DVD Movies
The Amazing Adventure - B&W
Amazing Quest was the original British release title of the 1937 comedy Romance and Riches (aka Riches and Romance). Making a rare return trip to England, Cary Grant plays the heir to a huge fortune. Alas, Grant is miserable, because he's never worked for his money. Determined to prove his worth, Grant makes a wager than he can earn his keep for a full year without ever touching the family millions. He loses his bet when he must draw upon his money to wed poverty-stricken Mary Brian, the better to save her from an unhappy marriage of convenience. Still, his experiences among the working classes have left an indelible impression; turning his back on his "equals," Grant invites all of his newly acquired lowborn friends to his wedding reception. Like His Girl Friday, Penny Serenade, and Charade, Amazing Quest is one on the ever-growing list of Cary Grant films that have lapsed into public domain, and thus are more readily available than when first released. Amazing Quest was based on a novel by E. Phillips Oppenheim. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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Swan Lake (Bolshoi Ballet) -
Meant for ballet aficionados, Swan Lake is a routinely filmed performance of the Bolshoi Ballet with no additional footage or subplots. Chief ballerina Maya Plisetskay emotively dances the part of Odette, the Queen of the Swans, the woman who will be doomed to take on the form of a swan unless she can find her true love. Nicolai Fadeyechev dances Prince Siegfried, the Queen's counterpart, equally looking for his own true love. Will the potential lovers meet? Not if the Evil Spirit (Vladimir Levashev) has anything to say about it. He wants to keep Odette under his spell, forever. Unfortunately, the camera is not always where it should be in tracking the performers, there is a color shift, and other flaws render the film less than equal to the performance itself. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
American Girl, An: Chrissa Stands Strong Dvd from Warner Bros.
Meet Chrissa Maxwell. She and her family have just moved, and she has to start at a new school mid-year. Will she fit in? Can she find new friends? On her very first day, Chrissa is seated with three girls who greet her with teasing and tricks. The Mean
Tai Chi Master - Widescreen Dubbed Subtitle AC3
Hong Kong star Jet Li portrays the inventor of T'ai Chi in this entertaining if not historically accurate martial-arts movie. Junbao (Li) and Tienbao (Chin Siu-Ho) are a pair of young monks studying kung fu in a Shaolin temple. Junbao is balanced and humble, but Tienbao is competitive and eager to advance. The two are wrongfully accused of cheating during a tournament and are expelled. From there they take radically different paths. Tienbao becomes a mercenary for an evil warlord, and Junbao joins a rebel group led by Michelle Yeoh. Tienbao betrays Junbao; Junbao loses his memory in the resulting fight. While recuperating, he develops the graceful T'ai Chi fighting style. Although many may find the cartoonish, acrobatic fight sequences to be campy, they are elaborate and dazzling. ~ Jonathan E. Laxamana, Rovi
Emma Dvd from Warner Bros.
This splendid dramatization brings to life all the glorious wit and sharp humor of arguably Jane Austen's finest novel, recreating her most irritatingly endearing female character, Emma, of whom she wrote "no one but myself could like." Emma presides ove
Graveyard Mountain Home... [CD & DVD]
Track Listing: 1. Yyy, 2. Give Up, 3. White Robe, 4. Mother's Radio, 5. Graveyard Mountain Home, 6. Salvation, 7. Before You Started, 8. Human Love, 9. Come in, Over, 10. Pure Laughter, 11. Andrew Was Drowning His Stepfather, 12. Sad Sad Movie, 13. True and Lost, 14. Again Today
Harum Scarum/Speedway/The Trouble with Girls [2 Discs] -
Includes:Harum Scarum (1965) Speedway (1968), MPAA Rating: G The Trouble with Girls (1969), MPAA Rating: PG Harum Scarum Elvis Presley plays singer/actor Johnny Tyronne in this formulated quickie directed by Gene Nelson. While on a promotional tour of Pakistan, Johnny is drugged, kidnapped, and whisked away to a mythical Middle East country. Jay Novello plays the scheming Zacha who vows (for a price) to help Johnny in a world that is 2,000 years behind the times and sealed off from the outside world. With the help of Baba (Billy Barty), they hope to get Johnny back to the comforts of the modern world. Elvis shows off some neat karate moves, but he looks bored and resigned to the fact no one in Hollywood (or Colonel Tom Parker) will give him a serious screen role. Filmed on sets that were originally used for Kismet (1944) and Cecile B. DeMille's silent classic The Ten Commandments. As for the songs, only Mirage and Hey Little Girl are memorable. The generous Presley, perhaps feeling nostalgic, donated $50,000 to the motion picture relief fund after completing the film. On hand at the celebrity press conference were such luminaries as Frank Sinatra, Bud Abbott, and silent-screen veteran Chester Conklin. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi Speedway Steve Grayson (Elvis Presley) is a swinging racecar driver whose manager Kenny (Bill Bixby) has bet his money on the horses. Most of the horses didn't win, causing Steve to be visited by IRS agent Susan Jacks (Nancy Sinatra). Gale Gordon plays Hepworth, her stuffy supervisor, and William Shallert has the role of Abel Esterlake, former racecar driver who helps Steve on the track. Steve engages in the stock-car races at the Charlotte Speedway to get back the money to keep him and his manager out of jail. Presley delivers 11 songs, the most notable being "Let Yourself Go." Elvis by now was just playing out the innocuous string of movies that his musically insensitive, cigar-chomping manager Colonel Tom Parker had contracted for him. Soon Elvis would undertake the most successful live comeback by any performer in history and leave these trashy features behind. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi The Trouble with Girls Walter Hale (Elvis Presley) is the manager of a chautauqua, a traveling show consisting of performances, lectures and entertainment. Along with manager Johnny (Edward Andrews), he helps some young kids break into show business and contends with the union-organizing Charlene (Marilyn Mason). Vincent Price appears as Mr. Morality. John Carradine, Sheree North and Dabney Coleman also appear in this forgettable film which makes Clambake and Girl Happy classics by comparison. Elvis is limited to three tunes as he plays out the string of poorly scripted vehicles that ended with his next feature, the equally awful Change of Habit. By now, the inane screenplays had done permanent damage to a once-promising film career, souring the King of Rock & Roll on everything in movies except live concert performances. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
A Little Night Music - Widescreen Collector's
Beginning its several incarnations as an Ingmar Bergman film named Smiles of a Summer Night, the story was adapted by composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim into a successful Broadway musical directed by Harold Prince. This film, also directed by Prince, is adapted from the stage musical. In the movie, in the early 1900s, a group of friends bound together by complicated romantic entanglements, have come together for an elegant dinner at a country estate. The men present are the current, previous, or prospective lovers of the beautiful actress, Desiree (Elizabeth Taylor), and the other women are all united by their jealousy of her. Sadly, Desiree herself wants to simplify things and settle down -- she envies the wives. The adapted score later won an Oscar. The musical's well-known songs include Every Day a Little Death, A Weekend in the Country, and You Must Meet My Wife. The most famous song from the musical, Send in the Clowns, is sung here by Elizabeth Taylor. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
My Best Friend's Girl/Help Up/Jail Bait/Loco Love [4 Discs] -
Includes:Jailbait (2000), MPAA Rating: R Held Up (2000), MPAA Rating: PG-13 Loco Love (2003), MPAA Rating: PG My Best Friend's Girl (2008), MPAA Rating: R Jailbait A high school football player is accused of the statutory rape of his 16-year-old girlfriend in this made-for-MTV movie. TV's Matt Frewer stars. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi Held Up In this fish-out-of-water comedy, Jamie Foxx plays a man named Michael Dawson, though he's confused for both Puff Daddy and Mike Tyson by the citizenry of the podunk southwest town that serves as the setting for Held Up. Road-tripping Michael and Rae (Nia Long) stop in for gas in Michael's new vintage roadster, but she grabs a ride to the airport with a truck full of cowboys after learning he blew more than 10,000 dollars earmarked for buying a home on the automobile. Moments later, Michael loses the car as well when a youth cons him out of the keys. Just when his day couldn't get any worse, Michael lands in the middle of a botched hold-up by amateurs trying to knock over the convenience store. All variety of local law enforcement, from the sheriff (Barry Corbin) to truckloads of unofficial shotgun-toting "deputies," quickly descends on the scene. Michael tries to sweet-talk the frightened gunman (Eduardo Yanez), befriend his fellow hostages (Sarah Paulson and John Cullum), and plan how to reach the airport before Rae's flight leaves, all while not getting shot by the hair triggers inside and outside the store. The film was produced and originally publicized under the title "Inconvenienced." ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi Loco Love Just how far would you go to get financing for your business? Donald Chandler (Roy Werner) is the owner of a restaurant who suddenly finds himself without a business or a job when his wife leaves him, taking the deed to the eatery with her. Eager to start over, Donald goes into a business partnership with Miguel Sanchez (Gerardo Mejia), a gardener who was taking care of Donald's lawn until he won a fortune in the lottery. Miguel is willing to front Donald the money to open a new restaurant, but there's a catch -- in exchange, Donald has to marry Catalina (Laura Elena Harring), Miguel's beautiful but ill-tempered daughter who needs an American husband in order to get a green card and stay in California. Loco Love (produced under the title Mi Casa, Su Casa was the first feature film from director Bryan Lewis. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi My Best Friend's Girl Dane Cook, Kate Hudson, and Alec Baldwin star in this romantic comedy about a man (Cook) who makes his living convincing women to run back into the arms of the men they have recently dumped by taking them on the worst possible dates imaginable. The nightmare lothario's lucrative scheme hits an unexpected hitch, however, when he is hired by his best friend (Jason Biggs) to take out the beauty he longs to win back. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Best of the Drifters [Mastercuts]
Track Listing: (DISC 1:), (DISC 2:), 1. Kissin' In the Back Row of the Movies, 1. Save the Last Dance For Me, 2. Can I Take You Home Little Girl?, 2. You're More Than a Number In My Little Red Book, 3. Like Sister and Brothers, 3. There Goes My First Love, 4. Down On the Beach Tonight, 4. Hello Happiness, 5. Every Night's a Saturday Night With You, 5. Summer In the City, 6. Harlem Child, 6. Sweet Caroline (Good Times Never Seemed So Good), 7. Like a Movie I've Seen Before, 7. You've Got Your Troubles, 8. (There's) Always Something There To Remind Me, 8. Cut is Deep, The, 9. Midnight Cowboy, 9. Songs We Used To Sing, The, 10. Juggler, The, 10. Love Games
Flight to Denmark
Upon Duke Jordan's initial visit to Copenhagen, Denmark, followed by his decision to make the move as an expatriate permanent, he was tempted to stay by playing with some extraordinary Scandinavian rhythm sections. Bassist Mads Vinding, one of many skilled Danish jazz bassists, is here on the date performing in fine style. Drummer Ed Thigpen, who left the U.S. to take up permanent residence in Europe, was an even bigger influence in making Jordan's decision a good one, and is an equally skillful musical partner on this date. This is an expanded edition from the previous original issue on the Steeplechase label; a Japanese import with several alternate takes. It's an understated session for the most part, equal parts melancholy and hopeful, as one might expect with the trepidation of leaving home for new, unknown horizons to be discovered in a foreign land. The upbeat songs, as the modal, popping, tom-tom driven "No Problem" (from the movie soundtrack Les Liason Dangereuses) and the famous bop flag-waver "Jordu," bookend the CD. The bulk of the recording showcases the softer side of Jordan, with takes of the somber ballad "Here's That Rainy Day," the slightly brighter "Everything Happens to Me," and two versions of the polite waltz "Glad I Met Pat," dedicated to a nine-year-old girl Jordan knew in New York City prior to her being kidnapped. The pianist employs chiming piano chords for "How Deep Is the Ocean?," is lighthearted in his slight interpretation of the well worn "On Green Dolphin Street," does two takes on the light, bluesy swinger "If I Did, Would You?," and ramps up to midtempo the bluesy original "Flight to Denmark," reflective of the insecurity and consequential optimism that followed his leaving the States. This is Duke Jordan at his most magnificent, with the ever-able Vinding and expert Thigpen playing their professional roles perfectly, producing perhaps the second best effort (next to Flight to Jordan from 13 years hence) from the famed bop pianist. [Originally released in 1973, Flight to Denmark was reissued as an import-only Japanese CD in 2002.] ~ Michael G. Nastos
Carrie - Widescreen Subtitle Special
This classic horror movie based on Stephen King's first novel stars Sissy Spacek as Carrie White, a shy, diffident teenager who is the butt of practical jokes at her small-town high school. Her blind panic at her first menstruation, a result of ignorance and religious guilt drummed into her by her fanatical mother, Margaret (Piper Laurie), only causes her classmates' vicious cruelty to escalate, despite the attentions of her overly solicitous gym teacher (Betty Buckley). Finally, when the venomous Chris Hargenson (Nancy Allen) engineers a reprehensible prank at the school prom, Carrie lashes out in a horrifying display of her heretofore minor telekinetic powers. Many films had featured school bullies, but Carrie was one of the first to focus on the special brand of cruelty unique to teenage girls. Carrie's world is presented as a snake pit, where the well-to-do female students all have fangs -- even the reticent Sue Snell (Amy Irving) -- and all the males are blind pawns, sexually twisted around the fingers of Chris and her evil cronies. The talented supporting cast includes John Travolta, P.J. Soles, and William Katt. One of the genre's true classics, the film was followed by a sequel in 1999, as well as by a famously unsuccessful Broadway musical adaptation that starred Betty Buckley, the movie's gym teacher, as Margaret White. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
Dane Cook's Tourgasm Dvd from Warner Bros.
Dane Cook, the hottest comic in America today, makes his HBO debut in a nine-part half-hour docu-reality series following him and three other comics Gary Gulman, Jay Davis and Robert Bobby Kelly on their 2005 sold-out Tourgasm bus tour across America. Eac
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie - Fullscreen Subtitle
Something nefarious is afloat in the depths of Bikini Bottom: King Neptune's crown has been stolen, and the prime suspect is Mr. Krabs, SpongeBob's boss at Mr. Krabs' Krabby Patties. Despite the overwhelming evidence against Mr. Krabs -- not to mention having been turned down for a long-awaited promotion at the restaurant -- SpongeBob (voice of Tom Kenny) refuses to believe that his boss is responsible and teams up with his best friend, Patrick (voice of Bill Fagerbakke), on a mission to Shell City, where he hopes he can exonerate Mr. Krabs and return the crown to its rightful owner. Of course, this is no easy task; once outside the safety of Bikini Bottom, SpongeBob is faced with the overwhelming dangers of the sea, not the least of which being a cyclops that many believe to be responsible for the deaths of countless other unfortunate sea-creatures who ventured outside county lines. Among those who lent their vocal chords to the film include Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Tambor, and Alec Baldwin. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
Michel Legrand and the Cinema -
In this unique 2009 music event, composer extraordinaire Michel Legrand heads to Paris's Salle Pleyel, to conduct performances of some of his most beloved movie compositions by the Orchestre National d'?le de France. Selections include music from Summer of '42, Brian's Song, Yentl, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and more. Special guests include Patrick Fiori, Mario Pelchat and Liane Foly. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi






