****EXTRA EXTRA****
We just got in the 2nd Seasons of Weeds and Extras and they are available as of today!
This week we have so many movies new to DVD! Among the many titles is ZODIAC, the story of the psycho who terrorized our very own city just 30 years ago. We also have the NUMBER 23 starring Jim Carrey, as well as the lesser known PERFUME: STORY OF A MURDERER, a dark and sinister tale of a perfumologist seeking to preserve the perfect scents. This film is directed by the superbly talented Tom Tykwer best known for RUN LOLA RUN, but in my mind his most amazing work is the poorly titled THE PRINCESS AND THE WARRIOR. If you haven’t seen that, beeline it down to Four Star and I’ll help you find it…
We also have a wide assortment of docs (another one about Allen Ginsberg, one tracking great moments at the X-Games, one about crime writer James Ellroy), indie films (CASHBACK, LIVE FREE OR DIE {not to be confused with the latest Bruce Willis action flick LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD}), foreign films (ADVENTURES OF JUAN QUIN QUIN, RENAISSANCE, TO LIVE) as well as some family stuff, more great vintage television (PERRY MAN SEASON 1, VOLUMES ONE AND TWO) and bunches of new acquisitions featuring animations (REN AND STIMPY, NAOYUKI TSUJI ANIMATION COLLECTION) as well as some fantastic vintage French cinema released as part of the Criterion Collection (LES MISERABLES, WOODEN CROSSES) and otherwise (MANON OF THE SPRING, LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES).
Like always, we will start off with a little touchy-feely session to get you in the mood…
FOURPLAY
****
After burdensome tales of runaway floodwaters and footballer dogfights, this week's Fourplay is all about escapism. Trying to ride the edge of sanity, good taste, and all points in between, I'm recommending some movies that make your sides hurt more than your brain -- but not so lowbrow that you'll drool on the couch. (Well, maybe just a little.) In other words: fun. So, if you're game... fasten your seatbelt, strap on your helmet, and get on the fun bus!
BOWFINGER
Failed B-movie producer Bobby Bowfinger (Steve Martin) is making a last-ditch effort at success, directing his sci-fi masterpiece, "Chubby Rain," starring the huge action star Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy). The problem is, Kit doesn't even know he's in the movie. Martin does a brilliant parody of the say-anything producer and Murphy is jawdropping in his dual role as the paranoid movie star and his mentally challenged brother. Directed by Frank Oz (Little Shop of Horrors, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, What About Bob...).
KISS KISS, BANG BANG
A farcical noir featuring punchy dialog and even punchier characters, played with merciless charm by Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer. The setup: a witless thug (Downey) ends up in the middle of a Hollywood whodunit with a nonplussed private eye (Kilmer). It's pulp, its noir, its whiplash chemistry. Co-written by first-time director Shane Black (writer of the Lethal Weapon series).
RAT RACE
Imagine a casino run by John Cleese. Now imagine he wants to bring in all the high-rollers in, to bet on a dozen wackos racing across the dessert to a lockbox full of cash. Now imagine that these wackos include a narcoleptic Italian (Rowan Atkinson), a chronic nogoodnick (John Lovitz), a despised football referee (Cuba Gooding Jr.), a kooky absentee mom (Whoopie Goldberg), and a host of other nutjobs. Directed by Jerry Zucker (Rock 'n' Roll High School, Airplane, Ruthless People...).
WEDDING CRASHERS
Two oddball divorce mediators (Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson) spend their summers crashing weddings and lying their way into bed. But when they set their sites on the daughters of a prominent Senator (Christopher Walken), all hell breaks looser than their morals. Crazy scenarios, lightning-fast responses, and deeper and deeper doo-doo will put the pop in your popcorn. Directed by David Dobkin (Clay Pigeons, Shanghai Knights...)
****
Each of the four films of Fourplay is featured on a shelf by the register.
See you at the shop,
Ken
............//NEW TITLES//............
ADVENTURES OF JUAN QUIN QUIN.
Drama/Foreign (Cuba).
Julio Martinez/Erdwin Fernandez.
Directed by Julio Garcia Espinosa.
* Adapted from a novel by Samuel Ferijoo, Juan Quin Quin is a bullfighter, a guerrilla, and a sacristan.
CASHBACK.
Comedy/Drama.
Directed by Sean Ellis.
* This feature made from an 18 minute short that Ellis made (that was nominated for an Oscar) is about an insomniac artist who works the night shift at a supermarket where his imagination runs wild.
THE CONTRACT.
Suspense/Action.
John Cusack/Morgan Freeman.
Directed by Bruce Beresford.
* The critics panned this pretty hard. The Cusack character is a dad on a hiking trip with his son when they run into a very mean assassin who has been arrested by the feds while trying to complete a contract. Things go bad from there…
LIVE FREE OR DIE.
Comedy.
Aaron Stanford/Michael Rapaport/Zooey Deschanel.
Directed by Gregg Kavet and Andy Robin.
* Two dim-witted criminals and an emotionally unstable cop make for wincing laughs.
NUMBER 23.
Suspense/Drama.
Jim Carrey/Virginia Madsen
Directed by Joel Schumacher.
*.Ever have one of those friends who reads “The Illuminati” or some other conspiracy theory book and gets all jacked on the number 23? No? Maybe that was a Santa Cruz thing…anyway, Jim Carrey plays some sucker who gets waaaay paranoid about the number 23 and in fact believes a novel he is reading is actually written about him.
PERFUME: STORY OF A MURDERER.
Drama/Suspense.
Dustin Hoffman/Ben Whishaw/Alan Rickman.
Directed by Tom Tykwer.
* Here’s the latest from Tykwer who burst onto the American film scene with Run Lola, Run. This film follows the obsessive compulsive and eventually gruesome path of Grenouille (Whishaw) who has the most acute sense of smell in the world, and whose dreams and desires lead him down dark paths.
RENAISSANCE.
Drama/Comedy.
Daniel Craig/Iam Holm/Jonathan Pryce/Catherine McCormack.
Directed by Christian Volckman.
* A brilliantly animated futuristic sci-fi flick in the style of Blade Runner, this film delivers a stark vision of 2054 Paris where the biggest company in town controls beauty and youth. Visually amazing!
ZODIAC.
Suspense/Drama.
Jake Gyllenhaal/Robert Downey Jr./Mark Ruffalo/Anthony Edwards/Chloe Sevigny/Bijou Phillips.
Directed by David Fincher.
* San Francisco tale of the Zodiac killer who terrorized the Bay Area for over 10 years in the 60’s and 70’s. This story centers on the journalists and police who are trying to decipher the killer’s notes and motives.
............//DOCUMENTARY//............
JAMES ELLROY: AMERICAN DOG.
Documentary.
Directed by Clara Kruperberg and Robert Kruperberg.
* Documentary about the famous writer of L.A. Confidential, among other things.
POET ON LOWER EAST SIDE.
Docu-Diary.
Allen Ginsberg.
Directed by Gyula Gazdag.
* Hungarian poet and translator István Eörsi spends time with Allen Ginsberg walking about and visiting his old haunts just a few years before the great American poet’s death.
THE BEST OF X: X-GAMES GREATEST MOMENTS.
Sports.
* If you dig alternative sports, you will love this movie which documents the craziest and sickest (that’s just slang for cool) performances in the X-Games.
............//TELEVISION//............
REN AND STIMPY: SEASON 5 AND SOME MORE OF SEASON FOUR.
Animation.
* I was so psyched when I read this on IMDB – “The gross misadventures of a hyper chihuahua and a stupid cat”. I guess that kind of sums it up.
PERRY MASON: SEASON ONE.
Television.
Raymond Burr
* A certain 9-year old helped us see the need to obtain this, the godfather of all lawyer shows. From 1957 until 1966 Perry Mason tracked down the truth in the most difficult criminal cases of the time. In a day and age where a television season seemed to last forever, this first season collection features 39 episodes on a whopping 10 discs! Dig in.
............//FAMILY//............
WOODY WOODPECKER & FRIENDS CLASSIC CARTOON COLLECTION.
Kids Animation.
* This is probably the kind of kids’ entertainment that Mom or Dad can sneak off with and touch base with some long ago memories of childhood.
............//RECENT ACQUISITIONS//............
LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES.
Criterion Collection.
LES MISERABLES.
Criterion Collection.
MANON OF THE SPRING/JEAN DE FLORETTE.
* Double feature of great French films on the same DVD that I accidentally bought. Oh well, it will be a helluva great dollar Wednesdays deal.
TO LIVE.
Drama/Foreign (China).
First DVD copy.
MONSTER SQUAD: 20TH ANNIVERSARY.
* Truly, I am not sure what this is, or why I got two copies, but Shila LOVES it and says that I will too, once I watch it.
NAOYUKI TSUJI ANIMATION COLLECTION.
Here is a description of this from Amazon “With a few simple, hand-drawn lines in his trademark charcoal and pastel, acclaimed animator Naoyuki Tsuji creates a distinctive universe that is at once tender and horrible. Included are all the elements of a fractured fairy tale for adults: clouds come alive in the sky; an escape becomes a terrifying journey; characters transform into animals; a man with a deranged face terrorizes his family and devours his children. What first appears to be childlike crudeness in his animation is actually subtle, strange, and even uncanny. Tsuji s films captivate us because they are vague recollections of beguiling childhood dreams and memories the wonder of the puppet show, the mystery of clouds, or the attraction of monsters”.
REN AND STIMPY THE COMPLETE FIRST AND SECOND SEASONS.
Replacement copy.
WOODEN CROSSES.
Criterion Collection.
****
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