Normal

Starring:Jessica Lange, Tom Wilkinson, Hayden Panettiere, Clancy Brown, Joseph Sikora, Randall Arney, Richard Bull, Mary Seibel, Cynthia Baker, Caitlin Hart (II), Rondi Reed, Dan Conway, Tony Fitzpatrick, Christian Ambrose, Sean Rice (III), Joe Foust, Mickey Tuman, Gene Janson, Jane Galloway Heitz, Danny Goldring
Director: Jane Anderson (II)
Studio: HBO Home Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Customer Reviews:

dynamite story, hitting viewers not unlike a hammer hits a nail on the head.......2007-01-07

Perhaps, in NORMAL LIFE, director John McNaughton never
realized his luck in combining the right timing,
assembling the right actors and actresses and the right
story, all wrapped into one movie, considering his other
boring one, Lansky, that was a sleeper, for example.

NORMAL LIFE is quite skeletal in its complexity (or in
other words, is not unnecessarily convoluted), telling a
dynamite story, hitting viewers not unlike a hammer hits a
nail on the head, such is the shock of seeing the
progression of a upstanding, law-abiding police officer
mutate into a hidious, stickup artist, on the word of a
hot, crazed, libido-filled, drugged, delinquent young
chick, played incredibly well by Ashley Judd, known to not
shy away from controversial, shocking and out-of-the-norm
roles.

A Christian friend of mine, having seen this movie,
admitted having cried from having seen it, in dispair of
the damage borne by the man, in an attempt to preserve
that monogamous relationship with Judd, satisfying her
many wants and needs, to the point of sacrificing his own
line of work, and putting his life on the line in criminal
enterprises for profit. Other people loved this movie,
from its originality, all praised Judd's natural feel in
playing the role that she did, and the maturity of Luke
Perry, who very well conveyed to the audience the anguish
and emotional torture endured from this wild ride of
a relationship.

Of course, NORMAL LIFE's ending, condemns the entire
behavior, as it obviously had to, considering the movie is
taken from a real life story, from almost 40 years ago,
in USA.

Outstanding, if very disturbing, film, but perhaps not everyone's cup of tea.......2006-06-26

A week ago I had never heard of this film and stumbled upon it on the Amazon website. I bought it on a whim and was amazed, I found this to be an absolutely oustanding film. The acting performance by Ashley Judd was unbelievable, I never considered her a serious actress until I saw this. She played the role of a `distressed woman' as well as Isabelle Huppert could have done, this was a performance worthy of the finest French actresses, not some lame Hollywood starlet. I can't believe I never heard of this film before, and I'm in stunned amazement that Judd could play this role so well. This is a story about a beautiful manic-depressive woman (Judd) who meets a straightlaced cop (Luke Perry) and they fall in love. Well, Perry's character falls madly in love with Judd's, and in her lucid moments, these feeling are reciprocated. If there is a better, more realistic film about mental illness, obsession, and manic-depression, I don't know what it is. We follow the ups and downs of the characters as they meet, get married, and begin their life together. They begin to have financial trouble due to Judd's obsessive spending, and Luke Perry's character resorts to robbing banks to recover their finances. This is like watching the build up to a train wreck; you know it isn't going to end well. There are some scenes in this film that are very disturbing (like the scene in which Judd shows up to her father-in-law's funeral wearing rollerblades - ouch), and this film won't appeal to everyone's tastes. If you like Huppert (particularly in films like La Ceremonie and other Chabrol films, or Coup de Torchon), you are certainly going to like this. Luke Perry also did a surprisingly good job in this film, although his role was much less demanding than AJ's. A great film, but this will not be everyone's cup of tea, so you should read the reviews and plot summaries carefully before purchasing.

Phenomenal Movie.......2006-01-12

This is a really great movie.....balanced all around
with many interesting aspects, very well emotionally
acted out by both leading actors, and so well constructed
that those watching the movie are pulled into the story,
and taken for a ride lasting almost 2 hours, much
like a rollercoaster. This is a movie very well done,
very challenging to write and film, I would guess -but
completed with incredible skill.

Normal Life.......2005-09-13

Based on a true story because no fiction writer could make it believeable. Well worth the time.

The Abnormal Life.......2005-08-26

Question: What can you do when you fall in love with a manic-depressive?

Answer: Why, rob banks of course!

Normal Life, ostensibly based on a true story, is a film about two social misfits, opposites in a way, who find each other and start living a life that is anything but normal.

Chris Anderson (Luke Perry), a straight laced policeman in a small Illinois town near Chicago, while having a drink with his brother in a a local bar, can't help but notice a lovely creature (Ashley Judd) sitting in a booth with two guys. All of a sudden she blows up arguing yelling at her companions and as they walk out on her, she smashes a beer glass, cutting her hand in the process. Our chivalrous knight, Chris goes to help and Pam is impressed. So starts a torrid courtship which doesn't slow down until marriage and the drudgery of making a living.

There is something wrong with Pam but Chris either doesn't see it or he's not willing to face it. Pam has short attention span and seems to be ambivalent about sex but nevertheless craves excitement for which Chris's answer is to buy her things on credit. Pam seems to be fighting a never ending battle with her inner demons. She drinks to excess and enjoys humiliating Chris. When visiting his family she ignore them and showed up at his father's funeral on roller skates. She fixes dinner for herself and forgets Chris, tears up the apartment, mutilates herself, threatens suicide. She is a disturbed, self destructive, manic-depressive, .

In the meantime Chris is starting to make enemies on the force and eventually is forced out. Pam works in a factory but they were having trouble with two paychecks and they certainly can't make it on one. Pam flips out and leaves reminding Chris that he promised to take care of her. When he finds her, he tells her that she doesn't have to worry because he will handle things.

That's when Chris starts robbing banks. Being an ex-cop helps if you're going to rob banks and Chris is successful for quite a while. Eventually Pam finds out and she is thrilled. She insists on helping him and he reluctantly agrees but the police and FBI are setting a trap.

CONCLUSION

First, I rented the un-rated CD version. I'm not sure what the difference was versus the R version but this version was fairly explicit and showed both Perry and Judd in the nude but Judd much more as she seemed to lounge around the apartment naked when she was depressed, which was a lot.

Since Ashley Judd is probably my favorite actress this was a pleasant bonus, seeing my favorite actress in the buff. But Ashley didn't just show off her physical attributes she really got into the part. This was some of her best acting if not her best. It's a shame that it was wasted on what is essentially a `B' movie.

The movie itself seemed hokey at times and except for the nudity, I would have thought it to be a low budget TV movie. The sets and the cinematography resembled a TV movie and I would say that most of that would probably fall on the director, McNaughton.

Perry's acting was also good but supporting actors seemed a little tentative. I thought the story was good and it was portrayed well, if cheaply. I thought the film was entertaining, though it is not one I'd like to watch more than once. I give Normal Life 31/2 stars rounded up because I like Ashley Judd.

Average customer rating:

Mindbender
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA
Where are the Borg?
The Wizard of Oz goes BACK TO THE FUTURE!
Disappointing

Almost Normal
Starring: John Brennan , J. Andrew Keitch , Kehry Anson Lane , and Peg Sheldrick
Manufacturer: Wolfe Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Slutty Summer
Dorian Blues
Mysterious Skin (Deluxe Unrated Director's Edition)
Just a Question of Love
Eating Out

ASIN: B000AYELCO
Release Date: 2005-11-15

Amazon.com

Almost Normal describes itself as "Back to the Future meets Peggy Sue Got Married," and that gives you a good idea of what this gay-themed comedy is all about. Like those earlier movies, it's good-natured, amusing, and conventionally mainstream in its storytelling... except, of course, for the fact that it's a low-budget contemporary fantasy intended (more or less exclusively) for a gay audience. It's also the kind of too-eager-to-please comedy (like My Big Fat Greek Wedding) that you'll either love or hate in the first 10 or 15 minutes, but if you make it that far you may find yourself enjoying the movie's low-key charm and easygoing appeal. Granted, some of the acting (by a cast of complete unknowns) is amateurish and some of the dialogue is so bad it's laughable, but the "what if?" scenario yields a few interesting situations, satisfying a fantasy notion that many gay viewers will instantly identify with: What if you could relive your painful high-school days, only this time, instead of being in the ostracized gay minority, you discover that almost everyone is gay, and it's the straight kids who are "abnormal"?! That's the surprise in store for Brad (Andrew Keitsch), a gay, perpetually single 40-year-old teacher who crashes his car, is knocked unconscious, and has a Wizard of Oz-like dream in which he's back in high school, in an all-gay society where same-sex couples have children via sex with "parental partners," gym showers are co-ed, and straight kids are outcasts. It seems like an ideal situation, but Almost Normal has a lesson to teach about growing comfortable and content with one's own sexual identity, regardless of societal expectations. The role-reversal fantasy is treated far too literally, and it's not all that clever to begin with, but writer-director Marc Moody gives it a light spin that's harmless and well-intentioned. Almost Normal is the kind of movie that is typically found on the fringes of lesser-known film festivals, but it's likely to find an appreciative audience on DVD. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

A gay man approaching a mid-life crisis is tired of being different because he is gay. He wants to be normal. Suddenly he is yanked back in time to when he was in high school. But this time, the world is gay and to be straight is considered deviant behavior. Then something else happens. He meets a girl. And suddenly normal becomes ...well almost normal.

System Requirements:
Run Time: 92 minutes

Format: DVD MOVIE

Customer Reviews:

Mindbender.......2007-06-21

Ok, so this movie is not really well acted, and could certainly have been edited better and had some more substance in several parts of the story, but all that aside it was actually a neat concept. Imagine, the world has suddenly gone upside down for gays.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA.......2007-06-19

This is quite possibly the worst movie i have EVER seen!

HAHA

EVERYONE! GO TO BLOCKBUSTER AND RENT THIS MOVIE (don't buy it cause once u see it u'll never want to see it again) AND WATCH IT! CAUSE IT'S SOOOOO TERRIBLE THAT IT'S ACTUALLY FUNNY!

Where are the Borg?.......2006-12-14

I just watched this film and found the whole plot rather interesting. The acting isn't the greatest, there isn't enough male nudity (I'm tired of seeing naked women in almost every film I see, but no naked men), but the point of the whole story is well taken. As with most movies involving time travel, I half expect a Borg to pop out of no-where. ;) What caught my attention is the demonstration of how fluid human sexuality can be and how little we really understand about ourselves. Sure, you can turn on PBS and watch the mating habits of almost any other species, but put some humans in there and it's labeled "pornography". Alas, such is the paragon of animals. This is a film most teenagers and most adult should watch so that they can experience a new perspective on human life. There will always be "outsiders" in human cultures, but maybe movies like this will help all of us be less cruel to them.

The Wizard of Oz goes BACK TO THE FUTURE!.......2006-10-02

This movie is very different and overall, the reviews I've read here are unfair. While the acting is pretty bad in some points and some of the casting is not real great either, I have to give this film 5 stars for content. The plot is incredible. You get the best of both worlds here. A gay love story with a happy ending, and a straight love story with a happy ending. You get adventure, comedy, and a strong point is made that "normal" isn't always easy to attain, even if you had a "do-over" knowing what you know now. The main character here finds that there are things in his life that he wouldn't change in order to change the things he is most disturbed about in his life. He remains in the end, the same as he was in the beginning, but his whole outlook has changed about what really matters and what is totally insignificant in life.

I guess your view of this movie will depend on how you judge films. IF the content, or story line is more important to you than technicalities, you will love "Defying Gravity". If you are more interested in how much money was spent on making it, (obviously not much), whether or not the actors deserve an academy award (which they don't), or how well the cast was put together (in this case, good and bad) then you will find plenty in this film to pick apart. Personally, I like being entertained and challenged by a plot to think about things I might not otherwise consider. This movie provides that. I recommend it highly, but also recommend you view it for it's content, not it's quality, and keep your expectations below the top.

Disappointing.......2006-09-29

What a shame. I had high hopes for this movie. It's a terrific concept - every gay man who came of age in the 20th century dreams of returning to high school in the hopes that the past would be different.

What ruins this film? Let's start with the casting. None of the lead actors portraying teens looks young enough. Personally, I found the lead unattractive and way too old for the part. He was also a poor actor who could not emote. Not that the others around him fared better. The parents are the most stilted and ruin every scene.

Next the script. The dialogue is unrealistic. There are plenty of contrived plot elements. Wouldn't it have been more interesting if he had gone back and the jock he lusted after had not had any interest in him at all? The director could have addressed themes of dating and romance within the gay community. The role-reversal with the lead discovering straight feelings seemed heavy-handed.

Maybe because the cast was mostly (if not all) straight, but there was no passion between the players. certainly not between the male leads. Their kiss might as well have been between two brothers. Gay men in love do not kiss like this.

There are far better movies showcasing gay love. I recommend avoiding this substandard flick.

Average customer rating:

Worth watching
Outstanding Sleeper Movie
A movie of depth and warmth
The things we do for love
In Search of Normal

Normal
Starring: Richard Bull , Mary Seibel , Danny Goldring , Jessica Lange , and Tom Wilkinson
Director: Jane Anderson (II)
Manufacturer: HBO Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Soldier's Girl
TransGeneration
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Ma Vie En Rose

ASIN: B0000AYJV8
Release Date: 2003-10-07

Amazon.com

As Roy (Tom Wilkinson, In the Bedroom) and Irma (Jessica Lange, Cape Fear, Tootsie) celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, Roy passes out. While meeting with their pastor, Roy reveals that he's a woman trapped in a man's body, and he wants to get a sex change--setting in motion a complex and emotionally fraught conflict between husband and wife, individual and community, and parent and child. Normal explores Roy's gender dysphoria with empathy, but also has an eye for the social and familial absurdities that come up. The humor, far from trivializing the issue, steers it away from cloying sentiment or politically correct sanctimony. The movie captures the confusion of Roy's friends and coworkers with realism and without judgment, and the stressful changes of Roy and Irma's relationship aren't sugarcoated or made into a moral lesson. Both Lange and Wilkinson are superb, as are the skillful script and direction. --Bret Fetzer

Description

Ray and Irma are a devoted couple living a normal life in rural Illinois, until Roy decides that his life must change and confesses to Irma that he's a woman trapped in a man's body. Now Roy must face their friends, his coworkers and his own children with the whole new way of life he has planned - and they must face him. What happens to a town, a factory and a loving marriage when confronted with such a transformation is all about being who you are, being in love, and simply being normal.

Customer Reviews:

Worth watching.......2007-05-12

A very well written movie, I deffinatly like the small town setting which can hit close to home and bring a more realistic drama into the many lives of those, outside big cities. Set apart from steriotyped lives of the Transgendered, Richard Bull is extrordinary in the problems and frustrations of the "Normal" Transgendered. Jessica Lang was incredibale in portraying the real struggles of the not so excepting wife and plays no falsehood as to what many wives live with when they have to deal and/or cope with their partners and what can be devistating partnerships. This movie has a very comfortable portrayal of "Real Lives"

Outstanding Sleeper Movie.......2006-08-14

This movie is emotionally punched. It moves with a steady pace though. It's based on a play about a man who finally finds the courage to be true to himself, ie. he opts for a sex change operation to become a woman because his inclination is there since the beginning of time. For him, he wishes to be normal and carrying on living. However, being "normal" is a subjective issue because for some, "normal" is where a man is a man, and a woman is a woman. Instead of giving him the support that he looks for, the community is giving him a hard time and even making him into a "pagan" despite his contribution to the Church community for many years. Whilst the wife is shocked in the beginning, as time goes on, she realises that she needs to look beyond the physical aspect and looking at the support and love that he has given her over the years. The movie ends by having the family reconciling with one another and moving on with life. A powerful movie that moves and touches your heart. Highly recommended. No extras in here.

A movie of depth and warmth.......2006-04-14

The accompanying song to the opening scene and several other enchanting tunes; the shots of the growing luscious green corns to signify the passing of the time; the excellent cast with Jessica Lange (Irma, the wife) and Tom Wilkinson (Roy, the husband) all contributed to the movie's sucess. Yet it was Jane Anderson, the director, script writer and the author all-in-one, who was pivotal in keeping the story leap out of the page; making a drastic twist of fate to this normal corn-belt family convincing, sympathetic; not just another cliche and tear jerker.

Tom Wilkinson has portrayed his emotional and physical change from a dutiful father, Roy, to an evolving woman, Ruth, with subtlety, dignity and elegance. But it was Jessica Lange who kept the family and Roy from falling apart. Her even temper, smile and tenacity under the adverse condition all bespoke her strength and love for her husband. She shielded her husband from being ridiculed - picking his new clothes, stood by him in church, work place and his extended family. The 11-year old daughter(Hayden Panettiere) accepted her father's switch in gender with as much intensity as the 20-something son (Joseph Sikora) shunned it. She bombarded her father with questions while the son could barely stay in the same room with his father at the thanksgiving dinner.

It was bittersweet for Roy to be accepted by his strict and unforgiving father only because the elder man suffered from dementia; yet it was upbeating to find Roy acknowledge his mother's difficult job of taking care of his father. Being able to put himself in the shoes of his mother, understand the situation perfectly and articulate it in words, Roy completed his emotional transformation to Ruth.

The things we do for love.......2006-03-08

This movie is so beautiful. it really makes you ask what would you do to help your lover be themselves...

it's about time the issue of transgenderism was discussed.

In Search of Normal.......2006-01-10

"Normal" attempts to tackle a highly complex issue in the space of a feature-length movie, and this limitation makes it not a wholly successful effort. The sheer complexity of transgender issues warrants a miniseries treatment such asn HBO did for AIDS in the gay community with "Angels in America", and if "Normal" has a weakness, it's that it tried to cram too much into too brief a space. However, as the first serious dramatic treatment of a transgendered person's unique challenges, "Normal" deserves kudos, not the least for the brave performances from Tom Wilkinson & Jessica Lange. Ms. Lange in particular has a very difficult role, perched on the razor's edge between feelings of love & betrayal, and she captures this inner war brilliantly. Her face reflects all the conflicting emotions of anger, grief, bewilderment & pain, leavened with flashes of wry amusement at the ridiculousness of her situation, with grace & never, ever overacting or seeming to try too hard. Even though Tom Wilkinson's character, Roy, is the one facing the biggest outward changes, Lange reminds us that internal changes can be just as transforming, though not as evident. Her performance is the centerpiece of the film. She has gotten even more luminously beautiful over the years; we reason that if she, as his wife, can't make Roy glad he's a man, then he must really be serious.

As Roy, the catalyst for all this family trauma, Tom Wilkinson has more of a one-note performance; it seems that having made up his mind, despite 50-odd years of cultural conditioning to the contrary, Roy never looks back or even feels a twinge of doubt or regret over what he's about to do. We feel sympathy for Roy, but not nearly as much as we do for his wife, if only because we don't feel we know him as well. Our sympathy springs less from identification with his plight as it does from knowing that Roy could hardly have engineered more difficult circumstances for himself to realize his dream. His determination verges on delusion, such as when he wears perfume and earrings to work, and is surprised that his tough factory-worker colleagues slam his head into a locker. The movie ends just prior to Roy's surgery, but the odds seem stacked against him for making a successful transition; how can he, without therapy, support groups, fashion sense or seemingly any plan in place for 'after'? Does he really suppose that he'll be able to continue his life in all its outward particulars--living in the same house, working at the same job--as he did 'before'? Indeed, he seems aghast that anyone else in his life should have the gall to have a problem adjusting to his new lifestyle. These issues are not addressed satisfactorily; nor is the the problem of Roy's sex life after he becomes Ruth. Despite all of Mr. Wilkinson's best efforts, he remains a very masculine-looking man, with only the very subtlest of feminizing changes to his look or his body language. He radiates sincerety in his belief that he can become feminine, but the rest of us remain doubtful. I would've been tempted to dismiss Mr. Wilkinson's Roy as a completely unrealistic portrayal had I not recently seen a cable documentary about a MTF transsexual very like Roy: a middle-aged, burly man from the heartland with a butch job and strained family relations, whose only concession to femininity prior to his operation was bleaching his longish hair. In all other particulars of dress and manner, he was still extremely masculine. So perhaps Roy isn't as far out of the 'norm' of sexual reassignment seekers as it might seem at first blush.

Roy's family, and his life as a whole seems like a construct of TV Screenwriting 101. He's got two children, a son and a daughter, who function merely as plot conveniences and an audience for Daddy's experiment. The middle-school-aged daughter, who is coping with her own body changes provides a counterpoint to her father's concurrent body issues. To be sure the audience understands this, we are provided helpful shorthand: Patty Ann favors men's shirts, hates wearing bras & stands outside her parents' bedroom saying helpful things like "Is Daddy in drag? Can I see?" While it is not out of the realm of possibility that a teenage daughter might be able to eventually accept a transgendered parent with a minimum of trauma, it is NOT likely that she would be as glib about it as Patty Ann. Would a 13-year-old girl really be swapping makeup and waxing tips around the pool with her erstwhile dad, painting his toenails with easy familiarity like he was some kind of cool life-size Barbie, and not the person who was turning her life upside down and making her an object of ridicule among all her peers? Likewise, the opposition of the older son has the same forced glibness. Would it occur to a young man, no matter how opposed he was to the operation, to call his father a "c***" at Thanksgiving dinner? Perhaps a slew of other pejorative names, but not that one, surely. Nor would this exchange of insults culminating in a broken nose be likely to be the balm that mends the rift in their rocky relationship either, but the movie seems to suggest that after one altercation, things are all better now and the son has come around to the father's point of view. Roy's fellow townspeople, predictably, react to this metamorphosis of Roy's none too favorably. There is the locker incident. Someone writes "You are not normal" in the dirt on his truck. He is given the cold shoulder when he comes to church in a dress. However, Roy gets off very lightly, considering that his story could have an ending like "Boys Don't Cry" or "The Matthew Shepard Story". This movie was afraid to pull those kinds of punches . . .or maybe it just ran out of time.

"Normal" is a good start to a nationwide dialogue about transgendered issues, and helped pave the way for Felicity Huffman's probable Oscar nomination for "Transamerica". Despite its flaws, it depicts a transgendered individual's personal war to achieve what feels "Normal" to him, rather than being just a freak show. Better to be considered a freak show on the the outside than to feel like one on the inside, it seems to say.

Average customer rating:

Fantastic!
Andy Andrews is Just Amazing

Not Normal: The Power to Be Different
Starring: Andy Andrews
Manufacturer: COMPENDIA MUSIC GROUP
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B0000C7PSN
Release Date: 2003-09-16

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic!.......2006-01-11

Hilarious! Powerful! Fun for everyone (even teenagers!)His stories make you cry either because they are touching or because they are hysterical! We've watched him over and over. His books and CD's are great too!

Andy Andrews is Just Amazing.......2005-08-01

What a storyteller! Andy Andrews is for all ages. My 4-year old, my 78-year old dad and myself all just love everything Andy Andrews puts out. He is the most amazing storyteller. I have never laughed so hard, my dad, daughter and myself just can't get enough of this man and his stories and tales. His life lessons that he provides are so powerful. Get this and keep it in your library. You will enjoy it!

Average customer rating:

Photos of Death: Pang Brothers' Solo Act with Stylish Cinematography
I liked it..........
Pang Brothers Love Letter to sociopaths and horror fans in general
Lovely little movie
The Most Underrated, Under-appreciated East Asian Horror Film of the Last Decade

Ab-Normal Beauty
Starring: Michelle Mee , Anson Leung , Rosanne Wong , and Race Wong
Director: Oxide Pang Chun
Manufacturer: Tartan Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Marebito
Cello (2005)
The Maid
Face
The Heirloom

ASIN: B000BVM240
Release Date: 2005-12-26

Description

Jiney is a beautiful and talented photography student. One day she witnesses a gruesome car accident but instead of being horrified she finds herself aroused. Overcome with an excitement and satisfaction, she becomes obsessed with photographing death. Her obsession with death may just get her killed.

Customer Reviews:

Photos of Death: Pang Brothers' Solo Act with Stylish Cinematography.......2007-05-02

After taking a picture of a traffic accident, a young, beautiful art school student Jiney (Race Wong) finds herself fascinated by photographed deaths. While Jiney finds inspiration for her works in her shooting deaths (including those of beheaded roosters), her behaviors lead her and her best friend Jas (Rosanne Wong) to unexpected consequences, mostly not very comfortable ones.

Hong-Kong film "Ab-normal Beauty" starts with an intriguing setting about a woman with traumatic past, and Oxide Pang tells her story with his stylish cinematography, one of the well-known trademarks of the Pang Brothers. However, the film's carefully prepared settings are replaced by something else in the second half, where you will see a familiar theme (which I'd rather not discuss here). All I can say is the film might have been better had it explored more the slightly lesbian-like Jiney-Jas relations (especially when they got surprisingly good acing from Race Wong and Rosanne Wong, real-life sisters)..

A few words about the background history of the film. After jointly making terrific "The Eye" and its so-so sequel, the Pang Brothers made an interesting move. That is, the brothers decided to make two movies, one by Oxide Pang and the other by Danny Pang, both of which are loosely connected to each other by one episode about a traffic accident. Oxide Pang made "Sei mong se jun" ("Ab-normal Beauty") while Danny made more light-weight and less successful "Ah ma yau nan" ("Leave Me Alone") starring Ekin Cheng and Charlene Choi. Both can be enjoyed as stand-alone film.

"Ab-normal Beauty" is worth a look for its visual techniques and fine acting. But all in all the film is one of the average Asian horrors which could have been improved with a better script or final chapter.

I liked it.................2007-04-02

this is not a horror movie but more like a thriller resembling a twisted version of fatal attraction. an art student who develops an obsession for photographing death is sent a video tape of a girl being beat to death. she shows it to her girlfriend and the two of them question a fellow student in the art class which has a crush on her. the girl really starts to worry when the next video tape she gets stars her girlfriend. really great movie but not a horror flick.

Pang Brothers Love Letter to sociopaths and horror fans in general.......2007-03-19

Jiney is an art student who is well on the way to become a sociopath. She exhibits all the signs -- molested and sexually humiliated when young, tortured homosexuality, unhealthy obsession of death, repeated suicide attempts, S&M play-acting, and etc. What saves her in the end is her confronting and overcoming a real life psycho killer. The film is beautifully shot. The slow first half feels like an art film. The second half hits like a sledgehammer(in much the same way as in the last 20 minutes of Audition).

The film is also a cautionary tale to certain horror fans. Jiney represents some extreme horror fans who take too much sadistic delights in pain and death of fictional characters. What happens when they come face to face with the evil which has so far remained as darkest fantasies and wishes? As the old saying goes, "be careful of what you wish for..."

Lovely little movie.......2007-02-04

A girl and her girlfriend are great photographers. One of the girls witnesses a death and takes a picture of it. She gets infatuated with pictures of death and explores the phenomenon on her own. Unfortunately this leads into trouble for her and her friends when she starts getting packages of people being videotaped and getting beaten to death. The beatings are very scary and realistic. The girls are in real life actually sister pop singers.

The Most Underrated, Under-appreciated East Asian Horror Film of the Last Decade.......2006-12-15

Fantastic Cinematography + Great Psychological Concepts + An Unnerving Finale = A Great Film

(Contains Spoilers)

Unfortunately, Abnormal Beauty is one of those films that will annoy a lot of people, because it does not have enough explicit violence to please the gorehounds, yet contains enough to anger everyone else. It seems that almost all of the negative reviews I've seen are either the gorehounds complaining about the first "boring" hour, or the fans of psychological horror complaining about the "gratuitousness" of the last half hour. I think they both miss the point. Just like the critics of Audition.

The violence is not gratuitous here. There is a heaping amount of character development in this film that sets up the finale. This is not empty, sensationalistic tripe that Hollywood loves to release (e.g., Hostel, The Hills Have Eyes, etc.). If someone insists that Abnormal Beauty is gratuitous, then they are effectively saying that explicit violence cannot be used in a film without being so. This is a closed-minded Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of the most blatant type.

The second most complained about feature of this film (following complaints regarding the violence) was the introduction of the killer. Critics claim that he is a Deus ex Machina. The critics are wrong. Abnormal Beauty is not a murder mystery. It's a psychological horror film. The filmmakers are not obligated to present a trail of clues for the viewer to make a probable, educated guess at the identity of the killer. The purpose of presenting the killer is to introduce the perfected state of Jiney's undeveloped psychological affliction in an attempt to cure her of that affliction.

Jiney spends most of the time BEHIND the camera, initiating her mental and sexual fulfillment by viewing the death of living things. At the same time, however, she's becoming more and more detached from reality. This is also manifested by the other subplots, which include her tormenting past and her dysfunctional relationship with her mother - events which she is unable to come to terms with.

Even after her semi-revelation, she is still deeply affected by the pictures that she finds in her locker. She's not fully cured of her affliction yet. Remember, the camera is an important symbol/analogy in this film. Jiney is so helplessly reliant on detachment that she desperately needs the camera to be turned against her. Enter the killer, who places Jiney IN FRONT of the camera, thus forcing her to face reality. This is essential for the filmmakers to culminate the underlying psychological concepts of Abnormal Beauty.

In addition, if I were a sadistic freak working in a library and saw a hot young girl check out a dozen works of literature featuring sadistic pictures, how the hell could I not take notice?

Another complaint of critics is the final scene, which reveals that the lead character killed her cousin. Critics claim that this is an ad hoc, after-the-fact invocation to cheaply explain the movie. The critics are wrong. The traumatic child-hood event at the very end of the film was not the origin of Jiney's psychological condition. That event was already introduced near the beginning of the film: Jiney was sexually abused by her cousin, and her mother didn't believe her. The fact that she pushed her cousin down the stairs is merely a reflection of the negative effects that that initial event had on her. Did you see her face while she was standing at the top of the stairs? It was blank and emotionless - completely detached. The final scene adds emphasis to her psychological breakthrough and reminds us of what she overcame - she is now living again.

And yes, this is much more demanding of the viewer's intelligence than all the carbon-copy garbage coming out of Hollywood nowadays. So this film may not be for the lazy. If you can appreciate smart psychological horror coupled with effective, explicit violence, then you can't go wrong here. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who can't appreciate one or the other, which explains the negative reaction to this film.

After reading online reviews and discussing this film with others, I am convinced that this is the most underrated, under-appreciated East Asian horror film of the last decade. I've seen 73 East Asian horror films. Abnormal Beauty is better than 70 of them. It comes second only to A Tale of Two Sisters and Kairo.

Average customer rating:

Horrible, cheap crap but comically so
Ape Canyon: The best Bigfoot Rape movie you will see this year!

APE CANYON

Manufacturer: CustomFlix
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Sasquatch Horror Collection
Bigfoot Terror
Sasquatch Hunters
Boggy Creek 2 - and the Legend Continues...
Abominable

ASIN: B0007CQ528
Release Date: 2006-07-13

Product Description

In "Ape Canyon" a lone Bigfoot (North America's Greatest Lover) roams the forests of the Pacific Northwest. He brings his gift of Red Hot Sasquatch Love to nature-loving ladies everywhere, whether they're hugging trees or simply camping and hiking. Bored waitress Darcy (Clover Lutter) had one unforgettable encounter and now she wants more. Night and day, she combs the woods for Bigfoot, calling to him, reciting love poems, and yearning for the wild, hairy touch of the beast who can satisfy her better than any man. Darcy's jealous husband Bill (Chris Henry) is also hot on the trail of Sasquatch, but he's coming with guns blazing. Time is running out for Bigfoot. Will Darcy win his heart before it's too late - or will the consequences of his untamed libido bring his wild ways to an explosive end?

Customer Reviews:

Horrible, cheap crap but comically so.......2006-10-12

First and foremost, this movie looks like something a few semi-drunk frat boys and their girlfriends did for laughs over a weekend.

Roughly what was the budget? Roughly zero. There is no control over lighting, no interesting camera work, and zero talent. No attempt whatsoever was made to hide the fact that the ape suit is a zip-up, rubber-faced, gloved rental. Ridiculous flaws abound: You actualy see the rubber face deform when touched, the gloves and boots are blatantly separate pieces, and some overhead shots show a huge gap most of the lenght of his back where the zipper had come undone. There is a fight scene between three guys and the ape that has to be seen to be believed. I am convinced it's the most laughably bad attempt at acting and filming a fight ever. I mean, ever.

And the horny parts, the entire reason for buying this? Well, he manages to rape/seduce several girls who have wild sex with him while fully clothed, without even a "maybe she took off her pants and they just didn't show it" hint. I mean, their pants are completely on the whole scene. If he's sharp enough to go right through denim jeans, those girls certaily wouldn't end up liking it so much, as they invariably do of course.

And what of the ape's libido? He certainly is a horny one, banging any girl he can find and you even get a great spooge shot when he masturbates in one scene. Best of all, however, is when he gets confused by a woman's, uh, scent on a guy and procedes to have his very wicked way with him. This scene goes on and on and on - I think it's the longest hump scene in the movie, and the only reason it gets the single star above. I mean, how many movies have the guts to show a furry beast humping a guy? For several minutes? And loving it (both of them)? So big kudos for that. We definitely need more creatures doing guys, but sadly no one has the guts but these no-talent "filmmakers."

No kudos for anything else, though. This is just unrelentingly bad, and I suppose it's best saved for parties when you want to play MST3K with your friends, preferably inebriated. Expect zero quality of any kind. Buy as cheaply as possible (or not at all).

Ape Canyon: The best Bigfoot Rape movie you will see this year!.......2006-05-05

Bigfoot is at the end of his evolutionary rope. He is the last of his kind, but his biological clock is ticking. His drive to mate has no recipient in his own species, so he is forced to turn to humans, to fulfill his biological programming.

Here's the thing: He can't tell human women from human men. Hilarity ensues. It's an entertaining train-wreck that is best enjoyed with tongue in cheek, beer in hand, and friends on the couch to assist you in your derision of the production values. I promise you, that like a wrecked train, you will not be able to take your eyes off of this piece, no matter how bad it gets. This work holds a special place in my library.

Average customer rating:

fabulous documentary

Face To Face: The Schappell Twins

Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( F ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

They have two separate bodies but are literally of one mind. The Schappell sisters, Reba and Lori, are conjoined twins (more commonly referred to as Siamese twins). Joined at the forehead, they face in opposite directions, and have lived this way for over 35 years. FACE TO FACE is an extraordinary portrait of the Schappell's life, from the 24 years they spent institutionalized to their struggles adjusting to society in the time since they were released. In intimate interviews, they talk about their hopes and dreams and the prejudice and fear they face everyday. Yet they also reveal why they would never want to be separated, despite the existence of medical technology that would make it possible. Perhaps most fascinating is other people's reactions to the twins. In a society that supposedly champions originality and those who are unique, the existence of the Schappell sisters challenges assumptions and beliefs. This is made patently clear as we follow the twins on a trip to New York. They scare us, they intrigue us, they force us to think about what we define as beautiful, tragic and heroic.

Customer Reviews:

fabulous documentary.......2006-08-26

I missed the first part of the documentary when it viewed on A&E, and was thrilled to see that I could actually purchase it from Amazon, and have it for my very own. Face To Face is such a heartwarming film about 2 conjoined twins who are able to go through life as individuals, respecting each other for their differences, regardless of the fact that they will forever

share some of the same body parts. What a lesson in cooperation! The film gets a little long, when showing other people's reactions and opinions, which is not necessary, but is all worth waiting for the finale where they are leading the serpentine,singing and dancing through Central Park.

Charlie Rose with Pete Sampras & Tom Gullikson; Gilbert Kaplan; Normal Mailer (December 19, 1996)

Average customer rating:

Charlie Rose with Pete Sampras & Tom Gullikson; Gilbert Kaplan; Normal Mailer (December 19, 1996)

Manufacturer: Charlie Rose
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Charlie Rose with Pete Sampras; Gail Sheehy (July 14, 1995)
Charlie Rose with Pete Sampras; Harold Bloom (July 11, 2000)

ASIN: B000IU35ZY
Release Date: 2006-09-18

Description

Pete Sampras, number one tennis player in the world and Davis Cup captain Tom Gullikson discuss their tennis careers and the passing of their coach and brother, respectively, Tim Gullikson. Also, Gil Kaplan speaks about his passion for Austrian composer Gustav Mahler and realizing his dream of conducting Mahler's 2nd symphony as an amateur. Last, an interview with Norman Mailer of the politics of 1996. Mailer talks about the esthetic destruction of America by U. S. corporations as well as the reasons for Bill Clinton's reelection.

Average customer rating:

Good for Spanish classes

Que Familia Mas Normal
Starring: Fernando Allende , Evangelina Elizondo , Nydia Caro , and Luz María Rondón
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Flores De Otro Mundo: Flowers From Another World
La Vida Que Te Espera

ASIN: B000EOTVX4
Release Date: 2006-05-02

Description

Cultures hilariously collide in this crazy, warm-hearted comedy about the often perilous journey toward family harmony. Popular film and TV star Fernando Allende is Armando, a suave radio disc jockey trying to hide his sexy secretary from his jealous wife. Meanwhile, he's caught in the unrelenting power struggle between his mother and his mother-in-law, both from very different and equally proud cultures. If that's not tough enough, his son plans to marry the daughter of a sophisticated Argentine mother and a streetwise Cuban father who add a unique layer to the family's multicultural blend.

Un divertidisimo choque de culturas es el tema de esta alocada y calida comedia acerca de los peligros que abundan en la busqueda de la armonia familiar. La popular estrella de cine y television Fernando Allende es Armando, un meloso disc-jockey que trata de esconder a su sexy secretaria de la celosa de su mujer. Entretanto, se encuentra en medio de una implacable guerra de voluntades entre su madre y su suegra, ambas de culturas muy diferentes e igualmente orgullosas. Y como si fuera poco, su hijo quiere casarse con la hija de una sofisticada dama argentina y de un padre cubano astuto, que le agregan un matiz unico a la mezcla multicultural de esta familia.

Customer Reviews:

Good for Spanish classes.......2007-05-21

I recomend this movie to teachers of Spanish who want to include in their selection a light-hearted movie with family as a topic at its heart. The actors' accents and idiomatic expressions are true to their characters and authentic: Fernando Allende is Mexican, just like his character, Armando Gutiérrez. Nydia Caro is Puerto Rican, just like her character Lulli. The main characters' mothers have come to join their household; their names are the same the VIrgin Mary has in Mexico (Guadalupe) and in Puerto Rico (Providencia). The Gutiérrez's son is engaged to the daughter of a Cuban father and an Argentinian mother; their daughter, to a very dark-skinned gringo. They converge in their house to celebrate theire son's engagement. The situations and crises the characters go through are very comical and it all has a happy ending.

The family is modern, upper middle class but tradtions and cultural references to the different countries represented in it are there. The enunciation of the characters is clear enough for intermediate and advanced classes in Spanish.It has subtitles to help those in lower level classes. The script is more suitable for a half-hour sitcom than a movie and the editing isn't the best. Its value is more in cultural and linguistic richness.

This is a movie for those who want to see a different aspect of Hispanic cultures, a fresh modern one not based on corruption, politics, drug-trafficking, and guerrilla movements in poverty-ridden backgrounds.

Average customer rating:

Pretending an Unprotective Mother is Protective
a stunning film...'results' are not always as perceived...
Yawn.

Awful Normal
Starring: Karen Davis , Marilyn , Celesta Davis , Ellen Davis , and Rebekah
Director: Celesta Davis
Manufacturer: Cinequest
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Winner Grand Prize, Documentary - Cinequest Film Festival Celesta Davis has been on both Oprah and Primetime Live to talk about Awful Normal Celesta and Karen Davis grew up in a loving family. They shared many wonderful childhood moments and, at the time, thought it all was normal. But when Karen and Celesta were molested in 1978, little was being done about sexual abuse. Their parents' lack of action was neither questioned nor challenged, including years of continued social contact with the perpetrator, his wife and their two young children. This made for some not-so-normal memories. Twenty-five years later, feeling unresolved, they begin their quest to find the man who took advantage of their innocence and to ask him something that has haunted them for almost their entire life: "Why?" Director Davis takes one of the most personal journeys to tell her and her family's remarkable story, exploring the inner depths of a woman's psyche, which has been harmed, but refuses to be broken. A testament to the fragility and strength of the human spirit, Awful Normal explores the ripple effect of a single action across generations and families and puts these women literally face to face with their demons.

Customer Reviews:

Pretending an Unprotective Mother is Protective.......2007-04-11

I give this movie 5 stars because I admire the courage of Celesta in confronting the man who molested her. I think she did a service for all people who have been molested. She showed them (us) a way to get their power back.
Celesta's mother knew about the abuse of her daughters but continued to be friends with the molester and expose her daughters to him. Celesta calls this behavior 'protective' because it was the 1970's and that was what people did, just went on and pretended nothing happened. If that doesn't make sense to you that's because it doesn't make sense. Those are the words of a woman who cannot face that her mother did not protect her from a child abuser. At the end of Celesta's confrontation with the molester, her mother hugs him and says, "I love the good things about you." What a kick in the gut for her daughters. To me, this is the real story; a daughter's remarkable contortion of reality in order to avoid the pain of her mother's horrible betrayal.

a stunning film...'results' are not always as perceived..........2006-12-06

I normally don't address opinions put forth by other reviewers -- and when I do, I try to do so with respect and tolerance, which is the spirit in which I'm writing this.

The review below labels this with a 'yawn', and found it boring and pointless...? Anyone whose life has even been touched by sexual abuse -- either personally, or through a loved one being victimized -- will understand the amount of courage it took for Celesta Davis and her family to go through with contacting and confronting the man who abused her when she was a child. My best friend is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse -- I've seen courage in her over the past 9 years that has amazed me. I'm proud to call her my hero.

Rather than being a fictionalized and sensationalized piece of 'Hollywood entertainment', AWFUL NORMAL is a well-made, deeply moving documentary that pulls no punches. Confronting one's abuser -- either immediately or after years of suffering the effects of the abuse -- is one of the most emotionally shattering, painful moves a survivor can make...and one of the most empowering and healing. It doesn't matter if the resulting confrontation isn't an ultra-dramatic scene involving the offender throwing himself on his knees in front of her and begging for forgiveness -- the sheer act of the survivor finding the strength and courage to open up and speak about the abuse publicly is a big step in closing old wounds.

The film shows the entire painful, painstaking process -- making the decision to find the abuser and make contact, wavering between courage and despair right up to the last moment, tearful, open-hearted discussions between Celesta, her mother and her sister. No punches are pulled, and no attempt seems to have been made to falsely portray courage or resolve that wasn't there 100% of the time.

This is a brutally honest, powerful and important film -- and as important as it was for Celesta to make the decision to confront her abuser, then to follow through on such a daunting task, it's just as important that this film be seen widely, so that more people can understand just how much damage can be done...and what courage it takes to heal. Maybe then we'd hear fewer people say callous things like 'Oh...she just needs to get over it.'

Please. This wasn't meant to be 'entertaining'.

Yawn........2006-11-05

Boring women put their boring lives on display, or not, maybe that's the problem, you really get no idea what so ever what these people are truly all about. It does seem that they pick apart and analyze the one bad event from their near-perfect vanilla lives until you just want to choke the TV. The daughters confront their childhood abuser, get no real answers, no revelations, no picture for a good portion (black screen --only sound).....and It clocks in with 75 minutes of lame, purposeless, tedium...they could barely fill........
If you enjoyed Capturing The Friedman's fast pace and deep story telling than you will be disappointed with this film.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

Independence Day (Full-Screen Edition)

Phantom of the Paradise

Henry VIII And His Six Wives [1972]

DVD: The Man with Two Lives

Thunderbirds 07, Folge 21-23