Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 4 (Act of Violence / Mystery Street / Crime Wave / Decoy / Illegal / The Big Steal / They Live By Night / Side Street / Where Danger Lives / Tension)

Description

Ex-World War II pilot Frank Enley (Van Heflin) is a respected contractor and family man. Then his troubled, gimp-legged bombardier (Robert Ryan) shows up with a gun and a score to settle. Perhaps neither man is what he seems to be as director Fred Zinnemann (The Day of the Jackal) guides a searing Act of Violence, "the first postwar noir to take a challenging look at the ethics of men in combat" (Eddie Muller, Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir). Murder lives on Mystery Street. John Sturges (The Great Escape) directs a revealing-for-the-era procedural about a Boston cop (Ricardo Montalban) solving a whodunit with the help of a Harvard forsensic expert (Bruce Bennett). Welcome to CSI Noir.

Customer Reviews:

VOL 4 IS GREAT.......2007-09-13

FABULOUS FIL NOIR CLASSIC COLLECTION VOLUME 4 IS JUST AS GOOD AS THE 1ST 3 RELEASED. YOU LOVE FILM NOIR, YOU WILL OWN THIS GUARANTEED

Film Noir Classic Collection.......2007-09-12

This collection was purchased as a gift for my son.
He says it's a great collection!

Film Noir Heaven.......2007-09-08

The Warner film noir box sets are some of the best deals going -- great collections of great films in great transfers with often great commentaries. If you're a film noir addict you'll go nuts over these reasonably priced sets -- if you're not you'll quickly become one. All four sets are stupendous entertainment bargains.

A MUST FOR NOIR FANS.......2007-09-03

Ten classic film noir all come with informative commentaries. No need to say more. Another decent film noir boxset presented by WB Home Video.

Excellent Collection.......2007-09-03

Wonderful film noir movies. Insightful and, on occasions, hilarious commentaries and you get 'Crime Wave', 'Decoy' and 'They Drive By Night' as well -The Perfect package. I hope there is a 5th set soon and 'Detour', the film noir classic, features on it.

The Threepenny Opera - Criterion Collection

Average customer rating:

Please Buy This
The Musical Production that Changed the World

The Threepenny Opera - Criterion Collection
Starring: G.W. Pabst , Lotte Lenya , and Rudolf Forster
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000SFJ4KE
Release Date: 2007-09-18

Description

The sly melodies of composer Kurt Weill and the daring of dramatist Bertolt Brecht come together onscreen under the direction of German auteur G.W. Pabst (Pandora's Box) in this classic adaptation of the Weimar-era theatrical sensation. Set in the impoverished back alleys of Victorian London, The Threepenny Opera follows underworld antihero Mackie Messer (a.k.a. Mack the Knife) as he tries to woo Polly Peachum and elude the authorities. With its palpable evocation of corruption and dread, Pabst's Threepenny Opera remains a benchmark of early sound cinema. It is presented here in both its celebrated German and rare French versions.

Customer Reviews:

Please Buy This.......2007-08-28

I saw this on an obscure VHS tape. Fantastic. Never had I seen Brecht done so well. Smooth and Jagged. This film was haunting me for years. Never thought that I could see it again. Wham!!!! Criterion does it again. I am sure that the picture will be great. I have yet to purchase on dismal video image from Criterion.

Thank you Criterion for making this fantastic film for sale.

moe armstrong

The Musical Production that Changed the World.......2007-07-23

The year is 1928. Artists had already broken the conventions of painting. Symphony composers had altered the structure of classical music. Jazz was coming into its own. So two men in Berlin, Kurt Weil and Bertolt Brecht, decided to reinvent musicial theatre.

Rather than give the audience pleasant songs or catchy tunes, they turned to the dirty streets of Victorian England to weave a tale of beggars, whores, and thieves. And what kind of music do we hear? Earthy, jazzy, even irritating at times...and the crowd loved it.

The director, G. W. Pabst, has preserved the German production as close to the original as possible. He gives us moody cinematography, volcanic characters, dreamlike sets. As in all his films, the women are the stars...and this time Lotte Lenye sizzles the screen.

Welcome to a new world where the established values of contemporary urban society are turned upside down...welcome to the Threepenny Opera.

Average customer rating:

Family drama
Review for "My Family"
My Family - Mi Familia
great history of Latios in South West America
Mi Familia

My Family
Starring: Jimmy Smits , Edward James Olmos , Esai Morales , Eduardo López Rojas , and Elpidia Carrillo
Director: Gregory Nava
Manufacturer: New Line Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0001CNQX0
Release Date: 2004-04-06

Description

Three-generational epic saga of the Sanchez family as told by the eldest son.

Customer Reviews:

Family drama.......2007-05-30

I loved this movie and have seen it five times. It charts the generations of a hispanic family in Los Angeles and gives a rich insight into Mexican culture. It's funny, sad, absorbing, and very well acted. For anyone interested in Mexican culture, it's a "must see", and would be especially interesting to anyone living in Los Angeles.

Review for "My Family".......2007-05-13

Not only was this film well done and very entertaining, it was perfect for use in my "Racial, Ethnic, & Gender Relations" course at a local community college.

My Family - Mi Familia.......2007-03-15

If you are Mexican American or Latino for that matter and were born and raised in California, then you can definately relate to this great tale. And for those of you, any race, who are family oriented, or were born to a big family then this movie is for you too. My Family if a wonderful demonstration of how families have unconditional love for one another, stick together, and are proud of each other matter what. It also shows the struggles of immigrant parents coming to our great country to make a better life for their family. This movie has it's comedy, drama, and action beautifully orchestrated, and also a great soundtrack. This movie is a must see by all.

great history of Latios in South West America.......2007-01-09

This movie is a great example of what life was like over the last couple centuries for those Latios living in the South West region of the United States. Some of who without moving went from being Mexicans to living in a new country without the benefits of being a citizen. A great example of the struggles raising a family during that time.

Mi Familia.......2007-01-04

One of the best Latino oriented films i've seen besides 'Selena' and 'La Bamba'. The story is very good and the movie is nice to see especially if you're a Latino. It's been a movie i can enjoy with my family, which is very rare. The DVD features aren't much, but I recommend that people see this movie.

The Transporter (Special Delivery Edition)

Average customer rating:

Some Rules Should Never Be Broken...
Not much of a let down but fun to watch
The Transporter (Blue Ray)
don't break the rules
The Transporter in Blu-ray: Action, Suspense, Romance and Fast Cars!

The Transporter (Special Delivery Edition)
Starring: Jason Statham , Qi Shu , Matt Schulze , François Berléand , and Ric Young
Director: Corey Yuen , and Louis Leterrier
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0009VBTNM
Release Date: 2005-08-23

Amazon.com

Move over, Vin Diesel, because The Transporter, Hong Kong action veteran Corey Yuen's English-language directorial debut, is revving up to steal your thunder. As the other top-billed action star to emerge in 2002, British hunk Jason Statham--previously seen in Snatch, Ghosts of Mars, and The One--plays a hard-driving courier for well-heeled underworld clients. He follows simple rules: (1) Stick to the deal; (2) Don't ask names; and (3) Don't look in the packages he transports. All's well until he violates rule 3, discovering a Chinese beauty (Qi Shu) in the trunk of his tricked-out BMW, and foiling a deadly plot to smuggle Chinese slaves through the port of Marseilles. The first hour is ass-kickin' fun, and the stuntwork is impressive throughout, even as the plot degenerates into a predictable series of bone-breaking showdowns. Statham boasts an appealing combination of brains and brawn, suggesting the suave versatility of a promising career. Coproduced by action auteur Luc Besson and filmed on dazzling French locations, The Transporter is an action fan's delight. --Jeff Shannon

Description

Frank Martin (Jason Statham) is the best as what he does: transporting dangerous or illegal goods with no questions asked. But his last shipment, a beautiful young woman kidnapped by international slave traders, brings deadly complications to his delivery plans. Now Frank must kick into overdrive in a nonstop action-packed fight to save his precious cargo - and his life.

Customer Reviews:

Some Rules Should Never Be Broken..........2007-09-10

'Some Rules Should Never Be Broken' could have easily been a tagline used in the advertising for this movie. Sometimes when we break the rules the consequences really hit us hard, which is the case for the main character Frank Martin, in the Cory Yuen (acclaimed Japanese action film director) directed surprise smash hit "The Transporter" starring Jason Statham.

"The Transporter" focuses on ex-special forces soldier Frank Martin (Jason Statham) who makes a living transporting various items for high-paying clients who value timeliness, reliability, and above all else, secrecy. He is a man whose life is dictated by a strict set of rules that he abides by; however, on his most recent job Frank makes a costly mistake. He breaks what could be called his 'Cardinal rule', the one that dictates the transporter is to never open the package he is delivering. But once the rule is broken there's no going back. Now, Frank finds himself on the run with the very package he was assigned to deliver, a young Asian girl who has been trailing an international slave trading ring, and he must summon all of his training if both himself and his package are to survive the pursuit.

I'll be honest, when this movie was first advertised to arrive in theaters, I really didn't give much thought to seeing it. There didn't seem to be all that much appeal to my tastes in the movie. To me, I thought it was just another mindless action flick with little to no story, having one action scene after another being held together by flimsy dialogue that wouldn't have even been acceptable by B-movie standards. So, needless to say I merely forgot about the movie for quite some time, until I happened to catch a glimpse of the trailer for the sequel. What caught my eye with this preview was the fact that if this kind of movie was getting a sequel, then maybe there was more to the original film than I had given it credit for. So, shortly before the release of the sequel, I decided to break down and rent "The Transporter" figuring if nothing else, it will distract me for at least 90 minutes, and who knows maybe I'll even be entertained on some level. After all, someone must have thought the original was pretty good if it warranted a theatrically released sequel rather than one that is straight-to-DVD as most sequels of this variety would have been.

The story for "The Transporter" isn't deep by any means, lets not kid ourselves about that. Even though it's not all that original, and contains a basic plot that has been used countless times before, the dialogue was surprisingly well-written, and the fights were flat-out impressive during some of the action sequences, that you easily overlook the simplicity of the story. Of course, when watching a movie such as this, you really aren't looking for something all that complicated, so there are times when simplicity is the better way to go, and this movie is definitely one of those times.

But this movie would have been nothing if not for the charismatic screen presence of the movie's lead, Jason Statham ("The Italian Job"). Statham brought such an easy going attitude to the character of Frank Martin, when coupled with his intense charisma and screen presence, he took what was a run-of-the-mill action flick and elevated it into a hugely entertaining and memorable action movie that thrills audiences from start to finish. The supporting actors were mostly solid in their performances, all the characters were heavily cliched, but some of the actors appeared to take it upon themselves to add depth to their characters, allowing for a much more enjoyable experience. It's no doubt in my mind that they were the primary reasons that this movie wound up becoming a big hit in theaters, raising this film above the mediocrity it was most likely destined for.

Regardless of how good the actors or the story for any action movie may be, the movie will be nothing if it doesn't feature impressive action sequences that blow the audiences socks off. Which is exactly what many of the numerous action scenes do in "The Transporter", and what's more impressive is that Jason Statham performed a majority of all his stunts. With his intense screen presence that can't be ignored, and his impressive athletic ability as showcased in the numerous fight/stunt sequences it's easy to see why Statham is quickly becoming Hollywood's newest action hero.

If you are a fan of martial arts movies, action films from the likes of Steven Seagal and Jean Claude Van Damme, then "The Transporter" is a movie that will be of great interest to you. And in my opinion, will entertain you ten times more than any of Seagal or Van Damme's efforts from recent years, plus the acting and storytelling are better than most entries are in this genre.

"The Transporter" is rated PG-13 for violence, language, and sensuality.

Not much of a let down but fun to watch.......2007-08-30

The opening third of the flick is by far the best part. Frank Martin lives by his three rules: never alter the deal, no names, never open the package. Up until he breaks one of his rules the movie is an interesting look at a man who lives by his own terms in an extremely violent and dangerous portion of the world. Unfortunately after he finds the girl the movie breaks down into a series of cliches and explosions that are less interesting.

I have liked Jason Statham a lot not just in those English gangster movies but in "The One" with Jet Li and John Carpenter's "Ghosts of Mars," he deserves to be a star in his own right and this movie co-starring a vehicle should have been the right vehicle for him. It's a shame he was given so little to do, aside from kicking the crap out of many people, which he does quite handily. There's a lot of talk about "rules" in this movie and the movie itself obeys the rules of martial arts onscreen, one being that when the hero is facing a bunch of bad guys, they're only allowed to attack him one or two at a time, and they're not allowed to have guns unless they stand so close that the hero can disarm them. Jackie Chan's classic shtick of picking up any handy item to use as a weapon is alive and well here, likewise Chan's trademark element of farce/slapstick, e.g. the oil-slick brouhaha. And we have death-defying stunts galore and tire-squealing car chases and all sorts of goings -on. Yet somehow Mr. Statham himself seems to get lost in the proceedings.

It's really not his fault. His character is very sketchily written, the plot seems to have been made up as they went along a la "Casablanca," and the desired chemistry between him and the Chinese heroine just doesn't happen. I don't know who the actress is or what she did previously, and she's, you know, cute and all that, but she just did nothing for me whatsoever, and apparently not much for Jason Statham either. She's no Bai Ling, let's say, much less a Lucy Liu or Kelly Hu or--dare I mention the name--Michelle Yeoh aka Michelle Kwan. She's a cypher and even the writers seem to have grasped that; look how long they keep her bound and gagged onscreen to try to generate some fetishistic interest in what's happening with her. "The Big Hit," another movie with a kidnapped Chinese chick falling for the kidnapper, only took about five minutes to generate the romantic oomph that his one never really achieves. The movie doesn't even bother including the usually obligatory closing shot of the hero & heroine alone together, as though acknowledging they were never really an item. Bottom line, I did enjoy this it's a solid action flick with a lot of high-powered stunts and a winning performance by Jason Statham in the lead, though one wonders what sort of movie would have resulted had Frank just closed the trunk again.

The Transporter (Blue Ray).......2007-08-23

Unfortunately we can not play this on our DVD we dont have Blue Ray or HD
So we were very disappointed

don't break the rules.......2007-06-20

The Transporter is Jason Statham's first big solo role in a movie, and it is a success with the followups of Transporter 2, Crank, and the anticipated upcoming film "War", where he fights one on one against Jet Li. Jason has participated in several films before Transporter in somewhat lesser roles such as "The One" and "The Italian Job", but the Transporter finally lets this man shine - and he brings a character to the screen - Frank Martin - who is intelligent, skillful, strong and one downright cool guy.

The movie has a good and promising beginning, showing off the cool factor of Frank Martin immediately. Followed quickly by an intense car chase scene, the movie never lets up after that - whether it be action or suspense. The story is not too interesting, but it is put together well. Frank discovers that a package he is transporting is carrying a live body inside. Frank's "tough-guy attitude" is worn down and he breaks his own rule by opening the package. The receiver of the package is no dummy, and realizes that Frank broke the rules and has his car destroyed. Frank, fortunately absent from his car during the explosion, seeks revenge but ends up with company along the way by accident - the girl inside the package. From here the story begins to take off as Frank becomes entangled in the situation all the more.

While there isn't a tremendouns amount of action, the spacing of action works well enough. The final 20 minutes are huge, easily containing the best scenes in the movie. I especially liked the fights in the bus garage and the final highway truck scene which reminded me very much of the truck scene from "Raider of the Lost Ark".

Transporter is a great movie for Jason Statham. I really enjoy this guy, and see a good future for him. His martial art skills are truly entertaining, as is his stunts and acting. This is an hour and half of just great relax entertainment.

The Transporter in Blu-ray: Action, Suspense, Romance and Fast Cars!.......2007-05-29

I loved this movie! The story was new and creative! If you like action movies and actor Jason Statham, you'll love this movie. Filmed in the French Riviera!

Video-Blu-ray: This movie enjoys a good transfer-not perfect- but good! You still see some video noise and image grain. Overall, Just slightly better than the SD in term of details with extra grain.

Audio: simply impressive!

Bottom line: You can't go wrong with this one! Action, suspense, romance and fast car chases. If the image grain bothers you, try the SD version-it's not as grainy.

Average customer rating:

Fast Food Nation
Dissapoiting
This movie was obviously made by vegetarians,
Enter the MEATrix
3 stars, but only for the main message

Fast Food Nation
Starring: Wilmer Valderrama , Catalina Sandino Moreno , Ana Claudia Talancón , Juan Carlos Serrán , and Armando Hernández
Director: Richard Linklater
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000MEYKAU
Release Date: 2007-03-06

Amazon.com

If you're still eating that fast-food burger after watching Super Size Me, you might not feel too hungry after watching Fast Food Nation, a fictionalized feature based on Eric Schlosser's bestselling nonfiction expose. Director Richard Linklater, who cowrote the screenplay with Schlosser, guides a topnotch ensemble cast through a peek behind the veil of how that Big Mac is born. Much of the film focuses on the illegal immigrants who work in the loosely regulated meat-packing industry, and actors including the luminous Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace), who plays a desperate but outraged laborer. Greg Kinnear also delivers a spot-on performance as a fast-food chain marketing manager, trying frantically to discover the source of stomach-turning contamination in the company's meat. Stories are woven in unexpected ways, and cameos by the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Patricia Arquette, and especially Bruce Willis keep the narrative fresh. The film has a point of view, but thanks to Linklater's deft touch, is never didactic. As Willis's character slyly says, "Most people don't like to be told what's best for them." Agreed, yet Fast Food Nation likely will help the viewer be more conscious of what's on the end of that fork. --A.T. Hurley

Extras from Fast Food Nation

Fast Food Nation Arcade-Style Game

Beyond Fast Food Nation

Super Size Me
Fast Food Nation (Paperback)
Fast Food Nation: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture

Stills from Fast Food Nation

Description

Inspired by the incendiary New York Times bestseller that exposed the hidden facts behind America's fast food industry, Fast Food Nation combines an all-star ensemble cast lead by Greg Kinnear, Wilmer Valderrama and Avril Lavigne with riveting, interlocked human stories to serve up "a firecracker of a movie that jumps off the screen" (Rolling Stone). When a marketing executive (Kinnear) for the Mickey's burger chain is told there's a nasty secret ingredient in his latest culinary creation?"The Big One"? he heads for the ranches and slaughterhouses of Colorado to investigate...but discovers the truth a bit difficult to swallow.

Customer Reviews:

Fast Food Nation.......2007-09-16

This movie is the reason people should stop eating fast food.
This movie will also make a difference in teenagers who are struggling at dead end jobs while going going to school.
Teenagers should know the only reason bosses decide to give them extra hours whenever someone calls in sick is because it's cheaper to get them to work more than 28 hours then getting another part time worker who makes much more money.
If a part time worker makes only $7.00 and another part time worker makes $10.50 and the manager asks that cheap $7.00 an hour person to stay behind or to come in or gets more hours then it's because that person saves lots of company money working cheap.
The main character leaves that retched place, thanks to her uncle who enlightened her on the real meaning of life.
Hopefully this will enlighten everyone, especially teenagers at dead end, lousy two-bit low minimium wage jobs.

Dissapoiting.......2007-09-08

I was dissapointed with this movie. The movie lacks a cohesive plot or plots. There is too much going on in the film and it is not well developed. The storylines are over the top and uses scenes for shock value. In the end all plots are left somewhat unresolved. The acting is good.

This movie was obviously made by vegetarians,.......2007-08-31

It wasen't what I expected. I thought it was going to be funny and then it got serious, when the burger chain was told they had cow poop in the burger meat. Well I don't know, but I would imagine every thing we eat,even what vegetarians eat, has some kind of pesticide, posion, or animal urine or poop on or in it. That's why everything should be cooked properly and or washed throughly. One funny scene, when the teenage "avengers" tried to let the cows out to "run free" a la 1960's hippie era, and the cows didn't move. Are these kids serious, where were these cows going to go? To the movies? And what's with the Mexican guilt trip? They come of their own free will, and they're are ALWAYS portrayed as victims of the big bad Americans. Give me a break, the more you make the more you spend. What's wrong with the simple life in Mexico? I'd love it, no taxes, fleecing the gringo's and eating mexican food, sounds good to me. They should all stay were they belong, I wish my grandparents never left the old country, we all would have been better off staying were we belonged had not our grandparents been "brainwashed" about "opportunities" in "AMERIKA". Come to find out it was all a ingenious marketing ploy. Think about it.

Enter the MEATrix.......2007-08-26

Fabulous film- amazing cast. The extras at the end of the film were amazingly creative. Enter the MEATrix was just about as good as the film...

3 stars, but only for the main message.......2007-08-20

This movie has a great, valid message: Fast food is dirty money, and even dirtier nutrition. Agreed, the last 10 minutes will have you seriously reconsidering your dietary choices. But this movie almost loses the trail of that important message by being too long, too slow (took forever to get the story started), and too fragmented. The shocking impact of the book it was based upon would have been better served by a documentary, rather than a fictionalized depiction. Kudos to the actors for doing a great job, but Morgan Spurlock and Michael Moore, where were you when we needed you?

Average customer rating:

Some Rules Should Never Be Broken...
Not much of a let down but fun to watch
The Transporter (Blue Ray)
don't break the rules
The Transporter in Blu-ray: Action, Suspense, Romance and Fast Cars!

The Transporter (Blu-Ray)
Starring: Jason Statham
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: Blu-ray

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ASIN: B000ICLRIY
Release Date: 2006-11-14

Amazon.com

Description

Customer Reviews:

Some Rules Should Never Be Broken..........2007-09-10

Not much of a let down but fun to watch.......2007-08-30

The Transporter (Blue Ray).......2007-08-23

Unfortunately we can not play this on our DVD we dont have Blue Ray or HD
So we were very disappointed

don't break the rules.......2007-06-20

The Transporter in Blu-ray: Action, Suspense, Romance and Fast Cars!.......2007-05-29

Average customer rating:

Unrequited gay love on the rainy streets of Portland
FINALLY
art house release from 1985 too long unavailable

Mala Noche - Criterion Collection
Starring: Doug Cooeyate , Ray Monge , Robert Lee Pitchlynn , Eric Pedersen , and Nyla McCarthy
Director: Gus Van Sant
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000TXNDUM
Release Date: 2007-10-09

Description

With its low budget and lush black-and-white imagery, Gus Van Sant's debut feature Mala Noche heralded an idiosyncratic, provocative new voice in American independent film. Set in Van Sant's hometown of Portland, Oregon, the film evokes a world of transient workers, dead-end day-shifters, and bars and seedy apartments bathed in a profound nighttime, as it follows a romantic deadbeat with a wayward crush on a handsome Mexican immigrant. Mala Noche was an important prelude to the New Queer Cinema of the nineties and is a fascinating time capsule from a time and place that continues to haunt its director's work.

Customer Reviews:

Unrequited gay love on the rainy streets of Portland.......2007-09-06

This was director Gus Van Sant's first official feature film and it remains one of my favorites. While the budget may have been low all of the directors trademarks were already on display, the non-judgemental approach to marginal lives, the gritty yet sensual visual style, the understated approach to narrative and the humor. Tim Streeter (who bears an uncanny resemblance to a young Keanu Reeves) is Walt, a twenty-something slacker who works in a Portland skid row liquor store but who's real passion are the two illegal Mexican immigrant boys Johnny and Roberto "Pepper" who he strikes up an uneasy friendship with. While (to my eyes) the hunky, muscular Pepper (played by Ray Monge) is the more attractive of the two, it's scrawny little Johnny that Walt falls hardest for. When asked by a female friend how old Johnny is Walt can only smile and say "We'll, he says he's 18 but..." . In fact, Johnny doesn't look much older than 17 or so which is probably the element of the film that will pose a problem for some viewers.

The movie is based on an autobiographical chapbook by Portland poet Walt Curtis published in the 1970's and later reprinted in the 1990's along with photos and commentary by Gus Van Sant. I was surprised in reading the book that the film follows the original extremely faithfully...the main change appeared to be making the main protaganist younger and more conventionally handsome which changes the feel of the relationships somewhat.

Visually, the film is wonderful to look at...grubby and bathed in darkness. The black and white cinematography is sensitve to contrasts, between say the rainy, chilly exteriors and the dry, warm low-rent interiors or Walt's luminously white skin and the warmer toned complexions of his latino friends. In one extended, hushed sequence where Walt brings Pepper back to his apartment to stay the night the film actually reminded me a bit of David Lynch's Eraserhead with it's super low-key spot lighting and industrial sound effects. Other scenes like the back road car outing have all the looseness and airiness of early Godard. Always, the visual style has an off-hand, non-forced naturalism to it.

Stubbled, dreamy Walt is a prototypical Van Sant hero and along with Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting, River Phoenix in My Own Private Idaho and Michael Pitt in Last Days, one of his gentlest creations. Other Van Sant films such as Psycho, Elephant, To Die For and Drugstore Cowboy feature more aggressive and violent characters which is perhaps partly why I find them a little less endearing.

There were other fine gay themed films from the 1980's...Maurice, Law of Desire, Dona Herlinda and Her Son but if I had to pick my favorite from that decade it'd be Mala Noche. Watching it again, it seems (like Drugstore Cowboy from 1989) very, very unlike other films from the 80's and more like a leftover from the late 70's. For me at least, this is a good thing.

Since I had lost hope that Mala Noche was every going to be released on DVD in the U.S. I splurged and bought a French import from the Amazon.fr website. Judging from that transfer, the film looks and sounds just great for it's age (and budget). The Criterion Collection disc should look at least as good as the MK2 disc.

FINALLY.......2007-09-02

When I was 14 I saw 'Drugstore Cowboy' for the first time and it made me look at film and life in a different light. I fell in love with Gus Van Sant's unjudgemental view of life and his affection for fringe people and vowed to see all of his films. I recently saw a bootleg of 'Mala Noche' and think it's his masterpiece filled with the themes that would become universal in all his films; lonely fringe characters, longing, alienation, etc.

I can't wait for this disc!

art house release from 1985 too long unavailable.......2007-08-08

Mala noche is a 'bad night.' Skid Row in Portland is full of bad nights for the central character, a clerk in a pocket packet store. Sweaty, sexy Mexican kids come to the store for booze and cigarettes. One in particular throws him over into a sea of lust and unrequited love.

Who is a 'bad knight' and who is a knight in shining armor is never really resolved. The clerk tries to teach the Mexican day laborer to drive, but maybe he just wants to get away on the road in the Dodge Dart, icon of all things PNW.

Gus Van Sant produced this in 1985, the same year he produced the music for his William S. Burroughs CD Elvis Of Letters. The 'sensual despair' that haunts nearly every Van Sant film was forged in these Portland days of the Director.

I saw this film just once at a film festival in Seattle when it first came out, and I have ached to see it again, if for no other reason than to reflect on it in light of the subsequent druggie Road pictures [Drugstore Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho] and the more recent 'fictu-mentaries' [Elephant and Last Days].

Hats off to the Criterian volk for releasing this film. Not all may like it; some will find it brief and coarse, and yet those qualities are what so powerfully animates the film.

Average customer rating:

pobre inocente!
Maybe it's me
Mandatory viewing for Castro apologists
Befire Night Falls
Life is its' own reward

Before Night Falls
Starring: Javier Bardem , Johnny Depp , Michael Wincott , Hector Babenco , and Sean Penn
Director: Julian Schnabel
Manufacturer: New Line Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00003CXRG
Release Date: 2001-05-22

Amazon.com

Based on the posthumously published memoir by Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas, Before Night Falls is artist-director Julian Schnabel's second exercise in artist biography, but where Schnabel's earlier film Basquiat was relatively conventional, this film is bolder in both style and execution. Schnabel is perhaps too enamored of his subject as a noble martyr, lending the film a somewhat inflated sense of importance. Still, it's rare to see an artist's life and work so elegantly interwoven, and Before Night Falls uses all of Arenas's life as its canvas, from impoverished youth to lively gay freedom in mid-1950's Cuba; imprisonment during Castro's antigay regime; and to New York City in 1980, followed by Arenas's battle with AIDS and subsequent suicide (depicted here as assisted) in 1990.

Through these extreme rises and falls, Arenas is always writing, his typewriter his most faithful lover and weapon (by way of smuggled manuscripts) against the dark forces that surround him. As Time magazine's Richard Corliss wrote, Arenas is "a serious actor's dream role: to be a gay Jesus in a modern Passion Play," and Javier Bardem--the first Spanish actor to receive an Oscar nomination--inhabits the role with subtle ferocity, charting this emotional odyssey with outer reserve but blazing infernos of internal passion. And while Schnabel suffers from a hyperactive camera, there's poetry here--visual, dramatic, and literal--and vibrant humor to temper the deep tragedy of Arenas's life. Schnabel also uses his actor friends to good advantage: a nearly unrecognizable Sean Penn adds an ironic touch to his brief appearance as a peasant, and Johnny Depp is both funny and fearsome in dual roles as a drag queen and vicious army interrogator. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

pobre inocente!.......2007-04-19

javier bardem stars as cuban poet reinaldo arenas in this stolid and overlong biopic (with pretensions of artiness) that lets us know that castros cuba is not a workers paradise especially if youre a flitty gay poet. better in its longings than in its execution.

Maybe it's me.......2007-03-31

This movie just didn't do much for me. I found it agonizingly slow, and another annoying testament to an artist who had to die to be appreciated; who worked his entire life producing only to remain penniless and uninsured even in his final days. If Castro's Cuba is so bad, what does that say about America? Anyway, I will say that the cinematography was beautiful and it did transport you to another world, and that I always appreciate - the beauty of the color, the music, the earth, sea and sky. I appreciated the fine art of Johnny Depp, I must have missed Sean Penn.

I guess it depends on what you want to see it for. There are some rather nasty torture scenes and nudity. Not a date movie, but if you are studying art or the artist himself, go for it.

Mandatory viewing for Castro apologists.......2006-12-21

In my head i'd mistakenly assumed that Fidel Casto was the acceptable face of dictatorships....he has designer label kudos,and is much beloved by some with a left wing disposition.
Upon watching this marvellous but somewhat sprawling film my wrong assumption became very apparent as i learnt about gay people being sent to concentration camps and beaten up. Castro's speeches effectively intermingle with the film and the general rhetoric reminded me of Hitler(who was of course worse)

Befire Night Falls.......2006-08-14

This story is so fascinating that I couldn't stop feeling that the drive to create and to be true to one's identity and sexual preference had to be overwhelming to cause the writer, Arenas, to survive and escape the homophobic surroundings in Cuba under Castro. Johnny Depp is unbelievably wonderful as both the sadistic lieutenant and the transporting Drag Queen.

Life is its' own reward.......2006-08-03

I read the book many years before seeing the movie. Both are testimonies of the mystery of the human spirit, the wonder and love of life, and the ugliness of human hatred.

Average customer rating:

Whats up with the missing Kidnapping scene at the end
Great comedy!
Great Movie
Born in East L.A.
Good, politically incorrect ethnic humor!

Born In East L.A.
Starring: Chastity Ayala , Eddie Barth , Larry Blackmon , Bret Chafe , and Miguel Delgado
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000714BQ
Release Date: 2003-01-07

Customer Reviews:

Whats up with the missing Kidnapping scene at the end.......2007-08-29

Great movie, I dont know why the studios ended it like this, I have an old VHS copy where at the end they come back to the East side and are kidnapped by the people who are renting a house across the street from where Rudy's family lives....whats up with that, I feel robbed, they should of at least put that in a deleted scenes option.

Great comedy!.......2007-04-18

Hispanic-American Rudy (Cheech Marin) is just having a fine day until an immigration raid as he's wrongfully prosecuted as an illegal immigrant. He doesn't know a word of spanish and forgot to bring his wallet and ID, he's forced to be deported to Mexico as he must find a way to get back to the U.S. even if he has to work for a club owner (Daniel Stern) for money.

Entertaining, underrated and hilarious cult comedy written and directed by Cheech Marin in based on his comedy parody album of the same name. Co-starring Paul Rodriguez, this lighthearted comedy has good laughs and an original storyline from Marin fresh off his Cheech and Chong stuff, this is one of the best and funniest comedy movies i've ever seen for i highly recommend it.

The DVD here has good picture and sound with both fullscreen and widescreen versions and one extra which is the theatrical trailer.

Great Movie.......2007-03-29

I personally love this movie, first time i saw it, a long time ago, i didnt like it because I was a Kid,,, then i saw it a few years later and love it,,, now i went to amazon and looked for it,,, its now on my collections... Its not a huge Classic movie, but it makes you have a good tome.

Born in East L.A........2007-01-06

I have been waiting for some time to buy this movie because it was one of my all-time favorites when I first saw it on television. Waiting to see if it would appear at a discount price (about $5-$7)I decided to go ahead and purchase it. I was disappointed to find out that this version had the shorten-version that did not show the marriage on the float at the end of the movie. Only then did I learn this movie had two different endings. Regardless, since it was one of my favorites, I decided to keep it anyway.

Good, politically incorrect ethnic humor!.......2006-11-11

What made this film funny is that Cheech Marin's character Rudy Ramos tried to behave as the straight guy while acting out just about every bad Mexican joke that's ever been told. In this respect, it's one gaffe right after another.

BTW I also got a big kick out of Paul Rodriguez as the cousin, Javier, who acted like the picture of Jesus with the phone behind it was talking to him... at one point, he obediently brings "Jesus" a can of beer, LOL!

If only the real situation were not so depressing. I went to Tijuana in December '88 with a buddy who's an American citizen (he's of Mexican descent, but looks Egyptian... so the border guards never gave him any trouble), and came back across at the end of the day wondering why any sane person would want to live there. As bad as Tijuana is, however, I've heard it's nowhere near as bad as Calcutta ( =Tijuana if it was hit by a bomb).

Average customer rating:

batcall
fine
Stupid softcore DVD
good, but could be better
Lolida and the Sex Patrol

Lolida 2000: The Forbidden Stories
Starring: Jacqueline Lovell , Jake Kealy , Danielle Williams (II) , David Squires , and Skylar Nicholas
Director: Cybil Richards
Manufacturer: SURRENDER CINEMA
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: 6305337373
Release Date: 1999-04-20

Customer Reviews:

batcall.......2007-08-09

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I hope it's similar to the most recent Lolita movie made. I'm sure I'll find some things interesting to me since I'm an red-blooded, all american, male. I hope you enjoy it too.

fine .......2007-08-06

I thought this film was ok except for the the fact that there was music during the sex scenes to block out the women moaning.

Stupid softcore DVD.......2006-11-10

Don't buy this disc unless you are a real Jackie Lovell fan. The best thing in this DVD is Lovell's dance at the end!

good, but could be better.......2005-09-27

I thought the women in this video are very pretty; I think the brunett that was in the prison with her would have made a better Lolita, but that's a personal opinion. The only problem I have with this movie is that it's not enough. I can't put my finger on it, but it leaves you wanting more. This is very good if that's what the writers intended, but I would personally like to see more female acton.
In short I think the movie is good.

Lolida and the Sex Patrol.......2005-08-17

Oh my goodness, they've outlawed sex! That is the premise for this hokey so called Sci-Fi Semi-Porn film. At some future, unspecified, (probably 2000 since Lolida 2000 is the title, course it's 2005 and it didn't happen) date the sex act and anything connected to sex has been outlawed. (and you thought prohibition was extreme) So what we have here is a sex film, where sex is banned but hark, never worry, Lolida or is it Lolita, this is so... confusing, is here to save the day.

Lolita/Lolida (Jacqueline Lovell) is a government censor, tasked with reviewing all video recordings and destroying those which recorded sexual activity. Now I don't know about you but it's pretty hard to watch people engaging in sex and not get turned on even a teeny weeny little bit. So pretty soon our censor is getting in the mood and pleasuring herself. Apparently Lolita/Lolida then decides that it's a dumb law that "The Society" has dreamed up, which I could have told her if she'd asked me and starts beaming these randy reels she viewed back through "The Society" networks to bounce around space to free the sexually repressed public, at which point we get to see the erotic videos as well.

The videos consist of a trinity of erogenous vignettes, the first of which features the well endowed Gabriella Hall (Famalien), as Sherry, who keeps having dark nightmares of alien abduction when she was young. Eventually she gets abducted again, (The green aliens missed her) gets thrown in lockup, naked with a similarly attired male, named Sasha, from Eastern Europe. After a few hours and despite the fact that they're both scared sh*tless, after comforting each other for awile, they decide to have one last fling. The aliens apparently missed the action and bring the uncoupled couple out to the examining table and asked them to couple again, so they and we can watch. It is at this point that Sherry has an epiphany and decides to make a career move. She decides she really likes performing naked in front of aliens and decides to become the spaceship slut. After all green was always her favorite color.

In vignette deux, a starship pilot named Casey (Skylar Nichols) is incarcerated, that means jailed, in an underground penis, I mean penal colony, where she undergoes excruciating sex at the hands of the warden dyke, her feline, that's a type of alien, cellmate Maya (Nikki Nova), tries to be her lesbian lover. Finally she finds a guy prisoner to skewer her, ahh but that's a no no and he is dragged off to parts unknown by the two guards to be beaten mercifully. This is all getting to much for Casey, so she escapes but just as she gets free of the prison she discovers that it's all been a virtual reality mind trip, perpetrated on her by Kelvans another alien race. (I wonder if they're the green guys?)

For the last and most bizarre vignette, which involves time slippage, we start in a truck stop restaurant. Jake (Jake Kealy) is washing his face in the restroom when Keely (Heather James), waltzes in and proceeds to seduce him. (Happens in truck stop rest rooms all the time. Didn`t you know?) After Keely leaves we get into some great special effects (you know flashing colored lights and so forth) and when Jake emerges from the rest room the restaurant is now in the fifties but Heather is still the waitress. This format is repeated twice more, first in a western saloon, again with Heather and then in a prehistoric cave where two cave ladies (Heather and friend) take a fancy to Jake while their cave men watch. Eventually the cave men get the idea and shove Jake out of the way and continue while Jake admires their primal urges.

Finally we go back to our heroin or is it heroine, I'm getting confused again.... Anyway we go back to Lolita/Lolida who proceeds to honor us with her very own sensual strip tease. Hooray!

I know I gave away the whole story, didn't I? Well you don't expect me to believe you'd watch this movie for the story do you?

Conclusion

Another so called Sci-Fi Semi-Porn film? It seems that almost all the randy movies that come out lately have a hokey science fiction plot, but we don't watch these movies for the story line do we? I doubt if anyone who has seen this movie would consider this a science fiction movie. Instead like other similar movies like Femalien and Alien Files, they would probably label it a Softcore Erotic picture with a extremely weak sci-fi tie in.

This DVD comes with the following Special Features:
~ Surrender Cinema Trailer Reel
~ Girls of Surrender Cinema
~ Casting Couch Porno....Promo
~ Website Information (which don`t work)
~ Actor Filmographies

I gave this movie a low four star rating because even though it is a below average movie in the commercial sense, it is a better than your average hokey Sci-Fi Semi-Porn extravaganza. All the great bodies, didn't hurt either

DVD:

DVD

DVD