Fritz Lang
Art House & International
Criterion
Unrated
Peter Lorre made film history with his startling performance as a psychotic murderer of children. Too elusive for the Berlin police, the killer is sought and marked by underworld criminals who are feeling the official fallout for his crimes. This riveting, 1931 German drama by Fritz Lang--an early talkie--unfolds against a breathtakingly expressionistic backdrop of shadows and clutter, an atmosphere of predestination that seems to be closing in on Lorre's terrified villain. "M" is an important piece of cinema's past along with a number of Lang's early German works, including "Metropolis" and "Spies". (Lang eventually brought his influence directly to the American cinema in such films as "Fury", "They Clash by Night", and "The Big Heat".) "M" shouldn't be missed. This original 111-minute version is a little different from what most people have seen in theaters. "--Tom Keogh"

Fritz Lang
Crime
Nero-Film AG

Someone is murdering children in a German city. The Police search is so intense, it is disturbing the 'normal' criminals, and the local hoods decide to help find the murderer as quickly as possible.

Jacques Tati
Comedy
Cady Films

Monsieur Hulot goes on a holiday to a seaside resort, but accidents and misunderstandings follow him where ever he goes. The peace and quiet of the hotel guests don't last very long with Hulot around, because although his intensions are good, they always turn out catastrophically.

Charles Lamont
Comedy
Universal International Pictures (UI)

Elwin Kettle might win a scholarship to an agricultural college. Essay contest judges Mannering and Crosby decide to choose between the two finalist by spending the weekend at the home of each. Pa makes numerous cosmetic improvements to his rundown home to impress the judges, but all wash away in a torrential rain storm. Will the judges still award the scholarship to Elwin?

Charles Barton
Comedy
Universal International Pictures (UI)

Ma and Pa are trying to raise enough money at the county fair to send their daughter Rosie to college. Ma competes in baking and Pa enters a trotter in a horse race, while Rosie takes up with handsome young Marvin Johnson.

Lee Sholem
Comedy
Universal International Pictures (UI)

Ma and Pa, along with daughter Rosie, go off to Hawaii in answer to cousin Rodney's call for help running his pineapple farm while he recovers from an illness. Pa soon causes a major explosion and gets himself kidnapped.

Edward Sedgwick
Comedy
Universal International Pictures (UI)

The Kettles leave their ultra-modern home and return to the country looking for uranium. Ma and Tom's mother-in-law, Mrs. Parker, fight over whether their grandchild will be raised "hygiencially."

Charles Lamont
Comedy
Universal International Pictures (UI)

When Pa wins a jingle-writing contest, he and Ma head for New York City. They they get in trouble with gangsters when they lose some stolen money which they had already agreed to deliver to one of the thugs.

Charles Lamont
Comedy
Universal International Pictures (UI)

The Kettles are in Paris along with their daughter-in-law's parents the Parkers. Pa tries to buy racy postcards. He also gets in big trouble when he is given a letter to deliver to Adolph Wade, a spy who gets killed by spies Inez and Cyrus Kraft.

Bill Karn
Crime
Screen Classics Inc.

From dust-bowl days in Oklahoma to an opulent Florida hideout under siege, Ma Barker (Lurene Tuttle of "Psycho"), leads her sons astray while maintaining a consultation sideline for the likes of John Dillinger, Alvin 'Creepy' Karpis, Baby Face Nelson and Machine Gun Kelly.

Orson Welles
Drama
Mercury Productions
PG
In fog-dripping, barren and sometimes macabre settings, 11th-century Scottish nobleman Macbeth is led by an evil prophecy and his ruthless yet desirable wife to the treasonous act that makes him king. But he does not enjoy his newfound, dearly-won kingship... Restructured, but all the dialogue is Shakespeare's.

Roman Polanski
Drama
Caliban Films
R
Roman Polanski's version of Shakespeare's tragedy about a Scottish lord who murders the king and ascends the throne. His wife then begins hallucinating as a result of her guilt complex and the dead king's son conspires to attack MacBeth and expose him for the murderer he is.

Brad Anderson
Drama
Filmax Group
R
THE MACHINIST is the story of TREVOR REZNIK, a lathe-operator who is dying of insomnia. In a machine shop, occupational hazards are bad enough under normal circumstances; yet for Trevor the risks are compounded by fatigue. Trevor has lost the ability to sleep. This is no ordinary insomnia...

Michael Campus
Crime
New Line Home Video
R
Goldie returns from five years at the state pen and winds up king of the pimping game. Trouble comes in the form of two corrupt white cops and a crime lord who wants him to return to the small time.

Costa-Gavras
Drama
Arnold Kopelson Productions
PG-13
Sam Baily, upset over losing his job, takes a natural history museum hostage. Max Brackett, journalist, is in the museum when this occurs, and gets the scoop. The story spreads nation wide, and soon it is all anyone talks about. The story itself is the news, not the reason why or the real people behind it.

John McNaughton
Comedy
Universal Pictures
R
Wayne Dobie is a shy police photographer who saves the life of crime boss Frank Milo. Greatful, Milo insists on being Wayne's friend, offering him the companionship of "Glory", one of his employees. Wayne is thus in a difficult situation: he can't be seen to be fraternising with criminals, and he's unsure about how to deal with Glory.

Larry Bishop
Comedy
Dreyfuss / James Productions
R
Mob boss Vic returns to business from madhouse. Meanwhile his best and quickest assistant Mickey Holliday is having an affair with Vic's girl Grace Everly and, at the same time, with her sister Rita Everly. What will Vic do? Whom will he kill? Is he really insane and weak? Many other mobsters, including Jake Parker, WackyJacky Jackson and Ben London think he's not so powerful anymore and hope to take his place.

Marilyn Agrelo
Documentary
Just One Productions
PG
Eleven-year-old New York City public school kids journey into the world of ballroom dancing and reveal pieces of themselves and their world along the way. Told from their candid, sometimes hilarious perspectives, these kids are transformed, from reluctant participants to determined competitors, from typical urban kids to "ladies and gentlemen," on their way to try to compete in the final citywide competition. Providing unique insight into the incredible cultural diversity that is New York City, this film profiles several kids from three schools (out of 60) at this dynamic age, when becoming that "cool" teenager vies for position with familiar innocence, while they learn the merengue, rumba, tango, the foxtrot and swing.

George Miller
Action
Kennedy Miller Productions
R
A vision of an apocalyptic future set in the wastelands of Australia. Total social decay is just around the corner in this spectacular cheap budget gang orientated road movie. Where the cops do their best to lay down the law and the outlaw gangs try their hardest to defy the system. Leather clad Max Rockatansky husband, father and cop turns judge, juror and executioner after his best friend, wife and baby are killed. Here we see the final days of normality of a man who had everything to live for, and his slip into the abyss of madness. Mad Max is the antihero on the road to vengeance and oblivion.

Various
Television
Lions Gate
NR
Stills from "Mad Men" (click for larger image)

Various
Television
Lions Gate
Unrated
Set in 1960s New York City, Mad Men explores the glamorous and ego-driven "Golden Age” of advertising, where everyone is selling something and nothing is ever what it seems. And no one plays the game better than Don Draper (Golden Globe® - winner Jon Hamm), Madison Avenue’s biggest ad man – and ladies' man – in the business. Returning for its second season, the Golden Globe®-winning series for Best TV Drama and Actor continues to blur the lines between truth and lies, perception and reality. The world of Mad Men is moving in a new direction -- can Sterling Cooper keep up? Meanwhile, the private life of Don Draper becomes complicated in a new way. What is the cost of his secret identity?

Matthew Weiner
Television
Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Unrated
Stills from Mad Men: Season 3 (Click for larger image)

Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath
Animation
DreamWorks SKG
PG
At New York's Central Park Zoo, a lion, a zebra, a giraffe, and a hippo are best friends and stars of the show. But when one of the animals goes missing from their cage, the other three break free to look for him, only to find themselves reunited ... on a ship en route to Africa. When their vessel is hijacked, however, the friends, who have all been raised in captivity, learn first-hand what life can be like in the wild.

Jon Favreau
Comedy
Cardiff Giant Productions
R
Bobby is a struggling boxer and bodyguard for his stripper girlfriend. But he hates his work and wants to move up. So he agrees to go to New York City for his boss to help in the delivery for a money laundering scheme. His partner in crime is his best friend Ricky, an obnoxious loudmouth who has seen one too many mafia movies. Bobby tries to keep it cool and get the job done, but Ricky's antics threaten to blow the entire situation.

John Cromwell
Comedy
Selznick International Pictures

Young lawyer meets and marries girl after knowing her one day. Takes bride home to meet his mother who disapproves of the marriage. Lawyer thinks everything will be fine as he moves up the ladder of the law firm. He doesn't and things get tough. A baby makes things even tougher.

David Bradley
Sci-Fi
Sans-S

Various
Music

History
Documentary
A&E HOME VIDEO
NR
Dive deep into the dark heart of the mob with this definitive 4-disc set from HISTORY. A sweeping saga of bloodshed, betrayal and big business, The Mafia offers a cold-blooded examination of organized crime in the 20th century, from prohibition to WWII and the Cold War, to JFK s presidency and John Gotti. Get the real story behind the Kennedy connection, see how organized crime infiltrated organized labor, learn how the Mob helped win WWII, and trace the exploits of legendary figures through rare photos, footage and period accounts. From bootlegging to racketeering to murder, from Al Capone and Lucky Luciano to Benjamin Bugsy Siegel, this comprehensive collector s set is a groundbreaking investigation into the origins of the ethnic gangs that turned criminal activities into family enterprises, and a detailed look at some of the mob s most notorious members.

The Mafia provides over ten hours of thrilling and revealing documentaries.

Mafia: The History of the Mob in America, with the episodes
The Prohibition Years
Birth Of The American Mafia
The Kennedys and the Mob
Unions and the Mob
Empire of Crime
Lucky Luciano: Chairman of the Mob
Meyer Lansky: Mob Tycoon
Genovese: Portrait of a Crime Family
Bugsy Siegel
Al Capone and the Machine Gun Massacre
America and the Mob: Wartime Friends
The Gambinos: First Family of Crime

Alberto Lattuada
Comedy
Compagnia Cinematografica Antonio Cervi

Antonio is a jolly and precise guy working for an auto factory in northern Italy. He decides to take his wife and two daughters on vacation to Sicily, so that they can finally see his hometown and meet his family. He's excited to show them around and dispel many of their negative stereotypes about Sicilians. He even dispels stereotypes about the mafia, saying that being a mafioso as a teen amounted to just being a messenger boy. But as Antonio reconnects with his past in Sicily, he finds out that there are more sides to being a Sicilian than he remembers.

Peter Mullan
Drama
Scottish Screen
R
A thoroughly mind provoking film about 3 young women whom, under tragic circumstances see themselves cast away to a 19th-Centrian Magdalene Laudry home for supposedly 'fallen' women. Here, the women endure agonizing punishment and a long, harsh working system which leaves them physically drained and mentally challenged. As the girls bond together, it soon becomes clear that the only way out of the Magdalene convent is to escape, but with twisted Sister Bridget running the wing, any chances seem limited...

Alexander Mackendrick
Comedy
Michael Balcon Productions

The skipper of a tatty coastal 'puffer' boat cons an American into letting "The Maggie" carry a cargo to a Scottish island. The American soon realises he's been conned but can he stop them ?

Ingmar Bergman
Comedy
Sveriges Radio
G
The Queen of the Night (Birgit Nordin) offers his daughter Pamina (Irma Urrila) to Tamino (Josef Köstlinger), but he has to bring her back from her father and priest Sarastro (Ulrik Cold). She gives a magic flute to Tamino and magic bells to the bird hunter Papageno (Håkan Hagegård), who follows Tamino and wants to find a wife. The duo travels in a journey of love and knowledge.

The Beatles
Comedy
Apple Corps
G
The Beatles first film since "Help" was largely Paul McCartney's project. The story follows a bus load of eccentric characters on a magic journey through the English countryside. Rather than a unified narrative, it becomes a series of psychedelic clips promoting various songs including "The Fool on the Hill," "Blue Jay Way," "Your Mother Should Know," "I Am the Walrus" and "Magical Mystery Tour." The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band are seen in a strip club playing "Death Cab for Cutie."

David Lambert
Music Video & Concerts
Wienerworld UK
NR
The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour Memories is an upbeat rockumentary featuring the vivid memories of those who witnessed the making of the cult Beatle movie, The Magical Mystery Tour, in 1967 and features a celebrity cast along with anecdotal stories and

Orson Welles
Drama
Mercury Productions

The young, handsome, but somewhat wild Eugene Morgan wants to marry Isabel Amberson, daughter of a rich upper-class family, but she instead marries dull and steady Wilbur Minafer. Their only child, George, grows up a spoiled brat. Years later, Eugene comes back, now a mature widower and a successful automobile maker. After Wilbur dies, Eugene again asks Isabel to marry him, and she is receptive. But George resents the attentions paid to his mother, and he and his whacko aunt Fanny manage to sabotage the romance. A series of disasters befall the Ambersons and George, and he gets his come-uppance in the end.

Douglas Sirk
Drama
Universal International Pictures (UI)

When churlish, spoiled rich man Bob Merrick foolishly wrecks his speed boat, the rescue team resuscitates him with equipment that's therefore unavailable to aid a local hero, Dr. Wayne Phillips, who dies as a result. Phillips had helped many people, and when Merrick learns Phillips' secret, to give selflessly and in secret, he tries it in a ham-handed way. The result further alienates Phillips' widow, Helen, with whom Merrick has fallen in love. Merrick's persistence causes another tragedy, and he must remake his life, including going back to medical school, in an attempt to make amends and win her love.

Paul Thomas Anderson
Drama
Ghoulardi Film Company
R
24 hours in L.A.; it's raining cats and dogs. Two parallel and intercut stories dramatize men about to die: both are estranged from a grown child, both want to make contact, and neither child wants anything to do with dad. Earl Partridge's son is a charismatic misogynist; Jimmy Gator's daughter is a cokehead and waif. A mild and caring nurse intercedes for Earl, reaching the son; a prayerful and upright beat cop meets the daughter, is attracted to her, and leads her toward a new calm. Meanwhile, guilt consumes Earl's young wife, while two whiz kids, one grown and a loser and the other young and pressured, face their situations. The weather, too, is quirky.

Paul Thomas Anderson
Drama
New Line Home Video
R
A handful of people in the San Fernando Valley are having one hell of a day. TV mogul Earl Partridge (Jason Robards) is on his deathbed; his trophy wife (Julianne Moore) is popping pills with alarming frequency. Earl's nurse (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is trying desperately to get in touch with Earl's only son, sex guru Frank T.J. Mackey (Tom Cruise), who's about to have his carefully constructed past blown by a TV reporter (April Grace). Whiz kid Stanley (Jeremy Blackman) is being goaded by his selfish dad into breaking the record for the game show "What Do Kids Know?" Meanwhile, Stanley's predecessor, the grown-up quiz kid Donnie Smith (William H. Macy) has lost his job and is nursing a severe case of unrequited love. And the host of "What Do Kids Know?", the affable Jimmy Gator (Philip Baker Hall), like Earl, is dying of cancer, and his attempt to reconcile with his cokehead daughter (Melora Walters) fails miserably. She, meanwhile, is running hot and cold with a cop (John C. Reilly) who would love to date her, if she can sit still for long enough. And over it all, a foreboding sky threatens to pour something more than just rain.
This third feature from Paul Thomas Anderson ("Boogie Nights") is a maddening, magnificent piece of filmmaking, and it's an ensemble film to rank with the best of Robert Altman--every little piece of the film means something, and it's solidly there for a reason. Deftly juggling a breathtaking ensemble of actors, Anderson crafts a tale of neglectful parents, resentful children, and love-starved souls that's amazing in scope, both thematically and emotionally. Part of the charge of "Magnolia" is seeing exactly how may characters Anderson can juggle, and can he keep all those balls in air (indeed he can, even if it means throwing frogs into the mix). And it's been far too long since we've seen a filmmaker whose love of making movies is so purely joyful, and this electric energy is reflected in the actors, from Cruise's revelatory performance to Reilly's quietly powerful turn as the moral center of the story. While at three hours it's definitely not suited to everyone's taste, "Magnolia" is a compelling, heartbreaking, ultimately hopeful mediation on the accidents of chance that make up our lives. Featuring eight wonderful songs by Aimee Mann, including "Save Me." "--Mark Englehart"

Ted Post
Action
Malpaso Company, The

San Francisco Police Inspector 'Dirty' Harry Callahan and his new partner, Early Smith have been temporarily reassigned from Homicide to Stakeout Duty. Meanwhile, those of the city's criminals who manage to avoid punishment by the courts are nevertheless being killed by unknown assassins. Callahan begins to investigate the murders despite the orders of his superior officer, Lieutenant Briggs. A man has to know his limitations...

Peter Hewitt
Comedy, Crime


Three middle-age guards learn that their museum has sold a wing of art to a Danish museum. Each has a favorite in that collection, and none can imagine life without the peace and completion it brings. Though mere acquaintances, they plot a theft of the three pieces between the time they are packed and the time they're loaded onto a plane. First each must obtain a forgery; then, they have to smuggle the forgeries into the museum and find a way to make the switches. The heist is complicated by Roger's intrusive wife - he's promised her a trip to Florida for their anniversary - and George's proclivity for taking his clothes off when standing in front of the warrior statue he loves.

Barbet Schroeder
Drama
Les Films du Losange
G
A common thief (Depardieu) breaks into the house of a professional dominatrix (Ogier), and begins to help her "train" her clients. Though this world is alien to his experience, he finds himself falling in love with her. Eventually he discovers that she does this in order to support her son, and he attempts to help her out of this life, which she is not sure she really wants to leave.

Frank Darabont
Drama
Castle Rock Entertainment
PG
Peter Appleton is an ambitious young screenwriter working for HHS Studios during Hollywood's Golden Age, 1951 in particular. "Ashes to Ashes" is about to be released, and he's dating the attractive movie star, Sandra Sinclair. Just when everything seems to be going his way, it is discovered he (unwittingly) attended a Communist meeting during college when pulled there by his girlfriend at the time, and thus heavy suspicion settles over him and he'll have to stand before Congress. Afraid of what might happen if they don't, HHS cancels Appleton's contract and aborts the release date of the film. Appleton promptly begins to wallow in self-pity and spends nearly an entire night at a bar, then drives intoxicated through the streets of the California course until plummeting into a stormy river and getting knocked unconscious. Washing up on the beaches of a small town called Lawson. Although the people there are pleasant and likeable, the town is depressed and lifeless due to having lost 62 of it's sons in World War II. One of them, Luke Trimble, was missing in action; and miraculously, Peter bears a striking resemblence to the black and white photos, close enough to fool even Luke's father, Harry. However, thanks to the blow to the head and the alcohol, Peter has suffered amnesia and decides he must be who they think he is. Besides, it's not a bad life: Luke's beautiful lover, lawyer Adele Stanton, is all over him, the town has suddenly come back to life with excitement, and he and his "father" rebuild a movie palace Harry used to run, the Majestic. Unfortunately, Peter's memory returns in time for G-men to track him down.

Michael Kantor
Comedy
Rhino
NR
Hosted By Billy Crystal & Narrated By Amy Sedaris, 3-DVD Set Presents A 6-Episode Series Chronicling A Century Of America's Funniest Entertainment And Its Most Legendary Comedians!

Lloyd Kaufman
Documentary
Troma Entertainment

Based on the book of the same name, Lloyd Kaufman and the Troma Studios team share their wisdom about filmmaking to independent filmmakers everywhere. They make a documentary of the team's visits and have interviews, and there is a behind-the-scenes look at how many famous Hollywood filmmakers who started with Troma make their movies and how Troma has inspired them.

Gus Van Sant
Drama
MK2

A story of amour fou. Walt is madly in love/lust with a young illegal Mexican immigrant. "I wanna show this Mexican kid that I'm gay for him", says Walt. However, the object of his unrequited affection doesn't even speak any English and finds Walt really strange and undesirable.

Spike Lee
Biography
40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks
PG-13
Biography of Malcolm X, the famous African American leader. Born Malcolm Little, his father (a minister) was killed by the Ku Klux Klan. He became a gangster, and while in jail discovered the Nation of Islam writings of Elijah Muhammad. He preaches the teachings when let out of jail, but later on goes on a pilgrimage to the city of Mecca, there he converts to the original Islamic religion and becomes a Sunni Muslim. He changes his name to El-Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz and stops his anti-white teachings, as he realises the error of his mistakes. He is later on assasinated and dies a Muslim Martyr.

Giuseppe Tornatore
Comedy
Medusa Produzione
R
"Bella e impossibile", Maddalena, detta Malena, si aggira per le stradine di Montecuto, in Sicilia. Portamento austero e provocante; su di se gli sguardi di tutti, in particolare di Renato, quattordicenne che s'innamora di lei e sogna fantastiche avventure amorose ed erotiche. Una passione iniziatica! Siamo nel 1940, il giorno della dichiarazione di guerra. Passano i giorni, il marito è partito per il fronte e Malena soffre in silenzio: la notizia della morte del marito, la costrizione a vendersi ai tedeschi, l'odio delle donne del paese. Fino al doloroso riscatto finale.

Robert J. Rosenthal
Comedy
Marimark Productions

Irvin Berwick
Crime
Crown International Pictures

When a high school senior is dumped by her boyfriend, her grades fall drastically...to avoid failing, she begins seducing her male teachers. Thus begins her downward spiral into drug addiction and prostitution, and ultimately assassinations for a kingpin mob boss.

Harold Becker
Crime
Castle Rock Entertainment
PG-13
A tail about a happily married couple who would like to have children. Tracy teaches infants, Andy's a college professor. Things are never the same after she is taken to hospital and operated upon by Jed, a "know all" doctor.

Kevin Smith
Comedy
Gramercy Pictures
R
Brodie Bruce, a Sega and comic book obsessed college student, and his best friend, TS Quint, are both dumped by their girlfriends on the same day, and to deal with their loss, they both go to the local mall. Along the way, they meet up with some friends, including Willam, a guy who stares at Magic Eye pictures, desprately trying to see the hidden image; Gwen, one of TS's ex-girlfriends; and Jay & Silent Bob, of Clerks fame. Eventually, they decide to try and win back their significant others, and take care of their respective nemesises (TS's girlfriend's father, and a store clerk who hates the two for not having any shopping agenda).

Roy Del Ruth
Action
Warner Bros. Pictures

Sam Spade is quite the womanizer. When his secretary tells him the new customer waiting outside his office is a knockout, he wastes no time before seeing her. It turns out she's a knockout with money. And she wants to spend it on his services as a private detective. She has some story about wanting to protect her sister. Neither he nor his partner, Miles Archer, believes it. But with the money she's paying, who cares? The job proves to be more dangerous than either of them expected. It involves not just the lovely dame with the dangerous lies, but also the sweaty Casper Gutman, the fey Joel Cairo, and the thuggish young Wilmer Cook. Three crooks, and all of them are looking for the statuette of a black bird they call the Maltese Falcon.

John Huston
Crime
Warner Bros. Pictures
PG
Spade and Archer is the name of a San Francisco detective agency. That's for Sam Spade and Miles Archer. The two men are partners, but Sam doesn't like Miles much. A knockout, who goes by the name of Miss Wanderly, walks into their office; and by that night everything's changed. Miles is dead. And so is a man named Floyd Thursby. It seems Miss Wanderly is surrounded by dangerous men. There's Joel Cairo, who uses gardenia-scented calling cards. There's Kasper Gutman, with his enormous girth and feigned civility. Her only hope of protection comes from Sam, who is suspected by the police of one or the other murder. More murders are yet to come, and it will all be because of these dangerous men -- and their lust for a statuette of a bird: the Maltese Falcon.

Pier Paolo Pasolini
Drama
Arco Film

Mamma Roma is a middle-aged whore of Roma. Now she can quit her job to become a fruit seller. And she can take back her 16-year-old son, Ettore. For him, she dreams of a good position. But it is perhaps too late for Ettore, whose company includes mostly teenaged louts...

Les Mayfield
Action
New Line Cinema
PG-13
A federal agent turns up dead and a hardcore undercover agent, known as Derrick Vann heads off to try and recover the stolen arms and find the killers. Andy Fiddler is an ordinary family man and a dentist, and is out heading to a conference, when he gets stuck in the same mess. Criminal Kane believes Fiddler is 'The Man' behind it all and offers him a gun. Vann spots him and drags him across town, with him posing as the actual 'Man'.

Mike Binder
Comedy
Media 8 Entertainment
R

E.W. Swackhamer
Adventure
J. Cornelius Crean Films Inc.
G

Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel
Comedy
Les Artistes Anonymes

A camera crew follows a serial killer/thief around as he exercises his craft. He expounds on art, music, nature, society, and life as he offs mailmen, pensioners, and random people. Slowly he begins involving the camera crew in his activities, and they begin wondering if what they're doing is such a good idea, particularly when the killer kills a rival and the rival's brother sends a threatening letter.

Eddie Saeta, James Goldstone, Theodore J. Flicker, Alex March, Don Medford
Action & Adventure
Warner Home Video
NR
For Baby Boomers, owning a season or two of a fondly remembered TV series on DVD is enough to satisfy any nostalgic yearnings. "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.", though, warrants the full-series treatment. It's a wild '60s flashback to the Espionage era that was ushered in by Ian Fleming's James Bond adventures. According to a series retrospective that's just one of this cleverly packaged set's prodigious extras, Fleming himself was recruited to create a spy series for American television. His contribution was the name "Napoleon Solo," the moniker of a crime boss in "Goldfinger". That movie, which would kick Bond and spy mania into overdrive, had not yet opened when viewers were introduced to Robert Vaughn's Solo and David McCallum's Illya Kuryakin, agents of the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. This covert agency operated out of Del Floria's Tailor Shop in New York under the command of true Brit Alexander Waverly (Leo J. Carroll, playing much the same character he portrayed in "North by Northwest"). "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." offered a bit of hope in Cold War America that an American and Russian could work together to stop a common enemy, THRUSH, a ruthless organization bent on world domination. The intriguing conceit of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." was to give audiences an empathetic surrogate who would be plucked from their humdrum lives for whirlwind adventures with Solo and Kuryakin. In the pilot episode, Patricia Crowley guest-stars as a housewife who acts as bait to foil the plans of her former college boyfriend, who is plotting the assassination of a world leader. In a series benchmark, "The Never-Never Affair," a pre-"Get Smart" Barbara Feldon stars as an U.N.C.L.E. translator who unwittingly becomes involved in actual espionage. Seasons one and two are the series' best, with a stellar roster of guest stars ("The Project Strigas Affair" features the first onscreen pairing of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy), stylish direction by directors who would go on to some renown (Michael Ritchie, Richard Donner), smart scripts, and great action (a movie theatre shoot-out in "The Never-Never Affair"). In its third season, "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." adopted "Batman"'s campy and absurdist tone with shark-jumping results While this season has its share of groaners (in one episode, Sollo watusis with a gorilla), several "Affairs" stand out. Jack Palance and Janet Leigh as a long cool woman in a white dress are great villains in "The Concrete Overcoat Affair." Harlan Ellison wrote the witty "The Pieces of Fate Affair," in which he takes some sly digs at television and literary critics (a THRUSH operative is a book reviewer). Joan Collins makes like Eliza Doolittle in a dual role as a Bronx stripper and a countess in "The Galatea Affair." The series went back to basics in "Season Four", but by then, "The Avengers" was a bigger hit and the writing was on the wall for this once trendsetting series. This lavish box set affair contains upward of ten hours of bonus features, including the unaired series pilot, a series retrospective, an interview with a reunited Vaughn and McCallum, dossiers on each season's guest stars, one of the "U.N.C.L.E." feature films edited and expanded from a two-part episode, segments about the great gadgets and cool music, "U.N.C.L.E." designs and blueprints, and season-specific booklets.This definitive box set does full justice to a series that had such an impact on popular culture (as witness the bonus Tom & Jerry cartoon, "The Mouse From H.U.N.G.E.R."). More than a blast from the past, "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." is still a potent blend of "cloak and swagger." "--Donald Liebenson"

Robert N. Bradbury
Action
Lone Star Productions (I)

The Marshal sends John Weston to a rodeo to see if he can find out who is killing the rodeo riders who are about to win the prize money. Barton has organized the rodeo and plans to leave with all the prize money put up by the townspeople. When it appears that Weston will beat Barton's rider, he has his men prepare the same fate for him that befell the other riders.

Alexander Mackendrick
Comedy
Ealing Studios

Sidney Stratton, a humble inventor, develops a fabric which never gets dirty or wears out. This would seem to be a boon for mankind, but the established garment manufacturers don't see it that way; they try to suppress it.

Barry Levinson
Comedy
Universal Pictures
PG-13
Tom Dobbs, comedic host of a political talk show - a la Bill Maher and Jon Stewart - runs for President of the US as an independent candidate who, after an issues-oriented campaign and an explosive performance in the final debate, gets just enough votes to win. Trouble is he owes his victory to a computer glitch in the national touch-screen voting system marketed by Delacroy, a private company with a rising stock price. To protect their fortune, Delacroy executives want to keep the glitch a secret, but one programmer, Eleanor Green, wants Dobbs to know the truth. Can she get to him?

Elie Chouraqui
Drama
7 Films Cinéma

Tony Scott
Action
Fox 2000 Pictures
R
A wave of kidnappings has swept through Mexico, feeding a growing sense of panic among its wealthier citizens, especially parents. In one six-day period, there were twenty-four abductions, leading many to hire bodyguards for their children. Into this world enters John Creasy, a burned-out ex-CIA operative/assassin, who has given up on life. Creasy's friend Rayburn brings him to Mexico City to be a bodyguard to nine-year-old Pita Ramos, daughter of industrialist Samuel Ramos and his wife Lisa. Creasy is not interested in being a bodyguard, especially to a youngster, but for lack of something better to do, he accepts the assignment. Creasy barely tolerates the precocious child and her pestering questions about him and his life. But slowly, she chips away at his seemingly impenetrable exterior, his defenses drop, and he opens up to her. Creasy's new-found purpose in life is shattered when Pita is kidnapped. Despite being seriously wounded during the kidnapping, he vows to kill anyone involved in or profiting from the kidnapping. And no one can stop him.

Clyde Bruckman
Comedy
Paramount Pictures

Ambrose Wolfinger wants the afternoon off (his first in twenty-five years) to go to a wrestling match. He tells his boss that he must attend his mother-in-law's funeral. The afternoon is no joy. He tries to please a policeman, assist a chauffeur, chase a tire, and ends up getting hit by the body of a wrestler thrown from the ring. A series of mishaps leads his boss to send floral tributes to the house and notify the papers of the death (due to poisoned liquor). His shrewish wife, judgmental mother-in-law, and good-for-nothing brother-in-law add to his burdens. In the end he enjoys their fawning loyalty, a raise in pay, and his first vacation.

Milos Forman
Biography
Universal Pictures
R
Man on the Moon is a biographical movie on the late comedian Andy Kaufman. Kaufman, along with his role on "Taxi," was famous for being the self-declared Intergender Wrestling Champion of the world. After beating women time and time again, Jerry Lawler (who plays himself in the movie), a professional wrestler, got tired of seeing all of this and decided to challenge Kaufman to a match. In most of the matches the two had, Lawler prevailed with the piledriver, which is a move by spiking a guy head-first into the mat. In one of the most famous moments in this feud was in the early 80s when Kaufman threw coffee on Lawler on "The Late Show with David Letterman," got into fisticuffs with Lawler, and proceeded to sue NBC.

Patrice Leconte
Comedy
Ciné B
R
At a deserted train station, a teacher and a gangster meet and realize that each might have been better suited to the other man's way of life. As a friendship of sorts develops between these opposite personalities, each starts to envy the other and by the week's end, everything will change for both of them.

James Marsh
Documentary
Icon Home Entertainment
Suitable for 12 years and over
Philippe Petit Director: James Marsh

William Keighley
Comedy
Warner Bros. Pictures

Lecturer Sheridan Whiteside slips on the ice on his way into the home of a prominent Ohio family. The Dr. says Whiteside must remain confined having broken his leg. He begins to meddle with the lives of everyone in the household and, once his plots are underway, learns there is nothing wrong with his leg. He bribes the doctor. The owner discovers the fraud, but Whiteside blackmails him (he finds out that the owner's sister is an axe murderer) and resumes control.

Jay Sandrich
Comedy
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)

Broadcast of a live performance of the Roundabout Theater Company's 2000 New York revival of the classic Kaufman-Hart comedy, about a famous (and famously acid-tongued) theater critic who is forced to stay in a Midwestern couple's home and the havoc that ensues.

Nicolas Roeg
Sci-Fi
British Lion Film Corporation
R
Thomas Jerome Newton is a humanoid alien who comes to Earth to get water for his dying planet. He starts a high technology company to get the billions of dollars he needs to build a return spacecraft, and meets Mary-Lou, a girl who falls in love with him. He does not count on the greed and ruthlessness of business here on Earth, however.

Alfred Hitchcock
Drama
Gaumont British Picture Corporation

While holidaying in Switzerland, Lawrence and his wife Jill are asked by a dying friend, Louis Bernard, to get information hidden in his room to the British Consulate. They get the information, but when they deny having it, their daughter Betty is kidnapped. It turns out that Louis was a Foreign Office spy and the information has to do with the assassination of a foreign dignitary. Having managed to trace his daughter's kidnappers back to London, Lawrence learns that the assassination will take place during a concert at the Albert Hall. It is left to Jill, however, to stop the assassination.

Alfred Hitchcock
Adventure
Filwite Productions

Dr. Ben McKenna, his wife Jo and their son Hank are on a touring holiday of Africa when they meet the mysterious Louis Bernard on a bus. The next day Bernard is murdered in the local marketplace, but before he dies he manages to reveal details of an assassination about to take place in London. Fearing that their plot will be revealed, the assassins kidnap Hank in order to keep the McKenna's silent. Ben and Jo go to London and take matters into their own hands.

François Truffaut
Comedy, Drama, Romance
Les Films du Carrosse
G
Many women are attending Bertrand Morane's burial. They are all the ones that 40 years old engineer loved. Flashback : Bertrand's life and love affairs, told by himself while writing an autobiographical novel. A film about the love relationships, the need to charm and the literary creation.

John Ford
Drama
Paramount
NR
"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." That's more than the code of a newspaperman in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"; it's practically the operating credo of director John Ford, the most honored of American filmmakers. In this late film from a long career, Ford looks at the civilizing of an Old West town, Shinbone, through the sad memories of settlers looking back. In the town's wide-open youth, two-fisted Westerner John Wayne and tenderfoot newcomer James Stewart clash over a woman (Vera Miles) but ultimately unite against the notorious outlaw Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). Ford's nostalgia for the past is tempered by his stark approach, unusual for the visual poet of "Stagecoach" and "The Searchers". The two heavyweights, Wayne and Stewart, are good together, with Wayne the embodiment of rugged individualism and Stewart the idealistic prophet of the civilization that will eventually tame the Wild West. This may be the saddest Western ever made, closer to an elegy than an action movie, and as cleanly beautiful as its central symbol, the cactus rose. "--Robert Horton"

Joel Coen
Crime
Good Machine
R
1949, Santa Rosa, California. A laconic, chain-smoking barber with fallen arches tells a story of a man trying to escape a humdrum life. It's a tale of suspected adultery, blackmail, foul play, death, Sacramento city slickers, racial slurs, invented war heroics, shaved legs, a gamine piano player, aliens, and Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Ed Crane cuts hair in his in-law's shop; his wife drinks and may be having an affair with her boss, Big Dave, who has $10,000 to invest in a second department store. Ed gets wind of a chance to make money in dry cleaning. Blackmail and investment are his opportunity to be more than a man no one notices. Settle in the chair and listen.

John Huston
Action
Allied Artists Pictures

This adaptation of the famous short story by Rudyard Kipling tells the story of Daniel Dravot and Peachy Carnahan, two ex-soldiers in India when it was under British rule. They decide that the country is too small for them, so they head off to Kafiristan in order to become Kings in their own right. Kipling is seen as a character that was there at the beginning, and at the end of this glorious tale.

Otto Preminger
Drama
Otto Preminger Films

Frankie Machine is a skilled card dealer and one-time heroin addict. When he returns home from jail, he struggles to find a new livelihood and to avoid slipping back into addiction.

Dziga Vertov
Documentary
VUFKU

This playful film is at once a documentary of a day in the life of the Soviet Union, a documentary of the filming of said documentary, and a depiction of an audience watching the film. Even the editing of the film is documented. We often see the cameraman who is purportedly making the film, but we rarely, if ever, see any of the footage he seems to be in the act of shooting!

John Frankenheimer
Drama
M.C. Productions
PG-13
After Raymond returns from the Korean War as a decorated hero, the other members of his platoon can't really remember what he did to win his medal. Two of the soldiers start having recurring nightmares, and one of them decides to investigate Raymonds current activities. What dark and sinister secrets are being withheld by the Government and the Army ?

Jonathan Demme
Drama
Paramount Pictures
R
When his army unit was ambushed during the first Gulf War, Sergeant Raymond Shaw saved his fellow soldiers just as his commanding officer, then-Captain Ben Marco, was knocked unconscious. Brokering the incident for political capital, Shaw eventually becomes a vice-presidential nominee, while Marco is haunted by dreams of what happened -- or didn't happen -- in Kuwait. As Marco (now a Major) investigates, the story begins to unravel, to the point where he questions if it happened at all. Is it possible the entire unit was kidnapped and brainwashed to believe Shaw is a war hero as part of a plot to seize the White House? Some very powerful people at Manchurian Global corporation appear desperate to stop him from finding out.

Lars von Trier
Drama
Zentropa Entertainments

In 1933, after leaving Dogville, while traveling with her father (Willem Dafoe) and his gangsters to the south of USA, Grace Margaret Mulligan (Bryce Dallas Howard) sees a slave ready to be punished in a property called Manderlay. The slavery had been abolished seventy years ago, and Grace becomes revolted with the attitude of the owners of Manderlay, keeping slaves in their cotton fields and following predetermined despicable rules called "Mam's Law". Grace decides to stay with some gangsters in Manderlay and give notions of democracy to the slaves and to the white family. When harvest time comes, Grace sees the social and economical reality of Manderlay.

Mario Pinzauti
Adventure
Società Europea Films Internazionali Cinematografica (SEFI)

Woody Allen
Comedy
Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions
R
Isaac, 42, has divorced Jill. She is now living with another woman, Connie, and is writing a book in which she will reveal some very private points of their relationship. Isaac has a love affair with Tracy, 17, when he meets Mary, the mistress of his best friend Yale. Yale is already married to Emily.

Woody Allen
Comedy
TriStar Pictures
PG
Larry and Carol are fairly normal New Yorkers who have sent their son off to college. They meet an elderly couple down the hall and later in the week find that the wife has suddenly died. Carol becomes suspicious of Paul who seems to be too cheerful and too ready to move on. She begins her investigation. Larry insists she is becomming too fixated on what their neighbor as all of the irregularities seem to have simple non-homicidal explanations. Ted, a recently divorced friend helps her investigation and Larry begins to become jealous of their relationship and agrees to help her.

Bobby Roth
Comedy
Jeffrey White Productions
R
The film, a follow-up to "Jack the Dog", is described as a black comedy about a reformed womanizer (Nestor Carbonell) who struggles to keep his family together. Skyler Shaye plays the object of affection of Carbonell's teenage son.

Michael Mann
Crime
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG)

Dwain Esper
Horror
Roadshow Attractions

An ex-vaudeville actor is the assistant to a doctor with Frankenstein aspirations. After murdering the doctor, the would-be actor finds it necessary to assume the identity of the dead physician. Edgar Allen Poe's THE BLACK CAT is written into the storyline.

Jordan Melamed
Drama
Manic LLC
R
Lyle Jensen is subject to sudden and violent outbursts, and he is committed to the juvenile wing of the Northwood Mental Institution. Several other youths are there with a variety of serious problems. Lyle interacts with other patients and staff on a human, and sometimes not so human level. The psychological problems of the patients also forms the fabric by which we see what's right with them, and what's wrong with the society that affects them.

Harold P. Warren
Horror
Norm-Iris

A family driving through a small town gets lost and winds up at a backwoods shack managed by Torgo, who takes care of it while The Master is away. The Master worships Manos, an evil deity, and he also wears a neat cape. When Torgo lets the family stay, The Master awakens and does mean stuff like burning off Torgo's hand and sicking his dog on the family pet. Meanwhile, The Master's wives wrestle for his favor.

Robert Hendrickson, Laurence Merrick
Documentary
Merrick International

Documentary on Charles Manson and his family. Has a number of insightful interviews with many family members most notably Squeaky and Sandy (Blue and Red). There is also a history of Manson from his birth to the family formation to the Tate/La Bianca murders. Plenty of footage of the family playing at Spahn Ranch.

Jim Van Bebber
Horror
Mercury Films
R

John Schlesinger
Crime
Gelderse Maatschappij N.V.

In New York City, the brother of an infamous Nazi war criminal is killed in a head on collision car accident. Shortly thereafter, members of a covert US government group called "The Division" begin to be murdered one by one. When the brother to one Division member sees his brother knifed to death, it is revealed that former SS dentist Szell, "the White Angel" of Auschwitz, is wrapping up loose ends to smuggle priceless diamonds from the United States.

Troy Miller, Keith Truesdell
Comedy
Dakota North Entertainment

Luc Jacquet
Documentary
Bonne Pioche

Each winter, alone in the pitiless ice deserts of Antarctica, deep in the most inhospitable terrain on Earth, a truly remarkable journey takes place as it has done for millennia. Emperor penguins in their thousands abandon the deep blue security of their ocean home and clamber onto the frozen ice to begin their long journey into a region so bleak, so extreme, it supports no other wildlife at this time of year. In single file, the penguins march blinded by blizzards, buffeted by gale force winds. Guided by instinct, by the otherworldly radiance of the Southern Cross, they head unerringly for their traditional breeding ground where--after a ritual courtship of intricate dances and delicate maneuvering, accompanied by a cacophony of ecstatic song--they will pair off into monogamous couples and mate. The females remain long enough only to lay a single egg. Once this is accomplished, exhausted by weeks without nourishment, they begin their return journey across the ice-field to the fish-filled seas. The male emperors are left behind to guard and hatch the precious eggs, which they cradle at all times on top of their feet. After two long months during which the males eat nothing, the eggs begin to hatch. Once they have emerged into their ghostly white new world, the chicks can not survive for long on their fathers' limited food reserves. If their mothers are late returning from the ocean with food, the newly-hatched young will die. Once the families are reunited, the roles reverse, the mothers remaining with their new young while their mates head, exhausted and starved, for the sea, and food. While the adults fish, the chicks face the ever-present threat of attack by prowling giant petrels. As the weather grows warmer and the ice floes finally begin to crack and melt, the adults will repeat their arduous journey countless times, marching many hundreds of miles over some of the most treacherous territory on Earth, until the chicks are ready to take their first faltering dive into the deep blue waters of the Antarctic.

Gus Meins, Charley Rogers
Comedy
Hal Roach Studios Inc.

Ollie Dee and Stanley Dum try to borrow money from their employer, the toymaker, to pay off the mortgage on Mother Peep's shoe and keep it and Little Bo Peep from the clutches of the evil Barnaby. When that fails, they trick Barnaby into marrying Stanley Dum instead of Bo Peep. Enraged, Barnaby unleashes the bogeymen from their caverns to destroy Toyland.

Kerry Asmussen, Konda Mason
Comedy
Cho Taussig Productions Inc.

Lorene Machado
Comedy
Clownery Productions

Learning to love her luscious self over the past forty years, comedian Margaret Cho realized that the eye of the beholder doesn't hold all the power when it comes to beauty. Our tastes may be groomed by the media, but how we feel about how we look brings our self-image into focus. Armed with something more potent than lip gloss - a mouth so shocking and raunchy it should be stamped with a warning - Cho toured America with her manifesto: "This show is really about how we should feel beautiful," says Cho. "When you feel beautiful, you're going to have more of a willingness to use your voice to speak." Shot at the Long Beach Terrace Theater, Cho's latest stand-up concert film, Beautiful, explores the good, bad, and downright ugly in beauty, and the unattractive politicians and marketers who shape our world.

Lionel Coleman
Comedy
Cho Taussig Productions Inc.

November, 1999, Margaret Cho is home in San Francisco at the Warfield Theater. Cho structures her monologue loosely on her professional life's trajectory: doing stand-up, cast in an ABC-TV sitcom, losing 30 pounds in two weeks for the part, the show's cancellation, a descent into booze, pills, and self-loathing, and a resurrection into her own voice, her own shape, and being the one she wants. Along the way we visit Karl Langerfeld in jail, a lesbian cruise ship, a TV Guide photo shoot, a hospital, bars, and her family's Polk Street bookshop. Takes on being a fag hag, speeding up felatio, casual daily racism, and her mother's phone messages highlight a scabrous, brilliant performance.

Lorene Machado
Comedy
Cho Taussig Productions Inc.

Lorene Machado
Comedy
Wellspring
Unrated
Margaret Cho does not suffer well the by-now-clichéd expression, "Don't go there." As Cho remarks near the end of her characteristically passionate one-woman show, "I live there. I bought a house there." "There" for Margaret Cho is graphic descriptions of sexual acts, gay and straight, and bodily functions, impersonating a Bangkok sex-show barker, and other matters addressed in her singular frank and explicit style. Two hysterical rants that can be printed here involve being served an Asian Chicken Salad and all the reasons she will never be cast in a period film. "Cho Revolution" is more fitfully paced than her previous concert films, but she saves the best, and her most righteous anger, for last, when she addresses negative body image, racism, and homophobia. Here, she drops the attitude and gets real. She may be preaching to the converted (a Cho audience is nothing but idolatry), but it is a powerful sermon. Viva Cho! "--Donald Liebenson"

Noah Baumbach
Comedy
Scott Rudin Productions
R
A slice of family life: sisters, husbands, children, history, secrets, jealousies. Margot and her teen son, Claude, travel from Manhattan to her family's Long Island home, occupied by sister Pauline, Pauline's daughter, and Malcolm, the slacker Pauline will marry outdoors that week under a tree neighbors want removed. Backbiting marks family discussion, particularly between the sisters and in Margot's cutting remarks to Claude. Pauline tells Margot a secret that Margot promptly tells Claude. Margot dislikes Malcolm and undermines him. She also has marital problems and a lover nearby. People are cruel, inside and outside their families. Is there a refuge for Margot or for Pauline?

Joshua Marston
Drama
HBO Films
R
In a small village in Colombia, the pregnant seventeen years old Maria (Catalina Sandino Moreno) supports her family with her salary working in a floriculture. She is fired and with a total lack of perspective of finding a new job, she decides to accept the offer to work as a drug mule, flying to USA with sixty-two pellets of cocaine in her stomach. Once in New York, things do not happen as planned.

Sofia Coppola
Biography
Columbia Pictures Corporation
PG-13
"All eyes will be on you," says the Austrian duchess, Maria Theresa to her youngest daughter Marie Antoinette. The film, marketed for a teen audience, is an impressionistic retelling of Marie Antoinette's life as a young queen in the opulent and eccentric court at Versailles. The film focuses on Marie Antoinette, as she matures from a teenage bride to a young woman and eventual queen of France.

Dwain Esper
Crime
Roadshow Attractions

A young girl named Burma attends a beach party with her boyfriend and after she smokes marijuana with a bunch of other girls, she gets pregnant and another girl drowns while skinny dipping in the ocean. Burma and her boyfriend go to work for the pusher in order to make money so they can get married. However, during a drug deal her boyfriend is killed leaving Burma to fend for herself. Burma then becomes a major narcotics pusher in her own right after giving up her baby for adoption.

Patty Ivins Specht
Documentary
Prometheus Entertainment

Documentary about the moviestar's last months including her tumultuous love affairs, drug and alcohol dependency, depression and eventual firing from her final film, 20th Century Fox's "Something's Got To Give". Features several first time interviews with the people surrounding Monroe at the end of her life, behind the scenes footage and stills, and the assembled footage from her final film, co-starring Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse.

Sarah Kernochan, Howard Smith
Documentary, Biography
Cinema X

Part documentary, part expose, this film follows one-time child evangelist Marjoe Gortner on the "church tent" Revivalist circuit, commenting on the showmanship of Evangelism and "the religion business", prior to the start of "televangelism".

Ken Burns
Documentary
Florentine Films

Ken Burns, the premiere documentarian of Americana, tackles the life of Mark Twain, the first writer with a uniquely American voice. In this installment in Burns' "American Lives" series, the two 2-hour episodes explore a side of Twain that is unfamiliar to many. Widely regarded as the funniest person of the 19th century, Twain suffered through severe personal tragedies and lack of business sense that brought him to the brink of financial ruin on several occasions. Includes interviews with writers William Styron and Arthur Miller and actor Hal Holbrook (who has portrayed Twain in a one-man play each year for over 50 years).

Linda Mendoza

WETA

Linda Mendoza

David Frankel
Comedy, Drama, Family, Romance
Fox 2000 Pictures
PG
After their wedding, newspaper writers John and Jennifer Grogan move to Florida. In an attempt to stall Jennifer's "biological clock", John gives her a puppy. While the puppy Marley grows into a 100 pound dog, he loses none of his puppy energy or rambunctiousness. Meanwhile, Marley gains no self-discipline. Marley's antics give John rich material for his newspaper column. As the Grogans mature and have children of their own, Marley continues to test everyone's patience by acting like the world's most impulsive dog.

Alfred Hitchcock
Mystery
Universal Pictures

Marnie Edgar is an ice-cold habitual thief. She uses her looks to gain the confidence of her employers, robs them, and changes her identity. Her only loves are her horse and her mother, although she has problems with the latter relationship. Marnie applies for a job at Mark Rutland's Philadelphia publishing company. Mark recognises her since he is a client of her last employer, but instead of turning her in, he decides to watch her.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Drama
Albatros Filmproduktion

This movie follows the life of a young German woman, married to a soldier in the waning days of WWII. Fassbinder has tried to show the gritty life after the end of WWII and the turmoil of the people trapped in its wake.

Jonathan Demme
Comedy
Mysterious Arts
R
Angela deMarco is unhappily married to high Mafia member Frank deMarco. When Frank is killed, Angela takes the opportunity to break free of the Mafia world entirely and start a new life. But Frank's boss, Tony Russo, begins to court the unresponsive Angela. The FBI begins surveillance on her, thinking her to be his new mistress. FBI agent Mike Downey goes undercover as Angela's neighbor, but soon finds himself attracted to Angela himself.

Jerry Rees
Comedy
Hollywood Pictures

Rich playboy Charley Pearl meets Vicki Anderson, singer at a nightclub. But she's a gangster's-moll, Bugsy Siegel's, and when he finds the two of them in bed, he forces them to marry each other. Charley was going to marry his girlfriend but when she finds out about him and Vicki, she leaves him. And Vicki doesn't seem to be his kind of woman at all...

Peter Glushanok
Short
Criterion

A documentary containing three historic performances in the world of dance: (1) "A Dancer's World" demonstrates the challenge and beauty of expression through movement, dance and ballet. (2) "Night Journey" is a modern choreography based on the legend of Oedipus. (3) "Appalachian Spring" is an American folk tale, with original music commissioned from Aaron Copland by Martha Graham.

Menno Meyjes
Drama
Hannah Rachel Production Services Ltd.
PG
What's the nature of being a parent and of being a child? David is a widower grieving for two years. He writes science fiction and was considered weird as a boy. He meets Dennis, a foster child who claims to be on a mission from Mars, stays in a large box all day, fears sunlight, and wears a belt of flashlight batteries so he won't float away. David takes the six-year-old home on a trial. His sister and his wife's best friend offer support, but the guys are basically alone to figure this out. Dennis takes things, is expelled, and is coached by David in being normal. Will the court approve the adoption, and will Dennis stay? Can a man become a father and a child become a son?

David Raynr
Documentary
MTV Films
R
The controversial bad-boy of comedy delivers a piercing look at his life, lifting the metaphorical smokescreen that he feels has clouded the public view, commenting on everything from the dangers of smoking to the trials of relationships, and unleashing a nonstop litany of raucous anecdotes, stinging social commentary and very personal reflections about life.

Peter Calabrese, David Grossman
Comedy
Home Box Office (HBO)

Thomas Schlamme
Comedy
HBO Independent Productions

Various
Music Video & Concerts
Sony
NR
It may have been underrated when first broadcast on PBS on consecutive nights in the fall of '03, but executive producer Martin Scorsese's homage to the blues is a truly significant, if imperfect, achievement. "Musical journey" is an apt description, as Scorsese and the six other directors responsible for these seven approximately 90-minute films follow the blues--the foundation of jazz, soul, R&B, and rock & roll--from its African roots to its Mississippi Delta origins, up the river to Memphis and Chicago, then to New York, the United Kingdom, and beyond. Some of the films (like Wim Wenders's "The Soul of a Man" and Charles Burnett's "Warming by the Devil's Fire") use extensive fictional film sequences, generally to good effect. There's also plenty of documentary footage, interviews, and contemporary studio performances recorded especially for these films.
The last are among the best aspects of the DVDs, as the bonus material features the set's only complete tunes. Lou Reed's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" and the ElektriK Mud Kats' (with Chuck D. of Public Enemy) hip-hop-cum-traditional updating of Muddy Waters's "Mannish Boy" are among the best of them; on the other hand, a rendition of "Cry Me a River" by Lulu (?!) is a curious choice, even with Jeff Beck on hand. The absence of lengthier vintage clips, meanwhile, is the principal drawback. For that reason alone, Clint Eastwood's "Piano Blues" is the best of the lot; a musician himself, Eastwood simply lets the players play, which means we get extensive file footage of the likes of Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, and Nat "King" Cole, as well as new performances by Ray Charles, Dr. John, and others. Overall, this is a set to savor, a worthwhile investment guaranteed to grow on you over the course of repeated viewings. "--Sam Graham"

Martin Scorsese
Documentary
Cappa Production
PG-13
"I saw these movies. They had a powerful effect on me. You should see them." That's Martin Scorsese's message for this documentary. We meet his family on Elizabeth Street in New York; he's a third generation Italian with Sicilian roots. Starting in 1949, they watched movies on TV as well as in theaters, lots of Italian imports. Scorcese, with his narration giving a personal as well as a public context, shows extended clips of these movies. Films of Rossellini and De Sica fill part one; those of Visconti, Fellini, and Antonioni comprise part two. Scorsese takes time with emotion, style, staging, technique, political context, and cinematic influence. It's his movie family.

Jerry Zaks
Drama
Scott Rudin Productions
PG-13
Estranged since their father's first stroke some 17 years earlier, Lee and Bessie lead separate lives in separate states. Lee's son, Hank, finds himself committed to a mental institution after setting fire to his mother's house. His younger brother, Charlie, seems unfazed by his brother's eccentricities or his mother's seeming disinterest. When Lee comes to the asylum to spring Hank for a week in Florida so that he can be tested as a possible bone marrow donor for Bessie, Hank is incredulous. "I didn't even know you had a sister," he says. "Remember, every Christmas, when I used to say 'Well, looks like Aunt Bessie didn't send us a card again this year?'" "Oh yeah," Hank says. Meanwhile, Marvin, the two women's bedridden father, has "been dying for the past twenty years." "He's doing it real slow so I don't miss anything," Bessie tells Dr. Wally. In Bessie's regular doctor's absence, it has fallen to Dr. Wally to inform Bessie that she has leukemia and will die without a bone marrow transplant. This precipitates the two sisters uneasy reunion. In Marvin's room, Bessie cares for her father's every need. In Lee's eyes, the sacrifice Bessie has made is too great and realizing the old man's welfare will fall to her if Bessie dies, Lee's first instinct is to look for a nursing home. "In a few month's, I'll have my cosmotology degree," she says. "My life is just coming together; I'm not going to give it all up, now!" As first Lee is tested and then the boys for the compatibility of their marrow with Bessie's, the women take stock of their lives and rediscover the meaning of "family."

Various
Comedy
Passport
NR
This 5-disc set captures the antics of the incomparable Groucho, Chico, Harpo, Zeppo - and even Gummo - in rare film clips, radio shows, and the pilot to Groucho's legendary "You Bet Your Life" TV show.

Richard Patterson
Comedy
Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions

Various
Documentary
Robert Small Entertainment

Hugh Munro Neely
Documentary
Image Entertainment

A biography of the life and career of silent-film star Mary Pickford, known during her day as "America's Sweetheart". This documentary shows that she was not simply just the top actress of her time, but also a successful producer, a creative writer and director, a savvy businesswoman and a founding member of United Artists, one of the most important and innovative studios in Hollywood's history.

Kenneth Branagh
Drama
American Zoetrope
R
Dr. Frankenstein creates a simple creature from various body parts. The creature turns into a monster when Dr. Frankenstein rejects him. Sticking close to the original novel, Kenneth Branagh guides us through the story of Frankensteins quest for knowledge, and his creatures search for his "father".

Various
Comedy
20th Century Fox
NR
She finally made it after all... to DVD! Created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns, "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" is the very model of a tailor-made star vehicle. It transformed Moore from Dick Van Dyke's wacky housewife to empowered thirtysomething single woman determined to make it on her own. Moore was the anchor of a peerless ensemble who brought to life characters so indelible that three of them, Ed Asner's Lou Grant, Valerie Harper's Rhoda, and Cloris Leachman's Phyllis, would each get their own series. The 24 episodes that comprise the Emmy-winning first season (1970) hilariously set the stage for what would become one of television's most beloved sitcoms, ranked by "TV Guide" in 2002 as the 11th greatest of all time (it should have been higher!). The classic pilot episode is a master class of character-based comedy writing, as Mary meets her future "family" at the WJM newsroom, as well as upstairs neighbor Rhoda, with whom she would form perhaps TV's greatest female buddy team.
Among the most memorable episodes are "Support Your Local Mother," which won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing and introduced Nancy Walker as Rhoda's maddening mother, Ida. Another Emmy-winner is "Toulouse-Lautrec Is One of My Favorite Artists," in which Mary dates a height-challenged author. Lending able support in this inaugural season is a stellar guest star roster of comic actors who, like Harper and Asner, apprenticed with Chicago's legendary improvisational Second City troupe: Shelley Berman ("Divorce Isn't Everything"); Bob Dishy ("Second Story Story"); Richard Schaal ("Today I Am a Ma'am," "The Snow Must Go On," in which he plays the ill-fated Chuckles the Clown," and "Howard's Girl"); and Paul Sand ("1040 or Fight"). At this point, the characters are pretty much one-note. Mary is cute and perky, Lou Grant hard-boiled, Rhoda brash, Phyllis flighty, and Ted Knight's vainglorious anchorman Ted Baxter idiotic. But what beautiful music they all would make in seasons to come. "--Donald Liebenson"

Various
Comedy
20th Century Fox
NR
The Emmy-winning first season was an auspicious beginning. By its second season, the classic theme song "Love is All Around" has been revamped with an even more optimistic outlook: "You're gonna make it after all." In the sophomore season of this instant gold-standard sitcom, the ace writing staff and peerless ensemble begin to flesh out the iconic characters. Gruff Lou Grant (Ed Asner, enjoying his second Emmy-winning season) reveals his more loveable side when he discovers his son-in-law out with another woman in "The Six-and-a-Half-Year Itch." Vain Ted Baxter (Ted Knight) becomes a more sympathetic character in "Cover Boy," featuring the hilariously preening Jack Cassidy as Ted's competitive brother, and "And Now, Sitting in for Ted Baxter," in which a substitute anchor earns higher ratings than the vacationing Ted. Mary, the sweetheart of prime time, is still something of a pushover (in "Feeb," she feels compelled to write a letter of recommendation for an extraordinarily incompetent secretary), but she develops the backbone to stand up to an anti-Semite who disapproves of Rhoda in one of the season's best episodes, "Some of My Best Friends Are Rhoda." The indelible friendship between Mary and Rhoda (Valerie Harper, also earning her second consecutive Emmy) is sorely tested when they become temporary roommates in "Where There's Smoke, There's Rhoda." As with the most enduring shows, "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" eschewed topical humor that would date the series, and instead, mined its more universal and timeless humor from the wellspring of the characters. More than 30 years later, there is still, as ever, something about "Mary". "--Donald Liebenson"

Various
Comedy
20th Century Fox
NR
In this third season, Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore), she of the "bright smile and infectious vivacity," got to display some of that celebrated "spunk" of hers. In the season–opener, "The Good-Time News," she demands to be paid the same amount of money as her predecessor. In "The Georgette Story," she defies her boss, Lou Grant (Ed Asner), and vainglorious anchorperson Ted Baxter (Ted Knight) by counseling Ted's new girlfriend, whom he takes for granted. And in "Romeo and Mary," she finally stands up to an overzealous suitor (guest star Stuart Margolin), which hilariously backfires on her.
"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" endures because its timeless comedy is drawn from the wellspring of its fully drawn characters, who were allowed to grow beyond one-note caricatures. Mary's best friend, Rhoda (Valerie Harper), who was in danger of becoming this series' Sally Rogers, really blossomed this season. In "Rhoda the Beautiful," the slimmed-down Rhoda is empowered to enter a beauty contest, and in "My Brother's Keeper," she catches the eye of Phyllis' (Cloris Leachman in an Emmy-nominated performance) brother, which devastates Phyllis, setting the stage for yet another disastrous Mary Richards party (and a dénouement that must have been daring in 1973). Wise-cracking Murray (Gavin McLeod) reveals new depths in "Murray Faces Life," in which he sinks into depression after hearing that a former college classmate has won the Pulitzer Prize. Even Ted manages to surprise. In "Operation: Lou," a hospitalized Lou Grant finds a new appreciation for Ted, who graciously and uncharacteristically, presents him with an expensive bottle of scotch. Moore, Harper, and Knight were each honored with Emmys this season. Joining this august core ensemble is Georgia Engel as Georgette, who makes a delightful first impression in "Rhoda Morgenstern: Minneapolis to New York." Even hard-boiled Lou softens in her presence. "You're a real cutie, you know that?" he tells her in "The Georgette Story." Despite Lou's insistence to the contrary in "The Good-Time News," "The Mary Tyler Moore"'s job was to make people laugh. But it could also be surprisingly moving, as in the laugh-free dramatic climax of "Remembrance of Things Past," in which Mary is reunited with an ex-boyfriend (Joseph Campanella), who has broken her heart in the past. This three-disc set contains no extras, but any of these episodes can take a nothing day and suddenly... well, you know the rest. "--Donald Liebenson"

Various
Comedy
20th Century Fox
NR
The multi-Emmy-winning fourth season of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" showed us the sassy side of Betty White and the softer side of Ed Asner's Lou Grant. Cast against type, White makes a memorable first impression in the season-opener as steely "Happy Homemaker" Sue Ann Nivens, who makes Martha Stewart look like June Cleaver. The episode "The Lars Affair" earned an Emmy for Cloris Leachman, and it is arguably her finest half-hour, as the ill-equipped Phyllis tries to domesticate herself after her husband has an affair with Sue Ann. Consider the bee, a dejected Phyllis tells Mary and Rhoda (Valerie Harper). "Once the male bee has... serviced the queen, the male dies. All in all, not a bad system." Sue Ann's debut is but one of this superb season's historic moments. The other is when "Ted Baxter Meets Walter Cronkite." "The big question," Murray (Gavin McLeod) asks, "is where do I sit to get the best view?" The event even exceeds the anticipation. "Let's talk shop," Ted (Ted Knight) tells the speechless Cronkite. "What words do you have trouble pronouncing?" The character who goes through the biggest changes this season is Lou. In the Emmy-winning episode, "The Lou and Edie Story," Lou is heartbroken when his wife moves out, leading to one of the season's funniest episodes, "Lou's First Date," in which an unwitting Mary sets Lou up with an 80-year-old woman to bring to an awards ceremony. Lou's difficulty handling displays of affection is put to the supreme test in "Happy Birthday, Lou!" in which Mary ill advisedly decides to throw him a surprise party. Speaking of disastrous parties, the classic episode, "The Dinner Party" (the one with the Veal Prince Orloff) firmly establishes one of the series' best running jokes: Mary's disastrous track record as a hostess. That's Henry Winkler as an extra, unexpected guest forced to sit at his own table. Moore was honored this season with an Emmy for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy. No doubt her Emmy reel included "Best of Enemies" (co-written by Albert Brooks collaborator Monica Johnson), in which Rhoda's tactless revelation of one of Mary's secrets threatens their friendship, and "Two Wrongs Don't Make a Writer," in which Mary and Ted take the same creative writing class and Ted plagiarizes her story. Mary may be a bust as a hostess, but season 4, this classic series' best to date, is a real party. --"Donald Liebenson"


Beyond "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" on DVD
Full selection of "The Bob Newhart Show" DVDs
Check out "M*A*S*H" on DVD
Watch the classic "Lost in Space>


Stills from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (Click for larger image)

Jean-Luc Godard
Drama
Anouchka Films

Paul is young, just demobbed from national service in the French Army, and dishillusioned with civilian life. As his girlfriend builds herself a career as a pop singer, Paul becomes more isolated from his friends and peers ('the children of Marx and Coca Cola', as the credits announce) and their social and emotional politics.

Robert Altman
Comedy
Aspen Productions (I)
R
Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. That's where two young surgeons, Duke and Hawkeye end up during the Korean War. There is no plot as such, but instead a series of episodes during which they put their stamp on the camp including a football game against a larger unit with thousands riding on it, a trip to Tokyo to operate on a congressman's son and play a little golf, and finding out if the head nurse is a natural blonde.

Various
Comedy
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
NR
Like the TV incarnation of "The Odd Couple", the "M*A*S*H" series has supplanted the original film in the public's consciousness. Legendary comedy writer Larry Gelbart ("Your Show of Shows") deserves a medal for developing Robert Altman's bloody, funny 1970 classic for television with much of its anti-establishment spirit intact. These 24 first-season episodes--bracingly less politically correct than the shows in the final seasons--chart the program's sometimes bumpy evolution as it tried to remain true to the film's anarchic spirit while finding its own voice. The most memorable episodes include "The Pilot," which establishes the characters in broad strokes; "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet," in which a friend of Hawkeye's (Alan Alda) dies on the operating table (look for "Ronny" Howard as an underage soldier); "Cowboy," in which someone is trying to kill clueless commander Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson); and the pivotal "Dear Dad," the first of what would be a series of multistory episodes in which Hawkeye writes to his father about life at the 4077th. It is interesting to note film characters who made early exits from the series, including Timothy Brown's Spearchucker and Karen Philipp's Lt. Dish (George Morgan, who plays Father Mulcahy in the pilot, we hardly knew ye). Klinger (Jamie Farr), bucking for his Section 8 discharge, doesn't appear until the fifth episode, "Chief Surgeon Who?" And Gary Burghoff's Radar is a much more wily and savvy partner in crime to "Yankee Doodle Doctors" Hawkeye and Trapper John (Wayne Rogers) than in later seasons. In its 11-year run, "M*A*S*H" earned 14 Emmy Awards, and it remains one of TV's most beloved series. Though it is a staple of syndication, the episodes are presented here uncut, probably for the first time since their original broadcast. For "M*A*S*H" devotees, this three-disc set is just what the doctor ordered. "--Donald Liebenson"

Hy Averback, Jackie Cooper, Larry Gelbart, William K. Jurgensen, George Tyne
Comedy
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
NR
"M*A*S*H" redux. Sign up for another stint with the 4077th. This three-disc set contains all 24 episodes from the superb second season (1973-74) of the series ranked by "TV Guide" as among the top 25 television shows of all time. The season opener, "Divided We Stand," is a deft reintroduction to these now iconic characters: bleeding-heart surgeon Hawkeye Pearce (Alan Alda in his signature role), kindred misfit spirit Trapper John (Wayne Rogers), clueless administrator Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson), buttoned-up Frank Burns (Larry Linville), and unbuttoned head nurse "Hot Lips" (Loretta Swit). In this episode, a visiting psychiatrist evaluates the 4077th to determine whether the unit "can function as a team." His evaluation can serve as this series' mission statement: "These impossible people are in an impossible place doing totally impossible things. They're mad--quite mad." "M*A*S*H" experienced no sophomore slump from its Emmy Award-winning first season. It continued to subvert sitcom convention with multiple-story episodes such as "Radar's Report." Scenes in the operating room play without a laugh track (this DVD gives viewers the option of watching entire episodes minus the intrusive chuckles and guffaws). "M*A*S*H" also tackled such issues as racism ("Dear Dad... Three," "L.I.P.--Local Indigenous Personnel"), homophobia ("George"), and war atrocities (Hawkeye and Trapper try to get the Army to take responsibility for the accidental shelling of a South Korean village). Not that "M*A*S*H" forgot how to be funny. "Five O'Clock Charlie" and "For Want of a Boot" are strictly for laughs. Hawkeye and Hot Lips memorably exchange flu shots in "Carry On, Hawkeye." Loyal viewers will note the emergence of several supporting characters, including Jamie Farr's Klinger and William Christopher's Father Mulcahy. One also sees the (to some) unfortunate transformation of Gary Burghoff's savvy, crackerjack clerk Radar into a naïve innocent. Allan Arbus makes his first appearance as compassionate psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Friedman in "Radar's Report." This second-season set is representative of why "M*A*S*H" was a cut above. "--Donald Liebenson"

Hy Averback, Jackie Cooper, Larry Gelbart, William K. Jurgensen, George Tyne
Comedy
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
NR
In honoring "M*A*S*H"'s third season with the prestigious Peabody Award, the judges praised this series "for the depth of its humor and the manner in which comedy is used to lift the spirit and, as well, to offer a profound statement on the nature of war." Contained on three discs, season three comprises several benchmark episodes illustrative of what the Peabody judges called "television of high purpose." In "Rainbow Bridge," Hawkeye (Alan Alda), Trapper (Wayne Rogers), Radar (Gary Burghoff), Klinger (Jamie Farr), and an opportunistic Frank Burns (Larry Linville) participate in a swap with the North Koreans of wounded POWs. In "The Consultant," Robert Alda (Alan's dad) guest stars as a visiting doctor who cracks under the pressure of operating so close to the front. And the shocking season finale, "Abyssinia, Henry," took a page from "Mister Roberts" and killed off commanding officer Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson), who was en route home.
"M*A*S*H"'s sense of humor did not go AWOL. The season opener, "The General Flipped at Dawn," earned guest star Harry Morgan an Emmy nomination for his performance as a certifiable general and paved the way for Morgan to join the cast in season four. "Adam's Ribs" is a classic episode in which Hawkeye orders out to Chicago for a very special delivery of spare ribs. In "Iron Guts Kelly," the war's "greatest fighting general" gets a little too gung-ho and perishes in Margaret's (Loretta Swit) tent. Because of its wartime setting and life-and-death struggles, this is that rare sitcom that may actually play better without a laugh track, an option this set offers. To paraphrase the title of one episode, this was a full, rich season that offered each member of one of television's finest ensembles the opportunity to shine. But Alda, who was honored that year with a Golden Globe award, fully emerges as the series' star. "--Donald Liebenson"

Gene Reynolds, Larry Gelbart, Alan Alda, William Jurgensen, Burt Metcalfe
Comedy
Fox Home Entertainment
NR
One of "M*A*S*H"'s best and must-own seasons marked a turning point for this Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning series. It would be the last for peerless comedy writer Larry Gelbart ("A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", "Tootsie"), who developed "M*A*S*H" for television and served as the series' comic voice, conscience, and beating heart. But this old soldier did not just fade away. He concluded his tour with "The Interview," the stunning season finale and a series benchmark. This black-and-white episode, which he wrote and directed, features Clete Roberts interviewing the members of the 4077th (with the notable exception of Loretta Swit's Major Houlihan) about life and death at the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (a special citation to William Christopher as Father Mulcahy, who provides the episode's most dramatic moment reflecting on how the doctors warm themselves on the steam that rises from the patients' open wounds).
Reporting for duty in season 4 is Mike Farrell as B.J. Hunnicutt, a welcome replacement for the departed Wayne Rogers. In the Emmy-winning season opener, "Welcome to Korea," Hawkeye (Alan Alda) takes the overwhelmed B.J. under his wing. By episode's end, he is drunk and addressing the insufferable "head twerp" Major Burns (Larry Linville) as "ferret face." The second episode brings a "Change of Command" with the arrival of Henry Morgan as Col. Potter, "regular Army," but compassionate and capable. The Gelbart years were distinguished by the deft balancing of comedy and drama ("M*A*S*H" is that rare comedy series that plays better without a laugh track, which this set offers as a viewing option). In the Gelbart-directed episode "Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler?," a wounded bomber pilot identifies himself as Jesus Christ. Gelbart also directed and co-wrote "Hawkeye," an Alda tour de force in which Hawkeye takes refuge with a non-English-speaking South Korean family after overturning his jeep and sustaining a concussion, requiring him to talk nonstop to keep from losing consciousness. The departure of key creative and ensemble personnel would be enough to fatally wound a lesser series, but "M*A*S*H" would solider on. "--Donald Liebenson"

Hy Averback, Jackie Cooper, Larry Gelbart, William K. Jurgensen, George Tyne
Comedy
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
NR
"M*A*S*H"'s fifth tour of duty finds the 4077th operating at peak efficiency. Harry Morgan, as Colonel Sherman Potter, and Mike Farrell as BJ Hunnicutt, pumped new blood into series, and in this, their sophomore year, became integral parts of the ensemble. Gary Burghoff joined the Emmy elite for his role as company clerk Radar O'Reilly. William Christopher was also promoted, finally earning his opening-credit stripes for his role as Father Mulcahy. This season was also pivotal for Loretta Switt's Major Margaret Houlihan. "The Nurses," one of Switt's finest half-hours, humanized her rigid, by-the-book character. Margaret's engagement provided the season with its dramatic arc, and set the stage for the departure of Larry Linville's Major Burns, who by this time had wrung all the music he could from his one-note character. In addition to "The Nurses," another episode that looms large in the show's legend is the Emmy-winning "Dear Sigmund," in which weary and depressed psychiatrist Sidney Friedman sought refuge at the 4077th. This episode further fleshed out BJ, and established him as the camp's practical joker. The episode "Hanky Panky," in which a compassionate BJ consoles a nurse whose marriage has fallen apart, ranks as one of his best.
Alan Alda's Hawkeye suffers physical and psychological crises in two of his most effective episodes, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind," in which he is temporarily blinded, and "Hawk's Nightmare," in which the war haunts his dreams. We also see the first warning signs of sanctimony that would infect the show in later seasons. Tell us, Hawkeye--and he does, in "The General's Practitioner"--why war is worse than hell. Whereas Hawkeye and Trapper in earlier seasons were partners in crime, Hawkeye and BJ become tireless (and sometimes tiresome) crusaders to right all wrongs in their "little corner" of the world, as witness their shutdown of a heartless junk dealer in "Souvenirs." One cure is "Movie Tonight," an ensemble episode in which camp members bond during a much-interrupted screening of "My Darling Clementine". "--Donald Liebenson"""

Hy Averback, Jackie Cooper, Larry Gelbart, William K. Jurgensen, George Tyne
Comedy
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
NR
From a human standpoint, things are pretty tight at the 4077th. But adding a new character to a long-embedded, close-knit ensemble is a delicate operation. By "M*A*S*H"'s sixth season, Hawkeye (Alan Alda) and BJ (Mike Farrell) were partners in outrage against the war and army bureaucracy. With the departure of Larry Linville's Frank Burns, the much decorated series was in need of some new blood. Enter David Ogden Stiers as Charles Emerson Winchester III. Just as Henry Morgan's authoritative Col. Potter was the anti-Henry Blake, so was Charles just what the doctor ordered to give Hawkeye and BJ a worthy foil. Charles was pompous and arrogant, but, unlike Frank, he was Hawkeye's equal in the operating room. And he gave as good as was given to him, as witness the conclusion of his inaugural Emmy-nominated episode, "Fade Out, Fade In," in which he turns the tables on one of Hawkeye and BJ's reptilian practical jokes. In season 6, Gary Burghoff's Radar is mostly missing in action (he would transfer out of the series in season 8), but he figures prominently in "Fallen Idol," one of Burghoff's and Alda's finest half-hours, in which Hawkeye lashes out at Radar's "Iowa naivete" and hero worship.
The season's primary dramatic arc is Margaret's (Loretta Switt) marital woes, culminating in the Emmy-nominated two-parter, "Comrades in Arms," in which Hawkeye and Margaret, trapped by enemy fire, engage in a little close-order drill. The humanization of Margaret continues in "Temporary Duty," which also features one of the most memorable visitors to the 4077th, George "Goober" Lindsey, as the wild and wooly Roy Dupree, a temporary transfer who drives BJ and Charles crazy. Alan Arbus's psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Freedman, one of the series' most welcome recurring characters, makes a memorable return in "War of Nerves," one of his most dramatic episodes, in which a soldier Freedman sent back into combat, is unforgiving in blaming Sidney for his injuries. Two excellent ensemble episodes are "The Light That Failed, "in which the reading-starved camp shares a mystery novel, but doesn't have a clue what happens after the last page is missing, and "Mail Call Three," in which the camp reacts to news from home. Demerits again for no cast commentary, but this set once again offers viewers of the option of watching the episodes with or without a laugh track. "--Donald Liebenson"

Hy Averback, Jackie Cooper, Larry Gelbart, William K. Jurgensen, George Tyne
Comedy
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
NR
The war in Korea wages on with no end in sight, but the medical corps at the 4077th valiantly battle on against soulless military bureaucracy, tedium, and insanity. The seventh season of one of television's most decorated series continued to break new ground, with episodes such as "Point of View," which unfolds under the subjective eye of a wounded soldier. And just when you think you have these characters pegged, the writers provocatively challenged them. One of the most powerful episodes of the season, and the series, is "Preventive Medicine," in which Hawkeye (Alan Alda) takes drastic measures to stop a gung-ho colonel from further endangering his men. "Inga," another series benchmark, written and directed by Alda, finds Hawkeye threatened by an accomplished woman doctor (Mariette Hartley).
Unlike Larry Linville's one-note Major Burns, David Ogden Stiers found new notes to play as Charles Emerson Winchester III. His character remains, as Hawkeye observes, "pompous, arrogant, conceited, and a total bore." But he's also "all right" in three of his finest half-hours: "Major Ego," in which he lets a magazine profile go to his swelled head; "Rally Round the Flagg, Boys," in which he outwits camp nemesis Colonel Flagg; and "Ain't Love Grand," in which he falls for a Korean girl he meets at Rosie's Bar (the setting for another essential episode, "A Night at Rosie's," in which the company seeks refuge from the war). The seven-year itch got to Gary Burghoff, who would depart the series in season 8. Episodes such as "Hot Lips Is Back in Town," in which Radar sweetly woos a new nurse, demonstrate why he would be keenly missed. The two-part "Our Finest Hour" is anything but. It is a rehash of the season 4 classic, "The Interview," that serves as a clip episode. This is a rare misstep in another satisfying season that did this series proud. "--Donald Liebenson"

Hy Averback, Jackie Cooper, Larry Gelbart, William K. Jurgensen, George Tyne
Comedy
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
NR
Unlike the good doctors of the 4077 (otherwise known as "this hellhole" and "sewer"), "M*A*S*H" shows little signs of fatigue in its eighth season. Familiar characters reveal new sides of themselves and the series itself performs some radical surgery on sitcom convention. The most pivotal personnel change is the departure of Gary Burghoff, the only ensemble member to have appeared in the original film, as Radar. His splendid two-part send-off sets the stage for one of the season's best episodes, the Emmy-nominated "Period of Adjustment," in which Klinger (Jamie Farr) must begin to make the role of company clerk his own, and family man B.J. Honeycutt (Mike Farrell) is devastated when a letter from home relates how his baby daughter called a visiting Radar "Daddy." Pompous Charles Emerson Winchester III (David Ogden Stiers) gets his "Of course I care" episode when he tends to a classical pianist who has lost the use of his hands in "Morale Victory." Harry Morgan, as Colonel Henry Potter, was honored with an Emmy, most likely for the emotional episode "Old Soldiers," in which he receives word that the last of his World War I band of brothers has passed on. Loretta Switt was also saluted by the Academy for her work this season. Among her best episodes is "Are You Now, Margaret?" in which she is accused of being a communist sympathizer.
Two episodes truly distinguish themselves: "Life Time," which unfolds in real time as the doctors race against the clock to perform an emergency procedure that requires a graft from a dying soldier; and "Dreams," writer-director Alan Alda's Emmy-nominated, love-it-or-hate it episode that visits the nightmares of the sleep-deprived doctors. "M*A*S*H" continues to walk the scalpel's edge between hilarious comedy ("Too Many Cooks," "April Fools") and powerful drama ("Heal Thyself, in which a visiting doctor suddenly suffers a break down, and "Guerilla My Dreams," which climaxes with a tense standoff between the doctors, who have saved the life of a wounded female Korean guerilla, and the North Korean officer hellbent on executing her. As with past "M*A*S*H" sets, viewers have the preferred option of viewing the episodes without the intrusive laugh track. But we're putting whoever's in command on report for yet again not managing to stitch together any kind of cast commentary, interviews, or archival goodies. "--Donald Liebenson"

Hy Averback, Jackie Cooper, Larry Gelbart, William K. Jurgensen, George Tyne
Comedy
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
NR
In "M*A*S*H"'s ninth season, tears flow almost as freely as the blood and laughter, affording the decorated ensemble (Alan Alda, Harry Morgan. Loretta Swit, and David Ogden Stiers were all nominated for Emmys) ample dramatic license. Margaret (Swit) cries while reflecting on a patient to whom she became emotionally attached in "Letters." B.J. (Mike Farrell) tears up when Hawkeye (Alda) and company surprise him with a wedding-anniversary home movie of his wife in "Oh, How We Danced." And Winchester (Stiers) reveals that he's "human like the rest of us" in three of his finest half-hours (each was nominated for an Emmy). In "The Life You Save," he becomes obsessed with death after discovering a sniper's bullet grazed his head. In the moving Christmas episode, "Death Takes a Holiday," he struggles to uphold a family tradition of making an anonymous charitable gesture. In "No Laughing Matter," he is reunited with the colonel who exiled him to the 4077th, but will groveling and brass-kissing get him reassigned to Tokyo?
In its early years, "M*A*S*H" primarily prescribed laughter, with measured doses of sensitivity and compassion, to combat the tragedies and absurdities of war. By the ninth season, the good doctors of the 4077th were no longer content to be cut-ups, and this television institution began to overdose on self-righteousness. In the episode "Depressing News," Hawkeye builds a "monument" out of 500,000 tongue depressors mistakenly delivered to the camp. "We wouldn't have this supply if they didn't think there'd be a demand," he laments. "My God, hasn't this elimination tournament gone on long enough?" When, after much fanfare, he destroys his creation for the benefit of a confused "Stars and Stripes" reporter, he spells it out: "Senseless destruction; get the picture?" While there are no groundbreaking episodes on the order of "Point of View" (from season 7), season 9 finds cast and crew working at peak efficiency. "--Donald Liebenson"

Hy Averback, Jackie Cooper, Larry Gelbart, William K. Jurgensen, George Tyne
Comedy
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
NR
This "M*A*S*H"-tastic 36-disc collection is one for the television time capsule. It contains all 11 seasons of this multi-Emmy Award-winning series, PLUS Robert Altman's 1970 iconoclastic anti-war classic, PLUS two discs of special features, including two reunion specials and a series retrospective episode of A&E's "Biography". As with the individual season sets, there are no new episode commentaries, a major disappointment. But "M*A*S*H"-ophiles will enjoy this set's other bonus features, including emotional behind-the-scenes footage of the filming of the last half-hour episode, "As Time Goes By," the inevitable bloopers, interviews with cast members as well as fans about their favorite episodes, a segment about the series' "Jocularity," a parade of PSAs (cut down on salt to avoid heart disease), and the text of an unproduced script penned by Alda for an episode titled, "Hawkeye on the Double." All of this material (except for a commemorative booklet) is available elsewhere in different configurations, but this space-saving (albeit ungainly packaged) box set collects them all under one tent.
Adapted for television by legendary comedy writer Larry Gelbart, the series has long since supplanted Altman's film in the public's consciousness. Life and death at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War doesn't seem like ripe fodder for a comedy series, but "M*A*S*H" masterfully balanced laughter and tears (less so in its later, more preachy seasons). It often does play better without a laugh track (a viewing option for all episodes). During its run, "M*A*S*H" survived several delicate operations, including the departure of Gelbart after season 4 and the loss of core ensemble members McLean Stevenson as Col. Henry Blake and Wayne Rogers as Trapper John (after season 3), Larry Linville as Frank Burns (after season 5) and Gary Burghoff (a veteran of the original film) as Radar (after season 8). The show thrived with the introduction of some new blood, Henry Morgan as "regular Army" Col. Potter and Mike Farrell as compassionate BJ (season 4) and David Ogden Stiers as elitist Charles Emerson Winchester III (season 6).
"M*A*S*H" was honored with the prestigious Peabody Award "for the depth of its humor and the manner in which comedy is used to lift the spirit and, as well, to offer a profound statement on the nature of war." This was a sitcom that did not always leave you laughing, as witness the classic season 3 episode "Abyssinia, Henry." And throughout its run, "M*A*S*H" broke the sitcom mold with several episodes, including "The Interview" (season 4), in which Clete Roberts interviews the staff of the 4077th, "Point of View" (season 7), subjectively seen through the eyes of a wounded soldier and "Life Time" (season 8), which unfolds in real time. "M*A*S*H" boasted one of television's greatest ensembles, fully embodied characters who each became icons, most notably Alan Alda, who served with distinction as Hawkeye, the series' soul and conscience. But a special salute to Loretta Switt, whose Margaret Houlihan went from "Hot Lips" to nobody's pushover. From the "Pilot" to the feature-length finale, "Goodbye, Farewell & Amen," still the most-watched episode in history, this essential (but not so much if you bought the individual season sets) collection honors one of television's greatest half-hours. "--Donald Liebenson"

Hy Averback, Jackie Cooper, Larry Gelbart, William K. Jurgensen, George Tyne
Comedy
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
NR
This "M*A*S*H"-tastic 36-disc collection is one for the television time capsule. It contains all 11 seasons of this multi-Emmy Award-winning series, PLUS Robert Altman's 1970 iconoclastic anti-war classic, PLUS two discs of special features, including two reunion specials and a series retrospective episode of A&E's "Biography". As with the individual season sets, there are no new episode commentaries, a major disappointment. But "M*A*S*H"-ophiles will enjoy this set's other bonus features, including emotional behind-the-scenes footage of the filming of the last half-hour episode, "As Time Goes By," the inevitable bloopers, interviews with cast members as well as fans about their favorite episodes, a segment about the series' "Jocularity," a parade of PSAs (cut down on salt to avoid heart disease), and the text of an unproduced script penned by Alda for an episode titled, "Hawkeye on the Double." All of this material (except for a commemorative booklet) is available elsewhere in different configurations, but this space-saving (albeit ungainly packaged) box set collects them all under one tent.
Adapted for television by legendary comedy writer Larry Gelbart, the series has long since supplanted Altman's film in the public's consciousness. Life and death at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War doesn't seem like ripe fodder for a comedy series, but "M*A*S*H" masterfully balanced laughter and tears (less so in its later, more preachy seasons). It often does play better without a laugh track (a viewing option for all episodes). During its run, "M*A*S*H" survived several delicate operations, including the departure of Gelbart after season 4 and the loss of core ensemble members McLean Stevenson as Col. Henry Blake and Wayne Rogers as Trapper John (after season 3), Larry Linville as Frank Burns (after season 5) and Gary Burghoff (a veteran of the original film) as Radar (after season 8). The show thrived with the introduction of some new blood, Henry Morgan as "regular Army" Col. Potter and Mike Farrell as compassionate BJ (season 4) and David Ogden Stiers as elitist Charles Emerson Winchester III (season 6).
"M*A*S*H" was honored with the prestigious Peabody Award "for the depth of its humor and the manner in which comedy is used to lift the spirit and, as well, to offer a profound statement on the nature of war." This was a sitcom that did not always leave you laughing, as witness the classic season 3 episode "Abyssinia, Henry." And throughout its run, "M*A*S*H" broke the sitcom mold with several episodes, including "The Interview" (season 4), in which Clete Roberts interviews the staff of the 4077th, "Point of View" (season 7), subjectively seen through the eyes of a wounded soldier and "Life Time" (season 8), which unfolds in real time. "M*A*S*H" boasted one of television's greatest ensembles, fully embodied characters who each became icons, most notably Alan Alda, who served with distinction as Hawkeye, the series' soul and conscience. But a special salute to Loretta Switt, whose Margaret Houlihan went from "Hot Lips" to nobody's pushover. From the "Pilot" to the feature-length finale, "Goodbye, Farewell & Amen," still the most-watched episode in history, this essential (but not so much if you bought the individual season sets) collection honors one of television's greatest half-hours. "--Donald Liebenson"

Peter Bogdanovich
Biography
Universal Pictures
PG
Rusty Dennis is the mother of Rocky, a seriously deformed but extremely intelligent and emotionally warm child. Rusty is a no-nonsense mother whose wild lifestyle is often at odds with her tenderness and protectiveness towards Rocky. She is determined that Rocky be given the same chances and happiness that everyone else takes for granted.

Martin Campbell
Action
Amblin Entertainment
PG-13
The original Zorro, Don Diego de la Vega, is captured and imprisoned just as Spain concedes California to Santa Anna. 20 years go by and his mortal enemy, Don Rafael Montero, returns to California with a plan to become wealthy at the expense of the peasants. The original Zorro escapes from prison and trains a new Zorro to take his place. Much swashbuckling and derring-do ensues.

Larry Charles
Comedy
BBC Films
PG-13
Against the backdrop of a nation on the brink of revolution, Uncle Sweetheart (John Goodman) and Nina Veronica (Jessica Lange) are slimy promoters planning a benefit concert. They desire the services of legendary singer Jack Fate (Bob Dylan), and soon Fate is sprung from jail. A rock journalist (played by Jeff Bridges) investigates the concert, attempting to determine just who will benefit. Revolution may be raging outside the arena, but Jack Fate and the benefit concert play on as planned.

Man Yi Yang
Western
Golden Harvest Company

Richard Shepard
Comedy
Stratus Film Co.
R
A chance encounter between a travelling salesman and a lonely hitman triggers a strangely profound relationship which provokes each to act in ways neither would have imagined possible. Fate steps in to form a friendship between two men from irreconcilable worlds that will alter the lives of both forever.

Woody Allen
Crime
BBC Films
R
Chris, a recently retired tennis player, requests work like instructor in a London select club, there he knows and friendship begins with Tom Hewett who is member of an English wealthy family, Chris is a youth with luck, Chloe sister of Tom falls in love with Chris who takes advantage of this. On the other hand, Nola, an American sensual actress of little mount, girlfriend of Tom, knows Chris in a family party and the Irishman immediately is attracted by the beauty of the actress. Different to Nola's fate, Chris is well accepted in the Hewett's family and has the fortune of sympathizing with Mr. Alec Hewett who uses their influence to place young Chris in an executive position. Chris marries this way Chloe, Tom breaks up suddenly with Nola and he marries a youth of his class. Then Chris looks for Nola laboriously, and he revives the passion that feels for the American, this way Chris is amid an enormous pressure, coming from the work, of his relationship with Nola and of his wife's necessity of having a son. Finally, Nola leaves pregnant and she begins to press Chris so that he abandones Chloe, the retired tennis player has to make a difficult decision that will take him to extreme situations and a fatal destination for the young actress. Again the random, the good luck, allows Chris to stay free of this difficult situation, again the ball hits in the net and it falls in the rival's land. (Chris, un recien retirado jugador de tenis, solicita trabajo como instructor en un selecto club londinense, ahí conoce y entabla amistad con Tom Hewett quién es miembro de una acaudalada familia inglesa, Chris es un joven con suerte, Chloe hermana de Tom se enamora de Chris quién toma ventaja de esto. Por otro lado, Nola, una sensual actríz americana de poca monta, novia de Tom, conoce a Chris en una fiesta familiar y el irlandés inmediatamente se siente atraído por la belleza de la actríz. A diferencia de Nola que no es bien aceptada en la familia Hewett, Chris tiene la fortuna de simpatizar con los padres de Chloe, sobretodo con Mr. Alec Hewett quién usa sus influencia para colocar al joven Chris en un puesto ejecutivo. Así Chris se casa con Chloe, Tom rompe repentinamente con Nola y se casa con una joven de su clase. Entonces Chris busca afanosamente a Nola, y reaviva la pasión que siente por la americana, de este modo Chris queda en medio de una enorme presión, proveniente del trabajo, de su relación con Nola y de la necesidad de su esposa de tener un hijo. Al final Nola queda embarazada y empieza a presionar a Chris para que deje a Chloe, el exjugador de tenis tiene que tomar una difícil decisión, que le llevará a situaciones extremas y a un destino fatal para la joven actríz. Otra vez el azar, la buena suerte, le permite a Chris salir librado de esta difícil situación, otra vez la pelota golpea en la red y cae en terreno del rival.)

Mark Joffe
Comedy
Good Film Company
R
Marcy is an assistant to Senator John McGlory, who is having problems with a re-election campaign. Desperate for Irish votes, McGlory's chief of staff Nick sends Marcy to Ireland to trace McGlory's relatives or ancestors. Marcy arrives at the village of Ballinagra when it is preparing for an annual Matchmaking Festival. A well-dressed, handsome and single young lady, she becomes the center of attention for two professional matchmakers, Dermot and Millie, as well as for bartender Sean.

Ridley Scott
Comedy
Warner Bros. Pictures
PG-13
Meet Roy and Frank, a couple of professional small-time con artists. What Roy, a veteran of the grift, and Frank, his ambitious protégé, are swindling these days are "water filtration systems," bargain-basement water filters bought by unsuspecting people who pay ten times their value in order to win bogus prizes like cars, jewelry and overseas vacations--which they never collect. These scams net the flim-flam men a few hundred here, another thousand there, which eventually adds up to a lucrative partnership. Roy's private life, however, is not so successful. An obsessive-compulsive agoraphobe with no personal relationships to call his own, Roy is barely hanging on to his wits, and when his idiosyncrasies begin to threaten his criminal productivity he's forced to seek the help of a psychoanalyst just to keep him in working order. While Roy is looking for a quick fix, his therapy begets more than he bargained for: the revelation that he has a teenage daughter--a child whose existence he suspected but never dared confirm. What's more troubling, 14-year-old Angela wants to meet the father she never knew. At first, Angela's appearance disrupts her neurotic father's carefully ordered routine. Soon, however, with his own unique spin on parenthood, Roy begins to enjoy a relationship he never dreamed of having with his daughter. But while he develops paternal feelings for the 14-year-old, she's developing a fascination with Daddy's questionable career.

Various
Drama
Paramount
NR
A running joke on "The Simpsons" is the idolization of Andy Griffith's Ben Matlock by the aged residents of the Springfield Retirement Home. Watching "Matlock"’s inaugural season, it's no wonder that viewers "of a certain age" would take comfort in watching Atlanta defense attorney Matlock defend the falsely accused and, to quote The Simpsons", "put young people behind bars where they belong." "Matlock" was something of a departure for TV icon Griffith. While he's got his southern drawl goin' on, he left Andy Taylor back in Mayberry. Folksiness only goes so far in the big city. Matlock's fee is $100,000. And even if Opie or Aunt Bea were menaced, one can't imagine sheriff Andy threatening to feed the perpetrator to the D.A. "piece by piece." "Matlock" hews closely to the "Perry Mason" playbook. Most episodes incriminate a suspect, only to have the tenacious Matlock ("Next to injustice, I hate losing," he states) exonerate him or her with some flashy, last-minute courtroom theatrics that threaten to turn the courtroom into a "sideshow." One notable exception is the episode, "The Judge," featuring guest star Dick Van Dyke as a judge and old friend of Matlock who murders his mistress, and then presides over the trial of the man arrested for the crime. Other notable guest stars are Jose Ferrer as a terminally ill crime kingpin arrested for murder in the two-parter, "The Don," and Pat Hingle as a surly and disliked man likewise accused of murder in "Santa Claus." "Season One" is an auspicious beginning for the series that would run for six years on NBC and then three more on ABC. Casting tweaks and the addition of new characters would improve the proceedings. Bland Lori Lethin, who appears in the pilot episode as Matlock’s daughter, a neophyte lawyer, was replaced in the series by the more experienced Linda Purl. The episode, "The People vs. Matlock" introduces Julie Sommars as feisty assistant district attorney Julie March, a foil and friend to Matlock. Nancy Stafford, who appears "The Seduction," would join the cast next season as Matlock’s assistant, Michelle Thomas. "Matlock" even inspired a spinoff; the episode "The Don" pits Matlock against his "bitter enemy," William Conrad’s James McShane, a cop-turned-district attorney who would later be transformed into Jason McCabe, aka "Fatman" in "Jake and the Fatman" (his future costar, Joe Penny, costars in the episode as one of the Don’s highly suspect sons). In a prime time loaded with grisly police procedurals, the old school "Matlock" is a not-at-all-guilty pleasure. "--Donald Liebenson"

Charles S. Dubin, Christian I. Nyby II, Christopher Hibler, Frank Thackery, Harvey S. Laidman
Drama
Paramount
NR
"Matlock" is a legal drama series starring Andy Griffith as defense attorney Ben Matlock - a Harvard-educated, fiery southerner who charges $100,000 a case to brilliantly defend his clients by finding the real killer.

Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
Action
Groucho II Film Partnership
R
During the year 1999, a man named Thomas Anderson lives an ordinary life. He makes a living illegally mostly by computer hacking. Then one day he meets another man by the man of Morpheus. After their friendship develops Morpheus shows him that world Thomas is living is make-believe. At first Thomas does not believe him, but then is shown evidence and also meets with a like-minded woman named Trinity. He is slowly updated from the time the world was disintegrated and wasted, devoid of all natural resources. Then in this wasteland, came android-like humans, machine-made, who enslaved the remainder of the humans. In order to create the perfect world, a fake world is created to fool the humans into believing that everything is alright in their world. Now Thomas, Trinity, and Morpheus must lead the humans to freedom, but will the android-like beings let them?

Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
Action
Warner Bros. Pictures
R
6 months after the events depicted in The Matrix, Neo has proved to be a good omen for the free humans, as more and more humans are being freed from the matrix and brought to Zion, the one and only stronghold of the Resistance. Neo himself has discovered his superpowers including super speed, ability to see the codes of the things inside the matrix and a certain degree of pre-cognition. But a nasty piece of news hits the human resistance: 250,000 machine sentinels are digging to Zion and would reach them in 72 hours. As Zion prepares for the ultimate war, Neo, Morpheus and Trinity are advised by the Oracle to find the Keymaker who would help them reach the Source. Meanwhile Neo's recurrent dreams depicting Trinity's death have got him worried and as if it was not enough, Agent Smith has somehow escaped deletion, has become more powerful than before and has fixed Neo as his next target.

Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
Action
Warner Bros. Pictures
R
Neo discovers that somehow he is able to use his powers into the real world too and that his mind can be freed from his body, as a result of which he finds himself trapped on a train station between the Matrix and the Real World. Meanwhile, Zion is preparing for the oncoming war with the machines with very little chances of survival. Neo's associates set out to free him from The Merovingian since it's believed that he is the One who will end the war between humans and the machines. What they do not know is that there is a threat from a third party, someone who has plans to destroy both the worlds.

Bill Hobin, Bud Yorkin, Hal Cooper, Robert H. Livingston
Comedy
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
NR
Lest anyone doubt that "Maude" was part of the great second golden age of TV sitcoms in the mid-'70s, the first season of the show will lay those doubts to rest. The inimitable Bea Arthur, who won an Emmy for the role, is the uber-feminist-realist at the center of a loving, slightly dysfunctional family in the Norman Lear series. Arthur, and Maude, are fearless in confronting issues of the day, from abortion and penalties for marijuana possession to the real heartbreak post-divorce. The supporting cast is first-rate, too, including Adrienne Barbeau as Maude's daughter, Carol, who's come home to nest after a traumatic divorce; Bill Macy as Maude's beleaguered "fourth" husband, Walter; and the beloved, fearless Esther Rolle as housekeeper Florida Evans. Despite the roiling issues and confrontation s in each episode, nothing rattles Maude, who became something of a role model for women trying to navigate through turbulent changing times. Sample dialogue: Maude: "When he says wife, he means possession." Walter: "So what, Maude? You told me a hundred times you want to be possessed." Maude: "Walter Findlay, I never said that standing up and you know it." Maude speaks her mind in all 20 episodes--and if you don't like it, God'll get you for that. --"A.T. Hurley "

Menno Meyjes
Drama
AAMPI Inc.
R
A Jewish art dealer, who lost an arm during World War I befriends a young art student named Adolf Hitler, encouraging his artistic aspirations. However, the bitter and penniless Hitler is torn between his artistic desires and the increasing influence politics begins to play in his life.

Herbert Ross
Comedy
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Nora is a single mother who lives with her son Michael in a small house. They don't have much money but at least they have each other. Out of the blue comes Nora's father Max Dugan, who left her and Nora's mother when Nora was nine years old. He brings a suitcase with dollar bills and showers her and Michael with gifts, trying to make up for lost time, knowing that he has a fatal heart ailment. The money comes from his shady career in Las Vegas and Nora is dating a police who is very interested in meeting him...

Dave Fleischer
Classics
Winstar
NR
This collection of fully restored, 1930s animated shorts from the legendary Max Fleischer are a real treat. For anyone who has grown up associating the Superman character with different phases of art direction in "Superman" comic books over the last 50 years, or best remembers the look of the Christopher Reeve films or the old television show, these 'toons will be a mini-revelation. Expanding on cues from the first generation of "Superman" comics, Fleischer immerses the man from Krypton in a marvelous blend of art deco, William Cameron Menzies-inspired sets, and edgy compositions that can't help but remind one of Fritz Lang-ian paranoia. Everything is oversized, blocky but rounded, ferociously modernist, and all too vulnerable. Superman's very function as a character in these highly dramatic and richly colored fables is both defending the overbearing, urban progressiveness and capital excesses of a young 20th century while also reassuring us that progress is not as indomitable as a man--at least a Superman. The DVD includes a bonus Fleischer short, "Play Safe," plus information about the restoration process, three choices of sound, complete history, synopsis, and credits. "--Tom Keogh"

James D. Scurlock
Documentary
Trueworks

When Hurricane Katrina ravaged America's Gulf Coast, it laid bare an uncomfortable reality-America is not only far from the world's wealthiest nation; it is crumbling beneath a staggering burden of individual and government debt. Maxed Out takes us on a journey deep inside the American debt-style, where everything seems okay as long as the minimum monthly payment arrives on time. Sure, most of us may have that sinking feeling that something isn't quite right, but we're told not to worry. After all, there's always more credit! Maxed Out shows how the modern financial industry really works, explains the true definition of "preferred customer" and tells us why the poor are getting poorer and the rich getting richer. By turns hilarious and profoundly disturbing, Maxed Out paints a picture of a national nightmare which is all too real for most of us.

Lucky McKee
Drama
2 Loop Films
R
When May was a child, she was a lonely girl with one lazy eye and without any friend but a weird and ugly doll kept in a glass case given by her bizarre mother on her birthday. May becomes a lonely weird young woman, working in an animal hospital and assisting the veterinary in surgeries and sewing operated animals most of the time. Her lesbian colleague Polly has a sort of attraction for her. When the shy May meets the mechanic Adam Stubbs, she loves his hands and has a crush on him. They date, but the weirdness and bizarre behavior of May makes Adam moves away from her. Alone, May has a brief affair with Polly, but she feels rejected again when her colleague meets Ambrosia. When her doll is accidentally broken, the deranged May decides to build a friend for her, using the best parts her acquaintances can offer.

Archie Mayo
Crime
Warner Bros. Pictures

Five members of a teen-age gang, including leader Jimmy Smith, are sent to the State Reformatory, presided over by the melodramatically callous Thompson. Soon, Patsy Gargan, a former gangster appointed Deputy Commissioner as a political favor, arrives complete with hip flask and blonde. Gargan falls for activist nurse Dorothy and, inspired by her, takes over the administration to run the place on radical principles. But Thompson, to conceal his years of graft, needs a quick way to discredit Gargan...

George Hickenlooper
Documentary
Caldera Productions
R
Through the glitter and the grunge, from The Monkees to Coldplay, Rodney Bingenheimer--a.k.a. Rodney on the ROQ--has reigned over the Los Angeles music scene for over two decades. A constantly evolving fixture as rock fan, journalist, promoter, club owner and radio DJ on KROQ, Bingenheimer has helped advance every adventurous rock mutation--California pop, glam, punk, goth, new wave, alternative--since he first hit the Sunset Strip during its psychedelic 1960s heyday.

Robert Altman
Drama
David Foster Productions
R
Set in winter in the Old West. Charismatic but dumb John McCabe arrives in a young Pacific Northwest town to set up a whorehouse/tavern. The shrewd Mrs. Miller, a professional madam, arrives soon after construction begins. She offers to use her experience to help McCabe run his business, while sharing in the profits. The whorehouse thrives and McCabe and Mrs. Miller draw closer, despite their conflicting intelligences and philosophies. Soon, however, the mining deposits in the town attract the attention of a major corporation, which wants to buy out McCabe along with the rest. He refuses, and his decision has major repercussions for him, Mrs. Miller, and the town.

Andrew V. McLaglen
Comedy
Batjac Productions

Cattle baron George Washington McLintock fights his wife, his daughter, and political land-grabbers, finally "taming" them all in this Western comedy with Taming of the Shrew overtones.

John Sturges
Action, Drama, Crime
Batjac Productions

Police Lieutenant Lon McQ investigates the killing of his best friend and uncovers corrupt elements of the police department dealing in confiscated drugs.

Miranda July
Comedy
IFC Films
R
'Me and You and Everyone We Know' is a poetic and penetrating observation of how people struggle to connect with one another in an isolating and contemporary world. Christine Jesperson is a lonely artist and "Eldercab" driver who uses her fantastical artistic visions to draw her aspirations and objects of desire closer to her. Richard Swersey (John Hawkes), a newly single shoe salesman and father of two boys, is prepared for amazing things to happen. But when he meets the captivating Christine, he panics. Life is not so oblique for Richard's six-year-old Robby, who is having a risqué Internet romance with a stranger, and his fourteen-year-old brother Peter who becomes the guinea pig for neighborhood girls -- practicing for their future of romance and marriage.

Sandra Goldbacher
Comedy
Fireworks Pictures
R
One long, hot summer in seventies London, Holly and Marina make a childhood pact to be friends forever. For the troubled, unpredictable Marina, with her seemingly glamorous father and her Valium-addicted mother, Holly stays the only constant in a life of divorcing parents, experimental drugs and fashionable self-destruction. Meanwhile, Holly buries herself in books out of feelings of frustration with her over-protective mother and a nagging insecurity around her beautiful and possessive best friend. She holds just one secret from Marina, her increasing passion for Marina's brother Nat. As the years roll by, the girls experience everything life has to offer, sex, love, loss and rock 'n roll. But eventually for Holly, a friendship which has never been equal gradually begins to feel like a trap.

Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Comedy
Conundrum Entertainment
R
Charlie is a Rhode Island state trooper with a split personality. He is otherwise mild-mannered and non confrontational until somebody or something pushes him a little too far. That's when his maniacal alter-ego, Hank, takes over. Charlie is assigned on a routine mission to return alleged fugitive Irene back to upstate New York, but they wind up on the run from corrupt police officers. And their escape would be a lot simpler on everybody involved if Hank didn't keep stepping in at the most inopportune times...

Jacob Aaron Estes
Adventure
Whitewater Films
R
When Sam Merrick (Rory Culkin) is beaten up by local bully George Tooney (Josh Peck), Sam's older brother Rocky (Trevor Morgan) and his friends Clyde (Ryan Kelley) and Marty (Scott Mechlowicz) plan to pretend it's Sam's birthday to "invite" George on a boat trip in which they would dare him to strip naked, jump in the lake, and run home naked. But when Sam, his girlfriend Millie (Carly Schroeder), Rocky, and Clyde see George as not much of a bad guy, they want to call off the plan, but Marty refuses. Will the plan go ahead as planned?

Mark Waters
Comedy
Paramount Pictures
PG-13
Raised in African bush country by her zoologist parents, Cady Heron thinks she knows about survival of the fittest. But the law of the jungle takes on a whole new meaning when the home-schooled 15-year-old enters public high school for the first time and encounters psychological warfare and unwritten social rules that teenage girls face today.

Barry Skolnick
Comedy
Paramount Pictures
R
Disgraced ex-England captain (Danny 'Mean Machine' Meehan) is thrown in jail for assaulting two police officers. Whilst in jail, he doesn't recieve any favours because of his celebrity status in the outside world. He is out numbered and many prisoners constantly barrage him with insults for letting down his country in a crucial World Cup game. He keeps his head down and has the opportunity to forget everything and change the lives of the prisoners. These prisoners have the chance to put one over the evil guards. The prisoners are lead by Danny and the whole of the prison, guards aside, are behind them. Game on......

Martin Scorsese
Crime
Taplin - Perry - Scorsese Productions
R
The future is set for Tony and Michael - owning a neighbour- hood bar and making deals in the mean streets of New York city's Little Italy. For Charlie, the future is less clearly defined. A small-time hood, he works for his uncle, making collections and reclaiming bad debts. He's probably too nice to succeed. In love with a woman his uncle disapproves of (because of her epilepsy) and a friend of her cousin, Johnny Boy, a near psychotic whose trouble-making threatens them all - he can't reconcile opposing values. A failed attempt to escape (to Brooklyn) moves them all a step closer to a bitter, almost preordained future.

Ivan Reitman
Comedy
Canadian Film Development Corporation (CFDC)

Summer Camp highjinks centered around a camp counselor with a wacky sense of humor. He tries to help the campers have a good time. One camper named Rudy poses a particular challenge as he has a self-esteem problem

Allen Curtis
Short
Universal Film Manufacturing Company

Haskell Wexler
Drama
H & J
R
John Cassellis is the toughtest TV-news-reporter around. He becomes an expert in reporting about violence in the ghetto and racial tensions. But he discovers that his network helps the FBI by letting them look at his tapes to find suspects. When he protests he is fired and goes to the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Bernie Goldmann, Melisa Wallack
Comedy
GreeneStreet Films
R
Bill is unhappy: he's married a banker's daughter and has a non-job at the bank; his wife Jess is tied to daddy's purse-strings; and, Bill is developing a gut from lack of exercise and constantly eating candy bars. He dreams of buying a donut franchise to be independent of Jess's dad. Bill is roped into a mentoring program at his old prep school, assigned a smart-mouthed kid who pops up when least expected. When Jess starts an affair with Chip, a local TV personality and vain Rob Lowe look-alike, it sends Bill, the kid, and a young sales clerk from a lingerie shop on a quest to win back Jess and get the donuts. What about self-respect?

Martin Brest
Fantasy
City Light Films
PG-13
Bill Parrish, media tycoon, loving father and still a human being, is about to celebrate his 65th birthday. One morning, he is contacted by the Inevitable - by hallucination, as he thinks. Later, Death itself enters his home and his life, personified in a man's body: Joe Black has arrived. His intention was to take Bill with him, but accidentally, Joe's former host and Bills beautiful daughter Susan have already met. Joe begins to develop certain interest in life on earth as well as in Susan, who has no clue who she's flirting with.

Albert Maysles, David Maysles
Documentary
Maysles Films

Journalists from all over America meet Marlon Brando in a New York hotel room to interview him about his new film, Morituri. Seeing this as an opportunity to let the legendary actor promote the film, they find Brando unwilling to talk about it, instead he is more interested in larking about and turning on the charm when being interviewed by a former winner of the Miss USA competition.

Walter Lang
Comedy
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Jay Roach
Comedy
Universal Pictures
PG-13
Having given permission to male nurse Greg Focker to marry his daughter, ex-CIA man Jack Byrnes and his wife travel to Miami to Greg's parents, who this time around are Mr. and Mrs. Focker, who are as different from them as can be. As asked in the first movie, what sort of people name their son Gaylord M. Focker?

Jay Roach
Comedy
Universal Pictures
PG-13
A Jewish male nurse (Ben Stiller) plans to ask his live-in girl friend (Teri Polo) to marry him. However, he learns that her strict father (Robert DeNiro) expects to be asked for his daughter's hand before she can accept. Thus begins the visit from Hell as the two travel to meet Mom (Blythe Danner) and Dad, who turns out to be former CIA with a lie detector in the basement. Coincidentally, a sister (Nicole DeHuff) also has announced her wedding to a young doctor (Thomas McCarthy). Of course everything that can go wrong, does, including the disappearance of Dad's beloved Himalayan cat, Jinxie.

Unknown
News
NBC News

Woody Allen
Comedy
Fox Searchlight Pictures
PG-13
Over a meal in a French restaurant, Sy poses a conundrum to his fellow diners: Is the essence of life comic or tragic? For the sake of argument, he tells a story, which the others then embellish to illustrate their takes on life. The story starts as follows: A young Manhattan couple, Park Avenue princess Laurel and tippling actor Lee, throw a dinner party to impress Lee's would-be producer when their long-lost friend Melinda appears at their front door, bedraggled and woebegone. In the tragic version of what happens next, the beautiful intruder is a disturbed woman who got bored with her Midwestern doctor-husband and dumped him for a photographer. Her husband took the children away and she spiraled into a suicidal depression that landed her straight-jacketed in a mental ward. In the comic version, Melinda is childless and a downstairs neighbor to the dinner hosts, who are ambitious Indy filmmaker Susan and under-employed actor Hobie. Back and forth the stories go, contrasting the destinies of the two Melindas.

Jonathan Demme
Comedy
Universal Pictures

This movie tells the possibly true story of Melvin Dummar. Melvin is a nice guy, but he is a total loser: unlucky, impractical and can't keep a job. One night, however, he helps an old man who has had a motorcycle accident in the desert. Melvin laughs when the old man says he is Howard Hughes, the eccentric multimillionaire. But when Howard Hughes dies, Melvin is mailed a will leaving him part of the estate!

Bob Odenkirk
Comedy
LeFoole Inc.
R

Christopher Nolan
Crime
Newmarket Capital Group
R
Memento chronicles two separate stories of Leonard, an ex-insurance investigator who can no longer build new memories, as he attempts to find the murderer of his wife, which is the last thing he remembers. One story line movies forward in time while the other tells the story backwards revealing more each time.

Rob Marshall
Biography
Columbia Pictures Corporation
PG-13
In 1929 an impoverished nine-year-old named Chiyo from a fishing village is sold to a geisha house in Kyoto's Gion district and subjected to cruel treatment from the owners and the head geisha Hatsumomo. Her stunning beauty attracts the vindictive jealousy of Hatsumomo, until she is rescued by and taken under the wing of Hatsumomo's bitter rival, Mameha. Under Mameha's mentorship, Chiyo becomes the geisha named Sayuri, trained in all the artistic and social skills a geisha must master in order to survive in her society. As a renowned geisha she enters a society of wealth, privilege, and political intrigue. As World War II looms Japan and the geisha's world are forever changed by the onslaught of history.

Henry Winkler
Comedy
Odyssey Motion Pictures
PG-13

Erik Van Looy
Action
MMG Film & TV Production
R
Vincke (Koen De Bouw) and Verstuyft (Werner De Smedt) are one of the best detective teams of the Antwerp police force. When they are confronted with the disappearance of a top official and the murder of two prostitutes, the trail leads to the almost retired assassin Angelo Ledda (Jan Decleir). Since Ledda starts showing symptoms of Alzheimer's, it's getting more and more difficult to complete his contracts. When he has to murder a 12-year old call-girl, he refuses and becomes a target himself. While Vincke and Verstuyft are chasing him and counting the corpses, Ledda is taking care of his employers.

Fred Zinnemann
Drama
Stanley Kramer Productions

Ex-GI Ken (Marlon Brando) who as a result of a war wound is paralyzed below the waist. In the hospital back home, he passes through an initial period of depression with the help of a sympathetic Dr. Brock (Everett Sloane) and his faithful fiancée Ellen (Teresa Wright). Ken's bitter isolation is also overcome with the help of his fellow patients, especially the intelligent young cynic Norm (Jack Webb), the witty Leo (Richard Erdman) and serious young Angel (Arthur Jurado). Soon Ken throws himself into the work rehabilitation and after a long period of physical therapy even suspects he may regain the use of his limbs. With the approval and help of the doctor, he and Ellen marry, but on their wedding night both have misgivings about the marriage: the full realization of Ellen's new responsibilities frighten her and makes her more uncertain than ever, and Ken reverts to self-pity. There is a violent argument, and he goes back to the hospital. But his blazing anger finds no sympathy from his buddies, and after a surprising conversation with Dr. Brock, Ken realizes that he must return to his wife, with whom he must try to build his new life, in spite of all the attendant difficulties.

Barry Sonnenfeld
Action
Amblin Entertainment
PG-13
Men in Black follows the exploits of agents Kay and Jay, members of a top-secret organization established to monitor and police alien activity on Earth. The two Men in Black find themselves in the middle of the deadly plot by an intergalactic terrorist who has arrived on Earth to assassinate two ambassadors from opposing galaxies. In order to prevent worlds from colliding, the MiB must track down the terrorist and prevent the destruction of Earth. It's just another typical day for the Men in Black.

Barry Sonnenfeld
Action
Amblin Entertainment
PG-13
Men in Black follows the exploits of agents Kay and Jay, members of a top-secret organization established to monitor and police alien activity on Earth. The two Men in Black find themselves in the middle of the deadly plot by an intergalactic terrorist who has arrived on Earth to assassinate two ambassadors from opposing galaxies. In order to prevent worlds from colliding, the MiB must track down the terrorist and prevent the destruction of Earth. It's just another typical day for the Men in Black.

Barry Sonnenfeld
Action
Amblin Entertainment
PG-13
For Agent J, it is another day at the office, monitoring, licensing and policing all alien activity on Earth. One day, J receives a report of an unauthorized landing of an alien spacecraft near New York. It is an old enemy of MIB, a Kylothian named Surleena. Who is searching for a powerful artifact called The Light of Zartha. J investigates and quickly realizes he is going to need help. Unfortunately, the other MIB agents do not work up to par like J can. So, J decides to bring back K. J must bring back K's memory as an MIB agent and try to stop Surleena, before she can succeed.

Nigel Turner
Documentary
A&E Home Video

Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
Crime
New Line Cinema
R
This urban nightmare chronicles several days in the life of Caine Lawson, following his high-school graduation, as he attempts to escape his violent existence in the projects of Watts, CA.

Michael Radford
Drama
Spice Factory
R
Venice, 1596. Melancholy Antonio loves the youthful Bassanio, so when Bassanio asks for 3000 ducats, Antonio says yes before knowing it's to sue for the hand of Portia. His capital tied up in merchant ships at sea, Antonio must go to Shylock, a Jewish moneylender he reviles. Shylock wraps his grudge in kindness, offering a three-month loan at no interest, but if not repaid, Antonio will owe a pound of flesh. The Jew's daughter elopes with a Christian, whetting Shylock's hatred. While Bassanio's away wooing Portia, Antonio's ships founder, and Shylock demands his pound of flesh. With court assembled and a judgment due, Portia swings into action to save Bassanio's friend.

Oren Moverman
Drama, Romance, War
Oscilloscope Laboratories
R

Oren Moverman
Drama
Oscilloscope Laboratories
R
If the army has a second-worst job (it goes without saying that combat is by far the scariest and most horrific), it has to be the one depicted in director-cowriter Oren Moverman's "The Messenger", which draws us into the lives of the soldiers whose grim duty it is to inform next of kin that a loved one has died in the conflict in Iraq. Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster, best known for his recurring role in "Six Feet Under") has just returned home, injured, decorated as a hero for saving several other soldiers, and only three months from being discharged, when he is assigned to Casualty Notification (described by his commanding officer as "a sacred mission"). Paired with Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson), a tightly wound, by-the-book veteran, Will soon discovers just how excruciating their job is, as a series of wrenchingly powerful scenes shows them delivering the worst possible news to spouses, parents, and others. The responses vary--stunned disbelief, weeping hysterics, becoming physically ill, even spitting in Will's face--but when Stone and Montgomery encounter Olivia (Samantha Morton), her reaction to being told she is now a widow is so dignified that Will, whose girlfriend (Jena Malone) found another man while he was at war, starts to quietly court her, in defiance of strict army regulations. The acting by those in both major and minor roles is uniformly excellent. Foster and Morton's scenes together are tender, tentative, and poignant without a trace of cheap sentimentality; and as Stone and Montgomery gradually bond, the former confronts his own demons without the scenery-chewing that has characterized many of Harrelson's recent roles. Bolstered by a script (by Moverman and Alessandro Camon) that also addresses the difficulty that soldiers in general have after returning home from the war, "The Messenger", while certainly not an easy watch, ranks among the best movies of 2009. "--Sam Graham"

Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky
Documentary
Radical Media

Some Kind of Monster is a music documentary about Metallica's making of their album St. Anger and the difficulties they had to go through in the process. The directors (Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky) shot over 1200 hours and followed the band around night and day for over a year to create this documentary.

Robert Townsend
Fantasy
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
PG
One night Jefferson Reed gets hit in the chest by a souped-up chunk of meteor. So he can fly, but he's scared of heights. He can master the information in any book ... for about fifteen minutes. Now his friends and family want him to protect their community from the dreaded Golden Lords.

Philip Saville
Comedy
Arts Council of England
R
After ten years absence Toni, Chris's best friend, suddenly reappears in London to bring chaos and doubt into Chris's calm, tranquil, slightly boring, predictable life. Chris starts to remember his carefree youth as a photographer in Paris when he lived with and enjoyed a torrid affair with Annick. It was also in Paris that he first met and fell in love with Marion. The temptations and pressure exerted on Chris by Toni to return to their former carefree life of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll soon starts to have an impact on Chris's marriage. He starts to question his values, his lifestyle choices and his relationship with Marion and even suspects her of starting an affair with Toni whom she dislikes! Eventually circumstances come to a head and Chris is forced to decide whether to follow Toni back to the hedonistic, irresponsible life of his youth or face the harsh realities of the present and stay with Marion.

Whit Stillman
Comedy
Allagash Films

In an apartment on Manhattan a couple of friends from the New York upper-class meet almost every night to talk about social mobility, play bridge and discuss Fourier's socialism; the cynic Nick, the philosophical Charlie, partygirl Sally and austenite Audrey. They are joined by Tom. His background is much simpler and he is critical of their way of life. But he finds a soul mate in Audrey, who without his knowledge falls in love with him.

Gore Verbinski
Action
DreamWorks SKG
R
Jerry Welbach is given two ultimatums. His mob boss wants him to travel to Mexico to get a priceless antique pistol called "The Mexican" or he will suffer the consequences. The other ultimatum comes from his girlfriend Samantha, who wants him to end his association with the mob. Jerry figures that being alive, although in trouble with his girlfriend is the better alternative so he heads south of the border. Finding the pistol is easy but getting it home is a whole other matter. The pistol supposedly carries a curse - a curse Jerry is given every reason to believe, especially when Samantha is held hostage by the gay hit man Leroy to ensure the safe return of the pistol.

Charles Barton
Comedy
Universal International Pictures (UI)

Various
Documentary

Gregory Nava
Drama
American Playhouse
R
Traces over three generations an immigrant family's trials, tribulations, tragedies, and triumphs. Maria and Jose, the first generation, come to Los Angeles, meet, marry, face deportation all in the 1930's. They establish their family in East L.A., and their children Chucho, Paco, Memo, Irene, Toni, and Jimmy deal with youth culture and the L.A. police in the 50's. As the second generation become adults in the 60's, the focus shifts to Jimmy, his marriage to Isabel (a Salvadorian refugee), their son, and Jimmy's journey to becoming a responsible parent.

Allison Anders
Drama
Channel Four Films

Mousie and Sad Girl are childhood best friends in a contemporary Los Angeles poor Hispanic neighborhood. But when Sad Girl becomes pregnant by Mousie's boyfriend, a drug dealer named Ernesto, the two become bitter enemies. While their dispute escalates towards violence, the violence of the world around them soon also impacts their lives.

George Armitage
Crime
Tristes Tropiques

When Fred Frenger gets out of prison, he decides to start over in Miami, Florida, where he starts a violent one-man crime wave. He soon meets up with amiable college student/prostitute Susie Waggoner. Opposing Frenger is Sgt Hoke Moseley, a cop who is getting a bit old for the job, especially since the job of cop in 1980's Miami is getting crazier all the time.

Michael Mann
Action
Universal Pictures
R
Ricardo Tubbs is urbane and dead smart. He lives with Bronx-born Intel analyst Trudy, as they work undercover transporting drug loads into South Florida to identify a group responsible for three murders. Sonny Crockett [to the untrained eye, his presentation may seem unorthodox, but procedurally, he is sound] is charismatic and flirtatious until - while undercover working with the supplier of the South Florida group - he gets romantically entangled with Isabella, the Chinese-Cuban wife of an arms and drugs trafficker. The best undercover identity is oneself with the volume turned up and restraint unplugged. The intensity of the case pushes Crockett and Tubbs out onto the edge where identity and fabrication become blurred, where cop and player become one - especially for Crockett in his romance with Isabella and for Tubbs in the provocation of an assault on those he loves.

Unknown
Documentary
BBC

Mr. Caine gives you a once-in-a-lifetime chance to rob him blind! The man who's hypnotized the camera lenses for a quarter of a century reveals the most closely guarded secrets on script preparation. working with the director, forming a character, voice, sound, and movement. Pearl by pearl he lays out the Caine wisdom on everything from set politics to set decorum, the film bureaucracy and more!

Tony Gilroy
Crime
Samuels Media
R
Michael Clayton, a high-priced-law-firm's fixer, leaves a late-night poker game, gets a call to drive to Westchester, and watches his car blow up as he's taking an impromptu dawn walk through a field. Flash back four days. He owes a loan shark to cover his brother's debts (Michael's own gambling habits have left him virtually broke). His law firm is negotiating a high-stakes merger, and his firm's six-year defense of a conglomerate's pesticide use is at risk when one of the firm's top litigators goes off his meds and puts the case in jeopardy. While Michael is trying to fix things, someone decides to kill him. Who? Meanwhile, his son summarizes the plot of a dark fantasy novel.

Tony Gilroy
Crime
Samuels Media
R
Michael Clayton, a high-priced-law-firm's fixer, leaves a late-night poker game, gets a call to drive to Westchester, and watches his car blow up as he's taking an impromptu dawn walk through a field. Flash back four days. He owes a loan shark to cover his brother's debts (Michael's own gambling habits have left him virtually broke). His law firm is negotiating a high-stakes merger, and his firm's six-year defense of a conglomerate's pesticide use is at risk when one of the firm's top litigators goes off his meds and puts the case in jeopardy. While Michael is trying to fix things, someone decides to kill him. Who? Meanwhile, his son summarizes the plot of a dark fantasy novel.

William Dear
Comedy
Pacific Arts, The

A collection of comedy skits and music videos, such as a game-show spoof called "Name That Drug", a visit to the office of the Clandestine Typing Service, and a man providing a skewed translation of a Mexican serenade for his girlfriend.

Elaine May
Drama
Paramount Pictures
R

Various
Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
ABC Family
NR
Based on the series of graphic novels by acclaimed writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach ("Lost") and artist Les McClaine, The Middleman focuses on the titular superhero and his new protege, an aspiring artist named Wendy Watson. Together they defend the Earth against exotic problems such as animated Terra Cotta Warriors, evil lucha libre wrestlers, extraterrestrials, trout-eating zombies and much, much more! Both smart and exciting for fans of all ages, The Middleman scored big with critics when it debuted in June of 2008. Now the complete series is available in one collectible 4-disc box set that is chock-full of action, suspense,
wit and bonus features brought straight to you by the cast and creators of The Middleman themselves!

Bonus Features:

* Commentaries With the Cast and Crew

* Deleted and Extended Scenes

* Web Featurettes

* Gag Reel

* Audition Footage

* The Complete "The Palindrome Reversal Palindrome" Table Read

* A Gallery of Middleman Photography by Ralph King

John Schlesinger
Drama
Florin Productions

Texas greenhorn Joe Buck arrives in New York for the first time. Preening himself as a real 'hustler', he finds that he is the one getting 'hustled' until he teams up with a down-and-out but resilient outcast named Ratso Rizzo. The initial 'country cousin meets city cousin' relationship deepens. In their efforts to bilk a hostile world rebuffing them at every turn, this unlikely pair progress from partners in shady business to comrades. Each has found his first real friend.

Alan Parker
Biography
Casablanca Filmworks

Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of Turkey. The Turkish courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than 30 years in prison. Hayes has two opportunities for release: the appeals made by his lawyer, his family, and the American government, or the "Midnight Express".

Alan Parker
Drama
Sony Pictures
R
Forever embroiled in controversy, "Midnight Express" divides viewers into opposing camps: those who think it's one of the most intense real-life dramas ever made, and those who abhor its manipulative tactics and alteration of facts for the exploitative purpose of achieving a desired effect. That effect is powerfully achieved, regardless of how you may feel about director Alan Parker and Oscar®-winning screenwriter Oliver Stone's interpretation of the story of Billy Hayes. It was the American Hayes--played by the late Brad Davis in an unforgettable performance--who was caught smuggling two kilograms of hashish while attempting to board a flight from Istanbul, Turkey, in 1970. He was sentenced to four years in a hellish Turkish prison on a drug possession charge, but his sentence was later extended (though not by 30 years, as the film suggests), and Hayes endured unthinkable brutality and torture before his escape in 1975.
Unquestionably, this is a superbly crafted film, provoking a visceral response that's powerful enough to boil your blood. By the time Hayes erupts in an explosion of self-defensive violence, Parker and Stone have proven the power--and danger--of their skill. Their film is deeply manipulative, extremely xenophobic, and embellishes reality to heighten its calculated impact. Is that a crime? Not necessarily, and there's no doubt that "Midnight Express" is expertly directed and blessed with exceptional supporting performances (especially from John Hurt as a long-term prisoner). Still, it's obvious that strings are being pulled, and Parker, while applying his talent to a nefarious purpose, is a masterful puppeteer. "--Jeff Shannon"

Clint Eastwood
Crime
Malpaso Productions
R
This panoramic tale of Savannah's eccentricities focuses on a murder and the subsequent trial of Jim Williams: self made man, art collector, antiques dealer, bon vivant and semi-closeted homosexual. John Kelso a magazine reporter finds himself in Savannah amid the beautiful architecture and odd doings to write a feature on one of William's famous Christmas parties. He is intrigued by Williams from the start, but his curiosity is piqued when he meets Jim's violent, young and sexy lover, Billy. Later that night, Billy is dead, and Kelso stays on to cover the murder trial. Along the way he encounters the irrepressible Lady Chablis, a drag queen commedienne, Sonny Seiler, lawyer to Williams, whose famous dog UGA is the official mascot of the Georgia Bulldogs, an odd man who keeps flies attached to mini leashes on his lapels and threatens daily to poison the water supply, the Married Ladies Card Club, and Minerva, a spiritualist. Between being Jim's buddy, cuddling up to a torch singer, meeting every eccentric in Savannah, participating in midnight graveyard rituals and helping solve the mysteries surrounding Billy's murder, Kelso has his hands full.

Stuart Samuels
Documentary
Stuart Samuels Productions

Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream tells the hidden history of these landmark films, El Topo (1970), Night of the Living Dead (1968), The Harder They Come (1973), Pink Flamingos (1972), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), and Eraserhead (1977). The documentary includes in-depth interviews with the directors, producers, writers and actors who were part of these low-budget, yet monumental productions, the exhibitors and distributors who played them, and the audiences who viewed them.

Martin Brest
Action
City Light Films
R
Bounty hunter Jack Walsh is sent to find and return bail jumper and former Mafia accountant, Jonathan "The Duke" Mardukas. The FBI have had no success it locating The Duke, so when Jack finds him in next to no time, they are a little embarrassed. In order to collect his $100,000 fee, Jack must take The Duke from New York to Los Angeles. However, the Mafia and the FBI have other ideas, as does Marvin, a rival bounty hunter. On their long cross-country trip to LA, the two get to know each other and they build up a strange friendship.

Woody Allen
Comedy
Orion Pictures Corporation
PG
Centred around a weekend party at the home of inventor Andrew Hobbs and his wife Adrian, attended by randy doctor Maxwell Jordan, his nurse Darcy, renowned philosopher Dr.Leopold Sturgis and his fiancée, this is a light comedy concerning their various emotional, intellectual and sexual entanglements, loosely based on Ingmar Bergman's 'Smiles of a Summer Night' .

Woody Allen
Comedy
Magnolia Pictures
R
Lenny and Amanda have an adopted son Max who turns out to be brilliant. Lenny becomes obsessed with finding Max's real parents because he believes that they too must be brilliant. When he finds that Linda Ash is Max' real mother, Lenny is disappointed. Linda is a prostitute and porn star. On top of that, she is quite possibly the dumbest person Lenny has ever met. Interwoven is a Greek chorus linking the story with the story of Oedipus.

Michael Winterbottom
Drama
Paramount Vantage
R
On January 23, 2002, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is to fly from Karachi to Dubai with his pregnant wife, Mariane, also a reporter. On the day before, with great care, he has arranged an interview in a café with an Islamic fundamentalist cleric. When Danny doesn't return, Mariane initiates a search. Pakistani police, American embassy personnel, and the FBI examine witnesses, phone records, e-mails, and hard drives. Who has him? Where is he? There's also the why: because of U.S. abuse of prisoners at Guantanimo, because of a history of Journal cooperation with the CIA, because Pearl is a Jew? Through it all, Mariane is clearheaded, direct, and determined.

Christopher Guest
Comedy
Castle Rock Entertainment
PG-13
When folk icon Irving Steinbloom passed away, he left behind a legacy of music and a family of performers he has shepherded to folk stardom. To celebrate a life spent submerged in folk, Irving's loving son Jonathan has decided to put together a memorial concert featuring some of Steinbloom's best-loved musicians. There's Mitch and Mickey, who were the epitome of young love until their partnership was torn apart by heartbreak; classic troubadours The Folksmen, whose records were endlessly entertaining for anyone able to punch a hole in the center to play them; and The New Main Street Singers, the most meticulously color-coordinated neuftet ever to hit an amusement park. Now for one night only in New York City's Town Hall, these three groups will reunite and gather together to celebrate the music that almost made them famous.

Various
Comedy
Comedy Central

Rob Greenberg
Comedy
Shout! Factory

Robert Redford
Comedy
Esparza

In Milagro, a small town in the American Southwest, Ladd Devine plans to build a major new resort development. While activist Ruby Archuleta and lawyer/newspaper editor Charlie Bloom realize that this will result in the eventual displacement of the local Hispanic farmers, they cannot arouse much opposition because of the short term opportunities offered by construction jobs. But when Joe Mondragon illegally diverts water to irrigate his bean field, the local people support him because of their resentment of water use laws that favor the rich like Devine. When the Governor sends in ruthless troubleshooter Kyril Montana to settle things quickly before the lucrative development is cancelled, a small war threatens to erupt.

Various
Music

n/a
Music Video & Concerts
Eagle Rock Ent
NR
From the mid-fifties to his death in the early nineties, Miles Davis was universally recognized as one of the most innovative musicians working in Jazz. He was also one of the most popular with his albums regularly breaking into the pop charts and he picked up a total of eight Grammy Awards. He also launched the careers of many jazz musicians including Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Billy Cobham, John McLaughlin and many more. This concert, filmed in Munich in 1987, followed the release of his Grammy Award winning album Tutu and the set list features two tracks from that record, the title track and "Portia", plus his unique arrangements of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" and Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time".
TRACK LISTING
1) Medley: One Phone Call / Street Scenes / That's What Happened 2) New Blues 3) Human Nature 4) Tutu 5) Time After Time 6) Portia
BONUS MATERIAL
* 30 minute interview with Miles Davis filmed in 1987.
* Miles and his Art.

Gus Van Sant
Drama
Universal Studios
R
When a famous person, like the nation's first openly gay male city supervisor, inspires an acclaimed book (The Mayor of Castro Street) and Oscar-winning documentary (The Times of Harvey Milk), a biopic can seem superfluous at best. Taking over from Oliver Stone and Bryan Singer, Gus Van Sant, whose previous picture was the more experimental Paranoid Park, directs with such grace, he renders the concern moot. Unlike Randy Shilts' biography, which begins at the beginning, Dustin Lance Black's script starts in 1972, just as Milk (Sean Penn, in a finely-wrought performance) and his boyfriend, Scott (James Franco, equally good), move from New York to San Francisco. Milk opens a camera shop on the Castro that becomes a safe haven for victims of discrimination, convincing him to enter politics. With each race he runs, Harvey's relationship with Scott unravels further. Finally, he wins, and the real battle begins as Milk takes on Proposition 6, which denies equal rights to homosexuals. He does what he can to rally politicians, like George Moscone (Victor Garber) and Dan White (Josh Brolin). While the mayor is willing, the conservative board member has reservations, and after Milk fails to back one of White’s pet projects, the die is cast, leading to the murder of two beloved figures. If Van Sant’s film captures Harvey in all his complexities (he was, for instance, a very funny man), Milk also serves as an enticement to grass-roots activism, showing how one regular guy elevated everyone around him, notably Cleve Jones (Emile Hirsch), the ex-street hustler who created the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial. Released in the wake of Proposition 8, California’s anti-gay marriage amendment, Milk is inspirational in the best way: one person can and did make a difference, but the struggle is far from over. --Kathleen C. Fennessy



Get to Know the Cast From Milk

Sean Penn (Harvey Milk)


Josh Brolin (Dan White)


James Franco (Scott Smith)



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Leo McCarey
Comedy
Paramount Pictures

Timid milkman, Burleigh Sullivan (Lloyd), somehow knocks out a boxing champ in a brawl. The fighter's manager decides to build up the milkman's reputation in a series of fixed fights and then have the champ beat him to regain his title.

Luis Buñuel
Comedy, Drama
Fraia Film

Joel Coen
Crime
Circle Films
R
A highly styled 'genre' film which can perhaps be seen as a pastiche of all gangster movies. Tom Reagan is the laconic anti-hero of this amoral tale which is also, paradoxically, a look at morals within the criminal underworld of the 1930s. Two rival gangs vie for control of a city where the police are pawns, and the periodic busts of illicit drinking establishments are no more than a way for one gang to get back at the other. Black humour and shocking violence compete for screen time as we question whether or not Tom, right-hand man of the Irish mob leader, really has a heart.

Clint Eastwood
Drama
Warner Bros. Pictures
PG-13
Frankie Dunn has trained and managed some incredible fighters during a lifetime spent in the ring. The most important lesson he teaches his boxers is the one that rules life: above all, always protect yourself. In the wake of a painful estrangement from his daughter, Frankie has been unwilling to let himself get close to anyone for a very long time. His only friend, Scrap, an ex-boxer who looks after Frankie's gym, knows that beneath his gruff exterior is a man who has been seeking, for the past 25 years, the forgiveness that somehow continues to elude him. Then Maggie Fitzgerald walks into his gym...

Wim Wenders
Thriller
Icon Entertainment International
R
The movie, written by Bono, starts when a billionaire's son dies in a skid row hotel and a federal agent turns the lives of the miscreant residents upside down to find out if it was suicide or murder.

Edward F. Cline
Comedy
Paramount Pictures

A small country on the verge of bankruptcy is persuaded to enter the Olympics. Either a masterpiece of absurdity or a triumph of satire, depending on your mood, but it's quite possibly the funniest movie ever made, and even funnier with subsequent viewings.

Danny Boyle
Comedy
Mission Pictures
PG
The UK is about to switch its currency from Pounds to Euros, giving a gang a chance to rob the poorly-secured train loaded with money on its way to incineration. But, during the robbery, one of the big bags falls literally from the sky on Damian's playhouse, a 5-year old given to talking to saints. The boy then starts seeing what the world and the people around him are made of. Ethics, being human and the soul all come to the forefront in this film.

Geralyn Pezanoski
Documentary
Smush Media

MINE is the powerful story about the essential bond between humans and animals told against the backdrop of one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history. MINE explores how tragedy intensifies that bond and is told from the perspective of original guardians, rescuers, and adoptive parents of the voiceless victims of Katrina. These individuals are all connected by two things, the tragic aftermath of Katrina and their love of animals. In response to an unprecedented crisis, thousands of pets needed to be transported around the country and adopted even when their displaced guardians still desperately wanted them. Meanwhile, many adoptive guardians have forged strong bonds with their new pets, nurturing them back to health from the traumas they suffered during and after the storm. When two families love the same pet, conflicts inevitably arise over who is the rightful "owner" and what is right for the animal. At the center of this tension are pets who are loved like family, but by law are considered property. This begs the question, who is looking out for the best interest of the animals? Set in a post-Katrina landscape of poverty, loss and moral uncertainty, MINE presents the complexity of an intensely emotional situation that has no simple answers. A tragedy of this scale reveals the worst and brings out the best in humankind and presents an opportunity for us to bring about meaningful social change. MINE is a compelling, character-driven story that challenges us see the way we treat animals in our society as a reflection of how we treat ourselves - and each other.

Nick Guthe
Comedy
Bold Films
R
Desperate to be free from her drunken, unloving mother Diane, the beautiful, scheming young Mini seduces her stepfather Martin and soon convinces him to join her in a sadistic scheme to have Diane declared insane. But their conspiracy soon escalates to murder and when John Garson, a young detective starts investigating, Martin and Mini begin to turn on each other.

John Cassavetes
Comedy
Universal Pictures
PG
Minnie breaks up with her married boyfriend and becomes disillusioned. However, she begins to learn that there is hope for love and romance in a desperate world when she meets a crazy car-parker named Seymour.

Steven Spielberg
Action
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
PG-13
In the year 2054 A.D. crime is virtually eliminated from Washington D.C. thanks to an elite law enforcing squad "Precrime". They use three genetically altered humans (called "Pre-Cogs") with special powers to see into the future and predict crimes beforehand. John Anderton heads Precrime and believes the system's flawlessness steadfastly. However one day the Pre-Cogs predict that Anderton will commit a murder himself in the next 36 hours. Worse, Anderton doesn't even know the victim. He decides to get to the mystery's core by finding out the 'minority report' which means the prediction of the female Pre-Cog Agatha that "might" tell a different story and prove Anderton innocent.

Gavin O'Connor
Drama
Pop Pop Productions
PG
The inspiring story of the team that transcended its sport and united a nation with a new feeling of hope. Based on the true story of one of the greatest moments in sports history, the tale captures a time and place where differences could be settled by games and a cold war could be put on ice. In 1980, the United States Ice Hockey team's coach, Herb Brooks, took a ragtag squad of college kids up against the legendary juggernaut from the Soviet Union at the Olympic Games. Despite the long odds, Team USA carried the pride of a nation yearning from a distraction from world events. With the world watching the team rose to the occasion, prompting broadcaster Al Michaels' now famous question, to the millions viewing at home: Do you believe in miracles? Yes!

Spike Lee
Action & Adventure
Buena Vista
R
Every major American filmmaker has a war movie inside them. After the twin triumphs of "When the Levees Broke" and "Inside Man", his biggest box office hit, Spike Lee puts his distinctive stamp on World War II. Though "Miracle at St. Anna" begins and ends in 1983, most of the action takes place in 1944. The segregation of the time leads to the Army's African-American 92nd Infantry Division. In Italy, four of these Buffalo Soldiers, Sergeants Stamps ("Antwone Fisher"'s Derek Luke) and Bishop ("Barbershop"'s Michael Ealy), Corporal Hector ("Jarhead"'s Laz Alonso), and sweet, superstitious Private Train ("The Express"'s Omar Benson Miller), get separated from their unit while fighting the Germans. On the way to higher ground, Train rescues a boy from the rubble. With nine-year-old Angelo (newcomer Matteo Sciabordi) in tow, the soldiers secure shelter in a Tuscan town, where they band together with the villagers, including lovely English speaker Renata ("Artemisia"'s Valentina Cervi), nurse the delusional boy back to health (he has an imaginary playmate named Arturo), and prepare for the next attack. Like "Inside Man", "Miracle" marks one of the few times Lee has drafted an outsider to write the script, in this case bestselling author James McBride, who adapts from his novel. The combination of sensibilities results in a film that alternates, sometimes awkwardly, between cynicism and sentimentality. Tonal irregularities aside, "Miracle at St. Anna" pays overdue tribute to the 15,000 men who fought for freedom in a country that showed them greater respect than their nation of origin. "--Kathleen C. Fennessy"

Preston Sturges
Comedy
Paramount Pictures

Trudy Kockenlocker, a small-town girl with a soft spot for American soldiers, wakes up the morning after a wild farewell party for the troops to find that she married someone she can't remember--and she's pregnant. Norval Jones, the 4-F local boy who's been in love with Trudy for years, tries to help her find a way out of her predicament. Trudy complicates matters further by falling for Norval, and events snowball from there.

George Seaton
Comedy
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

At the Macy's Department Store Thanksgiving Day parade, the actor playing Santa is discovered to be drunk by a whiskered old man. Doris Walker, the no nonsense special events director, persuades the old man to take his place. The old man proves to be a sensation and is quickly recruited to be the store Santa at the main Macy's outlet. While he is successful, Ms. Walker learns that he calls himself Kris Kringle and he claims to be the actual Santa Claus. Despite reassurances by Kringle's doctor that he is harmless, Doris still has misgivings, especially when she has cynically trained herself, and especially her daughter, Susan, to reject all notions of belief and fantasy. And yet, people, especially Susan, begin to notice there is something special about Kris and his determination to advance the true spirit of Christmas amidst the rampant commercialism around him and succeeding in improbable ways. When a raucous conflict with the store's cruelly incompetent psychologist erupts, Kris finds himself held at Bellevue where, in despair, he deliberates fails a mental examination to ensure his commitment. All seems lost until Doris' friend, Fred Gaily, reassure Kris of his worth and agrees to represent him in the fight to secure his release. To achieve that, Fred arranges a formal hearing in which he argues that Kris is sane because he is in fact Santa Claus. What ensues is a bizarre hearing in which people's beliefs are reexamined and put to the test, but even so, it's going to take a miracle for Kris to win.

George Seaton
Kids & Family
Twentieth Century Fox
G
Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 10/06/2009 Run time: 96 minutes Rating: G

Marc Munden
Romance
Feelgood Films
R
A librarian begins a passionate affair with a mysterious woman who walks into his library. When she suddenly disappears he travels down to London to search for her only to discover that she has three identities - dancer, dominatrix and con-woman. But which one is the real Miranda?

Rob Reiner
Drama
Castle Rock Entertainment

Best-selling novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is on his way home from his Colorado hideaway after completing his latest book,when he crashes his car in a freak blizzard. Paul is critically injured, but is rescued by former nurse Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), Paul's "number one fan", who takes Paul back to her remote house in the mountains (without bothering to tell anybody). Unfortunately for Paul, Annie is also a headcase. When she discovers that Paul has killed off the heroine in her favourite novels, her reaction leaves Paul shattered (literally)...

Paul Schrader
Biography
American Zoetrope

A fictionalized account in four segments of the life of Japan's celebrated twentieth-century author Yukio Mishima. Three of the segments parallel events in Mishima's life with his novels (The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku-ji), Kyoko's House, and Runaway Horses), while the fourth depicts 25 November 1970, "The Last Day"...

Paul Schrader
Biography
American Zoetrope

A fictionalized account in four segments of the life of Japan's celebrated twentieth-century author Yukio Mishima. Three of the segments parallel events in Mishima's life with his novels (The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku-ji), Kyoko's House, and Runaway Horses), while the fourth depicts 25 November 1970, "The Last Day"...

Alf Sjöberg
Drama
Sandrews

Late 19th century. The young miss Julie lives in a mansion with her father. She has recently broken up her engagement but is attracted to one of the servants, Jean. They spend the midsummer night together, telling memories and their dreams to each other. Realizing that an affair between a man of the people and an aristocrat is impossible, they plan to escape to Switzerland.

Zach Cregger, Trevor Moore
Comedy
Fox Atomic
R
A young man awakens from a four-year coma to hear that his once virginal high-school sweetheart has since become a centerfold in one of the world's most famous men's magazines. He and his sex-crazed best friend decide to take a cross-country road trip in order to crash a party at the magazine's legendary mansion headquarters and win back the girl.

Bharat Nalluri
Comedy
Keylight Entertainment Group
PG-13
War threatens London as Miss Pettigrew, a destitute governess, filches a client's card from her agency and presents herself at the door. A singer named Delysia Lafosse wants a social secretary as she seeks a West End role by sleeping with a feckless producer in the bed of Nick, a smarmy nightclub owner with whom she also dallies. She ignores Michael, her piano player, who loves her and has tickets for New York on the Queen Mary. Miss Pettigrew's job is to make sure Delysia gets the part. Over 24 hours, Miss Pettigrew is also called upon to help an ambitious and unfaithful fashion editor patch things up with her older fiancé, a lingerie designer. Has Miss Pettigrew found her calling?

Brian De Palma
Action
Paramount Pictures
PG-13
Based off of a hit T.V. series. Jim Phelps was sent to Prague for a mission. That mission is to find a traitor. His wife, Claire and his trusted partner, Ethan Hunt were members of Phelps' team. Unfortunately, something went horribly wrong and the mission failed, ironically Ethan Hunt was the lone survivor. After he reported the failed mission, Kettrige the head if the agency suspects Ethan of being the culprit for the failed mission. Now, Ethan uses unorthodox methods (Which includes the aid of an arms dealer going by the name "Max") to try to find who set him up and to clear his name.

John Woo
Action
Paramount Pictures
PG-13
IMF agent Ethan Hunt has been sent on a mission to retrieve and destroy the supply of a genetically created disease called 'Chimera'. His mission is made impossible due to the fact that he is not the only person after samples of the disease. He must also contest with a gang of international terrorists headed by a turned bad former IMF agent who has already managed to steal the cure called 'Bellerophon' and now need 'Chimera' to complete their grand plan of infecting the whole world. In order to infiltrate and locate the terrorist group he relies on the help of an international thief Nyah of whom he quickly develops a love interest. Time is not only running out for Agent Hunt to find and destroy 'Chimera' before the terrorists get their hands on it, but he must also find 'Bellerophon' so as to save his love interest who has already become infected by the disease from a terrible and rapid death.

J.J. Abrams
Action
Paramount Pictures
PG-13
While in his engagement party with doctor Julia, the IMF agent Ethan Hunt is invited to a rescue mission of his former protégée, agent Lindsey Farris that was trained by him and has been kidnapped in Berlin by the evil dealer Owen Davian. Ethan accepts the assignment, rescues Lindsey with his team but she is killed by a bomb inserted in her head. Ethan finds that Owen will be in the Vatican and he joins his group to abduct him. They are well succeeded in their mission, but back in USA they are betrayed, Owen is released by his team and he abducts Julia, bringing her to Shanghai. Owen contacts Ethan and forces him to steal a powerful weapon in Shanghai to save the life of Julia.

Alan Parker
Crime
Orion Pictures Corporation
R
Two FBI agents investigating the murder of civil rights workers during the 60s seek to breach the conspiracy of silence in a small Southern town where segregation divides black and white. The younger agent trained in FBI school runs up against the small town ways of his former Sheriff partner.

Mira Nair
Romance
Black River Productions

An Indian family is expelled from Uganda when Idi Amin takes power. They move to Mississippi and time passes. The Indian daughter falls in love with a black man, and the respective families have to come to terms with it.

François Truffaut
Crime, Drama, Romance
Les Films du Carrosse
PG
Louis Mahe is a tobacco planter at Reunion Island. He is waiting for Julie Roussel to marry her. He only knows her by mail. The woman that comes does not like the picture he got, but he marries her anyway. Soon, she flees with Louis' money. She was not the real Julie Roussel but Marion. Louis tries to find her... Another Truffaut's film about passion.

Frank Darabont
Drama
Darkwoods Productions
R
Everyone thought of it as a harmless lightning storm. When Dave Drayton notices a strange mist on the lake, he thinks nothing of it. When his son, Billy Drayton, his neighbor Brent Norton, and himself travel to the supermarket, the unthinkable happens. On their way to the market, they see the army, the firefighters, and the police, heading toward the mist. When he sees this Brent mentions something about "Project Arrowhead", a secret military plan that no one knows about. As they are shopping, they see three army men walk in, just to pick up a few things then head toward the mist. All eighty of the store's shoppers had no clue what was going on until an old man runs in the market with a bloody nose and declares "Something in the mist!" He tells them to close the door. About five seconds after they do close the door, the entire store shakes, as though it was lifted feet above the ground. When David is asked to check on the generator, the loading dock door was being pushed by something outside. Then there was a groan heard by Dave. He asks three people to come with him. When Norm the bag-boy volunteers to go out, he is taken by a creature with large squid-like tentacles that have mouths, teeth, and arms of their own. When Dave and the other three fight it off, they alarm everyone in the store what is out there. After hearing this, Mrs. Carmody exclaims that it is the end of times and that God is punishing them. People don't believe it until Mrs. Carmody has almost everyone in the store on her side. Does 'Project Arrowhead' have anything to do with this? Will Dave Drayton, his son, and his friends make it out alive as they make their last stand against this destruction? Or will they be taken by the demon-like creatures of 'The Mist'?

Spike Lee
Drama
Universal Pictures
R
Opens with Bleek as a child learning to play the trumpet, his friends want him to come out and play but mother insists he finish his lessons. Bleek grows into adulthood and forms his own band - The Bleek Gilliam Quartet. The story of Bleek's and Shadow's friendly rivalry on stage which spills into their professional relationship and threatens to tear apart the quartet.

Moby
Musical

Jonas Åkerlund, Fredrik Bond
Music
Rave New World

Play - The DVD has eight live tracks recorded on Jools Holland's TV show in England and 10 videos of songs from Moby's album, Play. Five of the videos have never been released in America: "Find My Baby", "Porcelain UK", "Bodyrock UK (Fire)", "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?", and "Natural Blues (Animated)." A 90-minute megamix, accompanied by psychedelic visuals, showcases the Play remixes used for singles. An interactive function allows fans to remix Moby's songs themselves. Also features a 20-minute home movie, "Give an Idiot a Camcorder", in which Moby captures behind-the-scenes footage while touring the world to promote Play.

William Klein
Comedy
Artco-Film

Albert Brooks
Comedy
Columbia Pictures Corporation
R
Robert Cole, a film editor, is constantly breaking up with and reconciling with long-suffering girl friend Mary Harvard, who works at a bank. He is irrationally jealous and self-centered, while Mary has been too willing to let him get away with his disruptive antics. Can they learn to live with each other? Can they learn to live without each other? The movie also provides insight into film editing as Robert and co-worker Jay work on their current project, a cheesy sci-fi movie.

Charles Chaplin
Comedy
Charles Chaplin Productions

Chaplins last 'silent' film, filled with sound effects, was made when everyone else was making talkies. Charlie turns against modern society, the machine age, (The use of sound in films ?) and progress. Firstly we see him frantically trying to keep up with a production line, tightening bolts. He is selected for an experiment with an automatic feeding machine, but various mishaps leads his boss to believe he has gone mad, and Charlie is sent to a mental hospital... When he gets out, he is mistaken for a communist while waving a red flag, sent to jail, foils a jailbreak, and is let out again. We follow Charlie through many more escapades before the film is out.

Jacques Tati
Comedy
Alter Films

Monsieur Hulot's brother-in-law is the manager of a factory where plastics are manufactured. His nephew grows up in a house where everything is fully automated and the boy is raised in a similar fashion. To take away the influence of the uncle on his son, his brother-in-law gets Hulot a job in his factory.

Claude Jutra
Art House & International
Criterion
Unrated
"Mon Oncle Antoine" is Claude Jutra's masterpiece: A poignant, starkly honest, but humane film, shot through with authenticity from beginning to end. Realized with an unflagging artistic vision, "Mon Oncle Antoine" poetically portrays a young boy's coming of age, vividly capturing the 1940s Quebec mining town in which he lives. Along with winning many awards in the 33 years since its release, this film has also left a visible influence on succeeding generations of Canadian filmmakers like Atom Egoyan. "--Dan Vancini"

Neil Jordan
Crime
HandMade Films
R
George, after getting out of prison, begins looking for a job, but his time in prison has reduced his stature in the criminal underworld. The only job he can find is to be a driver for Simone, a beautiful high-priced call girl, with whom he forms an at first grudging, and then real affection. Only Simone's playing a dangerous game, and when George agrees to help her, they both end up in a huge amount of trouble with Mortwell, the local kingpin.

Mike Newell
Drama
Sony Pictures
PG-13
Julia Roberts's command of the screen is so effortless, it's easy for moviegoers to take her for granted--but we shouldn't. "Mona Lisa Smile"--about a noncomformist teacher at a private school who encourages students to pursue their individuality--is pretty much an all-girls version of "Dead Poets Society" that mixes '50s fashions with '70s feminist thought. However, its lack of ambition doesn't diminish the talent that's gone into it: The writing and directing are well-honed and skillful; the actors--a talent-studded cast featuring Marcia Gay Harden, Kirsten Dunst, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Julia Stiles, and Juliet Stevenson--are uniformly excellent. But without question, "Mona Lisa Smile" rides on Roberts's shoulders and she carries it with ease. She's possibly the only contemporary actor who simply owns a movie the way Bette Davis, Jean Arthur, or Claudette Colbert once did, radiating a engaging mix of intelligence, drive, and emotional warmth that cannot be matched. "--Bret Fetzer"

Ramón Menéndez
Comedy
Hollywood Pictures

When unemployed dockworker Joey Coyle finds $1.2 million that fell off of an armored car, he decides to do the logical thing: take the money and run. After all, he says, finders keepers. He turns to his ex-girlfriend Monica, who works in an investment firm, for advice, before turning to the mob for help laundering the money. While Joey makes plans to leave the country, however, a detective is following his ever-warmer trail in order to recover the cash.

Joseph Ruben
Action
Columbia Pictures Corporation
R
Two foster brothers (Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes) work as transit cops. While one's life is as good as it gets, the other's is a pit. After losing his job, getting dumped by his brother, and getting the crap kicked out of him by a loan shark for the umpteenth time, He implements his plan to steal the "money train," a train carrying the New York Subway's weekly revenue. But when things go awry, will his brother be able to save him in time?

Various
Comedy
Rhino Home Video

In this DVD, the Monkees Davy, Peter, Micky and Mike pick their personal favourite episodes from their 60's series - 'Hitting the high seas', 'Monkees verses Machine', 'The Frodis caper', & 'Fairy tale' respectively. So you get the four episodes (naturally) and bit of reminiscing from each said Monkee (from the late 1990's). The episodes were all filmed in late 1967 (prog 44, 48 & 58), except for Peters filmed in June 1966 (prog 3). My daughter (11) wanted to see some episodes after singing 'I'm a believer' in her school choir and subsequently borrowing my new Monkees CD set - 'The Definitive Monkees limited edition two CD set' (also recommended).



My daughter has enjoyed watching this DVD many times, and particularly likes the 'Machine bit with Mike' (in Peter's episode choice). So highly recommended if going for a fiver or so. The complete 1st and 2nd series are also available though in US NTSC DVD format for diehard fans.

Various
Comedy
Rhino Theatrical
NR
Available for the first time on DVD! All episodes are in chronological order by airdate.
The Monkees scored four consecutive #1 albums and a half-dozen Top 10 singles. The Monkees Anthem "Daydream Believer" voted #3 teen idol song of all time by VH1 viewers. Original Monkees episodes are still being shown on VH1 and a new Monkees show is being developed for the fall 2003 network schedule. "I'm A Believer" was recently popularized in the feature film, Shrek. The Monkees have a dedicated fan base that continues to collect all things Peter, Davy, Micky and Mike.
5.1 audio. Play song romps feature. Commentary on Episode 1 by director James Frawley and Davy Jones. Separate commentaries on Episode 3 by Peter Tork and Monkees creator and director Robert Rafelson. Separate commentaries on Episode 10 by Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork. Commentary on Episode 12 by Michael Nesmith. Commentary on Episode 14 by director James Frawley. Commentary on Episode 15 by Davy Jones. Monkees Pilot (16 mm version). Monkees Discography. Vintage Monkees Kelloggs commercials. Separate commentaries on Episode 32 by Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and songwriter Bobby Hart. Interview with songwriter, Bobby Hart. Monkees Memorabilia Gallery.

Norman Z. McLeod
Comedy
Paramount Pictures

While stowing away on a ship to America, the boys get involuntarily pressed into service as toughs for a pair of feuding gangsters while trying desparately to evade the ship's crew. After arriving stateside, one of the gangsters kidnaps the other's daughter - and it's up to our unlikely heroes to save the day.

Howard Hawks
Comedy
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Barnaby Fulton is a research chemist working on a fountain of youth pill for a chemical company. While trying a sample dose on himself, he accidentally gets a dose of a mixture added to the water cooler and believes his potion is what is working. The mixture temporarily causes him to feel and act like a teenager, including correcting his vision. When his wife gets a dose that is even larger, she regresses even further into her childhood. When an old boyfriend meets her in this state, he believes that her never wanting to see him again means a divorce and a chance for him.

Arthur Marks
Comedy
MGM

Charles Chaplin
Comedy
Charles Chaplin Productions

Monsieur Verdoux is a bluebeard, he marries women and kills them after the marriage to get the money he needs for his family. But with two ladies he has bad luck.

Patty Jenkins
Biography
Media 8 Entertainment
R
A dark tale based on the true story of Aileen Wuornos, one of America's first female serial killers. Wuornos had a difficult and cruel childhood plagued by abuse and drug use in Michigan. She became a prostitute by the age of thirteen, the same year she became pregnant. She eventually moved to Florida where she began earning a living as a highway prostitute--servicing the desires of semi-truck drivers. The tale focuses on the nine month period between 1989 and 1990, during which Wuornos had a lesbian relationship with a woman named Selby. And during that very same time, she also began murdering her clientele in order to get money without using sex. This turned the tables on a rather common phenomena of female highway prostitutes being the victims of serial killers--instead Wuornos, herself, carried out the deeds of a cold-blooded killer.

Gil Kenan
Animation
Columbia Pictures
PG
The teenage DJ is observing his neighbor Nebbercracker on the other side of their street in the suburb that destroys tricycles of children that trespass his lawn. When DJ's parents travel on the eve of Halloween and the abusive nanny Zee stays with him, he calls his clumsy best friend Chowder to play basketball. But when the ball falls in Nebbercracker's lawn, the old man has a siege, and sooner they find that the house is a monster. Later the boys rescue the smart Jenny from the house and the trio unsuccessfully tries to convince the babysitter, her boyfriend Bones and two police officers that the haunted house is a monster, but nobody believes on them. The teenagers ask their video-game addicted acquaintance Skull how to destroy the house, and they disclose its secret on the Halloween night.

Nick Broomfield
Comedy
Channel Four Films
PG-13
This is the story of Spaulding Gray and his attempt to write a novel. It is a first person account about writing and living, and dealing with success while trying to be successful.

Sam Newfield
Horror
Producers Releasing Corporation

Marc Forster
Drama
Lee Daniels Entertainment
R
Set in the Southern United States, 'Monster's Ball' is a tale of a racist white man, Hank (played by Billy Bob Thornton), who falls in love with a black woman named Leticia (Halle Berry). Ironically Hank is a prison guard working on Death Row who executed Leticia's husband (Sean Combs). Hank and Leticia's interracial affair leads to confusion and new ideas for the two unlikely lovers.

Pete Docter, David Silverman
Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Disney*Pixar
G
The folks at Pixar can do no wrong with "Monsters, Inc.", the studio's fourth feature film, which stretches the computer animation format in terms of both technical complexity and emotional impact. The giant, blue-furred James P. "Sulley" Sullivan (wonderfully voiced by John Goodman) is a scare-monster extraordinaire in the hidden world of Monstropolis, where the scaring of kids is an imperative in order to keep the entire city running. Beyond the competition to be the best at the business, Sullivan and his assistant, the one-eyed Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal), discover what happens when the real world interacts with theirs in the form of a 2-year-old baby girl dubbed "Boo," who accidentally sneaks into the monster world with Sulley one night. Director Pete Doctor and codirectors David Silverman and Lee Unkrich follow the Pixar ("Toy Story") blueprint with an imaginative scenario, fun characters, and ace comic timing. By the last heart-tugging shot, kids may never look at monsters the same, nor artists at what computer animation can do in the hands of magicians. "--Doug Thomas"

Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones
Adventure
Michael White Productions

The movie starts out with Arthur, King of the Britons, looking for knights to sit with him at Camelot. He finds many knights including Sir Galahad the pure, Sir Lancelot the brave, the quiet Sir Bedevere, and Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir Lancelot. They do not travel on horses, but pretend they do and have their servants bang coconuts to make the sound of horse's hooves. Through satire of certain events in history (witch trials, the black plague) they find Camelot, but after literally a quick song and dance they decide that they do not want to go there. While walking away, God (who seems to be grumpy) come to them from a cloud and tells them to find the Holy Grail. They agree and begin their search. While they search for the Grail, scenes of the knight's tales appear and why they have the name they have. Throughout their search they meet interesting people and knights along the way. Most of the characters die; some through a killer rabbit (which they defeat with the holy hand grenade), others from not answering a question right from the bridge of Death, or die some other ridiculous way. In the end, King Arthur and Sir Bedevere are left and find the Castle Arrrghhh where the Holy Grail is. They are met by some French soldiers who taunted them earlier in the film, so they were not able to get into the castle.

Terry Hughes, Ian MacNaughton
Comedy
A&E Home Video
R
"Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl" (1982) serves up a great, steaming pile of the famed British comedy troupe's finest, funniest, and foulest work. Culled from their four-night stand at the Hollywood Bowl in 1980, this selection of sketches and songs includes some of the most storied material from the BBC series, "Monty Python's Flying Circus". Numbers include the sexually confused lumberjack, the Ministry of Silly Walks, the Argument Clinic, and the exploding balladeer. Some of the group's funnier short-film pieces are featured as well, including the International Philosophy Match (Germany vs. Greece) and Terry Gilliam's animated pieces. This program is a fine introduction for viewers unaccustomed to Monty Python's peculiar brand of humor, and it will become clear where The Kids in the Hall got their shtick. Monty Python aficionados will enjoy seeing the lads do their thing for a live crowd, and there's a nice (though "nice" hardly seems the word) rapport with the audience. The sketches are looser and less hermetic than those in the "Monty Python" show or movies, such as 1974's "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" or 1983's "Monty Python's the Meaning of Life". Aside from the unusual setting, there's nothing particularly revelatory about "Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl." But for Python fans and fanatics--and they are legion--this won't matter a jot. "-- Nick Poppy"

Alan Parker
Comedy
Bill and Ben Productions
NR
Monty Python reunites in this outrageous comedy and also features some of today's biggest comedians including Jimmy Fallon, Eddie Izzard, Dan Aykroyd, and Seth Green. The Pythons are matched against their contemporaries: rock stars, comedians, actors, politicians, Python-haters and potential axe murderers, in this never-before-seen outrageous comedy from the biggest comedy troupe of all time. Watch as Monty Python is brought to life on-screen in this six part mini-series which is airing on the IFC Chanel. The Monty Python troupe includes John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Graham Chapman. Almost the Truth retells the entire Python phenomenon from start to finish
Every opinion on Monty Python will be brought to life on-screen for the first time with never-before-seen material. Dozens of featured guest interviews will include Jimmy Fallon, Lorne Michaels, Hugh Hefner, Eddie Izzard, Olivia Harrison, Steven Merchant, Dan Aykroyd, Tim Roth, Seth Green, among many others.
First time the Pythons have come together since 1983. Contains all new interviews.
Features the famous Life Of Brian TV Debate from 1979

Comedy
Classic Rock Legends
NR
This is the first independent film review of the roots of Monty Python exploring how the unique comedy of Python grew out of the At Last The 1948 Show and Do Not Adjust Your Set. The film assesses in detail reasons for Pythons successes and failures and surveys the lasting impact of this British institution. Also featured are extensive insights from Neil Innes, Pythons warm-up man, stand-in and minstrel. The DVD compares extensive surviving examples of the early work of the Pythons working in separate camps with the mature TV series and films produced by the group as a whole. The DVD is accompanied by a highly detailed 72 page book featuring a thorough review of the work of Monty

Will Yapp
Comedy
A&E HOME VIDEO
NR
And now for something completely different, unless you own the Spiny Norman-sized "The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus Collector's Edition Megaset", which includes this pair of authoritative, entertaining, and not at all silly 2008 documentaries as bonus features. "Before the Flying Circus" is present at the creation, chronicling the formative years of John Cleese, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Terry Gilliam, and how they met, formed creative partnerships, and developed their singular comic voice. "Monty Python Conquers America" follows the troupe's long and winding road to the States and acknowledges the unsung heroes in the Python story, the tenacious marketing reps and risk-taking public television execs (Luke and Owen Wilson's father among them) and radio djs and program directors who helped to unleash upon unsuspecting citizens the troupe that conventional wisdom said was too crazy, too eccentric, too British, and too silly to be a success here. Both programs eschew the usual bits to present rarely seen footage. "Before" boasts a treasure trove of clips of pre-Python projects, such as the loony children's show "Do Not Adjust Your Set". "Conquers" contains priceless home-movie glimpses of fledgling Python-mania as well as new interviews with the Montys and some admirers, including Hank Azaria, David Hyde Pierce, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Judd Apatow, and Carl Reiner. For passionate Pythoneers and the uninitiated who may be wondering what's all this then, "The Other British Invasion" is an invaluable addition to the "Python" canon. "--Donald Liebenson"

Terry Hughes, Ian MacNaughton
Comedy
A&E Home Video
R
New for 2005, "The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus 16-Ton Megaset" packs together the original 14-DVD megaset with the two-disc "Monty Python Live" in space-saving Thinpaks. While more cautious fans may want to pick and choose among the previously released individual volumes of "Monty Python" for their collection, true Pythonites will want to own this definitive megaset that contains all 45 episodes (in chronological order) of "Monty Python's Flying Circus". This "persistently silly" collection encompasses three-and-a-half seasons of dead parrots, cross-dressing lumberjacks, loonies, upper class twits, and spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, and spam. Click past the occasional clunker and go directly to such signature sketches as the Ministry of Silly Walks, the Spanish Inquisition, the Fish-Slapping Dance, the Dead Parrot Sketch, the Lumberjack Song, the Cheese Shop, the Argument Clinic, and Nudge, Nudge. Taken as a whole, one marvels at how Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam thoroughly subverted television convention with "something completely different," like sketches with no punch lines ("Your average TV viewer isn't going to understand this"). A warning to the uninitiated: there is much "material that some may find offensive, but which is really smashing." Violations of something called the "Strange Sketch Act" are the least of the troupe's offenses, as witness the Oscar Wilde Sketch, the Dirty Vicar Sketch, and the Most Awful Family in Britain Sketch, all of which achieve "the really gross awfulness" all Python fans are looking for. Say no more.
Monty Python TV shows, movies, records, and books are a time capsule of their anarchic lunacy. But more precious is an audience with Python, and as close as we can get is "Live at the Hollywood Bowl", the long-sought-after 1982 concert film in which the Fab Six perform their greatest hits before a wildly enthusiastic crowd. Robert Klein moderates "Live at Aspen", the irreverent 1998 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival tribute that reunited John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, and Terry Jones onstage for the first time in 18 years on the occasion of the troupe's 30th anniversary. Highlights include a shockingly funny moment involving Graham Chapman's ashes, and a joyous "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" sing-along. Less essential is 1989's clip show "Parrot Sketch Not Included: 20 Years of Python", which also does not include "The Oscar Wilde Sketch," "Cheese Shop," "Nudge-Nudge," and many other signature sketches. "--Donald Liebenson"

Terry Jones
Comedy
HandMade Films

Irreverent satire of Biblical films and religious intolerance focuses on Brian, a Jew in Roman-occupied Judea. After joining up with an anti-Roman political organization, Brian is mistaken for a prophet, and becomes a reluctant Messiah.

Various
Comedy
A&E Home Video

And now for Monty Python fans who think they have seen everything, the BBC commemorates the 30th anniversary of the debut of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" with this treasure trove of new sketches performed by the Pythons (minus spoilsport Eric Idle, and, of course, ex-Python Graham Chapman); new interviews with all the surviving members; classic clips; and recently discovered and rarely seen Python material unearthed from the BBC archives. Volume 1, "It's... the Monty Python Story", is a sketchy history, recalling the highs (the first two seasons of the groundbreaking TV series and "The Life of Brian") and the lows (the death of Chapman, who in a poignant clip from his memorial service is eulogized by John Cleese as a "freeloading bastard"). Volume 2 really delivers the goods, including a long-lost 10-minute film Monty Python created for the 1971 Pan-European May Day Festival. Michael Palin spoofs his travel shows by giving viewers a tour of "Pythonland." He revisits the actual locations where such classic Python sketches as the Ministry of Silly Walks and the Fish Slapping Dance were filmed. "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone offer an animated tribute (the Dead Kenny sketch), while Meatloaf goes behind the music to reveal the inspiration behind the Python's most memorable songs. Volume 3 contains "The Lost German Episode" of "Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus", which was created for German television (don't worry; it's in English) and has never been broadcast in the United States. This is comedy's equivalent to a surviving-Beatles reunion, and though the new sketches and animations are hit and miss, it is heartening to see that the Pythons are still loony after all these years. It is a particular pleasure to see the Gumbys banging bricks once again. And Python sexpot Carol Cleveland is holding up rather well, if you know what I mean, say no more, nudge nudge. "--Donald Liebenson"

Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam
Comedy
Celandine Films

The comedy groups last full length movie returns to the feel of the hugely popular BBC TV show. It features small comedy sketches dealing with all of the stages and trials of life. Expect the un-expected. Plenty of religious, vulgar, and sexual humor may offend some groups. There are even musical numbers, but with that same unmistakable brand of Python humor.

Ted Demme
Crime
Apostle
R
Bobby O'Grady is a low range member of Boston Irish gang run by Jackie O'Hara. Jackie demands absolute, total loyalty for him. When Jackie kills one of Bobby's buddies, Teddy, Bobby and others have to keep it an absolute secret, even from their and Teddy's relatives.

Duncan Jones
Action & Adventure
Sony Pictures
R
Science fiction can encompass many genres--suspense, horror, action-adventure, romance, even comedy--but director Duncan Jones's "Moon" doesn't fit neatly into any of them. This smart, provocative film has no aliens or cool spaceships, and the effects (mostly consisting of model vehicles lumbering across the lunar surface) aren't all that special; instead, the material is character- and story-driven, centering on an excellent, multilayered performance by Sam Rockwell. The scene is some undetermined point in the future. Rockwell plays Sam Bell, an employee of Lunar Industries, the company responsible for mining a fusion energy source called Helium-3, which is vital to Earth's efforts to reverse a serious energy crisis and can only be found on the far side of the Moon. Sam is all by himself, and as he nears the end of his three-year contract, the solitude is starting to get to him ("Three years is a long haul," he says. "Way, way, way too long. I'm talking to myself on a regular basis"); his only contact with his wife and daughter back home comes through the occasional video messages he exchanges with them, while his sole interaction on the Moon is with GERTY 3000, a computer voiced by Kevin Spacey (and an obvious parallel to "2001: A Space Odyssey"'s HAL 9000). Things start to go seriously sideways when Sam crashes his vehicle while out inspecting one of the giant Helium-3 harvesters. He comes to in the base infirmary, seemingly none the worse for the wear; but an unnerving surprise awaits him when he goes back to check out the accident site, and the resulting complications occupy the rest of the movie. Fans of "2001", "Solaris", and other cerebral sci-fi will enjoy figuring out what's going on; others will find it slow-moving and tedious. Either way, "Moon", which was made quickly and on a relatively low budget, is well worth a look. "--Sam Graham"

Brad Silberling
Drama
Touchstone Pictures
PG-13
A young man lingers in the family home of his fiancee, after her accidental death. While grieving along with her parents and drawn into legal issues presented by a district attorney seeking justice for the family, he finds himself falling in love with another woman, against his own best intentions.

Paul Lynch, Sam Weisman, Artie Mandelberg, Allan Arkush, Christopher T. Welch
Comedy
Lions Gate

I still have what I consider to be the best episodes of "Moonlighting" on tape (albeit, Beta tapes). So when I watched the first two seasons of Glen Gordon Caron's seminal dramedy series that first aired in 1985 and saw the rest of the show I found myself wishing that we did some television shows the way they do in Great Britain. A "series" across the pond is what we call a season here, and a show like "Coupling," for example, might do only six episodes in a season. Well, the first season of "Moonlighting" only had five episodes after the pilot movie, and like most series the other writers had problems getting a handle on the show's uniqueness. Only "The Next Murder You Hear," written by Peter Silverman, is on the same level as the pilot. "Moonlighting" was pretty good, but it had its low points and imagine how great it would have been if these were the six episodes that made up the second season:
(8) "Brother, Can You Spare a Blonde?" (Written by Caron), in which David's brother Ritchie (Charles Rocket) stops by for a visit; (10) "Money Talks, Maddie Walks") (Written by Kerry Ehrin & Ali Marie Matheson), where Maddie finds out that the accountant who embezzled her fortune is running a casino down South American way; (11) "The Dream Sequences Always Rings Twice" (Written by Debra Frank & Carl Sautter) is the monochromatic episode, introduced by Orson Welles, where we get Maddie and David's different takes on an unsolved murder mystery from 1946; (15) "Portrait of Maddie" (Written by Ehrin & Matheson) in which a painting of Maddie is a clue to a stolen masterpiece and an episode which features the longest period of time without dialogue in the show's history; (21) "Every Father's Daughter is a Virgin" (Written by Bruce Franklin Singer) has Maddie's mother (Eva Marie Saint) and father (Robert Webber) paying a visit, and David finding out something about Maddie's father she does not want to know; and (22) "Witness for the Execution" (Written by Jeff Reno & Ron Osborn) surprises us by coming up with a reason for David and Maddie to finally kiss.
This is not to say that there are not other episodes in the running (e.g., "My Fair David" and "In God We Strongly Suspect") and if somebody wants to argue there should be eight episodes or even ten (add "Atlas Belched" and "Funeral for a Door Nail") I will not say thee nay. But given the problems they had shooting their 140 pages scripts and getting new episodes on each week, I cannot help but think that the show would have been even greater if we they had not wasted precious time on less than stellar episodes, such as the painful "Camille" that wastes Whoopi Goldberg and Judd Nelson in a story that abuses the show's post modernistic tendency to break the fourth wall.
For my money "M*A*S*H" became the original television dramedy with its first season episode "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet." As a Detective Comedy/Drama "Moonlighting" is clearly a dramedy as well, but a large part of its uniqueness as a television series was because of it being decidedly postmodern. There was the verbal self-reflexivity in which David and Maddie were clearly aware they were television characters, the musical self-reflexivity where "Moonlighting" employed an incongruous juxtaposition of the musical soundtrack and the action on screen (using "The William Tell Overture" for the chase scene at the end of "The Lady in the Iron Mask") or sometimes it fits (e.g., when David listens to "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" while trailing Maddie's father), and the show's intertextuality as it plays with the boundaries of the Situation Comedy and the Detective genres. Then there are all references to other texts such as films, songs, novels, etc., through episode titles (e.g., "My Fair David," "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice"), dialogue, musical cues, and visual techniques.
Picking up all these references was what made watching "Moonlighting" fun as David and Maddie slowly but surely fought their verbal duels on their way to their inevitable kiss in the parking garage. If there is a "mistake" to be found in some of the early episodes it is the idea that the detective part of the show was as important as the relationship between the two stars. But coming up with an actual mystery for the Blue Moon Detective Agency to solve was not as important as the fact the case would gave David and Maddie something to fight about. If she was not going to end up slamming a door over the case of the week, then the writers are missing the point. But then the strangest thing about watching the "Moonlighting" pilot is being shocked at how slow the two stars are talking at that point.
The key thing is that when "Moonlighting" was good during those first two seasons it was great, and even when it is not so good, there are usually a couple of good one liners buried in it to be enjoyed. Cybil Shepherd and Bruce Willis apparently ended up not being able to stand each other off camera, but their on screen chemistry is undeniable (I was pleasantly surprised Willis showed up to do an audio commentary track for "My Fair David," not to mention his remembering the "You de-Daved him" line). Therefore it is probably a good thing that they did not do the less is more approach. Still, a "Moonlighting" that was written only by Glen Gordon Caron would have been something to watch (think a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" written only by Joss Whedon).
So when is Season 3 coming out?

Robert Butler
Comedy
Lions Gate
NR
This is, by far, the best season of Moonlighting. From the day waiting at the post office to find a man who's been sending a woman love letters to the trip to New York to Shakespeare...it has it all. Below is a list of episode summaries:



26. The Son Also Rises

David's estranged father makes a surprise visit to announce his upcoming wedding and to introduce his bride-to-be, who comes as a shock to David.



27. The Man Who Cried Wife

A man hires Dave and Maddie to find his wife, who's been making mysterious late night phone calls to him, the same wife he's sure he killed and buried in the forest.



28. Symphony in Knocked Flat

Dave and Maddie agree to each arrange what they consider to be an ideal evening for the other, but the concert tickets Dave buys from a scalper get them into nothing but trouble.



29. Yours, Very Deadly

Dave and Maddie are hired by a married woman to find the man she has been sharing a torrid romantic correspondence with and make sure he understands the arrangement is over.



30. All Creatures Great and ... Not So Great

A priest asks Dave and Maddie to find a woman he's become infatuated with during confession and whose latest revelation was her intention to kill herself.



31. Big Man on Mulberry Street

Maddie becomes consumed with curiosity when David announces he must fly back to New York to attend the funeral of his former wife's brother.



32. Atomic Shakespeare

A boy hoping to watch Moonlighting but forced to study Shakespeare instead daydreams about the cast performing their own version of The Taming of the Shrew complete with Petruchio Dave and Kate Maddie.



33. It's a Wonderful Job

A depressed Maddie gets a chance to see what her life and the rest of Blue Moon staff would be like if she had sold the agency as she originally intended.



34. The Straight Poop

Rona Barrett investigates the rumors about discord among the principals at the Blue Moon Detective agency.



35. Poltergeist III--- Dipesto Nothing

Ms. Dipesto tries to solve a haunted house case refused by Dave and Maddie to show Bert Viola that she's just as good a detective as he is.



36. Blonde on Blonde

Maddie's strange mood has David worried so he spends the evening following her, but ends up involved in a murder.



37. Sam & Dave

Dave and Maddie quarrel over Sam as they keep watch on a man for his mistress, who's convinced he's two-timing her-with his wife.



38. Maddie's Turn to Cry

Maddie feels more and more confused about Sam and Dave after an all-night stakeout with Dave ends in an early morning proposal from Sam.



39. I Am Curious... Maddie

Sam confronts Dave about Maddie, and tells him he's not good enough for her.



40. To Heiress Human

Maddie tries to ignore the previous night as she and David tackle a new case: a woman wants evidence that her fiance loves her and not her father's money.

Paul Lynch, Sam Weisman, Artie Mandelberg, Allan Arkush, Christopher T. Welch
Comedy
Lions Gate
NR
Maddie Hayes a wealthy former model discovers one morning that her business manager has stolen all the money she has in the bank. However it turns out that she still owns some nonliquid assets -- money-losing companies which were maintained as tax write-offs -- one of which is a detective agency run by David Addison. Maddie meets with him to inform him that the company is to be shut down but he persuades her to keep it open by convincing her that the detective agency can make money. Maddie becomes David's new boss and accompanies him on adventure after adventure. While their personalities clash a sexual tension arises in the time they spend together. But the question always remains...will they or won't they?System Requirements:Running Time: 600 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 031398201144 Manufacturer No: 20115

Paul Lynch, Sam Weisman, Artie Mandelberg, Allan Arkush, Christopher T. Welch
Comedy
Lions Gate
NR
Maddie Hayes, a wealthy former model, discovers one morning that her business manager has stolen all the money she has in the bank. However, it turns out that she still owns some non-liquid assets -- money-losing companies which were maintained as tax write-offs -- one of which is a detective agency run by David Addison. Maddie meets with him to inform him that the company is to be shut down, but he persuades her to keep it open by convincing her that the detective agency can make money. Maddie becomes David's new boss and accompanies him on adventure after adventure. While their personalities clash, a sexual tension arises in the time they spend together. But the question always remains... will they or won't they?

Lewis Gilbert
Action & Adventure
MGM
PG
In this adaptation of Ian Fleming's 1955 novel, James Bond (Roger Moore) must thwart Sir Hugo Drax (Michel Lonsdale), who plans to wipe out all of humankind and replace it with a super race that he has cultivated in a massive space station. The girl in the case is American secret agent Holly Goodhead, intelligently played by Lois Chiles. "Jaws," the steel-mouthed henchman played by Richard Kiel in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), makes a return appearance in Moonraker, turning good guy (complete with a girlfriend of his own) in the process. Bernard Lee makes his last appearance as "M" in this most costly of James Bond's 1970s escapades.

Format: BLU-RAY DISC
Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE
Rating: PG
Age: 883904137511
UPC: 883904137511
Manufacturer No: M113751

Richard Dale
Drama
Dangerous Films
PG
Man's landing on the moon was our greatest technological achievement. The Apollo 11 mission was truly the stuff of dreams. For the first time, our species walked on another celestial body. Even more remarkable was their ability to make it back. This is the story of the July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 moon landing. Drama with digitally remastered original footage.

Norman Jewison
Comedy
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
PG
Loretta Castorini, a Brooklyn bookkeeper in her late 30s whose husband died several years earlier in a bus accident, decides it's time to get married again. So she accepts the proposal of a nice, middle-aged fellow named Johnny Cammareri. Loretta is convinced her first marriage was cursed because she and her husband had gotten married at City Hall; this time, she's determined to do things right, even as she admits to her mother, Rose, that she's not really in love with Johnny. (To which Rose replies: "Good. When you love them, they drive you crazy, 'cause they know they can." Rose speaks from rueful experience; she suspects, with good reason, that her husband, Cosmo, is cheating on her.) Loretta is convinced that marrying Johnny is the safe and sure thing to do - until she meets his estranged younger brother Ronny, who tends the ovens in a neighborhood bakery. Loretta discovers that in startling contrast to the pleasant, mild-mannered Johnny, Ronny is moody and passionate; what follow are complications worthy of a comic opera.

Bill L. Norton
Comedy
Lucasfilm
PG

Classics
Image Entertainment
NR
Like the first "Treasures from the American Film Archives" produced by the National Film Preservation Foundation, "More Treasures" takes as its starting point the preservation work of our nation's film archives. More Treasures covers the years from 1894 through 1931, when the motion pictures from a peepshow curio to the nation's fourth largest industry. This is the period from which fewest American Films survive. Five film archives have made it their mission to save what remains of these first decades of American film: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, George Eastman House, The Library of Congress, The Museum of Modern Art and the UCLA Film and Television Archive. More Treasures (made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities) reproduces their superb preservation work-fifty films follwed by six previews for lost features and serials.