Directed by Sam Raimi, Spider-Man centers on student Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) who, after being bitten by a genetically-altered spider, gains superhuman strength and the spider-like ability to cling to any surface. He vows to use his abilities to fight crime, coming to understand the words of his beloved Uncle Ben: "With great power comes great responsibility." Mostly Marthais a rich addition to the recent banquet of movies about food. Martha (Martina Gedeck), the domineering chef at a fancy restaurant, has her rigid routine broken when her sister dies in a car wreck, leaving behind her 9-year-old daughter Lina (Maxime Foerste). Martha takes the girl in, but has no gift for maternal expression; she offers Lina food, but Lina refuses to eat. Meanwhile, her control over her kitchen is threatened when her boss hires a buoyant Italian named Mario (Sergio Castellitto) to assist, and Martha finds herself flailing in an effort to reestablish control of her life. While Mostly Marthamay not hold many surprises, the writing, direction, and particularly the acting are as sumptuous and sensual as the cooking and eating. The relationship between Martha and Lina is portrayed with all its awkwardness and complications intact; the result is wonderfully affecting. Bret Fetzer Inspired by the extraordinary true story of a brilliant young master of deception and the FBI agent hot on his trail, Catch Me If You Can stars Oscar nominee Leonardo DiCaprio and two-time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks in one of the year's most acclaimed hits! From three-time Oscar winning director Steven Spielberg, Catch Me If You Can follows Frank W. Abagnale, Jr. as he successfully passes himself off as a pilot, a lawyer and a doctor - all before his 21st birthday! Joel Siegel of Good Morning America declares, "Movies don't get much more fun that this!" while The Associated Press hails this incredible tale as "the most flat-out-fun movie of the year!" Michael Moore's superb documentary (following in the footsteps of Roger & Meand The Big One) tackles a meaty subject: gun control. Moore skillfully lays out arguments surrounding the issue and short-circuits them all, leaving one impossible question: why do Americans kill each other more often than people in any other democratic nation? Moore focuses his quest around the shootings at Columbine High School and the shooting of one 6-year-old by another near his own hometown of Flint, Michigan. By approaching the headquarters of K-Mart (where the Columbine shooters bought their ammo) and going to Charlton Heston's own home, Moore demands accountability from the forces that support unrestricted gun sales in the U.S. His arguments are conducted with the humor and empathy that have made Moore more than just a gadfly; he's become a genuine voice of reason in a world driven by fear and greed. Bret Fetzer Bob Fosse's sexy cynicism still shines in Chicago, a faithful movie adaptation of the choreographer-director's 1975 Broadway musical. Of course the story, all about merry murderesses and tabloid fame, is set in the Roaring '20s, but Chicagoreeks of '70s disenchantmentthis isn't just Fosse's material, it's his attitude, too. That's probably why the movie's breathless observations on fleeting fame and fickle public taste already seem dated. However, Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones are beautifully matched as Jazz Age vixens, and Richard Gere gleefully sheds his customary cool to belt out a showstopper. (Yes, they all do their own singing and dancing.) Whatever qualms musical purists may have about director Rob Marshall's cut-cut-cut style, the film's sheer exuberance is intoxicating. Given the scarcity of big-screen musicals in the last 25 years, that's a cause for singing, dancing, cheering. And all that jazz. Robert Horton There's A Mighty Winda-blowin', along with the gales of laughter you'll get from Christopher Guest's third exercise in brilliant "mockumentary." After tackling small-town theatricals in Waiting for Guffmanand obsessive dog-show contestants in Best in Show, Guest and his reliable stable of repertory players (including Fred Willard, Parker Posey, and Bob Balaban) apply their improvisational genius to a latter-day reunion of fictional '60s-era folk singers, a comedic goldmine that Guest first explored 30 years earlier on The National Lampoon Radio Hour. Collaborating with costar and cowriter Eugene Levy (who gives the film's funniest performance), Guest is so delicate in his satirical approach that the laughs aren't always obvious, and the subtlety can be as wistful (as in Catherine O'Hara's performance as Levy's auto-harpist partner) as it is hilarious. Some may wish for more blatant comedy, but that would compromise the genuine affection that Guest & Co. have for the music they're spoofing. Jeff Shannon Before the Legend...Before the Icon...He was a teenager growing up in Smallville. The Complete First Season of the hit series that chronicles the life of the boy who would be Superman is on DVD in a 6-disc collector's set with super bonus features. |
X2does a fine job of picking up where X-Menleft off, giving fans more of what they liked the first time around. Under the serious-minded custody of returning director Bryan Singer, the second film of this Marvel comics franchise ups the ante on Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and the superhero mutants from the first film, pitting them against a mutant-hating scientist (Brian Cox) who's determined to wipe out the mutant race by tricking Xavier into abusing his telepathic powers. More a series of spectacles than a truly satisfying thriller, X2introduces new mutant allies while giving each of the X-Menalumninotably the temporarily helpful Magneto (Ian McKellen)their own time in the spotlight. Well aware of the parallels between "mutantism" and virulent intolerance in the real world, Singer lends real gravity to the proceedings, injecting dramatic urgency into a continuing franchise that, in lesser hands, might've grown patently absurd. Jeff Shannon When Ryan Atwood, a tough, guarded, fiercely intelligent 16-year-old plunges headlong into the wealthy, privileged community of Newport Beach, he soon discovers that the ruling families of Orange County are every bit as territorial as the tough crowd with which he ran on the streets of Chino. For Sandy Cohen, the idealistic public defender who takes Ryan in; his wife Kirsten, the linchpin of O.C. society; their awkward adolescent son, Seth; and the beautiful troubled girl next door, Marissa Copper - Ryan's presence will forever change their lives. Writer/Director Zach Braff delivers an Oscar®-worthy performance (CBS-TV Chicago) opposite a wacky and endearing (Newsweek) Natalie Portman in this quirky, coming-of-age comedy. Twentysomething, emotionally detached Andrew Large Largeman (Braff) hasn t been home to New Jersey in nine years. Now, as Large attempts to re-connect with a variety of odd acquaintances including his father he decides to risk getting high on the most potent and unpredictable drug there is life! Co-starring Peter Sarsgaard, Ian Holm and Method Man, Garden State is marvelous fun (Rolling Stone) Disney The Incredibles (2-Disc Collector's Edition) - Widescreen DVD There's trouble (and plenty of fun) in paradise in this 24-episode, 7-disc Season 2 collection of the smash-hit series set in Orange County's posh Newport Beach. Hook up with what's coming down as the Core Four romances of Ryan-and-Marissa and Seth-and-Summer may (or may not) go from very over to very on, Sandy and Kirsten face choices that could trainwreck their 20-year marriage, felon (and Ryan's brother) Trey gives Newport living a try, Julie's lurid past comes back to haunt her, and other new hunks and hotties become part of the coastal scene. Live. Laugh. Lie. Cheat. Grow. Share. Connive. Love. In California's beach paradise, they do everything under the sun. "Rent" - Set in New York City's gritty East Village the revolutionary rock opera "Rent" tells the story of a group of bohemians struggling to live and pay their rent. "Measuring their lives in love" these starving artists strive for success and acceptance while enduring the obstacles of poverty illness and the AIDS epidemic. "Rent" is based on Jonathan Larson's Pullitzer and Tony Award winning musical one of the longest running shows on Broadway. The raw and reveting musical stars Rosario Dawson Taye Diggs Wilson Jermaine Heredia Jesse L. Martin Idina Menzel Adam Pascal Anthony Rapp and Tracie Thoms and is directed by Chris Columbus.System Requirements:Run Time: 135 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS/MUSICALS Rating: PG-13 UPC: 043396111554 Manufacturer No: 11155 An Emmy-winner for Outstanding Comedy Series its first year, The Cosby Showrapidly became to Thursday nights what The Wonderful World of Colorand Bonanzawere to Sundays in the 1960s: a family tradition. And the best was yet to come. Season 2 features some of this gold-standard series' benchmark episodes, most notably. "Happy Anniversary," the one in which the family honors Cliff's parents' wedding anniversary with a show-stopping lip-sync routine to Ray Charles's "Night Time Is the Right Time." In "Theo's Holiday," Theo (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) gets a taste of the real world when his family shows him what it takes to live on his own. The Emmy-winning "Full House" anticipates Seinfeld"nothing"-ness as an exhausted Cliff (Bill Cosby) wanders his home in search of peace and quiet. |