Thursday, November 17, 2011

Flyboys: A True Story of Courage

  • Blue and red hardcopy. Dust jacket with scenes or flying aircraft.
Inspired by the true story of the legendary Lafayette Escadrille, this action-packed epic tells the tale of America's first fighter pilots. These courageous young men distinguish themselves in a manner that none before them had dared, becoming true heroes who experience triumph, tragedy, love, and loss amid the chaos of World War I. Hang on for the ride of your life!

World War I aviation action gets an impressive digital upgrade in Flyboys, a welcome addition to the "dogfight" sub-genre that includes such previous war-in-the-air films like Hell's Angels, Wings, and The Blue Max. While those earlier films had the advantage of real and genuinely dangerous flight scenes (resulting, in some cases, in fatal accidents during production), Flyboys takes full (and safe) advantage of the digital revo! lution, with intensely photo-realistic recreations of WWI aircraft, authentic period structures, and CGI environments requiring a total of 850 digital effects shots, resulting in an abundance of amazing images, many of them virtually indistinguishable from reality. Unfortunately, the film's technical achievement is more impressive than its screenplay, which conventionally and predictably tells the fact-based story, set in France in 1916, of the daring young pilots of the Lafayette Escadrille, a pioneering French air-combat unit that welcomed American enlistees prior to the United States' entry into the war.

There's a familiar cliché to match every thrilling scene of aerial combat, but director Tony Bill manages to keep it all interesting, from the romance between a young American maverick (James Franco) and a pretty French girl (newcomer Jennifer Decker) to the exciting action in the air, which includes a stock variety of heroes (many of them composites of real-lif! e WWI pilots) and an intimidating villain known only as "The B! lack Fal con," whose Fokker Dr-1 triplane (one of many in the film) recalls the exploits of German "ace of aces" Manfred von Richtofen, the dreaded "Red Baron" of legend. With impeccable production values that will impress even the most nit-picking aviation buffs, Flyboys (like Superman Returns and Apocalypto, also released in 2006) was also one of the first feature films to be shot with Panavision's state-of-the-art Genesis digital cameras, resulting in beautiful images that meet or exceed the visual nuance of film. Flyboys also benefits from painstaking attention to physical detail, making it easier to forgive its shortcomings as a generic and formulaic slice of romanticized history. So while some viewers may have wished for a more realistic and grown-up depiction of the Lafayette Escadrille, it's safe to say that Flyboys will be thrilling its target audience for many years to come. --Jeff Shannon

Extras ! from Flyboys



Director Tony Bill on Filming Dogfight Sequences

...On throwing away the script for pilot training

...On the real-life stunt pilot who stars in the film

Beyond Flyboys



More "War in t! he Sky" Films

SPA124 Lafayette Escadrille: American Volunteer Airmen in World War 1



More "Military and War" Films

Stills from Flyboys




FLYBOYS is the true story of young American airmen who were shot down over Chichi Jima. Eight of these young men were captured by Jap! anese troops and taken prisoner. Another was rescued by an American submarine and went on to become president. The reality of what happened to the eight prisoners has remained a secret for almost 60 years. After the war, the American and Japanese governments conspired to cover up the shocking truth. Not even the families of the airmen were informed what had happened to their sons. It has remained a mystery--until now. Critics called James Bradley's last book "the best book on battle ever written." FLYBOYS is even better: more ambitious, more powerful, and more moving. On the island of Chichi Jima those young men would face the ultimate test. Their story--a tale of courage and daring, of war and of death, of men and of hope--will make you proud, and it will break your heart.

The Hawk Is Dying Poster Movie French 11x17

Feast of July

  • A compelling tale of passion's dark secrets -- critics applauded FEAST OF JULY as one of the best films of the year! A mysterious young beauty, Bella Ford, searches hopelessly for the lover who betrayed her. Weary and alone, she is offered shelter by the Wainwright family, who help her find new hope . and whose three handsome sons battle for her affections! But just when she is ready to begin
FEAST OF LOVE - DVD MovieThe warm, reassuring gravitas of Morgan Freeman anchors Feast of Love, a multi-character meditation on the mysteries of that oh-so-powerful emotion. Bradley (Greg Kinnear, Little Miss Sunshine), owner of a coffee shop in Oregon, thinks his marriage is idyllic--until his wife (Selma Blair, Hellboy) leaves him for another woman. One of Bradley's baristas (Toby Hemingway, The Covenant) falls head over heels for a girl who comes looking for a job (Alexa Da! valos, The Chronicles of Riddick), but his abusive father (Fred Ward, Miami Blues) spells trouble for the relationship. Finally, a professor (Freeman) and his wife (Jane Alexander, Kramer vs. Kramer) struggle to find purpose in life in the aftermath of a personal tragedy. Though some scenes are a bit precious and the dialogue leans too much on semi-philosophical pronouncements, viewers will find it hard not to identify with the universal trials of romance and the yearning for a family. Also starring Radha Mitchell (High Art, Pitch Black) as a real estate broker who can't stop seeing a married man. Warning: Feast of Love is predominantly about the ways of the heart, it features several fairly explicit sex scenes. Directed by Robert Benton (Places in the Heart, Nobody's Fool). --Bret Fetzer

Beyond Feast of Love

!

More from Greg Kinnear

More from Morgan Freeman

More from MGM



Stills from Feast of Love







From "one of our most gifted writers" (Chicago Tribune), here is a superb new novel that delicately unearths the myriad manifestations of extraordinary love between ordinary people.

The Feast of Love is just that -- a sumptuous work of fiction about the thing that most distracts and delights us. In a re-imagined Midsummer Night's Dream, men and women speak of and desire their ideal mates; parents seek out their lost children; adult children try to come to terms with their own parents and, in some cases, find new ones.

In vignettes both comic and sexy, the owner of a coffee shop recalls the day his first wife seemed to achieve a moment of simple perfection, while she remembers the women's softball game during which ! she was stricken by the beauty of the shortstop. A young coupl! e spends hours at the coffee shop fueling the idea of their fierce love. A professor of philosophy, stopping by for a cup of coffee, makes a valiant attempt to explain what he knows to be the inexplicable workings of the human heart Their voices resonate with each other -- disparate people joined by the meanderings of love -- and come together in a tapestry that depicts the most irresistible arena of life. Crafted with subtlety, grace, and power, The Feast of Love is a masterful novel.Among literary cognoscenti, Charles Baxter has a well-deserved reputation as one of America's finest writers. Best known for his short stories, Baxter has also produced three novels. His fourth, The Feast of Love, combines the best of both genres--with a light dusting of metafiction to sweeten the dish. The book begins with Baxter himself waking from a nightmare and going for a moonlit walk through his hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan. While sitting on a park bench, he is joined b! y an acquaintance of 12 years--and, incidentally, one of the main characters in the novel. It is Bradley who gives Baxter the name for the novel he's currently struggling to write, and even offers himself as a character:
You should call it The Feast of Love. I'm the expert on that. I should write that book. Actually, I should be in that book. You should put me into your novel. I'm an expert on love. I've just broken up with my second wife, after all. I'm in an emotional tangle. Maybe I'd shoot myself before the final chapter. Your readers would wonder about the outcome.
But why stop there? Bradley goes on to suggest that he send people to Baxter, "actual people, for a change, like for instance human beings who genuinely exist, and you listen to them for a while. Everybody's got a story, and we'll just start telling you the stories we have"--a sly tip-off to the reader of this elegant, quirky, and wholly engross! ing novel that the writer may be no more reliable than his na! rrators.

What follows is a chronicle of love--the mad kind, the bad kind, and the kind that sustains us when everything else is gone. In addition to Smith, we meet Chloé, a young waitress at Bradley's espresso bar, and her ex-junkie boyfriend, Oscar; Bradley's next door neighbors, Harry Ginsburg, an elderly professor of philosophy, and his wife, Esther; and Kathryn and Diana, Bradley's two ex-wives. The characters take turns narrating, often commenting on and correcting versions of events mentioned by other characters in previous chapters, and occasionally advising Baxter on the progress of his novel: "Don't threaten people, especially lawyers" legal eagle Diana warns "Charlie" shortly before she launches into her own story. "Don't threaten your own characters. It's for your own good. You'll wind up in a mess of litigation and... subplots." But in The Feast of Love, God is in the subplots--Oscar and Chloé's involvement in the porn industry; Esthe! r and Harry's agonized relationship with their mentally ill son; Bradley's travails in love, art, and dog ownership. As the novel progresses, these separate strands gradually merge, and not even an unexpected tragedy can dim the luster of this moonstruck romance. For by the time Baxter brings his tale of love and loss and redemption to a close, his characters have all found their way to the feast--bittersweet though some of the dishes may be. --Alix WilberSTILETTO is a sexy, action-packed thriller about Raina - a sexy femme fatale on the hunt to avenge and uncover the truth about her sister's kidnapping. When she discovers that her former lover, mob boss Virgil Vadalos (Tom Berenger), and his associates are directly responsible, she decides to take the law into her own hands, stalking Vadalos and his ruthless enforcers who corrupt the streets. Also starring Michael Biehn, William Forsythe and Tom Sizemore.Widescreen DVDA compelling tale of passion's dark secret! s -- critics applauded FEAST OF JULY as one of the best films ! of the y ear! A mysterious young beauty, Bella Ford, searches hopelessly for the lover who betrayed her. Weary and alone, she is offered shelter by the Wainwright family, who help her find new hope ... and whose three handsome sons battle for her affections! But just when she is ready to begin her new life, Bella's former lover unexpectedly reappears to haunt her with the secrets of their past! From Merchant Ivory Productions -- award-winning creators of HOWARDS END and THE REMAINS OF THE DAY -- you'll find this motion picture passionate and powerfully entertaining!

Bambi (Two-Disc Diamond Edition Blu-ray/DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging)

  • BAMBI:DIAMOND EDITION BLU-RAY IN BD (BLU-RAY DISC)
For the first time ever, the wonder, music and majesty of one of Walt Disney's greatest triumphs comes alive in glorious detail through the magic of Blu-ray high definition! Now Bambi, Walt Disney's beloved coming-of-age story, will thrill a new generation of fans with its breathtakingly beautiful animation, soaring music and characters who will touch your heart-Bambi, the wide-eyed fawn, his playful pal Thumper, the loveable skunk Flower and wise Friend Owl. Plus, all-new immersive game and special features that reveal the extraordinary creative process behind the making of this timeless classic take you deeper into Bambi's world than ever before.

Walt Disney's Bambi is an experience you will never forget-now more brilliant than ever on Blu-ray.

It always comes up when people are comparing their most traumatic movie experiences:! "the death of Bambi's mother," a recollection that can bring a shudder to even the most jaded filmgoer. That primal separation (which is no less stunning for happening off-screen) is the centerpiece of Bambi, Walt Disney's 1942 animated classic, but it is by no means the only bold stroke in the film. In its swift but somehow leisurely 69 minutes, Bambi covers a year in the life of a young deer. But in a bigger way, it measures the life cycle itself, from birth to adulthood, from childhood's freedom to grown-up responsibility. All of this is rendered in cheeky, fleet-footed style--the movie doesn't lecture, or make you feel you're being fed something that's good for you. The animation is miraculous, a lush forest in which nature is a constantly unfolding miracle (even in a spectacular fire, or those dark moments when "man was in the forest"). There are probably easier animals to draw than a young deer, and the Disney animators set themselves a challenge with B! ambi's wobbly glide across an ice-covered lake, his spindly le! gs akimb o; but the sequence is effortless and charming. If Bambi himself is just a bit dull--such is the fate of an Everydeer--his rabbit sidekick Thumper and a skunk named Flower more than make up for it. Many of the early Disney features have their share of lyrical moments and universal truths, but Bambi is so simple, so pure, it's almost transparent. You might borrow a phrase from Thumper and say it's downright twitterpated. --Robert Horton

Cremaster 3 (Audio CD) Music by Jonathan Bepler

  • Music for Matthew Barney's Cremaster 3.
  • 2 CD set.
  • Music by Jonathan Bepler.
Cremaster 3, the last in Matthew Barney's epic five-part film project, is part zombie, part gangster film. Set in 1930s New York and Saratoga Springs as well as Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, the plot explores the Irish mob system, freemasonry, and Celtic lore as further symbols for the forces at play in Barney's mythological system. Named after the muscle that raises or lowers a man's testicles in response to temperature, the Cremaster series has featured Barney as a satyr, a magician, a ram, Harry Houdini, and even famous murderer Gary Gilmore, props made from tapioca, petroleum jelly, ice, and self-healing plastic, and settings as fantastic and desolate as the Isle of Man, an empty football stadium in Idaho, and a nearly empty opera house in Hungary. The films are slow-moving and weirdly hyno! tic, full of elaborate sexual and biological allusions, references to sports and fashion, and a bizarre mix of autobiography, history, and private symbolism that have earned him comparisons to Wagner. This book is the final of the five companion volumes published to coincide with the release of each of the Cremaster films. Each was designed in an original manner by the artist and features photographs and stills from the film it accompanies.TRACKS: (CD 1) Giants Prologue / Chrysler Chorale Overture / Rough Ashler / Air Prelude / Song of the Vertical Field / Level Glass Nocturne / Cloud Club Reel / Initiate's Serenade / Pace of the Novitiate / Back Stretch Coda and Return (CD 2) Crown Overture / Spire March and Anthem / Rainbow Girls Idyll / Giants Epilogue / Finial Postlude

Spooked The Ghosts Of Waverly Hills Sanatorium

  • (From the producers of DEATH TUNNEL ) This program premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel here on June 2006, to great ratings and fanfare. The program is a chilling ghost documentary/expose based on the true events surrounding WAVERLY HILLS SANATORIUM, located in Louisville, Kentucky. This former Tuberculosis Sanatorium is where over 60,000 patients died form miss-treatment and horrific experime
Death Tunnel follows a group of college kids who have to spend a night in a haunted sanatorium. An upscale college initiation party strands five girls in the 'Scariest Place in the World.' Within the five floors of an abandoned hospital built in 1910, haunted by five hosts of its tortured past. As the students, one by one, become victims of its tragic history, they soon uncover a shocking link they all may have to its past - a five hundred foot, underground body chute built to remove the dead bodies of its p! atients. When each door opens up, new terror and each corridor leads to unimaginable horror and the only way out is through the Death Tunnel.From the creators of Children Of The Grave, The Possessed and The Haunted Boy. SPOOKED as seen on SyFy. See, Hear & Fear inside the infamous Waverly Hills Sanatorium. This highly acclaimed documentary follows Hollywood filmmakers, The Booth Brothers as they uncover the shocking truth within the haunted halls of The Scariest Place On Earth, Waverly Hills Sanatorium, a monster of a building where it is said over 63,000 people died. Some say the DEAD are still there!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer

Caught Up!

  • ISBN13: 9780972800501
  • Condition: Used - Very Good
  • Notes: 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 01/20/2004It's no wonder Caught Up only garnered haphazard theatrical release in 1998. Director Darin Scott, who is credited with screenplay nods for Tales from the Hood and Sprung, tosses everything--including the kitchen sink--into this noir rip-off that borrows liberally from Chinatown and Bound but lacks the intelligent gravity and grace of the first classic or the stylish, tongue-in-cheek fun of the second. Starring Bokeem Woodbine as Darryl, an ex-con who wants to go straight but who keeps finding himself in unlucky circumstances, Caught Up has laughable dialogue and terrible bug-eyed over-emoting that tries to pass fo! r acting, and wastes the laconic beauty of One False Move costar Cynda Williams, as a femme fatale named Vanessa Dietrich (honest!). Vanessa wraps Darryl around her little finger and embroils him in a voodoo-esque drug plot that will have the viewer rolling on the floor in disbelief. Had Caught Up played its convoluted plot for laughs, it may have at least been a camp parody on the genre, but as it is, it doesn't avoid a single cinematic cliché. Caught Up is a goofy mess of contradictions and implausibility. --Paula NechakIt's no wonder Caught Up only garnered haphazard theatrical release in 1998. Director Darin Scott, who is credited with screenplay nods for Tales from the Hood and Sprung, tosses everything--including the kitchen sink--into this noir rip-off that borrows liberally from Chinatown and Bound but lacks the intelligent gravity and grace of the former and the stylish, tongue-in-cheek fun of the l! atter. Starring Bokeem Woodbine as Darryl, an ex-con who wants! to go s traight but who keeps finding himself in unlucky circumstances, Caught Up has laughable dialogue and terrible bug-eyed over-emoting that tries to pass for acting and wastes the laconic beauty of One False Move costar Cynda Williams, who plays a femme fatale named Vanessa Dietrich (honest!). Vanessa wraps Darryl around her little finger and embroils him in a voodoo-esque drug plot that will have the viewer rolling on the floor in disbelief. Had Caught Up played its convoluted plot for laughs, it may have at least been a camp parody on the genre, but as it is, it doesn't avoid a single cinematic cliché. The DVD comes with a slew of music videos, the radio and TV spot, as well as a director's commentary track. But don't be fooled by all the goodies--they're simply a smokescreen to nudge the audience into thinking the film is important and worthy. Caught Up is a goofy mess of contradictions and implausibility. --Paula Nechak It's no wonder ! Caught Up only garnered haphazard theatrical release in 1998. Director Darin Scott, who is credited with screenplay nods for Tales from the Hood and Sprung, tosses everything--including the kitchen sink--into this noir rip-off that borrows liberally from Chinatown and Bound but lacks the intelligent gravity and grace of the first classic or the stylish, tongue-in-cheek fun of the second. Starring Bokeem Woodbine as Darryl, an ex-con who wants to go straight but who keeps finding himself in unlucky circumstances, Caught Up has laughable dialogue and terrible bug-eyed over-emoting that tries to pass for acting, and wastes the laconic beauty of One False Move costar Cynda Williams, as a femme fatale named Vanessa Dietrich (honest!). Vanessa wraps Darryl around her little finger and embroils him in a voodoo-esque drug plot that will have the viewer rolling on the floor in disbelief. Had Caught Up played its convoluted! plot for laughs, it may have at least been a camp parody on ! the genr e, but as it is, it doesn't avoid a single cinematic cliché. Caught Up is a goofy mess of contradictions and implausibility. --Paula NechakWhen Raven Klein, a bi-racial woman from Iowa moves to Atlanta in hopes of finding a life she's secretly dreamed about, she finds more than she ever imagined. Quickly lured and lost in a world of sex, money, power-struggles, betrayal & deceit, Raven doesn't know who she can really trust!

A chance meeting at a bus terminal leads to her delving into the seedy world of strip-clubs, big-ballers and shot-callers. Now, Raven's shuffling through more men than a Vegas blackjack dealer does a deck of cards. And sex has even become mundane -- little more than a tool to get what she wants.

After a famous acquaintance winds-up dead -- On which shoulder will Raven lean? A wrong choice could cost her life! There's a reason they call it HOTATLANTA!

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