ghost Tagged Articles at Cinematical

What are you renting this week? Let us know in the comments! To get you started, here's our look at more than a dozen new releases.

Serenity
Joss Whedon's TV series Firefly inspired a rabid fan base, myself included. The sci-fi Western featured good-looking, likable characters, witty dialogue, and a breezy pace. The 2005 movie was a thrilling, fitting capstone for a series that ended far too soon, but stands on its own just fine. Previously released on DVD and HD-DVD, the Blu-ray version adds several new features (detailed by Peter Bracke at High-Def Digest). Serenity is buoyant entertainment and rewards repeat viewings. Buy it.

Woman on the Beach
A sublime tale, Woman is a leisurely, dramatic battle of the sexes that's funny and insightful. J. Hoberman of the Village Voice described it as "a rueful tale of karmic irony, self-deceived desire, squandered second chances, and unforeseen abandonment." He noted director Hong Sang-soo's affinities with Eric Rohmer and Albert Brooks "in his deadpan presentation of absurd antics." In Korean with English subtitles. The DVD includes a "making of," interviews, and a trailer. Woman on the Beach is an ideal choice for date night. Rent it.

Towelhead
Directed by Alan Ball (American Beauty, Six Feet Under), this "controversial and polarizing" drama relates what happens to "a 13-year-old Lebanese-American girl living in Texas during the first Gulf War," per our own Eric D. Snider, who was writing in response to an Islamic group's call for a title change. The DVD includes a two-part featurette, "Towelhead: A Community Discussion." Sight unseen (by me), it sounds like a sure cure for a New Year's Day hangover. Rent it.

Also out: An American Carol (DVD; Blu-ray next week) and Surfer, Dude (DVD and Blu-ray).

When I close my eyes and try to imagine a serious movie about a blind skier, I can't help my mind from wandering in the direction of a Farrelly Brothers comedy. Does this make me a bad person? Probably. But that doesn't change the fact that blind skiing sounds like an awful idea, one that is just asking for chuckles from an ignorant, politically incorrect person such as myself. Well, the people at Fox 2000 must be doing a better job imagining than I am. They have a film in the works called Into the Light, which appears to be a serious movie about a real-life blind skiier. It turns out, there are plenty of blind people who not only ski, but ski really fast.

A year ago, Fox bought the rights to the true story of Michael May, an athlete who holds the record for downhill skiing for a completely blind person (which is 65 mph for those who are curious). Now producer Gil Netter, who just so happened to produce the Farrelly's Fever Pitch, has hired Bruce Joel Rubin, who won an Oscar for writing Ghost (wait, Ghost won a screenplay Oscar?), to adapt the soon-to-be-released book by Robert Kurson.

As our friends over at TV Squad reported earlier today, character actor Vincent Schiavelli, well-known for playing the eccentric characters so perfectly suited to his droopy-eyed visage, passed away in Italy today of lung cancer at the age of 57. Schiavelli acted in over 150 films and television shows,  including One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ghost, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. You may not have known his name if someone dropped it at a cocktail party, but one look at his face, and you're bound to say, "Ohhhh! Him! Yeah, I know him! He's been in lots of movies!"