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Product Description
In 1959, Fidel Castro's tiny band of rebels toppled a corrupt Cuban dictatorship. Forty years later, Castro remains in power, incredibly surviving a CIA-led invasion, a missile crisis, eight assassination attempts, nine U.S. presidents and the fall of his Soviet allies.
This riveting, hard edged and intensely emotional drama traces the rise of one of history's most intriguing and controversial figures from a guerilla outpost to the presidential palace. Featuring a stellar cast and tightly woven script, Fidel goes behind the politics to offer up a rare personal portrait of a man driven relentlessly by his convictions, his pride and his passions.
Ultimately, as portrayed by Victor Huggo Martin, the legendary Fidel Castro proves very human, torn by his love for two women and despairing that the idealism, charisma and will power that inspired a revolution could not build the free and prosperous nation he had envisioned.
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Naqoyqatsi
Starring: Greg Louganis , Bill Clinton , Elton John , Marlon Brando , and Dalai Lama Director: Godfrey Reggio Manufacturer: Miramax ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD Similar Items:
ASIN: B00005JLIA Release Date: 2003-10-14 |
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Whether your intellect is completely engaged or passively detached, any viewing of Naqoyqatsi is likely to provoke a fascinating response. You can view it as a magnificent, visually stimulating music video (as critic Roger Ebert suggested you should), or in context as the third and most unsettling film in director Godfrey Reggio's "qatsi" trilogy, each titled from the Hopi language, and preceded by Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi ("Life out of Balance" and "Life in Transformation," respectively). "Life as War" is the translation of this film's title, and Reggio's theme is not one of conventional warfare, but of daily life as warfare in the age of rapidly evolving technology. The entire trilogy views humankind as a blight on the pristine nature of Earth, but here the theme is taken to its inevitable extreme: a constant flow of new and archival images--manipulated with solarization, digital enhancements, thermal effects, 2-D and 3-D animation, etc.--combine to convey athletic and military regimentation, culminating in the doomsday flowering of missiles, rockets, and all varieties of nuclear weaponry. The cumulative effect, when combined with Philip Glass's mesmerizing score (his best of the trilogy, with cello solos by Yo-Yo Ma) is one of doom-laden portent, but, as Stephen Holden observed in the New York Times, the film is also arrestingly beautiful as it weaves its hypnotic, apocalyptic spell. For those who wish to delve further, Reggio, Glass, and editor/visual designer Jon Kane provide valuable insight in a bonus panel discussion. --Jeff ShannonDescription
Miramax Home Entertainment and Oscar(R)-winning filmmaker Steven Soderbergh (Best Director, TRAFFIC, 2000) present NAQOYQATSI ("Life As War"), from filmmaker Godfrey Reggio, in collaboration with composer Phillip Glass, whose original score features renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma. In this cinematic concert -- the concluding film of the Qatsi Trilogy preceded by the critically acclaimed KOYAANISQATSI ("Life Out Of Balance"), and POWAQQATSI ("Life In Transformation") -- mesmerizing images reanimated from everyday reality, then visually altered with state-of-the-art digital techniques, chronicle the shift from a world organized by the principles of nature to one dominated by technology, the synthetic, and the virtual. Extremes of intimacy and spectacle, tragedy and hope, fuse in a tidal wave of visuals and music, giving rise to a unique artistic experience that reflects Reggio's visions of a brave new globalized world.
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Walkout
Starring: Yancey Arias , Bruce French , Jesse Garcia , Laura Elena Harring , and Edward James Olmos Director: Edward James Olmos Manufacturer: Hbo Home Video ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD Similar Items:
ASIN: B000KJU15U Release Date: 2007-03-06 |
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In an era when so many movies about inner-city youth focus on gangs, drugs, and violence, Walkout deserves props for its sincere depiction of the peaceful efforts of Chicano students to effect positive change in the Los Angeles school system. The year is 1968, a time of profound social upheaval, what with the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, the escalation of the Vietnam War, the chaotic scene in Chicago during the Democratic Convention, and so on. In East L.A., a young schoolteacher (Michael Pena) tries to instill pride in his students, reminding them of Chicano contributions to the Civil War and 'Nam and taking them on a tour of the west side, where they see how the other (i.e., whiter) side lives. Laura Crisostomo (Alexa Vega from the Spy Kids series), a good girl and ace student, soon finds herself caught up in the movement to improve conditions at local high schools--much to the chagrin of her dad (Yancey Arias), a strict Filipino immigrant mistrustful of "agitators" (this father-daughter dynamic, while not the film's only cliché, is perhaps its most obvious). Said conditions are not, in fact, all that horrendous; there's nothing good about corporal punishment (students are "swatted" for speaking Spanish during an English lit class), of course, but the lack of Mexican food in the cafeteria and the fact that school bathrooms are closed during lunch are hardly issues of earth-shattering importance. The students persist nonetheless, leading to mass boycotts (the titular "walkouts"), the predictable over-reaction by police and other authorities, and, eventually, some tangible results. All of this is presented by director Edward James Olmos (who also has a small onscreen role) and three screenwriters in the kind of earnest, inspiring style of a TV movie of the week (the film originally aired on HBO in 2006). But while Walkout is hardly what you'd call "edgy," its efforts to refute stereotypes and promote Mexican-American cultural awareness are nothing if not admirable. Bonus features include three audio commentary tracks, with participation by Olmos, the writers, and executive producer Moctesuma Esparza, who was part of the student movement (and is portrayed in the film). --Sam GrahamDescription
From the producer of Selena and directed by award-winning actor Edward James Olmos comes the stirring true story of courage and justice. The year is 1968, the height of the national civil-rights movement. Paula Crisostomo (Alexa Vega, Spy Kids) is an idealistic honor student who refuses to "play it safe" in a school system that discriminates against Mexican-Americans. Together with thousands of supporters, she coordinates a multi-school walkout of students to protest academic prejudices. Mentored by her charismatic teacher Sal Castro (Michael Pena, Million Dollar Baby), and with the help of her friend Bobby (Efran Ramirez, Napoleon Dynamite), Paula learns that sometimes the price of progress is high - but it?s ultimately worth paying.
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General Idi Amin Dada - Criterion Collection
Starring: Idi Amin , Fidel Castro , and Golda Meir Director: Barbet Schroeder Manufacturer: Criterion ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD Similar Items:
ASIN: B000063N7E Release Date: 2002-05-14 |
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When Barbet Schroeder released his documentary General Idi Amin Dada in 1974, it must have been quite a sensation. Amin gave full cooperation to Schroeder (the documentary carries the subtitle "Self Portrait"), sitting for numerous interviews, stage-managing a series of public appearances in front of adoring crowds, and even scoring the film with his accordion music. Is this joking, amiable "man of the people" the same dictator who put 300,000 people to death between 1971 and 1979? Perhaps it's his anti-Semitic ravings, or his fetish for artillery and military finery, or the aggression that drifts through almost every speech, but there's a schism between the media-managed image and the weirdness and violence churning under his wide smile. Periodic narration strips the façade off a few staged scenes and underscores others with historical background. But apart from the opening footage of a chilling state-sanctioned execution, Schroeder lets the schizophrenic portrait stand on its own: a preening, vain, psychotic clown as aspiring Hitler. It's a curious document, one Amin first embraced, then denounced, but almost 30 years later it isn't enough to answer the questions surrounding this brutal despot. --Sean AxmakerDescription
In 1971, the small African nation of Uganda was taken over by self-styled dictator General Idi Amin Dada, beginning an eight-year reign of terror that would result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands. In this chilling yet darkly comic documentary, director Barbet Schroeder turns his cameras on the infamous tyrant, revealing the dynamic, charming, and appallingly dangerous man whose fanatical neuroses held an entire nation in their grip. Made with the full support and participation of the infamous dictator, General Idi Amin Dada provides a candid and disturbing portrait of one of the 20th century's most notorious figures.
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The Driver
Starring: Ryan O'Neal , Bruce Dern , Isabelle Adjani , Ronee Blakley , and Matt Clark Director: Walter Hill Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD Similar Items:
ASIN: B0007ZEOC8 Release Date: 2005-06-07 |
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A tres cool mix of noirish grit and slam-bang action this caper film from director Walter Hill (48 Hrs, The Warriors) is required viewing for car-chase fanatics and devotees of '70s cinema. Ryan O'Neal and Bruce Dern are terrific as opposite sides of the law: respectively, a supernaturally skilled getaway car driver, and the dogged detective who's pursued him at the expense of all else. For his second feature film, Hill keeps dialogue and character development at bare-bones level (the characters are named after their primary function: O'Neal is the Driver, the stunning Isabelle Adjani is the Connection) and focuses on mood, tone, and, above all, some of the most stunning automotive action captured on film. The DVD offers widescreen and fullscreen versions of the film; unfortunately, a number of scenes cut from the theatrical release, including a prologue featured in The Driver's TV prints, were not included in this long-awaited DVD release. --Paul GaitaDescription
Ryan O'Neal drives the getaway car for his buddies' robberies. Bruce Dern is determined to catch him.
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The Dark Wind
Starring: Lance Baker , Betty C. Barlow , Gary Basaraba , Billy Beck , and Arlene Bowman Director: Errol Morris Manufacturer: Lions Gate ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD Similar Items:
ASIN: B0000JCFN6 Release Date: 2003-12-16 |
Product Description
Filmed on location, The Dark Wind brings to life the popular hero of several Tony Hillerman best-sellers, Navajo Cop Jim Chee. Chee (Lou Diamond Philips) is a student of the old ways who wanted to be a medicine man before he became a lawman. Now as a cop covering the Arizona Territories belonging to the Hopi and Navajo Indians, he's torn between both worlds.
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Fidel: The Untold Story
Starring: Fidel Castro , Alice Walker , Nelson Mandela , Ted Turner , and Elián González (II) Director: Estela Bravo Manufacturer: First Run Features ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD Similar Items:
ASIN: B00009IAYC Release Date: 2003-07-22 |
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Balseros
Starring: Bill Clinton , Fidel Castro , Maria Celeste Arraras , Rafael Cano (II) , and Miriam Hernández (II) Director: Carlos Bosch , and Josep Maria Domènech Manufacturer: New Video Group ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD Similar Items:
ASIN: B00092ZT5U Release Date: 2005-07-26 |
Description
An Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature, BALSEROS is the heartrending yet triumphant account of seven Cuban refugees--and their families--who risked their lives to venture towards America's shores on homemade rafts. The Village Voice raves that BALSEROS is an "engrossing documentary" with an "extraordinary sense of recording stories as they unfold!" While Presidents Clinton and Fidel Castro argued over the closing of Cuba's coast in the chaotic summer of 1994, nearly 50,000 "balseros" (a slang term for Cuban rafters) set out towards Florida, navigating the shark-infested waters on vessels made of wood, nails, and tar. The television reporting team of Carles Bosch and Josep M. Domènech began filming this remarkable story over those landmark 15 days. Then, as most of the rafters were picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard, Bosch and Domènech continued to follow their lively cast of characters, some of whom were detained for more than a year at the Guantanamo naval base before finally being allowed onto American soil.
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The Weather Underground
Starring: Charles Manson , Martin Luther King , Billy Ayers , Todd Gitlin , and Kathleen Cleaver Director: Sam Green (II) , and Bill Siegel Manufacturer: New Video Group ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD Similar Items:
ASIN: B0001LYFKO Release Date: 2004-05-25 |
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The key players in the radical movement known as the Weather Underground are skillfully brought to life in this Oscar-nominated documentary. The Weathermen were born of sixties protest, but took their scheme to overthrow the U.S. government to especially violent extremes. Never a well-populated movement, the Underground petered out as its leaders aged during the seventies; by decade's end, weary of hiding, most of them had turned themselves over to the authorities. That journey, by which a fire-breathing revolutionary such as Bernadine Dohrn became a (still fiery) gray-haired wife and mother, is an intriguing one. This film, rich in period footage (and some unnecessary sensationalism) captures the era somewhat broadly. But the present-day interviews with the participants, contrasted with their radical selves, provides an exceptionally detailed look inside the organization itself. It's not a nostalgic look back, and the overall mood is sobering rather than celebratory. Lili Taylor provides the narration. --Robert Horton
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Fidel
Starring: Víctor Huggo Martin , Gael García Bernal , Patricia Velasquez , Cecilia Suárez , and Maurice Compte Director: David Attwood Manufacturer: Lions Gate ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD Similar Items:
ASIN: B0000640RU Release Date: 2002-05-21 |
Product Description
In 1959, Fidel Castro's tiny band of rebels toppled a corrupt Cuban dictatorship. Forty years later, Castro remains in power, incredibly surviving a CIA-led invasion, a missile crisis, eight assassination attempts, nine U.S. presidents and the fall of his Soviet allies.
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Luminarias
Starring: Scott Bakula , Richard Coca , Marta Du Bois , Angelina Estrada , and Evelina Fernandez Director: Jose Luis Valenzuela Manufacturer: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD Similar Items:
ASIN: B000JLTRHM Release Date: 2007-01-02 |
Product Description
Nominated for Outstanding Feature Film at the 2001 Alma Awards. DVD Features include: Optional Spanish Subtitles, Behind "Luminarias", Deleted Scenes, Director's Commentary.DVD:
DVD
Herbert Von Karajan - His Legacy for Home Video: Antonin Dvo