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DVD
With Reese Witherspoon
The story is poignant enough and had sufficient humorous scenes in it to keep the
audience hooked. Melanie (Reese Witherspoon) has just
agreed to marry the Camelot-bred son (Patrick Dempsey) of New
York's no-nonsense mayor (Candice Bergen), but first she has
to officially divorce the husband (Josh Lucas) she left
behind years earlier... only to discover that their love is stronger than ever.
In 1998, after years of being refined at the Sundance Institute, Slums of Beverly Hills, Tamara Jenkins' semi-autobiographical film about growing up poor in the 90210 zip code was released. The film stars Natasha Lyonne as Vivian Abromowitz, a soon-to-be high school freshman coming to terms with her suddenly enormous breasts and the attention they receive -- all in front of her massively dysfunctional family. The entire family quietly suffers the indignity of moving from one dumpy apartment building to the next, as their down-and-out father (Alan Arkin) keeps things on the cheap so his kids can attend the good Beverly Hills public schools. Living with her pothead big brother (David Krumholtz), clueless younger brother (Eli Marienthal), Viv's life is further shaken up with the arrival of her pill-popping cousin, Rita (Marisa Tomei), who functions as the closest thing Viv has as a role model. It's as if, just as Viv is beginning to come into her own, she realizes she needs to grow up quickly. The films strengths are many: Jenkins' writing is funny and tinged with a certain amount of tragedy, her characters are completely relatable, and her cast is letter-perfect. With Robert Redford's name in the credits and a bundle full of critical raves behind it, the indie comedy met with surprising commercial success. Interestingly, Ms. Jenkins fled Hollywood after Slums, though she took small roles in a couple films. She focused her attention on training on become an Olympic kayaker, and participated in her first Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000.
Slums of Beverly Hills @ IMDb.com
Seven
- New Platinum Series 
2 Discs
Starring: Morgan
Freeman, Brad
Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Spacey
Director: David Fincher
Seven
is probably one of the greatest examples of mixing complete fiction into the real world.
This film does a great job portraying a sick world. The constant rain makes everything
seem dead or dying, which it inevitably is.
Four feature-length commentaries accompany the film on Disc 1.
With Stuart Townsend, Dan Futterman
Standing in the Shadows of Motown 
A must-see film for any fan of the Supremes, the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, the Funk Brothers or any other classic Motown stars. The soundtrack fetaures Joan Osborne, Meshell Ndegeocello, Bootsy Collins, Gerald Levert, Ben Harper, Gerald Levert, Chaka Khan, Montell Jordan...
Sam Raimi's Spider-Man
Widescreen Edition
Tobey Maguire is sensational as Peter Parker, portraying him as the outcast teenager undergoing some spectacular changes. Willem Dafoe is perfectly cast as Spidey's schizoid nemesis, the Green Goblin, and the movie's a lot of fun overall.
Starring: Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor
Director: Sidney Poitier
Region 1 encoding
Color, Widescreen, Dolby, Digital Sound, Closed-captioned
Theatrical trailer(s)
Full-screen and widescreen anamorphic formats
A lot of goos laughs! Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor are two New York yoyos who try their luck in California and are accused of robbing a bank. Most of the laughs concern their survival strategies in prison (at one point, Wilder decides to "reach out and talk" to some hulking murderer) and their plans to escape. Both performers are so brilliant in any situation that they give this film plenty of funny moments (one or two of which became instantly classic).
Unlike many Mel Gibson movies, Signs has minimal violence. Director M. Night Shyamalan (in his follow-up to The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable) favors atmospheric tension over explanatory plotting. Signs has suspense, comedy, screams. Great.
Starring: Patricia Arquette, Gabriel
Byrne, Portia DeRossi, Nia Long
Director: Rupert Wainwright
Region 1 encoding
Color, Widescreen, Closed-captioned
Snatch 
Special Edition
This Guy Ritchie's incredible movie will rekindle your faith in Hollywood filmaking! With Benicio Del Toro and Brad Pitt. The DVD is loaded with awesome features.
Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Judge Reinhold
Director: Larry Parr
Region 1 encoding
Color, Digital Sound
M. K. Joseph's haunting A Soldier's Tale was superbly filmed on location in France. Byrne plays a common British soldier who tries to protect a beautiful woman. She has been accused of being a German collaborator by the French resistance.
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Frank Whaley
Director: George Huang
Region 1 encoding
Color, Dolby, Widescreen, Closed-captioned
A savage indictment of both the movie business and the price of ambition, Swimming with Sharks is one of the best black comedies of the Nineties. Spacey's performance as the modern-day monster is galvanizing.
The Sweetest Thing 
(Unrated Version)
With Cameron Diaz, Thomas Jane
PETER
SELLERS Collection 
6 Discs
Six British (black-and-white) comedies in which Sellers plays leading or supporting roles: I'm
All Right Jack - Heavens Above! - Hoffman - Two-Way Stretch
- The Smallest Show on Earth - Carlton-Browne of the F.O.
VHS
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
Starring: Melvin Van Peebles
Director: Melvin Van Peebles
NTSC format
Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
Van Peebles produced, directed, financed, wrote, scored, and stars in this angry, violent, reverse-racist blaxploitation drama as a superstud who runs, runs, runs from the police. Controversial (and X-rated) when first released. Earth Wind and Fire Soundtrack.
(1966)
Starring:
Rock Hudson, John Randolph, Frances Reid, Murray Hamilton, Salome Jens, Wesley Addy, Jeff Corey, Will Geer and Khigh Dhiegh.Director: John Frankenheimer
Using the guise of science fiction, director Frankenheimer and cinematograper James Wong Howe along with actors Rock Hudson and John Randolph work to create a terrifying and heartbreaking portrait of life lost. "There is an unturned key inside everybody." So says one of this amazing films' souless and mournful characters. Kubricks Eyes Wide Shut and Frankenheimer's Seconds share immense similarities. Classic American character actor Will Geer is the ultimate in gentile evil as the mephestopholian CEO of a mysterious company that gives middle aged men new identities. Great devastating and disturbing black and white cinematography enhanced by a superb soundtrack.
Seconds is a "Twilight Zone"-like tale of Greed, Lust, and Capitalism.
frank & missus (C) 2001-06.
Email: frankObrain@angelfire.com17588