Friday, December 2, 2011

Big Stan

  • In this hilarious and outrageous, marital arts comedy, Rob Schneider stars as Stan Minton a two bit con man that is found guilty of cheating mostly elderly women out of their retirement saving on fraudulent vacation properties. With the help of his crooked lawyer, Lew Popper (M. Emmet Walsh), Stan is able to postpone his jail sentence for six months in order to tidy up his affairs. Stan quickly go
In this hilarious and outrageous, marital arts comedy, Rob Schneider stars as Stan Minton a two bit con man that is found guilty of cheating mostly elderly women out of their retirement saving on fraudulent vacation properties. With the help of his crooked lawyer, Lew Popper (M. Emmet Walsh), Stan is able to postpone his jail sentence for six months in order to tidy up his affairs. Stan quickly goes into a depression that not even his gorgeous and bubbly wife, Mindy (Jennifer Morrison), can pull h! im out of. However, when Stan receives news from an ex-prison inmate that his frail and weak body will be targeted and "loved" by all of the large men in jail, Stan realized his "tender parts" are on the line and as a last ditch effort he enlists the help of a mysterious martial arts guru know only as The Master (David Carradine). Over the course of the remaining months, The Master transforms Stan into a lean and mean fighting machine much to the dismay of Mindy who cannot see past The Master's other "abilities" such as eating Scorpions at the dinner table and smoking a hundred cigarettes a day. Stan is finally shipped off to jail and he soon realizes that prison is not at all like he imagined it's worse! Thankfully Stan has been trained well and he soon brings the warring gangs together and establishes peace inside the prison walls. This is much to the disgust of the prisons Warden Gasque (Scott Wilson) who has been hatching an evil plan to shut the prison down and sell of! f the land to a Vietnamese development company that he just so! happens to be a silent partner in. Gasque offers Stan a deal that will get him out of prison far ahead of schedule if he'll help him with his diabolical plan. With the clock ticking, Stan must decide between his own freedom and protecting the lives of the inmates that he has grown to respect.Big Stan, Rob Schneider’s Kung Fu spoof, is about as hilarious as one can get without some hardcore stunts such those seen in Kung Fu Hustle. Big Stan is Schnieder, starring as Stan Minton, a lowbrow, too-tan real-estate con artist who, in the opening scene, is scamming an elderly woman out of her savings for a fake timeshare. From here, he’s busted and sentenced to prison, and the film’s setting is split between Minton’s gaudy mansion, in which he attempts to toughen up before serving, and a jail ripe with gangs split by race and undersexed men. Stan is a character whose strength and confidence grows throughout the story, initially thanks to the cheerleading of his! doormat wife, Mindy (Jennifer Morrison), but mostly because The Master (David Carradine) trains him in a combo martial-arts style that is as absurd as the idea of Carradine chain-smoking while reviving his Shaolin monk persona from the old TV show. Carradine is funny in Big Stan, though it’s Schneider’s timing and slapstick physical comedy that carries the movie. Does he really learn how to break through wood blocks with his middle finger? One may never know. Strange, unlikely plot twists, like one involving prison Warden Gasque (Stan Wilson), are totally corny. But there are sublime moments, such as those when Stan is able to unite warring teams of buff men long enough to perform choreographed dance numbers, that make the whole film worth watching. Gay jokes abound in Big Stan, but not the calloused kind; in fact, the whole film is aimed at portraying a fantasy in which prison is a safe haven for guys of all sorts, a men’s club as pleasant as a spa. It’s a ! revelry that may never materialize but it never hurts to imagi! ne. --Trinie Dalton

Fantasia / Fantasia 2000 (Four-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

  • FANTASIA/FANTASIA 2000 SPEC ED BLU/DVD (BLU-RAY DISC)
More ambitious in scope than any of its other animated films (before or to come), Disney's 1940 Fantasia was a dizzying, magical, and highly enjoyable marriage of classical music and animated images. Fantasia 2000 features some breathtaking animation and storytelling, and in a few spots soars to wonderful high points, but it still more often than not has the feel of walking in its predecessor's footsteps as opposed to creating its own path. A family of whales swimming and soaring to Respighi's The Pines of Rome is magical to watch, but ends all too soon; a forest sprite's dance of life, death, and rebirth to Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring too clearly echoes the original Fantasia's Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria sequence. But when it's on target, Fantasia 2000 is glorious enough to make y! ou giddy. Hans Christian Andersen's "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" is a perfect narrative set to Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2, and Donald Duck's guest appearance as the assistant to Noah (of ark fame) set to Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance marches is a welcome companion piece (though not an equal) to The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the one original Fantasia piece included here. The high point of Fantasia 2000, though, is a fantastic day-in-the-life sequence of 1930s New York City set to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and animated in the style of cartoonist Al Hirschfeld; it's a perfect melding of music, story, and animation. Let's hope future Fantasias (reportedly in the works) take a cue from the best of this compilation. The music is provided by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by James Levine, interspersed with negligible intros by Steve Martin, Bette Midler, Itzhak Perlman, James Earl Jones, and others. --Mark EnglehartWalt Disney's animated musical masterpiece is an extravagan! za of si ght and sound-now brilliantly restored for the first time ever in high defi nition! Blu-ray technology fi nally allows you to experience Fantasia-and Fantasia 2000, the triumphant classic it inspired-the way Walt envisioned! Plus, for the first time ever on Blu-ray, experience the 2003 Academy Award®-nominated animated short Destino-the extraordinary collaboration between Walt Disney and legendary artist Salvador Dali!

Revealing new bonus features and commentary bring the Fantasia experience to life, allowing generations of moviegoers all over the world to enjoy this timeless classic like never before. See the music come to life, hear the pictures burst into song and experience the excitement that is Fantasia over and over again.

Walt Disney's animated musical masterpiece is an extravaganza of sight and sound-now brilliantly restored for the first time ever in high defi nition! Blu-ray technology fi nally allows you to experience Fantasia-and Fantasia 2000, the! triumphant classic it inspired-the way Walt envisioned! Plus, for the first time ever on Blu-ray, experience the 2003 Academy Award®-nominated animated short Destino-the extraordinary collaboration between Walt Disney and legendary artist Salvador Dali!

Revealing new bonus features and commentary bring the Fantasia experience to life, allowing generations of moviegoers all over the world to enjoy this timeless classic like never before. See the music come to life, hear the pictures burst into song and experience the excitement that is Fantasia over and over again.


Balibo Poster Movie Australian 11x17 Anthony LaPaglia Oscar Isaac Nathan Phillips Gyton Grantley

  • Approx. Size: 11 x 17 Inches - 28cm x 44cm
  • Size is provided by the manufacturer and may not be exact
  • The Amazon image in this listing is a digital scan of the poster that you will receive
  • Balibo 11 x 17 Inches Australian Style A Mini Poster
  • Packaged with care and shipped in sturdy reinforced packing material
Australia released, PAL/Region 4 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), English ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: 2-DVD Set, Anamorphic Widescreen, Behind the scenes, Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Documentary, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: After five Australian-based journos go missing, veteran correspondent Roger East is lured to East Timor by the charisma! tic Jos Ramos-Horta to tell his tiny nation's story and investigate the men's disappearance. As the threat of Indonesian invasion intensifies, an unlikely friendship develops between him and Horta. BALIBO is a political thriller that tells the true story of crimes that have been covered up for 30 years. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Australian Film Institute, ...Balibo ( The Balibo Conspiracy )

Featuring six additional chapters, this revised edition reveals the provocative story of one of the most shameful episodes in Australia's history, providing a firsthand account of the 1975 deaths of five young television reporters killed by the Indonesian military in the East Timor border town of Balibo. Chronicling how the reporters died as well as the eventual execution of a sixth reporter who attempted to investigate their fate, this gripping depiction also documents the personal narratives behind the families of the victims and their heartbreaking strugg! le for the truth. Contending that the Australian government wa! s always aware of the circumstances of the killings, this argument maintains that their cover-up was a key factor in Indonesia's decision to invade and occupy East Timor. With a striking collection of photographs from its thrilling companion film, this searing recollection is as much an investigation of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor as it is a case study of the Balibo killings.

THE MUSIC IN BALIBO COMBINES AN ORIGINAL SCORE BY WORLD RENOWNED AUSTRALIAN COMPOSER LISA GERRARD, WITH TRADITIONAL TIMORESE SONGS. ADDITIONAL ORIGINAL SCORE IN BALIBO WAS COMPOSED BY MARCELLO DE FRANCISCI AND SAM PETTY. TRADITIONAL TIMORESE SONGS ARE A POWERFUL PART OF THE SOUNDTRACK IN BALIBO, AND INCLUDE A CHILDREN'S CHOIR FROM TIMOR OPENING THE FILM WITH THE POWERFUL O HELE HO, THE FRETILIN MILITARY ANTHEM FOHO RAMELAU, AND THE POLITICAL SONG KOLELE MAI. THE FILM CONCLUDES WITH EGO LEMO'S BALIBO, A TETUM LANGUAGE SONG COMPOSED FOR THE FILM DESCRIBING THE EXPERIENCES OF THE BALIB! O FIVE JOURNALISTS THE NIGHT BEFORE THEY WERE TO DIE. EGO IS ONE OF EAST TIMOR'S BEST KNOWN SINGERS, AND HAS SPENT THE LAST 12 MONTHS TOURING AUSTRALIA WITH GEOFFREY GURRUMUL YUNUPINGU.Sweden released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), English ( Dolby DTS 5.1 ), Danish ( Subtitles ), Finnish ( Subtitles ), Norwegian ( Subtitles ), Swedish ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Anamorphic Widescreen, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: As Indonesia prepares to invade the tiny nation of East Timor, five Australian based journalists go missing. Four weeks later, veteran foreign correspondent Roger East is lured to East Timor by the young and charismatic José Ramos-Horta to tell the story of his country and investigate the fate of the missing men. As East's determination to uncover the truth grows, the threat ! of invasion intensifies and an unlikely friendship develops be! tween th e last foreign correspondent in East Timor and the man who will become President. BALIBO is a political thriller that tells the true story of crimes that have been covered up for over thirty years. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Australian Film Institute, ...The Balibo Conspiracy ( Balibo )Balibo reproduction Approx. Size: 11 x 17 Inches - 28cm x 44cm Australian Style A mini poster print

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Friday: Director's Cut [Blu-ray]

  • Just another day. But what a day. A day that shows a lighter side to life in the hood. That brought Ice Cube (Barbershop) and Chris Tucker (Rush Hour) to a wider audience. And that s now even more uproarious in an Extended Director s Cut never before available. It s Friday, and Craig (Cube) and Smokey (Tucker) must come up with $200 they owe a local bully or there won t be a Saturday. Co-writer Cu
Sequel. Craig and Day-Day move back into the hood, where they find jobs as security guards at a strip mall. Hijinks ensue on their first day on the job, which happens to be Christmas Eve.

DVD Features:
3D Animated Menus
Audio Commentary
DVD ROM Features
Deleted Scenes
Documentaries
Full Screen Version
Gag Reel
Music Video
Other
Theatrical Trailer

Ice Cube (Barbershop) uses his r! elaxed, raffish charm to glide through the third movie in his Friday series. As Craig (Cube) and Day-Day (Mike Epps) sleep in the wee hours of Christmas Eve, a burglar dressed like Santa Claus breaks in and steals their presents and rent. Thus begins a classically bad day full of unsympathetic family members, obnoxious neighbors, squealing pimps, pot smoking, and sexy babes. No one's going to win any awards for this sloppy installment, loaded with preening stereotypes and half-hearted low humor; Cube generally plays straight man and lets the rest of the cast screech, yowl, and contort their faces, their performances as ornate and ritualized as a Japanese Noh play. But if you're a fan, Friday After Next will give you a modest dose of Cube's goofy humor. John Witherspoon and Don "D.C." Curry return as Craig's eternally disgruntled father and uncle. --Bret FetzerIce Cube returns as Craig Jones, a streetwise man from South Central Los Angeles in! this smash hit sequel to the comedy, Friday. Trouble ensues t! his time out as Craig relocates to the suburbs in order to hide from the neighborhood bully, Debo.

DVD Features:
Alternate endings
DVD ROM Features
Gag Reel
Music Video
Theatrical Trailer

Ice Cube wrote and stars as Craig in this sequel to Friday, which he also wrote. His nemesis from that film, neighborhood bully Debo (Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr.), has just escaped from county jail and is out to get revenge. To protect Craig, Craig's father (John Witherspoon) sends his son to stay with his Uncle Elroy (Don "DC" Curry), who won the lottery and bought a house in Rancho Cucamonga. Craig expects the suburbs to be dull, but no sooner has he arrived than conflicts arise: The neighbors are hostile hoods, his cousin's girlfriend is out for blood and child support, and the house is about to be seized because of unpaid taxes. It's up to Craig and his cousin Day-Day (Mike Epps) to solve these problems before the day is over.! It's a rambling, loose movie, but a genuinely entertaining one. Ice Cube doesn't write punch lines--though funny lines abound. He writes richly comic characters that speak in virtual arias of bragging, complaining, and scamming. Sure, some of the characters are stereotypes and many of the jokes are about drugs and scatology--but that's been the basis of humor since Plautus and Molière. The rhythmic energy of Ice Cube's dialogue and the easy charisma of his performance make Next Friday thoroughly enjoyable. --Bret FetzerThe complete 3-Pack of the "Friday" movies will have you in stiches. One of the funniest series of movies to ever hit the silver screen.Friday
Friday is that rarest specimen of African American cinema: a 'hood movie refreshingly free of the semiseriousness and moralism of shoot 'em up soaps such as Boyz N the Hood, yet still true to the inner-city experience. Scripted by rapper Ice Cube, Friday is a no! -frills tale of a day in the life of a pair of young blacks i! n South Central. Cube plays Craig, a frustrated teen who endures the ultimate humiliation: getting fired on his day off. Then unknown Chris Tucker plays Smokey, a marijuana-worshipping homeboy whose love for the green stuff lands him in predicament after predicament. Sitting on the stoop of Craig's rundown home, the two hilariously confront a kaleidoscopic array of gangbangers, weed dealers, crack heads, prostitutes, scheming girlfriends, and neighborhood bullies--all of whom, it should be noted, come off as sympathetic even as they are being caricatured, a true achievement in the crass, "booty call" environment of '90s African American comedy. --Ethan Brown

Next Friday
Ice Cube wrote and stars as Craig in this sequel to Friday, which he also wrote. His nemesis from that film, neighborhood bully Debo (Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr.), has just escaped from county jail and is out for revenge. To protect Craig, Craig's father (John Witherspoon! ) sends his son to stay with his Uncle Elroy (Don "D.C." Curry), who won the lottery and bought a house in Rancho Cucamonga. Craig expects the suburbs to be dull, but no sooner has he arrived than conflicts arise: The neighbors are hostile hoods, his cousin's girlfriend is out for blood and child support, and the house is about to be seized because of unpaid taxes. It's up to Craig and his cousin Day-Day (Mike Epps) to solve these problems before the day is over. It's a rambling, loose movie, but a genuinely entertaining one. Ice Cube doesn't write punch lines, though funny lines abound; he writes richly comic characters that speak in virtual arias of bragging, complaining, and scamming. Sure, some of the characters are stereotypes and many of the jokes are about drugs and scatology--but that's been the basis of humor since Plautus and Molière. The rhythmic energy of Ice Cube's dialogue and the easy charisma of his performance make Next Friday thoroughl! y enjoyable. --Bret Fetzer

Friday After Ne! xt
Ice Cube (Barbershop) uses his relaxed, raffish charm to glide through the third movie in his Friday series. As Craig (Cube) and Day-Day (Mike Epps) sleep in the wee hours of Christmas Eve, a burglar dressed like Santa Claus breaks in and steals their presents and rent. Thus begins a classically bad day full of unsympathetic family members, obnoxious neighbors, squealing pimps, pot smoking, and sexy babes. No one's going to win any awards for this sloppy installment, loaded with preening stereotypes and half-hearted low humor; Cube generally plays straight man and lets the rest of the cast screech, yowl, and contort their faces, their performances as ornate and ritualized as a Japanese Noh play. But if you're a fan, Friday After Next will give you a modest dose of Cube's goofy humor. John Witherspoon and Don "D.C." Curry return as Craig's eternally disgruntled father and uncle. --Bret FetzerTitles include: Friday, Next Friday, Fr! iday After Next, All About The Benjamins Friday
Friday
is the rarest specimen of African American cinema: a 'hood movie refreshingly free of the semiseriousness and moralism of shoot 'em up soaps such as Boyz N the Hood, yet still true to the inner-city experience. Scripted by rapper Ice Cube, Friday is a no-frills tale of a typical day in the life of a pair of African American youth in South Central. Cube plays Craig, a frustrated teen who endures the ultimate humiliation: getting fired on his day off. Then unknown Chris Tucker plays Smokey, a marijuana-worshipping homeboy whose love for the green stuff lands him in predicament after predicament. Sitting on the stoop of Craig's rundown home, the two hilariously confront a kaleidoscopic array of gangbangers, weed dealers, crack heads, prostitutes, scheming girlfriends, and neighborhood bullies--all of whom, it should be noted, come off as sympathetic even as they ar! e being caricatured, a true achievement in the crass, "booty ! call" e nvironment of '90s African American comedy. --Ethan Brown

Next Friday
Ice Cube wrote and stars as Craig in this sequel to Friday, which he also wrote. His nemesis from that film, neighborhood bully Debo (Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr.), has just escaped from county jail and is out to get revenge. To protect Craig, Craig's father (John Witherspoon) sends his son to stay with his Uncle Elroy (Don "DC" Curry), who won the lottery and bought a house in Rancho Cucamonga. Craig expects the suburbs to be dull, but no sooner has he arrived than conflicts arise: The neighbors are hostile hoods, his cousin's girlfriend is out for blood and child support, and the house is about to be seized because of unpaid taxes. It's up to Craig and his cousin Day-Day (Mike Epps) to solve these problems before the day is over. It's a rambling, loose movie, but a genuinely entertaining one. Ice Cube doesn't write punch lines--though fun! ny lines abound. He writes richly comic characters that speak in virtual arias of bragging, complaining, and scamming. Sure, some of the characters are stereotypes and many of the jokes are about drugs and scatology--but that's been the basis of humor since Plautus and Molière. The rhythmic energy of Ice Cube's dialogue and the easy charisma of his performance make Next Friday thoroughly enjoyable. --Bret Fetzer

Friday After Next
Ice Cube (Barbershop) uses his relaxed, raffish charm to glide through the third movie in his Friday series. As Craig (Cube) and Day-Day (Mike Epps) sleep in the wee hours of Christmas Eve, a burglar dressed like Santa Claus breaks in and steals their presents and rent. Thus begins a classically bad day full of unsympathetic family members, obnoxious neighbors, squealing pimps, pot smoking, and sexy babes. No one's going to win any awards for this sloppy installme! nt, loaded with preening stereotypes and half-hearted low hu! mor; Cub e generally plays straight man and lets the rest of the cast screech, yowl, and contort their faces, their performances as ornate and ritualized as a Japanese Noh play. But if you're a fan, Friday After Next will give you a modest dose of Cube's goofy humor. John Witherspoon and Don "D.C." Curry return as Craig's eternally disgruntled father and uncle. --Bret Fetzer

All About the Benjamins
Ice Cube cowrote, produced, and stars in this action caper. Bucum (Cube) is a bounty hunter (get it?) with dreams of big money. Reggie (Mike Epps) is a small-time grifter who also has dreams of big money and is at the top of Bucum's list to boot. Yep, you guessed it: tough guy/funny guy buddy flick. All About the Benjamins is pretty much a by-the-numbers piece of work. There's plenty of macho posturing, gunfire, big-ticket items exploding, and curse words inserted into the script in lieu of actual punch lines. The p! lot has holes big enough to drive a locomotive through, but then again the plot isn't really the point. Epps's attempts at wacky comedy wear thin early on, but Ice Cube does a fine job, and together they do make quite a few moments hit. Best recommended for when you want turn-your-brain-off excitement. --Ali DavisIce Cube (Barbershop) uses his relaxed, raffish charm to glide through the third movie in his Friday series. As Craig (Cube) and Day-Day (Mike Epps) sleep in the wee hours of Christmas Eve, a burglar dressed like Santa Claus breaks in and steals their presents and rent. Thus begins a classically bad day full of unsympathetic family members, obnoxious neighbors, squealing pimps, pot smoking, and sexy babes. No one's going to win any awards for this sloppy installment, loaded with preening stereotypes and half-hearted low humor; Cube generally plays straight man and lets the rest of the cast screech, yowl, and contort their faces, t! heir performances as ornate and ritualized as a Japanese Noh ! play. Bu t if you're a fan, Friday After Next will give you a modest dose of Cube's goofy humor. John Witherspoon and Don "D.C." Curry return as Craig's eternally disgruntled father and uncle. --Bret FetzerJust another day. But what a day. A day that shows a lighter side to life in the ’hood. That brought Ice Cube (Barbershop) and Chris Tucker (Rush Hour) to a wider audience. And that’s now even more uproarious in an Extended Director’s Cut never before available. It’s Friday, and Craig (Cube) and Smokey (Tucker) must come up with $200 they owe a local bully or there won’t be a Saturday. Co-writer Cube, director F. Gary Gray and other innovative movie talents lace the plot with shrewdly hilarious looks at family (including John Witherspoon), a preacher (Bernie Mac), a girl-next-door (Nia Long) and all manner of the good ’N’ bad of life in South Central. This is keepin’-it-real comedy for every day of the week.Friday is the rarest specimen of Af! rican American cinema: a 'hood movie refreshingly free of the semiseriousness and moralism of shoot 'em up soaps such as Boyz N the Hood, yet still true to the inner-city experience. Scripted by rapper Ice Cube, Friday is a no-frills tale of a typical day in the life of a pair of African American youth in South Central. Cube plays Craig, a frustrated teen who endures the ultimate humiliation: getting fired on his day off. Then unknown Chris Tucker plays Smokey, a marijuana-worshipping homeboy whose love for the green stuff lands him in predicament after predicament. Sitting on the stoop of Craig's rundown home, the two hilariously confront a kaleidoscopic array of gangbangers, weed dealers, crack heads, prostitutes, scheming girlfriends, and neighborhood bullies--all of whom, it should be noted, come off as sympathetic even as they are being caricatured, a true achievement in the crass, "booty call" environment of '90s African American comedy. --Ethan Brown!

Captivity

  • ISBN13: 9780895873538
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
CAPTIVITY - DVD MovieWhen someone releases the chimpanzees at the South Carolina Primate Project, its director, Dana Armstrong, is forced to confront the complexity of both her past and the present as she struggles to preserve the chimps' sanctuary.

The Devil's Miner Spanish Dvd Activity Packet

  • A perfect companion to The Devil's Miner DVD!
  • Increases vocabulary
  • ©2010. English with Spanish.
  • Reproducible. Beginning level.
In this classic book, Michael Taussig explores the social significance of the devil in the folklore of contemporary plantation workers and miners in South America. Grounding his analysis in Marxist theory, Taussig finds that the fetishization of evil, in the image of the devil, mediates the conflict between precapitalist and capitalist modes of objectifying the human condition. He links traditional narratives of the devil-pact, in which the soul is bartered for illusory or transitory power, with the way in which production in capitalist economies causes workers to become alienated from the commodities they produce. A new chapter for this anniversary edition features a discussion of Walter Benjamin and Georges Bataille that extends Taussig’s ! ideas about the devil-pact metaphor.
Directed by long-time collaborators Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani, THE DEVIL'S MINER is a moving portrait of two brothers--14-year-old Basilio and 12-year-old Bernardino--who work deep inside the Cerro Rico silver mines of Bolivia. Through the children's eyes, we encounter the world of devout Catholic miners who sever their ties with God upon entering the mountain, where it is an ancient belief that the devil, as represented by statues constructed in the tunnels, determines the fate of all who work within the mines, which date back to the sixteenth century.

As we come to know the brothers, we learn their fears and hopes for their future, and occasionally glimpse their childlike souls peeking through their stoic faces. Raised without a father, Basilio must work to support their family and to go to school and study, so that he and his family can one day leave the mines. Working 24 hour shifts, eating cocoa leaves to ward off! hunger and drowsiness, Basilio then walks to the city to atte! nd a sch ool, where he is ostracized because he is a working miner. Yet, through it all, Basilio and his family retain a dignity and courage that is inspiring.

The filmmakers bring alive the depths of this mining community and the beauty of the many customs and traditions of the mining town filled with superstition. Each day as they enter the shafts, the Catholic miners bring offerings to carved statues called "Tio", the devil who determines the fate of all who work there. They stage large-scale rituals and sacrifices at the entrance to the mine, and carnivals where they parade through the streets. All of this is their effort to appease the "mountain that eats men alive" where millions of men have died in accidents and of disease and the life expectancy of workers is only 35-40 years old.

A prime example of how social issue films can make a difference, THE DEVIL'S MINER has brought attention to this situation and has encouraged educational and community programs in th! e US, Europe and Bolivia that are helping to get children out of the mines and into schools.Basilio Vargas is a veteran mine worker. He's been employed by La Cumbre silver mine for four years. It's one of hundreds in Bolivia's Cerro Rico, known locally as "the mountain that eats men." Basilio is 14. He's often joined by 12-year-old brother Bernardino. It isn't unusual for the boys to work 12-hour shifts--even double shifts of 24 hours. His father died when he was two and Basilio is the primary breadwinner (his younger sister even calls him "papa"). Outside the mine, Basilio is Catholic. Inside, however, he puts his faith in the Devil, AKA "Tio." Basilio, boss Saturnino, and the other miners believe Tio controls their fate. Basilio's dream is to earn enough money to get an education and to leave the mines for good. Directed by Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani and narrated by the subject himself, The Devil's Miner doesn't look at child labor from several points of vie! w, but almost exclusively from that of the child. While it may! lack co ntext, the film brings Basilio's world--both above and below ground--into stark relief. He's a well-spoken guide. Basilio is also a realist who knows what will happen if he doesn't escape: he'll be dead by 40 from lung disease or a mine collapse, just like an estimated eight million Cerro Rico workers before him. As Saturnino says about his young charges, "It's an incredible sadness." He would know--Saturnino was once a kid just like Basilio. --Kathleen C. FennessyIn this classic book, Taussig explores the social significance of the devil in the folklore of contemporary plantation workers and miners in South America. A new chapter for this anniversary edition features a discussion of Walter Benjamin and Georges Bataille that extends some of the ideas discussed in the original text.In this classic book, Taussig explores the social significance of the devil in the folklore of contemporary plantation workers and miners in South America. A new chapter for this anniversary! edition features a discussion of Walter Benjamin and Georges Bataille that extends some of the ideas discussed in the original text.THE DEVILS MINER ACTIVITY PACKET A perfect companion to the video with 15 or more reproducible activities. Each activity supports vocabulary reinforcement, vocabulary usage, and cultural understanding. Reproducible, beginning level

Dracula - Dead and Loving It

  • A comic reinvention of the Bela Lugosiic about a Transylvanian vampire who works his evil spell on a perplexed group of Londoners. Mel Brooks's Count is a pratfalling evil prince of a guy who believes in long relationships. Brooks portrays vampire hunter Van Helsing, who won't give a bloodsucker an even break.Running Time: 90 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG-13 Ag
A comic reinvention of the Bela Lugosi classic about a Transylvanian vampire who works his evil spell on a perplexed group of Londoners. Mel Brooks's Count is a pratfalling evil prince of a guy who believes in long relationships. Brooks portrays vampire hunter Van Helsing, who won't give a bloodsucker an even break.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Commentary by director/co-writer Mel Brooks, co-stars Steven Weber and Amy Yasbeck, and co-writers Rudy De Luca and Steve Haberman
Theatrical Trail! er

In 1995, it was promising to hear that Mel Brooks was creating "the companion piece to Young Frankenstein." He had also brought in the heavyweight of deadpan--Leslie Nielsen. As Lt. Frank Drebin in the Police Squad movies, Nielsen has no peer for silly stuff--just the player Brooks would seem to need for a strong movie, as any fan of Brooks perpetually hopes a new film may rekindle his madcap magic. Alas, the end results in Dracula: Dead and Loving It include a sprinkling of amusements and one big belly laugh. Brooks and his writers use a very tight adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, but the spoofs can be spelled out as we go, as if they are paint-by-number. Some are jabs at Coppola's version of Dracula, but most are attached to classic Dracula films. If any real pleasure comes from the movie it's thanks to the efforts of the cast. Peter MacNicol plays the crazed Renfield to the letter, Steven Weber has a good time as the tight Bri! tish Harkin, and Lysette Anthony charms as the doomed Lucy. Br! ooks and Nielsen ham it up just fine. There's even a surprisingly controlled performance by Harvey Korman (a character spoofing Anthony Hopkins's role in the misfire The Road to Wellville). As with Brooks's period comedies, the film looks better than it needs to and includes a few tricky special effects for good measure. This has nothing to do with the audience laughing--we need bigger jokes. And when you double over laughing in one scene--involving a stake through the heart and a bucket of blood--you want the movie to achieve Brooks's days of glory, when hearty laughter was the norm, not an isolated moment. --Doug Thomas

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