Lights! Camera! Elvis! Collection

Paramount has a new box set out on Elvis and its called Lights! Camera! Elvis! Collection The movies you will receive is (Blue Hawaii/Easy Come, Easy Go/Fun in Acapulco/G.I. Blues/Girls! Girls! Girls!/King Creole/Roustabout/Paradise Hawaiian Style). There are 4 thin cases in the box with two DVD's of Elvis' movies. If you don't like the 2 movies in one case deal, then you can buy them individually. As a collector, I love to put my Elvis Movies in Chronological order. So this type of packaging kind of cramps my style. But at the same time this box set is a cool way to collect a good bit of Elvis movies at one time. The only thing that is negative I can say about this box set which has the same issues as the individual DVD's you can buy, is the Disc are the same artwork on the 2000 releases. The graphic and font on the disc don't match with the 2007 cases, but the cases are much better and it has a darker, colorful, and creative look to them. I would buy this Box set if they threw in a Bonus disc of cool documentaries or great movie performances. Another reason would be that I would love to have to this cool blue suede box set. Meanwhile, I'll enjoy my 2007 individual remastered Elvis movies from Paramount. The Artwork of Elvis is bigger and I can go back to putting them in Chronological order.

School of Rock

Turbo-charged comic Jack Black shakes School of Rock to its foundations, wailing with born-again metalhead passion as Dewey Finn, a guitarist who gets kicked out of a band because he grandstands too much--or, to put it another way, enjoys himself. Through an intercepted phone call, Finn gets a job as a substitute teacher for a fifth grade class at a private grade school. Neither students nor teacher quite know what to do with each other until Finn discovers that some of his young charges can play instruments; at once he starts turning them into a blistering rock & roll troupe that can crush his former band at an upcoming competition. School of Rock is silly and formulaic, but director Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused), writer Mike White (The Good Girl), and especially Black and co-star Joan Cusack invest the formulas with such glee that the movie is irresistibly fun. --Bret Fetzer
A diehard rock guitarist and slacker fakes his way into a teaching position where he turns his fifth graders into a rock group who compete in a battle of the bands.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 8-AUG-2006
Media Type: DVD

The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration Giftset DVD

Throughout his long, wandering, often distinguished career Francis Ford Coppola has made many films that are good and fine, many more that are flawed but undeniably interesting, and a handful of duds that are worth viewing if only because his personality is so flagrantly absent. Yet he is and always shall be known as the man who directed the Godfather films, a series that has dominated and defined their creator in a way perhaps no other director can understand. Coppola has never been able to leave them alone, whether returning after 15 years to make a trilogy of the diptych, or re-editing the first two films into chronological order for a separate video release as The Godfather Saga. The films are our very own Shakespearean cycle: they tell a tale of a vicious mobster and his extended personal and professional families (once the stuff of righteous moral comeuppance), and they dared to present themselves with an epic sweep and an unapologetically tragic tone. Murder, it turned out, was a serious business. The first film remains a towering achievement, brilliantly cast and conceived. The entry of Michael Corleone into the family business, the transition of power from his father, the ruthless dispatch of his enemies--all this is told with an assurance that is breathtaking to behold. And it turned out to be merely prologue; two years later The Godfather, Part II balanced Michael's ever-greater acquisition of power and influence during the fall of Cuba with the story of his father's own youthful rise from immigrant slums. The stakes were higher, the story's construction more elaborate, and the isolated despair at the end wholly earned. (Has there ever been a cinematic performance greater than Al Pacino's Michael, so smart and ambitious, marching through the years into what he knows is his own doom with eyes open and hungry?) The Godfather, Part III was mostly written off as an attempted cash-in, but it is a wholly worthy conclusion, less slow than autumnally patient and almost merciless in the way it brings Michael's past sins crashing down around him even as he tries to redeem himself. --Bruce Reid

Anchorman - The Legend Of Ron Burgundy

Will Farrell followed up his star-making vehicle Elf, which matched his fine-tuned comic obliviousness to a sweet sincerity, with a more arrogant variation on the same character: Ron Burgundy, a macho, narcissistic news anchor from the 1970s. Along with his news posse--roving reporter Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd, Clueless), sports guy Champ Kind (David Koechner), and dim-bulb weatherman Brick Tamland (Steve Carell, Bruce Almighty)--Burgundy rules the roost in San Diego, fawned upon by groupies and supported by a weary producer (Fred Willard, Best In Show) who tolerates Burgundy's ego because of good ratings. But when Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate, View from the Top) arrives with ambitions to become an anchor herself, she threatens the male-dominated newsroom. Anchorman has plenty of funny material, but it's as if Farrell couldn't decide what he really wanted to mock, and so took smart-ass cracks at everything in sight. Still, there are moments of inspired delirium. --Bret Fetzer

Description Video
Its the 70s & ron burgundy is the king of san diego - the most popular anchorman in town. In rons world women dont belong in the newsroom unless theyre doing cooking segments. So when rising star reporter veronice corningstone fills in for ro one night & ratings soar it makes him think. And thats not easy! Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/22/2006 Starring: Will Ferrell Vince Vaughn Run time: 103 minutes Rating: Ur

Jim Gaffigan: King Baby (2009)

Mortal men might be ashamed at their pudginess, laziness, and gastronomical obsession, but not Jim Gaffigan. Instead, Gaffigan uses these characteristics as punchlines that have surely earned him hundreds of dollars as he travels the country to inform the masses how much of a pig he is, and how they pretty much are too. Fresh off his widely successful Beyond the Pale DVD, released in 2006, Jim Gaffigan has decided to once again grace us with his shockingly pale presence in his newest DVD, King Baby.

Filmed during a stint in Austin, Texas, King Baby is perhaps best used as a pedagogical tool. In it we learn the wonders of meat, the absurdities of camping, and the sheer genius of the escalator and snooze bar. Of course, this is not all as there are many other topics discussed to both gladden the heart and inform the mind.

Most known for his "Hot Pockets" bit, Gaffigan spends most of his time on stage talking about food in ways both memorable and ethereal. After spending a little over an hour at the feet of this master of burlesque, the student will no doubt desire to adorn all food with bacon (or at least the most magical form of bacon: the bits of bacon), only achieving perfection if done while lounging on the couch and watching television at the same time.

In addition to the main feature, this disc also contains many insightful extras. These include Comedy Central commercials for both the Beyond the Pale and King Baby specials, interviews with the baron of jest himself, PSAs for "Our Massive Planet," and three "Pale Force" animated shorts.

Nintendo - Super Mario Galaxy 2

Nintendo saved their biggest announcement for last at this morning's E3 press conference, unveiling the first full sequel to a 3D Mario game on the same system: Mario Galaxy 2.From the trailer on show, it appears to be the same deal as the first game. Planetoids you run around, 3D puzzles, unique mechanics on various levels, flying pirate ships and, yes, bee suits.The graphics have seen a slight improvement from the looks of things, with nicer grass, but yeah, expect more Mario Galaxy. Just newer.It's planned for release sometime in 2010. Sadly, it won't be playable on the showroom floor this week.
I don't think you guys understand how much I flipped out in the press conference this morning when Nintendo announced Super Mario Galaxy 2. Seriously, Nick Chester actually had to look over and tell me to calm down since I was breathing really hard and uttering the words "um" and "amazing" over and over again not quite under my breath (inside scoop: it was actually loud enough to annoy everyone in the three rows in front and behind me).

There really aren't any words to describe how much I love the original Super Mario Galaxy. It is easily ranked my #1 platformer of all time. Yup, even higher than my precious Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. As people that listen to RetroforceGO! know, I fall in love with good level design, and Super Mario Galaxy has some of the best ever seen in a videogame.

Lucky for us all, Super Mario Galaxy 2 seems to offer much more of the same splendid design and addictive gameplay the first game had to offer.

Check out the press conference trailer after the jump for some stunning footage and prepare to be amazed. Sure, it looks a lot like the original, but that chocolate cake I just had last night looked just like the chocolate cake I had last week, BUT THEY WERE BOTH STILL DELICIOUS! This sent-from-Miyamoto-heaven sequel also features Yoshi in some of the most smile-inducing gameplay sequences you will ever see. Try not to giggle when he and Mario are flying through space together.

Enjoy watching the trailer over and over again and trying your darndest to wait the excruciatingly long time until Super Mario Galaxy 2 is released for the Wii in 2010. This is the Game of the Show for me so far.

Ju-on - 2003

Following in the footsteps of The Ring cycle, the Ju-On series of horror films has taken Japan by the throat. According to this movie, the title refers to a curse placed upon a house where violence occurred. Sure enough, we see a string of unhappy encounters in a seemingly ordinary home, where ghosts have settled in the aftermath of murder. Director Takashi Shimizu (who also directed the Hollywood remake, The Grudge) constructs the picture out of separate fragments, not told in chronological order; the haunted house is the main character, not any one of the unsuspecting human characters. Cult mavens might suggest that Shimizu uses devices and images that have already worked well in films by Hideo Nakata and Kiyoshi Kurosawa--the Japanese horror film does have its conventions. But none of that matters if you're watching this movie alone at home on a dark night. Click, click, click.... --Robert Horton

Bleach - The Rescue w/ Limited Collector's Hollow Mask

The day of Rukia's execution draws ever closer, and to save her, Ichigo and his loyal comrades must navigate the madness of a Soul Society on the brink of collapse. Ichigo and Renji face the most difficult training of their Soul Reaper careers as they struggle to achieve bankai, without which they have no hope against the most powerful captain of the Seireitei--Byakuya Kuchiki. While all the players converge at the site of Rukia's imminent execution, in the background, a group of Soul Reapers slowly uncover an unimaginable betrayal at the hands of one of their own--a betrayal that will shake the Soul Society to its very core.

: Season 1 Part 1 - Wind

When the family business is fire, and you can’t handle the heat, it’s time to look for a new line of work – and maybe a new family, too.
Kazuma is a descendent of an ancient clan skilled in the magical Fire Arts. Unfortunately for him, the gift seems to have skipped a generation. Defeated by his younger, female cousin, Ayano, in a battle to become the clan’s successor, Kazuma is exiled with only the smoldering burn of failure to keep him company. But now he’s back, risen from the ashes and armed with a powerful new mojo that’s sure to fan the flames of the family rivalry. The cooler he gets – the hotter she burns, and when Wind and Fire collide, Tokyo is caught in the eye of the storm.

Bolt - 2008

Bolt is a funny animated film about a dog who thinks he has superpowers. It is also a movie about friendship, perseverance, and the power of believing in oneself. Everyone knows that superheroes on television are not real, but super-dog Bolt (John Travolta) is a canine star who has been carefully raised to believe that he really possesses superpowers. Bolt is completely devoted to his human co-star Penny (Miley Cyrus), so when Penny is captured by the evil Dr. Calico (Malcolm McDowell) in their latest television episode and then Bolt accidentally gets loose in the real world, Bolt sets off on a journey to save her. Bolt is confounded when his super powers are suddenly ineffective, but inspiration strikes and Bolt quickly discovers the mysterious, power-stealing effects of Styrofoam packing peanuts. An encounter with alley cat Mittens (Susie Essman) gives Bolt some eye-opening lessons about being a real dog in the real world, while star-struck, ball-enclosed hamster Rhino (Mark Walton) revels in the opportunity to serve as Bolt's sidekick in the quest to rescue Penny. The trio traverses the United States from waffle house to waffle house on a hysterical quest to find Penny and prove that the relationship between Penny and Bolt is real. In the end, Bolt, Mittens, and Rhino learn that everyone is special in their own way and they discover the true power of believing in oneself and one's friends. Select theaters showed Bolt in Real-D 3-D which features some nice effects, but the film is probably equally enjoyable in the traditional format. A fun film with a nice message and a huge dose of cute, Bolt is good entertainment for the entire family. --Tami Horiuchi

Wall-E

Pixar genius reigns in this funny romantic comedy, which stars a robot who says absolutely nothing for a full 25 minutes yet somehow completely transfixes and endears himself to the audience within the first few minutes of the film. As the last robot left on earth, Wall-E (voiced by Ben Burtt) is one small robot--with a big, big heart--who holds the future of earth and mankind squarely in the palm of his metal hand. He's outlasted all the "Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class" robots that were assigned some 700 years ago to clean up the environmental mess that man made of earth while man vacationed aboard the luxury spaceship Axiom. Wall-E has dutifully gone about his job compacting trash, the extreme solitude broken only by his pet cockroach, but he's developed some oddly human habits and ideas. When the Axiom sends its regularly scheduled robotic EVE probe (Elissa Knight) to earth, Wall-E is instantly smitten and proceeds to try to impress EVE with his collection of human memorabilia. EVE's directive compels her to bring Wall-E's newly collected plant sprout to the captain of the Axiom and Wall-E follows in hot pursuit. Suddenly, the human world is turned upside down and the Captain (Jeff Garlin) joins forces with Wall-E and a cast of other misfit robots to lead the now lethargic people back home to earth. Wall-E is a great family film with the most impressive aspect being the depth of emotion conveyed by a simple robot--a machine typically considered devoid of emotion, but made so absolutely touching by the magic of Pixar animation. Also well-worth admiring are the sweeping views from space, the creative yet disturbing vision of what strange luxuries a future space vacation might offer, and the innovative use of trash in a future cityscape. Underneath the slapstick comedy and touching love story is a poignant message about the folly of human greed and its potential effects on earth and the entire human race. Wall-E is preceded in theaters by the comical short Presto in which a magician's rabbit, unfed one too many times takes his revenge against the egotistical magician. (Ages 3 and older) --Tami Horiuchi>

The Longest Day

After seeing Saving Private Ryan, this epic tale about the Normandy invasion will look sanitized. But in its re-creation of events leading to the epochal battle, the film is captivating and grand, and the parade of famous actors who cross the screen naturally give the already charged action even more of a boost. Three directors worked on it: Ken Annakin (Battle of the Bulge), Andrew Marton (Crack in the World), and Bernhard Wicki (this film being his only credit). --Tom Keogh

This special collector's commemorative edition has been issued in honor of the June 6, 1944 Allied invasion of France, which marked the beginning of the end of Nazi domination over Europe. The attack involved 3,000,000 men, 11,000 planes and 4,000 ships, comprising the largest armada the world has ever seen.

Description Video
The Longest Day is a vivid, hour-by-hour recreation of this historic event. Featuring a stellar international cast, and told from the perspectives of both sides, it is a fascinating look at the massive preparations, mistakes, and random events that determined the outcome of one of the biggest battles in history. Winner of two 1962 Oscars® (Special Effects and Cinematography), The Longest Day ranks as one of Hollywood's truly great war films.

The Magnificent Seven (Special Edition) (1960)

Akira Kurosawa's rousing Seven Samurai was a natural for an American remake--after all, the codes and conventions of ancient Japan and the Wild West (at least the mythical movie West) are not so very far apart. Thus The Magnificent Seven effortlessly turns samurai into cowboys (the same trick worked more than once: Kurosawa's Yojimbo became Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars). The beleaguered denizens of a Mexican village, weary of attacks by banditos, hire seven gunslingers to repel the invaders once and for all. The gunmen are cool and capable, with most of the actors playing them just on the cusp of '60s stardom: Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn. The man who brings these warriors together is Yul Brynner, the baddest bald man in the West. There's nothing especially stylish about the approach of veteran director John Sturges (The Great Escape), but the storytelling is clear and strong, and the charisma of the young guns fairly flies off the screen. If that isn't enough to awaken the 12-year-old kid inside anyone, the unforgettable Elmer Bernstein music will do it: bum-bum-ba-bum, bum-ba-bum-ba-bum.... Followed by three inferior sequels, Return of the Seven, Guns of the Magnificent Seven, and The Magnificent Seven Ride! --Robert Horton

Description Video
Spectacular gun battles, epic-sized heroes and an all-star cast that includes Academy AwardÂ(r) winners Yul Brynner* and James Coburn**, together with Steve McQueen, Eli Wallach and Charles Bronson, make The Magnificent Seven a legend among westerns. Spawning three sequels and a successful television series, and featuring Elmer Bernstein's OscarÂ(r)-nominated*** score, thisstunning remake of The Seven Samurai is "a hard-pounding adventure" (Newsweek) and "an enduringly popular" (Leonard Maltin) cinematic classic. Merciless Calvera (Wallach) and his band of ruthless outlaws are terrorizing a poor Mexican village, and even the bravest lawmen can't stop them. Desperate, the locals hire Chris Adams (Brynner) and six other gunfighters to defend them. With time running out before Calvera's next raid, the heroic seven must prepare the villagers for battle and help them find the courage to take back their town or die trying!

True Lies (1994)

James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger join forces for their first outing since "Terminator 2," and it's a bumpy ride. The tale begins and ends in a flurry of joke violence; Cameron has decided to spoof what he used to take seriously, and the result, though bright and deafening, feels oddly slack-he loosens the screws, and our interest drops away. Schwarzenegger plays along with this, stumbling into James Bond territory as a suave international spy named Harry Tasker; it's a stiff and rather sad sight. The middle chunk of the film defies belief-not with special effects, unfortunately, but with humdrum misogyny. Harry suspects his wife (Jamie Lee Curtis) of adultery, kidnaps her, and subjects her to a series of humiliations, apparently in an effort to win back her love. Yeah, right. This section has no logical link with the rest of the picture; the two plots are just banged together as a kind of vague discourse on secrecy. Tom Arnold saves the show as Harry's sidekick; Charlton Heston pretty well wrecks it again by turning up with an eye patch. -Anthony Lane

From The Terminator to Titanic, you can always rely on writer-director James Cameron to show you something you've never seen on the big screen before. The guy may not consistently pen the most scintillating dialogue in the world (and, especially in this movie, he doesn't seem to have a particularly high regard for women), but as a director of kinetic, push-the-envelope action sequences, he is in a class by himself. In True Lies, the highlight is a breathtaking third-act jet and car chase through the Florida Keys. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a covert intelligence agent whose wife of 15 years (Jamie Lee Curtis) finally finds out that he's not really a computer salesman and who becomes mixed up in a case involving nuclear arms smuggling. Tom Arnold is surprisingly funny and engaging as Schwarzenegger's longtime spy partner, and Bill Paxton is a smarmy used-car salesman (is that redundant?) whom Arnold thinks is having an affair with his wife. Purely in terms of spectacular action and high-tech hardware, True Lies is a blast. --Jim Emerson


Description Video
Arnold Schwarzenegger is special agent Harry Tasker, a top spy in the ultra-secret Omega Sector who also dances a mean tango- although to his neglected wife, Helen, (Jamie Lee Curtis) he's just a dull computer salesman. But while Harry's been busy fighting terrorists, Helen's been gathering secrets of her own. And when their two secret lives unexpectedly collide, Harry and Helen find themselves in the clutches of international terrorists, fighting to save not only their marriage but their lives as well. Packed with non-stop action, spectacular special effects and unprecedented stunts, this "domestic epic" from director James Cameron (Titanic, Terminator 2: Judgment Day) is a rollicking '90's twist on the super spy genre.

From Tranas Book Review