French Connection Women's Bambi Knits Dress, Gray/Black, 2

• Stripe
• Long sleeve

FRENCH CONNECTION/FRENCH CONNECTION 2 - DVD MovieSweater dress

Wrath of Gods

• Director's Cut, 72 minutes
• 2 hours of bonus material
• 1 hour exclusive interview with Gerard Butler
• Additional and extended scenes & exclusive interviews with the people behind Beowulf & Grendel
• Subtitles: Spanish, German, French, Icelandic, Polish + Version for the hearing impaired

This touching and humorous movie has earned the raves of critics and won the hearts of audiences everywhere! To spare the feelings of her fatherless boy, Lizzie (Emily Mortimer -- Disney's THE KID) secretly authors letters from his "father" that detail seafaring adventures from around the world. But she cannot maintain this illusion forever. Torn between exposing the truth and protecting her son, Lizzie gets more than anyone bargained for when she hires a handsome stranger (Gerald Butler -- THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE OF LIFE) to play the role of a li! fetime! Winner at both the Heartland Film Festival and the Seattle International Film Festival, this entertaining motion picture is sure to touch your heart!Driven by intelligent, constantly surprising and moving performances from the film's leads, Dear Frankie stars Emily Mortimer (Lovely and Amazing) as Lizzie, Scottish mother of Frankie (Jack McElhone), a deaf and highly intelligent 9-year-old. Constantly uprooting themselves and relocating from town to town, Lizzie and Frankie are on the run from the latter's abusive father, a fact unknown to the boy, who believes his dad is a busy seaman sending letters full of adventure and love. In fact, Lizzie is writing those missives, but she is faced with a challenge when Frankie discovers his father's ship will dock nearby. Lizzie hires a kind, handsome stranger (Gerard Butler) to play Frankie's dad, creating an odd situation in which ever-growing lies become a conduit for love, and Lizzie's repressed desires come ! to the fore with a man posing as her husband. The moral tangle! s are of interest in director Shona Auerbach's charmingly paced, quietly insightful drama-comedy, but so is the glorious feeling of watching these characters come fully alive. --Tom KeoghDriven by intelligent, constantly surprising and moving performances from the film's leads, Dear Frankie stars Emily Mortimer (Lovely and Amazing) as Lizzie, Scottish mother of Frankie (Jack McElhone), a deaf and highly intelligent 9-year-old. Constantly uprooting themselves and relocating from town to town, Lizzie and Frankie are on the run from the latter's abusive father, a fact unknown to the boy, who believes his dad is a busy seaman sending letters full of adventure and love. In fact, Lizzie is writing those missives, but she is faced with a challenge when Frankie discovers his father's ship will dock nearby. Lizzie hires a kind, handsome stranger (Gerard Butler) to play Frankie's dad, creating an odd situation in which ever-growing lies become a conduit for love, and Lizz! ie's repressed desires come to the fore with a man posing as her husband. The moral tangles are of interest in director Shona Auerbach's charmingly paced, quietly insightful drama-comedy, but so is the glorious feeling of watching these characters come fully alive. --Tom KeoghUnited Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), English ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Cast/Crew Interview(s), Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Interactive Menu, Short Film, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: The title character in this bowl of Scottish blarney is a sweet nine-year-old deaf boy (Jack McElhone) who lives a fugitive existence with his beautiful mother (Emily Mortimer) and his chain-smoking grandmother (Mary Riggans). The family is forced to move every few months to avoid being tracked down by Frankie's violent, abusive father. Th! e happiness of the boy, who is too young to remember the his f! ather re volves around bogus letters penned by his mother posing as his devoted but absent dad, supposedly a merchant seaman. When a ship that coincidentally has the same name as the one his mother invented docks, she hires an impersonator (Gerard Butler) to play his seafaring dad. Although sensitively acted, the movie is a fraudulent mawkish yarn riddled with plot holes and improbabilities. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: BAFTA Awards, European Film Awards, Montreal World Film Festival, ...Dear FrankieA GROUP OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDENTS BECOME TRAPPED IN THE PAST WHEN THEY GO THERE TO RETRIEVE THEIR PROFESSOR. THE GROUP MUSTSURVIVE IN 14TH CENTURY FRANCE LONG ENOUGH TO BE RESCUED.Just enough of Michael Crichton's novel survives in Timeline to make it a passable popcorn thriller. It's likely that Crichton fans will lament the shallowness of director Richard Donner's film, and its gee-whiz style of acting lays waste to any scientific credibility that Crichton's scenario might have retained! . Still, the Crichton formula is a sturdy one, following the model of Westworld and Jurassic Park by involving a small band of adventurers in a fantastical realm of danger and death. In this case, a group of archaeologists and combat experts (led by Paul Walker and Frances O'Connor) use a "3-D fax machine" (so much for technobabble!) to time-travel back to France in 1357, in hopes of retrieving Walker's father (Billy Connolly) and returning safely to the present. No such luck! Fending for themselves against marauding hordes of medieval French warriors at war with the invading British, these semi-intrepid travelers find their body count rising, and the deadline for their return home is rapidly approaching. All well and good, so far, and the castles-and-crossbows action reaches a fever pitch, but it's obvious that Donner's too lazy to make the much better film that this could and should have been. Despite its enjoyable highlights, Timeline is perfunctory ! entertainment. --Jeff ShannonWinner of 6 international ! film fes tival awards, this entertaining documentary tells the dramatic story behind the making of the epic movie Beowulf & Grendel, starring Gerard Butler, Stellan Skarsgard, Sarah Polley and Ingvar Sigurdsson. When Canadian director Sturla Gunnarsson and his cast and crew, including Gerard Butler and Stellan Skarsgård, set upon Iceland to film Beowulf & Grendel in 2004, they expected the usual complications involved in making a major motion picture. What they encountered was a ruthless Icelandic winter on a foreboding landscape, financing complications and a bizarre run of bad luck that led some of them to believe they were in an epic battle with the Norse gods themselves. Filmmaker Jon Gustafsson was along for the ride. Hired to play one of Beowulf's warriors, he's one set with his camera as the crew battles hurricane force winds and he's in the backroom as the producers scramble to shore up a collapsing deal, creating an intimate portrait of filmmakers fighting the odds in pursuit of a vision. If you liked "Lost in la Mancha" or "Burden of Dreams" you will probably like this one. DVD Special Features: 2 hours of bonus features, 1 hour exclusive interview with Gerard Butler, exclusive interviews with producers of Beowulf & Grendel, additional & extended scenes, chapter selection, Subtitles: Spanish, German, French, Icelandic, Polish, English, version for the hearing impaired.

Shaun of the Dead

• Zombie Gallery, Uncensored Commmentary, Zomb-o-meter

HOT FUZZ - DVD MovieIn Shaun of the Dead, it was the zombie movie and the anomie of modern life. In Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg set their sights on the buddy cop blockbuster and the eccentric English village. The two worlds collide when overachieving London officer Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is promoted to sergeant. The catch is that he's being transferred to Agatha Christie country. His superiors (the comic trifecta of Martin Campbell, Steve Coogan, and Bill Nighy) explain that he's making the rest of the force look bad. On the surface, Sandford is a sleepy little burg where the most egregious crimes, like loitering, are committed by hoody-sporting schoolboys. In truth, it's a hotbed of Willow Man-style evil. Upon his arrival, Chief Butterman (Jim Broadbent) partners Angel with his daft son, Danny (Nick Frost, Peg! g's Shaun co-star), who aspires to kick criminal "arse" like the slick duo in Bad Boys II. When random citizens start turning up dead, he gets his chance. With the worshipful Danny at his side, Angel shows his cake-eating colleagues how things are done in the big city. As in Shaun, their previous picture, Wright and Pegg hit their targets more often than not. With the success of that debut comes a bigger budget for car chases, shoot-outs, and fiery explosions. Though Hot Fuzz earns its R-rating with salty language and grisly deaths, the tone is more good-natured than mean-spirited. A wall-to-wall soundtrack of boisterous British favorites, like the Kinks, T-Rex, and Sweet, contributes to the fast-paced fun. --Kathleen C. FennessyHere comes the fuzz…with more action and comedy than ever before! This definitive Hot Fuzz Ultimate Edition features non-stop entertainment that delivers heart-pounding thrills and outrageous laughs from the guys! that created Shaun of the Dead!In Shaun of the Dead, i! t was th e zombie movie and the anomie of modern life. In Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg set their sights on the buddy cop blockbuster and the eccentric English village. The two worlds collide when overachieving London officer Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is promoted to sergeant. The catch is that he's being transferred to Agatha Christie country. His superiors (the comic trifecta of Martin Campbell, Steve Coogan, and Bill Nighy) explain that he's making the rest of the force look bad. On the surface, Sandford is a sleepy little burg where the most egregious crimes, like loitering, are committed by hoody-sporting schoolboys. In truth, it's a hotbed of Willow Man-style evil. Upon his arrival, Chief Butterman (Jim Broadbent) partners Angel with his daft son, Danny (Nick Frost, Pegg's Shaun co-star), who aspires to kick criminal "arse" like the slick duo in Bad Boys II. When random citizens start turning up dead, he gets his chance. With the worshipful Danny ! at his side, Angel shows his cake-eating colleagues how things are done in the big city. As in Shaun, their previous picture, Wright and Pegg hit their targets more often than not. With the success of that debut comes a bigger budget for car chases, shoot-outs, and fiery explosions. Though Hot Fuzz earns its R-rating with salty language and grisly deaths, the tone is more good-natured than mean-spirited. A wall-to-wall soundtrack of boisterous British favorites, like the Kinks, T-Rex, and Sweet, contributes to the fast-paced fun. --Kathleen C. FennessyHOT FUZZ COLLECTOR'S EDITION - DVD MovieIn Shaun of the Dead, it was the zombie movie and the anomie of modern life. In Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg set their sights on the buddy cop blockbuster and the eccentric English village. The two worlds collide when overachieving London officer Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is promoted to sergeant. The catch is that he's being transferred to Agatha C! hristie country. His superiors (the comic trifecta of Martin C! ampbell, Steve Coogan, and Bill Nighy) explain that he's making the rest of the force look bad. On the surface, Sandford is a sleepy little burg where the most egregious crimes, like loitering, are committed by hoody-sporting schoolboys. In truth, it's a hotbed of Willow Man-style evil. Upon his arrival, Chief Butterman (Jim Broadbent) partners Angel with his daft son, Danny (Nick Frost, Pegg's Shaun co-star), who aspires to kick criminal "arse" like the slick duo in Bad Boys II. When random citizens start turning up dead, he gets his chance. With the worshipful Danny at his side, Angel shows his cake-eating colleagues how things are done in the big city. As in Shaun, their previous picture, Wright and Pegg hit their targets more often than not. With the success of that debut comes a bigger budget for car chases, shoot-outs, and fiery explosions. Though Hot Fuzz earns its R-rating with salty language and grisly deaths, the tone is more good-natured! than mean-spirited. A wall-to-wall soundtrack of boisterous British favorites, like the Kinks, T-Rex, and Sweet, contributes to the fast-paced fun. --Kathleen C. FennessyGet ready for a gut-busting, outrageous comedy from the guys that created Shaun of the Dead. Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is a big-city cop who can't be stopped - but he's making everyone else on the force look bad. When he is reassigned to a small, quiet town, he struggles with this new, seemingly idyllic world and his bumbling partner (Nick Frost). But their dull existence is interrupted by several grisly and suspicious accidents, and the crime-fighting duo turn up the heat and hand out high-octane, car-chasing, gun-fighting big-city justice in this hilarious hit critics are calling "Outrageous! Uproariously Funny!" (Thelma Adams, US Weekly). Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jim Broadbent, Paddy Considine, Timothy Dalton, Anne Reid, Rafe Spall, Billie Whitelaw, Edward Woodward, Bill Nighy Directe! d by: Edgar WrightIn Shaun of the Dead, it was the zomb! ie movie and the anomie of modern life. In Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg set their sights on the buddy cop blockbuster and the eccentric English village. The two worlds collide when overachieving London officer Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is promoted to sergeant. The catch is that he's being transferred to Agatha Christie country. His superiors (the comic trifecta of Martin Campbell, Steve Coogan, and Bill Nighy) explain that he's making the rest of the force look bad. On the surface, Sandford is a sleepy little burg where the most egregious crimes, like loitering, are committed by hoody-sporting schoolboys. In truth, it's a hotbed of Willow Man-style evil. Upon his arrival, Chief Butterman (Jim Broadbent) partners Angel with his daft son, Danny (Nick Frost, Pegg's Shaun co-star), who aspires to kick criminal "arse" like the slick duo in Bad Boys II. When random citizens start turning up dead, he gets his chance. With the worshipful Danny at his side, A! ngel shows his cake-eating colleagues how things are done in the big city. As in Shaun, their previous picture, Wright and Pegg hit their targets more often than not. With the success of that debut comes a bigger budget for car chases, shoot-outs, and fiery explosions. Though Hot Fuzz earns its R-rating with salty language and grisly deaths, the tone is more good-natured than mean-spirited. A wall-to-wall soundtrack of boisterous British favorites, like the Kinks, T-Rex, and Sweet, contributes to the fast-paced fun. --Kathleen C. FennessyStudio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 06/28/2011 Rating: RThere comes a day in every man’s life when he has to get off the couch...and kill some zombies. When flesh-eating zombies are on the hunt for a bite to eat, it’s up to slacker Shaun (Simon Pegg) and his best pal Ed (Nick Frost) to save their friends and family from becoming the next entrée. Novelist Stephen King gushes Shaun of the Dead is “a 10 on ! the fun meter and destined to be a cult classic” and Newswee! k calls it “a bloody hoot!” It’s a screamingly hilarious zomedy that will have you dying with laughter.British horror/comedy Shaun of the Dead is a scream in all senses of the word. Brain-hungry zombies shamble through the streets of London, but all unambitious electronics salesman Shaun (Simon Pegg) cares about is his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield), who just dumped him. With the help of his slacker roommate Ed (Nick Frost), Shaun fights his way across town to rescue Liz, but the petty concerns of life keep getting in the way: When they're trying to use vinyl records to decapitate a pair of zombies, Shaun and Ed bicker about which bands deserve preservation--New Order they keep, but Sade becomes a lethal frisbee. Many zombie movies are comedies by accident, but Shaun of the Dead is deliberately and brilliantly funny, while still delivering a few delicious jolts of fear. Also featuring the stealthy comic presence of Bill Nighy (Love Actually) and some famil! ar faces from The Office. --Bret FetzerGet ready for a gut-busting, outrageous comedy from the guys that created Shaun of the Dead. Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is a big-city cop who can't be stopped - but he's making everyone else on the force look bad. When he is reassigned to a small, quiet town, he struggles with this new, seemingly idyllic world and his bumbling partner (Nick Frost). But their dull existence is interrupted by several grisly and suspicious accidents, and the crime-fighting duo turn up the heat and hand out high-octane, car-chasing, gun-fighting big-city justice in this hilarious hit critics are calling "uproariously funny!" (Thelma Adams, US Weekly).In Shaun of the Dead, it was the zombie movie and the anomie of modern life. In Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg set their sights on the buddy cop blockbuster and the eccentric English village. The two worlds collide when overachieving London officer Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is p! romoted to sergeant. The catch is that he's being transferred ! to Agath a Christie country. His superiors (the comic trifecta of Martin Campbell, Steve Coogan, and Bill Nighy) explain that he's making the rest of the force look bad. On the surface, Sandford is a sleepy little burg where the most egregious crimes, like loitering, are committed by hoody-sporting schoolboys. In truth, it's a hotbed of Willow Man-style evil. Upon his arrival, Chief Butterman (Jim Broadbent) partners Angel with his daft son, Danny (Nick Frost, Pegg's Shaun co-star), who aspires to kick criminal "arse" like the slick duo in Bad Boys II. When random citizens start turning up dead, he gets his chance. With the worshipful Danny at his side, Angel shows his cake-eating colleagues how things are done in the big city. As in Shaun, their previous picture, Wright and Pegg hit their targets more often than not. With the success of that debut comes a bigger budget for car chases, shoot-outs, and fiery explosions. Though Hot Fuzz earns its R-ra! ting with salty language and grisly deaths, the tone is more good-natured than mean-spirited. A wall-to-wall soundtrack of boisterous British favorites, like the Kinks, T-Rex, and Sweet, contributes to the fast-paced fun. --Kathleen C. FennessyIt is only natural to be scared of zombies, and to prevent them from laying waste to your home. A more relaxing approach, however, is to be bored and vaguely annoyed by them, or, better still, not to notice them in the first place. This is the premise of Edgar Wright's British comedy, which may be responsible for kicking off a new and specialized genre of slacker horror. Shaun (Simon Pegg) lives a supremely uneventful life, which revolves around his girlfriend (Kate Ashfield), his mother (Penelope Wilton), and, above all, his local pub. This gentle routine is threatened when the dead return to life and make strenuous attempts to snack on ordinary Londoners. The finale, in which the pub turns into an Alamo, is the bloodiest, mos! t orthodox, and least witty part of the movie; far sharper are! the ear ly scenes in which Shaun wanders happily to the local store along a battered, zombie-dotted street and pulps his attackers with a cricket bat. The central joke is so snappy and well sustained that you barely catch sight of the ominous vision on offer: a country that already feels like death. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New YorkerBritish horror/comedy Shaun of the Dead is a scream in all senses of the word. Brain-hungry zombies shamble through the streets of London, but all unambitious electronics salesman Shaun (Simon Pegg) cares about is his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield), who just dumped him. With the help of his slacker roommate Ed (Nick Frost), Shaun fights his way across town to rescue Liz, but the petty concerns of life keep getting in the way: When they're trying to use vinyl records to decapitate a pair of zombies, Shaun and Ed bicker about which bands deserve preservation--New Order they keep, but Sade becomes a lethal frisbee. Many zombie ! movies are comedies by accident, but Shaun of the Dead is deliberately and brilliantly funny, while still delivering a few delicious jolts of fear. Also featuring the stealthy comic presence of Bill Nighy (Love Actually) and some familar faces from The Office. --Bret Fetzer

Charlie St. Cloud: A Novel

• ISBN13: 9780553386936
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

A small-town hero and an accomplished sailor who has it all: the adoration of his mother and younger brother and a stanford scholarship. His bright future is cut short when tragedy strikes and takes his dreams with it. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 11/09/2010 Starring: Zac Efron Ray Liotta Run time: 100 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Burr SteersTeen heartthrob Zac Efron (High School Musical, 17 Again) makes an appealing, and wise, choice as the star of Charlie St. Cloud. Efron is able to flex his dramatic acting abilities and can stretch, ever so slightly, into a more adult role, without alienating or being off-putting to his dedicated young fans. And Efron shows! signs of being a terrific young actor, with nuanced skills that have perhaps been overlooked until now, because of his appealing pinup-boy looks. Efron is delicious eye candy in Charlie St. Cloud, no question (though he has to share some of that role with the beautiful British Columbia coastline where the film is set), but he also carries the entire film, which manages to be family drama, tragedy, adventure, and budding love story--with a good dose of "live your life to the fullest" advice built in. Efron plays the title character, a gifted student and sailor who gets a full scholarship to Stanford. But right after graduation, Charlie is involved in a life-changing tragedy--one that shatters his family and his own sense of his place in the world. Efron's Charlie is a lost young man, dedicated to the aftereffects of the tragic accident, and turns from promising young upstart to pitiable recluse--so reclusive that he lives and works at the local graveyard. The entire ! cast is wonderful, and they put their hearts into the sad, yet! ultimat ely uplifting story. Young Charlie Tahan is winsome as Charlie's younger brother, Sam. Kim Basinger, too long away from the big screen, is grounded and believable as the boys' hard-working single mom. Ray Liotta plays a memorable cameo as a paramedic who helps save Charlie after the accident. And Amanda Crew is spunky and adorable as the independent young sailor with a secret crush on Charlie--the "old" Charlie, who was still interested in embracing life--and with possibly the only lifeline that Charlie might actually grab. The chemistry between Efron and Crew is sparkly, and Efron fans will enjoy seeing their idol in more mature love scenes. But not too mature--the raciest of the romance scenes involves Efron (not Crew) taking off his shirt--to fans' delight. If Charlie St. Cloud isn't too original in its plotting, nor especially crisp in its direction, it doesn't matter--Efron's screen appeal is plenty to propel both the story and the action. Efron fans of all ages ! will enjoy watching the young actor begin the process of growing up--just a bit--onscreen. --A.T. HurleyZac Efron stars as Charlie St. Cloud, a small-town hero and an accomplished sailor who has it all: the adoration of his mother and younger brother, and a Stanford scholarship. His bright future is cut short when tragedy strikes, taking his dreams with it. Now Charlie is torn between honoring a promise he made years ago and pursuing his newfound love with a former high-school classmate. Based on the acclaimed bestseller, comes a story of hope, second chances and the transformative power of love, also starring Ray Liotta and Academy Award® winner Kim Basinger.Teen heartthrob Zac Efron (High School Musical, 17 Again) makes an appealing, and wise, choice as the star of Charlie St. Cloud. Efron is able to flex his dramatic acting abilities and can stretch, ever so slightly, into a more adult role, without alienating or being off-putting t! o his dedicated young fans. And Efron shows signs of being a t! errific young actor, with nuanced skills that have perhaps been overlooked until now, because of his appealing pinup-boy looks. Efron is delicious eye candy in Charlie St. Cloud, no question (though he has to share some of that role with the beautiful British Columbia coastline where the film is set), but he also carries the entire film, which manages to be family drama, tragedy, adventure, and budding love story--with a good dose of "live your life to the fullest" advice built in. Efron plays the title character, a gifted student and sailor who gets a full scholarship to Stanford. But right after graduation, Charlie is involved in a life-changing tragedy--one that shatters his family and his own sense of his place in the world. Efron's Charlie is a lost young man, dedicated to the aftereffects of the tragic accident, and turns from promising young upstart to pitiable recluse--so reclusive that he lives and works at the local graveyard. The entire cast is wonderful, and they ! put their hearts into the sad, yet ultimately uplifting story. Young Charlie Tahan is winsome as Charlie's younger brother, Sam. Kim Basinger, too long away from the big screen, is grounded and believable as the boys' hard-working single mom. Ray Liotta plays a memorable cameo as a paramedic who helps save Charlie after the accident. And Amanda Crew is spunky and adorable as the independent young sailor with a secret crush on Charlie--the "old" Charlie, who was still interested in embracing life--and with possibly the only lifeline that Charlie might actually grab. The chemistry between Efron and Crew is sparkly, and Efron fans will enjoy seeing their idol in more mature love scenes. But not too mature--the raciest of the romance scenes involves Efron (not Crew) taking off his shirt--to fans' delight. If Charlie St. Cloud isn't too original in its plotting, nor especially crisp in its direction, it doesn't matter--Efron's screen appeal is plenty to propel both the st! ory and the action. Efron fans of all ages will enjoy watching! the you ng actor begin the process of growing up--just a bit--onscreen. --A.T. HurleyCharlie St. Cloud has been given the gift of seeing his deceased brother, but when a new love interest is in trouble he must choose between saving a life or continuing to see his brother everyday. Director: Burr Steers Writers: Craig Pearce (screenplay), Lewis Colick (screenplay), and 1 more credit » Stars: Zac Efron, Kim Basinger and Charlie TahanIn a snug New England fishing village, Charlie St. Cloud tends the lawns and monuments of an ancient cemetery where his younger brother, Sam, is buried. After surviving the car accident that claimed his brother's life, Charlie is graced with an extraordinary gift: He can see, talk to, and even play catch with Sam's spirit. Into this magical world comes Tess Carroll, a captivating woman training for a solo sailing trip around the globe. Fate steers her boat into a treacherous storm that propels her into Charlie's life. Their beautiful and uncommon connection leads to a race against time and a choice between death and life, between the past and the future, between holding on and letting go â€" and the discovery that miracles can happen if we simply open our hearts.Questions for Ben Sherwood About Charlie St. Cloud

Q: Did you always imagine your book becoming a movie?
A: In a word...no. I quit a great job at NBC News in New York to write this book. It was a risky career move. I wish I could say the road was easy, but it wasn’t. There were major creative challenges and serious professional setbacks. Indeed, the route from blank page to the finished book might well be described as a near-death publishing experience. Perhaps that’s why I never really imagined this book becoming a movie. Indeed, the very idea of a film adaptation seemed farfetched. As one of my close friends always said: "I’ll believe Charlie St. Cloud is a movie when I’m sitting in the theater and eating popcorn."

Q: How involved were you with the movie and did you write the screenplay?
A: The producers and studio were generous to include me at many stages of ! the process but I wasn’t involved with the movie or scre! enplay. I was fortunate to visit the production twice, once on location in a cemetery and another time on a soundstage in Vancouver. Each time, I relished how filmmakers turned some of the book’s tiniest details into movie reality. For instance, Major League Baseball sent three small Red Sox mitts for Sam to use when he played catch with Charlie. I watched an assistant prop master carry a brand-new red mitt around all day, rubbing it constantly to give it a well-worn appearance.

On another occasion, the director showed me the closing shot of the film. Today, words still fail to describe the exhilarating experience of seeing Charlie and Tess literally sailing into the sunset. Seven years earlier, in the quiet of my little writing room, I had imagined these two young people on a boat aimed at the open ocean. Suddenly, they were on the screen, leaning into each other with wind tousling their hair and sails, steering a Gryphon Solo, one ! of the world’s fastest fifty-foot sailboats, filmed by a camera mounted on a helicopter hovering above.

Q: How does it feel to see your book turned into a movie?
A: Quite simply, I’m filled with gratitude. To create the movie version of Charlie St. Cloud, it took 28 actors, 34 stunt people, and some 250 crew. When I visited the set in Vancouver, I tried my best to thank every single one, including the wrangler responsible for a noisy flock of geese, the messy bane of Charlie’s existence.

When I called my wife in Los Angeles, she asked, "How does it feel?" I thought for a moment. Then I answered: "I want to hug every person I meet."

Q: Did you imagine Zac Efron as Charlie St. Cloud?
A: In candor, I never imagined Zac Efron in the role of Charlie. Wrecked by loss and grief, Charlie was a character who had wasted many years of his precious life. I always imagined Ch! arlie as much older and much sadder. Thank goodness I’m! not a m ovie producer.

I salute the studio and producers for realizing that Efron was a perfect choice. Young, dynamic, and charismatic, he embodies the promise of Charlie St. Cloud without the burden and loss. With Efron’s vibrant presence and performance, a sometimes weighty story feels more hopeful and uplifting. As I told Efron when we met in the cemetery in Vancouver, I’m delighted and very thankful that he took the part and filled it with vitality.

Q: How do you feel about the movie being made in Vancouver, Canada instead of Marblehead, Massachussetts, where the novel takes place?
A: I love Marblehead and the people of the town. While researching the book, I traveled to Marblehead several times to walk among the tombstones in Waterside Cemetery, eat breakfast with fishermen at the Driftwood before dawn, drink beers with 'Headers at Maddie's, and compete in my first and only sailboat race.

V! ancouver is a country away from the wonderful town where I situated the story. But a movie adaptation isn't supposed to be a literal translation of a book. It's an interpretation. While I sincerely hoped that the film would be made in Massachusetts--and while the filmmakers tried their best too--I understood the financial decision to pick Canada, where production costs are significantly lower.

Given this choice, the filmmakers did a great job transplanting Charlie and Sam's story to the Pacific Northwest, which looks absolutely spectacular on film.

Q: Your writing seems to focus on questions of life and death. Why?
A: Maybe it's my age or life experience but I've spent a lot of time thinking about how we overcome grief and loss and make the most of our time on earth. These are subjects that have come to occupy my recent work. Over the last few years, I wrote a nonfiction book called The Survivors ! Club, exploring the secrets and science of the world’s! most ef fective survivors and thrivers. Interviewing survivors around the world, I discovered even more proof that love is a powerful and universal survival tool. In my own life, falling in love with my future wife, Karen, helped unlock the stranglehold of my father’s sudden and untimely death 17 years ago. (That’s why I dedicated the book to both of them.) In Charlie's case, discovering Tess helped him break free of the cemetery and the suffocating grip of grief.

Q: You have two young sons. What do you hope they take away from this book some day?
A: When I was leaving the movie set in Vancouver to fly home to Los Angeles, one of the producers generously asked if I wanted a souvenir from the production. I asked for one of Sam’s red mitts from Major League Baseball. Our two young boys can play catch with it. Then some day when they outgrow it, the glove can sit in my office, a reminder of the power of brotherly ! love and what happens when you take risks, seize life, and set your imagination free.

---

The Freedom Writers Diary : How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them

• ISBN13: 9780385494229
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school. Though the "inspirational teacher" theme may feel done to death, Freedom Writers succeeds because it emphasizes the students as much as the teacher. Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby, Boys Don't Cry) comes to a southern California high school bubbling over with naive optimism, but quickly discovers that her unruly classroom isn't easily won over by her good intentions. After a few floundering attempts to connect with her students, Gruwell gives them the assignment of keeping journals about their own lives--an assignment that the c! lass bites into with relish, which eventually bonds them together and pushes racial rivalries aside. This plotline has been made before, sometimes well, sometimes poorly; Freedom Writers, by drawing heavily from the published journals of the students--and thanks to a (mostly) unheroic script, direction that emphasizes individual characters over stereotypes, and rigorous performances from the whole cast--makes the story seem fresh and genuine. Swank does solid work, but the standouts are April L. Hernandez as a girl whose gang wants her to lie and send an innocent boy to jail and Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake) as a teacher who resents Gruwell's offbeat success. Also featuring Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy), Scott Glenn (The Right Stuff), and a plethora of strong young actors. --Bret Fetzer

Hilary Swank stars in this story about a teacher in a racially divided school who gives her st! udents what they ve always needed - a voice. Swank plays Erin ! Gruwell the real-life teacher at Long Beach s Wilson High who inspired her students to overcome the gangs that divided them and the education system that forgot them. Based on the book The Freedom Writers Diary and supported by a cast of first-time actors who drew from their actual experiences on the street Gruwell teaches us all an important lesson about tolerance and trust.System Requirements:Running Time: 122 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG - 13 UPC: 097361243245 Manufacturer No: 124324Though the "inspirational teacher" theme may feel done to death, Freedom Writers succeeds because it emphasizes the students as much as the teacher. Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby, Boys Don't Cry) comes to a southern California high school bubbling over with naive optimism, but quickly discovers that her unruly classroom isn't easily won over by her good intentions. After a few floundering attempts to connect with her students, Gruwell gives ! them the assignment of keeping journals about their own lives--an assignment that the class bites into with relish, which eventually bonds them together and pushes racial rivalries aside. This plotline has been made before, sometimes well, sometimes poorly; Freedom Writers, by drawing heavily from the published journals of the students--and thanks to a (mostly) unheroic script, direction that emphasizes individual characters over stereotypes, and rigorous performances from the whole cast--makes the story seem fresh and genuine. Swank does solid work, but the standouts are April L. Hernandez as a girl whose gang wants her to lie and send an innocent boy to jail and Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake) as a teacher who resents Gruwell's offbeat success. Also featuring Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy), Scott Glenn (The Right Stuff), and a plethora of strong young actors. --Bret Fetzer

Beyond Freedom Writers

More Inspirational Teacher Films on DVD

The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell

More DVDs Starring Hilary Swank

Stills from Freedom Writers (click for larger image)

Straight from the front line of urban America, the inspiring story of one fiercely determined teacher and her remarkable students.


As an idealistic twenty-three-year-old English teacher at Wilson High School in Long beach, California, Erin Gruwell confronted a room of “unteachable, at-risk” students. One day she i! ntercepted a note with an ugly racial caricature, and angrily ! declared that this was precisely the sort of thing that led to the Holocaustâ€"only to be met by uncomprehending looks. So she and her students, using the treasured books Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo as their guides, undertook a life-changing, eye-opening, spirit-raising odyssey against intolerance and misunderstanding. They learned to see the parallels in these books to their own lives, recording their thoughts and feelings in diaries and dubbing themselves the “Freedom Writers” in homage to the civil rights activists “The Freedom Riders.”

With funds raised by a “Read-a-thon for Tolerance,” they arranged for Miep Gies, the courageous Dutch woman who sheltered the Frank family, to visit them in California, where she declared that Erin Gruwell’s students were “the real heroes.” Their efforts have paid off spectacularly, both in terms of recognitionâ€"appearances on “Prime Time Live”! and “All Things Considered,” coverage in People magazine, a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Rileyâ€"and educationally. All 150 Freedom Writers have graduated from high school and are now attending college.

With powerful entries from the students’ own diaries and a narrative text by Erin Gruwell, The Freedom Writers Diary is an uplifting, unforgettable example of how hard work, courage, and the spirit of determination changed the lives of a teacher and her students.

The authors’ proceeds from this book will be donated to The Tolerance Education Foundation, an organization set up to pay for the Freedom Writers’ college tuition. Erin Gruwell is now a visiting professor at California State University, Long Beach, where some of her students are Freedom Writers.

Friends & Lovers

• Condition: New
• Format: DVD
• Color; Dolby; DVD; Full Screen; NTSC

Erin Snyder has given up on men. Once she has sex with them, they never call her again. She has to be doing something wrong, but has no idea what. She decides only her best friend Luke Duvall can help her.

Luke can’t believe Erin’s suggestion that they have sex. No matter how alluring or attractive he finds her, he doesn’t want to mess up their friendship by bringing sex into it.

A combination of a hot evening, a cool swimming pool, and steamy conversation breaks down Luke’s reservations. He and Erin have the wildest, most earth-shattering sex either of them have ever experienced.

Doubts plague both of them the next morning. If they take a risk on falling in love, it will either change their friendship into something more precious, or destroy it forever.

Approxim! ately 14,000 words.
Erin Snyder has given up on men. Once she has sex with them, they never call her again. She has to be doing something wrong, but has no idea what. She decides only her best friend Luke Duvall can help her.

Luke can’t believe Erin’s suggestion that they have sex. No matter how alluring or attractive he finds her, he doesn’t want to mess up their friendship by bringing sex into it.

A combination of a hot evening, a cool swimming pool, and steamy conversation breaks down Luke’s reservations. He and Erin have the wildest, most earth-shattering sex either of them have ever experienced.

Doubts plague both of them the next morning. If they take a risk on falling in love, it will either change their friendship into something more precious, or destroy it forever.

Approximately 14,000 words.
Six minority lesbians navigate their way through life s challenges with attitude and a fabulous sense of style! Since its debut! in 2008, THE LOVERS & FRIENDS SHOW, with its honest and often! humorou s depiction of urban lesbian life, has opened the eyes of people within and outside of the LBGT community. Charming, funny, bright, seductive and mischievous are just a few of the words describing the characters: Lisa (Kendall Starr), a med student new to the world of lesbianism; Kai (Marlaina Law), the best friend with the heart of gold who is dealing with her psycho ex-girlfriend; Tori (Nicole Pina), the entertainment columnist who falls in love with her boss; Yasmin (BeBe Brunswick), an outspoken political firecracker; Mercedes (Christy Rodriguez), the social climbing magazine editor and Dre (Shakelia Tharpe), the bad boy sweet talker who keeps a flock of women.What happens when friends cross the line and become lovers? Lies fly, emotions erupt, and the stage is set for a totally uncensored, hilarious, and outrageously entertaining adventure in seduction, betrayal, heartbreak, revenge, and oh-so-sweet true love. Shelby Daniels and her best friend Debra Mitchell have j! ust gotten off the sex-before-marriage merry-go-round with men. Each has gone looking for love, found love, lost love, and at this point, sworn off men forever-- until Debra meets Leonard DuBois, an aspiring stand-up comedian who tries to laugh his way into her heart. But the laughter stops when he is forced to confront some hurdles of his own. Debra has devoted her mind, body, heart and soul to God, so if he wants to ride with her, he'll have to produce the ring. In the meantime, feisty, nosy, attitude-packing flight attendant Shelby keeps intervening in Debra's business. Needing someone to run interference and get rid of Shelby, Leonard calls on his best buddy, Tyrel, a sexy and charming computer software designer unable to design the perfect woman. On the rebound, Shelby keeps her heart locked away, but when Tyrel finds the key, the attraction is instant and so are the consequences. Their relationship moves at warp speed, leaving Shelby confronting a decision that could ! turn her whole life around and break both of their hearts. As ! a result , friendships fall by the wayside, jealousy come into play, and sisterhood is torn apart. It takes tragedy on a grand scale to reunite lovers destined for each other and teach both couples that friendship is perhaps the most valuable gift they've been given in this hilarious tale of friendship, love, and faith that speaks directly to the heart. Based on the best-selling novel by Eric Jerome Dickey (EJD).

Fantastic 4 Silver Surfer

• Exclusive storyline that complements the film - combination of movie and original plot
• Unique Fusion Attack system - Combine forces with one, two or all three teammates, executing devasta
• Take on the role of any member of the Fantastic Four team and switch characters at any time
• Use each member's unique special abilities that will help the team get through different situations
• Fight enemies from the Fantastic Four universe including Silver Surfer, Red Ghost, Terrax and Super

Catch a wave of "terrific adventure" and "non-stop action" (CBS-TV) in this fun and fantastically entertaining smash-hit! "Invisible Woman: Sue Storm and "Mr. Fantastic" Dr. Reed Richards are about to be married when a mysterious alien... the Silver Surfer... crashes the proceedings and heralds Earth's impending destruction. With time running out, the Fantastic Four reluctantly teams up wit! h the nefarious Dr. Doom in a thrilling effort to save our planet!Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is another entertaining romp for the Marvel-superhero franchise. Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd), is treading on thin ice when his fiancée, Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba), thinks he's more interested in a series of cosmic phenomena occurring around the earth than in the preparations for their upcoming wedding. Sorry, ladies, but Reed is right. The disturbances are caused by a surge of cosmic power from a mysterious being called the Silver Surfer (an all-CGI creation, modeled by Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne), who not only zooms around the skies on his board, but also has enough power to fight the FF, sometimes by turning their own power against them, not only mixing up Sue and Reed, but also Johnny Storm, the Human Torch (Chris Evans), and Ben Grimm, the Thing (Michael Chiklis). But that's not the worst of it. The! Surfer is only an opening act, a herald looking for planets t! hat his master, Galactus, can consume for his sustenance.

With its initial installment, Fantastic Four established itself as the superhero franchise that didn't take itself too seriously, and that continues here. There are numerous moments of laugh-out-loud humor, and the most angst they suffer is whether Sue and Reed will ever be able to live a normal family life. (That, and whether they'll ever really get married, of course.) If Fantastic Four were a normal superhero franchise, the ending would be a knock-down drag-out war with Galactus, featuring the FF in a colossal battle for the planet Earth and the lives of everyone on it. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer… just doesn't do that, and we don't quite get the payoff we expected. Effects are dazzling, but the Surfer looks too metallic, more like a skyriding T-1000 robot. --David Horiuchi

View Stills from the Blu-Ray's Exclusive Games (Click for larger im! age):

Catch a wave of "terrific adventure" and "non-stop action" (CBS-TV) in this fun and fantastically entertaining smash-hit! "Invisible Woman: Sue Storm and "Mr. Fantastic" Dr. Reed Richards are about to be married when a mysterious alien... the Silver Surfer... crashes the proceedings and heralds Earth's impen! ding destruction. With time running out, the Fantastic Four re! luctantl y teams up with the nefarious Dr. Doom in a thrilling effort to save our planet!Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is another entertaining romp for the Marvel-superhero franchise. Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd), is treading on thin ice when his fiancée, Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba), thinks he's more interested in a series of cosmic phenomena occurring around the earth than in the preparations for their upcoming wedding. Sorry, ladies, but Reed is right. The disturbances are caused by a surge of cosmic power from a mysterious being called the Silver Surfer (an all-CGI creation, modeled by Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne), who not only zooms around the skies on his board, but also has enough power to fight the FF, sometimes by turning their own power against them, not only mixing up Sue and Reed, but also Johnny Storm, the Human Torch (Chris Evans), and Ben Grimm, the Thing (Michael Chiklis). But that's not the worst of! it. The Surfer is only an opening act, a herald looking for planets that his master, Galactus, can consume for his sustenance.

With its initial installment, Fantastic Four established itself as the superhero franchise that didn't take itself too seriously, and that continues here. There are numerous moments of laugh-out-loud humor, and the most angst they suffer is whether Sue and Reed will ever be able to live a normal family life. (That, and whether they'll ever really get married, of course.) If Fantastic Four were a normal superhero franchise, the ending would be a knock-down drag-out war with Galactus, featuring the FF in a colossal battle for the planet Earth and the lives of everyone on it. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer just doesn't do that, and we don't quite get the payoff we expected. Effects are dazzling, but the Surfer looks too metallic, more like a skyriding T-1000 robot. --David Horiuchi

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer Extras


View exclusive clips (including interviews with Fantastic Four Creator Stan Lee and Screenwriter Don Payne), download AIM icons and wallpapers and browse the extensive photo gallery at our Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer minisite.

Beyond Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Fantastic Four Toys & Games

Fantastic Four Paperback Series

Fantastic Four Comics & Graphic Novels

Fantastic Four Video Games

Fantastic Four Posters, Stickers and More

Fantastic Four Apparel

More of the Four on DVD

Fantastic Four Extended Cut

The Fantastic Four Animated Series

Fantastic Four on Blu-Ray

Stills from Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Fantastic Four

Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis head a sexy, star-powered cast in this explosive adventure about a quartet of flawed, ordinary human beings who suddenly find themselves with extraordinary abilities.

After exposure to cosmic radiation, four astronauts become the most remarkable, if dysfunctional, superheroes of all time. Unfortunately, the mission's sponsor has also been transformed ? into the world's most lethal supervillain ? setting the stage for a confrontation of epic proportions. Packed with nonstop action, big laughs and awesome special effects, Fantastic 4 is "powerful fun" (The Baltimore Sun) from start to finish! 

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Catch a wave of "terrific adventure" and "non-stop action" (CBS-TV) in this fun and fantastically entertaining smash-hit! "Invisible Woman: Sue Storm and "Mr. Fantastic" Dr. Reed Richards are about to ! be married when a mysterious alien... the Silver Surfer... cr! ashes th e proceedings and heralds Earth's impending destruction. With time running out, the Fantastic Four reluctantly teams up with the nefarious Dr. Doom in a thrilling effort to save our planet!

Daredevil

For Daredevil, justice is blind, and for the guilty?there's hell to pay! Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner ignite dangerous sparks and nonstop thrills in this "dazzling action-adventure" (The Film Journal) about the newest breed of superhero. By day, blind attorney Matt Murdock (Affleck) toils for justice in Hell's Kitchen. By night, he's Daredevil, The Man Without Fear - a powerful, masked vigilante stalking the dark streets with an uncanny "radar sense" that allows him to "see" with superhuman capabilities. But when the love of his life, fiery Elektra Natchios (Garner), is targeted by New York City's ruthless Kingpin of crime (Michael Clarke Duncan) and his deadly assassin Bullseye (Colin Farrell), Daredevil may be abo! ut to meet his match.

Fantastic Four

Marvel Comics' first family of superherodom, the Fantastic Four, hits the big screen in a light-hearted and funny adventure. It begins when down-on-his-luck genius Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd, Horatio Hornblower) has to enlist the financial and intellectual help from former schoolmate and rival Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon, Nip/Tuck) in order to pursue outer-space research into human DNA. Also on the trip are Reed's best friend, Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis, The Shield); his former lover, Sue Storm (Jessica Alba, Dark Angel, Sin City), who's now Doom's employee and love interest; and her hotshot-pilot brother, Johnny Storm (Chris Evans, Cellular). Things don't go as planned, of course, and the quartet becomes blessed--or is it cursed?--with superhuman powers: flexibility, brute strength, invisibility and projecting force! fields, and bursting into flame. Meanwhile, Doom himself is! undergo ing a transformation.

Among the many entries in the comic-book-movie frenzy, Fantastic Four is refreshing because it doesn't take itself too seriously. Characterization isn't too deep, and the action is a bit sparse until the final reel (like most "first" superhero movies, it has to go through the "how did we get these powers and what we will do with them" churn). But it's a good-looking cast, and original comic-book cocreator Stan Lee makes his most significant Marvel-movie cameo yet, in a speaking role as the FF's steadfast postal carrier, Willie Lumpkin. Newcomers to superhero movies might find the idea of a family with flexibility, strength, invisibility, and force fields a retread of The Incredibles, but Pixar's animated film was very much a tribute to the FF and other heroes of the last 40 years. The irony is that while Fantastic Four is an enjoyable B-grade movie, it's the tribute, The Incredibles, that turned out to be a! film for the ages. --David Horiuchi

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is another entertaining romp for the Marvel-superhero franchise. Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd), is treading on thin ice when his fiancée, Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba), thinks he's more interested in a series of cosmic phenomena occurring around the earth than in the preparations for their upcoming wedding. Sorry, ladies, but Reed is right. The disturbances are caused by a surge of cosmic power from a mysterious being called the Silver Surfer (an all-CGI creation, modeled by Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne), who not only zooms around the skies on his board, but also has enough power to fight the FF, sometimes by turning their own power against them, not only mixing up Sue and Reed, but also Johnny Storm, the Human Torch (Chris Evans), and Ben ! Grimm, the Thing (Michael Chiklis). But that's not the worst o! f it. T he Surfer is only an opening act, a herald looking for planets that his master, Galactus, can consume for his sustenance.

With its initial installment, Fantastic Four established itself as the superhero franchise that didn't take itself too seriously, and that continues here. There are numerous moments of laugh-out-loud humor, and the most angst they suffer is whether Sue and Reed will ever be able to live a normal family life. (That, and whether they'll ever really get married, of course.) If Fantastic Four were a normal superhero franchise, the ending would be a knock-down drag-out war with Galactus, featuring the FF in a colossal battle for the planet Earth and the lives of everyone on it. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer just doesn't do that, and we don't quite get the payoff we expected. Effects are dazzling, but the Surfer looks too metallic, more like a skyriding T-1000 robot. --David Horiuchi

Daredevil

Darker than its popular comic-book predecessor Spider-Man, the $80 million extravaganza Daredevil was packaged for maximum global appeal, its juvenile plot beginning when 12-year-old Matt Murdock is accidentally blinded shortly before his father is murdered. Later an adult attorney in New York's Hell's Kitchen, Murdock (Ben Affleck) uses his remaining, superenhanced senses to battle crime as Daredevil, the masked and vengeful "man without fear," pitted against dominant criminal Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan) and the psychotic Bullseye (Colin Farrell), who can turn almost anything into a deadly projectile. Daredevil is well matched with the dynamic Elektra (Jennifer Garner), but their teaming is as shallow as the movie itself, which is peppered with Marvel trivia and cameo appearances (creator Stan Lee, Clerks director and Daredevil devotee Kevin Smith) and enough computer-assisted stuntwork ! to give Spidey a run for his money. This is Hollywood product! at its most lavishly vacuous; die-hard fans will argue its merits while its red-leathered hero swoops and zooms toward a sequel. --Jeff Shannon

Catch a wave of "terrific adventure" and "non-stop action" (CBS-TV) in this fun and fantastically entertaining smash-hit! "Invisible Woman: Sue Storm and "Mr. Fantastic" Dr. Reed Richards are about to be married when a mysterious alien... the Silver Surfer... crashes the proceedings and heralds Earth's impending destruction. With time running out, the Fantastic Four reluctantly teams up with the nefarious Dr. Doom in a thrilling effort to save our planet!Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is another entertaining romp for the Marvel-superhero franchise. Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd), is treading on thin ice when his fiancée, Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba), thinks he's more interested in a series of cosmic phenomena occurring around the earth than in the preparations for their upcomi! ng wedding. Sorry, ladies, but Reed is right. The disturbances are caused by a surge of cosmic power from a mysterious being called the Silver Surfer (an all-CGI creation, modeled by Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne), who not only zooms around the skies on his board, but also has enough power to fight the FF, sometimes by turning their own power against them, not only mixing up Sue and Reed, but also Johnny Storm, the Human Torch (Chris Evans), and Ben Grimm, the Thing (Michael Chiklis). But that's not the worst of it. The Surfer is only an opening act, a herald looking for planets that his master, Galactus, can consume for his sustenance.

With its initial installment, Fantastic Four established itself as the superhero franchise that didn't take itself too seriously, and that continues here. There are numerous moments of laugh-out-loud humor, and the most angst they suffer is whether Sue and Reed will ever be able to live a normal family life. (! That, and whether they'll ever really get married, of course.)! If Fantastic Four were a normal superhero franchise, the ending would be a knock-down drag-out war with Galactus, featuring the FF in a colossal battle for the planet Earth and the lives of everyone on it. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer just doesn't do that, and we don't quite get the payoff we expected. Effects are dazzling, but the Surfer looks too metallic, more like a skyriding T-1000 robot. --David Horiuchi

On the DVD
Are you getting tired of big movies initially coming out on substandard DVDs only to be released in better versions later? No such worries with the Power Cosmic Edition of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, which delivers the goods. The double-sided disc 1 has both widescreen and full-screen editions of the movie, with two commentary tracks. On the first, director Tim Story talks about FF inside jokes and what had to be cut out of the movie. The second combines producer Avi Arad (has anyone ! recorded more superhero DVD commentaries?), screenwriter Don Payne, and editors Peter S. Elliot and William Hoy (only the last two sound like they were actually in the room at the same time) covering some of the same ground: comic-book references, special effects, etc. On disc 2 are five extended/deleted scenes (almost 10 minutes total) with commentary by Story, including a longer title sequence and some comic relief. "Family Bonds" is a 46-minute "fly on the wall" documentary that follows the crew as they scout locations, test early special effects, and then work with the cast. There's a multi-angle look at the Fantasticar and five featurettes (some of which are more substantial than you'd expect for that term). Topics include the development of the Fantasticar (10 minutes), the Surfer effects (15 minutes), the history of the Surfer in comic books (39 minutes, with interviews of Stan Lee, Jim Starlin, and Ron Marz, and Lee describes himself as his own biggest fan!), th! e Thing suit (11 minutes), and the music score (four minutes).! --D avid Horiuchi

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer Extras


View exclusive clips (including interviews with Fantastic Four Creator Stan Lee and Screenwriter Don Payne), download AIM icons and wallpapers and browse the extensive photo gallery at our Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer minisite.

Beyond Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Fantastic Four Toys & Games

Fantastic Four Paperback Series

Fantastic Four Comics & Graphic Novels

Fantastic Four Video Games

Fantastic Four Posters, Stickers and More

Fantastic Four Apparel

More of the Four on DVD

! Fantastic Four Extended Cut

The Fantastic Four Animated Series

Fantastic Four on Blu-Ray

Stills from Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

• Disc 1: X-MEN WS
• Disc 2: X2 X-MEN UNITED SE WS
• Disc 3: X-MEN 3:THE LAST STAND WS
• Disc 4: FANTASTIC FOUR WS
• Disc 5: FANTASTIC FOUR 2 WP
• Disc 6: DAREDEVIL DC WS
• Disc 7: ELEKTRA WS
• Disc 8: Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes Volume 1 P&S

Disc 1 Side A: FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER P&S Disc 1 Side B: FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER WS

Disc 2: FANTASTIC FOUR WSDouble sided single layer DVD with both Widescreen and Full Screen versionsFantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer brings back the first family of Super Heroes. A mysterious alien being resembling a silver man on a surfboard comes to Earth. As he wreaks havoc, the Fantastic Four learn this Silver Surfer is an intergalactic herald sent to prepare Earth for destruction