Arthur/Arthur 2: On the Rocks

• Dudley does right! Dudley Moore is Arthur, the irrepressible, irresponsible playboy who faces marriage to a woman he detests to keep his fortune and then meets the right woman (Liza Minnelli) from the wrong side of the tracks. John Gielgud won an Academy Award (1981 Best Supporting Actor) as Arthur's acerbic valet. "I'll alert the media," he says when Arthur announces his intention to take a bath.

Russell Brand reinvents the role of lovable billionaire Arthur Bach, an irresponsible charmer who has always relied on two things to get by: his limitless fortune and lifelong nanny Hobson (Academy Award® winner* Helen Mirren) to keep him out of trouble. Now he faces his biggest challenge: choosing between an arranged marriage to ambitious corporate exec Susan (Jennifer Garner) that will ensure his lavish lifestyle, or an uncertain future with the one thing money can’t buy â€" Naomi (Greta Gerwig! ), his true love. With Naomi’s inspiration and some unconventional help from Hobson, Arthur will take the most expensive risk of his life and learn what it means to be a man in this re-imagining of the beloved Oscar®-winning* romantic comedy Arthur. As a high-concept Hollywood pitch, remaking the charming Dudley Moore 1981 comic romp about a man-child billionaire playboy with a rather serious drinking problem and installing Russell Brand as the new lead sounded like a pretty good idea. With Brand's reputation as a semi-reformed bad boy and actual recovering alcoholic/addict (not to mention his parlayed success from English standup fame to movies like Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek), he was a great casting choice to reprise Moore's devilishly innocent character. In many ways Brand is among the heirs to first-wave loony British comics like Moore, Peter Sellers, and Spike Milligan, along with actors like Steve Coogan, Eddie Izzard, and Rick! y Gervais. But something happened in the 30-year translation t! hat has deflated a lot of charm from the 2011 Arthur. Brand is probably the best thing about the movie, although he's never quite able to capture the characterization of a genuinely agreeable immature cad that Moore portrayed so adorably. This is Russell Brand playing another version of himself, which isn't such a bad thing, just not quite adorable enough. Brand is a smart, funny, and quick-on-his-feet improviser, and lot of that comes through, but he'd probably be the first to admit that he's no Dudley Moore.

The basics of the story remain unchanged. Arthur Bach is a trust fund child who is stuck in childhood, even though his pampered bubble of wealth now brings him toys like prostitutes, famous movie prop cars (the Batmobile, the Back to the Future DeLorean, the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine, and others all make appearances), and all manner of grownup baubles at every fleeting whim. His stuck-in-childhood mode seems to be blamed on the loss of his doting fath! er at a very young age. But now at 30, his prim mother (Geraldine James) wants him to grow up, stop embarrassing the huge corporation that bears their name, and marry a respectable girl (Jennifer Garner) who will tame him and give the company a veneer of respectability. Upon threat of being cut off from the family fortune, Arthur reluctantly agrees, but then immediately falls for the real girl of his dreams, a lowly--and poor--Manhattan tour guide (Greta Gerwig), who falls for him too. She doesn't even care about the money. The issue of drink is handled somewhat differently 30 years after Dudley Moore made such a loveable and unrepentant chronic inebriant. Since it's kind of a more significant societal issue, the filmmakers haven't really been able to make it as much of a fun and funny part of who Arthur is (plus, Dudley Moore did a drunken shtick that was fairly classic, while there doesn't seem to be much difference between Brand's drunken and sober Arthur). Arthur's drin! king is treated as a genuine problem in this update, which als! o provid es comedy the dilemma of dealing with seriousness. Fortunately the sense of forward momentum, Brand's general likeability, and the pervading sunny tone cover up a lot. The other big selling point and major change from the original is the character of Hobson, who for Dudley Moore was a dour butler played by John Gielgud, and for Russell Brand is a disapproving nanny in the persona of Helen Mirren. Both Hobsons were best friends to Arthur, and Mirren's statuesque gravitas brings a lot to the authentic lifelong affection that seems real as handled by both actors. Overlooking some slackness in the script, Brand and Mirren give this bright, shiny updated Arthur longer legs than it might otherwise have had in striding cleverly into audiences' hearts. --Ted FryARTHUR - DVD MovieWhen you get caught between the moon and New York City (ahem), chances are you'll find yourself taking another look at this hit comedy starring Oscar-nominated Dudley Moore as the charmingly witty, pe! rpetually drunken millionaire Arthur Bach. Arthur falls in love with a waitress (Liza Minnelli) who doesn't care about his money, but unfortunately Arthur's stern father wants him to marry a Waspy prima donna. The young lush turns to his wise and loyal butler (Oscar-winner John Gielgud) for assistance and advice. Arthur was a huge hit when released in 1981, as was its Oscar-winning theme song by Christopher Cross. Few remember that the movie was, sadly, the only one ever made by writer-director Steve Gordon, who died less than a year after the film's release. Consistently funny and heartwarming, Arthur was hailed as a tribute to the great romantic comedies of the 1930s. --Jeff ShannonDudley does right! Dudley Moore is Arthur, the irrepressible, irresponsible playboy who faces marriage to a woman he detests to keep his fortune…and then meets the right woman (Liza Minnelli) from the wrong side of the tracks. John Gielgud won an Academy Award® (1981's B! est Supporting Actor) as Arthur's acerbic valet. "I'll alert t! he media ," he says when Arthur announces his intention to take a bath. The title tune also won Oscar® gold for Original Song. A business deal bilks Arthur out of his fortune and he must (egad!) get a job in the sequel Arthur 2 on the Rocks. But laughs are still the common currency as Moore, Minnelli and Gielgud return. Enjoy!Dudley does right! Dudley Moore is Arthur, the irrepressible, irresponsible playboy who faces marriage to a woman he detests to keep his fortune?and then meets the right woman (Liza Minnelli) from the wrong side of the tracks. John Gielgud won an Academy Award? (1981 Best Supporting Actor) as Arthur's acerbic valet. "I'll alert the media," he says when Arthur announces his intention to take a bath. The title tune also won Oscar? gold for Original Song. A business deal bilks Arthur out of his fortune and he must (egad!) get a job in the sequel. But laughs are still the common currency as Moore, Minnelli and Gielgud return. Enjoy!

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Young, pregnant, unmarried, and penniless, Felicia leaves her Irish hometown to search for her boyfriend in the English Midlands, only to fall in with the obese, fiftyish Mr. Hilditch, in a tale of psychological suspense. Reprint. Winner of the Whitbread Fiction & Sunday Express Prizes. NYT. Felicia's Journey is a simple tale told with a subtle complexity. Felicia is an Irish country girl who has come to England to look for her jilted lover. Hilditch is a mild-mannered, gentle psychopath who lures the helpless Felicia into his trap. Interestingly, we see the story from each character's eyes when they are separate, but from Hilditch's view when they are together. It is an unusual and ef! fective device that distorts the perspective and adds texture to a classic story. Trevor won a Whitbread Prize in 1994 for Felicia's Journey.A moving and chilling portrait of a serial killer who befriends innocent young women in need only to turn them into his victims. Felicia is the latest of his prospects to fall into the grasp of his deceptive charm. Special features: commentary with director atom egoyan theatrical trailer and much more. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 05/22/2007 Starring: Bob Hoskins Elaine Cassidy Run time: 111 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Atom EgoyanLike Hitchcock, Atom Egoyan envisions family life as a potential hotbed of literal or figurative violence and incest. In Felicia's Journey, Egoyan's adaptation of William Trevor's shattering novel, one dreads to imagine what TV-cook mom (Arsinée Khanjian) did to so damage her pudgy son that grown- up Hilditch (Bob Hoskins) still prepares meals in perfect unison with ! faded videotapes of her show--and, as we eventually discover,! often t akes more sinister trips down Memory Lane. Distant kin to Psycho's Tony Perkins, Hoskins's troll is so obsessive, so traumatized, his every short-armed, fat-handed gesture and sing-song utterance is precisely calculated to keep reality safely buried.

Egoyan's movies often seem located underwater, in some surreal dreamscape where one's breath is perpetually suspended while a slow horror seeps ever deeper under the skin. Helpless, transfixed, one watches as his characters drive inexorably toward mined intersections where lives and souls may be lost or redeemed. When Hilditch's path crosses, diverges from, and finally coincides with that of young, pregnant Felicia (Elaine Cassidy)--an Irish innocent searching for her errant boyfriend--it leads to terrible epiphany for these fellow travelers. Trouble is, creepy Hilditch and too-naive Felicia come up a bit short in the psychological complexity department, so by film's end, revelatory payoffs are mostly penn! y ante. Felica's Journey tours familiar Egoyan territory--an industrialized wasteland full of hungry hearts--but this latest fairy tale (think perverse variations on Hansel and Gretel) isn't in the same league with such "family values" masterpieces as Exotica or The Sweet Hereafter. --Kathleen MurphyDanna offers a strange experiment on this score to Atom Egoyan's wistful and sinister film. He combines his familiar Celtic dirges, the nail-grating violins associated with Bartók, and some scattered traces of evil, backward-looping noises. Danna also (probably inadvertently) forges an under-explored link between New Age and the easy-listening style once referred to as "Beautiful Music." Oddly, the most intriguing elements are the reverberant Mantovani-style strings, none of which is Danna's own creation. He instead takes them directly from old and uncredited archival library recordings. Still, there are some interesting moments, as heavenly and! sentimental moods fuse with the dark and foreboding. Included! are two songs by crooner Malcolm Vaughan and a brief a-capella rendition of "My Special Angel" by the film's star, Bob Hoskins (!). --Joseph Lanza

In January of 2010, a wide-eyed English grad went from peddling software in NYC to understudying the lead role in Wicked the musical -- her first professional theater gig (ever). Unnaturally Green is the humorous account of the entire journey, from her pit-stain-filled audition to the bittersweet closing night.

Author Felicia Ricci wears her heart on her sleeve as she tackles the role of Elphaba, Wicked's green-skinned heroine. She leaps countless hurdles, both professional and personal: conquering the "Songs of Death," weathering a trans-continental "Week I Didn't Poop," enduring the artistic limbo of understudying, and -- worst of all! -- meeting the man of her dreams. And all the while learning, time and again, what it means to be "green."

Hop into the mind of an over-sharer as she discovers Broadway's Man Behind the Curtain -- and the thrill and terror of personal growth.

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City of Men

• As Seen on the SUNDANCE CHANNEL From the team behind the Academy Award®-nominated feature CITY OF GOD, including directors Fernando Meirelles (THE CONSTANT GARDNER) and K tia Lund comes the hit Brazilian television series CITY OF MEN, a comedy/drama about two teenage boys growing up in a dangerous Rio de Janeiro slum starring Darlan Cunha and Douglas Silva, featured in the motion picture tha

Paulo Morelli's film is a pacy, bloody thriller that pays warm tribute to a diverse cross-section of American directors including Quentin Tarantino and Michael Bay. Bullets zing across the screen, heavy artillery is deployed at all times, and Morelli makes great use of the twisty favela streets during some frantic chase sequence. Silva and Cunha, who both had roles in CITY OF GOD, carry the picture with impressive ease, and while CITY OF MEN isn't an official sequel to Meirelles's lauded picture, it does! serve as a neat continuation of that film's unshakable portrayal of the violence that has beset so many young lives in the slums of Rio de Janeiro.Action-packed and fueled by Brazilian funk, City of Men returns the makers of City of God to the scene of their first success. In this case, the search for family supersedes the search for identity--not that there isn't a correlation between the two. Though produced by Fernando Meirelles, Paulo Morelli's feature isn't a sequel, but a follow-up to the four-season series of the same name. While Meirelles's movie takes place in Rio de Janeiro's past, Morelli's transpires in the present (not counting flashbacks from the show). Days away from turning 18, boyhood friends Acerola (Douglas Silva) and Laranjinha, a.k.a. Wallace (Darlan Cunha), grew up without fathers. Ace has a wife and child; Wallace has a steady girl. The duo gets along with the gang that rules their labyrinthine hillside neighborhood or favela, bu! t hoodlum life holds little appeal. Ace struggles to raise his! young s on--his security guard father was murdered during a robbery--while Wallace tries to track down the dad he never knew. With Ace's assistance, Wallace solves the mystery of his genealogy, but at great cost to their friendship (and lives). Despite the South American pedigree, City of Men suggests the South Central of Boyz N the Hood more than City of God. It's not that Morelli's kinetic film looks like John Singleton's more classically composed enterprise, but that it deals with similar inner-city concerns. That said, Silva and Cunha are every bit as charismatic as Ice Cube and Cuba Gooding Jr.--if not more so. --Kathleen C. FennessyAs Seen on the SUNDANCE CHANNEL

From the team behind the Academy Award®-nominated feature CITY OF GOD, including directors Fernando Meirelles (THE CONSTANT GARDNER) and Kátia Lund comes the hit Brazilian television series CITY OF MEN, a comedy/drama about two teenage boys growing up in a dangerous Rio de Janeiro slu! m starring Darlan Cunha and Douglas Silva, featured in the motion picture that inspired this series.

The CITY is a shantytown located in one of the many mountains of Rio de Janeiro. The MEN are two 13-year-old kids, Laranjinha and Acerola. This series brilliantly mixes humor and reality to explore life in the "favelas" and in particular the indomitable spirit of two best friends growing up in one of most volatile communities in the world.Brazilian TV series City of Men is a dazzling, propulsive, and fiery exploration of life in a chaotic Rio de Janeiro slum, seen through the eyes of Acerola (Douglas Silva) and Laranjinha (Darlan Cunha). These two boys prove to be amazingly charming tour guides to a world by turns terrifying and exhilarating. Using the jam-packed storytelling that made the movie City of God such a revelation, the first episode alone is a marvel, merging the history of Napoleon with a cutting analysis of drug lords and class structure ! in the poverty-ridden neighborhood. The other three episodes o! f the fi rst series carry on this riveting approach, mingling social observation with rich, compelling characters. From the second series on, the show becomes less overtly political and more about Acerola and Laranjinha's passage from youth to adulthood (embracing, with humor and pathos, the adolescent boys' obsession with sex)--though every episode has some sly or startling observation about race, wealth, and gender. Each series is filmed a year after the previous one, so the boys literally grow before our eyes; it's impossible to watch and not feel deeply involved as Acerola woos a girl named Cristiane and ends up a way-too-young father, or as an innocent prank escalates into a life-and-death struggle. Some episodes teeter on the brink of silliness--one of the last ones has the boys engaging in absurd cross-dressing--but the briskness of the writing and the charisma of Silva and Cunha carry the show through. Add to this the dynamic musical score of Brazilian pop and samba, and you ! have essential viewing. World music has already found popularity in the U.S.; welcome to a masterpiece of world television. --Bret Fetzer

(4x6) ORIGINAL Churchill: The Hollywood Years POSTCARD Slater

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Hephaestus Books represents a new publishing paradigm, allowing disparate content sources to be curated into cohesive, relevant, and informative books. To date, this content has been curated from Wikipedia articles and images under Creative Commons licensing, although as Hephaestus Books continues to increase in scope and dimension, more licensed and public domain content is being added. We believe books such as this represent a new and exciting lexicon in the sharing of human knowledge. This particular book is a collaboration focused on Cultural depictions of Winston Churchill.

More info: The life of Winston Churchill has frequently been fictionalised for film, television, radio and other media. * The Hollywood Years (20! 04) - Christian Slater Other Portrayals * Allegiance (2005) - Mel Smith * Two Men Went to War (2002) - David Ryall * Shaheed Uddham Singh: Alais Ram Mohammad Singh Azad (2000) - Joe Lamb * Casablanca Express (1989) - John Evans * Katastrofa w Gibraltarze (1984) - Wlodzimierz Wiszniewski * Sekret Enigmy (1979) - Józef Zacharewicz * The Eagle Has Landed (1976) - Leigh Dilley * Operation Crossbow (1965) - Patrick Wymark * The Finest Hours (1964) - Patrick Wymark / George Westbury * The Man Who Never Was (1956) - Peter Sellers * Nezabyvaemyy god 1919 (1952) - Viktor Stanitsyn * Stalingradskaya bitva I (1949) - Viktor Stanitsyn * Mission to Moscow (1943) - Dudley Field Malone * Royal Cavalcade (1935) - C.M. Hallard(4x6) ORIGINAL Churchill: The Hollywood Years POSTCARD Slater

Honey and Spice: Sensual and Fierce Burlesque

• HONEY & SPICE:SENSUAL & FIERCE BURLESQUE, WITH JO (DVD MOVIE)

A small town singer moves to the big city where she view for her chance at stardom at the sizzling burlesque nightclub. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 03/01/2011 Starring: Cher Christina Aguilera Run time: 118 minutes Rating: Pg13There is, according to Burlesque, a nightclub on the Sunset Strip that looks like a blend of Cabaret and Moulin Rouge and employs a full contingent of dancers and musicians in the service of a neo-retro-burlesque-blues program. Presiding over the craziness within is Tess, a grande dame who also performs occasionally and who could only, under these circumstances, be played by Cher. Entering the scene is a young leather-lunged hopeful from Iowa named Ali, played by Christina Aguilera in her movie-acting debut. The vibe of this glitzy concoction is more Flashdance than Showgirls, despite prerelease predictions that the film would be a campfest of epic proportions. In fact, it's more cornball than trashy. Ali hits most of the clichés of the genre: defying Tess's skepticism by proving her mettle during an impromptu stage number; flirting with the nice-guy bartender (Cam Gigandet, of Twilight) whose home she shares for a while, in a purely platonic way, of course, just until she gets her feet on the ground; and keeping a wary eye on the high roller (Eric Dane, of Grey's Anatomy) who wants to possess her, because, you see, he takes whatever he likes. And did we mention that Tess is facing foreclosure on the club in a month's time? Seriously, you didn't see that coming? Writer-director Steve Antin has no embarrassment about putting any of this across, which may be why it all feels weirdly innocent, if relentlessly silly. Stanley Tucci revives his gay assistant from The Devil Wears Prada, Alan Cumming lurks a! bout in an undefined role that might well have been filmed mon! ths afte r everybody else, and Kristen Bell enjoys a few wicked-witch moments as Ali's main rival. Aguilera, needless to say, belts out her songs as only someone with a very large voice can, and Cher stops the show with an old-fashioned torch song ("You Haven't Seen the Last of Me") that is clearly designed as a roof-raiser. (And, by gum, it works.) This is a ridiculous movie, but it gets points for never claiming to be anything else. --Robert HortonA small town singer moves to the big city where she view for her chance at stardom at the sizzling burlesque nightclub. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 03/01/2011 Starring: Cher Run time: 119 minutes Rating: Pg13There is, according to Burlesque, a nightclub on the Sunset Strip that looks like a blend of Cabaret and Moulin Rouge and employs a full contingent of dancers and musicians in the service of a neo-retro-burlesque-blues program. Presiding over the craziness within is Tess, a grande dame! who also performs occasionally and who could only, under these circumstances, be played by Cher. Entering the scene is a young leather-lunged hopeful from Iowa named Ali, played by Christina Aguilera in her movie-acting debut. The vibe of this glitzy concoction is more Flashdance than Showgirls, despite prerelease predictions that the film would be a campfest of epic proportions. In fact, it's more cornball than trashy. Ali hits most of the clichés of the genre: defying Tess's skepticism by proving her mettle during an impromptu stage number; flirting with the nice-guy bartender (Cam Gigandet, of Twilight) whose home she shares for a while, in a purely platonic way, of course, just until she gets her feet on the ground; and keeping a wary eye on the high roller (Eric Dane, of Grey's Anatomy) who wants to possess her, because, you see, he takes whatever he likes. And did we mention that Tess is facing foreclosure on the club in a month's time? S! eriously, you didn't see that coming? Writer-director Steve An! tin has no embarrassment about putting any of this across, which may be why it all feels weirdly innocent, if relentlessly silly. Stanley Tucci revives his gay assistant from The Devil Wears Prada, Alan Cumming lurks about in an undefined role that might well have been filmed months after everybody else, and Kristen Bell enjoys a few wicked-witch moments as Ali's main rival. Aguilera, needless to say, belts out her songs as only someone with a very large voice can, and Cher stops the show with an old-fashioned torch song ("You Haven't Seen the Last of Me") that is clearly designed as a roof-raiser. (And, by gum, it works.) This is a ridiculous movie, but it gets points for never claiming to be anything else. --Robert HortonBurlesque, the soundtrack to the Sony Pictures film Burlesque, starring Christina Aguilera and Cher. The highly anticipated soundtrack features new recordings performed and co-written by five time Grammy winner Christina Aguilera, with production by ! Tricky Stewart, Linda Perry and Ron Fair and songwriting by Claude Kelly, Tricky Stewart and Sia. The soundtrack also features two brand new tracks performed by the legendary Cher, including "You Haven't Seen The Last Of Me", a powerful Diane Warren penned ballad which was produced by Matt Serletic. This marks Cher's first new original song in seven years as well as her first movie musical. The soundtrack also includes remakes / covers of classic songs such as Etta James' "Something's Got A Hold On Me" and "Tough Lover" and Mae West's "A Guy What Takes His Time" all performed by Christina Aguilera.Burlesque Beat is not just another aerobic exercise program, it combines exciting dance moves with exotic stretches to create an all over cardio and body sculpting workout. Burlesque Beat is a dance-inspired fitness class full of fun achievable moves designed to turn you into a vibrant, sexy woman. Rodney James, one of Australia's most respected, passionate and inspirational fitne! ss instructors, shows you the body-shaping benefits of dance w! hich he uncovered during a successful international performance career. His enthusiasm and true passion for dance dissolves doubts and self-consciousness, enabling the most timid individual to move more confidently than ever. Rodney s video instruction has a room full of beautiful models to demonstrate to you all the sexy moves you ll need to know.The Honey & Spice instructional video explores two styles of burlesque: Sensual and Fierce. Burlesque is a sophisticated theatrical art with a long history, many subgenres and a wide range of flavors from classic to neo-burlesque. Burlesque combines elements of acting, modeling and dance. It cultivates confidence, bold femininity, and a sense of humor.

Created by Jo Weldon, the Headmistress and Founder of the New York School of Burlesque, the program features two burlesque routines set to authentic burlesque music. The emphasis of both routines is on understanding the art of concealing and revealing. While burlesque has its own cl! assic moves and steps, any burlesque routine can be personalized by adding steps from your favorite form of dance or from other variety arts.

The Honey routine is a tantalizing, sensual dance, performed with a feather boa. It is playful, funny, and very graceful. You will learn how to work with the boa, how to peel off your gloves, how to interact with your audience, and how to be sexy and confident on stage.

The Spice routine is based on the burlesque staple, Bump & Grind. It is high-energy, sexy, rhythmic, and glamorous. You will learn different types of bumps, various burlesque walks, and classic burlesque poses. In the Spice routine you will also learn how to project the burlesque attitude, that sexy confidence you need to amaze and charm any audience.

Jo demonstrates the routines and then breaks down each section step-by-step. Every routine consists of 5 combinations. The DVD chaptering allows you to navigate easily between combinations, both! in the demonstrations and in the breakdowns, for easy review ! and prac tice.

Additional technique and practice sections include a warmup, a sensual burlesque movement series, and the basics of bump & Grind. Jo also discusses burlesque costumes and offers tips for using certain special items of clothing as props: You will learn how to make a theatrical event out of peeling off your stockings and gloves, and taking off your corset. Special DVD Extras demonstrate the basics of Tassel Twirling and show different types of pasties and how to attach them.

Both routines in this program are based on the classic burlesque [striptease] tradition. Jo teaches moves she learned from women who performed burlesque in the 1930s through the 1960s. Jo s fascination with classic burlesque brought her to study with Dixie Evans, Sherry Britton, Tura Satana, Satan's Angel, Dee Milo, Toni Elling, and other legends of burlesque. Jo Weldon is the Co-Executive Director of Education for The Burlesque Hall of Fame, Las Vegas, as well as the Coordinator of! The Burlesque Master Class at Coney Island, where the best of New York's amazing neo-burlesque performers come together to present their most outrageous and iconoclastic acts.

District 9 [Blu-ray]

• Condition: New
• Format: Blu-ray
• Anamorphic; Color; DTS Surround Sound; Subtitled; Widescreen

From producer Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy) and director Neill Blomkamp comes a startlingly original science fiction thriller that "soars on the imagination of its creators" (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone). With stunning special effects and gritty realism, the film plunges us into a world where the aliens have landed... only to be exiled to a slum on the fringes of Johannesburg. Now, one lone human discovers the mysterious secret of the extraterrestrial weapon technology. Hunted and hounded through the bizarre back alleys of an alien shantytown, he will discover what it means to be the ultimate outsider on your own planet.A provocative science fiction drama, District 9 boasts an original story that gets a little lost in blow-'em-up mayhem. Set in Johannesbur! g, South Africa, District 9 begins as a mock documentary about the imminent eviction of extraterrestrials from a pathetic shantytown (called District 9). The creatures, it turns out, have been on Earth for years, having arrived sickly and starving. Initially received by humans with compassion and care, the aliens are now mired in blighted conditions typical of long-term refugee camps unwanted by a hostile, host society. With the creatures' care contracted out to a for-profit corporation, the shantytown has become a violent slum. The aliens sift through massive piles of junk while their minders secretly research weapons technology that arrived on the visitors' spacecraft.

Against this backdrop is a more personal story about a bureaucrat named Wikus (Sharlto Copley) who is accidentally exposed to a DNA-altering substance. As he begins metamorphosing into one of the creatures, Wikus goes on the run from scientists who want to harvest his evolving, new parts and alie! ns who see him as a threat. When he pairs up with an extraterr! estrial secretly planning an escape from Earth, however, what should be a fascinating relationship story becomes a series of firefights and explosions. Nuance is lost to numbing violence, and the more interesting potential of the film is obscured. Yet, for a while District 9 is a powerful movie with a unique tale to tell. Seamless special effects alone are worth seeing: the (often brutal) exchanges between alien and human are breathtaking. --Tom Keogh



District 9 downloadables (Click for pdf file)

House of Wax (Widescreen Edition)

• House of Wax tells the story of a group of friends who fall prey to a sinister plot while passing through a small town on their way to a college football game.Running Time: 113 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: R Age: 085393894528 UPC: 085393894528 Manufacturer No: 38945

House of Wax tells the story of a group of friends who fall prey to a sinister plot while passing through a small town on their way to a college football game.You know the one about the group of horny kids who get offed one by one? Yeah, so do director Jaume Collet-Serra and his screenwriters, who have updated an old Vincent Price flick and sandwiched it between hearty slices of The Blair Witch Project and various Friday the 13th films. Lots of WB and Fox network hotties--including 24's Elisha Cuthbert, One Tree Hill's Chad Michael Murray, and, well, Paris Hilton--have car trouble a! nd stumble onto a town populated by real killer personalities. The R-rated result is fairly gruesome and, though no one ever quite looks frightened enough, Collet-Serra knows his way around a jolting suspense sequence or two. Cuthbert and an unintentionally funny Murray (striking ludicrous poses as some kind of real toughie) act more like angry ex-lovers than the fraternal twins they're supposed to be; Hilton acts bored while her real-life video scandal is exploited for ironic kicks; and the film heads shamelessly over-the-top with each new twist. As an exercise in bloody mayhem, it has a few novel touches, but you can easily find better scares. --Steve Wiecking

Gran Torino

• GRAN TORINO (DVD MOVIE)

A disgruntled Korean War vet, Walt Kowalski (Eastwood), sets out to reform his neighbor, a young Hmong teenager, who tried to steal Kowalski's prized possession: his 1972 Gran Torino.Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino, an unassuming picture shot during a post-production lull on his elaborate period piece Changeling, was quietly rolled out at Christmastime 2008, whereupon it proceeded to blow away all the Oscar-bait behemoths at the box office and win its 78-year-old star the best reviews of his acting career. Both film and performance are consummately sly--coming on with deceptive simplicity, only to evolve into something complex, powerful, and surprisingly tender. Just as Unforgiven was a tragic reflection on Eastwood's legacy in the Western genre, Gran Torino caps and eloquently critiques the urban heritage of Dirty Harry and his violent ! brethren. And on top of that, the movie becomes a savvy meditation on America in a particular historical moment, racially, economically, spiritually. Call it a "state of the union" message. But call it that with a wry grin.

The latest Dirty Harry is actually a grumpy Walt: Walt Kowalski (Eastwood playing his own age), widower, Korean War veteran, retired auto worker, and the last white resident of his Detroit side street. It's hard to say who irks him more--his blood kin (a pretty lame bunch) or the Hmong families who are his new neighbors. Kowalski's a racist, because it has never occurred to him he shouldn't be. Besides, that's the flipside of the mutual ethnic baiting that serves as coin of affection for him and his working-class buddies. Circumstances--and two young people next door, the feisty Sue (Ahney Her) and her conflicted brother Thao (Bee Vang)--contrive to involve Walt with a new community, and anoint him as its hero after he turns his big guns on some ruffi! ans. The trajectory of this may surprise you--several times ov! er. East wood opted to film in economically blighted Detroit--a shrewd decision, but it's his mapping of Walt's world in that classical style of his that really counts. Every incidental corner of lawn, porch, and basement comes to matter--and by all means the workshop/garage that houses the mint-condition Gran Torino which Walt helped build in a more prosperous era. This is a remarkable movie. --Richard T. Jameson