Hannah Takes the Stairs

• Hannah, a restless college grad, spends a hot Chicago summer trying to figure it all out. Full of ambition and indecision, she'll try to find a crush who can keep up with her and a project that will keep her stimulated, but she may just leave a trail of broken hearts. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: NR Age: 796019809610 UPC: 796019809610 Manufacturer No

Hannah, a recent college graduate, spends a brutally hot Chicago summer falling in and out of love. As she struggles to find personal and professional fulfullment through various relationships with friends and co-workers, she leaves destruction in her wake. Outstanding casts of rising indie film stars create an intimate look at friendship, ambition and th pursuit of happiness.

Godzilla Japanese 6" Vinyl Figure Final Wars 1954 Godzilla Re-Paint

• bandai, godzilla, kaiju, monster
• godzilla toy, godzilla figure
• ultraman kaiju, ultra monster
• kaiju toy

Ishiro Honda’s Godzilla is the roaring granddaddy of all monster movies. It’s also a remarkably humane and melancholy drama made in Japan at a time when the country was still reeling from nuclear attack and H-bomb testing. Its rampaging radioactive beast, the poignant embodiment of an entire population’s fears, became a beloved international icon of destruction, spawning more than twenty sequels and spinoffs. This first thrilling, tactile spectacle continues to be a cult phenomenon; here, we present the original, 1954 Japanese version, along with Godzilla: King of the Monsters!, the 1956 American reworking starring Raymond Burr (Rear Window).This item is NOT A TOY. It is a replica product for ADULT COLLECTORS only and does not necessarily co! mply with Toy Safety Regulations.

Festival Express

• Festival Express is a rousing record of a little-known, but monumental, moment in rock n' roll history, starring such music legends as Janis Joplin, The Band, and the Grateful Dead. Set in 1970, Festival Express was a multi-band, multi-day extravaganza that captured the spirit and imagination of a generation and a nation. What made it unique was that it was portable; for five days, the bands and p

Festival Express is a rousing record of a little-known, but monumental, moment in rock n' roll history, starring such music legends as Janis Joplin, The Band, and the Grateful Dead. Set in 1970, Festival Express was a multi-band, multi-day extravaganza that captured the spirit and imagination of a generation and a nation. What made it unique was that it was portable; for five days, the bands and performers lived, slept, rehearsed and did countless unmentionable things aboard a customized train that ! traveled from Toronto, to Calgary, to Winnipeg, with each stop culminating in a mega-concert. The entire experience, both off-stage and on, was filmed but the extensive footage remained locked away -- until now. A momentous achievement in rock film archeology, Festival Express combines this long-lost material with contemporary interviews nearly 35 years after it was first filmed.

DVD Features:
DVD ROM Features
Theatrical Trailer

The vintage concert footage alone makes Festival Express a memorable and worthwhile endeavor, offering scintillating performances by Janis Joplin, the Band (their rollicking version of "Slippin' and Slidin'" is particularly mind-blowing), the Grateful Dead, Buddy Guy, and others (remember Mashmakhan?). In 1970, during the heyday of the rock festival, promoter Ken Walker decided to organize a traveling musical revue, bringing the mountain to Mohammed, as it were. In five days' time, the festival played in t! hree Canadian cities with the entire conglomeration traveling,! playing , and getting smashed together the whole way. Nearly as rewarding as the live performances are the candid scenes of the train ride itself, an endless jam session and party during which musicians of all shapes and sizes let their hair down--musically and otherwise. The contemporary interviews with Walker and some of the surviving musicians aren't particularly noteworthy, except as a way to prove that it all actually happened. Walker comes off as a hero in the film: he treated the musicians like royalty and insisted that the train roll on even though he was losing his shirt. (His financial failure is a large reason why this material stayed in the vaults for so long.) Perhaps the most remarkable scene is an off-the-cuff, LSD-fueled train jam featuring Joplin, the Band's Rick Danko, and the Dead's Jerry Garcia playing the old chestnut "Ain't No More Cane." Danko is so obliterated that even Janis has to ask him if he's OK--when Janis is worried about your state of mind, yo! u must be pretty messed up. --Marc Greilsamer

The Departed [Blu-ray]

• Condition: New
• Format: Blu-ray
• DVD

Love can never die.

Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the deadâ€"or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?

The year is 2195. The place is New Victoriaâ€"a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horribleâ€"until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking cor! pses.

But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the deadâ€"and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.

In Dearly, Departed, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macab! re comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love.Love c an never die.

Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the deadâ€"or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?

The year is 2195. The place is New Victoriaâ€"a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horribleâ€"until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.

But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunni! ng down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the deadâ€"and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.

In Dearly, Departed, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love.


From the Hardcover edition.Love can nev! er die.

Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cup! id’s a rrow pierce the hearts of the living and the deadâ€"or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?

The year is 2195. The place is New Victoriaâ€"a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horribleâ€"until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.

But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “Th! e Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the deadâ€"and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.

In Dearly, Departed, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love.


From the Hardcover edition.Rookie cop Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) grew up in crime. That makes him the perfect mole, the man on the i! nside of the mob run by boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). ! It's his job to win Costello's trust and help his detective handlers (Mark Wahlberg and Martin Sheen) bring Costello down. Meanwhile, SIU officer Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) has everyone's trust. No one suspects he's Costello's mole. How these covert lives cross, double-cross and collide is at the ferocious core of the widely acclaimed The Departed. Martin Scorsese directs, guiding a cast for the ages in a visceral tale of crime and consequences. This is searing, can't-look-away filmmaking: like staring into the eyes of a con - or a cop - with a gun.Martin Scorsese makes a welcome return to the mean streets (of Boston, in this case) with The Departed, hailed by many as Scorsese's best film since Casino. Since this crackling crime thriller is essentially a Scorsese-stamped remake of the acclaimed 2002 Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs, the film was intensely scrutinized by devoted critics and cinephiles, and while Scorsese's intense filmmaking and all-star cast! deserve ample acclaim, The Departed is also worthy of serious re-assessment, especially with regard to what some attentive viewers described as sloppy craftsmanship (!), notably in terms of mismatched shots and jagged continuity. But no matter where you fall on the Scorsese appreciation scale, there's no denying that The Departed is a signature piece of work from one of America's finest directors, designed for maximum impact with a breathtaking series of twists, turns, and violent surprises. It's an intricate cat-and-mouse game, but this time the cat and mouse are both moles: Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is an ambitious cop on the rise, planted in the Boston police force by criminal kingpin Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a hot-tempered police cadet who's been artificially disgraced and then planted into Costello's crime operation as a seemingly trustworthy soldier. As the multilayered plot unfolds (courtesy of a scorchin! g adaptation by Kingdom of Heaven screenwriter William ! Monahan) , Costigan and Sullivan conduct a volatile search for each other (they're essentially looking for "themselves") while simultaneously wooing the psychiatrist (Vera Farmiga) assigned to treat their crime-driven anxieties.

Such convenient coincidences might sink a lesser film, but The Departed is so electrifying that you barely notice the plot-holes. And while Nicholson's profane swagger is too much "Jack" and not enough "Costello," he's still a joy to watch, especially in a film that's additionally energized by memorable (and frequently hilarious) supporting roles for Alec Baldwin, Mark Wahlberg, and a host of other big-name performers. The Departed also makes clever and plot-dependent use of cell-phones, to the extent that it couldn't exist without them. Powered by Scorsese's trademark use of well-chosen soundtrack songs (from vintage rock to Puccini's operas), The Departed may not be perfect, but it's one helluva ride for moviegoers, proving popula! r enough to become the biggest box-office hit of Scorsese's commercially rocky career. --Jeff Shannon

Full Metal Jacket

• The story of an 18-year-old marine recruit named Private Joker - from his carnage-and-machismo boot camp to his climactic involvement in the heavy fighting in Hue during the 1968 Tet Offensive. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R Age: 085391163114 UPC: 085391163114 Manufacturer No: 116311

The story of an 18-year-old marine recruit named Private Joker - from his carnage-and-machismo boot camp to his climactic involvement in the heavy fighting in Hue during the 1968 Tet Offensive.Stanley Kubrick's 1987, penultimate film seemed to a lot of people to be contrived and out of touch with the '80s vogue for such intensely realistic portrayals of the Vietnam War as Platoon and The Deer Hunter. Certainly, Kubrick gave audiences plenty of reason to wonder why he made the film at all: essentially a two-part drama that begins on a Parris Island boot camp for rookie Marines a! nd abruptly switches to Vietnam (actually shot on sound stages and locations near London), Full Metal Jacket comes across as a series of self-contained chapters in a story whose logical and thematic development is oblique at best. Then again, much the same was said about Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, a masterwork both enthralled with and satiric about the future's role in the unfinished business of human evolution. In a way, Full Metal Jacket is the wholly grim counterpart of 2001. While the latter is a truly 1960s film, both wide-eyed and wary, about the intertwining of progress and isolation (ending in our redemption, finally, by death), Full Metal Jacket is a cynical, Reagan-era view of the 1960s' hunger for experience and consciousness that fulfilled itself in violence. Lee Ermey made film history as the Marine drill instructor whose ritualized debasement of men in the name of tribal uniformity creates its darkest angel in a murdero! us half-wit (Vincent D'Onofrio). Matthew Modine gives a smart ! and savv y performance as Private Joker, the clowning, military journalist who yearns to get away from the propaganda machine and know firsthand the horrific revelation of the front line. In Full Metal Jacket, depravity and fulfillment go hand in hand, and it's no wonder Kubrick kept his steely distance from the material to make the point. --Tom Keogh

Hamlet 2

• Condition: New
• Format: DVD
• AC-3; Color; Dolby; Dubbed; DVD; Subtitled; Widescreen; NTSC

HAMLET 2 - DVD MovieJust when it seems as if things can't get any worse for high-school drama teacher Dana Marschz (Steve Coogan), he quips, "My life is a parody of a tragedy." Yet that very ability to laugh in the face of defeat will allow this failed actor to triumph over adversity. A lovably ridiculous dreamer like Waiting for Guffman’s Corky St. Clair, Marschz lives in Tucson with his sarcastic wife (Catherine Keener) and their silent boarder (David Arquette). Though he tries to inspire, like Richard Dreyfuss in Mr. Holland's Opus, only two students (Spring Awakening’s Skylar Astin and Phoebe Strole) share his passion for theatrics. When the principal decides to eliminate his department, Marschz makes a bold move: he writes an original play, lets the class! contribute their own unique talents, and puts the whole thing on as a fundraiser (they'll need to bring in $6,000). Sure, everyone dies at the end of Shakespeare's classic, but in Marschz’s musical sequel, Hamlet 2, a time machine allows the Danish prince to turn back the clock to set things right. Just as his production starts to take shape and retired actress Elisabeth Shue (played by Shue) offers her support, his marriage hits the rocks, he starts drinking again, and the community protests against numbers like "Rock Me Sexy Jesus." (Amy Poehler portrays his ACLU attorney.) Though Andrew Fleming’s comedy follows the usual inspirational instructor trajectory, ribald humor helps the medicine go down and Coogan gives his most unhinged performance since Tristram Shandy. --Kathleen C. Fennessy


Stills from Hamlet 2 (Click for larger image)

Bollywood Hero

• Chris Kattan is fed-up with not being taken seriously by Hollywood, so he accepts an offer to star in a big- time Mumbai production called Peculiar Dancing Boy . But before he can conquer India, Chris will have to survive a whole new land of culture clashes, jealous rivals, runaway egos, power hungry starlets and extreme dancing lessons. How far does an actor have to go in this world to fight the

When people from a culture largely defined by bollywood find themselves in an environment that is saturated with hollywood the result is a state of mind that celebrates these two seemingly disparate worlds. Studio: Arts Alliance America Release Date: 11/08/2005 Run time: 105 minutes Rating: Pg13Bollywood Hollywood is a delightful, cross-cultural parody of both India's and America's musical film traditions. Directed by Deepa Mehta (Earth), Bollywood Hollywood concerns the desp! erate effort of wealthy businessman Rahul (Rahul Khanna) to get his mother and grandmother off his back when it comes to his romantic life. In love with a white pop-star girlfriend (Jessica Paré), Rahul's fortunes change when she dies. Still grieving, he is told by his mother that Rahul's only sister won't be allowed to marry until he finds a nice Indian girl to wed. The solution: hire a beautiful, dark-skinned, allegedly Spanish escort named Sue (Lisa Ray) to pose as his Indian fiancée. With tongue firmly planted in cheek, Mehta pokes fun at a number of Bollywood cinema clichés, especially that familiar mix of modern luxury and old world traditions, melodramas involving the saddest of character backstories, and spontaneous musical numbers that remind one as much of Hollywood's Golden Age as Bollywood's current one. --Tom KeoghBollywood Hollywood is a delightful, cross-cultural parody of both India's and America's musical film traditions. Directed by Deepa ! Mehta (Earth), Bollywood Hollywood concerns the ! desperat e effort of wealthy businessman Rahul (Rahul Khanna) to get his mother and grandmother off his back when it comes to his romantic life. In love with a white pop-star girlfriend (Jessica Paré), Rahul's fortunes change when she dies. Still grieving, he is told by his mother that Rahul's only sister won't be allowed to marry until he finds a nice Indian girl to wed. The solution: hire a beautiful, dark-skinned, allegedly Spanish escort named Sue (Lisa Ray) to pose as his Indian fiancée. With tongue firmly planted in cheek, Mehta pokes fun at a number of Bollywood cinema clichés, especially that familiar mix of modern luxury and old world traditions, melodramas involving the saddest of character backstories, and spontaneous musical numbers that remind one as much of Hollywood's Golden Age as Bollywood's current one. --Tom Keogh

The film sequel is held to be a vampirish corporative exercise in profitmaking and narrative regurgitation. Drawing upon a wide range of film! ic examples from early cinema to today, this unique volume follows the increasing popularity and innovation of film sequels as a central dynamic of Hollywood cinema. Now debuting at world cinemas and independent film festivals, the sequel has become a vehicle for cross-cultural dialogue and a structure by which memories and cultural narratives are circulated across geographical and historical locations. The book explores sequel production beyond box office figures, considering the form in recent mainstream cinema, art-house and "indie" films, and non-Hollywood sequels, and it traces the effects of the domestic market on sequelization and the impact of the video game industry on Hollywood.

Chris Kattan is fed-up with not being taken seriously by Hollywood, so he accepts an offer to star in a big- time Mumbai production called ‘Peculiar Dancing Boy’. But before he can conquer India, Chris will have to survive a whole new land of culture clashes, jealous rivals, runaway! egos, power hungry starlets and extreme dancing lessons. How ! far does an actor have to go in this world to fight the bad guys, get the beautiful women and finally play the hero? Maya Rudolph, Julian Sands, Pooja Kumar, Rachna Shah, Ali Fazal and Neha Dhupia co-star in this IFC musical comedy miniseries event â€" featuring key members of the Oscar® winning production team from SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE â€" with guest appearances by Jennifer Coolidge, David Alan Grier and Keanu Reeves.

Stills from Bollywood Hero (Click for larger image)

Elf (Infinifilm Edition)

• Features include: -MPAA Rating: PG -Format: DVD-Runtime: 97 minutes

This hilarious Christmas film tells the tale of a young orphan child who mistakenly crawls into Santa's bag of gifts on Christmas Eve and is transported back to the North Pole and raised as an elf. Years later Buddy learns he is not really an elf and goes on a journey to New York City to find his true identity.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:2 commentaries with Will Ferrell & Director
DVD ROM Features
Deleted Scenes
Featurette:Film school for kids Tag along with Will Ferrell How they made the North Pole Kids on Christmas and more!
Other:2-Disc Infinifilm DVD Widescreen version on Disc 1 and Fullscreen version on Disc 2 Spanish Language Track Elf Karaoke Read-Along Infinifilm Fact Tack Buddy's Adventure Game Elf Decoder Card and more!

Elf is genuinely ! good. Not just Saturday Night Live-movie good, when the movie has some funny bits but is basically an insult to humanity; Elf is a smartly written, skillfully directed, and deftly acted story of a human being adopted by Christmas elves who returns to the human world to find his father. And because the writing, directing, and acting are all genuinely good, Elf is also genuinely funny. Will Ferrell, as Buddy the adopted elf, is hysterically sincere. James Caan, as his rediscovered father, executes his surly dumbfoundedness with perfect aplomb. Zooey Deschanel, as a department store worker with whom Buddy falls in love, is adorably sardonic. Director Jon Favreau (Swingers) shepherds the movie through all the obligatory Christmas cliches and focuses on material that's sometimes subtle and consistently surprising. Frankly, Elf feels miraculous. Also featuring Mary Steenburgen, Bob Newhart, Peter Dinklage, and Ed Asner as Santa Claus. ! --Bret Fetzer

Stil! ls from Elf (click for larger image)

Civic Duty Women's Sensation CDL500 Sneaker,Navy Blue,9 M US

• Tyvek is a breathable material made by DuPont that's water resistant and highly durable
• Pre-wrinkled upper for a "worn" look right out of the box

Legion [Blu-ray]

• Condition: New
• Format: Blu-ray
• AC-3; Color; Dolby; Dubbed; Subtitled; Widescreen

Two-time Academy Award® nominee Ethan Hawke plays Edward Dalton, a researcher in the year 2019, when an unknown plague has transformed the world’s population into vampires. As the human population nears extinction, vampires must capture and farm every remaining human, or find a blood substitute before time runs out. However, a covert group of vampires makes a remarkable discovery, one which has the power to save the human race.While Daybreakers presents vampiric traits that distinguish its vampires from others in the many films that have ridden 2009's vampire movie wave, there is a lack of humor here that makes this film sour compared to sweeter ones like Cirque du Freak: A Vampire's Assistant. Maybe that's because the plot in this horror feature from Peter and Michael Spierig! (Undead) is more akin to zombie films like 28 Days Later. The year is 2019, and nearly all humans are converted vampires searching in vain for blood during a blood shortage, as they drain remaining humans into extinction. Nightly, CNN airs segments about the Blood Crisis, while vampire citizens around the globe attack each other like cannibals. Humans are farmed like cattle while tied to blood-draining machinery in the top-secret pharmaceutical corporation run by evil CEO Charles Bromley (Sam Neill). Sound like a heavy-handed metaphor for our oil wars? Daybreakers can definitely be viewed in that light, as a story about greed and consumption. Stylistically, it looks like a cross between Alien and Batman, with its Giger-esque set design and blue-tinted hue to represent night fallen on society. The lead actors help to salvage this movie. Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke), chief hematologist at Bromley, straddles the vampire and human wo! rlds, with the aid of humans Lionel "Elvis" Cormac (Willem Daf! oe) and Lisa Barrett (Harriet Minto-Day), to search for a blood replacement to placate the starving masses. These three protagonists carry the film, though not well enough to call Daybreakers any sort of genre breakthrough. --Trinie Dalton

Stills from Daybreakers (Click for larger image)

Two-time Academy Award® nominee Ethan Hawke plays Edward Dalton, a researcher in the year 2019, when an unknown plague has transformed the world’s population into vampires. As the human population nears extinction, vampires must capture and farm every remaining human, or find a blood substitute before time runs out. However, a covert group of vampires makes a remarkable discovery, one which has the power to save the human race.Stills from Daybreakers (Click for larger image)
At a remote desert truck stop the fate of the world will be decided. Evils armies are amassing. Armed & united by the archangel michael a group of strangers become unitting soldiers on the frontlines of the apocalypse. Their mission: to protect a waitress & her unborn child from the demonic legion. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 05/11/2010 Starring: Paul Battany Lucas Black Run time: 100 minutes Rating: RAs pure ! check-your-head-at-the-door popcorn entertainment, the apocalyptic action-horror hybrid Legion delivers in nearly every frame--its story of a band of strangers fighting an army of angels and demons for the fate of mankind is proudly loud, bullet riddled, and knee-deep in gore and CGI. That doesn't mean it's particularly good or even coherent--the story has renegade angel Michael (a glum Paul Bettany) come to the aid of diner owner Dennis Quaid (equally glum) and his patrons (a cross-section of stereotypes embodied by a capable cast, which includes Lucas Black, Charles S. Dutton, Tyrese Gibson, Kate Walsh, and Jon Tenney) as a host of heavenly and diabolical beings, dispatched by an angry God, descend on the diner with the intent of killing waitress Adrianne Palicki (Friday Night Lights), whose unborn child may be the salvation of humanity. The orgy of special effects--endless hails of bullets and a menagerie of unpleasant demonic creatures, the most unsettling! of which is the ice cream man (Doug Jones, Hellboy)--i! s eye po pping but ultimately repetitive, and since no character rises above a cipher in director Scott Stewart's script (cowritten with Peter Schink), the whole affair feels unwieldy and eventually tiresome under a barrage of hackneyed dialogue. Naturally, Legion ends with the possibility of a sequel, though one wonders where the story can go after Armageddon. --Paul Gaita


Stills from Legion (Click for larger image)

James Reece (J! onathan Rhys-Meyers), personal aide to the U.S. Ambassador to ! France, is secretly moonlighting as a low-level CIA operative. Looking for more action, Reece accepts a job that teams him with wise-cracking special agent Charlie Wax (John Travolta), a trigger-happy loose cannon sent to Paris on a mission of international importance. Now, Reece finds himself on the wildest ride of his life as the new partners pull out all the stops to annihilate the enemy in this explosive, white-knuckle, non-stop thriller.An uncomplicated, moderately entertaining action film, From Paris With Love offers an enthusiastic performance by John Travolta as a just-this-side-of-crazy agent and Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors) as the low-level operative newly partnered with him. Outwardly an aide to the U.S. Ambassador in France, James Reese (Rhys Meyers) is also a low-level CIA operative, tasked with generally mundane duties. Then his inside contact offers him a high-level assignment that could lead to a promotion to full agent. All Reese has ! to do is drive CIA agent Charlie Wax (Travolta) around Paris on an undisclosed mission. But Wax is a shoot first, don't bother with questions kinda guy, and the straitlaced Reese quickly finds himself riding shotgun to a killing-spree through Paris' underground drug sub-culture. The drugs lead the obviously opposite duo to a hidden terrorist cell, and they race to stop the suicide bombers' plot. Wax's wise-cracking, one-on-many fight scenes are adequately entertaining--especially when he flings bad guys down a curving staircase, as Reese tries to avoid getting hit by the bodies--but the action generally leaves you wanting more. An undesirable characteristic in an action movie. Based on a story by Luc Besson, (The Fifth Element and The Transporter movies), one can't help wonder if the complexity of the story and characters could have been improved if he'd written the screenplay himself. However, the simplistic story offers a few surprises and laugh! -worthy one-liners. The climactic final chase scene--Agent Wax! hanging out the window of a speeding Audi, armed with heavy artillery and a driver with nerves of steel, as he attempts to stop one phase of the planned attack--is as impossible as one could hope for in this kind of movie. And hearing Travolta call his burger a “royale with cheese” is almost worth the rest of the movie. --Jill Corddry

Stills from From Paris with Love (Click for larger image)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 05/11/2010 Run time: 109 minutes Rating: Pg13As pure check-your-head-at-the-door popcorn entertainment, the apocalyptic action-horror hybrid Legion delivers in nearly every frame--its story of a band of strangers fighting an army of angels and demons for the fate of mankind is proudly loud, bullet riddled, and knee-deep in gore and CGI. That doesn't mean it's particularly good or even coherent--the story has renegade angel Michael (a glum Paul Bettany) come to the aid of diner owner Dennis Quaid (equally glum) and his patrons (a cross-section of stereotypes embodied! by a capable cast, which includes Lucas Black, Charles S. Dut! ton, Tyr ese Gibson, Kate Walsh, and Jon Tenney) as a host of heavenly and diabolical beings, dispatched by an angry God, descend on the diner with the intent of killing waitress Adrianne Palicki (Friday Night Lights), whose unborn child may be the salvation of humanity. The orgy of special effects--endless hails of bullets and a menagerie of unpleasant demonic creatures, the most unsettling of which is the ice cream man (Doug Jones, Hellboy)--is eye popping but ultimately repetitive, and since no character rises above a cipher in director Scott Stewart's script (cowritten with Peter Schink), the whole affair feels unwieldy and eventually tiresome under a barrage of hackneyed dialogue. Naturally, Legion ends with the possibility of a sequel, though one wonders where the story can go after Armageddon. --Paul Gaita


Stills from Legion (Click for larger image)