Monday, November 28, 2011

Changeling

  • Condition: New
  • Format: DVD
  • AC-3; Color; Dolby; Dubbed; DVD; Subtitled; Widescreen; NTSC
Clint Eastwood directs Oscar® winner Angelina Jolie and Oscar® nominee John Malkovich in a riveting and unforgettable true story. Los Angeles, 1928. When single mother Christine Collins (Jolie) leaves for work, her son vanishes without a trace. Five months later, the police reunite mother and son; but he isn't her boy. Driven by one woman's relentless quest for the truth, the case exposes a world of corruption, captivates the public and changes Los Angeles forever. This emotionally gripping story illustrates the profound power of a mother's love in "a mesmerizing film that burns in the memory" (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone). Starring: Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, Michael Kelly, Colm Feore, Jason Butler Harner, Amy Ryan, Geoff Pierson, Denis O'Hare, Frank Wood Direc! ted by: Clint EastwoodClint Eastwood’s mastery as a director, established over the past decade and a half with Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Letters from Iwo Jima, and others, continues with Changeling, a 2008 offering based on a shocking but all-too-true story about child abduction and police corruption in 1920s Los Angeles. Single mother Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie, excellent in a role with somewhat limited parameters) finds her 9-year-old son, Walter, missing when she returns home from work one day. She files a report with the Los Angeles Police Department, an outfit that was wildly unpopular at the time (in his regular radio broadcast, a crusading pastor played by John Malkovich decries the force as "violent and corrupt," adding that "our protectors are our brutalizers"). When a child roughly matching Walter’s description turns up in Illinois five months later, the LAPD, intent on salvaging its tattered reputation, is onl! y too eager to claim that he is Collins’ missing child. Litt! le matte rs that he’s three inches shorter, is circumcised (Walter wasn’t), and fails to pass muster with Walter’s dentist, schoolteacher, and others; the cops, in particular the odious Captain J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan), insist that the mistake is Christine’s, not theirs. What follows is almost too nightmarish to believe--except that it actually happened. Exasperated by Collins’ continued claim that "Walter" is a fraud, they trot out a doctor to reinforce the bogus ID, declare her unfit as a mother, and finally have her committed to a local psychopathic ward. Through it all, Collins, bolstered by the pastor and thousands of outraged Angelenos, refuses to sign a document that would exonerate the police for their egregious error. As for Walter, it’s only when the LAPD’s seemingly only honest detective (Michael Kelly) takes matters into his own hands that the grisly mystery of the child’s fate begins to be solved. That would have been a good place for the film to conc! lude, too. Unfortunately, it goes on for more than another half hour, with innumerable false endings that add nothing to the story and could just as easily have been summarized with a few sentences before the final credits. That flaw aside (and it’s a major one), Changeling is a powerful film, with a realistic period feel, a wonderfully muted vibe and color palette, and an understated score by Eastwood himself. --Sam Graham


Stills from Changeling (Click for larger image)






Great Directors: Volume 1 (Dersu Uzala / The Mirror / Les Bonnes Femmes / Il Grido / Circle of Deceit) (5D)

  • GREAT DIRECTORS VOL. 1 (DVD MOVIE)
Ten of the greatest filmmakers in the world passionately discuss their craft in Angela Ismailos' hugely entertaining documentary GREAT DIRECTORS. Bernardo Bertolucci, David Lynch, Todd Haynes, Richard Linklater, Stephen Frears, Agnes Varda, Ken Loach, Liliana Cavani, Todd Haynes and Catherine Breillat open up about their extraordinary careers with unexpected candor and humor. Ismailos gets them to talk about their artistic evolution from their debut works to their recent triumphs, as well as the role that politics and history play in their films. David Lynch discusses how Mel brooks netted him his job on THE ELEPHANT MAN as well as his travails with the studio on DUNE. And the all honor their influnces, from Todd haynes on Fassbinder and Breillat on Ingmar Bergman, to Lynch on Billy Wilder and Hitchcock. GREAT DIRECTORS is an illuminating and surprising cras! h course on the state of contemporary cinema, and an example for where it might be headed.

SPECIAL FEATURES: Over three hours of additional interviews with these award winning directors, promotional trailer.AKIRA KUROSAWA
ANDREI TARKOVSKY
CLAUDE CHABROL
MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI
VOLKER SCHLONDORFF

Akira Kurosawa s DERSU UZALA (1975, Color, 140 Minutes, Letterboxed) Winner of the 1975 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, this Kurosawa epic is a Siberian adventure that features stunningly photographed battles of man dueling nature.

Andrei Tarkovsky s THE MIRROR (1974, Color/B&W, 106 Minutes, Full Frame) Tarkovsky s most personal (and beautiful) work, The Mirror delves into his childhood to conjure up a stream of sublime images that reflect a WWII-scarred youth and a haunted future.

Claude Chabrol s LES BONNES FEMMES (1960, B&W, 93 Minutes, Letterboxed) One of the most erotic and suspenseful treats of the French New Wave, this Chab! rol-helmed classic tracks the loves and stalkers of four prett! y shopgi rls who soon discover the dark side of passion.

Michelangelo Antonioni s IL GRIDO (1957, B&W, 115 Minutes, Full Frame) One of Antonioni s unsung masterpieces, Il Grido is a wrenchingly bittersweet tale of lost love replaced by lust, achieving a tragic poetry unequaled in the great director s illustrious career.

Volker Schlondorff s CIRCLE OF DECEIT (1981, Color, 108 Minutes, Letterboxed) This explosive tale of sex and politics in war-torn Beirut is one of the richest films in Schlöndorff s career. Setting up a minefield of ethical conundrums and personal jealousies, it s a scorching take on the modern media.

McLeod's Daughters - The Complete First Season

  • The landmark first season of MCLEOD S DAUGHTERS marks the beginning of an unforgettable journey for Claire and Tess two sisters separated as children and reunited when they inherit Drover s Run a large Australian cattle property passed down for generations. With a lot of heart and humor, they pull together a group of women who have committed to an extraordinary life at Drover s Run. Format: DVD
"Once Upon A Time there lived a lovely girl named Samantha. She had everything she could possibly wish for, and lived in a beautiful white house. The White House Katie Holmes stars as First Daughter Samantha Mackenzie _ a sheltered young woman who just wants a normal school experience, away from the influence of her parents. Only trouble is, her dad (Michael Keaton) is the President of the United States! But nothing will stop Samantha, so, under Secret Service surveillance and a nonstop media glare, sh! e meets _ and falls hard for _ a handsome student who has a secret existence of his own."Playing the president's kin in the modern fairy tale First Daughter is the most grown-up role yet for Dawson's Creek cutie Katie Holmes. Samantha McKenzie (Holmes) has lived all her life on the edge of the political spotlight, but she hopes that she'll get away from it all when she leaves the White House for college. No such luck. Even though she's able to make friends with her roommate (singer Amerie) and meet a nice guy (Marc Blucas), security is tight in an election year, and the Secret Service follows her wherever she goes. First Daughter isn't particularly original (it was the working title for Mandy Moore's Chasing Liberty, which opened in theaters earlier the same year, 2004), but it's a chuckle-inducing girlie movie that's worth watching for Holmes. Also, Michael Keaton is especially likable as a president and dad. That's a big change for Holmes! , who as Dawson's Creek's Joey Potter was a poster chil! d for da ughters with dysfunctional fathers. --David HoriuchiThey’re Ordinary Women Facing the Extraordinary Adventure of Life on the Land

The landmark first season of McLeod’s Daughters marks the beginning of an unforgettable journey for Claire and Tess â€" two sisters separated as children and reunited when they inherit Drover’s Run â€" a large Australian cattle property passed down for generations.

With exclusive behind-the-scenes footage plus the full length TV movie that started it all, this 6 DVD collection is a must-own collectible for any fan of this great Australian television series.

McLeod's Daughters - The Complete First Season

  • The landmark first season of MCLEOD S DAUGHTERS marks the beginning of an unforgettable journey for Claire and Tess two sisters separated as children and reunited when they inherit Drover s Run a large Australian cattle property passed down for generations. With a lot of heart and humor, they pull together a group of women who have committed to an extraordinary life at Drover s Run. Format: DVD
"Once Upon A Time there lived a lovely girl named Samantha. She had everything she could possibly wish for, and lived in a beautiful white house. The White House Katie Holmes stars as First Daughter Samantha Mackenzie _ a sheltered young woman who just wants a normal school experience, away from the influence of her parents. Only trouble is, her dad (Michael Keaton) is the President of the United States! But nothing will stop Samantha, so, under Secret Service surveillance and a nonstop media glare, sh! e meets _ and falls hard for _ a handsome student who has a secret existence of his own."Playing the president's kin in the modern fairy tale First Daughter is the most grown-up role yet for Dawson's Creek cutie Katie Holmes. Samantha McKenzie (Holmes) has lived all her life on the edge of the political spotlight, but she hopes that she'll get away from it all when she leaves the White House for college. No such luck. Even though she's able to make friends with her roommate (singer Amerie) and meet a nice guy (Marc Blucas), security is tight in an election year, and the Secret Service follows her wherever she goes. First Daughter isn't particularly original (it was the working title for Mandy Moore's Chasing Liberty, which opened in theaters earlier the same year, 2004), but it's a chuckle-inducing girlie movie that's worth watching for Holmes. Also, Michael Keaton is especially likable as a president and dad. That's a big change for Holmes! , who as Dawson's Creek's Joey Potter was a poster chil! d for da ughters with dysfunctional fathers. --David HoriuchiThey’re Ordinary Women Facing the Extraordinary Adventure of Life on the Land

The landmark first season of McLeod’s Daughters marks the beginning of an unforgettable journey for Claire and Tess â€" two sisters separated as children and reunited when they inherit Drover’s Run â€" a large Australian cattle property passed down for generations.

With exclusive behind-the-scenes footage plus the full length TV movie that started it all, this 6 DVD collection is a must-own collectible for any fan of this great Australian television series.

Homegrown : Widescreen Edition

  • Widescreen
HOMEGROWN - DVD MovieReleased to only a handful of theaters in the spring and summer of 1998, Homegrown was neglected by nervous distributors who couldn't figure out how to market a movie about marijuana farmers. As a result, hardly anyone saw this cleverly plotted comedy-thriller about three experienced pot growers in northern California (Billy Bob Thornton, Hank Azaria, and Ryan Phillippe) who guard their valuable outdoor crop against raids by the cops and unwanted competitors. When their mysterious leader is apparently murdered, Thornton assumes the dead man's identity to arrange one last, lucrative bumper-crop deal, but pulling off the scam proves to be a lot harder than they'd anticipated. While the three potheads seek refuge with an old colleague (Kelly Lynch) and routinely sample their goods (which explains the film's theatrical obscurity), Homegrown turns into! a taut thriller fueled by equal parts comedy and paranoid tension--an update of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre with marijuana instead of gold! Featuring cameo roles for Jamie Lee Curtis, Ted Danson, and John Lithgow, this entertaining film fell victim to the misguided fear that it promotes drugs and illegal activity. If anything, it promotes interesting characters, catchy dialogue, and a welcomed alternative to mainstream Hollywood comedies. --Jeff Shannon
Swap the annuals for edibles, creating attractive beds and containers that both beautify the yard and provide a bounty of fresh produce

 
As a trained chef-turned-professional kitchen garden designer, Marta Teegen knows what a difference freshly harvested vegetables can make to a mealâ€"and how easy it is to ensure seasonal vegetables are always available when you need them. She touts the joys creating front yardâ€"friendly raised beds and container gardens that take up o! nly a small amount of space and look beautiful to boot, and sh! ares ide as for tucking productive gardens in other small nooks and corners.

 
Teegen’s unique cuisine-based planting methods mean herbs, vegetables, and edible flowers grow next to each other in comingled plotsâ€"quickly, reliably, and efficiently. You'll find more than 40 top picks for small-space vegetables that yield big and are trouble-free, plus a variety of menus and 50 recipes for fresh and delicious summer dishes.

 
With food prices on the rise and concern over pesticide residues on produce ever present, the number of home owners growing vegetables nearly doubled in the last year. Homegrown shows that even urban and suburban dwellers can grow their own vegetables in easy-to-tend plots and spaces.

Mainstream rhetoric has made a concerted effort to polarize African Americans and Latinos, emphasizing differences in language and religion, while designating one or the other as the “favored minority” at wi! ll. In Witness, Amalia Mesa-Bains and bell hooks invite us to reexamine this politically popular binary and consider which differences are manufactured and which are real.

In Witness, Mesa-Bains and hooks explore their own similarities and differences, sharing the ways their childhoods, families, and work have shaped their political activism, teaching, and artistic expression. Drawing on shared experiences of sexism, classism, and racism, hooks and Mesa-Bains show how people from divergent cultural backgrounds can work together for radical social change.

While the black/Latino divide and the increasing cross-community political collaboration has been addressed in progressive newspapers and magazines, Witness, an inclusive call to reflect and act, is the first of its kind to look at these issues in depth. And Amalia Mesa-Bains, a pioneer scholar and producer of Chicana art, with bell hooks, one of the most acclaimed of African American theo! ristsâ€"prove an unparalleled match for the job.

bel! l hooks< /b> is one of the leading public intellectuals of her generation. She has written extensively on the emotional impact of racism and sexism, particularly on black women, as well as the importance of political engagement with art and the media. In her recent work on love, relationships, and community, she shows how emotional health is a necessary component to effective resistance and activism.

Amalia Mesa-Bains is an artist, curator, and writer who has initiated comprehensive exhibitions of Latino art, including Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation and Mi Alma, Mi Tierra, Mi Gente: Contemporary Chicana Art. Her artwork incorporates various aspects of Chicano/a history, culture, and folk traditions, exploring religion, ritual, and female rites of passage. She won a MacArthur Fellowship in 1992.

In this follow-up to Taste Pure and Simplewinner of the James Beard Cookbook AwardMichel Nischan takes his philosophy of healthy cooking fr! om garden to kitchen. Inspired to provide his growing family with meals as full of flavor as those he'd enjoyed at his mother's table, Michel planted a garden of his own. The result was a delicious array of recipes based on the best the gardenor, if you're not that fortunate, the organic produce in the farmers' market or grocery storehas to offer. Sweet tomatoes and bitter lettuces, peppery radishes and succulent strawberriesthese are but a handful of fruits, herbs, and vegetables that, served alone or combined with quality meats and poultry, ripened cheeses, or whole grains, inspired these 80 seasonal recipes, each one as good for the body as it is for the palate. Including a superb chapter on extending the harvest, full of fruit preserves and jams, pickled vegetables, sauces, salsas, flavored oils, spice mixes, and even a few refreshing drinks, Homegrown Pure and Simple is a book that not only conveys the sheer joy of feeding family and friends well, but also takes! healthy cooking to an excitingand deliciousnew level.DVD

Hotel for Dogs (Widescreen Edition)

  • Hotel For Dogs is a funny, heartwarming and inspiring animal adventure that shows how far love and
  • When 16-year old, Andi (Roberts), and her younger brother Bruce (Austin) find themselves in a
  • When they stumble into an abandoned hotel, they realize they can transform it into the perfect
  • What began as a crusade to save one dog becomes a high stakes adventure as everyone around them
Hotel For Dogs is a funny, heartwarming and inspiring animal adventure that shows how far love and imagination can take you. When 16-year old, Andi (Roberts), and her younger brother Bruce (Austin) find themselves in a foster home with a strict “no pets” policy, they must use their quick wit to find a new home for their dog, Friday. When they stumble into an abandoned hotel, they realize they can transform it into the perfect place for Friday- as well as all the strays in the city. What b! egan as a crusade to save one dog becomes a high stakes adventure as everyone around them starts to wonder- who let the dogs in?Everyone deserves a loving family, but foster kids Andi (Emma Roberts) and Bruce (Jake T. Austin) have been placed with a flaky couple who care more for their aspiring rock careers than their foster children. Even though Andi and Bruce's mischievous tendencies repeatedly get them into trouble, the siblings are essentially good kids who care deeply for one another and their secretly adopted dog Friday. After a close call with the local pound, the kids end up searching for Friday in an abandoned old hotel where they find several stray dogs seeking shelter. The kids' compassion for the homeless dogs compels them to begin caring for the strays and they soon join forces with three other local kids to take in strays from across the city. Bruce is a clever inventor whose innovative gadgets ensure top-notch care and constant entertainment for all the dogs ! (as well as a multitude of laughs from the audience). Unfortun! ately, B ruce's and Andi's devotion to the dogs eventually causes them to pass up what may be their last chance for a better foster home. When the police storm the hotel and take all the dogs to the pound, the kids make a daring attempt to rescue the dogs that will likely land them in separate group homes. Can social worker Bernie (Don Cheadle) somehow convince the authorities, and perhaps a loving family, that the children were just doing what was right? Hotel for Dogs is a funny family film based on Lois Duncan's book of the same name and is appropriate for most ages 5 and older in spite of its PG rating for mild thematic elements, language, and some crude humor. --Tami Horiuchi




Stills from Hotel For Dogs (Click for larger image)












Green Mountain Coffee Caramel Vanilla Cream, 24-Count K-Cups for Keurig Brewers

  • Contains 24 k-cups
  • Offers drizzles of sweet, buttery caramel and brown sugar, with swirls of vanilla cream
  • 24 single serving packs; use with Keurig brewers
  • Please note: 'regular', 'bold' and 'extra bold' refer to the amount of coffee in the K-Cup
Individually wrapped vanilla caramel squares by the Ferrara Pan company. Approx 68 pieces per pound.Caramel Vanilla Cream offers drizzles of sweet, buttery caramel and brown sugar, with swirls of vanilla cream.

NOVA - Galileo's Battle for the Heavens

  • At a time when heretics were burned alive for dissent, scientist Galileo Galilei risked his life to advance his revolutionary concepts of the universe. British actor Simon Callow (Shakespeare in Love, Four Weddings and a Funeral) brings Galileo to life, humanizing the great thinker s passion, intelligence, and arrogance while depicting his frustrations with fellow philosophers and scientists, and
Marcos (Marcos Hernandez) is the middle-aged chauffeur of Ana (Anapola Mushkadiz), daughter of a Mexican general who amuses herself by working as a prostitute in a high-end brothel. Marcos and his wife (Berta Ruiz) have kidnapped a baby for ransom but it went tragically wrong when the infant died. When he confesses his guilt to Ana, a bond of secrecy consecrated by the flesh unites them. As the police draw closer, she urges him to turn himself in but instead he seeks redemption from a higher power.Battle In Heaven, Carlos Reygadas’ follow-up to Japón, opens with a controversial oral sex scene involving beauty, Ana (Anapola Mushkadiz), and the beast, Marcos (Marcos Hernández). Marcos is Ana’s chauffeur, who has kidnapped and accidentally killed a baby. Ana, a general’s daughter by day and a prostitute by night, confides in Marcos and performs sexual favors for him in order to persuade him to turn himself in. She is too young, however, to understand Marcos’s confused mental state, and her sensitive position with him puts her in peril. Set in Mexico City, this tragic drama is as much about failed intimacy as it is about Mexican class structure, as Ana and Marcos attempt to bridge the class gap. A few explicit sex scenes show Marcos in bed with Ana or his wife (Bertha Ruiz), thus garnering it reviews that compare it to The Brown Bunny. In fact, the slow pacing and artsy, self-consciously composed shots do remind one of The Brown Bunny,! in that both films are initially interesting but grow dull as! their p lots take forever to unfold. An intriguing plot is buried under seemingly eternal panoramic shots of the city, painfully slow conversation between characters, and constant close-ups of Marcos’ face that are meant to capture his angst but only deter narrative. Nevertheless, this film’s merit is based in its experimental energy, and any director who follows up a graphic sex scene with a cut to the waving of the country’s flag (in this case Mexico’s) has my respect. --Trinie DaltonSpain released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: Spanish ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), English ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Biographies, Deleted Scenes, Film Credits, Interactive Menu, SYNOPSIS: Marcos and his wife kidnap a baby for ransom money, but it goes tragically wrong when the infant dies. In another world is Ana, the daughter of the general he drives for,! who prostitutes herself for pleasure. Marcos confesses his guilt to her in his troubled search for relief. And then finds himself on his knees amidst the multitude of believers moving slowly towards the Basilica in honor of the Lady of Guadalupe. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Cannes Film Festival, European Film Awards, ...Battle in Heaven ( Batalla en el cielo )The Brown Bunny is both a love story and a haunting portrait of a lost soul unable to forget his past. After finishing a motorcycle race in New Hampshire, Bud Clay (Vincent Gallo) loads his racing bike into the back of his van and begins a cross-country odyssey to Los Angeles, where he is to compete in another race. During his trip, he meets three very different women: Violet, a wholesome all-American gas station attendant; Lilly (Cheryl Tiegs), a fellow lost soul he connects with at a highway rest stop; and Rose, a Las Vegas prostitute. Throughout his journey, Bud can never escape his intense feelings for the love of his li! fe, Daisy (Chloë Sevigny), so he plans to reconcile with her ! when he reaches Los Angeles. Arriving in Los Angeles, Bud checks into a motel before visiting the abandoned home he once shared with Daisy. He leaves a note, hoping she will turn up at his motel room . . .Building to a notorious climax, the film presents one of the frankest portrayals of male sexuality ever seen in American cinema.After its scandalous screening at the 2004 Cannes film festival, Vincent Gallo's The Brown Bunny was cut from 118 to 92 minutes, and that made all the difference. The film that critic and long-time Cannes attendee Roger Ebert originally called "the worst film in the history of the festival" was transformed, by Gallo's judicious editing, into a perfectly acceptable if not universally respected art-house curio, widely criticized yet ripe for cult status, able to stand beside Gallo's Buffalo 66 as the work of a genuine artist with a singular vision. Yes, that vision is self-indulgent, narcissistic, and likely to turn off a majority of viewers wi! th its glacial pace and endless shots of Gallo driving, driving, and driving some more. But in portraying a melancholy motorcycle racer who drives cross-country while mourning a private loss that remains secret until the final scenes, Gallo gives us a character, and a film, that feels spiritually akin to such early '70s classics as Five Easy Pieces and Two-Lane Blacktop. It's a flawed yet ultimately moving example of maverick, unconventional cinema, and while Chloe Sevigny's explicit oral sex scene with Gallo is completely unnecessary, it's just one more element that places The Brown Bunny firmly, and refreshingly, out of the mainstream. --Jeff ShannonAt a time when heretics were burned alive for dissent, scientist Galileo Galilei risked his life to advance his revolutionary concepts of the universe. British actor Simon Callow (Shakespeare in Love, Four Weddings and a Funeral) brings Galileo to life, humanizing the great thinker’s passion, int! elligence, and arrogance while depicting his frustrations with! fellow philosophers and scientists, and with Roman Catholic church leaders.

Based on Dava Sobel’s best-selling biography Galileo’s Daughter, this two-hour film offers a vivid re-imagining of Galileo’s incredible achievements that forever changed the way we view our place in the universe. It also investigates the momentous personal and spiritual conflicts Galileo faced- most especially in defending the controversial theory that the earth revolves around the sun.

Join noted Galileo authorities and experience the remarkable life behind the discoveries, and see letters from his illegitimate daughter, Maria Celeste, a cloistered nun, have shed new light on Galileo’s pioneering telescopic observations, his fateful Inquisition trial for heresy, and life in the seventeenth century.

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