Kamis, 01 Desember 2011

The Bucket List

  • You only live once, so why not go out in style? That?s what two cancer- ward roommates, an irascible billionaire (Jack Nicholson) and a scholarly mechanic (Morgan Freeman), decide when they get the bad news. They compose a bucket list ? things to do before you kick the bucket ? and head off for the around-the-world adventure of their lives. Sky dive? Check. Power a Shelby Mustang around a racetrac
You only live once, so why not go out in style? That’s what two cancer- ward roommates, an irascible billionaire (Jack Nicholson) and a scholarly mechanic (Morgan Freeman), decide when they get the bad news. They compose a bucket list â€" things to do before you kick the bucket â€" and head off for the around-the-world adventure of their lives. Sky dive? Check. Power a Shelby Mustang around a racetrack? Check. Gaze at the Great Pyramid of Khufu? Check. Discover the joy in their lives before it’s! too late? Check! Under the nimble direction of Rob Reiner, the two great stars provide the heart and soul, wit and wiles of this inspired salute to life that proves that the best time of all is right now."You measure yourself by the people who measure themselves by you," says the quietly wise Carter Chambers, played with gravitas and grace by a Morgan Freeman. In Rob Reiner's moving, often hilarious film The Bucket List, all sorts of people measure themselves against the two heroes, Chambers and his hospital suitemate, Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson). But as Cole finds, having spent his entire life building a Fortune 500 company, none of that much matters when cancer, the great equalizer, pays a visit. The film traces the adventures of the two unlikely friends, who meet in a hospital cancer ward, each given six months to live. The "bucket list" of the title refers to a lifelong list of goals that a teacher of Chambers once advised him to compile--and achieve--"before y! ou kick the bucket." Soon the two are off on what may be the l! ast gran d adventure of their life, vowing to tick off as many goals (skydiving, race-car driving, seeing the wonders of the world) as they can in the time they have left. What starts as a medical melodrama becomes a road trip, yet the men's mortality realities are never far from thought. The two leads give impressive performances, and remind the viewer of just how few American films focus on the lives and loves of senior citizens. Nicholson even manages to lose his persona in his character, much as he did in About Schmidt. There's a lovely John Mayer tune, "Say (What You Need to Say)," that's perfectly matched to the film's clear-eyed view of life: What does one person leave behind as his true legacy? --A.T. Hurley

Southwestern Dreamcatcher - Style 35153

Hottie & the Nottie

  • Nate Cooper (Joel David Moore) has been smitten with Cristabel Abbott (Paris Hilton) since he was six years old. But before he could try and snuggle up to her at nap time, his family moved away. Now, years later, he moves to Los Angeles to find his long lost love. The good news: Cristabel is still single and stunning. The bad news: Cristabel is still best friends with June Phigg (Christine Laki
A young man moves to L.A. to track down the woman he's been in love with since childhood, only to discover that his plan to woo her only has one hurdle to overcome: what to do with her ever-present, not-so-hot best friendCelebutante Paris Hilton takes on leading lady status in this fluffy comedy about the mysteries of love, and the importance of orthodontia. Nate Cooper (Joel David Moore) is an unfeeling commitment "challenged" lemon. His fed-up girlfriend runs out on him and he’s just about hit rock! bottom. Haunted by his childhood, he can’t seem to get over his kindergarten crush with the cutest girl at school, Christabel Abbot (Paris Hilton). Unable to move forward in love and life, Nate decides to track down Christabel, hoping to unlock the key to his future. As luck and movie magic would have it, Christabel has blossomed into LA’s hottest blonde who's miraculously single. Unavoidably however, there’s a catch: she’s still playing guardian to childhood best friend and physically cursed June Phigg (Christine Lakin) and has made a solemn vow of chastity until June has a boyfriend of her own. Considering June’s sad and highly exaggerated state of affairs (e.g. rotting teeth, whiskers, etc.), Nate is faced with a daunting task. As his hare-brained schemes to find June an appropriate suitor evolve, she begins to undergo an extreme inner and outer transformation. When her teeth are whitened and the moles and whiskers are removed to reveal a Hollywood actress-lik! e allure, Nate "suddenly" has an unobstructed view of her "in! ner beau ty" and in an epiphanic moment realizes that love and destiny are pretty confusing things. Lacking verisimilitude and plagued with gross-out jokes, spotty direction, and an underwritten script, much of the film plays out like Farrelly brothers' sloppy seconds. Nonetheless, there’s plenty of silliness, some good laughs, and a very willing cast who is more than up to playing along, most notably the talented Lakin and Moore. Hilton fans can rejoice in knowing that within the limited confines of the script, she aptly holds her own and when given the chance, has comedy potential. All in all The Hottie and the Nottie is a modest ultralight romantic comedy that though forgettable, is not without its charms. Neither a Hottie nor a Nottie, let’s just call this a Middle-of-the-Roadie. - Matt Wold

Exorcist - The Beginning (Widescreen Edition)

  • Prequel. Exorcist: The Beginning traces the story of Father Merrin back to his first encounter with the Devil during his missionary work in Africa.Running Time: 114 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: R Age: 085392467426 UPC: 085392467426 Manufacturer No: 24674
Prequel. Exorcist: The Beginning traces the story of Father Merrin back to his first encounter with the Devil during his missionary work in Africa."This movie is cursed!" exclaimed movie-magazine headlines regarding Exorcist: The Beginning, but those dire warnings turned out to be exaggerated. Considering a tumultuous production history that actually did seem cursed, Renny Harlin's much-maligned prequel to The Exorcist is a surprisingly competent, serious-minded shocker filled with the same anxious foreboding that made the 1973 original so phenomenally effective. The story lacks focus and feels cobble! d together (perhaps the result of its tortured development, which included the untimely death of original director John Frankenheimer), but Stellan Skarsgård is well-cast as Father (now Mr.) Merrin, a lapsed Catholic priest summoned to East Africa in 1949 to retrieve a demonic idol. He discovers a buried church, a vast underground cavern, demonic possession, and a legacy of carnage that preys upon guilt-ridden memories from his parish in Nazi-occupied Holland. Harlin delivers the gross-out moments that Warner Brothers demanded, but otherwise shows remarkable restraint while cinematographer Vittorio Storaro delivers doom-laden visual atmosphere. It's not the classic many were hoping for--not even close--but it's still a win-win scenario for horror fans, since it's rumored the unreleased and "abandoned" version directed by Paul Schrader will be paired with this film for its DVD release. Comparisons will no doubt prove interesting. --Jeff Shannon

Dark City (Director's Cut) [Blu-ray]

  • The critically-acclaimed triumph from visionary director Alex Proyas (I, Robot, The Crow) is back with a brand new directors cut featuring enhanced picture and sound, never-before-seen footage and three commentary tracks that take you deeper than ever before into the world of one of sci-fis most exciting and revered tales. When John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) wakes with no memory at the scene of a gri
The critically-acclaimed triumph from visionary director Alex Proyas (I, Robot, The Crow) is back with a brand new directors cut featuring enhanced picture and sound, never-before-seen footage and three commentary tracks that take you deeper than ever before into the world of one of sci-fis most exciting and revered tales. When John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) wakes with no memory at the scene of a grisly murder, he soon finds himself hunted by the police, a woman claiming to be his wife and a mysterious! group of pale men who seem to control everything and everyone in the city. Starring Rufus Sewell (The Illusionist), Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind), William Hurt (A History of Violence) and Kiefer Sutherland (TVs 24).If you're a fan of brooding comic-book antiheroes, got a nihilistic jolt from The Crow (1994), and share director Alex Proyas's highly developed preoccupation for style over substance, you might be tempted to call Dark City an instant classic of visual imagination. It's one of those films that exists in a world purely of its own making, setting its own rules and playing by them fairly, so that even its derivative elements (and there are quite a few) acquire their own specific uniqueness. Before long, however, the film becomes interesting only as a triumph of production design. And while that's certainly enough to grab your attention (Blade Runner is considered a classic, after all), it's painfully clear that Dark City ha! s precious little heart and soul. One-dimensional characters a! re no ma tch for the film's abundance of retro-futuristic style, so it's best to admire the latter on its own splendidly cinematic terms. Trivia buffs will be interested to know that the film's 50-plus sets (partially inspired by German expressionism) were built at the Fox Film Studios in Sydney, Australia, home base of director Alex Proyas and producer Andrew Mason. The underground world depicted in the film required the largest indoor set ever built in Australia. --Jeff Shannon

Die Another Day (Widescreen Special Edition)

  • 2002 - Die Another Day - MGM - Special Edition
  • 2-Disc Collectible Set - Over 7 Hours of Bonus Features
  • Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Judi Dench
  • PG-13 - Widescreen - Best Collectible Release to Date
  • Collectible - New
When his top-secret mission is sabotaged, James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) finds himself captured by theenemy, abandoned by MI6 and stripped of his 00-license. Determined to get revenge, Bond goes head-to-head with a sultry spy (OscarÂ(r) winner* Halle Berry), a frosty agent (Rosamund Pike) anda shadowy billionaire (Toby Stephens) whose business is diamonds but whose secret is a diabolical weapon that could bring the world to its knees! Bristling with excitement and bursting with explosivespecial effects, Die Another Day is an adrenaline-pumping thrill-ride with "stunts and non-stop action [that] will astonish you" (Jeffrey Lyons, WNBC-TV)! *2001: Actre! ss, Monster'sBallThe 20th James Bond adventure, Die Another Day succeeds on three important fronts: it avoids comparison to Austin Powers by keeping its cheesy humor in check, allows Halle Berry to be sexy and worthy of a spinoff franchise, and keeps pace with the technical wizardry that modern action films demand. Pierce Brosnan's got style and staying power as James Bond, now bearing little resemblance to Ian Fleming's original British super-spy, but able to hold his own at the box office. He's paired with American agent Jinx (Berry) in chasing a genetically altered North Korean villain (Rick Yune) armed with a satellite capable of destroying just about anything. John Cleese and Judi Dench reprise their recurring roles (as "Q" and "M," respectively); they're accompanied by weapons-laden sports cars, a hokey cameo by Madonna (who sings the techno-pulsed theme song), and enough double-entendres to keep Bond-philes adequately shaken and stirred. W! ith clever nods to 007's cinematic legacy, Die Another Day make s you welcome the familiar end-credits promise: James Bond will return. --Jeff Shannon
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