Amazon.com

Pete and Pete took an alternative rock approach to the family sitcom. In other words, this wasn't your dad's situation comedy. Is it any wonder so many alternative musicians, like Juliana Hatfield, the B-52’s Kate Pierson, R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, and Blondie’s Debbie Harry flocked to the (fictional) town of Wellsville? Nor could independent film actors, like Richard Edson (Stranger Than Paradise), Martin Donovan (Saved!), and Steve Buscemi (Fargo), resist the allure of the appealingly offbeat Wrigley family.

Meet the Wrigleys: redheaded teenager Pete (Michael Maronna, Home Alone), redheaded elementary school student Pete (Danny Tamberelli, The Mighty Ducks) and his tattoo Petunia, Dad (Hardy Rawls), Mom (Judy Grafe)--and the metal plate in her head. First season cast members include Big Pete's almost-girlfriend Ellen (Alison Fanelli), Little Pete’s pal Natasha (Heather Matarazzo, Welcome to the Dollhouse), bus driver Stu (Damian Young), and Little Pete's personal superhero, Artie (Toby Huss), the strongest man in the world. Buscemi appears as Ellen’s dad in "Apocalypse Pete" and would return for another episode in the second season.

The first season followed three years of 60-second shorts. It features 12 adventures (eight regular episodes plus four specials). Highlights include "King of the Road," in which the Wrigleys battle for road trip supremacy, "Tool and Die," in which Big Pete learns not to judge a shop teacher by his cover, and "Hard Day's Pete," in which Little Pete forms the Blowholes with Syd Straw and Marshall Crenshaw. Then there's "Don't Tread on Pete," in which Little Pete utters the immortal line, "Is this guy pickin' your scabs the way he's pickin' my scabs?" The Adventures of Pete and Pete ran on Nickelodeon for three well-loved, much-missed seasons. --Kathleen C. Fennessy ... Read more

Reviews (45)

loving it. loving it! pete and pete is great! buy it!
This dvd of the Adventures of Pete and Pete is great! The commentary is awsome! expectly when the tell why they picked the 1st boy to fall asleep in nightcrawlers! Im watching it right now and its great! Picture quailty is great! the 2 disc dvd set has great artwork...i love the pic of mom's plate lol i cant wait til the 2nd season to come out! i will deffently buy it! every1 start buying this dvd...who knows nick might put ur fav show on dvd next! Little Pete looks sooo young in these dvds lol i thought he was like 5 lol he's 10! The mr. tasstee ep is on the dvd 2! thats 1 of my favs! BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT LOL

Brillant show - Picture quality not bad at all!
Some people are just so spoiled with DVD picture quality. I personally find the picture quality excellent and after reading others reviews I thought of not buying this. I took the risk and I bought it today and I don't know what people are complaining about? Like some other person said, it has tv quality, but the colors are bright and clear and it looks very good. There is no grain whatsoever.

Also, the most important thing is the show itself and it is brillant! I'm 25 and I remember loving this show when I was 12. The stories contstantly keep you interested and they are far from predictable.

Oh, and last and certainly not least. Artie "the strongest man of the World" rules!

A Blast From The Nick Past- Part 2
It's me again. I said last time how much I loved Pete & Pete when I was younger, and I wasn't kidding. This was one of my most favorite shows and I can't wait to see it again...and again...and again. It's on DVD now, you know. Also I got a copy of the Polaris CD "Music From The Adventures of Pete & Pete" and it has become one of my all time favorite albums. It's great to hear all the shows top songs like it's theme "Hey Sandy" and "She Is Staggering". Wow, what a flashback! And get this you guys, Nick/Paramount are planning on releasing more of our old favorites in a speacial set called The Rewind Collection. They will include: Clarissa Explains It All (already released), Solute Your Shorts, and my other two personal favorites Are You Afraid of the Dark? and You Can't Do That On Television. Yes, Finally!!! Also, another reviewer was wondering how many specials there are in this series. Ther are 34 regular half-hour episodes (8 in first season and on this DVD), 30 specials (4 available on this DVD) and 2 shorts (both available on this DVD). So I hope that helps dude. Til next time.

at last...a pete and pete dvd
I have been waiting so long for The Adventures of Pete and Pete to be released on DVD. If you were/are a fan of this show then this DVD is a must have. It is my all time favorite show and appeals to my sense of humor perfectly. It has unique story lines, great cameos, wonderful music, talented actors...everything you could ask for in a show. Now I can wait until they release more episodes!

Nostalgia for the Generation X'ers (and Y'ers, I guess haha)
I recently purchased The Adventures of Pete and Pete.And within no time, I watched the 12 episodes included on this DVD.As everyone knows, the video quality is sub-par, but to have this show on DVD is something I am extremely thankful for.

The episodes have aged very well.There are not many shows that you can enjoy now that you enjoyed when you were a child.Like the Simpsons, The Adventures of Pete and Pete has laughs on many levels.Kids and adults can laugh and enjoy these episodes.I do recommend more than one viewing of each episode to see the small jokes/funny dialogue in this show.

At the time of me watching when I was a child, I hardly knew of all the cameos of celebrities included.Michael Stipe as an ice cream man?Hunter S. Thompson as a New Years Eve partier?Steve Buscemi as Ellen's dad?The list goes on!This truly was a special show.

The soundtrack by Polaris was wonderful.Their music complements all the sentimental and exciting parts of the show. "She is Staggering", which closes out almost all of the shows is one of my favorite songs ever.

I do think that if you have NEVER seen the show, the humor will be weird and foreign at first, but eventually will be some of the most genius work captured on a "kids" DVD.It's only sad that there are two more seasons remaining.I need more! ... Read more

Description

Teen sensation Lindsay Lohan stars as Lexy Gold, budding journalist and fashion queen of Millington Preparatory School in Manhattan. Together with her best pal Jennifer (Brenda Song), Lexy's always on the lookout for the latest scoop and the latest style. When one of her teachers mysteriously disappears, Lexy goes from school advice columnist to determined investigative reporter. And with a little help from her friends Jennifer and Gabe, and her street-smart editor Jack, Lexy vows to get to the bottom of the mystery. Before they know it, they find themselves hot on the trail of a story bigger than they could have ever imagined! ... Read more

Reviews (21)

High scores for this one...
A fun, lighthearted story of a teenage reporter wanna-be who finds herself--and her classmates--in the middle of a murder mystery. It's a fun movie to watch with your kids, not overly sugary. The story is well-written and Lindsay Lohan is really a pleasure to watch! As a parent of a pre-teen, I highly recommend it!

cool movie
i saw this movie on cable before when i was a young kid. and it was like the coolest movie ive ever seen.

cool movie
i saw this movie on cable before when i was a young kid. and it was like the coolest movie ive ever seen.

cool movie
i saw this movie on cable before when i was a young kid. and it was like the coolest movie ive ever seen.

cool movie
i saw this movie on cable before when i was a young kid. and it was like the coolest movie ive ever seen. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Hauntingly beautiful folk music and stunning Appalachian scenery take center stage in this winner of the 2000 Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize for outstanding ensemble performance. Musicologist Dr. Lily Penleric has a deep love of English folk ballads. After a humiliating failure to make full professor, she heads off to visit her sister's tiny school in rural Appalachia and finds herself in folk music central. Lily is entranced, but the locals are suspicious of the outlander's motivations. Issues of tolerance, clashing cultures, and Big Bad Men abound, but Songcatcher wisely focuses on the music. Janet McTeer does fine with the "repressed academic gets in touch with the earth" role, but her truly outstanding work is in revealing scholar Lily's rapture in her discoveries. McTeer leads a truly great cast, including the wonderful Pat Carroll, and a just-for-the-hell-of-it cameo by bluesman Taj Mahal. Songcatcher has a healthy respect for the mountain people it portrays, and an absolute reverence for their music. --Ali Davis ... Read more

Reviews (78)

A Must for the Study of Southern Culture.
To preserve Southern culture is to preserve a culture with strong roots for many Americans. Just as this film depicts an attempt to preserve old English ballads that have survived nearly intact because of the isolation of the mountain people, the film itself is important because it, itself, is an attempt at cultural preservation. The mountain setting of the film is extraordinarily rich, the characters are thankfully more real than stereotypical, and the story is rich and fullfilling. Pat Carroll's performance is exceptional.

One of the major plusses of this movie is the way the set design and cinematography contributes to the story. In one key scene shot inside a cabin, the crude conditions are clearly shown by the daylight winking through the walls. The plight of the characters' living conditions is certainly obvious in the story, but that cabin told the rest of the story. In another scene, several people are dancing outdoors and the camera is positioned so that the viewer seems to be standing in the crowd. The scene develops as all but two of the characters dance and the movement of the camera around the dancers to a high angle shot from the trees stretches and isolates the scene so that the dancers are shown to be some distance from the two non-dancers. This shot establishes not so much a rift between the characters, but a separation.

This film is very similar to Donald Davidson's novel, The Big Ballad Jamboree (University Press of Mississippi), and I strongly recommend both the movie and the book to everyone wanting to enjoy the richness of true "hillbilly" life and music.

A FILM TO BE TREASURED...
This is a beautiful and unusual film, made even more so by its joyous celebration of folk music. Beautifully nuanced, well paced, and highly absorbing, this haunting film is an absolute gem. It is no wonder that it won the 2000 Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. The performances in this film are simply stellar and worthy of recognition.

The year is 1907, and the highly independent and intelligent Dr. Lily Penleric (Janet McTeer), a noted musicologist, has once again been passed over for promotion by the college at which she teaches. Angry, she decides to pull up stakes and go and visit her sister, Elna (Jane Adams), who is one of two women teaching at a settlement school in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina.

When Janet arrives, she hears one of her sister's helpers. Deladis (Emma Rossum), singing an old folk song that she recognizes. It is being sung in a way that she has never before heard it sung. Upon discovering that the song was handed down generationally in this insular community, she realizes that she may actually be hearing the song as it may originally have been intended to be sung. Excited by her discovery, she sets about capturing as many songs as she can from these fiercely proud, mountain people. In effect, she is memorializing a rich, oral, musical history.

Her project takes Janet on a voyage of self-discovery, both personal and professional. Along the way, she becomes immersed in the the lives and traditions of these mountain people, realizing what an integral part music plays in their lives. While poor in terms of creature comforts and leading a harsh, hardscrabble sort of life, these mountain folks have a culturally rich, oral tradition and are a veritable treasure trove of old songs.

While catching the music and lyrics of these old songs for posterity and wider appreciation, notating her discovery of these songs for a book that she hopes to write, Dr. Penleric makes the acquaintance of a number of mountain men and women, including a tough old bird, Viney Butler (Pat Carroll). This leads to meeting with her suspicious but intelligent, talented, and good looking grandson, Tom Bledsoe (Aidan Quinn), with whom she ultimately developes a passionate relationship that correlates nicely to her passion for music.

A number of other subplots are woven throughout this film. One involves her sister, Elna, who becomes involved with a love that dare not speak its name. There is also a love triangle between two of the mountain woman and the husband of one of them. Young love and coming of age is also a theme touched upon. Meanwhile, a mining company seeks to buy out the land from under these people for a mere pittance. All of these subplots serve to illustrate the often harsh reality of life in the mountains. The only problem that I found was with the subplot involving Elna and her lover, Harriet, in terms of the complacency that surrounds what ultimately happens to Harriet. It was a most disturbing resolution that did not ring altogether true. Still, the overall strength of the film is such that it overcomes this, overall.

Janet McTeer gives a no nonsense performance, and the way that the music seems to transfix and transform her is a joy to behold. Jane Adams, as the sister who is having a same sex love affair, gives an exquisitely beautiful and sensitive performance, as does E. Katherine Kerr in the role of Harriet, the settlement school teacher with whom she is involved. Aidan Quinn gives an intelligent and thoughtful performance as a mountain man who has been to the outside world and found it wanting. Pat Carroll is sensational as Viney Butler, the mountain woman who takes the vicissitudes of life in stride and wears many hats: mother, grandmother, midwife, musician, singer, and oral historian. Emma Rossum, however, is positively radiant as the young, fresh faced, mountain lass with a smile and voice that will tear your heart apart. She is a wonderful, young performer with operatic training and the ability to sing like Dolly Parton. What a find!

Cameo appearances by Taj Mahal, Iris Dement, and others serve to further enrich this film. The music and songs are played and sung live, which makes them resonate with authenticity and adds a vibrancy that might otherwise be lost. The folk dancing is a joy to watch, as the mountain people gather aound for a jamboree. The film, shot on location, captures all the physical beauty of the terrain, as well as the rusticity and harshness of life in the mountains. This is simply a great film that is well worth having in one's personal collection.

All in all, it is a must have film for music lovers, as well as for those who simply enjoy a well made and beautifully acted film. Bravo!

A confusing piece
Quite often while watching this film I was left wondering what the director was really trying to convey. A interesting look into the lost songs carried to America? A woman coming to terms about her life and purpose? A look into the lives of lesbians at the turn of the century? Loss of Appalachian culture to the coal industry and modern society? A social commentary on culture exploitation? There are so many doors this film opens, yet refuses to step inside one and explore anything deeper than it's emotional surface. The storytelling in this movie feels like it took a second place to the "gimick" of the actual songs.

...and music is the real star of this film and would be better served with a good soundtrack, a book about these folk songs and people, and a good documentary.

What's left is a mediocre and only mildly passionate love story between two people, surrounded by events that don't lead to anything specific or profound. The "climax" of the story does not have any lasting resonance in the main character's lives and feels random.

The acting, mostly by Janet McTeer is acceptible, given the whirlwind she's been thrown into. The supporting cast are also great/charming, especially those who give performances of the more musical sort.

Hopefully someone will revisit this topic with a more serious statement and explore it a little more deeply than what has been done here. Somewhere in this mess is a great historical biopic or even a small quite film/documentary here that got muddled by late 20th century political ideals concerning religion, homosexuality and stereotyping that really do this topic, the music, and all the characters involved a disservice.

Pleasantly surprised!
I wasn't really expecting much when I first rented this movie because I had never even heard of it, but boy! was I surprised! I absolutely loved it! Bluegrass music doesn't really do much for me, but I wouldn't really call this bluegrass. The songs and music are more earthy and emotional. The characters are so down to earth and real. I loved these people--I wanted to go to the mountains and find people and music like this. I got on the internet and bought a copy of the movie and the soundtrack. I have watched this movie more than any other movie that I own.

Dr. Quinn, Music Woman
OK, so maybe it's not THAT bad. Still, I was so disappointed by the second half of this film that I can't find a four-star rating in me.

It's a gorgeous film set in the Appalachian Mountains, an early 20th century story of a highly intelligent lady musicologist who is obsessed with capturing the history of the folk music of the British Isles. When she hits the glass ceiling of her day, her college passing her over yet again for a man in spite of her extreme qualification, she heads for the hills. Literally.

Her younger sister runs a school in the mountains among that most derided minority, the hillbillies (or, more properly, "mountain folk"). Big kudos to this film for playing more or less fair with the poor people of the mountains, with few caricatures and mostly just good-hearted people who distrust "the world beyond." Here the good doctor finds a wealth of old British folk music that has been handed down from generation to generation, as the ancestors of these folk came from the islands themselves.

"Songcatcher" is well worth seeing, due to its brilliant handling of its unique subject matter. It is also a cautionary tale for filmmakers who think they have to throw too much into their story. It could be said that the multiple tragedies in this film are a way of thematically representing the repetitive theme of tragedies in the old folk music the doctor is collecting, but it's overkill, pure and simple, and further ruins such effect with a silly ending. I'm glad I saw it, but would prefer to have an edited version featuring only the musical performances, which are stunning.

There is a lot to love about "Songcatcher." It's a treasure trove for an education in how music was developed in those pre-commercial days, and the lengths to which its devotees had to go for its preservation. If you love any kind of music, you owe a big debt of gratitude to people like this. It is mesmerizing to see the mountain people performing the music of their heritage in its natural setting.

Beyond that, it's a typical formula story, and that's what leaves me cold about this confused film. Formula element 1: The Outsider who learns to communicate with and appreciate a society in which she is initially very uncomfortable, while said society learns to deal with her as well. Some will not accept her, but she wins most of them over. Formula element 2: A forbidden romance causes serious unrest and, ultimately, tragedy. There are actually two such story lines in this film. Formula element 3: An ambitious woman, living in less rational times, deals with the frustration of being thwarted in her dreams. Formula element 4: The happy ending you could see coming a mile off.

I really hate that the filmmakers felt they had to throw so many elements into what could have been an excellent little film. Most unsettling is that they set up several confrontations that all reach a climax within a minute or two of each other, completely fouling up the otherwise nice pace they had set to that point in the film's final half-hour. ... Read more

Description

Starring Suzy Amis. Disgraced, a 19th century society girl journey's west disguised as a man. Inspired by a true story. Year: 124 Director: Maggie Greenwald Starring: Suzy Amis, Bo Hopkins, Ian Mckellen ... Read more

Reviews (9)

A TRUE HIDDEN GEM!
Easily one of the best movies I have ever seen, hands down. A "sleeper", that I caught by accident late one night as I was channel surfing, yawning and stretching for bed. Within the first few minutes I was rivetted. The film features excellence at every possible level, from camera work, casting, script,set, acting and of course direction. This story in the wrong hands would have been a complete farce, but here we are treated to a story that is so believable (don't forget, it is based on a true story!) and gripping I still don't know how it is not a huge cult classic at the very least! This woman's life-story is told with dignity, patience and a fearless honesty that few movies can approach. The ending is particularly wonderful as are the love scenes between Little Jo and her Chinese lover. Most of my friends consider me a bit of a "foreign film snob", truth is I just dislike "Hollywood" movies and have always felt that there has for years always been so many wonderful movies made in other countries that we have little access too! In my opinion most of the time these films make US films look ridiculous. However, this film, Maggie Greenwald et al restored my faith in the possibility that good movies, good ART could be made in the United States of America.

Feminist Western
A surprisingly lowkey, realistic journey of a woman who was determined to live outside the expectations heaped upon her. The "true story" it is in large part based on (along with two others, actually) is "Mountain Charley" an engrossing little tale of woman who lives as a man during the gold-rush years in Colorado and California. Both tales have harrowing episodes of gender violence, and tender moments of a life fulfilled on one's own terms.

Feminist Western Works Well
The western had long been the last bastion of male supremacy for Hollywood. With THE BALLAD OF LITTLE JO, director Maggie Greenwald presents the same hostile west that bedeviled John Wayne decades ago, but this time the protagnist is a woman named Josephine (Suzy Amis), who enters the movie as a well-to-do eastern lady who has the bad fortune to have an illegitimate baby. Her uncaring family casts her out, and Little Jo has no choice but to head west where she is subject to near rape. To protect herself, she disguises herself as a man. Now this may sound as if the film could easily turn into something as ludicrous as a western TOOTSIE, but it does not. Instead, Amis is totally convincing as a man who faces the same problems as if she were truly a man. Amis meets several men (Ian McKellen and Rene Auberjonois) who at first help her, then turn on her. She meets a Chinese man (David Chung), with whom she establishes first a friendly relation, then a physical one. By the film's end, Amis has proved that the gender of a settler is less important in securing her place in the west than is the determination that she shows. Heather Grahame does well in a secondary role, and newcomer Irina Passmoore also shines as two women, who in contrast to Little Jo, further stamp her as the first of the politically correct cowgirls.

Maggie Greenwald's The Ballad of Little Jo
Before watching this, do not make the mistake of lumping this film in with silly cross dressing comedies like "Tootsie" and "Mrs. Doubtfire." While based on a true story, director Greenwald sidesteps many western (and Hollywood) conventions to bring one of the best westerns of the 1990's.

Suzy Amis plays Jo, a woman who is a little too trusting of some bad men. After escaping to the west and leaving her born out of wedlock son behind, she is almost raped by two soldiers. To hide from them, she wears men's clothing and scars her face, eventually using her new facade to get what she needs in the west to survive. Ian McKellen plays a woman hater who takes her in, believing she is a young man. She eventually befriends Bo Hopkins, who has his best role in years, and starts a sheep ranch. She falls in love with a Chinese man she was forced to hire as her cook, and must eventually do battle with a cattle comglomerate trying to get a foothold and driving the sheep ranchers out.

Amis resembles Eric Stoltz in her scenes as a man, and is totally believable. McKellan and Rene Auberjonois have small but pivotal roles as older father figures who Amis trusts, but eventually turn on her. Bo Hopkins is great as the neighbor Amis tolerates, befriends, and tolerates. David Chung plays the Chinese man nicknamed Tin Man as an ailing opium addicted flawed man. He looks perfect for the part, life scars and all. Heather Graham also has a small part as Amis' paramour, and does her best with it.

The most surprising aspects of this film is what the film is not. There are no cute "Yentl" scenes, where Amis falls in love with a man as a man. The cattle company war, a standard western plot point, never overwhelms the story, or comes to a trite conclusion. The final scenes, with Jo's unmasking, seem almost like farce, but when thought about later, play very truthfully and touchingly, especially Hopkins' reaction.

Greenwald's camera turns a small film into an epic, with gorgeous Montana scenery. Her script is also very smart, never going for cheap laughs or the kind of exploitation that a male director may have gone for. I strongly recommend "The Ballad of Little Jo."

This is rated (R) for physical violence, strong gun violence, some sexual violence, gore, some profanity, some female nudity, sexual content, sexual references, drug abuse, and adult situations.

A true portrait
Ths is a beautiful and sensitive film, with moments of heart-wrenching realism and of great tenderness. Not only is it an honest portrayal of a woman alone in the West, but also it is one of the few American films I have seen to address with dignity and truthfulness the predicament of nineteenth century Chinese immigrants, and to star a fine Chinese-American actor, David Chung. The scenes between Jo and her lover, played by Chung, are very moving, and extremely sexy, and for me were highlights of this excellent movie. ... Read more