The latest installment of the "Rambo"
series arrives on DVD this week. The new film, starring, co-written and
directed by Sylvester Stallone, finds our hero John Rambo on a mission
to save a group of Christian aid workers who have been kidnapped by
Burmese soldiers. The special effects are very good... in one scene
they almost make it seem as if Stallone is... acting. The film is available in a variety of editions and formats, including Blu-ray, along with a bunch of re-releases of the three earlier films. (See the complete list below.)
"Cleaner"
is a dark, gritty and confusing crime thriller that bypassed theaters
to come straight to DVD. It's about a single father and former cop
named Tom Carver (Samuel L. Jackson) who has an unusual job - he cleans
up crime scenes. But when he's called in to sterilize a wealthy
suburban residence after a brutal shooting, Carver is shocked to learn
he may have unknowingly erased crucial evidence, entangling himself in
a dirty criminal cover up. The film was directed by Renny Harlin and
co-stars Eva Mendes, Ed Harris, Keke Palmer and Luis Gusman.
"Grace is Gone"
is a little different than the other Iraq war films that have been
released recently. This one stars John Cusack as a man who, after his
wife is killed in Iraq, can't bear to tell his two daughters the news.
Instead, he sets off with them on a spontaneous road trip to an
amusement park. It's a deeply moving drama (with a score by Clint
Eastwood) that picked up two awards at The Sundance Film Festival: the
Audience Award and Best Screenplay (James C. Strouse).
Terry
(Colin Farrell) is a chronic gambler in debt over his head; his brother
Ian (Ewan McGregor) is a young man in love with a beautiful actress he
has recently met (Hayley Atwell). When their Uncle Howard (Tom
Wilkinson) arrives in London under mysterious circumstances, the
brothers' lives gradually become entangled in sinister situations with
intense and unfortunate results. In "Cassandra's Dream,"
his third consecutive film set in contemporary London, Woody Allen
shows just how far people will go to make their dreams come true.
In "The Take,"
Felix De La Pena (John Leguizamo) is an armored car driver struggling
to make ends meet for his wife Marina (Rosie Perez) and two kids in
East LA's Boyle Heights neighborhood. But their lives are thrown into
chaos after Felix miraculously survives a violent on-the-job hijacking
led by Adell Baldwin (Tyrese Gibson), a merciless criminal driven by
power and greed. Now facing a difficult recovery and struggling with a
nasty new temper, Felix becomes obsessed with tracking down his
attackers before they frame him for the crimes they committed.
"The Walker"
is a tale of moral redemption that takes the form of a
mystery-thriller. The film centers around Carter Page (Woody
Harrelson), a well-heeled and popular socialite who serves as
confidant, companion, and card partner to some of Washington, D.C.'s
leading ladies. These pampered women (including Lily Tomlin and Lauren
Bacall) are married to the most powerful men in America, and when their
husbands are too busy running the country to attend to their wives,
they turn to their "gay best friend," Carter, for warmth, wit, and
wisdom.
From
producer Morgan Spurlock and director Rob VanAlkemade comes a serious
"docu-comedy" about the commercialization of Christmas. "What Would Jesus Buy?"
follows Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir as
they go on a cross-country mission to save Christmas from the
Shopocalypse: the end of mankind from consumerism, over-consumption and
the fires of eternal debt.
"Shelter,"
a gay surfing melodrama, was written and directed by Jonah Markowitz
and is the first in a series of independent scripted projects from
here! TV. The film centers on a young man named Zach who gives up on
his dream of art school in order to provide for his family. When his
best friend's brother returns to town, Zach becomes increasingly
attracted to him, their casual surfing relationship turns into much
more, which sets off a chain of events forcing him to reconcile his own
desires with the needs of his family.
"The Thief of Bagdad,"
one of the most spectacular fantasy films ever made, is out this week
in a new Criterion Collection Edition. When Prince Ahmad (John Justin)
is blinded and cast out of Bagdad by the nefarious Jaffar (Conrad
Veidt), he joins forces with the scrappy thief Abu (Sabu) to win back
his royal place, as well as the heart of a beautiful princess (June
Duprez). With its luscious Technicolor, vivid sets, and eye-popping
visual effects, "The Thief of Bagdad" has charmed audiences of all ages
for decades. This new 2-Disc set includes a commentary track from
Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese.
For
six years, the PBS series "Frontline" has covered 9/11 and Al Qaeda,
Afghanistan and Iraq, WMD and the Insurgency, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib,
Fallujah and the Surge. Now, on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq
invasion, the full saga unfolds in "Bush's War," a definitive documentary analysis of one of the most challenging periods in the nation's history.
Based on the best-selling novel by Candace Bushnell, "Lipstick Jungle"
is the new NBC drama series that follows three high-powered friends as
they weather the ups and downs of lives lived at the top of their game.
Movie exec Wendy (Brooke Shields) does everything she can to balance
career and family, Nico (Kim Raver), editor-in-chief of a hot fashion
magazine, has her eye on becoming CEO, and free-spirited designer
Victory (Lindsay Price) longs to make her dreams come true and maybe
find Mr. Right along the way.
It's a sleepy week in DVD Land with nary a big release to provide much pleasure, except - maybe - "National Treasure" and a TV version of a Broadway show beyond measure.
The missing pages of a diary hold a secret so explosive it could change the course of history in "National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets."
Like the first film, it's a blend of historical fact and fiction and
stars Nicolas Cage as a treasure hunter. This time out, it's a search
to uncover the truth behind the assassination of Abraham Lincoln that
provides the foundation for multiple stunts, awe-inspiring backdrops
and a lightning-paced international treasure hunt. Jon Voight, Ed
Harris, Harvey Keitel and Helen Mirren head up the extraordinary
supporting cast.
Set in modern upper-crust Manhattan and featuring a wise and witty Stephen Sondheim score, "Company,"
is a funny, sophisticated exploration of love and commitment as seen
through the eyes of a charming perpetual bachelor questioning his
single state and his enthusiastically married, slightly envious
friends. Directed by John Doyle and starring Raul Esparza, this
production won the 2007 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical and
was recently shown on PBS.
"Che"
- out on DVD this week - is a biopic of the legendary Latin American
leftist leader starring Eduardo Noriega and Sonia Braga. Che Guevara
has inspired generation after generation as the young idealist and
revolutionary who fought for the poor and oppressed. Rebel. Hero.
Lover. Legend... this film tells the story of Che's fearless life,
helping to lead a bloody socialist revolt that would shock the world.
The Fifth Season of the Showtime series "Penn & Teller: Bullshit!"
features the master showmen in more aggressive, humorous exposes of
taboo topics, each of which use the duo's trademark humor and knowledge
of carnival tricks... as well as hidden cameras and blatant
confrontation. Nominated the last four years for the Emmy for
Outstanding Reality Program and Outstanding Writing for Non Fiction
Programming, the show continues its controversial muckraking throughout
Season Five by confronting many of the institutions society holds dear.
It's time to welcome back Kermit, Miss Piggy and the gang with all 24 irreverent and witty episodes of the Third Season of "The Muppet Show."
Available on DVD for the first time, the complete Third Season of the
Emmy Award winning comedy series comes in a special four-disc set with
new behind the scenes bonus features and rare original skits.
Highlights include a duet between Gilda Radner and a giant carrot, as
well as guest appearances by Sylvester Stallone, Liberace, Raquel
Welch, Alice Cooper and Cheryl Ladd.
Denzel trains his students to keep their eyes on the prize, three women improvise while they rob a bank of considerable size and a predator's victim dies even as the FBI tries to separate the truth from the lies.
The Great Debaters
Inspired by a true story, "The Great Debaters"
chronicles the journey of Professor Melvin Tolson (Denzel Washington),
a brilliant but volatile debate team coach who uses the power of words
to shape a group of underdog students from a small African-American
college into a historically elite debate team. A controversial figure,
Professor Tolson challenged the social mores of the time and was under
constant fire for his unconventional and ferocious teaching methods as
well as his radical political views.
"Mad Money"
stars Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes as three women from
very different worlds who form an unlikely friendship and decide to rob
one of the most secure banks in the world. Smuggling millions of
dollars in worn-out currency headed for a Federal Reserve shredder
every day will be easy... getting away with it proves to be more
difficult. Ted Danson, Christopher McDonald, Roger Cross and Stephen
Root co-star in this comedy caper from director Callie Khouri.
An
internet predator is displaying his graphic murders on his own website
- and the fate of his tormented captives is left in the hands of the
public: the more hits the site gets, the faster his victims die. Diane
Lane and Colin Hanks star in the new cyber thriller "Untraceable,"
which tells the story of the F.B.I.'s special cyber crimes division and
the one agent determined to stop this tech-savvy serial killer before
he claims his next victim.
Director Francis Ford Coppola returns to filmmaking after an eight year hiatus with "Youth Without Youth."
When a bolt of lightning strikes Dominic Matei (Tim Roth), an aging
professor of linguistics, he begins to age backwards. He grows from 70
to 40 in a week, develops a highly evolved intellect and attracts the
attention of Nazi scientists. He's soon forced to choose between the
work he loves and the great love of his life.
Matthew Perry, Mary Steenburgen and Kevin Pollak star in the romantic comedy "Numb."
Perry plays a depressed screenwriter who is diagnosed with
"depersonalization disorder," a sense that everything around him is
unreal. Desperate to feel like himself again, he seeks out every
therapy imaginable, running the L.A. shrink circuit as he plummets
further into the depths of hopelessness and detachment. Things start to
change when he meets a woman whose relaxed ways and big-hearted spirit
make his race to recovery more likely.
Set in France, "Frontier(s)"
tells the story of four friends who are entrenched in the Paris riots.
They have stolen a large sum of money and are heading for the Danish
border. On their way, they check into a motel where things appear to
be too good to be true. They find that looks are deceiving as this
motel rapidly turns into a house of horrors run by a Neo-Nazi family.
The film, from director Xavier Gens, opened in theaters in select
cities last Friday.
"Steal a Pencil for Me"
is a Holocaust documentary with a twist. The film tells the true story
of the troubled marriage of Jaap and Manja Polak, who lived in German
occupied Amsterdam. During the war, Jaap met and fell in love with Ina
Soep. In the Westerbork transit camp they found themselves in the same
barrack, as well as later in Bergen Belsen. The husband, the wife and
the girlfriend: this is their remarkable story as told in Jaap and
Ina's memoir.
Last year, 17 year-old Jordin Sparks and 25 year-old Blake Lewis went head-to-head in the season finale for "American Idol"
Season 6. Sparks performed Christina Aguilera's "Fighter" and Martina
McBride's "A Broken Wing," while Blake performed Bon Jovi's "You Give
Love a Bad Name" and Maroon 5's "She Will Be Loved." Both contestants
then individually performed "This Is My Now," the winning song from the
2007 "American Idol" songwriting contest. All six of these performances
are featured in the clumsily-titled "American idol: Season 6 Finale Performance Show - The Top 2," as well as a repeat performance of "Home" by returning Idol Chris Daughtry.
Out this week is "Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection"
which Includes Special Editions of "Indiana Jones And The Raiders Of
The Lost Ark," "Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom" and Indiana Jones
And The Last Crusade." In the first and best film, archeologist and
university professor Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) must retrieve the
mythic Lost Ark of the Covenant before the it gets into the hands of
Adolf Hitler. In the second, he treks across Asia with a gold-digging
woman and a young child to rescue a village's missing children and find
a magic stone. In the third, he teams up with his father and sets out
to find the Holy Grail.
Warner
Home Video commemorates the 10th anniversary of the passing of "The
Chairman of the Board" by releasing a total of 22 of his films this
week in five new collections, with 11 titles brand new to DVD. The new
DVD collections include "Frank Sinatra: The Golden Years"
with Sinatra's Oscar-nominated performance in "The Man with the Golden
Arm," along with "None but the Brave," "Some Came Running," "The Tender
Trap" and "Marriage on the Rocks." "Frank Sinatra: The Early Years" features "Double Dynamite," "Higher and Higher," "Step Lively," "It Happened in Brooklyn" and "The Kissing Bandit."
"Autism: The Musical"
follows an acting coach, five children with autism and their parents as
they mount a full-length original stage production. Through trial and
error, tears and laughter these families learn to communicate their
feelings in song and performance finding solace and joy in the act of
creating. The documentary film, seen recently on HBO, offers a
full-throated celebration of kids living with an increasingly prevalent
disorder.
Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun"
- first seen onstage in 1959 - was the first play written by an African
American woman to be produced on Broadway. A family, living and
struggling on Chicago's South Side in the 1950s, anxiously awaits the
arrival of a $10,000 life insurance check made out to the family
matriarch from the estate of her late husband. Everyone in the family
has his or her own ideas about how to use the new-found wealth for a
fresh start. This new TV movie adaptation of the recent Broadway
revival of the play stars Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald,
Sanaa Lathan and John Stamos.
In "P.S. I Love You,"
Hilary Swank plays Holly Kennedy, a beautiful, smart woman married to
the love of her life - a passionate, funny and impetuous Irishman named
Gerry (Gerard Butler). When Gerry's life is taken by an illness, it
takes the life out of Holly. Before he died, however, Gerry wrote her a
series of letters that will guide her through her grief... and her
life. Holly's protective mother (Kathy Bates) and best friends (Lisa
Kudrow, Gina Gershon) worry that this link with the past is stopping
her from moving on but - with Gerry's words as her guide - she embarks
on a touching journey of rediscovery.
Inspired
by "the music and the many lives of Bob Dylan," this week's most
original film sets out to capture the essence of the man. In "I'm Not There,"
six different actors - including Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Richard
Gere and Oscar nominee Cate Blanchett - each embody part of the Dylan
legend... from Greenwich Village folk singer to electric guitar
trailblazer to born-again preacher. Directed by Academy Award-nominated
writer/director Todd Haynes, "I'm Not There" also features performances from Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams.
In "Bella,"
an international soccer star (Eduardo Verastegui) is on his way to sign
a multi-million dollar contract when something happens that brings his
career to an abrupt end. A beautiful waitress (Tammy Blanchard),
struggling to make it in New York City, discovers something about
herself that she's unprepared for. In one irreversible moment, their
lives are turned upside down...until a simple gesture of kindness
brings them both together, turning an ordinary day into an
unforgettable experience.
And you thought you had trouble at the dentist... in "Teeth,"
high school student Dawn works hard at suppressing her budding
sexuality by being the local chastity group's most active participant.
A stranger to her own body, innocent Dawn discovers she has a toothed vagina
when she becomes the object of violence. As she struggles to comprehend
her anatomical uniqueness, Dawn experiences both the pitfalls and the
power of being a living example of the vagina dentata myth.
Eva Longoria Parker stars in "Over Her Dead Body"
as a bossy bride who dies on her wedding day and then comes back to
haunt her fiance's new girlfriend. When Kate (Longoria Parker) is
killed by an ice sculpture, her fiance Henry (Paul Rudd) gives up on
romance until he falls for the beautiful psychic (Lake Bell) who's
supposed to be helping him move on. But Kate's not having it, and she's
going to do whatever it takes to end their budding relationship from
beyond the grave.
Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan play two thieves in "First Sunday,"
a comedy co-starring Katt Williams and Chi McBride. Sentenced to 5,000
hours of community service, Durell Jefferson's (Cube) life quickly goes
from bad to worse. Realizing that the Lord helps those who help
themselves, he eventually decides to help himself to the neighborhood
church's building fund. Accompanied by his dimwitted partner-in-crime
LeeJohn (Morgan), the two men are dismayed to discover the cash has
already been stolen, so they hold the congregation hostage in an
attempt to learn who amongst the righteous has already run away with
their loot.
Infamous socialite-turned-musician-turned-actress Paris Hilton stars in "The Hottie & the Nottie,"
a new comedy that sets out to prove that beauty is in the eye of the
beholder. It centers on a "perfect 10" woman, Cristabel (Hilton); her
less fortunate best friend, June (Christine Lakin); and the guy who
gets in the middle. Having pined away for Cristabel since the first
grade, twenty-something Nate (Joel David Moore) must find a boyfriend
for the less-than-beautiful June before he will even have a shot at
landing the girl of his dreams.
Timed to coincide with the release of the big screen film currently in theaters, "Speed Racer The Next Generation: The Beginning,"
is the first movie spin-off from the new Speed Racer TV show. The film
builds on the legendary adventures of the original animated series by
focusing on Speed's orphaned son as he contends with the everyday
hassles of school life at the Racing Academy while uncovering secrets
behind his famous father's disappearance.
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