grand

The Grand
$14.98
Borrowing the basic structure and plot of Christopher Guest's 'Best in Show', 'The Grand' is an improvised, ensemble driven comedy that follows a group of crazy competitors playing for big bucks in a poker tournament. The six featured players include : Jack Faro (Woody Harrelson), a drug addict who has been married as many times as he has failed rehab. His uncle left him his casino before he died but Jack lost it to a greedy developer (Guest regular Michael McKean) who plans on tearing it down and building a giant hotel with one room. Jack hopes to win enough money to save his uncle's legacy. Deuce Fairbanks (Dennis Farina) is old school Vegas who fondly remembers the kneecapping days as he zips around the casino on his scooter complete with a bottle of scotch and vanity license plate. Harold Melvin (Chris Parnell) is a nutcase who lives with his mom. An Internet player he's constantly chugging a dark concoction dubbed "brain juice" that his mother prepares for him daily. Andy Andrews (Richard Kind) is a lovable doofus who stumbled on a pro poker site while looking for antique fireplace pokers. Before he knew it he'd won the qualifying round and landed himself a seat at the Grand. The German (Werner Herzog) is a scary dude who arrives at the hotel with a luggage cart full of live rabbits. In the next scene he's shown gently petting one of the rabbits before admitting that he calms his nerves by killing something every day. Rounding out the field of players are brother and sister team Larry and Lanie Schwartzman (David Cross and Cheryl Hines). Raised by a competitive father (Gabe Kaplan), Larry has had to watch as Lanie has had more success than him and he burns silently each time his father shows up to their matches holding a sign for her. She is married to a lightning survivor (Ray Romano) whom she doesn't take seriously. There are too many characters and while the film has some funny moments many of them could have been eliminated. This would have freed up more screen time for people like Kind and Herzog. Both Parnell and Hines were hilarious on T.V. but it doesn't translate as well on the big screen. The Parnell character stops the movie dead in it's tracks and should have been cut entirely. Harrelson is decent in the lead but he has a few too many slurred speeches at the main table. The poker action isn't too exciting and not enough real life pros figure into the movie. With that being said there is a priceless scene between Kind and poker legends Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth. David Cross is his usual crazy/brilliant self and him and Gabe Kaplan have some funny and touching scenes together. Herzog is a blast as a man reduced to wandering the halls searching for his rabbit that ran away. There's some good stuff here that should please fans of this large cast but it's not a great comedy or that memorable of a film.

The Grand - Complete Collection
$59.99
Interesting English "trash story" that keeps one entertained. My only complaint is the lack of English sub-titles. Quite often with British series it is difficult to understand what is being said due to accent. In this series, the kitchen help spoke with a decided Cockney accent which is even worse and I missed some of what was happening.

Grand
$11.98
This is one of the BEST Cd's that I have bought in a long time! And the recommendation came from my 14 yr old daughter! I was skeptical, but after listening to their first song, I was hooked! Great muscial talent and fabulous engery! :)

Gran Torino (+ BD-Live) [Blu-ray]
$35.99
All the intellectual reviews and evaluations of this film are fine, but what I know is that I am still feeling this movie in my gut long after I watched it. Cut my male macho bulls*** right off at the knees. Awesome film making, incredible performance by an actor and director at the epitome of his craft.Gran Torino engaged me emotionally is ways I did not expect, and I was the biggest guy in the room. Buy it.