Our Picks Reviews - Page 44

The third installment in Hollywood’s web-slinging franchise is a wide-open shotgun blast of explosive effects, leering villains, bubbling subplots, galloping action and a cavalcade of stars, including Kirsten Dunst, Thomas Haden Church, Bryce Dallas Howard and Tobey McGuire, reprising his role as the rooftop-hopping superhero. As Spider-Man fights to save the city and the lives of those he loves, he’s also struggling to wrest his own soul from a dark-side temptation that threatens to destroy him from within. A second disc provides commentary, and an inside look at the movie’s spectacular stunts, bloopers and more.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

0 comments, Share your comments on this review

The evergreen antics of Alvin, Simon and Theodore get a newly remastered holiday re-release with these 24 Christmas tunes, including “Up On The House-Top,” “Deck the Halls,” “Jingle Bell Rock” and, of course, “The Christmas Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)”—both the 1958 original and an additional version on which the ’Munks are joined by ’60s rock band Canned Heat. Yes, Canned Heat. Hey, in an audio world of harmonizing Chipmunks, anything can happen. Right, Alvin? Alvin? Al-VINNNNN!
—Neil Pond, American Profile

0 comments, Share your comments on this review

From “juvenile delinquent” dramas of the 1950s through today’s blockbusters, Hollywood has been fascinated with—and often fueled by—rock ’n’ roll music. Pointing out the rockin’ showbiz synergy behind American Graffiti, Jesus Christ Superstar, Grease, Footloose, Hairspray and more than 225 other films spanning half a century, this is one totally rockin’ A-to-Z reference book way too groovy to gather dust on a bookshelf.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

0 comments, Share your comments on this review

This fascinating, fact-filled exploration of our country’s birth, growth and ongoing evolution starts 600 million years ago, when the North American continent first began to take geological shape, and journeys right to modern America’s place in the 21st century. In between are the people, politics, wars, social movements, cultural shifts and other events that have made our nation what it is today, presented in a reader-friendly way and punctuated with hundreds of photos, illustrations, charts, maps and sidebars.
American Profile, Neil Pond

0 comments, Share your comments on this review

Matthew McConaughey and Lost TV hunk Matthew Fox star in this true-story tale of a small West Virginia steel-milling town that pulled itself back together when most of its Marshall University football team, all but one of its coaching staff and dozens of parents and supporters died in a fiery 1970 airplane crash. A rousing, inspirational testament to the power of positive energy in the face of tragedy, We Are Marshall is a feel-good football movie that brings both tears and cheers. (Rated PG)
—Neil Pond, American Profile

0 comments, Share your comments on this review

Several world-weary characters find their lives interwoven and transformed in this heartwarming holiday tale by the author of The Christmas Shoes and The Christmas Blessing, both best-sellers which were made into network-TV movies. Promise has the pedigree and the potential to become another Christmas classic.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

0 comments, Share your comments on this review

The pulses of cloak-and-dagger fans everywhere will quicken as they pore over this trilogy of theatrically released Bourne movies (Identity, Supremacy and 2007’s Ultimatum), the explosive exploits of their globetrotting super-spy assassin (Matt Damon) and hours of behind-the-scenes bonus materials.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

0 comments, Share your comments on this review

“Platinum” means the silver screen; “Fox” refers to the 15 years the blonde bombshell spent under contract to 20th Century Fox, where she starred in 20 movies that grossed more than $200 million for the studio. Focusing on her films rather than her already highly examined private life, this lavish, luxurious coffee-table volume chronicles Monroe’s Hollywood career with hundreds of photos, including candid, never-published-before on-the-set snapshots, and insights into the dramatic skills that were usually overshadowed by a hyper-glamorized sexpot facade.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

0 comments, Share your comments on this review

The perfect, ultimate gift for fans of the award-winning ensemble series that ruled TV comedy in the 1990s, this lavish collection includes all 180 memorable episodes; a 226-page “Coffee Table Book” anthology with photos, unforgettable quotes and trivia; and a walloping 104 hours of bonus materials, including a one-hour cast-reunion disc. For a show that proudly proclaimed itself to be “about nothing,” this treasure chest of contemporary comedy is really something.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

0 comments, Share your comments on this review

Deck the Halls
DVD ($29.98)

Not-yet-California-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and comedian Sinbad fight their way through a frantic, last-minute Christmas Eve shopping spree in Jingle All The Way, a 1996 family comedy re-released with more than 30 minutes of interactive games, bloopers, extra footage and other special DVD features. Danny Devito and Matthew Broderick are suburban neighbors sparring with slapstick gusto to out-do each other’s extravagant Christmas displays in the more recent Deck the Halls (2006), which gets a similar DVD makeover with commentary, featurettes and a fascinating look at how Hollywood can make a convincingly winter-looking holiday movie in July.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

0 comments, Share your comments on this review