No customer reviews yet. Be the first
2011年7月2日星期六
2011年7月1日星期五
Babylon 5: In the Beginning [VHS]
![Babylon 5: In the Beginning [VHS]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_v0tPAKUE_WaK7ajhTW0sqetcIj_UTgjtfPECPKE9kR4JkA5N6nqwtrJ_DXDvONAUI5GqSddLXvjQU_uHZZI_UZfAprAhuM5GrnvnBGpL5_oY2YuCorfC_erYuob3F5vDXXGOJ9cWk=s0-d)
No customer reviews yet. Be the first
Description
While the series pilot Babylon 5: The Gathering establishes the characters and introduces the conflicts that will become central to the series, it also draws upon a rich history that is continually alluded to but never fully explained. Babylon 5: In the Beginning, produced in the hiatus between the fourth and fifth seasons of the series, packs all that history--and more--into a prequel stuffed to the hatches with the epic doings of Earth, Minbar, Narn, and Centauri in the days before the Babylon stations were built. Told in almost fairy-tale fashion by Londo Molari to a pair of children, the movie explicates the ill-fated first meeting between representatives of Earth and Minbar, the devastating war, the sudden surrender, and the universe-altering secret of Jeffrey Sinclair. It also gives the early histories of characters who will become central to the series, in particular Londo and G'Kar. Ostensibly created to catch recent converts up with the series as it made its transition to a new network, the movie is infused with the epic sweep and storytelling confidence producer-writer Michael J. Straczynski and his cast and crew had developed by the fourth season. It's an elegant, compelling addition to the Babylon 5 universe and a dramatic highlight of the series. As an introduction, though, it gives away the mystery that pervades the shadowy history slowly revealed through the first three seasons--it's actually better seen from the vantage point of the fifth season. --Sean AxmakerSimilar Products
Cabaret (25th Anniversary Special Edition) [VHS]
![Cabaret (25th Anniversary Special Edition) [VHS]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_ubLgZlBWnltonwloJ5io-3zmA7FGIDuXeNL5V-q4GMG2mY6mQiA0mltVLrzpDTG_SKX31I24IzLOTIEJglvFd-SbK5hyNVDRR-Uz82NLPTR2tXNHh4yE2e-8GiWs28Ea4ao4zDI10=s0-d)
No customer reviews yet. Be the first
Description
Winner of eight Academy Awards, including Best Director (Bob Fosse), Best Actress (Liza Minnelli), and Best Supporting Actor (Joel Grey), Cabaret would also have taken Best Picture if it hadn't been competing against The Godfather as the most acclaimed film of 1972. (Francis Ford Coppola would have to wait two years before winning Best Director, for The Godfather, Part II.) Brilliantly adapted from the acclaimed stage production, which was in turn inspired by Christopher Isherwood's Berlin Stories and the play and movie I Am a Camera, this remarkable musical turns the pre-war Berlin of 1931 into a sexually charged haven of decadence. Minnelli commands the screen as nightclub entertainer Sally Bowles, who radiantly goes on with the show as the Nazis rise to power, holding her many male admirers (including Michael York and Helmut Griem) at a distance that keeps her from having to bother with genuinely deep emotions. Joel Grey is the master of ceremonies at the Kit Kat Klub who will guarantee a great show night after night as a way of staving off the inevitable effects of war and dictatorship. They're all living in a morally ambiguous vacuum of desperate anxiety, determined to keep up appearances as the real world--the world outside the comfortable sanctuary of the cabaret--prepares for the nightmarish chaos of war. Director-choreographer Fosse achieves a finely tuned combination of devastating drama and ebullient entertainment, and the result is one of the most substantial screen musicals ever made. --Jeff ShannonSimilar Products
2011年6月30日星期四
Grumpier Old Men [VHS]
![Grumpier Old Men [VHS]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vZ0T4FP8XMZiyjBtnXeOdTDPBeiyeR5hPabLFRjtuL_Vm_18vrPQiqkuY-6z7FU-Zrcv3XzTqnsdcReI2vfBQ8ibfq9muhUYEukekcWvqe9cYVnBKNYQOJlzgPUNXARLn96pLwPQ=s0-d)
No customer reviews yet. Be the first
Description
The success of Grumpy Old Men made this 1995 sequel practically mandatory, and although it's not much more than a Grumpy retread, the same schtick is just as funny the second time around. Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau reunited as the Minnesota neighbors who make a hobby out of mutual aggravation, but while Lemmon's married (to Ann-Margret), this time it's Matthau who's looking for love. He finds it when Sophia Loren arrives to open an Italian ristorante on the site of Jack and Walter's favorite bait shop, but only after the grumpy guys have done their best to stop the ristorante from opening. The impending wedding of Kevin Pollak (as Matthau's son) and Daryl Hannah (as Lemmon's daughter) puts love in the air, so it's not too long before Matthau and Loren are singing "That's Amore." And Burgess Meredith (in one of his final screen roles) returns as Lemmon's saucy old father, who gets all the best lines and delivers them with lusty vigor. --Jeff ShannonSimilar Products
2011年6月26日星期日
The Blues Brothers [VHS]
![The Blues Brothers [VHS]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u8yzh-_7de1BX7QQuCUR9Pp8wYzY5fgq110bMEGZi5ke-kYUR8FddfJ4YG-KKv8fCk5tdpWGD38tSGEgxqLq2xdVvLDsE1J7JID9Bk0JAEeLbwaRkH_1kqIAW9xCeNcJbAsuxEKw=s0-d)
No customer reviews yet. Be the first
Description
After building up the duo's popularity through popular recordings and several performances on Saturday Night Live, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd--as "legendary" Chicago blues brothers Jake and Elwood Blues--took their act to the big screen in this action-packed hit from 1980. As Jake and Elwood struggle to reunite their old band and save the Chicago orphanage where they were raised, they wreak enough good-natured havoc to attract the entire Cook County police force. The result is a big-budget stunt-fest on a scale rarely attempted before or since, including extended car chases that result in the wanton destruction of shopping malls and more police cars than you can count. Along the way there's plenty of music to punctuate the action, including performances by Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Cab Calloway, and James Brown that are guaranteed to knock you out. As played with deadpan wit by Belushi and Aykroyd, the Blues Brothers are "on a mission from God," and that gives them a kind of reckless glee that keeps the movie from losing its comedic appeal. Otherwise this might have been just a bloated marathon of mayhem that quickly wears out its welcome (which is how some critics described this film and its 1998 sequel). Keep an eye out for Steven Spielberg as the city clerk who stamps some crucial paperwork near the end of the film. --Jeff ShannonSimilar Products
Apostle [VHS]
![Apostle [VHS]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tQIg0jLeafdUZpjN7SHZdtl1RILBumG3LvSJEmDa1Fc08My_Yb_AIyoWl5MikMFfdIedCQEe5P9q9oDusEas3y1PyEHCJ4D_3waHHH1k7EQOdLHyi471OsxtGxyUhEdAzFqu2ILbw=s0-d)
No customer reviews yet. Be the first
Description
Written, directed, and personally financed by Robert Duvall, The Apostle was the culmination of a 14-year effort on the part of its creator, who also stars as the dynamic, God-fearing Texas preacher Euliss "Sonny" Dewey. Vibrantly authentic with its use of real gospel preachers and extras carefully selected from parishes of the deep South, the film treats its complicated characters with the kind of compassion and moral complexity mainstream Hollywood wouldn't dare muster. This is especially true in the case of Sonny, who responds to his wife's infidelity with a crime of passion that sends him on a new and uncharted quest for redemption. Under the assumed identity of "The Apostle E.F.," he settles in a tiny Louisiana town to revive an old church, where he undergoes a transformation of spirit and purpose that enlivens his community. But will the law catch up to him? Does he deserve to be punished? Fueled by Duvall's powerhouse performance, The Apostle refuses to praise or condemn its fascinating central character, leaving the proper degree of forgiveness up to the viewer. Further graced with superb performances by Farrah Fawcett, Miranda Richardson, and Billy Bob Thornton, the film is clearly Duvall's labor of love. --Jeff ShannonSimilar Products
Blues Brothers [VHS]
No customer reviews yet. Be the first
Description
After building up the duo's popularity through popular recordings and several performances on Saturday Night Live, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd--as "legendary" Chicago blues brothers Jake and Elwood Blues--took their act to the big screen in this action-packed hit from 1980. As Jake and Elwood struggle to reunite their old band and save the Chicago orphanage where they were raised, they wreak enough good-natured havoc to attract the entire Cook County police force. The result is a big-budget stunt-fest on a scale rarely attempted before or since, including extended car chases that result in the wanton destruction of shopping malls and more police cars than you can count. Along the way there's plenty of music to punctuate the action, including performances by Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Cab Calloway, and James Brown that are guaranteed to knock you out. As played with deadpan wit by Belushi and Aykroyd, the Blues Brothers are "on a mission from God," and that gives them a kind of reckless glee that keeps the movie from losing its comedic appeal. Otherwise this might have been just a bloated marathon of mayhem that quickly wears out its welcome (which is how some critics described this film and its 1998 sequel). Keep an eye out for Steven Spielberg as the city clerk who stamps some crucial paperwork near the end of the film. --Jeff ShannonSimilar Products
Theory of Flight [VHS]
![Theory of Flight [VHS]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_t8IYA5LrETgeDmslcLOVLmUmzEBLHmeBJU8tUFjMSH6dp7AEftwjTfNY5SDDeN3NojDSmdpFI9Mht5C0mL0k0P9c93B8jkUIpT-bXXgsSItV1t-XZU3qrvl4u_ZBGKRaQwGIYhjA=s0-d)
No customer reviews yet. Be the first
Description
Richard (Kenneth Branagh) is a frustrated artist plunging into a midlife crisis. He dumps his rather stuffy, professional girlfriend and tears apart his paintings to make a hang glider out of the canvases and stretchers. His maiden flight with the device lands him in court, where he is assigned community service. His first assignment is to serve as assistant to Jane (Helena Bonham Carter), a young woman with Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS). The disease is in its final stages, but she handles it with a bushel of attitude, her brain as sharp as ever. The two don't get off on the right foot, but eventually she reveals to him that she has yet to lose her virginity and would like for him to help arrange that to happen. He strikes on the distinctly harebrained idea of robbing a bank to pay for an oily gigolo, leading to some rather out-of-place comic scenes. Meanwhile, Richard has been cobbling together an airplane out of more paintings and garden-variety junk; the contraption makes the Wright Brothers' machine look like an F-15 fighter. Despite some missteps, The Theory of Flight is a funny, engaging character study; what could have been a maudlin, sentimental tearjerker is made very humane and believable by the performances of the two leads. Branagh's Richard is a craggy, troubled man who finds redemption in his friendship with Jane; the dynamic of their relationship (in contrast to the others' in Jane's life) causes one to think about the patronizing way we often deal with the disabled. --Jerry RenshawSimilar Products
2011年6月24日星期五
Mack [VHS]
![Mack [VHS]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sERnhaMpYzhvWl3tM8eStWcc_6jw5XbzF31MyEzkT5UQzGeSvsodU7jmDB6DbKX-fcKmJN-c0pZ4VZckQVF3ABug27KjkQ1dGYz99egLv6C5GTUjSKA1RcZipSQ07F6Wj8sMdjAts=s0-d)
No customer reviews yet. Be the first
Description
The Mack, a 1973 pimping epic, is at once a laughable, schlock classic and a harbinger of more serious black-themed films to come. Starring the now-forgotten Max Julien as Goldie, the preening ex-con whose dream is to rule the streets with a fine Cadillac and a fleet of topnotch hookers, this film is full of whip-crack, mostly improvised dialogue and hilarious stereotypes (the evil white cops, a wisdom-spouting blind man, and more trash-talkin' pimps than you could shake a walking stick at).Not only is the film one you can chuckle at in the postmodern, ironic mode, it is also a window on the world of today's rap superstars, many of whom have sampled, invoked, or quoted lines from this gaudy paean to pandering. In other words, The Mack is a kind of godfather to a future stark frankness about life on the streets. But forget the sociological hooey and dig into the piece as an urban costume picture with a greasy/funky score by R&B genius Willie Hutch.
Also, it features an amazing supporting turn by Richard Pryor, who, playing Tonto to Julien's Lone Ranger, unleashes torrents of nearly incomprehensible verbiage in the film's finest moments. Mind you, such brilliance is a direct comedy-organ transplant from Pryor's stand-up act: he was performing his "Pimp on Blow" routine at about the same time The Mack was filmed. Seventy percent of this piece is dross, but the other 30 is the apex of urban surrealism. One vignette to tantalize: Goldie hypnotizing his "ladies" into docile submission as they sit in a planetarium, mechanically repeating his words: "I will remain a lady at all times..." --David Was
Similar Products
The McCourts of Limerick [VHS]
![The McCourts of Limerick [VHS]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sxCODEMbox4hCKxqaCjXUq16_F5sJrxfXOhs8QO6lN7HzHTpjewnWhjeQ9cgE0Nv3Aa4hpBhK2Z8X7Bj3Fgc-KJbFXouUrm8zd8ZhM9aclIp6_ZRhGXpNRI_cPnUngGmgs-C09-To=s0-d)
No customer reviews yet. Be the first
Description
In keeping with the enduring spirit of Frank McCourt's phenomenal bestseller Angela's Ashes, this hour-long documentary is literally a family affair. It's really a home movie, directed by Conor McCourt, the son of Frank's brother Malachy, that has been made public for the many fans of Frank's book and Malachy's own acclaimed memoir, A Monk Swimming. That the film has an amateurish quality in both sound and image only enhances its value as a personal document of primary importance to the McCourts themselves but equally interesting for anyone with a fondness for all things Irish. Through interviews and personal anecdotes, we quickly learn that the four surviving McCourt brothers (Frank, Malachy, Michael, and Alphonsus) are a stalwart bunch, having weathered a family history that is quintessentially Irish. Embittered by an uncaring Catholic church and by the absence of their irresponsible father, they lived with their hardy but chronically depressed mother with an equal blend of abject misery and joyful adventure. (At one point, a tearful Frank later describes this lifestyle as "suffering with good humor" when recalling the indomitable vitality of his neighbors in the town of Limerick.) They were "laners," so-called for their residence on the poverty-stricken lanes of Limerick, where your next meal was never guaranteed and the women known as "shawlies" (so named for their dark shawls) were forced to plead to justify their meager assistance payments.Three of the seven McCourt children died while still very young--"sheer ignorance" being the cause of their preventable illness, according to Frank. Angela never fully recovered from the loss, and her husband's selfish disappearance into a life of perpetual youth left her to persevere as best she could. But The McCourts of Limerick is far from being a chronicle of sadness; indeed, humor is abundant throughout the film, and each of the brothers has a gift for telling wonderful stories from their eventful pasts. What emerges from this heartfelt, highly personal portrait is a sense of lives well lived, of deep, abiding love throughout the hardship and pain, and a rich appreciation for the kinds of people who, as Frank observes, were able to make "poetic statements about their plight." --Jeff Shannon
Similar Products
Brothers Flub Adventures - Plan C: Panic [VHS]
![Brothers Flub Adventures - Plan C: Panic [VHS]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tePaVkmX2a6jIYLJHalV5CPmDZxAWBXiXwdZZ9VG8S4DTrj47RjRfZsLepJ7mWxEtSqfSD7v_VnO1FsYMF0tZZymQpW7fVYnNI1Lva-RRZlEgJTCT-P3hq7ugX88XWoW3x-EWwXw=s0-d)
No customer reviews yet. Be the first
Description
Criss-cross between universes with brothers Fraz and Guapo Flub, the transdimensional messengers who bring outrageous packages to out of the world places, in Sony Wonder's animated home video series, "Brothers Flub."In "Plan C: Panic!," Mizz Tarara Boomdeeyay's assignments for Fraz and Guapo include a wild array of cargo items and unusual worlds. The brothers must deliver the champion wrestler, Mr. Krunch, to his big match in "Wrestlemaniacs." Along the way, the champ decides fighting is no longer his thing when the brothers help him come to terms with his anger management. Fraz and Guapo head to Hip City in "Bard Brain," and worry about being "uncool" in the hippest place in the universe. When Guapo mistakenly shrinks Fraz' brain, they think they've lost any chance at all at coolness. However, the locals find Fraz's babble to be the coolest "poetry" they've ever heard, and the boys are a hit.
In "Scared Stiff," the "Brothers Flub" are off to the Land of Oversized Games where they are supposed to deliver a giant pinball. However, a glitch in the plan finds the duo trapped inside the pinball game. Finally, in "Prehysteria," Fraz and Guapo are stranded in Prehistorica when the Hoog's battery runs out. As they search among cavemen and dinosaurs for an escape route, they are forced to realize there may be only one way out.
Similar Products
Arthur's Baby / D.W.'s Baby [VHS]
订阅：
博文 (Atom)