Library

Languages: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish

Subtitles: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Director Harold Ramis leans away from the "Groundhog Day" side of his personality and toward the "Caddyshack" side with "Year One", a broad comedy set in more-or-less ancient times. The film's cockeyed timeline puts two wandering cavemen (Jack Black and Michael Cera) through a rapid-fire series of biblical events: Cain (David Cross) slaying Abel (Paul Rudd), Abraham (Hank Azaria) preparing to smite his son Isaac (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), and everybody converging on Sodom, the Genesis equivalent of Las Vegas. The jokes range from droll religious references to Apatow-ready testicular gags, but almost all of the real humor comes from the efforts of the performers to put things across. Black and Cera couldn't be more different in their styles, but each manages to conjure up some laughs just by working in his particular vein: one can appreciate Black's exuberant extrovert pouncing all over the material like a needy Golden Retriever and also savor Cera's muttering wallflower as he flicks in his sidelong observations. Azaria and Oliver Platt are given very long leashes--they know what to do with that kind of room--and Ramis himself plays a mighty-bearded Adam, but it's all not quite enough to prevent "Year One" from falling into that hard-luck zone with "Caveman" and "Wholly Moses": one more comedy that suggests the ancient world wasn't really all that funny. "--Robert Horton"




Stills from "Year One" (Click for larger image)

Languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese

Summary: Jim Carrey does wonders with a slight premise that finds his reserved, emotionally-distant character, Carl Allen, a banker who routinely turns down loan applications, accepting a challenge to open up to life by saying "yes" to everything. A man who constantly disappoints friends by weasling out of opportunities for bonding and happiness, Carl radically changes into a creature of complete spontaneity. By never saying no anymore, he gets into situations with unpredictable outcomes, such as driving a homeless stranger to a scary-looking park at night. But for the most part, whatever Carl says yes to becomes a road to worthwhile experiences, even receiving a promotion at work for approving hundreds of micro-loans against all policy. Zooey Deschanel, who often plays appealing kooks, is very good as Carl's girlfriend, a free spirit who takes to his positivity about everything--for awhile, anyway. Director Peyton Reed ("Down with Love") makes the most out of the gimmicky comedy, as does Carrey, who does wonders with scenes that are often left open-ended just to see what the brilliant comic will do with them. "--Tom Keogh"

Languages: English, French

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

Sound: Dolby Digital 1.0

Summary: Yogi Bear began as a secondary character on "The Huckleberry Hound Show" (1958), but he proved so popular, he was given his own series in 1961. A conniver and a schemer, Yogi frequently proclaimed he was "smarter than the average bear." His gentle pal Boo Boo always pointed out that Ranger Smith wasn't going to like his latest plot to steal "picanic" baskets from visitors to Jellystone Park, but that never stopped Yogi. "The Yogi Bear Show" also featured Snagglepuss, a bright pink lion whose, "Exit, stage left" became a catch phrase among kids, and Yakky Doodle, a self-consciously cute little duck. More than one critic noted that Yogi sounded a lot like Art Carney's Ed Norton character on "The Honeymooners", just as Snagglepuss's voice bore more than a passing resemblance to Bert Lahr's Cowardly Lion. But the sound-alike formula proved popular, and Hanna-Barbera used it many times.
"The Yogi Bear Show: The Complete Series" includes all 32 cartoons featuring each of the starring characters. The show's finale was a birthday party special with appearances by Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, and other visitors from various Hanna-Barbera programs. Only a few extras are included in the set; the most fun is "Time Capsule Yogi," which offers the theme song, interstitial gags, and commercials. "The Yogi Bear Show" may not have been great animation, but it was an essential part of growing up in '60s America, and this set is sure to delight baby boomers who watched it as kids. (Unrated, suitable for ages 6 and older: cartoon violence, occasional ethnic stereotypes) "--Charles Solomon"

Languages: English, French

Subtitles: English, French

Sound: Dolby

Summary: "You Got Served" has one simple priority, and if you're into the latest hip-hop dance moves, you'll get served an enjoyable 93-minute diversion. For anyone else, however, all bets are off, since this wretchedly plotted film was written by director Christopher B. Stokes as a crassly commercial vehicle for B2K, the teen group that Stokes managed while making cheap-ass movies like this one. There's a tissue-thin romantic subplot, but mostly it's about the MTV-styled showdown between B2K (as Orange County white boys) and their black L.A. competitors, including members of the hip-hop group IMx. Their aggressive moves are undeniably impressive (in other words, don't try this at home unless you know a good chiropractor), but Stokes would've been better off making a straight documentary, thus avoiding all the nonsense that "You Got Served" delivers between its abundance of choppily edited dance scenes. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English, Spanish

Subtitles: Spanish, French

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0

Summary: The film boasts the best of the Bond title songs (this one sung on a dreamy track by Nancy Sinatra), but the movie itself is one of the weaker ones of the Sean Connery phase of the 007 franchise. The story concerns an effort by the evil organization SPECTRE to start a world war, but the not-so-super villain behind the plot is the awfully civilized Donald Pleasence. The thin script is by Roald Dahl (shouldn't we have expected a better Bond nemesis from the creator of mad genius "Willy Wonka"?), and direction is by British veteran Lewis Gilbert ("Alfie"). But the movie can't hold a candle to "Dr. No", "From Russia with Love", or "Goldfinger". --"Tom Keogh"

Languages: English

Subtitles: Spanish

Sound: Dolby

Summary: Part of what was touted as a late-1980s revival of Westerns (and you can see how long that lasted), this good-looking, empty-brained film was like a spurs-and-chaps version of a Joel Schumacher movie, filled with pretty faces, prettier imagery, and absolutely no new ideas. The idiotically grinning Emilio Estevez is cast as Billy the Kid, who slowly accumulates a gang of Brat Pack buddies (Lou Diamond Phillips, Kiefer Sutherland, Dermot Mulroney) and fashions them into a group of male models with six-guns. The action is confused and the script is trite, though Terence Stamp is intriguing as the old reprobate who helps the gang get its act together. Followed by an even worse sequel. "--Marshall Fine"

Languages: English, French

Subtitles: English, French

Sound: Dolby

Summary: This time around, the Brat Packers (Emilio Estevez, Christian Slater, Lou Diamond Phillips, Kiefer Sutherland) are on the run from the law and making a break for the border. Sutherland is yanked from his school-teaching job back East and extradited for trial, until he's liberated by the other members of the gang. There's a memorable scrap between Phillips and Slater, and a couple of pretty decent firefights, but all in all this is rather forgettable fare. It taps into the futility and camaraderie of classics like "The Wild Bunch" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", but Sam Peckinpah or George Roy Hill it ain't. Jon Bon Jovi adds to the Rock-Stars-in-the-Old-West feel of this one, rife as it is with non-period dialogue and long, blowy hair. Still, fans of the original movie may find plenty to like in this sequel, even if it comes across as being a bit tired and turgid (notice there never was a "Young Guns III"). "--Jerry Renshaw"