List Price: $14.99 Our Price: $11.99YOU SAVE $3!
Buy it
DVD House of Sand and Fog
Jennifer Connelly followed up her Academy Award for A Beautiful Mind with this dark but moving story of small mistakes that escalate, with tragic necessity, to disaster. In House of Sand and Fog, Kathy (Connelly) gets evicted from her house for failing to pay a tax she never should have been charged in the first place. The house is swiftly put up for auction and bought by a former military officer from Iran named Behrani (Ben Kingsley, Sexy Beast). When legal efforts fail her, Kathy turns to a sympathetic cop (Ron Eldard, Bastard Out of Carolina), who wants out of a loveless marriage and who's willing to step over legal boundaries if it might give him a fresh start. Topnotch performances by the entire cast make House of Sand and Fog a compelling psychological drama; your sympathies will be pulled in all directions. --Bret Fetzer
After this movie, all I thought was wow. WOW. That describes how unbelievably good this movie is. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King over this gem? Is that a joke? How didn't this even get nominated? Sean Penn over Ben Kingsley? Now that is pathetic! Sean Penn's accent is so thick you can barely even understand what he's saying!
Ben Kingsley here has given one of those unforgettable performances you'll never see again. His performance is to me the 2nd best ever behind Billy Bob Thorton in the unforgettable Sling Blade.
This gem is one of the most tragic ever and in the end, well, I was crying. I felt demolished and I was so sucked in by this masterpiece that I wanted to kill certain characters.
This is the first movie that I've seen with Ben Kingsley and I can't belieeve how remarquable he is! Gene Hackman is nothing compared to this man. He put all of his emotions into this movie and made me feel for him. Hands done, this is the saddest and most tragic movie that I have EVER seen.
Now for the plot. Kathy (Jennifer Collony) is a young lady living in California. She's got a nice house and a good life (or so we're led to believe). That soon changes though when her house gets reposessed because of not payed taxes. She is furious at these "false?" accusations. While she's trying to get it back, enter an Iraqui man, ex colonel and his wife and son. He buys the house at a very low price to make a huge profit. His family is living a wonderful and sweet life, and their tradtions are adorable.
But, lil' Kathy here is still mad. And her wonderful body has attracted a police officer. And he's following here complete orders.
What follows is a gem of a movie carried by Ben Kingsley's masterful perfomance. This is one of those rare movies that come along once in a decade. So, please tell your friends and everyone you know to watch this wonderful gem. Its box office is lousy, much like every masterpiece, besides Titanic of course. (I'm just joking, I hope you realized that, Titanic is horrid)
Gandhi Does LA
I'm beginning to believe that Ben Kingsley is from a desert kingdom. There's sand between my teeth from his recreations of Gandhi, or in this case, one of the Shah's men. He's very good, and so is Jennifer Connelly who I last saw in an overwrought film that the elitist scum of Hollywood liked, Requiem for a Dream. Don't bother with that one unless you enjoy dizzy spells and adult toys, but in HOSAF, based on a most un-Hollywood premise, Connelly's sad face is perfect.
HOSAF is not a comedy and is not aimed at fifteen-year-olds. Kingsley is a proud ex-colonel from Iran used to wealth and prestige, but now he is in exile in California. He wears a suit to work, but changes in a restroom into workers garb, because he is reduced to working as a road-gang, ditch digger and a part-time gas station jockey. He's saving every penny he makes and wins a house in an auction. Unfortunately, the County made a mistake and they took the house away from Connelly, a depressed twenty-something, ex-drug abuser. She should have opened her mail and after eviction, her lawyer and new boyfriend start a campaign to evict the Iranian family.
Neither Connelly nor Kingsley is portrayed unsympathetically. They are fleshed out with pathos. This is a parable about ethical business and the consequences of our actions.
Inconsistent, Anti-American Film
Here's the movie the Russian-born director wanted you to see: An upstanding, hardworking Muslim refugee (Kingsley) comes to America with his family but can't catch a break. He's confined to menial jobs that don't support his life style and becomes more and more desperate. He finally gets a windfall that he hopes will put the family on firmer footing: he buys a modest house for back taxes and plans to sell it on the open market for far more than he paid. The previous owner (Connelly), a depressive whose only sin is failing to open her mail, loses the house to a faceless, Kafkaesque bureaucracy whose sole efficiency is in inflicting suffering. (She hires a lawyer, but the lawyer only tells her it's too bad she didn't open her mail.) A corrupt cop, with designs on Connelly, tries to aid her, and the ensuing struggle among Kingsley, Connelly, the cop, and the bureaucracy leads to complete and utter disaster for the Kingsley family. The Kingsley character says at one point, "Americans they do not deserve what they have. They have the eyes of small children who are forever looking for the next source of distraction, entertainment, sweet taste in the mouth. We are not like them. We know rich opportunities when we see them and do not throw away God's blessing." The moral of the story: America is undeserving, does not welcome "certain" refugees, and is encumbered with a heartless and corrupt bureaucracy - a profoundly anti-American view.
But the movie I saw was rife with inconsistencies. (1) The refugee was an Iranian colonel who gorged on caviar, lived in a swanky villa on the Caspian sea, and had the power and authority to cut down all the trees that spoiled his sea view. Since he was kicked out by the Iranian government (bad guys), he must be a good guy, right? But how does a mere colonel live in such luxury if he's honest? So I make him for a bad guy with no skills other than intimidation and swaggering (which is why he couldn't get a decent job in America). (2) If the colonel was kicked out by Iran, how did he manage to bring along all his fancy Iranian housewares and furniture? (3) Mere failure to open your mail wouldn't ordinarily lead directly to seizure of your house by the government. (4) The cop who takes an interest in Connelly was formerly a good cop and family man, and there's no rationale for his sudden turn to flagrant corruption. (5) The scene at the courthouse (I won't describe what happens in the interest of not giving away the story) is highly contrived and improbable. (6) If the colonel plans to flip the house he bought at such a bargain, why does he move in and add a high deck to mimic, however feebly, his view in Iran?
These inconsistencies undercut the directorial message of an upstanding refugee victimized by a corrupt American system and cause me to downgrade the film despite Kingsley's good performance.
Sean Penn and Benecio Del Toro, two of the most gripping actors around, play wildly different men linked through a grieving woman (Naomi Watts, Mulholland Drive, The Ring) in 21 Grams. Del Toro (Traffic, The Usual Suspects) delves deep into the role of an ex-con turned born-again Christian, a deeply conflicted man struggling to set right a terrible accident, even at the expense of his family. Penn (Mystic River, Dead Man Walking) captures a cynical, philandering professor in dire need of a heart transplant, which he gets from the death of Watts' husband. 21 Grams slips back in forth in time, creating an intricate emotional web out of the past and the present that slowly draws these three together; the result is remarkably fluid and... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Sean Penn - Naomi Watts - Benicio Del Toro Director(s): Alejandro González Iñárritu DVD Release Date: Released the 16 March 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $11.98YOU SAVE $3!
Buy it
Solidly built around a subtle yet commanding performance by Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda emerged as one of the most highly-praised dramas of 2004. In a role that demands his quietly riveting presence in nearly every scene, Cheadle plays real-life hero Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager in the Rwandan capital of Kigali who in 1994 saved 1,200 Rwandan "guests" from certain death during the genocidal clash between tribal Hutus, who slaughtered a million victims, and the horrified Tutsis, who found safe haven or died. Giving his best performance since his breakthrough role in Devil in a Blue Dress, Cheadle plays Rusesabagina as he really was during the ensuing chaos: "an expert in situational ethics" (as described by critic Roger Ebert), doing what he morally had to do, at... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Don Cheadle - Sophie Okonedo Director(s): Terry George DVD Release Date: Released the 12 April 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $19.94 Your Price: $14.96YOU SAVE $4.98!
Buy it
Collateral offers a change of pace for Tom Cruise as a ruthless contract killer, but that's just one of many reasons to recommend this well-crafted thriller. It's from Michael Mann, after all, and the director's stellar track record with crime thrillers (Thief, Manhunter, and especially Heat) guarantees a rich combination of intelligent plotting, well-drawn characters, and escalating tension, beginning here when icy hit-man Vincent (Cruise) recruits cab driver Max (Jamie Foxx) to drive him through a nocturnal tour of Los Angeles, during which he will execute five people in a 10-hour spree. While Stuart Beattie's screenplay deftly combines intimate character study with raw bursts of action (in keeping with Mann's directorial trademark), Foxx does the best work... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Tom Cruise - Jamie Foxx - Jada Pinkett Smith - Mark Ruffalo Director(s): Michael Mann DVD Release Date: Released the 14 December 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $19.99 Your Price: $14.99YOU SAVE $5!
Buy it
Superior acting, writing, and direction are on impressive display in the critically acclaimed Mystic River, Clint Eastwood's 24th directorial outing and one of the finest films of 2003. Sharply adapted by L.A. Confidential Oscar-winner Brian Helgeland from the novel by Dennis Lehane, this chilling mystery revolves around three boyhood friends in working-class Boston--played as adults by Tim Robbins, Sean Penn, and Kevin Bacon--drawn together by a crime from the past and a murder (of the Penn character's 19-year-old daughter) in the present. These dual tragedies arouse a vicious cycle of suspicion, guilt, and repressed anxieties, primed to explode with devastating and unpredictable results. Eastwood is perfectly in tune with this brooding material, giving his flawless cast... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Sean Penn - Tim Robbins - Kevin Bacon - Laurence Fishburne - Laura Linney Director(s): Clint Eastwood DVD Release Date: Released the 08 June 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $19.98 Your Price: $11.97YOU SAVE $8.01!
Buy it
With Sideways, Paul Giamatti (American Splendor, Storytelling) has become an unlikely but engaging romantic lead. Struggling novelist and wine connoisseur Miles (Giamatti) takes his best friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church, Wings) on a wine-tasting tour of California vineyards for a kind of extended bachelor party. Almost immediately, Jack's insatiable need to sow some wild oats before his marriage leads them into double-dates with a rambunctious wine pourer (Sandra Oh, Under the Tuscan Sun) and a recently divorced waitress (Virginia Madsen, The Hot Spot)--and Miles discovers a little hope that he hasn't let himself feel in a long time. Sideways is a modest but finely tuned film; with gentle compassion, it explores the failures, struggles, and... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Alexander Payne DVD Release Date: Released the 05 April 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $19.98 Your Price: $13.99YOU SAVE $5.99!
Buy it
