Friday, November 11, 2011

The Hills Have Eyes 2 (Unrated Edition)

  • Actors: Cécile Breccia, Michael Bailey Smith, Archie Kao, Jay Acovone, Jeff Kober.
  • Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC.
  • Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround). Subtitles: English, Spanish.
  • Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only).
  • Run Time: 89 minutes. Rated R.
Based on the original film by fright master Wes Craven, The Hills Have Eyes is the story of a family road trip that goes terrifyingly awry when the travelers become stranded in a government atomic zone. Miles from nowhere, the Carter family soon realizes the seemingly uninhabited wasteland is actually the breeding ground of a blood-thirsty mutant family...and they are the prey.Boasting an upgrade in production values, The Hills Have Eyes should please new-generation horror fans without offend! ing devotees of Wes Craven's original version from 1977. There's still something to be said for the gritty shock value of Craven's low-budget original, made at a time when horror had been relegated to the pop-cultural ghetto, mostly below the radar of major Hollywood studios. With the box-office resurgence of horror in the new millennium--and the genre's lucrative popularity among the all-important teen demographic--it's only fitting that French director Alexandre Aja should follow up his international hit High Tension with a similarly brutal American debut to boost his Hollywood street-cred. Working with cowriter Gregory Levasseur, Aja remains surprisingly faithful to Craven's original, beginning with a bickering family that crashes their truck and trailer in the remote desert of New Mexico (actually filmed in Morocco), where they are subsequently terrorized, brutalized, and murdered by a freakish family of psychopaths, mutated by the lingering radiation from 331 nu! clear bomb tests that were carried out during the 1950s and '6! 0s. Afte r several killings are carried out in memorably grisly fashion, it's left to the survivors to outsmart their disfigured tormentors, who are blessed with horrendous make-up (especially Robert Joy as freak leader "Lizard") but never quite as unsettling as the original film's horror icon, Michael Berryman. In Aja's hands, this newfangled Hills is all about savagery and de-evolution, reducing its characters to a state of pure, retaliatory terror. It's hardly satisfying in terms of storytelling (since there's hardly any story to tell), but as an exercise in sheer malevolence, it's undeniably effective.--Jeff ShannonNational Guard soldiers stop at a New Mexican outpost only to find the isolated camp mysteriously deserted. Little do they know that these are the very hills that the ill-fated Carter family once visited, and that a tribe of cannibalistic mutants lies in wait.

For die-hard horror fans, The Hills Have Eyes 2 is a knock-off remake/sequel that deliv! ers a few queasy thrills. While it represents a minor improvement over the 1985 sequel to Wes Craven's 1977 original (you know, the one with the notorious "canine flashback"), it's yet another cookie-cutter exercise in death by stupidity, focusing its Aliens-in-the-desert plot on a scrappy, ill-tempered unit of National Guard soldiers who've been sent to investigate the first remake's hellish aftermath in the bomb-tested wastelands of Nevada. (Like its far-superior 2006 predecessor, this sequel was shot on location in Morocco.) Unfortunately these bickering recruits are an embarrassment to their inauthentic-looking uniforms, and their reckless inexperience (not to mention a tired, uninspired screenplay by Craven and his son Jonathan) makes them easy targets for the ravenous, irradiated mutants who dwell within a treacherous network of tunnels and caves. As the generically good-looking cast is reduced to a few terrorized survivors (which somehow doesn't stop costars Jessica ! Stroup and Daniella Alonso from looking like fashion models), ! music-vi deo director Martin Weisz switches to auto-pilot in his dubious feature debut, serving up a basically plotless succession of grisly makeup FX by Howard Berger and his crack team of gore-mongers. The gross-out factor is sufficiently amusing (including one soldier pulled through a hole with one leg in the totally wrong direction), but even devoted horror connoisseurs will have to admit this is pretty lame stuff. --Jeff Shannon


Beyond The Hills Have Eyes 2


All Hills Have Eyes Movies

The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning

Wes Craven: The Art of Horror



Stills from The Hills Have Eyes








Fantastic Mr. Fox: Movie Tie-in Edition

  • ISBN13: 9780142414552
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
New look for this backlist classic favourite, read by Roald Dahl, himself. Boggis, Bunce and Bean are just about the nastiest and meanest three farmers you could meet -- and they hate Mr Fox! They are determined to catch him, and lie outside his hole, ready to shoot, starve or dig him out. Of course, fantastic Mr Fox has other plans. Tale of a family hero.In the tradition of The Adventures of Peter Rabbit, this is a "garden tale" of farmer versus vermin, or vice versa. The farmers in this case are a vaguely criminal team of three stooges: "Boggis and Bunce and Bean / One fat, one short, one lean. / These horrible crooks / So different in looks / Were nonetheless equally mean." Whatever t! heir prowess as poultry farmers, within these pages their sole objective is the extermination of our hero--the noble, the clever, the Fantastic Mr. Fox. Our loyalties are defined from the start; after all, how could you cheer for a man named Bunce who eats his doughnuts stuffed with mashed goose livers? As one might expect, the farmers in this story come out smelling like ... well, what farmers occasionally do smell like.

This early Roald Dahl adventure is great for reading aloud to three- to seven-year-olds, who will be delighted to hear that Mr. Fox keeps his family one step ahead of the obsessed farmers. When they try to dig him out, he digs faster; when they lay siege to his den, he tunnels to where the farmers least expect him--their own larders! In the end, Mr. Fox not only survives, but also helps the whole community of burrowing creatures live happily ever after. With his usual flourish, Dahl evokes a magical animal world that, as children, we alwa! ys knew existed, had we only known where or how to look for i! t. (G reat read aloud for any age; written at a 9- to 12-year-old reading level)

Best in Show

  • The tension is palpable, the excitement is mounting and the heady scent of competition is in the air as hundreds of eager contestants from across America prepare to take part in what is undoubtedly one of the greatest events of their lives -- the Mayflower Dog Show.Running Time: 89 min. System Requirements: Starring: Jennifer Coolidge, Christopher Guest, John Michael Higgins, Michael Hitchcock
A BLUE RIBBON LOOK AT DOG SHOW PARTICIPANTS AND THE POOCHES WHO LOVE THEM.

Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes

  • Large easy press button toggles through 7 high quality classical melodies
  • Colorful lights dance across the screen to each song
  • Colorful Baby Einstein caterpillar handle is easy for little hands to hold and take anywhere
  • Off/Low/High volume switch
  • Promotes auditory development and music appreciation
Experience joy and happiness at its purest in this life-affirming, universal celebration of the magic and innocence of Babies. Proving that if you surround your baby with love it doesn’t matter what culture you’re from or what child-rearing practices you follow. Babies travels the globe following four children from vastly different corners of the worldâ€"Ponijao from Namibia, Bayarjargal from Mongolia, Mari from Tokyo and Hattie from San Francisco. Sure to put a smile on your face and a warm feeling in your heart, it’s the film that critics and audiences agr! ee “could be the feel-good movie of the decade!” (Moviefone)The babies in Babies are four newborns, photographed in their natural habitat in distinctly different parts of the world. Hattie is in San Francisco, Mari's in Tokyo, Baryarjargal lives out in the Mongolian steppes, and Ponijao is born amid the simple straw huts of Namibia. In the course of less than 80 minutes, we're going to follow this quartet through their first year of life, a chronicle that director Thomas Balmes and producer Alain Chabat have likened to a nature documentary that happens to focus on humans. We can cut to the chase here and say that above and beyond any sociological weight this project might possess, this film's main method can be summed up in the words of David Byrne and Talking Heads from the song "Stay Up Late": "See him drink / From a bottle / See him eat / From a plate / Cute cute / As a button /Don't you want to make him stay up late." In short, babies are cute, babies are fun! ny, and a camera focused on a baby is going to catch the sudde! n mood s hifts and clunky crawling and all the other ingredients of home movies. Along the way, we may pause to notice the cultural differences between the locales, as the American baby seems elaborately nurtured (maybe baby yoga classes could wait a year?) and the African baby views a world just as full of wonder and newness as anywhere else, despite the material poverty of the locale. The Namibia and Mongolia sequences are certainly more arresting than the two urban sections, because their backdrops are so dramatically unusual to most Western eyes. If those differences are colorful, the movie nevertheless suggests that babies are more alike in their development than they are different. Is this enough to qualify as a movie? Well, even if Babies really is little more than a collection of sure-fire infant cuteness, it'll probably be enough for its target audience. --Robert HortonBABIES - Blu-Ray MovieThe babies in Babies are four newborns, photographed in their na! tural habitat in distinctly different parts of the world. Hattie is in San Francisco, Mari's in Tokyo, Baryarjargal lives out in the Mongolian steppes, and Ponijao is born amid the simple straw huts of Namibia. In the course of less than 80 minutes, we're going to follow this quartet through their first year of life, a chronicle that director Thomas Balmes and producer Alain Chabat have likened to a nature documentary that happens to focus on humans. We can cut to the chase here and say that above and beyond any sociological weight this project might possess, this film's main method can be summed up in the words of David Byrne and Talking Heads from the song "Stay Up Late": "See him drink / From a bottle / See him eat / From a plate / Cute cute / As a button /Don't you want to make him stay up late." In short, babies are cute, babies are funny, and a camera focused on a baby is going to catch the sudden mood shifts and clunky crawling and all the other ingredients of home m! ovies. Along the way, we may pause to notice the cultural diff! erences between the locales, as the American baby seems elaborately nurtured (maybe baby yoga classes could wait a year?) and the African baby views a world just as full of wonder and newness as anywhere else, despite the material poverty of the locale. The Namibia and Mongolia sequences are certainly more arresting than the two urban sections, because their backdrops are so dramatically unusual to most Western eyes. If those differences are colorful, the movie nevertheless suggests that babies are more alike in their development than they are different. Is this enough to qualify as a movie? Well, even if Babies really is little more than a collection of sure-fire infant cuteness, it'll probably be enough for its target audience. --Robert HortonBABY HUMAN - DVD MovieShows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee.

The Invisible Bridge (Vintage Contemporaries)

  • ISBN13: 9781400034376
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
On the rain-soaked morning of October 1, 2011, the couple hundred protesters camping out in a concrete park in Lower Manhattan and calling themselves Occupy Wall Street were a ragtag army of young revolutionary dreamers, whose declared war against corporate greed and appalling income inequality was mostly ignored by the media and struggling to get any traction with America’s battered middle class. By nightfall, the Occupy Wall Street movement had captured the national imagination â€" exploding onto the front page and sparking a wave of protest in all 50 states. This is the remarkable story of the tense few hours that changed everything: “October 1, 2011: The Battle of the Brooklyn Bridge.” In thi! s instant history, you’ll see the dramatic showdown between marchers and a wall of New York Police Department officers, resulting in 700 arrests, through the eyes of the everyday Americans who lived it â€" an idealistic and daring college radical, a salty-tongued retired Vietnam-era lawyer on a quest for social justice, the shy theatrical props manager taking part in his first protest, and many more. “October 1, 2011” goes behind the headlines to show a miscalculating NYPD struggling to protect the status quo, to reveal the improbable sparks touching off a new American revolution, and to relive the life-altering choices faced by average citizens trapped inside a police “kettle” as a damp darkness descended on the Brooklyn Bridge. But most importantly, it recasts the Occupy Wall Street movement as a struggle over something even more fundamental than economic injustice: A yearning by ignored and unheard Americans to simply reclaim the public square â€" the battle th! at came to a head on a Saturday afternoon high atop the most f! amous br idge in the world.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Will Bunch is senior writer for the Philadelphia Daily News â€" where he writes the popular political blog Attytood â€" and a senior fellow with Media Matters for America. He shared the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for spot news reporting in 1992 when he was at New York Newsday. His books include The Backlash: Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters and Paranoid Politics in the Age of Obama, and Tear Down This Myth: The Right-Wing Distortion of the Reagan Legacy. His articles have also appeared in the New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Mother Jones, The Los Angeles Times, American Prospect, American Journalism Review, and elsewhere. He lives in the Philadelphia suburbs with his family.
On the rain-soaked morning of October 1, 2011, the couple hundred protesters camping out in a concrete park in Lower Manhattan and calling themselves Occupy Wall Street were a ragtag army of young revolutionary dreamers, whose declared war a! gainst corporate greed and appalling income inequality was mostly ignored by the media and struggling to get any traction with America’s battered middle class. By nightfall, the Occupy Wall Street movement had captured the national imagination â€" exploding onto the front page and sparking a wave of protest in all 50 states. This is the remarkable story of the tense few hours that changed everything: “October 1, 2011: The Battle of the Brooklyn Bridge.” In this instant history, you’ll see the dramatic showdown between marchers and a wall of New York Police Department officers, resulting in 700 arrests, through the eyes of the everyday Americans who lived it â€" an idealistic and daring college radical, a salty-tongued retired Vietnam-era lawyer on a quest for social justice, the shy theatrical props manager taking part in his first protest, and many more. “October 1, 2011” goes behind the headlines to show a miscalculating NYPD struggling to protect the status q! uo, to reveal the improbable sparks touching off a new America! n revolu tion, and to relive the life-altering choices faced by average citizens trapped inside a police “kettle” as a damp darkness descended on the Brooklyn Bridge. But most importantly, it recasts the Occupy Wall Street movement as a struggle over something even more fundamental than economic injustice: A yearning by ignored and unheard Americans to simply reclaim the public square â€" the battle that came to a head on a Saturday afternoon high atop the most famous bridge in the world.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Will Bunch is senior writer for the Philadelphia Daily News â€" where he writes the popular political blog Attytood â€" and a senior fellow with Media Matters for America. He shared the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for spot news reporting in 1992 when he was at New York Newsday. His books include The Backlash: Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters and Paranoid Politics in the Age of Obama, and Tear Down This Myth: The Right-Wing Distortion of the Reagan Legacy. His articles have ! also appeared in the New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Mother Jones, The Los Angeles Times, American Prospect, American Journalism Review, and elsewhere. He lives in the Philadelphia suburbs with his family.

Paris, 1937. Andras Lévi, a Hungarian-Jewish architecture student, arrives from Budapest with a scholarship, a single suitcase, and a mysterious letter he promised to deliver. But when he falls into a complicated relationship with the letter's recipient, he becomes privy to a secret that will alter the course of hisâ€"and his family’sâ€"history.

From the small Hungarian town of Konyár to the grand opera houses of Budapest and Paris, from the despair of Carpathian winter to an unimaginable life in labor camps, The Invisible Bridge tells the story of a family shattered and remade in history’s darkest hour.

Amazon Best Books of the Month, May 2010: Even if this weren't her first novel, Julie Orringer's Invisible ! Bridge would be a marvelous achievement. Orringer possesses a ! rare tal ent that makes a 600-page story--which, we know, must descend into war and genocide--feel rivetingly readable, even at its grimmest. Building vivid worlds in effortless phrases, she immerses us in 1930s Budapest just as a young Hungarian Jew, Andras Lévi, departs for the École Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris. He hones his talent for design, works backstage in a theater, and allies with other Jewish students in defiance of rising Nazi influence. And then he meets Klara, a captivating Hungarian ballet instructor nine years his senior with a painful past and a willful teenage daughter. Against Klara's better judgment, love engulfs them, drowning out the rumblings of war for a time. But inevitably, Nazi aggression drives them back to Hungary, where life for the Jews goes from hardship to horror. As in Dr. Zhivago, these lovers can't escape history's merciless machinery, but love gives them the courage to endure. --Mari Malcolm


The Visitor

  • Condition: New
  • Format: DVD
  • Anamorphic; Color; Dolby; DVD; HiFi Sound; NTSC; Surround Sound; THX; Widescreen
FROZEN RIVER - DVD MovieFROZEN RIVER - Blu-Ray Movie17-year-old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) sets out to track down her father, who put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared. If she fails, Ree and her family will be turned out into the Ozark woods. Challenging her outlaw kin’s code of silence and risking her life, Ree hacks through the lies, evasions and threats offered up by her relatives and begins to piece together the truth. Based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell, Winter's Bone is the winner of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize.Family loyalty and self-reliance take on whole new meanings in this dark story of one family's desperate struggle to survive in the Ozark woods of southern Missouri. Day-to-day life is tough in the e! conomically depressed, unforgiving harsh rural landscape that's home to the extended Dolly clan, but it's made much tougher thanks to their history of cooking crank and deep involvement in the local drug culture. For Jessup Dolly and the other men of the family, looking out for oneself has become the first priority. Seventeen-year-old Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) has been caring for her mentally ill mother and her two younger siblings while her father runs from the law. Ree has been managing OK, but when the sheriff shows up with news that her father has put the house up as bond collateral and is unlikely to show for his court date, things get desperate. Ree is well aware of the family code of silence, but desperation forces her to confront her relatives in search of her father, regardless of the personal consequences. One by one, Ree's relatives refuse to help, protecting themselves even at the cost of one of their own. This is a dark, often violent film that doesn't shy away f! rom the harsh realities of the manic drug culture permeating s! ome rura l areas of the South. It is intense, emotional, and extremely effective: it is at times simultaneously uncomfortable to watch and paradoxically riveting. Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, and Dale Dickey deliver phenomenally powerful performances and are completely believable in their respective roles. While this official selection in the dramatic film competition at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival doesn't align well with many of the details in the Daniel Woodrell novel on which it's based, what is absolutely faithfully rendered is the overwhelming sense of resolute self-reliance, complete desperation, and intense, yet distorted family loyalty. --Tami HoriuchiHailed as "one of the year's most intriguing dramas" (Claudia Puig, USA TODAY), The Visitor stars Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under) in a perfect performance (Lisa Schwarzbaum, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY) as Walter, a disaffected college professor who has been drifting aimlessly through his life. When, in a chance encounte! r on a trip into New York, Walter discovers a couple has taken up residence in his apartment in the city, he develops an unexpected and profound connection to them that will change his life forever. As challenges arise for his tenants, Walter finds himself compelled to help his new friends, and rediscovers a passion he thought he had lost long ago. The year's first genuine must-see film" (Ann Hornaday, THE WASHINGTON POST) about rediscovering life's rhythms in the most unexpected places A deeply moving drama built around longtime character actor Richard Jenkins, The Visitor is a simmering drama about a college professor and recent widower, Walter Vale (Jenkins), who discovers a pair of homeless, illegal aliens living in his New York apartment. After the mix-up is resolved, Vale invites the couple--a young, Syrian musician named Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and his Senegalese girlfriend (Danai Gurira--to stay with him. An unlikely friendship develops between the retiri! ng, quiet Vale and the vital Tarek, and the former begins to l! oosen up and respond to Tarek’s drumming lessons as if something in him waiting to be liberated has finally arrived. All goes well until Tarek is hauled in by immigration authorities and threatened with deportation. His mother, Mouna (Hiam Abbass), turns up and stays with Vale, sparking a renewed if subdued interest in courtship. But the wheels of injustice in immigration crush all manner of hopes in post-9/11 America. Vale soon realizes his unexpected capacity for anger over Tarek’s plight, and the positive changes to his personal life that emerged from a deep involvement with his friend and Mouna, might be the only legacy he takes from this experience. Writer-director Thomas McCarthy has created a wonderfully measured story about change and renewal, and put it all on the shoulders of Jenkins, a largely unheralded but masterful performer whose time for renown has surely come. --Tom Keogh

Stills from The Visitor (click for large! r image)







Beyond The Visitor


On Blu-ray

Soundtrack CD

Also directed by Tom McCarthy


Alien Resurrection

  • Detailed item info Product Information ALIEN RESURRECTION follows the same basic plot as the film. Scientists are able to bring Lt. Ellen Ripley back from the grave. Unfortunately, they also bring back the acid-spewing menaces that follow her around. As a way of getting rid of the aliens, the installation has been rigged to self-destruct. Take control of Ripley as tries to fight her way through the ship and its unwelcome guests. Use handguns, rifles, auto-turrets, ice blasts, and an ultra powerful flame-thrower to journey through 10 levels of face- huggers, chest-bursters, and other alien warriors. Luckily, several members of the crew have survived, and after Ripley saves one of them, he or she will become a playable character. For the best experience, play the game in the dark and become absorbed by the atmosphere. Play ALIEN RESURRECTION, and help Ripley live to fight another day.
  • Product Id! entifiers Game Alien Resurrection UPC 086162046087 Key Features Platform Sony PlayStation ESRB Rating M - Mature Genre Action, Action, Adventure, Shooter Tech Details ESRB Descriptor Animated Violence, Blood, Gore Control Elements Gamepad, Joystick Number of Players 1 Release Year 2000 Game Special Features Over 10 challenging levels, clear and detailed sound and lighting effects, variety of weapons and environments, based on the original movie series Support Elements Analog Control, Dual Shock, Memory Card, Vibration Function Compatible Game Series Alien
ALIEN RESURRECTION - DVD MoviePerhaps these films are like the Star Trek movies: The even-numbered episodes are the best ones. Certainly this film (directed by French stylist Jean-Pierre Jeunet) is an improvement over Alien 3, with a script that breathes exciting new life into the franchise. This chapter is set even further in the future, where scientists on a space colony have cloned both the al! ien and Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), who died in Alien 3! ; in doi ng so, however, they've mixed alien DNA with Ripley's human chromosomes, which gives Ripley surprising power (and a bad attitude). A band of smugglers comes aboard only to discover the new race of aliens--and when the multi-mouthed melonheads get loose, no place is safe. But, on the plus side, they have Ripley as a guide to help them get out. Winona Ryder is on hand as the smugglers' most unlikely crew member (with a secret of her own), but this one is Sigourney's all the way. --Marshall FineA group of scientists has cloned Lt. Ellen Ripley, along with the alien queen inside her, hoping to breed the ultimate weapon. But the resurrected Ripley is full of surprises for her "creators," as are the aliens they've imprisoned. And soon, a lot more than "all hell" breaks loose. To combat the creatures, Ripley must team up with a band of smugglers, including a mechanic named Call (Ryder), who holds more than a few surprises of her own.Perhaps these films are like the Star ! Trek movies: The even-numbered episodes are the best ones. Certainly this film (directed by French stylist Jean-Pierre Jeunet) is an improvement over Alien 3, with a script that breathes exciting new life into the franchise. This chapter is set even further in the future, where scientists on a space colony have cloned both the alien and Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), who died in Alien 3; in doing so, however, they've mixed alien DNA with Ripley's human chromosomes, which gives Ripley surprising power (and a bad attitude). A band of smugglers comes aboard only to discover the new race of aliens--and when the multi-mouthed melonheads get loose, no place is safe. But, on the plus side, they have Ripley as a guide to help them get out. Winona Ryder is on hand as the smugglers' most unlikely crew member (with a secret of her own), but this one is Sigourney's all the way. --Marshall FineStudio: Tcfhe Release Date: 05/10/2011 Run time: 109 minutes Ratin! g: RPerhaps these films are like the Star Trek movies: ! The even -numbered episodes are the best ones. Certainly this film (directed by French stylist Jean-Pierre Jeunet) is an improvement over Alien 3, with a script that breathes exciting new life into the franchise. This chapter is set even further in the future, where scientists on a space colony have cloned both the alien and Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), who died in Alien 3; in doing so, however, they've mixed alien DNA with Ripley's human chromosomes, which gives Ripley surprising power (and a bad attitude). A band of smugglers comes aboard only to discover the new race of aliens--and when the multi-mouthed melonheads get loose, no place is safe. But, on the plus side, they have Ripley as a guide to help them get out. Winona Ryder is on hand as the smugglers' most unlikely crew member (with a secret of her own), but this one is Sigourney's all the way. --Marshall FineAlien
The terror begins when the crew of a spaceship investigat! es a transmission from a desolate planet, and discovers a life form that is perfectly evolved to annihilate mankind. One by one, each crew member is slain until only Ripley is left, leading to an explosive conclusion that sets the stage for its stunning sequel, "Aliens."

Aliens
In this action-packed sequel to Alien, Sigourney Weaver returns as Ripley, the only survivor from mankind's first encounter with the monstrous Alien. Her account of the Alien and the fate of her crew are received with skepticism - until the mysterious disappearance of colonists on LV-426 leads her to join a team of high-tech colonial marines sent in to investigate.

Alien 3
Lt. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is the lone survivor when her crippled spaceship crash lands on Fiorina 161, a bleak wasteland inhabited by former inmates of the planet's maximum security prison. Ripley's fears that an Alien was aboard! her craft are confirmed when the mutilated bodies of ex-cons ! begin to mount. Without weapons or modern technology of any kind, Ripley must lead the men into battle against the terrifying creature. And soon she discovers a horrifying fact about her link with the Alien, a realization that may compel Ripley to try destroying not only the horrific creature but herself as well.

Alien Resurrection
A group of scientists has cloned Lt. Ellen Ripley, along with the alien queen inside her, hoping to breed the ultimate weapon. But the resurrected Ripley is full of surprises for her "creators," as are the aliens they've imprisoned. And soon, a lot more than "all hell" breaks loose. To combat the creatures, Ripley must team up with a band of smugglers, including a mechanic named Call (Ryder), who holds more than a few surprises of her own.The Alien Quadrilogy is a nine-disc boxed set devoted to the four Alien films. Although previously available on DVD as the Alien Legacy, here they have b! een repackaged with vastly more extras and with upgraded sound and picture. For anyone who hasn't been in hypersleep for the last 25 years, this series needs no introduction, though for the first time each film now comes in both original and "special edition" form.

Alien (1979) was so perfect it didn't need fixing, and Ridley Scott's 2003 director's cut is fiddling for the sake of fiddling. Watch it once, then return to the majestic, perfectly paced original. Conversely, the special edition of James Cameron's Aliens (1986) is the definitive version, though it's nice to finally have the theatrical cut on DVD for comparison. Most interesting is the alternative Alien 3 (1992). This isn't a "director's cut"--David Fincher refused to have any involvement with this release--but a 1991 work-print that runs 29 minutes longer than the theatrical version, and has now been restored, remastered, and finished off with (unfortunately) cheap new CGI. Still, it's t! ruly fascinating, offering a different insight into a flawed m! asterpie ce. The expanded opening is visually breathtaking, the central firestorm is much longer, and a subplot involving Paul McGann's character adds considerable depth to story. The ending is also subtly but significantly different. Alien: Resurrection (1997) always was a mess with a handful of brilliant scenes, and the special edition just makes it eight minutes longer.

The Alien Quadrilogy offers the first and fourth films with DTS soundtracks, the others having still fine Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation. All four films sound fantastic, with much low-level detail revealed for the first time. Each is anamorphically enhanced at the correct original aspect ratio, and the prints and transfers are superlative. Every film offers a commentary track that lends insight into the creative process--though the Scott-only commentary and isolated music score from the first Alien DVD release are missing here.

Each movie is complemented by a separate disc packed with h! ours of seriously detailed documentaries (all presented in full-screen with clips letterboxed), thousands of photos, production stills, and storyboards, giving a level of inside information for the dedicated buff only surpassed by the Lord of the Rings extended DVD sets. A ninth DVD compiles miscellaneous material, including an hourlong documentary and even all the extras from the old Alien laserdisc. "Exhaustive" hardly beings to describe the Alien Quadrilogy, a set that establishes the new DVD benchmark for retrospective releases and looks unlikely to be surpassed for some time. --Gary S. DalkinALIEN 3 - DVD MoviePerhaps these films are like the Star Trek movies: The even-numbered episodes are the best ones. Certainly this film (directed by French stylist Jean-Pierre Jeunet) is an improvement over Alien 3, with a script that breathes exciting new life into the franchise. This chapter is set even further in the future, where scie! ntists on a space colony have cloned both the alien and Ripley! (Sigour ney Weaver), who died in Alien 3; in doing so, however, they've mixed alien DNA with Ripley's human chromosomes, which gives Ripley surprising power (and a bad attitude). A band of smugglers comes aboard only to discover the new race of aliens--and when the multi-mouthed melonheads get loose, no place is safe. But, on the plus side, they have Ripley as a guide to help them get out. Winona Ryder is on hand as the smugglers' most unlikely crew member (with a secret of her own), but this one is Sigourney's all the way. --Marshall FineAn interesting feature of Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, and Alien Resurrection, worth watching together if only for the chance to see how different directors handle essentially the same idea. The results are decidedly mixed. Ridley Scott's Alien is the most traditional of the bunch, essentially a haunted-house picture set on a space freighter, where a monster is picking off crew members one by one. Ja! mes Cameron's Aliens is the all-out adrenaline bath, a pulse-pounding action thriller from start to finish. It plays a little like a Western in outer space, where the settlers are waiting for a cavalry that never comes--and the Indians are acid-veined aliens. And David Fincher's Alien 3 is the rock-video version, in which substance and storytelling are sacrificed to editing and imagery, as the aliens attempt to take over a space penal colony. --Marshall FineTake two parts weak plot, a hint of bad controls and crummy auto aiming, add a dash of overdone stretches of boredom amidst short stretches of rather fierce action, and you've got Alien: Resurrection's downside. But here's the upside: these are Ridley Scott's aliens, and they're coming for you relentlessly. The game gives you the heebie-jeebies when you're playing it all alone with the lights turned low. The tension often can become palpable as you reload your weapon, administer a healt! h pack, and pray that the beasts don't hit you from a directi! on that you hadn't anticipated.

The premise of the game is pretty standard Alien fare: you, as Ripley, are locked in a life-or-death outer-space struggle to keep the devious Dr. Wren from bringing alien samples to earth. What more is there to know?

The atmosphere that's created by Alien: Resurrection's various environments, animations, and sounds is the primary reason to purchase this game. Because it relies heavily on suspense (the sense that these adversaries can be nowhere and everywhere at the same time has never been more real in a game), Alien: Resurrection sometimes can go even beyond what you'd consider merely scary to an entirely new terrorizing experience. The game engine supports all of this with atmospherics like lighting effects, fogging, dripping water (and blood?), and other particle effects, without causing you to endure much--if any--slowdown.

But suspense can go only so far. As in the movies, if the actual confrontations ! with the aliens don't live up to expectations, the whole game suffers. Even as they start off with a bang, the alien encounters follow a script. After making a dramatic entrance, they mostly just give you the bum's rush without any thought for using available cover, or even jogging from side to side as they advance. With their plodding movements, it's no surprise, when you actually get into the alien firefight that you've been expecting and craving, that the tension completely disappears. --Todd Mowatt

Pros:

  • Genuinely suspenseful
  • Great graphics and atmospherics
Cons:
  • Weak plot, with boring stretches
  • Predictable alien encounters

Outdoor Edge Swingblaze SZ-20N SwingBlade with Bright Orange Handle Never Lose Your Knife Again

  • As seen on TV
  • Razor Sharp AUS-8 Stainless steel blade holds a superior edge
  • Rotating skinning/gutting knife is two blades in one
  • Easy to locate Blaze orange handle ensures a secure non-slip grip even when wet
  • Durable nylon belt sheath
Hart & Huntington On The Edge tee. Dripping Hart & Huntington logo printed at front and back. Short sleeve. Crew neck. 100% cotton. Machine wash. Imported.Swing BIG SAVINGS on Outdoor Edge Swing Blade Knives! A swing... and a home run! The simply, smooth swing-blade action of these nimble knives from Outdoor Edge offers you the best of both worlds. When you push the lock button, the blade changes instantly from a drop-point skinner to a gutting knife! It's the most innovative design to come along in years, and it's yours for a low Guide price you'll only find here! A double delight: Razor-sharp US-8 stainless steel; Subzero quench! ed for superior edge retention; Kraton handles ensure non-slip grip, even when wet; Includes nylon belt sheath; Skinning Blade: 3 3/5" l., Gutting Blade: 3 1/5" l. Overall Length: 8 3/10". 12 ozs. Get double the edge and save! Order Now! WARNING: You must be 18 or older to purchase Cutlery. Cutlery cannot be shipped to Marin, Napa, Ventura and Yolo counties, CA; CO; D.C.; MA or Puerto Rico. Please check your State, County and City laws for restrictions before ordering Cutlery. Outdoor Edge Swing Blade Knife, Blaze

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time

  • Paperback in colors of white, green and black.
A landmark exploration of the way out of extreme poverty for the world’s poorest citizens

Among the most eagerly anticipated books of any year, this landmark exploration of prosperity and poverty distills the life work of an economist Time calls one of the world’s 100 most influential people. Sachs’s aim is nothing less than to deliver a big picture of how societies emerge from poverty. To do so he takes readers in his footsteps, explaining his work in Bolivia, Russia, India, China, and Africa, while offering an integrated set of solutions for the interwoven economic, political, environmental, and social problems that challenge the poorest countries. Marrying passionate storytelling with rigorous analysis and a vision as pragmatic as it is fiercely moral, The End of Poverty is a truly indispensable work.Celebra! ted economist Jeffrey Sachs has a plan to eliminate extreme poverty around the world by 2025. If you think that is too ambitious or wildly unrealistic, you need to read this book. His focus is on the one billion poorest individuals around the world who are caught in a poverty trap of disease, physical isolation, environmental stress, political instability, and lack of access to capital, technology, medicine, and education. The goal is to help these people reach the first rung on the "ladder of economic development" so they can rise above mere subsistence level and achieve some control over their economic futures and their lives. To do this, Sachs proposes nine specific steps, which he explains in great detail in The End of Poverty. Though his plan certainly requires the help of rich nations, the financial assistance Sachs calls for is surprisingly modest--more than is now provided, but within the bounds of what has been promised in the past. For the U.S., for instanc! e, it would mean raising foreign aid from just 0.14 percent of! GNP to 0.7 percent. Sachs does not view such help as a handout but rather an investment in global economic growth that will add to the security of all nations. In presenting his argument, he offers a comprehensive education on global economics, including why globalization should be embraced rather than fought, why international institutions such as the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank need to play a strong role in this effort, and the reasons why extreme poverty exists in the midst of great wealth. He also shatters some persistent myths about poor people and shows how developing nations can do more to help themselves.

Despite some crushing statistics, The End of Poverty is a hopeful book. Based on a tremendous amount of data and his own experiences working as an economic advisor to the UN and several individual nations, Sachs makes a strong moral, economic, and political case for why countries and individuals should battle poverty with the sa! me commitment and focus normally reserved for waging war. This important book not only makes the end of poverty seem realistic, but in the best interest of everyone on the planet, rich and poor alike. --Shawn Carkonen

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