| New Videos/DVDs |
There are some interesting video/DVD releases slated for March 26, 2002, including "Bread and Tulips," "Iron Monkey," and "K-PAX." Let's take a look at these films, along with a few additional releases of interest, and take a sneak peek at next week's videos and DVDs.
"Bread and Tulips" (2000)
Length: 114 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for brief language, some sensuality and drug references
An Italian-language romantic comedy, “Bread and Tulips” features several likable characters. The story centers around a woman named Rosalba (Licia Maglietta), a forty-something homemaker who is unhappily married. On a vacation with her self-centered husband and teenage children, Rosalba gets separated from her family at a rest stop when their tour bus leaves with them on board while she is still in the bathroom. She impulsively travels to Venice, where she moves in with a melancholy waiter named Fernando (Bruno Ganz), takes a job with a florist, and makes friends with a masseuse. Meanwhile, Rosalba’s husband sends a bumbler named Costantino (Giuseppe Battiston) to Venice to find her. “Bread and Tulips” is lightweight, but it’s very successful in creating sympathetic characters for whom audiences want things to come out right.
Selected Special DVD Features:
- Widescreen Anamorphic Format
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD; this film is also available on VHS.
"Iron Monkey" (2001)
Tagline: "Sometimes the only way to become a hero is to be an outlaw."
Length: 85 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for martial arts action/violence and brief sexuality
The Cantonese-language Hong Kong martial-arts movie “Iron Monkey” played in U.S. theaters in 2001, but this was actually a cosmetic makeover of the original 1993 version of the film. Although the older version of the movie has been available on video for some time, it’s only now that the 2001 version is being released on video and DVD. Set somewhere in the Chinese countryside in the 19th century, “Iron Monkey” is about two good guys teaming up to fight against an evil governor. One of the good guys is the title character, a legendary Robin Hood-like figure. The other good guy is martial-arts expert Wong Kei-ying, who is accompanied by his 12-year-old son Wong Fei-hong (played here by a girl). But of course “Iron Monkey” isn’t about plot or characters--it’s about spectacular martial-arts action sequences.
Selected Special DVD Features:
- Region 1 Encoding
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD; this film is also available on VHS.
"K-PAX" (2001)
Tagline: "Change the way you look at the world."
Length:
120 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for a sequence of violent images, and brief language
and sensuality
Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges star in this drama about a man who is either mentally ill or a being from a distant planet. The Psychiatric Institute of Manhattan admits a patient (Spacey) who calls himself Prot and claims to be from K-PAX, a planet that is one thousand light years from Earth. The psychiatrist who treats Prot is Dr. Powell (Bridges), a workaholic whose relations with his wife and children are strained. Externally Prot appears to be a normal man, but Powell gradually discovers that Prot has some peculiar abilities and special knowledge that make it seem as though he could be an extraterrestrial that has somehow assumed human form. But even as the psychiatrist tries to determine whether Prot is really an alien or simply a delusional earthling, he finds that Prot is able to provide insights that help him deal with his family problems.
Selected Special DVD Features:
- Commentary by Director Ian Softley
- Widescreen Anamorphic Format
- Alternate Endings
"Life as a House" (2001)
Tagline: "Seen from a distance, it's perfect."
Length:
124 minutes
MPAA Rating: R for language, sexuality and drug use
Starring Kevin Kline and Kristin Scott Thomas, this drama tells the story of a dying man who tries to set things right during the last few months of his life. Divorced for a decade, estranged from his teenage son, and fired from his job, George Monroe (Kline) learns that he is terminally ill and has only about four months to live. George resolves to tear down the shack he lives in, build a new house using the money from his severance pay, and try to reconcile with his alienated son Sam (Hayden Christensen). As George works on the new house and spends time with Sam, the teenager’s outlook on life markedly improves, and George rekindles his friendship with his ex-wife Robin (Scott Thomas). Reviewers split about 50-50 on “Life as a House,” with many feeling that the movie is painfully manipulative.
Selected Special DVD Features:
- Director Irwin Winkler's Commentary
- Delelted Scenes
"On the Line" (2001)
Tagline: ""She's one in a million. His chances of finding her again are a million to one."
Length: 85 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG for language and some crude humor
Lance Bass and Joey Fatone from
‘N Sync star in this romantic comedy aimed primarily at teenage moviegoers.
Kevin (Bass) works at a Chicago ad agency and has Rod (Fatone), Eric (comedian
GQ), and Randy (James Buillard) as roommates. One day while riding on the L,
Kevin meets a good-looking young woman (Emmanuelle Chriqui). He thinks they
are attracted to each other, but they part without either of them getting the
other’s name or phone number. In an attempt to find her, Kevin puts up
fliers which result in his story running in a newspaper, drawing a lot of attention
to his search. Soon so many women are responding that Kevin’s roommates
start going out with them. But will Kevin ever get together with the woman he
met on the L, and if so, how will things work out?
Selected Special DVD Features:
- Widescreen Anamorphic
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD; this film is also available on VHS.
"Original Sin" (2001)
Length: 116 minutes
MPAA Rating: R for strong sexual content and some violence (An unrated
version is also available on video/DVD.)
This romantic drama stars Antonio
Banderas and Angelina Jolie. In Cuba near the end of the 19th century, Luis
Vargas (Banderas) arranges by mail to marry an American woman. When Julia Russell
(Jolie) shows up, Vargas observes that she looks nothing like the plain woman
in the photograph he had received. She tells him she didn’t want a man
to marry her just for her good looks, and he admits that he had concealed from
her that he was a coffee plantation owner because he didn’t want a woman
to marry him just for his money. They marry and make passionate love before
she takes all his money and leaves. Still lovestruck, Vargas sets out to find
Julia and learn the truth. Considering how marvelous Banderas and Jolie look,
it’s a little surprising that 90 percent of the critics on Rotten Tomatoes
found “Original Sin” to be rotten.
Selected Special DVD Features:
- Widescreen Anamorphic
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD; this film is also available on VHS.
Additional Releases of Interest:
"Rashomon" - Criterion Collection (1951)
Selected Special DVD Features:
- Commentary by Donald Richie
- Introduction by Robert Altman
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD; this film is also available on VHS.
"Slap Shot" - 25th Anniversary Special Edition (1977)
Selected Special DVD Features:
- Widescreen Anamorphic Format
- Commentary by the Hanson Brothers
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD; this film is also available on VHS.
"Slap Shot 2" - Breaking the Ice (2002)
Selected Special DVD Features:
- Production Notes
- Hanson Brothers Interview
- Widescreen Anamorphic Format
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD; this film is also available on VHS.
"Star Trek The Next Generation - The Complete First Season" (1988)
Selected Special DVD Features:
- Seven-Disc Set
- Entire First Season
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD; this film is also available on VHS.
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