Kusatsu, Clyde

Turner and Hooch

A detective who lives a neat and orderly life is forced to live with the only witness to a crime, a destructive slobbering junkyard dog, until the crime is solved.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 2-MAR-2004
Media Type: DVD

Much better than your average cop-and-dog movie (e.g., K-9), Turner and Hooch is really a love story about a control freak (Tom Hanks) who gradually resigns to the messy chaos of a sweet hulk of a pooch named Hooch. The excuse for this relationship is that the dog can identify a murderer and Hanks needs him, but the film is really about such hilarious moments as Hanks bathing Hooch with a long brush, and a wild chase through the streets when the sharp-eyed mutt spots his suspect. Layered over this is a healthy love story between Hanks and animal vet Mare Winningham, who share a terribly sexy scene together--while fully clothed--doing no more than making breakfast. (Hanks directed this scene, though Roger Spottiswoode directed the rest of the movie.) --Tom Keogh

The Librarian - Quest for the Spear

To be a librarian you must master the Dewey Decimal System ace internet research and if you're new librarian Flynn Carsen (Noah Wyle) save the world! Wyle (ER) heads a sterling cast in a fun fantastical special effects-laden adventure that soars around the world from the Metropolitan Library to the Amazon jungle to the Himalayas. Geeky Carsen lands a job as the Librarian keeper of such top-secret Met treasures as Excalibur and Pandora's Box. Then the Serpent Brotherhood seeking world domination steals one of three parts of the magical Spear of Destiny from the library. Only Flynn aided by a gorgeous bodyguard has the knowhow to thwart their plan. But does he know how to be a hero? He will - even if he has to gouge kick punch brave Mayan death traps and plunge off icy precipices every inch of the way!Running Time: 106 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 053939690125

Broadcast to record ratings on the TNT cable network, this Raiders-esque adventure does not go by the book, staring with its atypical action hero and his decidedly uncool profession. Flynn Carsen (Noah Wylie from E.R.) is a thirtysomething perpetual student who still lives with his mother (Olympia Dukakis). When his exasperated professor finally ejects him into the real world, Carsen's Holmesian deductive acumen lands him a job as the librarian at the Metropolitan Library. This is not an ordinary library. It houses history's most mythic artifacts, including the Ark of the Covenant, Pandora's Box, and the sword Excalibur. The fate of the world is in Carsen's hands ("That's so sad," he observes) when the dread Serpent Brotherhood steals the library's Spear of Destiny, and Carsen must retrieve it. His reluctant, and antagonistic, partner is Nicole (Sonya Walger), who is as skilled in martial arts as Carsen is schooled in the Dewey Decimal System. Bob Newhart and Jane Curtin add welcome comic relief, with Newhart, of all people, getting into the action by film's end. The humble hero (who would rather be known as "Flynn, the rather pleasant at parties"), somewhat cheesy special effects, and corny comedy make The Librarian a fun guilty pleasure. As Carsen proclaims, "Being a librarian is actually a cool job." This looks like the beginning of a beautiful franchise. --Donald Liebenson

The Frisco Kid

It's 1850 and new rabbi Avram Belinski sets out from Philadelphia toward San Francisco. Cowpoke bandit Tom Lillard hasn't seen a rabbi before. But he knows when one needs a heap of help. And getting this tenderfoot to Frisco in one piece will cause a heap of trouble - with the law Native Americans and a bunch of killers. Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford are one feisty team as rabbi and rescuer in this rough-'n'-ready romp that rivals Wilder's earlier Blazing Saddles in Wild West hilarity. Director Robert Aldrich is a seasoned hand at blending roughhouse and laughter as fans of his earlier The Dirty Dozen and The Longest Yard will attest. With a full posse of screen talents The Frisco Kid rides tall in the comedy saddle. Director: Robert Aldrich Starring: Gene Wilder Harrison Ford Ramon BieriRunning Time: 119 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 012569734036 Manufacturer No: 73403

Gene Wilder takes his most unusual role, a naive 19th-century rabbi sent from his native Poland to the fledgling Jewish community in San Francisco, in this warm-hearted comic adventure. The trusting soul is easy prey for the con men and criminals who prey on the immigrants arriving in the Philadelphia port and the rabbi, beaten but unbowed, continues his trek West solo: broke, underequipped, and hopelessly lost. Harrison Ford, fresh from Star Wars, is the roguish outlaw who adopts the determined traveler and the two become unlikely friends as they make their way through one scrape after another. Wilder makes a sincere and sympathetic hero, his faith and courage seeing him through one crisis after another, and fresh-faced Ford makes an endearing scamp of a bank robber. The meandering adventure, overlong at two hours, takes its time as the duo traverses the gorgeous American countryside and end up in the bustling Barbary Coast San Francisco of the Gold Rush era. Legendary hard-edged action director Robert Aldrich (Kiss Me Deadly, The Dirty Dozen) brings a gentle touch and easygoing humor to this family-oriented adventure, but old habits die hard. While staying within PG parameters, Aldrich adds a little grit to the Old West fistfights and gunfights. --Sean Axmaker

Bird on a Wire

When the man he put in jail is released, a man hiding under the FBI witness relocation program goes on the lam with an old flame.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 31-MAY-2005
Media Type: DVD

This action-comedy from 1990 makes the critical mistake of trying to mix a potentially suspenseful plot with the kind of humor that Mel Gibson can only get away with in his Lethal Weapon movies. It doesn't work here because the movie's supposed to be a Hitchcockian thriller and Mel's wisecracking--not to mention some implausible plot twists and ridiculous chase scenes--makes it impossible to take any of this movie seriously. It works best as a lightweight vehicle for Gibson and Goldie Hawn, who bring their own established appeal to their roles as old lovers who are reunited under unexpectedly dangerous circumstances. After testifying against some drug-running killers, Mel's been safe under the protection of the FBI's witness relocation program, and Goldie coincidentally enters his life again just as the bad guys are hot on Mel's trail. They join up and go on the run from the villains and ... well, let's just say director John Badham doesn't have any big surprises up his sleeve. Goldie and Mel are enjoyable, as always, but you'd have to be their biggest fan to watch this movie more than once. --Jeff Shannon

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

Portrays the life and rise of the martial arts star Bruce Lee.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 26-DEC-2005
Media Type: DVD

This enjoyable and touching biography of martial-arts film star Bruce Lee stars Jason Scott Lee (no relation), an actor with a lively face and natural intensity, who makes every moment of this film compelling. Directed by Rob Cohen, Dragon traces Bruce Lee's slow rise over myriad obstacles--most of them race-based--to become an international superstar in films. Lee's origins are oddly set in San Francisco instead of his real home in Seattle, but then again there is plenty of artistic license going on as Cohen explores the actor's psyche through some powerful fantasy sequences. Lauren Holly is good as Lee's wife, Linda (whose book about her late husband inspired this movie). A scene involving Bruce's rescue of son Brandon (who died in a filmmaking accident in 1993) from a murderous spirit is plain spooky. The special-edition DVD release has a widescreen presentation, director interview, featurette, screen tests, closed captioning, optional French soundtrack, and optional Spanish subtitles. --Tom Keogh

In the Line of Fire (Special Edition)

Haunted by his failure to protect President Kennedy, a secret service agent is now tormented by a psychopath threatening the current president.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: R
Release Date: 2-AUG-2005
Media Type: DVD

This smart, tautly directed thriller from Wolfgang Petersen is about the cat-and-mouse games between a Secret Service agent named Horrigan (Clint Eastwood) and the brilliant, psychopathic assassin (John Malkovich) who's itching to get the President in his cross hairs. The back-story--Horrigan is haunted by his inability to prevent John Kennedy's assassination (Eastwood is computer-generated into archival footage)--is more than a little hokey, but the plotting itself is smartly, even ingeniously, constructed. Petersen manages a viselike grip on the tension and Eastwood even gets to deliver an ever-more-timely lecture on the diminished nature of the office of President. Eastwood's as gruff and as infuriating to the by-the-book Powers That Be as ever, and Malkovich oozes delightful menace. Renee Russo capably costars as a colleague with whom Horrigan gets friendly. --David Kronke

American Pie - Unrated (Widescreen Collector's Edition)

Anyone who's watched just about any teenage film knows that the greatest evil in this world isn't chemical warfare, ethnic cleansing, or even the nuclear bomb. The worst crime known to man? Why, virginity, of course. As we've learned from countless films--from Summer of '42 to Risky Business--virginity is a criminal burden that one must shed oneself of as quickly as possible. And while many of these films have given the topic a bad name, American Pie quietly sweeps in and gives sex some of its dignity back. Dignity, you may say? How can a film that highlights intercourse with fruit pies, premature ejaculation broadcasted across the Internet, and the gratuitous "gross-out" shots restore the dignity of a genre that's been encumbered with such heavyweights as Porky's and Losin' It? The plot may be typical, with four high school friends swearing to "score" by prom, yet the film rises above the muck with its superior cast, successful and sweet humor, and some actually rather retro values about the meaning and importance of sex. Jason Biggs, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nicholas, and Eddie Kaye Thomas make up the odd quartet of pals determined to woo, lie, and beg their way to manhood. The young women they pursue are wary girlfriend Vicky (Tara Reid), choir girl Heather (Mena Suvari), band geek Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), and just about any other female who is willing and able. Natasha Lyonne as Jessica, playing a similar role as in Slums of Beverly Hills, is the general adviser to the crowd (when Vicky tells her "I want it to be the right time, the right place," Jessica responds, "It's not a space shuttle launch, it's sex"). The comedic timing hits the mark--especially in the deliberately awkward scenes between Jim (Biggs) and his father (Eugene Levy). And, of course, lessons are learned in this genuinely funny film, which will probably please the adult crowd even more than it will the teenage one. --Jenny Brown

Volunteers

Before Tom Hanks was an Oscar-winning megacelebrity, before he became a serious and only sometimes comedic actor, before he won that second Oscar, he starred in both romantic comedies (Splash) and lowbrow comedies (Bachelor Party). More lowbrow than romantic (though he did end up marrying costar Rita Wilson), Volunteers is set in 1962, back when the Peace Corps was all the rage. Hanks, speaking with an unfortunate accent meant to represent aristocratic wealth, plays a compulsive gambler, recently graduated from Yale, whose father suddenly refuses to pay his debts. To escape some particularly shady characters, he joins the Peace Corps and boards a plane headed to Southeast Asia.

For a comedy made in the '80s, there is less of a reliance on (Asian) stereotypes for punch lines than one would predict, though the movie is far from being politically sensitive. And speaking of politics, the politics of the movie are all messed up, ending up as a huge indictment of the Peace Corps as a corrupt tool of the government, despite some kind words at the end. Perhaps the biggest drawback of the movie, though, is its 107-minute running time; there's just too much emphasis on plot. Whenever costar John Candy appears, everything picks up, making you wish he was the star and the movie was about his character, Tom Tuttle from Tacoma, Washington. Ultimately, Volunteers ends up a better legacy for Candy than Hanks. --Andy Spletzer

Shopgirl

Based on Steve Martin s bestselling novella Shopgirl follows the life and relationships of Mirabelle (Danes) an aspiring artist who makes ends meet selling gloves in a Beverly Hills Saks Fifth Avenue. Two men enter Mirabelle s life simultaneously wealthy older Ray Porter (Martin) and young fumbling Jeremy (Schwartzman). Before Mirabelle can find the right man she must first begin the journey to finding herself.Bonus Features:Deleted ScenesEvolution of a Novella: The Making of ShopgirlDirector Audio CommentarySystem Requirements:Running Time 106 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 786936282986 Manufacturer No: 04013800

Any fan of Steve Martin's 2000 novella will enjoy this pitch-perfect adaptation, which glowingly captures the bittersweet tones of a May-December romance. Martin wrote the screenplay and stars as Ray Porter, a button-down 50-something executive who reaches out to a much younger woman as a Los Angeles playmate. The book and movie, though, are both primarily about Mirabelle (Claire Danes), a 20-something with a pile of promises, debt, and depression, as she fades away into a slow corner of Saks selling unneeded formal gloves. She's a wisp of a person, with a cat who doesn't love her, and when she finds a suitor, it's Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman), a scruffy artist who babbles on about speakers. When the gentlemanly Porter calls, his appearance in her life begins to make her whole. It also immediately sets her up for sadness--Ray thinks of Mirabella as a precious outlet for sex, while Mirabelle, very mistakenly, sees Ray as a potential lifelong mate. Martin deftly turns the novella's prose into dialogue, allowing the movie to feel full-bodied, and the film also works as a comedy, as we witness Jeremy's growth on the road with a rock band. Schwartzman would walk away with film if not for the perfectly cast leads: Martin does another smart turn away from his wild-and-crazy moniker, Danes has never been better in an Oscar-worthy performance, and Bridgette Wilson-Sampras aces her role as a hot-to-trot co-worker of Mirabelle's. Whoever's decision to have Martin be the omnipresent narrator, though, should be penalized, as it's confusing to have him in two roles, and the information is pretty useless, even robbing the film of a final grace note. --Doug Thomas

Go Tell the Spartans

Academy Award-winner Burt Lancaster delivers the finest performances of his illustrious career as a hard-boiled major in command of a grubby Vietnam outpost in this classic film of wartime confrontation. The war was still a "conflict" and American soldiers were merely "advisors" yet the ambushes the betrayals and the brutality were all very real. While the riveting action concentrates on a single obscure incident this excellent understated and sharply intelligent film illuminates the vast landscape of an era.Running Time: 113 min.System Requirements:Running Time 114 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 026359061523