OnVideo Guide to Home Video Releases: October Calendar of Releases

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Guide to Home Video Releases:
October Release Calendar


DVD Releases

Movies are rated on a scale of one to five, with five denoting a classic. For more information on how we rate, check out our
Rentability Index.

calendar page Back to Calendar Index.

October 3
  • Thank You for Smoking Based on Christopher Buckley's acclaimed 1994 novel, "Thank You for Smoking" is a fiercely satirical look at today's "culture of spin."Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), chief spokesman for Big Tobacco, who makes his living defending the rights of smokers and cigarette makers in today's neo-puritanical culture. Confronted by health zealots out to ban tobacco and an opportunistic senator (William H. Macy) who wants to put poison labels on cigarette packs, Nick goes on a PR offensive, spinning away the dangers of cigarettes on TV talk shows and enlisting a Hollywood super-agent (Rob Lowe) to promote smoking in movies. Nick's newfound notoriety attracts the attention of both tobacco's head honcho (Robert Duvall) and an investigative reporter for an influential Washington daily (Katie Holmes). Nick says he is just doing what it takes to pay the mortgage, but the increased scrutiny by his son (Cameron Bright) and a very real death threat forces him to think differently. Vitals: Director: Jason Reitman. Stars: Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Cameron Bright, Adam Brody, Sam Elliott, Katie Holmes, David Koechner, Rob Lowe, William H. Macy, J.K. Simmons, Robert Duvall. 2006, CC, MPAA rating: R, 91 min., Comedy, Box office gross: $24.449 million, Fox. 4 stars

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  • X-Men: The Last Stand In "X-Men: The Last Stand," the final chapter in the "X-Men" motion picture trilogy, a "cure" for mutancy threatens to alter the course of history. For the first time, mutants have a choice: retain their uniqueness, though it isolates and alienates them, or give up their powers and become human. The opposing viewpoints of mutant leaders Charles Xavier, who preaches tolerance, and Magneto, who believes in the survival of the fittest, are put to the ultimate test -- triggering the war to end all wars. The film reunites the stars of the first two X-Men films: Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, a solitary fighting machine who possesses amazing healing powers, retractable adamantium claws and an animal-like fury; Halle Berry as Storm, who can manipulate all forms of weather -- and fly; Ian McKellen as Magneto, the powerful mutant who can control and manipulate metal; Patrick Stewart as Xavier, a telepath and the founder and leader of the X-Men; Famke Janssen as Jean Grey, a mutant with incalculably powerful telekinetic and telepathic abilities; Anna Paquin as Rogue, who absorbs the powers and threatens the life of anyone she touches; Rebecca Romijn as the shape-shifting Mystique; James Marsden as Cyclops, whose eyes release an energy beam that can rip holes through mountains; and Shawn Ashmore as Iceman, who can lower his body temperature and radiate intense cold. Also reprising their "X2" roles are Shawn Stanford as fire-manipulator Pyro and Daniel Cudmore as Colossus, who can change his flesh into organic steel. Kelsey Grammer joins the cast as one of the "X-Men" universe's most beloved characters: Dr. Henry McCoy, also known as Beast. McCoy is a highly intelligent geneticist, a mutant endowed with superhuman agility and physical prowess. As the subject of one of his own experiments, McCoy mutated further, growing blue, bestial fur. "X-Men: The Last Stand" stays true to the tone and story arcs of "X-Men" and "X2," while expanding the characters, continuing the balance between spectacle and reality, and, especially, deepening the emotion and relationships. Vitals: Director: Brett Ratner. Stars: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin, Kelsey Grammer, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Vinnie Jones, Patrick Stewart, Tanya Newbould. Daniel Cudmore. 2006, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 104 min., Sci Fi, Box office gross: $232.329 million, Fox. 3 stars

  • Hail Mary Denounced by the Pope and the object of worldwide protests, this surprisingly serene and lyrical work translates the Virgin Birth into tangible contemporary terms, with Joseph as a cab driver and Mary as a basketball-playing gas station attendant who receives the Annunciation by jetliner. Audacious and provocative. In French with English subtitles. Vitals: Director: Jean-Luc Godard. Stars: Myriem Roussel, Thierry Rode, Philippe Lacoste, Manon Andersen, Malachi Jara Kohan, Juliette Binoche. 1985 CC, MPAA rating: NR, 107 min., Drama, New Yorker Video. 4 stars

  • Edmond "You are not where you belong," says the fortuneteller, and Edmond (William H. Macy) begins his descent into a darkly funny yet horrifying modern urban New York City hell in this compelling film written by acclaimed playwright David Mamet. The encounter with the fortuneteller has caused bland businessman Edmond to confront the emptiness of his life and marriage. His wife (Rebecca Pidgeon) complains that the maid broke a lamp, and this seems to be the last straw, prompting him to flee the safe boredom of his home for the vortex of the dark streets of the city. The strangely liberating act of leaving his wife tilts Edmond into a free-fall that he mistakes for freedom, although he certainly now feels alive. Stumbling into a local bar, Edmond meets a man (Joe Mantegna) who convinces him that sex is what he needs to solve his problems and points him in the right direction. To Edmond's surprise, hookers are expensive, the pimp (Lionel Mark Smith) he encounters is violent, and the guy running a three-card monte game on the street is a cheat. Still, he wanders the streets, encountering big-city night crawlers, until finally he is robbed and beaten and left bewildered. Feeling freed, he goes home with a waitress, Glenna (Julia Stiles), but their riotous sex play leads to some very deep conversation. The two engage in a discussion about the meaning of race, death, life, and honesty. When the honesty topic is explored, Glenna refuses to engage, causing Edmond intense turmoil. He asks her, begs her, to rely on honesty, but instead pandemonium ensues. As Edmond spirals on towards personal disintegration, his racism and homophobia emerges -- and he freely expresses it. "Every fear hides a wish," he discovers. Vitals: Director: Stuart Gordon. Stars: William H. Macy, Julia Stiles, Denise Richards, Mena Suvari, Dylan Walsh, Joe Mantegna, Rebecca Pidgeon, Dule Hill, Bai Ling, Bokeem Woodbine, Debi Mazar, George Wendt, Lonnie Smith. 2006, CC, MPAA rating: R, 82 min., Drama, Box office gross: $.055 million, Vivendi Visual Entertaiment. 3 stars

  • Changing Times Antoine (Gerard Depardieu) is a French engineer who arrives in Tangiers to oversee the construction of a major television facility. But his real motive is to re-establish contact with Cecile (Catherine Deneuve), a woman he loved and lost 30 years before. While Antoine quietly pined for his lost love, Cecile all but forgot Antoine. Cecile lives in Tangiers with her younger Moroccan husband, Nathan (Gilbert Melki), and their adult son, Sami (Malik Zidi), who has just arrived from Paris with his partner Nadia (Lubna Azabal). After an awkward reunion, Antoine pushes hard to win Cecile back, sending roses, appearing uninvited at her home and office, and offering his love. As Cecile struggles to reconcile with Antoine's sudden return, Nathan, Sami, and Nadia revisit ghosts of their own. When dramatic events intervene, Cecile and Antoine establish a new intimacy that's very different from what either of them had ever known -- or come to expect. Vitals: Director: Andre Techine. Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu, Gilbert Melki, Malik Zidi, Lubna Azabal. 2006, CC, MPAA rating: NR, 100 min., Drama, Box office gross: $.274 million, Koch Lorber Films. 3 stars

October 10
  • Click Family man Michael Newman (Adam Sandler) must learn to be careful what he "clicks for" when he stumbles upon a universal remote control that allows him to fast-forward through parts of his life. Newman is a family man with a busy career as an architect leaving minimal time for his wife Donna (Kate Beckinsale) and two kids. Unable one day to determine which of his many remotes turns on the television, he decides that a universal remote control will solve all of his problems. On Michael's search for the perfect device, he meets Morty (Christopher Walken), who gives him a one-of-a-kind remote with magical powers that allow him to perform TiVo-like functions. As Michael fast-forwards through annoying quarrels with his wife and mutes the barks and begging of Sundance, the family dog, he begins to feel in control of his career and personal life. However, when the remote starts to override his choices, Michael begins to truly appreciate and embrace the life he already has -- the good, the bad and the ugly. Vitals: Director: Frank Coraci. Stars: Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale, Christopher Walken, David Hasselhoff, Henry Winkler, Julie Kavner, Sean Astin. 2006, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 107 min., Comedy, Box office gross: $135.468 million, Sony. 3 stars

  • Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties Gardfield, the world's favorite cat, has begun his very own British Invasion, wreaking havoc on the entire United Kingdom. He's traveled across the pond (with canine sidekick Odie) to surprise his master, Jon Arbuckle (Breckin Meyer), who is in London to propose to his girlfriend, veterinarian Liz Wilson (Jennifer Love Hewitt). In London, Garfield meets his mirror image in Prince, an aristocratic kitty who has inherited a fabulous castle. The two trade places, and in the grand estate Garfield now calls home, he receives the royal treatment, including a butler and an international array of four-legged servants and followers. It's a life fit for a king ... even though Garfield is only a prince; in fact, he's the real "Prince and the Paw-purr." There's just one problem: the dastardly Lord Dargis, next in line to inherit the estate, wants Prince/Garfield out of the picture. And Garfield finds his bigger, better, more purr-fect world turned upside down. Vitals: Director: Tim Hill. Stars: Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Billy Connolly, Ian Abercrombie and the voice of Bill Murray (Garfield). 2006, CC, MPAA rating: PG, 84 min., Family Comedy, Box office gross: $28.189 million, Fox. 2 stars

  • Art School Confidential In "Art School Confidential," director Terry Zwigoff returns to a theme from his films "Crumb" and "Ghost World": the isolation of sensitive people whose interests and work are under-appreciated in a vacuous contemporary world. The film is Zwigoff's second adaptation of a comic story by Daniel Clowes, after "Ghost World," for which they shared an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2002. "Art School Confidential" follows a talented young artist -- Jerome Platz (Max Minghella) -- as he escapes from high school to a tiny East Coast art school. Here the boyish freshman's ambition is to become the world's greatest artist, like his hero Picasso. Unfortunately, the beauty and craft of Jerome's portraiture are not appreciated in an anything-goes art class that he finds bewildering and bogus. Neither his harsh judgments of his classmates' efforts or his later attempts to create pseudo-art of his own win him any admirers. But Jerome does attract the attentions of his dream girl -- the stunning and sophisticated Audrey (Sophia Myles) -- an artist's model and daughter of a celebrated artist. Rejecting the affectations of the local art scene, Audrey is drawn to Jerome's sincerity. When Audrey shifts her attentions to Jonah (Matt Keeslar), a hunky painter who becomes the school's latest art star, Jerome is heartbroken. Desperate, he concocts a risky plan to make a name for himself and win her back. Filling out Jerome's world are a host of offbeat characters, including: a quirky art teacher (John Malkovich) who takes an extra-curricular interest in Jerome; a failed artist (Jim Broadbent), drowning in alcohol and self-pity; a regal art history professor (Anjelica Huston) Jerome tries to influence; a coffee shop owner-cum-art impresario (Steve Buscemi) swelling with self-importance; a worldly classmate (Joel David Moore), who introduces Jerome to the intricate mores of campus life; and Jerome's filmmaker roommate (Ethan Suplee), exploding with energy to create a cinematic masterpiece. Vitals: Director: Terry Zwigoff. Stars: Max Minghella, Sophia Myles, John Malkovich, Jim Broadbent, Matt Keeslar, Ethan Suplee, Joel David Moore, Anjelica Huston, Steve Buscemi, Adam Scott. 2006, CC, MPAA rating: R, 102 min., Black Comedy, Box office gross: $3.278 million, Sony. 3 stars

  • A Prairie Home Companion Director Robert Altman and writer Garrison Keillor join forces with an all-star cast to create a comic backstage fable about a fictitious radio variety show that has managed to survive in the age of television. Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin star as the Johnson Sisters, Yolanda and Rhonda, a country duet act that has survived the county-fair circuit, and Lindsay Lohan plays Meryl's daughter, Lola, who gets her big chance to sing on the show and then forgets the words. Kevin Kline is Guy Noir, a private eye down on his luck who works as a backstage doorkeeper, and Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly are Dusty and Lefty, the Old Trailhands, a singing cowboy act. Add Virginia Madsen as an angel, Tommy Lee Jones as the Axeman, Maya Rudolph as a pregnant stagehand and Keillor in the role of hangdog emcee, and you have a playful story set on a rainy Saturday night in St. Paul, Minnesota, where fans file into the Fitzgerald Theater to see "A Prairie Home Companion," a staple of radio station WLT, not knowing that WLT has been sold to a Texas conglomerate and that tonight's show will be the last. Shot entirely in the Fitzgerald, except for the opening and closing scenes which take place in a nearby diner, the picture combines Altman's cinematic style and intelligence and love of improvisation and Keillor's songs and storytelling to create a fictional counterpart to the "A Prairie Home Companion" radio show. The film uses the musicians and crew and stage setting of the actual radio show, heard on public radio stations coast to coast for the past quarter-century (and which, in real life, continues to be broadcast). Vitals: Director: Robert Altman. Stars: Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Garrison Keillor, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, Virginia Madsen, John C. Reilly, Maya Rudolph, Meryl Streep, Yolanda Johnson, Lily Tomlin. 2006, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 105 min., Comedy-Drama, Box office gross: $17.968 million, New Line. 3 stars

  • Waist Deep Tyrese Gibson stars as O2, an ex-con who's trying to go straight. His life takes a deadly turn when his son gets kidnapped in a carjacking and held for ransom by a ruthless drug lord (The Game). With a street-smart hustler (Meagan Good) as his partner and his shady cousin (Larenz Tate) in the mix, O2 races through the violent streets of Los Angeles in a desperate attempt to outsmart rival gangs and save his son. Vitals: Director: Vondie Curtis Hall. Stars: Tyrese Gibson, Meagan Good, Larenz Tate, The Game. 2006, CC, MPAA rating: R, 97 min., Thriller, Box office gross: $21.318 million, Universal. 2 stars

October 17
  • Break-Up, The When art dealer Brooke (Jennifer Aniston) and Chicago bus tour guide Gary (Vince Vaughn) suddenly put an end to their two-year relationship, the joys of home ownership throw a monkey wrench into the split. What follows is a series of remedies, war tactics, overtures and underminings suggested by the former couple's friends, confidantes and the occasional total stranger. When neither ex is willing to move out of the condo they used to share, the only solution is to continue living as hostile roommates until somebody caves. But somewhere between protesting the pool table in the living room, the dirty clothes stacked in the kitchen cupboards and the sports played at sleep-killing volume in the middle of the night, Brooke begins to realize that what she may be really fighting for isn't so much the place but the person. Delivers a fresh and funny twist on the age-old battle between the sexes. Vitals: Director: Peyton Reed. Stars: Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston, Joey Lauren Adams, Ann-Margret, Jason Bateman, Judy Davis, Vincent D'Onofrio, Jon Favreau, Cole Hauser, John Michael Higgins, Justin Long. 2006, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 107 min., Comedy, Box office gross: $ 118.442 million, Universal. 3 stars

  • Over the Hedge Based on the popular comic strip by Michael Fry and T Lewis. Spring has sprung, and Verne and his woodland friends awaken from their long winter's nap to discover that a tall, green "thing" has mysteriously cropped up right through the middle of their home. Enter RJ, an opportunistic raccoon, who explains that the world beyond the hedge is the "gateway to the good life" where peculiar creatures called humans live to eat, rather than eat to live. Suspicious and even a little jealous of RJ, the ever-cautious Verne wants to keep his blended family safely on their side of the hedge. But, proving the adage that one man's garbage is another man's -- or rather animal's -- treasure, the manipulative RJ tries to convince the woodland band that there is little to fear and everything to gain from their over-indulgent new neighbors. Eventually, RJ and Verne form an unlikely friendship as they learn to co-exist with -- and even exploit -- this strange new world called suburbia. Vitals: Director: Tim Johnson Karey Kirkpatrick. Stars: Voices of Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Steve Carell, Wanda Sykes, William Shatner, Nick Nolte, Thomas Haden Church, Allison Janney, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Avril Lavigne. 2006, CC, MPAA rating: PG, 83 min., Animated, Box office gross: $150.898 million, DreamWorks. 3 stars

  • Omen, The Remake of the classic 1976 horror-thriller. Many believe the prophecy from the Book of Revelation provides a map to a terrifying future. The signs, they claim, are all around us: terrorist attacks, extreme weather ... the list goes on. The passage specifically points to the arrival of the Anti-Christ, who is branded with the numerical sequence "666": the mark of the Beast. The Anti-Christ will receive his power directly from Satan to establish a counterfeit kingdom on earth, signaling the beginning of Armageddon. Robert Thorn is unaware of such dark prophecies. Thorn, a senior American diplomat, has other things on his mind. His wife, Katherine, has endured a difficult delivery and she's as yet unaware their newborn child has died. The hospital priest, Father Spiletto, presents Thorn with another child born that night, whose mother died in childbirth. The priest compels Thorn to take the infant boy as his own; Katherine will never know the truth, and their son, which they name Damien, will be raised as their flesh and blood. Katherine embraces the child as her own, blossoming in motherhood; Thorn, it would seem, has made the right choice. Thorn's career ascends -- he becomes the U.S. ambassador to Great Britain -- and the family settles into an estate outside London. But certain events, all seeming to revolve around the now five-year-old Damien, are deeply disturbing: Damien's nanny hangs herself at the youngster's birthday party; a strange priest brings dire warnings to Thorn; a children's trip to the zoo results in a panicked frenzy; Damien becomes hysterical during a drive to church; and blurred movements in a series of photographs portend shocking deaths. The troubling incidents multiply, pointing to something wrong -- terribly wrong -- with Damien. Enter Mrs. Baylock, Damien's new nanny, who seems to have a preordained devotion to the child. Then tragedy strikes closer to home. But only later does Thorn comprehend the truth: Damien is no ordinary child; he is the long-prophesized Anti-Christ. Now, Thorn must make the ultimate sacrifice to prevent the unspeakable terror that awaits the world. Vitals: Director: John Moore. Stars: Julia Stiles, Liev Schreiber, Mia Farrow, David Thewlis, Pete Postlethwaite, Michael Gambon, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick. 2006, CC, MPAA rating: R, 110 min., Horror, Box office gross: $54.401 million, Fox. 3 stars

  • Only Human Irreverent family comedy reworks the age-old story of "meeting the parents" with a thoroughly modern twist. When Leni introduces her fiance Rafi to her idiosyncratic Jewish family, everything goes smoothly until the lovers belatedly reveal that Rafi is Palestinian. Amid the ensuing hysteria, Rafi drops the soup he was meant to defrost for dinner out the window, hitting a pedestrian below, who may be Leni's father. Oops. In Spanish, Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles. Vitals: Director: Dominic Harari and Teresa Pelegri. Stars: Guillermo Toledo, Marian Aguilera, Maria Botto, Fernando Ramallo, Norma Aleandro. 2006, CC, MPAA rating: R, 86 min., Comedy, Box office gross: $.277million, Magnolia Home Entertainment. 3 stars

  • American Dreamz Imagine a country where the President doesn't read the newspaper, the government goes to war for all the wrong reasons and more votes are cast for the next pop music star than for the next president. That's the premise behind "American Dreamz": a nation obsessed with instant fame, immediate celebrity and disposable hype culture. In this misfired satire, director Paul Weitz follows the intersection of juggernaut reality show "American Dreamz" hopefuls, a clueless American President who is attempting to get back in touch with reality and a hapless terrorist charged to upend American politics by blowing up the free world's leader on the country's most popular television program. Vitals: Director: Paul Weitz. Stars: Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, Mandy Moore, Willem Dafoe, Jennifer Coolidge, Marcia Gay Harden, Chris Klein. 2006, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 108 min., Comedy, Box office gross: $7.191 million, Universal. 2 stars

October 24
  • Monster House Animated adventure in which three kids (Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner and Spencer Locke) must do battle with a mysterious home that is determined to eat every trick or treater in sight on Halloween. Vitals: Director: Gil Kenan. Stars: Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner, Spencer Locke, Steve Buscemi, Nick Cannon, Matthew Fahey, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jon Heder, Kevin James, Jason Lee, Ryan Newman, Catherine O'Hara, Kathleen Turner, Fred Willard. 2006, CC, MPAA rating: PG, 91 min., Animated, Box office gross: $69.368 million, Sony. 2 stars

  • Nacho Libre Off-the-wall comedy about Nacho, a lowly slop cook at an orphanage who secretly dreams of becoming a famous Mexican wrestler. Moonlighting in disguise, he is ultimately exposed and excommunicated by the church. But when he defeats Mexico's most feared Luchador, and gives his winnings to the orphans, he becomes a local hero. Vitals: Director: Jared Hess. Stars: Jack Black, Peter Stormare, Ana de la Reguera, Carla Jimenez.. 2006, CC, MPAA rating: PG, 92 min., Comedy, Box office gross: $79.989 million, Paramount. 2 stars

  • Slither Huge slugs from outer space infect the denizens of a small town, turning them into bloodthirsty meat-eating zombies, revealing slime-ridden oozing bug overlords that want to take over the world. Vitals: Director: James Gunn. Stars: Nathan Fillion, Gregg Henry, Michael Rooker, Elizabeth Banks, Rheagan Wallace, Tania Saulnier. 2006, CC, MPAA rating: R, 95 min., Sci-Fi Horror, Box office gross: $7.774 million, Universal. 3 stars

  • The Road to Guantanamo The film recounts a two-year plus journey of three British Muslim young men known as the Tipton Three who, while on a humanitarian mission, were captured and held for two years without charges in the American military prison at Cuba's Guantanamo Bay. The story begins shortly following the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. with Shafiq flying to Pakistan to meet the woman his mother has chosen for him to marry. Ruhel, his best man, along with Asif and another friend soon join them. They soon cross the border into Afghanistan to participate in a humanitarian mission, and are trapped in the middle of the Afghanistan war where they are captured by Northern Alliance soldiers, accused of being Al Queda fighters and shipped off to Guantanamo Bay. The film's theatrical release came shortly after the suicides of three prisoners held in American custody in Guantanamo, sparking renewed interest in the treatment and procedures of holding suspected terrorists in international territories. This shocking story is brought to life through dramatic re-enactments, news footage and interviews with the real Tipton Three. "The Road to Guantanamo" recounts the brutal truth of what these men experienced along their journey including religious and physical abuse, solitary confinement and no apparent legal recourse. Winner of the 2006 Berlin Film Festival for best director. Vitals: Director: Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross. Stars: Riz Ahmed, Farhad Harun, Waqar Siddiqui, Afran Usman. 2006, CC, MPAA rating: R, 95 min., Drama, Box office gross: $.316 million, Sony. 3 stars

October 30
  • Mission: Impossible 3 Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) confronts the toughest villain he's ever faced -- Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman), an international weapons and information provider with no remorse and no conscience. More of the same great stunts and action scenes. Vitals: Director: J.J. Abrams. Stars: Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monaghan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell, Maggie Q, Simon Pegg, Eddie Marsan, Laurence Fishburne. 2006, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 126 min., Action, Box office gross: $133.382 million, Paramount. 3 stars

October 31
  • Keeping Up With the Steins Benjamin Fiedler (Daryl Sabara) is about to undergo an aninitiation rite that will take him from boy to man -- a Bar Mitzvah in Brentwood, California. It's not enough that Benjamin must stand in front of a Temple full of strangers chanting Hebrew, a language he doesn't understand. He must also cope with the efforts of his parents, Adam (Jeremy Piven) and Joanne (Jami Gertz), to splurge on a party-to-end-all-parties, a mega bash where the Bar is more important than the Mitzvah and a Jewish Star means Neil Diamond. Above all, the Fiedlers must surpass the "Titanic"-themed Bar Mitzvah given by Adam's rival, Arnie Stein (Larry Miller). With his circus-sized celebration, Arnie has thrown down the gauntlet. For the highly competitive Adam, the war is on. But when Adam's father Irwin (Garry Marshall), now a gray-haired hippie, and his spacey younger girlfriend (Daryl Hannah) arrive in their broken down camper, the Fiedler's plans are thrown into disarray. Every family has their own dysfunction and neuroses and the Fiedlers are certainly no exception. Despite this, they ultimately realize that family is the most precious bond that can't be broken (but it can be bent out of shape at times). Vitals: Director: Scott Marshall. Stars: Jami Gertz, Daryl Hannah, Garry Marshall, Jeremy Piven, Doris Roberts, Daryl Sabara, Larry Miller, Cheryl Hines, Richard Benjamin. 2006, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 99 min., Comedy, Box office gross: $4.122 million, Miramax. 3 stars


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    All DVDs are screened on a reference system consisting of a Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray Disc Player w/SACD & DVD-Audio, a Rotel RSX-972 Surround Sound Receiver, and Phase Technology 1.1 (front), 33.1 (center), and 50 (rear) speakers and Power 10 subwoofer.

June 2006 Releases
July 2006 Releases
August 2006 Releases
September 2006 Releases
November 2006 Releases
December 2006 Releases
January 2007 Releases




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October 9, 2006