Wednesday, January 11, 2012

From Paris with Love [Blu-ray]

  • Condition: New
  • Format: Blu-ray
  • AC-3; Color; Dolby; DTS Surround Sound; Subtitled; Widescreen
James Reece (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), personal aide to the U.S. Ambassador to France, is secretly moonlighting as a low-level CIA operative. Looking for more action, Reece accepts a job that teams him with wise-cracking special agent Charlie Wax (John Travolta), a trigger-happy loose cannon sent to Paris on a mission of international importance. Now, Reece finds himself on the wildest ride of his life as the new partners pull out all the stops to annihilate the enemy in this explosive, white-knuckle, non-stop thriller.An uncomplicated, moderately entertaining action film, From Paris With Love offers an enthusiastic performance by John Travolta as a just-this-side-of-crazy agent and Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors) as the low-level operative newly partnered wit! h him. Outwardly an aide to the U.S. Ambassador in France, James Reese (Rhys Meyers) is also a low-level CIA operative, tasked with generally mundane duties. Then his inside contact offers him a high-level assignment that could lead to a promotion to full agent. All Reese has to do is drive CIA agent Charlie Wax (Travolta) around Paris on an undisclosed mission. But Wax is a shoot first, don't bother with questions kinda guy, and the straitlaced Reese quickly finds himself riding shotgun to a killing-spree through Paris' underground drug sub-culture. The drugs lead the obviously opposite duo to a hidden terrorist cell, and they race to stop the suicide bombers' plot. Wax's wise-cracking, one-on-many fight scenes are adequately entertaining--especially when he flings bad guys down a curving staircase, as Reese tries to avoid getting hit by the bodies--but the action generally leaves you wanting more. An undesirable characteristic in an action movie. Based on a story by Luc B! esson, (The Fifth Element and The Transporter! movies), one can't help wonder if the complexity of the story and characters could have been improved if he'd written the screenplay himself. However, the simplistic story offers a few surprises and laugh-worthy one-liners. The climactic final chase scene--Agent Wax hanging out the window of a speeding Audi, armed with heavy artillery and a driver with nerves of steel, as he attempts to stop one phase of the planned attack--is as impossible as one could hope for in this kind of movie. And hearing Travolta call his burger a “royale with cheese” is almost worth the rest of the movie. --Jill Corddry

Stills from From Paris with Love (Click for larger image)

James Reece (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), personal aide to the U.S. Ambassador to France, is secretly moonlighting as a low-level CIA operative. Looking for more action, Reece accepts a job that teams him with wise-cracking special agent Charlie Wax (John Travolta), a trigger-happy loose cannon sent to Paris on a mission of international importance. Now,! Reece finds himself on the wildest ride of his life as the ne! w partne rs pull out all the stops to annihilate the enemy in this explosive, white-knuckle, non-stop thriller.
Stills from From Paris with Love (Click for larger image) !


Face Off

  • * Widescreen Version. Special Features include:
  • * Commentaries by Director John Woo and Writers Mike Werb and Michael Colleary
  • * 7 Deleted Scenes - Including an Alternate Ending (with Optional Commentary)
  • * English DTS 6.1 * English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX * French 2.0 Surround
  • * Languages - English, French. * Subtitles - English, French, Spanish.
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/17/2010 Run time: 140 minutes Rating: RAt his best, director John Woo turns action movies into ballets of blood and bullets grounded in character drama. Face/Off marks Woo's first American film to reach the pitched level of his best Hong Kong work (Hard-Boiled). He takes a patently absurd premise--hero and villain exchange identities by literally swapping faces in science-fiction plastic surgery--and creates a double-barreled revenge film driven by! the split psyches of its newly redefined characters. FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) must play the villain to move through the underworld while psychotic terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) becomes a perversely paternal family man while using every tool at his disposal to destroy his nemesis. Travolta vamps Cage's tics and flamboyant excess with the grace of a dancer after his transformation from cop to criminal, while Cage plays the sullen, bottled-up agent excruciatingly trapped behind the face of the man who killed his son. His attempts to live up to the terrorist's reputation become cathartic explosions of violence that both thrill and terrify him. This is merely icing on the cake for action fans, the dramatic backbone for some of the most visceral action thrills ever. Woo fills the screen with one show-stopping set piece after another, bringing a poetic grace to the action freakout with sweeping camerawork and sophisticated editing. This marriage of melodrama a! nd mayhem ups the ante from cops-and-robbers clichés to a con! flict of near-mythic levels. --Sean AxmakerAt his best, director John Woo turns action movies into ballets of blood and bullets grounded in character drama. Face/Off marks Woo's first American film to reach the pitched level of his best Hong Kong work (Hard-Boiled). He takes a patently absurd premise--hero and villain exchange identities by literally swapping faces in science-fiction plastic surgery--and creates a double-barreled revenge film driven by the split psyches of its newly redefined characters. FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) must play the villain to move through the underworld while psychotic terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) becomes a perversely paternal family man while using every tool at his disposal to destroy his nemesis. Travolta vamps Cage's tics and flamboyant excess with the grace of a dancer after his transformation from cop to criminal, while Cage plays the sullen, bottled-up agent excruciatingly trapped behind the face of the man! who killed his son. His attempts to live up to the terrorist's reputation become cathartic explosions of violence that both thrill and terrify him. This is merely icing on the cake for action fans, the dramatic backbone for some of the most visceral action thrills ever. Woo fills the screen with one show-stopping set piece after another, bringing a poetic grace to the action freakout with sweeping camerawork and sophisticated editing. This marriage of melodrama and mayhem ups the ante from cops-and-robbers clichés to a conflict of near-mythic levels. --Sean AxmakerStudio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 12/09/2008At his best, director John Woo turns action movies into ballets of blood and bullets grounded in character drama. Face/Off marks Woo's first American film to reach the pitched level of his best Hong Kong work (Hard-Boiled). He takes a patently absurd premise--hero and villain exchange identities by literally swapping faces in science-fict! ion plastic surgery--and creates a double-barreled revenge fil! m driven by the split psyches of its newly redefined characters. FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) must play the villain to move through the underworld while psychotic terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) becomes a perversely paternal family man while using every tool at his disposal to destroy his nemesis. Travolta vamps Cage's tics and flamboyant excess with the grace of a dancer after his transformation from cop to criminal, while Cage plays the sullen, bottled-up agent excruciatingly trapped behind the face of the man who killed his son. His attempts to live up to the terrorist's reputation become cathartic explosions of violence that both thrill and terrify him. This is merely icing on the cake for action fans, the dramatic backbone for some of the most visceral action thrills ever. Woo fills the screen with one show-stopping set piece after another, bringing a poetic grace to the action freakout with sweeping camerawork and sophisticated editing. This marriage of melodrama! and mayhem ups the ante from cops-and-robbers clichés to a conflict of near-mythic levels. --Sean Axmaker

The Horse Whisperer

  • After a devastating riding accident, a young girl and her beloved horse are both left with serious physical and emotional scars. Determined to help, the girl s desperate mother (Thomas) puts her busy, big-city life on hold and travels west to seek out the "Horse Whisperer." When she meets this, rugged, down-to-earth rancher (Redford), she discovers his extraordinary gift with animals also touches
No Description Available.
Genre: Soundtracks & Scores
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 7-APR-1998Soundtracks can sometimes be disjointed affairs, lacking the cohesion necessary to create a mood when collecting songs from various artists. This is a pitfall the soundtrack from the forthcoming film The Horse Whisperer melodically and artfully avoids. From the first honest, unsentimental notes of Dwight Yoakam's "Cattle Call" you are taken ! wholeheartedly onto this wide-open prairie of soulful, plaintive music. The Horse Whisperer soundtrack is a fluid, coherent gathering of the most literate and distinctive voices in country music today, including Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch, The Mavericks, Iris DeMent, and The Hill Country Flatlanders (featuring original Flatlanders Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, and Joe Ely). This spare, haunting ensemble of wistful twangs and hopeful hearts is a must-have for any country collection. --Dominique D'Anna

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

His name is Tom Booker. His voice can calm wild horses, his touch can heal broken spirits. And Annie Graves has traveled across a continent to the Booker ranch in Montana, desperate to heal her injured daughter, the girl’s savage horse, and her own wounded heart. She comes for hope. She comes for her child. And beneath the wide Montana sky, she comes to him for what no! one else can give her: a reason to believe.

The Horse W! hisperer is a story made in Hollywood heaven. The novel was written by a first-time author, and the film option was snapped up by aging heartthrob Robert Redford for 3 million smackers. Why take such risks on a brand-spanking-new author? The answer becomes clear upon reading the touching tale.

One morning while teenage Grace Maclean is riding Pilgrim, her goofy, loveable pony, she has a horrendous glass-shattering, bone-splintering, ligament-lynching meeting with a megaton truck that leaves her and her four-legged friend damaged in mind, body, and spirit. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, her jaded, brilliant, bitchy mom, Annie Graves (Kristin Scott Thomas in the 1998 film) is working out a wrinkle in her self-absorbed existence when she gets a call at her plush, Manhattan office about Grace's accident. Racked with guilt, Graves makes it her calling to find the mythical horse whisperer, an equine Zen master who has the ability to heal horses (and broken souls) w! ith soothing words and a gentle touch. Just when it seems he can't be found, what do you know, she finds him. He arrives in the form of Tom Booker-- a rugged, sensitive, dreamy cowboy who helps Pilgrim and Grace repair their fractured selves. To add more mesquite to fire, Booker has a way with not-so-injured, attractive, married women--like Annie. As the plot thickens, so does the familial strife, which threatens to undo Booker's healing work.

Like an expert cinematographer, Evans deftly crafts each scene with precision and clarity, sprinkling in ominous signs and foreboding images. For example, in the opening paragraphs, as Annie starts out on the tragic ride, she comes across a bloody bird wing that seems to have fallen out of nowhere. The weight of impending doom is further strengthened by the truck driver's bad luck--he has a run-in with the highway patrol just moments before his meeting with Grace and Pilgrim. These not-so-subtle subliminal messages ! are masterfully stitched in throughout the story and may comp! el reade rs to act as if they were watching a B-grade horror movie, shouting aloud, "Don't go there!" However sentimental, The Horse Whisperer is an engaging read, sort of like a finely tuned, well-edited film. --Rebekah WarrenAcademy Award(R)-winner Robert Redford (Best Director, 1980, ORDINARY PEOPLE) stars with Adademy Award(R)-nominee Kristin Scott Thomas (Best Actress, 1996, THE ENGLISH PATIENT) in this landmark epic adapated from one of the most acclaimed novels of our time! After a devastating riding accident, a young girl and her beloved horse are both left with serious physical and emotional scars. Determined to help, the girl's desperate mother (Thomas) puts her busy, big-city life on hold and travels west to seek out the "Horse Whisperer." When she meets this rugged, down-to-earth rancher (Redford), she discovers his extraordinary gift with animals also touches the lives of the people around him! Featuring Hollywood favorites Sam Neill (JURASSIC PARK) and! Oscar(R)-winner Dianne Wiest (Best Supporting Actress, 1994, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY) in a superb cast -- critics and moviegoers alike were captivated by this powerful motion picture event!Although it's best viewed on a big theatrical screen to take full advantage of Robert Richardson's breathtaking widescreen cinematography, it seems likely that most people will see this classy romance in the comfort of their own homes. Adapted from the bestseller by Nicholas Evans and directed by Robert Redford, the film did respectable business at the box-office, but it was too sprawling and too soapy to be a bona fide hit. Redford stars as the title character, a Montana rancher named Tom Booker, who possesses the specialized talent of healing traumatized horses through careful and affectionate rehabilitation. He gets his most challenging case when he's sought out by a fast-lane New York magazine editor (Kristin Scott Thomas, in a role modeled after former New Yorker editor Tina Br! own) whose daughter (Scarlett Johansson) was injured and traum! atized b y an accident that nearly killed her favorite horse. When mother, daughter, and horse arrive at Booker's ranch, the big-city editor falls in love with the serene rancher and faces the painful decision of whether to stay in Montana or return to her husband (Sam Neill) in New York. Some may find this to be much ado about nothing, and comparisons to The Bridges of Madison County are inevitable, but Redford's directorial approach offers the kind of graceful stature, tenderness, and intelligence required to elevate the simple story. The film takes all the time it needs to let its characters heal and make their important decisions, and that alone makes it a refreshing alternative to the frantic pace of most big-studio productions. --Jeff Shannon

Exiled

  • The time is 1998. The setting is Macau. Every living soul jumps at every chance to make quick money before the Portuguese colony ushers in a new era under the Chinese rule. For the jaded hit men, they wonder where this journey will end. Against this background of fin-de-si cle malaise come two hit men from Hong Kong sent to take out a renegade member trying to turn over a new leaf with his wife an

This novel is a Whitney Award nominee.

Praise for EXILED:
"Michael and Venus have probably been the best pairing/couple that I've read about this year! GO READ THIS BOOK! You will love it. Seriously."
Nancy, reviewer Tumbling Books

"Writing that moves readers to ponder their hearts is good writing, and that's what readers will find with Workman. Her protagonist is strong willed, her an! tagonist is easy to hate, and her mentor is easy to love."
Kathleen Brebes

"What a ride!"
Taffy Lovell

Overview of EXILED:
An alien princess exiled to Earth.
An arrogant boy.
One week to get back to her planet or she'll die.
Her only chance for survival? She must help the boy find his soul mate.
Piece of cake!


More praise for EXILED:
"I... felt like I was literally out of this world for a while."
Melissa Lemon, author of Cinder and Ella

"I love a book where the details fit togethe! r like p eices in a puzzle..."
Rachel Morgan

"It's superb!!! I loved the multiple points of view. I loved Venus. Michael was tough to like at first, but by the end - man, oh man, did I fall hard for him. Zaren is yummy! I want a guardian like him. Heck, I want a man like him! AND THOSE BOOTS. PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE CAN I HAVE A PAIR?"
Jenna Heartsong
Top 100 Kindle eBook!
                  Indie Book Blowout Bestseller!

Exiled: Worlds divided them. Chance brought them together. Only love will save them.

((((This novel is a Whitney Award nominee.))))

Praise for EXILED:
"Michael and Venus have probably been the best pairing/couple that I've read about this year! GO READ THIS BOOK! You will love it. Seriously."
Nancy, reviewer Tum! bling Books  

"Writing that moves readers to ponder their hearts is good writing, and that's what readers will find with Workman. Her protagonist is strong willed, her antagonist is easy to hate, and her mentor is easy to love."
Kathleen Brebes   

"What a ride!"
Taffy Lovell

Overview of EXILED:   
An alien princess exiled to Earth.
An arrogant boy.
One week to get back to her planet or she'll die.
Her only chance for survival? She must help the boy find his soul mate.
Piece of cake!

More praise for EXILED: 
"I... felt like I was literally out of this world for a ! while."
Melissa Lemon, author o! f Cinder and Ella

"I love a book where the details fit together like pieces in a puzzle..."
Rachel Morgan

"It's superb!!! I loved the multiple points of view. I loved Venus. Michael was tough to like at first, but by the end - man, oh man, did I fall hard for him. Zaren is yummy! I want a guardian like him. Heck, I want a man like him! AND THOSE BOOTS. PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE CAN I HAVE A PAIR?"

Jenna HeartsongTop 100 Kindle eBook!
                  Indie Book Blowout Bestseller!

Exiled: Worlds divided them. Chance brought them together. Only love will save them.

((((This novel is a Whitney Award nominee.))))

Praise for EXILED:
"Michael and Venus! have probably been the best pairing/couple that I've read about this year! GO READ THIS BOOK! You will love it. Seriously."
Nancy, reviewer Tumbling Books  

"Writing that moves readers to ponder their hearts is good writing, and that's what readers will find with Workman. Her protagonist is strong willed, her antagonist is easy to hate, and her mentor is easy to love."
Kathleen Brebes   

"What a ride!"
Taffy Lovell

Overview of EXILED:   
An alien princess exiled to Earth.
An arrogant boy.
One week to get back to her planet or she'll die.
Her only chance for survival? She must help the boy find his soul mate.
Piece of cake!

More praise for EXILED: 
"I... felt like I was literally out of this world for a while."
Melissa Lemon, author of Cinder and Ella

"I love a book where the details fit together like pieces in a puzzle..."
Rachel Morgan

"It's superb!!! I loved the multiple points of view. I loved Venus. Michael was tough to like at first, but by the end - man, oh man, did I fall hard for him. Zaren is yummy! I want a guardian like him. Heck, I want a man like him! AND THOSE BOOTS. PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE CAN I HAVE A PAIR?"
Jenna HeartsongChase Williams is a demon hunter in the Circle, or at least he was supposed to be. On his fifteenth birthday, Chase stepped up to the altar to claim his elemental power, but it never came. Elemental magic is passed down! to a hunter through the bloodline, but on Chase's birthday, the bloodline stopped. Exiled without the Circle's protection, Chase has spent two years trying to survive a world riddled with half-demons and magic. When he has a run in with a frightened and seemingly innocent demon, he learns the Circle's agenda has changed: the Circle plans to unlock a portal and unleash pure-blood demons into the world. Vowing to stop them, and knowing he can't do it alone, Chase forms a reluctant alliance with Rayna - a sexy witch with an attitude and a secret. In their attempt to stop them, Chase and Rayna find themselves in the middle of the Circle's plan, leaving one of them to decide what their friendship is worth, and the other's life depending on it.The time is 1998. The setting is Macau. Every living soul jumps at every chance to make quick money before the Portuguese colony ushers in a new era under the Chinese rule. For the jaded hit men they wonder where this journey will end! . Against this background of fin-de-si cle malaise come two hi! t men fr om Hong Kong sent to take out a renegade member trying to turn over a new leaf with his wife and newborn baby. They soon find themselves in the throes of a dilemma when two of their former associates also show up intent on thwarting them at every cost.System Requirements:Running Time: 109 minutes Language: Cantonese Subtitles: English / SpanishFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/KILLERS Rating: R UPC: 876964000987 Manufacturer No: 10098