****new release list no.324

Who has two thumbs, speaks French and loves a vacation? C’est moi!

We just spent a glorious sunny first half of July touring around our great state. We dabbled in the Central Valley, frolicked in the San Fernando Valley, chilled out in the Sonoma Valley, and gawked at the beauty we passed along the way (particularly some stunning lunar displays!). There is very little like spending time with your family outside of the normal constraints of schools, works, camps, and the ticking clock of the weekend. We wandered around a bit, saw some old friends, bonded with some newer friends, ate so much amazing food that I must ingest nothing but raw vegetable juice for a week or two to get back down to fighting strength (the homemade porchetta was the highlight – shazaam!).

We didn’t have much of a media related vacation, though we did finally see for the first time THE WEDDING CRASHERS, which was significantly funnier than I expected. Bradley Cooper was a revelation, and Vince Vaughn was definitely at the top of his game in this tale of two dudes who work a wedding season like few others. There style? Crash weddings, eat/drink/be merry, and then hook up with the lovely ladies they meet at the party. Rachel McAdams was excellent as the accidental love interest of Owen Wilson’s character, and after loving her in SLINGS & ARROWS (Season One), it was fun to see her star power translate to the big screen. I always worry that a comedy will just be stupid in the bright light its own buzz, but I can confidently say that this one had some true brilliance (the opening scene!) as well as a lot of laugh-out-loud moments that had me literally crying. Probably helped that I heavily employed the green ratings system, but no matter what your movie watching preferences are, I recommend this one.

You may have noticed there are some new people at Four Star Video. After 4 years of working here, Jeff is moving on. He has gotten into an amazing art school and flying away from the nest. We are going to miss him very much, but we wish him the very best! This Sunday (July 24th) is his last day. We will have a couple bottles of wine around during the evening, so come have a toast to Jeff and contribute to what is sure to be a very drunken work night for him. I hope he gives you your right movie.

Soon, there will be more changes. Andrew has been on and off the schedule lately and now is going off it again for a little while. It turns out he is a student, too! Go figure. Soon, Tanya will be flying off to college as well. My goodness! Such change! Well, as Amy says “change is a must”. True, true. We wish these guys well, and look forward to the new relationships that we will make.

In the meantime, we have movies here at Four Star Video. Lots and lots of them. This very week there is a big new stack, and I’ve written a bit about them below. I think you’ll find a couple things there that you might not have heard about, but that might tickle your fancy (whatever your fancy may be!).

Alrighty, that’s all folks, hope to see you at the stores.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

Oh, P.S. – Some artist words of note. My band Static People is playing in the East Bay this Friday, July 22nd at The Shattuck Down Low. This is sure to be a fun show, so come rock out with us. What? You don’t go to the East Bay except to visit your sister? Well, then, my band Static People is playing next Thursday, July 28th at The Red Devil Lounge. That show is the finals of a long competition that we have been involved in. If we win, we will get shipped to Quebec for a huge music festival in September. So come support, if ya like Rock and Roll. Also, my art that I make and sell at Succulence will be on display the month of August in the East Bay at The Rare Bird. There will be an art opening on August 16th, which I’ll tell you more about later. There will be lots of crazy things there, and I am very excited about it! What? You don’t go to the East Bay except to visit your Mother? Well, it seems that my art will also be on display at The Stray Bar here on Cortland in September. When that is all confirmed up, I will give you details. Okey-dokey then.

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

DAWNING.
Horror.
* Indie horror film about a family visit at a secluded cabin by a lake in Minnesota who have a bad vacation. Take note, Andrew!

LIMITLESS.****BD****
Action/Suspense.
Bradley Cooper/Robert De Niro/Abbie Cornish/Anna Friel.
Directed by Neil Burger.
* I am pretty sure this film is about me, because it says it is about a writer (Cooper) who takes a drug which allows him to evolve into the perfect version of himself! They do appear to take liberties with my story, because then he becomes the target of many bad guys, including a mogul (De Niro) who imagines he can used to make lots of money. Sadly, side effects create bigger problems than just dealing with non-witty party conversation, and the writer’s amazing future starts looking sort of like Algernon’s.

THE MUSIC ROOM.
Criterion/Drama/Black and White/Foreign (Bengali).
Directed by Satyajit Ray.
* This 1959 film reminds me a tiny bit of THE COMPANY MEN. It is the tale of a landlord, whose money is drying up, yet cannot help himself from continuing to live a lavish life, even as the reality of his shrinking funds becomes more and more evident. Regardless of his families desire to curtail spending and get a handle on their vanishing empire, the landlord continues to spend money on his gorgeous music room and the wild parties he hosts there. Eventually, reality bears down heartily.

PEEP WORLD.****BD****
Comedy.
Michael C. Hall/Sarah Silverman/Rainn Wilson/Kate Mara/Ben Schwartz.
Directed by Barry Blaustein.
* Ah, family, the ultimate expose. Can we keep secrets from our friends and neighbors? Not when family is about. It’s like what Uncle Buddy said in the J.D. Salinger classic, “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters”, “I am a writer, and therefore not a nice man”. In this film, a family gathering for the patriarch’s 70th birthday must reconcile the fact that the youngest of his four children has just written a novel exposing all the darkest secrets of the family. Yikes!

POTICHE.****BD****
Comedy/Foreign (French).
Catherine Deneuve/Gerard Depardieu.
Directed by Francois Ozon.
* Potiche is the French term for trophy wife, and that is what Catherine Deneuve plays in this new comedy from Ozon. In this comedy of errors, she must take over the family business after her husband is kidnapped by his workers. She is doing quite a fine job, thank you very much, until her ex-lover and life-long unionizer (Depardieu) arrives on the scene.

SMALL TOWN MURDER SONGS.
Drama/Crime/Thriller.
* Slow moving film about a murder in a small religious community that upsets the flow of things and disturbs a man who has been dealing with his own violent past.

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

DUMBSTRUCK.
Comedy.
* No, it’s not a mockumentary, it’s actually a story about some ventriloquists and features their live performances.

THE LIFE & WORK OF CLAUDE CHABROL. DOUBLE CHECK THIS!
Documentary/Film.
* This 2002 doc examines the, ahem, life and (cough) work, of the prolific French director.

LOUIS ARMSTRONG: MASTERS OF AMERICAN MUSIC - SATCHMO.
Documentary/Music.
* This 1992 film examines the wonderful music of Armstrong.

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

DOCTOR WHO: SERIES SIX, PART ONE.
Television/Sci-Fi.

............//KIDS/............

GO DIEGO GO-FIERCEST ANIMAL RESCUES.

I’M DIRTY.
* For the kids people, for the kids.

I’M DIRTY AND I STINK.

PEANUTS: SNOOPY’S ADVENTURES.

PIPPY LONGSTOCKING: PIPPI GOES TO THE FAIR.

SMURFS: A MAGICAL SMURF ADVENTURE.
* Getting all smurfed up for the big smurfy smurf-a-thon.

YOUNG JUSTICE: SEASON ONE, VOLUME ONE.


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

BEAUTY & THE BEAST.****BD****
* The beautiful Jean Cocteau film from 1946 that all movies that share the name were based on.

************

The last two weeks of missing episodes…

13 ASSASSINS.****BD**** This one goes up to 13!
BLOODRAYNE-THIRD REICH.
COMPASSION IN EMPTINESS-DALAI LAMA AT RADIO CITY 2011.
MAX’S MAGICAL JOURNAY.
HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN.****BD****
OF GODS AND MEN.****BD**** You need to see this one.
SESAME STREET SPOOFS.
TOM & JERRY-FUR FLYING ADVENTURES-V02.
MAGRITTE-DAY & NIGHT. Documentary.
NORTH STAR AND MORE STORIES ABOUT FOLLOWING YOUR DREAMS.
PIPPI LONGSTOCKING-PIPPI & THE BALLOON.
SALT OF THE SEA. This Palestinian film looks really good.
ARTHUR.****BD**** Russell Brand in the remake of the Dudley Moore comedy.
DAVID BOWIE: THE ROAD TO THE RAILWAY. Love love love Monsieur Bowie.
DAMAGES: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON. Ding ding ding!
DINOCROS VS SUPERGATOR Who will win?
ENTOURAGE: THE COMPLETE SEVENTH SEASON. Ode to Jake.
INSIDIOUS.****BD**** Horror.
THE LINCOLN LAWYER.
MI-5: VOLUME 9.
MINTY THE ASSASSIN. I think if you like Roger Corman films this may be for you.
MIRAL. Looks awesome and heavy.
RANGO. ****BD**** Animation for the whole fam.
[ REC. ] 2. Horror!
ROBOT CHICKEN: STAR WARS III.****BD**** I know my chicken…
THE THIRD WAVE. Sean Penn documentary. Not about him, mind you.
THE THUNDERCATS: SEASON ONE, PART ONE.
ULTIMATE AVENGERS: SEASON ONE.
UNCLE BOONMEE. You may have heard about this one, another you should not miss.
WHITE IRISH DRINKERS.****BD**** My movie will be called: WHITE JEWISH POTSMOKERS.

****new release list no.323

My gosh, my peeps, I totally missed you last week! It was like I was on vacation, but I wasn’t! But I will be next week, and the week after! Ain’t life grand?

Really, it is though. It’s all about the balance sheet. You got honesty, integrity and love on the left. Then there is aggravation, irritation, back-stabbing and idiocy on the right… Also on the left is fresh fruit, butterflies (fluttering by), rainbows and pretty sunsets. Over on the right is smog, rotten avocados, broken hearts and broken toys. The left: sensuality, air, water, food, flowers, kindness. The right: greediness, selfishness (except when it is necessary for self-preservation), unemployment, soullessness, hindrance, encumbrance, vexation. Left – music (unless it is grating), dirt (unless you just need to be clean), sunshine (when shade and water are available), rain (except when you are cold, and unprepared). Right – illness, physical pain (unless you like that kind of thing), oppression, fear, loss, hopelessness. Weigh it out. Scrape stuff off the right. Add liberally to the left (not trying to make a political statement with the left and right stuff here, but if it feels right, run with it).

It’s kind of trite to say, but it’s seems like when we want life to seem great, that is available to us, and when we want it to be cruddy, that’s there, too. Is it that simple? Do we just need to want life to be good to have it be good? Maybe, peeps, it may be.

Well, enough of that. Seen anything good lately? Amy and I just finished watching the UK version of LIFE ON MARS. It was a customer suggestion (thanks!) and we went with it. The show ran for just two seasons and followed a detective who had an accident and woke up in 1973. Is he mad? In a coma? Or really back in time? Whatever's happened, it’s like he’s landed on another planet. Now if he can work out the reason, maybe he can get home. That’s the voice over on in the intro. It took me all 16 episodes to get it down, and I may be off a word or two, but you get the point. Basically, the show is a detective show with a psychedelic twist and we really enjoyed it. It gets my recommendation. We also recently watched ROBIN HOOD, starring that fellow Russell Crowe and the wonderful Cate Blanchett. I had suggested to Amy that I wanted to watch a destruction- based action film, and frankly, it fit the bill perfectly! I don’t watch a ton of action flicks, so I am sure this movie sucked for many people, but for me, there were good battle scenes, a nice amount of bloodshed, arrows, chain-mail, and angry monarchs! I missed the end, b/c the kiddo woke up and climbed into our bed and cried at the sounds of the movie, but even so, I fully enjoyed it. Go figure.

There is a nice batch of movies out this week. BARNEY’S VERSION, starring Paul Giamatti, and SUCKER PUNCH are the bigger Hollywood titles. There are also a bunch of cool Criterion releases, as well as COWBOY BEBOP THE MOVIE out on Blu-ray. Last week, THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU came out as well. Check it out!

Btw: for those of you who know I am a musician, my band The Dont’s has been on an extended hiatus, and I have been rocking with some other bands lately. One such band, Static People, has a show this Thursday at The Stud! The band is really awesome and features a front woman, Dmitra Smith, who is total star material and will probably be rocking on the MTV one day soon. I have been honored to rock with them this summer, and this show should be super fun. We go on at 10:15pm. See you there!

Alrighty, that’s all folks, hope to see you at the stores.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

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

3 BACKYARDS.
Drama.
Edie Falco/Elias Koteas/Embeth Davidtz.
Directed by Eric Mendelsohn.
* This film follows three people in suburbia during one day in Autumn. For Mendelsohn, it is his second feature film, after 1999’s quirky JUDY BERLIN, also starring Falco.

BARNEY’S VERSION.****BD****
Comedy/Drama.
Paul Giamatti/Rosamund Pike/Minnie Driver/Dustin Hofffman.
Directed by Richard J. Lewis.
*Barney Panofsky (Giamatti) is a loud-mouthed, brash, irritating, boorish guy who lives life to the Nth degree full-time. In this somewhat lovable story, Barney reflects on his mistakes, his fortunes and his path as the finality of his existence comes into focus.

BEASTLY.
Drama/Fantasy/Romance.
Vanessa Hudgens/Alex Pettyfer/Mary-Kate Olsen.
Directed by Daniel Barnz.
* It’s “Beauty & The Beast” retold with the main characters set as teens in New York.

BLACK MOON.
Criterion/Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Foreign (English and French).
Directed by Louis Malle.
* This 1975 phantasmagorical story is strange and beautiful and involves a unicorn living with a very strange family. There is much escape from reality in this tale!

BLOODWORTH.
Drama.
Val Kilmer/Kris Kristofferson/Hilary Duff.
Directed by Shane Dax Taylor.
* Bloodworth is a wandering country musician who comes home after decades away to find angry and embittered family members waiting for him. Just as a side-note – Duff is actually a pretty good young actor, and probably raises this films watchability factor by a lot.

LEBANON, PA.
Drama/Comedy.
Josh Hopkins/Samantha Mathis.
Directed by Ben Hickernell.
* This bittersweet tale is about a man who heads home to bury his father, and the complicated familial relationships that he reconnects with while there.

MAX MANUS: MAN OF WAR.
Drama/Suspense/War/Foreign (Norweigan/Russian/German/English/Finnish).
* This intense story is about a real person, a brutally conflicted saboteur during WWII.

PEOPLE ON SUNDAY.
Criterion/Drama/Comedy/Black & White/Silent.
Directed by Robert Siodmak.
* This 1930 movie is nearly a documentary, as everyone basically plays themselves. They are people, working jobs, carrying on affairs, dreaming dreams and basically just living for Sunday, when they will head to the beach, flirt, joke, drink and laugh as they try to fit everything into one glorious afternoon. I guess for all time everybody’s working for the weekend.

SEASON OF THE WITCH.
Adventure/Fantasy/Unintentional Comedy.
Nicholas Cage/Ron Perlman.
Directed by Dominic Sena.
* Cage’s strange career continues, this time he plays a 14th century Knight, transporting a witch to a monastery to destroy her and try to save the world. In other news, his tax problems continue.

SK8 LIFE.
Drama/Skateboarding.
Directed by Wyeth Clarkson.
* A group of skaters band together to save something they love. And look cute skating all over the place.

SUCKER PUNCH.****BD****
Action/Fantasy.
Emily Browning/Vanessa Anne Hudgens/Abby Cornish/Jamie Chung.
Directed by Zack Snyder.
* Weird, heavy and sad film about a young girl institutionalized by her abusive father who escapes into a fantasy world where she and other young woman are going to fight to escape the sanitarium before she is scheduled to be lobotomized.

WHITE LIGHTNIN’.
Drama.
Edward Hogg/Carrie Fisher.
Directed by Dominic Murphy.
* Remember Jesco White, "the dancing outlaw”? There was a great documentary about him and his West Virginia gun-toting, whiskey drinking, dancing ways. This is a feature film about the guy, and his life.

ZAZIE DANS LE METRO.
Criterion/Comedy.
Edward Hogg/Carrie Fisher.
Directed by Louis Malle.
* This madcap 60’s comedy is about a 12-year-old girl who goes awol while staying with relatives in Paris while her mom is off having an affair.

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

BOB DYLAN-GOTTA DO MY TIME.
Documentary/Music.
* A look at Dylan’s life during the 1970’s and 1980’s. Great footage, as usual.

HEMPSTERS-PLANT THE SEED.
Documentary/Social Policy.
Directed by Michael Henning.
* As Peter Tosh sang, “Legalize it, and I will advertise it”. Come on people, move on dot org already. Not surprisingly, Woody Harrelson and Willie Nelson are in this film following a group of hemp activists working to change the laws around the world.

............//KIDS/............

DANNY AND THE DINOSAUR.

THE DAY JIMMY’S BOA ATE THE WASH.

GERALD MCBOING BOING COLLECTION.

TIMMY TIME: PICTURE DAY.

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

COWBOY BEBOP: THE MOVIE.****BD****
* Brilliant animation.

************

In last week’s missing episode…

THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU.****BD**** Matt Damon in a Philip K. Dick story.
BEDWAYS. - Shazaaam!
CEDAR RAPIDS. - Comedy.
CEREMONY.****BD**** Uma. Romantic comedy.
THE CLOSER: THE COMPLETE 6th SEASON.
DIARY OF A WIMPY KID 2: RODRICK RULES.
THE EAGLE.****BD**** Channing Tatum, buff, Roman, dangerous.
ECLIPSE SERIES 27-RAFFAELLO MATARAZZOS RUNAWAY MELODRAMAS. - These Eclipse series are Criterion Collections and are generally must-sees for cinema fans.
ELEKTRA LUXX. - Pregnant porn star seeks new career. Is it comedy? Says “action”. Uh-huh.
HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE. - Indie.
HARVEST.
KISS ME DEADLY. - Criterion by Robert Aldrich.
LOUIS: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON.****BD****
MARPLE: PALE HORSE.
NICKELODEON: BIG BOX OF PLAY DATES.
NICKELODEON FAVORITES: SUMMER VACATION!
POISON: 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION. - Todd Haynes freaky film.
ROCKO’S MODERN LIFE: SEASON ONE.
UNKNOWN.****BD**** Liam Neeson, action thriller.

****new release list no.322

Hey peeps! Its mid-June 2011, for those of you living on an island with a calendar or the internet. How are you reading this? Nevermind.

We had a monster week of releases last week, and this week is pretty big again. HALL PASS, starring Owen Wilson, Jenna Fischer, Richard Jenkins and Christina Applegate imagines the hijinks that would ensue if a couple married women gave their husbands “hall passes” to get into whatever sexual situations that they want to for one week without any fear of trouble. Of course, the women get hall passes, too. Which somehow gives the dudes a bit more problems than they bargained for. What I want to know is why these guys are complaining, considering the women they are married to. They are super smart, hot women! I guess the ass is always eener. Typo!

In RED RIDING HOOD, Amanda Seyfried plays the young lassie who lives in a medieval village that is beset with a problematic werewolf who lately is chowing people at an alarming rate. Valerie (as Red is named here) is struggling with the usual love story…she wants to marry one guy, and her folks want her to marry another. Things get further complicated when the werewolf hunter the town hires points out that probably the werewolf is one of them. Spooky!

Aaron Eckhart, in the new film BATTLE: LOS ANGELES, plays a marine near the end of his career who makes his last stand fighting off aliens in Los Angeles. Michelle Rodriguez kicks some alien butt as well.

Chris Messina and Rashida Jones play a couple preparing for marriage who are struggling with cold feet in MONOGAMY. Messina’s character is a photographer who, bored with his regular wedding gigs, begins a new business stalking his clients and taking voyeuristic shots of them.

Are you worried about the bees? There has been a relatively shocking and not very explainable disappearance of them over the last decade. The documentary VANISHING OF THE BEES takes on this confusing topic and attempts to come to some conclusions.

There are a huge amount of new kids DVD’s, including a bunch of LITTLE RASCALS among other things. Also, there are some good older films newly put out on Blu-ray, including the animation classic HEAVY METAL. Scroll down to read about all the films.

It is that “Best of” time of year again. Help Four Star get the city-wide recognition it deserves! You can vote for us for Best Video Store on page four of the poll. Hey, while you’re there, write in Succulence as Best Funky Plant Store, too (I think you’ll have to make up that category). Last year, Succulence was voted best Succor or Succulence by the staff of the Guardian.

Alrighty, that’s all folks, hope to see you at the stores.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

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

A MATADOR’S MISTRESS.
Drama/Romance.
Adrien Brody/Penelope Cruz.
Directed by Menno Meyjes.
* This is a love story based on a real life matador and the woman he loves.

ADRIFT.
Drama.
Camilla Belle/Vincent Cassel.
Directed by Heitor Dhalia.
* Set in the 80’s, this is a coming-of-age story of a teenage girl who discovers her father’s infidelity while on vacation with him, and then discovers many other secrets.

BATTLE LOS ANGELES.****BD****
Action/War.
Aaron Eckhart/Michael Pena/Bridget Moynahan/Michelle Rodriguez.
Directed by Jonathan Liebesman.
* Los Angeles is mercifully destroyed by aliens…Hold on. Wait, that’s not it…Los Angeles is the last place NOT yet destroyed by aliens, and where a tough aging Marine captain (Eckhart) has his last stand, trying to protect earth from the invading force. And, of course no action film would be complete with Michelle Rodriguez blowing stuff up.

BIG MOMMA: LIKE FATHER LIKE SON.
Comedy/Action.
Martin Lawrence/Brandon T. Jackson.
Directed by John Whitesell.
* Big Momma goes undercover with his step-son at an all-girls school.

CHATROOM.
Drama.
Aaron Johnson/Imogene Poots.
Directed by Hideo Nakata.
* Parents pay close attention! Kids wearing black are probably worshipping satan! Wait…what? Wrong decade? That was the 80’s? Okay…Parents pay close attention! Kids spending a lot of time online are probably pretending to be people they are no while videoblogging their worst behavior behind your back! Or maybe that’s just what these snide kids are doing…in the Chatroom!

HALL PASS.****BD****
Comedy/Romance.
Owen Wilson/Jason Sudeikis/Christina Applegate/Jenna Fischer/Richard Jenkins/Amanda Bynes.
Directed by Peter Farrelly Bobby Farrelly.
* How’s your marriage? Wish you had a “hall pass” for some bad behavior that will be forgiven? That’s what Rick (Wilson) and Fred (Sudeikis) think. When their wives acquiesce and they are granted their freedom, they are completely incompetent and barely able to do anything but giggle at their options. Meanwhile, their wives are free that week, too, and not wasting time…

INSIGNIFICANCE.
Criterion/Comedy.
Gary Busey/Theresa Russell.
Directed by Nicolas Roeg.
* This strange fable-like film from 1985 imagine four 1950’s era icons (Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio and Senator Joseph MacCarthy) meeting in a hotel room. The director of this also made WALKABOUT and THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH.

JACKASS 3.5 THE MOVIE.
Drama/Crime.
Johnny Knoxville/Chris Pontius.
Directed by.
* These guys are total jackasses.

KILL THE IRISHMAN.
Drama/Crime.
Val Kilmer/Christopher Walken/Linda Cardelini/Vincent D’Onofrio.
Directed by Jonathan Hensleigh.
* From the imdb: The true story of Danny Greene, a tough Irish thug working for mobsters in Cleveland during the 1970's.

KORKORO.
Drama/Foreign (French/German/Romany).
Directed by Tony Gatlif.
* From the director of 1993’s acclaimed Gypsy documentary LATCHO DROM, comes this story of a Gypsy family traveling in France during World War II. They are arrested for being nomads and imprisoned, and deal with the indignities of being vilified for their lifestyle. However, when given an opportunity to get out of jail and live on gifted property, their ingrained need for movement prevents them from settling down.

LATINO.
War/Drama.
Directed by Haskell Wexler.
*A drama from 1985, this film is set in Nicaragua and deals with the rebel Contras fighting the Sandinista government.

LEGEND OF THE FIST: THE RETURN OF CHEN ZHEN.****BD****
Action/Foreign (Cantonese/Mandarin/Japanese/English).
Donnie Yen.
Directed by Wai-keung Lau.
* Seven years after supposedly being killed a young man returns to wreak his vengeance.

THE MAKIOKA SISTERS.
Criterion/Drama/Foreign (Japanese).
Directed by Kon Ichikawa.
* This lush and sensual story tells about four sisters who gather each year in Kyoto to see the gorgeous cherry blossoms. In 1984, this film was heavily nominated for Japanese Film Academy Awards.

MARVEL KNIGHTS: SPIDER-WOMAN.
Adventure/Animation.

MONOGAMY.
Drama/Suspense.
Chris Messina/Rashida Jones/Meital Dohan
Directed by Dana Shapiro.
* A photographer, struggling with his upcoming nuptials and bored with his life, begins a creepy side business taking voyeuristic stalking photos of his new clients…this creates disharmony and stretches his truth telling capabilities.

RED RIDING HOOD.****BD****
Suspense/Fantasy.
Amanda Seyfried/Gary Oldman/Lukas Haas.
Directed by Catherine Hardwicke.
* Valerie (Seyfried) is NOT little, thus the title. She is, however, a very attractive woman in a red hoodie, which garners her much attention in the medieval village she lives in. But who is the wolf? That is the question the village must ask itself when they bring in a famous werewolf hunter to help them fend off the nasty human eater lingering in the woods when the moon is full. Like everyone else, he wants to eat Valerie cuz she does looks tasty in that red riding hood.

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

VANISHING OF THE BEES.
Documentary/Nature.
Narrated by Ellen Page.
Directed by George Langworthy and Maryan Heinen.
* This film examines the relationship between humans and honey bees and the bizarre situation called Colony Collapse Disorder which has led to the disappearance of millions of bees.

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

DOCTOR WHO: FRONTIOS.
Sci-fi TV.

DOCTOR WHO: TIME AND THE RANI.
Sci-fi TV.

............//KIDS/............

BOB THE BUILDER: BIG DINO DIG THE MOVIE.

HAVE A LAUGH VOL 3.

HAVE A LAUGH VOL 4.

THE LITTLE RASCALS: VOL. 1.

THE LITTLE RASCALS: VOL. 2.

THE LITTLE RASCALS: VOL. 3.

THE LITTLE RASCALS: VOL. 4.

THE LITTLE RASCALS: VOL. 5.

THE LITTLE RASCALS: VOL. 6.

THE LITTLE RASCALS: VOL. 7.

SPONGEBOB: HEROS OF BIKINI BOTTOM.
* Uh…

YO GABBA GABBA: CIRCUS!

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

HEAVY METAL.
* I remember watching the preview for this movie while sitting in the theatre with my dad getting ready to watch STRIPES and being somewhat dumbfounded and super crazy intrigued.

JOHNNY MNEMONIC.
* This movie takes place in 2021…just ten years from now…Accurate portrayal of the future?

TRANSFORMERS.

............//THE REPLACEMENTS/............

CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY.
* Remains one of my top ten movies.

************

****new release list no.321

Hey hey! Do you have grit? Perseverance? Resilience? Hardiness? Ambition? Do you have TRUE GRIT? Rooster Cogburn does…He’s also got whiskey! And just one eye, but we don’t know where the other one went. But, we aren’t really on a need-to-know basis, so it doesn’t actually really matter. Rooster Cogburn is a US Marshal, at a time when Marshal’s are for sale, and the law cost hard cash (or whiskey, occasionally). Not that they’d necessarily be bad guys for your currency, but if you want them to chase down the guy who shot your daddy, you better have some good old American money or you might be out of luck. Luckily, Mattie Ross has money, and she’s got balls! She wants to see her daddy’s killer hang, and she’s willing to tote the rifle if necessary.

At first blush, Cogburn doesn’t really seem up to the task. Does he really have grit? True grit? It takes a while for us to be sure while watching the Coen Brothers new version of the 1969 film that saw John Wayne win an Oscar for his portray of Cogburn. It’s Jeff Bridges who has the task this time. His growly voice and his stumbly body language give us a pretty clear idea that he’s spent some time at the bar. Although we aren’t sure if he’s gonna show staying power, we won’t be surprised if he doesn’t, as he has all the makings of a bum with a badge. Now Mattie on the other hand, we don’t know much about her. Why is she so smart? Where is her confidence from? Why does she know all the legal jargon she is throwing around? There’s not a lot of surprises in Ethan and Joel’s movie, and not nearly as much tension as in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. But it is a solid film, and both Bridges and Matt Damon (as a Texas Ranger chasing the same bad guy) are fun to watch. There aren’t a lot of Westerns being made these days, but for me, I can stomach violence and brutality in the historical context of a dog eat dog world, significantly more than I can deal with desperate people shooting each other in today’s dog eat dogfood world.

TRUE GRIT is the biggest release this week, but we have probably the biggest week of new movies we’ve had all year. The other big titles are THE COMPANY MEN, starring Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Costner and Chris Cooper. Affleck plays a yuppie whose life is thrown into turmoil when he is downsized from the fat corporate gig he has been working. Now he can’t find a job, he can’t make payments on his sports car, he feels emasculated and desperate, and he’s forced to turn to jobs that he isn’t necessarily qualified to do just so he can bring home some money for the family. It is a very real story that millions of people worldwide have struggled with, and Affleck actually brings a quiet dignity to his role. In JUST GO FOR IT, Adam Sandler plays a guy who is hot for a woman 20+ years younger than him. By some strange twist of fate, he tells a stupid lie that than snowballs until he finds himself getting his friends to keep lying for him so that he can continue pursuit of this beautiful young woman. Lies upon lies upon lies. And it’s a comedy! ANOTHER YEAR is the newest offering from Mike
Leigh. His special talent for exposing normal life is again on display in this portrayal of life as seen through a couple’s relationship with their community through one cycle of the four seasons. Life, death, love, hate…It’s all so fucking poignant. James Cameron is one of like 400 producers on the film SANCTUM, but he’s the one whose name is on the cover. The film follows a group of underwater scientists whose exploration of a deep cave gets dangerous, and crisis ensues! They get in way over their heads. Be-dum ching!

I also recommend you watch the horror comedy story RUBBER about a runaway tire with a personality and the ability to do much damage. It’s like a reaction to Hollywood, and its seemingly meaningless films that it just pumps out. And I hear it is both deep and deeply funny. The tire has a name. It’s Robert. Also, THE HOUSEMAID is out. Another suspenseful film from Korea, this one is about the vengeful response by the women of a household to the man of the house hooking up with the maid. Bad idea, fellow.

There is insanely anticipated television this week. I forgot to mention TRUE BLOOD: SEASON THREE last week, but it is here, and on Blu-ray, too. Also, season three of BREAKING BAD is here this week…let me check – yup, there is a copy of that on Blu-ray as well. Also out this week is the first season of THE BIG C, which stars Laura Linney as a cancer patient. Linney rules, as many of you will agree, so I imagine the show is pretty good. PRETTY LITTLE LIARS is out this week, as well as the fourth season of BURN NOTICE. Also of note, both seasons of the very popular HBO show ROME have arrived at the store on Blu-ray as well. Whoop.

There are a huge amount of kids films here this week (scroll down parents), a big amount of new Blu-ray releases (HAIR, DEATH AT A FUNERAL, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, A MAN CALLED HORSE), and there is also a big stack of great looking documentaries. If you like the nature stuff by BBC Earth, you must watch MADAGARSCAR! It is the stuff of dreams. It is the reason the made hi-def cameras. It is a gorgeous and awe-inspiring and rich and magical and again, if nature is your thing, then you will be psyched. Also visually amazing is LEGENDS OF FLIGHT, a movie made to highlight the richness of the Imax movie system. KINGS OF PASTRY, about a French pastry competition, looks great as does several other docs out this week…check them out. Literally.

There is a little list of films I didn’t write about last week at the bottom. The most important one is BIUTIFUL, starring the fantastic Javier Bardem. The movie garnished some Academy Award nominations and Bardem does his usual job of conveying so much through his big droopy eyes. It is a heavy and sad film, but a very powerful one as well.

A couple quick bits of local news in this week where my beautiful son turns 10 and my beautiful wife has a birthday too (tactful!). Skip’s will be having a soft reopening quite soon, with new owners, a new name, newly redecorated with a great new vibe. I don’t drink, but I am really looking forward to checking this place out. Maybe some of you will join me? I will post about it on the Four Star Video page on Facebook when I hear it is opening.

Also, the Bernal Heights Outdoor Film festival has extended its submission dates. You can read all about the festival here, including information as to how to submit. This festival is wonderful, and it’s a great way to expose your friends and neighbors to your work. Come on artists, do it!

Alrighty, that’s all folks, hope to see you at the stores.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

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

ANOTHER YEAR.****BD****
Comedy/Drama.
Jim Broadbent/Lesley Manville/Ruth Sheen.
Directed by Mike Leigh.
* Leigh has made a career of awkward, illuminating family stories that grate, discomfort and eventually enlighten. In this, the couple, Tom (Broadbent) and Geri (Sheen) are a mostly happy family surrounded by friends that can’t really say the same. The four seasons pass in this community and we experience the changes, both dramatic and subtle that everyone goes through, as another year flits gently by.

BLUE CRUSH 2.
Drama/Adventure.
Directed by Mike Elliot.
* Epic waves, mondo break, gnarly wipeouts, and footage guaranteed to make you yearn for the green room are all featured in this sequel about a girl who heads to South Africa armed with her mom’s journals and a desire to fulfill her mom’s dream to surf Jeffrey’s Bay.

CARANCHO.
Suspense/Drama/Romance/Foreign (Spanish).
Directed by Pablo Trapero.
* Tense story about a corrupt doctor and an ambulance chasing lawyer who fall in love in Argentina.

THE COMPANY MEN.****BD****
Drama.
Ben Affleck/Tommy Lee Jones/Kevin Kostner/Chris Cooper/Maria Bello/Rosemarie DeWitt/Craig T. Nelson.
Directed by John Wells.
* Don’t let the artwork fool you. This is a subtle and well-acted portrait of a man whose well-manicured life that includes a beautiful wife, cute kids, a slick car and a big house comes crashing down around him when the economy tanks and he loses his job. The film is about redefining yourself, and the struggle to make it happen for your family, whatever it takes, whatever it means.

GREEN LANTERN: EMERALD KNIGHTS.
Sci-Fi/Animation/Adventure.
* The second in a line of 3 “green” superhero movies, this one is NOT the live-action film you have been hearing about. However it is a made-for-adults (or big kids) movie about Mr. Lantern and the illuminating effect he has on bad guys.

THE HOUSEMAID.
Suspense/Foreign (Korean).
Jung-Jae Lee/Do-yeon Jeon.
Directed by Sang-soo Im.
* When a man starts hooking it up with his family maid, it brings nasty consequences from the women in the household.

JUST GO WITH IT.****BD****
Comedy/Romance.
Adam Sandler/Jennifer Aniston/Nicole Kidman/Brooklyn Decker.
Directed by Dennis Dugan.
* Ah, the little lies we tell and the big trouble it gets us in…In this, Sandler plays a guy who tells a throw-away lie which he then must back up with bigger and bigger lies as he is tracking the girl of his dreams.

NICE GUY JOHNNY.
Drama.
Directed by the Edward Burns.
* He’s a nice guy, but also kind of a schmuck. He leaves his radio gig to get something more appropriate for his soon-to-be wife. Then her uncle suggests a little hanky panky (not with him) before the wedding. Then we get to find out just how much of a nice guy Johnny is.

RUBBER.
Horror/Comedy.
Stephen Spinella/Jack Plotnick.
Directed by the Quentin Dupieux.
* Robert is made of rubber. No, really! He is a rubber tire. And he’s alive! And he can destroy anything he wants! And he does, yes he does. The question is can anyone burn Rubber? I mean, Robert. I don’t know. But you can find out. By watching the movie.

SANCTUM.****BD****
Action/Suspense.
Directed by Alister Grierson.
Produced by James Cameron.
* It’s about an underwater science team that are exploring a very inaccessible cave when tragic crisis erupts!

SHADOWS AND LIES.
Drama/Romance/Crime.
James Franco/Julianne Nicholson.
Produced by Jay Anania.
* Franco plays William, a guy who was forced by threat of death to leave New York but now comes back to try to rescue the woman he loves.

TRUE GRIT.****BD****
Western/Drama.
Jeff Bridges/Hailee Steinfeld/Matt Damon/Josh Brolin.
Directed by the Coen Brothers.
* It’s one of those “not” remakes, where the screenwriters adapt a story not a screenplay. The original film starred John Wayne and won him a Best Actor Oscar. This one was nominated for 10 Oscars, but didn’t win any of them. The story is about a young girl (Steinfeld, in what is bound to be a breakout role for her) who wants justice for the murder of her father and is willing to go great lengths to get it. She hires Rooster Cogburn (Bridges, wonderful again), a hard-drinking, one-eyed US Marshall, to track down the murderer and bring him back to hang for his crime. They encounter a Texas Ranger (Damon) who has been tracking the same guy for months since he killed a politician (not that one) down in Texas. Although none of this unlikely team is really on the same page with one another, they end up working together as long as they can. The kid asks Cogburn if he’s got “grit”. She was told he did, and guess what? He does.

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

KINGS OF PASTRY.
Documentary/Food/Foreign (English and French).
* This doc follows top pastry chefs from around the world as they compete in the Meilleur Ouvrier de France for recognition as the top pastry chef. I hear it is funny and amazing.

LEGENDS OF FLIGHT.****BD****
Documentary/Imax.
* Intense and amazing flight footage in this doc originally made to highlight the incredible effects of the Imax theatre system.

MADAGASCAR.****BD****
Documentary/Nature/BBC Earth.
Narrated by David Attenborough.
* My god, if you like the nature documentaries, this one is going to blow your mind. In Madagascar, animals evolved differently than many other parts of the world. As always, the BBC Earth team has filmed this world in the most gloriously vivid way possible. You will swing with the lemurs and crawl with the chameleons as you explore the complex beauty that is this enormous and sparsely populated island off the southern coast of Africa.

THE PLANETS.
Documentary/Science/Space.
Directed by
* Do you ever find yourself staring up at the sky at night? Looking at the stars and wondering all the little things you’ve ever wondered since you were a kid about existence, reality and the overwhelmingly bigness of it all? Well, this documentary will provide you with all the answers!

SWEETGRASS.
Documentary.
* From the imdb: In the summer of 2003, a group of shepherds took a herd of sheep one final time through the Beartooth Mountains of Montana, in the extreme northwest of the United States. It was a journey of almost 300 kilometers through expansive green valleys, by fields of snow, and across hazardous, narrow ridges - a journey brimming with challenges. The aging shepherds do their very best to keep the hundreds of sheep together; the panoramic high mountains are teeming with hungry wolves and grizzly bears.

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

THE BIG C: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON.
Television/Comedy/Drama.
Laura Linney/Gabourey Sidibe/Oliver Platt/John Hickey.
* The fact is that if you are a Laura Linney fan, anything she does is a must-see. This new Showtime series is no different, in fact, she won the 2010 Golden Globe Best Actress Award for her work as a cancer patient struggling to fit her diagnosis into her already packed life.

BREAKING BAD: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON.****BD****
Television/Drama.
* The return to DVD of one of the most intense shows on television, season three continues the story of the ex-teacher turned meth-maker who is deeper than he ever intended to be in bad bad shit with big-time dealers, feds, guns and drugs that will rot your teeth just thinking about them.

BURN NOTICE: SEASON FOUR.
Television/Crime/Comedy.
* A team of “burned” spies continues to work undercover without the benefit of government support.

PRETTY LITTLE LIARS: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON.
Television/Mystery/Drama.
* They’re cute, but don’t believe a word they say.

TRUE BLOOD: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON.****BD****
Television/Vampire/GMOs.
* This came out last week, but I thought it was worthy of a bigger mention than the list at the bottom. Season three continues the story of Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton, and the big bad world of blood sucking that happens around them.

............//KIDS/............

ANGELINA BALLERINA: POP STAR GIRLS.

BANDS ON THE RUN.

BRATZ: BEST FRIENDS.

ELMOS WORLD: PEOPLE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.

THE LION THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE.

MADELINE AND HER FRIENDS.

ROARY THE RACING CAR.

THE SCRAMBLED STATES OF AMERICA.

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

THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCELLA: QUEEN OF THE DESERT.
Comedy.
* Brilliant comedy from down under about three drag queens heading to a gig in the sticks.

A MAN CALLED HORSE.
* Richard Harris as an Englishman capture by the Sioux.

DEATH AT A FUNERAL.
Comedy.
* This is the original British version of the super funny movie.

HAIR.
Drama/Musical.
* Let the sun shine, let the sun shine, the sun shine in.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST.
* The Sergio Leone masterpiece starring Henry Fonda and many more.

ROME: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON.
Drama/HBO.
* That’s right, ROME on blu-ray!

ROME: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON.
Drama/HBO.

............//LAST WEEK!!!/............

A little stack of movies from last week that were not yet written about including one must-see film, BIUTIFUL, starring Javier Bardem

PICASSO AND BRAQUE GO TO THE MOVIES. Cool doc about art and early cinema.

THE KIDS IN THE HALL: DEATH COMES TO TOWN. A nice return from the hysterical Canadian comic troop.

DRIVE ANGRY. Nicholas Cage in another scratch your head performance, this time in an action film about a felon who breaks out of hell to avenge his daughter’s death.

BIUTIFUL. Javier Bardem in an Academy Award nominated performance about a man living in the underworld of Barcelona and struggling to keep his affairs in order.

UNDERTOW. Drama about a young married fisherman who is in love with a gay painter in town.

STREETBALL. Documentary.

KABOOM. Psychedelic lgbt comedy sci-fi thriller!

************

****new release list no.320

I AM NUMBER TWELVE! But no one has made a film about my life, so that’s not the release we have this week. No, instead, it is I AM NUMBER FOUR about a teenager in some sort of deep disguise trying to avoid the terrible fates of Numbers 1, 2 and 3. I think this is kind of tweener, teen-age sci-fi movie. It does have Timothy Olyphant (from JUSTIFIED) in it, so that’s appealing.

Also out this week is GNOMEO AND JULIET, which Shila assures me is terrific. My kids haven’t watched it yet, but I imagine it is a fun one for the kids. We’ve been plowing (for the first time) through the SHREK series, which has been super fun. All four of us were crying with laughter at the end of SHREK THE THIRD, when Donkey and Puss in Boots were showcasing their dance moves during the credits. Funny stuff. GNOMEO has some serious star power…putting voices to the animation are James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Jason Statham and more. Somehow I doubt this one ends the same way as Mr. Shakespeare’s classic.

Some interesting docs out this week include PUBLIC SPEAKING, EATRIP and CROPSEY (probably not related to Banksy, but maybe!). Also a cool looking Tom Waits movie called ONE STAR SHINING is here this week– maybe it features one of the multiple musicians in Bernal who have played in his band!

Lots of kids movies here this week. Also some interesting films made from Anton Chekhov plays. Scroll down to read all about it.

Alrighty, that’s all folks, hope to see you at the stores.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

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

CRUZANDO.
Adventure/Comedy/Drama.
. Directed by Mando Alvarado and Michael Ray Escamillo.
* A young man child has a due date which is the same day his father is scheduled to be executed in Texas. He and a friend embark on a journey to see his father one last time.

THE DUEL.
Drama.
Directed by Dover Koshashvili.
* From the Anton Chekhov play, this story is about two men, whose very different philosophies point them in the direction of serious conflict.

GNOMEO AND JULIET.****BD****
Animation/Comedy/Family.
James McAvoy/Emily Blunt/Michael Caine/Jason Statham.
Directed by Kelly Asbury.
* Yes, they are garden gnomes, but they share a deep and true love.

I AM NUMBER FOUR.****BD****
Sci-Fi/Adventure.
Alex Pettyfer/Timothy Olyphant.
Directed by D.J. Caruso.
* A mysterious teenager is not who he seems. Forces of evil are trying to destroy him as he tries to pass as a “normal” high school kid.

LILLY’S THORN.
Drama.
Windy Marshall/Michelle Trout.
Directed by Will Bain and Dewell Williams.
* Davy vs Goliath type indie tale about a woman fighting a hostile corporate real estate takeover.

THE SCENESTERS.
Comedy/Crime/Mystery/Indie.
Directed by Todd Berger.
* Indie comedy about a serial killer picking up hipsters in LA and the crime scene videographers who are trying to catch him.

THE UNLOVED.
Drama.
Molly Windsor/Robert Carlyle.
Directed by Samantha Morton.
* Academy-Award nominated actor Samantha Morton makes her directorial debut with this film about an abused young girl and the government system she gets involved with, that doesn’t really protect her or keep her from danger.

WARD NO.6.
Drama/Foreign (Russian).
Directed by Aleksandr Gornovsky and Karen Shakhnazarov.
* Another film based on writings by Anton Chekhov, this one is about a psychiatric doctor who becomes a patient in his own clinic.

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

CROPSEY
Documentary/Crime.
Directed by Barbara Brancaccio and Joshua Zeman.
* The two directors, themselves residents of Staten Island, look into some grisly murders from the 1970’s in their neck of the woods and attempt to figure out what might have happened.

EATRIP
Documentary/Food/Foreign (Japanese).
Directed by Yuri Nomura.
* Self-described as food porn, this movie explores our relationship with our food, with the people we eat with, and with nature.

PUBLIC SPEAKING.
Documentary/Sociology.
Fran Lebowitz.
Directed by Martin Scorcese.
* This doc about the philosophy and writings of Fran Lebowitz features archival footage from Truman Capote, Dorothy Parker, William F. Buckley, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison and many more.

A SMALL ACT.
Documentary/Foreign (English/Kikuyu/Swedish/Swahili).
Directed by Jennifer Arnold.
* Great example of the whole concept that your niceness and friendliness will continue onward and morph and grow and change. This movie follows a young Kenyan man who becomes the beneficiary of a Swedish stranger who decides to pay for his education. Years later, the Kenyan is now funding his scholarship program to help others.

TOM WAITS: ONE STAR SHINING.
Documentary/Music.
* This music doc focuses on the first decade of Waits glorious career.

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

CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL: THE COMPLETE FIRST AND SECOND SEASONS.
Comedy.
Created by and Starring Rob Corddry.
* Very weird, parody of multiple medical dramas.

............//KIDS/............

FANBOY AND CHUMCHUM.

THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB: MICKEY’S GREAT OUTDOORS.

THE NAPPING HOUSE AND OTHER STORIES THAT RHYME.

SPLAT THE CAT AND OTHER FURRY FRIENDS.

THE STORY ABOUT PING AND OTHER FINE FEATHERED FRIENDS.

............//NEW ADDITIONS/............

THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA.****BD****
Drama.

************

****new release list no.319

Buenas tardes amigos. Hola, my good friends.

The strange batch of releases this week include three (3) films about a young woman who falls for her teacher. Wow! I guess that is what the focus groups said we wanted to watch. At least two of them involve the woman also having an age-appropriate relationship, so a nice love triangle is added to the mix. Also, two of them or decidedly not Hollywood-ish, with one being from France (LA BELLE PERSONNE) and another being a freaky-deaky Indie film (DAYDREAM NATION, starring Kat Dennings). Lest we dismiss the Hollywood offering, THE OTHER WOMAN stars Natalie Portman, so something tells me it is worth seeing as well. Gosh, an Academy Award will really bring out the smaller releases from yesteryear, won’t it? This Portman film is from 2009.

There is also some suspense and horror at Four Star Video this week. I know, I know, I don’t order a ton of horror films. I hear it from the staff all the time. This week, however, we got you covered, with something old, something new…you know the drill. The older film is from the master, Dario Argento, called DEEP RED about a musician who witnesses a murder and the journalist who helps him investigate. In the newer department, we have two films, both sequels to THE GRUDGE from Mari Asato. Also, RITE, starring Anthony Hopkins is out this week. It is the tale of a young seminary student who travels to Italy to take part in an exorcism class. Sounds like a party! I hope these films are nice and terrifying!

The fabulous action hero, Jason Statham, teams up with upcoming star Ben Foster in a remake of a 1972 Charles Bronson film about a hitman and a young apprentice who he trains who is harboring a secret.

We also have a classic by Vittoria De Sica (the director of the amazing film BICYCLE THIEVES). In SHOESHINE, two young boys get involved in a life of crime in order to finance the purchase of a horse that they desire. Sadly, things get more complicated than they bargained for.

Don’t they always?

Alrighty, that’s all folks, hope to see you at the stores.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

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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 – Two Exchanges a month (3 movies total) – $9.99 + Tax/Month
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4SUB - Four Movies at a time – Unlimited exchange – $32.99 + Tax/Month
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............//NEW RELEASES//............

LA BELLE PERSONNE (THE BEAUTIFUL PERSON).
Drama/Foreign (French).
Louis Garrell/Lea Seydoux.
Directed by Christophe Honore.
* One of three films this week about a young woman who hooks up with her teacher. This one, much like DAYDREAM NATION (right below), follows a sad girl who has just lost her mother and has moved to a new town where she hooks up with both a nice high school boy, and her Italian teacher.

DAYDREAM NATION.****BD****
Drama/Romance.
Kat Dennings/Reece Thompson/Josh Lucas.
Directed by Michael Goldbach.
* Trippy-made tale about a high school girl, new in town, who gets involved with a teacher and a stoner classmate.

DEEP RED.
Horror/Foreign (Italian).
Directed by Dario Argento.
* This is a lesser known Argento thrill-fest from 1975 about a reporter and a musician teaming up to find a killer intent on not getting caught.

JU-ON: WHITE GHOST BLACK GHOST.
Horror/Foreign (Japanese).
Directed by Mari Asato.
* Ah, I see, this is actually two movies, both sequels to the Japanese horror film, THE GRUDGE. They are both released together on one disc.

THE MECHANIC.****BD****
Action/Suspense/Crime.
Jason Statham/Ben Foster/Donald Sutherland.
Directed by Simon West.
*Statham plays Arthur, a highly regarded hit man with a penchant for getting the job done. Steve (Foster) is a younger guy who becomes his apprentice. Unfortunately for Arthur, Steve has a few secrets that he is preparing to share.

THE OTHER WOMAN.****BD****
Comedy/Drama/Romance.
Natalie Portman/Lisa Kudrow/Lauren Ambrose.
Directed by Don Roos.
* This 2009 film is just making it to DVD. Interesting how Portman is everywhere in the movies recently. She’s terrific, so I am not complaining. In this, she plays a young woman who is the “other woman” in an older married man’s life. When he divorces to marry his pregnant girlfriend, his young son is super unhappy and angry. In a way, the feeling is mutual, as Portman’s character doesn’t really want to share her new husband. The movie has comedic elements, but eventually gets quite serious.

RITE.****BD****
Horror/Suspense.
Anthony Hopkins/Ciaran Hinds/Alice Braga.
Directed by Mikael Hofstrom.
* An exorcism film starring one of the best creepy actors of our time, Anthony Hopkins. The basic tale is of a young American student who travels to Italy (ah, Italia!) to take a course in exorcisms.

THE ROOMMATE.
Suspense.
Leighton Meester/Minka Kelly.
Directed by Christian Christiansen.
* This is a little updated version of SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, but perhaps a bit tamer.

SHOESHINE.
Drama/Classic/Foreign (Italian).
Directed by Vittorio De Sica.
* In this feature film made just two years before his triumph THE BICYCLE THIEVES (one of my top 10 films of all time), this film follows a couple of shoeshine kids whose hopes of owning a horse of their own are dashed when they get involved in a shady deal involving stealing money from an older woman. Once they get to jail their fates are sealed and soon their friendships have eroded and they are both spinning – in opposite directions.

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

ARAYA
Documentary/Industry/Foreign (Spanish).
Directed by Margo Benacerraf.
* This was a darling at the Cannes Film Festival in…1959, yup you read that right. It examines the life of a “salineros”, miners working an old salt mine in Venezuela.

WARTORN: 1861-2010
Documentary/War/HBO.
* This emotional documentary examines soldier’s lives over the last 150 years and questions why the suicide rate among veterans has grown higher over time.


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

BEVERLY HILLS COP.
Drama.
* I’m just burnin’, doin’ the neutron dance - oohoo.

JAGGED EDGE.
Drama.
* Remember this one with Glenn Close and Jeff Bridges?

............//KIDS/............

FRANKLIN AND THE GLOOMY DAY.

NICK JR.: FOOD WITH FRIENDS.

************

****new release list no.318

Did you see 2003’s THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE? Writer/director Sylvain Chomet’s animated feature is a wildly inventive, meticulously contrived and brilliantly drawn masterpiece about the kidnap of a young bicycle competitor, and the dogged pursuit of him by his iron-willed Grandmother and her doggy. Aided by three insanely eccentric, frog-eating singing women in the twilight of a career that saw them at one point star club singers known as Les Triplettes but now has left them with little in the way of income, Gramma faces down disaster after disaster, including explosions at sea and gangsters with machine guns to get to the center of the dastardly plot that her kidnapped grandson is being held captive for. The plot is feverishly clever filled with incredible details such as the apartment that grammy and Champion (the bicyclist) live in that is so close to a passing air tram that when the train cruises past it feels as though it is right there in the room and the bizarre swamp bombing the aged singing sisters perform to gather their nightly frog dinner. The movie lacks any true dialogue and tells its story using age-old silent film techniques that have been so lauded in such recent Pixar films like WALL-E and UP. Different than these American films, THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE never really dips into dialogue, content instead that we will understand everything that we see, no matter how far-fetched or unreal the twists may get. The characters are truly compelling, especially the older women (the grandmother and the joyful triplets) who are unwilling to do anything but laugh in the face of life’s cruel jokes. The movie is buoyed and broadened by its incredible soundtrack of Les Triplettes singing both in the past and in the present; their wild harmonies and crazy soulful jazz songs are made of the same uplifting stuff as the indomitable will of life.

Now, Chomet has come out with his first feature film since then in his adaptation of a script that Jacques Tati wrote in 1956 called THE ILLUSIONIST telling the story of an aging stage magician in the early 60’s whose career is being closed out both by his own age and the emergence of new exciting stage acts like rock and roll bands. It is a very different offering from his previous film in that it is a much smaller story, without much in the way of plot devices or twists of really any sort. Instead, it is a straight forward story of an aging entertainer facing unemployment and the fears of being unable to care for himself. He finds himself getting an obscure gig in Scotland in a off-the-path hotel somewhere where he meets a young girl who quickly becomes a fan. When he leaves Scotland, she stows away on the boat on which he’s traveling and basically becomes his ward of a sort. With the gifts that he buys her, she blossoms and becomes a lovely young woman who inspires the affections of a young man who, like her, is at the beginning of a wide open life. As the illusionist struggles to keep their household afloat with any odd job he can get, the gulf separating the two becomes wider and their vastly different futures become impossible to ignore. In general, there is a wistful and timelessness throughout the film, of the sort you’d expect to feel while reading a novel by Dostoevsky or listening to Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21. It serves as testament to the faithful adaptation of Tati’s 55-year old script that the film comes off, though modern and fresh feeling, as if it could have been made back in the 1960’s, or even earlier. As in his previous feature, there is very little dialogue in this film; we watched it without any subtitles, after being annoyed by such lines as “everyone laughs” and “music swells” that didn’t actually add anything to our comprehension of the story. Though not the same sort of must-see film as THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE, THE ILLUSIONIST remains a fascinating portrait of a life of solitude.

Scroll down to read about the rest of the movies this week, including Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams in BLUE VALENTINE.

Alrighty, that’s all folks, hope to see you at the stores.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

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

BLUE VALENTINE.****BD****
Drama.
Ryan Gosling/Michelle Williams.
Directed by Derek Cianfrance.
* This honest and painful portrayal of love and pain in a marriage features two of the hottest actors in Hollywood today. Goslin plays Dean, the child of a broken marriage, a professional house painter, a morning drinker, unapologetically unambitious but relatively good-natured, and a hunk who has relatively accidentally fallen in love and become a father against all natural design. Of course look who he’s in love with, the insanely gorgeous Cindy (Williams), also the child of a difficult home, and also someone who struggles with judgment issues. The film cuts between time periods to put together the puzzle of who they are, how they got there, and what happened along the way. The marriage itself is precariously balanced, and somewhat a third main character that you care for and wonder what will happen to. Anyone who has been in a relationship knows the pitfalls that seem to be available to fall into around every corner and the precarious nature of modern love. Dean and Cindy’s love is a love you know; either one like you’ve been through, or one your good friends are dealing with right now.

I SAW THE DEVIL.
Horror/Suspense/Crime/Foreign (Korean).
Directed by Kim Jee-Woon.
*…and it’s name was the Internet! Actually, in this scary film from the maker of THE GOOD THE BAD THE WEIRD, a killer murders the pregnant fiancée of a secret agent, whose pursuit of revenge knows no boundaries between right and wrong. His pleasureful pursuit of the bad guy involves a sort of cat-and-mouse catch-and-release game that becomes sicker and sicker. I’ve heard this film called the best serial killer movie since THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Hmmm.

THE ILLUSIONIST (2010).****BD****
Animation/Drama/Comedy.
Directed by.
* From the director of THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE comes this wonderful little film that I have knick named in my head THE GREAT BIG SAD SCARY WORLD. An aging magician, working at smaller venues then in the past, but acting with great dignity and no anger at the changing world, takes in a young woman and becomes a conduit for her to begin her adult life. Sad, but not in a hopeless way, and joyful, in the sense that we are all in this crazy life together, THE ILLUSIONIST is a beautiful little film about endings and beginnings.

NO STRINGS ATTACHED.****BD****
Comedy.
Natalie Portman/Ashton Kutcher/Ludacris/Olivia Thirlby/Greta Gerwig/Kevin Kline.
Directed by Ivan Reitman.
* His first film since MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND, Reitman has a way with comedy, and an understanding as to what is funny. Perhaps that is why this somewhat bland, middle-of-the-road looking romantic comedy about two people who just want to have fun, no strings attached, rises above the normal fluff of its kind. Or maybe it’s because Natalie Portman is the star…not sure.

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

WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS?****BD****
Documentary/Sociology.
Directed by Pamela Tanner Boll.
* Intense exploration of mothering, and the brutal choices so many moms have to make regarding being a person in the world and being beholden to the lives that she has created. Those choices can affect careers, marriages and relationships, and personal growth. This film focuses on five moms who are trying to do everything, and the challenges they face every day.

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

DOCTOR WHO: PLANET OF THE SPIDERS.
Television/Sci-Fi.
* The John Pertwee years, 1970-1974.

DOCTOR WHO: THE TERROR OF THE AUTONS.
Television/Sci-Fi.
* The John Pertwee years, 1970-1974.

IN PLAIN SIGHT: SEASON 3.
Television/Drama.
Mary McCormack/Frederick Weller.
* The continuing story of a US Marshall whose main gig is in relocating federal witnesses.

MOLL FLANDERS: THE FORTUNES AND MISFORTUNES OF.
Television/.
* Alex Kingston plays Moll in this 1996 retelling of the tale of Moll Flanders “the wickedest woman in England”, who actually just appears to be the victim of some rotten luck, bad parenting, sexual abuse and, eventually, poor judgment.

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

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF: 40th ANNIVERSARY EDITION.
Drama/Musical.
* Truly one of the finest musicals ever written.

............//THE REPLACEMENTS/............

THE BIRDS: COLLECTOR’S EDITION.
* Tweet tweet, aaaaaarghghgh!!!!

************

****new release list no.317

خوش آمدید برادران و خواهران ا ز ایران! با تشکر از شما برای خواندن.

Check one. Check two. Is this thing on? Déjà vu, right?

Wow, last week I had big plans for the blog. Tim Hetherington, one of the directors of the Academy Award-nominated documentary RESTREPO had just been killed in Libya, and that, combined with so much else going on in that region, had my head just totally spinning. Then, last Sunday night, I got the brutal stomach virus going around and was fully down for the count for five solid days. In the scheme of things, not much of a big deal, but wow, being sidelined for a week really sets you back. Since then, so much else has happened in the world, beginning with the gigantic news out of Pakistan last night that US forces have killed Usama Bin Laden and now I don’t even know where to begin!

Although, truthfully, though the world is spinning and loaded and popping left and right, there wouldn’t really be a proper beginning to this entry (especially considering Mother’s Day this weekend) without extending a huge and loving happy birthday to my very own special mother person, Leslee Feinsod! Mom, I wish you the best; I am so grateful for your presence in my life. Much love and thanks for not overtly obsessing about the environment when you decided to procreate. I appreciate it, as I can only analyze this life through my actual, living mind. Thanks for life, Mom.

I don’t want to come off as uneducated or trite or shallow, so I will not try to verbalize my personal experience of September 11th, 2001. Suffice to say it was one of my worst days. Watching the news last night however, conflicted me tremendously. I am not sorry to see Bin Laden dead, not in the least. But I found the images of chanting, dancing joy to be disturbing to my eyes and my heart. I wanted to grab and hug those dancing kids in Washington, D.C. and say, please go home, don’t look into the camera, don’t smile and chant U.S.A, U.S.A! Finally, this afternoon, I stumbled upon this quote from Martin Luther King, Jr which I think fully speaks to my feelings:

“I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

Forty-plus years later, MLK’s words remain poignant and apt. I am grateful today for them to help me find perspective in this big event, and in this big world.

I think we are having a bit of a watershed moment on the planet right now. In Libya, Syria, in Egypt, in Jordan and Yemen, people of many Islamic countries are fighting and dying for personal freedom. Everyone wants freedom. Many people may have different definitions for freedom. Right here in San Francisco we may argue about the nature of freedom. But the basic fact is that freedom transcends religion, ethnicity, nationality and culture. People. Want. Freedom.

I can live in a world where that is a truth.

If you need some diversions from the emotionally paralyzing realities of life, we’ve got you covered. Here’s an idea. Close your computer, and walk on up to Cortland. There’s a lot of people around. There’s a lot of nice businesses in your neighborhood. The trees look pretty. The air is delicious. While you’re up here, stop in to Four Star Video and rent a movie. We’ll say hi.

Alrighty, that’s all folks, hope to see you at the stores.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

P.S. In honor of Mother’s Day, Succulence has some cool stuff happening this weekend. On Friday, Jessica Vidican-Neisius Holguin, the founder of Morning Glory Chai, will be pouring her special spicy sweet blend in-house from 4-6pm. All weekend, Fri – Sunday, from 11am – 7pm, the Succulence Planting Bar will be in effect. You can come and pick a planter, pick plants and toppings (sands/pebbles), and then we’ll shepherd you through the process of planting it up. The end result is that you have a lovely gift for Mom made with your own two hands! We’ve got lots of other great stuff for Mom. If you haven’t perused our offerings lately, make it point to check us out this week. Mom will thank you. So will I!

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

A SOMEWHAT GENTLE MAN.
Comedy/Drama/Crime/Foreign (Norweigan).
Stellan Skarsgard.
Directed by Hans Moland.
* A man is dealing with his life after being released from a 12-year sentence in jail. Yes, he’s a gangster, but…he’s a tender man of sorts. Sure, sure, he’ll shoot you in the face if he must, it’s just that…he’d rather just maybe get out of the shooting industry and live out his twilight years in relative peace. Is that likely for a “made” man? Not very.

BLOOMINGTON.
Romance/LGBT.
Directed by Fernanda Cadosa.
* It’s a bit of a coming of age tale with a student falling for her college professor.

THE DILEMMA.****BD****
Drama.
Vince Vaughn/Kevin James/Jennifer Connelly/Winona Ryder/Channing Tatum/Queen Latifah.
Directed by Ron Howard.
* A couple of great buddies, now business partners, have their relationship thrown into turmoil when one discovers that the other’s wife is maybe seeing another guy. Should he tell his buddy? And potentially ruin the guys’ marriage? Oh, it’s a tough one…A moral conundrum!
 
THE GREEN HORNET.****BD****
Action/Comedy/Superhero.
Seth Rogen/Jay Chou/Cameron Diaz/Christopher Waltz/Tom Wilkinson.
Directed by Michel Gondry.
* There’s really no plot to speak of, not much in the way of character development or motivation. There isn’t a ton of pumping music (some), eye candy (sorry Cameron), and even the explosions are meh. So why watch? Well, for one, Seth Rogen remains funny. Especially when he tries to explain things, or talk his way out of things, or understand things, and even occasionally when he wakes up. The guy is just funny. I laughed with this movie a nice bunch of times. It was co-written by Rogen and his writing partner Evan Goldberg (together they scripted SUPERBAD), which makes me think much of the actual “story” must have ended up edited out of the picture. Watch this movie as a spoof of the genre. In that respect, it should hold your attention.

MY OWN LOVE SONG.
Drama.
Renee Zellwegger/Forest Whitaker/Nick Nolte.
Directed Olivier Dahan.
* A group of lost souls head on a road trip looking for redemption.

NINJAS VS. VAMPIRES.
Comedy/Spoof/Horror/Action.
Directed by Justin Timpane.

UNA SEMANA SOLOS.
Comedy/Drama/Foreign (Spanish and Italian).
Directed by Celine Murga.
* This indie from Argentina tells the story of a group of kids left alone in a gated community after the adults go on vacation.

WAITING FOR FOREVER.
Drama/Romance.
Rachel Bilson/Tom Sturridge/Richard Jenkins.
Directed by James Keach.

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

HUMAN PLANET: THE COMPLETE SERIES.****BD****
Documentary/BBC/Naturish.
* The BBC Earth team brings us another audio and visual treat as they examine human life in all the elements around the planet, ranging from cities to jungles, mountains, grasslands, deserts, and more. As usual, incredible dedication and camera work go into making this a must see for any and all amateur (and professional) sociologists. Probably should be watched in schools as well.

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

BEING HUMAN: SEASON THREE.
Television/BBC/Drama/Fantasy.
* Season three in the out-there BBC series about three roommates, a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost making a go of it in the big scary world.

DROP DEAD DIVA: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON.
Television/Comedy.
Brooke Elliot/Margaret Cho.

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

FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS.
Criterion/Comedy/Drama.
* Epic Terry Gilliam movie adaptation of the famous Hunter S. Thompson book starring Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro. This is a must-see for serious fans of film, Thompson and/or psychedelia. Featuring many amazing performances topped by Depp’s Hunter S.

WHAT DREAMS MAY COME.
Drama.
* Robin Williams stars in this fantastical examination of the afterlife.

............//FAMILY/KIDS/............

THE AVENGERS: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST HEROS: V01.

THE AVENGERS: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST HEROS: V02.

BEN 10: THE ULTIMATE ALIEN POWER STRUGGLE.

CURIOUS GEORGE PLAYS BALL.

DORA THE EXPLORER: IT’S HAIRCUT DAY.

ELLE: A MODERN CINDERELLA TALE.

REDWALL: THE NEXT ADVENTURE.
* Both my six-year-old daughter and my nearly ten-year-old (!) son really like this adventure series.

SESAME STREET: ELMO’S TRAVEL SONGS AND GAMES.

SPOT: SPOT’S BIRTHDAY PARTY.

SUPER HERO SQUAD: V04.

TIKKI TIKKI TEMBO & MORE STORIES TO CELEBRATE ASIAN HERITAGE.

WOW WOW WUBBZY SAVES THE DAY.

............//THE REPLACEMENTS/............

DOCTOR WHO: THE COMPLETE FIRST SERIES.
* How did we become such a bastion of Doctor Who down here at Four Star? Will we remain this way when Tanya goes off to college in August? Tanya! We miss you already!

DOCTOR WHO: THE COMPLETE FOURTH SERIES.

PETER PAN.

*******HERE IS THE LIST OF LAST WEEKS MOVIES*******

3 IDIOTS.
* Looks super funny.

BLOW OUT.
* Criterion release.

BOB DYLAN: DON’T LOOK BACK.****ON BLU RAY****

BUNNY AND THE BULL.
* Rachel says this comedy is great.

CHAWZ.
* Korean comedy/horror about a wild pig causing much destruction.

FLY AWAY.

JOLENE.

LOOKING FOR FIDEL.
* Great looking doc.

LUCKY.

OPA.

SOUTH PARK: THE COMPLETE 14th SEASON.

TESTEES: THE COMPLETE SERIES.

****

****new release list no.316

Salutations, mes frères et sœurs français!

We’re all gonna die!

Scary, but so true. Will it be today? Or next month? Or in 37 years? 71 years? We just can’t know. For me, that makes me want to seize each moment and stretch it out. Even the yucky ones. So for the hell of it, let’s all take a moment and take a deep breath together.

Ah.

Hey have you heard about a little movie called THE KING’S SPEECH? I haven’t seen it yet, but I hear it did pretty well in the theatres, and even won some hardware at the Oscar’s this year. Stars a guy named Colin Firth, and I guess he plays the King of England. He’s got a big speech he’s gotta give and its super traumatic for him, so he gets some other dude to emotionally hold his hand while he gives it…Or something like that. Disclaimer: I may be wrong, like I said, I haven’t seen it. But I hear it was pretty good, so I bought, like, a million copies or something.

Other movies you might be interested in include THE WAY BACK, starring Ed Harris, Colin Farrell and Jim Sturgess as prisoners in a gulag in Siberia who take a very long walk to freedom; GULLIVER’S TRAVELS, starring Jack Black as Gulliver; RABBIT HOLE, an emotional drama starring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart as grieving parents who have lost a young child; SOMEWHERE, Sophia Coppola’s latest about a Hollywood star whose partying ways are stunted by the arrival of his 11-year-old daughter and the disappearance of her mother.

Some smaller titles of interest are IP MAN 2, FALCO: THE RISE AND FALL OF AN 80’S POP ICON (he’s dead!), VISION: FROM THE LIFE OF HILDEGARD VON BINGEN (she will become your hero), and some killer new documentaries, including Spike Lee’s followup to his Hurricane Katrina doc WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE called IF GOD IS WILLING AND DA CREEK DON’T RISE.

Hey, are you into Detective Montalbano? We got two more collections of the adventures of that Sicilian detective in shop this week. We’ve also got something called DOWNTON ABBEY, which is a very highly rated costume drama television show from the UK about a wealthy family and their servants. There’s more that I didn’t mention…scroll down to read all about this week’s releases.

Hey, here’s a question for you - How many video store/plant store combinations do you know about on Planet Earth? None, right? You probably know how hard we’re working down here at Sector 402 (that’s our little knickname for the Four Star/Succulence work zone) to provide our community with interesting art (cinematic and plant-based), and a fun place to hang out and chat with your neighbors. Well, you could tell the world how you feel by voting for Four Star Video and Succulence as your favorite small business in San Francisco! 7x7 Magazine is sponsoring a contest in anticipation of SF Small Business Week and we are one of 49 businesses that are listed on the ballot! The winner gets lots of love and some great free advertising among other things, plus the love and admiration of the entire city of San Francisco. How cool would it be for a video store in 2011 to win an award like this? Let’s find out. Vote for us here.

Alrighty, that’s all folks, hope to see you at the stores.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

p.s. Happy Passover, Happy Easter, Happy Beltane, Happy Fertility, Happy Spring!

******************************************************************************
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 – Two Exchanges a month (3 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//............

FALCO: THE RISE AND FALL OF AN 80’s POP ICON.
Drama/Music/Foreign (German).
Directed by Thomas Roth.
* The decadent and fabulous life of Falco, creator of such 80’s hits as Rock Me Amadeus and Der Kommissar, is chronicled in this docudrama. Did you know he died in 1998? After you watch this movie, you’ll know so much more about Falco than you ever imagined…


GULLIVER’S TRAVELS.****BD****
Comedy.
Jack Black/Emily Blunt/Jason Segal/Amanda Peet/Billy Connolly.
Directed by Rob Letterman.
* The brilliantly biting and witty social commentary of Jonathan Swift’s novel (1726, yeah, you read that right) is not to be found in this 21st century comedy about a fellow who goes on some wild adventures and ends up on a fantastical island where he is a giant compared to the peeps that live there. This one is probably fun for the kids, with a good cast of comedians providing the laughs…Someone on the imdb also mentioned it is a fabulous albeit unintentional stoner comedy, which sounds about right.

IP MAN 2.****BD****
Action/Martial Artistry.
Donnie Yen.
Directed by Wilson Yip.
* Part two focuses on Ip man moving to Hong Kong in 1949, and his exploits there.

JOHN LEGUIZAMO: FREAK.****BD****
Comedy.
John Leguizamo.
Directed by Spike Lee.
* I am not sure when this was originally released on DVD (or if this is the first time), but this 1998 standup comedy performance features Leguizamo at his zaniest best and gives a somewhat autobiographical account of his youth and the trials that led him to the entertainment world.

KES.
Criterion/Drama.
David Bradley.
Directed by Ken Loach.
* Loach has been directing since 1964, and has some 45 titles to his credit. This about a disaffected young boy who finds meaning and purpose training a kestrel falcon is getting the full Criterion treatment, with a cleaned up master and lots of extras. Billy is 15 and is pretty much either left to his own devices or bullied and treated poorly. Kes, the falcon he trains gives him more than just something to do, it gives him strength and care and concern and attention and love. The film is charming and emotional, while never pulling on the heartstrings, just playing them like a finely tuned stringed instrument…The soundtrack has some terrific music as well.

THE KING’S SPEECH.****BD****
Drama.
Colin Firth/Geoffrey Rush/Helena Bonham Carter/Timothy Spall/Guy Pearce.
Directed by Tom Hooper.
* This is the one we’ve been waiting for. Winner of the Academy Awards for Best Direction Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Actor and Best Writing, Screenplay Written for the Screen, this film has been the talk of movie goers everywhere over the last six months. You are probably familiar with the story. The King of England is George VI, an unlikely King who struggles with a stammer and barely wants the job of leading a nation. However, duty calls, and he grudgingly takes on the job in 1936. The film focuses on his relationship with his speech therapist, a man named Lionel Logue who was ahead of his time in many of his ideas. Using some interesting techniques and utilizing the power of their burgeoning friendship, Logue is able to help George to find his tongue when it matters most.

LORNA DORNE.
Drama.
Clive Owen/Polly Walker/Sean Bean.
* This is the 1990 version of this 18th century double-crossing love tragedy.

RABBIT HOLE.
Drama.
Nicole Kidman/Aaron Eckhart/Dianne Wiest/Sandra Oh.
Directed by John Cameron Mitchell.
* The maker of HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH and SHORTBUS has taken a mighty departure from those films with this painful, but hopeful story about a couple dealing with the broken hearted emptiness of the loss of their young child. This film manages to provide some laughs, while treating the pain gently and with dignity. This film was very highly rated by reviewers, and while I haven’t seen it yet, Jeff says it was terrific and recommends it. With Dianne Wiest as the mother of Kidman’s character.

SOMEWHERE.****BD****
Drama.
Stephen Dorff/Elle Fanning/Michelle Monaghan/Benicio Del Toro.
Directed by Sophia Coppola.
* Coppola (Sophia, that is) is such a polarizing director. People seem to really want to criticize her work. (LOST IN TRANSLATION, THE VIRGIN SUICIDES, MARIE ANTOINETTE). I think her last name has something to do with it, we really seem to hate the nepotism concept (unless we are benefiting) and the fact that her dad is a famous director makes us think everything has been handed to her. And perhaps it has, but if she was simply a bad director, than would so much be written about each of her films? One way she is generally criticized is that her films are accused of being vapid and empty, and the themes she explores are frequently called selfish and too personal to be worth screen time. Much the way early Jim Jarmusch films were described, films like STRANGER THAN PARADISE and DOWN BY LAW, where little happens, but a vibe is thoroughly instilled that lingers long after the movie ends. This film appears to have gotten very vitriolic comments from many viewers, yet was reasonably well received by critics. In it, Stephen Dorff plays Johnny Marco, a veteran Hollywood actor who is living a solitary and lonely existence while surrounded by the film making world. Into his shallow life, meaning is thrust in the form of his 11-year-old daughter (Elle Fanning). His life starts to be viewed through the filter of this child, and what is shows is not super pleasant, and not very appealing. I, for one, am very glad that Sophia Coppola keeps making films. At the very least, LOST IN TRANSLATION was a pretty awesome movie, and one great one is more than most directors make.
 
STREET KINGS 2: MOTOR CITY.
Action/Crime/Drama.
Ray Liotta/Linda Boston.
Directed by Chris Fisher.

VISION: FROM THE LIFE OF HILDEGARD VON BINGEN.
Drama/Foreign (German).
Directed Margaretha von Trotta.
* Hildy was a nun from the 12th century people! As someone points out on imdb, she was 1000 years ahead of her time. She was a composer, a theologist, an early suffragette, an above all a free-thinking person, whose force and strength created change.

THE WAY BACK.****BD****
Drama.
Colin Farrell/Ed Harris/Jim Sturgess/Saoirse Ronan.
Directed by Peter Weir.
* Weir hasn’t made a ton of movies lately. You gotta go back to 2003 for MASTER AND COMMANDER, and it was 1998 when THE TRUMAN SHOW came out. Even further back was DEAD POET’S SOCIETY, THE MOSQUITO COAST and WITNESS. Clearly the man knows how to direct. In THE WAY BACK, a group of prisoners in a Siberian gulag escape and walk away, into the hard and harsh weather as they try to traverse the some 4000 miles toward freedom. This film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Makeup, but alas, did not win (THE WOLFMAN won!).

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

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM.
Documentary/Economics.
Directed by Nicole Torre.
* This film is a step inside liquid, oil, that is…As we get an up close view of the assorted players in the gigantic American oil game.

IF GOD IS WILLING AND DA CREEK DON’T RISE.
Documentary/HBO/Disaster.
Directed by Spike Lee.
* This four part documentary is a follow up to Lee’s powerful look at the disastrous effects of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans. Now, five years later, Lee returns to N’awlins to see how the rebuilding plans have gotten along.

SQUARE GROUPER: THE GODFATHERS OF GANGA.
Documentary/Drugs.
Directed by Billy Corben.
* From the dude who made COCAINE COWBOYS comes this portrayal of the 1970’s pot smuggling scene in Miami, Florida. Filled with humorous stories, frightening adventures and jolly lawbreakers, this is probably a good one to light up with on a chilly San Francisco night.

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

A MIND TO KILL: SERIES 3.
Television/BBC/Detective.

DETECTIVE MONTALBANO: EPISODES 10-12.
Television/Mystery/Foreign (Italian).
* Do you watch MONTALBANO? It is pretty much super fun. Set in Sicily and based on some great mystery novels by Andrea Camilleri, the action is more cerebral then explosive, and the scenery and dialogue are rich with the natural beauty of the region.

DETECTIVE MONTALBANO: EPISODES 13-15.
Television/Mystery/Foreign (Italian).

DOWNTON ABBEY: SEASON ONE.
Television/BBC/Drama.
Hugh Bonneville/Jessica Brown-Findlay.
* This dramatic costume series takes place around the turn of the century in pre-WWI England and centers on a wealthy family and their servants.

THE GOOD WIFE: THE FIRST SEASON.
Television/Drama.
Julianna Margulies/Chris Roth.
* The Golden Globe winning show (5 of them!) is about the wife of a scandalized politician who goes back to work as a litigator to provide for her family.

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

SWEETIE.
Criterion/Drama.
* Jane Campion’s 1989 tour de force!

............//FAMILY/KIDS/............

CAPTAIN PLANET AND THE PLANETEERS: SEASON ONE.

SHAUN THE SHEEP: THE BIG CHASE.

............//MOREMOREMORE/............

HERCULES.
* Turns out we already had this on DVD, but this little girl whose parents had a broken player wanted it so bad and was so bummed we didn’t have it on VHS that I immediately bought this copy so we wouldn’t disappoint her again…I’m such a softy…

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