The Women

Starring:Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Mary Boland, Paulette Goddard, Phyllis Povah, Joan Fontaine, Virginia Weidler, Lucile Watson, Marjorie Main, Virginia Grey, Ruth Hussey, Muriel Hutchison, Hedda Hopper, Florence Nash, Cora Witherspoon, Ann Morriss, Dennie Moore, Mary Cecil, Mary Beth Hughes
Director: George Cukor
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Description

Congratulations! You are beginning the most exciting and challenging chapter of your life: having a baby! But that doesn't mean you can't stay in shape. With Fit & Firm: Pregnancy, fitness icon (and the mother of two) Denise Austin delivers an energy-boosting program that focuses on everyday strength, "perfect pregnancy posture" and reshaping your after-baby body! Breathing and Core Awareness: Stimulate your core muscles and elevate your spirit during this 5-minute preparatory segment. Cardio Workout: Give your energy a boost with this low-impact, fun, 20-minute, heart-healthy workout adapted for all three trimesters. 1st - 2nd Trimester Toning: Rejuvenate and sculpt your body from head to toe with 20 minutes of prenatal-fitness fun! 3rd Trimester Toning: Soothe sore muscles and maintain core strength with this 20-minute, refreshing workout that helps prepare you for delivery! "Bonus" Post Bounce-Back Workout: Bounce back fast with this 10-minute, invigorating routine that re-educates the abs for a waist-slimming workout.

Customer Reviews:

The Most Excellent Pregnancy DVD! .......2007-07-03

I was so happily suprised and relieved that this DVD covers safe excersizes for all stages of my pregnancy. I can move at my own pace and not feel as though I'm falling behind. Denise is so upbeat, it just keeps me going! I took it to my Doctor to make certain that it would be safe for me. Thank you! :)

Denise Austin Fit and Firm Pregnancy.......2007-06-13

This workout video is just enough for someone who already has an active life and wants an extra boost of energy. For those who are not as active, it will turn their energy levels around. Either way you can not over do it with this work out. She offers the both a modified version and a high energy version.

I appreciate how she works different muscle zones during different trimesters. I am still pregnant and can not speak to the post natal workout. But from previous pregnancies using her regular workout videos postpartum, i would give it a thumbs up anyway.

A decent workout........2007-06-02

I am in my 3rd trimester and started using this dvd around the 20 week mark- prior to that I was using her 'Shrink Your Female Fat Zones'(which I love) dvd until it just got too difficult on my pregnant back. I have always kept up with a regular exercise routine and I agree some of this is too easy for someone who is not new to working out. However, I really like the toning and stretching portions. The reps are way too short, but I just hit pause and do as many as I want. I also use a combo of 5 and 10 pound weights- which is more than the girls in the video use. I find that this section is easy to tailor to your own fitness needs, which is a good thing considering not everbody worked out prior to her pregnancy. I have never done the cardio portion of the dvd, instead I got to the gym and do 35 minutes on the elliptical machine. My only complaint about this dvd is the fact that you cannot fast-forward through the few minutes of stuff before you get to the menu. Denise's high energy attitude really does not bother me. Overall I would reccomend this dvd.

Pregnancy DVD's.......2007-05-14

I purchased 3 other pregnancy related excercise DVD's. This one is by far the best and most motivating!

Better than I expected.......2007-05-12

Denise is still her over-the-top excited fitness guru, but this workout is so much better than her other prenatal video. Denise is not pregnant in this one, but uses women in various trimesters. The workouts are varied and, with a little modification, I can really feel challenged when I'm done. I enjoy it, the music is good, the stage/setup is good, and I would actually recommend this DVD.

Average customer rating:

The Cure for the Common Man...
Will, Kevin, and New York, New York
Funny, refreshing and oh so much fun, exactly what I've been waiting for...
great date movie
Almost perfect

Hitch (Widescreen Edition)
Starring: Will Smith , Eva Mendes , Kevin James (III) , Amber Valletta , and Julie Ann Emery
Director: Andy Tennant
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

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

( H ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Pacifier (Widescreen Edition)
Meet The Fockers (Widescreen Edition)
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National Treasure (Widescreen Edition)
Coach Carter (Widescreen Edition)

ASIN: B000957O82
Release Date: 2005-06-14

Amazon.com

Will Smith's easygoing charm makes Hitch the kind of pleasant, uplifting romantic comedy that you could recommend to almost anyone--especially if there's romance in the air. As suave Manhattan dating consultant Alex "Hitch" Hitchens, Smith plays up the smoother, sophisticated side of his established screen persona as he mentors a pudgy accountant (Kevin James) on the lessons of love. The joke, of course, is that Hitch's own love life is a mess, and as he coaches James toward romance with a rich, powerful, and seemingly inaccessible beauty named Allegra (Amber Valetta), he's trying too hard to impress a savvy gossip columnist (Eva Mendes) with whom he's fallen in love. Through mistaken identities and mismatched couples, director Andy Tennant brings the same light touch that made Drew Barrymore's Ever After so effortlessly engaging. As romantic comedies go, Hitch doesn't offer any big surprises, but as a date movie it gets the job done with amiable ease and style. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

The Cure for the Common Man..........2007-06-28

Typically when I'm choosing a movie to watch in my spare time, I will choose from action, drama, comedy, sci-fi, thrillers, etc. (what you would basically expect from any guy), I can honestly say that I very rarely choose a romantic comedy, and never a musical. However, sometimes a romantic comedy comes along that looks interesting and funny to me, generally because the premise is different from most or because I like the stars in it, or simply because my wife chooses the movie for our movie night. In the case of "Hitch" it was a combination of the first 2 factors, but for some reason my wife and I never got around to watching this movie in theaters, and for the longest time on DVD. But recently, we sat down and watched it, and I must say that even though many critics and some moviegoers weren't entertained that much by the movie, I found it to be highly enjoyable and one of the better romantic comedies I had seen.

"Hitch" is the story of Alex 'Hitch' Hitchens (Will Smith), a man whose job is to find ways for a man to successfully woo the woman of his choice into a successful dating relationship. Hitch is a man that is good at his job, but never really finds the time for his own dating life. When Hitch begins coaching a pudgy accountant (Kevin James) on how to get noticed by an attractive, wealthy heiress, his own love life begins to blossom, but through a series of mishaps starts to go horribly awry. Inevitably leaving Hitch wondering why he can make love happen for complete strangers but never for himself. But before he can figure out what's going on in his life, a newsreporter (Eva Mendes) is trying to uncover the true identity of this so-called 'Date Doctor', and after protecting his identity for so long Hitch finds himself in the media crosshairs, and the real kicker is, it's his new girlfriend that put him there.

As far as romantic comedies go, most of them are generally predictable to some extent, sometimes the predictability of these types of films lends to boredom for me. However, there are a few romantic comedies that manage to be predictable, yet still entertain, and then there are the few (very few) that just surprise you by not being all that predictable. "Hitch" falls somewhere between somewhat predictable and not all that much, there are the typical romantic comedy elements that are crucial for this type of film. For example, guy finds girl, impresses girl, things get serious, some secret about guy is discovered by girl, girl breaks up with guy, guy proclaims love for girl, and all is well with the world - those are your basic elements (give or take one or two) to almost every romantic comedy these days, and "Hitch" contains several of them. The difference for me was that unlike a lot of other romantic comedies where the story is so thin and the humor is virtually non-existent that you find yourself already knowing how the movie will end and checking your eyelids for holes within the first 30 minutes due to boredom, "Hitch" keeps things going at a very steady pace with plenty of laughs and clever dialogue that I never got distracted by getting ahead of the story, and remained entertained throughout. Probably the element I enjoyed the most of the movie was the way the character of Hitch had taken a by-the-book approach to dating, as far as his tips go, that worked like a charm for every guy that he tutored, yet could never get the same approach to work for him, and in the end he discovers that love, much like life, isn't always so simply figured out.

The performances by the cast were uniformly strong, Will Smith and Kevin James out-shined everyone, which wasn't really all that surprising given their comedic and acting talents. Eva Mendes was very endearing as the woman that Hitch is trying to start a relationship with, and she shows a great on-screen chemistry with Will Smith that made their couple very believable. The story as I said earlier contained many of the familiar elements of most romantic comedies, yet still entertained me, and I never felt like I'd seen it all before. The ending is what you expect, and of course hope for in this type of movie, but the execution of the ending was done in a very interesting and unique way that I didn't expect, probably making it a much more enjoyable ending than most.

With all of that being said, "Hitch" isn't the most original romantic comedy, but there are numerous elements that are unique, and allowed me to overlook the same old elements that are so tried and true to this genre. It was a very entertaining movie, that provides you plenty of laughter and leaves you feeling good, which is what these movies should do.

"Hitch" is rated PG-13 for language and sensuality.

Will, Kevin, and New York, New York.......2007-06-27

Every role is perfectly cast in this romantic comedy/buddy movie. Kevin James and Will Smith are funny, but never over-the-top in roles that could have gone silly with less capable actors.
The movie is also a love affair with Manhattan. Every scene takes place in one distinctly New York spot after another. I loved each one.
By the way, the soundtrack for Hitch is great, too.

Funny, refreshing and oh so much fun, exactly what I've been waiting for..........2007-06-26

While `Hitch' may not be the most original romantic comedy to hit the big screen it's one of the most enjoyable. Will Smith is always entertaining and effortlessly captivating, but this time, with the pairing of the breathtaking beauty known as Eva Mendes and the hilarious Kevin James, Smith is brought to the top of his game. The script is sweet and refreshing, the dialog is smart and funny and the acting is top notch. Eva Mendes is not only beautiful but charming and funny. She keeps proving with each role no matter how thankless that she is more than a pretty face. This role is not thankless, thankfully, but just the same she's a star. The real standout though is Kevin James who outdoes himself. I've always loved James' standup and his show `The King of Queens' but here he really blows me away with his natural charm and humor.

Smith plays Alex `Hitch' Hitchens, a date doctor as it were, who helps coach men into successful relationships. His latest project is Albert, an overweight accountant who has fallen for the rich and beautiful Allegra Cole, a woman many may consider out of his league. With Hitch's help Albert begins to woo Allegra and a mutual attraction between the two is formed. In the meantime Hitch himself finds he's been struck by cupids arrow, falling for columnist Sara Meles, and soon we discover that Hitch is about as helpless as the men he coaches. Between the two couples hilarity ensues and the audience is never left bored or wanting.

As may well be expected events line themselves up to expose Hitch and his clientele and threaten to end both sets of blossoming relationships. All is good though and the ride is a fun and entertaining one. The chemistry between the entire cast is fantastic. James feeds Albert enough charm and tenderheartedness that the audience falls in love with him alongside Allegra and Mendes plays Sara with enough sass and smarts that we can easily understand why Hitch is so absorbed in her. Smith may be the star but with a cast this impressive he gladly shares the spotlight and the praise with his co-stars. It's fun and breezy entertainment suitable for the entire family and will go down as one of my favorite romantic comedies of late.

great date movie.......2007-05-18

This is the kind of movie you could cuddle up and watch with a 1st, 2nd or 3rd date (especially a 3rd). Will Smith has made a great comical come-back!

Almost perfect.......2007-05-11

When I first saw the trailer for "Hitch" back in 2004, I couldn't wait to see this movie, because this role seemed tailor made for Will Smith, and it definitely was. Smith as dating consultant Alex Hitchens (aka "Hitch") is very much like the real Will Smith - tall, dark, handsome, suave, outgoing and humorous. This is quite a change of pace for him since Will is such a huge star of some of Hollywood's biggest action blockbusters ("Men In Black", "Independence Day", "Bad Boys", "I, Robot", "Enemy of the State"); romantic comedy isn't something he's done but he is a natural in this role. He's a coach for men looking for serious relationships but have no clue as to how to win over the women of their dreams. He's good at what he does. He is able to parlay his skills into a very lucrative yet inconspicuous career for himself.

Enter Kevin James (TV's "King of Queens") as Albert Brennaman - a bumbling, asthmatic accountant who is everything that Hitch is not. He is secretly in love with a rich heiress/socialite, Allegra Cole (Amber Valletta, "What Lies Beneath", "Premonition"). Albert's company oversees her financial and business interests. But because Albert lacks confidence in himself, and is clumsy, overweight and shy, he thinks he has absolutely no chance in hell of getting with this woman. However, there is a quiet charm and sensitivity about Albert that you can't help but find to be appealing - like a big teddy bear that you just want to hug! He enlists the services of Hitch, who is called "The Date Doctor", and that's when the fun begins. Hitch teaches him the right things to say, the right things to do, and little by little, the formally inattainable Ms. Cole becomes closer to being attainable to Albert. I thought the scenes between Will and Kevin were hilarious, and they have great on-screen chemistry. Hope to see them paired up in something again in the future.

However, Hitch's romantic life doesn't quite flow with the same ease that his clients have. Eva Mendes ("Training Day", "Out Of Time", "Ghost Rider") plays Sara Melas, a gossip columnist who takes her job a bit too seriously and the object of his affection, but nearly everytime they go out he does something wrong, or something embarrassing happens. I like Eva Mendes as an actress, but I found her character of Sara to be obnoxious at times and other than her being attractive, I couldn't understand what Hitch saw in her. I enjoyed her scenes with Hitch when she let her guard down, but otherwise, she rubbed me the wrong way with her self-righteous and shrewish attitude.

I really enjoyed this movie up until three-quarters of the way - then the behavior of certain people started to annoy me with an incident that really wasn't that big a deal, and then blown so far out of proportion that all of the main characters ended up unhappy. For that reason, I had to dock it one star. However, "Hitch" DOES conclude with a happy ending so it wasn't all that unpredictable. It has its flaws, but it is definitely worth watching, and one of the better romantic comedies that have been released in the past few years.

Sidenote: There are some interesting extras on the DVD, such as deleted scenes, which I'm glad they didn't include in the final edit because it would have made the film too long (like what was done with the unrated version of "The 40 Year Old Virgin" DVD). In this case, less was definitely more. :-)

Cult Camp Classics 2 - Women in Peril (The Big Cube / Caged / Trog)

Average customer rating:

Crawford, Turner & Parker light up the screen in B-movie marathon
CAGED is a powerful drama with remarkable performances
Crawford fans rejoice; it's finally coming!

Cult Camp Classics 2 - Women in Peril (The Big Cube / Caged / Trog)
Starring: Joan Crawford , and Agnes Moorehead
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

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Cult Camp Classics 3 - Terrorized Travelers (Hot Rods to Hell / Skyjacked / Zero Hour!)
Cult Camp Classics 1 - Sci-Fi Thrillers (Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman 1958 / Giant Behemoth / Queen of Outer Space)
Cult Camp Classics 4 - Historical Epics (The Colossus of Rhodes / Land of the Pharaohs / The Prodigal)
Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 4 (Act of Violence / Mystery Street / Crime Wave / Decoy / Illegal / The Big Steal / They Live By Night / Side Street / Where Danger Lives / Tension)
Lucille Ball Film Collection (Dance Girl Dance / The Big Street / Du Barry Was a Lady / Critic's Choice / Mame)

ASIN: B000OHZJGY
Release Date: 2007-06-26

Amazon.com

Second in a series of four box sets, Cult Camp Classics 2: Women In Peril includes three films in which victimized female protagonists provide the viewer hours of entertainment. Watching Caged, Trog, and The Big Cube consecutively provides lots of laughs, but also makes one wonder what exactly satisfies about this archetype while ladies struggle through run-ins with drug dealers, hardened prison matrons, and a hairy cave-dwelling monster, in these cases. Each indicative of the decades in which they were made, these films reiterate how cinematic narratives have long capitalized on the viewer's hope that woman will either escape or get revenge. Caged, considered the first women's prison film, follows Marie Allen (Eleanor Parker), who is imprisoned for acquiescing to her husband's desire to rob a store. Prison cell bar shadows cast across the screen, and repeated close-ups of Allen's horrified face, make Caged a fine example of film noir. With little to laugh at, viewer sympathy mounts as Allen acclimatizes to the rough prison life, and conversely, disappointment sets in when one sees her innocence slipping away. One comes to hate the evil prison matron, Evelyn Harper (Hope Emerson), who believes in iron-thumb treatment. Caged is a rare example in its genre in which sexual exploitation is not at the core of the film. Trog and The Big Cube are less tragic, more schlocky, and fascinating as a pair due their gorgeous stars, Lana Turner and Joan Crawford, cast late in their careers. Trog is a hairy, pre-human cave dweller á la Planet of the Apes, wreaking havoc once unleashed by an anthropologist played by the ravishing Crawford. The Big Cube's greatest assets are the scenes depicting acid trips induced by Johnny (George Chakiris), a medical student who cooks LSD to dose sexy girls and enemies. Psychedelic lighting freak-outs overpower the drama regarding young hipster Lisa's (Karin Mossberg) step-mom, Adriana, (Lana Turner) who is driven mad by Johnny so he can marry Lisa for her hefty inheritance. Although none of these films will scare a female viewer, they offer three wonderful renditions of fear-based roles mastered by some of the sexiest women in Hollywood. --Trinie Dalton

Customer Reviews:

Crawford, Turner & Parker light up the screen in B-movie marathon.......2007-06-20

Warners has dug into the archives to produce this fabulous box-set containing three B-movie treasures. Starring three of the most talented women to ever grace the screen, fans of classic movies are bound to get a kick out of this.

TROG (released in 1970) has gained quite the cult following over the years, mainly because it features Joan Crawford--mommie dearest herself--in what turned out to be her final movie role. Crawford plays anthropologist Dr. Brockton, who stumbles across the missing link, a hulking ape-man creature, who goes on a killing spree. Crawford's deadly serious performance as the overwhelmed Brockton is the icing on the cake for this journey into Schlock City. There's also some fine work from serial upstager Michael Gough.

THE BIG CUBE (released in 1969) is similarly-notable for featuring Lana Turner, former M-G-M "Sweater Girl". Turner must have needed the money badly, because this strange journey into psychedelia is a heaping pile of doggy-do. She plays Adriana Roman, a retiring actress (go figure), whose conniving stepdaughter tries to have committed after drugging her with LSD. George Chakiris ("West Side Story"), Dan O'Herlihy (Turner's love interest in "Imitation of Life") and Karin Mossberg co-star, all happy to slum it in Z-grade territory.

CAGED (released in 1950) was actually a prestige production from Warner Brothers. Along the same themes as "I Want to Live!", the story concerns a young woman, Mary Allen (Eleanor Parker) who is thrown into the big dollhouse and straight into the sadistic claws of Matron Harper (Hope Emerson). Eleanor Parker (in her greatest role aside from "Detective Story") delivers an Oscar-nominated performance. Agnes Moorehead and Betty Garde are memorable here too.

With this box-set, THE BIG CUBE and CAGED are receiving their home video debuts. While I completely understand the reasons why Warners was reluctant to unleash BIG CUBE onto an unsuspecting world; CAGED deserves to be rediscovered. As for TROG, well...any film with Crawford can't be all bad.

These DVDs are also available individually, but the box-set will ultimately be the cheaper option to grab all three movies in one hit.

CAGED is a powerful drama with remarkable performances.......2007-03-27

TROG with Joan Crawford and THE BIG CUBE with Lana Tuner are truly camp classics, but CAGED is a serious and absorbing drama starring Oscar-nominated Eleanor Parker in the lead role. She delivers a complex and memorable performance as a young, pregnant prison inmate. Her Oscar competition in 1950 was staggering: Gloria Swanson for Sunset Boulevard, Bette Davis and Anne Baxter for All About Eve and the winner, Judy Holliday for Born Yesterday. Agnes Moorehead does an excellent job as a sympathetic but ineffectual prison warden, but the performance you will never forget goes to Oscar-nominated Hope Emerson, who dominates every one of her scenes as the cruel and sadistic prison matron. Lee Patrick appears as the a wealthy and influential prison inmate lusting for the Eleanor Parker character. Betty Garde, Jan Sterling, Gertrude Michael, Ellen Corby, Olive Deering and Jane Darwell are excellent in supporting roles. This is a memorable film which was shocking in it's time and still delivers a strong punch for today's audiences. I am not sure CAGED belongs in the camp category, but I am happy to have it on DVD anyway I can get it. I give CAGED 5 stars on it's own, but the other two films in this collection bring my rating down to four stars, although they rate higher with fans of cult camp flicks.

Crawford fans rejoice; it's finally coming!.......2007-03-21

Have been waiting about fifteen years now to see Joan Crawford's final film, 'Trog' and the wait is over at last. A description of the plot along with the other two included:

The Big Cube (1969):
Adriana Roman (Lana Turner), is a former actress who marries a wealthy tycoon Charles Winthrop, who dies in a boat accident off the Mexican coast. Winthrop's daughter, Lisa, whom despises Adriana, plot to drive her insane with drugs so she and her drug-addict boyfriend, Johnny, can marry and inherit all the money for themselves. When a Broadway playwright, named Frederick Lansdale, and a close friend of Adriana suspects something, he tries to rescue Adriana from the mental hospital where she gets committed and redeem Lisa before Johnny can double cross her.

Caged (1950):
Frightened 19-year-old Marie Allen (Eleanor Parker) gets sent to an Illinois penitentiary for being an accomplice in an armed robbery. A sympathetic prison head (Agnes Moorehead) tries to help, but her efforts are subverted by cruel matron Evelyn Harper (Hope Emerson). Marie's harsh experiences turn her from doe-eyed innocent to hard-nosed con.

Trog (1970):
In England, some students are mysteriously murdered. A search team is sent out to kill the creature suspected of killing the students. The creature is captured and brought to anthropologist, Br. Brockton (Miss Joan Crawford). Dr. Brockton realizes the creature is the "TROG" the missing link between man and ape. She decides to study it and educate it. Just as she was making progress, "TROG" escapes and abducts a little girl. Brockton and colleagues franticly search for Trog hoping to find it before the police do...

What a bonus that these titles will be released on the superior WHV label and at a bargain price.

Average customer rating:

Celtic Woman DVD
Bad Lip Sync
Celtic Women Music
Great, but much the same.
Celtic Woman- A Winner

Celtic Woman

Manufacturer: EMI Distribution
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Celtic Woman
Celtic Woman - A New Journey: Live at Slane Castle, Ireland
Celtic Woman: A Christmas Celebration
A New Journey
A New Journey (Deluxe Package w/bonus tracks + Irish charm)

ASIN: B0007M22TI
Release Date: 2005-03-01

Amazon.com

Gorgeous to listen to and gorgeous to look at, Celtic Woman is perfect PBS fare, sort of a Riverdance without the dancing. Drawing on the same New Age-y sound and propulsive energy as that show's solo-voice and choral numbers, the live concert features four attractive young women in strapless evening gowns with soaring voices backed by an orchestra, an Anuna-like chorus, and a large percussion section. The more traditional fare includes Méav Ni Mhaolchatha's "Danny Boy" and "She Moved Through the Fair," and Chloë Agnew's "Ave Maria" (the Bach-Gounod version). Movie and TV selections range from Agnew's "Walking in the Air" (The Snowman) and "Someday" (Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame) to Lisa Kelly's "May It Be" (the Enya song from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the King) and Órla Fallon's voice and harp rendition of "Harry's Game." A fifth woman, Máiréad Nesbitt, adds some variety by fiddling "The Butterfly" and "Ashokan Farewell" (best known as the theme from Ken Burns's The Civil War). Occasionally the singers join together, as in Enya's "Orinoco Flow," an a cappella rendition of West Side Story's "Somewhere," music director David Downes's composition "One World," and a stately version of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring." Celtic Woman was created by Downes (like many of the other performers, a Riverdance veteran) along with Sharon Browne and Dave Kavanagh of the Celtic Collections record label. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews:

Celtic Woman DVD.......2007-07-04

Excellent DVD of the 1st show by outstanding artists. Provides an interesting history of each artist and how they came together to become the premier Irish women group.

Bad Lip Sync .......2007-06-30

As many others have commented the bad lip syncing just makes it seem so...well, fake. As another reviewer commented, it was empty and soulless to me. It's like they wanted to remove the possibility of making a singing mistake and concentrate all their efforts on looking beautiful. I want to see performers singing a song not pretending to sing a song.

Celtic Women Music.......2007-06-27

This is music at its best. Of all the music I listen to I choose this CD. I cannot imagine anyone not liking this music. If I could only pick one CD to keep I would choose Celtic Women. It is the best!

Great, but much the same........2007-06-24

This example of the many "Celtic Woman" DVD's and CD's is fantastic in the purity of voice and visual presentation. Others have detailed the individual performances and the presence and beauty of the performers. I agree completely! However, I also found the total concert(?) a little flat and much too even in tempo and pitch. That is, I hoped for more variety and a more boisterous presentation. (Possibly, a tiny bit more like "Riverdance"?) Overall, it was great. But, I found it faintly boring.

Celtic Woman- A Winner.......2007-06-11

The performances by these Irish-born beauties are truly spell-binding. The songs, the voices, the setting and the costumes all take you on a magical trip to the Emerald Isle. We loved every minute of it.

Viva Pedro - Pedro Almodovar Classics Collection (Talk to Her/ Bad Education/ All about My Mother/ Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown/ Live Flesh/ Flower of My Secret / Matador / Law of Desire)

Average customer rating:

Pedro! Viva!
Great collection to have
VIVA PEDRO
You have to appreciate the improbable and ridiculous
It's about time Pedro's older (and best ) movies were available in USA format!

Viva Pedro - Pedro Almodovar Classics Collection (Talk to Her/ Bad Education/ All about My Mother/ Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown/ Live Flesh/ Flower of My Secret / Matador / Law of Desire)
Starring: Pedro Almodovar Classics Collection
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Volver
The Conformist (Extended Edition)
1900 (Special Collector's Edition)
What Have I Done to Deserve This?
Pan's Labyrinth (New Line Two-Disc Platinum Series)

ASIN: B000EAT24G
Release Date: 2007-01-30

Amazon.com

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown Pedro Almodovar broke into the art-house mainstream with this wild, manic comedy about a gaggle of women and their various problems with men, be they married lovers, cheating husbands, fiancés, or terrorists. Almodovar's long-time leading lady, Carmen Maura, stars as an actress (famed for her laundry detergent commercial as the mother of a sloppy serial killer) who's just been dumped by her married lover. In the midst of trying to track him down for a face-to-face confrontation, she crosses paths with her lover's son (Antonio Banderas), his unbalanced wife (Julieta Serrano), and his new girlfriend (Kiti Manver). Adding more fuel to the fire is the hapless friend (Maria Barranco) who got involved with a Shiite terrorist and is now being hunted by the police. Almodovar, a master of farcical screwball comedy, manages to keep all these balls in the air in dizzy, hilarious style without once losing his momentum. Chock full of the director's over-the-top stylization, in terms of both story and sets, the film is a hilarious yet heartfelt marriage of kitsch and drama, verging on parody but never going entirely over the top. Maura is absolutely breathtaking as the unhinged lover, dispensing wise advice to others while trying to keep a semblance of sanity, and the supporting cast is quintessential Almodovar, including a brief but memorable turn by Banderas in what could have been a bland, go-nowhere role. Nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 1989. --Mark Englehart

All About My Mother After her son is killed in an accident, Manuela (Cecilia Roth) leaves Madrid for her old haunts in Barcelona. She reconnects with an old friend, a pre-op transsexual prostitute named La Agrado (Antonia San Juan), who introduces her to Rosa (Penélope Cruz), a young nun who turns out to be pregnant. Meanwhile, Manuela becomes a personal assistant for Huma Rojo (Marisa Paredes), an actress currently playing Blanche DuBois in a production of A Streetcar Named Desire. All About My Mother traces the delicate web of friendship and loss that binds these women together. The movie is dedicated to the actresses of the world, so it's not surprising that all the performances are superb. Roth in particular anchors All About My Mother with compassion and generosity. But fans of writer-director Pedro Almodóvar needn't fret--as always, Almodóvar's work undermines conventional notions of sexual identity and embraces all human possibilities with bright colors and melodramatic plotting. However, All About My Mother approaches its twists and turns with a broader emotional scope than most of Almodóvar's work; even the more extravagant aspects of the story are presented quietly, to allow the sadness of life to be as present as the irrepressible vitality of the characters. Almodóvar embraces pettiness, jealousy, and grief as much as kindness, courage, and outrageousness, and the movie is the richer for it. ----Bret Fetzer

Talk to Her
Writer-director Pedro Almodóvar makes another masterpiece with Talk to Her, his first film since the wonderful All About My Mother. Marco (Dario Grandinetti) is in love with Lydia (Rosario Flores), a female bullfighter who is gored by a bull and sent into a coma. In the hospital, Marco crosses paths with Benigno (Javier Camara), a male nurse who looks after another coma patient, a young dancer named Alicia (Leonor Watling). From Benigno's gentle attentiveness to Alicia, Marco learns to take care of Lydia... but from there, the story goes in directions that deftly manage to be sad, hopeful, funny, and creepy, sometimes at the same time. The rich human empathy of Almodóvar's recent films is passionate, heartbreaking, intoxicating--there aren't enough adjectives to praise this remarkable filmmaker, who is at the height of his powers. Talk to Her is superb, with outstanding performances from all involved. --Bret Fetzer

The Flower of My Secret
Pedro Alomodóvar made this misfired, rambling comedy about a romance novelist (Marisa Paredes) whose crumbling marriage has left her depressed and unable to work. At a low point, she writes a scathing indictment of her own books (which are penned under another name), with no one realizing critic and author are one and the same. Almodóvar ( Law of Desire) has the start of a great idea here, and for once, he's direct about his sympathy for a character. But nothing else about The Flower of My Secret is so clear. Despite its unusual allegiance to the straightforward "women's films" of the 1950s, this movie blows it by becoming needlessly complicated over extraneous junk, forcing one to grope in the dark for Almodóvar's point. -- Tom Keogh

Bad Education
Writer/director Pedro Almodóvar's dark, sexy Hitchcock homage is his best work since his Oscar-winning All About My Mother, and deepened by a sun-dappled sadness. Handsome, enigmatic Ángel (Gael García Bernal) arrives at the Spanish movie offices of director Enrique Goded (Fele Martinez) and happily proclaims that he's actually Enrique's long-lost school chum Ignacio--an announcement that is both less than convincing and more than it seems. A novice actor, Ángel pitches a semi-autobiographical screenplay in which he's determined to star, a revenge-laden reflection of the doomed love he and Enrique shared as boys before a pedophile priest cruelly intervened. The script, and the lost days it recalls, carefully unfurls into a series of brooding movies-within-movies and memories-inside-memories, which allow the sensual, multiple-role-playing Bernal to give the performance of his young career--among other things, he makes a stunningly convincing drag queen--and Almodóvar the opportunity to movingly suggest that people will pay any price to ensure that their stories are told. -- Steve Wiecking

More Stills from Pedro Almodovar Classics Collection(click for larger image)

More Pedro Almodovar at Amazon.com

Songs of Almodóvar CD
Volver
The Films of Pedro Almodóvar

Customer Reviews:

Pedro! Viva!.......2007-05-14

I was familiar with the movies. They were part of a Retrospective about 6 yrs. ago at the Museum of the Moving Image. The box set is great!! The layout is fabulous. I had all the other movies except Matador. This is a must have for any Pedro fan. It is only missing High Heels, one of Pedro's best.

Great collection to have.......2007-05-13

I am a big fan of director Pedro Almodovar's films and this collection of 8 of his best movies is a must-have. These timeless movies are presented in a nice, space-saving box. I recommend it wholeheartedly to any fan of Almodovar.

VIVA PEDRO.......2007-05-12

Brilliant fimmaking, enormous vairety, lovely transfers. The material is difficult ot see. If you didn't catch these things when they were first released, you are up the creek. The theatrical reissue that was meant to promote the video release didn't last long enough for me to see but one of them. The dvds of most are out print, but I had LIVE FLESH, TALK TO HER and BAD EDUCATION on dvd and WOMEN ON THE VERGE on laser disc. But still, I had to have the set. Really terrific. got a good price at amazon Marketplace and i'm totlaly satisfied.

You have to appreciate the improbable and ridiculous.......2007-05-01

A pretty good collection, if strangely inclusive of BAD EDUCATION, a recent film, with the older batch of films, mainly of 1980s. This could be because LAW OF DESIRE's film director character is a forerunner of the film director in the later film. The problem is in reviewing the collection or the individual films. For instance, there are 3 documentaries on the filmmaker included on an extra disk. Otherwise the movies are presented w/English subtitle options but no extras, except for one of them.

Almodovar's style as a whole is for wildly improbable plots involving situations and characters that run of the mill people would never experience. American film reviewers love this, as they love French farce, and so give these films a free pass, awarding a blue ribbon. The true question is whether the same films would be as highly reviewed if the identical screenplay were presented as a solely American product.

Almodovar's film staples include (on the 8 films represented in this package): (1) Penelope Cruz going into labor (ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER; LIVE FLESH). (2) The homely guy is always slick, a real winner, at least professionally, and sometimes a film director (BAD EDUCATION; LAW OF DESIRE). (3) There's always strained theatrical moments, such as presentations of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, that take up much screen time, and often are comical without being meant to be. Ditto a usage of older films that his characters seem to be greatly influenced by. (4) The cute guy, who in real life would probably be greatly sought after as a romantic partner, is always a loser who becomes obsessed with another person or thing to the detriment of everything else (LIVE FLESH; LAW OF DESIRE; BAD EDUCATION). (5) Usage of FF nudity is primarily male. (6) Everyone in the world (or at least Spain) is personally acquainted with a transexual or transvestite.

Briefly, on the films themselves, ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER is a tear-jerker that goes to extremes and unfortunately goes on way too long. Good acting, but improbable characters and their life histories make this film an experience to endure.

BAD EDUCATION has the superlative Gael Garcia Bernal in it, and is also a blatant indictment of the Catholic Church's methods. The twists and turns in the plot make it worthwhile as well as uniformly good performances. Unusual film from this director, who usually focusses more on the women. For those squeamish of homosexual content, this film is not nearly as explicit as LAW OF DESIRE.

LAW OF DESIRE has the young Antonio Banderas seducing/seduced by a film director whom he is obsessed with. There is FF nudity from Banderas and others. Rather interesting, not quite a thriller, but an ending that brings the story-line full circle in a way. Rather a moral on how what you're looking for may be staring you in the face but you have to be prepared to take it. I found the plot weak whenever it got into the ancillary characters, as they were unnecessary to the main plot but presumably there to soften the main character of the film director.

LIVE FLESH is an unbelievable situation of a young man from prison subsequently having affairs with two police officers' (one of whom he'd shot and crippled) wives. Unfortunately this plot was wholly predictable though improbable. Too many cliches of drunken criminal cop abusing wife, etc. At times seems it was meant to be a music video, and should have been, with pop songs used as narrative.

TALK TO HER, generally considered one of the more popular Almodovar films, and a quiet, sincere character piece. I could easily have lived without the scene of the shrunken man interacting with a woman's nude body; that was outrageous for the fun of it, I guess. But from what appeared to be a would-be homosexual union between two men veered in another direction that also made the ending quite believable. It set up cliches only to knock them down.

WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN has provided me an obsession with gazpacho that has haunted me to this day. I didn't watch it again via this collection, but realized I have no memories of the film from first seeing it, except that it was fun; so that tells me nothing of the plot is essential, and I probably didn't identify with the characters.

THE FLOWER OF MY SECRET is weird, as it takes off from the scenario of ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER, which isn't a good thing. It's about a writer's crisis, this time her own self-conceit being played out on a public stage, as she is both a well known author but also writes under a pseudonyn attacking her own work. Meanwhile, her marriage is falling apart. So she's really a woman having an identity crisis, as an artist, and as a woman. Maybe it takes a person who's undergone an identity crisis to understand this one.

MATADOR can be summed as "Can two serial killers find happiness in death with each other?" Add Banderas as a sexually confused young man who appears to have occasional perfect-radar psychic abilities and a young woman who's been sexually assaulted three times and is quite casual about it, and a closeted gay detective, and a psychiatrist who wants to seduce basically anybody, and you pretty much have a would-be psychology thriller very confused about what's going on. The film has the confusion one would expect from a wholly improvisational piece, like the director was making it up as they went along in the filming. I am blinded by the idea any of these characters would even exist in real life, except for the detective, so find it amazing they'd actually be stumbling into each other's orbit. A fun movie to spend some time on, as it is an entertaining mix of psychological motivations and I guess you can breathe easy nobody like this lives on your block.

It's about time Pedro's older (and best ) movies were available in USA format!.......2007-04-24

I have been an Amoldovar fan for more than twenty years (at least). I'm glad that he's gotten more American recognition now, but his older movies are still my favorites ( and so hard to find not that I'm no longer in a big city with great art and foreign film theaters. I'm so glad this incredible collection is finally available! (Not to mention that Matador and Law of Desire are some of the best acting Banderas has ever done!)

Average customer rating:

Shallow and Frivolous
Chicago IS jazz hot!
Loved it -- Fantastic Music and Great Cinematography
Great Musical!
Bob Fosse lives on!

Chicago (Widescreen Edition)
Starring: Christine Baranski , Colm Feore , Richard Gere , Catherine Zeta-Jones , and Queen Latifah
Director: Rob Marshall
Manufacturer: Miramax Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005JLSE
Release Date: 2003-08-19

Amazon.com

Bob Fosse's sexy cynicism still shines in Chicago, a faithful movie adaptation of the choreographer-director's 1975 Broadway musical. Of course the story, all about merry murderesses and tabloid fame, is set in the Roaring '20s, but Chicago reeks of '70s disenchantment--this isn't just Fosse's material, it's his attitude, too. That's probably why the movie's breathless observations on fleeting fame and fickle public taste already seem dated. However, Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones are beautifully matched as Jazz Age vixens, and Richard Gere gleefully sheds his customary cool to belt out a showstopper. (Yes, they all do their own singing and dancing.) Whatever qualms musical purists may have about director Rob Marshall's cut-cut-cut style, the film's sheer exuberance is intoxicating. Given the scarcity of big-screen musicals in the last 25 years, that's a cause for singing, dancing, cheering. And all that jazz. --Robert Horton

Description

Winner of six Academy Awards(R) (2003) including Best Picture, and starring Academy Award nominee (Best Actress, CHICAGO) and Golden Globe winner (Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, CHICAGO) Renée Zellweger (BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY), Academy Award winner (Best Supporting Actress, CHICAGO) Catherine Zeta-Jones (TRAFFIC), Academy Award nominee (Best Supporting Actress, CHICAGO) Queen Latifah (BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE), Golden Globe winner (Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, CHICAGO) Richard Gere (UNFAITHFUL), and Academy Award nominee (Best Supporting Actor, CHICAGO) John C. Reilly (GANGS OF NEW YORK) -- CHICAGO is a dazzling spectacle cheered by audiences and critics alike! At a time when crimes of passion result in celebrity headlines, nightclub sensation Velma Kelly (Zeta-Jones) and spotlight-seeking Roxie Hart (Zellweger) both find themselves sharing space on Chicago's famed Murderess Row! They also share Billy Flynn (Gere), the town's slickest lawyer with a talent for turning notorious defendants into local legends. But in Chicago, there's only room for one legend! Also starring Lucy Liu (CHARLIE'S ANGELS).

Customer Reviews:

Shallow and Frivolous .......2007-06-28

After many years of wanting to see this film, I finally got a chance to view it. I like musicals and loved Moulin Rouge, so I thought I'd give this one a try. However, after viewing, I was a bit puzzled at all the fuss and acclaim this movie received and continues to receive.

Chicago, while visually stunning and artistically impressive (in that the actors did their own singing), is a shallow, cynical, superficial, and unsympathetic story. Most movies rely upon story and plot for their strength; not so Chicago, whose only redeeming quality is the song and dance they put on.

The main problem with the story is that there are virtually no sympathetic main characters. To take that a step further, the main characters are all frauds, and the story's message is shallow. The two somewhat redeeming characters, Roxie's husband and the woman who is hanged, are both pretty much invisible and discarded in the film. Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly are both in jail for murder, and both have hopes and dreams of making it, being a big star, and having people adore them, so they call upon a slimebag attorney, Billy Flynn, to help them out. Roxie and Velma take turns lying and deceiving each other so they can get the fame in Chicago. Roxie openly admits she cheated on her husband, is oblivious to the fact that he's spent his life savings to get her a lawyer, and uses every trick in the book (including pretending that she has an illegitimate child) to ensure that she is the center of the newspaper headlines. Velma is a conceited fame-hungry snob who bribes the prison ward and only sucks up to Roxie when she realizing she is losing the fame war. From here we have a battle over popularity, as the two think of shenanigans to steal the headlines from each other. Who will win out? Who cares.

The message basically projected in this film is that its legitimate to whatever it takes to get ahead in this world--lie, cheat, steal, commit adultery--and, in fact, it might make you a star!

Are we are suppose to root for two back-stabbing, deceitful, murderesses who walk over people just to get their claim to fame all because they can sing and dance? Or how about a double-crossing, pompous, lying, money-hungry lawyer looking for the next damsel charged with murder? No thanks. I say throw them all in jail.

Watching this film, I found it mystifying how so many people and critics could love this movie so much. Granted the story's plot has probably changed from the musical version on stage, but the movie version falls quite short of its glowing reviews. Moreover, how could this film have received six Oscars in 2002? I liken the Oscar committee of 2002 to the gullible Chicago citizens in the film, falling over and swooning at something that puts on a little song and dance. Maybe Chicago was the Academy Award's apology for Moulin Rouge not getting any Oscars the previous year.

If you want to see a musical that is vastly superior, has heart, style and substance, and better acting, see Moulin Rouge.

Chicago IS jazz hot!.......2007-06-08

One of the best musicals of all time. Rapid paced, great story line, great actors, fantastic scenery... I can't say enough about everything this musical has going for it!!! A definite for your collection.

Loved it -- Fantastic Music and Great Cinematography.......2007-05-17

This is one of my very favorite movie musicals. The songs are so great and so much fun!

My favorite part about this movie though, is the way in which it constantly cuts back and forth between simultaneous shots of what the characters are doing in the "movie" version and what they are doing in the "stage" version of the story. It is this symmetrical blending of the two arts that really appeals to me, and the cinematography is very well done.

Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere, John C. Reilly, and Queen Latifah all put on award-winning performances. I was especially impressed with Gere's and Reilly's performances. (Lucy Liu's small part was nice simply because she is so gorgeous, LOL, but she really is only a brief side character.)

This is the best and most enjoyable stage-musical-to-movie adaptation that I have yet seen, and I highly recommend it. Is it the best movie-musical ever? Probably not, I'd have to vote for The Sound Of Music, but even so, I find myself watching Chicago more often than TSOM. And Moulin Rouge is even funnier than Chicago, but I still love Chicago's songs the best.

Great Musical!.......2007-04-10

This is the musical for people who hate musicals! My kids and I all belt out the words when the songs come--each song is so unique and original. This really is an incredible film--the acting is perfect--I love the casting. Catherine Zeta Jones is so powerful, as is Renee Z. Ruchard Gere is at his best, as well, which was a cool surprise!

Bob Fosse lives on!.......2007-04-02

The dance and music and lyrics of Bob Fosse is still going strong, and it is evident through the big-screen adaptation of "Chicago". Director Rob Marshall stays faithful to Fosse's Broadway intentions, though he does change many things with the way the songs are performed (all songs are sung in reverie settings). Renee Zellweger and Richard Gere are very good when going along with their solos ("They Both Reached for the Gun" is fun and funny), but John C. Reilly, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Queen Latifah steal the show with their dazzling vocals ("Mister Cellophane", "When You're Good to Mama" and "I Can't Do It Alone" are well worth the oscar wins).

This movie is a splendid achievement, and if you don't even like musicals, then you'll probably be surprised at how much you're going to love this film.

Average customer rating:

A noble but ultimately flawed effort
A timeless classic of growth and transformation.
Thank God for sick days!
Beautiful Movie
THE MOVIE BEHIND THE MOVIE

Little Women (Collector's Edition)
Starring: Winona Ryder , Gabriel Byrne , Trini Alvarado , Samantha Mathis , and Kirsten Dunst
Director: Gillian Armstrong
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 0767851013
Release Date: 2000-04-25

Amazon.com essential video

The flaws are easily forgiven in this beautiful version of Louisa May Alcott's novel. A stirring look at life in New England during the Civil War, Little Women is a triumph for all involved. We follow one family as they split into the world, ending up with the most independent, the outspoken Jo (Winona Ryder). This time around, the dramatics and conclusions fall into place a little too well, instead of finding life's little accidents along the way. Everyone now looks a bit too cute and oh, so nice. As the matron, Marmee, Susan Sarandon kicks the film into a modern tone, creating a movie alive with a great feminine sprit. Kirsten Dunst (Interview with the Vampire) has another showy role. The young ensemble cast cannot be faulted, with Ryder beginning the movie in a role akin to light comedy and crescendoing to a triumphant end worthy of an Oscar. --Doug Thomas

Customer Reviews:

A noble but ultimately flawed effort .......2007-05-22

I was fortunate to recently have seen both the 1949 version and then this modern adaptation a short time apart. The first time I saw this version I liked it well enough; however, after seeing the 1949 version and then watching this one again, I was reminded how superior the former version is in both cast and content.

I didn't find myself identifying nearly as strongly with the characters as I did in the older films. Here we have a waif-like Winona Ryder, who portrays a delicate, frail-looking, and far-too-feminine version of Jo. Counter these distinct contrasts with June Allyson's rough and tumble, tomboyish portrayal of Jo that was much closer to the book for accuracy. (In the novel, Jo is described as 'very tall' with 'big hands and feet' and coltish in appearance). The only thing the fictional Jo has in common with Winona is brown hair.

Susan Sarandon is a great actress in her own right, but for some reason she overwhelms the role of Marmee. All I could see here was "Susan Sarandon". I think a lesser-known actress may have been more effective here. Mary Astor's performance in the older movie seemed more believable. Not that Sarandon doesn't act sincere or warm, but she seems somehow miscast anyhow.

One especially notable difference is that Margaret O'Brien's portrayal of Beth in the 1949 version is much stronger and more heart-rending than Claire Danes' modern interpretation; Danes makes Beth appear whiny or as another reviewer noted, possibly even dim-witted. This Beth wasn't a particularly sympathetic character. I never felt her character was developed enough to be interesting. Another reviewer noted that Danes has that big strapping farm girl look, which doesn't mesh with the book's image of a frail and fragile Beth. I agree. Danes' pinched, flared-nostril expressions are strange and at times downright scary.

There are some other diversions from the original text and older movies that make this version a paler shadow. There are the laughable injections of politically-correct speeches and feminist rants that other reviewers have noted, but the real travesty I thought was in completely omitting the very special relationship between the grandfatherly Mr. Laurence and Beth.

In the book this unfolds as the terribly shy Beth is coaxed over time to go over and practice her music on the grand piano in the elder Mr. Laurence's house. By way of thanks, Beth knits the lonely old gent a pair of house slippers, which he later returns a gift in kind in the form of the beautiful piano. He asks her to play it and keep alive the memory of the little granddaughter he lost. It's a heart-wrenching scene in the book and earlier films.

Yet in his version, the piano simply appears as a surprise joint Christmas gift from the whole family to Beth with no explanation, and that special relationship between Mr. Laurence and Beth is never truly acknowledged or shown. I feel this is an example of one of the sadder oversights of this version of "Little Women".

It's true there is artistry in the scenery and the costumes, but the special magic or chemistry is missing from this film. I suspect the miscasting of major roles has much to do with it, but if you can enjoy the movie without looking for authenticity to the book, it's still a fine way to while away an afternoon.

A timeless classic of growth and transformation........2007-05-21

Little Women is a timeless classic. Written by Louisa May Alcott, this novel was first published in 1868. This novel is about a New England family composed of a mother... "Marme" played by Susan Sarandon, and four daughters growing up during the American Civil War.

The author wrote about her own experiences as a child in Concord, Massachusetts, where she lived with her three sisters, Anna, May, and Elizabeth.

Their father is away fighting. Times are tough, money is scarce, and needs are many. But these women valiantly work hard at continuing their studies while trying to survive.

Louisa May Alcott wrote about young women overcoming character flaws. The March girls are: Meg, who is vain, Jo who is hot tempered and stubborn, Beth who is introverted and shy, and the youngest, Any who is selfish and vindictive.

Jo, played by Winona Ryder, is an outspoken, vivacious, playful dreamer, who wants to become a writer. A very young Kirsten Dunst plays the part of the younger daughter, so selfish and vindictive that because she does not have a ticket to go to the theatre with her sisters, she destroys a story her sister Jo was writing.

The movie is set in Vancouver, British Columbia, and the scenic beauty of this film is magnificent. During the course of the story, these girls become friends with the next door neighbor, who soon joins them in their intricate games and character reproduction of the writings of Jo.

The twists and turns of the lives of these women are simply a rare joy to watch.

Thank God for sick days!.......2007-05-05

I first saw this version of Little Women years and years ago, when I was staying home from school with the flu. My mom had bought it, and she left it out for me to watch. I fell in love with it, and have since learned the entire movie word for word.

I've never read the book, but I know that I would most likely enjoy it.

It's appropriate for absoloutely any age level, and the costumes and sets are extremely accurate to the period. I would highly reccomend this film to anyone and everyone!

So stop reading reviews and buy it! You will not regret it.

Beautiful Movie.......2007-04-21

The lovely sets and costumes make this a joy to watch. And though there are some changes from the book it sticks pretty close to Alcott's story which I admittedly was obsessed with as a child. I took one star off for Winona Ryder's performance since to me she was a bit too pretty and socially polished to be the Jo the book portrays. Still this is a great movie for family viewing or for anyone who likes nostalgic movies set in the 19th century.

THE MOVIE BEHIND THE MOVIE.......2007-04-06

I was a little anxious before the projection of Australian director Gillian Armstrong's LITTLE WOMEN. I vaguely remembered the 1949 version with Elizabeth Taylor as Amy and that was about all I could say about that classic of American literature. Two hours later, everybody was happy, my wife and my daughter had their share of emotions and Kleenex and I had at least understood why such a smart director as Gillian Armstrong who directed MY BRILLIANT CAREER and MRS. SOFFEL, two movies about strong women characters, got interested in directing LITTLE WOMEN.

In my opinion, the director wished, by describing the lives of these four sisters, to portray four historical phases of the status of the women in the western society. Claire Danes as Beth is the model of these women who, for centuries, waited that their family chose a husband for them and, often, didn't marry because they were too poor or because they had to take care of their aging parents. Meg portrays the woman who has the chance to marry the man she's in love with, a man accepted by the family even if he doesn't give to Meg the possibility to rise socially : it's the classic marriage who's gained more and more popularity from the mid XIXth century. The third phase of this allegory is portrayed by Amy, a woman who knows from the start on that she will marry a wealthy man who'll support her and, at least, we have Jo who doesn't care to marry a poor man as long as this man won't stop her doing what she wants during her life. In this perspective, LITTLE WOMEN can provide some pleasure even to those of us who don't specially like this kind of classic family movie.

A DVD zone use your head.

Average customer rating:

Parker Is Superb
Classic women's picture!
An absolute HOOT!
Beautiful, talented Eleanor Parker in peak form
Come on you tramps, line up for Christmas!

Caged!
Starring: Eleanor Parker , Hope Emerson , Agnes Moorehead , Olive Carey , and Davison Clark
Director: John Cromwell
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000OHZJG4
Release Date: 2007-06-26

Customer Reviews:

Parker Is Superb.......2007-07-04

I totally disagree with the criticism that Parker was "awful." Total nonsense. She couldn't be more vulnerable as the film starts, and her transformation is a remarkable one. In an interview, none other than Meryl Streep singled out Parker's performance as an influential one while growing up, seeing how a character can evolve so dramatically by the end of a movie. Parker deserved the nomination. The entire cast is excellent, and the direction by John Cromwell is effective and intelligent in tone.

Classic women's picture!.......2007-06-29

Eleanor Parker should have been a big star. But, others were already in the running for the good scripts at Warner. Joan Crawford wisely passed on this film. She was too old to play the part. Two ladies of TVLand are featured, Ellen Corby ("The Waltons") and Agnes Moorehead ("Bewitched").
I enjoyed this film as a kid when it had broadcasts on Washington DC's channel 5 Sunday Movie lineup in the 1970s. Glad it finally got a DVD release.

An absolute HOOT!.......2007-06-26

OMIGOD, I can't believe how many reviewers take this movie seriously! Eleanor Parker is AWFUL (as she was in just about everything) but here she "acts" with a capital "A!" Unbelievably, she got an Oscar nomination, but I guess that was pretty much par for the course back then for glamourous stars who a) played mute (Jane Wyman), b) played prostitutes (Shirley Jones) or c) shaved their heads (Parker).

Parker's tranformation from innocent good girl to hardened criminal is heavy handed, remarkably fast, totally unnuanced and hysterically funny!

Don't miss this "so bad it's good" classic!

Beautiful, talented Eleanor Parker in peak form.......2007-06-23

Ohio born Eleanor Parker was a ravishing beauty with a distinctive, beautifully modulated speaking voice who never quite reached the heights of stardom predicted for her by both critics and colleagues. Co-star Glenn Ford called her "the least heralded great actress" and Oscar winning director Robert Wise referred to Parker as "an artist of the first rank."

Placed under contract by Warner Brothers in 1942, Parker lacked the temperament to fight for the good roles that were offered first to Bette Davis, Ida Lupino and (later) Joan Crawford. Nor did she create an identifyable screen persona, preferring instead to disappear within her characters. Still, she carved out an impressive film career for herself which brought her three Academy Award nominations for Best Actress.

The best role of her Warner's career came at the very end of her studio contact in 1950. In John Cromwell's magnificent CAGED, Parker stars as Marie Allen, the innocent, pregnant young wife who's sent to prison for being an accomplice in her husband's crime. There, she's corrupted by the cruel and heartless penal system and the career criminals she's incarcerated with.

Eleanor Parker's transformation from frightened child-woman to bitter con is remarkable. Oscar winning actress Meryl Streep has written of her admiration of Parker's performance. "CAGED was one of the first films I ever saw," Streep wrote, "where I understood the transformation of character that is possible for an actress in a film." At the end of CAGED, when we see the hardened, embittered Marie emerge from prison, it's hard to beleive it's the same actress who was so frightened and innocent at the film's start.

Eleanor Parker received the first of her three Best Actress Oscar nominations for her stunning performance, and won the Venice Film Festival's Best Actress prize. And she's surrounded by a cast of equally fine actresses who are all at their best.

Hope Emerson, who may be best remembered now as the circus strong woman in ADAM'S RIB (1949), also received an Oscar nomination as the cruel, Amazonian prison matron, and Agnes Moorehead is equally fine as the kind, frustrated prison warden.

The marvelous Jan Sterling as Smoochie, the CP (common prostitue), has some of the films best lines which she delivers in great wise-cracking tradition. She is the film's comic relief, and provides some welcomed levity to the otherwise grim circumstances.

Warner's long-time character actress Lee Patrick also has some fine moments, as do Ellen Corby, Betty Garde, Olive Deering, Jane Darwell and Gertrude Michael.

But it's Parker's exceptional performance, and the fine direction of the under-rated John Cromwell, that make CAGED one of the best Warner Brother films of the decade.

Come on you tramps, line up for Christmas!.......2007-06-22

That's just one of the great lines from this fantastic women's prison film made in 1950 that amazingly has never been previously released. Eleanor Parker, giving the performance of her career, stars as Marie Allen, a timid and innocent 19-year old who is sent to prison after being charged as an accomplice in a minor robbery. The brutality of prison life will change her life forever. This is a stark film, both in content and style, with taut dialog and astute observations about harsh prison conditions, corrupt government officials and the emotional turmoil of people put in such situations. In addition to Parker, every performance is a stand-out. Hope Emerson is unforgettable as the evil prison matron, Betty Garde as an inmate who befriends and tries to protect Marie and Lee Patrick as Elvira Powell, an inmate with powerful outside connections all will leave an indelible memory for viewers. Even the bit parts are memorable - the wonderful Gertrude Hoffman, as older inmate Millie who sadly says, "I'm a tall weed in the grass and the grapevines bloomin', what I'd give for a sinkful of dirty dishes."

I've seen this film numerous times and every time I watch it I catch a line that I missed before. It is a film that holds up and a film that you won't soon forget.

So Proudly We Hail (Universal Cinema Classics)

Average customer rating:

True Classic
An Important View of War in the Philippines
Lake bombing japs
Tragic chapter of World War II with the angels of mercy.
Army Nurses in WW2

So Proudly We Hail (Universal Cinema Classics)
Starring: Claudette Colbert , Veronica Lake , and Paulette Goddard
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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Purple Heart

ASIN: B000N3T0FU
Release Date: 2007-05-22

Customer Reviews:

True Classic.......2007-07-04

This is a great classic war movie made shortly after the actual events in the movie happened. I remember when I was a little girl watching this on our local TV station's Late Show Movie in the 1950s with my mom and dad (a WWII vet). It was one of their favorites. Am so pleased to be able to watch it again. It is a good story based on the accounts of nurses returning from Bataan at the start of World War II. The dialogue contains the emotions of that period, but that merely helps to take the viewer back in time to experience the mood of our country. I loved this movie as a child and still do as an adult.

An Important View of War in the Philippines.......2007-07-03

This has been a favorite of mine since I saw it on TCM. It is one of the few VHS tapes I bought after starting my DVD collection. I am so glad it is on DVD now.

World War II in the Philippines offers an array of stories to be told and retold and this one is a welcome addition to the list (Bataan, Back to Bataan, They Were Expendable, Air Force, The Great Raid.) Having visited Manila, Bataan and Corregidor in the Philippines and having many Filipino friends my interest in these stories is admittedly personal, but this film transcends my preferences as a rare glimps at war through the eyes of women--American nurses.

The retreat to Bataan, the fall of Manila and the horrors of Corregidor are well represented in the story lines and with excellent special effects (in the context of the early 1940's.) Issues of humanity in the face of inhuman conduct are touched on effectively as one nurse learns that hatred of the enemy is not a necessary part of the job they have to do.

I say buy this one and put it on the shelf with the others I mentioned for an important view of the war in the most far-flung part of the world where our flag flew, fell and flew again.

Lake bombing japs.......2007-06-27

Lake as a kamikaze - To save the lives of a bunch of nurses, Veronica sacrifices herself. First she lets her hair down, then shakes her head and finally explodes herself killing all the japs around. Profoundly incorrect by today standards (but who really cares?), nevertheless highly enjoyable. Claudette and Paulette at their best too.

High time for the Claudette Colbert Collection (Midnight! Bluebeard's Eighth Wife! Arise My Love ! Sleep My Love ! The Smiling Lieutenant ! Torch Singer ! No Time for Love! and many others........Universal do something

Tragic chapter of World War II with the angels of mercy........2007-06-16

This is the finest film telling of our Navy nurses' great sacrifices in the South Pacific, specifically Bataan and Corregidor. Paramount gave us a perfect cast for what could have been just another propaganda film. (Though calling a film that was anti-Japanese a "propaganda film" makes no sense whatever.) Claudette Colbert, as always, leads the cast, with wonderful support from Paulette Goddard and Veronica Lake. You have never seen Paulette more charming, and the surprise of this film is using George Reeves as Claudette's love interest. Guess what? He's excellent!
How did his career get so sidetracked? You will find this film exciting, suspenseful and heartbreaking. Bring a hankie.

Army Nurses in WW2.......2007-02-18

This is a movie made during WW2 (1943) as a boost to morale to the folks back home. It is the story of a group of Army Nurses in the Philippines and Corregidor who care for the wounded men from Bataan. Lots of interplay between the nurses and the wounded. Shows the stress these brave women were under during this time. Very good performances from Claudette Colbert, Veronica Lake, and Paulette Goddard. George Reeves (Superman) shows off his acting talents. Overall a very good film.

Average customer rating:

Bound
The heat from this movie is sizzling!!!!
Bound ( A movie you bound to have ).
Mob Movie with a Twist
Female Mob Movie

Bound
Starring: Jennifer Tilly , Gina Gershon , Joe Pantoliano , John P. Ryan , and Christopher Meloni
Director: Larry Wachowski , and Andy Wachowski
Manufacturer: Republic Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005NTN5
Release Date: 2001-08-14

Amazon.com essential video

Destined for cult status, this provocative thriller offers a grab bag of genres (gangster movie, comedy, sexy romance, crime caper) and tops it all off with steamy passion between lesbian ex-con Corky (Gina Gershon) and a not-so-ditzy gun moll named Violet (Jennifer Tilly), who meets Corky and immediately tires of her mobster boyfriend (Joe Pantoliano). Desperate to break away from the Mob's influence and live happily ever after, the daring dames hatch a plot to steal $2 million of Mafia money. Their scheme runs into a series of escalating complications, until their very survival depends on split-second timing and criminal ingenuity. Simultaneously violent, funny, and suspenseful, Bound is sure to test your tolerance for bloodshed, but the film is crafted with such undeniable skill that several critics (including Roger Ebert) placed it on their top-ten lists for 1996. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Bound.......2007-05-25

A great suspense movie with a lesbian main characters. This is not often seen in the many of the lesbian films. The roles are well portrayed by the actors and a great lesbian sex scene.

The heat from this movie is sizzling!!!!.......2007-03-24

Before the Wachowski Brothers did The Matrix, there was the erotic thriller, Bound, starring Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon, Joe Pantoliano, John P. Ryan, and Christopher Meloni. This was a low budget movie (four-and-a-half million dollars) that was to be the calling card for Andy and Larry Wachowski so that they could eventually do The Matrix series. They both wrote and directed Bound, demonstrating their unbelievable talent in making a film that would quickly become a cult classic in just a few short years. The script was sharp and fresh with more twists in it than a pretzel. They were able to get the two sexiest women in Hollywood at the time (Tilly and Gershon) to play the leads with Joe Pantoliano agreeing to take a cut in salary for his role as Caesar. They got a great Production Designer, Editor and Director of Photography to make Bound's appearance to be more film noir in essence with its dark tones and shadows and sparse cutting. The rest as they say is history.

Bound deals with Corky (played by Gershon), who just got out of prison after having served five years for what she calls a distribution of funds, or stealing. She was betrayed by her female partner and therefore has a severe lack of trust in those around her. She takes a job as a maintenance repair guy in a Chicago condo building and soon meets the vibrant and sexy Violet (played to the hilt by Tilly), who's the girlfriend of Caesar, a money launderer for the Mob. The couple live in the condo right next to the one that Corky is doing repairs in. The attraction between Corky and Violet is immediate, and it isn't long before Violet sexually seduces her. Corky knows trouble when she sees it, but that doesn't stop her from giving in to Violet's manipulations.