Salt & Friends: Humpback Whales With Names

Studio: The Whale Video Company
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
Humpback whales are by far the most fun to see in the ocean or from the comfort of your favorite sofa. They are the whales most likely to jump out of the water, feed on fish with a mouth wide open or come up and visit you beside your boat! Salt & Friends was produced to make you feel like you are visiting whales in their world.

Salt is a real humpback whale. Salt & Friends is the fabulous story of fifteen named humpback whales and their families. Unlike most other whale programs, this 60 minute award-winning visit with whales, includes more than 55 minutes of exciting and often unbelievable whale footage.

Salt is the first whale to be given a name and studied for more than 30 years. During this period of time, she has thrilled whale watchers by bringing nine different calves right up to the side of their boats! Each calf has also been named and one female calf has now made Salt, a grandmother.

Salt is indeed the most sighted and most loved whale in the world. Over the years, millions of whale watchers have ventured offshore for a chance to meet this amazing and awe-inspiring humpback whale. Read the Director's Comments for a listing of the other humpback whales highlighted.

Amazon.com

The first, and only, X-rated film to win a best picture Academy Award, John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy seems a lot less daring today (and has been reclassified as an R), but remains a fascinating time capsule of late-1960s sexual decadence in mainstream American cinema. In a career-making performance, Jon Voight plays Joe Buck, a naive Texas dishwasher who goes to the big city (New York) to make his fortune as a sexual hustler. Although enthusiastic about selling himself to rich ladies for stud services, he quickly finds it hard to make a living and eventually crashes in a seedy dump with a crippled petty thief named Ratzo Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman, doing one of his more effective "stupid acting tricks," with a limp and a high-pitch rasp of a voice). Schlesinger's quick-cut, semi-psychedelic style has dated severely, as has his ruthlessly cynical approach to almost everybody but the lead characters. But at its heart the movie is a sad tale of friendship between a couple of losers lost in the big city, and with an ending no studio would approve today. It's a bit like an urban Of Mice and Men, but where both guys are Lenny. --Jim Emerson

Description

Daring. Provocative. Shocking. Compelling. Nearly thirty years after its original release, "Midnight Cowboy is still heartbreakingand timeless" (The New York Observer). This Academy AwardÂ(r) winner* for Best Picture, Director and Screenplay also boasts OscarÂ(r)-nominated** performances by Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, neither of whom have "ever been better on screen than they are here" (Chicago Tribune)! When Joe Buck (Voight), a good-looking,naively charming Texas "cowboy" makes his way to the Big Apple to seek his fortune, the only wealthhe finds is in the friendship of Ratso Rizzo (Hoffman), a scrounging, sleazy, small-time con man with big dreams. Living on the tattered fringe of society, these two outcasts develop an unlikely bond one that transcends their broken dreams and get-rich-quick schemes and makes Midnight Cowboy "that rarest of things: [a film] every bit as moving now as it was when it was [first] released" (Premiere). *1969 **1969: Actor

Customer Reviews:

Midnight Cowboy.......2007-06-28

Two years after "The Graduate," Hoffmann transformed himself into an ailing derelict in director Schlesinger's dark, intense "Midnight Cowboy." A story of friendship born of desperation in Manhattan's grimy underbelly, "Cowboy" was at the vanguard of a new kind of Hollywood movie in the late '60s--gritty, complex, and unidealized. Despite an initial "X" rating, the film won Oscars for best picture, director, and screenplay, and both Hoffman and newcomer Voight were nominated for their gutsy, raw performances. Hoffman's Rizzo is particularly astounding.

Oddly touching.......2007-06-12

This movie brings the viewer to the places that people like to ignore. What it ultimately shows is that there is humanity and empathy to be found in even the most jaded of individuals.

Texas meets New York on a crash collision course!!!.......2007-05-28

Even though this movie is old, it's still could have been relevent today. A young John Voigt plays a Hustler from Texas who's just too nice. Dustin Hoffman plays Ricco, a petty thief from the streets of New York. Both from many miles apart, but with the same disease, lonelyness. With many classic 60's scenes, and plenty of character development, this film has it all. Rent it, buy it, but make sure you have seen it. A classic.

My favorite movie.......2007-04-25

I saw Midnight Cowboy, in 1969, and was greatly moved. It's a sad but very worthy film, which left me feeling somewhat wiser. I would particularly recommend it to those who came of age in the late sixties. The party scene might look like farce to someone who didn't experience that period. One of my favorite things about this movie is the Toots Thielmans harmonica in the Midnight Cowboy instrumental theme. It's beautiful. I also like "Old Man Willow" by Elephant's Memory.

Dustin collection.......2007-04-11

What a classic!! Good sound and picture, and if you want to see Jon and Dustin starting out, get this dvd!!!

Average customer rating:

Laugh Out Loud Funny
Top 5 Woody Allen
Play it again, Woody
A Classic
witty and authentically Woody Allen.......

Play It Again, Sam
Starring: Woody Allen , Diane Keaton , Tony Roberts , Jerry Lacy , and Susan Anspach
Director: Herbert Ross
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

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

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

Take the Money and Run (Full Screen Edition)
Sleeper
Love and Death
Annie Hall
Bananas

ASIN: B00005NVDF
Release Date: 2001-10-23

Amazon.com essential video

Written for the stage and coherently opened up for the screen by veteran director Herbert Ross, Play It Again, Sam is closer to a conventional comedy than Woody Allen's more self-contained films, but his smart script and archetypal hero-nebbish achieve a special charm aimed squarely at movie buffs. Allen is Allan Felix, a film critic on the rebound after his wife's desertion trying to brave the choppy waters of born-again bachelorhood and struggling to reconcile his celluloid obsessions with the hazards of real-world dating. His apartment is a shrine to Humphrey Bogart, and it's none other than Bogey himself who materializes at strategic moments to counsel Allan on romantic strategy. He gets more corporeal aid from his married friends, Linda (Diane Keaton) and Dick (Tony Roberts), who try to orchestrate prospective matches and reassure him when those chemistry experiments explode. When Allan finds himself falling in love with Linda, the dissonance between fantasy and reality proves both funny and poignant--a precursor to the deeper emotionalism missing from the star's earlier directorial efforts that was soon to inform Allen's most affecting '70s comedies. It's also the start of his onscreen relationship with Keaton, further underscoring Allen's evolution toward a more satisfying contemplation of the friction between head and heart. --Sam Sutherland

Customer Reviews:

Laugh Out Loud Funny.......2007-07-02

Play It Again, Sam, written by and starring Woody Allen is just plain hilarious. Full of sight gags and tremendous one-liners, this is Woody at his "slapstick" funniest. Diane Keaton is great as Woody's friend and advisor. They have an excellent chemistry. The movie takes place in San Francisco, and is full of excellent imagery. Fun and fast-paced, this is a 4 star Woody Allen film well-worth the minor time investment (85 minutes).

Top 5 Woody Allen.......2007-04-16

It has almost been forgotten that this film was not directed by Woody Allen - but this makes no difference it is still one of his greatest films.
We start the film with Allan Felix (Allen) watching Casablanca in the Cinema and feebly impersonating Bogart as he leaves the Cinema. The film proceeds with an imaginary Bogart advising Allan on how to deal with Women. Allan as you would expect is pretty hopeless!
This film is consistently funny with the blind date scene being one of the greatest comedy scenes ever filmed.
The script (based on Woody Allens own stage play) is full of great dialog, as you would expect.
Diane Keaton is wonderful in her role, and Tony Roberts is very funny in his supporting role as the business man who leaves a telephone number so he can be contacted everywhere he goes.
"I'll be at 362-9296 for a while; then I'll be at 648-0024 for about fifteen minutes; then I'll be at 752-0420; and then I'll be home, at 621-4598"
Remember this film was made more than a decade before mobile phones even existed in brick form.
The film finishes with a great recreation of the end of Casablanca.
If you don't like Woody Allen then you probably won't like this. However, if you have any appreciation of Woody and haven't seen this, you should buy this DVD now.

Play it again, Woody.......2007-04-06

Directed by Herbert Ross, "Play It Again, Sam" (1972) is Woody Allen's film from the beginning to the final credits. Allen wrote the screenplay based on his Broadway play and he starred as Allan, a neurotic movie buff who writes the film reviews (what else?). Allan not just loves movies; he lives in the movies' world and constantly takes advices on how to get the girls from the legendary hero of his all time favorite movie "Casablanca", Humphrey Bogart's Rick. I am not a fan of "Casablanca" at all but if my favorite Artist is so much in love with it, maybe I should give it another try.

When Allan's wife Nancy leaves him, his best friend Dick (Tony Roberts) and his lovely wife Linda (Diane Keaton) try to fix him up with several eligible pretty young ladies. Very typically for Woody's characters, he is a total failure with them. The only woman he feels comfortable with, he shares the same insecurities and neuroses, the one whose Birthday he remembers and who he desperately wants is Linda, his best friend's wife. "Play It Again, Sam" is a remarkable movie for several reasons and one of them - it was the beginning of a wonderful working (and not only) relationship between Allen and Keaton that would result in the movies "Bananas" (1971), "Sleeper" (1973), "Love and Death" (1975), "Annie Hall" (1977), "Interiors" (1978), "Manhattan" (1979), "Radio Days" (1987), and "Manhattan Murder Mystery" (1993) and will bring them both well deserved fame and Oscars. Made 34 years ago, "Play It Again, Sam" holds up very well and I would call it my favorite earlier Woody's film and the best Woody's film that he has not directed.

A Classic .......2007-03-25

A classic must have for any Woody Allen fan, especially fans of his early work. The movie cleverly incorporates Humphrey Bogart (indistinguishable from the real Bogart)as his character in 'Casablanca' (where this Woody Allen movie derives its title) tutoring an inept, timid Allen in the arts of wooing. The movie brilliantly incorporates Bogart and 'Casablanca' into the script, including key quotes and even ending with the same final scene. A Woody Allen masterpiece.SleeperAnnie Hall

witty and authentically Woody Allen..............2007-02-18

Allan Felix (Woody Allen), a movie critic and avid fan of Humphrey Bogart, must re-acquaint himself with the bachelor lifestyle after his wife leaves him. He looks to his best friend, Dick (Tony Roberts) and his wife, Linda (a very young Diane Keaton) for help. Allan is a clumsy nebbish and is visited by the spirit of Humphrey Bogart (Jerry Lacy) who gives him advice in wooing the ladies--specifically Linda, who he finds himself falling for, and finds an opportunity to declare his love for her when Dick is out of town. What will Allan do? This clumsy, awkward and very neurotic man cannot be himself around any woman, once he has a romantic interest in her. Linda is the one woman he feels he can really be himself with.

This film runs parallel to the plot of CASABLANCA. For those of you who have seen it, you know what happens. For those of you who haven't, I won't ruin the story......you'll just have to see it. This is goofy slapstick and classic Woody Allen. Check it out......

Average customer rating:

Nazis on the Run Across Canada in an Episodic, Pip-Pip Propaganda Epic
49th Parallel
how many americans today realize it took us more than 2 years to enter the "good" war?
Another great Powell and Pressburger film
Excellent WWII Propaganda piece from Powell and Pressburger... Fine DVD presentation from Criterion

49th Parallel - Criterion Collection
Starring: Richard George , Eric Portman , Raymond Lovell , Niall MacGinnis , and Peter Moore (XII)
Director: Michael Powell
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

Adventure | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Military & War | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

All | Criterion Collection | Stores | DVD | Video

Green for Danger - Criterion Collection
Naked City - Criterion Collection
Brute Force (Criterion Collection)
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs: Criterion Collection
Overlord (Criterion Collection)

ASIN: B000KRNGN6
Release Date: 2007-02-20

Amazon.com

During World War II, Michael Powell and his writer-producer partner Emeric Pressberger were enlisted to make films in support of the British war effort. While many of their contemporaries turned out routine thrillers, Powell and Pressberger created inventive dramas with a patriotic purpose. The 1941 adventure The 49th Parallel, about a small German U-boat crew stranded in Canada off Hudson's Bay, is a prime example of wartime propaganda turned into rousing entertainment with smart writing, engaging characters, and creative cinema. As the Germans traverse the length of Canada, attempting to outrun authorities while seeking a passage to the still-neutral United States, they encounter a wide array of citizens from all walks of life, including French Canadian trapper Laurence Olivier (with a perhaps overenthusiastic accent), Hutterites Anton Walbrook and Glynis Johns, intellectual aesthete Leslie Howard, and two-fisted AWOL soldier Raymond Massey. As the Nietzschian sermons of Nazi leader Hirth (Eric Portman) fall on deaf ears, his party dwindles in number as the people of Canada rise up to stop his escape, not so much with violence as with pure defiance. The rhetoric isn't subtle--the film was designed to both strengthen ties to Canada and encourage America's entrance into the war--but the vivid location shooting provides a marvelous travelogue of Canada's landscapes and natural beauty and a loving portrait of the rich culture north of the 49th parallel. The picture earned Emeric Pressberger an Academy Award for his original story. This movie is also known as The Invaders. --Sean Axmaker

Amazon.com

At once a compelling piece of anti-isolationist propaganda and a quick-witted wartime thriller, 49th Parallel is a classic early work from the inimitable British filmmaking team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. When a Nazi U-boat crew, headed by the ruthless Eric Portman, is stranded in Canada during the thick of World War II, the men evade capture by hiding out in a series of rural communities, before trying to cross the border into the United States. Both soul-stirring and delightfully entertaining, 49th Parallel features a colorful cavalcade of characters played by larger-than-life actors Laurence Olivier, Raymond Massey, Anton Walbrook, and Leslie Howard.

Customer Reviews:

Nazis on the Run Across Canada in an Episodic, Pip-Pip Propaganda Epic.......2007-07-01

The Criterion Collection saw fit to release this 1941 British propaganda film in an elaborate two-disc set, but the circumstances behind the production are actually more interesting than the resulting film showcased in a fine print on the 2007 disc. In their third collaboration, director Michael Powell and screenwriter Eric Pressburger were requested by the British Government's Ministry of Information to make a movie that would encourage the U.S. to join the Allied forces to defeat the Nazis, all this months prior to Pearl Harbor. As it stands, the film serves as a piercing if somewhat dogmatic indictment of the absolutist Nazi rhetoric and the simple-minded brutality borne out of it. The title refers to the border between the U.S. and Canada, which is immediately identified by the narrator as "the only undefended frontier in the world".

Enter a German U-boat, which gets sunk in Canadian waters, while six Nazi soldiers look for food and supplies on land. Suddenly stranded in a country not only alien to them but also hostile to their point of view, the rest of the plot is about how these men attempt to find a way to get out of Canada and back to Germany. They make their way westward meeting various people who react to their presence in divergent ways. The film's most intriguing and challenging aspect is how the soldiers are presented in various shades of fanaticism from the uncompromising zealot, Lieutenant Hirth, to the passive resistance of Vogel, who wants to abandon the cause to become a baker. The episodic structure accommodates several famous stars in condensed roles, the most familiar being Laurence Olivier as a French-Canadian fur-trapper and Leslie Howard as a reclusive aesthete. Olivier's cameo is particularly shameless with an overripe accent that portends the hamminess of his twilight career roles, while Howard's has a touch of ironic poignancy given his death from a German fighter attack soon after production was completed.

The most interesting passage occurs when the soldiers happen upon a Hutterite farming community in Manitoba, an Amish-like oasis of pacifist civility that must have served as the inspiration for Peter Weir's "Witness". Eric Portman plays the soulless Hirth with a barely concealed rage and a wavering Teutonic accent, while Niall MacGinniss subtly shows the inner conflict of a man having doubts about the necessity of a master race. Long before Mary Poppins and While You Were Sleeping, Glynis Johns, all of 17, affectingly plays a naïve Hutterite girl intrigued by the soldiers. There is evidence of Powell's and Pressburger's compelling cinematic style in various shots (like the plane crash sequence), and revered British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams composed the atmospheric score the beautifully underlines much of the action.

For all its good intentions, however, the film is compromised by a narrative that rarely inspires and other than the Nazi portrayals, characters that often seem cardboard-thin. Film historian Bruce Eder provides academic commentary on an alternate track on the first disc, while the second disc consists of three major components. The first is a 46-minute short, "The Volunteer", starring Ralph Richardson as himself as he shows a theater dresser preparing to entering military service. The second is an hour-long audio tape of Powell narrating parts of his autobiography, and the final piece is an entertaining hour-long 1981 documentary about Powell and Pressburger, although unfortunately it bypasses production of this film entirely.

49th Parallel.......2007-06-25

Also known as "The Invaders," and co-scripted by Powell's longtime partner Emeric Pressburger, this clever, rousing anti-fascist war thriller was one of Britain's boldest and most memorable propaganda pictures. Portman is mesmerizing as the wicked, hate-spouting Lt. Hirth, Walbrook, Howard, and Olivier (despite the heavy Quebecois accent) are uniformly excellent, and the distinguished Raymond Massey is also on-hand playing cynical AWOL soldier Andy Brock. Powell even brings a documentary-like intensity to the sequences filmed in Indian and Hutterite communities. Absorbing on many levels, "Parallel" is a soul-stirring drama that recaptures a tumultuous time.

how many americans today realize it took us more than 2 years to enter the "good" war?.......2007-05-12

the first of the powell-pressburger classics (the decade would see them go on to "the red shoes", "black narcissus", "tales of hoffman", and several others) is an episodic tale which counts as much as agitprop as a film. made partly to encourage americas entry into ww2, the film details the attempt of a stranded nazi u-boat crew in canada trying to make its way safely to the then-neutral united states. eric portman is the nazi captain (eerily presaging his role two decades later in "the bedford incident") who runs into (and up against) the likes of laurence olivier (hilariously hammy as a french canadian trapper), anton walbrook, leslie howard, and raymond massey. the movie is suspenseful and an oddity in that it has you most identifying with portman, its main character -- and a HIGHLY unsympathetic one at that. in such, its almost akin to "dr strangelove" where you found yourself rooting for the crew of the plane about to launch ww3! im not sure how effective this was as agitprop, but it IS a terrific movie (& oh, btw, the nazis DO get their just comeuppance thanks to good ol' canadian knowhow!)

Another great Powell and Pressburger film.......2007-05-02

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

49th Parallel which takes place during World War 2 about a group of German naval officers stranded in Canada after their submarine is destroyed in Hudson Bay by the Canadian Air Force. They decide to walk to the United States which has not yet entered the war. Along the way they encounter a Hutterite commune, a group of hunters and many other people.

This is a great film and has a rare depiction of the Hutterites in a major film. This alone makes it a great film in my opinion.

This DVD release is a double disc set.

Disc one contains the film with optional audio commentary by Bruce Eder and a theatrical trailer.

Disc two contains

"The Volunteer" a short film made by Powell and Pressburger film for the war effort.

"A Pretty British Affair" a documentary about Powell and Pressburger

and selections from Michael Powells dictations for his autobiography.

This is a great film and is the best Powell and Pressburger that I have seen so far

Excellent WWII Propaganda piece from Powell and Pressburger... Fine DVD presentation from Criterion.......2007-03-10

This was Powell and Pressburger's contribution to the British war effort. It's main aim was to help sway the American public into joining the war on the British side. By 1940, Britain and it's Empire, including Canada, were at war with Nazi Germany. America remained adamantly neutral. The US Neutrality Act forbade any direct appeal by the British to the American people but P&P sidestepped this by having the Germans stage a landing in Canada instead and showing how the Nazis were a threat even to far-away America.

The crew of the German raider U-37, after torpedoing a Canadian merchant ship, is sunk by the RCAF in northern Hudson Bay, near the Canadian Arctic (Talk of propaganda - as we learn in the commentary, the three B-10 bombers we see attacking the sub, actually made up the entire fleet of the RCAF in 1940). Six of the U-37 crew make it to shore alive. They have to cross hostile Canadian territory to reach the safety of neutral America. The film contrasts the kindness and decency of Canadians, emphasising their kinship with their American brethren to the south, against the brutality and inhumanity of the Nazis. As the U-37 crew trek southward, they encounter various Canadians who prove their loyalty in one way or another, often delivering ringing lectures about the rightness of the allied cause. Laurence Olivier is almost unrecognisable as the jolly French trapper whom the Nazis try to tempt by declaring that Hitler has sworn to free French Canadians from the tyranny of the British. Instead he risks his life trying to warn the Americans. Eskimo hunters (Inuit), described as semi-apes by the Nazis, manage to kill one of the Germans as they flee south. Leslie Howard plays to type, the caricature of the glib, upper-crust, Anglo-Canadian gentleman, totally uninterested in the war half a world away, but who finally stands up when it truly counts. Raymond Massey plays a Canadian soldier gone AWOL. We see Blackfoot Indians in full regalia, in the Canadian Rockies, staring balefully at the invaders, as the valiant RCMP hunt down the fugitives. Even German Canadians, in the form of a German Hutterite community (similar to the Amish), make their loyalty to Canada clear, when they proudly avow their German heritage while disdainfully forswearing any kinship with the Nazis. It is unabashed wartime propaganda and it is none too subtle. But it was and remains enjoyable. P&P won an Oscar for the film's original screenplay.

All 18 minutes worth of footage previously deleted from the American release has been replaced. This includes the German Lieutenant Hirst's exposition on Nazi racial theory, where he lumps the Canadian Eskimos (Inuit) together with Negroes as "semi-apes", just "one-degree" above the Jews. Also restored is the scene with the Inuit, Nick, lying dead on the floor with his skull shattered by a rifle butt. Also restored are references to the priest Father Malotte as a German spy - this latter sequence being deleted for fear of offending American Catholics. The ending works almost like an early Hitchcock thriller - will they or will they not reach the safety of America and what will the Americans do when they arrive?

The picture has been handsomely restored with only an occasional instance of dirt seen. It is presented in a slightly window-boxed 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Contrast, black level and grey scale are perfect. The sound is presented in its original 1.0 mono, with clear dialogue and fine music reproduction. Optional English subtitles are provided. There is an excellent full-length commentary from film and music historian Bruce Eder. Aside from the film he talks at some length on Ralph Vaughan Williams' fine score, relating it to Vaughan Williams' various other works. The first disc is rounded out with the original theatrical trailer.

The second disc contains three items. The first is another P&P wartime effort, "The Volunteer", a 46-minute recruitment film for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It stars then Lt. Cmdr. Ralph Richardson with a cameo by his friend Laurence Olivier. It has extensive footage of the FAA, which by then (1943) was equipped with the Seafire (naval variant of the famous Spitfire). We follow the Royal Navy as it sails around the Mediterranean with the Seafires being put through their paces. The second item is an hour-long audio exerpt from the memoirs of Michael Powell detailing the making of 49th Parallel. The final item is a 50-minute BBC Arts documentary "A Pretty British Affair" chronicling the life-long partnership of Powell and Pressburger with tributes from younger America directors like Francis Coppola and Martin Scorcese. Picture and sound are excellent throughout. There is a 10-page booklet with a fine article on P&P's various wartime efforts, followed by the transcript of Michael Powell's speech at the premier of 49th Parallel.

Note: The 49th Parallel refers to the US-Canada border, which as the film states at the beginning, remains the only undefended border in the world.

Midnight Cowboy (Two Disc Collector's Edition)

Average customer rating:

Midnight Cowboy
Oddly touching
Texas meets New York on a crash collision course!!!
My favorite movie
Dustin collection

Midnight Cowboy (Two Disc Collector's Edition)
Starring: Dustin Hoffman , Jon Voight , Sylvia Miles , John McGiver , and Brenda Vaccaro
Director: John Schlesinger
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

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

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

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The Graduate
Chinatown
Taxi Driver (Collector's Edition)
Annie Hall

ASIN: B000CRQX3E
Release Date: 2006-02-21

Amazon.com essential video

Description

Daring. Provocative. Shocking. Compelling. Nearly thirty years after its original release, "Midnight Cowboy is still heartbreakingand timeless" (The New York Observer). This Academy Award® winner* for Best Picture, Director and Screenplay also boasts Oscar®-nominated** performances by Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, neither of whom have "ever been better on screen than they are here" (Chicago Tribune)! When Joe Buck (Voight), a good-looking,naively charming Texas "cowboy" makes his way to the Big Apple to seek his fortune, the only wealthhe finds is in the friendship of Ratso Rizzo (Hoffman), a scrounging, sleazy, small-time con man with big dreams. Living on the tattered fringe of society, these two outcasts develop an unlikely bond one that transcends their broken dreams and get-rich-quick schemes and makes Midnight Cowboy "that rarest of things: [a film] every bit as moving now as it was when it was [first] released" (Premiere). *1969 **1969: Actor

Customer Reviews:

Midnight Cowboy.......2007-06-28

Oddly touching.......2007-06-12

This movie brings the viewer to the places that people like to ignore. What it ultimately shows is that there is humanity and empathy to be found in even the most jaded of individuals.

Texas meets New York on a crash collision course!!!.......2007-05-28

My favorite movie.......2007-04-25

Dustin collection.......2007-04-11

What a classic!! Good sound and picture, and if you want to see Jon and Dustin starting out, get this dvd!!!

Average customer rating:

Drown it!

Beneath Still Waters (Widescreen)
Starring: Esperanza De la Vega , David Meca , Manuel Manquiña , Patrick Gordon , and Ricard Borrás
Director: Brian Yuzna
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Horror | Genres | DVD | Video

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

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

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

Slaughter Night
Turistas (Unrated Edition)
Dead Mary
The Messengers
Sublime (Unrated Edition)

ASIN: B000MRNWJ2
Release Date: 2007-04-10

Description

A supernatural force is devouring the village of Marinbad and its inhabitants, and is threatening to spread beyond its geographical limits. A group of men from the village manage to convince the authorities to build a dam, which would flood the valley and therefore submerge the village forever, sealing the evil force under water. But something remained down in the depths when the waters covered Marinbad. Now, 40 years later, an array of disappearances and deaths in mysterious circumstances are threatening the village built next to the reservoir that now covers Marinbad.

Customer Reviews:

Drown it!.......2007-07-07

Beneath Still Waters... should stay underwater. All the ingredients were there to work, but it falls flat. They put everything in this one. The occult, satanism, zombies, and ghosts. Even the Blob made an appearance. The only thing missing were the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and maybe Superman. Wish I could give it half a star! Dont see it, dont even go near it!

Babes Going Bananas: "Shake It Like a Salt Shaker"

Average customer rating:

Do Not Waste Your Money
"Screening Copy Only" `watermark'???

Babes Going Bananas: "Shake It Like a Salt Shaker"
Starring: Babes Going Bananas
Manufacturer: Vendetta
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Babes Going Bananas: Rump Shaker
Booty Poppin Vol. 3: Atlanta Girls Uncut
Joe Pro: Still Crunk
ATL Unplugged, Pt. 2.5
Naked Butts & G-Strings (Adult)

ASIN: B000FP2Z3K
Release Date: 2006-07-18

Description

Babes going bananas brings you the hottest footage of some of the most beautiful thickest, freakiest and off the chain ladies from coast to coast.This is an ethnic version of girls gone wild and its primarily based out of the strip clubs, bike week and intimate up close and personal interviews this is the first of an ongoing series. Starring the lovely Cleo!

Customer Reviews:

Do Not Waste Your Money.......2007-01-24

This DvD is not even worth 5 dollars. The only reason I Purchased it was because of Ms. Cleo. It starts off with some guys asking her some Questions about her sex life for about 15 mins, Then she starts dancing (Which was the best part of the whole film). The second chapter has some Black Bike/Black College Weekend footage with mostly showed cars, Hardly any girls doing anything interesting. Then it ends with some Stripshow footage which was blurry and very short. I wish someone would have wrote this type of Review for me before I brought this damn DVD.

"Screening Copy Only" `watermark'???.......2006-12-02

Babes Going Bananas: "Shake It Like a Salt Shaker" 'appears' to have "Screening Copy Only" `watermarked' THROUGHOUT the ENTIRE dvd!?!? i feel it's a slight omission NOT to have mentioned this? i mean who, with any sense, is going to want their `Babes Going Bananas' with WRITING OVER THE BEST BITS???

Secrets of the Dead - Herculaneum Uncovered

Average customer rating:

Secrets of the Dead - Herculaneum Uncovered
Starring: Charlotte A. Roberts , Linnda R. Caporael , Michael W. Pitts , Liev Schreiber , and Martin Biddle
Director: Mark Lewis (VII) , Elizabeth Dobson , Henry Singer , Christopher Salt , and Alexander Marengo
Manufacturer: Pbs (Direct)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

All | PBS | Specialty Stores | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Secrets of the Dead - Headless Romans
Pan's Labyrinth (New Line Two-Disc Platinum Series)
The Dead Zone - The Complete Fifth Season
Alexander Hamilton
Eureka - Season One

ASIN: B000PFUA78
Release Date: 2007-06-05

Description

Just a few miles from fabled Pompeii is Herculaneum, another city buried and frozen in time by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Today, geo-archeologists are chipping away at the soft rock, revealing that this city, unlike Pompeii, was not suffocated by falling ash. Rather, it was engulfed by blistering pyroclastic flows that instantly caused horrific damage to those it encountered.

Average customer rating:

Small Miracles and big miracle in cinema.
Small Miracles a Heartwarming Story Set in Beautiful Wales
A little-known but wonderful film about faith
Correction for Product Detail - this movie doesn't have CC
a religious movie, not a mainstream movie

Small Miracles
Starring: John-Paul Macleod , Jonathan Pryce , Geraldine James , Matthew Rhys , and Robert Pugh
Director: Martin Duffy
Manufacturer: Questar
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

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

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

Magic Rock
The Dust Factory
I Am David
The Cure
Valley Between (2pc)

ASIN: B0006HC02I
Release Date: 2005-01-18

Description

This uplifting, international award-winning drama tells the profoundly moving coming-of-age story of 12-year-old Taliesin Jones (John Paul MacLeod), who is discovering girls, is bullied at school, and is struggling to get by at home. His mother (Geraldine James) has left, devastating Taliesin's father (Jonathan Pryce), a farmer, and embittered older brother. After witnessing his piano teacher (Ian Bannen) "heal" a woman's bad back, Taliesen embarks on a spiritual quest. He forms a secret society at his school, "The Believers." But his attempts to heal a classmate and his mentor's grave illness test his newfound faith.

Customer Reviews:

Small Miracles and big miracle in cinema........2006-12-14

I became totally absorbed in the movie the moment I began to watch it. For fear of revealing to much and ruining it for you, let me just say your heart will be warmed and you might even become a better person for watching this terrific piece of cinematic wonder. Highly Recommended!!!

Small Miracles a Heartwarming Story Set in Beautiful Wales.......2006-11-10

This film was originally titled The Testimony of Taliesin Jones. It is named for the hero, a little Welsh boy whose mother leaves his farm family for a life in town. His experiences are touching, and seem to involve a gift of healing.

Delightful, beautiful, deserves to be better known than it is.

A little-known but wonderful film about faith.......2006-08-31

This film has much to recommend it to both Christians and non-Christians as it tackles the issues of faith and what happens to that faith when things don't work out the way a person wants them to.

At first Taliesin isn't sure why he believes in God, but he knows that he does believe. Then he sees what he considers to be tangible evidence of God in the form of miracles,especially the healing of his own warts, only to have those miracles cease and his faith thrown into crisis. This movie exposes the view of 'God as a vending machine' that many people seem to have today. They believe that a person can put in his 75 cents worth of prayer and his miracle should be released to him. Thankfully, Taliesin's piano teacher, a faith 'healer', readily admits that his prayers don't always work, though that doesn't mean that God doesn't listen or doesn't care. The fact is that if God did heal someone or resurrect a person every time He was asked to, then no one would ever die.

True faith means living with the fact of troubles in life and the awareness of our eventual death, and yet still believing that God is good, cares for us, and has made provision for both our earthly and eternal lives through Jesus. Taliesin's true healing, and the bigger miracle, is when he comes to realize these things and is able to come to grips with the fact that his mother will not be returning to the family. I think the filmmakers may have missed out on an attempt to emphasize this point again with the final scene. In this scene the class bully asks Taliesin to pray for the healing of one of his fingers which was half-severed off. The viewer gets the idea that the bully also has emotional scars which need healing far worse than his finger does; however, I admit that to protract this scene and re-emphasize a point already made might well have been heavy-handed (or even ham-handed), so I can't fault them too much for this.

The bottom line, again, is that for both believers and non-believers, this movie demonstrates what faith is: it is "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).

Correction for Product Detail - this movie doesn't have CC.......2006-06-25

I can't review the movie itself except correction. Amazon.com has this movie as closed-captioned under Product Details (Format field). Really, this movie doesn't have it. I have to return the DVD for refund.

a religious movie, not a mainstream movie.......2006-05-06

Much as the religious reviewers below would like non-religious people to see and like this movie, the fact remains that this is a religious movie, a softcore religious movie, yes, but a religious movie nonetheless. Non-religious people will not be impressed or moved by this adolescent's struggles with whether God exists or whether faith-healing works. Religious people will be hoping he believes these things. Nonreligious people will be hoping he gets over it and grows up. You can't please both audiences.

We are also told that this movie is "character-driven". This term has become a standard excuse for making a movie boring. The fact is that a character-driven movie does not have to be boring. This is simply a myth (a lie) that inept moviemakers have concocted because they don't know how to make a movie interesting without resort to the genre techniques of action, etc. They need to learn more about screenwriting so that they can make a movie interesting without action, fireworks or whatever--not hide behind magic words like "character-driven."

Small Miracles is slow--very slow--but not dull. The slice of life is an interesting one--at least for Americans who are not familiar with current life in Wales or wherever. None of the characters is particularly appealing or particularly interesting, but they are realistic enough. Making them one or the other would have helped the movie enormously. Again, screenwriter ineptitude must be blamed.

The blurb writer says the movie contains "coming-of-age" material (read, girls) and bullying. There is in fact no romantic interest in the movie and hardly any interaction with schoolmates. He does get punched out, but no more. The blurb writer was right, though. The movie would have been better with these elements.

One technical problem: the sound. The volume jumps ten decibels in some scenes--enough to damage your speakers--whereas in the other scenes the characters murmur their lines so quietly that you have to turn up your volume to hear them. Add the problems contributed by the dialect, and you've got your work cut out for you just to understand what they are saying (and I'm usually quite adept at picking up dialects, especially those from the British Isles).

The visuals used to try to show the imaginings of the boy were klutzy--flying dragons maybe for a child of five. The memory moments were also clumsily handled.

Bottom line: Don't even think of seeing this movie unless you are religious. Even then, I don't guarantee that you will especially like it. It's a lightweight, drab movie with a mildly interesting setting and no characters to speak of.

Average customer rating:

Cancel the Birthday Party
A must see movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It gets 4 stars just because it's De Palma...
Originality and that fine line
There was no body because there was no murder

Sisters - Criterion Collection
Starring: Margot Kidder , Jennifer Salt , Charles Durning , William Finley , and Lisle Wilson
Director: Brian De Palma
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Horror | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

Thrillers | Criterion Collection | Stores | DVD | Video

All | Criterion Collection | Stores | DVD | Video

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

Obsession
Dressed to Kill
Blow Out
The Fury
Peeping Tom - Criterion Collection

ASIN: B00004W3HG
Release Date: 2000-10-03

Amazon.com essential video

Sisters is not Brian De Palma's first film, but in many ways it is the first Brian De Palma film, or at least the first to reveal (and revel in) his affinity with Hitchcock. A pre-Superman Margot Kidder struggles with a French-Canadian accent as an aspiring actress whose one-night stand leads to a homicidal morning-after. Jennifer Salt is a reporter with more moxie than tact or skill who sees the killing from her apartment window across the way. When the police fail to turn up any evidence of the crime, Salt investigates with a private eye (the hilariously relentless Charles Durning), uncovering the secret story of a pair of Siamese twins and a weaselly, stalker doctor. It's a mystery simmering in a stew of voyeurism, guilt, sex, and obsession. De Palma borrows from Rear Window, Psycho, and Vertigo (as well as Roman Polanski's Repulsion), and composer Bernard Herrmann quotes from his own Hitchcock scores (notably Psycho) for the unsettling music, but the result is more original than you might imagine. Laced with dark humor, inventive technique, and impressive technical precision (the split-screen sequences are breathtakingly effective), De Palma flexes his cinematic muscles with thrilling results, right down to the mordantly wry conclusion. De Palma graduated to big-budget thrillers, but this modest little production remains one of his sharpest, slyest, most engrossing films. Long available only in pallid video transfers, the Home Vision/Criterion letterboxed restoration is bright, clear, and beautiful. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Margot Kidder is Danielle, a beautiful model separated from her Siamese twin, Dominique. When a hotshot reporter (Jennifer Salt) suspects Dominique of a brutal murder, she becomes dangerously ensnared in the sisters' insidious sibling bond. A scary and stylish paean to female destructiveness, De Palma's first foray into horror voyeurism is a stunning amalgam of split-screen effects, bloody birthday cakes, and a chilling score by frequent Hitchcock collaborator Bernard Herrmann. Criterion is proud to present Sisters in a new Special Edition.

Customer Reviews:

Cancel the Birthday Party.......2007-04-19

She's so darn seductive, what guy could resist her. But resist Margot Kidder they better, because she's got an evil twin that reacts very badly toward sex. If you can get past all the gore and the unmistakable shadow of Hitchcock, this is one heck of a fascinating film, with an excellent script, a number of twists, and some well-realized irony. And pity poor reporter Jennifer Salt. She wants so badly to do the right thing, but she's got a nagging mother, a detective school helper, and a tactless attitude. Now she's on the trail of a hot story, one that might land her a big-time job, but she really doesn't know what she's dealing with. There are several memorable scenes-- the "surprise" birthday party, Salt's wacky nightmare (very Fellini-esque), and the final bedside irony, along with a nicely deceptive opening that sets the stage for what follows.

De Palma has had a maddening career as a movie-maker. All in all, Sisters is probably the best and worst thing to happen to him. It's his best movie, done with flash and assurance, but it also propels him down the wrong-way track of re-doing Hitchcock without the master's knowing restraint. The result is an erratic career and a general squandering of real talent. Too bad, because the very last scene suggests a delicious irony worthy of the master himself. And that, of course, is the problem. But it's no problem for this film, which stands as a minor gem in the horror-suspense category.

A must see movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......2006-11-07

I've seen this movie years ago, and just had to order the movie again.
I ordered the dvd on tuesday 11/2/06 and recieved it today>Monday 11/6/06 this afternoon. Some viewer's tend to spoil the movie!!! give other's little info on the movie. But let them buy the movie for self.

Again, I give this movie 5 stars for everything!!

It gets 4 stars just because it's De Palma..........2006-08-27

Some would say that Sisters is De Palma's first real homage to Hitchcock with a feature film. It's got all the ingredients. Evil twins. Split personalities. A Rear Window shoutout. Femme fatales. Everything you could possibly want in a De Palma homage to Hitchcock. His homages would only get better, but Sisters is definitely a fair starting point for what would become one of the greatest thriller directors of all-time.

Sisters begins in a totally Hitchock way. A normal event, in this case a game show called Peeping Toms after which the two contestants decide to have dinner. What seems like a simple one-night stand gradually turns into something else, until violence interjects in a bloody, gratuitous fashion. The murder that takes place in the apartment sets the course for the rest of the film, as the backstory behind everything is revealed. As with most De Palma films, Sisters is best left almost totally unrevealed as there are some pretty good twists at the end. Is it cheesy at parts? Sure. Is the acting iffy? Absolutely. But it's all in good fun, and De Palma takes everything to the max to make sure that the viewer is in for quite a ride.

Originality and that fine line.......2006-04-09

Everyone seems to want to talk about the Directors feel in the film close to Hitchcock. The films made and frankly no one here has room to be so crictical. Frankly, the film stands very well on it's own and in this review, we'll focus on that. However, as a guideline if you like Hitchcock and are not so caty as other Hitchcock fans, you'll love this picture.

My obsession with siamese twins began shortly after seeing the film. Although the extras are not over bundant as other Crit col. films, the restoration is an art to it's own. Sisters, cuts through the red tape or should I say the flesh. Was there a murder? What happened through that window? You'll have to see this to find out. Although not my favorite type of Horror/suspence.... it was a terrific watch and a definate change from the hollywood garbage that has been made the past years for horror. A+ A must see. I will not give away this films high points you have to see it.

There was no body because there was no murder.......2006-03-28

'Sisters' is a haunting and suspenseful early DePalma film. It is clearly an homage to Alfred Hitchcock, as others have stated, but there is also the unique stamp of a new and talented director on the scene. The dream/hypnosis scene is startling (Depalma has said that he was influenced by the dream scene in 'Rosemary's Baby). DePalma also seems to be interested in Freudian psychology (one of Hitchcock's preocupations) - there are a couple shots, in particular, that are clearly references to Freud.. This movie lingers in the mind long after it is over - very nice criterion edition too..

Average customer rating:

A Midlander's Review
Good Texas movie
Man's Man Deflates Stuffy Scientist: It Must Be Love
Entertaining to say the least
Homage to the Bygone Southwest Conference

Waltz across Texas
Starring: Anne Archer , Terry Jastrow , Noah Beery Jr. , Richard Farnsworth , and Mary Kay Place
Director: Ernest Day
Manufacturer: Henstooth Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

Comic Action | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

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

Straight From the Heart
Dancer, Texas Pop. 81
The Hired Heart
Murphy's Romance
The Straight Story

ASIN: B00005MKKI
Release Date: 2001-09-04

Customer Reviews:

A Midlander's Review.......2005-08-29

Being from Midland you might say I'm a homer and thus have a bias towards this movie. This movie was literally made at the very end of the oil boom period - in fact many of the companies' whose name appear through out the movie had gone out of business by the time it was released (that's how fast the bust hit). Terry Jastrow (who is from Midland) and his real life wife Anne Archer are great opposite each other on the screen while Mary Kay Place provides great commentary on life in Texas Oil Business.

Good Texas movie.......2004-06-17

This is a good Texas movie. My dad was a Land Man (secures the leases to drill) so I grew up in this milieu. Two guys really can bring in a well if the pay is not too deep. All of the high school guys in oil country worked as roustabouts (general labor) or rig hands during the summers. When two guys get together, we discuss who missed what block or who jumped offside before we talk about women. Some of the minor characters in the movie have the names of real oil men and women. Good stuff.

Man's Man Deflates Stuffy Scientist: It Must Be Love.......2003-06-07

Nicely observed portrait of West Texans at that moment when the traditional individualistic ways of the maverick wildcatters collided with the more sophisticated, play-it-safe high-tech future. Story comes wrapped up as a romance between real-life husband-and-wife Terry Jastrow and Anne Archer.
The film does a fine job of idealizing the nuts-and-bolts of small-scale oil drilling, and makes that far more interesting than you might expect. The plot is clichéd, and the characters stereotypical, but somehow, the excellent screenplay uses familiarity to anchor us quickly into place, and then spends its own leisurely time drawing in the details that bring the whole thing to quite pleasurable life.
It's familiar without being clichéd, fleshed-out without being eccentric, dignified without being pompous. Credit the writer, and the likeability of the cast, most particularly Jastrow, who is quite charming. Richard Farnsworth also stands out in a very effective early sequence.
That said, there's a fuzziness to the technicals, to the lighting and editing and such. A better director could have made "Waltz Across Texas" absolutely sparkle. As it is, though, it's still a small, slightly under-polished gem.

Entertaining to say the least.......2002-02-28

After years of searching, I'd about lost hope that this movie would ever again become available on video. It's not only highly entertaining with some great actors but will hold viewers attention from start to finish in this engrossing story of survival in the search for oil. Using crude technology and wits, even those not involved in the oil industry will enjoy this movie.

Homage to the Bygone Southwest Conference.......2002-02-28

The most enchanting moment in this nice little film occurs when John Taylor renders a lilting litany, realizing that Gail has never heard of the Longhorns, the Cougars, the Owls, the Red Raiders, the Horned Frogs, the Razorbacks, the Mustangs, the Bears or the Aggies -- the fine old teams of the Southwest Conference (which was wholly dominated during its entire existence by the Aggies of Texas A&M). John is rueful that Gail hasn't ever heard these names, especially the Aggies -- he is astounded that a highly educated individual such as she has never heard of the Aggies.

And, you need to see this film just to watch the old cable-tool rig operate, and hear its muffled impacts somewhere downhole as it noses for oil. If you have anything to do with the oil business, and you of course realize how thoroughly the Texas Aggies dominated the old Southwest Conference, this movie is definitely for you.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

La Belle Noiseuse

Criminal Instinct: The Wandering Soul Murder : DVD

Gacy [2003]

DVD: That Championship Season

Tony Bennett - Live In Concert