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DVD Crash (Full Screen Edition)
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 detective (Don Cheadle) and his Latina partner and lover (Jennifer Esposito) investigate a white cop who shot a black cop--these are only three of the interlocking stories that reach up and down class lines. Writer/director Paul Haggis (who wrote the screenplay for Million Dollar Baby) spins every character in unpredictable directions, refusing to let anyone sink into a stereotype. The cast--ranging from the famous names above to lesser-known but just as capable actors like Michael Pena (Buffalo Soldiers) and Loretta Devine (Woman Thou Art Loosed)--meets the strong script head-on, delivering galvanizing performances in short vignettes, brief glimpses that build with gut-wrenching force. This sort of multi-character mosaic is hard to pull off; Crash rivals such classics as Nashville and Short Cuts. A knockout. --Bret Fetzer
Crash is, by far, one of the best movies I have seen in awhile. The film provokes a roller coaster ride of emotions. Superbly written and acted, it manages to deftly handle controversial themes such as racism, death, despair, ambition and redemption without ever becoming maudlin or boring. It is a haunting film with a fabulous soundtrack that begs to be watched more than once. All of the characters are connected in the end, but in such a subtle manner that one does not see the connections coming. It is one of a handful of films that I was compelled to purchase, as well as the soundtrack. This film stays with you.
"We crash into each other just so we can feel something."
Crash is probably one of the most thought-provoking, well-written and beautifully acted films I have seen this year. In a collage of collisions, traffic and human, the disturbing underbelly of racism in LA is exposed in all its forms, each plot line producing outrageous events and even more surprising resolutions. With a cross-section of the public, multi-ethnic characters, cops, the advantaged and the disadvantaged, Crash manages to reach beneath the smooth exterior of everyday life, revealing the fractures that run through day to day relationships, the cherished prejudices, offensive remarks and outrageous attitudes that often go unchallenged, perpetuating more of the same misinformation. The acting is finely nuanced, Don Cheadle's disaffected police detective, Graham, Matt Dillon's jaded and racist cop agonizing over an ill father at the mercy of an uncaring health provider, a bickering black couple (Thandie Newton and Terence Howard), who are humiliated by police officers (Matt Dillon and Ryan Philippe), the husband's manhood put to the test and found wanting, an Iraqi shop-owner, confounded by his new country and a language he cannot navigate.
Brilliantly scripted and acted, this film is an example of the quality Hollywood should be providing instead of trite comedies and lackluster superheroes, as potent as Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing", exposing, transforming, confounding in every scene. With all the obvious disaffections of our society, absolutely nothing is predictable, the characters challenged at every turn, their precious beliefs transformed by changing events. Stereotypes abound, as do personal epiphanies, death defeated by a fickle choice, an astonishing exercise in the vagaries of fate and the promise of hope, no matter how spectral in the broader perspective. There are no facile answers and all issues aren't resolved, but the film is a wake up call to those deadened by the endless cacophony of daily defeats and the helpless rage that accompanies almost every endeavor. In moments of personal challenge and an almost overwhelming failure to achieve harmony on even the most elemental level, Crash reminds us of our humanity and ability to transcend our basest responses to crisis. Luan Gaines/ 2005.
fantastic movie, but still hasn't seemed to get its point across
I absolutely loved this movie. It's about time somebody was ready and willing to write a true movie about an issue that has plagued this country since its birth. The acting is phenominal, as is the manner in which the writer and director were able to intertwine everyone's lives.
After reading some of the reviews written, I have to comment. Some people feel that there were just too many coincidences to make this movie believable. However, you've got to think about the premise of the movie. These people didn't know each other at all. Thousands of accidents happen everyday, and who knows how many of those people we've run into in the course of our everyday lives? Forget about the fact that they are all famous actors and happen to see each other throughout the movie. The fact of the matter is, the story is ALL about coincidence and how personal feelings toward one another kind of bring these things together.
One more thing... I read about how a woman thought the movie was fantastic, and anyone with any kind of immigration experience will adore the story. Maybe true, maybe not. She then went on the say that she doesn't feel that a Caucasian would enjoy the movie as much. This STAGGERS me... She just watched a movie about racial prejudices and talks about how great it is to get the message out, and then makes a comment like that. Listen, we've got to get to a point where we see each other as people, not Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Asians, etc. That's what the movie is all about. Wake up, everyone.
Brutal and breathtaking, Sin City is Robert Rodriguez's stunningly realized vision of Frank Miller's pulpy comic books. In the first of three separate but loosely related stories, Marv (Mickey Rourke in heavy makeup) tries to track down the killers of a woman who ended up dead in his bed. In the second story, Dwight's (Clive Owen) attempt to defend a woman from a brutal abuser goes horribly wrong, and threatens to destroy the uneasy truce among the police, the mob, and the women of Old Town. Finally, an aging cop on his last day on the job (Bruce Willis) rescues a young girl from a kidnapper, but is himself thrown in jail. Years later, he has a chance to save her again.
More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 16 August 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Clint Eastwood's 25th film as a director, Million Dollar Baby stands proudly with Unforgiven and Mystic River as the masterwork of a great American filmmaker. In an age of bloated spectacle and computer-generated effects extravaganzas, Eastwood turns an elegant screenplay by Paul Haggis (adapted from the book Rope Burns: Stories From the Corner by F.X. Toole, a pseudonym for veteran boxing manager Jerry Boyd) into a simple, humanitarian example of classical filmmaking, as deeply felt in its heart-wrenching emotions as it is streamlined in its character-driven storytelling. In the course of developing powerful bonds between "white-trash" Missouri waitress and aspiring boxer Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank), her grizzled, reluctant trainer Frankie Dunn... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Clint Eastwood - Hilary Swank - Morgan Freeman Director(s): Clint Eastwood DVD Release Date: Released the 12 July 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Batman Begins discards the previous four films in the series and recasts the Caped Crusader as a fearsome avenging angel. That's good news, because the series, which had gotten off to a rousing start under Tim Burton, had gradually dissolved into self-parody by 1997's Batman & Robin. As the title implies, Batman Begins tells the story anew, when Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) flees Western civilization following the murder of his parents. He is taken in by a mysterious instructor named Ducard (Liam Neeson in another mentor role) and urged to become a ninja in the League of Shadows, but he instead returns to his native Gotham City resolved to end the mob rule that is strangling it. But are there forces even more sinister at hand?
Co-written by the team of David S.... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Christopher Nolan DVD Release Date: Released the 18 October 2005 This item is currently not available.
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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
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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
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