Home Media Magazine - May 11-17, 2008 - (Page 24)

REVIEWS Street 5/13 www.homemediamagazine.com I CRYSTAL RIVER Lifesize, Drama, $19.98 DVD, NR. Stars Emily Carpenter, Sean Patrick Flanery, Ted Manson. aith isn' t so easy to find when life doesn' t go your way. In Crystal River, Emily Carpenter, who also co-wrote, stars as Davie, a woman who desperately wants children but recently suffered her fourth miscarriage. Unable to sleep, Davie begins spying on Clay (Flanery), the grandson of her elderly neighbor, Olin (Manson). Clay also has a past he hopes to leave behind. F Is there any doubt America is the world's No. 1 consumer of crap? Street 5/27 In this deft and entertaining film, direcArts Alliance America, Documentary, B.O. $0.2 million, $24.95 DVD, tor Rob VanAlkemade and producer Mor`PG' for thematic material and mild language. gan Spurlock set their sights Stars Bill Talen. on America's materialism and culture of credit cards. The n one sense, What Would film follows the adventures of Jesus Buy? is an attack on performance artist Bill Talen, religion in America. But whose The Reverend Billy the target is not Christianity or persona leads protests against Judaism or Islam or Buddhism. capitalism run rampant. He Rather, it's a religion of shopprimarily targets Disney, and ping, where the credit card is the film takes a subtle jab by god and malls serve as houses using the Disney font for its of worship. titles and on-screen text. What Would Jesus Buy? tells us Apparently Disney does the average person now spends too good a job promoting its less than one hour each week brand. in church, while devoting more Reverend Billy kicks off the film by getthan five hours to shopping. Personal savings average less than $0 for the ting arrested after marching into a Disney Store and proclaiming Mickey Mouse to be first time since the Great Depression. I WHAT WOULD JESUS BUY? I the Antichrist. Going to jail for his cause, we learn, is a force of habit for the Reverend Billy. He heads to malls and Wal-Marts and encourages people to save their money, all the while lamenting how the spirit of Christmas has been corrupted to equate love with gifts. The film follows Billy and his Stop Shopping Gospel Choir as they take a cross-country road trip to preach their message, ending up in an impromptu parade down Disneyland's Main Street, which led to Billy's arrest. VanAlkemade layers the film with clips of children demanding all the newest gadgets and toys, while their parents say they don't mind going broke to make their kids happy. This all implies that these people could use some piety in their lives, or at least some value system to instill a sense of personal responsibility. Even if you don' t agree with Billy' s methods, it' s hard to argue with that. Clay and Davie eventually strike up a friendship that involves late-night excursions such as a midnight boat ride on the river. Her budding relationship with Clay further isolates Davie from her husband and threatens her reputation within the town. Meanwhile, the town's minister and a new reverend join to convince Olin to allow himself to be baptized in his final days. The older spiritual leader preaches a rigid message of salvation that Davie seems ready to reject, struggling to find the good in her own life. The movie takes some interesting twists, but don' t expect anything flashy. This is a simple, quiet film about people struggling to find answers to the problems they face in life. Carpenter evokes sympathy in a very naturalistic performance, while Flanery makes it easy to believe she could fall for him. He' s no stranger to playing the unassuming ladies man, after entering the public eye in the 1990s playing the ± John Latchem young Indiana Jones on TV. ± John Latchem Ana have been friends since kindergarten, so a new student at school is Street 5/20 a big deal. Victory Multimedia, Childrens, $15 DVD, ` NR. Jessie is assigned to sit next to In Spanish. Nia Barnes, the new girl in class. She is quick to extend elo De Gusano a friendly smile and an in(Worm Head), nartroduction. She notices that rated in Spanish Nia's hair is different Ð not with Spanish subtitles (a curly or braided like her and translation from an earlier her friends, but twisted in English-language DVD), is rolls somehow. She invites a touching story that teaches children to accept others as they Nia to play at recess, but after a brief introduction, Terry and Ana just are. Jessie Brown is excited about her blankly stare at Nia and are not shy first day of 2nd grade at Harriet Tub- to show their disapproval of Jessie's man Elementary School because she new, different friend. The two girls will reunite with her good friends, refer to Nia as ªwo rm headº and Terry and Ana. Jessie, Terry and Jessie is faced with the decision to I PELO DE GUSANO P a minute to teach Terry, Ana and their classmates a lesson about acceptance. Nia and Jessie's father verbally teach the lesson, but Jessie actively demonstrates it. Rich McKeown pays tribute to his late wife, Carolyn McKeown, author of the story, with his fun musical contributions and production of the short film itself. The charming story took Best Animation at the Texas Black Film Festival and was an Official Selection at the 2006 African Diaspora Film play with her friends or with her new don't want to take the time to get to Festival, 2007 All American Film Festival, 2007 San Francisco Black friend. At home, she questions her know people. Nia becomes tired of the treatment Film Festival and 2007 Independent father about why people use nicknames to make fun of people and she has been continually receiving Black Film Festival. he explains that sometimes people because of her dreadlocks and takes ± Ruby Cardenas 24 Home Media Magazine May 11± 17, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com

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Home Media Magazine - May 11-17, 2008

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