Nick’s Picks 10/24/12

DVD MOVIE REVIEWS

FREE DVD GIVEAWAY

We are doing a Free DVD Giveaway! If you are interested in a chance at winning a free copy of Invisible War, Rites of Passage, Magic Mike, Blue Bloods: Season Two, Touched by an Angel: Season Six, Beverly Hills 90210: Season Four, Hawaii Five-O: Season Two or Bonanza: Season Four, it is really easy! All you have to do is send me an email at HoustonMovieGuy@gmail.com. The subject line of the email should read DVD GIVEAWAY. In the body of the email, be sure to put your name, full mailing address and which DVD or Blu-ray you would like. Winners will be selected by random drawing. Best of luck!

INVISIBLE WAR – Docurama

From Oscar and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Kirby Dick comes The Invisible War, a groundbreaking investigative documentary about one of America’s most shameful and best-kept secrets: the epidemic of rape within the U.S. military. The film paints a startling picture of the extent of the problem – today, a female soldier in combat zones is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. Twenty percent of all active-duty female servicewomen are sexually assaulted. Profoundly moving, the film follows the stories of several idealistic young servicewomen who were raped and then betrayed by their own officers when they courageously came forward to report. Both a rallying cry for the hundreds of thousands of men and women who’ve been assaulted and a hopeful road map for change, The Invisible War is one of those rare films so powerful it has already helped change military policy.

RITES OF PASSAGE – Magnolia

Nathan (Ryan Donowho), an anthropology student, invites a few of his classmates and their professor (Stephen Dorff) to his family’s abandoned ranch once a sacred Chumash burial ground to recreate an ancient ceremony. There they meet Nathan’s psychotic older brother Benny (Wes Bentley) and drug fueled Delgado (Christian Slater). The students then embark on a rite of passage that no one will ever forget.

MAGIC MIKE – Warner

Academy Award winning director Steven Soderbergh unveils the story of Mike (Channing Tatum), an entrepreneur with many talents and loads of charm. Mike spends his days pursuing the American Dream, from roofing houses and detailing cars to designing furniture at his Tampa beach condo. But at night.he’s just magic. The hot headliner in an all-male revue, Magic Mike has been rocking the stage at Club Xquisite for years with his original style and over-the-top dance moves. Magic Mike features the hottest cast of the year: Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer and Matthew McConaughey.

BLUE BLOODS: Season Two – CBS Paramount

Blue Bloods is a drama about a multi-generational family of cops dedicated to New York City law enforcement. Frank Reagan is the New York Police Commissioner and heads both the police force and the Reagan brood. He runs his department as diplomatically as he runs his family, even when dealing with the politics that plagued his unapologetically bold father, Henry, during his stint as commissioner. A source of pride and concern for Frank is his eldest son Danny, a seasoned detective, family man, and Iraqi War vet who on occasion uses dubious tactics to solve cases. The sole Reagan woman in the family, Erin, is a N.Y. Assistant D.A. and newly single parent, who also serves as the legal compass for her siblings and father. Jamie is the youngest Reagan, fresh out of Harvard Law and the family’s “golden boy;” however, unable to deny the family tradition, Jamie decided to give up a lucrative future in law and is now a newly minted cop.

TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL: Season Six – CBS Paramount

A trio of angels Monica (Roma Downey), Tess (Della Reese), and Andrew (John Dye) are dispatched from heaven with a special mission: to inspire people facing sometimes unseen crossroads in their lives. Monica, an angel who at times still needs some guidance with her earthly assignments, reports to Tess, her tough, wise and always loving supervisor. Also on hand is Andrew, who, in addition to his duties as the Angel of Death, now helps out as a caseworker on various assignments. Gloria, an angel for the 21st century, continues to seek guidance from Monica performing her angelic duties. While the angels may not bring solutions to every problem, they always deliver a message of hope.

90210: Season Four – CBS Paramount

The fourth season of 90210 follows the group from West Beverly kids as they navigate life after high school. Their journey into adulthood will find them heading in different directions while trying to keep the same closeness that worked so well for them in high school. Coming from a world of glamour and privilege, with endless possibilities in front of them, anything can happen. All in all, it’s just another day in the world’s most famous zip code.

HAWAII FIVE-O: Season Two – CBS Paramount

Hawaii Five-O is a contemporary take on the classic series about a new elite federalized task force whose mission is to wipe out the crime that washes up on the Islands’ sun-drenched beaches. The new Steve McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin) is an ex-Navy Seal who dives into foot chases, gunfights, and dangerous situations whenever possible. His number two, Dan Williams (Scott Caan), is a New Jersey transplant who plays dyspeptic foil to McGarrett’s impetuous and often illegal whims in the name of crime fighting. Chin Ho Kelly (Daniel Dae Kim) is a disgraced cop brought back to the job by McGarrett, and Kono (Grace Park) has transformed from a hulking bruiser into a swimsuit model fresh out of the academy and with martial arts moves galore.

BONANZA: Season Four – CBS Paramount

Bonanza followed the High-Sierra adventures of the Cartwright family – wise patriarch Ben Cartwright and his three dissimilar sons, Adam, Hoss and Little Joe – as they attempt to maintain and operate their sprawling timberland ranch, the Ponderosa, in an era of violence and lawlessness in mid-1800’s Nevada.

BRIAN WILSON: Songwriter 1969-1982 – MVD

Following Sexy Intellectual’s previous film about Brian Wilson’s magnificent craft; Songwriter 1962 – 1969, comes this companion piece covering the maverick composer’s life and work throughout the 1970s. While this latter part of his career is rarely championed with the same kind of enthusiasm that greets his 1960s productions, it remains an essential part of Brian’s story and contains many, many moments of glory which compare favourably to those which litter the era generally considered his heyday.

THE AMBASSADOR – Image

The Ambassador, a darkly comic, genre-bending documentary that exposes the controversial business of selling diplomatic titles that gives wealthy businessmen the opportunity to exploit the lucrative and limited resources of war torn, third world nations. Filmmaker/journalist/provocateur Mads Brügger uses humor in his jaw-dropping descent into one of the most dangerous places on the planet: the Central African Republic. From each absurdly terrifying and hilarious situation to the next, The Ambassador is a one-of-a-kind excursion from the man called the most provocative filmmaker in the world.

FANTASY ISLAND: Season Three – Shout Factory

Smiles, everyone, smiles! Fantasy Island, the long-running and wildly popular series, is back for another season of making dreams a reality. Each week two guests arrived on Fantasy Island to have their wishes and fantasies fulfilled. Their mysterious host, the debonair and suave white-suited Mr. Roarke (Ricardo Montalban), along with his energetic sidekick Tatoo (Herve Villechaize), would conjure up the amazing and sometimes the impossible to grant their wishes . . . but there was always a twist that would lead the guest to some unexpected conclusions.

247 DEGREES F – Anchor Bay

When four friends travel to a lakeside cabin for a carefree weekend the fun turns into a nightmare when three of them end up locked in a hot sauna. Every minute counts and every degree matters as they fight for their lives in heat that is quickly approaching the deadly limit of 247-F.

THE SLUT – Strand Releasing

Tamar, an attractive single mother, lives alone in a small village with her two daughters. Unsatisfied, she attempts to fill her many voids through meaningless sexual rendezvous. Her promiscuity is challenged, however, when she meets Shai, a young man just passing through to handle his deceased mother s assets. The two embark on an intense relationship in a quest for freedom and fulfillment and learn that the path to love involves more than just sexual chemistry.

PERRY MASON: Season Seven – CBS Paramount

Perry Mason, the popular TV franchise that inspired a genre of courtroom dramas returns with the second half of the seventh season. Raymond Burr continues igniting the screen as a brilliant attorney who will stop at nothing to crack the most impossible cases to uncover the truth.

THE SECRET OF THE WINGS – Disney

From the world of Disney fairies comes an all-new movie for the whole family that unlocks an amazing secret about Tinker Bell that will change her life forever. Join Tinker Bell and the rest of your favorite fairies in a magical adventure that leads them to discover a new winter fairy world and reveals new winter fairy characters. As in Disney’s other Tinker Bell adventures, the animated world of Secret of the Wings is absolutely gorgeous, whether you’re watching it in 3-D or not, and Tinker Bell’s quirky mix of curiosity, innocence, and headstrong stubbornness is always entertaining.

CHECK IT OUT: Season 1 & 2 – Adult Swim

Produced by John C. Reilly and Absolutely Productions, Check It Out: Season 1 and 2 includes all 12 episodes that parody a local market’s newsmagazine show starring Oscar-nomineer John C. Reilly as Dr. Steve Brule. With each episode our host Dr. Brule introduces his audience to local celebrities and interesting things around town as well a providing health and lifestyle tips.

A FOOTBALL LIFE: Season One – Vivendi

NFL Films showcases the lives and careers of NFL legends in the first season of the hit NFL Network series, A Football Life. Starting with a two-part look inside the mind of New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and continuing through a gallery of storied players, coaches and executives, this four-DVD set captures the essence of what it is like to achieve the highest levels of success amidst the pressure-cooker world of the National Football League. What drove Kurt Warner to persevere when his career seemed at a dead end? How did Tom Landry reinvent the pro game using an engineer’s perspective? Why did running back Walter Payton, once deemed too small and too slow, become the greatest running back of all time? These questions and more are answered with unprecedented access, insights from exclusive interviews and a stunning bonus disc containing the comprehensive Steve Sabol interview with Al Davis. A Football Life – Season 1 is an essential watch for any football fan.

SOMETHING BIG – CBS Paramount

Joe Baker has a dream. He wants to do ‘something big.’ When he needs a Gatling gun to accomplish this, he seeks out a black marketeer. The price he wants for the gun? A woman! So Baker kidnaps a woman off of the stagecoach, only to find that she is the wife of the commandant of the local Cavalry detachment. Things get further complicated when a girl named Dover McBride shows up. She has come to force Baker to marry her and return east, as he promised to do four years earlier.

SOUND OF MY VOICE – Fox

Brit Marling is intoxicating and stirring in the year’s most talked-about psychological thriller. A filmmaker (Christopher Denham) and his girlfriend (Nicole Vicius) set out to expose the beautiful leader of a cult (Marling), who claims to be from the future. But the more they explore, the more danger they face in this an intricate and taut thriller from writer-actress Marling and writer-director Zal Batmanglij.

THE PRINCESS BRIDE – Fox

Screenwriter William Goldman’s novel The Princess Bride earned its own loyal audience on the strength of its narrative voice and its gently satirical, hyperbolic spin on swashbuckled adventure that seemed almost purely literary. For all its derring-do and vivid over-the-top characters, the book’s joy was dictated as much by the deadpan tone of its narrator and a winking acknowledgement of the clichés being sent up. Miraculously, director Rob Reiner and Goldman himself managed to visualize this romantic fable while keeping that external voice largely intact: using a storytelling framework, avuncular Grandpa (Peter Falk) gradually seduces his skeptical grandson (Fred Savage) into the absurd, irresistible melodrama of the title story.

PROMETHEUS – Fox

You want an alien world created anew, with wonders and horrors lurking in its furrows? You go to Ridley Scott, of course, spectacle maker and pictorialist par excellence. So Prometheus is bound to be eye filling, with fully wrought planetary vistas and occasionally jaw-dropping visual coups. And did we use the word alien back there? Yes, folks, Prometheus is a prequel, in a sideways sort of fashion, to Scott’s 1979 Alien original–or at least it’s a long-distant stage setter for that story. This one begins with a space mission that could reveal the extraterrestrial roots of Earth, although what’s buried out on the planet turns out to be much more complicated than expected.

TV TOONS TO GO – Mill Creek

TV Tunes To Go is fully loaded with over 40 hours of fun across 110 EPISODES from popular TV shows spanning 10 DVD’s housed in an incredibly wonderful tin travel case! Travel case included for easy, convenient, organized entertainment on the go!

AIRBORNE – Image

When a storm starts closing in, air traffic controller Malcolm (Mark Hamill) sends one last plane into the sky – but after takeoff, the passengers aboard discover the pilots have been brutally murdered. Suddenly the plane disappears from radar, and one by one, the people aboard turn into dangerous, bloody psychopaths. With time running out, the survivors must unlock the deadly mystery in their midst – and find a way to land the plane before their ultimate nightmare is unleashed!

BONES: Season Seven – Fox

Experience People’s Choice Awards nominee Bones* in a whole new way with never-before-seen footage not available anywhere else! While she tackles some of her most gruesome homicide cases yet, Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) also faces the delicate demands of motherhood, and a deepening relationship with FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz). The thrills escalate this season when a pastor’s wife goes missing, shipping clerks go postal, and the squints go Hollywood. But the biggest shocker of all comes when clues left by a deranged cyber genius tag Brennan as a murder suspect. Here are all 13 Season 7 episodes with plot twists, mystery, romance and humor to die for!

BEDEVILLED – WellGo

Hae-won (Seong-won Ji) is a woman on the edge: a series of incidents at work earn her a forced vacation, but when she travels to a remote island from a childhood visit, at the urgent request of her friend Kim Bok-nam (Yeong-hie Seo), she has no idea what devils of the past are waiting. Moo-do Island is an unpleasant place to visit, and you definitely don t want to live there. Bok-nam is crumbling under a weight of violence, sexual menace, and fear with no means of escaping her tormentors. The vengeful rage that waits inside her is growing, and her sanity shredding. If Hae-won can t help her escape, she may have to take matters into her own hands, once and for all.

SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD – Universal

Steve Carell and Keira Knightley lead an all-star cast in this clever and heartwarming comedy that explores the crazy things people do when humanity’s last days are at hand. Set in a too-near future, two neighbors, Dodge (Carell) and Penny (Knightley), react in their own unique ways to the announcement that a 70-mile-wide asteroid is en route to the Earth. He wants to return to his first love. She just wants to get back to her family. As the unlikely companions’ respective journeys converge, their outlooks – if not the world’s – brighten in surprising and hilarious ways. The feature directorial debut of screenwriter Lorene Scafaria.

SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY – Criterion

Where or where have the more mature movies gone? We need more films that have depth and perspective, such as Sunday Bloody Sunday. This film was directed by John Schlesinger and focuses on a love triangle with three folks from London and presents a very real treatment of homosexual relationships and how those relationships are navigated. Peter Finch, Murray Head and Glenda Jackson star in this incredibly touching and yet troubling film. What does commitment mean and how do you guage the certainty of love? Sunday Bloody Sunday is drama that is simply intrenched in the complexities of human behavior and is simply a brilliant film!

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Posted by FortBendStar on Oct 24 2012. Filed under Nick's Picks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.