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DVD

Chicago: Razzle Dazzle Ed.

Clean Sweep

Conceiving Ada

A tribute to Ada Byron, a woman who was so far ahead of her time.

Modern-day genius Emmy Coer (Francesca Faridany), working on creating artificial life via the computer, becomes obsessed with Ada Byron King, daughter of the famous British poet, Lord Byron. Using her own DNA, Emmy is somehow able to channel Ada's memories and play them back on her computer screen. The two women leading parallel lives eventually become inextricably tied for all time.
Conceiving Ada makes mathematics seem marvelously sexy (Ada Byron is a fascinating historical figure who, among other things, wrote in the mid-19th century what is arguably the first computer program.) The supporting cast adds to the film's distinctiveness: Timothy Leary (LSD guru) is Sims, Emmy's spectral cybervision of a mentor, and the inimitable Karen Black appears as the mother of both Emmy and Ada.

Crossworlds

With Josh Charles, Andrea Roth, Rutger Hauer

Very good low budget sci-fi movie.

Carrie

Sissy Spacek scored her first Oscar nomination for 1976's Carrie, Brian De Palma's adaptation of Stephen King's first novel - and after all these years, still one of the best King adaptation ever. By turns pathetic and beautiful, Spacek makes her telekinetic character an unlikely horror heroine, even as she wreaks havoc upon the high school kids who taunted and tormented her. Though it's certainly mired in the `70s (check out some of those fashion choices and hairstyles), Carrie has aged well as an insinuatingly creepy thriller, with a finale that will knock your socks off, or knock you out of your chair. Look for effective supporting turns by Betty Buckley, Amy Irving and Nancy Allen, not to mention Piper Laurie's glorious performance as Spacek's religious and oppressive mother. And of course, a Welcome Back, Kotter-era John Travolta, who put an aw-shucks grin on the face of cruelty.

Carrie @ IMDb

Cactus Flower

Starring: Walter Matthau, Ingrid Bergman, Goldie Hawn
Director: Gene Saks

Worthy movie version of Abe Burrows' hit Broadway play Cactus Flower. This film has still laughing power.

Circus

True to its name in every respect, Circus is full to the brim with enough plot twists, conniving characters, hidden agendas and betrayals to keep any viewer's head spinning. Meet Leo (John Hannah) - a smart cookie of a con man whose gambling luck seems to be dwindling in proportion to the number of potential schemes that pop up - and his slinky wife Lily (Famke Janssen), who have determined that they'll do one last heist to settle debts and then leave their life of crime behind, spending the rest of their days in some tropical paradise. When a casino-owning thug named Bruno (Brian Conley), strong-arms Leo into taking over control of one of his northern casinos, the conning couple sees it as their opportunity to take the casino's money and run. Before they can set their plan in motion, however, a deluge of other problems interfere, including a murder that needs to be committed, the arrival of Lily's ex-husband (Fred Ward) looking for revenge, and a local loan shark (Eddie Izzard) calling in Leo's gambling debts. While the intertwining of so many plot threads can be downright exasperating at times, the individual performances keep the audience involved and entertained. John Hannah's charm and persistent finagling drives the pace of the film, and the icy-cold calm Famke Janssen lends Lily keeps everyone guessing which side she's really on. Izzard's performance is a treat too, as his portrayal of show tune fanatic loan-shark Troy is a fabulous mix of violence and vitriolic wit that keeps the film balancing the line between drama and comedy.

Circus @ IMDb

Chasing Amy Criterion Collection

Starring: Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Lee
Director: Kevin Smith

Region 1 encoding
Color, Widescreen, Dolby, AC-3

Director Kevin Smith gives a realistic look at relationships in the 90's yet still displays the adolescent humour that made his previous film (Clerks) so enjoyable. Great music.

The Constant Gardener

The Constant Gardener might be a political platform for City of God director Fernando Meirelles, but he's truly made a movie for Ralph Fiennes, and it's through his character's awakening that the film transcends its source material and its own inherent flaws. When his activist wife Tessa (Rachel Weisz) is found brutally murdered in northern Kenya, mid-level British diplomat Justin Quayle (Fiennes) is convinced (by his own dark thoughts, and by a darker conspiracy hatched by those around him) that she had been unfaithful to him; he believes she was killed by her friend and fellow activist, Arnold (Hubert Koundé), in a crime of passion. Initially, we, too, are led down this path, yet one of the film's strongest achievements is Meirelles's ability to keep his audience one step ahead of his protagonist, as he layers together the communities of politics, business, and medicine - then slices through them to show how mmaleficence and disconcern for human life affect the African population ...