Monday, November 7, 2011

50 Dead Men Walking

  • Belfast hoodlum Martin (Jim Sturgess) is recruited by a British agent (BenKingsley) to infiltrate the IRA during the height of the Northern Irish conflict and quickly becomes embroiled in a dangerous game that could cost him his life if his secret is found out. As other informers are brutally murdered, Martin starts to look for away out, but his handler urges him to stay undercover in this taut ac
Belfast hoodlum Martin (Jim Sturgess) is recruited by a British agent (Ben Kingsley) to infiltrate the IRA during the height of the Northern Irish conflict and quickly becomes embroiled in a dangerous game that could cost him his life if his secret is found out. As other informers are brutally murdered, Martin starts to look for a way out, but his handler urges him to stay undercover in this taut action packed thriller based on a true story.In her nerve-jangling adaptation of Martin McGartland's mem! oir, director Kari Skogland takes the politics out of an inherently political scenario. As Martin, Jim Sturgess (21) affects a convincing accent as a "Catholic hood selling stolen goods" in Belfast in 1988. When the British Special Branch catches Martin in the act and coerces him to inform on the Irish Republican Army in lieu of jail time, he takes the bait, knowing full well the army will kill him if they find out. Once his girlfriend, Lara (Natalie Press), becomes pregnant, the income the British provide becomes more necessary than ever. Further, Martin's sympathetic handler, Fergus (Ben Kingsley in fine form), turns out to be even more of an ally than his best mate, Sean (Kevin Zegers). During Martin's days with the IRA, he also meets the flame-haired Grace (Rose McGowan in an underwritten role), who offers him a vision of a different life. The title refers to the belief that Martin's intelligence saved the lives of 50 potential targets, though the film suggests h! e acted more out of self-interest than a sense of duty. It's a! lso hard to imagine that anyone raised in Northern Ireland could remain so resolutely apolitical--but it isn't inconceivable either. The real-life informer survived where many others did not, though he's been living under an assumed name since. Extras include deleted scenes, 30 minutes of fairly unilluminating B-roll (unused) footage, and commentary from Skogland, who states, "Ultimately, this movie is not a political story; this is a human drama." --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Grand Canyon: The Complete Guide: Grand Canyon National Park

  • ISBN13: 9780982517215
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Filled with beautiful color photographs, this award-winning guidebook reveals the best of America's most famous national park. Grand Canyon: The Complete Guide equips travelers with detailed maps, travel tips, and extensive listings for lodging, camping, and sightseeing. From river rafting to mule rides, Grand Canyon is filled with adventures. But without careful planning, a trip there can be overwhelming. This guide divides Grand Canyon into sections--the South Rim, North Rim, Colorado River, and Havasu Canyon--and offers invaluable tips on enjoying the park's highlights while avoiding the crowds. The park's most popular hiking trails are covered in detail, and outfitters for backpacking, ! mule rides, and whitewater rafting are listed. Carefully researched chapters about the park's history, geology, and wildlife take readers behind the scenes, providing fascinating context for one of earth's greatest natural wonders.

House of D

  • Actors: David Duchovny, Tea Leoni, Robin Williams, Anton Yelchin, Erykah Badu.
  • Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC.
  • Language: English, French. Subtitles: English, Spanish.
  • Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only).
  • Rated PG-13. Run Time: 97 minutes.
In his directorial debut David Duchovny delivers a classic coming-of-age tale. To reconcile with his 13-year-old son and estranged wife artist Tom Warshaw (Duchovny) revisits the life changing events of his own adolescence in New York City in 1973 when his best friends were Pappass (Robin Williams) a mentally challenged janitor and Lady (Erykah Badu) a truth-dispensing detainee in the East Village's legendary Women's House of Detention. Filled with laugh-out-load moments as well as poignancy House Of D is a warmhearted and wise film.System Requirements: Running Tim! e 97 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG-13 UPC: 031398177654 Manufacturer No: 17765House of D is a bittersweet, moving story of an American expatriate's painful decision to come to terms with the childhood he fled in early 1970s New York City. David Duchovny wrote and directed this comedy-drama; he also stars as the adult version of the film's hero, Tom Warshaw, an illustrator who has spent most of his life in Paris and decidesâ€"on the occasion of his son's birthdayâ€"to finally reveal long-withheld facts about his past.

The bulk of the story, told in flashback, portrays 13-year-old Tom (Anton Yelchin) as a quick-witted prince of his neighborhood, a delivery boy who knows every eccentric on his bicycle route and a Catholic school kid fond of playing pranks on his clueless French teacher and soulful principal (Frank Langella). His best friend is the school's mildly retarded, 41-year-old janitor, Pappas (Robin Williams), and his advisor on matters o! f the heart is Lady (Erykah Badu), a prison inmate whom the fa! therless Tom (or Tommy, as he's called in 1973) can neither see nor touch. Tommy's vivacity is an asset at home, where his mother (Tea Leoni), a grieving widow with a mounting addiction to pills, is slipping away from her son's ability to help. Duchovny's screenplay sometimes borders on the precious: A number of scenes are enamored with their own boldness and originality, as if Duchovny has been squirreling away lots of colorfully expressive storytelling details for years, and unloaded them here. But that flaw all but disappears in the glow of House of D's emotional resonance and honesty, not to mention several exceptional performances. Among these is Zelda Williams's work as Tommy's sage-beyond-her-years girlfriend, Melissa, whose name offers a suitable excuse to work a rather lovely Allman Brothers song into the soundtrack. --Tom Keogh

Arctic Tale

  • Awe-inspiring adventure
This heartbreaking documentary puts a face on the sad statistics of global warming--and though it's not a human face, it's the perhaps even more effective face of an adorable polar bear cub, Nanu, along with her mother, her brother, and her natural enemy, the equally heart-melting Seela the walrus. With breathtaking footage of life on the arctic tundra, the directors spin a highly emotional tale of the melting ice caps and the effect of their disappearance on every species in the ecosystem. Since the film is essentially aimed at children, the cuteness factor is off the charts, aided by the slightly grating use of sound effects, a slangy voiceover by Queen Latifah, and a kid-friendly pop/folk soundtrack. And, as in a National Geographic special, viewers learn some interesting and neutral facts about polar bears, walruses, narwhals, foxes, and other northern creatures. T! he narrative, however, returns repeatedly to the grim conditions that are killing off our planet's wildlife, one family at a time. The directors take pains to create a hopeful ending, with a sweet pair of life-goes-on epilogues and a closing credit sequence featuring conservation tips, but the message of the film is sobering and hits its mark with kids and adults alike.The frozen Arctic is home to polar bears and walruses, two very different types of animals whose struggle to survive against the elements is only being made more difficult by a changing climate. Directors Adam Ravetech and Sarah Robertson filmed walruses and polar bears in the Arctic for 15 years in order to create this amazing story about the lives of Nanu the baby polar bear and a newborn walrus dubbed Seelah. Striking footage from land and sea is combined with effective narration by Queen Latifa and pop music by Joby Talbot to chronicle these creatures' lives from the babies' first days of existence, thr! ough two years of training in hunting and fighting by their re! spective mothers and the changes in the icy world that are necessitating new adaptations by these animals, and a contemplation of the chances of both species' continued survival. Like March of the Penguins, the footage of the animals of the Arctic and the formation and breaking up of the ice is exquisite, but perhaps even more striking is the clear evidence of climate change in the delayed formation of the ice in the autumn and its progressively earlier thawing and breaking up each spring. The polar bears' and walruses' resilience and instinctual ability to adapt and change in the face of the negative effects of global warming in order to survive is stressed, and viewers are left pondering why man cannot similarly adapt and change his ways in order to positively affect the world. Bonus features include an interesting "making of" featurette with Adam Ravetech and Sarah Robertson that describes their travels, trials, and enormous gratitude for the assistance of the Intuit pe! ople and a fun Are We There Yet? World Adventure: Polar Bear Spotting mini-adventure for kids in which Molly and Sam go looking for polar bears in a tundra buggy. (Ages 5 and older) --Tami Horiuchi

True Religion Baby-boys Infant Billy 3 Piece Gift Box Set, Dark Navy, 12-18 Months

  • All inclusive three piece gift set
  • Includes printed hoodie and tee with infant jean

According to Greta

  • Hilary Duff delivers the most unexpected performance of her career as Greta, a rebellious 17 year old exiled for the summer to a sleepy Jersey shore community where she immediately informs her grandparents of her plans to kill herself by the time she turns 18. But before Greta can cross suicide off her to-do list, she ll begin a romance with a young cook from a troubled background, confront a trag
A new kid in town assembles a fledgling rock band -- together, they achieve their dreams and compete against the best in the biggest event of the year, a battle of the bands.Not just another by-the-numbers teen-angst movie, Bandslam is a joyful expression of pop exuberance, with an unexpectedly thrilling (and retro) soundtrack and numerous moments of visual excitement. Actor-turned-director Todd Graff brings stylish imagination and heart to this story of a much-taunted and beleaguered kid nam! ed Will (Gaelan Connell), whose miserable life at a Cincinnati high school comes to an end when he and his single mom (Lisa Kudrow) move to New Jersey. At his new school, Will befriends two very different girls: the laconic Sa5m (High School Musical's Vanessa Hudgens; the "5" is silent), and the take-no-prisoners, former cheerleader Charlotte (Aly Michalka of the pop group Aly & AJ), who is trying to get her rock band off the ground. The latter sees in Will--a student of pop music history--a potential manager who can help her group take top prize at an inter-school competition called Bandslam.

Graff treats Bandslam's story like a disposable toy, an excuse to squeeze every ounce of pure ecstasy from such ordinary events as first kisses or bursts of artistic inspiration. Around every corner in this movie comes a surprising and stirring moment: when Will and Sa5m break into the padlocked, no-longer-in-business music club CBGB in New York--a shrine of punk rock! --the vignette is reverential, actually moving. As a rare spec! imen of cinematic joy for its own sake, Bandslam is well worth seeing. --Tom Keoghwill burton e' un giovane introverso e sognatore con la testa piena di musica. quando sua madre karen ottiene un nuovo lavoro nel new jersey, will e' costretto a cambiare citta' e scuola. nel nuovo liceo tutto sembra uguale tranne il fatto che il rock'n roll domina. will finisce per fare amicizia con sam, una outsider come lui. con loro grande sorpresa, un giorno la ragazza piu' popolare della scuola, charlotte recluta entrambi per formare una band e partecipare al "bandslam", una ambita competizione musicale di band.Not just another by-the-numbers teen-angst movie, Bandslam is a joyful expression of pop exuberance, with an unexpectedly thrilling (and retro) soundtrack and numerous moments of visual excitement. Actor-turned-director Todd Graff brings stylish imagination and heart to this story of a much-taunted and beleaguered kid named Will (Gaelan Connell), whose miserable life a! t a Cincinnati high school comes to an end when he and his single mom (Lisa Kudrow) move to New Jersey. At his new school, Will befriends two very different girls: the laconic Sa5m (High School Musical's Vanessa Hudgens; the "5" is silent), and the take-no-prisoners, former cheerleader Charlotte (Aly Michalka of the pop group Aly & AJ), who is trying to get her rock band off the ground. The latter sees in Will--a student of pop music history--a potential manager who can help her group take top prize at an inter-school competition called Bandslam.

Graff treats Bandslam's story like a disposable toy, an excuse to squeeze every ounce of pure ecstasy from such ordinary events as first kisses or bursts of artistic inspiration. Around every corner in this movie comes a surprising and stirring moment: when Will and Sa5m break into the padlocked, no-longer-in-business music club CBGB in New York--a shrine of punk rock--the vignette is reverential, actually moving. ! As a rare specimen of cinematic joy for its own sake, Bands! lam is well worth seeing. --Tom KeoghSeventeen-year-old Kyle (Alex Pettyfer) is the spoiled, shallow and incredibly popular prince of his high school kingdom. Kyle foolishly chooses Kendra (Mary-Kate Olsen), a witch masquerading as a high school student, as his latest target for humiliation. In order to teach Kyle a lesson, Kendra transforms him into someone as unattractive on the outside as he is on the inside. Now he has one year to find someone to love him, or he will remain Beastly forever. A quiet classmate he never noticed named Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens) may be his best chance to prove that love is never ugly. Beastly definitely lives up to its name--it's an absolutely beastly film--and not in a good way. It's a modern-day retelling of Beauty and the Beast based on Alex Flinn's novel Beastly, and one expects some pretty extreme characters, but in this movie, the characters are shallow and one-dimensional to the extreme, and their supposed persona! l and emotional growth is totally unbelievable. As for the plot--self-absorbed pretty-boy gets cursed, nice girl gets imprisoned with now-ugly boy, boy changes, and the two fall in love--it just never feels real or believable in this film. With a cast that includes Vanessa Hudgens and Neil Patrick Harris, one expects a halfway decent movie, but no amount of talent can overcome bad writing. In fact, one has to question whether Hudgens and Harris even tried, as their performances just aren't that good. The performances of Alex Pettyfer and Peter Krause are even worse, and Lisa Gay Hamilton only saves herself by her comic delivery of lines that primarily consist of two to three heavily accented monosyllables strung together at a time. The audience at our screening squirmed, laughed in inappropriate places, and even groaned out loud as the actors casually tossed off nuggets of wisdom in proper language that seemed totally out of place with the rest of the slang-riddled dialogue! . Perhaps truisms like "Be the man I know you to be," lines qu! oted fro m Frank O'Hara's poem "Having a Coke," and statements like "Best embrace the suck" are supposed to come off as funny contrasts, but instead it all just seems hopelessly incongruous and falls horribly flat. The one good thing in this movie is the special-effects makeup, though Kyle's face probably looks nothing like the face that most people picture when they read Flinn's book. Don't bother seeing Beastly unless you enjoy sneering at bad, shallow movies. (Ages 13 and older) --Tami HoriuchiAly Michalka and Vanessa Hudgens join Gaelan Connell, Scott Porter, and Lisa Kudrow in the music-driven comedy BANDSLAM. When gifted singer-songwriter Charlotte Barnes (Michalka) asks new kid in town Will Burton (Connell) to manage her fledgling rock band, she appears to have just one goal in mind: go head-to-head against her egotistical musician ex-boyfriend, Ben (Porter), at the biggest event of the year, a battle of the bands.

Against all odds, their band develops a soun! d all its own with a real shot at success in the contest. Meanwhile, romance brews between Will and Sa5m (Hudgens), who plays a mean guitar and has a voice to die for. When disaster strikes, it's time for the band to make a choice: Do they admit defeat, or face the music and stand up for what they believe in?

U.S. Release via Summit Entertainment, August 14, 2009.Hilary Duff delivers the most unexpected performance of her career as Greta, a rebellious 17 year old ‘exiled’ for the summer to a sleepy Jersey shore community where she immediately informs her grandparents of her plans to kill herself by the time she turns 18. But before Greta can cross suicide off her ‘to-do’ list, she’ll begin an interracial romance with a young cook from a troubled background confront a tragic family secret and maybe even discover the promising young woman beneath her sarcastic shell. Just when Greta’s looking for a way out, will life find a way back in?Many movies explore the ! difficulties of growing up, but few are as powerful and as mov! ing as < em>According to Greta. Hilary Duff is impressively strong as the title character, a 17-year-old who's trying to figure out who she wants to be, or if she wants to be, while grappling with an overwhelming sense of inadequacy and a rocky family life. Her mother (Melissa Leo) has had multiple husbands, and her father, whom she doesn't remember, committed suicide when she was very young. Greta's mother doesn't know what to do with her and wants to work on saving her third marriage, so she ships Greta off to stay with her Gram (Ellen Burstyn) and Gramps (Michael Murphy) in the sleepy retirement town of Ocean Grove, New Jersey, for the summer. Greta is angry, resentful, and spiteful, and she makes no secret of exactly how she's feeling. She views her imprisonment in the town as a death sentence, and it may literally be. In her journal, Greta keeps two lists: one of things she wants to do before she dies and one of suicide methods. Greta's grandparents both try, in their own w! ays, to get through to their granddaughter, but she is depressed, determined to push others away, and obstinately obnoxious. Greta meets Julie (Evan Ross), an African-American teenager who was once in juvenile detention is now a line cook with dreams of becoming a chef, and the two are extremely attracted to one another. Julie is wise beyond his years, having learned not only to accept responsibility for his own actions, but to act in a manner that will consistently further his ambitions. Just when it appears that Greta's relationship with Julie may inspire some maturation on her part, Greta does something that will heavily impact the lives of everyone close to her. Will she get a chance to realize that her actions dramatically affect the people around her and that age and experience bring valuable perspective? Few movies have the guts and insight to tackle teen suicide in a way that so realistically captures the intense emotional struggle involved in growing up and learnin! g to respect and love oneself. Both teens and adults should ma! ke a poi nt of seeing According to Greta. --Tami Horiuchi

Stills from According to Greta (Click for larger image)










Alone in the Dark

  • A New Inventory System ¿ Players utilize the pockets of protagonist Edward Carnby to hold items which they can view, switch and combine without leaving the game.
  • Narrative intensity ¿ Taking its cues from blockbuster TV dramas, the story is told in a TV season style narrative structure based around episodes that deliver maximum intensity throughout and keep the player hooked.
  • A Captivating Story ¿ Centered in iconic Central Park long-time series protagonist and paranormal specialist Edward Carnby returns to delve into the frightening events occurring in the Big Apple.
  • Real World Rules ¿ In-Game movement has been designed to allow players to do almost anything that is physically possible in the real world.
  • Photographic Rendering ¿ Game developer Eden¿s Propriety ¿Twilight¿ technology creates a lavishly detailed game world with highly realistic and advanced cinema! tographic effects.
Alone in the Dark X360There?s something strange and frightening happening in the middle of New York City?s Central Park; something whispered to have been intentionally kept secret; something that players are compelled to explore in Alone in the Dark.

Known today as a safe haven for New Yorkers yearning for relief from the stresses of their chaotic metropolis, history records that Central Park was built on a useless swamp, yet as the New York City skyline hurtled towards the sky over the last 150 years, making the city the most expensive real estate in the world, the park has remained untouched. Why? Civic pride? Perhaps, but the recent strange happenings in and around the park are casting doubt on that, doubts that require investigating.



The return of! an icon ic series
Edward Carnby
Paranormal PI Edward Carnby.
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Stunningly spooky views of NYC
Stunningly spooky views of NYC.
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The odd wildlife of Central Park
The odd wildlife of Central Park.
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A whole new inventory system
A whole new inventory system.
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Enter Edward Carnby, Paranormal Investigator
Despite the title, Alone in the Dark is actually the fifth game in a series that dates back to 1992 and centers around the experiences of Edward "the reptile" Carnby. A paranormal investigator by trade, Carnby is looking for answers to the strange events and horrific creatures reported in and around the park, but gets more than he bargained for when all the mysteries and terrors of the park spill out over the course of one apocalyptic night. It?s the player?s task to avoid the new frightening dangers of the park as you search for the answers to what these supernatural occurrences mean and why they are happening.

Gameplay Based on Full Player Immersion
Packed full of action and vivid in its realism Alone in t! he Dark goes to the extreme to keep players engaged and im! mersed b y plunging them into the heart of the action in real-time at every turn and challenging them to survive using full movement control. The goal here is to allow players to do or at least feel that they can do more or less whatever is possible in real life, within the game.

Need to avoid a blast of steam or an eruption of fire that has shot up in your path? You can simply side-step it or you can handle the obstacle with a little more panache by using the environment around you, for example by swinging around it using reachable pipes or wires. In another situation you may be challenged by attacking monsters. No problem. You can take the path of least resistance, again by side-stepping them or placing an obstacle between yourself and them, but if you are feeling like taking out a little aggression you can pick up a board, chair, box, etc. and have at it. Nearly anything that you come across that would be usable in real life is usable in game and can be wielded in several diffe! rent ways.

In addition, game developer Eden Studios has done away with a few in-game conventions in favor of real life upgrades. Instead of old-fashioned health bars Alone in the Dark uses realistic body damage and physiological effects to show players how much damage has been done to Carnby by the new dangerous nightlife of Central Park. Basically this means if Carnby has been taking a licking he?s going to be a little bloody. Monsters use sensory perception of all kinds to find their victims, so players need to keep aware of Carnby?s physical state, as well as the impact he has on his surroundings. Also gone are traditional inventory systems that take players out of the game while you switch or check items in your possession, replaced by an in-game inventory system where items are carried in the folds of Carnby?s trench coat. This allows you to stay in the action the whole time. Sticking with the realism theme, the number of items that Carnby can carry is limite! d, but since ingenuity is built into the system, items can be ! combined or their uses altered, mostly with tape, so players can adjust as challenges arise.

TV Style Intensity That Keeps You Hooked
Built around a unique television style episodic narrative game structure, the storyline of Alone in the Dark is split into a number of distinct 30-40 minute episodes, doled out one at a time as you play. This new way to progress through the storyline ensures that players can enjoy the game regardless of the amount of time they have available without ever feeling lost. Each time a saved game is launched, the episode will begin with a video summary of the previous episode to quickly re-immerse the player in the story, removing the need to remember where you were or what you were doing at the end of your last play session. In addition, every episode will also close with a nail-biting, cliff-hanger ending to rattle players? nerves. And when you choose to leave the game, a video teaser of the next episode will play to leave players alw! ays wanting more.

Vivid Photographic Rendering
Even on a bad day, and this will be a bad one, Central Park and New York City are something to see. With Game developer Eden?s proprietary Twilight technology and rendering engine, players can expect to see everything from the City?s famous landmarks to the manifestations of the evil that have been festering in Central Park come to life as if you were there. This lavishly detailed game world takes advantage of highly realistic and advanced cinematographic effects including depth of field, camera focus, numerous light sources, moisture, reflections and High Dynamic Range effects.

Whether it?s the innovative game play, the unique episodic game structure, the advanced physics or the return of a ground-breaking protagonist recast in the modern era, Alone in the Dark holds something for players willing to take on the mysteries and dangers at the heart of Central Park.


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