Sex and the City - The Movie (Special Edition)Directed by Michael Patrick King
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As light and frothy as the Vivienne Westwood wedding gown that's an unofficial fifth star, the film version of Sex and the City is both captivatingly stylish and sweetly sentimental. Viewers who loved hanging with Carrie Bradshaw and her three pals during the series' TV run will feel as though no time has passed. Except that it has: Carrie and Big are poised to make a Big Commitment; Miranda and Steve are facing the breakup of their wonderful family; Charlotte and Harry have added to their brood; and Samantha (are we sitting down?) has been devoted to hunky Smith for five full years. Still, in all that time, the women's style, conviviality, and appetite for bons mots have only grown. When practical attorney Miranda learns that Carrie is considering moving in with Big (in possibly the coolest apartment in Manhattan), she can't help but frown in that but-you-might-lose-everything way. Carrie's retort: "For once, can't you feel what I want you to feel--jealous?!"
The cast is spot-on, as always. Sarah Jessica Parker is effortless as the angst-ridden yet practical, stylish yet vulnerable Carrie. Kim Cattrall is deliciously decadent as Samantha, but she's wiser now and knows herself and her needs for a real relationship. Kristin Davis, as Charlotte, has quietly become the most gorgeous among the beauties, her sleek presence both winsome and sophisticated. And Cynthia Nixon (Miranda) shows nuance as a woman torn between betrayal and grudging hope. Supporting roles include Candice Bergen as the Vogue editor who anoints Carrie "The Last Single Girl in New York," and Jennifer Hudson, as a starry-eyed, ambitious romantic who represents the new generation of SATC women. Through it all, New York is a benevolent cocoon that envelopes and nurtures the women and their friendships and careers. No matter that none of them appears to have any semblance of "real" family; as long as they have each other, and Manhattan, all will be right with their world. --A.T. Hurley
Sex and the City - The Movie (Special Edition)
The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration Giftset (The Godfather / The Godfather Part II / The Godfather Part III) [Blu-ray]Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
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THE GODFATHER: Popularly viewed as one of the best American films ever made, the multi-generational crime saga The Godfather (1972) is a touchstone of cinema: one of the most widely imitated, quoted, and lampooned movies of all time. Marlon Brando and Al Pacino star as Vito Corleone and his youngest son, Michael, respectively. It is the late 1940s in New York and Corleone is, in the parlance of organized crime, a "godfather" or "don," the head of a Mafia family. Michael, a free thinker who defied his father by enlisting in the Marines to fight in World War II, has returned a captain and a war hero. Having long ago rejected the family business, Michael shows up at the wedding of his sister, Connie (Talia Shire), with his non-Italian girlfriend, Kay (Diane Keaton), who learns for the first time about the family "business." A few months later at Christmas time, the don barely survives being shot by gunmen in the employ of a drug-trafficking rival whose request for aid from the Corleones' political connections was rejected. After saving his father from a second assassination attempt, Michael persuades his hotheaded eldest brother, Sonny (James Caan), and family advisors Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) and Sal Tessio (Abe Vigoda) that he should be the one to exact revenge on the men responsible. After murdering a corrupt police captain and the drug trafficker, Michael hides out in Sicily while a gang war erupts at home. Falling in love with a local girl, Michael marries her, but she is later slain by Corleone enemies in an attempt on Michael's life. Sonny is also butchered, having been betrayed by Connie's husband. As Michael returns home and convinces Kay to marry him, his father recovers and makes peace with his rivals, realizing that another powerful don was pulling the strings behind the narcotics endeavor that began the gang warfare. Once Michael has been groomed as the new don, he leads the family to a new era of prosperity, then launches a campaign of murderous revenge against those who once tried to wipe out the Corleones, consolidating his family's power and completing his own moral downfall. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards and winning for Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando), and Best Adapted Screenplay, The Godfather was followed by a pair of sequels.
THE GODFATHER PART II: This brilliant companion piece to the original The Godfather continues the saga of two generations of successive power within the Corleone family. Coppola tells two stories in Part II: the roots and rise of a young Don Vito, played with uncanny ability by Robert De Niro, and the ascension of Michael (Al Pacino) as the new Don. Reassembling many of the talents who helped make The Godfather, Coppola has produced a movie of staggering magnitude and vision, and undeniably the best sequel ever made. Robert De Niro won an Oscar®; the film received six Academy Awards, including Best Picture of 1974.
THE GODFATHER PART III: One of the greatest sagas in movie history continues! In this third film in the epic Corleone trilogy, Al Pacino reprises the role of powerful family leader Michael Corleone. Now in his 60's, Michael is dominated by two passions: freeing his family from crime and finding a suitable successor. That successor could be fiery Vincent (Andy Garcia)... but he may also be the spark that turns Michael's hope of business legitimacy into an inferno of mob violence. Francis Ford Coppola directs Pacino, Garcia, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Eli Wallach, Sofia Coppola, Joe Montegna and others in this exciting, long-awaited film that masterfully explores the themes of power, tradition, revenge and love. Seven Academy Award® nominations, including Best Picture.
The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration Giftset (The Godfather / The Godfather Part II / The Godfather Part III) [Blu-ray]
Brothers and Sisters - The Complete Second SeasonAverage customer review:
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The second season of Brothers and Sisters saw the terrific top-notch cast hit their stride. The chemistry between Calista Flockhart's Kitty and the Republican senator she works for, played by Rob Lowe, is palpable, and their engagement this season makes for a charming thread entwining the tales of the rest of the Walker family. And what a year they're having. Sarah (Rachel Griffiths) has lost custody of her kids, but is now running Ojai Foods, and trying to navigate through the family issues that accompany the family business. Uncle Saul (Ron Rifkin) might be gay. Iraq vet Justin might be falling off the wagon. Affairs are lurking around every corner, tempting just about every Walker at one time or another. The sun around whom all the Walker planets spin, however, is still Nora (Sally Field), whose good humor and big heart go a long way toward giving the clan the glue it needs. When Justin apologizes for his snappish behavior at the family meeting the previous night addressing his drug use, Nora says, "No one expects you to be warm and fuzzy at your own intervention, dear."
This season, Nora gets some affairs of the heart herself, with a charming guest appearance by Chevy Chase as Nora's college draft-dodging beau, back in the states as a teacher but still exactly on Nora's not-quite-reformed hippie wavelength. But tension awaits in the form of Isaac (Danny Glover), Nora's political opposite, but absolutely her equal mentally and emotionally. It's satisfying to see a woman older than 35 have a real love life, with real sparks--and real consequences. --A.T. Hurley
Brothers and Sisters - The Complete Second Season
Sex and the City - The Movie (Full Screen Edition)Directed by Michael Patrick King
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- Amazon Sales Rank: #12 in DVD
- Released on: 2008-09-23
- Rating: R (Restricted)
- Formats: Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
- Original language: English
- Subtitled in: English, Spanish
- Number of discs: 1
- Running time: 147 minutes
Sex and the City - The Movie (Full Screen Edition)
Boston Legal: Season FourFrom 20th Century Fox
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The quirky characters at Crane, Poole and Schmidt are at it again, bringing the most outrageous and often times improbable cases to court.
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- Amazon Sales Rank: #26 in DVD
- Released on: 2008-09-23
- Rating: NR (Not Rated)
- Formats: Box set, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Original language: English
- Subtitled in: English, Spanish
- Dubbed in: French
- Number of discs: 5
- Running time: 926 minutes
Boston Legal: Season Four
Two and a Half Men - The Complete Fourth SeasonFrom Warner Home Video
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- Amazon Sales Rank: #29 in DVD
- Released on: 2008-09-23
- Rating: NR (Not Rated)
- Formats: Box set, Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Original language: English
- Number of discs: 4
Two and a Half Men - The Complete Fourth Season
L.A. Confidential [Blu-ray]Directed by Curtis Hanson
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In a time when it seems that every other movie makes some claim to being a film noir, L.A. Confidential is the real thing--a gritty, sordid tale of sex, scandal, betrayal, and corruption of all sorts (police, political, press--and, of course, very personal) in 1940s Hollywood. The Oscar-winning screenplay is actually based on several titles in James Ellroy's series of chronological thriller novels (including the title volume, The Big Nowhere, and White Jazz)--a compelling blend of L.A. history and pulp fiction that has earned it comparisons to the greatest of all Technicolor noir films, Chinatown. Kim Basinger richly deserved her Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of a conflicted femme fatale; unfortunately, her male costars are so uniformly fine that they may have canceled each other out with the Academy voters: Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey, and James Cromwell play LAPD officers of varying stripes. Pearce's character is a particularly intriguing study in Hollywood amorality and ambition, a strait-laced "hero" (and son of a departmental legend) whose career goals outweigh all other moral, ethical, and legal considerations. If he's a good guy, it's only because he sees it as the quickest route to a promotion. --Jim Emerson
L.A. Confidential [Blu-ray]
CSI: NY - The Fourth SeasonFrom Paramount
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- Amazon Sales Rank: #131 in DVD
- Released on: 2008-09-23
- Rating: NR (Not Rated)
- Formats: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
- Original language: English, Russian
- Number of discs: 6
- Running time: 885 minutes
Amazon.com
CSI: NY, the third incarnation of the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation franchise and the spin-off of CSI: Miami, is a crime drama about forensic investigators who use high-tech science to follow the evidence and solve crimes in The Big Apple.
Leatherheads (Widescreen)From Universal Studios
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Academy Award® winners George Clooney and Renée Zellweger team up in this fun-filled comedy set against the beginnings of pro football. Dodge Connelly (Clooney), captain of a struggling squad of barroom brawlers, has only one hope to save his team: recruit college superstar Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski, The Office). But when a feisty reporter (Zellweger) starts snooping around, she turns the two teammates into instant rivals and kicks off a wild competition filled with hilarious screwball antics! Critics are cheering Leatherheads as "a real winner" (Claudia Puig, USA Today).
Leatherheads (Widescreen)
Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! A Tale of TailsDirected by Bob Boyle
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8 Episodes: A Tale of Tails - Wubbzy feels like an outsider because of his strange curvy tail the kids think it s too kooky and won t play with him, and it keeps causing trouble. Widget invents a machine, the Tail a Tronic, to straighten out Wubbzys tail, but it only makes things worse. Walden puts things in perspective by showing Wubbzy that there s nothing wrong with being a little different. And when Widgets invention, the Robo-Cluck, goes way out of control, it s Wubbzy s tail that saves the day. The other kids realize that they were totally wrong, you cant judge a Wubbzy by his tail.
Special Delivery - The Mailman leaves a package for Walden in Wubbzy s care. Wubbzy can t resist opening it, and finds a really cool toy train inside. He starts playing with it, but then he cant figure out how to stop the runaway train. He has to put it back in the box before Walden gets there! Widget tries to help him corral the train, as they wind up chasing it all over the backyard. Finally Walden shows up, and calmly uses the remote control to stop the chaos. Widgets Wild Ride - Wubbzy is excited about racing in the annual Wuzzleburg Derby. But when Widget gets a look at Wubbzy s little road-racer, she gets all kinds of great ideas for souping it up. She puts in huge wheels and turbo-engines and sails and the works. There s no way that Wubbzy can lose! Except he can t control this monster car, and it goes completely berserk stopping and spinning, and driving right into Wuzzleburg pond. Widget is sorry that she ruined Wubbzy s chance to win but maybe all is not lost yet. Attack of the 50-Foot Fleegle - Wubbzy wants a new pet, so he goes to the Pet Truck Man and gets a strange little animal called a Fleegle. The Pet Truck Man warns him to read the care manual, but Wubbzy thinks he knows how to take care of a pet. So he feeds it candy instead of the right food, and it starts growing. And growing, and growing.Soon it s a huge animal rampaging through Wuzzleburg, eating every sweet in sight! It s all Wubbzy s fault, so he has to figure out how to stop it! Come Spy with Me - Walden is acting suspicious about something he must have a secret. Wubbzy and Widget decide to spy on him; they don trench coats and fedoras, and trail him all over town. They are not the smoothest of spies, unfortunately tracking Walden to the library, they manage to knock over a whole shelf of books. Then they follow him to the Yum-Yum Restaurant, and finally to Mt. Zubba Bubba. They deduce that hes moving away! But Walden reveals that his real secret is a surprise gift for his two spying friends. Wubbzy Tells a Whopper - Wubbzy accidentally breaks Widgets Sandy-sander, and rather than tell her the truth, he concocts a story about a monstrous Growlygus who stole it. Widget is intent on tracking down the Growlygus, and insists that Wubbzy help her. Wubbzy has to keep embellishing his little fib to keep Widget from finding out the truth he leads his friends on a wild goose chase into the woods, looking for the mythical animal. The mess grows bigger and bigger until things get way out of control, and Wubbzy has to tell the truth. Bonus Episodes:
Mt. Fizzy-Pop - There s a whole lot of shaking going on in Wuzzleburg, and it s because old Mt. Fizzy-Pop on Dino Island is bubbling and rumbling. Walden is afraid that it s about to erupt! Puddle Muddle - Wubbzy is all spruced-up to get his picture taken with Widget and Walden, but en route to the studio he spots a mud puddle, and can t resist splashing around in it. Now he s all muddy, and has to take another bath. From now on he ll stay away from puddles!
Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! A Tale of Tails
Peanuts Holiday Collection (It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown / A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving / A Charlie Brown Christmas) (Deluxe Edition)From Warner Home Video
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- Amazon Sales Rank: #232 in DVD
- Released on: 2008-09-23
- Rating: NR (Not Rated)
- Formats: Animated, Box set, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
- Original language: English
- Number of discs: 3
- Running time: 150 minutes
Peanuts Holiday Collection (It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown / A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving / A Charlie Brown Christmas) (Deluxe Edition)
Samantha Who?: The Complete First SeasonDirected by tbd
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Samantha...WHO? That's what Sam Newly irresistibly played by Christina Applegate would like to know! Upon waking up from an eight-day coma she can't remember a thing -- not her boyfriend her parents her job not even herself. Although some things are best left forgotten Sam is determined to dig up the "goods" on herself. With a little help from her ex-boyfriend ex-doorman her too (make that two) few friends and slightly odd parents Samantha gets a once in a lifetime opportunity to become a bad-girl-gone-good. Indulge yourself in the ultimate do-over fantasy with the fresh new hit comedy SAMANTHA WHO? -- THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON starring Emmy(R) Award-winning Christina Applegate and a hilariously quirky cast of supporting characters including Jean Smart Jennifer Esposito and Kevin Dunn. With every Season One episode and exclusive bonus features cheer for the charmingly imperfect Sam -- whoever she is!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 786936754261 Manufacturer No: 05637000
Samantha Who?: The Complete First Season
Friday The 13th - The Series: The First SeasonFrom Paramount
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- Amazon Sales Rank: #170 in DVD
- Released on: 2008-09-23
- Rating: NR (Not Rated)
- Formats: Box set, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
- Original language: English
- Number of discs: 6
- Running time: 1179 minutes
Amazon.com
A suspense-mystery series that deals with the supernatural. In each episode, four brave souls embark on an assignment in danger and terror when they track down and retrieve cursed objects.
Mother of TearsDirected by Dario Argento
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The final installment of the "Three Mothers" trilogy. A young American art student, Sarah, "unwittingly opens an ancient urn that unleashes the demonic power of the world's most powerful witch. As a scourge of suicides plague the city and witches from all over the world converge on Rome to pay homage, Sarah must use all her own psychic powers to stop the 'Mother of Tears' before her evil conquers the world."
- Amazon Sales Rank: #210 in DVD
- Released on: 2008-09-23
- Rating: R (Restricted)
- Formats: Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Original language: English
- Running time: 102 minutes
Mother of Tears
Run, Fatboy, RunDirected by David Schwimmer
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It only makes sense that a television star would turn to a fellow practitioner for his first film. With Run Fatboy Run--no commas, please--Friends' David Schwimmer doesn't reinvent the romantic comedy, but he finds the perfect lovable loser of a lead in TV vet Simon Pegg (Faith in the Future, Spaced). On his wedding day, London lay-about Dennis (Pegg, who co-wrote with Michael Ian Black) deserts his pregnant fiancée, Libby (Crash's Thandie Newton), seconds before the ceremony. Crippling insecurity--which remains unexplored--prevents him from finishing anything ("Not even a sentence," Libby quips). Flash-forward five years, and he's a loving dad to son Jake (the charming Matthew Fenton), but sports a small potbelly, smokes too much and entertains no ambition beyond his job as security guard at a high-end boutique. Fortunately, he has friends, like gambler Gordon (Shaun of the Dead co-star Dylan Moran) and avuncular landlord Mr. Ghoshdashtidar (Harish Patel). Fit American financier Whit (Huff's Hank Azaria) shakes up his routine when he starts seeing Libby. To win her back, Dennis trains for the same 26-mile charity marathon as Whit. No one believes he can make it to the end, and even Dennis has doubts, but true love is a formidable motivator. It may not have been Schwimmer's intention, but there's more chemistry between the buddies than the couples. That makes the movie a must for fans of Pegg and the scene-stealing Moran--but optional for admirers of Newton and Azaria. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Run, Fatboy, Run
Scooby-Doo and the Goblin KingFrom Warner Home Video
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What a predicament! The Amazing Krudsky, whose carnival tricks are anything but, steals the light magic from Princess Fairy Willow and it’s up to Scooby-Doo and Shaggy to stop him or everyone will be turned into horrible Halloween monsters! Our heroes board the Grim Reaper Railroad bound for the fantastic world of Halloween Land to retrieve the powerful Goblin Septer from the Goblin King before Krudsky can. Along the way, the Mystery Inc. crew encounters the infamous Headless Horseman, the helpful Jack O’Lantern and a frisky broomstick that takes them on the ride of their afterlife. Your house will shake with enchanted creatures and weird worlds in this merry animated adventure where hobnobblin’ with a goblin is frightful fun!
Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King
Madagascar [Blu-ray]Directed by Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath, Conrad Vernon
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The penguins steal the show. In the sprightly Madagascar, a mid-life crisis inspires Marty the Zebra (voiced by Chris Rock) to escape from his lifelong home, a New York zoo. His equally pampered friends--Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), and Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer)--then escape to bring him back. Unfortunately, their attempt at damage control persuades zoo officials that the animals are unhappy, so all four get shipped to an animal preserve in Kenya...only a squad of maniacal penguins change the destination to Antarctica. The quartet end up on an island where, in addition to meeting some hedonistic lemurs, they learn about the food chain--and that Alex is a different link on the chain from the other three. Madagascar doesn't achieve the snappy perfection of a Pixar movie, but it tops most other computer-animated efforts; the collision of friendship and predator instincts makes for an unusually gripping conflict. The vocal performances of the central characters is serviceable, but Sacha Baron Cohen (Da Ali G Show) provides topnotch lunacy as the lemur king, and the penguins--voiced mostly by the animators themselves--are the best thing in the movie. --Bret Fetzer
From The New Yorker
In DreamWorks' latest attempt at an animated blockbuster, four overcivilized animals from the Central Park Zoo get transported to the wilds of Madagascar. It's a good comic premise, and much of the animation is beautiful, but the filmmakers don't follow through on their ideas. When the kvetching New Yorkers hit the jungle, we hope to see how their peculiar urban skills will allow them to deal with the creeping and crawling terrors. A few cobwebs cling to them, but the chief menace, the Foosas-nasty, hyena-like creatures-turn out to be pussycats. Great visuals, lousy plot. With Ben Stiller as Alex the lion, Chris Rock as Marty, a zebra who horses around too much, David Schwimmer as a hypochondriacal giraffe, and Jada Pinkett Smith as a commonsensical hippo. Directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker
Madagascar [Blu-ray]
DeceptionFrom 20th Century Fox
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An accountant is introduced to a mysterious, sex-dating club known as The List by his lawyer friend. He becomes enthralled in this new lifestyle, but he soon becomes the prime suspect in a womanâ??s disappearance and a multimillion-dollar heist.
Amazon.com
With its attractive cast and "stylish thriller" vibe, Deception is a much better movie than a raft of negative reviews might suggest--provided that you can suspend (if not completely discard) your disbelief and go along for the ride. The first feature by veteran commercial director Marcel Langenegger, it stars Ewan McGregor as Jonathan McQuarry, a mousy freelance tax auditor who’s taken under the wing of one Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman), a slick, ultra-confident Manhattan lawyer. We know from jump that Jonathan’s new best friend isn’t all, or even any, that he seems, and sure enough, when the pair "accidentally" switch cell phones, a series of credibility-defying events destined to turn Jonathan’s bleak, lonely life upside down is set in motion. At first, it’s all good, as the wide-eyed young CPA finds himself joining "The List," a Wall Street sex club that brings together lawyers, stockbrokers, and other professionals whose lives are too busy for anything more than brief, anonymous assignations at various high-rent hotels (exchanging real names is verboten is this world). But apparently spending nights with the likes of Natasha Henstridge and Charlotte Rampling isn’t enough; when he meets the blonde beauty known only as "S" (Michelle Williams), the club’s credo of "intimacy without intricacy" goes out the window, lust turns to love, and Jonathan is drawn into a protracted cat-and-mouse game that leads to murder, big-time corporate embezzlement, identity switches, and other nefarious activity. One needn’t be Nostradamus to predict where all of this is headed, but that’s hardly the point. Even if you don’t buy a single moment of it, Deception is fun, flashy, and entertaining--and since when is pure escapism a bad thing? --Sam Graham
Cashmere Mafia - The Complete SeriesDirected by Peyton Reed
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Set in glamorous New York City, four women stay close as they strive for success in the business world. Affectionately known as the Cashmere Mafia, they rely on each other for support in both their careers and their often-tumultuous personal relationships. Publisher Mia (Lucky Liu), CEO Juliet (Miranda Otto), top business executive Zoe (Frances O'Connor) and key marketing executive Caitlin (Bonnie Somerville) are bright, driven and dedicated, supporting each other through rocky marriages, rival colleagues, kids' recitals and the hunt for the perfect loft. Their ambition comes with a price - although they consistently outpace their male colleagues and husbands in salary and title, they must watch out for scheming rivals, eager to bring them down. But how better to climb to the top of the corporate ladder than with your buddies at your side?
Cashmere Mafia - The Complete Series
Jules Massenet: ManonDirected by Vincent Paterson
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International superstars Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón give inspired performances in Massenet's passionate opera, Manon. Netrebko gives full range to her abilities as a singer and actress in portraying innocence, lust, greed and, above all, beauty. It is Netrebko's mesmerizing performance which makes Villazón's youthful passion and ultimate despair even more authentic and heart-breaking. The setting in this production has been updated to the 1950s and the entire opera takes place as if Manon were the star of her own film. Indeed, Netrebko transforms her character from the innocence of Audrey Hepburn through the voluptuousness of Marilyn Monroe into the tragedy of Ingrid Bergman. The work of director Vincent Paterson, known for his work on Broadway and in music videos, is especially effective in creating an energetic and ultimately tragic performance with stunning visual splendor. Netrebko and Villazón, the true dream-team for this opera, are joined by the conductor Daniel Barenboim who leads the Staatskapelle Berlin in a spontaneous and passionate performance.
Jules Massenet: Manon
Shrek the Third [Blu-ray]Directed by Chris Miller
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When Shrek married Fiona the last thing he had in mind was becoming the next King of Far Far Away. But when Shrek’s father-in-law, King Harold, suddenly croaks, that is exactly what he faces. Recruiting Donkey and Puss In Boots for a new quest, Shrek sets out to bring back the rightful heir to the throne. Meanwhile back in the kingdom, Fiona's jilted Prince Charming storms the city with an army of fairy tale villains to seize the throne. Fiona and a band of princesses must stop him to ensure there will be a kingdom left to rule!
Amazon.com
It's not easy being an ogre, but Shrek finds it doubly difficult for an ogre like himself to fill in for a king when his father-in-law King Harold of Far, Far Away falls ill in this third Shrek movie. Shrek's attempts to fulfill his kingly duties play like a blooper reel, with boat christenings and knighting ceremonies gone terribly wrong, and to say that Shrek (Mike Myers) is insecure about his new role is a gross understatement. When King Harold (John Cleese) passes away, Shrek sets out with Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss-in-Boots (Antonio Banderas) to find Arthur (Justin Timberlake), the only heir in line for the throne besides himself. Just as Shrek sets sail to find Artie (as Arthur is more commonly known), Fiona (Cameron Diaz) shocks Shrek with the news that she's pregnant. Soon after, Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) sends Captain Hook (Ian McShane) in pursuit of Shrek and imprisons Fiona and her fellow Princesses as part of his plan to install himself as King of Far, Far Away. Shrek finds an awkward Artie jousting with his high school classmate Lancelot (John Krasinski) and, while Artie is certainly no picture of kingliness, Shrek is determined to drag him back to Far, Far Away to assume the throne. Mishaps and comedy abound, including a spell gone wrong that locks Donkey and Puss-in-Boots inside one another's bodies. While Fiona and the other Princesses prove they're anything but helpless women, Artie and Shrek battle their own fears of inadequacy in a struggle to discover their own self-worth. In the end, Shrek, Artie, and Fiona each learn a lot about their individual strengths and what truly makes each of them happy. Of course, it's the pervasive humor and wit that make Shrek the Third so side-splittingly appealing. Rated PG for some crude and suggestive humor, but appropriate for most families with children ages 6 and older. --Tami Horiuchi
Shrek the Third [Blu-ray]
iCarly: Season 1, Vol. 1From Nickelodeon
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In the spirit of Wayne’s World, Carly and her best friend Samantha "Sam" Puckett turn a boring school assignment into a fun, creative and hilarious web-show. When their friend Freddie accidentally leaks a video of their antics on the web, Carly, and average 13-year-old girl, becomes an unlikely online celebrity. Embracing her popularity, Carly convinces Sam, her co-host and comedic sidekick, and Freddie, their technical producer, to turn "iCarly" into a weekly show… where they can finally do and say whatever they want! iCarly is a convergent entertainment experience that unites the TV screen and the web for kids. Throughout the show, Carly will encourage viewers to post their own originally created content relating to the context of each show. Solicited content may become part of a future iCarly episode, or included in Carly’s online webcast, making iCarly the first scripted show on all of TV to incorporate original kid-created content.
iCarly: Season 1, Vol. 1
Blow [Blu-ray]From New Line Home Video
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Amazon.com
A briskly paced hybrid of Boogie Nights and Goodfellas, Blow chronicles the three-decade rise and fall of George Jung (Johnny Depp), a normal American kid who makes a personal vow against poverty, builds a marijuana empire in the '60s, multiplies his fortune with the Colombian Medellín cocaine cartel, and blows it all with a series of police busts culminating in one final, long-term jail sentence. "Your dad's a loser," says this absentee father to his estranged but beloved daughter, and he's right: Blow is the story of a nice guy who made wrong choices all his life, almost single-handedly created the American cocaine trade, and got exactly what he deserved. As directed by Ted Demme, the film is vibrantly entertaining, painstakingly authentic... and utterly aimless in terms of overall purpose.
We can't sympathize with Jung's meteoric rise to wealth and the wild life, and Demme isn't suggesting that we should idolize a drug dealer. So what, exactly, is the point of Blow? Simply, it seems, to present Jung's story as the epitome of the coke-driven glory days, and to suggest, ever so subtly, that Jung isn't such a bad guy, after all. Anyone curious about his lifestyle will find this film amazing, and there's plenty of humor mixed with the constant threat of violence and paranoid anxiety. Demme has also populated the film with a fantastic supporting cast (although Penélope Cruz grows tiresome as Jung's hedonistic wife), and this is certainly a compelling look at the other side of Traffic. Still, one wishes that Blow had a more viable reason for being; like a wild party, it leaves you with a hangover and a vague feeling of regret. --Jeff Shannon
From The New Yorker
This story of the real-life cocaine dealer George Jung-a Massachusetts man who sold the Medellín cartel's dope to mainstream America in the seventies-would seem to offer a perfect star vehicle for Johnny Depp, but the unconvincing narrative doesn't allow him to shape a performance. The director, Ted Demme, and the screenwriters, David McKenna and Nick Cassavetes, tell the story of George's rise as a series of semi-comic riffs on his unwittingness-how casually he operated, how oblivious he was to risk and treachery on all sides. Apart from one scary episode with Pablo Escobar, the scenes are flimsily staged-thin and underdone. Now and then Demme throws in the towel and resorts to a rapid montage of shots meant to convey the giddy drug life, but this isn't directing, and it isn't evocation, either; it's more like flinging a loosely pasted scrapbook onto the floor and asking the audience to sort it out. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker
Blow [Blu-ray]
The Anderson TapesFrom Sony Pictures
Product Description
A habitual criminal, looking for a big score immediately upon leaving prison, goes to the syndicate seeking funds for a massive robbery. He intends to ransack a posh East Side New York apartment building. Rounding up a gang of top-flight thieves, he proceeds to plan and carry out his caper unaware that he is being taped.
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
An early example of the techno-thriller, The Anderson Tapes--sharply directed by Sidney Lumet from the novel by Lawrence Sanders--follows just-out-of-jail Duke Anderson (a balding Sean Connery) as he plots the heist of an entire New York apartment building, enlisting a crew that includes Martin Balsam as a vintage 1971 gay stereotype and a very young Christoper Walken in perhaps the first of his jittery crook roles. The gimmick is that Anderson has been out of circulation so long that he doesn't realizse his mafia backers are only supporting him because they feel nostalgic for the days before they were boring businessmen and that the whole set-up is monitored by a criss-crossing selection of government and private agencies who don't care enough to thwart the robbery, which instead becomes unglued thanks to a spunky handicapped kid-cum-radio ham. With a cool Quincy Jones score, very tight editing, a lot of spot-on cameo performances from the likes of Ralph Meeker as a patient cop, The Anderson Tapes hasn't dated a bit: it's wry without being jokey and suspenseful without feeling contrived. --Kim Newman
The Anderson TapesNew Releases This Week in Movies & TV
