Sunday, November 20, 2011

Feeling Minnesota

  • Dolby Digital
  • Interactive Menus
Includes Widescreen and Fullscreen Versions. Original Theatrical Trailer. Filmographies.In his debut effort, director/writer Steven Baigleman put together an interesting premise and collected a talented cast to execute it. Unfortunately, he never sets the tone, so we are caught between a wildly black comedy and an emotionally brutal drama. A firmer footing in either genre would have better defined our reactions to it. Keanu Reeves plays Jjaks, a man so badly trod upon by fate that his very name is the result of a typo. He arrives back at his mother's house in a lower working-class Minnesota neighborhood to witness the marriage of his older brother (Vincent D'Onofrio) to an obviously reluctant bride (Cameron Diaz). By the time Jjaks is on his way, he's stolen a car, a dog, and his brother's wife. You have to give Baigleman credit for serving up intriguin! g characters. Unfortunately, he spins the story in circles instead of moving it along. Reeves and Diaz attempt to leave Minnesota, but never quite make it. Reeves repeatedly returns to a boyhood home he hates, always stumbling into his brother's angry clutches. What does work are the performances. Diaz is both sad and strong as the tough cookie who happens to be the smartest character in the movie. D'Onofrio's stupid nastiness is offset by his crushing love for her and an uncontrollable jealousy of Jjaks. Most surprising is Reeves, who makes us feel for his angry, unhappy loser by revealing flashes of decency under a toughened exterior. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Meade Personal Solar Telescope

  • Internal optical re-focusing mechanism provides compatibility with most conventional eyepiece lenses
  • Built in Sun finder
  • Fully multi-coated doublet
  • Telescope body does not have moving or extending parts
  • Objective threaded to take SolarMax40 and create <0.6A telescope

Between 1539 and 1542, two thousand indigenous Mexicans, led by Spanish explorers, made an armed reconnaissance of what is now the American Southwest. The Spaniards' goal was to seize control of the people of the region and convert them to the religion, economy, and way of life of sixteenth-century Spain. The new followers were expected to recognize don Francisco Vázquez de Coronado as their leader. The area's unfamiliar terrain and hostile natives doomed the expedition. The surviving Spaniards returned to Nueva España, disillusioned and heavily in debt with a trail of destruction left in thei! r wake that would set the stage for Spain's conflicts in the future.

Flint incorporates recent archaeological and documentary discoveries to offer a new interpretation of how Spaniards attempted to conquer the New World and insight into those who resisted conquest.

A young woman's visit to Switzerland to surprise her fiance` finds only an empty post office box and clues that lead her to a secret military installation in Central America. Things are not what they seem as she and a seasoned reporter get caught up in the action of a political revolution.

DVD Features:
Deleted Scenes
Featurette

Along with completely original material, this new collection is a compilation of the best of Dennis Lehane's previously published short fiction, including "Until Gwen," which was adapted for the stage in 2005 and appears in this book as the play Coronado. By turns suspenseful, surreal, romantic, and tragically comic, these powerful ! tales journey headlong into the heart of our national mythsâ€"! and reve al that the truth awaiting us there is not what we would expect.

Along with completely original material, this new collection is a compilation of the best of Dennis Lehane's previously published short fiction, including "Until Gwen," which was adapted for the stage in 2005 and appears in this book as the play Coronado. By turns suspenseful, surreal, romantic, and tragically comic, these powerful tales journey headlong into the heart of our national mythsâ€"and reveal that the truth awaiting us there is not what we would expect.

Along with completely original material, this new collection is a compilation of the best of Dennis Lehane's previously published short fiction, including "Until Gwen," which was adapted for the stage in 2005 and appears in this book as the play Coronado. By turns suspenseful, surreal, romantic, and tragically comic, these powerful tales journey headlong into the heart of our national mythsâ€"and reveal that the truth await! ing us there is not what we would expect.

40mm aperture, dedicated Ha telescope with 30mm internal etalon. 20mm Kellner eyepiece. 400mm FL. <1A bandwidth.

The Fallen 1: The Fallen and Leviathan

  • ISBN13: 9781442408623
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
There's something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price's attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He's the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce--and goes out of his way to make that very clear--she can't let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.

Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, Fallen is a page tur! ning thriller and the ultimate love story.


From the Hardcover edition.Fallen - the first book in the Guardian Trilogy...

Maggie is unaware of the terrifying fate that awaits her. It isn’t until she lands in New Orleans for a full year at a private high school and her unknown enemies find her does she realize that her life is in danger.

As a mystifying stranger repeatedly intervenes and blocks the attempts on her life, she begins to learn that there is more to him than his need to protect her and that he may be the key to understanding why her enemies have just now arrived.


Now available: Eternity (Book 2 of the Guardian Trilogy)


"This was a really great little read. I finished it within a night because I could not stop reading it. The story moved well and the characters really grew on me." - Shawna, May 24, 2011

"I loved this book...WOW!! It was so different and I really like Maggie!! S! he is a great character that I have loved being introduced to ! and can' t wait to read more about!!" - Kathryn, June 6, 2011


5% of the proceeds from this novel will be donated to the Animal Welfare Institute in an effort to help fight animal neglect and cruelty.

Fallen - the first book in the Guardian Trilogy...

Maggie is unaware of the terrifying fate that awaits her. It isn’t until she lands in New Orleans for a full year at a private high school and her unknown enemies find her does she realize that her life is in danger.

As a mystifying stranger repeatedly intervenes and blocks the attempts on her life, she begins to learn that there is more to him than his need to protect her and that he may be the key to understanding why her enemies have just now arrived.


Now available: Eternity (Book 2 of the Guardian Trilogy)


"This was a really great little read. I finished it within a night because I could not stop reading it. The story moved well and the characters really grew on me."! - Shawna, May 24, 2011

"I loved this book...WOW!! It was so different and I really like Maggie!! She is a great character that I have loved being introduced to and can't wait to read more about!!" - Kathryn, June 6, 2011


5% of the proceeds from this novel will be donated to the Animal Welfare Institute in an effort to help fight animal neglect and cruelty.

Luce would die for Daniel.

And she has. Over and over again. Throughout time, Luce and Daniel have found each other, only to be painfully torn apart: Luce dead, Daniel left broken and alone. But perhaps it doesn’t need to be that way. . . .

Luce is certain that somethingâ€"or someoneâ€"in a past life can help her in her present one. So she begins the most important journey of this lifetime . . . going back eternities to witness firsthand her romances with Daniel . . . and finally unlock the key to making their love last.

Cam and the legions of angels and Outc! asts are desperate to catch Luce, but none are as frantic as D! aniel. H e chases Luce through their shared pasts, terrified of what might happen if she rewrites history.

Because their romance for the ages could go up in flames . . . forever.

Sweeping across centuries, Passion is the third novel in the unforgettably epic Fallen series.

THE THRILLS KEEP COMING. THE PLOT KEEPS TWISTING. THE SUSPENSEKEEPS GROWING. HOMICIDE DETECTIVE JOHN HOBBES HUNTS A SATANIC FORCE THAT SHIFTS FROM ONE HUMAN HOST TO ANOTHER IN THIS TAUT,TERRIFIC SUPERNATURAL THRILLER.Although it received mixed reactions from critics and audiences alike when released in 1998, this supernatural thriller benefits from a sustained atmosphere of anticipation and dread, and its combination of detective mystery and demonic mischief is handled with ample style and intelligence. Under the direction of Gregory Hoblit (who fared better with Primal Fear), Denzel Washington plays detective John Hobbes, who witnesses the gas-chamber execution of a s! erial killer (Elias Koteas). But when another series of murders begins, Hobbes suspects that the killer's evil spirit has survived and is possessing the bodies of others to do its evil bidding. Even Hobbes's trusted partner (John Goodman) thinks the detective is losing his grip on reality, but the dire warnings of a noted linguist (Embeth Davidtz) confirm Hobbes's far-out theory, and his case intensifies toward a fateful showdown. Although its idea is better than its execution, and the story's film noir ambitions are never fully accomplished, this slickly directed thriller has some genuinely effective moments in which evil forces are entwined into the fabric of everyday reality. Among the highlights is a memorable scene in which Detective Hobbes must track the killer as the evil spirit is transferred between many people via physical contact. Even if the film is ultimately less than the sum of its parts, it's an intriguing hybrid that resides in the same cinematic neighborho! od as Seven and The Silence of the Lambs with a ! cast tha t also includes Donald Sutherland and James Gandolfini. --Jeff ShannonThere's something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price's attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He's the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce--and goes out of his way to make that very clear--she can't let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.

Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, Fallen is a page turning thriller and the ultimate love story.


From the Hardcover edition.There's something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captu! res Luce Price's attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He's the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce--and goes out of his way to make that very clear--she can't let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.

Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, Fallen is a page turning thriller and the ultimate love story.


From the Hardcover edition.There’s no police training stronger than a cop’s instinct. Faith Mitchell’s mother isn’t answering her phone. Her front door is open. There’s a bloodstain above the knob. Her infant daughter is hidden in a shed behind the house. All that the Georgia Bureau of Investigations! taught Faith Mitchell goes out the window when she charges in! to her m other’s house, gun drawn. She sees a man dead in the laundry room. She sees a hostage situation in the bedroom. What she doesn’t see is her mother. . . .
 
“You know what we’re here for. Hand it over, and we’ll let her go.”
 
When the hostage situation turns deadly, Faith is left with too many questions, not enough answers. To find her mother, she’ll need the help of her partner, Will Trent, and they’ll both need the help of trauma doctor Sara Linton. But Faith isn’t just a cop anymoreâ€"she’s a witness. She’s also a suspect.
 
The thin blue line hides police corruption, bribery, even murder. Faith will have to go up against the people she respects the most in order to find her mother and bring the truth to lightâ€"or bury it forever. 

Karin Slaughter’s most exhilarating novel yet is a thrilling journey through the heart and soul, where the personal and the criminal collide, and conflicted loyalties threaten to des! troy reputations and ruin lives. It is the work of a master of the thriller at the top of her game, and a whirlwind of unrelenting suspense.Hell on earth.

That’s what it’s like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel.
It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to hunt down the Outcastsâ€"immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students: Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans.

At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives. Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn’t told her everything. He’s hiding somethingâ€"something dangerous.
What if Daniel’s version of the past isn’t actually true? What if Luce is really meant to be with someone else?
 
The second novel in the addictive F! ALLEN series . . . where love never dies.


From t! he Hardc over edition.Amazon.com Exclusive: Questions for Lauren Kate

Amazon.com: Luce and Daniel's story is very romantic. What inspired you to write a love story between a human and an angel?
Lauren Kate: I’ve been writing love stories for as long as I’ve been writing. To me, the most complicated romances make the most interesting narratives, so I’m always looking for new obstacles to throw in my lovers’ paths. When I was getting my masters degree in fiction, I was studying biblical narratives and came across a line in Genesis (6:1-4), which describes a group of angels who fell in love with mortal women. Putting this reference together with a mention in Isaiah and another in Palsm 82, biblical scholars conclude that these angels were actually cast out of Heaven for their lust. Wh! ich means--you could say--that these angels chose love over Heaven. I found this to be an endlessly interesting set up for an incredibly complicated romance. I started thinking about what kind of mortal girl it would take to attract an angel’s attention. And what it would be like for her to find herself in this position. What kind of baggage would an angel have? What would her very over-protective parents think? From there, this whole world unfurled in my head with fallen angels, demons, reincarnation, and the war between good and evil all battling for a piece of the action.

Amazon.com: We've been wondering about the "mechanics" of Luce and Daniel's story (for lack of a better word). Does Daniel age? Or does he stay seventeen forever (while Luce grows older)? And with that said, what does he do while Luce is growing up in each of her lives? What was he doing before he met Luce in this life?
Kate: What’s important about angels is not th! eir bodies but their souls. In their purest forms, they’re a! ctually genderless, but for my story to work--for the angels to come down to earth and interact with mortals--they all assume human bodies and attach themselves to human genders. Daniel is eternal and will live on forever, but the body Luce sees him in (gorgeous as it is) is really just a shell for the soul that she loves. There’s not the feeling of a ticking clock in the background as there might be with, say, a vampire story. Right now I’m writing Passion, the prequel where we’ll see Luce and Daniel in a dozen other lifetimes, so I’m exploring a lot of these mechanics (a great word for it, by the way) between the angel’s bodies and souls.

The way Daniel occupies himself in between Luces varies from life to life. His soul is least at rest just after she’s died, before she’s incarnated into another life--when she is “in between.” During her lives, even when he isn’t with her, he is always aware of her age, what she’s going through, how she! ’s doing. He has a sort of internal Lucinda clock. Sometimes he meets her as a child, sometimes he tries to stay away from her as long as possible, to give her as much of a life outside of him as he can. In the years leading up to the life where they meet at Sword and Cross, Daniel was living on Skid Row in Los Angeles.

Amazon.com: Fallen and Torment talk a lot about the history of Heaven and Hell, the different classes of Angels, and the rules of human-angel interaction. Obviously these themes are explored heavily in religious texts, but were there other sources that informed your story?
Kate:It’s interesting because there is actually very little in the Bible about angels--a few mentions in the Old Testament, a few more in the new. And the mentions that we do have are often vague or contradictory. Most of what we think of when we think of angels today comes from secular or cultural contexts. Seventy-five percent of it! might have come from Milton alone. I worked with a biblical s! cholar a t UC Davis who pointed me toward some apocryphal texts (books written during the same as the bible, but which were not included in the book when the canon was closed). Books like Enoch 1-3 and the Dead Sea Scrolls are chock full of angel references. I also read a trilogy on Satan and a book called the A History of Heaven both by Jeffrey Burton Russell, as well as a great book by Harold Bloom called Omens of the Millennium.

I got so engrossed in all of the research I did for Fallen that I had a hard time knowing when to stop reading and when to start writing. I had to realize that it was okay for me to pick and choose things from various accounts, to look past contradictions, and to come up with my own angel mythology. That’s what Milton did, after all!

Amazon.com: What is Cam's deal? We're not convinced that he's totally evil--in Fallen, he seemed to be trying to protect Luce by keeping her away from Daniel! , and in Torment he and Daniel reach a mysterious truce, again to protect Luce. Will we be seeing more of him in book 3?
Kate:Speaking of Milton, isn’t it fascinating that Satan is the most interesting character in Paradise Lost? From the start of this series, I have wanted to test the boundaries between what is “good” and what is “evil.” How and when do those terms get applied? Are they black and white or is there some flexibility along the spectrum? Obviously it’s much more interesting if Heaven and Hell/good and evil work as binaries: opposites that orbit each other and are pulled toward each other with a mutual gravitation. We see that at the end of Fallen and in Torment with Daniel and Cam’s truce. The idea that good and evil rely on each other is as old as the oldest dualistic religion, Zoroastrianism (on whose shoulders both Judaism and Christianity stood).

So yes, there is more to Cam tha! n pure evil! (Especially since his character--the charming sid! e of his character anyway--was based loosely on my husband.) We’ll see a lot of him in Passion and will even begin to understand how he got where he is today.

Amazon.com: Can you tell us a little bit about book 3? Will we find out more about Luce and Daniel's past lives?
Kate:Passion is going to be the craziest, coolest book I’ve ever written! I’m halfway through the first draft right now and it is so rewarding to finally get to delve into Luce and Daniel’s past lives together. The history these two share is the stuff of epics, and I am learning so many new things about them as I write. For any reader out there feeling tortured by the teasing hints of so many thrilling past lives: Passion is your book! Everything--well, almost everything--will be illuminated.


Aaron Corbet isn’t a bad kidâ€"he’s just a little different. And starting on the eve of hi! s eighteenth birthday, Aaron begins to discover supernatural talents. Then he learns the truth about his destiny: He must unite angels, mortals, and Powers both good and evil, some of whom are hell-bent on his destruction....

The Fallen quartet, now published for the first time in two action-packed bind-ups, chronicles an epic struggle, where the fate of the world rests on the outcome of one teen’s monumental quest. The Fallen 1

Friday: Director's Cut [Blu-ray]

  • Just another day. But what a day. A day that shows a lighter side to life in the hood. That brought Ice Cube (Barbershop) and Chris Tucker (Rush Hour) to a wider audience. And that s now even more uproarious in an Extended Director s Cut never before available. It s Friday, and Craig (Cube) and Smokey (Tucker) must come up with $200 they owe a local bully or there won t be a Saturday. Co-writer Cu
Sequel. Craig and Day-Day move back into the hood, where they find jobs as security guards at a strip mall. Hijinks ensue on their first day on the job, which happens to be Christmas Eve.

DVD Features:
3D Animated Menus
Audio Commentary
DVD ROM Features
Deleted Scenes
Documentaries
Full Screen Version
Gag Reel
Music Video
Other
Theatrical Trailer

Ice Cube (Barbershop) uses his r! elaxed, raffish charm to glide through the third movie in his Friday series. As Craig (Cube) and Day-Day (Mike Epps) sleep in the wee hours of Christmas Eve, a burglar dressed like Santa Claus breaks in and steals their presents and rent. Thus begins a classically bad day full of unsympathetic family members, obnoxious neighbors, squealing pimps, pot smoking, and sexy babes. No one's going to win any awards for this sloppy installment, loaded with preening stereotypes and half-hearted low humor; Cube generally plays straight man and lets the rest of the cast screech, yowl, and contort their faces, their performances as ornate and ritualized as a Japanese Noh play. But if you're a fan, Friday After Next will give you a modest dose of Cube's goofy humor. John Witherspoon and Don "D.C." Curry return as Craig's eternally disgruntled father and uncle. --Bret FetzerIce Cube returns as Craig Jones, a streetwise man from South Central Los Angeles in! this smash hit sequel to the comedy, Friday. Trouble ensues t! his time out as Craig relocates to the suburbs in order to hide from the neighborhood bully, Debo.

DVD Features:
Alternate endings
DVD ROM Features
Gag Reel
Music Video
Theatrical Trailer

Ice Cube wrote and stars as Craig in this sequel to Friday, which he also wrote. His nemesis from that film, neighborhood bully Debo (Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr.), has just escaped from county jail and is out to get revenge. To protect Craig, Craig's father (John Witherspoon) sends his son to stay with his Uncle Elroy (Don "DC" Curry), who won the lottery and bought a house in Rancho Cucamonga. Craig expects the suburbs to be dull, but no sooner has he arrived than conflicts arise: The neighbors are hostile hoods, his cousin's girlfriend is out for blood and child support, and the house is about to be seized because of unpaid taxes. It's up to Craig and his cousin Day-Day (Mike Epps) to solve these problems before the day is over.! It's a rambling, loose movie, but a genuinely entertaining one. Ice Cube doesn't write punch lines--though funny lines abound. He writes richly comic characters that speak in virtual arias of bragging, complaining, and scamming. Sure, some of the characters are stereotypes and many of the jokes are about drugs and scatology--but that's been the basis of humor since Plautus and Molière. The rhythmic energy of Ice Cube's dialogue and the easy charisma of his performance make Next Friday thoroughly enjoyable. --Bret FetzerThe complete 3-Pack of the "Friday" movies will have you in stiches. One of the funniest series of movies to ever hit the silver screen.Friday
Friday is that rarest specimen of African American cinema: a 'hood movie refreshingly free of the semiseriousness and moralism of shoot 'em up soaps such as Boyz N the Hood, yet still true to the inner-city experience. Scripted by rapper Ice Cube, Friday is a no! -frills tale of a day in the life of a pair of young blacks i! n South Central. Cube plays Craig, a frustrated teen who endures the ultimate humiliation: getting fired on his day off. Then unknown Chris Tucker plays Smokey, a marijuana-worshipping homeboy whose love for the green stuff lands him in predicament after predicament. Sitting on the stoop of Craig's rundown home, the two hilariously confront a kaleidoscopic array of gangbangers, weed dealers, crack heads, prostitutes, scheming girlfriends, and neighborhood bullies--all of whom, it should be noted, come off as sympathetic even as they are being caricatured, a true achievement in the crass, "booty call" environment of '90s African American comedy. --Ethan Brown

Next Friday
Ice Cube wrote and stars as Craig in this sequel to Friday, which he also wrote. His nemesis from that film, neighborhood bully Debo (Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr.), has just escaped from county jail and is out for revenge. To protect Craig, Craig's father (John Witherspoon! ) sends his son to stay with his Uncle Elroy (Don "D.C." Curry), who won the lottery and bought a house in Rancho Cucamonga. Craig expects the suburbs to be dull, but no sooner has he arrived than conflicts arise: The neighbors are hostile hoods, his cousin's girlfriend is out for blood and child support, and the house is about to be seized because of unpaid taxes. It's up to Craig and his cousin Day-Day (Mike Epps) to solve these problems before the day is over. It's a rambling, loose movie, but a genuinely entertaining one. Ice Cube doesn't write punch lines, though funny lines abound; he writes richly comic characters that speak in virtual arias of bragging, complaining, and scamming. Sure, some of the characters are stereotypes and many of the jokes are about drugs and scatology--but that's been the basis of humor since Plautus and Molière. The rhythmic energy of Ice Cube's dialogue and the easy charisma of his performance make Next Friday thoroughl! y enjoyable. --Bret Fetzer

Friday After Ne! xt
Ice Cube (Barbershop) uses his relaxed, raffish charm to glide through the third movie in his Friday series. As Craig (Cube) and Day-Day (Mike Epps) sleep in the wee hours of Christmas Eve, a burglar dressed like Santa Claus breaks in and steals their presents and rent. Thus begins a classically bad day full of unsympathetic family members, obnoxious neighbors, squealing pimps, pot smoking, and sexy babes. No one's going to win any awards for this sloppy installment, loaded with preening stereotypes and half-hearted low humor; Cube generally plays straight man and lets the rest of the cast screech, yowl, and contort their faces, their performances as ornate and ritualized as a Japanese Noh play. But if you're a fan, Friday After Next will give you a modest dose of Cube's goofy humor. John Witherspoon and Don "D.C." Curry return as Craig's eternally disgruntled father and uncle. --Bret FetzerTitles include: Friday, Next Friday, Fr! iday After Next, All About The Benjamins Friday
Friday
is the rarest specimen of African American cinema: a 'hood movie refreshingly free of the semiseriousness and moralism of shoot 'em up soaps such as Boyz N the Hood, yet still true to the inner-city experience. Scripted by rapper Ice Cube, Friday is a no-frills tale of a typical day in the life of a pair of African American youth in South Central. Cube plays Craig, a frustrated teen who endures the ultimate humiliation: getting fired on his day off. Then unknown Chris Tucker plays Smokey, a marijuana-worshipping homeboy whose love for the green stuff lands him in predicament after predicament. Sitting on the stoop of Craig's rundown home, the two hilariously confront a kaleidoscopic array of gangbangers, weed dealers, crack heads, prostitutes, scheming girlfriends, and neighborhood bullies--all of whom, it should be noted, come off as sympathetic even as they ar! e being caricatured, a true achievement in the crass, "booty ! call" e nvironment of '90s African American comedy. --Ethan Brown

Next Friday
Ice Cube wrote and stars as Craig in this sequel to Friday, which he also wrote. His nemesis from that film, neighborhood bully Debo (Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr.), has just escaped from county jail and is out to get revenge. To protect Craig, Craig's father (John Witherspoon) sends his son to stay with his Uncle Elroy (Don "DC" Curry), who won the lottery and bought a house in Rancho Cucamonga. Craig expects the suburbs to be dull, but no sooner has he arrived than conflicts arise: The neighbors are hostile hoods, his cousin's girlfriend is out for blood and child support, and the house is about to be seized because of unpaid taxes. It's up to Craig and his cousin Day-Day (Mike Epps) to solve these problems before the day is over. It's a rambling, loose movie, but a genuinely entertaining one. Ice Cube doesn't write punch lines--though fun! ny lines abound. He writes richly comic characters that speak in virtual arias of bragging, complaining, and scamming. Sure, some of the characters are stereotypes and many of the jokes are about drugs and scatology--but that's been the basis of humor since Plautus and Molière. The rhythmic energy of Ice Cube's dialogue and the easy charisma of his performance make Next Friday thoroughly enjoyable. --Bret Fetzer

Friday After Next
Ice Cube (Barbershop) uses his relaxed, raffish charm to glide through the third movie in his Friday series. As Craig (Cube) and Day-Day (Mike Epps) sleep in the wee hours of Christmas Eve, a burglar dressed like Santa Claus breaks in and steals their presents and rent. Thus begins a classically bad day full of unsympathetic family members, obnoxious neighbors, squealing pimps, pot smoking, and sexy babes. No one's going to win any awards for this sloppy installme! nt, loaded with preening stereotypes and half-hearted low hu! mor; Cub e generally plays straight man and lets the rest of the cast screech, yowl, and contort their faces, their performances as ornate and ritualized as a Japanese Noh play. But if you're a fan, Friday After Next will give you a modest dose of Cube's goofy humor. John Witherspoon and Don "D.C." Curry return as Craig's eternally disgruntled father and uncle. --Bret Fetzer

All About the Benjamins
Ice Cube cowrote, produced, and stars in this action caper. Bucum (Cube) is a bounty hunter (get it?) with dreams of big money. Reggie (Mike Epps) is a small-time grifter who also has dreams of big money and is at the top of Bucum's list to boot. Yep, you guessed it: tough guy/funny guy buddy flick. All About the Benjamins is pretty much a by-the-numbers piece of work. There's plenty of macho posturing, gunfire, big-ticket items exploding, and curse words inserted into the script in lieu of actual punch lines. The p! lot has holes big enough to drive a locomotive through, but then again the plot isn't really the point. Epps's attempts at wacky comedy wear thin early on, but Ice Cube does a fine job, and together they do make quite a few moments hit. Best recommended for when you want turn-your-brain-off excitement. --Ali DavisIce Cube (Barbershop) uses his relaxed, raffish charm to glide through the third movie in his Friday series. As Craig (Cube) and Day-Day (Mike Epps) sleep in the wee hours of Christmas Eve, a burglar dressed like Santa Claus breaks in and steals their presents and rent. Thus begins a classically bad day full of unsympathetic family members, obnoxious neighbors, squealing pimps, pot smoking, and sexy babes. No one's going to win any awards for this sloppy installment, loaded with preening stereotypes and half-hearted low humor; Cube generally plays straight man and lets the rest of the cast screech, yowl, and contort their faces, t! heir performances as ornate and ritualized as a Japanese Noh ! play. Bu t if you're a fan, Friday After Next will give you a modest dose of Cube's goofy humor. John Witherspoon and Don "D.C." Curry return as Craig's eternally disgruntled father and uncle. --Bret FetzerJust another day. But what a day. A day that shows a lighter side to life in the ’hood. That brought Ice Cube (Barbershop) and Chris Tucker (Rush Hour) to a wider audience. And that’s now even more uproarious in an Extended Director’s Cut never before available. It’s Friday, and Craig (Cube) and Smokey (Tucker) must come up with $200 they owe a local bully or there won’t be a Saturday. Co-writer Cube, director F. Gary Gray and other innovative movie talents lace the plot with shrewdly hilarious looks at family (including John Witherspoon), a preacher (Bernie Mac), a girl-next-door (Nia Long) and all manner of the good ’N’ bad of life in South Central. This is keepin’-it-real comedy for every day of the week.Friday is the rarest specimen of Af! rican American cinema: a 'hood movie refreshingly free of the semiseriousness and moralism of shoot 'em up soaps such as Boyz N the Hood, yet still true to the inner-city experience. Scripted by rapper Ice Cube, Friday is a no-frills tale of a typical day in the life of a pair of African American youth in South Central. Cube plays Craig, a frustrated teen who endures the ultimate humiliation: getting fired on his day off. Then unknown Chris Tucker plays Smokey, a marijuana-worshipping homeboy whose love for the green stuff lands him in predicament after predicament. Sitting on the stoop of Craig's rundown home, the two hilariously confront a kaleidoscopic array of gangbangers, weed dealers, crack heads, prostitutes, scheming girlfriends, and neighborhood bullies--all of whom, it should be noted, come off as sympathetic even as they are being caricatured, a true achievement in the crass, "booty call" environment of '90s African American comedy. --Ethan Brown!

Primal

  • PRIMAL (DVD MOVIE)
The gorgeous rising French star Fanny Valette (Moliere, Little Jerusalem) leads a cast of sexy young actors in the riveting action suspense film High Lane. A group of friends on a climbing vacation ignore warnings that the mountains are closed and start their ascent anyway. Collapsing bridges, bear traps and other dangers threaten to splinter the groupwhen the real hell begins and an unseen villain begins picking them off one by one. Combining the heart-stopping suspense of Cliffhanger with the mortal dread of a serial killer, High Lane is certain to cure you of a fear of heights: who cares about the fall when it gets you away from a lunatic?France 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: French ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), French ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), English ( Subtitle! s ), WIDESCREEN (2.35:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Commentary, Interactive Menu, Making Of, Scene Access, Teaser(s), Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: The teenagers Fred, his girlfriend Karine and their friends Chloe, William and Luke travel to Croatia to climb and hike. They find the starting point closed with rocks but the experienced climber Fred convinces the others, including Luke, has a crush on Chloe and wants to be close to her, to cross the track. As their journey progresses, they realize that the trail is more dangerous than they had first thought: the rope bridge collapses after their crossing. Fred climbs with Karine to help their friends but is wounded in a bear trap. Karine uses a rope to bring help their friends to the top, but they can't find Fred. When Chloe falls in a hole with another trap, they soon realize that their entertainment turns into a fight to survive. ...High Lane ( Vertige ) ( Ferrata )This copy is a softcover reprint of a previously owned high school yearbook.! Whether you no longer have your own copy or want to surprise ! someone with a unique gift, the memories in this yearbook are sure to make someone smile! All the pages and images are reproduced as-is, which means your copy may show handwriting or effects of aging, and that certain pages, images, or other content may be omitted, missing, or obscured. Don't miss out! Bring home a piece of your history.You can always depend on your friends...until you can t.
 
Horror fans, get ready to celebrate the return of Ozploitation! When six friends go camping in the beautiful but forbidding outback of Australia, it turns into a hunting trip...and they re the prey. One friend goes skinny dipping and awakens something deadly, something evil, something...primal. Soon friend is turning against friend in director Josh Reed s witty and scary nightmare that features a sexy cast of rising Australian stars falling under the curse of the evil that lies within. Like Cabin Fever, it s a classic chiller that will make you glad you stayed home.

Volcom Mirror Jacket - Men's Fear Of The Dark, S

  • V-Science 2-Layer Shell
  • V-Science Plain-Weave
  • Critical Taped Seams
  • Zip Tech Jacket To Pant Interface
  • 2-Way Adjustable Quick Cinch Hood
Every morning that you ask the 15K-waterproof, 10K-breathable Volcom Mirror who is the greatest rider in the land, it will always say you. Why? Because the Mirror Jacket works so well, and fits so comfortably every day will be the best day ever. Game for any mountain weather and flaunting a perfectly baggy fit, the Mirror has you in its eye.

Product Features
  • Material: [membrane/laminate] V-Science (2-layer); [shell] V-Science plain-weave
  • Insulation:
  • Fabric Waterproof Rating: 15,000 mm
  • Fabric Breathability Rating: 10,000 g/m
  • Hood: yes, fixed
  • Fit: standard
  • Center Back Length:
  • Length: below hip
  • Venting: underarm zip vents
  • Powder Skirt: yes, adjustable
  • Pockets: (external) 2 hand-warmer, 1 left chest zip, (internal) 1 goggle, 1 media
  • Seams: critical seams taped
  • Wrist Gaiters: no
  • Liner-Compatible: no
  • RECCO:
  • Weight:
  • Recommended Use: snowboarding
  • Manufacturer Warranty: 30 days

Heat [Blu-ray]

  • When Al Pacino and Robert De Niro squarer off, HEAT sizzles. A tale of a brilliant L.A. cop (Pacino) following the trail from a deadly armed robbery to a crew headed by an equally brilliant master thief (De Niro). Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Ashley Judd and Natalie Portman co-star. Format: BLU-RAY DISC Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R Age: 883929073337 UPC:&nb
When Al Pacino and Robert De Niro squarer off, HEAT sizzles. A tale of a brilliant L.A. cop (Pacino) following the trail from a deadly armed robbery to a crew headed by an equally brilliant master thief (De Niro). Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Ashley Judd and Natalie Portman co-star.Having developed his skill as a master of contemporary crime drama, writer-director Michael Mann displayed every aspect of that mastery in this intelligent, character-driven thriller from 1995, which also marked the first onscreen pairi! ng of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. The two great actors had played father and son in the separate time periods of The Godfather, Part II, but this was the first film in which the pair appeared together, and although their only scene together is brief, it's the riveting fulcrum of this high-tech cops-and-robbers scenario. De Niro plays a master thief with highly skilled partners (Val Kilmer and Tom Sizemore) whose latest heist draws the attention of Pacino, playing a seasoned Los Angeles detective whose investigation reveals that cop and criminal lead similar lives. Both are so devoted to their professions that their personal lives are a disaster. Pacino's with a wife (Diane Venora) who cheats to avoid the reality of their desolate marriage; De Niro pays the price for a life with no outside connections; and Kilmer's wife (Ashley Judd) has all but given up hope that her husband will quit his criminal career. These are men obsessed, and as De Niro and Pacino know,! they'll both do whatever's necessary to bring the other down.! Mann's brilliant screenplay explores these personal obsessions and sacrifices with absorbing insight, and the tension mounts with some of the most riveting action sequences ever filmed--most notably a daylight siege that turns downtown Los Angeles into a virtual war zone of automatic gunfire. At nearly three hours, the film qualifies as a kind of intimate epic, certain to leave some viewers impatiently waiting for more action, but it's all part of Mann's compelling strategy. Heat is a true rarity: a crime thriller with equal measures of intense excitement and dramatic depth, giving De Niro and Pacino a prime showcase for their finely matched talents. --Jeff Shannon

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