| Recommended February Video and DVD Releases | ||||||||||||||||||||
| The Best New Movies on Video/DVD for February, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||
The best new movie releases on video and DVD slated for February, 2003, include "Igby Goes Down," "8 Women," "The Fast Runner," "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," "Mostly Martha," "One Hour Photo," and "Road To Perdition." Let's take a look at these recommended new releases on video and DVD. February 4, 2003
"Igby
Goes Down" (2002)
This story of an adolescent trying to survive growing up in a dysfunctional family has reminded many of "The Catcher in the Rye." In "Igby Goes Down," Kieran Culkin plays Igby Slocumb, an intelligent 17-year-old who has been kicked out of several prep schools. Igby's mother (Susan Sarandon) is self-absorbed and unlikable, his schizophrenic father (Bill Pullman) is in a mental institution, and his older brother (Ryan Phillippe) is cold and overbearing. When Igby escapes from military school, his godfather (Jeff Goldblum) arranges for him to stay in a bohemian part of New York. There Igby comes to know his godfather's mistress (Amanda Peet) and a Bennington student (Claire Danes), and he must deal with issues that include drugs and sex as he tries to find himself. Selected DVD Special Features: Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS. February
11, 2003
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Video and DVD Releases
Catherine Deneuve is one of several famous actresses in this entertaining French-language film, which is rather like an Agatha Christie mystery with half a dozen musical numbers thrown in. A family gathers at the isolated house of Gaby (Deneuve) and her husband Marcel. Family members include Gaby's mother (Danielle Darrieux), her daughters (Virginie Ledoyen and Ludivine Sagnier), her sister (Isabelle Huppert), her sister-in-law (Fanny Ardant), and two servants (Emmanuelle Béart and Firmine Richard). Marcel turns up dead, apparently knifed in the back while in bed. A snowstorm makes the roads impassable, trapping everyone in the house, and the phone lines are cut. The murder mystery then drives the story, but this is mainly a device to showcase the talented and charismatic French actresses. Selected DVD Special Features: Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS. "Brown Sugar" (2002)
This is a romantic comedy about African-American professionals in the world of hip-hop music. Dre (Taye Diggs), a music producer, and Sidney (Sanaa Lathan), a magazine editor, have been friends since childhood. Dre and Sidney have long shared a love of hip-hop, but their relationship has never been a romantic one. Then Dre marries the attractive Reese (Nicole Ari Parker), and Sidney becomes seriously involved with a professional basketball player (Boris Kodjoe). Soon both Dre and Sidney are beset by serious doubts about the direction of their lives, and they begin to think they have taken wrong turns because of their failure to realize they have always been meant for each other. Mos Def plays the role of a performer backed by Dre, and Queen Latifah portrays Sidney's friend. Selected Special DVD Features:
Widescreen
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS. "The
Fast Runner" (2002)
This Inuktitut-language film awed critics and art house audiences during its theatrical release. The actors are Inuit, a people sometimes referred to as Eskimos. The movie is set in the Canadian Arctic sometime in the past before modern transportation and communication impacted the nomadic, tribal society there. The story is about a small Inuit community that has been cursed by a shaman, resulting in a cycle of conflict over a span of years. A problem arises when Atanarjuat desires a woman named Atuat, who has been promised to Oki, the son of the leader of the community. Atanarjuat gets Atuat by defeating Oki in ritual combat, but eventually there's a murder, and Atanarjuat must run for his life. One of the best things about the film is its close observation of daily life in the community. Selected DVD Special Features: Widescreen
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS. "My
Big Fat Greek Wedding" (2002)
This romantic comedy was a surprise runaway hit in its theatrical release. Nia Vardalos, the movie's leading lady, originally developed the story as a one-woman play based loosely on her own family background. Vardalos plays Toula Portokalos, an unmarried, thirtyish, rather plain-looking Chicago woman who is surrounded by her overpowering Greek family. She first works in the restaurant run by her parents (Michael Constantine and Lainie Kazan). Then she goes to work at a travel agency, and she also meets a man named Ian Miller (John Corbett), who is not Greek. Since her parents strongly disapprove, Toula and Ian start up their romantic relationship on the sly. But soon they're head over heels in love, and as they move towards marriage, Toula must reconcile her love for her family with her love for Ian. Selected DVD Special Features: • Full-Screen and Widescreen Anamorphic Formats Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS. "Possession"
(2002)
Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart star in this romantic drama. Eckhart plays Roland Mitchell, a scholar researching the 19th-century British poet Randolph Henry Ash (Jeremy Northam). Paltrow portrays Maud Bailey, an expert on another Victorian-era poet, Christabel LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle). Mitchell contacts Bailey about some of Ash's love letters, which he believes were written to LaMotte. If Mitchell's conjecture turns out to be correct, it will be important to scholars for two reasons: (1) Ash was believed to have been faithful to his wife; and (2) LaMotte was believed to have been in a lesbian relationship with a woman named Blanche Glover (Lena Headey). As Mitchell and Bailey conduct their research, they start to fall for each other, and the romance between Ash and LaMotte is shown in flashbacks. Selected DVD Special Features: Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS. Also Recommended: "Angel
- Season One" (2000) DVDs Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS. "Beauty
and the Beast" (1947) Criterion Collection Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS. "Metropolis"
(1927) Selected DVD Special Features: •
Black and White
February 18 - Video and DVD Releases"Mostly Martha" (2001)
This German-language comedy-drama was a favorite of critics and art house audiences during its theatrical release. Martha Klein (Martina Gedeck) takes great pride in the job she does as a chef at an upscale restaurant. However, she's a rather prickly single woman who doesn't have much of a personal life. But things change drastically for Martha when her sister is killed in an accident and her sister's eight-year-old daughter Lina (Maxime Foerste) comes to live with her. Martha's relationship with Lina turns out to be difficult, and then something happens at the restaurant that makes Martha feel threatened: a personable man named Mario (Sergio Castellitto) is hired as an additional chef. But as Martha grapples with these changes, she gradually comes to a better understanding of what she wants out of life. Selected DVD Special Features: Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS. "One
Hour Photo"
(2002) Robin Williams stars in this unsettling suspense movie. Williams portrays Sy Parrish, the man people go to when they get their photos developed at Sav-Mart, a large discount department store. Nina Yorkin (Connie Nielsen) has been bringing family photos of herself, her husband (Michael Vartan), and their young son (Dylan Smith) to Sy for years. To the Yorkins, Sy is just the friendly Sav-Mart photo guy. But to Sy, the Yorkins are the perfect family, and he's filled a wall in his apartment with photos of them. In fact, Sy is a lonely, warped man who thinks of himself as part of the Yorkin family. Eventually, Sy can't resist involving himself in the Yorkins' lives. Then he discovers they're not so perfect and takes it upon himself to set things right. But how far will this creepy, deranged man go? Selected DVD Special Features: •
Available in Widescreen and Full-Screen Formats
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS. "Spy
Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams" (2002)
This is the sequel to "Spy Kids" (2001), and like the earlier movie, it's aimed at kids, yet most adults won't mind watching it. The two spy kids, Carmen (Alexa Vega) and Juni Cortez (Daryl Sabara) are back, along with their spy parents (Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino). This time around we also have the spy grandparents (Ricardo Montalban and Holland Taylor). In addition, the new movie has a rival pair of spy kids, Gary and Gerti Giggles. In "Spy Kids 2," Carmen and Juni travel to a mysterious island where a mad scientist named Romero (Steve Buscemi) lives. Their objective is to save the world from a powerful diabolical device. But the Cortez kids' mission is complicated by competition from the Giggles kids and the presence of monsters created by Romero's genetics experiments. Selected DVD Special Features: Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS. Also Recommended: "Metropolis"
(1927) Selected DVD Special Features: •
Black and White
February 25 - Video and DVD Releases"Road
to Perdition" (2002)
Tom Hanks and Paul Newman star in this bleak drama about Depression-era mobsters in Illinois. Hanks plays Michael Sullivan, who was taken in years ago and brought up like a son by Irish mob boss John Rooney (Newman). Also, Rooney fathered a son named Connor (Daniel Craig). Now Connor works for his father, and Sullivan also works for Rooney and thinks of him as his father. A chain of events occurs that end up with Connor killing Sullivan's wife and one of his two sons. Most of the rest of the movie is taken up by Sullivan's quest to get revenge while protecting his surviving son (Tyler Hoechlin). Although Rooney loves Sullivan like a son, he chooses to protect his biological son Connor, resulting in a hitman (Jude Law) seeking to track down and kill Sullivan. Selected DVD Special Features: • Full-Screen and Widescreen Anamorphic Formats Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS. More New Video/DVD Releases for February, 2003 New Video/DVD Releases - February Week One New Video/DVD Releases - February Week Two New Video/DVD Releases - February Week Three New Video/DVD Releases - February Week Four More Video and DVD Releases More Video and DVD Releases Upcoming Movies on Video and DVD Selected movies on video and DVD that will be released in the coming months.
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