Avnet, Jon

Fried Green Tomatoes (Widescreen Collector's Edition)

Kathy Bates stars as an unhappy wife trying to get her husband's attention in this amusing and moving 1991 screen adaptation of Fannie Flagg's novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. After befriending a lonely old woman (Jessica Tandy), Bates hears the story of a lifelong friendship between two other women (Mary Stuary Masterson and Mary-Louise Parker, seen in flashback) who once ran a cafe in town against many personal odds. The tale inspires Bates to take further command over her life, and there director Jon Avnet (Up Close and Personal), in his first feature, has fun with the film. Bates develops a real attitude toward her thickheaded spouse at home and some uppity girls in a parking lot, but dignity is generally the key to Avnet's approach with the story's crucial relationships. Tandy is a joy and clearly loves the element of mystery attached to her character, and Masterson and Parker are excellent in the historical sequences. --Tom Keogh

A nursing home resident remembers two special friendships at the cafe in a small town near Birmingham.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: BATES/TANDY
Title: FRIED GREEN TOMATOES
Street Release Date: 02/06/2007
Domestic
Genre: DRAMA

Up Close & Personal

Here's a classic Hollywood star vehicle. Up Close and Personal--the story of Tally Atwater (Michelle Pfeiffer), an inexperienced but ambitious TV news personality, and her well-weathered journalistic mentor, Warren Justice (Robert Redford)--was carefully tailored to fit its stars. What began as a screenplay based on the biography of troubled TV anchorwoman Jessica Savitch (Golden Girl, by Alanna Nash) took more than eight years to reach the screen, written and rewritten, on and off, over the years by husband-and-wife team John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion, mainly because they needed the work to qualify for the splendid Writers' Guild health-insurance plan. Although the considerable charisma of Pfeiffer and Redford go a long way, in many respects Nash's original nonfiction book (and even Dunne's peculiarly disingenuous "insider" account of the writing of the screenplay, Monster: Living Off the Big Screen) offers tales more compelling than the one that eventually made it to the screen. But, all things considered, that's a little like comparing apples and oranges, since the slick Up Close and Personal bears about as much resemblance to its gritty original source material as...well, an apple does to an orange. Critic Roger Ebert, who awarded the movie three stars, nevertheless said he was reminded of the time producer Samuel Goldwyn commissioned a screenplay about the Lindbergh kidnapping. Only, to quote Goldwyn, "it can't be about kidnapping, which is against the Code. For legal reasons, we have to change the name from Lindbergh. And the kid's father shouldn't fly." Read the book, see the movie, read the book about writing the movie. Anyone interested in how movies are made will learn an entertaining lesson about the studio system by devouring all three. --Jim Emerson

An ambitious young reporter falls under the tutelage of a veteran newsman and then falls in love with him.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 13-JAN-2004
Media Type: DVD

The War

Kevin Costner is the big name here, but the film belongs squarely to Elijah Wood, who plays his son. The film deals with the children of a Vietnam veteran in 1970 Mississippi; as their dad (Costner) tries to cope with posttraumatic stress disorder after serving in the war, the kids build a mammoth tree house in the woods--then must defend it against the local white-trash bullies. The film includes a particularly harrowing contest involving a swim across the reservoir of a decrepit water tower; still, director Jon Avnet can't avoid a certain "can't we all just get along" didactic message. That doesn't put a damper on the youthfully natural quality of the child actors, and Costner is actually quite winning as a sensitive, troubled soul. --Marshall Fine

It was a different time…and a different pace. Elijah Wood and Kevin Costner star in a rich feast for the senses from the director of Fried Green Tomatoes. This heartwarming film tells the tale of a close-knit family and their remarkable Mississippi summer of 1970.

With the help of their friends, Stu (Wood) and Lidia Simmons (Lexi Randall) are determined to build the ultimate treehouse, a place of wonder and magic. Their father Stephen (Costner), a newly returned Vietnam vet, has equally high hopes to rebuild his life and fulfill his family's dreams.

Co-starring Mare Winningham, The War will captivate all who fall under its spell. It's a film rich with humor, nostalgia and mesmerizing performances. It is, in the words of the National News Syndicate, "a must-see movie."

Fried Green Tomatoes (Extended Anniversary Edition)

Kathy Bates stars as an unhappy wife trying to get her husband's attention in this amusing and moving 1991 screen adaptation of Fannie Flagg's novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. After befriending a lonely old woman (Jessica Tandy), Bates hears the story of a lifelong friendship between two other women (Mary Stuary Masterson and Mary-Louise Parker, seen in flashback) who once ran a cafe in town against many personal odds. The tale inspires Bates to take further command over her life, and there director Jon Avnet (Up Close and Personal), in his first feature, has fun with the film. Bates develops a real attitude toward her thickheaded spouse at home and some uppity girls in a parking lot, but dignity is generally the key to Avnet's approach with the story's crucial relationships. Tandy is a joy and clearly loves the element of mystery attached to her character, and Masterson and Parker are excellent in the historical sequences. --Tom Keogh

A nursing home resident remembers two special friendships at the cafe in a small town near Birmingham.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: UN
Release Date: 6-JUN-2006
Media Type: DVD

Uprising

Originally broadcast in November 2001, this exceptional made-for-television film recalls Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan while forging its own distinct identity. It was the first American film to dramatize the Warsaw Ghetto uprising of 1943, during which an underground collective of Polish Jews dared to defy the Nazis. Hank Azaria leads an all-star cast as resistance leader Mordecai Anielewicz, and the film follows his close-knit collaborators (including David Schwimmer and Leelee Sobieski) and their battle against the Nazi general (Jon Voight) assigned to clear all Jews from Warsaw. The uprising was eventually crushed (some heartbreaking outcomes are listed in the closing credits), but director Jon Avnet expertly maintains a sense of courage and hope amidst the palpable horror of the Warsaw Ghetto. Combining physical and historical accuracy with intimate character details, Uprising is suspenseful without being sensational, thus honoring one of the greatest symbolic victories in all of Jewish history. --Jeff Shannon

After Germany invades Poland in 1939, the Nazis decree that 350,000 Warsaw Jews be forcibly moved into a cordoned area known as the Warsaw Ghetto. Idealistic teacher Mordechai Anielewicz (Hank Azaria) decides the Jews must rise up against the Nazis and creates the Jewish Fighting Organization (JFO). He tries to secure the support of Adam Czerniakow (Donald Sutherland), the morally conflicted head of the Warsaw Ghetto's Jewish Council, but Adam declines because he knows that any act of resistance will provoke the Germans to retaliate by killing innocent Jews. Determined to mobilize a resistance alone if he has to, Mordechai recruits his friends and covert couriers whose ability to pass as Aryan helps them smuggle in arms and explosives from the Aryan side of the city, building up an arsenal to fight the Nazis.

When the Germans begin deporting 300,000 Jews to the Treblinka death camp, the JFO begins acts of resistance that culminate with ghetto fighters firing their first gunshots against the Nazis. When it becomes clear that the JFO is a force to be reckoned with, the German High Command sends in General Stroop (Jon Voight), who is determined to end the uprising in two or three days.

Capturing the horror that unfolds is Fritz Hippler (Cary Elwes), a filmmaker assigned by Hitler's chief propagandist to promote anti-Semitism with a film about Jewish life in the ghetto.

When the Nazis continue to suffer more casualties in their battle with the ghetto fighters, General Stroop decides to raze the ghetto. But even that can't stop the JFO. Forced to go underground into bunkers but energized by their success, the resisters fight on, ultimately holding off the Nazi army longer than the entire country of Poland. They're determined to live with honor--and if need be, die with honor--while lighting the torch for resistance in the occupied territories.

Boomtown - Season One

Red Corner

Using a faulty thriller for his soapbox as an outspoken critic of China, a devout follower of the Dalai Lama, and an influential supporter of Tibetan freedom, Richard Gere resorts to the equivalent of propagandistic drama to deliver a heavy-handed message. In other words, Red Corner relies on a dubious strategy to promote political awareness, but director Jon Avnet appeals to the viewer's outrage with such effective urgency that you're likely to forget you're being shamelessly manipulated. Gere plays a downtrodden TV executive who sells syndicated shows on the global market, and during a business trip to China he finds himself framed for the murder of the sexy daughter of a high Chinese official. Once trapped in a legal system in which his innocence will be all but impossible to prove, Gere must rely on a Chinese-appointed lawyer (played by Bai Ling) who first advises him to plead guilty but gradually grows convinced of foul play. Barely attempting to hide its agenda, Red Corner effectively sets the stage for abundant anti-Chinese sentiment, and to be sure, the movie gains powerful momentum with its tale of justice gone awry. It's a serious-minded, high-intensity courtroom drama with noble intentions ... but did it have to be so conspicuously lacking in subtlety? --Jeff Shannon

In modern-day China, an American is about to be punished for the ultimate crime...his innocence. Richard Gere stars in this electrifying suspense thriller charged with lethal confrontations, raw passion and international intrigue. On the verge of signing a huge business deal, attorney Jack Moore (Gere) is on top of the world. But his elation soon comes tumbling down after he spends the night with a beautiful woman...and is then accused of her brutal murder! At the mercy of the strict Chinese court systemwhere one is guilty until proven innocentJack finds himself completely alone. But when his defense attorney (Bai Ling) unearths puzzling contradictions in the case, she acts against the court and her country, joining him in a pulse-pounding race to find the true killer...while both of their lives hang in the balance!

Fried Green Tomatoes [Region 2]

Kathy Bates stars as an unhappy wife trying to get her husband's attention in this amusing and moving 1991 screen adaptation of Fannie Flagg's novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. After befriending a lonely old woman (Jessica Tandy), Bates hears the story of a lifelong friendship between two other women (Mary Stuary Masterson and Mary-Louise Parker, seen in flashback) who once ran a cafe in town against many personal odds. The tale inspires Bates to take further command over her life, and there director Jon Avnet (Up Close and Personal), in his first feature, has fun with the film. Bates develops a real attitude toward her thickheaded spouse at home and some uppity girls in a parking lot, but dignity is generally the key to Avnet's approach with the story's crucial relationships. Tandy is a joy and clearly loves the element of mystery attached to her character, and Masterson and Parker are excellent in the historical sequences. --Tom Keogh

Red Corner [Region 2]

Using a faulty thriller for his soapbox as an outspoken critic of China, a devout follower of the Dalai Lama, and an influential supporter of Tibetan freedom, Richard Gere resorts to the equivalent of propagandistic drama to deliver a heavy-handed message. In other words, Red Corner relies on a dubious strategy to promote political awareness, but director Jon Avnet appeals to the viewer's outrage with such effective urgency that you're likely to forget you're being shamelessly manipulated. Gere plays a downtrodden TV executive who sells syndicated shows on the global market, and during a business trip to China he finds himself framed for the murder of the sexy daughter of a high Chinese official. Once trapped in a legal system in which his innocence will be all but impossible to prove, Gere must rely on a Chinese-appointed lawyer (played by Bai Ling) who first advises him to plead guilty but gradually grows convinced of foul play. Barely attempting to hide its agenda, Red Corner effectively sets the stage for abundant anti-Chinese sentiment, and to be sure, the movie gains powerful momentum with its tale of justice gone awry. It's a serious-minded, high-intensity courtroom drama with noble intentions ... but did it have to be so conspicuously lacking in subtlety? --Jeff Shannon

Red Corner [Region 2]

Using a faulty thriller for his soapbox as an outspoken critic of China, a devout follower of the Dalai Lama, and an influential supporter of Tibetan freedom, Richard Gere resorts to the equivalent of propagandistic drama to deliver a heavy-handed message. In other words, Red Corner relies on a dubious strategy to promote political awareness, but director Jon Avnet appeals to the viewer's outrage with such effective urgency that you're likely to forget you're being shamelessly manipulated. Gere plays a downtrodden TV executive who sells syndicated shows on the global market, and during a business trip to China he finds himself framed for the murder of the sexy daughter of a high Chinese official. Once trapped in a legal system in which his innocence will be all but impossible to prove, Gere must rely on a Chinese-appointed lawyer (played by Bai Ling) who first advises him to plead guilty but gradually grows convinced of foul play. Barely attempting to hide its agenda, Red Corner effectively sets the stage for abundant anti-Chinese sentiment, and to be sure, the movie gains powerful momentum with its tale of justice gone awry. It's a serious-minded, high-intensity courtroom drama with noble intentions ... but did it have to be so conspicuously lacking in subtlety? --Jeff Shannon