List Price: $29.99 Our Price: $26.99YOU SAVE $3!
Buy it
DVD The Last Shot
Taking off from an amazing true story, The Last Shot mines some pleasing inside-Hollywood gags about indie-film production. But this is no ordinary indie: An FBI agent (Alec Baldwin) sets up an elaborate ruse to sting some mobsters in Rhode Island, by picking a screenplay from the slush pile and financing pre-production. The movie will never be made, but the bogus production will lure the mobsters into the trap. The hitch is, the starry-eyed writer-director (Matthew Broderick), cast, and crew have no idea they're part of an undercover operation--the poor saps think their ship has come in and they're actually making a movie. Adding to the joke is that Baldwin finds himself enchanted by the moviemaking world and beginning to care about his unsuspecting stooge (Broderick is at his most engaging). Writer-director Jeff Nathanson (who scripted Catch Me if You Can) doesn't quite trust this funny set-up, sweetening the pot with too sentimental nudges, but the two stars develop a handy odd-couple chemistry. Toni Collette, as a has-been actress, and Joan Cusack, as a sharp-tongued agent, have some riotous moments. --Robert Horton
Once again, an inexplicable parade of glowing reviews for an unfunny movie. You all remember The Last Shot when it was in the theaters, right? The $30 million opening weekend, the $200 million total gross? No? Good, because this movie, if it ever made it to theaters, lasted about two seconds. I can't imagine how anyone could think a movie with the star power of Matthew Broderick and Alec Baldwin, but which no one saw in a theater, could be any good. It's not. This movie was buried for a reason: it's boring. Broderick is his usual cloying self and Calista Flockhart appears as his whacky girlfriend who hates dogs, which is a running "joke" in the movie. The script strains for laughs which are not there.
Off-Beat Comedy on Film-making from the Writer of 'Catch Me If You Can'
Based on an article on unique FBI operation to arrest a mobster, slightly off-beat comedy 'The Last Shot' offers two good things -- one is the comical look on Hollywood movies and the people involved, and the other is the endearingly funny "odd couple" of Matthew Broderick and Alec Baldwin.
FBI thought of a brilliant idea (believe it or not, it's based on truths). FBI agent Joe (excellent Baldwin) is assinged a strange job by his boss Ray Liotta to disguise himself as Hollywood producer, and invite unsuspecting, unemployed film director Steve (Broderick at his best) to join in his 'project' to make a film. Incredibley to Steve, Joe allows him eveything -- final cut, casting approval, everything. Very happy Steve joins in the project, not knowing the truths behind that.
Actually, this is a sting to arrest a mobster boss Tony Shalhaub for racketeering. Believing all these lies, however, Broderick's Steve cast his girlfriend (Calista Flockhart) as the lading lady, in HIS film about a dying woman in the desert of Arizona. But Joe as FBI wants the film shot in Rhode Island, and lots of silly things start to happen -- like changing the settings, dialogues, and even the ending.
Yes, the FBI article is only a starting point for this comedy, and the film is in fact a satrical look on Hollywood-style film-making, and first-time director Jeff Nathanson surely knows the rukes of this industry. (Incidentally, this is the third film Jeff Natahnson is involved, which is based on the real-life event: 'Catch Me If You Can,' 'The Terminal' and 'The Last Shot') However, the film does not teach you much about Hollywood if you are already an avid reader of the gossip columns or the Internet sites on movies.
In fact, the greatest thing about 'The Last Shot' is its actors. In addition to the perfect Broderick and Baldwin, you get Toni Collette as has-been actress who acts like a diva, and several cameos of Joan Cuzack, Buck Henry, and (very brief) Eric Roberts and Pat Morita as himself. Only Tim Blake Nelson's character as Steve's brother is, I think, unnecessary, making the film too serious.
I think Jeff Nathanson downplays everything too much, making the whole film a bit too sentimental at times. But the film is certainly charming when it shows rhe unlikely friendship between an FBI agent and a down-and-out film director, and Alec Baldwin and Matthew Broderick are both wonderful as Joe and Steve. My four stars may be too kind, but I like the two actors, who well deserve this rating.
ONLY IN HOLLYWOOD
THE LAST SHOT is based on an amazing true story wherein the FBI sets up a phony movie production to snare some top criminal figures, such as John Giotti and his gang. Alec Baldwin plays FBI agent Joe Devine, who wants to move on to bigger and better things, especially after the suicide death of his beloved dog, Sasha. He convinces the agency to front a fake movie in order to catch a big crime ring in Providence, Rhode Island, of all places. He manages to convince aspiring screenwriter Matthew Broderick that his script for "Arizona" is a movie he is willing to produce, and from thereon, things get sticky. Baldwin is very good in his role as is the sheepish Broderick. A strong supporting cast including Toni Collette as a fading actress; Tony Shalhoub as the target of the scam; Joan Cusack as a sharp-tongued agent; Tim Blake Nelson as Broderick's frustrated brother; Calista Flockhart as Brodericks neurotic girlfriend, help make THE LAST SHOT an entertaining, bittersweet dramedy. You'll find lots of places to laugh in the send up of the independent movie industry.
In The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, director Wes Anderson takes his familiar stable of actors on a field trip to a fantasy aquarium, complete with stop-motion, candy-striped crabs and rainbow seahorses. And though Anderson does expand his horizons in terms of retro-special effects and a whimsical use of color, fans will otherwise find themselves in well-charted waters. As The Life Aquatic opens, Zissou (Bill Murray), a self-involved, Jacques Cousteau-like filmmaker, has just released a documentary depicting the death of his best friend Esteban, who was eaten by some sort of sea creature--possibly a jaguar shark. Zissou’s troubles also include his waning popularity with the public, and a nemesis (Jeff Goldblum) who hogs up all the grant money. Hope arrives in the... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Wes Anderson DVD Release Date: Released the 10 May 2005 Usually ships in 6 to 11 days
List Price: $32.99 Your Price: $24.99YOU SAVE $8!
Buy it
Nowadays it's rare to find a movie that pays attention to human weakness as well as strength, and that sees a whole person as having both. When a sports magazine gets bought by a media conglomerate, an ad sales executive named Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid, The Rookie) finds himself playing second-in-command to Carter Duryea, a hotshot barely half his age (Topher Grace, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!) whose marriage has just fallen apart. One evening Carter invites himself over to Dan's house to escape his loneliness, where he meets Dan's daughter Alex (Scarlett Johansson, Lost in Translation). The two strike immediate sparks and when they run into each other later in the city, a relationship begins--which they discreetly keep from Dan. But the heart of the movie is not in... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Dennis Quaid - Topher Grace - Scarlett Johansson Director(s): Paul Weitz DVD Release Date: Released the 10 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $19.98 Your Price: $15.98YOU SAVE $4!
Buy it
From Hollywood's legendary Cocoanut Grove to the pioneering conquest of the wild blue yonder, Martin Scorsese's The Aviator celebrates old-school filmmaking at its finest. We say "old school" only because Scorsese's love of golden-age Hollywood is evident in his approach to his subject--Howard Hughes in his prime (played by Leonardo DiCaprio in his)--and especially in his technical mastery of the medium reflecting his love for classical filmmaking of the studio era. Even when he's using state-of-the-art digital trickery for the film's exciting flight scenes (including one of the most spectacular crashes ever filmed), Scorsese's meticulous attention to art direction... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Leonardo DiCaprio - Cate Blanchett - Kate Beckinsale Director(s): Martin Scorsese DVD Release Date: Released the 24 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $19.96 Your Price: $14.97YOU SAVE $4.99!
Buy it
Action buffs will have a fine time with the spray of bullets, shattering glass, and pyrotechnic silliness that makes up the bulk of Assault on Precinct 13. Updated from the little-known cops-and-robbers classic John Carpenter made in 1976 (two years before he made his name with Halloween), this high-concept thriller is mostly a lowbrow kill-fest, and is very happy with itself for being so efficient in both categories. A decrepit police station on its last night before retirement--New Year's Eve, no less--plays unexpected home to a gang of criminals who become snowbound in the basement lockup. Another mysterious gang of people who stealthily gather in the blizzard outside want one of the particularly nasty criminals (Laurence Fishburne) dead, and they'll take the rest of the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Laurence Fishburne - Ethan Hawke Director(s): Jean-François Richet DVD Release Date: Released the 10 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $19.98 Your Price: $17.98YOU SAVE $2!
Buy it
Movie studios, by and large, avoid controversial subjects like race the way you might avoid a hive of angry bees. So it's remarkable that Crash even got made; that it's a rich, intelligent, and moving exploration of the interlocking lives of a dozen Los Angeles residents--black, white, latino, Asian, and Persian--is downright amazing. A politically nervous district attorney (Brendan Fraser) and his high-strung wife (Sandra Bullock, biting into a welcome change of pace from Miss Congeniality) get car-jacked by an oddly sociological pair of young black men (Larenz Tate and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges); a rich black T.V. director (Terrence Howard) and his wife (Thandie Newton) get pulled over by a white racist cop (Matt Dillon) and his reluctant partner (Ryan Phillipe); a... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Paul Haggis DVD Release Date: Released the 06 September 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $19.98 Your Price: $13.49YOU SAVE $6.49!
Buy it
From Hollywood's legendary Cocoanut Grove to the pioneering conquest of the wild blue yonder, Martin Scorsese's The Aviator celebrates old-school filmmaking at its finest. We say "old school" only because Scorsese's love of golden-age Hollywood is evident in his approach to his subject--Howard Hughes in his prime (played by Leonardo DiCaprio in his)--and especially in his technical mastery of the medium reflecting his love for classical filmmaking of the studio era. Even when he's using state-of-the-art digital trickery for the film's exciting flight scenes (including one of the most spectacular crashes ever filmed), Scorsese's meticulous attention to art direction...