DVD

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Date Movie: Unrated Edition

The greatest compliment that this writer can throw Date Movie’s way is that there really is a slim, slim chance you’ll be able to make it through the entire film without laughing once. It may not be a guffaw and it may not be entirely purposeful (you may be laughing at the film and not with it), but I put some pretty good money on the theory that you’ll let loose once.When I saw the film during its anemic theatrical run, I was joined by two of my closest compatriots, Ryan and...

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New Releases
This Week
In Stores 06/20/2006

• The Hills Have Eyes
• Eight Below
• Syriana
• The Omen
• Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor)

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Damon Wayans - Still Standing

Perhaps like many viewers I first caught Damon Wayans on the hit TV show In Living Colour in the ‘90s where he and the rest of the cast displayed incredible talent. But Wayans’ first love was stand up comedy, and I also caught one of his standup comedy specials on HBO or Showtime during the In Living Colour’s run. Damon Wayans was born in New York City, the third of ten children. Reportedly, Damon found comedy as a relief from the physical challenges of being born with a...

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Match Point

This decided change of tone is one of Woody Allen’s best films in years. Wickedly cynical, Allen would have us believe that there are only various levels of evil in the world, each fighting for survival, rarely allowing trivialities such as morality or ethics to get in the way. In fact, as Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), the narrator of the piece explains, “I’d rather be lucky than good.” He makes an interesting analogy. A former tennis pro, he...

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Nanny McPhee

I’m a bit of a pushover for pretty much anything Emma Thompson does. I find her witty and very bright, whether in front of the camera or behind it. (My Anglophilia may have something to do with it as well.) So it was with some disappointment that I found myself waiting ten years for her to write her next screenplay. Was the warm glow of the Oscar for her screenplay for 1995’s delightful Sense and Sensibility enough to keep her from the word processor for a...

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Find Me Guilty

Onboard a flight from Seattle to Phoenix I read a newspaper interview with Vin Diesel. It was around the time his xXx film was being released in 2002, and I remember his talking about looking forward to roles outside of his action hero stigma, including Diesel’s aspirations for a remake of Guys and Dolls with Nicole Kidman! He fits the tough action role so well it’s challenging to imagine him kicking up his heels in a musical. But true to his word, after that monstrously successful...

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Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic

I’m a fan of standup and I find myself drawn to female comics who use wit rather than anger as the premise of their routines. Among that modest group is Sarah Silverman, who has the ability to make us laugh and cringe at the same time. She pushes the boundaries of good taste, sometimes in uncomfortable ways. Nonetheless, I like her irreverence and willingness to take chances. I enjoyed chuckling at her standup during Jesus is Magic, but I was disappointed with the...

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Ultraviolet

As Ultraviolet spooled before me, I was struck by its similarities to Aeon Flux. Both films were filmed in exotic locations that feature impressively modern architecture. Both SciFi flicks are set in the future. Both fictional societies are inflicted with a fatal disease. Both films feature a nearly indestructible heroine who dispatches most of her opponents with entirely too much aplomb. Both heroines are highly capable assassins working for a resistance...

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Koko: A Talking Gorilla

Koko the talking gorilla is one of the most beloved subjects in documentary history. As this ape shows Barbet Schroeder’s crew the extent of her knowledge of language and communication, it’s impossible not to find a modicum of affinity with her prescient charm. (French author Marguerite Duras’s essay about how she adores Koko is included in this DVD edition.) But the real wonder of Koko: A Talking Gorilla, Schroeder’s notoriously empathetic 1978 documentary, is how...

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Eight Below

There’s a degree of masochism that comes with an adoration of “cute doggie” movies. Everyone with a sweet tooth for plushy pooches wants to watch cute puppies romp around adorably, of course, but animals in trouble can bring out surprisingly disquieting emotions. A cineaste colleague of mine in Iowa, in fact, simply cannot watch animals put into any kind of dramatic jeopardy. It’s simply too much for her to bear.That being said, Frank Marshall’s Disney family...

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Michael Haneke on DVD

The cinema of Michael Haneke is the filmic equivalent of a stranger punching you in the windpipe and stealing your wallet. But unlike the physical and emotional distress caused by an actual physical assault, Haneke’s impositions on the psyches of his often-unsuspecting audiences are liberating breaths of fresh air. Cache from last year and 2004’s Hour of the Wolf are noble, but uneven, additions to his ever-escalating oeuvre. His inimitable The Piano Teacher is his most recent...

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Top Selling in last week .

She's the Man (2006)
• ATL (2006)
• Mystique - Sexiest Women in the World(2004)
• WWE - Vengeance 2006(2006)
• V for Vendetta (2006)
• The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
• Night Shift (1982)
• Basic Instinct 2 (2006)
• Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (1995)
• Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (198

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New Releases
This Week

07/04/2006

• Pirates
• The Matador
• The Libertine
• My Tutor
• My Chauffeur

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Bride and Prejudice (2005)

The determined Mrs. Bakshi sets out to find marriage matches for her four beautiful daughters while there's a lavish wedding party in town. Right away, the smart and headstrong Lalita announces she will only marry for love, giving her mother nightmares. Then Lalita meets wealthy American Will Darcy, and sparks immediately fly. But is it love or hate? Darcy comes off to Lalita as an arrogant California...

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Playing By Heart (199

Set in Los Angeles a chorus of talkers discuss the ups and downs of love, marriage and breaking up: the 40th anniversary of Hannah and Paul is darkened by jealousy; Joan meets Keenan in a phone booth while breaking up with her current boyfriend; Meredith is an overachiever who sends Trent packing before he has a chance to find a single flaw in her; Gracie and Roger are hot in love, too bad that they...