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11/27/07 V11.48
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ONVIDEO'S WEEKLY GUIDE TO HOME VIDEO RELEASES
For Tuesday, November 27 -- Monday, December 3
Hot Rod
Rod Kimble (Andy Samberg), a self-proclaimed stuntman, is convinced he has bravery in his blood. He's grown up believing he's the son of Evel Knievel's test-rider, a courageous stuntman who died in his prime. Rod is committed to fulfilling his father's legacy. Only problem is ... he's not good at it. Rod lives at home with his loving mom Marie (Sissy Spacek), jerk of a stepfather Frank (Ian McShane) and nerdy stepbrother Kevin (Jorma Taccone). He doesn't have a job, and can usually be found doing stunts on his moped, attempting to jump over everything from milk trucks to public swimming pools. Rod remains optimistic in spite of the abuse he suffers from his stepfather. Frank has a penchant for beating the tar out of Rod, who just keeps coming back for more in the hopes of earning Frank's respect by besting him in one of their regular knock-down brawls. When Frank gets sick and needs a $50,000 operation, Rod attempts to raise the money by undertaking his biggest stunt ever -- jumping 15 buses, one more than Evel Knievel himself ever dared. After all, he's got to get Frank all better so he can kick his ass! Vitals: Director: Akiva Schaffer. Stars: Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, Mark Acheson, Bill Hader, Danny R. McBride, Sissy Spacek. 2007, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 87 min., Action Comedy, Box office gross: $13.920 million, Paramount.
I Know Who Killed Me
Aubrey Fleming (Lindsay Lohan) is a regular high school student with friends and family. One night, she unexpectedly disappears. Two weeks later, she is found unconscious in the middle of the woods. When spoken to, her loved ones realize she has forgotten her identity and the personality living in her body is Dakota Moss, a character that Aubrey created in one of her stories for an English assignment. Dakota denies ever being Aubrey, despite an identical appearance. Now, Dakota must try to unravel the mystery of how she and Aubrey co-exist and find out who abducted Aubrey that night. Vitals: Director: Chris Sivertson. Stars: Lindsay Lohan, Julia Ormond, Neal McDonough, Brian Geraghty, Garcelle Beauvais, Spencer Garrett, Gregory Itzin. 2007, CC, MPAA rating: R, 105 min., Thriller, Box office gross: $7.233 million, Sony.
Mr. Bean's Holiday
The sequel to the 1997 hit "Bean" finds the hapless Mr. Bean traveling to the South of France on holiday, causing his usual brand of mayhem and ending with an unscheduled screening (and success) of his video diary at the Cannes Film Festival. Vitals: Director: Steve Bendelack. Stars: Rowan Atkinson, Willem Dafoe, Emma de Caunes, Jean Rochefort. 2007, CC, MPAA rating: G, 90 min., Comedy, Box office gross: $32.294 million, Universal.
Namesake, The
An enduring story of love, courage and the struggles faced by American immigrants. Follows two generations of the Ganguli family as they immigrate to the U.S. from India to experience a world of limitless opportunities, only to be challenged to find the links between the world they left behind and the new world that lies in front of them. Kal Penn stars as Gogol Ganguli, a suburban teenager caught between his Indian roots and his American birthright. His non-American, yet non-Indian name finds him estranged from his heritage in the midst of American culture; and he learns to tread a razor-thin line between his Bengali roots and his American birthright as he tries in vain to convince his parents - played by award winning Bollywood star Irrfan Khan and Tabu -- to support his desire to change his name to Nikhil. Genuinely believing there could be no name more fitting for their son, they must find a way to remain faithful to their cultural traditions while coming to terms with their son's Western outlook resulting in both comical and revelatory consequences. Gogol and his Indian-born parents must somehow strike a balance between age-old traditions and modern-day sensibilities as they search for a patch of common ground. Vitals: Director: Mira Nair. Stars: Irfan Khan, Kal Penn, Jagannath Guha, Ruma Guha Thakurta, Tabu. 2007, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 114 min., Drama, Box office gross: $13.569 million, Fox.
Waitress
A favorite of critics and audiences alike, "Waitress" is an irresistible film filled with delicious spunk. An audience hit at the Sundance Film Festival, "Waitress" serves up a sweet, sassy and delicious slice of life tale -- as it reveals the power of friendship, motherhood and the willingness to take a chance. The final film of actress-writer-director Adrienne Shelly (who was mudered by a handyman in her house), "Waitress" stars Keri Russell as Jenna, a simple diner waitress stuck in a lousy marriage whose only solace is baking scrumptious pies. Aptly naming her delectable desserts after her daily emotions, Jenna hopes to one day win the local pie-baking contest earning $25,000 and a fresh start. Concocting a recipe for a new life gets difficult though when she finds herself not only pregnant with her good-for-nothin' husband's child, but also in love with the town's awkwardly charming new OB-GYN. While Jenna's "I Don't Want Earl's Baby" pie might not secure her the grand prize, her "Kick In the Pants" pie may be just what she needs. Vitals: Director: Adrienne Shelly. Stars: Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Cheryl Hines, Jeremy Sisto, Andy Griffith, Adrienne Shelly, Eddie Jemison, Lew Temple, Darby Stanchfield. 2007, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 100 min., Romantic Comedy, Box office gross: $18.872 million, Fox.
Who's Your Caddy?
Antwan "Big Boi" Patton (rap group Outkast, ATL) stars as music mogul C-Note who will do whatever in takes, no matter how outrageous, to become a member of an elite country club -- much to the objection of club president Cummings (Jeffrey Jones). Buying land next to the course's 17th hole as a bargaining strategy, the club's order is disrupted as C-Note and his entourage bring their flashy, hip-hop lifestyle to the prim and proper country club. As Cummings attempts to revoke his new members, C-Note must restore his honor and change the club's backward institution. Vitals: Director: Don Michael Paul. Stars: Big Boi, Jeffrey Jones, Susan Ward, Sherri Shepherd, Tony Cox. 2007, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 91 min., Comedy, Box office gross: $5.634 million, The Weinstein Co./Genius Products.
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NEWS
DVD Collectibles:
Highlight of the week is "Drunken Angel"
(1948) in a new, restored high-definition digital transfer. In this
powerful early noir from the great Akira Kurosawa, Toshiro Mifune
bursts onto the screen as a volatile, tuberculosis-infected criminal
who strikes up an unlikely, unhealthy relationship with Takashi
Shimura's jaded physician. Set in and around the muddy swamps and back
alleys of postwar Tokyo, "Drunken Angel" is an evocative, moody
snapshot of a volatile time and place, featuring one of the director's
most memorably violent climaxes. Extras include commentary featuring
Japanese-film scholar Donald Richie, a 30-minute documentary on the
making of "Drunken Angel," a new video piece that looks at the
challenges Kurosawa faced in making "Drunken Angel," plus a booklet
featuring essays by cultural historian Ian Buruma and a reprint from
Kurosawa's "Something Like an Autobiography." From The Criterion
Collection ... Sony has a nifty gift set due this week: "Ray Harryhausen In Color Gift Set,"
a six-disc set with two-disc special editions of "It Came From Beneath
the Sea," "Earth vs.the Flying Saucers" (each making their two-disc DVD
debuts) and "20 Million Miles to Earth: 50th Anniversary Edition";
$59.95.
From TV to Video:
Due this week: "All or Nothing at All"
(1993), a two-disc set of the U.K. miniseries about a conman who ends
up gambling too much, getting seduced by his secretary and threatened
by his corrupt boss, starring Hugh Laurie; $29.98 from BFS
Entertainment ... "The Clinic" (2005) is an
award-winning series about the professionals of a Dublin health clinic,
in a two-disc set, $39.98 from BFS Entertainment ... "Happy Days: The Third Season" (1975-76) is a four-disc set with 24 episodes, $42.99 from Paramount ... "Laverne & Shirley: The Third Season" (1977-78) is a four-disc set with 24 episodes, $42.99 from Paramount ... "The Man From U.N.C.L.E: The Complete Series"
is a 41-disc set with all 105 original unedited episodes (1964-68),
packaged in a silver "attache case"; $249.99 from Time Life ... "Mork & Mindy: The Third Season" (1980-81) is a four-disc set with 22 episodes, $42.99 from Paramount.
Buzzin' the 'B's:
"First Snow" (2006) stars Guy Pearce,
Piper Perabo, William Fichtner and J.K. Simmons in a thriller about a
slick salesman whose car breaks down in a desolate town. To kill some
time, he visits a fortune teller, but the psychic's ominous reading
sends his life into a tailspin: she tells him that his life will soon
end, but he is safe until the first snow of the season. Day by day, as
the weather turns rapidly colder, he slowly becomes unwound. From Sony
... "Paprika" (2007) is an anime based on a 1991
story by legendary Japanese writer Yasutaka Tsutsui about a beautiful
young psychotherapist whose alter-ego enters people's dreams in order
to understand their subconscious thoughts. When the device is stolen by
a "dream terrorist," it is up to Atsuko Chiba, a scientist under the
code name Paprika, to track down the apparatus and save the world from
madness. Available on standard DVD and Blu-ray Disc from Sony ... "Futurama: Bender's Big Score"
(2007) is a full-length "Futurama" feature in which the "Futurama" crew
must fight to save Earth in an epic battle against nudist alien
Internet scammers; from Fox ... An NSA agent decides to expose a
high-tech government spying apparatus in order to save the life of an
innocent woman in "The Listening" (2006), starring Michael Parks, Maya Sansa, Andrea Tidona and James Parks; from Monarch Home Video ... "Guy X"
(2005) stars Jason Biggs, Natascha McElhone, Jeremy Northam and Michael
Ironside in a black comedy set in 1979 about a soldier mistakenly
posted to an Arctic military base; there he discovers The Wing -- a
hospice for American casualties from a reckless mission in the Vietnam
War -- a unit maintained in secret until the last man has died; from
First Look Pictures ... In "Pigs"
(2005), a ladies man takes on a bet by his college chums to "complete"
the entire alphabet by dating 26 girls corresponding to the 26 letters
of the alphabet; the rules are simple: the rarer the first letter of
the girl's last name, the higher the odds. Stars Jefferson Brown,
Darryn Lucio, Melanie Marden and Christopher Elliott; from ThinkFilm.
On the Indie Front:
In "Doing Time for Patsy Cline"
(1997), starring Richard Roxburgh, Miranda Otto and Matt Day, a
musician who has spent his entire life in the Australian outback heads
out to Nashville to pursue his dream of becoming a country singer, only
to encounter a couple on the lam from the police; from BFS
Entertainment ... "In the Winter Dark"
(1998) stars Brenda Blethyn, Ray Barrett, Richard Roxburgh and Miranda
Otto in a psychological thriller set in an isolated valley about four
neighbors who fear the existence of a dark creature lurking in the
eerie shadows of the farmland, also from BFS Entertainment.
For the Family:
"The Land Before Time: The Wisdom of Friends"
(2007) is the latest feature-length addition to the long-running kids
animated dinosaur franchise, here with the voices of Cuba Gooding Jr.
and Sandra Oh; from Universal ... "The Land Before Time: Good Times & Good Friends" features four episodes from the TV series; also from Universal ... "Peter Pan in Return to Never Land Pixie Powered Edition" (2002) is an animated sequel, $29.99 from Disney ... "Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive Volume 3" features seven episodes of the live-action series, $19.99 from Disney ... "Wish Gone Amiss"
(2007) highlights three themed half-hour episodes as the stars of
"Hannah Montana," "Cory in the House" and "The Suite Life of Zack &
Cody" get a shot at their hearts' desires when they spot the same
shooting star -- originally broadcast as "Wish Gone Amiss Weekend" on
the Disney Channel, from Disney.
Special Interest:
Due this week: "Royal Rumble: The Complete Anthology Volume 1 and Volume 2" (2007), two five-disc sets chronicling the annual wrestling PPV event; Volume 1 covers 1988-92; Volume 2 covers 1993-97; $59.95 each; from WWE/Genius Products.
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THIS WEEK'S DVD RELEASES:
Weekly listings of DVD releases can now be viewed on mobile
devices at www.tagtag.com/onvideo
Bratz (2007) Logan Browning, Janel Parrish, Nathalia Ramos, Skyler Shaye, Chelsea Staub. Extras: Deleted scenes, bloopers/outtakes, music videos, 11 featurettes. (Lionsgate).
The Clinic (2005) Award-winning series about the professionals of a Dublin health clinic. Two-disc set, $39.98. (BFS Entertainment).
Doing Time for Patsy Cline (1997) Richard Roxburgh, Miranda Otto, Matt Day. A musician who has spent his entire life in the Australian outback heads out to Nashville to pursue his dream of becoming a country singer, only to encounter a couple on the lam from the police. (BFS Entertainment).
Drunken Angel (1948) Dir.: Akira Kurosawa; Toshiro Mifune; Takashi Shimura. New, restored high-definition digital transfer. Extras: Commentary featuring Japanese-film scholar Donald Richie, 30-minute documentary on the making of "Drunken Angel," new video piece that looks at the challenges Kurosawa faced in making "Drunken Angel," plus a booklet featuring essays by cultural historian Ian Buruma and a reprint from Kurosawa's "Something Like an Autobiography." (The Criterion Collection).
First Snow (2006) Guy Pearce, Piper Perabo, William Fichtner, J.K. Simmons. After his car breaks down in a desolate town, a slick salesman, Jimmy Starks (Pearce), visits a fortune teller (Simmons) to kill some time. But the psychic's ominous reading sends Jimmy's life into a tailspin when he learns that his life will soon end, but he is safe, at least, until the first snow of the season. Day by day, as the weather turns rapidly colder, Jimmy slowly becomes unwound. His paranoia drives away his girlfriend (Perabo) and threatens his job as he scrambles to make atonements, racing to find a road that leads to a future. (Sony).
Futurama: Bender's Big Score (2007) Voices of Katey Sagal, Lauren Tom, Billy West, Phil LaMarr. Full-length "Futurama" feature. As Xmas 3007 approaches, the "Futurama" crew must fight to save Earth in an epic battle against nudist alien Internet scammers. Extras: Commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes, more. (Fox).
Guy X (2005) Jason Biggs, Natascha McElhone, Jeremy Northam, Michael Ironside. A black comedy set in 1979, about a soldier mistakenly posted to an Arctic military base; there he discovers The Wing -- a hospice for American casualties from a reckless mission in the Vietnam War -- a unit maintained in secret until the last man has died. (First Look Pictures).
Happy Days: The Third Season (1975-76) Four-disc set with 24 episodes, $42.99. Extras: Second anniversary show. (Paramount).
Hot Rod (2007) Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, Mark Acheson, Bill Hader, Danny R. McBride, Sissy Spacek. Extras: Commentary by director Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone; "Ancestors Protect Me: Behind the Scenes of Hot Rod"; home video footage of orchestra recording sequence; Easter Egg; more. Available on HD DVD. (Paramount).
I Know Who Killed Me (2007) Lindsay Lohan, Julia Ormond, Neal McDonough, Brian Geraghty, Garcelle Beauvais, Spencer Garrett, Gregory Itzin. Extras: Alternate opening, alternate ending, blooper reel, extended dance sequence. Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (Sony).
In the Winter Dark (1998) Brenda Blethyn, Ray Barrett, Richard Roxburgh, Miranda Otto. Psychological thriller set in an isolated valley about four neighbors who fear the existence of a dark creature lurking in the eerie shadows of the farmland. (BFS Entertainment).
Innocent Voices (2004 -- Spainish) Dir.: Luis Mandoki; Carlos Padilla, Leonor Varela, Xuna Primus. A young boy, in an effort to have a normal childhood in 1980's El Salvador, is caught up in a dramatic fight for his life as he desperately tries to avoid the war which is raging all around him. (Warner).
The Land Before Time: The Wisdom of Friends (2007) Latest addition to the long-running kids animated dinosaur franchise, here with the voices of Cuba Gooding Jr. and Sandra Oh; $19.98. Extras: Games, sing-along activities. (Universal).
The Land Before Time: Good Times & Good Friends. Four episodes from the TV series. Extras: Games, sing-along activities. (Universal).
Laverne & Shirley: The Third Season (1977-78) Four-disc set with 24 episodes, $42.99. (Paramount).
The Listening (2006) Michael Parks, Maya Sansa, Andrea Tidona, James Parks. An NSA agent decides to expose a high-tech government spying apparatus in order to save the life of an innocent woman. (Monarch Home Video).
The Man From U.N.C.L.E: The Complete Series. Forty-one disc set with all 105 Original unedited episodes (1964-68). Packaged in a silver "attache case"; $249.99 Extras: Four booklets, 17 on-camera interviews, nine featurettes, more. (Time Life).
Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007) Rowan Atkinson, Willem Dafoe, Emma de Caunes, Jean Rochefort. Extras: Deleted scenes, more. Also available on HD DVD. (Universal).
Mork & Mindy: The Third Season (1980-81) Four-disc set with 22 episodes, $42.99.
The Namesake (2007 -- India) Dir.: Mira Nair; Irfan Khan, Kal Penn, Jagannath Guha, Ruma Guha Thakurta, Tabu. Extras: Commentary by director Mira Nair, deleted scenes, "The Anatomy of The Namesake: A Class at Columbia University's Graduate Film School," "Fox Movie Channel Presents: In Character With Kal Penn," "Kolkata Love Poem," "Photography as Inspiration." (Fox).
Paprika (2007) Anime. Based on a 1991 story by legendary Japanese writer Yasutaka Tsutsui about a beautiful young psychotherapist whose alter-ego enters people's dreams in order to understand their subconscious thoughts. When the device is stolen by a "dream terrorist," it is up to Atsuko Chiba, a scientist under the code name Paprika, to track down the apparatus and save the world from madness. Extras: "Tsutsui and Kon's Paprika" behind-the-scenes featurette; "A Conversation About the Dream" with director Satoshi Kon, novelist Yasutaka Tsutsui and voice actors Megumi Hayashibara and Toru Furuya; "The Art of Fantasy" art direction featurette; "The Dream CG World Cinematography" featurette. Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (Sony).
Peter Pan in Return to Never Land Pixie Powered Edition (2002) Animated sequel, $29.99. Extras: Tinker Bell game, "Magical Fairies Moments," deleted scenes. (Disney).
Pigs (2005) Jefferson Brown, Darryn Lucio, Melanie Marden, Christopher Elliott. A ladies man takes on a bet by his college chums to "complete" the entire alphabet by dating 26 girls corresponding to the 26 letters of the alphabet; the rules are simple: the rarer the first letter of the girl's last name, the higher the odds. Extras: Commentary, deleted scenes. (ThinkFilm).
Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive Volume 3. Seven episodes of the live-action series, $19.99. (Disney).
Ray Harryhausen In Color Gift Set. Six-disc set with two-disc special editions of "It Came From Beneath the Sea," "Earth vs.the Flying Saucers" (each making their two-disc DVD debuts) and "20 Million Miles to Earth: 50th Anniversary Edition"; $59.95. (Sony).
Royal Rumble: The Complete Anthology Volume 1 and Volume 2 (2007) Two five-disc sets chronicling the annual wrestling PPV event; Volume 1 covers 1988-92; Volume 2 covers 1993-97; $59.95 each. (WWE/Genius).
Spice World (1997) Victoria Beckham, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm, Geri Halliwell. Remastered edition just in time for the Spice Girls World Reunion Tour. (Sony).
Vitus (2006 -- Switzerland) Fabrizio Borsani, Teo Gheorghiu, Julika Jenkins, Urs Jucker, Bruno Ganz. Story of a child prodigy who has everything he wants -- except the chance to be a normal kid. At six, Vitus is both incredibly talented and wonderfully precocious. When it becomes evident that he has an exceptionally high IQ and can play piano like a young Mozart, expectations run high. His parents love him, his grandfather understands him, but no one knows the truth -- that his real genius is in his heart. Switzerland's official 2006 Academy Award entry. (Sony).
Waitress (2007) Dir.: Adrienne Shelly; Extras: Commentary by producer Michael Roiff and Actor Keri Russell, "This Is How We Made Waitress Pie" featurette, "Written and Directed by Adrienne Shelly: A Memorial" featurette, "Hi! I'm Keri. I'll Be Your Waitress" featurette, "The Pies Have It!" featurette, "Fox Movie Channel Presents: In Character With Keri Russell," "Fox Movie Channel Presents: In Character With Cheryl Hines," "Fox Movie Channel Presents: In Character With Nathan Fillion," "A Message From Keri Russell About the Adrienne Shelly Foundation." (Fox).
Who's Your Caddy? (2007) Big Boi, Jeffrey Jones, Susan Ward, Sherri Shepherd, Tony Cox. Extras: Deleted scenes, "On the Green: The Making of Who's Your Caddy?" "Fireman" music video performed by Birdman. (The Weinstein Co./Genius Products).
Wish Gone Amiss (2007) Three themed half-hour episodes - as the stars of "Hannah Montana," "Cory in the House" and "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" get a shot at their hearts' desires when they spot the same shooting star -- originally broadcast as "Wish Gone Amiss Weekend" on the Disney Channel. (Disney).
For more DVD info, check out our DVD calendar pages at
<http://www.onvideo.org/calendar/cal_dvd.htm>
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