Mr. Nice
Blu-ray | DVD
Directed by Bernard Rose
Starring Rhys Ifans, Chloe Sevigny, Crispin Glover, David Thewlis
MPI Home Video
Release Date: October 11, 2011

Some lives are just too entertaining to not bring to the big screen. And Howard Marks lived one of those very lives.

Better known as his alias, and subsequent title of this recently released Bernard Rose film, Mr. Nice, Marks was both a drug dealer and ultimately a spy for the British government. Toss in some relationships with various women and even an IRA member, and you have a life that is more than worthy of a big screen adaptation. Drugs, women, espionage, what’s not to like?

Mr. Nice, that’s what.

Back To The Future 25th Anniversary Trilogy
Blu-ray Edition
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, Mary Steenburgen, Thomas F. Wilson, Elisabeth Shue
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Release Date: October 26, 2010

Every decade there is a movie or a series of movies that just blow us away. One set of films in the 80s did just that and became the greatest time travel trilogy ever. We are talking about Back To The Future directed by Robert Zemeckis and produced by Steven Spielberg.

I am a huge fan of this trilogy. While Part II is not the best of the bunch, my favorite movie would have to be the first one. It’s my favorite because of how original the concept is. What would it be like to travel back in time and run into your parents when they are just teenagers? I think it would be fun to see my dad owning people in football like he did when he was younger. I would also like to see what it was like for my mom to be raised by my grandma. This first film opens up the thoughts of what would you do if you did run into your parents? What would you say? I love all the jokes in this film and how real these characters are. But, my favorite character in the entire trilogy is the time-travel machine, the DeLorean, because it truly does take on a life of its own.

For those of you not familiar with the trilogy, here’s a rundown of what each film is about.

The Gold Box deal of the day over at Amazon today is Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland for 67% off.

Note, this sale is only for today, Thursday September 23, until midnight PST while supplies last.

There are 4 versions on sale today of the Tim Burton-directed Disney live-action film starring Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, and Crispin Glover.

– DVD: $9.99 (list price $29.99)

– Blu-ray: $13.39 (list price $39.99)

– 3-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo: $14.99 (list price $44.99)

– 3-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo w/Digital Copy + Film Cell Photo Frame: $39.99 (list price $121.94).

I remember the first time I saw Back To The Future. When the movie was first broadcast on television on a Friday night in November 1989, the release of its long-awaited sequel Back To The Future Part II was about a week or so away and the premiere airing on NBC was also structured to be a first look at the sequel. Many of the details of that Friday I have forgotten in the more-than-two decades since, but I do remember having cut myself bad while playing with my friends after school and my mom had to patch up my wounds fast because we had been planning to watch Back To The Future and didn’t want to miss a minute of it, not even the commercials. By the time the end credits rolled and the 11 o’clock local news began, my family and I had become fans of Robert Zemeckis‘ time-tripping comic fantasy, so when the sequel was released that Thanksgiving we made sure to catch it on opening night. Then when we got home from that movie, we fired up the ol’ VCR and popped in the standard-setting blockbuster of 1989, Batman. Two great movies in one day, that was truly a Thanksgiving to remember.

This weekend marks the 25th anniversary of the theatrical release of the original and still best Back To The Future, and in the quarter-century since, the movie has become a modern-day classic film whose memorable characters, quotable dialogue, and bravura performances have elevated it to the status of a cultural touchstone. Magazine articles are still written about it, films (Hot Tub Time Machine is an incredibly funny riff on Zemeckis”˜ movie) and television shows (Family Guy has mined Back To The Future for a few good jokes and even devoted an entire episode to spoofing the movie) pay tribute to the film’s enduring influence, and even former president Ronald Reagan quoted the movie in one of the many movie-quoting speeches he gave during his time in the Oval Office.

1985: eccentric scientist Dr. Emmett “˜Doc’ Brown (Christopher Lloyd) has turned his glorious DeLorean sports car into a time machine. After an attack by disgruntled Libyan terrorists, Doc is killed in a shower of machine gun fire. His young friend [no funny business] Marty (Michael J. Fox) escapes in the DeLorean and upon reaching 88 MPH is transported to the year 1955 — the year his parents met and Doc invented time travel. Can Marty convince the Doc of 30 years ago that he is really from the future and get him to help him to get back to the future? More than that, can he spurn the advances of his teenage mother? Hold on, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s go back in time.

When a movie begins with the words “˜Steven Spielberg Presents’ as far am I’m concerned it might as well be stamped with “˜you are gonna love this’, because far more often than not, it’s true. This month marks the 25th anniversary of one of the greatest movies of all time that begins with such a statement: Back to the Future. In the quarter of a century that has passed since its opening weekend on July 3, 1985, there are not many movie fans who haven’t seen Back To The Future. And I’m sure the number is even smaller of the people who do not like this movie.