quietearth [DVD News 03.24.08] news dvd



Almost Tuesday again.. and this is certainly the longest post I put up every week (except for reviews). We have some good foreign film this week, along with a classic, so first off we have Stephen King's "The Mist" and then the great film on Johnny Cash starring Joaquin Phoenix, "Walk The Line". I love Johnny. Next we have the french horror "Them" (Ils), and the Italian cult classic starring Charles Bronson as a Hitman "Violent City". Next we have a thriller out of the UK, "The Living and the Dead". Last off we have one of my personal picks "Wristcutters: A Love Story" about a guy who commits suicide and ends up in some parallel purgatory where everything is gray, an oddly enough, falls in love. So tune in after the break for synopsis, trailers, and amazon links!

The Mist
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Everyone thought of it as a harmless lightning storm. When Dave Drayton (Thomas Jane) notices a strange mist on the lake, he thinks nothing of it. When his son, Billy Drayton (Nathan Gamble), his neighbor Brent Norton (Andre Braugher), and himself travel to the supermarket, the unthinkable happens. On their way to the market, they see the army, the firefighters, and the police, heading toward the mist. When he sees this Brent mentions something about "Project Arrowhead", a secret military plan that no one knows about. As they are shopping, they see three army men walk in, just to pick up a few things then head toward the mist.All eighty of the store's shoppers had no clue what was going on until an old man (Jeffery Demunn) runs in the market with a bloody nose and declares "Something in the mist!" He tells them to close the door. About five seconds after they do close the door, the entire store shakes, as though it was lifted feet above the ground. When David is asked to check on the generator, the loading dock door was being pushed by something outside. Then there was a groan heard by Dave. He asks three people to come with him. When Norm the bag-boy(Chris Owen) volunteers to go out, he is taken by a creature with large squid-like tentacles that have mouths, teeth, and arms of their own. When Dave and the other three fight it off, they alarm everyone in the store what is out there. After hearing this, Mrs. Carmody(Marcia Gay Wallace)exclaims that it is the end of times and that God is punishing them. People don't believe it until Mrs.Carmody has almost everyone in the store on her side. Does 'Project Arrowhead' have anything to do with this? Will Dave Drayton, his son, and his friends make it out alive as they make their last stand against this destruction? Or will they be taken by the demon-like creatures of 'The Mist'?



Walk The Line
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While growing up in the Great Depression era, Johnny Cash(Joaquin Phoenix) takes an interest in music and eventually moves out of his Arkansas town to join the air force in Germany. While there, he buys his first guitar and writes his own music, and proposes to Vivian. When they got married, they settled in Tennessee and with a daughter, he supported the family by being a salesman. He discovers a man who can pursue his dreams and ends up getting a record with the boys. Shortly after that, he was on a short tour, promoting his songs, and meets the already famous and beautiful June Carter(Reese Witherspoon). Then as they get on the long-term tours with June, the boys, and Jerry Lee Lewis, they have this unspoken relationship that grows. But when June leaves the tour because of his behavior, he was a drug addict. His marriage was also falling apart, and when he sees June years later at an awards show, he forces June to tour with them again, promising June to support her two kids and herself. While the tour goes on, the relationship between June and John grow more,and his marriage to his first wife ends. June finds out about the drugs, and help him overcome it. True love and care helped John eventually stop the drug usage, and finally proposes to her in front of an audience at a show.


Them (Ils)
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The teacher of the French School in Bucharest Clémentine lives with her husband, the writer Lucas, in a remote real estate in Snagow. Along the night, Clémentine is awakened by weird noises outside the old house and Lucas sees their car being stolen. Then the lights are turned off, phone line is dead and they see that their property gate has been trespassed and they are surrounded by weird persons with lights. They hide in the cellar and try to escape to ask for help in a dreadful night of pure terror.


Violent City
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After a bloody double-cross leaves him for dead, professional hit man Jeff (Charles Bronson) tracks the shooter and his beautiful mistress (Jill Ireland) to New Orleans. But when Jeff takes both revenge and the woman, he finds himself blackmailed by a powerful crime boss (Telly Savalas) who wants the fiercely independent gunman to join his organization. Jeff refuses, and is hunted through an unforgiving city where love is like a loaded gun and debts of vengeance are paid in bullets.


The Living and the Dead
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A descent into Hell is triggered when "Ex-Lord" Donald Brocklebank finds that he must leave Longleigh House for London to find a way to pay for the medical treatments for his wife Nancy. Alone, his over-protected, delusional, adult son, James, fancies himself in charge of the manor house with his terminally ill mother, and barricades the two of them into the house for a series of ever more panicked home treatments, mistakenly protecting her from the arrival of Nurse Mary and any outside help.


Wristcutters: A Love Story
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After Zia (Patrick Fugit) commits suicide by cutting his wrists, he finds himself in an afterlife limbo that is much the same as his former reality, just slightly worse. This strange realm is populated by people who have committed suicide, such as Eugene (Shea Whigham), a Russian rocker who lives with his mother, father and brother (all suicide victims). Eugene is partly based on Eugene Hütz of the band Gogol Bordello, whose music features in the film as that recorded by character Eugene's old band. He kills himself on stage by pouring a beer he is drinking ("Dead Guy Ale", brewed by Rogue Brewing Company) onto his guitar. Together they waste most of their death in bars, until Zia learns his ex-girlfriend has also committed suicide. He and Eugene take to the road to find her, picking up hitchhiker Mikal (Shannyn Sossamon) along the way. She insists there's been a mistake and she is seeking the "people in charge" in order to be sent back. This trio of lost souls forms an uncommon bond, road-tripping through the afterlife and meeting memorable characters including an undercover angel named Kneller (Tom Waits).

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G.H. (14 years ago) Reply

So apparently the black and white version of The Mist is the one to watch...Guess I'll have to find some way to get my hands on it and watch it again. That and The Living and the Dead., and them... too many to keep up with.

love4books (14 years ago) Reply

Wristcutters is a great example of adaptation of story to film. What a film and what a story!!
I have loved Edgar Keret from the moment he started writing stories and can recommend his collection of short stories "The Busdriver Who Wanted to Be God" (Toby Press $12.95)to anyone. The last story in this volume "Kneller's Happy Campers" is the story that Wristcutters was based upon. If you like reading even half as much as you like watching movies: Enjoy!

Cyberhal (14 years ago) Reply

saw wristcutters last night, that's really quite a brilliant film

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