Blood & Chocolate

• Languages - English, French
• Subtitles - English, French, Spanish.
• Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
• Dolby Digital 5.1

Agnes Bruckner, Hugh Dancy, Olivier Martinez. A modern day tale of a 19-year old woman from Bucharest who carries with her the secret that she and her family are vampires. All is safe until she falls for a visiting artist from America which forces her to make a choice. 2007/color/98 min/PG-13. When graphic novelist Aiden (Hugh Dancy) travels to Bucharest to research the loup garou legend, he nearly gets devoured in the latest female werewolf film, Blood and Chocolate. In the tradition of Werewolf Woman and Ginger Snaps, Blood and Chocolate stars Vivian Gandillon (Agnes Bruckner), a girl who's forced to face her lupine tendencies in order to discover how capable of loving Aiden she really is. Based on a book by Annette Curtis Clause, the ! film chronicles the lives of the remaining loup garou who are an extended Romanian family waiting for their pack leader, Gabriel, to select his new mate. His desire for Vivian means trouble when her wish to be with Aiden results in her revealing too much about the clan's secretive lifestyle. In this film, werewolves look fully human until their eyes glow with colored contact lenses while they fly through the air to then land as full-fledged wolves. Gone are the days, apparently, of films showing the transformation in all its hairy, explosive detail. A lack of scenes describing the werewolf metamorphosis make this film more a love story than a monster tale, though two forest gatherings in which the loup garou hunt human sacrifices offer some grizzly satisfaction. Unlike the aforementioned femme werewolf films, Blood and Chocolate features a girl fighting her urge to kill in a bid to unite humans with her brethren, making this movie the most peaceful in its genre. With! a tame wolf as protagonist, the potential nightmare is really! just a pleasant dream to unite the two disparate worlds. The question is: Do we want that to happen? --Trinie Dalton

Willy Wonka & Chocolate Factory

• Condition: New
• Format: DVD
• Color; DVD; NTSC

Willy Wonka's famous chocolate factory is opening at last! But only five lucky children will be allowed inside. And the winners are: Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregarde, Mike Teavee, and Charlie Bucket, Our Hero, a boy who is honest and kind, brave and true, and good and ready for the wildest time of his life!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, along with Roald Dahl's other tales for younger readers, make him a true star of children's literature. Dahl seems to know just how far to go with his oddball fantasies; in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, for example, nasty Violet Beauregarde blows up into a blueberry from sneaking forbidden chewing gum, and bratty Augustus Gloop is carried away on the river of chocolate he wouldn't resis! t. In fact, all manner of disasters can happen to the most obnoxiously deserving of children because Dahl portrays each incident with such resourcefulness and humor.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a singular delight, crammed with mad fantasy, childhood justice and revenge, and as much candy as you can eat. The book is also available in Spanish (Charlie y la Fabrica de Chocolate). (The suggested age range for this book is 9-12, but nobody this reviewer has met can resist it, including New York City bellhops, flight attendants, and grumpy teenagers.) Willy Wonka, the eccentric owner of a candy factory, decides to open up his factory to five lucky kids who won a contest by finding golden tickets in his candy bars. As the tour progresses, each kid succumbs to a temptation of their weaknesses except for Charlie Bucket, an innocent child whose family has grown up in poverty in the shadow Willy Wonka's monstrous factory.Mixed reviews and creepy compar! isons to Michael Jackson notwithstanding, Tim Burton's splendi! dly imag inative adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory would almost surely meet with Roald Dahl's approval. The celebrated author of darkly offbeat children's books vehemently disapproved of 1971's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (hence the change in title), so it's only fitting that Burton and his frequent star/collaborator, Johnny Depp, should have another go, infusing the enigmatic candyman's tale with their own unique brand of imaginative oddity. Depp's pale, androgynous Wonka led some to suspect a partial riff on that most controversial of eternal children, Michael Jackson, but Burton's film is too expansively magnificent to be so narrowly defined. While preserving Dahl's morality tale on the hazards of indulgent excess, Burton's riotous explosion of color provides a wondrous setting for the lessons learned by Charlie Bucket (played by Freddie Highmore, Depp's delightful costar in Finding Neverland), as he and other, less admirable children e! njoy a once-in-a-lifetime tour of Wonka's confectionary wonderland. Elaborate visual effects make this an eye-candy overdose (including digitally multiplied Oompa-Loompas, all played by diminutive actor Deep Roy), and the film's underlying weirdness is exaggerated by Depp's admirably risky but ultimately off-putting performance. Of course, none of this stops Burton's Charlie from being the must-own family DVD of 2005's holiday season, perhaps even for those who staunchly defend Gene Wilder's portrayal of Wonka from 34 years earlier. --Jeff ShannonSummary:
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About the Author:

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Author: Roald Dahl
Illustrator:0
Publisher:Knopf Books for Young Readers
Published Date:09/11/2001
Format:Hardcover
ISBN:0375815597
#of pages:#N/A
Deliciously madcap mayhem and out-of-this-world fantasy--this is what you'll find within the casing of this boxed set of two of Roald Dahl's most brilliant creations! : Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and ! the Gr eat Glass Elevator.

For decades, delighted readers of all ages have explored Willy Wonka's fabulous chocolate factory, met the Oompa Loompas, and sampled the chocolate river along with Augustus Gloop. And later, they have zoomed off into the stratosphere in the most remarkable elevator ever created. Now, a new generation of readers barely needs to pause between the first and the second of Roald Dahl's masterful volumes. Hardcover editions of each title, illustrated of course by the incomparable Quentin Blake, are tucked in a handy cardboard sleeve, ready for the next set of hungry eyes. Sadly, the convenience of the set is counterbalanced by the poor quality of the paper used for the books. Classics like these deserve thick, creamy, opaque pages; not the flimsy, rough, semitransparent sheets used here. (Ages 7 and older) --Emilie CoulterCharlie Bucket loves chocolate. And Mr Willy Wonka, the most wondrous inventor in the world, is opening! the gates of his amazing chocolate factory to five lucky children. It's the prize of a lifetime! Gobstoppers, wriggle sweets and a river of melted chocolate delight await - Charlie needs just one Golden Ticket and these delicious treats could be all his. Now you can step inside and see for yourself! This is your Golden Ticket to explore Willy Wonka's amazing world with this unique pop-up edition of Roald Dahl's much-loved story.A poor little boy wins a ticket to visit the inside of a mysterious and magical chocolate factory. When he experiences the wonders inside the factory, the boy discovers that the entire visit is a test of his character.Having proven itself as a favorite film of children around the world, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is every bit as entertaining now as it was when originally released in 1971. There's a timeless appeal to Roald Dahl's classic children's novel, which was playfully preserved in this charming musical, from the colorful carn! ival-like splendor of its production design to the infectious ! melody o f the "Oompah-Loompah" songs that punctuate the story. Who can forget those diminutive Oompah-Loompah workers who recite rhyming parental warnings ("Oompah-Loompah, doopity do...") whenever some mischievous child has disobeyed Willy Wonka's orders to remain orderly? Oh, but we're getting ahead of ourselves ... it's really the story of the impoverished Charlie Bucket, who, along with four other kids and their parental guests, wins a coveted golden ticket to enter the fantastic realm of Wonka's mysterious confectionery. After the other kids have proven themselves to be irresponsible brats, it's Charlie who impresses Wonka and wins a reward beyond his wildest dreams. But before that, the tour of Wonka's factory provides a dazzling parade of delights, and with Gene Wilder giving a brilliant performance as the eccentric candyman, Wonka gains an edge of menace and madness that nicely counterbalances the movie's sentimental sweetness. It's that willingness to risk a darker t! one--to show that even a wonderland like Wonka's can be a weird and dangerous place if you're a bad kid--that makes this an enduring family classic. --Jeff ShannonWe recommend you read this unit on your kindle machine with a 1 font for best viewing
This unit study offers many wonderful activities to use while having students read the book. There are between 6 and 10 lessons. Activities in this lesson include Fill in the Blank, Multiple Choice, True and False, Comprehension, Encyclopedia Skills Activity, Journal Activity, Vocabulary, Sequencing, Handwriting, Main Idea, Prediction, Comparison

Literature Skills Activities including: Main Character, Main Setting, Main Problem, Possible Solutions, Character Traits, Character Interaction, Cause and Effect, Description, Pyramid of Importance, Villain vs. Hero.

Creative Writing Activities including: Letter, Fairy Tale, Mystery, Science Fiction, Fable, Dream or Nightmare, Tall Tale, Memoir, Newberry! Award, A Different Ending.

Writing Skills Activiti! es inclu ding: Description, Expository, Dialogue, Process, Point of View, Persuasion, Compare and Contrast, Sequel, Climax and Plot Analysis.

Poetry Skills Activities including: Couplet, Triplet, Quinzain, Haiku, Cinquain, Tanka, Diamanté, Lantern and Shape Poem.

Create a Newspaper Layout Activities including: Editorial, Travel, Advice Column, Comics, Society News, Sports, Obituary, Weddings, Book Review, Want Ads, Word Search.

Poster Board Activities including: Collage, Theater Poster, Wanted Poster, Coat of Arms, Story Quilt, Chalk Art, Silhouette, Board Game Construction, Door Sign, Jeopardy.

We also offer more activities including instructions for a lapbook at our home site. If you purchase this unit study and let us know by sending us proof of purchase, we will download this unit in PDF version to you which has more activities and the lapbook instructions.

We recommend you read this unit on your kindle machine with a 1 f! ont for best viewing
This unit study offers many wonderful activities to use while having students read the book. There are between 6 and 10 lessons. Activities in this lesson include Fill in the Blank, Multiple Choice, True and False, Comprehension, Encyclopedia Skills Activity, Journal Activity, Vocabulary, Sequencing, Handwriting, Main Idea, Prediction, Comparison

Literature Skills Activities including: Main Character, Main Setting, Main Problem, Possible Solutions, Character Traits, Character Interaction, Cause and Effect, Description, Pyramid of Importance, Villain vs. Hero.

Creative Writing Activities including: Letter, Fairy Tale, Mystery, Science Fiction, Fable, Dream or Nightmare, Tall Tale, Memoir, Newberry Award, A Different Ending.

Writing Skills Activities including: Description, Expository, Dialogue, Process, Point of View, Persuasion, Compare and Contrast, Sequel, Climax and Plot Analysis.

Poetry Skills Activities inclu! ding: Couplet, Triplet, Quinzain, Haiku, Cinquain, Tanka, Diam! anté, Lantern and Shape Poem.

Create a Newspaper Layout Activities including: Editorial, Travel, Advice Column, Comics, Society News, Sports, Obituary, Weddings, Book Review, Want Ads, Word Search.

Poster Board Activities including: Collage, Theater Poster, Wanted Poster, Coat of Arms, Story Quilt, Chalk Art, Silhouette, Board Game Construction, Door Sign, Jeopardy.

We also offer more activities including instructions for a lapbook at our home site. If you purchase this unit study and let us know by sending us proof of purchase, we will download this unit in PDF version to you which has more activities and the lapbook instructions.

A poor little boy wins a ticket to visit the inside of a mysterious and magical chocolate factory. When he experiences the wonders inside the factory, the boy discovers that the entire visit is a test of his character.Having proven itself as a favorite film of children around the world, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate! Factory is every bit as entertaining now as it was when originally released in 1971. There's a timeless appeal to Roald Dahl's classic children's novel, which was playfully preserved in this charming musical, from the colorful carnival-like splendor of its production design to the infectious melody of the "Oompah-Loompah" songs that punctuate the story. Who can forget those diminutive Oompah-Loompah workers who recite rhyming parental warnings ("Oompah-Loompah, doopity do...") whenever some mischievous child has disobeyed Willy Wonka's orders to remain orderly? Oh, but we're getting ahead of ourselves ... it's really the story of the impoverished Charlie Bucket, who, along with four other kids and their parental guests, wins a coveted golden ticket to enter the fantastic realm of Wonka's mysterious confectionery. After the other kids have proven themselves to be irresponsible brats, it's Charlie who impresses Wonka and wins a reward beyond his wildest dreams. But befo! re that, the tour of Wonka's factory provides a dazzling parad! e of del ights, and with Gene Wilder giving a brilliant performance as the eccentric candyman, Wonka gains an edge of menace and madness that nicely counterbalances the movie's sentimental sweetness. It's that willingness to risk a darker tone--to show that even a wonderland like Wonka's can be a weird and dangerous place if you're a bad kid--that makes this an enduring family classic. --Jeff Shannon

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

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The Art Of Getting By: Music From The Motion Picture

This product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Fatalistic teenager George Zingavoy (Freddie Highmore) is a master at just barely getting by. In fact, he’s practically turned it into an art formâ€"making it through the entire school year without doing a shred of work. But when George meets a beautiful and complicated girl named Sally (Emma Roberts), he discovers a kindred spirit who turns his slacker world upside down. Their quirky and unexpected romance may just inspire George to do the unthinkableâ€"get off his butt and chase after his dreams.The Art of Getting By is a coming-of-age film that explores first love and the mystery of personal motivation. Freddie Highmore is completely believable as George Zinavoy, ! a high school senior with a talent for drawing who lacks direction and motivation. George is super-sensitive to the differences between himself and others, considers his unavoidable mortality a reason to reject schoolwork and societal pressures to achieve, and has long been content with doing the absolute minimum in spite of his inherent capableness. While his mother and stepfather, teachers, and even a mentoring artist have all failed to find a way to motivate George, meeting fellow student Sally (Emma Roberts) stirs something in him that he can't quite describe or acknowledge. Their relationship is certainly complicated, but ultimately it leads George to look deep within to discover what's truly important, to set personal goals, and to embark on a course of action that will make those goals a reality. Writer Gavin Wiesen directs what he describes as a semiautobiographical, yet universal film about coming of age, filming in his hometown of New York City and featuring two t! alented performers in Highmore and Roberts. The pacing of the ! film del iberately mirrors George's inner turmoil: it creeps along with periods of relative inaction emphasizing George's internal conflict and reflection, but is peppered with brief hormonal bursts of action--and somehow the unusual pacing ends up being quite effective. Bonus features include commentary by Wiesen; brief 2- to 4-minute featurettes on filming in New York, young love, and Highmore; and a longer 12-minute making-of segment. --Tami HoriuchiIn today's world, yesterday's methods just don't work. In Getting Things Done, veteran coach and management consultant David Allen shares the breakthrough methods for stress-free performance that he has introduced to tens of thousands of people across the country. Allen's premise is simple: our productivity is directly proportional to our ability to relax. Only when our minds are clear and our thoughts are organized can we achieve effective productivity and unleash our creative potential. In Getting Things Done Alle! n shows how to:

* Apply the "do it, delegate it, defer it, drop it" rule to get your in-box to empty
* Reassess goals and stay focused in changing situations
* Plan projects as well as get them unstuck
* Overcome feelings of confusion, anxiety, and being overwhelmed
* Feel fine about what you're not doing

From core principles to proven tricks, Getting Things Done can transform the way you work, showing you how to pick up the pace without wearing yourself down.With first-chapter allusions to martial arts, "flow," "mind like water," and other concepts borrowed from the East (and usually mangled), you'd almost think this self-helper from David Allen should have been called Zen and the Art of Schedule Maintenance.

Not quite. Yes, Getting Things Done offers a complete system for downloading all those free-floating gotta-do's clogging your brain into a sophisticated framework of files and action l! ists--all purportedly to free your mind to focus on whatever y! ou're wo rking on. However, it still operates from the decidedly Western notion that if we could just get really, really organized, we could turn ourselves into 24/7 productivity machines. (To wit, Allen, whom the New Economy bible Fast Company has dubbed "the personal productivity guru," suggests that instead of meditating on crouching tigers and hidden dragons while you wait for a plane, you should unsheathe that high-tech saber known as the cell phone and attack that list of calls you need to return.)

As whole-life-organizing systems go, Allen's is pretty good, even fun and therapeutic. It starts with the exhortation to take every unaccounted-for scrap of paper in your workstation that you can't junk, The next step is to write down every unaccounted-for gotta-do cramming your head onto its own scrap of paper. Finally, throw the whole stew into a giant "in-basket"

That's where the processing and prioritizing begin; in Allen's system, it get a little convoluted ! at times, rife as it is with fancy terms, subterms, and sub-subterms for even the simplest concepts. Thank goodness the spine of his system is captured on a straightforward, one-page flowchart that you can pin over your desk and repeatedly consult without having to refer back to the book. That alone is worth the purchase price. Also of value is Allen's ingenious Two-Minute Rule: if there's anything you absolutely must do that you can do right now in two minutes or less, then do it now, thus freeing up your time and mind tenfold over the long term. It's commonsense advice so obvious that most of us completely overlook it, much to our detriment; Allen excels at dispensing such wisdom in this useful, if somewhat belabored, self-improver aimed at everyone from CEOs to soccer moms (who we all know are more organized than most CEOs to start with). --Timothy Murphy

The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable: With a new section: "On Robustness and Fragility"

• ISBN13: 9780812973815
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

“You can’t tear your eyes away” (Entertainment Weekly) from this “wicked, psychosexual thriller” (Daily Variety) starring ACADEMY AWARD® WINNER Natalie Portman* and directed by Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler ). Portman delivers “the performance of her career” (Vanity Fair ) as Nina, a stunningly talented but dangerously unstable ballerina on the verge of stardom. Pushed to the breaking point by her driven artistic director (Vincent Cassel) and the threat posed by a seductive rival dancer (Mila Kunis), Nina’s tenuous grip on reality starts to slip away â€" plunging her into a waking nightmare.Feverish worlds such as espionage and warfare have nothing on the hothouse realm of ballet, as ! director Darren Aronofsky makes clear in Black Swan, his over-the-top delve into a particularly fraught production of Swan Lake. At the very moment hard-working ballerina Nina (Natalie Portman) lands the plum role of the White Swan, her company director (Vincent Cassel) informs her that she'll also play the Black Swan--and while Nina's precise, almost virginal technique will serve her well in the former role, the latter will require a looser, lustier attack. The strain of reaching within herself for these feelings, along with nattering comments from her mother (Barbara Hershey) and the perceived rivalry from a new dancer (Mila Kunis), are enough to make anybody crack… and tracing out the fault lines of Nina's breakdown is right in Aronofsky's wheelhouse. Those cracks are broad indeed, as Nina's psychological instability is telegraphed with blunt-force emphasis in this neurotic roller-coaster ride. The characters are stick figures--literally, in the case of t! he dancers, but also as single-note stereotypes in the horror ! show: wi tchy bad mommy, sexually intimidating male boss, wacko diva (Winona Ryder, as the prima ballerina Nina is replacing). Yet the film does work up some crazed momentum (and undeniably earned its share of critical raves), and the final sequence is one juicy curtain-dropper. A good part of the reason for this is the superbly all-or-nothing performance by Natalie Portman, who packs an enormous amount of ferocity into her small body. Kudos, too, to Tchaikovsky's incredibly durable music, which has meshed well with psychological horror at least since being excerpted for the memorably moody opening credits of the 1931 Dracula, another pirouette through the dark side. --Robert Horton“You can’t tear your eyes away” (Entertainment Weekly) from this “wicked, psychosexual thriller” (Daily Variety) starring Academy Award® Winner Natalie Portman and directed by Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler). Portman delivers “the performance of her career” (Vanity Fai! r ) as Nina, a stunningly talented but dangerously unstable ballerina on the verge of stardom. Pushed to the breaking point by her driven artistic director (Vincent Cassel) and the threat posed by a seductive rival dancer (Mila Kunis), Nina’s tenuous grip on reality starts to slip away â€" plunging her into a waking nightmare.Feverish worlds such as espionage and warfare have nothing on the hothouse realm of ballet, as director Darren Aronofsky makes clear in Black Swan, his over-the-top delve into a particularly fraught production of Swan Lake. At the very moment hard-working ballerina Nina (Natalie Portman) lands the plum role of the White Swan, her company director (Vincent Cassel) informs her that she'll also play the Black Swan--and while Nina's precise, almost virginal technique will serve her well in the former role, the latter will require a looser, lustier attack. The strain of reaching within herself for these feelings, along with nattering comment! s from her mother (Barbara Hershey) and the perceived rivalry ! from a n ew dancer (Mila Kunis), are enough to make anybody crack… and tracing out the fault lines of Nina's breakdown is right in Aronofsky's wheelhouse. Those cracks are broad indeed, as Nina's psychological instability is telegraphed with blunt-force emphasis in this neurotic roller-coaster ride. The characters are stick figures--literally, in the case of the dancers, but also as single-note stereotypes in the horror show: witchy bad mommy, sexually intimidating male boss, wacko diva (Winona Ryder, as the prima ballerina Nina is replacing). Yet the film does work up some crazed momentum (and undeniably earned its share of critical raves), and the final sequence is one juicy curtain-dropper. A good part of the reason for this is the superbly all-or-nothing performance by Natalie Portman, who packs an enormous amount of ferocity into her small body. Kudos, too, to Tchaikovsky's incredibly durable music, which has meshed well with psychological horror at least since being excerpted! for the memorably moody opening credits of the 1931 Dracula, another pirouette through the dark side. --Robert HortonA black swan is an event, positive or negative, that is deemed improbable yet causes massive consequences. In this groundbreaking and prophetic book, Taleb shows in a playful way that Black Swan events explain almost everything about our world, and yet weâ€"especially the expertsâ€"are blind to them. In this second edition, Taleb has added a new essay, On Robustness and Fragility, which offers tools to navigate and exploit a Black Swan world.

Benchmade Bone Collector Gut Hook

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Before and After

• Two of Hollywood's brightest stars, Meryl Streep (THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, DEATH BECOMES HER), and Liam Neeson (SCHINDLER'S LIST) deliver spellbinding performances in this riveting, suspense-filled thriller! A small, close-knit community is rocked by a shocking murder -- and the only suspect is the teenage son of a respected local family. Suddenly, Dr. Carolyn Ryan (Streep) and her h

Two parents deal with the effects when their son is accused of murdering his girlfriend. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 05/09/2006 Starring: Meryl Streep Edward Furlong Run time: 108 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Barbet Schroeder

Dark Water (Unrated Widescreen Edition)

• Far more terrifying than what was seen in theaters, this special unrated version of DARK WATER is a thoroughly absorbing, suspense-filled thriller starring Jennifer Connelly. Dahlia Williams (Connelly) and her 5-year-old daughter are ready to begin a new life together. But their new apartment dilapidated and worn suddenly seems to take on a life of its own. Mysterious noises, persistent leaks of d

Far more terrifying than what was seen in theaters, this special unrated version of DARK WATER is a thoroughly absorbing, suspense-filled thriller starring Jennifer Connelly. Dahlia Williams (Connelly) and her 5-year-old daughter are ready to begin a new life together. But their new apartment â€" dilapidated and worn â€" suddenly seems to take on a life of its own. Mysterious noises, persistent leaks of dark water, and other strange happenings in the deserted apartment above send Dahlia on a hauntin! g and mystifying pursuit â€" one that unleashes a torrent of living nightmares.In many ways Dark Water improves upon the memorable Japanese film it's based on. The earlier version was directed by Hideo Nakata (whose excellent shocker Ringu was remade in America as The Ring), but in the hands of director Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) and screenwriter Rafael Yglesias, this psychological horror story gets an intelligent and more chillingly effective overhaul. The story is rooted in themes of love and loss that Yglesias similarly explored in his excellent screenplay for Peter Weir's Fearless, here focusing on young mother Dahlia (Jennifer Connelly) as she endures difficult divorce proceedings and settles into a low-rent apartment in New York's cramped Roosevelt Island community, near Manhattan, with her young daughter Cecilia (Ariel Gade). Amidst seemingly endless rainfall, Dahlia's world slowly unravels, and Connelly is superb as a w! oman seemingly on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Or is she?! Could i t be that Cecilia's imaginary friend, and the apartment's persistent leaks of dark, dripping water, are the ghostly manifestations of a young girl who had been abandoned by the previous tenant? Creepy atmosphere and high anxiety are expertly maintained by Salles, and supporting roles for Tim Roth, John C. Reilly and especially Pete Postlethwaite give the film an added edge of mystery. The tension builds slowly (gore-mongers and action fans may be disappointed), but the cumulative effect is palpably unnerving, inviting favorable comparison to Rosemary's Baby. Unlike some other remakes of Japanese horror hits, Dark Water doesn't feel redundant; it stands on its own thanks to the impressive work of everyone involved. --Jeff Shannon

Boiler Room

• TESTED

DVD'SThe intense soundtrack of Boiler Room is a fitting underscore for this movie, which pulses with the vigor of young, rich, amoral men wreaking havoc. This is not the antisocietal havoc of Fight Club, but the more deliberate mayhem that comes from greed run amok. The testosterone-junkie brokers of J.T. Marlin (the only female in the office is Abby, the receptionist and love interest, played by Nia Long) are out to make the sale, and whether that sale is legal or ethical doesn't matter.

Seth Davis (Giovanni Ribisi) is a 19-year-old college dropout who strives for approval from his father (Ron Rifkin), a judge who is horrified that his son operates a 24-hour illicit casino. When an old friend visits the casino with a fellow broker, Davis is impressed by their wads of money and yellow Ferrari, and decides to join the firm. In no time he's making sales and settling in! to the groove of the office and all the after-hours perks, but the dream fades when Davis discovers the scam that is making all of the brokers wealthy beyond their dreams.

Borrowing heavily from Wall Street and Glengarry Glen Ross, Boiler Room is at its best when dealing with matters of money, and powerful scenes of Davis learning to be a "closer" showcase the significant talent of Ribisi, Nicky Katt, and Vin Diesel. The movie flounders when developing the relationship between Davis and his father, becoming sentimental and trite. However, as a fable of modern society and a nostalgic vehicle about the days of yuppies past, Boiler Room is right on the money. --Jenny Brown

American History X

• Edward Norton's Academy Award nominated role as a White Supremist who sees the error of his ways while jailed for murder. Unfortunately, he leaves prison to find his brother (Edward Furlong) heading down the same path.Running Time: 119 min. System Requirements: Directed by Tony Kaye Writing credits David McKenna Cast overview, first billed only: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D Angelo,

Edward Norton's Academy Award nominated role as a White Supremist who sees the error of his ways while jailed for murder. Unfortunately, he leaves prison to find his brother (Edward Furlong) heading down the same path.

DVD Features:
Biographies
Deleted Scenes
Filmographies
Interactive Menus
Production Notes
Scene Access
Theatrical Trailer

Perhaps the highest compliment you can pay to Edward Norton is that his Oscar-nom! inated performance in American History X nearly convinces you that there is a shred of logic in the tenets of white supremacy. If that statement doesn't horrify you, it should; Norton is so fully immersed in his role as a neo-Nazi skinhead that his character's eloquent defense of racism is disturbingly persuasive--at least on the surface. Looking lean and mean with a swastika tattoo and a mind full of hate, Derek Vinyard (Norton) has inherited racism from his father, and that learning has been intensified through his service to Cameron (Stacy Keach), a grown-up thug playing tyrant and teacher to a growing band of disenfranchised teens from Venice Beach, California, all hungry for an ideology that fuels their brooding alienation.

The film's basic message--that hate is learned and can be unlearned--is expressed through Derek's kid brother, Danny (Edward Furlong), whose sibling hero-worship increases after Derek is imprisoned (or, in Danny's mind, martyred) for the! killing of two black men. Lacking Derek's gift of rebel rheto! ric, Dan ny is easily swayed into the violent, hateful lifestyle that Derek disowns during his thoughtful time in prison. Once released, Derek struggles to save his brother from a violent fate, and American History X partially suffers from a mix of intense emotions, awkward sentiment, and predictably inevitable plotting. And yet British director Tony Kaye (who would later protest against Norton's creative intervention during post-production) manages to juggle these qualities--and a compelling clash of visual styles--to considerable effect. No matter how strained their collaboration may have been, both Kaye and Norton can be proud to have created a film that addresses the issue of racism with dramatically forceful impact. --Jeff Shannon

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The Bourne Identity: A Novel

• ISBN13: 9780553593549
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
 
His memory is a blank. His bullet-ridden body was fished from the Mediterranean Sea. His face has been altered by plastic surgery. A frame of microfilm has been surgically implanted in his hip. Even his name is a mystery. Marked for death, he is racing for survival through a bizarre world of murderous conspiratorsâ€"led by Carlos, the world’s most dangerous assassin. Who is Jason Bourne? The answer may kill him.

The Visitor

• Condition: New
• Format: DVD
• Anamorphic; Color; Dolby; DVD; HiFi Sound; NTSC; Surround Sound; THX; Widescreen

Frozen River is a dramatic feature film which takes place in the days before Christmas near a little-known border crossing on the Mohawk reservation between New York State and Quebec. Here, the lure of fast money from smuggling presents a daily challenge to single moms who would otherwise be earning minimum wage. Two women- one white, one Mohawk, both single mothers faced with desperate circumstances- are drawn into the world of border smuggling across the frozen water of the St. Lawrence River. Melissa Leo (21 Grams, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, television's Homicide: Life on the Street) plays Ray, Misty Upham (Edge of America, DreamKeeper, Skins) plays Lila, and Oscar nominee Michael O'Keefe (The Great Santini, Caddyshack, Ironweed) plays the New York State Trooper who ultimately brings the two to justice.When her husband runs off with the payment for their new home, Ray (Melissa Leo, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada) turns to crime to keep herself and her two sons afloat. A chance encounter with Lila (Misty Upham, Edge of America), an equally desperate young Mohawk woman, leads Ray to smuggling illegal immigrants by driving across the frozen Hudson River onto tribal land. But with every trip, things go wrong in small and not-so-small ways, until Ray finds herself pushed into a more desperate corner than ever before. Leo delivers a gritty, restrained, but richly compelling performance; her raw face, beautiful but worn down by life, radiates a weary defiance. Frozen River has scenes as tense as any Hollywood thriller, but so grounded in the fully developed characters of these two women that the taut suspe! nse grips the full spectrum of your emotions. This is an impre! ssive de but by writer/director Courtney Hunt, featuring excellent supporting performances by Charlie McDermott (The Ten) as Ray's unhappy oldest son and Michael O'Keefe (The Great Santini) as a suspicious state trooper. --Bret Fetzer

Stills from Frozen River (click for larger image)

Frozen River is a dramatic feature film which takes place in the days before Christmas near a little-known border crossing on the Mohawk reservation between New York State and Quebec. Here, the lure of fast money from smuggling presents a daily challenge to single moms who would otherwise be earning minimum wage. Two women- one white, one Mohawk, both single mothers faced with desperate circumstances- are drawn into the world of border smuggling across the frozen water of the St. Lawrence River. Melissa Leo (21 Grams, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, television's Homicide: Life on the Street) plays Ray, Misty Upham (Edge of America! , DreamKeeper, Skins) plays Lila, and Oscar ! nominee Michael O'Keefe (The Great Santini, Caddyshack, Ironweed) plays the New York State Trooper who ultimately brings the two to justice.When her husband runs off with the payment for their new home, Ray (Melissa Leo, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada) turns to crime to keep herself and her two sons afloat. A chance encounter with Lila (Misty Upham, Edge of America), an equally desperate young Mohawk woman, leads Ray to smuggling illegal immigrants by driving across the frozen Hudson River onto tribal land. But with every trip, things go wrong in small and not-so-small ways, until Ray finds herself pushed into a more desperate corner than ever before. Leo delivers a gritty, restrained, but richly compelling performance; her raw face, beautiful but worn down by life, radiates a weary defiance. Frozen River has scenes as tense as any Hollywood thriller, but so grounded in the fully developed characters of these two women t! hat the taut suspense grips the full spectrum of your emotions. This is an impressive debut by writer/director Courtney Hunt, featuring excellent supporting performances by Charlie McDermott (The Ten) as Ray's unhappy oldest son and Michael O'Keefe (The Great Santini) as a suspicious state trooper. --Bret Fetzer

Stills from Frozen River (click for larger image)

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17-year-old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) sets out to track down her father, who put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared. If she fails, Ree and her family will be turned out into the Ozark woods. Challenging her outlaw kin’s code of silence and risking her life, Ree hacks through the lies, evasions and threats offered up by her relatives and begins to piece together the truth. Based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell, Winter's Bone is the winner of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize.Hailed as "one of the year's most intriguing dramas" (Claudia Puig, USA TODAY), The Visitor stars Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under) in a perfect pe! rformance (Lisa Schwarzbaum, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY) as Walter, a disaffected college professor who has been drifting aimlessly through his life. When, in a chance encounter on a trip into New York, Walter discovers a couple has taken up residence in his apartment in the city, he develops an unexpected and profound connection to them that will change his life forever. As challenges arise for his tenants, Walter finds himself compelled to help his new friends, and rediscovers a passion he thought he had lost long ago. The year's first genuine must-see film" (Ann Hornaday, THE WASHINGTON POST) about rediscovering life's rhythms in the most unexpected places A deeply moving drama built around longtime character actor Richard Jenkins, The Visitor is a simmering drama about a college professor and recent widower, Walter Vale (Jenkins), who discovers a pair of homeless, illegal aliens living in his New York apartment. After the mix-up is resolved, Vale invites the cou! ple--a young, Syrian musician named Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and h! is Seneg alese girlfriend (Danai Gurira--to stay with him. An unlikely friendship develops between the retiring, quiet Vale and the vital Tarek, and the former begins to loosen up and respond to Tarek’s drumming lessons as if something in him waiting to be liberated has finally arrived. All goes well until Tarek is hauled in by immigration authorities and threatened with deportation. His mother, Mouna (Hiam Abbass), turns up and stays with Vale, sparking a renewed if subdued interest in courtship. But the wheels of injustice in immigration crush all manner of hopes in post-9/11 America. Vale soon realizes his unexpected capacity for anger over Tarek’s plight, and the positive changes to his personal life that emerged from a deep involvement with his friend and Mouna, might be the only legacy he takes from this experience. Writer-director Thomas McCarthy has created a wonderfully measured story about change and renewal, and put it all on the shoulders of Jenkins, a largely unheral! ded but masterful performer whose time for renown has surely come. --Tom Keogh

Stills from The Visitor (click for larger image)

Beyond The Visitor

On Blu-ray

Soundtrack CD

Also directed by Tom McCarthy

Ashes of Time Redux [Blu-ray]

• UK Import
• Region-Free
• Blu-ray

From Director Wong Kar Wai comes the definitive version of Ashes of Time, an epic martial arts masterpiece of larger-than-life characters, breathtaking landscapes and exquisite fight scenes. The story centers on Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung), a heartbroken and cynical man who spends his days alone in the desert, connecting expert swordsmen with those seeking revenge and willing to pay for it. As Ouyang narrates his tale, interweaving the stories of his unusual clients, old friends and future foes, he begins to realize the mistakes of his own past, and how his fear of rejection may have led him to a life of exile.A complicated, sparse, and beautiful film, Ashes of Time Redux is the slightly tweaked version of Wong Kar Wai’s 1994 film. Like some of his other work, the movie borrows a few characters from novelist Louis Cha, but the fi! lm is definitely classic Wong. Ou-yan (Leslie Cheung) is heartbroken, after losing the love of his life to his brother. His friend Huang (Tony Leung Ka Fai) also is broken hearted. Ou-yan provides an unusual service--he connects swordsmen with people seeking revenge. He faces a moral dilemma when he is hired by both a man named Yang and a woman named Yin to kill Huang. There is a clever secret about Yin and Yang's motives that unfolds nicely. The fight sequences are artistically choreographed by Sammo Hung and Wong lovingly presents the action in a slow motion blur that showcases the languid beauty of martial arts. Other characters meander in and out of the plot. The most compelling is a blind swordsman (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) whose wife has a connection to Huang. The storyline at times gets confusing, but the narration by the two male leads offers nice clarity. Wong chooses to keep his set uncluttered, letting the camera focus on one or two characters rather than a sea of ex! tras. Cinematographer Christopher Doyle enhances the melanchol! y tone o f the film by utilizing sepia tones and dramatic framing that captures an otherworldly essence. --Jae-Ha KimOuyang Feng has lived in the western desert for some years. He left his home in White Camel Mountain when the woman he loved chose to marry his elder brother rather than him. Instead of seeking glory, he ends up as an agent. When people come to him with a wish to eliminate someone who has wronged them, he puts them in touch with a swordsman who can do the job.A complicated, sparse, and beautiful film, Ashes of Time Redux is the slightly tweaked version of Wong Kar Wai’s 1994 film. Like some of his other work, the movie borrows a few characters from novelist Louis Cha, but the film is definitely classic Wong. Ou-yan (Leslie Cheung) is heartbroken, after losing the love of his life to his brother. His friend Huang (Tony Leung Ka Fai) also is broken hearted. Ou-yan provides an unusual service--he connects swordsmen with people seeking revenge. He faces a m! oral dilemma when he is hired by both a man named Yang and a woman named Yin to kill Huang. There is a clever secret about Yin and Yang's motives that unfolds nicely. The fight sequences are artistically choreographed by Sammo Hung and Wong lovingly presents the action in a slow motion blur that showcases the languid beauty of martial arts. Other characters meander in and out of the plot. The most compelling is a blind swordsman (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) whose wife has a connection to Huang. The storyline at times gets confusing, but the narration by the two male leads offers nice clarity. Wong chooses to keep his set uncluttered, letting the camera focus on one or two characters rather than a sea of extras. Cinematographer Christopher Doyle enhances the melancholy tone of the film by utilizing sepia tones and dramatic framing that captures an otherworldly essence. --Jae-Ha Kim

Aliens of the Deep

• Take a once-in-a-lifetime journey with Academy Award(R)-winning director James Cameron (Best Director, TITANIC, 1997) in ALIENS OF THE DEEP, and make contact with another world. This incredible underwater adventure gives you extraordinary glimpses of unbelievable creatures that live in an alien world in the deepest depths of the sea. Could these alien life forms be clues to life in outer space? It

Take a once-in-a-lifetime journey with Academy Award(R)-winning director James Cameron (Best Director, TITANIC, 1997) in ALIENS OF THE DEEP, and make contact with another world. This incredible underwater adventure gives you extraordinary glimpses of unbelievable creatures that live in an alien world in the deepest depths of the sea. Could these alien life forms be clues to life in outer space? It's an exciting exploration you'll not soon forget.~~(c)Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. and Walden M! edia, LLC ~~James Cameron takes another foray into the depths with a new deep-sea documentary. Following the shipwreck of Ghosts of the Abyss, Cameron focuses his abundant energies on where life is not powered by sunlight. These implications are taken a bit further, thanks to some dandy effects, on how life may develop in the ice-covered waters of Jupiter's moons. Some of the newly seen creatures are truly amazing: a fish with feet, shrimp that can swim between boiling hot steam and icy currents. Plus there's a cute creature that looks like something from an animator's portfolio: an albino octopus with fins. Like Ghosts, this film is significantly different on DVD. Both were presented in IMAX 3-D but are only 2-D on DVD; however, also included are extended versions, doubling the original's 45-minute run time. The added footage gets you more in-depth coverage of the crew and the missions. Cameron is also an expert host, showing his enthusiasm for the project ("! I love this stuff!") while letting his younger scientist co-st! ars lead the way. (Ages 6 and older) --Doug Thomas

Extreme Dating

• Four twenty-something friends believe that the key to winning over their true loves is to place themselves in extreme situations. They plot a fake kidnapping but the plan goes awry when the kidnappers turn out to be ex-cons with plans of their own. The remaining friends must now rescue the captives and manage to avoid the law at the same time.Running Time: 96 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:&nbs

BLIND DATING - DVD MovieNo Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 23-MAR-2004
Media Type: DVDBruce Willis's first starring vehicle was this 1987 comedy by Blake Edwards (Victor/Victoria), in which the actor plays a yuppie set up on a blind date with a beautiful blonde (Kim Basinger). Everything goes swimmingly until Willis does what he was warned not to do: give the lady alcohol, which causes her to get entirely out of c! ontrol. The one-note joke basically turns the film into a succession of set pieces in which Willis has to keep up with Basinger, bail her out of trouble, or get out of the way of her hotheaded former boyfriend (John Larroquette). Willis is fine, Basinger is impressively unhinged, Larroquette is hilarious, and Phil Hartman has a nice role as the friend who set up Willis's evening from hell. The slapstick shtick is classic Edwards, but the film is not Edwards at his most inspired. Consider Blind Date the work of a good filmmaker in a holding pattern. --Tom Keogh Four twenty-something friends believe that the key to winning over their true loves is to place themselves in extreme situations. They plot a fake kidnapping but the plan goes awry when the kidnappers turn out to be ex-cons with plans of their own. The remaining friends must now rescue the captives and manage to avoid the law at the same time.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Gag R! eel