| # | Title | Director | Writer | Rated | Year | Studio | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 284 | Office Space - Special Edition with Flair | R | 1999 | 20th Century Fox | Comedy | ||
Office Space - Special Edition with FlairRated: R Date Added: 28 Dec 2007 Languages: English, French, Spanish Subtitles: English, Spanish Sound: Dolby Picture Format: Widescreen Summary: Ever spend eight hours in a "Productivity Bin"? Ever had worries about layoffs? Ever had the urge to demolish a temperamental printer or fax machine? Ever had to endure a smarmy, condescending boss? Then "Office Space" should hit pretty close to home for you. Peter (Ron Livingston) spends the day doing stupefyingly dull computer work in a cubicle. He goes home to an apartment sparsely furnished by IKEA and Target, then starts for a maddening commute to work again in the morning. His coworkers in the cube farm are an annoying lot, his boss is a snide, patronizing jerk, and his days are consumed with tedium. In desperation, he turns to career hypnotherapy, but when his hypno-induced relaxation takes hold, there's no shutting it off. Layoffs are in the air at his corporation, and with two coworkers (both of whom are slated for the chute) he devises a scheme to skim funds from company accounts. The scheme soon snowballs, however, throwing the three into a panic until the unexpected happens and saves the day. Director Mike Judge has come up with a spot-on look at work in corporate America circa 1999. With well-drawn characters and situations instantly familiar to the white-collar milieu, he captures the joylessness of many a cube denizen's work life to a "T". Jennifer Aniston plays Peter's love interest, a waitress at Chotchkie's, a generic beer-and-burger joint à la Chili's, and Diedrich Bader ("The Drew Carey Show") has a minor but hilarious turn as Peter's mustached, long-haired, drywall-installin' neighbor. "--Jerry Renshaw"
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| 285 | Once a Thief | John Woo | Janet Chun, Clifton Ko | R | 1994 | Sony Pictures | Foreign |
Once a Thief John WooRated: R Writer: Janet Chun, Clifton Ko Date Added: 18 Mar 2006 Languages: English, Cantonese Subtitles: English, Spanish, French Sound: Dolby Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Comments: They only stop to reload. Summary: A romantic art-heist comedy, far lighter in tone than most of director John Woo's work, and in places much sillier. As kids, Chow Yun-fat, Cherie Chung, and Leslie Cheung ("A Chinese Ghost Story") were starving street urchins together. They are rescued from the law and trained by a Fagin-like older crook, who transforms them into glossy international cat burglars. The best sections (especially the opening and closing heists) are as masterfully smooth as any action set pieces in the Woo canon. But the tone wavers alarmingly, from the sophisticated (Chow as Cary Grant) to the savage to the sentimental and back again, with a disastrous slapstick coda set in the states, in which the baby food hits the fan. The busy plotting distracts us from a strong theme: the struggle between good and bad father figures (the other is a stalwart cop played by Chu Kong) for the souls of these noble criminals. Not to be confused with the rather limp 1995 remake, produced by Woo for Canadian TV in 1995, with "The X-Files"' sinister Krycek, Nicholas Lea, surprisingly effective in the Chow part. "--David Chute"
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| 286 | Once Upon a Time in China Trilogy | Hark Tsui | Lik-Chi Lee | R | 1993 | Sony Pictures | Foreign |
Once Upon a Time in China Trilogy Hark TsuiRated: R Writer: Lik-Chi Lee Date Added: 18 Mar 2006 Summary: "Once Upon a Time in China" |
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| 287 | One Hour Photo | Mark Romanek | Mark Romanek | R | 2002 | 20th Century Fox | Drama |
One Hour Photo Mark RomanekRated: R Writer: Mark Romanek Date Added: 18 Mar 2006 Languages: English, Spanish, French Subtitles: English, Spanish Sound: Dolby Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Comments: There's nothing more dangerous than a familiar face. Summary: "One Hour Photo" may be more civilized than "Taxi Driver", but it's just as effectively creepy. Like Martin Scorsese's classic, this riveting character study is so compassionately detailed that we sympathize with poor Sy Parrish (Robin Williams) even as he grows increasingly unhinged. Sy is a meticulously dedicated one-hour-photo technician, but the pictures he processes--particularly those belonging to the successful, seemingly happy family of Nina and Will Yorkin (Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan)--turn into the unhealthiest kind of obsession. The Yorkins' snapshots portray a joyful life that the lonely and traumatized Sy could never hope to achieve, and he sinks deeper and deeper into the solace they bring... until evidence of infidelity turns him into a seething crucible of righteous indignation. Propelled by Williams's flawless escape from the feel-good schmaltz of earlier roles, "One Hour Photo" is a simmering tour de force, tempered by writer-director Mark Romanek for maximum psychological impact. "--Jeff Shannon" |
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| 288 | Ong-Bak - The Thai Warrior | Prachya Pinkaew | Prachya Pinkaew, Panna Rittikrai | R | 2003 | 20th Century Fox | Foreign |
Ong-Bak - The Thai Warrior Prachya PinkaewRated: R Writer: Prachya Pinkaew, Panna Rittikrai Date Added: 18 Mar 2006 Sound: Dolby Comments: No stunt doubles, no computer images, no strings attached Summary: No computer graphic can ever surpass what a real human body can do--and what the body can do is on spectacular display in "Ong-Bak", a Thai action movie starring the lithe and flexible Tony Jaa. When the head is stolen from a holy statue in Jaa's rural village, he goes to Bangkok to get it back. Of course, it just so happens that the thief is connected to a bar where criminal big shots gamble over bare-knuckle brawls, and Jaa is--despite his virtuous efforts--drawn into the game. But that's only the beginning; a chase through the city streets rivals the ingenious acrobatics of Jackie Chan, with Jaa leaping between panes of glass, over a bicycle in motion, and through a wreath of barbed wire. Jaa's fighting prowess has been compared to Bruce Lee, Jet Li, and just about every other martial arts master, but he has an equal degree of charisma as well. He won't win acting awards, but his engaging presence carries the movie. One word of warning: The numerous fights will make you wince as much as gape in astonishment. "Ong-Bak" follows the action-flick tradition that the hero needs to be as battered as possible before he ultimately triumphs, and the battering is intense. "--Bret Fetzer" |
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| 289 | Orgazmo | Trey Parker | Trey Parker | Unrated | 1998 | Mca Home Video | Comedy |
Orgazmo Trey ParkerRated: Unrated Writer: Trey Parker Date Added: 18 Mar 2006 Sound: Dolby Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Comments: Special Edition Summary: "South Park" cocreator Trey Parker goes straight for the gross-out humor in this live-action farce set in the adult-movie industry. Parker stars as an innocent Mormon kid who gets sucked into the world of pornographic filmmaking and becomes an international sensation as the porno superhero Orgazmo, all the while hiding his secret life from his milk-fed fiancée. It's practically a one-man show for Parker, who directs, writes, stars, and even performs the self-penned theme song as frontman for his rock band, and perhaps he should have spread the responsibilities a little. As an actor he's surprisingly appealing--his dazed grin and bleached white surfer-dude hair give him an engaging air of innocence (he can also be seen, just as innocently endearing, in the sports farce "BASEketball"). Paired with longtime crony Dian Bachar, the diminutive actor who plays his superhero sidekick Chodo Boy, they bring a Hardy Boys naiveté to the rude world of mobbed-up producers and jaded adult film stars. But the film is only fitfully funny, with vulgar jokes that are often more disgusting than humorous and clumsy comic timing sabotaging promising scenes. Only rarely does it reach the heights of his hilarious cutout cartoon series, but when he delivers he does so with the carefully cultivated tasteless excess his fans have come to know and love. Matt Stone costars as a clueless photographer and adult film star; Ron Jeremy appears as a gross gangster henchman. "--Sean Axmaker"
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