All Queued Up
A bit of overkill perhaps, but here are all of the movies I have lined up online in my Netflix queue. Expect to see reviews of these films, as well as many others, in the near future.
In his directorial follow-up to the breakthrough hit Super Size Me, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock gamely tries to one-up the U.S. government by finding Osama Bin Laden. The wry documentarian reportedly shot more than 800 hours of footage while scouring every nook and cranny of Afghanistan and the Middle East in pursuit of the infamous leader. The film had its much-anticipated world premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
Sammy Rice (David Farrar), the greatest weapons destruction expert of World War II, has become a bitter man. Severely wounded in battle, he's now disabled and in considerable pain, with his only relief coming from popping pills and hitting the bottle. But a cutting-edge new bomb that only he can disarm could prove to be the ultimate test of his courage and skill. Is he up to the challenge?
Attorney Erin Bruner (Laura Linney) always manages to keep her emotions in check when she's in the middle of a case, but she finds herself unraveling when she decides to represent a priest (Tom Wilkinson) who's conducted an exorcism gone horribly awry. The highly charged case, in which Erin battles an overconfident state lawyer (Aaron Douglas) who thinks he has a slam dunk, leaves her questioning her life choices, career prospects and beliefs.
This disc includes the episodes "Beginnings," "Gatherings," "Art," "Battles," "Chaos," "Epiphanies" and "Ends."
In the racing world of the future, it's no longer a crime to run down a pedestrian with your car. In fact, it's all part of the game. Speeding across mixed terrain in a transcontinental contest, five daring competitors (including David Carradine and his character's archrival, Sylvester Stallone) go up against a gang of rebels who'd like nothing better than to put a stop to them and their brutal sport. Mary Woronov (of Andy Warhol fame) co-stars.
This disc includes the following episodes: "Bartending," "Strip Poker," "Surfing," "Tattoo" and "Roller Derby."
At a Long Beach carnival a gypsy fortune teller hypnotizes her customers, throws acid in their faces, and turns them into caged zombies. Starring director Steckler as Cash Flagg, this Golden Turkey award winner was billed as the first monster musical ever made. Well-photographed in "Terrorama," this is a must for "bad movie" buffs.
Despite an endless string of heartbreaks and misfortune, Cabiria (Giulietta Masina), a wide-eyed prostitute working the streets of Rome, never seems to give up on finding true love. One of director Federico Fellini's best-known efforts, this supremely human tale -- by turns absurdly comic and jarringly tragic -- won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, and Masina earned Best Actress honors at the Cannes Film Festival.
Picking up where its grisly predecessor left off, Saw IV finds Jeff searching for his missing daughter. A videotape from the dead serial killer Jigsaw is Jeff's only lead in this frantic hunt. The film leapfrogs back and forth in time throughout the Saw series and ties up some bloody loose ends lingering from the previous films. Darren Lynn Bousman, who directed the second and third chapters in the hit franchise, returns to helm Part 4.
World chess champ Garry Kasparov goes head to head against IBM's computer Deep Blue in this documentary, which follows the 1997 man-against-machine competition from start to finish. The film captures Kasparov's stunned reaction as the super-computer checkmates its flesh-and-blood rival. But was there a conspiracy that resulted in IBM's stock skyrocketing immediately following Deep Blue's victory, as Kasparov suspects?
This disc includes the following episodes: "YMCA," "Paintball," "Knights," "The Lost Footage: Vol. 1" and "The Lost Footage: Vol. 2."
This disc includes the episodes "Back," "Change," "Mettle," "Help," "Gone," "Dissolution" and "Leaves."
The genesis of the monstrous Leatherface (Andrew Bryniarski) is recounted in this shocking slasher flick. Before going to fight in Vietnam, two brothers (Taylor Handley and Matthew Bomer) out for a last fling with their girlfriends (Diora Baird and Jordana Brewster) end up in a heap o' trouble when their Jeep crashes. Next thing you know, a psycho sheriff (R. Lee Ermey) ushers them to a place where terror awaits in the form of young Leatherface.
Charlie (Charles Aznavour), a once-famous pianist, is now stroking the keys in a Parisian saloon. When his brothers get in trouble with gangsters, Charlie inadvertently gets swept up in the chaos and is forced to rejoin the family he once fled. This highly stylized melodrama from director François Truffaut employs all of the hallmarks of French new wave cinema: extended voice-overs, out-of-sequence camera shots, sudden jump-cutting and more.
Director Ingmar Bergman's experimental "chamber play" won the 1962 Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Recently released from a mental institution, Karin is on holiday with her family. But their inability to give her love and support causes a mental breakdown that leads to a hallucinogenic episode where Karin envisions God as a spider. Part of Bergman's trilogy of faith, which also includes Winter Light and The Silence (available on separate discs).
This disc contains the HBO feature.
Based on the real-life story of New York City undercover cop Frank Serpico (an honest man who refused to take part in the corruption forced upon him by his peers and was grievously wounded because of it), this movie ranks among Al Pacino's greatest film roles. Directed by Sidney Lumet, Serpico is at once an indictment of corruption and a shining testament to one man's effort to reform the New York City Police Department.
When Deirdre Burroughs (Annette Bening) impulsively decides that her adolescent son Augusten (Joseph Cross) should be raised by her unconventional psychiatrist (Brian Cox), her choice to give him away changes the course of his life forever. An all-star ensemble cast -- including Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Evan Rachel Wood, Alec Baldwin and Jill Clayburgh -- drives this quirky adaptation of Augusten Burroughs's best-selling memoir.
In director Todd Field's titillating tale, the lives of several adult suburbanites, who have yet to surpass adolescence, intersect on the streets of their small town in unexpected ways. While on-the-go wife and mother Kathy (Jennifer Connelly) is preoccupied with her career, Sarah (Kate Winslet, in an Oscar-nominated role), a mother who does not know how to mother, is busy having an affair with stay-at-home dad Brad (Patrick Wilson) -- Kathy's husband.
A parish priest can't offer spiritual guidance when a suicidal fisherman comes to him for help. He can't find passion -- only ridicule -- for his mistress who longs to marry him. His apathy reaches its apex when he delivers an oration in front of an empty church abandoned by his parishioners. Part of Ingmar Bergman's trilogy of faith, which also includes Through a Glass Darkly and The Silence (available on separate discs).
This disc includes the following episodes: "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," "Ladies Room" and "Marriage of Figaro."
When Nazi soldiers flood the streets of Paris, a young Jewish boy (Alain Cohen) is sent to live in the relative safety of the French countryside with an elderly Catholic woman and her anti-Semitic husband (Michel Simon). Acclaimed director Claude Berri made his feature film debut with this semiautobiographical drama based on his wartime experiences. Extras in this edition include Berri's Oscar-winning short film "Le Poulet" (1962).
Three passengers travel through a foreign country on the brink of war. Taking ill, Esther checks into a hotel room, with her sister Anna and Anna's son, Johan, occupying the adjoining suite. Still unable to travel the next day, Esther gives Johan a list of helpful translations for their journey and stays behind. Part of Ingmar Bergman's trilogy of faith, which also includes Winter Light and Through a Glass Darkly (available on separate discs).
When a monthlong darkness sets in on the tiny Alaskan town of Barrow, the locals are visited by a flock of bloodthirsty vampires eager to take advantage of the no-sun zone. The town sheriff Eben Olemaun (Josh Hartnett) and his deputy and wife, Stella (Melissa George), must act fast to save the dark day. Based on a popular horror comic by Steve Niles, the film also stars Ben Foster and Danny Huston.
When bandits kidnap his son, the governor sends his daughter Golden Swallow (Pei-Pei Cheng) to the rescue. With the help of a local beggar known as Drunken Cat (Hua Yueh), Golden Swallow tracks down the main perpetrator, the evil monk Jade Faced Tiger (Hung Lieh Chen). Hailed as a pioneering classic of Hong Kong martial arts cinema, director King Hu's action hit features a butt-kicking turn by the 19-year-old Cheng.
From acclaimed Korean director Ki-duk Kim comes this minimalist drama centering on a 16-year-old girl (Yeo-reum Han) brought up at sea by a 60-year-old man (Seong-hwang Jeon) intent on marrying her as soon as she turns 17. But a handsome young angler who charters their boat throws cold water on the wedding plans when he becomes smitten with the girl, who returns his feelings. Si-jeok Seo and Gook-hwan Jeon also star.
A director (Christopher Guest) who's never had a hit pins his hopes on the independent drama Home for Purim, a film set in the 1940s South that's swiftly earning buzz for its performances. Guest's reliable troupe of improv actors -- a cast that includes Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey, Fred Willard, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean and Eugene Levy -- grows even funnier with the addition of Ricky Gervais, who plays a Hollywood studio "suit."
Colombia-based journalists Scott Dalton and Margarita Martinez introduce us to a nation at civil war by hitting the streets of Medellín, a dangerous city ruled by a fierce paramilitary gang. By focusing on three vastly different personalities -- Edison, a gang leader; Cielo, a widowed teenage mother; and Jesus, a drug-using thug -- the filmmakers draw us into their world and capture startling moments of truth and sorrow.
This provocative documentary, a regular on the film-festival circuit, examines the history of suburban life and the wisdom of this distinctly American way of life. A post-World War II concept, suburbia attracted droves of people, giving rise to sprawl and all that comes with it -- good and bad. How has the environment been affected by this lifestyle, and is it sustainable? Canadian director Gregory Greene dares to ask all the tough questions.
Robert Downey Jr. stars in director Dito Montiel's autobiographical coming-of-age drama set in tough, blue-collar Queens, N.Y. While his young friends all seem to end up as junkies, inmates or corpses, Dito (Downey) miraculously escapes the same fate -- a fact he can only attribute to divine intervention. The film's high-powered supporting cast includes Dianne Wiest, Chazz Palminteri, Eric Roberts and Rosario Dawson.
Writers Jules (Oskar Werner) and Jim (Henri Serre) are close friends who fall in love with the same woman, the unpredictable Catherine (Jeanne Moreau), amid the turbulence of World War I Paris. What results is a decades-long love triangle that both tests and strengthens the bond between the two men. One of director François Truffaut's best-loved films, Jules and Jim is adapted from the French novel by Henri-Pierre Roché.
When an American couple (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) vacationing in Morocco fall victim to a random act of violence, a series of events unfolds across four countries that demonstrates both the necessity and impossibility of human communication. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu artfully weaves together three seemingly disparate stories of strangers in strange lands in this Oscar nominee for Best Picture and Golden Globe winner for Best Drama.
With the emergence of DNA evidence, the justice system is seeing a wave of reversed criminal convictions. But what happens to those who are set free, sometimes decades after being imprisoned for a crime they didn't commit? Jessica Sanders takes a close look at some of these people in this gripping documentary that's both a harsh criticism of the current judicial system and a touching look at those profoundly affected by it.
As a novelist (Emma Thompson) struggles with how to kill off her main character, IRS auditor Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) begins hearing her narration in his head and realizes he must prevent his own death. Crick's world turns upside down, and it's a life-or-death situation as he tries to persuade best-selling author Kay Eiffel to change the ending of her novel. Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman and Queen Latifah lead the fine supporting cast.
Comediennes and "Absolutely Fabulous" creators Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders star in this compilation of the best skits and spoofs from the fourth season of their BBC comedy-sketch series. They take aim at British culture, BBC television, pop stars and the Middle Ages, but most of the material focuses on Hollywood. The duo hilariously skewers such movies as Silence of the Lambs, Alien, Misery and Thelma & Louise.
This disc includes the following episodes: "Prototype," "Oh, So You Have a Boyfriend?," "Full Bluntal Nugety," "Eric Visits," "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs" and "Sick in the Head." Extras include audio commentaries and unaired footage.
Walter Winchell-style columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) uses his power to steamroll both friends and enemies. Fawning press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis), desperate to promote his client in Hunsecker's column, pesters Hunsecker until he's finally drawn into the columnist's devious plan to ruin a jazz guitarist who's angered Hunsecker by daring to date his sister. No one is left unscathed in this sinister tale of greed and corruption.
George Clooney (who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar and Golden Globe for his role) plays CIA operative Bob Barnes in this political thriller by Stephen Gaghan. America is at the beck and call of the Middle East when it comes to the oil industry, and all its players -- Washington, sheiks, oil companies, field workers -- intersect with each other. The star-studded cast includes Matt Damon, Amanda Peet, Chris Cooper and Christopher Plummer.
Hany Abu-Assad's disturbing yet moving tale finds two men at a critical juncture in their lives. They've been drafted as suicide bombers in an upcoming assignment in Tel Aviv. Granted a night to spend with their families, they go home but are unable to say goodbye for fear of tipping their hand. But perhaps it isn't time for farewells yet as the two become separated during the mission and must decide on their own whether to continue or bail out.
The cheesy cult classic Santa Claus Conquers the Martians gets the "MST" treatment, spliced and diced under the watchful eyes of the ever-critical cineastes who are always at the ready with their cutting commentary. In the film, Martian kids catch a glimpse of Santa Claus on television and go on a rampage, insisting that the Jolly Old Elf make an appearance. To keep the children happy, the Martians abduct Santa and take him back to their planet.
"Mystery Science Theater 3000" host Joel Hodgson and his band of fellow cynical movie-watchers rise up against the mean Dr. Clayton Forrester and strike again in this vicious and hilarious critique of yet another silly movie. This time, the not-so-expertly-made film on the line features sulky alien teenagers, led by a boy named Derek, who channel their wrath into morphing humans into plastic skeletons by training chintzy-looking guns on them.
Comedian Joel Hodgson and his smart-mouthed robots (Tom Servo and Crow) are fast on the draw once again as they skewer -- in a hilarious shower of ad-libs -- a cornball juvenile delinquency melodrama made expressly to "entertain" our overseas troops. Also includes a short subject entitled "Truck Farming."
French director Jean-Pierre Melville's hugely influential film remains a cornerstone of the crime genre. Recently released from prison, thief Corey (Alain Delon) finds himself caught up in a dangerous triangle with a mysterious man (Gian Maria Volonte) and an ex-cop with some pressing issues of his own (Yves Montand). This bona fide classic is considered the epitome of cool.
Borrowing from Agatha Christie and the plots of Saw and Saw II, director Steven R. Monroe's twisted tale takes nine unsuspecting victims (including Dennis Hopper, who portrays an Irish priest), traps them in a mansion and films their every move. Promising $5 million to the player who emerges victorious, their unseen captor uses them as pawns in a demented, live-action "game," concocting horrible scenarios that force his captives to participate.
Amid ever-increasing gas prices, this documentary delves into the short life of the GM EV1 electric car -- once all the rage in the mid-1990s and now fallen by the roadside. How could such an efficient, green-friendly vehicle fail to transform our garages and skies? Through interviews with government officials, former GM employees and concerned celebs (such as EV1 driver Mel Gibson), Chris Paine (former EV1 owner) seeks to answer the question.
Director-producer Davis Guggenheim (HBO's "Deadwood") captures former Vice President Al Gore in the midst of waging a passionate campaign -- not for the White House, but for the environment. Laying out the facts of global warming without getting political, Gore makes a sobering impression in this Oscar-winning doc on the audiences who hear his message, urging them to act "boldly, quickly and wisely" ... before it's too late to act at all.
In 2002, the gripping documentary Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary, introduced audiences to the German dictator's stenographer, Traudl Junge, by letting her tell her own story. Now director Oliver Hirschbiegel brings Junge to life in the form of actress Alexandra Maria Lara, who stars in this Oscar-nominated drama. Painstakingly realistic, Downfall takes Junge's point of view to recreate Hitler's (Bruno Ganz) last days in his Berlin bunker.
Based on true events, director Marc Rothemund's absorbing Oscar-nominated drama tells the story of young anti-Nazi activist Sophie Scholl (Julia Jentsch). Arrested for her membership in the resistance movement, Sophie is subjected to a highly charged interrogation by the Gestapo, testing her loyalty to her cause, her family and her convictions. Can she maintain her resolve in the face of intense pressure from a system determined to silence her?
Serial bank robbers, sometime lovers and folkloric heroes, Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) and Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) barrel across Depression-ravaged America on a shooting spree that ended in a deathly rain of bullets -- for them. Sexy and stylish, the film, directed by Arthur Penn, shattered the crime film mold, layering comedy onto mayhem and youthful criminality. Gene Wilder makes his first film appearance here.
Based on true events, director Bong Joon-ho's moody suspense thriller follows the investigation of South Korea's first recorded case of a serial killer. Over six years, a vicious psychopath has raped and murdered 10 women. Rural cops Park (Song Kang-ho) and Jo (Kim Roe-ha) are assigned to the case, but working with neither a precedent nor advanced forensic technology, they must rely on primitive methods to piece together the clues.
Prime-time sitcom star Jerry Seinfeld gets back to his roots in stand-up comedy with this performance at the Broadhurst Theater in New York City, which was one stop on his sold-out international tour. And just as in the comic's hit TV show, everybody's a target -- from octogenarian motorists and cab drivers to doctors, dry cleaners and innocents buying milk at the grocery store. Not that there's anything wrong with that. …
At the dawn of the 18th century, honorable Lord Naganori Asano (Yuzo Kayama) refuses to buy off a crooked official (Chûsha Ichikawa) and subsequently gets tricked into performing ritual suicide. Asano's masterless and displaced followers suffer humiliation and poverty while waiting for the chance to prove their loyalty by avenging their leader's death. This tense, deliberately paced drama is based on a venerable Japanese legend.
From director Robert Altman comes a dazzling original film capturing the essence of a long-ago time while overturning Old West myths. John McCabe (Warren Beatty), an entrepreneurial vagabond, moves to a ramshackle Pacific Northwestern town to establish a saloon/brothel. He soon meets the shrewd Mrs. Miller (Julie Christie), a professional madam with years of experience; together, they start a booming business and a blossoming relationship.
Director Arie Posin transforms his short story into a frightfully honest portrait of suburban dysfunction in this film about Dean (Jamie Bell), a young boy who finds his friend hanging from the rafters during a neighborhood party. Figuring that no one else would care, he doesn't report his discovery to the adults, and instead embarks on a journey of harrowing isolation and loneliness. Glenn Close, Rita Wilson and Carrie-Anne Moss costar.
Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito are veteran salesmen in a world where cash is king and the deal is scripture. When a born-again employee arrives to help them nab a hot prospect (the big kahuna), he might blow the deal or save them all. As biting as Glengarry Glen Ross and as poignant as "Death of a Salesman," The Big Kahuna puts a human face on corporate drones everywhere.
Former commercial photographer and music video director David LaChapelle delves into the "krumping" culture in South Central Los Angeles, capturing the unbelievable gyrations of dancers with moves so quick that they warrant a special disclaimer. The high-octane documentary centers on "Tommy the Clown," a former birthday entertainer who opened a school to train community kids to krump -- and keep them out of trouble.
Director David Cronenberg brings William S. Burroughs' hallucinatory, "unfilmable" novel to the screen. Part-time exterminator and full-time drug addict Bill Lee (Peter Weller) plunges into the nightmarish netherworld of the Interzone, pursuing a mysterious project that leads him to confront sinister cabals and giant talking bugs. Special features include an audio commentary by Cronenberg and Weller.
Performance artist Bob Flanagan suffered from cystic fibrosis throughout his short life. This disturbing, poignant and very funny documentary examines his personal odyssey to gain a measure of control over his body by inflicting pain on himself. We learn about his fight against the illness, the creative -- and disturbing -- things he did to his ailing body and the importance of his long-term dominatrix/partner, Sheree Rose. Not for the squeamish!
During a visit to a spa near Rome, exhausted hit director Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) retreats into his own fantasies as he searches for inspiration to make his next film. Guido's anxiety mounts as his producers, his wife (Anouk Aimee) and his mistress (Sandra Milo) all pressure him to start making the movie. Director Federico Fellini's semiautobiographical rumination on filmmaking won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
Bernardo Bertolucci's debut film centers on the murder investigation of a Roman prostitute in a riverside park. One by one, the police interrogate the individuals who were in the park at the time of the murder, hoping the killer is among them. The film focuses on each suspect's version of the night of the murder, intercut with scenes from the prostitute's last day alive. Giancarlo de Rosa, Vincenzo Ciccora, Alvaro D'Ercola and Romano Labate star.
Widower Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson) wants nothing more than to live in peace and farm his land. But when a cruel British officer (Jason Isaacs) brings the American Revolution to Benjamin's door and threatens what he cherishes most, the former war hero is forced to take action. With the help of his son (Heath Ledger), Benjamin becomes a feared militia leader. But before he can defeat the British, he must win a battle within himself.
This 1984 documentary tracks the exploits of three progressive punk bands -- Youth Brigade, Social Distortion and Minor Threat -- as they traipse across the country on a whirlwind (and rather unorganized) tour. Attempting to hit 30 cities in just 35 days, and traveling in a ramshackle school bus, the bands offered up plenty of disorder along the way, providing the perfect coupling of music and rock star antics.
Milos Forman directs this mood-pleasing working-class drama in which a naive factory worker falls in love after a one-night stand with a visiting pianist from Prague.
Gabriel Byrne stars as Tom Reagan in Joel and Ethan Coen's take on the '30s gangster film. Adviser to a Prohibition-era crime boss (Albert Finney), Tom gets caught in the literal and figurative crossfire when his loyalties are divided between warring mobs. Mix in an affair with the boss's dame (Marcia Gay Harden), several double-crosses and backstabs and the Coens' typical blackly funny dialogue, and you've got a bang-up (literally) movie.
Haunted by a newspaper clipping picturing the teenager he killed in a botched robbery 22 years earlier, incarcerated felon Manuel Jordan (Billy Bob Thornton) is surprised when he's released from prison after serving 19 years. Thrust back into society, Jordan seeks redemption from a minister (Morgan Freeman) and his victim's sister (Holly Hunter).
Set in China during the Ming Dynasty's reign, Dragon Inn tells a tale of revenge and intrigue between imperial eunuchs. The film opens with the evil eunuch Tsao Siu Yan (Donnie Yen) ordering the offspring of his rival, Chow Wai-on (Tony Leung Ka Fai), to be exiled. Chow's lover, Yau Mo-yan (Brigitte Lin), saves the children and takes them to a tavern called the Dragon Inn. The group reunites … but with Tsao's henchman on their trail.
Perhaps the most famous and influential of all silent films, German director Fritz Lang's masterpiece has now been magnificently restored to include the original 1927 orchestral score. In the year 2026, when the populace is divided between workers who must live underground and the rich who enjoy a futuristic city of splendor, a man from the society's upper class (the "thinkers") abandons his privileged life to join oppressed workers in a revolt.
The Marx Brothers are at their sidesplitting best in this raucous political satire, which teems with razor-sharp humor. Thanks to the patronage of well-heeled widow Mrs. Teasdale (Margaret Dumont), Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho) becomes dictator of the tiny country of Freedonia. When the ambassador of the bordering nation of Sylvania declares his love for Mrs. Teasdale, Firefly declares war. Chico, Harpo and Zeppo costar as spies and counterspies.
Fiery ranch owner T.C. Jeffords (Walter Huston, in his final role) incurs the wrath of his feisty daughter Vance (Barbara Stanwyck) when he gets engaged to rich socialite Flo Burnett (Judith Anderson). But when T.C.'s actions imperil Vance's good friend, she vows bloody revenge. Acclaimed director Anthony Mann's searing frontier drama, set in the New Mexico territories of 1872, finds the fierce Stanwyck at the top of her game.
Caged for a murder he didn't commit, petty thief Henri "Papillon" Charriere (Steve McQueen) finds himself trapped within the walls of a French penal colony, determined to escape. Joining forces with fellow convict and quirky counterfeiter Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman) and armed with dogged persistence, Papillon makes a daring bid for freedom. Franklin J. Schaffner directs this film adaptation of Charriere's true story.
Documentarian Marc Singer focuses his camera on a group of homeless people who live deep underground in an abandoned New York City railroad tunnel. By day, they scavenge for food on the mean streets of Manhattan. At night, they retreat to the tunnel, where they've built huts out of scrap metal, plastic and plywood. Amazingly, they have electricity, furniture, working kitchens and a sense of community many surface dwellers would envy.
Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) has just been released from a mental hospital. Back at her suburban Baltimore home, she decides her husband is trying to kill her, so she strong-arms her maid, Grizelda, into suffocating him with her rather large buttocks. To escape the slammer, the daffy duo seeks refuge in Mortville, a bizarre shantytown populated by criminals and social outcasts. John Waters directs with his patented brand of gross-out humor.
On a resort island in the Mediterranean, a vacationing rich woman (Italian superstar Monica Vitti) goes on a search for a missing friend that evolves into a search for love and the meaning of life. As the breakthrough film for the man (Michelangelo Antonioni) who would go on to direct Blow-Up, this art-house classic was discussed and debated by critics the world over in 1960. It won the Jury Prize at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival.
After 10 years apart, three friends (Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard and Uma Thurman) reunite in a motel room to play out the unresolved drama of their final high school days. As layers of denial are peeled away, each character is provoked into revealing his or her true nature and motivation. A compelling drama, Tape examines the vast differences in how men and women interpret the same event.
When Florya joins a group of Partisans fighting the Nazis in Byelorussia, USSR, he doesn't suspect that he is plunging through the looking glass. Separated from his comrades during a paratroop attack and struck deaf by artillery, Florya wanders a battle-scorched Russian purgatory of forests and man-made slaughter.
Two sheepherders -- Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar (Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger) -- meet and fall in love while working together near Wyoming's Brokeback Mountain in 1963. Over the next 20 years, their lives take different courses: Jack becomes a rodeo cowboy while Ennis remains a ranch hand. Anne Hathaway, Randy Quaid and Michelle Williams co-star. Ang Lee directs screenwriter Larry McMurtry's adaptation of a short story by E. Annie Proulx.
In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton set sail on the Expedition with 27 men aboard, aiming to cross Antarctica. But when the vessel became stranded in frigid, deep waters, the crew began a battle of the human spirit, testing the limits of endurance as they strove to overcome the debilitating setback. Miraculously, they succeeded, even capturing the experience in pictures and on film. The Endurance celebrates the survivors of this wayward adventure.
This landmark documentary -- one of the first cinematic reflections on the Holocaust's horror -- is as lyrical as it is graphic and has influenced movies up to and including Schindler's List. Director Alain Resnais contrasts 1955 footage of Auschwitz's quiet, empty buildings with black-and-white footage shot there in 1944. The film's haunting images, such as a hill of human hair or a pyramid of shoes, stand on their own as mute testament.
Ray Pluto (Denis Leary) is a detective down on his luck. Branded a wiseguy, his life is truly far from comical: Since his wife and child died, he spends nights smoking weed and watching half-naked cheerleaders on TV. But while buying lunch one day, a gunman bursts into the restaurant, and Ray sees his chance to redeem himself … only his back goes out just then, and 6-year-old Ricky (Kevin Johnson Olson) saves the day instead.
Blind fugitive Zatoichi (Shintaro Katsu) seeks respite in his favorite village, which he remembers as a peaceful retreat. His memories soon fade when he discovers the town is now lorded over by Boss Masagoro (Masakane Yonekura) and his mercenary bodyguard Yojimbo (Toshiro Mifune). It's blade against blade as the two master swordsmen face each other in a metal showdown that will determine the fate of the village and the winner of a golden prize.
Jacques Tati plays Monsieur Hulot, a self-absorbed chucklehead wrestling with neoteric gadgetry -- and losing -- in this satirical masterpiece that makes sport of mechanization, class distinctions and modernity. While visiting his sister's surreal, ultra-trendy home, Hulot finds himself incessantly at odds with newfangled contraptions that get the better of him. The tongue-in-cheek French comedy garnered a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.
During the Great Depression, beer baroness Lady Port-Huntley (Isabella Rossellini) offers a $25,000 prize to the composer who can write the saddest music in the world. Musicians from around the globe travel to Winnipeg to vie for the cash, including a failed Broadway producer, a cellist just returned from postwar Serbia and a bereaved father wracked with guilt over the accidental amputation of the legs of his one true love.
Winner of the Cannes Special Jury Prize, Masaki Kobayashi's drama centers on samurai Hanshiro Tsugumo (Tatsuya Nakadai). A new political climate finds the once-powerful samurais wandering the country begging estate owners to allow them to commit suicide on their property, when what they really want is a handout. Hanshiro arrives at a lavish manor and asks to commit hara-kiri on the grounds, but the vengeful warrior is harboring a secret.
Two married couples (Mark Ruffalo and Laura Dern, Peter Krause and Naomi Watts) who have been close friends for years find that dynamic irrevocably changed when two of them (Ruffalo and Watts) have an affair. Things get even more complicated when their spouses find out and have an affair of their own. John J. Curran directs this well-acted drama based on stories by Andre Dubus ("In the Bedroom").
Wayne Hayes (Robert Redford) and his wife, Eileen (Helen Mirren), have raised two children and built a successful business from scratch. But when Wayne is kidnapped by Arnold Mack (Willem Dafoe) and held for ransom, the couple's world is turned upside down. Although the tense ordeal causes Wayne and Eileen to reassess their marriage, the upshot is that they come to a deeper sense of their commitment to each other.
Jessica (Jennifer Westfeldt) is a single, straight, successful New York journalist who, like most of her female friends, has had a history of dating (male) creeps. But when she answers an intriguing personal ad from Helen (Heather Juergensen), Jessica finds herself intensely drawn to her. As Jessica explores this new side of her sexuality, the two begin a friendship that ultimately leads to romance.
Nominated for four Academy Awards and long considered a noir classic, John Huston's heist film follows a band of criminal masterminds (Sam Jaffe, Sterling Hayden and Louis Calhern) as they carry out a million-dollar jewelry-store burglary that will have them set for life. Snatching the loot is easy, but their greed soon leads to double crosses and murder. The film features an early appearance by Marilyn Monroe as a sexy moll.
In the south of France one winter, a young woman, Mona (Sandrine Bonnaire), is found frozen to death in a ditch. Through flashbacks and interviews, writer-director Agnes Varda paints a fractured portrait of Mona's final weeks as she camps alone and falls in with various men and women, many of whom try to give her life direction. Others do not have her best interests at heart, as they project their own needs and problems onto her.
In this Oscar-nominated drama based on a true story, physically abnormal John Merrick (John Hurt) endures ostracizing, taunting behavior as a sideshow attraction in mid-19th century England. Despite his horribly disfigured face and body and barely perceptible speech, concerned doctor Frederick Treves (Sir Anthony Hopkins) recognizes Merrick to be highly intelligent and works to save the Elephant Man's dignity. Directed by David Lynch.
Ingmar Bergman puts his indelible stamp on Mozart's opera in this rendering of one of the composer's best-loved works. In an unusual structure, the film moves between a stage production of the opera and the backstage intrigues of the actors. This other-worldly fantasy, sung in Swedish, involves a kidnapped princess (Irma Urrila), a mysterious and powerful Queen of the Night (Birgit Nordin) and a carefree, flute-playing wanderer.
Porn star Moon (Juliette Marquis) wants more out of life and sets out to get it in this highly lauded drama. The sole caretaker of her Parkinson's-afflicted father (James Woods), Moon has brains and heart, which is why her pals (Rosario Dawson and Kam Heskin) don't understand why she's still in the business. But a new love (Kip Pardue) and a chance encounter with a deranged fan (Michael Rapaport) encourage her to closely examine her choices.
Mario Van Peebles pays homage to his father, Melvin, by playing him in this account of how the famous director made his 1970s opus Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, about a black man who rises up against the injustices of white cops. By all accounts, it was a difficult shoot, and the determined Melvin put everything -- including his relationship with his family -- on the line to get the film made. Co-stars Joy Bryant and David Alan Grier.
Convicted in the 1981 murder of a white Philadelphia policeman, black inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal speaks for the first time from death row in this fascinating documentary. Considered a political prisoner by activists because of possible irregularities in his case, Abu-Jamal has maintained his innocence. This film, taken from Home Box Office's "America Undercover" series, explores both sides of the issue and includes new footage and interviews.
14th century Franciscan monk William of Baskerville (Sean Connery) and his young novice (Christian Slater) arrive at a conference to find that several monks have been murdered under mysterious circumstances. To solve the crimes, William must rise up against the Church's authority and fight the shadowy conspiracy of monastery monks using only his intelligence -- which is considerable. Adapted from Umberto Eco's best-selling novel.
Three generations come together for the funeral of the family patriarch (Rip Torn). Kate (Zooey Deschanel) is a college freshman, and it's from her perspective that we get to know her wacky family members: Daniel (Hank Azaria), an actor who can only get work as nonsexual supporting characters in porn movies; black-sheep son Skip (Ray Romano); and Lucy (Kelly Preston), who bursts to tell her family she's going to marry her partner (Famke Janssen).
Small in stature but larger than life in personality and determination, Detroit's Jackie Kallen (Meg Ryan) managed boxers and shepherded many of them to victory in the ring. Her personal life was just as tantalizing; she left her husband for the sport and later became head of the International Female Boxers Association. Omar Epps plays a boxer who's supposedly a composite of three that Kallen helped make a success.
Nominated for six Academy Awards, this edge-of-your-seat German-language triumph follows the trials of a German U-boat crew during World War II. Upon its restored re-release in 1997, an hour was added to the original film, which surprisingly augmented its impact. It also played as a six-hour German miniseries. In all its forms, the realistic and gripping battle scenes and palpable human struggle make Das Boot a critical hit.
The amazing true story of Russia's first nuclear ballistic submarine, which suffered a nuclear reactor malfunction on its maiden voyage in the North Atlantic in 1961. The unyielding Capt. Vostrikov (Harrison Ford) and his second-in-command (Liam Neeson) must race against time to prevent a Chernobyl-like nuclear explosion that not only threatens the lives of the crew … it could also ignite a world war between the superpowers.
Vera Drake (Imelda Staunton, who earned an Oscar nomination for her portrayal) spends her days doting on her working-class family. But Vera also has a secret side: Her family and friends don't know that she visits women and helps them induce miscarriages for their unwanted pregnancies -- an illegal practice in 1950s England. When her crime is discovered by authorities, Vera's world quickly falls apart, deeply affecting both her and her family.
Based on a real-life crime by the so-called "Lonely Hearts Killers" that rocked the nation, Arturo Ripstein's chilling film stars Regina Orozco as a lonely, homely nurse who'll do anything for the man she loves. In this case, the object of her affection is a vagrant with a fleeting resemblance to entertainer Charles Boyer. In a fit of passion, she commits her life to him, joining him on a murderous spree targeting rich and unsuspecting widows.
Viggo Mortensen stars as Frank T. Hopkins, reputed to be one of the best riders of the Wild West. His chance to prove his talent comes when an affluent sheik invites him to join one of the most outrageous and grueling races of all: a 3000-mile trek across the Arabian Desert. Previously open only to those who ride Arabian horses, the event allows Hopkins to join with his Mustang, Hidalgo. Can they win?
Recorded on Dec. 16, 1995, during the last night of his sold-out 12-week run at London's Shaftsbury Theatre, Eddie Izzard's Definite Article show demonstrates the sometimes-controversial comedian's unique talent for improvisation, as well as his wry wit and humor. Izzard covers such topics as the Crusades, mad European cows, sharks, the Death Star canteen and more.
This fast-paced live-action film (based on Mike Mignola's cult comic book series) tells the dark story of Hellboy (Ron Perlman), who's put on Earth by the Nazis to terrorize the world. But Hellboy has other plans; he decides to fight for good instead, vowing to rid the world of supernatural monsters and the evil powers that rule them. Rupert Evans, Selma Blair, and John Hurt co-star in Guillermo del Toro's stylish interpretation. Note: The Blu-Ray version of this film is Unrated.
Sleazy TV executive James Woods needs cheap, exciting programming for his fly-by-night channel. Fortuitously, he stumbles across a fuzzy satellite feed showing torture, punishment ... and possibly murder. A conspiracy is afoot as two competing groups fight for the 20th century's soul, using the airwaves as their battlefield. The addled Woods searches for the truth, all the while obsessed by on-air chanteuse Deborah Harry.
Recorded at London's Albery Theater in 1994, this sold-out show was part of a limited seven-week run of Eddie Izzard's celebrated stand-up routine. A completely new collection of skits, imitations and free-form rants, this side-splitting performance from the award-winning transvestite comedian (which was originally aired on British television) covers a wide range of topics at a pace brisk enough to keep even the quickest viewers on their toes.
Wong Fei-Hung (Jackie Chan) is the mischievous young son of a martial arts schoolmaster who is constantly clowning around when he should be learning kung fu. After his comic antics injure the son of a powerful local man, his father enlists the help of his sadistic uncle to teach his son a little self-discipline.
Winner of the Sundance Director's award, this docudrama centers on Sister Helen Travis, an unconventional nun determined to help substance abusers in the South Bronx. A recovering alcoholic, Travis turned to God after hitting rock bottom when her two children and husband died from substance abuse-related causes. The hard-nosed Sister runs a halfway house, dispensing her unique form of tough love in a tireless effort to help recovering addicts.
Film director Enrique (Fele Martinez) is visited by his childhood Catholic school friend and lover, Ignacio (Gael Garcia Bernal). Ignacio gives Enrique a short story he's written that's a factual account of the molestation he sustained at the hands of their teacher, Father Manolo (Daniel Gimenez Cacho). But as Enrique adapts the story, he uncovers a dangerous web of deceit and revenge in this stark film from Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar.
Get to know the man behind the legend in this captivating documentary of rock star Mick Jagger that was shot as an accompaniment to his solo outing, Goddess in the Doorway. See how Jagger operates in the recording studio (via scenes recorded by Jagger himself), performs onstage with his band, The Rolling Stones, and seizes each day from morning till night. Features cameos by Wyclef Jean, Bono, Lenny Kravitz and more.
Two brothers estranged by lifelong resentment have one final clash in this drama set in the farthest reaches of Georgia, where John (Dermot Mulroney) has spirited his sons, Chris (Jamie Bell) and Tim (Devon Alan), away from civilization to live in a rural idyll. But when their father dies and their Uncle Deel (Josh Lucas) shows up on the scene, the brothers vow to fight bitterly for their survival, even if it means facing their worst enemy.
A heartfelt elegy directed by Yoji Yamada, The Twilight Samurai tells the story of Seibei Iguchi (Hiroyuki Sanada), a man who has trained as a samurai and belongs to a samurai clan, but doesn't fight alongside them in any battles. Instead, Seibei, a recent widower, has devoted himself to caring for his two daughters and ailing mother. His reluctance to fight makes him a curiosity -- and soon lands him an assignment that could cost him his life.
Rejected by the Confederate Army as unfit and taken for a coward by his beloved Annabelle (Marion Mack), Johnnie Gray (Buster Keaton) sets out to single-handedly win the war with his cherished locomotive. When Northern spies steal his train, the intrepid Confederate takes on the entire Union army to get it back.
On the run from his mortal enemies, a wounded samurai finds temporary sanctuary at a mystical temple tucked deep in the ancient mountains of Japan. The temple's host tells the warrior the legend of a goblin named Aragami, who lives in the surrounding mountains and dines on human flesh. In a twist worthy of a "Twilight Zone" episode, the samurai learns that his host is really the goblin … and the only way to escape is to destroy him.
Seeking psychiatric help, Anna (Sandrine Bonnaire) mistakes the office of her doctor for that of tax attorney William (Fabrice Luchini). Before William can clear up the mistake, Anna's confided in him -- greatly! -- about her personal life. Mutually committed to continuing the charade now that they've shared secrets, Anna and William carry on with their "therapy" sessions. Patrice Leconte (The Man on the Train, The Widow of Saint-Pierre) directs.
Twelve-year-old Anaïs (Anaïs Reboux) has struggled with her weight all her life, always overshadowed by her older, thinner sister, Elena (Roxane Mesquida). When their family vacations at the beach one summer, Anaïs continues to loathe herself and is forced to make up fake suitors to keep herself going. Meanwhile, Elena gets involved with a much older man who's eager to take her virginity. Note: Contains sexually graphic content.
Yoshimoto Ogata believes it's his patriotic duty to provide smut to his fellow men. (He uses the profits from his 8mm films to support his lover and her two children.) Although never explicit, this movie contains intimations of incest, the exploitation of a mentally retarded girl and the creation of the perfect sex doll. Based on a scandalous novel, the film boldly investigates the relationship between sexual desire and one bizarre family.
Richard Linklater's 1991 cult classic gives viewers surreal slices of what it's like to be a twenty-something in the college town of Austin, Texas. Told through a series of vignettes starring Linklater himself, Rudy Basquez, Keith McCormack, Jean Caffeine, Stephan and Jan Hockey, Bob Boyd and Mark James, the film includes a strange meditation on Madonna's pap smear; a conspiracy theorist riffing on the United States government; and more.
This Italian drama mines the rich possibilities in the life of a recently graduated man who strikes out for Milan to land a job. Starting out on the bottom rung of the corporate ladder as a messenger in an industrial conglomerate, he nevertheless aims for the top. The cast features Loredana Detto, Tullio Kezich, Sandro Panseri and Mara Revel.
The Mayima family is seeking a husband for their daughter, Noriko (Setsuko Hara), but she has ideas of her own. Noriko impulsively chooses her childhood friend, at once fulfilling her family's desires while tearing them apart. A seemingly simple story, this drama is in reality an emotionally complex, nuanced examination of life's changes across three generations. Directed with great finesse by Yasujiro Ozu.
This documentary charts the spectacular rise of corporations as a dramatic, pervasive presence in our lives. Filmmakers Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott present a timely, entertaining critique of global conglomerates as they chronicle the origins of corporations, as well as their inner workings, controversial impacts and possible futures. The pros and cons are weighed via interviews with social critics such as Noam Chomsky and Michael Moore.
This amazing documentary from Thomas Riedelsheimer won the Golden Gate Award Grand Prize for Best Documentary at the 2003 San Francisco International Film Festival. The film follows renowned sculptor Andy Goldsworthy as he creates with ice, driftwood, bracken, leaves, stone, dirt and snow in open fields, beaches, rivers, creeks and forests. With each new creation, he carefully studies the energetic flow and transitory nature of his work.
Jin-Tae (Jang Dong-Gun) shines shoes, hoping to save enough money to send his younger brother, Jin-Seok (Won Bin), to university. Their mother runs a noodle shop and wishes the best for her two sons, even though things have been tough since her husband died. But all bets are off when the Korean War erupts and Jin-Seok is unwillingly conscripted into the war, which forces Jin-Tae to enlist just so he can save his brother.
An innocent (Kyle MacLachlan) gets mixed up in a small-town murder mystery involving a kinky nightclub chanteuse (Isabella Rossellini) and a kidnapper (Dennis Hopper) with a penchant for snorting helium. One of the most bizarre (and critically acclaimed) movies of the 1980s, Blue Velvet inspired a generation of independent filmmakers with its dark look behind the all-American veneer of small-town life.
Trapped in a horrendous factory fire that may kill him, a fireman (Joaquin Phoenix) looks back at his life, career and marriage while he waits for the remote possibility that his company -- Ladder 49 -- may rescue him, if they can just reach him in time. John Travolta plays Phoenix's fire chief and mentor, and Jacinda Barrett plays Phoenix's wife. Directed by Jay Russell.
The Titanic's dramatic final hours are depicted in this film version of Walters Lord's book. On its maiden voyage, the ship struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic on April 14, 1912, taking the lives of 1,513 passengers. The vessel's tragic sinking is accurately recounted and filmed in real time; it's only 37 minutes shorter than the real-life event. A documentary on the making of the movie and commentary by Titanic experts are included.
Con man Richard Gaddis (John C. Reilly) teams up with newbie Rodrigo (Diego Luna) for a heist that's a little bigger than his usual projects: They'll filch an antique currency note from a customer when he blows into town at the casino where Gaddis trolls for victims. But it seems the pair will need help, which lessens Gaddis's take. Plus, his sister (Maggie Gyllenhaal) seems dead-set on spoiling his criminal fun. (Remade from Nine Queens.)
This surrealistic horror film by Japanese director Naoyuki Tomomatsu begins with the strange deaths of teenage girls all around the world. Apparently, the girls die soon after they reach a peculiar state of sheer bliss and later reemerge as zombies out to stalk humans. With parents helpless to control their murderous, otherworldly children, the government leans on vigilante groups to hunt down the half-dead before they satisfy their bloodlust.
Twelve-year-old Pablo (Juan Jose Ballesta) is stuck in a deeply abusive home ruled by his tyrannical father when he meets a new classmate, Alfredo (Pablo Galan), who befriends Pablo and introduces him to a kinder, gentler version of family life. That life is personified by Alfredo's fun-loving Bohemian father, Jose (Alberto Jimenez). Writer-director Achero Manas's poignant film won more than 30 international awards, including four Spanish Goyas.
For devilishly mad "astro-scientist" Dr. DeMarco (John Carradine), a typical day involves run-ins with reanimated corpses, bloodthirsty solar-powered killer robot zombies, Chinese communist spies and vicious Mexican secret agents. But when a bloody trail of young female murder victims leads an intrepid CIA agent to his door, things get really interesting. Ted V. Mikels directs this unique B horror-thriller.
Pedro Almodóvar's Oscar-winning drama explores the bond forged between two men under tragic circumstances. When a bullfighting accident sends his girlfriend, Lydia (Rosario Flores), into a coma, Marco (Darío Grandinetti) visits her in the private clinic where Benigno (Javier Cámara) works as a nurse. Shy and a bit strange, Benigno tirelessly tends to Alicia (Leonor Watling), a comatose ballet dancer and object of his obsession.
Originally broadcast on the Sundance Channel, Marina Zenovich's intriguing documentary explores the world of independent filmmaking by taking us behind the scenes at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. At once enlightening, humorous and brutally honest, the film compiles interviews with the likes of Steven Soderbergh, Kevin Smith and festival head Robert Redford as it probes the many obstacles indie filmmakers faced in the mid-1990s.
For the past two decades, a group of computer hackers, neocommunists and entrepreneurs has been gradually undermining Microsoft's monopoly and fundamentally changing the way software is developed and owned -- a revolution that resulted in the Linux operating system and the Open Source movement. This fascinating documentary explores the OS movement's origins and depicts the grassroots nature of Linux and OS as they march into the mainstream.
Fiction is spliced with reality for hack spy novelist Francois Merlin (Jean-Paul Belmondo) when his neighbor, beautiful college student Christine (Jacqueline Bisset), selects Merlin as the subject of her term paper in this campy 1970s action-comedy. In Christine's presence, Merlin's reality shifts between his boring life and the thrilling world of his heroic spy character and alter ego, Bob Saint-Clair.
Widely recognized as a cinematic masterpiece, this mesmerizing account of 15th century Russian monk Andrei Rublev follows the icon painter as he faces violence, political persecution and, eventually, a crisis of faith after leaving the monastery to paint Vladimir Cathedral's interior. The Soviets suppressed this sweeping epic, which was not seen as director Andrei Tarkovsky intended until its re-release more than 20 years after completion.
Based on a true story, an FBI agent (Johnny Depp) takes a new name (Donnie Brasco), goes undercover, befriends two-bit killer and thief Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino), enters the New York mob circa 1978 and stays undercover for years. If Brasco outs the gang to the FBI, Lefty will be dead; if the mob learns Brasco is FBI, he'll be clipped.
What we have here is a failure to communicate! Lucas Jackson (Paul Newman) is a man who likes to do things his own way. That leads to a world of hurt when he winds up in a hellish Southern prison camp -- and on the wrong side of a sadistic warden (Strother Martin). George Kennedy won an Oscar as a fellow prisoner who tries to break Luke and then comes to revere him. The stellar cast includes Dennis Hopper, Harry Dean Stanton and Joe Don Baker.
Ray (Woody Allen) is an incompetent crook with big dreams and a low IQ. When he sets up his wife, Frenchy (Tracey Ullman), in a storefront to cover his tunneling operation into a local bank, her baked goods take off, and Ray and Co. are catapulted from rags to riches. A brilliant ensemble cast including Hugh Grant, Elaine May and Jon Lovitz has got Allen's back.
Being nude in public can be exhilarating, profound, hysterical or just plain awkward. In this follow-up to Naked States, director Arlene Donnelly Nelson takes us along for the ride as artist Spencer Tunick invites thousands of people of all races, shapes and sizes out of their clothes and into the streets for art's sake. Tunick's yearlong "Nude Adrift" project was filmed in nine countries on seven continents (including Antarctica).
Legendary Japanese actors Toshirô Mifune and Shintaro Katsu team again for this final Yojimbo film. A wandering samurai (Mifune) accepts a mysterious assignment that takes him to the titular mountain pass. Told to await further instruction in an isolated teahouse, the warrior -- through the conversations of the teahouse's patrons -- gradually becomes aware of an elaborate plot involving a gang of bandits and a convoy of Shogunate gold.
Arna Mer Khamis was a legendary activist for the rights of the Palestinian people who founded a theatre group at a refugee camp, teaching children to express themselves through acting. Her son Juliano, a director for the group, filmed Arna working with the children over a 6-year period. Following Arna's death, he returns to the camp to find out what became of the young refugees. Best Documentary Feature winner at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival.
This Oscar-winning documentary is a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in Calcutta's red-light district, where their mothers work as prostitutes. Spurred by the kids' fascination with her camera, Zana Briski, a photographer documenting life in the brothels, decides to teach them photography. As they begin to look at and record their world through new eyes, the kids awaken to their own talents and sense of worth.
This Argentinian heist flick revolves around a sheet of not-so-rare stamps, two con artists (Ricardo Darin, Gaston Pauls) and a sucker mark (Ignasi Abadal). As in the best con films, a femme fatale is required issue, and Nine Queens doesn't fail: Leticia Brédice is sex incarnate. If you like the swindle films of David Mamet, Nine Queens is right up your alley.
This HBO drama focuses on the horrifying 1994 Rwandan massacre in which Hutu nationalists slaughtered nearly a million of their Tutsi countrymen. At the center of the story are two Hutu brothers torn apart by the conflict: Reluctant soldier Augustin (Idris Elba) desperately tries to get his wife, a Tutsi, and their family to safety, while his brother Honoré (Oris Erhuedo) espouses Hutu propaganda via the radio waves. Debra Winger costars.
A fascinating look at the beginnings of influential alternative rockers The Pixies. Features a full-length concert and documentary lensed during the band's late-1980s heyday, along with a retrospective documentary entitled "Gouge" (with celebrity testimonials from Bono, David Bowie, PJ Harvey and others). Rounding off the special features is a selection of music videos, including "Debaser," "Here Comes Your Man" and "Monkey Gone to Heaven."
A decade after the genocide in which Hutu extremists killed some 800,000 Rwandans, PBS's Frontline takes a hard look at how such an atrocity occurred. The program examines the social, political and diplomatic conditions at the time of the genocide, provides firsthand accounts of the situation through interviews with officials, relief workers, U.N. peacekeepers, diplomats and survivors, and explores whether a similar situation could occur again.
Director Robert Altman's sprawling masterpiece about politics and country music astonishes. A huge cast of characters (including Shelley Duvall, Keith Carradine, Ned Beatty and Karen Black) gets caught up in a political rally that takes over the home of country music. The many fine performances include Lily Tomlin's bored housewife and Henry Gibson's pompous, patriotic country singer. The actors wrote and performed their own songs.
Director Jean-Luc Godard's cynical take on the world of filmmaking is a poignant commentary about the sacrificial price of art. Screenwriter Paul Javal (Michel Piccoli) must fight many battles to get his version of Homer's Odyssey to the big screen. He's at odds with his conniving producer (Jack Palance) and his egotistical director (Fritz Lang). What's more, his marriage to his beautiful wife Camille (Brigitte Bardot) is also foundering.
An incredible true story about small-time punk Sonny Wortzik (Al Pacino), who holds up a bank to raise money for his male lover's (Chris Sarandon) sex-change operation. But the heist goes awry and turns into a tawdry exposé when, during a two-day standoff with police, the media get wind of the story. Sidney Lumet directed, and Frank Pierson won an Oscar for Best Screenplay.
Director Yasujiro Ozu focuses on an elderly couple in post-World War II Japan who travel to Tokyo to visit their children. The parents (Chishu Ryu and Chieko Higashiyama) are received coldly by their two children; the only one who is happy to see them is their widowed daughter-in-law (Setsuko Hara). The children shuttle their aging parents off to a health spa in an attempt to get them out of the way, a decision that could come back to haunt them.
A venal Parisian couple (Mireille Darc and Jean Yanne) sets off on a sojourn to the country only to find themselves caught in the traffic jam from hell. But things go from bad to worse as they get carjacked by a man professing to be God and are later abducted by a band of anarchists. Director Jean-Luc Godard's scathing critique of the bourgeoisie is a darkly amusing allegorical tale teeming with taboos, including parricide and cannibalism.
Directed by Jonathan Demme, this profile of Haitian radio journalist and human rights activist Jean Dominique weaves historical footage of Haiti's troubled past with one-on-one interviews with Dominique and his devoted wife, Michele Montas. The film also incorporates rare footage shot just before Dominique's assassination on April 30, 2000.
The revolutionary Dogma 95 school of filmmaking washed up on American shores with this intense European drama starring Emily Watson as Bess, a naïve Scotswoman who's convinced that God will heal her paralyzed husband (Stellan Skarsgård) if she has sex with other men. Director Lars von Trier shot the film using only available light, handheld cameras and no musical score; the result is a stunning, nakedly emotional film.
This Hungarian box office smash hit and winner of the Prix de la Jeunes award at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival takes place entirely underground in the Budapest subway system. A variety of personalities converge on the turnstiles, including a dashing young man, an exotic woman and a murderer, all of whom are desperately racing against time and their surroundings to find one another … before they are found themselves.
Matt Dillon makes his big-screen debut in this bleak portrait of adolescence in the late 1970s, following a restless group of suburban teenagers whose parents raised them in a planned community. With nothing to challenge them inside the city limits, the teens rebel by drinking liquor, dealing drugs and doling out random acts of destruction. But when the cops lower the boom on their high jinks, the kids fight back with shocking violence.
Philippe Nahon stars as an unnamed butcher teetering on the edge of hopelessness in this French drama directed by Gaspar Noe. Just released from prison, the butcher struggles to find employment but is met with one closed door after another. Angry and frustrated, he lashes out at those around him with horrific force, aching to be heard. Please note that some scenes in this film are highly graphic and sexual in nature.
Social mores are under scrutiny -- and attack -- in director Seijun Suzuki's gripping drama that takes place amid the black markets and hovels of post-World War II Tokyo. A tough band of prostitutes scratch out a meager existence while fostering friendships and maintaining the barest semblance of order in a world on the brink of total chaos. But when a renegade ex-soldier (Jo Shishido) appears, lust and loyalty take a tragic backseat.
This French thriller chronicles the unspeakable horror of rape and the aftermath of revenge. When a woman is brutally violated, her angered boyfriend and ex-boyfriend team up to track down the rapist and take justice into their own hands. Albert Dupontel, Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci star, and Gaspar Noé (I Stand Alone) directs. Nominated for the Golden Palm Award at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.
Retired hit man Tetsu is shocked when he learns he's the intended casualty for a planned hit by friends of his last victim. Tetsu's brother Kenji comes to his big brother's rescue, only to have someone close to them get murdered. With no other recourse, the two brothers must flee and assume false identities while employed as construction workers. But soon enough, their covers are blown and they must deal with their aggressors directly.
Some thrillers remain as suspenseful -- and timely -- as when they were first released. Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is a Korean War hero with a lethal secret: He's been brainwashed into being a sleeper agent for the communist Chinese. With one phone call, the Reds can transform Shaw into a deadly assassin -- unless fellow veteran Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra) can stop them first!
This collection features three short 1970s documentaries from acclaimed director Werner Herzog. The first film chronicles the life of champion ski-jumper Walter Steiner, who lives a double life as daredevil athlete and introspective wood carver. Filmed during the Cattle Auctioneering World Championships, the second documentary compares American capitalism to Amish ways. The third film explores conditions on the volcanic island of Guadeloupe.
In this penetrating documentary about the nature of obsession, Dr. Graham Dorrington, a visionary scientist and aeronautics expert, has designed a helium-filled airship for the purpose of exploring the Guyanese rainforest canopy. But Dorrington's motivations are not entirely scientific: A friend's death -- which occurred years earlier during a similar experiment -- still haunts him, driving him to atonement. Werner Herzog directs.
Werner Herzog lenses this documentary about 56-year-old Fini Straubinger, who was blind and deaf since her late teens and confined to her bed by her mother for three decades before fighting to overcome her isolation. Included are some harrowing scenes of people who encounter a daily struggle against the confines nature has imposed on them, making the film a wonderful testament to the triumphant nature of the human spirit.
John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) awakens in a hotel room to find he's wanted for a series of murders he doesn't remember committing. Murdoch encounters the Strangers, a group of ominous beings with a collective memory who can stop time and alter physical reality. He begins to piece together his memories -- childhood, love for his wife (Jennifer Connelly) and the key to the murders -- all the while trying to avoid the underworld of the Strangers.
An injured soldier named Stroszek (Peter Brogle) and his wife (Athina Zacharopoulou) work as the caretakers of a military fortress on a Greek island. The soldier eventually goes mad (literally) with boredom and tries to kill his wife and everyone else. Director Werner Herzog's first feature -- shot for the bargain basement price of $20,000 from his own script -- is a slow, deliberate film that inspired Stephen King's The Shining.
This chilling tale based on Truman Capote's nonfiction novel follows two drifters who murder an allegedly rich Kansas family and flee to Mexico. Filmed in the house where the real-life incident occurred, In Cold Blood paints a compassionate portrait of the Clutter family … and their killers (Robert Blake and Scott Wilson). Nominated for four Oscars, this disturbing movie was shot in black and white but implies that the meaning of justice is not.
This disc includes the following episodes: "The Assistant," "Addicts," "God Visits," "Parents' Weekend," "Eric Visits Again" and "Rush and Pledge." Extras include audio commentaries and unaired footage.
You are what you eat! The seventh level of hell is unleashed when a mutated strain of mad cow disease infects the countryside, turning people into flesh-eating zombies that like their food … fast! Caught in the middle of this gory upheaval is Helena (Marian Araujo), a young Spanish tourist, and Desmond (David Muyllaert), the local gravedigger. Together, they must join forces and fight for survival or else become appetizers in a zombie feast.
Kind Hearts and Coronets is perhaps the best (and best-loved) of Alec Guinness's English Ealing comedies. Guinness is in superb, droll form as he plays eight different members of the D'Ascoyne clan. Louis (Dennis Price), the black sheep of the wealthy family, must murder all the heirs in order to inherit the D'Ascoyne fortune. You'll be mesmerized as the brilliant Guinness disappears into his various eccentric roles.
Aging samurai Isaburo (Toshiro Mifune) challenges the ruling war lord in Masaki Kobayashi's compelling tale of a peaceful man who's pushed too far. When a mistress displeases the lord, he demands that Isaburo's son marry the woman. Isaburo takes the girl in, and to everyone's surprise, she falls in love with her intended husband. But when the temperamental lord reverses his orders and demands his mistress's return, Isaburo bravely takes a stand.
In this emotional documentary (a 2005 Sundance selection), director Kirby Dick takes a closer look at one of the stories to come out of the Catholic church abuse scandals of 2002. When he finds out that his alleged abuser lives down the street, former victim Tony Comes -- now a husband, father and firefighter -- is forced to deal with his past. He chooses to do so publicly, a decision that, sadly, brings more pain and embarrassment into his life.
Detectives Kim Mi Yun (Jung-ah Yeom) and Kang Tae Hyun (Jin-hee Ji) investigate a copycat serial killer in Jong-hyuk Lee's gruesome thriller. Police think they've got their man when Shin Hyun (Seung-woo Cho) confesses to the mutilation murders of six women. But the case is reopened a year later when more women are brutally killed in the same manner. The investigation stalls, the detectives become suspects, and the body count rises. …
This disc includes the following episodes: "Hell Week," "Truth or Dare," "The Day After," "The Perfect Date," "Hal and Hillary" and "Eric's POV." Extras include audio commentaries and unaired footage.
Three warlord clans are battling for control of medieval Japan. When the leader of the Takeda clan, Lord Shingen (Tatsuya Nakadai), is mortally wounded, he orders that his death be kept secret from his enemies. The clan searches for a "shadow warrior," an exact double, to take his place. Now, a thief named Kagemusha (Nakadai in a double role) must fight for an empire in this stunning film from legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa.
Police detective Vadim Lesiev (Marton Csokas) tracks the killer known as "the Monster of Rostov" in David Grieco's film based on true events. The story follows Lesiev as he investigates the activities of Russian literature professor Andrei Chikatilo (Malcolm McDowell), a vicious serial killer who covers his bloody crimes by eating his victims. But to catch the elusive psychopath, Lesiev must get inside the madman's mind. Frances Barber co-stars.
Silver-tongued radio disc jockey Dave (Clint Eastwood) can't help but notice the persistent calls from a female to "play 'Misty' for me." But when a chance meeting with infatuated fan Evelyn leads to a brief and steamy love affair, Dave quickly learns he's in for more than a little night music. Evelyn will stop at nothing -- even the return of one of Dave's old flames -- to have him all to herself. The film marks Eastwood's directorial debut.
Prison escapee Trevor Finch (Christian Slater) assumes the identity of a deceased man, Cletis Tout, but soon discovers that someone had put out a hit on Cletis. Now, as Finch and fellow escapee Micah (Richard Dreyfuss) race to recover Micah's hidden diamonds, they must outrun not only the police but hit man Critical Jim (Tim Allen), as well! Portia de Rossi plays Finch's girlfriend, Tess, in this caper comedy.
Shot over seven years by filmmaker John Dullaghan, this intimate portrait of writer Charles Bukowski reveals a tortured man who survived years of abuse to produce some of the most influential prose of his generation. Packed with interviews with friends and colleagues, the film also showcases rare footage culled from every phase of Bukowski's past, including a few of his more explosive public readings in the 1960s.
This series of intimate vignettes from writer-director Rodrigo Garcia (Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her) peers into the private lives of nine women, each with a different destiny. A star-studded ensemble cast includes Kathy Baker, Amy Brenneman, Glenn Close, Dakota Fanning, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Holly Hunter, Mary Kay Place, Sissy Spacek and Robin Wright Penn -- with Joe Mantegna and Aidan Quinn providing the testosterone.
Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland tells the story of Binh (Damien Nguyen), a shy Vietnamese man in his 20s who embarks on a personal journey with a beautiful young woman named Ling (Ling Bai) aboard a refugee ship bound for America. The objective of Binh's quest is to find a better life -- and his estranged American father. Nick Nolte and Tim Roth play supporting roles in this drama exploring the consequences of the Vietnam War.
After he's mistakenly arrested on suspicion of terrorism, Hassan (Ayad Akhtar), a Pakistani student, is so angry and offended that he joins the ranks of a New York-based terrorist cell that's planning an attack. But keeping his new life secret from his former best friend, Sayeed -- who's living the American Dream in New Jersey -- proves difficult, especially after Hassan falls in love with Sayeed's sister (Nandana Sen).
This disc includes auditions, rehearsals, "Loudon Wainwright Live," Museum of Television & Radio Q&A and "Lloyd's Rampage" script.
Russian-born Laura (Dina Korzun) lives in Memphis with her older boyfriend, Alan (Rip Torn), a cantankerous and legendary rock 'n' roll producer. When Alan's grown son Michael (Darren E. Burrows) arrives, prickly emotions surface, a messy affair ensues, and Laura's life is forever changed. This romantic drama, directed and co-written by Ira Sachs, won the 2005 Sundance Film Festival's American Dramatic Grand Jury Prize.
Gregg Araki's riveting drama, based on a novel by Scott Heim, brings together two unlikely heroes (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Brady Corbet): a young man who makes a living by selling his body on the streets and another who's convinced he was once abducted by aliens. It seems they have unspeakable tragedy in common as both of them discover they were abused as children. What results is a friendship built on despair but rife with hope.
Terrence Dashon Howard turns in a true star performance in director Craig Brewer's indie drama. DJay (Howard) is a pimp with aspirations of grandeur -- he wants to make it as a rapper -- but he soon discovers that fame isn't all it's cracked up to be. Offering strong characters and notes of sweet romance amid the urban beats of its central plot, this 2005 Sundance Audience Award-winner was produced by John Singleton.
Faced with the prospect of raising her son, Frankie (Jack McElhone), with a good-for-nothing man, Lizzie (Emily Mortimer) spirits him away to Scotland and pretends the boy's father is aboard the HMS Accra. After years of pretending, including sending Frankie fake letters detailing his dad's adventures, the jig is up when Frankie learns the ship is docked by their home. Now, Lizzie must find a man to pose as Frankie's father … fast!
This visual allegory of desperation and longing from director Takashi Miike chronicles the adventure of a Japanese businessman sent on a trip to a Chinese village where he discovers a girl with a haunting voice and a secret that allows men to fly. Environmentalism, human value and the perception of wealth are among the themes explored in this soul-searching drama.
Manic psychologist William Hurt's experiments combine sensory deprivation and mind-bending drugs to unlock the inner self. His handiwork shuttles him back and forth on the human evolutionary spectrum -- from human to ape-man. Hurt and colleague Blair Brown regurgitate Paddy Chayefsky's script at hyperspeed (director Ken Russell hated the dialogue but was contractually bound not to change it).
Bree (Felicity Huffman) gets the shock of her life when a week before her final sex change surgery she discovers a son she didn't know she had. After bailing him out of jail the two set out on a cross-country journey riddled with road bumps. Huffman won numerous awards (and an Oscar nomination) for her role as a man longing to be a woman. Elizabeth Pena, Burt Young, Kevin Zegers and Graham Greene co-star.
A privileged girl falls victim to a ruthless gangster in this disturbing drama. Obsessed with Sun-hwa (Seo Weon), gangster Han-ki (Jo Jae-hyeon) decides to prove that she's not out of his league. Han-ki devises a set-up wherein Sun-hwa is caught stealing money and is offered prison time or prostitution; she chooses the latter. As Sun-hwa suffers the brutality of her new profession, Han-ki, fixated, watches from behind a two-way mirror. …
Based on Novala Takemoto's best-selling Japanese novel Shimotsuma Story, this colorful live-action comedy from writer-director Tetsuya Nakashima tells a tale of unlikely friendship. When she meets rough-and-tumble biker chick Ichigo Shirayuri (Anna Tschiya), the refined Momoko Ryugasaki (Kyoko Fukada) is forever changed. But can a big-city girl who adores 18th century France, frilly dresses and parasols save her new friend from certain doom?
David (Albert Brooks) and Linda (Julie Hagerty) live a boring life. David has dutifully obeyed orders at an ad agency for eight years, while Linda has devoted seven years to a dead-end job. But after David gets fired, they impulsively embark on a painfully hilarious odyssey of discovery. As they travel across the United States their finances dwindle to a dangerous low... and when they park their RV in Las Vegas, all bets are definitely off!
Tommy Lee Jones stars in and directs this dark comedy set on the Texas-Mexico border. After accidentally killing a man, heartless border patrol officer Mike (Barry Pepper) quickly buries the body in an unmarked grave. But ranch foreman Pete Perkins