Pina

Why $ 37.98?
Finally an important show of Great Pina's work. But, why $ 37.98 for a zone 2 dvd - plus shipment charges? You could get it direct from the British Amazon site for 8.99 english sterling pounds - plus about $ 5,00 shipment, which altogether is about half the price what the other sellers for this item are requesting. So far, there is available even a 3D blu-ray - and a regular 2D blu ray - in blu-ray-zone 2. Why not for the USA - blu-ray zone 1? Ah!, the merchants ... When will this nonsense about dvd and blu-ray regions stop. Greed is godd and necessary, but excesive greed is bad and stupid for everybody.

For the love of modern ballet and Pina Bausch
"Pina" (106 min.) is a thrilling documentary about/celebration of choreographer Pina Bausch's work. It is important to note that Bausch herself was involved in the preparations of this movie, but she passed away just before shooting beagan after a short but devastating bout with cancer. Director Wim Wenders halted the production, but the dancers of the Wuppertal Tanztheatre convinced him to carry on and to make the movie as a tribute to Bausch. And that it certainly is.

The movie showcases 4 major pieces by Bausch, starting with The Rite of Spring, in which the dancers perform on a thick layer of dark sand. The other pieces are Cafe Mueller, Kontakthoff, and Vollmond. The latter is truly remarkable: there is a huge rock on the stage, and a continuous waterfall onto the stage, which eventually gets flooded for the most part. The dancers splish and splash their way to, through and onto it and it is an incredible visual experience. A number of scenes are also filmed in and...

Wenders is a talented director: Pina Bausch was a giant.
I've never been entirely convinced by Wim Wenders as a narrative film director-- his talents have always been more situated in the realm of conceptual art than that of the storyteller. Here he gets a chance to apply his conceptual art strengths to one of the few great artists of our time, Pina Bausch. The results are often startling, enthralling, and affirmative.

The opening excerpt from Bausch's RITE OF SPRING ranks as one of the greatest pieces of filmmaking I've ever seen. There is no doubt that Wenders has found the best possible use for 3D. To be frank, I would have preferred to see the entire performance rather than the documentary which enfolds it, but ideally we can have both (hint to distributors: there are at least five DVDs to be gleaned from the various dances here. I'd buy all of them!!)

The central section of the film includes excerpts from Bausch's more cerebral work, and it is here that perhaps the film is less effective. While the work...

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The Paperboy

Outstanding film about the human condition
I came to this film not knowing what to expect. I hadn't seen "Precious" so I was unfamiliar with Lee Daniel's work. Plus, I had read some of the negative reviews about the film, so I came to the film with some trepdidation. But from the opening sequence in which Macy Gray barges in on Zac Efron to clean up his room, and the hilarious dialogue between these two actors, I was hooked. Nothing about what I had heard about the film had anything to do with the actual film. It was at times sad, funny, bizaare, chilling, grotesque, romantic, menacing, and at times all of the above. It was like nothing I have ever seen, except perhaps for the films of Tod Soldendz.

This film, like so many great films, doesn't have a genre, so if the fact that it doesn't fit into some preconceived notion of a specific type of film upsets you, you are not going to understand this film. It is mostly a character study of all the motives, predjudices, obsessions, and secrets that each character in the...

A Haunting Film ...
This motion picture is difficult to watch in places; but it is without doubt one of the best films I've seen this year. Nicole Kidman's performance deserves an Oscar. Ms Kidman is truly an actress who cannot be forced into cookie cutter roles. She has proven throughout her career that she can assume the character convincingly no matter how different that individual is from herself ... a rare and amazing gift.

Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, David Oyelowo, John Cusack & Macy Gray also give outstanding performances. I especially loved the character played by Macy Gray ... a truly loving and generous character in the midst of a world that did not value her as she deserved.

The Paperboy touches many dark places known to human beings. The film is set in a small Florida town in 1969 ... a place you might expect to find the racism and violence depicted in the film; but by the end of the film, you may view these expected vices tame compared to the other human conditions...

The Most Underrated Film of 2012
With The Paperboy, we have the arrival of a major new cinematic talent - Lee Daniels. Though his first two films (the bizarre Shadowboxer and the extremely well-acted Precious) had their merits, only with The Paperboy do we finally see the maturation of his craft, the arrival of a distinct new voice. It is a hypnotically bold, daringly original, and utterly fearless film that seemingly effortlessly dances between drama and comedy, tenderness and tension, completely unafraid to go to shocking, dangerous places. It feels totally unpredictable, and nothing about it feels safe, which is something far too many movies are these days. The Paperboy hearkens back to the audacious spirit of American cinema in the 1970s, when filmmakers weren't afraid to make outrageous works like Deliverance and Prime Cut. In this film's world, nothing is sacred, and because Daniels is so assured with this approach, so completely in control of every moment, watching it is an enthralling, absorbing, exhilarating...

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Officer Down [HD]

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Keep the Lights on

Sundance, berlin
I watched this film at Sundance and then again at Tribeca after it had won the Teddy Award at Berlin. I think the film is superbly done, and it approaches a relationship without judging its characters. It is also extremely well acted, and the lensing is fantastic, with a grainy beauty and a cinematography that reflects the 10 year journey the characters go through.

Great Film,
Highly Recommend it.

Superb acting, hopeful and heartbreaking, verismatic.
True love can be difficult to realize in the face of innumerable and unknown life impediments. These impediments, along with self-inflicted wounds from the emotional DNA we all carry (and which often expresses itself in relationship(s) with others), leaves these two people blissful, vulnerable and ignorant. Drug addiction or an addiction of any kind is anathema to any relationship(s). Often there is the enabler/co-dependent and the addicted one, who doesn't perceive the danger ahead. We get all of this in Keep the Lights On. It is a roller coaster of discovery for both of the individuals in the relationship, fascinating and heartbreaking to watch, but never vapid. Over a decade, the individuals in this story really do try to find a way to make their relationship work and it was refreshing to see the enormous, even herculean effort the two principals in this love drama expend in order to save each other and their relationship. The acting is superb and the attention to detail in the...

Bavo
An amazing film of another time that is unlike anything else..love, sex, community, forgiveness. Unsentimental and funny at times and true to what it is.

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Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai [HD]

A Faithful Update Of A Slow Burn Morality Tale, Not A Typical Samurai Action Picture
We all have certain films that really resonate with us, that we remember distinctively and decisively for any number of reasons. For me, Masaki Kobayashi's 1962 classic "Harakiri" is one of those experiences. I didn't know anything about the movie before I sat down to watch it, and it absolutely blew me away. A quiet morality play that really challenges the notion of what honor means, "Harakiri" has a power, honesty, and emotional impact that is earned through a surprisingly understated narrative device. Instead of explosive dramatics, the screenplay takes its time in unraveling. And this focus on character development makes the ultimate confrontation both heartrending and harrowing! When I heard that prolific Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike was on board for a remake, I had feelings of both optimism and apprehension. I think the original holds up quite well and there is little to improve. But I've followed Miike for years and loved much of his work. Though, to be fair, I don't know...

super
The movie is not spectacular, but like "the twilight samurai", it moves at a slow pace presenting an intimate view of the life in the lower strata of the samurai caste.
Using an intense story for an exploration on the nature of that culture's concept of honor.

Prettier Than the Original But Is That a Plus?
Takashi Miichi's remake of the iconic 1962 "Hara Kiri," directed by Masaki Kobayashi, in color and 3-D for theater-goers, would surely be acclaimed as a near masterwork, a return to the cinematic artistry that made Kobayashi and Kurosawa sublime in their time. Unfortunately for Miichi, too many of us remember the original in all its black-and-white starkness and moodiness. Remaking Hara Kiri is as presumptuous as rewriting Hamlet or recomposing The Marriage of Figaro. The good news is that Miichi follows the script and the ineluctable timing of Kobayashi's classic almost scene for scene... until the climax, the furor that erupts in the last ten minutes. To compare the climactic scenes would constitute an atrocious spoilage, so I won't. But I will say that Miichi's finale discards the profound historical significance of Kobayashi's. Both films are quite worth seeing, believe me, even on successive evenings.

The most salient difference, nevertheless, needs to be expressed...

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The Perks of Being a Wallflower [HD]

Adolescence Has Not Changed
I am 74 years old. The world is different now; there are more risks and more choices than when I was 15, but this movie reminded me of what it felt like to be 15 and 16 in 1954 and 1955. In those days homework was accompanied by radio with Rock and Roll music thanks to Alan Fried, Ranger hockey against Maurice Richard, and Gene Shepard,the best story teller of all time. Most of us had after school jobs which gave us enough spending money to begin making choices independent of our parents, and every day we left home and entered the world alone, with very little confidence but with the hope that everything was going to work out. Watching Charlie going through his day, observing the antics of his friends and trying to make sense of it all, brought tears to my eyes. The beauty of the movie is that it captures the universal experience of adolescence, and fortunately, as difficult as the experience may be, just like Charlie, most of us make it through.

"And in this moment I swear, we are infinite."
Every now and then, you come across a film where everything was done just right. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is one of those films. Directed by Stephen Chbosky, who wrote the screenplay as well as the popular young-adult novel of the same name from which it was adapted, The Perks of Being a Wallflower seems to hit every note just right, capturing all of the tumult and the extreme highs and lows of adolescence as experienced by a group of friends in high school in Pittsburgh back in the early 1990's.

(*** Note: this review contains what some people feel to be spoilers, so if you're sensitive to such things, please stop reading now and just take my word that this is really well-done, enjoyable film and is well worth going out of your way to find and see. ***)

The film begins with 14-year-old Charlie (Logan Lerman) writing a letter to an anonymous "Dear Friend" about his nervousness about starting his first year in high school. He writes because he doesn't feel...

An underrated movie worthy of awards.
When I think of this movie, I think about perfection. Everything about it is spot on. The acting, the directing, the music, the story, everything. Had their not been so much focus on Argo, Lincoln, Zero Dark, and Les Mis, this movie would have won many awards.

The story keeps you guessing and is anything but predictable. There are several things hidden from you as the plot unfolds and right away the mind gets busy trying to figure everything out.

You feel very involved when watching Charlie's freshman year in high school progress. You root for him and are riding on his emotions, but you are also trying to understand who exactly he is.

Without spoiling anything, the basis goes like this: Charlie's best friend shot himself the summer before Charlie goes to high school. As a result, he enters high school as a loner and outcast, and has to try to get through the year with as little resistance as he can. Luckily he starts to make friends and you are brought...

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Leap Frog: The Magnificent Museum of Opposite Words

Did not hold the attention of our kids as previous LF videos
Leapfrog has fallen to number three in our house after their last two videos of Shapeville and Magnificent Museum of Opposites. It does not hold the attention of our children and was not as well made as Phonics Farm or Numberland. Still cute, but I would e expected better from LF.
We love Preschool prep series
And Baby signing time when it comes to educational DVDs. This is now borderline entertainment when it comes to LF





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