Kaaterskill Falls (DVD) @ discount dvd online store
Kaaterskill Falls (DVD)
In Josh Apter and Peter Olsen`s KAATERSKILL FALLS, Ren (Hilary Howard) and Mitchell (Mitchell Riggs), a young professional couple, embark on a romantic weekend in the Catskill Mountains of New York. However, their plans are derailed when they decide to pick up Lyle (Anthony Leslie), a lone hitchhiker. Although they let him off a few miles up the road, Lyle later reappears in front of their cabin. Ren and Mitchell invite the quiet stranger in for drinks and dinner, and the unlikely trio engages in liquor-fueled storytelling and conversation. With no place else to go, Lyle stays the night in the cabin. However, tensions that have slowly built between the cell-phone-toting Mitchell, the repressed Ren, and the chain-smoking Lyle come to a head on a hike the following day, leading to shocking events at the high peak of Kaaterskill Falls.
This independent thriller was shot in only 13 days on a tight budget with a small crew. The three actors largely improvise their dialogue, furthering the film`s openly do-it-yourself aesthetic. Apter and Olsen skillfully set the tone with spare, color-saturated photography that enhances the beautiful but seemingly deserted mountain setting, while a foreboding tone is gradually established by the actors` performances and the atmospheric music of Minneapolis-based musician Steve Tibbetts. A testament to what can be done with minimal resources, KAATERSKILL FALLS succeeds as an intriguing lo-fi take on the suspense genre.NR"
Director: Josh Apter|Peter Olsen
ACTORS: Hilary Howard, Mitchell Riggs, Anthony Leslie
Eight Men Out (DVD)
Unlike other nostalgic baseball films (THE NATURAL, FIELD OF DREAMS), director John Sayles`s EIGHT MEN OUT explores one of the darkest moments in the history of the sport--1919`s infamous Black Sox scandal, when eight players on the heavily favored Chicago White Sox agreed to throw the World Series. Based on Eliot Asinof`s 1963 book of the same name, the film investigates why the players--including the great Shoeless Joe Jackson, who many believe belongs in the Hall of Fame--would purposely lose the most important game of their lives. Set in the same time period as Sayles`s MATEWAN, EIGHT MEN OUT shows how money and exploitative labor conditions destroy the purity of the game. Even though the film has no star parts and ends on a bleak note, EIGHT MEN OUT was the second Sayles film to receive financing from a major studio. Studs Terkel appears as the famous journalist Hugh Fullerton, who exposes the scandal, while Asinof and Sayles also have small roles.PG"
Director: John Sayles
ACTORS: John Cusack, Charlie Sheen, D.B. Sweeney, David Strathairn, Christopher Lloyd
Payback (DVD) Checkpoint Mel Gibson is Porter, a ruthless criminal, who is gunned down by his wife and friend after they rob an Asian gang. When Porter survives the attack, he makes it his mission to exact revenge on his friend, who has used the rob...
Mel Gibson is Porter, a ruthless criminal, who is gunned down by his wife and friend after they rob an Asian gang. When Porter survives the attack, he makes it his mission to exact revenge on his friend, who has used the robbery money to buy his way into a powerful syndicate. Added to the mix are crooked police officers, members of the syndicate, and the Asian gang, who are out for a bit of revenge themselves. Based on the series of novels by Donald E. Westlake, which were translated to the screen previously in John Boorman`s POINT BLANK (1967).
R"
Director: Brian Helgeland
ACTORS: Mel Gibson, Gregg Henry, Maria Bello, Deborah Kara Unger, David Paymer
Butley (DVD)
This adaptation of Simon Gray`s BUTLEY was part of the American Film Theater series, conceived in the 1970s by producer Ely Landau and meant to be shown theatrically just like a play, with tickets sold in advance. Alan Bates stars as Ben Butley, a bitter and repressed English literature professor at a British university. Taking place during the course of one day in Butley`s office, the acerbic professor`s harsh exterior is torn down bit by bit as his world crumbles around him when he learns, nearly simultaneously, of his wife`s intent to divorce him, his live-in homosexual lover`s infidelities, and a hated colleague`s success. Grounded by by Mr. Bates` absolutely brilliant performance, BUTLEY is at once a very funny and tremendously moving film.R"
Director: Harold Pinter
ACTORS: Alan Bates, Jessica Tandy, Richard O`Callaghan, Georgina Hale
The Dancer Upstairs (DVD)
The directorial debut of John Malkovich, THE DANCER UPSTAIRS is a riveting political drama set in an undetermined Latin American city. A revolution has started, and the local police have been assigned to figure out who is leading it and what exactly the revolutionaries want. Agustin Rejas (Javier Bardem) is the detective leading the investigation. However, with the military involved and corrupt government officials making Rejas`s job especially difficult, he faces constant frustrations. The leader of the revolution goes by the name Ezequiel, but the police cannot figure out his true identity. Even more beguiling are the increasingly violent terrorist incidents that appear to be carried out by children who swear their loyalty to Ezequiel with no explanation of why. Caught up in the middle of the revolution and Rejas`s investigation are his wife, his young daughter, and his daughter`s lovely ballet teacher, Yolanda (Laura Morante). One event after the next adds to the suspense and nagging anxiety felt by Rejas, until finally, with one shocking discovery, everything becomes frighteningly clear.
Combining a serious political drama with a tender and introspective look at a man in mid-life, THE DANCER UPSTAIRS has something for every viewer. Its scenes of violence and terror are offset with truly artistic and romantic moments, using excellent photography, striking sets, and graceful acting to bring cohesion to the duality of the plot.R"
Director: John Malkovich
ACTORS: Javier Bardem, Laura Morante, Oliver Cotton, Luis Miguel Cintra, Abel Folk
