A Good Day to be Black & Sexy

• GOOD DAY TO BE BLACK & SEXY (DVD MOVIE)

A between-the-sheets perspective on black love and sexuality, shown through the interactions of several couples during a single day in Los Angeles.

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Fotodiox Lens Mount Adapter - Canon FD, New FD, FL Lens to Canon EOS Camera Adapter, for Canon EOS 1d, 1ds, 1ds Mark II, III, IV 5D, 5D Mark II, 7D, 10D, 20D, 30D, 40D, 50D, 60D, Rebel xt, xti, xs, xsi, t1i, t2i, 300D, 350D, 400D, 450D, 500D, 550D, 1000D

• All Metal Design
• Built-in 1.4x Multi-Coated Focusing Correction Lens
• Removable Glasss Element for Macro Photography
• Smooth surface for effortless mount
• 24 Month Manufacture Warranty

DETROIT 9000 - DVD MovieThis snappy, cynical cop thriller was marketed as a "blaxploitation" film when released in 1973, but it's really a mixed-cast godson of The French Connection and The Seven Ups set in the racially volatile cauldron of 1970s Detroit. Alex Rocco (Moe Green from The Godfather) stars as a veteran detective on the Detroit police force, a sinus-infected loner who's bitter from constantly being passed over for promotion. Assigned to a political powder keg--the high-profile heist of a black gubernatorial candidate's big money fundraiser--he's paired up with an educated, smart-dressing black hotshot (Hari Rhodes), a fast-rising star in the ! department. These guys are no Lethal Weapon act; they may earn a grudging mutual respect but never really like or trust one another. The climactic 25-minute chase is edgy and lean and very violent, spiced with big bloody gunshot wounds and victims writhing in tortured death spasms, and the film concludes on an unusually satisfying note of ambiguity and cynicism. Marks went on to direct Friday Foster and J.D.'s Revenge. The title, by the way, refers to the police code for "officer in trouble." Virtually unseen since its premiere, it was rescued by Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder label for a brief theatrical revival and subsequent video release. --Sean AxmakerThis snappy, cynical cop thriller was marketed as a "blaxploitation" film when released in 1973, but it's really a mixed-cast godson of The French Connection and The Seven Ups set in the racially volatile cauldron of 1970s Detroit. Alex Rocco (Moe Green from Th! e Godfather) stars as a veteran detective on the Detroit ! police f orce, a sinus-infected loner who's bitter from constantly being passed over for promotion. Assigned to a political powder keg--the high-profile heist of a black gubernatorial candidate's big money fundraiser--he's paired up with an educated, smart-dressing black hotshot (Hari Rhodes), a fast-rising star in the department. These guys are no Lethal Weapon act; they may earn a grudging mutual respect but never really like or trust one another. The climactic 25-minute chase is edgy and lean and very violent, spiced with big bloody gunshot wounds and victims writhing in tortured death spasms, and the film concludes on an unusually satisfying note of ambiguity and cynicism. Marks went on to direct Friday Foster and J.D.'s Revenge. The title, by the way, refers to the police code for "officer in trouble." Virtually unseen since its premiere, it was rescued by Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder label for a brief theatrical revival and subsequent vi! deo release. --Sean AxmakerIf you have a SLR or DSLR camera and other maker/mount lenses, the Fotodiox Mount Adapters allow you to use your lenses on the film/digital camera body. Sharing lenses has some distinct advantages. Certain prime lens just can't be replaced, and you save cost of purchase lenses. ­Fotodiox offers a range of adapter from large format to smaller format digital adapters. Adapting larger format lens, i.e., large format - medium format, medium format - 35mm, excellent edge-to-edge sharpness; and the smaller 24x36 mm image field helps minimize the effects of lens distortion and aberration.

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Fascination

• This is ROLLIN at his best; visual delights, sensual lesbian lovemaking, and the beautiful Brigitte Lahaie as a scythe-wielding avenger, and a group of castle dwelling bourgeois women blood-drinkers. Two women chosen by the group must slaughter and communally consume in a cannibalistic vampire way. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: NR MA Age: 844015000286 UPC: 

Against a deceptively tranquil background of tropical breezes and secluded beaches, a sultry tale of obsession and seduction unfolds in this riveting erotic thriller. Starring Jacqueline Bisset, Adam Garcia, Alice Evans, and James Naughton, Fascination throbs with danger, deceit, passion, and suspense. Scott Doherty (Garcia) is baffled and distraught after his father mysteriously drowns. His confusion turns to fury, however, when his mother, Maureen (Bisset), returns from a cruise just a few weeks later with her ne! w lover, Oliver Vance (Stuart Wilson). Suspecting foul play, Scott confides in Oliver's beautiful daughter, Kelly (Evans); and as the two begin their own investigation, they succumb to unbridled passion. But Kelly has dark secrets of her own, and while she seems to be the love of Scott's life, she could also be the end of it.The masterpiece of renowned French filmmaker Jean Rollin, FASCINATION follows a swaggering thief who hides out in a lavish chateau, holding the occupants at gunpoint. When night falls, he realizes that these two maids are not only deadlier than he imagined, but are gatekeepers to a ring of women with a thirst for blood.

BONUS FEATURES: Original Theatrical French Trailer, Deleted Sex Scenes (16 min), Short Subject Documentary: ''Virgins & Vampires'' (24 min), Trailers for The Nude Vampire, Lips of Blood, Shiver of the Vampires & The Iron Rose.A pair of society women dressed in all their finery stand in the middle of an abattoir, animal car! casses hanging behind them and blood splashed across the floor! . Giggli ng and fidgeting, they drink their prescribed glass of ox blood. The startling, unreal image of high-society manners in the midst of gore and death pitches Jean Rollin's 1979 feature Fascination into a turn-of-the-century culture come unhinged. When a well-dressed rogue, fleeing from angry partners he double-crossed, takes refuge in a lavish, moat-protected mansion, servant girls Franca Mai and Brigitte Lahaie cajole, tease, and seduce him into staying for their nighttime soiree. "You have stumbled into Elizabeth and Eva's life, the universe of madness and death," mutters one of them as they await the cabal where he is the guest of honor. Shot on a starvation budget and populated with stiff performers, Rollin's direction is arch and at times sloppy and his story never more than an outline. It's the mix of dreamy and nightmarish imagery that gives Fascination its fascination: blonde Lahaie stalking victims with a scythe, the bourgeois blood cult swarming over a ! fresh victim like wild animals, alabaster faces streaked in blood. While it lacks the delirious spontaneity of his earlier vampire films Shiver of the Vampires and Requiem for a Vampire, the languid pace and austere beauty creates an often-mesmerizing fantasy. The DVD also features the original theatrical trailer, a gallery of production stills, and a Rollin filmography. --Sean AxmakerThis is cult director Jean Rollin at his best; visual delights, sensual lesbian lovemaking, the beautiful Brigitte Lahaie as a scythe-wielding avenger and a group of castle-dwelling bourgeois blood-drinkers. Two woman chosen by the group must find a man that they must slaughter and communally consume in a cannibalistic vampire feast.A pair of society women dressed in all their finery stand in the middle of an abattoir, animal carcasses hanging behind them and blood splashed across the floor. Giggling and fidgeting, they drink their prescribed glass of ox blood. The startli! ng, unreal image of high-society manners in the midst of gore ! and deat h pitches Jean Rollin's 1979 feature Fascination into a turn-of-the-century culture come unhinged. When a well-dressed rogue, fleeing from angry partners he double-crossed, takes refuge in a lavish, moat-protected mansion, servant girls Franca Mai and Brigitte Lahaie cajole, tease, and seduce him into staying for their nighttime soiree. "You have stumbled into Elizabeth and Eva's life, the universe of madness and death," mutters one of them as they await the cabal where he is the guest of honor. Shot on a starvation budget and populated with stiff performers, Rollin's direction is arch and at times sloppy and his story never more than an outline. It's the mix of dreamy and nightmarish imagery that gives Fascination its fascination: blonde Lahaie stalking victims with a scythe, the bourgeois blood cult swarming over a fresh victim like wild animals, alabaster faces streaked in blood. While it lacks the delirious spontaneity of his earlier vampire films Shiver! of the Vampires and Requiem for a Vampire, the languid pace and austere beauty creates an often-mesmerizing fantasy. The DVD also features the original theatrical trailer, a gallery of production stills, and a Rollin filmography. --Sean Axmaker

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Exit Wounds

• A tough but burned-out New York City policeman assigned to a remote Long Island precinct uncovers corruption among his fellow officers there.Running Time: 101 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Age: 085392106929 UPC: 085392106929 Manufacturer No: 21069

A tough but burned-out New York City policeman assigned to a remote Long Island precinct uncovers corruption among his fellow officers there.

DVD Features:
Documentary
Featurette
Filmographies
Music Video:by DMX
Theatrical Trailer

One can always count on Steven Seagal to act as the repository of yesterday's action-film clichés, and Exit Wounds is yet another case in point. Seagal plays Detroit cop Orin Boyd, a lone wolf lawman who gets in the middle of his precinct's losing battle against police corruption. Taking on a powerful but crooked cop named Montin! i (David Vadim)--who is busy making deals with a rich gangster (DMX)--Boyd soon sends fists and feet flying while Tom Arnold provides the comic relief. Director Andrzej Bartkowiak surely had less fun guiding Seagal through slow-motion fight sequences than he did Jet Li in Romeo Must Die, but as compensation he gets to work with the mesmerizing DMX, who looks as though he has leading-man possibilities. Plenty of gratuitous gore, awful cop banter, and miles of cleavage courtesy of Jill Hennessy, who plays Boyd's tough-as-nails boss. --Tom Keogh

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Tea Collection Girls 2-6X Floating Garden Party Dress, Rumba Red, 12

• Inspired by the vibrant colors seen throughout our travels in Mexico.
• Long sleeve 100% cotton dress with embroidery at the neck and hem.
• Extraordinary quality: carefully crafted and made of exceptional fabrics, 100% cotton
• Easy care: machine washable and very durable

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See Kai Run Emilio Sneaker (Infant/Toddler),Two-Tone Brown,3 M US Infant

• Breathable leather lining
• Foam padded collar

Includes CD, Case, Artwork!! Minor Scratches. Great Buy! Fast 1st Class Shipping!!In this remarkable dual memoir, film legend Martin Sheen and his accomplished actor/director son Emilio Estevez share the stories of their lives while charting a spiritual journey through the Spain of their ancestors.While much has been written over the years about this prominent entertainment family, neither Martin Sheen nor Emilio Estevez has told his story in book form before. In Along the Way, they break that silence together, offering a striking, often stirring, frequently funny story of two very different kinds of faithâ€"told from two viewpoints that are as different as they are eloquent.

Spanning more than fifty years of family history, this chronicle of a creative father and son is partially set against the background of Hollywood. But! the heart of the story lies along the Camino de Santiagoâ€"the thousand-year-old pilgrimage path, also known as “The Way,” across northern Spain, from which Sheen’s father emigrated to the U.S. and to which Estevez’s own son has returned to live. There, Estevez directed his father in the filming of The Way, a major film to be released in October, 2011, and which has already garnered praise at the Toronto Film Festival. Along the Way celebrates the authors’ profound bond with each other, offers candid insight into their lives and careers, and explores the differing paths of spirituality they have taken through a multigenerational saga that has come full circle beneath the Iberian sun. What emerges is a raw, strikingly intimate portrait of two seekers whom readers will come to know as strong men of many important roles, perhaps the greatest of which are as fathers and sons.This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a co! mmunity of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Pu! rchase o f the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery."The Way" is a powerful and inspirational story about family, friends, and the challenges we face while navigating this ever-changing and complicated world. Martin Sheen plays Tom, who comes to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to collect the remains of his adult son , killed in the Pyrenees in a storm while walking the Camino de Santiago,. Rather than return home, Tom decides to embark on the historical pilgrimage to honor his son's desire to finish the journey. What Tom doesn't plan on is the profound impact the journey will have on him. From the unexpected and, oftentimes, amusing experiences along "The Way," Tom begins to learn what it means to be a citizen of the world again. Through his unresolved relationship with his son, he di! scovers the difference between "the life we live and the life we choose."See Kai Run Emilio - Brown See Kai Run and Smaller promote healthy development of babies' and children's feet with their ultra-flexible soles, soft leather and wide toe box. Our footwear meets the American Podiatric Medical Association's rigorous standards for foot health and functionality and has been awarded the APMA's prestigious Seal of Acceptance. See Kai Run shoes are available in whole sizes 3 through 9 and are appropriate for pre and new walkers, as well as older toddlers up to 3 years old. See Kai Run and Smaller uppers are made from buttery-soft leather with breathable leather lining. Great care is taken to ensure that the leather used for our shoes meets the most stringent available US and international guidelines. Only quality materials are used to ensure the soft, flexible, comfortable shoes that are ideal for your child's feet. The exterior of See Kai Run & Smaller leather shoes can be sp! rayed with a non-toxic water repellent for extra protection. T! o clean our shoes, use a little mild detergent and a damp cloth and allow to air dry.

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Garden of Eden

• ISBN13: 9780684804521
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

The late 1960s and early 1970s, in New York City and America at large, were years marked by political tumult, social unrestâ€"and the best professional basketball ever played. Paradise, for better or worse, was a hardwood court in Midtown Manhattan.

When the Garden Was Eden is the definitive account of how the New York Knickerbockers won their first and only championships, and in the process provided the nation no small escape from the Vietnam War, the tragedy at Kent State, and the last vestiges of Jim Crow. The Knicks were more than a team; they were a symbol of harmony, the sublimation of individual personalities for the greater collective good.

No one is better suited t! o revive the old chants of “Dee-fense!” that rocked Madison Square Garden or the joy that radiated courtside than Harvey Araton, who has followed the Knicks, old and new, for decadesâ€"first as a teenage fan, then as a young sports reporter with the New York Post, and now as a writer and columnist for the New York Times. Araton has traveled to the Louisiana home of the Captain, Willis Reed (after writing a column years earlier that led to his abrupt firing as the Knicks’ short-lived coach); he has strolled the lush gardens of Walt “Clyde” Frazier’s St. Croix oasis; discussed the politics of that turbulent era with Senator Bill Bradley; toured Baltimore’s church basement basketball leagues with Black Jesus himself, Earl “the Pearl” Monroe; played memory games with Jerry “the Brain” Lucas; explored the Tao of basketball with Phil “Action” Jackson; and sat through eulogies for Dave DeBusschere, the lunch-bucket, 23-year-old player-coach ! lured from Detroit, and Red Holzman, the scrappy Jewish guard ! who beca me a coaching legend.

In When the Garden Was Eden, Araton not only traces the history of New York’s beloved franchiseâ€"from Ned Irish to Spike Lee to Carmelo Anthonyâ€"but profiles the lives and careers of one of sports’ all-time great teams, the Old Knicks. With measured prose and shoe-leather reporting, Araton relives their most glorious triumphs and bitter rivalries, and casts light on a time all but forgotten outside of pregame highlight reels and nostalgic reunionsâ€"a time when the Garden, Madison Square, was its own sort of Eden.

Think you know how the game of baseball began? Think again.

Forget Abner Doubleday and Cooperstown. Forget Alexander Joy Cartwright and the New York Knickerbockers. Instead, meet Daniel Lucius Adams, William Rufus Wheaton, and Louis Fenn Wadsworth, each of whom has a stronger claim to baseball paternity than Doubleday or Cartwright.

But did baseball even have a fatherâ€"or did it just evolve from other bat-and-b! all games? John Thorn, baseball’s preeminent historian, examines the creation story of the game and finds it all to be a gigantic lie, not only the Doubleday legend, so long recognized with a wink and a nudge. From its earliest days baseball was a vehicle for gambling (much like cricket, a far more popular game in early America), a proxy form of class warfare, infused with racism as was the larger society, invigorated if ultimately corrupted by gamblers, hustlers, and shady entrepreneurs. Thorn traces the rise of the New York version of the game over other variations popular in Massachusetts and Philadelphia. He shows how the sport’s increasing popularity in the early decades of the nineteenth century mirrored the migration of young men from farms and small towns to cities, especially New York. And he charts the rise of secret professionalism and the origin of the notorious “reserve clause,” essential innovations for gamblers and capitalists. No matter how much you ! know about the history of baseball, you will find something ne! w in eve ry chapter. Thorn also introduces us to a host of early baseball stars who helped to drive the tremendous popularity and growth of the game in the postâ€"Civil War era: Jim Creighton, perhaps the first true professional player; Candy Cummings, the pitcher who claimed to have invented the curveball; Albert Spalding, the ballplayer who would grow rich from the game and shape its creation myth; Hall of Fame brothers George and Harry Wright; Cap Anson, the first man to record three thousand hits and a virulent racist; and many others. Add bluff, bluster, and bravado, and toss in an illicit romance, an unknown son, a lost ball club, an epidemic scare, and you have a baseball detective story like none ever written.

Thorn shows how a small religious cult became instrumental in the commission that was established to determine the origins of the game and why the selection of Abner Doubleday as baseball’s father was as strangely logical as it was patently absurd. Entertaining fro! m the first page to the last, Baseball in the Garden of Eden is a tale of good and evil, and the snake proves the most interesting character. It is full of heroes, scoundrels, and dupes; it contains more scandal by far than the 1919 Black Sox World Series fix. More than a history of the game, Baseball in the Garden of Eden tells the story of nineteenth-century America, a land of opportunity and limitation, of glory and greedâ€"all present in the wondrous alloy that is our nation and its pastime.A sensational bestseller when it appeared in 1986, The Garden of Eden is the last uncompleted novel of Ernest Hemingway, which he worked on intermittently from 1946 until his death in 1961. Set on the Côte d'Azur in the 1920s, it is the story of a young American writer, David Bourne, his glamorous wife, Catherine, and the dangerous, erotic game they play when they fall in love with the same woman. "A lean, sensuous narrative...taut, chic, and strangely contempor! ary," The Garden of Eden represents vintage Hemingway, ! the mast er "doing what nobody did better" (R. Z. Sheppard, Time).

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The Limits of Control

• Condition: New
• Format: DVD
• AC-3; Color; Dolby; DVD; Subtitled; Widescreen; NTSC

Celebrated writer-director Jim Jarmusch (Mystery Train) serves up this witty and intoxicating brew that's "as addictive as caffeine" (Richard Roeper, "Ebert & Roeper and the Movies") and "as buzzy and ephemeral as, well, coffee and cigarettes" (LA Weekly)! "Sneakily delirious [and] way cool" (Time), this "funny cluster of eleven stories" (Rolling Stone) delivers "inspired eccentric match-ups" (The Hollywood Reporter) from an incredible all-star cast, making Coffee and Cigarettes an absolute must for fans of film, fun and fantastic wit!Now here is a movie that's practically perfect for DVD. Shot over many years with eccentric actors, Jim Jarmusch's collection of black-and-white vignettes is as uneven as a collection of music videos (without songs). Even with the dull spots and the drop-dead-hip ambi! ance, there's something touching about this parade of frazzled people holding on to their coffee and cigarettes like life rafts--especially in the final sequence with Taylor Mead. There are some severely misconceived pieces, but the best are a treat: Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan in a hilarious Hollywood encounter, Tom Waits and Iggy Pop getting off on the wrong foot in a funky diner, and Cate Blanchett doing a dual role as herself and a jealous cousin. Bill Murray can't save one underwritten piece, but Jack and Meg White are amusing in an absurdist blackout. Use the Scene Selection menu, and revel in the fetishizing of java and butts. --Robert HortonNow here is a movie that's practically perfect for DVD. Shot over many years with eccentric actors, Jim Jarmusch's collection of black-and-white vignettes is as uneven as a collection of music videos (without songs). Even with the dull spots and the drop-dead-hip ambiance, there's something touching about this parade o! f frazzled people holding on to their coffee and cigarettes li! ke life rafts--especially in the final sequence with Taylor Mead. There are some severely misconceived pieces, but the best are a treat: Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan in a hilarious Hollywood encounter, Tom Waits and Iggy Pop getting off on the wrong foot in a funky diner, and Cate Blanchett doing a dual role as herself and a jealous cousin. Bill Murray can't save one underwritten piece, but Jack and Meg White are amusing in an absurdist blackout. Use the Scene Selection menu, and revel in the fetishizing of java and butts. --Robert HortonALL PRODUCTS BRAND NEW, GUARANTEED AND FACTORY SEALED, GREAT PRODUCTS AND EXCELENT SERVICE (IDIOMA:INGLES,SUBTITULOS:ESPANOL,DURACION:96 MINS)When fate lands 3 hapless men - an unemployed disc jockey a small-time pimp & a strong-willed italian tourist - in a louisiana prison their singular adventure begins. Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 10/22/2002 Starring: John Lurie Roberto Benigni Run time: 107 minutes Director: Jom Jar! muschAfter creating one of the breakthrough movies of the American independent cinema, Stranger than Paradise, Jim Jarmusch stayed right in the same minimalist, oddball, black-and-white groove. Down by Law takes place in Louisiana, where two losers (musicians Tom Waits and John Lurie) find themselves stuck in a jail cell together. One day they are joined by a boisterous Italian (Roberto Benigni), and the chemistry changes--suddenly an escape attempt is on the horizon. Conventional drama is not Jarmusch's intention; one of the emotional high points of this movie is the three guys marching around their prison cell shouting, "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!" Yet the deadpan style creates its own humorous mood, underscored by melancholy (also underscored by the music of Lurie and the gravel-voiced songs of Waits). This was the first American film for Roberto Benigni, the Italian comedian (Life Is Beautiful), and he lights it up with his e! ffervescent clowning. Jarmusch has said that Down by Law forms a loose trilogy with Stranger than Paradise and the subsequent Mystery Train, a triptych of disaffected, drifting life in the United States. Few filmmakers have ever surveyed ennui so entertainingly. --Robert Horton A comic series of short vignettes built on one another to create a cumulative effect, as the characters discuss things as diverse as caffeine popsicles, Paris in the '20s, and the use of nicotine as an insecticide--all the while sitting around sipping coffee and smoking cigarettes. As director Jim Jarmusch delves into the normal pace of our world from an extraordinary angle, he shows just how absorbing the obsessions, joys and addictions of life can be, if truly observed.Johnny Depp (CHOCOLAT) delivers a remarkable performance in this highly acclaimed tale of adventure and intrigue in the wild, wild west! A young man in search of a fresh start, William Blake (Depp) embarks on an exciting journey to a new town ... never realizing the danger th! at lies ahead. But when a heated love triangle ends in double murder, Blake finds himself a wanted man, running scared -- until a mysterious loner teaches him to face the dangers that follow a "dead man." With an outstanding supporting cast including Gabriel Byrne (THE USUAL SUSPECTS) and Robert Mitchum (CAPE FEAR), and a sizzling soundtrack, DEAD MAN is another motion picture triumph from filmmaker Jim Jarmusch.This disappointment from Jim Jarmusch stars Johnny Depp in a mystery-Western about a 19th-century accountant named William Blake, who spends nearly all his money getting to a hellish mud town in the old West and ends up penniless and doomstruck in the wilderness. A benevolent if goofy Native American (Gary Farmer) takes an interest in guiding Blake on a quest for identity in his earthly journey, but the film is really just a string of endless shtick about inbred woodsmen, dumb lawmen, and a trio of irritable killers. With Robert Mitchum, Iggy Pop, Gabriel Byrne, Alf! red Molina, and a noodling soundtrack by Neil Young. --Tom ! KeoghAcclaimed filmmaker Jim Jarmusch delivers a stylish and sexy new thriller about a mysterious loner (De Bankolé) who arrives in Spain with instructions to meet various strangers, each one a part of his dangerous mission. Featuring an all-star international cast that includes Isaach De Bankolé, Gael García Bernal, John Hurt, Tilda Swinton and Bill Murray, it’s a stunning journey in an exotic Spanish landscape that simmers with heat and suspense.Jim Jarmusch has been the cinema's deadpan poet of lives in transit, from his breakthrough feature Stranger Than Paradise (1984) to Broken Flowers (2005). Limits of Control pretty much consists of deadpan and transit as it follows--make that contemplates--the mission of an enigmatic hitman through some picturesque but sparsely populated corners of Spain. Whom this "Lone Man" (Isaach De Bankolé) is supposed to kill and why are matters not shared with the viewer. Neither is the content of the various minuscule ! messages Lone Man periodically receives, reads, then swallows. Presumably they cue the next stage of his itinerary, which includes encounters with John Hurt as a guitar-toting philosophe who disdains the word "bohemian," Tilda Swinton as a platinum-blonde-wigged femme fatale emulating Rita Hayworth in The Lady from Shanghai (and reminding us that that glorious movie made no sense either), and Pas de la Huerta as a young woman called, with incontrovertible aptness, "Nude." Throughout, De Bankolé's magnificent carven-ebony features register little, not even exasperation that every conversation begins with someone saying to Lone Man, "You don't speak Spanish, do you?"--in Spanish.

Most of the little that's said in Limits of Control is stuff like "Everything is subjective ... Reality is arbitrary ... Life is a handful of dust" (though that gets translated as "Life is a handful of dirt"). You've gathered by now that no way is this a thriller, although ! it teases against the outline of one. Its hipster self-conscio! usness i ncludes name-dropping (Eliot, Rimbaud, Hitchcock; the title is from William Burroughs), homage (Citizen Kane, Contempt, De Chirico), and quite a bit of cutting from paintings to actual scenes that resemble them, and vice versa. It's all impeccably shot by Christopher Doyle, who knows just how to light De Bankolé and his dark monochrome outfits against dark monochrome backgrounds, and make us glad he does. Otherwise, Limits of Control pales in comparison to Jarmusch's other film centered on a taciturn black assassin, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), with Forest Whitaker. There the minimalist narrative took on an aura of ritual, devotion, and genuine mystery. The rituals being observed in Limits of Control feel empty and played out. --Richard T. Jameson

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