Daddy & Them
from Miramax Home Entertainment
Billy Bob Thornton's white-trash comedy has loads of appeal, beginning with a delightful cast playing the most dysfunctional Southern family outside a Faulkner novel. Thornton and Laura Dern play married couple Claude and Ruby Montgomery, whose true love is stymied by petty jealousies over her old boyfriends and his long-ago romance with Ruby's sister, Rose (Kelly Preston). When Claude's Uncle Hazel (Jim Varney) is arrested, the duo join their extended clan in Little Rock to provide support for him and his defense team (a stormy couple sharply played by Jamie Lee Curtis and Ben Affleck). But cooperation is an alien concept to this family; in no time they're bickering, drinking, and deflating dreams. Typical of Thornton, this is serious yet funny stuff, and the actors--including Andy Griffith, John Prine, Diane Ladd, and Brenda Blethyn--work that fine line between drama and comedy with admirable inspiration. --Tom Keogh
Academy Award(R) winner Billy Bob Thornton (Best Adapted Screenplay, SLING BLADE, 1996; MONSTER'S BALL) has crafted another must-see motion picture as writer, director, and star of this darkly humorous comedy treat! Also starring Laura Dern (JURASSIC PARK), Diane Ladd (28 DAYS), and Kelly Preston (THE CAT IN THE HAT), it's the entertaining story of a dysfunctionally funny family from Arkansas that rallies to support their uncle (Jim Varney -- THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES) when he's charged with murder. With Hollywood favorites Andy Griffith, Ben Affleck, and Jamie Lee Curtis in an amazing cast of stars, you'll love the amusing give-and-take dished out by this outrageous collection of characters!
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 - The Dream Master
from New Line Home Video
A young woman, seeing her friends all succumb to the horror of Freddy Kreuger and his dream haunting, sets out to release their tortured souls.
Genre: Horror
Rating: R
Release Date: 6-SEP-2005
Media Type: DVD
Mistress
by Barry Primus
from Geneon [Pioneer]
Robert Wuhl stars as a movie director who's got integrity, vision, and a serious script - but no career. Martin Landau is a sleazy producer who introduces Wuhl to Robert De Niro, Danny Aiello and Eli Wallach - three guys with money who are willing to invest in the movie. But with one catch: each one wants his girlfriend to be the star. Putting the deal together and keeping the mistress happy turns into a hilarious expose of the truth about Hollywood. Robert Wuhl, Martin Landau, Robert De Niro, Danny Aiello, Eli Wallach
Telling Lies in America
by Guy Ferland
from Fox Lorber
Joe Eszterhas (formulaic screenwriter of many overpaid projects, most infamously Basic Instinct and Showgirls) somewhat redeems himself with this semi-autobiographical story. His mouthpiece is Karchy Jonas (Brad Renfro), a Hungarian-born immigrant (like Eszterhas himself) growing up in Cleveland in 1960. His pop (Maximilian Schell) works hard to send Karchy to an expensive high school, where Karchy is ostracized by the rich kids and labors to find acceptance. Into town walks itinerant rock DJ Billy Magic (Kevin Bacon), the quintessence of cool with a dark charm. Magic needs a teen to run errands for him (mostly carrying payola envelopes), so he hosts a "High School Hall of Fame" contest to help him find an assistant. Karchy, who idolizes Magic, wins the contest by forging signatures of his classmates on postcards. Magic knows of Karchy's deception and is intrigues by it, as that is the kind of dishonesty he's looking for in his assistant. Karchy's lying grows into a major character trait, forcing the kid into many difficult social situations, not the least of which involves government officials investigating the slippery Magic for payola and threatening to jeopardize Karchy's family's citizenship status if he doesn't cooperate. Although no less a formula plot than other Eszterhas stuff, this one's lifted a bit by the director's personal connection to the story and by a great, charismatic performance by Kevin Bacon. Much more could be written about the connection between lying and storytelling, and fending for oneself in the mendacious jungles of Hollywood, but suffice it to say that Karchy eventually grows up to write Showgirls. --Jim Gay
Cover Story
by Greg Smith
from Miracle Pictures
He's covering the story of his life...his next deadline could be his own! Matt McKendree is falling in love. There's only one problem: the girl of his dreams is dead...or is she? All around this situation is a cloud of mystery and intrigue. Matt decides to use his journalistic expertise to solve the puzzle. THRILLER
Telling Lies in America
by Guy Ferland
Joe Eszterhas (formulaic screenwriter of many overpaid projects, most infamously Basic Instinct and Showgirls) somewhat redeems himself with this semi-autobiographical story. His mouthpiece is Karchy Jonas (Brad Renfro), a Hungarian-born immigrant (like Eszterhas himself) growing up in Cleveland in 1960. His pop (Maximilian Schell) works hard to send Karchy to an expensive high school, where Karchy is ostracized by the rich kids and labors to find acceptance. Into town walks itinerant rock DJ Billy Magic (Kevin Bacon), the quintessence of cool with a dark charm. Magic needs a teen to run errands for him (mostly carrying payola envelopes), so he hosts a "High School Hall of Fame" contest to help him find an assistant. Karchy, who idolizes Magic, wins the contest by forging signatures of his classmates on postcards. Magic knows of Karchy's deception and is intrigues by it, as that is the kind of dishonesty he's looking for in his assistant. Karchy's lying grows into a major character trait, forcing the kid into many difficult social situations, not the least of which involves government officials investigating the slippery Magic for payola and threatening to jeopardize Karchy's family's citizenship status if he doesn't cooperate. Although no less a formula plot than other Eszterhas stuff, this one's lifted a bit by the director's personal connection to the story and by a great, charismatic performance by Kevin Bacon. Much more could be written about the connection between lying and storytelling, and fending for oneself in the mendacious jungles of Hollywood, but suffice it to say that Karchy eventually grows up to write Showgirls. --Jim Gay
Icemaker
by David Gaz
from Xenon
A Slapstick crime caper with an interesting premise, this dark morality tale, inspired by the real-life brave new world of processing deceased loved ones into wearable precious gems, features an assortment of twisted characters whom collide in a diabolically comedic scheme to reap millions by creating diamonds from the remains of famous and even historic personalities
+++




