Copying Beethoven

• COPYING BEETHOVEN

When young Anna Holz (Diane Kruger), a Viennese music student is asked to transcribe scoring notes for the great Ludwig van Beethoven (Harris), she eagerly accepts, despite warnings about his volatile behavior. Part maestro, part mentor and part madman, Beethoven reluctantly relies on Anna to help him realize the culmination of his art.

A passionate, powerful drama based loosely on the final months of Ludwig van Beethoven's life, Copying Beethoven finds the maestro a haunted man, composing the most revolutionary yet unappreciated work of his lifetime; largely deaf; disappointed in his relationship with a wastrel nephew; and fascinated by a young, female composer, Anna Holtz (Diane Kruger), who goes to work for him transcribing music. Staying as a guest at a convent and engaged to a stolid engineer, Anna is drawn to Beethoven’s tempestuous genius. Half the time he'! s enchanted by her and seems to see straight through to her soul. The other half, he's shouting at her for her timidity or flattery. Hardly a mouse, Anna fights back. The more she does, the more Beethoven recognizes in her a kindred survivor, someone with whom he can reveal his vulnerability and the burden of his artistry. Ed Harris' Beethoven is wracked by pain but not overwhelmed by it; he looks like a man who understands his responsibility to nature too well to merely disintegrate. ("God whispers in most men's ears," Beethoven says. "He shouts in mine.") Director Agnieszka Holland (Olivier, Olivier) oversees a handsome, alternately tender and brutal drama, with several thrilling moments, including the stunned look of audience members hearing the world premiere of the glorious 9th Symphony. --Tom Keogh

Copying Beethoven Extras

Watch Ed Harris speak about portraying Beethoven in this exclusive clip.

Beyond Copying Beethoven

Copying Beethoven Soundtrack

Famous Composers: Ludwig Van Beethoven

More From MGM

Stills from Copying Beethoven

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Samsill Microsoft 15.6-Inch Laptop Backpack - Contender (Red) (39312)

• Contender Laptop Backpack is well equipped for the cost-conscious student with a digital lifestyle.
• The Perfect Fit Wrap which adjusts to accommodate laptops with 10" to 15.6" screens
• Constructed with durable, lightweight poly with decorative stitching and red accents inside and out,
• Mesh pockets for a water bottle or accessories.
• Includes a drop pocket with an MP3 headphone port, molded plastic carrying handle,
• Includes phone pocket on the shoulder strap and air-flow padding on back and shoulder straps.
• This backpack features two front zipper pockets with a digital accessory panel and storage for cords and batteries.

Before you can be a champion,
you have to be a contender.

Alfred Brooks is scared. He's a highschool dropout and his grocery store job is leading nowhere. His best friend is sinking further and fur! ther into drug addiction. Some street kids are after him for something he didn't even do. So Alfred begins going to Donatelli's Gym, a boxing club in Harlem that has trained champions. There he learns it's the effort, not the win, that makes the man -- that last desperate struggle to get back on your feet when you thought you were down for the count.

Alfred's life is going nowhere fast. He's a high-school dropout working at a grocery store. His best friend is drifting behind a haze of drugs and violence, and now some street punks are harassing him for something he didn't do. Feeling powerless and afraid, Alfred gathers up the courage to visit Donatelli's Gym, the neighborhood's boxing club. He wants to be a champion--on the streets and in his own life. Alfred doesn't quite understand when Mr. Donatelli tells him, "It's the climbing that makes the man. Getting to the top is an extra reward." In the end, he learns that a winner isn't necessarily the one standing ! when the fight is over. Teens and adults alike will be knocke! d out by this powerful story of how a frightened boy becomes a man.Dead of night.  Salonika, Greece, December 1939.  A clandestine order of monks embarks on a desperate mission: to transport a mysterious vault to a hiding place high in the Italian Alps.  Its sinister contents, concealed fro centuries, could rip apart the Christian world.  Now, as the Nazi threat marches inexorably closer, good men and evil will be drawn into a violent and deadly hunt, sparking a relentless struggle that could forever change the world as we know it.On May 26, 1967, the spiraling career of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, then the top contender for the world middleweight boxing crown, came to a shuddering and tragic halt: he and a young fan were found guilty of murder of three white people in a New Jersey bar. The nightmare knew no bounds as Carter traded his superstar status for a prison number and the concrete walls of some of America's most horrific institutions. Originally published as an attemp! t by Carter to set the record straight and force a new trial, The Sixteenth Round is timeless. It is an eye-opening portrait of growing up black in America, a scathing indictment of the prison system Carter grew up in and out of, and a mesmerizing re-creation of his furious battles in the ring and in the courtroom set against the backdrop of the turbulent sixties. The liveliness of Carter's street language, its power and ironic humor, makes this an eloquent, soul-stirring account of a remarkable life not soon to be forgotten.LitPlans are manuals full of materials for teaching specific novels and plays. Each LitPlan is written to go with a particular book title and contains study questions, quizzes, writing assignments, discussion questions, unit tests, vocabulary worksheets, daily lesson plans, group and individual assignments and activities, worksheets, games, puzzles, bulletin board ideas, written objectives for the guide and each lesson, and more. The lessons can ! be used as planned or teachers may use the materials provided ! in other ways. Number of pages in the LitPlans varies depending on the length and complexity of the book being taught, but ranges from 100-250 pages.The original CliffsNotes study guides offer a look into critical elements and ideas within classic works of literature.

In CliffsNotes on The Contender, you look into a moral tale that emphasizes the importance of the fight over the prize, the quality of the struggle over the outcome.

Following the development of the novel's protagonist, this study guide's in-depth character analysis covers the coming-of-age of a high school dropout who literally fights young boxers and figuratively braves the inner battles of peer pressure. Other features that help you figure out this important work include

• Life and background of the author, Robert Lipsyte
• Introduction to the book with a synopsis, character list, and character map
• Summaries, critical commentaries, and glossaries for each chapter
• Critical essays focusing on se! tting, major themes, and the author's writing style
• A review section that tests your knowledge and suggests essay topics
• A Resource Center full of books, publications, films, and Internet resources

Classic literature or modern-day treasure â€" you'll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.

Before you can be a champion,
you have to be a contender.

Alfred Brooks is scared. He's a highschool dropout and his grocery store job is leading nowhere. His best friend is sinking further and further into drug addiction. Some street kids are after him for something he didn't even do. So Alfred begins going to Donatelli's Gym, a boxing club in Harlem that has trained champions. There he learns it's the effort, not the win, that makes the man -- that last desperate struggle to get back on your feet when you thought you were down for the count.

Alfred's life is going nowhere fast. He's a high-school! dropout working at a grocery store. His best friend is drift! ing behi nd a haze of drugs and violence, and now some street punks are harassing him for something he didn't do. Feeling powerless and afraid, Alfred gathers up the courage to visit Donatelli's Gym, the neighborhood's boxing club. He wants to be a champion--on the streets and in his own life. Alfred doesn't quite understand when Mr. Donatelli tells him, "It's the climbing that makes the man. Getting to the top is an extra reward." In the end, he learns that a winner isn't necessarily the one standing when the fight is over. Teens and adults alike will be knocked out by this powerful story of how a frightened boy becomes a man.Before you can be a champion,
you have to be a contender.

Alfred Brooks is scared. He's a highschool dropout and his grocery store job is leading nowhere. His best friend is sinking further and further into drug addiction. Some street kids are after him for something he didn't even do. So Alfred begins going to Donatelli'! s Gym, a boxing club in Harlem that has trained champions. There he learns it's the effort, not the win, that makes the man -- that last desperate struggle to get back on your feet when you thought you were down for the count.

The Contender Laptop Backpack is well equipped for the cost-conscious student with a digital lifestyle. Featuring the Perfect Fit Wrap which adjusts to accommodate laptops with 10" to 15.6" screens - fit it to your laptop once for snug and secure protection. Constructed with durable, lightweight poly with decorative stitching and red accents inside and out, this backpack features two front zipper pockets with a digital accessory panel and storage for cords and batteries. On the sides you'll find mesh pockets for a water bottle or accessories. A large center storage compartment with fold down bottom stabilizer panel holds books, files or clothes. Additional features include a drop pocket with an MP3 headphone port, molded plastic carrying handle, ph! one pocket on the shoulder strap and air-flow padding on back ! and shou lder straps. Contender Laptop Backpack features the Perfect Fit Wrap which adjusts to hold laptops up to 15.6". Constructed of durable poly material, it features a large storage compartment with fold-down bottom stabilizer panel, two front zipper pockets for accessories, cords and batteries, drop pocket with MP3 exit port, side mesh pockets, molded carrying handle and airflow padding on back and shoulder straps.

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Mister Lonely

• When a Michael Jackson impersonator (Diego Luna) living in Paris falls for a Marilyn Monroe impersonator (Samantha Morton) during a performance at a retirement home, the lovestruck pair retreats to a seaside castle in the Scottish highlands populated by a commune of reclusive impersonators. Earning a living can be a difficult endeavor in the City of Lights, and in order to make ends meet, one man

From Harmony Korine, screenwriter of Kids, comes a haunting portrait of life in small-town America. Through a collection of dreamlike and devastating images, Korine offers a glimpse of Xenia, Ohio, a world existing in the aftermath of a tornado.JULIEN DONKEY-BOY - DVD MovieFrom Harmony Korine, screenwriter of Kids, comes a haunting portrait of life in small-town America. Through a collection of dreamlike and devastating images, Korine offers a glimpse of Xenia, Ohio, a world existing in the aftermath! of a tornado.Filmmaker Larry Clark reunites with Kids screenwriter Harmony Korine, with some additional directorial assistance from cinematographer Ed Lachman, for this look at a group of troubled teens and their guardians living in Southern California. Ken Park takes its name from the skate park where an ancillary character takes his own life in the film's opening moments, and then proceeds to chronicle the somewhat-interrelated lives of his classmates.

The audience is introduced to Tate (James Ransome), a young man living in relative misery with his board-game-playing grandparents. Also tormented by his living situation is Claude (Stephen Jasso), a quiet, shy teen constantly henpecked by his brutish father (Wade Andrew Williams). Meanwhile, the vapid Shawn (James Bullard) occasionally trades verbal spars with his mother, in between leaving the house for erotic sessions with his girlfriend's mom. Finally there is Peaches (Tiffany Limos), living alone with her devoutly religious father as she covertly experiments with her boyfriend (Mike Apaletegui).

Though Ken Park played at such festivals as Toronto and Telluride in the fall of 2002, it would languish on the shelf for months and months afterward, as its non-commercial content made finding a U.S. distributor near-impossible.

Uncut & Uncensored Anamorphic (16:9) Widescreen Version
English 5.1 & Russian 5.1 Audio Options
Optional Russian SubtitlesAfter five years in prison for a crime he didnt commit billy brown a down-on-his-luck-romantic comes home to seek revenge on a local field goal kicker who cost him his freedom and buffalo its super bowl dreams. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 02/01/2005 Starring: Vincent Gallo Ben Gazzara Run time: 110 minutes Rating: RWriter-director-composer Vincent Gallo and Christina Ricci star in this quirky and deliberately grimy little movie. Gallo plays Billy Brown, recently released from prison and unable to find so much as a decent bathroom in his cold hometown. Billy's parents are unaware that he's been locked up; in a pathetic attempt to impress them with how successful he's become, he hits on the novel plan of kidnapping young dance student Layla (Ricci) and forcing her to play the role of his wife. Billy's distant--to say the least--parents are played to the hilt by Anjelica Huston and Ben Gazzara, Huston in particular bringing a dement! ed glee to her role as Billy's football-obsessed mother. As the movie unfolds, we learn more about Billy's tormented childhood and unfortunate tendency to bet on the Bills in the Super Bowl. Gallo boldly throws himself into the task of playing a complete sleazebag, and Ricci does lovely standout work as the one ray of hope in the grinding darkness of Billy's life. This odd little love story is just the thing to make you feel better about your own relationship--especially if you're not in one. --Ali DavisMISTER LONELY - DVD MovieFollowing an eight-year hiatus, Harmony Korine returns triumphantly with Mister Lonely, a more traditionally structured drama than his previous experiments, Gummo and Julien Donkey Boy. First recognized for writing the Larry Clark film, Kids, Korine ruled the 1990s for expressing disenchanted youth. As his previous films focused on self-destructive characters, Mister Lonely is a departure though it ! still points to Korine's interest in the carnivalesque. In thi! s far-fe tched fairy tale, a Michael Jackson impersonator (Diego Luna) living in Paris is invited by a Marilyn Monroe look-alike (Samantha Morton) to join her commune of misfits in a remote Scottish castle. Upon arrival, Michael meets the likes of Charlie Chaplin (Denis Lavant), Abe Lincoln, Madonna, the Queen of England (Anita Pallenberg), and the Pope (James Fox), who is usually drunk. As a dark romance unfolds between Marilyn and Michael, a second narrative involving missionary nuns in Panama unfolds, revealing stunning footage of them jumping out of planes sans parachutes to test faith. Their airplane is piloted by Father Umbrillo, played by Werner Herzog, who at this point could be called Korine's patron saint. The absurdist, comitragic plot challenges the viewer's suspension of disbelief, and is much less reality-based than Korine's previous movies. His filmic experiments work best when the nuns' story intertwine with the impersonators', presenting deep commentary on faith, emb! odying another person, and escapism. Throughout, rich color and costuming provide a visually provocative experience. As each film of Korine's is unique in structure and approach, Mister Lonely has been long anticipated and will prod fans to guess what Korine has up his sleeve next. --Trinie Dalton

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Frequency : Widescreen Edition

• Widescreen

A phenomenon allows police officer John Sullivan (Jim Caviezel) to save the life of his long-dead father (Dennis Quaid). But changing the past leads to a string of brutal, serial homicides. Now, they both must race across time to stop the killer.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Music Only Track
Photo gallery
Theatrical Trailer

Frequency is really two different--though inextricably linked--movies. First, the emotional drama of a father and son reunited after 30 years of separation. Then there's a science fiction thriller, in which a couple of chance solar storms, occurring exactly 30 years apart, can provide the agency through which the father and son can communicate using the very same ham radio in parallel time frames of 1969 and 1999. The son is John Sullivan (Jim Caviezel), a cop, and his father is Frank (Dennis Quaid! ), a firefighter who died on the job when John was 6, which just happens to be tomorrow for Frank when he and his now-adult son begin talking across time. This is great for John, because now he can warn his dad about the upcoming fire and avert the catastrophe that left him fatherless for most of his life. Accomplishing this gives John new memories of his life with Dad, but unfortunately alters the course of a serial killer, with tragic effect on John's family history. Since John's a cop, and the case he's working on turns out to be the same unsolved case from 30 years before, he and his father work together over the ham radio to solve the case and hopefully avert the tragedy that befell their family.

Time-travel stories have always been problematic, demanding either an extra degree of credulity on the part of the audience or an extra level of explanation on the part of storytellers, which is invariably cumbersome. Frequency handles the troublesome time parado! xes by having John explain how, having altered his past, he no! w experi ences both timelines, as if he's had two pasts that converge in his present. And as changes continue to be wrought in John's past, we see him becoming more and more confused. No doubt the audience can sympathize, at least those of us who try to follow the ramifications of the rapidly accruing time fractures. Luckily, the bond between father and son is so strongly realized in the deeply felt performances of both Caviezel and Quaid that you don't even need to consider the science fiction elements in order to enjoy the film. But if you can suspend your disbelief long enough to allow for the possibility of time shifts, you'll have a far richer experience. --Jim GayDVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Biographies
Documentaries
Interviews
Photo gallery
Because we see the world from a physical perspective, we often don't notice what's right in front of us â€" that our spirit, thoughts, emotions, and body are all m! ade of energy. Inside us and everywhere around us, life is vibrating. In fact, each of us has a personal vibration that accurately communicates who we are to the world and helps shape our reality. Frequency shows readers how to feel their personal vibration, improve it, and use it to shift their life from ordinary to extraordinary. A simple shift in frequency can change depression to peace, anger to stillness, and fear to enthusiasm.

Weaving together basic ideas from quantum physics with proven intuition development techniques, Frequency takes readers into deeper concepts only hinted at in recent popular books and DVD's featuring the Law of Attraction. By learning to refine the "conscious sensitivity" of their body, readers can improve relationships, find upscale solutions to problems, and materialize a life that contains everything they want and need to live their destiny.

Frequency gives readers a reassuring, step-by-step roadmap into a positi! ve state of awareness that Peirce calls The Intuition Age. By ! learning to use "frequency principles" â€" methods based on the way energy actually functions â€" readers can keep their energy level high and productive, receive subtle information directly from the environment via "empathic resonance," and quickly free themselves from negative or low "vibrations."In this fantasy thriller, a man is given an unusual opportunity to change the past and alter his future. A man whose father died 30 years ago when he was just a boy, makes a startling discovery when working with his ham radio one night: he can speak with his late father over the radio. Having inadvertently found a way to reach into the past, the man desperately struggles to warn his father of the dangers that will come his way, in hopes of changing his tragic fate.Frequency is really two different--though inextricably linked--movies. First, the emotional drama of a father and son reunited after 30 years of separation. Then there's a science fiction thriller, in which a couple of chance solar storms, occurring exactly 30 years apart, can provide the agency through which the father and son can communicate using the very same ham radio in parallel time frames of 1969 and 1999. The son is John Sullivan (Jim Caviezel), a cop, and his father is Frank (Dennis Quaid), a firefighter who died on the job when John was 6, which just happens to be tomorrow for Frank when he and his now-adult son begin talking across time. This is great for John, because now he can warn his dad about the upcoming fire and avert the catastrophe that left him fatherless for most of his life. Accomplishing this gives John new memories of his life with Dad, but unfortunately alters the course of a serial killer, with tragic effect on John's fam! ily history. Since John's a cop, and the case he's working on turns out to be the same unsolved case from 30 years before, he and his father work together over the ham radio to solve the case and hopefully avert the tragedy that befell their family.

Time-travel stories have always been problematic, demanding either an extra degree of credulity on the part of the audience or an extra level of explanation on the part of storytellers, which is invariably cumbersome. Frequency handles the troublesome time paradoxes by having John explain how, having altered his past, he now experiences both timelines, as if he's had two pasts that converge in his present. And as changes continue to be wrought in John's past, we see him becoming more and more confused. No doubt the audience can sympathize, at least those of us who try to follow the ramifications of the rapidly accruing time fractures. Luckily, the bond between father and son is so strongly realized in the deeply ! felt performances of both Caviezel and Quaid that you don't e! ven need to consider the science fiction elements in order to enjoy the film. But if you can suspend your disbelief long enough to allow for the possibility of time shifts, you'll have a far richer experience. --Jim GayDVD

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Epic Movie

• Widescreen, English - Spanish - French Audio

The hilarious hi-jinks begin when a hapless group of orphans from curious backgrounds come together to embark on an adventure that takes them to a special chocolate factory where they fall into an enchanted wardrobe and wind-up in a magical land. Here, hilarity ensues when the bungling bunch run into a colorful collection of characters including a flamboyant pirate and a gang of wizardry-apprentices who they join forces with to overthrow the wicked White Bitch of Gnarnia.

By dint of the inexplicable popularity of their send-up of movie genres in the parody movies Scary Movie and Date Movie, writer/director duo Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer probably got an epic-sized bucket of cash for this hastily stitched pastiche of drive-by entertainment. There's no particular variety of movie they were sent to send up this time, unless big ! box-office grossers has now become a genre in and of itself. If so, Epic Movie may well qualify as part of that league itself. Very little expense has been spared to make so-called "comic" references to a slew of mostly recent blockbusters--The Chronicles of Narnia, Borat, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the X-Men and Harry Potter series, Superman Returns, Nacho Libre, and The Da Vinci Code to name a few--and it's assumed we've seen them all. In a goofy thread of a story about four orphans plucked from some of the above, battle must be done through various bastardized plots from same so that a prophecy can be fulfilled and they can assume their rightful place as rulers of a sacred land. Lots of crotch kicks, fart, urine, and vomit jokes speed by as we pass through Willie Wonka's factory and a magical wardrobe with an unusually interesting assortment of look-alikes a! nd name actors caught up in the gag mix (some of it legitimate! ly funny ). Darrell Hammond, Crispin Glover, David Carradine, Kevin McDonald, Carmen Electra, Kal Penn put on game (and sometimes gamy) faces, and it's definitely a hoot to watch comedy improv alums Fred Willard and Jennifer Coolidge as Aslo the Lion and the White Bitch do battle in a Narnian good vs. evil character smackdown. As lame as you already expect a movie like this to be, anything that can throw together an homage to C.S. Lewis alongside MTV's Punk'd in less than 90 minutes can't be all bad. --Ted Fry

Epic Movie Extras

Watch the writers and producer talk about how adding song and dance made Epic Movie a smash.

Beyond Epic Movie
More Comic Spoofs
More Kal Penn Films
More From 20th Century Fox


Stills from Epic Movie

The hilarious hi-jinks begin when a hapless group of orphans from curious backgrounds come together to embark on an adventure that takes them to a special chocolate factory where they fall into an enchanted wardrobe and wind-up in a magical land. Here, hilarity ensues when the bungling bunch run into a colorful collection of characters including a flamboyant pirate and a gang of wizardry-apprentices who they join forces with to overthrow the wicked White Bitch of Gnarnia.

By dint of the inexplicable popularity of their send-up of movie genres in the parody movies Scary Movie and Date Movie, writer/director duo Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer probably got an epic-sized bucket of cash for this hastily stitched pastiche of drive-by entertainment. ! There's no particular variety of movie they were sent to send up this time, unless big box-office grossers has now become a genre in and of itself. If so, Epic Movie may well qualify as part of that league itself. Very little expense has been spared to make so-called "comic" references to a slew of mostly recent blockbusters--The Chronicles of Narnia, Borat, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the X-Men and Harry Potter series, Superman Returns, Nacho Libre, and The Da Vinci Code to name a few--and it's assumed we've seen them all. In a goofy thread of a story about four orphans plucked from some of the above, battle must be done through various bastardized plots from same so that a prophecy can be fulfilled and they can assume their rightful place as rulers of a sacred land. Lots of crotch kicks, fart, urine, and vomit jokes speed by as we pass through Willie Wonka's f! actory and a magical wardrobe with an unusually interesting as! sortment of look-alikes and name actors caught up in the gag mix (some of it legitimately funny). Darrell Hammond, Crispin Glover, David Carradine, Kevin McDonald, Carmen Electra, Kal Penn put on game (and sometimes gamy) faces, and it's definitely a hoot to watch comedy improv alums Fred Willard and Jennifer Coolidge as Aslo the Lion and the White Bitch do battle in a Narnian good vs. evil character smackdown. As lame as you already expect a movie like this to be, anything that can throw together an homage to C.S. Lewis alongside MTV's Punk'd in less than 90 minutes can't be all bad. --Ted Fry

Epic Movie Extras

Watch the writers and producer talk about how adding song and dance made Epic Movie a smash.

Beyond Epic Movie

More Comic Spoofs

More Kal Penn Films

More From 20th Century Fox

Stills from Epic Movie

Genre: Comedy
Rating: UN
Release Date: 6-JAN-2009
Media Type: DVDEven within the subgenre of grab-bag comedy, Disaster Movie sets a new bar for free-associative lunacy. To what degree there is a plot, it's vaguely stolen from Cloverfield: A handful of twentysomethings try to rescue someone in a city assaulted by an incomprehensible threat--in this case, falling asteroids. But that's just a thread on which to string a long and increasingly tedious series of gestures towards recent movies (ranging from High School Musical to Enchanted to Sex and the City to Kung Fu Panda) and pop cultur! e figures (Amy Winehouse to Flavor Flav to Dr. Phil to, of course, perpetual punching-bag Michael Jackson). No one over 30 will recognize more than a fraction of the movie's references, but the movie's bigger problem is that there are hardly any actual jokes--the filmmakers seem to think that simply alluding to Hancock or Jumper is funny in and of itself... and it just isn't. Disaster Movie will probably appeal to its primary audience of high-school students and repressed frat boys, for whom the mere mention of homosexuality prompts jittery laughter and who find generically pretty girls and studly boys in tight clothing titillating. It's a wasted opportunity; there are moments that, through sheer incompetence and desperation, suggest a surreal stream-of-consciousness. A filmmaker like Luis Bunuel or Federico Fellini could have turned such raw matter into a satirical aria that would genuinely critique a culture that worships Paris Hilton. Instead, ! we get this. Featuring, as ever, Carmen Electra.--Bret Fet! zer

Spider-Man, X-Men, and the Fantastic Four will never be the same after this outrageously funny spoof of your favorite comic book movies! Drake Bell (Drake & Josh) stars as a nerdy high school student bitten by a genetically-altered dragonfly. He stumbles hilariously through the process of becoming a crime-fighter and as his new powers grow, so do the laughs. Sara Paxton (Aquamarine) and Christopher McDonald (Spy Kids 2) costar as the clueless damsel in distress and the comically intense super villain, along with Pamela Anderson and Leslie Nielsen. Going from superzero to superhero has never been this much fun! Adolescent fantasy ! meets sophomoric humor in the latest cuisinart comedy, Supe! rhero Mo vie. The story of how frustrated loser Rick Riker (Drake Bell of Drake & Josh) becomes the superpowered Dragonfly is largely poking fun at Spider-Man, but there are a handful of digs at X-Men, Fantastic Four, and other Marvel Comics superhuman flicks. What's disappointing is how few of the jokes are specific to the genre--the abundance of gags about urine, feces, horniness, and especially flatulence (long, drawn-out gags about flatulence) could have been shoehorned into a parody of pretty much anything. The strong point of Superhero Movie is the above-average cast; while there are the obligatory cameos by the likes of Pamela Anderson, the cast is mostly filled out with actual actors like Marion Ross (Happy Days), Christopher McDonald (Thelma & Louise), Brent Spiner (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development), and Leslie Nielsen, who trots out his trademark deadpan one more time. As! Dragonfly's love interest, Sara Paxton (Aquamarine) does a flawless and subtle imitation of Kirsten Dunst's sultry vocal mannerisms. And for fans of Airplane! (the movie that started the whole everything-but-the-kitchen-sink genre of comedy), there's an appropriate cameo by Robert Hays as Rick Riker's father. Superhero is a step above such recent tripe as Date Movie and Meet the Spartans... but sadly, that's not saying much. --Bret FetzerMultiple Directors - Starring Kal Penn, Adam Campbell, Jennifer Coolidge 20th Century Fox - Rated PG13 - 93 min - Parody/Spoof - Region: 1 (USA & territories, Canada) If forced to watch any entry in Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg's [Fill in the Blank] Movie franchise, the best (and only) way to stay entertained is to make a game of pinpointing the most recent cultural spoof, thereby identifying just how recently they coughed out the shoddy script. In the disastrous Epic Movie, that would be a Borat joke, meaning the script was probably submitted sometime in November for a January release. Boy does it show. Even if they claim to be lampooning a particular genre, these films are more interested in a particular window of time -- hence the inclusion of decidedly non-epic films like Snakes on a Plane and Talladega Nights in Epic Movie's slate of targets. The jokes are so brainlessly simple, only by aiming them at the most recent Hollywood releases is there any chance they'd seem fresh -- and even that is quite optimistic. Simply put, this is lowest common denominator filmmaking, produced on a shoestring using actors whose hunger for a paych! eck is downright embarrassing. That Jennifer Coolidge and Fred Willard didn't learn their lesson from the abomination known as Date Movie is a sad commentary on what funny actors must do to make a living -- it's the equivalent of Eugene Levy appearing in every last straight-to-DVD American Pie sequel. Discussing this slapdash production in any detail is too generous, as it gives the false impression that the film succeeds on any level. However, to dismiss it entirely ignores its $19 million opening weekend take, which indicates there are certainly viewers content enough to guffaw over such cut-rate obviousness. If any of them remembered the sublime beginnings of the parody genre, such as Airplane!, they wouldn't give this film a dime. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide

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Bollywood Hero

• Chris Kattan is fed-up with not being taken seriously by Hollywood, so he accepts an offer to star in a big- time Mumbai production called Peculiar Dancing Boy . But before he can conquer India, Chris will have to survive a whole new land of culture clashes, jealous rivals, runaway egos, power hungry starlets and extreme dancing lessons. How far does an actor have to go in this world to fight the

When people from a culture largely defined by bollywood find themselves in an environment that is saturated with hollywood the result is a state of mind that celebrates these two seemingly disparate worlds. Studio: Arts Alliance America Release Date: 11/08/2005 Run time: 105 minutes Rating: Pg13Bollywood Hollywood is a delightful, cross-cultural parody of both India's and America's musical film traditions. Directed by Deepa Mehta (Earth), Bollywood Hollywood concerns the desp! erate effort of wealthy businessman Rahul (Rahul Khanna) to get his mother and grandmother off his back when it comes to his romantic life. In love with a white pop-star girlfriend (Jessica Paré), Rahul's fortunes change when she dies. Still grieving, he is told by his mother that Rahul's only sister won't be allowed to marry until he finds a nice Indian girl to wed. The solution: hire a beautiful, dark-skinned, allegedly Spanish escort named Sue (Lisa Ray) to pose as his Indian fiancée. With tongue firmly planted in cheek, Mehta pokes fun at a number of Bollywood cinema clichés, especially that familiar mix of modern luxury and old world traditions, melodramas involving the saddest of character backstories, and spontaneous musical numbers that remind one as much of Hollywood's Golden Age as Bollywood's current one. --Tom KeoghBollywood Hollywood is a delightful, cross-cultural parody of both India's and America's musical film traditions. Directed by Deepa ! Mehta (Earth), Bollywood Hollywood concerns the ! desperat e effort of wealthy businessman Rahul (Rahul Khanna) to get his mother and grandmother off his back when it comes to his romantic life. In love with a white pop-star girlfriend (Jessica Paré), Rahul's fortunes change when she dies. Still grieving, he is told by his mother that Rahul's only sister won't be allowed to marry until he finds a nice Indian girl to wed. The solution: hire a beautiful, dark-skinned, allegedly Spanish escort named Sue (Lisa Ray) to pose as his Indian fiancée. With tongue firmly planted in cheek, Mehta pokes fun at a number of Bollywood cinema clichés, especially that familiar mix of modern luxury and old world traditions, melodramas involving the saddest of character backstories, and spontaneous musical numbers that remind one as much of Hollywood's Golden Age as Bollywood's current one. --Tom KeoghFor ALL fitness and experience levels.

Inspired by the Indian film tradition of infectiously expressive music and dance comes a! sexy, saucy, calorie-burning, full-body workout. Fitness star Hemalayaa leads you in traditional moves that will tone you head to toe while unleashing waves of energy and joy.

The movements are simpleâ€"no exercise or dance experience requiredâ€"but the results are big.

You’ll be getting a cardio, sculpting, and stretching workout while having a blastâ€"and learning moves you'll love to flaunt on the dance floor. Just let yourself go and boogie to the bhangra beat. It’s impossible not to.

Features include audio options (instruction and music or music only) and bonus dance performances.

The film sequel is held to be a vampirish corporative exercise in profitmaking and narrative regurgitation. Drawing upon a wide range of filmic examples from early cinema to today, this unique volume follows the increasing popularity and innovation of film sequels as a central dynamic of Hollywood cinema. Now debuting at world cinemas and independent film festiva! ls, the sequel has become a vehicle for cross-cultural dialogu! e and a structure by which memories and cultural narratives are circulated across geographical and historical locations. The book explores sequel production beyond box office figures, considering the form in recent mainstream cinema, art-house and "indie" films, and non-Hollywood sequels, and it traces the effects of the domestic market on sequelization and the impact of the video game industry on Hollywood.

Chris Kattan is fed-up with not being taken seriously by Hollywood, so he accepts an offer to star in a big- time Mumbai production called ‘Peculiar Dancing Boy’. But before he can conquer India, Chris will have to survive a whole new land of culture clashes, jealous rivals, runaway egos, power hungry starlets and extreme dancing lessons. How far does an actor have to go in this world to fight the bad guys, get the beautiful women and finally play the hero? Maya Rudolph, Julian Sands, Pooja Kumar, Rachna Shah, Ali Fazal and Neha Dhupia co-star in this IFC musical comedy m! iniseries event â€" featuring key members of the Oscar® winning production team from SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE â€" with guest appearances by Jennifer Coolidge, David Alan Grier and Keanu Reeves.

Stills from Bollywood Hero (Click for larger image)

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