff/James McAvoy.
Directed by Michael Hoffman.
* Mirren and Plummer were nominated for Oscars for their performance in this powerful and playful examination of the later portion of Leo Tolstoy’s life as he is settling his affairs in a way that his work will be public domain, much to the dismay of his wife.

LE COMBAT DANS L’ILE.
Suspense/B&W/Foreign (French).
Romy Schneider/Jean-Louis Trintignant.
Directed by Alain Cavalier.
* This Zeitgeist Films re-release of a 1962 film is about a well-off young man who cuts off all his ties with his family and the outer world and joins a radical Right-wing party.

THE MAID.
Drama/Foreign (Spanish).
Catalina Saavedra/Claudia Celedon.
Directed by Sebastian Silva.
* This is the story of Raquel, a Chilean maid who has worked for one family for 20+ years and now finds herself struggling to maintain her place within the family, and her place within herself. This film won more than 20 awards internationally in the year since it was made, including the Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic World Cinema at Sundance in 2009.

NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH.
Criterion/Suspense/War/Thriller/B&W.
Margaret Lockwood/Rex Harrison.
Directed by Carol Reed.
* In this Oscar-nominated thriller by the director who brought us THE THIRD MAN, Rex Harrison (Professor Henry Higgins from MY FAIR LADY) is a British Intelligence officer, during the early outbreak of WWII, trying to rescue a Czech scientist and his daughter from the Nazis.

RED DESERT.
Criterion/Drama/Foreign (Italian).
Monica Vitti/Richard Harris/Carlo Chionetti.
Directed by Michaelangelo Antonioni.
* This 1964 film stars Vitti as the lonely and mentally ill wife of a factory manager in a desolate area in Italy. She yearns for attention, for meaning, for love and doesn’t think she has it within her family. She meets an engineer passing through and pursues him, hoping to find something to grasp hold of, and hoping to find someone to grasp ahold of her.

REMEMBER ME.
Romance/Drama.
Robert Pattinson/Pierce Brosnan/Chris Cooper/Emile de Ravin/Lena Olin.
Directed by Allen Coulter.
* Two young adults (Pattinson, de Ravin) find unexpected allies in each other while healing from terrible personal familial tragedies.

SHE’S OUT OF MY LEAGUE.****BD****
Comedy/Romance.
Jay Baruchel/Alice Eve.
Directed by Jim Smith.
* The basic story is he’s a 5, she’s a 10, yet…she wants to be with him. I’m sure many of you can relate. Will there differences cause their relationship to disintegrate? Well, the odds say something will.

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

CHILDREN’S WAR.
Documentary/War.
Directed by Andrew Krakower.
* Well-done, but brutal equation about the 21-year-old Ugandan civil war, and the stolen kids who fight, kill and die for both sides.

IT CAME FROM KUCHAR.
Documentary/Comedy.
John Waters/Atom Egoyan/Wayne Wang/Guy Maddin/Buck Henry.
Directed by Jennifer M. Kroot.
* This doc will inspire you, and entertain you as it tells you about the fabulous Kuchar brothers, George and Mike, and their no-budget, waaaay over-the-top films. Wanna make a movie? Watch this doc first.

............//TELEVISION/............

ENTOURAGE: THE COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON.
Comedy/HBO.
Kevin Connolly/Adrian Grenier/Kevin Dillon/Jeremy Priven/Jerry Ferrara.
* You want to be in my entourage, you gotta wear camouflage, and you gotta give a hard back massage.

HUNG: SEASON ONE.
Comedy/Drama/HBO.
Thomas Jane/Jane Adams/Anne Heche.
* Ray Drecker doesn’t have much going for him…yeah, he used to be a legend playing high school hoops, but those days are long gone…Now? He coaches high school basketball, and really hasn’t cashed in on his number one resource. What could that be? Did you see BOOGIE NIGHTS? Kinda the same deal…let’s just say he is rich in family jewels. Now it’s time for Ray to star using his resources to gain some self-esteem, and a little cash in his pockets…But is it that easy to just start a successful gigolo career?

............//FAMILY/............

FRANKLIN GOES TO CAMP.

TOM AND JERRY: DELUXE ANNIVERSARY EDITION.

****

****new release list no.272

In THE BOOK OF ELI, it is post-apocalyptic America and Eli (Denzel Washington) is wandering the countryside with a very special book, looking to bring it to the peeps who deserve it the most…who are those peeps? Not the character played by Gary Oldman, I can tell you that!

WHEN IN ROME, don’t go wading in the Fountain of Love picking up coins tossed by desperate lovers, or you will become the center of attention for all those, uh, coin-tossers. Which is what Beth (Kristen Bell) finds out when she gets back from Rome and gets more attention then she originally hoped for from multiple guys.

YOUTH IN REVOLT is the latest Michael Cera venture where he plays an even younger teenager than his last couple movies. At this rate, Mr. Cera be the star of the next Bad News Bears film. Seriously, hold old is this guy anyway? Regardless, he can play a teenager, and thus he does, in this case Nick Twisp, a lonely, intellectually, creative type who desperately wants to lose his virginity, preferably to his latest crush Sheeni (Portia Doubleday). Abstain, young man! Didn’t you see JUNO?

UNTHINKABLE is a suspenseful thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson as a government agent with the power to torture and kill suspects to get important information out of them. Co-starring Carrie-Anne Moss as an FBI counterpart.

Also of note, MAX AND MARY, a claymation film by the guys who made HARVEY KRUMPET about a couple of unlikely pen pals who live continents apart and HAPPY TEARS, starring Parker Posey and Demi Moore as sisters trying to deal with their aging father (Rip Torn).

There are also some really intense looking docs at the store this week, BURMA VJ, a journalistic triumph about crimes against humanity going on in Burma; WAR CHILD, about a hip-hop artist who makes an emotional return to Sudan where he served as a child soldier, and SEX POSITIVE, the story of Richard Berkowitz, an activist in the fight against A.I.D.S.

Lastly, I suggest some of you costume drama fans check out RAFFLES: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION, a British television series from the 1970’s about a gentleman jewel thief and his merry ways.

Alrighty then, see you down at the store.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

******************************************************************************
KenFlix - the only Independent Monthly Subscription Film Renting Service in SF
If you are going to make a monthly commitment, make it a local one.
No due dates. No late fees.

ESUB -One Movie at a time – Three movies total – $9.99 + Tax/Month
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******************************************************************************

............//NEW RELEASES//............

THE BOOK OF ELI.****BD****
Action.
Denzel/Gary Oldman/Mila Kunis/Jennifer Beals/Tom Waits.
Directed by Albert Hughes and Alan Hughes.
* Ah, the Book of Eli, presumably one of the chapters of the next bible, I guess. Eli (Denzel) is in possession of one of the only King James bibles remaining from the Last Great War, which destroyed most of civilization. Eli is on a mission to bring the book somewhere specific, unfortunately though he keeps coming across people who want to kill/eat/destroy/rob him, and seem to have no qualms/manners/ethics/morals/soap left. Well, Eli is not easily put down, and though he is given trouble to no end by a warlord named Carnegie (Oldman) and his henchman, eventually the quest is completed, and thus the Book of Eli will be written.

CONTROL >>ALT DELETE.
Comedy/Drama/Indie.
Tyler Labine/Sonja Bennett.
Directed by Cameron Labine.
* Somewhat charming little indie about a young man, addicted to computer porn who actually starts to make love to his computer after the images on screen start to turn him off. Soon, like many philanderers, it is his neighbors computers that he begins to lust after – it is just a hope skip and a jump until he is doing with his co-workers computer’s as well. Soon the boss is after the “computer rapist” and his secret life is in danger of being exposed.

HAPPY TEARS.****BD****
Drama.
Parker Posey/Demi Moore/Ellen Barkin/Rip Torn.
Directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein.
* Written and directed by the same guy who made 2007’s TEETH, this film is about a couple of adult sisters (Posey and Moore) who go home to try to deal with their older father (Torn) who has some aging struggles, but is also very full of life.

MAX AND MARY.****BD****
Claymation/Comedy/Drama/
Philip Seymour Hoffman/Toni Collette/Eric Bana.
Directed by Adam Elliot.
* An unlikely friendship spanning two decades is the subject of this funny and touching story. Mary is an Australian girl of 8 years old in the 1970’s when she picks Max out of a telephone book and sends him a pen pal letter. Max is a lonely 44-year-old living in NY struggling with Asperger’s Syndrome and severe obesity. The years pass, the letters continue and their friendship deepens throughout their lives. This film is from the guys who made HARVEY KRUMPET and though it is animated, it is not a kid’s film.

MYSTERY TRAIN
Criterion/Comedy.
Joe Strummer/Rick Aviles/Steve Buscemi.
Directed by Jim Jarmusch.
* 198 classic Jarmusch film with interweaving tales connected loosely by a hotel room in Memphis.

UNTHINKABLE.
Thriller/Drama/Action/Suspense.
Samuel L. Jackson/Michael Sheen/Brandon Routh/Carrie-Anne Moss.
Directed by Gregor Jordan.
* Tense flick about government condoned torture of suspected terrorists, in this case to find out where some nuclear bombs are that are set to blow up around the US very soon.

WHEN IN ROME.****BD****
Comedy/Romance.
Kristen Bell/Josh Duhamel/Angelica Huston/Will Arnet/Jon Heder.
Directed by Mark Steven Johnson.
* Poor Beth (Bell) is hot, honest, successful and employed! But for some reason can’t find a soul mate. When she goes to Rome for her sister’s wedding (ah, Roma!) she drunkenly stumbles into the Fountain of Love and steals some coins that were thrown in there by other desperate lovers. Soon, the men they come a’calling, and Beth has her hands full – literally! What’s a poor, hot, successful, honest woman to do?

YOUTH IN REVOLT.****BD****
Comedy/Drama/Romance.
Michael Cera/Portia Doubleday/Zach Galafianakis/Steve Buscemi.
Directed by Miguel Arteta.
* Adapted from the teen novels of C.D.Payne, this film tells the story of Nick Twisp (Cera) and his alter-ego Francois Dillinger. Nick is dealing with his messy parents, their messy divorce, and the messy situation his body is in as it yearns desperately to separate itself from its current state of virginity. He meets Sheeni (Doubleday), the girl of his dreams, and becomes fixated on her, willing to do nearly anything to get her to be with him. Some of what he is willing to do is against the law, and trouble arises. But what’s trouble to a horny 16-year-old?

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

BURMA VJ.
Documentary/Crime/History/Thriller.
Directed by Anders Ostergaard.
* Nominated for the 2010 Academy Award (won by THE COVE), this documentary focuses on crimes against humanity in Burma, where journalism is basically illegal. The people who shot the footage used in this film risked their lives documenting the killing of Burma monks among other things and smuggling the footage out of the country to people like Ostergaard who would help expose the Burmese government to the rest of the world.

MYSTERY GORILLAS & SEARCH FOR THE GREAT APES (DOUBLE FEATURE).
Documentary/Nature.
Directed by National Geographic.

SEX POSITIVE.
Documentary.
Directed by Daryl Wein.
* Richard Berkowitz was working the streets as a gay S&M sex worker in the late 70’s-early 80’s when the AIDS epidemic began. He worked tirelessly over the following decade to create solutions and programs that would help people have safer sex. This documentary tells his story.

WAR CHILD.
Documentary/War/Hip-hop.
Directed by Christian Karim Chrobog.
* This painful yet inspirational tale follows rap star Emmanuel Jal as he makes an emotional return to Sudan where he served as a child soldier.

............//TELEVISION/............

FAMILY GUY: VOLUME 8.
Comedy/Television.
Seth MacFarlane.
* Dysfunction is hysterical in someone else’s family.

RAFFLES: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION.
Comedy/Crime /Television.
Anthony Valentine.
* A.J. Raffles: gentleman, famous Cricket player and secret jewel thief! This 1977 British television show is sure to please you lovers of costume drama.

............//FAMILY/............

JOHNNY BRAVO: SEASON ONE.

TRISTAN & ISOLDE.

YO GABBA GABBA!: CLUBHOUSE.

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****new release list no.271

June rolls along, and maybe it’s kinda summer now. Not sure, but I find myself standing in the yard a lot lately, staring at the undone projects and wondering if I’m gonna start working, or just stand there staring… This is always a busy time for me; the kids get out of school, Huck has a birthday (9 this year!), Amy has a birthday (the big 4.0!), and yeah, summertime rolls. This year there are more fun and exciting things going on…My band had a CD Release party at The Bottom of the Hill this weekend, which was awesome (here are some photos taken by our friend Rachel - I know, right – where’s the drummer!). Amy’s group CONSPIRACY OF VENUS is playing The Independent on June 16th, and then we’re heading to Chicago without the kids for a wedding. This will be our first trip like this without the kids. For those of you scoring at home, that’s 9 years without a trip away from the kiddies. That’s a long time! Too bad I’m not still 29, cuz we may have to party like it’s 1999! (Mommy, why does everybody have the bomb?)

Ever notice that life is just a lyric sheet to the gods?

Anyway, the biggie out this week is SHUTTER ISLAND, the new thriller from Martin Scorsese. In it, Leonardo DiCaprio plays a US Marshal on assignment on Boston’s Shutter Island where a murderer has mysteriously disappeared. The film has many twists and turns and has left the internet posters spinning in their office chairs trying to outsmart each other on the IMDB message board. With an A-list of co-stars including Michelle Williams, Ben Kingsley and Mark Ruffalo.

Also out this week is FROM PARIS WITH LOVE, a tongue in cheek, action flick starring John Travolta as an out-of-control government agent on a mission to stop some terrorism in Paris and pulling a low-level administrator (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) into the fray.

A couple of television releases of note are CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: THE COMPLETE SEVENTH SEASON and the final season of NIP/TUCK. Get it while it’s hot!

Alrighty then, see you down at the store.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

******************************************************************************
KenFlix - the only Independent Monthly Subscription Film Renting Service in SF
If you are going to make a monthly commitment, make it a local one.
No due dates. No late fees.

ESUB -One Movie at a time – Three movies total – $9.99 + Tax/Month
1SUB - One Movie at a time – Unlimited exchange – $18.99 + Tax/Month
3SUB - Three Movies at a time – Unlimited exchange – $24.99 + Tax/Month
4SUB - Four Movies at a time – Unlimited exchange – $32.99 + Tax/Month
******************************************************************************

............//NEW RELEASES//............

ANIMATION EXPRESS.****BD****
Animation.
* 26 tweaky animated shorts.

FROM PARIS WITH LOVE.****BD****
Action/Crime/Thriller.
John Travolta/Jonathan Rhys-Meyers.
Directed by Pierre Morel.
*All is going well in James Reece’s life (Rhys-Meyers). He’s living in France, eating croissants, working in the Ambassador’s office, has a hot French girl-friend; life is good. But, ah, Mr. Reece longs to be a spy, and get involved in the nitty-gritty. Enter Charlie Wax (Travolta). If you’re not careful, you’re gonna get waxed by Wax, cuz he is a wing nut CIA agent out to stop a terroristic attack! Poor Reece maybe would rather get back to the desk, but alas, he is a character in this story, and he must go along for the wild ride. And speaking of the story, it was written by Luc Besson.

NOT THE MESSIAH (HE’S A VERY NAUGHTY BOY).
Comedy/Drama/Music/Live performance.
Eric Idle/Michael Palin/Terry Jones/Terry Gilliam.
* This is a theatrical musical rendition of a batch of stories and songs from the Monty Python canon. Not to be missed by the true believers.

SHINJUKU INCIDENT.
Crime/Drama/Thriller/Foreign (Mandarin/Japanese/Cantonese/Min Nam/Hokkien).
Jackie Chan.
Directed by Tung-Shing Yee.
* A poor laborer from Japan working in China struggles to make a home for himself, but gets in way over his head.

SHUTTER ISLAND.****BD****
Suspense/Crime/Mystery.
Leonardo DiCaprio/Mark Ruffalo/Ben Kingsley/Michelle Williams/Emily Mortimer/Max Von Sydow/Jackie Earle Haley/Elias Koteas/Patricia Clarkson.
Directed by Martin Scorsese.
* US Marshal Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) has been assigned to investigate a disappearance of a murderer from the hospital out on Shutter Island. His investigation is a struggle from the moment he steps foot on the island, as he feels he is being stonewalled and prevented from reviewing the records that could help him break the case wide open. Soon the mysterious disappearances multiply and things get more and more confusing until Daniels begins to question everything he knows about the case and himself.

TOE TO TOE.
Drama/Indie.
Directed by Emily Abt.
* Nominated for the Grand Jury prize at Sundance in 2009, this little indie film is about two teenage girls who play together on a lacrosse team, and who are vying for the same guy.

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

180 DEGREES SOUTH.****BD****
Documentary/Adventure.
Directed by Chris Malloy.
* In 1968 Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins made an expedition to Patagonia, one of the southernmost regions of South America. This documentary follows a young American adventurer named Jeff Johnson, who finds footage of their trip and decides to make the same trek southward.

............//TELEVISION/............

CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: THE COMPLETE SEVENTH SEASON.
Comedy/Television.
Larry David.
* Another deeply comic, deeply neurotic adventure into the psyche of Larry David.

NIP/TUCK: THE SIXTH AND FINAL SEASON.
Drama/Television.
Dylan Walsh/Julian McMahon.
* We’ll just take off a few inches here, give you a tummy tuck, maybe make sweet love on the operating table, and give you a face life and a shot of botox for that saggy face. That’ll be $20,000, thanks for coming!

............//FAMILY/............

DOG CITY: THE MOVIE.
* From the Henson gang.

............//NEW ON BLU/............

CADDYSHACK.
* “Remember Danny - Two wrongs don't make a right but three rights make a left.”

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****new release list no.270

Hey peeps, what’s happening now? Me, I just got back from Ranchfest in Idaho, where my band played some rocking shows, and slept in a tent in 30 degree weather! We were prepared for naked spooning, if things got desperate, but sleep prevailed, and that experience never got had. Isn’t it amazing how many experiences you think about some times, that never happen? And then there’s those experiences that you’ve never thought about that won’t ever happen. And then there are those experiences that do happen that you never thought would! Whoa! I’m tripping!

Yeah, well, it’s true. I’m tripping. Drove for many hours yesterday, through the flat, beautiful and desolate countryside, and now I am back at Four Star Video, taking stock, writing the blog, breathing deeply, thinking about the positives, positively breathing in the positives. Yet, choking a bit.

Last month, I put out a survey about people’s movie renting habits. As you recall, I mentioned that Four Star Video is struggling. I was freaking out! Thus, the survey and a lot of internal changes…

My plan is to post all the results of the survey soon, but in the meantime, I will tell you I got nearly 300 responses, both electronically and here at the store, and it was pretty fascinating reading! Thank you all who responded! There was a multitude of suggestions, mostly worth exploring and a few that were extremely confusing (I don’t think it is feasible to stay in business if every day is dollar day, but I will continue to think about it). The vast overarching vibe of the response was “please don’t close, you are important to the community”, and “what can we do to make things better?” So I immediately felt much better about the situation. And that has mostly lasted for the last couple weeks. Yet…In May, we were down 15% in rentals…that’s 4 straight months like that, and each month the percentage grows.

Now, to allay the concerns of the loyalists, let me plainly state that I made enough to changes to weather the storm for several months, as we continue to analyze and see what we can do to keep on keeping on. So stay calm! And breathe deeply. But, man, I cannot lie to you; it’s disheartening to see the numbers…

In the meantime, the movies! This week, the new Tim Burton film, ALICE IN WONDERLAND hits DVD and BD. Starring Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, and the super weird Crispin Glover, this is more of a sequel to the original story, and not really a remake of the famous tale. Lush and colorful, the film is another gem in the Tim Burton canon. Also out this week is WOLFMAN, starring Anthony Hopkins and Benicio del Toro and Emily Blunt.

LIFE, the new nature doc from BBC Earth, the peeps who brought us PLANET EARTH, is out this week, also on DVD and BD. I haven’t seen it yet, but I can only imagine that it is amazing, informative with majestically satisfying imagery, as so many of their documentaries have been. LIFE is narrated by the inimitable David Attenborough.

This week we have a ton of new TV here (FOYLE’S WAR SET 6, HOARDERS: SEASON ONE, BURN NOTICE SEASON 3, MIDSOMER MURDERS SET 15, HOPE SPRINGS, THREE STOOGES COLLECTIONI), and eight new kids releases – scroll down to get the details.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

******************************************************************************
KenFlix - the only Independent Monthly Subscription Film Renting Service in SF
If you are going to make a monthly commitment, make it a local one.
No due dates. No late fees.

ESUB -One Movie at a time – Three movies total – $9.99 + Tax/Month
1SUB - One Movie at a time – Unlimited exchange – $18.99 + Tax/Month
3SUB - Three Movies at a time – Unlimited exchange – $24.99 + Tax/Month
4SUB - Four Movies at a time – Unlimited exchange – $32.99 + Tax/Month
******************************************************************************

............//NEW RELEASES//............

ALICE IN WONDERLAND (2010).****BD****
Adventure/Fantasy.
Mia Wasikowska/Johnny Depp/Helena Bonham Carter/Anne Hathaway/Crispin Glover/Alan Rickman/Michael Sheen.
Directed by Tim Burton.
* In the reimagining of the classic story, Alice is now 19, and contemplating marriage when she is lured back into the fairy tale landscape of her childhood. Now she is faced with new challenges that involve her fulfilling a destiny in Underland (not a typo), and, in doing so, help her right her own personal ship.

THE DRAWN TOGETHER MOVIE.
Animation/Weirdness/Comedy.
Directed by Greg Franklin.
* Crude, gross, crass, vile…all of these words have been used to describe this bottom feeder about a group of reality contestants whose show gets canceled.

HANNAH FREE.
Drama/Romance/LGBT.
Sharon Gless.
Directed by Wendy Joe Carlton.
* This film is about two women, who grew up together in the Midwest, and whose deep love for each other was challenged by their surroundings. One grows up to be a lesbian, and the other a housewife, and their love survives.

PEANUTS 1970’S COLLECTION: NO.2.
Animation/Comics.
* Includes Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown / You're a Good Sport / It's Arbor Day / What a Nightmare / It's Your First Kiss / You're the Greatest. I don’t know about you, but I find these Charlie Brown specials to be full of emotion, wonderful music, and terrific slapstick, as well as being surprisingly thought-provoking and timely. My kids love them.

THE RED BARON.****BD****
Drama/ Foreign (German/English/French).
Maxim Mehmet/Lena Headley/Joseph Fiennes.
Directed by Nikolai Mullerschon.
* This is the famous story of Baron Manfred von Richthofen, Germany’s most feared World War I pilot.

TONY MANERO.
Crime/Drama/ Foreign (Spanish and English).
Alfredo Castro/Paola Lattus.
Directed by Pablo Larrain.
* This Chilean film, which won numerous film awards, takes place in 1978 Santiago, and follows a thief and killer who is obsessed with John Travolta’s character from SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER.

WOLFMAN.****BD****
Comics/Fantasy.
Anthony Hopkins/Benicio del Toro/Emily Blunt/Simon Merrells.
Directed by Joe Johnston.
* The classic tale of a cursed family is remade with Hopkins in the role of Sir John Talbot, the patriarch of the family and del Toro as the estranged son coming back to the family to help them find the killer of his brother.

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

LIFE.****BD****
Documentary/Nature/Series.
Narrated by David Attenborough.
* From the IMDB: David Attenborough's legendary BBC crew explains and shows wildlife all over planet earth in 10 episodes. The first is an overview the challenges facing life, the others are dedicated to hunting, the deep sea and various major evolutionary groups of creatures: plants, primates and other large sections of other vertebrates and invertebrates.

............//TELEVISION/............

BURN NOTICE: SEASON THREE.
Comedy/Spy.
Jeffrey Donovan/Gabrielle Anwar/Bruce Campbell/Sharon Gless.
* Season three about the spy who has been tossed aside by the US government and now uses his special skills for his own purposes.

FOYLE’S WAR: SET 6.
Crime/Drama/Mystery.
Michael Kitchen.
* Season six in the continuing saga of Christopher Foyle, a police chief in London during WWII.

HOARDERS: SEASON ONE.
* Have you caught anything about this show yet, or about hoarders in general? Recently, it appears our society has become fascinated about people who compulsively collect. I heard something about it on NPR, and I was fascinated as well.

HOPE SPRINGS.
Drama.
Alex Kingston.
* This recent television series was about four women who pull off an elaborate theft, only to lose most of the booty in a fire. Part of their cover was to take over a small hotel in the Scottish town of Hope Springs, and after the fire they are left with nothing, and must try to actually make the hotel profitable.

MIDSOMERS MURDERS: SET 15.
Crime/Drama.

THE THREE STOOGES COLLECTION: 1955-1959.
Comedy.

............//FAMILY/............

BEING IAN: HURRY FOR HOLLYWOOD.

BEING IAN: 5 O’CLOCK SNOOZE.

DIGIMON: WILD BOYS OF THE DIGITAL WORLD.

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE: FUN IN THE SUN.

MY FRIEND RABBIT: SUMMER SPLASH.

RACE.

SHAUN THE SHEEP: ONE GIANT LEEP FOR LAMBKIND.

SESAME STREET: FIREFLY FUN AND BUGGY BUDDY.

............//NEW ON BLU/............

WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005).
* Tom Cruise, Tim Robbins in the Steven Spielberg directed remake of the H.G. Wells classic.

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