This Week's Top Pick:
The Secret in Their Eyes Recently retired criminal court investigator Benjamin (Ricardo Darin) decides to write a novel based on a 25-year-old unresolved case that still haunts him: In the early 1970s -- a time in Argentine history when a military junta ruled the country, waging a Dirty War against the people in which citizens just "disappeared" -- a beautiful young newlywed was raped and murdered in her home while her husband worked at a bank. Benjamin shares his plans with Irene (Soledad Villamil), the beautiful judge and former colleague he has secretly been in love with for years. Benjamin's initial involvement with the case is shown through flashbacks, following his efforts to identify the murderer. But as the mystery of the heinous crime continues to unfold in the present, his search for the truth will put him at the center of a judicial nightmare and will test the limits of a man seeking justice and personal fulfillment at last. A stunning tour-de-force that explores the depths of human emotions -- love, fear, loneliness, yearning, hate -- disguised as a police procedural mystery that effortlessly juggles romance, comedy, suspense and political commentary. Academy Award-winner for Best Foreign-Language Film. In Spanish with English subtitles. Vitals: Director: Juan Jose Campanella. Stars: Ricardo Darin, Soledad Villamil, Pablo Rago, Javier Godino, Guillermo Francella. 2009, CC, MPAA rating: R, 129 min., Drama, Box office gross: $5.876 million, Sony.
THIS WEEK'S DVD RELEASES:
Alien Autopsy (2006) Anthony McPartlin, Declan Donnelly, Bill Pullma, Harry Dean Stanton. Based on a true story, this quirky film centers around two guys who believe they have film evidence about an alien cover-up and government conspiracy regarding the famed Roswell incident in 1947 (In July 1947, the U.S. military issued a press release announcing that an "unidentified flying object" had crash landed on a remote estate outside of Roswell, New Mexico. Four hours later, they retracted the story, stating that in fact the debris was that of a weather balloon. The retraction sparked one of the biggest conspiracy theories of the 20th Century. Rumors were rife of an autopsy carried out on alien life forms carried away from the scene). What ensues is nothing short of a rollercoaster ride for the two unlikely lads from London. Extras: Deleted scenes, alternate opening, "The Making of Ant & Dec's Alien Autopsy," outtakes, commentary by director Jonny Campell. (Warner).
Castle: The Complete Second Season (2009-10) Five-disc set with 24 episodes, $45.99. Extras: "On Set With Seamus & Jon," "On Location With Nathan," "Manhattan's Most Unusual Murders," deleted scenes, "Misdemeanors: Bloopers & Outtakes." (Disney).
Community: The Complete First Season (2009-10) Four-disc set with 25 episodes, $39.95. Extras: Commentary on every episode; extended Cuts of "Pilot" and "Communication Studies" episodes; outtakes; Season One cast evaluations; Season One highlight reel; "Creative Compromises" featurette; "Advanced Criminal Law" alternative scenes; three mini-episodes; an exclusive comic book called "Kickpuncher," a 12-page, full-color collectible illustrated by famed muralist and comic book artist Jim Mahfood, which follows the adventures of Kickpuncher, a crime-fighting superhero created from the mind of Troy Barnes. (Sony).
Designing Women: The Complete Fourth Season (1989-90) Four-disc set with 27 episodes, $44.99. (Shout! Factory).
Desperate Housewives: The Complete Sixth Season (2009-10) Five-disc set with 23 episodes, $54.99. Extras: Bloopers, deleted scenes, "Cherry Picked": creator Marc Cherry's favorite scenes, "Master Class" behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with cast and crew, "Miss Piggy Gets Desperate" featurette in which Miss Piggy, accompanied by her producer Pepe, meets the ladies of Wisteria lane to find out "their story." (Disney).
Directors: Life Behind the Camera (2009) Features 33 legendary directors who reveal intimate and in-depth knowledge about the art of filmmaking and, as well, their own career in the movies. Culled from over 300 hours of interviews, this two-disc, four hour presentation is totally interactive, allowing instant access to a single director, or access to an entire topic involving all directors. Also included are film clips, interviews with guest actors and industry veterans, and biographies and interesting facts about each director. Robert Altman, Nora Ephron, Penny Marshall, Robert Benton, William Friedkin, Sydney Pollack, Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, Rob Reiner, James Cameron, Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, Chris Columbus, Lawrence Kasdan, Ridley Scott, Wes Craven, Spike Lee, Tony Scott, Cameron Crowe, Barry Levinson, Bryan Singer, Frank Darabont, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Jonathan Demme, David Lynch, Oliver Stone, Richard Donner, Adrian Lyne, Robert Zemeckis, Clint Eastwood, Garry Marshall, David Zucker. $29.95. (First Run Features).
Eclipse Series 24: The Actuality Dramas of Allan King. Canadian director Allan King is one of cinema's best-kept secrets. Over the course of 50 years, King shuttled between features and shorts, big-screen cinema and episodic television, comedy and drama, fiction and nonfiction. Within this remarkably varied career, it was with his cinema-verite-style documentaries -- his "actuality dramas," as he called them -- that he left his greatest mark on film history. These startlingly intimate studies of lives in flux -- emotionally troubled children, warring spouses, and the terminally ill -- are riveting, at times emotionally overwhelming, and always depicted without narration or interviews. Humane, cathartic, and important, Allan King's spontaneous portraits of the everyday demand to be seen. Includes "Warrendale" (1967, about a home for psychologically disturbed young people), "A Married Couple" (1969, a jaw-dropping documentary of a marriage gone haywire), "Come On Children" (1972, 10 teenagers -- five boys and five girls -- leave behind parents, school, and all other authority figures to live on a farm for 10 weeks), "Dying at Grace" (2003, five terminally ill cancer patients allowed the director access to their final months and days inside the Toronto Grace Health Care Center), "Memory for Max, Claire, Ida and Company" (2005, follows the daily routines of eight patients suffering from dementia and memory loss in a home for geriatric care); $69.95. (The Criterion Collection).
The Experiment (2010) Adrien Brody, Forest Whitaker, Clifton Collins Jr., Cam Gigandet, Maggie Grace. Selected to participate in a two-week research project, a group of men agree to play inmates and guards in a simulation of life within a state prison. But as the 24 volunteers slip deeper into their roles, power corrupts, fears escalate and the experiment spins horribly out of control. Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (Sony).
Gamera vs. Gyaos/Gamera vs. Viras Double Features Collector's Edition. Featuring all-new anamorphic widescreen transfers, each Double-Feature DVD set includes both the original Japanese and infamous English dubbed versions of each film along with publicity galleries. $19.93. (Shout! Factory).
Gamera vs. Guiron/Gamera vs. Jiger Double Features Collector's Edition. Featuring all-new anamorphic widescreen transfers, each Double-Feature DVD set includes both the original Japanese and infamous English dubbed versions of each film along with publicity galleries. $19.93. (Shout! Factory).
He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown (1968) Includes the "Life Is a Circus, Charlie Brown" TV special, bonus feature "Snoopy's Ice Home: The Story of the Redwood Empire Ice Arena," $19.98. (Warner).
How I Met Your Mother Season Five (2009-10) Three-disc set with 24 episodes, $39.98. Extras: Trailer for "The Wedding Bride," the fictional film based on an exaggerated and one-sided version of Ted's breakup with Stella from Season 4; behind the scenes of the 100th episode; a blopper/gag reel; commentary. (Fox).
Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train -- Special Commemorative Edition. This acclaimed film looks at the amazing life of the renowned historian, activist and author. Following his early days as a shipyard labor organizer and bombardier in World War II, Zinn became an academic rebel and leader of civil disobedience in a time of institutionalized racism and war. His influential writings shine light on and bring voice to factory workers, immigrant laborers, African Americans, Native Americans and the working poor. Narrated by Matt Damon with music by Pearl Jam, Woody Guthrie and Billy Bragg. Extras: Bonus speeches and interviews (Zinn on power and war, philosophy, civil rights and labor activism; excerpts with Studs Terkel; college talks; off-the-cuff interviews), Zinn's Recommended reading list, speech transcripts, Daniel Ellsberg's "A Memory of Howard Zinn." $24.95. (First Run Features).
Human Target: The Complete First Season (2010) Three-disc set with 12 episodes, $39.98. Extras: Two featurettes, gag reel, commentary. $39.98. Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (Warner).
The Hunger: The Taste of Terror. Two-disc set with six episodes from the erotically charged horror series, $14.98. (E1 Entertainment).
Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth With Bill Moyers. When celebrated scholar Joseph Campbell sat down with veteran journalist Bill Moyers for a discussion about his life's work, the series brought Campbell's theories into popular culture and led to a bestselling companion book. This two-volume DVD boxed set includes several bonus features with selections from Moyers' interview with George Lucas, who credits Campbell with helping to inspire his creation of "Star Wars"; a 12-page viewers guide; and a never-before-released conversation with Campbell from "Bill Moyer's Journal." These stimulating conversations between inspirational scholar Joseph Campbell and veteran journalist Bill Moyers created a national sensation when they first aired on PBS in 1988. In lively, expansive dialogues, the two men discuss how myths hold the key to understanding human experience. They may vary superficially from culture to culture, but at their deepest level they all reveal the path to self-fulfillment, social integration, and ultimately, transcendence. Campbell and Moyers touch on topics as diverse as world religions, marriage, the virgin birth, and pop culture. $49.99. (Acorn Media/Athena).
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit -- The Eleventh Year (2009-10) Five-disc set with 24 episodes, $59.98. (Universal).
Make Me Young: Youth Knows No Pain (2009) An age-obsessed daughter of a plastic surgeon takes a journey through America's $60 Billion a year anti-aging world. In this Alice in Wonderland documentary, the filmmaker spends two years traveling across America visiting doctors, experts and the lives of a cross-section of characters from Minnesota to Texas who've gone to varying lengths to "beat the clock," to paint a funny but troubling portrait of a country that desperately needs to stay young. Extras: Commentary, extended interviews, behind-the-scenes featurette. (Cinema Libre Studio).
Max & Ruby: Everybunny Loves Winter! (2010) Four new winter-themed episodes, $16.99. (Nick/Paramount).
The Mentalist: The Complete Second Season (2009-10) Five-disc set with 23 episodes, $59.98. Extras: "Art of a Mentalist," "Mentalism -- A Subliminal Art" (11 pods with cast and producer), deleted scenes. (Warner).
Middletown (1982) Six-part PBS series documents middle-class life, American values and customs in "Middletown" -- a.k.a. Muncie, Indiana. Inspired by the immensely influential Depression-era sociological studies by Robert and Helen Lynd -- "Middletown: A Study in Modern American Culture" (1929) and "Middletown in Transition: A Study in Cultural Conflicts" (1937) -- this series of films made for PBS in 1982 transform the Middletown studies into an unprecedented overview of American life seen through the prisms of local politics ("The Campaign"), high school sports ("The Big Game"), a family business ("Family Business"), religion ("Community of Praise"), marriage and divorce ("Second Time Around") and interracial dating, in the controversial (and originally banned from PBS) Sundance Grand Jury prize winner ("Seventeen"). Four-disc set, $44.98. (Icarus Films).
Modern Family: The Complete First Season (2009-10) Four-disc set with 24 episodes, $49.98. Extras: Cast interviews; behind-the-scenes featurettes ("Real Modern Family Moments," "Before Modern Family," "Fizbo the Clown," "Modern Family: Making of Family Portrait," "Modern Family Hawaii"); deleted, extended and alternate scenes; deleted family interviews; gag reel Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (Fox).
Ondine (2009) Director: Neil Jordan; stars Colin Farrell, Alicja Bachleda, Dervla Kirwan, Alison Barry. The story of an Irish fisherman, Syracuse, who catches a beautiful and mysterious woman in his trawler nets; at first she seems to be dead, but then comes alive before his eyes. With the help of his ailing, yet irrepressible daughter, Annie, he comes to believe that the fantastical might be possible and that the woman (Ondine) might be a myth come true: a mermaid, and soon Ondine and Syracuse fall passionately in love ... until the real world intercedes. Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (Magnolia Home Entertainment).
Petty Blue (2010) Documentary about the life and times of NASCAR Hall of Fame Richard Petty and his extraordinary family; $19.99. Extras: Deleted scenes, bonus interviews, archival footage and interviews from the 1960s. (Paramount).
Robin Hood (2009) Director: Ridley Scott; Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, William Hurt, Mark Strong, Mark Addy, Oscar Isaac, Danny Huston, Kevin Durand, Scott Grimes, Matthew Macfadyen, Eileen Atkins, Simon McBurney, Max von Sydow. Available as a single DVD, two-disc special edition DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack, which all include both the theatrical and unrated director's cut. Extras: "Rise and Rise Again: Making Ridley Scott's Robin Hood," deleted scenes, commentary. Blu-ray adds "Director's Notebook," a seamless multimedia experience focusing on the director's vision; "The Art of Nottingham," a special look at the portfolio of designs generated for the film; digital copy. (Universal).
Saturday Night Live: Best of '09/'10 (2010) Single-disc. Extras: Dress sketches, "Weekend Update Thursday," backstage photos. (Universal).
The Secret in Their Eyes (2009 -- Argentina) Ricardo Darin, Soledad Villamil, Pablo Rago, Javier Godino, Guillermo Francella. Extras: Commentary by director Juan Jose Campanella, "Behind the Scenes of The Secret in Their Eyes" featurette, "Casting The Secret in Their Eyes" featurette. Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (Sony).
The Secret of Moonacre (2008) Dakota Blue Richards, Juliet Stevenson, Tim Curry, Ioan Gruffudd. Director Gabor Csupo ("Bridge to Terabithia," "The Rugrats") brings to life Elizabeth Goudge's Carnegie Medal-winning fantasy-adventure novel 'The Little White Horse." After 13-year-old Maria Merryweather's father dies, she is left orphaned and homeless and is forced to leave her luxurious London life to go and live at the mysterious Moonacre Manor with her eccentric uncle Sir Benjamin. Soon Maria finds herself in a crumbling moonlit world and discovers that she is the last Moon Princess and she must unearth the secrets of her past before the 5000th moon rises and Moonacre disappears forever. Extras: Making of featurette, deleted scenes, interviews. Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (Entertainment One).
Spartacus: Blood and Sand -- The Complete First Season (2010) Four-disc set with 13 episodes, $59.97. Extras: Featurettes, commentaries, behind-the-scenes footage, bloopers. Also available on Blu-ray Disc, which adds four "Directors' Cut Extended Episodes" selected by executive producer Rob Tapert. (Anchor Bay).
Stomp the Yard: Homecoming (2010) Collins Pennie, Keith David, Edward Bryan, Pooch Hall, Kiely Williams. Sequel follows Chance Harris (Pennie) as he tries to find a balance between his school, work, relationships and the opportunity to perform at the nationally televised step competition during homecoming weekend. Extras: Featurette, commentary, deleted scenes. Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (Sony).
30 Rock: Season 4 (2009-10) Three-disc set with 22 episodes, $49.98. (Universal).
Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue (2010) Original full-length CG-animated film explores the Tinker Bell "backstory." Voices: Kristin Chenoweth, Michael Sheen, Mae Whitman, Jesse McCartney, Lucy Liu, Raven-Symone. Available as a single-disc DVD ($29.99) and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack ($39.99). (Disney).
Tom and Jerry's Greatest Chases Volume 5. Single-disc with 14 animated adventures, 14.97. (Warner).
Triple Dog (2009) Brittany Robertson, Alexia Fast, Scout Taylor Compton, Janel Parrish, Carly McKillip, Emily Tennant, Brett Davern, Nolan Funk. A group of teenage girls at a sweet 16 sleepover party participate in an escalating game of truth or dare that unravels the truth behind a former student's rumored suicide. Extras: Deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes interviews, photo gallery. Also available on Blu-ray Disc. (Well Go USA).
Two and a Half Men: The Complete Seventh Season (2009-10) Three-disc set with 22 episodes, $44.98. Extras: "A Charlie Harper Ex Reunion" featurette, gag reel. (Warner).
(Untitled) (2009) Adam Goldberg, Marley Shelton, Vinnie Jones, and Lucy Punch. Contemporary art gallerist Madeleine falls for Adrian, a brooding new music composer in this comic satire of modern art. The two struggle to find their own artistic success as the streets of Manhattan bombard them with artists, from Adrian's commercial brother to those who use taxidermy and household objects. (Screen Media).
The dust has settled, the election signs have been harvested, and the post election hangovers subsided. Now all the candidates can go back and examine what they did right and more importantly, what they did wrong. It's easy to say you ran the best possible campaign, but lets be truthful about the situation. In an election to fill one position, only one person ran the best possible campaign. In this election, Ian Paton Jr. holds that title.
Delta, B.C. - Come on down to George Mackie Library this Wednesday evening as our very own columnist Alex Sangha will read from his first book entitled, "Imagine: Ideas that Challenge the Status Quo"
As the polls trickled in yesterday evening, it was easy to see early that Ian Paton was going to be the man to beat. His lead started the moment the advanced polls were announced but with many more polls to come in, anything could happen. Well that anything was an impressive sweep of all six Ladner polling stations and the advanced polls.