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Video / DVD

New releases

A look at what's coming to the shelves

By Times Staff
Published August 11, 2005

BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE

DIRECTOR: Wayne Wang

CAST: AnnaSophia Robb, Jeff Daniels, Cicely Tyson, Dave Matthews, Eva Marie Saint, Harland Williams, Elle Fanning

SYNOPSIS: Based on Kate DiCamillo's novel, it tells the story of a 10-year-old girl (Robb), her small-town preacher father (Daniels) and the dog she befriends in a Winn-Dixie store (hence the name) during their first summer in a fictional Florida town.

WHAT WE SAID: St. Petersburg Times film critic Steve Persall gave the movie a B-. It's a pleasant palate cleanser after so many cynical, crude-natured films selling themselves as family entertainment, he wrote, but it's inoffensive almost to a fault. "Practically everyone . . . is a saint in training, and their worst crisis is getting the egg salad sandwiches soggy during a lawn party," he wrote. "The movie bends over backward to keep everything fantastically feel-good, like some new wave of science fiction."

MPAA RATING: PG; mature themes, briefly crude language

RUNNING TIME: 100 min.

DIRECTOR: Stephen Chow

CAST: Stephen Chow, Yuen Qiu, Yuen Wah, Lam Chi Chung

SYNOPSIS: In this martial arts spoof set in 1940s Shanghai, a criminal wanna-be (Chow) aspires to join a gang that's trying to take over a section of the city that, unknown to it, is a kind of retirement home for aged martial arts masters.

WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave the movie a B-. "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever, and Kung Fu Hustle staggers the entire length of it," he wrote. "At times, Stephen Chow's martial arts comedy is giddily brilliant. But it's just as likely to toss away juicy ideas before we finish enjoying them. Often they're replaced by material so bizarre that it can't be explained, and Chow doesn't try."

MPAA RATING: R; sequences of strong, stylized action and violence

RUNNING TIME: 95 min.

DIRECTOR: Agnes Jaoui

CAST: Jean-Pierre Bacri, Marilou Berry, Virginie Desarnauts, Agnes Jaoui, Laurent Grevill

SYNOPSIS: A look at the dysfunctional relationship between a famous, self-centered author (Bacri) and the child he wishes he had never had (Berry), and how their tension corrodes all their family, and friendly, ties.

WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave the movie a B+. Its simple truths and Jaoui's avoidance of melodramatic cliches make the theme of this French film universal, he wrote. "Look at Me is sharply written, well-acted and admirably muted about its emotions," he said.

MPAA RATING: PG-13; brief language, a sexual reference

RUNNING TIME: 110 min.

[Last modified August 10, 2005, 13:50:09]