Hey Bernal and Beyond, today, I am officially back on the soapbox!
I know for some of you that will mean an email reply with the word “Cancel”. That’s the chance I have to take because otherwise I am afraid my business will have to “Cancel”. Did I get your attention?
You know what? I expect that a fair number of businesses might close in 2009, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a few relationships don’t survive the year as well. Why? Because shit is way stressful right now. Money is tight, layoffs are high, property value is plummeting, banks are both tanking and partying with abandon with tax payer cash. Life is really weird in 2009!
I know, I know, I’m preaching to choir with this. And I understand that. Hey, this is a movie blog, where’s the movie info? Okay, I will move on to that in just one quick moment. First I want to let you know that we want your business. We are here for you and we are a non-corporate local entity whose livelihoods are depending on this business. So shop local and shop often.
Hey that sounds like a catchphrase: Shop Local, Shop Often. Let’s all do it, and keep our local economy strong. In at least this department, we can actually make a difference.
In the movie world today, we have a few Oscar nominated films, so of 2009 and a few of yesteryear. The current one is FROZEN RIVER, a small indie film about a couple of single women who get involved in the smuggling trade between Canada and the USA. The film features fantastic performances by Melissa Leo (Best Actress nomination), Misty Upham and Michael O’Keefe as the cop tracking them down. Also of note this week is W, featuring Josh Brolin as our ex-President and THE MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA, the new Spike Lee Joint, featuring a whole bevy of performers. Both of those are available in Blu-Ray as well.
We also have a batch of weird indie flicks this week, OTTO, OR UP WITH THE DEAD a graphic zombie story, MY NAME IS BRUCE, a comedy from Bruce Campbell about himself, OSS 117: CAIRO, NEST OF SPIES, a French Austin Powers-ish sort of film and THE GUITAR, the directorial debut of Amy Redford.
In the documentary world, we have this week FROST/NIXON: THE ORIGINAL WATERGATE INTERVIEWS and OPERATION VALKYRIE: THE STAUFFENBERG PLOT TO KILL HITLER. Don’t get confused – these are not the big feature films that are coming to DVD soon, these are docs about the same stories. Check them out!
Andrew’s Highlighted New Additions features the complete BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD set this week…For some of you, I am sure this will bring back fuzzy memories of the early 1990’s.
Alrighty, that’s all folks, hope to see you at the store.
Love and Kisses,
Ken
............//NEW RELEASES//............
EXTERMINATING ANGEL.
Drama/Fantasy/Criterion/Foreign (Spanish).
Silvia Pinal/Enrique Rambal.
Directed by Luis Bunuel.
* In this 1962 classic tale, the upper class guests of a fancy dinner party find themselves unable to depart, and as the supplies run dry, their elaborate personalities and class structures break down leaving them ragged animals struggling to survive.
FROZEN RIVER.
Drama.
Melissa Leo/Misty Upham/Michael O’Keefe.
Directed by Courtney Hunt.
* Melissa Leo and first time director Courtney Hunt were nominated for Oscars (Leo for Best Actress and Hunt for Best Screenplay written directly for the Screen) for this indie film about a couple of single mothers (Leo and Upham, who also delivers a critically acclaimed performance) who cannot resist the lure of smuggling to support their families.
FUNNY FACE: CENTENNIAL COLLECTION.
Romance/Comedy/Musical.
Audrey Hepburn/Fred Astaire.
Directed by Stanley Donen.
* Astaire plays a fashion photographer who offers bookstore clerk Jo Stockton (Hepburn) a modeling gig which she reluctantly takes, but grows into as her feelings for Fred (and his hard to resist two-step) blossom. Nominated for 4 Oscars in 1958.
GEISHA.
Drama/War/Foreign (Japanese).
Ken Ogata/Kimiko Ikegami.
Directed by Hideo Gosha.
* This film about a man and his grown daughter who is a geisha won many Japanese Academy Awards in 1983 when it was first released.
THE GUITAR.
Drama/Romance.
Saffron Burrows/Janeane Garofalo.
Directed by Amy Redford.
* Redford’s directorial debut is about a young woman (Burrows) whose life is thrown in chaos and growth when she is given a terminal diagnosis. Given just two months two live, she decides to max out her credit, knowing she’ll never have to pay and give in to all wild whims she can come up with.
THE LODGER.
Suspense/Drama.
Alfred Molina/Hope Davis.
Directed by David Onaatje.
* A sort of remake, based on the same novel as Alfred Hitchcock’s 1927 movie of the same name, this film is set in Los Angeles in the current day and concerns the relationship between a very unstable landlady and her possibly serial killer tenant.
MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA. ****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Action/Crime/War/Drama/Thriller.
Derek/Luke/Michael Ealy/Laz Alonso/John Turturro/Kerry Washington/D.B. Sweeney/John Leguizamo.
Directed by Spike Lee.
* Based on a novel by James McBride (who also wrote the screenplay) this is the tale of four African-American soldiers in WWII who are trapped in a small town in Italy after trying to rescue a young Italian boy.
MY NAME IS BRUCE.
Comedy/Horror.
Bruce Campbell/Ted Raimi.
Directed by Bruce Campbell.
* Directed by and starring Bruce Campbell, this film is the story of a young fan who kidnaps Bruce, hoping he is actually Ash, the character he played in the EVIL DEAD series and that he can fight off a real monster in an Oregon trailer park. Oh yeah!
NIGHTS IN RODANTHE.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Drama/Romance.
Diane Lane/Richard Gere/Scott Glenn.
Directed by George C.Wolfe.
*Two unhappy people at the crux of important change and decision-making in their lives have a chance encounter at a small inn in North Carolina that potentially will change their lives.
OSS 117: CAIRO, NEST OF SPIES.
Action/Adventure/Comedy/Foreign (French).
Jean Dujardin/Aure Atika/Berenice Bejo.
Directed by Michel Hazanavicius.
* Agent OS 117 has more in common with Austin Powers than he does with James Bond, but in any case, if he’s not foiling dastardly plots, or saving the world from fascism, he’s hooking it up with the local ladies. This was a recommendation from multiple customers.
OTTO: OR, UP WITH DEAD PEOPLE.
Comedy/Horror/Zombie/Foreign (English/German).
Jay Crisfar.
Directed by Bruce La Bruce.
* Otto (Crisfar) is a sweet little zombie who hooks up with a filmmaker who wants to make a zombie porno and casts Otto as the lead. Otto has aspiration to be more than just some flash in the pan zombie, and the big question is, will his dreams come true? NOTE: This film features graphic zombie sex including things that might make some people startled and perhaps queasy. (No, this is not a marketing play by me!).
ROMANCE OF ASTREA & CELADON.
Drama/Romance/Foreign (French).
Andy Gillet/Stephanie Crayencour.
Directed by Eric Rohmer.
* From the 89-year-old French director of such classics as CHOE IN THE AFTERNOON and MY NIGHT AT MAUD’S (for which he received an Oscar Nomination) comes this strange and beautiful love story. In the time of Druids (no, this is not Spinal Tap 2) a shepherd Celadon and a shepherdess Astrea share a love that is ruined by the jealousy of others and then pursued by the strength of their bond.
SIMON OF THE DESERT.
Drama/History/Criterion/Foreign (Spanish).
Claudio Brook.
Directed by Luis Bunuel.
*Another wild affair from Bunuel, this one about a guy named Simon, who wants to be close to his god and climbs a column to do so in the 4th Century. Unfortunately for Simon, Satan wishes to tempt him, and eventually brings him to a nightclub in 1960’s New York to boogie down with the kids. And damn! Those kids can boogie! Wow!
SLEAZE IN THE 70’S: GRINDHOUSE COLLECTION.
Obscure 70’s Softcore.
* Four films are featured on this 2-disc collection: SPLENDOR IN THE SACK, A TASTE OF HONEY, SWEETS FOR THE SUITE and ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR WIFE.
SUNSET BOULEVARD: CENTENNIAL COLLECTION.
Film-Noir/Drama/Romance.
William Holden/Gloria Swanson.
Directed by Billy Wilder.
* Tragic and demented tale of an aging former film star (Swanson) who is living in obscurity and borderline insanity who meets an aspiring Hollywood writer (Holden) who decides to write something that she can star in and help return her to fame. Unfortunately, when the writer falls for another woman, the borderline insanity becomes homicidal psychosis.
W. ****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Drama.
Josh Brolin/Richard Dreyfus/Elizabeth Banks/Toby Jones/James Cromwell/Thandie Newton.
Directed by Oliver Stone.
* I’m just having trouble writing anything here. But anyway, I have 12 copies of this biopic about our former President/War Criminal. I’m sure Brolin is fascinating to watch as G-Dub.
WAY OF WAR.
Action.
Cuba Gooding, Jr.
Directed by John Carter.
* International conspiracies, Middle-East operatives, paramilitary missions. Bippety-boppety boo.
............//DOCUMENTARY/............
FROST/NIXON: THE ORIGINAL WATERGATE INTERVIEWS.
Documentary/Interviews.
Richard Nixon/David Frost.
Directed by Jorn Winther.
* The original interviews that the new feature FROST/NIXON is based on. These interviews play like an elaborate tap dance, where Frost and Nixon duck and jab, but no full body blows get landed. Should be fascinating to see in tandem with the feature film (coming later this year).
LIVING WITH THE MEK.
Documentary.
* From the interweb: “Explorer Mark Anstice and travel journalist Olly Steeds must make extreme adjustments to spend four months living with the Mek tribe of West Papua, New Guinea, one of the last indigenous groups”.
OPERATION VALKYRIE: THE STAUFFENBERG PLOT TO KILL HITLER.
Documentary.
Directed by Jean-Pierre Isbouts.
* In anticipation of the VALKYRIE film starring Tom Cruise, this is a doc that tells the story of Claus Von Stauffenberg the leader of an internal plot to kill Hitler.
WORKSHOP.
Documentary.
Directed by Jamie Morgan.
* Jamie’s curiosity leads him to a California workshop (filled with your friends and neighbors) that promotes among other things sexual liberation, the existence of aliens and other party materials.
............//TELEVISION/............
THIS AMERICAN LIFE: SEASON TWO.
Television/Documentaries.
Created by Ira Glass
* Season two of the tv show adapted from the super popular radio show where Ira Glass uncovers strange tales of human life from around the country.
TALES FROM THE DARK SIDE: THE FIRST SEASON.
Television/Suspense/Horror.
* You may remember this show as kind of an 80’s version of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, but with a bit more horror thrown in.
............// KIDS//............
ALVIN THE CHIPMUNKS: THE MYSTERY OF THE EASTER CHIPMUNK.
THE BACKYARDIGANS: ROBIN HOOD THE CLEAN.
CURIOUS GEORGE: ROBOT MONKEY AND MORE GREAT GADGETS.
PHINEAS AND FERB: V02 DAZE OF SUMMER.
TUGGER: THE JEEP 4X4 WHO WANTED TO FLY.
............// HIGHLIGHTED NEW ADDITIONS//............
ALL REVIEW COMMENTS BY ANDREW.
BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION.
* The 90's were a different time. Back when MTV played music videos, we had Beavis and Butthead to offer their unique and insightful commentary on those Videos. Beavis and Butthead operate on multiple levels; namely the crass and stupid. Enjoy as an antithesis to all my other selections.
............// NEW BLU-RAY ADDITIONS//............
BEING THERE.
* The classic Hal Ashby (HAROLD AND MAUDE) movie about Chance the Gardner whose journey through life is strangely dreamlike.
............// REPLACEMENT DISCS//............
THE POLAR EXPRESS.
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO.
****
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