Jackie

Jackie Brown (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
$19.99
"Jackie Brown," Quentin Tarantino's third feature length film, finds the writer/director at perhaps his most straight-forward and mature. While he rejects the notion that he is maturing as a film-maker in an interview featured on the DVD, it is quite obvious that the man who created such cult classics as Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs was out to prove he wasn't merely a one-trick pony, and it paid off in one of his most character driven and rewarding efforts to date.

Adapted from the Elmore Leonard novel, Rum Punch, "Jackie Brown" is the story of an aging stewardess (Pam Grier) in trouble with the law who concocts a scheme to rip off an arms dealer (Samuel L. Jackson) of a cool $500,000. She of course needs the help of a bail bondsman (Robert Forster) whose midlife crisis takes a backseat to the crush he develops for her. On the surface, it appears to be just another heist film, but underneath all the layers, at its core, "Jackie Brown" is an unlikely love story from probably the last director you'd expect. While the job and the way it's carried out is a big part of the film, Tarantino knows well enough to allow his characters ample time to breathe, making it the sort of film where you forget for a while who you're watching and simply appreciate the unique personalities they bring to life.

It also helps, of course, that the film is filled to brim with a great cast of old and new, obscure and respectable. Robert De Niro has perhaps one of the most entertaining roles as an ex-con who keeps to himself, silently observing and judging the world he is getting reacquainted with. Bridget Fonda plays Samuel L. Jackson's sex-pot/pot-head surfer girl girlfriend with a dry sense of humor that bounces well off of De Niro's stone-cold demeanor. Grier and Forster, who were both dragged from the depths of obscurity only to find their careers slightly revitalized for the film are both in top form and go a long way in driving home the human nature of the plot. Michael Keaton, playing an ATF agent who would later appear as the same character in 1998's Out of Sight, is perhaps one of the film's greatest surprises, as he is in turns quirky and overly confident, while being clueless all the while.

While fans of Tarantino's more notorious fare will have a hard time seeing the brilliance of "Jackie Brown," it's a film that will no doubt please the palate of the viewer who craves rich characters, natural pacing and an engrossing plot, not to mention a killer soundtrack. Out of all of Tarantino's work, this is the one that is the most grounded in reality and, aside from Forster's Oscar nomination, deserved much more acclaim and credit than it was given. In a way, this is the cult classic in Tarantino's league of cult classics, and a film that certainly holds up time and time again.

Vol. 2-Jackie-the Album
$26.99
Disc: 1
1. David Essex - Gonna Make You A Star
2. David Cassidy - I Think I Love You
3. Bay City Rollers - Shang-A-Lang
4. Dawn - Knock Three Times
5. Tony Christie - (Is This The Way To) Amarillo
6. The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup
7. Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - December '63(Oh What A Night)
8. Abba - Dancing Queen
9. Tina Charles - I Love To Love
10. Kenny - The Bump
11. Wizzard - See My Baby Jive
12. Elton John - Crocodile Rock
13. The Monkees - I'm A Believer
14. Christie - Yellow River
15. Amen Corner (If Paradise Is) Half As Nice
16. Steam - Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye
17. White Plains - My Baby Loves Lovin'
18. The New Seekers - Beg Steal Or Borrow
19. Cliff Richard - Take Me High
20. Blue Mink - The Banner Man
21. Paper Lace - The Night Chicago Died
22. Gilbert O'Sullivan - No Matter How I Try
23. Jacky - White Horses
24. The Osmonds - The Proud One
25. Captain & Tennille - Love Will Keep Us Together
Disc: 2
1. David Cassidy - How Can I Be Sure
2. The Osmonds - Let Me In
3. The Jackson 5 - I'll Be There
4. The Tymes - Ms. Grace
5. The Three Degrees - When Will I See You Again
6. The Real Thing - You To Me Are Everything
7. The Drifters - Kissin' In The Back Row Of The Movies
8. Smokie - Living Next Door To Alice
9. The Stylistics - Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)
10. Barry White - Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe
11. Sweet Sensation - Sad Sweet Dreamer
12. The Chi-Lites - Homely Girl
13. The Tams - Hey Girl (Don't Bother Me)
14. Donny Osmond - Young Love
15. Eddie Holman - (Hey There) Lonely Girl
16. Diana Ross - Ain't No Mountain High Enough
17. Hot Chocolate - So You Win Again
18. David Soul - Silver Lady
19. The Hollies - The Air That I Breathe
20. Nilsson - Without You
21. Leo Sayer - When I Need You
22. Don McLean - Vincent
23. Michael Jackson - Ben
Disc: 3
1. Sweet - The Ballroom Blitz
2. David Bowie - The Jean Genie
3. T. Rex - Metal Guru
4. Free - All Right Now
5. Norman Greenbaum - Spirit In The Sky
6. Three Dog Night - Mama Told Me (Not To Come)
7. Stevie Wonder - Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)
8. Rod Stewart - Maggie May
9. Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)
10. Paul McCartney & Wings - Listen To What The Man Said
11. Slade - Far Far Away
12. Stealer's Wheel - Stuck In The Middle With You
13. Roxy Music - Love Is The Drug
14. Cat Stevens - (Remember The Days Of The) Old schoolyard
15. Lindisfarne - Meet Me On The Corner
16. Blackfoot Sue - Standing In The Road
17. Mungo Jerry - Baby Jump
18. Ashton, Gardner & Dyke - The Resurrection Shuffle
19. Suzi Quatro - Devil Gate Drive
20. The Arrows - I Love Rock 'N' Roll
21. Hello - New York Groove
22. David Essex - Rock On

(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher
$0.99
This is one of my favorite 50's songs. If you like that era, you can go wrong buyiing the song!

Doozy
$19.99
Jacky Ryan's latest has won many well-deserved plaudits. She combines great vocal gifts, like a staggering three octave-plus range, with jazz savvy and good taste. Her back-up band is first-rate, too, especially pianist Cyrus Chestnut. I'd love to hear Jacky with a bigger ensemble- this small-group setting is marvellously intimate, but you sense she'd kick some serious butt with a big band. In a year not lacking for terrific vocal releases (such as those by Roberta Gambarnini, Kurt Elling, and Gretchen Parlato), this is a standout.