Xbox 360 4GB Console with Kinect

• Kinect sensor, Built-in Wi-Fi
• Xbox LIVE, Xbox 360 wireless controller
• Kinect Adventures game

When asked to save a struggling auto dealership from bankruptcy, Jeremy Piven and his ragtag crew descend on a small California town to party and wreak havoc... and move some cars, in this outrageously funny comedy.Look out, Temecula, here comes Don Ready and his band of X-treme salesmen, rarin' to boost sales at a struggling car dealership over the course of a single hardcore weekend. That's the plan in The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, a scattershot comedy featuring fast-talking Jeremy Piven as the slippery Mr. Ready, who knows how to lay on the discounts, the free food, and the personal appearances by bottom-tier celebrities. He and his for-hire team (Ving Rhames, David Koechner, and Kathryn Hahn) have three days to clear the lot, or the owner (a game James Brolin) will lose! his business. The movie's at its funniest when going for non sequitur craziness (best exemplified by the zany-creepy vibe between Hahn and Brolin's ten-year-old son, played by Rob Riggle, whose glandular condition makes him look like a strapping 35-year-old). Good folks score in drive-by bits: Ed Helms does his best fatuous jerk, Craig Robinson glowers as a grumpy DJ, and producer Will Ferrell gets an extended cameo during which he spends much of his time falling from a plane without a parachute. (He's funny enough that you wish his role weren't confined to a flashback and a fantasy sequence.) The central role is tailor-made for Piven's skills, and he's suitably revved-up, but ultimately the movie leaves him stranded by trying to have it both ways: it can't decide whether it's a totally put-on sketch comedy or a more-or-less sincere redemption story. That won't fly, and the movie sputters accordingly. --Robert Horton

Stills fro! m The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (Click for larger i! mage)

Microsoft Xbox 3! 60 S4G-0 0001 Gaming Console with Game Pad S4G-00001 Video Game Consoles

Deuce Bigalow Male Gigolo/Hot Chick

• Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo A professional fish tank cleaner, Deuce (Schneider) finds himself in desperate need of cash to quickly repair the damage he's done to a client's luxurious apartment! The fun really takes off when Deuce decides the only way out of this jam is to switch to the world's oldest profession and offer his services as a lover for hire! The Hot Chick The hilarious

Comedy superstar Rob Schneider is back once more as Deuce Bigalow, the big-hearted male gigolo with the least down below. Fleeing to Europe following a near run-in with the Malibu PD, Deuce finds himself thrust back into the pleasure-for-pay profession when his former pimp (Eddie Griffin) is wrongly accused of murdering Europe's highest-priced man-whores. Working under-the-covers, Deuce seduces a bevy of super-freaky female clients (as well as Dutch supermodel Hanna Verboom) to learn the identity of the real killer ! in this outrageous laugh-orgy that will have you screaming with delight from start to finish!If the repeated use of the phrase "man-whore" is your recipe for hilarity, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo is your movie. Rob Schneider (The Hot Chick, The Animal) returns as the hapless male prostitute, in this case lured back into the man-whore lifestyle in order to investigate the killings of European man-whores. His former pimp T.J. (Eddie Griffin, Undercover Brother) has set up shop in Amsterdam, where he finds himself accused of both the man-whore murders and of being a homosexual. From this slender, ridiculous premise springs dozens of gags about flatulence, breasts, and male sexual organs--in fact, the number of phallus stand-ins (noses, swords, man-whore of the year awards) would seem excessive to Aristophanes. And yet, despite all things crass and tawdry, Schneider remains bizarrely innocent, and this movie, like the first one, feels inexplicably! sweet. The fundamental ethos of Deuce Bigalow is that everyon! e, no ma tter how they look, deserves to be loved. Such a downright Christian sentiment is rarely packaged in a movie featuring a cat biting a man's testicles or a woman gushing wine out of her tracheotomy hole, yet that's all part of the ineffable mystery of Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo. Also featuring Jeroen Krabbe (The 4th Man, The Living Daylights). --Bret FetzerThe hit-making producers of BIG DADDY now deliver DEUCE BIGALOW: MALE GIGOLO -- a hilarious, must-see smash starring the always outrageous Rob Schneider (THE HOT CHICK, THE ANIMAL) in his funniest role yet! A professional fish tank cleaner, Deuce (Schneider) finds himself in desperate need of cash to quickly repair the damage he's done to a client's luxurious Malibu apartment! Then the fun really takes off when Deuce decides the only way out of this jam is to switch to the world's oldest profession -- and offer his services to ladies everywhere as a lover for hire! A wild and raunchy comedy t! hat always aims to please -- you won't be able to resist this sidesplitting laugh riot!Saturday Night Live alum and Adam Sandler sidekick Rob Schneider plays the title character of Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, a miserable fish-tank cleaner who stumbles onto a new and different lifestyle when he looks after the fish of a high-priced male prostitute (Oded Fehr from The Mummy). Deuce teams up with a man-pimp (Eddie Griffin), gets harassed by a crazed cop (William Forsythe), and of course falls in love with a cute client (Arija Bareikis). The nonsensical plot is festooned with gags about wet T-shirts, foul-mouthed senior citizens, flatulence, Tourette's syndrome, narcolepsy, and just about everything else you might imagine. More surprising is that, by and large, the movie works. It's a combination of bad taste and goodheartedness, similar to There's Something About Mary, which Deuce Bigalow is clearly emulating. It's not the pat "people should! learn to accept themselves for who they are" theme or the for! mulaic h appy ending; it's that the movie understands that sex is not the same thing as happiness or contentment. For all its crassness, Deuce Bigalow actually treats its characters as people, and the result is silly, obnoxious, and enjoyable. --Bret FetzerIf the repeated use of the phrase "man-whore" is your recipe for hilarity, "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo" is your movie. Rob Schneider ("The Hot Chick", "The Animal") returns as the hapless male prostitute, in this case lured back into the man-whore lifestyle in order to investigate the killings of European man-whores. His former pimp T.J. (Eddie Griffin, "Undercover Brother") has set up shop in Amsterdam, where he finds himself accused of both the man-whore murders and of being a homosexual. From this slender, ridiculous premise springs dozens of gags about flatulence, breasts, and male sexual organs--in fact, the number of phallus stand-ins (noses, swords, man-whore of the year awards) would seem excessive to Aris! tophanes. And yet, despite all things crass and tawdry, Schneider remains bizarrely innocent, and this movie, like the first one, feels inexplicably sweet. The fundamental ethos of Deuce Bigalow is that everyone, no matter how they look, deserves to be loved. Such a downright Christian sentiment is rarely packaged in a movie featuring a cat biting a man's testicles or a woman gushing wine out of her tracheotomy hole, yet that's all part of the ineffable mystery of "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo". Also featuring Jeroen Krabbe ("The 4th Man", "The Living Daylights"). "--Bret Fetzer"If the repeated use of the phrase "man-whore" is your recipe for hilarity, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo is your movie. Rob Schneider (The Hot Chick, The Animal) returns as the hapless male prostitute, in this case lured back into the man-whore lifestyle in order to investigate the killings of European man-whores. His former pimp T.J. (Eddie Griffin, Undercover Brother! ) has set up shop in Amsterdam, where he finds himself accused! of both the man-whore murders and of being a homosexual. From this slender, ridiculous premise springs dozens of gags about flatulence, breasts, and male sexual organs--in fact, the number of phallus stand-ins (noses, swords, man-whore of the year awards) would seem excessive to Aristophanes. And yet, despite all things crass and tawdry, Schneider remains bizarrely innocent, and this movie, like the first one, feels inexplicably sweet. The fundamental ethos of Deuce Bigalow is that everyone, no matter how they look, deserves to be loved. Such a downright Christian sentiment is rarely packaged in a movie featuring a cat biting a man's testicles or a woman gushing wine out of her tracheotomy hole, yet that's all part of the ineffable mystery of Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo. Also featuring Jeroen Krabbe (The 4th Man, The Living Daylights). --Bret FetzerUPC:786936788747
DESCRIPTION:(Deuce Bigalow Male Gigolo) -The hit-making producers of Big Daddy now d! eliver Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo -- a hilarious, must-see smash starring the always outrageous Rob Schneider (The Hot Chick, The Animal) in his funniest role yet! A professional fish tank cleaner, Deuce (Schneider) finds himself in desperate need of cash to quickly repair the damage he's done to a client's luxurious Malibu apartment! Then the fun really takes off when Deuce decides the only way out of this jam is to switch to the world's oldest profession -- and offer his services to ladies everywhere as a lover for hire! A wild and raunchy comedy that always aims to please -- you won't be able to resist this sidesplitting laugh riot!

(Hot Chick) - The hilarious Rob Schneider has been a gigolo. He's been an animal. And now a curse will make him something he's never been before -- a woman! Jessica Spencer is the hottest, most popular girl in high school. But she gets a big dose of reality when she wakes up in the body of a 30-something-year-old lowlife male (Schneide! r) and quickly discovers that trading on your looks isn't so e! asy when you're a girl who constantly needs a shave. How in the world can Jessica convince her friends (Anna Faris, Scary Movie, Scary Movie 2; Matthew Lawrence, Mrs. Doubtfire; Eric Christian Olsen, Not Another Teen Movie) it really is her? And how can she change herself back into a teenage girl? The Hot Chick is a wild and wacky gender-bending comedy everyone can enjoy -- no matter what sex you are.
END

The Deep End of the Ocean

• Michelle Pfeiffer, Whoopi Goldberg, High School Reunion, Treat Williams, Jonathan Jackson, Cory Buck

A #1 New York Times bestseller, Mitchard's suspenseful and moving novel is now available in trade paperback

Few first novels receive the kind of attention and acclaim showered on this powerful story--a nationwide bestseller, a critical success, and the first title chosen for Oprah's Book Club. Both highly suspenseful and deeply moving, The Deep End of the Ocean imagines every mother's worst nightmare--the disappearance of a child--as it explores a family's struggle to endure, even against extraordinary odds. Filled with compassion, humor, and brilliant observations about the texture of real life, here is a story of rare power, one that will touch readers' hearts and make them celebrate the emotions that make us all one.

"Riveting . . . twists that will spin you arou! nd." --Newsweek

"A drama with the tension of a thriller that moves deeply into the emotional territory of family ties." --People

"Take a deep breath. . . . This riveting story won't let you come up for air." --US magazine Oprah Book Club® Selection, September 1996: The horror of losing a child is somehow made worse when the case goes unsolved for nearly a decade, reports Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel columnist Jacquelyn Mitchard in this searing first novel. In it, 3-year-old Ben Cappadora is kidnapped from a hotel lobby where his mother is checking into her 15th high school reunion. His disappearance tears the family apart and invokes separate experiences of anguish, denial, and self-blame. Marital problems and delinquency in Ben's older brother (in charge of him the day of his kidnapping) ensue. Mitchard depicts the family's friction and torment--along with many gritty realities of family life--with the candor of a j! ournalist and compassion of someone who has seemingly been th! ere. Int ernational publishing and movie rights sold fast on this one: It's a blockbuster.Few first novels receive the kind of attention and acclaim showered on this powerful storyâ€"a nationwide bestseller, a critical success, and the first title chosen for Oprah's Book Club. Both highly suspenseful and deeply moving, The Deep End of the Ocean imagines every mother's worst nightmareâ€"the disappearance of a childâ€"as it explores a family's struggle to endure, even against extraordinary odds. Filled with compassion, humor, and brilliant observations about the texture of real life, here is a story of rare power, one that will touch readers' hearts and make them celebrate the emotions that make us all one.Oprah Book Club® Selection, September 1996: The horror of losing a child is somehow made worse when the case goes unsolved for nearly a decade, reports Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel columnist Jacquelyn Mitchard in this searing first novel. In it, 3-year-old B! en Cappadora is kidnapped from a hotel lobby where his mother is checking into her 15th high school reunion. His disappearance tears the family apart and invokes separate experiences of anguish, denial, and self-blame. Marital problems and delinquency in Ben's older brother (in charge of him the day of his kidnapping) ensue. Mitchard depicts the family's friction and torment--along with many gritty realities of family life--with the candor of a journalist and compassion of someone who has seemingly been there. International publishing and movie rights sold fast on this one: It's a blockbuster.Few first novels receive the kind of attention and acclaim showered on this powerful storyâ€"a nationwide bestseller, a critical success, and the first title chosen for Oprah's Book Club. Both highly suspenseful and deeply moving, The Deep End of the Ocean imagines every mother's worst nightmareâ€"the disappearance of a childâ€"as it explores a family's struggle to en! dure, even against extraordinary odds. Filled with compassion,! humor, and brilliant observations about the texture of real life, here is a story of rare power, one that will touch readers' hearts and make them celebrate the emotions that make us all one.Beth Cappadora (Michelle Pfeiffer) is at her high school reunion when her 3-year-old son disappears from his brother's care. The little boy never turns up, and the family has to deal with the devastating guilt and grief that goes along with it. Nine years later, the family has relocated to Chicago. By a sheer fluke, the kid turns up, living no more than two blocks away. The authorities swoop down and return the kid to his biological parents, but things are far from being that simple. The boy grew up around what he has called his father, while his new family are strangers to him; the older son, now a teenager, has brushes with the law and behavioral problems. His adjustment to his lost brother is complicated by normal teenage churlishness, and the dad (Treat Williams) seems to expect everything ! to fall into place as though the family had been intact all along. It's a tightrope routine for actors in a story like this, being careful not to chew the scenery while at the same time not being too flaccid or understated. For the most part, the members of the cast deal well with the emotional complexity of their roles. Though the story stretches credulity, weirder things do happen in the real world. The family's pain for the first half of the film is certainly credible, though the second half almost seems like a different movie. Whoopi Goldberg plays the detective assigned to the case; casting her is a bit of a stretch, but she makes it work. All in all, a decent three-hanky movie in the vein of Ordinary People. --Jerry RenshawDEEP END OF THE OCEAN - DVD MovieBeth Cappadora (Michelle Pfeiffer) is at her high school reunion when her 3-year-old son disappears from his brother's care. The little boy never turns up, and the family has to deal with the devastatin! g guilt and grief that goes along with it. Nine years later, t! he famil y has relocated to Chicago. By a sheer fluke, the kid turns up, living no more than two blocks away. The authorities swoop down and return the kid to his biological parents, but things are far from being that simple. The boy grew up around what he has called his father, while his new family are strangers to him; the older son, now a teenager, has brushes with the law and behavioral problems. His adjustment to his lost brother is complicated by normal teenage churlishness, and the dad (Treat Williams) seems to expect everything to fall into place as though the family had been intact all along. It's a tightrope routine for actors in a story like this, being careful not to chew the scenery while at the same time not being too flaccid or understated. For the most part, the members of the cast deal well with the emotional complexity of their roles. Though the story stretches credulity, weirder things do happen in the real world. The family's pain for the first half of the film is! certainly credible, though the second half almost seems like a different movie. Whoopi Goldberg plays the detective assigned to the case; casting her is a bit of a stretch, but she makes it work. All in all, a decent three-hanky movie in the vein of Ordinary People. --Jerry Renshaw

Wrath of Gods

• Director's Cut, 72 minutes
• 2 hours of bonus material
• 1 hour exclusive interview with Gerard Butler
• Additional and extended scenes & exclusive interviews with the people behind Beowulf & Grendel
• Subtitles: Spanish, German, French, Icelandic, Polish + Version for the hearing impaired

This touching and humorous movie has earned the raves of critics and won the hearts of audiences everywhere! To spare the feelings of her fatherless boy, Lizzie (Emily Mortimer -- Disney's THE KID) secretly authors letters from his "father" that detail seafaring adventures from around the world. But she cannot maintain this illusion forever. Torn between exposing the truth and protecting her son, Lizzie gets more than anyone bargained for when she hires a handsome stranger (Gerald Butler -- THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE OF LIFE) to play the role of a li! fetime! Winner at both the Heartland Film Festival and the Seattle International Film Festival, this entertaining motion picture is sure to touch your heart!Driven by intelligent, constantly surprising and moving performances from the film's leads, Dear Frankie stars Emily Mortimer (Lovely and Amazing) as Lizzie, Scottish mother of Frankie (Jack McElhone), a deaf and highly intelligent 9-year-old. Constantly uprooting themselves and relocating from town to town, Lizzie and Frankie are on the run from the latter's abusive father, a fact unknown to the boy, who believes his dad is a busy seaman sending letters full of adventure and love. In fact, Lizzie is writing those missives, but she is faced with a challenge when Frankie discovers his father's ship will dock nearby. Lizzie hires a kind, handsome stranger (Gerard Butler) to play Frankie's dad, creating an odd situation in which ever-growing lies become a conduit for love, and Lizzie's repressed desires come ! to the fore with a man posing as her husband. The moral tangle! s are of interest in director Shona Auerbach's charmingly paced, quietly insightful drama-comedy, but so is the glorious feeling of watching these characters come fully alive. --Tom KeoghDriven by intelligent, constantly surprising and moving performances from the film's leads, Dear Frankie stars Emily Mortimer (Lovely and Amazing) as Lizzie, Scottish mother of Frankie (Jack McElhone), a deaf and highly intelligent 9-year-old. Constantly uprooting themselves and relocating from town to town, Lizzie and Frankie are on the run from the latter's abusive father, a fact unknown to the boy, who believes his dad is a busy seaman sending letters full of adventure and love. In fact, Lizzie is writing those missives, but she is faced with a challenge when Frankie discovers his father's ship will dock nearby. Lizzie hires a kind, handsome stranger (Gerard Butler) to play Frankie's dad, creating an odd situation in which ever-growing lies become a conduit for love, and Lizz! ie's repressed desires come to the fore with a man posing as her husband. The moral tangles are of interest in director Shona Auerbach's charmingly paced, quietly insightful drama-comedy, but so is the glorious feeling of watching these characters come fully alive. --Tom KeoghUnited Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), English ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Cast/Crew Interview(s), Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Interactive Menu, Short Film, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: The title character in this bowl of Scottish blarney is a sweet nine-year-old deaf boy (Jack McElhone) who lives a fugitive existence with his beautiful mother (Emily Mortimer) and his chain-smoking grandmother (Mary Riggans). The family is forced to move every few months to avoid being tracked down by Frankie's violent, abusive father. Th! e happiness of the boy, who is too young to remember the his f! ather re volves around bogus letters penned by his mother posing as his devoted but absent dad, supposedly a merchant seaman. When a ship that coincidentally has the same name as the one his mother invented docks, she hires an impersonator (Gerard Butler) to play his seafaring dad. Although sensitively acted, the movie is a fraudulent mawkish yarn riddled with plot holes and improbabilities. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: BAFTA Awards, European Film Awards, Montreal World Film Festival, ...Dear FrankieWinner of 6 international film festival awards, this entertaining documentary tells the dramatic story behind the making of the epic movie Beowulf & Grendel, starring Gerard Butler, Stellan Skarsgard, Sarah Polley and Ingvar Sigurdsson. When Canadian director Sturla Gunnarsson and his cast and crew, including Gerard Butler and Stellan Skarsgård, set upon Iceland to film Beowulf & Grendel in 2004, they expected the usual complications involved in making a major motion picture. What they encountered was a ruthless Icelandic winter on a foreboding landscape, financing complications and a bizarre run of bad luck that led some of them to believe they were in an epic battle with the Norse gods themselves. Filmmaker Jon Gustafsson was along for the ride. Hired to play one of Beowulf's warriors, he's one set with his camera as the crew battles hurricane force winds and he's in the backroom as the producers scramble to shore up a collapsing deal, creating an intimate portrait of filmmakers fighting the odds in pursuit of a vision. If you liked "Lost in la Mancha" or "Burden of Dreams" you will probably like this one. DVD Special Features: 2 hours of bonus features, 1 hour exclusive interview with Gerard Butler, exclusive interviews with producers of Beowulf & Grendel, additional & extended scenes, chapter selection, Subtitles: Spanish, German, French, Icelandic, Polish, English, version for the hearing impaired.

Amreeka

• AMREEKA (DVD MOVIE)

Amreeka chronicles the adventures of Muna, a single mother who leaves the West Bank with Fadi, her teenage son, with dreams of an exciting future in the promised land of small town Illinois. In America, as her son navigates high school hallways the way he used to move through military checkpoints, the indomitable Muna scrambles together a new life cooking up falafel burgers as well as hamburgers at the local White Castle. Told with heartfelt humor by writer-director Cherien Dabis in her feature film debut, Amreeka is a universal journey into the lives of a family of immigrants and first-generation teenagers caught between their heritage and the new world in which they now live and the bittersweet search for a place to call home. Amreeka recalls Dabis's family's memories of their lives in rural America during the first Iraq War. The film stars Haifa-trained a! ctress Nisreen Faour as Muna, and Melkar Muallen plays her 16-year-old son, Fadi. Also in the cast are Hiam Abbass, Alia Shawkat, Yussef Abu-Warda and Joseph Ziegler. Written and directed by Cherien Dabis, Amreeka was produced by Christina Piovesan and Paul Barkin. Alicia Sams, Dabis and Gregory Keever were executive producers; Liz Jarvis and Al-Zain Al-Sabah were co-producers. Amreeka made its world premiere in dramatic competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, and played as Opening Night of New Directors/New Films, a co-presentation of The Museum of Modern Art and The Film Society of Lincoln Center. Amreeka made its debut internationally in Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

Flirting with Disaster: Why Accidents Are Rarely Accidental

• ISBN13: 9781402753039
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 04/15/2011 Rating: RSometimes a filmmaker's second movie gets labeled as a sophomore slump. David O. Russell (Spanking the Monkey) shreds that fate with Flirting with Disaster, an outrageous, free-spirited comedy about private people forced into public situations. Mel Coplin (Ben Stiller) finds the opportunity he's been waiting a lifetime for: an adoption agency rep (Téa Leoni) has located his birth parents and the agency will fly him to California if they can record the reunion. With wife Nancy (Patricia Arquette) and new son in tow, the neurotic Mel is compelled to discover his origins, despite the protests of his neurotic adoptive parents (! a wonderful Mary Tyler Moore and George Segal). To give away the plot any more would be a crime, but as the title states, Mel is on a collision course of Oedipal proportions. Russell, who made incest an intriguing black-comedy topic in Spanking, is very liberal with sex and permits dangerous situations. His characters mix it up at a moment's notice. The two women along for the ride are not just bit players: Leoni (Deep Impact) keeps her high-energy comic routine flying, while the grounded Arquette keeps the baby in arm, despite the mad wanderings of her husband. Stiller is a perfect comic foil. --Doug Thomas There's a fine line between desire and disaster. At least, that's what improper Southern belle Maggie Forsythe thinks when unceremoniously dumped by a fiance even her mother approved of. Maggie has never cared what anyone thinks, so why is she hiding away from her South Carolina Lowcountry home?

Then an intervention by friends shows her she has op! tions. Lots of them! And one includes a man who can make her f! orget al l about being jilted.

But one look at Maggie convinces project foreman Josh Parker that he's corn bread to her caviar. Sure, they have enough sparks to ignite a bonfire, but growing up broke has made him wary of sweetâ€"teaâ€"swilling debutantes. So why is he suddenly singing "Tea for Two"?Written and directed by David O. Russell (THREE KINGS, SPANKING THE MONKEY), this hysterically original comedy was cheered by critics and audiences nationwide. In a quest to find his biological parents, Mel Coplin (Ben Stiller, DUPLEX, MEET THE PARENTS) -- joined by his wife (Patricia Arquette, HUMAN NATURE, HOLES), and a sexy adoption counselor (Téa Leoni, PEOPLE I KNOW, HOLLYWOOD ENDING ) -- embarks on a cross country search for his "roots." Yet as he careens from one outrageous situation to another, Mel finds himself tempted by the seductive counselor -- even as his wife starts a flirtation of her own! By the time they meet up with his free-spirited birth parents, the whole situation! is spinning hysterically out of control! Also starring Mary Tyler Moore, Alan Alda, and Lily Tomlin, this hilarious hit is sure to entertain everyone!Sometimes a filmmaker's second movie gets labeled as a sophomore slump. David O. Russell (Spanking the Monkey) shreds that fate with Flirting with Disaster, an outrageous, free-spirited comedy about private people forced into public situations. Mel Coplin (Ben Stiller) finds the opportunity he's been waiting a lifetime for: an adoption agency rep (Téa Leoni) has located his birth parents and the agency will fly him to California if they can record the reunion. With wife Nancy (Patricia Arquette) and new son in tow, the neurotic Mel is compelled to discover his origins, despite the protests of his neurotic adoptive parents (a wonderful Mary Tyler Moore and George Segal). To give away the plot any more would be a crime, but as the title states, Mel is on a collision course of Oedipal proportions. Russell, who mad! e incest an intriguing black-comedy topic in Spanking, ! is very liberal with sex and permits dangerous situations. His characters mix it up at a moment's notice. The two women along for the ride are not just bit players: Leoni (Deep Impact) keeps her high-energy comic routine flying, while the grounded Arquette keeps the baby in arm, despite the mad wanderings of her husband. Stiller is a perfect comic foil. --Doug Thomas Sometimes a filmmaker's second movie gets labeled as a sophomore slump. David O. Russell (Spanking the Monkey) shreds that fate with Flirting with Disaster, an outrageous, free-spirited comedy about private people forced into public situations. Mel Coplin (Ben Stiller) finds the opportunity he's been waiting a lifetime for: an adoption agency rep (Téa Leoni) has located his birth parents and the agency will fly him to California if they can record the reunion. With wife Nancy (Patricia Arquette) and new son in tow, the neurotic Mel is compelled to discover his origins, despite the protests o! f his neurotic adoptive parents (a wonderful Mary Tyler Moore and George Segal). To give away the plot any more would be a crime, but as the title states, Mel is on a collision course of Oedipal proportions. Russell, who made incest an intriguing black-comedy topic in Spanking, is very liberal with sex and permits dangerous situations. His characters mix it up at a moment's notice. The two women along for the ride are not just bit players: Leoni (Deep Impact) keeps her high-energy comic routine flying, while the grounded Arquette keeps the baby in arm, despite the mad wanderings of her husband. Stiller is a perfect comic foil. --Doug Thomas Sometimes a filmmaker's second movie gets labeled as a sophomore slump. David O. Russell (Spanking the Monkey) shreds that fate with Flirting with Disaster, an outrageous, free-spirited comedy about private people forced into public situations. Mel Coplin (Ben Stiller) finds the opportunity he's been wa! iting a lifetime for: an adoption agency rep (Téa Leoni) has ! located his birth parents and the agency will fly him to California if they can record the reunion. With wife Nancy (Patricia Arquette) and new son in tow, the neurotic Mel is compelled to discover his origins, despite the protests of his neurotic adoptive parents (a wonderful Mary Tyler Moore and George Segal). To give away the plot any more would be a crime, but as the title states, Mel is on a collision course of Oedipal proportions. Russell, who made incest an intriguing black-comedy topic in Spanking, is very liberal with sex and permits dangerous situations. His characters mix it up at a moment's notice. The two women along for the ride are not just bit players: Leoni (Deep Impact) keeps her high-energy comic routine flying, while the grounded Arquette keeps the baby in arm, despite the mad wanderings of her husband. Stiller is a perfect comic foil. --Doug Thomas

Chernobyl and Katrina. ! ChallengerandColumbia. BP and Vioxx. The Iraq War.  Were these unavoidable misfortunes that no one could possibly have imagined?  Hardly. All of them were disasters that could have been prevented, or whose damaging repercussions could have been mitigated.

            Despite warnings of impending disaster, preemptive action is rarely taken by those who have the ability to do so.  How do smart, high-powered people, leaders of global corporations, national institutions, even nations, often get it so wrong? While most investigations focus on the technical causes of disaster,Flirting With Disasterexamines the psychological, social, and cultural impediments to whistle-blowing, showing what we can do to reduce the possibility of disasters happening at all.

            Analyzing such phenomena as b! ystander behavior and the butterfly effect, amid a series of i! nstructi ve case studiesâ€"not only the aforementioned shuttle crashes, natural disasters, and industrial accidents, but also Arthur Andersen’s shady accounting at Enron; the 1994 Mexican peso crisis that nearly caused an international monetary meltdown; and the American sub-prime lending crisis that emerged in August 2007, revealing the country’s unhealthy dependence on consumer creditâ€"Marc Gerstein, an organizational psychologist,urges a re-evaluation of the timidity, distorted thinking, errors of judgment and self-serving conduct that result in disasters from the boardroom to the halls of academe to the Oval Office. Daniel Ellsberg, renowned and respected for releasing the Pentagon Papers, offers a foreword and a powerful afterword addressing what happens “When Leaders are the Problem.”

           Flirting With Disasteris a must-read for those who want to foster truth-t! elling in their organizations, and head off disasters in the making.  At once alarming, entertaining and hopeful, this is a book that offers very real and practical lessons for everyday life.

 

Duane Hopwood

• (Drama) David Schwimmer stars as Duane, a down-on-his-luck divorced father who works the night shift as a pit boss at Caesars Palace in Atlantic City. Heartsick about the demise of his marriage to Linda (Janeane Garofalo), he does nothing but work and drink. When his visitation rights are threatened after he's caught driving while intoxicated with his daughter in the backseat, Duane decides that t

(Drama) David Schwimmer stars as Duane, a down-on-his-luck divorced father who works the night shift as a pit boss at Caesars Palace in Atlantic City. Heartsick about the demise of his marriage to Linda (Janeane Garofalo), he does nothing but work and drink. When his visitation rights are threatened after he's caught driving while intoxicated with his daughter in the backseat, Duane decides that the time has come to get his life back on track before he loses everything. DUANE HOPWOOD is a moving and! humorous look at the limits of unconditional love, what defines a family, and how we're all responsible for our own happiness.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Theatrical Trailer

Duane Hopwood finds David Schwimmer delivering one of the best performances of his career as an alcoholic, divorced dad whose luck is running out and whose compromised judgment is costing him access to his kids. Duane, a pit boss at an Atlantic City casino, jeopardizes visitation rights with his two daughters when he's caught driving drunk with one of the girls asleep in his car. That mistake sets into motion a number of others, pushing Duane into a corner of despair precisely when he needs to maintain stability to see his children. Writer-director Matt Mulhern, best known as a character actor, resists the temptation to turn his story into a cautionary nightmare about the evils of addiction. Subtle, low-key and frequently wry, Duane Hopwood is really! a smart film about how hard yet inevitable it is for anyone t! o outgro w a broken life and allow the elements of a new one to form. Janeane Garofalo, somewhat unrecognizable under platinum-blonde hair, is very good as Duane's sympathetic but determined ex-wife, and Judah Friedlander slowly but surely grows on one as Anthony, a yammering, would-be comic whose loyalty to Duane really matters in the clutch. --Tom Keogh

Flash of Genius

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

Based on the true story of college professor and part-time inventor Robert Kearns’ (Greg Kinnear) long battle with the U.S. automobile industry, Flash of Genius tells the tale of one man whose fight to receive recognition for his ingenuity at any price. This determined engineer refused to be silenced, and he took on the corporate titans in a battle that nobody thought he could win. When Bob invents a device that would eventually be used by every car in the world, the Kearns think they have struck gold. But their aspirations are dashed after the auto giants who embraced Bob’s creation unceremoniously shunned the man who invented it. While refusing to compromise his dignity, this everyday David will try the unthinkable: to bring Goliath to his knees.In the early-1990s, Greg Kinne! ar was just another amiable talk show host. After As Good As It Gets, however, Kinnear confirmed he could act. If Flash of Genius isn't as harrowing as the Bob Crane biopic Auto-Focus, Kinnear digs just as deep to play a man possessed, in this case taking on Bob Kearns, a Detroit physics professor who invented the intermittent windshield wiper. Supported by his wife (Lauren Graham) and best friend (Dermot Mulroney, making the most of an underwritten part), Kearns aims to align himself with a Motor City auto maker to manufacture his device. Ford expresses interest, so Kearns secures a warehouse, but it all falls apart when they abruptly pull the plug. Then he finds out that they've added automatic wipers to their latest line. Though he patented his invention, the company denies they're using his blueprint, so Kearns takes them to court, a process that drags on for three decades. Meanwhile, his support system starts to collapse as Kearns loses inter! est in everything except the credit he feels he deserves. If t! he film succumbs to some of the pitfalls of the genre, i.e. the win-lose-win structure, producer-turned-director Marc Abraham never paint Kearns as too much of a hero. Through the inventor's brilliance, the world's streets are safer, but his tenacity also drove away some of those he held most dear. Hence, Flash of Genius serves as an inspirational story, a cautionary tale, and the perfect opportunity for Kinnear to make a potentially off-putting character sympathetic. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Stills from Flash of Genius (Click for larger image)

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