Reviews (17)

"Napoleon" Is Simply Dynamite
The delightfully original film "Napoleon Dynamite" follows the life of a geeky teenager of the same name, and through his misadventures at his high school and at home in Preston, Idaho. This film first began to delight audiences at the Sundance Film Festival, and now that it has been nationally released across the country, I finally got the chance to see why. It is a movie that doesn't seem to bother with an intricate storyline, but is simply tales from Napoleon's everyday life, small events to an outsider but from his perspective, his whole world. This, in a sense, makes the picture a more realistic depiction of teenage life.

The character of Napoleon, brought to life by Jon Heder, is a caricature of a high school teenager. With a tuft of brownish hair, glasses, and a permanent look of confusion, getting pushed against lockers by popular jocks are regular occurrences for Napoleon, and strange behaviors as talking about hunting werewolves or saving tatertots in his pants pockets for later seem normal to him. He is delightfully quirky, and it makes the audience root for him as the unlikely hero. From his adventures at school with his friends Deb (Tina Majorino) and Pedro (Efren Ramirez), to his life at home with his geeky 31-year-old brother Kip (Aaron Ruell), his football crazed Uncle Rico (Jon Gries), and his llama Tina, Napoleon brings a unique charm to the screen that is only enhanced by the crazy characters around him.

"Napoleon Dynamite" is certainly one of the most original and strangely hilarious films of the year, and thanks to the brilliant script co-written by Jared and Jerusha Hess, the direction by Jared Hess, and the performances by all members of the cast, it is sure to win over any audience member, as quickly as it won me over.

I wish I could give it six stars
This is truly the feel-good movie of this year; there's not a curse word to be heard, no more violence than a few noogies, and no sex at all. Still, I defy you not to want to cheer at the end of this. The story of misfit Napoleon Dynamite and his miniscule circle of friends in rural Idaho, this movie manages to present the total nerd characters with their nerdiness intact, as well as their inherent dignity and humanity. I'm not going to tell you one plot point, because I want you to have the total pleasure of discovering them for yourself.

The friend of mine who saw this at Sundance told me that a jaded audience of Hollywood types 2000 strong cheered, stomped their feet and clapped their hands raw at this movie. You will too.

No log off and go see this right now.

The Prince of Preston
This is a small film, a very good one, told large. The director, Jared Hess, is a 24 year old wunderkind from the barrens of Preston, Idaho, and he has created a gem; a cousin to the Coens. This is a comedy that will sneak up on you, the stuff of belly laughs. Last year he did a 9-minute short film, PELUCA, starring Jon Heder, and it seems to have been the outline for this feature film. Hess is from Preston, and he filmed it as only a resident could; full of empty landscapes, lonely roads, farmers, ranchers, and rednecks. A scene where Napoleon gets a job for the day on a chicken ranch is worth the price of admission.

There have been numerous comparisons for this movie to WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE, and RUSHMORE. But for me, this film stands firmly on its own. It plays out like an absurdist straight drama that also happens to be funny. It is reminescent of some of the best moments in the Coen Brother's RAISING ARIZONA.

The film was a big hit at Sundance, and it has been distributed well; a lucky break for Hess. Wouldn't it be wonderful if more of the youth of our country could rally behind this tiny epic, and create it as a cult film; that for a moment they step away from the commedia del raunchy that they mostly immerse themselves in; that they actually laugh at themselves, the way they really are, just kids struggling to grow up? The 13-30 year old demographic dictates our art, our music, and our movies. This little film could go a long ways in restoring the missing heart, the naivete and grace to the comedic genre.

One real plus for me was the odd wholesomeness of this movie. There was zero profanity. Most of the time when a script deletes realistic high school vernacular, and changes the language to a lot of goshs, dangs, hecks, frigging, and freaking, it usually morphs quickly into the landscape of the lame. But somehow, Hess makes the lack of profanity work, and we don't miss it.

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called Jon Heder," geek deadpan perfection." He loved the film, and directs us," to laugh until it hurts." Heder is a lanky beanpole with a red Afro, all Adam's apple and oversized glasses, and overbite. At first glance one sees a young Yahoo Serious, or a Scott "Carrot Top" Thompson. But no, Heder is more natural, more believable, more absurd, and wonderfully unselfconscious. He is less the over-the-top screamer. In his best moments, like when he played tetherball with himself, or practiced his killer dance moves in his room, he reminded me of some of the great clowns; like a young Jerry Lewis, and even the precursory shadings of the great ones like Jackie Gleason in GIGOT, or Jacques Tati. Heder is Napoleon Dynamite, a prince of Preston, a nerdish Conan out to slay demons, or maybe just to get laid.

The setting for the film seems to be the early 1990's. Napoleon, and his older brother, Kip, live with their grandmother, played by Sandy Martin, who does a great turn as a biker grandma, who still dates, eats entirely too much steak, and loves her llama.
Aaron Ruell, as the brother Kip, a 32 year old who has been a nerd for so long he is oblivious to it, does a fine job with the role. He lives in front of his computer, logging countless hours in chatrooms, searching for cyber-love, running up huge internet bills. Tina Mjorino, as girlfriend Deb, was wonderfully wacky, off-center, and loveable. A former child star, from films like WATERWORLD, she is 19 years old now, and she is good enough to be slugging it out with the likes of Thora Birch, Jena Malone, and Christina Ricci for those Odd Girl parts. She found the sweet quirkiness and heartfelt honesty of her character. Jon Gries, an actor since 1968, son of famed film director Tom Gries, was very good as the arrogant deluded ignorant Uncle Ricco; a man stuck in the past, reliving a fake fantasy that when he played high school football he might have been a great star, even turned pro...if his stupid coach had not left him on the bench so much. Efrem Ramirez, as Napoleon's best friend, Pedro, is a veteran actor from 10 films. His babyface, and deadpan delivery served him well. He did an excellent job. When he decided to run for class president, against a popular cheerleader, the tempo begins to shift, and we begin to see that this sad and funny drama was going to bend into a kind of fantasy tale; with underdogs rising to the occasion, taking on overwhelming odds, and of course, emerging victorious.

In smaller roles we first find Diedrich Baker as the karate teacher Rex, and he is the most seasoned veteran of the cast, having appeared in 33 films. He had a lot of fun with this part, prancing around in his American flag "bad-boy" pants, and pushing around the local kids while taking their money. Then there is Shondrella Avery appearing as Kip's cyberlove La Fawnduh. She is one hot mama, and she seems to like short skinny white dudes. When Kip boards the bus with her, bandana on his head, glasses in his pocket, suitcases in his hands, leaving home for the first time, we realize the film has come full circle, and now is a fairy tale.

I had approached this film skeptically, not being sure how I would react or relate to it...but it won me over. It was not just another dumb comedy that would disentegrate two points off my intelligence quotient just by sitting through it. Rather, it was a fine little film, large on ambition, that I came to care about. I recommend it highly.

Soooo FUNNY!!!!!
I loved this film. It is funny like the mainstream films try to be but usually don't live up to. Its got some really gross parts to so watch out. Every scene is laugh out loud. I was laughing so hard I was crying. It also has a really good theme. The minority actually gets the upper hand by using creativity, not giving up and still being themselves. The actors were absolutely outstanding! The story is fresh and original without the cliches that seem unending in many films. Napoleon is a boy in high school who would be considered a nerd. He is different because normally the nerd cliche would be to not stand up for yourself but Napoleon has a temper and isn't afraid to speak out for himself. Its just that he does it so funnily. Napoleon is not the only funny character, the film just overflows with creative characters, his brother who is 34, still living with grandma who cooks steaks all the time. He is also nerdlike and possibly slow. But he is so funny, he wants to be a karate fighter, he and Napoleon get into a slap fight, its just hilarious. The brother has a girlfriend he meets on the internet, who shows up and changes the brother into Mr. Cool, but it just isn't possible. The Uncle is Uncle Rico who loves football and is stuck in the 80's. He wants to go back and play in the 4th quarter and become a pro, which he didn't get to do. He buys a time machine on the net, another lol scene. Pedro is from Juarez, Mexico who gives a deadpan performance. His acting alone makes the movie a winner. He decides to run for president against the most popular girl in school. He never gives up and neither does Napoleon. Napoleon's love interest switches to Mel who is also another interesting character. Into photography and also somewhat nerdy. She is played by Tina Majorano (sp.) She was that little girl in When a Man Loves a Woman. Another great performance. I can't say enough about the film. I think most ages would like this film, there is some cussing and some gross out scenes, no sex. Go see it!

Lisa Nary

Napoleon Dynamite. More Movies should be like this.
Napoleon Dynamite was a fantastic movie. I came into the theatre about 10 minutes late, it was still great. Some movies have their fabulous moments, but not this one. The whole movie itself is a fabulous moment. I love movies with no point! Example: Welcome to The Dollhouse, I thought Nothing could even be the same as that movie or replace that movie. Then all the sudden a brilliant writer came up with this movie. I really appreciate Napoleon Dynamite. I really do not think anybody knows how much I appreciate it or even understand. I do not want to rate this movie a five, I want to rate it a 6. Sadly I can't, anywho for all of you who have not seen it go see it, then go see it again. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Fun In DISfunCTION
a look at how we live despite our family that we can't live without. how can you not see how much is truth with slight exageration for affect. try it you''ll like it!we already own and watch the first two seasons.

I Hate this unfunny show

It's so dumb and lame. I hate this show and I don't see anything good about it.

The Best Show on Earth
This show is above and beyond anything else...I LOVE IT!!!!! I can't wait for the fourth season to come out

ME FASINA ESTA SERIE ES FABULOSA
NO SE IMAGUINAN CUANTO ME DIVIERTO CADA DIA VIENDOLA NO ME LO PIERDO NI UN DIANI LOS SABADOS NI LOS DOMINGOSLO QUE MAS ME GUSTA ES QUE ESTA EN MI IDIOMA Y PUEDO DISFRUTARLA Y REIMER MUCHO A LA VEZ QUE APRENDO INGLES PORQUE PRIMERO LO VEO EN ESPANOL Y LUEGO EN INGLES ES REALMENTE FABULOSA ... Read more

Reviews (43)

Desperate for more!
I only started watching this show at episode 18, but DH has quickly beome my favorite series. I absolutely love the storylines and the way each of the characters interacts.

For anyone who's never seen it, here's a quick run-down of the show:

In the first episode, the narrator of the series, Mary Alice Young, kills herself. It's later discovered by her neighbors that she was being blackmailed, and committed suicide to hide her secrets. The four wives of Wisteria Lane spend the rest of the season searching for clues that might help solve the mystery behind Mary Alice's past. The clues pile up; from a tape stolen from a marriage counselor, to a baby blanket embroidered with the name "Dana".

Bree Van De Kamp is the epitome of the Stepford Wife - perky, resourceful, and perfect in almost every way. Except for one thing: her family thinks she's psychotic. Her husband wants a divorce, and is later caught up in a sex scandel when another wife's little black book surfaces. Bree and Rex have an on-again-off-again relationship, and two children, Andrew and Danielle. Andrew is a seemingly-average kid, except that he runs over a helpless older woman, gets caught smoking weed, confesses an affinity for homosexuality to Bree and Rex, and confesses to a local priest of his plans to make his mother's life a living Hell. Danielle, the 4th, seldom-seen Van De Kamp, is probably the most normal of the group. Further complicating their lives is George, a local pharmacist. Attempting to get back at Rex, Bree starts seeing George, but breaks it off when a reconciliation seems possible. However, George hasn't gotten over his feelings for Bree, and has a tricks up his sleeves.

Next is Gabrielle Solis. A once-famous runway model, she married Carlos for his money, not realizing that he was marrying her as a trophy wife. Unsatisfied with how things have gone in their marriage, Gabrielle seeks fulfilment in their gardener, 17-year-old John. Their affair is nearly discovered by Juanita, Carlos' mother, but she is run down by Andrew Van De Kamp, and later dies, before passing on her discovery. Carlos, desperate for children, starts tampering with Gabrielle's birth control pills, much to Gabrielle's dismay when she finds out.

Then there is Lynnette Scavo. Once a top-notch ad-exec, Lynnette has since traded in her PowerPoint presentations for diapers and parent-teacher conferences. The mother of 4 (a baby girl and 3 boys, two of whom are twins), she spends each day trying not to rip her hair out dealing with the boys. Tom Scavo, Lynnette's husband, is a busy advertiser, and spends most of his time on business trips. Lynnette becomes suspicious of Tom, and also deals with a drug dependency at one point.

Finally, there is Susan Mayer. A single mother, she has a funny way of making a mess out of every situation. From burning AND under-cooking macaroni and cheese to burning down her neighbor's house, her clumsyness has no limits. Her 14-year-old daughter, Julie, seems more mature than her, and ends up doing the recon work when Susan gets a crush on new neighbor, the mysterious Mike Delfino.

Secrets abound on Wisteria Lane. The only way to see them all is to get this DVD set and watch the series. You're never going to find another series as complex and complicated as Desperate Housewives.

Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is very exciting!!!!! Everyone has so many secrets and it is kewl!!!!! I LOVE THIS SHOW SOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!

don't buy this dvd

Woman learns how to cheat. I wonder why men gets payed more?? lame show so I will not buy this crappy dvd

KNOTS LANDING gone funny.
From the moment it first aired, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES proved to be a ratings phenomenon for its network, ABC. Its pilot was the highest-rated show of that week, and the audience kept growing throughout its first season. The reason for its immediate appeal and success, moreso than anything, was that the show was wickedly twisted, often unpredictable and funny. Though creator Marc Cherry refers to it as a satire of upper-middle-class suburban life, "Desperate Housewives" functions as a mix of great comedy and pure soap opera. It has mystery and romance, twists and cliffhangers. And it's often very funny.

The writing is generally excellent. You can guarantee at least one moment per episode where you'll laugh out loud, while the "Mary Alice Young" mystery that kicks off the first episode remains compelling throughout the season.

To sell it all, the cast of experienced actors is absolutely superb. Teri Hatcher - as the bumbling Susan Mayer - and Marcia Cross - as prim Bree Van De Kamp - give career-best performances. Cross is my personal favorite because she can shift tones from wrenching drama to mocking comedy in one scene, and her plotline thus far is the one with the most meat.

Felicity Huffman, who was wonderful in SPORTS NIGHT, plays harried Lynette Scavo with a tremendous amount of intelligence. Eva Longoria is fabulously silly as Gabrielle Solis, a self-involved former model who amuses herself by committing adultery with her teenage gardener.

The men in the show are great, as well, particularly Steven Culp as Bree's exasperated husband.

The plot keeps you guessing. You'll get sucked into the show almost immediately, and "Desperate Housewives" has kept up the momentum. It's fantastic.

Desperately Sexy

This show is a great first half of a hot-date double feature.

I would recommend it along with any of these as a followup:

LAst Tango in Paris
Body Heat
Godess Worship
New Sex Now
Tequilla Sunrise ... Read more

Amazon.com

Otto Preminger expanded his vision in the 1960s with a whole series of ambitious, expansive dramas with huge casts and big themes. Advise and Consent (1962), an examination of deal making, party politics, and congressional diplomacy in Washington's legislative halls (based on the novel by Allen Drury), is one of his best. Preminger broke the blacklist with his previous film, Exodus, and it rings through in this drama about a controversial nominee for secretary of state (a confident, stately Henry Fonda) accused of being a Communist. The nomination process becomes the center ring of the political circus, with fidgety accuser Burgess Meredith in the spotlight; devious, silver-tongued Charles Laughton cracking the whip as a southern senator with a grudge against Fonda; and party whip Walter Pidgeon lining up votes behind the scenes. Arm twisting and diplomatic hardball turns to perjury and blackmail, and a melodramatic twist gives this lesson in party politics a salacious soap opera dimension.

With The Americanization of Emily (1964), screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky (Marty) sinks his satirical fangs into a story of an American naval officer (James Garner) selected to be the first victim at the invasion of Normandy. Julie Andrews plays a prim, British war widow who falls for him. Cynical in tone, the story becomes an interesting collision of manipulative interests and renewed life, the same formula that worked so well in Chayefsky's scripts for Network and Hospital.

One of the first Hollywood films to deal openly with white racism toward Japanese Americans during World War II, Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) (directed by action maestro John Sturges, The Great Escape) stars Spencer Tracy as a one-armed stranger named MacReedy, who arrives in the tiny town of Black Rock on a hot day in 1945. Seeking a hotel room and the whereabouts of an ethnic Japanese farmer named Komoko, MacReedy runs smack into a wall of hostility that escalates into serious threats. In time it becomes apparent that Komoko has been murdered by a local, racist chieftain, Reno Smith (Robert Ryan), who also plans on dispensing with MacReedy. Tracy's hero is forced to fight his way past Smith's goons (among them Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin) and sundry allies (Anne Francis) to keep alive, setting the stage for memorable suspense crisply orchestrated by Sturges. Casting is the film's principal strength, however: Tracy, the indispensable icon of integrity, and Ryan, the indispensable noir image of spiritual blight, are as creatively unlikely a pairing as Sturges's shotgun marriage of Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen in The Magnificent Seven.

Novelist Evan Hunter burst America's postwar bubble when he described an inner-city school terrorized by switchblade-wielding juvenile delinquents. Director-screenwriter Richard Brooks's 1955 adaptation of Blackboard Jungle still packs a tremendous wallop (even if it was shot mostly on the back lot). A forerunner of Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story, this black-and-white classic--set to Bill Haley and His Comets' "Rock Around the Clock"--is part exposé, part melodrama, part public-service announcement. Glenn Ford, at his slow-to-rile best, plays Richard Dadier, an incoming English teacher at North Manual High School. An idealist who knows how to handle himself in a dark alley, Dadier stands his ground and earns the begrudging respect of school thugs led by Vic Morrow and Sidney Poitier. Anne Francis plays Ford's especially vulnerable wife; Richard Kiley is the timid math teacher with the priceless jazz-record collection; Louis Calhern and John Hoyt are among the more cynical North Manual High veterans. See if you can ID Jamie Farr and director Paul Mazursky as gang members. The film was nominated for four Oscars.

More timely now, perhaps, than when it was first released in 1957, Elia Kazan's overheated political melodrama Face in the Crowd explores the dangerous manipulative power of pop culture. It exposes the underside of Capra-corn populism, as exemplified in the optimistic fable of grassroots punditry Meet John Doe. In Kazan's account, scripted by Budd Schulberg, the common-man pontificator (Andy Griffith) is no Gary Cooper-style aw-shucks paragon. Promoted to national fame as a folksy TV idol by radio producer Patricia Neal, Griffith's Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes turns out to be a megalomaniacal rat bastard. The film turns apocalyptic as Rhodes exploits his power to sway the masses, helping to elect a reactionary presidential candidate. The parodies of television commercials and opinion polling were cutting edge in their day (Face in the Crowd was the Network of the Eisenhower era), and there are some startling, near-documentary sequences shot on location in Arkansas. An extraordinary supporting cast (led by Walter Matthau and Lee Remick) helps keep the energy level high, even when the satire turns shrill and unpersuasive in the final reel.

Fury is tough stuff from director Fritz Lang (M), making his first American film with this 1936 story of an innocent man (Spencer Tracy) who escapes a lynch mob and then orchestrates his apparent murder at their hands. Tracy is superb, and the film is uncompromising, until studio interference takes some of the wind out of Lang's sails right at the end. But as the portrait of a character who comes to reflect the destiny he is trying to avoid, this is still essential Lang and a pre-noir classic.

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) is one of the toughest and most uncompromising movies to evercome out of Hollywood. Paul Muni stars as a regular Joe, just back from World War I, who is unjustly convicted of a crime and sentenced to 10 years of bruisingly unfair treatment on a chain gang. Even a successful escape can't shake the spectre of the chains, nor the amazingly fatalistic twists the screenplay has in store. This picture could only have been made at Warner Bros., where social-justice movies flourished in the 1930s and criticism of judicial systems and prisons was sanctioned. Muni's weird acting style (he was recently off Scarface) somehow fits the film's furious tone, and director Mervyn LeRoy--as in his earlier Little Caesar--was dexterous enough to build the action to an unforgettable ending. It's a film that filters the American Dream through Depression realities and noirish pessimism (with a streak of pre-Code sexual frankness--note the one-night "friend" Muni makes the night of his escape). This one holds up, folks; it's a stunner. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Adequate boxed set
Samuel Goldwyn once said, "If you want to send a message, try Western Union."This collection of message movies from the early '30s to the mid '60s shows just how right the old mogul was.

In most cases, the messages have aged badly.Hiller's "The Americanization of Emily" is a pathetic attempt to portray World War II as a sham, while the conciliatory pacifism of Otto Preminger's "Advise and Consent" seems naive now that the Cold War has ended.(Preminger's treatment of Gay themes is silly and superficial, especially when compared to superior British efforts of that time such as "Victim.")Elia Kazan's "A Face in the Crowd" is deeply condescending -- the people of Piggott, Arkansas, have never quite forgiven the director for turning their perfectly pleasant small town into a gallery of sweating grotesques -- and its satire of mass media was hackneyed even in the 1950s.Richard Brooks's "Blackboard Jungle" is a squaresville expose of juvenile delinquency disguised under hip rock-and-roll music.

I've always felt that John Sturgis's "Bad Day at Black Rock" is a much-overrated film, though I confess I enjoy Andre Previn's dramatic score; the film's message against racism, however, is surprisingly feeble, especially given that the film's only nonwhite character is a mute, grinning railroad porter.And who today seriously favors lynch law, the target of Fritz Lang's "Fury"?(Again, this is a movie about a racial issue -- lynching -- in which nonwhite characters are never granted a voice.)Oddly, the oldest film in this set is the only one that still packs a punch: Mervyn LeRoy's "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" helped put an end to this brutal form of incarceration.Now that the chain gang is making a comeback, perhaps this film should, too.

But even when the messages don't work, the films themselves usually do -- with the exception of "Emily," this collection's one real dud.Each DVD features a transfer that ranges from merely adequate ("Black Rock," "Fury") to superb ("Advise and Consent"), with an original theatrical trailer and, in all but one case, an audio commentary.(The commentaries come from film scholars or directors, and as such are far more interesting than an average gabfest.)Perhaps to break the monotony, "A Face in the Crowd" foregoes audio commentary in favor of a brief documentary, comprised mostly of interviews with the aging cast.A few of the DVDs also offer period theatrical shorts.

This is hardly Criterion quality, but for the money it's not a bad value.

A MAGNIFICENT ASSEMBLAGE OF LANDMARK FILMS AT A GREAT PRICE
Warner Brothers home video department just keeps topping their previous exceptional achievments.

Here we have SEVEN magnificent, acclaimed feature films from the 1930s to the 1960s that still have the power to reach the "gut" of the viewer and be profound and provocative. Of course, each film is available individually, but the value of buying this boxed set brings the price to around $8 per film. Unreal.

Any serious cinema afficiando owes it to him or herself to buy this.

Pre-release reviews have praised the exceptional transfers (typical of WB), and I cannot imagine anyone not being blown away by this boxed set of incomparable films.

Superb Selection of Socially Sensitive Cinema
Warner Home Video has done it again.Their "Film Noir Classics"
collection was an excellent quintet of seminal noir movies, and
this collection is an equally well-considered compilation of
socially conscious movies, movies that challenged the American
conscience, and helped effect politial and social change.

This collection is also a good introduction to the work of
a number of prominent directors, including Otto Preminger,
Elia Kazan, and Fritz Lang.

I must quibble with a previous reviewer who stated that
BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK was a black-and-white movie.It
is, in fact, in color.

"Bad Day At Black Rock" on DVD?!?!? Finally!!!
I've been waiting for years! My first chance watching this was renting the Criterion Laserdisc 500 years ago or so when the dinosaurs still walked the Earth (we needed the larger Laserdiscs to fend ourselves from the dinosaurs). This is a black and white, widescreen (they better not crop this thing) noir/mystery with great wit and an edge. Spencer Tracy rocks the house in BDaBR as the one-armed man. Gotta love it. Great twists, lovely female co-star. If you can't afford to go to film school, buy this pack of films and take notes (I'm only familiar with "Blackboard Jungle" - but the rest are supposed to be classics as well, especially Chain Gang, and Fury is German filmmaker Fritz Langs first American film, also with Spencer Tracy) - buy Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in The West" too since that movie is a class in filmmaking in itself. Oh yeah, if you're gonna skip film school you should probably buy some books from these guys too. And get some popcorn, ice cream and beverages too.

Thanks George!
Vice President of Warner Home Video's classics catalogue, George Feltenstein, recently promised us this fantastic collection of films and here they are way sooner than expected! While individually they have very little to do with one another, aside from their controversial response upon initial release of course, they are all a very worthwhile addition to the collections of serious film lovers. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Meet the Parents found such tremendous success in the chemistry produced by the contrasting personalities of stars Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller that the film's creators went for broke with the same formula again in Meet the Fockers. This time around, Jack and Dina Byrnes (De Niro and Blythe Danner) climb into Jack's new kevlar-lined RV with daughter Pam (Teri Polo), soon-to-be son-in-law Gaylord (Stiller), and Jack's infant grandson from his other daughter for the trip to Florida to meet Gaylord's parents, Bernie and Roz Focker (Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand in a casting coup). The potential in-laws are, of course, the opposite of Jack, a pair of randy, touchy-feely fun-lovers. The rest of the movie is pretty much a sitcom: put Bernie and Roz together with Jack, and watch the in-laws clash as Gaylord squirms. As with the original, there is a sense of joy in watching these actors take on their roles with obvious relish, and the Hoffman-Streisand-Stiller triumvirate is likeable enough to draw you in. But the formula doesn't work as well in Fockers mostly because much of the humor is based on two obvious gimmicks: Gaylord Focker's name, and the fact that Streisand's character is a sex therapist. As a result, the movie itself is more contrived and predictable, and a lot less fun than the original. The casting is grand, but one wishes more thought was put into the script.--Dan Vancini ... Read more

Reviews (189)

Since the movie is so impossibly boring...
and cliché, and predictable and tongue-in-cheek, and trited, and mindless, I'm going to summarize this movie as:
Utter Waste of Money and Time.
There's nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing positive to say about this movie. They were pushing it with the first one, however, it was passable and watchable. This sequel is one that should have never put out. It's so enclosed in its idiocy that it obfuscates the acting value of thespians of great caliber. Avoid!

Don't Believe the Negativity...It's Hilarious
I'm so tired of everyone looking for Shakespearian perfection in every film, bottom line, it's a dumb comedy, so turn your pompous search for meaningful dialogue and great script-writing
off and enjoy the laughs. It's a comedy, not Macbeth. I kept hearing how horrible it was, well guess what, surprise, surprise
the critics were wrong again! If you enjoyed the first film, you'll love the second, it was every bit as funny, if not funnier. I don't laugh easy either, but it had me rolling most of the film, in tears laughing at times. I know when to be critical and when to put the brain on pause and just enjoy a good old fashioned laugh. It has that Farelly Brothers-type gross out humor, if you enjoy that sort of thing which I do, then you'll enjoy this. If not, go rent 'Annie Hall,' and spend needless hours pining over the film's lighting and set direction, you know, 'the important things in film'...rolls eyes.

please, not a third time!
Gee, it's pretty sad to see actors of this caliber, who've been in so many memorable movies, get mired in this kind of horrible dreck.

But, this is what really offended me:in "Meet the Parents" there was one trained animal to provide a few cute jokes.In this sequel, not only did they feel the need to throw in a pathetic looking dogfor a few more "America's Funniest Videos" style laughs, they effectively used a child in the role of a third "trained animal".Sick.They must have figured that it worked well with "Mini-Me" in the "Austin Powers" sequel, so why not stick Robert DeNiro with a similar sidekick?The people who made this movie deserve a swift kick (or two) in the pants.

Clash of the Icons
Moviegoers flocked to "Meet the Fockers," making this star-studded sequel to "Meet the Parents" a box-office smash. Now that Gaylord "Greg" Focker (Ben Stiller) and his fiancée Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo) are finally getting married, it's time for Pam's conservative parents (Robert De Niro and Blythe Danner) to meet Greg's freewheeling parents (Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand). De Niro is once again terrific as Jack Byrnes, the suspicious ex-CIA operative (though Jack's obsession with the "circle of trust" has grown a bit tiresome). Stiller reprises one of his most humorous--and appealing--screen personas as the beleaguered male nurse. Hoffman gives the films best performance as Bernie Focker, a frisky lawyer-turned-househusband and Streisand is especially funny as Roz Focker, a straightforward sex therapist for seniors. Blythe Danner and Teri Polo are wonderful in their supporting roles and Owen Wilson's cameo appearance is a hoot. The DVD extras include deleted scenes, bloopers, and a Matt Lauer interview with the cast.

Total Mind Pollution... I would rather not give any stars
Listen to the people who didn't like this movie.I LOVED the first movie and watched it several times.The first movie had some crudeness in it, but most of the humor was just plain funny.This movie was nothing but crudeness and I think my IQ went down just by sitting through it.If you enjoyed this movie, you are extremely immature.There are some very funny movies out there, they just don't need to be as crude as this one.I think I only laughed once during the movie and I don't even remember when that was because most of the time I was sitting there debating on whether or not I should just turn the movie off. ... Read more

Amazon.com

With Sideways, Paul Giamatti (American Splendor, Storytelling) has become an unlikely but engaging romantic lead. Struggling novelist and wine connoisseur Miles (Giamatti) takes his best friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church, Wings) on a wine-tasting tour of California vineyards for a kind of extended bachelor party. Almost immediately, Jack's insatiable need to sow some wild oats before his marriage leads them into double-dates with a rambunctious wine pourer (Sandra Oh, Under the Tuscan Sun) and a recently divorced waitress (Virginia Madsen, The Hot Spot)--and Miles discovers a little hope that he hasn't let himself feel in a long time. Sideways is a modest but finely tuned film; with gentle compassion, it explores the failures, struggles, and lowered expectations of mid-life. Giamatti makes regret and self-loathing sympathetic, almost sweet. From the director of Election and About Schmidt. --Bret Fetzer ... Read more

Reviews (304)

delicious little movie
The risk involved in describing "Sideways" as a road movie about obsessive wine tasting is that people who are not wine buffs/connoisseurs are likely to stay away from it, which would be a pity. So let me discuss it from a different perspective: Sideways is in fact a buddy movie, and not an overly comic one. Granted, there is a fair share of funny scenes but overall the tone of the movie veers clearly toward the dramatic.
Meet Miles and Jack. The former is a small-time english teacher (and aspiring novelist...too bad his aspirations are constantly frustrated), the latter is a washed-up tv actor with a career that after a promising start never really took off. Both are middle-aged guys who are coping with lowered expectations and shattered ambitions.
Jack is about to marry (although he feels uneasy about his marital future) and the two friends embark on a wine-tasting extended bachelor party that eventually feels much like a coming of age story.
There is a lot of wine talking going on throughout the movie but wine isn't the whole point. Wine is more like a metaphor for life and there is a brilliant dialogue between Miles and Maya (the girl he falls in love with) that clearly shows this point.
This is not a happy-ending movie. There's a lot of stark realism in it and although the finale leaves some hope for Miles, it's quite obvious that this is LIFE, not some fairy tale.
This is no educational movie either. There are scenes where "getting sideways", far from being frowned upon, is elevated to something very romantic or, at least, something that lets us understand Miles' deep suffering, forcing us to be sympathetic to his condition.
Anyway, enough with the social commentary, I greatly appreciated this movie and I think that anybody with a passing interest in non-mainstream stuff should see it.

Will This Film EVER End!
A slice of life? A road movie?To be a slice of life the lives should be interesting.To be a road movie interesting things should happen en route.Aside from a lengthy plug for the California Wine industry, the whole movie struck me as tedious.There are some amusing moments and dialogue tucked between a lot of mundane, unfunny and often depressing conversation and events.The lead character steals from his mother and despite his affection for wine in the abstract, drinks to deal with depression by getting sloppy drunk.Meanwhile his buddy shows such respect for the woman he's driving north to marry that he's willing to bed anything with a pulse between Los Angeles and the Napa Valley.And we're supposed to care about these people?Why the movie industry is so high on this film beats me.After watching it carefully twice, trying to find some overlooked redeeming quality, I just don't see it.Possibly I'm not sophisticated enough to enjoy it.Possibly it's not that great a movie.

It may have some appeal to the wine connoisseur or wanna'be who's always wanted to impress his friends by saying things like, "It's a sassy little pinot that perfectly complements ze flavour of ze Ritz Crackers and ze Cheeez Whiz." but I found myself wishing it was a much shorter movie.I certainly won't recommend it to anyone I like or remember it 6 months from now ... probably less.

A Cineaste's Dream
I won't rehash the plot, the characters, etc., as that's all so familiar by now.Why is this film a small wonder?Because it's what happens in the interstices, between the minimal action and the raucous laughs.Like the characters or not, they are painfully real, and we get so few real characters in movies today.We get so few honestly-motivated characters today.And the reason:one has only to peruse the one-star reviews on this site.Has anyone noticed that the one-star reviews are generally very short, as if the attention span of the denouncer couldn't sustain a paragraph, let alone a reasonably lengthy explanation of their disgust?It's usually "boring" -- it's not to any true cineaste, of course -- or the characters are morally bankrupt -- so, that's not a valid reason to loathe a movie; in fact, it's a completely biased and stupid reason to mount a criticism of a work of art on.Face it, "Sideways" was made for people who love film that challenges them, surprises them, moves them, forces them to see life in a different light.Most people don't want to be challenged -- you know who you are, you brain-dead video gamers, you Internet-addled, low-alpha brain-wave unguents -- so why bother to voice your complaints about this brilliant movie unless you really have something profound to say in defense of your criticism.Compared to the one-star reviews, the five-star reviews are very lengthy, usually articulate and thoughtful and understand what the filmmaker was trying to accomplish.An Alexander Payne should be celebrated, a studio that gives him money should be extolled.It's just too bad there aren't more of him.I did have one criticism of the DVD, though -- but it won't change my five-star rating -- and that's the voice-over commentary by Thomas Church and Giamatti.It's so puerile at times, so uninformative; too bad Payne didn't do it with his writing partner.Oh, well, fortunately one doesn't have to listen to their drivel, and even if one decides to suffer it, it in no way detracts from their courageous performances.

Interesting movie with excellent characters
I guess I could start with a short synopsis.Two college buddies are headed North to the wine country for a week long bachelor party.Miles is in a depressed state because of a divorce and Jack is looking to get some before he gets married.From this spouts some crazy situations in and out of vineyards.

What you do get from this movie is excellent characters.Even though Miles could be incredibly annoying you end up feeling for him.I think a lot of people have friends that are like Jack.They're a bit older but still act immature at times.Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh are both awesome too.While Sandra Oh's character could have been developed more I don't think the movie suffers because of it.

The dialogue is witty and sarcastic sometimes to the point of being outright hilarious.Granted it may take a special kind of humor to understand why some things are funny.There are some things that are just sophomoric but they lighten the film at times where you think Miles might drag you down.

There is definitely a reason why this movie was nominated for a bunch of awards.You can't go wrong with sharp/witty writing and excellent acting/direction.I would highly recommend at least going out and renting this movie.I know it will soon become a part of my collection.

Best Pinot Noir Film Ever!
Ok, it is a shame that people won't order Merlot from me anymore (Oregon state merlot, people), but there's no denying the fact that this is a masterful piece of work here.

This film has everything I love-- witty dialouge with an underlying sense of sarcasm and black humor, it's about a writer, wine, dispicable characters, social commentary on how shallow secular America has become in relationships with other people, and wine.

I loved seeing Giammatti's character-- a pansy New York Times reading whiner, get his midlife crisis in full, and the scenery was masterfully incorporated into the story, adding a whole other dimension to the poignancy.

The acting was top notch, and it is a brilliantly written character study. People who are dissing this film do it because they're reminded of their own pathetic lives. At least, that's my take on it.

Cheers! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Like a Hardy Boys mystery on steroids, National Treasure offers popcorn thrills and enough boyish charm to overcome its rampant silliness. Although it was roundly criticized as a poor man's rip-off of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Da Vinci Code, it's entertaining on its own ludicrous terms, and Nicolas Cage proves once again that one actor's infectious enthusiasm can compensate for a multitude of movie sins. The contrived plot involves Cage's present-day quest for the ancient treasure of the Knights Templar, kept secret through the ages by Freemasons past and present. Finding the treasure requires the theft of the Declaration of Independence (there are crucial treasure clues on the back, of course!), so you can add "caper comedy" to this Jerry Bruckheimer production's multi-genre appeal. Nobody will ever accuse director Jon Turtletaub of artistic ambition, but you've got to admit he serves up an enjoyable dose of PG-rated entertainment, full of musty clues, skeletons, deep tunnels, and harmless adventure in the old-school tradition. It's a load of hokum, but it's fun hokum, and that makes all the difference. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (263)

Entertaining movie!
Imagine a cross between "Indiana Jones" and "Mission Impossible" and you have some idea of what's in store for you with this movie.Nicholas Cage plays the current generation of a family which long ago was given the secret of the location of the Knight's Templar treasure.Succeeding generations of the family have hunted for the treasure with no success.Cage takes the hunt one step further and discovers that vital clues are on the back of the Declaration of Independence.Unfortunately some of the men who were originally helping him look for the treasure have decided that they want it all to themselves and they plan to get to the Declaration before he does.Throw in a beautiful government agent and an amusing sidekick and you have all of the ingredients for an entertaining evening.Enjoy!

A Fun Movie
I liked this movie. Lots of adventure, history and it reminds me of the Indiana Jones Trilogy. Some of it is a little formulaic and you might roll your eyes when 200+ year old torches light up like they were made yesterday, but the story is intriguing and gets your attention. If you don't know the story line by now it involves Cage as Benjamin Franklin Gates whose Family has been convinced about a massive treasure older than colonized America, hidden away during the revolutionary years. Through each succeding clue he finally learns that there is a map on the back of the Declarition of Independance, the only drawback is his partner has turned on him and is going to steal it for himself. No on in the government will listen to him, so Gates decides he'll steal it first to protect the document and the treasure. Lots of High-Tech action, spooky Mason intrigue and history, although some of it is a little questionable. All in all, definetely recommended.

Accomplishes An Entertaining Goal
One of the first things taught at journalism schools is that most "news stories" are to be written at a 6th grade level of education - the editorial page is the place for more erudite discussion.National Treasure is written at a level that would make the "average" person think "hey, that's pretty clever!", keeping in mind that the "average" person might not know that Benjamin Franklin wrote anonymous letters to newspapers while a teenager under the name "Silence Dogood". (He wrote hundreds of OTHER letters under other fictitious names as well and, given the piddling state of education in the U.S. I'd guess that the "average" person doesn't know that Old Ben was also "Poor Richard" or even know what his almanac was all about.) But I digress. Some people love to trash things that they think aren't up to their level, and so "National Treasure" didn't receive stellar reviews from the professional critics. I think it's safe to say the movie wasn't made for professional critics.

It's an entertaining little adventure and anyone who claims that it has no clever parts must be very clever indeed.Much of the movie is a historical scavenger hunt that the founding fathers have laid out for the person who can decipher the clues - with the treasure of the Templar Knights at the end of the rainbow.One of the first clues is carved into the stem of a meerschaum pipe. The stem of the pipe detaches from the carved bowl, andhas raised etchings.Our hero figures out that these etchings are intended to be used like an ink stamp, so he pricks his finger to use his blood as ink and rolls the pipe stem out to reveal the next clue.I thought that was pretty clever.

The hero, Benjamin Franklin Gates, is the Grandson of John Adams Gates, and the Gates have been thought of as the mad scientists of American History because every generation has handed down the story of the hidden treasure and spends decades of their life trying to find the treasure, or at least get other historians to take them seriously.The plot takes them to Washington (to steal the Declaration of Independence in a concise little caper that's at least as clever as the one in "After the Sunset", and THAT was SUPPOSED to be a "caper" movie.) Ben has an assistant named Riley who serves two purposes: to add clever little comments like "so who wants to go down the creepy tunnel first?" and to provide someone that Ben can give exposition to: such as who Silence Dogood was.Diane Kruger is the love interest - a Washington Ph.D. who works at the National Archives.She's the pretty face used to represent all the keepers of the Declaration of Independence.Sean Bean is a rival treasure hunter and the movie goes to great lengths to show that Heroic Ben is only after the treasure for it's historical significance while Bean's Ian is only out for the money.Harvey Keitel plays the FBI agent who becomes interested after the Declaration is stolen, but he's little more than a plot marker himself.A couple of times he gets to say "SOMEBODY's going to prison."

Hmmmm... Will good Ben or Evil Ian be the one going to prison?Will Ben and company find the magnificent treasure? For the answers to those questions check out National Treasure.... but is it too much of a clue if I tell you it's a Disney movie?

Fun for the WHOLE family!
It is very unusual to find action films in today's society that is appropriate for kids and adults alike. That is just one reason that I was thrilled to see National Treasure. It has the wit and humor one would expect from a Disney film as well as a lot of action and adventure thrills, but steers clear of gratuitous language and violence. If you like "Indiana Jones" or "Pirates of the Carribean", this film is a must see. Be sure to bring your kids, though, because they're sure to love it too!

national treasure
this is avery good movie, i watched it last night. the things that ben(nicholas cage) does are hard to predict and the story has many twists. i would recomend renting this movie because it is not as goodf the second time around and there after because you now what is going to happen ... Read more

Amazon.com

Solidly built around a subtle yet commanding performance by Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda emerged as one of the most highly-praised dramas of 2004. In a role that demands his quietly riveting presence in nearly every scene, Cheadle plays real-life hero Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager in the Rwandan capital of Kigali who in 1994 saved 1,200 Rwandan "guests" from certain death during the genocidal clash between tribal Hutus, who slaughtered a million victims, and the horrified Tutsis, who found safe haven or died. Giving his best performance since his breakthrough role in Devil in a Blue Dress, Cheadle plays Rusesabagina as he really was during the ensuing chaos: "an expert in situational ethics" (as described by critic Roger Ebert), doing what he morally had to do, at great risk and potential sacrifice, with an understanding that wartime negotiations are largely a game of subterfuge, cooperation, and clever bribery. Aided by a United Nations official (Nick Nolte), he worked a saintly miracle, and director Terry George (Some Mother's Son) brings formidable social conscience to bear on a true story you won't soon forget. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (146)

OPEN YOUR EYES - see it
In 1994 a mass genocide took place in an African country called Rwanda. Have you not heard of this tragedy or have you CHOSEN to turn the other cheek? Now, let us break down the word genocide, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines genocide as "the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group." Does Hitler pop into your mind? Well, less then ten years ago (in your lifetime) this event happened. The movie Hotel Rwanda is an excellent portrayal of the absolute devastation that took place. Millions of Rwanda natives were killed in this mass genocide. Don Cheadle gives an astonishing portrayal of Paul Rusesagagina a savior for thousands caught up in the madness occurring right outside the gates of the Hotel Mille Collines. "When the world closed its eyes, he opened his arms," a tagline that fits oh so well into the heartfelt movie that puts you right into the conflict. Perhaps you did not care to pay attention in 1994 when the conflict fully unraveled, but see this movie and you may change your thoughts about looking at the horrors occurring abroad within our own small world.

A horrifying, eye-opening, yet uplifting and inspiring film.
One of the most intensive killing campaigns in human history was conducted in the tiny Central African country of Rwanda in 1994. The brutal ethnic conflict between the Tutsis and the Hutus, which exploded into mass murder that year, have origins which go back to Belgium's colonial rule, where the minority Tutsis were favored, thus exacerbating differences between the two tribes.

In April 1994, the plane carrying Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana was shot down. This event was the last straw which, after years of strife, triggered the tragic and brutal genocide. Extremist Hutu militia, aided by the Rwandan army, launched systematic massacres against Tutsis almost immediately after the plane crash. Despite reports of mass killings, most of the world turned a blind eye to the people of Rwanda. The UN failed to take immediate action to stop the bloody genocide, due to opposition from France and the US. Militiamen broke into supposedly sacrosanct Red Cross ambulances and hospitals searching for victims. Around 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed within 100 days, and over three million people fled to neighboring countries.

Terry George's "Hotel Rwanda" is a gritty, realistic depiction of this terrible tragedy. The storyline is based on the true life activities of a single, man whose goal was to save as many people as humanly possible. Don Cheadle plays Paul Rusesabagina, a Rwandan who formerly managed the Milles Collines, a Belgian-owned luxury hotel in the capital city of Kigali. When Hutu extremists begin to slaughter members of the minority Tutsi tribe, Rusesabagina, who has been working as a diplomat, returns to the hotel and does everything in his power to save his family, friends, then orphans, and ultimately strangers. He uses the 4 Star facility as a refuge for as many as the walls will hold, and then some. The film follows Rusesabagina, through his real life drama, as he wheels, deals, finagles and barters for seemingly every single human life he touches. A Huti married to a Tutsi, Paul qualifies as a target for both factions. His story is that of an ordinary man who rises-up, courageously, to defy death in the name of his fellow man. "Paul Rusesabagina saved the lives of 1,268 Africans by standing with them at Hotel Rwanda."

The almost nonstop fear, suspense and sense of anxiety which permeate this film are due, in part, to Mr. Cheadle's extraordinarily believable performance, and in part, because Director George so clearly conveys here the chilling reality of recent history. George, who co-wrote the script with Keir Pearson, was assisted in his work by the actual Paul Rusesabagina and by eye witnesses to the events.

The supporting cast is excellent and features: Sophie Okonedo, who gives an outstanding performance as Tatiana, Rusesabagina's wife; Joaquin Phoenix as Jack, an American news reporter; and Nick Nolte as the indefatigable UN Colonel Oliver, who tries against all odds to keep the peace.

Man's wont to commit genocide, in the 20th century alone, makes a somber, shameful statement about the human race. Watching "Hotel Rwanda" does take an emotional toll. It is a powerful, disturbing, educationally eye-opening experience. There are some extremely unsettling images, as when Rusesabagina and a co-worker get out of their vehicle on a foggy morning, just after dawn, to inspect the road for obstructions. They find it littered with corpses, as far as the eye can see. I found myself sobbing more than once. Do not let this deter you, however. This is a brilliant movie with some incredibly uplifting and inspiring moments. "Hotel Rwanda" is a must see film about a period in recent history when most of us were too busy going about our lives to pay much attention to what was going on a small world away.
JANA

Too powerful to be described by mere words
"The Kite Runner" may be the best book I have read in recent history, and without a doubt, "Hotel Rwanda" wins the corresponding prize for movies.Unable to believe the senseless violence and slaughter of innocents, my eyes opened wider and wider as the movie progressed, until at some point, the tears could not be held back any longer.

Don Cheadle aces a career making role as Paul Rusesabagina, the quiet, understated hotel manager of a five star hotel in Kigali, Rwanda, who breaks every rule in the management book to protect not only the hotel guests, but refugees from both sides of the genocide that rocked Rwanda in 1994, while the rest of the world looked the other way.

A Hutu by birth and passport stamp, Paul is married to a Tutsi woman (Sophie Okonedo, whose voice changes drastically in octave as the role demands), and by this distinction, his children are also Tutsi, and therefore branded as cockroaches to be exterminated.

Because of his position and well-placed contacts, Rusesabagina is able to cling tenuously to his little safe house, putting up a brave front for the 1200 people he is sheltering from the Hutu tribal forces.When he finds out that the UN peacekeepers cannot help them, and that the rest of the world doesn't want to know about African problems, he resorts to the local language, securing protection by whatever means necessary from the authorities, led by General Bizimungu, who has a weakness for Scottish water of life, foreign currency and self preservation.Being only human, and in a crisis situation, he makes crucial errors in judgment, but by his conviction he manages to hold it all together for as long as necessary.

There are too many powerful scenes to describe, and you have to watch the movie to fully appreciate the horror.There are no gory images as in "Saving Private Ryan" or "Blade", but the Director manages to effectively portray the despair and mass killings without being offensively graphic or crude.One of the most heart rending scenes takes place on a road in the early morning fog, and this is the final straw that rips through Rusesabagina's brittle façade of being in control.

Joaquin Phoenix (you know I have to mention him), in a small role as a cameraman sums it up best when he said "I've never been so ashamed."

This one is a must see.

Amanda Richards, May 23, 2005

Everyone bailed, Anarchy reigned, and 1 MILLION DIED!
Whoah.
I was a freshman in college in 1994, and all I remember are bleeps on the news about Rwanda.Maybe I was like the rest of the world, and just wasn't paying attention enough.

This movie is about the modern day holocaust.A movie about people being killed for no reason, other than a cosmetic attachment of how certain people are labeled via "tribe name" by how wide their noses are and how tall they are.A movie about a man who risked his life again and again, playing games, telling white lies, and doing everything he could to ensure the safety of some 1200 people inside a nice hotel in the Rwanda.

What grabs you about this film as well, is the documentary.At first I was angered when I found out that NOONE, not a single nation, did a damn thing to stop it.Then I was even more outraged when it showed that the French military that were at one of the killing sites actually dug the holes to bury the 45,000 dead.That very same 45,000 had fled to that spot because they thought the French would help them.

Why is it we are in the 21st century but this kind of horrible thing still happens?It's minds boggling, sad, atrocious, and horrifying.

I can't tell you how much this movie could move you, and like the American press reporter played by Jaqioun (sp) Phoenix said:
"I've never been...so ASHAMED!"Nick Nolte does an excellent job playing a UN field commander who's hands are tied.Yes this movie show's that the UN, like in BLACK HAWK DOWN, really didn't accomplish anything.Like Nolte's character exclaims; "We're peace keepers, not peace makers".Of course that was right when they were getting all of the "white people" out to head to the airport and basically save them before the slaughtering came their way.

Okay I know I could go on and on...but watch this movie.Watch it with family..well not little kids it's a bit graphic of course.But watch it with your loved one.Hold them close.Talk about what you think brings people to be ignorant and hateful, what mistakes were made, and how it could be prevented in the future.If more people did this, perhaps we could stop the genocide that is happening around the world today.

Five stars, this one . . .
What can an ordinary Rwandan hotel manager possibly do?

Plenty, as it turns out. Paul is a Hutu, but his wife, Tatiana (Sophie Okonedo), is a Tutsi, and so, by default, are their children. He is driven by a primal need to save his own family, but as the slaughter continues, more and more friends and neighbors beg him for help.

By the end, Paul shelters 1,200 people in his hotel, saving them from certain death by doing what he always has done: bribing and cajoling the Hutu powers, calling in favors, lying and outsmarting his foes.

He is the Oskar Schindler of Rwanda, a man who becomes a hero by chance and circumstance, using qualities not generally considered heroic. He's no Rambo: He's scared, and conflicted, and full of doubts. Throughout the film, you can see he'd rather just save his family and not have to shoulder this burden of heroism.

Director Terry George (SOME MOTHER'S SON) knows not to get in the way of this harrowing story, which Rusesabagina himself insisted on telling straight, without movie-ish embellishment. It's all true and, given the context, remarkably subtle. (George earned the PG-13 rating by only suggesting the terrible violence, not showing it.)

Still, as the tension builds you can't help but feel you're watching the heir to a classic Western -- perhaps the "High Noon" of modern times, or SHANE -- as this one man steps up to save the town from the marauding bad guys. Of course, he doesn't save the entire town. As with SCHINDLER'S LIST, you're left with the grim knowledge that the people Rusesabagina saved were but a tiny percentage of those who were killed. The triumph comes tempered by the greater tragedy. ... Read more

Description

I LOVE LUCY: THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON continues to follow the wild and wacky comical adventures of Lucy and Ricky Ricardo and their infamous neighbors Fred and Ethel as they embark on even more madness in season four.Episodes include such classics as: "Ricky's Movie Offer," "Mr. & Mrs. TV Show" and "Lucy Gets in Pictures." ... Read more

Reviews (17)

I FOUND NO FLAWS IN MY SET!
My set of DVDs are perfectly restored and intact.Perhaps the reviewers got a bad set of DVDs."The Fashion Show" plays perfect for me and as for the rest of the episodes, they are pure gold enhanced by the high quality of the DVD set!This is comedy at its best and I found no flaws on my DVD set.I give this 5 stars and more!!

Uncut? Restored? Hmmmm...not quite.
Adding to what the previous reviewer said about picture quality, I too just watched "The Fashion Show" episode, and there is indeed a jerkiness to the picture quality in this episode. I thought I was seeing things at first, but I am glad it was not just my imagination. I don't think it necessary to put this season of 30 episodes on 6 discs, when the previous two seasons (containing more episodes) fit on 5 discs with excellent quality.

My BIG gripe with this set, though, is that at least four of the episodes were not restored to their original uncut length. Both "Tennessee Bound" and "L.A. at Last" had some dialogue in them, which remain missing in this set, even though the original middle break, and end logos of those episodes have been restored. Additionally, "Lucy Gets in Pictures" is missing a shot of Lucy and Ricky driving the Pontiac through the gates of M.G. M., while "First Stop" is missing a good minute of footage (an extra scene in the car, and a scene when they arrive at the motel, before they actually enter). These pieces of footage remain unrestored and missing on this set, when it would appear that original prints were available to be used. What remains here, on this set, are the same 'uncut' syndication prints that have been around for decades.

I realize that many fans have probably never even seen this missing footage, since it's not been shown since the '50s (and so, may not miss it), but having seen the wonderful degree of care that was put into the previous three season sets, I find it inexcusable that the same care was not taken for this set. This is my favorite season, and I really looked forward to this set. Now, however, I feel (a la Lucy in "Mr. and Mrs. TV Show") gypped.

There's a flaw in this gem
Until now, all the Lucy DVDs have been nothing short of spectacular. The picture is as sparkling as it possibly can be and the sound is clear as a bell.
I just got my Fourth Season I Love Lucy boxed set today and have seen about half the episodes. They are as wonderful as I have come to expect.
Then, I started to watch "The Fashion Show", and was startled by the jerkiness of the video. It looks like watching a mpeg video on the internet, where the number of film frames have been reduced to cut down on the amount of video information. This problem was only apparent in the first hotel scenes of the episode.
On other episodes, try stopping on any frame, and you will see the picture as a clean, clear photographic still. On "The Fashion Show" episode (in the first section), advance the picture one frame at a time. You will find something that looks like horizontal scan lines running through the picture, giving it a "corduroy" effect. This is the reason for the jerky movement. Instead of 24 separate pictures per second, we get twelve (every other frame), and the frames inbetween are "corduroy-blends" of the frames before and after them. It's the video equivalent of diluting Don Perignon with gutter water.
What a shame.
The producers of this series have spoiled us with perfect quality...so much in fact, that now we are more apt to spot any attempts to "cheat". Lucy looks LOUSY, in this jerky-moving format.
I was happy with all the extra goodies on the DVDs--BUT, I would have gladly given them up to have all the episodes looking their glorious best.
It probably happened because CBS DVD-Paramount wanted to squeeze ALL the episodes from Season Four onto 5 discs and had to forfeit quality to do so. I wouldn't care if the last episode from Season Four ended up in the Season Five box, if it meant that ALL the episodes looked as stunning as they have up till now. Lucy on DVD is a testament to its great film quality--I just HATE to see that quality compromised, for any reason. Doesn't "artistic integrity" mean anything anymore?
Shame on you, CBS DVD-Paramount! Please go back to the great quality in the first 3 season boxes, the kind that I would gladly give a five-star rating to.

Extras plus attention to detail
By now, releases of complete seasons of TV Shows fall into a familiar pattern: 22 to 36 shows, usually uncut, with little or no extras.

The I Love Lucy packages have been different.First, an amazing amount of effort has gone into presenting the shows as originally televised...even if that means simply restoring an additional laugh from Ricky or some other relatively minor "trim" made for syndication.

Second, there are lots of extras.There are "flubs", such as Lucy and Ricky's new Pontiac appearing in the process shot behind Lucy and Ricky, as they sing "California, Here I Come."There are biographies of anyone who spoke a line in the show.There are the various different openings (and closings) of the shows.Book excerpts from the original producer, complete radio shows from Lucille Ball's My Favorite Husband series, script excerpts for lost scenes, or from scenes that are not that clear as broadcast.There are even some extra scenes that were shot to frame reruns that ran in-season.In other words, there is lots of stuff not seen or broadcast in 50 years.

And of course, this was a classic season. There are lots of classic bits, and even some less famous sequences are amazing.In Lucy Learns to Drive, for example, Lucy explains to Ethel here disastrous attempt to take the damaged Pontiac to be repaired.Her description of this off-stage event is perfectly timed and hilarious.

Fifty years later, the laughs are all still there.A must for any Lucy, or TV, fan.

The Premiere Season
This is the season that "I Love Lucy" fans have been waiting for on DVD. California, here we come!The Ricardos and the Mertzs travel to the sunny town of Hollywood to persue Ricky's film star dream. The end result is some of Lucy's most hilarious and memorable moments.

In order to star in the upcoming mvie "Don Juan", Ricky is whisked off to California to set his sights on the silver screen, and of course, in tow, brings Lucy, Fred and Ethel. The writer, sensing a goldmine ahead, didn't rush the foursome out to the Golden State right away, but let the momentum build up. The pre-traveling episodes are as rich as the rest of them. A particular favorite is when Ricky buys the car they plan to drive out in and Lucy needs to learn to drive it. Another, Fred packing the car a little too full. Once on the road, the foursome experience many adventures along the way, including a revisit of the hilarious Tennesse Ernie Ford and a visit to Ethel's home town.

Once they land in Hollywood, though, watch out. Viewed together, these episodes are the some of the best in the series. The acting and comedic timing of all four leads is impeccable. The writing is high quality and without fault. The plethora of guest stars that dance through the episodes are some of the brightest in the mid 50's, including a classic episode with Harpo Marx.

Were I to tell someone who hadn't ever seen one episode of this amazing show, I'd plug them into this season first. Certainly, its a great introduction to one of the greatest series ever. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

I say thee, YEA!
I just wanted to add my two cents to the review written by Mr. Marold of Bethlehem, PA.I agree with nearly everything Mr. M had in his review, with the exception of his comment about the episode where Bartlett stepped aside while his daughter was being held captive.I believe that was an entirely plausible situation and it was presented in an accurate manner.

Be that as it may, I have a different reason for enjoying "The West Wing".I too came to the show late in it's run and somewhat reluctantly.I thought, given the cast, that they would be laying on the liberalism with a heavy hand.Being an independent and a moderate, I have some liberal tendancies, but I do think of myself as a conservative and the thought of Martin Sheen and company preaching at me for an hour was too much with which to cope.However, once I saw the reruns on Bravo and some of the new episodes, I began to warm up to the show.I found that 95% of the time, the liberal cant is handed out in managable portions.The other 5%?Well, I can live with that because I found another overwhelming reason for loving this show.They...make...me...LAUGH OUT LOUD!The banter back and forth amongst the staffers gets to be hilarious and the President will joke with anybody from his aide, Charlie, to Adm. Fitzwallace, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.I cannot think of an episode that I watched where there wasn't something that made me burst out with laughter.Maybe the "Zoe kidnapping" episodes.

Watch "West Wing" for the political machinations and the insight into our political and constitutional systems.But also for the humor and wit.You will be well rewarded on all fronts.

Major Entertainment and Civics Class, all in one!
This DVD set includes all available `The West Wing' seasons in a single package and it represents the least expensive way of acquiring all four seasons, if you do not already own one or more seasons on DVD.

I am late in coming to appreciate this show, as my attention over the last four years has primarily been on retiring, learning to cook, and religiously following the careers of my various Food Network heroes. I have just recently started watching this show when the Bravo network started running `The West Wing' marathons and showing episodes on most weeknights.

The very first criterion I have for buying a DVD might be called `rewatchability'. There are certain movies and certain shows that are so rich that you are still detecting nuances after the fourth or fifth viewing. Compared to a show like the CSI incarnations, `The West Wing' easily retains its power on a third or fourth or fifth viewing. `CSI', except for those with a big element of office politics in the plot, loose their punch after you remember who the perp is as soon as you know what episode it is you are watching. Once the rush from listening to the great `The Who' intro passes, so does the thrill.

`The West Wing' has gotten lots of praise and awards for the quality of its writing and acting, but I am almost willing to believe it has gotten less than it deserves. I have never been moved so much by a scripted television show since some of the very best `All in the Family' episodes. Amid the flood of reality shows, I am even tempted to say that between `The West Wing', `CSI', `Law and Order' and all of the various spin-offs of these shows constitutes a golden age of scripted television drama, especially in this twilight of the great comedies of the past decade.

The quality of `The West Wing' for me lies primarily in the accuracy with which it portrays the realities of American politics and, beyond that, the realities of politics in general. In doing so, I believe the show can help to explain to most Americans why political `horse trading' is essential to the way our policy making works, why raw power is not always effective on the international stage, regardless of how seductive the use of that raw power may be. It also highlights that most important political virtue, loyalty. I have not read James Carvell's book on this subject, but I suspect that he would say that without party loyalty, government would simply be impossible, or at least much more difficult than it is now. As so many stories show so well, political loyalty works two ways. An elected official must be loyal to his constituents or the representative will not get reelected. An elected official must also be loyal to his party, or he will get no political largess bestowed on the people in his constituency. I can thing of no more dramatic example of this than in the change in benefits coming Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley after the election of Ed Rendell to be Pennsylvania governor, replacing Tom Ridge. Ridge and most other governors in my lifetime came from outside the Philadelphia sphere of influence, into which the Lehigh Valley falls. Thus, it almost seems as if Harrisburg suddenly discovered that the Lehigh Valley was now a part of Pennsylvania when Rendell was elected.

The third energy, after politics and international crises which drives the plots of `The West Wing' are the particular strengths and weaknesses of the principle characters, starting with President Bartlett and his remitting MS weighed against his great intellectual ability and accomplishments. For other major characters, it is part of the great genius of this show that while they are riddled with human frailties, they are sustained and succeed in high government positions due to their loyalty to both Bartlett and basic American and Democratic ideals. The chief of staff is a brilliant politician with alcoholism, the head of White House communications is a sour puss who is rarely wrong on principles, the assistant chief of staff is a little boy in a grown up body who has a great imagination for political tactics, the White House press spokesman has a father with Alzheimer's and a passion for women's issues which she sometimes needs to control if it conflicts with White House policy. The assistant head of communications is a brilliant writer with a weakness for inappropriate liaisons. The first lady is an important, talented medical doctor who compromises medical ethics to care for her husband and his political vulnerabilities.

One of my greatest pleasures is the fact that while I share the political priorities of the Democratic Bartlett administration, the Republicans, who are written to control both houses of the Congress, are not represented as straw men with positions which it is easy to dismiss. The tactics of the Bartlett team would not be nearly as believable if the House and Senate Republicans were cardboard caricatures. It almost seems like the writers intentionally make House and Senate Democrats and members of the cabinet as ornery and as difficult to work with as the Republicans.

If I have any difficulties with the plots of these stories at all, it is with the suspicion that a real modern president would not get involved in a lot of small details such as in the episode when two American girls were arrested in central Africa for prostylicizing for a Christian church. In real live, it seems this would reach no higher than an assistant Secretary of State. Another implausibility is when Bartlett stepped down from the presidency temporarily, handing it over to the Republican speaker of the house, while Bartlett's daughter was kidnapped by Arab terrorists. But then, we would not have had the pleasure of watching John Goodman play president for three episodes!

This show is great and parts should be required watching in high school civics classes.
... Read more

Amazon.com

Glamorous Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) is an ex-model with a problem--her accountant just ran off with her money. Granted, he did leave her with a few broken-down businesses. One happens to be a detective agency run by charming loudmouth David Addison (Bruce Willis). Her attempt to shutter the agency fails when they stumble across a crime and David convinces Maddie to help him solve it. And with that, one of television's most popular partnerships was born. Moonlighting made a star out of newcomer Willis and turned Shepherd (Taxi Driver), who had already found fame through fashion and film, into a bona fide TV star.

Created for ABC by Glenn Gordon Caron (Remington Steele), the romantic comedy/detective drama was a mid-season replacement that quickly became a hit. There were only six episodes in the first season, including the two-part pilot, but 18 were produced for the second. Rhyming receptionist Agnes DiPesto (Allyce Beasley) was a regular from the start, while Herbert Viola (Ray’s Curtis Armstrong) wouldn’t hit the scene until the third season (as with Paul Sorvino and Mark Harmon). The first two seasons attracted an eclectic array of guest stars, including Tim Robbins ("Gunfight at the So-So Corral"), Beasley's husband Vincent Schiavelli ("Next Stop Murder"), Dana Delany ("Knowing Her"), Richard Belzer ("Twas the Episode Before Christmas"), and Whoopi Goldberg ("Camille"), who earned an Emmy nomination for her performance. The most notable guest was surely Orson Welles, who introduces the black and white noir spoof "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice." It would be his final TV appearance. Moonlighting ran for three more years. While the Emmy-winning Willis would abandon TV for the big screen, Shepherd found subsequent small screen success with Cybill. Caron, meanwhile, would launch another mid-season replacement series which became a surprise hit: NB