For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story (DVD) @ discount dvd online store
For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story (DVD)
Andy Garcia stars as world-renowned Cuban trumpet player Arturo Sandoval in this moving portrait of his life in Cuba, his passion for jazz, and his eventual defection from his homeland in 1990. A passionate free thinker, Arturo struggled for personal and creative freedom in Cuban, experiencing a lifetime of artistic persecution. Despite strict revolutionary guidelines, Arturo played with the award-winning Cuban fusion band Irakere, receiving critical and commercial success while living under the shadow of Fidel Castro`s dictatorship. In 1981, Sandoval left Irakere and formed his own band, desperate to play jazz by his own rules. A musical virtuoso, Sandoval lived to play his own brash brand of jazz, inspired by his mentor and longtime friend, American jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie (Charles S.Dutton). Ultimately, Arturo`s love for his wife, Mariela (Mia Maestro), and his growing family forced him to stay in Cuba, constantly compromising his artistic freedom for the revolution. Finally, in 1990, after years of artistic frustration, Gillespie helped Arturo to defect with his wife and young son. The Sandovals` remarkable journey to freedom is conveyed through a series of flashbacks, as Arturo reflects on his passion for his country, his wife, and his ultimate desire for musical freedom. Andy Garcia gives an uplifting and moving performance as the jazz legend, swinging and bopping onstage to his own uncompromising rhythm. The film also features a fabulous supporting cast, including Latin superstar Gloria Estefan, and a rousing score from the legend himself, Arturo Sandoval.NR"
Director: Joseph Sargent
ACTORS: Andy Garcia, Mia Maestro, Gloria Estefan, David Paymer, Charles S. Dutton
The Man Who Cried (DVD)
Writer/Director Sally Potter`s ambitious historic romance THE MAN WHO CRIED is an epic war drama laced with moral parable and bolstered by lush sets and costumes. The story begins familiarly enough--a young Russian Jewish girl is displaced just before World War II and separated from her family--but Potter has woven around the character of Suzie (Christina Ricci) a labyrinth of color, dance, ethnic music, and culture that transcends a typical or cliched war-time drama. By the use of an eclectic, but brilliant, cast, the complex set of choices made by the characters--all outsiders on some level--help to convey the desperation and strength in each of their situations. In particular, there is Suzie, who was raised in a proper English household after fleeing her homeland. Withdrawn, silently tormented, she longs to find her father (Oleg Yankovsky) who fled to America to find a better life for their family. Poetically, Suzie finds a singing voice to express who she is, traveling to Paris where she becomes part of the Moulin Rouge set. It is here--amidst the glamour and impending doom of Paris in the 1930s--that she meets Lola (an almost unrecognizable Cate Blanchett), a fascinating, sophistocated woman who guides Suzie but loses her own identity in a relationship with a rich singer (John Turturro). Suzie also finds love in the arms of the gypsy Cesar (Johnny Depp), but when the Nazis invade the city, everything must change. In this elegant and moving film, Potter has turned the Paris of today into the Paris of the 1930s, staging many incredible scenes, one in which the Place de la Concorde is actually completely emptied of cars and people.R"
Director: Sally Potter
ACTORS: Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, John Turturro, Cate Blanchett, Harry Dean Stanton
Mussolini and I (DVD) 2-Disc Set Bob Hoskins stars as Benito Mussolini in this riveting account of the family conflict and political intrigue which surrounded the rise and fall of the Italian fascist dictator. The four-hour mini-series not only examines Il ...
Bob Hoskins stars as Benito Mussolini in this riveting account of the family conflict and political intrigue which surrounded the rise and fall of the Italian fascist dictator. The four-hour mini-series not only examines Il Duce`s career in politics--from his early days as a terrorist to his later alliance with Hitler--but also delves into his tragic personal affairs, such as his estrangement from favorite daughter Edda (Susan Sarandon) and his ultimate betrayal of beloved son-in-law Count Ciano (Anthony Hopkins).
NR"
Director: Alberto Negrin
ACTORS: Bob Hoskins, Susan Sarandon, Anthony Hopkins, Annie Girardot, Kurt Raab
Wicked (DVD)
Residing within a wealthy, green, gated community in California, the Christiansens are not your usual nuclear family. Ben Christiansen (William R. Moses) and his wife Karen (Chelsea Field) have two daughters, an open marriage, and a handful of lovers apiece. When Karen announces that she wants a divorce, she winds up dead, and there are several suspects. Their fifteen year-old daughter, daddy`s girl Ellie (Julia Stiles, SAVE THE LAST DANCE), never cared much for her mother, anyway. She quickly steps into her mothers role, cooking all the meals, wearing her mother`s clothes, and sharing a bed with her father. Meanwhile, the murder investigation is gaining momentum. Karen had her share of enemies. Is Ellie too obvious a suspect? This extremely dark comedy, which was a hit a several festivals, combines elements of the best of Hitchcock with some heavy doses of Greek tragedy for a uniquely sinister stew with a strong bite!R"
Director: Michael Steinberg
ACTORS: Julia Stiles, William R. Moses, Patrick Muldoon, Chelsea Field, Vanessa Zima
Oggy and the Cockroaches - Vol. 2 (DVD)
OGGY AND THE COCKROACHES is a throwback to the old Sylvester and Tweety animated cartoons pitting different animals against each other. Oggy is a satisfied house cat who is most at home snoring in front of a television. There are three uninvited guests in his house who love to torment him and they are three cockroaches named Joey, Marky and DeeDee. Also in this hilarious cast is Oggy`s cousin Jack who is on a mission to destroy the cockroaches. This is volume two of the series.NR"
