Thursday, December 1, 2011

Farce of the Penguins : Widescreen Edition

  • Widescreen
It's mating season...

Meet Carl (Bob Saget) and Jimmy (Lewis Black), two cold penguins on a desperate mission to get themselves some hot booty. After years of empty one-night stands, Carl wants more than a piece of penguin tail. He wants the love of the beautiful Melissa (Christina Applegate). Now it's up to Jimmy to help his neurotic friend win her heart and find his dream girl. The only thing that stands in their way is...a seventy-mile trek across Antarctica. It's a road trip like no other, as these two best bros make their way to a penguin island paradise. From director and comedian Bob Saget, comes a raunchy, yet heart-warming comedy like no other.

Get ready for a stiff and dirty ride! May the FARCE be with you...Between Snakes On A Plane and Farce of the Penguins, one really wonders what Samuel Jackson has been smoking. This Jackson-narrated m! ockmentary of March of the Penguins, written and directed by Bob Saget (America's Funniest Home Videos), highlights the penguins' lascivious side, as the male's march inland to find mating partners. Overdubbed with human voices, Farce stars three penguins, Carl (Bob Saget), a neurotic, insecure bird whose search for true love has so far been in vain, Jimmy (Lewis Black), a mobster-like father figure who encourages Carl to keep up hope, and Marcus (Tracy Morgan), a smooth, African American penguin with a self-professed huge penis. Miles away, as the men journey inward, fighting off seals and engaging in therapy sessions with snowy owls along the way, Vicky (Mo'nique) tells Melissa (Christina Applegate) that someday her Prince Charming will come, which, predictably, he does. Watching penguins discussing the meaning of life, questioning their annual masochistic hike through tundra, or wondering if they have eating disorders is funny for about ten minutes. ! Samuel Jackson, the ultimate omniscient narrator, furthering t! he story between scenes is also odd and laughable. But Farce of The Penguins relies on its lewd humor for laughs, and though it is disarming to see waddling birds cuss, Farce's one-liner gets old. Yes, penguins have sex. Farce of the Penguins is a fun idea perhaps taken too far. Nonetheless, there is always something pleasing about anthropomorphizing animals, especially for lovers of crude sex jokes. --Trinie DaltonStudio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 02/05/2008 Run time: 80 minutes Rating: RBetween Snakes On A Plane and Farce of the Penguins, one really wonders what Samuel Jackson has been smoking. This Jackson-narrated mockmentary of March of the Penguins, written and directed by Bob Saget (America's Funniest Home Videos), highlights the penguins' lascivious side, as the male's march inland to find mating partners. Overdubbed with human voices, Farce stars three penguins, Carl (Bob Saget), a neurotic, insecure! bird whose search for true love has so far been in vain, Jimmy (Lewis Black), a mobster-like father figure who encourages Carl to keep up hope, and Marcus (Tracy Morgan), a smooth, African American penguin with a self-professed huge penis. Miles away, as the men journey inward, fighting off seals and engaging in therapy sessions with snowy owls along the way, Vicky (Mo'nique) tells Melissa (Christina Applegate) that someday her Prince Charming will come, which, predictably, he does. Watching penguins discussing the meaning of life, questioning their annual masochistic hike through tundra, or wondering if they have eating disorders is funny for about ten minutes. Samuel Jackson, the ultimate omniscient narrator, furthering the story between scenes is also odd and laughable. But Farce of The Penguins relies on its lewd humor for laughs, and though it is disarming to see waddling birds cuss, Farce's one-liner gets old. Yes, penguins have sex. Farce of the Pen! guins is a fun idea perhaps taken too far. Nonetheless, th! ere is a lways something pleasing about anthropomorphizing animals, especially for lovers of crude sex jokes. --Trinie Daltondvd

Bait Shop

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Genre: Comedy
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 11-NOV-2008
Media Type: DVDIn this bittersweet story about family, love and redemption, the death of a loved one brings fading country music star Bo Price (Toby Keith) back to his hometown where he is reunited with his childhood sweetheart (Kelly Preston) and meets his 16-year-old daughter for the first time. Can Bo mend the bridges that were broken when he up and left his home and loved ones for fame and fortune? Broken Bridges, starring country superstar Toby Keith, is the Country Music Channel's debut entry into the world of feature films. Though it plays more like a televised movie of the week--complete with an opaque plot, much tears, and a happy ending--Broken Bridges is a guilty pleasure, thanks in large part to the surprising likeability (though not believability) of Keith. The tall singer plays Bo Price, a struggling musician who heads back to his small hometown for his younger brother's funeral. There, he runs into his high-school sweetheart Angela Dalton (Kelly Preston) and her teenage daughter Dixie (Lindsey Haun, daughter of Air Supply guitarist Jimmy Haun). It comes as no surprise to the viewer that Dixie is Bo's child--a daughter he never knew he had. Though she doesn't share her father's gruff personality, she did inherit his musical aptitude and stage presence. While Burt Reynolds chews up the scenery as Angela's father, Tess Harper--playing his wife--doesn't get much to do other than look worried. Look for BeBe Winans and Willie Nelson to make guest appearances as themselves. As for Bo and Angela? She makes a feeble attempt to resist her ex's charms by laying down the law. "I came out here to lay down the ground rules," sh! e tells him. "Don't speak to my parents. Don't speak to Angela! . And do n't speak to me." Rules, of course, are meant to be broken, especially in feel-good movies such as this. --Jae-Ha KimThis is the soundtrack for Toby Keith's new motion picture, Beer For My Horses. It will feature music from Toby Keith, Willie Nelson, Trailer Choir, Ted Nugent, Gina Gershon, James McMurtry, Mac Davis, Mel Tillis, Carter's Chord, Rodney Carrington, David Allan Coe and Mica Roberts.Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 09/02/2008 Run time: 85 minutes Rating: PgBait Shop stars the eternally affable yet exasperated comedian Bill Engvall as Bill Dugan, owner of a homey but smalltime bait shop. Bill's job and self-respect are threatened when arrogant fishing celebrity Hot Rod Johnson (Billy Ray Cyrus, better known as Miley's dad) opens a massive fishing superstore right next door. Only by challenging Hot Rod in a bass fishing tournament can Bill set things right! Bait Shop is a bundle of clumsy cliches made somewhat tolerable by a likab! le cast (including outlaw country music singer Billy Joe Shaver as Bill's mentor) and an enthusiastic performance by Cyrus, who clearly enjoys being the bad guy for once. High points include Bill having a bar fight while dressed in a fish costume and Bill wrestling an obviously rubber bass into his boat. There are many declarations about how fishing used to be more pure and how friendship is the most important thing in life. Extras include a standard-issue making-of documentary, some beautiful shots of the local landscape (which, inexplicably, never got used in the movie itself), some understandably deleted scenes and some scenes of the cast goofing around. All in all, not much effort was put into making either the movie or the DVD. --Bret Fetzer

Dark Passage (Keepcase)

  • Bogey's on the lam and Bacall's at his side in Dark Passage, Delmer Daves' stylish film-noir thriller that's the third of four films Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall made together. Bogart is Vincent Parry, a prison escapee framed for murder who emerges from plastic surgery with a new face. Bacall is Irene Jansen, Vincent's lone ally. In a supporting role, Agnes Moorehead portrays Madge, a venomou
Agnes and his brothers have little in common except an eccentric father, relationship problems that are totally screwing up their lives, and a distinct possibility those two things are connected. Sex addict /meek librarian Hans-Jörg can't stop peeping on comely women. Werner, a successful politician, watches powerlessly as his bored wife and smartass son destroy their family. And Agnes, a transsexual, can't quite fit into the mold of happy homemaker expected by her bossy boyfriend. An outrageous ! story of how everyday desires for sex, love and understanding can end up pushing people closer and closer to the edge.Hephaestus Books represents a new publishing paradigm, allowing disparate content sources to be curated into cohesive, relevant, and informative books. To date, this content has been curated from Wikipedia articles and images under Creative Commons licensing, although as Hephaestus Books continues to increase in scope and dimension, more licensed and public domain content is being added. We believe books such as this represent a new and exciting lexicon in the sharing of human knowledge. This particular book is a collaboration focused on German drama films.Chicago White Sox pitcher Monty Stratton is an affable long drink of water with an easy, whiplike delivery and a pitch so unhittable the young phenom racks up consecutive 15-win seasons. But Stratton's greatest victory doesn't come on the manicured green diamonds of our national pastime. James Stewart po! rtrays Stratton, who loses a leg in an accident just as his ca! reer is on the rise...and whose triumph over despair and disability leads him to pitch again. Stewart signed on for the role when he realized the film would be an inspiration to injured World War II GIs. The film still inspires. Awarded an Oscar?* for Best Motion Picture Story, directed by Sam Wood (The Pride of the Yankees) and supported by a top cast that includes real-life ballplayers, The Stratton Story is sports biography at its best.James Stewart and June Allyson enjoyed one of their gee-whiz pairings in The Stratton Story, a baseball biopic with an easy swing. Stewart plays Monty Stratton, who, according to the film, is a country boy plowing the back forty when a transient scout (Frank Morgan) discovers him and hooks him up with the Chicago White Sox. Stratton has a couple of great years, only to be accidentally shot in a hunting accident, which results in his leg being amputated. If you think this is the end of the story, you might want to check the fact that The S! tratton Story was one of the biggest box-office hits of 1949. The film rests on director Sam Wood's eye for outdoors American spaces--a country road, small-time baseball parks--and on the can-do chemistry of Stewart and Allyson, whose first teaming this was. (The Glenn Miller Story and Strategic Air Command would follow.) Audiences adored the lanky Stewart playing off the tiny, low-voiced, indomitably perky Allyson, even if the material is as programmed as a studio pitch meeting. Lovers of nostalgic baseball pictures won't have any problem with the cornball script (a few big-league cameos pass by, notably Bill Dickey). Agnes Moorehead is Stratton's down-home Maw, though she's mostly restricted to a backlot farmhouse. It won an Oscar for best original story, back when they gave Oscars for that. --Robert HortonBogey's on the lam and Bacall's at his side in Dark Passage, Delmer Daves' stylish film-noir thriller that's the third of four films Humphrey B! ogart and Lauren Bacall made together. Bogart is Vincent Parry! , a pris on escapee framed for murder who emerges from plastic surgery with a new face. Bacall is Irene Jansen, Vincent's lone ally. In a supporting role, Agnes Moorehead portrays Madge, a venomous harpy who finds pleasure in the unhappiness of others. The chemistry of the leads is undeniable, and they augment it here with exceptional tenderness. Exceptional, too, are the atmospheric San Francisco locations and the imaginative camera work that shows Vincent's point of view - but not his face - until the bandages are removed. Lest Irene get ideas, the post-surgery Vincent tells her: "Don't change yours. I like it just as it is." So do we. - 1947This gimmicky film noir stars Humphrey Bogart as an escaped criminal who undergoes plastic surgery and holes up at the home of Lauren Bacall's character while healing and preparing to prove his innocence. If you can last through the first half-hour of this thing--which is shot entirely from the subjective view of Bogart's bandaged face, which w! e don't see until later--you might find ample reason in the stars' performances to stick around for the conclusion. But director Delmer Daves (A Summer Place) tests a viewer's endurance with such an obvious, attention-getting ploy. The least of the Bogart-Bacall vehicles (The Big Sleep,To Have and Have Not, Key Largo). --Tom Keogh

Gulliver's Travels

  • ISBN13: 9780143119111
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
From the preeminent prose satirist in the English language, a great classic recounting the 4 remarkable journeys of ship's surgeon Lemuel Gulliver. For children it remains an enchanting fantasy; for adults, a witty parody of political life in Swift's time and a scathing send-up of manners and morals in 18th-century England.
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes! wireless delivery.

Through the eyes of Lemuel Gulliver, Swift̢۪s unforgettable satire takes readers into worlds formerly unimagined. Visit four strange and remarkable lands: Lilliput, where Gulliver seems a giant among a race of tiny people; Brobdingnag, the opposite, where the natives are giants and Gulliver puny; the ruined yet magical country of Laputa; and the home of the Houyhnhnms, gentle horses far superior to the ugly humanoid Yahoos who share their universe.

To say this is a classic of political and social satire is unfair, because Swift INVENTED the genre with this raucous novel. The wayward traveler - Lemuel Gulliver - ends up on a series of bizarrely populated islands. First he is a giant among little people, but then sees the situation reversed when he's surrounded by giants twelve times his size. Next he finds himself in the clouds, in a society of devoted but ultimately hapless mathematicians. Lastly, his journey ! brings him to an island where incredibly noble horses must dea! l with a race of uncouth, reviled ape-men: the Yahoos. The satire is thick and unrelenting, but certainly not specific to the time and situation when Swift wrote it, and thus it has been read and beloved for centuries.To say this is a classic of political and social satire is unfair, because Swift INVENTED the genre with this raucous novel. The wayward traveler - Lemuel Gulliver - ends up on a series of bizarrely populated islands. First he is a giant among little people, but then sees the situation reversed when he's surrounded by giants twelve times his size. Next he finds himself in the clouds, in a society of devoted but ultimately hapless mathematicians. Lastly, his journey brings him to an island where incredibly noble horses must deal with a race of uncouth, reviled ape-men: the Yahoos. The satire is thick and unrelenting, but certainly not specific to the time and situation when Swift wrote it, and thus it has been read and beloved for centuries.Jack Black (Kung Fu Panda,! School of Rock) is larger than life in this epic comedy-adventure based on the classic tale. When a shipwreck lands a lowly mailroom clerk named Gulliver (Black) on the fantastical island of Lilliput, he transforms into a giant â€" in size and ego. Gulliver’s tall tales and heroic deeds win the hearts of the tiny Lilliputians, but when he loses it all and puts his newfound friends in peril, Gulliver must find a way to undo the damage. Through it all, Gulliver may just learn that it’s how big you are on the inside that counts. Gulliver's Travels is about as marginal as the trailers suggest; it's a tepidly entertaining, irreverent, and sometimes crass comedy starring Jack Black that takes some gigantic liberties with Jonathan Swift's classic story about the land of Lilliput and its tiny inhabitants. Mailroom loser Lemuel Gulliver (Jack Black) is stuck in a dead-end job and living a dead-end life until the promotion of a fellow employee spurs him to speak up an! d take action. While a trip to the Bermuda Triangle may not be! the dat e with crush Darcy Silverman (Amanda Peet) that Gulliver had envisioned, the voyage promises to take his career in a new direction, and it eventually delivers him to a kingdom known as Lilliput, which is populated by miniature people. After initially being captured and locked away in a dungeon, Gulliver wins the hearts of the Lilliputian people by saving their princess (Emily Blunt) from being kidnapped and rescuing their king (Billy Connolly) from a fire in a most unorthodox and unsavory way, and he quickly finds himself in a position of gigantic influence. Problem is, Gulliver is completely unprepared and unqualified for his new leadership roles, both on the personal and professional levels, and his ineptitude puts himself and all of Lilliput in extreme danger. Grade-school humor abounds in this fairly mindless film, something Jack Black always excels at, but viewers will find that the chuckles and the message about the power of believing in oneself fade equally as fast as! the credits roll. (Ages 9 and older) --Tami HoriuchiTo say this is a classic of political and social satire is unfair, because Swift INVENTED the genre with this raucous novel.

The wayward traveler - Lemuel Gulliver - ends up on a series of bizarrely populated islands. First he is a giant among little people, but then sees the situation reversed when he's surrounded by giants twelve times his size. Next he finds himself in the clouds, in a society of devoted but ultimately hapless mathematicians. Lastly, his journey brings him to an island where incredibly noble horses must deal with a race of uncouth, reviled ape-men: the Yahoos. The satire is thick and unrelenting, but certainly not specific to the time and situation when Swift wrote it, and thus it has been read and beloved for centuries.

Bring It On: Fight to the Finish

  • Condition: New
  • Format: DVD
  • AC-3; Color; Dolby; Dubbed; DVD; Subtitled; Widescreen; NTSC
BRING IT ON - DVD MovieSunny, happy Torrance (Kirsten Dunst) is the new leader of the Toros, the cheerleading squad of Rancho Carne, an affluent San Diego high school that has lousy football players but one hell of a cheerleading team. National champions, they're the ones who bring in the bodies to the football games with their award-winning moves and sassy grace, and they're poised to take their sixth national cheer title. Torrance's new reign as cheer queen, though, is cut short when she discovers that her snotty, duplicitous forerunner was regularly stealing routines from the East Compton Clovers, the hip-hop influenced cheerleaders of a poor inner city school, and passing them off as the original work of the Toros. Scrambling to come up with a new routine for the Toros--and do the righ! t thing by giving the Clovers their due--Torrance butts heads with the proud and understandably wary Isis (Gabrielle Union), the leader of the Clovers, who wants nothing to do with a rich blond white girl, but does want to get her squad to the championships. Problem is, only one team can take home the national title. Who's it gonna be?

An unexpected box-office hit in the late summer of 2000, Bring It On is a smart, snappy teen comedy that bristles with good cheer (literally) and lively, down-to-earth characters. The story may be fairly predictable (who's going to win the big championship?), but director Peyton Reed and screenwriter Jessica Bendinger have fleshed out their characters with formidable strength and provided them with sharp dialogue. Dunst is a radiant comedian, projecting warmth, determination, sincerity, and a sublime airheadedness, and Union is an impressive dancer and counterpart to Dunst, matching her admirably despite her limited onscreen time.! An excellent young supporting cast rounds out the film, most ! notably Eliza Dushku (Faith of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Jesse Bradford (Steven Soderbergh's King of the Hill) as siblings new to Rancho Carne, who become Torrance's best friend and potential new boyfriend, respectively. All in all, a pleasantly surprising and intelligent teen movie. Don't miss the opening sequence, a hilarious send-up of all those high school cheerleading routines you had to sit through at boring pep rallies. --Mark EnglehartBring on the spirit, spunk and sass with everyone's favorite cheerleading series in the Bring It On
Collection! All four high-energy, fun Bring It On movies are here: Bring It On, starring Kirsten Dunst; the hilarious sequel Bring It On Again; the elecChristina Milian stars as sassy cheer captain Lina Cruz, whose world is turned upside-down when her family moves from the urban streets of East Los Angeles to the sunny beach town of Malibu. At her new school, Lina clashes with Avery, the ultra-competitive all-star chee! r captain, while also falling for Avery̢۪s super-cute brother, Evan. Lina̢۪s always been able to rise to a challenge, but can she create a new all-star squad, beat Avery at the Spirit Championships, and still keep her romance with Evan? Hot music, fierce competition and high-flyin̢۪ fun continue in this all-new movie!Like its predecessors in the Bring It On franchise, Bring It On: Fight to the Finish focuses on a perky cheerleader who's taken out of her comfort zone and ends up excelling in her new environment. This time around, the focus is on Lina Cruz (singer Christina Milian), whose family moves from East Los Angeles to Malibu. The streetwise teen makes an instant frenemy of alpha female Avery (Rachele Brooke Smith)--also a cheerleader--at her new school. Never mind that the two girls don't get along. There's more drama when Lina and Avery's brother Evan (Cody Longo) fall for each other. Though Lina describes her new classmates as living "lifestyles! of the rich and annoying" and Avery refers to Lina and her La! tina fri ends as "illegal cheermigrants," the two really aren't that different. Both live for cheerleading and are super driven when it comes to their sport of choice. The viewer gets the impression that if both girls shared the same ethnicity (or at least a similar bank account), they'd be besties at school. The Bring It On franchise was spawned by Kirsten Dunst's hit film from 2000, which clearly had better writing and acting, as well as a larger budget to work with. While films like Bring It On: Fight to the Finish aren't going to win any awards, they do have an appeal to teenage girls and/or cheerleading fans. The plot really doesn't matter so much as the cheerleading choreography and the driving music behind it. And there's plenty of both in this production. --Jae-Ha Kim

Stills from Bring it On: Fight to the Finish (Click for larger image)


Cohesive Men's Wall Street Henley, Dark Lilac, XX-Large

  • Henley
  • Cotton
Welcome to the Blues and mystery of Dark Streets. Chaz Davenport (Gabriel Mann) is a dashing playboy who has it all: a hot nightclub, two glamorous singers (Bijou Phillips, Izabella Miko) and the most seductive music ever created playing from his stage. But when he enlists help to look into the sinister circumstances surrounding his father's death, Davenport's life spirals out of control. Dark, sexy and sensuous, this music-driven journey smolders with a smoking hot score and a soundtrack that includes 9 original songs with vocal performances by Solomon Burke, Natalie Cole, Etta James, Dr. John, Aaron Neville, Bijou Phillips, Richie Sambora, Toledo and More!After an FBI agent is shot, his friend must handle the caseload and avenge his death.

This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

This disc is expected to play back in DVD Video \"play only\" devices, and may not play in other DVD devices, including recorders and PC drives.

Henley shirt

Alexander, Revisited - The Final Cut [Blu-ray]

  • Now available is an all new and completely unrated version of Oliver Stone's incredible epic film, loaded with nearly 40 minutes of additional never-before-seen footage, that takes the film to a new level of realism and intensity. Restructured and expanded into two acts with one intermission, Oliver Stone's vision is delivered the way he originally conceived and intended. With the new, unrated and
Now available is an all new and completely unrated version of Oliver Stone's incredible epic film, loaded with nearly 40 minutes of additional never-before-seen footage, that takes the film to a new level of realism and intensity. Restructured and expanded into two acts with one intermission, Oliver Stone's vision is delivered the way he originally conceived and intended. With the new, unrated and graphic battle scenes and unadulterated sensuality, it's the movie you couldn't see in theatres, now av! ailable on DVD for the very first time!

DVD Features:
Introduction
Theatrical Trailer

For better or worse (and in this case, it's mostly for better), Oliver Stone's Alexander Revisited should stand as the definitive version of Stone's much-maligned epic about the great Asian conqueror. Following the DVD release of his previous Director's Cut, Stone offers a video introduction here, explaining why he felt a third and final attempt at refining his film was necessary. Essentially, he's using this opportunity to re-create the "road show" format of the Biblical epics of the 1950s and '60s, with a three-and-a-half-hour running time (with an intermission at the two-hour mark) including 45 minutes of previously unseen footage. Stone has also significantly restructured the film, resulting in substantial (if not exactly redemptive) improvements in its narrative flow. Alexander (played in a torrent of emotions by Colin Farrell) is dying as th! e film opens, his final moments serving to bookend the film's ! epic sto ry, which incorporates flashback sequences to flesh out the Macedonian king's back-story involving the turbulent battle of fate between his father, King Philip (Val Kilmer) and his scheming sorceress mother Olympia (Angelina Jolie, ridiculous accent and all), who insists that Alexander is literally a child of the gods.

In Stone's final cut, epic battles remain chaotic (although Alexander's strategy is somewhat easier to follow, with on-screen titles indicating left, right, and center during his army's greatest maneuvers) and the ultra-violent battles are more graphically gory than ever (hence their "unrated" status). The animalistic lovemaking of Alexander and his barbarian bride Roxana (Rosario Dawson) is slightly extended (with Dawson as ravishing as ever), and Stone's additional footage also improves the overall arc of Alexander's relationship with his closest generals and male companions, although his most intimate homosexual encounters remain mostly discreet.! As Alexander Revisited makes clear, the film's weaknesses remain unavoidable, but Stone deserves credit for recognizing how a longer running time, and more disciplined narrative structure, would bring Alexander closer to the respect it never earned from critics and filmgoers alike. This is unquestionably a better film than it used to be, leaving us to wonder why it took three separate efforts to shape Alexander into its best possible presentation. --Jeff Shannon

De-lovely : The Cole Porter Story : Widescreen Special Edition

  • Widescreen
"The most unusual and enchanting musical in years" (Roger Ebert), this cinematic ode to legendary composer Cole Porter is at once buoyantly fun and "heartbreakingly beautiful" (Liz Smith). OscarÂ(r) winner* Kevin Kline (The Ice Storm) is "perfection" (Rolling Stone) as the elegant and deeply complex Porter in a film that offers "knockout performances" (Gene Shalit) from Natalie Cole, Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Diana Krall, Alanis Morissette and Robbie Williams, and "melancholy, wit and style to burn" (The Philadelphia Inquirer)! From Paris to Venice to Broadway to Hollywood, the lives of Cole (Kline) and Linda (Ashley Judd) Porter were never less thanglamorous and wildly unconventional. Though Cole's thirst for life strained their marriage, Linda never stopped being his muse, inspiring some of the greatest songs of the twentieth century.*1988: Supporting Actor, A Fish Called Wa! ndaIt's astonishing that one man could have written so many memorable songs, but musical gems keep popping up in De-Lovely, about the life and loves of Cole Porter. Played by Kevin Kline (In & Out, A Fish Called Wanda), an elderly Porter is summoned by a mysterious director (Jonathan Pryce, Brazil) to view his own story, which unfolds as a series of theatrical tableaux. The movie is open (if a bit chaste) about Porter's homosexuality, but argues that the love of his life was still his devoted platonic relationship with Linda Lee (Ashley Judd, Ruby in Paradise, Kiss the Girls). Unfortunately, the narrative suffers from the fate of many biographies; by trying to cram in a person's entire life, it ends up a collection of snapshots without depth or context. The parade of celebrity singers (Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow) were apparently chosen for their jarringly modern vocal mannerisms. --Bret FetzerStudio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Da! te: 04/05/2011 Rating: Pg13European version of 19-track sound! track in cludes the bonus track 'Easy To Love' - Kevin Kline. Columbia.At first glance, the approach picked for De-Lovely will be familiar to those who already own Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter. On both albums, contemporary pop stars cover classics by Porter. But many of the interpretations on Red Hot + Blue were modernized, whereas the approach on De-Lovely is more traditional---it's the soundtrack to a biopic about Porter, after all, so a classic (though not quite period) sound prevails. What's surprising is how well many of the singers handle the songs without the crutch of a contemporary pop retooling. Who would have thought that Alanis Morissette had such a natural affinity for "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)," for instance? She fares equally well in her screen cameo, whereas Diana Krall sounds superb on "Just One of Those Things" but looks horribly uncomfortable in the film. Other good surprises include Robbie Williams's "It's De-Lovely! " and Kevin Kline as Porter, coming across as a more tuneful Rex Harrison. Elvis Costello, meanwhile, confirms he's a better songwriter than singer, and as Linda Porter, Ashley Judd is hesitant at best. In a nice touch, a recording of Cole Porter himself performing "You're the Top" provides the album's coda. --Elisabeth Vincentellidvd

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