The Big Empty

Starring:James McManus, Ellen Goldwasser, Pablo Bryant, H.M. Wynant, Lee Holmes (II), Jack Grabow, Karen Sederholm, Anna Simone Scott, Linda Sue Murphy, Valerie Vigil, Tara Agace, Michael Womack, Fred A. Robbins, Paul Crowder, Joseph Anthony (III), George D. Amoroso, Rob Gage (II), Patrick Cruz, David Campbell (XI), Linda Brahm
Director: Jack Perez
Studio: Vanguard Cinema
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

DVD problems
A WILD, FASCINATING, QUIRKY RIDE INTO "THE BIG EMPTY"
Misterious!
Coen Brothers Meet David Lynch
What do people see in this film?

The Big Empty
Starring: Jon Favreau , Joey Lauren Adams , Bud Cort , Jon Gries , and Daryl Hannah
Director: Steve Anderson (IX)
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0001FGBSE
Release Date: 2004-04-20

Customer Reviews:

DVD problems.......2007-04-07

I have bought 5 different copies of this film, and none will play without pixelating/sound problems. I have a near-new major-name-brand player.

Buyer beware.

A WILD, FASCINATING, QUIRKY RIDE INTO "THE BIG EMPTY".......2006-03-21

Five Spooky Stars! Where has this one been hiding? Mystery is the key here in this independent film and there's plenty of it right up to the very wild end. This film is somewhat in the area code of NIck Cage's "Red Rock West" at the beginning, but it goes in another direction after it gets going. Then what started out as a quirky film kicks it up a notch and becomes a really weird, enjoyable, and special DVD.

Premise: an out of work actor has huge bills, needs a job, and gets way more than he bargains for when he's offered work by a neighbor: because it leads him out into "the big empty". Can't give any more clues without the possibility of ruining it for you. My advice is to see it twice because you'll never see all of the clues the first time through. The second time through, the clues are like glowing neon lights.

The cast list may be misleading: you may not recognize some of the names, but you'll instantly know the faces of this wild ensemble. Jon Favreau is great as the lead. Sean Bean is wonderfully creepy, and Jon Gries, Adam Beach, Melora Walters, Gary Farmer and the rest of the crew are excellent. Kelsey Grammer is a surprise who adds alot of big name credibility to the movie. And, trust me, Rachael Leigh Cook gets my vote as flat out one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood. And there is one surprise actor that you won't recognize until the credits are rolling, which may prompt you to hit the reverse button fast. Incidentially, the first scene between Jon and Rachael is a real "hoot" that may slip past on the first viewing. Pay attention!

This movie, which went direct to DVD, is a wild ride and it's a keeper. It is exactly the type of discovery that many of us movie viewers look forward to, and when we find it, it's really a magical couple of hours that stick in the mind for years. Buckle up, this'll spin your head around. Check your Blue Bowling Balls at the door, please !! Five Mysterious Stars!!

(Note: "The Big Empty" (I love that title) is a great example of what independent film-making is all about. And this is why well-known actors give their time and talent for 'scale' wages: the results can be spectacularly satisfying for everyone involved on a level the public will never truly understand.)

Misterious!.......2006-02-14

Comedy at first, x-files after and twilight zone in the end. Overall: VERY GOOD!

Coen Brothers Meet David Lynch.......2005-10-19

Ever wonder what you would have if the Coen brothers collaborated with David Lynch on a small independent film? Destined for cult classic status, "The Big Empty" is a strange blend of "Mulholland Drive" and "The Big Lebowski". So if you liked either or both of these classics you should track down the DVD, it has important special features that shed a little light on just what writer/director Steve Anderson was trying to communicate with this interesting film.

I have beefed up this comment a little since my original viewing because I have found "The Big Empty" gets even better with repeated viewings. The wry humor can best be enjoyed when you are not wrestling with the progress of the story itself.

I have heard that there are deleted scenes that show him taking this thing in the direction of the old "Twilight Zone" episode where the aliens entice humans to a planetary paradise with a book titled "Serving Humans", which actually turns out to be a cook book. There are also elements reminiscent of that suicide cult in San Diego in the mid-1990's.

"The Big Empty" has some relatively big names in its cast including Kelsey Grammar (a FBI agent), Joe Gries (from "The Pretender"), Rachel Leigh Cook (the town Lolita), and Darryl Hannah (Lolita's Mother). For the first time a Cook character is very sexy, it must be the hair style. The performances and deadpan humor save the day as the story itself is a little too expressionistic and open-ended for most viewers.

Although the film gets off to a quick start and is never boring, Anderson (in the Lynch tradition) has to cheat and leave some things resolved at the end, because it is simply impossible to tie all the disparate elements together conventionally. But this makes for interesting discussion with other members of "The Big Empty" cult.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

What do people see in this film?.......2005-03-20

This wasnt a bad film but it wasnt a brilliant film ether. I had read a lot of great reveiws on this movie before buying a copy and I have to say that I am very disapointed in this film. I would suggest that you first rent this movie as it is quite a bizare film.

Big Easy to Big Empty: The Untold Story of the Drowning of New Orleans

Average customer rating:

What you didn't know, but should, about New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina

Big Easy to Big Empty: The Untold Story of the Drowning of New Orleans
Starring: Greg Palast
Manufacturer: Disinformation
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000PAAIQ6
Release Date: 2007-06-05

Description

"A standing ovation. Extraordinary. Astonishing." - Gil Noble, ABC TV

"Greg Palast is America's best investigative reporter." - Randi Rhodes, Air America

August 29th 2006 marked the one year anniversary of the devastation in New Orleans caused by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This Special Greg Palast Report brings you exclusive footage and the stories you won't hear on the other networks -- the hidden political agendas and the suppressed eyewitness reports.

In this half-hour film, Greg Palast and his team travel to New Orleans to investigate what has happened since Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast last year. He examines why residents had to leave, what really caused the flood and why they aren't returning.

On August 22, 2006, reporter Greg Palast and producer Matt Pascarella were charged with criminal violations of the anti-terror laws by the Department of Homeland Security while making Big Easy to Big Empty. And there is no doubt, this film is dangerous - to the regime of Washington.

Here is the real story of Hurricane Katrina you won't get on CNN. You'll follow investigative reporter Palast ("a cross between Sam Spade and Sherlock Holmes" - Jim Hightower) as he travels to New Orleans to investigate what has happened since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. On his visit, Palast discovers the population of New Orleans is minuscule, the reconstruction sparse, suicide rates climbing, and that many citizens have not, nor do they even know how to return to the city that care forgot. Palast exposes how:

-The White House would not tell the state police that the levees of the city were about to burst and drown the disabled residents left behind.

-How poor residents of the city were marched out of their houses at gunpoint-and now kept out by barbed wire in a scheme to turn New Orleans into a whiter, more Republican tourist town, "Six Flags Over Louisiana."

Palast takes you inside the offices of the political cronies of the Bush Administraion who planned the evacuation-until he's thrown out by perps. You'll get a look inside FEMA's "Guantanamo on wheels" for Katrina survivors.

Extras include:

* Tomorrow's New Orleans: Whose City Will it Be? A no-holds-barred, half-hour conversation with Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!); Greg and Amy discuss who is accountable for the ongoing disastrous situation in New Orleans and Washington's continuing attack on the survivors of Katrina.

* An audio excerpt on Katrina and New Orleans from Palast's New York Times Bestseller, Armed Madhouse.

* Special extended interviews from Louisiana State University's Hurricane Center and the inspiring crew that is fighting to rebuild their city against the odds.

* Crescent City Music, The "New Orleans Comes Alive-One Year Later" slideshow and more.

* Contains a Collector's Edition booklet with the exclusive essay "Busted" by Greg Palast.

Customer Reviews:

What you didn't know, but should, about New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina.......2007-07-05

This story is filmed at the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in August of 2006 and it explores 3 basic themes in its short run. It begins with a look at the evacuation of New Orleans and continues on to why the massive flooding occurred the way it did and eventually ends up investigating why previous residents don't return home.

Much of this material was not reported by mainstream media and was kept quiet by the government for reasons that will become very clear shortly. Starting off with evacuation, the Bush administration hired a private contractor, Innovative Emergency Management (IEM), to accomplish the planning of evacuating New Orleans of which they were paid a half a million dollars. Due to their substandard efforts, approximately 127,000 people were left behind and many died in the ensuing storm and floods. Greg Palast actually goes to the IEM headquarters in Baton Rouge and finds that no evidence of an evacuation plan really existed and gets no cooperation or answers from company executives. Upon further research, he does find that IEM makes large donations to the Republican Party though. From the words of a former city councilman of New Orleans in this segment, two words describe this entire mess rather distinctly - `Reckless Negligence'.

Taking a close look at the flooding of New Orleans and the poor levee situation reveals some interesting and disturbing information also. When Greg Palast visited the Louisiana State University (they have some of the best hurricane experts in the nation), he talked to a weather expert there that created a superior evacuation plan that FEMA and Washington refused to look at before it was too late. He also determined that, long before the hurricane hit, the levee height was too low and they would probably fail altogether in a major storm. Again, the government turned a blind eye. And finally, FEMA waited until long after the levees collapsed to notify the New Orleans emergency operations center.

The third portion of this story may end up being the most inflammatory of all due to its sinister implications. Upon returning to New Orleans, many residents arrived at their former apartment buildings to find the doors and windows sealed with metal plates and some were even warned off the premises by law enforcement officials. Mind you, these are dwellings that were never touched by storm water or flooding and many of them are still in pristine condition. The fact of the matter is this - these residences are on prime real estate property between the downtown New Orleans business district and the French Quarter. It seems that for years, the city and speculators wanted these people out of this area and Hurricane Katrina was the excuse they needed. For all intents and purposes, it appears that someone wants to transform the climate of New Orleans to a degree that will benefit some but will eventually end up hurting many more.

`Big Easy to Big Empty', although too short in my opinion, is a thought provoking and disquieting documentary for the most part. Even though there isn't any debate or counter-point shown from the government's side, you wonder if it is really needed knowing their lackluster efforts in helping people after this disaster occurred. Furthermore, it seems that Greg Palast may have been right on the money with all this information here and he was starting to make Washington nervous. So much so that after the first broadcast of this film, the Department of Homeland Security tried to file a criminal complaint against him in the form of `filming critical infrastructure' but the charge was later dropped. It really makes you wonder.

Average customer rating:

This Movie Bites!
Genre-busting Movie with "The Thrill of film Noir!" ...

The Big Empty
Starring: James McManus , Ellen Goldwasser , Pablo Bryant , H.M. Wynant , and Lee Holmes (II)
Director: Jack Perez
Manufacturer: Vanguard Cinema
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

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

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Customer Reviews:

This Movie Bites!.......2002-05-02

As a big fan of independent films (which this is) I was all looking forward to this film.. it looked rather dark noir-ish and that's a genre I enjoy, when done well. As it turns out, however, this is the most dull and senseless movie I've seen in quite a while. There is no real mystery, per se. And the acting is atrocious. In a nutshell, the plot is basically this.. a woman sees her husband cheating on her and so calls a Detective. The P.I. falls in love with her because she's so "naive" and "beautiful." He finds out, eventually, that it's true that her husband cheated on her. He tells her, she moves in with him. They eat Mexican food together but don't do much talking. (her only line for almost 20 minutes is "I don't want to talk." She says it over and over again.) Eventually, she leaves the Detective and gets back together with her husband. We don't know why. We don't care why.
This is not a plot. This is a rough draft sketch of a plot. And this movie is a big bummer.

Genre-busting Movie with "The Thrill of film Noir!" ..........2002-03-31

a darkly-comic private eye pic. about a desperately-alienated L.A. gumshoe who uses the tools of his trade to manipulate the lives of the woman who hired him and the adulterous husband he's shadowing. This is a movie described by the honors graduate from NYU Film school, as having emotional complexity and characters who transcend labels of "sympathetic" or "unsympathetic"-- a picture that is both entertaining and genuinely resonate like so many of the best of the best films.

Average customer rating:

DVD problems
A WILD, FASCINATING, QUIRKY RIDE INTO "THE BIG EMPTY"
Misterious!
Coen Brothers Meet David Lynch
What do people see in this film?

The Big Empty
Starring: Jon Favreau , Joey Lauren Adams , Bud Cort , Jon Gries , and Daryl Hannah
Director: Steve Anderson (IX)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

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

Extremely Dangerous
Fool's Gold - The Story of the Brink's-Mat Robbery
Stateside
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ASIN: B00005JMNF

Customer Reviews:

DVD problems.......2007-04-07

I have bought 5 different copies of this film, and none will play without pixelating/sound problems. I have a near-new major-name-brand player.

Buyer beware.

A WILD, FASCINATING, QUIRKY RIDE INTO "THE BIG EMPTY".......2006-03-21

Misterious!.......2006-02-14

Comedy at first, x-files after and twilight zone in the end. Overall: VERY GOOD!

Coen Brothers Meet David Lynch.......2005-10-19

What do people see in this film?.......2005-03-20

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