What is a "Petrucelli Pick"?
It is, in the opinion of the quirky nationally-known media whore, something you need to watch, read, listen to, and own. Sometimes it’s a place you need to visit. It’s a must. Instant Petrucelli Picks include everything Dame Shirley CD ever recorded.
It’s much ado about something whenever Kultur announces another title in the Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre series, This time ’round: production of William Shakespeare’s ever-popular comedy Much Ado About Nothing.
Claudio loves Hero, Hero lovesClaudio and nothing seems capable of tearing them apart. Claudio's friend Benedick loves Beatrice, and Beatrice loves Benedick, but (because neither will admit it) nothing seems capable of bringing them together. Only the intrigues of a resentful prince force Benedick to prove his love for Beatrice–by killing his best friend.
Driven along by a romance all the more charming for being unacknowledged, Much Ado About Nothing is a miracle of comic and dramatic suspense and gives us, in the bantering Beatrice and Benedick, one of Shakespeare's wittiest, most lovable pair of lovers.
More information on this release and other Kultur DVDs, visit kultur.com.
Fascinating and beguiling, Bestiaire (Zeitgeist Films) is filmmaker Denis Côté’s mesmerizing meditation on the relationships between animals and people through the seasons at a Quebec safari park. This strikingly gorgeous work about the act of looking slyly blurs the line between observer and observed; the film opens with art students sketching taxidermied creatures.
Despite lack of a traditional narrative, there is dramatic tension in each exquisitely framed shot: a cage door under attack from a growling lion; the scurrying striped legs of zebras in a pen; the long stare of a bull, straight into camera. Contemplative and enthralling, Bestiaire is cinema at its purest.
Fun-loving friends suddenly must deal with a tragedy and confront the hard truths of their carefree lives in Little White Lies, the French import starring Oscar winners Jean Dujardin and Marion Cotillard. Writer-director Guillaume Canet’s acclaimed comedy-drama, set on the gorgeous French Riviera, arrives on Blu-ray and DVD from MPI Home Video.
Following a motorcycle accident that leaves a charismatic member of their group in an intensive care unit, a close-knit circle of thirty- and fortysomething friends embark on their annual summer getaway to southeastern France. Staying at the spacious vacation home of wealthy family man Max, the friends’ sunny beachside idyll quickly becomes the backdrop of heated tensions and outbursts among the old acquaintances as the little white lies just beneath the surface of their relationships reach a boiling point.
Featuring some of the leading stars of French cinema and enhanced by a soundtrack of classic hit songs by Creedence Clearwater Revival and Janis Joplin, Canet’s follow-up to his hit Tell No One is a touching, poignant and inspiring dramatic comedy about owning up to the truths that define a life.
Oui! Oui!
Four colleagues reunite in a dangerous face-off in 4 Assassins (Inception Media Group). In this stylish and tense action-thriller, ace hit-man Marcus Nang reunites with three colleagues in a swanky Hong Kong hotel room . . . but the reason and the choice of location are a mystery.
First to arrive is lovely Cordelia Leigh, Marcus’ former lover and an equally ruthless killer. Accompanying her is Chase Holmes, a young gun eager to make his mark. Last to appear is Marcus and Cordelia’s mentor, Eli Stoke, a polished and proficient veteran, in “the business” for longer than he can recall.
The deadly comrades reminisce about the past and ponder the future, but unresolved issues hang in the air. Eli grapples with confronting Marcus–who looks up to him as a father figure–over a recent venture gone awry. Determined to uncover the truth, he provokes a tense confrontation.
Accusations fly, lines are drawn, alliances waiver, secrets are revealed, bullets let loose and love is redefined … culminating in an explosive showdown from which no one is safe.
We will never forget our first pilgrimage to Chartres. The stained glass windows, the majestic gothic grandeur and forever etched in our minds.
We can relive those memories (and save the cost of a trip to France) now that Kultur has released the DVD release of Chartres and the Spirit of the Middle Ages, the latest title in the Sites of the World’s Cultures.
For more than 1,000 years pilgrims have been flocking to Chartres. It is not the city which attracts them, but the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Then as now it fascinates people, albeit for different reasons.
When it was built people saw it as a holy place, a place which promised blessing, hope and relief from the trials and tribulations of life. At that time the faithful understood its message immediately, for them the cathedral was a picture book.
For people in the 20th century it is an over-sized edifice of stone, a closed book. They have to learn to decipher laboriously, letter by letter, what it has to say.
The vibrant pictorial language and the fascinating architecture of this church recreate a vivid portrait of an age which was named the Dark Middle Ages because, for such a long time, very few people had any knowledge or understanding of it. No building is better able to cast light upon this darkness than this cathedral.
Sweetness O'Hara, the nice, quiet 17-year-old daughter of mixed-race parents, is struggling to find her place in the rough Queens neighborhood she calls home. Her alcoholic white father is either absent or abusive, her black mother is emotionally unstable and her racial background makes her an outsider in a community where drugs and violence abound.
And so she beging Yelling to the Sky.
When their mother abruptly leaves home, Sweetness and her pregnant older sister Ola look after each other, but Sweetness nevertheless finds herself in a downward spiral of dealing drugs, shoplifting and fighting. Plotting revenge against a school bully, Sweetness realizes she must take her life into her own hands in order to create the future of which she dreams.
The gritty film, on Blu-ray and DVD from MPI Home Video, marks the impressive directorial debut of actress Victoria Mahoney.
It’s always nice to come across a flick that’s nice for the entire family.
And so we introduce you to the action-packed adventure Junior High Spy from Inception Media Group.
When his F.B.I. agent father is abducted, Ricky Lazio, Jr. believes he knows who did it … but the agency dismisses his lead as child’s play.
Forced into action–and armed with an array of his dad’s high-tech spy gadgets–Ricky enlists the aid of his quick-thinking, computer-genius best friend, to help track down his Dad.
From thrilling motocross races, to speed boat chases, to martial arts showdowns, they now need to evade the watchful eye of the F.B.I, get their homework done before dinner and save the day!
Another great family flick: The Solomon Bunch (Entertainment, Inc. and Slingshot Pictures), a fun-filled, heartwarming adventure that delivers a message of the importance of wisdom and not making assumptions. Dove Foundation approved (rated 5 out of 5 Doves!), the film focuses on the gentle life lesson that we should never judge a book by its cover.
The Solomon Bunch follows five spirited, well-meaning kids as they create hilarious havoc in their peaceful small town! Nothing much ever happens in Brookville, but when a group of friends see a new stranger and overhear something they don't understand, they jump to the conclusion that he is up to no good. Soon, the new club is devising secret missions and elaborate schemes to warn the town about this "bizarre" new resident. Misunderstandings multiply and the kids soon find their crazy adventure filled with more mysterious revelations, shocking surprises and valuable lessons than any of them could have ever imagined.
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