Magnolia (New Line Platinum Series)

Starring:Tom Cruise, William H. Macy
Studio: New Line Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
A handful of people in the San Fernando Valley are having one hell of a day. TV mogul Earl Partridge (Jason Robards) is on his deathbed; his trophy wife (Julianne Moore) is popping pills with alarming frequency. Earl's nurse (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is trying desperately to get in touch with Earl's only son, sex guru Frank T.J. Mackey (Tom Cruise), who's about to have his carefully constructed past blown by a TV reporter (April Grace). Whiz kid Stanley (Jeremy Blackman) is being goaded by his selfish dad into breaking the record for the game show What Do Kids Know? Meanwhile, Stanley's predecessor, the grown-up quiz kid Donnie Smith (William H. Macy) has lost his job and is nursing a severe case of unrequited love. And the host of What Do Kids Know?, the affable Jimmy Gator (Philip Baker Hall), like Earl, is dying of cancer, and his attempt to reconcile with his cokehead daughter (Melora Walters) fails miserably. She, meanwhile, is running hot and cold with a cop (John C. Reilly) who would love to date her, if she can sit still for long enough. And over it all, a foreboding sky threatens to pour something more than just rain.

This third feature from Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights) is a maddening, magnificent piece of filmmaking, and it's an ensemble film to rank with the best of Robert Altman--every little piece of the film means something, and it's solidly there for a reason. Deftly juggling a breathtaking ensemble of actors, Anderson crafts a tale of neglectful parents, resentful children, and love-starved souls that's amazing in scope, both thematically and emotionally. Part of the charge of Magnolia is seeing exactly how may characters Anderson can juggle, and can he keep all those balls in air (indeed he can, even if it means throwing frogs into the mix). And it's been far too long since we've seen a filmmaker whose love of making movies is so purely joyful, and this electric energy is reflected in the actors, from Cruise's revelatory performance to Reilly's quietly powerful turn as the moral center of the story. While at three hours it's definitely not suited to everyone's taste, Magnolia is a compelling, heartbreaking, ultimately hopeful mediation on the accidents of chance that make up our lives. Featuring eight wonderful songs by Aimee Mann, including "Save Me." --Mark Englehart
Description
An intriguing and entertaining study in characters going through varying levels of crisis and introspection. This psychological drama leads you in several different directions, weaving and intersecting various subplots and characters, from a brilliant Tom Cruise, as a self-proclaimed pied-piper, to a child forced to go on a TV game show and the pressures he faces from a ruthless father.

The World's Fastest Indian
Average customer rating:

Maybe a good story

Great, uplifting movie

Great movie

Not a motorcycle movie

Worlds Fastest Indian

The World's Fastest Indian
Starring: Anthony Hopkins , Iain Rea , Tessa Mitchell , Aaron Murphy (II) , and Tim Shadbolt
Director: Roger Donaldson
Manufacturer: Magnolia
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Hopkins, Anthony | ( H ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
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Similar Items:

Syriana (Widescreen Edition)

The Illusionist (Widescreen Edition)

The Matador (Widescreen Edition)

Flags of Our Fathers (Widescreen Edition)

The Departed (Two-Disc Special Edition)

ASIN: B000F8DBDK
Release Date: 2006-06-13

Amazon.com

A movie that exudes affection and goodwill, The World's Fastest Indian is an unabashed mash note to a lovely character from New Zealand's recent past. Burt Munro, played by Anthony Hopkins, is a cantankerous Kiwi with an obsession: he's been tinkering with his 1920s-era Indian brand motorcycle for years, pushing it to ever-faster speeds. It's the 1960s, and Burt has the utterly mad idea of taking the bike to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, site of world records for speed racing. The movie takes a while to get to the journey--and then the journey takes a while--but the genial atmosphere prevails. (People of a certain age, for whom the word "Bonneville" evokes pleasant associations with hotrods and world-speed records, will not be disappointed in the film's location shooting, or its sense of awe.) Hopkins is not quite on-the-money casting for the jovial, happy-go-lucky Munro, and his accent wavers, but he nails the emotional scenes and the fascination with speed. Smaller bits are well-filled by Diane Ladd and Christopher Lawford (son of Peter), who looks uncannily of the era. New Zealand director Roger Donaldson doesn't take any chances here, but the story clearly means something to him, and that sense of commitment carries the film through its sleepier moments. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

Maybe a good story.......2007-06-28

But, I'll never know. I quit watching it after all the immoral inuendos. I can't see what is redeeming in this movie except trying to make what is probably a good story and fill it with such questionable and flippant behavior. Way to ruin what is probably a good story.

Great, uplifting movie.......2007-06-12

This is a thoroughly enjoyable movie. Anthony Hopkins is terrific. I highly recommend this film.

Great movie.......2007-06-12

Totally reminded me of my father-in-law. Great gift for all eccentric inventors or speed enthusiasts! Anthony Hopkins is extremely colorful and entertaining in this film.

Not a motorcycle movie.......2007-06-11

I'm an avid rider, but when I saw that Anthony Hopkins had the part of Burt Munro, it was clear this would not be just another motorcycle movie. It's an inspiring journey of faith, hope, courage, talent and perseverance. The motorcycle is only part of the story, albeit a prominent part. This wonderful epic of a wonderful man is filled with inspiration, joy and humor, and will find a place on my list of all-time favorites.

Worlds Fastest Indian.......2007-06-11

Great movie! This was another fantastic job by Anthony Hopkins. Great Family movie!

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

In Debt We Trust
Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders
Breach (Widescreen Edition)
Jesus Camp
Fast Food Nation

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:

Well done all around
Wickedly Entertaining, Shocking
Long, Repetitive and Biased
Works on computer only
Excellent

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Starring: Peter Coyote , Reverend James Nutter , Bill Clinton , Lou L. Pai , and Colin Whitehead
Director: Alex Gibney
Manufacturer: Magnolia
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

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

The Corporation
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
Good Night, and Good Luck (Widescreen Edition)
Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron
Why We Fight

ASIN: B000C3L2IO
Release Date: 2006-01-17

Product Description

Based on the best-selling book of the same name by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, a multidimensional study of one of the biggest business scandals in American history. The chronicle takes a look at one of the greatest corporate disasters in history, in which top executives from the 7th largest company in this country walked away with over one billion dollars, leaving investors and employees with nothing. The film features insider accounts and rare corporate audio and video tapes that reveal colossal personal excesses of the Enron hierarchy and the utter moral vacuum that posed as corporate philosophy. The human drama that unfolds within Enron's walls resembles a Greek tragedy and produces a domino effect that could shape the face of our economy and ethical code for years to come.

DVD Features:

Available Audio Tracks: English (Unknown Format)
Commentary by: writer-director Alex Gibney (Unknown Format)
Deleted scenes
"The Making of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" featuring research footage and exclusive interviews with writer-director Alex Gibney and investigative journalist Bethany McLean
Enron company skits
Enron commercial
Where are they now?: updates on the executives, traders, and whistleblowers
A gallery of Enron cartoons
The original Fortune magazine articles

System Requirements:

Running Time 110 Mins.

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

One of the greatest scandals in American corporate history is chronicled in the riveting documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Based on the bestselling book by Fortune magazine reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkin, and directed by Alex Gibney (who also produced The Trials of Henry Kissinger), the film is an epic morality tale, drawing upon a wealth of insider interviews and archival material to show how Enron, once the nation's seventh largest corporate entity, essentially faked its bookkeeping to report profits that never existed. The corrupt and closely-guarded mismanagement by Enron executives (including Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, later placed on criminal trial) is revealed through such heinous concepts as "Hypothetical Future Value" (a way of reaping fortunes based on false profit projections) and the use of offshore "shell" companies to hide the massive losses that eventually toppled the company (along with the venerable Arthur Anderson accounting firm) and left 20,000 employees jobless. As a maddening portrait of hubris and white-collar crime, Enron transcends political and corporate boundaries by showing how smart and powerful men grew blinded by greed and brought ruin upon themselves, along with thousands of otherwise innocent victims. For better and worse, it's a perfect double-feature with eye-opening 2004 documentary The Corporation. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Well done all around.......2007-06-20

Well made and interesting documentary, that tells the whole story of Enron from start to finish. Amazing how much free reign businesses have these days, and how greed & corruption can flourish.

Wickedly Entertaining, Shocking.......2007-06-20

This documentary on the collapse of "energy giant" Enron plays out like a gripping crime thriller. Fraud abounds and lies pile upon lies until a business that took decades to build comes crumbling down in a matter of weeks.

Writer/Director Alex Gibney provides a model of documentary filmmaking in this taught story of corporate greed. Using news footage and trial coverage, Gibney avoids the "talking heads" trap that hobbles most documentaries. There are talking heads in this film, the most prominent of which is Fortune senior editor Bethany McLean. As co-author of the book on which the movie is based, McClean offers fascinating analysis on the financial industry and the corporate stupidity that led to Enron's downfall.

But it's the film and sound footage that make this movie a must-see. To hear a flustered Jeffrey Skilling stumble through a non-explaination of Enron's finances and finally call his questioner an "a**hole" is hilarious; sound clips of Enron traders laughing gleefully while engineering California's rolling blackouts are nothing short of chilling.

We've been hearing about Enron now for six years, now. I never understood what exactly Enron did before seeing this film. Now I don't feel so ignorant, as this documentary makes clear that at times Enron didn't know what Enron did. One Enron trader puts it best in saying, "I had a lot of questions about what was going on, but I didn't ask them because I didn't want to know the answers."

Watch this movie and stay for the bonus material. As the Enron convictions continue to roll in half a decade after the fact, "The Smartest Guys in the Room" gives profound insight into the corruption and incompetence leading to the scandal.

Long, Repetitive and Biased.......2007-06-10

The content of this documentary (?) could easily fit in a 30-minute piece. There is an attempt to sensationalize things. For instance, they make a big fuss about the trips made by top execs to Baja, making a tenuous connection to the risk-taking culture at Enron. There is practically nothing of substance. For instance, one would like to know more details about the actual shady dealings that Enron went through, rather than a depiction of trading room banter. Very shallow.

Works on computer only.......2007-05-29

Watch out, this one only runs on a computer & that wasn't made obvious in the description. That's what WMVHD means. If you want the DVD which plays on a regular DVD player, buy the 1-disc set which is actually a valuable one to have. It's a very good story, very enlightening & informative.

Excellent.......2007-05-28

Just can't stop watching this movie again and again. I'll recommend it to anyone.

Average customer rating:

The best drug story told....
Great In All Aspects
scarface aint got nothin on griselda blanco
Unbelievable story into the dark side of paradise
Great Movie!

Cocaine Cowboys
Starring: Kelly Hughes
Director: Billy Corben
Manufacturer: Magnolia
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Biography | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

Documentary | Musicals & Performing Arts | Genres | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Shottas
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Jesus Camp
Miami Vice (Unrated Director's Cut)
Babel

ASIN: B000KLQUUS
Release Date: 2007-01-23

Amazon.com

More of a real-life exploitation film than a bonafide documentary, Cocaine Cowboys is tailor-made for anyone who worships Brian De Palma's Scarface. It's no surprise that this slick, energetic film found a niche audience among crime-obsessed hip-hoppers; from a journalistic perspective it's an irresponsible mess, but director Billy Corben is obviously more interested in capturing the thrills and danger of the drug trade that transformed Miami, Florida during the Miami Vice era of the late 1970s and '80s. Corben has no particular interest in seriously examining the sociopolitical implications of Miami's drug-fueled rise and fall, so Cocaine Cowboys lives up to its title by focusing on some of the most colorful, daring, and outrageously successful survivors of that era, when tons of cocaine were distributed through Miami by the kingpins of Colombia's notorious Medellin cartel. Chief among the many interviewees are Jon Roberts and Mickey Munday (who personally transported over $2 billion worth of cocaine into Miami) and Jorge "Rivi" Ayala, a convicted drug-trade assassin now serving consecutive life terms in prison. They're lively storytellers who are egotistically eager to share their coke-tales, and Corben's only too happy to capture their exploits on film, up to and including the dubious use of violent reenactments that could easily serve as a recruitment film for Tony Montana wannabes.

It's simultaneously disgusting and compelling, especially since Corben has a knack for matching swift editing to the pulsing score by TV's original Miami Vice composer Jan Hammer. In the final analysis, it must be said that Cocaine Cowboys succeeds as a brash and breathtaking record of a bygone era, when murder rates were at an all-time high, coke was everywhere, and Miami was financially transformed into a nightlife mecca where criminals were kings. Or queens, as in the case of Griselda Blanco, the ruthless and self-appointed "Godmother" of the cocaine trade, who was responsible for countless murders and as of 2007 remained at large, her whereabouts unknown. All of this deadly life in the fast lane makes for a fascinating movie, but Corben and coproducer David Cypkin's breathless commentary makes it clear that they're young, immature thrill-seekers, and their film makes no apologies for glorifying the drug trade while exploring its bloody and frequently fatal consequences. Their commentary also accompanies an abundance of deleted scenes, and there's also a bonus featurette, "Hustlin' with the Godmother," in which Griselda Blanco's former lover and big-time coke dealer Charles Cosby tells his story, which clearly has all the makings of a Hollywood movie along the lines of Blow. You can bet that film will eventually be made, and don't be surprised if it's Corben who makes it. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

The best drug story told...........2007-06-30

This documentary was so good, and so well told. It had me at the end of my seat in awe and shocked. One of the best drug told documentries ever...if you haven't seen it yet, please do. Miami was getting money fo' real.

Great In All Aspects.......2007-06-27

As a Miami resident, I found the film to be intriguing and very informative. Having grown up in South Florida, the film was 100% accurate and the way it was presented kept you glued to the TV. I do hope that the great city of Miami never repeats the past.

scarface aint got nothin on griselda blanco.......2007-06-13

watch this movie than watch scarface...its a trip

Unbelievable story into the dark side of paradise.......2007-06-05

This story is quite an eye opener to see placed together in one spot. I remember watching bits and pieces on the news over time when I was a kid about Pablo Eschibar and the Medien Drug Cartel, but to actually see all of the information in one place is quite impressive. This story is not only the story of the growth of the cocaine industry, but how the quite little vacation spot of Miami grew into a giant global competator of market cities. The interview detail was quite informative, and does capture the gruesomness of the violence that occured. Definately worth checking out if you like gritty documentaries.

Great Movie!.......2007-05-22

This movie was just what I expected it to be, GREAT! I love watching movies about the cocaine era. The narrator of the movie is good and the people telling the stories are ex drug trafficers. I would definetly recommend this movie to anyone who likes true stories about drugs. My husband is Colombian and he loved this movie! LOL I wonder why! Great movie! Buy it!

Average customer rating:

Mind control
Pity the children
Religious child abuse to the extreme
Teaching Compassion
"A" for Entertainment Value, "F" for Objectivity

Jesus Camp
Starring: Mike Papantonio , Ted Haggard , and Becky Fischer
Director: Rachel Grady , and Heidi Ewing
Manufacturer: Magnolia
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( J ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

An Inconvenient Truth
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Babel
Deliver Us from Evil
Half Nelson

ASIN: B000KLQUV2
Release Date: 2007-01-23

Amazon.com

The feverish spectacle of a summer camp for evangelical Christian kids is the focus of Jesus Camp, a fascinating if sometimes alarming documentary. (Shortly after its release, the movie gained a new notoriety when Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, who appears near the end of the film, resigned his post amid a male prostitute's allegations of drug use and sexual misconduct.) For most of the film, we follow a charismatic teacher, Becky Fischer, as she trains young soldiers in "God's Army" at a camp in North Dakota. Some of the kids emerge as likable and bright, and eager to continue their work as pint-sized preachers; elsewhere, the visions of children speaking in tongues and falling to the floor in ecstasy are more troubling. Even more arresting is the vision of a generation of children home-schooled to believe that the Bible is science, or Fischer's certainty that America's flawed system of democracy will someday be replaced by a theocracy. (In one scene, a cardboard cut-out of George W. Bush is presented to the children, who react by laying their hands on the figure as though in a religious procession.) Filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady maintain neutrality about all this, maybe too much so (they throw in some interviews with radio host Mike Papantonio to provide a liberal-Christian viewpoint) and one would like to know more about the grown-ups presented here. Power broker Haggard is the creepiest person in the film, an insincere smooth talker whose advice to one of the young would-be campgoers comes across as entirely cynical. Time will tell whether the film's Christian soldiers will be marching onward. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

Mind control.......2007-07-02

This movie is a must-see for every American.
I believe also that we who are not involved in "church" are going to be crushed between the millstones of the Holy Warriors that the Jesus Camp is producing and the Holy Warriors that the Taliban are producing.
Sadly,on opposite sides of the world,hate-filled adults are getting away with abusive brainwashing of pre-pre and pre-pubescent children who have no way to judge for themselves whether or not they accept what is being dictated to them."ABUSE" is the only way to describe what goes on in this camp. Not only is Haggerdy a creep,but there is some pervert-biker type with a voice that has filtered out lots of whiskey,meth, tobacco and pot,no doubt, who looks and scares these kids like The Devil himself who is leading the moppets on a pro-life demo on the steps of the US capitol.This film alternatively scary and funny.
The cut-out image of the dummy George Bush that was brought on stage for the children to fawn over produced alternative feelings of revulsion and hilarity in me. I almost saw this in a theater in Portland,OR and I wish I had,because that scene most assuredly would've brought down the house.
What is really bad,though,is the fact that these manaics have a good chance of by stealth,taking over even more than they have already.
God protect us from your followers!!!
I thank Jesus I don't live in Missouri.

Pity the children.......2007-06-25

Jesus Camp is a riveting but bleak film.

Most eight year olds are not aware of, nor concerned with, government, politics, ideology or theology. That's not to say they're incapable of giving such issues their interest, nor that their development is likely to be impaired by encountering and thinking about them. As this film so clearly demonstrates, it's how you teach that makes the difference.

Jesus Camp has an obvious point of view that isn't sympathetic to the Evangelicals it portrays. Perhaps when the filmmakers began this project they didn't have any particular bias towards apocalyptic Biblical literalists. I don't really know, but I can image how neutrality could be easily subverted after meeting some of the people in this film and observing their lives and their "teaching" methods. It's difficult to feel any sympathy for people of any faith who as a result of ideological motivation see people as things, pawns in a supernatural game, rather than as individuals to be cared for and loved. It's even more difficult to deal with the enmity that arises on seeing parents and "teachers" using intense emotional appeals and peer pressure as methods of ideological indoctrination, creating in the minds of a children a world of "us" and "them," the kind of world that doesn't normally exist for children until after puberty.

Watch this film and despair the generation of lost children produced by this 21st century generation of know-nothing parents. I hope the filmmakers do a follow up in 10 or 20 years so that we can all see what becomes of these experiments in Evangelical indoctrination.

Religious child abuse to the extreme.......2007-06-24

It was traumatic watching this documentary. I wished it wasn't fact, but sadly it is. There's no doubt that it's interesting and well made. But despite how sick the "camp counslers" are shown to be, there won't even be a ripple, because they emotionally abuse these poor children in the name of religion. And mark my word. This is sick extreme child abuse. I kept waiting for child protective services to pull up and rescue the kids from the control freak Christian adults, who can't stand it that 100 percent of the rest of the world doesn't think like them, so they prey on children, poisoning their unformed minds. If I believed in an abusive egomaniacal God, who expects complete submission or else, I would want millions and millions of other people to believe in the same God so I could justify my dsyfunctional relationship with him. I think the words of the great author Christopher Hitchens says it all: "Those who lie to the young in this way are wicked to the extreme". These selfish Christian liars take the cake.

Teaching Compassion.......2007-06-17

Sitting through this movie is appropriately uncomfortable and hard to watch. While it has been criticized as a highly prejudicial view of evangelical children's programs, it has actually created sympathy and empathy in our family.

Before this movie, my children had difficulty having anything but contempt for the christo-bullies in their school. (When Evangelicals decided to reincorporate their faith into public schools they forgot to instruct their children to be kind, gentle or even mannerly. Consequently, the biggest snobbiest, nastiest bullies in my children's schools are the "good" Christians who use their faith to belittle their fellow students.)

This movie helped my children to see those bullies as victims of emotional blackmail. My kids are far more understanding now that they have witnessed the highly emotional services in which children are manipulated into making commitments far beyond their emotional maturity and their intellectual reasoning skills.

My kids came away from the movie less angry and more compassionate.

"A" for Entertainment Value, "F" for Objectivity.......2007-06-16

As an evangelical Christian whose own church and camp experiences couldn't be farther removed from those portrayed in this film, I would caution anyone who might be inclined to consider it an accurate snapshot of evangelical culture. It is absolutely not. The families and ministries featured are of a decidedly peculiar kind, prone to an almost primitive emotional frenzy and superstition, and their tactics with children and even their beliefs would come under heavy criticism from most of the mainstream evangelical community.

I was dismayed that the filmmakers purposely allowed the possibility to linger that the most colorful and warlike figurative language used by camp leaders in the film ("lay down your life for Jesus", etc.) had potentially violent or dangerous connotations. No effort was made to give the proper context of what was said, yet included in the bonus material was a scene in which Becky Fischer (a central subject in the film) says plainly that as Christians they categorically denounce violence as a tactic, and that their "weapons" are prayer and votes. I can only conclude that this balancing and sane bit of information didn't make the final cut because it diffused the anticipated sense of apprehension on the part of uninitiated viewers.

Add to that the cheap contrivance of having a radio talk show host provide inline running commentary, just in case the audience hasn't independently managed to arrive at the conclusion that a wave of right-wing religious crazies are on the verge of imposing a theocracy on unsuspecting secularists everywhere.

While I was disturbed by some of what I saw, the bottom line is this: we live in a free country. Churches are allowed to be big and influential. Just because you disagree with someone doesn't mean that they are "up to no good" when they practice their beliefs as they see fit and vote as they please. Nor do they have to answer to anyone for passing those beliefs on to their kids. Anyone who doesn't know an irreligious family who demands compliance from their children to their own naturalistically apocalyptic, left-wing doctrines doesn't get out much.

Bikini Destination - Triple Fantasy [Blu-ray]

Average customer rating:

Awesome HD quality!
Neat HD experience
Nice swim suit, oh it fell off again!?

Bikini Destination - Triple Fantasy [Blu-ray]

Manufacturer: Magnolia
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: Blu-ray

General | Blu-ray | Formats | DVD | Video

Drama | Blu-ray | Formats | DVD | Video

Television | Blu-ray | Formats | DVD | Video

Special Interests | Blu-ray | Formats | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000GFRIH2
Release Date: 2006-09-25

Customer Reviews:

Awesome HD quality!.......2007-04-15

This blu-ray video of Bikini Destination definitely reveals the full 1080i (not 1080p) resolution. I am awed on the quality and detail that this item delivered. If you like seeing naked models in full high definition, this is a must for you.

Neat HD experience.......2007-04-05

First off, I have to complain about the packaging of this Blu-Ray DVD; there are 3 security stickers, one on each opening edge of the DVD case. I struggled trying to get these off and it took literally about 10 minutes because they came off in pieces. There is excessive. I've purchased other Blu-Ray and HD-DVD (as well as standard DVD) titles that only had one security sticker on there, which is enough.

In terms of the content of this DVD, they could have done a bit better. I've read some reviews complaining about the caliber of the models. I don't really have a complaint here-the models on this program and plenty sexy and beautiful to me, even though they are not necessarily 'super model' material. They all seem fun and nice-I'd certainly welcome getting to know any of them.

I'm a pro photographer and was a little disappointed with the lighting in most of the scenes. They shot in bright afternoon daylight and this lighting is really not ideal to showcase models or scenery. There's a good reason why Sports Illustrated swimsuit photo shoots are all done in either the very early morning sunrise or at dusk, but never any time in between. This lack of good luscious rich lighting yields a slightly amateurish feel to this DVD, although they did the best with what they had I suppose.

The picture quality is excellent and will really showcase your HDTV setup well. That said, it can also expose any flaws in the model's complexion. To me this is a good thing because it's more real-I would certainly not choose to have it be more blurry or anything.

For anyone wondering, the models are completely nude. This is not just another Bikini Destination video where the models are in bikinis so watch out.

Nice swim suit, oh it fell off again!?.......2007-04-05

So the girls are pretty hot that are "modeling" the swim suits but in HD you definitely see every little flaw the girls have (every wonder if models have any flaws in their skin you don't get to see on regular tv?). The swim suits appear to be very loose too and come off in almost every shoot. I got this because it was in HD and wanted to see how it stacked up against some of the similiar shows I get in HD off the satellite. If you are considering getting this just know that it true to its word being not rated as it probably would be rated NC-17!

Average customer rating:

Creature Feature From The Far East
Overrated movie
Wonderfully original monster flick.

The Host (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Manufacturer: Magnolia Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B000PKG8TW
Release Date: 2007-07-24

Customer Reviews:

Creature Feature From The Far East.......2007-06-03

Despite having one of the best looking movie monsters ever found outside of Hollywood and having a strong political message there is something missing in "The Host" that prevents it from being wholly worthwhile. It was a box office smash in its home country of South Korea and is doing great business here in the states in its limited release so it has obviously struck something of a chord. The cynic in me says that it has everything to do with its close proximity, style wise, to Hollywood. It looks and acts like a run of the mill "War of the Worlds" wannabe. So now Koreans can see a special effects bonanza made specifically for them and the art house snobs here can sneak away to their independent cinemas and enjoy a guilt free B movie. Not that this is a bad movie, don't misunderstand me. There is a ton to love here. It is just that the truly awesome scenes that live within this picture are scattered widely throughout the two hours, and the downtime between them really sucks the life out of you. The absolute best scene happens early on and it involves our first glimpse at this toxic created monster who emerges from the sea. It wreaks havoc all through the surrounding area with special effects that look so good they would even impress my dad. The scene is refreshingly light on its feet and focused on fun. But for every perfectly executed scene like that there are three to four that feel off and unnecessary. Plus, at least for me, once the CGI contact high wears off your interest will begin to wean.

Not content to just proclaim this monsters existence, Bong Joon-ho points his blame right here at us Americans. The dirty deed involves one of those useless meatheaded military types, American of course, forcing a man to pour dirty chemicals down the drain. Later, when those dirty chemicals are all grown up and living in the form of a giant reptilian beast (I will leave the description of its mouth to the grad students) the US is there to spread lies, paranoia, and martial law. Then, finally, when all is said and done our government, which we are so loyal to, blames the Koreans for the whole thing. The plot centers around a misfit family group who are looking for their 7th grade relative who was snatched up by the monster and placed in a sewer somewhere. Her dad is overtly incompetent, falling asleep on the job, allowing her to get abducted, turning the family in to the virus phobic government. Will dear old bum of a dad be redeemed by slaying something evil? Take your best guess. Lots of the film takes place in the sewers of Korea as they hunt for the little girl, and quite honestly this is some pretty ho hum stuff. Joon-ho seems much more adept at filming American style spectacles as opposed to the more domestic family situations. Not that I can complain, there is probably enough visceral monster mayhem here to keep all you philistines happy. Plus there is oodles of humor that can best be described as physical irony that takes place in the theater of the absurd. Just that it goes on for way too long and by the end starts to feel. . .Asian. How you make a horror movie that starts off this enjoyable fall asleep is beyond me but somehow here it has been pulled off. ***

Overrated movie.......2007-05-27

I was one of the audience that's swept away by the hype of this movie. It's critically acclaimed and also well received by audience world-wide. The local newspaper stressed us to watch the movie before it's butchered by Hollywood. So, I did just that. Perhaps, I went to the cinema with over the top expectation and reality never managed to match that. Yes, I gave credit to where it's due. This movie came about because of one actual incident that happened in South Korea where poisonous pollutants were dumped into the Han River. In other words, The Host was actually not an entertainment movie per say but a protest movie. Surprise, surprise, the media & the Americans were branded as "villains" of the movie for building up a paranoia akin to the SARS virus that broke up in Asia few years ago and also of the Americans endeavouring to cover up the "problem" that it triggered at the first place, which was rather similar to Hollywood version of Godzilla storyline. The Host was patchy at best and there were funny moments too. Having said that, the focal point of the movie was a simple Korean Park family that simply went around living their own lives until they were interrupted by this monster that was a metaphor for the intervening factor in Korea. Nobody would take heed of the ordeal & believed what they had to say about their missing family member until they had to resort to one another for support. Don't expect a linear progression of storyline where the monster would be slain and everybody would live happily ever after. The special effects was mediocre and critics specified that it's to pay homage to B-grade movies. It's entirely up to audience to decipher what's real and what's deliberate. Otherwise, a watchable movie.

Wonderfully original monster flick........2007-05-16

Pay no mind to the countless comparisons to "Jaws", "Alien", and the rest of the monster classics that a quality film like this always draws. This one stands on its own as an original mix of harsh political commentary, family drama, black comedy, and horror. The metaphor for the hysteria over the asian SARS epidemic is thick and the accusatory tone towards America's interventionist ways and the alarmist media's sensationalism is thicker. But don't think this is some heavy-handed self-serving political film that wallows in its own symbolism; this film is about the importance of family pulling together and taking care of each other when noone else will. Oh yes, and there's a monster in there somewhere too.
I'm going to drop a few minor spoilers now so if you want to go in completely cold and experience the full thrill I received viewing this movie you might want to go watch the film now. Alright, on with the content review. Let me put it this way, I got my money's worth in the first 20 minutes of the film. The sudden appearance of the beast breaks the most entrenched of monster movie standards: the slow reveal. The almost complete lack of buildup shocked me as the monster came charging out of the background in its high-velocity and unsettlingly awkward gait with ferocious momentum sending humanity flying left and right. What follows is one of the greatest rampage sequences ever seen by human eyes. I was absolutely thrilled by it and only the most jaded of film fans could feel otherwise. In fact, aside from a few gaping plot holes, my only real complaint about this movie is that it climaxes so soon. That's not to say the rest of the film isn't good, but it never reaches that fever pitch again.
As the trigger-happy government declares quarantine and almost immediately begins asserting it's will on the victims -even as they still mourn their lost family members- the media spreads word of a deadly and highly contagious virus that the creature is carrying (hence, "the host"). But as the film progresses, we don't see the evidence of any abnormal sickness, just the paranoia of the people in reaction to the media's hysterics and government's jumping to conclusions. As our protagonists, the Park family, search for their little girl (Hyun-seo, taken to the monster's den for later consumption) we come to see that when the government is incompetent and overbearing and the general populace is collectively terrified of the guy standing next to them the only things you can rely on are your own family and what you can see and do for yourself.
The ne'er-do-well Park family consists of Hyun-seo's father, a slow-witted narcoleptic, her aunt who's a professional archer with a tendency to freeze under pressure, a college-educated alcoholic of an uncle with a hot temper who can't find a job, and a caring grandfather who holds them all together. The dysfunction of the family is humorous to watch, but the devotion they all share in the search for their little girl is touching; and that's the real heart and soul of this film. The monster is menacing, the government is corrupt, the Americans are comically over-the-top self-serving jerks, the populace at large are terrified for all the wrong reasons, and the real disease is the paranoia spread by the media but the Park family's struggle is the real story here and it's a great one.

Average customer rating:

Ghetto Blaster
District B-13 Review
Crank and Snatch
Superb action, and a sufficiently new plot for the modern believer of Civil Disobedience.
District B -B movie