July 6, 2004
Butterfly Effect
Garage Days
The Line King
Monsieur Ibrahim
My Voyage to Italy
Playboy Presents Rita
Wonder Woman

June 29, 2004
Barbershop 2
Blazing Saddles
Cold Mountain
Independent's Day
A Perfect Score
Stray Cat Rock

June 21, 2004
Bad Santa
Bloody Territories
Elvis - Aloha Hawaii
The Holy Land
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
Secret Window

June 15, 2004
50 First Dates
Spartan
The Station Agent
Stepford Wives '75
Touching The Void

Against the Ropes | Agent Cody Banks 2 | The Barbarian Invasions | The Bourne Identity | The Dreamers | The Manchurian Candidate (1962) | Project Greenlight 2 | Slasher | The Spy Who Came In From The Cold | Uncovered | Uzumaki |
Vacuuming Completely Nude In Paradise
Also Featured .. Out-Foxed, Double Indemnity

Trailer	The Dreamers US/Canada Gross: $2.5 million Pride, Unprejudiced: Even at the age of 63, Bertolucci again demonstrates that movies are the lingua franca of his mind, that each and every sound and gesture of the world gets filed away and massaged into his movies, perfumed with the sensual perception that comes at the trailing edge of a long life's knowingness. THB Review: Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers has the primary characteristics of a porn movie… and I’m not really talking about the sex. It starts by establishing a story that actually seems kind of interesting. But as soon as the sex stuff starts, it basically degrades into a bunch of scenes giving audiences a few minutes to recover before getting back to what Bernardo is really interested in… a stunning piece of ass who never puts on any underwear and couldn’t act her way out of anything more than a see-through negligee.
Trailer	The Bourne Identity - Extended Edition US/Canada Gross: $121.5 million In advance of Universal’s release of The Bourne Supremacy into theaters next week, it’s home-video division is releasing a super-duper remix of the first chapter in its proposed trilogy, The Bourne Identity, which already has enjoyed one DVD launch. What makes this one different -- and noteworthy -- are the bonus features, which include an alternate beginning and ending, and other deleted scenes; forward-looking interviews with Matt Damon and Franke Potente; a featurette on author Robert Ludlum; testimony on Bourne’s amnesia by a UCLA psychologist; and a deconstruction of a fight scene. Plus -- plus! -- purchasers of the new edition will receive a free ticket to The Bourne Supremacy. This it-ain’t-over-till-it’s-over take on movie marketing is interesting, to be sure, but I wonder if fans of the original movie will jump to add a Bourne Redux DVD to their collection. -- Gary Dretzka THB Review: The Bourne Identity is a quality film that works and it fulfills many of the cinematic wishes that critics and audiences regularly complain are not being fulfilled by studio films. (more)
Trailer	Uzumaki Higuchinsky's obsessive, Cronenberg-esque 2000 Japanese horror item about a small town that becomes obsessed with anything that's spiral makes some of the most striking use of stylized color outside of Dario Argento's work; a twisty plot's complemented by playful gore. The DVD includes a subtitled interview with the director. - Ray Pride
	The Spy Who Came In From the Cold If, in 1965, Martin Ritt’s no-nonsense adaptation of John Le Carre’s The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, was seen as a grim antidote to the flash and glamour of the first four 007 films, then this week’s DVD release of that Cold War thriller might just as easily be viewed as a historical corrective to Austin Powers. As amazing as it might seem to Baby Boomer parents, the Berlin Wall now is barely a memory to nearly a full generation of teenagers. Richard Burton’s riveting portrayal of the boozy Brit spook, Alec Leamas, speaks volumes about the predominantly pessimistic political mood of the time, and the onerous realities of the profession (as personified by Rupert Davies’ George Smiley). Le Carre’s dense and knotty storyline may not suit viewers expecting car chases, pyrotechnics and buxom blonds in bikinis -- even then, despite the popularity of the novel, the movie fell short of commercial expectations -- but anyone who hasn’t experienced Burton at the top of his movie game ought to give it a shot. Who ever thought, nearly 15 years after the collapse of the Iron Curtain, we’d be nostalgic for the Cold War? In addition to The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, Paramount Home Video is sending out in a wide-screen edition the similarly chilly World War II-era spy drama, The Counterfeit Traitor, which starred William Holden and Lilli Palmer. Paramount and Holden offer further proof that the world is a far different place in 2004, than it was in 1960, in the period curio, The World of Suzie Wong, with Nancy Kwan. Obviously, it takes place in a very different Hong Kong than the one that exists today. Likewise, Warner Home Video is offering a crash course in "film noir” -- a genre still waiting to be identified in the mid-’40s -- with an essential boxed collection, containing John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle, Joseph H. Lewis' Gun Crazy, Murder, My Sweet, Jacques Tourneur’s Out of the Past (Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, Jane Greer and Rhonda Fleming) and Robert Wise’s The Set-Up. Each individual movie contains commentary by film historians and surviving artists. -- Gary Dretzka
Trailer	The Barbarian Invasions US/Canada Gross: $8.0 million MCN Review: I don’t mind movies that challenge viewers to do the work, to suss out the subtext. Not here. The pieces are there. A little emotional aggression from a dying guy who hangs out with two of his lovers and his wife, all of whom freely discuss his oral needs. Still… no bang, all buck. Eh? Gross Behaviour: A work of consummate maturity, its pain is sincere, humor honest and view of one's imminent demise life affirming. Arcand is innately a social satirist but without relenting in that department, he's made the sort of humanist ensemble piece that typified the work of Jean Renoir and no one has better described how the rules of the game have changed.
Episode Guide	Project Greenlight: Season 2 When the box set of this series contains deleted scenes, you also wonder why not just go ahead and delete The Battle of Shaker Heights (aka Collateral Damage: A Footnote To The Series ), while you're at it. Chris Moore is not God. Not even the God of Thunder. - Ray Pride Even though Stolen Summer ended up being a rather weightless coming-of-age comedy, the first film in Miramax’s Project Greenlight experiment provided some compelling material for the HBO series that documented its creation, and the surprisingly elaborate boxed set of DVDs that showcased both. The second Project Greenlight box, which includes The Battle of Shaker Heights, is a more problematic entry in the expanding making-of genre, in that it’s likely to discourage more young filmmakers than it encourages. “TBOSH” is a working model for the old bromide about too many cooks spoiling the broth. Even though Miramax, and, ostensibly, producers Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, thought enough about the script to bankroll its journey from page to screen, no one in charge could decide if worked better as a comedy or drama. Neither, apparently, was anyone unwilling to rein in the egos of the childish directing duo of Efram Potelle and Kyle Rankin, who seemed to delight most in sniping at writer Erica Beeney. More than anything else, Project Greenlight 2 is worthwhile as a cautionary tale, and, as such, should be considered must-viewing for all incoming film-school aspirants. -- Gary Dretzka
	Slasher Directed by John Landis John Landis' documentary about Michael Bennett, a "slasher," a man whose specialty is clearing used car lots of almost worthless stock is so funny it makes you pine for more work from the recently quiet director of Animal House and The Blues Brothers, even if it's just more nutjob confections about American oddballs like this one. Landis himself has called the IFC-financed tale The Music Man meets Glengarry Glen Ross; pretty good as such descriptions go. The soul music soundtrack's sweet; extras include an easygoing commentary by Landis and crew and an IFC making-of. - Ray Pride
	Uncovered (1994) For those of you who can’t get enough of Kate Beckinsale -- and you know who you are -- Artisan offers Jim McBride’s neat little murder mystery, Uncovered, which almost no one saw in its initial 1995 release. The long-necked Brit beauty plays an art restorer who believes she’s discovered clues to a centuries-old murder, all of which might pertain to several more recent deaths, as well. Nothing fancy, but nicely choreographed by McBride and set in some attractive locations. It may have been too fragile a piece to release theatrically, but it plays surprisingly well on the small screen. As straight-to-video releases go, this is about as good as it gets. -- Gary Dretzka
The Trailer	The Manchurian Candidate (1962) Directed by John Frankenheimer As good today as it was 42 years ago. From 1963 until 1987, the film was out of circulation. After the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, Frank Sinatra, who owned the rights, pulled the film, concerned that some would draw parallels to Oswald and the Kennedy assassination. It was also rumoured that Oswald had seen the film before killing Kennedy. Or, as a reader points out, could it be: "John Frankenheimer said in several interviews that Sinatra pulled Manchurian Candidate from circulation because of a financial beef he had with the studio over how they wanted to amortize profit payments against his other films. In other words, they were going to apply his net profits against what they precieved as the loss accrued by his other movies. However, he controlled Candidate as its producer so he could block any re-releases or television exploitation. If he wasn't going to see any financial reward, why should the studio was apparently how he explained it to Frankenheimer who seemed to understand the situation." Other Manchurian Trivia .. Angela Lansbury, who was only 37 at the time, was only three years older than Laurence Harvey who played her son. All the members of the platoon in Korea are named after cast and crew of - The Phil Silvers Show. Frank Sinatra wanted Lucille Ball for Angela Lansbury role. Prior to commissioning of the book as a movie, Arthur Krim, the then-President of UA and Finance Chairman of the Democratic Party, is known to have felt uneasy about its subject matter. President John F. Kennedy, as a favor to his friend Frank Sinatra, called Krim to let him know that he had no objection to a film version being made. The topic of the movie was considered politically so highly sensitive it was censored and prohibited just before its theatrical release in many of the former Iron Curtain countries, such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria - and even in neutral countries such as Finland and Sweden. The theatrical premiere for most of those countries was held after the collapse of Soviet Union in 1993. One of the first Hollywood films to use the Martial Arts in a key fight sequence (between Frank Sinatra and Henry Silva), over a decade before the Kung Fu craze of the 1970s. And though Frank Sinatra claimed that his character's use of karate was the first use of this martial art in a Hollywood film. Spencer Tracy's character used karate in Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) seven years earlier.
	Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise The BBC original, Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise, contains all the evidence anyone would need to include Timothy Spall among the pantheon of great comic actors of our time. Directed with messy bravado by Danny Boyle, from a caustic teleplay by Jim Cartwright, VCNIP requires Spall to mentor an aspiring vacuum-cleaner salesman (Michael Begley), who can’t quite seem to maintain his balance while following in his tutor’s frantic wake. Spall’s Tommy Rag probably would feel right at home among the desperate characters in Glengarry Glen Ross, and might even be able to empathize with Willy Loman … as long as they weren’t competing for the same Golden Hoover sales award. Fans of dark and wacky Brit comedies will get a huge kick out of this undistributed picture. Those unfamiliar with Spall -- a veteran of several Mike Leigh films -- should try to imagine a British John Candy, oozing manic energy and wicked comic timing.-- Gary Dretzka
Trailer	Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London US/Canada Gross: $23.2 million THB Review: Agent Cody Banks: Destination London is perhaps the saddest excuse for a sequel ever put on film. In place of the Hilary Duff lollipop and Angie Harmon catsuits, you get 23-year-old S-Club 7 member Hannah Spearritt, looking oddly like she just walked off either a museum field trip or a boring porn set, and Anthony Anderson as The Negro.
Trailer	Against The Ropes US/Canada Gross: $5.9 million The fictionalized account of real-life boxing manager Jackie Kallen, the first female to ever make a name for herself in the sport. As the film begins she's just an assistant to the owner of a sleazy sporting arena, but her antagonism toward a mafia-affiliated boxing bigwig and her hunch about the innate boxing talent of a young street thug named Luther lead her to take up managing. She recruits a retired trainer to mold Luther into a champ, and starts pushing and climbing through the sport's rampant sexism. The real-life Kallen served as an associate producer.
	Out-Foxed Official Site | Trailer Double Indemnity Trailer | Noir And The Post-War Nightmare
July 6, 2004
Butterfly Effect Garage Days The Line King Monsieur Ibrahim My Voyage to Italy Playboy Presents Rita Wonder Woman
June 29, 2004
Barbershop 2 Blazing Saddles Cold Mountain Independent's Day A Perfect Score Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter
June 21, 2004
Bad Santa Bloody Territories Elvis - Aloha from Hawaii The Holy Land The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra Secret Window
June 15, 2004
50 First Dates Spartan The Station Agent The Stepford Wives (1975) Touching The Void