Speaking Parts (DVD)
A lonely hotel maid in love with a movie extra obsessively watches his films on video. Meanwhile, the same actor, desperate for a speaking part, romances a screenwriter who is scripting a TV movie about the life of her dead brother. The attempt of these three characters to fulfill their desires through various forms of video technology is the subject of this super-cool essay on alienation in the video age by Canadian independent director Atom Egoyan.NR"
Director: Atom Egoyan
ACTORS: Aidan Tierney, David Hemblen, Gabrielle Rose, Michael McManus
Waking Life (DVD)
Director Richard Linklater presents this computer-animated, dreamlike, meandering film about a college-age man (Wiley Wiggins) who floats in and out of a series of philosophical discussions and ethereal experiences, meeting an interesting cast of characters along the way. Each character that Wiley meets engages him in an existential discussion. Wiley listens, observes, and occasionally responds. Then he glumly shuffles off to his next encounter. At times, he wakes up in his bed and rubs his eyes, appearing to start a new day. But eventually viewers learn that Wiley is dreaming throughout the film, and is trying to learn to control his dreams--and accomplish lucid dreaming, or simply wake up.
Visually, WAKING LIFE is nothing short of fantastic. Linklater stays true to his Indie style--jerky camera, drifting gaze, and steady head shots that allow non-actors to talk straight into the camera. To achieve the floating feeling of the dream sequences, he first tried taking aerial shots from a helicopter, then opted for the smoother effect of a hot air balloon. He shot the film on digital video, edited it, then called on 30 animators to finish it. The characters in the film move and gesticulate like live action, but they are animated with odd color schemes and surreal lines that make them cartoony caricatures. WAKING LIFE is a superb work that should be applauded for its atmospheric elements (lovely images of New York and Austin), its amusing bohemian dialogues, and its unique animation.R"
Director: Richard Linklater
Analyze That (DVD) Full Frame ANALYZE THAT, the star-studded sequel to 1999`s smash comedy hit ANALYZE THIS, reunites neurotic mobster Paul Vitti (Robert De Niro) with his former psychiatrist Ben Sobel (Billy Crystal). The anxious mob boss is about to fi...
ANALYZE THAT, the star-studded sequel to 1999`s smash comedy hit ANALYZE THIS, reunites neurotic mobster Paul Vitti (Robert De Niro) with his former psychiatrist Ben Sobel (Billy Crystal). The anxious mob boss is about to finish his prison sentence but he is suffering a nervous breakdown behind bars and the only one who can diagnose his ailments is Sobel. After a string of hysterical tests, the Feds grant Sobel permission to observe Vitti as a patient and, much to the dismay of Sobol`s wife Laura (Lisa Kudrow), as a house guest. However, Sobel has problems of his own. He`s suffering from a severe identity crisis after the death of his father, and Vitti`s presence in his suburban New Jersey home has the psychiatrist acting crazy too. In an effort to straighten Vitti out, Sobel decides that the solution is to find him a real, honest job. Vitti tries his hand at several ill-matched professions, and finally finds his dream job as a technical advisor on a SOPRANOS-like cable television show. Everything is going smoothly until Vitti starts to take the show a little too seriously, calling his former mafia cohorts to the set. A raucous comedic event that uses the chemistry between De Niro and Crystal to great effect, ANALYZE THAT is yet another knee-slapping gem from director Harold Ramis.
R"
Director: Harold Ramis
ACTORS: Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, Lisa Kudrow, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Viterelli
The Red Pony (DVD)
This sensitive adaptation of John Steinbeck`s coming-of-age story, The Gift, stars Peter Miles as Tom Tiflin, a lonely young boy growing up on a farm in the Salinas Valley. His city-born father Fred (Shepperd Strudwick) has never been happy with life on the farm where his wife Alice (Myrna Loy) was born, and the two spend much time arguing. To escape the bickering, Tom seeks out ranch hand Billy Buck (Robert Mitchum), who becomes like a father to the boy.NR"
Director: Lewis Milestone
ACTORS: Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum, Shepperd Strudwick, Peter Miles, Louis Calhern
Soul Food: The Series - The Complete First Season (DVD)
Showtime`s popular dramatic series picks up where the 1997 film left off, dramatically chronicling the ups and downs of an extended African-American family in Chicago. This 5-DVD set includes all the uncut episodes from Season One of this NAACP Award-winning series.NR"
ACTORS: Vanessa A. Williams, Malinda Williams, Nicole Ari Parker, Rockmond Dunbar, Boris Kodjoe
