****new release list no.316

Salutations, mes frères et sœurs français!

We’re all gonna die!

Scary, but so true. Will it be today? Or next month? Or in 37 years? 71 years? We just can’t know. For me, that makes me want to seize each moment and stretch it out. Even the yucky ones. So for the hell of it, let’s all take a moment and take a deep breath together.

Ah.

Hey have you heard about a little movie called THE KING’S SPEECH? I haven’t seen it yet, but I hear it did pretty well in the theatres, and even won some hardware at the Oscar’s this year. Stars a guy named Colin Firth, and I guess he plays the King of England. He’s got a big speech he’s gotta give and its super traumatic for him, so he gets some other dude to emotionally hold his hand while he gives it…Or something like that. Disclaimer: I may be wrong, like I said, I haven’t seen it. But I hear it was pretty good, so I bought, like, a million copies or something.

Other movies you might be interested in include THE WAY BACK, starring Ed Harris, Colin Farrell and Jim Sturgess as prisoners in a gulag in Siberia who take a very long walk to freedom; GULLIVER’S TRAVELS, starring Jack Black as Gulliver; RABBIT HOLE, an emotional drama starring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart as grieving parents who have lost a young child; SOMEWHERE, Sophia Coppola’s latest about a Hollywood star whose partying ways are stunted by the arrival of his 11-year-old daughter and the disappearance of her mother.

Some smaller titles of interest are IP MAN 2, FALCO: THE RISE AND FALL OF AN 80’S POP ICON (he’s dead!), VISION: FROM THE LIFE OF HILDEGARD VON BINGEN (she will become your hero), and some killer new documentaries, including Spike Lee’s followup to his Hurricane Katrina doc WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE called IF GOD IS WILLING AND DA CREEK DON’T RISE.

Hey, are you into Detective Montalbano? We got two more collections of the adventures of that Sicilian detective in shop this week. We’ve also got something called DOWNTON ABBEY, which is a very highly rated costume drama television show from the UK about a wealthy family and their servants. There’s more that I didn’t mention…scroll down to read all about this week’s releases.

Hey, here’s a question for you - How many video store/plant store combinations do you know about on Planet Earth? None, right? You probably know how hard we’re working down here at Sector 402 (that’s our little knickname for the Four Star/Succulence work zone) to provide our community with interesting art (cinematic and plant-based), and a fun place to hang out and chat with your neighbors. Well, you could tell the world how you feel by voting for Four Star Video and Succulence as your favorite small business in San Francisco! 7x7 Magazine is sponsoring a contest in anticipation of SF Small Business Week and we are one of 49 businesses that are listed on the ballot! The winner gets lots of love and some great free advertising among other things, plus the love and admiration of the entire city of San Francisco. How cool would it be for a video store in 2011 to win an award like this? Let’s find out. Vote for us here.

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

Love and Kisses,
Ken

p.s. Happy Passover, Happy Easter, Happy Beltane, Happy Fertility, Happy Spring!

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

FALCO: THE RISE AND FALL OF AN 80’s POP ICON.
Drama/Music/Foreign (German).
Directed by Thomas Roth.
* The decadent and fabulous life of Falco, creator of such 80’s hits as Rock Me Amadeus and Der Kommissar, is chronicled in this docudrama. Did you know he died in 1998? After you watch this movie, you’ll know so much more about Falco than you ever imagined…


GULLIVER’S TRAVELS.****BD****
Comedy.
Jack Black/Emily Blunt/Jason Segal/Amanda Peet/Billy Connolly.
Directed by Rob Letterman.
* The brilliantly biting and witty social commentary of Jonathan Swift’s novel (1726, yeah, you read that right) is not to be found in this 21st century comedy about a fellow who goes on some wild adventures and ends up on a fantastical island where he is a giant compared to the peeps that live there. This one is probably fun for the kids, with a good cast of comedians providing the laughs…Someone on the imdb also mentioned it is a fabulous albeit unintentional stoner comedy, which sounds about right.

IP MAN 2.****BD****
Action/Martial Artistry.
Donnie Yen.
Directed by Wilson Yip.
* Part two focuses on Ip man moving to Hong Kong in 1949, and his exploits there.

JOHN LEGUIZAMO: FREAK.****BD****
Comedy.
John Leguizamo.
Directed by Spike Lee.
* I am not sure when this was originally released on DVD (or if this is the first time), but this 1998 standup comedy performance features Leguizamo at his zaniest best and gives a somewhat autobiographical account of his youth and the trials that led him to the entertainment world.

KES.
Criterion/Drama.
David Bradley.
Directed by Ken Loach.
* Loach has been directing since 1964, and has some 45 titles to his credit. This about a disaffected young boy who finds meaning and purpose training a kestrel falcon is getting the full Criterion treatment, with a cleaned up master and lots of extras. Billy is 15 and is pretty much either left to his own devices or bullied and treated poorly. Kes, the falcon he trains gives him more than just something to do, it gives him strength and care and concern and attention and love. The film is charming and emotional, while never pulling on the heartstrings, just playing them like a finely tuned stringed instrument…The soundtrack has some terrific music as well.

THE KING’S SPEECH.****BD****
Drama.
Colin Firth/Geoffrey Rush/Helena Bonham Carter/Timothy Spall/Guy Pearce.
Directed by Tom Hooper.
* This is the one we’ve been waiting for. Winner of the Academy Awards for Best Direction Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Actor and Best Writing, Screenplay Written for the Screen, this film has been the talk of movie goers everywhere over the last six months. You are probably familiar with the story. The King of England is George VI, an unlikely King who struggles with a stammer and barely wants the job of leading a nation. However, duty calls, and he grudgingly takes on the job in 1936. The film focuses on his relationship with his speech therapist, a man named Lionel Logue who was ahead of his time in many of his ideas. Using some interesting techniques and utilizing the power of their burgeoning friendship, Logue is able to help George to find his tongue when it matters most.

LORNA DORNE.
Drama.
Clive Owen/Polly Walker/Sean Bean.
* This is the 1990 version of this 18th century double-crossing love tragedy.

RABBIT HOLE.
Drama.
Nicole Kidman/Aaron Eckhart/Dianne Wiest/Sandra Oh.
Directed by John Cameron Mitchell.
* The maker of HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH and SHORTBUS has taken a mighty departure from those films with this painful, but hopeful story about a couple dealing with the broken hearted emptiness of the loss of their young child. This film manages to provide some laughs, while treating the pain gently and with dignity. This film was very highly rated by reviewers, and while I haven’t seen it yet, Jeff says it was terrific and recommends it. With Dianne Wiest as the mother of Kidman’s character.

SOMEWHERE.****BD****
Drama.
Stephen Dorff/Elle Fanning/Michelle Monaghan/Benicio Del Toro.
Directed by Sophia Coppola.
* Coppola (Sophia, that is) is such a polarizing director. People seem to really want to criticize her work. (LOST IN TRANSLATION, THE VIRGIN SUICIDES, MARIE ANTOINETTE). I think her last name has something to do with it, we really seem to hate the nepotism concept (unless we are benefiting) and the fact that her dad is a famous director makes us think everything has been handed to her. And perhaps it has, but if she was simply a bad director, than would so much be written about each of her films? One way she is generally criticized is that her films are accused of being vapid and empty, and the themes she explores are frequently called selfish and too personal to be worth screen time. Much the way early Jim Jarmusch films were described, films like STRANGER THAN PARADISE and DOWN BY LAW, where little happens, but a vibe is thoroughly instilled that lingers long after the movie ends. This film appears to have gotten very vitriolic comments from many viewers, yet was reasonably well received by critics. In it, Stephen Dorff plays Johnny Marco, a veteran Hollywood actor who is living a solitary and lonely existence while surrounded by the film making world. Into his shallow life, meaning is thrust in the form of his 11-year-old daughter (Elle Fanning). His life starts to be viewed through the filter of this child, and what is shows is not super pleasant, and not very appealing. I, for one, am very glad that Sophia Coppola keeps making films. At the very least, LOST IN TRANSLATION was a pretty awesome movie, and one great one is more than most directors make.
 
STREET KINGS 2: MOTOR CITY.
Action/Crime/Drama.
Ray Liotta/Linda Boston.
Directed by Chris Fisher.

VISION: FROM THE LIFE OF HILDEGARD VON BINGEN.
Drama/Foreign (German).
Directed Margaretha von Trotta.
* Hildy was a nun from the 12th century people! As someone points out on imdb, she was 1000 years ahead of her time. She was a composer, a theologist, an early suffragette, an above all a free-thinking person, whose force and strength created change.

THE WAY BACK.****BD****
Drama.
Colin Farrell/Ed Harris/Jim Sturgess/Saoirse Ronan.
Directed by Peter Weir.
* Weir hasn’t made a ton of movies lately. You gotta go back to 2003 for MASTER AND COMMANDER, and it was 1998 when THE TRUMAN SHOW came out. Even further back was DEAD POET’S SOCIETY, THE MOSQUITO COAST and WITNESS. Clearly the man knows how to direct. In THE WAY BACK, a group of prisoners in a Siberian gulag escape and walk away, into the hard and harsh weather as they try to traverse the some 4000 miles toward freedom. This film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Makeup, but alas, did not win (THE WOLFMAN won!).

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

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM.
Documentary/Economics.
Directed by Nicole Torre.
* This film is a step inside liquid, oil, that is…As we get an up close view of the assorted players in the gigantic American oil game.

IF GOD IS WILLING AND DA CREEK DON’T RISE.
Documentary/HBO/Disaster.
Directed by Spike Lee.
* This four part documentary is a follow up to Lee’s powerful look at the disastrous effects of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans. Now, five years later, Lee returns to N’awlins to see how the rebuilding plans have gotten along.

SQUARE GROUPER: THE GODFATHERS OF GANGA.
Documentary/Drugs.
Directed by Billy Corben.
* From the dude who made COCAINE COWBOYS comes this portrayal of the 1970’s pot smuggling scene in Miami, Florida. Filled with humorous stories, frightening adventures and jolly lawbreakers, this is probably a good one to light up with on a chilly San Francisco night.

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

A MIND TO KILL: SERIES 3.
Television/BBC/Detective.

DETECTIVE MONTALBANO: EPISODES 10-12.
Television/Mystery/Foreign (Italian).
* Do you watch MONTALBANO? It is pretty much super fun. Set in Sicily and based on some great mystery novels by Andrea Camilleri, the action is more cerebral then explosive, and the scenery and dialogue are rich with the natural beauty of the region.

DETECTIVE MONTALBANO: EPISODES 13-15.
Television/Mystery/Foreign (Italian).

DOWNTON ABBEY: SEASON ONE.
Television/BBC/Drama.
Hugh Bonneville/Jessica Brown-Findlay.
* This dramatic costume series takes place around the turn of the century in pre-WWI England and centers on a wealthy family and their servants.

THE GOOD WIFE: THE FIRST SEASON.
Television/Drama.
Julianna Margulies/Chris Roth.
* The Golden Globe winning show (5 of them!) is about the wife of a scandalized politician who goes back to work as a litigator to provide for her family.

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

SWEETIE.
Criterion/Drama.
* Jane Campion’s 1989 tour de force!

............//FAMILY/KIDS/............

CAPTAIN PLANET AND THE PLANETEERS: SEASON ONE.

SHAUN THE SHEEP: THE BIG CHASE.

............//MOREMOREMORE/............

HERCULES.
* Turns out we already had this on DVD, but this little girl whose parents had a broken player wanted it so bad and was so bummed we didn’t have it on VHS that I immediately bought this copy so we wouldn’t disappoint her again…I’m such a softy…

****

****new release list no.315

Hey All, and a Happy Colette Day to you!

I was going to include a poem that I wrote and included in a card that Amy and I made and sent in celebration of this special holiday (that we created 15 years ago), but I got shy! So, I posted it on the website, and if you feel like reading it, you can click here. Or just scroll down if you are already reading this on the web.

On to the movies…COUNTRY STRONG is like the Gwyneth Paltrow version of last year’s CRAZY HEART…She is a messed-up, professional rehabber who is struggling to stay on tour and toe the line…but dang it, she just can’t quit her partying ways, or stem her feelings for tour mate Beau Hutton (Garrett Hedlund)…luckily, even during the powerful struggles, during the down times, during the bleak moments, she stays strong…country strong.

Who else stays strong? How about our little buddy, Harry Potter? And even perhaps his buddies Hermione and Ron. Sadly, Volde- I mean, He Who Must Not Be Named, still seems pretty damn strong, too. Country strong. Course that suckah has not been able to kill Harry yet, but not for lack of effort. In HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART ONE, he continues to give it the college try, but Harry continues to barely escape with his life. This 7th film is the very closest one yet to stay true to the flow of the book, which is why they had to make the film in two parts. I, for one, think it is the finest movie to date. The tension is thick, the fear and desperation is palpable, V-Diddy is as bad-ass as ever, and everyone who has been watching these movies for years is ready for serious action to go down! However, there is not a ton of action in this movie…Harry and friends spend much of their time wandering through the world, looking for horcruxes, without a solid plan, and with much friction between them. Basically, they are up Muggle-Creek without a wand. And until the next movie comes out, you are too!

HIGHWATER is a lush surfing documentary from the director of STEP INTO LIQUID.

There are also some new films from Claire Denis (WHITE MATERIAL), Francois Ozon (RICKY) and Michael Winterbottom (SUMMER IN GENOA) as well as the conclusive season of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: SEASON FIVE.

A couple neighborhood notes. First up, the Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema is now taking entries for its 2011 season. Read all about it right here. The season will begin around Labor Day weekend.

The second thing I wanted to mention is a bit different. Anyone who has lived in Bernal for a while has noticed the bar Skip’s Tavern. Over the years, it has been a bit of a polarizing bar in the neighborhood. There have been some issues over the years, related to noise things that have mobilized a lot of people. Recently, a Bernal resident named Lisa Marie Delgadillo has been involved in trying to purchase Skip’s. She would like to clean it up and make it a nice place to have a drink and maybe listen to some acoustic music. She has lots of great ideas, a very positive outlook and seems to me to be exactly what the any neighborhood would look for in a local business owner. As a result of the problems that people have had with Skip’s over the years, Lisa is having a big uphill struggle to take ownership and begin all the awesome changes that she would like to implement. I, for one, support Lisa in her quest. Here at Four Star, I have some petitions that you could sign helping her show the proper authorities that she has the support of the some of the neighborhood. One of the petitions is one of full support; the other shows support for her taking over the bar without the entertainment permit. I really hope she gets the full Monty, because as a local musician myself, I would love to play sometimes to my friends and neighbors right on Cortland. Lisa also would be happy to talk with any of you about any concerns you might have and share her vision for the bar with you. Just leave her a note on one of these petitions, and she will get right in touch with you.

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

Love and Kisses,
Ken

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

COUNTRY STRONG.****BD****
Drama/Music.
Gwyneth Paltrow/Leighton Meester/Tim McGraw/Garrett Hedlund.
Directed by Shana Feste.
* Country music is alive and kicking, at least on the silver screen. Following the success of CRAZY HEART, this film follows country star, Kelly Canter (Paltrow) as she tries for a big comeback while touring with new singer-star, Beau Hutton.

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART ONE.****BD****
Adventure/Fantasy/Action.
Daniel Radcliffe/Rupert Grint/Emily Watson/Alan Rickman/Ralph Fiennes/Helena Bonham Carter.
Directed by David Yates.
* The penultimate film in the great series about good and evil in the land of wizards and muggles follows Harry on his final quest as he is searching for the horcruxes that Lord V-Diddy hid all over the world that will prevent him from dying completely, even without a body. Everyone recognizes at this point that it is kill or be killed for H-Pot, and Hermione and Ron are tagging along for the long ride. As they search far and wide the realization strikes them again and again that they don’t even know what they are looking for. Meanwhile, V-Tone and his evil henchmen (and women) are close behind and they certainly know what they are looking for. This film follows the book quite closely, and really matches the tone and anxiety of the tale. I give it four stars (out of four).

RICKY.
Comedy/Drama/Fantasy/Foreign (French).
Directed by Francois Ozon.
* This little fable is about a couple of normal people who hook up and give birth to an apparent angel.

SUMMER IN GENOA.
Drama/Romance (Italian and English, the language – not the Romance).
Colin Firth/Hope Davis/Catherine Keener.
Directed by Michael Winterbottom.
* After their mother dies in a car accident, two daughters move with their father to Italy to rebuild their lives.
 
SUMMER LOVE.
Romance/Erotic.
Directed by Robert Crombie.

TiMER.
Rom-Com/Sci-Fi.
Emma Caufield.
Directed by Jac Schaeffer.
* The premise here has something to do with a device that is counting down til the moment you meet your soul mate.

WHITE MATERIAL.
Criterion/Drama/War/Foreign (French).
Isabelle Huppert/Christopher Lambert.
Directed by Claire Denis.
* As a civil war rages in a country in Africa, a white French family tries to saves its holdings as their world violently crumbles beneath their feet. It is a very clear indication when a film has its first release as a Criterion film that is one not to miss. This intense, disturbing but beautiful film is no different.

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

HIGHWATER.****BD****
Documentary/Surfing.
Directed by Dana Brown.
* The maker of DUST TO GLORY and STEP INTO LIQUID is back with an amazing surf documentary centered around surfing’s Triple Crown competitions. Featuring incredible surf footage and insider interviews, if you are a lover of a tubular trip into the green room then you must watch this film.

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

DOCTOR WHO: KINDA.
Television/BBC/Sci-Fi.

DOCTOR WHO: SNAKEDANCE.
Television/BBC/Sci-Fi.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: SEASON FIVE.
Television/Sports.
* The final season of one of the more popular television series over the last few years continues the story of a small Texas town obsessed with its High School musical, I mean football team.

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

LE CERCLE ROUGE.
Criterion/Crime/Drama/Thriller/Foreign (French).
* This 1970 Melville classic is about a thief, a killer, the mob and a kitty-cat loving cop.

............//FAMILY/KIDS/............

THE GARFIELD SHOW V03: PRIVATE EYE VENTURES.

GO DIEGO GO: DIEGO SAVES THE WORLD.

MAX AND RUBY: RAINY DAY PLAY.

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

JUDGEMENT AT NURENBURG.
* Somehow, we never had this important film…

............//THE REPLACEMENTS/............

21 GRAMS.

MR. HOLLAND’S OPUS.

****

Colette Day!

Colette Day? Say what? I know, I know, another weirdo thing about the weirdo guy who runs Four Star Video…True. True.

I wrote a bit about Colette Day last year. What I didn’t mention was that Colette Day is named for an old friend Colette Harrington, who, among many other things, was one of those very amazing people who have an extremely strong sense of perspective and are able to see the silver lining under just about any conditions. Colette passed, tragically, many years ago, when we were young adults, but her spirit lives on in just about everyone who knew her, and, through Colette Day, in many who didn’t.

One thing I find so interesting about life is how we can just create reality, take power and choose our own adventure. I really recommend it! Obviously, we have certain…constructs that must be followed, certain parameters that are relatively set in stone – we must eat and sleep regularly, some sort of income must be generated, clothes have to be worn in public – but lots of other aspects of life are just open for our own interpretation. I try to never miss an opportunity to interpret. For me, Colette Day is a great realization of that opportunity. Each year, my wife Amy makes a beautiful piece of art and we send it as a card to many friends and family. We always encourage our friends to "assess their surroundings" and to "be happy with what you got!". It is a powerful message of hope and love that we are happy to share with everyone.

This year was the 15th year we have celebrated this holiday, and I wrote a poem that we put into the card...In the spirit of sharing the love (and not being embarrassed to have written a poem!), I am publishing it here for you to read and for me to share the love. Thanks for being in my life, in whatever way you are. Hey, this isn't our regular film release post, but that will come very soon. Much love! -Ken

A butterfly flapped its wings
in my heart and breathlessly
my eyes were raised to the light

Gifted love creates a wake – a selfless wave with mondo break
Crashing down and exponentially
expanding and expounding
on the little moments; alighting on a song, on a breeze,
on a memory, a favorite shirt.

The summer you tripped lightly through the rich atmosphere
of regular life wearing little but a
smile and that shirt.

and knew the commonality of pain
and felt the rusted barbs of individualism
and laughed with the sheerness of loneliness
and were made drunk by the wind
and shed tears for the yous you’d never be
and rubbed lotion on the callouses of responsibility
and struggled with peace & love & understanding
and celebrated the outcasts and unmanicured
and rough and ragged and illprepared
and hapless and not funny and the eyesores and
the secretly crippled and each of the moments
of every single minute of every single day until you padded
your heart and kept surviving right up until this very morning

Are you the kite and we the flyer? Or is it the opposite?

To me, it’s the string that matters. The hand must hold the string and
also
be lucky that nature doesn’t sever the connection between kite and string
(we have so many names for this).

With this card, sent to you –
year after year after year after year for what now is fifteen years –
we renew our vows to you as fellow passengers on this ride
as possible affecters of this experience
as lucid dreamers in this dream
as the owners of a car, the parent of a child
as breathers of air and drinkers of water; that
We will hold onto the string with every earned bit of strength until at last
our breath gives way to whatever it is our breath gives way to.

Until then, as tradition dictates, we’ll assess our surroundings.
And we’ll find happiness with what we’ve got and share it with you and hopefully you’ll share it with all of your yous…

Because, a butterfly once flapped its wings and look at what happened.

Happy Colette Day people!

****new release list no.314

Ich grüße Sie, meine deutschen Brüder und Schwestern! Vielen Dank fürs Lesen!

Lots of interesting films this week, good stuff for the parents, good stuff for the kids.

Ewan McGregor and Jim Carrey play jailbird lovers in I LOVE YOU, PHILLIP MORRIS. Carrey’s character Russell will go to great lengths to spring his man from jail.

TRON: LEGACY is the sequel 28 years later to 1982’s TRON. Jeff Bridges is back as Kevin Flynn, the computer genius who envisions a world inside “the grid” where humanity can evolve and life can be beautiful. Sadly, things went quite wrong in that there grid, and now many years later, Kevin’s son Sam enters the digital word looking to find his father and bring him back to analogville.

LITTLE FOCKERS continues the endless focking saga of the focking Focker family. Ben Stiller and Robert de Niro lead an all-star cast in this goofy situation comedy.

THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER is the latest in the CHRONICLES OF NARNIA series…Lucy and Edmund join Prince Caspian in an aqua adventure on the seas…The heavy duty religious vibe is pretty unavoidable in this one, as Aslan pretty much makes his messianic presence known.

There is also a batch of cool docs, and a nice bunch of older films newly released on Blu-ray. Scroll down for details!

As some of you know, my wife, Amy Shelf, is an estate planning attorney. In addition to her traditional law practice, Amy has developed an innovative way of helping people put together basic estate plans in a group setting for a price that can't be beat. These Workshops make the whole process more accessible and easy to finish - you leave the Workshop with a completed Will, Power of Attorney and Advance Health Care Directive.

Amy is hosting one of these "Panic-Free Estate Planning Workshops" on Saturday, April 16 at Recess Urban Recreation in Potrero Hill. This will be her last scheduled Workshop until the fall, and there are spaces available. To read more about the Workshops go here. You can also sign up online using the link available on that page. If you want to read testimonials from happy (and relieved) Workshop participants, you can go here.

Hey by the way, did you see that Succulence (our sister store) got a nice little write up in Sunset Magazine! Holy cow, right? Pretty exciting news for us. Check it out (page 28 in the April edition).

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

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
******************************************************************************

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

CASINO JACK.
Crime/Politic/Comedy.
Kevin Spacey/Barry Pepper.
Directed by George Hickenlooper.
* Hickenlooper, who brought us THE MAYOR OF SUNSET STRIP and FACTORY GIRL among others, sadly, died last October after making this film. I am not sure how he died, but I guess it is a sign of the times that I am not surprised that something happened to him. After all, this film is about the rise and spectacular fall of Jack Abramoff, super lobbyist to the rich and republican. Spacey excels in his role as the smug Jack, and Pepper does more than his share as his right hand man. Sadly, Jon Lovitz is in this film, too.

I LOVE YOU, PHILLIP MORRIS.****BD****
Drama/Romance/Comedy.
Jim Carrey/Ewan McGregor/Leslie Mann.
Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa.
* Jim Carrey is Russell, a heterosexually married cop who decides to throw his carefully constructed life away and accept his homosexuality, which leads him to Miami where he begins to live the good life. Which leads him to crime, to pay for the good life. Which leads him to jail, where eventually, destiny’s hand leads him to the heart of Phillip Morris (McGregor). Russell, who has shown a deep wild streak by then, goes way overboard as he refuses to be separated from his lovey-dovey and will do anything – ANYTHING – to stay together. The laws he breaks are many, and in fact it is hard to stay fully sympathetic to his plight. Ah, but McGregor and Carrey make a sweet couple, and it is enjoyable to watch this mainstream outlaw couple movie about a couple a guys. Not quite as exciting as THE FLUFFER, but with more star power.

LITTLE FOCKERS.****BD****
Comedy/Romance.
Ben Stiller/Robert de Niro/Owen Wilson/Dustin Hoffman/Barbara Streisand/Blythe Danner/Jessica Alba/Laura Dern/Other Fockers.
Directed by Paul Weitz.
* Ah, those little focking fockers. They just keep focking making these movies. They can’t focking stop themselves. It’s like they’re focking blinded by all the focking money they know they can make, no matter how focking stupid the movie might be…Not saying this focking movie is stupid, truth be told, I don’t focking know. But I think these movies are like one long focking episode of THREE’S focking COMPANY over and over again, with a moment of confusion leading to suspicion then to anger and eventually a grudging respect…over and focking over again and again. Ah, fock it. I bought 12 copies, so I guess I focking hope you’ll focking rent it.
 
TAQWACORES.
Drama.
Directed by Eyad Zahra.
* The Muslim life in American can be very hard for a young student from Pakistan. Yusef, living in Buffalo while attending engineering school, moves in with a very interesting household. By day, righteous religious prayer fills the living room, but by night, the house becomes a den of hard-cord Muslim Punk rock with non-stop parties that force Yusef to question everything he believes in.

TRON: LEGACY.****BD****
Sci-Fi.
Jeff Bridges.
Directed by Joseph Kosinski.
* You probably don’t want my opinion about this one. Just a short suggestion, if you are having trouble with the story or dialogue, turn the sound down and put on the soundtrack to ALICE IN WONDERLAND, they match almost perfectly. No, seriously, though, the images are awesome and there is a certain flavor from the original TRON (made 29 years ago!!!) that lingers, but they basically are cashing in on our memories with this one. If I had made this movie, it would have had the lowest end special effects and almost no dialogue.

THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER: CHRONICLES OF NARNIA.****BD****
Adventure/Fantasy.
Skandar Keynes/George Henley/Ben Barnes/Will Poulter/Tilda Swinton.
Directed by Michael Apted.
* The third movie in the Chonic (what?)cles of Narnia involves Edmund and Lucy and good old Prince Caspian and a daring trip across the waters on the royal ship, The Dawn Treader. I remember this as my favorite book in the series, but I can’t really remember why.

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

AFTER THE STORM.
Documentary/Musical Theatre.
Directed by Hilla Medalia.
* Post-Hurricane Katrina, a group of Broadway actors from NY headed down to New Orleans to help local teens by putting on a production with them. This documentary follows their efforts.

AMERICAN JIHADIST.
Documentary/Jihad.
Directed by Mark Claywell and Jody Jenkins.
* From the Amazon product description: American soldier. Family man. Jihadist. Isa Abdullah Ali is a person of many identities and contradictions, but in the beginning, he was a bullied young boy growing up in America s capital. At fifteen he joined the American army, and as a young man he converted to Islam and fought alongside the Amal militia and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Though the details of his past are murky, Isa claims to have killed more than 150 people in the fight to defend his faith. Through Isa s own words and those of family members, psychologists and political experts, this award-winning documentary attempts to decode the social and personal influences that can lead an individual down a path to radicalism. American Jihadist reaches beyond easy labels to grasp the nuances behind one man s decision to fight and kill for his religion

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

A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.
* This 2001 Spielberg film about a little robot who wants to be real probably looks pretty amazing on the high-def.

THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT.
* 1996 action flick starring Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson.

MYSTIC PIZZA.
* Lili Taylor, Julia Roberts and Annabeth Gish had big early roles in their careers starring in this 1988 coming of age story set in Mystic, Connecticut.

TRON.
* This is the original one, that we had such a crazy waiting list for a few months ago...

............//FAMILY/KIDS/............

CHUGGINGTON: CHUGGERS TO THE RESCUE.

SESAME STREET: WILD WORDS AND OUTDOOR ADVENTURES.

............//MOREMOREMORE/............

TRON.
* I know, right…a little late for the mad rush…Ah, well, it was $150 on Amazon five months ago, in anticipation of this new edition…

****