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- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- AC-3; Color; Dolby; Dubbed; DVD; Subtitled; Widescreen; NTSC
Stills from Flash of Genius (Click for larger image)
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Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Flash of Genius
Mr. Kipling's Army: All the Queen's Men
- ISBN13: 9780393304442
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
No one knows the dangers of getting close to legendary CIA Black Ops specialist John Medina better than communications expert Niema Burdock. Five years ago, she and her husband worked with Medina on an explosive mission that ended in tragedy. Although she has slowly recovered from her terrible loss, Niema planned never to see Medina again. Until now.
A French arms dealer is supplying international terrorists, and only Niema can plant the bugs needed to crack the deadly ring. Against her best instincts, she infiltrates the dealer's glamorous world. But when the plan goes awry, Niem! a and Medina must take flight in a strange land -- and soon find their partnership sparked by an erotic charge. In a world of deception, John Medina has once again set Niema on a free fall into danger...and into desire like she's never known.Setting: contemporary Virginia, France, Iran
Sensuality: 7
CIA agent John Medina and electronics expert Niemi Burdock share a violent past: the two were part of a covert operation that went tragically wrong, resulting in the death of several people. Now, five years later, their paths cross again and John, whose love for Niemi has only grown over time, is determined to keep her in his life for good. Having spent the intervening five years living a solitary, staid existence--due to feelings of guilt over the ill-fated operation--Niemi is somewhat reluctant to reenter the shadowy world she once inhabited. Still, she can't resist the lure and excitement of danger when John asks her to join him on his latest mission to disco! ver the origins of a deadly new explosive already in use by t! errorist s.
Concocting a plan to reveal the source of the explosive, the two enter into a dangerous masquerade, walking a tightrope between safety and death, while passion boils beneath the surface. Unaware of John's feelings, Niemi fights her physical response to the legendary agent as her emotions, in frozen limbo for the last five years, thaw with astonishing speed.
First introduced in Kill and Tell, agent John Medina is as intriguing as the perilous world he operates in. Watching him in action, Ã la James Bond, is exhilarating--as is the single-minded intensity of his feelings for Niemi, whose ability to hold her own with John--on both a personal and professional level--and with the host of terrorists, spies, and double-dealers the pair encounter is impressive to say the least. Throw in a couple of chilling chase scenes, some romantic interludes hot enough to peel paint from the walls, and one or two bigger-than-life internationally connected characte! rs, and you've got the latest from Linda Howard--a romantic thriller that's sure to be coming soon to a bestseller list near you. --Lois Faye DyerWWII spy comedy. An American army officer (Matt LeBlanc) leads a mismatched team of British Special Services who must go in disguise as women and infiltrate a female-run Enigma factory in Berlin and bring back the decoding device that will end the war. The team, with the exception of one member who happens to be a drag performer (Eddie Izzard), must learn the basic skills for completing their mission, like walking in heels and applying lipstick. The American and his team stumble through the German factory in full drag, barely escaping the clutches of German soldiers, while attempting to complete the most important mission of their lives.All the Queen's Men has the makings of a broad comedy--in particular, it features men in dresses. At the height of World War II, American agent Matt LeBlanc (Lost in Space,! the TV series Friends) leads an oddball team behind e! nemy lin es to steal a Nazi code-making machine; the trick is, the factory where the machines are made is entirely staffed by women, and so the team has to go in drag. But despite this seemingly farcical premise, All the Queen's Men is strongest in its dramatic elements, such as a scene in which the team is delayed when Allied airplanes bomb Berlin, forcing the undercover operatives to see the havoc of war from the other side. LeBlanc is the weak link; the rest of the team (David Birkin, James Cosmo, and brilliant comedian/transvestite Eddie Izzard) navigate the film's unstable tone and numerous implausibilities with considerably greater skill. --Bret Fetzer
No one knows the dangers of getting close to legendary CIA Black Ops specialist John Medina better than communications expert Niema Burdock. Five years ago, she and her husband worked with Medina on an explosive mission that ended in tragedy. Although sh! e has slowly recovered from her terrible loss, Niema planned never to see Medina again. Until now.
A French arms dealer is supplying international terrorists, and only Niema can plant the bugs needed to crack the deadly ring. Against her best instincts, she infiltrates the dealer's glamorous world. But when the plan goes awry, Niema and Medina must take flight in a strange land -- and soon find their partnership sparked by an erotic charge. In a world of deception, John Medina has once again set Niema on a free fall into danger...and into desire like she's never known.Setting: contemporary Virginia, France, Iran
Sensuality: 7
CIA agent John Medina and electronics expert Niemi Burdock share a violent past: the two were part of a covert operation that went tragically wrong, resulting in the death of several people. Now, five years later, their paths cross again and John, whose love for Niemi has ! only grown over time, is determined to keep her in his life fo! r good. Having spent the intervening five years living a solitary, staid existence--due to feelings of guilt over the ill-fated operation--Niemi is somewhat reluctant to reenter the shadowy world she once inhabited. Still, she can't resist the lure and excitement of danger when John asks her to join him on his latest mission to discover the origins of a deadly new explosive already in use by terrorists.
Concocting a plan to reveal the source of the explosive, the two enter into a dangerous masquerade, walking a tightrope between safety and death, while passion boils beneath the surface. Unaware of John's feelings, Niemi fights her physical response to the legendary agent as her emotions, in frozen limbo for the last five years, thaw with astonishing speed.
First introduced in Kill and Tell, agent John Medina is as intriguing as the perilous world he operates in. Watching him in action, Ã la James Bond, is exhilarating--as is the single-minded intensity ! of his feelings for Niemi, whose ability to hold her own with John--on both a personal and professional level--and with the host of terrorists, spies, and double-dealers the pair encounter is impressive to say the least. Throw in a couple of chilling chase scenes, some romantic interludes hot enough to peel paint from the walls, and one or two bigger-than-life internationally connected characters, and you've got the latest from Linda Howard--a romantic thriller that's sure to be coming soon to a bestseller list near you. --Lois Faye Dyer
No one knows the dangers of getting close to legendary CIA Black Ops specialist John Medina better than communications expert Niema Burdock. Five years ago, she and her husband worked with Medina on an explosive mission that ended in tragedy. Although she has slowly recovered from her terrible loss, Niema planned never to see Medina again. Until now.
A French arms d! ealer is supplying international terrorists, and only Niema can plant the bugs needed to crack the deadly ring. Against her best instincts, she infiltrates the dealer's glamorous world. But when the plan goes awry, Niema and Medina must take flight in a strange land -- and soon find their partnership sparked by an erotic charge. In a world of deception, John Medina has once again set Niema on a free fall into danger...and into desire like she's never known.All the Queen's Men and Other Tales is a collection of four sizzling menage stories that range from eternal night to the depths of the sea. In Coming Home in the Night, Elizabeta has returned to give her old master, Yves, a proper send off. She never expected to see her old lovers, Dug and Tosco, too. Can the three of them rekindle their relationship?
In Triad, magicians Went and Artur live high in a mountain keep. Beautiful thief Lissa gets more than she bargains for when she invades their home. Will they convince he! r to stay? Out of the Sea gives us fisherman Grodin and Bardt, his young apprentice and lover. After an accident Bardt believes he can hear a mermaid calling to him, but Grodin can't believe the geri is anything but a monster. Will he be able to admit he was wrong?
Finally, in All the Queen’s Men, Trini is the heir to the throne of the Zati. When her mother arranges a marriage for her, Trini is furious. And defiant. It's up to Aide, Trini’s faithful companion, to walk the line between loyalty to his beloved Mistress and helping her accept her betrothed. Indulge in a little magic with All the Queen's Men!All the Queen's Men and Other Tales is a collection of four sizzling menage stories that range from eternal night to the depths of the sea. In Coming Home in the Night, Elizabeta has returned to give her old master, Yves, a proper send off. She never expected to see her old lovers, Dug and Tosco, too. Can the three of them rekindle their relationship?
In Triad, magicians Went and Artur live high in a mountain ! keep. Be autiful thief Lissa gets more than she bargains for when she invades their home. Will they convince her to stay? Out of the Sea gives us fisherman Grodin and Bardt, his young apprentice and lover. After an accident Bardt believes he can hear a mermaid calling to him, but Grodin can't believe the geri is anything but a monster. Will he be able to admit he was wrong?
Finally, in All the Queen’s Men, Trini is the heir to the throne of the Zati. When her mother arranges a marriage for her, Trini is furious. And defiant. It's up to Aide, Trini’s faithful companion, to walk the line between loyalty to his beloved Mistress and helping her accept her betrothed. Indulge in a little magic with All the Queen's Men!
The outrageous, but often glorious, story of Britain's pre-World War I Army.
This is an upstairs-downstairs view of the Victorian-Edwardian army, one of the world's most peculiar fighting forces. The battles it fought are household words, ! but the idiosyncracies and eccentricities of its soldiers and the often appalling conditions under which they lived have gone largely unrecorded. Byron Farwell explores here the lives of officers and men, their foibles, gallantry, and diversions, their discipline and their rewards.
Bring It On: Fight to the Finish
- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
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An unexpected box-office hit in the late summer of 2000, Bring It On is a smart, snappy teen comedy that bristles with good cheer (literally) and lively, down-to-earth characters. The story may be fairly predictable (who's going to win the big championship?), but director Peyton Reed and screenwriter Jessica Bendinger have fleshed out their characters with formidable strength and provided them with sharp dialogue. Dunst is a radiant comedian, projecting warmth, determination, sincerity, and a sublime airheadedness, and Union is an impressive dancer and counterpart to Dunst, matching her admirably despite her limited onscreen time.! An excellent young supporting cast rounds out the film, most ! notably Eliza Dushku (Faith of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Jesse Bradford (Steven Soderbergh's King of the Hill) as siblings new to Rancho Carne, who become Torrance's best friend and potential new boyfriend, respectively. All in all, a pleasantly surprising and intelligent teen movie. Don't miss the opening sequence, a hilarious send-up of all those high school cheerleading routines you had to sit through at boring pep rallies. --Mark EnglehartBring on the spirit, spunk and sass with everyone's favorite cheerleading series in the Bring It On
Collection! All four high-energy, fun Bring It On movies are here: Bring It On, starring Kirsten Dunst; the hilarious sequel Bring It On Again; the elecChristina Milian stars as sassy cheer captain Lina Cruz, whose world is turned upside-down when her family moves from the urban streets of East Los Angeles to the sunny beach town of Malibu. At her new school, Lina clashes with Avery, the ultra-competitive all-star chee! r captain, while also falling for Avery’s super-cute brother, Evan. Lina’s always been able to rise to a challenge, but can she create a new all-star squad, beat Avery at the Spirit Championships, and still keep her romance with Evan? Hot music, fierce competition and high-flyin’ fun continue in this all-new movie!Like its predecessors in the Bring It On franchise, Bring It On: Fight to the Finish focuses on a perky cheerleader who's taken out of her comfort zone and ends up excelling in her new environment. This time around, the focus is on Lina Cruz (singer Christina Milian), whose family moves from East Los Angeles to Malibu. The streetwise teen makes an instant frenemy of alpha female Avery (Rachele Brooke Smith)--also a cheerleader--at her new school. Never mind that the two girls don't get along. There's more drama when Lina and Avery's brother Evan (Cody Longo) fall for each other. Though Lina describes her new classmates as living "lifestyles! of the rich and annoying" and Avery refers to Lina and her La! tina fri ends as "illegal cheermigrants," the two really aren't that different. Both live for cheerleading and are super driven when it comes to their sport of choice. The viewer gets the impression that if both girls shared the same ethnicity (or at least a similar bank account), they'd be besties at school. The Bring It On franchise was spawned by Kirsten Dunst's hit film from 2000, which clearly had better writing and acting, as well as a larger budget to work with. While films like Bring It On: Fight to the Finish aren't going to win any awards, they do have an appeal to teenage girls and/or cheerleading fans. The plot really doesn't matter so much as the cheerleading choreography and the driving music behind it. And there's plenty of both in this production. --Jae-Ha Kim
Stills from Bring it On: Fight to the Finish (Click for larger image)
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Atonement (Full Screen Edition)
- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
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On a hot summer day in 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses a moment s flirtation between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the son of a servant and Cecilia s childhood friend. But Briony s incomplete grasp of adult motives together with her precocious literary gifts brings about a crime that will change all their lives. As it follows that crime s repercussions through the chaos and carnage of World War II and into the close of the twentieth century, Atonement engages the reader on every conceivable level, with an ease and authority th! at mark it as a genuine masterpiece.Ian McEwan's Booker Prize-nominated Atonement is his first novel since Amsterdam took home the prize in 1998. But while Amsterdam was a slim, sleek piece, Atonement is a more sturdy, more ambitious work, allowing McEwan more room to play, think, and experiment.
We meet 13-year-old Briony Tallis in the summer of 1935, as she attempts to stage a production of her new drama "The Trials of Arabella" to welcome home her older, idolized brother Leon. But she soon discovers that her cousins, the glamorous Lola and the twin boys Jackson and Pierrot, aren't up to the task, and directorial ambitions are abandoned as more interesting prospects of preoccupation come onto the scene. The charlady's son, Robbie Turner, appears to be forcing Briony's sister Cecilia to strip in the fountain and sends her obscene letters; Leon has brought home a dim chocolate magnate keen for a war to promote his new "Army Ammo" chocolate ! bar; and upstairs, Briony's migraine-stricken mother Emily kee! ps tabs on the house from her bed. Soon, secrets emerge that change the lives of everyone present....
The interwar, upper-middle-class setting of the book's long, masterfully sustained opening section might recall Virginia Woolf or Henry Green, but as we move forward--eventually to the turn of the 21st century--the novel's central concerns emerge, and McEwan's voice becomes clear, even personal. For at heart, Atonement is about the pleasures, pains, and dangers of writing, and perhaps even more, about the challenge of controlling what readers make of your writing. McEwan shouldn't have any doubts about readers of Atonement: this is a thoughtful, provocative, and at times moving book that will have readers applauding. --Alan Stewart, Amazon.co.ukFrom the award-winning director of Pride and Prejudice comes a stunning, critically acclaimed epic story of love. When a young girl catches her sister in a passionate embrace with a childhood friend, her jealousy dr! ives her to tell a lie that will irrevocably change the course of all their lives forever. Academy Award® nominee Keira Knightley and James McAvoy lead an all-star cast in the film critics are hailing "the year's best picture" (Thelma Adams, US Weekly).Director Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice) gives Ian McEwan’s bestselling novel a sumptuous treatment for the screen that should come to be regarded as one of the defining films of the epic romantic drama. Indeed, everything about this film stems from those three words: there is little here that is not epic, romantic, and dramatic, and Atonement is a film that masterfully expresses the overarching sense of adventure and emotion that such stories are meant to convey. In this instance, the story centers around the love story of highborn Cecilia Tallis (Keira Knightley) and housekeeper’s son Robbie Turner (James McAvoy, in a star-making turn), in England shortly before World War II. Despite their class differen! ces, they are powerfully attracted to each other, and just as ! their re lationship begins Robbie is tragically forced away due to false accusations from Cecilia’s younger sister Briony (Saoirse Ronan). She has a crush on Robbie, too, and after reading a private letter he sent to Cecilia, and then witnessing the first expression of their mutual love but mistaking it for mistreatment, her resentment grows until it leads to her telling the lie that will send Robbie away. Soon World War II breaks out; Robbie enlists and is posted to France, Cecilia is a nurse in London, and Briony, now age 18 and aware of what she has done, tries to atone for her actions--but none of them will be able to get back what they have lost. Knightley and McAvoy are perfectly cast as the young star crossed lovers, and the young Ronan is particularly impressive, but it’s clear that the real star of this film is the director. Wright allows Atonement to revel in every moment of its story and each scene is compelling in its own way, but that now famous extended shot ! with Robbie on the beach at Dunkirk--filmed in one take and sure to be considered one of the great long tracking shots in film history--is the most memorable moment in this remarkable film. Atonement is an excellent example of what can happen when a great book meets great filmmaking. This is one that is not to be missed. --Daniel Vancini
Stills from Atonement (click for larger image).
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Stills from Atonement (click for larger image).
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Earthworks M30 Measurement Microphone
- Frequency Response, +1/-3 dB: 5 Hz - 30 kHz
- Polar Pattern: Omnidirectional
- Sensitivity: 8 mV/Pa (-42 dBV/Pa)
- Power Requirements: 48V Phantom, 10 mA
- Output: XLR intended to drive a balanced, transformerless input, Pin2 +
Orphan
- Tragedy seems to follow nine-year-old Esther. She was orphaned in her native Russia. Her last adoptive family perished in a fire Esther barely escaped. But now the Coleman family has adopted her, and life is good. Until amate takes a serious fall from a slide. Until an orphanage nun is battered to death. And until Esther s new mom wonders if that tragic fire was an accident. From Dark Castle Produ
From Matt Reeves â€" the writer/director of Cloverfield â€" comes the new vampire classic that critics are calling “chillingly real†(Scott Bowles, U! SA Today) and “one of the best horror films of the year†(! Cinemati cal). In bleak New Mexico, a lonely, bullied boy, Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee of The Road), forms a unique bond with his mysterious new neighbor, Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz of Kick-Ass). Trapped in the mind and body of a child, however, Abby is forced to hide a horrific secret of bloodthirsty survival. But in a world of both tenderness and terror, how can you invite in the one friend who may unleash the ultimate nightmare?
Based on the Swedish novel, Let the Right One In, “Let Me In is a dark and violent love story, a beautiful piece of cinema and a respectful rendering of my novel for which I am grateful.†(John Ajvide Lindqvist, author). Let Me In blends the innocent face of Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass) with the darkness of vampirism. A young boy named Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Road) has troubles at home (his parents are divorcing) and at school (bullies pick on him mercilessly). But when a mysterious girl named Abby (Moretz) moves in ! next door, Owen hopes he's found a friend, even though she smells a little strange. Unfortunately, his new friend needs blood to live, and the man who seems to be her father (Richard Jenkins, Six Feet Under) goes out to drain local residents to feed her. But even as Owen starts to suspect something is wrong, having a real friend might just matter more. Because the Swedish film adaptation of the novel Let the Right One In (on which Let Me In is based) was surprisingly popular and critically acclaimed, it's going to be hard for Let Me In to avoid comparisons. Surprisingly, it retains much of the flavor and spirit of the original. It's not as understated--this is an American movie, after all--and some of the creepiness is lost along with that subtlety. Despite that, Let Me In has its own spookiness and the performances (including Elias Koteas, Zodiac, as a local policeman) are strong. Directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield). --! Bret FetzerUnited Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it W! ILL 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 5.1 ), Danish ( Subtitles ), Dutch ( Subtitles ), English ( Subtitles ), Finnish ( Subtitles ), Norwegian ( Subtitles ), Swedish ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (2.35:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Anamorphic Widescreen, Deleted Scenes, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Oscar-winner Renée Zellweger stars in this terrifying supernatural thriller about a social worker who has been assigned the unusual and disturbing case of Lillith Sullivan … a girl with a strange and mysterious past. When Emily (Zellweger) opens her home in an attempt to help Lillith, it turns into a deadly nightmare she may not survive. Co-starring Bradley Cooper (The Hangover), Case 39 is a heart-stopping chiller with startling surprises that lead to a shocking and sinister ending. ...Case 39 ( Case Thirty Nine )Trapped in an elevator high above Philadelphia, five peo! ple discover that the Devil is among them â€" and no one can escape their fate. This chilling, supernatural thriller from M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs) will keep you on the edge of your seat all the way to a heart-stopping ending with a truly wicked twist.Five people trapped in an elevator, and one of them is the Devil--it's an intriguing launch pad for a movie, and in the hands of producer M. Night Shyamalan, it has all the makings of a first-class supernatural thriller. Unfortunately, Shyamalan's concern is more with the mechanics of the story--how to pull off that celebrated final-act switcheroo--than in presenting flesh-and-blood characters or dialogue that reeks of pulp. There's a moral high-handedness to the proceedings that's also off-putting--there's a reason why these five strangers are trapped in the lift, and why Detective Messina (the very likable Chris Messina from Julie & Julia) is summoned to rescue them, and why every character is! set in motion in Shyamalan's Skinner box of a plot, but it hi! nges on very well-worn territory, which bites deeply into the story's novel conceit. The cast is uniformly fine--in addition to Messina, there are fine turns by such underrated actors as Bokeem Woodbine, Jenny O'Hara, Geoffrey Arend (in the elevator), and Matt Craven and Caroline Dhavernas (outside)--and the direction by John Erick Dowdle (Quarantine), who coproduced with brother Drew and Shyamalan, does an impressive job of keeping the action fluid in the confines of the setting. But the central conceit of Devil is comic book material tarted up as an event picture, which doesn't elicit much hope for the rest of Shyamalan's Night Chronicles trilogy, of which this is the first entry. --Paul GaitaWhen he arrives on the rural Louisiana farm of Louis Sweetzer, the Reverend Cotton Marcus expects to perform just another routine “exorcism†on a disturbed religious fanatic. An earnest fundamentalist, Sweetzer has contacted the charismatic preacher as a last r! esort, certain his teenage daughter Nell is possessed by a demon who must be exorcized before their terrifying ordeal ends in unimaginable tragedy. Buckling under the weight of his conscience after years of parting desperate believers from their money, Cotton and his crew plan to film a confessionary documentary of this, his last exorcism. But upon his arrival at the already blood-drenched family farm, it is soon clear that nothing could have prepared him for the true evil he encounters there. Now, too late to turn back, Reverend Marcus’ own beliefs are shaken to the core as he and his crew must find a way to save Nell â€" and themselves â€" before it is too late.Just when you thought it was safe to see another shaky, handheld, faux-documentary horror movie… along comes The Last Exorcism to raise the creep factor. Supposedly we are watching a documentary crew tagging along after one Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian), a hell-raising preacher who sidelines in exorcism! s. He's got a leather-bound volume full of dire drawings and i! ncantati ons, and he knows the rubes just eat this kind of stuff up. Now Cotton has vowed to expose his own gimmicks for the camera, so he journeys to backwoods Louisiana to answer the call to save a putatively possessed girl--the better to debunk his own methods, once and for all, and get out of the exorcism business. Sounds like nothing could possibly go wrong. Then we meet the Sweetzer family: bible-thumping papa (Louis Herthum), not-quite-right son Caleb (eerie Caleb Jones), and possessed daughter Nell (Ashley Bell). Someone's been mutilating the farm's livestock, and dear little Nell has the vacant stare and sweet smile of a demon child. Director Daniel Stamm wisely allows the buildup to go on and on in non-hyped fashion, letting the sense of reality increase with each scene--the better to unleash the mayhem in the second half of the movie. It all goes over the top, and obviously the "found footage" gimmick has long since become a cliché that you either go along with or reject.! But the climax is enough to warm the heart of any self-respecting fan of devil movies, and The Last Exorcism is distinguished by some very good performances, especially TV veteran Patrick Fabian, who creates a deft, funny, full-blooded character. --Robert HortonFrom the makers of Paranormal Activity, Insidious is the terrifying story of a family who, shortly after moving, discovers that dark spirits have possessed their home and that their son has inexplicably fallen into a coma. Trying to escape the haunting and save their son, they move again only to realize that it was not their house that was haunted.For most of its first half, Insidious creeps along in top form as a classical haunted house movie, seething with chilling riffs and cinematic idioms that embrace the best elements of the genre. Director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell (the cocreative team that unleashed the Saw franchise onto unsuspecting moviegoers in 2004) create a ! genuine sense of foreboding that many audiences may experience! as the kind of imagery vaguely recalled from actual nightmares. Shadowy figures are glimpsed behind curtains or are barely visible through darkened windows, with the tension building from something that is only halfway there. Or maybe that something is all the way there and we just can't make it out clearly enough through the haze of our gathering dread. There aren't any cheap thrills or phony scares; the menacing tone is measured and well earned and doesn't have to rely on things jumping out of the darkness. The terror often comes from what we don't see, or rather what we're afraid we're about to see.
It's a simple story about a young family--Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne) and their three small children--settling into a new home. Again following classical form, there's a presence in the house that either doesn't want them there, or needs them to stay for the evilest possible reasons. When 8-year-old Dalton (Ty Simpkins) falls into an unexplained coma after a spoo! ky encounter in the attic, Renai starts seeing the above-mentioned figures lurking around the house, sometimes none too subtly. Though the goings-on are unexplainable, no one acts crazy and Josh believes that his wife's bizarre encounters are real. Like any sensible people who believe they've taken up residence in a haunted house, they move. But the spookiness moves with them and the menace gets worse as months pass and Dalton remains unconscious without reasonable medical cause. Since things can't stay unexplained forever, the plot begins to intrude, especially when a geeky pair of paranormal investigators (Angus Sampson and writer Leigh Whannell) provide some slightly out-of-kilter comic relief. Fortunately their boss (Lin Shaye) is a bona fide psychic who's all business, and she determines that the ghosts, or demons, or whatever they are want Dalton, not the house or its other inhabitants. As the explanations continue, it's revealed that the little boy has the gift of as! tral projection and his spirit has left his body without reall! y knowin g it's gone. If he doesn't come back soon he'll be lost forever, taken by the strongest of the creepy phantoms, a blood-red fiend who provides the most terrifying moments of half-glimpsed horror. It turns out that Dalton inherited his gift from Dad, who has repressed his own childhood encounters with out-of-body flight, but must revisit the dark limbo where all the specters lurk in order to reunite his son's body and soul.
All this narrative sometimes gets in the way of the sinister unknowns that started the story, but there are still plenty of frights to maintain a consistently disturbing tone (and without a drop of blood or gore). Wan and Whannell preserve the less-is-more strategy to fine effect, honoring the legacy of a timeless horror style while ably stamping it with their own unique imprimatur. Whether or not you have a personal history of nightmares, there are plenty of willies to go around in the eerie confines of Insidious--an apt title for a movie whose! ideas and images invade the mind with scary and spectral imagination. --Ted FryStudio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 10/27/2009 Run time: 122 minutes Rating: RA bad seed with a Russian accent, 9-year-old Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) is a nasty little girl with a nasty little plan. Unfortunately, this malevolent tyke has landed in the home of adoptive parents Kate and John (Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard), an unsuspecting couple with two kids of their own and considerable grief over recent family tragedies. It doesn't take long for Esther to make her creepy presence known, as broken limbs on the playground and torched tree houses can attest. Give this movie some credit--the psychological underpinnings are all set carefully in place: Maternal trauma? Check. Backyard pond as emotionally charged danger zone? Check. Feminist parable about husbands not listening to troubled wives? Check. The casting of reputable actors such as Farmiga and Sarsgaard also ups the movie'! s class quotient; Farmiga in particular has an emotional worko! ut, and this gifted actress strikes few false notes even as the scenario becomes increasingly lurid. (There's some déjà vu here: Farmiga also played a mother realizing her kid was "not right" in Joshua, a much superior film.) Director Jaume Collet-Serra, of House of Wax notoriety, knows full well the unsettling weirdness of seeing a child commit murderous mayhem, and he presses all the buttons with something like unholy joy. The movie begins to drive off the rails even before a clumsy twist hits the fan near the end, and at that point, the mechanical exercise becomes downright silly. The Omen's Damien has nothing to worry about. --Robert Horton
Homecoming (Tillerman Series)
- ISBN13: 9780689863615
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
That's the first thing James Tillerman says to his sister Dicey every morning. It's still true that their mother has abandoned the four Tillerman children somewhere in the middle of Connecticut. It's still true they have to find their way, somehow, to Great-aunt Cilla's house in Bridgeport, which may be their only hope of staying together as a family.
But when they get to Bridgeport, they learn that Great-aunt Cilla has died, and the home they find with her daughter, Eunice, isn't the permanent haven they've been searching for. So their journey continues to its unexpected conclusion -- and some surprising discoveries about their history, and their future.
Astro Boy [Blu-ray]
- Features include: -MPAA Rating: PG -Format: Blu-Ray-Runtime: 94 minutes
Bait
- ISBN13: 9780451215499
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: R
Release Date: 4-FEB-2003
Media Type: DVDWhen petty thief and hustler Alvin Sanders (Jamie Foxx from Any Given Sunday and The Wood) gets arrested for stealing shrimp, the worst of his problems would seem to be going to jail. Unfortunately, he ends up sharing a cell with a guy who, while stealing $42 million in gold from the Federal Reserve, double-crossed his partner--a partner with a knack for computers and a long memory. While being interrogated by a hardball Treasury agent (David Morse from The Gree! n Mile), the double-crosser dies from heart failure. All the feds have are an incomprehensible message that was left with Alvin, so they decide to release him and use him as bait to catch the partner by secretly implanting a combination tracking device and electronic bug into Alvin's jaw. From that moment on, a surveillance team can follow Alvin's every move and hear his every word. Unfortunately, Alvin has a talent for getting into trouble--which means that the feds have to become his guardian angels so that he can serve his purpose. Bait certainly has its problems (there's a lot of fancy editing for no good reason, a few plot holes you could drive a truck through, and the actor playing the bad guy really wishes he was John Malkovich)--but even though it's nonsense, it's not predictable. The clever story moves along with surprising efficiency and has some successful comic bits. The characters can't be called well developed, but they aren't clichés; the movie do! esn't require any great acting, but the cast is consistently e! ngaging. In fact, Bait is one of the more enjoyable action movies of the past few years. --Bret Fetzer Diego has gotten into trouble because of his temper before. But when he punches out a guy at school who was looking at him funny, he finds himself in juvenile court, facing the possibility of probation, or worseâ€"juvenile jail. Diego doesn’t trust or like Mr. Vidas, his assigned probation officer. But it’s either talk to Mr. Vidas, or end up in worse trouble. When Diego eventually opens up to Mr. Vidas, he begins to understand that the source of his anger is buried in his pastâ€"and to move beyond it, he must stop running from his personal demons.Live bait makes all the difference.
Sent on a mission to lure Budapest’s vampire Overlord into a trap, Connie Bence is instead caught red-handed by the dark Casanova.
Her employer has concrete proof of the dubious leader’s misdeeds but she is surprised when this ruthless killer, Rurik, offers h! er protection and rescues her from his own kind. It plants seeds of doubt in her mind and she begins to question his guilt.
Now she is thrown into his world where blackmail determines her every move and where she must betray those she cares about or let them die. The stakes are high. She either puts her trust in Rurik or leads him to his execution.
Love or life.
Live bait makes all the difference.
Sent on a mission to lure Budapest’s vampire Overlord into a trap, Connie Bence is instead caught red-handed by the dark Casanova.
Her employer has concrete proof of the dubious leader’s misdeeds but she is surprised when this ruthless killer, Rurik, offers her protection and rescues her from his own kind. It plants seeds of doubt in her mind and she begins to question his guilt.
Now she is thrown into his world where blackmail determines her every move and where she must betray those she cares about or let them die. The sta! kes are high. She either puts her trust in Rurik or leads him ! to his e xecution.
Love or life.
From one of the most popular voices in women's fiction comes a compulsively gripping novel of suspense about the mind games between an innocent woman and the unstoppable killer she's forced to outwit-and outrun.
