Director: Vladimír Michálek
Starring: Olga Charvatova, Martin Dejdar, Oldrich Kaiser, Katerina Kozakova, Jirí Lábus, Pavel Landovský, Vaclav Marhoul, Pavel Nový, Milan Riehs, Jarka Rytychova, Jan Schmid, Jirí Schmitzer, Ladislav Skrabánek, Libuse Tomanová, Petr Vacek, Tomás Vorel
Genre: Drama
Studio:   Release date: 1994   Rated:
Language (Country): (Czech Republic)
Summary: This Czech drama is the first film version of Kafka's unfinished novel. The film has a theatrical feel as it follows protagonist Karel Rosmann from Europe to America where stays with his Uncle Jacob, an industrialist. Karel has many experiences there that leave him beginning to feel paranoid; especially after he becomes victim to the sexually forward daughter of a business associate of his father. In disgrace he leaves his uncle's and takes up with Topic, an alcoholic hobo, and a barmaid, Klara. Topic pushes Karel into a fight and Karel, believing he's killed him goes into hiding where he is protected by Green, a nasty old man, and Mack, a punk. His two protectors are literally the death of him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Director: George Sidney (II)
Starring: Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson, Gene Kelly, José Iturbi, Dean Stockwell, Pamela Britton, Rags Ragland, Billy Gilbert, Henry O'Neill, Carlos Ramírez, Edgar Kennedy, Grady Sutton, Leon Ames, Sharon McManus, James Flavin
Genre: Musical
Studio: Warner Studios   Release date: 1945   Rated: NR
Language (Country): English, French (USA)
Summary: Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra teamed up for their first of three musical comedies in this frothy confection of sailors on leave in Hollywood, with gawky, shy young Sinatra tagging along with his worldly buddy Kelly, who promises to show him the ropes. Overlong at more than two hours, this meandering production is light on story, and more than a little sentimental, but full of first-rate entertainment. Sinatra croons "I Fall in Love Too Easily" and "What Makes the Sunset," chirpy costar Kathryn Grayson sings "All of a Sudden My Heart Sings," classical pianist José Iturbi provides a little highbrow interlude, and Gene Kelly dances with cartoon mouse Jerry (of Tom and Jerry fame) when not chasing dames. Somewhere in the midst of this, little Dean Stockwell makes his film debut as a runaway orphan who melts the heart of self-centered Kelly. This big-budget Technicolor extravaganza, directed by MGM stalwart and musical specialist George Sidney (Show Boat, Kiss Me Kate), was one of the studio's biggest hits in 1945. --Sean Axmaker

Director: John Landis
Starring: John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Tom Hulce, Cesare Danova, Peter Riegert, Mary Louise Weller, Stephen Furst, James Daughton, Bruce McGill, Mark Metcalf, DeWayne Jessie, Karen Allen, James Widdoes
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Umvd   Release date: 1978   Rated: R
Language (Country): English (American Pie), English (Animal House/Fast Times), French (not on Fast Times) (USA)
Summary: This is one of those movies that works for all the wrong reasons--disgusting, lowbrow, base humor that we are all far too sophisticated to find amusing. So, just don't tell anyone you still think it's a riot to watch John Belushi as the brutish Bluto slurp Jell-O or terrorize his less-aggressive fellow students. This crude parody of college life in the '60s spawned many imitations, but none could match the fresh-faced talent or bad taste of this huge box office success. (Remember all those toga parties in the '80s?) The first of the National Lampoon movies, this was originally released as "National Lampoon's Animal House". Keep an eye out for a very young Kevin Bacon in his first credited screen appearance. "--Rochelle O'Gorman"

Director: Woody Allen
Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane, Paul Simon, Shelley Duvall, Janet Margolin, Colleen Dewhurst, Christopher Walken, Donald Symington, Helen Ludlam, Mordecai Lawner, Joan Neuman, Jonathan Munk, Ruth Volner
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Mgm/Ua Studios   Release date: 1977   Rated: PG
Language (Country): English, French (USA)
Summary: Annie Hall is one of the truest, most bittersweet romances on film. In it, Allen plays a thinly disguised version of himself: Alvy Singer, a successful--if neurotic--television comedian living in Manhattan. Annie (the wholesomely luminous Dianne Keaton) is a Midwestern transplant who dabbles in photography and sings in small clubs. When the two meet, the sparks are immediate--if repressed. Alone in her apartment for the first time, Alvy and Annie navigate a minefield of self-conscious "is-this-person-someone-I'd-want-to-get-involved-with?" conversation. As they speak, subtitles flash their unspoken thoughts: the likes of "I'm not smart enough for him" and "I sound like a jerk." Despite all their caution, they connect, and we're swept up in the flush of their new romance. Allen's antic sensibility shines here in a series of flashbacks to Alvy's childhood, growing up, quite literally, under a rumbling roller coaster. His boisterous Jewish family's dinner table shares a split screen with the WASP-y Hall's tight-lipped holiday table, one Alvy has joined for the first time. His position as outsider is uncontestable he looks down the table and sizes up Annie's "Grammy Hall" as "a classic Jew-hater." The relationship arcs, as does Annie's growing desire for independence. It quickly becomes clear that the two are on separate tracks, as what was once endearing becomes annoying. Annie Hall embraces Allen's central themes--his love affair with New York (and hatred of Los Angeles), how impossible relationships are, and his fear of death. But their balance is just right, the chemistry between Allen's worry-wart Alvy and Keaton's gangly, loopy Annie is one of the screen's best pairings. It couldn't be more engaging. --Susan Benson

Director: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Alan Cumming
Starring: Alan Cumming, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Steven Freedman, Otis, Norizzela Monterroso, Clara Demedrano, John Benjamin Hickey, Parker Posey, Phoebe Cates, Kevin Kline, Owen Kline, Greta Kline, Denis O'Hare, Mina Badie, Jane Adams
Genre: Drama
Studio: New Line Home Entertainment   Release date: 2001   Rated: R
Language (Country): (USA)
Summary: It's easy to be skeptical when a couple of well-connected actors throw a script together, start shooting their fabulous friends with digital cameras, and call it a movie. But Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming, who bonded in Cabaret on Broadway, have crafted a rough little gem in The Anniversary Party. Influenced by Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Player, it's a devastating portrait of a fragile marriage and a perceptive look at life in Hollywood. The characters are based--to an eerie degree--on their Hollywood counterparts: Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates are a Shakespeare-quoting actor and his retired actress wife; Gwyneth Paltrow is a rising young starlet; etc. Leigh is an actress on the way down, and Cumming, a best-selling author and up-and-coming director, is the sexually ambiguous husband with whom she has recently reconciled. The titular party is to celebrate their sixth anniversary, and revelations about the characters accumulate as the evening progresses from a tense session of charades to an ecstasy-pill-fueled blowout by the pool. The screenplay combines brittle humor with melodrama and consists of more talk than action (as in the Dogme films that inspired it), but the proceedings are rarely less than compelling even if the characters, for the most part, aren't exactly the most likable bunch. As a result, Jennifer Beals ends up stealing the show from the bigger names in the cast simply by emerging as the most genuinely human character--the one who actually showed up to honor her friends' commitment rather than to advance her career. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Sam Bottoms, Albert Hall, Laurence Fishburne, Dennis Hopper, Harrison Ford, G.D. Spradlin, Jerry Ziesmer, Scott Glenn, Bo Byers, James Keane, Kerry Rossall
Genre: Action & Adventure
Studio: Paramount Home Video   Release date: 1979   Rated: R
Language (Country): English, French ()
Summary: Digitally remastered with 49 minutes of previously unseen footage, Apocalypse Now Redux is the reference standard of Francis Coppola's 1979 epic. A metaphorical hallucination of the Vietnam War, the film was reconstructed by Coppola and editor Walter Murch to enrich themes and clarify the ending. On that basis Redux is a qualified success, more coherent than the original while inviting the same accusations of directorial excess. The restored "French plantation" sequence adds ghostly resonance to the war's absurdity, and Willard's theft of Colonel Kurtz's beloved surfboard adds welcomed humor to the film's nightmarish upriver journey. An encounter with Playboy Playmates seems superfluous compared to the enhanced interplay between Willard and his ill-fated boat crew, but compensation arrives in the hellish Kurtz compound, where Willard's mission--and the performances of Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando--reach even greater heights of insanity, thus validating Redux as the rightful heir to Coppola's triumphantly rampant ambition. --Jeff Shannon

Director: Peter Cohen
Starring: Rolf Arsenius, Bruno Ganz, Sam Gray, Martin Bormann, Dr. Karl Brandt, Arno Breker, Hermann Giesler, Josef Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler, Adolf Hitler, Wilhelm Keitel, Viktor Lutze, Alfred Rosenberg, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Albert Speer, Josef Thorak, P.L. Troost
Genre: Documentary
Studio: First Run Features   Release date: 1989   Rated: NR
Language (Country): Swedish (Sweden)
Summary: The Architecture of Doom was perhaps the first to propose the notion that Hitler embraced the art of politics after failing as a painter, suggesting that Nazism was a reflection of the dictator's perverse aesthetic tastes. In its deconstruction of the Nazi movement, the movie is novel and shows an interesting, perhaps true, perspective.

Director:
Starring:
Genre: Documentary
Studio: Facets Video   Release date: 2001   Rated: NR
Language (Country): (Sweden)
Summary: A privileged, unprecedented inside look at the work of superstar architects and some of their most brilliant creations, produced by the European public television channel ARTE. This series looks at architecture and its historical and social functions and to reveal its meaning and impact on humanity. Architectures 1 covers milestones like Germany's famed Bauhaus and the Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris, and examines the work of architects Jean Nouvel, Otto Wagner, Walter Gropius, Alvaro Siza, and others.

Director:
Starring:
Genre: Documentary
Studio: Facets Video   Release date: 2001   Rated: NR
Language (Country): (Sweden)
Summary: This documentary examines six buildings created by some of the most respected architects of their time. Included are profiles of Rem Koolhaas' The Villa Dall'ava; Frank Lloyd Wright's Johnson Wax Building in Racine, Wisconsin; Peter Zumthor's Stone Thermal Baths in Switzerland; and Felix Duban's Paris Fine Art School. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Director:
Starring:
Genre: Documentary
Studio: Facets Video   Release date: 2003   Rated: NR
Language (Country): (Sweden)
Summary: A privileged, unprecedented inside look at the work of superstar architects and some of their most brilliant creations, produced by the European public television channel ARTE. This series looks at architecture and its historical and social functions to reveal its meaning and impact on humanity. ARCHITECTURES 3 examines the extraordinary Jewish Museum of Berlin, designed by Daniel Liebeskind; Louis Sullivan's Auditorium Theatre in Chicago; a Dominican convent designed by Le Corbusier; Charles Garnier's Parisian Opera; and buildings by Antonio Gaudi and Alvar Aalto.

Director: Frank Capra
Starring: Cary Grant, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre, Priscilla Lane, John Alexander, Jack Carson, John Ridgely, Edward McNamara, James Gleason, Grant Mitchell, Edward Everett Horton, Vaughan Glaser, Chester Clute
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Warner Studios   Release date: 1944   Rated: NR
Language (Country): English (USA)
Summary: A man learns that his kindly old aunts and his sinister brother are all serial killers, and tries to sort it out fast so he can go on his honeymoon.

Director: Jay Roach
Starring: Mike Myers, Beyoncé Knowles, Seth Green, Michael York, Robert Wagner, Mindy Sterling, Verne Troyer, Michael Caine, Fred Savage, Diane Mizota, Carrie Ann Inaba, Nobu Matsuhisa, Aaron Himelstein, Josh Zuckerman, Eddie Adams
Genre: Comedy
Studio: New Line Home Entertainment   Release date: 2002   Rated: PG-13
Language (Country): English, (USA)
Summary: Despite symptoms of sequelitis, Austin Powers in Goldmember is must-see lunacy for devoted fans of the shagadelic franchise. Unfortunately, the law of diminishing returns is in full effect: for every big-name cameo and raunchy double-entendre, there's an equal share of redundant shtick, juvenile scatology, and pop-cultural spoofery. All is forgiven when the hilarity level is consistently high, and Mike Myers--returning here as randy Brit spy Austin, his nemesis Dr. Evil, the bloated Scottish henchman Fat Bastard, and new Dutch disco-villain Goldmember--thrives by favoring comedic chaos over coherent plotting. Once they've tossed Austin into the disco fever of 1975 (where he's sent to rescue his father, gamely played by Michael Caine), Myers and director Jay Roach seem vaguely adrift with old and new characters, including Verne Troyer's Mini-Me and pop star Beyoncé Knowles as Pam Grier-ish blaxpo-babe Foxxy Cleopatra. A bit tired, perhaps, but Powers hasn't lost his mojo. --Jeff Shannon

Director: Ingmar Bergman
Starring: Ingrid Bergman, Liv Ullmann, Lena Nyman, Halvar Björk, Marianne Aminoff, Arne Bang-Hansen, Gunnar Björnstrand, Erland Josephson, Georg Løkkeberg, Mimi Pollak, Linn Ullmann
Genre: Drama
Studio: Criterion Collection   Release date: 1978   Rated: PG
Language (Country): Swedish, English (dubbed), (Sweden)
Summary: Bergman (Ingrid) meets Bergman (Ingmar) in this fine but not outstanding story from 1978 of a concert pianist who meets up with her estranged daughter (Liv Ullmann) for the first time in seven years, and spends an evening confronting unresolved ill feelings from the past. Ingmar's been down this road plenty of times and in better films (Cries and Whispers); but even as a minor work, this is a powerful piece with two top actresses of their day. This was Ingrid Bergman's last film.

Director: Vladimír Michálek
Starring: Vlastimil Brodský, Stella Zázvorková, Stanislav Zindulka, Ondrej Vetchý, Petra Spalková, Jirí Lábus, Zita Kabátová, Katerina Pindejová, Lubomír Kostelka, Juraj Johanides, Zuzana Fialová, Simona Stasová, Magdalena Sidonová, Vlastimil Zavrel, Martin Sitta
Genre: Comedy
Studio: First Look Pictures   Release date: 2002   Rated: PG-13
Language (Country): Czech (Czech Republic)
Summary: A bittersweet comedy starring the great Vlastimil Brodský as Fanda, an old man who refuses to grow up. Despite pleas from his exasperated wife who wants him to make serious decisions about the future, Fanda ignores the nagging and spends his days seeking amusement and adventure.

Director: Josée Dayan
Starring: Gérard Depardieu, Jeanne Moreau, Fanny Ardant, Virna Lisi, Katja Riemann, Gert Voss, Katja Studt, Marianne Denicourt, Sergio Rubini, Gottfried John, François Marthouret, Claude Rich, Pascal Vannson, Hervé Briaux, Didier Lesour
Genre: Drama
Studio: Fox Lorber   Release date: 2000   Rated: NR
Language (Country): German, French (France)
Summary: Lovers of 19th-century French literature and contemporary French cinema will probably get the most out of this 210-minute march through the sensual life of Honoré de Balzac. Those not familiar with the work of this spectacularly prolific writer might be disappointed, since this biopic only touches on the great works in a cursory way. Several times throughout the narrative, the great author hears a few sentences, gets a faraway look in his eyes, and says, "You know, that would make a great story..." before dashing offscreen to his study, presumably to deliver yet another masterpiece. This French-made small-screen production is dominated by the charismatic presence of Gerard Depardieu, who taxes his skills to seem as spectacularly fat and physically unattractive as the legendary writer and lover of women. Practically all the actual lovemaking takes place offscreen; onscreen, impassioned oration is the order of the day. Depardieu is almost matched monologue for monologue by an even greater French star, Jeanne Moreau, who plays his brooding, eternally unsatisfied mother with an unchanging icy grandeur. Ridicule's Fanny Ardant shows a far greater development of character as Countess Eve Hanska, the indecisive Russian noblewoman who steals Balzac's heart and inspires his greatest work--while footing the bill for the excesses of his grandiose lifestyle. --Grant Balfour

Director: Ron Fricke
Starring: N/A
Genre: Documentary
Studio: Mpi Home Video   Release date: 1993   Rated: NR
Language (Country): English (USA)
Summary: The word Baraka means "blessing" in several languages; watching this film, the viewer is blessed with a dazzling barrage of images that transcend language. Filmed in 24 countries and set to an ever-changing global soundtrack, the movie draws some surprising connections between various peoples and the spaces they inhabit, whether that space is a lonely mountaintop or a crowded cigarette factory. Some of these attempts at connection are more successful than others: for instance, an early sequence segues between the daily devotions of Tibetan monks, Orthodox Jews, and whirling dervishes, finding more similarity among these rituals than one might expect. And there are other amazing moments, as when sped-up footage of a busy Hong Kong intersection reveals a beautiful symmetry to urban life that could only be appreciated from the perspective of film. The lack of context is occasionally frustrating--not knowing where a section was filmed, or the meaning of the ritual taking place--and some of the transitions are puzzling. However, the DVD includes a short behind-the-scenes featurette in which cinematographer Ron Fricke (Koyaanisqatsi) explains that the effect was intentional: "It's not where you are that's important, it's what's there." And what's here, in Baraka, is a whole world summed up in 104 minutes. --Larisa Lomacky Moore

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Hardy Krüger, Steven Berkoff, Gay Hamilton, Marie Kean, Diana Körner, Murray Melvin, Frank Middlemass, André Morell, Arthur O'Sullivan, Godfrey Quigley, Leonard Rossiter, Philip Stone
Genre: Drama
Studio: Warner Studios   Release date: 1975   Rated: PG
Language (Country): English, French (UK)
Summary: In 1975 the world was at Stanley Kubrick's feet. His films Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and A Clockwork Orange, released in the previous dozen years, had provoked rapture and consternation--not merely in the film community, but in the culture at large. On the basis of that smashing hat trick, Kubrick was almost certainly the most famous film director of his generation, and absolutely the one most likely to rewire the collective mind of the movie audience. And what did this radical, at-least-20-years-ahead-of-his-time filmmaker give the world in 1975? A stately, three-hour costume drama based on an obscure Thackeray novel from 1844. A picaresque story about an Irish lad (Ryan O'Neal, then a major star) who climbs his way into high society, Barry Lyndon bewildered some critics (Pauline Kael called it "an ice-pack of a movie") and did only middling business with patient audiences. The film was clearly a technical advance, with its unique camerawork (incorporating the use of prototype Zeiss lenses capable of filming by actual candlelight) and sumptuous production design. But its hero is a distinctly underwhelming, even unsympathetic fellow, and Kubrick does not try to engage the audience's emotions in anything like the usual way. Why, then, is Barry Lyndon a masterpiece? Because it uncannily captures the shape and rhythm of a human life in a way few other films have; because Kubrick's command of design and landscape is never decorative but always apiece with his hero's journey; and because every last detail counts. Even the film's chilly style is thawed by the warm narration of the great English actor Michael Hordern and the Irish songs of the Chieftains. Poor Barry's life doesn't matter much in the end, yet the care Kubrick brings to the telling of it is perhaps the director's most compassionate gesture toward that most peculiar species of animal called man. And the final, wry title card provides the perfect Kubrickian sendoff--a sentiment that is even more poignant since Kubrick's premature death. --Robert Horton

Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Gough, Jack Palance, Jerry Hall, Tracey Walter, Lee Wallace, William Hootkins, Richard Strange, Carl Chase, Mac McDonald
Genre: Action & Adventure
Studio: Warner Studios   Release date: 1989   Rated: PG-13
Language (Country): English, French (USA)
Summary: Thanks to the ambitious vision of director Tim Burton, the blockbuster hit of 1989 delivers the goods despite an occasionally spotty script, giving the caped crusader a thorough overhaul in keeping with the crime fighter's evolution in DC Comics. Michael Keaton strikes just the right mood as the brooding "Dark Knight" of Gotham City; Kim Basinger plays Gotham's intrepid reporter Vicki Vale; and Jack Nicholson goes wild as the maniacal and scene-stealing Joker, who plots a takeover of the city with his lethal Smilex gas. Triumphant Oscar-winning production design by the late Anton Furst turns Batman into a visual feast, and Burton brilliantly establishes a darkly mythic approach to Batman's legacy. Danny Elfman's now-classic score propels the action with bold, muscular verve. --Jeff Shannon

Director: James Cellan Jones
Starring: Cyril Cusack, Charles Gray, Nicolas Chagrin, Nick Burnell, Graham Christopher, Ross Davidson, Howard Lee, Daniel Rovai, Paul Springer, Jenny Weston, Bunny Reed, Michael Kitchen, Roger Daltrey, Noel Johnson, Suzanne Bertish
Genre: Comedy
Studio:   Release date: 1983   Rated:
Language (Country): (UK)
Summary: As You Like It (1978): Shakespeare at his sunniest, posing serious questions in the most lighthearted tone. Is there a “natural difference” between a Duke’s daughter and a commoner? Are men really stronger than women? Or is it just society’s role? Some of these characters briefly discard the roles they’ve played, while others adopt new one. All learn something about themselves. Stars Helen Mirren, Brian Stirner and Richard Pasco.

Taming of the Shrew (1980): This comic confrontation between the sexes is one of the most frequently-staged plays. Its sparkling wit and rich characterization are matched with an outstanding cast. John Cleese, of Monty Python and Fawlty Towers gives a portrayal of Petruchio that wins unanimous critical acclaim, praised as “an object lesson in serving Shakespeare to a present-day audience.”

The Tempest (1980): A dramatic romance, weaving fancy and realism into a plot that speaks to audiences today. This timeless stage is set on an enchanted island, where an exiled Duke and two young lovers encounter the occult, finding good and evil in their own natures. Starring Christopher Guard, Michael Hordern.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1981): Three plots intertwine: the entangled love affairs of Demetrius and Helena, Lysander and Hermia, the comic performance of a “play within a play” by the tradesmen of Athens and the antics in fairyland of King Oberon and Queen Titania. The strong cast features Helen Mirren and Peter McEnery, Pippa Sward, Brian Clover and Phil Daniel. As the New York Times states “they are all accomplished performers, but the director has given the extra dimension of using them brilliantly in terms of television.”

Merchant of Venice (1980): The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies. It has become most celebrated for its captivating villain, Shylock. Blending tragedy and comedy, this play presents contrasts and ambiguities. The complexity lies in the character Shylock. Is he a villain, a buffoon or tragic hero? Starring: Warren Mitchell, Gemma Jones.

Director: Jane Howell
Starring: John Welsh, David Burke, Robert Stephens, Jeremy Kemp, Anna Calder-Marshall, Jeremy Dimmick, Merelina Kendall, Susan Brodrick, Leonard Kavanagh, John Baily, Cyril Luckham, William Relton, Margaret Tyzack, John Benfield, Cornelius Garrett
Genre: Drama
Studio:   Release date: 1981   Rated:
Language (Country): (UK)
Summary: Henry V : In the third play portraying England's most admired national hero, Henry V unites his people, invades France, deals with traitors and cements the peace. Starring David Gwillim, Rob Edwards and Julian Glover. Running Time: 163 minutes.

Richard II : Richard II, defying tradition and laws of succession, disinherits Bolingbroke and uses that money to finance a military adventure in Ireland. A stellar cast includes Derek Jacobi, Sir John Gielgud, Charles Gray, Jon Finch and Dame Wendy Hiller. Running Time: 157 minutes.

Richard III : A huge success in its day, this historical play centers around the character of Richard of Gloucester, a self-proclaimed villain who usurps the crown. Through political marriages and military coups, this play portrays an intricate period in English history. Stars:Ron Cook, Michael Byrne, and Brian Protheroe. Running Time: 228 minutes.

Henry IV, Part I : The boisterous Falstaff leads Prince Hal, the heir to the throne, through London’s lowlife taverns. While the young prince wasters his youth, a civil war threatens the monarchy. When the battle of Shrewsbury results, Prince Henry redeems himself at last. Stars Jon Finch, Anthony Quayle and David Gwillim . Running Time: 147 minutes

Henry IV, Part II : A panorama of Medieval English life. The passage of time brings the older generations closer to the grave, and the young closer to leadership. The play ends with the death of Henry IV, banishment of Falstaff and the coronation of Prince Hal as Henry V. Stars Jon Finch, Anthony Quayle and David Gwillim. Running Time: 151 minutes

Director: Jonathan Miller, Jack Gold, Rodney Bennett, Herbert Wise
Starring: Peter Benson, Anthony Brown, David Burke, Michael Byrne, Anne Carroll, Paul Chapman, Ron Cook, Rowena Cooper, Arthur Cox, Annette Crosbie, David Daker, Brian Deacon, Jeremy Dimmick, Tenniel Evans, Derek Farr, Dorian Ford, Julia Foster, Derek Fuke, Alex Guard, Bernard Hill, Paul Jesson, Patsy Kensit, Rusty Livingstone, Oengus MacNamara, Brian Protheroe, Nick Reding, Zoë Wanamaker, Mark Wing-Davey, Peter Wyatt
Genre: Drama
Studio: Ambrose Video Publis   Release date: 1983   Rated: NR
Language (Country): (UK)
Summary: These BBC and Time-Life film productions feature some of Britain's most distinguished theatrical talent (Anthony Hopkins, Sir John Gielgud, Patrick Stewart, Derek Jacobi, Claire Bloom and more), these DVD's now are the number-one choice for continuing personal enjoyment. This special DVD Giftbox Set contains 5 of Shakespeare's most popular tragedies:
Othello (1981) - Perhaps his greatest triumph as a stage plae. When the evil Iago plants the seeds of doubt in Othello's mind about Desdemona's fidelity, audiences around the world have been held spellbound. Starring Anthony Hopkins as Othello and Bob Hoskins as Iago.

Macbeth (1983) - This savage tragedy is one of Shakespeare's most enduringly popular. Told by a trio of witches that he is fated to become King of Scotland, the warrior Macbeth, aided by his wife, in his quest for power murders his king and assumes the throne. The two embark on a guilt-ridden reign of terror. Starring Nicol Williamson and Jan Lapotire.

Julius Caesar (1979) - Breaking all conventional rules of drama, Shakespeare creates neither a clear-cut hero nor a villian. Instead, this great tragedy presents complicated human beings in agonizing conflict with one another, and themselves. Starring Richard Russo, Keith Mitchell and Charles Gray as Caesar.

Hamlet (1980) - In this richly costumed production, the greatest tragedy ever written maintains all the tension of a murder mystery as it examins the fundamental issues of justice, guilt and death. Starring Derek Jaocbi, Patrick Stewart, Eric Porter and Claire Bloom.

Romeo & Juliet (1978) - One of the great love stories of all time and a "hit" for over 400 years. Full of passion and exquisite language, it expresses love in its infinite variety more than any other work in the English language. Starring Sir John Gielgud, Rebecca Saire and Patrick Ryecart.

Director: François Truffaut
Starring: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claude Jade, Hiroko Berghauer, Barbara Laage, Danièle Girard, Daniel Ceccaldi, Claire Duhamel, Daniel Boulanger, Silvana Blasi, Pierre Maguelon, Jacques Jouanneau, Claude Véga, Jacques Rispal, Jacques Robiolles, Pierre Fabre
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Fox Lorber   Release date: 1970   Rated: PG
Language (Country): French, (France)
Summary: The fourth film in François Truffaut's quasi-autobiographical Antoine Doinel cycle finds the idealistic child-man (played by Truffaut's alter ego and French new wave icon Jean-Pierre Léaud) married to his sweetheart Christine (Claude Jade) and still plugging away at odd jobs. When his experiments in the florist trade burn his bouquets to a smoky black ruin, he decides that it's time for another trade, and lands a job sending radio-controlled toy boats around a miniature harbor mock-up. It's about that time that he learns of his impending fatherhood, but he throws a monkey wrench into his new happiness when he becomes obsessed with a beautiful young Japanese woman (Hiroku Berghauer). Truffaut enlivens Doinel's courtyard apartment with the bustle and business of neighbors, creating a warm sense of community reminiscent of the works of Jean Renoir. He also pays homage to comic auteur Jacques Tati in meticulously constructed comic bits and a hilarious cameo by Tati's famous character, M. Hulot. However, he tempers the giddy screwball kookiness that characterized the previous film in the cycle, Stolen Kisses, with a less forgiving disposition toward Antoine's passionate irresponsibility and emotional impulsiveness. In one of Truffaut's finest moments ever, he plays out a conversation between the separated but still in love couple with a hard-earned sense of reflective maturity: "I love you," she confesses, "but I don't want to see you." It's a comedy with serious edges as Truffaut decides it's time for Antoine to grow up. --Sean Axmaker

Director: John Moore
Starring: Owen Wilson, Gene Hackman, Gabriel Macht, Charles Malik Whitfield, David Keith, Olek Krupa, Joaquim de Almeida, Vladimir Mashkov, Marko Igonda, Eyal Podell, Geoffrey Pierson, Aernout Van Lynden, Sam Jaeger, Shane Johnson, Don Winston
Genre: Action & Adventure
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Home Video   Release date: 2001   Rated: PG-13
Language (Country): English, Spanish, (USA)
Summary: Smart casting and sensible plotting make Behind Enemy Lines an above-average military thriller. Perfectly timed to bolster patriotism, the film is partly set (during a hypothetical "day after tomorrow") on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Carl Vinson, which was on alert status in the Persian Gulf when this film was released. Proving his versatility as an unconventional movie star, Owen Wilson plays a navy navigator who is shot down over Bosnia during a reconnaissance mission. Pursued by rebel Serbian forces, Wilson must fight for survival while his commanding officer (Gene Hackman) plots a daredevil rescue. After a successful career in TV commercials, Irish director John Moore makes a promising feature debut on Slovakian locations, borrowing a few techniques from Saving Private Ryan while adding impressive flourishes of his own. The gung-ho ending's a foregone conclusion, but it works like a charm after the movie's exciting game of cat and mouse. --Jeff Shannon

Director: Hal Ashby
Starring: Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden, Richard A. Dysart, Richard Basehart, Ruth Attaway, David Clennon, Fran Brill, Denise DuBarry, Oteil Burbridge, Ravenell Keller III, Brian Corrigan, Alfredine P. Brown, Donald Jacob
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Warner Studios   Release date: 1979   Rated: PG
Language (Country): English, French (USA)
Summary: Thanks to an extraordinary, delicately balanced performance by Peter Sellers, Being There received mixed reviews during its theatrical release in 1979, but has since become a celebrated comedy with a loyal following. It's one of the most unusual black comedies ever made, simply because it stretches a simple premise over 130 minutes of straight-faced, strangely compelling commentary on politics, media, and celebrity in media-savvy America. Adapted by Jerzy Kozinsky from his own novel, the movie's about a simple-minded, middle-aged gardener who, after a lifetime of seclusion and safety in a Washington, D.C. townhouse, gets his first exposure to reality beyond the walls of his sheltered existence. His only reference to the world is through his childlike addiction to television, and when a chance encounter brings him into the inner fold of a dying billionaire (Melvyn Douglas), he suddenly finds himself the toast of Washington's political elite. His simple phrases about gardening are misinterpreted as anything from economic predictions to sage political advice, and under the sharp direction of Hal Ashby, Sellers has the audacity to take this comedic conceit to its logical extreme. Being There is not for all tastes--especially not for those who don't appreciate comedic subtlety. But as a showcase for the daring genius of Peter Sellers, this is a classic movie in a category all its own. --Jeff Shannon

Director: Mark Kitchell
Starring: Mario Savio, Clark Kerr, Joan Baez, Allen Ginsberg, Bobby Seale, Barry Melton
Genre: Documentary
Studio: First Run Features   Release date: 1990   Rated: NR
Language (Country): (USA)
Summary: This outstanding documentary by Mark Kitchell, six years in the making, is a comprehensive and insightful story of campus and community activism as born at the University of California at Berkeley. Using extensive archival footage and bridging the distance between past and present with more recent interviews, Kitchell shows how a 1960 protest aimed at the House Un-American Activities Committee was the launching point for the Free Speech movement, which evolved into organized opposition against the Vietnam War, support for the Black Panther party, and the feminist movement. No simple valentine to student-demonstration days, the film brilliantly uses contemporary perspective to show how great legacies and inevitable failures were simultaneously born in a charged atmosphere. Not to be missed. --Tom Keogh

Director: Christopher Guest
Starring: Jay Brazeau, Parker Posey, Michael Hitchcock, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Carrie Aizley, Lewis Arquette, Dany Canino, Bob Balaban, Will Sasso, Stephen E. Miller, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, John Michael Higgins, Colin Cunningham
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Warner Studios   Release date: 2000   Rated: PG-13
Language (Country): English, German, French (USA)
Summary: Christopher Guest, the man behind Waiting for Guffman, turns his comic eye on another little world that takes itself a bit too seriously: the world of competitive dog shows. Best in Show follows a clutch of dog owners as they prepare and preen their dogs to win a national competition. They include the yuppie pair (Parker Posey and Michael Hitchcock) who fear they've traumatized their Weimaraner by having sex in front of him; a suburban husband and wife (Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara) with a terrier and a long history of previous lovers on the wife's part; the Southern owner of a bloodhound (Guest himself) with aspirations as a ventriloquist; and many more. Following the same "mockumentary" format of Spinal Tap and Guffman, Best in Show takes in some of the dog show officials, the manager of a nearby hotel that allows dogs to stay there, and the commentators of the competition (a particularly knockout comic turn by Fred Willard as an oafish announcer). The movie manages to paint an affectionate portrait of its quirky characters without ever losing sight of the ridiculousness of their obsessive world. Almost all of the scenes were created through improvisation. While lacking the overall focus of a written script, Best in Show captures hilarious and absurd aspects of human behavior that could never be written down. The movie's success is a testament to both the talent of the actors and Guest's discerning eye. --Bret Fetzer

Director: Luc Besson
Starring: Kevin Bacon, Emily Longstreth, J.T. Walsh, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael McKean, Kim Miyori, Teri Hatcher, Dan Schneider, Jason Gould, Tracy Brooks Swope, Don Franklin, Gary Kroeger, Alice Hirson, Grant Owens, Fran Drescher
Genre: Drama
Studio: Columbia/Tristar Studios   Release date: 1988   Rated: R
Language (Country): (USA)
Summary: A hit in Europe but a flop in the U.S.--where it was trimmed, rescored, and given a new ending--Luc Besson's The Big Blue has endured as a minor cult classic for its gorgeous photography (both on land and underwater) and dreamy ambiance. Jean-Marc Barr is a sweet and sensitive but passive presence as Jacques, a diver with a unique connection to the sea. He has the astounding ability to slow his heartbeat and his circulation on deep dives, "a phenomenon that's only been observed in whales and dolphins… until now," remarks one scientist. Kooky New York insurance adjuster Joanna (Rosanna Arquette at her most delightfully flustered and endearingly sexy best) melts after falling into his innocent baby blues, and she follows him to Italy, where he's continuing a lifelong competition with boyhood rival Enzo (Jean Reno in a performance both comic and touching). Besson's first English-language production looks more European than Hollywood, and it suffers from a tin ear for the language. At times it feels more like an IMAX undersea documentary than a drama about free divers, but the lush and lovely images create a fairy tale dimension to Jacques's story, a veritable Little Merman. More dolphin than man, he's so torn between earthly love and aquatic paradise that even his dreams call him to the sea (in a sequence more eloquent than any speech). Besson has expanded the film by 50 minutes for his director's cut, which adds little story but slows the contemplative pace until it practically floats in time, and has restored Eric Serra's synthesizer-heavy score, a slice of 1980s pop that at times borders on disco kitsch. Most importantly, he has restored his original ending, which echoes the fairy tale he tells Joanna earlier in the film and leaves the story floating in the inky blackness of ambiguity. --Sean Axmaker

Director: Mario Monicelli
Starring: Vittorio Gassman, Renato Salvatori, Memmo Carotenuto, Marcello Mastroianni, Rosanna Rory, Carla Gravina, Claudia Cardinale, Carlo Pisacane, Tiberio Murgia, Gina Rovere, Gina Amendola, Elvira Tonelli, Elena Fabrizi, Pasquale Misiano, Renato Terra
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Home Vision Entertainment   Release date: 1960   Rated: NR
Language (Country): Italian (Italy)
Summary: A great parody on the influential film 'Rififi'. The cast consists of the greatest stars of Italian cinema: Gassman, Mastroianni, Toto, Cardinale.

Director: Mike Nichols
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Christopher Walken, Matt Mulhern, Corey Parker, Casey Siemaszko, Michael Dolan, Penelope Ann Miller, Park Overall, Alan Pottinger, Mark Evan Jacobs, Dave Klenzie, Matthew Kimbrough, Kirby Mitchell, Allen Turner, Tom Kagy
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Umvd   Release date: 1988   Rated: PG-13
Language (Country): (USA)
Summary: I showed this movie to my Dad, who is a WWII veteran, and he found it very amusing and nostalgic, althought he claimed that he NEVER saw a drill Sargeant like Sgt. Toomey. The movie is an adaptation of a play written by Neil Simon about his experiences in the army at the end of WWII. No it is not a war movie, since it takes place in basic training camp in Biloxi Mississippi. It is really a quaint and humorous little movie about the adventures and attitudes of a bunch of boys in their late teens, who have been unfortunate enough to get drafted into the army. This is a fairly common theme in movies, and a fairly timeless subject.Jerome (Neil Simon) is a kid from New York who aspires to be a writter, and enjoys observing the antics of his post-adolescent commrades from a writters point of view. We see an excellent dynamic between the various types of boys who are thrown together into the same platoon, and an excellent dynamic between them and their nutty drill Sargeant (played by Christopher Walken) who has sustained a brain injury in North Africa. There is an excellent scene where the boys go on 48 hour pass, lose their virginity to a local part-time prostitute who works from home, and then go to a USO dance where Jerome falls in love with a girl for the first time. It is a wonderful contrast to see Jerome innocently falling in love with a Catholic school girl that he is having a slow dance with, while awkwardly trying to hide the fact that he has just lost his virginity moments before to a prostitute a few doors away.It's not Neil Simon's greatest work by any means, in fact it's probably one of his worst. But then again it IS Neil Simon we are talking about, and even his worst work is pretty damned amusing. Overall I'd give the humour a six on a scale of ten, and the "aww isn't that cute" factor a nine. Be warned though, it is a cute movie, but it DOES contain a lot of blue language. The sex scenes are handled with discression.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette, Veronica Cartwright, Ethel Griffies, Charles McGraw, Ruth McDevitt, Lonny Chapman, Joe Mantell, Doodles Weaver, Malcolm Atterbury, John McGovern, Karl Swenson, Richard Deacon
Genre: Horror
Studio: Universal Studios   Release date: 1963   Rated: Unrated
Language (Country): English, French (USA)
Summary: Vacationing in northern California, Alfred Hitchcock was struck by a story in a Santa Cruz newspaper: "Seabird Invasion Hits Coastal Homes." From this peculiar incident, and his memory of a short story by Daphne du Maurier, the master of suspense created one of his strangest and most terrifying films. The Birds follows a chic blonde, Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), as she travels to the coastal town of Bodega Bay to hook up with a rugged fellow (Rod Taylor) she's only just met. Before long the town is attacked by marauding birds, and Hitchcock's skill at staging action is brought to the fore. Beyond the superb effects, however, The Birds is also one of Hitchcock's most psychologically complicated scenarios, a tense study of violence, loneliness, and complacency. What really gets under your skin are not the bird skirmishes but the anxiety and the eerie quiet between attacks. The director elevated an unknown model, Tippi Hedren (mother of Melanie Griffith), to being his latest cool, blond leading lady, an experience that was not always easy on the much-pecked Ms. Hedren. Still, she returned for the next Hitchcock picture, the underrated Marnie. Treated with scant attention by serious critics in 1963, The Birds has grown into a classic and--despite the sci-fi trappings--one of Hitchcock's most serious films. --Robert Horton