Friday, December 16, 2011

Four Film Favorites: Final Destination Collection (Final Destination / Final Destination 2 / Final Destination 3 / The Final Destination)

  • FINAL DESTINATIONAfter an eerie premonition leads a handful of passengers to disembark an ill-fated flight, Death with all its ingenious contraptions of doom at the ready stalks those survivors (Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith and more) one by one in the gory, gleeful shocker that launched the fright-filled film series. Final Destination: the start of it all! INCLUDES: Widescreen Version [16x9
Death is just as omnipresent as ever, and in Final Destination 5 it strikes again. During the bus ride to a corporate retreat, Sam (Nicholas D’Agosto) has a premonition in which he and most of his friends â€" as well as numerous others â€" die in a horrific bridge collapse. When his vision ends, events begin to mirror what he had seen, and he frantically ushers as many of his colleagues â€" including his friend, Peter (Miles Fisher), and girlfriend, Molly (Emma Bell) â€" away from the disast! er before Death can claim them. But these unsuspecting souls were never supposed to survive, and in a terrifying race against time, the ill-fated group tries to discover a way to escape Death’s sinister agenda. Moviedom's most fatalistic franchise returns in efficient form in Final Destination 5, an installment that goes for broke in its big opening set piece. This time the initial disaster happens on a suspension bridge that turns out to be all too vulnerable to high winds and an over-aggressive repair project. The employees of Presage Plus (ha ha) are in a bus crossing the span when Sam (Nicholas D'Agosto) pre-envisions the bloody disaster to come; panicked, he urges his friends to scamper off the bridge just in time to avoid the collapse. You know what comes next: the survivors face certain death as Fate demands its deferred payment, and a coroner (Tony Todd, thankfully returning to the series) intones dark wisdom about the price that must be paid. Director Stev! en Quale understands that the audience expects the horrifyingl! y convol uted deaths of the previous pictures; each new demise is like the result of a crowd at an improv theater shouting out different ideas to weave together (hmm, what can we do with a leaky air conditioner, a loose screw, and a set of uneven parallel bars?). The results--shot for 3-D release, no less--will not disappoint die-hard fans, and even the actors are bearable this time around: D'Agosto, from the underrated Fired Up!, pairs nicely with Emma Bell, P.J. Byrne gets off a few unctuous one-liners, and David Koechner does his clueless jerk routine as the Presage Plus boss from hell. The final sequence, while not making any sense according to the rules we've been watching, does tie up the entire series in a neat bow. Until the next sequel, anyway. --Robert HortonDeath is just as omnipresent as ever, and in Final Destination 5 it strikes again. During the bus ride to a corporate retreat, Sam (Nicholas D’Agosto) has a premonition in which he and most of his! friends â€" as well as numerous others â€" die in a horrific bridge collapse. When his vision ends, events begin to mirror what he had seen, and he frantically ushers as many of his colleagues â€" including his friend, Peter (Miles Fisher), and girlfriend, Molly (Emma Bell) â€" away from the disaster before Death can claim them. But these unsuspecting souls were never supposed to survive, and in a terrifying race against time, the ill-fated group tries to discover a way to escape Death’s sinister agenda. Moviedom's most fatalistic franchise returns in efficient form in Final Destination 5, an installment that goes for broke in its big opening set piece. This time the initial disaster happens on a suspension bridge that turns out to be all too vulnerable to high winds and an over-aggressive repair project. The employees of Presage Plus (ha ha) are in a bus crossing the span when Sam (Nicholas D'Agosto) pre-envisions the bloody disaster to come; panicked, he urges h! is friends to scamper off the bridge just in time to avoid the! collaps e. You know what comes next: the survivors face certain death as Fate demands its deferred payment, and a coroner (Tony Todd, thankfully returning to the series) intones dark wisdom about the price that must be paid. Director Steven Quale understands that the audience expects the horrifyingly convoluted deaths of the previous pictures; each new demise is like the result of a crowd at an improv theater shouting out different ideas to weave together (hmm, what can we do with a leaky air conditioner, a loose screw, and a set of uneven parallel bars?). The results--shot for 3-D release, no less--will not disappoint die-hard fans, and even the actors are bearable this time around: D'Agosto, from the underrated Fired Up!, pairs nicely with Emma Bell, P.J. Byrne gets off a few unctuous one-liners, and David Koechner does his clueless jerk routine as the Presage Plus boss from hell. The final sequence, while not making any sense according to the rules we've been watching, doe! s tie up the entire series in a neat bow. Until the next sequel, anyway. --Robert HortonDeath is just as omnipresent as ever, and in Final Destination 5 it strikes again. During the bus ride to a corporate retreat, Sam (Nicholas D’Agosto) has a premonition in which he and most of his friends â€" as well as numerous others â€" die in a horrific bridge collapse. When his vision ends, events begin to mirror what he had seen, and he frantically ushers as many of his colleagues â€" including his friend, Peter (Miles Fisher), and girlfriend, Molly (Emma Bell) â€" away from the disaster before Death can claim them. But these unsuspecting souls were never supposed to survive, and in a terrifying race against time, the ill-fated group tries to discover a way to escape Death’s sinister agenda. Moviedom's most fatalistic franchise returns in efficient form in Final Destination 5, an installment that goes for broke in its big opening set piece. This time the in! itial disaster happens on a suspension bridge that turns out t! o be all too vulnerable to high winds and an over-aggressive repair project. The employees of Presage Plus (ha ha) are in a bus crossing the span when Sam (Nicholas D'Agosto) pre-envisions the bloody disaster to come; panicked, he urges his friends to scamper off the bridge just in time to avoid the collapse. You know what comes next: the survivors face certain death as Fate demands its deferred payment, and a coroner (Tony Todd, thankfully returning to the series) intones dark wisdom about the price that must be paid. Director Steven Quale understands that the audience expects the horrifyingly convoluted deaths of the previous pictures; each new demise is like the result of a crowd at an improv theater shouting out different ideas to weave together (hmm, what can we do with a leaky air conditioner, a loose screw, and a set of uneven parallel bars?). The results--shot for 3-D release, no less--will not disappoint die-hard fans, and even the actors are bearable this time around: D'Ag! osto, from the underrated Fired Up!, pairs nicely with Emma Bell, P.J. Byrne gets off a few unctuous one-liners, and David Koechner does his clueless jerk routine as the Presage Plus boss from hell. The final sequence, while not making any sense according to the rules we've been watching, does tie up the entire series in a neat bow. Until the next sequel, anyway. --Robert HortonFinal Destination, Final Destination 2, Final Destination 3, and The Final Destination (2009) FINAL DESTINATION INCLUDES: • Widescreen Version [16x9 1.85:1] • Director/Writers/Editor Commentary • Cast Commentary • 5.1 Isolated Score Audio Track with Commentary by Composer Shirley Walker • Additional Scenes and Alternate Endings • 2 Featurettes: Test Screenings and Premonitions • 2 Games: Death Clock and Psychic Test • Theatrical Trailer • Subtitles: English (Main Feature.Bonus Material/Trailer May Not Be Subtitled.). FINAL DESTINATION 2 INCLUDES: • Widescreen Version! [16x9 1.85:1] • Director/Producer/Screenwriters Commentary ! • Dele ted/Alternate Scenes • Selectable Fact Track with Intriguing Making-of Factoids â€" All As You Watch the Movie • 3 Featurettes The Terror Gauge, Cheating Death: Beyond and Back and Bits & Pieces: Bringing Death to Life • Theatrical Trailer • Subtitles: English (Main Feature.Bonus Material/Trailer May Not Be Subtitled.). FINAL DESTINATION 3 INCLUDES: • Widescreen Version [16x9 2.4:1] • Enjoy 2 Editions of the Film: Original Theatrical Movie and the Choose Their Fate! Version Where You Control the Characters’ Outcomes • Director/Writers/Cinematographer Commentary • Subtitles: English & Español (Main Feature.Bonus Material/Trailer May Not Be Subtitled.). THE FINAL DESTINATION INCLUDES: • Widescreen Version [16x9 2.4:1] • Additional Scenes • Subtitles: English & Español (Main Feature. Bonus Material/Trailer May Not Be Subtitled).

Fugitive Pieces

  • 16x9 full frame
  • anamorphic 1.85:1
  • 5.1 surround sound
  • 104 minutes
  • Blockbuster exclusive
A New York Times Notable Book of the YearWinner of the Lannan Literary Fiction AwardWinner of the Guardian Fiction AwardIn 1940 a boy bursts from the mud of a war-torn Polish city, where he has buried himself to hide from the soldiers who murdered his family. His name is Jakob Beer. He is only seven years old. And although by all rights he should have shared the fate of the other Jews in his village, he has not only survived but been rescued by a Greek geologist, who does not recognize the boy as human until he begins to cry. With this electrifying image, Anne Michaels ushers us into her rapturously acclaimed novel of loss, memory, history, and redemption.As Michaels follows Jakob across two continents, she lets us witness his transformation from a half-wild casualty o! f the Holocaust to an artist who extracts meaning from its abyss. Filled with mysterious symmetries and rendered in heart-stopping prose, Fugitive Pieces is a triumphant work, a book that should not so much be read as it should be surrendered to.Anne Michaels, an accomplished poet, has already published two collections of poetry in her native Canada. She turns her hand to fiction in an impressive debut novel, Fugitive Pieces. This is the story of Jakob Beer, a Polish Jew, translator, and poet who, as a child, witnessed his family's slaughter at the hands of the Nazis. Beer himself was found and smuggled out of Poland by Athos Roussos, a Greek archaeologist who carried him back to Greece and kept him there in precarious safety. After the war they emigrated together to Canada. Jakob's story is told through diaries discovered by Ben, a young man whose parents are Holocaust survivors and who is a vessel for their memories just as Jakob is the bear! er of his own.

Fugitive Pieces is a book about me! mory and forgetting. How is it possible to love the living when our hearts are still with the dead? What is the difference between what historical fact tells us and what we remember? More than that, the novel is a meditation on the power of language to free our souls and allow us to find our own destinies.Fugitive Pieces Study Guide consists of approx. 67 pages of summaries and analysis on Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels.

This study guide includes the following sections: Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, Quotes, and Topics for Discussion.

Fugitive Pieces Study Guide consists of approx. 67 pages of summaries and analysis on Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels.

This study guide includes the following sections: Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, Quotes, and Topics for Discussion.

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital! format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.A New York Times Notable Book of the YearWinner of the Lannan Literary Fiction AwardWinner of the Guardian Fiction AwardIn 1940 a boy bursts from the mud of a war-torn Polish city, where he has buried himself to hide from the soldiers who murdered his family. His name is Jakob Beer. He is only seven years old. And although by all rights he should have shared the fate of the other Jews in his village, he has not only survived but been rescued by a Greek geologist, who does not recognize the boy as human until he begins to cry. With this electrifying image, Anne Michaels ushers us into her rapturously acclaimed novel of loss, memory, history, an! d redemption.As Michaels follows Jakob across two continents, ! she lets us witness his transformation from a half-wild casualty of the Holocaust to an artist who extracts meaning from its abyss. Filled with mysterious symmetries and rendered in heart-stopping prose, Fugitive Pieces is a triumphant work, a book that should not so much be read as it should be surrendered to.


From the Trade Paperback edition.Anne Michaels, an accomplished poet, has already published two collections of poetry in her native Canada. She turns her hand to fiction in an impressive debut novel, Fugitive Pieces. This is the story of Jakob Beer, a Polish Jew, translator, and poet who, as a child, witnessed his family's slaughter at the hands of the Nazis. Beer himself was found and smuggled out of Poland by Athos Roussos, a Greek archaeologist who carried him back to Greece and kept him there in precarious safety. After the war they emigrated together to Canada. Jakob's story is told through diaries discovered by Ben, a! young man whose parents are Holocaust survivors and who is a vessel for their memories just as Jakob is the bearer of his own.

Fugitive Pieces is a book about memory and forgetting. How is it possible to love the living when our hearts are still with the dead? What is the difference between what historical fact tells us and what we remember? More than that, the novel is a meditation on the power of language to free our souls and allow us to find our own destinies.A New York Times Notable Book of the YearWinner of the Lannan Literary Fiction AwardWinner of the Guardian Fiction AwardIn 1940 a boy bursts from the mud of a war-torn Polish city, where he has buried himself to hide from the soldiers who murdered his family. His name is Jakob Beer. He is only seven years old. And although by all rights he should have shared the fate of the other Jews in his village, he has not only survived but been rescued by a Greek geologist, who does not recognize ! the boy as human until he begins to cry. With this electrifyin! g image, Anne Michaels ushers us into her rapturously acclaimed novel of loss, memory, history, and redemption.As Michaels follows Jakob across two continents, she lets us witness his transformation from a half-wild casualty of the Holocaust to an artist who extracts meaning from its abyss. Filled with mysterious symmetries and rendered in heart-stopping prose, Fugitive Pieces is a triumphant work, a book that should not so much be read as it should be surrendered to.


From the Trade Paperback edition.Adapted from Anne Michael's acclaimed prose-poem novel, FUGITIVE PIECES is a harrowing and haunting tale of Holocaust survival and personal awakening. The film opens in Poland, as young Jakob Berr (Robbie Kay) is hidden away just before German soldiers storm into his Jewish family's home. After watching his parents murdered and his sister dragged away to an uncertain fate, Jakob flees and hides in the woods. He is discovered by a kindly Greek archaeologist, Atho! s (Rade Sherbedgia), who smuggles the sickly Jakob back to his own island home and hides him for the rest of the war. Years later, having moved to Canada, the grownup Jakob (Stephen Dillane) has become a writer struggling to articulate his childhood horrors, haunted by the mystery of his sister's fate. But after his troubled emotions lead to the breakup of his marriage to the free-spirited Alex (Rosamund Pike), Jakob must exorcise the ghosts of his past if he is to close a traumatic chapter of his life and find beauty in the present. Director Jeremy Podeswa (THE FIVE SENSES) ably shifts between the different stages of Jakob's life, showing how grief can continue to influence one's actions--or inaction--in the years that follow a tragedy. Handsomely shot and thoughtfully acted, FUGITIVE PIECES is a touching testimony to the power of remembrance and redemption

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