Camilla Belle, Steven Strait, Cliff Curtis, Joel Virgel, Mo Zinal, Roland Emmerich The filmmaker who launched a UFO invasion in Independence Day and unleashed the forces of global warming in The Day After Tomorrow now unveils a new day of adventure a time when mammoths shake the earth and mystical spirits shape human fates. Roland Emmerich directs 10000 BC the eye-filling tale of the first hero. That hero is young hunter D Leh (Steven Strait) set out on a bold trek to rescue his kidnapped beloved (Camilla Belle) and fulfill his prophetic destiny. He ll face an awesome saber-toothed tiger. Cross uncharted realms. Form an army. And uncover an advanced but corrupt Lost Civilization. There he will lead a fight for liberation and become the champion of the time when legend began.

Jayne Atkins, Jude Ciccolella, Peter Weller Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 08/05/2008

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 12/06/2005 Run time: 1055 minutes Rating: Nr

Twenty-four hours of a counter-terrorist agent's attempt to prevent the assassination of a presidential candidate.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 17-SEP-2002
Media Type: DVD

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 12/07/2004

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 09/09/2003 Run time: 404 minutes Rating: Nr

Scott Powell, Jon Cassar Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 11/25/2008 Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Nr

Zack Snyder The epic graphic novel by Frank Miller (Sin City) assaults the screen with the blood thunder and awe of its ferocious visual style faithfully recreated in an intense blend of live-action and CGI animation. Retelling the ancient Battle of Thermopylae it depicts the titanic clash in which King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartans fought to the death against Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his massive Persian army. Experience history at swordpoint. And moviemaking with a cutting edge.Running Time: 116 min.System Requirements:Running Time: 116 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R UPC: 085391162858 Manufacturer No: 116285

John Stephenson What would you wish for if you were granted a new wish every day? That's the delightful situation five children face when they're sent to live with their eccentric uncle in his moldering mansion while their father fights in World War I. There they discover It a fairy who makes their wishes come true! This exuberant adaptation of E. Nesbit's beloved classic features young Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Finding Neverland) Kenneth Branagh and Zoe Wanamaker (both veterans of the Harry Potter film series) comedy star Eddie Izzard as the voice of It and the film wizardry of the Jim Henson Creature Shop.Running Time: 89 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY UPC: 012569721685

Jorge Macaya, Nacho Cerdà A film producer adopted as a baby & sent to america returns to her native russia & the family farm. Once there strange things begin to happen including the disappearance of her guide the manifestation of ghosts (including her own!) & the appearance of another man who has been drawn to the farm for the same reasons. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 05/06/2008 Run time: 94 minutes Rating: R

Tristram Shapeero, Bob Spiers Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 05/08/2007 Run time: 240 minutes Rating: Nr

Streep, Meryl Nicholas cage is a confused l.A. Screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy sexual frustration self-loathing and by the screenwriting ambitions of his free-loading twin brother (also played by cage). Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 10/23/2007 Starring: Nicholas Cage Chris Cooper Run time: 115 minutes Rating: R Director: Spike Jonze

When cuddly alien creatures called twonkies appear in retroville everyone wants them as pets. But when the pets suddenly turn into monsters its up to jimmy to save retroville from the twonky terror! Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/23/2006 Run time: 104 minutes Rating: Nr

Writer-director Tod Williams's pleasantly flawed film, like his title character, drifts amiably along, full of untapped possibilities. Adrian Grenier has a slouchy charisma as Sebastian, a teenager in upstate New York who is tired of school and realizes that the world only expects him to "get a haircut, pay taxes, [and] die." When his compassionate stepfather Hank (a serenely collected Clark Gregg) decides to live his life as a woman named Henrietta, it's only one more thing to challenge Sebastian's slowly developing worldview ("You care about too many people," his father tells him). Williams can't nudge his quirky musings into something larger, and the sex-change business becomes too much a dramatic contrivance, but the film moves with an affectingly low-key assurance. Better, Williams inspires his lead to convey without sentiment something rare in teen stories: unassuming, real affection for other human beings. —Steve Wiecking

George Lopez, David Arquette Taylor Lautner, Robert Rodriquez Another family adventure from the hit-making director of "Spy Kids," "The Adventures Of Sharkboy And Lavagirl" is nonstop fun and stars Hollywood favorites David Arquette, Kristin Davis, and George Lopez. Everyone always knew that Max had a wild imagination, but no one believed that his wildest creations - a boy raised by watchful great white sharks and a girl with the force of a volcano - were real! Now, these two pint-sized action masters will show Max that even an ordinary kid has what it takes to be extraordinary! Bursting with cool, eye-popping 3-D special effects - even the smallest dreamers can become the biggest heroes in this entertaining motion picture!

Zucker, David, Zucker, Jerry Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/16/2007

John Musker, Ron Clements Disney's 1992 animated feature is a triumph of wit and skill. The high-tech artwork and graphics look great, the characters are strong, the familiar story is nicely augmented with an interesting villain (Jafar, voiced by Jonathan Freeman), and there's an incredible hook atop the whole thing: Robin Williams's frantically hilarious vocal performance as Aladdin's genie. Even if one isn't particularly moved by the love story between the title character (Scott Weinger) and his girlfriend Jasmine (Linda Larkin), you can easily get lost in Williams's improvisational energy and the equally entertaining performances of Freeman and Gilbert Gottfried (as Jafar's parrot). —Tom Keogh

Clyde Geronimi, David Hand, Hamilton Luske, Robert Florey, Wilfred Jackson Imaginatively rendered but slightly chilly, this 1951 Disney adaptation of the Lewis Carroll classic is also appropriately surreal. Alice (voiced by Kathryn Beaumont) has all the anticipated experiences: shrinking and growing, meeting the White Rabbit, having tea with the Mad Hatter, etc. Characterization is very strong, and the Disney team worked hard to bring screen personality to Carroll's eccentric creations. For a Disney film, however, it seems more the self-satisfied sum of its inventiveness than a truly engaging experience. —Tom Keogh

Brand new, still sealed, produced by Food Network! This exclusive set in perfect gift condition includes: Romancing the Bird, Behind the Bird, It's A Wonderful Cake, Pork Fiction, Steak Your Claim, A Bird in the Pan, Three Chips for Sister Marsha, The Art of Darkness, Churn Baby Churn, A Grind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste, Ear Apparent, American Pickle, True Brew I, The Egg Files, Flap Jack Do It Again, The Art of Darkness II, Let Them Eat Foam, The Trouble with Cheesecake, Where There's Smoke, There's Fish, Hook, Line and Dinner, Tuna: The Other Red Meat, Celebrity Roast, A Chuck for Chuck, Grill Seekers, Fry Hard II: The Chicken, What's Up Duck, In The Bulb of the Night, Seeing Red, Flat is Beautiful, Use Your Noodle 2 (Ravioli), Ham I Am, Chops, A Beautiful Grind, Mussel Bound, Send In the Clams, Mission Poachable, Casserole Over, This Spuds for you,For Whom the Cheese Melts II, For Whom the Cheese Melts, Egg Files V - Cheese Souffle, A Bowl of Onion, This Crust Never Sleeps, A Cake On Every Plate, The Icing Man Commeth, Oat Cuisine, Good Milk Gone Bad, True Brew II - Mr. T, Salad Daze, Salad Daze II - The Long Arm of the Slaw, This Spud's For You II, Tomato Envy, Berry From Another Planet, The Chokes on You, Scrap Iron Chef-Bacon Challenge, The Egg Files VI: French Flop, The Muffin Method Man, Apple Family Values,Strawberry Sky, Top Banana, Raising the Steaks, Q, The Man Food Show, Chile's Angles, Spice Capades, Eat This Rock, Crustacean Nation, Crustacean Nation II: Claws, Crustacean Nation III: Feeling Crabby, The Fungal Gourmet, Head Games, Squash Court, The Dough Also Rises, Puff the Magic Pastry, Choux Shine, Citizen Cane, The Trick to Treats, Fudge Factor, I Pie, Circle of Life, The Cookie Clause, Waves of Grains, True Grits, Ill Gotten Grains, Power to the Pilaf, Souped Up, Pressure, True Brew IV: Take Stock, Soup's On, Sandwich Craft, My Big Fat Greek Sandwich, Dr. Strangeloaf

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 04/01/2008 Rating: Pg

Jean-Pierre Jeunet Amelie is looking for love and perhaps for the meaning of life in general. We see her grow up in an original and slightly dysfunctional family. Now a waitress in central paris she interacts curiously with her neighbors and customers as well as a mysterious picture collector and one of his photo subjects. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 01/11/2005 Starring: Audrey Tatou Run time: 122 minutes Rating: R

Donald Sutherland DVD- Unrated Widesreen

Andrew Douglas Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 09/09/2008 Run time: 89 minutes Rating: R

Harold Ramis Mobster paul vitti is released into dr. Ben sobols care where only more chaos ensues. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/14/2006 Starring: Robert Deniro Lisa Kudrow Run time: 96 minutes Rating: R Director: Harold Ramis

Peter Segal The irresistible pairing of Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler is the best reason to see Anger Management, a comedy that might loosely be called The Funny and the Furious. Nicholson and especially Sandler have screen personas that partially rely on pent-up anxieties, so there's definite potential in teaming them as a mild-mannered designer of pet clothing for chubby cats (Sandler) who's been ordered to undergo anger-management therapy with a zany counselor (Nicholson) prone to occasional tantrums and devious manipulation. Surely this meandering comedy looked better on the page; director Peter Segal scores a few lucky scenes (particularly Sandler's encounter with a Buddhist monk, played by John C. Reilly), but a flood of cameos (Heather Graham, Woody Harrelson, Rudolph Giuliani, and others) can't match the number of laughs that fall flat. As Sandler's understanding girlfriend, Marisa Tomei plays a pivotal role in a happy ending that leaves everyone smiling, with the possible exception of the audience. —Jeff Shannon

Eric Darnell, Tim Johnson Life is not a picnic for z a small worker ant with very big ideas. When z falls for the beautiful princess bala his odds of winning her over are one in a billion. To get noticed he switches places with soldier ant weaver. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/01/2007 Starring: Sharon Stone Jennifer Lopez Run time: 84 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Eric Darnell Tim Johnson

The 2004 version of Around the World in 80 Days is an entertaining hodge-podge of adventure, comedy, and scenery from across the globe. Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan, 24 Hour Party People), an obsessively precise inventor, bets that he can circumnavigate the planet in 80 days—considered impossible in the Victorian era. In this version, Jackie Chan plays a Chinese peasant who retrieves a stolen idol from the Bank of England, then convinces Fogg to hire him as a French valet so that Chan can get back to his village. Chan supplies numerous spectacular fights against the forces trying to stop Fogg or get the idol, while Coogan is both funny and a surprisingly appealing romantic lead (he flirts with a fetching French painter who joins them). The various episodes—featuring cameos by Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Cleese, Owen Wilson, and Sammo Hung—are uneven, but a goofy good cheer prevails. —Bret Fetzer

Yvette Kaplan When Arthur's dog Pal disappears Arthur must enlist the help of his friends to track him down. While Pal discovers his newfound freedom Arthur discovers how much he misses his dog. Good thing Arthur has the gang to turn to-especially his best friend Buster Baxter who dusts off his old detective gear to get on the case. This canine quest leads Arthur and Buster across Elwood city deep into the bowels of an ice cream factory past a giant cow on ice skates and right up to the point where all hope seems lost. Could the solution to this caper though be right in front of Arthur's eyes? And why has D.W. been acting so funny lately? One thing's for certain Arthur is determined to get to the bottom of this case. Follow Arthur Buster and all their friends through the streets of Elwood City as they sniff out clues and chase after leads...and learn a valuable lesson about friendship teamwork and responsibility.System Requirements:Running Time: 66 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: G UPC: 031398198390 Manufacturer No: 19839

It's the first day of school, and the worst has happened: Arthur's teacher turns out to be Mr. Ratburn, rumored to be a vampire and to make homework assignments every day. Arthur and company temporarily take their fate with downcast eyes in this endearing but wise story about assumptions. Also on the video is "Arthur's Spelling Trubble," in which the young aardvark has the dubious task of representing his school in a spelling bee. —Tom Keogh

Of all the movies made about or glancingly involving the 19th-century outlaw Jesse Woodson James, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is the most reflective, most ambitious, most intricately fascinating, and indisputably most beautiful. Based on the novel of the same name by Ron Hansen, it picks up James late in his career, a few hours before his final train robbery, then covers the slow catastrophe of the gang's breakup over the next seven months even as the boss himself settles into an approximation of genteel retirement. But in another sense all of the movie is later than that. The very title assumes the audience's familiarity with James as a figure out of history and legend, and our awareness that he was—will be—murdered in his parlor one quiet afternoon by a backshooting crony.

The film—only the second to be made by New Zealand-born writer-director Andrew Dominik—reminds us that Dominik's debut film, Chopper (2000), was the cunningly off-kilter portrait of another real-life criminal psychopath who became a kind of rock star to his society. The Jesse James of this telling is no Robin Hood robbing the rich to give to the poor, and that train robbery we witness is punctuated by acts of gratuitous brutality, not gallantry. Nineteen-year-old Bob Ford (Casey Affleck) seeks to join the James gang out of hero worship stoked by the dime novels he secretes under his bed, but his glam hero (Brad Pitt) is a monster who takes private glee in infecting his accomplices with his own paranoia, then murdering them for it. In the careful orchestration of James's final moments, there's even a hint that he takes satisfaction in his own demise.

Affleck and Pitt (who co-produced with Ridley Scott, among others) are mesmerizing in the title roles, but the movie is enriched by an exceptional supporting cast: Sam Shepard as Jesse's older, more stable brother Frank; Sam Rockwell as Bob Ford's own brother Charlie, whose post-assassination descent into madness is astonishing to behold; Paul Schneider, Garret Dillahunt, and Jeremy Renner as three variously doomed gang members; and Mary-Louise Parker, who as Jesse's wife Zee has few lines yet manages with looks and body language to invoke a wellnigh-novelistic backstory for herself. There are also electrifying cameos by James Carville, doing solid actorly work as the governor of Missouri; Ted Levine, as a lawman of antic spirit; and Nick Cave, composer of the film's score (with Warren Ellis) and screenwriter of the Aussie "Western" The Proposition, suddenly towering over a late scene to perform the folk song that set the terms for the book and movie's title.

Still, the real costar is Roger Deakins, probably the finest cinematographer at work today. The landscapes of the movie (mostly in Alberta and Manitoba) will linger in the memory as long as the distinctive faces, and we seem to feel the sting of its snows on our cheeks. Interior scenes are equally persuasive. Few Westerns have conveyed so tangibly the bleakness and austerity of the spaces people of the frontier called home, and sought in vain to warm with human spirit. —Richard T. Jameson

Luc Besson A fitting companion to his globally popular feature The Big Blue, Luc Besson's Atlantis presents a mesmerizing, nonverbal experience of undersea wonders. Described by one critic as "a thinking person's Fantasia," this 75-minute documentary belongs on your DVD shelf next to Baraka and Koyaanisqatsi, glorifying ocean wildlife with a refreshing absence (apart from a pretentious spoken prologue) of narrative interference. In fruitful collaboration with composer Eric Serra and cinematographer Christian Petron, Besson traveled the world to capture the grace and beauty of such amazing creatures as Floridian manatees, Bahamian dolphins, Australian great white sharks, sea snakes in the Seychelles, and many others. Divided into thematic "movements" like Disney's animated classic (including a stunning sequence of manta rays set to a Maria Callas performance of La Sonnambula), this glorious film has been visually overshadowed by the spectacular BBC series The Blue Planet, but it serves a different purpose: It's not so much a documentary as a meditative journey, perfect for all-ages viewing. —Jeff Shannon

Joe Wright Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 08/26/2008 Run time: 123 minutes Rating: R

Martin Scorsese From Hollywood's legendary Cocoanut Grove to the pioneering conquest of the wild blue yonder, Martin Scorsese's The Aviator celebrates old-school filmmaking at its finest. We say "old school" only because Scorsese's love of golden-age Hollywood is evident in his approach to his subject—Howard Hughes in his prime (played by Leonardo DiCaprio in his)—and especially in his technical mastery of the medium reflecting his love for classical filmmaking of the studio era. Even when he's using state-of-the-art digital trickery for the film's exciting flight scenes (including one of the most spectacular crashes ever filmed), Scorsese's meticulous attention to art direction and costume design suggests an impassioned pursuit of craftsmanship from a bygone era; every frame seems to glow with gilded detail. And while DiCaprio bears little physical resemblance to Hughes during the film's 20-year span (late 1920s to late '40s), he efficiently captures the eccentric millionaire's golden-boy essence, and his tragic descent into obsessive-compulsive seclusion. Bolstered by Cate Blanchett's uncannily accurate portrayal of Katharine Hepburn as Hughes' most beloved lover, The Aviator is easily Scorsese's most accessible film, inviting mainstream popularity without compromising Scorsese's artistic reputation. As compelling crowd-pleasers go, it's a class act from start to finish. —Jeff Shannon

DVD Features
In his commentary track, director Martin Scorsese offers his own impressions of Howard Hughes and rattles off his memories of experiencing Hughes's films. He mentions how he made Cate Blanchett watch every Katharine Hepburn film from the '30s on the big screen, and observes that Kate Beckinsale had "a real sense of the stature of a Hollywood goddess." But in general he doesn't talk much about the craft of making the film. That area is covered better by editor Thelma Schoonmaker, who also appears on the commentary track, and producer Michael Mann makes a few appearances (all were recorded separately). The picture is brilliant, but the 5.1 sound is not as aggressive in the rear speakers and subwoofer as one might expect, other than some nice surround effects in the Hell's Angels flying sequence.

The second disc collects almost three hours of features. There's one unnecessary deleted scene, and an 11-minute making-of featurette that's basically the cast and director heaping praise on each other. More interesting are the short featurettes on visual effects (including the XF-11 scene, of course), production design, costumes, hair and makeup, and score, and Loudon Wainwright discusses his and his children's musical performances. Historical perspective is provided by spotlights on Hughes's role in aviation and his obsessive-compulsive disorder, and a 43-minute Hughes documentary from the History Channel (part of the Modern Marvels series, it focuses on his mechanical innovations and spends less than a minute on his movies). More unusual are DiCaprio and Scorsese's appearance on an OCD panel, and a half-hour interview segment DiCaprio did with Alan Alda. —David Horiuchi

The Personalities of The Aviator

Click the links to explore more movies by these stars.

Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes
"Sometimes I truly fear that I... am losing my mind. And if I did it... it would be like flying blind." Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn
Howard Hughes: "You're the tallest woman I have ever met."
Katharine Hepburn: "And all sharp elbows and knees. Beware." Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner
Howard Hughes: "Does that look clean to you?"
Ava Gardner: "Nothing's clean, Howard. But we do our best, right?" Gwen Stefani as Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow in Hell's Angels: "Would you be shocked if I put on something more comfortable?" Jude Law as Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn in Captain Blood: "Up the riggings, you monkeys! Break out those sails and watch them fill with the wind that's carrying us all to freedom!" Director Martin Scorsese
"You get a sense of Howard Hughes being Icarus with the wax wings. Those wings were great for a while, but he flies too close to the sun." —Martin Scorsese

Other Movies by The Aviator's Oscar® Winners

Production Designer Dante Ferretti
Film Editor Thelma Schoonmaker
Costume Designer Sandy Powell
Cinematographer Robert Richardson
See all the Oscar® winners at Oscar Central

The Aviator at Amazon.com

The Aviator soundtrack
The Screenplay
Howard Hughes: The Real Aviator
Howard Hughes movies
Great movies of the 1930s
The films of Martin Scorsese

</!— end6pak ——>

Colin Strause, Greg Strause, Paul W.S. Anderson Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 04/15/2008 Run time: 206 minutes Rating: Nr

Chris Noonan Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 01/22/2008 Starring: James Cromwell Marshall Napier Run time: 92 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Chris Noonan

Michael McCullers A successful single businesswoman who dreams of having a baby discovers she is infertile and hires a working class woman to be her unlikely surrogate. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 01/06/2009 Starring: Tina Fey Amy Poehler Run time: 99 minutes Rating: Pg13

Richard Linklater A fresh take on the irreverent 1976 hit this follows a grizzled former minor league baseball player who is recruited to coach a woefully inept little league team to a championship against their hated rivals the yankees. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/16/2007 Starring: Billy Bob Thornton Marcia Gay Harden Run time: 113 minutes Rating: Pg13

David Hand, Wilfred Jackson It always comes up when people are comparing their most traumatic movie experiences: "the death of Bambi's mother," a recollection that can bring a shudder to even the most jaded filmgoer. That primal separation (which is no less stunning for happening off-screen) is the centerpiece of Bambi, Walt Disney's 1942 animated classic, but it is by no means the only bold stroke in the film. In its swift but somehow leisurely 69 minutes, Bambi covers a year in the life of a young deer. But in a bigger way, it measures the life cycle itself, from birth to adulthood, from childhood's freedom to grown-up responsibility. All of this is rendered in cheeky, fleet-footed style—the movie doesn't lecture, or make you feel you're being fed something that's good for you. The animation is miraculous, a lush forest in which nature is a constantly unfolding miracle (even in a spectacular fire, or those dark moments when "man was in the forest"). There are probably easier animals to draw than a young deer, and the Disney animators set themselves a challenge with Bambi's wobbly glide across an ice-covered lake, his spindly legs akimbo; but the sequence is effortless and charming. If Bambi himself is just a bit dull—such is the fate of an Everydeer—his rabbit sidekick Thumper and a skunk named Flower more than make up for it. Many of the early Disney features have their share of lyrical moments and universal truths, but Bambi is so simple, so pure, it's almost transparent. You might borrow a phrase from Thumper and say it's downright twitterpated. —Robert Horton

Danny Pang, Oxide Pang Chun A hitman whos in bangkok to pull off a series of jobs falls for a local woman & bonds with his errand boy. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 01/06/2009 Starring: Nicolas Cage Run time: 100 minutes Rating: R

Walter P. Martishius, Will Lau Starring Barbie™ as Elina! Just through the rainbow in the world of Fairytopia™ lives Elina a beautiful flower fairy who longs to have wings. Her home is a larch flower in the magic meadow where she loves with bible a quirky but loveable puffball. One day Elina wakes to find that her flower home in sick and that her fairy friends can t fly! She summons the courage to help and embarks on a fantastic journey to find Azura a guardian Fairy she thinks can solve the problem.Sickness as part of her plan to take power from the Enchantress ruler of Fairytopia™! Elina s jouney on the back of giant and beautiful butterfly named Ilue takes her to amazing and beautiful places. She meets new people who test her courage and teach her the value of true friendship. But can a wingless fairy save all of Fairytopia™? Join Barbie™ as Elina in her firs ever Fairytopia™ movie and discover a magical land of fairies flowers and enchanting experiences!System Requirements: Runnimg Time 70 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: NR UPC: 031398171201 Manufacturer No: 18015

Christopher Nolan In an effort to deal with the death of his parents years before, a young Bruce Wayne travels the world in search of answers and comes back to Gotham City with the skills necessary to fight the injustices around him.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 14-FEB-2006
Media Type: DVD

Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 12/20/2005

Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 01/06/2009 Rating: Nr

Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Tricia Helfer, Grace Park, Katee Sackhoff, Michael Hogan, Aaron Douglas, Tahmoh Penikett, Michael Rymer, Michael Nankin, Rod Hardy, Robert M. Young, Wayne Rose Limited edition gift set includes exclusive packaging, dog tags, and character profile book!

They've traveled millions of miles and defied relentless attackers, but nothing will prepare the human race for what lies ahead as Battlestar Galactica 4.0 arrives on DVD! In ten gripping episodes, relive each pivotal moment as the civil war amongst the Cylons escalates and the quest for Earth continues. Loaded with riveting bonus features, this 4-disc set includes the unrated, extended version of Battlestar Galactica: Razor that never aired on television. Presented uninerrupted and in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, it's the epic phenomenon that critics call "a truly great show!" (Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times)

Special features include an unrated extended version of Battlestar Galactica: Razor, many behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, and more!

Michael Stern Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 03/18/2008 Rating: Nr

The $25 Million Breakaway Hit Returnsto DVD in Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound! DVD Exclusive - Extended MidseasonCliffhanger Episode PegasusOver 10 Hours of Bonus Content!System Requirements:Running Time: 190 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 025192983320 Manufacturer No: 29833

All will be revealed as the thrilling final episodes of Battlestar Galactica 4.5 land on DVD. From their initial action-packed battles against the Cylons to their desperate attempts to find the fabled 13th colony, Earth, a determined band of human survivors has captivated audiences everywhere with their desperate quest to find a new home for their dwindling numbers. Join them now as the fleet journeys into the furthest reaches of unexplored space and faces a crucial decision that will change all of their lives irrevocably. Presented uninterrupted in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, this epic 4-disc set contains over 10 hours of intense, groundbreaking DVD features, including extended episodes that never aired - a must own addition to every fan’s collection. Relive the anticipation, the action and the excitement of this groundbreaking series that is destined to live on as “one of the best dramas on TV.” (TIME)

Battlestaer Gallactica seasons 1, 2.0, and 2.5

Hans Petter Moland This tells the emotional story of a young boy (half vietnamese half american) who leaves his mother his native land & all that he knows as he stows away on a boat headed for america. The emotional journey will not only lead him to his father but to a new life in a brand new world. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 05/22/2007 Starring: Nick Nolte Bai Ling Run time: 125 minutes Rating: R Director: Hans Peter Moland

Gary Trousdale The film that officially signaled Disney's animation renaissance (following The Little Mermaid) and the only animated feature to receive a Best Picture Oscar nomination, Beauty and the Beast remains the yardstick by which all other animated films should be measured. It relates the story of Belle, a bookworm with a dotty inventor for a father; when he inadvertently offends the Beast (a prince whose heart is too hard to love anyone besides himself), Belle boldly takes her father's place, imprisoned in the Beast's gloomy mansion. Naturally, Belle teaches the Beast to love. What makes this such a dazzler, besides the amazingly accomplished animation and the winning coterie of supporting characters (the Beast's mansion is overrun by quipping, dancing household items) is the array of beautiful and hilarious songs by composer Alan Menken and the late, lamented lyricist Howard Ashman. (The title song won the 1991 Best Song Oscar, and Menken's score scored a trophy as well.) The downright funniest song is "Gaston," a lout's paean to himself (including the immortal line, "I use antlers in all of my de-co-ra-ting"). "Be Our Guest" is transformed into an inspired Busby Berkeley homage. Since Ashman's passing, animated musicals haven't quite reached the same exhilarating level of wit, sophistication, and pure joy. —David Kronke —This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Wayne Wang Based on the best-selling book this is the heartwarming tail of a young girl whose life is changed by a scruffy fun-loving pooch she names winn-dixie. The special bond between them works magic on her reserved dad & the eccentric townspeople they meet during one unforgettable summer. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 02/12/2008 Starring: Jeff Daniels Run time: 106 minutes Rating: Pg

Julian Jarrold Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 08/15/2008 Run time: 120 minutes

There aren't a lot of choices in a bee's life: a bee attends a few days of school, graduates from college, and chooses a job in the hive that he'll labor at for the rest of his life. Barry (Jerry Seinfeld) is different from his best friend Adam (Matthew Broderick) and all the other bees: he wants to see the world outside the hive and can't begin to contemplate doing the same job for his entire life. Naturally, the life of the "pollen jock" bees appeals to Barry because it's the only job that takes a bee outside the hive and into the larger human world. Once outside the hive, Barry breaks the most sacred bee law and speaks to a human named Vanessa (Renée Zellweger) in order to thank her for saving his life. A relationship quickly blossoms and leads Barry to the discovery that humans are stealing honey from the bees and selling it for their own profit. Vowing to hurt the humans the one place they'll feel it, Barry brings a legal suit against the honey industry and the courtroom drama begins. There are some hysterical moments in the film, as one would expect from a Seinfeld production, and an abundance of one-liners, double-meanings, slapstick humor, and innuendo-laden dialogue that will keep adults guffawing throughout the show. Still, the whole concept of seeing the life of a common pest through non-human eyes is getting repetitive thanks to films like Ratatouille, Flushed Away, Open Season, and Over the Hedge. It should be noted, though, that this first foray into animation by Jerry Seinfeld was four years in production due to its collaborative nature, so its theme may actually have well predated all of the aforementioned films. Children ages 5 and older will love the bees' silly antics, though many of the jokes will go right over their heads and parents should be cautioned about some mildly suggestive humor. More than just a comical film about the life of one very different honeybee, Bee Movie is a social commentary that pokes fun at human behavior while stressing the importance of doing even the most menial job well and championing the power of working together toward a common goal. There's even a lesson to be learned from the bees about controlling one's temper. —Tami Horiuchi

István Szabó 938 actress julia lambert is at her peak but longs for novelty nd excitement. Tom is a younger man who claims to be her iggest fan. Finding his ardor irresistible she embarks on a assionate affair. Life becomes more daring and exciting until er young lover tries to relegate her to a supporting role. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 03/06/2007 Starring: Annette Benning Jeremy Irons Run time: 104 minutes Rating: R

Sturla Gunnarsson This tells the bloody tale of warrior beowulfs battle with grendel a murderous troll. The battle-scarred hero beowulf leads a troop of warriors to help king hrothgar whose kingdom is destroyed by grendel. However beowulfs attempts to fight the troll are thwarted when grendel refuses to engage in battle. Studio: Starz/sphe Release Date: 09/26/2006 Starring: Gerard Butler Ingvar Sigurdsson Run time: 103 minutes Rating: R

Levy, Eugene, O'Hara, Catherine 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

Reno, Jean Experience the peril and intensity of free-diving the world s most dangerous sport in The Big Blue. Jacques (Jean-Marc Barr Breaking The Waves) and his friendly rival Enzo (Jean Reno The Professional) are considered masters of free-diving and have made a career out of this one-of-a-kind competition. Jacques life-long obsession with diving comes from his unusual bond with the sea while Enzo thrives on the challenges of its inherent danger. In his travels Jacques meets Johanna (Rosanna Arquette Pulp Fiction) who is attracted to his innocent qualities and follows him across Europe to share his adventures triumphs and ultimately tragic bond with Enzo. With breathtaking underwater photography and matching musical support from Eric Serra (The Fifth Element) The Big Blue immerses you in a life and death adventure you ll never forget.System Requirements:Starring: Rosanna Arquette Jean-Marc Barr and Jean Reno. Directed By: Luc Besson. Running Time: 168 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2000 Columbia TriStar Home Video.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 043396039278 Manufacturer No: 3927

Pitting kids against grown-ups has always been a reliable source of comedy, and Big Fat Liar indulges the "smart kid vs. dumb adult" fantasy with infectious enthusiasm. In this case it's Frankie Muniz from TV's Malcolm in the Middle, playing a Michigan eighth-grader whose penchant for lying results in parental scorn when he claims that a Hollywood movie mogul (ace character actor Paul Giamatti) has stolen the kid's hastily written English essay and turned it into his upcoming summer blockbuster. The kid only wants to prove his honesty and recruits his girlfriend (spunky TV star Amanda Bynes) to beat the honcho on his Hollywood turf. Elaborate practical jokes and slapstick gags turn this kid stuff (scripted and produced by two former child stars) into an enjoyable send-up of Hollywood absurdity. When combined with Giamatti's mastery of slow-burning megalomania, the show-biz in-jokes and Home Alone-style anarchy make this a harmless diversion for the young and young-at-heart. —Jeff Shannon

Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/05/2008 Run time: 85 minutes Rating: Pg

Joe Renton The life of 11-year-old billy elliot a coal-miners son is forever changed one day when he stumbles upon a ballet class during his weekly boxing lesson. Before long he finds himself demonstrating the kind of raw talent seldom seen by the class exacting instructor. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 03/04/2003 Starring: Julie Walters Jamie Bell Run time: 111 minutes Rating: R Director: Stephen Daldry

John Feith The DVD can be viewed on the living room TV or on personal computers as a 70-minute bird-filled documentary. It also serves as an audio/visual reference guide— one can use the easy-to-use menus to quickly find a particular bird (it contains 218 species found in Midwest and Eastern North America). The DVD is full of extraordinary photography, bird songs and with video footage.

Some features unique to the DVD include a collection of 18 quizzes and a section for comparing similar-sounding birds (for example, melodic, buzzy or unmusical). The narration for each bird does not occur immediately, allowing the viewer to guess what bird she is hearing and seeing. This quiz format keeps the viewer in a state of wonder and makes learning to identify birds more engaging and fun.

The focus of the narration is bird song and bird song mnemonics (such as "Who's awake? Me too" of the Great Horned Owl, or "Quick, three beers!" of the Olive-sided Flycatcher). Also, a bonus "Soundscape" track is included without narration to simulate a field trip to different habitats such as marsh, grassland and forest. This creates a very relaxing natural background which, along with the bird photos, can keep bird-watchers of any level, kids, babies, and pets (especially cats) enthralled for hours.

Jonathan Glazer Anna is a young widow who is finally getting on with her life after the death of her husband sean. Now engaged anna meets a 10 year old boy who tells her that he is sean reincarnated. Though his story is unsettling anna cant get the boy out of her mind & she begins to question the choices she has made. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 11/11/2008 Starring: Anne Heche Nicole Kidman Run time: 100 minutes Rating: R Director: Jonathan Glazer

Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/27/2009 Run time: 93 minutes Rating: Pg13

A briskly paced hybrid of Boogie Nights and Goodfellas, Blow chronicles the three-decade rise and fall of George Jung (Johnny Depp), a normal American kid who makes a personal vow against poverty, builds a marijuana empire in the '60s, multiplies his fortune with the Colombian Medellín cocaine cartel, and blows it all with a series of police busts culminating in one final, long-term jail sentence. "Your dad's a loser," says this absentee father to his estranged but beloved daughter, and he's right: Blow is the story of a nice guy who made wrong choices all his life, almost single-handedly created the American cocaine trade, and got exactly what he deserved. As directed by Ted Demme, the film is vibrantly entertaining, painstakingly authentic... and utterly aimless in terms of overall purpose.

We can't sympathize with Jung's meteoric rise to wealth and the wild life, and Demme isn't suggesting that we should idolize a drug dealer. So what, exactly, is the point of Blow? Simply, it seems, to present Jung's story as the epitome of the coke-driven glory days, and to suggest, ever so subtly, that Jung isn't such a bad guy, after all. Anyone curious about his lifestyle will find this film amazing, and there's plenty of humor mixed with the constant threat of violence and paranoid anxiety. Demme has also populated the film with a fantastic supporting cast (although Penélope Cruz grows tiresome as Jung's hedonistic wife), and this is certainly a compelling look at the other side of Traffic. Still, one wishes that Blow had a more viable reason for being; like a wild party, it leaves you with a hangover and a vague feeling of regret. —Jeff Shannon

Krzysztof Kieslowski First of a trilogy of films dealing with contemporary french society concerns how a composer deals with the death of her husband and child. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 03/01/2005 Starring: Juliette Binoche Run time: 100 minutes Rating: R Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski

Uli Edel A woman is accused of killing a man to inherit his millions by having sex with him. An act of love or an act of murder? Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 07/17/2007 Starring: Joe Mantegna Willem Dafoe Run time: 101 minutes Director: Uli Edel

Ridley Scott Roger ferris uncovers a lead on a major terrorist leader suspected to be operating out of jordan. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 02/17/2009 Starring: Leonardo Dicaprio Russell Crowe Run time: 128 minutes Rating: R

Ben Younger An ambitious group of young turks operated an illegal stock brokerage firm. Their success at any lifestyle and philosophy redefines the notion of wealth and success in todays ultra fast-paced and competitive world. Corruption betrayal and conscience collide as the fbi starts to close in on them. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 11/11/2008 Starring: Giovanni Ribisi Nia Long Run time: 120 minutes Rating: R Director: Ben Younger

Chris Williams; Byron Howard For super-dog bolt (voice of john travolta) every day is filled with adventure danger and intrigue -at least until the cameras stop rolling. When the star of a hit tv show is accidentally shipped from his hollywood soundstage to new york city he begins his biggest adventure yet - a journey in the real world. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 03/24/2009 Starring: Voice Of John Travolta Voice Of Randy Savage Run time: 97 minutes Rating: Pg

Nancy Baker, Zana Briski, Ross Kauffman A portrait of several unforgettable children who live in the red light district of calcutta where their mothers work as prostitutes. Zana briski a new york photographer gives them each a camera & teaches them how to take pictures causing them to look at their world with new eyes. Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 09/04/2007 Run time: 85 minutes Rating: R

Mark Herman The innocence of childhood savagely collides with the Holocaust in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Bruno (Asa Butterfield) knows that his father is a soldier and that they have to move to a new house in the country... a house near what he thinks is a farm. But his father isn't just a soldier; he's a high-ranking officer in Hitler's elite SS troops who's just been placed in command of Auschwitz. As Bruno explores the woods around the house, he discovers the concentration camp's perimeter fence. On the other side sits a boy his own age, with whom Bruno strikes up a friendship—a friendship that will have tragic consequences. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is most powerful in the details: The casual brutality of a Nazi lieutenant; the uncomfortable juxtaposition of the family's domestic life with glimpses of the treatment of the imprisoned Jews; a ghastly propaganda film suggesting that life at Auschwitz was like a holiday. But more than anything else, Butterfield's performance makes this film compelling. The young actor perfectly conveys Bruno's limited perspective even as the film carefully unveils the larger, darker reality. The movie's ending will undoubtedly spark arguments, but only because of the emotional complexity of what happens—The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is made with great skill and compassion. Also featuring David Thewlis (Naked) and Vera Farmiga (The Departed) as Bruno's parents. —Bret Fetzer

Kimberly Peirce When Brandon Teena, a young man with an infectious, aw-shucks grin and an angelic face that's all angles, wanders into Falls City, Nebraska, he takes to the town like it's a second skin. In little time he's fallen in with a gang of goofy if temperamental redneck boys, found himself a girlfriend, and befriended enough people to form something of a small family. In fact, it's the best time Brandon's ever had. However, there are shadows looming over Brandon's life: a court date for grand theft auto, a checkered criminal record, and a seemingly innocuous speeding ticket that could prove to be his undoing. Why? Because as it turns out, Brandon Teena is actually Teena Brandon, a woman masquerading as a man.

This fascinating story was based on real-life events (as documented in The Brandon Teena Story) that occurred in 1993 and ended in tragedy: Brandon's rape and murder by two of his supposed friends. Despite this horrible outcome, however, in the hands of director Kimberly Peirce (who cowrote the unfettered screenplay with Andy Bienen), Brandon's story becomes not oppressive or preachy, but rather oddly and touchingly transcendent, anchored by Hilary Swank's phenomenal, unsentimental performance. Swank inhabits Brandon's contradictions and passions with a natural vitality most actresses would refuse to give themselves over to. Brandon's deception is doomed from the start, but Swank's enthusiasm is infectious, and when Brandon starts romancing the sloe-eyed Lana (a pitch-perfect Chloë Sevigny), he finds a soul mate who wants to transcend boundaries and fated identities as much as he does. The last part of the film, when Brandon's true identity is discovered, is truly painful to watch, but in between the agony there are touching moments of sweetness between Brandon and Lana, who wrestles with the truth of who Brandon actually is. You'll come away from Boys Don't Cry with affection and respect for Brandon, not pity. —Mark Englehart

Norman Taurog The story of father flanagans fight against the courts the community & the odds to make a home for societys forgotten boys. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/30/2008 Starring: Spencer Tracy Mickey Rooney Run time: 93 minutes Rating: Nr

Frank Capacchione All 117 funny & heartwarming episodes from all 5 seasons. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 04/03/2007 Run time: 2980 minutes

Jonathan Kaplan Two best friends dream vacation abroad becomes a nightmare when they are seduced and framed by a mysterious stranger. Now they must prove their innocense before its too late. Bonus features: original theatrical trailer cast bios subtitles in english and spanish widescreen and more. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 05/02/2006 Starring: Clair Danes Bill Pullman Run time: 100 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Jonathan Kaplan

Michael Corrente Studio: Wea-des Moines Video Release Date: 09/18/2007 Run time: 99 minutes Rating: R

Aaron Blaise, Robert Walker When an impulsive boy named kenai is magically transformed into a bear he must literally walk in anoterhs footsteps until he learns some valuable life lessons. His courageous & often zaney journey introduces him to a forest full of wild-life. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 02/15/2008 Starring: Joaquin Phoenix Rick Moranis Run time: 85 minutes Rating: G

Nick Kenway, Tony Rocco, Ben Gluck The wisecracking moose brothers rutt & tuke are back along with the lovable bears koda & kenia who meet new friend nit in a hilarious adventure of destiny turned upside down. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 02/15/2008 Starring: Rick Moranis Jeremy Suarez Run time: 73 minutes Rating: G

John Lasseter, Stanton, Andrew There was such a magic on the screen in 1995 when the people at Pixar came up with the first fully computer-animated film, Toy Story. Their second feature film, A Bug's Life, may miss the bull's-eye but Pixar's target is so lofty, it's hard to find the film anything less than irresistible.

Brighter and more colorful than the other animated insect movie of 1998 (Antz), A Bug's Life is the sweetly told story of Flik (voiced by David Foley), an ant searching for better ways to be a bug. His colony unfortunately revolves around feeding and fearing the local grasshoppers (lead by Hopper, voiced with gleeful menace by Kevin Spacey). When Flik accidentally destroys the seasonal food supply for the grasshoppers he decides to look for help ("We need bigger bugs!"). The ants, led by Princess Atta (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), are eager to dispose of the troublesome Flik. Yet he finds help—a hearty bunch of bug warriors—and brings them back to the colony. Unfortunately they are just traveling performers afraid of conflict.

As with Toy Story, the ensemble of creatures and voices is remarkable and often inspired. Highlights include wiseacre comedian Denis Leary as an un-ladylike ladybug, Joe Ranft as the German-accented caterpillar, David Hyde Pierce as a stick bug, and Michael McShane as a pair of unintelligible pillbugs. The scene-stealer is Atta's squeaky-voiced sister, baby Dot (Hayden Panettiere), who has a big sweet spot for Flik.

More gentle and kid-friendly than Antz, A Bug Life's still has some good suspense and a wonderful demise of the villain. However, the film—a giant worldwide hit—will be remembered for its most creative touch: "outtakes" over the end credits à la many live-action comedy films. These dozen or so scenes (both "editions" of outtakes are contained here) are brilliant and deserve a special place in film history right along with 1998's other most talked-about sequence: the opening Normandy invasion in Saving Private Ryan.

The video also contains Pixar's delightful Oscar-winning short, Geri's Game. Box art varies. —Doug Thomas

Joel and Ethan Coen Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 12/19/2008 Run time: 96 minutes Rating: R

Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 04/21/2009 Run time: 93 minutes Rating: Nr

Larry Jacobs, Ron Pitts (II) An all new animated care bears movie Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 02/06/2007 Run time: 90 minutes

Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 11/06/2007 Run time: 116 minutes Rating: G

Lawrence Guterman Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 05/15/2007 Rating: Pg

A young secretary, killed for discovering her employer's secret, is revived by cats and is no longer entirely human.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 17-JAN-2006
Media Type: DVD

Clint Eastwood A mothers prayer for her kidnapped son to return home is answered though it doesnt take long for her to suspect the boy who comes back is not hers. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 02/17/2009 Starring: Angelina Jolie Amy Ryan Run time: 142 minutes Rating: R Director: Clint Eastwood

Tim Burton Mixed reviews and creepy comparisons to Michael Jackson notwithstanding, Tim Burton's splendidly imaginative adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory would almost surely meet with Roald Dahl's approval. The celebrated author of darkly offbeat children's books vehemently disapproved of 1971's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (hence the change in title), so it's only fitting that Burton and his frequent star/collaborator, Johnny Depp, should have another go, infusing the enigmatic candyman's tale with their own unique brand of imaginative oddity. Depp's pale, androgynous Wonka led some to suspect a partial riff on that most controversial of eternal children, Michael Jackson, but Burton's film is too expansively magnificent to be so narrowly defined. While preserving Dahl's morality tale on the hazards of indulgent excess, Burton's riotous explosion of color provides a wondrous setting for the lessons learned by Charlie Bucket (played by Freddie Highmore, Depp's delightful costar in Finding Neverland), as he and other, less admirable children enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime tour of Wonka's confectionary wonderland. Elaborate visual effects make this an eye-candy overdose (including digitally multiplied Oompa-Loompas, all played by diminutive actor Deep Roy), and the film's underlying weirdness is exaggerated by Depp's admirably risky but ultimately off-putting performance. Of course, none of this stops Burton's Charlie from being the must-own family DVD of 2005's holiday season, perhaps even for those who staunchly defend Gene Wilder's portrayal of Wonka from 34 years earlier. —Jeff Shannon

Gary Winick E.B. White's classic tale gets a Babe-like makeover in Charlotte's Web, a delightful and well-made film that is sure to become a family classic. Directed by Gary Winick (13 Going on 30), the new version eschews the musical numbers of the 1973 cartoon and mixes CGI with live-action animals. Dakota Fanning brings the right amount of chutzpah to Fern, the young farm girl who rescues a runt, Wilbur, from death and visits him every day at her Uncle Homer's farm. But it's Wilbur's friendship with Charlotte the spider (voiced by Julia Roberts) that ultimately saves him from the "smoke house" (a kid-friendly alternative term to the slaughterhouse), for Charlotte's talent for weaving praiseworthy words about Wilbur into her web turns the Zuckerman farm into a tourist attraction. The more tragic elements of the book are handled sensitively by Winick, working from a script by Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich), and Roberts' soothing, maternal voice (who knew it would work so well?) makes it all go down easy. It turns out to be just one of many perfect celebrity voice-casting choices, for the farm animals, voiced by an all-star cast including Oprah Winfrey (the goose), Robert Redford (the horse), Steve Buscemi (Templeton the rat), and John Cleese (the sheep), lend plenty of sharp humor. But it's two corn-hungry crows, voiced by Thomas Haden Church (Sideways) and OutKast's Andre "3000" Benjamin who steal the show. (Ages 4 and older) — Ellen A. Kim

Beyond Charlotte's Web
Other Children's Book Adaptations on DVD
Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
The Original 1973 Charlotte's Web Cartoon

Stills from Charlotte's Web (click for larger image)

Mark Dindal When the sky really is falling and sanity has flown the coop who will rise to save the day? together with his hysterical band of misfit friends chicken little must hatch a plan to save the planet from alien invasion & prove that the worlds biggest hero is a little chicken. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 02/02/2007 Run time: 81 minutes Rating: G

Nick Park, Peter Lord While the chickens on evil mrs. Tweedys farm dream of a better life a clever hen named ginger is hatching plans to fly the coop for good. The only problem is chickens cant fly or can they? every escape attempt goes fowl until rocky a smooth talking all-american rooster crash-lands into the coop. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/21/2007 Starring: Animated Run time: 84 minutes Rating: G Director: Peter Lord/nick Park

Alfonso Cuarón In 2027 as humankind faces the likelihood of its own extinction a disillusioned government agent agrees to help transport and protect a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea where her childs birth may help scientists to save the future of mankind. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 09/09/2008 Starring: Clive Owen Michael Caine Run time: 110 minutes Rating: R

Hugh Harman, Edwin L. Marin Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/30/2008 Run time: 69 minutes Rating: Nr

Don Siegel, Peter Godfrey Christmas in Connecticut is a holiday film that plays 365 days of the year. Barbara Stanwyck gives a brilliant, sardonic performance as Elizabeth Lane, a columnist for Smart Housekeeping magazine, whose enticing descriptions of the exquisite meals she prepares for her husband and baby on their bucolic Connecticut farm earns her fame as "America's Best Cook." A writer, she is; a cook, she is not. As she types the words, "From my living room window, as I write, the good cedar logs cracking on the fire..." the view is of clothes flapping on the line outside her bachelorette Manhattan apartment. An able supporting cast keeps her lie on life support: her editor, her stuffy and detestable architect suitor, and the wonderful "Uncle" Felix (S.Z. Sakall), an English-garbling Hungarian chef who provides the recipes that fill her column.

Cut to Jefferson Jones, a sailor adrift at sea for weeks after his destroyer is torpedoed. Memories of the food described in Lane's columns are central to his survival. After his rescue, as he's recuperating in a naval hospital, a marriage-minded nurse thinks she might nudge Jones to the altar if he could only experience a real domestic Christmas. And it just so happens that she was nurse to the grandchild of Alexander Yardley, the wealthy and powerful publisher of —you guessed it—Smart Housekeeping magazine. And so, she pens the letter that could unravel Lane's carefully constructed fraud. She writes to Yardley asking that Jones be included in America's ultimate Christmas—the one to be held at the Lane family farm in Connecticut. The pompous Yardley (ably portrayed by Sidney Greenstreet) believes the Lane myth and instantly sniffs a story that will send his magazine's circulation skyrocketing. And staring down a lonely holiday, he decides to join the Lanes for Christmas on the farm, too. Now, all Lane has to do is come up with a farm. And a husband. And let's not forget the baby. Christmas in Connecticut is classic screwball entertainment of the best kind, with its on-target skewering of social convention and house-of- cards-about-to-tumble tension: a perfect farcical vision of domestic blitz. —Susan Benson

This delightfully funny holiday gem tells the story of Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsly) a 1940's nine-year-old who pulls out all the stops to obtain the ultimate Christmas present.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 012569796287

Andrew Adamson Four young siblings discover a magical wardrobe and are transported to narnia an enchanted world ruled by the glacial powers of an evil white witch. With courage and heart-felt desire to save narnia the children must band together to fight the witch in a spectacular climatic battle. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 03/28/2008 Starring: Tilda Swinton Jim Broadbent Run time: 134 minutes Rating: Pg

Brad Silberling He can remain an angel and live forever. Or he can forsake his immortality and become human on the chance that she might love him. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/26/2006 Starring: Nicolas Cage Meg Ryan Run time: 114 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Brad Silberling

Steven Zaillian Jonathan Harr's nonfiction bestseller was a shot in the arm for those seeking more than last-minute heroics akin to a John Grisham thriller. Here was a labyrinthine case involving industrial pollution by two highly regarded corporations, contaminated drinking water, and the deaths of innocent children in New England, circa 1981. The case has hundreds of twists and takes our hero—a steady, respectable lawyer named Jan Schlichtmann—and turns his life into personal disaster. Instead of celebrating the law, the story is a maddening and rewarding look at the elusiveness of the courtroom case.

Steven Zaillian, who won an Oscar for adapting Schindler's List and directed Searching for Bobby Fischer, boils Harr's 502-page book into a complete, satisfactory film experience. Book readers will no doubt jeer the streamlining Zaillian had to perform to make the movie flow. Most changes can be quickly defused with the exception of the film's portrait of Schlichtmann. The lawyer has been turned into a movie star, an ultra-slick, cold-hearted gentleman who finds his purpose in working the case. Casting a stalwart John Travolta again diverges from the book, which right from the opening pages showed us a Schlichtmann with feet of clay. As Schlichtmann's partners (including William H. Macy and Tony Shalhoub) descend into the case, the unbridled sense of power and money is abandoned. This case is ultimately about survival.

Zaillian provides an excellent narrative for the sordid facts of personal injury suits, in which money is the only reward for lost or broken lives (deftly introduced in the film's opening scene). Zaillian also stays away from dwelling on the illness of the children involved, focusing on the gaunt faces of the parents who survive (Kathleen Quinlan, James Gandolfini) in controlled anguish. His evil characters—an industrial plant's owner (Dan Hedaya) and a corporate lawyer (another fine acting spin by director Sydney Pollack)—are so human it's terrifying. Zaillian's final ace in the hole is Oscar-nominee Robert Duvall. Perfectly cast as Travolta's opposition, Jerome Facher, Duvall steals scenes with the abbreviated dialogue; he turns a fancy settlement meeting into a farce with one line. Facher is not a callous, love-to-hate-him lawyer like James Mason in The Verdict. Facher represents the law at its brilliant foundation: to best represent one's client. With a taped-together briefcase and dry humor, Facher, not Schlichtmann, is the character who captures us by the film's end. —Doug Thomas

Charles Walters, Edward L. Cahn, George Cukor, George Sidney, James H. Smith Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 10/05/2004 Rating: Nr

Karl Kozak

Roger Kumble When an overachieving high school student decides to travel around the country to choose the perfect college her overprotective cop father also decides to accompany her in order to keep her on the straight and narrow. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 07/15/2008 Starring: Martin Lawrence Run time: 83 minutes Rating: G Director: Roger Kumble

Robert Altman With the complete cooperation of the joffrey ballet of chicago: robert altman follows the stories of the dancers whose professional & personal lives grow impossibly close. Neve campbell plays a gifted company member on the verge of becoming a principal dancer at a fictional chicago troupe. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/24/2006 Starring: Neve Campbell James Franco Run time: 112 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Robert Atlman

Rod Lurie Depending on your perspective, The Contender can be praised and damned for the same reasons. A political thriller with an insider's view, it's deadly earnest in its defense of truth, justice, and the American way, but writer-director (and former film critic) Rod Lurie resorts to the same manipulation that his film purports to condemn. But with political savvy, a timely idea (a female vice president), and a cast of first-rate actors, this high-office chess game is unabashedly entertaining. You can argue with Lurie's tactics, but you can't fault his patriotic passion.

In a role written especially for her, Joan Allen is outstanding (if a bit too saintly) as the Republican-turned-Democrat senator who is chosen by the president (Jeff Bridges) to fill a vice presidential vacancy. Bridges is a cagey chief executive, seemingly aloof as he gleefully challenges the White House's 24-hour kitchen staff but more than a match for the embittered and unscrupulous congressman (Gary Oldman) who plots to destroy Allen's character with seemingly dark secrets from her past.

As a gender-switching response to the Lewinsky scandal, The Contender asks potent questions with its impassioned plea for integrity in public service. That makes this a film well worth defending, and the stellar cast (which includes Christian Slater and William Petersen) triumphs over most of the plot's hokey machinations. The ideas are more compelling than their execution, however, and although Lurie's climactic revelation is a vast improvement over the reckless cheat of his previous film Deterrence, it still threatens to tarnish the gloss of an otherwise fascinating film. —Jeff Shannon

Renny Harlin In 1692 in the Ipswich Colony of Massachusetts five families with untold power formed a covenant of silence. One family lusting for more was banished their bloodline disappearing without a trace. Until now.Four young students at an elite private school who are descendants of the original families who settled in Ipswich Colony in the 1600s are bound by their sacred ancestry and special powers. When the body of a dead student is discovered after a party secrets begin to unravel that threaten to break the covenant of silence that has protected their families for hundreds of years.System Requirements:Run Time: 97 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: NR UPC: 043396166622 Manufacturer No: 16662

John Stainton The Crocodile Hunter mistakes some CIA agents for poachers and sets out to stop them from capturing a wily croc which unbeknownst to him has swallowed a tracking drone.System Requirements:Starring: Steve Irwin Terri Irwin Magda Szubanski and David Wenham. Directed By: John Stainton. Running Time: 90 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2003 MGM Studios.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: PG UPC: 027616880567 Manufacturer No: 1003946

Tim Squyres, Ang Lee Two warriors in pursuit of a stolen sword and a notorious fugitive are lead to an impetuous physically-skilled teenage noblemans daughter who is at a crossroads in her life. Special features: ang lee and james schamus commentary: photo montage: link to website: theatrical trailers and much more. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 12/21/2004 Starring: Chow Yun Fat Zhang Ziyi Run time: 120 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Ang Lee

Yimou Zhang The ill-fated romance between an imperial bodyguard & a prince takes the lovers on a dangerous journey where royal family secrets are revealed. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 08/26/2008 Starring: Jin Chen Yun Fat Chow Run time: 114 minutes Rating: R

Ron Howard A murder inside the louvre and clues in da vinci paintings lead to the discovery of a religious mystery protected by a secret society for two thousand years — which could shake the foundations of christianity. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 09/23/2008 Starring: Tom Hanks Ian Mckellan Run time: 149 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Ron Howard

Allen Coulter, Daniel Attias, Edward Bianchi, Greg Yaitanes, Guy Ferland Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/29/2008 Run time: 579 minutes

Roger Donaldson Without warning day becomes night. Air turns to fire and solid ground gives way to white-hot molten terror. Brace yourself for action-packed earth-shaking thrills and whatever you do dont look back. Contains: feature commentary with director roger donaldson theatrical trailer and script and much more. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 08/23/2005 Starring: Pierce Brosnan Linda Hamilton Run time: 109 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Roger Donaldson

Alex Proyas When john murdoch awakens in a strange hotel room he finds that he is wanted for a series of brutal murders. The problem is he cant remember a thing. Pursued by the police and haunted by the strangers mysterious beings who possess the ability to stop time and alter reality he seeks to unravel his identity. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 02/03/2004 Starring: Rufus Sewell Jennifer Connelly Run time: 100 minutes Rating: R Director: Alex Proyas

Jim Henson, Frank Oz Jim Henson's fantasy epic The Dark Crystal doesn't take place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, but like Star Wars it takes the audience to a place that exists only in the imagination and, for an hour and a half, on the screen. Recalling the worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien, Henson tells the story of a race of grotesque birdlike lizards called the Skeksis, gnomish dragons who rule their fantastic planet with an iron claw. A prophecy tells of a Gelfling (a small elfin being) who will topple their empire, so in their reign of terror they have exterminated the race, or so they think. The orphan Jen, raised in solitude by a race of peace-loving wizards called the Mystics, embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of the Dark Crystal (which gives the Skeksis their power) and restore the balance of the universe. Henson and codirector Frank Oz have pushed puppetry into a new direction: traditional puppets, marionettes, giant bodysuits, and mechanical constructions are mixed seamlessly in a fantasy world of towering castles, simple huts, dank caves, a giant clockwork observatory, and a magnificent landscape that seem to have leaped off the pages of a storybook. Muppet fans will recognize many of the voice actors—a few characters sound awfully close to familiar comic creations—but otherwise it's a completely alien world made familiar by a mythic quest that resonates through stories over the ages. —Sean Axmaker

The Dark Knight arrives with tremendous hype (best superhero movie ever? posthumous Oscar for Heath Ledger?), and incredibly, it lives up to all of it. But calling it the best superhero movie ever seems like faint praise, since part of what makes the movie great—in addition to pitch-perfect casting, outstanding writing, and a compelling vision—is that it bypasses the normal fantasy element of the superhero genre and makes it all terrifyingly real. Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) is Gotham City's new district attorney, charged with cleaning up the crime rings that have paralyzed the city. He enters an uneasy alliance with the young police lieutenant, Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), and Batman (Christian Bale), the caped vigilante who seems to trust only Gordon—and whom only Gordon seems to trust. They make progress until a psychotic and deadly new player enters the game: the Joker (Heath Ledger), who offers the crime bosses a solution—kill the Batman. Further complicating matters is that Dent is now dating Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal, after Katie Holmes turned down the chance to reprise her role), the longtime love of Batman's alter ego, Bruce Wayne.

In his last completed role before his tragic death, Ledger is fantastic as the Joker, a volcanic, truly frightening force of evil. And he sets the tone of the movie: the world is a dark, dangerous place where there are no easy choices. Eckhart and Oldman also shine, but as good as Bale is, his character turns out rather bland in comparison (not uncommon for heroes facing more colorful villains). Director-cowriter Christopher Nolan (Memento) follows his critically acclaimed Batman Begins with an even better sequel that sets itself apart from notable superhero movies like Spider-Man 2 and Iron Man because of its sheer emotional impact and striking sense of realism—there are no suspension-of-disbelief superpowers here. At 152 minutes, it's a shade too long, and it's much too intense for kids. But for most movie fans—and not just superhero fans—The Dark Knight is a film for the ages. —David Horiuchi

On the DVD
Unlike the Blu-ray disc, The Dark Knight on DVD is completely in 2.40:1 aspect ratio. You can, however, watch the six IMAX scenes separately. Also on disc 2 are "Gotham Uncovered: The Creation of a Scene," which is behind-the-scenes footage about the Bat suit, the Bat pod, and the music; eight-minute segments of Gotham Central, a faux-news program that gives some background to events in the movie; plus a variety of trailers, poster art, and more. Last, there's a digital copy of the film compatible with iTunes and Windows Media (download expires 12/9/09). —David Horiuchi

Walter Salles Dahlia williams is starting a new life but when things take a turn for the worse her apartment takes on a life of its own. Mysterious noises persistent leaks of dark water & strange happenings cause her imagination to run wild sending her on a puzzling pursuit to find out whos behind the mind games. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 05/11/2007 Starring: Jennifer Connelly Tim Roth Run time: 105 minutes Rating: Ur

Roland Emmerich When global warming triggers the onset of a new ice age a tidal wave engulfs ny city tornadoes flatten la & the entire northern hemisphere begins to feeeze solid. Now climatologist jack hall his son & a small band of survivors must ride out the superstorm & face a most powerful enemy - mother nature! Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 06/12/2007 Starring: Dennis Quaid Emmy Rossum Run time: 123 minutes Rating: Pg13

John Whitesell Good neighbors can be hard to come by and when the flighty Buddy Hall (Danny Devito) moves in across the street from the conservative Dr. Steve Finch (Matthew Broderick), it quickly becomes apparent that the two men are complete opposites. While Finch methodically plans out every minute of the coming Christmas season for his family, Buddy craves freshness and excitement and is seized by an impulsive desire to decorate his house so brightly that it can be seen from space. While the men's wives Kelly (Kristin Davis) and Tia (Kristin Chenoweth) and their children revel in one another's differences and form solid friendships, a rivalry of personalities and Christmas spirit ensues between the two men that will wind up testing the patience and love of every member of both families. This is fun, comical holiday entertainment for the entire family ages 9 and older. —Tami Horiuchi

Beyond Deck the Halls
The Holidays on DVD
Matthew Broderick Films
Danny DeVito Films

Stills from Deck the Halls

Andy Byatt, Alastair Fothergill Diving into the unexplored liquid space that exists just beneath the surface of our planet this explores awesome realms where humans have rarely dared to go: darting through schools of sharks riding over waves with killer whales & fighting for survival with polar bears & seals. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 12/26/2008 Starring: Narrated By Pierce Brosnan Narrated By Michael Gambon Run time: 91 minutes Rating: G

Tony Scott An atf agent travels back in time to save a woman from being murdered falling in love with her during the process. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 12/26/2008 Starring: Denzel Washington Jim Caviezel Run time: 126 minutes Rating: Pg13

Mikael Håfström When two married business executives (owen and aniston) having an affair are blackmailed by a violent criminal the two must turn the tables on him to save their families. Studio: Genius Products Inc Release Date: 08/28/2007 Starring: Jennifer Aniston Vincent Cassel Run time: 110 minutes Rating: Ur

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 01/08/2008 Rating: R

Eric Leighton, Ralph Zondag Dinosaurs come alive like never before in this costly computer-animated film from Disney. After a breathtaking opening (a dino egg is kidnapped), the film changes style; realistic dinosaurs are given human characteristics and voices. The kidnapped egg grows into an iguanodon named Aladar (voiced by D.B. Sweeney), who is raised by lemurs (shades of Tarzan) on a lush island void of other dinosaurs. When a meteorite destroys their island home in a thrilling sequence, the lemur family and Aladar become part of a dinosaur troop roaming the mainland deserts looking for the lush nesting grounds (shades of the fourth installment of the Land Before Time series and Fantasia). Disney's usual mix of modern language (one lemur calls himself "a love monkey") is present, as is its typical capital punishment law: anyone against our forward-thinking hero (or even disagreeing with him) ends up dead. Curiously, the meanies, a pair of carnotaurs following the group, are nameless and voiceless. This more realistic approach might have been a bigger wow, as in the BBC's Walking with Dinosaurs, which looked extraordinary with only a fraction of the budget. The complexity and scope of Dinosaur's visual scale is impressive, and group shots and a point-of-view angle are stunning. Rated PG for general intensity, the film should be a favorite for the 6- to 11-year-old set. —Doug Thomas

Marco Brambilla Kids will love this sweeping story of two brothers whose plane crashes on a mysterious island called Dinotopia, where human beings live in harmony with dinosaurs—the herbivores, anyway. The carnivores present a problem, as the humans' defenses against them—a mystical power source called sunstones—are losing strength. As they try to save the island, Carl and David (Tyron Leitso and Wentworth Miller) struggle not only with tyrannosaurs and prehistoric crocodiles, but also with repressive Dinotopian traditions and a scheming malcontent (David Thewlis) who stirs up all kinds of trouble. Meanwhile, they also wrestle with each other over the lovely daughter of the mayor of Waterfall City (Katie Carr). The pacifist ideals of Dinotopia are refreshing, but it's the special effects that will hook viewers: riding on the backs of brachiosaurs, flying atop pteranadons, arguing in court with triceratops and ankylosaurs—anyone fascinated with dinosaurs (and who isn't?) will enjoy this whimsical fantasy. A host of British character actors also helps keep the human side of this four-hour miniseries lively; Alice Krige (also known as the Borg Queen in Star Trek: The Next Generation) gets a much more benevolent role here. —Bret Fetzer

Experience 21 of Mike Rowe's dirtiest, funniest, and most adventurous jobs in these nine exciting episodes. Plus, enjoy memorable series highlights, behind-the-scenes footage, and bloopers in the 100th Dirty Job Special.

Features 5 holiday episodes from hit disney channel series. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 10/06/2006

The Dog Sitter Video is specially designed to stimulate and entertain your dog while you are away. Filled with the sights and sounds of large birds, raccoons, squirrels, mice, cats and dogs, your dog will feel like they are enjoying the outdoors from the comfort and protection of your home.

Extra, Extra, Extra! Features Galore! The #1 Best Selling Videos in the World Produced Exclusively for Pets to Watch! A Howl of a Good Time! Main Program for Dogs to Watch on Continuous Loop 3 Bonus Tracks - Basic Training Video (Sit, Stay, Down, Come) Advanced Obedience - Amazing Dogs doing Amazing Things. Canine High Tech - Shot From a Doggie Cam Now your dog will never have to be home alone!

Gary Fleder When the daughter of a prominent new york psychiatrist is kidnapped his only hope for her safe return is to pry a 6-digit number from the memory of a trouble teenage girl and time is running out. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 08/29/2006 Starring: Michael Douglas Brittany Murphy Run time: 113 minutes Rating: R Director: Gary Felder

Richard Kelly This unclassifiable but stunningly original film obliterates the walls between teen comedy, science fiction, family drama, horror, and cultural satire—and remains wildly entertaining throughout. Jake Gyllenhaal (October Sky) stars as Donnie, a borderline-schizophrenic adolescent for whom there is no difference between the signs and wonders of reality (a plane crash that devastates his house) and hallucination (a man-sized, reptilian rabbit who talks to him). Obsessed with the science of time travel and acutely aware of the world around him, Donnie is isolated by his powers of analysis and the apocalyptic visions that no one else seems to share. The debut feature of writer-director Richard Kelly, Donnie Darko is a shattering, hypnotic work that sets its own terms and gambles—rightfully so, as it turns out—that a viewer will stay aboard for the full ride. —Tom Keogh

Bruce Bilson, Edward H. Feldman, Irving J. Moore, Jerry London, Lee Philips Studio: Mpi Home Video Release Date: 02/27/2007 Run time: 690 minutes Rating: Nr

Set in 1964 doubt centers on a nun who confronts a priest after suspecting him of abusing a black student. He denies the charges and much of the plays quick-fire dialogue tackles themes of religion morality and authority. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 04/07/2009 Starring: Meryl Streep Amy Adams Run time: 103 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: John Patrick Shanley

Ben Washam This all-time classic now has Horton Hears a Who! on the same video for a great double bill.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas
To heck with the kids—this is one of the best holiday presents you can give yourself. Adapted from the children's book by Dr. Seuss, this charming story is one to watch every holiday season. It is just edgy enough to help you forget the more cloying aspects of Christmas, yet it is also sweet enough to remind you of the reason for all that holiday cheer. Animation genius Chuck Jones directed this 1966 television production featuring the voice of Boris Karloff as the mean greenie. Bitter and selfish, the Grinch decides to steal Christmas away from the Whos, the sweet little folk who live at the bottom of his mountain home. When little Cindy Loo Who returns his hateful act with kindness, she melts the old miser's heart. There are many reasons to watch this: inventive wordplay, Karloff's impressive narration, and a very memorable soundtrack. —Rochelle O'Gorman

Horton Hears a Who!
Chuck Jones was chief animator on this lively adaptation of the famous book by Dr. Seuss. The story of a friendly elephant named Horton who discovers—deep inside a daisy—a tiny city called Whoville with tiny, intelligent residents—this film (fleshed out a bit from the source) is strong on character and has striking, appealing visuals. The little folks of Whoville, with their natural air of aristocracy, are a kick, and when they come to see Horton as a hero for his democratic view of all life big and small, the effect is quite touching. This should be a real treat for kids already familiar with the book, and just might inspire those who haven't read it to pick it up. —Tom Keogh

Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 08/22/2006 Run time: 105 minutes Rating: Pg

Doug Lefler, Rob Cohen Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 05/22/2007 Run time: 188 minutes

Danny Leiner Sometimes, stupidity is its own reward. Dude, Where's My Car? is one of the most ridiculous movies ever made—so ridiculous, and so thoroughly cheerful about being ridiculous, that it's thoroughly entertaining. Jesse and Chester (Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott) wake up one morning with absolutely no memory of the night before, but they're confident they must have had a good time. An irate phone call from their girlfriends quickly makes it clear that they may have had too much of a good time, and will be branded as sucky boyfriends unless they set things right. The boys set out to get the anniversary gifts they have for the girls in Jesse's car... only Jesse's car seems to be missing. Which of course leads our heroes on a quest, during which they encounter a pot-smoking dog, khaki-wearing cultists, hot chicks from outer space, a cameo by Fabio, and a herd of wild ostriches. Dude, Where's My Car? lacks the depth of character you might find in, say, a Bill & Ted movie, but the dialogue has an amazing spareness to it that gives it a kind of metaphysical splendor—if absurdist playwright Samuel Beckett had written ludicrous babe & stoner movies, he would have written Dude, Where's My Car? Also featuring a cameo by Andy Dick and more babes in bikinis than you can count. —Bret Fetzer

Carroll Ballard Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 05/15/2007 Run time: 100 minutes Rating: Pg

David Cronenberg Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 01/27/2009 Run time: 101 minutes Rating: R

Tim Burton Edward Scissorhands achieves the nearly impossible feat of capturing the delicate flavor of a fable or fairy tale in a live-action movie. The story follows a young man named Edward (Johnny Depp), who was created by an inventor (Vincent Price, in one of his last roles) who died before he could give the poor creature a pair of human hands. Edward lives alone in a ruined Gothic castle that just happens to be perched above a pastel-colored suburb inhabited by breadwinning husbands and frustrated housewives straight out of the 1950s. One day, Peg (Dianne Wiest), the local Avon lady, comes calling. Finding Edward alone, she kindly invites him to come home with her, where she hopes to help him with his pasty complexion and those nasty nicks he's given himself with his razor-sharp fingers. Soon Edward's skill with topiary sculpture and hair design make him popular in the neighborhood—but the mood turns just as swiftly against the outsider when he starts to feel his own desires, particularly for Peg's daughter Kim (Winona Ryder). Most of director Tim Burton's movies (such as Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman) are visual spectacles with elements of fantasy, but Edward Scissorhands is more tender and personal than the others. Edward's wild black hair is much like Burton's, suggesting that the character represents the director's own feelings of estrangement and co-option. Johnny Depp, making his first successful leap from TV to film, captures Edward's childlike vulnerability even while his physical posture evokes horror icons like the vampire in Nosferatu and the sleepwalker in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Classic horror films, at their heart, feel a deep sympathy for the monsters they portray; simply and affectingly, Edward Scissorhands lays that heart bare. —Bret Fetzer

Newhart, Bob This hilarious film tells the tale of a young orphan child who mistakenly crawls into santas bag of gifts on christmas eve & is transported back to the north pole & raised as an elf. Years later buddy learns hes not really an elf & goes on a journey to new york city to find his true identity. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 09/30/2008 Starring: Will Ferrell Bob Newhart Run time: 95 minutes Rating: Pg

Shekhar Kapur Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 09/09/2008 Run time: 124 minutes Rating: R

Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 01/27/2009 Run time: 115 minutes Rating: Pg13

Tommy O'Haver Ella lives in a fanciful world where children are given a gift from a fairy godmother at their birth. Hers is the gift-& curse of obedience. Ella cannot refuse any command & is often left at the mercy of unscrupulous personalities. She goes on a quest to free herself & must outwit ogres giants & evil plots. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 09/01/2006 Starring: Anne Hathaway Minnie Driver Run time: 96 minutes Rating: Pg

Joel Gallen Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 09/26/2006 Run time: 60 minutes Rating: Nr

Kevin Lima Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 12/26/2008 Run time: 107 minutes Rating: Pg

Roger Barton, Masahiro Hirakubo, Chris Lebenzon, Stefen Fangmeier Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 03/20/2007 Run time: 102 minutes Rating: Pg

Tom Shadyac Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 05/06/2008 Run time: 96 minutes Rating: Pg

Scott Derrickson A thrilling horror film about a lawyer who takes on a negligent homicide case involving a priest who performed an exorcism on a young girl. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 09/25/2007 Starring: Laura Linney Shohreh Aghdashloo Run time: 121 minutes Rating: Ur

Gregory Hoblit Although it received mixed reactions from critics and audiences alike when released in 1998, this supernatural thriller benefits from a sustained atmosphere of anticipation and dread, and its combination of detective mystery and demonic mischief is handled with ample style and intelligence. Under the direction of Gregory Hoblit (who fared better with Primal Fear), Denzel Washington plays detective John Hobbes, who witnesses the gas-chamber execution of a serial killer (Elias Koteas). But when another series of murders begins, Hobbes suspects that the killer's evil spirit has survived and is possessing the bodies of others to do its evil bidding. Even Hobbes's trusted partner (John Goodman) thinks the detective is losing his grip on reality, but the dire warnings of a noted linguist (Embeth Davidtz) confirm Hobbes's far-out theory, and his case intensifies toward a fateful showdown. Although its idea is better than its execution, and the story's film noir ambitions are never fully accomplished, this slickly directed thriller has some genuinely effective moments in which evil forces are entwined into the fabric of everyday reality. Among the highlights is a memorable scene in which Detective Hobbes must track the killer as the evil spirit is transferred between many people via physical contact. Even if the film is ultimately less than the sum of its parts, it's an intriguing hybrid that resides in the same cinematic neighborhood as Seven and The Silence of the Lambs with a cast that also includes Donald Sutherland and James Gandolfini. Included on the DVD is a full-length audio commentary by director Hoblit, screenwriter Nicholas Kazan, and producer Charles Roven. —Jeff Shannon

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 10/02/2007 Rating: Pg

Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly The Farrelly brothers continue their good-natured winning streak with Fever Pitch, a romantic comedy charmed by fate and last-minute improvisation. The movie was originally written with a bittersweet ending, but something unexpected happened (kismet, or perhaps divine intervention?) when the Boston Red Sox scored miraculous victories in the 2004 playoffs and World Series, and Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon were there, in character, to celebrate love and baseball as a pair of amiable lovers who learn to share their lives while accommodating Fallon's life-long passion for the Red Sox. You really have to love baseball to forgive the formulaic romance by veteran Hollywood screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (who also wrote A League of Their Own, and could write this stuff in their sleep), but the codirecting Farrellys make it work, along with the easygoing chemistry of Barrymore and Fallon. The movie bears little resemblance to Nick Hornby's source novel (which was more faithfully adapted as a 1997 British comedy starring Colin Firth), but anyone who enjoyed High Fidelity or About a Boy will recognize Hornby's keen understanding of men and women, and the hazards we all endure when playing the game of love. —Jeff Shannon

Omar Naim Its a compelling fable that offers a vision of a world where memory implants record all moments in a persons life. Post mortem these memories are removed and edited by a cutter into a reel depicting the life of the departed for a commemorative ceremony called a rememory. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 02/06/2007 Starring: Robin Williams Jim Caviezel Run time: 105 minutes Rating: Pg13

Stanton, Andrew Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 05/16/2008 Run time: 100 minutes Rating: G

Marc Forster Sweetness that doesn't turn saccharine is hard to find these days; Finding Neverland hits the mark. Much credit is due to the actors: Johnny Depp applies his genius for sly whimsy in his portrayal of playwright J. M. Barrie, who finds inspiration for his greatest creation from four lively boys, the sons of widow Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet, who miraculously fuses romantic yearning with common sense). Though the friendship threatens his already dwindling marriage, Barrie spends endless hours with the boys, pretending to be pirates or Indians—and gradually the elements of Peter Pan take shape in his mind. The relationship between Barrie and the Llewelyn Davies family sparks both an imagined world and a quiet rebellion against the stuffy forces of respectability, given physical form by Barrie's resentful wife (Radha Mitchell, High Art) and Sylvia's mother (Julie Christie, McCabe and Mrs. Miller). This gentle silliness could have turned to treacle, but Depp and Winslet—along with newcomer Freddie Highmore as one of the boys—keep their feet on the earth while their eyes gaze into their dreams. Also featuring a comically crusty turn from Dustin Hoffman (who appeared in another Peter Pan-themed movie, Hook) as a long-suffering theater producer. —Bret Fetzer

Clint Eastwood The life stories of six men who raised the flag at the battle of iwo jima a turning point in wwii. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/19/2008 Starring: Ryan Phillipe Paul Walker Run time: 132 minutes Rating: R

Joseph Barbera, William Hanna Studio: Hanna Barbera Release Date: 11/15/2005 Run time: 676 minutes Rating: Nr

Carroll Ballard A family of orphaned geese who lost their way. A 14 year old kid who will lead them home. To achieve the incredible you have to attempt the impossible. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 12/21/2004 Starring: Jeff Daniels Dana Delany Run time: 108 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Carroll Ballard

John Carpenter The centenary of the small sea town antonio bay is approaching. While the townsfolk prepare to celebrate the victims of the crime that founded the town rise from the sea to claim retribution. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 09/09/2008 Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis Janet Leigh Run time: 90 minutes Rating: R

A new comedy from the director of Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show and a Mighty Wind. Special Features includes Commentary by Co-Writers Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy - Over 30 minutes of Hilarious Bonus Material - Home for Purim Poster Gallery - Theatrical Trailer.

Rob Minkoff Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 09/09/2008 Run time: 104 minutes Rating: Pg13

Mark Waters An overworked mother and her daughter do not get along. When they switch bodies each is forced to adapt to the others life for one freaky friday. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 05/11/2007 Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis Mark Harmon Run time: 98 minutes Rating: Pg

David Dobkin Vince Vaughn is enormously enjoyable as the titular Fred Claus, disgruntled older brother of the better-known St. Nicholas himself, i.e., the North Pole's very own Santa (Paul Giamatti). A garrulous hustler running from the emotional fallout of the ultimate sibling rivalry, poor Fred keeps trying to find happiness through one failed scheme after another, pushing away the people who care about him most. When brother Santa puts the squeeze on him to help out in the toy factory atop the world, Fred turns the place into one big, raucous party. Unfortunately, he's unaware that Santa and Mrs. Claus (Miranda Richardson) are under tight scrutiny from an oversight committee (represented by a calculating Kevin Spacey) and could be shut down. The film, directed by David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers), gleams and twinkles the way a holiday movie should, and has plenty of fun material for youngsters, including a wacky chase scene in which Fred goes on the run from a half-dozen, angry Salvation Army Santas. But Fred Claus is also supposed to appeal to hip adults with a taste for ironic farce, and on that score the movie feels like a succession of Saturday Night Live skits more than an organic whole. Still, Vaughn holds everything together with a smart, insightful performance that looks deep into his character's torment—with more than a few laughs. —Tom Keogh

Richard LaGravenese Though the "inspirational teacher" theme may feel done to death, Freedom Writers succeeds because it emphasizes the students as much as the teacher. Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby, Boys Don't Cry) comes to a southern California high school bubbling over with naive optimism, but quickly discovers that her unruly classroom isn't easily won over by her good intentions. After a few floundering attempts to connect with her students, Gruwell gives them the assignment of keeping journals about their own lives—an assignment that the class bites into with relish, which eventually bonds them together and pushes racial rivalries aside. This plotline has been made before, sometimes well, sometimes poorly; Freedom Writers, by drawing heavily from the published journals of the students—and thanks to a (mostly) unheroic script, direction that emphasizes individual characters over stereotypes, and rigorous performances from the whole cast—makes the story seem fresh and genuine. Swank does solid work, but the standouts are April L. Hernandez as a girl whose gang wants her to lie and send an innocent boy to jail and Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake) as a teacher who resents Gruwell's offbeat success. Also featuring Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy), Scott Glenn (The Right Stuff), and a plethora of strong young actors. —Bret Fetzer

Beyond Freedom Writers
More Inspirational Teacher Films on DVD
The Freedom Writers Diary
by Erin Gruwell
More DVDs Starring Hilary Swank

Stills from Freedom Writers (click for larger image)

In victorian era london a troubled clairvoyant police detective investigates the murders by jack the ripper. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 09/23/2008 Starring: Johnny Depp Run time: 88 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Albert Hughes

Ron Howard, Peter Morgan Sounds like a good match: a historical drama from the author of The Queen, but with an American subject in the generational wheelhouse of director Ron Howard. And so Peter Morgan's Tony-winning play morphs into a Hollywood movie under the wing of the Apollo 13 guy. Morgan's subject is a curious moment of post-Watergate shakeout: British TV host David Frost's long-form interviews with ex-President Richard Nixon, conducted in 1977. It was a big ratings success at the time, justifying the somewhat controversial decision to cut an enormous check for Nixon's services. The movie adds a mockumentary note to the otherwise straightforward style, having direct-to-camera addresses from various aides to Frost and Nixon (played by the likes of Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell, and Kevin Bacon); these basically tell us things we already glean from the rest of the movie, adding unnecessary melodrama and upping the stakes. In this curious scheme, the success of Frost's career, which could bellyflop if he doesn't get something worthwhile out of the cagey, long-winded Nixon, is given somewhat more weight than the actual revelations of the interviews. Even with these questionable storytelling decisions, there's still the spectacle of two actors going at it hammer and tongs, and on that level the movie offers some heat. Michael Sheen, who played Tony Blair not only in The Queen but also in another Morgan-scripted project, The Deal, is adept at catching David Frost's blow-dried charm, as well as the determination beneath it. Frank Langella's physical performance as Nixon is superb, and he certainly can be a commanding actor, though veteran Nixon-watchers might find that he misses a certain depth of self-pity in the man. Both actors were retained from the original stage production, a rare thing in Hollywood—and probably Howard's best decision of the project. —Robert Horton

Courtney Hunt Two destitute single mothers form an uneasy partnership transporting illegal immigrants across the u.S./canadian border. When circumstances spiral alarmingly out of control they make life or death decisions base on their friendship & love for their children. Melissa leo is nominated for an oscar. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 02/10/2009 Starring: Melissa Leo Charlie Mcdermott Run time: 97 minutes Rating: R Director: Courtney Hunt

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 08/07/2007 Run time: 609 minutes Rating: Nr

Bill Foster, Jack Shea, Jeff Franklin, Joel Zwick, John Bowab Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/13/2007 Run time: 536 minutes Rating: Nr

"When you look at me, what do you see?" pontificates football star Joe Kingman, then provides the answer: "Greatness." Well, clearly an ego like that needs to be brought down to size—pint-size. The winning family comedy The Game Plan has a whole lot going for it, including star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who's a natural comedic actor (and the camera loves him), and the young actress (Madison Pettis) who plays the daughter he didn't know he had, Peyton. The plot doesn't break much new ground, since many films have mined the territory of the self-indulgent child-adult who suddenly "inherits" a child (from Three Men and a Baby to Baby Boom to Big Daddy to Raising Helen). But thanks to the charismatic performance of Johnson, the film is winsome and uplifting. Johnson's comic timing and straight-man face are spot-on, as is his warm chemistry with the sweet-faced Pettis. Also giving notable performances are the lovely Roselyn Sanchez as Peyton's ballet teacher, and Kyra Sedgwick as Kingman's hard-nosed agent who's aghast at the appearance of an out-of-wedlock child. Children and adults both can enjoy the movie's warm-and-fuzzy moral of making family where you find it—or where it finds you. —A.T. Hurley

Don Michael Paul Studio: Starz/sphe Release Date: 09/25/2007 Run time: 92 minutes Rating: Nr

Maxwell smart agent 86 for control battles the forces of kaos with the more competent agent 99 at his side. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/04/2008 Starring: Steve Carell Dwayne Johnson Run time: 110 minutes Rating: Pg13

John Irvin Elderly men telling ghost stories are haunted by a girl they accidentally drowned 50 years before. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 09/07/2004 Starring: Melvyn Douglas Alice Krige Run time: 110 minutes Rating: R Director: John Irvin

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 08/02/2005

Roland Emmerich As "gigantic monster reptile attacks New York" movies go, you've got to admit that Godzilla delivers the goods, although its critical drubbing and box-office disappointment were arguably deserved. It's a shameless, uninspired crowd pleaser that's content to serve up familiar action with the advantage of really fantastic special effects, and if you expect nothing more you'll be one among millions of satisfied customers. There's really no other way to approach it—you just have to accept the fact that Independence Day creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin are unapologetic plagiarists, incapable of anything more than mindless spectacle that can play in any cinema in the world without dubbing or subtitles. The whole movie plays out like a series of highlights stolen from previous blockbusters of the 1990s; it's little more than a rehash of the Jurassic Park movies. The derivative script is so trivial that it's unworthy of comment, apart from a few choice laughs and the casting of Michael Lerner as New York's mayor, whose name is Ebert and who closely resembles a certain well-known movie critic. Perhaps that's a clever hint that this movie's essentially critic-proof. It's stupid but it's fun, and for most audiences that's a fitting definition of mainstream Hollywood entertainment. The widescreen Special Edition DVD includes a wealth of bonus materials—audio commentary by the film's special effects supervisors, a "making of" featurette, the Wallflowers' music video "Heroes," a photo gallery, and a variety of features related to this and all the classic Godzilla films from Japan. —Jeff Shannon

Chris Weitz In a wonderous parallel world where witches soar the skies & ice bears rule the frozen north one special girl is destined to hold the fate of the universe in her hands. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 04/29/2008 Starring: Nicole Kidman Wva Green Rating: Pg13

Elizabeth Gill (II) Goldfish Memory is a light-hearted look at the dangers and delights of dating in contemporary Dublin. When Clara sees her boyfriend kissing Isolde, it sets off a chain reaction of romances and heartbreaks until the entire cycle has turned full-circle, with each character trying to solve the pressing question of what is the perfect relationship! Some favor marriage, others a week-at-a-time arrangement. The only thing they can all agree on is that love is the one thing we cannot live without. Falling in love, out of love and making the same mistakes all over again - all of us say we learn from heartbreak, but how many of us really change? And do we really want to? Packaged with CD.

John Hoffman (XV) Owens new dog hubble does lots of tricks & he can also speak literally. Turns out he is really an interplanetary agent from the dog star sirius sent to sniff out rumors that earths dogs have failed to become mens masters. Now owen & hubble must train mutts to convince hubbles leader that earth dogs rule. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 10/14/2008 Starring: Molly Shannon Kevin Nealon Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Pg

Brian Robbins Can fast-food counter dudes ed & dexter battle big business? thats the order of the day when mondo burgers high-tech hamburger haven opens across from the tiny good burger diner. Catch up with the gags as ed & dexter scramble to save their jobs & stop mondo burgers bid for fast food domination. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/22/2006 Starring: Kel Mitchell Sinbad Run time: 95 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Brian Robbins

George Clooney "Good Night And Good Luck." takes place during the early days of broadcast journalism in 1950's America. It chronicles the real-life conflict between television newsman Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee. With a desire to report the facts and enlighten the public Murrow and his dedicated staff - headed by his producer Fred Friendly and Joe Wershba in the CBS newsroom - defy corporate and sponsorship pressures to examine the lies and scaremongering tactics perpetrated by McCarthy during his communist 'witch-hunts'. A very public feud develops when the Senator responds by accusing the anchor of being a communist. In this climate of fear and reprisal the CBS crew carries on and their tenacity will prove historic and monumental.Running Time: 93 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 012569736788 Manufacturer No: 73678

Ridley Scott A british investment broker inherits a vineyard in province from his late uncle. He discovers a new laid-back lifestyle as he tries to renovate the estate to be sold. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 01/13/2009 Starring: Russell Crowe Run time: 114 minutes Rating: Pg13

Martin Scorsese Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 07/08/2008 Rating: R

Sue Kramer Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 01/13/2009 Run time: 96 minutes Rating: Pg13

Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 09/23/2008 Run time: 110 minutes Rating: Pg

Elliot Graham, Bill Paxton You wouldn't think a movie that uses the game of golf as a metaphor for class struggle could be so entertaining. The Greatest Game Ever Played stars the charming Shia LaBeouf (Holes) as Francis Ouimet, a golfer who, in 1913, rose from caddy to U.S. Open champion at the age of 20—despite the resistance of the powers that be, who thought it unseemly for a lower-class plebian to play the sport of gentlemen. Ouimet's main competitor is Harry Vardon (Stephen Dillane, The Hours), a British professional, still considered one of the greatest players of all time, who fought his own class battles. The two go head to head in a genuinely gripping match, deftly balanced against the juxtapositions of their personal struggles. Is it sentimental and formulaic? Is the outcome a foregone conclusion? Yes, but it doesn't matter—formulas exist because, when executed with verve and dexterity, they work. Bill Paxton, best known as an actor (One False Move, Apollo 13), steps into the director's chair and hits all the right notes, aided by an excellent cast playing colorful characters, a vivid recreation of the time period, glowing cinematography, and an expert pace. The Greatest Game Ever Played works. —Bret Fetzer

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 01/08/2008 Rating: Pg

Tina Hirsch, Joe Dante A boy inadvertantly breaks 3 important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 01/16/2007 Starring: Judge Reinhold Hoyt Axton Run time: 106 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Joe Dante

The gremlins are back and this time theyve taken total control over the building of a media mogul. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/13/2007 Starring: Zach Galligan Run time: 106 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Joe Dante

Studio: Gaiam Americas Release Date: 10/12/2004

Peter Berg A hard-living superhero who has fallen out of favor with the public enters into a questionable relationship with the wife of the public relations professional whos trying to repair his image. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 11/25/2008 Starring: Will Smith Charlize Theron Run time: 102 minutes Rating: Ur

Paul Bolger, Yvette Kaplan With the success of Shrek, more irreverent animated fairy tales (like Hoodwinked) were inevitable. Unfortunately, the original blockbuster set the bar so high—for characterization, humor, and heart—that other such 'toons are sure to seem redundant. Neither as clever nor as intricately rendered as the tale of the great green ogre, Happily N'Ever After is no exception. That said, small children may find it easier to follow, i.e. no Matrix references. As with the live-action Ella Enchanted, the CGI-animated story revolves around a downtrodden lass named Ella (Sarah Michelle Gellar). Her full name, naturally, is Cinderella. The man of her dreams is pea-brained Prince Humperdink (Patrick Warburton). Little does she know that royal dishwasher Rick (Freddie Prinze Jr., Gellar's real-life husband) has his eye on her. When the Wizard (George Carlin) goes off on a golfing vacation, he leaves bumbling assistants Munk (Wallace Shawn) and Mambo (Andy Dick) in charge. In no time at all, they get into a scuffle, and Ella's evil stepmother, Frieda (Sigourney Weaver), swoops in to take control of Fairy Tale Land. Her first order of business: Let the bad guys win. Consequently, Sleeping Beauty continues to doze, the Seven Dwarves wind up in jail, etc. Ella joins forces with Rick to set things right. Along the way, she realizes that the lowly lad has more princely qualities than the actual prince, and Frieda's reign turns out to be shorter than intended. It's not a bad idea, but the movie drags and the tunes are unmemorable. —Kathleen C. Fennessy

George Miller, Judy Morris, Warren Coleman In the cold land of antarctica the emperor penguins each express their true love with a special heartsong of their own that expresses their very being. Hosever the misfit mumble cannot sing but instead has an extraordinary talent to tap dance with almost magical energy & expression. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 01/08/2008 Starring: Voice Of Robin Williams Voice Of Nicole Kidman Run time: 109 minutes Rating: Pg

Alfonso Cuarón, Chris Columbus, David Yates, Mike Newell Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/11/2008 Rating: Pg

Priscilla Nedd-Friendly, Rob Minkoff When jim evers & his family find themselves stranded in a 150 year old creepy & crumbling mansion in new orleans they come face to face with the manors residents - 999 grim & grinning ghosts! now the evers family must weather falling floors & moving pictures before the clock strikes 13. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 08/08/2006 Starring: Eddie Murphy Wallace Shaw Run time: 88 minutes Rating: Pg

John Kavanaugh Studio: Platinum Disc Llc Release Date: 09/30/2008

Pacific Media 'Hearts Cracked Open' provides the first in-depth look inside the world of lesbian Tantra with its ancient ecstatic practices and sexual techniques. Through interviews with Tantra teachers and students, workshop footage, and daily practices, Hearts Cracked Open celebrates sexuality and coupling in the lesbian community while also promoting discussion about this usually hidden aspect of our lives. We invite you to witness the transformative power of Tantra to crack open the heart as women reclaim the fullness of their beings.

Guillermo del Toro Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 11/11/2008 Rating: Pg13

Angela Robinson Maggie peyton is the new owner of number 53 - the free-wheelin volkswagon bug with a mind of its own - puts the car through its paces on the road to becoming a nascar competitor. Herbies got some new tricks under his hood! Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 08/10/2007 Starring: Lindsay Lohan Matt Dillon Run time: 92 minutes Rating: G

Yimou Zhang Before china was ruled by one dynasty it was divided into 7 kingdoms the most notorious being the kingdom of qin. The ruler of qin was marked for death - 3 professional assassins had qin him in their sights. Qin offers a reward to anyone who can provide proof that the assasins are dead. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 05/11/2007 Starring: Jet Li Run time: 99 minutes Rating: Pg13

Carl Franklin Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 09/11/2007 Run time: 115 minutes Rating: Pg13

David Cronenberg A quiet man's family life threatens to fall apart when an act of self-defense thrusts him into the spotlight.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: R
Release Date: 14-MAR-2006
Media Type: DVD

Enda McCallion Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 01/13/2009 Run time: 84 minutes Rating: Ur

Andy Tennant Will Smith's easygoing charm makes Hitch the kind of pleasant, uplifting romantic comedy that you could recommend to almost anyone—especially if there's romance in the air. As suave Manhattan dating consultant Alex "Hitch" Hitchens, Smith plays up the smoother, sophisticated side of his established screen persona as he mentors a pudgy accountant (Kevin James) on the lessons of love. The joke, of course, is that Hitch's own love life is a mess, and as he coaches James toward romance with a rich, powerful, and seemingly inaccessible beauty named Allegra (Amber Valetta), he's trying too hard to impress a savvy gossip columnist (Eva Mendes) with whom he's fallen in love. Through mistaken identities and mismatched couples, director Andy Tennant brings the same light touch that made Drew Barrymore's Ever After so effortlessly engaging. As romantic comedies go, Hitch doesn't offer any big surprises, but as a date movie it gets the job done with amiable ease and style. —Jeff Shannon

Lasse Hallström Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 03/28/2008 Run time: 115 minutes Rating: R

John Sanford (II) When a greedy outlaw named alameda slim schemes to take possession of the patch of heaven dairy farm 3 determined cows a karate kicking stallion & a colorful corral of critters join forces to save the farm. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 12/26/2008 Starring: Judi Dench Randy Quaid Run time: 76 minutes Rating: Pg

Charles Bornstein, Dean Cundey Shrink-happy wayne szalinski is at it again! only this time he & his wife are the miniature victims desperately trying to attract the attention of their party-throwing kids! Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 07/01/2003 Starring: Rick Moranis Bug Hall Rating: Pg

Wil Shriner Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 09/04/2007 Rating: Pg

When a kindly elephant hears a faint cry of help from a floating speck of dust his attempts to protect the tiny particle cause his neighbors to question his sanity in this animated adaptation of dr seuss classic 1954 childrens book of the same name. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 12/09/2008 Starring: Voice Of Jim Carrey Voice Of Steve Carrell Run time: 174 minutes Rating: G

Sheldon Kahn, Thor Freudenthal Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 04/28/2009 Run time: 100 minutes Rating: Pg

Stephen Daldry The captivating story of three women from different eras whose lives are transformed by the timeless power of a msterful novel. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/04/2005 Starring: Meryl Streep Nicole Kidman Run time: 114 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Stephen Daldry

Yimou Zhang No one uses color like Chinese director Zhang Yimou—movies like Raise the Red Lantern or Hero, though different in tone and subject matter, are drenched in rich, luscious shades of red, blue, yellow, and green. House of Flying Daggers is no exception; if they weren't choreographed with such vigorous imagination, the spectacular action sequences would seem little more than an excuse for vivid hues rippling across the screen. Government officers Leo and Jin (Asian superstars Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro) set out to destroy an underground rebellion called the House of Flying Daggers (named for their weapon of choice, a curved blade that swoops through the air like a boomerang). Their only chance to find the rebels is a blind women named Mei (Ziyi Zhang, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) who has some lethal kung fu moves of her own. In the guise of an aspiring rebel, Jin escorts Mei through gorgeous forests and fields that become bloody battlegrounds as soldiers try to kill them both. While arrows and spears of bamboo fly through the air, Mei, Jin, and Leo turn against each other in surprising ways, driven by passion and honor. Zhang's previous action/art film, Hero, sometimes sacrificed momentum for sheer visual beauty; House of Flying Daggers finds a more muscular balance of aesthetic splendor and dazzling swordplay. —Bret Fetzer

Stuart Margolin Olsen twins Mary-Kate and Ashley lead the battle of wits and wills to save their beloved ranch in the feature length comedy How The West Was Fun. Trying to sell the spread out from under them is bumbling, lower-than-a-snake's-belly scoundrel Bart Gifooley (Martin Mull).

Philippe Mora Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 08/23/2005 Run time: 91 minutes Rating: R

Jessie Nelson A humorous and heart-warming film about a mentally-challenged father who enlists the aid of a high-power attorney to help him regain custody of his daughter. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 12/11/2007 Starring: Michelle Pfeiffer Laura Dern Run time: 134 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Jessie Nelson

William Asher Cuban-born bandleader Ricky Ricardo and his wife Lucy live in a Brownstone apartment building on East 68th Street in New York City. The beautiful but daffy Lucy has the nasty habit of getting into jams scrapes and predicaments of all kinds. The Ricardos' best friends and landlords Fred and Ethel Mertz frequently find themselves in the middle of Lucy's outlandish escapades.System Requirements: Running Time 787 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: NR UPC: 097368887848 Manufacturer No: 888784

Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 05/06/2008 Run time: 116 minutes Rating: Pg13

Chris Wedge Just as A Bug's Life was a computer-animated comedy inspired by Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai, the funny and often enthralling Ice Age is a digital re-imagining of the Western Three Godfathers. The heroes of this unofficial remake (set 20,000 years ago, during the titular Paleolithic era) are a taciturn mastodon named Manfred (voiced by Ray Romano), an annoying sloth named Sid (John Leguizamo), and a duplicitous saber-toothed tiger, Diego (Denis Leary). The unlikely team encounters a dying, human mother who relinquishes her chirpy toddler to the care of these critters. Hoping, against all odds, to return the little guy to his migrating tribe, Manfred and his associates need to establish trust among themselves, not an easy thing in a harsh world of predators, prey, and pushy glaciers. Audiences that have become accustomed to the rounded, polished, storybook look of Pixar's house brand of computer animation (Monsters, Inc.) will find the blunt edges and chilly brilliance of Ice Age—evoking the harsh, dangerous environment of a frozen world—a wholly different, and equally pleasing, trip. Recommended for ages 4 and up. —Tom Keogh

Harry Hitner, Carlos Saldanha The love life of a woolly mammoth—handled with G-rated delicacy—drives this sequel to the first computer-animated romp in the age of prehistoric mammals. While the first Ice Age took a delightful premise and suffocated it with a formulaic plot—in which a mammoth named Manfred (voiced by Ray Romano, Everyone Loves Raymond), a sloth named Sid (John Leguizamo, Moulin Rouge!), and a sabre-tooth tiger named Diego (Denis Leary, Rescue Me) helped an abandoned human infant return to its tribe (basically, Three Mammals and a Baby)—the sequel takes the now-familiar setting, gives it a shapeless, episodic storyline, and yet somehow becomes pretty darn entertaining. Faced with the threat of a flood from melting ice, our heroic trio are on the run to escape from their blossoming valley. On the way, they meet a female mammoth (Queen Latifah, Bringing Down the House) who thinks she's an opossum and get menaced by some freshly defrosted carnivo! rous fish. Add into the mix a herd of lava-worshipping mini-sloths, some Busby Berkeley-style vultures, and more ingenious slapstick featuring the acorn-crazed Scrat, and Ice Age: The Meltdown will amuse even jaded adults. — Bret Fetzer

Beyond Ice Age: The Meltdown
Ice Age - Super Cool Edition
Ice Age & Ice Age 2: The Meltdown - (DVD 2-Pack)
Funtastic Adventures Collection Box Set (Ice Age / Robots / Fern Gully / Once Upon a Rainforest) Stills from Ice Age: The Meltdown (click for larger image)

Fred Schepisi An anthropologist protects a confused neanderthal man thawed back to life. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 12/28/2004 Starring: Timothy Hutton Josef Sommer Run time: 100 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Fred Schepisi

Moore, Demi, Savoca, Nancy A recently widowed nurse a hard working mother of four a student facing the greatest test of her life. Three women must make one decision that will shape the rest of their lives how to deal with an unplanned pregnancy. Special features: cast and crew biographies english french & spanish subtitles. Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 02/03/2004 Starring: Demi Moore Cher Run time: 97 minutes Rating: R Director: Cher/nancy Savoca

Neil Burger Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 01/13/2009 Run time: 110 minutes Rating: Pg13

Ol Parker Rachel is a blushing bride whose perfect nuptials take a surprising turn at the altar. An innocent glance between rachel & an unexpected wedding guest is all it takes to spark a love at first sight romance with a surprising twist - the object of rachels affection is a smart & sensuous.. Woman! Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 01/15/2008 Starring: Piper Perabo Matthew Goode Run time: 93 minutes Rating: R

Jim Sheridan Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 10/26/2007 Run time: 103 minutes Rating: Pg13

John Boorman In 1996 the south african government established the truth & reconciliation commission to investigate abuses of human rights under apartheid. Covering the sessions are langston whitfield & anna malan two journalists whose reporting inspire both the world & themselves with these extraordinary stories. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/22/2008 Starring: Samuel L Jackson Juliette Binoche Run time: 103 minutes Rating: R Director: John Boorman

In career Army officer Hank Deerfield's worldview, the American military exists to bring order to the world, and honor and dignity to every one of its soldiers. As played by Tommy Lee Jones, in a layered performance that will haunt the viewer long after the film is over, Deerfield wears the Army life like he does his standard-issue white T-shirts—unconsciously making a cheap motel bed with crisp inspection-ready corners. Yet if war is hell, the purgatory for the relatives of damaged soldiers can cause far more anguish, and Paul Haggis' quietly devastating In the Valley of Elah tells this story through Deerfield, who is desperately trying to piece together the fate of his adored son Mike, a soldier in Iraq.

Mike's company has returned from duty, but he is missing; Hank flies from Tennessee to Fort Rudd in the Southwest, to conduct his own investigation into the disappearance. There he meets a smart but put-upon police officer (Charlize Theron, glammed-down but still showing a bit too much sexy collarbone for a cop) who also smells something off in the Army's official story of the disappearance. The two form an unlikely team, but as a friend tells Deerfield early on, "You gotta trust somebody sometime, Hank," and Mike's vanishing is Hank's tipping point.

As Hank pieces together the horrifying story of Mike's fate, the incremental pain becomes etched in Jones' ragged features, and the camera captures all of it—far more powerfully than could a million words of reportage from the front lines. Theron's performance is also strong, and Susan Sarandon is moving if underutilized as Hank's grief-stricken wife, robbed of the simple nuclear family life she so wanted. "They shouldn't send heroes to places like Iraq," says one of Mike's buddies late in the film, and it's the viewers' collective sorrow—and the film's great achievement—to feel that at the deepest human level. —A.T. Hurley

Rick Shaine, John Wright, Vincent Tabaillon, Louis Leterrier Academy Award® nominee Edward Norton stars as scientist Bruce Banner a man who has been living in shadows scouring the planet for an antidote to the unbridled force of rage within him: the Hulk. But when the military masterminds who dream of exploiting his powers force him back to civilization he finds himself coming face to face with his most formidable foe: the Abomination a nightmarish beast of pure aggression whose powers match the Hulk s own! Also starring Liv Tyler Oscar® nominee Tim Roth and Oscar® winner William Hurt The Incredible Hulk is steeped in action and spectacular special effects (Claudia Puig USA TODAY) and delivers a mind-blowing final showdown that can only be summed up with one word...INCREDIBLE!System Requirements:Running Time: 113 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/HEROES Rating: PG-13 UPC: 025195016025 Manufacturer No: 61102000

Fifteen years after ex-superhero Bob Par is forced to assume a civilian identity with his family, he takes an assignment from a mysterious agency that turns out to be a trap, leaving it up to his family to save him and the world.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: DISNEY
Title: INCREDIBLES
Street Release Date: 05/22/2007
Domestic
Genre: CHILDREN'S VIDEO

Steven Spielberg Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 10/14/2008 Run time: 122 minutes Rating: Pg13

Sean Penn Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/27/2009 Run time: 148 minutes Rating: R

Based on the Japanese cult classic that took America by storm, Iron Chef America continues the tradition, with five of the greatest chefs in the world going head to head in four action-packed battles, this time is the USA! And don't miss the surprising final battle, which proves that there is no such thing as too many chefs in the kitchen.

Jon Favreau Suit up for action with Robert Downey Jr. in the ultimate adventure movie you’ve been waiting for,

Kirk R. Thatcher The owner of a bank (miss bitterman) wants to own the muppet theatre. When she tricks pepe into giving her the only copy of the contract she changes it so the muppets have very little time to pay off the debt. The muppets have to make a lot of sacrifices to save up so they can keep the theater. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 10/14/2008 Run time: 88 minutes Rating: Pg

Frank Capra Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 10/31/2006 Starring: James Stewart

Henry Selick Follow the journey of a lonely young boy who finds some unusual new friends and unexpected adventures when he climbs inside a giant peach and sets sail for new york city. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 03/02/2004 Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Pg

James Lahti, David Lickley Did you know that chimpanzees and humans have 98 percent of their DNA in common? You will after watching this absorbing 75-minute (including extras) documentary, featuring and partially narrated by renowned researcher Jane Goodall, who's been on the chimps' case for more than four decades. We see these African apes on the ground and in trees, playing, grooming, teaching, even killing one another. The scenes of them "fishing" for termites and ants using a stick for a pole make for extraordinary viewing; indeed, the film's principal message is that they and we are very much alike. And while the small screen can't capture the full majesty of what began as an IMAX film, one can sense the almost palpable three-dimensionality of the original. The DVD is also loaded with bonus features, including a 15-minute behind-the-scenes look at the filmmaking process and more. This is great stuff. —Sam Graham

Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/16/2007 Rating: Nr

Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 06/10/2008 Run time: 501 minutes Rating: Pg

Eric Brevig On a quest to find out what happened to his missing brother a scientist his nephew & their mountain guide discover a fantastic & dangerous lost world in the center of the earth. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 10/28/2008 Starring: Brendan Fraser Anita Briem Rating: Pg

Bob Gosse As julie johnson gains he courage to turn her life upside down & take a chance on finding love her beast friend claire moves in with her & both women realize their dreams & come to terms with their love for each other. Studio: Wea-des Moines Video Release Date: 06/17/2008 Starring: Lili Taylor Courtney Love Run time: 94 minutes

Joe Johnston After the success of Jurassic Park in 1993, the floodgates opened for digital special effects, and Jumanji is nothing if not a showcase for computer-generated creepiness guaranteed to give young children a nightmare or two. Whether that was the filmmakers' intention is up for debate, since this is a PG-rated adventure revolving around a mysterious board game that unleashes a terrifying jungle world upon its players, including gigantic spiders, huge mosquitoes, a stampede of rhinos, elephants, and every other jungle beast you can imagine. Robin Williams plays a man-child who's been trapped in the world of "Jumanji" for 26 years until he's freed by two kids who've discovered the game and released its parade of dangerous horrors. A chaotic and misguided attempt at family entertainment, the movie does offer a few good laughs, and the effects are frequently impressive, if not entirely convincing to the eye. —Jeff Shannon

The science fiction thriller leaps into a new realm with jumper which begins the epic adventures of a man who discovers that he possesses the exhilarating ability to instantly teleport anywhere in the world he can imagine. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 06/10/2008 Starring: Hayden Christensen Run time: 88 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Doug Liman

n/a Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 06/17/2008 Run time: 72 minutes Rating: G

Joe Johnston Jurassic Park
Steven Spielberg's 1993 mega-hit rivals Jaws as the most intense and frightening film he'd ever made prior to Schindler's List, but it was also among his weakest stories. Based on Michael Crichton's novel about an island amusement park populated by cloned dinosaurs, the film works best as a thrill ride with none of the interesting human dynamics of Spielberg's Jaws. That lapse proves unfortunate, but there's no shortage of raw terror as a rampaging T-rex and nasty raptors try to make fast food out of the cast. The effects are still astonishing (despite the fact that the computer-generated technology has since been improved upon) and at times primeval, such as the sight of a herd of whatever-they-are scampering through a valley. —Tom Keogh

The Lost World - Jurassic Park
In the low tradition of knockoff horror flicks best seen (or not seen) on a drive-in movie screen, Steven Spielberg's sequel to Jurassic Park is a poorly conceived, ill-organized film that lacks story and logic. Screenwriter David Koepp strings along a number of loose ideas while Jeff Goldblum returns as Ian Malcolm, the quirky chaos theoretician who now reluctantly agrees to go to another island where cloned dinosaurs are roaming freely. Along with his girlfriend (Julianne Moore) and daughter, Malcolm has to deal with hunters, environmentalists, and corporate swine who stupidly bring back a big dino to Southern California, where it runs amok, of course. Spielberg doesn't seem to care that the pieces of this project don't add up to a real movie, so he hams it up with big, scary moments (with none of the artfulness of those in Jurassic Park) and smart-aleck visual gags (a yapping dog in a suburb mysteriously disappears when a hungry T-rex stomps by). A complete bust.—Tom Keogh

Jurassic Park III
Surpassing expectations to qualify as an above-average sequel, Jurassic Park III is nothing more or less than a satisfying popcorn adventure. A little cheesier than the first two Jurassic blockbusters, it's a big B movie with big B-list stars (including Laura Dern, briefly reprising her Jurassic Park role), and eight years of advancing computer-generated-image technology give it a sharp edge over its predecessors. While adopting the jungle spirit of King Kong, the movie refines Michael Crichton's original premise, and its dinosaurs are even more realistic, their behavior more detailed, and their variety—including flying pteranodons and a new villain, the spinosaurus—more dazzling and threatening than ever. These advancements justify the sequel, and its contrived plot is just clever enough to span 90 minutes without wearing out its welcome.

Posing as wealthy tourists, an adventurous couple (William H. Macy, Téa Leoni) convince paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and his protégé (Allesandro Nivola) to act as tour guides on a flyover trip to Isla Sorna, the ill-fated "Site B" where all hell broke loose in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. In truth, they're on a search-and-rescue mission to find their missing son (Trevor Morgan), and their plane crash is just the first of several enjoyably suspenseful sequences. Director Joe Johnston (October Sky) embraces the formulaic plot as a series of atmospheric set pieces, placing new and familiar dinosaurs in misty rainforests, fiery lakes, and mysterious valleys, turning JP3 into a thrill ride with impressive highlights (including a T. rex versus spinosaurus smack-down), adequate doses of wry humor (from the cowriters of Election), and an upbeat ending that's corny but appropriate, proving that the symptoms of sequelitis needn't be fatal. —Jeff Shannon

Donald Petrie Ashley is the luckiest girl in manhattan. But little does she know her good fortune is about to change. When ashley shares a kiss at a party with jake a bad luck magnet they miraculously switch paths. Ahsly discovers that her terrible twist of fate may be the luckiest thing that ever happened to her. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 01/15/2008 Starring: Lindsay Lohan Chris Pine Run time: 103 minutes Rating: Pg13

Jesse Dylan Phil weston is a mild-mannered suburban dad - whos suddenly transformed into a caffeine-fuelled sports maniac when he becomes the coach. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 09/09/2008 Starring: Will Ferrell Run time: 95 minutes Rating: Pg

Peter Jackson Flamboyant foolhardy documentary filmmaker carl denham sails off to remote skull island to kilm his latest epic with leading lady ann darrow. Native warriors kidnap ann to use as a sacrifice as they summon kong. But instead of devouring ann kong saves her. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 05/13/2008 Starring: Naomi Watts Jack Black Run time: 187 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Peter Jackson

Ridley Scott An epic adventure about a common man who finds himself thrust into a decades-long war. A stranger in a strange land he serves a doomed king falls in love with an exotic & forbidden queen & rises to knighthood. Ultimately he must protect the people of jerusalem from overwhelming forces. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 12/12/2006 Starring: Orlando Bloom Liam Neeson Run time: 144 minutes Rating: R

Charles Herman-Wurmfeld Blessed by casual charm and sophisticated wit, Kissing Jessica Stein does for same-sex romance what Annie Hall did for straight neurotics. The influence of Woody Allen is keenly felt on this resourceful New York comedy (expanded from an off-Broadway play), especially when cowriter and costar Jennifer Westfeldt channels Diane Keaton's "la-di-da" nervousness as Jessica Stein, a romantically frustrated heterosexual copyeditor who impulsively answers a personal ad from a bisexual woman. Helen (cowriter Heather Juergensen) is as relaxed about lesbian love as Jessica is anxious, but they click as lovers, and so does the movie's delightful exploration of their budding relationship, which is further complicated by Jessica's yenta-like mother (Tovah Feldshuh) and a former boyfriend (Scott Cohen) who's now Jessica's boss. While acknowledging the serious repercussions of Jessica's bisexual flirtation, Kissing Jessica Stein takes its characters on a smart, compassionate journey of self-discovery that's as truthfully observant as it is gently entertaining. —Jeff Shannon

Marc Forster Like the bestselling book upon which it's based, The Kite Runner will haunt the viewer long after the film is over. A tale of childhood betrayal, innocence and harsh reality, and dreamy memory, The Kite Runner faces good and evil—and the path between them, though often blurry and sorrowfully relative. Director Marc Forster (Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland) presents a painterly vision of Afghanistan before the Soviet tanks, before the Taliban—lush, verdant, fertile—in its landscape and in its people and their history and hopes. The story follows two young boys' friendship, tested beyond endurance, and the haunting of their adult selves by what happened in their youth—and what horrors befall their country in the meantime. The performances of the two boys—Zekeria Ebrahimi (Amir) and Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada (Hassan)—are the film's strongest, unforced and gently evocative. The penance paid by their adult selves is foreshadowed, but never predictable—and the metaphor of innocence lost, a common theme in Forster's work, keeps the film, like the title kites, truly aloft.—A.T. Hurley

A TEACHER OPENS A TIME CAPSULE THAT HAS BEEN DUG UP AT HIS SON'E ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. IN IT ARE SOME CHILLING PREDICTIONS - SOME THAT HAVE ALREADY OCCURRED & OTHERS THAT ARE ABOUT TO - THAT LEAD HIM TO BELIEVE HIS FAMILY PLAYS A ROLE IN THE EVENTS TAHT ARE ABOUT TO UNFOLD.

John Stevenson, Mark Osborne Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 11/07/2008 Run time: 88 minutes Rating: Pg

Jim Henson A fantasy feature film which weaves together music adventure and comedy. A story of a young girl who enters a world of her own creation and experiences her first awareness of love responsibility and danger. Special features: talent files subtitles: english and spanish and much more. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 03/27/2007 Starring: David Bowie Jennifer Connelly Run time: 106 minutes Rating: Pg

Anne V. Coates, Trevor Nunn Teen-age lady jane grey rules england briefly with lusty lord dudley in the royal confusion of 1553. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 12/30/2003 Starring: Helena Bonham Carter John Wood Run time: 142 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Trevor Nunn

Neil LaBute In this dramatic thriller a young couple move into their dream home and are increasinlgy harassed by their next door neighbor a tightly wound lapd officer. When the couple decides to fight back the feud turns deadly. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/27/2009 Starring: Ron Glass Run time: 110 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Neil Labute

Doug Lefler Studio: Genius Products Inc Release Date: 09/16/2008 Run time: 110 minutes Rating: Pg13

Peter Weir Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 11/27/2001 Run time: 106 minutes

Otto Preminger, Rouben Mamoulian This silky smooth film noir pits gruff police detective Dana Andrews, stiff and blunt in his street-bred manners, against a cultured columnist and acidic wit (Clifton Webb at his prissiest) in a battle of wits during a murder investigation. The cop is a romantic hiding under a hard-boiled exterior who falls in love with the beautiful victim through the portrait that hangs in her apartment. Gene Tierney, whose heart-shaped face mixes the exotic with the girl next door, brings the poise and calm of a model to her role as the object of every man's gaze and the target of a killer. Laura, handsomely shot in dreamy black and white, is the first and best of Otto Preminger's cool, controlled murder mysteries. In the gritty world of film noir it remains the most refined and elegant example of the genre, but under the tasteful decor and high-society fashions lies a world seething in jealousy, passion, blackmail, and murder. Vincent Price costars as a blithe gigolo and David Raksin's lush theme has become a wistful romantic standard. —Sean Axmaker

Matthew Vaughn Our hero has two last jobs to complete: locate the junkie daughter of a chum of his volatile gangster boss & broker the sale of an enormous load of ecstasy. In the process he must abandoned his self-styled rule of criminal conduct designed of course to keep him removed from the dirty work. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 10/23/2007 Starring: Daniel Craig Sienna Miller Run time: 105 minutes Rating: R Director: Matthew Vaughn

Stephen Norrington Allan quartermain leads a team of extraordinary figures to battle the technological madman known as the fantom. The league includes seafarer/inventor captain nemo vampiress mina harker invisible rodney skinner american spy tom sawyer the immortal dorian gray the deadly split personality of dr. Jekyll/mr.Hyde Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 12/19/2006 Starring: Sean Connery Peta Wilson Run time: 110 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Stephen Norrington

Liu Miaomiao, Feng Xiaogang Studio: Genius Products Inc Release Date: 09/16/2008 Run time: 126 minutes

Martin Campbell Having spent the last 10 years fighting injustice & cruelty alejandro de la vega is now facing his greatest challenge: his loving wife elena has filed for divorce & taken up with count armand who is behind a terrorist plot to destroy the u.S. Zorro has to try & save 2 unions before its too late! Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 06/26/2007 Starring: Antonio Banderas Rufus Sewell Run time: 129 minutes Rating: Pg

Brad Silberling After violet klaus & sunny baudelaires parents perish in a terrible fire they are placed in the care of their uncle count olaf an evil fiend who is plotting to kill them & seize their fortune. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 04/26/2005 Starring: Jim Carrey Meryl Streep Run time: 107 minutes Rating: Pg

Judith Reilly, Marsha Goodman It's the dead of night in Boston Harbor and our intrepid reporters, Sarah and James, spot colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians sneaking aboard British ships and dumping tons of tea overboard. This act of defiance against the British authority is a defining moment of the American Revolution. It's then on to Lexington and Concord, where citizens calling themselves "Minutemen" take up arms against the powerful, experienced British army of "redcoats." Outnumbered and outgunned, the Minutemen refuse to back down, and soon the evening's silence is shattered by the "shot heard around the world." On the village green in Lexington, the first shot of the Revolutionary War has just been fired!

Wes Anderson In The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, director Wes Anderson takes his familiar stable of actors on a field trip to a fantasy aquarium, complete with stop-motion, candy-striped crabs and rainbow seahorses. And though Anderson does expand his horizons in terms of retro-special effects and a whimsical use of color, fans will otherwise find themselves in well-charted waters. As The Life Aquatic opens, Zissou (Bill Murray), a self-involved, Jacques Cousteau-like filmmaker, has just released a documentary depicting the death of his best friend Esteban, who was eaten by some sort of sea creature—possibly a jaguar shark. Zissou's troubles also include his waning popularity with the public, and a nemesis (Jeff Goldblum) who hogs up all the grant money. Hope arrives in the form of Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson), an amiable Kentuckian who may be Zissou's son. Despite his lack of enthusiasm for fatherhood, Zissou welcomes Ned—and Ned in turn saves Zissou's new documentary (in which he seeks revenge on the jaguar shark) in more ways than one.

One of Wes Anderson's greatest achievements as a director to date has been launching the autumnal melancholy phase of Bill Murray's career, starting with Rushmore in 1998, and Murray delivers a similarly comedic yet low-key performance here. Unfortunately, Zissou is one of the few characters in this ensemble to achieve multi-dimensionality. Even co-star Wilson doesn't get to develop Ned much beyond Noble Southerner, and he ends up seeming more like a prop for illustrating Zissou's emotional development rather than his own man. The Life Aquatic probably won't be remembered as a great film, but it is still one that no Anderson (or Murray) fan can afford to miss.—Leah Weathersby

Dean DeBlois Stills from Lilo & Stitch: Big Wave Edition (Click for larger image)

Anthony Leondis, Michael LaBash Lilo & stitch are back & theyve got a new mission: maintain stitchs goodness level. Not so easy when theres a hitch - stitch has a glitch! seems his molecular makeup is out of whack bringing out his worst behavior. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 02/15/2008

Bradley Raymond The Lion King 1½ is an ingenious sequel that retells the original film's story from the perspective of best pals Timon the meerkat (voiced by Nathan Lane) and Pumbaa the warthog (Ernie Sabella). Anyone who has wondered how this odd couple met will find out here, beginning with Timon's flight from home following disgrace and his chance encounter with the sweet but lonely Pumbaa. With the arrival of young Simba (Shaun Flemming), The Lion King's familiar tale is reborn via a fresh angle, fleshed out by returning characters Rafiki the wise monkey (Robert Guillaume), Shenzi (Whoopi Goldberg), and Simba's love interest, Nala (Moira Kelly). While the retooled narrative proves a novel experience, The Lion King 1½ is really a vehicle for voice actors Lane and Sabella, whose comic performances are shamelessly, broadly funny. Matthew Broderick, Julie Kavner, and Jerry Stiller are also in the vocal cast. —Tom Keogh

Darrell Rooney, Rob LaDuca This two-disc presentation of the popular sequel delivers a better sounding DVD and looks a bit better than the initial release (although the original was pretty sharp). There are no changes in the film except a pop-up viewing mode with facts—fun and otherwise—about the film. The second disc is for the kids, including games, a cute documentary on African animals, and another installment of the Virtual Safari. This "ride" puts you in a jeep with Timon and Pumbaa as they race the jungle and pride lands bumping into various obstacles, all in booming Dolby 5.1 sound. The best extra is the new short "One by One" a modern day tale of Africa and the finest short from the studio since 2000's "John Henry." —Doug Thomas

Rob Minkoff, Roger Allers Not an ideal choice for younger kids, this hip and violent animated feature from Disney was nevertheless a huge smash in theaters and on video, and it continues to enjoy life in an acclaimed Broadway production. The story finds a lion cub, son of a king, sent into exile after his father is sabotaged by a rivalrous uncle. The little hero finds his way into the "circle of life" with some new friends and eventually comes back to reclaim his proper place. Characters are very strong, vocal performances by the likes of Jeremy Irons, Nathan Lane, and Whoopi Goldberg are terrific, the jokes are aimed as much (if not more) at adults than kids, the animation is sometimes breathtaking, and the music is more palatable than in many Disney features. But be cautious: this is too intense for the Rugrat crowd. —Tom Keogh

How good-looking is the DVD restoration of Disney's popular animated film? Take a look at the serviceable but dull film clips incorporated in the plethora of extras and compare them to the vivid gorgeousness of the film presentation. This "special edition" also adds a 90-second song ("Morning Report") that originated in the lavish stage musical. To Disney's credit, the original theatrical version is also included, both restored and featuring two 5.1 soundtracks: Dolby Digital and a new Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix, which does sound brighter. As with the Disney Platinum line, everything is thrown into the discs, except an outsider's voice (the rah-rahs of Disney grow tiresome at times). The excellent commentary from the directors and producer, originally on the laser disc, is hidden under the audio set-up menu.

The second disc is organized by 20-minute-ish "journeys" tackling the elements of story, music, et cetera, including good background on the awkward Shakespearean origins at Disney where it was referred as "Bamlet." The most interesting journey follows the landmark stage production, and the kids should be transfixed by shots of the real African wildlife in the animal journey. Three deleted segments are real curios, including an opening lyric for "Hakuna Matata." Most set-top DVD games are usually pretty thin (DVD-ROM is where it's at), but the Safari game is an exception—the kids should love the roaring animals (in 5.1 Surround, no less). One serious demerit goes to the needless and complicated second navigation system that is listed by continent, but just shows the same features reordered. —Doug Thomas

Robert Redford Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 09/23/2008 Rating: R

Pietro Scalia, Bernardo Bertolucci An american family is visited by a tibetan monk who believes that their young son may be the reincarnation of the dalai lama. They do not believe it is possible but the endearing monks who bring the news are hard to resist. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 01/10/2006 Starring: Keanu Reeves Bridget Fonda Run time: 123 minutes Rating: Pg

Alfonso Cuarón About a young girl who must rely on her wits and imagination when she is separated from her soldier father and sent to a strict boarding shcool. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 02/14/2006 Starring: Liesel Matthews Liam Cunningham Run time: 97 minutes Rating: G Director: Alfonso Cuaron

Len Wiseman "The best of the best is back and better than ever" (WNYW-TV) in the latest installment of the pulse-pounding thrill-a-minute Die Hard action films. New York City detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) delivers old-school justice to a new breed of terrorists when a massive computer attack on the U.S. infrastructure threatens to shut down the entire country over Independence Day weekend.System Requirements:Run time: 130 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/POLICE & DETECTIVE FILMS Rating: NR UPC: 024543476160 Manufacturer No: 2247616

Peter Jackson This critically acclaimed epic trilogy follows the quest undertaken by the hobbit Frodo Baggins and his fellowship of companions to save Middle-earth by destroying the One Ring and defeating the evil forces of the Dark Lord Sauron. With new and extended scenes carefully added back into the film the 12-disc set also includes hours of bonus features.Running Time: 785 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY UPC: 794043734724

Andrew Niccol Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 09/09/2008 Run time: 21 minutes Rating: R

From J.J. Abrams, the creator of Alias, comes the action-packed adventure that became a worldwide television event. Stranded on an island that holds many secrets, 48 people must band together if they hope to get home alive. Now you can experience the nonstop excitement and mystery of every episode, from the show's stunning first minute to its spectacular finale, on a seven-disc set. Presented in a widescreen theatrical format with 5.1 Surround Sound and bursting with more than eight hours of original bonus features — including unaired Lost flashbacks from the final episode — Lost is a real find.

What was in the Hatch? The cliffhanger from season one of Lost was answered in its opening sequences, only to launch into more questions as the season progressed. That's right: Just when you say "Ohhhhh," there comes another "What?" Thankfully, the show's producers sprinkle answers like tasty morsels throughout the season, ending with a whopper: What caused Oceanic Air Flight 815 to crash in the first place? As the show digs into more revelations about its inhabitant's pasts, it also devotes a good chunk to new characters (Hey, it's an island; you never know who you're going to run into.) First, there are the "Tailies," passengers from the back end of the plane who crashed on the other side of the island. Among them are the wise, God-fearing ex-drug lord Mr. Eko (standout Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje); devoted husband Bernard (Sam Anderson); psychiatrist Libby (Cynthia Watros, whose character has more than one hidden link to the other islanders); and ex-cop Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez), by far the most infuriating character on the show, despite how much the writers tried to incur sympathy with her flashback. Then there are the Others, first introduced when they kidnapped Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) at the end of season one. Brutal and calculating, their agenda only became more complex when one of them (played creepily by Michael Emerson) was held hostage in the hatch and, quite handily, plays mind games on everyone's already frayed nerves. The original cast continues to battle their own skeletons, most notably Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Michael (Harold Perrineau), whose obsession with finding Walt takes a dangerous turn. The love triangle between Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway), which had stalled with Sawyer's departure, heats up again in the second half. Despite the bloating cast size (knocked down by a few by season's end) Lost still does what it does best: explores the psyche of people, about whom "my life is an open book" never applies, and cracks into the social dynamics of strangers thrust into Lord of the Flies-esque situations. Is it all a science experiment? A dream? A supernatural pocket in the universe? Likely, any theory will wind up on shaky ground by the season's conclusion. But hey, that's the fun of it. This show was made for DVD, and you can pause and slow-frame to your heart's content. Just try and keep that head-spinning to a minimum.

On the DVD

Commentaries by various cast members and producers reveal little other than the occasional easter egg (the Dharma logo on the shark fin, Walt's mumbling translating to "Don't push the button; the button is bad" backwards). But disc seven opens with an eerie Hanso Foundation instructional video, leading you to eight hours of bonus features, including cast members' own theories, deleted scenes, and featurettes on specific episodes. It's all well and good for Lost fanatics, but if you want the cream of the crop, check out: "Lost Connections," an interactive feature that reveals how all the islanders are actually linked (for instance, one of the officers who captured Sayid during the Gulf War is Kate's father); a Channel UK promo for the show directed by David LaChappelle in which cast members suck in their cheeks and, dressed in evening wear, tango in slow motion as if in a Calvin Klein ad (it has to be a joke, right?); and "The World According to Sawyer," which strings together each of the un-PC nicknames and pop culture references spewed by Holloway's character. Favorites include "Chewie" for Jin and "Ponce de Leon" for Ana Lucia. It's by far the cherry on top of a sweet dessert. —Ellen A. Kim

Find the answers youve been looking for in the explosive third season of the show USA Today calls "the most gorgeous, audacious, expansive series on network TV." As the power of the island to both heal and destroy comes into sharp focus, the lines between good and evil are blurred and loyalties are challenged when the survivors of the crash become tangled within the lives of the Others. Plan your escape, and immerse yourself in all 23 episodes of Season Three. Go deeper than ever before in this seven-disc DVD box set, complete with hours of never-before-seen bonus features, including secrets from the world of the Others, behind-the-scenes featurettes, unprecedented access to the Lost writers room, and so much more.

Romantic hilarious uplifting & always real this all-star cast will take you on a breathtaking tour of all of loves ups & downs. Catch loves spell & share the romance laughs & charm. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 01/15/2008 Starring: Hugh Grant Liam Neeson Run time: 135 minutes Rating: R

Eric Till Regional princes and the powerful church wield a fast firm & merciless grip in 16th century germany. When martin luther issues a challenge to their authority the people declare him their new leader - and hero. Even when threatened with a violent death luther refuses to back down sparking a bloody revolution. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 03/06/2007 Starring: Joseph Fiennes Peter Ustinov Run time: 113 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Eric Till

Tyler Perry Tyler Perry, impresario of the gospel theater circuit, brings his gun-toting granny-drag persona Madea back to the big screen in Madea's Family Reunion, a sequel to the surprise hit Diary of a Mad Black Woman. In addition to being saddled with an unruly foster teen (Keke Palmer, The Wool Cap), Madea has two troubled nieces: Lisa (Rochelle Aytes, White Chicks), who's engaged to an abusive and controlling investment banker (Blair Underwood, Something New); and Vanessa (Lisa Arrindell Anderson, The Second Chance), who can't open herself to the affection of a bus driver/artist (Boris Kodjoe, The Gospel) because of childhood abuse. Wreaking havoc on both of their lives is their mother Victoria (Lynn Whitfield, Eve's Bayou, in delirious wicked witch mode). Like Madea's previous outing, Madea's Family Reunion may induce mental whiplash—the movie zips from a discussion of flatulence to a jazz-backed poetry reading to domestic violence (Underwood, perhaps eager to leave his bland good-guy image behind, is genuinely scary), or from an act of horrific revenge to a staggeringly gaudy wedding. Though schizophrenic and morally questionable (beating an adult women is clearly wrong, but whipping a child with a belt in the name of tough love is apparently good), the movie is definitely unpredictable and never dull. Also featuring Cicely Tyson (Because of Winn-Dixie) and the poet Maya Angelou. —Bret Fetzer

Wayne Wang Maid in manhattan is the story of a single mother born & bred in the boroughs of nyc who is a maid in a 1st classhotel. By a twist of fate and mistaken identity she meets a handsome heir who believes she is a guest at the hotel. Fate steps in and throws the unlikely pair together for one night. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/04/2005 Starring: Jennifer Lopez Natasha Rhichardson Run time: 105 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Wayne Wang

Sharon Ferranti Studio: Wolfe Video Release Date: 10/07/2008 Run time: 96 minutes Rating: Nr

The story of a bride-to-be trying to find her real father from three possible candidates told using songs by the popular 70s group abba. Based on the hit broadway musical. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 12/16/2008 Starring: Meryl Streep Colin Firth Run time: 109 minutes Rating: Pg13

Tony Scott Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 01/08/2008 Run time: 146 minutes Rating: R

Luc Jacquet Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/11/2008 Run time: 80 minutes Rating: G

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 03/31/2009 Run time: 110 minutes Rating: Pg

. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 01/27/2009 Run time: 139 minutes Rating: G

Peter Weir Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 02/03/2009

Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski Set in the 22nd century The Matrix tells of a computer hacker (Reeves) who joins a group of underground insurgents fighting the vast and powerful computers who now rule the earth. The computers are powered by human beings...Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE UPC: 085391163176 Manufacturer No: 116317

Studio: Genius Products Inc Release Date: 10/09/2007 Run time: 273 minutes

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 11/25/2008 Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Pg

Mel Gibson Forget any off-screen impressions you may have of Mel Gibson, and experience Apocalypto as the mad, bloody runaway train that it is. The story is set in the pre-Columbian Maya population: one village is brutally overrun, its residents either slaughtered or abducted, by a ruling tribe that needs slaves and human sacrifices. We focus on the capable warrior Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood), although Gibson skillfully sketches a whole population of characters—many of whom don't survive the early reels. Most of the film is set in the dense jungle, but the middle section, in a grand Mayan city, is a dazzling triumph of design, costuming, and sheer decadent terror. The movie itself is a triumph of brutality, as Gibson lets loose his well-established fascination with bodily mortification in a litany of assaults including impalement, evisceration, snakebite, and bee stings. It's a dark, disgusted vision, but Gibson doesn't forget to apply some very canny moviemaking instincts to the violence—including the creation of a tremendous pair of villains (strikingly played by Raoul Trujillo and Rodolfo Palacias). The film is in a Maya dialect, subtitled in English, and shot on digital video (which occasionally betrays itself in some blurry quick pans). Amidst all the mayhem, nothing in the film is more devastating than a final wordless exchange of looks between captured villager Blunted (Jonathan Brewer) and his wife's mother (Maria Isabel Diaz), a superb change in tone from their early relationship. Yes, this is an obsessive, crazed movie, but Gibson knows what he's doing. —Robert Horton

Beyond Apocalypto
More films directed by Mel Gibson
Apocalypto soundtrack by James Horner

Stills from Mel Gibson's Apocalypto (click for larger image)

Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang Lithe and tomboyish Kristen Stewart (Panic Room, The Safety of Objects) anchors the derivative but potently atmospheric horror movie The Messengers. The story—a troubled family moves into one of those creepy farmhouses that scream "serial murder site" and find their lives disturbed by unearthly occurrences—is a puree of plot elements from The Sixth Sense, The Birds, The Amityville Horror, The Shining, the recent spate of Japanese horror remakes, and more. Despite this, the movie may get under your skin; between the bleached sunlight, the effective ambient sound, and scenes that linger unexpectedly on quiet suspense, The Messengers creates a vivid and unsettling mood. There are still plenty of the abrupt jolts that make teenager girls clutch their dates, but this artful creepiness—combined with Stewart's engaging presence—will have a longer effect. Also featuring Dylan McDermott (The Practice), Penelope Ann Miller (Carlito's Way), and John Corbett (Northern Exposure, Sex and the City). Directed by the Pang Brothers, the duo responsible for Hong Kong hits like The Eye and Infernal Affairs. —Bret Fetzer

Beyond The Messengers at Amazon.com

Stills from The Messengers (click for larger image)

More Horror DVDs
Things that go Bump in the Night
Small Town Life on DVD

Matthew O'Callaghan, Theresa Cullen Mickey donald goofy & their pals star in an original movie about the importance of opening your heart to the true spirit of christmas. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 09/19/2008 Run time: 68 minutes Rating: G

Peter Christelis, Michael Winterbottom Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 10/16/2007 Run time: 108 minutes Rating: R

Gus Van Sant Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 03/10/2009 Run time: 129 minutes Rating: R

Danny Boyle Millions wears its heart on its sleeve, and it wears it well. Two boys, still grieving the death of their mother, find themselves the unwitting benefactors of a bag of bank robbery loot in the week before the United Kingdom switches its official currency to the Euro. What's a kid to do? Director Danny Boyle takes a simple premise and, with the help of Frank Cottrell Boyce's sweet, smart script, finds something special to say about the hopes everyone has for the future of a changing world. Brothers Anthony and Damian have vastly different agendas for the stash, and then have to deal not only with the money's original thief but with the disarming woman who seems to be stealing their widowed father. The film is full of quirks that work—seven-year-old Damian (an endearing Alex Etel) has private conversations with a collection of eclectic religious saints—and a technically spirited way of commingling both the scary realities and fanciful imaginings of young minds. —Steve Wiecking

Robert L. Simpson, George Seaton Continue a cherished holiday tradition with the tale of Kris Kringle and Miracle on 34th Street. This special edition DVD includes a 15-minute retrospective of Macy's involvement in the film. Watch it in color or classic black and white.

Donald Petrie Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/11/2008 Run time: 110 minutes Rating: Pg13

Chris Noonan Studio: Genius Products Inc Release Date: 02/05/2008 Run time: 93 minutes Rating: Pg

Gil Kenan The spooky shadows and eerie creaking of a rickety old house are brought to life via lush CGI in Monster House. A young boy named DJ has suspicions about the house across the street and the cranky old man (voiced by Steve Buscemi, Fargo) who lives there. When the old man has a heart attack and is carried away by an ambulance, DJ thinks the danger is over. Unfortunately, as he, his friend Chowder, and a candy-selling prep-school girl named Jenny discover, the house itself has plans—plans that include eating all the kids who'll be trick-or-treating that Halloween night. Monster House begins with some deliciously creepy scenes that will send chills down children's spines (and may be too intense for younger viewers); animated movies rarely make such effective use of what isn't being shown. The animation is vivid and detailed (though CGI still has a ways to go in capturing the full range of human facial expressions). But like most horror movies, the anticipation of horror is much more exciting than the horror itself; as the secrets of Monster House are revealed, the movie's thrills unravel. The noisy explosions at the end aren't half as much fun as the slow twitches of a few blades of grass in the movie's elegant beginning. —Bret Fetzer

Craig Wood, Gore Verbinski They've tried Catzilla, a feline so ferocious it can't be euthanized. They've tried booby traps that Rube Goldberg would marvel at. They've even tried Caesar (hilariously played by Christopher Walken), a demented exterminator whose "Squeak Seeker 2000" mouse-cam will infiltrate even the cleverest rodent's secret lair. But the Smuntz brothers Ernie (Nathan Lane) and Lars (British comedian Lee Evans) just can't win against the tenacious mouse that wreaks havoc in the vintage home they've inherited from their father. That's the one-note premise of this chaotic, lavishly produced comedy that starts on a high note and never lets up, eventually leaving the viewer exhausted. The special mouse effects (live-action, animatronic, and computer-generated) are delightful, and the slapstick is frequently ingenious, but the title says it all in a movie that is little more than an elaborate variation of Home Alone. A prime choice for family fun, but it's really just a live-action cartoon that overstays its welcome. It's harmless fun if all you're looking for is a marathon of slapstick gags and pratfalls, and it's notable as the final film appearance of veteran character actor William Hickey, who died in June of 1997, shortly after filming of Mouse Hunt was completed. —Jeff Shannon

Bruce A. Evans Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 06/10/2008 Run time: 120 minutes Rating: R

Barry Cook, Darrell Rooney, Lynne Southerland, Tony Bancroft Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 08/12/2008

Rob Cohen Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 12/16/2008 Rating: Pg13

Philip Casson, Peter Harris Includes all 24 episodes completely restored & remastered plus 2 never-before-seen episode bonus features & jim hensons original pitch reel that propelled the muppets into a primetime hit for all ages. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 08/09/2005

Kirk R. Thatcher The muppets twist & tweak the book the wizard of oz without losing the central meaning of the classic. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 08/09/2005 Starring: Ashanti David Alan Grier

Gary David Goldberg Sarah a divorced preschool teacher has sworn off dating but finds her family pushing her back into dating. Her sister places a personal ad for her declaring that whoever answers it must love dogs even though sarah doesnt own a dog. When someone responds sarah borrows her brother dog & plunge in. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 05/15/2007 Starring: Diane Lane Elizabeth Perkins Run time: 98 minutes Rating: Pg13

13 episodes helium football bullets fired up killer whirlpool crimes and myth deameanors 2 deadly straw earth- quake machine diet coke and mentos anti-gravity device firearms folklore holiday special pirate special hindenburg mystery underwater car Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 10/16/2007 Run time: 606 minutes

Mira Nair Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 10/14/2008 Run time: 114 minutes Rating: Pg13

Kirk Jones With hairy warts, a stern-looking unibrow and one extremely protruding buck-tooth, Nanny McPhee is a wonderfully comedic substitute for Mary Poppins in this entertaining family fantasy. By loosely adapting Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda children's books of the 1960s, Oscar®-winning screenwriter Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility) has also given herself the plum role of Nanny McPhee, who can tame even the most unruly children with a tap of her magic walking stick. Her latest challenge is the bratty brood of a recent widower Mr. Brown (Colin Firth), who's under pressure to find a new wife or lose his much-needed allowance from wealthy Aunt Adelaide (a tailor-made role for Angela Lansbury). His love for scullery maid Evangeline (Kelly Macdonald) remains unspoken as he wincingly woos the eagerly merry widow Mrs. Quickly (Celia Imrie), but Brown's raucous rugrats have a plan to make things right, especially after they've come under the benevolent influence of Nanny McPhee, whose peculiar brand of discipline works wonders for everyone involved. Both quintessentially British and universally appealing, this wildly colorful comedy (thanks to a bold palette of costume and production design) was capably directed by Kirk Jones, whose appreciation for comic actors was equally apparent in his critically acclaimed 1998 comedy Waking Ned Devine. With just a hint of darkness to offset the whimsy, Nanny McPhee offers a splendid match of director, cast and material, guaranteed to please Wallace & Gromit fans and anyone else with a taste for British zaniness. —Jeff Shannon

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 03/27/2007 Rating: Nr

Jeremiah S. Chechik Make merry as Chevy Chase Beverly D'Angelo Randy Quaid and an ensemble of comedy favorites strive to gift-wrap the "perfect Christmas" for the Griswold family. The most successful of the three vacations. Year: 1989 Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik Starring: Chevy Chase Beverly D'Angelo Randy QuaidFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 085391132417

When larry a divorced father who cant seem to keep a job gets a job at the museum of natural history hes assigned as a night guard. However a seemingly easy job turns out to be a wild ride when he finds that an ancient curse has caused the inhabitants of the museum to come to life. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 04/24/2007 Starring: Ben Stiller Mickey Rooney Run time: 105 minutes Rating: Pg

Scott Hicks Achieving balance in one's life can be a difficult process, but master chef Kate Armstrong (Catherine Zeta-Jones) leads a regimented, very ordered existence running the kitchen of an exclusive restaurant and revels in the sense of power and control her career affords. When Kate's sister is unexpectedly killed in an automobile accident and her 9-year old niece Zoe (Abigail Breslin) comes to live with Kate, Kate's life is turned completely upside down and she is suddenly forced to split her focus between work and family. Enter a newly hired, fun-loving, opera-singing sous chef Nick Palmer (Aaron Eckhart), whom Kate perceives as a serious rival, and thus begins an impassioned struggle on Kate's part to rein in Nick's exuberance and maintain control over her kitchen staff. Even as they clash, Kate is inexplicably drawn toward Nick, eventually coming to the realization that Nick offers something that she needs both in her restaurant kitchen and her new life with Zoe. Based on the screenplay for Mostly Martha, Catherine Zeta-Jones carries the lead well in this romantic comedy and there's a nice chemistry between herself and Aaron Eckhart as well as a poignant performance by Abigail Breslin. And, of course, and the food looks simply scrumptious. —Tami Horiuchi

Hirokazu Koreeda Nobody Knows, an extraordinary film from Japanese director Kore-Eda Hirokazu, is a heartbreaking and touching story about how selfish a single mother can be to her four children, and how resilient children can be. Kicked out of several apartments for her large brood, Keiko (Japanese pop star You) sneaks them in to a new one (two inside the suitcases) and goes over the house rules: No loud noises. They must stay hidden inside the apartment all day, every day. Only Akira, the oldest, leaves to do grocery shopping while she works. He also makes dinner while Keiko goes out on dates (implying to her children that she's looking for a rich husband so that they can all live in a big house together).

One day, Keiko (not a villain, but an unsympathetic, helium-voiced child herself) announces she's going away for a few weeks to work. She soon emerges every few months, only to drop off money before taking off again, at one point, for good. Akira forgoes any normal 12-year-old's upbringing (even school) to play mother, father, even Santa Claus to his siblings. There's a trapped feeling in Nobody Knows. For the younger kids, it's the inability to escape to the outside world. For Akira, it's seeing the outside world and knowing he has too many responsibilities to participate in it—when he tries, the results are disastrous. As the children grow up and resources become more scarce, the film's tenacity to show every painful detail of their existence slows the pace to almost a standstill. Still, it's a lovely, haunting tale beset with unforced performances from its young actors, particularly Yagira, who won the best actor prize at Cannes. — Ellen A. Kim

A mild-mannered guy who is engaged to a monstrous woman meets the woman of his dreams and schemes to find a way to be with her. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 03/04/2008 Starring: Eddie Murphy Eddie Griffin Run time: 102 minutes Rating: Pg13

Roger Michell Julia roberts is the worlds most famous movie star. Hugh grant owns a charming little bookstore tucked away in the eclectic neighborhood called notting hill. Then one day their paths cross. It isnt love at first sight but it is definitely something. Can two people fall in love with the world watching? Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 01/09/2007 Starring: Julia Roberts Hugh Grant Run time: 124 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Roger Michell

Stuart Baird, Richard Donner Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 09/09/2008 Run time: 266 minutes Rating: R

Two sisters contend for the affection of king henry viii. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 11/25/2008 Starring: Natalie Portman Eric Bana Run time: 115 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Justin Chadwick

Sydney Pollack Set in kenya in the early 1900s this is a true story of danish writer karen blixen. It is the romantic tale about an independent womans love for both her husband and a dashing adventurer. Bonus features: song of africa feature commentary with director sydney pollack production notes and much more. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 01/23/2007 Starring: Meryl Streep Robert Redford Run time: 160 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Sydney Pollack

Neil Means, Reid Oechslim, Paul Wagner The enormous story of Irish emigration is well told in this documentary that mixes an adept historical overview and deeply touching personal stories with well-chosen archival material and gorgeously filmed modern footage. The troubled history of Ireland is covered by way of explaining why millions fled their homeland, and deserved attention is given to the uprising of 1798 and the Great Famine of the 1840s. The flood of poor Irish to the New World and their struggles to assimilate and eventually triumph is told with excerpts of letters, some of which are beautifully read by the noted playwright John B. Keane. Musician and folklorist Mick Moloney appears frequently to offer apt anecdotes and appropriate snatches of song, and historians provide perspective on the poverty and political repression at home that forced the Irish to cross a dangerous ocean to find a better life. Representative 19th-century Irish immigrants who found new lives in places as diverse as Massachusetts and North Dakota are profiled, and the contributions made in American society by the descendants of the millions who left Ireland are noted. As a striking blend of solid history and resonant personalities, Out of Ireland is a thoughtful presentation that also happens to be a pleasure to watch. —Robert J. McNamara

Charles Kiselyak, Steven Soderbergh Meet jack foley the most successful bank robber in the country. On the day jack busts out of jail he finds himself stealing something far more precious than money karen siscos heart. Shes smart sexy and unfortunately for jack shes a federal marshal. Now they are willing to risk it all. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 08/22/2006 Starring: George Clooney Jennifer Lopez Run time: 102 minutes Rating: R Director: Steven Soderbergh

Thieriot, Max Lt shane wolfe is a tough-as-nails navy seal who has controlled military operations in every corner of the globe. Now the ultimate test comes when hes assigned to protect the home front ..In a house loaded with 5 out-of-control kids! Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 05/11/2007 Starring: Vin Diesel Run time: 95 minutes Rating: Pg

Guillermo del Toro Inspired by the Brothers Grimm, Jorge Luis Borges, and Guillermo del Toro's own unlimited imagination, Pan's Labyrinth is a fairytale for adults. Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) may only be 12, but the worlds she inhabits, both above and below ground, are dark as anything del Toro has conjured. Set in rural Spain, circa 1944, Ofelia and her widowed mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil, Belle Epoque), have just moved into an abandoned mill with Carmen's new husband, Captain Vidal (Sergi López, With a Friend like Harry). Carmen is pregnant with his son. Other than her sickly mother and kindly housekeeper Mercedes (Maribel Verdú, Y Tu Mamá También), the dreamy Ofelia is on her own. Vidal, an exceedingly cruel man, couldn't be bothered. He has informers to torture. Ofelia soon finds that an entire universe exists below the mill. Her guide is the persuasive Faun (Doug Jones, Mimic). As her mother grows weaker, Ofelia spends more and more time in the satyr's labyrinth. He offers to help her out of her predicament if she'll complete three treacherous tasks. Ofelia is willing to try, but does this alternate reality really exist or is it all in her head? Del Toro leaves that up to the viewer to decide in a beautiful, yet brutal twin to The Devil's Backbone, which was also haunted by the ghost of Franco. Though it lacks the humor of Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth represents Guillermo Del Toro at the top of his considerable game. —Kathleen C. Fennessy

Bob Claver, Christopher Morgan, E.W. Swackhamer, Jerome Courtland, Jerry London Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 11/08/2005 Run time: 552 minutes

Chuck McCann, Robert T. Gillis, Bill Melendez, Phil Roman Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/23/2008 Run time: 150 minutes Rating: Nr

Reubens, Paul, Orr, Wayne Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 10/19/2004

Bill Freiberger, Guy J. Louthan, Steven Johnson In the mid-1980s, Saturday morning television was turned upside down by the brash arrival of Pee-wee Herman (comedian Paul Reubens) and his dreamlike playhouse. What sets Pee-wee apart from the rest of the Saturday morning pack is his universal appeal to kids, teens, and adults. Kids love the bright cartoony colors, the word of the day (accompanied by screams whenever anyone utters it), and the animated residents of the playhouse; teens find in him a hip icon; and adults savor the sophisticated humor, sunny double-entendres, and Pee-wee's way with kids—he never condescends, teaches valuable lessons, and has fun doing it. This collection of the first 16 episodes includes the first show, in which Pee-wee remodels his playhouse, along with Pee-wee catching a cold, attending a Hawaiian luau, and throwing a party, Miss Yvonne's (Lynne Stewart) temporary stay at the playhouse, and more. Cultural-savvy viewers will recognize the Playhouse characters who went on to later fame: Cowboy Curtis (Oscar nominee Laurence Fishburne), Captain Carl (Saturday Night Live's Phil Hartman), Mail Lady Reba (Law and Order's S. Epatha Merkerson), and in a guest appearance, Jimmy Smits as an all-important TV repairman. Unlike most TV series, this one has aged wonderfully, and Pee-wee's humor and understanding of how to entertain and teach children make this a perennial favorite for kids, parents, and even grown-up Gen-Xers. —Mark Englehart

Daniel Algrant Eli a ny press agent scramble when his major client becomes embroiled in a huge scandal. When his best client & his starlet girlfriend become tangled in a particularly messy situation eli ends up seeing more than hes supposed to. Now the man who made it his business to know everything suddenly knows too much. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 07/20/2004 Starring: Al Pacino Tea Leoni Run time: 100 minutes Rating: R

Wolfgang Petersen Seafarers struggle to reach safe harbor and rescue crews risk their lives to save others effects-packed adventure set in ground zero of the greatest storm in recorded history. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/27/2005 Starring: George Clooney Mark Wahlberg Run time: 130 minutes Rating: Pg13

Joel Schumacher Musical Drama based on Andrew Lloyd Webber's celebrated musical phenomenon. The Phantom of the Opera tells the story of a disfigured musical genius (Gerard Butler) who haunts the catacombs beneath the Paris Opera, waging a reign of terror over its occupants. When he falls fatally in love with the lovely Christine (Emmy Rossum), the Phantom devotes himself to creating a new star for the Opera, exerting a strange sense of control over the young soprano as he nurtures her extraordinary talents.

Neal Israel, Sean McNamara Get a glimpse into the future with a fmaily from 2121 as they learn to survive in present day with the help of some fantastic futuristic toys & tools. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 08/16/2005 Starring: Ricky Ullman Alyson Michalka

Peter Hedges Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 02/13/2007 Run time: 80 minutes Rating: Pg13

Gore Verbinski No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 4-DEC-2007
Media Type: DVD

Gore Verbinski Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 05/30/2008 Rating: Pg13

alan silvestri Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 10/28/2008

Elliot M. Bour, Saul Andrew Blinkoff Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 09/05/2006

Frank Nissen Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 09/05/2006 Run time: 68 minutes Rating: G

Wolfgang Petersen Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/11/2008 Run time: 98 minutes Rating: Pg13

John D. Hancock Jessica the daughter of an impoverished apple farmer still believes in santa claus. So when she comes across a reindeer with an injured leg it makes perfect sense to her to assume that it is prancer who had fallen from a christmas display in town. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 10/14/2008 Starring: Sam Elliott Abe Vigoda Run time: 103 minutes Rating: G Director: John D Hancock

Michael Katleman Inspired by the true story of a legendary 25-foot man-eating crocodile. An american news crew determined to capture this voracious monster & stop his demonic rampage travel deep within the darkest reaches of africa to hunt their prey. But gustave as the natives call him is also on the hunt - for human flesh. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 03/28/2008 Starring: Dominic Purcell Orlando Jones Run time: 94 minutes Rating: R

Garry Marshall As future queen of genovia princess mia has everything a girl could want - except the magical romance shes always dreamed of. But soon she is shocked to discover that she needs to get married right now or her family will lose the crown! Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 05/11/2007 Starring: Anne Hathaway Julie Andrews Run time: 113 minutes Rating: G

Mick Audsley, John Madden The daughter of a brilliant & mentally disturbed mathmatician recently deceased tries to come to grips with her possible inheritance: his insanity. Complicating matters are one of her fathers ex-students who wants to search through his papers & her estranged sister who shows up to help settle his affairs. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 01/12/2007 Starring: Gwyneth Paltow Jake Gyllenhaal Run time: 99 minutes Rating: Pg13

Gregory Widen When an l.A. Cop is assigned to the unexplainable events surrounding a recent homicide he uncovers the prophecy of a heavenly war being rages on earth. As the battle begins he teams with an elementary school teacher to combat the forces of evil led by the powerful gabriel. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 09/05/2006 Starring: Christopher Walken Virginia Madsen Run time: 97 minutes Rating: R Director: Gregory Widen

Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 10/07/2008 Run time: 109 minutes Rating: R

Maria Maggenti Allegra loves her girlfriend samantha but cant commit. When samantha leaves her allegra rebounds with handsome professor phillip as well as with the beautiful recently single grace. Allegra juggles secret relationships with both never suspecting that phillip and grace have a connection of their own. Studio: Strand Releasing Release Date: 07/03/2007 Run time: 82 minutes Rating: Nr

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/16/2008 Rating: Nr

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 07/21/2009 Run time: 598 minutes Rating: Nr

When kym returns home for the wedding of her sister rachel long simmering family tensions & personal crises interrupt the joyful weekend of friends & festivities. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 03/10/2009 Starring: Anne Hathaway Rosemarie Dewitt Run time: 113 minutes Rating: R

Remy is a young rat in the french countryside who arrives in paris only to find out that his cooking idol is dead. When he makes an unusual alliance with a restaurants new garbage boy the culinary and personal adventures begin. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 11/06/2007 Starring: Voices Of Janeanne Garofalo Peter Otoole Run time: 111 minutes Rating: G

Claire Simpson, Stephen Daldry What is the nature of guilt—and how can the human spirit survive when confronted with deep and horrifying truths? The Reader, a hushed and haunting meditation on these knotty questions, is sorrowful and shocking, yet leavened by a deep love story that is its heart. In postwar Germany, young schoolboy Michael (German actor David Cross) meets and begins a tender romance with the older, mysterious Hanna (Kate Winslet, whose performance is a revelation). The two make love hungrily in Hanna's shabby apartment, yet their true intimacy comes as Michael reads aloud to Hanna in bed, from his school assignments, textbooks, even comic books. Hanna delights in the readings, and Michael delights in Hanna.

Years later, the two cross paths again, and Michael (played as an adult by Ralph Fiennes) learns, slowly, horrifyingly, of acts that Hanna may have been involved in during the war. There is a war crimes trial, and the accused at one point asks the panel of prosecutors: "Well, what would you have done?" It is that question—as one German professor says later: "How can the next generation of Germans come to terms with the Holocaust?"—that is both heartbreaking and unanswerable. Winslet plays every shade of gray in her portrayal of Hanna, and Fiennes is riveting as the man who must rewrite history—his own and his country's—as he learns daily, hourly, of deeds that defy categorization, and morality. "No matter how much washing and scrubbing," one character says matter of factly, "some sins don't wash away." The Reader (with nods to similar films like Sophie's Choice and The English Patient dares to present that unnerving premise, without offering an easy solution. —A.T. Hurley

Stills from The Reader (Click for larger image)

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/30/2008 Run time: 99 minutes Rating: R

A woman is kidnapped by a stranger on a routine flight. Threatened by the potential murder of her father she is pulled into a plot to assist her captor in offing a politician. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 10/24/2005 Starring: Rachel Mcadams Cillian Murphy Run time: 86 minutes Rating: Pg13

John Frankenheimer Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 05/25/2004 Rating: R

Larry Charles Comedian & tv host bill maher takes a pilgrimage across the globe on a mind-opening journey into the ultimate taboo: questioning religion. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 02/17/2009 Starring: Bill Maher Run time: 101 minutes Rating: R

Chris Columbus, Jeffrey Schwarz In new yorks east village a group of bohemians struggle to express themselves through their art & strive for success & acceptance while enduring the obstacles of poverty illness & the aids epidemic. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 06/27/2006 Starring: Rosario Dawson Jesse L Martin Run time: 135 minutes Rating: Pg13

A Relaxing Escape From Everyday Stress. Leave your cares behind as you escape from everyday realities to find peace in the calm beauty of a world free of tension and stress. Music - Native Flute, Guitar and Harp by Chuck Lange Digital Video - Great Northwest, eagles, whales and ocean scenes.

Alan Zaslove, Tad Stones, Toby Shelton The continuing adventures of Aladdin, Jasmine and their friends.
Genre: Feature Film Family
Rating: NR
Release Date: 18-JAN-2005
Media Type: DVD

Stuart Urban

Just before the start of armageddon a physicist and a nun race against the clock to see if the end of the world apocalypse can be averted. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 08/22/2006 Starring: Bill Pullman Martin Starr Run time: 360 minutes Rating: Nr

Bibo Bergeron, David Silverman, Don Paul, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Will Finn Follow two con men on their quest to find a lost city of gold in this animated adventure featuring and all-star voice cast and a musical score by elton john. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/01/2007 Starring: Voice Of Kevin Kline Voice Of Rosie Perez Run time: 89 minutes Rating: Pg

Wedge, Chris, Saldanha, Carlos The delightful designs of William Joyce (writer/illustrator of such popular children's books as George Shrinks and Bently & Egg) make Robots a joy to behold. The round, bouncy, and ramshackle forms of hero Rodney Copperbottom and his computer-animated friends are part of an ornate and daffy Rube-Goldberg universe of elaborate contraptions and gleaming metallic surfaces. Rodney (voiced with a hint-of-Scottish lilt by Ewan McGregor) is a young inventor who sets off for Robot City to work for Bigweld (Mel Brooks), the supreme inventor of the mechanical world. But upon his arrival, Rodney discovers that Bigweld has disappeared, and the slick, shiny Ratchet (Greg Kinnear, As Good As It Gets) is phasing out the spare parts that lumpen robots need to function and replacing them with "upgrades"—expensive and glistening new exoskeletons. Unfortunately, from this suitable beginning, the story degenerates into a series of action sequences that make very little sense, though some are kinetic and fun (though others are only there to serve the inevitable Robots video game). Most kids will enjoy the sheer visual pleasure of the movie, but compared to the narrative richness of Pixar movies like The Incredibles and Toy Story, that pleasure is pretty short-lived. Also featuring the voices of Robin Williams, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Amanda Bynes, Jennifer Coolidge, and many, many more. —Bret Fetzer

The sixth installment of the Rocky series picks up the story of the Italian Stallion 16 years after the morose Rocky V. And sure, at his advanced age, Sylvester Stallone now looks like one of those sides of beef his character used to pound on. No matter. Somehow you buy the premise after all these years, even if it takes forever for Rocky Balboa to stop wallowing in self-pity (Adrian is dead, his old haunts are demolished) and get down to the business of drinking raw eggs and running up staircases. The business at hand is an unlikely exhibition fight with champion Mason Dixon (Antonio Tarver), which the near-sexagenarian Mr. Balboa has no business accepting. Of course, just as sure as the horns of Bill Conti's theme music are even now trumpeting through your head, the ol' Rock might have a punch or two left in him. Stallone wrote and directed, and there isn't much to say except that the movie steps in its pre-determined paces with a canny sense of what has come before (it's practically an homage to all the previous Rocky pictures, complete with fleeting flashbacks). Burt Young is around again, and Geraldine Hughes makes an appealing, rather chaste female companion for Rocky. Stallone's Rocky has gotten suspiciously articulate over the years, but he still knows how to slouch. If Stallone never forgets that, he can probably keep the franchise rolling. —Robert Horton

Stills from Rocky Balboa (click for larger image)

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Antony Gibbs, John Frankenheimer Robert De Niro stars as an American intelligence operative adrift in irrelevance since the end of the Cold War—much like a masterless samurai, a.k.a. "ronin." With his services for sale, he joins a renegade, international team of fellow covert warriors with nothing but time on their hands. Their mission, as defined by the woman who hires them (Natascha McElhone), is to get hold of a particular suitcase that is equally coveted by the Russian mafia and Irish terrorists. As the scheme gets underway, De Niro's lone wolf strikes up a rare friendship with his French counterpart (Jean Reno), gets into a more-or-less romantic frame of mind with McElhone, and asserts his experience on the planning and execution of the job—going so far as to publicly humiliate one team member (Sean Bean) who is clearly out of his league. The story is largely unremarkable—there—there's an obligatory twist midway through that changes the nature of the team's business—but legendary filmmaker John Frankenheimer (Seconds, The Manchurian Candidate) leaps at the material, bringing to it an honest tension and seasoned, breathtaking skill with precision-action direction. The centerpiece of the movie is an honest-to-God car chase that is the real thing: not the how-can-we-top-the-last-stunt cartoon nonsense of Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon), but a pulse-quickening, kinetic dance of superb montage and timing. In a sense, Ronin is almost Frankenheimer's self-quoting version of a John Frankenheimer film. There isn't anything here he hasn't done before, but it's sure great to see it all again. —Tom Keogh

A double-talking fast-moving con-man stumbles into a conspiracy that could destroy the Ming Dynasty. In hilarious fashion he fights to save the day cheating death charming the ladies and kicking royal butt along the way. System Requirements:Run Time: 209 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/MARTIAL ARTS UPC: 796019809412 Manufacturer No: 80941

John Eng (II), Norton Virgien The rugrats get tangled in an exotic adventure where theyre helped by the thornberrys a family that travels the world making nature documentaries. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/25/2005 Run time: 80 minutes Rating: Pg

John Pasquin, Michael Lembeck Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 10/07/2008

David Zucker The comedy spoof seires that knows no fear is at it again with its funniest installment yet spoofing theatrical blockbusters: the ring signs matrix reloaded 8 mile the others & more. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 08/10/2007 Starring: Charlie Sheen Queen Latifah Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Pg13

Steven Spielberg The story of oskar schindler a black marketeer during hitlers regime. While he exploited the labor camp workers he also saved more than a thousand jews. He compiled a list and brought as many as he could to work in his factory rather than face certain death in the concentration camps. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 01/23/2007 Starring: Liam Neeson Jonathan Sagalle Run time: 195 minutes Rating: R Director: Steven Spielberg

Sandra Adair, Richard Linklater The New York Times Jack black gives a roaring star-making performance his incandescent comic energy should establish him as the screen s most popular rock-fueled wild man the wall Street Journal This joyous film is a big deal and jack black is nothing less than majestic an epic star turn Entertainment weekly Jack black makes the joy the passion even the innocence of rock and roll just a little bigger than life the band rocks and so does this movie System Requirements: Running Time 109 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: NR UPC: 097363385141 Manufacturer No: 338514

Scott Jeralds Studio: Hanna Barbera Release Date: 11/14/2006

Scooby-doo and the mystery inc. Gang team-up with batman and robin to foil the evil plans of the joker and the penguin. Dvd features: its no joke game: original velma dinkley music video: how to draw scooby-doo: scooby-doo and the cyber chase music video: trailers and more. Studio: Hanna Barbera Release Date: 09/18/2007 Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Nr

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 05/15/2007

Alejandro Amenábar Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 08/29/2006 Run time: 125 minutes

True story of the undersized depression-era racehorse whose victories lifted not only the spirits of the three-man team behind it but also those of the nation as well. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 01/22/2008 Starring: Jeff Bridges David Mccullough Run time: 141 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Gary Ross

Gina Prince-Bythewood Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 02/03/2009 Run time: 109 minutes Rating: Pg13

Tom Cherones Nothing? Seinfeld is a show about everything! It's about the appeal of the posse and coma etiquette. It's about importing and exporting. It's about sneaking a peek, and seeing the baby. It's about this, that, and the other. TV Guide ranked Seinfeld the best TV series of all time. It has become the master of its syndication domain. Its most devoted fans can quote each episode chapter and verse; their absorption of each scene's minutiae anything but a trivial pursuit. With such fervent devotion to the show, and demand for its DVD release, series creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David could have easily just OK'd a bare-bones set containing nothing but the episodes. Not that there would have been anything wrong with that, but instead, the creative team came together to create extensive and encyclopedic features that make this four-disc set buy-worthy. The candid and revealing audio commentaries and interviews, deleted scenes and original episode promos, and optional "Notes About Nothing" pop-ups are as irresistible as a Drake's coffee cake.

It's always fun and instructive to return to the humble beginnings of a series that became a pop culture benchmark. Here are Kramer's first not-so-grand entrance, Jerry's first contemptuous "Hello, Newman," and Elaine's first "Get Out!" shove. But what is most revelatory about these episodes from the first two seasons is what Jason Alexander, during his commentary for the episode "The Revenge," calls a "sweet quality" that somehow redeems these characters' more base instincts. Consider the scene in which Jerry gives a freshly unemployed George some career guidance, or Jerry and Elaine's palpably affectionate banter throughout. The "Inside Look" episode intros offer fascinating insights into this singular show that subverted sitcom convention with such now-classic episodes as "The Chinese Restaurant," in which Jerry, George, and Elaine wait in vain for a table. We learn, for example, why movie tough guy Lawrence Tierney, who guest starred in "The Jacket," never reprised his role as Elaine's father. All of this, of course, is yadda yadda yadda to Seinfeld fans, whose patience for the show's DVD debut has been amply rewarded. As Elaine screams in the third-season episode, "The Subway," "It's not nothing, it's something!" —Donald Liebenson

Clark Johnson Theres never been a traitor in the u.S. Secret service..Until now & the evidence points to pete garrison one of the most trusted agents. Now on the run with 2 federal investigators hot on his heels garrison must fight to clear his name & thwart an attempt on the presidents life before its too late. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 02/05/2008 Starring: Michael Douglas Eva Longoria Run time: 108 minutes Rating: Pg13

Joss Whedon Serenity offers perfect proof that Firefly deserved a better fate than premature TV cancellation. Joss Whedon's acclaimed sci-fi Western hybrid series was ideally suited (in Browncoats, of course) for a big-screen conversion, and this action-packed adventure allows Whedon to fill in the Firefly backstory, especially the history and mystery of the spaceship Serenity's volatile and traumatized stowaway, River Tam (Summer Glau). Her lethal skills as a programmed "weapon" makes her a coveted prize for the power-hungry planetary Alliance, represented here by an Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who'll stop at nothing to retrieve River from Serenity's protective crew. We still get all the quip-filled dialogue and ass-kicking action that we've come to expect from the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but Whedon goes a talented step further here, blessing his established ensemble cast with a more fully-developed dynamic of endearing relationships. Serenity's cast is led with well-balanced depth and humor by Nathan Fillion as Captain Mal Reynolds, whose maverick spirit is matched by his devotion to crewmates Wash (Alan Tudyk), Zoe (Gina Torres), fun-loving fighter Jayne (Adam Baldwin), engineer Kaylee (Jewel Staite), doctor Simon (Sean Maher), and Mal's former flame Inara (Morena Baccarin), who plays a pivotal role in Whedon's briskly-paced plot. As many critics agreed, Serenity offered all the fun and breezy excitement that was missing from George Lucas's latter-day Star Wars epics, and Whedon leaves an opening for a continuing franchise that never feels cheap or commercially opportunistic. With the mega-corporate mysteries of Blue Sun yet to be explored, it's a safe bet we haven't seen the last of the good ship Serenity. —Jeff Shannon

Its christmas eve on sesame street and everyone is joining in the excitement until a question from oscar throws big bird into a tailspin. How does a guy like santa claus whos built like a dump truck come down all those skinny little chimneys? Studio: Genius Products Inc Release Date: 11/14/2006 Run time: 60 minutes Rating: Nr

Evan Landis, Ken Kwapis

Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/21/2002 Run time: 93 minutes Rating: Pg

Andrew Adamson Happily ever after never seemed so far away when a trip to meet the in-laws turns into another hilariously twisted adventure for shrek & fiona. With the help of his faithful donkey shrek takes on a potion-brewing fairy godmother the pompous prince charming & the famed ogre-killer puss in boots. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/23/2005 Starring: Mike Myers Cameron Diaz Run time: 92 minutes Rating: Pg

3-D full color extended adventure of Shrek! 16 minutes in length. When we last left everyone's newlyweds Shrek & Fiona, they were singing & dancing late into the night with Donkey and all the fairytale creatures. Happily ever after... but not so fast.. the honeymoon has barely begun when Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) is ambushed by Lord Farquaad's henchman, Thelonius. A dizzying and hilarious chase ensures with Shrek (Mike Myers) and Donkey (Eddie Murphy) hot on the trail! More action and adventure, more fun that picks up right where SHREK left off.. and drops you off laughing and out-of-breath before SHREK 2 begins. Use the 3-D special glasses included with this movie to experience the excellent effects!!

When his new father in law king harold falls ill shrek is looked at as the heir to the land of far far away. Not one to give up his beloved swamp shrek recruits his friends donkey and puss in boots to install the rebellious artie as the new king. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/19/2008 Starring: Voice Of Mike Meyers Eddie Murphy Run time: 92 minutes Rating: Pg

Matthew Warchus This riveting drama shifts between the lives of three friends their dark past and a very lucrative deal being made on a triple crown winning thoroughbred simpatico. When vinnies paranoia about a horseracing scam from the past continues to haunt him carter attempts to keep him quiet to protect them. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 02/03/2004 Starring: Sharon Stone Jeff Bridges Run time: 97 minutes Rating: R Director: Mathhew Warchus

Dan Castellaneta Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 06/15/2004 Run time: 394 minutes Rating: Nr

David Silverman The Simpsons had already ruled TV land for many years by the time they finally attempted to conquer the movie world as well. It was never any big secret that a Simpsons movie was in the works: Fox registered the domain name "Simpsonsmovie.com" in 1997, a full nine years before the film was finally greenlighted. When creator/producer Matt Groening's creation finally made it to the big screen in 2007, it only turned out to be the biggest hit of the summer, raking in over $100 million gross in box-office receipts in its first week, before heading on to do over $500 million worldwide, proving that the best joke in the movie was actually played on the audience: "Why pay for something when you can see it for free?" asks Homer at the movie's start. Naturally, all the trouble starts with him. When he adopts a pig ("Sir Oinks-A-Lot") destined for Krusty's slaughterhouse, it triggers an environmental catastrophe, forcing the government to seal Springfield into a dome and destroy the city. While the family manages to escape and flee to Alaska, they eventually decide to return and help save the city in more-or-less classic Simpson fashion. As Homer's joke about the audience shows, Groening and producer Al Jean are keenly aware that their franchise is first and foremost a TV show. Maybe a little too aware, as the movie fails to ever rise above anything more than an extended episode, and not even one of its best episodes at that. True, there are plenty of good jokes; the animation has been kicked up a notch to be particularly sharp and detailed; and there are some truly memorable moments such as Bart's nude skateboard ride and the "Spider-Pig" song. But when the film finally materialized, the payoff for long years of anticipation turned out to be small as the movie failed to live up to its potential; it's amusing but not truly funny. The Simpsons Movie leaves the impression that maybe the show's writers and producers had already spent their best ideas on the best years of the TV show. Had it been made years earlier… well, we can only wonder what could have been. —Daniel Vancini

Get to Know The Simpsons
"Oh, so they have internet on computers now!" — Homer Simpson
"I'd like to visit that Long Island Place, if only it were real." — Marge Simpson (drinking a Long Island Iced Tea)
"Aren't we forgetting the true meaning of Christmas? You know, the birth of Santa." — Bart Simpson
"If cartoons were meant for adults, they'd put them on in prime time." — Lisa Simpson
"Daddy" — Maggie Simpson

> More Simpsons Characters
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More of the The Simpsons on DVD
The Simpsons TV Series
The Simpsons Movie on Blu-Ray
The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror
The Simpsons Christmas
The Simpsons Gone Wild
The Simpsons Kiss and Tell: The True Story of Their Love

Stills from The Simpsons Movie

Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 01/06/2009 Rating: Nr

From Alan Ball, the Oscar(r) winning writer of "American Beauty", comes a series that digs where others fear to tread. When a bus kills Nathaniel Fisher, owner of the Fisher & Sons Funeral Home in Los Angeles, the tragedy casts a pall on the homecoming of his prodigal son Nate. Together with with mother Ruth, brother David and sister Claire, they must address the family business, and the many more personal matters that arise when your life is Six Feet Under.
Running Time: 780 min.

Format: DVD MOVIE

Iain Softley Steeped in rain, humidity, and eerie bayou atmosphere, The Skeleton Key is an entertaining supernatural thriller that makes excellent use of its Louisiana locations. New Orleans and the rural environs of Terrebonne Parish are crucial in setting up the creepy circumstances that find compassionate caregiver Caroline Ellis (Kate Hudson) newly employed at the backwater plantation home of Violet (Gena Rowlands) and her invalid husband Ben (John Hurt), who's been rendered mute and seemingly helpless by a recent stroke. The place is rife with mystery, shrouded in the secrets of a suspicious past and, under Violet's stern supervision, plagued by superstition involving the use of Hoodoo magic spells (not to be confused with Voodoo, as explored in the similarly suspenseful Angel Heart) intended to protect the house from harm. But Caroline soon discovers the source of the mystery, and why Ben (who can barely utter a word) is so desperate to escape his seemingly comfortable domesticity. There are a few loopholes in the screenplay by prolific horror writer Ehren Kruger (The Ring and The Brothers Grimm), but director Iain Softley (Wings of the Dove) expertly emphasizes the edgy air of mystery, pushing some effective shocks while encouraging fine work from Hudson, Peter Sarsgaard (as Violet's lawyer) and especially Rowlands, who's genuinely disturbing as Skeleton Key nears a twist ending that's undeniably effective. —Jeff Shannon

Maggie Greenwald Hauntingly beautiful folk music and stunning Appalachian scenery take center stage in this winner of the 2000 Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize for outstanding ensemble performance. Musicologist Dr. Lily Penleric has a deep love of English folk ballads. After a humiliating failure to make full professor, she heads off to visit her sister's tiny school in rural Appalachia and finds herself in folk music central. Lily is entranced, but the locals are suspicious of the outlander's motivations. Issues of tolerance, clashing cultures, and Big Bad Men abound, but Songcatcher wisely focuses on the music. Janet McTeer does fine with the "repressed academic gets in touch with the earth" role, but her truly outstanding work is in revealing scholar Lily's rapture in her discoveries. McTeer leads a truly great cast, including the wonderful Pat Carroll, and a just-for-the-hell-of-it cameo by bluesman Taj Mahal. Songcatcher has a healthy respect for the mountain people it portrays, and an absolute reverence for their music. —Ali Davis

Mel Brooks Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 10/16/2007 Run time: 96 minutes Rating: Pg

Sam Raimi Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 10/30/2007

Hayao Miyazaki In the middle of her familys move to the suburbs a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods witches and monsters: where humans are changed into animals: and a bathhouse for these creatures. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 02/22/2005 Run time: 132 minutes Rating: Pg

Join spongebob & his bikini bottom pals in 7 quirky adventures. You will laugh out loud as spongebob & squidward star in a boating techniques instructional video watch plankton try to freeze the krusty krab & enjoy spongebob & patrick experiencing one of the scariest roller coasters ever! Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 06/05/2007 Run time: 83 minutes Rating: Nr

C.H. Greenblatt, Dan Povenmire, Sam Henderson Spongebob and his pals bring more over-the-top antics from the deep blue sea with ten adventures including hooky jellyfish jame and the algaes always greener. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/06/2008 Run time: 99 minutes Rating: Nr

Alan Smart, C.H. Greenblatt, Dan Povenmire, Sam Henderson Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 02/05/2008 Run time: 474 minutes Rating: Nr

C.H. Greenblatt, Dan Povenmire, Sam Henderson 3 disc set contains all 40 11 minute episodes from the second season Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 02/05/2008 Run time: 453 minutes

Spongebob squarepants takes leave from the town of bikini bottom in order to track down king neptunes stolen crown. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/16/2007 Starring: Tom Kenny Clancy Brown Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Stephen Hillenburg

In a tranquil & timeless setting of a temple floating atop a manmade lake in a forest surrounded by mountain spires that cut the monastery off from worldly concern an old monk teaches his young disciple the wisdom of buddha over the many seasons of their lives. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 02/26/2008 Run time: 103 minutes Rating: R

Noah Baumbach When their parents announce that they are splitting up 16 year old walt & 12 year old frank are relegated to alternating weekends & a jumbled calendar of mom or dad nights. The kids are left to grapple with the confusing & conflicted feelings that arise from the sudden collapse of their parents marriage. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/22/2008 Starring: Jeff Daniels Laura Linney Run time: 81 minutes Rating: R

This box set contains the 2 disc special editions of: episode 1 - the phantom menace episode 2 - attack of the clones episode 3 - revenge of the sith Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 11/04/2008 Starring: Natalie Portman Hayden Christiansen Rating: Pg Director: George Lucas

This box set contains the 2 disc special editions of: episode 4 - a new hope episode 5 - empire strikes back episode 6 - return of the jedi Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 11/04/2008 Starring: Harrison Ford Mark Hammill Rating: Pg Director: George Lucas

Todd Phillips In Starsky & Hutch the origins of the charismatic crime-fighting duo David Starsky and Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson are explored when these undercover Bay City detectives are partnered for their very first assignment. Ben Stiller plays the tightly wound Detective David Starsky who is thrown together with Owen Wilson's easygoing Detective Ken Hutchinson on a high-stakes case. Platinum-selling rapper and actor Snoop Dogg plays their savvy street informant Huggy Bear. Vince Vaughn also joins the cast as Reese Feldman a smooth-talking entrepreneur with an eye towards the future.Running Time: 100 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 085392840328 Manufacturer No: 28403

Frank Oz After moving with her husband & children to the well-manicured community of stepford ct former new york television executive joanna eberhart is beginning to realize that stepford is more than just the perfect place to live - its a little too perfect. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/24/2006 Starring: Nicole Kidman Bette Midler Run time: 92 minutes Rating: Pg13

Baz Luhrmann While the plot of this Australian film may seem a bit familiar (The Ugly Duckling meets Dirty Dancing), the whimsical tone and superb dance sequences will make you forget the movie's predictability. Scott (Paul Mercurio) is a champion ballroom dancer who wants to dance "his own steps." Fran is the homely, beginning dancer who convinces Scott that he should dance his own steps... with her. Complicating matters are Scott's domineering mother (Pat Thompson), a former dancer herself, who wants her son to win the Australian Pan Pacific Championship (the same contest she lost years ago), and a conniving dance committee that is determined that "there are no new steps!" The dancing is enjoyable, yet not overwhelming, and the movie strives hard not to take itself too seriously (the beginning of the film is even styled as a pseudo-documentary). Strictly Ballroom, while not so subtly imparting its moral ("A life lived in fear is a life half-lived"), is a laughable romp that's sure to be a crowd pleaser. —Jenny Brown

Cindy Parisotto