Men With Guns (DVD)
Taking a vacation from his profitable private practice, a distinguished Latin American doctor (Federico Luppi) sets off on a quest to locate his former students, whom he trained and deployed throughout the disease-ridden rural regions of their unnamed country. Once he steps outside his comfortable milieu, he realizes the depths of despair rural villagers live in, as power-mad, gun-toting soldiers and guerrillas vie for control of the countryside. Gradually stripped of his former idealism, he collects a motley group of pilgrims in search of a legendary village untouched by men with guns.
Director John Sayles, who had just finished LONE STAR, one of his most acclaimed films, shot the film in Spanish, a commercially risky maneuver. The decision pays off in the greater authenticity of the film, which captures the absurd circumstances in which the country`s rural population must live. Partially inspired by Francisco Gold`s novel THE LONG NIGHT OF WHITE CHICKENS, MEN WITH GUNS touches on the genre of magical realism to present a harrowing portrait of a war-torn Latin American country.R"
Director: John Sayles
Hollywood at Your Feet (DVD)
Hosted by Raquel Welch, HOLLYWOOD AT YOUR FEET is a documentary about the famed Grauman`s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Opened in May of 1927, the ornate cinema attracts millions of tourists from all over the world every year, namely to gaze at the handprints and signatures that Hollywood icons of all eras have pressed into the cement.NR"
Read My Lips (DVD)
In its opening shot, READ MY LIPS shows Carla (Emmanuelle Devos) inserting her hearing aids and getting ready for work. But it`s evident that her hearing problem does not hold her back as she throws herself into answering the constantly ringing phones at her job as an unappreciated secretary for an architecture firm. Swamped with work, Carla asks her boss to hire an assistant for her, Paul (Vincent Cassel), an ex-con who is trying to get his life back on track. To everyone else--her sexist coworkers and her sexy friend Annie--Carla is a dog with a disability. But to Paul, who is Carla`s subordinate, she`s a femme fatale. In Paul`s life--to his parole officer and the two-bit thugs to whom he still owes money--he is an untrustworthy outcast and a bum. But to Carla, he is a secret weapon with skills (lock-picking, physical intimidation) that she needs. Likewise, Carla becomes Paul`s secret weapon as her ability to read lips opens up a new world of possibilities to his plotting, criminal ways.
READ MY LIPS is a story of romance through and through, and, in its second half, it is a fast-moving and constantly flip-flopping heist drama. Once Carla and Paul really start working together, the tension between them only helps them along. Never trusting each other, never predictable in their actions, these characters imbue Jacques Audiard`s masterful film with a breathtaking suspense that is simultaneously alluring and repellent.R"
Director: Jacques Audiard
Curtis Mayfield - In Concert (DVD)
Legendary soulman Curtis Mayfield is captured live in Germany on April 28, 1990. Along with special guests Buzz Amato, Louis Stefanell, Lee Goodness, and Randy Keith, Mayfield performs 8 classic tunes, including It`s Alright, We Gotta Have Peace, Gypsy Woman, and Billy Jack. NR"
ACTORS: Curtis Mayfield
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (DVD)
Antonio Banderas caught the world`s attention with his portrayal of Ricky, an orphaned mental patient who stalks and kidnaps Marina (Victoria Abril), a porn actress and junkie, in order to make her love him in this decided departure for iconoclastic Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodsvar. Suspense, tension, and uneasy humor mingle as Marina grapples with her addictive nature, a very bad toothache, and her own confusion about the need to be loved and the need for freedom. Meanwhile, Maximo (Francisco Rabal), an aging director who has just shot Marina`s latest film, finds himself obsessed with her, while sister Lola (Loles Lesn) worries Marina might be back on drugs and starts trying to track her down. The tension mounts as her sister closes in, and Marina becomes torn by her desire to escape and her growing affection for her captor. Almodsvar followed up his hit WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN with this controversial, steamy thriller that contains nudity and some very passionate sex. The cast includes Almodsvar regulars Rossy de Palma, Julieta Serrano, and Marma Barranco and features a tense musical score by Ennio Morricone.NR"
Director: Pedro Almodsvar
ACTORS: Antonio Banderas, Victoria Abril, Loles Lesn, Francisco Rabal, Julieta Serrano
