Monday, July 26, 2010

****new release list no.278

It was a Criterion weekend at my house…three straight nights of Criterion films from different decades and different countries. As you can imagine, all three were amazing! Do you know about Criterion? Here is a link to info about this tremendous film company that releases great films, old and new from all around the globe. We have a tremendous collection of Criterion films, and if you don’t know what you want to watch, but know you want it to be an important work that is likely to challenge you, then you can pretty much close your eyes and grab anything from the shelves that house these valuable films.

I was inspired on Friday by a customer while standing there in the new release room around 7pm getting ready to get home…We got to talking and he mentioned he had just seen THE FUGITIVE KIND, starring Marlon Brando and directed by the fabulous Sidney Lumet (BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOUR DEAD) in 1960! The customer suggested that the film was pushing an agenda way ahead of its time, and so very right he was. Brando plays Valentine Xavier, a drifter who cannot avoid his fate, struggling to ride the straight and narrow path but marked with an individuality combined with a natural curiosity and an unshakable inner strength that can only be broken by the classless and lawless law. Filled with intimate moments, and earth-shattering quotes, as well as two super hot actresses in Anna Magnani and Joanne Woodward who provide separate tugs at Valentine’s spirit, the film is an adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ “Orpheus Descending”. Williams, one of humanity’s great witnesses, also wrote the screenplay.

Saturday, inspired by Friday’s film, I brought home Carol Reed’s 1940 cat and mouse WWII film NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH. Starring the gorgeous Margaret Lockwood and the rascally Rex Harrison, this film completely blew my mind! It wasn’t so much the story that got me, though that was wonderful – it involves a plot by a British Intelligence agent to rescue a Czech scientist and his daughter from Nazi Germany after they have been kidnapped and brought there from London – but what was truly incredible was that this film was made in 1940 and featured Nazi footage, concentration camps, and the declaration of war on Germany by England. It is almost unthinkable that this film would have been made just a few years later, with the world knowing what it would by then about Hitler’s plans. There is a tongue-in-cheek to this film, a stumbling maturity, and a knowing wink that is simply mind-boggling to contemplate within the context of the time period.

Sunday, I decided to check out a Yasujiro Ozu film. Ozu is a director we’ve been collecting for some time, who made films from the late 1920’s through the early 1960’s. Many of his early black and white films were silent, and he is known to have been a master of conveying the simple challenges of a family struggling through abject poverty to maintain its dignity in this most basic of mediums. I brought home TOKYO CHORUS, one of Ozu’s “comedy’s” about a playful young married insurance agent who loses his job sticking up for an older colleague and finds himself struggling to make ends meet with his wife and three young children. After a moment of two of indecision, we decided to watch the film with a soundtrack (lovely piano work by Donald Sosin created in 2008), which helped us watch this very degraded yet beautiful and lush film. One thing I have noticed with great art (literature, music, film, etc) is the ability of the artist to transcend their time period and capture the human condition in a very universal way. This film did that beautifully. When the wife discovered her kimonos were gone and the husband, while playing with his children, mentioned that her beautiful kimonos had enabled them to pay the hospital bills of their young daughter, the wife joined them, and the adults barely stifled their intense emotion from the financial struggle they were locked in. As the wife wiped tears away from her eyes, and the husband looked away full of shame at his inability to take proper care of his family, I couldn’t help thinking that this scene is being repeated all over our neighborhood (and city, and state and country and earth) right now as family’s are struggling to deal with today’s economy. Ah, the humanity. The humanity!

This week, we have some newly released DVD’s you may want to see, such as the remake of 1981’s THE CLASH OF THE TITANS, starring Sam Worthington (AVATAR), Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes. Also REPO MEN, a sci-fi film about repossession men who come to repo your purchased body organs that you have stopped making payments on. Yikes! There is also some other new Criterion films (THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN and ECLIPSE SERIES 22 featuring French director Sacha Guitry) as well as some cool docs (CHOW DOWN, THE ART OF THE STEAL) and a newly released Blu-Ray of CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON.

Alrighty then, see you down at the store.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

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

CLASH OF THE TITANS.****BD*****
Action/Fantasy/Adventure.
Sam Worthington/Liam Neeson/Ralph Fiennes/Other Humorously Clad Actors.
Directed by Louis Leterrier.
* The 2010 remake of the 1981 “classic” tells the story of Perseus and his adventurous quest to save the world from…what exactly? The badness of the gods? The evil underworld? This part always confused me...

ECLIPSE SERIES 22.
Criterion/Comedy/Drama/Foreign (French).
Directed by Sacha Guitry.
* Here is a link to a Criterion page where you can read about these 4 films made by Guitry in the 1930's.

HOME.
Drama/Foreign (French).
Isabelle Huppert.
Directed by Ursula Meier.
* The award-winning story of a rural French family whose peace is threatened by the construction of a major highway.

THE MISSING LYNX.
Family/Comedy/Animation.
Directed by Raul Garcia.
*This family comedy, produced by, among others, Antonio Banderas, is about a group of animals plotting to get off a freaky billionaire’s private Noah’s Ark.

OPERATION ENDGAME.
Action/Comedy.
Zach Galifianakis/Ving Rhames/Emile de Ravin.
Directed by Fouad Mikati.
* Oh, work is so challenging. Especially if you are a government agent with a license to kill. Even more so if you work in a top-secret underground facility with other agencies whose operatives are also licensed to kill. Oh, and when your boss gets killed? And you suspect the rival killers? There will be blood.

REPO MEN.****BD****
Action/Sci-Fi.
Jude Law/Forest Whitaker/Liev Schreiber/Alice Braga.
Directed by Miguel Sapochnik.
* Basically, just like anything else, if you buy something on credit, and can’t afford to pay, the company you bought it from is gonna try to repossess it. In this case, the things the repo men try (usually successfully) to repossess are organs, and not the electric piano type. The conflict occurs when one of the more successful repo men (Law) gets himself an artificial heart that he can’t really afford…uh, oh, right?

THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN.
Criterion/Drama/Foreign (French/Arabic/Russian).
Habib Boufares.
Directed by Abdel Kechiche.
* This film is about an older man, struggling to keep working at his job that holds little meaning for him, while pushing away feeling of uselessness, and harboring a desire to create a life worth living for himself, in this case opening a restaurant. Eventually it is his family that helps him create a reality that will enable him to go on. This film won 18 awards world-wide.

VINCERE.
Biography/History/Drama/Foreign (Italian/German).
Giovanna Mezzogiorno/Filippo Timi.
Directed by Marco Bellocchio.
* The story of Mussolini’s first wife, Ida Dalser, and the devastating circumstances of her life and their relationship.

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

THE ART OF THE STEAL.
Documentary/Art.
Directed by Don Argott.
* Fascinating doc about an amazing art collection left by Dr. Albert C. Barnes and the struggle for control over it has left a bad taste in many people’s mouths.

CHOW DOWN.
Documentary/Health.
Directed by Julie Grayer and Gage Johnston.
* From the imdb: Root for Charles, John and Garnet as they try to buck the system of pills and procedures and outfox their heart disease and diabetes. When their doctors inform them they can't get better, our intrepid trio tells the doctors to think again. Charles, John and Garnet decide to take on their diseases by drastically changing their diets. We all know making resolutions is easy; sticking to them is the hard part. With lighthearted animation, piercing expert interviews and a feisty attitude, CHOW DOWN is the moving story of the success you can achieve when you rewrite the recipe for a healthy life.

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

THE AGATHA CHRISTIE HOUR: SET ONE.
Mystery.
* 300 minutes of the 1982 PBS mystery show.

............//FAMILY/............

BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD.

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

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON.
* Steve Martin said it best when he said he watched this whole movie looking for the tiger and the dragon and could NOT FIND THEM! Finally he realized that’s because they were crouching. And hidden.

****

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

****new release list no.277

Hey Peeps,

I'm kicking it in San Diego for a couple days. Lots of movies here at the store, the big names are THE RUNAWAYS, about the Joan Jett led rock band, starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning, and COP OUT, a Bruce Willis, Tracey Morgan comedy. Come on down to the store to check out the rest, and I'll be back with fuller descriptions of the movies next week.

Alrighty then, see you down at the store (later in the week!).

Love and Kisses,
Ken

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4SUB - Four Movies at a time – Unlimited exchange – $32.99 + Tax/Month
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............//NEW RELEASES//............

BARKING DOGS NEVER BITE.
Comedy/Horror/Foreign (Korean).
Directed by Bong Joon-Ho.

BEING HUMAN: SEASON ONE.
Television.

BLACK NARCISSUS.
Criterion.

COP OUT.****BD****
Action/Comedy.
Bruce Willis/Tracey Morgan/Seann William Scott/Rashida Jones.

ENTRES NOS.
Drama/Foreign (Spanish).

FORBIDDEN WORLD.
Sci-Fi/Classic.

HORSE CRAZY 2.
Family/Action.

LAST CHANCE TO SEE.****BD****
Doc.

LOOK AROUND YOU: SEASON ONE.
Comedy/Television.

LOSERS.
Action/Adventure.

MOTHER.
Drama/Suspense/Crime/Foreign (Korean).
Directed by Bong Joon-ho.

NOLLYWOOD BABYLON.
Documentary.

THE OUTSIDE.
Drama.

THE PROFESSIONAL.
Action.

THE RUNAWAYS.
Drama/Music/History.
Kristen Stewart/Dakota Fanning

TENDERLOIN.
Drama.

A TOWN CALLED PANIC.
Comedy/Animation.

ULTIMATE HEIST.
Action.
Jean Reno.

YOGA EVOLUTION.
Doc/Education.

Oh, and some replacement DVD's:

CARNIVALE: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: THE THIRD SEASON.

****

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

****new release list no.276

In the spirit of the main character of the new film GREENBERG, who is trying to just “exist” and not “do” “anything”, except write letters to corporations that he dislikes, I thought I would make a list of random thoughts and things related to relatively nothing.

Roman Polanski is free. Hmmm. How does that sit with you? You know, I think it might sit fine with me. I heard that his 9-month house arrest at an Alpine chalet was “very, very, tough on him”. Ha ha ha ha ha! What do I have to do to get a 9-month house arrest at a Swiss chalet!!!

George Steinbrenner is dead. Wow…I actually shed some tears over this. That should make you laugh a little.

The summer is halfway through. And you know what? I’m having a wonderful time. This is just a Wiki link to SF, but it has some fun facts on it.

People protesting BP have gotten creative.

Ex-BART cop, Johannes Mehserle, got convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Oscar Grant. I think maybe they got this one right. My wife keeps hammering home the question, “Why are transit cops carrying guns in the first place?” Let’s debate that, shall we?

Vote YES on Proposition 19. You drink your wine/beer/whiskey/whatever; let me smoke pot if I want without worrying about getting arrested. I’ll tell you what; I promise I will do it responsibly, just like you promise you’ll do with alcohol. And I guarantee I won’t start any bar fights if I’m too high. Vote YES. America needs the tax money.

Lowe’s is starting to look like a real store down on Bayshore. I am just psyched for that stretch of road to have some commerce and not look like a burned out section of North Philly. I still pledge to support Cole Hardware.

GREENBERG is out this week, and I would rather relate to the slutty young woman than the lost and angry older guy, but, too bad for me – the guy is my age, religion (though his Mom isn’t Jewish, so technically he isn’t either); he’s musical, darkly humorous, snotty, impulsive, egotistical and a little tough to reconcile for me. Maybe for you, too, Mr. 40+ what am I doing with my life! The music in this film is phenomenal, and reminded me of my last thought which is:

Music is the center of my soul, keeps me alive, brings me to tears, lifts me up to the sun, and drops me to the bottom of the ocean next to a giant hole where the earth’s lubricating blood pumps it’s toxicity into my sushi. Music mimics the sounds of the womb where we all first are exposed to perfect time and the chaotic percussion of multiple rhythms merging into one beauteous beat. Bless music. Cause it sneezed.

Lots and lots of movies this week...way way more than last. Scroll down, read about them.

Alrighty then, see you down at the store.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

Ps, my band, The Dont’s, is playing at Thee Parkside this Saturday night. If you show up, I’ll give you a free movie rental next week. Doh!

******************************************************************************
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ESUB -One Movie at a time – Three movies total – $9.99 + Tax/Month
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4SUB - Four Movies at a time – Unlimited exchange – $32.99 + Tax/Month
******************************************************************************

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

ARTOIS THE GOAT.
Comedy.
Mark Scheibmeir.
Directed by Cliff and Kyle Bogart.
* Virgil is a lab technician who has a passion, but it isn’t actually his lover, it is goat cheese, and more specifically, creating the finest goat cheese ever!

THE BOUNTY HUNTER.
Action/Comedy.
Gerard Butler/Jennifer Aniston.
Directed by Andy Tennant.
* I’d love to say I heard this film was awesome, but that would be lying. It is about a bounty hunter (gun-for-hire, Butler) who is paid to snag his ex-wife to prevent her from reporting on a murder case. I wish it were the opposite, Aniston playing the bounty hunter and Gerard as the tough reporter who just needs to get his story! Why does Jennifer Aniston not get great roles in Hollywood? Let’s get calm and contemplate that.

CHLOE.
Drama/Suspense.
Julianne Moore/Amanda Seyfried/Liam Neeson/Max Thieriot.
Directed by Atom Egoyan.
* I must say, if you suspect your partner of cheating on you, do not hire a prostitute to “test” them. The results will alarm you, almost always. As they do in this film where Catherine (Moore) suspects David (Neeson) and hires Chloe (Seyfried) to get it going on…Does Chloe get it going on? Come on…As things get more and more desperate for Catherine, her relationship with Chloe gets…complicated. And Chloe’s motives become questionable.

CREATION.
Fictobiopic.
Jennifer Connelly/Paul Bettany.
Directed by John Amiel.
* Bettany is Darwin, working on his research, evolving with his thoughts, and struggling to reconcile his hypothesis with his relationship with his deeply religious wife.

DEAD SNOW.
Comedy/Thriller/Horror/Foreign (Norweigan).
Vegar Hoel.
Directed by Tommy Wirkola.
* Ah yes, it is winter, and that means vacation, and for a group of young medical students, that means a time to ski and bond together, free of the enormous stress of school. What, you say, could possibly cause their restful plans to go awry? How about a pack of Nazi Zombies? Put that in your Vegar Hoel and smoke it.

DIARY OF A NYMPHOMANIAC.
Drama/Foreign (Spanish/French).
Belen Fabra.
Directed by Christian Molina.
* More than just the main character in a soft-core porn story, Valere (Fabra!) is a young woman who pursues her sexual adventures as far as she can, ostensibly for the sake of her own experimentation. This film was nominated (by me) for the Hottest Film at Four Star in Quite A While.

FILM NOIR CLASSIC COLLECTION NO. 5..
Noir.
* More awesome 50’s and 60’s era lost noir films, including CORNERED, DESPERATE, THE PHOENIX CITY STORY, DEADLINE AT DAWN, ARMORED CAR ROBBERY, CRIME IN THE STREETS, DIAL 1119, and BACKFIRE.

THE GIRL BY THE LAKE.
Suspense/Foreign (Italian).
Toni Servillo.
Directed by Andrea Molaioli.
* This Italian adaptation of a Norwegian mystery novel follows an Inspector as he goes to a small town to investigate the murder of a young woman found drowned by a lake.

THE GREATEST.****BD****
Drama.
Pierce Brosnan/Susan Sarandon/Carey Mulligan.
Directed by Shana Faste.
* Mulligan plays the pregnant teenage girlfriend of a boy who dies in a car crash. His parents struggle with grief while trying to deal with the reality of the oncoming birth of their grandchild .

GREENBERG.****BD****
Drama/Comedy.
Ben Stiller/Greta Gerwig/Rhys Ifans/Chris Messina/Jennifer Jason Leigh/Mark Duplass.
Directed by Noah Baumbach.
* Ah, Greenberg…thank god, I’m not you. Roger Greenberg (Stiller, in his best role since THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS), is traumatized…by what - is really not important…let’s just say his life has not gone super well, and much of it seems to stem from a bad decision he made 15 years ago when his strong opinions prevented his band from getting signed by a corporate label. Since then, he moved east, built a life, had it collapse, was hospitalized and now is back in Los Angeles, trying to “do nothing” while house sitting for his successful brother and writing angry letters to corporations. This is one of those movies where you don’t really like the main character, but you still enjoy the film. Greenberg meets Florence (Gerwig), the 25-year-old assistant of his brother who he’s been told is available to help him pick up groceries and run errands. His attraction to her, and her willingness to spend time with him, even though we have no idea what he offers her, comes up against his desire to “do nothing” and “not be tied down to someone”. Poor Greenberg. Someone give the guy a hug.

HEY HEY, IT’S ESTHER BLUEBURGER.
Comedy/Drama.
Keisha Castle-Hughes/Toni Collette.
Directed by Cathy Randall.
* This is a coming of age story about a 13-year-old girl trying to find balance in her super awkward life.

MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.
Comedy/Drama.
Eva Amurri/Anton Yelchin/Susan Sarandon/Justin Chatwin.
Directed by John Stockwell.
* You would think Mom would be fiercely protective of her daughter’s college fund, especially now when she is almost ready to use it…unfortunately, not. Not when the younger daughters aspiring modeling career is getting going and just needs a little capital to help it along.

THE ONLY SON/THERE WAS A FATHER.
Criterion/Drama/Foreign (Japanese).
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu.
* We continue to complete our Ozu collection with these two new Criterion releases, both about single parents struggling to provide for their children in the face of poverty and desolation.

OUR FAMILY WEDDING.
Comedy.
Forest Whitaker/America Ferrera/Regina King/Taye Diggs.
Directed by Rick Famuyiwa.
* This ethnicity-clash worlds-collide wedding flick is especially interesting as it explores racism and alienation between an African-American family and a Latino family as they prepare for their families to join in matrimony.

SAINT JOHN OF LAS VEGAS.
Comedy/Drama.
Steve Buscemi/Sarah Silverman/Peter Dinklage.
Directed by Hue Rhodes.
* A gambler who has stopped gambling is lured back to Vegas by an insurance-fraud inspector who needs his help.


TERRIBLY HAPPY.
Drama/Suspense/Foreign (Danish).
Jakob Cedergren.
Directed by Henrik Ruben Genz.
* A cop from Copenhagen gets reassigned after a mistake to a small town where everyone knows everything about everyone, and his world comes grinding to a halt as he struggles to find his equilibrium and get back to Copenhagen.

2:37.
Drama.
Teresa Palmer/Frank Sweet.
Directed by Murali Thalluri.
* This painful high school film follows six teenagers through their most painful confessions, fears, sorrows, loves, etc all leading up to 2:37pm, when their lives will change forever.

VIVERE.
Drama/Romance/Foreign (German/Dutch/Italian/English).
Hannelore Elsner/Esther Zimmering.
Directed by Angelina Maccarone.
* It is Christmas Eve, Francesca (Zimmering) goes in search of her little sister who has run off with her musician boyfriend....

ZIFT.
Drama/Crime/B&W/Foreign (Bulgarian).
Zahary Baharov.
Directed by Javor Gardev.
* This avant-garde, art piece is about Moth, a Bulgarian wrongfully convicted of murder who is imprisoned in 1944. Now, it is the –mid-60’s and he is released into a world of such utter confusion and gloominess, that he is unable to make sense of anything. The movie takes place in one night and won a lot of awards on the film festival circuit.

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

DON’T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME: IN SEARCH OF JOHN HUGHES.
Documentary/Film.
Judd Nelson/The Rest of the Brat Pack/Kelly LeBrock/Other 80’s Stars.
Directed by Matt Austin.
* This doc was made before John Hughes died, and is about 4 young filmmakers trying to find him and question him about his decisions to stop directing films in the early 1990’s.

8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION.
Documentary/Civil Rights.
Dustin Black.
Directed by Reed Cowan and Steven Greenstreet.
* All judgments aside, this doc is about the passing in California of Proposition 8, and the Mormon Church’s involvement in that undertaking.

MORE THAN A GAME.
Documentary/Sports.
LeBra.
Directed by Kristopher Belman.
* This is a story about the King of the Cavaliers, er, um, The Heat. Yes, Mr. James has left the building, Cleveland. But he really loves you! This is the story of his exciting experience as a superstar high school player, and the teammates he would soon leave behind.

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

DROP DEAD DIVA: SEASON ONE.
Comedy.
Margaret Cho/Brooke Elliot.
* This story is trying to get to root of the question: what is beauty? The tale begins with a super hot model that dies in a car crash. The end? Nah, somehow she is brought back to life as a chubby bright attorney who must rediscover how to exist in a world where she is no longer catered to simply because she provides eye candy.

PRIMEVAL: SEASON ONE.
Action/Adventure/Fantasy/Sci-Fi.
Andrew Lee Potts/Ben Miller/Juliet Aubrey.
Directed by.
* From the imdb: When strange anomalies in time start to appear all over England, Professor Cutter and his team have to help track down and capture all sorts of dangerous prehistoric creatures from Earth's distant past.

SELLING HITLER.
Comedy/Mini-series.
Jonathan Pryce/Alison Doody.
* This 1991 dark comedy mini-series tells the story of Gerd Heidemann, a reporter for the German magazine STERN who “discovers” the missing diaries of Hitler, and for a little while passes them off to the world until they are eventually discovered to be forged.

............//FAMILY/............

BACKYARDIGANS: OPERATION ELEPHANT DROP.

NICKELODEON: THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL.
* Prolly a good one for the incoming kinders…

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS: TRITON’S REVENGE.

............//NEW ADDITION/............

ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES.
* One of Kevin Costner’s most wonderful accents is deployed in this brilliant film.

............//REPLACEMENT DVD’S/............

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON TWO.
* I know you’ve been waiting for this, sorry it took a while.

CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND.
* Clooney directed this wacky tale about Chuck Barris, CIA hitman. Cloons…that guy.

****

Monday, July 5, 2010

****new release list no.275

I got an email from Barack Obama yesterday, which was nice, cuz I hadn’t heard from him in a little while. Yeah, that’s right, that Barack Obama, the President of the United States of America. Wow, I thought, on July 4th, one of the more busy BBQ days of the year for many Americans, and the head honcho found time to send me an email. Pretty cool. Remember back before the election when we all talked about who would take over the unbelievable mess that was going to be left behind? Remember when people couldn’t believe that a black man could win the presidency? Wow, how times have changed. Now everyone seems to pan the guy for all the stuff he hasn’t cleaned up. You know what? I don’t think I have ever gotten an email from any other president before. It kind of reminds me of the time my dad shook President Carter’s hand and we made a flour mold of his hand to commemorate the occasion. Maybe I should make a flour mold of my computer? I bet the kids would dig it.

Speaking of the kids, I was talking to Huck yesterday about commercials. He told me that all the McDonald’s commercials looked amazing until they got to the “I’m Loving It” part at the end where they mentioned the products were from McDonald’s. (I know; the beautiful joy of the innocent). Then, when he knew what it was, it looked disgusting to him. “Why do they put that in the commercials?” he asked. I tried to tell him that many people LOVE McDonald’s. He thought for a moment and then said all the companies that had products that were the worst for you or the planet were the ones that had commercials… Yup, yup. How strange, right? Then he said, you know what’s cool about Four Star is that you can come in here, get a movie, an air plant, a glass globe to hang it in and some yummy candy. How cool is that? Gosh, Huck, I said, can I film you saying that and we can post it as a Four Star commercial? No, Papa, says Huck. Four Star Video can’t have commercials. That would be wrong.

Wow, what a conundrum! Too bad, I thought, cuz I have really been thinking about advertising lately.

Speaking of candy, I have tried some experiments in that department lately. As a part of my desire to no longer be a Hershey’s outlet, I bought a strange batch of different candies recently to offer here at the store. I bought Chuckles, and weird lollipops, Sweet Tarts, Gummi Bears, and Mentos. I also bought some bizarre tubs of Cotton Candy and some higher end specialty Pop Corn (Oogies,Spicy Chipotle and Lime) and Maple Candy. Let me know what you think, as this portion of the business is a regularly evolving thing, and I would love to make some of you happy with the stuff you like to eat with your movies. Ask, and ye may receive.

What movies, you say? A SINGLE MAN, starring Colin Firth, is about a professor named George, living in Los Angeles in the 1960’s, who is devastated by the recent loss of his partner, and contemplating ending his own life. Firth was nominated for the Academy Award for his gentle portrayal of a man in pain. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is a Swedish thriller about a journalist and a computer hacker trying to solve a mystery involving a powerful Swedish family and the disappearance of one of their children some forty years earlier. BROOKLYN’S FINEST is about a trio of borderline cops in Brooklyn. Starring Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes and Don Cheadle. Did I mention Wesley Snipes?

There is also some great looking music docs featuring The Doors, Black Sabbath and The Rolling Stones, and an interesting nature doc (LAST CHANCE TO SEE), and a doc about a visionary architect (REM KOOLHAAS) as well as a variety of other stuff. Scroll down to read all.

Alrighty then, see you down 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 – Three 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//............

BATTLE LEAGUE IN KYOTO.
Comedy/Foreign (Japanese).
Takayuki Yamada.
Directed by Katsuhide Motoki.
* Based on best-selling Japanese fantasy book, this story follows Akira Abe, a young man who after struggling for a couple years to get into University, finds himself a part of a dangerous game, being played as a part of a 1000-year old tradition between schools in Kyoto where the opponents call up ancient spirits to battle each other.

BROOKLYN’S FINEST.
Drama/Crime/Action.
Richard Gere/Don Cheadle/Ethan Hawke/Wesley Snipes!
Directed by Antoine Fuqua.
* The director of TRAINING DAY, KING ARTHUR and THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS brings us this new action thriller about a trio of unrelated Brooklyn cops whose fates are brought together by the nature of their business. Gere plays Eddie, a long-time street cop who is about ready to either retire, or blow his head off. Hawke is Sal, a super stressed out NARC who vacillates between good cop and bad cop regularly. Cheadle is Tango, an undercover cop whose allegiance is murky at best. And Snipes is in it, too, how cool is that?

FILM NOIR CLASSICS II.
Noir.
* Another set of this collection of mostly unknown noir films of yesteryear. This collection includes the titles NIGHTFALL, CITY OF FEAR, and PUSHOVER.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO.****BD****
Suspense/Crime/Mystery/Foreign (Swedish/English).
Lena Endre/Noomi Rapace/Michael Nyqvist.
Directed by Niels Oplev.
* The Swedes have made some pretty impressive films lately (LET THE RIGHT ONE IN) and the Millennium trilogy (based on the novels of Stieg Larsson) will likely add to this legacy. The stories, of which this is the first film (I hear an American remake is already in the works – why?) revolve around two main characters, Michael Blomkvist, a journalist who seems to get in the middle of some very hairy situations, and Lisbeth Salander, a super fascinating, almost sociopathic survivor who is afraid of nothing and lives for no other reason than to punish the doers of terrible crime. I recently and randomly read the first novel in the series (the one with the same title as this film) and although it was gory, and graphic, it was also wildly entertaining, and I didn’t want it to end. Blomkvist gets hired by the patriarch of a powerful and wealthy family to search for his missing niece who disappeared some 40 years ago. He is aided in his investigation by the heavily tattooed and pierced super sleuth, Salander, who is a computer hacker extraordinaire.

A SINGLE MAN.****BD****
Drama.
Colin Firth/Julianne Moore.
Directed by Tom Ford.
* Tragically sad, and superbly acted, A SINGLE MAN is the story of George, an English professor living in Los Angeles and dealing with the somewhat recent loss of his long-time partner from a car accident. The story takes place over one terribly emotive day, as George puts his affairs in order while preparing to take his own life. As the day goes on, George sees old friends, and ruminates on his life while searching for reason and hope. Firth was nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for his performance, and though he didn’t win, this film certainly pushed his career into rarified strata.

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

BLACK SABBATH: PARANOID.
Documentary/Music.
* This is a part of the Classic Albums series, which is a pretty fantastic and deeply informative series that looks behind the scenes at the recording, editing, engineering and production of some of the great rock albums of our planet. (We also have NIRVANA: NEVERMIND from this series, the interviews with Butch Vig are amazing). Do you happen to know this album? I am not a super aficionado of Black Sabbath, but this 1970 album is amazing and is a must-listen for any true rock fans.

LAST CHANCE TO SEE: ANIMALS ON THE VERGE OF EXTINCTION.
Documentary/Nature/BBC.
Stephen Fry/Mark Carwardine.
* Stephen Frye broke his arm while making this important doc, but it wasn’t stuck anywhere, and he didn’t need to try to cut it off, so whatever. In the meantime, special bulletin: humans are destroying the native habitats of creatures everywhere, especially lately in the ocean in a startling and rapid way. This doc (and I think television series) will give you up close footage of some of the next animals on the extinct list.

REM KOOLHAAS: A KIND OF ARCHITECT.
Documentary/Art.
Directed by Markus Heidingsfelder and Min Tesch.
* I read that Koolhaas remarked that this is the only film about him that he’s liked…really, wow, how many films have been made about him? Truthfully, I haven’t yet liked ANY of the films that have been made about me, but if you are interested in making another one, I will give you full access to my private archival materials. Back to this film, Koolhaas is a fantastic architect; he’s the guy who made the Seattle Public Library, which is a fantastic and visually arresting building that I spent an hour or two in a few years ago. His designs are pretty far-fetched, but his implementation is spot on. He also designed the Dutch Embassy in Berlin, among other buildings.

THE ROLLING STONES: STONES IN EXILE.
Documentary/Music.
Mick/Keith/Charlie/Bill/Mick.
Directed by Stephen Kijak.
* This Rolling Stones doc focuses on the making of Exiles on Main Street.

WHEN YOU’RE STRANGE: A FILM ABOUT THE DOORS.
Documentary/Music.
Jim/Robbie/Ray/John.
Directed by Tom DiCillo.
* Johnny Depp narrates this doc which was nominated for the Grand Jury Award at Sundance last year. It features rare, unreleased footage from the band from the 60’s and 70’s and was directed by the guy who made LIVING IN OBLIVION and JOHNNY SUEDE.

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

PROJECT RUNWAY: COMPLETE 7th SEASON.
Oooh Fashion.
Heidi.
* It’s reality, it really is. My reality. And my only reality.

RETURN TO LONESOME DOVE.
Western/Mini-Series.
John Voigt/Barbara Hershey/Rick Schroder/Reese Witherspoon/Chris Cooper.
Directed by Mike Robe.
* The sequel mini-series to LONESOME DOVE was released in 1993 and is filled with 5+ hours of tight shoot-em-up Western action.

............//FAMILY/............

PRESCHOOL IS COOL: ABC’S WITH ELMO.
* But paying for preschool is not cool. Trudy starts kindergarten in September! Joy!

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