DVD Releases: May 20, 2008
May 20, 2008
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
Genre: Comedy, Kids/Family, Animation and Adaptation
Rating: PG
Actors/Actresses: Tom Kenny, Rodger Bumpass, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence, Clancy Brown
Synopsis: There’s trouble brewing in Bikini Bottom!
Someone has stolen King Neptune’s crown, and it looks like Mr. Krab, SpongeBob’s boss, is the culprit. Though he’s just been passed over for the promotion of his dreams, SpongeBob stands by his boss, and along with his best pal Patrick, sets out on a treacherous mission to Shell City to reclaim the crown and save Mr. Krab’s life.
Neptune’s crown is in the dreaded Shell City… a sinister place (at least, to the marine world) that sea creatures have rarely returned from. Can Spongebob and Patrick make it through the six-day limit to save Mr Krabs?
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Genre: Drama, Science Fiction/Fantasy and Suspense/Horror
Watch Night of the Living Dead Online For Free
Rating: Not Rated
Actors/Actresses: Judith O’Dea, Duane Jones, Karl Hardman, Keith Wayne, Judith Ridley
Synopsis: George Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is a low-budget, homegrown classic that had great difficulty finding a distributor at the time of its release in 1968, and has since become one of the most influential horror films of all time. (Aside from its visceral impact years before realistic gore became the fashion, the film is also important for its portrayal of a black man as the protagonist during a time when race was an extremely sensitive issue in the United States.) The plot is simple: seven people secluded in a Pennsylvania farmhouse face relentless attacks by reanimated corpses seeking to eat their flesh. The group, which includes a married couple and their daughter, a pair of young lovers, and an African-American man, try to keep their sanity as the living dead keep trying to enter the house. Radio news reports tell of the plague taking over the eastern United States, while the ever-decreasing band of survivors rapidly loses ground in the battle to both keep peace with one another and stay alive.
Flashdance
Genre: Drama and Musical/Performing Arts
Rating: R
Actors/Actresses: Jennifer Beals, Michael Nouri, Lilia Skala, Sunny Johnson, Kyle Heffner
Synopsis: In Adrian Lyne’s FLASHDANCE, a young woman, Alex (Jennifer Beals), strives to achieve success as a classical dancer, but economic forces require her to work as a welder by day and an exotic dancer by night. Standing in her way is an abundance of profound social obstacles, not the least of which is her boss at the welding factory, Nick (Michael Nouri), who is also her boyfriend. Alex strives to be accepted into a prestigious ballet academy, and she is furious when she realizes that her boyfriend might be pulling strings for her behind the scenes. Along the road to self-discovery and independence, Alex also struggles to accept love, come to terms with her own stubbornness, and find the inner strength to turn her lofty dreams into reality. Edited for maximum rhythmic impact, FLASHDANCE is full of glistening bodies and metallic surfaces, powered by Giorgio Moroder’s throbbing music and one hit song after another: Michael Sembello’s “Maniac,” Karen Karmen’s “Manhunt,” and, notably, Irene Cara’s Oscar-winning theme song, “Flashdance…What a Feeling.” FLASHDANCE marks the first coproduction between Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, who geared the film toward the MTV generation.
Shrek
Genre: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Kids/Family, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Animation and Adaptation
Rating: PG
Actors/Actresses: Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Christopher Knights, Simon J. Smith, Guillaume Aretos, John Bisom
Synopsis: Once upon a time, in a far away swamp, there lived an ornery ogre named Shrek whose precious solitude is suddenly shattered by an invasion of annoying fairy tale characters. There are blind mice in his food, a big, bad wolf in his bed, three little homeless pigs and more, all banished from their kingdom by the evil Lord Farquaad. Determined to save their home–not to mention his own–Shrek cuts a deal with Farquaad and sets out to rescue the beautiful Princess Fiona to be Farquaad’s bride. Accompanying him on his mission is wisecracking Donkey, who will do anything for Shrek… except shut up. Rescuing the Princess from a fire-breathing dragon may prove the least of their problems when the deep, dark secret she has been keeping is revealed.
Madagascar
Genre: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Kids/Family and Animation
Rating: PG
Actors/Actresses: Andy Richter, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett-Smith, David Schwimmer
Synopsis: This movie focuses on four residents and “stars” of the Central Park Zoo in New York City who are also best friends: a lion (Stiller), a zebra (Rock), a giraffe (Schwimmer) and a pregnant hippo (Smith). When one of them goes missing, the other three break out of the zoo looking for him, and eventually all four are captured and put in boxes to ship them back to the continent their species are originally from: Africa. An accident at sea, however, strands them on the shore of Madagascar. Having had humans take care of them their entire life, the four know nothing of surviving in the wild, or that one of them, the lion, is genetically predisposed to eat his three best friends. Exploring their surroundings, the four friends soon meet the Malagasy locals (a type of lemur given to having loud “rave-like” dance parties) and their carnivorous enemies, the fousas. As the two sides try to use these four new, strange (and large) friends to their benefit, our heroes are also confronted with the reality of their predestined roles in nature.
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