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Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Staring:
Ellen DeGeneres
,
Bill Pullman
,
Joan Cusack
,
Dean Stockwell
,
Joan Plowright
Director:
Nick Castle
Of course, we all know now why Ellen DeGeneres can't find Mr. Right, though she was much less forthcoming when she made this limp comedy in 1996. At that point, while riding the middling success of her TV series, it probably seemed like a good career move to make this increasingly desperate film. She plays Martha, a TV producer in her 30s who is under pressure from both her parents and friends to find the right guy. Then, by accident, she stumbles across Whitman (Bill Pullman), who seems like the ultimate dreamboat: handsome, sensitive, and thoughtful. But his flaws become quickly apparent, and when she tries to break it off, he becomes a stalker. DeGeneres has some funny material early on, then must settle for reacting to Pullman's bizarre behavior. Pullman often is funnier than his costar but neither of them is particularly well served by the cobbled-together script and the generic direction of Nick Castle. --Marshall Fine
List Price: $9.99 |
Our Price: $2.94 |
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Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring:
Alec Baldwin
,
Corbin Bernsen
,
Ellen Cleghorne
,
Chris Farley
,
Phil Hartman
Director:
Beth McCarthy-Miller
, Paul Miller
, James Signorelli
, Dave Wilson
Phil Hartman was one of the most versatile comedians of his time: whether he was playing the voice of Troy McClure on The Simpsons or portraying the pompous Bill McNeal on NewsRadio, his comedy was always fresh and outrageous. His breakthrough was as a cast member of the late-night program Saturday Night Live, where he satirized everything from politics (Bill Clinton, Admiral Stockdale--Ross Perot's misguided running mate--and Barbara Bush) to entertainment (Frank Sinatra and Phil Donahue), creating unforgettable characters along the way. This "best of" video captures his funniest SNL moments and includes the TV special Saturday Night Live Remembers Phil Hartman plus more. Among the highlights are the commercial Compulsion; Bill Clinton jogging to a fast-food joint (which, filmed long before the Lewinsky incident, seems surprisingly prescient as Clinton comments, "There's gonna be a whole bunch of things we don't tell Mrs. Clinton. Fast food is the least of our worries."); Discover the World of Science, where Hartman portrays an annoyingly daft TV host to Jon Lovitz's scientist; Barbara Bush hosting Nancy Reagan at tea in the White House; C...
List Price: $9.98 |
Our Price: $0.96 |
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Rated: R (Restricted)
Staring:
Marisa Tomei
,
Anjelica Huston
,
Alfred Molina
,
Chazz Palminteri
,
Trini Alvarado
Director:
Mira Nair
Marisa Tomei releases her inner spitfire in The Perez Family. Dottie Perez (Tomei) comes to the U.S. from Cuba, along with a mixed lot of criminals, lunatics, and political prisoners--including Juan Perez (Alfred Molina), who hopes to be reunited with his wife after 20 years. To work around the bureaucratic politics of the refugee camps, Dottie persuades Juan to pretend that they're married, and drafts a few other Perezes to create a family. Meanwhile, Juan's wife Carmella believes that Juan never arrived and is finally letting go of his memory, helped by the attentions of a Miami police detective (Chazz Palmintieri). Tomei's sexy passion sometimes spills over into silliness and the story unfolds erratically, but the examination of how love grows and how love fades is sincere and affecting. The actors are charismatic, the music's fantastic, and Tomei wears many skimpy outfits. Directed by Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding). --Bret Fetzer
List Price: $14.98 |
Our Price: $2.07 |
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Rated: R (Restricted)
Staring:
Thomas Jefferson Byrd
,
Brandon Quintin Adams
,
Tami Roman
,
B-Real
,
Bad Azz
Director:
Billy Wirth
Despite its grim milieu--a Los Angeles park that is home to cocaine addicts, gangsters, and hustlers--MacArthur Park explodes with energy and humanity. The ensemble drama's compressed setting is like a small sea in which one denizen's misdeed or scam-gone-wrong creates currents of violence swallowing everyone else. In the 48 hours or so of the story's action, one low-level coke dealer rips off a fading television star, whose revenge involves a would-be rapper, who in turn is trying to escape the park's culture with the help of a cop who was part of a raid during which another dealer stole drugs from a dangerous Latino gang, etc. Trying to stay alive and hopeful in this endless, cyclical mayhem is Cody (an outstanding performance by Thomas Jefferson Byrd), a musician and drug casualty whose abandoned son (Brandon Quintin Adams) is reaching out to him. With Julie Delpy, Ellen Cleghorne, and Balthazar Getty. --Tom Keogh
List Price: $79.99 |
Our Price: $14.00 |
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Rated: Unrated
Staring:
Piper Perabo
,
Adam Garcia
,
John Goodman
,
Maria Bello
,
Izabella Miko
Director:
David McNally (II)
As a producer, Jerry Bruckheimer makes movies for guys, mostly action films like Top Gun and Gone in 60 Seconds. The ones he makes that feature women, such as Flashdance and now Coyote Ugly, broaden their appeal with a fondness for "strong women." For Bruckheimer, that means self-determined, attractive women who don't need men to get what they want. Is there anything sexier than that? In Coyote Ugly, the charming young waif Piper Perabo stars as Violet, a New Jersey waitress who moves to New York to make it big as a songwriter. She has absolutely no idea how the music business works, relying instead on her faith in her own abilities. In order to make ends meet, she gets a job in a bar called Coyote Ugly, where the bartenders are scantily clad women who dance on the bar and order around their mostly male clientele. Really, they are strippers who don't have to take off their clothes. In fact, the owner (Maria Bello) orders them to enact the first rule of strip clubs: "Appear available but never be available." Bruckheimer is smart enough to focus on the naive girl instead of the seamier side of the story, following her as she realizes her dream and...
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Rated: R (Restricted)
Staring:
Shaun Baker
,
Busta Rhymes
,
Bubba Smith
,
Xzibit
,
Shakara Ledard
Director:
mink
List Price: $9.98 |
Our Price: $1.98 |
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Rated: R (Restricted)
Staring:
Marisa Tomei
,
Anjelica Huston
,
Alfred Molina
,
Chazz Palminteri
,
Trini Alvarado
Director:
Mira Nair
Marisa Tomei releases her inner spitfire in The Perez Family. Dottie Perez (Tomei) comes to the U.S. from Cuba, along with a mixed lot of criminals, lunatics, and political prisoners--including Juan Perez (Alfred Molina), who hopes to be reunited with his wife after 20 years. To work around the bureaucratic politics of the refugee camps, Dottie persuades Juan to pretend that they're married, and drafts a few other Perezes to create a family. Meanwhile, Juan's wife Carmella believes that Juan never arrived and is finally letting go of his memory, helped by the attentions of a Miami police detective (Chazz Palmintieri). Tomei's sexy passion sometimes spills over into silliness and the story unfolds erratically, but the examination of how love grows and how love fades is sincere and affecting. The actors are charismatic, the music's fantastic, and Tomei wears many skimpy outfits. Directed by Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding). --Bret Fetzer
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Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring:
Phil Hartman
,
Michael McKean
,
Ellen Cleghorne
,
Melanie Hutsell
,
Sarah Silverman
List Price: $14.98 |
Our Price: $9.95 |
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Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring:
Christina Applegate
,
Ellen Cleghorne
,
Jeff Daniels
,
Siobhan Fallon
,
Jan Hooks
The Best of Chris Farley blasts through 68 minutes of the wildly hilarious characters the comic actor created while with Saturday Night Live in the early 1990s. Farley was a comedic gem--not only because he created such bizarre, repulsively funny characters, such as Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker, or Lori Davis, cosmetics infomercial queen, but because he lived completely inside the character, delivering lines with whatever fury, stupidity, hypertension, insecurity, or femininity the situation demanded. Clearly, Farley loved making people laugh and he wasn't afraid to use his big bulk to do it, whether it entailed stripping as a Chippendale's dancer, belly flopping on coffee tables, rolling around on a couch as Tom Arnold, or punching his forehead in dismay on the "Chris Farley Show." What's great about this collection is all of those characters appear; what's disappointing is that some don't linger long enough, while others appear a bit too long. The cafeteria-lady number could've been cut short in lieu of a longer Tom Arnold segment, or Herlihy Boy could've been removed altogether in favor of complete "Chris Farley Show" segments. Still, if you forgot how side-spl...
List Price: $14.98 |
Our Price: $1.42 |
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Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring:
Phil Hartman
,
Tom Arnold
,
Alec Baldwin
,
Candice Bergen
,
Corbin Bernsen
Director:
Beth McCarthy-Miller
, Dave Wilson
, James Signorelli
, Paul Miller
, Tom Schiller
Phil Hartman was one of the most versatile comedians of his time: whether he was playing the voice of Troy McClure on The Simpsons or portraying the pompous Bill McNeal on NewsRadio, his comedy was always fresh and outrageous. His breakthrough was as a cast member of the late-night program Saturday Night Live, where he satirized everything from politics (Bill Clinton, Admiral Stockdale--Ross Perot's misguided running mate--and Barbara Bush) to entertainment (Frank Sinatra and Phil Donahue), creating unforgettable characters along the way. This "best of" video captures his funniest SNL moments and includes the TV special Saturday Night Live Remembers Phil Hartman plus more. Among the highlights are the commercial Compulsion; Bill Clinton jogging to a fast-food joint (which, filmed long before the Lewinsky incident, seems surprisingly prescient as Clinton comments, "There's gonna be a whole bunch of things we don't tell Mrs. Clinton. Fast food is the least of our worries."); Discover the World of Science, where Hartman portrays an annoyingly daft TV host to Jon Lovitz's scientist; Barbara Bush hosting Nancy Reagan at tea in the White House; C...
List Price: $9.98 |
Our Price: $2.00 |
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