Foreign Films - Page 16

Manufacturer: Miramax Brand: Buena Vista Home Video

Starring Rachael Leigh Cook (SHE'S ALL THAT), Josh Hartnett (PEARL HARBOR), and Alan Rickman (GALAXY QUEST) in a great ensemble cast -- the Academy Award(R)- nominated writer of THE FULL MONTY has crafted a hilarious story about the things everyone wants in life: love, happiness, and great hair! As the National Hair Championships descend upon a small town in England, the country's top stylists aren't expecting much from the local talent. But they didn't count on Phil Allen (Rickman), the retired golden boy of the competition circuit, entering the fray! Also starring Natasha Richardson (THE PARENT TRAP), Rachel Griffiths (MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING), and supermodel Heidi Klum -- laugh along as the locals dazzle the out-of-towners with some hair dos ... and don'ts. Despite a gifted Anglo-American cast, Blow Dry strikes an uneasy balance between sentiment and camp. It aims for the same sort of high-wire act that Strictly Ballroom and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert pulled off so effortlessly, but melodrama wins the day. The comic moments are suitably over-the-top (as expected in a film about dueling hairdressers), but rarely as amusing as intended. The relationships between barbershop owner Phil (Alan Rickman), ex-wife Shelley (Natasha Richardson), and Sandra (Rachel Griffiths), "the other woman," could be more fully developed but are affecting nonetheless. The setting is West Yorkshire. The event that brings them together is the British National Hairdressing Championships. Phil initially resists the urge to compete as it reminds him of the success he and Shelley once enjoyed, but his son Brian (Pearl Harbor's Josh Hartnett) convinces him to give it a go. Hartnett and Rachael Leigh Cook (She's All That), as the daughter of Phil's old nemesis, seem like peculiar casting choices for a British film, but Hartnett's accent is passable (Cook plays an American) and they don't embarrass themselves as much as supermodel Heidi Klum, who plays a tacky, two-timing hair model. The screenplay is by Simon Beaufoy of Full Monty fa...

Manufacturer: Olive Films Brand: OLIVE FILMS

The son of a landowner and the son of a peasant become enemies in 20th Century Italy.

Manufacturer: Atrium Art

Russia released, NTSC (USA and Canada), ALL REGION, DIGITALLY REMASTERED, Anamorphic WIDESCREEN. AUDIO OPTIONS: Dolby Digital 5.1 ENGLISH (movie is completely in English) and Dolby Digital 5.1 RUSSIAN (voice-over). Original Russian artwork.............................................................. SYNOPSIS: After defeating France and imprisoning Napoleon on Elba, ending two decades of war, Europe is shocked to find Napoleon has escaped and has caused the French Army to defect from the King back to him. The best of the British generals, Arthur Welsley was victorious in Spain, but has never faced Napoleon. Welsley stands between Napoleon with a mixed army of Prussians, Mercenaries, Brits and Belgians. Napoleon's victory will plunge Europe back into a long term war. The two meet at Waterloo where the fate of Europe will be decided.

Manufacturer: Section23 Films Model: 814131010049

Mei Misaki was cute, athletic and one of the most popular girls in her school. Why should a little thing like death change that? Now, twenty-three years after Mei's mysterious demise, a new transfer student discovers that not only is his school's student body one corpse short of a full roster, but that some secrets never leave high school. And what's more, all of this may somehow be tied to his own family past. What is the secret and how does it all connect? And even if Kouichi does figure it out, will that knowledge help save him? As the school bells toll a deadly dirge and students begin to die, things that were never properly buried come back to haunt the high school of the damned in ANOTHER!

Manufacturer: Section23 Films Brand: Section23 Films

Mei Misaki was cute, athletic and one of the most popular girls in her school. Why should a little thing like death change that? Now, twenty-three years after Mei's mysterious demise, a new transfer student discovers that not only is his school's student body one corpse short of a full roster, but that some secrets never leave high school. And what's more, all of this may somehow be tied to his own family past. What is the secret and how does it all connect? And even if Kouichi does figure it out, will that knowledge help save him? As the school bells toll a deadly dirge and students begin to die, things that were never properly buried come back to haunt the high school of the damned in ANOTHER! The supernatural horror tale Another (2012) is adapted from a novel by Yukito Ayatsuji and illustrated by Noizi Ito. While his professor-father works in India, Kouichi Sasakibara is sent to Yamiyama Junior High, the school his late mother attended. But he's put into Class 3, the "cursed class." Twenty-six years ago, a popular student named Mei Misaki died during the school year, but everyone in Class 3 pretended she was still there and could graduate with her friends. Since then, the class has been haunted by the presence of one extra person who causes the death of other students, usually in bizarre accidents. As they see their classmates die, Kouichi and his traumatized friends feel increasingly helpless: Who will be next? How can they protect themselves? Who is the extra person, "the dead who must be sent back to death"? And who is the mysterious girl with the eye patch--another Mei Misaki, whom everyone else in the class ignores? Director Tsutomo Mizushima skillfully keeps the viewer slightly off-balance with real and false clues and eerie imagery, especially the decaying dolls in the museum where Kouichi and Mei meet. Like Shiki and When They Cry, Another feels genuinely creepy because of what the filmmakers don't show. The violence begins slowly, which gives the terrible climax a punch Hellsing and similar nonstop go...

Manufacturer: Kultur Brand: Kulter

Tolstoy's epic masterpiece paints a portrait of Russia and her people, caught up in the irresistible tides of history during the Napoleonic Era. Like Tolstoy's novel, this epic-length War and Peace is rough going, but worth the effort. Winner of the 1969 Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film and widely considered the most faithful adaptation of Tolstoy's classic, Sergei Bondarchuk's massive Soviet-Italian coproduction was seven years in the making, at a record-setting cost of $100 million. Bondarchuk himself plays the central role of Pierre Bezukhov, buffeted by fate during Russia's tumultuous Napoleonic Wars, serving as pawn and philosopher through some of the most astonishing set pieces ever filmed. Bondarchuk is a problematic director: interior monologues provide awkward counterpoint to intimate dramas, weaving together the many classes and characters whose lives are permanently affected by war. Infusions of '60s-styled imagery clash with the film's period detail; it's an anomalous experiment that doesn't really work. Undeniably, however, the epic battle scenes remain breathtakingly unique; to experience the sheer scale of this film is to realize that such cinematic extravagance will never be seen again. --Jeff Shannon