****new release list no.216

Do you ever feel like a barometer for the economy? Up and down, like a merry-go-round. You feel good; you are stressed about the future. You have a job, you don’t have a job. You don’t want to spend money, but life’s not free. It’s an amazing thing! We strive for the middle ground, but things seem so uncertain that it is hard to stay there. When I’m down, I feel useless, empty and lost and it feels as though things will never improve. When I’m up, I’m optimistic, giggly and full of hope and joy.

WHY DO WE LET THE ECONOMY RULE US LIKE THIS?

The funny thing to me is that we have people like the President and the Head of the Fed to blame for everything. A friend recently sent me an article about torture and the current administration’s position on it with the headline: The honeymoon is over. Aaargh. I reacted poorly, as I am wont to do, but really people – can something that was so unexpected and so amazing that brought so many of us joy have a four month shelf life? Not for me. I am not expecting the President to make my life good. I am not expecting the government to create peace within. I am not hoping that anyone will legislate happiness for me. Do we deserve a Presidency that will abolish all forms of torture? YES! But will that help me sleep at night feeling like a good dad and a good partner and a good man? I don’t think so. I think my personal daily decisions are the only thing that will affect those things. I watched a brilliant film last night recommended to me by one of you (thanks Susan!) called CHERRY BLOSSOMS. In it, a woman keeps her husband’s terminal medical diagnosis a secret from him as she convinces him to make some journeys she always wanted them to make. When she dies suddenly, it awakens in him the knowledge of his ignorance, and a realization of how little he actually knew his wife. And it forces him to confront himself and his grown-up children in a new way. He journeys to Japan, where she always wanted to go, and ends up at Mt. Fuji, shy and secretive Mt. Fuji where he experiences the truths that we all live with and ignore to continue living each day. The film was made by Doris Dorrie (ENLIGHTENMENT GUARANTEED) and was quirky and beautiful and when it was over, I remembered for the millionth time how short my time will be on Planet Earth. In fact, this moment is already over. Did the government make it nice for you?

My four-old-daughter asked my wife last week if the government knows about all the people. It’s a good question – for a four-year-old.

This week is a tremendous week of Documentary films released on DVD (MILKING THE RHINO, BIRD BY BIRD WITH ANNIE, H2 WORKER, KIKE LIKE ME, STRANDED, HISTORY OF THE DEVIL, J.R.R. TOLKIEN). If you are a big documentary person, scroll right down and read about all these awesome movies.

In the feature department, we have some soft American cheesefood movies like HOTEL FOR DOGS about some kids (Emma Roberts and Jake Austin) who are trying to save their dog by converting an abandoned neighborhood hotel into a dog palace. Also THE BRIDE WARS, starring Anne Hathaway (RACHEL GETTING MARRIED) and Kate Hudson as two friends who become bitter rivals after they accidentally arrange their wedding to take place on the same day.

If you are an ironic comedy person, you must see JCVD, a borderline reality based action film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as himself! Seriously, I think it should be watched.

There is also a good batch of new Criterion films, such as IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES (Also on Blu-Ray) and EMPIRE OF PASSION by the Japanese director Nagisa Oshima. Also THE HIT by Stephen Frears, WAGES OF FEAR (only on Blu-Ray) by Henry-Georges Clouzot and SCIENCE IS FICTION: 23 FILMS BY JEAN PAINLEVE.

And there is more, so much more. Scroll down or even better, come on in, and browse our fantastic selection with your bare hands.

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

Love and Kisses,
Ken

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

ESUB -One Movie at a time – 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

Links we are super hip on this week:
Pal’s Take Away – A uber hip and extra yummy new sandwich shop in the mission opened by a Four Star Customer.
Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema festival.
Videofest 2009 at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts.

Oh by the way, do you like community fairs? Family festivals? This Saturday, May 2nd, at Fairmount Elementary School (65 Chenery - corner of Randall and Chenery) will be the annual fundraiser FIESTAVAL from 12pm to 4pm! There will be super yummy food, games, auctions (both silent and live) and music provided by among others The Conspiracy of Venus, Spoon + 10, and Peein' in the Dark, as well as a capoeira performance and a concert by the Fairmount Choir. Everyone is welcome!

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

THE BRIDE WARS..****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Comedy/Romance.
Anne Hathaway/Kate Hudson/Candice Bergen.
Directed by Gary Winick.
* Two splendid friends accidentally make the same wedding date with the same wedding planner. Will one of them change the date because their friendship is so strong that it will overcome all adversity? Uh, no. In fact, all out battle for supremacy occurs causing major distress in the happy land of pre-matrimony.

EMPIRE OF PASSION.
Criterion/Drama/Ghost/Foreign (Japanese).
Kazuko Yoshiyuki/Tatsuya Fuji/Takahiro Tamura.
Directed by Nagisa Oshima.
* When Seki (Yoshiyuki) gets the hots for a much much younger man named Toyiji (Fuji) her husband (Tamura) becomes the object of their disdain. Hmmm, why not kill him and dump him in a well? So the generation-crossed lovers dispose of him, or so they think. After three years of clandestine love, the police aren’t the only ones who come sniffing around the couple. In fact, the ghost of the dead husband make the police seem relatively harmless.

THE HIT. ****IN THE STORE ON WEDNESDAY****
Criterion/Comedy/Drama/Crime.
Terence Stamp/John Hurt/Tim Roth/Jim Broadbent.
Directed by Stephen Frears.
* A gangster (Stamp), who ten years ago betrayed his family and has been living in exile in Spain, is kidnapped by a couple of hitmen (Hurt and Roth) whose job it is to bring him to Paris to stand trial with the leaders of his old organization. From the director of THE QUEEN, HIGH FIDELITY and DIRTY PRETTY THINGS, among others.

HOTEL FOR DOGS.****ALSO ON BLU-RAY****
Comedy/Family.
Emma Roberts/Lisa Kudrow/Kevin Dillon/Don Cheadle/Jake Austin.
Directed by Thor Freudenthal.
* Andi (Roberts) and Bruce (Austin) are two foster kids who absolutely love their dog. Unfortunately for them (and their mental well-being) dogs are forbidden at their new home by their foster family, the Scudders (Dillon and Kudrow). Luckily, the kids find an abandoned hotel in the neighborhood and transform it, using Bruce’s new found engineering genius, into a wonderland for stray dogs, who come in droves. Will they be able to keep their dog palace secret from the authorities? Watch and see! With Cheadle as Bernie the Social Worker.

IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES.****ALSO ON BLU-RAY****IN THE STORE ON WEDNESDAY****
Criterion/Drama/Romance/Foreign (Japanese).
Tatsuya Fuji/Eiko Matsuda.
Directed by Nagisa Oshima.
* A swirling descent into obsessive and uncontrollable sexual desire and madness.

JCVD.****ALSO ON BLU-RAY****
Comedy/Crime/Drama.
Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Directed by Mabrouk El Mechri.
* Perhaps Van Damme’s greatest role is playing himself. Here he does that. As an out of work actor plagued by custody and tax problems, and even battling Steven Seagal for crappy action film roles, Van Damme is tired. He is tired of the life he has made, and he is tired of battling the world for autonomy. He returns home to Brussels, the place of his birth for some much needed R&R, but instead, finds himself at the center of a real-life (uh, you know what I mean) hostage situation at a local Post Office. Resorting to his training, JCVD settles into his most comfortable role: hero, protector, negotiator, B-Movie star!

JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN.
Comedy/Drama.
Timothy Bottoms/Jason Robards/Donald .
Directed by Dalton Trumbo.
* In this 1971 award winning film, Joe (Bottoms) is hit by a mortar shell on the final day of WWI. He lies in a hospital afterwards, having lost his arms, legs, ears, and much of his face, but with his mental faculties fully intact, struggling to communicate with his caregivers, and struggling to know for certain if he is alive or dead.

RESNAIS ALAIN – DECADE IN FILM (1983-1989).
Comedy/Drama/Musical/Foreign (French).
Geraldine Chaplin/Gerard Depardieu/Fanny Ardant/Ludivine Sagnier/Sabine Azema.
Directed by Alain Resnais.
*Four films from the 1980’s by Resnais; LIFE IS A BED OF ROSES, LOVE ONTO DEATH, MELO and I WANT TO GO HOME. Resnais has been making films since the 1940’s, and was known for being a part of the French New Wave movement of the 1960’s. He is still directing films today, last releasing PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES in 2006. He has a film in post-production this year.

SCIENCE IS FICTION: 23 FILMS BY JEAN PAINLEVE.
Criterion/Shorts/Foreign (French).
Directed by Jean Painleve.
* From Amazon: Jean Painlevé was a film director, critic, theorist, and animator, yet his interests and studies also extended to mathematics, medicine, and zoology. Amazingly, all these disparate strands came together in a groundbreaking, decades-spanning artistic career. Operating under the credo: Science is fiction, Painlevé forged his own unique cinematic path, creating countless short films for both the viewing public and the scientific community. Moreover, he was also one of the first filmmakers to take his camera underwater. Surreal, otherworldly documents of marine life, these films transformed sea horses, octopi, and mollusks into delicate dancers in their own floating ballets. This anthology features twenty-three of Painlevé's shorts in their original form, as well as Yo La Tengo's ninety-minute original score The Sounds of Science, written in 2001 to accompany eight of the director's films. .

THE UNINVITED.
The Horror.
Emily Browning/Elizabeth Banks/Arielle Kebbel.
Directed by Thomas Guard and Charles Guard.
* Ghost, step-mothers and jealous daughters unite in this remake of the 2003 Korean film CHANGHWA HONGRYON. Banks plays the step-mom – rarr!

WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU.
Drama/Crime.
Mark Ruffalo/Ethan Hawke/Amanda Peet/Donnie Wahlberg.
Directed by Brian Goodman.
* Based on the director’s real life, this gritty tale is about two punks from Boston (probably Red Sox fans – sheesh) who can’t seem to shake the life of crime they were born into.

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

BIRD BY BIRD WITH ANNIE: A FILM PORTRAIT OF WRITER ANNE LAMOTT.
Documentary.
Annie Lamott.
Directed by Freida Lee Mock.
* A portrait of the writer Annie Lamott who wrote a book about writing and life called “Bird by Bird”. Lamott is a fascinating writer whose humorous and compassionate style allows her to touch on pain, loss and addiction without becoming melodramatic.

FIDEL CASTRO: LIDER MAXIMO.
Documentary.
Fidel Castro/Raul Castro.
Directed by Ferruccio Valerio .
* This new documentary on Fidel covers all the ground from the pre-revolutionary days when Fidel made his living as a lawyer all the way through the transfer of power to his brother Raul first temporarily in 2006, then permanently in 2008

H-2 WORKER.
Documentary.
Directed by Stephanie Black .
* This is a powerful expose on the Florida sugar cane industry and the Jamaican workers here on their H-2 work visas that are exploited for their cheap labor. See also BURN, a tremendous early Marlo Branon film also about the Caribbean exploitation.

HISTORY OF THE DEVIL.
Documentary.
Satan/Lucifer/W.(Psyche).
* A brief history of his badness, the Devil and his historical relevance through our culture.

J.R.R. TOLKIEN.
Documentary.
Directed by Julian Birkett .
* The writer of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy is the subject of this documentary. Particularly interesting is the descriptions of the West Midlands, where Tolkien grew up, and their influence on the creation of Middle-Earth, the land where so many of his stories took place.

K*KE LIKE ME.
Documentary.
Directed by Jamie Kastner.
* Shalom Chaverim, my brothers and sisters. L’hit-rah-oat. L’hit-rah-oat. Shalom. Shalom! This Hebrew lyric means roughly “Hello, my friends! Hello! May you go in peace until we meet again! In Peace!” Tough times to be Jewish, then again, they’re always tough times to be Jewish, it’s strange that way. This funny and self-effacing documentary watches Jamie travel the earth, from France, through America and eventually to Auschwitz in Poland to try to discover what it means for him to be Jewish, to be a “Jew” in the modern world. Shalom, chaverim! Shalom!

MILKING THE RHINO.****IN THE STORE ON WEDNESDAY****
Documentary.
Directed by David E. Simpson.
* This fascinating documentary shows the flip side of the Conservation culture. It focuses on two cattle-cultures in Africa, the Masai and the Himba, and the losses they have endured at the hands of Caucasian conservation.

STRANDED.
Documentary.
Directed by Ganzalo Arijon.
* Did you see ALIVE, the story of the survivors of a plane crash in the Andes? This is the real life story of that catastrophe told in the words of the survivors themselves. The director was a childhood friend of some of the survivors.

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

ESSENTIAL SPACE COLLECTION.
Television/Science.
Earth/Milky Way/Jupiter/Youranus.
* There are nearly five hours of space exploration in this series including behind the scenes looks at the 2018 mission to Mars (Whoa – 9 years from now!) and discussions of personal space vehicles and space tourism. Don’t forget to leave it in the same condition as you found it!

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

DIVE OLLY DIVE: ADVENTURE BEGINS IN THE SEA.

............// NEW BLU-RAY ADDITIONS//............

THE READER.
* New Release from last week starring Academy award winning Kate Winslet.

WAGES OF FEAR.
Criterion/Thriller/Adventure/Foreign (French/English/Spanish/Italian/German/Russian).
Yves Montand.
Directed by Henry-Georges Clouzot.
* Hard hitting 1953 tale of four men who agree to drive a couple trucks filled with nitroglycerine 300 miles through dangerous roads in a completely unsafe environment to make some much-needed coin.

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

SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISCHER.
* Beautiful film, first time for us on DVD.

............// REPLACEMENT DISCS//............

MARIA FULL OF GRACE.
* And 62 packets of cocaine in her belly.

SIX FEET UNDER: COMPLETE SERIES.
* Fresh copies of all five seasons of this remarkable show about a family who operates a funeral home.

****

****new release list no.215

Over at the blog, I have been wondering how to enhance our web presence. Four Star has so many wonderful things going for it that a Google search may not quickly establish, such as our huge Blu-Ray library for the same price as DVD’s, KenFlix, Block Rentals, early return credit, epic friendliness, etc. I would love to barter with someone to make my website a little better. Is anyone interested in free movies for a 5 or 6 page website??? Let me know. I think we could make a nice deal.

I am so obsessed with SIX FEET UNDER! It is all I watch, to the detriment of my new release movie watching. I just don’t care about anything else. If I am watching the tube, it is the Fisher family that I am concerned with…do you know how I feel? It is an amazing thing to be so entranced with a series that you are willing to watch TV far past your bedtime just to get to the next disc. To hear the theme song playing in your head as you start your day, knowing you will be watching your show at nightfall (or earlier if you have that kind of schedule!). It is as though we know these characters; after all we spend more hours with them then we do with many of our dearest friends. We started watching SIX FEET UNDER in early February, and have spent nearly 65 hours with those crazy Fishers in the three months since. Who else have I spent 65 hours with during that time? Aaaargh! Still and all, I so highly recommend this show, it is one of the most amazing and introspective pieces of television art that I have ever seen, causing Amy and I to have conversation after conversation of the nature of existence and community and family. Wow. I used to think THE SOPRANOS was the best show ever, but now I think I have switched teams. It is actually quite nice not waiting stressfully for someone to get whacked, or badly beaten every episode, and then lying in bed at night worrying! If you haven’t watched SIX FEET UNDER, it is the story of a family who owns and operates a funeral home. It follows them through five years of life and death as they cope with and process the loss of life and the reality of death that surrounds them. It is amazing! I recommend it! No emails about THE WIRE please. I have not seen it yet, I am sure it is the very best thing since sliced bread – I can tell by the way it has rented! I’ll watch it soon, I promise.

Mickey Rourke damn near won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance in THE WRESTLER, the tale of a down and out professional coping with pain, both physical and emotional. Marisa Tomei co-stars. Every single person I talked to about this film LOVED it. I would say I loved it too, but I haven’t watched it yet, because of the above paragraph.

That irascible Richard Nixon rears his head again in FROST/NIXON the dramatization of the real life interviews between Tricky Dick and David Frost, a British journalist. The film was nominated for a nice stack of Oscars, and presumable is wonderful, but until SIX FEET UNDER is complete, I won’t be able to recommend anything else.

Also notable NOTORIOUS (the story of The Notorious B.I.G., a fallen rap star), THE LAST WORD (critically lauded Indie film starring Winona and Wes Bentley, who was the neighbor kid in AMERICAN BEAUTY), and GLASS: A PORTRAIT OF PHILIP IN TWELVE PARTS (Ira’s cousin, Philip is a tripped out minimalist composer). There’s more! Scroll down.

In our backyard screening patio this Thursday, April 23 @ 4:30. Eddie Madril will tell stories of the United States Plains Indian tribes from Southern Canada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. Eddie has performed throughout the western United States and teaches residency programs in schools in the San Francisco Bay area. This is a Library sponsored event, and we hope to see you down here.

Film Festivals we plug dogmatically:
Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema festival.
Videofest 2009 at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts.

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

Love and Kisses,
Ken

Things you get by using KenFlix that you cannot get with Netflix.

1) Spiritual Bliss
2) $3 off used movies and Four Star Video T-Shirts
3) VHS tapes
4) Double Disc Rentals

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//............

DANTON..
Criterion/Drama/History/Foreign(French/Polish).
Gerard Depardieu.
Directed by Andrzej Wajda.
* The French Revolution was a bloody one, with the guillotine removing the heads of many. Danton (Depardieu) who has been in forced exile returns to Paris as the revolution is getting started and he speaks out against the bloodshed. He would have kept his head, had he kept his countenance.

FINDING ME.
Romance/Comedy/LGBT.
Ray Moore/Derrick Briggs.
Directed by Roger S. Omeus, Jr.
* Hipster love story about a man trying to get out from under his demons so that he can be free to be with the one he’s with.

FROST/NIXON.****ALSO ON BLU-RAY****
Drama/History.
Frank Langella/Michael Sheen/Sam Rockwell/Kevin Bacon.
Directed by Ron Howard.
* Nominated for 5 Oscars, this is a fictionalized story of the interviews between British journalist David Frost and down but not out ex-President Richard Nixon.

HOW ABOUT YOU.
Comedy/Drama.
Hayley Atwell/Joss Ackland/Vanessa Redgrave.
Directed by Anthony Byrne.
* From Ireland comes this hilarious comedy about a young woman who is covering for her sister over the Christmas holiday as the person in charge at a Residential home that is basically run by four hooligan seniors led by Georgia Platts (Redgrave).

LAST WORD.****ALSO ON BLU-RAY****for some reason
Comedy/Romance.
Winona Ryder/Wes Bentley/Ray Romano.
Directed by Geoffrey Haley.
* Quirky comedy that was nominated for a Jury Award at Sundance about Evan (Bentley) who makes a strange living penning suicide notes for people (I guess he never gets any 1099’s). Charlotte (Ryder) is a young woman who has just had the unfortunate reality of having her sister employ Evan, who she is now falling in love with.

NOTORIOUS.
Music/Fictobiopic/Drama.
Jamal Woolard/Derek Luke/Angele Bassett.
Directed by George Tillman, Jr.
* The rise and fall of Notorious B.I.G (I love it when you call me Big Popp-A…) is examined in this film which was executively produced by Sean ‘P-Diddy’ Combs.

QUO VADIS.
Drama/History/Romance.
Robert Taylor/Deborah Kerr/Peter Ustinov.
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy.
* Nominated for 8 Oscars in 1951 this is a tale of Rome during Nero’s rule, there is love and there is war, and eventually there are lions. Chomp chomp.

POIL DE CAROTTE.
Drama/Black and White/Foreign (French).
Robert Lynen/Harry Baur.
Directed by Julien Duvivier.
* This uber painful French film from 1932 is a treatise on the unloved and oppressed children of the world.

VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED.

THE WRESTLER.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Drama/Wrestling.
Mickey Rourke/Marisa Tomei/Evan Rachel Wood/Paz Vega/Eva Mendes/Jaime King.
Directed by Darren Aronofsky.
* Aronofsky has made a career directing gritty character studies that were hard to watch and harder to look away from (PI, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, THE FOUNTAIN). This film evidently is no different. Rourke plays Randy “The Ram” Robinson, a once famous professional wrestler who is now battling health issues and alienation as he attempts to reconcile himself to a life out of the ring. With Marisa Tomei as the stripper he is hot for and Evan Rachel Wood as his daughter who he abandoned as a youngster. Both Tomei and Rourke were nominated for Oscars.

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

GLASS: A PORTRAIT OF PHILIP IN TWELVE PARTS.
Documentary/Music.
Philip Glass/Woody Allen/Errol Morris.
Directed by Scott Hicks.
* Made to celebrate Glass’ 70th Birthday in 2007, this portrait by the director of SHINE plays like a mosaic of information, image and tone and will leave the viewer deeply satisfied about who Philip Glass is and how he has contributed to the musical world.

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

MY OWN WORST ENEMY: COMPLETE SERIES.
Television/Action/Drama/Thriller.
Christian Slater/Madchen Amick/Alfre Woodard.
Directed by Jason Smilovic.
*Slater plays a man with two separate personalities, one a family man working a somewhat normal job and the other a dangerous government agent.

............// NEW BLU-RAY ADDITIONS//............

HELLRAISER.
Horror.
Directed by Clive Barker.
* The original demon from hell romance horror fantasy.

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

TO DIE FOR.
Television/Drama.
Nicole Kidman/Matt Dillon/Joaquin Phoenix/Casey Affleck.
Directed by Gus Van Sant.
* First DVD of this slightly comedic thriller!

............// REPLACEMENT DISCS//............

ANNIE.
* Why can’t we hang on to this film? Will the sun come out?

MA VIE EN ROSE.

WEDDING CRASHERS.

****

****new release list no.214

If you ever go to our blog you might notice a new banner on the right side of the page which is a link to the 3/50 Project home page. Darcy at Heartfelt told me about this project, and it resonates very strongly with me. I have posted a few flyers in the window of the store and at the cash register about it. In a nutshell, the 3/50 Project invites you to pick some stores in your neighborhood that you want to directly affect and hopefully keep in business.

Among many interesting stats they offer is this: “For every $100 spent in locally owned independent stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll and other expenditures. If you spend that in a national chain, only $43 stays here. Spend it online, and nothing comes home.”

Fascinating, isn’t it? There must be a ton of people out there right now thinking and philosophizing and writing about community and economic survival. It makes me feel very hopeful and willing to sacrifice in order to do my part to keep my community strong. If anyone knows of anything else like this, please pass it on!

This week Four Star Video is psyched to bring you THE READER, one of the two lauded roles that Kate Winslet played in the last year. She won the Best Actress Academy Award for her role as Hanna Schmitz, a former Nazi concentration camp guard who befriends a teenage boy with the desire for him to read to her. Also new this week is DARK MATTER, starring Meryl Streep and Liu Ye. Based on a true story, Ye plays a Chinese student studying in the United States whose desire for academic success comes with a terrible price. THE SPIRIT stars Gabriel Macht and a serious posse of beautiful actresses in a film by Frank Miller about a superhero from beyond the grave whose job it is to protect Central City from bad guys, including The Octopus, played by the excellent Samuel L. Jackson.

There is bunches of new television at Four Star this week, including some older things we are dabbling in such as BOSTON LEGAL and HOTEL BABYLON. A new season of THE RUTH RENDELL MYSTERIES is here as well as the HBO mini-series HOUSE OF SADDAM. In the new additions section we have the 1970’s historical BBC drama THE DUCHESS OF DUKE STREET. Chris’ Highlighted New Addition section receives another in the WHOLPHIN series, this time No. 3. All that’s left is No. 5 and hopefully that will be in soon.

There are a couple of noteworthy documentaries here this week. The first is CRUDE IMPACT, a revealing look at the world’s addiction to petroleum and the cost of that addiction. The second is a new look at Andy Warhol’s screentest series. In 13 MOST BEAUTIFUL…SONGS FOR ANDY WARHOL SCREEN TESTS, Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips record, re-record and compose some striking music, ambient and otherwise to flow with some of the more amazing screentests from the series including Nico, Edie Sedgwick and Dennis Hopper.

Parents and caregivers: don’t forget! On Thursday, April 23 @ 4:30. Eddie Madril will tell stories of the United States Plains Indian tribes from Southern Canada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. Eddie has performed throughout the western United States and teaches residency programs in schools in the San Francisco Bay area. This event will happen here at Four Star Video in our backyard screening patio.

Film Festivals we want you to apply to:
Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema festival.
Videofest 2009 at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts.

By the way, my wife Amy (who is a local estate planning attorney) is offering a wide range of interesting and affordable new services for those of you who are needing estate plans (wills, powers of attorney, etc.) but not ready for the full bells and whistles variety. Here is a recent blog entry where she talks about the possibilities.

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

Love and Kisses,
Ken

Things you get by using KenFlix that you cannot get with Netflix.

1) Blu-Ray rentals at the SAME PRICE as DVD’s.
2) DAE JANG GEUM Vol 2 and 3.
3) I’M A CYBORG, BUT THAT’S OKAY.
4) PLAYBACK: MUSIC VIDEOS OF MAUREEN EGAN AND MATTHEW BARRY

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//............

BLED.
Horror.
Sarah Farooqui.
Directed by Christopher Hutson.
* Blood sucking and multi-dimensional crossings in the arty and hipster warehouse district.

DARK MATTER..
Drama.
Liu Ye/Meryl Streep/Aidan Quinn/Bill Irwin.
Directed by Chen Shi-Zheng.
* Based on the true story of Gang Lu, this tale follows Liu Xing (Ye) a young Chinese student studying in America and hoping for some prestigious academia honors who is befriended by a wealthy patron (Streep). Things go terribly wrong for him as he doesn’t receive the accolades he feels he deserves, and tragedy strikes.

FOREST OF DEATH.
Horror/Foreign (Cantonese).
Shu Qi/Cheng Ekin/Li Rain.
Directed by Danny Pang.
* Seriously, it’s a bad bad forest. Some people die there. Others receive messages from the plants and the trees, like the Lorax, except I’m not sure if they speak for the trees in this movie. And I don’t think their message is an environmental one. And I don’t think there is a little kid with a seed at the end who is hoping to bring back the Truffula Trees. No, the more I think about it, this movie is nothing like The Lorax, except I think there is a bad guy, but I am uncertain if he is anything like the Once-ler. Ah, fuck it. I’m babbling.

THE READER.
Romance/Foreign (English/German/Greek/Latin).
Kate Winslet/Ralph Fiennes/Bruno Ganz/David Kross.
Directed by Stephen Daldry.
* The wonderful and versatile Kate Winslet won a Best Actress Academy Award for her performance as Hanna Schmitz a former Auschwitz guard during the Nazi rule who is living out her punishment for her role in that horror. As the film begins, she is a free woman who befriends and eventually seduces a teenage boy. She wants him to read to her, and their short affair is laden with scenes of this voluptuous older woman being read to by a teenager. Although she is never busted for statutory rape, she is eventually put on trial for her past and sentenced to a life imprisonment. The experience of their relationship weighs on the boy – Michael (Kross as a boy, and Fiennes as man) and shapes him as he ages. He is forever affected by both the affair, and his silence during her trial, and it is only years later that he is able to play a role in her life that leads to his own personal salvation.

RICKY GERVAIS: OUT OF ENGLAND.
Standup Comedy.
Ricky Gervais.
Directed by John Moffitt.
* The creator of THE OFFICE and EXTRAS delivers his particularly funny and biting brand of humor.

SHE FELL AMONG THIEVES.
Mystery.
Malcolm McDowell/Eileen Atkins/Michael Jayston.
Directed by Clive Donner.
* Aired in 1978 as a “BBC2 Play of the Week” this murder mystery is set in 1920’s France.

THE SPIRIT.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Comic/Action/Adventure.
Gabriel Macht/Samuel L. Jackson/Scarlett Johannson/Paz Vega/Eva Mendes/Jaime King.
Directed by Frank Miller.
* How many hot young actresses does it take to make a superhero movie? By my count, at least four in this graphic novel style dark comic film directed by the guy who brought us SIN CITY. Macht plays Denny Colt, a cop who gets killed and comes back (from the beyond!) as The Spirit, a force of good whose job it is to protect Central City (and the hotties who live there). Jackson plays the Octopus, who is a meany who wants to destroy the city.

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

CRUDE IMPACT.
Documentary/History.
Petroleum.
Directed by James Jandak Wood.
* A doc that examines that way that humans are slaves to their addiction to petroleum and the destruction to our environment that addiction has wrought. Walk to the store to pick it up.

13 MOST BEAUTIFUL…SONGS FOR ANDY WARHOL SCREEN TESTS.
Music/Screen Tests.
Nico/Edie Sedgwick/Lou Reed/Dennis Hopper.
Directed by Andy Warhol.
* From the famous series of screentests from the mid 1960’s, if you are a fan of Warhol at all, these are not to be missed. They are featuring music by Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips (formerly of Luna). There are also many great special features, including a 40 page book filled with great tidbits.

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

BOSTON LEGAL: SEASONS 1 AND 2.
Television/Drama.
James Spader/William Shatner/Candice Bergen.
Created by David E. Kelley.
* A spinoff from THE PRACTICE, this show was recommended to us by a customer and we are giving it a shot. Tell us what you think. It’s rated super duper highly by viewers on imdb.com. Look at that cast!

HOTEL BABYLON: SEASONS 2 AND 3.
Television/BBC/Drama/Comedy..
* Another couple of seasons of the sexy comedy-drama about the people working at and staying at a posh hotel.

HOUSE OF SADDAM.
HBO Mini-Series.
Igal Naor/Shohreh Aghashloo/Said Taghmaoui.
Directed by Alex Holmes and Jim O’Hanlon.
* Gritty and realistic portrayal of Hussein and his ruling party from 1979 until he was executed in 2006.

THE RUTH RENDELL MYSTERIES: SET 4.
Television/Crime/Drama/Mystery.
* More great British crime television.

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

WHOLPHIN No. 3:.
Shorts/Bizarre/Experimental/Docs/Beauty.
Directed by Many.
* All we are missing is No. 5 now in our collection of these McSweeney compiled short films.

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

THE DUCHESS OF DUKE STREET: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION.
Television/Drama.
Gemma Jones.
* Our first DVD’s of this historical drama from the 1970’s about a woman who works her way up to being the owner of a hotel in the early part of the twentieth century.

****

****new release list no.213

It’s THE END OF THE WORLD! ARE WE THERE YET?

Man, I refuse to be pessimistic. Even during tax week when the tax relief for small business ownership did not arrive. Even when our governator raises the state sales tax but we still don’t have universal health care. Even when the same organizations whose greedy investments brought the world to its financial knees are now buying up the assets that their actions rendered worthless for a pittance of their past value. No way. I refuse to be pessimistic. How could I be? Were you outdoors on Sunday? Holy cow! How do you complain on a day like that? You don’t. You think about the positives while pulling off whatever you’ve put on the BBQ and kicking back with your peeps and digesting some beautiful San Francisco reality.

It is April 2009, and we’ve gotta keep those lovin good vibrations a-happening.

In DOUBT, an amazing cast of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Amy Adams and Viola Davis were all nominated for Academy Awards. That’s pretty incredible. Their story is somewhat familiar, a priest is suspected of having feelings for a young boy at the parish. However the plot is more complicated than that and the battle between the suspecting nun (Streep) and the Pries (Hoffman) threatens to destroy the community.

In YES MAN, Jim Carrey tries to yes himself out of a miserable no life. I’m so with you, brother! Yes! Yes!

Chris continues adding to his Highlight New Additions this week with three more of the short and rare film WHOLPHIN series, as well as FULL METAL JACKET and THE BRUCE LEE ULTIMATE COLLECTION, featuring five Lee titles.

We’ve also got some new Blu-Ray Criterion releases (LAST METRO and THE 400 BLOWS) which I have been ordering a bit sporadically not quite knowing who is renting those things. Are you? Let me know!

Parents and caregivers: don’t forget! On Thursday, April 23 @ 4:30. Eddie Madril will tell stories of the United States Plains Indian tribes from Southern Canada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. Eddie has performed throughout the western United States and teaches residency programs in schools in the San Francisco Bay area. This event will happen here at Four Star Video in our backyard screening patio.

Are you a local filmmaker? Have you ever shown your work at the Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema festival? Please consider submitting this year to this terrific community event. This year the festival will feature music and a 24-hour filmmaking challenge as well as all the usual terrific shorts, and feature length films. Info can be found online here.

Also, don’t forget about Videofest 2009 at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts. To read more about the festival and submit for entry, please go to their website which is linked here. One of the prizes is a year subscription to Kenflix!

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

Love and Kisses,
Ken

Things you get by using KenFlix that you cannot get with Netflix.

1) Good karma.
2) Positive vibrations from the universe.
3) One Million dollars!
4) A hug from Ken.

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

ESUB -One Movie at a time – 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

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

BEDTIME STORIES.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Comedy/Family/Fantasy.
Adam Sandler/Keri Russell/Guy Pearce/Russell Brand/Richard Griffiths/Courtney Cox.
Directed by Adam Shankman.
* Sandler plays Skeeter Bronson, the handyman at a hotel owned by Barry Nottingham (Griffiths) and successful and unscrupulous businessman. Nottingham bought the original motel that used to exist on the site from Skeeter’s dad with the promise that S-Diddy would be the manager someday. But he has since reneged on the deal. Skeeter discovers a talent for telling bedtime tales to his niece and nephew and also discovers the stories he tells has a way of turning our real. Can he turn this magical skill to his advantage? Probably.

CLEOPATRA (75TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION)..
Drama/History/Romance.
Claudette Colbert.
Directed by Cecil B DeMille.
* I really like this direct quote from the IMDB: The man-hungry Queen of Egypt leads Julius Caesar and Marc Antony astray, amid scenes of DeMillean splendor. This film won Victor Milner a Best Cinematography Oscar in 1935.

CHOCOLATE.
Martial Arts/Drama/Foreign (Thai/English/Japanese).
JeeJa Yanin.
Directed by Prachya Pinkaew.
* A young woman with some serious issues, who has learned how to fight watching TV goes on a violent vision quest to collect money owed to her family so that she can pay her mother’s medical bills.

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Drama/Sci-Fi/Thriller/Remake.
Keanu/Jennifer Connelly/Kathy Bates/John Cleese/Jaden Smith.
Directed by Scott Derrickson.
* Dude, Keanu is like an ambassador of an alliance of alien races to Earth and its people! And Connelly is the hot chick he befriends. Kudos to the makers of this film for deciding to make the robot Gort look just like the original, and also for a very creative use of sound which also mimics some of the 1950’s era sci-fi films. Other than that, this somewhat schlocky shell of the quiet and brilliant original is kind of eco-preachy,

DOUBT.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Drama/Mystery.
Meryl Streep/Philip Seymour Hoffman/Amy Adams/Viola Davis.
Directed by John Patrick Shanley.
* Why do I keep hearing Bob Marley in my head as I think about this movie? Bob singing: “Guiltiness. Pressed on their conscience. Oh yeah.
And they live their lives (they live their lives)
On false pretence everyday - Each and everyday”.
You know what I mean? This movie follows a nun’s quest to force a priest out of her parish because he represents change and even a sort of evolution that she cannot abide. Also, it’s possible that he has an interest in a young African-American kid that has just been admitted to the parochial school attached to their church. In a way, his guiltiness (guiltiness!) or innocence is beside the point for Sister Aloysius Beauvier (whoa, that’s a mouthful!). As played by Streep, she is strict to the point of brutal and mean to the point of not Christian. She does not like Father Flynn (Hoffman), a compassionate Priest who takes very personal interest in the lives of the young boys at his school. In some ways, the news that he may have something special for this kid is just the ammunition that Sister Beauvier will use to force him out. Nominated for 5 Oscars including Best Actress for Streep, Best Supporting Actor for Hoffman, and Best Supporting Actress for both Amy Adams and Viola Davis who plays the boys mother.

FUN IN GIRLS SHORTS 2.
Romance/Comedy/LGBT.
Directed by Many.
* The second in the series of short films featuring stories of love loss and adventure in and out of girls shorts.

MIKE EPPS: FUNNY BIDNESS.
Stand-up Comedy.
Mike Epps.

PLAYBACK: DIRECTOR’S SERIES: THE MUSIC VIDEOS OF MAUREEN EGAN AND MATTHEW BARRY.
Music Videos.
Dashboard Confessional/Alkaline Trio.
Directed by Maureen Egan and Matthew Barry.
* A collection of videos made by the directors over about five years spanning a bunch of different bands works.

PRE-CODE HOLLYWOOD COLLECTION.
Drama.
Cary Grant/Claudette Colbert/Fredric March
* A collection of Universal films made from 1929-1934 during a period of freedom in Hollywood where many subjects were tackled and the writers were relatively uncensored. This collection includes THE CHEAT, MERRILY WE GO TO HELL, HOT SATURDAY, TORCH SINGER, MURDER AT THE VANITIES, and SEARCH FOR BEAUTY.

THE SECRETS.
Drama/LGBT/Foreign (English/French/Hebrew).
Fanny Ardant/Ania Bukstein/Michel Shtamler.
Directed by Avi Nesher.
* A couple of yentas from the schtetl discover they don’t have to listen to the meshugenah rabbis who want to suppress their chutzpah. Nominated for a lot of Israeli Film Awards. Sadly, didn’t win any.

TALES OF DESPEREAUX.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Adventure/Animation/Comedy.
Matthew Broderick/Emma Watson/Dustin Hoffman/Tracey Ullman/Kevin Kline/William H. Macy/Stanley Tucci/Christopher Lloyd and my man, Richard Jenkins.
Directed by Sam Fell and Robert Stevenhagen.
* Hmmm, yes. A lot of stars in ziss film. Many many stars. Also a mouse, a rat, perhaps someone with cauliflower ears and a princess…Which is really all my daughter needs to enjoy a movie. Not sure if this is a RATATOUILLE rip-off or a beautiful new animated hit. But, I know there’s a princess. That, I know.

VINYAN.
Drama/Horror/Thriller.
Emmanuelle Beart/Rufus Sewel/Julie Dreyfus.
Directed by Fabrice Du Welz.
* A couple (Beart and Sewel) go search the jungles of Burma for their child who was lost six months earlier in a Tsunami. The mother is convinced she saw him in a documentary about kids living on their own in the jungle. Their terror and isolation run deeper the farther they get on their quest. Somehow I was reminded of SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER as I read about this film.

YES MAN.****ALSO IN BLU-RAY****
Comedy.
Jim Carrey/Zooey Deschanel/.
Directed by Peyton Reed.
* Will your life improve if you just say “yes” to every question asked to you? This guy tries it and discovers that it both does and it doesn’t. When my sister was in college someone had a shirt that was parodying the Reagan anti-drug campaign. It said “Don’t say: Yes. Say: Yes, please!” I think there is a lesson here somewhere. I would like every one of you to try saying yes to everyone and everything for a day and then email me with your funny stories. You must say “yes”.

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

DISNEY ANIMATION COLLECTION: VOL 1: MICKEY AND THE BEANSTALK.

DISNEY ANIMATION COLLECTION: VOL 1: THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER.

SCOOBY DOO & THE SAMARAI SWORD.

TIGGER AND POOH: AND A MUSICAL TOO.

............// NEW BLU-RAY ADDITIONS//............

400 BLOWS.
Criterion/Drama/Crime/Foreign (French).
Jean-Pierre Leaud.
Directed by Francois Truffault.
* This brilliant 1959 film was nominated for Oscars and has been lauded as one of the first and most famous films of the French New Wave. The story follows a young boy who lives in cramped quarters with his asshole stepfather and his disconnected mother who gets busted for everything he and his friend does and eventually is sent away to a school for incorrigibles.

LAST METRO.
Criterion/Suspense/Foreign (French).
Catherine Deneuve/Gerard Depardieu/Jean Poiret.Directed by Francois Truffault.
* A story about Nazi-occupied Paris in 1942 centered around a theatre being run by the actress wife of the owner, who himself is hiding from the Nazi’s in the cellar. We just got this on DVD, and now on Blu-Ray as well…aw, hot dog.

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

ALL REVIEWS IN THIS SECTION WRITTEN BY CHRIS.

BRUCE LEE ULTIMATE COLLECTION.
Martial Arts.
Bruce Lee.
* It's about time we upgrade our severely anemic martial arts section with long over due DVDs. Some clarification about this box set - Big Boss is Fists of Fury, it's just the original Chinese title, Fist of Fury (Chinese Title) is what you would probably know as The Chinese Connection, and Way of the Dragon is known as Return of the Dragon in America. Confusing I know. What isn’t is Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris - mano y mano.

FULL METAL JACKET.
War.
Matthew Modine.
Directed by Stanley Kubrick.
* Not much needs to be said about this film except that it is the greatest war film. I don't care if it's "two halves" that make one whole film. Great performances all around but especially Vincent D'Onofrio as Pvt. Pyle and R. Lee Ermey playing pretty much what I imagine him to be in real life..

WHOLPHIN DVD MAGAZINE OF RARE AND UNSEEN SHORT FILMS 4, 6 and 7.
Directed by Many many.
* This is a DVD magazine started by Dave Eggers and Brent Hoff of McSweeney's that showcases short films and documentaries that would otherwise have limited exposure to the public. This batch features work from Gus Van Sant, Michael Cera, John Cleese, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Peter Sarsgaard. Also don't forget to let the DVD menus play because those are movies too.

Here are some specific recommendations:

No. 4
Heavy Metal Jr. - A group of preteen scottish kids start there own metal band called "Hatred"

SiteSpecific_LasVegas 05 - an interesting experimental film on landscapes that look like miniatures, but it's real

No. 6
Please Vote For Me - Chinese third graders elect a classroom monitor democratically, with hilarious results.

Bigfoot: A Beast on the Run - Herzog style doc about Big Foot and the men who love him

No. 7
Refugee All Stars - From Sierra Leone, a great band with a sad back story.

David Huggins: Experienced - I can't say much about this otherwise it will ruin the ending, but it's weird.

............// REPLACEMENT DISCS//............

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD: COLLECTOR’S EDITION.
* Just an amazing movie adapted from one of the best books ever starring incredibly talented people.

****