Life (dvd)
by Ted Demme
from Universal Studios
Fast talking rayford gibson and the conservative claude banks are accidentally teamed up to become the funniest odd couple east of the mississippi. When they travel south on a bootlegging run for some quick cash and get placed at the scene of a crime their comical misfortunes land them right in front of the judge. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 08/22/2006 Starring: Eddie Murphy Martin Lawrence Run time: 119 minutes Rating: R Director: Ted Demme
Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy play it surprisingly straight in this film by director Ted Demme. Though there are laughs to be had, this is a story about perseverance in the face of a life of disappointment (yet the film was sold as a prison comedy). But Stir Crazy this isn't. Rather, Lawrence and Murphy play a couple of New Yorkers making a moonshine run from New York to Mississippi during the Prohibition who find themselves framed for murder and sentenced for life to a prison chain gang. As they age, the two become close friends, although the strait-laced Lawrence always resents the free-wheeling Murphy for getting him into the situation in the first place. Ultimately, these two men learn to find meaning where they can, taking value from friendship and their limited ability to affect the lives of others. At times preachy, it ends on an upbeat note; the film's biggest laughs are reserved for the final section, in which Lawrence and Murphy don age makeup and play octogenarians. --Marshall Fine
The Rock
by Michael Bay
from Walt Disney Video
A vengeful general and his highly trained commandos seize control of alcatraz island and threaten san francisco with rockets loaded with deadly gas unless the families of the men whove died under his command in covert missions are paid a million dollars a piece. Only two men can stop them. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 05/16/2006 Starring: Sean Connery Nicolas Cage Run time: 138 minutes Rating: R Director: Michael Bay
Between his high-octane debut, Bad Boys, and 1998's wannabe blockbuster Armageddon, hotshot director Michael Bay forged his dubious reputation with this crowd-pleasing action extravaganza. In it a psychotically disgruntled war hero (Ed Harris) seizes the island prison of Alcatraz and threatens to wage chemical warfare against nearby San Francisco unless the government publicly recognizes the men who were killed under Harris's top-secret command. Nicolas Cage plays the biochemist who teams up with the only man ever to have escaped from Alcatraz (Sean Connery) in an attempt to foil Harris's terrorist scheme. As one might expect, what follows is an action-packed barrage of bullets, bodies, and climactic confrontations, replete with enough plot contrivances to give even the most jaded action fan cause for alarm. It's a load of hooey, but the cast is obviously having a grand old time, and there's enough wit to make the recycled action sequences tolerable. If you're ordering this movie on DVD, be careful with the volume knobs on your home-theater sound systems, because The Rock could cause partial hearing loss and structural damage to your home. --Jeff Shannon
Almost Heroes
by Christopher Guest
from Turner Home Ent
Studio: Turner Hm Entertainm Release Date: 08/30/2005 Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Pg13
Dead Presidents
by Albert Hughes
from Walt Disney Video
Twin brother codirectors Albert and Alan Hughes planned their first film, the 1991 ghetto crime drama Menace II Society as a response to John Singleton's Boyz N the Hood, which they considered wimpy and moralistic. They set their sights on The Deer Hunter in this ambitious follow-up, and they just about pull it off. Larenz Tate (from Why Do Fools Fall in Love) plays Anthony Curtis, an open-hearted African American teenager who gets shipped out to Vietnam with several of his pals, witnesses unspeakable horrors, and then struggles to readjust to civilian life. The evolving textures of life in a declining inner-city neighborhood over a period of a decade are seamlessly evoked, and there's enough nuanced character development and personal interaction for a seven-hour miniseries. Still in their early 20s, the Hughes brothers are already poised and masterful moviemakers; they cover an enormous amount of historical and emotional ground, and every twist and turn is crystal clear. They betray their inexperience only at the very end, in an elaborately staged heist sequence that, while stunningly executed, feels a bit desperate, as if they were reaching blindly for a big payoff. Chris Tucker (Rush Hour) has a startling supporting role as a kid who becomes junkie during the war, and never quite recovers. --David Chute
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Freeway (Widescreen Edition)
by Matthew Bright
from Republic Pictures
Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 04/03/2007 Run time: 102 minutes Rating: R
Freeway is one of those movies that has the power to simultaneously amaze and disgust just about anyone who dares to view it. Like Seven, Kalifornia, and Natural Born Killers, it's a movie that could be called a product of our times, since it caters to our societal fascination with serial killers and outrageous psychopathic behavior. But make no mistake: director Matthew Bright isn't out to feed anyone's sickest impulse. This is a scathing satire in the age of Jerry Springer fistfights and "real" TV shows like Cops, in which the "I-5 Killer" (Kiefer Sutherland) meets a wayward teenager (Reese Witherspoon) on the freeway that provides his nickname. She confides in the man but soon discovers his gruesome intentions, and ... well, let's just say she effectively defends herself, only to find later that the killer (whose wife is played by Brooke Shields, no less!) has used the media to his advantage. Fine performances make this a provocative thriller, but it's definitely not for the innocent or squeamish. --Jeff Shannon
Ray (Widescreen Edition)
by Taylor Hackford
from Universal Studios
The triumphant & remarkable story of one of americas true musical geniusus ray charles. From his humble beginnings in the south through his meteoric rise to the top rays inspirational journey is a tale of hpe redemption and the power of the human spirit. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 08/26/2008 Starring: Jamie Foxx Regina King Run time: 153 minutes Rating: Pg13
Jamie Foxx's uncannily accurate performance isn't the only good thing about Ray. Riding high on a wave of Oscar buzz, Foxx proved himself worthy of all the hype by portraying blind R&B legend Ray Charles in a warts-and-all performance that Charles approved shortly before his death in June 2004. Despite a few dramatic embellishments of actual incidents (such as the suggestion that the accidental drowning of Charles's younger brother caused all the inner demons that Charles would battle into adulthood), the film does a remarkable job of summarizing Charles's strengths as a musical innovator and his weaknesses as a philandering heroin addict who recorded some of his best songs while flying high as a kite. Foxx seems to be channeling Charles himself, and as he did with the life of Ritchie Valens in La Bamba, director Taylor Hackford gets most of the period details absolutely right as he chronicles Ray's rise from "chitlin circuit" performer in the early '50s to his much-deserved elevation to legendary status as one of the all-time great musicians. Foxx expertly lip-syncs to Ray Charles' classic recordings, but you could swear he's the real deal in a film that honors Ray Charles without sanitizing his once-messy life. --Jeff Shannon
More on Ray Charles
 Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music (CD) |  The Genius of Ray Charles (CD) |  Ray Charles and Betty Carter--Dedicated to You (CD) |
 Genius & Soul--The 50th Anniversary Collection (CD) |  Ray: A Tribute to the Movie, the Music, and the Man (book) |  More Albums by Ray Charles |
3000 Miles to Graceland
from Warner Home Video
Elvis has left the building with $3.2 million in stolen jack. Participants in a las vegas international elvis week pull off a daring casino heist then must confront their worst enemy: each other. Special features: original theatrical trailer cast/filmmaker career highlights and much more. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 12/12/2006 Starring: Kevin Costner Courteney Cox Run time: 125 minutes Rating: R Director: Demian Lichtenstein
Opening with metallic computer-generated scorpions battling in a scorching desert wasteland, 3000 Miles to Graceland announces itself as one helluva nasty movie. A comedic wallow in antiheroic violence, the movie vomits off the screen, as if director Demian Lichtenstein--obviously a veteran of music videos--had mainlined amphetamines before stepping behind his oh-so-busy camera. In a futile attempt to out-Woo John Woo, Lichtenstein goes to extremes to achieve a kind of absurd in-your-face exhilaration, and for additional thrills, the movie gives second-billing to Kevin Costner in the most vile role of his career. As leather-clad Elvis impersonator and Presley bastard child Thomas Murphy, Costner's like a black-sheep brother to Raising Arizona's biker from hell.
With four accomplices including a fellow Elvis worshipper named Michael (Kurt Russell), Murphy storms a Vegas casino for a $3.2 million robbery that turns into a haywire bloodbath. Partners are eliminated, double-crosses abound, and Michael connects with a trashy sexpot (Courteney Cox Arquette) whose preteen son (David Kaye) is a precocious criminal in training. Murphy's on their trail, FBI agents are on Murphy's, and gradually things get really nasty. We're supposed to laugh at the blackness of it all, and sometimes the ballsy humor scores a bull's-eye. The road-movie action accommodates several twists of plot, and while Russell's enjoying a semireprise of his performance in John Carpenter's Elvis, there's something perversely thrilling about Costner's deadpan ruthlessness. But really, how amoral can one movie be without wearing out its welcome? Frenetically depraved, 3000 Miles to Graceland is like exotic roadkill: morbidly fascinating until you get a whiff of its stench. --Jeff Shannon
Jason's Lyric
by Doug McHenry
from MGM (Video & DVD)
At the heart of this dynamic film is the love of a man for a woman, a mother for a son, and a brother for a brother. Rarely is one man's struggle for inner peace so poignantly displayed as in this engrossingly sexy and unflinchingly violent love story. Lyric is the young woman who rekindles the dreams of a man tormented by a father's alcoholic violence now perpetuated by an unstable brother. Allen Payne and Jada Pinkett make for one of the screen's most memorable duos in the title roles. Each brings emotional intensity paired with powerful sexuality to their roles. Director Doug McHenry speaks to the 1990s by deftly balancing the story's heightened drama with just enough hope to give it impact. --Rochelle O'Gorman
In this powerful story of inner-city life a man must choose between the woman he loves and the brother hes trying to save from dealing drugs on the street. Special features: theatrical trailer and behind-the-scenes booklet. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 01/06/2009 Starring: Allen Payne Bokeem Woodbine Run time: 120 minutes Rating: R Director: Doug Mchenry
The Big Hit
by Kirk Wong
from Sony Pictures
Film fans might someday recognize 1997 and '98 as the years Hong Kong came to Hollywood. Stars Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Chow Yun-Fat, Jet Li, and Michelle Yeoh all appeared in major Hollywood projects and directors John Woo, Ronny Yu, and Tsui Hark directed Face/Off, Bride of Chucky, and Knock Off, respectively. Another entry into this new era of entertainment is The Big Hit, directed by Che-Kirk Wong (who also directed Jackie Chan in Crime Story), executive produced by John Woo, and produced by Wesley Snipes. Mark Wahlberg leads this all-American cast in a played-for-laughs macho blowout. Rounding out the testosterone brigade are Lou Diamond Phillips (sprouting a gold-capped tooth and a dirty mouth), Bokeem Woodbine (who, according to this DVD's director audio track, wore extra socks where it counts), Antonio Sabà to Jr., and Avery Brooks. Wahlberg plays Melvin Smiley, a nice-guy hit man with an ulcer and a severe insecurity problem. He's short on cash due to the spending habits of his unsuspecting fiancée Pam (Christina Applegate) and his girlfriend-on-the-sly Chantel (Lela Rochon). He and his crew decide to do a little freelancing and cook up their own heist to make a little mo' money--specifically by kidnapping Keiko (China Chow), the daughter of a Japanese businessman whom they target for ransom. Little do they know her dad is broke and she's the goddaughter of their boss. The Big Hit has action scenes aplenty (one of the stunt coordinators worked on Woo's The Killer and Bullet in the Head) and the same cornball sense of humor as other films in the Hong Kong action genre. Slick pacing and over-the-top humor made this movie a miss with the critics but a fun ride for fans of Hong Kong-styled action. --Shannon Gee
A beleaguered hit mans professional and domestic woes collide with hilarious results when hes tricked into taking the fall for a moonlighting gig gone sour. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 11/15/2005 Starring: Mark Wahlberg Christina Applegate Run time: 91 minutes Rating: R Director: Che-kirk Wong
Ray (Full Screen Edition)
by Taylor Hackford
from Universal Studios
Jamie Foxx's uncannily accurate performance isn't the only good thing about Ray. Riding high on a wave of Oscar buzz, Foxx proved himself worthy of all the hype by portraying blind R&B legend Ray Charles in a warts-and-all performance that Charles approved shortly before his death in June 2004. Despite a few dramatic embellishments of actual incidents (such as the suggestion that the accidental drowning of Charles's younger brother caused all the inner demons that Charles would battle into adulthood), the film does a remarkable job of summarizing Charles's strengths as a musical innovator and his weaknesses as a philandering heroin addict who recorded some of his best songs while flying high as a kite. Foxx seems to be channeling Charles himself, and as he did with the life of Ritchie Valens in La Bamba, director Taylor Hackford gets most of the period details absolutely right as he chronicles Ray's rise from "chitlin circuit" performer in the early '50s to his much-deserved elevation to legendary status as one of the all-time great musicians. Foxx expertly lip-syncs to Ray Charles' classic recordings, but you could swear he's the real deal in a film that honors Ray Charles without sanitizing his once-messy life. --Jeff Shannon --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.
More on Ray Charles
Modern Sounds In Country and Western Music (CD) | The Genius of Ray Charles (CD) | Ray Charles and Betty Carter--Dedicated to You (CD) |
Genius & Soul--The 50th Anniversary Collection (CD) | Ray: A Tribute to the Movie, the Music, and the Man (book) | More Albums by Ray Charles |
The triumphant & remarkable story of one of americas true musical geniusus ray charles. From his humble beginnings in the south through his meteoric rise to the top rays inspirational journey is a tale of hpe redemption and the power of the human spirit. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 08/26/2008 Starring: Jamie Foxx Regina King Run time: 153 minutes Rating: Pg13
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