Sunday, November 27, 2011

A Walk to Remember

  • Condition: New
  • Format: DVD
  • AC-3; Closed-captioned; Color; Dolby; Dubbed; DVD; Subtitled; Widescreen; NTSC
Mandy Moore stars as Halley, a young hip high school student who believes that love will never happen to her and that her life is a mess. Her father is marrying a woman she can't stand, her mother is alone, her sister's wedding plans are taking over her life and her friends at school only care about cheerleading and football. All seems lost until she meets a boy who shows her what love is all about.Teen idol Mandy Moore (A Walk to Remember) learns how to deal with an awful lot--How to Deal crams divorce, teen pregnancy, a wedding, a car accident, and a pot-smoking grandmother into a single year in the life of Halley Martin (Moore). Halley's so resentful of her parents' divorce (and her father's impending remarriage) that she resolves not to fall in love--so o! f course a hunky guy named Macon (Trent Ford) decides that she's the girl for him and woos her with gentle persistence. Two things save all of this from being a teenage soap opera: First, a refreshingly realistic (though not explicit) and unjudgmental look at teenage sex; second, a sterling supporting cast, including Allison Janney (The West Wing), Peter Gallagher (sex, lies, and videotape), and Dylan Baker (Happiness), alongside pleasant young actors like Alexandra Holden (Sugar and Spice). --Bret FetzerStudio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 09/18/2007How To Train Your Dragon
A winner with audiences and critics alike, DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon rolls fire-breathing action, epic adventure and laughs into a captivating and original story. Hiccup is a young Viking who defies tradition when he befriends one of his deadliest foes â€" a ferocious dragon he calls Toothless. Together, the unlikely! heroes must fight against all odds to save both their worlds ! in this “wonderful good-time hit!” (Gene Shalit, Today).

Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon
Hiccup and the Viking gang are back to battle Gobber’s archenemy â€" the legendary BoneKnapper dragon â€" in this full-“scale” action-adventure. Shipwrecked on a mysterious island, the courageous kids devise a plan to capture the cagey creatures…if he even exists!A winning mixture of adventure, slapstick comedy, and friendship, How to Train Your Dragon rivals Kung Fu Panda as the most engaging and satisfying film DreamWorks Animation has produced. Hiccup (voice by Jay Baruchel) is a failure as a Viking: skinny, inquisitive, and inventive, he asks questions and tries out unsuccessful contraptions when he's supposed to be fighting the dragons that attack his village. His father, chief Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), has pretty much given up on his teenage son and apprenticed him to blacksmith Gobber (Craig Ferguson). Worse, Hiccup knows the v! illage loser hasn't a chance of impressing Astrid (America Ferrera), the girl of his dreams and a formidable dragon fighter in her own right. When one of Hiccup's inventions actually works, he hasn't the heart to kill the young dragon he's brought down. He names it Toothless and befriends it, although he's been taught to fear and loathe dragons. Codirectors and cowriters Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, who made Disney's delightful Lilo and Stitch, provide plenty of action, including vertiginous flying sequences, but they balance the pyrotechnics with moments of genuine warmth that make the viewer root for Hiccup's success. Many DreamWorks films get laughs from sitcom one-liners and topical pop culture references; as the humor in Dragon comes from the characters' personalities, it feels less timely and more timeless. Toothless chases the spot of sunlight reflected off Hiccup's hammer like a giant cat with a laser pointer; Hiccup uses his newly found knowledge (and an icky sm! oked eel) to defeat two small dragons--and impress the other k! ids. How to Train Your Dragon will be just as enjoyable 10 or 20 years from now as it is today. (Rated PG: suitable for ages 8 and older, violence, some intense action and scary dragons) --Charles SolomonLove brings together what peer pressure and lifestyles seek to keep apart in this coming-of-age story based on the bestselling book. Teen idol Shane West and multiplatinum recording star Mandy Moore star as two high schoolers -- she a straitlaced preacher's daughter and he an unmotivated delinquent. When events thrust him into her world, he begins an unexpected journey he'll never forget.With refreshing intelligence, A Walk to Remember offers welcome relief from the recent onslaught of teen-movie crudeness. Adapted from the novel by Nicholas Sparks and transplanted from 1958 to the present day, this admirable teen romance recognizes that two 18-year-olds--Landon (Shane West) and Jamie (pop singer Mandy Moore)--can be smart, mature, and sensible about the very real love they s! hare. He's a popular kid in the cool crowd. She's got a goody-goody reputation as the dowdy daughter of a local minister (Peter Coyote); her values and priorities aren't rooted in peer pressure, and Landon feels blessed by her self-assured nobility. Their mutual affection inevitably heads into Love Story territory, but the movie is honest enough to survive its own schmaltz, and its attractive cast (including Daryl Hannah as Landon's mom) embraces a tone of sincerity and mutual respect. Finally... a teen movie with teens you can admire. --Jeff Shannon

Al Franken - God Spoke

  • Political satirist Al Franken follows up his best-selling book LIES AND THE LYING LIARS WHO TELL THEM with this feature film. AL FRANKEN: GOD SPOKE follows the inimitable figure over a two-year period in which he campaigns against George W. Bush's reelection and takes well-aimed swipes at a number of big political targets. Runtime: 84 minutes Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES
An intimate & hilarious behind-the-scenes look at the life of the former saturday night live comedian turned author radio host & political satirist. Studio: New Video Group Release Date: 04/24/2007 Run time: 84 minutesIn God Spoke, Nick Doob and Chris Hegedus (The War Room) shine a light on political satirist Al Franken. The "flaming sword of justice" explains his left-leaning career like this, "They [right-wing pundits] say something ridiculous, and then I subject them to scorn and ridicule." The ! filmmakers, longtime associates of cinéma verité pioneer DA Pennebaker, take a fly-on-the-wall approach towards Franken's activities around the time of the 2004 presidential election and afterwards as he explores a run for the US Senate in 2008. They look at the (unsuccessful) lawsuit Fox News filed against him for swiping their tagline, his involvement in the upstart Air America network, and his dust-ups with Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Michael Medved, and Bill O'Reilly, who describes him as "a vile human being." Along the way, they follow the Minnesota-born comedian on book tours and speaking engagements, occasionally flashing back to his two-decade long stint on Saturday Night Live. God Spoke is an expansion of the Sundance Channel short The First Amendment Project: Fox vs. Franken and covers some of the same ground as HBO's America Undercover: Left of the Dial. In other words, there isn't a ton of new material here, but this "fair and balanc! ed" profile represents an entertaining introduction to a multi! -talente d individual. Without Franken, it's hard to imagine a place in the world for The Daily Show and other media designed to expose "lies and the lying liars who tell them," as his 2003 bestseller would have it. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Falling From Grace

  • ISBN13: 9781453626337
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Former ballerina Gracie Hart is now known as the Diva of Romance in small town Franklinville, KY. The owner of a successful, sophisticated boutique called Romantically Yours, she lives a quiet life, healing from the tragedy that took not only ballet from her, but her fiance, as well. Who would have guessed that she has no intention of ever falling in love again, no matter how loudly her biological clock keeps ticking?
That is, until her new tenants, Carson Price and his six-year-old daughter Izzie, arrive on the scene and proceed to wreak havoc in her life, and her heart. And when that happens, she has not only to face her past, but the future.
Former ballerina Gracie Hart is now! known as the Diva of Romance in small town Franklinville, KY. The owner of a successful, sophisticated boutique called Romantically Yours, she lives a quiet life, healing from the tragedy that took not only ballet from her, but her fiance, as well. Who would have guessed that she has no intention of ever falling in love again, no matter how loudly her biological clock keeps ticking?

That is, until her new tenants, Carson Price and his six-year-old daughter Izzie, arrive on the scene and proceed to wreak havoc in her life, and her heart. And when that happens, she has not only to face her past, but the future.Former ballerina Gracie Hart is now known as the Diva of Romance in small town Franklinville, KY. The owner of a successful, sophisticated boutique called Romantically Yours, she lives a quiet life, healing from the tragedy that took not only ballet from her, but her fiance, as well. Who would have guessed that she has no intention of ever falling in love ag! ain, no matter how loudly her biological clock keeps ticking?
T hat is, until her new tenants, Carson Price and his six-year-old daughter Izzie, arrive on the scene and proceed to wreak havoc in her life, and her heart. And when that happens, she has not only to face her past, but the future.Mistaken at an opera soiree, Grace Tang is suddenly swept into the inner circle of Manhattan s elite and ushered into the arms of New York s most eligible bachelor. What follows is a whirlwind of romance and white lies, as Grace carefully negotiates her personal ties to Chinatown, Wall Street and high society.When you wake up in the morning and your eyes take in the first hints of light that shine through your window, the dust motes catching and reflecting the sun's rays like little diamonds, the shimmering hues of yellow and orangey gold breaking through into your room, the first thing you think about usually isn't how you're going to make it through the worst day of your life. Unfortunately for Grace Shelley, that's exactly what she's facing! as she ponders what to do now that she's going to be starting out her last year in high school without her best friend. She's not exactly the most popular girl in school - well, not the most popular girl in school to like, anyway - and everything seems to be hinting at another status quo year for her until she bumps into a stranger who leaves her stumbling for words and chasing after her heart. The new guy in school is different. Robert doesn't care about the rumors he's heard about her or that no one else seems to see her the same way that he does; he only wants to be her friend. That's when things get complicated. When Grace learns that he's not your typical high school boy and that he's actually a wingless angel who's looking for someone to trust, she's thrust into his world where not all angels are meant to protect human beings, and where the changes she brings into his life changes everything in hers.

Any Given Sunday (Director's Cut) [Blu-ray]

  • Life is a contact sport and football is life when three-time academy award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone and a dynamic acting ensemble explore the fortunes of the Miami Sharks in Any Given Sunday.At the 50-year line of this gridiron cosmos is Al Pacino as Tony D'Amato, the embattled Sharks coach facing a full-on blitz of team strife plus a new, marketing-savvy sharks owner (Cameron Diaz) who's su
When a devastating hit knocks a professional football legend and quarterback Cap Rooney (Denis Quaid) out of the game, a young, unknown third-stringer is called in to replace him. Having ridden the bench for years because of a string of bad luck stories and perhaps insufficient character, Willie Beaman (Jamie Foxx) seizes what may be his last chance, and lights up the field with a raw display of athletic prowess. His stunning performance over several games is so outstanding and fresh it seems to aug! ur a new era in the history of this Miami franchise, and forces aging coach Tony D'Amato (Al Pacino) to reevaluate his time-tested values and strategies and begin to confront the fact that the game, as well as post-modern life may be passing him by. Adding to the pressure on D'Amato to win at any cost is the aggressive young President/Co-owner of the team, Christina Pagniacci (Cameron Diaz), now coming into her own after her father's death. Christina's driving desire to prove herself in a male dominated world is intensified by her focus on the marketing and business of football, in which all coaches and players are merely properties.Any Given Sunday, Oliver Stone's salute-cum-exposé of pro football, belabors some pretty obvious points for nigh onto three hours; but between the frenetic editing, the pounding rap-music beats, and several flashy performances, it's certainly never dull. Al Pacino, coach of the fictional Miami Sharks (the NFL declined involvement in this! production), struggles with the most time-honored of sports m! ovie dil emmas: what to do with the old friend who's past his prime and the young hotshot who could save the franchise but first has to learn what being a team player is all about. Comedian Jamie Foxx does a marvelous dramatic turn as the rookie quarterback whose ego and talent are equally impressive, while Pacino seems more at ease in Oliver Stone Land than any actor since regular James Woods (on hand as well as a sleazy team doctor). Prowling the sidelines, shouting spittle-flecked orders, seizing up in almost physical pain when a play goes the wrong way, Pacino is as unashamedly--and entertainingly--hyperbolic as Stone's whirling montages of boiling storm clouds, bloodthirsty fans, and players smashed into the mud. (Once again football, perhaps the most sophisticated of team sports, is viewed cinematically as a bunch of guys hitting each other in slow motion.) Unfortunately, all the self-conscious mythologizing and pumped-up macho posturing that Stone can muster doesn't conceal a ! clichéd, slapped-together script, whose few good ideas (mostly about race in America) jostle about with several hoary, terrible ones--including a too-literal analogy of football players as modern gladiators. (To drive the point home, Stone includes Charlton Heston--the aging Ben-Hur--in one of many star-powered cameos.) All in all, Any Given Sunday is never dull, but never very enjoyable, either. --Bruce ReidLife is a contact sport and football is life when three-time academy award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone and a dynamic acting ensemble explore the fortunes of the Miami Sharks in Any Given Sunday. At the 50-year line of this gridiron cosmos is Al Pacino as Tony D'Amato, the embattled Sharks coach facing a full-on blitz of team strife plus a new, marketing-savvy sharks owner (Cameron Diaz) who's sure Tony is way too old school. An injured quarterback (Dennis Quaid), a flashy, bull-headed backup QB (Jamie Foxx), a slithery team doctor (James Woods) ! and a running back with an incentive-laden contract (LL Cool J! ) also p rovide some of the stories that zigzag like diagrams in a playbook. and throughout, there's the awesome spectacle of motion, sound and action orchestrated by Stone.Any Given Sunday, Oliver Stone's salute-cum-exposé of pro football, belabors some pretty obvious points for nigh onto three hours; but between the frenetic editing, the pounding rap-music beats, and several flashy performances, it's certainly never dull. Al Pacino, coach of the fictional Miami Sharks (the NFL declined involvement in this production), struggles with the most time-honored of sports movie dilemmas: what to do with the old friend who's past his prime and the young hotshot who could save the franchise but first has to learn what being a team player is all about. Comedian Jamie Foxx does a marvelous dramatic turn as the rookie quarterback whose ego and talent are equally impressive, while Pacino seems more at ease in Oliver Stone Land than any actor since regular James Woods (on hand as well as ! a sleazy team doctor). Prowling the sidelines, shouting spittle-flecked orders, seizing up in almost physical pain when a play goes the wrong way, Pacino is as unashamedly--and entertainingly--hyperbolic as Stone's whirling montages of boiling storm clouds, bloodthirsty fans, and players smashed into the mud. (Once again football, perhaps the most sophisticated of team sports, is viewed cinematically as a bunch of guys hitting each other in slow motion.) Unfortunately, all the self-conscious mythologizing and pumped-up macho posturing that Stone can muster doesn't conceal a clichéd, slapped-together script, whose few good ideas (mostly about race in America) jostle about with several hoary, terrible ones--including a too-literal analogy of football players as modern gladiators. (To drive the point home, Stone includes Charlton Heston--the aging Ben-Hur--in one of many star-powered cameos.) All in all, Any Given Sunday is never dull, but never very enjoyable, ! either. --Bruce Reid

Happiness Runs Early Elementary/Level 1 Piano Duet

  • Published by Faber Piano Adventures 6 Pages
  • Piano Level Early Elementary/Level 1
  • Arranger: Nancy Faber
A coming-of-age tale, that finds a young man, Victor (Mark L. Young), growing up on a Utopian commune faced with the challenge to either submit to his community's ideals or to escape. Victor's mother (Andie MacDowell) funds the collective where guru Insley (Rutger Hauer) lectures a lifestyle of free love and out-of-body meditations. Spurred by the sudden reappearance of his childhood love Becky (Hanna Hall), Victor creates a desperate plot to save them both and escape the polygamous cult. One part WOODSTOCK, one part LORD OF THE FLIES, director Adam Sherman's semi-autobiographical film, HAPPINESS RUNS, is a cautionary tale about freeing yourself of social constrictions.
It’s 2008. Jim Axelrodâ€"once among the most watched correspondents on network news and the! first television reporter to broadcast from Saddam International Airport in 2003â€"is covering the final stages of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. He’s forty-five years old and thirty pounds overweight. He’s drinking too much, sleeping too little, and scarcely seeing his family. He’s just figured out that the industry that pulled him up the corporate ladder is imploding as he’s reaching for its final rungs. Then, out of the blue, Jim discovers his late father’s decades-old New York Marathon finish times. At forty-six, Bob Axelrod ran a 3:29:58. With everything else going on in his life, Jim sets himself a defining challenge: “Can I beat him?”
 
So begins a deeply felt, often hilarious, quixotic effort to run the 2009 New York Marathon. Along the way, Jim confronts his listing marriage, a career upset by the seismic changes going on throughout the television news industry, excruciatingly painful shin splints, and the w! orst-timed kidney stone possible. Looming over it all is the s! hadow of a loving father, who repeatedly lost his way in life but still has a lesson to impart.
 
This is a book about a dead father’s challenge to a son at a crossroads, but, more than that, it is about the personal costs paid when ambition and talent are not enough to ensure success. Most fundamentally, though, it is a book about learning what it takes to be happy in your own skin.
It’s 2008. Jim Axelrodâ€"once among the most watched correspondents on network news and the first television reporter to broadcast from Saddam International Airport in 2003â€"is covering the final stages of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. He’s forty-five years old and thirty pounds overweight. He’s drinking too much, sleeping too little, and scarcely seeing his family. He’s just figured out that the industry that pulled him up the corporate ladder is imploding as he’s reaching for its final rungs. Then, out of the blue! , Jim discovers his late father’s decades-old New York Marathon finish times. At forty-six, Bob Axelrod ran a 3:29:58. With everything else going on in his life, Jim sets himself a defining challenge: “Can I beat him?”
 
So begins a deeply felt, often hilarious, quixotic effort to run the 2009 New York Marathon. Along the way, Jim confronts his listing marriage, a career upset by the seismic changes going on throughout the television news industry, excruciatingly painful shin splints, and the worst-timed kidney stone possible. Looming over it all is the shadow of a loving father, who repeatedly lost his way in life but still has a lesson to impart.
 
This is a book about a dead father’s challenge to a son at a crossroads, but, more than that, it is about the personal costs paid when ambition and talent are not enough to ensure success. Most fundamentally, though, it is a book about learning what it takes to be happy in your ! own skin.
It’s 2008. Jim Axe! lrodâ€"o nce among the most watched correspondents on network news and the first television reporter to broadcast from Saddam International Airport in 2003â€"is covering the final stages of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. He’s forty-five years old and thirty pounds overweight. He’s drinking too much, sleeping too little, and scarcely seeing his family. He’s just figured out that the industry that pulled him up the corporate ladder is imploding as he’s reaching for its final rungs. Then, out of the blue, Jim discovers his late father’s decades-old New York Marathon finish times. At forty-six, Bob Axelrod ran a 3:29:58. With everything else going on in his life, Jim sets himself a defining challenge: “Can I beat him?”
 
So begins a deeply felt, often hilarious, quixotic effort to run the 2009 New York Marathon. Along the way, Jim confronts his listing marriage, a career upset by the seismic changes going on throughout the televisi! on news industry, excruciatingly painful shin splints, and the worst-timed kidney stone possible. Looming over it all is the shadow of a loving father, who repeatedly lost his way in life but still has a lesson to impart.
 
This is a book about a dead father’s challenge to a son at a crossroads, but, more than that, it is about the personal costs paid when ambition and talent are not enough to ensure success. Most fundamentally, though, it is a book about learning what it takes to be happy in your own skin.
Students may just start singing this engaging melody and cheerful lyric. Legato and staccato touches are explored as both parts share melody and harmony.

Songs: Happiness Runs

Blood & Chocolate

  • Languages - English, French
  • Subtitles - English, French, Spanish.
  • Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
  • Dolby Digital 5.1

As a young girl living in the remote mountains of Colorado, Vivian (Bruckner) watched helplessly as her family was murdered by a pack of angry men for the secret they carried in their blood. Vivian survived the attack by running into the woods and changing into a wolf. Ten years later, Vivian is living a relatively safe and normal life in Bucharest, Romania. Vivian spends her days working in a chocolate shop and nights trawling the city’s underground clubs, fending off the reckless antics of her cousin Rafe, and his gang of delinquents he refers to as "The Five."

Vivian’s life begins to unravel when she has a chance encounter with Aiden (Dancy), an artist researching Bucharest’ ancient art and relics for his next graphic novel. Aiden pursue! s Vivian until she relents and begins to see him, but she can’t bring herself to tell him the truth - and lives in fear of showing him who she really is. Even though Vivian has sworn never to kill, she is as much an animal as she is human, and her love for Aiden threatens to cast him to the very wolves who saved her life and who are waiting for their chance to hunt him as prey.

Stills from Blood & Chocolate (click for larger image)







Beyond Blood & Chocolate at Amazon.com


Gothic Horror on DVDs

More from Olivier Martinez

DVDs of "Things That Go Bump"

When graphic novelist Aiden (Hugh Dancy) travels to Bucharest to research the loup garou legend, he nearly gets devoured in the latest female werewolf film, Blood and Chocolate. In the tradition of Werewolf Woman and Ginger Snaps, Blood and Chocolate stars Vivian Gandillon (Agnes Bruckner), a girl who's forced to face her lupine tendencies in order to discover how capable of loving Aiden she really is. Based on a book by Annette Curtis Clause, the film chronicles the lives of the remaining loup garou who are an extended Romanian family waiting for their pack leader, Gabriel, to select his new mate. His desire for Vivian means trouble when her wish to be with Aiden results in her revea! ling too much about the clan's secretive lifestyle. In this fi! lm, were wolves look fully human until their eyes glow with colored contact lenses while they fly through the air to then land as full-fledged wolves. Gone are the days, apparently, of films showing the transformation in all its hairy, explosive detail. A lack of scenes describing the werewolf metamorphosis make this film more a love story than a monster tale, though two forest gatherings in which the loup garou hunt human sacrifices offer some grizzly satisfaction. Unlike the aforementioned femme werewolf films, Blood and Chocolate features a girl fighting her urge to kill in a bid to unite humans with her brethren, making this movie the most peaceful in its genre. With a tame wolf as protagonist, the potential nightmare is really just a pleasant dream to unite the two disparate worlds. The question is: Do we want that to happen? --Trinie Dalton

Fried Green Tomatoes (Extended Collector's Edition)

  • Wide Screen edition
  • extended version
HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT - DVD MovieBased on the bestseller by Whitney Otto, this film seemed to miss all the poetry and the ephemeral charms of the wispy novel by trying to make a concrete movie out of it. Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse (who made a similar hash out of A Thousand Acres), the film centers on Winona Ryder, who is debating her impending marriage and decides to make up her mind while spending the summer with her grandmother (Ellen Burstyn). This leads to a variety of encounters with Grandma and her sewing circle (which includes Anne Bancroft, Kate Nelligan, and Maya Angelou, among others), who reminisce about men, love, and marriage. It's put together piecemeal, like a quilt, but the parts add up to a fragmented, unsatisfying whole, despite some solid acting. --Marshall FineBased on the bestseller by Whitney Otto, t! his film seemed to miss all the poetry and the ephemeral charms of the wispy novel by trying to make a concrete movie out of it. Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse (who made a similar hash out of A Thousand Acres), the film centers on Winona Ryder, who is debating her impending marriage and decides to make up her mind while spending the summer with her grandmother (Ellen Burstyn). This leads to a variety of encounters with Grandma and her sewing circle (which includes Anne Bancroft, Kate Nelligan, and Maya Angelou, among others), who reminisce about men, love, and marriage. It's put together piecemeal, like a quilt, but the parts add up to a fragmented, unsatisfying whole, despite some solid acting. --Marshall FineBased on the bestseller by Whitney Otto, this film seemed to miss all the poetry and the ephemeral charms of the wispy novel by trying to make a concrete movie out of it. Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse (who made a similar hash out of A Thousand Acres), the film centers on Winona Ryder, who is debating her imp! ending m arriage and decides to make up her mind while spending the summer with her grandmother (Ellen Burstyn). This leads to a variety of encounters with Grandma and her sewing circle (which includes Anne Bancroft, Kate Nelligan, and Maya Angelou, among others), who reminisce about men, love, and marriage. It's put together piecemeal, like a quilt, but the parts add up to a fragmented, unsatisfying whole, despite some solid acting. --Marshall Fine"Remarkable...An affirmation of the strength and power of individual lives, and the way they cannot help fitting together."
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
An extraordinay and moving reading experience, HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT is an exploration of women of yesterday and today, who join together in a uniquely female experience. As they gather year after year, their stories, their wisdom, their lives, form the pattern from which all of us draw warmth and comfort for ourselves.
A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE COMING OUT FALL 1995-- with Maya Angelou, Winona Ryder, and Rip TornBased on the bestseller by Whitney Otto, this film seemed to miss all the poetry and the ephemeral charms of the wispy novel by trying to make a concrete movie out of it. Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse (who made a similar hash out of A Thousand Acres), the film centers on Winona Ryder, who is debating her impending marriage and decides to make up her mind while spending the summer with her grandmother (Ellen Burstyn). This leads to a variety of encounters with Grandma and her sewing circle (which includes Anne Bancroft, Kate Nelligan, and Maya Angelou, among others), who reminisce about men, love, and marriage. It's put together piecemeal, like a quilt, but the parts add up to a fragmented, unsatisfying whole, despite some solid acting. --Marshall FineFroed Green tomatoes movie, wide screen edition, extended version DVD.Kathy Bates stars as an unhappy wife trying to get her husband's attention in this amusing ! and moving 1991 screen adaptation of Fannie Flagg's novel F! ried Gre en Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. After befriending a lonely old woman (Jessica Tandy), Bates hears the story of a lifelong friendship between two other women (Mary Stuary Masterson and Mary-Louise Parker, seen in flashback) who once ran a cafe in town against many personal odds. The tale inspires Bates to take further command over her life, and there director Jon Avnet (Up Close and Personal), in his first feature, has fun with the film. Bates develops a real attitude toward her thickheaded spouse at home and some uppity girls in a parking lot, but dignity is generally the key to Avnet's approach with the story's crucial relationships. Tandy is a joy and clearly loves the element of mystery attached to her character, and Masterson and Parker are excellent in the historical sequences. --Tom KeoghKathy Bates stars as an unhappy wife trying to get her husband's attention in this amusing and moving 1991 screen adaptation of Fannie Flagg's novel Fried Gr! een Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. After befriending a lonely old woman (Jessica Tandy), Bates hears the story of a lifelong friendship between two other women (Mary Stuary Masterson and Mary-Louise Parker, seen in flashback) who once ran a cafe in town against many personal odds. The tale inspires Bates to take further command over her life, and there director Jon Avnet (Up Close and Personal), in his first feature, has fun with the film. Bates develops a real attitude toward her thickheaded spouse at home and some uppity girls in a parking lot, but dignity is generally the key to Avnet's approach with the story's crucial relationships. Tandy is a joy and clearly loves the element of mystery attached to her character, and Masterson and Parker are excellent in the historical sequences. --Tom Keogh

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More

 

web log free