Mena Suvari

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American Beauty (Widescreen Edition)
Starring: Annette Bening , Thora Birch , Chris Cooper , Peter Gallagher , and Sam Robards
Director: Sam Mendes
Manufacturer: Dreamworks Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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A Beautiful Mind (Widescreen Awards Edition)
American History X
Almost Famous - The Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition)
The Usual Suspects (Special Edition)
Pulp Fiction (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

ASIN: B00003CWL6
Release Date: 2000-10-24

Amazon.com essential video

From its first gliding aerial shot of a generic suburban street, American Beauty moves with a mesmerizing confidence and acuity epitomized by Kevin Spacey's calm narration. Spacey is Lester Burnham, a harried Everyman whose midlife awakening is the spine of the story, and his very first lines hook us with their teasing fatalism--like Sunset Boulevard's Joe Gillis, Burnham tells us his story from beyond the grave.

It's an audacious start for a film that justifies that audacity. Weaving social satire, domestic tragedy, and whodunit into a single package, Alan Ball's first theatrical script dares to blur generic lines and keep us off balance, winking seamlessly from dark, scabrous comedy to deeply moving drama. The Burnham family joins the cinematic short list of great dysfunctional American families, as Lester is pitted against his manic, materialistic realtor wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening, making the most of a mostly unsympathetic role) and his sullen, contemptuous teenaged daughter, Jane (Thora Birch, utterly convincing in her edgy balance of self-absorption and wistful longing). Into their lives come two catalytic outsiders. A young cheerleader (Mena Suvari) jolts Lester into a sexual epiphany that blooms into a second adolescence. And an eerily calm young neighbor (Wes Bentley) transforms both Lester and Jane with his canny influence.

Amazon.com

Spun is an unclassifiable ensemble piece, intentionally bleached of soulfulness and high on visual invention and comic depravity. Set in north Los Angeles, where meth freaks lurch from one motel room to another in search of companionship and a score, the film stars Jason Schwartzman as Ross, whose life is rapidly disintegrating. Fielding phone messages from his mother and trying in vain to reach an old girlfriend, Ross spends most of his time on a feverish circuit with the half-mad Cookie (Mena Suvari) and Nikki (Brittany Murphy), the dangerously paranoid Spider Mike (John Leguizamo), and a macho drugmaker called the Cook (Mickey Rourke). Director Jonas Akerlund's story is nonexistent, but then again Spun is driven by the blurry, hellish energy of a life lived on speed. An obvious influence is Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream, but Akerlund is interested in nightmarish set pieces than tiny horrors of misfired nerve endings and ravaged time. --Tom Keogh

Description

When college drop-out Ross becomes the local crystal meth cook's personal driver in exchange for free drugs, he has no idea what he's in for. Starring: John Leguizamo (Moulin Rouge, Empire), Brittany Murphy (8 Mile, Just Married), Mena Suvari (American Beauty, American Pie),Jason Schwartzman (Slackers, Rushmore), Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous, White Oleander), Debbie Harry (lead singer of rock group "Blondie"), Mickey Rourke (The Pledge, Get Carter),Eric Roberts (National Security, TV's "Less Than Perfect").

Domino (Widescreen New Line Platinum Series)

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Domino (Widescreen New Line Platinum Series)
Starring: Keira Knightley , Mickey Rourke , Edgar Ramirez , Riz Abbasi , and Delroy Lindo
Director: Tony Scott
Manufacturer: New Line Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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A History of Violence (New Line Platinum Series)
Lord of War (2-Disc Special Edition)
The Ice Harvest (Widescreen Edition)
Aeon Flux (Special Collector's Edition)
Jarhead (Widescreen Edition)

ASIN: B000CQQIDU
Release Date: 2006-02-21

Amazon.com

Does it really matter what's true or false in Domino if the movie's so deliriously hard to resist? Tony Scott's dizzying film about his late friend, former model and famous bounty hunter Domino Harvey (1969-2005), is more tribute than biography, riffing on Harvey's action-packed exploits and brief reality-TV celebrity in a fractured, manic style that's so visually over-stimulating that it could throw vulnerable viewers into grand mal seizures. Scott's barrage of audio-visual hyperactivity is ultimately exhausting, and Richard Kelly's fragmented screenplay does nothing to discourage Scott's relentless MTV "style" (and we use that word oh-so-loosely here). And yet, with Keira Knightley so ferociously alluring in the title role, and Mickey Rourke (as her boss and bounty-hunting mentor, Ed Mosbey) serving up a second dose of his Sin City comeback, Domino grabs you by the throat and never lets go. Scott's embrace of nihilism is typically facile but it propels a vision of wretched humanity that pulls you in with train-wreck intensity. The movie's bracing humor also makes fine use of a large supporting cast including Christopher Walken, Jacqueline Bissett, Dabney Coleman, Edgar Ramirez, Mo'Nique, Delroy Lindo, Mena Suvari, Lucy Liu, and former Beverly Hills 90210 stars Ian Ziering and Brian Austin Green (the latter two poking good-sport fun at themselves as "celebrity hostages"). The accidental overdose death of the real Domino (daughter of The Manchurian Candidate star Laurence Harvey) in the summer of 2005 threw a sad shroud of irony over this movie's theatrical release, but for all its reckless indulgence, Domino is a fitting eulogy for a troubled woman whose credo ("Heads you live, tails you die") is reflected in Scott's fictionalized rendition of the dangerous life she lived. --Jeff Shannon

Description

A trademark Tony Scott film and starring Keira Knightley, Domino presents an entertaining mix of gritty action and a sharp visual style. The film is inspired by the life of Domino Harvey, a former model who rejected her privileged Beverly Hills life to become a bounty hunter. DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Commentary with Tony Scott and writer Richard Kelly Script Notes and story development commentary with Tony Scott, Zack Schiff-Abrams, Ricahrd Kelly and Tom Waits
Deleted Scenes:9 Scenes
Featurette:- "I am a Bounty Hunter": Domino Harvey's Life with optional commentary - Bounty Hunting on Acid: Evolution of a Visual Style
Theatrical Trailer

American Pie - Unrated (Widescreen Collector's Edition)

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American Pie - Unrated (Widescreen Collector's Edition)
Starring: Jason Biggs , Molly Cheek , Jennifer Coolidge , Shannon Elizabeth , and Alyson Hannigan
Director: Weitz, Chris
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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( A ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

American Pie 2 - Unrated (Widescreen Collector's Edition)
American Wedding - Unrated (Widescreen Collector's Edition)
Road Trip (Unrated Edition)
American Pie - Band Camp (Unrated Widescreen Edition)
American Pie - The Naked Mile (Unrated Widescreen Edition)

ASIN: B000031WD9
Release Date: 1999-12-21

Amazon.com

Anyone who's watched just about any teenage film knows that the greatest evil in this world isn't chemical warfare, ethnic cleansing, or even the nuclear bomb. The worst crime known to man? Why, virginity, of course. As we've learned from countless films--from Summer of '42 to Risky Business--virginity is a criminal burden that one must shed oneself of as quickly as possible. And while many of these films have given the topic a bad name, American Pie quietly sweeps in and gives sex some of its dignity back. Dignity, you may say? How can a film that highlights intercourse with fruit pies, premature ejaculation broadcasted across the Internet, and the gratuitous "gross-out" shots restore the dignity of a genre that's been encumbered with such heavyweights as Porky's and Losin' It? The plot may be typical, with four high school friends swearing to "score" by prom, yet the film rises above the muck with its superior cast, successful and sweet humor, and some actually rather retro values about the meaning and importance of sex. Jason Biggs, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nicholas, and Eddie Kaye Thomas make up the odd quartet of pals determined to woo, lie, and beg their way to manhood. The young women they pursue are wary girlfriend Vicky (Tara Reid), choir girl Heather (Mena Suvari), band geek Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), and just about any other female who is willing and able. Natasha Lyonne as Jessica, playing a similar role as in Slums of Beverly Hills, is the general adviser to the crowd (when Vicky tells her "I want it to be the right time, the right place," Jessica responds, "It's not a space shuttle launch, it's sex"). The comedic timing hits the mark--especially in the deliberately awkward scenes between Jim (Biggs) and his father (Eugene Levy). And, of course, lessons are learned in this genuinely funny film, which will probably please the adult crowd even more than it will the teenage one. --Jenny Brown

Product Description

Here s the uncensored version of America s #1 comedy hit, re-edited to include the scenes you couldn t see in theaters. You ll never look at warm apple pie the same way again! American Pie takes a hysterical look at the goal of four "unlucky in love" high school friends who make the ultimate pact: lose their virginity by prom night. As they try to manipulate their way into the...hearts of some of their classmates, their plans often backfire with hilarity. Follow the raging hormones of four teenage boys and their girls as they gear up for the most important night of their lives...the prom?

System Requirements:
Starring: Jason Biggs, Chris Klein, Natasha Lyonne, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Tara Reid, Mena Suvari, and Eugene Levy.
Directed By: Paul Weitz.
Running Time: 1 Hour, 36 Mins.
This film is presented in "Widescreen" format.
Copyright 1999 Universal Studios.

Format: DVD MOVIE

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Kiss the Girls
Starring: Morgan Freeman , Ashley Judd , Cary Elwes , Alex McArthur , and Tony Goldwyn
Director: Gary Fleder
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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( K ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Along Came a Spider
Double Jeopardy
High Crimes
The Bone Collector
Twisted (Special Collector's Edition)

ASIN: 6305127565
Release Date: 1998-10-07

Amazon.com

Coming after The Silence of the Lambs and Seven, this thriller about a collaboration between two serial killers feels like a pale attempt to cash in on the success of those earlier, better films. That's a pity, because this film certainly has its strengths--particularly in the central performances of Morgan Freeman as a forensic detective and Ashley Judd as a would-be victim who escaped from one of the killers. Director Gary Fleder demonstrates visual flair and maintains an involving undercurrent of tension, but as this adaptation of James Patterson's novel approaches its climax, familiar elements combine to form a chronic case of thriller déjà vu. It's altogether competent filmmaking in the service of a moribund story of competing psychopaths, and by the time the serial killers reach the home stretch of their twisted contest, the movie's dangerously close to Freddy Kruger territory, with a finale that could've been borrowed from any dozen similar thrillers. --Jeff Shannon

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Beauty Shop
Starring: Queen Latifah , Alicia Silverstone , Andie MacDowell , Alfre Woodard , and Mena Suvari
Director: Bille Woodruff
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Guess Who [Region 99]
Monster-in-Law (New Line Platinum Series)
Last Holiday (Widescreen Edition)
Crash (Widescreen Edition)
Diary of a Mad Black Woman (Full Screen Edition)

ASIN: B0009X7BFK
Release Date: 2005-08-23

Amazon.com

With Queen Latifah holding court over a cast of sassy females, Beauty Shop continues the Barbershop franchise in entertaining style. Reprising her role from Barbershop 2: Back in Business, Latifah plays Gina the big-booty stylist, now on her own (she's a widow) and moving from Chicago to Atlanta, where she gets sick of her flamboyantly bitchy boss (played by... Kevin Bacon?), inherits her two best clients (Andie MacDowell and Mena Suvari) and her popular formula for "hair crack" conditioner, and opens her own styling shop with a $30,000 loan and a rainbow coalition of hairdressers played by Golden Brooks, Sherri Shepherd, Alfre Woodard and Alicia Silverstone. While it lacks the frank, sharply observant racial humor of Barbershop, this easygoing comedy moves along at an agreeable pace, with a supporting cast of beauty-shop customers (and a love interest, played by Djimon Hounsou) who play off Queen Latifah's effortless appeal with energy to spare. Sure it's conventional, and most of the characters are thinly developed, but Beauty Shop is a fun place to visit for 105 hassle-free minutes. --Jeff Shannon

Description

Queen Latifah heads an "excellent ensemble" cast in this "warm, funny, empowering" (New York Post) comedy from the producers of Barbershop and the producer of Bringing Down the House! Co-starring Alicia Silverstone, Andie MacDowell, Alfre Woodard, Mena Suvari and Djimon Hounsou - and featuring Kevin Bacon in a hilarious performance - Beauty Shop "will slap a smile on your face and keep it there" (Premiere)! When Jorge (Bacon), the egotistical boss at a posh salon, pushes his star stylist, Gina(Latifah), a hair too far, Gina leaves and opens a beauty shop of her own. Inheriting an opinionated group of stylists, a colorful clientele and a sexy upstairs neighbor, Gina proves that you can't keep a good woman down - and you can't keep a shopful of outrageous women from speaking their minds!

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Rumor Has It... (Widescreen Edition)
Starring: Jennifer Aniston , Kevin Costner , Shirley MacLaine , Mark Ruffalo , and Richard Jenkins
Director: Rob Reiner
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Screwball Comedy | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

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( R ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

The Family Stone (Widescreen Edition)
Failure to Launch (Special Collector's Edition)
Firewall (Widescreen Edition)
The Break-Up (Widescreen Edition)
In Her Shoes (Widescreen Edition)

ASIN: B000EMGICS
Release Date: 2006-05-09

Amazon.com

Old pro Shirley MacLaine steals her every scene in Rumor Has It..., a very curiously conceived comedy directed by Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally..., The Princess Bride). Sarah (Jennifer Aniston, The Good Girl) arrives at her sister's wedding with her fiance Jeff (Mark Ruffalo, 13 Going on 30). She's already feeling anxiety-ridden about her impending marriage when she gleans from some odd hints from her grandmother Katherine (MacLaine, The Apartment, Terms of Endearment) that her family was the basis for the movie The Graduate. Quicker that you can say "Mrs. Robinson" she slips away from Jeff to investigate, suspecting that the guy Dustin Hoffman's character was based on--Beau Burroughs (Kevin Costner, Tin Cup)--might be her actual father...well, from there the plot takes a few twists, but this is not a movie that succeeds based on its story (which never really becomes persuasive). Instead, Rumor Has It... rests on the surprisingly complex and mature emotional interactions between the characters (particularly given that it's a movie about someone refusing to make choices in her life). Aniston won't win any awards for this, but she certainly gives her role more depth than a typical romantic comedy heroine; Costner and Ruffalo are both in fine form; and MacLaine appears just often enough to inject some delightfully prickly personality into a movie that often teeters on the edge of too much niceness. Also featuring Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under) and Mena Suvari (American Beauty). --Bret Fetzer

Product Description

Sarah Huttinger (Jennifer Aniston) is in a fog. She's finally agreed to marry her boyfriend Jeff (Mark Ruffalo), but isn't at all sure that marriage is what she really wants. Now she's on her way home to attend her sister's wedding, which means spending a lot of time with the tennis-obsessed Pasadena family that she's never felt quite a part of. It isn't until Sarah stumbles into a well-kept family secret that she starts to question her roots and sets off in search of the man who may have the answers she's looking for (Kevin Costner). 
Running Time: 97 min.

Format: DVD MOVIE

American Pie 2 - Unrated (Widescreen Collector's Edition)

Average customer rating:

Better than the first!
OMG...LMBO
So Stupid it is so funny
As if High School wasn't enough!
Good sequel

American Pie 2 - Unrated (Widescreen Collector's Edition)
Starring: Casey Affleck , Lisa Arturo , Jason Biggs , Molly Cheek , and John Cho
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Teen | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

School Days | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

( A ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

American Pie - Unrated (Widescreen Collector's Edition)
American Wedding - Unrated (Widescreen Collector's Edition)
American Pie - Band Camp (Unrated Widescreen Edition)
Eurotrip (Unrated Widescreen Edition)
Road Trip (Unrated Edition)

ASIN: B00003CY6D
Release Date: 2002-01-15

Amazon.com

To the horror of prudes everywhere, American Pie 2 is even funnier than its popular predecessor, pushing the R rating with such unabashed ribaldry that you'll either be appalled or surprised by its defiant celebration of the young-adult male libido. Females will be equally shocked or delighted, because like American Pie this appealing, character-based comedy puts the women in control while offering a front-row view of horny guys in all their dubious glory. Which is to say, American Pie is mostly about sex--or, to be more specific, breasts, genitalia, "potential" lesbianism, blue silicone sex toys, crude methods of seduction, "the rule of three" (just watch the movie), a shower of "champagne," phone sex, tantric sex, and, oh yeah... superglue.

In the case of college freshman Jim (Jason Biggs), performance anxiety plagues his upcoming reunion with sexy Czech exchange student Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth), but his buddies from American Pie have a solution: rent a Lake Michigan beach house for the summer, throw wild parties to lure the local "hotties," and score big-time. Beach Party this ain't: blessed with a complete cast reunion from AP1 (including Eugene Levy as Jim's dad), this sequel is anything but innocent, and with the exception of drugs (which are conspicuously absent), pretty much anything goes. The gags are almost nonstop, and director J.B. Rogers (recovering from his debut debacle Say It Isn't So) handles them with laudable precision, allowing his young cast (particularly Biggs, who epitomizes comedic good sportsmanship) to run with lines that most people wouldn't dare utter aloud. The result is a liberating and eminently good-natured comedy that needn't apologize for its one-track mind. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Better than the first!.......2007-02-21

American Pie 2 was definately funnier than the first. Good soundtrack and plotline too. A highly entertaining, laugh-out loud teen comedy.

OMG...LMBO.......2006-11-16

Any time you need a good "That SO disgusting(!)" laugh, break out this movie. This movie will keep you laughing.

So Stupid it is so funny.......2006-10-17

Sometimes I just need a really stupid movie for the laugh factor. This movie is valuble for that. It does have a plot. It is not one the religious sect would like because it is packed full of sex and sex references. So this is not for you. If you just want a laugh this is good. The first one is good too. I am not a teen perhaps if I was one I would think this is a classic of my time, but no I am from the breakfast club generation. this was just a good laugh.

As if High School wasn't enough!.......2006-08-12

Following american Pie,American Pie 2 finds Jim and his friends going to a Lake house for the summer for partying,women,and alcohol.But when Jim finds that Nadia is coming down to visit,he panics and seeks help from the one person he knows can tell him if he sucked or not:the band geek who went to the prom with him.Stifler also returns,loud and obnoxious as ever as he accuses the two women living in the house they are painting to be lesbians,so they sneak in and....BUSTED!As if the Nadia broadcast wasn't enough,another broadcast is made,this time on a CB radio,in one of the most ridiculous contests I've ever seen.American Pie 2 is even more hillarious than the first,including incidents with super glue and trumpets.You'll enjoy this film.

Good sequel.......2006-08-05

American Pie 2's story line was good. The story picks up after the first year of college. Like many have encountered after the first summer after college many new things occur and many things that do not change. The beach house is the scene for wild scenes and good laughs. What AM2 does do that many other sequels do as well is the repetitive bug. The shock/funny appeal is still there in some scenes, but it isn't like the original. Still, though the movie is entertaining enough and with several gut wrenching scenes.

Average customer rating:

Edmond Burke, WM47
A story about a man who was out of touch with his spirit
Surprising, Shocking, Fun To Watch
Great movie... really misleading billing.
the irony of a man's passions

Edmond
Starring: William H. Macy , Julia Stiles , Joe Mantegna , Ling Bai , and Jeffrey Combs
Director: Stuart Gordon
Manufacturer: First Independent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Thank You for Smoking (Widescreen Edition)
Hollywoodland (Widescreen Edition)
The Illusionist (Widescreen Edition)
The Prestige
The Black Dahlia (Widescreen Edition)

ASIN: B000GRUQZQ
Release Date: 2006-10-03

Amazon.com

William H. Macy, a longtime collaborator of David Mamet, takes on one of Mamet's biggest, ugliest creations in the title role of Edmond. Edmond drops out of his ordinary life after a chance encounter with a fortune-teller, and cruises through a New York inferno that leads to murder. It also leads to a great deal of the clipped, counter-punching dialogue that Mamet is famous for, although at times the film plays like a monologue interrupted by peripheral blips on Edmond's skewed radar. Mamet's subject is the frenzied reaction of the modern male to the narrowing of his domain, a crisis that drives Edmond to the familiar touchstones of bar, peep show, and whorehouse, none of which provide the solace he thinks they should. The 2005 film is based on Mamet's 1982 play, and somehow the picture might have had more pop if it had been filmed closer to that time, when panicked masculinity was a fresher subject. And the text is a kind of dark, horrific fable that probably worked better in the stylized realm of the stage than on film. Stuart Gordon directs with a blunt forward motion that foregrounds the most unsavory aspects of the material (fans of his Re-Animator should note the presence of Jeffrey Combs as a snotty hotel clerk). Except for Macy, cast members come and go in the episodic flow, some of them (Joe Mantegna and Rebecca Pidgeon) identified with Mamet's work. Julia Stiles plays the unfortunate waitress who falls into Edmond's path, and Bai Ling, Denise Richards, and Mena Suvari are women of the night who want to charge Edmond too much money. But it's Macy's show, and he mercilessly gets inside Edmond's bad self: a monster of entitlement and self-delusion, given to epiphanies that lead nowhere except his own ego. --Robert Horton

Description

A man (Macy) becomes involved in a twisted game of sex, lies and murder with 3 young women (Denise Richards, Mena Suvari, Julia Stiles). It's a first rate thriller from the legendary David Mamet.

Customer Reviews:

Edmond Burke, WM47.......2007-06-14

I am a Mamet lover. I thought Edmond was a terrific read as a play, and would be very interested in seeing it performed on stage. I was pleasantly surprised after watching this Edmond, that it retained the swiftness and grit of his paradoxical spiraling-into-the-depths-of-depravity/transcending-of-himself-in-the-world.

Without a doubt William H. Macy, who for anyone who doesn't know this, is along with castmates Joe Mantegna and Rebecca Pidgeon (Mamet's wife), an expert in playing Mamet. His presence as Edmond Burke gives the film as much cache as the fact Mamet wrote the screenplay. His scene with Mantegna early on is one of the best too.

As for my pleasant surprise I am reminded that I have been disappointed by some of Mamet's original films (Heist, Spartan and State & Main were all overstuffed, not lean enough, with too many twists and turns) but have enjoyed the adaptations of his plays (Lakeboat, American Buffalo, Glengarry Glen Ross). This maybe due to the unity of his spare style and the limitations of space a play, even one adapted to screen, must exist within.

This film's use of recognizable faces in single scenes was perhaps a consequence of Mamet's respect in the industry, and maybe an attempt at marketing a sordid and deep story beyond any expected attention. All performers get the chance to needle Macy's Edmond, with the acceptable duplicity of routine interactions, propelling him deeper into the ecstacy of ridding himself of himself. The brilliance of the story is that he must become everything he never wanted to (john, racist, murderer, homosexual) in order to be where he belongs. Constantly being lied to has rendered him inert, thus a double time dose of truth or passion or rage or unconsciousness must be his salvation. That's what Mamet is able to create and convey, the ancient philosophical paradox of achieving bliss or something like it, by destroying the existence one has spent so much energy creating, here amidst the dark places of our modern world (bars, tarot readers, strip joints, back alleys, dingy apartments, prisons, subways....remember, he never does enter the church)....

A story about a man who was out of touch with his spirit.......2007-06-05

The beginning of the film shows the re-connection of the spirit of a man who has been sleepwalking for years. He projects his weakness onto his surroundings and throws the baby out with the bathwater. After severing all ties with his old life he begins his metaphysical and physical descent into the underworld.
The film delves deeply into Edmonds sexual dysfunction and uses his inability to feel and express sexual energy as the core of his rage and later instability.
The film also weaves this into tales about how a white man deals with real life on the streets out of his coccoon. Obviously he doesnt do well as his sense of entitlement and priviledge arent catered to.
On the streets Edmond reconnects with some forgotten primal energy that was lost in his mundane life, he confuses this with some kind of spiritual enlightenment.
This aggressive energy leads him to very bad places.
Which finally culminates in the end of the creation that is Edmond and his spiritual rebirth in very trying circumstances.
The film is very intellectually interesting, it seems to have slightly missed the mark in the emotional and realistic side of things. Some scenes that should have greater impact felt almost comical. Its still very entertaining but it doesnt have the emotional impact of say a Lynch film.
All around a worthy and interesting look at the human spirit, and the illusions of the mind. I give it 4 stars.

Surprising, Shocking, Fun To Watch.......2007-04-20

I recently found this movie and bought it based on the actors involved. I was very pleasantly surprised, indeed! It is so much more than I expected. The box states that the movie is "A Heart-Pounding Thriller", so I expected something in the vein of Man On Fire. As I watched, I was reminded of Michael Douglas in Falling Down, except better, if that's possible. This movie is tragic, terrifying, and very funny. Talk about your mid-life crises!

I was not familiar with Mamet's work, but I am about to look for more!

Great movie... really misleading billing........2007-04-14

First of all... this is NOT a thriller. Even in the most stretched understanding of the word.
This movie is part character study, part drama and part exemplifying a theory. The theory that we are a product of our environment. Mamet cleverly wove that theory in and among others. Such as the debate over whether our life is choice or destiny. The direction he took here was that the main character made a choice... and found his destiny as a result of that choice. And his choice led him into an environment that molded him into what others wanted him to be.
This is the story of a man who let's his grip on his reality go and slips into another reality completely foreign to him. Feeling dejected and lonely, Edmond seeks advice from a fortune teller. Of course, the fortune tellers' words confirms how he feels about his life... that he's not where he belongs.
Edmond then leaves his wife and life and grabs onto the sharp metal rails of the staircase leading to the underbelly of society with greased and naive hands. What follows is a succession of events that lead him to 'where he does belong'.
Not wanting to give much away here, but Macy's character, Edmond, is stilted and opinionated to say the least. He feels... therefore he is. And with each turn of events his thoughts and feelings lead him further from his former self. He questions everything and yet finds no answers.
There are numerous theories of society, group behavior, theology, religion and development that Edmond scratches the surface of only to become the product of his environment. The environment he chose.
The reason I chose 4 stars is for the horribly wrong billing that this movie, as well as others, has recieved from hollywood. With all the lofty thinkers there, you would think sooner or later they would get it right.
I highly recommend this movie but be prepared to think. This isn't some mindless drift through neverland. This movie is packed with powerful thoughts.

the irony of a man's passions.......2007-03-08

what i like about edmond is that it is very true to life.. so often it is people who behave in outragous ways and have the most hatred towards other people.. it is so often these very same people who supress their true desires their true feelings.. and if you break down the walls and barriers and what not you can see who they really are at their core.. Edmond is an effective vehicle for this kind of deep psychological probing and it brings out the best in mamet and in macy... It is not the movie you think it is.. it is something quite different and quite daring..
While stylistically it isn't so shocking per se.. its themes are very interesting and twisted..a must see.

Average customer rating:

try out for comedy
"Dust"???
Mildly Entertaining- Good Chemistry Between Biggs and Suvari
Cute remake of The Apartment
Sarcastically interesting and realistic.

Loser [Region 99]
Starring: Jason Biggs , Colleen Camp , Twink Caplan , Mollie Israel , and Andrea Martin
Director: Amy Heckerling
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Boys and Girls
Whatever It Takes
Saving Silverman (R Rated Version) [Region 99]
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Head over Heels

ASIN: B00003CXK7
Release Date: 2000-12-19

Amazon.com

Writer-director Amy Heckerling has a way with teen comedies, from Fast Times at Ridgemont High to Clueless and now Loser. She manages to take the clichés of life in school and spin them into cinematic gold. Part of her secret is that she genuinely seems to respect all of her characters, even the unsavory ones. In Loser, Paul Tannek (Jason Biggs from American Pie) is a farm-town boy who's gotten himself a scholarship to a fancy Manhattan college. He's worried that he's not going to fit in with the sophisticated city crowd. Well, he's right to worry. He doesn't fit in, which his three dorm-mates are quick to remind him. The only person he can talk to is Dora (Mena Suvari from American Beauty), a cocktail waitress-student who's having an affair with a pretentious lit teacher (Greg Kinnear).

Biggs is great in this movie, the perfect straight man, setting up jokes that wouldn't work without his reactions to them. In fact, the whole movie is so well-cast--Suvari is charming, Kinnear is entertainingly smug, the three dorm-mates are fun to dislike--that the actors, working in tandem with Heckerling, give a life to characters that in less talented hands would have been revealed as over-determined and exaggerated. Pardon the blurb, but it's true: Loser is a winner.--Andy Spletzer

Customer Reviews:

try out for comedy.......2007-01-31

This film is a really weak film. The direction is not all that good. This film lacks in a lot of things. There is a bit of comedy which is probably the only good thing about this film.

I thought this film would be good and personally I think the music video is better than the film. It starts of good, the story line seems to be working until the end. The end is not good and there could have been a lot more done to make this film a better film. Instead they tries to take the easy way out and I am afraid to say it didn't work.

"Dust"???.......2006-01-25

Loser brings to the screen the story of a college freshman who does not fit in well with his peers nor with the city of NY as a whole.
Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari carry out their roles well, though by no means are these their best performances.

The major setbacks are in relation to:
1) Jason Biggs not portraying his character as being a "loser," as much as an average guy. Actually, he seemed to be the only "normal" one in the movie!
2) Mena Suvari looked like she is 14 years old and a student at junior high let alone college.
3) Greg Kinnear's (annoying) character OVERDOING it in trying to be conceded and obnoxious (it's a bit much).
4) The poor choice of an actor to play "Noah" who is not all man, if you catch my drift... Any particular reason for that?
5) The other two guys were just not interesting at all nor were they good actors, and all three of them were actually quite sad as opposed to "cool."

The setting, the acting, the plot and the humor are average, while the dialogues and the script are rather weak.
In a nutshell, it's probably not a movie you would want to add to your collection, but it will provide for an evening's entertainment, and that's about it. No masterpiece here.

Mildly Entertaining- Good Chemistry Between Biggs and Suvari.......2005-08-20

Although "Loser" is a solid effort and is generally enjoyable, it was certainly not what director Amy Heckerling needed at that point in her career. After the great success of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and "Clueless" she pretty much went in the director dumper with this one. Ironically the problem was not her directing but her writing. Solid production could not entirely compensate for this flawed screenplay because the flaws are in the characters themselves, they are simply not believable.

This is usually fatal because it is hard for viewers to care about characters with whom they cannot identify. Fortunately for writer Heckerling, director Heckerling cast the best two actors in "American Pie", Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari, as her leads. They have such unexpectedly good chemistry together that you will yourself to believe in them, even if Paul is moronically nice and Dora is moronically moronic (her failure to connect the bad relationship dots for almost the entire film is not consistent with a character who is portrayed as extremely perceptive and self-aware). Suvari looks and even sounds like Jennifer Jason Leigh which may have you flashing back to "Fast Times".

Excellent performances by Biggs, Suvari, and Greg Kinnear (as Professor Alcott) save the day or at least salvage the film. They get little assistance from anyone else in Heckerling's cast (although Dan Ackroyd is decent in a small and very straight role) as the supporting players are either neutral or less than zero. Worst of all are they guys who play Paul's three roommates. They start out as typically "Party Hard" college students but overnight morph into date rape scum and academic blackmailers. Heckerling provides nothing to explain this transformation, which is especially strange because she includes early scenes intended to show that one of the roommates is sincerely trying to help Paul with his adjustment to college in the big city.

Heckerling based her "Clueless" screenplay on Jane Austin's "Emma". Franz Kafka is her reference point for "Loser"; a strange choice given Kafka famous line "women are traps which lie in wait for men everywhere, in order to drag them down into the finite". The choice of the Dora Diamond name is an obvious homage to Kafka's girlfriend Dora Dymant. The screenplay for "Loser" is not a total loss, it has good individual lines like: "I love self-loathing complaint rock you can dance to".

Perhaps the best scene is Heckerling's homage to the Berkeley fountain scene in "The Graduate" as the dejected Paul wonders around the city while the soundtrack plays Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair". The rest of the soundtrack is also good.

Apparently Heckerling could not resist shooting herself in the foot at the very end as she included on-screen notes documenting the comeuppance received by each of the bad characters. Not only is this tired and unoriginal ("American Graffiti" and "Animal House" made use of this along with a high school film I judged last spring) but the notes themselves are not even mildly amusing.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Cute remake of The Apartment.......2005-04-05

I caught this movie by accident at a neighborhood theater, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that good old Amy Heckerling had remade one of my favorites, The Apartment, with a dash of Ridgemont High added here and there. Maybe I'm biased because I know and love both of these films, but my guess is that Loser can stand on its own. Or maybe you should do a little homework and watch the original. It can only enhance the experience.

Sarcastically interesting and realistic........2005-03-02

ITS YOUR CLASSIC BAD GUY GOOD GUY - GOOD GUY SAVES GIRL.

THE major thumbs down about this movie was the "room mates" and the excess use of gutter language at times. What makes this a GOOD movie though is its realistic presentation of issues.

I find that the honesty between the characters personalities drove the storyline and made for an overall interesting movie with a sarcastic overtone about the worlds rejection of truth, purity and innocence, both displayed in the Professer and the "room mates".Also worthy of note is the confusion the misplaced "MAIDEN IN DISTRESS" suffers from.Which leaves the masculine viewer completly relating to the "Loser" who is clearly the hero of the story.

This would be a good movie to preach from. Leaving out comments made in the movie for SURE but by mainly pointing out the situations and CONSEQUENCES of substance abuse,the possible compromises that can be made all in the name of the $, amoung other youth issues also portrayed in the movie.

IF ANYTHING enjoy the movie, recieve its warm humor and FEEL driven to support the under dog or all round nice guy next time you meet one. WILD AT HEART indeed!

GS.

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