Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Finishing the Game

For Roseanna : Widescreen Edition

  • Widescreen
This film centers on Marcello, a trattoria proprietor in an Italian village who will stop at nothing to make sure his beloved but ailing wife, Roseanna, realizes her dream of being buried at the local cemetary.Congratulations to director Paul Weiland for taking a stupid premise and creating a truly romantic look at marriage. Mercedes Ruehl is dying of a weak heart, and her husband, Jean Reno, hopes to keep his promise to bury her in their tiny Italian village, despite a lack of room in the cemetery. While he is trying to keep his friends and neighbors out of the local bone yard, she is quietly seeking candidates for his next wife. Many movies treat marriage as a death sentence. For Roseanna looks past daily bickering to the enduring love and warm companionship of well-matched lovers. Clearly defined characters, a disarming dénouement, and passionate performances transform t! he silly plot into a playful valentine. --Rochelle O'GormanCongratulations to director Paul Weiland for taking a stupid premise and creating a truly romantic look at marriage. Mercedes Ruehl is dying of a weak heart, and her husband, Jean Reno, hopes to keep his promise to bury her in their tiny Italian village, despite a lack of room in the cemetery. While he is trying to keep his friends and neighbors out of the local bone yard, she is quietly seeking candidates for his next wife. Many movies treat marriage as a death sentence. For Roseanna looks past daily bickering to the enduring love and warm companionship of well-matched lovers. Clearly defined characters, a disarming dénouement, and passionate performances transform the silly plot into a playful valentine. --Rochelle O'GormanCongratulations to director Paul Weiland for taking a stupid premise and creating a truly romantic look at marriage. Mercedes Ruehl is dying of a weak heart, and her husban! d, Jean Reno, hopes to keep his promise to bury her in their t! iny Ital ian village, despite a lack of room in the cemetery. While he is trying to keep his friends and neighbors out of the local bone yard, she is quietly seeking candidates for his next wife. Many movies treat marriage as a death sentence. For Roseanna looks past daily bickering to the enduring love and warm companionship of well-matched lovers. Clearly defined characters, a disarming dénouement, and passionate performances transform the silly plot into a playful valentine.

Bollywood Hero

  • Chris Kattan is fed-up with not being taken seriously by Hollywood, so he accepts an offer to star in a big- time Mumbai production called Peculiar Dancing Boy . But before he can conquer India, Chris will have to survive a whole new land of culture clashes, jealous rivals, runaway egos, power hungry starlets and extreme dancing lessons. How far does an actor have to go in this world to fight the
When people from a culture largely defined by bollywood find themselves in an environment that is saturated with hollywood the result is a state of mind that celebrates these two seemingly disparate worlds. Studio: Arts Alliance America Release Date: 11/08/2005 Run time: 105 minutes Rating: Pg13Bollywood Hollywood is a delightful, cross-cultural parody of both India's and America's musical film traditions. Directed by Deepa Mehta (Earth), Bollywood Hollywood concerns the desp! erate effort of wealthy businessman Rahul (Rahul Khanna) to get his mother and grandmother off his back when it comes to his romantic life. In love with a white pop-star girlfriend (Jessica Paré), Rahul's fortunes change when she dies. Still grieving, he is told by his mother that Rahul's only sister won't be allowed to marry until he finds a nice Indian girl to wed. The solution: hire a beautiful, dark-skinned, allegedly Spanish escort named Sue (Lisa Ray) to pose as his Indian fiancée. With tongue firmly planted in cheek, Mehta pokes fun at a number of Bollywood cinema clichés, especially that familiar mix of modern luxury and old world traditions, melodramas involving the saddest of character backstories, and spontaneous musical numbers that remind one as much of Hollywood's Golden Age as Bollywood's current one. --Tom KeoghBollywood Hollywood is a delightful, cross-cultural parody of both India's and America's musical film traditions. Directed by Deepa ! Mehta (Earth), Bollywood Hollywood concerns the ! desperat e effort of wealthy businessman Rahul (Rahul Khanna) to get his mother and grandmother off his back when it comes to his romantic life. In love with a white pop-star girlfriend (Jessica Paré), Rahul's fortunes change when she dies. Still grieving, he is told by his mother that Rahul's only sister won't be allowed to marry until he finds a nice Indian girl to wed. The solution: hire a beautiful, dark-skinned, allegedly Spanish escort named Sue (Lisa Ray) to pose as his Indian fiancée. With tongue firmly planted in cheek, Mehta pokes fun at a number of Bollywood cinema clichés, especially that familiar mix of modern luxury and old world traditions, melodramas involving the saddest of character backstories, and spontaneous musical numbers that remind one as much of Hollywood's Golden Age as Bollywood's current one. --Tom KeoghFor ALL fitness and experience levels.

Inspired by the Indian film tradition of infectiously expressive music and dance comes a! sexy, saucy, calorie-burning, full-body workout. Fitness star Hemalayaa leads you in traditional moves that will tone you head to toe while unleashing waves of energy and joy.

The movements are simpleâ€"no exercise or dance experience requiredâ€"but the results are big.

You’ll be getting a cardio, sculpting, and stretching workout while having a blastâ€"and learning moves you'll love to flaunt on the dance floor. Just let yourself go and boogie to the bhangra beat. It’s impossible not to.

Features include audio options (instruction and music or music only) and bonus dance performances.

The film sequel is held to be a vampirish corporative exercise in profitmaking and narrative regurgitation. Drawing upon a wide range of filmic examples from early cinema to today, this unique volume follows the increasing popularity and innovation of film sequels as a central dynamic of Hollywood cinema. Now debuting at world cinemas and independent film festiva! ls, the sequel has become a vehicle for cross-cultural dialogu! e and a structure by which memories and cultural narratives are circulated across geographical and historical locations. The book explores sequel production beyond box office figures, considering the form in recent mainstream cinema, art-house and "indie" films, and non-Hollywood sequels, and it traces the effects of the domestic market on sequelization and the impact of the video game industry on Hollywood.

Chris Kattan is fed-up with not being taken seriously by Hollywood, so he accepts an offer to star in a big- time Mumbai production called ‘Peculiar Dancing Boy’. But before he can conquer India, Chris will have to survive a whole new land of culture clashes, jealous rivals, runaway egos, power hungry starlets and extreme dancing lessons. How far does an actor have to go in this world to fight the bad guys, get the beautiful women and finally play the hero? Maya Rudolph, Julian Sands, Pooja Kumar, Rachna Shah, Ali Fazal and Neha Dhupia co-star in this IFC musical comedy m! iniseries event â€" featuring key members of the Oscar® winning production team from SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE â€" with guest appearances by Jennifer Coolidge, David Alan Grier and Keanu Reeves.

Stills from Bollywood Hero (Click for larger image)









Bed of Roses/Pump up the Volume

  • Bed Of Roses Love blossoms as a romantic Christian Slater sweeps Mart Stuart Masterson, a high-powered investment banker, into a passionate affair. But when his fairy-tale fantasies clash with her workaholic tendencies, will love conquer all? Pump Up The Volume Christian Slater is a shy new kid on the block by day - and an outrageous rebel with a cause on the radio by night. This witty celebr
A workaholic with unresolved issues of abandonment and trust falls in love with a widower who wants her to become a part of his family. Starring Mary Stuart Masterson and Christian Slater."Bed of Nails" would have been a better title for this romance, an excruciating exercise that brings out all the worst in the genre. Christian Slater's performance is the high point of this flick, but his character is so obvious that even his subtle skills ultimately makes little difference. Slater plays Lewis, a floris! t who looks up one night during one of his habitual nocturnal walks and spies Mary Stuart Masterson weeping in a window. The next day he follows her to work and delivers a gorgeous arrangement of posies, leaving her guessing as to the identity of her secret admirer. We must wonder why Lewis pursues her with abandon, as Masterson's character Lisa seems nothing but a dull workaholic. Well, okay, she's also neurotic. First-time director-writer Michael Goldenberg's lopsided script lets us see the psychic damage harbored by both of the main characters, but doesn't make Lisa interesting enough to warrant all the attention heaped upon her, whereas Lewis is a model of perfection. Goldenberg often slips and slides over many details in the story. Since the dialogue is not particularly witty or meaningful, and the plot has pretty much withered by the second reel, there isn't much left on the screen to enjoy. --Rochelle O'Gorman BED OF ROSES/PUMP UP THE VOLUME - DVD Movie

The Green Mile (Blu-ray Book Packaging)

  • Condition: New
  • Format: Blu-ray
  • Anamorphic; Color; Dolby; Subtitled; Widescreen
Set in the 1930s at the Cold Mountain Penitentiary's death-row facility, The Green Mile is the riveting and tragic story of John Coffey, a giant, preternaturally gentle inmate condemned to death for the rape and murder of twin nine-year-old girls. It is a story narrated years later by Paul Edgecomb, the ward superintendent compelled to help every prisoner spend his last days peacefully and every man walk the green mile to execution with his humanity intact.

Edgecomb has sent seventy-eight inmates to their date with "old sparky," but he's never encountered one like Coffey -- a man who wants to die, yet has the power to heal. And in this place of ultimate retribution, Edgecomb discovers the terrible truth about Coffey's gift, a truth that challenges his most cherished beliefs -- and ours. Originally published in 1996 in six self-contained monthly installments, The Green Mile is an astonishingly rich and complex novel that delivers over and over again. Each individual volume became a huge success when first published, and all six were on the New York Times bestseller list simultaneously. Three years later, when Frank Darabont made The Green Mile into an award-winning movie starring Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan, the book returned to the bestseller list -- and stayed there for months.

And now -- with a new introduction by King's foreign agent Ralph Vicinanza, as well as the author's own foreword -- we have the first hardcover edition of this magnificent novel in which "King surpasses our expectations, leaves us spellbound and hungry for the next twist of plot" (The Boston Globe).

With illustrations and a new frontispiece for this edition by Mark Geyer.When Stephen King originally wrote The Green Mile as a se! ries of six novellas, he didn't even know how the story would ! turn ou t. And it turned out to be of his finest yarns, tapping into what he does best: character-driven storytelling. The setting is the small "death house" of a Southern prison in 1932. The Green Mile is the hall with a floor "the color of tired old limes" that leads to "Old Sparky" (the electric chair). The charming narrator is an old man, a prison guard, looking back on the events decades later.

Maybe it's a little too cute (there's a smart prison mouse named Mr. Jingles), maybe the pathos is laid on a little thick, but it's hard to resist the colorful personalities and simple wonders of this supernatural tale. And it's not a bad choice for giving to someone who doesn't understand the appeal of Stephen King, because the one scene that is out-and-out gruesome (it involves "Old Sparky") can be easily skipped by the squeamish.

The Green Mile won a 1997 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel; and Tom Hanks stars in a film of the novel by Frank Darabont, th! e director of The Shawshank Redemption (from King's collection Different Seasons). --Fiona WebsterSet in the 1930s at the Cold Mountain Penitentiary's death-row facility, The Green Mile is the riveting and tragic story of John Coffey, a giant, preternaturally gentle inmate condemned to death for the rape and murder of twin nine-year-old girls. It is a story narrated years later by Paul Edgecomb, the ward superintendent compelled to help every prisoner spend his last days peacefully and every man walk the green mile to execution with his humanity intact.

Edgecomb has sent seventy-eight inmates to their date with "old sparky," but he's never encountered one like Coffey -- a man who wants to die, yet has the power to heal. And in this place of ultimate retribution, Edgecomb discovers the terrible truth about Coffey's gift, a truth that challenges his most cherished beliefs -- and ours.

Originally published in 1996 in six self-contained mo! nthly installments, The Green Mile is an astonishingly ! rich and complex novel that delivers over and over again. Each individual volume became a huge success when first published, and all six were on the New York Times bestseller list simultaneously. Three years later, when Frank Darabont made The Green Mile into an award-winning movie starring Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan, the book returned to the bestseller list -- and stayed there for months.

And now -- with a new introduction by King's foreign agent Ralph Vicinanza, as well as the author's own foreword -- we have the first hardcover edition of this magnificent novel in which "King surpasses our expectations, leaves us spellbound and hungry for the next twist of plot" (The Boston Globe).

With illustrations and a new frontispiece for this edition by Mark Geyer.This novel taps into what Stephen King does best: character-driven storytelling. The setting is the small "death house" of a Southern prison in 1932. The charming narrator is an old man loo! king back on the events, decades later. Maybe it's a little too cute, maybe the pathos is laid on a little thick, but it's hard to resist the colorful personalities and simple wonders of this supernatural tale. As Time magazine put it, "Like the best popular art, The Green Mile has the courage of its cornier convictions ... the palpable sense of King's sheer, unwavering belief in his tale is what makes the novel work as well as it finally does." And it's not a bad choice for giving to someone who doesn't understand the appeal of Stephen King, because the one scene that is out-and-out gruesome can be easily skipped by the squeamish. The Green Mile was nominated for a 1997 Bram Stoker Award.Set in the 1930s at the Cold Mountain Penitentiary's death-row facility, The Green Mile is the riveting and tragic story of John Coffey, a giant, preternaturally gentle inmate condemned to death for the rape and murder of twin nine-year-old girls. It ! is a story narrated years later by Paul Edgecomb, the ward sup! erintend ent compelled to help every prisoner spend his last days peacefully and every man walk the green mile to execution with his humanity intact.

Edgecomb has sent seventy-eight inmates to their date with "old sparky," but he's never encountered one like Coffey -- a man who wants to die, yet has the power to heal. And in this place of ultimate retribution, Edgecomb discovers the terrible truth about Coffey's gift, a truth that challenges his most cherished beliefs -- and ours.

Originally published in 1996 in six self-contained monthly installments, The Green Mile is an astonishingly rich and complex novel that delivers over and over again. Each individual volume became a huge success when first published, and all six were on the New York Times bestseller list simultaneously. Three years later, when Frank Darabont made The Green Mile into an award-winning movie starring Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan, the book returned to the bestseller list -- an! d stayed there for months.

And now -- with a new introduction by King's foreign agent Ralph Vicinanza, as well as the author's own foreword -- we have the first hardcover edition of this magnificent novel in which "King surpasses our expectations, leaves us spellbound and hungry for the next twist of plot" (The Boston Globe).

With illustrations and a new frontispiece for this edition by Mark Geyer.GREEN MILE - Blu-Ray Movie"The book was better" has been the complaint of many a reader since the invention of movies. Frank Darabont's second adaptation of a Stephen King prison drama (The Shawshank Redemption was the first) is a very faithful adaptation of King's serial novel. In the middle of the Depression, Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) runs death row at Cold Mountain Penitentiary. Into this dreary world walks a mammoth prisoner, John Coffey (Michael Duncan) who, very slowly, reveals a special gift that will change the men working and dying (in the electric ! chair, masterfully and grippingly staged) on the mile . As wit! h King's book, Darabont takes plenty of time to show us Edgecomb's world before delving into John Coffey's mystery. With Darabont's superior storytelling abilities, his touch for perfect casting, and a leisurely 188-minute running time, his movie brings to life nearly every character and scene from the novel. Darabont even improves the novel's two endings, creating a more emotionally satisfying experience. The running time may try patience, but those who want a story, as opposed to quick-fix entertainment, will be rewarded by this finely tailored tale. --Doug Thomas

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (Widescreen Edition)

  • Set in a 19th century European village, this stop-motion, animated feature follows the story of Victor (voiced by JOHNNY DEPP), a young man who is whisked away to the underworld and wed to a mysterious Corpse Bride, while his real bride, Victoria, waits bereft in the land of the living. Though life in the Land of the Dead proves to be a lot more colorful than his strict Victorian upbringing, Victo
A stunning visual companion to the newest film from Tim Burton (The Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), featuring storyboards, movie stills, and Burton's own drawings.

Corpse Bride carries on in the dark, romantic tradition of Tim Burton's classic films Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Set in a 19th century European village, this stopmotion, animated feature follows the story of Victor ! (Johnny Depp), a young man who is whisked away to the underworld and wed to a mysterious Corpse Bride (Helena Bonham-Carter), while his real bride, Victoria (Emily Watson), waits bereft in the land of the living. Though life in the Land of the Dead proves to be a lot more colorful than his strict Victorian upbringing, Victor learns that there is nothing in this world, or the next, that can keep him away from his one true love. It's a tale of optimism, romance and a very lively afterlife, told in a classic Tim Burton style.

Like Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, this official visual companion showcases spectacular movie stills, sketches, paintings, and Tim Burton's own drawings. Covering preproduction, production, and post-production, sections detail character realization, set development and construction, puppet fabrication, costuming, and stop-motion filming. The book's final part retells the film's story in images with synopsis, storyboards, and l! yrics. 140 color illustrations.Set in a 19th century European ! village, this stop-motion, animated feature follows the story of Victor (voiced by JOHNNY DEPP), a young man who is whisked away to the underworld and wed to a mysterious Corpse Bride, while his real bride, Victoria, waits bereft in the land of the living. Though life in the Land of the Dead proves to be a lot more colorful than his strict Victorian upbringing, Victor learns that there is nothing in this world, or the next, that can keep him away from his one true love.

DVD Features:
Documentaries
Featurette
Interviews
Music Only Track
Other
Photo gallery
Production Notes

Who else but Tim Burton could make Corpse Bride, a necrophiliac's delight that's fun for the whole family? Returning to the richly imaginative realm of stop-motion animation (after previous successes with The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach), Burton, with codirector Mike Johnson, invit! es us to visit the dour, ashen, and drearily Victorian mansions of the living, where young Victor Van Dort (voiced by Johnny Depp) is bequeathed to wed the lovely Victoria (Emily Watson). But the wedding rehearsal goes sour and, in the kind of Goth-eerie forest that only exists in Burton-land, Victor suddenly finds himself accidentally married to the Corpse Bride (Helena Bonham Carter), a blue-tinted, half-skeletal beauty (how pleasantly full-bosomed she remains!) with a loquacious maggot installed behind one prone-to-popping eyeball. This being a Burton creation, the underworld of the dead is a lively and colorful place indeed, and Danny Elfman's songs and score make it even livelier, presenting Victor with quite a dilemma: Should he return above-ground to Victoria, or remain devoted to his corpse bride? At a brisk 76 minutes, Burton's graveyard whimsy (loosely based on a 19th century Russian folktale) never wears out its welcome, and the voice casting (which includes Trac! ey Ullman and Albert Finney) is superbly matched the film's gl! oriously amusing character design, guaranteed to yield a wealth of gruesome toys and action figures for many Halloweens to come. --Jeff Shannon

Drop Dead Gorgeous

  • A mockumentary about a vicious competition between two contestants in a rural Minnesota beauty pageant. While the two girls prepare for the contest, their mothers (an overbearing hairdresser and a civic-minded matriarch) decide they will stop at nothing to help each one's respective child win the contest.Running Time: 98 min. System Requirements: Starring: Kirstie Alley, Ellen Barkin, Kirsten
The sarah rose cosmetics miss teen princess america pageant is a beauty contest to die for. And thats exactly what the contestants in mount rose minnesota are doing in this hilarious satire of all-american competition. Special features: animated and interactive menus cast and crew filmographies and more. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 02/03/2004 Starring: Kirstie Alley Kirsten Dunst Run time: 98 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Michael Patrick JannSubtle is not the word to describe Drop! Dead Gorgeous, a mock documentary purporting to cover the Sarah Rose Cosmetics Teen America Beauty Pageant in Mount Rose, Minnesota. Ellen Barkin (Sea of Love) and Kirsten Dunst (Interview with a Vampire, Dick) are perfectly cast as a mother and daughter whose only ambition is to use the pageant to get out of their claustrophobic small-town lives. Opposing them are Denise Richards (Wild Things, Starship Troopers) and her mother, Kirstie Alley (Look Who's Talking), who just happens to be the pageant's organizer. The plot, which centers on contestants being murdered (mostly by flaming explosions), is clearly secondary to the backstage shenanigans and satirical portrayals of vanity, small-town corruption, and family dysfunction. There's not much suspense to the pageant itself, but Dunst is an endearing protagonist and along with the broad jokes are some excellent acting turns from the cast, particularly Barkin, Brittany Murphy (Clueless), Nora Dunn (a Saturday Night Live alumna! ), and t he great character actress Allison Janney, who's played small roles in countless movies but finally gets a chance to shine as the supportive neighbor of Barkin and Dunst. In fact, for all the jokes and satirical jabs, in the end it's the characters' relationships that stay in your mind. A bonus: the soundtrack features a hard-rocking version of the theme from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, performed with cool aplomb by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. --Bret Fetzer