Flights of Fancy
Now the highest grossing film of all time and a phenomenon in theaters, James Cameron's Avatar takes place on the beautiful alien world of Pandora. Sam Worthington stars as Jake Sully, a marine who's lost the use of his legs but can use an "avatar" to blend in with the Na'Vi (Pandora's native population), running and hunting in a new body... but his role there is split between the scientist (Sigourney Weaver) who wants to use avatars to learn about the planet and its people, and the corporate administrator (Giovanni Ribisi) who wants to relocate the Na'Vi with a hired military force (led by Stephen Lang)-- they expect Jake to be a loyal Marine, gather intelligence, and help control the Na'Vi by force. His choices become more complex as he falls in love with Pandora, the Na'Vi people, and the chief's daughter (Zoe Saldana). On DVD and Blu Ray.Colin Ford is the young Jack in Jack and the Beanstalk, in danger of failing out of fairy tale school because he hasn't done a single heroic deed. He sells his Computer of Wonder (C.O.W.) for a handful of magic beans that lead him up a beanstalk to battle a giant (James Earl Jones) and save a girl (Madison Davenport) that's been magically transformed into a harp.
Academy Awards
Jeff Bridges won a Best Actor Oscar this year for his role as aging country star Bad Blake in Crazy Heart. Playing his old hits in dive bars, Blake is usually broke and always drinking... just getting by. A blossoming romance with a single mother (Maggie Gyllenhaal) makes him try to be a better man, and even start writing songs again, and his former backing band guitarist
(Colin Farrell), now a country superstar, could help Blake get the success that's always eluded him... but no one gets a name like "Bad" without earning it, and peace and redemption won't come easily to a man like Bad Blake. With Robert Duvall.Nominated for art and make-up and winning an Academy Award for costumes, The Young Victoria stars Emily Blunt as a young Queen Victoria in the middle of political turmoil. She initially rejects Albert (Rupert Friend) and sees marriage another way for her to be controlled... but as the two truly get to know each other, their relationship deepens; when Victoria becomes queen, she realizes how much she relies on him and the two develop a legendary courtship, romance, and marriage With Paul Bettany.
Love and Danger
Set in the early 70's, Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones is the story of a 14-year-old girl (Saoirse Ronan) who is murdered by her reclusive neighbor (Stanley Tucci), and sees the aftermath of her disappearance in a dreamlike world between the living and the afterlife. As her parents (Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz) deal with her death in different, obsessive ways, she refuses to move on and leave the living behind her until the story of her murder is closed, with her family finding some kind of peace.John (Cillian Murphy) is a small town bank employee, withdrawn and socially awkward, living alone and hoping not to be noticed or bothered in Peacock. When an accident brings his neighbors to his door, they meet his other personality, and assume "Emma" is John's reclusive wife. Once she begins to socialize, Emma starts to make an impression on the town, including the mayor's wife (Susan Sarandon), and John begins to lose control of her, as his second identity has a will of her own. With Ellen Page and Josh Lucas.
Uncertainty is a film split in half: it opens with a coin toss on the Brooklyn Bridge, and the film simultaneously unfolds the heads and tails choices, as Lynn Collins and Joseph Gordon-Levitt proceed down both paths, as one takes them through family drama and emotional turmoil in Queens and the other puts them in the way of danger and suspense in Manhattan.
A New York power couple, a web designer (Gael Garcia Bernal) and an emergency room surgeon (Michelle Williams) barely have enough time away from their jobs to connect with their lives in Mammoth. As he flies to Thailand to close a multi-million dollar deal and she spends almost all of their time in the emergency room, almost all of their contact is through the voicemails they leave one another, and their seven-year-old daughter's closest parental relationship is with her nanny.
When Ray Winstone's wife leaves him for another man, he slips into alcoholic depression in 44 Inch Chest... but his mates know exactly how to handle the situation: take brutal, violent revenge on the wife's lover. His group of aggressive, foul mouthed cohorts include Ian McShane, John Hurt, Tom Wilkinson, and Stephen Dillane, and they force him to work out his ideas of masculinity and love in the wake of incredible pain.
Foreign Fare
Olivier Assayas' Summer Hours stars Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling, and Jeremie Renier as three siblings gathering for their mother's 75th birthday-- she's just inherited a large collection of art from her brother, and with her health failing, she leaves it to her children to decide how to handle the collection, a decision that reveals a lot about their family and their relationships.Inge is a 67 year old woman in Cloud 9, running a part time sewing business while her retired husband spends his spare hours aimlessly riding passenger trains. When she makes a delivery to another gentleman, she begins an affair she never thought she'd have, and has to wonder about the consequences to her decades of marriage.
Non-Fiction
Afghan Star is a documentary about the popular, American Idol style television show in Afghanistan. After years of totalitarian rule, voting for singers via cell phone is many Afghani's first taste of democracy, and the journey to be a contestant on the show is a higher stakes venture than its western counterparts.Mythic Journeys is a documentary about myths and storytelling and their impact throughout many cultures across the world. The film offers both the philosophy of mythologies (by experts such as Deepak Chopra and Michael Beckwith) alongside animated myths, tales,and fables voiced by Mark Hamill, Tim Curry, and Lance Henriksen.
Focusing on an autistic boy from Texas with an affinity of animals (especially horses), The Horse Boy details his family's horseback journey through Magnolia. When none of western medicine's therapies seem to help the autistic boy, they begin long quest to find a shaman that may be able to help.
The PBS series Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years details the history of the civil rights movement from the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1954, continuing up to the mid 1980s. The 14-hour series recounts the movement chronologically, providing detailed history through the decades.
New this week to Reckless Video's TV New Releases are The End of Time, the double episode that marks the end of David Tennant's time as The Doctor on Doctor Who, and the BBC fantasy series Merlin.
[X]James Cameron:
Titanic, The Abyss
Titanic, The Abyss
[X]Sigourney Weaver:
Aliens, Holes
Aliens, Holes
[X]Robert Duvall:
Network, Colors
Network, Colors
[X]Ray Winstone:
Last Orders, The Departed
Last Orders, The Departed
[X]Stephen Dillane:
Welcome to Sarajevo, King Arthur
Welcome to Sarajevo, King Arthur
[X]James Earl Jones:
The Sandlot, The Hunt for Red October
The Sandlot, The Hunt for Red October
[X]Emily Rose Everhard:
Bratz, Ace Ventura Jr
Bratz, Ace Ventura Jr
[X]Adair Tishler:
Heroes, Pop Star
Heroes, Pop Star
[X]Peter Jackson:
Lord of the Rings, Heavenly Creatures
Lord of the Rings, Heavenly Creatures
[X]Stanley Tucci:
A Life Less Ordinary, The Hoax
A Life Less Ordinary, The Hoax
[X]Gael Garcia Bernal:
The Motorcycle Diaries, Babel
The Motorcycle Diaries, Babel
[X]Tim Curry:
Congo, Kinsey
Congo, Kinsey
[X]Susan Sarandon:
Elizabethtown, Igby Goes Down
Elizabethtown, Igby Goes Down
[X]Josh Lucas:
A Beautiful Mind, Glory Road
A Beautiful Mind, Glory Road
[X]Olivier Assayas:
Demonlover, Irma Vep
Demonlover, Irma Vep
[X]Charles Berling:
A Matter of Taste, L'ennui
A Matter of Taste, L'ennui
[X]Lynn Collins:
50 First Dates, The Number 23
50 First Dates, The Number 23
Love Paul Bettany! Legion was gnarly http://bit.ly/bEgvjN
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