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1/18/05 V9.3

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ONVIDEO'S WEEKLY GUIDE TO HOME VIDEO RELEASES
FOR TUESDAY, January 18 -- MONDAY, January 24

CASQUE D'OR
Jacques Becker lovingly evokes the Belle Epoque
Parisian demimonde in this classic tale of doomed romance. When
gangster's moll Marie (Simone Signoret) falls for reformed
criminal Manda (Serge Reggiani) their passion incites an
underworld rivalry that leads inexorably to treachery and
tragedy. With poignant, nuanced performances and sensuous black-
and-white photography, "Casque d'or" is Becker at the height of
his cinematic powers -- an achingly romantic masterpiece. In
French with optional English subtitles. Director: Jacques Becker.
Stars: Raymond Bussieres, Gaston Modot, Dominique Davray, Simone
Signoret, Serge Reggiani, Claude Dauphin. 1952, CC, MPAA rating:
NR, 94 min., Romantic drama, The Criterion Collection. DVD: Only.

CATWOMAN
Shy, sensitive artist Patience Philips (Halle Berry)
can't seem to stop apologizing for her own existence. She works
as a graphic designer for Hedare Beauty, a mammoth cosmetics
company run by the tyrannical George Hedare (Lambert Wilson) and
his icy supermodel wife, Laurel (Sharon Stone), who are on the
verge of releasing a revolutionary anti-aging product. When
Patience inadvertently happens upon a dark secret her employer is
hiding -- Hedare's too-good-to-be-true new anti-aging product is
... too good to be true -- she's murdered to keep the secret
safe. Resurrected by mysterious forces, she awakens suddenly
gifted with strength, agility and ultra-keen senses. She's no
longer just Patience -- she is also a seductive creature
delicately balancing on the dangerously thin line between good
and bad. With her newfound prowess and feline intuition, Patience
becomes Catwoman. And like any wild cat, she's dangerous, elusive
and untamed. Out to settle a few scores, Catwoman's adventures
are complicated by a burgeoning relationship with Tom Lone
(Benjamin Bratt), a cop who has fallen for Patience but cannot
shake his fascination with the mysterious Catwoman who appears to
be responsible for a string of crime sprees plaguing the city. As
her wild side breaks loose, the line between Patience and her
untamed alter ego begins to blur -- and neither of them feel like
playing by anyone else's rules anymore. Director: Pitof. Stars:
Halle Berry, Benjamin Bratt, Sharon Stone, Lambert Wilson, Alex
Borstein. 2004, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 104 min., Action, Box
office gross: $40.173 million, Warner, No VHS SRP, Priced for
rental. DVD: Day & Date.

CELLULAR
What if you received a call on your cell phone from a
complete stranger, with the frantic voice on the other end
begging you to help save her life? Would you hang up immediately,
thinking it's a prank? What if there's even a remote chance the
caller is serious and you're their only remaining hope? What
would you do? A random wrong number on his cell phone sends a
young man into a high-stakes race against time to save a woman's
life in this action thriller starring Kim Basinger as Jessica
Martin, a high school science teacher and mother whose peaceful
life is turned upside down when she is kidnapped from her home by
five unknown assailants and taken to a mysterious location.
Fearful for her life and completely in the dark as to her
abductors' motives, Jessica manages to patch together a shattered
telephone and secretly place a call to an unknown number in a
last-ditch attempt to save herself. Ryan (Chris Evans), the
carefree young man who answers the panicked call, suddenly finds
himself Jessica's last hope. With no knowledge of Jessica other
than her hushed, fearful voice on the other end of the tenuous
cell phone connection, Ryan is quickly thrown into a world of
deception and murder in a frantic search to find and save her.
The lives of Jessica and her family are in his hands, but what is
waiting for him on the other side of the line and what will it
cost him to find out? Written by the great B moviemaker Larry
("It's Alive," "Phone Booth") Cohen. Director: David R. Ellis.
Stars: Kim Basinger, Chris Evans, William H. Macy, Eric Christian
Olsen, Jessica Biel, Jason Statham. 2004, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13,
94 min., Thriller, Box office gross: $31.339 million, New Line,
No SRP, Priced for rental. DVD: Day & Date.

COOKOUT, THE
Todd Anderson (Quran Pender) is chosen as the #1 NBA
draft pick by the New Jersey Nets and signs a contract for $30
million that instantly changes his life -- he buys a new house in
a white neighborhood. Whether he likes it or not, though, his
mom, Lady Em (Jenifer Lewis), is not going to let her son forget
his roots. So Todd invites family from the old neighborhood for a
cookout on the same day he has scheduled an endorsement
interview. The cookout is a family tradition -- a giant reunion
and feast of Southern home cooking. But as the new black man
living in a stuffy white neighborhood, Todd attracts a lot of
attention. Peeping neighbors gawk at the group of Aunts, Uncles,
Cousins and wild unidentified babies in diapers. But Todd becomes
so focused on his image that he ends up becoming embarrassed
about his family. Meanwhile, Bling Bling and Wheezer, two good-
for-nothing toughs, crash the party and hold Todd's girlfriend at
gunpoint in order to get him to autograph sneakers. Little do
they know that Todd's family is so determined to eat that they
fearlessly foil the plot. Todd eventually realizes how much he
needs his family support and ... the cookout tradition. Director:
Lance Rivera. Stars: Ja Rule, Tim Meadows, Jenifer Lewis, Meagan
Good. 2004, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 97 min., Comedy, Box office
gross: $11.540 million, Lions Gate, No VHS SRP, Priced for
rental. DVD: Day & Date.

FORGOTTEN, THE
What if you were told that every moment you
experienced and every memory you held dear never happened? In
this haunting psychological thriller, Telly Paretta (Julianne
Moore) is tormented by the memory of her eight-year-old son Sam's
death in a plane crash 14 months earlier. While trying to work
through her grief, and her subsequent estrangement from her
husband Jim (Anthony Edwards), she is informed by her
psychiatrist, Dr. Munce (Gary Sinise), that she is suffering from
delusions, that her son never existed and she is fabricating his
memories. Stunned, she tries to find evidence of Sam's existence
-- photos, videos, scrapbooks. But it all starts to disappear.
Telly is convinced she is going mad until she meets Ash Correll
(Dominic West), the father of one of the other plane crash
victims. Together, the two team up to try to find the answers
behind what appears to be some sort of otherworldly case of mass
kidnapping. The pair uncover a startling conspiracy -- shades of
"The X-Files" -- that threatens their sanity -- and their lives.
A good jolt very once in awhile for what is essentially a big
screen TV movie with top-flight stars. Director: Joseph Ruben.
Stars: Julianne Moore, Dominic West, Gary Sinise, Alfre Woodard,
Linus Roache, Anthony Edwards. 2004, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 91
min., Thiller, Box office gross: $64.541 million, Columbia
TriStar, No VHS SRP, Priced for rental. DVD: Day & Date.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
"Friday Night Lights" chronicles the entire
1988 season of the Permian High Panthers of Odessa, Texas, with
football players, coaches, mothers, fathers, pastors, boosters,
fans and families struggling with ongoing personal conflicts
while the team fights for a state championship. A town for sale,
Odessa, Texas has seen better days -- the financial bust evident
in its boarded-up shops and broken lives. Yet one hope sustains
the community where, once a week during the fall, the town and
its dreams come alive beneath the dazzling and disorienting
Friday night lights ... when the Permian High Panthers take to
the field. In a city where economic uncertainty has eroded the
spirit of its inhabitants, nearly everyone seeks comfort in the
religion of the Friday night ritual, where the unfulfilled dreams
of an entire community are shifted onto the shoulder pads of a
team of high-school athletes. Since their first season in 1959,
the Panthers established themselves as the most successful
football program not only in Texas, but in the entire country.
Now, in the last days of summer of 1988, the Panthers begin the
season with one thing on their minds -- winning their fifth state
championship in their 30 year history. The film follows the
Panthers and their coach, Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton), as he
urges his boys on to win at the sport that has come to define a
town -- and a country. Director: Peter Berg. Stars: Billy Bob
Thornton, Lucas Black, Garrett Hedlund, Derek Luke, Jay
Hernandez, Lee Jackson, Tim McGraw. 2004, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13,
117 min., Sports drama, Box office gross: $60.085 million,
Warner, $23.98 VHS SRP. DVD: Day & Date.

MAYA
For 12-year-old Maya, life is very simple in her village in
rural India. From innocent pranks to small adventures in the
nearby forest, she spends most of her time with her 11-year-old
cousin, Sanjay. However, their fraternal love is soon shattered
when Maya's journey to becoming a woman results in her being the
victim of an ancient and brutal ritual, tragically ending her
childhood innocence and leaving her scarred for life. Visually
stunning and emotionally stirring, "Maya" reveals the devastating
consequences of a traumatic ritual, though forbidden, that still
occurs in parts of India today. In Hindi with optional English
subtitles. Director: Digvijay Singh. Stars: Mita Vasisht, Nitya
Shetty, Nikhil Yadav, Anant Nag. 2001, CC, MPAA rating: NR, 105
min., Drama, Home Vision Entertainment. DVD: Only.

PERFECT MURDER, THE
Based on the CWA Gold Dagger Award-winning
novel by H.R.F Keating, "The Perfect Murder" follows inspector
Ghote (Naseeruddin Shah) of the Bombay police as he pursues his
most perplexing case: a savage attack on a rich industrialist's
private secretary. With the help of a visiting Swedish
criminologist (Stellan Skarsgard), Ghote edges closer to the
truth, and soon discovers he may not be dealing with murder at
all, but something far more complex and profitable. Director:
Zafar Hai. Stars: Stellan Skarsgard, Madhur Jaffery, Naseeruddin
Sha. 1988, CC, MPAA rating: NR, 93 min., Comedy mystery, Home
Vision Entertainment. DVD: Only.

ROSENSTRASSE
In Berlin in 1943 on a street called Rosenstrasse,
Jewish men were rounded up for deportation to concentration camps
and certain death. Based on a true story, their Aryan wives
fought to save their lives. This little known and powerful
struggle of their ultimate success is both moving and
inspirational, and shows that there is nothing stronger than the
power of love. Contrary to the laws that were written on paper,
intermixed Jews were cruelly separated from their Aryan husbands
and wives without warning, and were placed in a holding cell in
the Rosenstrasse district. Director Margarethe Von Trotta's film
begins in modern-day New York City, at a funeral for the beloved
husband of Ruth (Jutta Lampe) and father of Hannah (Maria
Schrader). Ruth has always been haunted by her past; though she
won't talk about it with her conflicted daughter. It's up to
Hannah to travel to Berlin to track down the woman who saved her
mother's life during WWII and uncover the truth once and for all.
In 1943, Lena (Katja Riemann) was a beautiful pianist who was
shunned by her father for falling in love with Fabian Israel
Fischer (Martin Feifel). But when Fabian was arrested, she did
whatever it took to free him. In the meantime, she took in Ruth
(Svea Lohde), an 8-year-old whose mother had also been
sequestered. As memories from the past begin to resurface in the
present, Hannah starts to understand the bitterness that has
tormented her mother for years. Von Trotta's sumptuously
photographed, deftly woven film tenderly recounts another somber
memory from the all-too-recent past. Director: Margarethe von
Trotta. Stars: Katja Riemann, Maria Schrader, Martin Feifel,
Jurgen Vogel, Jutta Lampe. 2004, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 136
min., Drama, Box office gross: $0.669 million, Columbia TriStar,
No VHS SRP, Priced for rental. DVD: Day & Date.

SIBERIA
Best friends Hugo and Goof set up a scam picking up
female backpackers newly arrived in Amsterdam. They sleep with
them, rob them, and then tear a page out of their passports to
keep as a souvenir, since the boys' goal is to take a trip around
the world from within Amsterdam. Their set-up is quickly
threatened when seasoned traveler Lara enters the fray.
Appropriately named, Goof immediately falls in love with her and
becomes obsessed with the idea of taking her to Siberia to see
the country of her childhood. Now that the rules of the game have
changed between Hugo and Goof, life becomes very complicated for
everyone involved in this fast-paced caper of who's hustling who?
In Dutch and English with optional English subtitles. Director:
Robert Jan Westdijk. Stars: Hugo Metsers III, Nicole Eggert,
Jessica Stockmann, Roeland Fernhout, Vlatka Simac, Francesca
Rizzo. 1998, CC, MPAA rating: NR, 87 min., Black comedy, Home
Vision Entertainment. DVD: Only.

TOUCHEZ PAS AU GRISBI
Jean Gabin is at his most wearily romantic
as aging gangster Max le Menteur in the Jacques Becker gem
"Touchez pas au grisbi" (Hands Off the Loot!). Having pulled off
the heist of a lifetime, Max looks forward to spending his
remaining days relaxing with his beautiful young girlfriend. But
when Riton (Rene Dary), Max's hapless partner and best friend,
lets word of the loot slip to loose-lipped, two-timing Josy
(Jeanne Moreau), Max is reluctantly drawn back into the
underworld. A touchstone of the gangster-film genre, "Touchez pas
au grisbi" is also pure Becker -- understated, elegant,
evocative. In French with optional English subtitles. Director:
Jacques Becker. Stars: Jean Gabin, Jeanne Moreau, Dora Doll,
Daniel Cauchy, Jean Riveyre, Rene Dary, Denise Clair, Lino
Ventura. 1954, CC, MPAA rating: NR, 96 min., Crime drama, The
Criterion Collection. DVD: Only.

For more release info, check out our calendar pages at
<http://www.onvideo.org/calendar.htm>


------------------------------------------------------------

NEWS

COMING SOON:
Due March 8 is wacky Christmas comedy "Christmas With the
Kranks," starring Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dan Aykroyd, M.
Emmet Walsh, Elizabeth Franz, Erik Per Sullivan, Cheech Marin,
Jake Busey, Tom Poston and Julie Gonzalo, from Sony on DVD and
VHS rental ... From Sony on March 22 comes the acclaimed "Being
Julia," starring Annette Bening, Jeremy Irons and Bruce
Greenwood, on DVD and VHS rental ... Also on that day Miramax
will release the Johnny Depp-Kate Winslet starrer "Finding
Neverland," on DVD and $24.99 VHS.

DVD COLLECTIBLES:
Due this week from The Criterion Collection are two films from
Jacques Becker: In "Casque d'or" (1952), Becker -- at the height
of his cinematic powers -- lovingly evokes the Belle Epoque
Parisian demimonde in a classic tale of doomed romance. When
gangster's moll Marie (Simone Signoret) falls for reformed
criminal Manda (Serge Reggiani) their passion incites an
underworld rivalry that leads inexorably to treachery and
tragedy. In the director's "Touchez pas au grisbi" (1954), Jean
Gabin is at his most wearily romantic as aging gangster Max le
Menteur. Having pulled off the heist of a lifetime, Max looks
forward to spending his remaining days relaxing with his
beautiful young girlfriend. But when Riton (Rene Dary), Max's
hapless partner and best friend, lets word of the loot slip to
loose-lipped, two-timing Josy (Jeanne Moreau), Max is reluctantly
drawn back into the underworld. A touchstone of the gangster-film
genre.

Home Vision Entertainment will release three interesting foreign
films this week: "Maya" (2001), an Indian film by Digvijay Singh
that explores the tragic journey of a girl to womanhood and her
victimization by an ancient and brutal ritual ... "Siberia"
(1998), a black comedy about two young men -- Hugo and Goof --
whose scam of picking up female backpackers newly arrived in
Amsterdam and robbing them is threatened when seasoned traveler
Lara enters the fray and Goof falls in love with her ... and "The
Perfect Murder" (1988), a mystery-thriller that follows inspector
Ghote (Naseeruddin Shah) of the Bombay police as he pursues his
most perplexing case -- a savage attack on a rich industrialist's
private secretary - - with the help of a visiting Swedish
criminologist (Stellan Skarsgard).

FROM TV TO VIDEO:
Due this week: "Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Third Season,"
a two-disc set with 10 episodes, $29.99 from HBO Video.

FOR THE KIDS:
Disney will release this week the "Aladdin II & III Collection,"
a two-DVD pack with the direct-to-video sequels "Aladdin: The
Return of Jafar" (1994) and "Aladdin and the King of Thieves
(1996), $34.99 ... Also due this week are "The Fairly Oddparents:
Timmy's Top Wishes," seven episodes on DVD ($16.99) and five on
VHS ($9.95), from Paramount ... and "Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to
Mars" a direct-to-video animated feature with the voice talent of
Brad Garrett, $14.95 DVD and $9.95 VHS, from Warner.

SPECIAL INTEREST:
"After Stonewall" is the sequel to the award-winning and
provocative film, "Before Stonewall," that chronicled the
beginnings of the Gay Liberation Movement after the 1969 police
raids on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's
Greenwich Village. The 88-minute sequel, directed by John
Scagliotti and narrated by Melissa Etheridge, recounts the
history of lesbian and gay life from Stonewall to the end of the
century. On $29.95 DVD from First Run Features.


------------------------------------------------------------

THIS WEEK'S DVD RELEASES:

Weekly listings of DVD releases can now be viewed on mobile
devices at www.tagtag.com/onvideo

** Aladdin II & III Collection. Two-pack with "Aladdin: The
Return
of Jafar" (1994) and "Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996),
$34.99. (Disney).
** Angel of Death (2002) Mira Sorvino, Olivier Martinez. (MGM).
** The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (1991) Dir. Simon Callow; Keith
Carradine, Rod Steiger, Vanessa Redgrave. Extras: Commentary by
Callow. (Home Vision Entertainment).
** Carrie (1952) Dir.: William Wyler; Laurence Olivier, Jennifer
Jones, Miriam Hopkins, Eddie Albert. Includes a scene newly
restored to the film after it was cut in 1952. (Paramount).
** Casque d'or (1952 -- French) Dir: Jacques Becker; Raymond
Bussieres, Gaston Modot, Dominique Davray, Simone Signoret, Serge
Reggiani, Claude Dauphin. Extras: Commentary by film scholar
Peter Cowie; 1995 video interview with actor Serge Reggiani; 1963
interview with actress Simone Signoret from the French television
program "Cinepanorama"; exerpt from an episode of French
television series "Cineastes de notre temps" dedicated to Jacques
Becker; rare, silent behind-the-scenes footage of Becker on the
set, with commentary by film scholar Philip Kemp; new essay by
Kemp. (The Criterion Collection).
** Catwoman (2004) Halle Berry, Benjamin Bratt, Sharon Stone,
Lambert Wilson, Alex Borstein. Extras: Alternate ending; five
additional scenes; "The Many Faces of Catwoman" featurette that
profiles the evolution of the feline fatale's look, style and
portrayers through the years; behind-the-scenes tour with cast
and creators. (Warner).
** Cellular (2004) Kim Basinger, Chris Evans, William H. Macy,
Eric Christian Olsen, Jessica Biel, Jason Statham. Extras:
Commentary by director David Ellis and writers Larry Cohen and
Chris Morgan, deleted/alternate scenes, "Celling Out" featurette,
"Dialing Up Cellular" featurette, "Code of Silence: Inside the
Rampart Scandal" featurette. (New Line).
** The Cookout (2004) Ja Rule, Tim Meadows, Jenifer Lewis, Meagan
Good. (Lions Gate).
** Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Third Season. Two-disc set
with 10 episodes, $29.99. Extras: "Stop and Chat" discussion with
cast and crew, cast and crew favorite scenes. (HBO Video).
** The Deceivers (1988) Dir.: Nicholas Meyer; Pierce Brosnan,
Saeed Jaffrey, Shashi Kapoor. (Home Vision Entertainment).
** The Fairly Oddparents: Timmy's Top Wishes. Seven episodes.
(Paramount).
** The Forgotten (2004) Julianne Moore, Dominic West, Gary
Sinise, Alfre Woodard, Linus Roache, Anthony Edwards. Includes
two versions of the film: the original theatrical cut plus an
extended cut with deleted scenes and an alternate ending. Extras:
Commentary by director Joseph Ruben and writer Gerald DiPego, six
deleted scenes, "The Making of The Forgotten" featurette,
"Remembering the Forgotten" featurette. (Columbia TriStar).
** Friday Night Lights (2004) Billy Bob Thornton, Lucas Black,
Garrett Hedlund, Derek Luke, Jay Hernandez, Lee Jackson, Tim
McGraw. Extras: Commentary by director Peter Berg and writer Buzz
Bissenger, "Player Cam" featurette that follows 40 actor-athletes
living together for six weeks, "Tim McGraw: "Off the Stage"
featurette, "Real Life, Real Games, Real People" featurette on
the real Friday night lights, deleted scenes. (Warner).
** The Matchmaker (1958) Shirley Booth, Shirley MacLaine, Paul
Ford, Anthony Perkins. (Paramount).
** Maya (2001 -- India) Dir.: Digvijay Singh; Mita Vasisht, Nitya
Shetty, Nikhil Yadav, Anant Nag. Extras: Behind the scenes stills
gallery, liner notes by Bollywood and Indian pop culture writer
Lisa Tsering. (Home Vision Entertainment).
** A New Kind of Love (1963) Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward,
Maurice Chevalier, Eva Gabor. (Paramount).
** The Perfect Murder (1988) Dir.: Zafar Hai; Stellan Skarsgard,
Madhur Jaffery, Naseeruddin Shah. (Home Vision Entertainment).
** Rosenstrasse (2004) Dir.: Margarethe von Trotta; Katja
Riemann, Maria Schrader, Martin Feifel, Jurgen Vogel, Jutta
Lampe. (Columbia TriStar).
** Siberia (1998 -- Dutch) Dir.: Robert Jan Westdijk; Hugo
Metsers III, Nicole Eggert, Jessica Stockmann, Roeland Fernhout,
Vlatka Simac, Francesca Rizzo. Extras: Liner notes by critic and
broadcaster Rich Cline ("Shadows on the Wall"). (Home Vision
Entertainment).
** Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars (2005) Direct-to-video
animated feature with the voice talent of Brad Garrett. (Warner).
** Touchez pas au grisbi (1954 -- French) Dir.: Jacques Becker;
Jean Gabin, Jeanne Moreau, Dora Doll, Daniel Cauchy, Jean
Riveyre, Rene Dary, Denise Clair, Lino Ventura. Extras: Video
interview with actors Lino Ventura and Daniel Cauchy and composer
Jen Weiner, new essays by critics Geofrey O'Brien and Phillip
Kemp. (The Criterion Collection).

For more DVD info, check out our DVD calendar pages at
<http://www.onvideo.org/calendar/cal_dvd.htm>


------------------------------------------------------------

THIS WEEK'S VHS SELL-THROUGH RELEASES:

** The Fairly Oddparents: Timmy's Top Wishes (2004) Five episodes
(Paramount): $9.95
** Friday Night Lights (2004) Billy Bob Thornton, Lucas Black,
Garrett Hedlund, Derek Luke, Jay Hernandez, Lee Jackson.
(Warner): $23.98
** Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars (2005) Direct-to-video
animated feature with the voice talent of Brad Garrett (Warner):
$9.95

For more sell-through info, check out our Sell-Through/Repriced
pages at <http://www.onvideo.org/reprice.htm>


------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2005 CyberPod. All rights reserved.
ISSN 1094-3676

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