****new release list no.252

Cold and wet, can you hear what I’m saying to you; cold and wet, that’s the message I’m conveying to you, how many times do I has to tell you that I’m cold and wet? Well stated by Gene and Dean Ween and so true this week! Cold and wet. Right even as I type. Cold. Wet.

Still and all, the winter helps us, the water is crucial and the weather diversity keeps us fresh and cold and wet! And cold. Oh, god, quick, call me a waaambulance.

Steven Soderbergh’s CHE (Parts one and two) chronicling the life of Argentinean Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara and starring Benicio Del Toro is finally here and it merited a Criterion release. There are a bunch of films here this week, including the family favorite CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS, and please scroll on down to read about them. One note is that I bought WEEDS: SEASON FIVE on Blu-ray (and DVD) as a bit of an experiment – this is our first series title on BD. Let me know if this is a trend that should continue.

I realized the other day that it is almost three years since Amy and I bought Four Star Video (Mar 2007). We must have some sort of anniversary celebration/sale event. Not sure yet what we’ll do, but I’m taking suggestions…

Speaking of celebration/sale, SUCCULENCE is going to have a big Grand Opening party on Saturday, Feb 13th. Much more info to follow.

Alrighty then, see you down at the store.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

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

ACCORDING TO GRETA.
Drama/Romance.
Hillary Duff/Ellen Burstyn/Melissa Leo/Evan Ross/Michael Murphy.
Directed by Nancy Bardawil.
* Duff plays a young woman dealing with depression who gets sent to live with her grandparents for the summer. Once there, she falls for a guy she works with, only to have her grandparents try to veto the romance. Duff is actually a pretty talented actor who has potential if she can shake the teenybopper castings of her youth.

AMREEKA.
Drama /Foreign (English and Arabic).
Nisreen Faour/Melkar Muallem/Hiam Abbas.
Directed by Cherien Dabis.
*Nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance last year (and winner of many other festival awards) this film is about a single mother from Palestine who immigrates with her teenage son to a small town in Illinois.

CHE: PART ONE AND TWO.****ALSO ON BD****
Criterion/Drama/Biopic.
Benicio Del Toro/Benjamin Bratt/Franka Potente/Julia Ormond.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh.
* From Amazon.com: Far from a conventional biopic, Steven Soderberghs film about Che Guevara is a fascinating exploration of the revolutionary as icon. Daring in its refusal to make the socialist leader into an easy martyr or hero, Che paints a vivid, naturalistic portrait of the man himself (with a stunning, Cannes-award-winning performance by Benicio del Toro), from his overthrow of the Batista dictatorship, to his 1964 United Nations trip, to the end of his short life. [The film was] Originally released in two parts, the first a kaleido-scopic view of the Cuban revolution and the second an all-action dramatization of Che's failed campaign in Bolivia.

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS.
Animation/Comedy/Family.
Bill Hader/Anna Faris/James Caan/Andy Samberg.
Directed by Chris Miller.
* Did you read this kids book at home? Well, throw what you remember out the window (and watch out below), because significant liberties were taken with this story, so much that it really should be thought of as a separate piece of art (I used the word art in this film description – oookay). What they kept is the spectacular imagery of food falling to earth each day and feeding the people of the land. Eventually greed gets in the way of technology, and the dropping food becomes more and more dangerous.

ECLIPSE SERIES 19: CHANTAL AKERMAN IN THE 70’s.
Criterion/Drama/Experimental.
Aurore Clément/Chantal Akerman.
Directed by Chantal Akerman.
* The five films in this collection were made between 1972 and 1978 and feature intimate and quiet portrayals of isolation and loneliness. There are a couple shorts films, 1972’s LA CHAMBRE (11 min) and 1972’s HOTEL MONTEREY (62 min), both silent films. Then the three features are 1974’s JE, TU, IL, ELLE an erotic film about a woman (Akerman) on a road trip, 1976’s NEWS FROM HOME featuring letters written by Akerman’s mother being read over beautifully composed shots of New York City, and 1978’s LES RENDEZ-VOUS D’ANNA about a filmmaker traveling through Europe promoting her latest film.

THE INVENTION OF LYING.****ALSO ON BD****
Comedy.
Ricky Gervais/Jennifer Garner/Rob Lowe/Jonah Hill/Tina Fey/Jason Bateman/Christopher Guest.
Directed by Ricky Gervais and Matt Robinson
* This comedy focuses on a world where NO ONE LIES. How incomprehensible is that? Maybe John Lennon could imagine it, I’m not sure. In a world where no one lies, one man learns to lie, and benefit from his lies.

GAMER.****ALSO ON BD****
Drama.
Gerard Butler/Michael C. Hall/Kyra Sedgwick/John Leguizamo.
Directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor.
* This movie might have been called AVATAR if that other one hadn’t been. It is basically a futuristic story of a society where people are controlling other people in an on-line game world (as opposed to people not being able to control themselves in an on-line game world). The story centers around a player in a game who wants to regain control of himself outside of the game and destroy the people who created it.

KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS.
Sci-Fi/Horror.
William Shatner/Tiffany Bolling.
Directed by John Cardos.
* This 1977 film features brilliant cover art, and amazing acting. Shat plays Rack Hansen, a Texas veterinarian who is trying to figure out what is killing the local farm animals, and in such a strange seeming way. Aha! What we have here…gentlemen…appears to be, giant…arachnids, migrating right for us. All in all, I think this movie really could use a cameo from Spock.

PANDORUM.****ALSO ON BD****
Sci-Fi/Suspense.
Dennis Quaid/Ben Foster.
Directed by Christian Alvert.
* When Payton (Quaid) and Bower (Foster, SIX FEET UNDER) wake up in pods on a spaceship in the dark, they have no idea who they are or what they are doing or where everyone else is. Gradually they remember they were on a mission with 60,000 others to populate a new planet as Earth has been destroyed. Pandorum refers to a space disease that causes people to go crazy and kill each other. Payton and Bower are afraid they will succumb to this, but their fears become less important in the wake of the blood-thirsty zombies that they seem to be sharing the ship with. Even more disturbing is the news that they are not zombies, but actually mutated humans from the original mission.

SMOKIN’ ACES 2: ASSASSINS’ BALL.****ALSO ON BD****
Action/Crime.
Tom Berrenger/Autumn Reeser.
Directed by P.J. Pesce.
* Smokin crack is more like it.

STREAMERS.
Drama/War.
Matthew Modine/Michael Wright.
Directed by Robert Altman.
* 1983 film just finally getting to DVD, STREAMERS is the story of four recruits getting ready to get sent to Vietnam and confronting their prejudices about each other.

WHITEOUT.****ALSO ON BD****
Action/Suspense.
Kate Beckinsale/Columbus Short.
Directed by Dominic Sena.
* Beckinsale plays a US Marshall on Antarctica who is tracking a killer right on the heels of having resigned and preparing to get back to the mainland. Unfortunately, the killer is on the loose, and the sun is about to set leaving Antarctica dark for the next six months.

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

THE BUTCH FACTOR.
Documentary.
Directed by Christopher Hines.
* This doc examines masculinity and male-identity as it relates to gay men.

NO IMPACT MAN.
Documentary.
Directed by Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein.
* This doc examines a couple in NY trying to abandon their high impact lifestyle and spend one year living in Manhattan with a zero level environmental impact.

OUTRAGE.
Documentary.
Directed by Kirby Dick.
* This doc examines the absurd hypocrisy of closeted politicians who vote to enact anti-gay legislation.

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

DAMAGES: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON.
Drama.
Glenn Close/Rose Byrne/William Hurt/Ted Danson/Timothy Olyphant/Marcia Gay Harden.
* The second season in the Emmy and Golden Globe winning series about lawyers and the cut-throat world that lawyer Patricia Hewes (Close) inhabits.

THE PHILANTHROPIST: THE COMPLETE SERIES.
Action.
James Purefoy/Neve Campbell/Michael Williams.
* Adventure series about a wealthy man trying to help the world and traveling all across the planet in that quest.

WEEDS: SEASON FIVE.****ALSO ON BD****
Drama/Showtime.
Mary-Louise Parker/Elizabeth Perkins/Kevin Nealon.
* Season five in the show about everyone’s favorite hottie cougar drug dealer. As an experiment, we are trying a series on Blu-Ray as well as regular DVD…if the experiment is a success, perhaps many of the series will be carried this way. Please let us know what you think!

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

REVIEWS BY JEFF.

OVERLORD.
Criterion/War/Drama.
Directed by Stuart Cooper.
* One of the all-time great World War II movies, Overlord follows the life cycle of a British soldier from enlistment to warfare. We come to understand his hopes and his fears in between bouts of dead calm and frenzied action. Director Stuart Cooper mixes real documentary footage with the staged, and it's hard to tell the two apart. Also, the gorgeous black and white photography was shot by longtime Kubrick collaborator John Alcott and draws heavily from Robert Capa's war photos.

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

CHARLIE AND LOLA: VOLUME 9.

FRANKLIN: FRANKLIN’S VALENTINES.

SCOOBY’S ALL STAR LAFF-A-LYMPICS: VOLUME 1.

THE SPECTACULAR SPIDERMAN: VOLUME 5.

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

THE BOURNE IDENTITY.

THE BOURNE SUPREMACY.

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

WALL STREET.
* Our first DVD of this Oliver Stone film comes on the heels of hearing they are making a sequel.

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

THE JERK: 26th ANNIVERSARY EDITION.
* Steve Martin and a cast of hilarity front this Carl Reiner comedy.

****

****new release list no.251

So many great titles out this week, starting with the first must-see Iraq war film, THE HURT LOCKER. Set in 2004 Baghdad and following a group of bomb specialists, this film examines our addiction to adrenaline, and how well war fulfills that need.

IN THE LOOP is a new comedy about war (ha ha!) and the spin that goes on between the government, the media and the citizens and the incredible inanity of those who engage in the spin control.

MOON is the outstanding debut feature from Duncan Jones about Sam Bell, an astronaut almost done with a 3-year contract harvesting fuel on the moon who begins to have doubts and confusions about his employer, and himself.

BIG FAN is a brilliant debut from the writer of THE WRESTLER (Robert D. Siegel) about a football fan (of the utmost super obsessed variety) whose chance encounter with the star of his favorite team throws his entire life into question. This film features one of the greatest sports revenge scenes of all time.

DEPARTURES won the Best Foreign Film Academy Award in 2009. Hailing from Japan, the film is about a cellist who seeks new employment after his orchestra disbands and finds himself working as the person who prepares a corpse for his funeral and for the afterlife.

THE BURNING PLAINS is a tale of love and passion and guilt and hard life lessons starring Kim Basinger and Charlize Theron. Out this week is also FAME 2009, PASSING STRANGE (Spike Lee), POST GRAD (Alexis Bledel), HALLOWEEN II (the Rob Zombie version), and bunches more, including a couple new HIGHLIGHTED NEW ADDITIONS from Jeff (THE ALEJANDRO JODOROSKY BOX SET) and GLEE: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON. Please read on to hear about the individual movies.

Hey check out this interesting factoid. Netflix has made some concessions for their streaming services with Warner Bros film releases and they will no longer be carrying those hard-copy titles until 30 days after their release dates. Just another great reason to sign up for a Kenflix membership today.

My wife, Amy Shelf, is a Bernal based estate-planning attorney. Each year she sends out some information about her services. She posted this years email online and posted a separate blog entry about her philosophy for the coming year. She comes very highly recommended on the various Bernal listservs and would love to help you with your planning. Email her with any questions about her services.

SUCCULENCE is open Tues-Sunday, we are working hard to get people back there. You must walk all the way through Four Star to see the retail shop in the barn. Come check it out, and take a look at these awesome pics of the place.

Alrighty then, see you down at the store.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

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3SUB - Three Movies at a time – Unlimited exchange – $24.99 + Tax/Month
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............//NEW RELEASES//............


A L’AVENTURE.
Drama/Erotic/Foreign (Fench)
Carole Brana.
Directed by Jean-Claude Brisseau.
* Ah, l’adventure of buying movies. Sometimes the gems are hidden and you must take a chance to find the perfect amazing foreign film that illustrates clearly what is so sorely missing in Hollywood…other times? Softcore arrives in the new release box and is slightly embarrassing. Either way, someone will probably dig this film from “Europe’s most daring director” (EXTERMINATING ANGELS, SECRET THINGS) about a young woman’s odyssey to find the perfect ‘la petit mort”.

APPEARED.
Horror/Foreign (Spanish).
Ruth Diaz/Javier Pereira.
Directed by Paco Cabezas .
* Then disappeared. Now re-appeared. Made in 2007, this horror film has a basis in reality. It is the story of a brother and sister traveling in Argentina who, through the finding of a diary detailing horrible tortures and murders, begin to witness the horrors they have read about. At the root of the story are the more than 30,000 people whose lives were destroyed by the Argentinean military dictatorship.

BIG FAN.
Drama/Comedy.
Patton Oswalt/Kevin Corrigan/Marcia Kurtz/Jonathan Hamm.
Directed by Robert Siegel.
* Ah to be a big fan of a sports team, to experience life as though the stars of your team are perhaps your friends; the shock and dismay when you realize these people don’t actually know your name. In BIG FAN, Paul Aufiero (Oswalt), along with his best bud Sal (Corrigan), are super duper sports-crazed New York Giants football fans. If you are a sports fan, you know what I mean. If you are not, think obsessive compulsive mixed with delusional and hopeful. These guys nearly bleed the blue and red of their team’s colors. However, when the unimaginable happens, and they have a chance encounter with their favorite player, defensive specialist Quantrell Bishop (Hamm), they cannot control themselves from trying to meet him, and things go terrible wrong. Finally, Paul is left with the biggest dilemma. How to reconcile reality with fantasy? Is it possible to still be a fan, even though his favorite team has literally beaten him down (as opposed to the metaphoric ways our favorite teams beat us down). Paul is no fair-weather fan, and the problem consumes him, as he searches for ways to make the situation better. Eventually, his resolution is so sublime, so thorough, and so complete, that it will make you cackle while watching, giggle while brushing your teeth twenty minutes later, and snort as you are falling asleep. With a terrific performance from Marcia Kurtz as Paul’s mother who wishes he would just grow up.

THE BURNING PLAIN .****ALSO ON BD****
Drama/Romance/Mystery/Foreign (English and Spanish).
Charlize Theron/Kim Basinger/Jennifer Lawrence/Robin Tunney.
Directed by Guillermo Arriaga.
* Written and directed by on the writers of BABEL and a producer of 21 GRAMS, this complicated film takes place during several time periods and deals with impulsive decisions, passions spinning out of control and eventually grief and guilt being processed and moved past.

DEPARTURES .
Drama/Music/Foreign (Japanese).
Masahiro Motoki/Tsutomu Yamazaki.
Directed by Yôjirô Takita.
* Yes, this film won the Best Foreign Language Film of the Year last year at the Oscars, and it also won 31 other awards world-wide. It is the story of a cellist who becomes unemployed when his orchestra disbands. With his wife, he moves back to his hometown and begins the arduous process of searching for a new gig. What he finds is a job unlike any he expected - he becomes a Nokanshi, someone who prepares dead bodies for their funeral and for the journey into the unknown. While the job is challenging, and painful, and a little yucky, he discovers the poetry in it and with great grace and love helps to usher his “clients” to the other side.

DOWNLOADING NANCY.
Drama/Suspense/Thriller.
Jason Patric/Maria Bello.
Directed by Johan Renck.
* Nancy (Bello) is an unhappy wife, who leaves her husband and hires someone she meets online (Patric, remember him from THE LOST BOYS?) to kill her. Instead they fall into a sort of sadomasochistic love affair. Ouch! Oh!

FAME.****ALSO ON BD****
Comedy/Drama/Family/Musical/Romance.
Kay Panabaker/Naturi Naughton.
Directed by Kevin Tancharoen.
* This remake of the 1980’s hit that spawned a TV series takes on the same stories of youth at the New York City High School for the Performing Arts.

GOLIATH.
Comedy/Indie/Mumblecore.
Nathan Zellner/David Zellner/Caroline O’Connor.
Directed by David Zellner.
* In this more then slightly off the beaten path mumblecore film, a man who has lost everything he values in his life (his job, his wife, etc) focuses all of his emotion on the TRAGIC loss of his cat, Goliath, for whom he searches desperately in this strangely (and somewhat painfully) weird film.

HALLOWEEN II (2009).
Horror.
Sheri Moon Zombie.
Directed by Rob Zombie.
* Those crazy Zombie’s are at it again, in this sequel remake to their original remake of the horror cult classic.

THE HURT LOCKER.****ALSO ON BD****
War/Action/Drama.
Jeremy Renner/Anthony Mackie/Brian Geraghty.
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow.
* We have been at this current war now in Iraq for just shy of seven years and we have already had countless narrative and documentary films about the toll this war has taken on the world. In this film, although we are introduced to several compelling characters, and introduced to their story and their experience, the main theme that is explored is addiction, and war as a drug. Humans must love war on some level, as we’ve engaged in it almost constant for all of time. Why can’t we all just get along? Not sure, but this film seems to suggest we just must have War, the way all addictions must be had. In this case, the user is Sgt Will James. With a baby boy at home, and a partner (who may or may not be his wife), he seems to have many reasons to survive the war and get safely home. However, the manner with which he goes about his business suggests otherwise. And his business? Why defusing bombs of course. Sgt. James puts on a suit that looks like some sort of alien battle gear full of heavy armor, and walks up to improvised explosive devices (IED’s in the industry) which have been left lying around Baghdad by insurgents either to be triggered remotely with a cell phone, or run over by a vehicle and designed to cause maximum damage (we see early on in a slow-motion scene that shows just how maximum the damage these things cause) and defuses them. He’s a bit of a renegade (as I guess someone who has defused 873 bombs is liable to be), and constantly puts his fellow team in danger because of his wing nut decision-making (like taking off his headset when he doesn’t want to hear what is being said). This does not make him popular, but this doesn’t seem to faze him. He is sort of a savant, or you could simply call him a junky, who does what he must without much consideration for who might get hurt by the consequences, simply because he must have his junk (adrenaline for James). The film is full of the heavy tension you might expect from a war zone, but no rah-rah pretension of some other war films. It is plain and simply terrible in Baghdad, like a bomb ready to go off. That we are prepared to go off. That we are waiting to explode. In the main character’s hands, over and over and over again.

I CAN DO BAD ALL BY MYSELF.
Comedy/Drama.
Tyler Perry/Taraji P. Henson/Adam Rodriguez/Gladys Knight.
Directed by Tyler Perry.
* Perry is back with another story in the tales of Madea. In this, Madea catches some teens robbing her home and sends them back to live with their nearly inaccessible Aunt April, a torch song singer who is struggling hard in her personal life.

IN PRAISE OF OLDER WOMEN.
Drama.
Tom Berenger/Karen Black/Susan Strasberg/Helen Shaver/Alexandra Stewart.
Directed by George Kaczender.
* Berenger (THE BIG CHILL) starred in this 1978 film about a young Hungarian man during war times (WWII) who turns to married women much older than him to learn about love and sex.

IN THE LOOP.****ALSO ON BD****
Comedy/Satire.
Peter Capaldi/Tom Hollander/Gina McKee/James Gandolfini/Chris Addison.
Directed by Armando Iannucci.
* This zany ‘who-said-what?” comedy is about media, government, spin and foul mouthed public employees (See: Daly, Chris). Heck, even Chris might blush listening to Peter Capaldi’s Malcolm Tucker, the Prime Minister of the UK’s head spin-doctor and the creative ways he thinks of dropping F-bombs on everyone around him. Tucker’s f-ing pissed the f off. He can’t f-ing believe the f-ing morons who run around acting like they know what the f-ing f they do and he’s especially in a state of shock regarding f-ing Simon Foster, the British Secretary of some f-ing thing or another. See Foster (Hollander) accidentally didn’t ride the exact center of the political fence in a radio interview about a possible up-coming war, and now every outlet, internet-based and otherwise, is running with the story. But what does it mean, will there be a war? Won’t there be a war? Does the public want a war? Does all the confusion change anyone’s mind? Wtf-ing f, right!? With Gandolfini (THE SOPRANOS) as a US General against the idea of going to war, but also dealing with the uncontrollable spin-machines of Washington, D.C.

MOON.****ALSO ON BD****
Sci-Fi/Drama/Thriller.
Sam Rockwell/Kevin Spacey.
Directed by Duncan Jones.
* Looks like Zowie Bowie grew up! Yes, Duncan Jones, the director of this film, is the 38-year-old son of David Bowie, the one he wrote “Kooks” for. If this incredible feature-film debut is any indication, he is in for a long career as a terrific film maker. Rockwell plays Sam Bell, an astronaut working on the moon for the corporation Lunar Industries mostly harvesting helium-3, which is a tremendous fuel source for earth. Sam’s contract is almost up, and he longs to go back to earth to his wife and young daughter. However, an accidental breach of the system enables him to make an insane and confusing discovery that makes him question everything he thinks about himself, and about his employers. Knowing his discovery puts him at risk, he must secretly plan a way to get himself off the moon and back to earth. Meanwhile, his only companion (besides himself) is the computer known as GERTY (Spacey, robotic, yet human) which assists him in all aspects of his job.

PASSING STRANGE: THE MOVIE.
Musical.
De'Adre Aziza/Daniel Breaker/Eisa Davis.
Directed by Spike Lee.
* This is a filming of the Broadway show about a young black musician who throws away the stylings of his Los Angeles based childhood and travels in Europe in order to expose himself to different experiences and broaden his reality. Narrated by Stew who also wrote the story, loosely based on his own experiences.

POST GRAD.
Comedy.
Alexis Bledel/Zach Gilford/Michael Keaton/Carol Burnett/J.K. Simmons.
Directed by Vicky Jenson.
* Cute and clever film about a recent college grad who moves back in with her family while trying to figure out what to do next.

RE-GENERATION.
Sci-Fi/Thriller.
Peter Stebbings.
Directed by Anais Granofsky.

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

BY THE PEOPLE: THE ELECTION OF BARACK OBAMA.
Documentary.
Barack Obama/John McCain/Michelle Obama.
Directed by Amy Rice and Alicia Sams .
* Produced by Edward Norton, this doc follows Barack on the road to the White House from 2006 through the successful election.

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

GLEE: SEASON ONE, VOL.1: ROAD TO SECTIONALS.
Musical/Comedy/TV.
Dianna Agron/Chris Colfer/Jane Lynch/Kevin McHale.
Created by Ian Brennan and Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy and others.
* Ah, the guilty pleasure (as someone here put it yesterday) of watching this new show about a high school glee club. Nominated for 4 Golden Globes, the show obviously is doing something right. Full of singing and dancing and covers of many modern hits.

THE SIMPSONS: THE COMPLETE TWENTIETH SEASON.
Comedy/Animation/TV.
Bart/Homer.
* They appear to have skipped seasons 13-19 and gone straight from season 12 to 20.

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

REVIEWS BY JEFF.

THE ALEJANDRO JODOROSKY BOX SET.
FANDO Y LIS (1968), EL TOPO (1970), THE HOLY MOUNTAIN (1973).
Directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky.
* Chilean-born Alejandro Jodorowsky is like the mutant love-child of
Luis Bunuel and Werner Herzog. His LSD-induced mysticism blends
religious iconography with the freakish...

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

FINAL DESTINATION 4.
The horror.

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

BACK TO THE FUTURE 2.
Comedy/80’s Sci-Fi.

DOCTOR WHO: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON.

TWO BROTHERS.

****

****new release list no.250

Happy New Year. They tell me I should call it Twenty Ten. But I find myself saying Two Thousand Ten. They’ll never make me change! Never! All joking aside, I do find it funny that I spent most of my life waiting for “The Year Two Thousand” and now its ten years later. That feels strange. I wonder if the first ten years of the 21St Century were like the first ten years of the 20th. Do decades have similar flavors in the time-space continuum? I remember reading in high school something about this. I wonder if it will continue in this new decade. Some amazing things were invented in the1910’s. Much of Einstein’s great work was done then, such as the amazing Einstein Field Equation, you know, this one:



Yeah, that seems like a big, NO DUH, now, but back then, this was magical stuff. Also, cars – bunches of cars and many of their most exciting features were invented then. Not to mention, stainless steel, Boy Scouts (and Girl Scouts, just a scant two years later), minimum age working laws, Youtube (alright you got me, I made that up…), heck my name, Kenneth, was the 30th most popular name in that decade (as opposed to 116th in this last decade). See – things are interesting! Interesting is good, in that it remains of interest, as opposed to boring, or worse – uninteresting.

Unfortunately, some of the films out this week are uninteresting, so this bloggle (blog+babble) is about all you got. Although we do have at least several little indie and foreign films that some of you may quite enjoy. Such as LOREN CASS, the story of a group of kids in Florida trying to make sense of their senseless Floridian existence on the heels of race riots in St. Petersburg, or ADAM, a romantic comedy about a young man with Asperger's and a woman with a nice ass (awful, fail, delete -bad bad pun, really, I’m sorry, but I couldn’t resist) who fall in love – I hear this film rivals 500 DAYS OF SUMMER if you liked that one. Then there is LORNA’S SILENCE about two Albanian immigrants in Belgium making bad deals with gangsters in order to survive, and LAILA’S BIRTHDAY, a close look at life in occupied Palestine through the eyes of a father trying not to disappoint his daughter on her 7th birthday. The Hollywood films we got this week are 50 DEAD MEN WALKING, but I’m not sure where they are walking to; and FINAL DESTINATION 4 – THIS TIME WE REALLY MEAN IT (that last part is not in the printed title, but I am pretty sure that’s what they meant). The indie film TRUCKER starring Michelle Monaghan is about a young truck driver whose carefree existence is changed forever when her erstwhile 10-year-old son comes to live with her. In the regular release department, the final and probably most important release of the week is the 3rd season of BIG LOVE, the popular HBO series about polygamists with the polygamost. They own a successful business; they are cute and smart and witty; they have a swimming pool! It’s the good life!

By the way, January marks a new HIGHLIGHTED NEW ADDITIONS month at Four Star Video, and Jeff (as usual) has filled his section with some excellent picks. He had us get a batch of Woody Allen films we only had on VHS, as well as LADY SNOWBLOOD, THE EXILES, ALICE, THE TOMORROW SHOW WITH TOM SNYDER: PUNK & NEW WAVE (featuring Iggy, Elvis Costello, The Ramones and so many more), ZABRISKIE POINT and a few more. Scroll down to read his reasoning and reviews for all his picks.

Guess what? In the week since I last wrote, both Reinvintage and the retail photography supply and print shop at Kingmond Young Studios opened. Both stores look great, so let’s head down to these establishments and welcome them to the neighborhood.

In honor of the 2009 version of Fame, I thought I’d share this amazing time capsule. You want fame? Well fame costs…and right here is where you start paying.

Love and Kisses,
Ken

p.s. - People are always asking me what film the photos I post are from, and since I am unable to figure out how to post captions, I will start posting the info in this spot each week. This week's photo is from the Award-winning series BIG LOVE.

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

ADAM.
Comedy/Drama/Romance.
Hugh Dancy/Rose Byrne/Amy Irving.
Directed by Max Mayer.
* This is not your typical rom-com. Two neighbors, both dealing with serious issues (he has Asperger's Syndrome, and she has been through a painful breakup), find solace in each others company and begin a relationship. There is much debate online about which is better, ADAM of 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, with many agreeing that ADAM is the superior film…

50 DEAD MEN WALKING.****ALSO ON BD****
Action/Suspense.
Ben Kingsley/Jim Sturgess/Rose McGowan.
Directed by Kari Skogland.
* Based on a true story, this film follows Marty McGartland, a young Irish street kid who gets recruited by the Brits to spy on the IRA for them.

THE FINAL DESTINATION 4 (IN 3-D, 2-D and Triple D).
Horror.
Bobby Campo.
Directed by David R. Ellis.
* Are we there yet?

LAILA’S BIRTHDAY .
Drama/Foreign (Arabic).
Mohammed Bakri.
Directed by Rashid Mashawari.
* A former Judge in Palestine, who is forced to be a taxi driver because of government instability, struggles mightily to provide a good birthday for his 7-year-old daughter. This important film deals with real life in the occupied territory.

LOREN CASS.
Indie/Drama.
Kayla Tabish/Travis Maynard.
Directed by Chris Fuller.
* Ah, Florida, hotbed of so much, teen angst, political turmoil, retirement communities, Cuban strife, sweet citrus, cocaine, and the hot hot sun. This film takes place in St. Petersburg in the later portion of the 1990’s (two decades ago, kinda) after race riots divided the community, and concerns youth struggling to make sense of the senselessness of it all. Featuring a slamming soundtrack, and extraordinary performances by many no-name actors, it is a triumph that this film made it here to the video store at all.

LORNA’S SILENCE.
Drama/Foreign (French/Albanian).
Arta Dobroshi/Jeremie Renier/Alban Ukaj/Fabrizio Rongione.
Directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne.
* This film highlights the uncertainty of immigrant life, and the challenges that can be faced to make their dreams come true. It is the story of two young Albanians (Lorna and Sokol) living in Belgium. They struggle financially and long to open a snack bar. Unfortunately they don’t have the money. Enter aspiring mobster Fabio who has concocted a plan for Lorna to marry Claudy to gain citizenship and then to marry another guy for big bucks that will enable her dreams to come true. For it all to work out, Fabio must deal with Claudy, and Lorna must keep the whole thing a secret.

THE MINISTERS.
Drama/Suspense/Crime.
John Leguizamo/Harvey Keitel.
Directed by Franc Reyes.
* Murder, intrigue, deception, cops, revenge. You know the drill. Do you like Keitel? Then watch this film.

TRUCKER.
Drama.
Michelle Monaghan/Nathan Fillion/Benjamin Bratt/Joey Lauren Adams.
Directed by James Mottern.
* This indie is about a carefree truck-driving lady whose life gets thrown into turmoil when her 10-year-old son comes to live with her. The film won 5 awards on the festival circuit.

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

BIG LOVE: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON.
Drama/Polygamy/HBO.
Bill Paxton/Jeanne Tripplehorn/Chloe Sevigny/Ginnifer Goodwin.
* Ah, Mormon life. I still remember hearing that Prop 8 should pass because marriage should only be between a man and a woman, and another woman, and another woman. I don’t know; it seems tricky. It’s hard enough trying to keep it together with one other person. Three partners? Yikes. As anyone who has watched this show knows, it ain’t easy for Bill Henrickson (Paxton) either. Between the challenges of domestic life times three, and running his business, and keeping ahead of the government and the uber-orthodox cult of Mormonism that he is beholden to, as well as hiding his marriages from the general public, it’s a wonder Bill has any space to kick back, drink a beer and watch some BYU on the tv.

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

THE BACKYARDIGANS: JOIN THE ADVENTURER’S CLUB.

BUGS BUNNY’S CUPID CAPERS.

IRON MAN ARMORED ADVENTURES: VOLUME 2.

MAX AND RUBY: PLAYTIME WITH MAX AND RUBY.

NICKELODEON: WE LOVE OUR FRIENDS.

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

ALL REVIEWS BY JEFF

ALICE.
Animation/Fantasy/Horror/Foreign (Czech).
Kristyna Kohoutova.
Directed by Jan Svankmajer.
* Here’s a Czech surrealist take on Alice in Wonderland. Director Jan
Svankmajer continues to use a creepy blend of live-action and
stop-motion animation and shows his fascination with insects and raw
meat.

THE EXILES.
Drama.
Directed by Kent MacKenzie.
* Try as I might, I can’t top Carlos Velasquez’s review of this film on
Amazon.com:

“The Exiles is an unpretentious, sincere film, done with the heart,
and the director apparently allowed the actors – mostly Native
Americans – to be themselves and play their culture. This exceptional
movie depicts a well-known, sad part of our society, with defeated
human beings, with defeated minds, as the main characters. It doesn't
matter where the plot takes place – the city or the reservation – the
stories are always the same. This is especially revealed in the long
scene in which the boys go to party on a hill in the city Los Angeles
known as Hill X, in which they drink and play the drums all night
long, as they did in their reservations. This is their way to
reminisce about their culture, their parents, their childhood, and
their land”.

THE EXQUISITE SHORT FILMS OF KIHACHIRO KAWAMOTO .
Animation/Foreign (Japanese).
Directed by Kihachiro Kawamoto.
* Beautiful stop motion animation from Japanese artist Kihachiro Kawamoto, who studied under the great Czech animator Jiri Trnka. These short films draw from traditional Japanese folk stories, Noh and Kabuki theatre. There are also a couple of cutout animation films set in modern-day, including one written by Kobo Abe (Woman in the Dunes).

LADY SNOWBLOOD.
Action/Drama/Thriller/Foreign (Japanese and English).
Directed by Toshiya Fujita.
* Um... what DIDN’T Tarantino steal from this movie? The Kill Bill-Lady Snowblood comparisons are endless. You've got the woman out for revenge (complete with list of people she's going to kill), story structure that's divided into chapters, and even the same god damn pop song. The Japanese original is artful, kick-ass and a whole lot of fun and remains one of the all-time great revenge flicks.

THE TOMORROW SHOW WITH TOM SNYDER: PUNK & NEW WAVE.
Television/Rock!
Directed by Ron de Moraes and Dan Funk.
* Uber-square Tom Snyder used to host a show that featured cutting edge musical acts. The list of names includes The Ramones, The Jam, Iggy Pop, Joan Jett, Elvis Costello and Patti Smith.

WILD COMBINATION: A PORTRAIT OF ARTHUR RUSSELL.
Documentary.
Directed by Matt Wolf.
* Arthur Russell’s music is hard to classify. Avant-garde electronic disco pop with cello? Whatever it is, it’s dreamy (and dancy) as hell. This documentary shows Arthur’s journey from straight Iowa farm-boy to queer New York underground artist, with a brief dalliance on a hippie
commune in San Francisco. There are insights from friends and admirers including Allen Ginsberg, Philip Glass and Jens Lekman. Be sure to check out the DVD extras for Lekman’s wonderful live take of Russell’s “A Little Lost.”

ZABRISKIE POINT.
Drama/Romance.
Directed by Michangelo Antonioni.
* Antonioni’s worst feature length movie features clunky dialogue and clueless acting, but it’s notable perhaps for the great soundtrack (Pink Floyd, Kaleidoscope, Grateful Dead) and glimpse into California counterculture of the 70s. Real-life Black Panther Kathleen Cleaver even makes a cameo. Most people find the nude hippie love-in at Death Valley most memorable, but for me it’s the spectacular end sequence (let’s just say it ends with a bang…)

WOODY ALLEN COLLECTION SET 3.
Comedy.
Directed by Franc Reyes.
* Woody Allen Collection Set 3
A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy (1982) / Zelig (1983) / Broadway Danny
Rose (1984) / The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) / Hannah and Her Sisters
(1986) / Radio Days (1987) The start of Woody Allen’s love affair with Mia Farrow yielded some of the best films of his career. Too bad that didn’t end so well. Yeeesh. Anyway, if you haven’t seen Hannah and Her Sisters, Purple Rose of Cairo, or ESPECIALLY Zelig, do yourself a favor and catch up with the Wood Man.

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

THE QUIET AMERICAN.
Drama/Suspense/Crime.
Audie Murphy/Michael Redgrave.
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
* From the IMDB: In this adaptation of Graham Greene's prophetic novel about U.S. foreign policy failure in pre-war Indochina, Audie Murphy plays an innocent Young American opposite the older, cynical Brit Michael Redgrave. They play out their widely different views on the prospects stuggle for the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people in their competition over a young woman. Murphy wants to reform her and make her a typical middle class American housewife; Redgrave accepts her inability to formulate or retain a political ideal and while promising her no real future, he objects to Murphy's attempts to change her.

****

****new release list no.249

Ahhhhh, right?

Another year coming to an end. And you survived it, which is pretty awesome. Close your eyes for a minute. Okay, wait, open them. It’s hard to read with your eyes closed.

Close your psycho-spiritual eyes for a minute and just listen to the inside of your mind.

What is that sound? Is it the sound of music flowing through the internet to your ears (Cornelius – Fantasma, for me right now)? Or it is the sound of the air purification system cleaning the dust out of the air so your nose doesn’t have to do its job? Or perhaps you are hearing the copy machine playing its mad raver house beat as hundreds of critical pieces of paper are processed into their natural destiny. Is it the rattle of files in your head seeking a cabinet? Can you drag those files to the recycle bin?

No? No paper? No purifier? No tunes? Maybe you are not at work (you lucky devil!). Maybe you are taking this week off and filling out an application to your mind for some of that rest and relaxation you’ve been promising yourself all year. Approved!

Yeah? Well, you definitely deserve it. Considering what you’ve been through this year! What a year, right? One of those years it is tempting to want to forget. 2009 is coming to a close, and many people are not so sad to see it go. Understandably, I guess. It has been probably one of the toughest years financially that our country has seen in a long while. Many small businesses suffered this year; countless people lost their homes; lifestyles were altered dramatically up and down the economic spectrum. Unemployment rose, home prices dropped, rentals climbed, credit rates increased and stress followed right along. What a year! Fears that began in the fall of 2008 were realized throughout 2009, and panic was difficult to abate (at least for me!). I certainly worked harder than I like to this year.

But…but…I don’t know. It was also kind of an awesome year, right?

To begin with, this whole financial crisis has really provided some amazing insight to us about frugality, and community and so many other things. Remember first learning about stone soup when you were a kid? How many people had stone soup this year? I’m not sure I dropped a rock in a pot of boiling water, but the meals I had with a can of refried and some rice and chopped cabbage were pretty awesome. And my sense of purpose with my cash (for the most part) has been pretty remarkable as well. Back at the beginning of the year, I pondered (in this very blog) which businesses might not survive 2009 in Bernal Heights, and off the top of my head I can only think of one that didn’t (Ladita) and look how many new things are starting! Succulence, Sandbox, the Bernal Marketplace, fit Bernal Fit, the new State Farm office (it’s an owner-run office, not a franchise), Reinvintage, perhaps a new photo supplies shop on our very block, whatever is gonna go in at floor level of the behemoth that is being built next door to Bernal Marketplace – are there more? Probably. That is a pretty big list for a small neighborhood in financial crisis, isn’t it?
I think I learned this year that unemployment was around 25% during the Great Depression, which somewhat soothed me thinking of the 75% that were employed. That’s a pretty big number.

For those of you out there who are in the midst of financial hardship, I sympathize with you, and I am hopeful for you. I hope for all of us the ability to stay positive, to remain compassionate, to rise above ourselves for the clearest vision (thanks, Amy!) and for the ability to keep our humor, our sense of balance, humility, poetry and awareness. I hope for dignity, preparation, thoughtfulness, open-heartedness, and inner peace. I hope as we contemplate our own fears, we do not become blind to those around us with less, those around us whose resources are dwindling, those around us whose safety net is frayed, or gone completely. I beg the universe to let everyone who works hard for a dream to attain it. I wish for all of us a warm bed, thick blankets, socks without holes, clean underwear and fresh vegetables.

If you are looking for an escape, I hope you can continue to let Four Star Video provide you with one. And if you are looking for a nice little plant to be your friend, then you’ve also come to the right place.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! Here’s looking forward to 2010 and the mystery’s that it will reveal.

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


GRITOS EN LA NOCHE (SCREAMS IN THE NIGHT).
Drama/Suspense/Foreign (Spanish)
Vanina Balena/Alejandro Genes.
Directed by Carlos Silva Nigri.
* The story of a son in town for his father’s funeral, and the local news reporter who knows more than she should about the death.

HIDING VICTORIA.
Drama.
Margo Harshman/Michael Wiseman.
Directed by Dan Chinander.
* Two women, with seemingly little in common, discover that commonality can be found if one looks hard enough. Victoria, a tough young adult, needs to find a job or go to jail. She finds one taking care of a 77-year old woman, Althea. Together they find solace in their secrets.

JENNIFER’S BODY.****ALSO ON BD****
Horror/Comedy.
Megan Fox/Amanda Seyfried/Johnny Simmons.
Directed by Karyn Kusama.
Written by Diablo Cody (JUNO).
* The JUNE production team is at it again, this time tackling the politically sensitive issue of satanic ritualistic killings among rock bands, and homicidal high school cheerleaders. Seriously! Jennifer’s body is coveted by many young men, and, after a somewhat chance meeting with a rock band who has turned to the occult to achieve success, she becomes demonically opposed to giving it to them. In fact, it is the bodies of these young men that Jennifer covets – to dismantle and eat! Ah, but Jennifer has a nice young friend named Needy (Seyfried, from BIG LOVE and MAMMA MIA fame) who is sweet and good and tender and doesn’t like all the senseless killing and decides to put a stop to all the madness. Will Needy escape unharmed? Will any of us?

9 .****ALSO ON BD****
Animation/Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Adventure.
Christopher Plummer/Martin Landau/Jennifer Connelly/John C. Reilly/Crispin Glover.
Directed by Marty Callner.
* This post-apocalyptic fantasy is about a bunch of raggedy dolls awakening in a world where most everything has been destroyed and machines are hunting for any forms of life in order to destroy them.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY .****ALSO ON BD****
Horror/Mystery/Thriller.
Katie Featherston/Micah Sloat.
Directed by Oren Peli.
* This film somehow got super-hyped on the internet, and has become a bit of a phenomenon. It is about a young couple who is being bothered by a demon in the night that they decide to try to videotape in order to discover what is REALLY going on. I think the lesson is, don’t videotape what you don’t want to see.


A PERFECT GETAWAY.****ALSO ON BD****
Drama/Horror/Mystery.
Steve Zahn/Milla Jovovich/Kiele Sanchez/Timothy Olyphant.
Directed by David Twohy.
* Two couples hiking in beautiful Hawaii become aware of some psychopathic killing that is going on near them and this makes them frightened, distrusting, unfriendly, and inevitably puts their newfound friendship at risk.

WEATHER GIRL.
Comedy.
Tricia O’Kelley/Patrick J. Adams/Mark Harmon.
Directed by Blayne Weaver.
* Stormy weather ahead! Could be thunderclouds! Eminent chance of rain! Probably darkened skies! Take cover, cuz Seattle’s favorite Weather Girl is freaking out over her boyfriend’s cheating ways. And he’s the anchor of the news program. And I think it’s gonna rain!!!

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

BEAUTIFUL LOSERS.
Music/Art/Documentary.
Directed by Aaron Rose and Joshua Leonard
* This art doc follows a loosely connected group of artists in the early 90’s, influenced by Reagan, skateboards, graffiti, and the attitude known as D.I.Y. (do-it-yourself) who created styles and affectations that became well-known (such as the Andre the Giant image) even if they themselves did not.

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

UNITED STATES OF TARA: THE FIRST SEASON.
Comedy/Drama.
Toni Collette.
Created by Diabo Cody.
* More from Diablo Cody! Ah, Tara, she has problems, and mainly they are related to herself. Actually, to different parts of herself. You see, she has dissociative identity disorder, and has at least four completely developed personalities competing for screen time. Yet somehow, she manages being a mom, and raising a family. A truly challenged family, yet what family isn’t?

****

****new release list no.248

Film lovers, now is a great time to come to Four Star Video. We are in the middle of a holiday used DVD sale, and you can get nearly 400 titles for $5 each! That’s right, just a dollar more than a new release for excellent stocking stuffers for the whole family. Titles include kid’s films, docs, suspense, action, comedy, foreign, etc, etc. First come, first serve.

SUCCULENCE is now open in the back of Four Star, our hours are in flux, but we are open from 11-7, this Tues and Wed and 1-5pm on Thursday, Dec 24. Both Four Star Video and SUCCULENCE will be closed for Christmas, but both will be re-opened on Saturday morning, Dec 26. There should be lots of good last minute gems to be found at both businesses at 402 Cortland, please stop by! Today was our grand opening of the indoor retail space for SUCCULENCE, and it was a thrill, thanks to everyone who stopped by.

In the movie world, there are a lot of interesting titles out this week led by DISTRICT 9, the sci-fi film about aliens living in South Africa who are being evicted from one slum and moved to a worse slum. Directed by Neill Blomkamp. 500 DAYS OF SUMMER is about a young couple trying to negotiate the terms of love. EXTRACT is the latest from Mike Judge (OFFICE SPACE) and is about the owner of an extraction plant who is at the end of his rope.

Don’t forget, Four Star Video has 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!

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

ALL ABOUT STEVE.****ALSO ON BD****
Comedy.
Sandra Bullock/Thomas Haden Church/Bradley Cooper.
Directed by Phil Traill.
* Satirical reverse stalking romance story about an eccentric puzzle doer who thinks a cameraman for a news agency is her true love and travels around following him and trying to convince him to be with her.

ANGUS THONGS AND PERFECT SNOGGING.
Comedy/Drama.
Georgia Groome/Aaron Johnson/Eleanor Tomlinson.
Directed by Gurinder Chadha.
* From the director of BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM comes this coming of age story about a 14 year old girl and the things the writes in her diary.

BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT .****ALSO ON BD****
Drama/Mystery/Thriller.
Michael Douglas/Jesse Metcalf/Amber Tamblyn.
Directed by Peter Hyams.
* Well, it is a noir film, in a time where that genre is dying, then again, it is also a remake of the 1956 original – so nothing new, unfortunately. It is the tale of a rookie journalist who frames himself for murder as part of an investigation into a bigwig attorney who is running for governor.

BLIND DATE .
Drama.
Stanley Tucci/Patricia Clarkson.
Directed by Stanley Tucci.
* Written, directed by and starring Tucci as one part of a couple who has been deeply affected by tragedy. Though they are married, somehow they decide to role play the experience of having a blind date.

CHASING BUTTERFLIES.
Comedy/Indie.
Gabriel Vaughan/Mandy Brown/Maria Cellario.
Directed by Rod Bingaman.
* Engaging comedy about a woman who bails on her groom at the last minute and her mother who stands in for her (yes, marries the dude) and then tries to convince her to reconsider.

DISTRICT 9.****ALSO ON BD****
Sci-Fi/Drama.
Sharlto Copley/Shrimp Scampi.
Directed by Neill Blomkamp.
* Very trippy South African film about a gigantic amount of aliens who’s nearly dead ship has stopped directly over Johannesburg and who now live in a gated ghetto in the middle of the city. They are somewhat humanoid but look like big shrimp and are derogatorily called “prawns”. They are very powerful and strong and are feared and mistreated accordingly. The city has decided to evict them from the ghetto and move them to what basically amounts to an enormous concentration camp outside the city. The government agent who is in charge of the eviction operation gets exposed to some gnarly chemical compound that one of the prawns is hoping will help him take the mother ship home, and subsequently begins to morph into one of them. All hell breaks loose. This film has a lot to offer, and is full of ideas and social commentary, and on top of that, it looks cool!

EXTRACT.****ALSO ON BD****
Comedy.
Jason Bateman/Mila Kunis/Kristen Wiig/Ben Affleck.
Directed by Mike Judge.
* The maker of OFFICE SPACE is back with another workplace comedy. This one revolves around life at an extract factory, and the bedraggled, befuddled, begrudging but not beloved owner of the plant, Joel (Bateman).

FAMILY GUY: SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING DARK SIDE.
Animation.
* More spoofy animation from the FAMILY GUY team.

500 DAYS OF SUMMER.****ALSO ON BD****
Comedy/Drama/Romance.
Zooey Deschanel/Joseph Gordon-Levitt/.
Directed by Marc Webb.
* Tom is a hopeless romantic and Summer is a pragmatic realist. Do they sound like a match made in heaven? Not sure, but as the days flow by, we watch them struggle through the trials and tribulations of young love, connecting, rejecting, moping, analyzing, normalizing, then falling again, and again.

THE GIRL IN THE PARK.
Drama.
Kate Boswort/Sigourney Weaver/Keri Russell.
Directed by David Auburn.
* Julia (Weaver) has spent 15 years being traumatized by the disappearance of her 3-year-old fifteen years ago. She is shut off to her husband and son, and emotionally trapped deeply within herself. When she meets a troubled young woman, she wonders if it might be her missing daughter and the thought and hope brings up all her fears and pain.

INNOCENT SCORCERERS.
Drama/Music/Romance/Foreign (Polish).
Directed by Andrzeg Wajda.
* A young doctor is smitten by a young woman who nearly seduces him with talk of love and philosophy, but then disappears into the city.

KILLER KIDS TWO PACK.
Drama/Foreign (Hungarian).
* A couple of older foreign films featuring young killers have been released together in this two film set. The first is WITMAN BOYS, a 1997 Hungarian film about two young boys who go mad during the turn of the century from the neglect of their mother. The second is 1993’s CHILD MURDERS, also Hungarian, and also about kids with homicidal tendencies.

LOSER.
Suspense/Indie/Drama.
Peta Wilson/Jack Rubio.
Directed by Kirk Harris.

LOTNA.
Drama/Foreign (Polish).
Directed by Andrzeg Wajda.
* Drama about a horse owner in Poland during World War 1.

MAID-DROID.
Sci-Fi/Horror/Softcore/Foreign (Japanese).
Akiho Yoshizawa.
Directed by Naoyuki Tomomatsu.
* I think the story revolves around a kid who reprograms the family droid to have sexual functionality. Kid’d be rich, right?

OFF THE LEDGE.
Comedy/Drama.
Justin Whalen/Brooke Anderson.
Directed by Brooke Anderson.
* The story revolves around a painful New Year’s Eve celebration where everyone is getting wasted and trying not to think about the challenging reality of their regular lives - just like the party we’ll all be going to next week.

SPAGHETTI WESTERN BIBLE PRESENTS 10 FILM COLLECTION.
Western/Spaghetti/Rigatoni.
* Titles include MINNESOTA CLAY, BOUNTY KILLER, MASSACRE TIME, APOCALYPSE JOE, PRICE OF HONOR, THE BEAST, ONE DOLLAR TOO MANY, 7 DOLLARS ON THE RED, THEY CALL HIM GRAVEYARD and BLINDMAN and feature such actors as Klaus Kinski, John Garko, Anthony Steffen and strangely Ringo Starr.

STATEN ISLAND.****ALSO ON BD****
Crime/Drama.
Ethan Hawke/Vincent D’Onofrio/Seymour Cassel/Julianne Nicholson.
Directed by James DeMonaco.
* You ever been to Staten Island? This story won’t make it look like a great vacation destination, but I hear they’ve really been cleaning it up. I think I even read that they have been reseeding the oysters along the coast. Yummy.

STILL STANDING TWO PACK.
Drama/Foreign (Persian).
Directed by Dariush Mehrjui.
* Featuring the Persian films THE PEAR TREE and SARA.

VICIOUS CIRCLE: A TRAGIC PUNK ROCK LOVE STORY.
Drama.
Paul Rodriguez/Emily Rios.
Directed by Paul Boyd.

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

THE CARTER.
Music Doc.
Lil’ Wayne.
* B’hind th’scenes w’lil’wayne.

IT MIGHT GET LOUD.****ALSO ON BD****
Rock-Doc.
The Edge/Jack White/Jimmy Page.
Directed by David Guggenheim
* A documentary about the history of the electric guitar as seen through the eyes of three of the more famous rock players of all time. For those of you who do not know the names, The Edge is from U2, Page was the musical driver of the Led Zeppelin train and Jack White is the man behind the White Stripes. Rawwk.

MOTHERLAND.
Documentary.
Directed by Jennifer Steinman.
* This locally made and award winning doc is about grief and the ways we can help ourselves heal. The film follows six American women who are each dealing with the loss of a child and who travel to South Africa to volunteer to help impoverished children. The director of this film was one of the editors who worked on my feature film, HUMANS BEING.

REBUILDING HOPE.
Documentary.
Directed by Jen Marlowe.
* This is the amazing and educational story of three of the “lost boys” of Sudan who go home after 20 years to find out what happened to their villages and families.

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

THE SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN TEENAGER: VOLUME THREE.
Television/Adolescence.
* I. Just. Can’t. Re-live. It.

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

AVATAR BOOK 1 V02.

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

GIMME SHELTER.
* Amazing doc about the Rolling Stones and their 1969 world tour being released by Criterion on Blu-Ray.

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

AU REVOIR LES ENFANTS.

DEAD LIKE ME: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON.

SLEEPOVER.

VERONICA GUERIN.

****

****new release list no.247

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

******************************************************************************
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//............

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.

****

****new release list no.246

I knew I was emotionally raw when I started crying while watching THE MUSIC MAN with my kids this weekend. My wife looked over at me with an expression of bemusement, and I looked away while furiously wiping my cheeks. I couldn’t help it though, you see, because Robert Preston and Shirley Jones were singing “Till There Was You” and it was just so beautiful and the words so sincere. Sincerity is attractive, I told myself, while choking back the next set of tears when they started singing a duet of “Goodnight My Someone” and “76 Trombones”.

Yeah.

Well anyway, it’s cold out and they say it might snow, so I am thankful that this happens to be a week where we have some of the bigger releases of the winter here. Such as HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE. This one is probably not a tear-jerker, but I remember the end of the book as being rather profound, and perhaps the most memorable section of the entire series. V-Diddy is getting close here, but as most of you know, there is one more film before the climax gets…climaxed. In JULIE AND JULIA, Amy Adams plays Julie Powell, a harried woman who happens to have been an early blogger and who cooked all of Julia Child’s 574 recipes from her first cookbook in one year and wrote about it. Wow, what a tripper! Obviously, this was pre-recession. Meanwhile, Meryl Streep logs another tremendous performance as Julia Child, creating a world for herself through food and passion. This movie combines their stories and intertwines their spirits. Which is funny, because in real life Childs didn’t like Powell. Ah, but that’s why we watch movies! PUBLIC ENEMIES is the story of John Dillinger (Johnny Depp), Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd (Channing Tatum), three American gangsters in the 1930’s who wore their pants super low and pumped fat bass lines while blazing down the highways. WORLD’S GREATEST DAD is a dark comedy about a father (Robin Williams) who takes advantage of a personal tragedy in order to advance his dreams.

There are some great docs in this week, including CHOPS which chronicles a high school jazz competition with Wynton Marsalis. Also we have THE COVE about dolphin killers in Japan. There is also PAPERBACK DREAMS, about the independent book store industry, which features two San Francisco book stores.

In the television department, we have the fifth seasons of both LOST and RESCUE ME and also an animated series based on Ice Cube’s films called FRIDAY!

We’ve also got some cool new products down here at Four Star for your holiday consideration. First up, is a new card game created by Bernal Heights resident David Macarchick called POPCORN POKER. This game is a combination of movie knowledge and poker, and can be played with two or more people. You actually make up the questions and all the answers are either a movie title or an actor’s name. It can be as hard or easy as you make it. It comes with 30 playing cards and 30 poker chips and can be yours for only $20! We’ve also got these amazing new miniature living cactus key chains featuring 5 different kinds of succulents living in a little globe in a bit of dirt. I first came across them while traveling in Italy in September and I thought they were so cool! I hope you do, too. They are $9.99 and I think you’ll love them as I do.

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!

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

DOG EAT DOG.
Thriller/Action/Foreign (Spanish).
Oscar Borda/Marlon Moreno.
Directed by Carlos Moreno.
* A lot of wins and nominations on the festival circuit for this Columbian thriller about two small-time crooks who endanger their lives tremendously by breaking the code of conduct.

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE.****ALSO ON BLU-RAY****
Fantasy/Adventure.
Daniel Radcliffe/Rupert Glint/Emma Watson/Helena Bonham Carter/Jim Broadbent.
Directed by David Yates.
* Movie six in the seven film series sees Harry having a deeper education by Dumbledore into the world of Tom Riddle, otherwise known as V-Diddy. In the books, the last three or so got so wonderfully complicated and profound and dealt gently with adolescence and real life themes such as imperfection and hypocrisy. My personal experience was that the end of book six was the most amazing and heartfelt moment of the entire series. The story is filled with darkness, as the Death Eaters are both on trial and still running amok causing havoc and hurting people badly. Harry is finally reconciled to his fate, and he separates himself emotionally from the people he loves, knowing that any connection to him is dangerous. Meanwhile, the kids, once so young and cute and innocent seeming, are now big and old and verging on young adulthood. Freaky how that happens.

HOLLYWOOD JE T’AIME .
Drama/LGBT.
Eric Debets/Chad Allen.
Directed by Jason Bushman.
* Poor Jerome (Debets)! He is sad and broken-hearted and decides to leave Paris to spend the holiday season in Hollywood. Will he become a movie star? Will he find love? Or will he decide that the best croissants are actually made back home.

HUMBLE PIE .
Comedy.
Hubbel Palmer/William Baldwin.
Directed by Chris Bowman.
* Written by the star, Hubbel Palmer, about a dreamy clerk who dreams about being a star, even though everyone tells him a nearly 400 pound man is not destined to be a leading man in a film. Guess they were wrong! Produced by one of the producers of NAPOLEON DYNAMITE.

JULIE AND JULIA.****ALSO ON BLU-RAY****
Comedy/Drama.
Amy Adams/Meryl Streep/Stanley Tucci/Chris Messina.
Directed by Nora Ephron.
* This story takes two memoirs, by Julie Childs (Streep) and Julia Powell (Adams), and turns it into one film about food and passion and the recreating of one’s life. Powell was a harried blogger struggling to make ends meet when she took the challenge of making all the recipes in Julia Child’s first cookbook in one year. The blog resulted in a novel, which resulted in this film. Julia herself wasn’t fond of the blog, but you are sure to be fond of Streep’s performance, which is said to be spot on. Could she be in for another Oscar nomination? Wouldn’t be surprising…

LION’S DEN.
Drama/Foreign (Spanish).
Martina Gusman/Elli Medeiros.
Directed by Pablo Trapero.
* Argentina’s official entry into the Foreign Language category of the Academy Awards, this film won ten awards across the globe, and was nominated for the Golden Palm (I keep wanting to call it the Golden Frond) at Cannes in 2008. It is the tragic story of a young pregnant woman named Julia, imprisoned on the charge of murder. While in jail awaiting trial, her baby is born and she struggles to try to raise him in jail.

MOONLIGHT SERENADE.
Musical.
Amy Adams/Alec Newman.
Directed by Giancarlo Tallarico.
* Adams, in her second release this week, stars as Chloe, a chanteuse with a fantastic jazz singing voice who teams up with Nate, a financial manager who longs to be a musician to form a club act that takes off.

NOTHING LIKE THE HOLIDAYS.
Comedy/Drama/Romance.
Alfred Molina/John Leguizamo/Debra Messing/Freddie Rodriguez.
Directed by Alfredo De Villa.
* A Puerto Rican family living in Chicago is together for Christmas in this tale of family, love and war.

PUBLIC ENEMIES.****ALSO ON BLU-RAY****
Fictobiopic.
Johnny Depp/Christian Bale/Marion Cotillard.
Directed by Michael Mann.
* The story of the last years of John Dillinger’s life is told in this gangster movie depicting life in the 1930’s. Of course any film starring Academy Award nominee (three times) Depp, award winner Cotillard, and Christian Bale is worth seeing just for the skills of its stars. Depp rarely disappoints.

REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA.
Horror/Musical/Sci-Fi.
Alexa Vega/Paris Hilton.
Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman.
* In a future world (2056) our organs will fail at a fantastic rate! However, thanks to GeneCo, a wonderful new biotech company, we can all have new organs and reasonable rates, payable monthly with low interest! Just one catch, if you miss a payment, your organ may get repossessed, know what I mean? Seriously, I hear Paris is PHENOMENAL in this one. Maybe her best performance since THE CAT IN THE HAT, or perhaps that first internet-only film she starred in.

SOMERS TOWN.
Comedy/Drama/(English/Polish/French).
Thomas Turgoose/Piotr Jagiello.
Directed by Shane Meadows.
* From the director of THIS IS ENGLAND, comes another story of London and the young alienated kids that call it home. In this, a couple of boys form a friendship that mostly consists of arguing about which of them likes the same girl more. Eventually one of the boys becomes homeless and secretly moves in with his friend.

WORLD’S GREATEST DAD.****ALSO ON BLU-RAY****
Comedy/Dark.
Robin Williams/Daryl Sabara/Alexie Gilmore.
Directed by Bobcat Goldthwait.
* Black comedy about a father (Williams) who capitalizes on a family tragedy to try to fulfill his personal dreams. I liked this film, but I don’t think I ever laughed, and a few times I cried. Williams seems to be at his best in quiet films like this, where he doesn’t tap into his madcap energy and instead relies on his stillness in order to obtain our empathy. Kind of amazing to feel any empathy for him here, yet somehow he does get a little.

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

CHOPS.
Music.
Directed by Bruce Broder.
Edited by Jake Pushinsky.
* This film is about a high school jazz group competing at Lincoln Center in the Wynton Marsalis hosted Essentially Ellington Festival. This fascinating doc features amazing young musicians and a terrific drive to create music.

THE COVE.
Documentary.
Directed by Louie Psihoyos.
* Have you heard of this film? It got a ton of press when it was in the theaters…the back of the box actually says “The Bourne Identity meets Flipper” – wow! That’s a pretty serious declaration. All in all, it is a tale of terrible atrocities happening in Japan where dolphins are being illegally hunted and killed for meat. Former “Flipper” dolphin trainer Ric O’Barry seeks redemption on this top-secret mission to expose the crime.

PAPERBACK DREAMS.
Documentary.
Directed by Alex Beckstead.
* Must-see doc about independent bookstores struggling for survival featuring San Francisco institutions Cody’s and Kepler’s. Do you want bookstores to still exist? Click off Amazon and get Red Hill to order some holiday gifts for you instead.

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

FRIDAY: THE COMPLETE ANIMATED SERIES.
Comedy/Animation.
* Did you watch any of those Ice Cube films? This is an animated series based on the adventures of Craig and Smokey. Many of the same characters from the films are in the series, and the same urban survival theme is prevalent. Most likely many of the same laughs are here, too.

LOST: THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON.
Spooky.
* My friends tell me this show is awesome! I’ve never seen it, but sometimes I feel like I am lost on an island, too. And there are all these crazy characters all over, talking to me, saying weird coded messages to me. And I can’t get off the island, but…life there is perfect, so I think I’ll stay.

RESCUE ME: SEASON FIVE: VOLUME TWO.
Drama/Comedy.
* Denis Leary stars in season five of the dramedy about firefighters and the very scary lives they lead. I love firefighters, don’t you? When your house is burning, they come IN to it, and rescue you and your dog! That’s so awesome. Thank you, firefighters!

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

AVATAR BOOK 1: VOLUME ONE.

AVATAR BOOK 1: VOLUME THREE.

AVATAR BOOK 4.

TOM & THOMAS.

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

HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE.
* Near the top of many people’s top stoner movies.

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

LIFE ON MARS (UK): SEASON ONE.
* Dang, this one is more popular than I expected.

POLLOCK (SPECIAL EDITION).

****