Is it Tuesday again already? It would appear that it is, and that means new releases are out today! Let’s take a look and see what’s hitting the shelves today…

Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt star in Five Minutes Of Heaven, a drama based on the murder of a young Catholic man by a young Protestant man in 1975 Ireland during the fighting between British loyalists and the IRA. The killer has done his time in prison and emerged a changed man, while the brother of his victim has dreamed only of revenge. Now, a TV crew has arranged a meeting between the two for an attempt at reconciliation.

In It’s Complicated, Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin have been divorced for ten years but remain friendly. Into their already busy lives, complete with a smitten romantic interest and a new spouse respectively, they’ve somehow managed to rekindle the flame they once had. Comic romance ensues!

Finally, the much talked about Terry Gilliam flick The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus, starring Heath Ledger (in his final role), Johnny Depp, Jude  Law and Colin Farrell as the mysterious Tony and Christopher Plummer as Doctor Parnassus, the proprietor of a traveling show. Turns out the good Doctor had, many years before, made a deal with Mr. Nick and payment is almost due… If Terry Gilliam’s other work is any clue, Imaginarium promises to be a wild ride indeed.

We also still have new copies of Pirate Radio, One Peace At A Time, The Lovely Bones, The Young Victoria and Peacock, too!

Come in and see us.

I decided to make a shelf on our Wall O’ Cool of some of my favorite musical comedies. These are movies that feature lots of laughs and tons of tunes to lift your spirits.

First up is The Blues Brothers , a classic starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as Jake and Elwood Blues. After Jake is released from prison, he and brother, Elwood pay a visit to the orphanage where they were raised by nuns. They learn that the place is gonna close unless they come up with $5000. The brothers decide to get their band together to play a concert and save the place. Hi-jinks ensue!

The movie that created all the best quotes of the 90’s for me, Wayne’s World. Full of musical references, babelicious Tia Carrere as Wayne’s rock goddess,  Rob Lowe as a douchy bad guy, and two basement dwellers with their own public access cable show. Excellent!

A major guilty pleasure for me, but I adore it anyway, Camp. The story of a bunch of kids at a musical theater summer camp. There is a strange love quadrangle, drunk teachers, treachery, poison, cross dressing and Broadway hits in between. If you like watching Glee, you’ll love this movie.

Airheads was a movie I had forgotten about until I caught some on TV one day. I had to rent it and watch the whole thing again. It stars Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi and Adam Sandler as three wannabe rock stars who decide to hold a radio station hostage with fake guns in order to get their demo tape some air play. Good jokes and fun for the head bangers of the early 90’s.

Another good one is Detroit Rock City. In 1978 a high school band who adores Kiss tries to scam their way into a concert while battling their way through numerous obstacles. Hilarious coming of age movie with a killer Kiss soundtrack.

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist is a great “night in the life” flick that has Michael Cera doing his schtick as the sweet, but shy, guy alongside gorgeous Kat Dennings. The two meet clandestinely and spend the night trying to find out where their favorite indie band, “Where’s Fluffy”,  is playing their mystery show. There are sweet moments, funny moments and some really gross ones too. Great date movie.

One of Jeremy’s favorites, Empire Records, a film that takes place during a 24 hour period in an independent record store. The staff is crazy (Liv Tyler, Rory Cochrane, Anthony LaPaglia, and Renee Zellweger) and the clientele is not much better. Before the day is over they will have to find a way to keep Empire from being taken over by the chain store, Music Town.  Good music all the way through and an adorable Maxwell Caulfield (Grease 2) as Rex Manning, the fading pop star who is signing autographs for his aging fans that day.

Lastly we have The Commitments. This cool film is about a guy who wants to put together a soul band in Dublin, Ireland. The climb to the top is humorous and heartfelt. Real musicians throughout the film and awesome covers of songs like “Mustang Sally”, “Try a Little Tenderness”, and “In the Midnight Hour.”

Come on down, grab a laugh, sing a song, buy some movies!!!!

I apologize for the lapse in updates recently. We have actually gotten a lot of new stuff in trade recently (close to 400 just last week, in fact) but we’ve been gigantic slackers in terms of letting our readers know about it.  Now, rather than just run down this big huge list of titles, I’ll just cover a few highlights and interesting tidbits.

Martial arts fans might enjoy the Jet Li stuff we just got in, like The One, Romeo Must Die, Contract Killer and The Corrupter to name just a few. We also got in some Jackie Chan stuff, including Fearless Hyena, First Strike and The Forbidden Kingdom in which he shares the screen with Jet Li. Maybe you’d like Bruce Lee in Fists Of Fury? We’ve got that, too.

If you’re after music videos and/or concert performances, we’ve got you covered with things like Fatboy Slim Live At Brighton Beach, Dream Theater Live At Budokan, Nirvana Unplugged, The Melvins: Salad Of A Thousand Delights, several from Live At Montreaux series, including Curtis Mayfield, Return To Forever, Nile Rogers & Chic, UB40 and Wu Tang Clan. Also Seu Jorge who, if you’re not familiar with him, performed some beautiful songs on Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou like this cover of David Bowie’s Changes:

And speaking of Wes Anderson, I got a chance to watch The Fantastic Mr. Fox this weekend. Two things: Roald Dahl writes some really out there and creative stuff and Wes Ansderson is really well-suited to the task of bringing it to the screen, I think (no offense to Tim Burton. I liked Charlie And The Chocolate Factory a lot!). The story of a fox, forced to give up his life of crime (chicken-stealing) when his wife informs him she’s pregnant (in the middle of a job, no less), this might have worked just as well with humans rather than puppet animals, but there’s something about the voice of George Clooney as the wistful Mr. Fox, aching to pull just one more job (Danny Ocean, anyone?)… rounded out with many of Wes Anderson’s favored stars, like Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson, I highly recommend it. Unless I’m the last one to have seen it. And then I’m firmly in the “that was so good!” camp.

Coincidentally, the other movie I saw this weekend also featured animals and George Clooney. I swear I didn’t plan it that way. The Men Who Stare At Goats? tells the story of The First Earth Battalion, a new-agey approach to war and soldiers that the military really did sink a ton of money and thought into. Touching on a few wonderfully bizarre conspiracy theories (or are they?) like the MK-ULTRA mind control experiments, remote viewing, etc., and peppered with references to Jedi Warriors, I enjoyed this movie quite a lot. Certainly not perfect and possibly could have been better had the Coen Brothers done it but I’m glad I finally got around to seeing it.

So, there’s a little recap on some recent happenings around here. Don’t forget, you can always browse our inventory online, or even shop without having to get dressed with just a click or two. Try it out!