The Debt

Starring:Lorenzo Lamas
Studio: Platinum Disc
Product Type: DVD

Sunset Boulevard (Special Collector's Edition)

Average customer rating:

Sunset Boulevard
One of Hollywood's greatest films has gotten the treatment it deserves!
Ready as Ever...
If you only see one noir in your life...
Presages Mulholland Dr

Sunset Boulevard (Special Collector's Edition)
Starring: William Holden , Gloria Swanson , Erich von Stroheim , Nancy Olson , and Fred Clark
Director: Billy Wilder
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00003CXCW
Release Date: 2002-11-26

Amazon.com essential video

Billy Wilder's noir-comic classic about death and decay in Hollywood remains as pungent as ever in its power to provoke shock, laughter, and gasps of astonishment. Joe Gillis (William Holden), a broke and cynical young screenwriter, is attempting to ditch a pair of repo men late one afternoon when he pulls off L.A.'s storied Sunset Boulevard and into the driveway of a seedy mansion belonging to Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), a forgotten silent movie luminary whose brilliant acting career withered with the coming of talkies. The demented old movie queen lives in the past, assisted by her devoted (but intimidating) butler, Max (played by Erich von Stroheim, the legendary director of Greed and Swanson's own lost epic, Queen Kelly). Norma dreams of making a comeback in a remake of Salome to be directed by her old colleague Cecil B. DeMille (as himself), and Joe becomes her literary and romantic gigolo. Sunset Blvd. is one of those great movies that has become a part of popular culture (the line "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up," has entered the language)--but it's no relic. Wow, does it ever hold up. --Jim Emerson

Customer Reviews:

Sunset Boulevard.......2007-06-26

One of the all-time great Tinseltown satires, Wilder's noirish tale of an opportunistic, down-and-out young writer and the nostalgic, delusional film luminary who ensnares him takes a harsh look at an industry that eats its own. Holden, whose character narrates from beyond the grave, is impeccable as the sardonic Gillis, but the show belongs to real-life silent star Swanson, an ideal choice to play the creepy, twisted Norma. Great support from Nancy Olson (playing Joe's appalled girlfriend) and Erich Von Stroheim (as Norma's protective chauffeur) round out this shocking, sordid gem.

One of Hollywood's greatest films has gotten the treatment it deserves!.......2007-05-12

This haunting, magnificent movie has never looked so good. The archivists at Paramount did a fantastic job remastering the film, and the "extras" are very informative. Highly recommended.

Ready as Ever..........2007-04-23

Directed by the incomparable Billy Wilder, this is iconic Gloria Swanson in the comeback-of-all-comeback films (even though as Norma Desmond she protests that she hates that word, it's "Return!"). From the crumbling Spanish Revival (J. P. Getty-owned) mansion to the leopard-upholstered Isotta-Fraschini (once owned by Peggy Hopkins Joyce, the inspiration for Lorelei Lee in "Gentlemen Prefer Blonds"), this is a tour-de-force of behind-the-scenes Hollywood atmosphere, the dark flipside of the other great send up of when Talkies came to Tinsletown, "Singin' in the Rain."

But first of all, dismiss the myth that this movie was a biopic of Gloria's life. Not in the least. True, Gloria had been a huge success in silents (at age 25, the first actress with a million dollar contract) but she made the transition to sound just fine, even singing in early 1930s films like "The Trespasser" ("Love Your Magic Spell is Everywhere") and "Music in the Air" (which Billy Wilder also worked on). If anything, it was her exotic look, not her voice, that made her seem passé in the darkening days of the Depression.

To create Miss Desmond, screenwriters Charles Brackett (who also scripted "Ninotchka"), D. M. Marshman Jr. and Billy Wilder threw in all of the faded film star lore they could, combining the May-December marriage and mostly pickled later life of America's Sweetheart Mary Pickford (who was offered and turned down the part) and the quick fadeout to black of the other Norma (Talmadge). Throw in the other two Talmadge sisters, Clara Bow, Mable Normand, et al; the stories you hear are true, but a compilation and the names have been changed, sort of.

Then, once she agreed to the starring role, as an additional benefit, Gloria graciously allowed all of her personal mementos, from the unreleased and von Strohiem directed "Queen Kelly" to the plethora of 8 x 10 genuine publicity stills, to give the set verisimilitude. Her Chaplin-taught imitation of himself, her collaboration with De Mille (right down to his pet name for her "Young Fella"), the quip about Valentino and the tile floor, and more, were bonuses that make the film more than just another pastiche of a long-gone era.

Swanson and Holden do yeoman's work as the ill-fated couple in a nightmarish liaison that can only end badly. The lush Franz Waxman score augments a script replete with quotable quotes about the perils of a star's decline. There are layers and layers of Hollywood goodies, like the storyline that Holden and Nancy Olson spoof about, concerning a guy and a gal who rent the same flat, one sleeping in the daytime and the other at night, sharing the apartment on a shift basis, never seeing each other; it is a real 1933 film, called "Rafter Romance" starring Ginger Rogers and Laura Hope Crewes.

The staircase finale has become a thing of legend--deftly spoofed by Carol Burnett. Gloria enjoyed Carol's sketch so much, she made a guest appearance on the Carol Burnett Show, as a result. Even so, the film's ending line is surely one of the five greatest in all Hollywood history, the others being, "Casablanca", "The Wizard of Oz", "Some Like It Hot" and "Now, Voyager".

If you only see one noir in your life..........2007-04-13

Sunset Blvd. (Billy Wilder, 1950)

Sunset Boulevard is noir at its best, a simple story of obsessive love gone wrong, but the characters. Oh, the characters. Gloria Swanson plays Norma Desmond, a silent film queen who's been abandoned by the studios as talkies have become all the rage. (Swanson-- and her circle of card-playing friends in the movie-- were, in fact, silent film stars who had been abandoned by the studios after talkies became all the rage. Among the card players is Buster Keaton.) By coincidence, a young screenwriter, Joe Gillis (William Holden, in the first of his collaborations with Billy Wilder), pulls into her garage while fleeing repo men, thinking the place is abandoned. The two meet, and Desmond convinces Gillis to do some editing on a script she's been working on. Erich von Stroheim has a star turn as Desmond's butler, a silent film director also left in the lurch. (von Stroheim was, of course, a silent film director, whose Greed is widely considered one of the best films ever made.)

With all the similarities to real life going on in this movie, it's hard to examine it without a lengthy diversion into the movie being a savage satire on Hollywood itself, but that's not what most struck me about this movie. It's Joe Gillis, possibly the least effective manipulator ever captured on a screen, a man who desperately needs to become hard-hearted to gain his independence from an ugly, overbearing relationship. It's Norma Desmond, already half-mad at the beginning of the movie, rolling the rest of the way off the cliff as she tries, just as desperately to hold on to Gillis. It's Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson), torn between her growing love for Gillis and her engagement to his best friend, Artie Green (Jack Webb), coming under the withering gaze of Desmond's scorn. It's Max the Butler, so proud and so pathetic, who understands exactly where Gillis' road is headed, but is powerless to do anything about it. It's Cecil B. DeMille, who didn't have to do anything other than play himself. Satire can't work unless you've got the fundamentals in place. And in this case, the fundamentals are the characters and how they interact. And they're fabulous. Sure, Wilder and collaborator Charles Brackett wrote a great script, and Wilder, as was his wont, filmed the whole thing with precision and flair, and it wouldn't be as good a movie without those qualities. But you could put these characters, with these actors playing them, on a bare stage with a single lightbulb, and let them improvise till the cows came home, and I believe the audience would have still been deathly quiet and stock still. This is genius, pure and simple. *****

Presages Mulholland Dr.......2007-04-01

A crazed aged actress played with moxie by Gloria Swanson entices a struggling scriptwriter to live in her insane mansion in a film that combines satire and horror. The writer, played by a disaffected, cynical William Holden, enters the belly of the beast and makes what becomes a deal with the devil. Part Blanche Dubois, Swanson plays a faded actress, a "sleepwalker," who lives in the past. The cynical tone of the film amazingly reminds me of the dead narrator who speaks in Desperate Housewives, a technique used in the film's voice-over. It's weird seeing the same Los Angeles roads and buildings from 60 years ago, virtually unchanged today. In fact, the film is not at all dated.

Average customer rating:

Maxed Out
Sign of the times...
Great DVD to go with the book
Movie failed to turn the corner on the debt problem
People need to wake up to what's going on out there

Maxed Out
Director: James D. Scurlock
Manufacturer: Magnolia
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000OU081M
Release Date: 2007-06-05

Amazon.com

In Maxed Out, author/director James D. Scurlock (Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders) takes on America's debt crisis. Consequently, he touches on related issues like race, corporate malfeasance, and political subterfuge. Scurlock's multi-media approach incorporates statistics, news excerpts, and interviews, but it's rarely dull (comedy bits from Louis CK and tunes from Queen and Coldplay don't hurt). Speakers include economic professors, debt collectors, pawn brokers, investigative reporters, beleaguered consumers, and even Robin Leach (Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous). Instead of New York and Los Angeles, he concentrates on mid-size cities, like Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, and Seattle. Plenty of small towns also come into play. Though he never presses the point himself, Scurlock allows his subjects to note the similarities between the credit industry and the drug trade (others use such incendiary terms as "rape"). One thing he neglects to mention, however, is pride. If house payments are ruining your life, selling that property may be the only solution. In most cases, however, it's hard not to feel for those individuals who didn't know what they were getting into before they signed their lives away. For some viewers, this will be a dispiriting documentary--three subjects recount the suicides of relatives who found their debt too much to bear--but in explaining exactly how lenders and creditors make money, Maxed Out can help others to avoid some of their most egregious practices. In other words, debt may be a downer, but knowledge is power. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews:

Maxed Out.......2007-07-03

1. Dee Hock believed the organization he created, Visa International would save the world by "allowing spontaneous interconnection into an equitable, enduring, twenty-first-century society in harmony with the human spirit and biosphere". The credit card has shackled individuals, imposed uniformity, destroyed value at an unprecedented rate, and, so far at least, has replaced neither the pound, the yen, nor the dollar. "Hock's company has arguably been the most powerful force behind a massive redistribution of wealth that has left this country less equal than at any time since the Great depression. Hock sought to save the planet from a rigid, hierarchical, oppressive, and bureaucratic organization.
2. Hock worked his way into a job with Seafirst Bank in Seattle, Washington. Seafirst become a licensee of the BankAmericard, the first bank-issued credit card, a job no one wanted. Consumer credit was left to the loan sharks and pawnbrokers. "In Hock's eyes, Bank of America was not just bigness but management charts, uniform standards, titles, stupidity." The BankAmericard licensees were losing vast sums of money to credit card fraud and primitive technology and manual accounting practices. Shareholders want the problems fixed. In response to pressure, Hock reacted by creating an advisory committee (of bank members) called the Visa International which would become the most ubiquitous organization in the history of capitalism. The idea was to issue credit cards quickly, Visa would exist not for profit and exist to create a world of tangible currency replacing paper money with trillions of electronic transactions moving through the mainframe. "Visa would become the ultimate store of value" In practice it has become nothing more than a massive marketing campaign and an electronic swich that routed money from the bank of the payer to the bank of the payee. Hock remain dedicated to technology that would allow small transaction on a grand scale, hoping someday that this technology would empower the masses and give them freedom. Freedom to no longer be forced to interact with nosy, judgmental bankers! Credit cards had created a new currency and a new money supply. The bankers knew Credit cards was about selling a single product, debt.
3. Banks were in the practice of borrowing money from individuals and lend that money to corporations. Consumer lending was not consider profitable because the small loans were time-consuming and the applicants financial situations poor and probable that they would be unable to repay the loans. Consumer credit speculation and poor lending practices had caused massive bank failures in the 1920 and 1930s. Extending credit to credit poor borrowers was "a noose with which to hang himself financially" and generally considered to be an immoral practice. Banks knew that if you give a consumer credit they will probably use it. Banks learned this lesson, in the 1920, when American had overextended themselves buying products of the industrial revolution on credit.
4. Credit cards demand is a function of the supply of available credit. The more credit the bank supplies the more demand are created. The more people begin to depend on credit the more they need to keep accumulating credit, higher and higher credit limits; new credit to payoff old credit; mountains of credit. No other product creates this type of cycle. Credit card is the only product that its price changes: the charge, penalty fees, interest - combine to create a new price for the product or service - terms and conditions change. The Visa has become a natural monopoly.
5. Walter Wriston, Citigroup Center guru, was the "first modern banker to realize that his job was not to teach customers how to save but how to spend as much as possible." In 1970s, Wriston was promising shareholders 15 percent annual increases in profits-just before a perfect economic storm of inflation, war, and technology bust ravaged the economy. Wriston believed countries can't go broke. Wriston was financing less-developed countries old debt replacing it with new debt, the reverse pyramid scheme. Larger and larger liabilities were being piled on top of the original debt. "Eventually the amount of new cash needed to service the old debt and new debt becomes too burdensome and the whole thing collapses beneath its weight. The only exception is where the player prints the currency with which the game is played, which makes the United States government unique among debtors." Wriston set out to conquer the middle class with Credit card debt and interest fees. "There was something seductive-addictive, even-about instant credit." "Wriston meanwhile, laid out his own vison of the promise land-a land in which millions of customers charged all of their purchases to a Citibank credit card and paid high, unregulated interest rates and fees for privilege." Millions of BankAmericard customers were sent letters explaining that their new visa card would soon be arriving: visa logo and name of bank on the front of the card. Wriston sensed opportunity, signed up to be a Visa bank, and sent out millions of Citibank Visa cards to his competitors customers before the replacement cards from their own banks arrived. Wriston preempted his competitors by a couple of weeks and they never recovered. When it came to easy credit, the average customer was lazy and lovestruck.
6. "In 1996, Americans charged a record $1 trillion on the Visa cards." In 2004, with foreclosures, bankrupticies, and defaults all at higher levels than during the Great Depression, President Bush awarded Wriston the Presidential Medal of Freedom."

Sign of the times..........2007-07-01

They forgot a quite significant definition:

RESPONSIBLE

Main Entry: re·spon·si·ble

Pronunciation: ri-'spän(t)-s&-b&l
Function: adjective
Etymology: Anglo-French responsable, from respuns

1 a : liable to be called on to answer b (1) : liable to be called to account as the primary cause, motive, or agent (2) : being the cause or explanation c : liable to legal review or in case of fault to penalties

2 a : able to answer for one's conduct and obligations : TRUSTWORTHY b : able to choose for oneself between right and wrong

3 : marked by or involving responsibility or accountability

Man, it's just so easy to blame everything on someone else these days, e.g fast food for being fat, big tobacco for cancer, blaming banks for uncontrolled spending. Jeeez.

I can just about guarantee if "these poor people were given a second chance with bankruptcy being an option" 85% would end up in the same damn boat all over again.

Great DVD to go with the book.......2007-06-30

I think this DVD makes more sense if you've also read the book. It could be watched on it's own, but it is a bit choppy. It is a great look into debt and how it affects people. I think he may have tried to fit too much into this one DVD, but overall it's a great look at this problem. Everyone with a credit card should see this!

Movie failed to turn the corner on the debt problem.......2007-06-28

Full disclosure: My family and I are fans of, and practioners of, Dave Ramsey's The Financial Peace Planner: A step-by step guide to restoring your family's financial health. As people who have used his guidance to successfully get out of debt, we were expecting a lot from this movie because he's in it and he endorsed it.

Yes, it is tragic that credit card companies take advantage of people and this movie clearly spells out how and why they do it. However, the film failed to turn the corner on the other part of the debt problem--people who just buy too much STUFF they can't afford.

The most heartbreaking story in the film, in my opinion, was the 50+ year-old woman who was losing her home due to debt caused by paycheck loan overuse and the unexpected death of her spouse. Her home appeared to be filled virtually from top to bottom with expensive collector plates, which she had to sell off one by one to get cash.

And what was the 40-year-old developmentally disabled man doing with a credit card if he couldn't even sign his name? Who was using the credit card on his 'behalf?' What were they buying?

I wish the movie had focused more on how a credit score is developed--people wouldn't be so anxious to have a high credit score if they knew what goes into the calculations. It was also enlightening to learn how college campus areas are a breeding ground for student credit card debt.

Other reviewers have commented on the political nature of the movie and I agree: Blaming George Bush because you can't continue to bankrupt yourself away from your credit card debt is wrong. Blame the credit card companies for your high interest rate and fees if you want, but the only person who can solve your debt problem is YOU.

At the end, the movie even managed to get Dave Ramsey to look like a hypocrite--his debt-elimination message is vitally important for people to hear, but at the end, they included a shot of him doing an advertisement for an expensive mattress. (If you're in debt, the last thing you need to buy is a $3,000 mattress!) Yes, I know he needs to do his advertising spots for his radio program, but it just left a bad taste in my mouth because it seemed deliberately included to undercut his message of personal responsibility.

People need to wake up to what's going on out there.......2007-06-26

Yeah- people have the choice for the most part as to what debt they're getting in to and yeah, the big bad meanie corporations are going after you with everything they've got, but people need to wake up to what's going on. Watch this documentary and get this book: How to Take Advantage of the People Who Are Trying to Take Advantage of You: 50 Ways to Capitalize on the System

By the way- these guys need to get over the political aspects of it. Bush didn't cause Americans to go into $9000 of debt (though his ridiculously high budgets don't make for a good example).

Average customer rating:

Great Movie
Shallow and multi-layered
Alpha Dog Unwatchable
Stuck in the middle again
Just as I anticipated

Alpha Dog (Widescreen Edition)
Starring: Bruce Willis , Matthew Barry , Emile Hirsch , Fernando Vargas (II) , and Vincent Kartheiser
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000NO39FG
Release Date: 2007-05-01

Amazon.com

With harrowing intensity, Alpha Dog dramatizes one of the most tragically notorious murders in recent history. Ripped from the headlines, writer-director Nick Cassavetes' flawed but riveting crime drama (a polar opposite to his previous film, the romantic hit The Notebook) is based on the real-life case of Jesse James Hollywood, a drug dealer in California's San Gabriel Valley who, in 2000, became one of the youngest men to appear on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. Names and details have been changed, but the criminal circumstances remain the same: With family links to organized crime, Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) is on the warpath against Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster), a sleazebag addict who owes him money. Fate intervenes when Johnny and his stoner pals including Frankie (Justin Timberlake) encounter Jake's 15-year-old half-brother Zack (Anton Yelchin) and hold him as collateral until Jake pays his debts. What begins as a casual, seemingly harmless situation escalates into a crisis of capital crime, as Alpha Dog employs split-screen, docudrama, and mock-documentary interviews to chronicle a tragic tailspin of reckless events and lawless behavior.

Cassavetes himself became part of the real-life drama when prosecutors (hoping to locate then-fugitive Jesse James Hollywood, who was captured in 2005) gave him legally controversial access to their case files. Alpha Dog clearly benefits from this inside information, and while the film's grueling depiction of underage squalor (including rampant drug and alcohol abuse) is inevitably off-putting and at least partially exploitative, there's no denying that Cassavetes has worked wonders with a well-chosen ensemble cast including Timberlake, who contrasts his music-industry stardom with a convincing performance as a likable, not-too-bright party animal who quickly gets in over his head. The film is ultimately compromised by Cassavetes' ambitious attempt to cover too much dramatic territory, but like his father John before him, he demonstrates a remarkable skill with actors (including Sharon Stone, Bruce Willis, and Harry Dean Stanton in supporting roles), and Alpha Dog is full of powerful, dangerous moments that aren't easily forgotten. --Jeff Shannon

Description

They grew up together in the suburbs of LA, living their own version of the American dream, with every day a blur of partying and looking for the next thrill. Johnny (Emile Hirsch, Lords of Dogtown) is the leader in their sordid world of drugs, greed, power and privilege. But when he is double-crossed by another dealer, things quickly begin to spiral out of control, and an impulsive kidnapping leads to a shocking conclusion. Justin Timberlake (Edison), Sharon Stone (Bobby) and Bruce Willis (Lucky Number Slevin) co-star in this powerful and controversial film.

Customer Reviews:

Great Movie.......2007-06-27

Alpha Dog is a really great movie. Emile Hirsch did a great job as always and for you Justin Timberlake fans, this was a really good performance by him. JT is the man in this, and the nice guy. I would recommend this to anyone that likes a good kidnapping movie, but be forwarnd, if you get sad or cry real easily then you probably shouldn't get this because something huge happens and its not very funny.

Shallow and multi-layered.......2007-06-24

Alpha Dog is a great B movie. The actors are meant to speak in real time scenes with realistic everyday dialog, meaning it should come off as a false reality TV show like The Office, where "realistic" acting is done well. Instead, we get movie acting, which makes much of the dialog seem forced. Still, the movie is enjoyable for its gratuitous violence, swearing, and drug use. The beginning of the movie is a typical over the top gangster vs gangster scenario, with the middle of the film played as a no holds barred teen party movie. For a while, the seriousness of the story is cast aside as the comedy, action and excess becomes enjoyable on a base level. Rather than be preachy, the movie is left to be enjoyed as a movie, until the film shifts into a serious, sombering "based on a true story" morality tale that might be found in the "free rental" section of Blockbuster. While characters are based on real people, as characters they are left to thrive in their movie reflection of life, but as reflections of people they gain an extra layer of sympathy and identification. Alpha Dog actually changes from "mindless crime drama" to "mindless party movie" to "serious based on true events tale," which would seem like a bad choice, but it prevents the entire movie from being dragged down. From the first half of the movie, learning or self growth seems unlikely. Morality and realistic consequences are nowhere to be seen in the beginning, yet the beginning movie cliches become transcended by the characters, so that a false gangster scene becomes obviously false as the movie progresses, making reality more noticeable and tragic. The use of flashback, counted days, and numbered witnesses creates an ominous caution that is not over the top, but drags the viewer in and out of the fantasy movie world. In the end, the actors aren't real people, and the poor special effects drive home the point that this is just a movie meant to look like reality, but this creates a more startling movie as we imagine the true reality behind it. Alpha Dog is paradoxically mindless and shallow without insulting the viewers intelligence.

Alpha Dog Unwatchable.......2007-06-14

If you are an adult with brain cells Alpha Dog will be unwatchable. I had to turn it off after torturing through 45 minutes of watching adolescent males posturing with grotesque levels of ignorance. If there was action, suspense, plot, any shred of meaningful dialogue, I may have been able to watch the entire film. But who wants to pay money, and waste two hours, watching a room full of partying teens act stupidly? The characters are so painfully dumb it is torture to watch. The world of the uneducated and brash American teen age boy is not one I want to go to. Maybe there is a social message or commentary by the end of the film, but if you value your time and intelligence pass on this worthless peek into the world of drugged out teens

Stuck in the middle again.......2007-06-12

I have to say that I didn't have the greatest expectations of this film. After watching it, turns out it's better than I thought. Not saying it's a great movie but it's not bad either. Somewhere in the middle. It's inspired by a true story and it reminds me of Bully but without the unnecessary, overexposed nudity. I actually favored their decision to mark every witness that saw the hostage with the captors. Especially the bystanders who have no connection to any of them whatsoever. The acting was pretty good but the entertainment value could've been better.

Just as I anticipated.......2007-06-10

After becoming fasinated with the "Jesse James Hollywood" story about a year ago, I was ecstatic to learn that a movie would be released concerning the events. I think the movie is excellent but also extremely troubling. To have an idea placed in your mind about what that poor boy went through in the end is the most horrifying picture. I cried until there were no tears left. I knew the story like the back of my hand, but I never really GOT it until seeing this film.
I would recommend this movie to anyone old enough to view the sex, violence, etc. it contains. I would highly recommend reading up on the true story the movie is based on before seeing it.

It's a Wonderful Life (60th Anniversary Edition)

Average customer rating:

It certainly is a Wonderful Life!
It's a Wonderful Life
Quintessential christmas movie
It Was Indeed a Wonderful Life!
A Timeless Classic

It's a Wonderful Life (60th Anniversary Edition)
Starring: James Stewart , Donna Reed , Lionel Barrymore , Thomas Mitchell , and Henry Travers
Director: Frank Capra
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

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Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B000HEWEJO
Release Date: 2006-10-31

Amazon.com essential video

Now perhaps the most beloved American film, It's a Wonderful Life was largely forgotten for years, due to a copyright quirk. Only in the late 1970s did it find its audience through repeated TV showings. Frank Capra's masterwork deserves its status as a feel-good communal event, but it is also one of the most fascinating films in the American cinema, a multilayered work of Dickensian density. George Bailey (played superbly by James Stewart) grows up in the small town of Bedford Falls, dreaming dreams of adventure and travel, but circumstances conspire to keep him enslaved to his home turf. Frustrated by his life, and haunted by an impending scandal, George prepares to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. A heavenly messenger (Henry Travers) arrives to show him a vision: what the world would have been like if George had never been born. The sequence is a vivid depiction of the American Dream gone bad, and probably the wildest thing Capra ever shot (the director's optimistic vision may have darkened during his experiences making military films in World War II). Capra's triumph is to acknowledge the difficulties and disappointments of life, while affirming--in the teary-eyed final reel--his cherished values of friendship and individual achievement. It's a Wonderful Life was not a big hit on its initial release, and it won no Oscars (Capra and Stewart were nominated); but it continues to weave a special magic. --Robert Horton

Description

George Bailey has so many problems he is thinking about ending it all - and it's Christmas! As the angels discuss George, we see his life in flashback. As George is about to jump from a bridge, he ends up rescuing his guardian angel, Clarence. Clarence then shows George what his town would have looked like if it hadn't been for all of his good deeds over the years. Will Clarence be able to convince George to return to his family and forget suicide?

Customer Reviews:

It certainly is a Wonderful Life!.......2007-06-27

Not only do I own this movie, I have the board game as well. No Christmas season is complete without at least one viewing of this classic movie. It stresses the idea of being grateful for what you have and seeing the silver lining in any given situation. Children of all ages should watch this one every year.

It's a Wonderful Life.......2007-06-25

The quintessential Frank Capra film and a heartwarming holiday treat year in and year out, "Life" is the ultimate optimistic statement on the value of love, life, and community. Capra's masterful handling of the bittersweet storyline--in which Bailey sacrifices his own dreams to run the family savings-and-loan business and keep his hometown of Bedford Falls out of Potter's greedy paws--is pure Hollywood magic. Reed and Barrymore give exceptional performances, but Stewart, in one of his all-time great roles (a personal favorite), is the dynamic, all-too-human force holding it all together. Revived in the '70s after languishing in copyright limbo, "Life" is nostalgic and achingly sentimental, but doesn't shrink from portraying the dark side of American life. If "Zuzu's petals" don't put a lump in your throat, wait till a revivified George finds a special surprise waiting for him back home. Let those tear ducts flow, because "It's a Wonderful Life."

Quintessential christmas movie.......2007-06-11

This movie is a tradition in our house during the Christmas season to watch at least once! It never grows old to see Jimmy Stewart realizing that being rich sometimes has very little to do with how much is in your bank account and more to do with how many friends you have. Get the hot chocolate out, cuddle up with your sweetie, build a roaring fire in the fireplace and put the DVD in the machine and remember that your life does matter in the world.

It Was Indeed a Wonderful Life!.......2007-06-04

A Timeless Classic.......2007-06-04

It's A Wonderful Life is a one-of-a-kind christmas movie with a hint of horror. Not only is this movie unique, but it also has a charasmatic cast. I bought this movie to add to my modest DVD collection, and its the perfect flick arund christmas time.

Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels (Widescreen Edition)

Average customer rating:

One of the Best British Comedies Ever
Madcap British crime caper
The only film that makes me proud to say I'm British
Celluloid Fiction
"A minute ago this was the safest job in the world. Now it's turning into a bad day in Bosnia."

Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels (Widescreen Edition)
Starring: Jason Flemyng , Dexter Fletcher , Nick Moran , Jason Statham , and Steven Mackintosh
Director: Guy Ritchie
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Comic Criminals | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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Reservoir Dogs (15th Anniversary 2-Disc Special Edition)
The Boondock Saints
Fight Club (Collector's Edition Steelbook)

ASIN: B00007ELEP
Release Date: 2002-11-05

Product Description

Streetwise charmer and cardshark Eddy (Nick Moran) walks into the biggest card game of his life carrying a stake backed by the life-savings of his three best mates, Tom (Jason Flemyng), Bacon (Jason Statham) and Soap (Dexter Fletcher). Eddy is the sharpest player on the circuit but the game is a set-up, and Eddy leaves owing the underworld boss Hatchet Harry (P.H. Moriarty) half a million. Harry gives Eddy a week to come up with the money before he starts taking fingers as collateral. Eddy s dad, JD (Sting) can cancel the debt by handing over his bar, lock, stock and barrel to his old adversary, Harry. JD refuses to give in, feeling his street-tough son can get himself out of his own messes. So, while Harry sends a couple of petty crooks to steal a pair of antique shotguns to add to his collection, Eddy and his mates plan a caper that will enable them to pay off Harry and make out like bandits! In a comedy of errors, and a helter-skelter ride through London s gangland, the guns, cash, drugs and identities become all mixed up as a full complement of London s lowlife get involved in a melee which even all their menace can t handle. Full of energy and surprising twists at every turn, it s a rollicking comedy that has it all, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

Cockney boys Tom, Soap, Eddie, and Bacon are in a bind; they owe seedy criminal and porn king "Hatchet" Harry a sizable amount of cash after Eddie loses half a million in a rigged game of poker. Hot on their tails is a thug named Big Chris who intends to send them all to the hospital if they don't come up with the cash in the allotted time. Add into the mix an incompetent set of ganja cultivators, two dimwitted robbers, a "madman" with an afro, and a ruthless band of drug dealers and you have an astonishing movie called Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Before the boys can blink, they are caught up in a labyrinth of double-crosses that lead to a multitude of dead bodies, copious amounts of drugs, and two antique rifles.

Written and directed by talented newcomer Guy Ritchie, this is one of those movies that was destined to become an instant cult classic à la Reservoir Dogs. Although some comparisons were drawn between Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino, it would be unfair to discount the brilliant wit of the story and the innovative camerawork that the director brings to his debut feature. Not since The Krays has there been such an accurate depiction of the East End and its more colorful characters. Indicative of the social stratosphere in London, Ritchie's movie is a hilarious and at times touching account of friendships and loyalty. The director and his mates (who make up most of the cast) clearly are enjoying themselves here. This comes across in some shining performances, in particular from ex-footballer Vinnie Jones (Big Chris) and an over-the-top Vas Blackwood (as Rory Breaker), who very nearly steals the show. Full of quirky vernacular and clever tension-packed action sequences, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is a triumph--a perfect blend of intelligence, humor, and suspense. --Jeremy Storey

Customer Reviews:

One of the Best British Comedies Ever.......2007-06-25

If you've seen "Snatch" you have to watch this film (since it is the pre-sequel to "Snatch".) It is a very funny and yet full of action that you won't get bored. I am a big fan of Jason Statham so I purchased this film and I am hooked. Everyone who I recommended this film to has purchased it to add on to his/her collections. This film is idea at get-togethers.

Madcap British crime caper.......2007-04-16

Director Guy Ritchie expertly concocted an amusing crime thriller replete with crosses and double crosses among various criminal groups in London's underworld. The plot surrounds a group of 4 low level criminals played by Jason Statham, Nick Moran, Jason Flemyng and Dexter Fletcher who pool their resources to sit in at a high stakes card game with a 100,000 pound admission. Nick Moran playing Eddie is a card shark but the game run by porn king Harry "Hatchet" Lonsdale played by P.J. Moriarty is fixed. He loses the 100,000 and an aditional 500,000 which must be paid within a week or else.

The band of 4 friends contrive to recoup the stolen funds by ripping off a marijuana growing cartel that conveniently live next door. That group had already been targeted by other group of robbers and things as a result get predictably muddled.

Meanwhile The "Hatchet" has commissioned the theft of a pair of antique shotguns worth a small fortune that bizarrely wind up in the hands of Moran and his friends. The various groups begin exchanging both the money and the shotguns among them leaving behind a trail of bloodied corpses in this farcical romp.

Ritchie concludes this well contrived comedic thriller, which includes a plethora of tough looking British thugs, with a touch of irony that effectively caps this winning film.

The only film that makes me proud to say I'm British.......2007-04-01

This is the best british comedy EVER....well in my opinion ;-)

It has a pulp fiction vibe, following a group of wheelers and dealers (hustlers) who get into a sticky situation with an East End gangster.

Original plot, clever dialogue and great cinematography. I'm sure Americans will struggle with the dialogue but give it a try!

Celluloid Fiction.......2007-02-08

A friend of mine suggested that I watch 1998's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels..."It's the British version of Pulp Fiction," he proclaimed.

There is the similarity that characters unaware of each other's presence are ultimately all connected by the closing credits in both Pulp Fiction (1994) and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. There is a lot of shooting. But otherwise, there were not a lot of plot similarities. And Pulp Fiction is much more of a violence R-rated film than the mainly language R-rating slapped on Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

So, I'm glad that my friend recommended Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels to me, but I'd mostly disagree about his summation of the film. This movie absolutely stands on it's own as a good, suspenseful action flick with some terrific twists. It's funny when it wants to be. It's serious. It's thrilling...a thoroughly enjoyable movie from the late 90s.

I don't know why I'd never taken the time before yesterday to watch Director Guy Ritchie's story of 4 guys that get themselves in deep with a local kingpin. But I can tell you that Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was sure good enough to have me add Ritchie's 2000 follow-on Snatch (aka Lock, Stock and Six Stolen Diamonds) to my Ready-to-View queue; I understand that several of the actors are back, but all playing unrelated characters along side Brad Pitt. But that's another review entirely.

Check out Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

"A minute ago this was the safest job in the world. Now it's turning into a bad day in Bosnia.".......2007-01-11

I've owned Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) on DVD for a few years now and I've watched it about three or four times so far mainly due to the fact it's extremely entertaining and engaging, but also because it's one of those films that actually gets a little better each time it's viewed, in my opinion. Written and directed by Guy Ritchie (Snatch, Swept Away), the film features Jason Flemyng (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), Dexter Fletcher (Tristan + Isolde), Nick Moran (The Rules of Engagement), and Jason Statham (Snatch, The Transporter, Crank), in his first, feature film. Also appearing is P.H. Moriarty (Jaws 3-D), Vinnie Jones (Snatch), Lenny McLean (The Fifth Element), Frank Harper (Bend It Like Beckham), Steven Mackintosh (Underworld: Evolution), Nicholas Rowe (Young Sherlock Holmes), Stephen Marcus (Quills), Vas Blackwood (Mean Machine), and Sting (Dune) aka Gordon Sumner, former frontman of the band The Police.

The story, set in London's seedy East End, involves four friends named Eddie (Moran), Bacon (Statham), Tom (Flemyng), and Soap (Fletcher) who find themselves in deep with a local criminal boss after Eddie loses big during a poker game. Here's the deal...a scary fellow named 'Hatchet' Harry Lonsdale (Moriarty), who operates an adult novelty shop as a front, has a running card game, one in which the buy in is 100 thousand pounds. Seems Eddie's specialty is not so much in cards, but the ability to read his opponents, so Eddie and his friends come up with the dough in the hopes of turning around a quick profit. Thing is, Harry cheats, so subsequently Eddie loses, and loses big, to the point where he's a half million in the hole to Harry. Harry knows Eddie's buy in money came from a collective pool, so he now holds them all responsible for the debt, and has given them approximately a week to pony up, or else he'll have his collector, a seriously scary individual named Big Chris (Jones), come around to start removing body parts. The situation seems bleak but hope does arrive in the form of a plan, one in which involves Eddie and his friends putting it to Eddie's neighbor, a man named Dog (Harper), who, along with his crew, are planning to rip off a group of local weed dealers. As the various plans come together (along with various comical complications tied to each), Eddie and crew successfully heist Dog's score, but even more complications arise as various players get involved, resulting in an extraordinary amount twists and turns, so much so you just may need a scorecard to keep track of all the action...

One should know I barely scratched the surface of the story above, as there's a great many interesting characters running about this film, along with a large number of varied plot elements which don't seem all that related at first, but eventually do tie together well as the film careens towards its conclusion. The story is very complicated, but I think Ritchie does an excellent job in keeping things orderly and moving along at a solid pace. Ritchie uses a decent amount of techniques to forward the story, including voice overs, slow motion, still frames, flashbacks, odd shooting angles, etc., all of which are utilized in such a way to enhance the story. All the performances are solid, bolstered by a lot of great dialog awash with cockney slang. At first some of the language may seem odd, but after awhile the viewer doesn't notice it as much as they're engrossed in the activity on the screen and certain things not understood through dialog alone become apparent from the inflection of speech and the action of the characters. The first quarter or so of the film sets up most of the characters, while the second quarter presents the dilemma, and then the rest involves Eddie and friends trying to extricate themselves from a very deep hole. As I mentioned earlier, there's a large number of characters introduced throughout, but know each has a specific role in the overall scheme of things, and is presented with the appropriate amount of screen time in terms of their importance to the story. Given this was Ritchie's first film, I was amazed at how well he managed to present as much as he did with the ease in which he did it, as everything clicked her for me. I should also mention the eclectic choice of tunes used throughout worked very well, as there's songs by The Stooges, James Brown, Dusty Springfield, Robbie Williams, The Stone Roses, among others. My favorite character in the film was Big Chris, a no nonsense enforcer/collector played by Vinnie Jones (he was `Big' Chris, as his young son, who could often be found at his side, was `Little' Chris). There's a great scene near the end where Big Chris deals with a threat to his son by utilizing a car door on the head on the one who made the threat. There is a copious amount of violence throughout this comical crime caper, but most of it, in terms of the actual visceral displays, isn't shown. An example of this is you'll see someone shooting a gun at someone else, but you don't necessarily see the person being shot at during impact. The trick here is what you don't see you fill in with your mind, given the detailed events just prior, so there's a perception of violence, rather than the actual depiction, which can be just as effective. All in all this is a highly entertaining film, capped off by a great ending. If you've seen this film and are interested in others like it, I'd highly recommend Ritchie's next film entitled Snatch (2000), as they're very similar, the main difference being the latter has a larger budget and features a slew of recognizable faces such as Brad Pitt (Mr. & Mrs. Smith), Dennis Farina ("Law & Order"), and Benicio Del Toro (Traffic), along with a number of performers from this film.

The DVD I own is the initial release, and not the `Lock N' Loaded' director's cut which was released later. In terms of the version I own, the picture, available in both widescreen anamorphic (1.85:1) and fullscreen format (1.33:1), looks clean, and the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround audio comes across very well. In terms of extras there are production notes, cast and crew biographies, a production featurette, trailers for both the U.S. and U.K. release, an informative cockney rhyming slang dictionary, and subtitles in English, French, and Spanish.

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