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8
Aaah! Zombies!! aka Wasting Away
Matthew Kohnen
 
Studio: Level 33 Entertainment
Theatrical: 2007
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Rated: Unrated
Duration: 90
Languages: English
IMDb: 1027762
Starring: Matthew Davis, Betsy Buetler, Tracey Walter, Richard Riehle, Julianna Robinson
Summary: Zombies. You know 'em, you love 'em. But what do they think of you? In this hilarious twist on the Classic Zombie Tale, we see the world through Zombie eyes when a barrel full of Toxic Goo transforms four friends in to the Walking Dead, and suddenly, it seems every one else has gone mad. In the most unique Zombie story in years, the Zombies embark on a bumbling quest to find the "Truth", completely unaware of their rotting undeadness. After all, Zombies are people too.
9
Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express
Sidney Lumet
 
Studio: Paramount
Theatrical: 1974
Genre: Drama
Rated: PG
Writer: Paul Dehn
Duration: 127
Languages: English, French
Subtitles: English
Picture Format: Widescreen
IMDb: 0071877
Starring: Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset
Summary: Just the name "Orient Express" conjures images of a bygone era. Add an all-star cast (including Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset, and Lauren Bacall, to name a few) and Agatha Christie's delicious plot and how can you go wrong? Particularly if you add in Albert Finney as Christie's delightfully persnickety sleuth, Hercule Poirot. Someone has knocked off nasty Richard Widmark on this train trip and, to Poirot's puzzlement, everyone seems to have a motive--just the setup for a terrific whodunit. Though it seems like an ensemble film, director Sidney Lumet gives each of his stars their own solo and each makes the most of it. Bergman went so far as to win an Oscar for her role. But the real scene-stealer is the ever-reliable Finney as the eccentric detective who never misses a trick. --Marshall Fine
10
The Age of Innocence
Martin Scorsese
 
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical: 1993
Genre: Romance
Rated: PG
Writer: Edith Wharton, Jay Cocks
Duration: 138
Languages: English, French
Subtitles: Chinese, English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish
Picture Format: Widescreen
IMDb: 0106226
Starring: Domenica Cameron-Scorsese, Geraldine Chaplin, Daniel Day-Lewis, Tracey Ellis, Carolyn Farina
Summary: Martin Scorsese does not sound like the logical choice to direct an adaptation of Edith Wharton's novel about manners and morals in New York society in the 1870s. But these are mean streets, too, and the psychological violence inflicted between characters is at least as damaging as the physical violence perpetrated by Scorsese's usual gangsters. At the center of the tale is Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis), a somewhat diffident young man engaged to marry the very respectable May Welland (Winona Ryder). But Archer is distracted by May's cousin, the Countess Olenska (a radiant Michelle Pfeiffer), recently returned from Europe. As a married woman seeking a divorce, the countess is an embarrassment to all of New York society. But Archer is fascinated by her quick intelligence and worldly ways. Scorsese closely observes the tiny details of this world and this impossible situation; this is a movie in which the shift of someone's eyes can be as significant as the firing of a gun. The director's sense of color has never been keener, and his work with the actors is subtle. That's Joanne Woodward narrating, telling us only as much as we need to know--which is one reason why the climax comes as such a surprise.--Robert Horton
11
Airplane!
David Zucker Zucker, Jerry
 
Studio: Paramount
Theatrical: 1980
Genre: Comedy
Rated: PG
Duration: 87
Languages: English, French
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Picture Format: Widescreen
IMDb: 0080339
Starring: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Frank Ashmore, Jonathan Banks, Craig Berenson, Barbara Billingsley
Summary: The quintessential movie spoof that spawned an entire genre of parody films, the original Airplane! still holds up as one of the brightest comedic gems of the '80s, not to mention of cinema itself (it ranked in the top 5 of Entertainment Weekly's list of the 100 funniest movies ever made). The humor may be low and obvious at times, but the jokes keep coming at a rapid-fire clip and its targets--primarily the lesser lights of '70s cinema, from disco films to star-studded disaster epics--are more than worthy for send-up. If you've seen even one of the overblown Airport movies then you know the plot: the crew of a filled-to-capacity jetliner is wiped out and it's up to a plucky stewardess and a shell-shocked fighter pilot to land the plane. Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty are the heroes who have a history that includes a meet-cute à la Saturday Night Fever, a surf scene right out of From Here to Eternity, a Peace Corps trip to Africa to teach the natives the benefits of Tupperware and basketball, a war-ravaged recovery room with a G.I. who thinks he's Ethel Merman (a hilarious cameo)--and those are just the flashbacks! The jokes gleefully skirt the boundaries of bad taste (pilot Peter Graves to a juvenile cockpit visitor: "Joey, have you ever seen a grown man naked?"), with the high (low?) point being Hagerty's intimate involvement with the blow-up automatic pilot doll, but they'll have you rolling on the floor. The film launched the careers of collaborators Jim Abrahams (Big Business), David Zucker (Ruthless People), and Jerry Zucker (Ghost), as well as revitalized such B-movie actors as Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Robert Stack, and Leslie Nielsen, who built a second career on films like this. A vital part of any video collection. --Mark Englehart
12
Alpha Dog
Nick Cassavetes
 
Studio: Universal Studios
Theatrical: 2007
Genre: Suspense
Rated: R
Writer: Nick Cassavetes
Duration: 118
Languages: English, French
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Picture Format: Widescreen
IMDb: 0426883
Starring: Bruce Willis, Matthew Barry, Emile Hirsch, Fernando Vargas (II), Vincent Kartheiser
Summary: With harrowing intensity, Alpha Dog dramatizes one of the most tragically notorious murders in recent history. Ripped from the headlines, writer-director Nick Cassavetes' flawed but riveting crime drama (a polar opposite to his previous film, the romantic hit The Notebook) is based on the real-life case of Jesse James Hollywood, a drug dealer in California's San Gabriel Valley who, in 2000, became one of the youngest men to appear on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. Names and details have been changed, but the criminal circumstances remain the same: With family links to organized crime, Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) is on the warpath against Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster), a sleazebag addict who owes him money. Fate intervenes when Johnny and his stoner pals including Frankie (Justin Timberlake) encounter Jake's 15-year-old half-brother Zack (Anton Yelchin) and hold him as collateral until Jake pays his debts. What begins as a casual, seemingly harmless situation escalates into a crisis of capital crime, as Alpha Dog employs split-screen, docudrama, and mock-documentary interviews to chronicle a tragic tailspin of reckless events and lawless behavior.

Cassavetes himself became part of the real-life drama when prosecutors (hoping to locate then-fugitive Jesse James Hollywood, who was captured in 2005) gave him legally controversial access to their case files. Alpha Dog clearly benefits from this inside information, and while the film's grueling depiction of underage squalor (including rampant drug and alcohol abuse) is inevitably off-putting and at least partially exploitative, there's no denying that Cassavetes has worked wonders with a well-chosen ensemble cast including Timberlake, who contrasts his music-industry stardom with a convincing performance as a likable, not-too-bright party animal who quickly gets in over his head. The film is ultimately compromised by Cassavetes' ambitious attempt to cover too much dramatic territory, but like his father John before him, he demonstrates a remarkable skill with actors (including Sharon Stone, Bruce Willis, and Harry Dean Stanton in supporting roles), and Alpha Dog is full of powerful, dangerous moments that aren't easily forgotten. --Jeff Shannon
13
Amélie
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
 
Studio: ALL
Genre: Art House & International
Rated: R
Writer: Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Guillaume Laurant
Duration: 122
Languages: French
Subtitles: English
IMDb: 0211915
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Lorella Cravotta, Serge Merlin
Summary: Perhaps the most charming movie of all time, "Amélie" is certainly one of the top 10. The title character (the bashful and impish Audrey Tautou) is a single waitress who decides to help other lonely people fix their lives. Her widowed father yearns to travel but won't, so to inspire the old man she sends his garden gnome on a tour of the world; with whispered gossip, she brings together two cranky regulars at her café; she reverses the doorknobs and reprograms the speed dial of a grocer who's mean to his assistant. Gradually she realizes her own life needs fixing, and a chance meeting leads to her most elaborate stratagem of all. This is a deeply wonderful movie, an illuminating mix of magic and pragmatism. Fans of the director's previous films ("Delicatessen", "The City of Lost Children") will not be disappointed; newcomers will be delighted. "--Bret Fetzer"
14
American Beauty
Sam Mendes
 
Studio: Dreamworks Video
Theatrical: 1999
Genre: Drama
Rated: R
Writer: Alan Ball
Duration: 122
Languages: English
Picture Format: Widescreen
IMDb: 0169547
Starring: Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Chris Cooper, Peter Gallagher, Sam Robards
Summary: From its first gliding aerial shot of a generic suburban street, American Beauty moves with a mesmerizing confidence and acuity epitomized by Kevin Spacey's calm narration. Spacey is Lester Burnham, a harried Everyman whose midlife awakening is the spine of the story, and his very first lines hook us with their teasing fatalism--like Sunset Boulevard's Joe Gillis, Burnham tells us his story from beyond the grave.

It's an audacious start for a film that justifies that audacity. Weaving social satire, domestic tragedy, and whodunit into a single package, Alan Ball's first theatrical script dares to blur generic lines and keep us off balance, winking seamlessly from dark, scabrous comedy to deeply moving drama. The Burnham family joins the cinematic short list of great dysfunctional American families, as Lester is pitted against his manic, materialistic realtor wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening, making the most of a mostly unsympathetic role) and his sullen, contemptuous teenaged daughter, Jane (Thora Birch, utterly convincing in her edgy balance of self-absorption and wistful longing). Into their lives come two catalytic outsiders. A young cheerleader (Mena Suvari) jolts Lester into a sexual epiphany that blooms into a second adolescence. And an eerily calm young neighbor (Wes Bentley) transforms both Lester and Jane with his canny influence.

Credit another big-screen newcomer, English theatrical director Sam Mendes, with expertly juggling these potentially disjunctive elements into a superb ensemble piece that achieves a stylized pace without lapsing into transparent self-indulgence. Mendes has shrewdly insured his success with a solid crew of stage veterans, yet he's also made an inspired discovery in Bentley, whose Ricky Fitts becomes a fulcrum for both plot and theme. Cinematographer Conrad Hall's sumptuous visual design further elevates the film, infusing the beige interiors of the Burnhams' lives with vivid bursts of deep crimson, the color of roses--and of blood. --Sam Sutherland
15
American Graffiti
George Lucas
 
Studio: Universal Studios
Theatrical: 1973
Genre: Coming of Age
Rated: PG
Writer: Willard Huyck
Duration: 112
Languages: English, French
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Picture Format: Widescreen
IMDb: 0069704
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips, Wolfman Jack, Bo Hopkins, Manuel Padilla Jr., Beau Gentry, Harrison Ford, Jim Bohan, Jana Bellan, Deby Celiz, Lynne Marie Stewart, Terence McGovern, Kathleen Quinlan, Tim Crowley, Scott Beach
Summary: Here's how critic Roger Ebert described the unique and lasting value of George Lucas's 1973 box-office hit, American Graffiti: "[It's] not only a great movie but a brilliant work of historical fiction; no sociological treatise could duplicate the movie's success in remembering exactly how it was to be alive at that cultural instant." The time to which Ebert and the film refers is the summer of 1962, and American Graffiti captures the look, feel, and sound of that era by chronicling one memorable night in the lives of several young Californians on the cusp of adulthood. (In essence, Lucas was making a semiautobiographical tribute to his own days as a hot-rod cruiser, and the film's phenomenal success paved the way for Star Wars.) The action is propelled by the music of Wolfman Jack's rock & roll radio show--a soundtrack of pop hits that would become as popular as the film itself. As Lucas develops several character subplots, American Graffiti becomes a flawless time capsule of meticulously re-created memory, as authentic as a documentary and vividly realized through innovative use of cinematography and sound. The once-in-a-lifetime ensemble cast members inhabit their roles so fully that they don't seem like actors at all, comprising a who's who of performers--some of whom went on to stellar careers--including Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford, Cindy Williams, Mackenzie Phillips, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, and Paul Le Mat. A true American classic, the film ranks No. 77 on the American Film Institute's list of all-time greatest American movies. --Jeff Shannon
16
American History X
Tony Kaye
 
Studio: New Line Home Video
Theatrical: 1998
Genre: Crime & Criminals
Rated: R
Writer: David McKenna
Duration: 119
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Picture Format: Widescreen
IMDb: 0120586
Starring: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo, Avery Brooks, Jennifer Lien
Summary: A former neo-nazi skinhead (Norton) tries to prevent his younger brother (Furlong) from going down the same wrong path that he did. 

System Requirements:

Directed by Tony Kaye Writing credits David McKenna Cast ov
17
American Psycho
Mary Harron
 
Studio: Lions Gate
Theatrical: 2000
Genre: Satire
Rated: Unrated
Writer: Bret Easton Ellis
Duration: 104
Languages: English, Spanish
IMDb: 0144084
Starring: Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Bill Sage, Chloë Sevigny
Summary: The Bret Easton Ellis novel American Psycho, a dark, violent satire of the "me" culture of Ronald Reagan's 1980s, is certainly one of the most controversial books of the '90s, and that notoriety fueled its bestseller status. This smart, savvy adaptation by Mary Harron (I Shot Andy Warhol) may be able to ride the crest of the notoriety; prior to the film's release, Harron fought a ratings battle (ironically, for depictions of sex rather than violence), but at the time the director stated, "We're rescuing [the book] from its own bad reputation." Harron and co-screenwriter Guinevere Turner (Go Fish) overcome many of the objections of Ellis's novel by keeping the most extreme violence offscreen (sometimes just barely), suggesting the reign of terror of yuppie killer Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) with splashes of blood and personal souvenirs. Bale is razor sharp as the blank corporate drone, a preening tiger in designer suits whose speaking voice is part salesman, part self-help guru, and completely artificial. Carrying himself with the poised confidence of a male model, he spends his days in a numbing world of status-symbol one-upmanship and soul-sapping small talk, but breaks out at night with smirking explosions of homicide, accomplished with the fastidious care of a hopeless obsessive. The film's approach to this mayhem is simultaneously shocking and discreet; even Bateman's outrageous naked charge with a chainsaw is most notable for the impossibly polished and gleaming instrument of death. Harron's film is a hilarious, cheerfully insidious hall of mirrors all pointed inward, slowly cracking as the portrait becomes increasingly grotesque and insane. --Sean Axmaker
18
Amores Perros
Alejandro González Iñárritu
 
Studio: Lions Gate
Theatrical: 2000
Genre: Drama, Foreign
Rated: R
Writer: Guillermo Arriaga
Duration: 153
Languages: English, Spanish
Subtitles: English, French
Picture Format: Widescreen
IMDb: 0245712
Starring: Emilio Echevarría, Gael García Bernal, Goya Toledo, Álvaro Guerrero, Vanessa Bauche, Jorge Salinas, Marco Pérez, Rodrigo Murray, Humberto Busto, Gerardo Campbell, Rosa María Bianchi, Dunia Saldívar, Adriana Barraza, José Sefami, Lourdes Echevarría, Laura Almela, Ricardo Dalmacci, Gustavo Sánchez Parra, Dagoberto Gama, Gustavo Muñoz
Summary: Amores Perros roughly translates to "Love's a bitch," and it's an apt summation of this remarkable film's exploration of passion, loss, and the fragility of our lives. In telling three stories connected by one traumatic incident, Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu uses an intricate screenplay by novelist Guillermo Arriaga to make three movies in close orbit, expressing the notion that we are defined by what we lose--from our loves to our family, our innocence, or even our lives. These interwoven tales--about a young man in love with his brother's pregnant wife, a perfume spokeswoman and her married lover, and a scruffy vagrant who sidelines as a paid killer--are united by a devastating car crash that provides the film's narrative nexus, and by the many dogs that the characters own or care for. There is graphic violence, prompting a disclaimer that controversial dog-fight scenes were harmless and carefully supervised, but what emerges from Amores Perros is a uniquely conceptual portrait of people whom we come to know through their relationship with dogs. The film is simultaneously bleak, cynical, insightful, and compassionate, with layers of meaning that are sure to reward multiple viewings. --Jeff Shannon
19
Annie Hall
Woody Allen
 
Studio: MGM
Theatrical: 1977
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Rated: PG
Writer: Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman
Duration: 94
Languages: English, French
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
Picture Format: Widescreen
IMDb: 0075686
Starring: Hy Anzell, Colleen Dewhurst, Shelley Duvall, Russell Horton, Carol Kane, Diane Keaton, Mordecai Lawner, Helen Ludlam, Janet Margolin, Marshall McLuhan, Jonathan Munk, Joan Neuman, Rashel Novikoff, Tony Roberts, Martin Rosenblatt, Paul Simon, Donald Symington, Ruth Volner, Christopher Walken
Summary: Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 08/05/2008 Run time: 93 minutes Rating: Pg
20
The Apartment
Billy Wilder
 
Studio: MGM
Theatrical: 1960
Genre: Classic Comedies
Rated: NR
Writer: Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond
Duration: 125
Languages: English, French, Spanish
Subtitles: French, Spanish
Picture Format: Widescreen
IMDb: 0053604
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Fred Macmurray
Summary: Romance at its most anti-romantic--that is the Billy Wilder stamp of genius, and this Best Picture Academy Award winner from 1960 is no exception. Set in a decidedly unsavory world of corporate climbing and philandering, the great filmmaker's trenchant, witty satire-melodrama takes the office politics of a corporation and plays them out in the apartment of lonely clerk C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon). By lending out his digs to the higher-ups for nightly extramarital flings with their secretaries, Baxter has managed to ascend the business ladder faster than even he imagined. The story turns even uglier, though, when Baxter's crush on the building's melancholy elevator operator (Shirley MacLaine) runs up against her long-standing affair with the big boss (a superbly smarmy Fred MacMurray). The situation comes to a head when she tries to commit suicide in Baxter's apartment. Not the happiest or cleanest of scenarios, and one that earned the famously caustic and cynically humored Wilder his share of outraged responses, but looking at it now, it is a funny, startlingly clear-eyed vision of urban emptiness and is unfailingly understanding of the crazy decisions our hearts sometimes make. Lemmon and MacLaine are ideally matched, and while everyone cites Wilder's Some Like It Hot closing line "Nobody's perfect" as his best, MacLaine's no-nonsense final words--"Shut up and deal"--are every bit as memorable. Wilder won three Oscars for The Apartment, for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay (cowritten with longtime collaborator I.A.L. Diamond). --Robert Abele
21
Apt Pupil
Bryan Singer
 
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical: 1998
Genre: Suspense
Rated: R
Writer: Stephen King
Duration: 112
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Picture Format: Widescreen
IMDb: 0118636
Starring: Brad Renfro, Ian McKellen, Joshua Jackson, Mickey Cottrell, Michael Reid MacKay, Ann Dowd, Bruce Davison, James Karen, Marjorie Lovett, David Cooley (II), Blake Anthony Tibbetts, Heather McComb, Katherine Malone, Grace Sinden, David Schwimmer, Anthony Moore (II), Elias Koteas, Kevin Spirtas, Michael Byrne, Danna Dennis
Summary: At the top of his game, Stephen King has a real gift for mining monsters--zero-at-the-bone horror--out of everyday faces and places. Adapted from a novella in the 1982 collection that also spawned Stand by Me and The Shawshank Redemption, Apt Pupil looks at first as if it might draw authentically enlightening terror from the soul-cancer that makes blood relations of a Southern California golden boy (Brad Renfro) and an aging Nazi war criminal (Sir Ian McKellen). Turned on by a high-school course about the Holocaust, Todd Bowden (such a bland handle for this top-of-his-class sociopath!) tracks down Kurt Dussander, a former Gestapo killer hiding in the shadows of sunny SoCal. Blackmailing the old man into sharing his firsthand stories of genocide, the teenager trips out on the virtual reality of the monster's memories. There's perverse play here on the way a kid hungry for knowledge can bring a long-retired teacher or grandparent back to life. Truly superb as James Whale in Gods and Monsters, McKellen brings subtlety to this Stephen King creepshow: his dessicated Dussander is like a mummy or vampire revivified by Todd's appetite for atrocity.

Considerable talent intersects in Apt Pupil: It's director Bryan Singer's first film since The Usual Suspects, that enormously popular, rather heartless thriller-machine. The outstanding cast also includes David Schwimmer as a Jewish guidance counselor pathetically impotent in the face of Todd's talent for evil, and Bruce Davison as Todd's All-American Dad, lacking the capacity to even imagine evil. And the story itself has the potential for gazing into the heart of darkness right here in Hometown, U.S.A. But Apt Pupil just turns ugly and unclean when it trivializes its subject, equating Holocaust horrors with slamming a cat into an oven or offing a nosy vagrant (Elias Koteas). Reducing the great spiritual abyss that lies at the center of the 20th century to cheap slasher-movie thrills and chills is reprehensible. Both Todd and the writers of Apt Pupil should have heeded the old saw: When supping with the devil, best use a long spoon. --Kathleen Murphy
22
The Artist [Blu-Ray]
Michel Hazanavicius
 
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Genre: Comedy
Rated: PG-13
Writer: Michel Hazanavicius
Duration: 100
Languages: English
Subtitles: Spanish
IMDb: 1655442
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller
Summary: Hollywood 1927. George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a silent movie superstar. The advent of the talkies will sound the death knell for his career and see him fall into oblivion. For young extra Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), it seems the sky's the limit - major movie stardom awaits. The Artist tells the story of their interlinked destinies.
23
As Good As It Gets
James L. Brooks
 
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical: 1997
Genre: Comedy
Rated: R
Writer: Mark Andrus
Duration: 139
Languages: English, French
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
Picture Format: Widescreen
IMDb: 0119822
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear, Cuba Gooding Jr., Skeet Ulrich, Shirley Knight, Yeardley Smith, Lupe Ontiveros, Jill the Dog, Timer the Dog, Billy the Dog, Bibi Osterwald, Ross Bleckner, Bernadette Balagtas, Jaffe Cohen, Laurie Kilpatrick, Alice Vaughn, Brian Doyle-Murray, Kristi Zea, Annie Maginnis Tippe
Summary: For all of its conventional plotting about an obsessive-compulsive curmudgeon (Jack Nicholson) who improves his personality at the urging of his gay neighbor (Greg Kinnear) and a waitress (Helen Hunt) who inspires his best behavior, this is one of the sharpest Hollywood comedies of the 1990s. Nicholson could play his role in his sleep (the Oscar he won should have gone to Robert Duvall for The Apostle), but his mischievous persona is precisely necessary to give heart to his seemingly heartless character, who is of all things a successful romance novelist. As a single mom with a chronically asthmatic young son, Hunt gives the film its conscience and integrity (along with plenty of wry humor), and she also won an Oscar for her wonderful performance. Greg Kinnear had to settle for an Oscar nomination (while cowriter-director James L. Brooks was inexplicably snubbed by Oscar that year), but his work was also singled out in the film's near-unanimous chorus of critical praise. It's questionable whether a romance between Hunt and the much older Nicholson is entirely believable, but this movie's smart enough--and charmingly funny enough--to make it seem endearingly possible. --Jeff Shannon
24
The Aura
Fabián Bielinsky
 
Studio: LFC
Theatrical: 2005
Genre: Action & Adventure, Foreign
Rated: NR
Writer: Fabián Bielinsky
Duration: 138
Languages: Spanish
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Picture Format: Widescreen
IMDb: 0420509
Starring: Ricardo Darín, Dolores Fonzi, Pablo Cedrón, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Jorge D'Elía
Summary: The Aura will go down in history as a great film with a tragic loss attached to it. This totally original and deeply involving thriller was the second and final feature film by Fabián Bielinsky, a gifted Argentinian writer-director whose debut feature, Nine Queens, earned global acclaim and introduced Bielinsky as a talent to watch. Sadly, Bielinsky died of a sudden heart attack in June 2006, at age 47, and we'll never know what other great films he might have made. The Aura stands as testament to Bielinsky's masterful skill, on full display in this riveting study of a sad and lonely taxidermist named Espinosa (played by Ricardo Darín, who was also in Nine Queens) who compensates for his disappointing life by imagining elaborate crimes that he's planned to perfection. When a hunting accident results in the death of a criminal mastermind who'd been planning a casino heist, the taxidermist (who possesses a photographic memory and suffers from occasional blackouts caused by epileptic seizures) assumes the dead man's role, improvising his way through the crime-plot with untrustworthy partners and the constant threat of danger.

The film's title refers to the semi-conscious fugue state that precedes the taxidermist's epileptic seizures, inducing a sense of disorientation and dread that Bielinsky uses to deepen the film's psychological impact. Darín's dour, worried expression is a fascinating focal point for his character's unpredictable journey into the heart of darkness, and The Aura's primary setting, in the thick forest of Patagonia, is a perfect complement to the film's ominous atmosphere and deliberately paced intrigue. As far-fetched as it may seem at times, the plot's heightened reality remains utterly convincing, and Bielinsky demonstrates an uncanny knack for escalating suspense in quietly intense situations. From start to finish, The Aura is clearly the work of a filmmaker with seemingly limitless potential, and we can only wonder about the excellent films Bielinsky would have made had he lived. Unfortunately, two slight DVD extras on The Aura give us no insight into Bielinsky's too-short career: the "making of" featurette is very brief and consists primarily of an interview with Ricardo Darín, and the behind-the-scenes musical montage is an equally short and perfunctory assembly of production video set to the moody, electronic tones of Lucio Godoy's subtly effective score. --Jeff Shannon
25
Avanti!
Billy Wilder
 
Studio: MGM
Theatrical: 1972
Genre: Romance
Rated: NR
Writer: Samuel A. Taylor
Duration: 126
Languages: English, French, Spanish
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Picture Format: Widescreen
IMDb: 0068240
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Juliet Mills
Summary: The complete obscurity of Avanti! is a cinematic injustice that needs to be rectified. Jack Lemmon and director Billy Wilder made their share of hits together (Some Like It Hot and The Apartment, for starters), but this wry, melancholy comedy was completely out of touch with its time (which recalls a Wilder one-liner from the '70s: "Who the hell would want to be in touch with these times?"). It may have flopped badly in 1972, but it wears well in retrospect. Lemmon plays a jerk American businessman called to Italy to pick up the body of his father, who died while enjoying a secret (and, it turns out, annual) liaison with a mistress. With the help of a delightful Englishwoman (Juliet Mills) who happens to be the daughter of the "other woman," Lemmon finds himself stepping in a few of Dad's footsteps, and falling under the sway of the beguiling Italian atmosphere. A very leisurely movie, but that's part of its effect. Clive Revill delivers a gem of a performance as a heroic hotel manager, and Juliet Mills (sister of Hayley, daughter of Oscar-winner John) had her finest screen hour here. As a director, Wilder spent much of his early career camouflaging his romantic streak under a cynical front; here, despite many acerbic touches and the presence of death as the central plot device, the romance is in full flower under the rich Italian sun. --Robert Horton
26
Avatar [Blu-Ray]
James Cameron
 
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Theatrical: 2009
Genre: Action & Adventure
Rated: PG-13
Writer: James Cameron
Duration: 162
Languages: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese
Subtitles: English, Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish
Picture Format: Widescreen
IMDb: 0499549
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Stephen Lang
Summary: Contents of the Blu-ray Extended Collector's Edition
What follows is the back-of-the box summary of the Blu-ray set's contents and then a complete listing of everything that's included.

Disc 1: Three Movie Versions Original Theatrical Edition (includes family audio track with objectionable language removed) Special Edition Re-Release (includes family audio track with objectionable language removed) Collector’s Extended Cut with 16 additional minutes, including alternate opening on earth
Disc 2: Filmmaker's Journey Over 45 minutes of never-before-seen deleted scenes "Capturing Avatar": Feature-length documentary covering the 16-year filmmakers’ journey, including interviews with James Cameron, Jon Landau, cast and crew "A Message from Pandora": James Cameron’s visit to the Amazon rainforest The 2006 art reel: Original pitch of the "Avatar vision" Brother termite test: Original motion capture test The ILM prototype: Visual effects reel Screen tests: Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldana Zoë’s life cast: Makeup session footage On-set footage as live-action filming begins VFX progressions Crew film: "The Volume"
Disc 3: Pandora's Box Interactive scene deconstruction: Explore the stages of production of 17 different scenes through three viewing modes: capture level, template level, and final level with picture-in-picture reference Production featurettes: "Sculpting Avatar", "Creating the Banshee", "Creating the Thanator", "The AMP Suit", "Flying Vehicles", "Na’vi Costumes", "Speaking Na’vi", "Pandora Flora", "Stunts", "Performance Capture", "Virtual Camera", "The 3D Fusion Camera", "The Simul-Cam", "Editing Avatar", "Scoring Avatar", "Sound Design", "The Haka: The Spirit of New Zealand" "Avatar" original script "Avatar" screenplay by James Cameron "Pandorapedia:" Comprehensive guide to Pandora" Lyrics from five songs by James Cameron The art of "Avatar": Over 1,850 images in 16 themed galleries ("The World of Pandora", "The Creatures", "Pandora Flora", "Pandora Bioluminescence", "The Na’vi", "The Avatars", "Maquettes", "Na’vi Weapons", "Na’vi Props", "Na’vi Musical Instruments", "RDA Designs", "Flying Vehicles", "AMP Suit", "Human Weapons", "Land Vehicles", "One-Sheet Concepts")
BD-Live Extras BD-Live extras require a BD-Live-enabled player and an Internet connection. The following extras may be available a limited-time only and are subject to change over time: Crew Short: "The Night Before Avatar"; additional screen tests, including Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, and Laz Alonso; speaking Na’vi rehearsal footage; Weta Workshop: walk-and-talk presentation.
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This is Alejandro Mora's Movie Collection