วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 29 ธันวาคม พ.ศ. 2554

Inside Job (DVD)

Inside Job from Sony

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From Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker, Charles Ferguson (NO END IN SIGHT), comes INSIDE JOB, the first film to expose the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008. The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians and journalists, INSIDE JOB traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation and academia. As he did with the occupation of Iraq in No End in Sight, Charles Ferguson shines a light on the global financial crisis in Inside Job. Accompanied by narration from Matt Damon, Ferguson begins and ends in Iceland, a flourishing country that gave American-style banking a try--and paid the price. Then he looks at the spectacular rise and cataclysmic fall of deregulation in the United States. Unlike Alex Gibney's fiscal films, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Casino Jack, Ferguson builds his narrative around dozens of players, interviewing authors, bank managers, government ministers, and even a psychotherapist, who speaks to a culture that encourages Gordon Gekko-like behavior, but the number of those who declined to comment, like Alan Greenspan, is even larger. Though the director isn't as combative as Michael Moore, he asks tough questions and elicits squirms from several participants, notably former Treasury secretary David McCormick and Columbia dean Glenn Hubbard, George W. Bush's economic adviser. Their reactions are understandable, since the borders between Wall Street, Washington, and the Ivy League dissolved years ago; it's hard to know who to trust when conflicts of interest run rampant. If Ferguson takes Reagan and Bush to task for tax cuts that benefit the wealthy, he criticizes Clinton for encouraging derivatives and Obama for failing to deliver on the promise of reform. And in the category of unlikely heroes: former governor Eliot Spitzer, who fought against fraud as New York's attorney general (he's the subject of Gibney's documentary Client 9). --Kathleen C. Fennessy more...

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Eagle Eye (DVD)

Eagle Eye from Paramount

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Genre: Action/Adventure
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 27-DEC-2008
Media Type: DVDThe "cell phone thriller" is becoming a genre unto itself, and Eagle Eye should be considered a key example of the form. Frankly preposterous but compulsively watchable, this movie puts Shia LaBeouf in a mess of trouble instigated by a mysterious telephone voice. If he doesn't follow orders, dire things will happen--although when he does follow orders, the consequences are pretty dire, anyway. Also being blackmailed is a single mom (Michelle Monaghan) receiving similar phone calls. Why are they being jerked around by the purring female voice, and why is the road leading to Washington, D.C.? Actually, you won't have time to contemplate these questions, because director D.J. Caruso (who guided LaBeouf in Disturbia) keeps the action going at the customary breakneck pace. This is a wise move, because the real questions you'd likely be asking have to do with the plausibility of events on a minute-by-minute basis (most notably: how could Mysterious Phone Voice possibly know that the two pigeons would survive the hoops she makes them fly through, each one more death-defying than the last?). The actors tumble through this mayhem like scattering bowling pins, including Billy Bob Thornton and Rosario Dawson as government agents. Nobody has time to make much of an impression, and LaBeouf has much less room for puppydog charm than he did in Disturbia. Even that would be all right within the movie's berserk parameters, but the really irritating thing is the way the tacked-on final scenes reverse what would have been a heroic climax. No guts, no glory. --Robert Horton




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Hollywood's Miracles of Entertainment (Hollywood Classics) (Kindle Edition)

Hollywood's Miracles Of Entertainment (hollywood Classics) from

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This book presents a wide-ranging, general introduction to the wonderful world of classic movies that thrilled audiences from 1925 through 1965. The author's original plan to review year by year. To represent 1925, he chose "The Eagle" which showcases Rudolph Valentino at his most ingratiating. For 1965, he envisaged the Agatha Christie adaptation, "The Alphabet Murders". For 1928, "Our Daring Daughters" (starring the entrancing Joan Crawford) was a natural. For 1931, it was impossible to go past Jean Harlow's "Platinum Blonde"; and for 1933, who could refuse admittance to either "King Kong" or "The Invisible Man"? It soon became apparent, however, that a year-by-year breakdown was not going to work, because there were too many years in which Hollywood produced a bumper crop of movie treasures. Take 1944, for instance: "The Conspirators" (a delightful extravaganza, intended as a box-office follow-up to "Casablanca"), with Hedy Lamarr, Paul Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre; "Cover Girl", one of the all-time favorite musicals, starring Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly, directed by Charles Vidor; "The Curse of the Cat People", starring that quintessential object of fantasy, Simone Simon; "In Society", one of Abbott and Costello funniest outings; "The Man in Half-Moon Street", Paramount's elaborately atmospheric answer to "The Picture of Dorian Gray"; two entries in Universal's justly famous "Mummy" series, both starring Lon Chaney; and "Standing Room Only", a side-splitting comedy of manners that rates as one of the Ten Best ever made. What do all these marvelous movies have in common? They were all simply Hollywood's miracles of entertainment. Here then are 120 of the best vintage, brought together with full credits, background information and up-to-date reviews in this well-produced, large-format, 248-page book that also includes a monograph on director Charles Vidor ("Cover Girl", "Gilda", "Rhapsody", "Love Me Or Leave Me", etc.).
This book presents a wide-ranging, general introduction to the wonderful world of classic movies that thrilled audiences from 1925 through 1965. The author's original plan to review year by year. To represent 1925, he chose "The Eagle" which showcases Rudolph Valentino at his most ingratiating. For 1965, he envisaged the Agatha Christie adaptation, "The Alphabet Murders". For 1928, "Our Daring Daughters" (starring the entrancing Joan Crawford) was a natural. For 1931, it was impossible to go past Jean Harlow's "Platinum Blonde"; and for 1933, who could refuse admittance to either "King Kong" or "The Invisible Man"? It soon became apparent, however, that a year-by-year breakdown was not going to work, because there were too many years in which Hollywood produced a bumper crop of movie treasures. Take 1944, for instance: "The Conspirators" (a delightful extravaganza, intended as a box-office follow-up to "Casablanca"), with Hedy Lamarr, Paul Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre; "Cover Girl", one of the all-time favorite musicals, starring Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly, directed by Charles Vidor; "The Curse of the Cat People", starring that quintessential object of fantasy, Simone Simon; "In Society", one of Abbott and Costello funniest outings; "The Man in Half-Moon Street", Paramount's elaborately atmospheric answer to "The Picture of Dorian Gray"; two entries in Universal's justly famous "Mummy" series, both starring Lon Chaney; and "Standing Room Only", a side-splitting comedy of manners that rates as one of the Ten Best ever made. What do all these marvelous movies have in common? They were all simply Hollywood's miracles of entertainment. Here then are 120 of the best vintage, brought together with full credits, background information and up-to-date reviews in this well-produced, large-format, 248-page book that also includes a monograph on director Charles Vidor ("Cover Girl", "Gilda", "Rhapsody", "Love Me Or Leave Me", etc.).
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วันพุธที่ 14 ธันวาคม พ.ศ. 2554

Steamboat 'Round The Bend (1935) (Fox At The Ford Collection) (DVD)

Steamboat 'round The Bend (1935) (fox At The Ford Collection) from 20th Century Fox

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Steamboat 'round The Bend (1935) (fox At The Ford Collection)

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Steamboat Round the Bend (1935) When riverboat captain Doctor John Pearly (Will Rogers) learns that his nephew Duke has killed a man in self-defense, he urges Duke to turn himself in. But Duke's only chance for freedom is the testimony of a half-crazed witness, New Moses, who has disappeared upriver. With time running out, and Pearly's rival captain Eli itching to race his paddle wheeler, the Pride of Paducah, against Pearly's steamboat, the Claremore Queen, Pearly sets off on a wild race to find New Moses, free Duke and lasso a win for the Claremore Queen. BONUS FEATURES: * Commentary by Author Scott Eyman * Restoration Comparison * Original Theatrical Trailer more...

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Vacancy (DVD)

Vacancy from Sony

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When David (Luke Wilson) and Amy Fox's (Kate Beckinsale) car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, they are forced to spend the night at the only motel around, with only the TV to entertain them... until they discover that the low-budget slasher videos they find in their room were all filmed in the very room they're sitting in. With hidden cameras now aimed at them... trapping them in rooms, crawlspaces, underground tunnels... and filming their every move, David and Amy must struggle to get out alive before they end up the next victims on tape.

A confined setting is a useful tool for thriller-makers, and Vacancy is definitely boxed in: a rundown motel way, way off the Interstate, the kind of place where unsuspecting movie characters go to get stabbed to death in the shower. If Vacancy doesn't quite live up to its Hitchcockian forbears, at least it provides 80 minutes of well-designed mayhem. You know somebody's paying attention just from the opening credits, a clever vortex with pounding music by Paul Haslinger. Then we meet unhappy couple Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale, driving along in the dark and forced to stay at the Pinewood Motel after a car breakdown. There's a night man (Frank Whaley, decadent) in the tradition of Dennis Weaver's Touch of Evil gargoyle, but the real mess of trouble is waiting in room number 4. Director Nimrod Antal, who scored a stylish international hit with the Hungarian thriller Kontroll, squeezes maximum juice out of the Route 66 atmosphere of the motel, although the movie doesn't get under your skin the way Kontroll did. Wilson and Beckinsale are a little too marquee-namish for this kind of heavy-breathing work, and the script doesn't give them much to play with. But hey, it's not that kind of movie. Where it really belongs is on the top half of a drive-in double bill, or maybe as a nightmare-scenario TV movie from the Seventies. Either way, it works. --Robert Horton

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Scoop (DVD)

Scoop from Nbc Universal

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Scarlett Johansson and Hugh Jackman star in this hilariously twisted tale of murder and mystery. When an inquisitive college journalist (Johansson) stumbles upon new clues to a string of murders, her investigation leads directly to a handsome businessman (Jackman), who draws her in with his mysterious charm. Could a whirlwind romance with the subject of her search also become the most dangerous scoop of a lifetime? Experience the laughs in this witty new comedy that will have you guessing until the very end.Light and charming, Scoop blends murder, ghosts, and falling in love. While inside of a magician's magic cabinet, aspiring journalist Sondra Pransky (Scarlett Johansson, Lost in Translation) is visiting by the ghost of a dead reporter (Ian McShane, Deadwood) who has gotten a hot tip in the afterlife: A rising young politician named Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman, X-Men) may be the notorious serial killer who leaves tarot cards by his victims. With the magician (writer-director Woody Allen) in tow, Sondra sneaks her way into Lyman's life--and, despite increasing evidence that the tip is true, finds herself falling in love with him. Scoop is stronger than Allen's last film, the overrated Match Point; moment to moment, scene to scene, it's his most zippy and entertaining movie in years. It still suffers from laziness--Allen seems unwilling to look at the plot's holes and find a way to sew them up--and Allen's own persona, with his now-rote comic stutterings and hesitations, drags on the film's momentum. Despite this, Scoop has flashes of suspense and wit that, in an unknown filmmaker, would be cause for celebration. Also featuring Charles Dance (White Mischief) and Romola Garai (I Capture the Castle), one of the few actresses who can compete with Johansson in lusciousness. --Bret Fetzer more...

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วันอาทิตย์ที่ 11 ธันวาคม พ.ศ. 2554

Hollywood Classics Title Index to All Movies Reviewed in Books 1-24 (Kindle Edition)

Hollywood Classics Title Index To All Movies Reviewed In Books 1-24 from

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Hollywood Classics Title Index To All Movies Reviewed In Books 1-24

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Not just a complete index to all the films detailed and discussed in all 24 books of the Hollywood Classics series, this 344-page final book, also provides exhaustive details and reviews of 80 additional movies. Packed with information, these reviews were not previously included because they were too long and/or too important – or simply because they didn’t fit into the overall theme of any individual book. These additional Hollywood movie classics include All the King’s Men, If I Were King, Red Dust, Raintree County, The Sun Shines Bright, People Will Talk, I Know Where I’m Going, Ivanhoe, The Big Store, The Dolly Sisters, The Desert Fox, Out of the Past, The Palm Beach Story, The Prisoner of Zenda, The Snake Pit, A Streetcar Named Desire, Romeo and Juliet (three versions), The Ten Commandments, Vertigo, The War of the Worlds, Waterloo Bridge, Ice Station Zebra, Only Angels Have Wings, The Lady Eve, Trouble Along the Way, Brewster’s Millions, In This Our Life and It’s a Wonderful World.Not just a complete index to all the films detailed and discussed in all 24 books of the Hollywood Classics series, this 344-page final book, also provides exhaustive details and reviews of 80 additional movies. Packed with information, these reviews were not previously included because they were too long and/or too important – or simply because they didn’t fit into the overall theme of any individual book. These additional Hollywood movie classics include All the King’s Men, If I Were King, Red Dust, Raintree County, The Sun Shines Bright, People Will Talk, I Know Where I’m Going, Ivanhoe, The Big Store, The Dolly Sisters, The Desert Fox, Out of the Past, The Palm Beach Story, The Prisoner of Zenda, The Snake Pit, A Streetcar Named Desire, Romeo and Juliet (three versions), The Ten Commandments, Vertigo, The War of the Worlds, Waterloo Bridge, Ice Station Zebra, Only Angels Have Wings, The Lady Eve, Trouble Along the Way, Brewster’s Millions, In This Our Life and It’s a Wonderful World. more...

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The Wedding Planner (DVD)

The Wedding Planner from Sony

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Mary Fiore (Jennifer Lopez) is the wedding planner. She's ambitious, hard-working, extremely organized, and she knows exactly what to do and say to make any wedding a spectacular event. But, when Mary falls (literally) for a handsome doctor, (Matthew McConaughey), her busy yet uncomplicated life is turned upside down - he's the groom in the biggest wedding of her career! Will she help him walk down the aisle with his internet tycoon girlfriend (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras), or will Mary finally get to be the bride, herself? As this sweet romantic comedy proves, when it comes to love, you can never plan what's going to happen.The good news is, yes, Jennifer Lopez can do comedy. In The Wedding Planner Lopez is Mary, a lovable woman who believes "those who can't do, teach. Those who can't wed, plan!" Her slapstick moments are lighthearted and she is spot-on as the controlling, compulsive-yet-sweet planner. The bad news is Lopez didn't get much of a vehicle in which to test drive her newfound comedic skills.

Mary's life is her career. Planning other people's weddings takes all of her time, leaving no room for a love life of her own. Her only personal life is a Scrabble club, to which she and her father (Alex Rocco, whose wandering Italian accent is painful to listen to) belong. When a handsome young doctor (Matthew McConaughey) saves her from a collision with a runaway dumpster (really, it works), she is instantly wooed by his quiet charm. Too bad he's the fiancé of Mary's biggest client, Fran (played winningly by Bridgette Wilson-Sampras), the job that will launch Mary as a partner in her firm.

The main problem with this film is that no one wants to hurt anyone else's feelings. Everyone is just so gosh-darn nice. In a subplot, Mary's father is trying to arrange her marriage to just the nicest Italian boy. Gee, he's sweet. Golly, Fran is nice. Is there ever a way out of this mess and to leave everyone smiling? Yet, there is a touch of old-fashioned romance to this wholesome film, which can only be described as "cute." And while things may unfold in a predictable manner, The Wedding Planner is still lighthearted fun of the sort that inspires dreamy romantic thoughts. --Jenny Brown more...

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