วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 31 มีนาคม พ.ศ. 2554

Shopgirl (DVD)

Shopgirl from Buena Vista Home Video

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Based on Steve Martin's best-selling novella, and starring Golden Globe(R) winner Claire Danes (Best Actress In A TV Series, MY SO-CALLED LIFE, 1994), Golden Globe(R) nominee Steve Martin (Best Actor In A Motion Picture -- Comedy/Musical, FATHER OF THE BRIDE PART II, 1995), and Jason Schwartzman (BEWITCHED), SHOPGIRL is a disarmingly funny love story. Mirabelle, brilliantly played by Danes, is an aspiring artist working behind the glove counter at a Beverly Hills department store when she meets two very different men -- Jeremy (Schwartzman), a socially inept guy who doesn't seem to be going anywhere, and Ray (Martin) a wealthy entrepreneur who has the world at his feet. Filled with the mixed signals and missteps of a modern romance, SHOPGIRL is a fresh and witty, warm, and funny romantic comedy you can't help but fall in love with.Any fan of Steve Martin's 2000 novella will enjoy this pitch-perfect adaptation, which glowingly captures the bittersweet tones of a May-December romance. Martin wrote the screenplay and stars as Ray Porter, a button-down 50-something executive who reaches out to a much younger woman as a Los Angeles playmate. The book and movie, though, are both primarily about Mirabelle (Claire Danes), a 20-something with a pile of promises, debt, and depression, as she fades away into a slow corner of Saks selling unneeded formal gloves. She's a wisp of a person, with a cat who doesn’t love her, and when she finds a suitor, it's Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman), a scruffy artist who babbles on about speakers. When the gentlemanly Porter calls, his appearance in her life begins to make her whole. It also immediately sets her up for sadness--Ray thinks of Mirabella as a precious outlet for sex, while Mirabelle, very mistakenly, sees Ray as a potential lifelong mate. Martin deftly turns the novella's prose into dialogue, allowing the movie to feel full-bodied, and the film also works as a comedy, as we witness Jeremy's growth on the road with a rock band. Schwartzman would walk away with film if not for the perfectly cast leads: Martin does another smart turn away from his wild-and-crazy moniker, Danes has never been better in an Oscar-worthy performance, and Bridgette Wilson-Sampras aces her role as a hot-to-trot co-worker of Mirabelle's. Whoever's decision to have Martin be the omnipresent narrator, though, should be penalized, as it’s confusing to have him in two roles, and the information is pretty useless, even robbing the film of a final grace note. --Doug Thomas more...

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วันพุธที่ 30 มีนาคม พ.ศ. 2554

Passengers (DVD)

Passengers from Sony

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While helping a handful of plane crash survivors cope with their grief, young psychologist Claire Summers (2008 Best Actress, Oscar® nominee Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married) begins to uncover conflicting accounts of the accident. At first, Claire believes that trauma is behind her patients' wildly different stories - until the survivors mysteriously begin disappearing one by one. Now Eric (Patrick Wilson, Lakeview Terrace), a surviving passenger she has grown dangerously close to, may hold the key to unlocking the truth about the tragic incident in this shocking psychological thriller.Academy Award nominee Anne Hathaway leads an impressive cast in this supernatural-tinged thriller from director Rodrigo Garcia (Things You Can Tell By Just Looking at Her). Hathaway is typically fine as a novice therapist assigned to the survivors of a horrific plane crash; all are traumatized save one (Patrick Wilson, Watchmen), who exudes a newfound joie de vivre as well as a serious yen for Hathaway. As the mismatched pair grows closer, the survivors begin to disappear, spurring Hathaway into an investigation into what exactly transpired during the doomed flight. Though the two leads are a photogenic pair, they’re continually underserved by the script, which serves up an alarming array of red herrings and false steps; Garcia does his best to impart the same sort of layered, multi-character structure to Passengers he brought to his arthouse dramas like Nine Lives, but the material is too thin and derivative to afford him much traction. The terrific supporting cast, which includes Andre Braugher, Dianne Wiest, Clea Duvall, David Morse, and, appropriately enough, William B. Davis--The X-Files’ Cancer Man--is also left stranded by the script. --Paul Gaita more...

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Brideshead Revisited (DVD)

Brideshead Revisited from Buena Vista Home Video

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Inspired by the best-selling novel, Brideshead Revisited is a riveting drama of forbidden love, power and betrayal, featuring stunning performances by Academy Award winner Emma Thompson (Best Actress, Howard s End, 1992) and Matthew Goode (The Lookout). When the charming aristocrat Sebastian invites Charles Ryder to his family's estate, Charles becomes seduced by the opulent lifestyle of the Marchmain family, and by Julia, Sebastian's sister. As their romance deepens, repercussions follow, and Charles discovers that at Brideshead, love, money and power come at a price. It's a spellbinding story you'll want to revisit again and again. Bonus Features include Deleted Scenes
Filmmakers' Audio Commentary
The World Of Brideshead FeaturetteFor director Julian Jarrold (Becoming Jane), this sumptuous production represents a two-fold challenge: taking on a classic novel and a celebrated television production (Brideshead Revisited premiered on PBS in 1982). Thankfully, he's up to the task. Adapted by Andrew Davies (Pride and Prejudice) and Jeremy Brock (Mrs. Brown), Evelyn Waugh's 1945 text tracks the hard-won maturation of artist-turned-soldier Charles Ryder (Match Point's Matthew Goode). At the optimistic outset, the middle-class striver enters Oxford where he meets Sebastian Flyte (Perfume's Ben Whishaw), black-sheep scion of the Catholic Marchmain clan. Through his hedonistic friend, Ryder gets to know Flyte's sister, Julia (Hayley Atwell), and the dynamic changes. Were this a Jane Austen adaptation, Ryder's financial shortcomings would present the biggest obstacle, but the indomitable Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson, cast against type) concentrates her disapproval on Ryder's atheism. Sebastian, on the other hand, wants Charles for himself; his drinking accelerates once he realizes Ryder loves Julia more. As World War I gives way to II, Ryder tangles with the Marchmains until forced to choose between freedom and compromise. In the end, comparing a two-hour movie to a 12-hour series makes as much sense as comparing a drawing to a sculpture. Both qualify as art, but one reveals more dimensions than the other. Like the series, Jarrold's narrative loses some steam once the focus shifts from Sebastian to Julia, but Goode's deft performance as Charles Ryder is just as riveting as that of Jeremy Irons before him. --Kathleen C. Fennessy


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The Love Guru (Two-Disc + Digital Copy) (DVD)

The Love Guru (two-disc + Digital Copy) from Myers,mike

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A hilarious comedy starring Mike Myers as guru Pitka in his first original character since the blockbuster hit Austin Powers. Myers plays an American raised in India by gurus (Tugginmypudha & Satchabigknoba) and returns to the U.S. in order to break into the self-help business. His unorthodox methods are put to the test when he must settle the romantic troubles and subsequent professional skid of a star hockey player (Romany Malco), whose wife left him for a rival athlete Jacques Grande (Justin Timberlake). Mini Me is back from Austin Powers and plays the hockey coach for more classic comedic moments that will have audiences laughing from opening to closing credits.Mike Myers, creator of Wayne's World and Austin Powers, adds another character to his arsenal of comic personae. With his thick beard, curly mustachios, and easy-to-remember aphorisms, Guru Pitka (Myers) has built a reputation as love advisor par excellence--but he's still just America's #2 guru, after Deepak Chopra. Finally an opportunity comes his way: If he can heal the rift between a star hockey player (Romany Marco, Weeds) and his wife (Meagan Good, Stomp the Yard), he can appear on Oprah. But when he meets the hockey team's comely owner (Jessica Alba), Pitka realizes he must solve his own love problems as well. Myers can't resist a good bodily functions joke--unfortunately, he can't resist a bad one either, so The Love Guru is crammed top to bottom with jokes about urine, feces, sex, genitalia--lots and lots about male genitalia--along with many, many gags about Canada, drugs, elephants, inspirational catchphrases, and little people (Vern "Mini-Me" Troyer takes the brunt of these). But the Austin Powers movies were pretty much the same sort of lowbrow comedy grab-bag; though the ratio of good to bad might be weaker here, a good handful of bits offer solid laughs, including some mock-Bollywood musical numbers. Also featuring pop star Justin Timberlake (as a preposterously well-endowed French-Canadian), Ben Kingsley (as Pitka's cross-eyed mentor), Stephen Colbert (as a drug-addled sports announcer), as well as numerous celebrity cameos. --Bret Fetzer more...

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Through a Screen Darkly: Looking Closer at Beauty, Truth and Evil in the Movies (Paperback)

Through A Screen Darkly: Looking Closer At Beauty, Truth And Evil In The Movies from

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In the style of a cinematic travel journal, film columnist and critic Jeffrey Overstreet of Christianity Today and lookingcloser.org leads readers down paths less traveled to explore some of the best films you’ve never seen. Examining a feast of movies, from blockbusters to buried treasure, Overstreet peels back the layers of work by popular entertainers and under-appreciated masters. He shares excerpts from conversations with filmmakers like Peter Jackson, Wim Wenders, Kevin Smith, Scott Derrickson, producer Ralph Winter, and stars like Elijah Wood, Ian McKellan, Keanu Reeves and the cast of Serenity, drawing “war-stories” from his encounters with movie stars, moviemakers, moviegoers and other critics in both mainstream and religious circles. He argues that what makes some films timeless rather than merely popular has everything to do with the way these artists—whether they know it or not—have captured reflections of God in their work. Through a Screen Darkly also includes a collection of reviews, humorous anecdotes and on-the-scene film festival reports, as well as recommendations for movie discussion groups and meditations on how different films echo the myriad ways in which Christ captured the attention and imagination of culture. Features: ISBN13: 9780830743155, Condition: New, Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed more...

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Casanova (DVD)

Casanova from Buena Vista Home Video

Overview - Online Stores - Top Rated in Art House & International
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Heath Ledger, Academy Award(R) nominee (Best Actor, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, 2005), stars in the scandalously funny adventure CASANOVA. After a lifetime of women falling head over heels in love with him, the world's legendary ladies' man (Ledger) meets the love of his life -- the one woman who thinks he's a total heel. Comic chaos ensues in a hilarious whirl of misadventures, disguises, and mistaken identities as the love-struck Casanova tries to win the heart of the fiery feminist who wants nothing to do with the man she thinks he is.A light farce dressed up as a lush 18th century costume drama, Casanova gives a fictional spin to the exploits of history's most rakish seducer of women. As played by Heath Ledger, this Casanova bears no resemblance to Donald Sutherland's unrepentant portrayal in Fellini's Casanova, filmed 30 years earlier. Instead, the great ladies' man of Venice is just biding time by bedding women, waiting for true love (and the return his long-absent mother) to settle down into blissful monogamy. He finds true love in Francesca (Sienna Miller), a feminist who initially resists Casanova's affections while director Lasse Hallström serves up a variety of lightweight subplots including Casanova's flight from the Vatican's inquisitor (Jeremy Irons); a host of mistaken identities involving, among others, the portly "Lard King of Genoa" (played with scene-stealing perfection by Oliver Platt in a blubbery fat suit); and the romantic negotiations of Francesca's mother (played by Hallström’s wife, Lena Olin) and a young bumbler named Giovanni with his own promising future as a lover of women. It all adds up to a good-looking and harmless diversion that barely warrants an R-rating, and it makes a fine double-bill with the more enjoyable Dangerous Beauty, another Venetian lover’s tale that was also blessed by the presence of Platt, who gives this Casanova the majority of its entertainment value. --Jeff Shannon Features: Heath Ledger stars as the legendary Casanova, the world s most notorious seducer, a master of disguise and wit. It was said no woman could resist his amorous charms. But Casanova has finally met his match in the fiery intelligent beauty Francesca portrayed by Sienna Miller. Academy Award® winner Jeremy Irons also stars in this scandalously fun adventure from the director of Chocolat. Set in t more...

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Award-Winning Films of the 1930s (Hollywood Classics) (Kindle Edition)

Award-winning Films Of The 1930s (hollywood Classics) from

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Award-winning Films Of The 1930s (hollywood Classics)

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The title says its all. Every movie in this well-researched reference book is an award-winner. Here you’ll find complete details and all the background information anyone could desire on such outstanding films as Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of Oz, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Stagecoach, San Francisco, Grand Hotel, In Old Chicago, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Cleopatra, Lost Horizon, Goodbye Mr Chips, Little Women, Wuthering Heights, It Happened One Night, Lives of a Bengal Lancer, Naughty Marietta, Wings, The Garden of Allah, Broadway Melody, The Charge of the Light Brigade, and many other award-winning motion pictures. With only a few exceptions, all these movie classics are now available on DVD. more...

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