Jimmy Smits

From the director of My Brilliant Career comes this "sizzling romance" (Los Angeles Times) featuring Jimmy Smits ("NYPD Blue"), Greta Scacchi (Jefferson in Paris) and Vincent D'Onofrio (Full Metal Jacket) in "a classic romantic triangle [with] emotional impact" (Variety). When her journalist husband Nestor (Smits) is imprisoned in Cuba for his politicalbeliefs, Isabel (Scacchi) flees the country with her daughter. Saved off the shores of Miami by a fisherman (D'Onofrio), she soon falls deeply in love with her rescuer. But just as she's on the vergeof building a life with him, Nestor unexpectedly appears, released from the torturous Cuban prison and determined to win his wife and daughter back. Torn between the passion of her present and the love of her past, Isabel must now choose which man will be her future

If The Phantom Menace was the setup, then Attack of the Clones is the plot-progressing payoff, and devoted Star Wars fans are sure to be enthralled. Ten years after Episode I, Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman), now a senator, resists the creation of a Republic Army to combat an evil separatist movement. The brooding Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) is resentful of his stern Jedi mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), tormented by personal loss, and showing his emerging "dark side" while protecting his new love, Amidala, from would-be assassins. Youthful romance and solemn portent foreshadow the events of the original Star Wars as Count Dooku (a.k.a. Darth Tyranus, played by Christopher Lee) forges an alliance with the Dark Lord of the Sith, while lavish set pieces showcase George Lucas's supreme command of all-digital filmmaking. All of this makes Episode II a technological milestone, savaged by some critics as a bloated, storyless spectacle, but still qualifying as a fan-approved precursor to the pivotal events of Episode III. --Jeff Shannon

The STAR WARS saga continues on DVD with Episode II Attack of the Clones. Anakin Skywalker has grown into an accomplished Jedi apprentice, and he faces his most difficult challenge yet as he must choose between his Jedi duty and forbidden love. Relive the adventure the way it was meant to be seen in spectacular digital clarity, including the climactic Clone War battle and Jedi Master Yoda in the ultimate lightsaber duel. Experience this 2-disc set that features over six hours of bonus materials, and see how Episode II unlocks the secrets of the entire STAR WARS saga.

The Tommyknockers is a TV miniseries based on Stephen King's 1987 novel. An alien spacecraft has been buried beneath the Burning Woods near the small rural New England community of Haven for millions of years, but has now by chance been unearthed by Bobbi (Marg Helgenberger) while digging around in the woods behind her house. The structure in the woods begins to exert a glowing-green influence on the town, causing the people to invent Rube Goldberg-like gizmos, develop the gift of telepathy, lose their teeth, and form a hive-mind mentality bent on digging up the ship and revivifying the desiccated aliens within. Luckily, Bobbi's significant other is an alcoholic poet (Jimmy Smits) who needs to learn to face his fears. He also has a metal plate in his head that prevents the hive-minders from reading his thoughts and makes him immune to the neon-green influence of the aliens. Ultimately, it's up to him to save the day. Although the acting is topnotch, especially from Smits and Helgenberger, and there are plenty of gooseflesh moments, there are also enough plot holes here to fuel a very long and enjoyable evening's conversation. Why do the aliens start in at this time, when they've been causing legends in the woods for ages? Where does an alien ship buried for ages get all that dry ice? How does the Smits character make a living as a poet? One suspects that King's fine sense of New England characterizations is given short shrift here, and that the woods in his mind teem with more alien thoughts than the TV miniseries form could embody. Welcome appearances by congenial actors abound, notably Joanna Cassidy, E.G. Marshall and Robert Carradine. And there's a slutty postal letter-carrier played authentically by Traci Lords. --Jim Gay

ANAKIN HAS GROWN INTO AN ACCOMPLISHED JEDI APPRENTICE, YET HE MUST CHOOSE BETWEEN JEDI DUTY & FORBIDDEN LOVE.

If The Phantom Menace was the setup, then Attack of the Clones is the plot-progressing payoff, and devoted Star Wars fans are sure to be enthralled. Ten years after Episode I, Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman), now a senator, resists the creation of a Republic Army to combat an evil separatist movement. The brooding Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) is resentful of his stern Jedi mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), tormented by personal loss, and showing his emerging "dark side" while protecting his new love, Amidala, from would-be assassins. Youthful romance and solemn portent foreshadow the events of the original Star Wars as Count Dooku (a.k.a. Darth Tyranus, played by Christopher Lee) forges an alliance with the Dark Lord of the Sith, while lavish set pieces showcase George Lucas's supreme command of all-digital filmmaking. All of this makes Episode II a technological milestone, savaged by some critics as a bloated, storyless spectacle, but still qualifying as a fan-approved precursor to the pivotal events of Episode III. --Jeff Shannon

Taylor Hackford (An Officer and a Gentleman) directed this 1993 epic about Chicano gang wars in the California prison system and the differing and tragic paths of three boyhood friends. Half-brothers Paco and Cruz grow up with their cousin Miklo in Chicano Los Angeles, and each in turn is influenced by their violent environment and the prevalence of drugs on their streets. Cruz becomes an artist but winds up tragically addicted to heroin, while Miklo serves time for murder and Paco becomes a cop, setting the stage for a confrontation between the two when Miklo is released from prison. The film strives for an epic feel but takes too long to set up its interweaving stories. It is notable, however, for some fine acting on the part of Benjamin Bratt and Damian Chiapa, as well as smaller roles by Billy Bob Thornton, Ving Rhames and Delroy Lindo. Its depictions of life in the California prison system are harrowing and powerful, and serve as the centerpiece of this urban drama. --Robert Lane

Rugged, powerful gang epic from Taylor Hackford ("An Officer and a Gentleman") detailing the lives of two Hispanic brothers and their half-Anglo cousin as they struggle for survival in the violence-filled barrios of East L.A. Drug addiction, gunplay, family rivalry and broken dreams are the elements explored in this forceful drama. With Jesse Borrego. AKA: "Bound by Honor." 180 min. Widescreen; Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital Surround; "making of" featurette; scene access.

Jimmy Smith put the Hammond B-3 organ on the jazz map for good in the 1950s. The Sermon, dating from 1958, is among his best recordings, featuring the exceptional lineup of trumpeter Lee Morgan, altoist Lou Donaldson, tenorman Tina Brooks, guitarist Kenny Burrell, drummer Art Blakey, and others. Smith's smooth, vibratoless sound perfectly suits the nimble and prodding leads of the player as he touches on R&B, soul, blues and, of course, gospel. This brings us to "The Sermon," which is reason enough to seek this gem out. Smith's group takes the title tune out for a 20-minute, fully improvised, slow-blues stroll, during which each player shares the spotlight. The soul-stirring feeling set in motion by Smith rubs off on the other musicians to make this tune and album a defining moment in organ jazz, and even in soul music. The Sermon stands as a sparkling gem in the Rudy Van Gelder reissue series. --Tad Hendrickson

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Perhaps neglected in the long shadow of African-American contributions to American music, Latinos have nevertheless had profound influence on jazz, rock, country, and R&B tunes throughout history. In the programs "Bridges," "The Salsa Revolution," "The Chicano Wave," and "Divas & Superstars," viewers will discover how musical masters such as Perez Prado, Hector Lavoe, Ritchie Valens, Ricky Martin, Santana, Pitbull, and many others added to the Latino musical legacy. 4 hrs. total on two discs. Soundtrack: English.

Organist Jimmy Smith's Blue Note and Verve back-catalog is the stuff of legend, and the man plays as well on Dot Com Blues as he ever has. But this session is more than another Jimmy Smith album. At times you wonder where Jimmy is among all the accompanying star power, but if you listen, he is still there, rubbing the honeyed keys as B.B. King, Etta James, Dr. John, and Keb Mo wail and work it. Smith shows he is still the master of the blueswalk in "8 Counts for Rita," "C.C. Rider," "Tuition Blues," and the title track, as well as on a sumptuously slow version of "Mood Indigo." Here, Smith solos with gritty abandon in a small-group setting with such notables as guitarist Russell Malone, drummer Harvey Mason, and percussionist Lenny Castro. Smith is more often felt than heard elsewhere, though, and maybe that is understandable when Etta James lets rips on a wobbly version of "I Just Wanna Make Love to You." The opening "Only in It for the Money" is better balanced, perhaps because Dr. John understands the value of less-is-more and, as a fellow keyboardist, doesn't want to step on Smith's celebrated toes. Finally, B.B. King helps make "Three O'Clock Blues" a rocking blowout that transports the listener back to some rock & blues tent meeting circa 1956. Dot Com Blues proves that Jimmy Smith can still raise the rug and do what he does best, star power in attendance or not. --Ken Micallef

Japanese Version featuring a Bonus Track: 'since I Lost My Baby'. Includes Special Guest Spots by B.b. King, Etta James, Taj Mahal, Dr. John and Keb' Mo'.

Biography of award-winning actor, Jimmy Smits, best known for his televison roles in "L.A. Law" and "NYPD BLUE."

Oscar Hijuelos's sixth novel, A Simple Habana Melody, is as much a love song to prewar Cuba as the "simple melody" at the center of the book. That tune, named "Roses Puras," was written by Hijuelos's protagonist, the aging composer Israel Levis, in the 1920s for his protégé and secret love, the singer Rita Valladares. The novel is set just after World War II, when Levis has returned to his childhood home in Havana after many years in Europe, at first in Paris, then in Buchenwald, where he was interned by Nazis who ignored the crucifix around his neck and focused only on his Sephardic name. The bittersweet feelings Levis bears toward "Rosas Puras" ("Beautiful Roses"), his best-known song, were further complicated when a German officer, who had gathered some musically gifted inmates for a concert, asked him to play this catchy old tune, unaware that Levis had written it. But this is not primarily a war novel; it is a novel of memory, a series of visits to the beautiful, vanished world of Levis's childhood and youth seen through the lens of his later suffering. Written with the same richness of detail, sensuality, and musicality of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1990, A Simple Habana Melody contains even greater emotional depth and narrative complexity. --Regina Marler

It is 1947 and Israel Levis, a Cuban composer whose life had once been a dream of music, love and sadness, is returning to Habana, Cuba from Spain where he has just recovered from the physical and spiritual malaises resulting from his experiences in Paris -- then Buchenwald -- during the Nazi occupation of France. (A devout Catholic, Levis had been mistakenly identified as a Jew because of his name.)Arriving back in Habana, Levis's mind is reeling with beautiful memories of his life before the war, a life of pleasure and excitement that he owes, in part, to an unrequited, nearly "chivalrous" romance with a certain Rita Valladares, a singer for whom Levis had written his most famous song, "Rosas Puras" or "Pretty Roses." This 1928 composition becomes the most famous rumba in the world; and it is the song, symbolic of the composer's love for Rita Valladares, that sets Levis' life in Europe in motion.This is a love story -- for art, family and country -- as well as a portrait of Habana at the turn of the last century, when "the world was good." A Simple Habana Melody is a virtuoso performance from one of our most important writers.Performed by Jimmy Smits

This digital document is an article from Epoca, published by Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA) on January 28, 2001. The length of the article is 729 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Citation DetailsTitle: Milenarismo diabólico: La bendición.(TT: Evil of the millennium: The blessing.)(Reseña)Author: Pedro CrespoPublication: Epoca (Magazine/Journal)Date: January 28, 2001Publisher: Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA) Page: 56Article Type: ReseñaDistributed by Thomson Gale

JIMMY SMITS SIGNED AUTOGRAPH "STAR WARS" 8X10 PHOTO A

Jimmy Smits Signed Framed 11x14 Photo Display JSA Star Wars

JIMMY SMITS "MY FAMILY" Also in "L.A. LAW" & "NYPD BLUE" Signed 8x10 B/W Photo