Ghost [Blu-ray]From Paramount
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It sounds like a horror movie, but it's a romantic fairy tale. The scariest thing about it is its shamelessness. A young New York bank executive, Sam (Patrick Swayze), is killed, on the street, at a moment in his life when everything seems to be going his way. After his death, Sam sticks around, as a spirit (and Swayze stays onscreen, as a body). He attends his funeral; watches his beautiful girlfriend, Molly (Demi Moore), drift grief-stricken through the spectacular loft they had just moved into; and then devotes himself to protecting her from the people who killed him. Through a reluctant psychic (Whoopi Goldberg), he tries to communicate with Molly; later, an experienced ghost (Vincent Schiavelli) teaches him how to move objects and break stuff. In this movie, death is treated as if it were merely a form of disability, one of those handicaps we've seen people struggle bravely with in TV movies-something for the individual to triumph over, with will power, hard work, and love. This creamy-toned fantasy, directed by Jerry Zucker from a screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin, certainly pushes the audience's emotional buttons. It's a twentysomething hybrid of "It's a Wonderful Life" and some of the goofier, more solemn episodes of "The Twilight Zone," and there's not a trace of wit or irony in it. Its images of death have a soothing banality, like a greeting-card message from the world beyond. Also with Tony Goldwyn and Rick Aviles. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker
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The Truman Show [Blu-ray]From Paramount
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Peter Weir's new movie, his first since the perplexing "Fearless," is an even rarer creature: the sunlit black comedy. Jim Carrey plays Truman Burbank, a genial insurance agent who lives with his chronically nice wife, Meryl (Laura Linney), in the town of Seahaven. The place itself is drowning in pleasantness-no surprise, for it is in fact the largest set ever built. The sky is a dome, the sun and moon are lights in the roof, and every single citizen is an actor-everyone except Truman, who is the innocent star of the most successful documentary soap opera of all time. It's a startling conceit, dreamed up by screenwriter Andrew Niccol, but the picture's doomy warning-that television will overrun our lives and brains-is not exactly original. Still, it picks up pace in the second half, as the hero discovers his predicament and flees; up above, trying to control him, is the omnipotent Christof-the creator of the show, and a great role for the solid and scary Ed Harris. Carrey is on his mettle, but you wonder why thirty years of close observation have made Truman so funny; shouldn't he be a regular guy gone mad? -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker
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TowelheadDirected by Alan Ball
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Haunting and moving, Alan Ball's directorial debut, Towelhead, settles around the viewer for hours, days, afterward, as its delicate layers unfold. Ball, the screenwriter of American Beauty and the creator of HBO's splendid Six Feet Under, revisits some familiar territory here, yet bestows grace upon even his most flawed characters. The film follows the life of 13-year-old Jasira (Summer Bishil), quiet and compliant, who's shuttled between an uncaring American-born mom and a strict, bigoted Lebanese-American dad (Peter Macdissi). When she goes to Houston to live with her father, Jasira starts babysitting for a bratty neighbor kid, whose dad (Aaron Eckhart) takes an unnatural interest in the girl. A new classmate, Tommy, also desires the eighth grader, and one begins to feel Jasira's whole world is a predatory nightmare. Yet the film, while uncomfortable at times to watch, manages to provoke without appalling. Young Jasira is exploring her own sexual awakening, secretly (with echoes of American Beauty), and so desires adult attention that she tiptoes into a flirtation with Eckhart's character, Mr. Vuoso--who is undeniably creepy, yet Eckhart's performance gives Vuoso a begrudging sympathy, no small feat. It's the film's achievement that characters the viewer should be repulsed by--the harsh, overbearing dad; the pervy Mr. Vuoso--have more than a shred of humanity. And luckily for young Jasira, another neighbor, played by Toni Collette, takes her under her wing--and there's almost a palpable sigh of relief when she does. And the script is shot through with humor, which doesn't exactly leaven the intense subject matter, but provides some lightness. When Jasira gets her first period, uptight dad takes her shopping for sanitary pads (no! tampons! ever!), and in the harsh light of the drugstore asks the mortified girl, "Would you describe your situation as Light, Medium, or Heavy?" Bishil is a lovely new discovery, like Thora Birch or Wes Bentley of Beauty, and stays true to herself while the adults around her--with the exception of Collette's Melina--let her down, or worse. The cinematography, draped in shadows, underscores Jasira's unstated plea: See me. Notice me. Care about me. --A.T. Hurley
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An American Carol [Blu-ray]Directed by David Zucker
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From David Zucker, the director of The Naked Gun and Airplane! comes a bare-knuckle comedy where no one is safe from the onslaught of lunacy. When obnoxious Hollywood director Michael Malone organizes a Ban the 4th of July campaign, his efforts are upended by a gang of spirits from America s past. Zucker roasts a herd of sacred cows in this latest parody featuring an all-star cast.
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Live and BecomeDirected by Radu Mihaileanu
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LIVE AND BECOME **** Starring Yael Abecassis, Roschdy Zem, Moshe Agazai, Mosche Abebe and Sirak M. Sabahat. Directed and written by Ra-du Mihaileanu. Produced by Denis Carol, Marie Masmonteil and Radii Mihaileanu. A Menemsha release. Drama. Aramaic-, Hebrew- and French-language; subtitled. Not yet rated. Running time: 144 min. "Live and Become" received a rare standing ovation at the Telluride Film Festival, evidence of the emotional power of a remarkable journey of discovery. The film centers on the plight of Ethiopian Jews, called Falashas, forced to flee to Sudanese refugee camps for relief from persecution and famine. In 1984, "Operation Moses" begins the airlift of Falashas to Israel. A Christian woman in a refugee camp wants a better life for her nine-year-old son (Moshe Agazai). She orders him to pretend to be Jewish so he can be airlifted out. After a poignant silent glance with the boy's mother, a Falasha woman whose son has recently died takes the boy's hand as she boards the plane to Israel. She names him Schlomo and passes him off as her own son. But in Israel, the adopted mother dies. Agazai gives Schlomo a face full of sadness as he yearns for his mother back in Africa. Schlomo is mystified by life in Israel, which is radically different from anything he had ever known. He is adopted by a liberal Israeli couple, Yael (Yael Abecassis) and Yoram (Roschdy Zem), with two children. Yael becomes a fiery defender of Schlomo against the prejudices he faces as he begins a new life. Schlomo must create a new identity while facing hostility as a black immigrant and always fearing discovery as a non-Jew. His struggles are extremely affecting. In the distinctive cast, non-professionals seamlessly mix with accomplished actors while "Live and Become" builds to an unforgettable final image. --Ed Scheid, Box Office Magazine
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Black Lagoon: Complete Series Box Set (Season One)From Funimation
Best Action Anime of 2007- Anime Insider
Rokuro Okajima is meek, mundane and metropolitan. His business trip to South East Asia turns from pleasure cruise to festival of pain when modern-day pirates board the ship and take him hostage. Revy, Dutch, and Benny are merciless, maniacal and mean. Together, they make up the crew of the Black Lagoon. They are the exact opposite of Rokuro in every way but one... A mercenary group out has targeted them to steal the data disc that Rokuro had, and with it, classified information that threatens the peace and security of the entire world! Amen. Hallelujah. Peanut Butter.
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Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget: UncensoredDirected by Joel Gallen
Cut…It…Out. Daddy doesn't always know best! America's favorite sitcom dad was ripped a new one by the best insult comics in the business at the Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget. Headlined by Roastmaster John Stamos, sit back and enjoy Greg Giraldo's cutting insights, Jeff Garlin's raucous impressions, and Jeffrey Ross’ jabs at Saget's life, career, and propensity for dating younger women. This was indeed the most family UN-friendly night of Bob Saget's entire career!
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Hellbound: Hellraiser II - 20th Anniversary EditionFrom Starz / Anchor Bay
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In 1988, it emerged as the shocking follow-up to the film that redefined the face of horror. Two decades later, it remains the most brutally original sequel in horror film history. Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence and Kenneth Cranham co-star in this hit sequel from executive producer Clive Barker that experiences the flesh like no other. The time to play has come again: Surrender yourself to the infernal labyrinth of hellbound: Hellraiser II – The 20th Anniversary Edition.
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Harlequin: Treacherous BeautiesDirected by Charles Jarrott
After her brother Alan's death in a remote town is ruled accidental, veteran photojournalist Anne Marie Kerr (Emma Samms, TV's General Hospital) suspects foul play and is determined to investigate his case further. She assumes a false identity to work for the town's wealthiest and most powerful family, the Hollisters, who may know details about Alan's death. There, she learns the eldest son, Jason (Bruce Greenwood, National Treasure: Book of Secrets) - dangerously handsome and known for his violent temper - has reasons to want Alan dead. As she searches the Hollister family's mysterious, dark past, Anne Marie finds herself embroiled in a scandalous affair with the enemy when Jason sparks a heated romance.
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Harlequin: Another WomanDirected by Alan Smythe
When Lisa Temple (Justine Bateman, TV's Men in Trees) wakes in the hospital after being left for dead in an alley, she remembers nothing - no memories of her bitter personality or her husband Paul's (Peter Outerbridge, Lucky Number Slevin) plans to divorce remain. As Lisa takes delight in the world's simple wonders while relearning how to live, Paul recognizes the woman he originally fell in love with, and the romance returns to their once-stale relationship. Slowly, memories return, and Lisa comes to terms with her old identity...until one last vision slides in to place, and she realizes with horror the plot she put in motion - and now, needs to end - the night of her tragic accident. Co-starring Kenneth Welsh.
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