Warchild

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Comments: They have a plan, but not a clue.

Summary: Only Joel and Ethan Coen, the fraternal director and producer team behind art-house hits such as "The Big Lebowski" and "Fargo" and masters of quirky and ultra-stylish genre subversion, would dare nick the plot line of Homer's "Odyssey" for a comic picaresque saga about three cons on the run in 1930s Mississippi. Our wandering hero in this case is one Ulysses Everett McGill, a slick-tongued wise guy with a thing about hair pomade (George Clooney, blithely sending up his own dapper image) who talks his chain-gang buddies (Coen-movie regular John Turturro and newcomer Tim Blake Nelson) into lighting out after some buried loot he claims to know of. En route they come up against a prophetic blind man on a railroad truck, a burly, one-eyed baddie (the ever-magnificent John Goodman), a trio of sexy singing ladies, a blues guitarist who's sold his soul to the devil, a brace of crooked politicos on the stump, a manic-depressive bank robber, and--well, you get the idea. Into this, their most relaxed film yet, the Coens have tossed a beguiling ragbag of inconsequential situations, a wealth of looping, left-field dialogue, and a whole stash of gags both verbal and visual. "O Brother" (the title's lifted from Preston Sturges's classic 1941 comedy "Sullivan's Travels") is furthermore graced with glowing, burnished photography from Roger Deakins and a masterly soundtrack from T-Bone Burnett that pays loving homage to American '30s folk styles--blues, gospel, bluegrass, jazz, and more. And just to prove that the brothers haven't lost their knack for bad-taste humor, we get a Ku Klux Klan rally choreographed like a cross between a Nuremberg rally and a Busby Berkeley musical. "--Philip Kemp"

Comments: Smile while you're makin' it. Laugh while you're takin' it. Even though you're fakin' it. Nobody's gonna know...

Summary:

Languages: Korean, Unknown

Subtitles: English

Sound: MP3

Comments: Have you really loved someone?

Summary: Jong-du, a young man just out of prison for manslaughter, is a social misfit: fidgety, snuffling, laughing inappropriately, without a super ego. When released, he calls on the family of the victim; they send him away, but not before he has seen Gong-ju, a young woman disabled severely by cerebral palsy. Both are abused by their families, and both are used by them as well. Although their relationship begins with Jong-du's criminal behavior, a friendship develops. They talk of favorite things; he washes her hair; they go out; in late night phone calls, he helps her past her fears of the dark. Is there a place in the world for these two inarticulate people?

Sound: MP3

Comments: Wan jian chuan xin

Summary:

Sound: MP3

Comments: Rivière du hibou, La

Summary: A Civil War civilian is to be executed by hanging, but when the plank is kicked away, instead of breaking his neck, he manages to miraculously escape unscathed or did he?

Comments: Bo ming chan dao duo ming qiang

Summary:

Languages: Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese

Subtitles: Chinese, English

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0

Summary: I have to beg you not to get the DVD distributed by Mei-Eh and it has the Tai Seng sticker on the front of it. The DVD cuts out at the 45 minute mark and I couldn't get it to play again. I tried a DVD player that I have only played a few times and ran into the same problem. Since no one else on here has had problems, I am guessing they got the Tai Seng version. So whatever you do DO NOT GET THE MEI-EH/TAI SENG VERSION!!!!!

Now it took me over 2 hours to watch this trying to get it to play but I did manage to see about 80 of the 90 minutes. Luckily I saw the beginning and the end. The story doesn't exactly explain itself that well at the start but you will proabably figure it out. Takeshi Kaneshiro is big time gambler who I thought was just a little bit off. While not the brightest guy, it makes for a VERY interesting character to study. I don't want to spoil the story because it is actually quite good. It gets a bit boring in the middle and I didn't like the disbelief part at the end. This movie is very good but has a hard time staying on track and wanders off pretty far some times.

So again, do not get the Mei-Eh version or if you have the Mei-Eh/Tai Seng version, please review how it plays.

Subtitles: English

Sound: MP3

Comments: Edipo re

Summary: In pre-war Italy, a young couple have a baby boy. The father, however, is jealous of his son - and the scene moves to antiquity, where the baby is taken into the desert to be killed. He is rescued, given the name Edipo (Oedipus), and brought up by the King and Queen of Corinth as their son. One day an oracle informs Edipo that he is destined to kill his father and marry his mother. Horrified, he flees Corinth and his supposed parents - only to get into a fight and kill an older man on the road...

Languages: English, PCM Mono

Sound: Dolby

Comments: Unbridled "realism!" defying every tradition of the screen !

Summary: George (Meredith) and half-wit Lenny (Chaney) work on a western ranch during the Great Depression, dreaming of the autonomy of owning and operating their own ranch some day.

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Comments: If it can't scare them to death, it will find another way.

Summary: An advertising executive battles a giant, intelligent rat that has invaded his townhouse.

Languages: Dutch

Subtitles: English

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Summary: AN UNASSUMING BUS DRIVER GOES BERSERK AND TAKES AN ENTIRE OFFICE TOWER HOSTAGE AT GUNPOINT IN THIS SUSPENSEFUL PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER. UNFOLDING IN TANTALIZING PIECES IN THE VEIN OF MEMENTO AND FIGHT CLUB, OFF SCREEN MEMORABLY STARS JAN DECLEIR (ANTONIA'S LINE, CHARACTER) AS JOHN VOERMAN, WHO MAY OR MAY NOT BE IMAGINING THAT THE LATEST TELEVISION TECHNOLOGY IS SENDING HIM TERRIFYING SUBLIMINAL MESSAGES. AFTER MEETING TV EXECUTIVE GERARD WESSELINCK (JEROEN KRABBE, THE FUGITIVE, THE FOURTH MAN), VOERMAN IS LED ON A STRANGE ODYSSEY OF SINISTER REVELATIONS THAT PEEL AWAY THE CHILLING LAYERS OF THE TRUTH. INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY, THIS AWARD-WINNING FILM KEEPS YOU GUESSING UNTIL THE SHOCKING END!

Sound: Dolby

Summary: On hearing the news of the death of his sister, a Buddhist monk leaves the temple where he has lived since childhood and struggles to adjust to life on the outside as an uncle to a young niece and as a businessman running a hair salon in a small Thai town in a southern province. He even must learn to ride a bicycle and zip up his trousers without injuring himself. He is confronted by a flood of feelings - sexual, for a woman and family friend across the street; as well as fear and hatred for the Muslims, who he believes is responsible for his sister's death and other sorrows in his life.

Sound: MP3

Summary:

Languages: Japanese

Subtitles: English

Sound: MP3

Comments: Yoen dokufuden: Okatsu kyojo tabi

Summary: In the final episode of the LEGENDS OF THE POISONOUS SEDUCTRESS series, Junko Miyazono appears one final time as beautiful swordswoman Okatsu the Avenger, but this time seeking Judayu, a corrupt merchant responsible for the death of her parents. Betrayed by her fiancé, Okatsu finds herself aided in her quest by a handsome stranger (yakuza film star Tatsuo Umemiya) who happens to be as handy with a sword as she is! What is the reason for his kindness, and will Okatsu be able to prevail against Judayu, now a powerful businessman with scores of allies in high places? Whatever the end may be, the restless spirits of her murdered parents drive OKATSU THE FUGITIVE along her crimson-colored road of vengeance. Master filmmaker Nobuo Nakagawa (Jigoku, Snake Woman s Curse) brings audiences the stunning end of the trilogy that inspired countless imitators among Toei s Pinky Violence films of the 1970s.

Be sure to collect the other two volumes in the LEGENDS OF THE POISONOUS SEDUCTRESS series FEMALE DEMON OHYAKU and QUICK-DRAW OKATSU for more action-packed female swordplay excitement!

Languages: Chinese

Subtitles: English

Sound: AAC

Summary: Sam the Seed teaches his new pupil the Beggar Fist as preparation for a duel to the death with the Bald-Headed Dragon. A kung fu comedy masterpiece!

Languages: Korean, English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Comments: 15 years of imprisonment, five days of vengeance

Summary: In the realm of revenge thrillers, you'd be hard pressed to find more ultra-violent vengeance and psycho thrills than in the creepy story of "Oldboy". This Korean import made a pop splash at the Cannes Film Festival and during its limited theatrical run thanks to the imprimatur of Quentin Tarantino, who raved about it and its visionary director, Chan-wook Park, to anyone who would listen. It's easy to see why QT fell in love with the grindhouse attitude, fast-paced action, violent imagery, and icy-black humor, but it's a disservice to think of "Oldboy" as another Tarantino homage or knockoff. The darkly existential undercurrent in the themes that "Oldboy" traces over its life-long narrative arc is much more complex and deeply disturbing than anything of its kind. The movie's tagline is, "15 years of imprisonment... 5 days of vengeance." The imprisonee is Oh Dae-Su, an ordinary Joe who is snatched off a Seoul street corner and locked away in a dank, windowless fleabag hotel room for the aforementioned 15 years. Just as abruptly he is released, and thus the five days begin. Why did this happen to Oh Dae-Su? Ah, but that would be telling, and in fact we don't know ourselves until the final wrenching scenes.
"Oldboy" breaks into a classic three-act saga, the first of which details the hallucinatory period of imprisonment in which Oh Dae-Su wades from mild insanity to outright psychosis in the hands of unseen yet attentive captors. Act 2 is the revenge, when an entirely different tone takes over and Oh Dae-Su moves with single-minded purpose and clarity. It's this section that has gained the most notoriety, primarily for the claw-hammer dentistry scene, the one-man-army tracking shot, and the wriggling octopus that Oh Dae-Su consumes in a sushi bar (he's been dead so long he simply needs life back inside him in any way possible). In act 3, answers finally start to emerge and the sinister atmosphere grows even more profound--not without a healthy dose of extra bloodletting, of course. "Oldboy" is an undeniably poetic masterpiece of tension, fury, and dynamic craft. Ultimately, its epic cycle of tragedy is of the sort that mankind has been inflicting upon itself for all time. Some of the images may be gruesome, but all converge into a kind of beauty. It's in the telling of this lurid tale that these details become one and the memories of pain ultimately heal. "--Ted Fry"

Languages: English, French

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: Dolby

Comments: The Last Man on Earth is Not Alone

Summary: Science fiction took a grim turn in the 1970s--the heyday of Agent Orange, nuclear peril, and Watergate. Suddenly, most of our possible futures took on a "last man on Earth" flavor, with "The Omega Man" topping the doom-struck heap.
Charlton Heston plays the government researcher behind the ultimate biological weapon, a deadly plague that has ravaged humanity. There are two groups of survivors: a dwindling band of immune humans and an infected, psychopathic mob of light-hating quasi-vampires. The infected are led by Mathias, a clever, charismatic man set on destroying the last remnants of the civilization that produced the plague. Heston has a vaccine--but he and the few remaining normals are outnumbered and outgunned. By day, he builds a makeshift version of the nuclear family (with Rosalind Cash as his afro-wearing, gun-toting little lady). They plan for the future while roaming freely through an empty urban landscape, taking what few pleasures life has left. By night, they defend themselves against the growing horde of plague victims. Both a bittersweet romance and a gothic cautionary tale, "The Omega Man" paints a convincing portrait of hope and despair. It ain't pretty, but it's a great movie. "--Grant Balfour"

Languages: English

Comments: In One Strange Night she met both LOVE ... and MURDER!

Summary: Two peak achievements by as many top noir directors ... a customized vehicle for one of noir's premier icons ... an oddball experiment in making a truly "private eye" movie ... and a Howard Hughes remake of his earliest contribution to the gangster genre. Such are the five titles corralled for Warner Home Video's third box set of film noir classics.
For eye-popping dynamism coupled with ferocious intensity, no noir director matched Anthony Mann. "Border Incident" (1949) was Mann's and cinematographer John Alton's first film for MGM following a string of darkly dazzling low-budget beauties at Eagle-Lion ("T-Men", "Raw Deal", "The Black Book", et al.). In structure it's virtually a remake of "T-Men", transposed from the shadowy city where a Secret Service team battled counterfeiters, to California's Imperial Valley where the Immigration Service sets out to infiltrate a gang exploiting--and often murdering--Mexicans eager to work the farms. From the opening night scene of three laborers trying to recross the border and meeting a grisly end, the movie relentlessly imagines ways the human body can merge with the earth. Visually stunning, and replete with memorable villains (headed by Howard Da Silva, a past master at making affability lethal), this is one of Mann's strongest noirs and surely his most inventive. Its neglect can be explained only by people's assumption that nothing worthwhile could come of a movie top-billing Ricardo Montalban and George Murphy (as the government agents). Wrong, wrong, wrong.
After a scalding first reel in big-city night streets, Nicholas Ray's "On Dangerous Ground" (RKO, 1951) likewise forsakes familiar noir terrain for the countryside--the mountains and snowfields where city cop Robert Ryan seeks a psychotic killer. For both the actor and the director, Ryan's character is an exemplary creation: a man with personal demons whose overzealous pursuit of criminals has pushed him into sadism. His passage from urban darkness into the silent white mountain country becomes a redemptive journey, thanks largely to his interaction with a blind woman (Ida Lupino) in an isolated farmhouse whose younger brother may be the quarry he's after. Ray developed the screenplay with A.I. Bezzerides under the supervision of producer John Houseman (for whom Ray had made his feature debut, "They Live By Night"). The film boasts a thrilling music score by Bernard Herrmann, anticipating his great soundtrack for "North by Northwest".
"His Kind of Woman " (also RKO, 1951) is a vehicle for both RKO's reigning bad boy, Robert Mitchum, and Howard Hughes' definitive coup of distaff engineering, Jane Russell. Their characters cross paths en route to a seaside Mexican resort, where she aims to continue her gold-digger pursuit of Hollywood ham Vincent Price, and Mitchum will figure in a plot to get deported mobster Raymond Burr back into the U.S.A. The slow-brewing romance between this dauntingly tall, broad-shouldered pair gives off little heat, but the players' good-natured, weary-pro rapport as they go through their mostly preposterous paces makes for very good fun. Still more is supplied by Price, who just about steals the movie when he gets to extend his sub-Errol Flynn screen heroism into real life--all the while supplying his own florid running commentary on the action. The urbane director John Farrow filled the movie with one delicious, what-the-"hell"-is-going-on-here scene after another (highlight: a bored Mitchum ironing his money), but that wasn't enough for studio boss Hughes. Richard Fleischer was brought in to stretch the climactic melodrama aboard Burr's yacht in the harbor, and the picture grew to an overblown two hours in length. Not that you're likely to regret a minute of it.
Robert Montgomery directed and played Phillip Marlowe in "Lady in the Lake" (MGM, 1947), Raymond Chandler's novel as adapted by Steve Fisher ("I Wake Up Screaming"). The gimmick is that, apart from a few scenes of private detective Marlowe chatting us up in his office, everything is viewed through his eyes, with Marlowe himself remaining unseen unless he glances in a mirror. This literal-minded conceit is more curious than compelling; the camera simply doesn't "see" the way the human eye does, and the artificiality constantly calls attention to itself. Montgomery, a suave actor who enjoyed playing it coarse and obnoxious on occasion, makes his screen Marlowe more smartass than any other ("dumb, brave, and cheap"). With him cracking wise off-camera, much of the movie is really carried by Audrey Totter, a swell late-'40s dame who has to stand up under more relentless scrutiny than even her shifty character deserves.
"The Racket" (RKO, 1951) is the second film version of a 1920s play about municipal corruption, gangsterism, and the attempt to squash an honest police precinct captain. John Cromwell had acted in the original Broadway production, which may help explain why, as director, he let so much of this movie turn back into a play. Eventually studio boss Howard Hughes, who had produced the 1928 film version (directed by Lewis Milestone), once again called in another director to do salvage work.
That was Nicholas Ray, whose scenes include police captain Robert Mitchum's pursuit of the man who has just bombed his home. Mitchum's fellow cast members include Robert Ryan as the ultra-paranoid gangster; husky-voiced noir blonde Lizabeth Scott as a nightclub thrush romanced by Ryan's brother; future "Perry Mason" D.A. William Talman as a dedicated street cop; and Ray Collins and William Conrad as two municipal officials negotiating a delicate dance with morality and expediency. "--Richard T. Jameson"

Sound: Dolby

Comments: When you least expect it, destiny comes knocking on your door...

Summary:

Languages: English, Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French, Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Commentary by Film Critic/Writer Richard Schickel and Elia Kazan Biographer Jeff Young, Unknown

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Georgian, Thai, Chinese

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0

Comments: A story as warm and moving as GOING MY WAY...but with brass knuckles!

Summary: Terry Malloy dreams about being a prize fighter, while tending his pigeons and running errands at the docks for Johnny Friendly, the corrupt boss of the dockers union. Terry witnesses a murder by two of Johnny's thugs, and later meets the dead man's sister and feels responsible for his death. She introduces him to Father Barry, who tries to force him to provide information for the courts that will smash the dock racketeers.

Sound: MP3

Comments: With Davy Crockett And The River Pirates, Mr Motot's Gamble, A Christmas Story, They Drive By Night, Appointments Of Dennis Jennings

Summary:

Languages: English, Spanish

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Sound: AAC

Comments: The Who's Who of Who-Dunnits.

Summary: Phoebe and fellow American Julian Peters meet in Rome, find a lost dog, and agree to return it to Monte Carlo to split the five thousand dollar reward. Discovering the dog's owner dead, they panic and become fugitives. Other victims of misfortune also become suspects, as the plot twists and luck and judgment desert everyone.