Nova: Separating Twins

A well loved dvd
Nova: Separating Twins

I purchased this dvd for my granddaughter who believe it or not is only age 3. I bought it for her for a gift for her 4th birthday which is this week! She happened to walk in to my bedroom one evening while I was viewing this program on Nova.com. She was absolutely intrigued by the babies and the sight of the surgeries did not bother her at all, her only concern being the babies getting better. She now begs me to let her watch the video on my computer! Time she has a copy of this on dvd format for her own. I know she will love it! Strange but true.All of that being said, I too did enjoy this remarkable story!

Amazing Competency
The good doctors at the Australia's Royal Children's Hospital separate twins who are connected by their brains so tightly that it's difficult to visually determine where one brain ends and the other begins. The detail this Nova show goes into is breathtaking: blood vessels finding any which way they can flow blood complicates the doctors' efforts in their plan to separate the twins. Most remarkable of all is the genuine, unmistakable, love the twins' adopted single mother gives them. All she wants in return after the surgery is for her weaker daughter to return back a raspberry tongue to signal that everything is okay.



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Adventures In Lalaloopsy Land: The Search For Pillow

A Movie That is Sew Sweet for EVERYONE!
The Lalaloopsy dolls are huge right now, and they have finally made the transition from toy to the little screen. It was rather successful, if you are looking for a cute, completely inoffensive movie that anyone can watch. The main seven original Lalaloopsy dolls are the focus of the movie, along with Rosy Bumps and Bruises and four of the Lalaloopsy littles - the sister dolls and all of their respective pets. It's the little sisters that make the show so cute and adorable, as they toddle around, saying things in a childish, simple manner that's quite endearing and very much like little bitty sisters do. The older Loopsies are very sweet and understanding. They have all personalities but are definitely nice girls, every single one of them, and they play off well with each other. This is a refreshing change from having a few "nasty" characters in the mix, like with other series. In Lalaloopsy Land, everyone is considerate, caring and nice.

The plot is all about Peanut...

Super cute :)
My two year old LOVES this movie. It is adorable and not nearly as annoying as some of the other shows aimed for little girls. We love it! Great purchase:)

Girls love this movie
My daughters got an opportunity to catch a sneak peek on Nick Jr., and they loved, loved this movie. Unfortunately, I didn't think to record the movie on our DVR, so I bought it. If you have girls that adore Lalaloopsies, then they will adore this movie. My girls grabbed their Lalaloopsy dolls, and acted along with the movie, so that their dollies were also in on the adventure. In a way, the movie helped foster their imaginations as they play with their dolls. Even after the movie ended, my daughters continued Pillow's adventure..lol.

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The Descendants (Blu-ray/DVD + Digital Copy)

A Unique Family Dramedy About Searching For Truth, But Finding Something More Important
It seems hard to believe that it's been seven years since Alexander Payne's "Sideways" became the critical darling of 2004. Nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and winning Payne an Adapted Screenplay Oscar--that picture (along with Election and About Schmidt) signaled a talented filmmaker with an unorthodox worldview. Blending elements of comedy and drama, Payne has crafted complex characters simultaneously frustrating and sympathetic--but altogether real. In adapting Kaui Hart Hemmings' intimate novel "The Descendants" to the big screen, Payne demonstrates (once again) a deft balance of emotions to create a picture both funny and heartbreaking. I so admired how Payne made vineyards and fine wines a major component, an extra character really, in the sublime "Sideways." In much the same way, Hawaii is a principle character (and I would contend one of the most pivotal) to "The Descendents." It would be easy to imagine someone jettisoning much of this rich texture,...

Memorable film with Clooney at his best
I had missed this highly rated (by the critics) movie in theaters, so I finally got around to renting the Blu-ray over the weekend.

It's mostly a sad drama about a man slowly losing his wife after a boating accident, but there are a few comedic moments along the way that are realistic, rather than forced. The writing and the entire cast are great. I'm not the biggest George Clooney fan, but his work in Up in the Air and The Descendants has totally made me a believer in his acting talents when given the right material. The girl who plays his oldest daughter is very good as well. One of the better movies I've seen in 2012 and worth checking out.

Life As It Is (In Alexander Payne's Style)
It is pretty difficult to describe what kind of a film Alexander Payne's new film "The Descendants" is. Some will think it is a comedy drama about messy nature of life. Others may feel the film is rather sad, dealing with life's most devastating moment. Perhaps both views are right.

The story itself is simple. George Clooney plays Matt King, a successful Hawaiian lawyer and sole trustee of pristine land on Kauai Island. His wife Elizabeth has been in coma since the boating accident a few weeks ago. Having been too busy, he doesn't know how to talk to his two daughters, precocious 10-year-old Scottie (Amara Miller) and rebellious 17-year-old Alex (Shailene Woodley). In his voiceover Matt pleads with his wife to wake up.

Ironically it is Matt who has to "wake up." He learns that his comatose wife had been "seeing" someone. With his wife's health deteriorating, Matt sets out to seek the truths about that guy, with his daughters and Alex's slacker friend Sid (Nick...

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House of Pleasures

Anti-Erotica, An Ode to Female Suffering
To call this film "sexy" is to miss the point. Admittedly there are a number of beauties on display each night in this bordello (and Bonello is not above allowing and even inviting us to gaze at them), but this is a film about the institutional and state-sanctioned exploitation of women. There is most definitely an erotic quality to the women in various states of undress but they are only eroticized when they are alone or with other women; when with men, there's nothing erotic about this film's images of sex --which are presented as acts of commerce between privileged aristocrats and the debt-ridden underclass of women who they cruelly exploit on a nightly basis --unless one finds images of the ritual subjugation of women erotic (Susan Sontag, were she alive today, would certainly have much to say on this topic). The interest here is in the individual stories of each sex worker--not one of them enjoys what she does for a living, one even swears she will never have sex again once she...

A beautiful, languid, sad movie
I'm stunned by many of the reviews, so let's be clear about what to expect from this movie.

You won't like this movie if you want:

-Explosions
-Scene composition from music video directors
-Average scene duration under 3 seconds
-Dancing girls from music videos
-Gratuitous sex
-Clever one-liners, like from a James Bond movie
-A happy ending where the hero gets the girl and the villain is thrown into a waterfall (for instance)

What you will get is:

-Lush sets
-Beautiful cinematography
-Slow, delicious scenes
-Eroticism without a hint of voyeurism
-A touching human story about desperation and being victims of the times and circumstance
-Women who are beautiful beyond their physical appearance
-Quietly raw emotions

This is not another French movie that you confuse with others that you've seen just because it's French. Don't miss it.

Beautiful and hard to watch at the same time
I saw a review of this movie last year on TV and it looked interesting, so I watched a Netflix rental of it last night. I have to say it wasn't what I expected - for a film about a bordello it's the least arousing movie imaginable - and yet it's extremely moving, beautifully photographed and designed, and well-acted. I won't say it's uplifting but it's certainly enlightening. The women's experience in, and attitude towards, their profession is presented in great detail. Their feelings towards their customers are mostly negative and one woman states she will never have sex again after leaving the bordello, which is understandable after watching the entire film. The women find affection only among themselves. I found the sequence in which one of the more experienced girls initiates a newcomer to be very interesting.

I'm not sure who I'd recommend this movie to, since I think many people might be put off by the subject matter (much like our friend who posted the one-star...

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Peep & The Big Wide World: Bringing Spring

Great for kids and adults; enjoy watching with my family
8 shows; titles include:
- Bringing Spring
- Quack's Pond Party
- Stick With Me
- Tree Feller
- An Inconvenient Tooth, Part 1
- An Inconvenient Tooth, Part 2
- You Can Count on Bunnies
- Falling Feathers

Family fun stories
Simple family fun stories. Perfect for bedtime or just a moment of kind simple stories. Works for any age. Bright colors and simple forms for young children but my 8 year old still enjoys the 'attitude' of Quack.

thank you
My son love this dvd, thank you very much is great to find this kind of dvd available, thank you again.

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Bonsai People: The Vision of Muhammad Yunus

Inspiration and Practical Insight to End Poverty!
This film has two sides that I value very much. It is both inspiring and full of practical insights. Mohammad Yunus has been a hero of mine for a long time and I have read/listened to a couple of his books. But none of them offered the hands-on detail that this documentary offers into how Grameen Bank actually works. I highly recommend watching this movie if you care about the issue of poverty and would like to find real solutions!

Amazing film
This was an amazing movie. It shows what Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammed Yunus has done to help poor people in Bangladesh. I was really impressed. I liked how Yunus involved women which helps them use their intellect and raise their status. Yunus's micro credit system is explained in this film.

The Dannon yogurt idea was genius. Every step of the operation helps poor people. Poor villagers that have cows can sell their milk to the factory. Factories can employ workers to make the nutrition enhanced yogurt. Women can sell the yogurt at a cheap price and earn a profit. Other women that buy it can feed it to their children who then get more nutrients than they would normally get.

I'm really happy that all this progress and change is coming to my native country of Bangladesh and I wish it could spread to other countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan.

I'm thoroughly disgusted with the Bangladesh government and their treatment of Mohammed Yunus. I know...

Inspirational
I love movies that inspire me to get up and do something. And that's what this film did. These films should be REQUIREMENTS for children in elementary-high school.

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Melancholia [HD]

This movie touched me in a lot of ways.....
I've read some of the reviews here and I think a lot of people are looking at this film in a wrong perspective. The idea for the film originated during a therapy session Lars von Trier attended during treatments for his depression. The therapist told him that depressive people tend to act more calmly than others under heavy pressure, because they already expect bad things to happen. It's not about science fiction and it's not a disaster movie. It's a film that examines the human psyche during a disaster. The film is very subtle and yes slow at times but as someone whos struggled with severe depression I related to and understood Kirsten Dunst's character so much. We're dealing with such flawed and sad characters so the slow pace made sense. I would say this is more of a psychological drama than anything else. This film is so beautiful and the acting is superb.

Loss
"Melancholia" may be the most accessible Lars Von Trier film I've ever seen. (However, for a director who often goes out of his way to alienate, repulse, and irritate his audience, that is not saying much.) "Melancholia" is beautifully shot and visually lovely to look at; gone is the difficult visual minimalism of films like "Dogville". Also gone is the gory brutality that is often part of Von Trier's films (especially his last film, "Antichrist".) "Melancholia" is a thoughtful, fascinating film told in two distinct, yet overlapping, parts.

The first part, "Justine", is a realistic, sad family drama which tells the story of a young bride who implodes on her wedding day. Just married to a handsome man, promoted by her boss, and treated to a lavish party by her rich brother-in-law, Justine has every reason to be happy. Except she's not. Behind her forced smile, she's hiding a dark depression. By the end of the night Justine's depression, along with the selfishness and...

The most beautiful film I have ever seen
This is, hands down, THE most beautiful film I have ever seen. I'm sorry, articulation is not my strong point, but all of these one star reviews... baffling. I cannot imagine we were watching the same film. Von Trier has taken existential dread to new heights with this one. Everybody's worst fear, fully realized right there on the screen...

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