| New Video and DVD Releases | |
| Part 1: This Week's New Releases on Video/DVD |
by Ivana Redwine
There are some interesting video/DVD releases slated for May 4, 2004, including "Calendar Girls," "Chasing Liberty," "Elephant," "Girl With a Pearl Earring," "The Last Samurai," "Peter Pan," and "The Triplets of Belleville." In addition, we'll take a sneak peek at next week's movies on video/DVD.
May 4, 2004 - Video and DVD Releases
"Calendar Girls"
Tagline: "They dropped everything for a good cause."
Length: 108 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for nudity, some language and drug-related material
Inspired by a true story, this British comedy stars Helen Mirren and Julie Walters. In Yorkshire, the no-longer-young members of a local chapter of the Women's Institute decide to raise money for charity by posing nude for calendar photos. In due course, the photos are taken (with flower arrangements masking the naughty parts) and the calendar printed, and then the ladies must deal with the consequences of it becoming a big seller.
Selected Special DVD Features:- Widescreen
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS.
"Chasing Liberty"
Tagline: "Every family has a rebel. Even the First Family."
Length: 111 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual content and brief nudity
Mandy Moore is paired with Matthew Goode in this romantic comedy. Moore plays Anna Foster, teenage daughter of the U.S. President. Anna, whose Secret Service code name is Liberty, tires of the restrictions she must endure as First Daughter, and on a visit to Prague, slips away for a taste of freedom. She meets a young Brit named Ben Calder (Goode), and together they take a tour of Europe while being tracked by Secret Service agents.
Selected Special DVD Features:- Widescreen
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS.
"Elephant"
Tagline: "An ordinary high school day. Except that it's not."
Length: 81 minutes
MPAA Rating: R for disturbing violent content, language, brief sexuality and drug use - all involving teens
Winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes, this hard-hitting English-language drama was written, directed, and edited by Gus Van Sant. Plotless and featuring few recognizable actors, the film chronicles a fictional day at a typical American high school in Oregon. Although the day at first seems ordinary, things take a tragic turn when two students go on a shooting rampage reminiscent of the one that occurred at Columbine in Colorado.
Selected Special DVD Features:- Widescreen
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS.
"Girl With a Pearl Earring"
Tagline: "Beauty inspires obsession."
Length: 95 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some sexual content
Starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth, this historical drama based on a best-selling novel supplies a fictional background to a famous 17th-century portrait painted by Dutch master Johannes Vermeer. Johansson plays the teenage girl Griet, who goes to work as a maid in the home of Vermeer (Firth). Griet takes an interest in Vermeer's work, helps him mix paints, and becomes his model as the girl and the artist develop an unusual relationship.
Selected Special DVD Features:- Widescreen
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS.
"The Last Samurai"
Length: 154 minutes
MPAA Rating: R for strong violence and battle sequences
Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe star in this epic set in 19th-century Japan. Cruise plays American Civil War veteran Nathan Algren, who is hired to work for the Japanese emperor in putting down samurai uprisings. But Algren is captured and eventually bonds with the samurai leader Katsumoto (Watanabe). When Algren realizes he sympathizes more with the samurai than with the emperor's mercenaries, he must make some major decisions.
Selected Special DVD Features:- Two-Disc DVD Set
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS.
"Peter Pan"
Tagline: "Let the fight begin."
Length: 113 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG for adventure action sequences and peril
This is the 2003 live-action version of "Peter Pan" where young teenagers Jeremy Sumpter and Rachel Hurd-Wood play Peter and Wendy. Jason Isaacs takes the traditional dual roles of Captain Hook and Wendy's father. The story of course still involves Wendy traveling from her London home to Neverland, where Peter and Captain Hook live, but this version shows that even though we lose something when we grow up, it's best not to remain a child forever.
Selected Special DVD Features:- Full-Screen Edition
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS.
"The Triplets of Belleville"
Length: 80 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for images involving sensuality, violence and crude humor.
Nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Animated Feature category, this highly eccentric film might be described as darkly comic. It has only a couple of lines of intelligible dialogue, originally in French, but later dubbed into English. The story is set in motion when a world-class bicyclist is kidnapped by mobsters. In the fictitious metropolis of Belleville, his grandmother enlists the aid of three ancient sisters who used to be a musical act.
Selected Special DVD Features:- Widescreen
Formats Available: The above information on special features refers to the DVD. Check for availability on VHS.
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