Library

Languages: English

Summary: "Can you stand the heat?"

Sharp-tongued, culinary maestro Chef Gordon Ramsay brings his brand of nightmarish coaching to young - and sometimes brash - amateur chefs all competing for a job in his kitchen. In this new series, Ramsay shows his protégés the hard reality of working in a kitchen by taking over a restaurant and inviting 60 specially-selected diners who will use their wallets to vote for which chef will win - and if they don t like the food, they don t pay!
Not confined to the kitchen, Ramsay also travels all over the world in pursuit of the freshest straight-out-of-the-sea or off-the-pasture ingredients and demonstrates how you can prepare the most authentic gourmet dishes in the world... right on your own stove.
Always energetic and quick to denounce bad food and incompetence, Chef Gordon Ramsay whips up portions of discipline that will give you a pretty good idea of why they call this show ""The f Word"".

Episode highlights include celebrity guest diners Joan Collins, Jonathan Ross, Richard Wilson, Sharon Osbourne and many more...

Languages: English

Summary: "The heat is on!"

Chef Gordon Ramsay's F Word Restaurant opens its doors for another season of mouth-watering dishes, recipe-based challenges, celebrity guests and guilt-free fast food.

In the ongoing competition, brigades of passionate amateur chefs prepare meals for fifty diners and, as always, if the diners don't like it, they don't have to pay. The best performing brigade of the series will return at the end to cook at "Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's" in London, so the stakes have never been higher. With Ramsay's reputation on the line, the amateur chefs had better get it right - or get out!

Episode highlights include celebrity guest diners Cat Deeley,
Ricky Gervais, Dawn French, Ronnie Corbett, Jonathan Ross,
Gok Wan and more...

Includes 6 Complete Printable Recipes

Languages: English

Summary: "Turning up the heat on perfection"

Chef Gordon Ramsay is back for another edgy season of this razor-sharp, raw - and totally uncensored - series. Stakes are high as Ramsay recruits a different brigade of passionate amateurs each week to see if they can live up to the task of feeding the diners in his new restaurant. With his reputation on the line and the customers only paying if they are satisfied, one thing is for sure: no one in the kitchen is getting off easy.

This season is packed with fiery competition, cross-country travels, celebrity cook-off challenges, taste tests and angry chefs. Each episode also features easy-to-learn gourmet dishes, so that you can prepare great food at home in a matter of minutes. It s a lesson in cooking that you will not forget! Always energetic and never censored, Chef Gordon Ramsay whips up portions of discipline that will give you a pretty good idea of why they call this show " The F Word ".

Episode highlights include celebrity guest diners Nick Knowles, Kathy Burke, Jeremy Clarkson, Janet Street-Porter, David Walliams and many more...

Languages: English, Spanish, French

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: At his best, director John Woo turns action movies into ballets of blood and bullets grounded in character drama. "Face/Off" marks Woo's first American film to reach the pitched level of his best Hong Kong work ("Hard-Boiled"). He takes a patently absurd premise--hero and villain exchange identities by literally swapping faces in science-fiction plastic surgery--and creates a double-barreled revenge film driven by the split psyches of its newly redefined characters. FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) must play the villain to move through the underworld while psychotic terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) becomes a perversely paternal family man while using every tool at his disposal to destroy his nemesis. Travolta vamps Cage's tics and flamboyant excess with the grace of a dancer after his transformation from cop to criminal, while Cage plays the sullen, bottled-up agent excruciatingly trapped behind the face of the man who killed his son. His attempts to live up to the terrorist's reputation become cathartic explosions of violence that both thrill and terrify him. This is merely icing on the cake for action fans, the dramatic backbone for some of the most visceral action thrills ever. Woo fills the screen with one show-stopping set piece after another, bringing a poetic grace to the action freakout with sweeping camerawork and sophisticated editing. This marriage of melodrama and mayhem ups the ante from cops-and-robbers clichés to a conflict of near-mythic levels. "--Sean Axmaker"

Languages: English, French

Subtitles: Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: At his best, director John Woo turns action movies into ballets of blood and bullets grounded in character drama. "Face/Off" marks Woo's first American film to reach the pitched level of his best Hong Kong work ("Hard-Boiled"). He takes a patently absurd premise--hero and villain exchange identities by literally swapping faces in science-fiction plastic surgery--and creates a double-barreled revenge film driven by the split psyches of its newly redefined characters. FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) must play the villain to move through the underworld while psychotic terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) becomes a perversely paternal family man while using every tool at his disposal to destroy his nemesis. Travolta vamps Cage's tics and flamboyant excess with the grace of a dancer after his transformation from cop to criminal, while Cage plays the sullen, bottled-up agent excruciatingly trapped behind the face of the man who killed his son. His attempts to live up to the terrorist's reputation become cathartic explosions of violence that both thrill and terrify him. This is merely icing on the cake for action fans, the dramatic backbone for some of the most visceral action thrills ever. Woo fills the screen with one show-stopping set piece after another, bringing a poetic grace to the action freakout with sweeping camerawork and sophisticated editing. This marriage of melodrama and mayhem ups the ante from cops-and-robbers clichés to a conflict of near-mythic levels. "--Sean Axmaker"

Languages: English

Subtitles: English

Sound: AC-3

Summary: To anyone who "truly" understands what it means to be an American, Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" should be seen as a triumph of patriotic freedom. Rarely has the First Amendment been exercised with such fervor and forthrightness of purpose: After subjecting himself to charges of factual errors in his gun-lobby exposé "Bowling for Columbine", Moore armed himself with a platoon of reputable fact-checkers, an abundance of indisputable film and video footage, and his own ironically comedic sense of righteous indignation, with the singular intention of toppling the war-ravaged administration of President George W. Bush. It's the Bush presidency that Moore, with his provocative array of facts and figures, blames for corporate corruption, senseless death, unnecessary war, and political favoritism toward Osama Bin Laden's family and Saudi oil partners following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Moore's incendiary film earned Palme d'Or honors at Cannes and a predictable legion of detractors, but do yourself a favor: Ignore those who condemn the film without seeing it, and let the facts speak for themselves. By honoring American soldiers and the victims of 9/11 while condemning Bush's rationale for war in Iraq, "Fahrenheit 9/11" may actually succeed in turning the tides of history. "--Jeff Shannon"

Summary: A JOURNEY TO IRAQ is a unique documentary, showing a side of the War on Terror that is rarely seen in mainstream media. This documentary gets up close and personal with Iraqi refugees who fled the country due to religious persecution, the faithful Christians who answered God's call to help spread Christianity to the Arab and Kurdish people, and one Missionary struggling to establish what could be the most important print shop in the Middle East.
Establishing the first Christian printing press in the Kurdish territory of Northern Iraq is more than difficult - it's almost unthinkable. But Missionary Tim Comer discovers that in the word's newest Republic, the power of Islam leaves little room for Christian Missions, and the only way to get things done is God's way.
Under the regime of Saddam Hussein, Christianity was mildly tolerated at best, and certainly was not encouraged. With the American and allied invasion came the prayers of Christians worldwide, as well as the power to establish political, personal and religious freedoms for the Iraqi people. For the first time in their lives, countless Iraqis discovered acceptable alternatives to Islam.

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

Sound: Dolby

Summary: Although it received mixed reactions from critics and audiences alike when released in 1998, this supernatural thriller benefits from a sustained atmosphere of anticipation and dread, and its combination of detective mystery and demonic mischief is handled with ample style and intelligence. Under the direction of Gregory Hoblit (who fared better with "Primal Fear"), Denzel Washington plays detective John Hobbes, who witnesses the gas-chamber execution of a serial killer (Elias Koteas). But when another series of murders begins, Hobbes suspects that the killer's evil spirit has survived and is possessing the bodies of others to do its evil bidding. Even Hobbes's trusted partner (John Goodman) thinks the detective is losing his grip on reality, but the dire warnings of a noted linguist (Embeth Davidtz) confirm Hobbes's far-out theory, and his case intensifies toward a fateful showdown. Although its idea is better than its execution, and the story's film noir ambitions are never fully accomplished, this slickly directed thriller has some genuinely effective moments in which evil forces are entwined into the fabric of everyday reality. Among the highlights is a memorable scene in which Detective Hobbes must track the killer as the evil spirit is transferred between many people via physical contact. Even if the film is ultimately less than the sum of its parts, it's an intriguing hybrid that resides in the same cinematic neighborhood as "Seven" and "The Silence of the Lambs" with a cast that also includes Donald Sutherland and James Gandolfini. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Subtitles: English, French

Sound: Dolby

Summary: This film, about a downsized engineer (Michael Douglas) who goes ballistic, triggered a media avalanche of stories about middle-class white rage when it was released in 1993. In fact, it's nothing more than a manipulative, violent melodrama about one geek's meltdown. Douglas, complete with pocket protector, nerd glasses, crewcut, and short-sleeved white shirt, gets stuck in traffic one day near downtown L.A. and proceeds to just walk away from his car--and then lose it emotionally. Everyone he encounters rubs him the wrong way--and a fine lot of stereotypes they are, from threatening ghetto punks to rude convenience store owners to a creepy white supremacist--and he reacts violently in every case. As he walks across L.A. (now there's a concept), cutting a bloody swath, he's being tracked by a cop on the verge of retirement (Robert Duvall). He also spends time on the phone with his frightened ex-wife (Barbara Hershey). Though Douglas and Duvall give stellar performances, they can't disguise the fact that, as usual, this is another film from director Joel Schumacher that is about surface and sensation, rather than actual substance. "--Marshall Fine"

Languages: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Danish, Dutch

Sound: Dolby

Summary: This film, about a downsized engineer (Michael Douglas) who goes ballistic, triggered a media avalanche of stories about middle-class white rage when it was released in 1993. In fact, it's nothing more than a manipulative, violent melodrama about one geek's meltdown. Douglas, complete with pocket protector, nerd glasses, crewcut, and short-sleeved white shirt, gets stuck in traffic one day near downtown L.A. and proceeds to just walk away from his car--and then lose it emotionally. Everyone he encounters rubs him the wrong way--and a fine lot of stereotypes they are, from threatening ghetto punks to rude convenience store owners to a creepy white supremacist--and he reacts violently in every case. As he walks across L.A. (now there's a concept), cutting a bloody swath, he's being tracked by a cop on the verge of retirement (Robert Duvall). He also spends time on the phone with his frightened ex-wife (Barbara Hershey). Though Douglas and Duvall give stellar performances, they can't disguise the fact that, as usual, this is another film from director Joel Schumacher that is about surface and sensation, rather than actual substance. "--Marshall Fine"

Languages: English

Subtitles: French, Spanish

Sound: Dolby

Summary: What better way to launch "Family Guy"'s sixth season and commemorate "Star Wars"' 30th anniversary than with this double-length Very Special Episode, a full-scale, awesomely animated spoof that recasts George Lucas' saga with "Family Guy"'s galaxy of characters: Chris (Seth Green) is Luke; Lois (Alex Borstein) is Princess Leia; Peter (Seth McFarlane) is Han Solo, but not, as expected, Jabba the Hut; Brian (Seth, again) is Chewbacca; Quagmire (and again, Seth) is C3PO; Cleveland is R2D2; Herbert, the creepy senior pedophile, is Obi-Wan (both voiced by Mike Henry); and, of course, Stewie (Seth, already) is Darth Vader ("My diapers have gone over to the dark side"). Poor Meg is reduced to a cameo as the hideous reptilian creature that haunts the garbage compactor. "Blue Harvest" is reverently faithful to "A New Hope", while engaging in typical "Family Guy" pop-culture references (everything from those old Grey Poupon commercials to "Doctor Who", "Airplane", "Dirty Dancing", and "Deal or No Deal") and bizarre digressions (the iconic opening crawl detours into an appreciation of a "way naked" Angelina Jolie in "Gia"). Along for the wild ride are Judd Nelson, who contributes a voice cameo as John Bender for a "Breakfast Club" gag, Rush Limbaugh railing against futuristic affirmative action on Tatooine talk radio, and Beverly D'Angelo and Chevy Chase as the vacationing Griswolds observing the rebellion from their orbiting station wagon. A "Star Wars" spoof in 2007 isn't exactly uncharted territory. As Chris Griffin notes in this episode's final moments, "Robot Chicken" brilliantly did it months earlier (and let us not forget Mel Brooks' "Spaceballs" from 1987; or, on second thought...). But the Force is strong with "Family Guy", and who could resist the opportunity to hear the Muzak playing in a Death Star elevator? --"Donald Liebenson"

Beyond "Family Guy: Blue Harvest"
The "Family Guy" Series
The "Star Wars" Store
More from Fox


Stills from "Family Guy: Blue Harvest"

Summary: This should look great on blu-ray.Do not believe the upconvert hype,upconverting in no way compares to the visual and sound quality of Blu-ray

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

Sound: Dolby

Summary: For "Family Guy" fans, there are no freakin' sweeter words than "Never Before Seen." A triumphant homecoming for the Griffins, "Stewie Griffin" is not so much a movie as it is a not-yet-aired three-episode story arc enhanced with a home-video-exclusive "red carpet premiere" prologue and an epilogue (capped, of course, with a fart joke). "Family Guy's" resurrection is a television miracle, and its creators have rewarded the faithful by picking up right where they left off, offending any and all sensibilities (recasting Jesus as comic magician Art Metrano), dissing the celebrity disenfranchised (Ellen Cleghorne references, anyone?), and generally taking potshots at anyone on their enemies list (Stewie breaks the neck of a reporter for "Entertainment Weekly", the magazine that once called "Family Guy" "the Awful Show They Just Keep Putting on the Air"). "The Untold Story! " is a star vehicle for "Family Guy"'s breakout character, in which the mega maniacal and matricidal infant has a Grinch-like change of heart after a near-death experience (and a disturbing encounter with Steve Allen in Hell) and, more life-altering, discovers a football-pated man who could be his father (the truth is more shocking!). As go the gags, so goes "Family Guy", and there are enough good ones here to compensate for the many misfires. The Miller-esque (as in Dennis) penchant for channeling arcane pop culture can grow tiresome. But for those who remember the words to the "Who's the Boss" theme song, know (or still care) who Steve Bartman is, and are always up for "a sexy party," this will be the greatest story ever untold. "--Donald Liebenson"

Stills from "Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin - The Untold Story " (click for larger image)

Languages: English, Spanish, French

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround

Summary: The third and final season of Seth MacFarlane's late, lamented "Family Guy" finds television's most dysfunctional cartoon family even more animated than usual. As MacFarlane notes in a bonus segment about the controversial series' censorship battles, he was inspired to go for broke, thinking that the series, already juggled like a hot potato in the schedule (at one point, it aired opposite the mighty "Friends"), had been cancelled. Just as "Spinal Tap" walked the fine line between "clever and stupid," so did "Family Guy" gleefully mock the line between "edgy and offensive." Case in point is this set's holy grail: "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein," not aired during the series' original run, in which clueless Rhode Island patriarch Peter Griffin is convinced that if his lumpen son is to be rich and successful, he must become Jewish.
Like "The Simpsons", "Family Guy" lends itself to multiple viewings to catch each densely packed episode's way-inside "one-percenter" gags (so-called by the creators because that is the percent of the audience who will get them), scattershot pop-culture references, surreal leaps, and gratuitous pot shots at everyone from, predictably, Oprah, Kevin Costner, and Bill Cosby to, unpredictably, Rita Rudner. Also like their Springfield counterparts, this series benefits from a great ensemble voice cast, with surprising contributions from a no-less-stellar roster of guest stars. Yes, that's actually Kelly Ripa as her "real" self, a heart-devouring alien in "Family Guy Viewer Mail #1," and June Foray popping in as Rocky the Flying Squirrel in "Brian Does Hollywood." "Family Guy"'s stock has recently risen with its addition to Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" lineup, a much better fit than prime time. To see Peter invite Charles Manson to a party for Sharon Tate ("but only if you don't embarrass me") is to marvel how much of this ever got on the air. Happily, it is on DVD. "--Donald Liebenson"

Languages: English, French

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: Dolby

Summary: "Family Guy" lives! That's great news for the devoted fans who watched in record numbers the reruns on Cartoon Network and made the "Family Guy" DVDs bestsellers. It's bad news for Mel Gibson, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Jimmy Fallon, Rob Schneider, Skeet Ulrich, Corey Haim, "My Two Dads", and other pop-culture detritus this show's writers take infinite delight in kicking when they're down (or up, for that matter). The long, long, awaited fourth season begins with a bravado broadside at Fox, which canceled "Family Guy" in 2002. Peter Griffin (voiced by series creator Seth MacFarlane) recites a litany of 29 doomed replacement shows beginning with "Dark Angel" and ending with "Greg the Bunny". From there, it's like the Griffins never left. The 13 episodes are just as dense with bodily function jokes, surreal nonsense, gratuitous pop-culture references (the more obscure, the better), and edgier gags that recklessly cross the line on any number of levels ("Maybe I was wrong about you," Jodie Foster says to John Hinckley in the episode, "Model Misbehavior." "Maybe I was wrong about all men.").
The new season rewards longtime viewers with appearances by such series icons as the Greased-Up Deaf Guy and the Evil Monkey in Chris's closet, and makes no concessions to newcomers to the show (who will no doubt be scratching their heads over the more than two-and-a-half-minute digression in "Blind Ambition," in which Peter's nemesis, the Giant Chicken, returns to continue the smackdown that started in the season 2 episode "Da Boom." In "World Domination: The "Family Guy" Phenomenon," one of the bonus features included on this three-disc set, MacFarlane proclaims these new shows to be "the best we've done." A bold claim, but often enough, one is laughing too hard to prove otherwise. One minute, "Family Guy" dazzles with inspired animation (In "Breaking Out Is Hard to Do," Chris reaches for a carton of milk at the supermarket and finds himself pulled in to A-ha's classic music video, "Take on Me"). The next, it's wallowing in vomit ("8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter"). In addition to the freewheeling episode commentaries, this set also includes a great bonus, excerpts of cast "table reads" of two episodes. Back to the "World Domination" featurette. MacFarlane states, "It's the first time since we've been doing (the show) that I think it's safe to say that we're here to stay for awhile." Are you listening, Fox? "--Donald Liebenson"

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Okay, let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: "Family Guy" is not, never has been, and never will be, "The Simpsons". Nor is it "South Park", "King of the Hill", or any one of a number of other shows on Adult Swim. But yes, it is in many ways a rip-off of those other shows (especially "The Simpsons"; let’s not even pretend otherwise). But so what? By now, you either think the show’s funny, or you don’t, and the derivativeness either bothers you, or it doesn’t. Volume 4 is likely to just cement your feelings one way or the other, because this collection features some of the funniest, and the most offensive material yet. It’s also the most cohesive. The show has always been incredibly erratic, turning on a dime to fit in all those jokes from out of the blue that start with Peter saying "Boy, this is worse than that time when..." But by now, the writers and series creator/executive producer Seth MacFarlane have figured out how to more seamlessly integrate them into the show, and that’s just what it needed to really come together. In fact, the extra attention being paid to the show recently in the form of swipes from "The Simpsons" and especially "South Park" (which dedicated an entire episode to trying to kill off "Family Guy") is evidence that this is probably the peak for the series. This volume is 14 episodes, and stand-outs include "The Courtship of Stewie’s Father," which gives more face time to creepy old man Herbert (brilliantly voiced by Mike Henry), and "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz," in which Peter starts his own church dedicated to Fonzie from "Happy Days". Of course, there is still the lingering question of who the real star of "Family Guy" is: Peter or Stewie? The little football-head gets his moments to shine in "Sibling Rivalry," in which he battles with half-brother Bertram, and... well, pretty much every other episode, as he continues to get many of the memorable lines. Along with the extra features, over 40 deleted scenes, extensive commentaries, and featurettes, you true fans will get more than your share of laughs from this collection, which is what you watch the show for in the first place." --Daniel Vancini"

Languages: English, Spanish

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Seth MacFarlane's animated comedy continues its assault on pop culture good taste and the Fox censors with its riotous fifth season. Even though nothing has really changed for the Griffin family there's still plenty of comedic ground to cover. Peter keeps his crown as the laziest man in Quahog Rhode Island but getting older means experiences that no man should have to go through. Meanwhile his beloved Lois is still far too sexy for her portly husband leading to a liaison with Bill Clinton. Son Chris joins a band but he can't seem to shake his fear of the evil monkey in his closet. Daughter Meg continues her tour of mediocrity with a job at a store in town while Brian the dog puts down his martini long enough to go beyond the bounds of Quahog and travel to Iraq. Baby Stewie remains intent on world domination and matricide but he takes some time off to connect with an ex-love. Volume five includes the first 13 episodes of the fifth season plus commentary deleted scenes and more to delight FAMILY GUY fans.System Requirements:Running Time: 379 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 024543461463 Manufacturer No: 2246146

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Meet the Griffins: Peter, the big, lovable oaf who always says what’s on his mind. Lois, the doting mother who can’t figure out why her baby son keeps trying to kill her. Their daughter Meg, the teen drama queen who’s constantly embarrassed by her family. Chris, the beefy 13-year-old who wouldn’t hurt a fly, unless it landed on his hot dog. Stewie, the maniacal one-year-old bent on world domination. And Brian, the sarcastic dog with a wit as dry as the martinis he drinks. The animated adventures of his outrageous family will have your whole family laughing out loud..



Beyond Family Guy - Vol. 6 on DVD
Arrested Development
Family Guy - The Complete Collection [Amazon.com Exclusive]
The Simpsons - Season Eleven


Stills from Family Guy - Vol. 6 (Click for larger image)

 

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Like John Waters' shock-value comedies of yore, "Family Guy" keeps moving the taste-be-damned line. "You laughed at "that"?" these episodes spanning seasons six and seven challenge viewers. "Okay, then laugh at "this"!" AIDS, cancer, incest, September 11, and the films of Matthew McConaughey are all grist for the mill. Though it has taken its lumps from the "South Park" contingent, "Family Guy" merrily stays true to its absurdist, arbitrary muse. The stories are ludicrous: James Woods steals Peter Griffin's identity; Brian discovers he has a son; Stewie, Brian, and nebbish pharmacist Mort time travel back in time to Hitler's Germany; and Peter discovers Jesus Christ working at a used record store. You got a problem with that? "Go on the Internet and complain," Brian suggests. The pop-culture references are as ever arcane. "That's more of a letdown than Fruit Stripe gum," Peter remarks at one point. And the politically incorrect jokes can be jaw-droppingly wrong, as witness the game show "Are You Smarter Than a Hispanic Maid", the flamboyant gay stereotypes flaunted in the episode "Family Gay," and a bit in which hearing-impaired actress Marlee Matlin tries unsuccessfully to connect with Moviefone. And how does a series on Fox get away with the moment when Stewie finds a McCain/Palin campaign button on a Nazi uniform? From Dane Cook to Jay Leno, "Family Guy" is always up for celebrity bashing, but some are in on the joke. In "Family Gay," Meredith Baxter spoofs her signature women-in-crisis Lifetime movies, and Seth Rogen good-naturedly supplies his own voice when Peter is injected with the Seth Rogen gene that "gives you the appearance of being funny even though you haven't actually done anything funny." And kudos to Andy Dick for his room-clearing cameo in "Tales of a Third Grade Nothing."
Each episode can be viewed as originally televised or uncensored with F-bombs and other crudities unbleeped. Curiously missing in action from "Ocean's Three and a Half" is one of "Family Guy"'s most inspired bits in which Peter's voice is mixed in to the now-infamous Christian Bale rant tape (you can find it on YouTube). Loyal "Family Guy" viewers are also rewarded with deleted scenes, lively episode commentaries, an entertaining behind-the-scenes look at the episode "Tales of a Third Grade Nothing," featuring Frank Sinatra Jr., and the "Family Guy" 2008 Comic-Con panel discussion. "Family Guy", observes Mr. Sinatra, "is not comedy. It's satire." What it is, still, is way more often than not flat-out funny. "--Donald Liebenson"


Stills from Family Guy, Vol. 7 (Click for larger image)

 

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Summary: Collector's edition features a bonus disc including Q&A with Seth MacFarlane and friends at Paley Fest '10!

Go where no "Family Guy" fan has gone before with "Family Guy Volume 8" with uncensored and extended episodes and loaded with outrageous extras only available on DVD.

Language: English, Subtitles: English, French and Spanish, Deleted Scenes, Featurette.

Languages: English

Sound: Dolby

Summary: Jack Campbell (Nicolas Cage) is the quintessential Wall Street shark, scoring killer deals by day and shallow escort sex by night. His round-the-clock routine of empty luxuries is disturbed one lonely Christmas Eve when a gun-packing punk (Don Cheadle)--perhaps an angel of mercy--responds to an altruistic gesture from Jack by giving him "a glimpse" of the life he could have had. "Could have", that is, if he had married the girlfriend (Téa Leoni) he'd abandoned 13 years earlier, raised two adorable children, worked in his father-in-law's retail tire outlet, and lived happily ever after in suburban New Jersey. Thrust into this "glimpse" of the path not taken, Jack's a single-malt man in a lite-brew world, wondering if he'll ever return to his "better" life of callous wealth and solitude--or if he even wants to.
Carp all you want about this derivative premise, with its marginal stereotypes and biased embrace of domestic bliss and dirty diapers. The simple fact is, "The Family Man" works like a charm. Under the assured direction of Brett Ratner ("Rush Hour"), this holiday crowd-pleaser offers comedy and chemistry in equal measure, making the hilarity of Jack's predicament a smooth catalyst for that rarest of movie romances: the marital love story. Leoni is Cage's perfect match as Jack's idealized but imperfect wife, and the movie's appeal largely derives from its awareness that "any" life has its pleasures and pains. While it only flirts with the dark desperation that makes "It's a Wonderful Life" a classic predecessor, "The Family Man" is an irresistible what-if fantasy, and even its debatable ending rides on a wave of genuine warmth and sentiment. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English

Sound: Dolby

Summary: Along with "Fantasia" and "Fantasia 2000", the anthology set contains a third disc that examines a segment of both movies in detail. Each segment has an introduction that has experts (including Leonard Maltin), producer Roy E. Disney, or the animators setting up the piece's history. Notes on the music and dozens of design photos are included on all the segments, although others offer more intriguing features. Abandoned animation is shown on many segments, as are a few behind-the-scenes shorts; the most intriguing are experts from Walt Disney's hosted documentaries on how his company made movies. As for the photos, they are awkwardly catalogued and only the most patient of viewers would want to look at all of them. In some segments, though, these images are entertainingly produced as a "story reel," presenting these images--rough animation, sketches, pastel paintings--with the musical accompaniment. For those looking for a more well-rounded view of the films, the two one-hour documentaries on each film's disc lay the groundwork, but none of the anthology looks at how the first film was seen through the years or gives time to anyone who wasn't gung-ho about every element of the films. There is hardly a mention of embarrassing stereotypes that were matted (and still are) out of the "Pastoral" segment, or the intriguing aspect of the film as a '60s icon for the ultimate head-trip. Disney does let their guard down to show sequences that were being readied in 1940 for future editions (including a recently restored short scored to "Clair de Lune"). Most tantalizing is a look at how the special effects were done in the original film. The guide is a scrapbook that one of the technicians kept and was discovered only in 1990. Fans can only hope a reproduction will be made available someday. "--Doug Thomas"

Languages: English, Spanish

Subtitles: English

Sound: Dolby

Summary: Marvel Comics' first family of superherodom, the Fantastic Four, hits the big screen in a light-hearted and funny adventure. It begins when down-on-his-luck genius Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd, "Horatio Hornblower") has to enlist the financial and intellectual help from former schoolmate and rival Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon, "Nip/Tuck") in order to pursue outer-space research into human DNA. Also on the trip are Reed's best friend, Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis, "The Shield"); his former lover, Sue Storm (Jessica Alba, "Dark Angel", "Sin City"), who's now Doom's employee and love interest; and her hotshot-pilot brother, Johnny Storm (Chris Evans, "Cellular"). Things don't go as planned, of course, and the quartet becomes blessed--or is it cursed?--with superhuman powers: flexibility, brute strength, invisibility and projecting force fields, and bursting into flame. Meanwhile, Doom himself is undergoing a transformation.
Among the many entries in the comic-book-movie frenzy, "Fantastic Four" is refreshing because it doesn't take itself too seriously. Characterization isn't too deep, and the action is a bit sparse until the final reel (like most "first" superhero movies, it has to go through the "how did we get these powers and what we will do with them" churn). But it's a good-looking cast, and original comic-book cocreator Stan Lee makes his most significant Marvel-movie cameo yet, in a speaking role as the FF's steadfast postal carrier, Willie Lumpkin. Newcomers to superhero movies might find the idea of a family with flexibility, strength, invisibility, and force fields a retread of "The Incredibles", but Pixar's animated film was very much a tribute to the FF and other heroes of the last 40 years. The irony is that while "Fantastic Four" is an enjoyable B-grade movie, it's the tribute, "The Incredibles", that turned out to be a film for the ages. "--David Horiuchi"
The Fantastic Four at Amazon.com
Comics and Graphic Novels
Disney animated series
The classic comic book
Movie tie-in graphic novel
The Xbox game
"Fantastic Four" Soundtrack
The Fantastic Cast


Jessica Alba as Sue Storm
Michael Chiklis as The Thing
Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards
Chris Evans as Johnny Storm

Stills from "Fantastic Four" (click for larger images)

Languages: English, Spanish

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Marvel Comics' first family of superherodom, the Fantastic Four, hits the big screen in a light-hearted and funny adventure. It begins when down-on-his-luck genius Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd, "Horatio Hornblower") has to enlist the financial and intellectual help from former schoolmate and rival Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon, "Nip/Tuck") in order to pursue outer-space research into human DNA. Also on the trip are Reed's best friend, Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis, "The Shield"); his former lover, Sue Storm (Jessica Alba, "Dark Angel", "Sin City"), who's now Doom's employee and love interest; and her hotshot-pilot brother, Johnny Storm (Chris Evans, "Cellular"). Things don't go as planned, of course, and the quartet becomes blessed--or is it cursed?--with superhuman powers: flexibility, brute strength, invisibility and projecting force fields, and bursting into flame. Meanwhile, Doom himself is undergoing a transformation.
Among the many entries in the comic-book-movie frenzy, "Fantastic Four" is refreshing because it doesn't take itself too seriously. Characterization isn't too deep, and the action is a bit sparse until the final reel (like most "first" superhero movies, it has to go through the "how did we get these powers and what we will do with them" churn). But it's a good-looking cast, and original comic-book cocreator Stan Lee makes his most significant Marvel-movie cameo yet, in a speaking role as the FF's steadfast postal carrier, Willie Lumpkin. Newcomers to superhero movies might find the idea of a family with flexibility, strength, invisibility, and force fields a retread of "The Incredibles", but Pixar's animated film was very much a tribute to the FF and other heroes of the last 40 years. The irony is that while "Fantastic Four" is an enjoyable B-grade movie, it's the tribute, "The Incredibles", that turned out to be a film for the ages. "--David Horiuchi"
On the DVD
The principal extra on the DVD is a spirited commentary track by Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, and Ioan Gruffud. Self-avowed FF fan Chiklis explains why the Thing doesn't have a craggy brow, Alba recalls which things were "cool," and they talk about looking forward to the sequel. There are three short deleted scenes (including a goofy Wolverine reference), 20 minutes of barely watchable hand-held video footage from the press tour, music videos, and some short featurettes including an appearance by FF creator Stan Lee. "--David Horiuchi"

The Fantastic Four at Amazon.com
Comics and Graphic Novels
Disney animated series
The classic comic book
Movie tie-in graphic novel
The Xbox game
"Fantastic Four" Soundtrack
The Fantastic Cast


Jessica Alba as Sue Storm
Michael Chiklis as The Thing
Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards
Chris Evans as Johnny Storm

Stills from "Fantastic Four" (click for larger images)

Languages: English, Spanish, French

Sound: Dolby

Summary: "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" is another entertaining romp for the Marvel-superhero franchise. Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd), is treading on thin ice when his fiancée, Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba), thinks he's more interested in a series of cosmic phenomena occurring around the earth than in the preparations for their upcoming wedding. Sorry, ladies, but Reed is right. The disturbances are caused by a surge of cosmic power from a mysterious being called the Silver Surfer (an all-CGI creation, modeled by Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne), who not only zooms around the skies on his board, but also has enough power to fight the FF, sometimes by turning their own power against them, not only mixing up Sue and Reed, but also Johnny Storm, the Human Torch (Chris Evans), and Ben Grimm, the Thing (Michael Chiklis). But that's not the worst of it. The Surfer is only an opening act, a herald looking for planets that his master, Galactus, can consume for his sustenance.
With its initial installment, "Fantastic Four" established itself as the superhero franchise that didn't take itself too seriously, and that continues here. There are numerous moments of laugh-out-loud humor, and the most angst they suffer is whether Sue and Reed will ever be able to live a normal family life. (That, and whether they'll ever really get married, of course.) If "Fantastic Four" were a normal superhero franchise, the ending would be a knock-down drag-out war with Galactus, featuring the FF in a colossal battle for the planet Earth and the lives of everyone on it. "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer"… just doesn't do that, and we don't quite get the payoff we expected. Effects are dazzling, but the Surfer looks too metallic, more like a skyriding T-1000 robot. "--David Horiuchi"
View Stills from the Blu-Ray's Exclusive Games (Click for larger image):

Languages: English

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround

Summary: Marvel Comics' "Fantastic Four" animated series (1994-95)--depicting the first family of superheroes--got significantly better as it went along. The series always had good intentions, borrowing plots, concepts, characters, and even lines of dialogue from the classic Stan Lee-Jack Kirby comic books that kicked off the Marvel age of comics. And it was willing to spend two or even three episodes on a single story line. The early episodes, however, had serious drawbacks, such as a clumsy animation style (the Silver Surfer never looked less noble), weak humor (the origin episode created a framing sequence in which the FF appears on the "Dick Cavett Show"), and an awful theme song by Giorgio Moroder ("Flashdance", "Top Gun"). Fortunately, the animation improved in the second season, and instrumental theme music replaced the song. Memorable moments from the series include the monumental Frightful Four-Inhumans tie-in and Galactus's search for a new herald. Memorable characters include villains Doctor Doom, the Skrulls, the Mole Man, and the Puppet Master, and heroes Daredevil, the Black Panther, Thor, and the Hulk. Guest voices include Ron Perlman, Michael Dorn, Kathy Ireland, Mark Hamill, and John Rhys-Davies. It's worth a look for FF fans, especially in the complete four-disc set that contains all 29 episodes, a welcome change from Disney's single-disc compilations of the "Spider-Man" series from the same time period. (Ages 8 and older: cartoon action, threatening situations, some mature concepts) "--David Horiuchi"

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Movie DVD

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: The Fantastic Four use their unique powers to help the world battle multiple threats, and foil the evil plan of their equally powerful enemy, Doctor Doom.

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: FANTASTIC FOUR: WORLD'S G. HEROES VOL. 3 (DVD MOVIE)

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 05/12/2009 Run time: 125 minutes Rating: Pg

Languages: English, French

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

Sound: Dolby

Summary: Leave it to the wildly inventive Coen brothers (Joel directs, Ethan produces, they both write) to concoct a fiendishly clever kidnap caper that's simultaneously a comedy of errors, a Midwestern satire, a taut suspense thriller, and a violent tale of criminal misfortune. It all begins when a hapless car salesman (played to perfection by William H. Macy) ineptly orchestrates the kidnapping of his own wife. The plan goes horribly awry in the hands of bumbling bad guys Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare (one of them being described by a local girl as "kinda funny lookin'" and "not circumcised"), and the pregnant sheriff of Brainerd, Minnesota, (played exquisitely by Frances McDormand in an Oscar-winning role) is suddenly faced with a case of multiple murders. Her investigation is laced with offbeat observations about life in the rural hinterland of Minnesota and North Dakota, and "Fargo" embraces its local yokels with affectionate humor. At times shocking and hilarious, "Fargo" is utterly unique and distinctly American, bearing the unmistakable stamp of its inspired creators. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English, Spanish, French

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Fast & Furious is high octane torque-er porn that puts the franchise back on course after drifting in Tokyo. With the original cast once again in the driver's seat, we are good to go with a this-time-it's-personal plot and spectacular race and chase set-pieces that exceed the promise of the stripped-down title, beginning with an awesome highway hijacking of an oil truck led by former street racer Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel, at his glowering and gravel-voiced best). Dom is a fugitive in the Dominican Republic, but after a devastating personal loss, he is driven by revenge to return to Los Angeles to bring down an elusive drug smuggler. He is reunited with Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker), the undercover FBI agent who let him go eight years earlier. Brian, also on the case, must come to terms with Dom and make amends with Dom's sister (Jordana Brewster), whom he betrayed in his original pursuit of Dom. Fast & Furious is just the ticket for putting your mind on cruise control. From a see-what-you've-got racing challenge through the streets of L.A. to the illicit kicks of the street-racing subculture (this is extreme PG-13), there is nothing cheap about these thrills. A record-shattering opening weekend at the box office could mean faster and more furious action to come, but if this is the franchise's last time around the block, it goes out a winner. --Donald Liebenson
Stills from Fast & Furious (Click for larger image)
Click to learn more about the BD-Live Experience

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Subtitles: Spanish, French

Sound: Dolby

Summary: A guilty pleasure with excess horsepower, "The Fast and the Furious" efficiently combines time-honored male fantasies (hot cars, hot women, hot action) into a vacuous plot of crystalline purity. It's trash, but it's "fun" trash, in which a hotshot Los Angeles cop named Brian (Paul Walker) infiltrates a gang of street racers suspected of fencing stolen goods from hijacked trucks. The gang leader is Dom (Vin Diesel), ex-con and reigning king of the street racers, who lives for those 10 seconds of freedom when his high-performance "rice rocket" (a highly modified Asian import) hurtles toward another quarter-mile victory. Racing is street theater for a lawless youth subculture, and Dom is a star behind the wheel--charismatic, dangerous, and protective toward his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster), who's attracted to Brian as the newest member of Dom's car-crazy team.
Director Rob Cohen treats this like Roman tragedy for MTV junkies, pushing every scene to adrenaline-pumping extremes; when his camera isn't caressing a spectrum of nitrous oxide-enhanced dream machines, it's ogling countless slim 'n' sexy race babes. The undercover-cop scenario cheaply borrows the split-loyalty theme perfected in "Donnie Brasco"; a rival Asian gang adds mystery and menace; and digital trickery is cleverly employed to explore the fuel-injected innards of the day-glo racecars. It's about as substantial as a perfume ad, but just as alluring, and for heavy-metal maniacs of any age, Diesel's superblown '69 Charger proves that Detroit muscle never goes out of style. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English, Japanese, French, Spanish

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

Sound: AC-3

Summary: "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" has all the elements that spelled success for its predecessors: Speed, sex, and minimal dialogue. The plot doesn't need explication; it's a nonsensical series of confrontations and standoffs that serve to get us from one race to another. "Tokyo Drift" can most accurately be described as a visual poem about screeching tires, crunching fiberglass, and sleek female skin, set to a killer soundtrack of Japanese pop and hip-hop. The actors are only needed for tight close-ups of narrowed eyes or sweaty hands tightly gripping gearshifts, though Sung Kang, "Better Luck Tomorrow", stands out as a vaguely philosophical hoodlum with deadpan charisma. The curved bodies of the cars and the luscious flesh of the women are both shot with a fetishistic hunger. The "drift" style of racing--in which the cars are allowed to slide in order to take sharp turns at high speeds--grabs your eyes; there's a strange, spectral beauty to rows of cars sliding sideways down a mountain road at night. Also starring Lucas Black ("Friday Night Lights") as our wheel-happy hero; Bow Wow ("Roll Bounce") as the scam-artist comic relief; and martial arts legend Sonny Chiba ("Kill Bill") as a yakuza big shot. "--Bret Fetzer"

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 03/24/2009 Rating: Pg13

Languages: English, Spanish

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Before he became an overrated filmmaker, Cameron Crowe ("Jerry Maguire") was a reporter for "Rolling Stone" who was so youthful looking that he could go undercover for a year at a California high school and write a book about it. He wrote the script for this film, based on that book, and it launched the careers of several young actors, including Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates, and, above all, Sean Penn. The story line is episodic, dealing with the lives of iconic teen types: one of the school's cool kids, a nerd, a teen queen, and, most enjoyably, the class stoner (Penn), who finds himself at odds with a strict history teacher (a wonderfully spiky Ray Walston). This is not a great movie but very entertaining and, for a certain age group, a seminal movie experience. "--Marshall Fine"

Languages: English, French

Subtitles: English

Sound: Dolby

Summary: "The" date movie of the late 1980s, this had everyone arguing in the aisles. Does Michael Douglas deserve the unwanted attention he and his family are receiving at the hands of loony stalker Glenn Close? After a weekend extramarital affair with colleague Close, he returns home to wife Anne Archer, and Close becomes progressively angrier. You might even say she is boiling bunny mad.
Directed by Adrian Lyne, this is not your average thriller, as it garnered six Academy Award nominations. The plot is too obvious, but the dialogue rings true and the intense performances hold the story together. Anne Archer deserves kudos for side-stepping cliché as the strong but frightened wife, and Close is a scream as she chews up the scenery.
The film's original ending, which was reshot after poor preview screenings, has been added to the video release. "--Rochelle O'Gorman"

Languages: English, French

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: Dolby

Summary: Two years before he let it all hang out in "Boogie Nights", former rapper and Calvin Klein underwear model Mark Wahlberg played the psychotic boyfriend in this derivative but surprisingly effective thriller, aptly described by producer Brian Grazer as ""Fatal Attraction" for teens." Reese Witherspoon plays Nicole Walker, the unwitting teenager who gets the hots for David McCall (Wahlberg). David only seems like a nice guy until he gets upset by the girl's overly protective father. That's when hell breaks loose and the love-struck Romeo turns into a deadly threat who just "won't" go away. You'd think this kind of material would be beneath the talents of a fine director like James Foley (whose credits include "At Close Range" and "Glengarry Glen Ross"), but Foley gives the film just the right blend of style and tension to match Wahlberg's breakthrough role as an all-too-believable teenage maniac. You might feel silly afterwards, but don't be surprised if you find yourself getting caught up in the expertly manipulative suspense. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English

Subtitles: English

Sound: Dolby

Summary: The original cowriter and director of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" was Alex Cox, whose earlier film "Sid and Nancy" suggests that Cox could have been a perfect match in filming Hunter S. Thompson's psychotropic masterpiece of "gonzo" journalism. Unfortunately Cox departed due to the usual "creative differences," and this ill-fated adaptation was thrust upon Terry Gilliam, whose formidable gifts as a visionary filmmaker were squandered on the seemingly unfilmable elements of Thompson's ether-fogged narrative. The result is a one-joke movie without the joke--an endless series of repetitive scenes involving rampant substance abuse and the hallucinogenic fallout of a road trip that's run crazily out of control. Johnny Depp plays Thompson's alter ego, "gonzo" journalist Raoul Duke, and Benicio Del Toro is his sidekick and so-called lawyer Dr. Gonzo. During the course of a trip to Las Vegas to cover a motorcycle race, they ingest a veritable chemistry set of drugs, and Gilliam does his best to show us the hallucinatory state of their zonked-out minds. This allows for some dazzling imagery and the rampant humor of stumbling buffoons, and the mumbling performances of Depp and Del Toro wholeheartedly embrace the tripped-out, paranoid lunacy of Thompson's celebrated book. But over two hours of this insanity tends to grate on the nerves--like being the only sober guest at a party full of drunken idiots. So while Gilliam's film may achieve some modest cult status over the years, it's only because "Fear and Loathing" is best enjoyed by those who are just as stoned as the characters in the movie. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English

Summary: Studio: Genius Products Inc Release Date: 11/18/2008 Run time: 232 minutes

Languages: English, French

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

Sound: Dolby

Summary: The sheer pleasure of watching movies is celebrated in Brian De Palma's dazzling "Femme Fatale". Working from his own intricate screenplay, De Palma indulges all of his trademark obsessions, upping the ante on Hitchcock (again) with a "Vertigo"-like plot that begins with an audacious heist at the Cannes film festival (another sexy, violent tour de force for De Palma). From there, the stunning thief Laure (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) assumes a new identity, marries a U.S. senator (Peter Coyote), and returns to Paris where a tenacious paparazzo (Antonio Banderas) becomes a patsy in her multilayered scheme. De Palma's weaving a web of nonsense, but his plotting is so exuberantly absurd--and his frame so full of visual clues and relevant detail--that "Femme Fatale" becomes a joyous thrill ride at first encounter, and a crazily logical (and grandly rewarding) movie on subsequent viewings. In her best role to date, Romijn-Stamos is everything you'd want a femme fatale to be, in a thriller that constantly challenges you to question what you're seeing. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English, French

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround

Summary: Environmentally friendly animated film with a strong message that doesn't club anyone over the head--but it certainly can't be missed. Zak (voiced by Christian Slater) is a heavy-machine operator whose job is to push over any vegetation in his path. He's shrunken to wee size, however, when Crysta (Samantha Mathis), a fairy of the forest, not only finds him cute but wants him to see the results of his handiwork. They end up battling Hexxus, an evil force imprisoned in a tree, which now wants to destroy all of Ferngully. Robin Williams offers genuine comic relief as a bat named Batty Koda. Agreeable without making much impact, it's a piffle of a film for one that deals with such strong subject matter. "--Keith Simanton"

Languages: English

Summary: Environmentally friendly animated film with a strong message that doesn't club anyone over the head--but it certainly can't be missed. Zak (voiced by Christian Slater) is a heavy-machine operator whose job is to push over any vegetation in his path. He's shrunken to wee size, however, when Crysta (Samantha Mathis), a fairy of the forest, not only finds him cute but wants him to see the results of his handiwork. They end up battling Hexxus, an evil force imprisoned in a tree, which now wants to destroy all of Ferngully. Robin Williams offers genuine comic relief as a bat named Batty Koda. Agreeable without making much impact, it's a piffle of a film for one that deals with such strong subject matter. "--Keith Simanton"

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround

Summary: Stills from Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Click for larger image)

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: Dolby

Summary: The Farrelly brothers continue their good-natured winning streak with "Fever Pitch", a romantic comedy charmed by fate and last-minute improvisation. The movie was originally written with a bittersweet ending, but something unexpected happened (kismet, or perhaps divine intervention?) when the Boston Red Sox scored miraculous victories in the 2004 playoffs and World Series, and Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon were there, in character, to celebrate love and baseball as a pair of amiable lovers who learn to share their lives while accommodating Fallon's life-long passion for the Red Sox. You really have to love baseball to forgive the formulaic romance by veteran Hollywood screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (who also wrote "A League of Their Own", and could write this stuff in their sleep), but the codirecting Farrellys make it work, along with the easygoing chemistry of Barrymore and Fallon. The movie bears little resemblance to Nick Hornby's source novel (which was more faithfully adapted as a 1997 British comedy starring Colin Firth), but anyone who enjoyed "High Fidelity" or "About a Boy" will recognize Hornby's keen understanding of men and women, and the hazards we all endure when playing the game of love. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Georgian, Chinese, Thai

Sound: Dolby

Summary: A U.S. soldier is dead, and military lawyers Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee and Lieutenant Commander JoAnne Galloway want to know who killed him. "You want the truth?" snaps Colonel Jessup (Jack Nicholson). "You can't handle the truth!" Astonishingly, Jack Nicholson's legendary performance as a military tough guy in "A Few Good Men" really amounts to a glorified cameo: he's only in a few scenes. But they're killer scenes, and the film has much more to offer. Tom Cruise (Kaffee) shines as a lazy lawyer who rises to the occasion, and Demi Moore (Galloway) gives a command performance. Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, J.T. Walsh, and Cuba Gooding Jr. (of "Jerry Maguire" fame) round out the superb cast. Director Rob Reiner poses important questions about the rights of the powerful and the responsibilities of those just following orders in this classic courtroom drama. "--Alan Smithee"

Languages: English, German, French, Hungarian, Polish

Subtitles: Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish

Sound: Dolby

Summary: A U.S. soldier is dead, and military lawyers Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee and Lieutenant Commander JoAnne Galloway want to know who killed him. "You want the truth?" snaps Colonel Jessup (Jack Nicholson). "You can't handle the truth!" Astonishingly, Jack Nicholson's legendary performance as a military tough guy in "A Few Good Men" really amounts to a glorified cameo: he's only in a few scenes. But they're killer scenes, and the film has much more to offer. Tom Cruise (Kaffee) shines as a lazy lawyer who rises to the occasion, and Demi Moore (Galloway) gives a command performance. Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, J.T. Walsh, and Cuba Gooding Jr. (of "Jerry Maguire" fame) round out the superb cast. Director Rob Reiner poses important questions about the rights of the powerful and the responsibilities of those just following orders in this classic courtroom drama.

Languages: English, Hebrew, French, Spanish

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: This rousing musical, based on the stories of Shalom Aleichem, takes place in pre-revolutionary Russia and centers on the life of Tevye (Topol), a milkman who is trying to keep his family's traditions in place while marrying off his three older daughters. Yet, times are changing and the daughters want to make their own matches, breaking free of many of the constricting customs required of them by Judaism. In the background of these events, Russia is on the brink of revolution and Jews are feeling increasingly unwelcome in their villages. Tevye--who expresses his desire for sameness in the opening number, "Tradition"--is trying to keep everyone, and everything, together. The movie is strongly allegorical--Tevye represents the common man--but it does it dexterously, and the resulting film is a stunning work of art. The music is excellent (it won Oscars for the scoring and the sound), with plenty of familiar songs such as "Sunrise, Sunset" and "If I Were a Rich Man," which you'll be humming long after the movie is over. Isaac Stern's violin--he provides the music for the fiddler on the roof--is hauntingly beautiful. And despite the serious subject matter, the film is quite comedic in parts; it also well deserves the Oscar it won for cinematography. --"Jenny Brown"

Languages: English, French

Subtitles: Spanish, French

Sound: AC-3

Summary: A phenomenal hit when it was released in 1989, "Field of Dreams" has become a modern classic and a uniquely American slice of cinema. It functions effectively as a moving drama about the power of dreams, a fantasy ode to our national pastime, and a brilliant adaptation of W.P. Kinsella's exquisite baseball novel "Shoeless Joe". Kinsella himself found the film a delightful surprise, differing greatly from his novel but benefiting from its own creative variations. It is the film that cemented Kevin Costner's status as an all-American screen star, but the story resonates far beyond Costner's handsome appeal. As just about everyone knows by now, Costner stars as Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella, who hears the mysterious words "If you build it, he will come," and is compelled to build a baseball diamond in the middle of his cornfield. His wife (Amy Madigan) supports the wild idea, but a reclusive novelist (modeled after J.D. Salinger and played by James Earl Jones) is not so easily persuaded. The idealistic farmer is either a visionary or a deluded fool, but his persistence is rewarded when spirits from baseball's past begin appearing on the ball field. Past and present intermingle in the person of "Moonlight Graham" (superbly played by Burt Lancaster), an unknown player who sacrificed his dreams of baseball glory for a dignified life as a small-town physician ... but what all of this means is unclear until the film's memorably heartfelt conclusion. A meditation on family, memory, and faith, the film balances humor and magic to strike just the right chord of thoughtful emotion, affecting audiences so deeply that the baseball field created for the production has now become a mecca of sorts for dreamers around the world. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English, German, Swedish, French

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Thai

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Ancient curses, all-powerful monsters, shape-changing assassins, scantily-clad stewardesses, laser battles, huge explosions, a perfect woman, a malcontent hero--what more can you ask of a big-budget science fiction movie? Luc Besson's high-octane film incorporates presidents, rock stars, and cab drivers into its peculiar plot, traversing worlds and encountering some pretty wild aliens. Bruce Willis stars as a down-and-out cabbie who must win the love of Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) to save Earth from destruction by Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg (Gary Oldman) and a dark, unearthly force that makes Darth Vader look like an Ewok. "--Geoff Riley"

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: All films take a certain suspension of disbelief. "Fight Club" takes perhaps more than others, but if you're willing to let yourself get caught up in the anarchy, this film, based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk, is a modern-day morality play warning of the decay of society. Edward Norton is the unnamed protagonist, a man going through life on cruise control, feeling nothing. To fill his hours, he begins attending support groups and 12-step meetings. True, he isn't actually afflicted with the problems, but he finds solace in the groups. This is destroyed, however, when he meets Marla (Helena Bonham Carter), also faking her way through groups. Spiraling back into insomnia, Norton finds his life is changed once again, by a chance encounter with Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), whose forthright style and no-nonsense way of taking what he wants appeal to our narrator. Tyler and the protagonist find a new way to feel release: they fight. They fight each other, and then as others are attracted to their ways, they fight the men who come to join their newly formed Fight Club. Marla begins a destructive affair with Tyler, and things fly out of control, as Fight Club grows into a nationwide fascist group that escapes the protagonist's control.
"Fight Club", directed by David Fincher ("Seven"), is not for the faint of heart; the violence is no holds barred. But the film is captivating and beautifully shot, with some thought-provoking ideas. Pitt and Norton are an unbeatable duo, and the film has some surprisingly humorous moments. The film leaves you with a sense of profound discomfort and a desire to see it again, if for no other reason than to just to take it all in. "--Jenny Brown"

Languages: English, Spanish, French

Subtitles: English, French

Sound: THX

Summary: All films take a certain suspension of disbelief. "Fight Club" takes perhaps more than others, but if you're willing to let yourself get caught up in the anarchy, this film, based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk, is a modern-day morality play warning of the decay of society. Edward Norton is the unnamed protagonist, a man going through life on cruise control, feeling nothing. To fill his hours, he begins attending support groups and 12-step meetings. True, he isn't actually afflicted with the problems, but he finds solace in the groups. This is destroyed, however, when he meets Marla (Helena Bonham Carter), also faking her way through groups. Spiraling back into insomnia, Norton finds his life is changed once again, by a chance encounter with Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), whose forthright style and no-nonsense way of taking what he wants appeal to our narrator. Tyler and the protagonist find a new way to feel release: they fight. They fight each other, and then as others are attracted to their ways, they fight the men who come to join their newly formed Fight Club. Marla begins a destructive affair with Tyler, and things fly out of control, as Fight Club grows into a nationwide fascist group that escapes the protagonist's control.
"Fight Club", directed by David Fincher ("Seven"), is not for the faint of heart; the violence is no holds barred. But the film is captivating and beautifully shot, with some thought-provoking ideas. Pitt and Norton are an unbeatable duo, and the film has some surprisingly humorous moments. The film leaves you with a sense of profound discomfort and a desire to see it again, if for no other reason than to just to take it all in. "--Jenny Brown"

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: DTS Surround Sound

Summary: Installment #4 in the premonition-laden "Final Destination" series comes on like a poker-faced send-up of the previous episodes, featuring a collection of hilariously over-the-top deaths and the usual array of Rube Goldberg set-ups--except this time the chain reactions rarely result in mayhem. Fate, it seems, is more random than that. We open at a racetrack, where vapid teen Bobby Campo has a vision of slaughter involving cars crashing and bleachers crumbling. When he hustles girlfriend Shantal VanSanten and their friends out of the grandstands before the real conflagration, it doesn't take long to figure out that their time is going to come, and soon. (Which they would have known if they'd watched the first three "Final Destination" movies.) From there, it's just waiting around for the killings, which this time utilize a car wash, a beauty parlor, and a tow truck run amok. Perhaps the gruesomeness of the deaths this time is explained by the cheapjack production (gotta grab 'em with something) and surely the many jabbing, jutting implements are there because the film was released to some theaters in 3-D. As for the death that occurs in a swimming-pool drain, it seems somebody read Chuck Palahniuk's notorious story "Guts," or at least had an ear for urban legends. The bland characters and tin-ear dialogue don't help anything, even if the climactic sequence in a movie theater showing a 3-D film suggests a lurking sense of self-awareness. Moral: there may be three dimensions, but there's only one destination. "--Robert Horton"

Languages: English

Sound: Dolby

Summary: While hardly a spiritual upgrade of the slasher film, this high-concept teen body-count thriller drops hints of "The Sixth Sense" into the smart-aleck sensibility of "Scream". Helmed by "X-Files" veteran James Wong, who cowrote the screenplay with longtime creative partner Glen Morgan, "Final Destination" is an often entertaining thriller marked by an unsettling sense of unease and scenes of eerie imagery. It suffers, however, from a schizophrenic tone and a frankly ludicrous premise. A high school Cassandra, Alex Browning (Devon Sawa of "Idle Hands"), wakes from a preflight nightmare and panics when he's convinced the plane is doomed. His ruckus bumps seven passengers from the Paris-bound plane, which immediately explodes into a fireball on takeoff, but fate hasn't finished with these lucky few and, one by one, death claims them. Wong brings such a funereal tone to these early scenes of survivor's guilt and inevitable doom that the already far-fetched film threatens to veer into unplanned absurdity. Thankfully, the tale loosens up with a playful morgue humor: one of the victims winds up the splattered punch line to a grim joke and elaborate Rube Goldbergesque chains of cause and effect become inspired spectacles of destruction. "Final Destination" is a pretty silly thriller when it takes itself seriously, and the filmmakers play fast and loose with their own rules of fate, but once they stick their tongues firmly in cheek, the film takes off with a screwy interpretation of the domino effect of doom. "--Sean Axmaker"

Languages: English

Subtitles: English

Sound: Dolby

Summary: "Final Destination 2" begins with a well-orchestrated multicar pileup on a freeway--a horrifying accident that turns out to be a premonition, as seen by a young woman (A.J. Cook) who saves herself and several other people by blocking a freeway on-ramp. Thus, as in the first "Final Destination", a prescient vision disrupts the destined plans of death, and death goes to extreme lengths to correct matters. What makes "Final Destination 2" entertaining is that the characters can only survive by learning to recognize the signs of impending doom--and the signs are basically the cinematic foreshadowing that moviemakers use to invoke suspense. This, combined with some elaborately complicated and gruesome deaths, fosters a ghoulish humor that's more entertaining than the smirky self-referentiality of "Scream". "Final Destination 2" doesn't aspire to be a great movie, but trash has its pleasures. Also featuring Ali Larter as the only survivor of the first movie. "--Bret Fetzer"

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: Dolby

Summary: Giddily gruesome and perversely entertaining, "Final Destination 3" proves, yet again, that horror franchises will thrive as long as teenagers keep finding spectacular ways to die. A stand-alone sequel to the first two "Final Destination" thrillers, this one begins when a group of seven high-school graduates luckily escape from a deadly roller-coaster disaster, only to discover that their own deaths have been only temporarily avoided. Cute brunette Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) spots clues of impending doom in digital photos of her soon-to-be-expiring classmates, and an ill wind follows her everywhere, suggesting the presence of a supernatural force that makes her a catalyst for gory events, as each of her friends is dispatched in the order they were meant to die. Returning to give their brainchild a suspenseful, low-budget makeover, franchise creators and former "X-Files" writers James Wong and Glen Morgan cleverly play on our collective fears (the roller coaster sequence is genuinely terrifying) with a knowing nod to violent urban legends, which explains their inclusion of the '70s hit "Love Roller Coaster" on the soundtrack when two stuck-up girlfriends pay an ill-fated visit to a tanning parlor. And that's just for starters: With Wong as director, FD3 serves up its grisly deaths with tight pacing and humor, and the cathartic carnage is discreetly edited yet gory enough to satisfy hardcore horror buffs. When morbid mayhem is this much fun, it's a safe bet that another sequel is just around the corner. "--Jeff Shannon"
On the DVD
As befits a horror franchise heavily invested in the idea of "fate," the "Final Destination 3" disc carries a "Choose Their Fate" option. In other words, you can watch the movie with occasional choices offered; click on one of two alternatives, and see that version play out. This won't give you the power to let one character live or die; it's more like deciding whether somebody honks her horn twice in a scene, calls heads or tails on a coin flip, or pushes the thermostat to 72 degrees or 76. Not exactly life-changing, but it's kind of fun.
The bonus disc includes a 90-minute "making of" feature called "Kill Shot", which covers the production of the movie in exhausting detail (honest detail, too: filmmakers James Wong and Glen Morgan are funny and blunt about the business they're in, including a section on how the original ending was scrapped in favor of a bloodier finale). It's everything you'd want to know about this movie--but who needs to know this much? A 7-minute cartoon, "It's All Around You," is an amusing meditation on bad luck and laws of probability, while a 25-minute featurette called "Dead Teenager Movie" spins off from Roger Ebert's theory about the rigid formula of a certain kind of horror film (Ebert weighs in on the subject himself). A few experts opine on the traditions of teenagers dying in horror films; some of them don't seem to be aware that the formula pre-dated the first "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Audio commentaries, special effects sidebars, and trailers fill out this needlessly authoritative disc. "--Robert Horton"

Languages: English, French

Subtitles: Chinese, English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Earth is a desolate wasteland in "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within". Humanity has been decimated by an invasion of Phantoms, insubstantial aliens that extract and devour the spirits of living things. The few remaining humans have retreated to a handful of cities that are protected by massive bio-energy shields. The beautiful Dr. Aki Ross (voiced by Ming-Na) and her mentor Dr. Sid (Donald Sutherland) have discovered that the energy signatures of eight key Earth spirits can cancel out and destroy the Phantoms. With the help of Captain Edwards (Alec Baldwin) and his band of marines, they must scour the globe for the last two remaining spirits before General Hein (James Woods) manipulates the refugee government into attacking the aliens with an orbital laser that may also destroy the Earth. Hironobu Sakaguchi's film is taken from the popular "Final Fantasy" video game franchise, which is particularly well suited to film adaptation with its series of original stories, but the movie features entirely new characters and settings. And like "Toy Story" and "Shrek, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" is completely computer generated. Unlike those cartoon comedies, though, "The Spirits Within" is a serious science fiction drama with astonishingly human digital actors. Aki, the female lead, appeared in a full-page spread in Maxim magazine's Hot 100 list--and was indistinguishable from the real-life models. The setting and conflict make for incredible action, but it's the larger issues, character interaction, and human elements that really make the movie shine. "The Spirits Within" is not simply a science fiction movie, in the same way that "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is not simply a kung fu flick. The result is a fantastic summer movie with better action and more emotion than "Pearl Harbor", and actors more lifelike than those in that other video game movie, "Tomb Raider. --Mike Fehlauer"

Languages: Japanese, English

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese, Thai, Korean

Sound: AC-3

Summary: The question facing any viewer of the Japanese CG feature "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children" is: do you have to know the games on which it’s based in order to understand the film? And the answer is: it certainly helps. But even complete novices (i.e., most parents) in the "Final Fantasy" world will find some entertainment in its wealth of fantasy-based action, and the animation never fails to astonish. Picking up two years after an epic battle between the forces of good (represented by brooding soldier Cloud) and evil (Cloud’s former general, Sephiroth), "FFVII" opens in the devastated city of Midgard, whose youthful occupants suffer from a ghastly disease known as Geostigma. A trio of brothers arrives with what appears to be a cure for the plague, but their gesture conceals a more sinister purpose: to revive Sephiroth and bring about the end of the world. Cloud and his companions must once again rise to the occasion to stop the siblings and the revived Sephiroth from unleashing total destruction. Complex and self-referential to the point of occasional incomprehension, "Final Fantasy VII" will definitely be most appreciated by fans of the game series, but if others can look past the numbing dialogue and frenetic action (which is a bit too intense for very young children), the film offers a carefree and action-packed viewing experience. The two-disc set contains the original Japanese language version of the film as well as an English-dubbed edition (Rachel Leigh Cook and Christy Carlson Romano, among others, provide the vocal talent) and a version edited for the Venice Film Festival. A 30-minute featurette that recaps the "Final Fantasy" story up to "VII", as well as a making-of documentary, deleted scenes, and promotions for future "Final Fantasy VII" games and products round out the extras. "--Paul Gaita"

Languages: Japanese, English, French

Subtitles: Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, Korean, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: The question facing any viewer of the Japanese CG feature "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children" is: do you have to know the games on which it’s based in order to understand the film? And the answer is: it certainly helps. But even complete novices (i.e., most parents) in the "Final Fantasy" world will find some entertainment in its wealth of fantasy-based action, and the animation never fails to astonish. Picking up two years after an epic battle between the forces of good (represented by brooding soldier Cloud) and evil (Cloud’s former general, Sephiroth), "FFVII" opens in the devastated city of Midgard, whose youthful occupants suffer from a ghastly disease known as Geostigma. A trio of brothers arrives with what appears to be a cure for the plague, but their gesture conceals a more sinister purpose: to revive Sephiroth and bring about the end of the world. Cloud and his companions must once again rise to the occasion to stop the siblings and the revived Sephiroth from unleashing total destruction. Complex and self-referential to the point of occasional incomprehension, "Final Fantasy VII" will definitely be most appreciated by fans of the game series, but if others can look past the numbing dialogue and frenetic action (which is a bit too intense for very young children), the film offers a carefree and action-packed viewing experience. The two-disc set contains the original Japanese language version of the film as well as an English-dubbed edition (Rachel Leigh Cook and Christy Carlson Romano, among others, provide the vocal talent) and a version edited for the Venice Film Festival. A 30-minute featurette that recaps the "Final Fantasy" story up to "VII", as well as a making-of documentary, deleted scenes, and promotions for future "Final Fantasy VII" games and products round out the extras. "--Paul Gaita"

Languages: English, Spanish

Subtitles: Spanish, French

Sound: Dolby

Summary: A delightful undersea world unfolds in Pixar's animated adventure "Finding Nemo". When his son Nemo is captured by a scuba-diver, a nervous-nellie clownfish named Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks) sets off into the vast--and astonishingly detailed--ocean to find him. Along the way he hooks up with a scatterbrained blue tang fish named Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), who's both helpful and a hindrance, sometimes at the same time. Faced with sharks, deep-sea anglers, fields of poisonous jellyfish, sea turtles, pelicans, and much more, Marlin rises above his neuroses in this wonderfully funny and nonstop thrill ride--rarely does more than 10 minutes pass without a sequence destined to become a theme park attraction. Pixar continues its run of impeccable artistic and economic success (their movies include "Toy Story", "A Bug's Life", "Toy Story 2", and "Monsters, Inc"). Also featuring the voices of Willem Dafoe, Geoffrey Rush, and Allison Janney. "--Bret Fetzer"

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Subtitles: Spanish, French

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Sweetness that doesn't turn saccharine is hard to find these days; "Finding Neverland" hits the mark. Much credit is due to the actors: Johnny Depp applies his genius for sly whimsy in his portrayal of playwright J. M. Barrie, who finds inspiration for his greatest creation from four lively boys, the sons of widow Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet, who miraculously fuses romantic yearning with common sense). Though the friendship threatens his already dwindling marriage, Barrie spends endless hours with the boys, pretending to be pirates or Indians--and gradually the elements of "Peter Pan" take shape in his mind. The relationship between Barrie and the Llewelyn Davies family sparks both an imagined world and a quiet rebellion against the stuffy forces of respectability, given physical form by Barrie's resentful wife (Radha Mitchell, "High Art") and Sylvia's mother (Julie Christie, "McCabe and Mrs. Miller"). This gentle silliness could have turned to treacle, but Depp and Winslet--along with newcomer Freddie Highmore as one of the boys--keep their feet on the earth while their eyes gaze into their dreams. Also featuring a comically crusty turn from Dustin Hoffman (who appeared in another Peter Pan-themed movie, "Hook") as a long-suffering theater producer. "--Bret Fetzer"

Languages: English

Summary: Here's one of the most exciting, nonstop action-adventure hits since TOP GUN! When an international enemy turns to high-tech weaponry, the U.S. Army enlists the aid of the Apaches -- America's elite airborne task force specially trained for aerial assault! Flying the world's most advanced attack helicopters, these hotshot 'Fire Birds' battle an evasive foe -- hovering, diving, and dodging death on dangerous secret missions inside hostile territory! Starring Nicolas Cage (MOONSTRUCK), Tommy Lee Jones (THE PACKAGE), and sexy actress Sean Young (NO WAY OUT), FIRE BIRDS is an explosive action-epic, full of aerial gunfights and combat acrobatics ... audiences will be blown away by every thrilling second of FIRE BIRDS!

Languages: English

Subtitles: English

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround

Summary: FIRE IN THE SKY is the comprehensive story of a logger named Travis Walton who mysteriously disappears in 1975 only to turn up bloodied and bruised five days later. Walton and co-workers accidentally discover a UFO and unfortunately they all escape except Walton who is elevated aboard the bizarre aircraft. Onboard he undergoes painful unearthly medical treatments and tests.

Languages: English, Italian

Sound: Dolby

Summary: You can tell Clint Eastwood is getting old by all of the "retired" characters he plays who are pressed back into service, as in this early '80s effort. It's one of Eastwood's lesser action entries, in which he served as both star and director. He plays a retired fighter pilot who is enlisted by the U.S. government to infiltrate the Soviet Union (back in the days when it was still an Evil Empire) and steal an ultra-top-secret fighter plane with all kinds of superior capabilities (back when the Stealth bomber was still a struggling prototype). Sure, no problem. Except that it takes forever to actually get Clint into the plane--and once he's got it, he keeps interrupting the fighter-plane sequences (the best thing about the movie) to land the thing and have fistfights and gunfights. "--Marshall Fine"

Languages: English

Sound: Dolby

Summary: The idea of watching a fire on TV may seem kitschy, but it's surprisingly soothing. "Fireplace: Visions of Tranquility" takes you through the entire life of a fire from the scrape of the match to the slowly dying embers. You can choose whether you would like just the fire, the fire with crackling sounds, the fire with music, or the fire with music "and" crackling sounds. For music, choose either "Night Music" (which includes Beethoven's "Moonlight" sonata and Pachelbel's famous Canon) or "Christmas Goes Baroque" (which features classical arrangements of familiar tunes).
The DVD is formatted for Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 and DTS. The total running time is 60 minutes, but you can put the DVD on repeat so the fire never goes out. For a holiday party or just a quiet night at home, "Fireplace: Visions of Tranquility" adds a nice ambiance to a room. "--Dana Van Nest"

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Summary: This smashing, no-holds-barred adventure stars action legend Chuck Norris (Missing in Action) and OscarÂ(r) winner* Lou Gossett (An Officer and a Gentleman) as a pair of treasure-hunters with a knack for finding danger at every turn! After a long career of mishaps, wrong turns and utter failures, archaeological adventurers Max and Leo (Norris and Gossett) are ready to call it quits until a spunky blonde beauty with an ancient treasure map hires them to guide her into Central America to find Aztec gold. But as they draw closer to the priceless bounty, they are unaware that a powerful, vengeful spirit is tracking their every move and will stop at nothing to protect the sacred treasure! *1982: Supporting Actor, An Officer and a Gentleman

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Harrrison Ford brings his reliable brand of focused intensity to "Firewall", a family-in-peril thriller that fits Ford like a comfortable old sweater. The venerable action star is visibly growing older now, but he's got a quiet, simmering quality here that perfectly suits his role as Jack Stanfield, Vice President of security at a large Seattle bank that's recently upgraded to a state-of-the-art computer security system (resulting in conspicuous Dell product placement throughout the film). Jack's the only one who can safely crack the system, so he's targeted by a would-be robber (Paul Bettany) whose jittery crew of thugs and hackers kidnaps Jack's wife ("Sideways" star Virginia Madsen), daughter, and young son, threatening to kill them if Jack doesn't transfer $100 million into the robber's secret offshore account. Like Bruce Willis in 2005's Hostage, Ford rises above the film's familiar generic trappings, and British director Richard Loncraine maintains a low-key escalation of tension that keeps "Firewall" on track toward a routine but satisfying conclusion. Supporting roles for Alan Arkin, Robert Forster and Robert Patrick add little to the film's turnabout plotting, but fans of Mary Lynn Rajskub (better known as ace computer nerd "Chloe" on the hit series "24") will enjoy her performance here as a loyal secretary who factors into Stanfield's bid to outsmart his captors. "Firewall" may not be an instant Ford classic like "The Fugitive", but it's comparable to Ford's 2000 thriller "What Lies Beneath" in terms of overall intelligence and crowd-pleasing suspense. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Harrrison Ford brings his reliable brand of focused intensity to "Firewall", a family-in-peril thriller that fits Ford like a comfortable old sweater. The venerable action star is visibly growing older now, but he's got a quiet, simmering quality here that perfectly suits his role as Jack Stanfield, Vice President of security at a large Seattle bank that's recently upgraded to a state-of-the-art computer security system (resulting in conspicuous Dell product placement throughout the film). Jack's the only one who can safely crack the system, so he's targeted by a would-be robber (Paul Bettany) whose jittery crew of thugs and hackers kidnaps Jack's wife ("Sideways" star Virginia Madsen), daughter, and young son, threatening to kill them if Jack doesn't transfer $100 million into the robber's secret offshore account. Like Bruce Willis in 2005's "Hostage", Ford rises above the film's familiar generic trappings, and British director Richard Loncraine maintains a low-key escalation of tension that keeps "Firewall" on track toward a routine but satisfying conclusion. Supporting roles for Alan Arkin, Robert Forster and Robert Patrick add little to the film's turnabout plotting, but fans of Mary Lynn Rajskub (better known as ace computer nerd "Chloe" on the hit series "24") will enjoy her performance here as a loyal secretary who factors into Stanfield's bid to outsmart his captors. "Firewall" may not be an instant Ford classic like "The Fugitive", but it's comparable to Ford's 2000 thriller "What Lies Beneath" in terms of overall intelligence and crowd-pleasing suspense. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English, French

Subtitles: English

Sound: Dolby

Summary: By far the best adaptation of a John Grisham bestseller, this smart, fast-paced 1993 film--directed by Sydney Pollack ("Out of Africa")--offers up the dilemma of a young lawyer whose life is turned upside down when he takes a job at a Southern law firm owned by the mob. Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise), having just graduated from Harvard Law, is besieged with offers but takes a job, too good to be true, with a small Memphis firm. He and his wife, Abby (Jeanne Tripplehorn), are sucked in by the seemingly close-knit, collegial nature of the firm's partners and the expensive perks that come with the job. His mentor, Avery (Gene Hackman), teaches him the ropes, but Mitch and Abby begin to sense there's something wrong with this idyllic life. When a couple of associates turn up dead, Mitch begins to investigate the history of the firm; and when the FBI asks him to spy on the firm for them, Mitch realizes his life will never be the same and that, if discovered, he, his wife, and his long-lost brother will be in mortal danger. Mitch must use all his talents as a lawyer to outsmart the firm, the FBI, and the mob in order to reclaim control over his life. A very entertaining thriller that engages the audience at a breakneck pace while not taking itself too seriously. It also features some fine writing and strong performances from a large cast of exceptional actors. "--Robert Lane"

Languages: English

Subtitles: Spanish, French

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo

Summary: How do you stop a killer with immortal powers? Lou Diamond Phillips stars as a hotshot L.A. homicide detective caught in a harrowing game with a man who lives to kill ' and cannot die ' in this psychological thriller that transcends mortal terror!After a long, gruesome hunt, Detective Russell Logan (Phillips) finally captures the brutal Pentagram Killer (Jeff Kober) and watches as the murderer is executed at San Quentin. Finally, the terror is over...or is it? When the ritualistic killings begin again, Logan is haunted by violent visions of the executed man and seeks the counsel of a beautiful psychic (Tracy Griffith). Together they discover that the Pentagram Killer, one of Satan's disciples, possesses the First Power ' the ability to inhabit the bodies of others at will! Now Logan has to catch the killer again, not knowing where, when ' or in whom ' he'll show up next! Charged with bone-chilling suspense and otherworldly evil, The First Power will scare the devil out of you!

Languages: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Dutch, Korean, Thai

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Ice Cube continues his winning streak as a likeable everyman in family movies with "First Sunday", an initially silly, disposable comedy that picks up emotional power and authenticity by the second act. Cube plays ne’er-do-well Durell, an out-of-work Baltimore dad who needs over $17,000 to keep his ex from taking their son with her to Atlanta for good. Desperate to raise the cash but hamstrung by his self-defeating attitude and the criminal antics of his goofy sidekick, LeeJohn (Tracy Morgan), Durell gives in to temptation and decides he and LeeJohn should rob a church. The crime goes badly when it turns out a number of parishioners are in the building at the time, and a hostage situation develops. Events take a twist when the would-be thieves become the beneficiaries of Christian charity and forgiveness from the men and women they’ve kidnapped, and a bigger criminal is revealed in the congregation’s mix. A terrific supporting cast including Michael Beach, Chi McBride, Keith David, Malinda Williams, Loretta Devine, and Katt Williams bring strong humor and dignity to the film’s latter half, compensating for some unpleasant missteps (a pointless scene at a massage parlor) earlier in the story. Writer-director David E. Talbert is especially sharp during a spirited, gospel performance scene, which simply crackles on screen. "--Tom Keogh"

Languages: English, Korean, French

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Thematically ambitious and emotionally complex, Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers" is an intimate epic with much to say about war and the nature of heroism in America. Based on the non-fiction bestseller by James Bradley (with Ron Powers), and adapted by "Million Dollar Baby" screenwriter Paul Haggis ("Jarhead" screenwriter William Broyles Jr. wrote an earlier draft that was abandoned when Eastwood signed on to direct), this isn't so much a conventional war movie as it is a thought-provoking meditation on our collective need for heroes, even at the expense of those we deem heroic. In telling the story of the six men (five Marines, one Navy medic) who raised the American flag of victory on the battle-ravaged Japanese island of Iwo Jima on February 23rd, 1945, Eastwood takes us deep into the horror of war (in painstakingly authentic Iwo Jima battle scenes) while emphasizing how three of the surviving flag-raisers (played by Adam Beach, Ryan Phillippe, and Jesse Bradford) became reluctant celebrities – and resentful pawns in a wartime publicity campaign – after their flag-raising was immortalized by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal in the most famous photograph in military history.
As the surviving flag-raisers reluctantly play their public roles as "the heroes of Iwo Jima" during an exhausting (but clearly necessary) wartime bond rally tour, "Flags of Our Fathers" evolves into a pointed study of battlefield valor and misplaced idolatry, incorporating subtle comment on the bogus nature of celebrity, the trauma of battle, and the true meaning of heroism in wartime. Wisely avoiding any direct parallels to contemporary history, Eastwood allows us to draw our own conclusions about the Iwo Jima flag-raisers and how their postwar histories (both noble and tragic) simultaneously illustrate the hazards of exploited celebrity and society's genuine need for admirable role models during times of national crisis. "Flags of Our Fathers" defies the expectations of those seeking a more straightforward war-action drama, but it's richly satisfying, impeccably crafted film that manages to be genuinely patriotic (in celebrating the camaraderie of soldiers in battle) while dramatizing the ultimate futility of war. Eastwood's follow-up film, "Letters from Iwo Jima", examines the Iwo Jima conflict from the Japanese perspective. "--Jeff Shannon"

Beyond "Flags of Our Fathers"
Other World War II DVDs
Essential DVDs by Director Clint Eastwood
"Flags of Our Fathers" by James Bradley Stills from "Flags of Our Fathers" (click for larger image)

Languages: English, French

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Thematically ambitious and emotionally complex, Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers" is an intimate epic with much to say about war and the nature of heroism in America. Based on the non-fiction bestseller by James Bradley (with Ron Powers), and adapted by "Million Dollar Baby" screenwriter Paul Haggis ("Jarhead" screenwriter William Broyles Jr. wrote an earlier draft that was abandoned when Eastwood signed on to direct), this isn't so much a conventional war movie as it is a thought-provoking meditation on our collective need for heroes, even at the expense of those we deem heroic. In telling the story of the six men (five Marines, one Navy medic) who raised the American flag of victory on the battle-ravaged Japanese island of Iwo Jima on February 23rd, 1945, Eastwood takes us deep into the horror of war (in painstakingly authentic Iwo Jima battle scenes) while emphasizing how three of the surviving flag-raisers (played by Adam Beach, Ryan Phillippe, and Jesse Bradford) became reluctant celebrities – and resentful pawns in a wartime publicity campaign – after their flag-raising was immortalized by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal in the most famous photograph in military history.
As the surviving flag-raisers reluctantly play their public roles as "the heroes of Iwo Jima" during an exhausting (but clearly necessary) wartime bond rally tour, "Flags of Our Fathers" evolves into a pointed study of battlefield valor and misplaced idolatry, incorporating subtle comment on the bogus nature of celebrity, the trauma of battle, and the true meaning of heroism in wartime. Wisely avoiding any direct parallels to contemporary history, Eastwood allows us to draw our own conclusions about the Iwo Jima flag-raisers and how their postwar histories (both noble and tragic) simultaneously illustrate the hazards of exploited celebrity and society's genuine need for admirable role models during times of national crisis. "Flags of Our Fathers" defies the expectations of those seeking a more straightforward war-action drama, but it's richly satisfying, impeccably crafted film that manages to be genuinely patriotic (in celebrating the camaraderie of soldiers in battle) while dramatizing the ultimate futility of war. Eastwood's follow-up film, "Letters from Iwo Jima", examines the Iwo Jima conflict from the Japanese perspective. "--Jeff Shannon"

Beyond "Flags of Our Fathers"
Other World War II DVDs
Essential DVDs by Director Clint Eastwood
"Flags of Our Fathers" by James Bradley Stills from "Flags of Our Fathers" (click for larger image)

Languages: English, Spanish

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: In the early-1990s, Greg Kinnear was just another amiable talk show host. After As Good As It Gets, however, Kinnear confirmed he could act. If Flash of Genius isn't as harrowing as the Bob Crane biopic Auto-Focus, Kinnear digs just as deep to play a man possessed, in this case taking on Bob Kearns, a Detroit physics professor who invented the intermittent windshield wiper. Supported by his wife (Lauren Graham) and best friend (Dermot Mulroney, making the most of an underwritten part), Kearns aims to align himself with a Motor City auto maker to manufacture his device. Ford expresses interest, so Kearns secures a warehouse, but it all falls apart when they abruptly pull the plug. Then he finds out that they've added automatic wipers to their latest line. Though he patented his invention, the company denies they're using his blueprint, so Kearns takes them to court, a process that drags on for three decades. Meanwhile, his support system starts to collapse as Kearns loses interest in everything except the credit he feels he deserves. If the film succumbs to some of the pitfalls of the genre, i.e. the win-lose-win structure, producer-turned-director Marc Abraham never paint Kearns as too much of a hero. Through the inventor's brilliance, the world's streets are safer, but his tenacity also drove away some of those he held most dear. Hence, Flash of Genius serves as an inspirational story, a cautionary tale, and the perfect opportunity for Kinnear to make a potentially off-putting character sympathetic. --Kathleen C. Fennessy


Stills from Flash of Genius (Click for larger image)

 

 

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Gregory McDonald's lightweight mystery novel about an undercover newspaper reporter cracking a police drug ring is transformed by screenwriter Andrew Bergman ("Blazing Saddles", and writer/director of "The Freshman" and "Honeymoon in Vegas") into a fairly sarcastic and occasionally very funny Chevy Chase vehicle. Enjoyment of the film pivots on whether you find Chase's flippant, smart-ass brand of verbal humor funny, or merely egocentric. If you don't like Chase, there's really no one else worth watching (Geena Davis is sadly underused). Chase seems born to play I.M. "Fletch" Fletcher, a disillusioned investigative reporter whose cynicism and detached view on life mirrors the actor's understated approach to comedy. Fletcher offers Chase the opportunity to adopt numerous personas, as his job requires numerous (bad) physical disguises, and much of film's humor centers on the ridiculous idea that any of these phony accents or bad hairpieces could fool anyone. These not-so-clever disguises are put to use when Fletch becomes involved in the film's smart but continually self-mocking two-part mystery. As well as trying to gather drug-smuggling evidence against the LAPD for a long-overdue newspaper story, a rich and apparently terminally ill stranger also offers Fletch a large payoff to kill him. While the film does a fairly good job juggling both of these plots, not to mention tossing in a love interest as well, it's subservient, for better or worse, to Chase's memorable one-liners and disguises. Followed by two forgettable sequels that lack both the original's wit and Chase's attention span. --"Dave McCoy"

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Subtitles: Spanish, French

Sound: Dolby

Summary: Before his movie career completely tanked, Chevy Chase made one of the few films that gave him a chance to display his comic versatility: 1985's "Fletch", the Michael Ritchie-directed comedy about an investigative reporter who specializes in going undercover on big stories. Lightning, however, didn't strike twice when Ritchie and Chase went back to Gregory MacDonald's novels for a second helping. This sequel features Chase once again as Fletch, super-reporter, who heads from L.A. to the South, where he supposedly has inherited an estate. Before long, he's become involved in a murder plot and is trying to stay out of the killer's sights himself. The material is considerably weaker, revealing Chase's shortcomings as an ad lib comic. "--Marshall Fine"

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Can a wild horse with a bad attitude and a not-quite-wild but pretty darn sullen teenage girl with a bad attitude be the best things that ever happened to each other? Though we guess the answer pretty early on in "Flicka", it doesn't diminish the feel-good family film one bit. The film is a remake of the 1947 "My Friend Flicka" itself based on the bestselling (and still riveting) novel by Mary O'Hara, and starring a young Roddy McDowall as the aimless teen hero. This 2006 update changes the hero to a heroine, Katy (Alison Lohman), though the dynamic is similar, and in some ways makes the appeal of the film broader. After all, young girls love their horses, and Katy's moxie and determination, as she opens her heart to the wild filly, a touchingly and humanly conveyed. As Katy struggles with her relationship with her gruff dad (given an excellent performance by country star Tim McGraw), she finds she can gain confidence and be the person her father wants her to be--solely by being herself as she connects with Flicka the horse. The cinematography is stunning, and showcases a part of America that once was seen and celebrated often in films, and lately so rare as to be precious. --"A.T. Hurley"
Beyond "Flicka"
Flicka Family Classics Collection
My Friend Flicka (Paperback)
Flicka Soundtrack
Stills from "Flicka"

Languages: English

Summary: Disney's 1986 "Flight of the Navigator" combines a strong ensemble cast and classic '80s soundtrack with dazzling special effects for a high-flying sci-fi adventure. While searching for his little brother in the woods, 12-year-old David Freeman (Joey Cramer) falls down a ravine and is knocked unconscious. After what seems like minutes, he returns home, only to discover that eight years have passed since he was declared missing and presumed dead. Even more mystifying is that David hasn't aged, nor can he account for the time lapse. Meanwhile, NASA officials stumble upon a futuristic spacecraft and are determined to assess what David knows about it by locking him in a top-secret lab for scanning and testing. His only chance of escape is in the spacecraft manned by Max, a wisecracking robot. Cramer gives an earnest performance, which overcomes an imperfect script, while enough one-liners and imaginative animation will keep families engaged. Watch for Sarah Jessica Parker in one of her first film appearances. Rated PG for language. (Ages 6 and older) "--Lynn Gibson"

Languages: English, Spanish, French

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

Sound: Dolby

Summary: As superfluous remakes go, "Flight of the Phoenix" could've been better, and could've been worse. It's a passable popcorn adventure, especially for those unfamiliar with the 1965 original, which starred James Stewart, made headlines for the crash-landing death of stunt-pilot Paul Mantz, and now stands as a minor classic of its era. This flashy remake stars Dennis Quaid in Stewart's role, adds a woman to the list of plane-crash survivors, and showcases Giovanni Ribisi, who gives a cleverly eccentric performance as the model-airplane designer who proposes to rebuild a crashed cargo plane into a single-engine escape from certain death in the remote Gobi desert. Both films are essentially identical, but this remake is somehow less believable (due to shortcuts in a haphazardly written screenplay) and much more spectacular, owing to the advantage of impressive special effects. Otherwise it's a routine dose of survivalist entertainment from the director of "Behind Enemy Lines", never convincing enough to be genuinely compelling, but certainly never boring. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Like a lot of stylishly persuasive thrillers, "Flightplan" is more fun to watch than it is to think about. There's much to admire in this hermetically sealed mystery, in which a propulsion engineer and grieving widow (Jodie Foster) takes her 6-year-old daughter (and a coffin containing her husband's body) on a transatlantic flight aboard a brand-new jumbo jet she helped design, and faces a mother's worst nightmare when her daughter (Marlene Lawston) goes missing. But how can that be? Is she delusional? Are the flight crew, the captain (Sean Bean) and a seemingly sympathetic sky marshal (Peter Sarsgaard) playing out some kind of conspiratorial abduction? In making his first English-language feature, German director Robert Schwentke milks the mother's dilemma for all it's worth, and Foster's intense yet subtly nuanced performance (which builds on a fair amount of post-9/11 paranoia) encompasses all the shifting emotions required to grab and hold your attention. Alas, this upgraded riff on Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes" (not to mention Otto Preminger's "Bunny Lake is Missing") is ultimately too preposterous to hold itself together. "Flightplan" gives us a dazzling tour of the jumbo jet's high-tech innards, and its suspense is intelligently maintained all the way through to a cathartic conclusion, but the plot-heavy mechanics break down under scrutiny. Your best bet is to fasten your seatbelt and enjoy the thrills on a purely emotional level -- a strategy that worked equally well with "Panic Room", Foster's previous thriller about a mother and daughter in peril. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono

Summary: Meet "The Flintstones" in this prehistoric Hanna-Barbera production. Primetime's first animated series was also the longest running until "The Simpsons" came along. Not so coincidentally, the two shows aren't all "that" different--even if the former emerged in the sixties, the latter in the eighties. Fred (Alan Reed), patriarch of the cave-dwelling clan, may be "marginally" more intelligent than the similarly blue collar Homer, but most storylines still revolve around his more dunderheaded moves. Fortunately, wife Wilma (Jean Vander Pyl) and Barney (Mel Blanc) and Betty Rubble (Bea Benaderet), their neighbors, are usually able to set things right. That was also true for Ralph Cramden of "The Honeymooners", a direct influence (Reed even sounds like Jackie Gleason). But Ralph didn't have a pet dinosaur and he "did" live in the Modern Age--if you can call the fifties "modern"--rather than the Stone Age.
This long-awaited DVD set includes all 28 episodes of the first season, including the lost "Flagstones" pilot. Notable segments include "Hot Lips Hannigan"--one of several riffs on beatnik culture--in which Fred, aka "The Velvet Smog," sings and Barney beats the traps and "The Creature From the Tar Pits," in which Fred fills in as Gary Granite's stunt double in a Bedrock-set horror flick.
"The Flintstones"'s first season introduced two timeless couples from another time. Its success led to a theatrical release, two live-action features, and countless specials and spin-offs. New viewers may be surprised to find that Dino doesn't make his official entrance until episode 18 ("The Snorkasaurus Story"), that Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm aren't in the first season at all, and that the famous theme won't hit the airwaves until the third (replacing instrumental "Rise and Shine"). Those quirky quotes, however, were in effect from the start: "Wiiilmaaaaaaa!," "Droll, very droll" and, especially, "Yabba-dabba-doo!!!" "--Kathleen C. Fennessy"

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Subtitles: Spanish, French

Sound: Dolby

Summary: World War I aviation action gets an impressive digital upgrade in "Flyboys", a welcome addition to the "dogfight" sub-genre that includes such previous war-in-the-air films like "Hell's Angels", "Wings", and "The Blue Max". While those earlier films had the advantage of real and genuinely dangerous flight scenes (resulting, in some cases, in fatal accidents during production), "Flyboys" takes full (and safe) advantage of the digital revolution, with intensely photo-realistic recreations of WWI aircraft, authentic period structures, and CGI environments requiring a total of 850 digital effects shots, resulting in an abundance of amazing images, many of them virtually indistinguishable from reality. Unfortunately, the film's technical achievement is more impressive than its screenplay, which conventionally and predictably tells the fact-based story, set in France in 1916, of the daring young pilots of the Lafayette Escadrille, a pioneering French air-combat unit that welcomed American enlistees prior to the United States' entry into the war.
There's a familiar cliché to match every thrilling scene of aerial combat, but director Tony Bill manages to keep it all interesting, from the romance between a young American maverick (James Franco) and a pretty French girl (newcomer Jennifer Decker) to the exciting action in the air, which includes a stock variety of heroes (many of them composites of real-life WWI pilots) and an intimidating villain known only as "The Black Falcon," whose Fokker Dr-1 triplane (one of many in the film) recalls the exploits of German "ace of aces" Manfred von Richtofen, the dreaded "Red Baron" of legend. With impeccable production values that will impress even the most nit-picking aviation buffs, "Flyboys" (like "Superman Returns" and "Apocalypto", also released in 2006) was also one of the first feature films to be shot with Panavision's state-of-the-art Genesis digital cameras, resulting in beautiful images that meet or exceed the visual nuance of film. "Flyboys" also benefits from painstaking attention to physical detail, making it easier to forgive its shortcomings as a generic and formulaic slice of romanticized history. So while some viewers may have wished for a more realistic and grown-up depiction of the Lafayette Escadrille, it's safe to say that "Flyboys" will be thrilling its target audience for many years to come. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Christopher Guest (director of "A Mighty Wind", "Best in Show", and "Waiting for Guffman") and his sparkling troupe of improvisational satirists return with a sardonic look at C-list (or perhaps D- or E-list) actors driven to the brink of madness by the possibility of winning an Academy Award. Marilyn Hack (the ever-brilliant Catherine O'Hara, "Beetlejuice"), a modestly talented character actress, hears of an Internet rumor that she might be nominated for the dubious movie she's currently making, "Home for Purim". Soon buzz is flying about all the rest of the cast (which includes Harry Shearer and Parker Posey) and everyone starts clawing for as much attention as they can get while appearing modest and unambitious. Despite the movie's target being so familiar to them, "For Your Consideration" is not Guest & Co.'s best work--in an effort to give everyone in the huge cast face time, few of the characters gain any comic traction or have a particularly engaging storyline; the mockery stays on a fairly surface level. Nonetheless, some of those surfaces are pretty funny: Fred Willard and Jane Lynch are devastating as a pair of predatory infotainment hosts, while Jennifer Coolidge ("Legally Blonde") turns in a daffy and surreal performance. Throughout, the movie's anchor is O'Hara; the way her character is virtually crushed by the hype has a surprising richness and depth. She remains a cinematic treasure. "--Bret Fetzer"

Languages: English, French

Subtitles: English, French

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Summary: After a ship sunk off the coast of Albania, the world's superpowers begin a feverish search for its valuable lost cargo: the powerful ATAC system, which will give its bearer unlimited control over Polaris nuclear submarines. As Bond joins the search, he suspects the suave Kristatos (Julian Glover) of seizing the device. The competition between nations grows more deadly by the moment, but Bond finds an ally in the beautiful Melina Havelock (Caroline Bouquet), who blames Kristatos for the death of her parents. The non-stop action includes automobile chases, thrilling underwater battles, and even a breathtaking tour over razor-sharp coral reefs. But all of this is merely a prelude to 007's cliffhanging assault of a magnificent mountaintop fortress. "-- Robert Lynch"

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: Getting martial-arts superstars Jet Li and Jackie Chan together in the same action film is like a fantasy come true, even if "The Forbidden Kingdom" is more of a children's movie than an instant kung-fu classic. Yes, Li and Chan square off in a lengthy, acrobatic fight scene that is a lot of fun, though it can't be what such a scene might have been even a decade ago: careful editing now compensates for the 54-year-old Chan's slower moves and reflexes. Still, Chan doesn't disappoint as Lu Yan, a drunken immortal in ancient China who mentors a modern-day American kid, Jason (Michael Angarano), the latter having slipped into the past while in possession of a magical staff that belongs to the imprisoned Monkey King (Li). In order to get back to his own time and help an old friend (also Chan) wounded by thugs, Jason accompanies Lu Yan and a lovely warrior, Golden Sparrow (Liu Yifei), on a journey to return the staff. Along the way, a (mostly) silent monk (Li, again), who has spent his life in search of the staff, joins their mission. He helps Lu Yan train Jason in fighting and adding more muscle to the party as it comes under siege from a violent witch (Li Bing Bing) and pathological warlord (Collin Chou). Screenwriter John Fusco "(Hidalgo)" and director Rob Minkoff "(The Haunted Mansion) " have made a slightly chintzy, Western version of a Chinese swords-and-sorcery tale. The gravity-defying, flying-through-the-air-while-fighting choreography looks pretty choppy and graceless compared to, say, the martial arts films of Zhang Yimou. But "The Forbidden Kingdom" is really aimed at kids, not aficionados of epic fight movies. On that score, the movie aims to please and does so for the right audience. -- "Tom Keogh"

Beyond "The Forbidden Kingdom" on DVD
"The Forbidden Kingdom" Soundtrack
Stills from "The Forbidden Kingdom" (click for larger image)

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: Dolby

Summary: Wildly entertaining but riddled with as many plot holes as bullets, "Formula 51" (a.k.a. "The 51st State") is a love-it-or-hate-it action comedy that plays like Tarantino on the Thames. It's a raucous hash, highlighted by the sheer pleasure of Samuel L. Jackson--in a kilt, no less--strutting his stuff among denizens of the British underworld. As freelance chemist Elmo McElroy (whose tartan attire remains glibly unexplained), Jackson is perfectly teamed with "The Full Monty"'s Robert Carlyle in a scam involving Elmo's latest pharmaceutical concoction, which promises to yield a fortune on the rave scene. This attracts a loopy British kingpin (the outrageous Rhys Ifans), Elmo's vengeful ex-boss (Meat Loaf), a corrupt cop (Sean Pertwee), and a lovely assassin (Emily Mortimer) with a soft spot for Carlyle. They're all given generous helpings of Stel Pavlou's profanely zesty dialogue, and director Ronny Yu strikes a breezy balance between rampant hilarity and blood-splattering violence. If that's your cup of tea, "Formula 51" guarantees a satisfying buzz. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English, French

Summary: Tom Hanks gives an astonishing performance as Forrest in this acclaimed film from director Robert Zemeckis that rocketed to box-office history and touched the hearts of filmgoers like no other movie. Through three turbulent decades, Forrest rides a tide of events that whisks him from physical disability to football stardom, from Vietnam hero to shrimp tycoon, from White House honors to the arms of his one true love. Forrest is the embodiment of an era, an innocent at large in an America that is losing its innocence. His heart knows what his limited IQ cannot. His moral compass never wavers. His triumphs become an inspiration to us all. "Forrest Gump." It's the story of a lifetime.

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: The Academy Award winner for Best Picture, Best Director Robert Zemeckis, and Best Actor Tom Hanks, this unlikely story of a slow-witted but good-hearted man somehow at the center of the pivotal events of the 20th century is a funny and heartwarming epic. Hanks plays the title character, a shy Southern boy in love with his childhood best friend (Robin Wright) who finds that his ability to run fast takes him places. As an All-Star football player he meets John F. Kennedy; as a soldier in Vietnam he's a war hero; and as a world champion Ping-Pong player he's hailed by Richard Nixon. Becoming a successful shrimp-boat captain, he still yearns for the love of his life, who takes a quite different and much sadder path in life. The visual effects incorporating Hanks into existing newsreel footage is both funny and impressive, but the heart of the film lies in its sweet love story and in the triumphant performance of Hanks as an unassuming soul who savors the most from his life and times. "--Robert Lane"

Languages: English

Summary: Bound by love for their slain adoptive mother, the brothers in "Four Brothers" form a unique quartet that gives John Singleton's film a razor's edge of redemption. It's a thin edge, to be sure, because while Singleton's urban Western pays homage to the Blaxpoitation films of the '70s (as he did with his remake of "Shaft"), it walks a fine line of credibility with a mythic vengeance plot (recalling John Wayne's 1965 hit "The Sons of Katie Elder") that endorses violence as the last resort of a family under siege. When a saintly foster mother (Fionnula Flanagan) is gunned down in a convenience store, her only adopted sons (two white, two black, played respectively by Mark Wahlberg, Garrett Hedlund, Tyrese Gibson and Andre Benjamin) go after the killers, only to discover that their mother's death was not a random event. As they uncover a sticky web of criminal activity involving a local kingpin (Chiwitel Ejiofor), the character-driven plot races toward an inevitable showdown, with ex-con Wahlberg leading the way. Making excellent use of blue collar locations in Detroit, Singleton keeps the action moving fast enough that the film's lack of realism is easily ignored, and the well-drawn characters (including Terrence Howard as a tenacious detective) lend emotional dimension to an otherwise familiar revenge scenario. "Four Brothers" is manipulative, but it's filled with grace notes of rugged working-class humanity, and it definitely holds your attention. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Summary: When your significant other tells you you both need an exit "safe word" before you enter his dad's Christmas gathering, you know you're not in Bedford Falls. But while Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon may not be "It's a Wonderful Life"'s George and Mary Bailey, "Four Christmases" is a modern holiday classic in its own right. For one thing, every family neurosis and dysfunction have taken root in the four families of Vaughn and Witherspoon's characters, Brad and Kate--and the sleek yuppie façade each has built with the other is about to come tumbling down. There are real belly laughs as the couple unexpectedly has to spend holidays with their four extended family groups. "I don't want to speak ill of your mother on Christmas," growls Howard (Robert Duvall) to son Brad, while Brad's bullnecked ultimate-fighter brothers are rassling everything in sight, "but she's nothing but a common street whore." Brad may cringe, but Kate's own family is about to mortify her in abundant ways, from her randy "Gram-Gram" and about-to-pounce cougar mom Mary Steenburgen ("I feel like a Saudi prince in here," marvels Brad as all of Kate's female relatives drape themselves over him), to the revelation to Brad that Kate used to be--how to put this--a bit on the chubby side. If the plot isn't full of surprises, the quips are nonstop and the acting believable and charming. The supporting cast also includes Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight, Jon Favreau and Dwight Yoakam in a memorable turn as the mega-church pastor Steenburgen's character is involved with. It's a comic Christmas blessing, and there'll be no need to say "mistletoe"--at least not till the viewers are home with their own families. --"A.T. Hurley"

Languages: English

Summary: The seventh filming of A.E.W. Mason's classic 1902 novel, this near-epic production of "The Four Feathers" looks great, sounds great, and feels rather average. It would be difficult to diminish the rousing adventure of Mason's novel, and director Shekhar Kapur ("Elizabeth") certainly gets more bang for his buck, with massive battle scenes and rugged, sun-baked harshness enhanced by Robert Richardson's masterful cinematography. Kapur preserves the universal appeal of the story, set in the 1880s, in which a promising soldier (Heath Ledger) resigns on the eve of battle in Britain's Sudanese campaign, is labeled a coward by his fiancée (Kate Hudson), and redeems himself by posing as a Muslim warrior to rescue his best friend Jack (Wes Bentley) from certain death in the desert. For all its heroics, however, the film seems oddly passionless; Djimon Hounsou is excellent as Ledger's desert guardian, but these young Hollywood stars lack the authenticity of Zoltan Korda's 1939 film, which remains the definitive version. "--Jeff Shannon"

Languages: English

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Summary: "The Fox and the Hound" marked the last collaboration between Disney's older artists, including three of the "Nine Old Men" (Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, and Woolie Reitherman), and the young animators who would make the record-breaking films of the '90s. Based on a book by Daniel P. Mannix, the film tells the story of a bloodhound puppy and a fox kit who begin as friends but are forced to become enemies. Tod and Copper barely establish their friendship before Copper begins his training as hunting dog. Unfortunately, neither character develops much of a personality, which makes it difficult to care about them. The screen comes alive near end of the film, when Tod and Copper have to join forces to fight off an enormous bear. It had been years since Disney produced a sequence with this kind of feral power--and years would pass before they surpassed it. "The Fox and the Hound" ranks as one of the studio's lesser efforts, but it suggests that better films were soon to follow. (Ages 5 and older) "--Charles Solomon"

Languages: English, French, Spanish

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround

Summary: "The Fox and the Hound" marked the last collaboration between Disney's older artists, including three of the "Nine Old Men" (Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, and Woolie Reitherman), and the young animators who would make the record-breaking films of the '90s. Based on a book by Daniel P. Mannix, the film tells the story of a bloodhound puppy and a fox kit who begin as friends but are forced to become enemies. Tod and Copper barely establish their friendship before Copper begins his training as hunting dog. Unfortunately, neither character develops much of a personality, which makes it difficult to care about them. The screen comes alive near end of the film, when Tod and Copper have to join forces to fight off an enormous bear. It had been years since Disney produced a sequence with this kind of feral power--and years would pass before they surpassed it. "The Fox and the Hound" ranks as one of the studio's lesser efforts, but it suggests that better films were soon to follow. (Ages 5 and older) "--Charles Solomon"

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround

Summary: Anthony Hopkins plays a brilliant, pathologically serene killer outwitting the good guys at every turn and taking a shine to a twentysomething law enforcer who can’t conceal a rural accent and rugged origins. Could it be...? No, not "The Silence of the Lambs", but an original mystery, "Fracture", which plays a little like "Lambs" as an episode of "Columbo", minus Columbo. Which means the film tells us from the get-go that Hopkins’ character, a wealthy engineer, shoots his philandering wife (Embeth Davidtz) and leaves her in a vegetative state. From there, it should be a simple matter for young, assistant District Attorney Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) to nail Crawford, who provides a full confession and even eschews counsel. That’s good for Beachum, a slick winner with a vague background of deprivation, rapidly on his way out of public service after attracting the attention of a deep-pocket, private firm. What he doesn’t know, however, is that Crawford has masterminded more than vengeance against his wife, and that the state’s case against him is full of pre-arranged holes and a huge time-bomb that will send Beachum scrambling to keep the pieces together.
The story, conceived and co-scripted by Daniel Pyne ("Doc Hollywood"), goes down easily with a minimum of blood and violence, and should easily appeal to mystery buffs as well as old fans of Hopkins and new admirers of Oscar nominee Gosling ("Half Nelson"). The latter holds his own in multiple, two-character scenes with the masterful portrayer of Hannibal Lecter, pacing Beachum’s reactions to Crawford’s polite provocations so everything spills onto his youthful face: torn loyalties, confusion, gullibility. Director Gregory Hoblit ("Hart’s War"), still best-known for decades of distinguished television work ("NYPD Blue"), brings the necessary intimacy to make the stars’ chemistry work effectively. His noirish atmosphere is a little over the top, sometimes pushing the audience to a level of expectation that the film isn’t really ready to deliver, but this, overall, is an enjoyable work. "--Tom Keogh"

Languages: English

Summary: Boober Gorg: After being hit on the head by a radish, Boober thinks he's a Gorg! Determined to protect Gorgs' radishes, he joins forces with the giants to capture he Fraggle friends.
Blanket of Snow, Blanket of Woe: When Mokey forgets to cover Marjory the Trash Heap before the first snowfall, Marjory freezes solid! With help from Boober and the Gorgs, Mokey keeps her promise to make things right.
Inspector Red: Who stole the ancient fragglehorn? Red plays detective so solve the strange and bizarre mystery. Which of the suspects is guilty? Would a guilty Fraggle let an innocent Fraggle take the rap?

Languages: English

Summary: Beginnings

Gobo's Uncle Traveling Matt discovers a way to leave Fraggle Rock and venture out into our world - a land he calls Outer Space. Thus begins the adventures of Gobo, Mokey, Wembley, Boober, and Red. Marjory the Trash Heap sees it as trouble.

Wembley and the Gorgs

The giant Gorgs, who claim to be the rulers of the universe, capture Wembley Fraggle and enslave him. Gobo, Red, Mokey and Boober form a rescue party but soon need rescuing themselves.

Let the Water Run

Red plans a one-Fraggle swim show, but just before the performance, a drought hits Fraggle Rock, and the swimming hole turns into a mud puddle. The pipe bangers are unable to work their usual magic. Red tries to solve the problem - and finally does - with a little help.

Languages: English

Summary: The world of Jim Henson's "Fraggle Rock" is far from the sunny urban buzz of "Sesame Street", where many of Henson's most beloved Muppet characters dwell, or the frantic, backstage shenanigans of "The Muppet Show", the classic variety program starring Kermit, Miss Piggy, and other icons of children's television. In "Fraggle Rock", humans and Muppets live in different worlds. So different, in fact, that the Fraggles--small but diverse creatures who live in a cavernous land behind a wall in the shop of a tinkerer named Doc (Gerry Parkes)--regard the realm of flesh-and-blood people as "outer space."
Fraggles and people live apart, but the order of things is shaken up when the series' central character, Gobo, can't talk his determined uncle, Traveling Matt, from being the first of his kind to explore the great unknown. Matt leaves Fraggle Rock with a promise to get word to Gobo about how things are going. Thereafter, Gobo has to find a way, from time to time, to fetch postcards from Doc's trash can (Doc can't figure out why missives from someone named Uncle Matt keep turning up in his mailbox) by dashing into the tinkerer's warm workshop, avoiding not only Doc's eyes but the suspicions of his wonderful dog, Sprocket. (Doc mutters occasionally about boarding up a hole in the wall that serves as Gobo's door. When he finally does so, mid-season, it poses a crisis for Gobo, who is caught on the wrong side.) While Traveling Matt sees what people are like, Gobo and his fellow Fraggles--Red, Wembley, Boober, Mokey, and others--have adventures (and some misadventures) of their own, trying to get along, learning to say what they mean and how to avoid making the same mistake twice. Over time, they begin to ponder the big questions of their world and lives, questions that have an ethical subtext that can easily be appreciated by young viewers. Such as: Is it okay to eat elaborate structures built by Doozers, small construction builders whose materials apparently are so tasty? Should one ever trick a friend so seriously the latter actually grieves? Helping the Fraggles with these tough issues is all-knowing Marjory the Trash Heap, guru of garbage and life lessons. Not helpful by any stretch are the problematic Gorgs, giants who want to enslave Fraggles and who consider themselves royalty of the universe (such as it is behind Doc's wall). Each busy episode is designed to impart wisdom to kids, but they are also as funny as one might expect from the wisecracking Muppet Factory. Bonuses include recent interviews with cast and crew of the 1980s show, as well as a documentary about Henson. "--Tom Keogh"

Languages: English

Sound: Dolby

Summary: From the clap-happy theme to the fuzzy creatures, "Fraggle Rock" is as flat-out fun as children's programming gets. And even a little profound. In second season premiere "Wembley's Egg," for instance, the youngest Fraggle fears his life has no meaning. When an egg lands on Fraggle Rock, he makes like a mother hen and sits on it. The other Fraggles laugh, but he pays them no mind. When a baby bird emerges the next day, Wembley feels his life has meaning after all. Existentialism with Muppets? Sure, why not! The other Fraggles have adventures of their own. In "Boober Rock," the mopey one moves to the Caves of Boredom for a little peace and quiet, but starts to miss his noisy companions. (This episode features a kaleidoscopic Busby Berkeley-style dance sequence.) In "Red's Sea Monster," the energetic one befriends the last of the Lily Creatures, a gentle purple sea monster. And in "Mokey and the Minstrels," the mellow one joins a group of singers who look like an all-Muppet version of hippie musical "Hair".
All the while, absent-minded inventor Doc (Gerry Parkes, the show's sole human) shares his discoveries with dog Sprocket (a shaggy cousin to Wallace's Gromit), Marjory the Trash Heap dispenses advice, and Gobo's Uncle Traveling Matt explores outer space, i.e. the real world. Part of the same eco-system, the giant Gorgs and tiny "Bob the Builder"-like Doozers usually remain in the background, except for a few episodes, most involving Cotterpin Doozer. To be sure, there are lessons to be learned, but the tone is never preachy and the musical sequences are always imaginative. As the cast sings in each episode, "Dance your cares away / Worries for another day / Let the music play / Down at Fraggle Rock!" "--Kathleen C. Fennessy"

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: Dolby

Summary: Riding the coattails of beloved "Muppets", "Fraggle Rock" elucidates an equally vivacious Jim Henson puppet world that looks even more fantastic today than it did in the Eighties. In the vein of such mythological kid's films of the time as "Legend", and "The Neverending Story", "Fraggle Rock" is a mythological series detailing the adventures of underground critters called fraggles, starring Wembley, Red, Gobo, Mokey, Boober, and their Uncle Traveling Matt, who travels above ground to fill the fraggles in on what's happening in human society. "Complete Third Season" offers twenty-four more episodes preceding the final fourth series, plus a whole DVD of extras including interviews with the cast and creators, like designer Michael Frith and puppeteers. The box also comes with a treasure chest of "photos" from the designer's sketchbook, and notes about the making of this impressive show. Each episode of "Fraggle Rock" is so meticulously crafted, the fraggles' universe so well defined, that, now, it stands as a mind-boggling example of animated puppetry pre-CG. The fact that one can imagine how much effort went into inventing, building, and painting each cave-speckled, forested set, how much time went into developing the fraggles' personalities with smart scripting, really makes one long for the days when fantasy worlds were handmade. What results here, is authentic empathy for these feather boa-headed characters who clap with their feet and hum, dance, and celebrate every opportunity. When Red, in the first episode, "Red Handed and Invisible Thief," ravages her friends houses trying to understand who is nightly stealing her coveted radish bars, one honestly sees the sadness and humor in her plight. When Wembley finds a fizzy water fissure in a nearby cave, in "Wembley's Wonderful Whoopie Water," one thrills at discovering a new part of the fraggle underground. When Traveling Matt's tale of travel-addiction finally comes to fruition, in "Born To Wander," one marvels at his exploratory capabilities for seeing humanity with a fresh eye. This series is educational, charming, and fragglicious! –"Trinie Dalton"

Languages: English

Summary: Let the music play and complete your collection with season 4 of FRAGGLE ROCK, featuring the final 24 episodes, including the touching series finale. Enjoy the Fraggle-filled musical fun with the cantankerous Gorgs, industrious Doozers, and the silly creatures from " Outer Space” – Doc and Sprocket – in this 5-disc set! Experience exclusive bonus features such as behind-the-scenes interviews with the puppeteers, take a peek inside the final day of shooting, and discover the evolution of the Fraggles’ beloved toe-tappin’ theme song! So save your worries for another day, because you can never leave the magic of Fraggle Rock!

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: Dolby

Summary: Feature titles include: The Bride of Frankenstein, Frankenstein, The Ghost of Frankenstein, House of Frankenstein, Son of Frankenstein

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: AC-3

Summary: After 11 years in development hell and screenplay drafts by 13 different writers, the long-awaited smackdown of "Freddy vs. Jason" finally arrives. After making their respective debuts in "Friday the 13th" (1980) and "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984), the hockey-masked killer Jason Voorhees (Ken Kirzinger, replacing long-time Jason performer Kane Hodder) and razor-gloved Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) square off in a slasher-franchise combo-deal that only their most devoted fans will appreciate; turns out this is a lightweight match in which nobody wins. It's an average entry in the histories of these horror icons, comparable to half of their previous sequels, and "Bride of Chucky" director Ronny Yu satisfies purists with plenty of gushing blood and mayhem when Freddy recruits Jason to slice 'n' dice the ill-fated teens who've forgotten Freddy's once-formidable reign of terror. While it logically connects the gruesome legacies of "Nightmare"'s Elm Street and "Friday"'s Camp Crystal Lake, this horror hybrid is shockingly uninspired. It briefly peaks when Freddy gives the unconscious Jason a dream-world pummeling, but their ultimate showdown's a draw. In the immortal words of Peggy Lee, is that all there is? "--Jeff Shannon"