Wednesday, November 30, 2011

High Tension

  • DVD Details: Actors: Cecile De France, Maiwenn Le Besco, Philippe Nahon, Franck Khalfoun, Andrei Finti
  • Directors: Alexandre Aja
  • Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1; Number of discs: 1; Studio: Lions Gate
  • DVD Release Date: October 11, 2005 ; Run Time: 91 minutes
HIGH TENSION - DVD MovieHome to some of the world's best food and fashion, the French also have the wonderful habit of producing some of the world's best movies. With High Tension, French director Alexandre Aja offers up a bloody buffet of terror; a violent concoction of style over substance, with a bloody French twist. Two college girlfriends, Maria and Alex, take a weekend to study at the secluded country home of Alex's parents. Shortly after their arrival, a mysterious killer appears, and things take a shockingly terribl! e turn for the worse. As the horror and body count rises, Maria and Alex find themselves fighting for their lives, and it's revealed that things are not exactly as they seem. Essentially a one-act cat-and-mouse affair, High Tension is an explosive bloody thrill ride that rarely lets up. Oozing style in every color-saturated frame and boasting some intense performances, Aja mainly succeeds in sustaining an intense momentum throughout the film. The plot occasionally suffers from a thin, flimsy storyline, and the abundant graphic scenes of violence will either thrill and delight, or simply disgust. Nonetheless, this adrenalin-fueled addition to the genre gives the American slasher flick a real run for its money. High Tension is high-art horror, and comes highly recommended. --Matt WoldHIGH TENSION is an intense game of murder and survival, which will rattle viewers to their core. Marie and Alexia are classmates and best friends who go to Alexiaâ€! ™s family home in the French countryside hoping to prepare for! their c ollege exams in peace and quiet. In the dead of night, a psychotic killer breaks into the house, and with the first swing of his knife, the girl’s idyllic weekend turns into an endless nightmare. When Alexia is captured and thrown into a van, Marie attempts to rescue her friend from the evil murderer. High Tension truly brings slasher films back to their roots with this gore-addled film, packed with blood and guts.For much of its running time, High Tension earns its title as a gory and suspenseful tale of hot pursuit. Originally titled Switchblade Romance in England, and trimmed of its most excessive gore to avoid an NC-17 rating during its brief U.S. theatrical release, this French horror film provokes a memorable case of high anxiety from its alluring female lead (Cecile de France), but it's an otherwise brainless exercise with a ludicrous conclusion that renders the entire film null and void. It's essentially a Texas Chainsaw wanna-be, which isn't s! uch a bad thing if you're a horror buff with an appetite for gruesome death at the hands of a brutal and nameless serial killer. Dressed in greasy coveralls and a baseball cap, and driving a rusty old delivery van, the killer indiscriminately destroys an entire family before chasing after the tomboyish Marie (de France), who is trapped in a nonsensical screenplay that won't let her go. With a high body count and buckets of bloodshed, High Tension has moments of delirious intensity, which is probably why Lion's Gate (bolstered by the success of Saw and other horror hits) deemed the film worthy of U.S. release with some (but not all) of its French dialogue badly dubbed in English. It's horror for die-hards only, and on those terms it's worth a look. --Jeff ShannonHIGH TENSION - DVD MovieFor much of its running time, High Tension earns its title as a gory and suspenseful tale of hot pursuit. Originally titled Switchblade Romance in England, a! nd trimmed of its most excessive gore to avoid an NC-17 rating! during its brief U.S. theatrical release, this French horror film provokes a memorable case of high anxiety from its alluring female lead (Cecile de France), but it's an otherwise brainless exercise with a ludicrous conclusion that renders the entire film null and void. It's essentially a Texas Chainsaw wanna-be, which isn't such a bad thing if you're a horror buff with an appetite for gruesome death at the hands of a brutal and nameless serial killer. Dressed in greasy coveralls and a baseball cap, and driving a rusty old delivery van, the killer indiscriminately destroys an entire family before chasing after the tomboyish Marie (de France), who is trapped in a nonsensical screenplay that won't let her go. With a high body count and buckets of bloodshed, High Tension has moments of delirious intensity, which is probably why Lion's Gate (bolstered by the success of Saw and other horror hits) deemed the film worthy of U.S. release with some (but not all) of its ! French dialogue badly dubbed in English. It's horror for die-hards only, and on those terms it's worth a look. --Jeff Shannon

High School Musical 3: Senior Year (Extended Edition)

  • It's time to celebrate as Disney's phenomenal HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL hits new heights in HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3: SENIOR YEAR! Fresh from the big screen, this motion picture extravaganza delivers nonstop entertainment from start to finish! It's almost graduation day for high school seniors Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay, Chad, Ryan and Taylor -- and the thought of heading off in separate directio
It's time to celebrate as Disney's phenomenal High School Musical hits new heights in High School Musical 3: Senior Year! Fresh from the big screen, this motion picture extravaganza delivers non-stop entertainment from start to finish! It's almost graduation day for high school seniors Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay, Chad, Ryan and Taylor - and the thought of heading off in separate directions after leaving East High has these Wildcats thinking they need to do something they ll remember forever. Tog! ether with the rest of the Wildcats, they stage a spring musical reflecting their hopes and fears about the future and their unforgettable experiences growing up together. But with graduation approaching and college plans in question, what will become of the dreams, romances, and friendships of East High's senior Wilcats?
Find out what happens to all your favorite characters in the big screen musical sensation, High School Musical 3: Senior Year! It's a fabulous celebration the whole family will love!

Disc 1:
  • Extended version includes extra scenes integrated back into the theatrical movie
  • Bonus Features include: Cast Goobyes, Bloopers, Deleted Scenes, Night of Nights, It's All in the Dress, Sing-Along Mode
Disc 2:
  • DisneyFile Digital Download Copy Disc: Watch your DVD in the living room and your DisneyFile digital copy on the go!
  • !
High School Musical 3: Senior Year is the third ! film in Disney's record-smashing series, and the first to debut in theaters rather than on the Disney Channel, and while many of the elements are the same, the film is at times bigger to accommodate the big screen. All the usual characters are back, but not for long: it's senior year, and the classmates are all facing the prospect of leaving East High in separate directions. Troy (Zac Efron) is ready to play hoops at the University of Albuquerque with best friend Chad (Corbin Bleu), but doesn't want to be a thousand miles away from Stanford-bound Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens). Taylor (Monique Coleman) is headed to Yale, while Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale), brother Ryan (Lucas Grabeel), and the school's pianist-composer Kelsi (Olesya Rulin) are all in the running for a single scholarship to Juilliard. The showcase for them will be Ms. Darbus' new musical, Senior Year, which will recap the academic careers of the students themselves. (So if the original HSM was a retelling ! of Grease, HSM3 is more A Chorus Line.)

There are a few new characters: Sharpay's personal assistant Tiara Gold (Jemma McKenzie-Brown), and Troy's hangers-on, Rocket Man (Matt Prokop) and Donny Dion (Justin Martin), who may give the franchise life beyond its original cast (if they make some headway in the likability department). But it's all about the songs and the dances. Ryan and Sharpay sizzle in a classic-musical tribute "I Want It All"; Troy and Gabriella share a rooftop waltz in "Can I Have This Dance"; and Troy and Chad blow off steam in a salvage yard in "The Boys Are Back." "Now or Never" is this film's "sports song," and Troy and Gabriella have their big duet "Just Wanna Be With You" and their own showcases, in "Scream" and "Walk Away," respectively. If the closing anthem, "High School Musical," seems on the self-congratulatory side, it's a rare misstep in a series that has made a generation of tweens (especially girls) sing and dance ! and realize they can be whatever they want to be. --David ! Horiuchi




Stills from High School Musical 3: Senior Year (Click for larger image)












Green Toys Tea Set

  • Meets FDA food contact standards
  • Dishwasher safe
  • Encourages gross and fine motor skill development
  • Great for indoor and outdoor play
  • For 3 years and above
BOY EATS GIRL - DVD MovieHorror 4-Film Pack. 2 Double sided discs. Drive Thru (2006) - 91 Minutes. Creep (2005) - 85 Minutes Boy Eats Girl (2005) - 80 Minutes Tamara (2005) - 98 MinutesNetherlands released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), English ( Dolby DTS 5.1 ), Dutch ( Subtitles ), English ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, SYNOPSIS: Forget about the threat of the classroom bully, the anxiety of being spurned by the girl or boy you fancy. When your schoolmates develop a taste for human flesh, it pays to know who your friends are and what they have been eating... ...Boy Eats GirlTeach your daughters to care for Mother Earth with this "green" make-believe tea set with four place settings. Includes 17 pieces: one pink teapot with purple lid, one purple sugar bowl and lid, one blue creamer, four blue teacups, four green saucers, and four yellow teaspoons. Made in the USA from recycled milk jugs.By using the Green To! ys Tea Set, your preschooler can help save the planet â€" a cup of tea at a time. Designed for children ages three and up, the tea set is made from recycled milk jugs, is FDA approved to eat and drink from, and does not contain BPA, phthalates, or lead paint. The set is colorful and durable, and is ideal for bath-time tea parties.

Green Toys Tea Set

Ages: 3+

What We Think

Fun factor:
Durability:
Ease of assembly:
Educational factor:

The Good: Made from recycled products and doesn't contain BPA, phthalates, or lead paint.

The Challenging: Though the tea set is di! shwasher safe, it is not microwave safe.

In a Nutshell: Colorful, tea set made from 100% recycled curbside-collected milk containers.


This tea set is FDA approved, and completely safe to drink from. View larger.

Colorful and 100% Recycled
This authentically styled tea set comes in pastel colors with interchangeable lids for the pot and sugar bowl. The lightweight ! set is made out of a durable recycled material. Manufactured, ! assemble d, and tested in the United States, the set is environmentally safe, non-toxic, and dishwasher friendly.

Another highlight of this tea set is the recycled cardboard packaging it comes in, which you can also recycle when you're through with it. With no plastic or twisting ties -- or any of the other environmentally unfriendly annoyances that come with opening up toy packaging -- it's easy to open and .

Help the Environment
With the Green Toys Tea Set, you can feel better about your purchase since you're doing something good to help the environment. It's safe and durable for your child's use -- especially when eating or drinking from the set.

Use the tea set to help your child learn more about recycling, helping the environment, saving energy, and reducing greenhouse gases while they serve tea to family and friends.

Besides the environmenta! l benefits, the set is brightly colored, lightweight, and durable -- making it a tea set that will last for years to come.

What's in the Box
Tea pot with lid, sugar bowl with lid, creamer, four cups, four saucers, and four teaspoons.




The cups, pots and saucers are colored in gentle pastels.


Enemy At the Gates : Widescreen Edition

  • Widescreen
An all-star cast lights up the screen in this riveting epic hailed as "a vivid dramatization of one of history's titanic turning points". (Gene Shalit, Today) The year is 1942 and the Nazis are cutting a deadly swath through Russia. Under the leadership of Kruschev (Bob Hoskins), the citizens of Stalingrad are mounting a brave resistance, spurred by the exploits of their local hero, Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law). An expert sniper, Vassili's deeds have become legendary - thanks to propaganda produced by Vassili's best friend, a political officer named Danilov (Joseph Fiennes). To stop Vassili, the Germans dispatch their best sniper, Major Konig (Ed Harris), to Stalingrad. When Vassili and Danilov both fall in love with a beautiful soldier (Rachel Weisz), Danilov deserts his friend, leaving Vassili to face his German counterpart alone. As the city burns, Vassili and Konig begin! a cunning game of cat and mouse, waging a private war for courage, honor and country.Like Saving Private Ryan, Enemy at the Gates opens with a pivotal event of World War II--the German invasion of Stalingrad--re-created in epic scale, as ill-trained Russian soldiers face German attack or punitive execution if they flee from the enemy's advance. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud captures this madness with urgent authenticity, creating a massive context for a more intimate battle waged amid the city's ruins. Embellished from its basis in fact, the story shifts to an intense cat-and-mouse game between a Russian shepherd raised to iconic fame and a German marksman whose skill is unmatched in its lethal precision. Vassily Zaitzev (Jude Law) has been sniping Nazis one bullet at a time, while the German Major Konig (Ed Harris) has been assigned to kill Vassily and spare Hitler from further embarrassment.

There's love in war as Vassily connects with a wo! man soldier (Rachel Weisz), but she is also loved by Danilov ! (Joseph Fiennes), the Soviet officer who promotes his friend Vassily as Russia's much-needed hero. This romantic rivalry lends marginal interest to the central plot, but it's not enough to make this a classic war film. Instead it's a taut, well-made suspense thriller isolated within an epic battle, and although Annaud and cowriter Alain Godard (drawing from William Craig's book and David L. Robbins's novel The War of the Rats) fail to connect the parallel plots with any lasting impact, the production is never less than impressive. Highly conventional but handled with intelligence and superior craftsmanship, this is warfare as strategic entertainment, without compromising warfare as a manmade hell on Earth. --Jeff Shannon


Genre: Action/Adventure
Rating: R
Release Date: 19-MAY-2009
Media Type: Blu-RayLike Saving Private Ryan, Enemy at the Gates opens with a pivotal event of World War II--the Ger! man invasion of Stalingrad--re-created in epic scale, as ill-trained Russian soldiers face German attack or punitive execution if they flee from the enemy's advance. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud captures this madness with urgent authenticity, creating a massive context for a more intimate battle waged amid the city's ruins. Embellished from its basis in fact, the story shifts to an intense cat-and-mouse game between a Russian shepherd raised to iconic fame and a German marksman whose skill is unmatched in its lethal precision. Vassily Zaitzev (Jude Law) has been sniping Nazis one bullet at a time, while the German Major Konig (Ed Harris) has been assigned to kill Vassily and spare Hitler from further embarrassment.

There's love in war as Vassily connects with a woman soldier (Rachel Weisz), but she is also loved by Danilov (Joseph Fiennes), the Soviet officer who promotes his friend Vassily as Russia's much-needed hero. This romantic rivalry lends marginal i! nterest to the central plot, but it's not enough to make this! a class ic war film. Instead it's a taut, well-made suspense thriller isolated within an epic battle, and although Annaud and cowriter Alain Godard (drawing from William Craig's book and David L. Robbins's novel The War of the Rats) fail to connect the parallel plots with any lasting impact, the production is never less than impressive. Highly conventional but handled with intelligence and superior craftsmanship, this is warfare as strategic entertainment, without compromising warfare as a manmade hell on Earth. --Jeff Shannon

Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/02/2011 Rating: RDVD

Casshern Sins: Part 1

  • Salvation is the ruin of man and machine.Casshern a cybernetic assassin with no memory of his past awakens in a corrosive wasteland where nothing survives for long. A plague known as the Ruin sweeps across this once-vibrant world, reducing everything in its path to rubble and scattering any chance for salvation. Robots and humans alike or what little remains of them seek vengeance against Casshern
After 50 years of bitter warfare in the late 21st century, a new crisis looms. A threat to the future and the overall existence of mankind. But, there is hope a savior will emerge… Casshern. Casshern is an action-packed, sci-fi thriller that blends Japanamation and manga-inspired live action to create a new hybrid form of filmmaking that is both visually stunning and thought provoking.Kiriya Kazuaki’s spectacular Casshern is an impressive marriage of live action drama and animated effe! cts that, taken together, look like something both very old and very new in cinema. A wild, science fiction tale with an echo or two of Bladerunner, Casshern is set in a dystopian future following a 50-year-long war between Europe and Asia. The latter wins, calling the resulting Eurasia the "Eastern Federation," but the high-tech weapons used in the battle have affected the whole of mankind through widespread devastation and illness. A geneticist whose son, Tetsuya (Yusuke Iseya), has gone off to fight terrorists, promises the military his work on "neo cells" will result in the cultivation of spare human parts for the wounded and afflicted. But two unexpected results occur: a small band of superhuman mutants rise up out of the scientist’s chemical muck, and Tetsuya--killed in battle--is brought back to life with his own superpowers. While the mutants rise up against the human race, Tetsuya, now known as "Casshern," takes them on against a fascinating psychol! ogical backdrop with Oedipal overtones. The film’s look of h! yperreal , pop culture pastiche (in which action often evokes the look of 1930s movie serials blended with a whirl of dreamy, free-associating images) is reaching for the same thing as Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. But it is much grander in its effort. --Tom KeoghCasshern â€" a cybernetic assassin with no memory of his past â€" awakens in a corrosive wasteland where nothing survives for long. A plague known as the Ruin sweeps across this once-vibrant world, reducing everything in its path to rubble and scattering any chance for salvation. Robots and humans alike â€" or what little remains of them â€" seek vengeance against Casshern for the life he took and the role he played in their Ruin. A machine built to kill, Casshern murdered the last hope for this world, but now, lost in a future he does not recognize, he will fight to save the dying.Based on the classic Manga. Casshern is Anime meets the matrix in style.Casshern â€" a cybernetic assassin with no memory ! of his past â€" awakens in a corrosive wasteland where nothing survives for long. A plague known as the Ruin sweeps across this once-vibrant world, reducing everything in its path to rubble and scattering any chance for salvation. Robots and humans alike â€" or what little remains of them â€" seek vengeance against Casshern for the life he took and the role he played in their Ruin. A machine built to kill, Casshern murdered the last hope for this world, but now, lost in a future he does not recognize, he will fight to save the dying.Casshern Sins (2008) is a reboot of Tatsuo Yoshida's Casshan Robot Hunter (1973), which was adapted to an OAV in 1993 and a live-action feature in 2004. Sins contains almost nothing of the original story, in which cybernetic hero Casshan fought the robot-soldiers of the evil Braiking Boss in a postapocalyptic landscape. Casshern isn't sure if he's a robot, a human, or a cyber-combination. He has no memories of who he is or w! hat he's done, but everyone he meets insists he killed Luna, "! the Sun Named Moon." As a result, Earth is staggering to its end. All that remains are a few people and three types of robots: human-looking ones who express emotions; puppetlike semi-humans; and big, nasty warrior-bots. In every episode, Casshern performs gymnastic flips and spins as he pounds the evil robots into so much scrap metal. But all the robots are succumbing to "the Ruin," a sort of mechanical plague that causes them to crumble into rusty flakes. As Casshern roams the wastelands and ruined cities with his robot-dog Friender, he hears rumors that Luna may still exist---and any otaku worth their salt can guess which supporting character she'll turn out to be. Director Shigeyasu Yamauchi choreographs the fights scenes skillfully, using a combination of CG and drawn animation to present the acrobatic battles. But Casshern's amnesia means other characters deliver endless expository speeches, trying to untangle the needlessly complicated plot. (Rated TV MA: violence, vio! lence against women, grotesque imagery) --Charles Solomon

(1. At the End of the World, 2. A World Replete with Death Throes, 3. To the Ends of Agony, 4. The Angel of Ruin, 5. The Man Who Killed the Sun Named Moon, 6. Reunited with Fate, 7. The Woman of the Tall Tower, 8. A Hymn of Hope, 9. The Flower That Blooms in the Valley of Ruin, 10. The Man Entrapped by the Past, 11. By One's Calling, 12. Turn the Time Lived to Color)

Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh

  • BLESSED IS THE MATCH (DVD MOVIE)
In 1944, 22-year-old Hannah Senesh parachuted into Nazi-occupied Europe with a small group of Jewish volunteers from Palestine. Theirs was the only military rescue mission for Jews that occurred in World War II.

Narrated by Academy Award® winner Joan Allen, the multi-award-winning BLESSED IS THE MATCH follows the remarkable journey of this young Hungarian poet and diarist, paratrooper and resistance fighter. Told through Hannah s letters, diaries, and poems, her mother s memoirs, and the recollections of those who knew and loved her (including two of her fellow parachutists), the film traces her life from her childhood in Budapest to her time in British-controlled Palestine where she was drawn by the Kibbutz Movement that sought to build an independent Jewish state to her daring mission to rescue Jews in her native Hungary.

Both devastating an! d inspiring, BLESSED IS THE MATCH offers an intimate portrait of a singularly talented, courageous and complex girl who believed that one person could be a flame that burns brightly in even the darkest hours.This harrowing documentary by director Roberta Grossman is like any meaningful history lesson about the Holocaust: extremely sad to watch but absolutely necessary. Pieced together from Hannah Senesh's letters and poems, and her mother's memoir, this very tragic story is narrated by Joan Allen, which is only the first great thing about this film. Blessed Is the Match tells the tale of national heroine and martyr Hannah Senesh, who embarked on a deadly mission from her kibbutz in Palestine to save Hungarian Jews from extermination. Still photos of Senesh's family are interwoven with interviews with everyone from her nephews to her prison cellmate, Vera Latjai, to her fellow parachutist, Surika Braverman, to Shimon Peres, the president of Israel. A painfully clear! picture is painted of how brave and generous this young girl ! of 22 mu st have been to have enrolled in the British Army as one of three women who parachuted into Yugoslavia to infiltrate German-occupied Hungary. The film traces her childhood in Budapest, marking important turning points in which Senesh dedicated her life to writing poetry. Even in the first grade, upon the death of her father, this precocious girl dictated elegiac poetry to her grandmother. While many documentaries drag on in childhood sections that feel irrelevant to the larger story, Blessed Is the Match uses this time wisely. Leading up to 1938, when Senesh decides to leave her mother behind for Palestine, one learns how anti-Semitism informed her morality and fortified her dedication to the Jewish people. With more frequency, the voices of Hannah (Meri Roth), mother Catherine (Marcela Nohynkova), and brother Giora (Zdenek Kozakovic) replace the narrator's as the story of Hannah's short time in Europe grows increasingly dire. Moving and still images of the Polish a! nd Hungarian ghettos spliced in here make one feel the urgency of Senesh's mission to save her mother. As letters are read back and forth between them, and the film spends its latter third focusing on their prison time together, there are moments that seem nearly unbearable. However, Hannah Senesh is called Israel's Joan of Arc for a reason. This film honors her having become a symbol of persistence and hope, and in this, many of her simple, yet beautiful patriotic poems are read throughout to strong effect. Blessed Is the Match is a challenging, comprehensive look at the power of the individual and transcends war story to remind one of how caring humans do much to counteract atrocity. --Trinie Dalton

District B13

  • In this action packed film set in the ghettos of Paris in 2010, an undercover cop and ex-thug try to infiltrate a gang in order to defuse a neutron bomb. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: FOREIGN Rating: NR Age: 876964000208 UPC: 876964000208 Manufacturer No: 10020
In this action packed film set in the ghettos of Paris in 2010, an undercover cop and ex-thug try to infiltrate a gang in order to defuse a neutron bomb.For eye-popping kinetic thrills, District B13 tops the class. In the near future, the worst ghettos of Paris have been walled in and left to rot. When a neutron bomb gets stolen by a criminal kingpin in seedy District B13, Damien--a cop who specializes in deep cover assignments (Cyril Raffaelli, a stuntman turned actor)--has to team up with Leito (David Belle), who grew up in the district and has his own reason for going back: the kingpin kidnapped his sister (tough yet adorable! gamine Dany Verissimo). The plot takes a few preposterous turns, but it's beside the point--every turn serves only to maintain the relentless flow of sheer physical prowess. Belle is one of the inventors of a sport called parkour, which treats a city's architecture like an obstacle course; while running from gun-toting thugs, Leito leaps, bounds, and scrambles up and down buildings with astonishing grace. The fight sequences are just as down-to-earth yet over-the-top as Damien whirls, kicks, and crunches through armies of bad guys. Just as important is the tongue-in-cheek tone that never turns smirky; the movie doesn't take itself seriously, but doesn't mock itself or its basic cinematic pleasures. Anyone looking for a break from the overbearing CGI and self-important pomp of Hollywood action movies should watch District B13. --Bret Fetzer
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