Sunday, November 13, 2011

Big Kahuna Reef [Download]

50 Dead Men Walking

  • Belfast hoodlum Martin (Jim Sturgess) is recruited by a British agent (BenKingsley) to infiltrate the IRA during the height of the Northern Irish conflict and quickly becomes embroiled in a dangerous game that could cost him his life if his secret is found out. As other informers are brutally murdered, Martin starts to look for away out, but his handler urges him to stay undercover in this taut ac
Belfast hoodlum Martin (Jim Sturgess) is recruited by a British agent (Ben Kingsley) to infiltrate the IRA during the height of the Northern Irish conflict and quickly becomes embroiled in a dangerous game that could cost him his life if his secret is found out. As other informers are brutally murdered, Martin starts to look for a way out, but his handler urges him to stay undercover in this taut action packed thriller based on a true story.In her nerve-jangling adaptation of Martin McGartland's mem! oir, director Kari Skogland takes the politics out of an inherently political scenario. As Martin, Jim Sturgess (21) affects a convincing accent as a "Catholic hood selling stolen goods" in Belfast in 1988. When the British Special Branch catches Martin in the act and coerces him to inform on the Irish Republican Army in lieu of jail time, he takes the bait, knowing full well the army will kill him if they find out. Once his girlfriend, Lara (Natalie Press), becomes pregnant, the income the British provide becomes more necessary than ever. Further, Martin's sympathetic handler, Fergus (Ben Kingsley in fine form), turns out to be even more of an ally than his best mate, Sean (Kevin Zegers). During Martin's days with the IRA, he also meets the flame-haired Grace (Rose McGowan in an underwritten role), who offers him a vision of a different life. The title refers to the belief that Martin's intelligence saved the lives of 50 potential targets, though the film suggests h! e acted more out of self-interest than a sense of duty. It's a! lso hard to imagine that anyone raised in Northern Ireland could remain so resolutely apolitical--but it isn't inconceivable either. The real-life informer survived where many others did not, though he's been living under an assumed name since. Extras include deleted scenes, 30 minutes of fairly unilluminating B-roll (unused) footage, and commentary from Skogland, who states, "Ultimately, this movie is not a political story; this is a human drama." --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Derailed (Unrated Widescreen)

  • A clandestine love affair may claim a terrible price from two desperate people in this intelligent thriller. Charles Schine (Clive Owen) is an advertising executive who is happily married to Deana (Melissa George) and has a young daughter. However, that begins to change when Charles meets Lucinda Harris (Jennifer Aniston) on a commuter train. Lucinda, who is also married with a daughter, keep bump
Some lines should never becrossed.ProductInformationIn Derailed married man Charles Schine (Clive Owen) meets LucindaHarris (Jennifer Aniston) a high powered businesswoman on a commutertrain one morning.  An innocent conversation leads to anevening drink.  Before either one can stop it their arousedpassions lead to a sizzling one-night stand.  Suddenly astranger explodes into their world threatening to expose their secretand lures them into a terrifying game with more surprises than they sawcomin! g.Product Features Deleted Scenes The Making of DerailedSpecifications Stars:  Clive Own JenniferAniston Vincent Cassel Format:  Color DVD-VideoWidescreen Language:  English French Subtitles:  English Spanish Number of Discs: 1 Rating:  Unrated/Not Rated Run Time:  112 minutes Directed By:  Mikael H?fstr?mWith a nasty villain and a plot twist that will take many viewers by surprise, Derailed is the kind of potboiler that's enjoyable in spite of its flaws. It's basically two-thirds of a good movie, with a convincing set-up and a barely plausible payoff that... well, you've just got to see it and decide for yourself. Like Fatal Attraction, it's a good-enough thriller that turns infidelity into every man's nightmare, beginning when Charles (Clive Owen), a well-to-do Chicago advertising director with a sickly, diabetic daughter and a slightly troubled marriage, has a chance encounter with Lucinda (Jennifer Aniston), a lovely and quick-witted financial advis! or who's also stuck in a marital rut. Their chemistry is insta! nt (betw een both characters and stars), but their eventual hotel tryst is interrupted by a mugger (French actor Vincent Cassel at his vile, despicable best) who's out to milk Charles for every dollar he's got. Of course, one phone call to the police would solve everyone's problems, but as he did with Collateral (albeit more convincingly), screenwriter Stuart Beattie turns up the tension with such manipulative skill that you're willing to skate past the plot holes and go along for the ride. With lively supporting performances by rappers Xzibit and RZA, Derailed marks a commercially slick American debut for Swedish director Mikael Håfström, whose 2003 thriller Evil was a Best Foreign Film Oscar®-nominee. --Jeff Shannon

G-Force (Single Disc Widescreen)

  • Buckle up for thrilling edge-of-your seat action and laugh-out-loud fun in Disney's family comedy adventure G-FORCE. Just as the G-Force -- an elite team of highly trained guinea pigs -- is about to save the world, the F.B.I. shuts the secret unit down. But these next-generation action heroes -- Darwin, loyal team leader; Blaster, weapons expert with attitude to spare; Juarez, drop-dead gorgeous m
Buckle up for thrilling edge-of-your-seat action and laugh-out-loud fun in Disney’s family comedy adventure G-Force. Just as the G-Force â€" an elite team of highly trained guinea pigs â€" is about to save the world, the F.B.I. shuts the secret unit down. But these next-generation action heroes â€" Darwin, loyal team leader; Blaster, weapons expert with attitude to spare; Juarez, drop-dead gorgeous martial arts diva; and tag-along Hurley â€" won’t be stopped. Armed with the latest in hi! gh-tech spy equipment, and with the F.B.I. on their tails, the fur flies as they race against the clock to save the world. From the producer of the Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy and National Treasure, and filled with high-octane action, daredevil stunts, cutting-edge special effects and outrageous comedy, G-Force is fantastic fun for the whole family.G-Force just might be the best Jerry Bruckheimer action film in many a moon. The film is exuberant, and its premise--don't think big for an animated caper film, think small--brilliantly upends the more-bigger-faster trope of American action films… with cute, little, furry guinea pigs.

Bruckheimer, the action genius behind the likes of the Pirates of the Caribbean, Con Air, The Rock, Armageddon, and many more, here teams with visual effects maestro Hoyt Yeatman, who writes and directs. The combo is potent, and the fact that they str! eamed their blow-'em-up vision through a film about tiny roden! ts savin g the world makes the whole confection a hilarious family-friendly experience as well as a satisfying action adventure. The premise isn't earth-shattering: oddball, unexpected heroes are called on to save the day (Men in Black, Underdog, etc.). But the lowly guinea pig has been long overdue to get its moment in the spotlight. And now the free world knows whom it can really trust. The film mixes the animated heroes with real-life actors, including the sardonic British character actor Bill Nighy, who plays an evil mogul out to take over and/or destroy the world. The U.S. government, it turns out, has been nurturing a special squad for occasions just such as this. It's just that it's been nurturing them in small pens with wood shavings on the floor and running wheels for exercise. Will Arnett, deadpan and spot-on, plays the human agent who has the unenviable task of wrangling the guinea pig G-Force, and is a deft foil for the bad guys as well as for the mini-h! eroes.

But the true powerhouse acting belongs to those giving voices to the guinea pig agents, including Sam Rockwell, Penélope Cruz, Steve Buscemi, and, as the voice of a domesticated layabout, Jon Favreau. The film's standout, though, is Tracy Morgan, whose Agent Blaster is bellicose, fearless, and as full of malapropisms as Morgan's character on 30 Rock. (In fact, the viewer keeps half-expecting Blaster to turn to Cruz's female agent, Juarez, and yell "Liz Lemon!") G-Force is full of belly laughs for kids, as well as their action-film-fan parents. --A.T. Hurley

Stills from G-Force (Click for larger image)





And Another Thing... (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

  • ISBN13: 9781401310301
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
At last in paperback in one complete volume, here are the five classic novels from Douglas Adams’s beloved Hitchiker series.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Seconds before the Earth is demolished for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is saved by Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised Guide. Together they stick out their thumbs to the stars and begin a wild journey through time and space.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Facing annihilation at the hands of warmongers is a curious time to crave tea. It could only happen to the cosmically displaced Arthur Dent and his comrades as they hurtle across the galaxy in a desperate ! search for a place to eat.

Life, the Universe and Everything
The unhappy inhabitants of planet Krikkit are sick of looking at the night skyâ€" so they plan to destroy it. The universe, that is. Now only five individuals can avert Armageddon: mild-mannered Arthur Dent and his stalwart crew.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Back on Earth, Arthur Dent is ready to believe that the past eight years were all just a figment of his stressed-out imagination. But a gift-wrapped fishbowl with a cryptic inscription conspires to thrust him back to reality. So to speak.

Mostly Harmless
Just when Arthur Dent makes the terrible mistake of starting to enjoy life, all hell breaks loose. Can he save the Earth from total obliteration? Can he save the Guide from a hostile alien takeover? Can he save his daughter from herself?It's safe to say that The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is one of the funniest! science fiction novels ever written. Adams spoofs many core ! science fiction tropes: space travel, aliens, interstellar war--stripping away all sense of wonder and repainting them as commonplace, even silly.

This omnibus edition begins with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which Arthur Dent is introduced to the galaxy at large when he is rescued by an alien friend seconds before Earth's destruction. Then in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Arthur and his new friends travel to the end of time and discover the true reason for Earth's existence. In Life, the Universe, and Everything, the gang goes on a mission to save the entire universe. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish recounts how Arthur finds true love and "God's Final Message to His Creation." Finally, Mostly Harmless is the story of Arthur's continuing search for home, in which he instead encounters his estranged daughter, who is on her own quest. There's also a bonus short story, "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe," m! ore of a vignette than a full story, which wraps up this completist's package of the Don't Panic chronicles. As the series progresses, its wackier elements diminish, but the satire of human life and foibles is ever present. --Brooks PeckPacked with an Astounding Amount of New and Never-Before-Collected Material.

Why are people born? Why do they die? Why do they want to spend so much of the intervening time wearing digital watches?

No one but Douglas Adams could have pared life’s meaning down to these three questions, and they remain as inspired and head-scratchingly clever today as they did twenty-five years ago when they appeared in the first edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Showcasing his quick wit, comic genius, and wide-ranging intelligence, Hitchhiker’s has become nothing less than a cult classic and cultural phenomenon.

To celebrate its quarter century and the extraordinary legacy of Adams, t! his gorgeously designed, mostly harmless deluxe edition gather! s never- before-collected photographs, original artwork, memorabilia (from the strange to the sublime), and wisdom gleaned from a first read or first encounter as Douglas’s friends remember how the galaxy was forever changed a mere twenty-five years ago (not to mention the original text of the novel) into a one-of-a-kind Guide as stunning as two suns setting over Magrathea.

Whether you are well versed in the antics of Arthur Dent, a mild-mannered Earthman plucked from his planet seconds before it’s demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, and Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy posing as an out-of-work actor, or are hitching a ride for the first time, this is the book that has everything you’ll nee to know about anything.So please do not be alarmed. Definitely don’t panic. Just be sure to grab a towel.Join Douglas Adams's hapless hero Arthur Dent as he travels the galaxy with his intrepid pal Ford! Prefect, getting into horrible messes and generally wreaking hilarious havoc. Dent is grabbed from Earth moments before a cosmic construction team obliterates the planet to build a freeway. You'll never read funnier science fiction; Adams is a master of intelligent satire, barbed wit, and comedic dialogue. The Hitchhiker's Guide is rich in comedic detail and thought-provoking situations and stands up to multiple reads. Required reading for science fiction fans, this book (and its follow-ups) is also sure to please fans of Monty Python, Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, and British sitcoms.Climb aboard for wacky, irreverent fun with The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy on Blu-ray’s high definition disc. Based on Douglas Adams’ best-selling novel, this "fascinating, funny and relentlessly awe-inspiring" (UPN-TV) movie soars to cosmic heights in this stellar new format. Seconds before Earth is destroyed, mild-mannered Arthur Dent is whisked into ! space by a friendly alien in human form to search for answers ! to the m ystery of life, the universe and everything. Experience thrilling special effects and intergalactic misadventures in astonishing 1080p, and feel the impact of every supernova with 5.1 48 kHz, 16-bit uncompressed audio. It’s a wild, out-of-this-world ride with Blu-ray™ High Definition.

Don't panic! After twenty years stuck in development (a mere blink compared to how long it takes to find the answer to life, the universe, and everything), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has finally been turned into a movie. Following the radio play, TV series, commemorative towel, and books, this latest installment in the sci-fi-comedy franchise is based on the screenplay and detailed notes by Douglas Adams.


Hitching a ride.

For those unfamiliar! with the story, everyman Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) wakes up one morning to discover that his house is set to be demolished to make room for a bypass. Little does he know the entire planet Earth is also set to be destroyed for an interplanetary bypass by the Vogons, a hideous and bureaucratic race of aliens realized in the film by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Whisked off the planet by his best friend, alien-in-disguise Ford Prefect (Mos Def), Dent embarks on a goofy jaunt across the galaxy accompanied by his trusty Hitchhiker's Guide, which looks like a really fancy PDA.

The guide itself provides some of the funniest bits of the movie, little animated shorts that explain the ludicrous life forms and extraterrestrial phenomena our heroes encounter. Along the way Arthur meets the two-headed party animal/president of the galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell) and develops an unrequited crush on fellow earthling Trillian (Zooey Deschanel). The creatures and sets are ! inspired and answer to the sci-fi fan's primal need to see lot! s and lo ts of cool stuff. In particular, there's John Malkovich's creepy, CGI-enhanced Humma Kavula. He's a guru leading a religion that worships the gigantic nose that allegedly sneezed the universe into existence (naturally all their prayers end not with "Amen" but with "Bless you.") The aliens the team encounters are inspired creations, eminently worthy of action figure-ification, and the sets belie an attention to detail worthy of freeze-framing. Fans of the other Hitchhiker manifestations, namely the British TV series, will be amused by a number of in-jokes sprinkled throughout the movie.


Concept art: The Heart of Gold pod on the planet Vogsphere

Where the story stumbles is in the telling--as books, the Hitchhiker's Guide was foremos! t about goofy and brilliant ideas that raised questions about our place in the universe while getting a laugh. The cast seems at times bewildered, at least when Sam Rockwell isn't picking pieces of scenery out of his teeth, perhaps a natural reaction to an adaptation of a book with no traditional plot. The movie has enough trouble figuring out how to get the characters from one fantastical location to the next that Adams's funniest concepts often feel left in the dust. While the reverence the filmmakers felt toward Adams's legacy is apparent, one wonders what we could have expected had the creator of this science fiction universe lived to see it with his own eyes. -- Ryan Boudinot

A Guide to the Guide

The Soundtrack
The Radio Play (CD)

The TV Series

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (Deluxe Edition)

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (Paperback)

The Filming of the Douglas Adams Classic (book)

Interviews with The Cast and Director


Watch our interviews with the cast and director of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and find out what they think of other DVDs and books:
high bandwidth
low bandwidth

The BBC Radio Full-Cast Dramatization!

Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.

Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfr! iend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up ! at a coc ktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.

Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? Why do we spend so much time between wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don't forget to bring a towel!

Presented Fully Dramatized on 3 CDs.Eoin Colfer, author of the acclaimed Artemis Fowl series, has written a brilliant and hilarious sequel to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Arthur Dent has finally made it home to Earth, but that does not mean that he has escaped his fate. Arthur's chances of getting his hands on a decent cup of tea have evaporated rapidly, along with all the world's oceans. For no sooner has he touched down on the planet Earth than he finds out that it is about to be blown up . . . again.

And! Another Thing . . . features a pantheon of unemployed gods, everyone's favorite renegade Galactic President, a lovestruck green alien, an irritating computer, and at least one very large slab of cheese.

The Hurt Locker

  • Condition: New
  • Format: DVD
  • AC-3; Color; Dolby; Dubbed; DVD; NTSC; Subtitled; Widescreen
War is a drug. Nobody knows that better than Staff Sergeant James, head of an elite squad of soldiers tasked with disarming bombs in the heat of combat. To do this nerve-shredding job, it’s not enough to be the best: you have to thrive in a zone where the margin of error is zero, think as diabolically as a bomb-maker, and somehow survive with your body and soul intact. Powerfully realistic, action-packed, unrelenting and intense, The Hurt Locker has been hailed by critics as “an adrenaline-soaked tour de force” (A.O. Scott, The New York Times) and “one of the great war movies.” (Richard Corliss, Time)The making of honest action movies has become so rare that Kathryn Bigelow's magnificent The Hurt Locker was shown mostly in ! art cinemas rather than multiplexes. That's fine; the picture is a work of art. But it also delivers more kinetic excitement, more breath-bating suspense, more putting-you-right-there in the danger zone than all the brain-dead, visually incoherent wrecking derbies hogging mall screens. Partly it's a matter of subject. The movie focuses on an Explosive Ordnance Disposal team, the guys whose more or less daily job is to disarm the homemade bombs that have accounted for most U.S. casualties in Iraq. But even more, the film's extraordinary tension derives from the precision and intelligence of Bigelow's direction. She gets every sweaty detail and tactical nuance in the close-up confrontation of man and bomb, while keeping us alert to the volatile wraparound reality of an ineluctably foreign environment--hot streets and blank-walled buildings full of onlookers, some merely curious and some hostile, perhaps thumbing a cellphone that could become a trigger. This is exemplary movie! making. You don't need CGI, just a human eye, and the imaginat! ion to r ealize that, say, the sight of dust and scale popped off a derelict car by an explosion half a block away delivers more shock value than a pixelated fireball.

The setting may be Iraq in 2004, but it could just as well be Thermopylae; The Hurt Locker is no "Iraq War movie." Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal--who did time as a journalist embed with an EOD unit--align themselves with neither supporters nor opponents of the U.S. involvement. There's no politics here. War is just the job the characters in the movie do. One in particular, the supremely resourceful staff sergeant played by Jeremy Renner, is addicted to the almost nonstop adrenaline rush and the opportunity to express his esoteric, life-on-the-edge genius. The hurt locker of the title is a box he keeps under his bunk, filled with bomb parts and other signatory memorabilia of "things that could have killed me." That none of it has killed him so far is no real consolation. In this movie, you never know who'! s going to go and when; even high-profile talent (we won't name names here) is no guarantee. But one thing can be guaranteed, and that is that almost every sequence in the movie becomes a riveting, often fiercely enigmatic set piece. This is Kathryn Bigelow's best film since 1987's Near Dark. It could also be the best film of 2009. --Richard T. Jameson

And Soon the Darkness

  • AND SOON THE DARKNESS (DVD MOVIE)

Stephanie (Amber Heard) and Ellie’s (Odette Yustman) vacation to an exotic village in Argentina is a perfect ‘girl’s getaway’ to bask in the sun, shop and flirt with the handsome locals. After a long night of bar-hopping, the girls get into an argument, and Stephanie heads out alone in the morning to cool off. But when she returns, Ellie has disappeared. Finding signs of a struggle, Stephanie fears the worst, and turns to the police for help. But the local authorities have their hands full already - with a string of unsolved kidnappings targeting young female tourists. Skeptical of the sheriff’s competency, she enlists help from Michael (Karl Urban), an American ex-pat staying at their hotel. Together they go on a frantic search for Ellie, but Stephanie soon realizes that trusting his seemingly good intentions may drag her farther from the! truth. With danger mounting, and time running out, Stephanie must find her friend before darkness falls.Lesson from And Soon the Darkness: don't miss the last bus out of the small town in Argentina where you've stopped for the night on your cross-country bicycling tour. Especially if you are two nubile young women on your own. Actually, there are many lessons to be learned in this movie, which hews closer to the twisty suspense of A Perfect Getaway than the hardcore travel-torture action of Hostel. Amber Heard and Odette Yustman star as the gadabout gals, partying a little too heartily and sleeping in past their departure date in a tiny village full of vaguely shady characters. Karl Urban (Star Trek) is also loitering around the town, an actor who brings a useful quality of "is he a good guy or a possible killer?" to the proceedings. Director Marcos Efron can find no way of making the behavior of the characters even marginally believable, eith! er as real people or as movie types we might reasonably want t! o accept as figures in a cautionary tale. They're just dumb. The movie's pictorial qualities are pretty enough, as the countryside of Argentina looks fairly spectacular and Heard and Yustman find excuses to sunbathe in their bikinis. Amber Heard (Zombieland, Pineapple Express) definitely has something, leading lady-wise, but a movie this single-note is not the way to explore whatever that is. For the record, it's a remake of a 1970 British film, where the travelers were lost in the wilds of France. --Robert Horton

The Anti-Christ

  • ISBN13: 9781936594269
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Lars von Trier (Europa, Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark) shook up the film world when he premiered Antichrist at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. In this graphic psychodrama, a grief-stricken man and womanâ€"a searing Willem Dafoe (Platoon, The Last Temptation of Christ) and Cannes best actress Charlotte Gainsbourg (Jane Eyre, 21 Grams)â€"retreat to a cabin deep in the woods after the accidental death of their infant son, only to find terror and violence at the hands of nature and, ultimately, each other. But this most confrontational work yet from one of contemporary cinema’s most controversial artists is no mere provocation. It is a visually sublime, emotionally ravaging journey to the darkest! corners of the possessed human mind; a disturbing battle of the sexes that pits rational psychology against age-old superstition; and a profoundly effective horror film.Lars von Trier's notorious Antichrist is a fascinating and extremely gruesome experiment that combines B-horror tropes with art film concepts and cinematography to question differences between high horror and low horror, if there are such categories. Like the best of Argento, namely Suspiria, Antichrist follows a strictly formulaic, minimalist, almost operatic script structure in which the story of a couple, played by Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg, grieve their dead son. The highly organized story, like a poem, has ample space for metaphors to form, dwell, and transform into overgrown mysteries, such as the decadent forest, Eden, where the couple retreat to their cabin to face demons. When the camera zooms in on a flower vase's murky water on the nightstand beside a bereft Gains! bourg, one senses the ensuing downward spiral.

While the ! film's p lot, marked by chapters named after stages of grief, like "Pain" and "Despair," is rooted in absolute realism, the film's glorious moments are in its fantasy. There is a talking fox, subtle hints at ghostly occurrences, and many scenes that express the uncanny. Moreover, Gainsbourg's character, obsessed with witchcraft as it relates to historical gynocide and misogyny, adds much to the film's depressing sensibility that wallows unapologetically in decrepitude and faulty, negative reasoning. Dafoe, who plays the psychologist treating his hallucination-plagued wife, does a remarkable job depicting a person struggling through loss with logic. Antichrist works because Dafoe and Gainsbourg create archetypal characters, functioning symbolically as Logic and Psychosis in a Freudian maze with no exit. That said, the violent conclusions in the film's third chapter, "Despair (Gynocide)," are grim, graphic, and very difficult to watch. Antichrist, like its sister film in ! violence portrayed artfully, Irreversible, has all the more shock value because of the archetypal symbolism it successfully establishes. --Trinie DaltonLars von Trier (Europa, Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark) shook up the film world when he premiered Antichrist at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. In this graphic psychodrama, a grief-stricken man and womanâ€"a searing Willem Dafoe (Platoon, The Last Temptation of Christ) and Cannes best actress Charlotte Gainsbourg (Jane Eyre, 21 Grams)â€"retreat to a cabin deep in the woods after the accidental death of their infant son, only to find terror and violence at the hands of nature and, ultimately, each other. But this most confrontational work yet from one of contemporary cinema’s most controversial artists is no mere provocation. It is a visually sublime, emotionally ravaging journey to the darkest corners of the possessed human mind; a disturbing battle of the sexes that pits rational psychology against ag! e-old superstition; and a profoundly effective horror film.Lar! s von Tr ier's notorious Antichrist is a fascinating and extremely gruesome experiment that combines B-horror tropes with art film concepts and cinematography to question differences between high horror and low horror, if there are such categories. Like the best of Argento, namely Suspiria, Antichrist follows a strictly formulaic, minimalist, almost operatic script structure in which the story of a couple, played by Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg, grieve their dead son. The highly organized story, like a poem, has ample space for metaphors to form, dwell, and transform into overgrown mysteries, such as the decadent forest, Eden, where the couple retreat to their cabin to face demons. When the camera zooms in on a flower vase's murky water on the nightstand beside a bereft Gainsbourg, one senses the ensuing downward spiral.

While the film's plot, marked by chapters named after stages of grief, like "Pain" and "Despair," is rooted in absolute realism, t! he film's glorious moments are in its fantasy. There is a talking fox, subtle hints at ghostly occurrences, and many scenes that express the uncanny. Moreover, Gainsbourg's character, obsessed with witchcraft as it relates to historical gynocide and misogyny, adds much to the film's depressing sensibility that wallows unapologetically in decrepitude and faulty, negative reasoning. Dafoe, who plays the psychologist treating his hallucination-plagued wife, does a remarkable job depicting a person struggling through loss with logic. Antichrist works because Dafoe and Gainsbourg create archetypal characters, functioning symbolically as Logic and Psychosis in a Freudian maze with no exit. That said, the violent conclusions in the film's third chapter, "Despair (Gynocide)," are grim, graphic, and very difficult to watch. Antichrist, like its sister film in violence portrayed artfully, Irreversible, has all the more shock value because of the archetypal symbol! ism it successfully establishes. --Trinie DaltonHere is! Friedri ch Nietzsche's great masterpiece The Anti-Christ, wherein Nietzsche attacks Christianity as a blight on humanity. This classic is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand Nietzsche and his place within the history of philosophy. "We should not deck out and embellish Christianity: it has waged a war to the death against this higher type of man, it has put all the deepest instincts of this type under its ban, it has developed its concept of evil, of the Evil One himself, out of these instincts-the strong man as the typical reprobate, the 'outcast among men.' Christianity has taken the part of all the weak, the low, the botched; it has made an ideal out of antagonism to all the self-preservative instincts of sound life; it has corrupted even the faculties of those natures that are intellectually most vigorous, by representing the highest intellectual values as sinful, as misleading, as full of temptation. The most lamentable example: the corruption of Pascal, who beli! eved that his intellect had been destroyed by original sin, whereas it was actually destroyed by Christianity!" -Friedrich Nietzsche

Sound Storm Laboratories SX310 2 Way Electronic Crossover with Remote Subwoofer Level Control

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  • Subwoofer Crossover Variable From 40Hz to 400Hz
  • Remote subwoofer level control
  • (sub out)Stereo/mono switch (subwoofer)
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  • Signal-to-noise ratio: >100! dB Dimensions: 7-1/4" (W) x 7-3/8" (L) x 1 5/8" (H)
  • Slope: 12 dB/octave Remote subwoofer level control Bass boost: variable 0 - +12DB @ 45HzPhase inversion shift switch
  • Stereo/mono switch (subwoofer). Independent front, rear and Subwoofer output level controls. Speaker input level adjustment
SSL crossovers allow you to direct specific frequency ranges to the Sound Storm tweeters, full range speakers, and subwoofers designed to best reproduce those frequencies: Essentially, they tell your tweeters when to tweet and your woofers when to woof! The SX310 is a 3-way electronic crossover with remote subwoofer level control. It features front, rear, and subwoofer inputs as well as independent front, rear, and subwoofer output levels and level controls. Signal-to-noise ratio is >110dB. Other standard features include a parallel input switch that permits feeding multiple channels from one input, phase inversion switch (sub out), stereo/mono switch (sub out)! , and Bass Boost (0 to 12 dB) variable from 25Hz to 250Hz. Cro! ssover f requencies can be selected as follows, front high pass from 32Hz to 250Hz, rear high pass from 40Hz to 400Hz, and subwoofer from 40Hz to 400Hz. For technical questions about this product please visit our website, soundstormlab.com, or call a technician at 888.38.STORM. When it comes to building an impressive and affordable home-quality theater in your vehicle, Sound Storm is your solution. Let us prove to you that everything else is just noise.

TCM Spotlight: Esther Williams, Volume One (Bathing Beauty / Easy to Wed / On an Island with You / Neptune's Daughter / Dangerous When Wet)

  • Five films that make a splash from Hollywood s swimming superstar! Bathing Beauty (1944): Esther Williams made a big splash as a Bathing Beauty. Suddenly a new star and a new genre of moviemaking was born. Rambunctious funnyman Red Skelton joins that new star in this buoyant (literally) comedy about a lovesick songwriter who enrolls in a women s college to woo his estranged swimming-teacher wife.
No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 6-NOV-2001
Media Type: DVDAlthough it was unfortunately ignored during its brief theatrical release, this sumptuously seductive production is that rarest of cinematic breeds, the (barely) respectable guilty pleasure. Combining historical fact with hysterical anachronisms of language and mannerism, it's been tailored for maximum contemporary appeal but maintains a lush, romantic feel for! its factual 16th-century tale of Venetian love, lust, and political repression. Catherine McCormack (Mel Gibson's ill-fated bride in Braveheart) delivers a star-making performance as the "dangerous beauty" who becomes a skillful courtesan to pursue her forbidden love for a dashing Venetian senator (Rufus Sewell). It's all rather silly in a high-toned fashion, and the film turns dour when the church intervenes with a Scarlet Letter-like papal inquest. But the movie's joyously ribald vitality is utterly irresistible, and the casting of McCormack with Jaqueline Bisset (as her mother and courtesan mentor) is a stroke of pure genius. Merchant-Ivory would've made a smarter film from this material, but it probably wouldn't be nearly as entertaining. --Jeff Shannon Although it was unfortunately ignored during its brief theatrical release, this sumptuously seductive production is that rarest of cinematic breeds, the (barely) respectable guilty pleasure. Combini! ng historical fact with hysterical anachronisms of language an! d manner ism, it's been tailored for maximum contemporary appeal but maintains a lush, romantic feel for its factual 16th-century tale of Venetian love, lust, and political repression. Catherine McCormack (Mel Gibson's ill-fated bride in Braveheart) delivers a star-making performance as the "dangerous beauty" who becomes a skillful courtesan to pursue her forbidden love for a dashing Venetian senator (Rufus Sewell). It's all rather silly in a high-toned fashion, and the film turns dour when the church intervenes with a Scarlet Letter-like papal inquest. But the movie's joyously ribald vitality is utterly irresistible, and the casting of McCormack with Jaqueline Bisset (as her mother and courtesan mentor) is a stroke of pure genius. Merchant-Ivory would've made a smarter film from this material, but it probably wouldn't be nearly as entertaining. --Jeff ShannonVincent Perez (The Crow, City of Angels) and Rachel Weisz (Stealing Beauty) star wit! h Ian McKellen and Kathy Bates in this passionate film about two star-crossed lovers. Amy Foster, considered a simpleton by some and a witch by others, is accused of conjuring the fierce storm which causes a shipwreck. Only one man survives and is immediately drawn to strange Amy. A haunting tale of love and loss, Swept From the Sea is "a superb, epic and moving romance". Brilliantly directed and performed. "Four stars." - Paul Wunder, WBAI RADIO Based on the Joseph Conrad story "Amy Foster," this swirlingly romantic melodrama tells the story of a Polish sailor (Vincent Perez) shipwrecked and washed ashore on the English coast in the 19th century. Found by a servant girl, Amy (Rachel Weisz), who is a village outcast, he is considered retarded because no one can understand what he says. But slowly, through Amy's love and the doctor's tutelage, the sailor learns enough English to decide he wants to make an honest woman out of Amy. Which doesn't sit well with th! e disapproving villagers, who don't like Amy. Even the doctor,! who has a fondness for the sailor, has a blind spot when it comes to the servant girl. Strong performances and gritty period settings lift this film above bodice-ripper status to something richer. --Marshall FineKAMA SUTRA - DVD MovieIf you're looking for a deep, intelligently romantic movie with complex characters and a richly rewarding plot, don't bother with Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love. On the other hand, if you're feeling sexy and in the mood for a lush, seductive, and visually stunning film set in 16th-century India, this one will please you like the best foreplay you've ever experienced. Or it will relax you like a full treatment at a pampering spa--either way, you're gonna feel pretty fantastic. Okay, okay... maybe we're getting a little carried away, but there's no denying that director Mira Nair (best known for her acclaimed film Salaam Bombay!) has crafted a sumptuous film for the eyes if not the head. Its melodramatic plot is involving enough to eleva! te the movie high above soft-core adult fare, so you won't feel guilty after watching it.

Kama Sutra is the story of a young woman named Maya (the stunning Indira Varma) who has always been lower on the social scale than her well-born friend Tara (Sarita Choudhury), and has always lived in Tara's shadow, wearing her used clothes and being made to feel inferior. When Tara is betrothed to the handsome King Raj Singh (Naveen Andrews, from The English Patient), Tara sneaks into the king's tent on the eve of the wedding and seduces him. Later, after being trained to master the Kama Sutra's many "lessons of love," Maya will be the king's courtesan, and emotions will run high between the former best friends. But the plot is of secondary importance here (a fact that resulted in many mixed reviews), and so Kama Sutra works best as a colorful and irresistibly sexy story that is worth seeing just for the startling beauty of the film and its cast. --Jeff S! hannon INCLUDES: BATHING BEAUTY (1944), EASY TO WED (1946)! , ON AN ISLAND WITH YOU (1948), NEPTUNE'S DAUGHTER (1949), DANGEROUS WHEN WET (1953)

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