Trapped Ashes
from Lions Gate
In the twisted tradition of classic anthology horror films such as TALES FROM THE CRYPT KAIDAN and DEAD OF NIGHT TRAPPED ASHES features five stories of the surreal erotic and terrifying directed by five of Hollywood's most unique filmmakers: Joe Dante (GREMLINS THE HOWLING) Ken Russell (ALTERED STATES TOMMY THE DEVILS) Sean Cunningham (FRIDAY THE 13th) Monte Hellman (TWO-LANE BLACKTOP COCKFIGHTER) and John Gaeta (Oscar winner for Visual F/X on THE MATRIX Trilogy).In addition multi-Academy Award winner Robert Skotak (TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY ALIENS) is serving as Visual F/X Supervisor on the film and the soundtrack is by acclaimed Japanese composer Kenji Kawai (THE RING DARK WATER GHOST IN THE SHELL I and II).System Requirements:Running Time: 105 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR/SLASHER MOVIES Rating: R UPC: 031398236160 Manufacturer No: 23616
Snakes on a Plane (Widescreen New Line Platinum Series)
by David R. Ellis
from New Line Home Video
Snakes on a Plane knows exactly what kind of movie it is, knows exactly what moviegoers expect from a title like Snakes on a Plane, and delivers the exact pleasures of a movie in which poisonous snakes are unleashed on a plane to kill an eyewitness to murder. Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, The Long Kiss Goodnight) knows exactly what he's doing in this movie and knows exactly when to pull out the superbad Samuel L. Jackson stare and deliver the infuriated Samuel L. Jackson bellow. The rest of the cast--including Julianna Margulies (ER), Rachel Blanchard (the TV series Clueless), Kenan Thompson (Fat Albert), David Koechner (Anchorman), Bobby Canavale (The Station Agent), and Sunny Mabrey (One Last Thing...)--play their parts with admirably straight faces and deadpan humor. Director David R. Ellis (Final Destination 2, Cellular) gives the movie the much-needed headlong momentum you would expect from a former stunt coordinator. In summation: A perfect piece of self-aware but not self-conscious high camp entertainment, blending comedy and thrills in perfect proportion. --Bret Fetzer
On board a flight over the Pacific Ocean an assassin bent on killing a passenger who's a witness in protective custody let loose a crate full of deadly snakes.Running Time: 106 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE UPC: 794043105487 Manufacturer No: N10548
Disturbing Behavior
by David Nutter
from MGM (Video & DVD)
This paranoia-fueled thriller, more intelligent and imaginative than you would have reason to believe, owes a huge debt to The Stepford Wives with its premise of a goody-good high school clique programmed by an evil doctor to be wholesome, academically driven, and shining examples of clean living. Unlike its predecessor, though, David Nutter's film opts to open up its premise for everyone to see, diluting the scares but amplifying the creepy atmosphere. There's never any question of what's happening to the students of Cradle Bay High, who go from being druggies and sex fiends to the academically excellent Blue Ribbons, but it's a lot of fun to see these programmed teens run amok--and start killing people--when their hormones kick in. And considering they're all horny teenagers, this happens, oh, at least a few times a day. Model-perfect James Marsden, with stunning cheekbones and piercing blue eyes, is the new kid in town who stumbles on the plot with a little help from metalhead Nick Stahl. Moody Marsden stirs up trouble when he refuses to join up with the Blue Ribbons, prompting his concerned parents to consider signing him up for the program, especially after it turns Stahl into a vest-wearing, pep-rallying brainiac. The satire isn't entirely fulfilled (the evil kids hang out at the yogurt shop and spout inspirational platitudes), but once the action kicks in it's quite an enjoyable ride, thanks primarily to Bruce Greenwood (of The Sweet Hereafter) as the mad scientist behind it all and Katie Holmes (Go) as Marsden's love interest. Refusing the advances of the star football player and fighting gamely alongside Marsden, Holmes manages to deck a few bad guys with a fervor that squarely puts her in Linda Hamilton and Jamie Lee Curtis territory. With Steve Railsback as the colluding chief of police and Dan Zudovic as a janitor with a penchant for getting rid of "rats," rodent and otherwise. --Mark Englehart
Hot stars James Marsden ("Bella Mafia"), Katie Holmes ("Dawson's Creek") and Nick Stahl (The Thin Red Line) set the screen ablaze in this breathlessly fast-paced jolt-fest from veteran "X-Files" director David Nutter. Written by Scott Rosenburg (Con-Air) and featuring a hip soundtrackfrom the hottest bands around, this "clutch-your-armrest thriller" (Teen People) will pull you into the undercurrent of a deranged high school cliqueand drag you away screaming! Achieve, be excellent...and be afraid. For when the esteemed Blue Ribbon club of Cradle Bay High take their slogans too far, things in the small coastal town begin to go wrong. Dead wrong. And when a "dark sinister force" begins turning the school's curricularly challenged into the soulless, academic elitethree "outsiders" join in a desperate race to avoid becoming insidersand losing their individuality forever!
K-19: The Widowmaker
by Kathryn Bigelow
from New Films International
Based on an incident that was officially suppressed for 28 years, K-19: The Widowmaker is a fine addition to the "sub-genre" of submarine thrillers. The first major American film about Russian cold war heroes, it re-creates the nightmare endured in 1961 by the crew of the Soviet nuclear submarine K-19, when an exposed reactor core nearly resulted in a nuclear catastrophe. Several crewmen died, and K-19's captain (played by Harrison Ford) had to assert his command when near-mutiny favored his executive officer (Liam Neeson). This escalating tension gives the film its potent dramatic thrust, and both Ford and Neeson deliver intense performances while director Kathryn Bigelow (Near Dark, Strange Days) ably controls a sub full of seething testosterone. It's not as viscerally thrilling as the classic Das Boot or U-571, and some K-19 survivors protested the inclusion of inauthentic drinking scenes, but the movie benefits from grand-scale production values, seamless computer graphics, and a compelling real-life twist. --Jeff Shannon
During the Cold War, an poorly prepared Soviet submarine goes on its maiden voyage and the crew must work to prevent a nuclear disaster.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 28-MAR-2006
Media Type: DVD
Antitrust
from MGM (Video & DVD)
The term suspension of disbelief was invented for the idea that Ryan Phillippe could be a computer genius. As Milo, a slacker brainiac recruited by smilingly ominous software giant Gary Winston (Tim Robbins) to help build a global communications system, Phillippe still looks like a million bucks. He is also still doing the clenched, pouty grown-up voice that he always uses to show that he means business in this acting stuff (he's nothing if not earnest), and a pair of designer glasses completes the transformation. He's well matched in Antitrust by Claire Forlani, who, in turn, spends time pursing her lips and squinting her dewy eyes as Milo's troubled girlfriend, an artist who proves to be a liability when Milo discovers that Winston is killing off clever competitors like a dot-com führer. Robbins, looking like David Letterman, seems willing to either take his role dead seriously or goof around a bit, but director Peter Howitt doesn't know how to play any of it (the actor was better used as a grinning madman in another flawed paranoid thriller, the underseen Arlington Road). Without any underlying menace or enough satirical bite to keep it interesting, the whole thing slips by passively in a mindless matinee kind of way until the over-the-top finale. Production designer Catherine Hardwicke has had some big, glossy fun creating Winston's campus and ornate private kingdom, and there's the cheapest of kicks in seeing Robbins's Bill Gates taken down publicly, but the film is definitely junior league. --Steve Wiecking
When Milo (Ryan Phillippe) graduates from college and lands his dream job writing software at a multi-billion dollar computer company he couldn't be more thrilled. The company's magnetic founder (Tim Robbins) that he worshiped as a child is now his personal mentor. As he settles into his new position Milo uncovers some dark secrets about the firm and soon learns that he can't trust anyone but himself in the high stakes world of computer technology.System Requirements:Starring: Ryan Phillippe Ned Bellamy Tyler Labine David Lovgren Jonathon Young Scott Bellis Zahf Hajee Rachael Leigh Cook Claire Forlani Tim Robbins Douglas McFerran Richard Roundtree Tygh Runyan Yee Jee Tso and Nate Dushku. Directed By: Peter Howitt. Running Time: 108 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2000 MGM Studios.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: PG-13 UPC: 027616861436 Manufacturer No: 1001867
Snakes on a Plane (Full Screen Edition)
by David R. Ellis
from New Line Home Video
Snakes on a Plane knows exactly what kind of movie it is, knows exactly what moviegoers expect from a title like Snakes on a Plane, and delivers the exact pleasures of a movie in which poisonous snakes are unleashed on a plane to kill an eyewitness to murder. Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, The Long Kiss Goodnight) knows exactly what he's doing in this movie and knows exactly when to pull out the superbad Samuel L. Jackson stare and deliver the infuriated Samuel L. Jackson bellow. The rest of the cast--including Julianna Margulies (ER), Rachel Blanchard (the TV series Clueless), Kenan Thompson (Fat Albert), David Koechner (Anchorman), Bobby Canavale (The Station Agent), and Sunny Mabrey (One Last Thing...)--play their parts with admirably straight faces and deadpan humor. Director David R. Ellis (Final Destination 2, Cellular) gives the movie the much-needed headlong momentum you would expect from a former stunt coordinator. In summation: A perfect piece of self-aware but not self-conscious high camp entertainment, blending comedy and thrills in perfect proportion. --Bret Fetzer
On board a flight over the Pacific Ocean an assassin bent on killing a passenger who's a witness in protective custody let loose a crate full of deadly snakes.Running Time: 106 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE UPC: 794043105630 Manufacturer No: N10563
Traffic - The Miniseries (The Director's Cut)
by Eric Bross
from Universal Studios
Go beyond the Academy Award-winning film, Traffic, in this electrifying USA Original Miniseries, Traffic: The Miniseries, from directors Stephen Hopkins (director of the thrilling TV show "24") and Eric Bross (On the Line). It's a life-and-death struggle for most secret agents on America's borders. In the sinister and seductive world of illegal trafficking, most supply and demand isn't for drugs it's for chemical goods, weapons and even human beings. When three men attempt to apprehend the elusive criminals behind these illicit trade organizations, they find their lives intertwined in ways they never could have imagined. Go deep undercover in this heart-pounding, edgy race for survival, and now, in the must-own Director's Cut, experience even more of the intense action with exclusive uncensored footage and an all-new, edge-of-your-seat twist ending.
Twist
by Jacob Tierney
from Strand Releasing
Twist is a calmly lucid re-telling of Charles Dickens' classic Oliver Twist, updated to current times and moved out of the poor house and onto the streets of Toronto. Told from the point of view of The Artful Dodger (Nick Stahl), Twist is no longer a tale of the misfortunes of boys, but rather about the prosaically beautiful Oliver who falls into the hands of down-and-out young men. Dodge takes the young man under his wing and instructs him in the unforgiving arts of drug abuse and prostitution. As Oliver's innocence dissolves, both young men confront inner and outer demons and, strangely, it is Dodge who finds he cannot escape his past.
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