Moulin Rouge! (Widescreen Edition)
by Baz Luhrmann
from 20th Century Fox
A dazzling and yet frequently maddening bid to bring the movie musical kicking and screaming into the 21st century, Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge bears no relation to the many previous films set in the famous Parisian nightclub. This may appear to be Paris in the 1890s, with can-can dancers, bohemian denizens like Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo), and ribaldry at every turn, but it's really Luhrmann's pop-cultural wonderland. Everyone and everything is encouraged to shatter boundaries of time and texture, colliding and careening in a fast-cutting frenzy that thinks nothing of casting Elton John's "Your Song" 80 years before its time. Nothing is original in this kaleidoscopic, absinthe-inspired love tragedy--the words, the music, it's all been heard before. But when filtered through Luhrmann's love for pop songs and timeless showmanship, you're reminded of the cinema's power to renew itself while paying homage to its past.
Luhrmann's overall success with his third "red-curtain" extravaganza (following Strictly Ballroom and William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet) is wildly debatable: the scenario is simple to the point of silliness, and how can you appreciate choreography when it's been diced into hash by attention-deficit editing? Still, there's something genuine brewing between costars Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman (as, respectively, a poor writer and his unobtainable object of desire), and their vocal talents are impressive enough to match Luhrmann's orgy of extraordinary sets, costumes, and digital wizardry. The movie's novelty may wear thin, along with its shallow indulgence of a marketable soundtrack, but Luhrmann's inventiveness yields moments that border on ecstasy, when sound and vision point the way to a moribund genre's joyously welcomed revival. --Jeff Shannon
A spectacle beyond anything you've ever witnessed. An experience beyond everything you've ever imagined. Behind the red velvet curtain, the ultimate seduction of your senses is about to begin. Welcome to the Moulin Rouge! Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor sing, dance and scale the heights of passionate abandon in the year's most talked-about movie from visionary director Baz Luhrmann (William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, Strictly Ballroom). Enter a tantalizing world that celebrates truth, beauty, freedom and above all things, love.
Van Helsing (Widescreen Edition)
by Stephen Sommers
from Universal Studios
Like a roller coaster ready to fly off its rails, Van Helsing rockets to maximum velocity and never slows down. Having earned blockbuster clout with The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, writer-director Stephen Sommers once again plunders Universal's monster vault and pulls out all the stops for this mammoth $148-million action-adventure-horror-comedy, which opens (sans credits) with a terrific black-and-white prologue that pays homage to the Universal horror classics that inspired it. The plot pits legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) against Dracula (the deliciously campy Richard Roxburgh), his deadly blood-sucking brides, and the Wolfman (Will Kemp) in a two-hour parade of outstanding special effects (980 in all) that turn Sommers' juvenile plot into a triple-overtime bonus for CGI animators. In alliance with a Transylvanian princess (Kate Beckinsale) and the Frankenstein monster (Shuler Hensley), Van Helsing must prevent Dracula from hatching his bat-winged progeny, and there's so much good-humored action that you're guaranteed to be thrilled and exhausted by the time the 10-minute end-credits roll. It's loud, obnoxious, filled with revisionist horror folklore, and aimed at addicted gamers and eight-year-olds, but this colossal monster mash (including Mr. Hyde, just for kicks) will never, ever bore you. A sequel is virtually guaranteed. --Jeff Shannon
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Widescreen Edition)
by Stephen Norrington
from 20th Century Fox
The heroes of 1899 are brought to life with the help of some expensive special effects in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. From the pages of Victorian literature come Captain Nemo, Dr. Jekyll (and his alter ego Mr. Hyde), Dorian Gray, Tom Sawyer, an Invisible Man, Mina Harker (from Dracula), and the hunter Allan Quatermain (Sean Connery), all brought together to combat an evil megalomaniac out to conquer the world. Hardly an original plot, but perhaps that's fitting for a movie sewn together like Frankenstein's monster. The movie rushes from one frenetic battle to another, replacing sense with spectacle--Nemo's submarine rising from the water, a warehouse full of zeppelins bursting into flame, Venice collapsing into its own canals; flashy, dumb, and completely incoherent. Fans of the original comic book will be disappointed. Also featuring Peta Wilson, Shane West, Stuart Townsend, Richard Roxburgh, and Jason Flemyng. --Bret Fetzer
A hunter, a scientist, a vampire, an invisible man, an immortal, a spy, and a beast join forces to fight a masked madman who's threatening the world.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 7-FEB-2006
Media Type: DVD
Moulin Rouge! (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
by Baz Luhrmann
from 20th Century Fox
A dazzling and yet frequently maddening bid to bring the movie musical kicking and screaming into the 21st century, Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge bears no relation to the many previous films set in the famous Parisian nightclub. This may appear to be Paris in the 1890s, with can-can dancers, bohemian denizens like Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo), and ribaldry at every turn, but it's really Luhrmann's pop-cultural wonderland. Everyone and everything is encouraged to shatter boundaries of time and texture, colliding and careening in a fast-cutting frenzy that thinks nothing of casting Elton John's "Your Song" 80 years before its time. Nothing is original in this kaleidoscopic, absinthe-inspired love tragedy--the words, the music, it's all been heard before. But when filtered through Luhrmann's love for pop songs and timeless showmanship, you're reminded of the cinema's power to renew itself while paying homage to its past.
Luhrmann's overall success with his third "red-curtain" extravaganza (following Strictly Ballroom and William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet) is wildly debatable: the scenario is simple to the point of silliness, and how can you appreciate choreography when it's been diced into hash by attention-deficit editing? Still, there's something genuine brewing between costars Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman (as, respectively, a poor writer and his unobtainable object of desire), and their vocal talents are impressive enough to match Luhrmann's orgy of extraordinary sets, costumes, and digital wizardry. The movie's novelty may wear thin, along with its shallow indulgence of a marketable soundtrack, but Luhrmann's inventiveness yields moments that border on ecstasy, when sound and vision point the way to a moribund genre's joyously welcomed revival. --Jeff Shannon
A spectacle beyond anything you've ever witnessed. An experience beyond everything you've ever imagined. Behind the red velvet curtain, the ultimate seduction of your senses is about to begin. Welcome to the Moulin Rouge! Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor sing, dance and scale the heights of passionate abandon in the year's most talked-about movie from visionary director Baz Luhrmann (William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, Strictly Ballroom). Enter a tantalizing world that celebrates truth, beauty, freedom and above all things, love.
Van Helsing (Full Screen Edition)
by Stephen Sommers
from Universal Studios
Like a roller coaster ready to fly off its rails, Van Helsing rockets to maximum velocity and never slows down. Having earned blockbuster clout with The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, writer-director Stephen Sommers once again plunders Universal's monster vault and pulls out all the stops for this mammoth $148-million action-adventure-horror-comedy, which opens (sans credits) with a terrific black-and-white prologue that pays homage to the Universal horror classics that inspired it. The plot pits legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) against Dracula (the deliciously campy Richard Roxburgh), his deadly blood-sucking brides, and the Wolfman (Will Kemp) in a two-hour parade of outstanding special effects (980 in all) that turn Sommers' juvenile plot into a triple-overtime bonus for CGI animators. In alliance with a Transylvanian princess (Kate Beckinsale) and the Frankenstein monster (Shuler Hensley), Van Helsing must prevent Dracula from hatching his bat-winged progeny, and there's so much good-humored action that you're guaranteed to be thrilled and exhausted by the time the 10-minute end-credits roll. It's loud, obnoxious, filled with revisionist horror folklore, and aimed at addicted gamers and eight-year-olds, but this colossal monster mash (including Mr. Hyde, just for kicks) will never, ever bore you. A sequel is virtually guaranteed. --Jeff Shannon
Stealth (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition)
by Rob Cohen
from Sony Pictures
Featuring the best special effects that money can buy and a screenplay that any six-year-old could follow, Stealth is a pure action thriller that starts fast and never slows down. Moving up from The Fast and the Furious and xXx, director Rob Cohen proves himself as a master of popcorn entertainment for teenagers, turning this derivative military sci-fi action thriller into a dazzling showcase for impressive aerial action sequences, featuring digital effects and highly detailed model work (by James Cameron's Digital Domain effects company, among others) that are so realistic you could swear the movie's high-tech aircraft are absolutely real. The plot serves the effects (it should be the other way around), and it's a cheesy hybrid of Top Gun, The Right Stuff, Firefox and Behind Enemy Lines, in which a close-knit trio of Naval Air Force aces (Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel, and Jamie Foxx) pilot state-of-the-art "Talon" fighter-bombers, ready to scramble on orders from their not-entirely trustworthy commander (Sam Shepard). They're teamed up with an ultra-high-tech UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle) nicknamed "EDI," an artificially intelligent fighter drone that's as erratically dangerous (after its circuitry is damaged by lightning) as it is deadly effective. With a standard third-act rescue mission amidst the threat of global warfare, Stealth is brainless entertainment from start to finish, but the aerial action and epic-scale pyrotechnics ensure that it's never, ever boring. Cohen may be guilty of dumbing down his recycled plots for mass appeal, but there's no denying his skills as an action auteur. Move over, Michael Bay, you've got serious competition. --Jeff Shannon
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Full Screen Edition)
by Stephen Norrington
from 20th Century Fox
The heroes of 1899 are brought to life with the help of some expensive special effects in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. From the pages of Victorian literature come Captain Nemo, Dr. Jekyll (and his alter ego Mr. Hyde), Dorian Gray, Tom Sawyer, an Invisible Man, Mina Harker (from Dracula), and the hunter Allan Quatermain (Sean Connery), all brought together to combat an evil megalomaniac out to conquer the world. Hardly an original plot, but perhaps that's fitting for a movie sewn together like Frankenstein's monster. The movie rushes from one frenetic battle to another, replacing sense with spectacle--Nemo's submarine rising from the water, a warehouse full of zeppelins bursting into flame, Venice collapsing into its own canals; flashy, dumb, and completely incoherent. Fans of the original comic book will be disappointed. Also featuring Peta Wilson, Shane West, Stuart Townsend, Richard Roxburgh, and Jason Flemyng. --Bret Fetzer
A hunter, a scientist, a vampire, an invisible man, an immortal, a spy, and a beast join forces to fight a masked madman who's threatening the world.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 7-FEB-2006
Media Type: DVD
Van Helsing (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
from Universal Studios
System Requirements:Running Time: 132 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/HEROES Rating: PG-13 UPC: 025195032858 Manufacturer No: 61104060
Oscar & Lucinda
by Gillian Armstrong
from 20th Century Fox
Oscar (Fiennes) is a priest who gambles discreetly and donates his winnings to help the poor. Lucinda (Blanchett) is an Australian businesswoman who boldly defies society's rules. When they meet over an innocent game of cards, their lives are changed forever.
Stealth
by Rob Cohen
from Sony Pictures
Featuring the best special effects that money can buy and a screenplay that any six-year-old could follow, Stealth is a pure action thriller that starts fast and never slows down. Moving up from The Fast and the Furious and xXx, director Rob Cohen proves himself as a master of popcorn entertainment for teenagers, turning this derivative military sci-fi action thriller into a dazzling showcase for impressive aerial action sequences, featuring digital effects and highly detailed model work (by James Cameron's Digital Domain effects company, among others) that are so realistic you could swear the movie's high-tech aircraft are absolutely real. The plot serves the effects (it should be the other way around), and it's a cheesy hybrid of Top Gun, The Right Stuff, Firefox and Behind Enemy Lines, in which a close-knit trio of Naval Air Force aces (Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel, and Jamie Foxx) pilot state-of-the-art "Talon" fighter-bombers, ready to scramble on orders from their not-entirely trustworthy commander (Sam Shepard). They're teamed up with an ultra-high-tech UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle) nicknamed "EDI," an artificially intelligent fighter drone that's as erratically dangerous (after its circuitry is damaged by lightning) as it is deadly effective. With a standard third-act rescue mission amidst the threat of global warfare, Stealth is brainless entertainment from start to finish, but the aerial action and epic-scale pyrotechnics ensure that it's never, ever boring. Cohen may be guilty of dumbing down his recycled plots for mass appeal, but there's no denying his skills as an action auteur. Move over, Michael Bay, you've got serious competition. --Jeff Shannon
In director Rob Cohen's exciting action adventure U.S. Navy pilots Ben Gannon Kara Wade and Henry Purcell are part of a close-knit elite division of test pilots flying highly classified stealth fighter jets referred to only as "Talons."They're the best of the best and they know it.When introduced to a new breed of robotic flying machines that are meant to assist the pilots armageddon actually threatens all of humanity.System Requirements:Run Time: 120 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: PG - 13 UPC: 043396176843 Manufacturer No: 17684
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