Best Men (DVD)
Jesse (Wilson) is just released from jail and is on his way to church to marry his sweetheart (Barrymore), but along the way Billy (Flannery), one of his best men, needs to make a quick stop at the bank. Unbeknownst to Jesse, Billy is the notorious bank robber known as Hamlet, named as such for spewing out Shakespearean quotes during his heists. The small-time robbery quickly transforms into a major fiasco leading to the lovebirds into exchanging their vows at the bank, and the FBI their witnesses! A funny love story with a criminal edge.R"
Director: Tamra Davis
ACTORS: Drew Barrymore, Sean Patrick Flanery, Luke Wilson, Dean Cain, Andy Dick
And Now Ladies and Gentlemen (DVD)
Weaving several intriguing plotlines into one that culminates in an idyllic hotel paradise in Morocco, Claude Lelouch has created a stylish romantic adventure with AND NOW LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. Two strangers leading separate lives in different cities come together in this tale of mystery and fate. Valentin (Jeremy Irons) is an English jewel thief whose lifelong dream is to buy a sailboat and take a solo journey around the world; however, he is set off-course and winds up in Morocco. Jane (Patricia Kaas) is a Parisian cabaret singer who has just suffered a tough breakup with her band`s trumpet player and has taken a job in Morocco to escape. Both Valentin and Jane are afflicted with a strange disease that causes them to periodically blackout, suffering amnesia after the incidents. A Moroccan doctor who is treating both of them makes their connection. With dramatic photography of its locations (London, Paris, and Morocco), sultry cabaret tunes that narrate the story, and an impressive cast in both quality and quantity, AND NOW LADIES AND GENTLEMEN takes the romantic adventure genre to new heights.PG-13"
Director: Claude Lelouch
ACTORS: Jeremy Irons, Patricia Kaas, Thierry Lhermitte, Alessandra Martines, Jean-Marie Bigard
Bloodfist 2 (DVD)
After killing a man in the ring, the World Kickboxing Champion surrenders his title and travels to Manila where he is lured into a trap and kidnapped. He and the other victims must battle some unnatural opponents to the death to regain their freedom.R"
Director: Andy Blumenthal
ACTORS: Maurice Smith, Timothy Baker, James Warring, Richard Hill, Don The Dragon Wilson
Hope and Glory (DVD)
Based upon director John Boorman`s experiences as a young boy during World War II, HOPE AND GLORY stars Sebastian Rice-Edwards as Bill Rowen. Seen mostly from the nine-year-old boy`s perspective, the film is uniquely astute in exploring the exhilarating effect that the bombing of his London suburb and the war`s general tumult has on a young boy, at least temporarily. After bombing raids, Bill and his mates scavenge through the rubble of destroyed buildings, carrying off still-smoking shrapnel as booty. When the boy`s school is leveled by the bombing, putting the local kids on permanent vacation, the Luftwaffe pilot is hero for a day. For Bill`s harried mother, Grace (Sarah Miles), the war is less amusing. Not only is her husband away fighting, but the war`s disorder has made her children more difficult to control, especially her teenage daughter, Sue (Geraldine Muir), whose burgeoning sexuality makes Grace nervous about arriving Canadian troops. Then one day, while the Rowens are out, their house is demolished by a bomb, and Bill begins to see the war a little differently. Boorman`s superb re-creation of the London blitz is likely the best account of that experience on film. Through the accretion of a myriad of brilliantly observed details, he immerses the viewer in the reality of wartime London yet gives due weight to the subjective nature of that experience for each of the family members in a film that`s flawlessly executed by all hands.PG-13"
Director: John Boorman
ACTORS: Sarah Miles, Sebastian Rice-Edwards, David Hayman, Derrick O`Connor, Susan Wooldridge
Penny Serenade (DVD)
In one of his rare departures from the realm of comedy, Cary Grant stars along with Irene Dunne in this sentimental tale about the marriage of Roger and Julie Adams.Told in flashbacks by Julie as she considers divorce, the film limns the couple`s earlier years, when her reluctant journalist boyfriend finally proposes after being posted in Japan by the newspaper where he works. When Julie joins him after a three-month delay, she announces that she`s pregnant, and is greatly concerned by Roger`s rash spending habits. Shortly thereafter, their house is destroyed by an earthquake, which also ends Julie`s pregancy. The couple returns to San Francisco only to find that Julie will no longer be able to bear children. Hoping to cheer his wife, Roger floats the idea of buying a small-town newspaper, but she remains inconsolable. He goes ahead with his plan to buy the paper, and the twosome rent an apartment above its offices. Meanwhile, their friend Applejack (Edgar Buchanan) begins gently coaxing the couple to adopt a child. Although the film is awash in sentimentality, it remains curiously compelling, which can be attributed to Stevens restrained direction, the skillful interweaving of comic material, and excellent work by the two leads.NR"
Director: George Stevens
ACTORS: Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Edgar Buchanan, Beulah Bondi, Ann Doran
