25th Hour (DVD)
Spike Lee`s bracing adaptation of David Benioff`s novel is a vibrant, vital motion picture. Edward Norton plays Monty Brogan, a harmless drug dealer who has 24 hours of freedom before serving a seven-year jail sentence. Nervous, confused, and terrified, Monty turns to his closest friends for support: Frank Slattery (Barry Pepper), a cocky stock broker who resents Monty for throwing his life away; Jakob Elinsky (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a hapless high school teacher who is attracted to one of his students (Anna Paquin); and Monty`s heartbroken father (Brian Cox), who blames himself for Monty`s demise. And then there is Naturelle (Rosario Dawson), Monty`s beautiful girlfriend, who may or may not be guilty of ratting Monty out to the cops. Monty spends his last day trying to ignore the inevitability of time, but everyone and everything only reminds him of the bleak, unpromising days that lay ahead.
With 25TH HOUR, Spike Lee revisits the fiery territory of 1989`s DO THE RIGHT THING. Frustrated by Hollywood`s cold shoulder toward the tragedy of September 11th, Lee attacks the subject with fervor, resulting in a film that brilliantly captures the mood and atmosphere in New York City in the months following the attack. The film features stellar contributions from composer Terence Blanchard, cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, and Lee`s ensemble cast.R"
Director: Spike Lee
ACTORS: Edward Norton, Brian Cox, Anna Paquin, Barry Pepper, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Suicide Blonde (DVD)
While working his job as a valet in South Beach, Nick gets carjacked while driving a crazy Cuban gangster`s prized Cadillac. The carjacker is the notorious `Scorpion,` and Nick kills him while they fight. His problems aren`t over because he`s still left with the carjacker`s accomplice, the dangerous `suicide blonde` who he escapes with when he realizes that the police think that he is the `scorpion.`R"
ACTORS: Alfredo Alvarez Calderon
Las Vegas Hillbillys (VHS)
Two country singers make a stop in Las Vegas and get involved in the wild life of gambling and all-night entertainment.NR"
Director: Arthur C. Pierce
ACTORS: Jayne Mansfield, Ferlin Husky, Mamie Van Doren, Richard Kiel, Sonny James
Bombay Talkie (DVD)
An early Merchant-Ivory film, BOMBAY TALKIE opens with a send-up of Indias lavish musicals as dancers cavort on a giant typewriter in a hilarious production number. However, the film is mostly a somber character study about best-selling English novelist Lucia Lane (Jennifer Kendal), who comes to Bombay in search of creative inspiration. She soon becomes involved with impoverished film writer Hari (Zia Mohyeddi) and handsome and successful married film star Vikram (Shashi Kapoor). Vikrams suffering wife, Mala (Aparna Sen), is barren and Vikram is seduced by Lucias romantic, self-involved ways. The two begin an affair that soon becomes destructive. Director James Ivory explores the relationship between the cultures of India and England through the analogy of the lead characters` volatile relationship. The film, shot on location on the streets of Bombay, is immersed in a memorable, evocative atmosphere."
Director: James Ivory
ACTORS: Zia Mohyeddi, Shashi Kapoor
Schindler`s List (VHS) Bonus - Behind the Shoah Foundation with Steven Spielberg Based on a true story, SCHINDLERS LIST is Steven Spielbergs epic drama of World War II Holocaust survivors and the man who unexpectedly came to be their savior. Unrepentant ...
Based on a true story, SCHINDLERS LIST is Steven Spielbergs epic drama of World War II Holocaust survivors and the man who unexpectedly came to be their savior. Unrepentant womanizer and war profiteer Oskar Schindler uses Polish Jews as cheap labor to produce cookware for the Third Reich. But after witnessing the violent liquidation of the walled ghetto where the Krakow Jews have been forced to live, Schindler slowly begins to realize the immense evil of Nazism. When his employees are sent to a work camp, they come under the terrorizing reign of sadistic Nazi Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes). With the help of his accountant, Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), Schindler creates a list of essential Jews. Bribing Goeth, Schindler manages to get 1,100 people released from the camp and brought to the safety of his munitions factory in Czechoslovakia. Spielberg`s glorious film is wondrously evocative, visually stunning, and emotionally stirring.
R"
Director: Steven Spielberg
ACTORS: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Goodall, Jonathan Sagalle
