Itzin, Gregory

24 - Season Six

It s 20 months after the end of season 5 and Jack is back. A series of suicide bombings across the United States has CTU pushed to their limits and the only way to stop the attacks will be to sacrifice their star agent. But are they being misled and can Jack uncover the real mastermind before the bombings begin? Of course it s going to take more than weapons to stop Bauer from uncovering the truth but what he finds it just the beginning of a much larger conspiracy involving nation states the U.S. government and a host of other factors that make this season of 24 the most exciting to date.System Requirements:Running Time: 1012 mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 024543462927 Manufacturer No: 2246292

Creating and executing a TV series in which each season takes place in the course of just one day, with each episode occupying a single hour, is no mean feat, but the makers of 24 have pulled it off admirably. And while many of the show's longtime adherents seem to agree that this sixth season (with 24 episodes offered on six DVDs, plus a seventh disc loaded with bonus features) is perhaps its weakest, relative newcomers, freed from the expectations generated by the five that preceded it, will find it to be riveting entertainment. This is a show that hits the ground running and then proceeds to relentlessly ratchet up the tension, balancing its disparate elements--terrorism and espionage, political intrigue and treachery, personal drama--with remarkable aplomb. Indeed, the first episode is barely underway before we're told that a plague of terrorist bombings is sweeping the United States, killing many hundreds and leaving the nation in disarray. President Wayne Palmer (DB Woodside), in office for just three months following the assassination of his brother, agonizes over the proper course of action while some of his advisers counsel restraint and others urge him to adopt measures that will radically restrict Americans' (especially those of Muslim descent) civil liberties. Meanwhile, Jack Bauer (star and executive producer Kiefer Sutherland) has been released after two years in a Chinese prison, but only so he can be handed over to Abu Fayed (Adoni Maropis), a particularly nasty villain who proposes to trade Jack's life for the location of Hamri Al-Assad (Alexander Siddig), who's suspected of being the mastermind behind the current reign of terror. That's only the beginning, of course. Soon Jack (who, despite being severely tortured during his imprisonment, is still cool enough to coordinate a manhunt while simultaneously disarming a bomb set to detonate in two minutes) and his counter-terrorism cronies are dealing with the specter of a nuclear holocaust on American soil, more political assassination, Jack's feckless family, and a good deal more. And that's only in the first twelve hours! It doesn't all work--especially in the second half. Some of the characters are less than convincing (Jack's brother Graem, portrayed by Paul McCrane, is weak in every respect; in fact, the entire family sideshow is fairly ridiculous), while the casting is sometimes off the mark (Woodside does his best, but he lacks the gravitas needed in a plausible Chief Executive) and the story contains multiple plot points that will challenge even those willing to totally suspend their disbelief. By and large, though, 24 more than lives up to its own hype as the tube's most addictive program. Bonus material includes commentary on selected episodes, deleted scenes, a preview of Season 7, several featurettes, and a whole lot more. --Sam Graham

Original Sin (Unrated Version)

Original Sin belongs in the "so bad it's good" category of languid potboilers, offering enough nudity, sexual chemistry, and far-fetched plotting to make it an enjoyable lazy-day diversion. Based on Cornell Woolrich's novel Waltz into Darkness (previous filmed by François Truffaut as Mississippi Mermaid) and set in turn-of-the-century Cuba, the film traces a tailspin of amorous obsession when coffee plantation owner Luis (Antonio Banderas) discovers that his American mail-order bride (Angelina Jolie) is not the plain wife he'd expected, but a beautiful, scheming thief who's after his fortune. The movie asserts that love is truly blind, but absurd twists of plot make Luis appear more stupid than passionate. Writer-director Michael Cristofer fared better with Jolie in Gia; here, he's made another good-looking film about beautiful people, but its plot just can't be taken seriously. --Jeff Shannon

Adaptation (Superbit Collection)

Twisty brilliance from screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze, the team who created Being John Malkovich. Nicolas Cage returns to form with a funny, sad, and sneaky performance as Charlie Kaufman, a self-loathing screenwriter who has been hired to adapt Susan Orlean's book The Orchid Thief into a screenplay. Frustrated and infatuated by Orlean's elegant but plotless book (which is largely a rumination on flowers), Kaufman begins to write a screenplay about himself trying to write a screenplay about The Orchid Thief, all the while hounded by his twin brother Donald (Cage again), who's cheerfully writing the kind of formulaic action movie that Kaufman finds repugnant. By its conclusion, Adaptation is the most artistically ambitious, most utterly cynical, and most uncategorizable movie ever to come out of Hollywood. Also starring Meryl Streep (as Susan Orlean), Chris Cooper, Tilda Swinton, and Brian Cox; superb performances throughout. --Bret Fetzer

Director Spike Jonze delivers a stunningly original comedy that seamlessly blends fictional characters and situations with the lives of real people: obsessive orchid hunter John Laroche (Cooper) New Yorker journalist Susan Orlean (Streep) Hollywood screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Cage) and his twin brother Donald (also Cage). As Charlie struggles to adapt Orlean's best-selling book "The Orchid Thief" he writes himself into his own movie. The various stories crash into one another exploding into a wildly imaginative film. ADAPTATION the year's most talked about movie is at once a hilarious drama and a moving comedy.System Requirements:Starring: Nicolas Cage Meryl Streep Tilda Swinton and Chris Cooper. Directed By: Spike Jonze. Running Time: 115 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2003 Columbia Tri-Star.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 043396076013 Manufacturer No: 07601

Evolution

Based on the evidence in Evolution, one thing is perfectly clear: special effects have evolved, but director Ivan Reitman has reverted to primitive pandering. Equally obvious is the fact that Evolution is a de facto rip-off of Reitman's 1984 classic Ghostbusters, but this time there's no Bill Murray to deliver the best punch lines (we have to settle for fellow ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd in a broad supporting role), and the comedy has devolved into a grossfest including deep-rectal extraction of alien insects, fire-hose enemas into a giant alien sphincter, and a full-moon display of David Duchovny's naked posterior. Whereas Ghostbusters was a shrewd, irreverent mainstream comedy that combined gooey spectral ectoplasm with something resembling genuine wit, Evolution is a crude, juvenile romp in which all things slimy are elevated to comedic supremacy.

Granted, that's not always a bad thing. As latter-day ghostbuster equivalents, Duchovny, Orlando Jones, and Seann William Scott make a fine comedic trio, and Julianne Moore is equally amusing as a clumsy scientist and Duchovny's obligatory love interest. Despite the meddling of clueless military buffoons, they join forces to eradicate a wild variety of rapidly evolving alien creatures that arrived on Earth via meteor impact, and the extraterrestrial beasties (courtesy of effects wizard Phil Tippet and crew) are outrageously designed and marvelously convincing. For anyone who prefers lowbrow humor, Evolution will prove as entertaining as Ghostbusters (or at least Galaxy Quest), while others may lament Reitman's shameless embrace of crudeness. One thing's for certain: after seeing this movie, you'll gain a whole new appreciation for Head & Shoulders shampoo. --Jeff Shannon

Hard To Hold

No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG
Release Date: 28-DEC-2004
Media Type: DVD

Life Or Something Like It

Angelina Jolie proves her box-office versatility in Life or Something Like It, a romantic comedy (Jolie's first) that succeeds on the strength of Jolie's appealing performance. As Seattle TV news reporter Lanie Kerrigan, Jolie craves celebrity (i.e., she's insecure and seeks approval), but her disapproving cameraman (Edward Burns) detects an admirable woman beneath Lanie's bleached-blond coif and pancake makeup. When a homeless street prophet (Tony Shalhoub) predicts that Lanie will soon be dead, she gradually juggles her priorities, connecting with Burns, appearing drunk on camera (a mistake that ultimately works in her favor), and finding new confidence in her professional and romantic potential. It's generic fluff, but director Stephen Herek (Rock Star, Mr. Holland's Opus) approaches the material with his reliably good-natured sincerity, and Jolie's bubbly charm mixes well with Burns's casual sensibility. And while Herek can't compare to George Cukor or Billy Wilder, he knows just how to handle the inevitable loopholes in the prophet's not-so-gloomy premonition. --Jeff Shannon

A reporter, Lanie Kerrigan (Jolie), interviews a psychic homeless man (Shalhoub) for a fluff piece about a football game's score. Instead, he tells her that her life has no meaning, and is going to end in just a few days, which sparks her to action, trying to change the pattern of her life...

The Fabulous Baker Boys

This vibrant and sexy romantic comedy-drama is an extremely well-written acted and executed adult entertainment set against the sometimes tacky world of the lounge act. Pfeiffer an actress of stunning beauty and incomparable talent gives an intelligent smoldering performance as Susie Diamond the singer who enters the lives of two brothers (the fabulous Bridges boys) whose piano act is dying a slow death. The film follows the love affair between cynical Jeff and sultry Michelle almost effortlessly evoking the mood of those great 1940s screen romances. The smokey atmosphere is further enhanced by Dave Grusin's outstanding jazz score.System Requirements:Run Time: 113 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 027616065896 Manufacturer No: M106589

An inspired casting gimmick, a wonderful mood, a grown-up love story--all this in The Fabulous Baker Boys, but the only thing anybody ever talks about is Michelle Pfeiffer on top of a piano. Granted, it's a showstopper: clad in a slinky dress, Pfeiffer rolls around on the Steinway while she purrs out a languid version of "Makin' Whoopee." Adding to the seductive vibe is the fact that she's not singing to the audience, but to the sullen piano player (Jeff Bridges) whose fancy she has captured. Bridges and his real-life brother, Beau, play two lounge entertainers whose act has grown stale; they're not above doing "Feelings" for the tourist crowd. They've hired songbird Pfeiffer (who does her own sexy singing) to spice up the routine, a strategy that pays off in spades. The three actors are terrific, with the fabulous Bridges boys playing neatly off their own sibling rhythms. Writer-director Steve Kloves captures the feel of second-rate Seattle clubs, and Dave Grusin's jazzy score keeps propelling the film forward. The story itself might have come from a 1940s romance, yet Kloves and his actors keep it unusually modern and thoughtful. And then there's Michelle Pfeiffer rolling around on top of a piano.... --Robert Horton

Eerie, Indiana - The Complete Series

Original Sin (R Rated Version)

A young man falls obsessively in love with a mysterious woman who is as obsessed with his fortune as she is with him.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 30-JUL-2002
Media Type: DVD

Original Sin belongs in the "so bad it's good" category of languid potboilers, offering enough nudity, sexual chemistry, and far-fetched plotting to make it an enjoyable lazy-day diversion. Based on Cornell Woolrich's novel Waltz into Darkness (previous filmed by François Truffaut as Mississippi Mermaid) and set in turn-of-the-century Cuba, the film traces a tailspin of amorous obsession when coffee plantation owner Luis (Antonio Banderas) discovers that his American mail-order bride (Angelina Jolie) is not the plain wife he'd expected, but a beautiful, scheming thief who's after his fortune. The movie asserts that love is truly blind, but absurd twists of plot make Luis appear more stupid than passionate. Writer-director Michael Cristofer fared better with Jolie in Gia; here, he's made another good-looking film about beautiful people, but its plot just can't be taken seriously. --Jeff Shannon

Born to Be Wild

Here there and everywhere else she wants to be is Katie a hilariously playful three-year-old gorilla who knows how to communicate using sign language. But what makes her more special to 14-year-old Rick (Wil Horneff) is that she's his friend. So when Katie is reclaimed by her former owner (Peter Boyle) and penned up as a flea market attarction Rick unlocks the cage and hits the road with his 400-pound pal! Pursued from California to Canada the two share narrow escapes and wide-open excitement. Through it all Katie - whether she's spraying Rick with soda or scarfing down burgers - is having big fun on the run! After all adventure comes naturally when you're Born to Be Wild.Running Time: 100 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 085392413522

Born to Be Wild has been dismissed more than once as a knockoff of Free Willy. Except for the teaming of a troubled kid and a large mammal in pursuit of the latter's freedom, that comparison is off the mark. Part screwball comedy and part animal-rights drama, the film stars Wil Horneff as Rick, a young, incorrigible teen whose mother (Helen Shaver), a primate researcher, enlists him to help care for a gorilla named Katie. Much to his surprise, Rick bonds with Katie, a lonely simian who yearns for the Africa of her youth and whose expressive range includes a fair amount of sign language. When Katie's coldhearted owner (Peter Boyle) decides to take her back and put her on display at a department store, Rick steals her away and stuffs her in a stolen van--which he then proceeds to drive to Canada hoping his girlfriend's uncle (John C. McGinley), a conspiracy nut, can lead this 800-pound gorilla to freedom. Rick's quixotic mission is not without funny mishaps and even some character-building challenges to the hero's conviction. (A rambunctious, often impolite girl like Katie is not the easiest travel companion.) But the film's final arrival turns out to be much more than one might have expected: a moving testament to the joy and pain of accepting one's destiny. --Tom Keogh