Monday, August 07, 2006

DVD Tuesday: Inside Man, Prison Break, Ultimate Avengers 2 & More! - Xoanon @ 11:21 PST
Adam and Steve: Craig Chester write, directs, and stars in his queer romantic comedy as a neurotic single in substance recovery who meets a hygienically obsessed psychiatrist (Malcom Gets), and both fail to recognize the other from an alarming first date gone horribly wrong decades ago. Parker Posey and Chris Kattan co-star as chorus of colorful best friends who watches the travails of the wobbly romance in the conventionally quirky lighthearted goof with gross-out gags. Details: Color, 99 mins, TLA, Widescreen anamorphic, 1.78:1. Supplements: Commentary by writer/director Craig Chester, star Malcom Gets, and producer George Bendele; Deleted scenes with director commentary; "The Making of Adam & Steve" featurette; "Learn the Battle Dance" featurette; Gag reel. Audio: English (Dolby Digital 5.1) and English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo). Optional subtitles.

Barefoot Gen: Gen and his family are living in Hiroshima as Japan nears the end of World War II. Gen's father has come to believe that the war is unwinnable, thus earning the wrath of the town officials and, in turn, discrimination from the rest of their neighbors. Shunned by the local merchants and tradesmen, food becomes scarce for Gen and his family. All these concerns soon pale, however, as the American military begins its final assault on Japan with the unleashing of its terrible new weapon.

Beautiful People - The Complete First Season: An academically gifted teen, her model-beautiful older sister and their newly single mother leave small town New Mexico in search of a new life in New York City. After their father runs off with his teenage mistress, SOPHIE and KAREN KERR decide their family needs a fresh start. They convince their mother, LYNN, that the big city holds promise for all of them. Sophie has gotten a scholarship to a prestigious Manhattan private school, Karen can pursue her dreams of modeling, and Lynn can leave the painful memories of her failed marriage behind her, while reviving the ambitions of becoming a fashion designer she put on hold to raise a family.

Brak Show 2: "The Brak Show is a story of a neighborhood. It's the story of a family. It's the story of what happens when adults have children and those children go to school. And Brak is in it. He lives in a house. A house on a quiet street not unlike yours or mine. A house in a neighborhood. That's The Brak Show." So goes Cartoon network's description of the new sitcom starring Brak, the absent-minded space pirate from the Space Ghost cartoons. He goes through the all the typical sitcom situations with his friend Zorak. Also along for the ride are Brak's parents, his brother Sisto, and his next-door neighbor Thundercleese.

Brick: Self consciously imitating BThe Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon this original thriller is indebted to 'Donnie Darko' in its hallucinogenic feel. Brendon (based on Humphrey Bogart) is a loner investigating the death of his ex girlfriend Emily. The police are making no progress, so he enlists The Brain to catch the killer. Uncovering Emily's dubious friends they meet femme fa-tale Nora Zehetner.

Bring It on-All Or Nothing: The second direct-to-DVD sequel to the cheerleader comedy stars Hayden Panettiere, Solange Knowles-Smith, and Rihanna in a cross-cultural rivalry between a rich kid who transfers to a working class high school and has to prove herself to the touch cheer captain in time for a "cheer-off" with a rival school. Steve Rash directs. Details: Color, 99 mins, Universal, Widescreen anamorphic, 1.78:1. Supplements: Gag Reel; "Behind The Cheers" featurette; "Cheer Camp: From Wannabe To Cheerleader" featurette; "Break it Down" dance tutorial; "From The Street To The Set" featurette with Lil "C" and Richmond . Audio: English (Dolby Digital 5.1). Optional Spanish, French and English subtitles.

Caillou - Caillou's World of Wonder: Entertaining misadventures of a four year old boy named Caillou, where each day he discovers something new and interesting with his mommy, daddy, and Rosie. Between Caillou segments are segments featuring Caillou's pet cat Gilbert, Caillou's teddy bear, Teddy, and Caillou's toy dinosaur, Rexy, in puppet form. The show deals with issues like fear of the dark, patience, being a good friend, being a good sibling, and other important facts of life.

Cavite: Neill Dela Llana and Ian Gamazon write, direct, and star in this American indie production shot in the Philippines, about a Filipino émigré returning to his native country to attend his father's funeral. When he arrives, he discovers a Muslim extremist has kidnapped his mother and sister and he's forced on a labyrinthine journey through the slums of Manila and the nearby city of Cavite to save them. Details: Color, 80 mins, Magnolia. Supplements: Commentary by directors Neill Dela Llana and Ian Gamazon; Outtakes and deleted scenes with commentary; Additional deleted scenes. Audio: with some Tagalog (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo). Optional Spanish subtitles.

Clone: (aka Cl.One) Science fiction thriller of a post-apocalyptic on the verge of extinction and a man whose genetic code can give life to thousands of dormant clones and save humanity. Jason T. J. Tomaric writes and directs. Details: Color, 109 mins, Image, Widescreen anamorphic, 2.00:1. Supplements: Commentary by director Jason T. J. Tomaric; Commentary by production designer Greg McDougall; Deleted scenes; 45-minute "Making of Clone" featurette; Photo galleries; Original trailer. Audio: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo) and English (DTS 5.1). Optional subtitles.

Curse of King Tuts Tomb: Casper Van Dien is an archeologist who battles a fellow scientist (Jonathan Hyde) out to control the supernatural powers in King Tut's tomb in the made-for-TV horror supernatural thriller. Russell Mulcahy directs and Leonor Varela, Simon Callow, and Malcolm McDowell co-star. Details: Color, 170 mins, Echo Bridge, widescreen. Supplements: Bonus features with the cast and crew. Audio: English (Dolby Digital 5.1) and English (DTS 5.1). Optional subtitles.

Damon Wayans: The Last Stand?: 990 stand-up comedy special, originally recorded for HBO. Details: Color, 56 mins, HBO, Academy Ratio, 1.33:1. Audio: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo). Optional Spanish and English subtitles.

Death in the Bunker: The True Story of Hitler's Downfall: Documentary on the last ten days of Hitler's life hiding in a bunker underneath the Chancellery of the Reich. Details: Color/Black and White, 79 mins, Koch Vision, Academy Ratio, 1.33:1. Supplements: English and German with English subtitles. Optional subtitles.

Don't Come Knocking: Sam Shepard is a bad boy cowboy movie star who reconnects with an old fling and finds he has a son in his first collaboration with director Wim Wenders since "Paris, Texas." The script stretches credulity at times and the cast acts up a storm, but Shepard's restrained, internalized performance meshes nicely with Wenders' loping pace and his natural screen presence lends itself to Wenders' love of observing characters in landscapes, both natural and urban. They make for minor pleasures in a minor film. Jessica Lange, Tim Roth, Gabriel Mann, Sarah Polley, Fairuza Balk, and Eva Marie Saint co-star. Details: Color, 121 mins, Sony Pictures, Widescreen anamorphic, 2.35:1. Supplements: Wim Wenders Audio Commentary; Deleted Scenes with optional audio commentary; New York movie premiere featurette; Sundance Featurette; Interview with Wim Wenders and Eva Marie Saint. Audio: English (Dolby Digital 5.1). Optional French subtitles.

Double Trouble Bass: Eight-time Grammy-winner George Benson covers chord substitutions, turnarounds, the Wes Montgomery style, and more. He demonstrates his signature scat-style singing on the groundbreaking This Masquerade and soloing over the famous On Broadway vamp. Also included are several virtuoso solo jazz and blues guitar performances by Benson himselffurther proof, if it were needed, of his total mastery of jazz guitar.

Embedded 45: Shooting War in Germany: The Allied invasion of Germany in the spring of 1945 as seen through the footage shot by American military cameraman, some of it previously unseen. Details: Color/Black and White, 108 mins, Koch Vision, Academy Ratio, 1.33:1. Optional subtitles.

Frat Boy Collection: Tom Hanks is about to marry Tawny Kitaen. Her parents hate him. Her old boyfriend hates him. They all have money and he gets a cut of the crap games on the catholic school bus he drives. His friends decide to give him the bachelor party of all bachelor parties with an expensive hotel, booze, movies and hookers. As the players catch wind of the elements of the party, each adds a little monkey wrench so that one set of hookers ends up giving demos at the bride's shower, the brides friends end up dressed as hookers in a room with a number of non English speaking Japanese business men, and so on as things get out of hand.

Gilles' Wife: (France) Frédéric Fonteyne directs this romantic drama starring Emmanuelle Devos as a devoted wife who takes a hard, transformative look at her life as she tries to hold her marriage together after she suspects her husband (Clovis Cornillac) of having an affair with her younger sister (Laura Smet). Details: Color, 103 mins, Koch Lorber, Widescreen anamorphic, 1.78:1. Supplements: Commentary by director Frédéric Fonteyne; Deleted scenes with director commentary; Making-of featurette; Original French trailer. Audio: French. Optional English subtitles.

God Bless Bloc Party: GOD BLESS BLOC PARTY is a one-hour DVD documentary filmed around Bloc Party's June 2005 shows at the El Ray Theater in Los Angeles, and a half hour live performance filmed in July 2005 at a festival in Belfort, France. It features blistering live performances, backstage footage, interviews with fans and interviews with the band discussing their music and how they are navigating their newfound notoriety.

Grounded for Life: Season 3: Irish Catholic couple Sean and Claudia Finnerty live in Staten Island, New York, with their three children, Lily, Jimmy, and Henry. They get into all sorts of trouble, usually because of Sean's brother, Eddie, who's got connections all over town. Sean and Eddie's father, Walt, often drops by and shares in the disaster. Most adventures are later recalled and they find out exactly what happened, like when the family car was supposedly stolen or when Sean's credit card was mysteriously maxed out, and even when Sean causes a blackout on Super Bowl Sunday. All this and more, and because Sean and Claudia were young and carefree when they got married and had kids, they are now grounded for life, so to speak.

Hellraiser 3-Hell on Earth: Pinhead is stuck in a block after the Big Confrontation in "Hellbound," The block containing Pinhead and the puzzle cube is bought by a young playboy as sculpture. Pinhead busies himself escaping by getting the playboy to lure victims to his presence so he can use their blood. Once free, he seeks to destroy the puzzle cube so he need never return to Hell, but a female reporter is investigating the grisly murders and stands in his way.

The Hidden Blade: (Japan) Masatoshi Nagase is a low caste samurai in a backwater village trying to hold on to his honor and his moral purpose in the rapidly changing world of the 1860s in the second film in Yoji Yamada's elegiac trilogy (begun with The Twilight Samurai). It both punctures the mythic ideal of the samurai culture (though trained as fighters, they mostly serve as clan bureaucrats) and spins a romantic portrait of one man who values principle over protocol despite the cost to his reputation. Takako Tabata co-stars as the family maid he secretly loves but cannot marry because of caste differences. Details: Color, 132 mins, Tartan, Widescreen anamorphic, 1.85:1. Supplements: Behind the scenes featurette with director Yoji Yamada; Berlin Film Festival premiere; Yoji Yamada press conference; Japanese and US theatrical trailers. Audio: Japanese (Dolby Digital 5.1) and Japanese (DTS 5.1 ES). Optional Spanish and English subtitles.

Inside Man: Who'd of predicted that Spike Lee's best and most interesting film in years would be a heist thriller? The high-concept genre exercise is clever enough as such things go, a mindgame of a bank heist turned hostage situation that pits the heist mastermind (Clive Owen) against the presiding Detective (Denzel Washington) in a battle of wits, and Spike proves that he can execute a slick, effective genre piece, something he's never attempted before. But in the cracks of the plot Spike does what he does best: tossing characters together and letting cultural opposites clash, argue and vent, not to solve issues but to air them. Willem Dafoe is a fellow cop who reluctantly hands command of the situation over to Washington, Chiwetel Ejiofor is Washington's partner, and Jodie Foster is a power broker who steps in to protect the secrets of power player Christopher Plummer. Available in separate widescreen and fullscreen editions. Details: Color, 129 mins, Universal, Widescreen anamorphic, 2.35:1. Supplements: Feature commentary with director Spike Lee; Featurette: Number 4 - Spike Lee and Denzel Washington discuss their creative collaborations; "The Making of Inside Man" featurette; Over 25 minutes of deleted scenes. Audio: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1) and French (Dolby Digital 5.1). Commentary by director Spike Lee. Optional Spanish, French and English subtitles.

Jayne Mansfield Collection: The Girl Can't Help It, The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw & Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Triple feature

Laguna Beach - The Complete Second Season: It’s one of the wealthiest, most beautiful communities in the world and MTV has unlimited access to the tight-knit power clique of eight rich, beautiful teenagers that live there. Their lives intertwine in ways you won’t believe, until you drop in for a visit. Watch as these friends share experiences through parties, relationships, love triangles and small town injustices. This is where the angst and the tumultuous affairs are the stuff of prime time drama. Welcome to Paradise, otherwise known as Laguna Beach, California.

Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector: Just to clear up the confusing title: it's not about a cable guy who moonlights as a health inspector, but a comedy starring the "Blue Collar Tour" comedian Larry the Cable Guy as a big city civil servant who goes undercover to crack a food poisoning case in a posh restaurant. Iris Bahr, Joanna Cassidy, and Joe Pantoliano co-star in the comedians feature film debut. Both widescreen and full screen versions on the same disc. Details: Color, 90 mins, Paramount, Widescreen anamorphic, Academy Ratio. Supplements: "Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector - Behind the Badge" featurette. Audio: English (Dolby Digital 5.1) and English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround). Optional Spanish and English subtitles.

The Lost City: Andy Garcia's love letter to pre-revolution Havana has every earmark of a dream project of an ambitious actor. Garcia plays an apolitical nightclub owner to rich and beautiful who watches the revolution from his elevated position as it swallows is family and his fortune and "seduces" the love of his life (Inés Sastre). Garcia also composes the score in his feature directing debut, from a script by Cuban expatriate novelist G. Cabrera Infante. Enrique Murciano, Nestor Carbonell, Steven Bauer, Tony Plana and Bill Murray co-star, with a special appearance by Dustin Hoffman. Details: Color, 144 mins, Magnolia, Widescreen anamorphic, 1.78:1. Supplements: Commentary by director Andy Garcia, actor Nestor Carbonell, and production designer Waldemar Kalinowski; "The Making of The Lost City" featurette; Deleted scenes with commentary; Still gallery; Notes from Cast and Crew. Audio: (Dolby Digital 5.1) and (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo). Optional Spanish subtitles.

Manderlay: The second part of Lars von Trier's American trilogy is given added piquancy by the fact that he has yet to visit America. As with the first segment, "Dogville," the action—such as it is—takes place on a theatrical stage, bare but for a sprinkling of props. In this case, it represents a slave plantation in Alabama, where the old system of ownership has persisted into the nineteen-thirties. Into the fray comes Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard), who sets about freeing the slaves and giving them paid employment. But they are so conditioned to their former plight, and she is so fouled up in haughty good intentions, that the new dispensation grows even more wretched than the one it displaced. Only von Trier would think to hitch overheated political fury to a stripped-down dramatic technique, and only he could begin to get away with it. The result is numbing and infuriating, not least because you can imagine it becoming addictive. The one thing that snaps you awake is the shuddering energy of David Bowie's "Young Americans," sung over the final credits. John Hurt narrates in style.

Prison Break: Season 1: An engineer (Wentworth Miller) installs himself in a prison he helped design, in order to help his brother (Dominic Purcell), a death-row inmate who insists he did not commit the crime for which he has been sentenced to die and help him escape.

Ray (HD DVD): Nominated for 6 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Ray stars Oscar winner Jamie Foxx as the one-of-a-kind innovator of soul who overcame impossible odds to become a music legend. It’s the triumphant and remarkable story of one of America’s true musical geniuses, Ray Charles. "Ray is electrifying," hails Peter Travers of Rolling Stone. Witness the incredible true story of a musician who fought harder and went further than anyone could imagine.

Revenge of the Living Dead Girls: Promoted as France's first gore film, Revenge of the Living Dead Girls (La revanche des mortes-vivantes) is a compelling shocker packed with sex and horror that has grown to legendary status as one of the most perverse zombie films ever made. This cautionary tale of environmental contamination offers a more extreme spin on Jean Rollin's The Living Dead Girl (which shares this film's special effects man, Benoit Lestang). A compatriot of auteur Jean Rollin, director Pierre B. Reinhard is best known for his adult films starring Brigitte Lahaie, but also turned out other horror titles including Ghost Soldier and Le theatre du Grand Guignol. Now in its premiere presentation on any format in the United States, you can experience the diseased charm of unclad zombie girls with decayed skulls in the French shocker that goes too far!

Salome: The biblical story of Salome comes to life under the deft hand of master Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura, cinema's premier director of dance on film. Here his deft touch brings to the tale of lust, ambition and spite great dramatic, heart-pounding flare through the performance of famed, consummate flamenco dancer and actress Aida Gomez as Salome. Enriched by a lively musical score from Roque Banos (Sexy Beast, Perfect Crime), the film garnered a Goya (Spain's Oscar) for "Best Song" while the film was given the award for "Best Artistic Contribution" by the Montreal Film Festival.

Sealab 2021: Season 4: The year is 2021. Deep below the ocean's surface, looms a vast, magnificently high-tech compound: Sealab. A multi-national scientific station with an annual budget in the trillions, dedicated to the research and exploration of man's final frontier... Sealab's crew is charged with exploring the possibility of underwater colonization. As the Earth's surface, by this time, has gotten just generally crowded, hot, and icky. However, as most government-funded agencies usually are, Sealab is manned by a motley collection of malcontents and screw-ups who were unfit for work in the private sector. They really don't get any research done, but instead spend their time bickering among themselves. Or just plain goofing off. The crew have manipulated their luckless leader, Captain Murphy, into submission, and are content to ride the government clock, raking in fat, hazardous-duty paychecks.

The Tooth Fairy: A malevolent witch who preys upon children is roused from her burial ground in the California woods when a new country inn is been built and rises to slaughter of all who stay there. Lochlyn Munro, Chandra West, and P.J. Soles star in the horror film directed by Chuck Bowman. Details: Color, 89 mins, Anchor Bay, Widescreen anamorphic, 1.78:1. Supplements: Audio Commentary by director Chuck Bowman, producer/writer Stephen. J. Cannell and actor Jesse Hutch ; "Hatchet Job: The Making of The Tooth Fairy" featurette; Trailer. Optional subtitles.

Toshiro Mifune: The Ultimate Collection: February 17 to March 3, 1860, inside Edo castle. A group of assassins wait by Sakurada Gate to kill the lord of the House of Ii, a powerful man in the Tokugawa government, which has ruled Japan for 300 years. They suspect a traitor in their midst, and their suspicions fall on Niiro, an impoverished ronin who dreams of samurai status, and Kurihara, an aristocratic samurai who befriends Niiro. Niiro longs to identify his father, knowing he is a high-ranking official who will disclose himself only if Niiro achieves samurai status. With American ships in Japan's harbors, cynicism among the assassins, and change in the air, Niiro resolves to reach ends that may prove ephemeral.

Two Sculptors: Donald Judd's Marfa Texas and Tony Gragg: Christopher Felver directs portraits of two artists: the documentary short Donald Judd's Marfa Texas and the hour-long documentary Tony Cragg: In Celebration of Sculpture. Details: Color, 85 mins, Palm. Audio: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo). Optional subtitles.

Ultimate Avengers 2: To save humanity, the Earth's mightiest heroes must reunite for a rematch of heroic proportions. Mysterious Wakanda. It lies in the darkest heart of Africa, unknown to most of the world. An isolated land hidden behind closed borders, fiercely protected by its young king - the BLACK PANTHER. A king hold the fate of the entire earth in his hands. Because brutal alien invaders are coming, soon to fill every sky and control every land, seeking what is buried beneath ancient Wakanda. That leaves the Black Panther with a single option, one that goes against the sacred decrees of his people-to ask for help from outsiders. And so he turns to--- The Avengers - Captain America. Iron Man. Thor. Giant Man. Wasp. And the Incredible Hulk. These mightiest of heroes have battled the aliens before, and barely survived. They thought it was over. They were wrong.

Very Best of Glow: Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling: THE FANS HAVE SPOKEN! It has been 20 years since the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling burst onto the scene and quickly became one of America’s most beloved television programs! GLOW earned a place in the hearts of viewers all across the country. Now, by popular demand, THE VERY BEST OF GLOW features the most sought after episodes of the ‘80s camp classic – ALL PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED! Volume 1 features: Babe "The Farmer’s Daughter" vs. MTV "Melody Trouble Vixen", Hollywood vs. Roxy Astor, Liberty & Justice vs. Daisy & Dementia PLUS an incredible 21 GIRL $10,000 BATTLE ROYAL!

Wire: Complete Third Season: Set in Baltimore, this show centers around the city's inner-city drug scene. It starts as mid-level drug dealer, D'Angelo Barksdale beats a murder rap. After a conversation with a judge, Det. James McNulty has been assigned to lead a joint homicide and narcotics team, in order to bring down drug kingpin Avon Barksdale. Avon Barksdale, accompanied by his right-hand man Stringer Bell, enforcer Wee-Bey and many lieutenants (including his own nephew, D'Angelo Barksdale), has to deal with law enforcement, informants in his own camp, and competition with a local rival, Omar, who's been robbing Barksdale's dealers and reselling the drugs. The supervisor of the investigation, Lt. Cedric Daniels, has to deal with his own problems, such as a corrupt bureaucracy, some of his detectives beating suspects, hard-headed but determined Det. McNulty, and a blackmailing deputy. The show depicts the lives of every part of the drug "food chain", from junkies to dealers, and from cops to politicians.