Friday, November 25, 2011

Evergreen

  • ISBN13: 9780440132783
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Evergreen combines carefully crafted instruction, high-interest readings and student models, and plentiful practice exercises, to provide the most effective paragraph-to-essay-level developmental writing text on the market. The ninth edition includes expanded and revised coverage of writing essays, including an additional essay chapter and numerous additional student models. Photos enhance high-interest readings and promote critical viewing as well as critical thinking and clear writing.

About This Edition


The ninth edition includes expanded and revised coverage of writin! g essays, including an additional essay chapter and numerous additional student models. The new sections follow author Susan Fawcett's MAP (Model-Analysis-Practice) format, which provides an example of a concept followed by clear description and analysis, and then the opportunity for immediate hands-on practice. Photographs and a colorful design, as well as high-interest readings by diverse authors, engage and motivate students and have special appeal to the visual learner. This edition is available with an interactive ebook that includes audio and video segments and online exercises. An annotated instructor's edition provides answers for every exercise as well as teaching tips and ESL tips. An impressive suite of print and online supplements includes an instructor's manual, a comprehensive test-bank with diagnostic and mastery tests, a special teaching manual for using Evergreen with ESL students, and creative classroom exercises. Resources for students include addi! tional practice exercises, student models, and information on ! avoiding plagiarism.

New Features

  • Expanded coverage of essay writing includes a new chapter on types of essays, additional student models for each writing pattern, and graphic organizer diagrams that lead students through the process of writing an essay.

  • Additional content for the visual learner includes 20 new photographs to challenge and engage students, a color-coded essay template, and a colorful design that draws attention to main points and key features.

  • New student models throughout the text and in the writer's workshops at the end of each unit provide realistic models for students' own writing.

  • New "learning styles" annotations in the annotated instructor's edition point out how information about a student's learning style can be used to facilitate learning.

  • Seven new reading selections in Unit 8 feature diverse topics and authors, with high-interest selections such! as Jessica Bennett's "The Flip Side of Internet Fame," Wang Ping's "Book War," and Andrew Sullivan's "Why the M Word Matters to Me."

Additional Features

  • Susan Fawcett's tested MAP format (Model-Analysis-Practice) first provides an example of the concept presented, then discusses the concept, and immediately provides an opportunity for hands-on practice.

  • Numerous student models provide students with real, attainable examples of paragraphs and essays in the writing patterns.

  • Full-color photographs and diagrams reinforce learning and help students learn to study and analyze visual images.

  • Superior ESL coverage includes integrated practice opportunities for grammar and spelling, an ESL appendix that focuses on particular ESL stumbling blocks, ESL tip annotations in the annotated instructor's edition that suggest how and when to provide ESL instruction, and a separate guide t! o teaching evergreen with ESL students that provides specific ! assistan ce in teaching English language learners.
The towering modern classic of passion and  ambition that forever changed the way we see the  courageous immigrants who came to America's shores -- the  story of Anna Friedman transfixes us with the  turbulent emotions of a woman and her family touched  by war, tragedy, and the devastating secrets of one  forbidden love... bittersweet and evergreen.
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Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Complete Season 1

  • ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE & FRIENDS-SEASON 1 (DVD MOVIE)
Bullwinkle J. Moose has the world's largest collection of box tops, which makes him the prime suspect when someone starts redeeming counterfeit box tops for goodies in the stores.Watch out American television viewers! Rocky and Bullwinkle do battle against Boris Badenov's band of TV antennae-eating rodents. Full color.ADVENTURES OF ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE - DVD MovieThe problem with live-action movies based on beloved cartoon characters is that humans are never as flexible, as unpredictable, or just plain as goofy as their animated counterparts. So it is with this blend of animation and live action. Rocky and Bullwinkle remain animated characters (trapped in our reality), while Boris and Natasha (Jason Alexander and Rene Russo), along with their boss, Fearless Leader (Robert De Niro), are transformed from cartoons to human reproductions when! they escape from rerun land. They've come to our world to take it over; the FBI springs Rocky and Bullwinkle from the second dimension to stop them. But the writing in Kenneth Lonergan's script lacks the throw-away flair of the jokes that characterized Jay Ward's much-beloved animated series of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Part of the problem is that Russo, Alexander, and De Niro are so obviously working at acting cartoonish, instead of simply being cartoons. And part is that the script rarely comes up with the kind of wonderful wordplay in which Ward specialized. The moose, as usual, gets all the best lines, but they're too few and far between to salvage this underachieving summer film. --Marshall FineNow here's something you don't see everyday, Chauncey. It's the complete first season of one of television's smartest, savviest, and most subversively funny animated series, ranked by TV Guide as one of the top 50 series of all time. Like the animators at ! Warner Bros.' Termite Terrace (birthplace of Porky, Daffy, and! Bugs), producer Jay Ward, his partner Bill Scott (the voice of Bullwinkle), and the cracked writing staff did not write down to children. The dialogue is witty and sharply satiric. Characters break the "fourth wall" between the screen and the audience. They make sly references to the show's creators and the television network. They hurl barbs of mass destruction at Washington, D.C. politicians. And then there are the godawful puns. This four-disc set contains the series' first two serial adventures. "Jet Fuel Formula" is a cold war-era blast, as Rocky (voiced by June Foray, the Queen of Cartoons) and Bullwinkle frantically race to re-create a rocket fuel recipe (actually Grandma Bullwinkle's recipe for mooseberry fudge cake), while being menaced by those no-goodniks Boris Badenov and femme fatale Natasha. "Box Top Robbery" reveals that the basis for the world's economy is not gold and silver, but cereal box tops.

Linking these cliffhanging episodes are such hilarious segments! as "Fractured Fairy Tales," which upend familiar storybook favorites (Red Riding Hood, for example, is a predatory fur merchant after the unwitting wolf), "Mr. Peabody," the canine genius who travels through time in the company of his boy, Sherman, and forthright Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties, who must contend with his own horse for the affections of sweet Nell. Bullwinkle gets extra credits as Mr. Know-It-All and as the host of Poetry Corner. And watch him pull a rabbit out of his hat! These cartoons are as fresh and funny as when they first aired more than four decades ago. Boomer-era adults will be amazed at the jokes that no doubt soared over their heads as children. --Donald Liebenson

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Unholy Ghosts (Downside Ghosts, Book 1)

  • ISBN13: 9780345515575
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
IT’S A THIN LINE BETWEEN ALIVE AND UNDEAD.
 
Chess Putnam has a lot on her plate. Mangled human corpses have started to show up on the streets of Downside, and Chess’s bosses at the Church of Real Truth have ordered her to team up with the ultra-powerful Black Squad agency to crack the grisly case.

Chess is under a binding spell that threatens death if she talks about the investigation, but the city’s most notorious crime bossâ€"and Chess’s drug dealerâ€"gets wind of her new assignment and insists on being kept informed. If that isn’t bad enough, a sinister street vendor appears to have information Chess needs. Only he’s not telling what he knows, or what it all has to do with! the vast underground City of Eternity.

Now Chess will have to navigate killer wraiths, First Elders, and a lot of seriously nasty magicâ€"all while coping with some not-so-small issues of her own. And the only man Chess can trust to help her through it all has every reason to want her dead.There are places where your eyes deceive you, your thoughts betray you and desire can get you killed. Matt Dillon (Wild Things) makes his directorial debut and stars with James Caan (Misery), Natascha McElhone (Solaris), Gerard Depardieu (The Man in the Iron Mask) and Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd (Ronin) in this "exotic" (Film Threat) crime thriller that "drips withatmosphere" (The Hollywood Reporter). After a bogus insurance scam sparks an FBI investigation, front man Jimmy Cremmins (Dillon) flees to Cambodia to meet his mentor, Marvin (Caan). But Jimmy gets more than he bargains for whenagainst a backdrop of raw, dangerous beauty and ever-shifting loyaltiesMarvin draws him into a web o! f deceit and murder from which there may be no way out!Despite! its bri ef theatrical release and dismal box-office returns, City of Ghosts marked an impressive directorial debut for Matt Dillon. While transplanting a film noir plot to exotic locations that John Huston might've found inviting, Dillon plays to his strengths as an actor, casting himself as a con artist with a guilty conscience, traveling to Cambodia to locate his unscrupulous mentor and partner (James Caan) and extricate himself from a career of bilking innocent victims. The dangerous territory includes a two-faced schemer (Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd), a burly French hotelier (Gerard Depardieu), and an alluring architectural restorer (Natascha McElhone) tossed in for obligatory love interest, and Dillon (with cowriter and Wild at Heart author Barry Gifford) creates an engrossing sense of escalating danger as his character sinks into a quagmire of personal and political corruption. Humid atmosphere and colorful scenery add depth and texture to the film's familiar pulp-fiction! al trappings, suggesting a promising new direction for Dillon's offbeat career. --Jeff ShannonIT’S A THIN LINE BETWEEN ALIVE AND UNDEAD.
 
Chess Putnam has a lot on her plate. Mangled human corpses have started to show up on the streets of Downside, and Chess’s bosses at the Church of Real Truth have ordered her to team up with the ultra-powerful Black Squad agency to crack the grisly case.

Chess is under a binding spell that threatens death if she talks about the investigation, but the city’s most notorious crime bossâ€"and Chess’s drug dealerâ€"gets wind of her new assignment and insists on being kept informed. If that isn’t bad enough, a sinister street vendor appears to have information Chess needs. Only he’s not telling what he knows, or what it all has to do with the vast underground City of Eternity.

Now Chess will have to navigate killer wraiths, First Elders, and a lot of seriously nasty magicâ€"all while coping w! ith some not-so-small issues of her own. And the only man Ches! s can tr ust to help her through it all has every reason to want her dead.


From the Paperback edition.IT’S A THIN LINE BETWEEN ALIVE AND UNDEAD.
 
Chess Putnam has a lot on her plate. Mangled human corpses have started to show up on the streets of Downside, and Chess’s bosses at the Church of Real Truth have ordered her to team up with the ultra-powerful Black Squad agency to crack the grisly case.

Chess is under a binding spell that threatens death if she talks about the investigation, but the city’s most notorious crime bossâ€"and Chess’s drug dealerâ€"gets wind of her new assignment and insists on being kept informed. If that isn’t bad enough, a sinister street vendor appears to have information Chess needs. Only he’s not telling what he knows, or what it all has to do with the vast underground City of Eternity.

Now Chess will have to navigate killer wraiths, First Elders, and a lot of seriously nasty magicâ€"all while copin! g with some not-so-small issues of her own. And the only man Chess can trust to help her through it all has every reason to want her dead.


From the Paperback edition.Salonica, located in northern Greece, was long a fascinating crossroads metropolis of different religions and ethnicities, where Egyptian merchants, Spanish Jews, Orthodox Greeks, Sufi dervishes, and Albanian brigands all rubbed shoulders. Tensions sometimes flared, but tolerance largely prevailed until the twentieth century when the Greek army marched in, Muslims were forced out, and the Nazis deported and killed the Jews. As the acclaimed historian Mark Mazower follows the city’s inhabitants through plague, invasion, famine, and the disastrous twentieth century, he resurrects a fascinating and vanished world.THE DEPARTED HAVE ARRIVED.
 
The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen, and the living are under attack. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the govern! ment fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by t! he decea sed. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully tattooed witch and freewheeling ghost hunter. She’s got a real talent for banishing the wicked dead. But Chess is keeping a dark secret: She owes a lot of money to a murderous drug lord named Bump, who wants immediate payback in the form of a dangerous job that involves black magic, human sacrifice, a nefarious demonic creature, and enough wicked energy to wipe out a city of souls. Toss in lust for a rival gang leader and a dangerous attraction to Bump’s ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it. Hell, yeah.
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Elizabeth: The Acclaimed Saga of England's Virgin Queen

  • One of the most important rulers in history, Elizabeth I came to the throne at a time when England was under threat of annexation from abroad and collapse from within. When she died after a reign of 45 years, she left behind a nation protected by the greatest navy on earth and in the midst of a cultural explosion she made possible.Hosted by the world-renowned historian David Starkey (author of Eli
Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 03/22/2011 Rating: R

One of the big Elizabethan-era films of 1998, Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth serves up a brimming goblet of religious tension, political conspiracy, sex, violence, and war. England in 1554 is in financial and religious turmoil as the ailing Queen "Bloody" Mary attempts to restore Catholicism as the national faith. She has no heir, and her greatest fear--that her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth will assume the throne after her dea! th--is realized. Still, the late Queen Mary has her loyalists. The newly crowned Elizabeth finds herself knee-deep in dethroning schemes while also dodging assassination attempts. Her advisers (including Sir William Cecil, superbly played by Richard Attenborough) beg her to marry any one of her would-be suitors to stabilize England's empire. No matter that she already has a lover. The passionate Robert Dudley (Joseph Fiennes) is married, however, and shows he cannot stand up to the growing strength of the Queen. With the help of her aide Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush), Elizabeth strikes against her enemies before they get to her first. But her rise ultimately entails rejecting love and marriage to redefine herself as the indisputable Virgin Queen.

Cate Blanchett's Oscar-nominated performance as the naive and vibrant princess who becomes the stubborn and knowing queen is both severe and sympathetic. Her ethereal, pale beauty is equal parts fire and ice, her delivery of s! uch lines as "There will be only one mistress here and no m! aster!" expressed with command rather than hysterics. As striking as Blanchett's performance is the film's lavish and dramatic production design. The cold, dark sets paired with the lush costuming show the golden age of England's monarchy emerging from the Middle Ages. Rich velvet brushes over the dank stones while power is achieved at any price, and with such attention to physical detail, Elizabeth fully immerses you into its compelling chronicle of pioneering feminism and revisionist history. --Shannon Gee

Academy Award-winners Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush and Richard Attenborough lead a distinguished cast in Elizabeth - the critically acclaimed epic of the Queen's turbulent and treacherous rise to power! Before the Golden Age, Elizabeth was a passionate and naïve girl who came to reign over a land divided by bloody turmoil. Amidst palace intrigues and attempted assassinations, the young Queen is forced to become a cunning strategist while weighing the couns! el of her mysterious advisors, thwarting her devious rivals, and denying her own desires for the good of her country. Relive the majesty and drama of one of history's greatest monarchs in this stunning production that was honored with 7 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture!

One of the big Elizabethan-era films of 1998, Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth serves up a brimming goblet of religious tension, political conspiracy, sex, violence, and war. England in 1554 is in financial and religious turmoil as the ailing Queen "Bloody" Mary attempts to restore Catholicism as the national faith. She has no heir, and her greatest fear--that her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth will assume the throne after her death--is realized. Still, the late Queen Mary has her loyalists. The newly crowned Elizabeth finds herself knee-deep in dethroning schemes while also dodging assassination attempts. Her advisers (including Sir William Cecil, superbly played by Richard Attenborough)! beg her to marry any one of her would-be suitors to stabilize! England 's empire. No matter that she already has a lover. The passionate Robert Dudley (Joseph Fiennes) is married, however, and shows he cannot stand up to the growing strength of the Queen. With the help of her aide Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush), Elizabeth strikes against her enemies before they get to her first. But her rise ultimately entails rejecting love and marriage to redefine herself as the indisputable Virgin Queen.

Cate Blanchett's Oscar-nominated performance as the naive and vibrant princess who becomes the stubborn and knowing queen is both severe and sympathetic. Her ethereal, pale beauty is equal parts fire and ice, her delivery of such lines as "There will be only one mistress here and no master!" expressed with command rather than hysterics. As striking as Blanchett's performance is the film's lavish and dramatic production design. The cold, dark sets paired with the lush costuming show the golden age of England's monarchy emerging from the Middle Ages! . Rich velvet brushes over the dank stones while power is achieved at any price, and with such attention to physical detail, Elizabeth fully immerses you into its compelling chronicle of pioneering feminism and revisionist history. --Shannon Gee

Academy Award® winners Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush join Academy Award® nominee Clive Owen in a gripping historical thriller full of suspense, intrigue and adventure!

When Queen Elizabeth's reign is threatened by ruthless familial betrayal and Spain's invading army, she and her shrewd advisor must act to safeguard to the lives of her people. But when a dashing seafarer, Walter Raleigh, captures her heart, she is forced to make her most tragic sacrifice for the good of her country.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age tells the thrilling tale of one woman's crusade to control her love, destroy her enemies and secure her position as a beloved icon of the western world.In 1998's Elizabeth, Shekhar Kapur add! ed a layer of suds to his history lesson; the director follows! the sam e audience-pleasing recipe in Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Since the first film, Blanchett scored an Oscar for her note-perfect rendition of Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator, and she plays the preternaturally bemused monarch in a similar fashion. By 1585, Elizabeth I is an experienced ruler about to face two of her biggest challenges: betrayal by her Catholic cousin, Mary Stuart (Control's Samantha Morton), and invasion by the Spanish Armada. It isn't so much that the Protestant Elizabeth wishes to rid England of "papists," but that she wants her country to remain free from foreign domination. Closer to her home, she enjoys a sisterly relationship with lady-in-waiting Bess (rising Aussie star Abbie Cornish). That changes when Sir Walter Raleigh (a dashing Clive Owen) hits the scene. In order to continue exploring the New World, he seeks the queen’s sponsorship. She is charmed, but Raleigh only has eyes for Bess. As in the previous picture, Elizabet! h enjoys better luck at affairs of state than affairs of the heart, but the conclusion is more beatific than before (and Kapur intends a third installment if Blanchett is willing). Elizabeth: The Golden Age is a rush of royal intrigue, bloody torture, fantastic headpieces, and irresistibly ripe dialogue, like "I have a hurricane in me that will strip Spain bare if you dare to try me!" To Kapur, victory for the Virgin Queen was a viable alternative to sex. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Stills from Elizabeth â€" The Golden Age (click for larger image)




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Academy Award® winners Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush and Richard Attenborough lead a distinguished cast in Elizabethâ€"the critically acclaimed epic of the queen’s turbulent and treacherous rise to power. Before the Golden Age, Elizabeth was a passionate and naïve girl who came to reign over a land divided by bloody turmoil. Amid palace intrigue and attempted assassinations, the young queen is forced to become a cunning strategist while weighing the counsel of her mysterious advisors, thwarting her devious rivals and denying her own desires for the good of her country. Relive the majesty and drama of one of history’s greatest monarchs in this stunning production that was honored with 7 Academy Award® nominations, including Best Picture!

One of the big Elizabethan-era films of 1998, Shekhar Kap! ur's Elizabeth serves up a brimming goblet of religious tension, political conspiracy, sex, violence, and war. England in 1554 is in financial and religious turmoil as the ailing Queen "Bloody" Mary attempts to restore Catholicism as the national faith. She has no heir, and her greatest fear--that her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth will assume the throne after her death--is realized. Still, the late Queen Mary has her loyalists. The newly crowned Elizabeth finds herself knee-deep in dethroning schemes while also dodging assassination attempts. Her advisers (including Sir William Cecil, superbly played by Richard Attenborough) beg her to marry any one of her would-be suitors to stabilize England's empire. No matter that she already has a lover. The passionate Robert Dudley (Joseph Fiennes) is married, however, and shows he cannot stand up to the growing strength of the Queen. With the help of her aide Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush), Elizabeth strikes against her enemies! before they get to her first. But her rise ultimately entails! rejecti ng love and marriage to redefine herself as the indisputable Virgin Queen.

Cate Blanchett's Oscar-nominated performance as the naive and vibrant princess who becomes the stubborn and knowing queen is both severe and sympathetic. Her ethereal, pale beauty is equal parts fire and ice, her delivery of such lines as "There will be only one mistress here and no master!" expressed with command rather than hysterics. As striking as Blanchett's performance is the film's lavish and dramatic production design. The cold, dark sets paired with the lush costuming show the golden age of England's monarchy emerging from the Middle Ages. Rich velvet brushes over the dank stones while power is achieved at any price, and with such attention to physical detail, Elizabeth fully immerses you into its compelling chronicle of pioneering feminism and revisionist history. --Shannon Gee

Academy Award® winners Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush join Academy Award® nomin! ee Clive Owen in a gripping historical thriller full of suspense, intrigue and adventure! Elizabeth: The Golden Age tells the thrilling tale of one woman's crusade to control her love, destroy her enemies and secure her position as a beloved icon of the Western world.In 1998's Elizabeth, Shekhar Kapur added a layer of suds to his history lesson; the director follows the same audience-pleasing recipe in Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Since the first film, Blanchett scored an Oscar for her note-perfect rendition of Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator, and she plays the preternaturally bemused monarch in a similar fashion. By 1585, Elizabeth I is an experienced ruler about to face two of her biggest challenges: betrayal by her Catholic cousin, Mary Stuart (Control's Samantha Morton), and invasion by the Spanish Armada. It isn't so much that the Protestant Elizabeth wishes to rid England of "papists," but that she wants her country to remain free! from foreign domination. Closer to her home, she enjoys a sis! terly re lationship with lady-in-waiting Bess (rising Aussie star Abbie Cornish). That changes when Sir Walter Raleigh (a dashing Clive Owen) hits the scene. In order to continue exploring the New World, he seeks the queen’s sponsorship. She is charmed, but Raleigh only has eyes for Bess. As in the previous picture, Elizabeth enjoys better luck at affairs of state than affairs of the heart, but the conclusion is more beatific than before (and Kapur intends a third installment if Blanchett is willing). Elizabeth: The Golden Age is a rush of royal intrigue, bloody torture, fantastic headpieces, and irresistibly ripe dialogue, like "I have a hurricane in me that will strip Spain bare if you dare to try me!" To Kapur, victory for the Virgin Queen was a viable alternative to sex. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Stills from Elizabeth â€" The Golden Age (click for larger image)







Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 11/20/2007Helen Mirren's Elizabeth I could almost be cousin to her Jane Tennison. Like the dedicated detective chief inspector, Queen Bess is not without a heart, but work comes first and any romantic entanglements are doomed to fail. Fortunately, she has her friendships. Directed by Tom Hooper (Prime Suspect 6), this two-part HBO/Channel 4 tele-film begins in 1579. The Virgin Queen ! has been on the throne for 20 years, but has not married. Her ! closest relationship is with Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester (Jeremy Irons), whom the council will not allow her to wed. Because Robert wishes to produce an heir, he marries another, garnering Elizabeth's disfavor (and nor is he all that thrilled about her dalliance with Henry, the Duke of Anjou). In time, he'll return to her good graces. As she explains, "Friendship outlasts love and is stronger than love." Then, as his health begins to fails, she'll turn to his stepson, the dashing, if duplicitous Robert Devereaux, the Earl of Essex (Hugh Dancy, the Hooper-directed Daniel Deronda). Meanwhile, Mary, Queen of Scots (Barbara Flynn) plots against her Protestant cousin. Even after Mary makes her exit, plenty of other powerful Catholics will stop at nothing to seize the crown. Marked as much by triumph as tragedy, the role of Elizabeth I has been catnip for many illustrious actresses, notably Bette Davis, Glenda Jackson, and Cate Blanchett. Mirren's multi-faceted portrayal o! f the queen's golden years is a worthy addition to that canon and Irons is a particularly formidable foil. --Kathleen C. FennessyOne of the big Elizabethan-era films of 1998, Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth serves up a brimming goblet of religious tension, political conspiracy, sex, violence, and war. England in 1554 is in financial and religious turmoil as the ailing Queen "Bloody" Mary attempts to restore Catholicism as the national faith. She has no heir, and her greatest fear--that her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth will assume the throne after her death--is realized. Still, the late Queen Mary has her loyalists. The newly crowned Elizabeth finds herself knee-deep in dethroning schemes while also dodging assassination attempts. Her advisers (including Sir William Cecil, superbly played by Richard Attenborough) beg her to marry any one of her would-be suitors to stabilize England's empire. No matter that she already has a lover. The passionate Robert Dudley (Jo! seph Fiennes) is married, however, and shows he cannot stand u! p to the growing strength of the Queen. With the help of her aide Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush), Elizabeth strikes against her enemies before they get to her first. But her rise ultimately entails rejecting love and marriage to redefine herself as the indisputable Virgin Queen.

Cate Blanchett's Oscar-nominated performance as the naive and vibrant princess who becomes the stubborn and knowing queen is both severe and sympathetic. Her ethereal, pale beauty is equal parts fire and ice, her delivery of such lines as "There will be only one mistress here and no master!" expressed with command rather than hysterics. As striking as Blanchett's performance is the film's lavish and dramatic production design. The cold, dark sets paired with the lush costuming show the golden age of England's monarchy emerging from the Middle Ages. Rich velvet brushes over the dank stones while power is achieved at any price, and with such attention to physical detail, Elizabeth fully immerses! you into its compelling chronicle of pioneering feminism and revisionist history. --Shannon GeeOne of the most important rulers in history, Elizabeth I came to the throne at a time when England was under threat of annexation from abroad and collapse from within. When she died after a reign of 45 years, she left behind a nation protected by the greatest navy on earth and in the midst of a cultural explosion she made possible. Hosted by the world-renowned historian David Starkey (author of Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne) ELIZABETH explores the life and rule of the woman who gave her name to an era. A compelling blend of dramatic re-creations and incisive commentary brings alive the courtly intrigues and epic conflicts that shaped her reign, opens a window into the Queen's private struggles and convictions, and examines her monumental legacy. The four volumes in this epic set are From the Prison to the Palace, The Virgin Queen, Heart of a King and Gloriana.

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Exit Wounds

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Hannibal Rising (Unrated Widescreen Edition)

  • In Red Dragon we learned who he was. In Silence of the Lambs, we learned how he did it. Now comes the most chilling chapter in the saga of Hannibal Lecter the one that answers the most elusive question of all why? Written by Thomas Harris, the best-selling author of the Hannibal book series, this fascinating and terrifying journey into the making of a monster (Pete Hammond, Maxim), reveals for the
(Horror/Suspense) The terrifying Silence of the Lambs prequel that reveals the history of the infamous Hannibal and how he came to be a cannibalistic murderer.Though Hannibal Rising's Lecter (Gaspard Ulliel) is a pussycat compared to Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, this sequel's story of revenge is grizzly enough to satisfy lovers of Thomas Harris's epic tale. After young Hannibal (Aaron Thomas) is forced to watch his little sister, Mischa (Helena Lia Tachovska), devoured by s! tarving soldiers in his homeland Lithuania, Hannibal vows to avenge his sister's death by slaying those who committed not only war crimes against the Lecters, but also against other families during WW II. In detailing Hannibal's revenge plan, the film investigates the psychological implications of witnessing cannibalism to justify Hannibal's insatiable appetite for human flesh. The most interesting aspect of Hannibal Risingâ€"its analytical connections drawn between Hannibal's childhood traumas and his murderous adult obsessionsâ€"is also the film's weak point. The links oversimplify Lecter's complex character. For example, though titillating to see flashbacks of Lecter's sister hacked up and boiled while Lecter visits a Parisian meat market, the reference is too obvious. One learns why he excels in his medical school classes dissecting cadavers, and we're given explicit explanation for why he slices off and eats his victims' cheeks. The story only complicates when H! annibal interacts with his sexy Aunt, Lady Murasaki (Gong Li).! When Mu rasaki educates him in the art of beheading, the viewer sees Hannibal's sword fetish as a manifestation of physical lust. --Trinie Dalton
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