Home Media Magazine - January 6-12, 2008 - (Page 20) FIRST RUN FEATURES GLOBAL LENS COLLECTION - HOLLYWOOD REPORTER presents the REVIEWS www.homemediamagazine.com “ELOQUENT SEARING POWERFUL!” I ALL IN Prebook 1/8; Street 2/5 MTI, Drama, $24.95 DVD, ‘PG-13.’ Stars Dominique Swain, Louis Gossett Jr., James Russo, Michael Madsen. W The first Iraqi film to be chosen to compete in the prestigious Palme d'Or competition at Cannes, KILOMETRE ZERO is a darkly humorous story about a Kurdish soldier and an Iraqi taxi driver who join together to return the body of a fallen soldier to his family, on the other side of the country. Featuring Belcim Bilgin, an ELLE cover girl in Turkey. 86 minutes • Color • In Kurdish, Arabic & French w/English subtitles • Catalog #: FRF 913089D Pre-book: 1/15 • Street: 2/19 • $24.95 srp each “HUMOR, CHARM & VERY DARK SATIRE!” - MUSEUM OF MODERN ART ith the recent rise in the popularity of poker, it would have been a really safe bet to make a film about the game that focused on all of the drama inherent in it, especially when the game is a high stakes championship match being televised around the country. The producers of All In, however, do not take the easy way out. They instead choose to gamble on presenting a complex, layered film about people, relationships and issues, where poker is definitely an integral element of the plot but takes a backseat to the conflicts of the main characters. Alicia “Ace” Anderson (Swain) is heading off to medical school, partially to pursue a career as a doctor and partially to get away from the bitter Bible-thumping mother who raised her after the mysterious death of her former Navy SEAL turned professional card shark father (Madsen). Now out on her own, living with a couple of sexy classmates, befriending hunky guys from school and getting a crash course in the realities of the medical world, Ace finds herself faced with the prospect of monumental outstanding student loans. Her similarly hard-up classmates convince her to gain financial freedom for all of them by joining their scheme to win big at an upcoming poker tournament. There, she comes face to face with not only her father’s former partner (Oscar-winner Gossett Jr.), but also the corrupt doctor (Russo) in charge of the hospital where she is interning. The handsomely produced comedy-drama (shot on shimmering HD) combines elements of “big score” films such as The Italian Job and the “Ocean’s” trilogy with conventions of the medical school drama. But at the heart of it, this is a story about a young woman coming to terms with her upbringing and her own emerging adulthood. – David Greenberg I STONE & ED Street 1/8 Maverick, Comedy, $19.98 DVD, NR. Stars Ian Reed Kesler, Travis Wester, Mircea Monroe, Jullian Dulce Vida, Steven Brad, Ken Davitian. D After Ramón loses his job as a restaurant cook during Argentina’s economic crisis, his wife Lili suffers a nervous breakdown; they will lose their house unless something drastic is done. Desperate, Ramón accepts a job in Lili’s name - and clothes – to serve as a maid to a rich family. 90 minutes • Color • In Spanish w/English subt. • Catalog #: FRF 913072D Contact us at 800-229-8575 or email sales@firstrunfeatures.com umb and Dumber meets Dude, Where’s My Car? in this tale of two loser brothers who take an impromptu road trip to Mexico. Preston, aka Stone (Kesler), finds a photo of his younger brother, Ed (Wester), as a baby, with an inscription that leads him to believe they have different mothers. Stone’s birth certificate lists his mother as “Jane Doe,” and since they are too addle-minded to get the joke, the pair sets off on a trip to track her down. Conveniently, Ed brings along his favorite bong in a shiny silver briefcase, which comes into play later when the brothers’ journey intercepts a scheme to exchange cocaine and money in identical silver briefcases. Additional extraneous characters are thrown in for further confusion. Targeted squarely at fans of stoner comedies, this movie isn’t trying to win an Oscar or reinvent the wheel. It’s so low-brow and lowbudget it almost comes across as a sly parody of the hair-brained films it tries to emulate. Stone and Ed exist in a world just as absurd as they are, loaded with characters wearing horrible fake moustaches. The filmmakers throw in an homage to Curious George, and even porn king Ron Jeremy finds time for a cameo. The marketing plays up a role by Davitian, who was so memorable as the sidekick in Borat, but here he appears on screen for a total of about five minutes as a Mexican drug lord. – John Latchem 20 Home Media Magazine January 6–12, 2008 http://www.firstrunfeatures.com http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.firstrunfeatures.com
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