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Director: Tom Hooper Cast: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Guy Pearce
Emmy Award-winning director Tom Hooper (John Adams) teams with screenwriter David Seidler (Tucker: A Man and His Dreams) to tell the story of King George VI. When his older brother abdicates the throne, nervous-mannered successor George "Bertie" VI (Colin Firth) reluctantly dons the crown. Though his stutter soon raises concerns about his leadership skills, King George VI eventually comes into his own with the help of unconventional speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Before long the king and Lionel have forged an unlikely bond, a bond that proves to have real strength when the United Kingdom is forced to flex its international might. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi All Movie Guide
Director: David Yates Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Helena Bonham Carter
The first installment of the two-film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows follows Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint), and Hermione (Emma Watson) as they search for the pieces of Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) soul that he extracted from his being and hid in obscure locations both far and wide. If the trio is unable to locate and destroy them all, Voldemort will remain immortal. Despite their long friendship, a combination of dark forces, romantic tensions, and long-held secrets threaten to sabotage the mission. David Yates directs. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
Director: Nathan Greno, Byron Howard Cast: Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy, Ron Perlman
The classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale gets a lavish CG makeover as directors Byron Howard and Nathan Greno team up to tell the tale of a fair-haired beauty (voiced by Mandy Moore) with long-flowing locks, a gallant hero with a heart of gold, and the evil witch who plots to keep these lovelorn innocents apart. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi All Movie Guide
Director: Garry Marshall Cast: Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews
Garry Marshall conjures up more fairy-tale, Pretty Woman magic for this film take on Meg Cabot's popular novel for teens. Anne Hathaway stars as Mia in this Pygmalion-esque charmer about an awkward 15-year-old San Francisco misfit whose world turns upside down when she discovers that she's a real princess. Broadway's original My Fair Lady, Julie Andrews, makes a welcome return to the screen as Mia's regal grandmother, who is charged with grooming her reluctant granddaughter for the throne. But Mia's happy-ever-after ending is not assured, as her newfound royal status threatens her friendship with her best friend and fellow social outcast, Lily (Heather Matarazzo of TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Further complicating Mia's life is a jerky high school hunk, whose attentions distract her from a true Prince Charming waiting in the wings. Lending able comic support are Larry Miller, as the flamboyant hairdresser assigned to transform Mia, and Marshall regular Hector Elizondo as Mia's plainspoken chauffeur and bodyguard. Marshall -- who built his reputation on such family fare as Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and Mork & Mindy -- knows how to get laughs without stooping to inappropriate humor, which is to say that the picture's G rating doesn't mean it's bland. It's little surprise that The Princess Diaries ranks among the most successful G-rated live-action family films in some time, since it's also one of the best. Donald Liebenson
Source: HBO HOME VIDEO
Presentation: Wide Screen
Sound: Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound
Language: Français
Editions: Slip Sleeve, Digi-Pak
This set contains DVDs which may be available separately:
True Blood: Bad Blood
True Blood: Beautifully Broken
True Blood: It Hurts Me, Too
True Blood: 9 Crimes
True Blood: Trouble
True Blood: I Got a Right to Sing the Blues
True Blood: Hitting the Ground
True Blood: Night on the Sun
True Blood: Everything Is Broken
True Blood: I Smell a Rat
True Blood: Fresh Blood
True Blood: Evil Is Going On
True Blood: Season 03
UPC: 826663123593
Source: SHOUT FACTORY THEATR
Presentation: Pan & Scan
Language: English
Editions: Slip Sleeve
Time: 13:38:00
Cast: Hugh Bonneville, Jessica Brown Findlay, Laura Carmichael, Elizabeth McGovern
After a tragedy at sea claims the life of the presumed heir, Lord Crawley is faced with the possibility that the house he's loved his whole life might someday belong to a distant cousin he's never met. But before that can happen he must deal with his scandalous daughter, Lady Mary -- considered by many to be the rightful heir to Downton. Even the staff has opinions on the family's affairs. And while most are devoted to the Crawleys, there are others whose selfishness and scheming do more than simply disrupt the well-oiled inner workings of the estate. As the servants' mischief escalates, even the most faithful employees begin to imagine a different life. A star-studded cast (Dame Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Brendan Coyle, Dan Stevens) round out the glittering, gossipy, and beguiling men and women of this epic tale. Pitting hundreds of years of British aristocracy against the tides of social upheaval and technical progress, under the looming shadow of World War I, will the fate of Downton and its family -- above and below stairs -- be resolved? Or will life be altered so dramatically that its master no longer matters? DVD bonus features include "The Making of Downton Abbey and "A House in History. This DVD presents the production in its unedited UK version. From the Producers
Director: Michael Apted Cast: Ben Barnes, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Will Poulter
Upon returning to Narnia to join Prince Caspian for a voyage on the majestic royal vessel known as The Dawn Treader, Lucy, Edmund, and their cousin Eustace encounter merfolk, dragons, dwarves, and a wandering band of lost warriors. As the edge of the world draws near, their remarkable adventure at sea sails toward an exciting, yet uncertain, conclusion. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi All Movie Guide
Director: Tim Hetherington, Sebastian Junger
Cast: Dan Kearney, Lamonta Caldwell, Kevin Rice, Misha C. Pemble-Belkin
Filmmakers Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington pay a visit to Afghanistan's Korengal Valley to spend a year with the Second Platoon, a besieged squadron who dubbed their stronghold Outpost Restrepo in honor of their fallen comrade PFC Juan Restrepo. An al-Qaeda and Taliban stronghold, Korengal Valley sees some of the fiercest fighting in the War on Terror. At Outpost Restrepo, every shot fired is personal, and every target hit a gift to a fallen friend. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi All Movie Guide
Source: ACORN MEDIA
Presentation: Wide Screen
Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo
Language: English
Subtitles: English
It is titles like Fantasia that make the DVD player seem essential. Unavailable for purchase on VHS for nearly a decade, one of Walt Disney's most magnificent achievements is back, and grander than ever, in this DVD-only Special 60th Anniversary Edition. For the first time on any home video format, Walt Disney's "grand experiment" -- combining animation with classical music -- is presented in its original 1940 Roadshow edition, complete with intermission and narration, which viewers have not seen since that original theatrical release. Incredibly, like It's a Wonderful Life, Fantasia was not fully appreciated at the time of its release, but with such hallucinatory sequences as "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," "The Dance of the Hours" with the tutu-clad hippos and "The Nutcracker Suite" with the dancing vegetables, it's no wonder it was embraced in the 1960s and '70s by college kids looking for the ultimate cinematic trip. This DVD is loaded with state-of-the-art supplemental features including archival interviews with Walt Disney and a segment about the making of this groundbreaking masterpiece.
Director: Randall Wallace
Cast: Diane Lane, John Malkovich, Dylan Walsh, Dylan Baker
A housewife with little knowledge of horse-racing fosters one of the greatest race horses of all time as the story of the 1973 Triple Crown winner comes to the screen in this inspirational underdog drama based on the novel Secretariat: The Making of a Champion by William Nack and starring Diane Lane and John Malkovich. Penny Chenery (Lane) is a devoted mother and housewife whose ailing father is the proprietor of Meadow Stables in Virginia. When her father becomes too ill to tend to his horses, Penny agrees to take over the stables despite her inexperience. Desperate, she turns to veteran horse trainer Lucien Laurin (Malkovich) to help show her the ropes. Up to this point, horse racing has been a decidedly male-dominated sport. But with Lucien's help, Penny prepares to prove that gender has no bearing on one's ability to breed a fast race horse. As Secretariat blasts out of the gates to leave his competition in the dust, the whole world watches in amazement, and a legend is born. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi All Movie Guide
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, Dianne Wiest, Miles Teller
Adapted for the screen by David Lindsay-Abaire from his own Pulitzer Prize-winning play, director John Cameron Mitchell's Rabbit Hole stars Oscar winner Nicole Kidman and Golden Globe-nominated Aaron Eckhart as a married couple who find their relationship on life support following the devastating loss of their young child. The further their relationship deteriorates, the harder the grieving parents fight to keep it alive. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi All Movie Guide
a.k.a. Ken Burns Civil War
Director: Ken Burns
War may be hell, but it can make for great television, as Ken Burns proves in his masterful 11-hour PBS series chronicling the deadliest war in American military history. The Civil War was a landmark TV event that held record numbers of viewers riveted to their screens and reinvented the documentary form. Taking full advantage of the fact that the Civil War was the first war to be captured extensively on camera, Burns synthesizes evocative archival photographs (among them, Matthew Brady's emblematic images of Union soldiers) with diverse and illuminating narrative voices. Well-known actors read diary entries, letters from the front, official dispatches, and speeches from the era. These voice-over readings convey the full range of human fears and hopes of those shaping and being shaped by the war, while an engaging group of historians (most notably Shelby Foote) provide historical perspective. The result is a seamless collage that illuminates, with quiet nobility, this most painful chapter in our nation's past. It's been said that history belongs to the victors; like Homer before him, Burns demonstrates that a major chunk of it belongs to the best storytellers Emily Fisher
Director: George Cukor
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde-White
Few musicals have ever captured the hearts of viewers as thoroughly as this lavish cinematic confection. Adapted by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe from George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, My Fair Lady was a hit on Broadway before becoming a movie that went on to win eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Directed by George Cukor (The Philadelphia Story), My Fair Lady is a monument to Hollywood artifice, portraying a world where the London slums are spotless, and even the poor and destitute break into song and dance at the slightest provocation. Audrey Hepburn’s portrayal of the Covent Garden flower girl who is transformed into a lady ranks among the star’s most indelible performances. Famed photographer Cecil Beaton designed the costumes and sets, and Hepburn never looked more exquisite than she does here against his elegantly stylized backdrops. The unforgettable songs -- "I Could Have Danced All Night," "Rain in Spain," and "Get Me to the Church on Time" (Marni Nixon dubbed Hepburn’s singing) -- combine with Shaw’s deliciously snappy and literate dialogue to lend My Fair Lady rare sophistication. Rex Harrison (in an Oscar-winning reprisal of his stage role) is perfect as Henry Higgins, the cheerfully misogynistic speech professor who rids the winsome "guttersnipe" of her Cockney accent and ends up losing his heart to her. Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde-White, and Gladys Cooper provide delightful support. Like most period pieces, My Fair Lady is very much a product of the era in which it was made: Dressed up for her Cinderella moment at the embassy ball, Hepburn looks strikingly like the early-'60s feminine ideal, Jackie Kennedy. Audiences today may wince at the film’s ending, but this candy-coated take on the battle of the sexes and classes still charms. Kryssa Schemmerling
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