Charlotte Cory (Connie Nielsen) is a convicted murderer spending her final days on Death Row. Her hopes and dreams are as lifeless as the grey walls that imprison her, until the letters of a stranger, Frank Nitzche (Aiden Quinn), awakens passion in her she thought had died long ago. While her attorney (Kelly Preston) desperately tries to appeal the verdict, Frank realizes he has fallen in love with Charlotte, and discovers that there are untold secrets behind the tragic circumstances of her imprisonment. Her life is in his hands as Frank races to find the truth that can save Charlotte before it's too late.INNOCENTS - DVD MovieA truly inspiring story of one ordinary family’s extraordinary journey. An orphaned boy named Tomás is adopted by Maire O’Donnell (Connie Nielsen) to live on a whimsical Irish isle filled with new friends, secret caves and a lost baby pup seal stranded on the co! ast. But when Maire’s reluctant husband Alec (Aidan Quinn) refuses to accept Tomás as his own son, the boy drifts down a fateful path of adventure and self-discovery, illuminating how rainbows can shine around--and within--us all. Quality live-action family films are at a premium, and while this enchanting adaptation of Lillian Beckwith's novel does go over the rainbow at times, there is magic in it. Shy and stammering 8-year-old orphan Tomas (a Culkin-esque John Bell) is plucked from a city orphanage and brought to the idyllic island of Corrie off the coast of Ireland. His new mother (Connie Nielsen) is as loving and open as his new father (Aidan Quinn) is gruff and withdrawn, disappointed that his beloved wife chose "the runt of the litter." "Underneath it all," she assures Tomas, "he has a tender heart," but as time goes on, Tomas's adoption papers remain unsigned. This being an Irish tale, there are magnificent sweeping landscapes, mythical creatures--seals that are! said to carry messages to the dead--and tragedy that threaten! s Tomas' s newfound home and happiness.
A Shine of Rainbows contains no age-inappropriate pop culture references, bathroom humor, or product placements. A seal puppet is perhaps its most special effect. It's not even in 3-D. But beyond this refreshing change of hectic pace, it is in the performances, heartfelt story, and glimpses into Irish culture where
Rainbows really shines.
--Donald LiebensonBROTHERS - DVD MovieThe most fearless film yet by France's idiosyncratic Olivier Assayas (
Irma Vep) is an unholy marriage of ruthless corporate thriller and sinister science fiction. Connie Nielsen is the American "ice princess" in a French multination, an ambitious executive whose betrayals and invasive tactics would make her a villain in any other film. Here she's just a pawn in a shadowy conspiracy that may involve contemptuous new assistant Chloe Sevigny and fellow dealmaker Charles Berling and takes her from the legal (if unsavory) commerce of Japanese Interne! t porn to the brutal market of underground pornography. Assayas directs his modern corporate nightmare with a voyeuristic style, a hard eye for disturbing images, and more passion than explanation. It isn't his most audience-friendly film, but his portrait of international commerce and image culture in the 21st century is impassioned and haunting--cinema for viewers hungry for ambitious and provocative filmmaking.
--Sean AxmakerPart romantic thriller, part political drama, THE SITUATION is the first U.S. feature film to confront America’s occupation in the Middle East, exploring one of the countless stories hidden behind the headlines of the "War on Terror" directed by Oscar®-nominee Philip Haas (Angels & Insects). When Anna (Connie Nielsen), an American journalist, travels to Iraq to report on the conflict, she quickly becomes familiar with the grim day-to-day realities of the conflict. After an Iraqi leader and friend is assassinated, she is determined to uncov! er the truth behind his death. As she becomes more entrenched,! Anna fi nds herself pulled between the affections of Dan (Damian Lewis), an American intelligence official and Zaid (Mido Hamada), a photographer. After the death of an Iraqi boy at the hands of American soldiers sets off a perilous chain of events that exposes corrupt associations, blurs the lines of justice, and ultimately leads Anna into grave danger.BASIC - DVD MovieIf you thought
The Recruit was full of surprises,
Basic will spin your head around. Assuming that cleverness is its own reward, this military mystery shares many of
The Recruit's strengths and weaknesses, offering multi-layered deception as its dramatic
raison d'etre. Copping plenty of machismo attitude befitting a semi-effective thriller from
Die Hard director John McTiernan, John Travolta stars as an ex-Army Ranger-turned-DEA agent, recruited by an Army investigator (Connie Nielsen) to solve the fratricide of a reviled Sergeant (Samuel L. Jackson) who was
allegedly killed w! hile commanding a Special Forces training mission in the hurricane-swept rainforests of Panama. Two survivors (Giovanni Ribisi in a showboat role, and Brian Van Holt) recall the ill-fated mission as the truth unfolds,
Rashomon-style, in a series of repetitive flashbacks. Tricky enough to hold one's attention as it grows increasingly irrelevant,
Basic is so enamored of its bogus ingenuity that its ultimate twist is a letdown. A second viewing might prove rewarding, if only to confirm that it all holds together.
--Jeff Shannon
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