Coming Distractions September 2nd, 2008

What's new? It's the Debut! (Tuesday)

The Office - 4th Season
Married Life
The Promotion
Then She Found Me

Then She Found Me is directed by and starring Helen Hunt as a New York schoolteacher who has a midlife crisis as a series of unfortunate events befall her. The sight of our own young Vermonters heading back to school (re: front page Burlington Free Press), and our college-level pupils re-populating the town got us thinking about all those great Inspirational Teacher Movies.

Dangerous Minds
To Sir, With Love
Half Nelson
Dead Poets' Society
Mr. Hollands' Opus
Rushmore
The Emperor's Club
Blackboard Jungle
Stand and Deliver
Kindergarten Cop
Lean on Me
Music of the Heart
Freedom Writers
The Principal
School of Rock
Mona Lisa Smile
Take the Lead
Only the Strong
The Man Without a Face
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
Renaissance Man
Finding Forrester
Educating Rita
The King and I
Teachers
187
Election
Conrack
High School High
Up the Down Staircase
Hamlet 2

Coming Distractions August 26th, 2008

Be in Waterfront Video on Tuesday for the birth of these little DVD babies onto our New Release Shelves!

The Shield - 6th Season
Heroes - 2nd Season
Entourage - 4th Season
Redbelt
Son of Rambow
Postal
August
Chicago 10
What Happens in Vegas
Lynch


Nighttime temperatures have taken a sudden plunge and our coming distractions list has doubled in length. Our ever-growing collection of DVDs has demanded an increase in behind-the-counter space and on Wednesday August 27th, 2008 our store will close at 9:00 p.m. (as opposed to standard closing hour of 11:00 p.m.) for rug maintenance.

Yes, change is in the air.

In an effort to soothe ourselves during all this newness and the encroaching switch of the seasons, we have gathered together a list of rentals to honor those "masters of the custodial arts."


Half-Baked
Good Will Hunting
Billy Madison
Breakfast Club
Scrubs
Gattaca
In the Realms of the Unreal
The Bad Seed
Urban Legend
Enchanted
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (sometimes cleaning needs be mental)

Coming Distractions August 19th, 2008

Soon on DVD. Tuesday!

Gossip Girl - Season 1
House - Season 4 M.D.
Dexter - Season 2
Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day
The Life Before Her Eyes
Street Kings
Recount
An American Crime
Prom Night

In honor of the imminent DVD debut of the remake of Prom Night, here is a list of a few of the best, and the worst, movies that are concerned with both teenagers and murder/mayhem, in no particular order:

I Know Who Killed Me
Cheerleader Murdering Mom
Carrie
Carrie 2: The Rage
Disturbing Behavior
When a Stranger Calls
The Faculty
I Know What You Did Last Summer



The Craft
The Crush
Swimfan
Nightmare on Elm Street
Heathers
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Serial Mom
Fear
Prom Night (1980, with Jamie Lee Curtis)


And some more festive horror with, you know, parties and holidays and the like:

Valentine (with Katherine Heigl, who claims to have not read the entire script before agreeing to be in the film)
Black Christmas
Friday the 13th
April Fool's Day
My Bloody Valentine
Halloween
Gremlins
Leprechaun
Jack Frost
Slumber Party Massacre

Coming Distractions August 12th, 2008

Once you've calmed down from the Festival of Fools this weekend, you can rent these new releases on Tuesday:

the wire - season 5
south park - season 11
smart people
cj7
Irina Palm




And once you've watched those you can attend the Lake Champlain Maritime Festival (August 15th-17th) which is following close on the heels of the Dragon Boat Festival that you hopefully did not miss (August 3rd) despite the dreary weather. Also, don't miss the Dog Festival at Shelburne Museum which will occur sometime in the near future. Check back regularly for more information on Festivals.


But, despite my enthusiasm for festivals, I might forget to update about other festivals because the second season of No Reservations, Anthony Bourdain's food-travel show came out on DVD this past tuesday. Anthony Bourdain is a New York chef and the author of Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (a fast-paced memoir revealing the seedy side of the life of in restaurant kitchen- or at least the life a chef who smokes 2 packs of cigarettes a day and has a great aplomb for the drink and other various intoxicants). No longer on the illegal drugs, but still smoking prodigiously, Bourdain drags his cynical self to such places Cincinnati and Singapore for signature dishes such as head cheese and chicken rice, respectively, and always learns life-lessons along the way. Bourdain is, admittedly, a total blowhard, but if you happen to know anybody who has achieved the perfect mix of curmudgeonly attitudes and loveable enthusiasms you will understand how he can at least be enjoyed.

Well, that's enough about Bourdain - we should all be out either enjoying this short break in our monsoon season, or just watching more of The Wire (because I know that's what you really want to be doing - don't even bother to deny it, I've fielded those anxious phone calls.)

Coming Distractions August 5th, 2008

New on DVD next Tuesday:

The Counterfeiters
My Brother is an Only Child
Nim's Island
The Killing of John Lennon

She and Him, composed of actress Zooey Deschanel and musician M. Ward, have just released their first video for the single Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? (warning: unrealistic violence and very cute dance-swaying contained within.) Deschanel, star of The Happening, Flakes (new on DVD), Tin Man, and All The Real Girls, has successfully mixed her dual artistic careers by contributing to the soundtracks of several movies in which she appeared, such as Bridge to Terabithia and Elf.

Note on M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening: Can you really run from the wind? I haven't had the opportunity to try it yet, but if you have, please leave a note below.

The soundtrack for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, to which Zooey Deschanel also lent her sweet monotone crooning, was composed by Nick Cave (of band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) with bandmate Warren Ellis. Nick Cave also wrote the screenplay (and the music, again with Ellis) for the incomparable Australian western The Proposition.


I am sure some of our fine customers do not need to see Meryl Streep gleefully jumping around in the musical Mammia Mia! (adapted from the stage and now in theaters, and also starring Amanda Seyfried (of Mean Girls), Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard, and Colin Firth) to be reminded of how much fun ABBA songs are. These ABBAholics may already know that ABBA: The Movie (which has been called "eminently watchable") was recently released to DVD. Look for it in the band section of Waterfront Video, or possibly on the screen behind the counter when this particular employee is next working. Which film is a better representation of the Swedish pop band's wholesome enthusiasm? I leave that pressing question for you to decide.