Carrier
by Maro Chermayeff
from PBS (DIRECT)
CARRIER is a character driven, edge-of-your-seat, nonfiction drama as well as a total immersion in the high stakes world of a nuclear aircraft carrier. CARRIER follows a core group of film participants aboard the USS Nimitz, from the admiral of the strike group to the fighter pilots to the youngest sailors, as they navigate personal conflicts around their jobs, families, faith, patriotism, love, the rites of passage and the war on terror.
The Brain Fitness Program
by Eli Brown
from PBS (DIRECT)
The Brain Fitness Program is based on the brain's ability to change and adapt, even rewire itself. In the past two years, a team of scientists has developed computer-based stimulus sets that drive beneficial chemical, physical and functional changes in the brain. Dr. Michael Merzenich of the University of California and his colleagues share their scientifically-based set of brain exercises in this life-altering program.
Baseball - A Film By Ken Burns
from Pbs Paramount
Ken Burns tops himself with this epic of American history, told in "nine innings," with a skilled narration by John Chancellor and the voices of Paul Newman, Jason Robards, Billy Crystal, and other stars. The series spans 150 years, starting with the myth-debunking tale of baseball's true beginnings -- when it was a game "one degree above mayhem." Then follow the growth of America's National Pastime through the decades of glory and record-setting achievements, as well as the scandals, the bigotry, and the big money. The series portrays the game as a mirror of America itself -- the passions, prejudices, and ambitions that have shape the country.
The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns
from Pbs Paramount
No Description Available.
Genre: Documentary
Rating: NR
Release Date: 28-SEP-2004
Media Type: DVD
The most successful public-television miniseries in American history, the 11-hour Civil War didn't just captivate a nation, reteaching to us our history in narrative terms; it actually also invented a new film language taken from its creator. When people describe documentaries using the "Ken Burns approach," its style is understood: voice-over narrators reading letters and documents dramatically and stating the writer's name at their conclusion, fresh live footage of places juxtaposed with still images (photographs, paintings, maps, prints), anecdotal interviews, and romantic musical scores taken from the era he depicts. The Civil War uses all of these devices to evoke atmosphere and resurrect an event that many knew only from stale history books. While Burns is a historian, a researcher, and a documentarian, he's above all a gifted storyteller, and it's his narrative powers that give this chronicle its beauty, overwhelming emotion, and devastating horror. Using the words of old letters, eloquently read by a variety of celebrities, the stories of historians like Shelby Foote and rare, stained photos, Burns allows us not only to relearn and finally understand our history, but also to feel and experience it. --Dave McCoy
On the DVD
The DVD features on The Civil War provide a wealth of insight, creative philosophy, historical perspective, and educational enjoyment. Twelve years after its premiere broadcast, the film was given a digital facelift, sharpening image clarity, correcting color, and enriching its soundtrack with a remastered 5.1-channel mix, as demonstrated in the "Civil War Reconstruction" featurette. In interviews from 2002, producer-director Ken Burns, historian Shelby Foote, journalist George Will, author Stanley Crouch, and composer-musicians Jay Ungar and Molly Mason reflect upon The Civil War's enduring significance. And Burns's eloquent commentary--selectively included on each disc and totaling five hours--illuminates the historical importance and creative impulse behind crucial chapters of the film. Fifty-seven onscreen biography cards detail important North, South, and civilian figures, and two 1990 featurettes—"Making History" and "A Conversation with Ken Burns"--provide a more personal perspective on the creation of this extraordinary film. Useful for both personal and academic study, these features stand as a fitting supplement to one of the greatest documentaries ever produced. --Jeff Shannon
FRONTLINE: Bush's War
by Michael Kirk
from PBS (DIRECT)
9/11 and Al Qaeda, Afghanistan and Iraq, WMD and the Insurgency, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, Fallujah and the Surge. For six years, FRONTLINE has been revealing those stories in meticulous detail, and the political dramas played out at the highest levels. Now, on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, the full saga will unfold in this special definitive documentary analysis of one of the most challenging periods in the nation's history.
The Jewish Americans
by David Grubin
from PBS Paramount
The Jewish Americans directed and produced by David Grubin tells the dramatic history of Jews in America. This riveting documentary focuses on individual personalities and stories that chronicle the 350 year saga about immigrants who gradually wove themselves into the fabric of American life by forging a thoroughly American identity without abandoning the cherished traditions that often set them apart.System Requirements:Running Time: 360 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/BIOGRAPHY UPC: 841887052252 Manufacturer No: 705225
Originally broadcast on PBS, The Jewish-Americans covers 350 years in the lives of Jews who have struggled to maintain their religious identity and still be fully accepted as Americans. It is a story at once specific and universal, one that can be appreciated by any ethnic or religious minority who tests whether "democracy, like America, can find room for everyone." Beginning with 23 Jewish exiles seeking safe haven in New Amsterdam in 1654, writer-director David Grubin does an admirable job of charting the often rocky and treacherous course for Jews in this country, and their personal "tug of war between being American and being a Jew." Do they consider themselves Jewish-Americans, or American Jews? Carl Reiner, Mandy Patinkin, Sid Caesar, Jules Feiffer, playwright Tony Kushner, and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg are among the more recognizable personalities who offer illuminating commentary and bittersweet reminiscences. But Grubin presents what he calls "an ensemble of voices" rather than "a star-studded parade." Authors, historians, sociologists, academics, and rabbis share a rich personal and cultural history.
Narrated by Liev Schreiber, The Jewish-Americans is comprised of three two-hour episodes, "They Came to Stay," "The Best of Times, the Worst of Times," and "Home." Each is a richly textured tapestry of talking heads, still photos, archival footage, and audio and film clips (the inevitable Gentleman's Agreement), and reveal how Jews have become woven into the fabric of Jewish life. Songwriter Irving Berlin wrote "God Bless America," and the holiday classics "White Christmas" and "Easter Parade." Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster created Superman. Another crossover pop culture success was Gertrude Berg as Molly Goldberg of the Bronx, offering sage advice and homespun wisdom on radio, television and the movies. One illuminating segment reveals how assimilated movie mogul Louis B. Mayer's Andy Hardy films, with their "fairy tale visions of small town life," were the "American fantasies of a Jewish immigrant." Anti-Semitism rears its ugly head throughout the series. Grubin captures the hysteria surrounding the murder trial of Georgia factory worker Leo Franks, who, in 1915, was falsely convicted in the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan, and subsequently lynched by a homicidal mob. The segment that addresses the Holocaust documents America's indifference in dealing with Hitler's "Final Solution." Grubin notes how political activism has long been a part of Jewish-American life, and how Jews took an active role in the Civil Rights struggle. As the old saying goes, you don't have to be Jewish to be compelled and profoundly moved by this ambitious documentary miniseries. But it couldn't hurt. --Donald Liebenson
Caillou - Caillou's Train Trip & Other Adventures
from Pbs Paramount
American Experience: John and Abigail Adams
from PBS Paramount
Relying heavily on the extraordinary correspondence between the second president and his wife, this joint biography sheds light not only on the characters of two remarkable people, but also on the tumultuous times through which they lived. John and Abigail Adams played a critical role in many of the pivotal events of their era: he was a vociferous participant at the Continental Congress; she was an important eye-witness reporter during the Siege of Boston; he was an important war-time emissary to France. This AMERICAN EXPERIENCE reminds us that the Founding Fathers - and Mothers - were not men and women of marble following a script that made independence and American national success a pre-ordained conclusion, but rather real, flawed, multi-dimensional people, who had no idea how things would turn out.
American Experience: FDR
by David Grubin
from PBS Paramount
Depression: Out of the Shadows
Many Americans are keeping an important, possibly deadly secret: depression. Approximately 15 million American adults live with this devastating disease which affects all age, race, gender, and socioeconomic groups. Through the voices and stories of people living with depression and interviews with scientists, Depression: Out of the Shadows provides a portrait of the disease never before seen on American television.
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