About this product: Whatever She Wants is the story about one woman s determination to rediscover who she really is... Vivian Wolf (Vivica A. Fox) has suffered one heartbreak too many and has no room left for unfulfilling relationships. Now she has come up with the solution to every woman s problem, a private club called Whatever She Wants where men have to qualify to get in.
About this product: Fresh-faced Nickelodeon starlet Amanda Bynes stars in What a Girl Wants as Daphne, a 17-year-old girl in New York City who's spent her life pining for her absent father, a British lord named Henry Dashwood (Colin Firth) whom her mother (Kelly Preston) met during wilder days in Morocco. Tired of waiting for him to come to her, she decides to head to London where Dashwood is launching his political career--which could be derailed by her fun-loving, free-spirited attitude. Will her father choose the daughter he's never known or a position in Parliament? The plot of What a Girl Wants is ridiculously contrived, but the movie rides on the chemistry between Bynes and Firth. When, under Daphne's influence, Dashwood tries to break out of his stuffy shell and rediscover his inner rebel, the movie really starts to have fun. --Bret Fetzer
About this product: It must've made for a great pitch meeting: Male chauvinist advertising executive gains the ability to hear the thoughts of any woman around him. Add Mel Gibson--as Nick, the divorced "man's man" who can charm almost any woman into bed--and you've got high-concept comedy made in Hollywood heaven, right? Not necessarily. The smartest thing director Nancy Meyers did with What Women Want is dispose of this ludicrous plot contrivance before it wears out its welcome. It's fun to see Mel react to a deafening chorus of female thoughts, but his dubious "gift"--courtesy of an accidental electro-shock in his bathtub--is a mixed blessing for the audience. The women in Nick's life conveniently think in complete sitcom-friendly sentences, and the novelty quickly wears thin.
The movie improves by focusing on the fallout of Nick's predicament. Exploiting his unfair advantage, he sabotages the career of his new boss (Helen Hunt) even as he's falling in love with her; says all the right things to the aspiring actress (Marisa Tomei) who previously spurned his advances; and uses mind reading to curry favor with his 15-year-old daughter (Ashley Johnson). This two-faced scheming isn't malicious, however, and What Women Want is blessed by Gibson's amiably nuanced performance. His graceful riff on Fred Astaire is a dazzling surprise, and as Nick reforms, Gibson takes major credit for whatever depth this movie achieves. After a bit of nonsense, What Women Want has a lot to say about male and female behavior, be it noble or unappealing. It's both amusing and truthful, and that's almost as fun as a glimpse into someone else's brain. --Jeff Shannon
About this product: Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt dance their way through Girls Just Want to Have Fun, a glorious example of 1980s kitsch. Janey (Parker), the new girl at a Catholic high school in Chicago, dreams of becoming a dancer on Dance TV. With the help of new wave hipster Lynne (Hunt), Janey enters a dance contest and gets paired with Jeff (Lee Montgomery), a rebel in spandex, and the two are soon smitten with each other. Unfortunately, they've made an enemy of a snooty rich girl, who vows to take them down. Everything about Girls Just Want to Have Fun is cheap and cheesy--it doesn't even have the Cyndi Lauper version of the title song--but that doesn't make it any less goofily entertaining, particularly when a debutante ball is wrecked by a bizarre combination of punk rockers and female bodybuilders. Featuring a very young Shannen Doherty as Jeff's little sister. --Bret Fetzer
About this product: Fresh-faced Nickelodeon starlet Amanda Bynes stars in What a Girl Wants as Daphne, a 17-year-old girl in New York City who's spent her life pining for her absent father, a British lord named Henry Dashwood (Colin Firth) whom her mother (Kelly Preston) met during wilder days in Morocco. Tired of waiting for him to come to her, she decides to head to London where Dashwood is launching his political career--which could be derailed by her fun-loving, free-spirited attitude. Will her father choose the daughter he's never known or a position in Parliament? The plot of What a Girl Wants is ridiculously contrived, but the movie rides on the chemistry between Bynes and Firth. When, under Daphne's influence, Dashwood tries to break out of his stuffy shell and rediscover his inner rebel, the movie really starts to have fun. --Bret Fetzer
About this product: For those who want their left brain to get a workout along with their bodies, Tamilee Webb's Science of Fitness series, including I Want That Body!, is are just what the personal trainer and professor ordered. Webb, an appealing and inspiring fitness instructor, includes scientific demonstrations conducted in a lab, showing how her exercises target each muscle group. This disc contains workouts for abs, arms, and buns, and each of those areas is divided into two 15-minute segments. If you're just starting out, do just one segment each; if you really want to up your results, go for both. Webb is encouraging without being off-puttingly perky, and she has the presence of mind, while doing very challenging moves, to calmly remind us of the science behind working each particular muscle. A small complaint: For the arms routine, all she says is to use some free weights; we don't know what size she's using, and there aren't different sizes for the different types of exercises, which can be a good modifier. But if you build in the option of lighter or heavier weights yourself, you should be able to proceed nicely. Extras include a quiz about common exercise forms, nutritional tips and different-angle shots of the routines. If you Want That Body, you better be prepared to work it, but Webb is an accessible leader and trainer and manages to inspire without being a cheerleader. --A.T. Hurley
About this product: Susan Hayward won an Academy Award® for her performance in the compelling 1958 classic I Want to Live! Hayward plays Barbara Graham, a "good-time girl" with a heart of gold and absolutely no instincts about when to drop a bad association. After bouncing in and out of the prison system for a series of petty crimes, Graham suddenly finds herself framed for murder and facing the death penalty. Hayward is simply marvelous, giving a wrenching, complex performance without ever becoming maudlin. Director Robert Wise ratchets the tension up to a nearly unbearable level, making Barbara's moments of hope as agonizing as those of her despair. The film is based on the story of the real-life Barbara Graham, taken from her letters and interviews with reporter Ed Montgomery. Montgomery himself appears as a character, and the film is surprisingly evenhanded about condemning his own role in Graham's conviction. This is definitely a must-see for Hayward fans. --Ali Davis
About this product: Look out, world, here they come! Amanda Bynes (The Amanda Show) gives high society a makeover in the What a Girl Wants [Side A]. She plays all-American teen Daphne, who travels to London to visit the aristocratic father she never knew...and discovers her free-spirited flair and sense of equality clash with stuffy upper-class attitudes. And some teens will do anything to get out of the house, even the White House. Mandy Moore (A Walk to Remember) portrays the President's daughter (codename Liberty), who makes her own declaration of independence by ditching Secret Service agents assigned to her and heading off on a grand adventure through Prague, Venice and London. Catch the fun of Chasing Liberty [Side B].
About this product: The feature film The X-Files: I Want to Believe is a satisfying if unspectacular installment in the X-Files series, taking place an unspecified time after the show's nine-year television run. Former agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) is now a doctor, while Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) is being hunted by his former agency and living in seclusion. He and Scully are summoned back by a case involving a missing agent and a former priest (Billy Connolly) who claims to be able to see clues to the agent's whereabouts psychically, though his initial search turns up only a severed limb. Don't expect the usual cast of characters; the FBI has completely turned over (except for the George W. Bush portrait), and the only reason Scully and Mulder are back is because agent Dakota Whitney (Amanda Peet) remembers his success on similar cases involving the unexplainable. Don't expect the same rogues' gallery either; unlike the previous X-Files feature film, which was inextricably linked to the series' convoluted mythology arc (and served as a bridge between the fifth and sixth seasons), I Want to Believe is a stand-alone piece that makes use of the series' roots in horror/sci-fi and moody Vancouver, B.C., locales. Also unlike the previous film, which was almost self-consciously shot for the big screen, this film is on a smaller scale, like a double-length episode of the series. But it's still a good reminder of the creepy vibe that hooked fans for years. And the relationship between Mulder and Scully? It seems to have resumed pretty much where it left off, at least when you take into account the long period of separation. But stick around for the end-credit sequence to take in all the possibilities for the future. --David Horiuchi
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Stills from The X-Files: I Want to Believe (Click for larger image)
About this product: From Lance Bangs and Spike Jonze, acclaimed director of WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, comes A PORTRAIT OF MAURICE SENDAK, a loving look at one of the most cherished and controversial figures in children s literature. Featuring TELL THEM ANYTHING YOU WANT, this is a deeply moving tribute to Sendak, a seminal talent whose conflicts with success and lifelong obsession with death have subtly influenced his work. Now 81, Sendak is best known for his book, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, which he wrote twelve years into his career as a writer and illustrator. WILD THINGS would go on to become one of the most beloved and critically lauded children s books of all time and, much to Sendak s chagrin, would come to define his career. Through his own words, personal photos, and illustrations, Sendak offers a rare, intimate, and unexpected look at his exceptional life. A PORTRAIT OF MAURICE SENDAK also features James Gandolfini, Meryl Streep, Catherine Keener, and Tony Kushner honoring their friend and colleague.
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