Total Number of DVDs: 312
Last Updated: 26 May 2008

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Page Number: 23 / 25

 

 

Waiting...

Director: Rob McKittrick
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Anna Faris, Justin Long, David Koechner, Luis Guzmán
Genre: Comedy
Rated: Unrated
My Rating:
IMDB Rating: 6.8 (13,803 votes)
Duration: 94
Release: Feb 2006
# of Discs: 2
UPC: 0012236189428
Purchased On:
Summary: The bitter, vengeful world of waiting tables gets the "Clerks" treatment in "Waiting...". A new employee (John Francis Daley, "Freaks and Geeks") gets trained at Shenanigan's, a banal theme restaurant where the bored employees play a game of flaunting their genitals. The staff includes a snarky waiter (Ryan Reynolds, "Van Wilder", "The Amityville Horror") who lusts after the underage hostess; a waiter suffering from crippling pee-shyness (Robert Patrick Benedict, "Threshold"); an oracular dishwasher (Chi McBride, "Roll Bounce"); and a conflicted waiter named Dean (Justin Long, "Dodgeball"), who's just been offered a promotion to assistant manager--a job that offers more money, but threatens to trap him at Shenanigan's for the rest of his life. "Waiting..." is a loose shamble of a movie--the only thing resembling a story is Dean's life crisis--but that's part of its charm. It's a tricky thing to depict tedium without being tedious, but "Waiting..." pulls it off; some jokes smack of forced sitcom writing, but most of the humor feels genuine, as if it came from writer/director Rob McKittrick's personal experience. A future cult film. Also featuring Anna Faris ("Lost in Translation"), Luis Guzman ("The Limey"), and rabidly adored stand-up comic Dane Cook as..a cook. "--Bret Fetzer"


 

Waking Life

Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Trevor Jack Brooks, Lorelei Linklater, Wiley Wiggins, Glover Gill, Lara Hicks
Genre: Comedy
Rated: R
My Rating:
IMDB Rating: 7.5 (13,016 votes)
Duration: 100
Release: May 2002
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 0024543040651
Purchased On:
Summary: "Waking Life" is a film that never settles down. Or maybe it never wakes up. Regardless, Richard Linklater's animated meditation seems to strike a perfect balance between the plotless meanderings of "Slacker" and the unquenchable knowledge-seeking of Hermann Hesse's "Siddhartha". Any way you look at it, this is a weird, original movie.
As he attempts to figure out what separates dreams from reality, the protagonist ("Dazed and Confused"'s Wiley Wiggins) hears an earful from everyone he stumbles upon. Ramblings range from the scholarly (Linklater's former college professor Robert C. Solomon gives a monologue) to the banal (of which there are plenty). Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Steven Soderbergh, and Adam Goldberg all get animated cameos, basically playing themselves. The dream-centered dialogues eventually grow mind-numbing, but that's OK; the animation steals the show. Each frame of the movie, which was first shot with live actors, was painted over, and the process renders a distorted and trippy collage of sights and sounds. Linklater's film is ultimately quite poignant, but, as with any good journey, you'll need to sit through some fairly tedious moments before reaching the destination. "--Jason Verlinde"


 

War Games

Director: John Badham
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, John Wood, Ally Sheedy, Barry Corbin
Genre: Action & Adventure
Rated: PG
My Rating:
IMDB Rating: 7.0 (16,437 votes)
Duration: 113
Release: Apr 1998
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 9780792838463
Purchased On:
Summary: Cute but silly, this 1983 cautionary fantasy stars Matthew Broderick as a teenage computer genius who hacks into the Pentagon's defense system and sets World War III into motion. All the fun is in the film's set-up, as Broderick befriends Ally Sheedy and starts the international crisis by pretending while online to be the Soviet Union. After that, it's not hard to predict what's going to happen: government agents swoop in, but the story ends up in the "hands" of machines talking to one another. Thus we're stuck with flashing lights, etc. John Badham ("Saturday Night Fever") directs in strict potboiler mode. Kids still like this movie, though. The DVD release has a widescreen presentation, theatrical trailer, Dolby sound, director commentary, optional English, French and Spanish subtitles. "--Tom Keogh"


 

War of the Worlds

Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, Justin Chatwin, Tim Robbins
Genre: Action & Adventure
Rated: PG-13
My Rating:
IMDB Rating: 6.7 (77,834 votes)
Duration: 117
Release: Nov 2005
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 0678149439229
Purchased On:
Summary: Despite super effects, a huge budget, and the cinematic pedigree of alien-happy Steven Spielberg, this take on H.G. Wells's novel is basically a horror film packaged as a sci-fi thrill ride. Instead of a mad slasher, however, Spielberg (along with writers Josh Friedman & David Koepp) utilizes aliens hell-bent on quickly destroying humanity, and the terrifying results that prey upon adult fears, especially in the post-9/11 world. The realistic results could be a new genre, the grim popcorn thriller; often you feel like you're watching Schindler's List more than Spielberg's other thrill-machine movies ("Jaws", "Jurassic Park"). The film centers on Ray Ferrier, a divorced father (Tom Cruise, oh so comfortable) who witnesses one giant craft destroy his New Jersey town and soon is on the road with his teen son (Justin Chatwin) and preteen daughter (Dakota Fanning) in tow, trying to keep ahead of the invasion. The film is, of course, impeccably designed and produced by Spielberg's usual crew of A-class talent. The aliens are genuinely scary, even when the film--like the novel--spends a good chunk of time in a basement. Readers of the book (or viewers of the deft 1953 adaptation) will note the variation of whom and how the aliens come to Earth, which poses some logistical problems. The film opens and closes with narration from the novel read by Morgan Freeman, but Spielberg could have adapted Orson Welles's words from the famous Halloween Eve 1938 radio broadcast: "We couldn't soap all your windows and steal all your garden gates by tomorrow night, so we did the best next thing: we annihilated the world." "--Doug Thomas"


 

Waterworld

Director: Kevin Costner
Starring: Kevin Costner, Chaim Girafi, Rick Aviles, R.D. Call, Zitto Kazann
Genre: Action & Adventure
Rated: PG-13
My Rating:
IMDB Rating: 5.4 (31,171 votes)
Duration: 136
Release: Dec 1997
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 9780783219851
Purchased On:
Summary: Let's be honest: this 1995 epic isn't nearly as bad as its negative publicity led us to expect. At the time it was the most expensive Hollywood production in history (it had a "Titanic"-sized $200 million budget), and the film arrived in theaters with so much controversy and negative gossip that it was an easy target for ridicule. The movie itself, a flawed but enjoyable post-apocalypse thriller, deserves better. "Waterworld" stars Kevin Costner as the Mariner, a lone maverick with gills and webbed feet who navigates the endless seas of Earth after the complete melting of the polar ice caps. The Mariner has been caged like a criminal when he's freed by Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and enlisted to help her and a young girl (Tina Majorino) escape from the Smokers, a group of renegade terrorists led by Dennis Hopper in yet another memorably villainous role. It is too bad the predictable script isn't more intelligent, but as a companion piece to "The Road Warrior", this seafaring stunt-fest is adequately impressive. "--Jeff Shannon"


 

The Way of the Gun

Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Benicio Del Toro, Juliette Lewis, Taye Diggs, Nicky Katt
Genre: Action & Adventure
Rated: R
My Rating:
IMDB Rating: 6.5 (11,912 votes)
Duration: 119
Release: Oct 2001
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 0012236115892
Purchased On:
Summary: The big selling point for "The Way of the Gun" is the fact that it was written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, the guy who wrote "The Usual Suspects". Benicio Del Toro and Ryan Phillippe star as two low-rent criminals who fall into a plan to kidnap a surrogate mother (Juliette Lewis) who is carrying a baby for a very wealthy couple. The duo are immediately in over their heads, and their kidnapping plot brings to light the dark and hidden tendrils of the old man's family structure. It also brings on lots of gunfights and lots of blood. McQuarrie creates some good action sequences (particularly the slow-moving car "chase" through the alleys), but that only serves to emphasize the one major weakness of the film: the script. Though it's chock full of macho declarations, shootouts, and "surprise" revelations, the core story is ultra-predictable. That wouldn't be so bad if there were any characters to care about, but only a supporting performance from James Caan elicits any kind of sympathy. This is merely a movie based on violent movies, with no additional commentary. Then again, McQuarrie does do a nice job with much of the action. Though nowhere near as good as "The Usual Suspects", particularly in its story, "The Way of the Gun" is a promising debut for McQuarrie as a director. "--Andy Spletzer"


 

Wedding Crashers

Director: David Dobkin
Starring: Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Christopher Walken, Rachel McAdams, Isla Fisher
Genre: Comedy
Rated: Unrated
My Rating:
IMDB Rating: 7.2 (48,499 votes)
Duration: 128
Release: Jan 2006
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 9780780652491
Purchased On:
Summary: With Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as a pair of brazen wedding crashers, this buddy/romantic comedy milks a few big laughs from its foolproof premise. Under the direction of David Dobkin (who previously worked with Wilson on "Shanghai Knights"), the movie ranges from bawdy romp to mushy romance, and that tonal identity crisis curtails the overall hilarity. But when the well-teamed costars are firing on all pistons with fast-paced dialogue and manic situations, belly laughs are delivered at a steady clip. Things get complicated when the guys infiltrate the family of the Treasury Secretary (Christopher Walken), resulting in a romantic pair-off between Vaughn and the congressman's oversexed daughter Gloria (Isla Fisher) while Wilson sincerely woos another daughter, Claire (Rachel McAdams), who's unhappily engaged to an Ivy League cheater (Bradley Cooper). Walken is more or less wasted in his role, but Jane Seymour and Henry Gibson make amusing appearances, and a surprise guest arrives late in the game for some over-the-top scene-stealing. It's all a bit uneven, but McAdams (considered by some to be "the next Julia Roberts") is a pure delight, and with enough laughs to make it easily recommended, "Wedding Crashers" will likely find its place on DVD shelves alongside other flawed but enjoyable R-rated comedies that embrace a naughtier, nastier brand of humor with no need for apologies. "--Jeff Shannon"


 

Who Am I?

Director: Jackie Chan
Starring: Jackie Chan, Michelle Ferre, Mirai Yamamoto, Ron Smerczak, Ed Nelson
Genre: Action & Adventure
Rated: PG-13
My Rating:
IMDB Rating: 6.4 (4,892 votes)
Duration: 108
Release: Feb 1999
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 9780767819640
Purchased On:
Summary: Shot in English and budgeted higher than any of his previous Asian features, Jackie Chan's last film under his Hong Kong contract is an action-packed globe-trotting adventure shot with the American audience in mind. The spies and secret agent-laden plot is packed with car chases, explosions, gunfire aplenty, and of course Jackie's own brand of gymnastic martial arts. But the flood of his older films between his hits "Rumble in the Bronx" and "Rush Hour" had sated American viewers and "Who Am I?" wound up being sold directly to cable. It's our loss, for this mix of goofy slapstick and jaw-dropping action is his most impressive film since "Drunken Master II". Playing a special forces agent (named, naturally, Jackie) struck with amnesia and adopted by an African bush tribe following a failed assassination attempt, he embarks on a quest to discover his true identity while armies of killers pour after him. After an explosive opening, the story gets momentarily bogged down in the kind of mugging humor that leaves most American audiences scratching their heads, but once Jackie kicks into gear the film is a high-speed action flurry that culminates in a furious battle atop a Rotterdam skyscraper. Jackie is at his most charmingly naive (he berates the villains, pleading "Why do you want to destroy when you can make things better?") and athletically impressive: the marvelous stunts--including a flight down the side of the skyscraper--and fight choreography make "Rush Hour" look like a Sunday drive. "--Sean Axmaker"


 

The Whole Nine Yards

Director: Jonathan Lynn
Starring: Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry, Rosanna Arquette, Michael Clarke Duncan, Natasha Henstridge
Genre: Comedy
Rated: R
My Rating:
IMDB Rating: 6.6 (27,267 votes)
Duration: 99
Release: Jul 2000
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 9780790750422
Purchased On:
Summary: Well, there goes the neighborhood -- in a pine box. When hit man Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski moves into a comfy suburb, everyone's suddenly in danger of pushing up daisies. And it's not all Jimmy's doing either. Jonathan Lynn (My Cousin Vinny) directs and a talented ensemble cast packs heat in this manic comedy about life, love and plenty of ammo. Bruce Willis plays Jimmy, whose arrival sparks a chain reaction in which just about everybody wants to clip somebody else. Matthew Perry plays a hapless dentist who finds a way to get on the Tulip's good and bad sides. And Rosanna Arquette, Michael Clarke Duncan, Natasha Henstridge, Amanda Peet and Kevin Pollak add to the yards of wacky and whacked fun.


 

The Whole Ten Yards

Director: Howard Deutch
Starring: Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet, Kevin Pollak, Natasha Henstridge
Genre: Comedy
Rated: PG-13
My Rating:
IMDB Rating: 4.9 (10,230 votes)
Duration: 99
Release: Jul 2004
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 9780790783024
Purchased On:
Summary: Bruce Willis turns on the charm in "The Whole Ten Yards", the sequel to the surprisingly popular "The Whole Nine Yards". Willis returns as Jimmy "the Tulip," a former professional hitman, now living in Mexico with his bride Jill (Amanda Peet, "Igby Goes Down"), while his former neighbor Oz (Matthew Perry) lives happily with Jimmy's ex-wife Cynthia (Natasha Henstridge, "Species"). When mobster Lazlo Gogolak (Kevin Pollak, "The Usual Suspects") kidnaps Cynthia to get revenge on Jimmy, Oz has to seek out Jimmy for help--only to eventually discover that there's some incomprehensible secret plan at work. "The Whole Ten Yards" was created purely because the previous movie made money; the sequel makes not an iota of sense. Willis coasts by on raw charisma, everyone else flounders (Henstridge seems completely bored). Fans of the first movie, however, may enjoy revisiting these antic characters. "--Bret Fetzer"


 

Win A Date With Tad Hamilton!

Director: Robert Luketic
Starring: Kate Bosworth, Topher Grace, Josh Duhamel, Nathan Lane, Sean Hayes
Genre: Comedy
Rated: PG-13
My Rating:
IMDB Rating: 5.7 (5,883 votes)
Duration: 97
Release: Apr 2004
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 9781417003655
Purchased On:
Summary: To improve their client's tarnished image, the managers of movie heartthrob Tad Hamilton (TV star Josh Duhamel) trump up a contest in which an innnocent middle-American girl will win a date with the hunk. A West Virginia grocery clerk named Rosalee (Kate Bosworth, "Blue Crush") wins, much to the dismay of her friend Pete (Topher Grace, "Traffic"), who's secretly in love with her. A summary of the romantic triangle that follows won't capture the charm of "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!". Though formulaic in structure, the movie is constantly surprising and engaging in its details. All romantic comedies should have such a smart script, understated but spot-on acting (Grace, Bosworth, and Duhamel are delightful and given excellent comic support from Nathan Lane, Sean Hayes, Ginnifer Goodwin, and Gary Cole), and clean, clear direction (from the director of "Legally Blonde", another formulaic but irrepressibly fun movie). "--Bret Fetzer"


 

Wonder Boys

Director: Curtis Hanson
Starring: Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr., Katie Holmes
Genre: Comedy
Rated: R
My Rating:
IMDB Rating: 7.5 (22,424 votes)
Duration: 112
Release: Mar 2001
# of Discs: 1
UPC: 9780792165149
Purchased On:
Summary: "Wonder Boys" is one of those movies in which more twists and turns disrupt the life of the hero in one weekend than would bother most of us our whole lives. Professor Grady Tripp (Michael Douglas) is an aging one-novel wunderkind at a small Pittsburgh college who's laboring on his seven-years-in-the-making, 2000-plus page second opus with no end in sight. The morning of the college's literary lollapalooza, WordFest, Grady's wife leaves him; that evening, his mistress (Frances McDormand) announces she's pregnant (she's also the chancellor of the school, as well as the wife of Grady's boss). Grady's voracious editor (Robert Downey Jr.) is also in town, transvestite date in tow, determined to read the highly anticipated new book; there's also the nubile student (Katie Holmes), who seems more than willing to ease Grady's pain. And then there's James Leer (Tobey Maguire), the mordant and brilliant writing student who's the catalyst for Grady's lost weekend, which involves a soon-to-be-dead blind dog, a stolen car, and the jacket that Marilyn Monroe wore when she wed Joe DiMaggio.
Had enough flights of fancy? It's only the beginning, and in the hands of director Curtis Hanson ("L.A. Confidential") and screenwriter Steve Kloves ("The Fabulous Baker Boys"), "Wonder Boys" will have you begging for more. Adroitly adapting Michael Chabon's novel and distilling it to its droll, melancholy essence, Kloves and Hanson have fashioned a briskly unsentimental and darkly funny tale; these characters may be down on their luck, but they sure don't feel sorry for themselves. Douglas, by turns dryly sarcastic and sincerely heartfelt, single-handedly makes up for years of alpha-male posturing as the passive pothead Tripp, and whoever thought of pairing him with the resilient McDormand is brilliant--they convey the complexities and history of their relationship in a single glance or movement. And under Hanson's guidance, the rest of the cast is truly exceptional, with Maguire in a breakthrough performance and Downey at his manic best. The ending of "Wonder Boys" may feel a little too pat, but after everything these characters have been through, a happy ending seems a just reward. "--Mark Englehart"


 


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