List Price: $24.98 Our Price: $17.96YOU SAVE $7.02!
Buy it
DVD Spun (Rated Version)
Spun is an unclassifiable ensemble piece, intentionally bleached of soulfulness and high on visual invention and comic depravity. Set in north Los Angeles, where meth freaks lurch from one motel room to another in search of companionship and a score, the film stars Jason Schwartzman as Ross, whose life is rapidly disintegrating. Fielding phone messages from his mother and trying in vain to reach an old girlfriend, Ross spends most of his time on a feverish circuit with the half-mad Cookie (Mena Suvari) and Nikki (Brittany Murphy), the dangerously paranoid Spider Mike (John Leguizamo), and a macho drugmaker called the Cook (Mickey Rourke). Director Jonas Akerlund's story is nonexistent, but then again Spun is driven by the blurry, hellish energy of a life lived on speed. An obvious influence is Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream, but Akerlund is interested in nightmarish set pieces than tiny horrors of misfired nerve endings and ravaged time. --Tom Keogh
There have been many movies made in the past decade regarding drugs, mostly pot a la Dazed and Confused or Cocaine such as Traffic, even heroin like Trainspotting. This is the first film I am aware of that takes an unflinching journey into the not so wondrous world of Crystal Meth. Jason Swartzman, Mickey Roarke Mena Surveni, Brittany Murphy and John Leguizemo play a group of slackers whose main goal seems to concern getting high. Each of them portrays colorful characters who somewhere around the way got hooked on drugs. Roarke being the "Cook" even has a mobile labratory he sets up in motels. The direction of this movie while artistic is not exactly conventional. In other words this movie is bound to be disappointing to many seeking another "Traffic" or "Blow".
The best parts in my opinion are when we see into the head of Swartzman after he takes a hit, perhaps the director was intentionally making a trippy movie counterbalancing the central message which would be drugs are not glamerous or maybe he just had fun experimenting with the subject matter and the camera lens to present a visual souffle of artistic angles and shots. This movie won't make my all time favourite film list, but it is a movie I can enjoy more than once.
I've been Spun!!!
"Spun" is a fascinating journey into the lives of LA drug addicts. Director Jonas Akerlund has created a frantic nightmarish world that is both funny and disturbing at the same time, and never ever boring.Rounding out Akerlund's frenetic visual style is his amazing cast. It's true that this film is chock-full of unsavory drug addicts who you wouldn't want to give a ... for, but every single one of these actors portraying them are so entertaining to watch, that you won't mind a bit spending this 90 minutes with them. First and foremost...MICKEY ROURKE! This is by far Mickey's best role. He plays the Cook, a hulking [person] with his own meth lab he runs out of a motel room. He supplies the schlep rock Ross (the wonderful Jason Schwartzman) with speed as long as he, in turn, drives him and his stripper girlfriend (brilliantly played by Brittany Murphy) around in his car whenever they need it. These drives include trips to the gas station for "ingredients," visits to the porn store, beer runs and chauffeuring Nikki back and forth to the strip club for work. And the bulk of the film carries on this way, focusing on this bizarre friendship, clouded by rail after rail of crystal meth. But like I said, you can't take your eyes off of this cast, no matter how covered they are with sores and blemishes. Everyone is simply outstanding!!!!Rounding out the cast are John Leguizamo as Spider Mike, a dealer, and Patrick Fugit and Mena Suvari as speed freaks who hole themselves up in his house, awaiting their next drug feast. Also, there's Peter Stormare and Alexis Arquette as a couple of cranked out cops, Deborah Harry as Ross' lesbian neighbor with a great interest in martial arts and Eric Roberts as...well, you'll just have to see....On top of that, there're also plenty of cameos from Rob Halford and Billy Corgan, so keep your eyes open. "Spun" is an absolute visual spectacle, and further proof that even music video directors can make good movies.
Very entertaining, one of my absolute favourites...
Okay, first off, please do not listen to all the pretentious reviewers who turn their nose up at "Spun", constantly repeating "Requiem for a Dream" in a pathetic, unoriginal mantra. This movie is highly imaginative, enthralling, and kept my interest the entire time. A friend of mine had it on video and said I should see it, so I had no expectations...and I was surprised to find it one of the most enjoyable movies I've ever seen.
Again, regardless of what other negative reviewers have said, there is a plot line to the movie - watching the actions and events surrounding a group of speed freaks on a meth binge. It isn't pretty, it isn't insightful, and that's the point of the movie itself.
Though the running theme is a bit dark and depressing (but alas presented a very humorous light), the characters are beautifully pathetic. Everyone was fabulous - Mickey Rourke, Brittany Murphy, Jason Schwartzman, everyone! My personal favourite was Patrick Fugit's portrayal of the loser Frisbee and his spastic tendancies (someone I haven't seen mentioned enough!). And, yet again, in contradiction to other reviewers, there is some character development; we discover the reason why our main characters are what they are, and in full honesty, there isn't much else to the character to know. All they have are their roots and their craving for another hit. The point of the movie was to show the disillusionment that lead to their lifestyle, the disillusionment they had concerning their drug habit...as Jason Schwartman says near the end, "..and the greatest thing about it is, I'm not hooked!"
Not only is the story well done, but the stylistic elements were superb. The quick actions, the animations thrown in at just the right moments, even the lighting in every scene was perfect! The director uses a variety of techniques to add humor and a bit of insight into what the characters are experiencing. Everytime I've seen this film, at the end I feel a bit dizzy and overwhelmed - it effects you that heavily.
I'm not one to go off and buy DVDs all the time. I only buy them if I know it's a movie I want to watch over and over again. "Spun" has joined that category of rarities that I enjoy watching constantly. As others have mentioned, it's not for the light at heart, or those looking for a serious look at drug addiction. It's not out to show the deep loving side of methheads, but the mindless lives they end up leading because of their out of control habits. Great story, awesome characters, not to mention a perfect soundtrack...what else is there to say?
In terms of alluring female nudity, Swimming Pool shows a lot, but it's what remains concealed that gives this erotic thriller a potent, voyeuristic charge. With his Hitchcockian handling of secrets and lies, prolific French director François Ozon reunites with his Under the Sand star, Charlotte Rampling, to tell a seductive tale of murder and complicity, beginning when British mystery novelist Sarah Morton (Rampling) seeks peace and relaxation at her publisher's French villa, only to find his brash, sexually liberated daughter Julie (Ludivine Sagnier) arriving shortly thereafter to disrupt her solitary reverie. What begins as mutual annoyance turns into something more sinister and duplicitous, alternating between Julie's predatory sex with men and Sarah's observant,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Charlotte Rampling - Ludivine Sagnier - Charles Dance Director(s): François Ozon DVD Release Date: Released the 23 August 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $9.99 Your Price: $9.99YOU SAVE $0!
Buy it
A gut-wrenching portrait of adolescence, Thirteen is made all the more powerful because it was co-written by a genuine teenage girl, Nikki Reed, who also co-stars in the movie. Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood), a serious good student, finds herself needing to express her anger and resentment at her fractured family life. To rebel, she pursues a friendship with the reckless, alluring Evie (Reed), who seems to have all the cocksure freedom that Tracy desires. What follows is both harrowing and compelling: Tracy becomes enmeshed in a relationship with Evie that empowers Tracy and drags her deeper into the misery she wants to escape--and terrifies her mother (Holly Hunter), who struggles desperately to hold on to her daughter's love. Thirteen makes every step on this path utterly... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Holly Hunter - Evan Rachel Wood - Nikki Reed Director(s): Catherine Hardwicke DVD Release Date: Released the 27 January 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $7.49YOU SAVE $7.49!
Buy it
Employing shock techniques and sound design in a relentless sensory assault, Requiem for a Dream is about nothing less than the systematic destruction of hope. Based on the novel by Hubert Selby Jr., and adapted by Selby and director Darren Aronofsky, this is undoubtedly one of the most effective films ever made about the experience of drug addiction (both euphoric and nightmarish), and few would deny that Aronofsky, in following his breakthrough film Pi, has pushed the medium to a disturbing extreme, thrusting conventional narrative into a panic zone of traumatized psyches and bodies pushed to the furthest boundaries of chemical tolerance. It's too easy to call this a cautionary tale; it's a guided tour through hell, with Aronofsky as our bold and ruthless host.
The... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 14 August 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $12.99YOU SAVE $1.99!
Buy it
In the real world, drug use is unimaginably boring to watch--but it inspires spectacular visuals in movies like Trainspotting and Drugstore Cowboy. To this list add The Salton Sea, a moody thriller starring Val Kilmer as a musician who goes undercover into the world of speed freaks to find the men who killed his wife. Though that plot summary may sound trite, creative direction, strong performances, and a solid script that shifts to and fro in time make The Salton Sea worth a look. Kilmer has an erratic track record but he's always an intriguing on-screen presence; Vincent D'Onofrio has a field day playing a noseless speed dealer called Pooh Bear. The cast is full of excellent character actors, including Anthony LaPaglia (Lantana), Peter Sarsgaard... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Val Kilmer Director(s): D.J. Caruso DVD Release Date: Released the 10 September 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.97 Your Price: $11.98YOU SAVE $2.99!
Buy it
Based on Susanna Moore's popular novel, In the Cut centers on Frannie (Meg Ryan), an emotionally stifled English teacher who gets steamy with sultry Malloy (Mark Ruffalo, You Can Count On Me), a cop who's investigating a series of brutal murders--but Frannie soon suspects that Malloy may be the killer. As a psychological thriller, In the Cut is heavier on psychology than thrills; the story is a skeleton that director Jane Campion (The Piano, An Angel at My Table) cloaks in one of the most nightmarish visions of urban life since Taxi Driver or Seven, accompanied by lots of explicit sex. The movie's dark tone will put some viewers off, but Ruffalo's effortless magnetism serves him well; no woman in the audience will question how quickly Ryan... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Jennifer Jason Leigh - Meg Ryan - Mark Ruffalo Director(s): Jane Campion DVD Release Date: Released the 10 February 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.94 Your Price: $11.95YOU SAVE $2.99!
Buy it
