R mpaa in Drama DVDs & Videos

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Small-time drug dealer and Vice Lords gang member Greg Yance gets a second shot at living straight when he's sentenced to a rigorous prison boot camp. Based on a true story. Produced for HBO.

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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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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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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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Longtime sweethearts David (Woody Harrelson), an architect, and Diana (Demi Moore), a real estate agent, find themselves on hard times when financial troubles bring them to the verge of losing their house, which David designed. Taking their last $5,000, they go to Vegas in hopes of multiplying their money. Luck fails them, but they are faced with a major moral dilemma when billionaire John Gage (Robert Redford) spots Diana in the casino and offers her $1,000,000 to spend the night with him. What ensues causes them to question their relationship more than anything they've ever encountered. Based on the novel by Jack Engelhard.

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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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Richard and Priscilla Parker (Kevin Kline and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) are an ordinary suburban couple whose lives are invaded and rocked by their fast-living, secret-bearing, new neighbors, Eddy and Kay Otis (played by Kevin Spacey and Rebecca Miller) in this psychological thriller with intriguing plot twists. The film is rife with themes of paranoid mayhem, manipulation and deception. Spacey, in one of his first feature roles, gives a showy but charismatic performance as the evil neighbor, creating a smooth and charming surface appeal worthy of an Alfred Hitchcock villain.

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LONDON: When his former girlfriend leaves for New York City to live with her new boyfriend, Syd (Chris Evans) decides to rudely interrupt her going-away party by turning up with a small mountain of cocaine and his drug dealer in tow. Most of the movie takes place in the bathroom at the party--where Syd entertains the guests and shares his drug stash with them. LONDON is a stark look at the effect love can have on a man. But there are a few twists and turns in store as the movie lurches toward a surprising conclusion. SPUN: Ross (Jason Schwartzman) is an addict badly in need of some speed. He pays a visit to his dealer, Spider Mike (John Leguizamo), where he encounters fellow "tweakers" Nikki (Brittany Murphy), a stripper named Frisbee (Patrick Fugit), a metalhead, and Cookie (Mena Suvari), Mike's girlfriend. But the trip turns into an odyssey when Mike can't find his stash. Nikki tells Ross that her boyfriend, a crazed cowboy known as the Cook (Mickey Rourke), can supply whatever he needs. The two of them visit the Cook at his motel lab, and Ross quickly gets his fix. Ross, however, is put into service as The Cook's errand boy and chauffeur, with only brief periods of freedom to check up on the stripper girlfriend he left tied to his bed back at his apartment. Ross's three days without sleep reach a feverish head when it becomes evident that two cops (Peter Stormare and Alexis Arquette) have raided Spider Mike's pad in search of the Cook. This relentlessly crude and graphic feature from Swedish music video director Jonas Ackerlund is not for the faint-of-heart. Lightening-fast edits, sexually explicit animation, Farrelly-Brothers-level rudeness, and a pervasive sense of nihilism swirl together to create a morally empty Los Angeles of seedy abodes and cinder block strip malls inhabited by corrupt cops and thrill-seeking lawbreakers. Set to a memorable score by Billy Corgan, Mickey Rourke's memorable turn paves the way for a game young cast.

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HELL'S KITCHEN tells the tragic story of a group of New York City youths whose involvement in a drug deal ends up haunting their lives. After the deal turns sour, one of the boys ends up dead and another--Johnny Miles (Mekhi Phifer)--is sent to jail for a crime he didn't commit. Five years later, Johnny is out of jail and back on the streets of his old neighborhood, trying to piece back his life by training to be a boxer. The only problem is that the murdered boy's sister (Angelina Jolie) stills blames Johnny for the death of her brother and wants her new boyfriend to kill him. A dark tone and over-the-top melodrama highlight this gritty urban tale which features a good supporting turn by Jolie.

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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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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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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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Edward Zwick directs this sumptuously designed, action-packed period epic that stars Tom Cruise as Captain Nathan Algren. Algren, a former Civil War hero, is adrift in 1870s San Francisco after the war, a lost soul struggling to stay afloat in a booze-soaked stupor. When he is recruited by the Japanese government to train the Emperor's army, he departs for the unknown shores of Japan and begins training the soldiers in American military tactics. But these skills are useless against a band of samurai rebels led by the proud warrior Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe), and Algren is easily defeated. He is taken to a remote samurai village where he learns samurai warrior codes and ways of life, developing a deep bond with Katsumoto and sharing philosophical conversations with him. Caught between the feudal culture of the ancient samurai warriors and the encroachment of modern society, Algren is forced to choose between his own culture or Katsumoto's. THE LAST SAMURAI is lavish in its dramatic period costumes and intense performances, and will thrill fans of both historical drama and action films.

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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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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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Directed by Anthony Minghella (THE ENGLISH PATIENT), this Civil War saga addresses romance, friendship, and the ravages of war--both in the field and on the home front. Far more than a simple love story, Minghella's film captures the horrors of war for both those fighting it, and for those left behind. Based on the Charles Frazier novel, this is a tale of hope, longing, redemption, second chances, and faith. Ada Monroe (Nicole Kidman) is a proper lady who accompanies her preacher father (Donald Sutherland) to Cold Mountain, North Carolina. She waits for her love, W.P. Inman (Jude Law)--a sensitive man with little use for many words--to return from war. In the process she learns basic survival skills and finds strength from no-nonsense Ruby (Renée Zellweger), a spitfire who can work the land as well as any man. Meanwhile, wounded Inman has had enough of war and killing, and is slowly working his way back to Ada despite the perils of being a Confederate deserter. Law and Kidman are genuinely touching as two virtual strangers who invest all of their faith in each other, and Zellweger is astounding as the uncultured but compassionate Ruby. Rounding out the cast is an impressive array of actors, including Brendan Gleeson, Ray Winstone, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Jack White (of the White Stripes), Kathy Baker, Giovanni Ribisi, and many others.

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Equally at home in comedy and drama, Jamie Foxx has shown he can do it all. This collection presents four films featuring the Oscar-winning actor: RAY, MIAMI VICE, THE KINGDOM, and JARHEAD. Please see individual titles for synopsis information.

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This multi-pack contains 3 lesbian themed romantic dramas: BUTTERFLY KISS, PEACH, and THE WATERMELON WOMAN. See individual titles for detailed information.

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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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Well-known for his ability to combine political and social issues with a poignant story, Spike Lee writes, directs, and produces SHE HATE ME. John Henry "Jack" Armstrong (Anthony Mackie), an executive at a pharmaceutical company, blows the whistle on the company's CEO over an ethics issue, and is fired. Though he's out of work and has suffered a serious blow to his business reputation, his ex-girlfriend Fatima (Kerry Washington) enlists his help on a babymaking mission. She wants to get pregnant and so does her lesbian girlfriend Alex (Dania Ramirez). In fact, so do plenty of other lesbians, who Fatima invites into Jack's bedroom in droves, resulting in some very funny sex scenes. With a $10,000 price tag per dose of Jack's "man milk"--cheaper than adoption and less mysterious than artificial insemination--Jack is making a bundle and keeping the lesbian mothers-to-be happy. However, his actions do catch up to him, and in a final court hearing about his corporate situation, his "second job" also becomes a major detractor from his credibility. Lee uses a smooth jazz score, scenic New York and Brooklyn photography, and a many of his favorite actors--John Turturro, Ossie Davis, Q-Tip--to make this thought-provoking and often surprising film work like a charm.

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BLUE LAGOON: Two youngsters are shipwrecked in the South Pacific and amid the breathtaking scenery they discover their own sexuality. Academy Award Nominations: Best Cinematography. RETURN TO THE BLUE LAGOON: In this sequel to the 1980 original, Richard and Emmeline, the two teens from the first film, and their infant son, set out to sea in a boat. The parents die, but the infant is rescued by a passing ship. Before long, plague breaks out on the ship, and a young woman and her infant daughter take the baby boy and wind up on the very same island where the boy was born. The days become years as three stranded castaways, make a life for themselves. When the woman dies, the two now grown children (Milla Jovovich and Brian Krause) must learn to cope. Their life together is blissful, but not without physical and emotional challenges.

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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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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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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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The two commanding performances on display in this double feature of Oscar winners come with a lesson: no matter what the context, positions of power can breed corruption. Included here are WALL STREET, starring Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko, and THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, starring Forrest Whitaker as Idi Amin. See individual titles for complete details.

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John Travolta stars in three action-packed thrillers: FACE/OFF, THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER, and DOMESTIC DISTURBANCE.

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Edward Zwick directs this sumptuously designed, action-packed period epic that stars Tom Cruise as Captain Nathan Algren. Algren, a former Civil War hero, is adrift in 1870s San Francisco after the war, a lost soul struggling to stay afloat in a booze-soaked stupor. When he is recruited by the Japanese government to train the Emperor's army, he departs for the unknown shores of Japan and begins training the soldiers in American military tactics. But these skills are useless against a band of samurai rebels led by the proud warrior Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe), and Algren is easily defeated. He is taken to a remote samurai village where he learns samurai warrior codes and ways of life, developing a deep bond with Katsumoto and sharing philosophical conversations with him. Caught between the feudal culture of the ancient samurai warriors and the encroachment of modern society, Algren is forced to choose between his own culture or Katsumoto's. THE LAST SAMURAI is lavish in its dramatic period costumes and intense performances, and will thrill fans of both historical drama and action films.

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Director Frank Darabont's second adaptation of a Stephen King prison tale (the first being 1994's nearly flawless THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION) is a hopeful charmer with a hint of the supernatural. The story focuses on Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks), a Louisiana security guard who works on death row during the Great Depression. When John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), a gigantic black man convicted of raping and murdering two white girls, joins the other prisoners on the row, Paul's life is forever altered. Coffey doesn't fit the mold of a psychopathic killer; he's kind, gentle, and afraid of the dark. As the story progresses, Edgecomb learns that there is something more than simple goodness to Coffey. Building to a hopeful climax, Darabont once again proves that he is King's most loyal cinematic translator. The film features uniformly excellent performances in leading and supporting roles, notably Duncan as Coffey; David Morse and Barry Pepper as Hanks's fellow prison guards; and Michael Jeter as condemned killer Edward Delacroix.

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Edward Zwick directs this sumptuously designed, action-packed period epic that stars Tom Cruise as Captain Nathan Algren. Algren, a former Civil War hero, is adrift in 1870s San Francisco after the war, a lost soul struggling to stay afloat in a booze-soaked stupor. When he is recruited by the Japanese government to train the Emperor's army, he departs for the unknown shores of Japan and begins training the soldiers in American military tactics. But these skills are useless against a band of samurai rebels led by the proud warrior Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe), and Algren is easily defeated. He is taken to a remote samurai village where he learns samurai warrior codes and ways of life, developing a deep bond with Katsumoto and sharing philosophical conversations with him. Caught between the feudal culture of the ancient samurai warriors and the encroachment of modern society, Algren is forced to choose between his own culture or Katsumoto's. THE LAST SAMURAI is lavish in its dramatic period costumes and intense performances, and will thrill fans of both historical drama and action films.

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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.