Saturday, December 31, 2011

Orphan

  • Tragedy seems to follow nine-year-old Esther. She was orphaned in her native Russia. Her last adoptive family perished in a fire Esther barely escaped. But now the Coleman family has adopted her, and life is good. Until amate takes a serious fall from a slide. Until an orphanage nun is battered to death. And until Esther s new mom wonders if that tragic fire was an accident. From Dark Castle Produ
Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is on her way to having it all: a devoted boyfriend (Justin Long), a hard-earned job promotion, and a bright future. But when she’s forced to make a tough decision that evicts an elderly woman from her house, Christine becomes the victim of an evil curse. Now she has only three days to dissuade a dark spirit from stealing her soul before she is dragged to hell for an eternity of unthinkable torment. Director Sam Raimi (Spider-Man and The Evil Dead Trilogy) returns t! o the horror genre with a vengeance in the film that critics rave is “the most crazy, fun and terrifying horror movie in years!” (Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly)Touted as a return to Sam Raimi's horror-movie roots, Drag Me to Hell is indeed closer in spirit to the director's Evil Dead pictures than to his Spider-Man films. You got your gypsy gargoyles with rotted dentures, your upchucking corpses, your flexible two-way orifices--yes, Raimi's definitely back in the saddle. There's even a story: a sad loan officer (Alison Lohman) turns down the aforementioned denture-wearing gypsy for a loan extension, which leads to an evil curse and a date in hell in three days' time. A séance, an animal sacrifice, and a session in a storm-tossed graveyard will make the 72 hours pass very nervously, thank you, along with assorted scares. Justin Long plays Lohman's upper-class boyfriend, and Raimi fills the rest of the cast with some unusual and unfamil! iar types. Along with the giddy horror-comedy that bursts out ! of the m ovie every 10 minutes or so, there's also an underlying mood of pity: Lohman's character is something of a hard-luck sad sack, who does enough wrong things to make her seem like a truly abject individual, well outside the heroic model of most multiplex offerings. (Lohman's own little-girl-lost quality adds to this feeling.) But don't let that get in the way of the fun-ride aspects of this goofy enterprise: Drag Me to Hell is a bunch of Z-movie gags wrapped in top-drawer production values. --Robert Horton


Stills from Drag Me to Hell (Click for larger image)
Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is on her way to having it all: a devoted boyfriend (Justin Long), a hard-earned job promotion, and a bright future. But when she’s forced to make a tough decision that evicts an elderly woman from her house, Christine becomes the victim of an evil curse. Now she has only three days to dissuade a dark spirit from stealing her soul before she is dragged to hell for an eternity of unthinkable torment. Director Sam Raimi (Spider-Man and The Evil Dead Trilogy) returns to the horror genre with a vengeance in the film that critics rave is “the most crazy, fun and terrifying horror movie in years!” (Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly)Touted as a return to Sam Raimi's horror-movie roots, Drag Me to Hell is indeed closer in spirit to the director's Evil Dead pictures than to his Spider-Man films. You got y! our gypsy gargoyles with rotted dentures, your upchucking corp! ses, you r flexible two-way orifices--yes, Raimi's definitely back in the saddle. There's even a story: a sad loan officer (Alison Lohman) turns down the aforementioned denture-wearing gypsy for a loan extension, which leads to an evil curse and a date in hell in three days' time. A séance, an animal sacrifice, and a session in a storm-tossed graveyard will make the 72 hours pass very nervously, thank you, along with assorted scares. Justin Long plays Lohman's upper-class boyfriend, and Raimi fills the rest of the cast with some unusual and unfamiliar types. Along with the giddy horror-comedy that bursts out of the movie every 10 minutes or so, there's also an underlying mood of pity: Lohman's character is something of a hard-luck sad sack, who does enough wrong things to make her seem like a truly abject individual, well outside the heroic model of most multiplex offerings. (Lohman's own little-girl-lost quality adds to this feeling.) But don't let that get in the way of the fun-ri! de aspects of this goofy enterprise: Drag Me to Hell is a bunch of Z-movie gags wrapped in top-drawer production values. --Robert Horton

Stills from Drag Me to Hell (Click for larger image)
A loan officer who evicts an old woman from her home finds herself the recipient of a supernatural curse. Desperate, she turns to a seer to try and save her soul, while evil forces work to push her to a breaking point.Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 10/27/2! 009 Run time: 122 minutes Rating: RA bad seed with a Russian! accent, 9-year-old Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) is a nasty little girl with a nasty little plan. Unfortunately, this malevolent tyke has landed in the home of adoptive parents Kate and John (Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard), an unsuspecting couple with two kids of their own and considerable grief over recent family tragedies. It doesn't take long for Esther to make her creepy presence known, as broken limbs on the playground and torched tree houses can attest. Give this movie some credit--the psychological underpinnings are all set carefully in place: Maternal trauma? Check. Backyard pond as emotionally charged danger zone? Check. Feminist parable about husbands not listening to troubled wives? Check. The casting of reputable actors such as Farmiga and Sarsgaard also ups the movie's class quotient; Farmiga in particular has an emotional workout, and this gifted actress strikes few false notes even as the scenario becomes increasingly lurid. (There's some déjà vu here: Farmiga also ! played a mother realizing her kid was "not right" in Joshua, a much superior film.) Director Jaume Collet-Serra, of House of Wax notoriety, knows full well the unsettling weirdness of seeing a child commit murderous mayhem, and he presses all the buttons with something like unholy joy. The movie begins to drive off the rails even before a clumsy twist hits the fan near the end, and at that point, the mechanical exercise becomes downright silly. The Omen's Damien has nothing to worry about. --Robert Horton

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What was she doing here? Hyattown had changed very little in the years Vanessa Sexton had been away. In some ways her high school sweetheart, Brady Tucker, hadn't changed much eitherâ€"he was still lean, athletic, rugged…But the once reckless boy had become a solid, dependable man. He'd stood her up on the most important night of her life; could she ever trust him again?

So Vanessa had finally come home, Brady thought. She could still turn him inside out with one of her sultry looks. He couldn't believe she hadn't forgiven him! for that night twelve years agoâ€"but he'd had his reasons for not showing up. He'd let her leave town thenâ€"but he wasn't going to let her get away this time…

What was she doing here? Hyattown had changed very little in the years Vanessa Sexton had been away. In some ways her high school sweetheart, Brady Tucker, hadn't changed much eitherâ€"he was still lean, athletic, rugged…But the once reckless boy had become a solid, dependable man. He'd stood her up on the most important night of her life; could she ever trust him again?

So Vanessa had finally come home, Brady thought. She could still turn him inside out with one of her sultry looks. He couldn't believe she hadn't forgiven him for that night twelve years agoâ€"but he'd had his reasons for not showing up. He'd let her leave town thenâ€"but he wasn't going to let her get away this time…

If you're an artist or a crafter, and you've thought about turning your art or craft into a home business, thi! s booklet is for you. With a variety of main business ideas, p! lus doze ns more expansion, side-business and spinoff ideas, you're bound to find inspiration for your own home business. (5400 words)If you're an artist or a crafter, and you've thought about turning your art or craft into a home business, this booklet is for you. With a variety of main business ideas, plus dozens more expansion, side-business and spinoff ideas, you're bound to find inspiration for your own home business. (5400 words)How to Make Your Blog the Centerpiece of Your Business

Your Blog is Your Home Base

Though they had been around for many years, blogs burst on the scene as a hot marketing tool around 2003 when marketers discovered easy-to-use blogging platforms like Blogger, TypePad, and WordPress.

However, just because anyone can set up a blog it doesn’t mean everyone should. Many professionals and businesses start blogging without giving any thought to why they’re doing it, and without thinking about how they’ll keep it up and wh! o will be doing the blogging.

Over 50% of blogs are abandoned within the first 90 days. While this isn’t really important if you're writing a personal diary or a political or celebrity blog, it is very important if you start a blog for your business and don’t keep posting on it consistently and with purpose.

In this ebook by Denise Wakeman you will learn:

• Why a blog is an essential foundation for your online business
• 10 key steps you must take before you create your business blog
• How to create effective content that moves your readers to action
• How to boost your visibility and create a powerful online presence
• How to use social networking to drive more people back to your blog
• 14 Attention-Grabbing Tactics for Launching a New Business Blog

You'll also get free instant access to a 5-part video course on how to get the best out of your blog.

More information about Denis! e Wakeman, business blogging and how to build your visibility ! on the w eb at http://DeniseWakeman.com
How to Make Your Blog the Centerpiece of Your Business

Your Blog is Your Home Base

Though they had been around for many years, blogs burst on the scene as a hot marketing tool around 2003 when marketers discovered easy-to-use blogging platforms like Blogger, TypePad, and WordPress.

However, just because anyone can set up a blog it doesn’t mean everyone should. Many professionals and businesses start blogging without giving any thought to why they’re doing it, and without thinking about how they’ll keep it up and who will be doing the blogging.

Over 50% of blogs are abandoned within the first 90 days. While this isn’t really important if you're writing a personal diary or a political or celebrity blog, it is very important if you start a blog for your business and don’t keep posting on it consistently and with purpose.

In this ebook by Denise Wakeman you will learn:

• Why a blog is an es! sential foundation for your online business
• 10 key steps you must take before you create your business blog
• How to create effective content that moves your readers to action
• How to boost your visibility and create a powerful online presence
• How to use social networking to drive more people back to your blog
• 14 Attention-Grabbing Tactics for Launching a New Business Blog

You'll also get free instant access to a 5-part video course on how to get the best out of your blog.

More information about Denise Wakeman, business blogging and how to build your visibility on the web at http://DeniseWakeman.com

Falcon Down

  • ISBN13: 9781585002672
  • Condition: Used - Very Good
  • Notes: 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Friday, December 30, 2011

Monster Claw Carnage - Spider-Man The Animated Series Action Figure

  • Monster Claw Carnage from the Spider-Man 3 3/4" action figure collection from Hasbro
  • Each figure comes with 3 Fiercest Foes Battle Cards and an interlocking web-tech accessory
  • For Ages 4 & Up
CARNAGE IS BACK! The fan-favorite villain returns to rock the Marvel Universe, with the Amazing Spider-Man and the Invincible Iron Man first on his hit list. But just why - and how - has Carnage returned, and how many of Marvel's heroes will it take to stop him? Superstar creators Zeb Wells (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, NEW MUTANTS) and Clayton Crain (GHOST RIDER, X-FORCE) team up for the Spider-Man epic that'll leave jaws on the floor! Literally! Collecting CARNAGE #1-5.

With Suits for any mission, Spider-Man is ready to battle his fiercest foes no matter where they hide! The Carnage action figure comes with a snap-shut monster claw!

Head in the Clouds

  • ISBN13: 9780764207563
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
As war clouds gather over Europe, a free-spirited socialite and her two lovers live a life of pleasure and privilege until the Spanish Civil War tears them apart. Starring Charlize Theron and Penelope Cruz.If movies were solely about the cheap pleasure of watching gorgeous people make grand gestures in epic circumstances--because, sure, sometimes movies are--director/screenwriter John Duigan's goopy, obvious, overwrought contemplation of how global unrest really messes with your love life would be Oscar-worthy. Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend, and Penelope Cruz are headstrong 1930s playthings who each discover that they need to pull their attractive heads out of their inviting behinds if th! ey're going to play a part in stopping the spread of European fascism. Charlize is socialite Gilda, who ensnares both brooding, Cambridge-educated Irishman Townsend and Spanish rebel Cruz (who is particularly ill-defined) in a love triangle while seemingly caring not a whit for the imminent goosesteps of the Nazis. Charlize wears a lot of fabulous outfits, and she and real-life paramour Townsend do impetuous things like sport fedoras while romping in a milky-white bathtub; Cruz, meanwhile, performs a passionate impromptu striptease. Hey, there are worse ways to be entertained. Unfortunately, you don't really give a damn about any of them, and you can predict what's going to happen to all of them well before it actually does. It's an efficient, glamorous, hokey, ultimately downbeat time-killer for anyone willing to spend two hours trying to decide which of the doe-eyed trio you'd save from destruction first. --Steve WieckingAdelaide Proctor is a young woman with her h! ead in the clouds, longing for a real-life storybook hero to c! laim as her own. But when a husband-hunting debacle leaves her humiliated, she interviews for a staid governess position on a central Texas sheep ranch and vows to leave her romantic yearnings behind.

When Gideon Westcott left his privileged life in England to make a name for himself in America's wool industry, he never expected to become a father overnight. And five-year-old Isabella hasn't uttered a word since she lost her mother. The unconventionality of the new governess concerns Gideon--and intrigues him at the same time. But he can't afford distractions. He has a ranch to run, a shearing to oversee, and a suspicious fence-cutting to investigate.

When Isabella's uncle comes to claim the child--and her inheritance--Gideon and Adelaide must work together to protect Isabella from the man's evil schemes. And soon neither can deny their growing attraction. But after so many heartbreaks, will Adelaide be willing to get her head out of the clouds and put her heart o! n the line?

Thursday, December 29, 2011

The Hunchback of Notre Dame II

  • Return to the magnificence of Notre Dame in Disney's all-new movie, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II - a fun, romantic adventure told with vibrant animation and music as soaring as its setting. Still the faithful protector of Notre Dame's beloved bells, Quasimodo now rings them with the help of Esmeralda's and Phoebus' little boy, Zephyr, who is Quasi's best friend. Stopping wit
A Walt Disney Masterpiece Movie. The hunchback of Notre Dame is a movie enjoyed both by the young and old. In plastic protective case.The misconception about this animated film from Disney was that it was a movie for kids--something Victor Hugo never had in mind. In fact, despite a cute brace of singing gargoyles who are Quasimodo's (Tom Hulce) best friends, this version of Hugo's classic tale is really adult entertainment, with a strong set of songs by Alan Menken. The story remains mostly the same (though tricked out ! with a happier ending than Hugo's): Quasimodo, the ward of repressive monk Frollo, falls for a gypsy girl named Esmerelda (Demi Moore)--though she loves one of the king's guards (Kevin Kline). But they are all put in jeopardy by the wicked Frollo, whose secret passion for Esmerelda leads him to seek her death. At times too dark and even a shade kinky, something that may scare younger viewers. --Marshall Fine Inspired by Victor Hugo's classic novel, Disney brings the heroic adventures of Quasimodo, the gentle and lonely bell ringer of Notre Dame, to spectacular life. This critically acclaimed Disney masterpiece is an "uplifting, thrilling story with a heart-touching message that emerges from the comedy and song" (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times). At the urging of his hilarious gargoyle pals Victor, Hugo, and Laverne, Quaismodo leaves the solitary safety of his tower, venturing out to find his first true friend, the gypsy beauty Esmerelda. The most unlikely of heroes, Q! uasi fights to save the people and the city he loves and, in t! urn, hel ps us to see people for who they are, rather than how they appear. The star-studded voice cast includes Jason Alexander, Tom Hulce, Kevin Kline, and Demi Moore in a magnificent Disney musical from renowned composer Alan Menken.The misconception about this animated film from Disney was that it was a movie for kids--something Victor Hugo never had in mind. In fact, despite a cute brace of singing gargoyles who are Quasimodo's (Tom Hulce) best friends, this version of Hugo's classic tale is really adult entertainment, with a strong set of songs by Alan Menken. The story remains mostly the same (though tricked out with a happier ending than Hugo's): Quasimodo, the ward of repressive monk Frollo, falls for a gypsy girl named Esmerelda (Demi Moore)--though she loves one of the king's guards (Kevin Kline). But they are all put in jeopardy by the wicked Frollo, whose secret passion for Esmerelda leads him to seek her death. At times too dark and even a shade kinky, something that ma! y scare younger viewers. --Marshall Fine The misconception about this animated film from Disney was that it was a movie for kids--something Victor Hugo never had in mind. In fact, despite a cute brace of singing gargoyles who are Quasimodo's (Tom Hulce) best friends, this version of Hugo's classic tale is really adult entertainment, with a strong set of songs by Alan Menken. The story remains mostly the same (though tricked out with a happier ending than Hugo's): Quasimodo, the ward of repressive monk Frollo, falls for a gypsy girl named Esmerelda (Demi Moore)--though she loves one of the king's guards (Kevin Kline). But they are all put in jeopardy by the wicked Frollo, whose secret passion for Esmerelda leads him to seek her death. At times too dark and even a shade kinky, something that may scare younger viewers. --Marshall Fine Out of print in the U.S.! Digitally remastered reissue of the soundtrack to the 1996 Disney animated motion picture composed by Al! an Menken and Stephen Schwartz. Features tracks by Bette Midle! r, All F our One, Tom Hulce and other cast members. Disney.Return to the magnificence of Notre Dame in Disney's all-new movie, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II - a fun, romantic adventure told with vibrant animation and music as soaring as its setting. Still the faithful protector of Notre Dame's beloved bells, Quasimodo now rings them with the help of Zephyr, who is Quasi's best friend. Stopping with Zephyr at a traveling circus owned by the evil magician Sarousch, Quasi is captivated by Sarousch's lovely assistant, Madellaine. But greedy Sarousch is about to force Madellaine to help him steal the Cathedral's most famous bell. Encouraged by some laughable romantic advice from his gargoyle pals, Quasi listens to his own heart and discovers that he, too, must look past appearances to find true love. Most of the original characters from Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame--plus a few new ones--return for this animated sequel. Esmeralda (Demi Moore) and Phoebus (Kevin Kline! ) now have a son named Zephyr (Haley Joel Osment), with whom Quasi (Tom Hulce) has become friends. When the circus comes to town, the hunchback becomes enchanted by a magician's assistant, Madellaine (Jennifer Love Hewitt), but the her boss, the vain Sarousch (Michael McKean), is also a thief with an eye for the cathedral's jeweled bell. He forces Madellaine to woo Quasi while he carries out the theft. Will he get away with it? Will Madellaine learn to see the inner Quasi? And will he be able to trust again when he learns of her deception? Songs and humorous high jinks from the gargoyles, including Jason Alexander's Hugo, illustrate the lesson that--as in the first feature--you can't judge a book by its cover. This sequel is squarely aimed at a younger audience than the original was; children from 5 to 10 should be very entertained. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Transcend 16 GB SDHC Class 10 Flash Memory Card TS16GSDHC10E

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Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, didn't expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

As Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she's never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.

Featuring one of the most unusual love triangles in literature, THE HOST is a riveting and unforgettable novel about the persistence of love and the e! ssence of what it means to be human. (2008)Amazon Best of the Month, May 2008: Stephenie Meyer, creator of the phenomenal teen-vamp Twilight series, takes paranormal romance into alien territory in her first adult novel. Those wary of sci-fi or teen angst will be pleasantly surprised by this mature and imaginative thriller, propelled by equal parts action and emotion. A species of altruistic parasites has peacefully assumed control of the minds and bodies of most humans, but feisty Melanie Stryder won't surrender her mind to the alien soul called Wanderer. Overwhelmed by Melanie's memories of fellow resistor Jared, Wanderer yields to her body's longing and sets off into the desert to find him. Likely the first love triangle involving just two bodies, it's unabashedly romantic, and the characters (human and alien) genuinely endearing. Readers intrigued by this familiar-yet-alien world will gleefully note that the story's end leaves the door open for a sequel--or anoth! er series. --Mari MalcolmTranscend 16GB Class 10 SDHC F! lash Mem ory Card (TS16GSDHC10E) - Frustration Free Package Certified Frustration-Free Packaging Amazon.com has certified this product's packaging is Frustration-Free. A Frustration-Free Package is easy-to-open and comes without excess packaging materials such as hard plastic "clamshell" casings, plastic bindings, and wire ties. It is exactly the same as a traditionally packaged product--we've just streamlined the packaging to be opened without the use of a box cutter or knife and will protect your product just as well as traditional packaging during shipping. Products with Frustration-Free Packaging can frequently be shipped in their own boxes, without the need for an additional shipping box.Transcend 16GB Class 10 SDHC Flash Memory Card (TS16GSDHC10E) - Frustration Free Package

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Amazon.com has certified this product's packaging is Frustration-Free. A Frustration-Free Package is easy-to-open and comes without excess packagi! ng materials such as hard plastic "clamshell" casings, plastic bindings, and wire ties. It is exactly the same as a traditionally packaged product--we've just streamlined the packaging to be opened without the use of a box cutter or knife and will protect your product just as well as traditional packaging during shipping. Products with Frustration-Free Packaging can frequently be shipped in their own boxes, without the need for an additional shipping box. Learn more.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

  • ISBN13: 9781594484803
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Ryan Gosling stars as a Hollywood stunt driver for movies by day and moonlights as a wheelman for criminals by night. Though a loner by nature, “Driver” can’t help falling in love with his beautiful neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), a young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld by the return of her ex-convict husband. After a heist goes wrong, Driver finds himself driving defense for the girl he loves, tailgated by a syndicate of deadly serious criminals (Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman). Soon he realizes the gangsters are after more than the bag of cash and is forced to shift gears and go on the offense. Denmark's Nicolas Winding Refn makes an electrifying return to Hollywood filmmaking with t! his 1980s-style noir, right down to the synth score and neon-pink credits (he released his American debut, Fear X, in 2003). Ryan Gosling puts his implacable quality to good use as an L.A. stunt driver whose world crumbles when he falls for the wrong woman (Carey Mulligan). Irene is hardly a femme fatale, but her incarcerated husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac), is another story. When her car breaks down, Driver recommends the auto shop where he works with Shannon (Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston). The two start spending time together, but then Standard returns from prison. Driver keeps his distance until he discovers that Standard owes protection money. If he doesn't pay up, Irene and their son will suffer, so Driver offers to handle the wheel during a heist, a job with which he has more than a little experience, as the riveting opening sequence proves. While they plan their score with Blanche (Mad Men's Christina Hendricks), Shannon makes a deal with a coup! le of gangsters (Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman), but when the ! plans co llide: all hell breaks loose. In adapting James Sallis's novel, Refn builds to a bittersweet denouement, though the bursts of bloodshed will test even the hardiest of viewers. At its best, though, Drive is every bit as gripping as Reagan-era crime dramas like To Live and Die in L.A. and Thief. --Kathleen C. FennessyMost people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money--the carrot-and-stick approach. That's a mistake, says Daniel H. Pink in Drive. In this provocative and persuasive new book, he asserts that the secret to high performance and satisfaction--at work, at school, and at home--is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.

Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does-and how that affects every aspect of life. He exami! nes the three elements of true motivation--autonomy, mastery, and purpose--and offers smart and surprising techniques for putting these into action in a unique book that will change how we think and transform how we live.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Edge of Darkness

  • The bullet that killed his daughter was meant for Boston cop Thomas Craven. That s what police brass and Craven himself think, but that s not what the investigation finds. Clue after clue and witness after witness, the search leads him into a shadowy realm where money and political intrigue intersect. If Craven wasn t a target before, he and anyone linked to his inquiry now is. Mel Gibson stars in
The bullet that killed his daughter was meant for Boston cop Thomas Craven. That’s what police brass and Craven himself think, but that’s not what the investigation finds. Clue after clue and witness after witness, the search leads him into a shadowy realm where money and political intrigue intersect. If Craven wasn’t a target before, he--and anyone linked to his inquiry--now is. Mel Gibson stars in his first screen lead in eight years, making Craven’s grief palpable and his quest for paybac! k stone-cold and relentless. Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) directs from a screenplay co-written by The Departed’s William Monahan. Gibson is back, taking us to the edge…and into the sinister darkness.The good news is that Edge of Darkness (no relation to the fine 1943 war picture of that name) brings back Mel Gibson in front of the camera for the first time in nearly a decade. Although he's grown creased and leathery and his thatch has thinned, the movie star who was Mad Max still has the charisma and gravitas to center a dodgy suspense tale and propel it to the finish line. Gibson plays veteran Boston police detective Tom Craven, who welcomes home daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic) for a rare visit, then sees her shot down at his front door. Because the gunman shouted "Craven!" and because a cop makes enemies, Tom assumes Emma took a bullet meant for him, which adds considerably to his grief and pain. But as he looks into the life of a daughter he loved y! et scarcely knew, he discovers she'd been preparing to turn wh! istleblo wer on her employer, a corporation doing unsavory clandestine things for the government. Craven starts having oblique chats with a philosophical Brit named Jedburgh (Ray Winstone), who keeps turning up unexpectedly--in Craven's backyard at night, say--always giving the distinct impression that he could just as well kill a fellow instead of schmoozing. Their strange rapport, like Craven's tendency to mutter ironical asides as if in ongoing conversation with the departed Emma, is more intriguing than the conspiracy involving corporate skullduggery and a rogue assassination bureau. The bar for that sort of thing was set in post-Watergate days by Alan J. Pakula's The Parallax View, and we're nowhere near its cinematic elegance or pervasive paranoia. Edge of Darkness, based on a British miniseries from 1985, was directed by Martin Campbell, who also handled the six-hour original (and more recently the successful James Bond reboot Casino Royale). Campbell does! decent-enough work--the occasional bursts of "shocking action" do shock even as we know they're coming--but rarely exceeds generic requirements. For killing comparison among contemporary suspense films, catch Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer, in which every frame unsettlingly conveys a world where disquiet is the natural order of things. --Richard T. Jameson

HOME OF THE BRAVE - Format: [Blu-Ray Movie]

  • Condition: New
  • Format: Blu-ray
  • Color; Widescreen
Kek comes from Africa. In America he sees snow for the first time, and feels its sting. He’s never walked on ice, and he falls. He wonders if the people in this new place will be like the winter â€" cold and unkind.

In Africa, Kek lived with his mother, father, and brother. But only he and his mother have survived, and now she’s missing. Kek is on his own. Slowly, he makes friends: a girl who is in foster care; an old woman who owns a rundown farm, and a cow whose name means "family" in Kek’s native language. As Kek awaits word of his mother’s fate, he weathers the tough Minnesota winter by finding warmth in his new friendships, strength in his memories, and belief in his new country.

Bestselling author Katherine Applegate presents a beautifully wrought novel about an immigrant’s journey from ! hardship to hope.
When a humanitarian mission in Iraq is derailed by an explosive ambush, a small band of American soldiers find themselves fighting for their lives.The fact that Home of the Brave is about soldiers coming home from a war that isn't even over is just one of the things that's off in this film; director Irwin Winkler and screenwriter Mark Friedman's 2006 tale of the problems faced by the men and women returning from Iraq is also hampered by thoroughly predictable storytelling, sub-par acting, and sometimes painfully on-the-nose dialogue, reducing what could have been a provocative and challenging effort into so much TV movie fodder. When Army medic Will Marsh (Samuel L. Jackson, who does his best to rise above the level of the material) and soldiers Vanessa Price (Jessica Biel) and Tommy Yates (Brian Presley) return to Spokane, Washington, major readjustment problems loom, mostly due to a chaotic ambush in a small Iraqi town (occurring less ! than two weeks before they were to be sent home, the incident ! is so un surprising that anyone could have seen it coming). Will and his angry teenage son wage their own war, while Dad takes to the bottle; Vanessa's learning to cope with a prosthetic hand, while Tommy's grieving over the best buddy who died in the ambush and the loss of his job, girlfriend, and self-respect. Those matters and the clichéd, unconvincing way in which they're handled, along with the film's refusal to take a strong stand either for or against the war, obscure the potentially much more interesting issues. Are these soldiers patriots, or merely pawns? Were they doing their righteous duty by serving in this conflict, or were they victims sent off to suffer and perhaps die by a bunch of men in suits who never saw a minute of combat themselves? Other home-from-war films, from 1946's The Best Years of Our Lives to 1978's Coming Home to 1989's Born on the Fourth of July, have dealt with these and other issues a good deal more effectively than the earnes! t and well-intentioned but not very compelling Home of the Brave. --Sam Graham
In dreamlike sequences, a man symbolically confronts the trauma of his family’s incarceration in the Japanese internment camps during World War II. This infamous event is made emotionally clear through his meeting a group of children all with strange name tags pinned to their coats. The man feels the helplessness of the children. Finally, desperately he releases the name tags like birds into the air to find their way home with the hope for a time when Americans will be seen as one people—not judged, mistrusted, or segregated because of their individual heritage.
Sixty years after thousands of Japanese Americans were unjustly imprisoned, the cogent prose and haunting paintings of renowned author and illustrator Allen Say remind readers of a dark chapter in America’s history.
When a humanitarian mission in Iraq is derailed by an explosive ambush, a small band of Am! erican soldiers find themselves fighting for their lives.The f! act that Home of the Brave is about soldiers coming home from a war that isn't even over is just one of the things that's off in this film; director Irwin Winkler and screenwriter Mark Friedman's 2006 tale of the problems faced by the men and women returning from Iraq is also hampered by thoroughly predictable storytelling, sub-par acting, and sometimes painfully on-the-nose dialogue, reducing what could have been a provocative and challenging effort into so much TV movie fodder. When Army medic Will Marsh (Samuel L. Jackson, who does his best to rise above the level of the material) and soldiers Vanessa Price (Jessica Biel) and Tommy Yates (Brian Presley) return to Spokane, Washington, major readjustment problems loom, mostly due to a chaotic ambush in a small Iraqi town (occurring less than two weeks before they were to be sent home, the incident is so unsurprising that anyone could have seen it coming). Will and his angry teenage son wage their own war, while Dad takes to ! the bottle; Vanessa's learning to cope with a prosthetic hand, while Tommy's grieving over the best buddy who died in the ambush and the loss of his job, girlfriend, and self-respect. Those matters and the clichéd, unconvincing way in which they're handled, along with the film's refusal to take a strong stand either for or against the war, obscure the potentially much more interesting issues. Are these soldiers patriots, or merely pawns? Were they doing their righteous duty by serving in this conflict, or were they victims sent off to suffer and perhaps die by a bunch of men in suits who never saw a minute of combat themselves? Other home-from-war films, from 1946's The Best Years of Our Lives to 1978's Coming Home to 1989's Born on the Fourth of July, have dealt with these and other issues a good deal more effectively than the earnest and well-intentioned but not very compelling Home of the Brave. --Sam Graham

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

One Shoulder Embellished Dolman Top - OPAL GREY (XS)

  • 97% polyester, 3% spandex.
  • Hand wash.
  • Imported.
  • SKU 191158
  • Style 60GGD102M836
  • Model is 5'9" and is wearing a US size S.
An all-star cast of the greatest actresses of our time - including Academy Award winner Vanessa Redgrave, Academy Award winner Meryl Streep, Toni Collette, Claire Danes, Natasha Richardson and Glenn Close - come together in this passionate and heartwarming story. As Ann (Redgrave) reflects on one beautiful and life-changing weekend with the one true love of her life, her daughters (Collette and Richardson) come to their own understanding about the power of the past and the unbreakable bonds between mothers and daughters, family, and the loves of their lives. A star-studded cast brings richness and texture to Evening, a lyrical tale of regret, unrequited love, and hope, written by novelists Susan Minot (Rapture) and Michae! l Cunningham (The Hours), based on Minot's book. Ann (Vanessa Redgrave) lies ill, deliriously remembering when she came to the summer home of her best friend Lila to be Lila's maid of honor (her younger self is played by Claire Danes). But the young Ann is soon caught between the hungry need of Lila's brother Buddy (Hugh Dancy) and the magnetic outsider Harris (Patrick Wilson). Meanwhile, the elderly Ann is watched by her two daughters, Nina (Toni Collette) and Constance (Natasha Richardson), who wrestle with unresolved feelings towards their mother, their choices in life, and each other. Evening starts off feeling a bit stiff and literary, but gradually finds its rhythm. While the emotional peaks and precious images feel inflated and hollow, the little ephemeral moments--the heartbreaks, yearnings, disappointments, and comforts, the flash of a smile or the widening of an eye--glimmer with warmth and honesty. It's rare that such restraint can be so compelling ! and so rewarding; Evening is well worth watching for th! e accumu lating emotional power of these small moments. Also featuring Glenn Close and Meryl Streep. --Bret Fetzer

Beyond Evening


Evening the novel by Susan Minot

Vanessa Redgrave Essential DVDs

More DVDs with Claire Danes

Stills from Evening (click for larger image)







An all-star cast of the greatest actresses of our time - including Academ! y Award winner Vanessa Redgrave, Academy Award winner Meryl St! reep, To ni Collette, Claire Danes, Natasha Richardson and Glenn Close - come together in this passionate and heartwarming story. As Ann (Redgrave) reflects on one beautiful and life-changing weekend with the one true love of her life, her daughters (Collette and Richardson) come to their own understanding about the power of the past and the unbreakable bonds between mothers and daughters, family, and the loves of their lives. A star-studded cast brings richness and texture to Evening, a lyrical tale of regret, unrequited love, and hope, written by novelists Susan Minot (Rapture) and Michael Cunningham (The Hours), based on Minot's book. Ann (Vanessa Redgrave) lies ill, deliriously remembering when she came to the summer home of her best friend Lila to be Lila's maid of honor (her younger self is played by Claire Danes). But the young Ann is soon caught between the hungry need of Lila's brother Buddy (Hugh Dancy) and the magnetic outsider Harris (Patrick Wilson).! Meanwhile, the elderly Ann is watched by her two daughters, Nina (Toni Collette) and Constance (Natasha Richardson), who wrestle with unresolved feelings towards their mother, their choices in life, and each other. Evening starts off feeling a bit stiff and literary, but gradually finds its rhythm. While the emotional peaks and precious images feel inflated and hollow, the little ephemeral moments--the heartbreaks, yearnings, disappointments, and comforts, the flash of a smile or the widening of an eye--glimmer with warmth and honesty. It's rare that such restraint can be so compelling and so rewarding; Evening is well worth watching for the accumulating emotional power of these small moments. Also featuring Glenn Close and Meryl Streep. --Bret Fetzer

Beyond Evening

!
Evening the novel by Susan Minot

Vanessa Redgrave Essential DVDs

More DVDs with Claire Danes

Stills from Evening (click for larger image)







With two novels and one short story collection published to overwhelming critical acclaim ("Monkeys takes your breath away," said Anne Tyler; "heartbreaking, exhilarating," raved the New York Times Book Review), Susan Minot has emerged as one of the most gifted writers in America, praised for her ability to strike at powerful emotional truths in language that is sensual and commanding, mesmerizing in its vitality and intelligence. Now, with E! vening, she gives us her most ambitious novel, a work of surpa! ssing be auty. During a summer weekend on the coast of Maine, at the wedding of her best friend, Ann Grant fell in love. She was twenty-five. Forty years later--after three marriages and five children--Ann Lord finds herself in the dim claustrophobia of illness, careening between lucidity and delirium and only vaguely conscious of the friends and family parading by her bedside, when the memory of that weekend returns to her with the clarity and intensity of a fever-dream. Evening unfolds in the rushlight of that memory, as Ann relives those three vivid days on the New England coast, with motorboats buzzing and bands playing in the night, and the devastating tragedy that followed a spectacular wedding. Here, in the surge of hope and possibility that coursed through her at twenty-five--in a singular time of complete surrender--Ann discovers the highest point of her life. Superbly written and miraculously uplifting, Evening is a stirring exploration of time and memory, of ! love's transcendence and of its failure to transcend--a rich testament to the depths of grief and passion, and a stunning achievement.As Ann Lord lies on her deathbed, her daughter delivers a balsam pillow from the attic. At first the ailing woman is confused, but suddenly the scent reminds her of the "wild tumult" she experienced 40 years earlier:
Something stole into her as she walked in the dark, a dream she'd had long ago. The air was so black she was unable to see her arms, it was a warm summer night. Above her she could make out the dark line of the tops of spruce trees and a sky lit with stars. She felt the warm tar through the soles of her shoes. The boy beside her took her hand.
In the porous world between conscious and unconscious the protagonist of Evening revisits the great passions of her life, along with its considerable disappointments. The boy in the dark remains the fixed point--not so much because he is the! most important man in her life, but because of the untapped ! possibi lities he represents. Meanwhile, friends and relations come to sit by Ann Lord's side as she veers between clarity and feverish recollection.

In her third novel, Susan Minot takes some new risks--her narrative spanning seven decades of memory and her style ranging from Stegneresque particularity to the exquisite abstraction Virginia Woolf perfected in To the Lighthouse. Equal parts memory and desire, fiction and poetry, Evening is a seductive story made more so by the measured pace of details emerging, one by one, like stars. --Cristina Del Sesto A star-studded cast brings richness and texture to Evening, a lyrical tale of regret, unrequited love, and hope, written by novelists Susan Minot (Rapture) and Michael Cunningham (The Hours), based on Minot's book. Ann (Vanessa Redgrave) lies ill, deliriously remembering when she came to the summer home of her best friend Lila to be Lila's maid of honor (her younger self is! played by Claire Danes). But the young Ann is soon caught between the hungry need of Lila's brother Buddy (Hugh Dancy) and the magnetic outsider Harris (Patrick Wilson). Meanwhile, the elderly Ann is watched by her two daughters, Nina (Toni Collette) and Constance (Natasha Richardson), who wrestle with unresolved feelings towards their mother, their choices in life, and each other. Evening starts off feeling a bit stiff and literary, but gradually finds its rhythm. While the emotional peaks and precious images feel inflated and hollow, the little ephemeral moments--the heartbreaks, yearnings, disappointments, and comforts, the flash of a smile or the widening of an eye--glimmer with warmth and honesty. It's rare that such restraint can be so compelling and so rewarding; Evening is well worth watching for the accumulating emotional power of these small moments. Also featuring Glenn Close and Meryl Streep. --Bret Fetzer

Beyon! d Evening


Evening the novel by Susan Minot

Vanessa Redgrave Essential DVDs

More DVDs with Claire Danes

Stills from Evening (click for larger image)







Wood Newton (Burt Reynolds) is a retired pro American Football player who has returned to his childhood home - the small town of Evening Shade, Arkansas. He's now the coach of the local high school Football team, which brings him closer to the other residents of the town.The sun set on ! Evening Shade in 1994, but it's morning again for this cha! rmingly laid-back series set in a small Arkansas town populated by a gallery of colorful characters. Evening Shade gave Burt Reynolds what Look Who's Talking gave John Travolta; a career bump after his star had somewhat dimmed. Reynolds would earn a People's Choice Award, an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his tailor-made role as Wood Newton, a former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback who returns to his small town to serve as the high-school football coach. As the series begins, the team is mired in a 30 games-and-counting losing streak. His wife, Ava (Marilu Henner), whom Wood married when she was 18, no sooner launches her campaign for prosecutor, than she learns she is pregnant. Evening Shade was created by Clinton cronies Harry Thomason and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (it is said that Hillary suggested the show's setting and title), but the show is a Red Stater's dream; a celebration of small town America and the three F's; family, friends, and faith. In the pilot, ! Wood bemoans the replacement of the local eatery's jukebox and the substitution of Milli Vanilli and "Me So Horny" for the cherished songs of his youth, like "Blueberry Hill." In "Gambler's Anonymous," get out your tissues when guest star Kenny Rogers sings the stirring "20 Years Ago." Reynolds anchors the series (he also directed eight episodes) and snaps one-liners with his flip panache, but he generously cedes the spotlight to the stellar ensemble of estimable character actors, including Hal Holbrook as Evan, Ava's father and the crusty publisher of the local newspaper, Ossie Davis as Blue, the sage owner of the local barbeque hangout, and whose Our Town-esque narration frames most of the episodes, Charles Durning as the outsized family physician, Michael Jeter, an Emmy-winner as the wimpy-looking math teacher who signs on as Wood's new assistant coach, and Elizabeth Ashley as southern diva Frieda, Ava's aunt. Adding more local color are Nub (Charlie Dell), the s! low-witted paperboy (a character that would barely pass PC mus! ter toda y), Ann Wedgeworth as Merleen, the doc's sexy wife, and Linda Gehringer as Fontana Beausoleil, a striptease artist with a heart of gold. Evening Shade has its own easy-going rhythm, and the same smart and sassy humor the Thomasons brought to Designing Women. In the episode, "Hooray for Wood," a movie crew is in town to film a Civil War miniseries. When a producer mentions they don't have enough blacks for slaves, Blue dryly replies, "Age-old problem." --Donald LiebensonTotally evening ready, this bebe top features glossy bead embellishments along neckline, elastic detail at waist and sleeve for extra drape, and high-shine appeal. Style it over a maxi tube dress or skinny denim to maximize your look. 25" measurement from shoulder.

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