Rabu, 18 Januari 2012

Al Franken - God Spoke

  • Political satirist Al Franken follows up his best-selling book LIES AND THE LYING LIARS WHO TELL THEM with this feature film. AL FRANKEN: GOD SPOKE follows the inimitable figure over a two-year period in which he campaigns against George W. Bush's reelection and takes well-aimed swipes at a number of big political targets. Runtime: 84 minutes Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES
An intimate & hilarious behind-the-scenes look at the life of the former saturday night live comedian turned author radio host & political satirist. Studio: New Video Group Release Date: 04/24/2007 Run time: 84 minutesIn God Spoke, Nick Doob and Chris Hegedus (The War Room) shine a light on political satirist Al Franken. The "flaming sword of justice" explains his left-leaning career like this, "They [right-wing pundits] say something ridiculous, and then I subject them to scorn and ridicule." The ! filmmakers, longtime associates of cinéma verité pioneer DA Pennebaker, take a fly-on-the-wall approach towards Franken's activities around the time of the 2004 presidential election and afterwards as he explores a run for the US Senate in 2008. They look at the (unsuccessful) lawsuit Fox News filed against him for swiping their tagline, his involvement in the upstart Air America network, and his dust-ups with Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Michael Medved, and Bill O'Reilly, who describes him as "a vile human being." Along the way, they follow the Minnesota-born comedian on book tours and speaking engagements, occasionally flashing back to his two-decade long stint on Saturday Night Live. God Spoke is an expansion of the Sundance Channel short The First Amendment Project: Fox vs. Franken and covers some of the same ground as HBO's America Undercover: Left of the Dial. In other words, there isn't a ton of new material here, but this "fair and balanc! ed" profile represents an entertaining introduction to a multi! -talente d individual. Without Franken, it's hard to imagine a place in the world for The Daily Show and other media designed to expose "lies and the lying liars who tell them," as his 2003 bestseller would have it. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Adventureland

  • From thedirector of SUPERBAD comes ADVENTURELAND, a smart, witty comedy we canall relate to. When James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) has to cancel hisdream summer vacation and make some money for grad school, the only jobhe can get is at Adventureland, a tacky amusement park where the gamesare rigged and the rides make you hurl. But it's where he meets Em(Kristen Stewart, TWILIGHT), and his rollercoa
Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 04/15/2011 Run time: 107 minutes Rating: RA sweet and slap-happy mix of indie coming-of-age drama and Judd Apatow’s scatological but heartfelt manchild comedies, Greg Mottola’s Adventureland is a winning look at the pleasures and frustrations of dead-end jobs and teenage kicks as viewed through a filter of mid-‘80s pop culture. The underutilized and always watchable Jesse Eisenberg (The Squid and the Whale) is a sheltered, introspecti! ve New York college grad who discovers that his parents’ financial woes will not only quash his dream of a summer in Europe (to enjoy its more “sexually permissive” nations) but require a move to Pittsburgh, where he lands a job at a dilapidated amusement park. There, he’s thrown in with a motley crew of eccentrics, small-town types and a few genuine free spirits, most notably co-worker Em (Kristen Stewart), whose complicated past proves irresistible to his repressed psyche. Mottola, who directed Superbad and episodes of the well-loved Freaks and Geeks, and who once worked in a similar park as a teen, doesn’t shy from the crude laughs that make Apatow’s features so popular, but he tempers it with a wistful tone and layered characters that hew closer to his earliest work, The Daytrippers. Though ill-matched at first, Eisenberg and Stewart make a likable on-screen couple, and they’re well-supported by a terrific cast that includes such die-h! ard scene-stealers as Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig as the parkâ! €™s offb eat owners, Martin Starr as a Russian lit aficionado, and Ryan Reynolds as a former town tamer, now reduced to working as the park’s handyman. A soundtrack performed by underground faves Yo La Tengo and filled with a smart mix of hip cuts (Hüsker Dü, the New York Dolls, the Replacements) and period faves (Falco’s “Rock Me Amadeus”) underscores the film’s blend of tentative emotions and broad laughs. -- Paul GaitaADVENTURELAND - DVD MovieA sweet and slap-happy mix of indie coming-of-age drama and Judd Apatow’s scatological but heartfelt manchild comedies, Greg Mottola’s Adventureland is a winning look at the pleasures and frustrations of dead-end jobs and teenage kicks as viewed through a filter of mid-‘80s pop culture. The underutilized and always watchable Jesse Eisenberg (The Squid and the Whale) is a sheltered, introspective New York college grad who discovers that his parents’ financial woes will not only quash his dream of a! summer in Europe (to enjoy its more “sexually permissive” nations) but require a move to Pittsburgh, where he lands a job at a dilapidated amusement park. There, he’s thrown in with a motley crew of eccentrics, small-town types and a few genuine free spirits, most notably co-worker Em (Kristen Stewart), whose complicated past proves irresistible to his repressed psyche. Mottola, who directed Superbad and episodes of the well-loved Freaks and Geeks, and who once worked in a similar park as a teen, doesn’t shy from the crude laughs that make Apatow’s features so popular, but he tempers it with a wistful tone and layered characters that hew closer to his earliest work, The Daytrippers. Though ill-matched at first, Eisenberg and Stewart make a likable on-screen couple, and they’re well-supported by a terrific cast that includes such die-hard scene-stealers as Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig as the park’s offbeat owners, Martin Starr as a Ru! ssian lit aficionado, and Ryan Reynolds as a former town tamer! , now re duced to working as the park’s handyman. A soundtrack performed by underground faves Yo La Tengo and filled with a smart mix of hip cuts (Hüsker Dü, the New York Dolls, the Replacements) and period faves (Falco’s “Rock Me Amadeus”) underscores the film’s blend of tentative emotions and broad laughs. -- Paul Gaita

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Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield

  • Actors: Kane Hodder, Adrienne Frantz, Michael Berryman, Priscilla Barnes, Shawn Hoffman.
  • Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC.
  • Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Dolby Digital 5.1 EX). Subtitles: Spanish.
  • Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only).
  • Rated R. Run Time: 90 minutes.
The truth behind the twisted crimes that inspired the films Psycho, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs...

From "America's principal chronicler of its greatest psychopathic killers" (The Boston Book Review) comes the definitive account of Ed Gein, a mild-mannered Wisconsin farmhand who stunned an unsuspecting nation -- and redefined the meaning of the word "psycho." The year was 1957. The place was an ordinary farmhouse in America's heartland, filled with extraordinary evidence o! f unthinkable depravity. The man behind the massacre was a slight, unassuming Midwesterner with a strange smile -- and even stranger attachment to his domineering mother. After her death and a failed attempt to dig up his mother's body from the local cemetery, Gein turned to other grave robberies and, ultimately, multiple murders. Driven to commit gruesome and bizarre acts beyond all imagining, Ed Gein remains one of the most deranged minds in the annals of American homicide. This is his story -- recounted in fascinating and chilling detail by Harold Schechter, one of the most acclaimed true-crime storytellers of our time.Harold Schechter is a historian: he takes old files and yellowed newspaper clippings, and brings their stories to life. Deviant is about everyone's favorite ghoul, Ed Gein--whose crimes inspired the writers of Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs. Schechter deftly evokes the small-town 1950s Wiscons! in setting--not pretty farms and cheese factories, but infert! ile soil and a bleak, hardscrabble existence. The details of Gein's "death house" are perhaps well known by now, but the murderer's quietly crazy, almost gentle personality comes forth in this book as never before. As Gary Kadet wrote, in The Boston Book Review, "Schechter is a dogged researcher [who backs up] every bizarre detail and curious twist in this and his other books ... More importantly, he nimbly avoids miring his writing and our reading with minutiae or researched overstatement, which means that although he can occasionally be dry, he is never boring."
Also recommended: Schechter's books about Albert Fish (Deranged) and Herman Mudgett a.k.a. Dr. H. H. Holmes (Depraved).The story of the killer Ed Gein is one of the weirdest, most disturbing ever, one that has inspired horror stories as diverse as Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. His crimes, which were committed in and around Plainfield, Wisconsin, included exhuming corpses from! local graveyards and making trophies and keepsakes from their skin and bones.

The Murder Files is a series of individual titles, giving condensed accounts of some of the most appalling and notorious killers of all time.The story of the killer Ed Gein is one of the weirdest, most disturbing ever, one that has inspired horror stories as diverse as Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. His crimes, which were committed in and around Plainfield, Wisconsin, included exhuming corpses from local graveyards and making trophies and keepsakes from their skin and bones.

The Murder Files is a series of individual titles, giving condensed accounts of some of the most appalling and notorious killers of all time.This is the true story of America’s first famous serial killer. Everyone in small Plainfield, Wisconsin thought Ed was just a little different, a local oddity. But Ed was tormented and haunted by years of family abuse and repression which led him to the bruta! l murders and mutilations of countless victims and corpses. In! a remot e farmhouse filled with the stench of death, Ed is driven to do unspeakable acts to his victims, acts that have become legend and the basis for future films like "Psycho" and the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." This film will shock you with its unflinching horror and unforgettable performances from Steve Railsback and Carrie Snodgrass. No one will ever forget the true story of "Ed Gein."

America may have had its fill of psychos for the last forty years, but none of them has inspired so many books and films (Pyscho, The Silence of the Lambs, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) as Wisconsin's cannibalistic handyman, Ed Gein. None of them has been used as the ultimate ogre in countless children's stories and off-color jokes, and none of them has been found guilty of as many unspeakable atrocities as Ed Gein.

This is his story. This is his legend.
Every neighbourhood has one ... a notorious "murder house" which was once the scene of a brutal and bloody crime. If the wall! s of number 25 Cromwell Street had ears, what horrifying acts would they have overheard during the occupancy of serial killers Fred and Rose West? Brutal torture sessions and grisly murders were a regular occurrence. Even after the evidence has been removed and the perpetrators imprisoned or executed, an aura of horror, fear and disgust can linger on for decades. Houses of Death provides an incredible insight into ordinary homes and institutional buildings that have played host to extraordinary events. It explores the infamous buildings, the murderers and victims who called them ‘home’, as well as the bizarre and bloody events that took place behind their closed doors.

Contents including:
Countess Erzsebet Bathory,Castle Csejthe; Eastern State Penitentiary; The Bender family log cabin; Sing Sing;
Lizzie Borden, 92 Second Street, Fall River; H H Holmes, The Murder Castle, Chicago; Newgate Prison; Lemp Mansion, St Louis; Bangkwang Prison, Thailand; Co! llingwood Manor Massacre; Washington State Penitentiary; John ! Christie , 10 Rillington Place; Ed Gein, Gein’s Farm, Plainfield, Wisconsin; Holloway Prison; Alcatraz; The Manson Family, 10050 Cielo Drive, Los Angeles; Jonestown; Fred and Rose West, 25 Cromwell Street; Jeffrey Dahmer, 213 Oxford Apartments;
Gary Heidnik, 3520 North Marshall Street; Ian Huntley, 5 College Close, Soham.Every neighbourhood has one ... a notorious "murder house" which was once the scene of a brutal and bloody crime. If the walls of number 25 Cromwell Street had ears, what horrifying acts would they have overheard during the occupancy of serial killers Fred and Rose West? Brutal torture sessions and grisly murders were a regular occurrence. Even after the evidence has been removed and the perpetrators imprisoned or executed, an aura of horror, fear and disgust can linger on for decades. Houses of Death provides an incredible insight into ordinary homes and institutional buildings that have played host to extraordinary events. It explores the infamous buildings,! the murderers and victims who called them ‘home’, as well as the bizarre and bloody events that took place behind their closed doors.

Contents including:
Countess Erzsebet Bathory,Castle Csejthe; Eastern State Penitentiary; The Bender family log cabin; Sing Sing;
Lizzie Borden, 92 Second Street, Fall River; H H Holmes, The Murder Castle, Chicago; Newgate Prison; Lemp Mansion, St Louis; Bangkwang Prison, Thailand; Collingwood Manor Massacre; Washington State Penitentiary; John Christie, 10 Rillington Place; Ed Gein, Gein’s Farm, Plainfield, Wisconsin; Holloway Prison; Alcatraz; The Manson Family, 10050 Cielo Drive, Los Angeles; Jonestown; Fred and Rose West, 25 Cromwell Street; Jeffrey Dahmer, 213 Oxford Apartments;
Gary Heidnik, 3520 North Marshall Street; Ian Huntley, 5 College Close, Soham.Fascinating but disturbing movie, a look at a horrifying killer.It was 2005 when Ed Gein released their last album, Judas Goats and Dieseleaters. Birthed in Syrac! use, NY in early 2001 and propelled into the hardcore spotligh! t by cri tical acclaim, a raucous live show and an appearance on the Hellfest 2003 DVD, the ball started rolling and the bad hit the ground running hard. From 2005-2007, the band were road warriors, terrorizing the music scene with their spazzy, metallic-grind, laced with punk sensibility and political and socially driven lyrical content. Their CD and vinyl sales were going strong. Their profile with the press was growing. The tour offers were rolling in and management/booking agents were taking note. Then everything just stopped. On the outside, everything seemed to be getting better. But behind the scenes, the band was stalked by bad luck. Their new record is appropriately titled Bad Luck as it summed up their life as a band. Robbed, beat up, lost broken down, crashed, robbed again, broken down againand againNo Ed Gein did not break up. Just took a little break.The gruesome murders shocked the world, the grisly remains told a terrifying story of pain, brutality and torture. Now, ye! ars after inspiring PSYCHO's Norman Bates, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS's Buffalo Bill and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE's Leatherface, the story of real-life, serial killer Ed Gein is finally told. Nicknamed "The Butcher of Plainfield," Gein was responsible for a rash of gory murders that sent shock waves through his rural Wisconsin town, and across America, in the late 1950s. Prepare to enter the evil mind and twisted world of "The Butcher of Plainfield" in this dark and disturbing thriller.
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