Laserdisc in Drama DVDs &amp; Videos

The Thin Red Line (Fox War Classics) [DVD]

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Gia

America's first supermodel Gia Carangi lives hard and dies young in the glamorous, excessive urban wilds of 1970s New York City. Adapted by Cristofer and novelist Jay McInerney from the biography "Thing of Beauty" by Stephen Fried. Made for HBO. Available in rated and unrated versions.

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$3

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The Thin Red Line (Fox War Classics) [DVD]

Terrence Malick returns to Hollywood after a two-decade hiatus with this adaptation of the classic WWII novel by James Jones. The story follows the efforts of an army platoon to capture the Japanese-controlled island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific Ocean, which will have a major effect on the outcome of the war. The members of C-for-Charlie Company are all fighting for different reasons: some to achieve glory, some to fight for democracy, and some simply to remain alive. They spend the quieter moments reflecting upon their existence, searching for meaning amid the senselessness of war. Malick's reputation as one of cinema's most brilliant directors, based on his masterworks BADLANDS and DAYS OF HEAVEN, enabled him to pull together one of the largest ensemble all-star casts in Hollywood history. The result is a sprawling epic that carries itself like a poem read in a dream, a feeling that is greatly enhanced by John Toll's floating camerawork and Hans Zimmer's haunting score. Rather than concentrating solely on the violence and destruction of war, Malick uses the situation to address philosophical questions such as man versus nature, war versus peace, and good versus evil. THE THIN RED LINE proves that after a 20-year layoff, Malick hasn't lost a step.

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$5

The Player [DVD]

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The Player [DVD]

Robert Altman's adaptation of Michael Tolkin's novel gives the notorious director a chance to address perhaps his greatest nemesis: the Hollywood studio system. Disguised as a thriller, the film assembles virtually every famous actor in Hollywood to create an exhilarating blend of real life and fiction. Tim Robbins plays Griffin Mill, a studio executive who begins to fear for his job when upstart Larry Levy's (Peter Gallagher) name becomes a hot topic on the lot. After receiving threatening postcards from an unidentified writer, Griffin tracks down David Kahane (Vincent D'Onofrio), who he thinks is the guilty party. The two argue, with disastrous results. Later, as Griffin struggles to keep his job while trying to distance himself from the law, he finds himself falling in love with Kahane's mysterious girlfriend (Greta Scacchi). THE PLAYER is a vicious satire that exposes the Hollywood industry as fraudulent, weak, and shallow. Altman's film also sends up both the noir genre and filmmaking technique, the latter notably in an extended opening shot which is a sprawling one-take that covers the studio's entire lot and features a series of hysterical pitches by actual screenwriters, including Buck Henry offering forth on his concept for THE GRADUATE 2. Bitter and electric, THE PLAYER ends on an ironic upbeat note that perfectly concludes a stellar picture.

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$2

Selena [DVD]

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$5

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Selena [DVD]

A celebration of the life of Tejano princess Selena Quintanilla Perez, the rising star who was gunned down by the president of her own fan club in 1995. Amid the racial tensions and economic hardships of 1980's South Texas, the daughter of a Mexican immigrant (himself a failed doo-wop singer) grows up to be a sensation in the blossoming Tejano scene before meeting a tragic end. Light on insight, this biopic revels rather in Selena's on-stage achievements. Selena's father is credited as an executive producer to the film.

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$5

Sex, Lies and Videotape

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Sex, Lies and Videotape

Steven Soderbergh explodes onto the scene with this provocative, intelligent drama about infidelity and voyeurism. Ann Milaney (Andie MacDowell) lives in a comfortable Louisiana home with her lawyer husband, John (Peter Gallagher). She spends her days fretting over the insurmountable problems of the world and her own unfocused sense of melancholy. Although she doesn't know it, she has a good reason to be upset: John is having a torrid affair with her younger, more extroverted sister, Cynthia (the sexy Laura San Giacomo). When Graham Dalton (James Spader), an old college pal of John's, comes to visit, all three are momentarily distracted from personal problems and intrigues as they scrutinize the odd outsider. Ann soon discovers that Graham has some strange habits and problems of his own. Plagued by impotency since the calamitous breakup of his last relationship, the young drifter finds sexual gratification by videotaping women willing to talk about their sexual past and fantasies in front of the camera. A chain of attraction and jealousy develops as the four interconnect in several varied pairings, culminating with Ann's decision to become Graham's latest subject. Soderbergh's highly influential debut independent feature plays like a dangerous thriller that builds in tension until everyone's secrets are bitterly exposed.

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$4

The Outsiders [DVD]

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The Outsiders [DVD]

Set in 1966; Produced and released in 1983. Francis Ford Coppola's stylized teen melodrama is based on the popular novel by S. E. Hinton. In 1960s Tulsa, the "right" and "wrong" sides of the tracks are represented by rival gangs, the upscale Socs and the underprivileged Greasers. Darrel Curtis (Patrick Swayze) is doing his best to raise his two younger brothers, Sodapop (Rob Lowe in his first film role) and Ponyboy (C. Thomas Howell). Sensitive Ponyboy is a budding writer in love with Cherry (Diane Lane), the unobtainable beauty from the enemy gang. When Ponyboy's buddy, troubled Johnny Cade (Ralph Macchio), kills one of the Socs in self-defense, their friend Dallas (Matt Dillon) helps the two youths hide out in an abandoned country church. There they live as exiles from a society that doesn't want them. But not all is lost, when Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dallas save some children caught in a fire they become unlikely heroes. The young cast is the jewel of this sensitive, moving film. Tom Cruise and Emilio Estevez play Greasers, and pop singer Leif Garrett plays rich-kid Bob. Dillon also starred that year in another S. E.Hinton adaptation directed by Coppola--the fascinating and extremely entertaining RUMBLE FISH.

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Air Force One

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Air Force One

President James Marshall (Harrison Ford) is one of the most respected leaders in the history of America. When Kazakhstanian separatists commit atrocities on their own people, Marshall authorizes a guerrilla mission to take their leader, General Radek (Jürgen Prochnow), into custody and restore the democratic regime. In his speech afterward, the president vows never to let America hesitate again when dealing with terrorists. However, that's before a group of them, led by the ruthless Korchunov (Gary Oldman) take over his own flight on Air Force One, with his wife and young daughter also on board. President Marshall, a decorated Vietnam veteran, becomes a one-man vigilante force in his efforts to free his family and the other hostages, retake the plane, and thwart the hijackers. Director Wolfgang Petersen's thrilling film is supported by an excellent ensemble cast, which includes William H. Macy, Philip Baker Hall, and Glenn Close as Kathryn Bennett, the vice president who must hold the Cabinet together in Marshall's absence.

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$3

The Game [DVD]

Jackie Brown (Collector's Edition) [DVD]

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The Game [DVD]

For the follow-up to his dark crime thriller SEVEN, director David Fincher decided to remain in a film noir vein. The result is THE GAME, a fast-paced cinematic roller-coaster ride that stars Michael Douglas as Nicholas Van Orton, a joyless San Francisco investment banker who receives an unusual birthday present from his estranged younger brother, Conrad (Sean Penn). The gift enrolls Nicholas in CRS (Consumer Recreation Services), a company that designs elaborate real-life games for each specific participant. As the game begins, the reluctant Nicholas becomes the victim of a series of pranks that quickly turn malicious and dangerous. Stripped of his finances and convinced that he can trust no one, Nicholas realizes that this game may be an attempt to steal his fortune and leave him for dead. In a desperate bid to regain his life, Nicholas infiltrates CRS in order to uncover the secrets of the mysterious organization. Douglas is perfect playing the uptight businessman Nicholas, cleverly riffing on his Oscar-winning performance as the cold-blooded Gordon Gekko in WALL STREET. Fincher's Kafkaesque carnival show is an exercise in taut filmmaking that mischievously pulls a seemingly endless supply of rugs out from under both Nicholas and, even more impressive, the viewer.

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$2

Blood In, Blood Out (Director's Cut Edition) [DVD]

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$6

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Jackie Brown (Collector's Edition) [DVD]

Quentin Tarantino returns to the crime genre once again with this adaptation of Elmore Leonard's RUM PUNCH. Transplanting Leonard's crime story from Miami to Tarantino's city of choice, Los Angeles, JACKIE BROWN cruises along smoothly, much like the film's 1970s soul soundtrack. The film follows Jackie Brown (Pam Grier), a flight attendant who makes extra cash by running drugs and cash for sleazebag Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson). When Jackie sees the opportunity to make off with a large chunk of change, she begins to play everyone around her, including two detectives who are threatening her with jail time if she doesn't rat out Ordell, and a sympathetic bail bondsman (Robert Forster) who finds himself falling for Jackie. Tarantino sets a pace that is laid back and groovy, building to an eventual climax that determines whether or not Jackie walks away with the booty. In much the same way that Tarantino resuscitated John Travolta's career with PULP FICTION, he does the same thing here with Grier and Forster. Overall, JACKIE BROWN is a less in-your-face effort than Tarantino's previous films, but it's this downshift in gears that makes it so refreshing.

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$6

Blue Velvet (Special Edition) [DVD]

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$10

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Blood In, Blood Out (Director's Cut Edition) [DVD]

In this epic drama exploring Chicano life in East Los Angeles, Miklo (Damian Chapa), Cruz (Jesse Borrego), and Paco (Benjamin Bratt) are three young cousins raised as brothers. Miklo, born of a Chicano mother and a white father, is Chicano on the inside, but feels betrayed by his white skin and blue eyes that keep him on the fringes of his Chicano heritage. Desperate to belong to what he feels is his true family, he'll do anything to be a part of his cousins' gang--his "family." But a retaliatory attack on a rival gang sends Miklo, out on probation, back to prison, and he finds himself in San Quentin. As he serves his time and tries to find a place in the Latino power group in prison--La Onda--his hotheaded cousin Paco turns to a career in law enforcement, while Cruz makes his way as a successful artist. Cruz's career hits a dead end after he gets addicted to drugs and inadvertently causes a tragedy that alientates him from his family. With their respective paths drawing the family apart, the three men must find out who they are, and whether they can hold on to the bond that once united them. Benjamin Bratt and Jesse Borrego turn in believable, moving portrayals as Miklo's cousins in this decade-spanning drama loosely based on actual prison gang riots in the 1980s.

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$10

Cop Land (Collector's Edition) [DVD]

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$5

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Blue Velvet (Special Edition) [DVD]

Director David Lynch follows up 1984's DUNE with this electrifyingly original thriller. After returning to his hometown of Lumberton, North Carolina, in order to visit his sick father, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) discovers a severed human ear in a vacant field. He befriends Sandy Williams (Laura Dern), the daughter of the detective assigned to the case, and uses her information to investigate the situation himself. This leads Jeffrey to Dorothy Valence (Isabella Rossellini), a sexy nightclub singer whose involvement with a raving psychopath named Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper) begins to answer some important questions. Unfortunately, it also draws Jeffrey one step closer to Frank, a menacing figure who inhales from a nitrous-oxide tank and preaches the pleasures of drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. The film contains such a unique blend of comedy, drama, and suspense that the line between the three is blurred, making for an unsettling yet highly invigorating viewing experience. Lynch manages to create a world onscreen that is superficially normal but tinted with a weirdness that is all his own. It is this twisting of reality that makes BLUE VELVET an oddly familiar yet completely unique motion picture, featuring an unforgettable performance by Dennis Hopper.

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True Blood [DVD]

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True Blood [DVD]

Two brothers are torn apart by the code of the street. Ray, framed for the murder of a cop, is determined to rescue his brother Donny from an impending gang war and finger the real cop killer.

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$4

The Yellow Rolls Royce [DVD]

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$5

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Cop Land (Collector's Edition) [DVD]

In the idyllic bedroom community of Garrison, New Jersey, a community of NYPD officers takes refuge away from the big city's troubles while still enjoying all the kickbacks, cover-ups, and mob-owned banking privileges from across the river. But the code of silence is tested when an off-duty, drunk rookie cop from their ranks wrongfully kills two black men and the local sheriff begins to investigate. COP LAND is an ambitious ensemble drama notable for eliciting a strong performance (and a 40-lb weight gain) from Sylvester Stallone.

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The Yellow Rolls Royce [DVD]

Following THE V.I.P.'S, their film about stars stranded at the airport, director Anthony Asquith and writer Terence Rattigan, turned to this stars-on-the-road vehicle; an unconnected three part romantic drama about the glamorous owners of a classic Rolls-Royce. Lord Frinton (Rex Harrison) originally purchases the car in the 1930s as a gift for his beautiful French wife (Jeanne Moreau) only to discover that she is using it to carry on an affair. He promptly sells the car. In Genoa, an American gangster, Paolo Maltese (George C. Scott), buys the car to tour Italy with his gum chewing moll, Mae (Shirley MacLaine). A handsome photographer (Alain Delon) pursues Mae from town to town, but she resists until Paolo has business to attend to in America, leaving them alone in the Rolls, which once again acts as an aphrodesiac. When Paolo returns, he gets wise and sells the car. During the Second World War, American millionairess Gerda Millett (Ingrid Bergman) buys the Rolls, now looking much the worse for wear, in Trieste for a dangerous trip to war torn Yugoslavia. When she meets Davich (Omar Sharif), a dashing young Yougoslav partisan, he compels her to take him with her. While not as weighty as previous Asquith-Rattigan efforts, THE WINSLOW BOY and THE BROWNING VERSION, this continental romp still manages a nice blend of drama and romance.

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$9

To Kill a Mockingbird

Rear Window (Collector's Edition) [DVD]

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$14

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To Kill a Mockingbird

Robert Mulligan's classic adaptation of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, set in the racially charged atmosphere of Macon County, Alabama in the 1930s, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is a poignant coming-of-age story. Winner of four Academy Awards including Best Screenplay (written by Horton Foote), and Best Actor (Gregory Peck), TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is a timeless film packed with beautiful scenes and meaningful life lessons. The story is told from the vantage point of a young girl nicknamed Scout (Mary Badham) whose widowed white father Atticus Finch (Peck), an attorney, decides on principle to defend a black man (Brock Peters) charged with raping a poor white woman. But the bigoted townspeople would rather lynch the accused than try him, and they make life hellish for the lawyer, his daughter, and his son Jem (Philip Alford). While their father is in the throes of the trial, his bright, inquisitive children learn a hard and unforgettable lesson in justice, morality, and prejudice, part of which requires overcoming an unfounded fear of their mysterious neighbor Boo Radley (Robert Duvall).

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$14

Romeo and Juliet [DVD]

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Romeo and Juliet [DVD]

This timeless Shakespeare tale of two star-crossed lovers has made it to the screen in numerous variations, but perhaps none rival director George Cukor's lavish 1936 production for sheer romantic will; producer Irving Thalberg appointed him for his well-known ability to weave elaborate productions and emotional story lines. Norma Shearer, Thalberg's wife, plays Juliet to Leslie Howard's Romeo. Both stars, at the height of their fame going into ROMEO AND JULIET (though neither was close to being an actual teenager), portray the achingly poignant young lovers whose families are sworn enemies in this classically beautiful Hollywood adaption. Striving for perfection, Thalberg hired literary consultants to ensure that the abridged screenplay would be faithful to the Bard's original lines. John Barrymore makes his presence felt as the boisterous Mercutio, Romeo's close friend. ROMEO AND JULIET was Cukor's, (originally a theater director) only Shakespeare adaptation, and his largest production up to that time. This well-crafted film garnered four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and a Best Actress nod for Norma Shearer.

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Rear Window (Collector's Edition) [DVD]

The weather is getting hotter, and photographer L.B. Jefferies (Jimmy Stewart) is stuck in his apartment with a broken leg and nothing to do--that is, nothing to do but spy on his neighbors through their open windows across the way in the apartment complex. There's an attractive and scantily clad dancer, a songwriter, a lonely woman, and the Thorwalds (Raymond Burr and Irene Winston), a bickering couple, among others. But when Mrs. Thorwald disappears, Jefferies is sure that something's wrong. Soon, despite the warnings of his girlfriend, Lisa (Grace Kelly), and his motherly nurse, Stella (Thelma Ritter), Jefferies has out his binoculars and telephoto lens and is studying his neighbor "like a bug under glass." However, looking in from the outside might not be as safe as Jefferies assumes. REAR WINDOW is not only a gripping story of murder and suspense, it is a celebrated allegory on the nature of film itself, a story in which the audience watches Jefferies watch the story unfold. The different windows represent the various different stories that are often told on film and also can be seen as representing the coming of television, as Jefferies can watch a multitude of "shows" from the comfort of his own apartment.

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$5

Oliver Twist [DVD]

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$3

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Oliver Twist [DVD]

In this elaborate made-for-TV production of the classic Charles Dickens novel, young orphan Oliver Twist (Alex Trench) joins a gang of impoverished pickpocketing children, along with their leader, Fagin (Richard Dreyfuss), and the Artful Dodger (Elijah Wood). Poor Oliver struggles to break free of this harsh life, the pickpockets, and a sweatshop, before he sets off to London to find his relatives.

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$3

The Apostle [DVD]

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$6

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The Apostle [DVD]

After being squeezed out of his church by his ex-wife, a Texas fundamentalist preacher's alcohol-fueled rage sends him off the deep end. After beating her new beau into a coma, he flees to Louisiana and seizes the chance to reinvent himself as a devout "Apostle," founding a new church and captivating the citizenry while keeping his sins buried. Duvall, who also wrote and produced, is riveting in the title role. Academy Award Nominations: 1--Best Actor (Duvall).

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Gia

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$2

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Gia

America's first supermodel Gia Carangi lives hard and dies young in the glamorous, excessive urban wilds of 1970s New York City. Adapted by Cristofer and novelist Jay McInerney from the biography "Thing of Beauty" by Stephen Fried. Made for HBO. Available in rated and unrated versions.

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$2

G.I. Jane [DVD]

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$4

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G.I. Jane [DVD]

Demi Moore stars as Lieutenant Jordan O'Neil, the first female candidate for the U.S. Navy SEAL unit, a clandestine strike force drawn from the crème de la crème of the combined services--an opportunity provided her by the political maneuvering of Senator Lillian de Haven (Anne Bancroft). To make the grade, Jordan has to survive a grueling selection process in which 60 percent of all candidates wash out. Enigmatic Master Chief John Urgayle (Viggo Mortensen) runs the brutal training program that involves 20-hour days of running, marching, and crawling through obstacle courses under the worst weather conditions while carrying landing rafts--not to mention eating out of a garbage can during breaks. Along with the best of the men, the lean, mean, shaven-headed Jordan handles the punishment, including a bizarrely motivated beating from her drill sergeant. The top brass, confident that a woman would quickly drop out, becomes concerned as Jordan's ability to handle SEAL training becomes evident. Soon she must contend with trumped-up charges that she's fraternizing with women, and the senator begins receiving threats that military bases in her state may have to be closed. Director Ridley Scott aestheticizes the harrowingly realistic training sequences with photography of austere beauty.

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$4

Torrents of Spring [DVD]

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Torrents of Spring [DVD]

In this period romantic drama, Sanin (Timothy Hutton), an aristocratic young man, fights a duel for the hand of Gemma (Valeria Golino), a young bride-to-be. He plans to sell his family estate to finance the wedding, but his plans go awry when he falls prey to married seductress Maria (Nastassja Kinski). She feigns interest in buying the estate as a way to be nearer Sanin, and he must fight against the possibility of losing both women.

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$4

Joe [DVD]

Selena (10th Anniversary 2-Disc Special Edition) ...

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Joe [DVD]

Director John G. Avildsen's violent and gritty portrayal of the clash between the counterculture and establishment of 1970s New York became an instant cult classic. Dennis Patrick stars as Bill Compton, a New York advertising executive whose hippie daughter, Melissa (Susan Sarandon in her film debut), is sent to rehab after she's found overdosing in an East Village drugstore. Melissa's unrepentant junkie boyfriend, Frank (Patrick McDermott), wallows in drugs and squalor until Bill visits him and flies into a violent rage that ends in murder. This act of violence wins him the admiration of Joe (Peter Boyle), a flag-waving bigoted blue-collar worker, as the two strike up an unlikely friendship in a local bar. Joe's knowledge of Bill's heinous crime becomes a subtle form of emotional blackmail as the two men spend time together in a bizarre class struggle between their two disparate worlds. When Melissa runs away, the two friends, joined in their fear and hatred of the counterculture, begin a search for her in the bohemian haunts of New York's East Village. Their search turns into an ironic night of liberation as the two men carouse with a group of young hippies. However, as the evening comes to a close the two men are consumed by their hatred and guilt. A final conflict with the hippies ends in a deeply disturbing and violent climax. This stylized and stark view of hate crimes and the 1970s counterculture remains shocking and relevant to this day.

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$6

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Selena (10th Anniversary 2-Disc Special Edition) [DVD]

A celebration of the life of Tejano princess Selena Quintanilla Perez, the rising star who was gunned down by the president of her own fan club in 1995. Amid the racial tensions and economic hardships of 1980's South Texas, the daughter of a Mexican immigrant (himself a failed doo-wop singer) grows up to be a sensation in the blossoming Tejano scene before meeting a tragic end. Light on insight, this biopic revels rather in Selena's on-stage achievements. Selena's father is credited as an executive producer to the film.

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$6

In Cold Blood [DVD]

Thelma & Louise (Spa Cash) [DVD]

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$8

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In Cold Blood [DVD]

IN COLD BLOOD is Richard Brooks' stylish and powerful 1967 drama adapted from Truman Capote's novel about a shocking real-life murder case. This daring cinematic portrait employs flashbacks to fully examine what drives an individual to commit thoughtless and brutal crimes, while using a highly innovative jazz score by Quincy Jones to capture the moody atmosphere. Capote's own role as researcher-narrator of the young criminals' intense friendship, fantasies, and troubled lives is effectively brought to the screen in this striking, groundbreaking drama. Two aimless drifters, Perry Smith (Robert Blake) and Dick Hickock (Scott Wilson), target the home of Kansas businessman Herbert Clutter. After breaking into the house, they find no money, and Smith and Hickock brutally kill the entire Clutter family. They escape the scene of the crime and head for Mexico, but they eventually go back to the States, ultimately returning to Kansas. After being chased for almost a year, the troubled drifters are captured and sentenced to death.

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$8

Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life) [DVD]

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$2

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Thelma & Louise (Spa Cash) [DVD]

Fed up with her boyfriend (Michael Madsen), live-wire Arkansas waitress Louise Sawyer (Susan Sarandon) persuades her friend Thelma Dickinson (Geena Davis), a naive housewife burdened with a negligent, sexist husband (Christopher McDonald), to hit the road with her for a weekend of freedom. One of their first stops is a bar where the women relax, dance, and flirt with some of the locals. But the situation turns ugly when one man (Timothy Carhart) follows Thelma to the parking lot and attempts to rape her, causing Louise to shoot and accidentally kill him. Convinced that the police will never believe their version of the incident, the women take off, now fugitives from the law. Emboldened by recent events, Thelma picks up studly young cowboy J.D. (Brad Pitt) in Oklahoma and enjoys a one-night stand that leads to even more trouble. Director Ridley Scott's infamous feminist road movie ranks among the best films of the 1990s. Along with BLADE RUNNER and ALIEN, the film is one of Scott's finest works, largely because of Callie Khourie's vivid, brilliantly idiosyncratic script, wonderful performances from the two leads, and Adrian's Biddle's crisp photography of the American Southwest.

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In the Name of the Father (Widescreen; Subtitled ...

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Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life) [DVD]

MI VIDA LOCA is a compelling look at a microcosm of East L.A.'s Echo Park. Writer and director Allison Anders (GAS FOOD LODGING) lived in the neighborhood for many years with her daughter, inspiring her to make this film about life in a Latina girl gang. The film is sympathetic to these young women, presenting their stories honestly and with a visual flair that the subjects themselves would probably appreciate. The stories are told as a series of vignettes with different narrators, each with his or her perspective on the events portrayed. This approach allows the characters the opportunity to explain their actions, giving the audience a better understanding of behavior they might otherwise easily condemn. The key players are Mousie (Seidy Lopez) and Sad Girl (Angel Aviles), best friends who let local drug dealer Ernesto (Jacob Vargas) come between them. The film is a wonderfully realized slice-of-life: sometimes tragic, sometimes funny, and, despite its seemingly incongruously elegeiac tone, with a strong ring of truth.

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$4

The Shawshank Redemption [DVD]

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$6

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In the Name of the Father (Widescreen; Subtitled Spanish) [DVD]

Based on Gerry Conlon's autobiography, PROVED INNOCENT, Jim Sheridan's IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER tells the tumultuous and wrenching tale of a man wrongfully imprisoned in 1974 for the bombing of a London pub. Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Conlon, a young Irish petty thief living in London who gets picked up after he and a friend, Paul Hill (John Lynch), rob a hooker's apartment. The British police, desperate to produce results in their search for the culprits in the pub bombing, force a false confession out of Conlon after subjecting him to days of sadistic torture and threats. The Guildford Four--Conlon, Hill, Paddy Armstrong (Mark Sheppard), and Carole Richardson (Beatie Edney)--are found guilty of the bombing, and members of Conlon's family, including his sickly father, Guiseppe, are imprisoned as co-conspirators. Conlon's desire to bring the truth to light builds as his harrowing incarceration in a maximum security prison stretches on. The relationship between Conlon and his father, played with silent strength by Pete Postlethwaite, provides a stirring pulse at the core of this portrait of politically motivated injustice. Emma Thompson also turns in a fine performance as the lawyer who stubbornly battles for Conlon's exoneration. And Day-Lewis, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor in MY LEFT FOOT, an earlier collaboration with director Sheridan, adds to his impressive body of work with a mind-boggling performance erupting with rage, pride, heart, and courage.

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Miracle on 34th Street [DVD]

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$5

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The Shawshank Redemption [DVD]

In writer-director Frank Darabont's THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison for the murders of his wife and her lover in the late 1940s. However, only Andy knows that he didn't commit the crimes. Sent to Shawshank Prison to do hard time, Andy--a taciturn banker in the outside world--has to learn to get by in the brutal, cutthroat confines of prison life. His quiet strength slowly earns the respect of his fellow inmates--most notably, Red (Morgan Freeman)--and even much of the prison staff. But Andy's seemingly stoic acceptance of his unjust imprisonment hides a fierce determination for freedom. This beautifully crafted movie features touching and sincere performances from the entire cast, with an uplifting message about humanity's indomitable spirit and the redemptive value of hope. Based on the novella RITA HAYWORTH AND SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION by Stephen King, Darabont's intriguing adaptation is easily one of the finest films of the 1990s.

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Miracle on 34th Street [DVD]

Kris Kringle--unbeknownst to cynical, market-minded adults, the real Santa Claus--is hired to play himself at Macy's Department Store, New York City. His gentle, joyous spirit and magical powers soon transform those around him, including a little girl and her world-weary mother. Academy Award Nominations: 4, including Best Picture. Academy Awards: 3, including Best Original Story, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor--Edmund Gwenn. The 50th Anniversary Edition includes remastered footage and a promotional short.

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$8

Network

William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet [DVD]

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$12

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Network

With stunning prescience, Sidney Lumet's searing satire of television and the contemporary moment chronicles media corruption and the way that the public buys into the myths the media creates. The moral and spiritual turpitude delivered by the debilitating forces of television are rendered in sharp relief against a backdrop of crumbling humanity in what is regarded as one of the great satires in Hollywood history. With a visceral script from Paddy Chayefsky, NETWORK follows the doomed path of aging newsman Howard Beale (Peter Finch), who, upon learning that he is to be fired after decades as a news anchor, announces to millions of viewers that he will publicly commit suicide during his last broadcast. When the ratings consequently shoot up, hungry executive-in-training Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) seizes the moment to exploit Beale's Messianic nervous breakdown, turning his rage into the vehicle for the network's first Number One show and a nationwide craze. Who could have predicted that this 1976 film might someday influence an even more contagious trend in television broadcasting: the reality show?

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$12

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William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet [DVD]

This ambitious undertaking, adapting William Shakespeare's classic tale of star-crossed lovers and setting the story in a glossy music-video style in 1990s Florida. Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes play the famous lovers kept apart by rival industrialist families. Bookended by newscastsers reciting Shakespeare's prose as their copy, this clever glam updating of ROMEO AND JULIET is one of the most unusual adaptations of the Bard's work in the history of cinema. The stylish and colorful sets earned the film an Oscar nomination for art direction. John Leguizamo gives a memorable performance as a devilish Tybalt.

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$3

Twilight (Widescreen) [DVD]

Hamlet (Special Edition) [DVD]

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$4

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Twilight (Widescreen) [DVD]

As in his 1977 film THE LATE SHOW, Robert Benton focuses on a private detective who's playing the back nine. With the passing of a quarter century, however, the director's tone had grown more somber. Paul Newman stars as the detective, Harry Ross, living in semiretirement in Santa Monica on the estate owned by his movie-star friends, Jack (Gene Hackman) and Catherine Ames (Susan Sarandon). When Harry delivers a package as a favor to Jack, he finds fellow private dick Lester Ivar (M. Emmett Walsh) dying from a bullet wound. Harry checks out Ivar's apartment, where he uncovers 20-year-old clippings relating to the disappearance of Catherine's first husband. As he tries to get to the bottom of the case, he enlists the help of a former lover, LAPD lt. Verna Hollander (Stockard Channing), and receives unsolicited assistance from feckless chauffeur Reuben Escobar (Giancarlo Esposito). Ex-cop and former studio security chief Raymond Hope (James Garner) also seems to know a thing or two about the case. Strong ensemble acting and Benton's characteristically nuanced and intelligent writing highlight this sinuous, richly textured murder mystery.

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$4

The Silence of the Lambs (The Hannibal Lecter ...

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$13

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Hamlet (Special Edition) [DVD]

Director Kenneth Branagh returns to Shakespeare following his ground-breaking HENRY V and whimsical production of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. This classic tale tells the story of Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh), the prince of Denmark, a man suffering from grief at the death of his father, the king. His mother (Julie Christie) has quickly married Claudius (Derek Jacobi), Hamlet's uncle, who now reigns as the new king. Late one night Hamlet is visited by his father's ghost, who comes to tell him that Claudius poisoned him in his garden to win the crown, and that Hamlet, as his son, must now avenge his death. The prince's course of action sets the wheels of this great tragedy in motion, as the corruption of the Danish court begins to engulf everyone around it, including, finally, Hamlet himself. Branagh has assembled a stellar cast (including Kate Winslet, Billy Crystal, and Robin Williams) for this titanic enterprise, which presents HAMLET in its four hour entirety. Shot in 70-millimeter film, Branagh's HAMLET takes on the epic sweep associated with the films of Cecil B. DeMille or David Lean. By restoring Shakespeare's tragedy to its full length, Branagh has created a film of striking size and scope.

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$13

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The Silence of the Lambs (The Hannibal Lecter Series; Holiday O-Ring Packaging) [DVD]

Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins will likely be forever associated with their roles in this bone-chilling masterpiece, based on the novel by Thomas Harris and directed by Jonathan Demme. FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Foster) is sent by her supervisor (Scott Glenn) to interview ferociously intelligent serial killer Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lechter (Hopkins) at his cell in a Maryland mental hospital. The FBI hopes Lechter can provide insight into the mind of killer-at-large, Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine), whose current abductee happens to be the daughter of a senator. Intrigued by Clairice, Lechter demands information about her personal life and in exchange for clues, and the two begin to form a strangely intimate connection, with a girl's life hanging in the balance. Starling is gradually revealed as a woman struggling out of her own darkness, bound to aid the dysfunctional males around her on their own paths of transformation, liberation, and destruction. This is a film of brilliant and disturbing beauty that transcends its B-movie origins (though it does honor them with a cameo appearance by Roger Corman). Its enduring influence has led to a slew of similarly dark-toned serial killer films, and a sequel, HANNIBAL (2001).

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$2

Malcolm X

Jacksons, The: An American Dream [DVD]

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Malcolm X

Spike Lee brings the life of African-American leader Malcolm X (an intense Denzel Washington in an Oscar-nominated performance) to the big screen in this sprawling, epic biographical drama. Born Malcolm Little, son of a Nebraska preacher, on May 19, 1925, he became one of the most militant leaders and charismatic spokesmen of the black liberation movement before his assassination at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City on February 21, 1965. The film sweeps through his early life as a small-time hustler and thief with his friend Shorty (Lee), his conversion to Islam in jail, and his subsequent life as a controversial spiritual leader and husband of Betty Shabazz (Angela Bassett). Malcolm's tragic assassination is presented as a conspiracy of Nation of Islam leaders; the film shows how his philosophy has been realized in the lives of others who have been moved by his words. Filmed with great visual flair by Lee, the film is a work of entertainment as much as it is a historical artifact. Washington captures the spiritual conversion of the hero with a sincerity that is entirely as believable and ultimately moving as it was in the book that inspired the film, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X.

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$6

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Jacksons, The: An American Dream [DVD]

They lived an American dream unlike any other black American family, they were the Jacksons. Follow the controversial four decades of the family's rise from impoverished beginnings to renowned success as one of the most popular musical dynasties in the world.

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$18

Cape Fear [DVD]

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$4

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Cape Fear [DVD]

This good vs. evil thriller casts Mitchum as sadistic ex-con Max Cady determined to wreak revenge on the family of Sam Bowden, the good small-town lawyer who put him in jail years earlier. Stripped of legal recourse, the civilized Bowden is slowly forced to lower himself to Cady's bestial level to protect his family. Based on "The Executioners" by John D. MacDonald.

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$4

Goodfellas [DVD]

Hamlet (Criterion Collection) [DVD]

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Goodfellas [DVD]

Based on Nicholas Pileggi's book WISEGUY, Martin Scorsese's GOODFELLAS is a wry, violent, and exhilarating film about the life of Henry Hill, an aspiring criminal who ends up in the FBI's witness protection program after testifying against his former partners. As a poor Irish-Italian growing up in 1950s New York City, Hill (Ray Liotta) rises through the ranks of his Brooklyn neighborhood's organized crime branch, and with money from the mob he begins living the good life, complete with a beautiful bride, Karen (Lorraine Bracco), a fancy house, and the best seats at the most exclusive restaurants. A botched robbery lands Henry in prison for a brief period of time, and when he gets released, his reckless infidelities and drug abuse damage his association with his adopted family. Scorsese's film is a visual and sonic onslaught, featuring a brilliant pop-music soundtrack and stunning camera work--including the infamous Steadicam one-take that introduces the audience to the Copacabana's patrons. He uses the songs to infuse a breathtaking, invigorating rhythm into every scene. As the psychopathic Tommy DeVito, Joe Pesci delivers an unforgettable performance that is alarming in its cold-blooded callousness, helping to cement GOODFELLAS' place as a classic portrait of life in the mob.

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$3

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$14

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Hamlet (Criterion Collection) [DVD]

Before Kenneth Branagh, before Mel Gibson, Laurence Olivier gave the definitive portrayal of "the man who could not make up his mind." In 15th-century Denmark, young Prince Hamlet is racked by torment and indecision after seeing a vision of his deceased father. The late king's ghost informs his son Hamlet that Claudius, Hamlet's uncle, was responsible for murdering the king. When the murderer married Hamlet's mother--the king's widow--scarcely two months after his funeral, he also took the throne that was his brother's. The ghost beseeches Hamlet to avenge him--yet Hamlet procrastinates, unsure of how best to accomplish his task. In what was only his second directorial effort, Olivier uses his misty, moody set and long tracking camera shots to complement his indecisive prince tortured by the murder of his father. Olivier's version of the Shakespeare tragedy eliminates the characters of Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Fortinbras.

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$14

The Robe [DVD]

Available at 10 stores

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The Robe [DVD]

Based on a best-selling novel by Lloyd C. Douglas, THE ROBE is one of the best Biblical epics of all time. Richard Burton stars as Marcellus Gallio, a Roman who, after leading the crucifixion of Christ, takes home Jesus? robe and is subsequently torn by nightmares and guilt. A distraught Marcellus makes his way back to Palestine, where a humble attempt to discover more about the man who died by his hand puts him on a miraculous path toward redemption. Originally released in 1953, this crisp and vibrant film was one of the first to be filmed in beautiful, expansive CinemaScope. It was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best (Color) Cinematography, Best (Color) Costume Design, and Best (Color) Set Direction-Art Direction. Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, and Jay Robinson offer stellar supporting roles.

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What Dreams May Come

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What Dreams May Come

Four years after the tragic death of their children in a car accident, Dr. Chris Nielsen (Robin Williams) is estranged from his wife, Annie (Annabella Sciora), a painter who finds solace in deep and mystical expressionist landscapes. When flustered Annie calls him for support, he rushes out to help and is killed in a road accident. His ghost is greeted by an old mentor, Albert (Cuba Gooding Jr.), who leads him in Ghost-of-Christmas-Past-style to Annie's side. But when Chris realizes that his adherence to the corporeal world is torture to himself and the living Annie, he breaks free of his Earthly bonds and dives into the visual smorgasbord that is the afterlife. There he splashes though clouds and gobs of technicolor paint in breathtaking landscapes suggested to him by Annie's paintings. From there, to grandiose Romanesque cities of flying children, Chris and his old dog are met by a gorgeous stewardess, who reveals herself as a nearly forgotten face from his past. As Chris reconciles with his children in a world where imagination is his palette, in the real world Annie becomes sicker and sicker, and finally enters the afterlife herself. Due to the myriad rules of the Other Side, she is unable to join Chris or her children, and Chris begins a fight for his future with his soul mate.

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In Cold Blood [DVD]

Available at 8 stores

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$2

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In Cold Blood [DVD]

The second screen adaptation of Truman Capote's landmark true-crime novel about two runaway cons who murder a Kansas family.

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Jack Frost [DVD]

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Jack Frost [DVD]

Keaton stars as a blues musician and family man who is killed in an auto accident. A chance twist of fate, however, allows his spirit to inhabit a large (computer animated) snowman on the year anniversary of his accident so that he may make amends with the young son he never had enough time for.

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Dead Poets Society

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Dead Poets Society

An unconventional New England prep school teacher inspires his students with poetry and encourages them to embrace life. Academy Award Nominations: 4, including Best Picture, Best Actor--Robin Williams, Best (Original) Screenplay. Academy Awards: Best Original Screenplay.

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$12

Norma Jean and Marilyn

12 Angry Men (50th Anniversary Edition) [DVD]

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$3

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Norma Jean and Marilyn

The disturbing and tragic tale of the inner struggle of the woman known to the world as Marilyn Monroe. While the public persona was animated and vivacious, the inner child, Norma Jeane, was afraid of the success and desperate to end it. To emphasize the dual nature of Monroe's personality, director Tim Fywell cast two different actresses--Ashley Judd as needy ingenue Norma Jeane, Mira Sorvino as glam bombshell Marilyn--resulting in an unsettling and surreal psychological portrait of the doomed starlet.

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12 Angry Men (50th Anniversary Edition) [DVD]

Sidney Lumet's directorial debut is a snapshot of the American judicial system in action. Twelve average New York males convene in a very small jury room on a very hot day in order to reach a verdict in a murder trial. Almost everyone wants to vote guilty and get on with their lives except for Juror No. 8 (Henry Fonda), a conscientious citizen who insists on establishing reasonable doubt. Arguments are made, cigarettes are smoked, murder weapons examined, diagrams drawn, and prejudices revealed. Firm opinions weaken and reverse; voices get raised, the clock ticks, and a ghetto kid's life hangs in the balance. Lumet's direction and camerawork steadily builds pressure into the plot. Things start out casual, but wind up so close and tight you can count the pores on the actors' noses. Fonda is good in a role well-suited to his extra-large sense of human dignity but the stealth giant in this actors dozen is the ferocious Lee J. Cobb. Jack Klugman, E.G. Marshall, Martin Balsam, Ed Begley, and Jack Warden play some of the other jurors, and a better assemblage of grizzled method actors shouting at each other won't likely come again. 12 ANGRY MEN was originally written for television, it is a true classic of the anti-McCarthy message era, and is not to be missed.

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Poison Ivy

Dirty Dancing (2-Disc 20th Anniversay Edition) ...

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Poison Ivy

A scheming woman named Ivy insinuates herself into a solitary schoolmate's wealthy family with evil intentions.

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Available at 10 stores

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$8

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Dirty Dancing (2-Disc 20th Anniversay Edition) [DVD]

It's summer, 1963. Baby, 17 years old and all idealistic innocence, is vacationing with her parents in the Catskills. She meets Johnny, the hotel dance instructor, and is mesmerized by him as well as his dance style. She soon becomes Johnny's prize pupil - in dance and in love. Academy Awards: Best Song ("(I've Had) The Time of My Life").

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$8

The Bridges of Madison County (Deluxe Edition) ...

The Man in the Moon (Spa Cash) [DVD]

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The Bridges of Madison County (Deluxe Edition) [DVD]

Based on Robert James Waller's hugely successful novel, this 1965-set drama chronicles the touching romance between a middle-aged, Italian-American housewife and a photographer from "National Geographic." Academy Award nominations: Best Actress--Meryl Streep.

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$6

A Letter to Three Wives [DVD]

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The Man in the Moon (Spa Cash) [DVD]

Robert Mulligan's graceful coming-of-age drama, set in rural Louisiana in 1957, explores the relationship change two sisters experience when both fall for the handsome new boy next door, Court Foster (Jason London). The younger sister, 14-year-old Dani (Reese Witherspoon), gains Court's friendship and a brief kiss but not his romantic affections, which he delivers to college-bound Maureen (Emily Warfield). The once-close sisters turn into rivals while learning some painful lessons about growing up. But when a sudden tragedy strikes, they are forced to draw strength from their powerful familial bond. Witherspoon gives a moving performance in her film debut, and Mulligan demonstrates once again his graceful and tender knack (shown in previous films such as SUMMER OF '42 and TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD) for capturing the bewilderment, awkwardness, and fresh excitement of adolescence.

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$6

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$7

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A Letter to Three Wives [DVD]

Of three suburban couples suffering marital difficulties, one finds itself unexpectedly splitting when Addie Ross (Celeste Holm) runs off with one of the husbands while the wives are away on a trip--but which husband? Addie's note to the wives doesn't say. Entangled in suspense as to who has flown the coop, the three wives reflect on their marriages and the stresses within them: one wife met her upper-crust hubby while in the service and fears that she doesn't belong in his social class; another is a radio soap opera writer whose career is interfering with her marriage to a university professor; and the last is a gold digger from the wrong side of the tracks, in a turbulent marriage to a coarse businessman. Sympathetic insights into the strains and insecurities inherent in every marriage bear the genuine touch of director and screenwriter Joseph L. Mankiewicz, whose renditions of complex relationships also shine in his other movies, including ALL ABOUT EVE. Kirk Douglas, Thelma Ritter, Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, and Ann Sothern star in this film that won Best Screenplay and Best Director Oscars for Mankiewicz.

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Time to Kill

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Time to Kill

In a small southern town in the 1960s, a black man awaits trial for murdering the two rednecks who viciously raped his 10-year-old daughter. A young, idealistic white lawyer takes up the father's defense, and the incendiary case becomes a firestorm of racism and controversy, ripping the town apart. Based on John Grisham's bestselling first novel.

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Above the Rim

Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love [DVD]

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Above the Rim

Inner city basketball players give it everything they've got in a local tournament to get out of the 'hood.'

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$6

Cape Fear (2-Disc Collector's Edition) [DVD]

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$7

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Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love [DVD]

A densely atmospheric meditation on the art of sexual and emotional pleasure, told from the perspectives of members of a royal court in 16th-century India. A courtesan trained to please others revolts against her life of servitude when she is denied her true love, while a princess torn between two worthy suitors opts for the love of both.

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$7

Footloose (Widescreen Special Collector's ...

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$2

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Cape Fear (2-Disc Collector's Edition) [DVD]

Martin Scorsese's remake of J. Lee Thompson's 1962 film is a stylish, taut thriller. Public defender Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte) served as the attorney for brutal rapist Max Cady (Robert De Niro) at his arraignment. Shocked by the violence of Cady's crime, Sam duplicitously withheld information regarding the sexually promiscuous activities of Cady's rape victim--information that might have won Max's acquittal. After serving a hellish 14-year sentence in a barbaric state penitentiary, the once-illiterate Cady, who has taught himself to read and studied up on the law during his incarceration, seeks vengeance against the prosperous small-town lawyer. Max makes good on his satanic threats to terrorize Sam, stalking the vulnerable family, poisoning their dog, brutally assaulting Sam's close friend, and sexually harassing Sam's daughter, Danielle (Juliette Lewis). To rid themselves of this raging force of retribution, Sam, Leigh, and Danielle join together against Max in a final struggle for their very existence. Scorsese pays debts to Thompson's earlier version by using Bernard Herrmann's original score, as well as casting Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck, and Martin Balsam in supporting roles. Lewis delivers a stirring performance that earned her a well-deserved Oscar nomination, as did De Niro, whose tattooed vengeance seeker is one of cinema's most terrifying, notorious presences.

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$2

Ordinary People (Sensormatic) [DVD]

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Footloose (Widescreen Special Collector's Edition) [DVD]

This classic tale of teen rebellion features a delightful combination of dance choreography and realistic, touching performances. When teenager Ren (Kevin Bacon) and his family move from big-city Chicago to a small midwestern town, he's in for a real case of culture shock. Though he tries hard to fit in, the streetwise Ren can't quite believe he's living in a place where rock music and dancing are illegal. There is one small pleasure, however: Ariel (Lori Singer), a troubled but lovely blonde--who also has a jealous boyfriend. In fact, it is Ariel's dad (John Lithgow), a Bible-thumping minister, who is responsible for keeping the town dance-free. Ren and his classmates want to do away with this ordinance--especially since the senior prom is around the corner--but only Ren has the courage to initiate a battle. Ren's pent-up frustrations cause a confrontation with Rev. Shaw Moore and the local town council as he takes on the small-town establishment struggling to abolish the outmoded ban and revitalize the spirit of the repressed townspeople. Herb Ross's fast-paced drama is filled with such hit songs as the title track and "Let's Hear It for the Boy" and is a classic of 1980s Brat Pack cinema.

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Ordinary People (Sensormatic) [DVD]

Devastated by the loss of their older son, well-to-do suburban couple Calvin (Donald Sutherland) and Beth (Mary Tyler Moore) are trying to rebuild their lives after their younger son, Conrad (Timothy Hutton), attempts suicide. While Beth, who always favored the elder son, retreats into an icy, emotionless shell, Calvin tries to draw Conrad back into the family and into life as a teenager. Conrad sings in the choir and returns to the swim team, but both his brother's death and his own experiences traumatize him. Conrad reluctantly begins therapy sessions with Berger (Judd Hirsch), which allow him some respite from the unbearable grief and guilt he carries with him. As Conrad makes strides, Calvin realizes that he no longer knows his wife and is both saddened and angered by how seemingly emotionless she has become. A classic portrait of family life in the face of tragedy, Robert Redford's award-winning directorial debut is moving and thought provoking. Based on the novel by Judith Guest, the film features the debuts of Timothy Hutton and Elizabeth McGovern as well as breakthrough performances from Mary Tyler Moore and Donald Sutherland.

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Black Widow [DVD]

Basic Instinct (Director's Cut) [Blu-ray Disc]

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Black Widow [DVD]

The black widow spider mates to kill--and so does the femme fatale of this noir thriller. Catharine (Theresa Russell) makes quite a glamorous living by marrying well and then carefully murdering her devoted husbands after ensuring that her name's on the will. No one suspects that the beautiful and affluent widow is actually a killer, as she hides her tracks well, using undetectable poisons. But her luck turns when federal agent Alexandra Barnes (Debra Winger) takes a closer look into the case and suspects she's found a serial killer. Soon Barnes books a flight to Hawaii, where Catharine's doing her mourning in the sun, and discovers that the widow has already gotten her claws into a highly successful hotel tycoon. However, Barnes quickly becomes obsessed with both her alluring subject and with the sophisticated businessman--a situation Catharine is sure to exploit. Like THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, director Bob Rafelson's BLACK WIDOW refers to an earlier noir film of the same name (directed by Nunnally Johnson in 1954), though similarities stop at the ruthless title character.

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What's Eating Gilbert Grape (Special Collector's ...

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Basic Instinct (Director's Cut) [Blu-ray Disc]

This steamy thriller to end all steamy thrillers stars Michael Douglas as Nick, a boozy San Francisco police detective who finds himself drawn to the prime suspect in a murder case--manipulative, sexually uninhibited novelist Catherine Trammell (Sharon Stone). Catherine's latest book features a murder uncannily similar to the one Nick is investigating, and as the pair engage in a mating dance of dangerous one-upmanship, more murders occur, all described in her current work, about a boozy cop in love with a killer. Nick's psychiatrist (Jeanne Tripplehorn), and cop partner (George Dzundza) are both worried about him, and Catherine's jealous lesbian lover (Leilani Sarelle) may be trying to kill him, but Nick is just too turned on to care. Director Paul Verhoeven shows an admirable lack of restraint in this ludicrously enjoyable thriller, a sort of postmodern noir with Joe Eszterhas's script coming off like Mamet by way of Penthouse. Stone and Douglas exhibit fine chemistry (and most of their bodies), and there's some lovely Bay Area scenery courtesy of cinematographer Jan de Bont (who went on to direct films such as SPEED and TWISTER). Wayne Knight (Newman from SEINFELD) and Mitch Pileggi (Skinner from THE X-FILES) are precinct heads who question Catherine in the infamous leg-crossing scene.

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What's Eating Gilbert Grape (Special Collector's Edition) [DVD]

Bizarre, whimsical, and touching scenes mark WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE. Johnny Depp is Gilbert, the eldest brother in a large family of a very large (morbidly obese, actually) mother (Darlene Cates) who hasn't left the house since her husband committed suicide years before. Leonardo DiCaprio, who received an Academy Award nomination for his role, is Arnie, Gilbert's retarded teenage brother who needs constant supervision (he's often found scaling the town water tower). Caring, passive Gilbert is burdened beyond reason, living a dead-end life in a dying small town, stocking shelves at a grocery store whose business being taken over by the new mall supermarket. Gilbert's best friends (Crispin Glover and John C. Reilly) see their futures in the form of undertaker and Burger Barn owner, and Gilbert's other social life is taken up with a random affair with a frustrated and reckless housewife (Mary Steenburgen). Everyone needs the constantly patient Gilbert, whose future seems equally grim until well-traveled, straightforward Becky (Juliette Lewis) and her nonconformist grandmother (Penelope Branning) come to town. Their camper is in need of repair, so Becky stays long enough to actually have an effect on Gilbert, making his new life spiral in wild ways. Based on the novel by Peter Hedges (who also wrote the screenplay), WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE is quirky, irresistible, and endearingly eccentric without being a freak show.

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Good Will Hunting [DVD]

Available at 3 stores

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$6

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Good Will Hunting [DVD]

A South Boston whiz kid elects to clean the halls of learning rather than enter them, slumming his way through life as a janitor at MIT. But his natural ability to unravel complex equations attracts the attention of a professor who won't let him quit, a beautiful Harvard student who wants to save him, a sympathetic buddy who wants him to escape South Boston, and a counselor who encourages him. A soundly acclaimed, homegrown effort from lifelong Boston buddies Damon and Affleck, who pushed their script through development by disguising it as a suspense thriller.

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American Me [DVD]

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American Me [DVD]

A Latino crime lord creates a position of power for himself and his comrades in prison that extends to the streets of east Los Angeles. At first, he is elated by the control he wields but as maturity and a blossoming relationship affect his consciousness, he realizes that his desire for social change is mired in his own cult of violence. Based on a true story.

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And the Band Played On

Available at 17 stores

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And the Band Played On

The movie based on the book by author Randy Shilts that brought the A.I.D.S. epidemic to the public's attention and chronicled the political neglect this devastating disease faced at its onset. Shilts later died of complications brought on by A.I.D.S.

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October Sky

Forrest Gump (Collector's Edition- Sensormatic) ...

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October Sky

The true story of Homer Hickam, a young boy trapped in a close-minded coal-mining town in the 1950's. When Sputnik is successfully launched, Homer becomes obsessed with the concept of rocket launching. To the dismay and disgust of the townspeople, as well as Homer's father, he and his friends try to launch a rocket themselves. With the inspiration of a school teacher, they persevere and never lose hope in the dreams. An uplifting, hopeful story that the whole family can enjoy.

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Forrest Gump (Collector's Edition- Sensormatic) [DVD]

The title character leads viewers through an accidental travelogue of American social history from the early 1960s through the present in this revisionist fable. Vietnam, desegregation, Watergate, and more are presented from the perspective of Tom Hanks's loveably slow-witted Forrest Gump as he finds himself embroiled in situations he can't quite comprehend. Hanks leads an excellent cast, featuring Robin Wright Penn as Jenny, Forrest's lifelong love; Gary Sinise as the irascible Lt. Dan, his Vietnam superior; Mykelti Williamson as Bubba, a shrimp-loving soldier; and Sally Fields as his devoted mother. Robert Zemeckis's emotional, heartwarming film garnered 13 Academy Award nominations and six wins, including Best Picture, Director, Actor--Tom Hanks, and Adapted Screenplay.

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Lords of Flatbush

The Red Shoes (Criterion Collection) [DVD]

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Lords of Flatbush

A group of dim-witted Brooklyn thugs have a series of colorful adventures in the 1950's. A gritty, overlooked gem with a lot of heart. The script was co-written by a young Stallone. Co-star Winkler was on the cusp of creating national hysteria in his role at Fonz on TV's "Happy Days."

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$6

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The Red Shoes (Criterion Collection) [DVD]

This seminal dance film, created Powell and Pressburger, in which an impresario takes a ballerina under his wing, deftly combines interpretive dance with drama. This acclaimed adaption of a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale results in a marked triumph of artistic collaboration and modernity. More than any other film, THE RED SHOES deals with the dangerous, magical process by which art is distilled from preparation and effort.

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$22

Citizen Kane

Available at 18 stores

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Citizen Kane

CITIZEN KANE is Orson Welles's greatest achievement--and a landmark of cinema history. The story charts the rise and fall of a newspaper publisher whose wealth and power ultimately isolates him in his castle-like refuge. The film's protagonist, Charles Foster Kane, was based on a composite of Howard Hughes and William Randolph Hearst--so much so that Hearst tried to have the film suppressed. Every aspect of the production marked an advance in film language: the deep focus and deeply shadowed cinematography (from Gregg Toland); the discontinuous narrative, relying heavily on flashbacks and newsreel footage (propelled by a script largely written by Herman L. Mankiewicz); the innovative use of sound and score (sound by Bailey Fesler and James G. Stewart, music composed and conducted by Bernard Herrmann); and the ensemble acting forged in the fires of Welles's Mercury Theatre (featuring the film debuts of, among others, Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane, and Agnes Moorehead). Every moment of the film, every shot, has been choreographed to perfection. The film is essential viewing, quite possibly the greatest film ever made and, along with THE BIRTH OF A NATION, certainly the most influential.

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$9

Remains of the Day

To Kill a Mockingbird (Widescreen Collector's ...

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Remains of the Day

James Ivory directed this quietly moving film set just prior to World War II. On the large English estate of Lord Darlington (James Fox), a disciplined English butler, Stevens (Anthony Hopkins), devotes himself to his duties with rigorous dedication. Like his father (Peter Vaughan) before him, Stevens lives to serve--to bring order and certainty to the estate's minutiae. Though Stevens has the opportunity to break free of this mold in the form of a romance with the spirited housekeeper, Miss Kenton (Emma Thompson), he chooses to remain within the safe structure of the household, even one that has misguided loyalties to Nazi Germany. Christopher Reeve and Hugh Grant costar as men hoping to show Lord Darlington the danger of his allegiances. THE REMAINS OF THE DAY was Merchant-Ivory's follow-up to HOWARDS END, which also starred Hopkins and Thompson; both actors were nominated for Academy Awards for their roles as dutiful servants in the later film.

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$6

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$10

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To Kill a Mockingbird (Widescreen Collector's Edition) [DVD]

Robert Mulligan's classic adaptation of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, set in the racially charged atmosphere of Macon County, Alabama in the 1930s, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is a poignant coming-of-age story. Winner of four Academy Awards including Best Screenplay (written by Horton Foote), and Best Actor (Gregory Peck), TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is a timeless film packed with beautiful scenes and meaningful life lessons. The story is told from the vantage point of a young girl nicknamed Scout (Mary Badham) whose widowed white father Atticus Finch (Peck), an attorney, decides on principle to defend a black man (Brock Peters) charged with raping a poor white woman. But the bigoted townspeople would rather lynch the accused than try him, and they make life hellish for the lawyer, his daughter, and his son Jem (Philip Alford). While their father is in the throes of the trial, his bright, inquisitive children learn a hard and unforgettable lesson in justice, morality, and prejudice, part of which requires overcoming an unfounded fear of their mysterious neighbor Boo Radley (Robert Duvall).

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$10

Shiloh [DVD]

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$4

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Shiloh [DVD]

The bond between a young boy and an amicable blond beagle is tested when the dog is abused and must be rescued from its owner. Based on the Newberry Award-winning children's story by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, this feature also won the prestigious 1997 Genesis Award for Outstanding Feature for spotlighting animal issues with "courage, creativity and integrity."

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$4

Forever Young [DVD]

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$4

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Forever Young [DVD]

A test pilot loses his true love so he volunteers to become cryogenically frozen for an experiment. Many years later a group of young boys stumble across his frozen capsule and revive him. He befriends the boy's mother and learns that his old sweetheart is still alive. Can they be reunited after so much time has gone by?

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$4

Mississippi Masala

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$5

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Mississippi Masala

In 1972, an Indian lawyer and his family flee their home as Idi Amin seizes power. The lawyer will never forget the pain and indignity he suffered. Nearly 20 years later the family has settled in Mississippi and the lawyer's adult daughter, Mina (Sarita Choudhury) falls in love with a young black business entrepreneur, Demetrius (Denzel Washington). Their affair causes a rift in the community and forces the lovers' families to examine their ideas about racial and class differences while avoiding scandal.

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$5

Johnny Handsome [DVD]

The Breakfast Club (Flashback Edition) [DVD]

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$6

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Johnny Handsome [DVD]

A small-time criminal with a disfigured face takes the rap of a soured robbery. In jail, he receives a new face and is granted parole. He begins an honest life, but his old partners show up to spoil his plans, except he has plans too--for revenge.

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$6

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$7

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The Breakfast Club (Flashback Edition) [DVD]

When five high school students from different social groups are forced to spend a Saturday together in detention, they find themselves interacting with and understanding each other for the first time. A jock (Emilio Estevez), a criminal (Judd Nelson), a princess (Molly Ringwald), a basket case (Ally Sheedy), and a brain (Anthony Michael Hall) talk about everything from parental tension to sex to peer pressure to hurtful stereotypes while serving time. Ultimately, the five find that they may have more in common than they ever imagined and learn more about themselves as well as each other. The only question is, Will they remember what they've learned after they leave detention? Director and writer John Hughes, along with the stellar Brat Pack, cast makes this a memorable, moving film filled with believable dialogue, intelligent humor, and a sufficient dose of high school hijinx. Its timeless appeal makes this film a teen classic along with Hughes's other teen films from the 1980s: SIXTEEN CANDLES and FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF. A great soundtrack features the hit "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds.

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$7

Chattahoochee [DVD]

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$3

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Chattahoochee [DVD]

Unable to adjust to civilian life, a decorated Korean War hero decides he is worth more to his wife dead than alive. He tries to provoke the police to shoot him, but they capture him and declare him insane. Subjected to sadistic practices and unsanitary conditions, he sets out to change these injustices. Based on a true story.

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$3

Last Picture Show

Full Metal Jacket (Deluxe Edition) [Blu-ray Disc]

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$5

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Last Picture Show

Director Peter Bogdanovich (MASK, PAPER MOON) brings Larry McMurtry's bittersweet novel of life in a small, sleepy Texas town in the early 1950s to the big screen. This coming-of-age tale, shot in haunting black-and-white by cinematographer Robert Surtees (THE GRADUATE, OKLAHOMA!), focuses on best friends Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms) and Duane Jackson (Jeff Bridges) and their relationships. Duane is dating the beautiful but fickle Jacy Farrow (Cybill Shepherd), a good girl who is looking for a little excitement. Shy Sonny, meanwhile, is carrying on an illicit affair with a coach's wife, Ruth Popper (Cloris Leachman), a sad, plain woman whose only joy appears to be the stolen moments they share. By delving into the intertwining lives of the town's diverse residents, the film masterfully explores issues of love, loneliness, innocence lost, and disillusionment. The closing of the town's only cinema serves as both a physical and metaphoric backdrop to the characters' lives. A favorite of critics, the film was nominated for eight Oscars, earning one for both Leachman and Ben Johnson, whose portrayal of the town's father figure, Sam the Lion, is utterly masterful. Model-turned-actress Cybill Shepherd shines as Jacy in her film debut, which also features Ellen Burstyn as Jacy's mother, Lois. Bogdanovich also directed the sequel, TEXASVILLE (1990), which featured most of the original film's cast.

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$5