The Help (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) (2011)

The Help (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) (2011)
Emma Stone (Actor), Bryce Dallas Howard (Actor) | Rated: PG-13 | Format: Blu-ray

There are male viewers who will enjoy The Help, but Mississippi native Tate Taylor aims his adaptation squarely at the female readers who made Kathryn Stockett's novel a bestseller. If the multi-character narrative revolves around race relations in the Kennedy-era South, the perspective belongs to the women. Veteran maid Aibileen (Doubt's Viola Davis in an Oscar-worthy performance) provides the heartfelt narration that brackets the story. A widow devastated by the death of her son, she takes pride in the 17 children she has helped to raise, but she's hardly fulfilled. That changes when Skeeter (Easy A's Emma Stone) returns home after college. Unlike her peers, Skeeter wants to work, so she gets a job as a newspaper columnist. But she really longs to write about Jackson's domestics, so she meets with Aibileen in secret--after much cajoling and the promise of anonymity. When Aibileen's smart-mouthed friend Minny (breakout star Octavia Spencer) breaches her uptight employer's protocol, Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard) gives her the boot, and she ends up in the employ of local outcast Celia (Jessica Chastain, hilarious and heartbreaking), who can't catch a break due to her dirt-poor origins. After the murder of Medgar Evers, even more maids, Minny among them, bring their stories to Skeeter, leading to a book that scandalizes the town--in a good way. Not since Steel Magnolias has Hollywood produced a Southern woman's picture more likely to produce buckets of tears (and almost as many laughs). --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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Top Chef Season 9, Ep. 5 "Don't Be Tardy for the Dinner Party"

Top Chef Season 9, Ep. 5 "Don't Be Tardy for the Dinner Party"
Runtime: 44 minutes
Original air date: November 30, 2011
Network: Bravo

Synopsis: The Chefs have already hit the road on the way to the next city when Padma stops them at a roadblock -- surprise, it's the next Quickfire challenge where the chefs create a delicious dish using only ingredients found inside a standard survival kit. In the elimination challenge, the chefs will be cooking and serving in three different houses. They will be split into groups and assigned to serve the appetizer in one house, entree in the next, and then dessert in the final house. Guest judge John Besh joins Gail Simmons, head judge Tom Colicchio, and host Padma Lakshmi.

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Adele Live At The Royal Albert Hall (DVD/CD) (2011)

Adele Live At The Royal Albert Hall (DVD/CD) (2011)
Adele (Actor), Paul Dugdale (Director) | Rated: NR | Format: DVD

Live At The Royal Albert Hall was recorded on September 22 at the height of what has been an amazing year for Adele. Available on DVD and Blu-ray, "Live At The Royal Albert Hall" features the full 90 minute concert performance, plus special behind the scenes footage shot throughout the day leading up to the concert.
The package also includes an exclusive live CD of the entire show. This is the first time all of Adele's hits and best loved songs will be on one CD plus her stunning covers of Bonnie Raitt's "If I Can't Make You Love Me" and The Steeldrivers "If It Hadn't Been For Love"
This version contains mature language.

Track Listing:
1.Hometown Glory
2.I ll Be Waiting
3.Don t You Remember
4.Turning Tables
5.Set Fire To The Rain
6.If It Hadn t Been For Love
7.My Same
8.Take It All
9.Rumour Has It
10.Right As Rain
11.One & Only
12.Lovesong
13.Chasing Pavements
14.I Can t Make You Love Me
15.Make You Feel My Love
16.Someone Like You
17.Rolling In The Deep

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Crazy, Stupid, Love

Crazy, Stupid, Love
Starring: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling
Supporting actors: Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, John Carroll Lynch, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Bacon, Jonah Bobo, Analeigh Tipton, Josh Groban
Directed by: Glenn Ficarra

Synopsis: Fortysomething Cal Weaver has the perfect life...until his wife Emily asks for a divorce. Now Cal has to navigate the single scene, but his heart keeps leading him back to where he began.

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Bridesmaids (2011)

Bridesmaids (2011)
Kristen Wiig (Actor), Maya Rudolph (Actor), Paul Feig (Director) | Rated: R | Format: DVD

The delightful Kristen Wiig, who's shone in dozens of supporting roles and on Saturday Night Live, hits a bull's-eye with her first lead role in Bridesmaids. Annie (Wiig) isn't doing so well; her bakery failed and she keeps sleeping with a good-looking louse (Jon Hamm, Mad Men), but she's always had her best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph, Away We Go) to buoy her up… until Lillian gets engaged. Annie becomes maid of honor, but another friend of Lillian's--the rich and lovely Helen (Rose Byrne, Get Him to the Greek)--wants to take over that position. Misadventures with bad Brazilian food, dress fittings, an unfortunate flight to Vegas, and a sympathetic traffic cop (Chris O'Dowd from British TV comedy The IT Crowd) follow, with increasingly hilarious results. Bridesmaids successfully balances raunchy comedy and character portrait. The embarrassing and socially catastrophic stuff, which in too many movies balloons into absurdity, is here kept in check just enough to allow Annie and the other characters to be multidimensional people--without the movie losing its comic capacity for cringe. (Actress Melissa McCarthy, of Mike & Molly, works miracles with a character than in most hands would be pure cartoon.) Wiig's enormous appeal keeps Annie sympathetic, even as she becomes more and more of a train wreck. Bridesmaids is both smart and dumb, raunchy and earnest, and altogether enjoyable. --Bret Fetzer

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Bridesmaids Unrated

Bridesmaids Unrated

Synopsis: From the producer of Knocked Up, Bridesmaids Unrated takes Maid of Dishonor, Annie (Kristen Wiig), and four wild bridesmaids on an outrageous ride to their friend's wedding.
Starring: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph
Supporting actors: Rose Byrne, Chris O'Dowd, Ellie Kemper, Weindi McLendon-Covey, Melissa McCarthy, Matt Lucas, Jill Clayburgh, Rebel Wilson, Michael Hitchcock, Terry Crews, Kali Hawk, Tim Heidecker, Jon Hamm, Carnie Wilson, Chynna Phillips, Wendy Wilson
Directed by: Paul Feig
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 2 hours 11 minutes
Release year: 2011
Studio: NBCU

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Bad Teacher

Bad Teacher

Synopsis: A foul-mouthed seventh grade teacher who is dumped by her sugar daddy starts to pursue a colleague, which provokes conflict with the school's model teacher.
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake
Supporting actors: Lucy Punch, John Michael Higgins, Jason Segel
Directed by: Jake Kasdan
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 3 hours 9 minutes
Release year: 2011
Studio: Columbia Pictures

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Horrible Bosses

Horrible Bosses

Synopsis: Three friends, harassed, insulted, and terrorized by their bosses, devise a convoluted but foolproof plan to rid the world of their respective employers...permanently.
Starring: Jason Bateman, Charlie Day
Supporting actors: Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell, Kevin Spacey, Donald Sutherland, Jamie Foxx
Directed by: Seth Gordon
Runtime: 1 hour 38 minutes
Release year: 2011
Studio: Warner Bros.

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Bad Education / Flower of my Secret / All About My Mother / Talk to Her

Pedro Almodovar 4-pack (Bad Education / Flower of my Secret / All About My Mother / Talk to Her) - Amazon.com Exclusive (1996)
Starring: Pedro Almodóvar



Reviews

# Actors: Pedro Almodóvar
# Format: NTSC
# Language: Catalan, English, French, Latin, Spanish
# Number of discs: 4
# Rating: R (Restricted)
# Studio: Columbia Tri-Star
# DVD Release Date: April 12, 2005

From Amazon.com

Love Is Colder Than Death / Gods of the Plague / Fear of Fear / Chinese Roulette

Fassbinder 4-Pack (Love Is Colder Than Death / Gods of the Plague / Fear of Fear / Chinese Roulette) (Amazon.com Exclusive)
Starring: Rainer Werner Fassbinder



Reviews

Love Is Colder Than Death
The first feature in the frantic career of Rainer Werner Fassbinder is, like Godard's debut Breathless, a nod to the traditional gangster movie. This time, however, the tough-guy attitudes are imparted to a trio of typical Fassbinder losers, slouching about in the drab underworld of Munich. They are played by Alain Delon lookalike Ulli Lommel (who poses in a trenchcoat and film noir fedora), Fassbinder himself, and the director's blond goddess Hanna Schygulla. The film works hard to subvert conventional notions of movie storytelling, with lots of loooong pauses and stylized gestures--and as such, feels more like a trial run than a full-blown Fassbinder meisterwork. But everywhere, in the insolent opening shot or the final thrilling cut from car interior to bleak landscape, you can sense the utter confidence that burbled out of this gifted German: he was only 23, and he was going places in a hurry. --Robert Horton

Gods of the Plague
The short-lived skyrocket named Rainer Werner Fassbinder began his prolific directing career with a burst of rule-breaking movies in 1969-70. Gods of the Plague, from that early eruption, is a kind of homage-deconstruction of the American crime movie, in the same vein as RWF's Love Is Colder Than Death and The American Soldier. An ex-con (zonked-out Harry Baer in an ankle-length leather jacket) wanders through grungy Munich, on an eventual collision course with a botched supermarket robbery. The film has virtually no narrative momentum, and carries the cheeky attitude of experimental theater--the movie stops cold as the hero listens to a German nonsense song in its entirety. Yet from the first five minutes you can sense the eye of a great filmmaker behind the exquisitely poised camera (clearly influenced in this one by the anything-goes spirit of early Godard). Fassbinder regulars Hanna Schygulla and Gunther Kaufmann are especially good here. --Robert Horton

Fear of Fear
If not among the better-known films by the gifted German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Fear of Fear is nevertheless an absolutely characteristic work. A housewife, locked into a dull life with her distracted husband and two small children (plus nattering mother-in-law and sister-in-law living in the apartment upstairs) finds herself seized by uncontrollable anxiety. Although the wife has an affair with a doctor, there is little conventional melodrama; instead, Fassbinder strips away plot mechanics in favor of a complete identification with the woman's mysterious angst. The central role is tailor-made for one of RWF's favorite leading ladies, Margit Carstensen, whose regal cheekbones and elegant air belie the instability beneath the skin. Fassbinder's eye is exacting--the apartment is a dead-on purgatory of bourgeois nothingness--and his framing shows the influence of his Hollywood idol, Douglas Sirk. This is a small work in the bulging Fassbinder canon, but it's impeccably realized. --Robert Horton

Chinese Roulette
An elegantly baroque exercise from the middle of his brief and brilliant career, Chinese Roulette finds Rainer Werner Fassbinder exploring the sinister side of a weekend in the country. At an isolated mansion, a husband and wife bump into each other--with their lovers in tow. Their lame daughter shows up with her mute nanny, adding to the tension, and the festivities culminate in a spiteful truth-telling game. Fassbinder choreographs the claustrophobic action as though it were Last Year at Marienbad filmed as soap opera parody, with glittering contributions from cinematographer Michael Ballhaus and RWF's longtime composer, Peer Raben. It's fun to watch, although the decadent sense of a snake chasing its tail ultimately makes this one feel like minor-league Fassbinder. Along with stock-company regulars Margit Carstensen and Brigitte Mira, the cast includes a pair of former Godard heroines (still looking stunning), Anna Karina and Macha Meril. --Robert Horton

From Amazon.com

Shakespeare in Love/The English Patient/Good Will Hunting/Sling Blade/The Cider House Rules/Life is Beautiful/Il Postino

Miramax Award Winners Collection (Shakespeare in Love/The English Patient/Good Will Hunting/Sling Blade/The Cider House Rules/Life is Beautiful/Il Postino) - Amazon.com Exclusive (1998)
Starring: Jane Alexander, Erykah Badu



Reviews

Good Will Hunting - DVD- Collector's Series A true motion picture phenomenon, this triumphant story was nominated for 9 Academy Awards(R) -- winning Oscars for Robin Williams (Best Supporting Actor) and hot newcomers Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (Best Original Screenplay). The most brilliant mind at America's top university isn't a student ... he's the kid who cleans the floors! Will Hunting (Damon) is a headstrong, working-class genius who's failing the lessons of life. After one too many run-ins with the law, Will's last chance is a psychology professor (Williams), who might be the only man who can reach him! With acclaimed performances from Academy Award(R)-nominee Minnie Driver (GROSSE POINTE BLANK) and Ben Affleck (ARMAGEDDON) -- you'll find GOOD WILL HUNTING a powerful and unforgettable movie experience. Il Postino (The Postman) - English/French/Italian DVD- Collector's Edition Cheered by critics and audiences everywhere, IL POSTINO (THE POSTMAN) is the record-breaking Academy Award(R)-winning (Best Dramatic Score, 1995) romantic comedy that delivers heartfelt laughs! Mario is a bumbling mailman who's madly in love with the most beautiful woman in town ... and who's too shy to tell her how he feels. But when a world-famous poet -- Pablo Neruda -- moves into town, Mario is inspired. With Neruda's help, he finds the right words to win the woman's heart! This unforgettably funny comedy proves that passion ... with some artful deception ... can win the most improbable love! Life Is Beautiful - DVD- Collector's Edition An inspired motion picture masterpiece, LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL was nominated for 7 Academy Awards(R) -- winning 3 Oscars, including one for Best Actor Robert Benigni. In this extraordinary tale, Guido (Benigni) -- a charming but bumbling waiter who's gifted with a colorful imagination and an irresistible sense of humor -- has won the heart of the woman he loves and created a beautiful life for his young family. But then, that life is threatened by World War II ... and Guido must rely on those very same strengths to save his beloved wife and son from an unthinkable fate! Honored with an overwhelming level of critical acclaim, this truly exceptional, utterly unique achievement will lift your spirits and capture your heart. Shakespeare In Love Special Edition - DVD- Miramax Collector's Series Triumphant winner of 7 Academy Awards(R) -- including Best Picture -- this witty, sexy smash features Oscar(R)-winning Best Actress Gwyneth Paltrow (SLIDING DOORS, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS) and an amazing cast that includes Academy Award-winners Judi Dench (Best Supporting Actress), Geoffrey Rush (Best Actor -- SHINE), and Ben Affleck (GOOD WILL HUNTING, PEARL HARBOR). When Will Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes -- ELIZABETH) needs passionate inspiration to break a bad case of writer's block, a secret romance with the beautiful Lady Viola (Paltrow) starts the words flowing like never before! There are just two things he'll have to learn about his new love: not only is she promised to marry someone else, but she's successfully impersonating a man in order to play the lead in Will's latest production! A truly can't-miss motion picture event with outstanding critical acclaim to match its impressive collection of major awards -- everyone will love this funny behind-the-scenes look at the writing of the greatest love story ever told. Sling Blade - English/French/Spanish DVD- Now see for yourself -- the powerful motion picture applauded by critics and moviegoers alike, written, directed, and starring Billy Bob Thornton. Twenty five years after committing an unthinkable crime, a quiet man named Karl (Thornton) is finally returning home. Once there, he is befriended by a fatherless boy and his mother. But when his newfound peace is shattered by the mother's abusive boyfriend (Grammy-winner Dwight Yoakam), Karl is suddenly placed on a collision course with his past. Also featuring Robert Duvall, John Ritter, and J.T. Walsh, SLING BLADE is an unforgettable movie experience. The Cider House Rules - English/French DVD- Collector's Series Honored with two Academy Awards(R) -- Best Supporting Actor, Michael Caine, and Best Adapted Screenplay, John Irving -- THE CIDER HOUSE RULES tells a compelling and heartwarming story about how far a young man must travel to find the place where he truly belongs! Homer Wells (Tobey Macguire -- PLEASANTVILLE, THE ICE STORM, WONDER BOYS) has lived nearly his entire life within the walls of St. Cloud's Orphanage in rural Maine. Though groomed by its proprietor, Dr. Larch (Caine), to be his successor, Homer nonetheless feels the need to strike out on his own and experience the world outside. Then, while working at an apple orchard, Homer falls for the beautiful Candy (Charlize Theron -- REINDEER GAMES, THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE) and learns some powerfully indelible lessons about life, love, and home! Based on John Irving's best-selling American classic and featuring a sensational all-star cast including Delroy Lindo and newcomer Erykah Badu, this entertaining motion picture earned raves from critics and moviegoers everywhere. The English Patient - DVD- Widescreen Winner of 9 Academy Awards(R), including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress (Juliette Binoche), this unforgettable story is the motion picture event of the year! During World War II, when a mysterious stranger (Ralph Fiennes -- SCHINDLER'S LIST) is rescued from a fiery plane crash, he is cared for by American allies unaware of the dangerous secrets of his past. Yet, as the mystery of his identity is slowly revealed, an incredible tale of passion, intrigue, and adventure unfolds! Also starring Kristin Scott Thomas (FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL) and Willem Dafoe (CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER), THE ENGLISH PATIENT is a powerful cinematic triumph sure to entertain you

From Amazon.com

The Usual Suspects / Speed / Phone Booth

Blu-ray Suspense and Thriller Bundle (The Usual Suspects / Speed / Phone Booth) - (Amazon.com Exclusive) [Blu-ray]
Starring: Phone Booth, Speed



Reviews

The Usual Suspects Ever since this convoluted thriller dazzled audiences and critics in 1995 and won an Oscar for Christopher McQuarrie's twisting screenplay, The Usual Suspects has continued to divide movie lovers into opposite camps. While a lot of people take great pleasure from the movie's now-famous central mystery (namely, "Who is Keyser Söze?"), others aren't so easily impressed by a movie that's too enamored of its own cleverness to make much sense. After all, what are we to make of a final scene that renders the entire movie obsolete? Half the fun of The Usual Suspects is the debate it provokes and the sheer pleasure of watching its dynamic cast in action, led (or should we say, misled) by Oscar winner Kevin Spacey as the club-footed con man who recounts the saga of enigmatic Hungarian mobster Keyser Söze. Spacey's in a band of thieves that includes Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Baldwin, Kevin Pollak, and Benicio Del Toro, all gathered in a plot to steal a large shipment of cocaine. The story is told in flashback as a twisted plot being described by Spacey's character to an investigating detective (Chazz Palmintieri), and The Usual Suspects is enjoyable for the way it keeps the viewer guessing right up to its surprise ending. Whether that ending will enhance or extinguish the pleasure is up to each viewer to decide. Even if it ultimately makes little or no sense at all, this is a funny and fiendish thriller, guaranteed to entertain even its vocal detractors. --Jeff Shannon


Speed
Everything clicked in this 1994 action hit, from the premise (a city bus has to keep moving at 50 mph or blow up) to the two leads (the usually inscrutable Keanu Reeves and the cute-as-a-button Sandra Bullock) to the villain (Dennis Hopper in psycho mode) to the director (Jan De Bont, who made this film hit the ground running with an edge-of-your-seat opening sequence on a broken elevator). This is the sort of movie that becomes a prototype for a thousand lesser films (including De Bont's lousy sequel, Speed 2: Cruise Control), but Speed really is a one-of-a-kind experience almost anyone can enjoy. --Tom Keogh


Phone Booth
By some lucky quirk of fate, Phone Booth landed on Hollywood's A-list, but this thriller should've been a straight-to-video potboiler directed by its screenwriter, veteran schlockmeister Larry Cohen, who's riffing on his own 1976 thriller God Told Me To. Instead it's a pointless reunion for fast-rising star Colin Farrell and his Tigerland director, Joel Schumacher, who employs a multiple-image technique similar to TV's 24 to energize Cohen's pulpy plot about an unseen sniper (maliciously voiced by 24's Kiefer Sutherland) who pins his chosen victim (a philandering celebrity publicist played by Farrell) in a Manhattan phone booth, threatening murder if Farrell doesn't confess his sins (including a potential mistress played by Katie Holmes in a thankless role). In a role originally slated for Jim Carrey, Farrell brings vulnerable intensity to his predicament, but Cohen's irresistible premise is too thin for even 81 brisk minutes, which is how long Schumacher takes to reach his morally repugnant conclusion. --Jeff Shannon

From Amazon.com

Freshman - Senior Years

Felicity - The Complete Seasons One Through Four (Freshman - Senior Years) - Amazon.com Exclusive (1998)
Director: Lou Antonio, Dan Appel



Reviews

Felicity Season Four - DVD Collection- What began four years ago as a bold journey of self-discovery culminates in Felicity's stunning senior year. Relive all the heartfelt moments, heartwarming laughs, and heartbreaking decisions of the award-winning show's final season, and discover the fate of each of your favorite characters. Will Felicity move on to a new life with Ben, or will she end up with Noel? It's 22 episodes of drama and excitement that will keep you captivated until the very last minute. Felicity Season Three - DVD Collection- The education continues during Felicity's junior year. Felicity, played by Golden Globe winner Keri Russell, returns to the University of New York for a new course in self-discovery. Her big decision to move in with Ben shapes the direction of the school year, but it's just one of the many exhilarating challenges in a spectacular season of passion, heartache, and excitement in the city. Felicity Season Two - DVD Collection- Nobody ever said following your heart would be easy. Golden Globe Award-winner Keri Russell returns as Felicity, America's favorite coed, in FELICITY SOPHOMORE YEAR. As Felicity bounces back from her beginning-of-the-year breakup with high school love Ben (Scott Speedman, DUETS), she adopts a new hairdo -- and a new perspective on life. Changing her major from pre-med to art, Felicity steps out to find herself and kindle new relationships. From mudslinging campus politics to Ben's end-of-the-season profession of true love, FELICITY SOPHOMORE YEAR is a whirlwind of passion, heartache, and those small decisions that can change your life forever. Felicity: The Complete First Season - DVD Collection-Starring Golden Globe(R)-winning actress Keri Russell and today's hottest young stars. FELICITY introduces us to a wide-eyed college freshman and the most exhilarating journey of all -- self-discovery. From co-creators and executive products J.J. Abrams (ALIAS) and Matt Reeves, along with executive producers Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, and Tony Krantz comes FELICITY, which explores the excitement and uncertainty of living in New York City -- a setting where anything goes and anything can happen. The complete first season episodes and pilot are now available for the first time ever in this DVD collection with special commentary by J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves. Experience Felicity's first taste of freedom and her relationships with Ben (Scott Speedman, DUETS) and Noel (Scott Foley, SCREAM 3) -- again and anew.

From Amazon.com

Rescue Dawn / Windtalkers / Behind Enemy Lines

Blu-ray War Bundle (Rescue Dawn / Windtalkers / Behind Enemy Lines) - (Amazon.com Exclusive) [Blu-ray]
Starring: Rescue Dawn, Windtalkers



Reviews

Rescue Dawn
In the tradition of The Great Escape and The Deer Hunter, Rescue Dawn is Werner Herzog's take on the pulse-pounding POW genre. Unlike most such efforts, however, his isn't just based on a true story, it's a remake of his 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly. German-born Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale, who first made his mark in Steven Spielberg’s prison camp drama Empire of the Sun) has longed to pilot a plane since he was a boy. When he joins the Navy during the Vietnam War, he gets his wish. Then he's shot down over Laos. Though he survives, Dengler is captured by the Pathet Lao. Through his internment, he meets Duane Martin (Steve Zahn in his finest performance), with whom he becomes fast friends. While Dengler is arrogant and resourceful, Martin is patient and humble. With Dengler's assistance, the prisoners escape, but the untamed wilderness turns out to be just as dangerous (cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger ably captures its cruel beauty). Those who've seen Little Dieter know how this tale ends. Suffice to say, Herzog's reenactment makes for rousing entertainment. If the film has a flaw, it's that the rah-rah finale plays like something from out of a mainstream sports movie. That quibble aside, the actors, including Jeremy Davies as a delusional campmate and Toby Huss as a fellow flyer, are aces. And Herzog, who's been concentrating on nonfiction, like Grizzly Man, proves he can direct a Hollywood-style action epic with the best of 'em. --Kathleen C. Fennessy


Behind Enemy Lines
Smart casting and sensible plotting make Behind Enemy Lines an above-average military thriller. Perfectly timed to bolster patriotism, the film is partly set (during a hypothetical "day after tomorrow") on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Carl Vinson, which was on alert status in the Persian Gulf when this film was released. Proving his versatility as an unconventional movie star, Owen Wilson plays a navy navigator who is shot down over Bosnia during a reconnaissance mission. Pursued by rebel Serbian forces, Wilson must fight for survival while his commanding officer (Gene Hackman) plots a daredevil rescue. After a successful career in TV commercials, Irish director John Moore makes a promising feature debut on Slovakian locations, borrowing a few techniques from Saving Private Ryan while adding impressive flourishes of his own. The gung-ho ending's a foregone conclusion, but it works like a charm after the movie's exciting game of cat and mouse. --Jeff Shannon


Windtalkers
Having earned Hollywood's respect with blockbusters like Face/Off and Mission: Impossible 2, Hong Kong action master John Woo lends his signature style to serious World War II action in Windtalkers. Recognizing the long-forgotten contribution of Navajo "code talkers," whose use of an unbreakable Navajo-language radio code was instrumental in defeating the Japanese, the film serves as an admirable tribute to those Native American heroes. Unfortunately, it falls short of importance with its standard-issue story about a battle-scarred sergeant (Nicolas Cage) assigned to protect a code-talker (Adam Beach, from Smoke Signals), with unspoken orders to kill him if Japanese capture is imminent. This allows for an involving drama of hard-won friendship, but cardboard supporting characters suffer in the shadow of nonstop action that's as repetitious as it is technically impressive. Windtalkers is best appreciated as a more substantial vehicle for Woo's trademark ballet of bullets. --Jeff Shannon

From Amazon.com

Battle of Britain / A Bridge Too Far / Flyboys

Blu-ray War Bundle (Battle of Britain / A Bridge Too Far / Flyboys) - (Amazon.com Exclusive) [Blu-ray]
Starring: Battle of Britain, A Bridge Too Far



Reviews

Battle of Britain
Featuring a "big stellar cast" (Variety), including Michael Caine, Trevor Howard, Laurence Olivier, Christopher Plummer, Michael Redgrave, Robert Shaw, Susannah York and Edward Fox, Battle of Britain is a spectacular retelling of a true story that shows courage at its inspiring best. Few defining moments can change the outcome of war. But when the outnumbered Royal Air Force defied insurmountable odds in engaging the German Luftwaffe, it may well have altered the course of history!


A Bridge too Far An epic film that "re-creates in stunning detail one of the most disastrous battles of World War II" (The Hollywood Reporter), A Bridge Too Far is a spectacular war picture. Painstakingly recreated on actual battlefield locations and boasting a remarkable cast that includes Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins, Sir Laurence Olivier and Robert Redford, A Bridge Too Far accurately recaptures the monumental scope, excitement and danger behind one of the biggest military gambles in history. In September 1944, flush with success after the Normandy Invasion, the Allies confidently launched Operation Market Garden, a wild scheme intended to put an early end to the fighting by invading Germany and smashing the Reich's war plants. But a combination of battlefield politics, faulty intelligence, bad luck and even worse weather led to disaster beyond the Allies' darkest fears.


Flyboys
World War I aviation action gets an impressive digital upgrade in Flyboys, a welcome addition to the "dogfight" sub-genre that includes such previous war-in-the-air films like Hell's Angels, Wings, and The Blue Max. While those earlier films had the advantage of real and genuinely dangerous flight scenes (resulting, in some cases, in fatal accidents during production), Flyboys takes full (and safe) advantage of the digital revolution, with intensely photo-realistic recreations of WWI aircraft, authentic period structures, and CGI environments requiring a total of 850 digital effects shots, resulting in an abundance of amazing images, many of them virtually indistinguishable from reality. Unfortunately, the film's technical achievement is more impressive than its screenplay, which conventionally and predictably tells the fact-based story, set in France in 1916, of the daring young pilots of the Lafayette Escadrille, a pioneering French air-combat unit that welcomed American enlistees prior to the United States' entry into the war.
There's a familiar cliché to match every thrilling scene of aerial combat, but director Tony Bill manages to keep it all interesting, from the romance between a young American maverick (James Franco) and a pretty French girl (newcomer Jennifer Decker) to the exciting action in the air, which includes a stock variety of heroes (many of them composites of real-life WWI pilots) and an intimidating villain known only as "The Black Falcon," whose Fokker Dr-1 triplane (one of many in the film) recalls the exploits of German "ace of aces" Manfred von Richtofen, the dreaded "Red Baron" of legend. With impeccable production values that will impress even the most nit-picking aviation buffs, Flyboys (like Superman Returns and Apocalypto, also released in 2006) was also one of the first feature films to be shot with Panavision's state-of-the-art Genesis digital cameras, resulting in beautiful images that meet or exceed the visual nuance of film. Flyboys also benefits from painstaking attention to physical detail, making it easier to forgive its shortcomings as a generic and formulaic slice of romanticized history. So while some viewers may have wished for a more realistic and grown-up depiction of the Lafayette Escadrille, it's safe to say that Flyboys will be thrilling its target audience for many years to come. --Jeff Shannon

From Amazon.com

Patton / The Longest Day / Sand Pebbles

Blu-ray War Classics Bundle (Patton / The Longest Day / Sand Pebbles) - (Amazon.com Exclusive) [Blu-ray]
Starring: Patton, The Longest Day



Reviews

Patton
One of the greatest screen biographies ever produced, this monumental film runs nearly three hours, won seven Academy Awards, and gave George C. Scott the greatest role of his career. It was released in 1970 when protest against the Vietnam War still raged at home and abroad, and many critics and moviegoers struggled to reconcile current events with the movie's glorification of Gen. George S. Patton as a crazy-brave genius of World War II. How could a movie so huge in scope and so fascinated by its subject be considered an anti-war film? The simple truth is that it's not--Patton is less about World War II than about the rise and fall of a man whose life was literally defined by war, and who felt lost and lonely without the grand-scale pursuit of an enemy. George C. Scott embodies his role so fully, so convincingly, that we can't help but be drawn to and fascinated by Patton as a man who is simultaneously bound for hell and glory. The film's opening monologue alone is a masterful display of acting and character analysis, and everything that follows is sheer brilliance on the part of Scott and director Franklin J. Schaffner. Filmed on an epic scale at literally dozens of European locations, Patton does not embrace war as a noble pursuit, nor does it deny the reality of war as a breeding ground for heroes. Through the awesome achievement of Scott's performance and the film's grand ambition, Patton shows all the complexities of a man who accepted his role in life and (like Scott) played it to the hilt. --Jeff Shannon


The Longest Day
After seeing Saving Private Ryan, this epic tale about the Normandy invasion will look sanitized. But in its re-creation of events leading to the epochal battle, the film is captivating and grand, and the parade of famous actors who cross the screen naturally give the already charged action even more of a boost. Three directors worked on it: Ken Annakin (Battle of the Bulge), Andrew Marton (Crack in the World), and Bernhard Wicki (this film being his only credit). --Tom Keogh


The Sand Pebbles
Following the success of The Sound of Music, director Robert Wise chose to film Robert McKenna's prize-winning 1962 novel, The Sand Pebbles--an ambitious choice for a director at the peak of his career. Shot in Taiwan and Hong Kong, the film combines historical sweep and intimate human drama in several parallel stories, all revolving around U.S. Navy machinist's mate Jake Holman (Steve McQueen). Holman is a skillful but fiercely independent sailor who joins the "sand pebble" crew of the U.S.S. San Pablo, a Navy gunboat patrolling the Yangtze River on the eve of the Chinese revolution in 1926. The San Pablo's inexperienced captain (Richard Crenna) obsessively defends the Navy's mission--however unnecessary or unwanted--to protect American missionaries and businessmen, blind to the more dangerous implications of American involvement with China's opposing political factions. Holman is a defiant voice of humanity in this clash between outmoded values and inevitable change; his final line of dialogue ("What the hell happened?") is a tragic summation of misguided policy, expressing the film's criticism of the Vietnam War. Rather than preach, however, Wise lets McKenna's potent drama emerge from finely-drawn relationships--between Holman and a young American teacher (19-year-old Candice Bergen, in her second film); between Holman and the Chinese "coolie" (Mako) whose heartbreaking fate transcends all issues of racial or political difference; and between crewmate "Frenchy" Burgoyne (Richard Attenborough) and the Chinese woman he's sworn to love and protect at all costs. Combined with the film's colorful supporting cast, adventurous scope, and climactic battle scenes, these personal dynamics bring substance and spirit to a complex story of good intentions gone awry. --Jeff Shannon

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Mad Men: Season 2

Mad Men: Season 2
Series: Mad Men



Reviews

By G. Merritt

Sopranos' writer, Matthew Weiner's Mad Men series is arguably the best reason to own a television these days. Set in 1960s New York City, the show involves a group of Madison Avenue ad executives and their secretaries working, smoking, drinking, and socializing together at the Sterling Cooper advertising agency. In the show's first season, Mad Men provided viewers with a window into an American culture of Nixon-era social taboo-isms: alcoholism, sexism, racism, and consumerism, which is mainly what made Mad Men so fascinating. It's easy to see why the show won two Golden Globe awards in 2007 for Best Television Series - Drama, and Best Actor in a Television Series - Drama and the Emmy Award for Best Outstanding Drama Series. Imagine the "Mad-ness" of a bunch of complicated, alcoholic, Nixon-era, GQ ad men in starched white shirts, spending their workdays in a fog of cigarette smoke, and you'll have the basic premise of this highly-acclaimed, must-see show.

Mad Men's characters are a truly well-drawn bunch. For instance, the protagonist, Don Draper (Jon Hamm), is not only the creative director and junior partner of Sterling Cooper, he is also the illegitimate son of a prostitute, now living an assumed identity to hide his inner "whore child" from his wife and competitive Madison Avenue colleagues. Don is unhappy with his life. He drinks Jack Daniels, chain smokes Lucky Strikes, cheats on his trophy wife Betty (January Jones), and constantly dreams of escaping his life. He is known to sneak away from work to see afternoon foreign movie matinees. Betty, a former model, represents the classic '50s homemaker, but suffers from profound loneliness, sexual frustration, and dissatisfaction with her "perfect" life. (In Season One, we learned that household appliances literally give her orgasms.) With aspirations of becoming the agency's first woman copywriter, Peggy Olsen (Elisabeth Moss) was a new secretary at Sterling Cooper, who was unexpectedly confronted with an unwanted pregnancy. Italian bachelor, Salvatore Romano (Bryan Batt), is Sterling Cooper's macho art director, a homosexual afraid to come out of the closet, and equally afraid to act on his sexual impulses.

Season Two premiered on July 27, 2008 and picks up on Valentine's Day, 1962, two years after the first season during the Kennedy administration, an era marked by the growing civil rights movement, Bob Dylan, free love, increasing feminine discontent, crumbling marriages, the threat of nuclear annihilation, Leave It to Beaver, and New York poet Frank O'Hara's ever-ominous 1957 message of mortality: Meditations in an Emergency. Much of Season One's comic edge is now gone, and the tone of the show is more melancholic. While Don and Betty Draper experience marital problems, enigmatic Don experiences a full-blown existential crises while away on a business trip to sunny Los Angeles. Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) becomes disillusioned with his own "perfect" marriage and realizes he is in love with Peggy (Moss). The series ends under the cloud of the looming Cuban Missile Crisis. Mad Men remains television at its best.

12/12/08 Update: Mad Men and Jon Hamm received Golden Globe nominations this week for Season Two of Mad Men.

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70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Editiond

Gone with the Wind (70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]
Starring: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh



Reviews

David O. Selznick wanted Gone with the Wind to be somehow more than a movie, a film that would broaden the very idea of what a film could be and do and look like. In many respects he got what he worked so hard to achieve in this 1939 epic (and all-time box-office champ in terms of tickets sold), and in some respects he fell far short of the goal. While the first half of this Civil War drama is taut and suspenseful and nostalgic, the second is ramshackle and arbitrary. But there's no question that the film is an enormous achievement in terms of its every resource--art direction, color, sound, cinematography--being pushed to new limits for the greater glory of telling an American story as fully as possible. Vivien Leigh is still magnificently narcissistic, Olivia de Havilland angelic and lovely, Leslie Howard reckless and aristocratic. As for Clark Gable: we're talking one of the most vital, masculine performances ever committed to film. --Tom Keogh

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Facing the Giants/ Fireproof / Flywheel

Faith-Based Three-Pack (Facing the Giants/ Fireproof / Flywheel) (Amazon.com Exclusive)



Reviews

Flywheel
Flywheel is the first film from the creators of Facing the Giants and Fireproof. Used car salesman Jay Austin (writer/director Alex Kendrick) swindles his customers and teaches his assistant salesmen to do the same--but despite the profits, something gnaws at him. When he realizes that his own son doesn't respect him, Austin has a conversion and accepts God into his life. This would be the end of most spiritual stories, but Flywheel finds a warm comedy in the obstacles on the path of righteousness; Austin discovers that being right with God means grappling every day with what it means to be honest. Though the filmmaking is raw (the editing is often clumsy and the cinematography is flat), the story is well-paced, has a gently ironic sense of humor, and Kendrick's central performance is compelling. Kendrick is just as persuasive as a man struggling to emerge from a joyless life as he is when he's rediscovered his faith but finds it constantly tested. Though Flywheel is forthright about its Christian inspiration, the story is about actually living a moral life, not about abstract spiritual truths. The result is a movie that looks towards heaven, but has its feet on the earth. --Bret Fetzer

Faith-Based 3pk bundle contains the hit films: Fireproof, Facing The Giants, and Flywheel (Director's Cut).

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