The Double (Blu-ray Review)
When a United States Senator is brutally murdered, the evidence points to a Soviet assassin code- named Cassius, who was long-thought to be dead. Two men who know Cassius best are thrown together to catch him. Paul Shepherdson (Richard Gere, An Officer and a Gentleman) is a retired CIA operative who spent his career tracking Cassius around the globe. Ben Geary (Topher Grace, Spider-Man 3) is a hotshot young FBI Agent and family man who has studied the killer’s every move. Ben thinks he knows Cassius, but Paul knows he is dead wrong. Now, time is running out to stop this merciless killing machine before he finds his next target. Martin Sheen (The Departed), Stephen Moyer (True Blood), Odette Yustman (Cloverfield) and Stana Katic (Castle) costar in this tense thriller from the co-writers of Wanted and 3:10 to Yuma that will keep you guessing until the very last shot. Continue reading ‘The Double (Blu-ray Review)’
For his first American film, Alfred Hitchcock teamed up with producer David O. Selznick (Gone With the Wind) to create a “spine-tingling” (LA Weekly) romantic thriller that Won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Based on Daphne Du Maurier’s timeless novel, this dark, atmospheric tale of fatal obsession features Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson, as well as a “haunting score by Franz Waxman” (Leonard Maltin). After a whirlwind romance, mysterious widower Maxim de Winter (Olivier) brings his shy, young bride (Fontaine) home to his imposing estate, Manderley. But the new Mrs. de Winter finds her married life dominated by the sinister, almost spectral influence of Maxim’s late wife: the brilliant, ravishingly beautiful Rebecca, who, she suspects, still rules both Manderley and Maxim from beyond the grave! 
From legendary director Alfred Hitchcock comes this “torrid, tense, tinglingly suspenseful” (Cosmopolitan) film that ranks as one of his best. Academy Award winner Ingrid Bergman “is literally ravishing” (Pauline Kael), and Cary Grant and Claude Rains give “excellent performances” (Variety) in this “taut spy movie that delivers a romantic punch” (The New Yorker). When troubled beauty Alicia Huberman (Bergman) is recruited by American agent Devlin (Grant) to infiltrate a German spy ring in postwar Rio, she accepts…but soon finds herself falling in love with Devlin. And when she receives orders to seduce a Nazi kingpin (Rains), Alicia must sacrifice the only happiness she’s ever known for a perilous mission that could ultimately cost her and Devlin their lives. 
Forty-two-year-old Manhattan native Isaac Davis (Allen) has a job he hates, a seventeen-year-old girlfriend, Tracy (Mariel Hemingway), he doesn’t love, and a lesbian ex-wife, Jill (Meryl Streep), who’s writing a tell-all book about their marriage…and whom he’d like to strangle. But when he meets his best friend’s sexy intellectual mistress, Mary (Diane Keaton), Isaac falls head over heels in lust! Leaving Tracy, bedding Mary and quitting his job are just the beginnings of Isaac’s quest for romance and fulfillment in a city where sex is as intimate as a handshake – and the gateway to true love…is a revolving door. Nominated for two Academy Awards, Manhattan is a wry, touching and finely rendered portrait of modern relationships set against the backdrop of urban alienation. Sumptuously photographed in black and white and accompanied by a magnificent Gershwin score, Manhatten is one of Woody Allen’s finest movies. 
Alvy Singer (Allen) is one of Manhattan’s most brilliant comedians, but when it comes to romance, his delivery needs a little work. Introduced by his best friend, Rob (Tony Roberts), Alvy falls in love with the ditzy but delightful nightclub singer Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). When Alvy’s own insecurities sabotage the affair, Annie is forced to leave Alvy for a new life – and lover (Paul Simon) – in Los Angeles. Knowing he may have lost Annie forever, Alvy’s willing to go to any lengths – even driving L.A.’s freeways – to recapture the only thing that ever mattered…true love. Annie Hall won four Academy Awards including Best Picture and established Allen as the premier auteur filmmaker. Thought by many critics to be Allen’s magnum opus, Annie Hall set the standard that all other Woody Allen films are compared to. 
Balancing gritty action and emotional heart, Real Steel is an inspiring and visually stunning film that takes audiences on an action-packed journey. Set in the not-so-distant future where boxing has gone high-tech and 2000-pound, 8-foot-tall steel robots have taken over the ring, the film stars Hugh Jackman (X-Men franchise, Australia) as Charlie Kenton, Evangeline Lilly (TV’s Lost, The Hurt Locker) as Bailey Tallet, Dakota Goyo (Thor) as Max Kenton, Kevin Durand (I Am Number Four, X-Men Origins: Wolverine) as Ricky, and Anthony Mackie (The Adjustment Bureau, The Hurt Locker) as Finn. Real Steel tells the tale of a washed-up boxer named Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman), who scrapes by as a small-time robot-fight promoter as he tries to make a comeback both as a fighter and as a father. 
Ambition seduces and power corrupts in this look at politics from Academy Award nominated director George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck). Idealistic campaign worker Stephen Myers (Ryan Gosling) has sworn to give all for Governor Mike Morris (Clooney), a wild card presidential candidate whose groundbreaking ideas could change the political landscape. However, a brutal Ohio primary threatens to test Morris’s integrity. Stephen gets trapped in the down-and-dirty battle, discovering himself caught up in a scandal where the only path to survival is to play both sides. The powerhouse cast includes Academy Award nominee Ryan Gosling (Best Actor, Half Nelson, 2006), Academy Award winner Philip Seymour Hoffman (Best Actor, Capote, 2005), Academy Award nominee Paul Giamatti (Best Supporting Actor, Cinderella Man, 2005), Academy Award winner George Clooney (Best Supporting Actor, Syriana, 2005), Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei (Best Supporting Actress, My Cousin Vinny, 1992), and Evan Rachel Wood (Thirteen, Across the Universe) in the story of a young, idealistic staffer who gets caught up in a political scandal during a presidential campaign. 
It was one of the most emotional documentaries ever aired on the Showtime Cable Network. Now, for the first time, on December 6, fans will have a chance to own The Love We Make, a look back at Sir Paul McCartney and his efforts to plan and perform a benefit concert in the aftermath of the worst day in the history of New York City. The film is directed by Albert Maysles (Gimme Shelter) and Bradley Kaplan, the film was shot in stark 16 mm black and white, complete with color concert clips. The Love We Make juxtaposes dramatic images of “The Concert For New York City,” held mere months after 9/11, with scenes of McCartney himself as he walks the streets of the town that his former songwriting partner, John Lennon, loved so much. 
From Terence Winter, Emmy Award-winning writer of The Sopranos, and executive producer Martin Scorsese, comes the lavish and addictive HBO drama Boardwalk Empire that re-creates the glitter and decadence of 1920′s Atlantic City at a time when Prohibition proved to be a major catalyst in the rise of organized crime in America. Full of corruption, backroom politics, vicious power struggles and a fierce hunger for wealth, the critically-acclaimed series personifies one of the most colorful and violent time periods in American history. The Great War was over, Wall Street was about to boom, women got the vote and everything was for sale, even the World Series. The undisputed ruler of Atlantic City was the town’s treasurer, Enoch “Nucky” Thompson (Buscemi), a political fixer and backroom dealer who was equal parts politician and criminal and equally comfortable in either role. Because of its strategic location on the seaboard, minutes from Philadelphia, hours from New York City and less than a day’s drive from Chicago, the town was a hub of activity for rum runners. And Nucky Thompson took full advantage. 
HBO Films’ critically-acclaimed Thurgood was nominated for three Emmy awards including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for star Laurence Fishburne (Oscar nominee, What’s Love Got to Do with It). Shot before a live audience at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater in Washington, D.C., the film is a one-man show that traces the personal and professional history of civil rights pioneer and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. From childhood stories of his family and home life in Baltimore, to his college days at Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C., Marshall recollects his triumphs over adversity to pursue a successful career in the judicial system fighting for human rights. Establishing benchmarks in civil rights advancement, Marshall tried the historic case of Brown vs. Board of Education before the Supreme Court, successfully challenging the unconstitutional segregation of black and white students in public schools. His achievements eventually led him to become the first African-American to serve as a Supreme Court Justice. 
For the first time in Blu-ray High Definition, Academy Award winner Robin Williams (Best Supporting Actor, Good Will Hunting, 1997) delivers a tour-de-force performance in the 25
