n/a
Music Video & Concerts

Michael Feifer
Horror
North American Entertainment
R

Ulli Lommel
Biography
Heidenheim Films
R

Isaac Julien
Documentary
Independent Film Channel (IFC)

Mario Van Peebles
Biography
Bad Aaas Cinema
R
Melvin Van Peebles stunned the world for the first time, with his debut feature, The Story of a Three Day Pass. Filmed in France and selected as the French entry in the San Francisco Film Festival, Melvin's film was awarded the top prize. Saying it was controversial would be an understatement. In 1968 for a black man to walk up to the podium and accept the top festival award for a film he had to go abroad to make--now that's how you make your mark. After his comedy, Watermelon Man, Melvin was determined to push the Hollywood boundaries with the groundbreaking, and even more controversial, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. Turned down by every major studio including Columbia, where he had a three-picture deal, Melvin was forced to basically self-finance. Risking everything he had Melvin delivered to the world the first Black Ghetto hero on the big screen--whether they were ready or not! More than 30 years later, history is being fashioned again in the telling of this very tale. Mario Van Peebles, Melvin's son, directs an honest and revealing portrait of his pioneering father. Mario now tells the story of the making of Melvin Van Peebles' landmark 1971 film, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, including Melvin's struggles to raise money to fund the film under the guise of creating a black porno film. Melvin had ducked creditors, the unions and had to bail out his camera crew after they were arrested because a white cop decided a bunch of Negroes and hippies couldn't have come by that camera equipment honestly. Despite death threats and temporarily losing sight in one eye, Melvin somehow managed to whip into shape a rag-tag, multi-racial crew and finish the film that would give birth to birth of a new era which was about to explode: Independent Black Cinema.

Arthur Hiller
Biography
Universal Pictures

Traces the career of Babe Ruth from his days as a youngster in an orphanage to his last days as a manager. Includes such moments as the famous predicted home run and the promise to little Johnny.

Alejandro González Iñárritu
Drama
Paramount Pictures
R
4 interlocking stories all connected by a single gun all converge at the end and reveal a complex and tragic story of the lives of humanity around the world and how we truly aren't all that different. In Morocco, a troubled married couple are on vacation trying to work out their differences. Meanwhile, a Moroccan herder buys a rifle for his sons so they can keep the jackals away from his herd. A girl in Japan dealing with rejection, the death of her mother, the emotional distance of her father, her own self-consciousness, and a disability among many other issues, deals with modern life in the enormous metropolis of Tokyo, Japan. Then, on the opposite side of the world the married couple's Mexican nanny takes the couple's 2 children with her to her son's wedding in Mexico, only to come into trouble on the return trip. Combined, it provides a powerful story and an equally powerful looking glass into the lives of seemingly random people around the world and it shows just how connected we really are.

John Singleton
Crime
Columbia Pictures
R
This is the story of Jody, an unemployed young black man, who's been living with his mother for several years, even though he's got a child of his own. Romantically, he's having relationships with two women: the mother, Yvette of his son, and a new interest.

Elia Kazan
Drama
Newtown Productions
R
Archie Lee Meighan, middle-aged cotton gin owner, can hardly wait for the 20th birthday of his childish bride Baby Doll, when he'll be allowed to consummate the marriage...he thinks. But rival owner Silva Vaccaro suspects Archie of burning his gin down, and takes an erotic form of Sicilian vengeance.

Alfred E. Green
Drama
Warner Bros. Pictures

Lilly (Baby Face) sleeps her way from basement speakeasy bartender, literally floor by floor, to the top floor of a New York office building. Bank submanager Jimmy McCoy finds her a job in the bank only to be cast aside as she hooks up with the bank's president. When he complains of not seeing her she says: "I'm working so hard I have to go to bed early every night."

Michael McCullers
Comedy
Universal Studios
PG-13
Laughter and hearty guffaws abound in this comical look at 37-year-old career woman Kate Holbrook's ("30 Rock's" Tina Fey) desperate attempts to have a baby. Never mind that she's not married and has never been involved in a serious relationship; Kate wants a baby and will stop at virtually nothing to get one. After failed attempts at broaching the concept of conception with first dates and trying artificial insemination with the help of a sperm bank, Kate finds out that her t-shaped uterus leaves her with only a one in a million chance of conceiving a child. Adoption doesn't work out and she's left with the distasteful option of hiring a surrogate mother. Enter Chaffee Bicknell's (Sigourney Weaver) surrogate service and her recommendation of the working-class Angie Ostrowiski ("Saturday Night Live's" Amy Poehler) who, with her common-law husband Carl (Dax Shepard), is just desperate enough to take on the job in order to make some money, and the stage is set for baby making. As fate would have it, Angie and Carl break up just after Angie announces she's pregnant and Angie ends up moving in with Kate. Unfortunately, the two are completely incompatible and what ensues is a hysterical struggle to coexist while clashing over everything from proper nutrition to stroller selection, hair dye, and delivery options. Further complicating matters is Kate's budding relationship with ex-lawyer and juice-store owner Rob (Greg Kinnear), who just happens to be morally opposed to the whole concept of surrogate parenting. Finally, there's the question of just how fully Angie embraces the virtue of honesty. It's the juxtaposition of opposing viewpoints--so boldly stated, humorously set, and blatantly exploited--that makes this witty comedy so darn funny. Expect graphic references, raunchy humor, and a whole lot of laughter. --"Tami Horiuchi"


Beyond "Baby Mama" on DVD
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"Baby Mama" on Blu-ray
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Stills from "Baby Mama" (Click for larger image)

Tom Laughlin
Drama

Alan Metter
Comedy
Paper Clip

Millionaire businessman Thornton Melon is upset when his son Jason announces that he is not sure about going to college. Thornton insists that college is the best thing he never had for himself, and to prove his point, he agrees to enroll in school along with his son. Thornton is a big hit on campus: always throwing the biggest parties, knowing all the right people, but is this the way to pass college?

Robert Zemeckis
Action
Amblin Entertainment

The year is 1985 and Marty McFly is your everyday teenager, except for one problem. He is stuck in 1955. After his good friend Doc Emmett Brown is gunned down, Marty ends up sending the DeLorean back thirty years into the past. Now, he must find the Doc and convince him that he is from the future, in order for the Doc to send him back to the future, but this is the least of Marty's problem. After accidentally getting in the way of the important meeting between his future mother and father, Marty must get them back together before he changes time forever, and destroys his own existence.

Robert Zemeckis
Action
Amblin Entertainment

Marty McFly (Fox) has only just got back from the past, when he is once again picked up by Dr. Emmett Brown (Lloyd) and sent through time to the future. Marty's job in the future is to pose as his son to prevent him being thrown in prison. Unfortunately, things get worse when the future changes the present.

Robert Zemeckis
Action
Amblin Entertainment

Stranded in 1955, Marty McFly receives written word from his friend, Doctor Emmett Brown, as to where can be found the DeLorean time machine. However, an unfortunate discovery prompts Marty to go to his friend's aid. Using the time machine, Marty travels to the old west where his friend has run afoul of a gang of thugs and has fallen in love with a local schoolteacher. Using the technology from the time, Marty and Emmett devise one last chance to send the two of them back to the future.

Iain Softley
Biography
Channel Four Films
R
A pre-fame Beatles head for the seedy clubs of Hamburg in search of success. The band meet up with a group of trendy German beatniks, one of whom (Astrid Kircherr) bass guitarist Stuart Sutcliffe falls in love with. Whilst best friend John Lennon can only watch, Sutcliffe has to choose between rock 'n roll and a new life in Germany...

Ron Howard
Action
Imagine Films Entertainment
R
A rookie firefighter tries to earn the respect of his older brother and other firefighters while taking part in an investigation of a string of arson/murders. This detailed look into the duties and private lives of firemen naturally features widespread pyrotechnics and special effects.

Ross McElwee
Documentary

Michael Bay
Action
Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films
R
Marcus Burnett is a hen-pecked family man. Mike Lowry is a foot-loose and fancy free ladies' man. Both are Miami policemen, and both have 72 hours to reclaim a consignment of drugs stolen from under their station's nose. To complicate matters, in order to get the assistance of the sole witness to a murder, they have to pretend to be each other.

Michael Bay
Action
Columbia Pictures Corporation
R
Narcotics cops Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Marcus Bennett (Lawrence) head up a task force investigating the flow of ecstasy into Miami. Their search leads to a dangerous kingpin, whose plan to control the city's drug traffic has touched off an underground war. Meanwhile, things get sexy between Mike and Syd (Union), Marcus's sister.

Joel Schumacher
Action
Touchstone Pictures
PG-13
When a CIA agent is killed during a nuclear arms purchase, his partner Oakes, recruits his twin brother, Jake Hayes. Jake had no idea he had a twin brother, let alone that he worked for the CIA. Jake, a.k.a. Michael Turner, has nine days to fill his brother's place. However, the enemy terrorists learn of his secret identity and kidnap his girlfriend/fiancee. He has to rescue them and save New York city from an imminent nuclear terrorist act.

Pedro Almodóvar
Drama
Canal+ España
R
In the early 60s, two boys - Ignacio and Enrique - discover love, movies and fear in a Christian school. Father Manolo, the school principal and Literature teacher, both witnesses and takes part in these discoveries. The three characters come against one another twice again, in the late 70s and in 1980. These meetings are set to change the life and death of some of them.

Abel Ferrara
Crime
Bad Lt. Productions

A police Lieutenant goes about his daily tasks of investigating homicides, but is more interested in pursuing his vices. He has accumulated a massive debt betting on baseball, and he keeps doubling to try to recover. His bookies are beginning to get agitated. The Lieutenant does copious amounts of drugs, cavorts with prostitutes, and uses his status to take advantage of teenage girls. While investigating a nun's rape, he begins to reflect on his lifestyle.

Michael Ritchie
Comedy
Paramount Pictures
PG
First of a trilogy of films takes an unflinching look at the underbelly of little league baseball in Southern California. Former minor leaguer Morris Buttermaker is a lazy, beer swilling swimming pool cleaner who takes money to coach the Bears, a bunch of disheveled misfits who have virtually no baseball talent. Realizing his dilemma, Coach Buttermaker brings aboard girl pitching ace Amanda Whurlizer, the daughter of a former girlfriend, and Kelly Leak, a motorcycle punk who happens to be the best player around. Brimming with confidence, the Bears look to sweep into the championship game and avenge an earlier loss to their nemesis, the Yankees.

Richard Linklater
Comedy
Detour Filmproduction
PG-13
Morris Buttermaker (Thornton), an alcoholic pest removal worker and former professional baseball player (for a very short time), is recruited to coach and train a failing baseball team of 12 year olds which is about to be thrown out of the league. ****SPOILER**** Although the team does not win the first place in the next championship, it does achieve a great comeback.

Terry Zwigoff
Comedy
Dimension Films
R
"Bad Santa" is the story of two conmen who go on a road trip to malls dressed as Santa and his elf. Rather than spreading good cheer, the duo's motive is to rob each establishment, a strategy that becomes complicated when they encounter an 8-year-old who teaches them the true meaning of Christmas.

Akira Kurosawa
Drama
Kurosawa Production Co.

In Kurosawa's HAMLET-like story of corporate scandal in post-war Japan, a young man attempts to use his position at the heart of a corrupt company to expose the men responsible for his father's death.

Nicolas Roeg
Drama
Rank Organisation, The
R
The setting is Vienna. A young American woman is brought to a hospital after overdosing on pills, apparently in a suicide attempt. A police detective suspects foul play on the part of her lover, an American psychology professor. As doctors try to save her life, the detective interrogates the professor, and through flashbacks we see the events leading up to the woman's overdose; her stormy and intensely sexual relationship with the professor, her heavy drinking and numerous affairs, and her estrangement from her Czech husband. A darkly erotic study of several rather unsympathetic characters.

Terry Zwigoff
Comedy
Dimension Films
R
"Bad Santa" is the story of two conmen who go on a road trip to malls dressed as Santa and his elf. Rather than spreading good cheer, the duo's motive is to rob each establishment, a strategy that becomes complicated when they encounter an 8-year-old who teaches them the true meaning of Christmas.

Zafer Par
Sci-Fi
Anadolu Film

Terrence Malick
Adventure
Badlands Company
PG
Kit Carruthers, a young garbage collector and his girlfriend Holly Sargis from Fort Dupree, South Dakota, are on the run after killing Holly's father who disagreed with their relationship. On their way towards the Badlands of Montana they leave a trail of dispassionate and seemingly random murders. A very intriguing narrative without judgements, and lacking the usually sensational approach of this genre. Very good acting and directing, and beautiful photography. The script was based upon the true story of the Charles Starkweather and Caril-Ann Fugate murders in 1958.

Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass
Comedy, Drama, Horror, Romance
Duplass Brothers Productions
R

Eric Rohmer
Romance
Les Films du Losange

Early new wave effort from Rohmer which was the first of his six moral tales. It concerns a young man who approaches a girl in the street, but after several days without seeing her again, he becomes involved with the girl in the local bakery. Eventually he has to choose between them when he arranges dates with them on the same day.

Howard Hawks
Comedy
Samuel Goldwyn Company, The

Sexy, wisecracking nightclub singer Sugarpuss O'Shea is a hot tomato who needs to be kept on ice: mobster boyfriend Joe Lilac is suspected of murder and Sugarpuss' testimony could put him away. Naive Professor Bertram Potts meets Miss O'Shea while researching an article on slang and in true romantic comedy fashion the two worlds collide. When Miss O'Shea hides out with Potts and his fellow professors, everyone learns something new: the professors how to cha-cha and Potts the meaning of "yum-yum"!

Grigori Chukhrai
Drama
Ministerstvo Kinematografii

During World War II, 19 year old soldier Alyosha gets a medal as a reward for a heroic act at the front. Instead of this medal he asks for a few days leave to visit his mother and repair the roof of their home. On the train eastwards he meets Shura who is on her way to her aunt. In those few days traveling together they fall in love.

Rebecca Miller
Drama
IFC Productions
R
Jack (Daniel Day-Lewis) lives on the site of his abandoned island commune with his 16-year-old daughter Rose (Camilla Belle). Jack has sheltered Rose from the influences of the outside world, but now Rose's emerging womanhood poses troubling questions about the days ahead. A man who has lived a life motivated by environmentalism and other altruistic causes, Jack now rages at those who do not share his concerns, like developer Marty Rance (Beau Bridges), who is building a housing tract on the edge of his property. When Jack invites his girlfriend Kathleen (Catherine Keener) and her sons Rodney (Ryan McDonald) and Thaddius (Paul Dano) to live with them, Rose feels betrayed and the situation quickly becomes precarious. Rose acts out wildly, creating chaos. As everything flies out of control, Jack finds himself trapped in an impossible place and is forced to take action.

Spike Lee
Comedy
New Line Cinema
R
Dark, biting satire of the television industry, focusing on an Ivy-League educated black writer at a major network. Frustrated that his ideas for a "Cosby Show"-esque take on the black family has been rejected by network brass, he devises an outlandish scheme: reviving the minstrel show. The hook: instead of white actors in black face, the show stars black actors in even blacker face. The show becomes an instant smash, but with the success also comes repercussions for all involved.

Woody Allen
Comedy
Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions
PG-13
Fielding Mellish (a consumer products tester) becomes infatuated with Nancy (a political activist). He attends demonstrations and tries in other ways to convince her that he is worthy of her love, but Nancy wants someone with greater leadership potential. Fielding runs off to San Marcos where he joins the rebels and eventually becomes President of the country. While on a trip to the states, he meets Nancy again and she falls for him now that he is a political leader.

David Frankel, David Leland, David Nutter, Mikael Salomon, Phil Alden Robinson
Military & War
HBO
NR
An impressively rigorous, unsentimental, and harrowing look at combat during World War II, "Band of Brothers" follows a company of airborne infantry--Easy Company--from boot camp through the end of the war. The brutality of training takes the audience by increments to the even greater brutality of the war; Easy Company took part in some of the most difficult battles, including the D-Day invasion of Normandy, the failed invasion of Holland, and the Battle of the Bulge, as well as the liberation of a concentration camp and the capture of Hitler's Eagle's Nest. But what makes these episodes work is not their historical sweep but their emphasis on riveting details (such as the rattle of a plane as the paratroopers wait to leap, or a flower in the buttonhole of a German soldier) and procedures (from military tactics to the workings of bureaucratic hierarchies). The scope of this miniseries (10 episodes, plus an actual documentary filled with interviews with surviving veterans) allows not only a thoroughness impossible in a two-hour movie, but also captures the wide range of responses to the stress and trauma of war--fear, cynicism, cruelty, compassion, and all-encompassing confusion. The result is a realism that makes both simplistic judgments and jingoistic enthusiasm impossible; the things these soldiers had to do are both terrible and understandable, and the psychological price they paid is made clear. The writing, directing, and acting are superb throughout. The cast is largely unknown, emphasizing the team of actors as a whole unit, much like the regiment; Damian Lewis and Ron Livingston play the central roles of two officers with grit and intelligence. "Band of Brothers" turns a vast historical event into a series of potent personal experiences; it's a deeply engrossing and affecting accomplishment. "--Bret Fetzer"

Jean-Luc Godard
Crime
Anouchka Films

A triangle: Franz, Arthur, and Odile. Franz, a young man with Alain Delon good looks, has met Odile in an English class. She lives in Joinville with wealthy benefactors and has mentioned to Franz that Mr. Stolz keeps a pile of 10,000 franc notes unlocked in his room. Franz tells his friend Arthur, a swarthy guy whose shady uncle is pressing him for money. Arthur and Franz, who mimic American movie tough guys, case Odile's house, pressure her to assist them with a burglary, and make passes at her as well. She's alternately compliant and distressed. Will they pull off the heist?

Various
Music

Joachim Roenning, Espen Sandberg
Action
Europa Corp.
PG-13
In 1848, a New York bank wants to put a railroad across Mexico, so it buys up small banks around Santa Rita, Durango, and evicts farmers on the proposed rail line who owe money. The bank's henchman is the murderous Jackson. He runs afoul of two women, María, the tough but uneducated daughter of a farmer, and Sara, the European-educated daughter of the owner of one of these banks. To feed the now landless people and to seek revenge, María and Sara become bank robbers, veritable Robin Hoods. But Jackson and his hired guns are after them. What are the women's options?

Barry Levinson
Comedy
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
PG-13
A charismatic convict and a hypochondriac inmate break out of prison in a cement truck and immediately start a bank robbing spree. Becoming known as the "Sleepover Bandits", the two kidnap bank managers the night before their robbery, spend the night with their families, and then all go to the bank in the morning to get the dough. Using a dim-witted stunt man as their getaway driver and lookout, the three successfully pull off several jobs that gets them recognition on a TV show about America's criminals. When a bored housewife with a failing marriage decides to runaway, she ends up in the hands of the criminals. Initially attracted to Willis, she nonetheless also ends up in bed with Thornton and a confused romantic relationship begins. Continuing along with their spree, the bandits hit the wall when the bank managers realize that they are non-violent and therefore no threat to them or their employees. This leads to one more big score at the Alamo Bank, where in the very opening scenes, things appear to go awry.

Edward F. Cline
Comedy
Universal Pictures

Egbert Souse, "accent grave over the e", henpecked by his whole family, is recruited to replace a drunken film director, then seems to have captured a bank robber and is hired as guard in the Lompoc Bank, where Og Oggilby, his daughter's fiancée, is teller. Souse persuades Og to embezzle $500 to buy phony stock; then the bank examiner shows up. Can Souse keep him occupied for four days? The climax is an extended chase sequence.

Edward F. Cline
Comedy
Universal Pictures

Egbert Souse, "accent grave over the e", henpecked by his whole family, is recruited to replace a drunken film director, then seems to have captured a bank robber and is hired as guard in the Lompoc Bank, where Og Oggilby, his daughter's fiancée, is teller. Souse persuades Og to embezzle $500 to buy phony stock; then the bank examiner shows up. Can Souse keep him occupied for four days? The climax is an extended chase sequence.

Roger Vadim
Adventure
Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica
PG
After an in-flight anti-gravity striptease (masked by the film's opening titles), Barbarella, a 41st century astronaut, lands on the planet Lythion and sets out to find the evil Durand Durand in the city of Sogo, where a new sin is invented every hour. There, she encounters such objects as the Exessive Machine, a genuine sex organ on which an accomplished artist of the keyboard, in this case, Durand Durand himself, can drive a victim to death by pleasure, a lesbian queen who, in her dream chamber, can make her fantasies take form, and a group of ladies smoking a giant hookah which, via a poor victim struggling in its glass globe, dispenses Essance of Man. You can't help but be impressed by the special effects crew and the various ways that were found to tear off what few clothes our heroine seemed to possess. Based on the popular French comic strip.

Denys Arcand
Drama
Astral Films
R
Having a difficult time accepting the reality of death and feeling regretful of his past, a man dying of cancer tries to find peace in his last moments. His estranged son, ex-wife, ex-lovers and old friends will all come to him to share his last breath.

Tim Story
Comedy
Cube Vision
PG-13
A day in the life of a barbershop on the south side of Chicago. Calvin, who inherited the struggling business from his deceased father, views the shop as nothing but a burden and waste of his time. After selling the shop to a local loan shark, Calvin slowly begins to see his father's vision and legacy and struggles with the notion that he just sold it out. The barbershop is filled with characters who share their stories, jokes, trials and tribulations. In the shop we find Eddie, an old barber with strong opinions and no customers. Jimmy is a highly educated barber with a superiority complex who can't stand Isaac, the new, white barber who just wants a shot at cutting some hair. Ricky is an ex-con with two strikes against him and is desperately trying to stay straight. Terri is a hard-edged woman who can't seem to leave her two-timing boyfriend. And lastly there's Dinka, a fellow barber who is madly in love with Terri but doesn't get the time of day.

Kevin Rodney Sullivan
Comedy
State Street Pictures
PG-13
The continuing adventures of the barbers at Calvin's Barbershop. Gina, a stylist at the beauty shop next door, is now trying to cut in on his buisness. Calvin is again struggling to keep his father's shop and traditions alive--this time against urban developers looking to replace mom & pop establishments with name-brand chains. The world changes, but some things never go out of style--from current events and politics to relationships and love, you can still say anything you want at the barbershop.

Whit Stillman
Comedy
Castle Rock Entertainment
R
Ted, a stuffy white guy from Illinois working in sales for the Barcelona office of a US corporation, is paid an unexpected visit by his somewhat less stuffy cousin Fred, who is an officer in the US Navy. Over the next few months, both their lives are irrevocably altered by the events which follow Fred's arrival, events which are the trivial stuff of a comedy of manners at first but which gradually grow increasingly dramatic.

Hal Linden, Danny Arnold, Allen Baron, Bruce Bilson (II), Bob Finkel
Action & Adventure
Sony Pictures
NR
The brainchild of veteran writer-directors Danny Arnold and Theodore J. Flicker, the comedy/drama "Barney Miller" (1975-1982) offered a very human look at the inner workings of a New York City police precinct; its wry and observant scripts, aided by a stellar cast, helped earn the series three Emmy Awards and a devoted fan base, which should be pleased by this two-disc set that compiles its entire first season. Viewers familiar with the series' later seasons will notice substantial differences in the cast and storyline; episodes divide Barney's (Hal Linden) time evenly between the 12th Precinct and his apartment, which he shares with wife Barbara Barrie and two children (all of whom would be phased out of the series). The first season squad was composed of Abe Vigoda's dyspeptic Fish, the overeager Wojciehowicz (Max Gail), dry-witted Yemana (Jack Soo, who passed away during the fifth season), and street-smart Chano (Gregory Sierra, who departed the series after the second season); Ron Glass's dapper Harris would not be listed in the opening credits until subsequent seasons.
Arnold, along with Chris Hayward ("Get Smart") and other scribes, would pen the majority of the first season, which set the tone for the series by pitting the squad against a host of offbeat criminals, other cops, and regular citizens, several of whom would become semi-regulars; James Gregory's crusty Inspector Luger makes his debut in "Vigilante" (episode 9), while unscrupulous lawyer Arnold Ripner (Alex Henteloff) and Detective Wentworth (a pre-"Alice" Linda Lavin) have their first appearances in "The Experience" (episode 2) and "Ms. Cop" (episode 8), respectively.
Columbia/TriStar's two-disc set offers all 13 episodes of the first season, as well as short credit lists for some of the major players; the little-seen 1974 pilot, "The Life and Times of Captain Barney Miller," might have made an interesting supplemental feature, but fans should be pleased to have this set regardless. "--Paul Gaita"

Bruce Bilson, Dennis Steinmetz, Lee Bernhardi, Mark Warren, Noam Pitlik
Comedy
Sony Pictures
NR
Changes are in store for the men of the 12th Precinct in the second season of "Barney Miller", which is presented in its entirety in this three-disc, no-frills collection. Chief among the wrinkles to the show's proven formula are the departure of Gregory Sierra's Chano Amenguale, who would leave for his own series after this season; also, Barbara Barrie, who made a strong impression as Barney's wife Liz in the first season, would be relegated to the sidelines for much of this episode run before leaving the series, though she does earn her own storyline for the first and only time in "Social Worker." Otherwise, the second season is focused largely on Barney and the rest of the detectives (as most fans preferred) as they wrangle with crazed gunmen ("The Sniper"), a marauding rodent ("You Dirty Rat"), job insecurity ("The Layoff") and a punishing New York city summer ("Heat Wave"). Hal Linden's smart performance as Barney remains the glue that holds the series together, though there is excellent work from Abe Vigoda as Fish and Max Gail as Wojciehowicz, especially in "The Kid" (Fish becomes enamored of a pickpocket's mother) and "Discovery" (Wojo investigates police harassment of a gay couple). Series followers will also note the presence of future cast members Steve Landesburg and Ron Carey among the guest cast; both would join the show (as Detective Arthur Dietrich and Office Carl Levitt) in the third season. Video quality is a little worse for wear in certain episodes; the set also features two superfluous "mini-episodes" of "Charlie's Angels" and "The Facts of Life" as its supplemental features. "--Paul Gaita"

Alex March, Bruce Bilson, Danny Arnold, Jeremiah Morris, Lee Bernhardi
Comedy
Sony Pictures
NR
The saying "the more things change, the more they stay the same" applies in full to the third season of the Emmy-winning comedy "Barney Miller", which underwent considerable shakeups in its cast and creative ranks in its third season while retaining its sharp writing and performances. Gone from the 12th Precinct at the beginning of Season 3 (1976-1977) are Gregory Sierra’s Chano and Linda Lavin’s Wentworth, and in their place Steve Landesburg as the phlegmatic Dietrich and Ron Carey as over-eager Carl Levitt in their first full season as cast members, and briefly, June Gable as Detective Maria Battista (Abe Vigoda’s Fish would join the ranks of the departed in the following season, and his spin-off series, "Fish", was introduced here). Producer Chris Hayward had also left the show at the end of the previous season, and co-creator Danny Arnold would take his place for the remainder of "Barney"’s network run. But in spite of such turnover, the show lost none of its humor and edge during the third season, as witnessed by a pair of exemplary two-part episodes: "Quarantine" forces the detectives to do some soul-searching while under lockdown for a smallpox outbreak, while the season closer, "Strike," tests their loyalties when an unauthorized work shutdown is announced. The blend of laughs and drama present in both episodes are exactly why "Barney" earned solid ratings and critical respect during its tenure on TV, and while it remains one of the best-loved series to date. Other standout episodes include the memorable "Werewolf" (a prisoner believes himself to be one); "Sex Surrogate" (Doris Roberts guest stars as a woman who shoots her husband for seeking help with dysfunction); the hilarious "Hash" (Wojo’s gift of brownies turn out to contain marijuana) and "Group Home," which revives the show’s running gag of outfitting a precinct member in drag to handle the mugging detail--this season’s candidate is a marvelously mortified Fish. With such a wealth of terrific material, one wishes that some sort of special feature was included to provide some perspective on the season, but that isn’t the case here. "--Paul Gaita"

Stanley Kubrick
Drama
Peregrine

In the Eighteenth Century, in a small village in Ireland, Redmond Barry is a young farm boy in love of his cousin Nora Brady. When Nora engages to the British Captain John Quin, Barry challenges him for a duel of pistols. He wins and escapes to Dublin, but is robbed on the road. Without any other alternative, Barry joins the British Army to fight in the Seven Years War. He deserts and is forced to join the Prussian Army, saving the life of his captain and becoming his protégé and spy of the Irish gambler Chevalier de Balibari. He helps Chevalier and becomes his associate until he decides to marry the wealthy Lady Lyndon. They move to England and Barry, in his obsession of nobility, dilapidates her fortune and makes a dangerous and revengeful enemy.

Brian Hecker
Comedy
Basra Entertainment
PG-13

Joel Coen
Comedy
Circle Films
R
In 1941, New York intellectual playwright Barton Fink comes to Hollywood to write a Wallace Beery wrestling picture. Staying in the eerie Hotel Earle, Barton develops severe writer's block. His neighbor, jovial insurance salesman Charlie Meadows, tries to help, but Barton continues to struggle as a bizarre sequence of events distracts him even further from his task.

David Zucker
Comedy
Zucker Brothers Productions
R
Two losers from Milwaukee, Coop & Remer (Parker & Stone), invent a new game playing basketball, using baseball rules. When the game becomes a huge success, they, along with a billionaire's help, form the Professional Baseketball League where everyone gets the same pay and no team can change cities. Coop & Remer's team, the Milwaukee Beers is the only team standing in the way of major rule changes that the owner of the Dallas Felons (Vaughn) wants to institute.

Neil LaBute
Drama
Showtime Networks

Paul Verhoeven
Drama
Canal+
R
A former rockstar Johnny Boz is brutally killed during sex , and the case is assigned to the Detective Nick Curran of the SFPD . During the investigation , Nick meets Catherine Tramell , a crime novelist who was Boz's girlfriend when he died . Catherine proves to be a very clever and manipulative woman , and though Nick is more or less convinced that she murdered Boz , he is unable to find any evidence . Later , when Nilsen , Nick's rival in the police is killed , Nick suspects of Catherine's involvement in it . He then starts to play a dangerous lust-filled mind game with Catherine to nail her , but as their relationship progresses , the body count rises and contradicting evidences force Nick to start questioning his own suspicions about Catherine's guilt .

Frank Henenlotter
Comedy
Basket Case Productions

Charming country bumpkin Duane Bradley takes a motel room in New York with no other luggage then a basket. In a flash back-series we learn it contains his surgically removed Siamese twin who is not only physically deformed so badly the doctors hesitated to consider him a human, but is also the vindictive drive of their trip, with the purpose to kill off all those he blames. But in the reception of one of those doctors, Duane gets his first ever date, with the receptionist, and wants to start a positive life too - when the freak twin escapes, these scene is set for a grim finale.

Scott Kalvert
Biography
New Line Cinema
R
Film adaptation of street tough Jim Carroll's epistle about his kaleidoscopic free fall into the harrowing world of drug addiction. As a member of a seemingly unbeatable high school basketball squad, Jim's life centers around the basketball court and the court becomes a metaphor for the world in his mind. A best friend who is dying of leukemia, a coach ("Swifty") who takes unacceptable liberties with the boys on his team, teenage sexual angst, and an unhealthy appetite for heroin -- all of these begin to encroach on young Jim's dream of becoming a basketball star. Soon, the dark streets of New York become a refuge from his mother's mounting concern for her son. He can't go home and his only escape from the reality of the streets is heroin for which he steals, robs and prostitutes himself. Only with the help of Reggie, an older neighborhood friend with whom Jim "picked up a game" now and then, is he able to begin the long journey back to sanity.

Julian Schnabel
Biography
Eleventh Street Production
R
Basquiat tells the story of the meteoric rise of youthful artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Starting out as a street artist, living in Thompkins Square Park in a cardboard box, Jean-Michel is "discovered" by Andy Warhol's art world and becomes a star. But success has a high price, and Basquiat pays with friendship, love, and eventually, his life.

Tim Burton
Action
Warner Bros. Pictures
PG
Gotham City: dark, dangerous, 'protected' only by a mostly corrupt police department. Despite the best efforts of D.A. Harvey Dent and police commissioner Jim Gordon, the city becomes increasingly unsafe...until a Dark Knight arises. We all know criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot...so his disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts. He becomes a bat. Enter Vicky Vale, a prize-winning photo journalist who wants to uncover the secret of the mysterious "bat-man". And enter Jack Napier, one-time enforcer for Boss Grissom, horribly disfigured after a firefight in a chemical factory...who, devoid of the last vestiges of sanity, seizes control of Gotham's underworld as the psychotic, unpredictable Clown Prince of Crime...the Joker. Gotham's only hope, it seems, lies in this dark, brooding vigilante. And just how does billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne fit into all of this?

Joel Schumacher
Action
Warner Bros. Pictures
PG-13
The dynamic duo are back but this time they are up against the nefarious Mr. Freeze, who is bent on turning the world into an iceberg, and the slyly seductive but highly toxic Poison Ivy, who wants to eliminate all animal life and turn the Earth into a gigantic greenhouse. And Batman's butler Alfred is dying for a mysterious disease that Freeze's wife has. It's up to Batman, Robin the Boy Wonder and the new heroin Batgirl Alfred's niece to fight all three villains and save Alfred before he dies! But unfortunately Mr. Freeze holds the key to save his life.

Christopher Nolan
Action
Warner Bros. Pictures
PG-13
Eight-year-old Bruce Wayne falls into a cave where he encounters a swarm of bats. Bruce develops a fear of bats, and later urges his parents to leave an opera featuring bat-like creatures. Outside the theater, Bruce Wayne's parents are both killed in a robbery by mugger Joe Chill. Bruce blames himself for his parents' murder: had he not been frightened, the Waynes would not have encountered Chill. He is taken in by a mysterious instructor named Ducard and urged to become a ninja in the League of Shadows, but he instead returns to his native Gotham City resolved to end the mob rule that is strangling it.

Joel Schumacher
Action
Warner Bros. Pictures
PG-13
The Dark Knight of Gotham City confronts a dastardly duo: Two-Face and the Riddler. Formerly District Attorney Harvey Dent, Two-Face incorrectly believes Batman caused the courtroom accident which left him disfigured on one side; he has unleashed a reign of terror on the good people of Gotham. Edward Nygma, computer-genius and former employee of millionaire Bruce Wayne, is out to get the philanthropist; as The Riddler he perfects a device for draining information from all the brains in Gotham, including Bruce Wayne's knowledge of his other identity. Batman/Wayne is/are the love focus of Dr. Chase Meridan. Former circus acrobat Dick Grayson, his family killed by Two-Face, becomes Wayne's ward and Batman's new partner Robin the Boy Wonder.

Tim Burton
Action
Warner Bros. Pictures
PG-13
Having defeated the Joker, Batman now faces the Penguin - a warped and deformed individual who is intent on being accepted into Gotham society. Crooked businessman Max Schreck is coerced into helping him become Mayor of Gotham and they both attempt to expose Batman in a different light. Earlier however, Selina Kyle, Max's secretary, is thrown from the top of a building and is transformed into Catwoman - a mysterious figure who has the same personality disorder as Batman. Batman must attempt to clear his name, all the time deciding just what must be done with the Catwoman.

Nick Broomfield
Drama
Channel Four Films

J. Lee Thompson
Action
Apjac International

After conquering the oppressive humans in "Conquest for the Planet of the Apes", Caeser(Roddy McDowal) must now keep the peace amongst the humans and apes. Gorilla General Aldo(Claude Akins) views things differently, and tries to cause an ape civil war. In the meantime, other human survivors learn of the ape city, and decide they want to take back civilization for themselves, thus setting the stage of warring ape factions and humans.

Stuart Townsend
Action, Drama
Insight Film Studios
R

Gillo Pontecorvo
Drama
Casbah Film

A film commissioned by the Algerian government that shows the Algerian revolution from both sides. The French foreign legion has left Vietnam in defeat and has something to prove. The Algerians are seeking independence. The two clash. The torture used by the French is contrasted with the Algerian's use of bombs in soda shops. A look at war as a nasty thing that harms and sullies everyone who participates in it.

Joel Rapp
Drama
Bickman/Rapp Productions

Efram Potelle, Kyle Rankin
Drama
LivePlanet
PG-13
A young war reenactor makes a friend on the battlefield who helps him use strategy to take on his high school enemy. Driven by newfound confidence, he seduces the friend's fetching older sister and risks the friendship. Reality intervenes when the illness of his ex-addict father forces the anger his irony masks to the surface and he has to decide if staying in a fantasy world is worth the consequences.

Thomas Lennon (II), Michael Epstein
Documentary
Wgbh Boston
NR
Young Orson Welles had the world on a string in 1940. The wunderkind of radio, stage, and screen had already created a national stir with his all-black postmodern production of "Othello" and the 1938 "War of the Worlds" broadcast. With "Citizen Kane", he set his sights on one of the most powerful men in America: William Randolph Hearst. Little did he realize the consequences that his film would bring about. Hearst had staggering amounts of money and influence that he could bring to bear on Welles and RKO Studios. Particularly offensive to the newspaper tycoon was Welles's portrayal of his longtime paramour, Marion Davies; "Citizen Kane" showed the actress as a talentless numbskull and a lush, and painted their relationship in unflattering terms. Hearst offered huge sums of money to buy the negative of "Kane" so that he could burn it; when the studio released the film anyway, he pulled RKO advertising from all Hearst newspapers. With gossip columnist Louella Parsons as his attack dog, he threatened to publicize all sorts of suppressed scandals from over the years, and hinted that "the American public won't be happy to know the number of Jews in the movie industry."
The collision between the 19th-century Hearst and the modern genius and upstart Welles proved to be disastrous to both men for both their names and their careers. Not until years later did "Kane" receive its due as one of the greatest films ever produced, vindicating itself and Welles both. This documentary provides rare insights into the lives and legacies of Welles and Hearst, carefully framing the debate over the film in the context of the times. Commentary by directors Peter Bogdanovich and Robert Wise (who served as editor for "Kane") as well as the son of screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz helps bring home the controversy as it applied to the world of Hollywood. "--Jerry Renshaw"

Kinji Fukasaku
Action
Battle Royale Production Committee

Forty-two delinquent students, three days, one deserted Island: welcome to Battle Royale. A group of delinquent students from a Japanese high school have been forced by legislation to compete in a new forum of reality television.The students are each given a bag with a randomly selected weapon and a few rations of food and water and sent off to kill each other in a no-holds-barred (with a few minor rules) game to the death, which means that the students have three days to kill each other until one survives--or they all die. The movie focus on a few of the students and how they cope. Some decide to play the game like the psychotic Kiriyama or the sexual Mistuko, while others like the heroes of the movie--Shuya, Noriko, and Kawada--are trying to find a way to get off the Island without violence. However, as the numbers dwell down lower and lower on an hourly basis, is there any way for Shuya and classmates to survive?

Buster Keaton
Comedy
Buster Keaton Productions

Alfred's father wants him to make of a man of himself so sends him off on a hunting and fishing trip. He doesn't catch or shoot anything, but he does fall in love with a mountain girl. When her father and brothers laugh at this they are informed that he is Alfred "Battling" Butler, the championship fighter. From there on the masquerade must be maintained.

Michael Showalter
Comedy
IFC Productions
PG-13

F. Gary Gray
Comedy
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
PG-13
Streetwise mobster-turned-movie producer Chili Palmer is back, but this time Chili has abandoned the fickle movie industry and veered into the music business, tangling with Russian mobsters and gangsta rappers and taking a talented, feisty young singer named Linda Moon under his wing. From the recording studio to an Aerosmith concert to the MTV Music Awards, he manipulates events to watch them play out the Chili way, using his signature blend of wiseguy skills and negotiation tactics. It's a dangerous business, and everyone's looking for their next big hit.

Michel Gondry
Comedy
Partizan
PG-13
Jerry is a junkyard worker who attempts to sabotage a power plant he suspects of causing his headaches. But he inadvertently causes his brain to become magnetized, leading to the unintentional destruction of all the movies in his friend's store. In order to keep the store's one loyal customer, an elderly lady with a tenuous grasp on reality, the pair re-create a long line of films including The Lion King, Rush Hour, Ghostbusters, When We Were Kings, Driving Miss Daisy, and Robocop, putting themselves and their townspeople into it. They become the biggest stars in their neighborhood.

Bud Townsend
Comedy


School is out, and three girls head to the beach for vacation. Two of the girls are world-wise party-goers who attempt to loosen up their naive, virginal friend, whose uncle has allowed the girls to stay at his beach house. When the near-sighted, drug smuggling Captain Bly dumps his cargo of marijuana, the bales wash up on shore. The two party girls, Ginger and Ducky, quickly stuff the dope into giant bags and spirit it back to the beach house, where it fuels a party with assorted misfits, delivery persons, and passersby.

Albert Maysles, David Maysles
Documentary
Maysles Films

Monte Hellman
Crime
Gene Corman Productions

Gangster Alexander Ward, his girl friend, Gypsy Boulet, and two henchmen come to Deadwood, South Dakota with the idea of stealing a few gold bars. They enlist the aid of a local ski instructor, Gil Jackson, and plan to use him as a guide out of the territory after the robbery. However, a blizzard forces them to take refuge in Jackson's cabin, where Gypsy lowers the inside temperature by giving the cold shoulder to Ward, her former sweetie until she saw Jackson. Ward don't care, as he plans to kill Jackson after they have no further use of him. But they had used an explosion in a cave to serve as a distraction during the heist, and this explosion had irritated the big spider that lived there and, sure enough, all hands have to seek refuge in the cave from the fury of the storm. All but two of them would have been better off facing the South Dakota elements.

Coleman Francis
Action
Image Entertainment

A defecting Russian scientist is transformed by an atomic test into a hulking monster, Tor Johnson, of course. Not much else except some people are killed, boys get lost, and a rabbit sniffs Tor's corpse. (This film was used for Mystery Science Theater 3000.)

Evan Bernard, Adam Bernstein
Documentary
Capitol Records

John Huston
Adventure
Rizzoli-Haggiag

A quartet of international crooks -- Peterson, O'Hara, Ross and Ravello -- is stranded in Italy while their steamer is being repaired. With them are the Dannreuthers. The six are headed for Africa, presumably to sell vacuum cleaners but actually to buy land supposedly loaded with uranium. They are joined by others who apparently have similar designs.

Bob Smeaton, Geoff Wonfor
Documentary
Apple Corps

This series is a documentary on the life and times of the Beatles. It features clips from many of their songs as well as in-depth descriptions of their songs, tours, and lives.

Various
Documentary
Good Times Video
NR
If you love the Beatles, this is a fantastic DVD in content and quality. I was amazed and pleased to see so much truly rare footage, including much material that was not shown on the "Anthology." There are rare color interviews with the boys, backstage mooments and just oddities that will amaze anyone who loves the Fabs. My favorite is a brief color interview with John in '66 when he was in Spain, filming "How I Won the War." I've never seen this clip before, despite amassing a large Beatles video library. For American viewers, there's much material from 1963, before the Beatles hit our shores and changed all of our lives.
Whether you're a Beatle newbie or a seasoned collector, I guarantee you will love this collection and watch it again and again.

Bert Kaempfert
Documentary
Polydor / Umgd

John W. Dunn, Jack Stahen
Documentary
Delta Films

Ever wonder what the Fab Four were like before they became The Beatles? Just what were those early years on the road like for John, Paul, George and Ringo? What led them to choose their now-historic band name? What really happened with original drummer Pete Best? And most importantly, what brought them all together in the first place? All these questions and more are answered for you in LOVE ME DO, the definitive documentary of The Beatles’ early years. A "must have" for any true fan of the Lads from Liverpool!

This insightful and intriguing history of the band traces their existence from the very day John first met Paul at a church function, all the way up to their incredible rise to fame, and finally to their break-up many years later.

Filled with previously unseen footage, and told through the eyes of Victor Spinetti, the actor who worked closely with the band in their first 3 films, as well as through the musicians and friends of the group, this story truly gives a vivid picture of the most successful band this world has ever seen.

LOVE ME DO contains interactive menus and the special bonus - an interview with the band’s first manager, Allan Williams!

Kathy Dougherty, Susan Frömke
Documentary
Capitol

Paul Frees
Crime
Glenville

Eddie Crane is on his way to becoming a top recording star...if he can only break away from his lawless beatnik friends who are his only companions. Trouble ensues when his friends kill a bartender during a botched hold-up.

William A. Wellman
Action
Paramount Pictures

Beau, John, and Digby Geste are three inseparable, adventurous brothers who haven been adopted into the wealthy household of Lady Brandon. When money in the uppercrust household grows tight, Lady Brandon is forced to sell her most treasured jewel the mighty "Blue Water" sapphire. The household gets it out for one final look, the lights go out and it vanishes stolen by one of the brothers, no doubt. That night, Beau, Digby, and John each "confess" and slip out, John leaving behind Isabel, whom he loves. They all join the Foreign Legion, and Beau and Digby are split from John and put under the command of the ruthless and sadistic Sergeant Markoff. Things begin to get hairy as the rest of the Legionaires plot a mutiny against Markoff, in the midst of an attack by Arab hordes.

Bill Eagles
Comedy
Arts Council of England
R
One stormy Glasgow night Dorothy and Petula's lives are inextricably thrown together, bonded by a common flaw. Dorothy's on the run from her boyfriend and Petula should be doing the same. Evasion, blackmail, murder, betrayal, revenge and a suitcase loaded with a million quid... it's all there... and then some.

Ted Demme
Drama
Miramax Films
R
Beautiful Girls is about a group of small-town friends joining up for their first high school reunion. They find themselves evaluating their lives and their relationships. It's about growing up and facing reality.

Ron Howard
Biography
Universal Pictures
PG-13
A biopic of the meteoric rise of John Forbes Nash Jr., a math prodigy able to solve problems that baffled the greatest of minds. And how he overcame years of suffering through schizophrenia to win the Nobel Prize.

Jean Cocteau
Drama
DisCina

A half-ruined merchant lives in the country with his son Ludovic and his three daughters. Two of the daughters, Felicie and Adelaide, are real shrews, selfish, pretentious, evil. They exploit the third daughter, Belle, as a servant. One day, the merchant gets lost in the forest and enters a strange castle. He picks up a rose for Belle and the castle's owner appear. He is a monster, half-human, half-beast, and possesses magic powers. He sentences the merchant to death, unless he give up one of his daughters. Belle sacrifices herself for her father and goes to the castle, discovering that the Beast is not so wild and inhuman as it seems.

Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
Animation
Silver Screen Partners IV
G
Belle is a girl who is dissatisfied with life in a small provincial French town, constantly trying to fend off the misplaced "affections" of conceited Gaston. The Beast is a prince who was placed under a spell because he could not love. A wrong turn taken by Maurice, Belle's father, causes the two to meet.

Trent Harris
Documentary


It begins in 1979 with the chance meeting in a Salt Lake City parking lot where filmmaker Trent Harris is approached by an earnest small-town dreamer from Beaver, Utah. Harris jumps at the chance when the young man invites him to come to the small town of Beaver to film a talent show. At the show, the man dons black leather, blond wig and performs in drag as Olivia Newton John. Harris captures it all on tape. What unfolds is a strange, funny, and ultimately poignant portrait of a true outsider. Not willing to let the story go, Harris then created a dramatic piece, "Beaver Kid 2" based on the documentary. This interpretation, shot in 1981 on a home video camera with a budget of $100, features the young Sean Penn as the Beaver Kid re-enacting the same scenario. Still possessed, Harris then rewrote the script, cast Crispin Glover in the lead, and in 1985 created the final segment, "Orkly Kid" as an American Film Institute project. The three pieces were re-edited, compiled, and finally screened at the Lincoln Center in New York City in July of 2000. Beaver Trilogy unveils the inner world of a fantastic character compelled to hide, yet at the same time, tell the world about his secret life.

Mike Judge, Yvette Kaplan
Animation
Paramount Pictures
PG-13
Our intrepid adolescent heroes wake up to find their beloved television stolen, and embark on an epic journey across America to recover it, and, who knows, maybe even score. On the way they encounter a murderous smuggler of a deadly virus and his treacherous wife, an FBI agent with a predilection for cavity searches, a couple of rather familiar looking ex-Motley Crue roadies, Mr. Van Dreesen singing "Lesbian Seagull", a little old lady and of course Mr. Anderson and his trailer. Can the Great Cornholio save the day? Uh-huh. Huh-huh.

Mike Judge
Comedy
Paramount Home Entertainment (UK)
To Be Announced
Animator Mike Judge scored a veritable pop-culture phenomenon with his 1990s MTV cartoon series BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD. Centred on the moronic misadventures of the two heavy-metal teens, the series definitively captured the decade's cultural zeitgeist with its slacker protagonists' couch-potato antics and so-dumb-they're-clever observations on the strip-mall-strewn landscape of late-20th-century America. Light on plot but heavy on farcical satire, BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD's edgy brand of humour quickly vaulted the series into the highest echelons of cult fandom while garnering controversy for its gleeful promotion of antisocial behaviour.

Mike Judge
Television
Paramount / MTV
NR
The boys are back in town and more clueless than ever in their second collection. For this three-disc set, Mike Judge raided from seasons five and six. Throughout these short films, Beavis and "the brown-haired guy" break stuff ("Stewart Moves Away"), draw stuff ("Animation Sucks"), and mess stuff up ("Premature Evacuation"). They also adopt a crazed canine ("Bad Dog") and sign up with a dating service ("Vidiots"), among other high-spirited hijinks. As in "The Simpsons", the neighing ninnies never age (they're still 14), and, as in "The Peanuts", parents are mostly MIA. Recurring characters include terminally uncool buddy Stewart, caustic classmate Daria, sadistic bully Todd, gullible neighbor Mr. Anderson, diametrically opposed teachers Buzzcut and Van Driessen (one's uptight, the other's laidback), and jittery Principal McVicker. Let's not forget Beavis alter-ego Cornholio and his burning desire for "TP." After a shot of an espresso, he's back for the attack in "Buttniks." Then after a few bites of Halloween candy, he rises again for fan favorite "Bungholio: Lord of the Harvest." For all the scatological shenanigans, there's always been a certain sadness to "Beavis and Butt-head". In "Bus Trip," for instance, B&B reveal themselves—and not for the first time—as functional illiterates, while in "Stewart is Missing," they make his mother cry. If they didn't have each other, they would surely be the loneliest boys in cartoon land. Aside from the 40 shorts, "Volume Two" includes 13 videos with commentary. The most appropriate: "If I Only Had a Brain" by MC 900 Ft. Jesus. Featuring the voice talents of David Spade ("Candy Sale") and Bobcat Goldthwait ("Party," "Beavis, Can You Spare a Dime?"). "--Kathleen C. Fennessy"

Mike Judge
Television
Paramount / MTV
NR
Just call it "Beavis and Butt-Head": "Revenge of the Twerps". In creator Mike Judge's third and final collection, the demonic duo takes out their pent-up aggression on some of their favorite targets. In "P.T.A." they get surly Mr. Buzzcut fired, In "Shopping List," they blow Mr. Anderson's grocery money on junk food, and in "Take a Lap," they destroy Stewart's kitchen. Ultimately though, they're their own worst enemies as when Butt-Head tries to get Beavis fired from Burger World ("In Service"), when he smacks Beavis in the face ("Nose Bleed"), and when they pierce each other's ears ("Pierced"). Judge plucked most of these 42 shorts from seasons six and seven. Standout episodes include the black and white "Leave It to Beavis" and "A Great Day," in which everything goes right for B&B: school is closed, they find a dead bird, and a murderer gives them hush money. Another high point is the two-part "A Beavis and Butt-Head Christmas," which takes on both "It's a Wonderful Life" and "A Christmas Carol". As with previous sets, this box includes the original promos, such as "Beavis tries the new morning after pill--ands it works!" and "Next: foreman Beavis breaks the jury's deadlock with an impassioned speech...impediment. Stay tuned." Other extras include the uncut version of 1992’s "Frog Baseball," part three of the documentary "Taint of Greatness: The Journey of Beavis and Butt-Head", and 15 videos with commentary. The best is surely Poison's ridiculously glam-tastic "I Want Action." Beavis and the brown-haired guy may have had a thing for the likes of AC/DC and Metallica--hair metal was another matter. "--Kathleen C. Fennessy"

Bruce W. Smith
Animation
Hyperion Pictures

Robin Harris recounting his disastrous first date with the beautiful girl named Jamika. Tagging along for the date are Jamika's mild-mannered son Leon and Jamika's friend Bebe's three rude, crude, and obnoxious kids to a theme park called Fun World. Chaos ensues when Bebe's kids enter the theme park with adventures including being chased by a group of government agents, destroying the Titanic, and being on trial. Also causing trouble when a first date turns sour due to interference by Harris' alimony-demanding ex-wife Dorthea and her best friend Vivian.

Michael Lehmann
Comedy
Gold Circle Films
PG-13
Daphne Wilder is a mother whose love knows no bounds or boundaries. She is the proud mom of three daughters: stable psychologist Maggie, sexy and irreverent Mae and insecure, adorable Milly - who, when it comes to men, is like psychotic flypaper. In order to prevent her youngest from making the same mistakes she did, Daphne decides to set Milly up with the perfect man. Little does Milly know, however, that her mom placed an ad in the on-line personals to find him. Comic mayhem unfolds as Daphne continues to do the wrong thing for the right reasons...all in the name of love. In a battle of strong wills, the mother-daughter dynamic is tested in all its fierce, wacky complexity. The girls help Daphne finally discover the truths and impossibilities of motherly love, all while trying to answer the questions: where does it begin and where should it end?

Various
Music

Peter Glenville
Biography
Paramount Film Service
PG-13
King Henry II of England has trouble with the Church. When the Archbishop of Canterbury dies, he has a brilliant idea. Rather than appoint another pious cleric loyal to Rome and the Church, he will appoint his old drinking and wenching buddy, Thomas Becket, technically a deacon of the church, to the post. Unfortunately, Becket takes the job seriously and provides abler opposition to Henry than his predecessors were able to do. This leads to the famous "Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?"

Pearse Lehane
Documentary
Emdee 2000 Productions

David Kalat
Classics
VCI Entertainment
NR
Name a comedian in the first part of the 20th century Charley Chase worked with them, either on or off screen. He was a brilliant comedy writer, film director, and a major movie star. Almost single-handedly, he transformed the world of screen comedy from chaotic slapstick violence into a newly sophisticated comedy of manners, and laid the groundwork for the modern sitcom. He was the world s biggest skinny man and this is where his legend begins. This deluxe 4 disc collection provides a comprehensive look at Charley Chase s early years, from his days as a budding talent at Mack Sennett s Keystone Studios to becoming one of Hollywood s most in-demand comedy directors to his breakthrough as one of the top box office draws of the 1920s. Over 40 rare comedy shorts form 1915-1925 and surviving extracts of lost films digitally restored from materials provided by private collectors and major institutions from around the world. Featuring new music by the Snark Ensemble, Ben Model, the Redwine Jazz Band, and the West End Jazz. Bonus Features: Scene Selection, Audio commentaries by noted film historians, THE PARROTT CHASE 45 minute restrospective on the life and career of Charley Chase, THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE Behind the scenes with the Snark Ensemble on the making of the music for this set, Archival interview with Chase's daughter June. Product Specs: 4-DVD9s; Dolby Digital 2.0; 460 minutes; B&W; 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio; MPAA - NR; Year - 1915-1925; SRP - $39.99.

François Truffaut
Comedy
Les Films du Carrosse

Some time after "Baisers Volés", Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) and Christine Darbon (Claude Jade) are married and Antoine works dying flowers, and Christine is pregnant and gives private classes of violin. When Christine is near to have a baby, Antoine decides to find a new job, and he succeeds due to a misunderstanding of his employer. In a business meeting, he meets the Japanese Kyoko (Mademoiselle Hiroko) and they have an affair. When Christine accidentally discovers that Antoine has a lover, they separate. But later they miss each other and realize that they do love each other.

Steve Hickner, Simon J. Smith
Animation
DreamWorks Animation
PG
When the bee Barry B. Benson graduates from college, he finds that will have only one job for his entire life, and absolutely disappointed, he joins the team responsible for bringing the honey and pollination of the flowers to visit the world outside the hive. Once in Manhattan, he is saved by the florist Vanessa and he breaks the bee law to thank Vanessa. The become friends and Barry discovers that humans explore bees to sell the honey they produce. Barry decides to sue the human race, with destructive consequences to nature.

Tim Burton
Comedy
Geffen Company, The
PG
Adam and Barbara are a normal couple, who happen to be dead. They have given their precious time to decorate the house and make it their own, but unfortunately a family are moving in, and not quietly. Adam and Barbara try to scare them out, but ends up becoming the main attraction to the money making family. They call upon Beetlejuice to help, but Beetlejuice has more in more in mind than the just helping.

Julian Schnabel
Biography
El Mar Pictures
R
Episodic look at the life of Cuban poet and novelist, Reinaldo Arenas (1943-1990), from his childhood in Oriente province to his death in New York City. He joins Castro's rebels. By 1964, he is in Havana. He meets the wealthy Pepe, an early lover; a love-hate relationship lasts for years. Openly gay behavior is a way to spite the government. His writing and homosexuality get him into trouble: he spends two years in prison, writing letters for other inmates and smuggling out a novel. He befriends Lázaro Gomes Garriles, with whom he lives stateless and in poverty in Manhattan after leaving Cuba in the Mariel boat-lift. When asked why he writes, he replies cheerfully, "Revenge."

John Scagliotti, Greta Schiller
Documentary
Before Stonewall Inc.

New York City's Stonewall Inn is regarded by many as the site of gay and lesbian liberation since it was at this bar that drag queens fought back against police June 27-28, 1969. This documentary uses extensive archival film, movie clips and personal recollections to construct an audiovisual history of the gay community before the Stonewall riots.

Richard Linklater
Drama
Castle Rock Entertainment

American tourist Jesse and French student Celine meet by chance on the train from Budapest to Vienna. Sensing that they are developing a connection, Jesse asks Celine to spend the day with him in Vienna, and she agrees. Passing the time before his scheduled flight the next morning. the two embark on a spiritual and emotional odyssey. Bonding through the act of conversation, Jesse and Celine discover each other's true essence - their hopes and dreams, their passions and peeves, and their wants and needs. How do two perfect strangers connect so intimately over the course of a single day? What is that special thing that bonds two people so strongly? As their bond turns to love, what will happen to them the next morning when Jesse flies away? This is a lovely movie proving that two people can learn more in a day of introspection and bonding than most people learn in a lifetime. The key is honesty. Absolutely beautiful.

Richard Linklater
Drama
Castle Rock Entertainment
R
Jesse, a writer from the US, and Celine, a Frenchwoman working for an environment protection organization, acquainted nine years ago on the train from Budapest to Vienna, meet again when Jesse arrives in Paris for a reading of his new book. As they have only a few hours until his plane leaves, they stroll through Paris, talking about their experiences, views and whether they still love each other, although Jesse is already married with a kid.

Sidney Lumet
Crime
Linsefilm
R
Needing extra cash, two brothers conspire to pull off the perfect, victimless crime. No guns, no violence, no problem. But when an accomplice ignores the rules and crosses the line, his actions trigger a series of events in which no one is left unscathed.

Milcho Manchevski
Art House & International
Criterion
Unrated
The first film made in the newly independent Republic of Macedonia Milcho Manchevski's Before the Rain crosscuts the stories of an orthodox Christian monk (Gregoire Colin) a British photo agent (Katrin Cartlidge) and a native Macedonian war photographer (Rade Serbedzija) to paint a portrait of simmering entrenched ethnic and religious hatred about to reach its boiling point. Made during the strife of the war-torn Balkan states in the nineties this gripping triptych of love and violence is also a timeless evocation of the loss of pastoral innocence and remains one of recent cinema's most poetic evocations of the futility of war.System Requirements:Running Time: 113 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/COMING OF AGE Rating: NR UPC: 715515029421 Manufacturer No: CC1749DDVD

Don Siegel
Thriller
Jennings Lang
R
During the civil war, injured Yankee soldier, John McBurney is rescued on the verge of death by a teenage girl from a southern boarding school. She manages to get him back to the school, and at first the all-female staff and pupils are scared. As he starts to recover, one by one he charms them and the atmosphere becomes filled with jealousy and deceit.

Spike Jonze
Comedy
Gramercy Pictures
R
Craig, a puppeteer, takes a filing job in a low-ceilinged office in Manhattan. Although married to the slightly askew Lotte, he hits on a colleague, the sexually frank Maxine. She's bored but snaps awake when he finds a portal leading inside John Malkovich: for 15 minutes you see, hear, and feel whatever JM is doing, then you fall out by the New Jersey Turnpike. Maxine makes it commercial, selling trips for $200; also, she's more interested in Lotte than in Craig, but only when Lotte is inside JM. JM finds out what's going on and tries to stop it, but Craig sees the portal as his road to Maxine and to success as a puppeteer. Meanwhile, Lotte discovers others interested in the portal.

István Szabó
Comedy
Serendipity Point Films
R
Tale of amorous folly and revenge set in the world of the London stage in the late 1930's. Reigning diva Julia Lambert's success and fame grow suddenly wearisome. She falls head over heels for a young American, Tom, and begins a passionate May - December affair. When she realizes that Tom is just a young social climber whose real passion is ambitious young starlet Avice Crichton, Julia begins to plot a delightful revenge.

Hal Ashby
Comedy
Warner Home Video
PG
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 02/03/2009 Run time: 130 minutes

Hal Ashby
Drama
BSB
PG
A simple-minded gardener named Chance has spent all his life in the Washington D.C. house of an old man. When the man dies, Chance is put out on the street with no knowledge of the world except what he has learned from television. After a run in with a limousine, he ends up a guest of a woman (Eve) and her husband Ben, an influential but sickly businessman. Now called Chauncey Gardner, Chance becomes friend and confidante to Ben, and an unlikely political insider.

Henry Bean
Drama
Fuller Films
R
"The Believer" explores a Jewish student's private journey to understand the meaning of Judaism in his life. Set in New York City, the Plot follows a morally confused young adult struggling with the conflict between his beliefs and his heritage. "The Believer" examines themes of religion, family, and self-loathing. It is a psychological examination into the forces of intolerance, both on the individual and society as a whole.

Jerry Lewis
Comedy
Jerry Lewis Pictures

Stanley is a bellboy at the Fountainbleau Hotel in Miami Beach. It is there that he performs his duties quietly and without a word to anyone. All that he displays are facial expressions and a comedic slapstick style. And anything that can go wrong - does go wrong when Stanley is involved. Then one day, Jerry Lewis, big star, arrives at the hotel and some of the staff notice the striking resemblance. Stanley continues to do what he was hired to do while star Lewis has more trouble with his entourage than the hotel accommodations.

Luis Buñuel
Drama
Paris Film
R
Severine is a beautiful young woman married to a doctor. She loves her husband dearly, but cannot bring herself to be physically intimate with him. She indulges instead in vivid, kinky, erotic fantasies to entertain her sexual desires. Eventually she becomes a prostitute, working in a brothel in the afternoons while remaining chaste in her marriage.

Jonathan Demme
Drama
Clinica Estetico
R
After Paul D. finds his old slave friend Sethe in Ohio and moves in with her and her daughter Denver, a strange girl comes along by the name of "Beloved". Sethe and Denver take her in and then strange things start to happen...

Various
Music

John Fortenberry, Troy Miller
Comedy
Warner Home Video
NR
For its brief and shining moment--12 aired episodes, to be exact--"The Ben Stiller Show", which aired on Fox in 1992, recaptured the anarchic spirit and subversively funny voice of first-season "Saturday Night Live" and "SCTV". More too-hip-for-the-room than ahead of its time, the show suffered dismal ratings and was unceremoniously cancelled. It then went on to win an Emmy for best writing and attract a fervent following, enhanced by the fact that the series has seldom been syndicated. This long-awaited DVD release fills not a void, but an abyss. To watch Stiller, Janeane Garofalo, Andy Dick, and a pre-"Mr. Show" Bob Odenkirk at the dawn of their mostly unconventional careers, romp in the show's opening is akin to watching the Beatles frolic on that football field in "A Hard Day's Night". Stiller and company's pitch-perfect and intimately observed skewering of movies, television, and show business convention could be exhilarating, as witness "Woody Allen's Bride of Frankenstein" (you'll never watch another Allen film with a straight face again), "Cape Munster," with Stiller as a psychopathic and vengeful Eddie Munster, "Skank," a potent comment on the crass programming that was initially Fox's stock in trade, and even brilliant riffs on the seminal reality series "Cops", which re-imagine the series in witch-hysteric Salem, Massachussetts, ancient Egypt, and medieval times.
In addition to the cast's uncanny impersonations (Stiller's Bono, Tom Cruise, Bruce Springsteen, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Bruce Willis, and Garofalo's Juliette Lewis), "The Ben Stiller Show" was home to a gallery of recurring characters--agent Michael Pheret, the No, No, No Guy--who, thankfully, "SNL" producer Lorne Michaels was not around to parlay into godawful films. The topical humor can't help but date some of the material (the show is a veritable Trivial Pursuit of pop culture references, from "The Partridge Family" to "Beverly Hills 90210", but the brilliance of the writing and sheer abandon of the performances are still a joy to behold. "--Donald Liebenson"

Gurinder Chadha
Comedy
Kintop Pictures
PG-13
A comedy about bending the rules to reach your goal, Bend It Like Beckham explores the world of women's football, from kick-abouts in the park to freekicks in the Final. Set in Hounslow, West London and Hamburg, the film follows two 18 year olds with their hearts set on a future in professional soccer. Heart-stopping talent doesn't seem to be enough when your parents want you to hang up your football boots, find a nice boyfriend and learn to cook the perfect chapatti.

Ted Post
Sci-Fi
APJAC Productions

Astronaut Brent is sent to rescue Taylor but crash lands on the Planet of the Apes, just like Taylor did in the original film. Taylor has disappeared into the Forbidden Zone so Brent and Nova try to follow and find him. He discovers a cult of humans that fear the Apes' latest military movements and finds himself in the middle. Tension mounts to a climactic battle between ape and man deep in the bowels of the planet. Sequel to "Planet of the Apes." Film 2 of the series of 5

Russ Meyer
Comedy
RM Films International

Believe it or not even in Smalltown USA there are still people who are unfulfilled and unrelieved in the midst of plenty. Levonna & Lamar could have the perfect relationship if it were not Lamar's obsession with rear entry. After submitting to the one last time Levonna comes up with a plan. While Lamar is trying find other tail to try his technique on, Levonna becomes Lola with aid of a wig and a Mexican accent. A Mexican cocktail later Lola finally has Lamar straight, but he wasn't awake for it. The gay marriage counselor, attracted to Lamar's problem, couldn't help them and Lemar must finally seek redemption at the church of Rio Dio Radio and the laying on of hands by Sister Eufaula Roo.

Jeremiah S. Chechik
Comedy
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
PG
In a small town, an auto mechanic named Benny is devoted to taking care of his mentally ill sister, Joon, who can barely function alone in the real world despite being a talented artist. This relatively stable situation is shaken up when Benny is obliged in a poker game to welcome another player's relative, Sam, to his home for a few days. When Sam arrives, he quickly makes an impression with his quietly eccentric ways which emulate the antics of the great silent movie comedian, Buster Keaton. Without Benny's full knowledge, Sam and Joon finds themselves drawn to each other to the fullest degree. However when Benny finds out, it creates a rift in the siblings as they struggle to accept their relationship is profoundly changing with the presence of this odd newcomer.

Michael Haneke
Drama
Bernard Lang AG

Robert Zemeckis
Action
ImageMovers
PG-13
Set against the coming of Christianity, this is the story of the last hero: in 507, a monstrous troll wrecks havoc in the mead hall of the Danish king, Hrothgar. He offers rewards for the death of Grendel, so Beowulf, a great and boastful Geet warrior, arrives with his thanes. Beowulf sets aside his armor and awaits the monster; a fierce battle ensues that leads to Beowolf's entering the watery lair of Grendel's mother, where a devil's bargain awaits. Beowulf returns to Herot, the castle, and becomes king. Jump ahead many years, and the sins of the father are visited upon Beowulf and his kingdom. The hero must face his weakness and be heroic once again. Is the age of demons over?

Marie Nyreröd
Documentary
SVT Nöje

All three documentaries is mainly shot in the home of Ingmar Bergman. This is the first time ever that a film maker has access to Ingmar Bergman in his home at the small island Fårö in the Baltic Sea. Bergman and the Cinema starts with Frenzy from 1944 and ends with Saraband from 2003. It contains unique behind-the-scenes material from Bergman's private archive. Bergman and the Theatre is about some of Bergman's 125 theatrical stagings and about his delight with the TV medium with successes as Scenes from a marriage. In Bergman and Fårö Island he talks about the childhood that shaped him. He shows where he shot his film Persona and fell in love - and he lists his worst demons!

Drama
Bavaria Film
NR
This film, which is basically the longest narrative film ever made, is a 15-1/2 hour episodic exploration of the character of Franz Biberkopf, "hero" of Alfred Döblin's acclaimed novel, as well as the Alexanderplatz area of Berlin that he inhabits.

Walter Ruttmann
Documentary
Deutsche Vereins-Film

A train speeds through the country on its way to Berlin, then gradually slows down as it pulls into the station. It is very early in the morning, about 5:00 AM, and the great city is mostly quiet. But before long there are some signs of activity, and a few early risers are to be seen on the streets. Soon the new day is well underway - it's just a typical day in Berlin, but a day full of life and energy.

Joshua Waletzky
Documentary
Alternate Current International

Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle
Classics
Image Entertainment
NR
"The Best Arbuckle/Keaton Collection" literally defines the phenomenon of genius in the making. While showcasing the formidable slapstick talents of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle as director and star, this 12-title compilation is also a remarkable study of Buster Keaton's rapid evolution as a silent comedy master. Made in swift succession from 1917 to 1919, these chronologically sequenced two-reelers serve a dual purpose, re-establishing Arbuckle as an underrated talent (his career was tragically curtailed by an infamous rape scandal, despite his eventual exoneration), while crediting his mentorship of Keaton from Vaudeville veteran to inspired movie pioneer. The "Great Stone Face" had yet to emerge (though it's evident in Keaton's 1917 debut, "The Butcher Boy"), so Buster's innately amusing countenance is wondrously animated here, especially in "Coney Island," which doubles as an illustrious postcard from a bygone era. The final collaboration, "The Garage," was Buster's favorite, and it's easy to see why: with a giant turntable, fire hoses, grease buckets, and all varieties of gag-laden shtick, it's a sublime (and like most of these films, well-preserved) example of two gifted comedians at the peak of their craft. "--Jeff Shannon"

Noel Nosseck
Drama

Christopher Guest
Comedy
Castle Rock Entertainment
PG-13
The owners (and handlers) of five show dogs head for the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show. A film crew interviews them as they prepare for the trip, arrive at Philly's Taft Hotel, and compete. From Florida come the Flecks: she keeps running into old lovers. A wordless ancient in a wheelchair and his buxom trophy wife who may have a thing for the dog's handler own the two-time defending best in show, a poodle. From the piney woods of N.C. comes a fella who wants to be a ventriloquist. High-strung DINKs feud loudly in front of their Weimaraner. Two outré gay men from Tribeca round out the profiled owners. The dog show brings out the essence of the humans. Who will be best in show?

Mike Barker
Crime
Dogstar Films
R
Nick is caught in a dead end job in a dead end town. About the only thing going well for him is Lissa, his new girlfriend. A chance to make some easy cash, and a way out of town, only leads to more trouble. Also caught in the web of sex, thefts, gangsters, kidnappings and murder is Nick's college friend, Bryce.

Various
Adventure
3F Productions

A pair of American agents face espionage adventures with skill, humor and some serious questions about their work. Robinson's cover is as a former Princeton law student and Davis Cup tennis player; Rhodes scholar Scott is his trainer as well as being a language expert.

Various
Comedy
Mill Creek Entertainment

John Blanchard, Paul Flaherty
Comedy
Comedy Central
NR
"Primetime Glick" has got to be one of the stranger spin-off ideas in television history: a character rescued from the short-lived "Martin Short Show" gets a late-night-style interview show on Comedy Central and makes it big. In it, Martin Short plays the title character, an overweight, hyperactive, half-fawning, half-obtuse interviewer that sits down with one or two of Hollywood's biggest comedic talents every week for interviews that are played as real - as long as the interviewees can keep from laughing.
In this collection, we get five episodes from the first season (2001) of "Primetime Glick" which actually amounts to half the season. Why they couldn't just give us the first five episodes of the season instead is beyond me - maybe they're using the release to gauge consumer interest. Anyway, along with four really funny episodes featuring Bill Maher, Steve Martin, Dennis Miller, Jerry Seinfeld, Janeane Garofalo, basketball star John Salley, Conan O'Brien, Eugene Levy - and a surprisingly bad episode featuring Kathy Lee Gifford and Darrell Hammond doing his "SNL" Dick Cheney - the disc also includes added material from the Seinfeld, Martin, Gifford, O'Brien and Garofalo interviews (in some cases longer and funnier than the stuff that was put in the episode) and a few other goodies from Comedy Central - a "Glick" segment featuring Julia-Louis Dreyfus, a "South Park" segment and a "Crank Yankers" segment.
In all, this show has been a pleasant surprise treat for me, and I was pleased at how good the DVD was given the rather low price. I hope that Comedy Central will get around to releasing full seasons at some point, but until they do, this is a surprisingly good "Best of" collection.

Various
Comedy
Rhino Home Video

Scott Preston, Linda Mendoza
Comedy
Hbo Home Video
NR
This 2-disc set combines the best of Chris Rock's ground-breaking, Emmy-award winning comedy "The Chris Rock Show." It's an unrated, uncensored, uninhibited 2 hours of one of America's finest comic minds, Chris Rock, "a magnificent national sensation." - The Washington Post. Special features include "Chris Rock's Taxi Driver Confessions."

Scott Preston, Linda Mendoza
Comedy
HBO Home Video

Various
Comedy
Comedy Central

Various
Comedy
Passport
NR
THE COLGATE COMEDY HOUR, which ran from 1950 through 1955, was a wildly popular weekly variety show filled with funny monologues and comic sketches. And it was broadcast live. The rotating roster of hosts included such entertainment giants as Fred Allen, Eddie Cantor, Abbott & Costello, and Jimmy Durante, but best remembered are the shows hosted by the white-hot comedy team of DEAN MARTIN and JERRY LEWIS. Here on 10 DVDs is all the funny stuff from all 28 shows hosted by Martin & Lewis at their spontaneous best, unencumbered by plot-heavy scripts, rigid film schedules, or elaborate production numbers. Celebrity guests include BURT LANCASTER, TONY CURTIS, VERA MILES and JACK BENNY. Plus – Hollywood Rivals: Martin & Lewis and Jerry Lewis at the Movies. No fan of comedy or classic TV should be without this historical – and hysterical – collection!
Disc One 9/17/50 – Dean & Jerry’s Colgate debut. Sketches include Jerry having a fountain-pen accident and Dean owning a movie theatre. With Barr & Estes, William McCutcheon. 10/15/50 – Sketches include Dean & Jerry as gangsters and Jerry at a gym. With Mayor Ralph Willani (from Jerry’s hometown) and Mayor Walter Sterling (from Dean’s hometown). 11/12/50 – Sketches involve babysitting and a dancing school. With Joyce (The Honeymooners) Randolph, Sammy Petrillo, Leonard Barr.
Disc Two 2/4/51 – Sketches include Jerry as an annoying usher and the boys doing celebrity impressions. 4/29/51 – Mike (60 Minutes) Wallace is the announcer. Telecast from Chicago. 5/20/51 – Sketches involve Dean and Jerry as judges at a swimsuit contest and working as hospital interns. Cameo by Eddie Cantor.
Disc Three 6/3/51 – Tony Curtis has a cameo. With Sonny King, Danny Arnold. 6/24/51 – Tony Martin and Joe Louis (the other Martin & Louis) guest star. 11/4/51 – Sketches include Dean and Jerry as archaeologists and as convicts. With Donald MacBride, Marion Marshall.
Disc Four 12/30/51 – Sketches involve a schoolroom and a mirror routine. With Margaret Dumont, Mike Mazurki. 2/10/52 – Sketches involve a gangster convention and the boys at a soda fountain. With Sheldon Leonard, Mike Mazurki. 3/23/52 – Sketches involve baseball players and a PTA meeting. With Danny Lewis (Jerry’s dad), Danny Arnold.
Disc Five 4/27/52 – Dean spoofs "The Continental" and does a Brando impersonation. With Danny Arnold. 9/21/52 – Sketches include a psychiatrist convention and Jerry dressed as Sherlock Holmes. With Danny Arnold. 11/30/52 – With Robert Strauss, Rose Plumer, pro-wrestler Max Palmer and Joan (The Abbott & Costello Show) Shawlee.
Disc Six 1/25/53 – The boys introduce sketches from earlier shows (because Jerry had injured himself on a motor scooter). 5/3/53 – Sketches involve a harem and the boys taking out insurance policies on each other. With Benny Rubin, Sheldon Leonard, Frank Nelson, Fay McKenzie. 5/31/53 – Appearances by Tony Curtis and his then-wife Janet Leigh. Telecast from New York City.
Disc Seven 10/4/53 – Sketches include Dean trying to watch TV while Jerry keeps interrupting (from inside the TV) and a spoof of Come Back Little Sheba with Burt Lancaster in a rare comic turn as a drunken escaped con. 1/10/54 – Sketches involve a department store and the boys’ dressing room. With Franklin Pangborn, Duke Art Jr. 5/2/54 – On this show, Dean & Jerry celebrate their 8th anniversary as a comedy team.
Disc Eight 5/30/54 – Season Finale, with Dick Stabile and his Orchestra. 12/19/54 – Sketches involve Dean and Jerry trying to use all the sponsor’s products and problems at a bus stop. With Vera Miles, Jack Benny and future newsman George Putnam. 2/13/55 – Sketches include Jerry trying (in vain) to make a sickly Dino feel better. With Franklin Pangborn.
Disc Nine 5/8/55 – Sketches include Jerry spoofing Ed Sullivan and a Mother’s Day trip. Cameos by Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, and George Raft. 6/5/55 – Dean & Jerry parody Person to Person with Dino as Tedward R. Burrow and Jerry as method actor Harlan Sando. With Sonny King. 9/18/55 – The boys parody The $64,000 Question and disrupt a game of pool.
Disc Ten 11/13/55 – In their final appearance on The Colgate Comedy Hour, Dean is an irksome TV host and the boys star in a now-politically-incorrect parody of a Japanese movie. HOLLYWOOD RIVALS: DEAN MARTIN & JERRY LEWIS – A fascinating and revealing look at the dizzy heights and depressing depths of Martin & Lewis’ careers. JERRY LEWIS AT THE MOVIES – Classic scenes from Jerry’s greatest films – with and without Dino – make up this entertaining hour.
Running Time: Approx. 20 hours.

Henry Behar, John Tracy (II), Bob Schwarz
Comedy
Shout! Factory
NR
20 OF THE BEST EPISODES FEATURING BILL COSBY MORGAN FREEMAN RITA MORENO SPIDER-MAN and More!If you were between six and ten years old during the years 1971 through 1985 then there is a good chance you learned to read with help from The Electric Company. Comedy sketches music animation and special effects were the tools of this "video" classroom. Bill Cosby Morgan Freeman Rita Moreno Spider-Man Road Runner and others were the teachers.The Electric Company was a product of its time perennially cool and hip while never wavering from its educational goals; it was full of wit and energy and made learning to read fun. So take a trip back in time with Spider-Man Letterman J. Arthur Crank the Short Circus Jennifer of the Jungle DJ Mel Mounds Easy Reader Paul the Gorilla Lorelei the Chicken and all the rest with THE BEST OF THE ELECTRIC COMPANY.DISC 1:#1 (10/25/71); #10 (11/5/71); #14 (11/11/71); #21 (11/22/71); #26 (11/29/71) Special Features: Rita Moreno Remembers: The only female performer to have won an Oscar® an Emmy a Tony and a Grammy Rita looks back on her experiences with The Electric Company.DISC 2:#109 (3/23/72); #131 (10/23/72); #181 (1/1/73); #285 (11/23/73); #321 (1/14/74) Special Features: Joan Ganz Cooney Then And Now: From 1971 to the present the founder of The Children s Television Workshop has never wavered in her commitment to early education.DISC 3:#379 (4/3/74); #386 (4/15/74); #391 (10/21/74); #437 (12/24/74); #453 (1/15/75) Special Features: "Silent E" Karaoke: Sing along with Tom Lehrer s unforgettable and imaginative song. The Creative Team Remembers: Executive producer Sam Gibbon and head writer Tom Whedon reminisce.DISC 4: #491 (3/10/75); #72A (1/27/76); #110A (3/19/76); #79B (2/3/77); #130B (4/15/77) Special Feature: June Angela Remembers: "Julie" in The Short Circus; June Angela was with the cast for the entire run of the show.System Requirements:Running Time 630 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSICS UPC: 826663

Tim Kiley, Bob Henry, Corny Cole
Comedy
Rhino Entertainment
NR
TheFlip Wilson Showwas an instant smash when it premiered on NBC in September 1970 becoming the highest-rated variety program on television. In a bold departure from the standard fare of the time TheFlip Wilson Showdid without large production numbers house band regular cast or elaborate sets. From a round stage in front of a studio audience gifted comedian Flip Wilson entertained the country with nothing but his hilarious monologues a stellar array of guest stars and great sketch comedy. This first-ever collection of full-length episodes from TheFlip Wilson Show features guest performances by Ray Charles Richard Pryor George Carlin Albert Brooks Redd Foxx Joe Namath Johnny Cash Joan Rivers Phyllis Diller and many more. Flip s signature characters are here too from Rev. Leroy of the Church Of What s Happenin Now to that sexy sassy force of nature-the legendary Geraldine Jones. These treasured shows will have you laughing from beginning to end but it won t be the Devil who made you do it. It ll be Flip Wilson. EpisodesDisc One Airdate: February 24 1972 Guests: George Carlin Joe Namath Airdate: December 14 1972 Guests: Johnny Cash & June Carter Albert Brooks Bill Russell Disc Two Airdate: February 1 1973 Guests: Ray Charles Diller The ommittee Airdate: October 11 1973 Guests: Redd Foxx Helen Reddy Joan Rivers Disc Three Airdate: November 29 1973 Guests: Richard Pryor Tim Conway Airdate: March 7 1974 Guests: Lena Horne Tony Randall Bob & Ray Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 603497271122 Manufacturer No: 972711

Dana Calderwood, Allan Kartun, Liz Plonka
Comedy
Lions Gate
NR
Life's a bitch, or at least it is to Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog. Since his first appearance in 1997, Triumph has emerged a breed apart as "Late Night with Conan O'Brien"'s biggest breakout star. In fact, not even Conan himself has had a bestselling CD, or appeared on "Hollywood Squares". Triumph gives new meaning to the honor "Best in Show" with this collection of his most memorable "Late Night" appearances, including his now-classic reports at the Westminster Dog Show (where he takes full advantage of backstage access, if you get my cruder meaning), his Red Carpet interviews at MTV's Video Music Awards, and, the pick of the litter, his visit to the "Star Wars" "uber-dorks" waiting in line for the opening of "Attack of the Clones" (To a Darth Vader impersonator in full regalia: "Which of these buttons calls your parents to pick you up?"). For Triumph fans, this DVD is a tremendous, exciting experience... FOR ME TO POOP ON! "--Donald Liebenson"

Ronald Borge
Comedy
Gmg Records

Gordon Hessler
Drama
Metromedia Productions

A lonely widow hires a young woman as her companion. What she doesn't know is that the woman and her boyfriend are extortionists, who are planning on making her their next victim, then killing her when they get her money.

Alan Alda
Comedy
Betsy's Wedding

Offbeat fashion student Betsy Hopper and her straight-laced investment-banker fiancé, Dylan Walsh, just want an intimate little wedding reception, but Betsy's father, Eddie, a Long Island construction contractor, feels so threatened by Jake's rich WASP parents that he blows the ceremony up into a bank-breaking showpiece, sending his wife, Lola, into a financial panic. Pressure from Betsy's extended family to include their joint Jewish and Italian-Catholic heritage in the ceremony doesn't do much to assuage the title character's worries, nor does the lovelorn bitterness of her older sister, Connie, who's single, her parents assume, because she has the audacity to pursue the unfeminine profession of police officer. With all of his funds tied up into the money pit of a house he's building, Betsy's dad has to turn to his crooked brother-in-law, Oscar, for financial assistance, and soon a soft-spoken but menacing young mobster named Stevie Dee is supervising Eddie's construction project and casting his romantic aspirations toward the clueless Connie.

Savage Steve Holland
Comedy
A&M Films
PG
Lane Meyer is a depressed teen who looses his girlfriend Beth. This is her reason for the split; "Lane, I think it'd be in my best interest if I dated somebody more popular. Better looking. Drived a nicer car." Anyway, poor Lane is left alone and thinks up treacherous ways of killing himself. He finally meets a French beauty called Monique and falls for her. Simultaneously, he must endure his mothers terrible cooking which literally slides off the table, his disgusting next door neighbour Ricky (and his mum) and he must prepare for the skiing race of his life - to get his old girlfriend back!

Vincent Pereira
Drama
View Askew Productions

Two high school outcasts (Barret, the new kid in school, and Ryan, a self-confessed misanthrope with a violent past) form an obsessive friendship which spirals out of control and ends in murder.

John Woo
Action
Cinema City Film Productions

This story is the tale of two brothers: one a successful counterfeiter and the younger a fledgling graduate of the HK police academy. The plot revolves around the split when the younger brother learns the other is a criminal and the efforts of the criminal brother to reform. Along the way are plenty of heists, double-crosses, and shoot outs.

John Woo
Crime
Cinema City Film Productions

Restaurant owner Ken Gor (Chow Yun-Fat), twin brother of Mark Gor, teams up with police detective Kit (Leslie Cheung) and his struggling ex-con brother Ho (Lung Ti) to avenge his old friend's (Dean Shek) daughter's death by a Triad gang.

Martin Brest
Action
Paramount Pictures
R
Detroit cop Axel Foley is delighted when he receives a surprise visit from his best friend Mikey Tandino, who lives in California. Not long after Mikey arrives in Detroit, Mikey is killed, right in front of Axel, by a man named Zack. Axel follows Zack to Beverly Hills, California, where Beverly Hills police department Lieutenant Andrew Bogomil assigns Detective Billy Rosewood and Rosewood's partner, Sergeant John Taggart, to keep an eye on Axel. Axel visits his friend Jenny Summers, who works in an art gallery. With Jenny's help, Axel discovers that Zack works for Jenny's boss, Victor Maitland, the man who owns the art gallery. Maitland is a drug kingpin who is using the gallery as a front, and Maitland had Zack kill Mikey after Maitland accused Mikey of stealing some of Maitland's bonds. With the help of Jenny, Billy, and Taggart, Axel does what he can to make sure Maitland and Zack won't kill any more people.

Tony Scott
Action
Paramount Pictures
R
A series of strange robberies brings Axel Foley back to Beverly Hills to help his two fellow cops solve the case. All the familiar faces of the first film are back...

John Landis
Action
Paramount Pictures
R
Axle Foley, while investigating a car theft ring, comes across something much bigger than that: the same men who shot his boss are running a counterfeit money ring out of a theme park in Los Angeles.

Martin Campbell
Drama
Mandalay Pictures
R
Beyond Borders is an epic tale of the turbulent romance between two star-crossed lovers set against the backdrop of the world's most dangerous hot spots. Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie stars as Sarah Jordan, an American living in London in 1984. She is married to Henry Bauford (Linus Roache) son of a wealthy British industrialist, when she encounters Nick Callahan (Clive Owen) a renegade doctor, whose impassioned plea for help to support his relief efforts in war-torn Africa moves her deeply. As a result, Sarah embarks upon a journey of discovery that leads to danger, heartbreak and romance in the far corners of the world.

Comedy
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

A TV version of the stage show originally performed at the Edinburgh Fringe (August 1962) and in London (Fortune Theatre, May 1961) and Broadway (October 1962).

Barry W. Blaustein
Documentary
Universal Family and Home Entertainment
R
This documentry focuses on the lives of professional wrestlers Terry Funk, Mick Foley (Mankind), Jake Roberts (Jake the Snake), and Darren Drozdov (Droz). As the film progresses the story of their lives unfolds, as well as we learn how the wrestling industry is not the plastic-weapons fake-slap sideshow that many have perceived it as. We are shown how moves, although not actually injuring anyone, are not fake, and extreme training is required to be able to perform the stunts without being harmed. We are also treated to interviews with the family of Mick Foley and what it is like for them to know their father literally puts his life on the line every week and how it feels to have other children call their father a "fake". Vince McMahon, owner of World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, also makes a few appearances, responding to criticism on various wrestling situations, including, once again, his real athletes very real orginization being called fake by sources such as USA Today and various news programs.

Kevin Spacey
Biography
Lions Gate Films
PG-13
Consummate entertainer Bobby Darin (1936-1973) is making a movie about his life. He's volatile, driven by the love of performing, ambition, perfectionism, and belief that he's living on borrowed time. He begins in the Bronx: a fatherless lad learning music and dance from his mom. His career starts slowly, then "Splish Splash" puts him at the top of the charts and on "Bandstand." He wants to be an entertainer, not a pop star, so he aims for the Copacabana; then it's on to the movies, where he meets and marries Sandra Dee. After, it's balancing career, health, marriage and family life, balances he doesn't always keep. Throughout, conversations with his boyhood self give him perspective.

Russ Meyer
Comedy
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

This film is a sequel in name only to Valley of the Dolls (1967). An all-girl rock band goes to Hollywood to make it big. There they find success, but luckily for us, they sink into a cesspool of decadence. This film has a sleeping woman performing on a gun which is in her mouth. It has women posing as men. It has lesbian sex scenes. It is also written by Roger Ebert, who had become friends with Russ Meyer after writing favorable reviews of several of his films.

Robert Altman
Comedy
New World Pictures

Vittorio De Sica
Drama
Produzioni De Sica

A poor young father in postwar-ravaged Rome who finally finds work putting up Rita Hayworth posters around town, only have his precious bicycle stolen the first day on the job. In a light moment as the father and his young son chase after the thief, the boy attempts to relieve himself against a wall, and his father lets him know they don't have time for that. In another scene, the father tracks the thief into the kitchen of a brothel.

Vittorio De Sica
Drama
Produzioni De Sica

A poor young father in postwar-ravaged Rome who finally finds work putting up Rita Hayworth posters around town, only have his precious bicycle stolen the first day on the job. In a light moment as the father and his young son chase after the thief, the boy attempts to relieve himself against a wall, and his father lets him know they don't have time for that. In another scene, the father tracks the thief into the kitchen of a brothel.

Penny Marshall
Comedy
Gracie Films
PG
A young boy makes a wish at a fairground machine to be big. He wakes up the following morning to find that his wish has been granted and his body has grown older over night. But he is still the same 12 year old kid on the inside. Now he must learn how to cope with the unfamiliar world of grown ups including getting a job, and having his first romantic encounter with a woman. What will he find out about this strange world?

Arliss Howard
Drama
Big Bad Love LLC
R
Vietnam veteran Leon Barlow is struggling as a writer, and his personal life isn't much better. His unsympathetic ex-wife Marilyn doesn't approve of his visits with his two children, and he has problems with alcohol. Yet even when Leon manages to catch up on alimony and child support payments, things in his life seem to decline further, until a sudden tragedy catches him off guard.

Steve Carver
Action
Hit Woman Productions Inc.
R
After the death of her lover, Wilma takes over his bootlegging business, but without much success. She soon meets up with bank robber Fred, who convinces her and her daughters to join him for his next big heist. In the meantime, Wilma also kidnaps the daughter of a millionaire in the hopes of getting rich off the ransom. Will Wilma and Fred be able to retire with their ill-gotten gains, or will the law eventually catch up with them?

Jack Hill
Action
New World Pictures

Terry, a social-climbing young woman accidently gets caught up in the activities of two revolutionaries, Blossom and Django, and finds herself in a concentration camp for women. In the center of the camp is a towering wooden machine ("The Big Bird Cage") in which the women risk their lives processing sugar as the evil warden looks on. The prisoners are subjected to sadistic cruelty from the guards and fellow prisoners, and all attempts at escape are delt with...permanently. Terry's only hope for escape lies in Blossom and her revolutionary allies.

Alex March
Drama
Greenway Productions
R
Jack Ryan (Ryan O'Neal) is a young Vietnam veteran with a criminal record, who gets fired from his job as a migrant laborer on a California produce farm run by the mean-spirited camp manager Bob Rodgers (Robert Webber). Ryan then meets and teams up with the seductive Nancy Barker (Leigh Taylor-Young) the secretary and mistress to the unscrupulous owner Ray Ritchie (James Daly). When Ryan takes another job as a cleaner at a local motel owned by Sam Mirakian (Van Heflin) a local justice-of-the-peace, Nancy again approaches Ryan to help her rob Ritchie's safe in his house which allegedly has $50,000 of payroll money. Ryan reluctantly agrees to help with the heist, but becomes highly distrustful of Nancy, suspecting she may double-cross him to keep all the money for herself, and vice versa with her over him.

George Armitage
Crime
Shangri-La Entertainment
PG-13
Jack Ryan, a charming but mischievous kid with a history of small cons, never nasty, as he always approaches life from the pleasant side, goes to surfers paradise Hawai, where dodgy district judge Walter Crewes enlists him to get to real big criminals. Jack finds himself teaming up in bed and thieving 'business' with Nancy Hayes, the greedy mistress of evil hotel magnate Ray Ritchie and his dumb lieutenant Bob Rogers, Jr. and a real temptress gold-digger but is about the only one without an hidden agenda...

Mitchell Leisen
Comedy
Paramount Pictures

New ocean liner S.S. Gigantic is about to race its rival, the Colossal. Gigantic owner T.F. Bellows sends his brother S.B. on the Colossal, hoping he will cause trouble; delayed by a golf game, S.B. lands on Gigantic instead, and so does his unlucky daughter Martha. Meanwhile, radio emcee Buzz Fielding announces a series of musical acts and tries to juggle fiancée Dorothy and three ex-wives who've come for the ride. Can the Gigantic win against all handicaps? Will true love triumph?

Jim Abrahams
Comedy
Silver Screen Partners III

In the 1940s in the small town of Jupiter Hollow, two sets of identical twins are born in the same hospital on the same night. One set to a poor local family and the other to a rich family just passing through. The dizzy nurse on duty accidentally mixes the twins unbeknown to the parents. Our story flashes forward to the 1980s where the mismatched sets of twins are about to cross paths following a big business deal to closedown the Jupiter Hollow factory.

Mark Birnbaum, Jim Schermbeck
Documentary
Birnbaum/Schermbeck Productions

Lawrence Kasdan
Comedy
Carson Productions
R
A seminal Thirty-Something movie in which a group of old college friends who are now all grown up and hardened by the big wide world come together for the funeral of Alex, a barely glimpsed corpse (which is played by Kevin Costner as noted in the Special Features section of the DVD), who was at one time the brightest and the best of them, and yet who never managed to achieve half as much as any of the others. The friends use the occasion to reacquaint themselves with each other and to speculate as to what happened to their idealism which had been abundant when they were younger.

John Farrow
Drama
Paramount Pictures

When powerful publishing tycoon Earl Janouth commits an act of murder at the height of passion, he cleverly begins to cover his tracks and frame an innocent man, whose identity he doesn't know, but who just happen to have contact with the murder victim. That man is a close associate on his magazine whom he enlists to trap this "killer" George Stroud. It's up to George to continue to "help" Janouth, to elude the police and to find proof of his innocence and Janouth's guilt.

Mario Monicelli
Comedy
Cinecittà

Peppe, formerly a boxer, organizes the break-in of a pawnshop. Tiberio, an unemployed photographer, Mario, a receiver, the Sicilian Michele and Capannelle, an ex-jockey, are the other members of the gang. Though they are advised by Dante, a retired burglar, the task is not so easy...

Jack Hill
Action
New World Pictures
R

Jeremy Kagan
Comedy
Universal Pictures

Fritz Lang
Crime
Columbia Pictures Corporation

Detective Dave Bannion investigates a police sergeant's suicide. Strictly routine...until a B-girl claiming to have evidence is found murdered, and Bannion's superiors order him off the case. Not one to suffer being pushed, Bannion pushes back at reputed mob boss Lagana, who fanatically keeps his home life free of "dirt." Result: a bomb meant for Bannion kills HIS WIFE, and Bannion becomes a white-hot sword of vengeance, alone against a corrupt world...except for Debby, disfigured ex-mistress of sadistic mobster Vince Stone.

Joel Coen
Comedy
Polygram Filmed Entertainment
R
When "The Dude" Lebowski is mistaken for a millionaire Lebowski, two thugs urinate on his rug to coerce him into paying a debt he knows nothing about. While attempting to gain recompense for the ruined rug from his wealthy counterpart, he accepts a one-time job with high pay-off. He enlists the help of his bowling buddy, Walter, a gun-toting Jewish-convert with anger issues. Deception leads to more trouble, and it soon seems that everyone from porn empire tycoons to nihilists want something from The Dude.

Alan Poul, Alan Taylor, Charles McDougall, Julian Farino, Mary Harron
Drama
HBO Home Video
NR
"Big Love", HBO's newest buzzworthy series, recalls Groucho Marx's blithe proposal to two women in "Animal Crackers". "Why, that's bigamy," one of the women exclaims. Groucho responds, "Yes, and it's big of me, too." But Bill Henrickson's (Bill Paxton) situation is hardly a laughing matter. Bill is a modern-day polygamist who lives in suburban Salt Lake City with his seven children and three "sister-wives": Barbara (Jeanne Tripplehorn, never better), the more mature anchor of the household; Nicki (Chloe Sevigny), who spitefully refers to her as "Boss Lady"; and recent addition Margene (charming Ginnifer Goodwin), insecure and childlike. A series that puts a human face on polygamy is brimming with prurient possibilities. "Big Love"'s first two episodes are veritable commercials for Viagra, as Bill struggles to keep up with the demands of his spouses, with whom the sleeping arrangements are strictly scheduled. But once this more sensational aspect of "plural marriage" is dealt with, "Big Love" moves on to focus on the emotional, spiritual and financial pressures that beset Bill and his families. As the dreamlike opening credit sequence (scored to the Beach Boys' ethereal "God Only Knows") illustrates, Bill is a man on thin ice. He is carrying mortgages on three adjoining homes. A home-improvement store entrepreneur, he has just cut the ribbon on his second store and is planning a third. His wives, not immune to jealousies, vie for dominant position. And then there's Roman (Harry Dean Stanton; and any series that puts this venerable character actor and hipster saint in our homes on a weekly basis deserves our big love), the sinister leader of an outlaw fundamentalist compound, who has an escalating disagreement with Bill over the repayment of his loan that helped Bill build his fledgling empire ("There's man's law," he states ominously, "and there's God's law").
There are further complications that make "Big Love" so compelling. Bill suspects that his raw-nerved mother (Grace Zabriskie) may be poisoning his father (Bruce Dern). Nicki is a shopaholic accruing nearly $60,000 in credit-card debt. Overtures by new neighbors threaten to expose Bill's unorthodox and illicit living arrangements. The polygamy factor puts a subversive spin on traditional matrimonial melodrama. When Nicki plans her son's disastrous birthday party, her list of "immediate family" tops 150. When Roman, who is Nicki's father, arrives, Bill proclaims he is not welcome in his "homes." As with "Rome", "Big Love" may require a little patience. But this fascinating portrayal of a shadowy subculture, the intelligent writing, and the estimable ensemble will soon make you feel like part of the families. "--Donald Liebenson"

Adam Davidson, Alan Poul, Burr Steers, Daniel Attias, Daniel Minahan
Drama
Hbo Home Video
NR
Early on in "Big Love"'s second season, closeted polygamist Bill Henrickson's kids come to him with a broken toy. "I can fix anything," he reassures them. If only his chaotic life were as easy to mend. Among the crises vying for his attention this season are finding out who was responsible for outing his wife, Barbara (Jeanne Tripplehorn), at the Mother of the Year ceremony; the investigation into the poisoning of his brother-in-law, Alby, for which he could be implicated in a cover-up; negotiating a deal to purchase a gaming company coveted by Roman (Harry Dean Stanton); and, in a "holy spirit sucker punch," meeting Ana (Branca Katic), a Serbian waitress who just could be wife No. 4. A Golden Globe nominee for Best Drama, "Big Love" further draws viewers into the polygamists' shadow world. "If they could show just one normal plural family for a change," someone remarks at one point. Grounded in "the principle," the Henrickson households are about as normal as you can get with the sister wives at once fiercely protective of the family, while at the same jockeying for position and influence. Nicki (Chloe Svigny) is beholden to her father, the prophet Roman (whom Bill aptly calls "venal, corrupt, the face of evil"), and duty-bound mother, Adaleen (Mary Kay Place). Margene (Ginnifer Goodwin), the third and youngest wife, has absolutely no boundaries, and initiates a friendship with Ana, and agrees to be a surrogate mother for her unwitting neighbor. "Boss Lady" Barbara must come to terms with the sacrifices she made for her marriage. Meanwhile, Barbara's teenage son and daughter are at their own crossroads on deciding whether to follow their parents' path. Complicating matters even further are Rhonda (Daveigh Chase, the voice of Lilo in Disney's "Lilo & Stitch"), the lying and manipulative child bride who runs away from Roman and the compound, Alby's sinister ascendancy, and Hollis Green, a rival polygamist patriarch and fierce fundamentalist with a penchant for branding those who cross him.
Season 2 further fleshes out television's most unconventional family drama. This set also includes three "prequels" that peek in on the Henricksons up to five years before the events of the first season. In one, Nicki suffers post-partum depression following the birth of her first son. In the second, Margene makes an indelible first impression in "Meet the Baby-Sitter." The third shows how Bill's three wives compel a move to the suburbs and into their three-home compound. This series has emerged from "The Sopranos"' shadow to earn some "Big Love" of its own. What happens next? As the Beach Boys sing during the haunting and etheral opening credits, "God only knows." "--Donald Liebenson"

Campbell Scott, Stanley Tucci
Drama
Rysher Entertainment
R
Primo and Secondo are two brothers who have emigrated from Italy to open an Italian restaurant in America. Primo is the irascible and gifted chef, brilliant in his culinary genius, but determined not to squander his talent on making the routine dishes that customers expect. Secondo is the smooth front-man, trying to keep the restaurant financially afloat, despite few patrons other than a poor artist who pays with his paintings. The owner of the nearby Pascal's restaurant, enormously successful (despite its mediocre fare), offers a solution - he will call his friend, a big-time jazz musician, to play a special benefit at their restaurant. Primo begins to prepare his masterpiece, a feast of a lifetime, for the brothers' big night...

Malcolm St. Clair
Comedy
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Although they are only janitors at a detective agency, the boys pass themselves off as sleuths and are engaged to guard an inventor delivering a new bomb. They outwit enemy agents after the bomb and wind up sinking a Japanese submarine.

Michael Moore
Comedy
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
PG-13
Our intrepid defender of the working man, Michael Moore, documents his 1996 "Downsize This!" book tour across the USA. Shot on-the-cheap with a video camera, we once again watch our hero interview the working man at yet another plant closing, while also trying to get past corporate security guards to interview the millionaire CEOs.

Samuel Fuller
Action
Lorac Productions
R
Grim story of a WWII squad consisting of an anonymous sergeant and four long-time survivors who ignore the faceless replacements who continually arrive and die.

Howard Hawks
Crime
Warner Bros. Pictures

Summoned by the dying General Sternwood, Philip Marlowe is asked to deal with several problems that are troubling his family. Marlowe finds that each problem centers about the disappearance of Sternwood's favoured employee who has left with a mobster's wife. Each of the problems becomes a cover for something else as Marlowe probes.

Michael Winner
Crime
Incorporated Television Company (ITC)

Set in England, rather than California, the story follows Raymond Chandler's book fairly closely otherwise. Philip Marlowe is asked by the elderly (and near death) General Sternwood to investigate an attempt at blackmail on one of his daughters. He soon finds that the attempt is half hearted at best and seems to be more connected with the disappearance of the other daughter's husband, Rusty Regan. Rusty's wife, seems unconcerned with his disappearance, further complicating the mystery. Only General Sternwood seems concerned as mobsters and hired killers continue to appear in the path of the investigation.

Don Siegel
Drama
RKO Radio Pictures

Jane and Duke (alias Capt. Blake) accidently meet in Vera Cruz while chasing flim-flam man Fiske. Soon the local Inspector General (El Gato) is involved. Fiske races across Mexico, pursued by Jane and Duke, trailed by the real Capt. Blake. The crafty Inspector General is waiting for them in Tihuacan but they all give him the slip, just in time for the climactic finale. Very tight script and pacing.

Charles Reisner
Comedy
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

The Phelps Department Store is about to be sold by its new part owner, Tommy Rogers with the permission of Martha Phelps, the dowager co-owner. The current manager doesn't want this as the irregularities in the books will show up. When an attempt is made on Tommy's life, Martha enlists the worst private eye in the world to protect him, Wolf J. Flywheel.

John Cassavetes
Comedy
Columbia Pictures Corporation
R

Barry Sonnenfeld
Comedy
Touchstone Pictures
PG-13
From the creative mind of Pulitzer winner Dave Barry, comes a film following a chain of events inspired by the arrival of a mysterious suitcase in Miami. Arthur Herk, a corrupt business owner, wants to get his hands on the case. At the same time, two hit men want him whacked. Tired of his constant fixation on drinking and television, Herk's wife Anna and daughter Jenny decide to find new love interests in divorced dad Eliot Arnold and his son Matt. Just to add more complication to this already complicated plot, two thieves decide to steal the case and lead a Miami police team and two FBI agents on a wild goose chase that ends inside the Miami airport terminal.

Mark Mylod
Comedy
Ascendant Pictures
R
In the middle of Alaska, travel agent Paul Barnell is near bankrupt. Desperate to help himself and his beloved, mentally-ill wife Margaret, Paul discovers a dead body and passes it off as his missing brother Raymond, whose life is insured for up to $1,000,000. Everybody is duped, except for workaholic insurance investigator Ted Waters, who sets out to expose Paul. Meanwhile, two rookie hit men, Gary and Jimbo, discover Paul took 'their' body and kidnap Margaret, demanding the body back. Then, Raymond turns up alive, wanting in on the action...

Nick Broomfield
Documentary
FilmFour
R
In 1997, rap superstars

Peter Hewitt
Adventure
Interscope Communications
PG
In the year 2691, San Dimas, California. It is a very peaceful, tranquil community. Unfortunately, not everybody was happy about it. A man named Chuck De Nomolos is planning to change history and create his own society torn up by war and violence. He is doing so by creating cybernetic duplicates of Bill and Ted and send them back into 1991, where the real Bill and Ted are preparing for a concert contest called the "Battle of the Bands". What the robots have to do is kill the real Bill and Ted, take their places and give out a different speech for De Nomolos. However, they do succeed in killing Bill and Ted and sent them to the afterlife, Bill and Ted had defeated the grim reaper "Death" and were given a chance to be alive again. But, they must now stop their robotic doppelgangers and save not only their girlfriends Joanna and Elizabeth, but the future.

Stephen Herek
Adventure
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG)
PG
In the small town of San Dimas, a few miles away from Los Angeles, there are 2 nearly brain dead teenage boys going by the names of Bill S, Preston ESQ. and Ted Theodore Logan, they have a dream together of starting their own rock and roll band called the "Wyld Sallions". Unfortunately, they are still in high school and on the verge of failing out of their school as well, and if they do not pass their upcoming history report, they will be separated as a result of Ted's father sending him to military school. But, what Bill and Ted do not know is that they must stay together to save the future. So, a man from the future named Rufus came to help them pass their report. So, both Bill and Ted decided to gather up historical figures which they need for their report. They are hoping that this will help them pass their report so they can stay together.

Various
Television
Shout! Factory
NR
Fresh off a successful three-season run on "I Spy", in which he was the first black performer to land a leading role in a TV drama, actor-comedian Bill Cosby had the clout and popularity to do pretty much whatever he wanted for his next project. He made a wise choice with "The Bill Cosby Show", released here with the first season's 26 episodes contained on four discs. Not to be confused with "The Cosby Show", the immensely popular '80s series that focused on the home life of a middle-class New York family and earned Cosby the top spot on TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time," "The Bill Cosby Show", which aired from 1969-71, features Cosby as Chet Kincaid, a high school basketball coach and teacher. Kincaid is single, which provides fodder for several storylines. He's also considerably hipper than Dr. Cliff Huxtable, and the show has an overall tone that's, well, funkier than its juggernaut of a successor. Still, Cosby is Cosby, and the same values he espouses in life (fairness, the importance of education) and the techniques he brings to his standup comedy routines (especially an emphasis on storytelling over one-liners) are apparent here as well. Indeed, his imprimatur is all over the series, which is entirely a good thing. Although the show is often very funny (he's at his best in "Let X Equal a Lousy Weekend," which finds him completely out of his depth when substituting for the algebra teacher), Cosby was adamant that it not include a canned laugh track; in an interview conducted for the DVD release (it's the only bonus feature), he recalls his battles with NBC over the issue, and suggests it contributed to the network's decision not to renew the show despite high ratings. Even more striking is its refusal to play the race card, even for laughs. Although Kincaid's high school is thoroughly multi-culti, racism is a non-factor; an episode that deals with prejudice involves Kincaid's reluctance to give a proper tryout to an African-American basketball player simply because the boy is too short. And while the show is kid-friendly, addressing issues like shoplifting, learning to drive, and profanity, the focus is primarily on the proud, principled Chet and his dealings with family, friends, students, prospective dates, and such. What emerges is a portrait of a gentle, decent, funny guy, and a program that deserved more than two seasons on the air. "--Sam Graham"

Bill Cosby
Comedy
Bill Cosby

"Himself" is one of Mr. Cosbys standup routines with parts about the weekends children going to the dentist and many other normal situations.

Chris Bould, John Fortenberry
Comedy

Michael Drumm
Comedy
Kid Love Productions

Various
Comedy
Bill Maher Productions

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

John Moffitt
Comedy

John Moffitt
Comedy
Moffitt-Lee Productions

Comedian Bill Maher's Tony Award-nominated Broadway standup show, Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home, will return to New York, July 17-19, 2003. The final performance at the Hudson Theatre (which is not technically a Broadway house though it's in the midtown theatre district) will be filmed live for HBO. In the show, Maher addresses contemporary political, social and cultural topics -- Iraq, President Bush and the so called Axis of Evil. The opinionated Maher said about Victory Begins at Home: "We've heard everything about the War on Terrorism except what we can actually do to help win it. The government used to do that for us through propaganda (the positive kind) posters, so taking my cue from the great old posters of World War I and World War II ('Loose Lips Sink Ships,' 'Buy War Bonds,' 'Plant a Victory Garden,' etc.) I commissioned artists to paint the posters our government today should be putting out to help us win this war."

Peter Ustinov
Adventure
Anglo Allied

H.M.S. Avenger is headed into battle against the French fleet during the Napoleonic Wars, and the dark shadow of two recent mutinies in the English fleet concern Captain Vere. He relies on his cruel and often sadistic Master-at-Arms John Claggert to maintain what he believes to be tenuous order and discipline aboard the ship. When a new seaman, Billy Budd, is pressed into service from a passing merchantman, his innocent, happy-go-lucky attitude quickly endears him to both his messmates as well as the ship's officers. However, his charismatic naivete seems to bother Claggert, whose perverse depravity makes him resent Billy's good-natured purity, especially after the teenager's promotion to fore-top captain. The mean-spirited Claggert unfairly plots to put him on report and ultimately perjures himself when he accuses Billy of conspiring to mutiny.

Billy Crystal, Paul Flaherty
Comedy

John Schlesinger
Comedy
Vic Films Productions Ltd.

A young British clerk in a gloomy North Country undertaker's office, Billy (Tom Courtenay) is bombarded daily by the propaganda of the media that all things are for the asking. This transparently false doctrine, coupled with the humdrum job and his wild imagination, leads him on frequent flights to "Ambrosia," a mythical kingdom where he is crowned king, general, lover or any idealized hero the real situation of the moment makes him desire. His vacillating commitment and post-adolescent immaturity have created situations which make Ambrosia all the more attractive. He's succeeded in becoming engaged to two different girls, simultaneously, while in love with a third, Liz (Julie Christie). He's in hot water with his employer, having spent a rather large sum of postage money on his personal frivolities. And last, but not least, his dream of becoming a highly-paid, famous scriptwriter in London seems doomed to failure. The only person in his life capable of bringing him down to earth is Liz, and she's having a difficult time of it. Finally, he gets his life sufficiently in order to leave for London with his true love. Billy still hasn't come to grips with the real world by the end of the film. He leaves the train to buy milk from a vending machine and watches the train slowly pull out for London with Liz aboard. He returns to the more comfortable shelter of his parents home, Ambrosia and his imagination.

Tamra Davis
Comedy
Universal Pictures
PG-13
Billy Madison is the 27 year-old son of Bryan Madison, a very rich man who has made his living in the hotel industry. Billy stands to inherit his father's empire but only if he can make it through all 12 grades, 2 weeks per grade, to prove that he has what it takes to run the family business.

John Badham
Comedy
Motown Productions

Tired of the slave-like treatment of his team's owner, charismatic star Negro League pitcher Bingo Long takes to the road with his band of barnstormers through the small towns of the Midwest in the 1930's.

Peter Jones
Documentary
Peter Jones Productions Inc.

Mike Nichols
Comedy
Nichols
R
Armand Goldman owns a popular drag nightclub in South Miami Beach. His long-time lover Albert stars there as Starina. "Their" son Val (actually Armand's by his one heterosexual fling, twenty years before) comes home to announce his engagement to Barbara Keely, daughter of Kevin Keely, US Senator, and vice president of the Committee for Moral Order. The Senator and family descend upon South Beach to meet Val and his father and "mother..." and what ensues is comic chaos.

Alfred Hitchcock
Fantasy
Universal Pictures

Spoiled socialite and notorious practical joker Melanie Daniels is shopping in a San Francisco pet store when she meets Mitch Brenner. Mitch is looking to buy a pair of love birds for his young sister's birthday; he recognizes Melanie but pretends to mistake her for an assistant. She decides to get her own back by buying the birds and driving up to the quiet coastal town of Bodega Bay, where Mitch spends his weekends with his sister and mother. Shortly after she arrives, Melanie is attacked by a gull, but this is just the start of a series of attacks by an increasing number of birds.

Jonathan Glazer
Drama
New Line Cinema
R
Anna is a young widow who is finally getting on with her life after the death of her husband, Sean. Now engaged to be married, Anna meets a ten-year-old boy who tells her he is Sean reincarnated. Though his story is both unsettling and absurd, Anna can't get the boy out of her mind. And much to the concern of her fiancée, her increased contact with him leads her to question the choices she has made in her life.

Richard Marquand
Biography
Dick Clark Productions

Jez Butterworth
Crime
FilmFour
R
Internet love connections and mail-order brides rarely ever work out, and John (played by Ben Chaplin) should have known. Having never been lucky in the game of love and tired of waiting for the perfect woman to come along, John decides to take his chances and orders a mail-order bride from Russia online. At first, things seem perfect: his new bride Nadia (Nicole Kidman) is a gorgeous woman, and although she may not speak much English, her skills in the bedroom more than make up for any communication problems. When Nadia's 'cousins' unexpectedly arrive to celebrate her birthday, John is drawn into their web of corruption and crime.

Various
Comedy
Cinema Club
Suitable for 15 years and over
French & Saunders? Pshaw! Mayall & Edmonson? Hogwash! Ben Elton? Argh! Accept no subsitute - Fry & Laurie were THE boys of late 80s/early 90s comedy, combining a deft, clever, witty line in wordplay and non sequiturs with occasional slapstick and general, genial silliness. For too long these shows have been neglected: both these chaps have gone on to greater success, but here's proof that they hit the ground running!

Various
Comedy
Cinema Club
Suitable for 12 years and over
This arrived through my door yesterday, and I simply couldn't be happier!



The design of the DVD is a lot better than the first series - animation and theme tune over the menus - and the one extra is a belter: the Cambridge Footlights Review from 1982, with Fry and Laurie, Emma Thompson and a 12-year-old Tony Slattery! All wonderfully dated and a fascinating glimpse of the end of cabaret comedy (there are a couple of deadly earnest "protest" songs in there!) and the beginnings of "alternative comedy".

Very very highly recommended!

Various
Comedy
Cinema Club
Suitable for 15 years and over
this is just the best thing, i remember all these sketches very well, i just forgot they were all part of the same series, Burwhale,You You You, Alan, Weve had lots of letters, its all great stuff i reckon back when Steven was sillier and a seeming life time away from Hugh's right narky Doctor House ( its only a bad leg COME ON!), i cant be alone in thinking this light years away from the russ abbott inspired likes of Little Britain, for my money they were much funnier than Pete and Dud too. I watched Armando Ianucci's stuff recently too and it was certainly clever and as satirical as all heck but it left me flat(flatire?)like chris morris too there is an air of meaness , this Fry and Laurie series had me giggling like the fool i was and am.embrace the clever silly.Cheers !

Various
Comedy
Cinema Club
Suitable for 15 years and over
I initially held off buying series 4 as memory recalled that it fell far short of the highs of the previous excellent 3 series.



Although they did adapt a slightly awkward special guest feature, if you give it a chance you will see that many of the sketches still manage to be brilliant and Steven Fry's hilarious play on words has rarely been better.



Although this series did get a lukewarm response when it originally aired, giving it a re-run shows that it is well worth having all 4 series.

Roman Polanski
Drama
Canal+
R
British couple Fiona and Nigel Dobson are sailing to Istanbul en route to India. They encounter a beautiful French woman, and that night Nigel meets her while dancing alone in the ship's bar. Later he meets her crippled American husband Oscar, who tells him their story. While living in Paris for several years trying to be a writer, he becomes obsessed with a woman he met by chance on a bus. He tracks her down and they start a steamy love affair. Soon Oscar finds himself enslaved body and soul by her love, and continues to tell Nigel the details of this relationship in various stages over a number of visits to Oscar's cabin.

George McCowan
Drama
Thomas/Spelling Productions

Larry Cohen
Crime
American International Pictures (AIP)
R
Tommy Gibbs is a tough kid, raised in the ghetto, who aspires to be a kingpin criminal. As a young boy, his leg is broken by a bad cop on the take, during a payoff gone bad. Nursing his vengeance, he rises to power in Harlem, New York. Angry at the racist society around him, both criminal and straight, he sees the acquisition of power as the solution to his rage. He performs a free-lance hit on a Mob contract to attract the attention of the head of a Mafia family. Reluctantly accepted into 'The Family,' he grows increasingly autonomous and aggressive, eventually starting a gang war.

José Ramón Larraz
Horror


A young woman travels with her partner to England on the unexpected death of her brother. Staying with her sister-in-law, she finds her companion soon drawn into a satanic cult based in the house whose rites seem to centre somewhat on large-scale sexual congress.

Edgar G. Ulmer
Horror
Universal Pictures

Honeymooning in Hungary, Joan and Peter Allison share their train compartment with Dr. Vitus Verdegast, a courtly but tragic man who is returning to the remains of the town he defended before becoming a prisoner of war for fifteen years. When their hotel-bound bus crashes in a mountain storm and Joan is injured, the travellers seek refuge in the home, built fortress-like upon the site of a bloody battlefield, of famed architect Hjalmar Poelzig. There, cat-phobic Verdegast learns his wife's fate, grieves for his lost daughter, and must play a game of chess for Allison's life.

Brian De Palma
Crime
Universal Pictures
R
In 1946, the former boxers Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert and Lee Blanchard are policemen in Los Angeles. Lee has a good relationship with his chief and uses a box fight between them to promote the department and get a raise to the police force. They succeed and are promoted to homicide detectives, working together. Bucky becomes a close friend of Lee and his girlfriend Kay Lake, forming a triangle of love. When the corpse of the aspirant actress Elizabeth Short is found mutilated, Lee becomes obsessed to solve the case called by the press Black Dahlia. Meanwhile, Bucky's investigation leads him to a Madeleine Linscott, the daughter of a powerful and wealthy constructor that resembles the Black Dahlia. In a environment of corruption and lies, Bucky discloses hidden truths.

Arthur Lubin
Drama
Universal Pictures

When his friend Professor Kingsely (Ridges) is at deaths door, brain surgeon Dr. Sovac (Karloff) saves his life by means of an illegal operation that transplants part of injured gangster Red Cannon's brain. Unfortunately, the operation has a disasterous Jeckll and Hyde side effect and under certain conditions the persona of Cannon emerges. Sovac soon learns of the duel personality and of half a million dollars the gangster has hidden away. He attempts to find the money through the manipulation of his friend, an attempt that brings Kingsley closer to madness as he alternates between a meek professor of english and a brutal gangster out for murderous revenge on those who tried to kill him.

John Evans
Crime
Cougar Productions

J.J., a rising star in the black crime scene, is in the process of consolidating his power over the neighborhood. One of the only remaining obstacles is the white heroin cartel that is understandably reluctant to abandon such a lucrative market. Tensions rise between the two rivals, and people on both sides get killed. Eventually, the matter is destined to come to an explosive confrontation.

Ridley Scott
Action
Revolution Studios
R
Action/war drama based on the best-selling book detailing a near-disastrous mission in Somalia on October 3, 1993 where nearly 100 U.S. Army Rangers, commanded by Capt. Mike Steele, were dropped by helicopter deep into the capital city of Mogadishu to capture two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord which lead to a large and drawn-out firefight between the Rangers and hundreds of Somali gunmen which led to the destruction of two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters in Mogadishu, and the heroic efforts by various Rangers to get to them, centering on Sgt. Eversmann, commanding one Ranger unit named Chalk Four, leading Rangers to the first black hawk crash site, to Warrant Officer Durant who was only survivor of the second black hawk crash site and whom was captured, to Col. McKnight who leads a rescue convoy for the Rangers only to get lost within the hostile city, to Sgt. Sanderson desperately trying to get to the first crash site, to Staff Sgt. Yurek who leads two fellow Rangers, Nelson and Twombly to meet with up their squad, Chalk Four, at the first crash site, to many others involved who where either killed or survived.

Lance Bangs
Music Video & Concerts
Nonesuch
NR
The Black Keys' new concert DVD reflects the no-frills genius of the drums-and-guitar duo's studio sound: It's a refreshingly straightforward, beautifully rendered, high-definition video document of their April 4, 2008 sold-out gig at Portland, Oregon's Crystal Ballroom, featuring seventeen songs culled from all five of the pair's albums.

Archie Mayo
Drama
Warner Bros. Pictures

Frank Taylor joins the "pro-American" Black Legion when he loses his chance at foremanship to a foreign-born man. The organization is a sort of Ku Klux Klan in the industrial sphere. Frank has troubles with his wife over this and causes serious trouble when he tells all to his best friend Ed Jackson.

Carl Lerner
Drama
The Hilltop Company

Black Like Me is the true account of John Griffin's experiences when he passed as a black man. John Horton takes treatments to darken his skin and leaves his home in Texas to travel throughout the South. At one stop, Horton encounters a black shoe shine man, Burt Wilson, who befriends him and shows him how to "act right" so that he can fit more easily into the African American culture. It is through Wilson that Horton learns the art of shining shoes. Most of his encounters with whites are quite degrading and disturb him. As a hitchhiker, John meets several white men who refer to black men and women in disparaging ways which angers John. Throughout the movie, John is harassed and persecuted by whites without reason. In one of his many stops throughout the South, John finds himself on a park bench sitting by a white woman. A white man walks by and says, "You'd better find another place to sit." Even though he had a college degree, menial jobs were all that he could find. John meets Frank Newcomb whose son, Tom, is arrested for some civil rights demonstrations. John tells Tom about his "passing for black" in the South, and Tom becomes enraged. Tom feels that John could have served the plight of the black man in the South better as a white man. Frank asks John if people would believe the story. Tom says, "I don't know, but I'll tell them."

Eddie Romero
Drama
American International Pictures (AIP)
R
When two troublemaking female prisoners (one a revolutionary, the other a former harem-girl) can't seem to get along, they are chained together and extradited for safekeeping. The women, still chained together, stumble, stab, and cat-fight their way across the wilderness, igniting a bloody shootout between gangsters and a group of revolutionaries.

Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Drama
Archers, The

Anglican nuns, led by the stern Sister Clodagh, attempt to establish a religious community in the Himalayas, and must battle not only suspicious locals and the elements, but their own demons as well.

Marcel Camus
Drama
Dispat Films

In Rio, Orfeo is a trolley conductor and musician, engaged to Mira. During Carnival week, he sees Eurydice, who's fled her village in fear of a stalker; it's love at first sight. Her cousin Sarafina, with whom she stays in Rio, is a friend of Orfeo and Mira, so the star-crossed lovers meet again. Later, during the revels, wearing Sarafina's costume, Eurydice dances a provocative samba with Orfeo. Not only is Mira enraged when her rival is unmasked, but she is being stalked by Death: Eurydice is in danger, pursued through noisy crowds and a morgue. Can Orfeo conduct her to safety? Don't look back.

Greydon Clark
Action
World Amusement Company

John Daniels stars as Jonathan Knight, the owner of "Mr. Jonathans", the most successful hair salon for women on the Sunset Strip. Jonathan is tall, muscular, black and ballsy. His reputation as a lover has become so awesome that he is sought after almost as much in that capacity as in his expertise as a hair stylist. Everything is cool for Jonathan until he messes with the mob in an effort to protect his young, attractive receptionist from her former boss. Action explodes when the "lovin' machine" becomes the "killing machine". Jonathan, equipped with chain saw in hand, gets down on the vicious mob gang.

Matt Cimber
Action
Miracle Pictures

A black high school student is caught dating a white girl by the girl's brother. He and his biker gang beat the boy to death. The boy's brother, who is a member of a black biker gang, hears about it and comes to town to avenge his brother's death.

Craig Brewer
Drama
Paramount Classics
R
In rural Mississippi, Lazarus, a former blues musician who survives by truck farming, finds a young girl nearly beaten to death near his home. She's the white-trash town tramp, molded by a life of sexual abuse at the hands of her father and verbal abuse from her mother, who seems to delight in reminding Rae of her mistake in not aborting her. Lazarus, who is also facing personal crisis at the dissolution of his marriage, nurses Rae back to health, providing her with gentle, fatherly advice as well as an education in blues music. Rae's boyfriend, Ronnie, goaded by the man who nearly beat Rae to death, misunderstands the relationship between Lazarus and Rae, and vows to kill him. Lazarus, exhibiting a street-smart understanding of violence and its motives, calls Ronnie's bluff, senses that he is as troubled as Rae, and becomes a guiding force in the young couple's resurrection.

Mario Bava
Horror
Alta Vista Productions

A vengeful witch and her fiendish servant return from the grave and begin a bloody campaign to possess the body of the witch's beautiful look-alike descendant. Only the girl's brother and a handsome doctor stand in her way.

Richard Brooks
Drama
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

The Original 50's classic about a decent middle aged school teacher who goes to teach in an unruly high school filled with thugs led by Vic Morrow. This is the original film that has had several unofficial updated remakes over the years.

Alfred Hitchcock
Thriller
British International Pictures (BIP)

Alice White is the daughter of a shopkeeper in 1920's London. Her boyfriend, Frank Webber is a Scotland Yard detective who seems more interested in police work than in her. Frank takes Alice out one night, but she has secretly arranged to meet another man. Later that night Alice agrees to go back to his flat to see his studio. The man has other ideas and as he tries to rape Alice, she defends herself and kills him with a bread knife. When the body is discovered, Frank is assigned to the case, he quickly determines that Alice is the killer, but so has someone else and blackmail is threatened.

William Crain
Horror
American International Pictures (AIP)

Interior decorators buy the coffin of an African prince bitten by Dracula centuries before and bring it back to Los Angeles. The African prince starts feeding his hunger while following a woman who looks like his departed wife.

Ridley Scott
Action
Blade Runner Partnership
R
In a cyberpunk vision of the future, man has developed the technology to create replicants, human clones used to serve in the colonies outside Earth but with fixed lifespans. In Los Angeles, 2019, Deckard is a Blade Runner, a cop who specialises in terminating replicants. Originally in retirement, he is forced to re-enter the force when six replicants escape from an offworld colony to Earth.

Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
Adventure
Haxan Films
R
Three film students travel to Maryland to make a student film about a local urban legend... The Blair Witch. The three went into the woods on a two day hike to find the Blair Witch, and never came back. One year later, the students film and video was found in the woods. The footage was compiled and made into a movie. The Blair Witch Project.

Allen Baron
Crime
Magla Productions

Having been 'away' for some time professional killer Frankie Bono returns to New York to do another job: assassinate some mid-level mobster. Although intending to avoid unnecessary 'contact' while carefully stalking his victim Bono is recognized by an old fellow from the orphanage, whose calm and unambitious citizen's life and happy marriage contrast heavily with Bono's solitary and haunted existence. Exhausted and distracted Bono makes another mistake, but his contract is not one to back out of.

Alberto De Martino
Crime
Fida Cinematografica

An Ottawa police captain searches for the person who poisoned his sister, who was attending the university in Montreal. So desperate is he for revenge that he begin to use his own brutal methods to find the killer. Soon he discovers that not everything is what he thought it was.

Mel Brooks
Comedy
Warner Home Video
R
Mel Brooks scored his first commercial hit with this raucous Western spoof starring the late Cleavon Little as the newly hired (and conspicuously black) sheriff of Rock Ridge. Sheriff Bart teams up with deputy Jim (Gene Wilder) to foil the railroad-building scheme of the nefarious Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman). The simple plot is just an excuse for a steady stream of gags, many of them unabashedly tasteless, that Brooks and his wacky cast pull off with side-splitting success. The humor is so juvenile and crude that you just have to surrender to it; highlights abound, from the lunkheaded Alex Karras as the ox-riding Mongo to Madeline Kahn's uproarious send-up of Marlene Dietrich as saloon songstress Lili Von Shtupp. Adding to the comedic excess is the infamous campfire scene involving a bunch of hungry cowboys, heaping servings of baked beans and, well, you get the idea. "--Jeff Shannon"

Mel Brooks
Comedy
Crossbow Productions
R
The Ultimate Western Spoof. A town where everyone seems to be named Johnson is in the way of the railroad. In order to grab their land, Hedley Lemar, a politically connected nasty person, sends in his henchmen to make the town unlivable. After the sheriff is killed, the town demands a new sheriff from the Governor. Hedley convinces him to send the town the first Black sheriff in the west. Bart is a sophisticated urbanite who will have some difficulty winning over the townspeople.

Simon Fellows
Drama
Blessed Film Company
R
Heather Graham and James Purefoy play a couple who desperately want to have a baby. Unfortunately, she has been diagnosed as infertile, and the couple can't afford the medical treatments that might allow her to conceive. Good fortune appears to be smiling on the couple when they are given an opportunity to receive free treatments at a mysterious fertility clinic. The woman is soon the expectant mother of twins, but as her due date draws nearer, she begins to suspect something is wrong, and that she has become the unwilling victim of a pact with evil.

Blake Edwards
Comedy
TriStar Pictures

Walter Davis is a workaholic. His attention is all to his work and very little to his personal life or appearance. Now he needs a date to take to his company's business dinner with a new important Japanese client. His brother sets him up with his wife's cousin Nadia, who is new in town and wants to socialize, but he was warned that if she gets drunk, she loses control and becomes wild. How will the date turn out - especially when they encounter Nadia's ex-boyfriend David?

Michael Haussman
Drama
Millennium Films
R
Frank loses his memory after being shot in small desert town in New Mexico. As he tries to retrace his steps and figure out his true identity, Frank believes he may be part of a plot to assassinate the president.

Fernando Meirelles
Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Rhombus Media
R
A city is ravaged by an epidemic of instant "white blindness". Those first afflicted are quarantined by the authorities in an abandoned mental hospital where the newly created "society of the blind" quickly breaks down. Criminals and the physically powerful prey upon the weak, hording the meager food rations and committing horrific acts. There is however one eyewitness to the nightmare. A woman whose sight is unaffected by the plague follows her afflicted husband to quarantine. There, keeping her sight a secret, she guides seven strangers who have become, in essence, a family. She leads them out of quarantine and onto the ravaged streets of the city, which has seen all vestiges of civilization crumble.

Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr.
Horror
Fairview Productions

A mysterious creature from another planet, resembling a giant blob of jelly, lands on earth. The people of a nearby small town refuse to listen to some teenagers who have witnessed the blob's destructive power. In the meantime, the blob just keeps on getting bigger.

John G. Blystone
Comedy
Stan Laurel Productions

It's 1938, but Stan doesn't know the war is over; he's still patrolling the trenches in France, and shoots down a French aviator. Oliver sees his old chum's picture in the paper and goes to visit Stan at the Soldier's Home. Thinking Stan is disabled (it's just that he's sitting on his leg), Oliver takes pity on him and takes him home for a nice home-cooked meal. But Oliver's wife has other ideas and leaves him to fend for himself. After blowing up the kitchen, Oliver is helped by his next-door neighbor, Mrs. Gilbert... until the big-game hunting Mr. Gilbert comes home unexpectedly, carrying a shotgun.

Josef von Sternberg
Drama
Paramount Pictures

American chemist Ned Faraday marries a German entertainer and starts a family. However, he becomes poisoned with Radium and needs an expensive treatment in Germany to have any chance at being cured. Wife Helen returns to night club work to attempt to raise the money and becomes popular as the Blonde Venus. In an effort to get enough money sooner, she prostitutes herself to millionaire Nick Townsend. While Ned is away in Europe, she continues with Nick but when Ned returns cured, he discovers her infidelity. Now Ned despises Helen but she grabs son Johnny and lives on the run, just one step ahead of the Missing Persons Bureau. When they do finally catch her, she loses her son to Ned. Once again she returns to entertaining, this time in Paris, and her fame once again brings her and Townsend together. Helen and Nick return to America engaged, but she is irresistibly drawn back to her son and Ned. In which life does she truly belong?

Bob Rafelson
Thriller
Fox Searchlight Pictures
R
Bob Rafelson has stated that this is the final part of an informal trilogy he started with "Five Easy Pieces" and continued with "The King Of Marvin Gardens". In the three, Nicholson has now played son, brother and father. In this one, Nicholson is a wealthy wine dealer who has distanced himself from his wife with his philandering and from his son with his negligence. After he steals a diamond necklace with the help of a safecracker partner, Victor, things start coming apart. His wife sets out to interrupt what she thinks is another one of his weekend dalliances, but is really his trip to pawn the jewels.

Paul Morrissey
Horror
Compagnia Cinematografica Champion
R
Udo Kier is without a doubt the sickliest of vampires in any director's interpretation of the Bram Stoker tale. Count Dracula knows that if he fails to drink a required amount of pure virgin's [pronounced "wirgin's"] blood, it's time to move into a permanent coffin. His assistant (Renfield?) suggests that the Count and he pick up his coffin and take a road trip to Italy, where families are known to be particularly religious, and therefore should be an excellent place to search for a virgin bride. They do, only to encounter a family with not one, but FOUR virgins, ready for marriage. The Count discovers one-by-one that the girls are not as pure as they say they are, meanwhile a handsome servant/Communist begins to observe strange behaviour from the girls who do spend the night with the Count. It's a race for Dracula to discover who's the real virgin, before he either dies from malnourishment or from the wooden stake of the Communist!

Robert Vincent O'Neill
Horror
Crown International Pictures

Jean Cocteau
Drama
Vicomte de Noailles

Joel Coen
Crime
Foxton Entertainment

A bar-owner in Texas is certain that his wife is cheating on him and hires a private detective to spy on her. This is just the beginning of a complex plot which is full of misunderstandings and deceit. Ethan and Joel Cohen's first feature film.

Carlos Saura
Music Video & Concerts
Eclipse from Criterion
PG
In the wake of Criterion's release of "Cría Cuervos", his haunting Franco-era allegory, comes Carlos Saura's famed trilogy, crafted in collaboration with producer Emiliano Piedra, cinematographer Teodoro Escamilla, and choreographer Antonio Gades. "Blood Wedding" (1981) starts out like one of Robert Altman's behind-the-scenes efforts. As the reed-thin Gades describes his initiation into dance, Saura captures every backstage detail, from the bickering of the musicians to the mementos the dancers scatter about their stations. The action culminates in a dress rehearsal of Alfredo Manas's "Bodas de Sangre", a flamenco-ballet version of Federico García Lorca's play. On the day of her betrothal, the Bride (Cristina Hoyos) runs off with Leonardo (Gades), a married man. To appease his Mother (Pilar Cárdenas), the Groom (Juan Antonio Jiménez) sets out to avenge the family name.
In "Carmen" (1983), Saura's biggest international hit, he takes on Georges Bizet's operatic adaptation of Prosper Mérimée's novella. Fiction bleeds into fact as the performers incarnate their parts. The narrative begins with Gades's search for a dancer to play the tragic heroine. He finds her in headstrong hoofer Carmen (Laura del Sol) with whom he embarks on an affair. As with Gades, Cristina Hoyos plays a character much like herself, a dancer relegated to a supporting role (composer/guitarist Paco de Lucía also appears under his own name). Instead of a full-length performance, "Carmen" proceeds through a series of rehearsals and offstage encounters. The more time he spends with his leading lady--described in the text as a "she-wolf"--the more possessive Gades becomes. He demands fidelity, Carmen longs for freedom. Finally, in a fit of rage, he solves their problem--permanently. Manuel de Falla's ballet "El Amor Brujo" (1986) opens on a stage set made up like a gypsy village. (As with the previous films, there is no audience, though the dancers never break character.) Two men agree that their children, José and Candela, will marry when they are grown. The years go by and a wedding comes to pass, though Carmelo (Gades) secretly desires Candela (Hoyos), and Lucía ("Carmen"'s Laura del Sol) feels the same about José (Jiménez). Then José is killed in a knife fight, but every evening Candela dances with his ghost, so she remains blind to Carmelo’s devotion. Of the trilogy, "El Amor Brujo" ("Love, the Magician") features the least dancing, making it less satisfying, but just as passionate--and more optimistic--than its tragic predecessors. For aficionados of dance on film, Carlos Saura's "Flamenco Trilogy" belongs on the shelf with "The Red Shoes" and "West Side Story" (his trio is also filled with finger-snaps and switchblades). For those who wish to dig deeper, Saura followed up with the related documentaries "Sevillanas" (1992) and "Flamenco" (1995), which would have rounded out this set nicely. As with the other entries in Criterion's Eclipse Series (focusing on international masters, like Ingmar Bergman and Louis Malle), this collection may be devoid of extras, but it still represents one of the best deals around. "--Kathleen C. Fennessy"

Clint Eastwood
Action
Malpaso Productions
R
Retired FBI profiler Terry McCaleb (Eastwood), who has recently had a heart transplant, is hired by Graciela Rivers (De Jesus), to investigate the death of her sister, Gloria, who happens to have given McCaleb his heart. On the case, he soon deducts that the killer, who staged the murder to look like a random robbery, may actually be a serial killer Terry was trailing for years in the FBI. Can the elderly and feeble McCaleb, who had intended to spend his retirement living on his boat in the Los Angeles harbor, and who can't drive, and has to nap regularly, muster up the endurance to find the killer?

Ralph Brooke
Horror
cinegrafik

A group of teen-agers vacationing in the tropics take a boat out to a seemingly deserted island. They soon find, however, that the island is inhabited by a wealthy recluse and his staff. While their host is initially hospitable, he quickly reveals his true purpose: to hunt down and kill each of his visitors, as he has done with everyone unlucky enough to set foot on his island.

Paul Greengrass
Drama
Bórd Scannán na hÉireann
R
Documentary-style drama showing the events that lead up to the tragic incident on January 30, 1972 in the Northern Ireland town of Derry when a protest march led by civil rights activist Ivan Cooper was fired upon by British troops, killing 13 protesters and wounding 14 more.

Ted Demme
Biography
Apostle
R
A boy named George Jung grows up in a struggling family in the 1950's. His mother nags at her husband as he is trying to make a living for the family. It is finally revealed that George's father cannot make a living and the family goes bankrupt. George does not want the same thing to happen to him, and his friend Tuna, in the 1960's, suggests that he deal marijuana. He is a big hit in California in the 1960's, yet he goes to jail, where he finds out about the wonders of cocaine. As a result, when released, he gets rich by bringing cocaine to America. However, he soon pays the price.

Brian De Palma
Crime
Cinema 77
R
This stylish Brian DePalma thriller plays off the theme of the unsuspecting witness who discovers a crime and is thereby put in grave danger, but with a novel twist. Jack is a sound-man who works on "Grade-B" horror movies. Late one evening, he is "sampling" sounds for use on his movies, when he hears something unexpected through his sound equipment and records it. Curiosity gets the better of him when the media become involved, and he begins to unravel the pieces of a nefarious conspiracy. As he struggles to survive against his shadowy enemies and expose the truth, he doesn't know who he can trust.

Krzysztof Kieslowski
Drama
CAB Productions

Three Colors: Blue is the first part of Kieslowski's trilogy on France's national motto: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. Blue is the story of Julie who loses her husband, an acclaimed European composer and her young daughter in a car accident. The film's theme of liberty is manifested in Julie's attempt to start life anew free of personal commitments, belongings grief and love. She intends to spiritually commit suicide by withdrawing from the world and live completely independently, anonymously and in solitude in the Parisian metropolis. Despite her intentions, people from her former and present life intrude with their own needs. However, the reality created by the people who need and care about her, a surprising discovery and the music around which the film revolves heals Julie and irresistably draws her back to the land of the living.

Josef von Sternberg
Drama
Universum Film (UFA)

Immanuel Rath, an old bachelor, is a professor at the town's university. When he discovers that some of his pupils often go into a speakeasy, The Blue Angel, to visit a dancer, Lola Lola, he comes there to confront them. But he is attracted to Lola. The next night he comes again--and does not sleep at home. This causes trouble at work and his life takes a downward spiral.

Karen Moncrieff
Drama
Peer Oppenheimer Production Inc.
R
Gifted 18-year-old Meg (Bruckner) has been abandoned by her father and neglected by her hardworking mother. Left to care for her emotionally disturbed younger sister, her world begins to unravel. She finds an outlet in writing poetry and support from her English teacher, Mr. Auster (Straithairn). But what started out as a mentoring relationship begins to get a bit more complex.

Paul Schrader
Crime
TAT Communications Company
R
Three workers, Zeke, Jerry and Smokey, are working at a car plant and drinking their beers together. One night when they steal away from their wives to have some fun they get the idea to rob the local union's bureau safe. First they think it is a flop, because they get only 600 dollars out of it, but then Zeke realizes that they also have gotten some 'hot' material. They decide to blackmail their union. The best reason for that is the union itself. All three are provoked by the fact that the union claims to have lost 10,000 dollars by their robbery.

John Stockwell
Drama
Imagine Entertainment
PG-13
Nothing gets between Anne Marie and her board. Living in a beach shack with three roommates including her rebellious younger sister, she is up before dawn every morning to conquer the waves and count the days until the Pipe Masters surf competition. Having transplanted herself to Hawaii with no one's blessing but her own, Anne Marie finds all she needs in the adrenaline-charged surf scene ... until pro quarterback Matt Tollman comes along. Like it or not, Anne Marie starts losing her balance - and finding it - as she falls for Matt.

Marshall Lewy
Comedy
Eagle Vision
R
On the eve of John Kerry's 2004 defeat, campaign volunteer John Logue, canvasing in Ohio, says he'll move to Canada if Bush wins. His pledge gets televised, so when John returns to San Francisco - where his old job and girl-friend evaporate - his friends expect him to deliver on the promise. He gets a call from marryacanadian.org, accepts their invitation to come to Winnipeg, interviews traveling companions, picks Chloe (she with a nose ring), and sets out. Both John and Chloe have secrets, revealed one at a time, and Winnipeg in 2004, with men and women willing to help US ex-pats gain citizenship, may not be what either needs. Echoes of the Vietnam war help them decide.

Robert N. Bradbury
Western
Lone Star Productions (I)

When Sheriff Jake sees a man at the safe and then finds the payroll gone, he trails him. Just as he is about to arrest him, the man saves his life. Still suspicious, he joins up with the man and later they learn that Melgrove, the towns leading citizen, is trying to take over the area's ranches by having his gang stop all incoming supply wagons. With the ranchers about to sell to Melgrove, the two newcomers say they will bring in provisions.

David Lynch
Crime
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG)
R
A man returns to his home town after being away and discovers a severed human ear in a field. Not satisfied with the police's pace, he and the police detective's daughter carry out their own investigation. The object of his investigation turns out to be a beautiful and mysterious woman involved with a violent and perversely evil man.

John Landis
Action
Universal Pictures
R
After the release of Jake Blues from prison, he and brother Elwood go to visit the old home where they were raised by nuns. They learn the church stopped its support and will sell the place to the education authority, and the only way to keep the place open is if the $5000 tax on the property is paid within 11 days. The brothers want to help and decide to put their blues band back together and raise the the money by staging a big gig. As they set off on their "mission from god" they seem to make more enemies along the way. Will they manage to come up with the money in time?

Paul Mazursky
Comedy
Warner Bros. Pictures
R
Lawyer Stephen Blume, specialized in divorces, lives a paradoxical situation when, having his own marriage break up, is still in love with his ex-wife.

Paul Mazursky
Comedy
Columbia Pictures Corporation
R
Documentary film-maker Bob Saunders and his wife Carol attend a group therapy session that serves as the backdrop for the opening scenes of the film. Returning to their Los Angeles home, the newly "enlightened" couple chastise their closest friends, Ted and Alice, for not coming to grips with their true feelings. Bob insists that everyone "feel" rather than intellectualize their emotions, and Carol pronounces "that's beautiful" after anyone says anything even remotely personal. Ted and Alice humor their friends, but it is obvious that there is a good-natured sexual tension at work within the foursome.

Dave Wilson
Comedy
Above Average Productions Inc.

D.A. Pennebaker
Documentary
Leacock-Pennebaker

Portrait of the artist as a young man. In spring, 1965, Bob Dylan, 23, a pixyish troubador, spends three weeks in England. Pennebaker's camera follows him from airport to hall, from hotel room to public house, from conversation to concert. Joan Baez and Donovan, among others, are on hand. It's the period when Dylan is shifting from acoustic to electric, a transition that not all fans, including Baez, applaud. From the opening sequence of Dylan holding up words to the soundtrack's "Subterranean Homesick Blues," Dylan is playful and enigmatic.

Bob Dylan
Documentary

Joel Gilbert
Documentary
Music Video Distributors

Murray Lerner
Documentary

Beth McCarthy-Miller
Music Video & Concerts
Sony
NR
Recorded in 1994, "Bob Dylan: MTV Unplugged" is a brilliant, quietly impassioned performance by one of pop music's most significant figures. Fronting his empathetic five-piece band (Bucky Baxter excels on dobro, mandolin, and pedal steel guitar; Bob himself plays frequent "rhythm leads" on his Martin), Dylan performs four of his best-known and potentially most overdone tunes in the 73-minute show; but "All Along the Watchtower," "The Times They Are A-Changin'," "Like a Rolling Stone," and "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" all sound great, with Dylan, as is his wont, re-casting both the arrangements and melodies. Even better is the obscure "John Brown" (written in the early '60s but apparently unreleased by Dylan until now), a driving, biting war protest song of the kind that made him famous, while "Dignity," a lesser-known tune from the '90s, is filled with great lines ("Met Prince Phillip at the home of the blues... said he was abused by dignity"), and "Shooting Star" revisits "Oh Mercy", Dylan's best '80s album. Through it all, Dylan says nary a word, although he does smile and shake some hands (even removing his shades) at the end. And as good as it may be, this show is most likely different from every Dylan concert before or since, a sure sign of an artist in no danger of becoming irrelevant. "--Sam Graham"

Jean-Pierre Melville
Crime
Organisation Générale Cinématographique

Bob, a old gangster and gambler is almost broke, so he decides in spite of the warnings of a friend, a high official from the police, to rob a gambling casino in Dauville. Everything is planed exactly, but the police is informed about the planned coup. Meanwhile in the Casino Bob starts to gamble.

Various
Comedy
20th Century Fox
NR
In addition to inspiring a college drinking game that's never gone out of style, "The Bob Newhart Show" gave one of America's greatest stand-up comedians a perfect sitcom showcase. This wasn't Newhart's first TV show (following the success of his comedy albums, he hosted a short-lived variety show in 1961-62), but it was the first to transfer his wry, inimitable wit to an effective alter ego, and as mild-mannered psychologist Bob Hartley, 43-year-old Newhart found a sublime character conduit for stone-faced sarcasm that was biting but never malicious.
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Living in a Chicago high-rise with Emily, his wife of three years and a third-grade schoolteacher (played with underrated smartness by Suzanne Pleshette), 40-year-old Bob divides his time equally between happy (but not too happy) domesticity and time at the office, where he employs a feisty and frequently lovelorn receptionist Carol (Marcia Wallace, who later enjoyed a thriving career providing voices for "The Simpsons" and other animated shows) who also works for Jerry (Peter Bonerz, who became a respected TV director), a bachelor dentist and Bob's best friend.
The first season (of six, on CBS until August 1978) offered the same high quality as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (also produced by Moore's MTM Enterprises) and established many of the memorable characters who contributed to the show's enduring greatness. Bill Daily (late of "I Dream of Jeannie") would thrive as the Hartley's divorced neighbor Howard (his uninvited "Hi Bob!" intrusions inspired that infamous drinking game), while married neighbor Margaret (Patricia Smith) would disappear by season's end. Among Bob's hilarious group-therapy patients, the miserable misanthrope Mr. Carlin (Jack Riley) was a comedic goldmine as the series progressed, but it's Newhart's own comic genius--including his perfected phone-call routines and deadpan reactions to everyday dilemmas--that remained the show's greatest asset. These 24 first-season episodes are remarkably consistent under the direction (mostly) of sitcom veterans Jay Sandrich and Alan Rafkin, and guest stars include Penny Marshall, Louise Lasser, Allen Garfield, Chuck McCann, and a host of other '70s TV stalwarts, all meshing nicely with one of TV's funniest ensemble casts. --"Jeff Shannon"

Various
Comedy
Fox Home Entertainment

Various
Comedy
20th Century Fox
NR
It's more of the same in this box set from the third season of "The Bob Newhart Show". That's altogether a good thing, as the mid-'70s series (these 24 episodes, compiled on three discs, come from 1974-75) remains a model of restraint in a sea of sit-com overkill, then and now. What a pleasure, not to mention a relief, it is to watch a comedy that manages to be more than a frantic cavalcade of shrill one-liners, would-be witty repartee, and endless sexual innuendo. Not that the show (the first of his two long-running series; "Newhart" followed in 1982), isn't funny. As Bob Hartley, Newhart brings his usual repertoire of deadpan takes, mild physical shtick, and exquisite timing to the part of a sometimes reticent, often confused Chicago psychologist who's not a whole lot more comfortable in his own skin than some of his group therapy patients; it's his equanimity as a performer that keeps the character amusing without going over the top. And while the other roles (including the reliable Suzanne Pleshette as wife Emily, Peter Bonerz as bachelor orthodontist Jerry Robinson, and Bill Daily as neighbor Howard Borden) are also well-defined, this is genuinely an ensemble program, dependent more on the characters' interactions than on the storylines and gags. Without a doubt, some of it will seem dated; when Emily (Pat Finley) moves in with Howard across the hall, the buttoned-up Bob treats his thirtysomething sister as if she were his teenage daughter, a dynamic that will hardly ring true these days. But "The Bob Newhart Show" makes no effort whatsoever to be hip. Indeed, its very squareness (cf. Bob's ironic description of one of Emily's outfits as "boss threads") is a big part of its charm, as is the fact that this is first and foremost a show for grownups. Bonus features include commentary (by Newhart and others) on five episodes, as well as a "making of" featurette. Nothing special, but with well over ten hours of material, the set is still a bargain. "--Sam Graham"

Various
Comedy
20th Century Fox
NR
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" was clearly comedian Bob Newhart and company's motto during the fourth season (1975-76) of "The Bob Newhart Show", all 24 episodes of which are preserved in this three-disc set. Even with the show's ratings dipping somewhat, there's no shark-jumping going on here; Newhart and producers Jay Tarses and Tom Patchett clearly understood what made this show tick, and notwithstanding a little tinkering, they stuck with it. "It," of course, largely depended on Newhart himself. A brilliant reactor, he continues to bring his array of deadpan takes and brilliant, understated timing to the part of Chicago psychologist Bob Hartley, who's surrounded by the usual group of family (primarily Suzanne Pleshette as wife Emily), friends (Peter Bonerz as best bud Jerry Robinson), neighbors (Bill Daily as the tactless Howard Borden), staff (Marcia Wallace is always a riot as receptionist Carol Kester), patients (Jack Riley is the standout as the neurotic Mr. Carlin, but they're all good), and various guest stars (including Rene Auberjonois, Tom Poston, and Lawrence Pressman). Carol gets married a few episodes in, and Emily is promoted to vice-principal at her school, but these are largely cosmetic changes that do little to alter the series' overall tone.
Aside from Newhart himself, props are due to the writers. As always, "The Bob Newhart Show"'s humor is mostly low-key, with none of the raunch, tasteless sexual innuendo, and flamboyant idiocy of today's sit-coms. What's more, subjects as serious as death ("The Longest Good-bye" and "Death of a Fruitman"), obesity ("Heavyweights," in which Bob presides over a workshop for "people of the hefty persuasion"), professional ethics ("Who is Mr. X?"), and jealousy on the job ("A Matter of Vice-Principal") are broached without ever becoming sententious or heavy-handed. Of course, three decades after the fact, some things will seem a little dated: the clothes are cringe-worthy, and it's hard to imagine anyone these days getting away with describing Beirut as a place where "everybody looks like Danny Thomas." Still, Newhart's show remains one of the best of the several great sit-coms that emerged in the '70s. Bonus features include commentary (by Newhart and others) on five episodes, a gag reel, and a featurette. "--Sam Graham"

Unknown
Comedy

Tim Robbins
Comedy
Miramax Films

Documentary-style look at the fictional Senatorial campaign of Bob Roberts, an arch-conservative folk singer turned politician. This political satire includes several original songs co-written and performed by writer/director/star Tim Robbins, and cameo appearances by other stars as reporters and news anchors.

Sydney Pollack
Drama
Columbia Pictures Corporation

Bobby Deerfield (Al Pacino), a famous American race car driver on the European circuit, falls in love with the enigmatic Lillian Morelli (Marthe Keller), who is terminally ill.

Keith Truesdell
Comedy
Dakota North Entertainment

Oscar Micheaux
Drama
Micheaux Film

A minister is malevolent and sinister behind his righteous facade. He consorts with, and later extorts from, the owner of a gambling house, and betrays an honest girl, eventually driving them both to ruin.

Brian De Palma
Drama
Columbia Pictures Corporation
R
Jake comes home to find his girlfriend with another man and has to find a new place. In between his acting workshops and his job in a vampire B-movie, he scans the paper looking for anything. He happens to meet a fellow actor who needs a house sitter. Both are pleased with the arrangement that will have Jake staying in the house and for a sweetener, Frank shows him his 'favorite neighbor', a well built woman who strips with her window open each night. Jake becomes obsessed with meeting her and is able to help recover her purse from a thief, but shows his own phobia, he is incapacitated by claustrophobia when the thief runs through a tunnel. When Jake witnesses a murder, he finds out that the police love to pin crimes on peeping Toms. Jake discovers that here are just too many coincidences but must hunt them down himself without the police.

Phil Donahue, Ellen Spiro
Documentary
Mobilus Media

Body of War is a documentary following Tomas Young, an Iraq War veteran paralyzed from a bullet to the spine, on a physical and emotional journey as he adapts to his new body and begins to question the decision to go to war in Iraq. From soldier to anti-war activist, the film takes an unflinching view of the physical and emotional aftermath of war through the eyes of an American hero. The film unfolds on two parallel tracks. On the one hand, we see Tomas evolving into a powerful voice against the war as he struggles to deal with the complexities of a paralyzed body. And on the other hand, we see the historic debate unfolding in the Congress about going to war in Iraq.

Simon Nuchtern
Action
Nippon-American Productions

Karate master and anti-drug vigilante Chiba returns to his home in Japan, where he holds a press conference announcing his intention to wipe out the nation's drug industry. He also offers his services as a bodyguard to anyone who is willing to come forward and provide information about the drug lords' activities. He is soon approached by a mysterious woman claiming to have important information and asking for Chiba's protection. She seems to be legitimate, but is she really what she appears to be?

Bill Couturié
Documentary
HBO Films

Ben Younger
Thriller
New Line Cinema
R
A morally decent college dropout finds himself at conflict with his harsh federal judge father. He gets a job as a stock broker and gets on the fast track to success. Only things take a turn for the worst when he learns that his job isn't what's it cracked up to be.

John Derek
Drama
City Films
R
Follows the tale of a young woman's sexual awakening and subsequent journey around the world in pursuit of her ideal lover. Encounters include an Arabian sheik and a Spanish bullfighter. Her friend and butler accompany her and help to arrange her couplings. Moderate nudity and soft-porn.

Larry Cohen
Comedy
Jack H. Harris Enterprises
R
A thief breaks into the home of a wealthy, happily married Beverly Hills couple. He soon finds out, though, that the couple is neither as wealthy as he thought they were and are not as happily married as they appeared.

Brian De Palma
Comedy
Warner Bros. Pictures
G
Financial "Master of the Universe" Sherman McCoy sees his life unravel when his mistress Maria Ruskin hits a black boy with his car. When yellow journalist Peter Fallow enflames public opinion with a series of distorted tabloid articles on the accident, the case is seized upon by opportunists like Reverend Bacon and mayoral candidate D.A. Abe Weiss.

Agnès Varda
Drama
Parc Film

Francois is a young carpenter married with Therese. They have two little children. All goes well, life is beautiful, the sun shines and the birds sing. One day, Francois meets Emilie, they fall in love and become lovers. He still loves his wife and wants to share his new greater happiness with her.

Arthur Penn
Action
Tatira-Hiller Productions
R
A bored small-town girl and a small-time bank robber leave in their wake a string of violent robberies and newspaper headlines that catch the imagination of the Depression-struck Mid-West in this take on the legendary crime spree of these archetypal lovers on the run.

Arthur Penn
Action
Tatira-Hiller Productions
R
A bored small-town girl and a small-time bank robber leave in their wake a string of violent robberies and newspaper headlines that catch the imagination of the Depression-struck Mid-West in this take on the legendary crime spree of these archetypal lovers on the run.

James W. Horne
Comedy
Hal Roach Studios Inc.

Stan and Ollie stowaway to Scotland expecting to inherit the MacLaurel estate. However Stan's inheritance amounts to a set of bagpipes and a snuff box. The boys are tricked into enlisting in the army and are posted to India where the heiress to the MacLaurel estate has moved to be near her guardian. Her Scottish sweetheart Allan also enlists. The boys are "volunteered" by the Sergeant (Finlayson) to impersonate officers at the palace of Mir Jutra and foil a plot to murder the officers by overturning several beehives.

Paul Thomas Anderson
Drama
New Line Cinema
R
Everyone's born with one special thing, and Eddie Adams uses his humongous "asset" to take the world of film pornography by storm. Things get ugly though when success leads to drugs and ruin. Will Dirk clean up and get back on top? Will Amber see her son? Will Rollergirl ever take off her skates?!

Jaime Salvador
Comedy
Alsa Film

In the final days of WWII, an earnest but somewhat dense sailor (played by Buster Keaton) is lost at sea. Months later, he makes a landing, but, not realizing that the war is over and thinking that he is in Japan, he surrenders to Mexican police, who mistake him for a serial killer. Thrown in a jail cell with an American thug, he is to be hanged next morning, when suddenly a rocket scientist offers him and his cellmate a chance to avoid execution if they pilot an experimental atomic rocket to the Moon. The unlucky duo (plus the scientist's beautiful niece who ends up in the rocket by accident) go into space, but a mishap makes them land back in Mexico within miles of their point of departure. Thinking that they are on the Moon, the trio attempt to communicate with the natives who, of course, think them crazy, until the situation resolves itself.

Reginald Hudlin
Comedy
Paramount Pictures

Marcus is a successful advertising executive who woos and beds women almost at will. After a company merger he finds that his new boss, the ravishing Jacqueline, is treating him in exactly the same way. Completely traumatised by this, his work goes badly downhill. But then Jacqueline's more quietly attractive assistant Angela, who has been dating Marcus' best friend, shows herself more than a little concerned by his parlous state.

Troy Duffy
Action
B.D.S. Productions Inc.
R
Two Irish brothers accidentally killed mafia thugs. They turned themselves in and were released as heroes. They then see it as a calling by God and started knocking off mafia gang members one by one. Willem Dafoe plays the detective trying to figure out the killings, but the closer he was to catching the Irish brothers, the more he thinks the brothers are doing the right thing.