The Truman Show movie on DVD

Release Date: 1998
Genre: Romance, History,
Cast: Lorraine Bracco, R.J. de Vera, Gilles Adrien, Ken Bones, Jesse De Luna, Paul Sorvino, Frank DiLeo, Henny Youngman, Catherine Scorsese, 1, Moira Brooker, Philip Bretherton, Jenny Funnell, Nigel Betts, Matt Groening,
Storyline:
In this movie, Truman is a man whose life is a fake one... The place he lives is in fact a big studio with hidden cameras everywhere, and all his friends and people around him, are actors who play their roles in the most popular TV-series in the world: The Truman Show. Truman thinks that he is an ordinary man with an ordinary life and has no idea about how he is exploited. Until one day... he finds out everything. Will he react?

INTERVIEWS: Christina Ricci on Anything Else

Christina Ricci stars as free-spirited Amanda in Woody Allen's new romantic comedy, Anything Else. Jason Biggs plays Jerry Falk, an aspiring writer, who falls in love at first sight with Amanda. But he soon finds that being in love with the unpredictable Amanda isn't like anything else at all. "She's very much like a typical Woody Allen girl, very neurotic, very insecure, very self-absorbed, almost like infantile in her emotions," Ricci says about her character. She explains how she played someone so neurotic. "It's mostly on the page, like all the ways that they manifest themselves are on the page. You might feel like a little bit of something and just to make it register, especially in something that's very comedic, you just make it larger than life."

In the film, Amanda has some infidelity problems, but Riccie doesn't believe the character actually thinks she did it for Jerry. "No, I don't think she really believes that, I think she's just scrambling for any excuse that he might buy. I think maybe that's why some of her contemptuous actions come from the contempt she has for someone who actually buys that."

While Amanda is really out there, Ricci says that Biggs' character isn't perfect either. "Amanda is ridiculous and the overtly screwed up one, but he's cheating on his girlfriend in the beginning. So it's sort of like he got paid back a little bit. He's cheating on his girlfriend in the beginning, he seems very apathetic towards both of them. It's not like he's really upset when she leaves. He's sort of upset, but he doesn't seem to really care that much. There's a detachment to his character."

Working with writer/director Woody Allen is an experience, she says. "I think Woody is just uncomfortable sometimes in new situations. Certainly, I'm really shy, like he was actually always asking me why I was so quiet. I was just like 'I don't really know you. So, I'll talk later.' I think that he's sort of the same way, which is probably why he talked to me a lot and talked to Jason as well because we were both very professional, there to do our jobs. We joke around a little, but especially if we're nervous about something. If we were both nervous with Woody, then we were just sort of quiet and respectful. That's probably why he spoke to us more than I hear he speaks to other people. I don't know, we had fun. He joked around with us, he teased us, stuff like that. He's very blunt with criticisms, and at first you sort of, you know, you're a little taken aback by it, but then towards the end I kinda learned to give it back a little bit. So it was fine."

She didn't change what Woody Allen had planned much. "I'm not comfortable with changing the words. I generally don't do that and he's such an amazing writer that it seems not to make any sense to do that. Also, it's a very particular vocabulary he uses and just the way all of his characters speak, and even the pronunciation he uses are uniformly different in all his films. Like I would say 'nye-ilism,' Woody Allen actors say 'nih-ilism.' It's just like all those things you don't change because they all go with his style. I mean, we ad-libbed a little bit. He wanted no dead air and everything should be moving all the time. If something happens you make something up to cover it, stuff like that."

Christina Ricci is making her directorial debut with The Speed Queen, about a woman on death row who wants to set the record straight about her criminal past. "I'm attached to direct. We had our financing but our financing fell through so we have to go other places for financing." She would also star in the lead role.

Meanwhile, she co-produced Prozac Nation, based on the best-selling novel. Set in the mid-1980's before the prevalence of anti-depressants, it follows a young working class woman's (Ricci) bout with depression during her first year at Harvard. The film explores this generation's struggle to navigate the effects of divorce, drugs, sex, and an overbearing mother. The film's release date has been moved around many times, but Miramax is believed to be targeting an April release now. "I of course want it to come out, and I feel confident that it will, it�s just a question of the right time," she adds.

Ricci also stars with Charlize Theron in the crime drama Monster. Based on the true story, Theron plays Aileen Wuornos, a highway prostitute who was executed in Florida for killing seven men during the 1980s. Christina plays her girlfriend, Selby Wall. "No one knows if she was aware of what was going on or not, if she's really na�ve and not very bright," she says about Wall, "Or if she's actually incredibly intelligent and just knew how to manipulate this woman and everything else around her. That's one of the things I loved about that character. She's completely ambiguous."

She gets to lock lips with Theron in the film, which is already a much-talked about topic. "She was a very good kisser. At first, we were so uncomfortable and nervous, kinda like what the hell are we doing, and we couldn't stop giggling, Charlize and I. Everyone was prepared for us, you know, everyone was quiet and it was like a closed-off monitor and everything, and she and I just couldn't stop laughing and making really lewd jokes."

But what you'll get to see on the big screen is not all fun and games. "I think people are gonna be a little horrified when they actually see what we look like in the movie. It's not hot, it's not necessarily hot lesbian action. We look like as close to those girls as we could. Charlize put on 30 pounds and she has prosthetics on her face and fake teeth and contacts, and they like bleached her skin out, and she's dressed kind of like the highway hooker looking, but not the hot hooker, it's like white trash early 80s hooker, really poor. And then I have this weird boys haircut and big boy clothes. I was actually the most comfortable I've ever been in my entire life. I actually liked it. I had lots of boys clothes. It was pretty good. I wore no makeup whatsoever. There's no glamour involved."

See Christina play the ultimate nightmare girlfriend in Anything Else, out this Friday.

Ping Pong Playa movie on DVD

Release Date: 2007
Genre: Western, Sport, Musical,
Cast: , Martin Watier, Austin Archer, , , , , , , Stanimir Stamatov, David Beairsto, David Rubin, , , Michael J. Farina, , Robert Sean Leonard, , , , , , , Connie Jackson, , , ,
Storyline:
A kid dreams of playing professional basketball in order to escape his dead-end job, living in the suburbs, his bossy older brother and running his Mom's ping pong classes.

Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies movie on DVD

Release Date: 1999
Genre: Horror
Cast: Array, Andrew Divoff, Paul Johansson, Holly Fields, Bokeem Woodbine, Carlos Leon, Robert LaSardo, Oleg Vidov, Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, Chris Weber, Al Foster, Vyto Ruginis, Randy Hall, Maria Genero, James Staszkiel, Rhino Michaels
Storyline:
During a failed art heist, the Djinn is once again liberated. This time, to complete the 1001 wishes that he needs before the final 3, he lets himself go to prison, where he starts his evil reign twisting the hopes of the prisoners. Meanwhile, the woman who set him free accidently, Morgana, tries to find a way to stop him, aided by a young priest.

Living & Dying movie on DVD

Release Date: 2007
Genre: Adventure, Thriller, Horror,
Cast: Jennifer Lien, , Sam Golzari, Robert Lang, , Simon Callow, , , , , , , James Remar, , ,
Storyline:
Two killers turn the tables on a trio of robbers when they find themselves in a hostage situation. Surrounded by the police, the robbers must become the heroes before the killers execute everyone.

John Woo Scouting Canada for Land of Destiny

Director John Woo (Windtalkers) is said to be looking again at the Calgary area as the principal backdrop for his period drama Land of Destiny.

"We had thought we'd be filming exclusively in Los Angeles, but I just got a new script that makes me want to look at Calgary again," Woo tells the Calgary Sun from the Vancouver set of Paycheck, the sci-fi thriller he's shooting with Ben Affleck.

"...What has impressed me even more is the excitement the Alberta Film Commission has in wanting us to film in the (province). They have sent me some incredible location shots. It definitely makes me want to come and see them for myself. We told them we were hoping to begin filming in February and would need a lot of snow. They assured me, that's one thing they could deliver."

"Destiny" is set in America in 1860 during the building of the railway. It focuses on a group of Chinese labourers and their Irish counterparts who have been brought to American expressly to build the railway.

"It is not a western, but an epic drama hopefully filled with warmth and powerful emotions," says Woo.

Woo has been developing this picture for Chow Yun-Fat and Nicolas Cage is still attached, but Cage won't be able to get to Calgary until the fall.

The Incredibles movie on DVD

Release Date: 2004
Genre: Horror, Romance, Sport, Comedy, Adventure, Family,
Cast: Dick Van Dyke, Kel O'Neill, Jenna Elfman, Herb Andress, Eric Silver, Zoë, Kravitz, Matthew Rauch, Dearbhla Molloy, Allan A. Goldstein, Angelica Torn, Ethan Erickson, Ron Lea, Jennifer Nitsch, Karen Cliche, Jorma Taccone,
Storyline:
Mr. Incredible (A.K.A. Bob Parr), and his wife Helen (A.K.A. Elastigirl), are the world's greatest famous crime-fighting superheroes in Metroville. Always saving lives and battling evil on a daily basis. But fifteen years later, they have been forced to adopt civilian identities and retreat to the suburbs where they have no choice but to retire of being a superhero and force to live a "normal life" with their three children Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack (who were secretly born with superpowers). Itching to get back into action, Bob gets his chance when a mysterious communication summons him to a remote island for a top secret assignment. He soon discovers that it will take a super family effort to rescue the world from total destruction.

Pitch Black movie on DVD

Release Date: 2000
Genre: Action, Adventure, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Cast: Array, Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Keith David, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Claudia Black, Rhiana Griffith, John Moore, Simon Burke, Les Chantery, Sam Sari, Firass Dirani, Ric Anderson, Vic Wilson, Angela Makin
Storyline:
Set in the distant future, a spaceship carrying some 40 people, mostly ones wanting to settle on other planets from their own, hits a meteor shower and crash lands on a distant planet killing all but about a dozen of them. The survivors, led by the second-in-command Carolyn Fry ('Rahda Mitchell' (qv)), find themselves on a hot and humid landscape with constant sunlight from three orbiting suns. Fry not only must help the survivors find food and water, but contend with a deadly criminal, named Riddick ('Vin Diesel' (qv)), who was being transported to a prison cell on their destination. But every 22 years, the planet's three suns go into a total eclipse for a month where darkness brings out the planet's real inhabitants; large, reptilian, vampire-like creatures that come out and dominate the surface in total darkness, killing and eating all life. The Fry and her people then must cooperate with Riddick, who has surgically enhanced eyes to see in darkness, to lead them to safety and off the planet before they all become dinner for the creatures.

Critters 3 movie on DVD

Release Date: 1991
Genre: Romance, Sci-Fi, Western,
Cast: Troian Avery Bellisario, Michael Holden, Brandon Largent, John L. Adams, Zac Efron, Leslie Libman, Stockard Channing, Robert Ray Manning Jr., Giacomo Baessato, Scott Leet, Tony Besson, Liza Coló, n-Zayas, Jayne Heitmeyer, 'Sean' Brian Jordaan, Brigid Brannagh,
Storyline:
In what appears to be a cross between Critters and The Towering Inferno, the residents of a shoddy L.A. apartment block are chased up to the roof by hoards of the eponymous hairy horrors.

Zellweger Gaining Weight for Bridget Jones

Renee Zellweger says that she's been putting on weight for the Bridget Jones's Diary sequel. "It's really just math. I've been eating lots of really fattening food. I read that I'd been eating doughnuts, but they're not really my thing," she said.

Zellweger said she's been working with a nutritionist who's been feeding her healthy food with hidden fat. Breakfast includes four slices of toast and cream cheese. "That's just the first course," Zellweger added. "It's a four-course breakfast. I don't really think about it because I'm usually doing something else."

Zellweger said she still exercises, but "if you are talking about running in Hyde Park, I'm not going to be doing that." Asked how she would lose the weight, she repeated "just by doing the math."

The sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, is scheduled for release next year.

Kiss of the Dragon movie on DVD

Release Date: 2001
Genre: Horror, History, Thriller, Adventure, Thriller, Mystery,
Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Bryn Walters, Emmy Rossum, Daniel Adams, Phil Alden Robinson, Emily Blunt, Lisa Rieffel, Tonya Cornelisse, Joel Shock, Elizabeth Reynolds, Joy Christie Di Cresce, Isaiah Mustafa, Christine Woods, Eva Tamargo, David Pease,
Storyline:
Liu Jian, a police officer from China, comes to Paris to help the vice squad apprehend a Chinese drug lord and his unknown French connection. The French connection is Richard, the head of the vice squad, who intends to kill the drug lord then frame Jian. Jian ducks a bullet and escapes with a tape of what really happened. By chance, Jian turns to Jessica - a US farm girl who is one of Richard's hookers - for help. She has her own problems, including the fact that Richard has her daughter locked in an orphanage to keep Jessica on the streets and silent about his activities. Can Jian protect Jessica, rescue her daughter, and give Richard the kiss of the dragon?

Cruel Intentions movie on DVD

Release Date: 1999
Genre: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Cast: Array, Drew Snyder, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon, Selma Blair, Louise Fletcher, Joshua Jackson, Eric Mabius, Sean Patrick Thomas, Swoosie Kurtz, Christine Baranski, Alaina Reed Hall, Deborah Offner, Tara Reid, Herta Ware, Hiep Thi Le
Storyline:
Kathryn makes a bet that her step-brother, Sebastian, won't be able to bed Annette (a virgin, who wants to wait until marriage) before the start of the school year. If he loses, Kathryn gets his Roadster, if he wins, he gets Kathryn

Envy movie on DVD

Release Date: 2004
Genre: Western,
Cast: Sandi Stahlbrand, Lindy Booth, John Neville, Patrí, cia Rizzi Bitondi, Patrick Macnee, Judy Davis, Shirley Henderson, Mary Nighy, Kevin Cooney, Casey Sander, Cylk Cozart, Robin Gammell, Phyllis Lyons, Mary Portser, Annie Weldon,
Storyline:
Ben Stiller and Jack Black star as Tim and Nick, best friends, neighbors and co-workers, whose equal footing is suddenly tripped up when one of Nick's harebrained get-rich-quick schemes actually succeeds: Vapoorizer, a spray that literally makes dog poop, or any other kind for that matter, evaporate into thin air -- to where exactly is anyone's guess. Tim, who had scoffed at Nick's idea and passed on an opportunity to get in on the deal, can only watch as Nick's fortune -- and Tim's own envy -- grow to equally outrageous proportions. When the flames of jealousy are fanned by an oddball drifter (Walken) who imposes himself into the situation, Tim's life careens wildly out of control ... taking Nick's with it.

Jack Bauer's Getting a Partner for 24

Actor James Badge Dale has been cast in the 24 regular role of Chase, a young CTU agent who ends up working side-by-side with Kiefer Sutherland's character of Jack Bauer. Both Bauer's reaction to having a partner and the duration of the pairing are unknown, as are any other details of Dale's character.

Producers on the hit Fox series have typically been tightlipped about plot details, so it's no surprise they declined comment on the new addition.

Dale, 25, played Simon in 1990's remake of Lord of the Flies.

The Maltese Falcon movie on DVD

Release Date: 1941
Genre: Documentary, Short, Thriller,
Cast: Fred Ewanuick, Christofer de Oni, Amy Matysio, Kathy Burke, Barry Flatman, Devyn Burant, Francisca Hernandez, Annie Brebner, Mike O'Brian, Peter Kosminsky, Janet Fitch, Mary Agnes Donoghue, Svetlana Efremova,
Storyline:
Sam Spade is a partner in a private-eye firm who finds himself hounded by police when his partner is killed whilst tailing a man. The girl who asked him to follow the man turns out not to be who she says she is, and is really involved in something to do with the 'Maltese Falcon', a gold-encrusted life-sized statue of a falcon, the only one of its kind.