Terrific films on DVD & video ... Any suggestions?

Have you watched The Cove yet?

In this comedy based on real events, a small sheepherding village in Australia is thrust into the spotlight when NASA employs its massive satellite radio dish to serve as a backup transmitter for the 1969 Apollo 11 moon mission. But when a change in the spacecraft's schedule puts the primary dish out of range, it's up to the Aussies to ensure that the history-making mission is broadcast to the masses. Sam Neill and Patrick Warburton star.

Love in Thoughts is a taut and exciting thriller that deserves a much bigger audience than it will ever receive.

The story is based on an incident in 1927 (known commonly as the Steglitz Student tragedy), unknown in the States but the equivalent of Leopold and Loeb for Germany, a trial which had been decided in Illinois only three years prior.

The setup is familiar: Two college kids, Paul (Daniel Brühl) and Günther (August Diehl) spend a break in the country, inexplicably unsupervised by anyone at all responsible. While they're best friends and have a similar outlook on life, Paul and Günther are quite opposites: Paul's a working-class wannabe poet, and Günther is a disinterested rich kid with no future plans beyond what he's drinking that evening. Complicating the friendship is Paul's unrequited love for Günther's sister Hilde (Anna Maria Mühe, who looks like Anne Heche if you compressed her head by a third but left her eyes normal size), plus a tangle of other relationships that no one wants to take seriously but ends up with hurt feelings all around.

All this talk of love leads to the film's ultimate point, a suicide pact between Günther and Paul, in which they promise to kill themselves when they no longer love.....

Synopsis: Cameron Crowe's career trajectory reads like a true Hollywood story--he started out as a 15-year-old writing for Rolling Stone magazine and eventually ended up writing, directing, and acting in... Cameron Crowe's career trajectory reads like a true Hollywood story--he started out as a 15-year-old writing for Rolling Stone magazine and eventually ended up writing, directing, and acting in movies. His poignant writing style reflects the nostalgia and humor of an era, with bits of pop culture and musical history and trivia woven in. This has proven to be a highly successful formula, as in the 1989 emo love story SAY ANYTHING, and the '90s grunge rocker hit SINGLES. Crowe's ALMOST FAMOUS is a semiautobiographical account that tells the story of a teen journalist, William Miller (Patrick Fugit), who goes on the road with an up-and-coming rock band called Stillwater. Though Miller's mentor, legendary rock critic Lester Bangs (portrayed with humor and heart by Philip Seymour Hoffman), cautions him not to befriend the musicians, Miller takes it a step further and befriends both the band and the Band-Aids--the girls who hang around with the band because they love the music. Miller is in for a wild ride around the country, to thrilling concerts and debauched backyard parties, living the life many 15-year olds dream about. He discovers that beneath the glittery façade of rock stardom are sometimes bittersweet life lessons and mild doses of heartbreak. More impacting are the friendships he finds with his glamorous travel companions. Newcomer Fugit is the perfect William Miller: baby-faced, slightly gawky, and an awestruck observer. Kate Hudson sparkles as Penny Lane, the leader of the Band-Aids, and Frances McDormand delivers a stellar performance as Elaine, Miller's protective and mildly paranoid mother. In the tradition of SAY ANYTHING and JERRY MAGUIRE, Crowe's coming-of-age tale is intelligent, well-written, and memorable.

A shady character, Colin (Paul Freeman -Raiders of the Lost Ark), carrying a suitcase of money pockets a couple handfuls of cash before making the delivery. In a country farmhouse the three men dividing the money in the case are attacked by gunmen. Outside a pub Colin's accomplices are abducted and killed....

The leading gangster in the London underworld (Harold Shand - Bob Hoskins in his breakout movie role) is forming an alliance with a group of rich, shady Americans to fund the very profitable London docklands development of the 1980s.

On Good Friday while Shand's mother attends church, her waiting driver is killed when her car explodes. The news of this is an outrage to Shand who is shocked at the declining code of conduct among the underworld. This decline parallels the decline of his empire throughout the film. He is given 24 hours to fix the situation or the Americans will walk away from the deal...

I just saw Crazy Heart with Jeff Bridges last night. I generally tire quickly of all the hoopla made over how great an actor is, or how iconic, or whatever, but I totally get why Bridges got an Oscar for this part. He is 100% believable as "Bad Blake" - the burnt out alcoholic country singer, and Maggie Gyllenhaal is also good.