The holidays are almost upon us! By this time next week, school will be out for two weeks; child care will be at a premium, the holiday buzz will be floating around like second hand smoke, getting some people sick and others high. That’s probably how some of this week’s big releases will make you feel as well. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, the remake by Quentin Tarantino starring Brad Pitt and many others in another way over the top action-filled blood fest about a group of American soldiers terrorizing the Nazi community during WWII. Guaranteed to raise your blood-pressure, it is also billed as a comedy, if you can get past the lurid devastation that accompanies it. THE HANGOVER is another one not for the gentle and thin-skinned. Featuring bottom feeding humor (no pun, or anything there), it is the story of a bachelor party in Las Vegas gone horribly terribly wrong (or wonderfully right, as the case sometimes may be) and the subsequent search for the missing groom the next day. It’s hilarity comes from cringe-worthy humor, but underneath it’s crudeness, this is actually a heartfelt film about commitment and love (ahem).
In the less challenging Hollywood department, we have THE OTHER MAN, starring Antonio Banderas, Laura Linney and Liam Neeson about a man tracking down his wife’s lover with a heart bent on revenge; and TAKING WOODSTOCK from Ang Lee about some of the history of the music festival Woodstock and how it ended up taking place where it did. Starring Emile Hirsch among others.
For the kids and families, we have G-FORCE, the story of some government trained rodents on a secret mission to stop an evil mastermind from destroying the world, and THE WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE: THE MOVIE, which is the big-screen adaptation of the popular Disney series.
You like documentaries? You should see HERB AND DOROTHY, the story of a couple of very normal and un-wealthy people who happened to collect a very note-worthy collection of contemporary art.
Also of note is Season Three of THE TUDORS, the popular series about the reign of King Henry VIII.
Lastly, a reminder of our holiday deals -: KenFlix packages of 3 months of any service for 10% off – give it as a Gift Certificate, or buy it for yourself! Four Star T-Shirts and Previously Viewed DVDs for $25 total, tax included. This is an 18% discount. Come in for details! We finally got the brown shirts in men’s large and extra large sizes! And don’t forget about POPCORN POKER, for those of you who love movies, poker and trivia. And PIXIE PLANTS, the coolio live succulent key chains that would double as lovely living tree ornaments as well. Whoop whoop!
Alrighty then, see you down at the store.
Love and Kisses,
Ken
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............//NEW RELEASES//............
20TH CENTURY BOYS: THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
Adventure/Fantasy/Mystery/Sci-fi/Foreign (Japanese/Thai/English).
Toshiaki Karasawa/Etsushi Toyokawa.
Directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi.
* From the IMDB: Based on the hugely successful, award winning manga series created by Naoki Urasawa (Yawara; Monster), 20TH CENTURY BOYS is the first installment of the mind-blowing, three-part live-action adaptation of the epic sci-fi fantasy adventure originally inspired by the T. Rex song 20th Century Boy.
G-FORCE .
Family/Kids/Comedy/Adventure.
Bill Nighy/Will Arnett/Zach Galifianakis/Penelope Cruz/Nicholas Cage/Steve Buscemi/Tracy Morgan/Jon Favreau.
Directed by Hoyt Yeatman.
* Can a batch of guinea pigs, a fly and a mole save the world? You bet your pest control invoice. These guys are government-trained espionage experts with the will and the skills to take down just about anyone who gets in their way. In this case, they are trying to stop mega-billionaire Leonard Saber (Bill Nighy), who intends to somehow destroy the world. His choice of weapon? Household appliances. I knew they were trying to kill me.
GEORGE LOPEZ: TALL DARK AND CHICANO .
Standup Comedy.
George Lopez.
Directed by Marty Callner.
* Dude’s pretty funny, 'member one of his early shticks, when he threw a tortilla into the audience and called it a Mexican Frisbee? He’s goofy, and keeps it real.
THE GIRL FROM MONACO.
Comedy/Foreign (French/Italian/Russian).
Fabrice Luchini/Roschdy Zem.
Directed by Anne Fontaine.
* Funny movie about an uptight lawyer, in Monaco for a big case, who somehow hooks up with a very hot and oversexed woman who throws his whole life into uncertainty.
THE HANGOVER.****ALSO ON BLU-RAY****
Comedy.
Bradley Cooper/Ed Helms/Zach Galifianakis/Heather Graham/Mike Tyson.
Directed by Todd Phillips.
* This is one of those “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” kind of movies, except the thing that is threatening to stay in Vegas, happens to be the groom who has gone missing after an all-night bachelor party that appears to have gotten way out of hand. Can they find the groom before his wedding? That is the question which leads them on a search through the potentials pitfalls that await us all in the land of smiling sin. It seems that one of the groomsmen appears to have gotten married, and given the ring he intended for his beloved back home to the dancer he’s married. That guy is a dentist who also proves his manliness by removing one of his own teeth during the party. Yeah! Mike Tyson makes a wonderful appearance, and delivers one of his greatest knockout punches.
THE HEADLESS WOMAN.
Drama/Foreign (Spanish).
Maria Onetto.
Directed by Lucrecia Martel.
* Nominated for the Golden Palm at Cannes in 2008, this film is about a bourgeoisie lady who hits something in the road and becomes convinced (although all evidence states otherwise) that she has run over and killed somebody.
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS.****ALSO ON BLU-RAY****
War/Action.
Brad Pitt/Melanie Laurent/Eli Roth/Michael Fassbinder/Diane Kruger.
Directed by Quentin Tarantino.
* A remake of the 1978 war movie, this story as re-envisioned by Tarantino, is about a group of elite Jewish soldiers during WWII whose job to go out and engender fear in the Nazi’s by brutally killing and scalping them. Their leader, the enigmatic and ruthless Lt. Aldo Raine (Pitt) sends them on their mission with no confusion of what he expects from them. Laurent plays Shosanna Dreyfus, a young Jewish refugee whose entire family was slaughtered at the hands of an evil Nazi colonel and who narrowly escaped and has spent the time since carefully planning her revenge. The entire thing comes together at the theatre Dreyfus works at in occupied France where a bunch of major Nazi officers will be in attendance at a big show, attracting the attention of the Basterds!
MURDER BY DECREE.
Suspense.
Christopher Plummer/James Mason/Donald Sutherland.
Directed by Bob Clark.
* Newly released in anticipation of the new Sherlock Holmes film, this 1979 classic has Plummer (Captain Von Trapp, from THE SOUND OF MUSIC) as the good investigator, looking in to the Jack the Ripper murders.
THE OTHER MAN.****ALSO ON BLU-RAY****
Drama/Suspense.
Liam Neeson/Laura Linney/Antonio Banderas.
Directed by Richard Eyre.
* Adapted from a Bernhard Sclink short story in his collection "Flights of Love"comes this tale of a man who suspects his wife of infidelity and tracks down her lover to exact his revenge.
TAKING WOODSTOCK.****ALSO ON BLU-RAY****
Comedy/Drama/Music/Fictobiopic.
Demetri Martin/Emile Hirsch/Paul Dano/Imelda Stauntan/Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
Directed by Ang Lee
* This is the somewhat true story of Elliot Tiber (Martin) a young man hoping to help his parents save their Catskill Mountains motel from a bank foreclosure (ooh, that word!) and helps bring some hippie music festival to Woodstock in the hopes of bringing business to his parents. A half a million naked tripping hippies later, and the rest is history. The New York State Thruway’s closed – isn’t that far out? (3 minute mark)
THE WIZARD’S OF WAVERLY PLACE.
Comedy/Adventure/Fantasy/Family.
Selena Gomez/Jake Austin.
Directed by Lev Spiro.
* It ain’t Harry Potter, but it is a family of wizards and magic doers, and I believe this film erupted from the Emmy-winning (not kidding) Disney television series.
............//DOCUMENTARY/............
COCAINE COWBOYS 2: HUSTLIN’ WITH THE GODMOTHER .
Documentary/Crime.
Directed by Billy Corben.
* Part two of the cocaine chronicles, this movie deals with a small time dealer in Oakland, CA in the 1990’s who writes a letter to a famous druglord in prison (Griselda Blanco) and as a result becomes her lover, her cocaine businesses manager, and a prime target for a bad trip.
HERB AND DOROTHY.
Documentary.
Directed by Megumi Sasaki.
* Who says you have to be rich to buy art? Look around any area, and there are young and old undiscovered artists making amazing art. How wonderful is it to own art? So good. You spend your money on something less transient than a beer, something that you can look at every day and gain joy from constantly; and you get the added bonus of putting money into an artist’s pocket enabling them to continue to create. Herb and Dorothy were people who loved art. People of modest means. She worked as a librarian, and he went the postal route. They didn’t have much money, but what they had they spent on art, and the collection the put together ended up being a very significant contemporary art collection. Watch this story and be inspired. And buy some art!
............//TELEVISION/............
THE TUDORS: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON.
Drama/Monarchy/Sex.
Jonathan Ryhs-Meyers/Annabelle Wallis.
* Season three has Henry getting older with still with a strong libido looking to hook it up with all the fine-ly dressed ladies, such as Jane Seymour (not the model) who he takes for his wife, while Mary still waits in the wings.
............//REPLACEMENT DVD’S/............
ENTOURAGE: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON.
* You want to be in my entourage, you got to wear camouflage, and you got to give a hard massage.
THE LIFE OF BIRDS.
* Amazing amazing documentary – narrated by David Attenborough.
****
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