Close Your Eyes

• ISBN13: 9780374313821
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

2011 album from the Texas-based melodic Hardcore band.In Close Your Eyes, the author of the bestselling How to Be Lost spins another mesmerizing tale of buried family secrets.

For most of her life, Lauren Mahdian has been certain of two things: that her mother is dead, and that her father is a murderer.

Before the horrific tragedy, Lauren led a sheltered life in a wealthy corner of America, in a town outside Manhattan on the banks of Long Island Sound, a haven of luxurious homes, manicured lawns, and seemingly perfect families. Here Lauren and her older brother, Alex, thought they were safe.

But one morning, six-year-old Lauren and eight-year-old Alex awoke after a ni! ght spent in their tree house to discover their mother’s body and their beloved father arrested for the murder.

Years later, Lauren is surrounded by uncertainty. Her one constant is Alex, always her protector, still trying to understand the unraveling of his idyllic childhood. But Lauren feels even more alone when Alex reveals that he’s been in contact over the years with their imprisoned fatherâ€"and that he believes he and his sister have yet to learn the full story of their mother’s death.

Then Alex disappears.

As Lauren is forced to peek under the floorboards of her carefully constructed memories, she comes to question the version of her history that she has clung to so fiercely. Lauren’s search for the truth about what happened on that fateful night so many years ago is a riveting tale that will keep readers feverishly turning pages. A Letter from Author Amanda Eyre Ward
I grew up in Rye, New York, a small town outside of New York City. In 1988, I was sixteen years old. I smoked cigarettes in my room, thinking Trident gum would mask the scent. I made a fake ID and laminated it at the library, then used the ID to visit bars in nearby towns: Bumper’s, Streets, Tammany Hall.

On January 1, 1989, my friends and I woke up, heads pounding, in the living room of a stranger’s apartment in Manhattan. We walked to Grand Central and rode the Stamford local back to Rye. By mid-day, we heard that during the midnight hours of New Year’s Eve, there had been a murder in Larchmont, a neighboring town.

An Indian couple, both doctors, had been stabbed to death in their bedroom, throats slashed, their bodies mutilated. It seemed impossible that something like ! this could happen in the suburbs. Fear travelled silently along the Boston Post Road, past Baskin Robbins and the Smoke Shop, to Dogwood Lane, where I lived with my family in a stunningly beautiful home. To me, the message was clear: danger was everywhere.

The murder was not solved. Four-and-a-half years went by. My parents split up, and I went to college. I thought about the murder from time to time, trying to understand how a stranger had broken the spell of Rye, smashed through the safety we had all thought money could buy.

In 1993, we found out that the murderer was one of us, a teenage boy, a local. The son of a bank president. He had been blind drunk, he told a room full of people at an AA meeting. He was afraid he may have broken a door pane, entered his childhood home, where his family no longer lived, taken a knife from a kitchen drawer, and savagely attacked the strangers sleeping in his parents’ bedroom. He later said he didn’t remember anything! about it. He had been in an alcoholic blackout, but now he ha! d nightm ares.

At his trial, a psychiatrist said, "Probably the most typical behavior during a blackout is finding the way home....It's almost as if he were going back in time and eliminating the people that he sought to blame for all his problems back when he was seven years old."

He is now in jail.

The story of the New Year’s Eve murder has always stayed with me, and eventually evolved into Close Your Eyes. I think, in writing the book, I wanted not only to understand what happened to a boy who was one of us, what made him into a murderer, but also to create a world where this wrong was righted, and a broken town was sewn back together. I wanted to imagine a town that was loving and safe, a place that might never have existed in real life.

CD We Will Overcome

A little tiger takes an imaginative journey

The little tiger lay on his back in the tall grass.
"Close your eyes, little tiger," said his mother, "and go to ! sleep."

But the little tiger is worried about what sleep might bring.
His mother reassures him that once he closes his eyes, he will dream of magical places. And when he awakens, she will be right there, waiting for him.

Alternating between real-life scenes with the baby tiger and his mother and enchanted dream scenes of sleep's possibilities, Kate Banks's simple, comforting text and Georg Hallensleben's bright, colorful illustrations make this a charming bedtime story for small children.

 

Close Your Eyes is a 2002 New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Book of the Year and a 2003 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

A mother tiger wants her baby to go to sleep, but the little tiger resists. "'If I close my eyes,' he said, 'I can't see the sky.'" She assures him that he will not only see the sky when he sleeps, but will float among clouds and be cradled by the moon. Not in t! he least assured, the little tiger complains that if he clos! es his e yes, he will miss seeing the tree and the bird with blue feathers. With each concern, his mother consoles him with a comforting thought. If this gentle give-and-take were not calming enough for a bedtime story, Hallensleben's lovely dreamscapes (And If the Moon Could Talk) will surely do the trick. Double-page paintings of cloud animal shapes (with the little tiger cozying up with the moon), the "big mountains where the rain lives," and of mother tiger licking her baby are utterly hypnotic. Young children who are afraid to go to sleep will learn that "Dark is just the other side of light. It's what comes before dreams" and that mom is never very far away. (Ages 3 to 6) --Karin Snelson

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After.Life

• AFTER.LIFE (DVD MOVIE)

A young woman caught between life and death.. And a funeral director who appears to have the gift of transitioning the dead but might just be intent on burying her alive. Studio: Tcfhe/anchor Bay/starz Release Date: 08/03/2010 Starring: Christina Ricci Liam Neeson Run time: 104 minutes Rating: R Director: Agnieszka Wojtowicz-voslooQuite a few folks in the movies have seen dead people, especially since The Sixth Sense, but After.Life gives this by-now-familiar conceit an intriguing spin. As director-cowriter Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo's 2009 film would have it, the deceased aren't exactly dead. At least not yet; in the days between whatever killed them and the moment they're put in a box and lowered six feet under, they're caught in some kind of purgatory, no longer alive but still able to move and communicate. Not to everyone, of course; only Eliot D! eacon (Liam Neeson) has the ability, be it a gift or a curse, to converse with these infernal travelers as he readies them for their final rest in the basement of his funeral home. That's where he meets Anna Taylor (Christina Ricci), who died in a car crash following a nasty argument with her boyfriend, Paul (Justin Long). Anna, not surprisingly, is in denial. How can she be dead, when she can still walk, talk, and experience emotions? Well, it's complicated, but Eliot's there to help her sort it all out--that is, unless he's up to something considerably more sinister, a question that remains in doubt even at the very end. After.Life has a cool concept, a good look, an ominous vibe (driven by former Tangerine Dream member Paul Haslinger's relentlessly spacy, downbeat musical score), and some fine performances. But movies like this depend on the rules and boundaries the filmmakers establish. In The Sixth Sense, those rules ("dead people don't know they're dead,! " etc.) are simple and consistent. Here they're a bit more con! fusing. How can the deceased wield a knife, open a locked door, or even make a phone call? If Anna is dead, why can she still see her breath on a windowpane? The willingness to accept such things may well affect one's appreciation of this very absorbing film. --Sam Graham

Bullet

• BulletMickey Rourke and rap music star Tupac Shakur, in one of his final film roles, star in this gritty urban thriller about what it takes to survive on the street. Also starring Ted Levine, it's a stylish mix of brutality and revenge, it journeys into the dark and underground world of two men who share a bitter hatred and grudging respect. Like Pulp Fiction it is one of the new breed of action f

A classic example of a good idea ruined by Hollywood formulas. Jim Belushi and Tupac Shakur (in his last performance) are two corrupt cops with an effective scheme: they rob and kill drug dealers. Unfortunately, one of their victims turns out to be an undercover agent for the DEA, and the two bad cops have to scramble to find a suspect to pin the murder on. Soon they're caught in a web of missing evidence, false witnesses, and frayed nerves--Gang Related could have been a lean film noir, slow! ly tightening until the men break under the pressure. Unfortunately, this isn't the 1940s, and suddenly the plot takes an absurd twist into the most melodramatic coincidence imaginable. It's too bad. Also featuring the lovely Lela Rochon, James Earl Jones, David Paymer, and a surprise performance by Dennis Quaid. --Bret Fetzer Two killers are hiding where no one will ever find them...behind their badges! Tupac Shakur (in hisfinal and most riveting performance) and James Belushi are two corrupt police detectives caught in a dangerous web of deceit in this "gritty, smart and tough" (CBS-TV) action thriller that will hold you in its grip from start to finish. Detectives Divinci (Belushi) and Rodriguez (Shakur) practice their own deadly brand of street justice: They set up drug deals, seize the money for themselves and then murder the dealers. It's a lucrative racket that has worked without a hitch for months. But when they discover that their latest victim was an under! cover officer with the Drug Enforcement Agency, the two corrup! t cops a re forced to initiate a dangerous scheme to save their own lives. And as their "foolproof" plan begins to spin madly out of control, Divinci and Rodriguez are trapped in a tornado of suspicion, betrayal and murder in which they can trust no one...not even each other.A classic example of a good idea ruined by Hollywood formulas. Jim Belushi and Tupac Shakur (in his last performance) are two corrupt cops with an effective scheme: they rob and kill drug dealers. Unfortunately, one of their victims turns out to be an undercover agent for the DEA, and the two bad cops have to scramble to find a suspect to pin the murder on. Soon they're caught in a web of missing evidence, false witnesses, and frayed nerves--Gang Related could have been a lean film noir, slowly tightening until the men break under the pressure. Unfortunately, this isn't the 1940s, and suddenly the plot takes an absurd twist into the most melodramatic coincidence imaginable. It's too bad. Also featuring the! lovely Lela Rochon, James Earl Jones, David Paymer, and a surprise performance by Dennis Quaid. --Bret Fetzer When their friend Cookie o.d.'s, best buddies and musicians Spoon (Tupac Shakur) and Stretch (Tim Roth) decide it's time to kick their drug habit by putting themselves into detox. But they soon discover that the road to rehab is paved with reams of social service red tape. Spoon and Stretch are just trying to stay alive until they can get treatment. But, between the angry drug dealers, the cops who have mistaken them for murderers, and the people with forms and clipboards, this turns into a task of epic proportions. Thus enfolds their comic adventure to sobriety- a hilarious, action-packed journey from A to Z and back again. Starring: Tim Roth, Tupac Shakur, Thandie Newton Directed by: Vondie Curtis-HallBritish actor Tim Roth and the rapper Tupac Shakur are an unexpectedly charismatic and refreshing duo in this off-beat buddy movie. Closer than two brot! hers, these junkie musicians vow to kick their habits after a ! soul-sha ttering New Year's Eve. Gridlock'd is fueled by characterization, of which there is plenty, as the two play off one another with such finesse you would never know Shakur had been a relative novice to the acting profession. Off-beat humor lightens a bleak reality as these outcasts run smack against a brutal bureaucracy. Except for a tired subplot meant to jazz up the action, director Vondie Curtis-Hall employs an inventive approach in this sadly ignored theatrical release. --Rochelle O'Gorman Bullet Mickey Rourke and rap music star Tupac Shakur, in one of his final film roles, star in this gritty urban thriller about what it takes to survive on the street. Also starring Ted Levine, it's a stylish mix of brutality and revenge, it journeys into the dark and underground world of two men who share a bitter hatred and grudging respect. Like Pulp Fiction it is one of the new breed of action films-powerful, violent and real. Mickey Rourke is Butch "Bullet" Stein and th! e late Tupac Shakur is Tank in this stylish, Julien Temple-directed crime drama. Narrative is secondary to atmosphere in the violent, yet sensitive tale of an ex-con (Rourke) attempting to adjust to life on the outside. The minute Bullet emerges from the pen, however, the blood and profanity begin to flow just as freely as the references to Dali and Picasso (his younger brother is an artist). His drug problem is bad enough, but the biggest threat comes from the Kangol-sporting, eye-patched Tank, who intends to get his revenge for the eye Bullet took from him. Classical music and opera, meanwhile, bump up against hip-hop and Barry White. Despite the billing, this is Rourke's show all the way and Tupac's part is quite small in comparison. Ted Levine (The Silence of the Lambs) and Adrien Brody (The Pianist) star as Bullet's eccentric brothers. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Alex Toys Rub A Dub Dirty Dogs

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In the tradition of Training Day and Man on Fire, Academy Award winner Cuba Gooding, Jr. (Jerry Maguire) stars in this hard-edged story of a gangbanger turned cop who is forced to choose between his conscience and his loyalty to the code of blue all in the course of one day.

Having been a gangbanger at only 10 years old, Armando Sancho (Clifton Collins, Jr., Capote) always found acceptance in being a part of a group. The only thing better than king of the street? ' a gangster with a badge. Recruited into an undercover, rogue anti-gang unit of the LAPD at only 28 years old, Sancho brings his street smarts into the force that he swore to protect.

But the line between loyalty and protection becomes blurred when! one night on a routine investigation, Sancho's partner Salim (Gooding) kills an innocent man. Unable to deal with his partner's actions and haunted by his conscience, Sancho agrees to testify against his superiors regarding the ongoing criminal enterprises of his squad in exchange for immunity for the murder.

As the hours wear on, Sancho's resolve begins to fade. The IA agents inform him his deal is off unless he can also bring in his partner to corroborate his testimony. Faced with a seemingly impossible task, Sancho realizes for the first time the enormity of the decision he has made.This is what happenedÂ…

I met him at the candy store.

He turned and smiled at me and I was surprised enough to smile back. This was not a children's candy store, mind youâ€"this was the kind of place you went to buy expensive imported chocolate truffles for your boss's wife because you felt guilty for having sex with him when you were both at a conference in Milwaukee.

!

Hypothetically speaking, of course.

I've been hit on! plenty of times, mostly by men with little finesse who thought what was between their legs made up for what they lacked between their ears.

Sometimes I went home with them anyway, just because it felt good to want and be wanted, even if it was mostly fake.

The problem with wanting is that it's like pouring water into a vase full of stones. It fills you up before you know it, leaving no room for anything else. I don't apologize for who I am or what I've done inâ€"or outâ€"of bed.

I have my job, my house and my life, and for a long time I haven't wanted anything else.

Until Dan. Until now.This is what happened…
I met him at the candy store.
He turned and smiled at me and I was surprised enough to smile back. This was not a children's candy store, mind youâ€"this was the kind of place you went to buy expensive imported chocolate truffles for your boss's wife because you felt guilty for having sex with him when you were both at a conference in Mi! lwaukee.

Hypothetically speaking, of course.

I've been hit on plenty of times, mostly by men with little finesse who thought what was between their legs made up for what they lacked between their ears.

Sometimes I went home with them anyway, just because it felt good to want and be wanted, even if it was mostly fake.

The problem with wanting is that it's like pouring water into a vase full of stones. It fills you up before you know it, leaving no room for anything else. I don't apologize for who I am or what I've done inâ€"or outâ€"of bed.

I have my job, my house and my life, and for a long time I haven't wanted anything else.

Until Dan. Until now.

This is what happened…
I met him at the candy store.
He turned and smiled at me and I was surprised enough to smile back. This was not a children's candy store, mind youâ€"this was the kind of place you went to buy expensive imported chocolate truffles for your boss's wife bec! ause you felt guilty for having sex with him when you were bot! h at a c onference in Milwaukee.

Hypothetically speaking, of course.

I've been hit on plenty of times, mostly by men with little finesse who thought what was between their legs made up for what they lacked between their ears.

Sometimes I went home with them anyway, just because it felt good to want and be wanted, even if it was mostly fake.

The problem with wanting is that it's like pouring water into a vase full of stones. It fills you up before you know it, leaving no room for anything else. I don't apologize for who I am or what I've done inâ€"or outâ€"of bed.

I have my job, my house and my life, and for a long time I haven't wanted anything else.

Until Dan. Until now.

"Smart, savvy, sexy and a slammin' great read. I LOVE Jackie Mercer!" ~Cindy Gerard, NYT bestselling author DECEPTION Jackie Mercer can’t abide deception. Hey, a woman who single-handedly built the Mercer Detective Agency from the ground up has a right to expect hone! sty in a relationship. Tell that to the creep who, only this morning, she thought might be Mr. Right. Wrong! DANGER Her day only gets worse from there. An ominous message arrives accompanied by the photo of a man she hasn’t seen in ten years: You were the last one to see him alive. DESIRE Jackie's own first rule is simple: never mix business with pleasure. Unfortunately the only applicant for the investigator position she badly needs filled is a hunky younger man. Derrick Dawson has pleasure written all over his rock-hard body and soon both her business and her world quickly spin way out of control. Time for chocolate and a shot of Old No. 7â€"not necessarily in that order. DISASTER She’s in real trouble when a second message, this one including a dead body, drops into the mix. Jackie does what any smart Texas woman would do: she kicks butt and takes names, while the mystery spiraling around her long lost lover and her attraction to Derrick Dawson plunge ! her into a tangled web of shocking secrets and deadly deceptio! ns. Jackie has her hands full and her heart on the lineâ€"time to play DIRTY.Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing includes one bonus track. Universal. 2008.A must-buy for any teen or twentysomething who considers themselves the least bit cool. With Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore swopping leads, it's a beautifully paced disc exploding with beatific beats, white-noise assaults and great, grungy pop ("Sugar Kane," "Chapel Hill"). --Jeff Bateman In the summer of 1963, innocent 17-year-old Baby (Grey) vacations with her parents at a Catskill's resort. One evening, she is drawn to the staff quarters by stirring music. There she meets Johnny, the hotel dance instructor, who is as experienced as Baby is naive. Baby soon becomes Johnny's pupil in dance and love.
Stills from Dirty Dancing: Limited Keepsake Edition (Click for larger image)
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Law Abiding Citizen

• LAW ABIDING CITIZEN (DVD MOVIE)

Gerard Butler stars as Kable, condemned criminal and globally famous super-soldier in the ultimate multiplayer game, "Slayers.” Human controllers direct each thought and move of real-life prison inmates battling in hyper-intense environments â€" where the goal is freedom and the penalty is death. But when Kable suddenly decides he wants out, his rebellion threatens the twisted plans of game creator Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall, TV’s "Dexter”), who will stop at nothing to crush the renegade commando in this taut, adrenaline-packed action-thriller.Frenzied and relentlessly aggressive, Gamer seeks to translate the sensory barrage of violent video games into movie form--and does a pretty successful job. In a dystopic future, prisoners on death row are given a slim chance of survival as flesh-and-blood avatars for shoot-'em-up game players who control th! eir very brains. The mastermind behind this game (played by Michael C. Hall, Dexter) has secret ambitions worthy of a James Bond villain, but his schemes are threatened by John Tillman (Gerard Butler, 300), the only living avatar who's survived more than a few games--so Tillman's already dangerous life turns even more deadly. Gamer revels in overkill: visual tricks abound as the action speeds up or slows down, skittering to and fro with jump cuts and flashes of light. The dialogue is a catalog of macho posturing or melodramatic exposition. The performances--from a surprising cast that includes Alison Lohman (Drag Me to Hell), Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), Chris "Ludacris" Bridges (Crash), and supermodel Amber Valletta--play cartoonish characters with exuberant gusto and commitment. By conventional standards, Gamer is a terrible movie… but the movie's creators don't care, because they aspire to step beyond conventional standar! ds. As with their previous adrenaline-driven flick Crank, the w riter-director team of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor want viewers to plug in, turn off their rational minds, and immerse themselves in sheer sensation. --Bret Fetzer

!

Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 01/19/2010 Run time: 95 minutes Rating: RGerard Butler stars as Kable, condemned criminal and globally famous super-soldier in the ultimate multiplayer game, "Slayers.” Human controllers direct each thought and move of real-life prison inmates battling in hyper-intense environments â€" where the goal is freedom and the penalty is death. But when Kable suddenly decides he wants out, his rebellion threatens the twisted plans of game creator Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall, TV’s "Dexter”), who will stop at nothing to crush the renegade commando in this taut, adrenaline-packed action-thriller.

Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) is an upstanding family man whose wife and daughter are brutally murdered during a home invasion. When the killers are caught, Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx), a hotshot young Philadelphia prosecutor, is assigned to the case. Over his objections, Nick is forced by his boss to offer one of the suspects a light sentence in exchange for testifying against his accomplice. Fast forward ten years. The man who got away with murder is found dead and Clyde Shelton admits his guilt. Then he issues a warning! to Nick: Either fix the flawed justice system, or key players in the trial will die. Soon Shelton follows through on his threats, orchestrating from his jail cell a string of spectacularly diabolical assassinations that can be neither predicted nor prevented. Only Nick can stop the killing and finds himself in a desperate race against time facing a deadly adversary who seems always to be one step ahead.The legal thriller meets the serial-killer shocker in Law Abiding Citizen. The story begins when home invaders kill Clyde Shelton's wife and daughter. The bereaved father (played by a thoroughly unsympathetic Gerard Butler) looks to slick Philly prosecutor Nick Rice (a low-key Jamie Foxx) to see that they receive the maximum sentence. Instead, the murderer, Ames, testifies against his accomplice, Darby, who gets the chair, while he gets 10 years. Upon his release, Ames' mutilated body turns up in an abandoned warehouse, and all roads lead to Shelton. Rice attempts to defend! him, but his client makes it impossible--Shelton wants to go ! to priso n--so he does time, but then members of Rice’s legal team start to die. The attorney suspects Shelton, but can't connect him to the crimes, so he races against the clock to save the lives of his assistant, Sarah (Leslie Bibb), D.A. Jonas (Bruce McGill), and his own wife and child. The movie may sound like a Yank reboot of the Japanese chiller Cure, in which an inmate kills from inside institutional walls, but plays more like a mash-up between The Silence of the Lambs, without the psychological complexity, and The Devil's Advocate, without the cynical giggles. F. Gary Gray got his start with hip-hop videos and urban action flicks, like Set It Off, until he hit the big time with his remake of The Italian Job. Law Abiding Citizen is a disappointing muddle from a director who's done better in the past and will surely do better in the future. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Stills from Law Abiding Citizen (Click for larger image)

Chocolat

• ISBN13: 9780140282030
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

With movies like Chocolat, it's always best to relax your intellectual faculties and absorb the abundant sensual pleasures, be it the heart-stopping smile of chocolatier Juliette Binoche as she greets a new customer, an intoxicating cup of spiced hot cocoa, or the soothing guitar of an Irish gypsy played by Johnny Depp. Adapted by Robert Nelson Jacobs from Joanne Harris's popular novel and lovingly directed by Lasse Hallström, the film covers familiar territory and deals in broad metaphors that even a child could comprehend, so it's no surprise that some critics panned it with killjoy fervor. Their objections miss the point. Familiarity can be comforting and so can easy metaphors when placed! in a fable that's as warmly inviting as this one.

Driven by fate, Vianne (Binoche) drifts into a tranquil French village with her daughter Anouk (Victoire Thivisol, from Ponette) in the winter of 1959. Her newly opened chocolatier is a source of attraction and fear, since Vianne's ability to revive the villagers' passions threatens to disrupt their repressive traditions. The pious mayor (Alfred Molina) sees Vianne as the enemy, and his war against her peaks with the arrival of "river rats" led by Roux (Depp), whose attraction to Vianne is immediate and reciprocal. Splendid subplots involve a battered wife (Lena Olin), a village elder (Judi Dench), and her estranged daughter (Carrie-Anne Moss), and while the film's broader strokes may be regrettable (if not for Molina's rich performance, the mayor would be a caricature), its subtleties are often sublime. Chocolat reminds you of life's simple pleasures and invites you to enjoy them. --Jeff ShannonNom! inated for 5 Academy Awards(R) including Best Picture, Best Ac! tress (J uliette Binoche -- THE ENGLISH PATIENT), and Best Supporting Actress (Judi Dench -- SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE), CHOCOLAT is the beautiful and captivating comedy from the acclaimed director of THE CIDER HOUSE RULES! Nobody could have imagined the impact that the striking Vianne (Binoche) would make when she arrived in a tranquil, old-fashioned French town. In her very unusual chocolate shop, Vianne begins to create mouth-watering confections that almost magically inspire the straitlaced villagers to abandon themselves to temptation and happiness! But it is not until another stranger, the handsome Roux (Johnny Depp -- SLEEPY HOLLOW), arrives in town that Vianne is finally able to recognize her own desires!With movies like Chocolat, it's always best to relax your intellectual faculties and absorb the abundant sensual pleasures, be it the heart-stopping smile of chocolatier Juliette Binoche as she greets a new customer, an intoxicating cup of spiced hot cocoa, or the soothing g! uitar of an Irish gypsy played by Johnny Depp. Adapted by Robert Nelson Jacobs from Joanne Harris's popular novel and lovingly directed by Lasse Hallström, the film covers familiar territory and deals in broad metaphors that even a child could comprehend, so it's no surprise that some critics panned it with killjoy fervor. Their objections miss the point. Familiarity can be comforting and so can easy metaphors when placed in a fable that's as warmly inviting as this one.

Driven by fate, Vianne (Binoche) drifts into a tranquil French village with her daughter Anouk (Victoire Thivisol, from Ponette) in the winter of 1959. Her newly opened chocolatier is a source of attraction and fear, since Vianne's ability to revive the villagers' passions threatens to disrupt their repressive traditions. The pious mayor (Alfred Molina) sees Vianne as the enemy, and his war against her peaks with the arrival of "river rats" led by Roux (Depp), whose attraction to Vianne is im! mediate and reciprocal. Splendid subplots involve a battered w! ife (Len a Olin), a village elder (Judi Dench), and her estranged daughter (Carrie-Anne Moss), and while the film's broader strokes may be regrettable (if not for Molina's rich performance, the mayor would be a caricature), its subtleties are often sublime. Chocolat reminds you of life's simple pleasures and invites you to enjoy them. --Jeff ShannonChocolate is the beautiful and captivating comedy from the acclaimed director of the Cider House Rules! Nobody could have imagined the impact that the striking Vianne(Binoche) would make when she arrived in a tranquil, old-fashioned French town. In her very unusual chocolate shop, Vianne begins to create mouth-watering confections that almost magically inspire the strailaced villagers to abandon themselves to temptation and happiness! But it is not until another stranger, the handsome Roux arrives in town that Vianne is finally able to recognize her own desires!With movies like Chocolat, it's always best to relax your ! intellectual faculties and absorb the abundant sensual pleasures, be it the heart-stopping smile of chocolatier Juliette Binoche as she greets a new customer, an intoxicating cup of spiced hot cocoa, or the soothing guitar of an Irish gypsy played by Johnny Depp. Adapted by Robert Nelson Jacobs from Joanne Harris's popular novel and lovingly directed by Lasse Hallström, the film covers familiar territory and deals in broad metaphors that even a child could comprehend, so it's no surprise that some critics panned it with killjoy fervor. Their objections miss the point. Familiarity can be comforting and so can easy metaphors when placed in a fable that's as warmly inviting as this one.

Driven by fate, Vianne (Binoche) drifts into a tranquil French village with her daughter Anouk (Victoire Thivisol, from Ponette) in the winter of 1959. Her newly opened chocolatier is a source of attraction and fear, since Vianne's ability to revive the villagers' passions threat! ens to disrupt their repressive traditions. The pious mayor (A! lfred Mo lina) sees Vianne as the enemy, and his war against her peaks with the arrival of "river rats" led by Roux (Depp), whose attraction to Vianne is immediate and reciprocal. Splendid subplots involve a battered wife (Lena Olin), a village elder (Judi Dench), and her estranged daughter (Carrie-Anne Moss), and while the film's broader strokes may be regrettable (if not for Molina's rich performance, the mayor would be a caricature), its subtleties are often sublime. Chocolat reminds you of life's simple pleasures and invites you to enjoy them. --Jeff ShannonJuliette Binoche and Johnny Depp star in the “delicious” (Good Morning America) romantic comedy that swept audiences off their feet and earned 5 Oscar® nominations including Best Picture. When Vianne (Binoche) arrives into a sleepy, old-fashioned French village and opens a chocolate shop, she sends the townspeople into a flutter with her uniquely gifted treats. Before long the straitlaced villagers find them! selves abandoning their reservations and succumbing to their deepest desires! But when the handsome stranger Roux (Depp) breezes into town, Vianne discovers that she too is susceptible to the charms of love in this sweet confection from the director of The Cider House Rules.With movies like Chocolat, it's always best to relax your intellectual faculties and absorb the abundant sensual pleasures, be it the heart-stopping smile of chocolatier Juliette Binoche as she greets a new customer, an intoxicating cup of spiced hot cocoa, or the soothing guitar of an Irish gypsy played by Johnny Depp. Adapted by Robert Nelson Jacobs from Joanne Harris's popular novel and lovingly directed by Lasse Hallström, the film covers familiar territory and deals in broad metaphors that even a child could comprehend, so it's no surprise that some critics panned it with killjoy fervor. Their objections miss the point. Familiarity can be comforting and so can easy metaphors when p! laced in a fable that's as warmly inviting as this one.

Dr! iven by fate, Vianne (Binoche) drifts into a tranquil French village with her daughter Anouk (Victoire Thivisol, from Ponette) in the winter of 1959. Her newly opened chocolatier is a source of attraction and fear, since Vianne's ability to revive the villagers' passions threatens to disrupt their repressive traditions. The pious mayor (Alfred Molina) sees Vianne as the enemy, and his war against her peaks with the arrival of "river rats" led by Roux (Depp), whose attraction to Vianne is immediate and reciprocal. Splendid subplots involve a battered wife (Lena Olin), a village elder (Judi Dench), and her estranged daughter (Carrie-Anne Moss), and while the film's broader strokes may be regrettable (if not for Molina's rich performance, the mayor would be a caricature), its subtleties are often sublime. Chocolat reminds you of life's simple pleasures and invites you to enjoy them. --Jeff ShannonWith movies like Chocolat, it's always best to relax your inte! llectual faculties and absorb the abundant sensual pleasures, be it the heart-stopping smile of chocolatier Juliette Binoche as she greets a new customer, an intoxicating cup of spiced hot cocoa, or the soothing guitar of an Irish gypsy played by Johnny Depp. Adapted by Robert Nelson Jacobs from Joanne Harris's popular novel and lovingly directed by Lasse Hallström, the film covers familiar territory and deals in broad metaphors that even a child could comprehend, so it's no surprise that some critics panned it with killjoy fervor. Their objections miss the point. Familiarity can be comforting and so can easy metaphors when placed in a fable that's as warmly inviting as this one.

Driven by fate, Vianne (Binoche) drifts into a tranquil French village with her daughter Anouk (Victoire Thivisol, from Ponette) in the winter of 1959. Her newly opened chocolatier is a source of attraction and fear, since Vianne's ability to revive the villagers' passions threatens ! to disrupt their repressive traditions. The pious mayor (Alfre! d Molina ) sees Vianne as the enemy, and his war against her peaks with the arrival of "river rats" led by Roux (Depp), whose attraction to Vianne is immediate and reciprocal. Splendid subplots involve a battered wife (Lena Olin), a village elder (Judi Dench), and her estranged daughter (Carrie-Anne Moss), and while the film's broader strokes may be regrettable (if not for Molina's rich performance, the mayor would be a caricature), its subtleties are often sublime. Chocolat reminds you of life's simple pleasures and invites you to enjoy them. --Jeff ShannonGreeted as "an amazement of riches . . . few readers will be able to resist" by The New York Times, Chocolat is an enchanting novel about temptation, pleasure, and the ultimate folly of self-denial. The town of Lansquenet, solemnly preparing for Lent, is set astir when Vianne Rocher and her spirited daughter arrive on the heels of the carnival and open a chocolate shop across the square from the church.! Vianne's uncanny ability to perceive her customers' private discontents and alleviate them with just the right chocolate treats quickly charms the villagers--and enrages Pere Reynaud, the conservative local priest. Certain that only a witch could create such magical cures, Reynaud vows to block the chocolate festival Vianne plans for Easter Sunday and to run her out of town forever. Witch or not (she'll never tell), Vianne soon sparks a dramatic confrontation between those who prefer the cold comforts of the church and those who revel in their newly discovered taste for pleasure.

"Delectable . . . delicious"-- (USA Today)

"Part fairy tale, part morality tale, laden with high farce and tongue-in-cheek humor . . . suffused with lush detail and finely drawn interesting characters."-- Philadelphia Inquirer

"Harris writes with verve and charm . . . if Colette and Hawthorne had collaborated, the result might have been this serious delight."-- ! The New Yorker

The perfect treat for Valentine'! s Day an d EasterVianne Rocher and her 6-year-old daughter, Anouk, arrive in the small village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes--"a blip on the fast road between Toulouse and Bourdeaux"--in February, during the carnival. Three days later, Vianne opens a luxuriant chocolate shop crammed with the most tempting of confections and offering a mouth-watering variety of hot chocolate drinks. It's Lent, the shop is opposite the church and open on Sundays, and Francis Reynaud, the austere parish priest, is livid.

One by one the locals succumb to Vianne's concoctions. Joanne Harris weaves their secrets and troubles, their loves and desires, into her third novel, with the lightest touch. There's sad, polite Guillame and his dying dog; thieving, beaten-up Joséphine Muscat; schoolchildren who declare it "hypercool" when Vianne says they can help eat the window display--a gingerbread house complete with witch. And there's Armande, still vigorous in her 80s, who can see Anouk's "imag! inary" rabbit, Pantoufle, and recognizes Vianne for who she really is. However, certain villagers--including Armande's snobby daughter and Joséphine's violent husband--side with Reynaud. So when Vianne announces a Grand Festival of Chocolate commencing Easter Sunday, it's all-out war: war between church and chocolate, between good and evil, between love and dogma.

Reminiscent of Herman Hesse's short story "Augustus," Chocolat is an utterly delicious novel, coated in the gentlest of magic, which proves--indisputably and without preaching--that soft centers are best. --Lisa Gee, Amazon.co.uk

Down to the Bone

• With a bad marriage and kids to deal with, a woman takes extra precautions to keep her drug use secret. But with the cold weather on its way, hidden truths risk being revealed. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR Age: 829567030226 UPC: 829567030226 Manufacturer No: 670302

With a bad marriage and kids to deal with, a woman takes extra precautions to keep her drug use secret. But with the cold weather on its way, hidden truths risk being revealed.